Endiro is one of three now named in the program in the Aurora area, one of two in Aurora. The other is the Wurst Kitchen on the East Side. There are more than 150 places in the program statewide listed on the state tourism website.


(Photo: Unsplash)

Traveling is something millions of us enjoy doing. The prospect of going to a place we have never been to and being exposed to new things serves to expand our worldview and can give us a whole new take on life. Many have come back from traveling refreshed and reenergized for life.

Unfortunately, traveling can be a pricey affair, so much so that many of us would like to travel more often but for budget constraints. With that in mind, here are a few ways to save when traveling so that you can go more often.

Hotel Credit Cards

Having a credit cards that gives you free nights can be a great way to reduce your travel expenses. Now, many people have not even heard of hotel credit cards before because it is a relatively new phenomenon. These specialty cards are rewards cards specifically geared towards reducing hotel expenses.

You can use this card for all sorts of everyday expenses and accumulate points along the way. When your points have accumulated to a certain level, you will be able to use them on hotel stays in a whole host of hotels around the world that have partnered with the card company you have signed up with.

One important thing to remember when using any credit card is to settle your card balance as soon as possible. The last thing you want when planning a nice vacation is another debt to have to deal with and incorporate in your budget. Ideally, you should try to pay the balance off in full as soon as the bill comes in. It's ideal to pay off your entire credit card balance every billing cycle, but if you can't, keep the balance as low as possible in order that it won't negatively affect your credit score.

Reshuffling Your Budget

If you are setting a little too much aside for non-essentials in your budget, it might be time to reshuffle some items in order to focus on funding a vacation. Simply take a look at the line items on your budget list and identify the items you can either live without or have it greatly reduced. Once you have done this, it will then be a matter of taking steps in the real world to reduce these line items.

If the amount you have saved is not sufficient to fund your travel plans in the time frame you want, you will need to go back to the budget list and find more things to live without. Another thing to consider would be to generate a small secondary stream of income by doing odd jobs on a temporary basis.

Now, all of this will require a good deal of self-discipline. There cannot be any sacred cows in most cases. You will need to make some tough decisions and be able to stick with them. When making difficult budgetary decisions, it is very helpful for people to keep the end goal in mind as it can provide a great deal of motivation to stick to the plan until you can afford to take that trip.

Timing Your Flights

A lot of people are not aware of this, but you can save a tremendous amount of money if you are simply able to adjust your travel plans by a few days. Many airlines have clear demand cycles for many of their flight routes so much so that they change their ticket prices greatly from season to season. Not only that, because of the mini cycles that exist throughout, airlines also offer significantly different prices depending the day.

How this will be carried out is that you will be booking a flight for a certain day and if you book during a mini peak day, the website will instantly show you offers for the exact same route on a different day that is a lot cheaper than the one you were planning on booking. Some airlines will even offer overnight hotel stays in the case of impromptu adjustments.

For example, if you are at a connecting airport, the airline might inform the passengers of an offer to refund part of the ticket price if you are willing to stay the night at a nearby hotel that they will pay for. Now, this is something that requires a very flexible schedule, so if you are one of those lucky enough to have one, this is an option definitely worth exploring.

Staying for Almost Free

This is a very unusual way to save that is nonetheless extremely helpful in saving on vacation expenses. With the rise of sites like Airbnb, others have sprung up that are simply looking for house sitters. Instead of renting their house out to a guest, some people simply want someone to come in for a few days to look after the place and take the pets out for walks.

Most of these offers usually entail free lodging at said house as long as everything is able to be kept in pristine order. For those of you who can be comfortable with such a novel arrangement, this is an opportunity not to be passed up.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
After decades of decline, Buffalo touts a 'Refugee Renaissance.' Can it last?
ALBUQUERQUE  Authorities say theyve arrested a man accused of using meth before driving head-on into a State Police sergeants vehicle in October.

Dwight David Weir, 55, of Bosque Farms is facing vehicular homicide and lesser charges in the wreck, which killed his passenger, Mark Marquez.

In a Jan. 19 news release, New Mexico State Police said Sgt. Nathan Searle was headed north on Unser Boulevard near Mariposa in Rio Rancho when a southbound Ford sport-utility vehicle, driven by Weir, crossed into his lane and hit his vehicle.

Searle suffered broken bones, Weir was airlifted to a hospital and treated, and Marquez, 52, was pronounced dead at the scene.

State police say Weir admitted taking methamphetamine before driving, and officers found drugs in his SUV. He is facing five charges and was arrested without incident around 9:20 a.m. Jan. 19 near Isleta.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 22:18:21|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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RAMALLAH, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- A senior Palestinian official accused on Saturday the U.S. new peace plan, better known as the "Deal of the Century," of denying the existence of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Saeb Erekat, secretary general of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee said in a press statement that denying the existence of the Israeli occupation makes the new U.S. plan as the "Fraud of the Century."

He accused U.S. President Donald Trump of being a full partner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "who worked jointly on this Fraud of the Century that contradicts with the international law and the references of peace."

The U.S. administration invited Netanyahu and Israeli opposition leader Benny Gants to visit Washington next week to discuss the details of the new peace plan, which has been already rejected by the Palestinians.

After the U.S.-sponsored peace talks between Israel and Palestine stopped in 2014, the Palestinians have been calling for an international mechanism to sponsor the peace talks instead of the U.S..

Political ties between the Palestinian Authority and the U.S. administration had been severed since the declaration of President Trump in 2017, that Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Israel.

The Palestinians want the eastern part of the city, which was occupied by Israel in 1967, to be the capital of their Palestinian state.
People arriving at Heathrow Airport, London wear face masks as the outbreak of Coronavirus spreads in China (Picture: SWNS)

The Governments Cobra emergency committee has met to discuss the threat of coronavirus to the UK as tests on fourteen people in the UK have come back negative.

Public Health England (PHE) said on Friday that results from all 14 people suspected of contracting the virus had come back clear.

However, there are checks ongoing on other people, according to the Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty.

Professor Paul Cosford, emeritus medical director at PHE, has said it is still early days in the course of the virus, but stressed that most of those affected abroad are making a good recovery.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the risk to the UK public remains low as he left the Cabinet Office on Friday, saying: We have just held a Cobra meeting on the coronavirus concerns.

As I made clear to the House yesterday, the clinical advice is that the risk to the public remains low and the chief medical officer will be making a full statement later today.

Leaflets are being handed out at Heathrow Airport (Picture: SWNS)

It comes after the Scottish Government confirmed that five people were being examined after showing symptoms of the illness, while one patient was understood to have been tested at Belfasts Royal Victoria Hospital.

The Governments Cobra contingencies committee was due to meet at midday on Friday to discuss the coronavirus outbreak, Downing Street said. A Number 10 spokesman said there were still no confirmed cases in the UK.

The death toll in China has risen to at least 26, with hundreds more cases confirmed, according to authorities.

Other cases have been reported in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.

READ MORE

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While none of the UK cases has so been confirmed as coronavirus, two of the patients tested in Scotland had been diagnosed with influenza after travelling to Wuhan, China, where the outbreak is thought to have originated.

Story continues

In a statement to the Commons on Thursday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said while there is an increased likelihood that cases may arise in this country, we are well prepared and well equipped to deal with them.

The UK is monitoring direct flights arriving into the UK from China as a precaution.

Passengers are receiving leaflets and advice on what to do if they develop symptoms, and a PHE health team is on standby at Heathrow.

Checking temperatures is at airports is not necessary, experts have suggested, because it can take five to 10 days for symptoms to develop.

Coronavirus: how China has been affected. See story HEALTH Coronavirus. Infographic PA Graphics

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said while the spread of the virus was an emergency in China it was too early to declare it a global health emergency.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said: We know that most of those who have died had underlying health conditions such as hypertension, diabetes or cardiovascular disease, that weakened their immune systems.

We know that there is human-to-human transmission in China, but for now it appears limited to family groups and health workers caring for infected patients.

At this time, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission outside China, but that doesnt mean it wont happen.

There is still a lot we dont know. We dont know the source of this virus, we dont understand how easily it spreads and we dont fully understand its clinical features or severity.

Fourteen people have now been tested for coronavirus in the UK (Picture: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Peter Piot, professor of global health and director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said there were still many missing pieces in the jigsaw puzzle, adding: Over the coming days and weeks we will know much more, but there cannot be any complacency as to the need for global action.

The good news is that the data to date suggest that this virus may have a lower mortality than Sars, we have a diagnostic test and there is greater transparency than decades gone by.

And that is essential because you cannot deal with a potential pandemic in one country alone.

Prof Haas, head of infection medicine at the University of Edinburgh, warned that there would be probably be many more cases in many other cities in the UK.

Wuhan  the city where the virus is believed to have originated  is under quarantine, with authorities suspending planes and trains in and out of the city.

Beijing, Hong Kong and Macau have also cancelled some events to stop large crowds gathering together, as the country prepares to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 00:31:39|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIRUT, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis expressed on Friday his optimism about the new government's ability to implement reforms after his meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab.

"After listening to Diab, I have no doubts that he will be working on fighting against corruption and ensuring transparency among other reforms measures to be included in the ministerial statement," Kubis was quoted as saying by the National News Agency.

Kubis noted it will be difficult to restore people's confidence without preparing a ministerial statement that reflects their demands.

The UN official did not give a specific period for assessing the new cabinet's performance, saying it is the Lebanese people who should monitor the cabinet's work and follow up on its potential achievements.

Lebanon formed a new government on Tuesday.
A newly appointed member of the Grenfell Tower inquiry panel has resigned after she was linked to a charitable arm of the firm that supplied the tower blocks deadly cladding.

Benita Mehra tendered her resignation to Boris Johnson after fury and mounting pressure over what was said to be a conflict of interest.

She stepped down just two days before the resumption of the inquiry into the 2017 fire that killed 72 people, saying she recognised and respected the depth of feeling among some about her appointment.

Survivors of the disaster and bereaved families had threatened to boycott phase two of the inquiry on Monday.

Lawyers for more than 60 participants had also urged her to quit.

Earlier this month it was revealed that the engineer, who had been due to join the panel for the second phase of the inquiry, was a former president of the Womens Engineering Society (WES). The society last year received funding from the Arconic Foundation for an apprentice conference.

Benita Mehra speaks at the Technology with Heart: Jaguar Land Rover's Tech Fest at Central St Martins (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

Arconic supplied the cladding on the outside of the west London tower block, which went up in flames on 14 June 2017.

A report following the first phase of the inquiry concluded in October that the cladding did not comply with building regulations and was the principal reason for the fires rapid and profoundly shocking spread.

Grenfell United, a group for the bereaved, survivors and the community, said Ms Mehra had done the right thing in resigning, saying it helped lift growing anxiety before the next inquiry phase.

The group said questions remained over how the situation was ever allowed to happen, and that a new panellist must urgently be found. A spokesperson said: We do not need the pretence of diversity for the sake of diversity.

However, the Cabinet Office said it still believed there was no conflict of interest and she could have remained on the panel.

Trades union Unite had urged Ms Mehra to step down, citing a conflict of interest.

In a letter to her from the union, one of the victims relatives wrote: I strongly disagree with her sitting on the panel and I personally, and many survivors and bereaved families, believe the inquiry should not start while she is appointed.

Arconic said a confluence of unfortunate circumstances rather than the mere presence of the panels had caused the spread of the fire.

In a letter to Mr Johnson, Ms Mehra wrote: As you know, I had hoped to draw on my experience and knowledge of the construction industry, of community engagement and of governance within housing management to contribute to the vital work of the inquiry in discovering how and why the devastating fire at Grenfell Tower happened.

However, it is apparent that my former role as president of the Womens Engineering Society (WES), which in 2017 accepted a charitable donation from the Arconic Charitable Foundation to support the mentoring of women engineers, has caused serious concern to a number of the bereaved, survivors and resident core participants.

She said her role at WES had been unpaid, and the grant from Arconic was ring-fenced to fund the mentoring scheme.

For these reasons, I did not link any aspect of my former role as president of the WES to my panel member role for the Grenfell Tower inquiry. In hindsight, this was a regrettable oversight on my part.

Mr Johnson confirmed in a statement that he had accepted her resignation, adding: I would like to thank Benita for her commitment and I am very grateful for her sensitivity to the work of the inquiry.

As the inquirys phase two hearings begin, we remain completely committed to getting to the truth of what happened, learning lessons and delivering justice for the victims.

Grenfell fire remembered two years on: In pictures Show all 12 1 /12 Grenfell fire remembered two years on: In pictures Grenfell fire remembered two years on: In pictures Campaign group Grenfell United project a message on to the side of a tower block in Newcastle ahead of the second anniversary of the Grenfell fire to highlight the number of blocks that are still covered in flammable cladding, despite the role that it played in the fire PA Grenfell fire remembered two years on: In pictures People release balloons in front of the Grenfell Tower during a vigil to mark the second anniversary of the fire (Peter Summers/Getty Images) Grenfell fire remembered two years on: In pictures Downing Street is illuminated green to mark the second anniversary of the Grenfell fire EPA Grenfell fire remembered two years on: In pictures Kensington Palace is illuminated green to mark the second anniversary of the Grenfell fire Getty Grenfell fire remembered two years on: In pictures Campaign group Grenfell United project a message on to the side of a tower block in Salford ahead of the second anniversary of the Grenfell fire to highlight the number of blocks that are still covered in flammable cladding, despite the role that it played in the fire PA Grenfell fire remembered two years on: In pictures Campaign group Grenfell United project a message on to the side of a tower block in by the Grenfell Tower ahead of the second anniversary of the fire to highlight the number of blocks that are still covered in flammable cladding, despite the role that it played in the fire PA Grenfell fire remembered two years on: In pictures Cards bearing names of victims of the Grenfell fire are attached to a railing nearby to the tower Getty Grenfell fire remembered two years on: In pictures People obersve a memorial during a vigil to mark the second anniversary of the Grenfell fire Getty Grenfell fire remembered two years on: In pictures Campaign group Grenfell United project a message on to the side of a tower block in Salford ahead of the second anniversary of the Grenfell fire to highlight the number of blocks that are still covered in flammable cladding, despite the role that it played in the fire PA Grenfell fire remembered two years on: In pictures The Grenfell Tower is illuminated green to mark the second anniversary of the fire Getty Grenfell fire remembered two years on: In pictures Kensington Palace is illuminated green to mark the second anniversary of the Grenfell fire Getty Grenfell fire remembered two years on: In pictures Downing Street is illuminated green to mark the second anniversary of the Grenfell fire EPA

A letter to Ms Mehra from the prime ministers private secretary read: It is clear that you offered your resignation out of respect for the bereaved, survivors and local community of the Grenfell Tower fire, and to ensure that the inquiry proceeds with the confidence of all parties.

I note that the Cabinet Office, having made further inquiries into your case, have said that they continue to believe that there is no conflict of interest that would have prevented you from taking part in the inquiry.

Additional reporting by PA
She had already left her apartment and quit her job in Tehran. All of my efforts and all the money I spent became nothing.

I was in too much shock to even ask for water

Behzad, 32, who planned to study material sciences at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, was turned back Aug. 19 at Logan Airport.

Behzad hoped to work one day in the automotive industry. But when he arrived in Boston to begin his studies, he was pulled aside.

The room was an exact replica of what you see in Hollywood movies, he said. It was very bright and small. I had to sit in a chair, with no table. A guy behind a computer started to interrogate me. Behzad said he went through multiple rounds of questioning for about eight hours, and had not slept in nearly two days. I was in too much shock to even ask for water, he said.

In Iran, Behzad had worked for a company that designs processing systems for factories, including oil facilities. A C.B.P. officer told him he had violated sanctions by working in the oil industry. Behzad protested that his company was never sanctioned, and that he had worked there only while the Iran nuclear deal, under which many sanctions were not in effect, was in place.

It was to no avail  he was ordered back to Iran.

They just wanted to find something, Behzad said.
As the Shiv Sena announced the date for Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackerays visit to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, its senior leader Sanjay Raut responded to the BJPs criticism of his boss plans.

The Bharatiya Janata Partys Sambit Patra had taken a dig at Uddhav Thackerays Ayodhya plans by pointing out what he called was U-Turn from the ideologies set by its founder Balasaheb Thackeray.

The BJPs spokesperson had tweeted a video of the chief ministers father Balasaheb Thackeray to make his point after Sanjay Raut had said earlier in the week that Uddhav Thackeray will visit Ayodhya after his government completes 100 days in power.

Thackeray was sworn-in as the chief minister on November 28, 2019, and the Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government will complete 100 days in office on March 6.

On Saturday, Sanjay Raut announced the date as March 7 and took a jibe at the BJP when he was asked about its former allys criticism over Thackerays Ayodhya visit. He was also asked whether Congress leader Rahul Gandhi go with Thackeray.

Why? Is the BJP taking [PDP chief] Mehbooba Mufti with them? There is no point of such criticism. The Congress party has welcomed the Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya, Raut replied.

He said Uddhav Thackerays visit was beyond politics.

We had said that Uddhav Thackeray will go to Ayodhya and seek the blessings of Lord Ram. We are working towards fulfilling that assurance. We do not want to bring in politics in this. This is a matter of faith and devotion for us, the Rajya Sabha member added.

Raut also said that Uddhav Thackeray will perform a pooja on the banks of River Saryu during his visit. Thackeray is expected to be joined by other Sena leaders and some of his key ministers, including his son Aaditya, during the visit.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator and state cabinet minister Jitendra Awhad said there is nothing wrong with the visit as it is a matter of personal faith.

However, the Sena was attacked by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), led by Uddhav Thackerays cousin Raj Thackeray, over the chief ministers plan.

It is good that he is going to Ayodhya. But what face will he show to Lord Ram when He asks him about abandoning Hindutva? MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande questioned.

Previous plan

Before this, Uddhav Thackeray had put off his visit to Ayodhya in November last year as the plan to form a government in Maharashtra with the Congress and NCP was afoot.

In the wake of the Supreme Courts verdict on the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land title dispute on November 9, Thackeray had expressed his intention to visit the makeshift Ram temple in Ayodhya on November 24.

The process of forming an alliance is going on, with talks between the top leadership of the three parties. Moreover, the security agencies have not given permission to any political party to visit Ayodhya, a senior functionary had said then.

Uddhav Thackeray had hailed the Supreme Courts decision on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case and said that he will be going to Ayodhya on November 24.

The top court had on November 9 directed the Centre to give five acres of suitable land to Sunni Waqf Board and at the same time make necessary arrangements for the construction of the temple by forming a trust.

Uddhav and his son Aditya Thackeray had visited Ayodhya on June 16 last year and offered prayers at the makeshift Ram Lalla shrine.

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After an almost unrecognisable photograph of detained former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah surfaced online on Saturday, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said it pointed to a "very disturbing fact" about the government.

"This picture points to a very disturbing fact about the central government. A former CM, who is also a former Union minister, has been detained for months without any charge. And he and his party have been the biggest votaries of India," Yechury said, retweeting a post that had Abdullah's photograph.

Abdullah is among the three former chief ministers of the erstwhile state who continue to be in custody since August 5 when the Centre abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and divided it in two union territories.

This is first picture of the 49-year-old Abdullah in public domain after five months of captivity. It showed him smiling in a snow covered jacket and sporting an unkempt salt-and-pepper beard.

The photograph triggered reactions of awe and anger among netizens, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
File image of Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro shaking hands with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a summit on June 28, 2019. (Image Reuters)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro on Saturday held wide-ranging talks with an aim to inject a new momentum into strategic ties between India and Brazil. In the talks, the two leaders focused on boosting bilateral ties in key areas of trade and investment, energy, defence and security, medicine and scientific research, officials said.

The two countries are expected to ink around 15 agreements providing for enhancing cooperation in a range of areas.

Earlier, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called on Bolsonaro and discussed ways to further broaden cooperation between the two countries.

After the meeting, Jaishankar, in a tweet, said Bolsonaro's visit will open "new opportunities" for bilateral cooperation.

The Brazilian president was given a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in presence of President Ram Nath Kovind and Modi.

Bolsonaro arrived here on Friday, accompanied by his daughter Laura Bolsonaro, daughter-in-law Leticia Firmo, eight ministers, four members of the Brazilian parliament and a large business delegation.

The Brazilian president is in India primarily to grace the Republic Day celebrations on Sunday as chief guest and explore ways to boost trade ties with India at a time when both the large economies are hit by slowdown.

India's ties with Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, has been on an upswing in the last few years. The country has a population of 210 million with USD 1.8 trillion economy.

This is the first visit of President Bolsonaro to India.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, won a landslide victory in Brazil's presidential election in October 2018 and took the reins of the country in January last year.

India-Brazil ties have been on an upswing in the last few years.

The volume of bilateral trade was USD 8.2 billion in 2018-19. This included USD 3.8 billion worth of Indian exports to Brazil and USD 4.4 million as imports by India.

Both the governments feel there is huge potential to enhance the bilateral trade further.

Major Indian exports to Brazil include agro-chemicals, synthetic yarns, auto components and parts, pharmaceutical and petroleum products. Brazilian exports to India include crude oil, gold, vegetable oil, sugar and bulk mineral and ores.

Indian investments in Brazil were around USD 6 billion and Brazilian investments in India are estimated at USD 1 billion in 2018.

Brazilian investments in India are mainly in automobiles, IT, mining, energy and biofuel sectors. India has invested in Brazil's IT, pharmaceutical, energy, agri-business, mining and engineering sectors.
Today, hundreds of yellow vests from France and protesters from other countries across Europe, including Belgium and Britain, are protesting outside Belmarsh maximum security prison in London to demand the freeing of WikiLeaks founder and journalist Julian Assange.

A principled and courageous journalist whose revelations exposed imperialist crimes against humanity and encouraged working class protests around the world, Assange is the target of a relentless state campaign to destroy him. He is locked up in Belmarsh, subjected to torture according to testimony from doctors and UN experts, and faces extradition to America. There, he faces a life sentence in prison under the US Espionage Act, for publishing material such as the Collateral Murder video of US troops illegally gunning down civilians in US-occupied Iraq.

The decision of the yellow vests to protest in London points to deeply rooted international opposition to the relentless persecution of Assange among workers and more serious artists and intellectuals. As part of their initiative, they have also issued a petition, signed by over 15,000 people, including leading figures of French and European artistic life, titled Freedom for Julian Assange.

Corinne and Yannick, two yellow vests involved in organizing the Belmarsh protest, spoke to the WSWS after a recent yellow vest protest in Paris. Assange represents the struggle against the persecution of journalists who defend the truth. We are defending journalism against an abuse of democracy, Corrine noted. As yellow vests, or otherwise, we cannot be indifferent to his fate.

Pointing to Assanges struggle against war crimes and for truth, she added, There is a campaign to persecute a man whose only crime was to carry out journalism and not to be bought.

She explained, We chose the date of January 25. It is a month before the extradition hearing begins. As a group, we are publishing reports that we receive. We have the feeling that if we stay at home, nothing will change... We want to launch an alarm and help Assanges message become more widely known.

The defense of Assange is a critical question for the international working class. WikiLeaks revelations of US complicity in the corruption of Tunisian President Zine El Abedine Ben Ali helped trigger mass workers' protests that brought down Ben Ali, followed by the Egyptian working class toppling of imperialist-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak less than a month later.

The persecution of Assange comes amid a universal turn by imperialist governments to crush mass protests and left-wing opposition, symbolized by French President Emmanuel Macrons repression of yellow vest protests against social inequality. Some 11,000 people have been detained and 4,400 wounded, including dozens who lost eyes to rubber bullets, amid a state crackdown of unprecedented scope since the Nazi occupation. Two bystanders, Zineb Redouane and Steve Canico, were killed as police assaulted demonstrations.

Corinne said, Our capitalist governments wage war, commit war crimes and acts of espionage. We hear about them every day... We are victims of the same system, of the same states. There are 400 yellow vests in prison currently, and 900 facing prosecution, with others wounded or dead. We are starting to realize what the state is capable of doing. This has opened the eyes of many people who did not know Assange before and who now support our cause. This is why I think there is a real parallel between yellow vest protests and defending Assange. It isnt just activism.

Amid an international resurgence of class struggle and the discrediting of NATO governments, the yellow vest petition in defense of Assange has attracted thousands of signatures, including from hundreds of internationally renowned artists.

It states, Can we wait any longer, amid the general indifference and silence of the major media to such a violation of fundamental rights asserted in international texts on liberty, personal dignity but also freedom of expression and freedom of the press that are fundamental to democracy? Today Julian Assange is targeted. Who will it be tomorrow: which whistleblowers, journalists, editors, writers or artists? As members of the cultural community with a specific responsibility, we are also aware of the emergency posed by Julians state of health.

Signatories of this appeal in defense of Assange include German actress Hanna Schygulla, Serbian director Emir Kusturica, Franco-Croatian writer and director Josiane Balasko, actor Bruno Podalydes, director Jean-Jacques Beineix, and dozens of other leading artists.

The decision of representatives of the yellow vest protests mobilizing French workers and of the European artistic community to come to Assanges defense powerfully underscores the possibility and the necessity of building a mass international movement to free Assange. Already, there have been mass protests in Ecuador, the country in whose London embassy Assange sought asylum before being arrested and jailed in Belmarsh.

Yannick said, The yellow vest movement has two distinct branches. Some protest with the French flag. They are not necessarily neo-fascist, but they want French people to live better. But we want humanity to live better, we are internationalists. There are ever more yellow vests who think this way, though there are also those who wave the French flag because of its revolutionary history, but the internationalist tendency is growing, you can see that from the demands they advance.

The yellow vests hope their protest will encourage broader layers of the population to mobilize in defense of Assange. He added: We see this in protest movements in every country, they raise international issues. We hope this protest will inspire others.

He said the protest aimed to encourage people to become conscious of the importance of Assanges struggle and of the role of journalism. Comparing the state persecution of Assange to the incarceration of political opponents of the racist apartheid regime in South Africa, he added, What is taking place with Assange today is a form of segregation of speech and of truth. And this is taking place worldwide.

This underscores the urgent necessity of mobilizing workers and youth internationally in defense of Assange, only weeks before he faces a court ruling that could extradite him to America, where he faces the danger of execution.
On Nov. 3, Pennsylvania voters will cast votes for president. About five weeks later, on Dec. 14, 20 Pennsylvanians designated by the winning candidate as electors will convene in Harrisburg to formally cast their votes for the winner. On Jan. 6, 2021, Congress will count those votes, together with the electoral votes cast in the 49 other states and the District of Columbia. The candidate with 270 or more electoral votes becomes president.

Except its not that simple.

Heres why: Those electors in Harrisburg arent actually required to cast votes for the candidate who won the Pennsylvania popular vote. Some states have laws explicitly directing electors how to vote, removing them if necessary, while others impose fines on so-called faithless electors after the fact. But Pennsylvania does neither (nor does New Jersey)  and its unclear whether states can force the electors to comply anyway. Indeed, in 2016, seven electors across the country cast votes for people who werent Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, instead choosing to vote for Colin Powell, Bernie Sanders, and John Kasich. In 2000, even fewer electoral votes separated George W. Bush from Al Gore.

Could rogue electors swing the results of a presidential election?

This is the question raised by a pair of cases the U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear: Does the Constitution allow states to require their electors to vote in accordance with the states popular vote, or are they free to vote their conscience?

One of the cases, from Washington state, was brought on behalf of three of that states 2016 Clinton electors who cast votes for Powell instead; each was fined $1,000 for doing so. (Their lead counsel is Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig, who twice taught me; I later represented him once as my client. We have not discussed this case.) The second case concerns a Colorado elector who was removed for attempting to vote for Kasich rather than the states popular-vote winner, Hillary Clinton.

The electors chief argument is that freedom for electors to vote their conscience is exactly what the Founders intended. Alexander Hamilton justified the Electoral College on the grounds that a small number of persons, selected by their fellow-citizens from the general mass, will be most likely to possess the information and discernment requisite to choose a president, that they would be less inclined to heats and ferments, and ensure the presidency was filled by characters preeminent for ability and virtue. Further, Hamilton argued, the electors would be less vulnerable to being corrupted because they could not be existing federal officeholders or employees, and would be meeting separately in each state rather than convening in the nations capital.

Obviously, things havent worked out this way. Recent history has rejected Hamiltons prediction that independent electors would protect America from presidents who possessed talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity  though, to be sure, thats in part because we have such strong expectations that electors will vote as directed.

But if the court holds that the Framers intended to allow all electors to vote their consciences, I suspect that Americans would not long tolerate a situation in which only 538 people really did choose the president.

The question is: What comes next? And here, the stumbling block is that any solution requires a constitutional amendment, and that in turn means a plan sufficient to garner support from two-thirds of each chamber of Congress as well as ratification by three-quarters of the states.

It is difficult to imagine a bipartisan solution to this very partisan problem. A national popular vote, no matter how common sense it might seem, is unlikely to obtain such supermajority support in a polarized nation, given the perception that it is more likely to support Democratic presidential candidates than the status quo does.

Similarly, why would larger, Democratic-leaning states ratify any restoration of the Electoral College (but with truly bound electors), a system that violates one person, one vote and that disproportionately boosts the power of low-population (and largely, whiter) states?

A stalemate is likely, and I offer no magical solutions here. We can only hope that there comes no future December where we find ourselves with a president-elect chosen by electors in defiance of their states voters. If you thought the reaction to the Bush v. Gore decision was bad 

Adam Bonin is a political law attorney in Philadelphia.
Its easy to get caught up in awards season excitement as the Oscars approach  the glitz and glamour of the red carpet generating global talking points, memes and pub chatter for weeks on end.

But when its really broken down, the Oscars are essentially just a microcosm of Hollywood. Its a depressing fact that films directed by previous winners have more chance of being nominated than those directed by newcomers.

Because of this, the best film in any given year almost never wins the evenings most coveted prize  in fact, its sometimes not even nominated in the first place. Last years ceremony, which saw Parasite take home the top prize, was a rare exception.

Over the decades, there have been countless glaring omissions  films that were nominated but were beaten by far inferior films and classic films that failed to secure a single nomination.

As the 2021 Oscars approach, weve run through 20 brilliant films that you would have expected to have won Best Picture winner  but didnt.

Click through the bellow gallery to see what films made the list

Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Show all 23 1 /23 Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Citizen Kane (1941) Long revered as one of the greatest films ever made, Orson Welles' debut  a film following newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane  was just another nominee back in the day, losing out to How Green Was My Valley. RKO Radio Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture The Searchers (1956) The Searchers may be considered John Ford's greatest film, but it was not treated as such back in the 1950s. In fact, the western starring John Wayne failed to earn a single nomination. Around the World in 80 Days turned out to be more the Academy's cup of tea. RKO Radio Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Vertigo (1958) Not only did Alfred Hitchcock never win an Oscar (save for his memorial award in 1968), but neither did any of his films  one of which is Vertigo, a classic that won Sight & Sound's once-a-decade greatest films of all time poll in 2012. If it had been nominated, it would have faced stiff competition in the form of eventual winner All About Eve. Paramount Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture The Graduate (1967) One of the films that kickstarted the New Hollywood Cinema era, The Graduate may have won director Mike Nichols an Oscar, but it ultimately lost out to Norman Jewison's In the Heat of the Night. United Artists Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi classic remains one of the most influential pieces of cinema there is. The Academy didn't agree. The Academy nominated Kubrick for Best Director and awarded the visual effects in favour of considering 2001 for Best Picture (it didn't even get nominated). That year's winner was Oliver!, the musical by Carol Reed. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Taxi Driver (1976) Despite Taxi Driver's failure to win the main award, its nomination in four categories showed the Academy had good intentions. That All the President's Men and Network also lost out to eventual winner Rocky shows that, ultimately, it never really stood a chance. Columbia Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Apocalypse Now (1979) Francis Ford Coppola's ambitious Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now received a grand total of eight nominations, but only went home with two prizes (for cinematography and sound) losing out to drama Kramer vs. Kramer. United Artists Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Raging Bull (1980) Of all the Oscar blows dealt to Martin Scorsese over the decades, none landed harder than Raging Bull losing out to Robert Redford's weepie Ordinary People, an oversight many consider one of the Academy's most egregious. United Artists Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Blade Runner (1982) Another sci-fi classic overlooked by the Oscars was Blade Runner, which didn't even get nominated in the Best Picture category (Gandhi ended up winning). Ridley Scott's The Martian went on to receive seven nominations in 2017  evidence, perhaps, of the Academy taking responsibility for its past errors. United Artists Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Do the Right Thing (1989) Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing failing to win Best Picture at the 1990 Oscars is one thing  losing out to Driving Miss Daisy is another thing altogether. Universal Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Goodfellas (1990) Having awarded both The Godfather Part I and The Godfather Part II Best Picture in 1972 and 1974 respectively, the Academy seemed destined to appreciate Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. But no  Kevin Costner's directorial debut Dances with Wolves was the most appealing choice for voters. 2012 Getty Images Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Pulp Fiction (1994) New talent on the block Quentin Tarantino's second feature Pulp Fiction won him the coveted Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1994  a success he failed to match back on home turf. While he won an Original Screenplay Oscar, his film was beaten by Forrest Gump... Miramax Films Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture The Shawshank Redemption (1994) ...and it wasn't the only one. Frank Darabont's adaptation of Stephen King's prison-set novella The Shawshank Redemption also fell victim to Robert Zemeckis' Oscar-friendly Forrest Gump. We don't see that film sitting atop the IMDb top 250 though, do we? Getty Images Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Heat (1995) If Heat was released today, there's no way it wouldn't be a Best Picture frontrunner. That it was completely ignored in favour of Braveheart is a huge travesty. Warner Bros Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Fargo (1996) You may think it was remiss of the Academy to shun Fargo, but it did come pretty close to winning, its chances bolstered somewhat by seven nominations and two wins (Actress for Frances McDormand and Original Screenplay for the Coen Brothers). It lost out to The English Patient. Gramercy Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Saving Private Ryan (1998) Having won Best Director five years previous for Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg was strongly expected to take home the top prizes for his Second World War epic. Cue Shakespeare In Love upsetting everybody. Paramount Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture The Social Network (2010) David Fincher's Facebook drama got shunned in favour of British patriotism in an Oscar two-horse race for the ages that ultimately saw The King's Speech crowned winner. Columbia Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) Lynne Ramsay has directed two films that would have been deserving of Best Picture: You Were Never Really Here and this, We Need to Talk About Kevin. It's easy to see why Hollywood was temporarily more charmed by The Artist, but it's clear which film will stand the test of time. Oscilloscope Laboratories Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) It's almost unthinkable to recall that the Coen brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis only scored two Oscar nominations in the cinematography and sound mixing categories, respectively. In the ensuing years, the film has been hailed as one of the greatest of the 2010s, meaning that its no-show at the Oscars will go down as one of the Academy's biggest omissions. Still, it would have had a hard time winning over 12 Years a Slave. CBS Films Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Boyhood (2014) For the 2015 Oscars race, you were either team Birdman or team Boyhood. Richard Linklater's labour of love, shot intermittently over 12 years, ultimately failed to win. Universal Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture American Honey (2016) If there's any justice, Andrea Arnold will one day become an Oscar winner, but in a perfect world, she would have already won for American Honey, a drama deserving of Best Picture if there ever was one. Universal Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Get Out (2017) Horror rarely gets recognised at the Oscars, but Get Out is the closest the genre had come in years. Jordan Peele may have taken home the Best Original Screenplay award, but the stars aligned for Guillermo del Toro's fantasy The Shape of Water instead. Universal Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Roma (2018) Roma was strongly expected to become the first ever foreign language film to win Best Picture. It had everything going for it, including a standout festival run and universal acclaim. But then Green Book snatched its trophy away in a late stage awards season twist that still seems too ridiculous to be true. Netflix

The Oscars take place on 25 April. Find a gallery compiling the films that should never have won an Oscar here.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police are asking for the publics help in their search for a missing teenage girl from Rosebank.

Elyssa Baez, 15, was last seen at a medical clinic on St. Marks Place in Tompkinsville around 7 p.m. Thursday, according to police.

An NYPD spokesman could not say why the girl, who lives on Hylan Boulevard, was at the clinic, but noted that she had no history of mental health issues.

Police described Baez as Hispanic, approximately 5 feet 2 inches and 115 pounds. She was last seen wearing a black jacket with grey fur and carrying a brown hand bag.

Anyone with information in regard to the missing girl is asked to call the NYPDs Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, on Twitter @NYPDTips.

All calls are confidential.
Boeing Co. may be considering another production cut for the 787 passenger jet it assembles at its campus in North Charleston.

The company said in October it would slow production of its 787 Dreamliner from a peak rate of 14 a month to 12 in South Carolina and Washington state.

Now, executives are weighing reducing that number to 10 a month, according to a Friday report from Bloomberg.

Boeing told The Post and Courier it could not confirm the report but provided a statement saying it maintains "a disciplined rate management process taking into account a host of risks and opportunities."

"We will continue to assess the demand environment and make adjustments as appropriate in the future," the company said.

The possible impact on the nearly 7,000 jobs at Boeing's North Charleston operations was unclear for the previously announced rollback to 12 jets a month. That rate was expected to be phased in late this year and last for about two years.

The final assembly of the Dreamliner is split between Boeing's North Charleston plant and a factory near Seattle. The company doesn't break down production rates by location.

Boeing announced it was curtailing 787 production by two per month during its quarterly earnings call in late October. Its next earnings report, which will be released early Wednesday, will be the first under new CEO David Calhoun, who replaced the ousted Dennis Muilenburg on Jan. 13.

During the last earnings call, Muilenburg said that the trade war and the lack of orders from China had "put pressure on the production rate," prompting the cut.

The company currently has an order backlog for the Dreamliner of 520, down 10 compared to late October. That represents about three-and-half years of work at the planned 12-a-month rate for the two plants. A 10-per-month schedule would extend that to about four years and four months.

The Dreamliner was one of just two Boeing jetliners that registered a gain in orders in 2019. Weighed down by cancellations for its 737 Max, which has been grounded for more than 10 months after two fatal crashes, the planemaker's commercial aircraft orders ended the year in the red for the first time in decades.
MONTREAL - Mattel Inc. says the Mega Bloks toy factory it acquired in 2014 will shut down next year, triggering 580 layoffs in Montreal.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/1/2020 (718 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mattel Inc. says the Mega Bloks factory that came into its fold in 2014 will shut down next year, triggering 580 layoffs in Montreal. The Mattel logo at the TTPM 2018 Spring Showcase is pictured in New York City, April 26, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Richard Drew

MONTREAL - Mattel Inc. says the Mega Bloks toy factory it acquired in 2014 will shut down next year, triggering 580 layoffs in Montreal.

Mattel says production of the interlocking plastic bricks for children will be outsourced to facilities in Mexico and China.

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Located in the Montreal neighbourhood of Saint-Laurent, Mattel will begin to scale back production at the 800,000-square-foot plant this fall and shutter its doors in 2021.

Mega Brands joined Mattel in 2014 as part of a $517-million transaction.

The American giant pledged at the time to maintain Mega Brands' Montreal headquarters, founded in 1967.

In 2013, Mega Brands had retained the services of a lobbyist to request about $50 million in financial support in the form of a loan or subsidy from the Quebec government in order to build a new factory.

Mega Brands also invested $10 million in its Montreal factory in 2011 to increase production capacity.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 24, 2020.
(Support Free Thought) -

New York  In the Land of the Free, if you do not pay the State in the form of a permit before you attempt to sell a product or service to a willing customer, you can and will be extorted, kidnapped and caged, with extreme prejudice. While many folks stand behind permits for selling, one permit in New York that has nothing to do with commerce, has garnered the scrutiny of the Free thought Project. If citizens of the state wish to look up at the sky and view the stars at one of New Yorks public parks, they will first have to obtain a Stargazing permit. Seriously.

Light pollution across the state of New York makes it hard for folks in highly populated areas to view the night sky. So, people who wish to gaze upon the stars at night have to drive many miles away to remote areas. Many of these remote areas are located in taxpayer-funded state parks.

In their efforts to squeeze every dime they can from the tax farm, bureaucrats in New York have devised a scheme to extort citizens who wish to use public parks to gaze upon the night sky. This extortion comes in the form of a $35.00 Stargazing Permit. If you are from out of state and wish to gaze upon the night sky from one of these locations that fee jumps to $60.

If you think that you will do anything else besides look at the night sky with this permit, think again. Within the regulations, bureaucrats explicitly point out that the Permit allows after sunset parking for stargazing only, valid January 1  December 31.

But thats not all, if you want to bring your metal detector to any of these parks, theres a permit for that tooits $40 to passively scan the ground in search of lost metal. Seems legit.

When conducting a news search on Google for a stargazing permit, we couldnt find any articles calling out this ridiculous assault on liberty, so we decided to take up that task ourselves. We did find a discussion on Twitter, however, in which Neil deGrasse Tyson even chimed in.

No. Back in the day, you didnt need permission to look up at the sky.  Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 22, 2020

We should also point out the obvious limits this places on underprivileged residents who may have to choose between $35 in groceries versus paying the state to look up at the stars in a public park. While $35 may not seem like that much to some folks, to others its the difference between sleeping with the heat on or freezing. It also serves to drastically limit the imagination and discovery of those who are unable to pay for the permit by disallowing them access to these remote dark areas.

Others are defending the permit in the thread, claiming that it allows people to enter the closed parks after hours. But they are clearly missing the point. If you can enter the park with a permit, then its not closed at all. Its opened to anyone willing to be extorted or who can afford it. Those who are unable to pay the government or choose not to do so for the exact same activity will be arrested and or further extorted.

Now for the irony and blatant statist hypocrisy. If you want to go after dark to look at stars on state land that you paid for through your tax dollars, you have to pay the government more money for a permit. However, if the government wants to take the most sacred land in the state and put a telescope on it to look at the stars, this is fine and dandy. If you try to protest the governments construction of star gazing equipment on your sacred land, you can and will be kidnapped and caged.

Case in point: Mauna Keas summit is the most sacred of all the mountains in Hawaii to many of the indigenous people. In July, when those people showed up to protest the desecration of their land with the Thirty-Meter Telescope, dozens were arrested.

These lands were taken from us, so we have rights to them, Kahookahi Kanuha, an organizer from the Hawaii Unity and Liberation Institute (Huli), a group that opposes construction on Mauna Kea says We have a spiritual connection to them. We have a genealogical connection to them.

Well Kanuha, you didnt have the right permit to claim ownership of the land that was stolen from your people in the 1893, therefore, you are shit out of luck.
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Previously a close friend of Bidens, Graham now regularly suggests that the former vice president forced Ukraine to fire a prosecutor who was investigating Burisma, a charge that has never been proved. Former U.S. and Ukrainian officials have said the prosecutors investigation of Burisma had been dormant. A bipartisan group in Congress hoped that the change in prosecutors backed by Biden and others would lead to more aggressive anti-corruption investigations, punctuated by a February 2016 letter to Poroshenko from three Senate Republicans and five Democrats demanding a shake-up of his prosecutors office.
(Newser)  A New York Police Department officer and his fiancee were charged with second-degree murder Friday after the transit officer's 8-year-old son was allegedly left in an unheated, unfinished garage overnight and froze to death. Michael Valva, 40, and Angela Pollina, 42, have both pleaded not guilty. As NBC News and CNN report, Valva called 911 the morning of Jan. 17 to report his son Thomas had fallen in the driveway and lost consciousness while waiting for the school bus, and Suffolk County officers responded to the Long Island home to find Valva performing CPR on the boy in the basement of the home. His body temperature was 76 degrees, and upon investigating, a police rep says, "We ... determined that Thomas was never in the driveway that morning, and he suffered head and facial injuries that were not consistent with his father's account."

story continues below

The boy was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, and the medical examiner ruled the cause of death homicide with a major contributing factor of hypothermia. A county source tells the New York Post Valva allegedly got angry with Thomas the night before his death, beat him, and left him in the garage as punishment. The temperature overnight was 19 degrees. Valva and Pollina even allegedly mocked the boy for how cold he was before he died, the Post reports. The couple also had custody of Valva's two other sons and Pollina's three daughters, and police say they've found evidence all the children were closely monitored and some of them were deprived of food and punished severely. Valva's ex-wife, who lost custody of her three boys in 2017, tells the Post and NBC New York that she knew the couple was abusive and had been trying for years to get help. She documented her allegations on this Twitter account (warning: It's a tough read).
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photos via Getty and Courtesy Abdulrahman Almutairi

A suspected agent of the Saudi government attempted to kidnap a regime critic on American soil, according to the critic and multiple U.S. and foreign sources familiar with the episode. The young Saudi man says the FBI saved him from becoming the next Jamal Khashoggi.

Abdulrahman Almutairi is a 27-year-old comedian and former student at the University of San Diego with a big social-media presence. After Almutairi used social media to criticize the powerful Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman over the October 2018 murder and dismemberment of Washington Post contributor Khashoggi, an unidentified Saudi man accompanied Almutairis father on a flight to collect Almutairi against his will and bring him back to Saudi Arabia, according to The Daily Beasts sources.

The Saudi government realized I was a threat, Almutairi told The Daily Beast, revealing for the first time an ordeal that might have culminated in a whole new crisis: the kidnapping and rendition of a Saudi dissenter on American soil. Only timely intervention from the FBI broke up the plot, two sources say.

If I go back to Saudi Arabia, Almutairi said, Ill be killed in the airport.

Agnes Callamard, the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, has investigated the Khashoggi killing. She drew attention this week by calling for an inquiry into allegations that MBS hacked Jeff Bezos phone. Callamard is familiar with Almutairis story, although they havent spoken, and considers it credible. She told The Daily Beast that its part of an ominous trend, particularly now that MBS has skated for Khashoggis murder.

There is a pattern of the Saudi authorities, particularly over the last two years, targeting individualshigh-profile people with a big Saudi audience, Callamard said, either because theyre critical of MBS or the government or not just for what they say but what they dont say, if theyre insufficiently supportive.

Almutairi has previously spoken about the harassment he received as a critic of the Saudi government, most prominently to PBS Nick Shifrin, including a mysterious phone call from a Saudi trying to get Almutairi to come home for a family reunion. But he has not, until now, revealed the attempted capture. I couldnt afford to speak out earlier, my situation was so intense, and all I wanted was to get out of it, he explained. But over a year later, Almutairi doesnt speak with his family, lives for protracted stretches out of his car, and generally fears for his life.

Story continues

On his YouTube channels, which have 200,000 subscribers between them, and his Instagram, where he has 208,000 followers, hes posting through it. About the only positive thing Almutairi sees emerging from the ordeal was his social-media rebirth as a comedian, something he started as a response to the horror show in his mentions. But the harassment may have worked. In the new year, Almutairi told The Daily Beast, hes going to stop speaking out against the Saudi government.

My criticism against the government wont do anything. Itll just turn more people against me, Almutairi said. Im trying not to use the term political dissident. I want to influence my country for the better.

That desire prompted Almutairi to cheer when MBS took power.

As he saw it, the sclerotic, wealth-soaked royal court finally had a dynamic, young reformer on the rise. MBS was out to fix what was wrong with the country: women forbidden to drive, an economy driven entirely by oil extraction. While Almutairi studied finance and marketing at the University of San Diego, he posted videos on his Snapchat and Twitter accounts boosting MBS to his growing legion of followers.

With his expenses paid by the Saudis stipend for subjects education abroad, Almutairis life online was about promoting reform within his home country, the sort of liberalization MBS touted. A frequent topic was the rigidity of the Saudi religious establishment, whose dark portrayal of America didnt match the place he saw up close. But his growing audienceone of his recent Arabic-language videos has 842,000 viewsbecame a problem for Riyadh.

The Real Reasons Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Wanted Khashoggi Dead or Alive

On Oct. 2, 2018, agents of Saudi Arabia murdered and dismembered journalist Khashoggi in Istanbul, a crime the CIA assessed MBS ordered.

The brazenness and brutality of the Khashoggi slaying made it one of the biggest stories in the world. Yet for all the damage it momentarily did to the reputation of a prince who melted the heart of New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, MBS quickly saw to it that the crime had no lasting impact. The Trump administration, with which he had cultivated close ties, quickly spared him from consequences. On Oct. 11, 2018, barely a week after Khashoggis murder, Trump said that sanctioning Saudi weapons purchases from the U.S. would be a self-inflicted economic wound.

MBS denied involvementand still does. And at first Almutairi believed him. I was in denial, Almutairi remembered. MBS would never do an atrocity like that. But the accruing reports tying the murder closer and closer to MBS prompted him first to break with his political hero, then to post about his disillusionmentand soon after to denounce MBS online.

Death threats quickly piled into his mentions and onto his messaging apps. One picture sent to him contained a beheaded body. Another showed a flayed, severed head. You will eat a bullet, he said someone texted him, seemingly a reference to MBS nickname, the Father of Bullets. They say Im supported by the Muslim BrotherhoodIm openly agnostic! Almutairi said.

More disturbing to him was a different kind of text, one that he still receives. I get come home messages daily, Almutairi said. Whether the Saudi government is behind them, he cant know, but his suspicion lingers.

Then someone he describes only as a source in Saudi Arabia told him that his life was in dangerand that living in California did not mean he was safe. It prompted Almutairi to call the police during the week of Oct. 25, 2018.

What happened next he would only learn from an FBI official he said he spoke with: Without Almutairis knowledge, his father flew to Los Angeles, and he wasnt alone. Accompanying his father was someone Almutairi does not know.

But they never arrived in San Diego. The FBI was waiting for them at LAX. According to two additional sources familiar with the incident, the FBI intercepted both the senior Almutairi and the unidentified Saudi man and sent them back on a subsequent flight. The FBI declined to comment for this story.

Almutairi said the FBI debriefed him after the airport interception. I was shown a picture of someone who came with my dad, who I didnt recognize, he said. Almutairi has no way of verifying it, but he believes the man worked for the Saudi royal court.

In July, Middle East Eyes Dania Akkad first reported that in November 2018, a timeline consistent with Almutairis story, the FBI met with at least four Saudi dissidents in the U.S. to warn them of threats to their lives emanating from the kingdom. The dissidents were not named, but one of them, Akkad reported, runs a popular YouTube channel critical of the Saudi government.

The Saudi embassy in Washington did not respond to The Daily Beasts requests for comment by press time.

The near-miss was not the end of the harassment. Almutairi deleted his Twitter because of the non-stop threats. As he previously told PBS, he was forced to drop out of school shortly before he was to graduate after the Saudis cut off his scholarship, his $1,800 monthly allowance, and his health insurance. He was without a way to afford his rent, his bills, and his medications. Almutairi took restaurant work, but the low pay required him to visit food pantries. For three weeks he was homeless.

I remember Thanksgiving 2018, he recalls. I was homeless, sleeping at the beach. I saw everyone with their families and stuff and it almost killed me, psychologically, he said. Its really hard to process, suffering for what I had said. I wish Saudis would live like Americans. We deserve a better life.

These days, Almutairi doesnt speak to most of his family, out of fear that hell put them in danger. They received messages saying you have to get him to stop making his MBS-critical videos. He is sure that his father was coerced into boarding the plane to Los Angeles.

Saudi Crown Prince Appeared to Taunt Jeff Bezos Over Secret Affair Before Enquirer Expose

Abduction is part and parcel of the way the Saudi government has operated for many years, said Callamard, the UN special rapporteur. But until MBS became crown prince two years ago, most victims were part of the royal family. It appears now that their kidnapping attempts are expanding. Being a Saudi dissident living in America is no protection, she warned: Absolutely, they will keep trying to lure people in the United States. The only reason why they havent succeeded is because the U.S. intelligence agencies are doing their job.

The impunity with which MBS acts also follows a long pattern. As defense minister, he launched a devastating war in neighboring Yemenwith the active cooperation of the Obama administrationthat has decimated the country. He seized power in the kingdom in a move applauded by Friedman and other prominent commentators.

On Tuesday, The Guardian reported that before the Khashoggi murder, MBS sent Jeff Bezos a malware-tainted video file over WhatsApp to extract potential blackmail material from the richest man in the worldwho happens to own the newspaper that Khashoggi worked for and which has crusaded for accountability on the execution. After the murder, and the Posts aggressive reporting, MBS messaged Bezos private and confidential information about Mr. Bezos personal life that was not available from public sources, according to UN officials. The MBS message came months before the National Enquirerwhose publisher once issued an MBS-boosting magazinereported that Bezos was having an affair. All that corroborated a March 2019 op-ed published in The Daily Beast from Bezos security aide Gavin de Becker alleging that the Saudis had access to Bezos phone, and gained private information.

At a time when Saudi Arabia was supposedly investigating the killing of Mr. Khashoggi, and prosecuting those it deemed responsible, it was clandestinely waging a massive online campaign against Mr. Bezos and Amazon targeting him principally as the owner of The Washington Post, Callamard and her UN colleague David Kaye said in a Wednesday statement. Saudi Arabias U.S. embassy called allegations that the kingdom was behind the hack absurd.

These days, Almutairi focuses on his two YouTube channels and his Instagram account. I use comedy to convey positive thoughts and empower young Saudis, he said. I think Im a living example: I was once homeless, now Im not, and Im starting two companies in California. My story, especially to people who saw it happening on social media, can be inspiring to a lot of Saudis.

But his vlogs are pivoting away from Saudi politics in the new year. Without school, Almutairi is focusing on his comedy. In March, he plans on launching a YouTube show called America on Wheels, which he envisions as a conversational comedy filmed in his car that introduces a Saudi audience to young Americans and their issues. It sounds like if Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee operated as a tacit rebuke to the Saudi religious establishment. Hes also applying to film school at USC.

My message to the American people, he said over text, please dont brush the Saudi people with the same brush you use with MBS. We have no choice but to nod our heads and agree, he is a dictator.

But even his comedy contains limits set by his ordeal. He recently passed on an offer to tell jokes in Saudi-allied Dubai. The UAE? Nah, bro, he said.

And while Almutairi may have given up commenting on MBS on social media, that has not left him feeling any safer. Even in sunny California, he constantly wonders what might be coming for him around the next corner, since the threats keep popping up on his phone. Some say things like well pay someone to kill you. Itll look like an accident in L.A., Almutairi said. Nonchalantly, he added, I expect that to happen at any moment.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Loftis Middle School will recognize students for academic achievement and perfect attendance on Jan. 30 at 12:45 p.m. with the biannual Renaissance Program.

This year marks a special occasion for Loftis as this event begins the celebration for the Loftis Silver Anniversary.

"For 25 years Loftis Middle School has topped the list for its academic achievement and brings the namesake, Don Loftis, and first principal, Rick Smith, to address the student body," officials said. "Loftis invites all parents to sit with their student during this event. Loftis alumni will be recognized as a part of the celebration."

In the following week on Feb. 5, faculty, past and present, will celebrate with a Faculty Reunion and conclude with a Naming of the Fields and The Heart of the Cougar ceremony.

For more information, contact Principal Gatlin or Ansley Davis, Silver Celebration coordinator, at 423-843-4749.
Ratana: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has given daughter Neve a rare public outing and taste of celebrity status at the year's first major political event.

Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford, 18 months, was exceptionally well behaved in Ratana, North Island, on Friday, enjoying cuddles from her dad Clarke Gayford in the back row of seating while her mother, front and centre, waited to address those assembled.

Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford, centre, networks with dad and NZ first bloke Clarke Gayford, right, during a day out in Ratana, New Zealand. Credit:AAP

The playful toddler who was wearing a blue and white spotted dress and a pink sun hat was wide-eyed as she took in the events, which included a march alongside a brass band, as well as traditional singing and dancing.

Neve made headlines last year when Ardern took the then three-month-old to the United Nations, becoming the first world leader to attend the General Assembly with a newborn baby. Ardern gave birth in office in 2018, joining former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto as the only two world leaders to do so.
LONDON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven

Mnuchin said he was optimistic about the potential for a trade

deal between the United States and Britain, and there was a

focus on getting it done this year.

"I'm quite optimistic," Mnuchin said at an event held at the

Chatham House think tank in London.

"We're focused on trying to get this done this year because

we think it's important to both of us."

(Reporting by William Schomberg and Elizabeth Howcroft, writing

by Sarah Young; editing by David Evans)
WASHINGTON, D.C.  When the group of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Catholic Church members reached the top of Capitol Hill, Jill Driscoll turned and looked behind her.

"It was just people as far as you can see," said Driscoll, a lifelong Catholic who attended with her parents and fourth grade son.

The annual March for Life was held on Friday in Washington, D.C., and for the first time, a sitting president attended the march. In his remarks, President Donald Trump called it "a profound honor" to speak at the rally.

Today as president of the United States, I am truly proud to stand with you, Trump said. Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House.

This year's theme was "Life Empower: Pro-Life is Pro-Woman."

"Life is the most important thing we have," said the Rev. Steven Arisman, pastor of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit. "It's not just a trip. It's a pilgrimage. We come to witness and offer ourselves in the struggle of sleeping on a bus and walking a bunch and the difficulties that come with an event like this, the intercession and graces to end abortion."

The reason for attending in person, he said, is so nobody feels they are alone in the fight for life.

"We pray for the end of abortion, for life, and for women in these difficult situations," he said.

His group did not hear the speakers, he said, because they held Mass instead and prayed. Bishop Thomas Paprocki, bishop of the Diocese of Springfield, was also in attendance and spoke at the Mass to the group of almost 500 Central Illinois Catholics.

"The march is an amazing experience and chance to speak out against abortion," said Rhiannon Marshall, 15, a member of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit.

Driscoll said she had grown up participating in anti-abortion events with her parents and it was particularly meaningful to her that she was able to attend the march with her parents and her own child.

"Being raised in a Catholic family, I was always brought up that life is sacred and special from conception until natural death," she said. "It's how my husband and I have raised our children, and it's powerful to be part of the march, surrounded by so many people who support keeping life sacred, and joyful about being together and celebrating that pro-lie feeling and the overall good feeling here today."

Trump during his remarks also called on Congress to take action to limit abortion late in pregnancy and referenced legislation that Republicans say would protect infants born after attempted abortions.

The unborn have never had a stronger defender in the White House, he said. Young people are the heart of the March for Life and its your generation that is making America the pro-family, pro-life nation.

Guests onstage with Trump included GOP Sens. James Lankford of Oklahoma and Mike Lee of Utah; and Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List.

Lets go for the win and hear your pro-life voices heard in November, said Dannenfelser, who also co-chairs Trumps new anti-abortion campaign coalition.

Other speakers included House Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana and New Jersey GOP Rep. Christopher H. Smith.

In 2013, Barack Obama became the first president to address Planned Parenthoods annual conference, Scalise said to boos and jeers from the crowd. Today, Donald Trump became the first president to address the March for Life. Dont tell me elections dont have consequences. You know whats at stake.

Scalise also emphasized the legislation referenced by Trump that Republicans say would protect infants who are born during attempted abortions.

The day and week of the annual march are always marked by abortion policy pushes.

The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights announced Friday morning that it would issue a notice of violation to the state of California related to its mandated insurance coverage for abortions.

OCR Director Roger Severino, in a call with reporters, said federal officials had received two complaints that the state was violating an annual policy rider known as the Weldon amendment, which prohibits states that receive federal funds from discriminating against plans and facilities that do not cover abortion.

March attendees began streaming onto the Mall early Friday morning, many holding signs with slogans like MAKE UNBORN BABIES GREAT AGAIN!" and I VOTE PRO-LIFE FIRST."

Vice President Mike Pence also spoke to the crowd Friday via a video message recorded in Rome, where he met with Pope Francis in the Vatican.

Today is also a day of progress and a day of celebration, he said. Life is winning in America again.

CQ Roll Call contributed to this report.

PHOTOS: March for Life in Washington

Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982. Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter

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Jaipur:

Former union minister Yashwant Sinha on Friday attended a rally against CAA, NRC and NPR held here by various organisations. Addressing the members at Shahid Smarak, Sinha said the government should withdraw CAA as it was unconstitutional.

He said protests were taking place across the country against the unconstitutional move of the government.

The rally convener Sawai Singh alleged the central government was trying to create a divide between Hindus and Muslims which will not be tolerated.

A large number of people attended the rally which began from Shahid Smarak to Raj Bhavan.

After the rally concluded, a delegation handed over a representation to a Raj Bhavan official with the demand of withdrawal of CAA.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
We must listen to the concerns of our people without dismissing them. When people see something wrong, there is something wrong. When our people see corruption, it means there is corruption. When our people see that their resources are being stolen by certain people, it means it is happening, and we should listen... - Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa.



Although the scourge of corruption in this country continues to run rampant and unabated, gradually, conspicuously and alarmingly taking firm root, as part of our national heritage, sadly, a myriad of our people are increasingly exhibiting signs of having long resigned themselves to the inevitable existence of this cancer. On the other hand, those of us who still have ethical blood running in our metabolism, must not - under any circumstances - allow this malignant cancer to go unchallenged. No!



possessions



If sanctimonious, virtuous or upright men remain silent in the face and onslaught of evil...it makes pathetic cowards of us. One famous political leader once said about corrupt people: If corrupt people unite among themselves to constitute a force, then honest people must do the same... This is a clarion call to all upright emaSwati: Let us all - from the smallest in status to the greatest - stand up against this evil behemoth.

Let us heed the advice of the often misused and abused slogans of Indzaba yetfu sonkhe and nawe uliphoyisa by those who deviously loot the countrys resources. We need to be vigilant and report all acts of corruption if we want to see this beautiful country developing forward - not backwards. Evil - in whatever form, shape or size it might present itself - of which corruption is one of its worst offshoots, has to and must be exposed, condemned, confronted, attacked and destroyed, lest it completely - like a malignant cancer - destroys and strips us all of whatever semblance of moral fibres left, as well as destroying our former, famous Swati dignity.

We need to ferociously unite together as one and stand up against this dastardly monster before it permanently destroys us all as individuals and as a nation, including the next generation.



As a country, we continue to subtly glorify corruption, looking the other way instead of taking action. We envy the so-called successes of the advocates and practitioners of corruption; such successes manifesting themselves in opulent, material possessions. We strive to emulate them and unwittingly fall into the trap of engaging in ungodly ways of hoarding wealth.



Efforts meant to eradicate this nefarious act are simply not enough, are lackadaisical, languid and perfunctory.

There is more talk and less action coming from the relevant echelons of power in addressing and taking action against this insidious cancer.

A week or so ago, the Times of Eswatini daily newspaper published an article, headlined Teachers jobs-for-cash allegations at TSC. It reported that, the high number of graduates and lack of job opportunities has resulted in desperate teachers allegedly being made to pay for posts... This is preposterous and unbelievable!



Teachers, according to the article, are allegedly demanded to pay, as bribes, various amounts of large cash which range from a mouthwatering E3 000 to E5 000, in return for employment, temporary contract renewal, permanent transfers and promotions!



If true - and all indications are to the effect that it is - then, this is one of the vilest of acts, ever. Interviewed about these serious allegations of bribery, the Chairman of the Teaching Service Commission (TSC), Simanga Mamba, concurred that he, according to the article, had personally received several complaints from some potential teachers, reporting that some officers in the ministry had demanded bribes and instructed some of them (teachers) to pay them through Mobile Money. In my opinion, he went on to put up a not-so-convincing reassurance (presumably doing damage control) contained in a memo issued, directed to members of the TSC Secretariat who shall be implicated in any syndicate that they shall be dealt with in terms of the law... Our expectations as a public which is gatvol, upset and tired of corruption in this country, are to the effect that the TSC Chairman should have put it in no uncertain terms that these allegations will be vigorously and with concerted determination, investigated and that any officer implicated, be dealt with according to the laws of the country.

punishment

My take is that - if I read the article correctly - those who have been engaging for years (it is an open secret that there is allegedly a lot of rot which has been taking place in the hiring of teachers) in this diabolical and inordinate act, should not go scot-free without being hauled before the law to account for their iniquity. I can bet you that they are living comfortable lives through imali yetinyembeti! The million Dollar question is: is that not condoning corruption? For Petes sake! A punishable by law crime has allegedly been committed here and someone has to be called to account! On second thought, our country is the only country this side of the equator which seemingly condones and rewards corruption. No wonder the act is performed so brazenly!

Just as South Africas President Cyril Ramaphosa is quoted as having said we opine and expect that not only shall the complaints be listened to but ACTION will be taken to bring those implicated, to book. Imploring those affected to merely report corruption to the Anti Corruption Commission, has proven in some past instances to be futile, for various reasons.

promotions

Chief among the reasons is lack of adequate resources like the ACC being understaffed...or cowering in fear of investigating those political heavyweights fingered. The alleged demanding of bribes from potential teachers raises the million Dollar question that bayitsatsaphi lemali lengaka labantfwana bebantfu yeku diza because they are not yet employed? Those that are employed, why are they being allegedly demanded to part with a chunk of their salary when they seek transfers or promotions? It does not bode well for the TSCs credibility that some teachers have allegedly been employed on contract basis for as long as seven years. One worrying factor about the difficulty in curbing corruption is that we - the public, not by design but as a result of desperation, DO promote corruption in one way or another. We fall into the fatal trap of offering both public and private sector employees shukela, lisobho or money for cold drink if any public-serving officer can speed up the processing of a service we require, which legally should be offered free of charge.

Many a times, you and me cannot lie and say that we had never, during desperate moments in our lives, offered service provider personnel some form of innocent sibongo which IS a bribe, in order, for instance, to jump the queue ahead of people we found already queuing, so that we can be served quickly; can we? Such petty, corrupt acts are rampant. Honest people in queues are overtaken, denied a deserved service, by those who are connected or loaded with cash who bribe their way in order to receive fast service.

legitimacy

We have many a times encountered officials in public serving offices who ask you with a straight face that, utangibonga ngani? if he speedily processes your, say, documents. Because of the urgency of the situation, we give in and thus perpetuate this vile practice!

Remember, corrupt acts start small, gradually becoming bolder and eventually balloon into grand corruption. Some public service personnel have even bought cars or built opulent mansions, allegedly through illicit proceeds of corruption. Others have sent their offspring to prestigious schools in or outside the country through the unethical acts of corruption. Few, if any, public serving officials are immune from the tentacles of corruption. According to Wikipedia.org more generally, corruption erodes the institutional capacity of government if procedures are disregarded, resources are siphoned off, and public offices are bought and sold.
On the evening of January 23, Cleveland Public Library (CPL) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 1199 reached a tentative agreement covering roughly 400 librarians, assistants and custodians, potentially averting a strike. The agreement was reached two days after the SEIU issued a 10-day strike notice announcing a walkout at noon on February 4.

Anthony Caldwell, an SEIU 1199 spokesperson, in an email to 3News explained, The details of the tentative agreement shall remain confidential until all bargaining unit members have a chance to review and vote on the agreement on Wednesday, January 29th.

Cleveland Public Librarys central location

If ratified by the members of the SEIU District 1199 next week, the agreement will take effect immediately and a strike will be adverted.

Many library workers who spoke with reporters from the World Socialist Web Site said that they had been kept in the dark about the details of the tentative agreement, and had been told that they would only receive more information during the contract vote itself next week.

While the details are being kept under wraps, the fact that the SEIU is forcing workers to vote before they have had adequate time to study the contract is the clearest sign that the deal is a sellout. This is a time-tested strategy which the unions employ to slip past unpopular concessions under the noses of workersincluding last years contract at Fiat Chrysler.

Library workers have been working without a contract since the previous three-year contract expired on December 31. If workers reject the tentative agreement and the strike goes forward it will be the first strike of library workers since 2004, when the SEIU called a token one-day strike.

On January 8, 300 library workers participated in a strike authorization vote held by the SEIU, with 92 percent voting in favor. The vote is a reflection of the determination of workers to fight back against concessions and social inequality. This finds an egregious expression within the CPL system, where the library administration initially proposed a mere 1.5 percent raise for workerswho have already experienced a five-year wage freeze and the introduction of furlough days in 2009.

In comparison, CPL executive director and CEO Felton Thomas Jr. saw his salary rise from $184,000 to $220,000 after signing a new employment agreement at the start of the year. He also received a $10,000 bonus and a five percent annual pay increase. Eleven top managers have salaries between $119,000 and $143,000, according to a report from Fox 8.

Brian, a CPL worker with 22 years of experience, told the WSWS, Staffing is really bad right now. The situation facing childrens librarians, when you have a dozen kids, and it is a lot for one librarian to handle.

I dont think this is a funding issue, either. You can see that we have a budget that has allowed the library to hire new administrative roles, and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to some of them. It is really that there is no money for the workers.

Things are different than they were in 2004. There was no social media back then, but now people know about the situation we are facing and the community supports us.

Local residents denounced the CPL administration over social media after the librarys official twitter account started posting pro-management facts about the conditions facing library workers. One tweet by the librarys account received nearly 100 replies, the vast majority denouncing the use of official CPL social media accounts by management to bolster their position against library workers. Many replies described this as shameful and inappropriate, threatened to unfollow the account and expressed support for the library workers.

The SEIU and the political establishment are also attempting to direct growing opposition to inequality and support for public services back into the safe channels of the Democratic Party. On January 22, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders tweeted, Public libraries are essential to our communities. The workers who provide these vital services deserve adequate staffing and safe working conditions. Im proud to stand in solidarity with the members of @seiu1199wvkyoh as they fight for a fair contract.

The following day, another Democratic presidential candidate, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, tweeted a similar statement. The SEIU 1199 has shared the tweets by Sanders, Buttigieg and another by Ohio Democratic Senator Sandra Williams on social media.

These statements mask the role of the Democratic Party, which like their Republican counterparts have worked to slash wages and transfer funds to the wealthiest segments of society with the full support of the trade unions.

In 2010 Obama issued a two-year wage freeze for roughly 2.1 million federal employees. Despite this, the SEIU nationally became one of his top contributors in the 2012 election, donating almost $70 million in campaign contributions and advertisements. Over eight years the Obama administration oversaw a rapid growth in inequality, with the wealth of the richest 400 Americans nearly doubling from $1.27 trillion in 2009 to $2.34 trillion in 2015.

In Cleveland, four-term Democratic Mayor Frank Jackson has a record of collaborating with Republicans to block even moderate increases in Ohios minimum wage. Recently he has worked to conceal details over negotiations to hand over tens of millions of dollars in incentives to Sherwin-Williams Co., a Fortune 500 company that produces paint and building materials, to keep the companys headquarters in Cuyahoga County. Sherwin-Williams is currently working to fire and replace around 30 janitors nominally represented by SEIU Local 1.

Despite, or rather because of, Jacksons record, SEIU 1199 has not made any reference to him on their website since 2017. The SEIUs attempt to ratify a tentative agreement expresses their concern that a strike of library workers could gain larger support and threaten the Democratic Party establishment.
25.01.2020 LISTEN

The Eastern Regional Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. David Prah, has taken a swipe at the National Executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), describing them as dishonest individuals who want to squeeze some of the stolen monies from the former President, John Mahama when he was in power.

His accusation comes at the back of a leaked Memo from the Organisers of the Anti New Voter Registration Demonstration addressed to the Former President John Mahama, requesting a huge sum of money to organise the demonstration in Kumasi.

This, has, angered the maverick Communicator of the ruling party in the Eastern Region, who has descended heavily on the Organisers which include the Executives of the National Democratic Congress describing their action as thieves stealing from a thief man.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, 23rd January, 2020 in the Eastern Regional Capital, Koforidua, Mr. David Prah, mentioned that the NDC Executives are aware that, these demonstrations are total waste of time and mere rhetorical disturbances but because the ( Organisers) will profit from it financially, they have managed to convince the former President to fund such a useless demonstrations.

He advised the NDC to channel those resources to train party agents to police the registration process to prevent foreigners from registering so that we have a clean Voters Register for the 2020 elections.

Mr. Prah, again called on the people of Ghana to support the massive developmental projects being carried out by the NPP Government such as the One District One Factory, Free SHS, Planting for Food and jobs, NABCO, One Village One Dam, One District One Warehouse, etc. for the betterment of the country.

He cautioned people to disregard the needless and useless Demonstration against the New Voters Register by the NDC and their Cohorts.

He, therefore, challenged the NDC to come out with policy alternative to the numerous policies and programmes that the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo led government has enrolled out for the good people of Ghana, and ignore the wicked propaganda of the NDC since the country cannot get back to the days of Thievery, Cancellation of Allowances, Payments of fake Judgement Debt, Graduates joblessness, Dumsor and Corruption when Mahama was in power.

Mr. David Prah appealed to the good people of Ghana to renew the mandate of the President H. E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party by going out in their numbers to register when the Electoral Commission opens the registration process and vote massively for them to continue with all the good Policies and Programmes for the betterment of the country.
Nebraska doctors are warning that treatments effective against the COVID omicron variant are in such short supply that not all who qualify for them are getting them.
Astronomers have discovered a 'vampire' star in the midst of a feeding frenzy, with the help of an automated program that is sifting through archived data from the decommissioned Kepler Space Telescope.

The new program acts as a detective to find clues of very fast, mysterious explosions in the universe.

Lead researcher Ryan Ridden-Harper said the program found a dwarf nova, which comprises a white dwarf -- the dense remains of a star, something our Sun will be in billions of years -- gorging on a brown dwarf companion.

The brown dwarf, which is 10 times less massive, is a failed star resembling a planet.

"The rare event we found was a super-outburst from the dwarf nova, which can be thought of like a vampire star system," said Mr. Ridden-Harper, who conducted the study as part of his Ph.D. at The Australian National University (ANU).

"The incredible data from Kepler reveals a 30-day period during which the dwarf nova rapidly became 1,600 times brighter before dimming quickly and gradually returning to its normal brightness," Ridden continued.

The spike in brightness was caused by material stripped from the brown dwarf that is being coiled around the white dwarf in a disk. That disk reached up to 11,700 degrees Celsius at the peak of the super-outburst.

The program aims to find rare astronomical events that evolve rapidly, over hours or days - such as gamma-ray bursts from core-collapse supernovae, colliding neutron stars or potentially those not seen before through optical telescopes.

"The discovery of this dwarf nova was unexpected since it wasn't what we were searching for, but it provided excellent data and new insights into these vampire star systems," said Mr. Ridden-Harper, who made the discovery in collaboration with colleagues at ANU and the Space Telescope Institute (STScI) and the University of Notre Dame in the United States.

"The next steps for this project are to comb through all Kepler data and extend it to data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, which is known as TESS," Mr. Ridden-Harper said.

He also shared, "This will give us the best understanding of the most rapid explosions in the universe. Along the way, we might discover some rare events that no other telescope could find."

Dr. Brad Tucker, who supervised Mr. Ridden-Harper's work, said the program has extended the use of the Kepler Space Telescope's data to support innovative

"We've used it to see stars as they explode, the secret lives of black holes and now things previously missed -- this vampire star that had been lurking in the darkness of space," said Dr. Tucker from the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
NEW DELHI: Assam Police on Saturday registered an FIR against former JNU student Sharjeel Imam and Shaheen Bagh protest mastermind for his alleged remark that ''Muslims should cut off the entire Northeast from the rest of India."

The FIR against was registered against Imam based on video of his speech.

''The FIR has been lodged against Sharjeel Imam for his speech and inter alia commission of offence under Sections 13 (1) and 18 of the UA (P) ACT read with Section 153A, 153B, and 124A of Indian Penal Code at Guwahati Crime Branch Police Station," GP Singh, Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, said at a press conference.

In a series of videos that went viral on social media, Imam, the chief co-ordinator of Shaheen Bagh protest, can be heard saying, "If we all come together, then we can separate the Northeast from India. If we cannot do it for permanently, then at least for 1-2 months we can do this. It will take the administration at least one month to disperse all of them."

Live TV

"It is our responsibility to cut Assam from India. When this will happen, only then the Centre will listen to us," he says further in the videos.

Responding to this, Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the state government has taken cognizance of this seditious statement and has directed that a case be registered against him.

Vivek Garg, an advocate and RTI activist, has filed a complaint to register an FIR under relevant sections of IPC and the National Security Act against Imam.

Meanwhile, Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Ind Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region, also strongly condemned Sharjeel Imam's statement.

Singh said, ''Today Northeast has become a favourite destination for startups from across the country...The region has come closer to the rest of the country due to constant efforts of govt in the last 5.5 years. I believe, the conspiracy will not be successful because youth of Northeast is aware and intelligent.''

The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

The citizenship law is facing major protests and opposition across the country with some states including West Bengal refusing to implement in their respective states. BJP, on the other hand, is also reaching out to the people in a bid to mobilise support for the newly amended citizenship law and "remove misconceptions created by the opposition".
Eric Adams, holding a picture of his late mother, is sworn in as New York mayor during the New Years celebration in Times Square. (Reuters)

In his first 10 days, Eric Adams has veered between swagger and tragedy, praise and criticism, as he begins leading the nations largest city.
Yemeni troops, allies seize strategic areas east of Sana'a from pro-Hadi forces

Iran Press TV

Friday, 24 January 2020 5:34 PM

Yemeni army forces, backed by allied fighters from the Popular Committees, have reportedly seized strategic areas in the country's capital province of Sana'a from Saudi-backed militiamen loyal to former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

Lebanon-based Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news network, citing Yemeni military sources, reported on Friday that Yemeni soldiers and their allies have managed to wrest control over key areas in the Nihm district, which lies east of the capital Sana'a.

The sources added that the areas cover an expanse of some 3,000 square kilometers, and oversee regions in the neighboring Ma'rib province.

The report added that Yemeni army soldiers and fighters the Popular Committees had taken control of dozens of positions belonging to militants from the al-Qaeda-affiliated Salafist Islah Party.

Also on Friday, three civilians suffered gunshot wounds when Saudi border guards opened fire at residential neighborhoods in the Shada'a district of Yemen's mountainous northwestern province of Sa'ada.

Elsewhere in Yemen's northwestern province of 'Amran, Saudi fighter jets carried out three airstrikes against a number of areas in the Dhi Bin district. There were, however, no immediate reports about possible casualties and the extent of damage caused.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of Hadi back to power and crushing the Ansarullah movement.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives over the past four and a half years.

The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.

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Security has been tightened across Chhattisgarh, particularly in Maoist-affected areas, for the Republic Day celebration on Sunday, police said.

A police official said the Tricolour will hoisted amid heavy security in some one dozen interior villages in insurgency-hit Bastar division for the first time since Independence.

These villages include Potali (Dantewada), Kademeta (Narayanpur), Bodli (Bastar), Kunna-Dabba (Sukma) and Duta (Kanker) of Bastar region, he added.

On Saturday, the Border Security Force (BSF) recovered two IEDs, planted by Naxals, in the forest of Kanker district.

"The IEDs, weighing 2 kg each, were placed beneath a dirt track near Kotri river. They were later destroyed by Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS), an official said.

"High security is being maintained in the entire state mainly in the Bastar division to thwart any Naxal activity during the Republic Day celebrations," a senior official said.

He said security personnel were keeping an eye on suspicious movements near government establishments as well the state border near Bastar.

Maoist pamphlets asking people to stay away from Republic Day celebrations have been found in the region during the last one week.

A state government official said Governor Anusuiya Uikey will hoist the national flag in the morning at the Police Parade ground in Raipur, while Chief Minister Bhupesh will take part in a Republic Day function in Jagdalpur, the headquarter of Bastar district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Despite publics desire for action on climate change, media giant News Corp continues to give space to deniers.

Canberra, Australia  Australias worst-ever bushfires have thrust climate change into the political spotlight, but one of the countrys most powerful media conglomerates continues to deny the links between extreme weather events and climate change: Rupert Murdochs News Corp.

On January 2, following weeks of horrific losses and fatalities, newspapers around the world put Australias bushfires on their front pages.

But in Australia, The Australian  News Corps flagship newspaper  dedicated its front page to a photo of a new years day picnic, and its tabloid Herald Sun relegated the story to page four.

At that point, eight people had died in the bushfires, mass evacuations were underway from Victorias East Gippsland region, and the New South Wales (NSW) south coast had seen whole villages wiped out.

It is now believed that 28 people have died in the bushfires across three states since September 2019. More than a billion animals have been killed, over 2,000 houses lost, and at least 10 million hectares (24.7 million acres) burnt.





News Corps newspapers account for 60 percent of Australias newspaper sales.

The company also owns some of the worlds most influential television channels, including Sky News in Australia and the UK and Fox News in the US. Fox News is US President Donald Trumps favoured television station.

Murdochs papers in Australia are known for their conservatism, and their columnists frequently rage about the threat posed to the country by immigration, Muslims, and increasing recognition of LGBTQ rights.

Australians support action on climate change

The Australians associate editor once said that climate change was not the eras burning issue, and the paper published an article that argued climate change activists were global catastrophists and part of a socialist plot.

The Australian public is largely in support of taking more action on climate change.

According to the 2019 Climate of the Nation survey, 61 per cent of Australians believe that climate change is caused by humans and 64 per cent think the country should have a national target for net zero emissions by 2050.

James Murdoch (right) has criticised his father Ruperts (centre) media company, News Corp, for its editorial views on climate change. James brother, Lachlan (left), meanwhile is known to share their fathers conservative views [File: Leon Neal/AFP]

There is already a strong, broad sentiment in Australia about the increasing importance of reducing emissions, science communicator Ketan Joshi told Al Jazeera earlier this month.

Even James Murdoch, the younger son of the 88-year-old media mogul, publicly criticised News Corp and Fox Corporations coverage of climate change this week via a statement with his wife.

James Murdoch is the former CEO of 21st Century Fox and currently sits on the News Corp board of directors.

[James and Kathryn Murdoch] are particularly disappointed with the ongoing denial of the role of climate change among the news outlets in Australia, given obvious evidence to the contrary, the spokesperson said.

Journalism academic and media expert Margaret Simons believes it is significant that the younger Murdoch has spoken out.

Its rare that the Murdoch family criticise each other in public, she told Al Jazeera. The fact that the came out so strongly is significant and sent a bit of a shockwave through News Corp in Australia.

Conservative views on climate change

Susan Forde, journalism professor at Griffith University in Brisbane, said News Corp has always been very conservative on climate change.

There are many people out there  and we know this from the 2019 federal election  who are very ill-informed, she explained.





They are reading this content and believing it, and they agree with Murdoch that we should be focusing on creating more jobs.

Earlier this month, a News Corp finance manager sent an incendiary email as she resigned that was addressed to chairman Michael Miller and copied to all staff.

I find it unconscionable to continue working for this company, knowing I am contributing to the spread of climate change denial and lies, the woman wrote.

She described the news reports that came out of The Australian, The Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun as irresponsible and dangerous.

The email was reportedly removed from staff inboxes within an hour.

News Corp under pressure

Faced with increasing criticism, The Australian published an editorial on 11 January, denying that it misrepresented the facts on climate change.

The evidence of global warming since the Industrial Revolution is clear, the editorial said, before going on to blame progressive elites for overlooking the hard work of persuasion and coalition-building that is needed on climate change.

News Corp did not respond to requests for comment from Al Jazeera.

Forde of Griffith University has conducted research on media coverage of climate change. She said one problem at News Corp is that its media outlets do not take the reality of climate change as their starting point.





We tend to think that everything is up to editors, but this is clearly not true. The tone set by the owners of media organisations does in fact have a big impact on content, she said.

Former News Corp journalists have also gone on the record about climate change coverage.

In 2019, Rick Morton, at the time employed by The Australian, said We kind of know what the editorial line is at the paper Its not always a Murdoch line; its just that Murdoch hires editors who are very much like him.

Simons. the journalism academic, predicts that the longer the debate continues, there will be more resignations from News Corp journalists.

Some of the Australians best journalists have been leaving [News Corp] in the last 18 months and some have been very vocal about the reasons why, she said.

For any journalist who is early on in their career, theyd have to ask themselves whether they really want to belong to an organisation which is not contributing to a positive fashion to the defining debate of our times.

It will become harder for News Corp to get good journalists to work for them, and this will change the culture.

There have long been concerns about the Murdoch empires domination of the Australian media, which led to a government inquiry in 2011, after a phone hacking scandal at the Murdoch-owned News of the World in the UK.

The review found that existing self-regulation mechanisms were insufficient to ensure accountability by media outlets, and recommended that a News Media Council be established to set journalistic standards.

No-one else is publishing work like News Corp, Forde explained. They argue that its under the guise of were the only ones who are balancing the reporting.

Its part of their political and ideological narrative that natural disasters like bushfires have always happened, and if they admit theyre out of the ordinary, then theyre accepting that climate change is real. So they play it down and employ [writers with] quite extreme views.

With Australias largest activist group GetUp! launching a new anti-Murdoch campaign, asking advertisers to pull out of News Corp, Forde believes that people are slowly becoming more aware of Murdochs influence.

More people are talking about the Murdochracy and the significant impact that he and his organisations are having on debate, as well as the diversity of public debate and the spreading of false information, she said.

Change will probably require an economic threat to Murdochs outlets, however.

Editorial positions would need to change for their views to change, and the direction needs to come from Rupert or Lachlan Murdoch themselves, Forde concluded. They would need to see that theyre losing readers, advertisers or shareholders as a result of their current views for there to be a shift.

Simons agrees change will take time. There was a reshuffle of editors in late 2019, but there has been no sign of an appetite for cultural change, she said.

If anything, it was a reinforcement of the existing culture.
US Democratic House prosecutors concluded their final arguments on Friday at Donald Trump's impeachment trial, arguing the president would continue to abuse his position ahead of the 2020 election unless Congress intervenes to remove him from office.

The wrap-up came as congressional investigators were handed an explosive 2018 recording of Mr Trump ordering the removal of the US ambassador to Ukraine, whose withdrawal a year later has become an issue in the trial.

"He is who he is," Representative Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told senators in the hearing, accusing Mr Trump of putting the US-Ukraine relationship on the line in a way that benefited Russia just so he could take a political "cheap shot" at Joe Biden.

"You cannot leave a man like that in office," Mr Schiff said. "You know it's not going to stop. It's not going to stop unless the Congress does something about it."

The Democratic prosecutors ended their three days of presentations before Republican senators on Friday night.

The president's legal team was expected to start tabling their defence on Saturday morning.

Mr Trump, eyes on the audience beyond the Senate chamber, bemoaned the schedule in a tweet, saying "looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V."

The president is being tried in the Senate after the House impeached him last month, accusing him of abusing his office by asking Ukraine for politically motivated probes of political foe Joe Biden and Mr Biden's son while withholding military aid from a US ally that was at war with bordering Russia.

The second article of impeachment accuses him of obstructing Congress by refusing to turn over documents or allow officials to testify in the House probe.

The drama surrounding the trial took another twist on Friday night when ABC News reported the story about the recording of Mr Trump speaking to a small group of people at an April 2018 dinner at his Washington hotel.

Mr Trump reportedly demanded the removal of US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who was withdrawl from her post a year later.

ABC said a speaker who appears to be Mr Trump says on the recording: "Get rid of her! Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. OK? Do it."

The recording has been provided to congressional investigators by Lev Parnas, an associate of Mr Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Mr Parnas was reportedly among the group speaking with Mr Trump when the recording was made.

Ms Yovanovitch, who was viewed as an obstacle to investigations into Mr Biden and his son Hunter, has said the decision to recall her from her position was based on "unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives" that she was disloyal to Mr Trump.

The recording also appears to contradict the president's statements that he did not know Mr Parnas, a key figure in the investigation.

The Associated Press reported on Friday night that the recording has now been given by Mr Parnas's lawyer to the House Intelligence Committee, whose chairman Mr Schiff is helping lead the impeachment proceedings.

The White House denied any suggestion of presidential wrongdoing.

"Every president in our history has had the right to place people who support his agenda and his policies within his administration," White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said.

Republicans have defended Mr Trump's actions as appropriate and are casting the process as a politically motivated effort to weaken him in his reelection campaign.

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and acquittal is considered likely.

The Senate is heading next week toward a pivotal vote on Democratic demands for testimony from top Trump aides, including acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton who refused to appear before the House.

It would take four Republican senators to join the Democratic minority to seek witnesses, and so far the numbers appear lacking.

"This needs to end," said Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump confidant. He said he does not want to hear from Mr Bolton or the Bidens.

With Chief Justice John Roberts presiding, Friday's arguments opened with Democrats wrapping up their presentation on the first article of impeachment, abuse of power, before turning to the second, obstruction of Congress.

The Democrats relied on the words of the late Republican Senator John McCain to explain to senators why Mr Trump's decision to block the military aid to Ukraine was so "disturbing", as Mr Schiff put it.

It wasn't just a policy dispute, Mr Schiff argued, but "one hell of a Russian intelligence coup" as Mr Trump chased "kooky" theories about Ukraine pushed by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani that benefited Vladimir Putin at US expense.

"This is Trump first. Not America first," Mr Schiff declared.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research showed the public slightly more likely to say the Senate should convict and remove Mr Trump from office than to say it should not, 45% to 40%.

But a sizable percentage, 14%, said they did not know enough to have an opinion.
Boris Johnson is looking to use the threat of high tariffs to raise pressure on the EU, the US and other nations to strike trade deals with the UK.

The PM and his Cabinet discussed gaining 'leverage' in an effort to accelerate trade talks at a meeting this week which could result in taxes of 30 per cent on some types of French cheese and 10 per cent on German cars.

In an EU exit strategy committee meeting held on Thursday, ministers agreed that the tariffs should be put out for consultation.

Boris Johnson is looking to use the threat of high tariffs to raise pressure on the EU, the US and other nations to strike trade deals with the UK

The PM and his Cabinet discussed gaining 'leverage' in an effort to accelerate trade talks at a meeting this week which could result in taxes of 30 per cent on some types of French cheese (left, file photo) and 10 per cent on German cars (right, file photo)

Ministers also agreed to prioritise Japan, US, Australia and New Zealand as 'tier one' countries in negotiations and other countries as 'tier two', according to the Times.

The UK will largely replicate the EU tariff schedule which will be published and lodged at the World Trade Organisation.

Johnson will lay out the negotiating plan in the first week of February, the report added, citing officials from Brussels.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday the US wants to conclude a trade deal with Britain this year.

Steven Mnuchin, the US Treasury Secretary pictured in Davos, Switzerland today, said of a trade deal with the UK: 'We look forward to getting that done this year.'

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the senior ally of Donald Trump said Britain is 'top of the list of trade agreements' which the US administration wants to get in the books.

Describing the UK as 'our number one ally', Mr Mnuchin said the US 'look forward' to concluding an agreement with Downing Street 'this year'.

He said: 'The UK is our number one ally and it would be at the top of the list of trade agreements. We look forward to getting that done this year.'

His comments represent a massive boost for Boris Johnson as the Prime Minister prepares the government for post-Brexit trade talks.

As a member of the European Union the UK is currently barred from negotiating its own trade deals.

But as soon as Britain splits from Brussels on January 31 at 11pm it will be able to pursue its own agreements.

The UK is expected to negotiate a deal with the US at the same time as it discusses one with the EU.

Brexiteers hope the dual talks strategy and the prospect of a swift deal with the US will stop the EU from dragging its feet during talks.

Meanwhile, yesterday it emerged the PM also wants to target a quick trade deal with Japan to show Brussels the UK is ready to move speedily.

The EU must agree a mandate for trade talks with the UK and it can only do that once Britain has left the bloc.

That means the start of negotiations could be delayed until the end of February or even the start of March.

Once the UK leaves the EU at the end of this month the two sides will enter a standstill transition period when the terms of the future partnership will be hammered out.

That transition period will finish in December and Mr Johnson is adamant he will not sanction an extension, insisting the end of the year must be viewed as a hard deadline for a deal to be done.

Mr Mnuchin's comments represent a massive boost to Boris Johnson, pictured in Downing Street today celebrating Chinese New Year, who is hoping the prospect of a swift US trade deal will prompt the EU to also move quickly on a future partnership agreement

But the EU does not believe 11 months is long enough to agree a comprehensive deal, raising the prospect of the transition period ending without a full agreement in place.

If the UK has a trade deal with the US already agreed it would lessen the impact of a chaotic split from the EU at the end of the year and make the bloc more likely to work at pace, Brexiteers have argued.

Mr Mnuchin's intervention came as it was reported the EU has accepted the transition period will not be extended.

A senior official with the bloc said: 'We can assume at this point that the transition period will end on December 31, 2020.'
New Delhi [India], Jan 25 (ANI): A photo of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who has been under detention since August 4, has emerged on the social media and has since caused a sensation thanks to Abdullah's new, drastically changed look.



The usually clean-shaven Omar Abdullah is sporting a greyish-white long beard in the photo which has been shared by countless Twitter users. The source of the photo, however, could not be ascertained.

Omar Abdullah, who has been under preventive detention along with his father and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah since August 4, a day before the Centre announced the scrapping of special status of Jammu and Kashmir by abrogating Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution, is seen smiling in the photo.

While some users appreciated Omar Abdullah's new look, saying he was looking "damn smart" in his new get-up, others sympathised with him with statements like, "Although I have huge political differences with the NC and Omar Abdullah, I cannot but condemn his continuous detention."

This is Abdullah Junior's first photo that has emerged since his detention.

Most of the Twitterati, however, wanted to see the former CM back in action and urged him to not lose hope.

The central government has placed almost all the prominent political leaders of Kashmir from different parties under detention including former chief minister and People's Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti.

However, as part of the move to progressively release detainees in Jammu and Kashmir, the government on January 10 revoked the detention warrants of 26 persons detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA).

The 26 persons whose detention has been revoked are mainstream political activists. They include Rouf Ahmad Dar from Pulwama, Abdul Salam Rather from Baramulla, Mohammad Arif Lone from Pahalgam and Javid Kalas, a resident of Shopian district. (ANI)


New Delhi, Jan 25 : From conservation of Asian elephants to treating thousands of cancer patients at zero cost -- there are several awardees who were on Saturday selected for Padma Shri Award ahead of the 71st Republic Day.

Ravi Kannan, also known Silchar's saviour, is a surgical oncologist from Chennai, who has treated over 70,000 cancer patients free of cost in Barak valley. The treatment includes accommodation, food, employment and spreading awareness.

He is known to have transformed the rural cancer centre into a full-fledged hospital and research centre. He quit his job in Chennai and shifted to Assam with family in 2007 to make healthcare accessible in the Barak valley, where before his intervention, the nearest hospital was 300 km away.

Kushal Knowar Sarma, a veterinarian in Guwahati, has devoted his life to the conservation of Asian elephants. Interestingly, he has not taken a single weekend off in the last 30 years. He is acclaimed for treating more than 700 elephants every year.

He has pioneered research in elephant anesthetics, especially using remote tranquilizing injection technique.

Arunoday Mondal, also known as 'Sunderban ke Sujan' is a doctor who travels six hours every weekend to treat patients in remote Sundarban villages. More than 250 people, 80% of whom are poor, are treated every weekend across a range of treatments from heart to eyes, thyroid, gynaecology & paediatrics.

He also arranges medicines, conducts medical camps and blood donation drives. He set up Sujan Sundarban, a free medical service centre at his residence in Chandanpur after Bengal floods in the year 2000.

The list also includes Yogi Aeron, known as Himalaya's helping hand. He started Helping Hand, Dehradun, and is dedicated to providing medical help to the hill people. He treats over 500 patients free of cost every year. The patients include those suffering from burns or are mauled by animals.

His patients are mostly poor, hill women from remote villages in the Himalayas. He has organized 14 days' camps in remote villages for the last 13 years.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
With India stopping importing refined palm oil from Nepal, the Himalayan nation's top export item, the government has formally asked New Delhi to revoke the ban, Nepal's Commerce and Supplies Secretary Baikuntha Aryal said on Friday.

Though the restriction was aimed at Malaysia, which criticised India's decisions on Kashmir and the new citizenship law, it has also hit Nepal.

Nepal had exported refined palm oil worth over Rs 11 billion to India in the first five months of this fiscal, making it the country's largest export item, Aryal told a group of Indian journalists here at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies.

He said the Nepalese export of refined palm oil was "not disturbing" the Indian market.

Nepali traders have been exporting only in consumer packs of refined palm oil to India and Nepal is not a bulk exporter of the commodity.

"We're not bulk exporters," he said, noting that Nepal exports palm oil in small packages ranging from one kg to 15 kg, which are widely used by Indian households.

As a result of the Indian ban, a lot of the refined palm oil was piling up at border and at the factories in Nepal.

Aryal hoped that India would soon revoke the ban on the import of refined palm oil from Nepal and his ministry was in touch with its Indian counterpart to resolve the issue.

Though Nepal never had competitive or comparative advantage in exporting palm oil to India, rising export of the product in recent months had been playing a crucial role in raising the country's export base and narrow down the trade deficit, The Himalyan Times reported recently.

Nepali traders import crude palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia, process and package it here, before sending it to India. Traders were lured towards this business as India had imposed a duty of 40 per cent on import of palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia, the two largest producers of palm oil in the world.

Nepal's palm oil, on the other hand, was subject to a duty of just six per cent in India under the bilateral trade treaty, the report said.

Meanwhile, India's Petroleum Secretary K K Kutty held talks with Aryal here on Friday on bilateral cooperation in the oil and gas sector.

The meeting was the first since a Joint Working Group was established and both sides held the maiden meeting to enhance cooperation in the oil and gas sectors.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepal counterpart K P Sharma Oli jointly inaugurated the Motihari-Amlekhgunj petroleum product pipeline, the first of its kind in South Asia in September 2019. Though it was aimed at pumping 300kl/hour, Nepal was getting half of this currently, Aryal said.

The Motihari-Amlekhgunj petroleum pipeline is envisaged to put in place a mechanism for assured, continuous and cost-effective supply of petroleum products to Nepal.

Presently, fuel products are being transported from India to Nepal by tankers and trucks, which are costly and time consuming.
Some things never change, like rock bands supplying a steady stream of drama.

Legendary music group Aerosmith was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year at the awards event at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Friday night, and accepting the award on the band's behalf was famous front man Steven Tyler ... along with their recently dismissed longtime drummer, Joey Kramer.

Even though Kramer, 69, managed a brief acceptance speech after Tyler, 71, concluded, and was pictured backstage holding a statuette along with the rest of the band, he was not permitted to play with them onstage during the event.

He feels entitled: Aerosmith was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year on Friday night, and accepting the award was front man Steven Tyler (second from left) along with recently dismissed drummer, Joey Kramer (third from left). Other Aerosmith honorees include Joe Perry (far left), Brad Whitford (second from right) and Tom Hamilton (far right), pictured with Interim President of The Recording Academy, Harvey Mason Jr. (center, in back)

Last Friday, January 17, the drummer filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts alleging that fellow band members Tyler, Joe Perry, 69, Tom Hamilton, 68, and Brad Whitford, 67, did not allow him to rejoin the group after a recent temporary disability, according to an article this past Tuesday by TMZ.

Kramer, after suffering minor injuries in spring 2019, claimed that when he was ready to return, Aerosmith asked him to audition to prove he could 'play at an appropriate level' despite other band members never having to audition following an absence.

And when the Bronx, New York native finally auditioned earlier this month, Aerosmith did not allow him to return.

On Friday night, Joey was not the drummer onstage when the band performed during the MusiCares award event  even though he did come onstage to accept the trophy.

That's not Joey: Even though Kramer managed a brief acceptance speech after Tyler concluded, he was not permitted to play with them onstage during the event; Tyler and Perry seen here with a replacement drummer

Happier times: Kramer is a founding member of Aerosmith; seen here with Tyler at a press conference in Moscow, Russia in 2015

He will also be barred from performing with Aerosmith at the upcoming Grammy Awards on Sunday night, but will most likely attend music's biggest night.

In a previous statement to TMZ from Aerosmith, the band said, 'Given his decisions [to bring a lawsuit against the band] he is unfortunately unable to perform but of course we have invited him to be with us for both the Grammys and our MusiCares honor. We are bonded together by much more than our time on stage.'

Kramer has been credited with coming up with the band's name two years before it was formed back in 1970, in Boston.

However the band now cites the fact that there is not ample time for Kramer to rehearse with the band in preparation for these big performances.

'Being prohibited from playing with a band that I have given 50 years of my life to supporting, is beyond devastating. This is not about money. I am being deprived of the opportunity to be recognized along with my peers, for our collective, lifetime contributions to the music industry. Neither the MusiCares' Person of the Year Award nor the Grammys' Lifetime Achievement honors can ever be repeated,' Kramer told TMZ.

No Joey: Several musicians took the stage at MusiCares on Friday night, including Alice Cooper and even Johnny Depp, but Kramer was nowhere to be found

Legendary crooner: Tyler, along with the other members of the band, expressed through their lawyers that they felt Kramer was not up to par for performing and would have needed additional time to properly rehearse

'I hope our fans can understand that all I'm trying to do is get back to playing with the band that they love  and that's Aerosmith with all five original members. The greatest magic and success of Aerosmith happens when all the band's founding members are together in the house,' he continued.

He concluded: 'To be removed from my rightful place on stage to celebrate our success  a success that acknowledges my own life's work, is just plain wrong.'

Kramer's legal team made a request Monday for a judge to allow him to rehearse with Aerosmith.

However, as of Wednesday, that request was denied.

Miffed: 'Being prohibited from playing with a band that I have given 50 years of my life to supporting, is beyond devastating' Kramer said in a statement; seen here playing with the band last February

Aerosmith will perform a medley of their hit songs Sunday at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California.

The four-time Grammy winners played as the MusiCares Person of the Year Friday in recognition of their philanthropic efforts over five decades and their impact on American music history.

Aerosmith has an ongoing concert residency Deuces Are Wild in Las Vegas that will end on June 4.
T he Labour Party has reportedly seen a membership surge amid its leadership race.

Constituency Labour parties (CLPs) have reported rises in local membership, according to BBC Twos Newsnight.

It comes amid the Labour leadership race, which members will be able to vote in on February 21.

Membership has gone up by 1,000 in Sir Keir Starmer's CLP / PA Wire/PA Images

The average membership increase was 20 per cent and in Hammersmith, 413 members have joined in a single month and in Bury North 202 more people have signed up, according to the BBC.

In other locations Hove, East Sussex, has 477 more, up 21 per cent, Richmond, south-west London, now has 350 new members, up 30 percent and Exeter has seen a 25 per cent increase with 300 additional members.

BBC Newsnight has been told that the CLP of Sir Starmer has risen by a third with 1,000 new members.

Labour has experienced a surge in membership since the general election / AFP via Getty Images

Candidates are required to have won the nomination of three Labour affiliates, including at least two unions, which amount to at least 5 percent of affiliate members.

The only other route on to the ballot is by receiving nominations from at least 5 percent of constituency Labour parties (CLPs).

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer and Wigan MP Lisa Nandy have already made it through the nomination process, and Ms Long-Bailey is widely expected to join them in the coming weeks.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry also hopes to be in the final stage of the contest.

Yesterday, Labour announced it had cancelled its leadership hustings in Leeds on Saturday after Sir Keir pulled out as his mother-in-law is critically ill in hospital.

He said on Thursday that he was suspending campaigning after his mother-in-law was involved in a serious accident.

General secretary Jennie Formby said that to ensure fairness to all the candidates, the partys procedures committee had agreed Saturdays hustings should not now go ahead.
Theres a lot going on when it comes to the Duggar family. Thanks to TLCs Counting On, we get to keep up with Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar along with many of their adult children. But the show doesnt feature everyone  and we cant forget that Josh Duggar, the most infamous of Jim Bob and Michelles kids, is no longer allowed on the show due to scandals of the past.

While Josh does his best to stay out of the limelight, his wife, Anna, is still very present on social media. She often shares photos and commentary about her six children, and she also comments on other Duggar family members Instagram photos.

Recently, Anna took to Joy-Anna Duggars Instagram to tell her how much she adores Joy-Annas marriage to husband Austin Forsyth. Heres what Anna wrote.

Josh Duggar is causing controversy after Homeland Security investigators visited his business

Anna Duggar and Josh Duggar pose during the 42nd annual Conservative Political Action Conference | Kris Connor/Getty Images

While Duggar followers likely know a little something about all of Jim Bob and Michelles adult kids, Josh is certainly the most well-known and controversial. Back in 2015, he was accused of molesting five young women, two of whom are his sisters. The events allegedly occurred in 2002 and were brought to light over a decade later, which certainly caused marital strife between Josh and Anna, who married in 2008.

While the sexual abuse scandal broke in 2015, Josh hasnt been scandal-free since then. In late 2019, Fox News reports Homeland Security agents visited Joshs car dealership in Arkansas.

Its unclear exactly what was being investigated, but since it was Josh, it brought his past wrongdoings back into the light. And while the Duggars took to their family Instagram to state Homeland Security wasnt on their property, they failed to mention that it was Josh who was being investigated instead of the entire family.

Fans wonder if Josh and Anna have marital troubles

With so many eyes on Josh, its suspected that his marriage to Anna could be suffering. However, they worked to rebuild their relationship and trust after the 2015 scandal. But that was far from the only hurdle the couple jumped. Josh also admitted to having accounts on the cheating website, Ashley Madison, and an addiction to pornography.

No matter what, Anna stayed by Joshs side. And the couple just welcomed their sixth baby together in November 2019, showing that theyre still committed to each other and to growing their family.

But that doesnt mean its all uphill from here. On Josh and Annas wedding anniversary day, Anna posted a photo from the day they got married. And she included a caption about the shadows of sorrow she and Josh have walked through.

Anna just commented on Joy-Anna Duggars seemingly happy marriage

Were not sure how often Anna sees her in-laws, but she does make a habit out of publicly commenting on their Instagram posts. And Anna recently wrote on Joy-Annas photo of her with her husband, Austin Forsyth.

The way you both adore each other is so sweet, you are such a beautiful couple! Anna commented.

Were sure Anna is being genuine with her comment. But could it also showcase a sense of longing for a loving, easy-going marriage of her own? Were not sure  but Reddit users also saw the comment and noticed that Joy-Anna and Austin appear to be one of the most relaxed and happy couples on Counting On.

As one Reddit user said of Joy-Anna, Her face is so relaxed compared to her sisters. It shows. It seems the same cant be said for Anna.

Were hoping Anna and Josh have improved their marriage greatly since 2015 and are very much in love as they care for their six kids. But time reveals all!

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Missoulas business scene is rockin and the Missoulian is joining with key economic players in our city to capture that energy with a new quarterly business publication.

Missoula Business reports on emerging trends and goes beyond the numbers to report on the insights and drive of the people leading Missoula forward.

Missoula Business provides meaningful stories that inspire, challenge and educate. By telling the stories of our vibrant business community, coverage serves as a catalyst for individuals and companies looking to relocate, expand and connect with the greater Missoula business community.

Months in the planning, this first issue looks at the rapid growth of Missoula and views from local business leaders about what our community must do to ensure all residents benefit from that growth. Find this issue inserted in your Sunday print Missoulian and soon in our e-edition, and read the stories on Missoulian.com.

In each issue of Missoula Business you will find:

An in-depth profile of a key business leader in our community. This issue offers the perspective of Natasha Prinzing Jones, a Missoula attorney who sits on the Missoula Redevelopment Agency Board, about the role of tax incremental financing in Missoulas economic development.

A look at the goals and strategies behind a new business on the local scene. This time, Melissa and Reed Mooney, owners of the popular local restaurant The Keep, tell why they took the entrepreneurial plunge to launch 1889, a completely new style of restaurant in the historic Missoula Mercantile.

A sneak peek at new developments underway in our "In the works" feature and a snapshot of key economic indicators in our market.

A focus on a key industry in our town. In this issue we talk with Mindy Palmer of Berkshire Hathaway about her unique marketing approach as a real estate agent in Missoulas booming residential market.

One reason Missoula stands apart from other similar-size cities is because its business leaders dont just point fingers at local challenges, they work to be a force in solving those problems. In every issue of Missoula Business, our "Giving back" feature will spotlight a local business leader or business making a difference. This time we talk with Clearwater Credit Union CEO Jack Lawson about how his organization has been a force in helping nonprofit organizations meet local needs.

As I said earlier, Missoula Business is much more than just the efforts of the Missoulian. As we planned this publication, we reached out to local organizations, such as the Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce, to help shape and contribute to Missoula Business. The Missoula Chamber in this issue discusses a major move forward in the push for more affordable child care, an issue for employers and employees alike.

Also contributing to this issue of Missoula Business are:

the Missoula Economic Partnership, looking at economic indicators such as the unemployment rate and median income;

the Montana High Tech Business Alliance, reporting the good news of veterans finding high tech jobs in our community;

the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana, with some new ideas for how local businesses can find good workers;

Sterling Commercial Real Estate, reporting on emerging trends in our local commercial real estate market.

Thanks to these local business experts for adding depth and insights to Missoula Business. Special thanks to the Missoulian team, especially business reporter David Erickson, who have put months of planning and work into bringing Missoula Business to life.

And, thanks to you for being a Missoula Business reader. With our first issue launching, were looking to make coming issues even better, so I welcome your thoughts and ideas on how we can bring you the news and information you want and need to run your local business. I can be reached at jim.strauss@missoulian.com.

Wishing you a prosperous 2020 and beyond.

Jim Strauss is publisher of Missoula Business, the Missoulian and the Ravalli Republic.

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MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 24, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Augeo is pleased to announce that its Chief Commercial Officer, Kari Vrba, has been named Chair of the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) Board of Trustees.



Kari joined the leadership team at Augeo as a part of the acquisition of MotivAction last Fall. She has been involved with the IRF for six years and has served on multiple committees, and as Secretary and Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees prior to this weeks appointment. The members of the IRF Board of Trustees bring a tremendous level of expertise and passion for the incentives industry, Kari said. Im excited to work with this talented group as we develop the IRFs strategy to deliver relevant and impactful research and education to existing and new audiences over the next five years.

As Chief Commercial Officer at Augeo, Kari leads the strategic vision of presale which includes sales, client solutions, marketing, creative, and purchasing teams. Kari is an industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience in delivering performance improvement solutions. Her work and client programs have received global recognition from SITE, CMI25, and Incentive Magazine.

Kari plays an active role in industry roundtables and advisory boards for several leading hotel chains and in the past has participated on the Board of Directors for the Minnesota Chapter of SITE and multiple committees for SITE International.

To view a photo of Kari Vrba please visit: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0d17c908-ce37-4aaf-bb5f-762573017c22

For more information on the IRF Board of Trustees, visit the IRF website .

About Augeo

Augeo is a leader in engagement, loyalty, and incentive platforms with a focus on developing new solutions and innovative technology. Augeo helps organizations engage and retain employees, customers, channel partners and members. Our membership benefits and insurances, employee recognition, sales incentives, meetings and events solutions elevate engagement and help clients build stronger relationships with their key constituents. With more than 40 years of experience, Augeo serves 52 Fortune 500 companies, and many others, supporting hundreds of engagement solutions. For more information, visit augeomarketing.com and motivaction.com .

About the Incentive Research Foundation

The Incentive Research Foundation ( TheIRF.org ) funds and promotes research to advance the science and enhance the awareness and appropriate application of motivation and incentives in business and industry globally. The goal is to increase the understanding, effective use, and resultant benefits of incentives to businesses that currently use incentives, as well as businesses interested in improved performance.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo launched an expletive-filled rant at a female NPR interviewer in his private living room at the State Department after she asked him about the Ukraine ambassador fired by Donald Trump, she revealed on air Friday.

Pompeo shouted 'do you think Americans care about Ukraine?' at Mary Louise Kelly after summoning her to the private living room after the interview - which his press officer had intervened to stop.

In an f-word filled tirade, he ordered his staff to bring a blank map and demanded she point at Ukraine, she revealed on All Things Consider. She pointed at it and then he told her: 'People will hear about this.'

The astonishing outburst was disclosed by on the program by Kelly Friday, who said: 'He shouted at me for about the same amount of time as the interview itself.'

Pompeo hurled the abuse after his interview with NPR's flagship news show at the State Department turned stormy, when Kelly asked about Ukraine, prompting the secretary of state to claim: 'I agreed to come on your show today to talk about Iran.'

Furious tirade: NPR host Mary Louise Kelly revealed how the Secretary of State had her summoned to his private quarters where he shouted the f-word at her, threatened her, and demanded she point to Ukraine on a blank map

Pompeo deflected a series of questions about recalled Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, after an explosive new report about video of the president demanding her ouster

STEP INTO MY OFFICE: Mike Pompeo posed in the outer office of his State Department suite with second wife Susan and son Nicholas

Kelly said that his 'people' had been told she would ask about Ukraine as well as Iran, and pressed him on his handling of Yovanovitch.

WhatsApp messages from indicted Rudy Giuliani sidekick Lev Parnas' phone revealed last week how a Republican congressional candidate sent messages implying that he had the ambassador under surveillance.

Pompeo eventually launched an investigation, at the same time suggesting that the messages did not show anything had happened.

In the interview Kelly asked him twice about Yovanovitch, pressing him on whether he had defended her - which he claimed he had - and asking: 'Sir, respectfully, where have you defended Marie Yovanovitch?'

Pompeo replied: 'I've defended every single person on this team. Ive done whats right for every single person on this team.'

Kelly aksed: 'Can you point me toward your remarks where you have defended Marie Yovanovitch?' and Pompeo replied: '

As he refused to answer further questions his aide, Katie Martin, the deputy assistant secretary in the bureau of global public affairs and a former Republican operative, intervened, saying repeatedly 'thank you' to cut off the interview.

Kelly said that Kelly then leaned in close to her and 'glared' at her for 'several seconds,' then aides asked her to see him in his private living room, and not to bring a recording device.

It was there 'where he shouted at me,' Kelly said, adding: 'He asked: "Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?" 'He used the f-word in that sentence and many others.

'He asked me if I could find Ukraine on a map. I said yes, and he called out for aides to bring us a map of the world with no writing.

'I pointed to Ukraine. He put the map away. He said: "People will hear about this."'

The State Department issued no public response to Kelly's revelations. it is unclear why the State Department apparently has a ready supply of unmarked maps.

Pompeo, a West Point graduate who left the Army as a captain after a spell as a tank commander in West Germany, has previously been director of the CIA before becoming Donald Trump's top diplomat.

The twice-married Republican, a former deacon and Sunday school teacher, had been under pressure to run for Senate in Kansas amid fears the seat will go to Democrats but has declined.

He will visit Ukraine next week, making his first trip to the country at the heart of Trump's impeachment.

The man Donald Trump doesn't know: Lev Parnas, who has a string of photos with the president, has handed messages from his phone to the House Intel Committee, among them some which suggest Marie Yovanovitch was under surveillance

Surveillance? Some of the messages from Lev Parnas' phone which revealed an exchange between Parnas and Rob Hyde, a Republican congressional candidate, and Hyde and Dutch Trump supporter Anthony de Caluwe which suggested Marie Yovanovitch was being watched

As Trump's Senate trial on impeachment charges continues, the State Department announced Friday that Pompeo would travel to Kiev as part of a five-nation tour of Europe and Central Asia.

Since November, Pompeo has twice previously canceled plans to visit Ukraine, most recently just after the New Year when developments with Iran forced him to postpone it.

Pompeo will also visit Britain, as it finalizes its divorce from the European Union, along with Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan on the trip.

Trump's impeachment on charges of abuse of office and obstruction of Congress hinges on his policy toward Ukraine. Witnesses told House investigators that Trump wanted Ukraine to announce an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden's son in return for releasing critical military aid to Ukraine.

Pompeo has sought to stay above the impeachment fray and his stop in Ukraine will likely test his ability to continue to do so while leading diplomatic efforts to boost ties between Washington and Kiev that have been complicated by the process.

One of the impeachment witnesses, William Taylor, was until Jan. 1 the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Pompeo had appointed Taylor to the post over the summer to take over from Marie Yovanovitch, whose tour was abruptly cut short last May after Trump's personal attorney Rudolph Giuliani made unsubstantiated allegations against her. Yovanovitch testified that Trump supporters had mounted a smear campaign against her.

Just before the trip was announced, Giuliani said he would be presenting evidence of corruption involving the Bidens and Ukraine. Such allegations, even if they are unproven, may distract from Pompeo's mission in Kiev, which is to show U.S. support for the country in the face of Russian aggression.

Taylor departed Kiev just a day before Pompeo was to have arrived on his previously planned trip. The position was temporary and time-limited by law but his tenure could have lasted until mid-January.

how colleagues backed Mary Louise Kelly

Intervention: Katie Martin, Pompeo's press aide, shouted 'thank you' repeatedly to stop the interview

His departure prompted complaints from lawmakers that his departure was similar to Yovanovitch's early recall and sent a poor message to the embassy in Kiev and career diplomats more generally, as well as to Ukrainian authorities.

In Kiev, Pompeo will meet with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whose July 25 phone call with Trump triggered the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump's impeachment.

In that call, Trump disparaged Yovanovitch - who he had already fired - and asked Zelenskiy for 'a favor,' suggesting he wanted Ukrainian authorities to investigate Biden's son, Hunter Biden, for corruption. Trump has said the call was 'perfect' and has denied doing anything wrong.

In his meetings, Pompeo will 'reaffirm U.S. support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity' as the country continues to battle Russia-backed separatists in the east, the State Department said.

Pompeo also will honor Ukrainians who have died in the conflict, which intensified after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014, in a move condemned and rejected by most of the international community. The senior official said Pompeo would underscore that the U.S. will never recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea.

A senior official previewing Pompeo's earlier planned trip to Kiev, said the secretary would discuss Zelenskiy's anti-corruption efforts but would not comment on whether the secretary would raise Trump's desire for an investigation into Hunter Biden and his role on the board of a Ukrainian energy company or discredited claims that Ukraine and not Russia was responsible for interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

In addition, Pompeo plans to meet Ukrainian religious, civic and business leaders for talks on human rights, investment and economic and political reform, the department said.

Pompeo will begin his trip on Jan. 30 in London, where he will meet Prime Minister Boris Johnson and underscore the administration's desire to forge a free-trade trade deal with Britain as it exits the EU.

From Ukraine, Pompeo will travel on to Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan before returning home in time for Trump's State of the Union address to Congress on Feb. 4. Human rights, energy independence and economic reform will top Pompeo's agenda at each of those stops.

In Minsk, the secretary plans to affirm the U.S. commitment to improving ties with Belarus, which has had a strained relationship with Russia. President Alexander Lukashenko has pursued better relations with the West since Russia's annexation of Crimea as Belarus is wary that Russia could try to absorb it.

In September, the U.S. and Belarus agreed to upgrade diplomatic ties by returning ambassadors to each other's capitals after an 11-year break.
Donald Trumps legal team began their defence of the president with an aggressive rebuttal of House Democrats charges that he tried to cheat to win the 2020 presidential race, while also warning senators they are being asked to remove their client from the ballot.

Using the kind of brash rhetoric employed daily by Mr Trump, White House counsel Pat Cipollone closed Saturdays session by warning the Democratic and Republican senators who will decide whether the president is removed from office that doing so would amount to an abuse of power.

Mr Trump was impeached on an abuse of power charge. His top White House lawyer used a bit of his clients political strategy by turning what Mr Trump has been accused of around  but in a twist, he applied it to those judging Mr Trump rather than the presidents political foes who made him just the third US president to be impeached.

Impeachment shouldnt be a shell game, Mr Cipollone said moments before the Senate adjourned until Monday. We ask you out of respect to think about whether what youve heard would really suggest to anybody anything other than it would be a completely irresponsible abuse of power to do what theyre asking you to do: to stop an election. To interfere in an election. And to remove the president of the United States from the ballot. Let the people decide for themselves.

About an hour into the defence teams first day of case-making, Jay Sekulow, one of the presidents attorneys, attacked House Democrats motives. This case is really not about presidential wrongdoing, he said. This entire impeachment process is about the House managers insistence they are able to ready everybodys thoughts, they can read everyones intentions even when the principal speakers ... insist those interpretations are wrong.

All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Show all 6 1 /6 All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Alan Dershowitz Dershowitz is a controversial American lawyer best known for the high-profile clients he has successfully defended. Those clients have included OJ Simpson, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein. One longtime Harvard Law associated told the New Yorker Dershowitz "revels in taking positions that ultimately are not just controversial but pretty close to indefensible." Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Ken Starr Starr became a household name in the 1990s as the independent counsel who led the investigation that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment. That investigation began as a look into a real estate scandal known as Whitewater, and eventually led to impeachment after Mr Clinton lied under oath about having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. AP All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Jay Sekulow Sekulow is the president's longtime personal attorney, and, now, personal lawyer in the White House. He has been accused by former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas of being "in the loop" during the Ukraine scandal. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pam Bondi Bondi is the former attorney general in Florida, and a longtime backer of the president's. She made a name for herself in Florida for taking hyper partisan stances on issues, and her penchant for publicity. She is likely to be a prominent public-facing figure during the trial. AFP/Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pat Cipollone Cipollone is the White House counsel, and leading the president's defence team. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Rudy Giuliani While not officially named as one of the president's impeachment lawyers, it is hard to ignore Giuliani's outsized role in this process. The former mayor of New York has been making headlines for months as he defends his client, and for his apparent role in the effort to compel Ukraine to launch the investigation into Joe Biden. We'll see how he figures in the actual trial, which he has said he would like to be a part of. Reuters

The attack came after the teams lead attorney also panned the House prosecutors case, foreshadowing a morning of Mr Trumps attorneys trying to plant seeds of doubt about the Democratic lawmakers motives. They argued the opposition party left out key evidence and urged senators to question if they had heard the full truth about the president and Ukraine over the past three days.

We dont believe they have come anywhere close to meeting their burden for what they have asked you to do, Mr Cipollone said in his opening statement. You will find that the president did absolutely nothing wrong. We are going to confront them on the merits of their argument.

The latter comment was the latest indication that Mr Trumps lawyers will opt not to pursue a case that tries to claim the commander in chief did not seek to trade a nearly $400m military aid package and a White House visit for Ukraines new president in return for the Ukraine government portraying his Democrat rivals in a bad light.

Theyre asking you to tear up the ballots, said Mr Cipollone, adding Democrats want senators to decide the next election rather than the American people.

They didnt tell you what that would mean for our country ... forever into our future, Mr Cipollone said.

Deputy White House counsel Michael Purpura followed Mr Cipollone and made clear the team has no intention of claiming Mr Trump did not use the military aid to get what he wanted from Mr Zelensky. Instead, they will argue he operated within the limits of US law.

The president did absolutely nothing wrong, Mr Purpura said. The Democrats allegation that the president engaged in a quid pro quo is false. He ran senators through several moments during the Houses public impeachment hearings during which current and former Trump administration witnesses testified Ukraines leaders did not know the military aid package was frozen by Mr Trump. He also provided statements from Mr Zelensky and others, which he said showed they did not feel any pressure by the president or his surrogates to do his bidding by investigating the Bidens. There cant be a quid pro quo without the quo, Mr Purpura said in one of the proceedings most pithy and memorable lines.

He contended his bosss actions were in line with the powers of the office of the president, in stark contrast to Democrats claim that he abused those authorities and violated the constitution. Whats more, Mr Purpura said once the Ukrainians learned about the hold, they asked about it, asking senators to question why those same officials, had they known before it became public via news reports, said nothing at all to their US counterparts during multiple meetings while the military package was on hold behind the scenes in Washington. Its absolutely fatal to the House managers case, he said, accusing the Democrats of purposely trying to muddy the waters by not including it in their case.

Stacks of legal papers are wheeled in ahead of the hearing (Getty)

The two White House attorneys opening comments signalled the presidents lawyers intend to push back hard on many of the allegations House Democratic impeachment managers made during their three days of case-making on the Senate floor.

They also are expected to make their own raft of charges against former vice president Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, over the latters business dealings in Ukraine while his VP father was looking into government corruption there.

Well have to be addressing that since they opened that up, a source working on the Trump defence team said on Friday evening. The same source described Saturdays session as a chance for Mr Trumps lawyers to preview their case, with the bulk of their presentation coming on Monday and Tuesday.

The presidents defence team began previewing the case they intend to make in greater detail on Monday and Tuesday just over 12 hours after House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff delivered a passionate closing argument as House Democrats wrapped up their prosecution.

Whether you like the president or dislike the president is immaterial. Its all about the constitution and his misconduct, the California Democrat told senators. What matters is whether he is a danger to the country because he will do it again. And none of us can have confidence, based on his record, that he will not do it again because he is telling us every day that he will.

Does anybody really question whether the president is capable of what he is charged with? No one is really making the argument, Donald Trump would never do such a thing, an animated Mr Schiff said. Because, of course, we know that he would. And of course, we know that he did.

Mr Schiffs closing statement followed three days of House Democrats trying to convince 20 GOP senators to vote for Mr Trumps removal because his actions towards Ukraine  pressing its government to investigate his domestic political rivals  amounted to him trying to cheat and steal the 2020 US presidential election.

 Donald Trump admits 'we have the material' in impeachment trial

They argued he abused the powers of his office, violated the constitution, then tried to cover it all up by hamstringing House Democrats investigation of the matter. But as Mr Trumps lawyers began unveiling their case, not a single Republican senator had signalled they intend to join the Democrats in voting for additional witnesses or evidence to be brought into the Senate trial  or to remove Mr Trump.

The defence teams strategy is shaping up more like a re-election message at a time when a new Washington Post-ABC poll on Friday put Mr Trumps approval rating at 44 per cent, matching the highest level of his presidency. On removing the president, Americans  like on most political matters  are split: 47 per cent say Mr Trump should be ousted, while 49 per cent say senators should not remove him.

About a half hour before his lawyers took to the Senate floor, Mr Trump showed just how much he views the proceeding and his presidency as a made-for-television affair, tweeting: Our case against lyin, cheatin, liddle Adam Shifty Schiff, Cryin Chuck Schumer, Nervous Nancy Pelosi, their leader, dumb as a rock AOC, & the entire Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrat Party, starts today at 10:00 A.M. on @FoxNews, @OANN or Fake News @CNN or Fake News MSDNC!
sign on bonus

Sign-on bonuses have become increasingly common in recent years. The tighter job market likely plays a role in their newfound popularity. These bonuses sometimes occur more often in some fields than others. But job market demand often fuels them. Heres what a sign on bonus is and who gets one.

Why a Sign On Bonus?

A 2016 survey by World at Work found 65% of companies polled offered sign on bonuses. That continues an upward trend from a low of 54% in 2010 as the economy was recovering from recession.

Sign-on bonuses are most likely to go to top executives and to workers with particularly in-demand skills. A specifically recruited candidate is more likely to get a bonus than one who applied for an opening. For example, nurses, accountants and engineers are more likely to get sign-on bonuses than other employees.

Candidates who are entertaining offers from multiple employers are more likely to get sign-on bonus offers. And large companies are more likely to offer bonuses than smaller employees.

Purpose of a Sign On Bonus

sign on bonus

The purpose of a sign on bonus is to attract an employee who might go elsewhere without the added inducement. A bonus can also help retention, at least in the short term.

A one-time sign-on bonus may let an employer avoid a preset salary level for a particular position. Say the top salary for a software engineer is $100,000. A desirable candidate has a $105,000 offer from a competing firm. A $10,000 sign-on bonus could let a prospective employer beat the competition without breaking salary restrictions.

Sign-on bonuses can also help employers make up for benefits the employee may be losing by taking the job. For instance, the employee in question may be about to get a promotion or sales commission at his or her current position. The prospective employer may compensate the employee to make up for the foregone benefit.

Size of a Sign On Bonus

A sign on bonus can be any size the employer deems necessary and has the funds to budget for. Another World at Work survey found senior executives got the most. Forty-one percent of those receiving sign-on bonuses got $50,000 or more. Bonuses for middle managers and professionals are likely to be between 5% and 10% of starting base salary.

Story continues

Sometimes employers will offer other benefits in lieu of or in combination with cash sign-on bonuses to help lure attractive employees. Alternatives may include increased vacation time, tuition reimbursement or payments to cover commuting costs. Over time, alternatives may be worth more financially than the bonus.

Sign On Bonus Terms

It is typical for sign-on bonuses to require some time commitment from the employee in return for the cash. One year is the usual term an employee has to agree to work before receiving a sign-on bonus.

If there is a time requirement, the sign-on paperwork will usually describe a claw back provision. This lets the employer recover the cost of the sign-on bonus if the employee does not stay on a specified time period. Typically, that time period spans a full year.

The bonus may be added in a lump sum to the first or second paychecks. However, sometimes a sign-on bonus will not be paid in full immediately or even soon after going to work. Instead the employee may get half the bonus at signing and half after six months on the job.

When a sign-on bonus is paid in a lump sum with the first paycheck, it may have significant tax impacts. The payment may push an employee temporarily into a higher tax bracket. This could cause too much income tax to be withheld on later paychecks. Employees may need to adjust the number of exemptions claimed to avoid excess withholding.

The Bottom Line

sign on bonus

A sign on bonus is an increasingly common way employees try to attract and retain particularly desirable employees. Hiring paperwork should carefully describe the size and terms of signing bonuses when an employee first arrives. Its advisable to scrutinize the terms of a sign-on deal to make sure you know what youre getting into.

Bonus Tips

Consider talking to a financial advisor about how to handle a sign-up bonus. Finding the right financial advisor that fits your needs doesnt have to be hard. SmartAssets free tool matches you with financial advisors in your area in 5 minutes. If youre ready to be matched with local advisors that will help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.

Before accepting employment in return for a sign-on bonus, an employee should read the agreement carefully A candidate should fully understand terms of claw backs and similar provisions. Bear in mind, a one-time bonus wont affect future raises or benefits figured as a percentage of salary. Over the long term, a higher salary may be worth more than a one-shot sign-on business.

Photo credit: iStock.com/fizkes, iStock.com/nortonrsx, iStock.com/PeopleImages

The post What Is a Sign-On Bonus? appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.
This season, theologians and historians continue to rethink the lives and legacies of Biblical figures, including Moses and the women of the Bible. And many authors recommend an inward turn, closer listening, and a more open spirituality in response to worries about partisanship.

Chasing Vines: Finding Your Way to an Immensely Fruitful Life

Beth Moore. Tyndale Momentum, Feb. 4

Bible teacher Moore uses the cultivation of grapevines as a metaphor for living a fruitful and meaningful life.

Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire: The Guide to Being Glorious You

Jen Hatmaker. Thomas Nelson, Apr. 21

Bestselling author and speaker Hatmaker helps Christians go beyond people pleasing with five self-reflective categorieswho I am, what I need, what I want, what I believe, and how I connectto help readers think about their identities, convictions, and communities.

For All Who Hunger: Searching for Communion in a Shattered World

Emily M.D. Scott. Convergent, May 12

Scott, founder of St. Lydias Dinner Church in Brooklyn, explores the success of her congregation, which is based on providing meals to congregants and a focus on social activism.

Grace from the Rubble: Two Fathers Road to Reconciliation After the Oklahoma City Bombing

Jeanne Bishop. Zondervan, Apr. 14

Bishop, a public defender, tells the powerful tale of how the father of a young woman killed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the father of her killer found an unlikely friendship and forgiveness.

Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife

Bart D. Ehrman. Simon & Schuster, Mar. 31

Bestselling historian Ehrman considers the core theological questions of where the ideas of heaven and hell came from and why they endure. He analyzes the early history of conceptions of the afterlife, including The Epic of Gilgamesh and the teachings of Jesus and his early followers.

How Not to Be a Hot Mess: A Survival Guide for Modern Life

Craig and Devon Hase. Shambhala, Apr. 21

Married Buddhists Craid and Devon Hase, cofounders of SATI Mindfulness, provide candid, Buddhism-inspired advice for staying grounded in a chaotic world.

Moses: A Human Life

Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg. Yale Univ., Mar. 17

Biblical scholar Zornberg teases out Mosess inner life and character by drawing on a broad, eclectic array of sources, including works by George Eliot, Werner Herzog, and W.G. Sebald.

Theological Territories: A David Bentley Hart Digest

David Bentley Hart. Univ. of Notre Dame, Apr. 5

Theologian Hart reflects on the state of theology at the borders of other fields of discourseincluding metaphysics, philosophy of mind, science, the arts, ethics, and biblical hermeneuticsin this manifesto on the manner in which theology should engage other fields of scholarship.

The Way of Gratitude: A New Spirituality for Today

Galen Guengerich. Random House, May 26

Unitarian minister Guengerich argues that transcendence is not limited to an experience of God but can be reached through the ability of gratitude to take someone to a greater awareness.

You Are Enough: Revealing the Soul to Discover Your Power, Potential, and Possibility

Panache Desai. HarperOne, Feb. 25

Desai, featured guest on Oprahs SuperSoul Sunday podcast, helps readers overcome anxiety and become one with the life source through grappling with ones personal narrative.

See the season's complete listing here.
Two people who returned to Kathmandu from China have been kept under observation at a government hospital in the Nepali capital, hospital authorities said on Saturday, due to possible exposure to the deadly new strain of SARS-like virus that has killed dozens of people and infected over 800, most of them in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

"Two persons who have returned from China are under observation at the hospital," Dr Sher Bhahadur Pun from Teku Hospital in Kathmandu told ANI.

On Friday, Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population confirmed the first case of coronavirus after the examination of bodily fluid of a student, who recently came back from Wuhan.

Nepal is the sixth nation in the world, where the case of the virus has been confirmed. The infected person, 30-year old PhD student was quarantined at Sukraraj Tropical Hospital for about five days and was discharged on the 17th of this month.

The sample of his bodily fluids was sent to Hong Kong after his discharge confirmed him to be infected with the new strains of the SARS-like virus.

The statement, the ministry, further said that previously suspected person is kept under observation and those who came under his contact are being identified.

The virus, which has no effective vaccine, was reported on January 16 in Japan, the first case outside China and its territories.

Coronaviruses (nCoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). A novel coronavirus is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.

Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, the infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death.

However, the Health Organistion (WHO) on Thursday said that it was 'too early' to declare the outbreak of coronavirus in China as a public health emergency of international concern.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Photo: Dutch Bros/Yelp

If you're after coffee and tea, look no further than this new business. Called Dutch Bros, the fresh addition is located at 4360 N. Rancho Drive in North Cheyenne.

Dutch Bros Coffee, which is the country's largest privately held drive-thru coffee company, according to its Yelp bio, has more than 320 locations in Oregon, California, Arizona, Washington, Colorado and Nevada. It features a menu that includes traditional coffee and specialty beverages. Look for chai lattes, smoothies, blended drinks, sodas and fused tea.

With a five-star rating out of 13 reviews on Yelp so far, Dutch Bros is on its way to developing a local fan base.

Courtney M., who was among the first Yelpers to review the new spot on Jan. 7, wrote, "All drinks that are offered can be done with either tea or coffee. I don't drink coffee, but I love the different flavors that can be done coffee style. We opted for the Island style Tea iced, and Cookie Breve coffee hot. Both were fantastic in taste."

Yelper Danya R. added, Customer service is amazing. They are all extremely friendly and have such a contagious smile on their faces while they take your order. 

Interested? Stop by to welcome the new business to the neighborhood. Dutch Bros is open from 5 a.m.11 p.m. daily.

Want to keep your finger on the pulse of new businesses in Las Vegas? 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.
Local TD, Fergus ODowd, has stated that An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD, has today confirmed that the North East Inner City Taskforce Model will be extended to Drogheda to tackle Drug Crime & Social Disadvantage.

ODowd said: This Taskforce will tackle the long-term economic and social regeneration of the areas in Drogheda that have been most affected by the recent drug-fuelled criminality.

When Kieran Mulvey set up the taskforce in North Inner City Dublin it identified areas in need of immediate investment and the government expedited funding to address the issues.

This will not be down to the Government alone, the people of Drogheda must rise up and stand together to defeat this blight in our town.

An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD, will join the people of Drogheda in a march of solidarity on Saturday to stand with the people of Drogheda in what is a difficult time.

The inter-agency group that is chaired by Joan Martin also committed to supporting some of the affected communities but I have to say that Im disappointed that many of the actions might well have advanced in 2019.

But we must also look forward to the future in Drogheda, our unemployment is down 62% since 2011, Amazon Web Services have submitted their proposal to set up a brand new data centre that will bring huge numbers of jobs at construction phase and permanent jobs in the area of Cyber Security, Engineers and Security.

We also have a new BIDS Manager taking the reigns in the coming weeks and a Senior Executive Officer will be advertised shortly to help manage Droghedas transition to a city.
After MNS chief Raj Thackeray called for 'throwing out Muslims from Bangladesh & Pakistan', Shiv Sena on Saturday, backed the remark but slammed the MNS' change in flag through its mouthpiece Saamana. Taunting Raj's change in stance from 'Marathi manoos' to 'Hindutva' as he was unable to garner the Marathi votes, Sena claims that the MNS chief was now singing BJP's tunes. Reaffirming Sena's Hindutva, it claimed that inspite of the two flags unfurled by MNS, there may not be any resonance to MNS' Hindutva as Sena had been working on spreading Hindutva for decades.

GAMECHANGER: Shiv Sena invites Rahul Gandhi to Ayodhya; 'allies should also come with us'

Saamana slams Raj's two flags but backs 'infiltrators' comment

Slamming the BJP for attempting to split the Hindutva vote by using Raj Thackeray, Sena said that Raj had now backed the amended Citizenship Act (CAA), but had opposed it just a month ago. Fearmongering over CAA, Sena claimed that the act would not only affect Indian Muslims but Hindus too - citing cases from Assam NRC. Questioning the Centre's preparedness to accommodate the new refugees, Sena said that the BJP was expressing its 'jealousy diarrhoea' through other means.

My Hindu brothers & sisters...: Raj Thackeray makes big statement in one word, crowd roars

MNS dons 'Hindutva' badge

In a bid to replace its ally-turned-foe Shiv Sena, BJP is eyeing to rope in Raj Thackeray to rebrand the Sena's Hindutva flavour with Raj Thackeray's fiery brand. Flaunting his newfound Hindutva, Raj Thackeray had addressed his Maha Adheveshan rally on Thursday "My dear Hindu brothers and sisters," from his previous address' which usually began with--"My Marathi brothers and sisters". Moreover, the MNS chief has also two flags for the party - Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's Raj Mudra, which he has instructed is not to be used for elections and his older but saffronised flag. Raj also met with Former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, fuelling rumours of an alliance, Thackeray has also launched posters painted in saffron with lines that read 'Thought about the ideology of Maharashtra, resolve to create a Hindavi Swaraj.

Raj Thackeray's big claim: New Saffron MNS flag a coincidence, not for elections

Sena's Ayodhya visit

To counter Raj's growing saffronisation, Uddhav Thackeray announced that he along with several ministers will visit Ayodhya after completing 100 days of governance. While Sena MP Sanjay Raut invited allies -Congress and NCP to visit the Ram Temple including Rahul Gandhi, the allies have refused. The Shiv Sena which has agreed to a 'secular' joint Common Minimum Programme with its allies Congress-NCP, is often in a fix in matters related to Hindutva like Ayodhya Ram Mandir, Bharat Ratna for Savarkar and Maratha pride.

Raj vs Uddhav: On Bal Thackeray's birth anniversary MNS, Sena vie for his Hindutva legacy
INTERNATIONAL

An article on Friday about an invitation extended to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the White House misstated President Trumps itinerary when he spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One. He was en route from Joint Base Andrews to Doral, Fla., to speak at the Republican National Committees winter meeting, not on his way back from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Because of an editing error, a picture caption with an article on Thursday about the closing of a beloved shop in Paris misstated the stores name. As the article (and a sign in the image) correctly noted, the shop is Au Marche du Marais, not Au Marche du Paris.

NATIONAL

An article on Tuesday about testimony at Guantanamo Bay regarding the C.I.A.s use of torture misstated the scheduled start date for the trial of the accused plotters of the Sept. 11 attacks. It is Jan. 11, 2021, not Jan. 22.

NEW YORK

An article on Friday about the conditions that led to Fairways bankruptcy filing described imprecisely the relationship between Village Super Market and ShopRite. Village Super Market operates some ShopRite locations, not all. It also misstated which company could end up buying fewer Fairway locations. It is Village Super Market, not ShopRite. The article also misstated the locations of Fairways Manhattan stores. The locations include its first store on Broadway on the Upper West Side, and also those in Chelsea, Harlem, Kips Bay and the Upper East Side. There is not a second location on the Upper West Side.
Bassil, 49, has seen his fortunes shift since mass protests against corruption and nepotism erupted last year.

Beirut, Lebanon  A colourful mix of insults and allegations of nepotism, racism and corruption is how an average Lebanese protester would describe the countrys former Minister of Foreign Affairs Gebran Bassil.

He is not alone. Lebanons entire ruling class has been targeted by protesters who took to the streets more than 100 days ago to demand an end to corruption and sectarian politics.

Bassil is one of the newer politicians on the bloc, having come to power after the countrys 15-year civil war.

But he quickly rose to be a symbol of the cynical sectarian politics and mismanagement that have dominated the post-war era, critics say.

Protesters point to his last 10 years in the government where he moved through the telecommunication, energy and foreign ministries and assumed leadership of one of the countrys biggest parties, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM).

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Lebanon has some of the highest telecommunications costs in the world, and the FPM has held the energy portfolio for a decade while the country remains without uninterrupted electricity supply.

Still, Bassil enjoys unwavering support from his Christian base, who see him as a shrewd hard worker and a protector of their rights.

MP Mario Aoun, a member of Bassils FPM parliamentary bloc, told Al Jazeera that Bassil was being targeted because of his successes.

Insults from the crowd

When the protests against Lebanons corrupt ruling elite broke out more than three months ago, crude chants were aimed at Bassils mother. So severe were the insults that Bassil, in his first address after more than two weeks of uncharacteristic silence, apologised to his mother.

Im so sorry that you were attacked because of me and it wasnt your fault. You taught me to love Lebanon, he said, addressing her in front of crowds of supporters at an organised rally on the outskirts of the capital, Beirut.

Before the protests, Bassil was widely expected to remain a top minister in government for a long time and was thought to be a serious contender for the presidency, a post currently held by his 84-year-old father-in-law, Michel Aoun.

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However, he was not named as a minister in Prime Minister Hassan Diabs new government announced earlier this week.

He was forced to go back on his initial demand to retain a cabinet post and instead name people not directly affiliated with his party.

Bassils most recent trouble came when Lebanese people found out he had been invited to speak on a panel about the return of Arab unrest at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Before the interview on Thursday, 40,000 Lebanese people signed a petition saying he no longer represents them.

CNBC reporter Hadley Gamble asked Bassil how he arrived at the forum on a ministerial salary of about $5,000. Bassil responded that it had been offered to him, rather than paid for by the Lebanese treasury.

Family rule

Bassils political career began in earnest after he married one of Aouns three daughters, Chantelle, in 1999. This is not unusual in a country where many politicians inherit their posts or marry into power.

He first stood for elections with the FPM in 2005, failing to win a seat in his hometown of Batroun.

He lost again four years later, leading many in Lebanon to joke that he was not even welcome in his own town. But he finally managed to win a seat in his third election bid in 2018.

Despite the presence of other popular figures in the FPM, Aoun had handed Bassil the partys reigns in 2015 over fears that leadership elections could sow division.

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You really feel like hes that spoilt kid, because hes the presidents son-in-law, Nidal Ayoub, an activist who has led chants on the streets throughout Lebanons uprising, told Al Jazeera.

Family politics also plays a large role in the party Bassil leads. Three of the FPM blocs 24 members  Salim, Mario and Alain  are all relatives of the president, and, by extension, Bassil.

Chamel Roukoz, one of Aouns in-laws, is also an FPM member of parliament, though his relationship with Bassil is frayed over what Roukoz has previously put down to their different ways of doing things.

Al Jazeera was unable to reach Bassil for comment while Roukoz and a former brother-in-law of Bassil declined to comment.

Charbel Nahhas, a two-time FPM minister who broke away from the party in 2012, told Al Jazeera that Bassil had been troubled by the impression among his peers that he was in his position because of nepotism. This, Nahhas said, translated into an overbearing approach to politics that led Bassil into chronic conflicts with other parties.

Hes a hyperactive person. He works on all the files and learns, which is a rare thing to find among politicians in Lebanon, Nahhas said. Because he was so hyperactive, he would easily antagonise even those who are with him.

Bassil has, over the years, led the FPM into public spats with most of the countrys major political parties, who have accused him of engaging in corruption, monopolising top-level appointments and violating the delicate power-sharing agreement that ended the civil war in 1990.

As an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Bassil also sought to normalise ties with Damascus despite half the countrys political parties opposing the move.

Rhetoric on refugees

During a portion dedicated to Syrian refugee policy at a party event in 2017, Bassil told FPM supporters that, Yes, we are Lebanese racists, but we know how to be Arab in our belonging, global in our [diaspora] and strong in our openness.

There are just less than a million Syrian refugees registered with the United Nations in Lebanon, though Lebanese officials including Bassil have said the number is much higher.

The Syrians have one place to go: Back to their country, Bassil said during that same event. It is the rhetoric like this that has led many to accuse Bassil of incitement against refugees.

As the leader of the countrys largest Christian party, Bassil has also repeatedly held up government work, including vital appointments, citing Christian representation.

This includes his years-long refusal to sign off on the appointment of forest rangers because most of them are Shia Muslims.

Is Bassils career over?

In a recent four-hour interview with Lebanese broadcaster Al Jadeed, Bassil said all the pressure and insults he was facing would only make his resolve stronger.

There were calls to boycott the interview. The interviewers repeatedly alleged he was involved in corruption, as Bassil was forced to defend himself throughout.

It was a far cry from past white-glove treatment by local media, such as a glowing 2018 documentary by another local broadcaster about Bassil titled The Man Who Doesnt Sleep, where he was portrayed as a hard-working family man.

But it is unlikely that Bassils career is over. He still heads the biggest party in the Parliament and, importantly, enjoys Hezbollahs backing.

I dont think those leading this campaign against him will be able to win  hes cunning and clear-headed and on a path, a struggle till the end, Mario Aoun, the MP, said.

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Nahhas, however, believes Bassil will be brought down by the impending collapse of the country.

Lebanon is mired in an economic and financial crisis that new Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni said earlier this week was the worst in its history.

If the whole system wasnt falling then he [Bassil] could digest it  lets not forget that the logic of these Zuama (sectarian leaders) is built on constant fighting and conflict and even if there are 10,000 deaths on both sides, they can reconcile and become national heroes again, he said.

But the system is falling apart, and this is what threatens them all.
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Firefighters have revealed they were forced to cancel or delay hazard reduction burns in critical areas due to residents complaining about the smoke.

During the winter and autumn months the NSW Rural Fire Service deliberately burns parts of the bush to reduce the fuel load ahead of summer.

But several burns were stopped or cut short to keep air quality levels from deteriorating.

The NSW Rural Fire Service have revealed they have been forced to cancel or delay hazard reduction burns in critical areas due to poor air quality choking local neighbourhoods

The elderly, infants and those with asthma often struggle with the thick smoke from the fires.

NSW RFS spokesman Inspector Ben Shepherd told the Daily Telegraph that public health was an important consideration.

'We speak with National Parks weekly during the hazard reduction season about the burns planned and the impact of smoke,' Mr Shepherd said.

'We look to see if we can change the lighting pattern to reduce the smoke impact.

Mr Shepherd said unpredictable weather can make directing the smoke very challenging.

The RFS said air quality reasons led to a reduction of the size of the burn area in Grose Valley fire that destroyed several homes (pictured)

Air quality issues played a key role in reducing the size of a burnoff in Bowen Mountain, an hour west of Sydney, which later lost several homes to the roaring Grose Valley fire.

More burns were reduced for air quality reasons in Putty, an area near Gospers Mountain which was consumed by a 'mega blaze' that went on to burn an area seven times the size of Singapore.

Other burns at Wiseman's Ferry, Ku-ring-gai Chase, Dural, Pennant Hills and Hawkesbury were postponed.

More burns were reduced for air quality reasons in an area near Gosper's Mountain which was consumed by a 'mega blaze' (pictured)

It comes after revelations that a Independent Hazard Reduction Audit Panel report recommended the government increase hazard reduction burning in 2013.

The report said that while it was not a solution, hazard reduction would be an critical tool in fighting bushfires going forward.

'Increases in fuel reduction will be required to counteract increasing risk that is likely to arise from climate change,' it said.


Editorials represent the institutional view of the newspaper. They are written and edited by the editorial staff, which operates separately from the news department. Editorial writers are not involved in newsroom operations.
Eleven people, seven in Kerala, two in Mumbai and one each in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, who are among hundreds of passengers who returned from China in the recent days are under observation in hospitals to check for possible exposure to the deadly novel coronavirus.

Kochi/Mumbai: Eleven people, seven in Kerala, two in Mumbai and one each in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, who are among hundreds of passengers who returned from China in the recent days are under observation in hospitals to check for possible exposure to the deadly novel coronavirus, central and state officials said on Friday.

The Union Health ministry said of these 11 people, two persons who were kept under observation at a Mumbai hospital and one person each under watch in Hyderabad and Bengaluru have tested negative.

Novel #coronoavirus update:

ICMR-NIV Pune has informed that 4 samples (2 from Mumbai, 1each from B'luru & Hy'bad) have tested NEGATIVE for nCoV. One of Mumbai patients has tested positive for Rhinovirus, one of the routine common cold virus. @PMOIndia @drharshvardhan @ICMRDELHI  Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) January 24, 2020

In Kerala, officials said another 73 people were being kept under medical surveillance at their homes in the state.

As over 20,000 passengers returning from mainland China and Hong Kong underwent thermal screenings at the seven international airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) in Delhi has set up an isolation ward and kept beds ready for providing treatment to any suspected case of the respiratory infection.

According to Kerala state health ministry officials in Thiruvananthapuram, seven people who had shown mild symptoms of fever, cough and sore throat are under watch in state-run hospitals in different districts in the state. Among them, two of them are in Kochi, while one each is in observation in the state capital, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Pathanamthitta.

The state government has advised those under home surveillance to remain at home for 28 days from the date of their departure from China.

The coronavirus is a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes, but the virus in China is a novel strain and not seen before. It has killed 26 people so far, and has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

According to a union health ministry official, no positive case has been detected in the country so far.

The official said a total of 20,844 passengers who travelled in 96 flights from China have been screened at the airports till 24 January.

Also, on the basis of the details provided by the Indian Embassy in China, around 25 students who have returned to India recently from Wuhan are being closely monitored, the official said.

Their details have been shared with district-level officers and they are being monitored closely for any symptoms.

Three persons who returned from China have been kept under observation at a Mumbai hospital for possible exposure to the novel coronavirus which has infected a large number of people in the neighbouring country, officials said on Friday.

Two of them, who had travelled to China, were admitted to civic-run Kasturba Hospital in the city as a precaution. Another passenger, who had returned from Hong Kong, was admitted to the hospital for medical examination on Friday, additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said.

As many as 1,789 passengers underwent thermal screening at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai for the coronavirus since January 19 and two of them were admitted to civic-run Kasturba Hospital in the city as a precaution, they said.

Till now, no cases of coronavirus infection have been detected during screening, a health department official said.

"No passenger with history of a visit to Wuhan city of China in the last 14 days was found positive (for the virus) during thermal scanning," he said.

Coronavirus cases were first reported from Wuhan, the capital of central China's Hubei province.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has created an isolation ward at the Kasturba hospital.

"The isolation ward has been created for diagnosis and treatment of persons suspected to have the virus infection," said Dr Padmaja Keskar, executive health officer of the BMC.

Keskar said the two persons under observation at the hospital have mild cough and exhibited cold-related symptoms.

Doctors at the airport have been asked to send travellers returning from China to the isolation ward if they show any symptoms of the novel coronavirus, she said.

"All private doctors in the city have been asked to alert us if they observe symptoms of coronavirus in any person who has returned from China," she added.

According to Kasturba Hospital sources, they have received detailed instructions from the Maharashtra government about how to deal with a coronavirus infection.

Apart from Kasturba Hospital, quarantine facilities have also been provided at Naidu Hospital in Pune, the officials said.

During the screening at the Mumbai airport, six passengers -- three from Pune and another three from Mumbai -- underwent further medical examination, he said.

"Four of them were found to be perfectly alright. As a precaution, two others who were suffering from a minor cold and cough have been admitted to the Kasturba Hospital in Mumbai and kept under monitoring," he said.

AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria said, "We have an isolation ward and we have beds kept ready for providing care and treatment for suspected coronavirus cases in Delhi or elsewhere in India."

"All precautionary measures -- in terms of personal protection equipment for healthcare workers to prevent the spread of the disease while treating infected patients -- are in place."
As India and Brazil signed 15 agreements, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Saturday said that both the countries together will make further strides among the world's 10 largest economies.

"We both have a relevant economic profile and together will make further great strides and in the ranks of world's 10 largest economies," said Bolsonaro at a joint press briefing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi by his side.

"As part of a bilateral visit, we may have signed many important agreements. By signing the highest number on record in our history, we have further consolidated our working bilateral relations with India," he added.

The Brazilian President also said that there is a lot of potential between India and Brazil and more matters of mutual interest will emerge between the two countries.

Bolsonaro further said that by entering into a major strategic partnership, both countries will consolidate their relations.

In the end, he made a light-hearted remark saying, "I must admit, I have two days to go back to Brazil but I already miss India even before leaving."

The Brazil President is currently on a four-day visit to India and will be the chief guest at the Republic Day Parade.

Earlier in the day, Bolsonaro received a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan by President Ram Nath Kovind and the Prime Minister.

The Brazilian President also met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Bolsonaro's visit is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations in the fields of agriculture, energy, and defence.

He is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising several ministers, senior officials, chairman of Brazil-India Friendship Group in the Brazilian Parliament and businessmen.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site.

It was a seemingly uneventful morning at the Kardashian West household on Wednesday, Jan. 22, judging from the photo that celebrity mogul Kim Kardashian West posted on Instagram and Twitter. The photo, an image of domestic bliss, shows Kim, husband Kanye West, and their four children gathered around a table eating breakfast. Center stage was baby Psalm, buckled into an infant inclined lounger atop the table, looking into the camera.

Kardashian West has 158 million followers, and her post prompted thousands of comments, many of them gushing.

I need that baby lounger!! one of the commenters on Instagram wrote. Please please please let me know where its from!!!

Another wrote: Omgg I love that bed for your baby!!! What is it called? Id love it for my grandson.

Several posts directed followers to Baby Delight, the company that makes the sleeper in the photo, the Nestle Nook Portable Infant Lounger.

But a few posters said the product was unsafe for sleep, noting that the sleeper was one of several the Consumer Product Safety Commission has proposed banning because of safety risks. The baby bed is dangerous and shouldnt be used for sleep at all, wrote one person, who included a link to a June 2019 Consumer Reports article about several risky infant inclined sleep products, including the one from Baby Delight (which at the time was called the Baby Delight Nestle Nook Comfort Plush Infant Napper).

To date, the CPSC is aware of at least 73 infant deaths and more than 1,000 incidents linked to infant inclined sleepers, which position babies at an incline between 10 and 30 degrees.

CR tried unsuccessfully through multiple channels and representatives to reach Kim Kardashian West about her post.

The Kardashian West photo and accompanying pro and con comments highlight the mixed messaging surrounding infant inclined sleepers. More than 5 million similar products have already been recalled, including the Fisher-Price Rock n Play Sleeper. And the CPSC, which has warned consumers not to use inclined infant sleepers, is considering banning the products completely. But some productsincluding the Nestle Nook Portable Infant Loungerare still being sold.

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Parents need to recognize that just because a baby product is available for sale doesnt mean its safe, says Ben Hoffman, M.D., chairman of the Council on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). In the case of infant inclined sleepers, biomechanical research has shown that at a very basic physiologic level, sleeping at an angle puts babies at risk.

He says that these products can be dangerous, even if theyre called loungers, as the Baby Delight product is. Just taking the word napper or sleeper out of the name doesnt change the risk, he says.

Nancy Cowles, executive director of Kids In Danger, a consumer safety organization, agrees. Calling a product a loungerthe same name used for the Nap Nanny, which has been tied to six infant deathsdoesnt mean parents wont use it for sleep.

No matter what its called, any inclined baby productincluding bouncy seats, swings, or chairsshould clearly warn caregivers not to let their babies sleep in them, Hoffman says. If a baby does fall asleep in one, the caregiver should move the infant to a flat, firm surface that is free from soft bedding and restraints, as the AAPs safe sleep guidelines recommend.

A Baby Delight spokesperson told CR that the company stand[s] by the safety of the Nestle Nook, and there have been no injuries or fatalities with this product. She also said that the company will continue to market and promote the Nestle Nook as a lounger and not to be used for overnight sleeping.

When CR asked Baby Delight why the company had recently relabeled the product from a napper to a lounger, the spokesperson said it updated the name to better reflect the use of the product. Most times the product is used for just lounging around the house and not necessarily for napping. On the majority of our packaging and marketing materials we show awake babies.

The spokesperson added that Baby Delight does not recommend the Nestle Nook for overnight sleeping . . . and the photo that Kim posted include show Psalm awake, and not napping.

But a scan of the Baby Delight website, which lists the Nestle Nook in the Sleep & Slumber category, shows many reviews from consumers saying they use the product for sleep. And the companys website includes language noting that The Baby Delight Nestle Nook Portable Infant Lounger is designed to create a comfortable and safer place for your baby to nap and lounge.

Moreover, a different photo Kim Kardashian West posted several months ago shows Psalm asleep, not awake, in the Baby Delight Nestle Nook. Baby Delight shared the post and wrote alongside it: Looks like Psalm Ye is comfy in his Comfort Nook Napper. A huge congrats to @kimkardashian and her growing family! Thank you for sharing this totally adorable photo!

Kardashian Wests most recent photo of the baby lounger was posted the same week the CPSC granted a request from a lawyer on behalf of industry clients to extend the comment period on the agencys proposed ban. The agency proposes including products such as the Baby Delight Nestle Nook that reference napping in their marketing. CR and other consumer groups opposed any delay, writing in a letter to the agency that it would leave infants at continued risk of injury or death in sleep products that are not required to meet a robust mandatory standard.

While the CPSC goes through the process of finalizing the ban, the agency has also taken to social media. Helping consumers to make safe choices for infant sleep now, while our regulations are still catching up, is very difficult, said CPSC acting chairman Robert Adler. Thats one reason we took the unusual step of running an intense social media campaignwith help from some families who have lost childrento try and reach consumers with this important safety message.

But its tough to compete with the social media reach of Kardashian West. Millions of parents and grandparents may just be learning about the Baby Delight Nestle Nook through her feed, and those caregivers may be unaware of the danger the product poses.

Thats unfortunate, says Hoffman at the AAP, who adds that the post provides an opportunity for manufacturers and marketers to help address the issue. Safety warnings shouldnt just be an asterisk at the bottom of a website or product manual, he says. I would urge the industry to be more aggressive about warning families of the risk.





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Top pick tires for 2016

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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.
To prevent sexual abuse of children and contain access to and transmission of child pornographic content on social media, a Rajya Sabha panel has made 40 recommendations, including making monitoring apps mandatory on all devices and amending the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Information Technology Act.

The report was presented to Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu by the panel chief and Congress parliamentarian Jairam Ramesh.

The initiative of Naidu in setting up such a committee to examine and report on an issue of such a wider social concern is the first of its kind and has been widely appreciated.

Ramesh, in the report, stated that it is a good model that can be followed from time to time to get members of the Rajya Sabha to deliberate on pressing

Expressing concern over the seriousness of the prevalence of the horrific social evil of child pornography, the committee has recommended important amendments to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and the Information Technology Act, 2000 besides technological, institutional, social and educational measures and state-level initiatives to address the alarming issue of pornography on social media and its effects on children and the society as a whole.

The committee urged the Prime Minister to take up the subject of child pornography and the measures required to combat it in one of his forthcoming 'Mann Ki Baat' radio broadcast, besides taking the lead in building up a global political alliance to combat child pornography on social media on the lines of the International Solar Alliance initiative.

The 40 recommendations made by the ad-hoc committee relate to adoption of a broader definition of child pornography, controlling access for children to such content, containing generation and dissemination of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), making accountable the Internet service providers and online platforms for denying access to children and removing such obscene content from online sites, besides monitoring, detection and removal of such content.

It also suggested enabling effective action by governments and authorised agencies to take necessary preventive and penal measures.

Noting that the purveyors of child pornography seem always to be one step ahead of the regulators, the committee stressed on the need for implementation of its recommendations as an integrated package of measures and not piecemeal to have any value and impact.

The committee has recommended some important amendments to the POCSO Act, 2012 and the IT Act, 2000 with corresponding changes to be carried out in the Indian Penal Code.

It has sought inclusions of a clause in the POCSO Act, 2012 under which advocating or counseling sexual activities with a person under the age of 18 years through any written material, visual representation or audio recording or any characterisation is made an offence under the Act.

It has also sought another clause to be inserted in the POCSO Act prescribing a Code of Conduct for intermediaries (online platforms) for maintaining child safety online, ensuring age appropriate content and curbing use of children for pornographic purposes.

Under the POCSO Act, school management should be responsible for safety of children within schools, transportation services and any other programmes with which the school is associated, the panel said.

National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal shall be designated as the national portal under reporting requirements in POCSO Act in case of electronic material, the committee said, adding that a new section be included in the IT Act 2000, providing for punitive measures for those providing pornographic access to children and also those who access, produce or transmit Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM).

It also recommended that the Union Government shall be empowered through its designated authority to block and/or prohibit all websites/intermediaries that carry child sexual abuse material.

The committee demanded the IT Act be modified making intermediaries responsible for all measures to proactively identify and remove CSAM as well as report it to Indian authorities as well, besides the foreign authorities.

Gateway Internet Service Providers (ISP's) must bear a significant liability to detect and block CSAM websites.

Intermediaries shall also be responsible to report to the designated authority, IP addresses/identities of all those searching/accessing child porn/CSAM key words.

It also recommended that Law enforcement agencies be permitted to brake end-to-end encryption to trace distributors of child pornography.

Apps that help in monitoring children's access to pornographic content shall be made mandatory on all devices sold in India. Such Apps or similar solutions to be developed and made freely available to ISP, companies, schools and parents.

The committee has broadly sought to address two main issues -- access of children to pornographic material on social media and circulation of pornographic material on social media in which children are abused.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
House Managers Adam Schiff (C) and Jerry Nadler (C R) speak to reporters on the fourth day of the Senate impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC on January 24, 2019. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images

Democratic House impeachment managers laid out their arguments Friday that President Donald Trump obstructed Congress  the final prong of their case for Trump's conviction and removal from office. The seven House managers spent the bulk of their three days of opening statements focused on the first of two articles of impeachment against Trump, charging him with abusing his power through his efforts to have Ukraine launch probes into his political rivals. But with about a quarter of their 24 cumulative hours remaining, the managers, led by House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., pivoted to the obstruction charge, detailing Trump's categorical refusal to cooperate with the House impeachment inquiry. As the Democrats wrapped up their arguments, Trump's team of lawyers looked ahead to Saturday, when they will get the same amount of time to state their defense. It's unclear if Trump's team plans to use the entirety of that available time. The Democrat-led House voted to impeach Trump on the two articles on Dec. 18. It's considered highly unlikely that two thirds of the majority-Republican Senate will vote to remove a Republican president from office. Here are today's highlights from the Senate impeachment trial:

Obstruction charge takes center stage

The House managers devoted the final hours of their opening statements to Trump's obstruction charge. The White House had flatly refused to cooperate with the House impeachment inquiry. In an October letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., White House counsel Pat Cipollone claimed that the proceedings amount to "baseless, unconstitutional efforts to overturn the democratic process." House committee members ultimately heard testimony from numerous current and former administration officials in public hearings and in closed-door sessions, but many potential witnesses were pressured not to comply with the Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has pushed hard for the Senate to issue subpoenas for documents and witnesses before the trial proceedings began in earnest. But the 11 amendments to the trial rules that he proposed were all shot down in party line votes. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, hammered home the extent of the Trump administration's non-compliance in her remarks on the Senate floor on Friday. "Let's recap: No documents. Zero. Goose egg. Nada. In response to over 70 requests  70 requests  and five subpoenas. No attempt to negotiate. No general attempt to accommodate. Categorical and indiscriminate and unprecedented stonewalling," Garcia said. "Never in my time as a lawyer or as a judge have I seen this kind of total disrespect and defiance of a lawfully issued subpoena  and all on President Trump's orders," she said. "And it could continue because this obstruction of Congress is real and is beyond comparison."

Schiff to GOP: Trump would do it to you, too

The opening statements from the House managers often felt appeals to the American people as much as they were a plea to the Senate. But at times, the Democrats explicitly addressed the GOP-majority chamber. On Friday, Schiff sent a stark warning to Trump's allies on Capitol Hill: This president could investigate you, too, if he thought it would benefit him. "The next time, it just may be you. It just may be you," Schiff said. "Do you think for a moment that any of you, no matter what your relationship to this president, no matter how close you are to this president, do you think for a moment that if he felt it was in his interest, he wouldn't ask you to be investigated?" Schiff asked rhetorically. "Do you think for a moment that he wouldn't? And if somewhere deep, down below you realize that he would, you cannot leave a man like that in office when he has violated the Constitution." Schiff has played to the senators' sensibilities before. On Thursday, Schiff appealed the lawmakers' distrust of Russia as he built the case that Trump's demand for Ukraine to announce a probe into 2016 election interference was based on a false Kremlin backed conspiracy, and designed simply to damage Democrats. "This theory was brought to you by the Kremlin," Schiff said then. "So we're not talking about generic interference  what Donald Trump wanted investigated or announced was this completely bogus, Kremlin-pushed conspiracy theory." "Well, you gotta give Donald Trump credit for this. He has made a religious man out of Vladimir Putin," Schiff said, generating a ripple of laughter from senators.

Leaked tape of Trump raises questions about new evidence

A newly surfaced recording Friday appeared to contain audio of Trump demanding that former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch be fired, ABC News reported. "Get rid of her!" Trump reportedly said of Yovanovitch, during a small dinner in April 2018 that was attended by Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two associates of Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who were deeply involved in the covert campaign to remove the ambassador from her post. "Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it," Trump can reportedly be heard saying on the tape. CNBC has not heard the tape. Trump did not deny that he spoke those words, and later said he was likely addressing Giuliani. But the tape underscores one of the biggest still-unresolved issues in Trump's impeachment trial -- Whether or not senators will be permitted to ask the two respective legal teams questions about new evidence that has come to light since December, when the House impeachment probe formally ended. Under the Senate rules, the only evidence admitted into the trial was the trove of documents produced during the House investigation, which includes records, testimony transcripts and correspondence. Once the president's lawyers are finished presenting their arguments in his defense, senators will have 16 hours, likely spread over two days, to submit questions to the legal teams. The questions will be read aloud by Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial. But if those questions contain references to evidence that's not part of the House trove, how will Roberts react? Will he ask the questions? Will he ask for a vote? This was unresolved as of Friday, and could greatly impact a key phase of the president's trial.

Trump's defense to begin with "coming attractions"
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday placed a temporary ban on BJP candidate Kapil Mishra from campaigning for Delhi assembly elections for violating Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

The ban on Mishra from campaigning will last for 48 hours starting at 5 pm today over his tweet where he termed the ensuing Assembly elections in the capital as a contest between 'India and Pakistan.'

Earlier, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi asked the police to file an FIR against Mishra for his tweet. Mishra on January 23 had tweeted "...On 8th February there will be a contest between India and Pakistan on the streets of Delhi."

Yesterday, Twitter took down a controversial post of Mishra on the request of the ECI.

After the Returning Officer (RO) issued a notice to Mishra over his controversial tweet, the BJP candidate from Model Town said that he does not think that he has said anything wrong and stands by his statement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The startup community has lost another moral leader today.

Leila Janah, a serial entrepreneur who was the CEO and founder of machine learning training data company Samasource, passed away at the age of 37 due to complications from Epithelioid Sarcoma, a form of cancer, according to a statement from the company.

She focused her career on social and ethical entrepreneurship with the goal of ending global poverty, founding three distinct organizations over her career spanning the for-profit and non-profit worlds. She was most well-known for Samasource, which was founded a little more than a decade ago to help machine learning specialists develop better ML models through more complete and ethical training data-sets.

The company is distinct for delivering AI-driven services to Fortune 100 companies with a global workforce of data specialists, a large number of whom are located in East Africa.

Janah and her company were well ahead of their time, as issues related to bias in ML models have become top-of-mind for many product leaders in Silicon Valley today.

My TechCrunch colleague Jake Bright had just interviewed Janah several weeks ago, after Samasource raised more than $15 million in venture capital, according to Crunchbase.

In that interview Janah spoke of what inspired her to form an AI company in Africa. I saw huge opportunity for tapping into the incredible depth of  talent in East Africa in the tech world, she said of Samasource's origins.





Michael Stewart/WireImage

The company has a global staff of 2,900 and is the largest AI and data annotation employer in East Africa, Janah told TechCrunch.

She discussed taking Samasource, and its largely African workforce, from non-profit to for-profit status. As a CEO I need to make it clear to investors that this is an investible entity, she said. Janah shared her view that providing for-profit AI training data to global companies can be done while improving lives in East Africa. I strongly believe you can combine the highest quality of service with the core mission of altruism, she said.

Story continues

A big part of our values is offering living wages and creating dignified technology work for people. We hire people from low-income backgrounds and offer them training in AI and machine learning. And our teams achieve above the industry standard.

In an unpublished segment of her last TechCrunch interview, Janah underscored her commitment to gender diversity in tech. "We are probably the only firm in our space that has a female CEO, a female COO  and over 60% of our management and are women. That's highly unusual in the tech world," she said.

In a statement on Janah's passing, Samasource said:

We are all committed to continuing Leilas work, and to ensuring her legacy and vision is carried out for years to come. To accomplish this, Wendy Gonzalez, longtime business partner and friend to Leila, will take the helm as interim CEO of Samasource. Previously the organizations COO, Wendy has spent the past five years working alongside Leila to craft Samasources vision and strategy.

In addition to Samasource, Janah founded SF-based Samaschool, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to helping low-income workers learn critical freelancing skills by helping them negotiate the changing dynamics in the freelance economy. The organization has built partnerships with groups like Goodwill to empower them to offer additional curricular resources within their own existing programs and initiatives.





Photo by Marla Aufmuth/Getty Images for Watermark Conference for Women 2016

Janah also founded LXMI, a skin-care brand that emphasized organic and fair-trade ingredients, with a focus on sourcing from low-income women's cooperatives in East Africa. Founded three years ago, the company raised a seed round from the likes of NEA, Sherpa, and Reid Hoffman according to Crunchbase.

Across all of her initiatives, Janah consistently put the concerns of under-represented people at the forefront, and designed organizations to empower such people in their daily lives. Her entrepreneurial spirit, commitment, and integrity will be sorely missed in the startup community.

TechCrunch editor-at-large Josh Constine had this to say of Janahs impact:

Leila was propulsive. Being around her, youd swear there were suddenly more hours in the day just based on how much she could accomplish. Yet rather than conjuring that energy through ruthless efficiency, she carried on with grace and boundless empathy. Whether for her closest friends or a village of strangers on the other side of the world, she embraced others challenges as her own. Leila turned vulnerability into an advantage, making people feel so comfortable in her presence that they could unwind their personal and professional puzzles. Leila is the kind of founder we need more of, and shell remain an example of how to do business with heart.

Janah's legacy will continue through the AI data-training specialists the company she founded, Samasource, trains and employs. As part of its latest Series A, Samasource increased staff in Uganda to 90 people with plans to grow that by 150% in 2020, she told TechCrunch in late 2019.

Updated January 25, 2019 to include additional quotes from TechCrunch editor-at-large Josh Constine and additional material from TechCrunch reporter Jake Bright's recent interview with Janah from November.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The open confrontation between Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and the Left government in the state reached another level as the Governor sought an explanation from the government for including the state government's opposition towards the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in his policy address to the Assembly.

In another major development, the Opposition UDF has demanded that the Centre should recall the Governor.

Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala approached the Speaker demanding that the Assembly should pass a resolution urging the Centre to recall the Governor.

In a letter to the Chief Secretary, the Raj Bhavan pointed out that since the Citizenship Amendment Act is before the Supreme Court, including it in the policy address would be 'improper'.

Seeking an explanation, the Governor pointed out that as per the Constitutional provisions, the policy address should include the state's developmental initiatives.

It should not be "about things that are not under the state's jurisdiction," he said. The objective of the policy address is to appraise the members of the government's policies.

Referring to some previous SC verdicts in this regard and the Constitutional provisions, Governor Khan further pointed out that the issue related to the CAA is currently being considered by the Courts, and are hence 'subjudice' in nature. It would be improper to include a sub judice matter in policy address, he felt.

With the assembly session scheduled to begin on January 29, the Governor seeking explanation has further worsened the standoff between the Governor and the Left Government.

The Governor has been at loggerheads with the state government over a number of issues, especially the CAA. The Governor had earlier came out in the open against the Kerala Assembly passing a resolution against the CAA. He had also sought an explanation from the government for approaching the Supreme Court, questioning the CAA, without keeping him in the loop.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid tears and grief, the mortal remains of five people, including three kids, who died in a Nepal resort were laid to rest at their ancestral house at Chenkottukonam.



The bodies of Praveen Nair, his wife Saranya and children Sree Bhadra, Ardra and Abhinav were brought to Thiruvananthapuram in an Air India flight on Thursday night. They were later shifted to the Medical College Hospital mortuary. From there, on Friday morning, the bodies were taken to Ayyankovil accompanied by a motorcade. Praveens body was first moved out of the morgue followed by the rest of the family members. Coffins were carried in separate ambulances.

When the vehicles reached Chenkottukonam, a huge crowd had already assembled in the place. When the coffins were taken out, the relatives and neighbours broke down. The bodies were taken to the house accompanied by wailing and lamentation. Emotions reached a crescendo when Praveens parents came to the coffins to bid goodbye.

The bodies were kept in the courtyard for the public to pay homage. The police and the relatives had a tough time handling the crowd as they kept thronging the place and made long serpentine queues. Political leaders, including Forest Minister K Raju, Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran, former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and several MLAs paid their homage.

The funeral function began by 9.30 am. Arav, Saranyas sisters three-year-old son, performed the last rites of Saranya and Praveen. The kids were interred in a single grave in the middle, while the parents were cremated on the flanks.

Gloomy January

The three kids were born in January. The birthday of Aarcha is on January 31 and it was expected that the family will be celebrating it here on their return. The relatives said Praveen had told them that they will come for the temple festival that is slated to begin on January 31.



He couldnt keep his words. Sadly, the bodies were brought home on the same day they were to return from their Nepal sojourn.
The US has warned Boris Johnson that his hopes of a post-Brexit trade deal rest on first making progress in the already-troubled negotiations with the EU.

Speaking in London, Steven Mnuchin, the US Treasury secretary, insisted he was optimistic that the agreement most prized by Brexiteers can be struck by the end of the year.

But he also made clear there were certain issues the UK would need to resolve with the EU, before Washington could sign up its own deal designed to boost transatlantic trade.

Mr Mnuchin  who clashed with Sajid Javid, the chancellor, in Davos over the UKs planned digital services tax  also insisted Donald Trumps administration would not back down in that row.

The two countries are on a collision course after Mr Javid vowed to press ahead with the 2 per cent levy on Google, Facebook and other tech giants, despite the threat of retaliatory US taxes on UK car exports.

The US feels very strongly that any tax that is designed specifically on digital companies is a discriminatory tax and is not appropriate, Mr Mnuchin told a Chatham House event in London.

The possible trade war looms as Downing Street seeks a fast-track deal to lower tariffs and other trade barriers with the US  a task the prime minister has insisted will begin immediately after Brexit Day on Friday.

Doubts had already been raised over US willingness to agree a deal without knowing the terms of trade between London and Brussels, which Mr Mnuchin appeared to underline.

Nevertheless, on the potential for a deal, he said: Im quite optimistic. Were focused on trying to get this done this year because we think its important to both of us.

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

And he added: I think a lot of the issues can be dealt with simultaneously and again we look forward to continuing a great trade relationship, and if anything I think there will be significantly more trade between the US and the UK.

The UK-EU talks are already at risk of breaking down over Mr Johnsons vow of no alignment with EU regulations and Brussels insistence that an agreement on fishing rights must come first.

It leaves the UK at risk of an effective no-deal Brexit  without a trade deal  at the end of 2020, forcing it onto far-inferior World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.

Hopes of a quick-fire US deal also appear slim if Mr Johnson sticks to his red lines of not allowing in chlorinated chicken and hormone-pumped beef, or to open up the NHS to US drug giants.

At the event, Mr Mnuchin declined to expand on a further controversy  Washingtons plea for the UK to shut out the Chinese firm Huawei from its 5G network.

Mr Johnson is expected to defy the US, convinced Huawei can build the non-core network without a security risk, with a long-delayed decision due from the National Security Council within days.

He and Mr Trump discussed the issue during a telephone call on Friday, it was revealed.
In his inner chatter", the jealous "is unable to see reality", and only something really formidable can open his eyes. In the end it is a grace of God when the jealous person meets reality as Saul did: jealousy bursts like a soap bubble because jealousy and envy have no consistency.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The worm of envy and jealousy "leads us to misjudge people", said Pope Francis in his homily during the Mass he celebrated this morning at Casa Santa Marta, inspired by the First Reading, which describes how King Saul's jealousy towards David burst like a soap bubble.

For the pontiff, such a worm is the seed of war", the kind of inner "chattering" that kills the other. Luckily, the Lord always provides us with the grace to understand that "it has no consistency" and is but a soap bubble.

The king's jealousy, as escribed in the First Book of Samuel, stems from the victory song of the young maiden for Saul, who killed his thousands, whereas David killed his tens of thousands.

Thus begins "the restlessness of jealousy", like a worm that gnaws at you". Hence, "Saul goes out with his army to kill David. For Francis, jealousies are criminal; they always try to kill.

He reminds those who say "yes, I'm jealous of this, but I'm not a killer that now, you are not, but if you continue it can end badly for one can kill with the tongue, with slander.

Jealousy grows "by talking to oneself through an inner chattering. A jealous person is unable to see reality", and only something really formidable can open his eyes. Thus, in Saul's fantasy, jealousy led him to believe that David was a murderer, an enemy.

"We too, when envy, jealousy come to us, do the same, eh! Each of us thinks: 'Why is this person unbearable to me? Why don't I want to see the other person? Why the other one . . . 'Each of us should think about why. Many times, we will look for why and find that it is our fantasies. Fantasies that, however, grow in our inner chatter.

In the end it is a grace of God when the jealous person meets reality as Saul did: jealousy bursts like a soap bubble because jealousy and envy have no consistency.

Saul's salvation, the Pope stressed, lies with the love of God who told him that if he did not obey, he would take away his kingdom, and yet he loved him. Thus, he granted him the grace to burst the soap bubble that had no consistency.

When Saul entered the cave, where David and his men were hiding, to relieve himself", he refused take advantage of the situation to kill the king as his friends urged him to. I will not raise a hand against my master, for he is the Lords anointed.

We see Davids nobility compared to Sauls murderous jealousy. Hence, in silence, he cut a piece of cloth from the end of the king's robe and carried it with him.

Then David came out of the cave and respectfully called Saul: My lord the king! even if "he tried to kill him. He asked: Why do you listen to those who say, David is trying to harm you?

and showed him the end of his robe, saying: I could have killed you and did not. This, the Pope noted, "burst the bubble of Saul's jealousy", so that he saw David "as if he were a son, and returned to reality, saying You are more in the right than I am. You have treated me graciously, while I have treated you badly.

There is grace when the envious, the jealous, finds himself faced with a reality that bursts the soap bubble, which is the vice of jealousy or envy. When "we are obnoxious to others, we don't love them", and so should ask ourselves: What's inside me? Is there the worm of jealousy that is growing because he has something that I don't have? Or is it a hidden rage?

We must protect our heart from this disease, from this inner chatter, which swells the soap bubble, which has no consistency, and yet hurts so much. Even when someone comes "to talk to someone else", we must make them understand that, often, they are not talking with serenity but rather "with passion". And the latter contains the evil of envy and the evil of jealousy".

Let us be careful because this is a worm that enters the heart of all of us, of all of us, and leads us to misjudge people because there is an inner competition. He has something that I don't have; thus, the competition begins. It leads us to discard people, it leads us to war; an internal war, a neighbourhood war, a war over jobs. Yet precisely in its origin, it is the seed of war: envy and jealousy.

Let us be careful when we feel dislike for someone. Similarly, Let us ask the Lord for the grace to have a transparent heart like Davids. A transparent heart that seeks only justice, that seeks peace. A friendly heart, a heart that does not want to kill anyone for jealousy and envy kill.
COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. -- The city of Cottage Grove is taking a step in the right direction in hopes of providing a solution for those in search of affordable housing.

Dev Northwest, formerly known as NEDCO, celebrated breaking ground on a new project with a ceremony Friday on Arthur Avenue.

CEO Emily Reiman said that access to land that can be developed can be hard these days.

Were looking at homes that are $170/180,000, where the average home on the market in Lane County anymore is $250/300,000, Reiman said. Were building these six new homes using funding from the state of Oregon and in partnership with the city of Cottage Grove.

On Thursday, Florence celebrated a similar groundbreaking of twelve community land trust homes.

RELATED: FLORENCE OFFICIALS BREAK GROUND ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

Adam Dallimore is the development associate at Dev NW. He said that a project to provide affordable housing had been in the works for quite some time.

Between these six houses and hopefully affordable housing projects that will come after it, its providing much needed affordable housing to the area for people that are 80 percent of the area's median income, Dallimore said.

Cottage Grove Mayor Jeff Gowing said the housing crisis is not just in Cottage Grove, and homeowners add to a healthier community.

Providing more housing for residents in town, theres a need for it, Gowing said. Its going to be a positive thing to have."

The houses will be completed by May or June of this year. If you are interested in applying for one, you have until Feb. 3 to do so. When that window closes, a lottery system will be put in place to choose the candidates for all six of the homes.

For more information on the houses developed by Dev NW, click here.
Janine Davies has nearly 50 flying foxes living with her.

From feeding bottles to cleaning, the part-time rescuer rarely gets a good night sleep lately.

Australia's raging forest fires have destroyed the habitat of many native species, including these grey-headed flying-foxes.

They're considered 'vulnerable' because their population is already dwindling due to threats from land clearing activities, which the fires have exacerbated.

Davies, the coordinator of Shoalhaven Bats Clinic and Sanctuary, has rescued five times more bats in the past three months compared to the same period last year.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) COORDINATOR OF 'SHOALHAVEN BAT CLINIC AND SANCTUARY', JANINE DAVIES SAYING:

"It's basically catastrophic. I mean the fire has just literally gone down the whole east coast of Australia and they just continuing to burn, I was shocked that all the area I collect blossoms for these little guys is gone, it's nothing but burnt sticks."

Usually one fruit bat will spend up to four-and-a-half-months in rehabilitation at the bat clinic before release back into the wild.

But due to the lack of food stocks caused by the fires, Davies is taking more time to research the best release location, fearing that she could send them back into another crisis.

The Australian government said it will provide up to 50 million Australian dollars - that's 34 million US dollars - in a wildlife recovery program focusing on the survival of the country's native animals.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) COORDINATOR OF 'SHOALHAVEN BAT CLINIC AND SANCTUARY', JANINE DAVIES SAYING:

"People have got to not be ignorant, we don't go out and pollinate forests, these guys do, and we need to do all we can to make them survive"

But if the population of the flying-foxes declines further, it could ultimately impact other endangered species living in the forests because they are a key pollinator for many trees including eucalyptus which is the sole food source for koalas.
Authorities of Visva Bharati University are willing to hold the annual 'Basanta Utsav' on its usual schedule, the day of Holi, if the West Bengal government provides adequate security for the event, an official said.

Earlier, varsity officials had said the spring festival will be held on February 19 instead of March 9, citing law and order issues.

"A committee has been formed to look into the date of 'Basanta Utsav'. If the state government ensures adequate security and other related arrangements, the festival may be celebrated on March 9," Visva Bharati spokesperson Anirban Sarkar said on Friday evening.

He also said members of the committee would soon meet the state's Education Minister Partha Chatterjee to discuss about the date of the event.

Sarkar had earlier told PTI that the varsity authorities faced inconveniences due to the massive turnout at the festival last year, and were open to reconsider the date in 2020.

However, the proposal to hold the event on a different date had sparked controversy and led to protests by a section of students.

The 'Basanta Utsav' is held inside the campus of the central university in Birbhum district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
ICMSA says it intenda having a copy of its Guide to General Election 2020 on the way to every candidate standing in a rural constituency and association officer within days.

ICMSA president Pat McCormack met Leo Varadkar in Adare on Tuesday, handed him the document which is subtitled The questions that farmers need answered and urged him to note carefully the key issues identified. It is divided into easy-to-understand sections on price, income and margin; dairy; CAO post 2020; fixing Irelands beef and livestock sector; environment, sustainable farming and renewables; farming and finance.

Mr McCormack said the document has been designed specifically to alert candidates to the issues identified as most pressing for our farming and wider rural communities at this point and also to solutions that he characterised as do-able, practical, fair and progressive

But he said it was already perfectly obvious on which two issues the farmer and broader rural vote might depend.

Firstly, the relentless pressure on farmer income and farmer margin has been and remains the central point. Last year saw unprecedented and costly disruption in the sector  our biggest indigenous economic sector  as farmers broke under the pressure of producing particularly beef for prices that were less than their costs of production. We have farmers across all sectors receiving the same prices as their parents received 30 years ago. Everyone sympathises, but we dont want sympathy anymore. We want fair prices. We want action. Politicians who go to farmers yards and doors are going to be told that forcefully and straight out, said Mr McCormack.

The second issue that is going to dominate this Election for farmers is the constant attack on their livelihoods and the economic viability of rural Ireland by the most aggressive and arrogant elements of the environmental movement. Farmers accept the reality of climate change and accept the need for change, but we reject absolutely the idea that farmers alone will have to change their way of life. Every part of society will have to contribute to the increased costs of changing the way we produce food. Any candidate that comes out with ill-informed, glib anti-farmer messages will be challenged on their grasp of the facts, he added.

Mr McCormack said ICMSA is a categorically non-political organisation and does not endorse specific candidates or political party. But he stressed they will not tolerate a campaign where farmers are made the whipping boys for anyones pet projects or concerns.

We have represented farm families for a long time; this is our 70th anniversary and I would strongly urge every candidate to take the time to read and become aware of both the issues and solutions that we know will work for Irish farming and the communities that depend on that, said Mr McCormack
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 18:20:59|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Gao Fu, head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), on Saturday dismissed a media report claiming that a super-spreader, or a highly contagious virus carrier, had emerged in the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Gao, a leading virologist and immunologist and member of a National Health Commission high-level expert team, said a patient who supposedly infected 14 medical staff in a Wuhan hospital should not be named a "super-spreader" because he was transferred between wards multiple times.

"There is no need for panic," Gao said.

Other preventive medicine experts interviewed by Xinhua echoed Gao's view.

Gao said at an earlier press conference that there was no evidence so far of a super-spreader.

The new coronavirus pneumonia first broke out in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and then quickly spread across the country. By the end of Friday, a total of 41 people had died and 1,287 cases had been confirmed in 30 provincial-level regions.

"We are closely following the situation. What we must focus on right now is to carry out prevention and treatment in line with science," Gao said. Enditem
WASHINGTON  For a few gripping minutes, Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead impeachment prosecutor against President Trump, had made the restless Senate snap to attention.

Voice cracking as he spoke, Schiff made an impassioned plea late Thursday for removing Trump from office, framing the choice in moral terms. If right doesnt matter, were lost, he said.

You know you cant trust this president will do whats right for this country, Schiff said. You can trust he will do whats right for Donald Trump. Hell do it now. Hes done it before. Hell do it for the next several months, hell do it in the election if hes allowed to. This is why if you find him guilty you must find that he should be removed. Because right matters.

Reactions to the speech were as divided as the country. Democrats gushed, tweeting glowing words about the California Democrats rousing late-night speech. Republicans said they were unconvinced, and strenuously rejected the idea that Trump cant be trusted.

Still, even some Republicans gave Schiff grudging respect for the skill of his arguments.

I thought he was passionate and his case has been well articulated, said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican. Still, he added, in the end its all going to come down to the facts, the law and the what people think is the threshold for whats an impeachable offense.

Schiff is unlikely to win over enough GOP senators to convict Trump, as most are solidly supporting the president. But for his articulate presentations to the Senate he has won praise from some senators like South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who shook his hand and told him he was doing a good job after the first day of House arguments.

Schiff is the face of the Houses impeachment case against Trump, which has made him the principal target of Trumps ire. Though he has six managers by his side, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Schiff, her confidant, as the lead impeachment manager. He is setting the tone of the prosecutions case, working methodically to convince even his most ardent detractors that Trump deserves to be removed from office.

In a way I do feel like Im introducing myself to a number of the senators, Schiff said in an interview with The Associated Press before arguments resumed on Thursday. He said many of them are familiar only with conservative criticism of him, and they are finding Im not the demon that Im portrayed as on Fox.

Schiff said he wishes that the Graham exchange wasnt caught on camera, because it was nice to have a private moment. And I dont want to discourage that kind of thing. But I very much appreciated his comments.

Though Graham has ridiculed the case against the Republican president and heaped scorn on Democrats like Schiff, he said on Thursday he believes the California Democrat is well spoken and did a good job of creating a tapestry, taking bits and pieces of evidence and emails and giving a rhetorical flourish  sometimes effectively, sometimes a little over the top.

Other Republicans had similar words. Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt said the Democrats had admirable presentations, even though he found them repetitive and said he didnt learn much new. Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst says shes not a fan of Schiff, but believes he has been presenting a calm, level case against the president.

Graham, who was an impeachment manager himself in President Bill Clintons 1999 trial, again complimented the House impeachment managers Friday on the way they have conducted themselves, but said he was less impressed with Schiffs closing speech on Thursday evening.

He told me that I have to get rid of this president now, because I cant trust him to do whats best for the country because hell only do whats best for Donald Trump, Graham said. That decision needs to be made by the voters.

Schiff, who represents parts of Hollywood, has been a frequent target of conservatives since the then GOP-led House Intelligence Committee started investigating Trumps ties to Russia in the 2016 election. He was frequently on television questioning Trumps actions.

The criticism intensified, though, when Democrats took the House majority in early 2019 and he became chairman of the intelligence panel. And it reached a full-on roar as he took charge of the impeachment investigation of Trumps dealings with Ukraine last fall.

Trump has trained his ire on the congressman on Twitter and elsewhere, alternatively calling him shifty, sleazy, and liddle. He has also turned his name into a vulgarity, occasionally calling him Schitt on Twitter, and dubbed him pencil neck at a campaign rally. Trump tweeted about Schiff only a handful of times in 2017 and 2018, but hundreds of times since Democrats gained the House majority.

In contrast to the president, Schiff has tried to set a non-combative tone on the Senate floor, with conciliatory words to the Senate. He said at the start of his arguments on Wednesday that he was deeply grateful for their attention and understands that its hard to sit and listen four hours on end.

His appeals came hours after Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding, admonished both the House managers and Trumps defense team for using language that is not conducive to civil discourse.

Roberts comments came around 1 a.m. Wednesday after another impeachment manager, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, charged that the White House lawyers were lying and that GOP senators votes against witnesses were treacherous. Trumps defense team responded that Nadler should apologize to the president and the American people.

The next morning, before the trial resumed, the impeachment managers gathered for a news conference. When asked about Roberts comments, Schiff was the only one who spoke. Youre going to have tempers flare when trials go into the wee hours, Schiff said, and that happens in every courtroom in America.

But we are going to try to keep focused on the facts, Schiff said. The presidents team would like nothing more than to provoke a bitter conflict.

Schiff told the AP on Thursday that when talking on the Senate floor, he is trying not to make the case personal and he wants to show respect for the senators and for the chief justice, present the evidence, make the appeals to have a fair trial, and thats the best I can do.

Senate Democrats, on the other hand, have been thrilled. Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow said Thursday evening that I think you could have heard a pin drop when Schiff gave his closing speech.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy tweeted that senators leaving for the night were awestruck.

Mary Clare Jalonick is an Associated Press writer.
Reuters

BEIRUT (Reuters) -Lebanon's prime minister said on Wednesday the government had not interfered with the judiciary's work, after reports that he had put pressure on a judge who is seeking data from banks in an investigation into the conduct of the central bank governor. Prime Minister Najib Mikati said last month that veteran Governor Riad Salameh, who is at the centre of domestic and international probes over allegations ranging from fraud to embezzlement, should stay https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/lebanon-pm-says-central-bank-governor-should-stay-now-2021-12-28 in his job to avoid adding to problems in Lebanon as it navigates a deep financial crisis. Al Akhbar and other Lebanese news outlets said Mikati had called Lebanon's top prosecutor, Ghassan Oueidat, and threatened to resign if Judge Jean Tannous continued to press banks for data in his investigation.
Iraq's anti-government protests were dealt a blow after a powerful Shiite cleric withdrew his support from the movement, leading security forces to set fire to protesters' tents overnight Saturday in the country's south, as well as re-open key public squares in Baghdad that had been occupied by the demonstrators.

The presence of Muqtada al-Sadr's followers and his militia group had shielded the protesters from security forces and unknown groups looking to harm and suppress them, activists said.

With that cover gone, many in the four-month-old movement feared the worst.

The demonstrations since October have been critical of government corruption, high unemployment and Iranian influence in Iraqi politics.

Crackdowns by security forces have killed at least 500 protesters.

But many of the protesters are worried that the conflict between the US and Iran, which is playing out in part on Iraqi soil, is killing their momentum.

In a tweet Friday evening, al-Sadr indicated his disappointment toward anti-government protesters in Baghdad's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the anti-government protests.

Al-Sadr's tweet came just hours after tens of thousands of his followers staged a separate anti-US rally in a nearby Baghdad neighbourhood, which most demonstrators in the square steered clear of.

At around around 2 am local time Saturday, riot police set fire to a protest encampment in a central square in the oil-rich southern city of Basra, two activists said.

The crackdown came after al-Sadr's followers packed up their tents and left.

In Baghdad, key squares and roads that had previously been a focal point of protest violence were re-opened for vehicle access, according to a statement from the Baghdad Operations Command.

Protesters said they were fearful that security forces would next come to root them out of Tahrir Square. At least eight tents occupied by al-Sadr's supporters were removed, said one activist.

(Al-Sadr's statement) gave the green light for the government to suppress the demonstrations, said Husanien Ali, a 35-year-old protester.

We consider this a betrayal of the blood of the martyrs and the sacrifices made by the followers of Muqtada al-Sadr.

In Baghdad, the vital Mohammed al-Qasim highway, Tayaran Square and al-Nidhal Street were all reopened.

Ahrar Bridge, which had been partly occupied by protesters in a stand-off with security forces, was also reopened, according to Baghdad Operations Command.

Concrete blocs were removed to re-open al-Khilani Square, the statement said.

Concrete blocs were removed from the street and cleaning crews were sweeping Ahrar Bridge, one activist said.

Protesters continued to occupy Jumhuriya and Sinak bridges, which lead to the heavily fortified Green Zone.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A man, identified as Chukwukelu Adumah has been arrested for allegedly defiling two of his children, a four month old and his one year old son.

The story was shared online by an activist, Harrison Gwamnishu.

His full post reads;

PAEDOPHILE FATHER ARRESTED FOR DEFILING HIS TWO UNDERAGE CHILDREN IN ABUJA.

Mr. Chukwukelu Adumah from Obichukwu kindred in Aja Ani Ichida in Aniocha LGA of Anambra state who live in Gwagwalape Phase1 Abuja is currently detained in Nyanya Divisional Police station for sexually abusing his 4-month old child and engaging in Anal sex with his 1-yr 10-month old son.

In 2018, Lagos Nigeria, Chukwukelu Adumah was arrested and released by the police for raping 13-year old neighbours daughter.

The victim sustained serious injury and currently receiving medical treatment.

If you reside in Abuja, we need to lend your voice on this current case.

You cant keep silent in such cases as Paedophiles are nearby. Dont be the next victim. Join us #FightAgainstPaedophile.

Efficient Grace Ume is following up and we want you to join her as we are currently receiving threat to withdraw from seeking justice.

Gwamnishu Emefiena Harrison

DG, Behind Bars

Read Also: I Do Not Believe In Giving Men Second Chances  Zambian Feminist

See evidence below:
Camping in the great outdoors can be one of life's great adventures - cooking over a fire underneath the stars before cosying up under canvas.

But the quality and suitability of your tent can make or break the experience.

The Independent spoke to some global Instagram adventurers about their all-time favorite tents, that'll stand up to harsh conditions, as well as the test of time.

Kayaker Thomas Mogenson recommends Hilleberg's Allak , which he calls the 'Rolls Royce of tents' ($1070)

(Hilleberg)

Thomas Mogenson said: Hilleberg is a Swedish tentmaker that only focuses in tents and tarps. The tents are not cheap, but in this world, you often get what you pay for. They make tents for any occasion, from lightweight and family tents to hard core expedition tents, that can take on any weather condition.

"As a kayak paddler, I personally recommend the freestanding tents. These tents allow you to camp on almost every type of ground. You can not always count on a grass mat or a sandy beach when you are paddling in a rocky archipelago. With a freestanding tent, it is possible to even tent directly on the rocks. I use primary two models of Hilleberg. The Hilleberg Soulo 1p for single use and the Hilleberg Allak 2p for two people. Those are light 4-seasons tents, but not in the heavy expedition class. These two tents are also light enough to fit in a backpack.

Allak 2s features :

A pole pitching system with an inner and outer tent and two exits

Room for 2 people

Weather versatile: good for camping in all seasons

Lightweight, good for backpackers

Soulo features :

Freestanding, can be pitched with ease nearly anywhere.

Room for one person.

Weather versatile: good for camping in all seasons

Low weight, high strength and durability.

Jacob of Local Adventurer recommends the Big Agnes Copper Spur UL 2 Backpacking Tent , which theyve had for over 6 years ($404)

(Big Agnes (Big Agnes)

It's been really reliable and amazing for backpacking. We selected it because of its weight, coming in at 3 lb 2 oz, and size, packing down to 5.5 x 17.5 inches. If we're car camping, we usually bring a large heavier tent, but if there is any hiking involved to get to our site, then the Big Agnes always comes with us. The newer one is a tad lighter and they even have one with lights built into the tent. Buy here

Features:

Made from nylon fabric

Can fit up to 3 people

Lightweight, only 2 lbs 12 oz

3 seasons, not recommended for winter use.

Finn Stillerud of Scandinature recommends the Ridgerunner Hammock from Warbonnet Outdoors ($105)

(Warbonnet Outdoors) (Warbonnet Outdoors)

OK, so it's not a traditional tent but it comes highly recommended for sleeping outdoors. The hammock comes with additional insulation, netting, and storage space, essentially functioning as a smaller, suspended tent. The Ridgerunner hammock from Warbonnet Outdoors is a very comfortable hammock for year round camping - high quality, smart storage pockets, easy to set up and two choices for bottom insulation (sleeping pad or underquilt) that both work 100% without pesky fiddling. Buy here

Features:

Made from Dream-Tex fabric, which has a cotton-like texture.

Made for one person.

Extra storage on the sides and end caps

Made in the USA

Have an opinion or recommendation for a good tent? Get in contact with us at indybestusa@independent.co.uk

IndyBest product reviews are unbiased, independent advice you can trust. On some occasions, we earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products, but we never allow this to bias our coverage. The reviews are compiled through a mix of expert opinion and real-world testing.
UK Christian charity backs lawsuit against govt for scrapping internet porn block

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A Christian organization is backing a lawsuit against the U.K. government over its failure to implement age restrictions on pornography websites to protect children.

Amid growing concerns and awareness of the public heath harms and other social ills caused by porn, the U.K. government passed the Digital Economy Act 2017 that would have required internet users to verify their age before accessing porn sites.

Christian Action Research & Education, the charity supporting the effort, was one of the signatories of a letter published in The Sunday Times pointing out how children as young as 7 had viewed pornography online.

Last month a survey for the British Board of Film Classification found that children as young as 7 had viewed hardcore pornography. Half (51 percent) of those aged 11-13 said they had seen porn, rising to 66 percent among 14-15-year-olds. The researchers concluded viewing porn is harming children's understanding of healthy relationships, sex, body image and consent. The research mirrored a Middlesex University report for the NSPCC in 2016. It found viewing porn gave children an entirely unrealistic image of sex," the letter read.

While the age verification system was supposed to go into effect in April 2018, it was never implemented and was ultimately scrapped in October 2019 after Nicky Morgan, secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, announced that it would not go forward, according to Premier Christian News.

Thus, four companies  AgeChecked Ltd, VeriMe, AVYourself and AVSecure  are setting in motion a judicial review against the government. Morgan did not have the authority to ditch the policy after Parliament had approved it and was supposed to only determine when the program would be implemented, the four companies maintain. The companies said that scrapping the measure was an "abuse of power." They are now seeking approximately 3 million ($3,914,100) in damages for money lost in developing the age verification technology.

"It is tragic that it has come to this, but if it forces the government's hand so age verification is finally introduced, then so be it," James Mildred, communications manager for the Christian charity CARE, told Premier. "The U.K. had the opportunity to be the world leader by pioneering effective age checks technology, only for the government to give up."

Although the pornography industry is mammoth in size and scope and thus seems impossible to regulate, age verification systems that help to protect minors from exposure to it have been seen as an effect tool to halt its influence.

Mildred noted that should the government support Baroness Howe's bill, which was introduced in the House of Lords on Jan. 21, the situation can be remedied.

"Her bill would place a duty on the government to set an implementation date for age verification to be introduced, which is the same outcome being pursued through this legal challenge," Mildred said.

"Protecting children online is an urgent priority in a day and age when children as young as 7 are accidentally coming across porn online."

Howe has been a longtime campaigner against online smut and has previously stressed the need for the government to close loopholes in legislation aimed at restraining the influence of sexually explicit content.

She wrote in the Daily Telegraph in 2018 that it's an extraordinary consequence of the under-aged crackdown that incredibly lifelike computer-generated child abuse images should be accessible online to adults.

In the United Sates conservative legislators and intellectuals  including four Republican members of the House of Representatives and Princeton University professor of jurisprudence Robert P. George  are asking Attorney General Bill Barr to address the scourge of porn with the appropriate legal tools available in keeping with then-candidate Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign pledge to enforce existing obscenity laws.

Elsewhere in the U.S., 15 state legislatures have passed resolutions declaring pornography as a public health crisis, linking it to domestic violence and human trafficking.
Srinagar, Jan 25 : Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) chief of Kashmir Qari Yasir, who was behind the February 14, 2019 attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Pulwama that claimed life of 40 troopers, was killed in an encounter with the security forces at Awantipora in Pulwama on Saturday.

Lt General KJS Dhillon, 15 Corps Commander, and IG Kashmir Vijay Kumar provided this information at a press conference, here.

The Corps commander said on Saturday morning, a joint operation was launched at Hari Pari Gam in Awantipora. Three soldiers received injuries in the initial encounter. They are being treated at the Army's 92 Base Hospital here.

In the final assault in afternoon, three militants -- Yasir, and Burhan and Musa (his associates) were killed. While Musa and Yasir were Pakistani terrorists, Burhan is said to be a local militant.

A large quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered from them.

Lt General Dhillon said Yasir was part of a Jaish-e-Muhammad module that was planning to carry out a big IED strike on the Republic Day. "There were inputs that the module could carry out some big attacks on the R-Day," Lt Gen Dhillon said.

Security forces were getting inputs on this Jaish module's movement for the past four days. Saifullah, one militants of this module, was killed in an encounter in Tral on Wednesday.

The module was in touch with five Jaish men, arrested here earlier this month, for a grenade attack.

Lt General Dhillon said Yasir had a supervisory role in the February 14 Pulwama terror attack. "He was an IED expert and would co-ordinate with militants from across the border," he Dhillon said.

According to the police records, Yasir had a history of terror activities since 2016 and was operating as the JeM commander in the area. Several cases of terror activities and civilian atrocities were registered against him.

With the elimination of this JeM module, the entire Jaish leadership has been wiped out from Kashmir.

The IG Police said of the 125 militants, active in south Kashmir, majority of them were locals. "In 2020, many operations were carried out in south Kashmir and several militants have been eliminated," the IG Kashmir said.

Incriminating materials, including arms and ammunition, recovered from the encounter site had been taken into case records to probe their complicity in other terror activities, a release said.

(Zaffar Iqbal can be contacted at zaffar25@gmail.com)
Do you think for a moment that any of you, no matter what your relationship with this president, no matter how close you are to this president  do you think for a moment that if he felt it was in his interest, he wouldnt ask you to be investigated? Do you think for a moment that he wouldnt? And if somewhere deep down below you realize that he would  you cannot leave a man like that in office when he has violated the Constitution. This is a determination by President Trump that he wants to be all-powerful. He does not have to  to respect the Congress. He does not have to respect the representatives of the people. Only his will goes. He is a dictator. This must not stand. And that is why  another reason he must be removed from office. You dont realize how important character is in the highest office in the land until you dont have it, until you have a president willing to use his power to coerce an ally to help him cheat, to investigate one of our fellow citizens  one of our fellow citizens. Yes, hes running for president  hes still a U.S. citizen. Hes still a U.S. citizen, and he deserves better than that. Although senior Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Bill Barr, were reportedly made aware of the concerns about corrupt activity, no investigation into President Trumps wrongdoing was even opened by the Department of Justice. In an effort to conceal the whistle-blowers concerns, the White House and the Department of Justice took an unprecedented step. No administration had ever intervened in such a manner before. But President Trump maneuvered to keep the whistle-blowers concerns from the congressional Intelligence Committees. At President Trumps direction, the White House itself refused to produce a single document or record in response to a House subpoena that remains in full force and effect. And it continues to withhold those documents from Congress and from the American people. If we are to decide here that a president of the United States can simply say under Article 2, I can do whatever I want and I dont have to treat a coequal branch of government like it exists, I dont have to give it any more than the back of my hand  that will be an unending injury to this country. Ukraine will survive and so will we, but that will be an undending injury to this country, because the balance of power that our founders set out will never be the same.
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP)  Authorities are knocking down tiny huts in western Nepal where women have been exiled during menstruation and exposed to cold weather and threats from animals and even sexual assaults.

Government officials accompanied by police officers and local politicians were going to villages and towns in Kanchanpur district, tearing down the sheds mostly made of mud walls and covered by straw roofs, Chief District Officer Sushil Baidhya said Friday.

The custom of exiling menstruating women has persisted in parts of west Nepal though the Supreme Court banned it in 2005. A new law criminalized it last year, with violators who force women into exile facing up to three months in prison or a fine of 3,000 Nepalese rupees ($26).

Many menstruating women are still forced to shelter in huts or cow sheds until their cycle ends. The custom  called Chhaupadi  continues in many parts of the majority Hindu Himalayan country, especially in the western hills.

In the isolated, unhygienic or insecure huts and sheds, women can face bitter cold, illness, wild animals and the possibility of sexual assaults.

Several women and girls have died during their exile. A major cause of the deaths is smoke inhalation because they lit a fire to keep warm in the tiny huts in hilly or mountainous areas.
-Salma Mumin has flaunted her curvy body and firm backside on social media in a new rare photo

- The actress posted a photo of herself in South Africa as she wore a bodycon jumpsuit dress to reveal her curves and beautiful backside

- Salma Mumin is known for occasionally releasing photos of her beautiful self on social media which always cause traffic on her page

Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in

Ghanaian actress, Salma Mumin has caused a stir on social media with a photo of herself showing her well-improved backside and curvy body.

READ ALSO: Stonebwoy earns another Billboard plaque

Salma who is currently in South Africa with some other Ghanaian celebrities posted a photo of herself in South Africa as she wore a bodycon jumpsuit dress to reveal her curves and beautiful backside.

In the photo sighted by YEN.com.gh, the actress caption it saying "LICK YOUR SCREEN"

READ ALSO: Shatta Wale teams up with Medikal and King Promise for his new hit song (video)

READ ALSO: Beyond the Return: Hollywood superstar Wesley Snipes says he is coming to Ghana (video)

The photo has drawn massive reactions from her fans as they compliment her for her beautiful body.

nikkisamonas: "Powerful"

victorialebenee: "Torture"

iamopokubarima: "3toc yaa"

abena_patgh: "Ur back like plantation"

stephanie_govina: "Splendid"

READ ALSO: Paulina Oduro calls Ghanaian men inherent liars (video)

YEN.com.gh earlier reported that Salma Mumin had finally put out her full name for the first time in a new video.

Since most Ghanaian celebrities are known for changing or hiding their full names when they get into the limelight, Salma mentioning her full name to her fans in the video for the first time shocked most of her fans.

READ ALSO: Hajia4Reall goes all yellow in latest photo; Nigerian celebrities hail her

Salma Mumin in a video sighted by YEN.com.gh mentioned all the names that were given to her on by her biological parents from childbirth.

People who were around her when she mentioned the name were immediately shocked and amazed to have finally heard the actress's full names.

READ ALSO: Osei Kwame Despite's daughter marries in beautiful videos

" My full name is Abdul Mumin Umu Salma Tando. But when I was in school, I added Mary because I always wanted to be Mary in everything. My auntie also liked calling me Mary because she said I behaved calmly like Mary," the popular actress added.

Ghanaian Traders Share Thoughts on Sales During Christmas | #Yencomgh

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
The Duchess of Sussex began making secret plans for an American foundation just eight days after announcing she was pregnant, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Her long-time US business manager Andrew Meyer registered two websites  archefoundation.com and archefoundation.org  on October 23, 2018.

Five days later, an Instagram account called @archefoundation was created.

It has been inactive since and has only one follower, Janina Gavanker, an actress and close friend of Meghan who attended her wedding in Windsor.

An Instagram account called @archefoundation was created in 2018. It has been inactive since and has only one follower, Janina Gavanker (right), an actress and close friend of Meghan who attended her wedding in Windsor

Ms Gavanker, 39, also took the family photograph that appeared on the Sussex Christmas card last year.

The inspiration for the word 'arche' is unclear.

The couple's son, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, was born on May 6, 2019, so it is unlikely that Harry and Meghan would have known the sex of their unborn child in late October 2018.

Parents are usually only able to find out the gender of their baby after 16 weeks of pregnancy.

One possibility is that 'arche' comes from the Ancient Greek philosophical term meaning 'beginning' or 'origin'. Meghan reportedly has a fondness for Greek words, with some speculating that she picked the name Archie because it derives from Archon, the Greek name for leader.

The Duchess of Sussex began making secret plans for an American foundation just eight days after announcing she was pregnant

It would also fit with the notion of the couple making a new start in North America.

Mr Meyer, whose clients also include Grey's Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo, has worked with Meghan for years and has been busy securing domain names for her.

Last September, he renewed the trademark for The Tig, her lifestyle blog that was shut down in 2017 after she began dating Prince Harry. Four months earlier, he registered two website names  americanfriendsofsussexroyal.com and theamericanfriendsof sussexroyal.com.

It is not known whether the websites and social media sites are intended for charity or commercial ventures.

Ms Gavanker (pictured), 39, also took the family photograph that appeared on the Sussex Christmas card last year

They were registered by Mr Meyer's firm Freemark Financial. Its website boasts that it is 'a pre-eminent wealth and business management firm for individuals as well as their companies in the television, film, music, production and publishing industries'.

Mr Meyer, who was named one of the 25 top business managers in showbusiness by the Hollywood Reporter newspaper in 2017, is also understood to have been involved in recently moving Meghan's company Frim Fram Inc from California to Delaware, a state where public access to financial information is heavily restricted.

A spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex last night declined to comment.
To make sure a spontaneous lifestyle is not stifled in any way there the Boombox comes with anIPX5 rating which means they are water-resistant and will keep the music going in all conditions.

The party scene in India just got rocking. Thomson, the European electronics brand, has launched BBX01 Boombox. Now the youth today does not want to be tied down. They are foot loose and free so here is a Powerful portable speaker system that delivers everything.

10watts of pure clean sound with great bass. It really thumps and the sound is crisp with all the ranges coming through like sunshine. This performance is thanks to the 2x3inch woofers coupled with Dual Passive radiators.

To make sure a spontaneous lifestyle is not stifled in any way there the Boombox comes with anIPX5 rating which means they are water-resistant and will keep the music going in all conditions.

The portable powerful speaker targeted for the Indian youth is priced at Rs 1,999.

Then there is a first in this segment, True Wireless Connectivity or TWS. Here two BBX01s can be paired and you double your output. 10 watts becomes 20 things really get rocking.

Another first in the category is the option to choose. You can have it with Classy Black or Funky Neon Green strap to suit your personality.

Added to this there is Bluetooth for easy and fast connections with smartphones and Tablets. The range with BT is 10mtrs that is 30 feet, so nobody gets tied down and everyone mingles and tingles. The ability to support USB, MicroSD, Aux and FM is also given. In short total connectivity to meet todays demands.

In terms of looks BBX01 has a cool design with a fantastic profile. It looks sleek and sophisticated and makes its presence felt with more than great sound. The curves and angles that make heads turn. Now you can add your own style to this wonderful design by customising it to an extent. First of all, you get a neon green strap. Slip that on and the whole feel changes. Even the music seems to get brighter. There is more. You can choose the Youth Machine model. This comes with an added graffiti pneumonic that flashes across the speaker fabric. Get both of these and totally bling out your BBX01.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Police identified the two victims of the early-morning blast at the Gessner factory as Frank Flores and Gerado Castorena.

The two men killed in the 4:24 a.m. explosion were employees at the Watson Grinding and Manufacturing plant, Turner said. They had arrived about two hours before the rest of the employees were scheduled to come in.

This could have been much worse, said Mayor Sylvester Turner. If this had happened two hours later, its likely more people would be dead and more lives impacted.

Company officials said they are cooperating with investigators.

"We are saddened by the tragic passing of our coworkers, and our deepest sympathies are with their families for their profound loss," a statement from the company released late Friday read. "Our hearts go out to the families and businesses impacted by this incident and to our community. At this time our immediate concern is the safety and wellbeing of everyone in the area and our employees."

City officials must have open and honest conversations about how to mitigate the risk of chemical explosions like this blast that damaged 214 homes.

We will sit down and take a look at this changing city, Turner said at a press conference Friday night in front of the northwest Houston plant.

The investigation into the cause of the explosion is expected to take three to four days, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said. Federal, state and local agencies are assisting in the investigation, including homicide and arson units.

As authorities work to determine why the Signiant explosion occurred, they are searching inspection records of the facility, said Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena.

We suspect certain things may have taken place, but were are not prepared at this time to talk about that until we have completed a thorough investigation, said Pena.

The majority of the damage happened to the west of the plant, the mayor said. Around 50 homes appeared to be severely damaged and uninhabitable, Pena said, but a more accurate estimate will be available once Public Works examines the homes.

Fifty people were sheltered at a nearby church today, said the fire chief. As of 7 p.m., the overnight shelter was empty but will remain open through the night in case anyone impacted my need it.

No firefighters or first responders were injured, Pena said.

The on-sight investigation will continue Saturday morning, Acevedo said. Gessner Road will remain closed through Friday night and Acevedo said the goal is to open the roadway by Monday.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said her office is assisting residents with private insurance with contacting their providers for immediate assistance. The congresswoman said she reached out to FEMA to request federal aid. She added that the Environmental Protection Agency will be notified about the explosion and the findings of the investigation.

Red Cross will continue to help impacted families, Turner said. The city is also helping victims with medical services and counseling, he said.

Reach out to us if you need help, Turner said. We will do everything we can to assist you.

The mayor said those responsible for the explosion will be held accountable.

Accountability is critical, he said. Two people losing their lives is two too many.
NPS

January 22, 2020

Contact: Dan Wiley, 402-661-1830

Contact: Monica Poling, AIANTA, 505-724-3578

In partnership with the National Park Service, the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association will work with Tribes to develop cultural heritage content and itineraries for the websites LewisAndClark.travel and NativeAmerica.travel.ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (January 21, 2020)  The American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA) has partnered with the National Park Service (NPS) to find and share the stories of Native American Tribes that intersect with the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.The 4,900-mile national historic trail, which stretches from the Ohio River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Astoria, Oregon, crosses 16 states, as well as nearly two dozen Indian reservations.Over a three-year period AIANTA will conduct interviews with and make site visits to Tribes in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, to develop content and create regional itineraries that include Native and Tribally owned destinations and experiences along the route. Completed content will be showcased at LewisAndClark.travel and NativeAmerica.travel.We are excited to work with the National Park Service to help Tribes along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail share their stories, said Sherry L. Rupert, Executive Director of AIANTA. Native Americans are often left out of the historical narrative, so we are thrilled that NPS is looking to deliver a comprehensive inventory of tribal activities and cultural tourism experiences for visitors interested in traveling all or parts of the famed route.More than 215 years after Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery commenced their two-year journey, this program expands on the groundwork, contributions and learnings from the Circle of Tribal Advisors of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commemoration (2003-2006) and offers new opportunities for Tribes to share their stories to visitors from around the globe through cultural tourism.The Lewis & Clark Expedition commenced in 1803, after the completion of the Louisiana Purchase, to help the U.S. Government map the uncharted west. Led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the expedition lasted two years and encompassed nearly 8,000 miles, round trip. Along the way, the expedition team met nearly 50 Native American tribes, who were integral in helping the expedition chart the unknown territory. 30 About the Lewis and Clark National Historic TrailThe Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail is approximately 4,900 miles long, extending from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the mouth of the Columbia River, near present day Astoria, Oregon. It follows the historic outbound and inbound routes of the Lewis and Clark Expedition as well as the preparatory section from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Wood River, Illinois.About AIANTAFor nearly two decades, the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA) has served as the national voice for American Indian nations engaged in cultural tourism. In addition, AIANTA provides technical assistance, training and capacity building to Tribal nations and Native-owned enterprises engaged in tourism, hospitality and recreation. AIANTA is supported by a combination of public and private funding, as well as a robust membership program.AIANTAs mission is to define, introduce, grow and sustain American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian tourism that honors traditions and valuesTo learn more about AIANTA, visit www.aianta.org or www.nativeamerica.travel.#DiscoverNativeAmerica#AIANTA
(Bloomberg) -- Want the lowdown on European markets? In your inbox before the open, every day. Sign up here.

The European Union ordered its customs officials to register flat-rolled stainless steel imports from China, Taiwan and Indonesia, widening the threat of tariffs on the shipments.

The step is part of an inquiry into whether Chinese, Taiwanese and Indonesian producers of hot-rolled, stainless-steel sheets and coils sold them in the EU below cost, a practice known as dumping. The move also covers a parallel EU probe of alleged trade-distorting subsidies to the manufacturers in China and Indonesia.

Registration allows the EU to impose possible tariffs on past transactions. Levies against below-cost imports are known as anti-dumping duties, while import taxes in response to subsidies are called countervailing duties.

The shipments from China, Taiwan and Indonesia will be made subject to registration for the purpose of ensuring that, should the investigation result in findings leading to the imposition of anti-dumping and/or countervailing duties, those duties can, if the necessary conditions are fulfilled, be levied retroactively on the registered imports, the European Commission, the EUs executive arm in Brussels, said on Friday in the Official Journal. Registration will start on Saturday.

Hot-rolled, stainless-steel sheets and coils are used for other kinds of steel and for tubes. EU imports of the product from around the world were worth almost 900 million euros ($994 million) in 2018, according to European industry group Eurofer, which filed complaints last year that led to the commissions dumping and subsidy investigations against China, Taiwan and Indonesia.

The commission must decide by April 12 whether to introduce provisional anti-dumping duties on imports of this steel from the three countries and by Oct. 12 whether to impose definitive five-year levies. In the subsidy case against China and Indonesia, the commission must decide by July 10 on any provisional duties and by mid-November on any definitive levies.

Story continues

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Stearns in Brussels at jstearns2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Nikos Chrysoloras

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Boris Johnson

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday hailed "a new chapter" in Britain's history as he signed its divorce treaty with the EU, clearing another hurdle before the country exits the bloc next Friday. It allows Britain to end its decades-long membership of the European Union and leave its closest neighbours and trading partners after several years of domestic acrimony and delays.

"The signing of the withdrawal agreement is a fantastic moment, which finally delivers the result of the 2016 referendum and brings to an end far too many years of argument and division," Johnson said in a statement.

"This signature heralds a new chapter in our nation's history," he added on Twitter, alongside a photo of the occasion.

Johnson signed the agreement in Downing Street, seated in front of two Union Jack flags, with European and British officials who had brought it from Brussels looking on.

EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel had already put their names to the treaty overnight at a ceremony held behind closed doors in the early hours of the morning.

It will now return to Brussels, where the original will be kept in EU archives along with other international treaties, while three copies will be dispatched back to London.

On Wednesday next week, the text will go to the European Parliament for ratification and on Thursday diplomats from the EU member states will approve the deal in writing.

Then, on Friday, January 31, Britain spends its last day in the EU before leaving the bloc at 2300 GMT as clocks strike midnight in Brussels.

In another move to prepare Brussels for relations with Britain as an outside power, the European Commission named an ambassador -- veteran diplomat Joao Vale de Almeida -- to London.

Earlier before dawn, chief EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier had watched as European Commission president Von der Leyen and European Council president Michel signed the treaty in the Council's headquarters.

"Things will inevitably change but our friendship will remain," Michel tweeted. "We start a new chapter as partners and allies."

The former Belgian premier, whose council represents EU member governments, added, in French: "I'm keen to write this new page together."

No reporters or photographers were allowed to witness the low key ceremony, despite news agencies offering to organise a pool.

Hours later Johnson signed the same document with a Parker fountain pen, as is traditional for ceremonial signings in Downing Street.

Staff including the prime minister's chief Brexit negotiator David Frost were present.

British voters backed leaving the European Union in a June 2016 referendum, and after lengthy negotiations and several delays Johnson's new government will finally "get Brexit done" next week.

Queen Elizabeth II gave her formal assent to the British withdrawal legislation on Thursday and the EU is now expected to complete the final formalities in the coming days.

Britain will leave the institutions of the union, reducing it to 27 member states, but the withdrawal agreement provides for an 11-month transition period until the end of the year.

During this time, Britain and the rest of the bloc will continue to apply the same rules of business to avoid economic disruption while officials try to negotiate a broader trade deal.

Most experts regard the idea that London and Brussels could agree a comprehensive free trade agreement in that time as ambitious.

But officials have expressed cautious optimism that some kind of agreement can be reached.

Formal trade talks are not expected to begin until the end of February or even March, and in the meantime Barnier has been in intensive talks with EU member states on his negotiating mandate.

After the transition, Britain wants the right to set its own rules in areas such as workers' rights and environmental standards.

But Brussels has warned that the more the UK diverges from EU standards, the less it will have unfettered access to Europe's huge single market.

And a comprehensive free trade agreement of the type the EU has signed with Canada could take years to negotiate.
He's an international movie star, famed for starring in blockbusters including Terminator and Predator.

And Arnold Schwarzenegger was clearly loving the limelight as he brandished a string of white sausages at the 29th annual Weisswurstparty at Hotel Stanglwirt in Going, near Kitzbuehel, Austria on Friday.

The actor, 72, flashed a broad grin as he larked around at the event, where he was joined by daughter Christinia Schwarzenegger and girlfriend Heather Milligan.

Fun times: Arnold Schwarzenegger brandished a string of white sausages as he joined in with the celebrations at the Weisswurstparty at Hotel Stanglwirt in Kitzbuehel, Austria on Friday

The star appeared delighted to be there as he donned a green checked shirt and traditional lederhosen (minus the braces) for the ocassion.

As Arnold lifted his sausages, which were entwined around a giant wooden spoon, his daughter Christina, 28, watched on with joy etched on her face.

The actress also dressed suitably for the ocassion as she wore a traditional champagne coloured Dirndl at the fun-filled bash.

Meanwhile Heather, 45, also got into the spirit of things as she also wore a classic Bavarian ensemble in a fetching green shade.

Family affair: The actor, 72, flashed a broad grin as he larked around at the event, where he was joined by daughter Christinia Schwarzenegger and girlfriend Heather Milligan

Looking the part: The star appeared delighted to be there as he donned a green checked shirt and traditional lederhosen (minus the braces) for the ocassion

The trio were also joined by Arnold's nephew Patrick, son of the actor's brother Meinhard Schwarzenegger.

The family all appeared to be in good spirits as they threw themselves into the party.

Arnold previously described the Weisswurstparty (translated as White sausage party) as 'The best party held in the best hotel in the world.'

As well as his sausages, Arnold also posed with a huge pretzel, with Christina and Heather also holding the baked pastry.

Could be wurst: As Arnold lifted his sausages, which were entwined around a giant wooden spoon

Joining in: Actress Christina, 28, also dressed suitably for the ocassion as she wore a traditional champagne coloured Dirndl at the fun-filled bash

That's my girl: The father and daughter duo posed for a sweet snap at the event

Arnold has been dating physical therapist Heather since 2015 and they are still going strong.

The actor split from wife Maria Shriver in 2011, after it was revealed he had fathered a son, Joseph Baena, with former housekeeper Mildred Baena during their marriage.

In 2011, the politician publicly admitted to fathering a child with Mildred, soon after learning of the information himself.

Maria filed for divorce on July 1, 2011, citing 'irreconcilable differences.'

The former couple also share son Christopher, 22, and daughter Katherine, 30, who married actor Chris Pratt, 40, last year.

Traditional dress: Meanwhile Heather, 45, also got into the spirit of things as she also wore a classic Bavarian ensemble in a fetching green shade

Relative: The trio were also joined by Arnold's nephew Patrick, son of the actor's brother Meinhard Schwarzenegger

Over eight years on, the couple are yet to finalise their divorce.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has jetted to Austria in support of The Austrian World Summit which was launched by the veteran actor and Monika Langthaler in 2017, it is the 'centrepiece' for his Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative.

The Austrian World Summit is the world's biggest climate conference and in October it won the European Culture Prize for 'environmental protection' at the Vienna State Opera.

While the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative focuses on climate awareness every day as well as yearly during the Austrian World Summit, where it looks to connect people from around the world to work on sustainable projects.

Delighted: Arnold proudly posed between his daughter and his girlfriend

The initiative previously held a climate auction in December at the Habibi & Hawara in Vienna, it raised 18,500 (15,589).

In November, Arnold, his daughter Christina and director of the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative, Monika Langthaler, went for a bike ride with teen climate crusader Greta Thunberg with the veteran actor even lending the activist his electric car.

The action star and former California Governor posted pictures of their meeting to his Instagram page, showing the pair on a cycling tour around Santa Monica.

He wrote: 'It was fantastic to see my friend and one of my heroes @gretathunberg last week and go on a bike ride around Santa Monica together and I was so pumped to introduce her to my daughter Christina. Keep inspiring, Greta!'

In May, Greta opened the 2019 Austrian World Summit of non-profit environmental organisation R20 Regions of Climate Action, set up by vegan Arnie in 2011.

Backed by the United Nations, R20 is a coalition of governments, international organisations and private companies that implement green infrastructure in cities.
Chart topper David Keenan went back to school - for one day only - when he visited Gaelscoil DunDealgan last week.

David, who has seen his debut album A Beginners Guide to Bravery soar to the top of the charts over the last few days, delighted pupils and staff with the surprise visit.

Principal Aine Ui Choinne, who taught the singing sensation when he was a young student there said it was an inspirational visit.

It was just such a lovely day for the whole school, and for David, who I really think enjoyed going back down memory lane.

She added that Gaelscoil DunDealgan was where some of the seeds of Davids musical talent were first sown.

I remember that in Fifth Class he started going to the classes with Stewart Agnew when he was coming down to the school to work with some of the children. Stewart really saw something special in him then, and I know he went on to support Stewart at a later stage.

Aine added that the young pupils were really thrilled to listen to someone who had been at the school, and to hear his story.

There were many questions, one of them asked how was he able to keep going at times when he didnt think he would make it.

Davids response was, she adds so inspiring.

He just told the children that you have to believe in the dream yourself.

After David played a few songs for his young audience, he enjoyed a slideshow of photos and videos from his years at the school.

We went through everything we could find of David, and found some of the shows he was involved in over the years. It was really lovely to see, and I think he enjoyed it.

While in town on Friday, David also visited Dundalks independent record store, Classified Records, in the Demesne, for an in-store gig,

He met with fans, signed autographs and performed a number of songs from A Beginners Guide to Bravery. His performance was recorded by the Irish music blog Bayview Sounds and will be uploaded on their social media channels in the coming days.

The album, which has received overwhelmingly positive reviews, entered the Irish charts at No 6, went straight to the top of the Independant Charts, and the weeks best seller on vinyl.
President on Saturday lamented that there are some voters who do not understand the importance of their right to exercise franchise and reminded them that in several countries people had to struggle to get it.

Addressing an event here on Voters' Day marking the establishment of the Election Commission in 1950, the President said from the very first general election to the 17th Lok Sabha polls held last year, voters have increased the credibility of Indian democracy all over the world.

"For this, I congratulate all the voters of the country. But even today some of our voters do not understand the importance of their franchise. They should know that in most of the democratic countries of the world, the common people had to agitate to get the franchise and many sacrifices had to be made," Kovind said.

He pointed out that even in old democracies such as England, women were able to get equal voting rights in the 20th century, after nearly three decades of struggle.

The framers of the Indian Constitution gave this invaluable right to all adult Indians without any discrimination, the President said.

Kovind reminded the audience that soon after Independence, India granted adult suffrage to all citizens which came under a lot of criticism as at that time, democracy was limited to a few developed and prosperous nations.

There were reservations that with only 16 per cent literacy, and poverty, universal adult franchise would not be successful. He said the decision was dubbed as "biggest gamble in history".

"But our voters proved it to be the biggest successful experiment in democracy in the world history. They lived up to the conviction expressed by the Constitution makers on the common man," the President noted.
This cover image released by Simon & Schuster shows "The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties" by Christopher Caldwell. (Simon & Schuster via AP)

The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties, Simon & Schuster, by Christopher Caldwell

This is a sweeping but insightful examination into every social, political and legal decision, movement and trend that leaves us where we are today in a polarized nation.

Author Christopher Caldwell traces the origins of todays deep discords to President John F. Kennedys assassination in 1963. Grief that shrouded the nation after Kennedys assassination, Caldwell writes, gave a tremendous impetus to changes already under way. Lyndon B. Johnson, who was sworn into office after Kennedys death, was able to push through far more ambitious civil rights legislation in 1964 than Kennedy would have been able to do. Most significantly, in the authors telling, the Civil Rights Act, and social movements that followed, were accelerated and empowered more through court decisions and government agencies than decisions by elected officials.

Although the Civil Rights Act was designed principally to ban employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, Caldwell presents a persuasive case that it provided the legal, social and cultural guidepost for advancing almost every movement since  gay rights, immigration, affirmative action, fundamentalist Christianity, leveraged buyouts, political correctness, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and much more.

The citizens band radio craze, leveraged buyouts and political correctness  Caldwell fits all these topics and more into an engaging, questioning book that proceeds at almost dizzying speed. A reader feels like he has but a moment to think when Caldwell writes that to establish new liberties is to extinguish others before speeding off to the next topic. Entitlement is a fascinating read that could ignite 1,000 conversations.

Ironically, its hard to imagine Congress passing anything today remotely as revolutionary as the Civil Rights Act. Giving our sharpening political, social and economic divisions, Congress has trouble reaching a consensus on anything. The transformational legislation that was finally to give us all an equal chance at everything ended up herding us into warring tribes agreeing on nothing.

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Caldwells analysis of our Vietnam legacy is particularly masterful but the book brims with brisk evaluations of how a confident nation became an argumentative, fragmented one.

Civil rights divided the country by region, Caldwell writes; Vietnam did the same by class.

Perhaps because he was writing as his books natural finale crashed into the arena  Donald Trumps election  Caldwell is less sure-footed in a grand conclusion. What does all this mean? Where are we? Where do we go to reconnect with our better angels?

Those answers await us still.

No question though that this is a significant rendering of how America evolved since the me generation asserted itself in the 1960s. Caldwell offers the best analysis and theory yet as to how we perhaps unwittingly arrived at a place where we would elect a president bent on unraveling our institutions, assumptions and beliefs about ourselves and where we no longer even start with a set of accepted facts about anything.
Australian Red Cross is taking a break from posting on social media in the midst of its bushfire fundraising campaign after reporting "security incidents" to police.

A Red Cross spokeswoman said an incident had been reported to Victorian authorities but would not elaborate on the matter.

The Australian Red Cross. Credit:Tamara Dean

"We're taking precautionary steps to ensure that the safety of our volunteers and staff remains paramount," she said.

It comes after accusations emerged this week that the organisation had withheld about two- thirds of $95 million in bushfire donations.
A group calling itself Concerned Comrades of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) has angrily locked up the offices of some CPP executives over alleged secret bank account operated by some officers of the party at the GCB bank.

The group locked up the offices of the partys acting Chairman, Hajiah Hamdatu; Acting General Secretary, James Kwabena Bomfeh and the National Youth Organiser, Nabila Basiru.

The group accused these three of being behind the opening of the alleged secret account and wants them away from the office until the ongoing investigation exonerates them.

We are here to close these offices as members of the party to pave way so that the central committee members and the council of elders will take this party from these people and let them step aside as far as investigations are concerned, one of the group members, Yakubu Habib, explained to Citi News.

He insisted that these executives needed to step aside for thorough investigations to continue.

The groups actions followed a letter by the National Treasurer, Samuel Gordon Etroo, to the headquarters of the GCB Bank stating that the opening of the bank account without the consent of the executives was a clear violation of their rules.

He thus asked the bank to cooperate with them to carry out their investigations.

Yakubu Habib also said, we've done our preliminary investigations as party members and it is clearly established thatin the case that we are proceeding now, due procedures were not followed.

He further called on the Central Committee of the party, GCB bank and the police to expedite investigations to get to the root of the issue.

citinewsroom


(Photo: Photo by Google)

Traveling is the best investment you can make for yourself. It opens your mind, betters your social skills, and improves your ability to learn foreign languages, which then further improves your social skills.

You take great pictures and create memories that last a lifetime. Your tolerance for the unknown and the unfamiliar skyrockets, you become a more agreeable person, always with new perspectives up your sleeves.

Once you're in a place where no one knows you, you get to know yourself more than ever. There are no expectations, no inside jokes, and you can just relax and be yourself. You don't have to impress anyone; you're not likely to ever see these people again.

Being in a situation where you're forced to make friends with people you don't know boosts your confidence and helps you become a more easy-going person. The benefits of traveling are undeniable.

The hardest things about traveling are coming home to your routine after it's all done, and packing before it all starts. As seasoned travelers ourselves, we've put together a list of indispensable items that will make your trip much more comfortable.

A Good, Sturdy Backpack and Packing Cubes

Your luggage can make or break your trip. If you're just going to land, hop in a cab to get to your resort, a roll-on should work. If you're planning on moving around a lot, though, taking public transport, and staying at hostels, then a sturdy backpack is indispensable.

It fits smoothly under your bunk in a hostel when you're carrying everything on your back; you can hail buses easier, pay for tickets, check maps on your phone, and pull out your passport, phone, smokes, or whatever you would need your hands for.

Packing cubes compress your clothes and make sure everything fits in smaller spaces. A good backpack is practical because some airlines will let you take it as your carry on. Furthermore, it's easier to walk and hop on and off buses with it.

Once you're checked in, and you have your bed assigned, the packing cubes serve as your closet. You are able to sort your stuff much easier when you have something to arrange it in. Stack them up under your bed and divide them by category.

Shoes for Everything, and Sandals for Everything Else

Shoes can be bulky, heavy, and hard to carry. Imagine having one pair that goes for everything: one that gives you enough height to be sexy, you can use them for hiking, and can wear them in the rain. One solution; look up platform boots on sale online.

Other than this one pair of shoes, also make sure to pack a pair of sandals that work everywhere.

We tried many and found that Teva makes the most comfortable and sturdiest sandals for travelers. You can get them wet, count on them to not slip when you're bouldering or climbing mountains, and they just look gorgeous.

Having shoes and sandals that offer multiple uses is something worth investing in before traveling. It saves space, you carry less on your back, and you travel lighter. Anything with multiple uses is a fantastic asset to add to your luggage when you pack.

Reusable Everything

A lot of fast food places use disposables. These are detrimental to the planet, for our health, and for the ecosystem. Carry a reusable bottle and fill it wherever you can (most hostels will have a water fountain).

Carry a reusable mug, a tupperware, and utensils for when you get food to go. Don't let your desire to not create trash stop you from trying the local delicacies. If you're taking buses, get ready for blasting ACs. It's insanely practical to pack at least one reusable napkin.

Bars, All of the Bars

You can either add pounds of products to your weight, or you can get bars. There's a bar for everything now. You can use a shampoo bar, a conditioner bar, a facial cleanser bar, and a body wash bar.

Bars are the more eco-friendly option; they're lighter to carry, and they're kinder on your face, body, and hair.

Get a Neck Pillow, or Don't, but Get Going!

Neck pillows are debatable; some think they take up too much space. Others hang them on the outside of their backpacks. Others say that's a recipe for them to collect dirt. With or without the pillow, get out and plan your next trip!

It will broaden your horizons, build memories, help you get to know yourself, get you friends all over the world, and teach you lessons you'd otherwise never learn.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
London: The temples will not hold their fairs, the trains and planes will not run and the new movie releases, from Leap to Chinatown Detective 3, have been cancelled. China must spend this New Year holiday racing to detect and contain a new respiratory disease, the Wuhan coronavirus, which has killed at least 26 people and scientists think has spread to several thousand.

There is good news. The virus is not as deadly as SARS. In fact, it is only about 10 times as deadly as seasonal flu, meaning 98 per cent of people who get it will survive (versus 85 per cent for SARS). While this isn't exactly wonderful, it isn't apocalyptic either. Crucially, however, China is managing the Wuhan virus very differently from how it managed SARS in 2003.

A militia member takes a driver's temperature at a checkpoint at a highway toll gate in Wuhan. Credit:AP

According to Peter Kellam, a virus professor at Imperial College, London, the most important factor in managing a pandemic is "sharing". This is hardly an area in which Chinese authorities have traditionally excelled, but for scientific purposes, both China and international institutions appear to have learnt from Beijing's disastrous attempt to cover up SARS. Scientists across the world have been given access to data like confirmed infection rates and the virus's genome, allowing the system to gear up quickly, developing diagnostic tests and researching potential drugs. An inspection team from the World Health Organisation visited Wuhan this week and "commended" the Chinese authorities for their handling of the crisis.

As so often in China, however, the boundaries of freedom are strictly drawn. Official state media outlets have kept reporting low-key, placing news of the outbreak below reports of Xi Jinping's latest marvellous speech. For now, non-state media have had their leash loosened, but they are ever-alert as to when it shortens again. Whether it is air pollution, anti-foreign rage or product contamination, the pattern is the same. Periods of relative openness are followed by crackdowns before the debate gets "out of hand".
By PTI

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Police on Saturday arrested 10 people including a woman from Ghantaghar in the state capital, where an anti-CAA sit-in has been on since January 17, and booked 100 women protesters for allegedly violating prohibitory orders.

A woman protestor claimed that police personnel suddenly arrived at the site and arrested volunteers. She alleged that the cops beat up senior citizens and hurled abuses at women. However, the police denied the allegations.

"A case has been registered against 10 women and 100 unidentified women for violating Section 144 of CrPC, while protesting at Ghantaghar. Apart from this, eight persons have been arrested. They are Puja Shukla and seven male volunteers," Station House Officer of Thakurganj police station Pramod Mishra said.

Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) prevents assembly of five or more people at one spot.

"Their allegations are baseless. Action was initiated against those who flouted rules," Mishra said on claims that the policemen misbehaved with protesters.

On the lines of Delhi's Shaheen Bagh protest, around 50 women along with children have been squatting near the Clock Tower in Lucknow's old quarters protesting the CAA and National Register of Citizens.

The women protesters had last Sunday alleged that blankets provided to them by some organisations were taken away by police.

Rubbishing the claims made by the women protesters, the Lucknow Police in a tweet had said, "During the illegal protest going at Lucknow's Ghantaghar Park (Clock Tower), some people tried to make a ''gheraa'' (cordon) using ropes and sticks, and also tried to put sheets. They were not allowed to do so. Some organisations were distributing blankets in park premises. As a result of which, people living in the vicinity, who are not a part of the protests, were coming to take the blankets."

"Police removed those persons and organisations distributing blankets there, and action is being initiated against them," the police had said and urged people not to spread rumours.

The indefinite protest by women at the national capital's Shaheen Bagh against the CAA and NRC has been going on for over a month now.

Besides Delhi, protests have unfolded in several parts of the country over the law since it was passed on December 11 by Parliament and have led to clashes at several places including Uttar Pradesh, where nearly 20 people died last month.

According to the amended law, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 due to religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ
Blackrock resident Theresa McGorrian is organising a fund-raising event to help raise money so that her nephew's son Baxter Browne can travel to England for life-saving treatment which is not available in Ireland.

Baxter, who turns seven this week, was diagnosed last year with SCID (Severe Combined ImmunoDeficiency), a congenital auto-immune disease. As there is no treatment available in Ireland, Baxter will have to travel with his Dad Kenneth to Newcastle, England for treatment, which will involve intensive chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. It's anticipated that they will have to stay in the UK for six months which will involve considerable costs.

A GoFundMe appeal was set up to support the Clogherhead family, who were plunged into grief last year when Baxter's mum, popular art teacher Lynn Browne, died on Monday's Day 2019 in a freak accident on her 40th birthday.

'Baxter is on treatment to keep up his immune system so that he doesn't pick up any infections,' explains Theresa. 'He has to be able to travel to the UK. He has a long road ahead of him.'

'His Dad Kenneth is my sister Martina's son so I wanted to help with the fundraising, as there are so many people from here who want to support them,' says Theresa.

She has organised a fund-raising night on February 8 in the Fairways Hotel with music by The Long Riders and friends.
Lawmakers who filed a bill that would limit how local and state law enforcement interact with immigration agents did not say definitively whether the legislation has a chance at becoming law this year but argued theyre gaining ground.

I think were moving in that direction, said Rep. Ruth Balser, a Newton Democrat who introduced the House version of the bill.

The legislation, which drew criticism from immigration hardliners, has passed multiple times in the Senate but stalled in the House. The Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security is holding a hearing on the bill Friday.

Given the number of co-sponsors of the bill this session, more than ever, [its] clear thats sending a message to both House and Senate leadership that this is a priority, said Sen. Jamie Eldridge, an Acton Democrat and also a sponsor.

Rep. Ruth Balser, left, and Sen. Jamie Eldridge, right, advocate for the Safe Communities Act.

Hundreds packed a State House auditorium to state their case on the bill, which bars police and court officials from asking people about their immigration status and telling ICE when someone is going to be released.

Opponents called the bill a sanctuary state law, arguing that local police should be collaborating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson cited the case of 92-year-old Maria Fuertes, who died after being sexually assaulted. The suspect, 21-year-old Reeaz Khan, is an undocumented immigrant from Guyana.

ICE said Khan was in the country illegally when he was arrested by the NYPD on assault and weapon charges on Nov. 27.

Any crime major or minor, felony or misdemeanor, committed by an illegal alien, is a crime that would have been prevented if that criminal alien was not here in the first place, said Hodgson, whose office has a 287(g) agreement.

Sheriff Hodgson testifies, telling the story of 92-year-old Maria Fuertes death in New York City. He said he doesnt want the same to happen in Mass.



I dont want to see any more people from Massachusetts being victimized from criminal illegal residents, he said. pic.twitter.com/ZXGmqQeGWE  Steph Solis (@stephmsolis) January 24, 2020

The Safe Communities Act would bar law enforcement from entering into 287(g) agreements with ICE, where they appoint and train a local officer to enforce immigration laws.

In addition to Bristol County, the Barnstable County Sheriffs Office, the Plymouth County Sheriffs Office and the state Department of Corrections have the agreements.

Other provisions in the bill include requiring that immigrants who are arrested get their Miranda rights read to them, including presenting the option to bring in an attorney before being interviewed by an ICE agent.

In my opinion, this bill never should have been presented at all because I believe it to be illegal because it discriminates against the legal citizens of this community of Massachusetts, Sandra Slattery told lawmakers.

Robert McAndrews, an immigration attorney and professor at Salem State University, told lawmakers Friday morning that the bill does not prevent local law enforcement from working with immigration authorities if they present a judicial warrant like other law enforcement agencies do. ICE agents often travel with administrative warrants, rather than warrants signed by a judge.

It sends a clear message to all immigrant families that they have nothing to fear in cooperating with the police over criminal matters, McAndrews said.

Damaris Velasquez of ALPHA said her organization works with immigrants seeking to obtain legal status. Velasquez said they have on average 1,000 a year.

Velasquez recalled one undocumented woman from Guatemala, whom she called Rose, said she was told by her 6-year-old child not to speak Spanish when they encountered a police officer.

This is a 6-year-old child who already knows the danger of being and sounding different, a 6-year-old child who already knows that he cannot trust a local police officer, Velasquez told reporters Friday morning. It is time to base our laws on human needs and human rights.
In this first part of our two-part series, PML Dailys Javira Ssebwami looks at the achievements in Ugandas Health Sector since 1986, taking us through the methodical background that had prepared its current wins.

=================================

KAMPALA The National Resistance Army (NRA) captured power after five years of protracted fighting on January 26, 1986, dealt a final blow to the Uganda Peoples Congres and Dr. Apollo Milton Obotes second government.

Today marks 34 years since the nascent NRA army under the leadership of President Yoweri Museveni, comprising of mostly young men and women in their twenties and early thirties captured Kampala in a victory that their leader and incumbent President Yoweri Museveni described as a fundamental change.

Challenges in the health services notwithstanding, the ruling NRM government over the past 34 years has achieved monumental landmarks in the health sector key among others reducing infant mortality to below 60 per cent, triggering universal immunization culminating in the eradication of polio and measles, putting close to 1 million Ugandans living with HIV/AIDS on ARVs, rehabilitating, re-equipping and building of new health centres up to sub-county level (80 per cent) and policy and regulatory framework that has encouraged the private sector participation in the provision of health services.

When the NRM-government took over power in 1986, health was one of the most emphasized sectors, knowing that a healthy population contributes to the growth of the economy. It is among the six priority sectors of the government.

From the outset, there have been massive investments in the health sector.

By 1986, health sector systems and facilities had broken down, there were no drugs in health facilities, the health workers were few, there was no hierarchy in health facilities as it is now; from health centre II up to the national referral hospitals.

There were only general hospitals and Mulago, and there was no nomenclature attached to them. There were a lot of preventable diseases; especially immunisable diseases.

President Museveni immediately re-launched the immunisation program in 1987 that only covered 34% at the time.

The NRM government also took over at the time when a high burden of Malaria, and HIV had just come in was rapidly rising with a prevalence of over 18%.

Looking at the 34 years of NRM government, the health sector has registered tremendous achievements confirmed by the increase in the life expectancy of Ugandans from 45 to 63 years.

This according to officials translate into more productivity and thus increased contribution to economic growth.

Also, Museveni, the administration found the infant mortality rate at 150 deaths per 1,000 live births. Today, it has dropped to about 43 deaths per 1,000 live births. For children under five years of age, the mortality rate was equally high; at over 90 deaths per 1,000 children, but it has dropped to less than 54. Although, this is still high compared to other countries in the region.

The maternal mortality rate was at 505 deaths per 1,000 live birth, but it has dropped to 336 per 1,000 live birth. This means that the country loses nine women every day due to labour and pregnancy-related issues; although, some statics show the number stands at 16 women per day.

The immunization coverage has increased from 34% to 95%, and the immunisable diseases have been increased from 6 to 13.

The increase in immunization coverage is the result of the decrease in the under 5 mortality rate.

These impressive statistics under his administration were reached at, as a result of systematic planning throughout the Health Sector Development plans since 1986.

The first Health Sector Strategic Plan addressed the burden of the disease that was very high. In countering this burden, there was a need to revitalise immunization, set up units to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The sector also massively addressed environmental hygiene and sanitation-program units were set up and National Medical Stores (NMS) was created too.

This Health Sector Strategic Plan One (HSSPI) paved away for HSSPII, whose main goal was to address access to health services by the population.

The government envisaged that if a population is within a 5km reach of a health facility, then they could easily get treatment. This resulted in the creation of Health Centre Twos, Threes, and Fours. To date, over 75% of the population is within a 5km reach to a health facility, and the remaining 25% are in a 2km reach.

This proceeded by the HSSPIII, which addressed community participation in their own health. This brought on board the Village Health Teams (VHTs). These were trained with the sole purpose of getting the communities to participate in their own health, but also emphasizing disease prevention and health education.

From the Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSSP), the Health Sector Development Plans (HSDP) were adopted. HSDPs are a consolidation of all HSSPs.

Over the 34 years of NRM government, the following achievements have been consolidated.

==================================

Part II runs tommorrow, Sunday January 26, 2020

Related
Two new police stations in Trans Hindon Area of Ghaziabad will be made operational from January 28, a senior official said on Saturday.

The Uttar Pradesh government had sanctioned setting up of the two police stations last year.

Senior Superintendent of Police Kalanidhi Naithani told PTI that the new police stations at Teela mode and Kaushambi will be carved from Sahibabad and Indirapuram police station areas.

SP (City) Maneesh Mishra has been designated as nodal officer for establishing these police stations which would be functional on Tuesday. These police stations have been carved for the convenience of public and control the crime, SSP Naithani said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rantoul, IL (61866)

Today

Overcast. High 42F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low near 25F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.
Two women, including a teacher, were arrested for allegedly creating a ruckus at Ponda police station in an inebriated condition, police said on Saturday.

The police on Friday arrested Nikita Sukur Valadaris (23), a teacher, and Ashnavi Jaydev Kandolkar for assaulting government servants on duty, a police spokesman said.

The incident occurred at Marcel village, when the accused fell off their scooter, which they were riding in an inebriated state, he said.

"The women were helped by an elderly man, who advised them to take care, following which they entered into an argument with him," he said.

When a passerby alerted the police, the duo was taken to Ponda police station where they allegedly continued hurling abuses and pushing the on-duty policemen, the spokesman said.

The women were arrested under sections 504 (intentional insult), 353 (assault on public servant) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, he added.

A medical examination confirmed that the duo was drunk at the time of the incident, the official said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Wuhan (China) (AFP) - President Xi Jinping warned Saturday that China faced a "grave situation" as authorities raced to contain a virus that has killed 41 people and caused a drastic scale-back of Lunar New Year celebrations.

The world's most populous country, which is scrambling to contain the disease that has infected nearly 1,300 people and overwhelmed health facilities, is building a second field hospital and closing more travel routes.

After more countries reported cases, Xi said at a Communist Party leadership meeting on the disease that China was "faced with the grave situation of an accelerating spread of the new coronavirus" but that the country will "definitely be able to win the battle," according to state media.

Meanwhile China's most important celebration has been all but cancelled for at least 56 million people as authorities expanded travel bans across central Hubei province to try and contain the spread of the virus.

In Wuhan, the epicentre of the emergency, 450 military medics were deployed to help treat patients in Hubei's capital city, where a seafood and live animal market has been identified as the centre of the outbreak.

On Saturday, when they should have been celebrating the New Year, people waiting at one hospital in the city were angry and frustrated.

"It takes at least five hours to see a doctor," one woman, who didn't want to be named, told AFP.

One man in his 30s said some people had to queue for two days. Many people had brought their own chairs for the wait.

Wuhan authorities will race to build the second makeshift hospital within a fortnight, state media reported, adding 1,300 new beds.

They already started work Friday on the first new field hospital, which could be ready in just over a week.

The two hospitals would be similar in size to the temporary facility that was built to tackle SARS in Beijing in 2003, when 650 people died from the disease in the mainland and Hong Kong.

Story continues

The city also plans to transform 24 general hospitals for temporary use to cope with the increasing number of patients, state media reported.

Army medics, who arrived on military aircraft late Friday, include doctors with experience combating SARS or Ebola who will be dispatched to hospitals that are reportedly short on beds due to a crush of infected patients and worried locals.

The virus has caused global concern because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

The new virus has now infected people nationwide and in nearly a dozen other countries.

- 'Nobody can leave' -

On the eastern outskirts of Wuhan, police manning a roadblock turned away a handful of vehicles trying to exit the city.

"Nobody can leave," an officer told AFP.

But the police allowed some medical workers who had gone home for the holidays to re-enter the city to help at crowded hospitals.

Trapped residents were stocking up on masks, gloves and disinfectant while car traffic will be severely restricted from Sunday.

The city has a shortage of medical supplies including goggles and masks, according to the official Xinhua news agency, which added that the government has shipped 14,000 protective suits and 110,000 pairs of gloves to Wuhan.

Foreign citizens were set to be evacuated from Wuhan within the next few days.

US coffee chain Starbucks said it would shut all its stores in Hubei during the Lunar New Year festival for "health safety".

The government says most cases have been in Hubei and most of the deaths involved people who already suffered pre-existing health conditions.

Underscoring fears that the virus could spread further, overseas Chinese tour groups will be suspended from Monday while domestic trips have already been halted.

Beijing will suspend long-distance bus service entering and leaving the capital of 20 million people from Sunday due to "requirements of epidemic prevention and control," the official People's Daily newspaper reported.

The National Health Commission also ordered nationwide measures to detect and isolate people carrying the virus on planes, trains and buses across the country.

Xinhua said Saturday that temperature screening checkpoints have been set up in 387 railway stations across the country.

Meanwhile, tourists from Hubei in Haikou, capital of the island province of Hainan, were told by the city government they had to spend 14 days in a hotel for centralised medical observation, and were forbidden to leave.

- Hong Kong schools close -

Beijing's Forbidden City, Shanghai Disneyland and a section of the Great Wall are among many attractions that have closed as a precaution. China's box-office film earnings for Lunar New Year's Eve on Friday were just one-tenth of last year's as people shunned crowds.

Xi chaired a Communist Party leadership meeting which urged regional governments to make "the safety of the masses' lives and their physical health a top priority", state media said.

Xinhua said the Standing Committee agreed to set up a working group that would visit Hubei.

In Hong Kong, where five people have tested positive for the virus so far, city leader Carrie Lam declared the situation an "emergency" and schools, currently on holiday, will remain closed until February 17.

The World Health Organization on Thursday stopped short of declaring a global emergency, which would have prompted greater international cooperation, including possible trade and travel restrictions.

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Google celebrated the start of the 2020 lunar new year with an adorable Google Doodle. (Image credit: Google Doodle)

The Year of the Rat has officially begun and Google is celebrating the start of the lunar new year with an adorable doodle of a cartoon rodent. A NASA astronaut even snapped a stunning photo of Beijing from space.

Today (Jan. 25) marks the start of a new lunar year, which relies on the phases of the moon on its monthly trip around the Earth and not the Gregorian calendar that starts on Jan. 1. The new moon of January 2020 occurred on Friday (Jan. 24).

"Todays animated Doodle commemorates one of the most significant cultural holidays for Asian communities, the observance of the Lunar New Year," Google Doodle designers said in a statement. "It depicts the story of the grand race that earned the rat its premier spot in the calendar."



More: Moon myths and facts for the lunar new year

China's capital city of Beijing glitters at night in this photo by NASA astronaut Jessica Meir taken on Jan. 24, 2020, the night before the start of the lunar new year, as seen from the International Space Station. (Image credit: NASA/Jessica Meir via via Twitter .)

As if to celebrate the lunar new year in space, NASA astronaut Jessica Meir snapped a picture of China's capital city Beijing as it looked at night from the International Space Station on Friday (Jan. 24).

"If a spider had a penchant for right angles, its web might look like this," Meir wrote on Twitter while sharing the photo. "So much going on in this glowing view of the capital city of China! Goodnight Beijing!"

There are 12 animals on the lunar new year zodiac: a rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. This space reporter was born in 1977, the Year of the Snake, while my daughter (born in 2008) arrived in the Year of the Rat.

The Year of the Rat and animals of the lunar new year zodiac star in Google's Lunar New Year 2020 Google Doodle. (Image credit: Google Doodles)

"According to ancient legend, an emperor challenged different animals to race through the land to determine their order in the zodiac," Google Doodle makers said. "Due to his size, the rat knew it could not cross a river on his own, so he hitched a ride on the ox's back. But, just before reaching the opposite shore over a river, the rat then cleverly leapt off  winning first place in the race and thus the zodiac calendar!"

That's a smart rat.

Related: January new moon 2020: See Venus, Jupiter and more

The lunar new year is a major holiday for many cultures and nations, notably China and other Asian nations.

Image 1 of 2 (Image credit: Google Doodles) A look at Google's early designs for the 2020 Lunar New Year Google Doodle. Image 2 of 2 (Image credit: Google Doodles) A look at Google's early designs for the 2020 Lunar New Year Google Doodle.

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.
If you are very lucky, you get to a point in life where you can weigh your assets, consider how to apply them against your liabilities, and look with confidence to the future.

That's my fortunate spot now, but this column isn't really about my pending career transition. Yes, I'm about to step aside from editing the newspaper to take on a newsroom role more suited to a guy of my age  which is quite young, mind you  and so this notion of allocating resources to where they're going to be needed is at the front of my mind.

But you don't need to hear about how my wife and I plan to pay for our upkeep for the next quarter-century so as to not be a burden on our kid, much as it does occupy our thoughts. Let's think bigger  like, by considering how a society as mature as ours in America can make smart choices about its vast resources to assure that we're not sloughing off our clear responsibility to leave this whole place better for the next generation.

Because, frankly, we've been blowing it, Boomers. There's still a chance to make some things right, even if we haven't undertaken the societal equivalent of stowing money in a 401(k) and flossing for gum health. We children of the Greatest Generation might yet be able to avoid being considered the Heedless Generation, but time is running out.

Consider, for example, what we have chosen to do with the assets of the richest society in history, and whether we can be proud of our choices between today's comfort and tomorrow's security.

There's no question that our economy is doing quite well, so that if America were looking at retirement it would be checking out a winter home in a warmer climate. ("Hey, Uncle Sam, have we got a deal for you!" says Costa Rica.) The recovery that began two months into the Obama administration is now the longest bull market in history. But as the noted market analyst Hugh Johnson told me this week during a conversation at the Hearst Media Center, "Trees don't grow to the sky." So are we preparing for the inevitable downturn, by investing wisely in ways that will sustain us?

We are not. The nation needs to spend $4.5 trillion by 2025 to fix the country's roads, bridges, dams and other infrastructure, the American Society of Civil Engineers said last year. At one point, President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders agreed on a $2 trillion deal, but Trump backed out because he was mad about the House investigations of his administration.

Really, the president's tantrum hardly mattered, because nobody had talked about where the money actually would come from for all that building. Trump already has piled $3 trillion more onto the national debt (now totalling about $23 trillion), and the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office projects trillion-dollar-a-year deficits every year going forward.

This is astonishingly irresponsible  like borrowing to pay your mortgage as you near retirement  and it's remarkable in a time of historically low unemployment and relative peace, when the country has a good chance to balance its books. Where have all the fiscal conservatives gone?

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter.

Instead of rebuilding the nation, we're building in more economic disparity: 60 percent of the tax savings from the 2017 Trump tax bill went to people in the top 20 percent of the income ladder. Economists at the University of California, Berkeley, calculated that as a result, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate in 2018 than any other group.

So instead of tax breaks for billionaires and in addition to infrastructure fixes, what should America's wealth be paying for? An investment counselor would advise even a cash-strapped 20-something to take the long view. For the American economy, I'd say that means assets ought to be directed toward reducing the existential threat of climate change.

The global energy system alone needs $2.4 trillion to begin to turn the tide of global warming, according to the UN, and trillions more are needed for reforestation, defending coastlines from rising seas, and efforts to adapt to rising temperatures.

Global finance leaders are clearly worried. The Bank for International Settlements this week warned of "potentially extremely financially disruptive events" caused by climate change. Those are the words of the bank for the world's central banks  the global equivalent of those sober-minded bankers you would turn to for advice on your retirement plan.

About half of American households have no money saved for retirement. You may forgive individuals for those decisions  for a lot of folks, it's hard to just get by  but there's no excuse for a nation acting like tomorrow will take care of itself. It won't.
Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 10 Lite and S10 Lite in India. The Lite devices debut as the companys first flagship killers. The Galaxy Note 10 Lite and S10 Lite both bring flagship-grade hardware to a smartphone under Rs 40,000; however, the former does have an older (Exynos 9810) chipset. Both the Samsung smartphones are aimed at competing with brands like OnePlus, Oppo, Realme and LG, among others. The Note 10 Lite also brings the S Pen at a never-before-seen price. The Galaxy Note 10 Lite starts at Rs 38,999 while the S10 Lite is priced at Rs 39,999.

This week, we learnt that the much-anticipated Xiaomi Poco phone will get a successor but lose the Xiaomi branding. Poco will operate as an independent brand henceforth, with its own marketing strategy. The second Poco phone will arrive as early as February 2020. The brand confirmed that Poco F2 or Poco X2, successor to the Poco F1, will arrive sometime in February. company recent And, Poco wasnt the only new smartphone brand we got this week; Vivo also confirmed that it would launch the first Snapdragon 865-powered smartphone under its iQOO brand in India. iQOO will also operate as an independent brand in India with a different Android skin from Vivo.

According to a forensic analysis commissioned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the billionaires iPhone X was hacked by Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). The analysis accused MBS of using spyware created by a private cybersecurity firm to intimidate and spy on Bezos. According to reports, the phone was hacked after Bezos received an infected video message sent from the personal WhatsApp account of MBS.

Microsoft recently disclosed a massive security breach that took place in December 2019. A blog post from the software giant claimed about 250 million Microsoft users had their data breached through the exposure of Customer Service and Support records. Microsoft says the breach occurred due to misconfiguration of an internal customer support database, which the software giant uses to track support cases. According to the blog post, most leaked data included emails, contact numbers, and payment information.
North Korea on Saturday stepped up efforts to prevent the spread of a new strain of the Chinese coronavirus with the cancellation of a flight between Pyongyang and Beijing, and a temporary restriction on foreign residents' trips to China.



The Rodong Sinmun, the daily of the North's ruling Workers' Party, also carried an article on the coronavirus that originated from Wuhan in central China, in an apparent effort to call for caution among North Koreans. The North has not reported any confirmed case yet.



"Recently, the damage from the new strain of the coronavirus has been expanding," the article reads.



"Media outlets in many countries have reported that its impact on the world economy could potentially be greater than that when the severe acute respiratory syndrome spread in the past," it added.



Citing a Chinese official's explanation, the paper pointed out that when one has early symptoms of the coronavirus infection, such as breathing difficulties, he or she needs immediate medical treatment.













The Russian Embassy in Pyongyang reportedly said in its social media post that the North's foreign ministry had notified it that an Air China flight between Pyongyang and Beijing would be canceled until Feb. 10.



The British government also said on its website that North Korean authorities have temporarily restricted travel of foreign residents to China, and tour operators have reported a government suspension of tourism to the North. (Yonhap)
Washington County Public Schools asking public for input on funding

Washington County Public Schools is asking the public for input on how they should spend the American Rescue Plan money from the federal government.
January 21, 2020 Christie Anastasia , 207 288-8806

BAR HARBOR, MAINE  The Acadia National Park Advisory Commission will meet at park headquarters (20 McFarland Hill Drive) in Bar Harbor at 1  3 pm on Monday February 3, 2020. The meeting is open to the public and will include an opportunity for public comments.



First on the agenda will be an annual ethics training conducted and required by the Department of the Interior, via teleconference. Following the training, Superintendent Kevin Schneider will provide reports on the Acadia National Park Transportation Plan, Bass Harbor Head Light acquisition, and the Acadia Workforce Housing Initiative.



Congress created the Acadia National Park Advisory Commission in 1986 to consult with the National Park Service on matters relating to the management and development of the park, including, but not limited to, the acquisition of lands and interests in lands. The Commission is comprised of 16 members with three members appointed by the Secretary of Interior, three members appointed by the Governor of Maine, and one member appointed by each of the following towns: Bar Harbor, Cranberry Isles, Frenchboro, Gouldsboro, Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor, Swans Island, Tremont, Trenton, and Winter Harbor.



The next meeting of the Acadia National Park Advisory Commission, when published to the Federal Register, is planned for June 1, 2020 (Bar Harbor).
Bhopal, Jan 26 : On the eve of the Republic Day, the Madhya Pradesh government has introduced reading the Preamble to the Constitution in the state schools from Saturday.

Public Relations Minister P.C. Sharma got the new practice started with Rajiv Gandhi High School in Bhopal.

Madhya Pradesh has emulated Maharashtra which had on Tuesday made it mandatory for school students to read the Preamble of the Constitution. The Madhya Pradesh School Education Department issued a circular on Wednesday making the exercise compulsory in all government schools after the prayer meeting every Saturday.

The private schools haven't reacted to the proposal so far. The terse government circular has not mentioned the private schools.

The Congress government has in Madhya Pradesh has acted at a time when there are frequent demonstrations in the country and state in support and opposition of the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens.

Sharma said that the order related to the Preamble of the Constitution is being implemented with immediate effect in the state.

According to the government circular the head teacher or teacher will ensure in primary and secondary schools implement the government order while the principals of higher secondary will conduct the exercise during the Bal Sabha every Saturday.
New Delhi:

As China coronavirus spread turned virulent, India has requested China to allow over 250 Indian students trapped in Wuhan, the epicentre of the new SARS-like virus, to leave the city, said sources. The Chinese authorities on Wednesday locked down several cities, including Wuhan, in a bid to contain the coronavirus, leaving hundreds of Indians and thousands others stranded in the country.

About 700 Indian students, mostly medical students, are believed to be studying in different universities in Wuhan and its surrounding areas. Around 25 Indian students, mostly from Kerala, are trapped in the Chinese city of Wuhan following the lockdown.

The development has come after the family members of these students urged the government to bring them back. The family of one of the students stuck in Wuhan said that they were running out of food as shops and transportation services in their area were shut.

"They are running out of food. We are told that shops and transportation services in the area have been shut down. Whatever little food they had is almost over. They are also told not to come out of the places where they are staying," Kumaran J, father of a sixth-year medical student of Wuhan University, was quoted as saying by The News Minute.

Kumaran said that some of the students were about to leave Wuhan when the Chinese authorities announced the shut down of transport services on Wednesday. "My daughter along with her batch mates from India were standing in a queue to get boarding passes for the bullet train to get to another city. Just when she was fourth in the line from the counter, they closed issuing the passes and unfortunately four of them including her were not able to get into the train. The remaining 14 of them were able to get out of Wuhan and I heard they will be reaching India soon," said Kumaran.

11 Suspected Cases Of Coronavirus In India

In India, at least 11 people are also kept under observation for the possible contraction of the deadly coronavirus. However, four of them have been tested negative. India has also started thermal screening of passengers coming from China at seven airports, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi.

The Union Health Minister has directed for multidisciplinary central teams to be sent to the seven states where thermal screening is being done. Each central team will consist of a public health expert, a clinician and a microbiologist. These teams would reach the respective states on Sunday.

The Union Health Ministry has also opened a 27x7 NCDC call centre (+91-11-23978046) to direct those seeking clinical inquiry to the relevant Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) officer. The call centre will also monitor the data provided by the External Affairs Ministry and alert state and district surveillance officers.

So far, nearly 1,300 people have been detected positive for the coronavirus and at least 41 have lost their lives. The deadly Wuhan virus has spread to several other countries with positive cases being reported from the US, Thailand, Nepal, Australia among several others.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Fine Gael has expelled the founding member of its first Northern Ireland branch after discovering that he paid for Facebook ads to promote his father, a former Fine Gael minister, in his Dail bid.

Jude Perry, who set up a branch of Young Fine Gael in Queen's University Belfast, was informed this week that his membership had been cancelled and he was being removed from the Fine Gael officer board in Sligo-Leitrim.

Mr Perry, who is currently on a student exchange programme in Washington DC, paid less than 100 to promote seven Facebook posts about his father John Perry's general election campaign in Sligo-Leitrim.

John Perry is a former Fine Gael junior minister who is running for the Dail as an Independent after failing to get on the Fine Gael ticket.

Jude Perry, who studies History and Politics at QUB, was informed of the party's action via text message from its regional organiser on Wednesday evening which said he was in breach of Fine Gael rules and the party had decided to "cease" his membership.

Mr Perry said he received no formal communication from the party.

"As an active member of Fine Gael, and the person who started the first branch of the party in Northern Ireland, I was shocked to receive a text to say I am no longer a member of the party," he said.

"It shows a clear lack of a fair hearing. I was astonished at the lack of due process from a party that is trying to encourage young people into politics.

"The party took issue when Fianna Fail condemned Frances Fitzgerald without a hearing in 2017, and yet it is OK with doing it in this circumstance. I have been targeted and condemned without a hearing."

A Fine Gael spokesman said: "It is incompatible with membership of Fine Gael to be actively engaged in a campaign for another political party or Independent."
File image of Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro shaking hands with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a summit on June 28, 2019. (Image Reuters)

India and Brazil on January 25 signed 15 agreements to boost cooperation in a wide range of areas like trade and investment, oil and gas, cybersecurity and information technology.

After talks between Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Brazil a valuable partner in India's economic growth and said an action plan has been finalised to further expand strategic ties.

In a media statement, the prime minister further said that Bolsonaro's visit to India has opened a new chapter in bilateral ties between the two strategic partners and that despite geographical differences, both countries are together on various global issues.

On his part Bolsonaro said the two countries have further consolidated already strong ties by signing 15 agreements providing for cooperation in a range of areas.

Bolsonaro arrived here in India on January 24, accompanied by his daughter Laura Bolsonaro, daughter-in-law Leticia Firmo, eight ministers, four members of the Brazilian parliament and a large business delegation.

The Brazilian president will grace the Republic Day Parade as chief guest on January 26.

India's ties with Brazil have been on an upswing over the past few years. The largest country in Latin America, Brazil has a population of 210 million and a $1.8 trillion economy.

(With inputs from PTI)
Enterprise Ireland is calling on students from third level institutions nationwide with an innovative business idea, technology or solution to apply to this year's 39th Student Entrepreneur Awards, which are co-sponsored by Cruickshank, Grant Thornton and the Local Enterprise Offices.

Enterprise Ireland is calling on students from third level institutions nationwide with an innovative business idea, technology or solution to apply to this year's 39th Student Entrepreneur Awards, which are co-sponsored by Cruickshank, Grant Thornton and the Local Enterprise Offices.

Finalists will be selected to compete for several awards such as the Cruickshank Intellectual Property High Achieving Merit Award, the Grant Thornton Emerging Business Award and the Local Enterprise Office ICT Award.

The overall winner will share in a 35,000 prize fund and receive mentoring from Enterprise Ireland to develop the commercial viability of their concept.

The winners will also share in a 30,000 consultancy fund that will enable them to turn their ideas into a commercial reality.

National University of Ireland Galway student Christopher McBrearty was named as last year's Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneur of the Year for his cancer detection technology, NanoDetect.

Other award winners included Micron Agritech Limited, developed by students in Technological University Dublin and Crafted Equestrian created by Ulster University student, Jenny Gregg. Cork Institute of Technology's, StomAssure was recognised for their implantable alternative to the current stoma treatment method.

Richard Murphy, Manager LEO Support, Policy & Co-ordination Unit, Enterprise Ireland said: 'The Student Entrepreneur Awards have been a breeding ground for entrepreneurship in Ireland for close to forty years.'

Mr Murphy added: 'Students in Ireland are becoming more and more ambitious and focused on achieving entrepreneurial success - this is clear from the 1,000 high quality, innovative entries in last year's awards that identified challenges across a range of sectors and provided solutions to overcome them.'

He explained: 'Nurturing this talent and helping to foster that entrepreneurship is essential not just to turn ideas into thriving businesses but to help drive Ireland's global reputation in business.'

Mr Murphy concluded: 'We are looking to support great ideas with commercial and export potential and if you have an idea with commercial focus then the Student Entrepreneur Awards is the competition for you. It could be the first step on the way to becoming a business leader in 2020.'

The award winners will be announced at a ceremony in NUI Galway on June 12, 2020.
Young international start-ups " and the investors who back them " still see Hong Kong as a key fundraising hub despite almost eight months of social unrest that have savaged the economy, according to the city's first equity crowdfunding platform.

AngelHub, which was licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission last April as the first crowdfunding platform for professional investors to back growth stage start-ups, has completed three deals already.

And an international competition for start-ups to win a fundraising windfall has had no shortage of applicants.

Co-founder of AngelHub, Karen Contet Farzam, said she has seen no signs that start-ups have been put off raising funds in Hong Kong. Photo: Jonathan Wong alt=Co-founder of AngelHub, Karen Contet Farzam, said she has seen no signs that start-ups have been put off raising funds in Hong Kong. Photo: Jonathan Wong

"We have received over 500 applications from start-ups around the world to join this fundraising competition programme and nobody has expressed any worry about coming to Hong Kong to attend the grand final event," said AngelHub co-founder and chief executive Karen Contet Farzam.

"This demonstrates that Hong Kong is a fundraising hub for start-ups and offering great investment opportunities."

The platform recently held a mega round of fundraising which helped Pomelo, a Thai fashion e-commerce start-up, to raise US$52 million in fresh funding from a group of investors including some leading venture capital companies such as Jungle Ventures, JD.com and Thai retailer Central Group. Two smaller deals raised a combined US$2.5 million, according to Contet Farzam.

Its next major development is to bring global start-ups to Hong Kong. Angelhub is currently hosting a competition in which start-ups first need to present their projects in their own markets, which include Paris, London, Brussels, Singapore, Shenzhen and Hong Kong during December and January.

Story continues

The grand prize winner, to be announced on February 14, will receive up to US$1 million in equity from investors while the rest will get a US$10,000 cash prize.

Since April, AngelHub has received over 600 applications from start-ups wanting to raise funds. It will screen their projects to root out the best ones to be matched with the right international investors.

Ali Celiker, founder and chief executive of British Pearl, a UK start-up that operates a real estate investment platform, set up an office in Hong Kong Cyberport in September, three months after the anti-government protests started in June. The company uses AngelHub's platform to raise funds.

"The unrest in Hong Kong has not discouraged us from establishing our business here," Celiker said. "Hong Kong is without question one of the world's leading financial cities, and as a financial services company we had to seriously consider it as a centre for our Asian expansion plans."

He said the city's use of English as a business language and its legal system based on English common law has made life easier, while the AngelHub platform allows his company to access to high net-worth Hong Kong investors to finance its future expansion in Asia.

"The platform may be new, but they have delivered a remarkable number of high quality, vetted investors who are able to invest in our business," he said.

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.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday released a statement excoriating an NPR reporter who claimed that Pompeo shouted and swore at her after a recent interview. In his statement, which came with an official State Department seal, he did not deny his outburst but instead suggested that the reporter had confused Ukraine and Bangladesh on a map.

The tension revolved around a nine-minute interview Friday in which reporter Mary Louise Kelly asked Pompeo about Iran. The interview, which NPR has published in full, deteriorated when Kelly moved on to questions about Ukraine and asked Pompeo if he felt he owed former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch an apology. Pompeo refused to answer her questions, insisting he had only agreed to come onto the show to discuss Iran.

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Later in the day, Kelly explained on NPR what happened next. An aide appeared and asked her to follow her to Pompeos private living room. There, he shouted at me for about the same amount of time as the interview itself had lasted, she said. He expressed his fury at her asking him about Yovanovitch. He asked, Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?, she said. He used the f-word in that sentence, and many others.

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Then, according to Kelly, he asked her if she thought she could locate Ukraine on a map. He had his aides bring him a world map without labels. I pointed to Ukraine, she said. He put the map away. He said, People will hear about this.

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On Saturday, he released his statement:

NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly lied to me, twice. First, last month, in setting up our interview and, then again yesterday, in agreeing to have our post-interview conversation off the record. It is shameful that this reporter chose to violate the basic rules of journalism and decency. This is another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this Administration. It is no wonder that the American people distrust many in the media when they so consistently demonstrate their agenda and their absence of integrity.

To rebut Pompeos accusation that Kelly had misled him about the nature of the interview, NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik pointed out that in the interview itself, Pompeo did not argue with Kelly when she said she had confirmed with his aides that they would discuss Ukraine.

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Kelly has said she was never asked to keep the conversation off the record and that she would never have agreed to an off-the-record conversation regardless. She also said she had informed the State Department that she planned to report on the conversation.

The secretary of state is trying to accuse Kelly of some kind of professional breach after he used the OTR to try to humiliate her instead of to have a substantive conversation. https://t.co/43n2HQNxl8  Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 25, 2020

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While Pompeos statement focused on accusations of ethical violations, he did not deny his tirade. Nor did he deny that he had said Americans do not care about Ukraine. But he did imply that Kelly, who is an experienced reporter on international affairs, had failed the test hed given her. At the end of his statement, he added: It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine.

Unhinged. The notion that @NPRKelly would confuse Ukraine with Bangladesh on a map is so ludicrous it doesnt even merit comment. As for the other accusations, I trust our reporter. And as for basic rules of decency: well. pic.twitter.com/2HrKUbzZaN  melissa block (@NPRmelissablock) January 25, 2020

NPRs senior vice president for news, Nancy Barnes, said in a statement that NPR stood by Kellys report. Mary Louise Kelly has always conducted herself with the utmost integrity, she said.
Following the gas explosion in Sabon Tashan, Kaduna State earlier this month that killed about six people, including the Chairman, Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, Prof. Simon Mallam, and also destroyed properties worth millions of naira, many state governments across the country have started taking steps to avert a reoccurrence.

Governor Nasiru El-Rufai who visited the scene of the incident a day after promptly ordered the closure of all gas refill stations located within residential areas in the state. Many other states in the federation have taken a cue from Kaduna having also recorded accidents that resulted from the indiscriminate location of gas plants and retail outlets in the past.

In 2019 for instance, a gas explosion at the Port Harcourt Shopping Mall left five persons critically wounded. The Port Harcourt mall explosion, which forced sudden closure of the outfit, started at the kitchen section. The affected victims whose hands, legs and some parts of their bodies were cut off are still at the hospital receiving treatments. The state had earlier in 2015 witnessed a gas explosion. In that incident, five persons were killed at Eliozu area in Port Harcourt when a gas retailer was refilling another cylinder and suddenly, the cylinder exploded killing the victims on the spot.

In Lagos State, a resident, Mr. Shina Ayanfe, said he does not use gas in his house anymore due to the fear of explosion, explaining that his neighbors wife died as a result of the incident.

She had been complaining that her gas cylinder was giving her problems. So, she bought another one not knowing the new one was equally bad. Apparently, it was leaking gradually and you know its not everybody that has a strong sense of smell. She was trying to cook that morning when it exploded. She suffered severe pains as we rushed her to the hospital. At some point, we felt she was already responding to treatment but before we knew what was happening, she died, he recalled.

In Owerri, Imo State, a thriving filling station situated along Okigwe Road, Orji, Owerri North Local Council recently witnessed a loud explosion arising from one of the gas cylinders in the premises, destroying the structures there. Many people were injured as well. Of course, the rebuilding cost a fortune.

Meanwhile, The Guardian investigations have shown that not many people who are into gas retail business or make use of cooking gas in their homes are aware of the safety rules they need to observe.

In Lagos for instance, almost every street has a gas retail outlet. But when one of the retailers in the Surulere area of the state was asked what was needed to start the business, she said: You need a good location and a big cylinder. With that, your business has taken off as it is very easy to learn how to transfer from a big cylinder to a customers smaller one. To him, anyone can run the business.

In Owerri, findings showed that cooking gas retailers are mainly found in locations that are easily accessible to residents like Tetlow and Okigwe roads not minding the risks involved.

A gas retailer in the area, Okechukwu Anoruo, who said he inherited the business from his late father, stated that he observes little or no rules.

Gas is becoming a lucrative business in Owerri. What I can tell you is that only God is guiding us. We observe little or no safety measures here. You can see that it is an open place. The business is going on well. Students largely patronise us. They buy mostly small size cylinders. I have not recorded any explosion, he said.

Some gas vendors in Jos, Plateau State, also told The Guardian that they do not observe any safety rules other than being careful because they know that gas is a highly flammable substance.

A gas retailer in Awka, Anambra State, who did not want to disclose her identity, said that she knew her business was not properly located but the profit she was making was keeping her at the location.

A dealer, Ngozi Okonkwo, whose outlet is located near a roadside akara (bean cake) fryer, expressed no feeling of facing imminent danger when approached.

During a visit to Bashorun area of Ibadan, a retailer, Mr. Innocent Obinna, said he only ensures there is no leakage from the gas cylinder.

I only ensure that there is no leakage and oil in the gas cylinder both from the customers side and my side. I ensure that the environment is safe and there is no flammable substance around. The customers cylinder must not be rusted or ruptured anywhere. And the valve on the cylinder must be in a good condition, he said.

Another vendor in the area, Ismail Olubode, however, said that as a safety measure, he always has water mixed with detergent in his shop in case of a fire outbreak.

A gas plant attendant at Jakande Estate Gate in Lagos said the plant has existed for five years now without any accident. He said: We always check for any fault in our gas plant to avoid explosion because this plant is very close to where people live and trade. So, we cant afford to cause any loss of lives and properties.

But consumers need knowledge on how to maintain their gas at home. Most people just buy gas because it is very fast for cooking and cost-effective without having any knowledge on how to maintain their gas or check for leakage.

One Mrs. Mirian Joy, who resides in the Ilasamaja area of the state, confirmed his claim. Joy said: I have been using my gas for the past three years now and I have never for once checked for any leakage or any fault because it does not show any sign that it is faulty. I dont even know how to check if my gas has a fault.

Crackdown On Illegal Outlets Begins

Safety experts have blamed gas explosion incidents on negligence. They also justified the ongoing crackdown on illegal outlets.

The Zonal Operations Controller of the Department for Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Port Harcourt, Mr. Bassey Nkanga, condemned refilling of gas cylinders instantly at the outlets, noting that people should drop their cylinders and go with refilled ones to enable government know the expired cylinders and withdraw them from circulation.

He reiterated that gas operators are not supposed to operate within residential areas, adding that the Rivers State government and the agency were determined to rid the state of illegal gas outlets.

He also advised operators who do not have licences to do the right thing or leave the state, adding that the state government and the agency would set up a task force that would work round the clock to ensure that no illegal gas dealer remains in Rivers State.

According to him, safety requirements for the issuance of licence by the agency to people venturing into gas business include having good ventilation and capability to operate in safe manners.

He said: The state government has come to work with us. Together we are setting up a task force that will go about ensuring that those operating without license are not allowed to operate because they are the ones that sell the product to illegal retailers who cause the major problems. We are also working with security agencies to ensure that those operating without licence are arrested. The jingles are on, warning them to leave the state or do the right thing.

Government is doing anything possible to stop the use of expired gas cylinders. There is a plan that every cylinder that does not meet specific requirements will be pulled out of circulation and no longer be allowed to be used.

He further disclosed that nine illegal gas plants and several other retail outlets were shut down in the last three weeks.

He added that there are physical checks on the appearances of the cylinders and also the use of instruments like the ultrasonic tool to test the standard of cylinders.

He urged the public to send information of any illegal gas operators to the DPR zonal office in Port Harcourt, assuring that actions would be taken without delay.

On his part, the state Commissioner for Energy, Dr. Peter Medee, said the state government was taking safety issues very seriously, adding that the government would not allow any illegal gas operator in the state. He decried that a lot of gas dealers were operating in the state illegally, saying they would surely be stopped.

Medee confirmed that a technical committee from the Ministry of Energy, security agencies and DPR has been set up to draw a template for the task force that would carry out the enforcement.

The Commissioner said the essence of the template was to ensure that the task force carries out their duties in line with the guidelines to avoid abuse and hijack of the process.

In Abia State, the Comptroller of the State Fire Service, Mr. Victor Gbaruko, said the Service would soon undertake what he called Operation Show Your Approval to ensure that gas plants in the state are not only properly sited but also operate within the standards set by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

Also, before last years yuletide celebrations, the Umuahia Field Surveillance/Monitoring team of the DPR undertook an impromptu inspection of petrol stations in Abia State. Out of about 30 stations inspected, 15 were sealed for violating the operational regulations of the DPR including five gas plants that were sited within petrol stations without requisite approval.

In Ebonyi State, Governor David Umahi has also directed that all illegal gas stations in the state be shutdown.

Umahi, in a recent statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Francis Nweze, said the closure of the gas stations was necessary to forestall the possible outbreak of fire and ensure that Health, Safety and Environment regulation in the state conform to national and international standards in the oil and gas industry.

He directed that all gas stations and outlets must operate with the approval of the Ebonyi State Capital Territory Development Board (ACTDB) and Department of Petroleum Resources, (DPR) adding the government will deal with anyone who may flout the directive.



Defaulters of this directive will be penalised in accordance with the laws of the land and shall pay approved penalties. All concerned should ensure strict compliance with this directive, he stated

In line with the directive, the government has already sealed 15 illegal gas stations in Abakaliki, the state capital.

Speaking with The Guardian, the Special Adviser to the governor on Petroleum, Basil Chima, said the state government had mapped out the land for gas stations but the operators had refused to move to the site.

He said that only one station in the city had all the approvals and licences to operate in the state.

In Awka, Anambra State, gas refill plants located near residential buildings and motor parks along Zik Avenue and Agu-Awka have also been asked to shut down.

They told The Guardian that the government had issued the ultimatum to leave the place because of the danger it poses to lives and property but that they were yet to comply with the directive.

Some gas retail dealers, however, said they were willing to do the right thing but decried lack of funds as their major challenge.



If the government can support us and give us space, we are willing to relocate and meet all the requirements stipulated by law but our major challenge is funding. We are however conscious of the safety guidelines, said a dealer at Ojoto in Mile Two, Diobu, Port Harcourt.

Basic Safety Rules For Gas Usage

As part of measures to curb accidents arising from gas explosions in the country, a safety expert, Ugochi Obidiegwe, said the major worry about gas usage is leakage from the cylinder.

Gas leaks gradually build up and eventually lead to an explosion. Gas vendors must bear in mind that gas cylinders should be stored away from ignition sources and other flammable materials. They must be kept in an upright position and must be kept in a dry and well-ventilated area to ensure that even if a leak occurs, adequate ventilation will prevent concentration

In the home, the best way to deal with a gas leak is to prevent it from happening. This is because if natural gas does not burn up quickly, it begins to emit a byproduct of carbon monoxide. The higher the concentration of carbon monoxide in the environment, the lesser the oxygen and this can affect human life. Therefore, certain precautions must be taken to ensure safety. Always turn off after use. If you smell gas, dont turn on electrical appliances, use a mobile phone or smoke in the environment. One must also keep the cylinder away from ignition sources, she said.

A safety expert in Jos, Mr. Joseph Lankwap, noted that using expired gas cylinders is dangerous, adding that most people are not aware that gas cylinders have a five-year expiry date.



The process of verifying the expiry date of cooking gas cylinders can be found on one of the metal strips that connect the body of the cylinder to the top ring handle and is either printed or posted on the inner side of the strip. Also printed alphabets A, B, C, D, represents the month the gas cylinder will expire, he explained.

He advised the government to take a tough stance in enforcing safety regulations to protect citizens from hazards associated with gas refilling.



On his part, a safety expert and Chief Fire Officer in Anambra State Fire Service, Martin Agbili, said: Gas cylinders should be kept outside the kitchen, not inside. Owners of gas cylinders should ensure that they own fire extinguishers in case of a fire outbreak.

He also urged gas users to buy their gas cylinders from certified dealers as, according to him, some of the gas cylinders are refurbished and re-painted to look new.



The gas cylinders should be placed outside with periodic checks for leakage. Kitchen windows and doors should be opened for some time before gas could be ignited, especially after one just returned to the house, he added.

Agbili disclosed that Anambra State Fire Service organises fire prevention sensitisation campaigns across markets and other public places in the state from time to time, where it highlights these safety measures.

For the Executive Director, Centre for Disaster Risk and Crisis Reduction (CDRCR), Mr. Kolawole Amusat-Gbenla, gas vendors and users should ensure that they install smoke detectors and fire extinguishers while maintaining the required spacing and ventilation standards.

He said: There should be regular training and retraining of employees in gas plants. For the end-users, especially in kitchens at homes, safety measures begin with proper handling of the cylinders. It is also important for most cooking gas users to be able to recognise the smell when a cylinder is leaking.

When there is a leakage, avoid flames of any form. Do not use spray or insecticide; create more ventilation by opening closed doors and windows and inform an expert that can help to fix it as soon as possible.

Maintenance of cylinders is another thing that ensures safety in households using cooking gas. We should avoid a crack in the gas regulator and blockage of connecting pipes as these may force us to tamper with the cylinder. And finally, every kitchen should have a fire blanket or wet towel in case of fire outbreak from our stove and cookers to remove oxygen.

On his part, Deputy Director, Oyo State Fire Service, Mr. Adewuyi Moshood, said: The retail shop owners or vendors should ensure that there is no naked fire or cooking taking place around him or her. He should not be loaded under a cable. There must be fire extinguishers and there must be a minimum of 100 litres of water around him or her.

The golden safety tip for anybody using gas that is up to 10kg and above is that the cylinder should not be close to the burner. He or she has to run a hose outside connecting the cylinder with the burner. Handset should not be taken to the kitchen while cooking.

When they want to check the level of their gas, it is dangerous to shake it. It is advisable to bring the cylinder out and pour water on it in order to identify the level of the gas in the cylinder. Where the gas is in the cylinder will show with the water drying up.

***

Source: TheGuardian
Communications Associate (Translator), Sanaa, Yemen

Organization: United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)

Country: Yemen

City: Sanaa, Yemen

Office: WFP Sanaa, Yemen

Closing date: Tuesday, 4 February 2020

WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles.

Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the worlds largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

These jobs are found in Headquarters (HQ), Regional Bureaux (RBs) and Country Offices (COs), and report to a Communications Officer. Job holders at this level demonstrate responsibility and initiative to respond independently to queries with only general guidance. There is a requirement to use judgment in dealing with unforeseen problems on a daily basis.

JOB PURPOSE

Communications Associate (translator) will play a key role supporting WFPs emergency response in Yemen by providing professional high-quality translation and interpretation services from English to Arabic (and vice versa). The incumbent will be reporting to the Communication Officer and the head of Communication Unit.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

Translation of WFP internal documents, including messages, minutes, circulars, SOPs, reports, texts for bulletins, UN rules, regulations and guidelines, any other internal texts as required. The translated text to be delivered in MS Word, PowerPoint or Excel files, as required.

Translation of WFP external documents including letters, press releases, media advisories, publications, reports, and official correspondence with authorities. These texts could be for print publications, broadcast or web. The translated text to be delivered in MS Word, PowerPoint or Excel files as required.

Translation of figures, fact boxes, tables, photo captions, sources, infographics and covers.

Provide simultaneous interpretation for senior management and visiting senior officials for high level meetings and field visits, including during evenings, weekends and other holidays.

Ensure that all translated texts are technically, linguistically and grammatically correct and error free and completed to the highest standards.
January 23, 2020Kingsley Plantation, 904-251-3537

On February 15 and 22, Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, a unit of the National Park Service, will host Kingsley Heritage Celebration at Kingsley Plantation. This special event is held every year to celebrate African heritage and remember the enslaved that lived here. This year, Kingsley Heritage Celebration is part of a year of programming marking the 400th anniversary of when the first enslaved Africans were forcibly brought to English-occupied North America.



On February 15, Kingsley Plantation will be joined by speaker Dr. Johnnetta Cole, a Kingsley descendant, and the Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters. Dr. Cole has been an anthropologist, an educator, and Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. Throughout her career, she has worked on initiatives dealing with diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion in museums and higher education. The Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters are descendants of enslaved Africans who preserve the historical and cultural legacy of the Geechee people through song and dance. The event will end with archaeology tours of the slave cabins led by the Florida Public Archaeology Network.



On February 22, a living history timeline will transport visitors through the history of Fort George Island. Take an interactive trip through the past, starting with the Spanish Mission San Juan del Puerto; on to the British Fort St. George; the Plantation era; and into the Roaring Twenties. Families can try their hands at candle making, writing with quill and ink, and much more. These interactive demonstrations are a great way for families to learn together, said Superintendent Chris Hughes. Musket firing demonstrations will also occur throughout the day.



In addition to the scheduled events, visitors may also tour the grounds that include the original plantation house, kitchen house, barn, and the remains of 25 tabby slave cabins. The grounds offer graphic evidence of slave living quarters and daily life experiences. Come and honor those enslaved at Kingsley Plantation by learning about their skills and knowledge and the tasks they endured on the Florida frontier.



This event is free and open to the public.





Detailed Schedule of Events



Saturday, February 15, 2020: Culture and Legacy

10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. - Park rangers and volunteers will lead tours of the Planters Home.

10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - Kids Corner Crafts

12:45 p.m.  Opening Remarks, Superintendent Chris Hughes

1:00 p.m. - 1:45 p.m. - Dr. Johnnetta Cole, Looking Back in Order to go Forward

2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. - The Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters

3:00 p.m.  4:00 p.m. Archaeology Hike through the Quarters with Florida Public Archaeology Network



Saturday, February 22, 2020: Fort George through the Ages

10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. - Living History Demonstrations

12:30 p.m. & 2:30 p.m. - Historic Weapons Demonstrations





Located off Heckscher Drive/A1A one-half mile north of the St. Johns River ferry landing, Kingsley Plantation is open daily, at no charge, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. For more information about Kingsley Plantation, call 904-251-3537.





About the National Park Service. National Park Service employees care for America's 419 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities.


President of Brazil Jair Messias Bolsonaro on Saturday said that he was moved by the warmth and affection showered on his delegation during their visit to India and expressed confidence in the 15 agreements signed to strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries.

"It gives me great pride to come to India as the chief guest at this eminent moment when the country is celebrating its Republic Day. I am deeply moved by the warmth and affection that India has showered. This is also one of the elements that brings the two countries together," Bolsonaro said.

"I am grateful that India and Brazil have consolidated on working towards strengthening bilateral relations," the Brazillian President added.

READ | Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro Meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Jair Bolsonaro, who is on a four-day visit to India, will grace the Republic Day parade on Sunday. During his address, the Brazillian President mentioned that the 15 agreements signed with India were the highest number of agreements that Brazil has ever signed with any nation.

"I believe that there will be more matters of similar interest emerging between India and Brazil, given the potential of the countries. We hope to soon achieve the goal of becoming a 5 trillion economy," said Jair Bolsonaro.

He also expressed his delight while adding that both the nations have ample to offer each other and strengthen the bilateral relations. He further said he is excited to join Prime Minister Narendra Modi in celebrating Republic Day on Sunday. "Two days into my visit, and I already miss India," Bolsonaro said.

READ | Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro Receives Ceremonial Reception At Rashtrapati Bhavan

Bolsonaro's visit to India

President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro arrived in India on Friday, accompanied by his daughter Laura Bolsonaro, daughter-in-law Leticia Firmo, eight ministers, four members of the Brazilian parliament and a large business delegation.

The Brazilian president is in India primarily to grace the Republic Day celebrations on Sunday as the chief guest and explore ways to boost trade ties with India at a time when both economies are going through a phase of slowdowns.

India's ties with Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, has been on an upswing in the last few years. The country has a population of 210 million with $1.8 trillion-economy.

READ | Jaishankar Calls On Brazilian Prez

READ | With Jair Bolsonaro's Vist, India-Brazil Sign 15 Agreements In Various Fields
A famous Winnipegger enthusiastically promoted selective breeding among humans for the refinement of the species. She championed the forced sterilization of people who were considered unfit, meaning people judged as feeble-minded.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 25/1/2020 (718 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

A famous Winnipegger enthusiastically promoted selective breeding among humans for the refinement of the species. She championed the forced sterilization of people who were considered "unfit," meaning people judged as "feeble-minded."

She left Winnipeg and moved to Edmonton, where she was elected as an MLA and was a main promoter of the Alberta Sexual Sterilization Act, legislation that allowed the sterilization of almost 3,000 people. The victims were disproportionately immigrants and Indigenous people.

By todays standards, she would be considered a racist.

What do we do about Nellie McClung?

The question is relevant because Winnipeg city council is being asked to approve an initiative called Welcoming Winnipeg: Reconciling Our History.

The goal  to better reflect Indigenous perspectives in place names and historical markers  is part of Mayor Brian Bowmans push for reconciliation.

He has hosted an anti-racism summit, composed a team of Indigenous advisers and mandated reconciliation sessions for city employees. Commendably, he uses his positions high profile to call out racism whenever he sees it.

In this newest development, a public committee comprised of 50 per cent Indigenous people and 50 per cent non-Indigenous will be asked, in part, to review suggestions to rename Winnipeg landmarks, monuments and street names that honour historical figures who are now considered offensive.

A bronze sculpture on the grounds of the Manitoba legislature honours McClung and the so-called Famous Five, who were pioneers of first-wave feminism. The statue includes McClungs close friend, Emily Murphy, whose frequent writing about racial differences demeaned people who were Jewish, Chinese and African.

Make no mistake, the Famous Five did not get famous by advocating for Indigenous people. Their successful fight to get Canadian women recognized as "persons" under the law in 1929 excluded Indigenous women, who were not legally considered "persons" until 1951.

Knowing that, what do we do about McClung?

She should be put at the top of the list of people whose historical validity will be weighed by the recently announced committee. Deal with her first. The wide popularity of her life and accomplishments makes her the ideal subject to kick off public discussion. Let her, once again, be a pioneer.

Navigating the tension between McClungs considerable achievements and her deplorable actions  deplorable by 2020 standards  will give the committee a model of how to regard other controversial historical figures.

First, context matters.

McClung was in step with her times in her active promotion of eugenics, which is the term for trying to genetically "improve" the human race by controlling who gives birth. Eugenics was a popular idea in Europe and North America among the white Anglo-Saxon community that shaped McClung.

Second, intent matters. McClung believed she was helping society by curtailing generation-to-generation degeneracy. "To bring children into the world, suffering from the handicaps caused by ignorance, poverty, or criminality of the parents, is an appalling crime against the innocent and hopeless," she wrote in In Times Like These, one of her 16 books.

Third, balance matters. Her advocacy of eugenics should be weighed against her many accomplishments. It was largely through her efforts that in 1916 Manitoba became the first province to give women the right to vote. She used her gifts as an orator and politician to fight for medical care for children, mothers allowance, property and divorce rights for women and other reforms including workplace safety.

The city committee wont have the power to order the removal of the statue of the Famous Five from the provincial grounds. Its mandate will be restricted to making recommendations, which could include a recommendation to the province that it reconsider the statue.

The committee might ignore McClung, reasoning her legacy is too hot to handle because shes admired by many Manitobans. That would be unfortunate.

The complexity and wide popularity of her public life  warts and all  are reasons shes a good template of how to proceed in the tricky business of judging historical actions by modern standards.

Here are possible targets cited by the mayor in the past:

Bishop Vital-Justin Grandin, the namesake of Bishop Grandin Boulevard, advocated for Metis rights and the Roman Catholic church declared him "venerable" (found "heroic in virtue" during the investigation leading to canonization as a saint) in 1966. He led the campaign for residential schools to "civilize" First Nations people.

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Garnet Joseph Wolseley is commemorated with Wolseley Avenue, Wolseley School and the Wolseley neighbourhood. He commanded the Red River Expeditionary Force in 1870 to establish Canadian sovereignty in Manitoba.

Edgar Dewdney is acknowledged with a street name in Point Douglas. As lieutenant-governor of the Northwest Territories and Indian commissioner, his policies included withholding food rations from Indigenous people to force them to settle on reserves.

Such men deserve to be judged by the same criteria we extend to McClung. Historical context? Intent? Positive accomplishments?

McClung was an admirable leader in many ways and can continue to lead. Her example reminds Manitobans that, when it comes to revoking someones honour, we should be extremely cautious.

carl.degurse@freepress.mb.ca

Carl DeGurse is a member of the Free Press editorial board.
Hundreds of thousands of strikers, yellow vest protesters and youth marched Friday in protests across France against President Emmanuel Macrons pension cuts, after Macron presented the pension bill to his council of ministers to prepare its passage at the National Assembly next month. It came after rail and transport workers ended a six-week strike against the bill, which would allow the French state to slash pensions over the coming years and decades.

A segment of the Paris march

An overwhelming majority of workers opposes the cuts and opposes Macron, a former investment banker nicknamed the president of the rich. An Elabe poll this week found 61 percent opposition to the pension cuts, and that 82 percent of French people believe they are personally worse off since Macron took office in 2017. Nonetheless, Macron intends to submit the cuts to the National Assembly, where his party has a majority, on February 17.

All accounts agreed that the number of protesters had risen since the last national protest on January 16. Nevertheless, police and the Stalinist General Confederation of Labor (CGT) union gave wildly different figures for the number of protesters nationwide, ranging from 239,000 to 1.3 million. With the largest march in Paris, tens of thousands marched in Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Le Havre, and Lyon, and large protests took place in Nice, Rouen, Nantes, Clermont-Ferrand as marches were held in over 200 French cities in total.

There is nothing to negotiate with enemies of the people

In Lyon, hundreds of members of the National Barristers Council (CNB) striking against cuts to their pensions occupied the Lyon Judicial Tribunal. Several waste treatment facilities in the Paris area also took strike action, as did the staff of the Eiffel Tower.

Political tensions are still mounting, as the government moves to ram its cuts through by force despite mounting popular anger and opposition. There is nothing to negotiate with Macron, who worked out his cuts with financial firms including multi-trillion-dollar global asset management firm BlackRock and is determined to funnel hundreds of billions of euros away from pensions to the super-rich and the military-police forces. The only way forward for the working class is a fight to bring down the Macron government.

Oh King Macron, tool of the bosses, Macronism and neoliberalism are over, you must know we are taking you to the scaffold. Revolution

The French union bureaucracy is blocking a serious struggle to bring down Macron, however. They have negotiated the cuts ever since Macrons election in 2017, and called rail strikes against it only last autumn to try to keep control as wildcat strikes erupted at the French National Railways. They then isolated the rail strikersblocking an indefinite walkout in French ports, refineries and auto, while advancing a bankrupt strategy of asking Macron to renegotiate his cuts.

While the strikers already insisted that the rank and file and not the unions had launched the strike, there is growing disquiet and concern among strikers at the treachery of the unions.

Cedric, a Paris transit worker, told the WSWS: When we listen to the media, we see they feel there is a moment of weakness among us strikers, and we are here today to show them that is not true. Unfortunately, if we have gone back to work, it is not of our own free will; it is more that, at the end of the month, one has to eat. It is more the financial side that forced us to go back to work. But now we are trying to come together on more spontaneous actions to show our discontent.

Frederic, another transit worker, criticized the unions for isolating the rail workers: If we had all gone out together on an indefinite strike, after a week or so Macron would have been defeated. But non-striking workers would have had to follow us. And, as you say, one does not know what exactly was happening in all the trade unions talks. That is why personally, I myself am not in a union or a union member.

Several strikers told the WSWS that, if Macron rams the cuts through the National Assembly, they would continue to strike and protest. It is not just because today Macron decides to impose his so-called law with the minority that supports him that we will stop the struggle. But weve been on strike 50, 51 days, we are exhausted financially. That is what they wanted, clearly. But if we need to keep fighting until the end of the year, we will, maybe two days a week.

Comedie Francaise theaterOn Strike

Conditions are rapidly emerging for an explosive clash between the working class and the Macron government, backed by the banks and global investors and financial markets. In such a struggle, the decisive allies of workers in France are workers around the world, mobilized against the banks. Yet this support among workers internationally and among broader layers of workers in France cannot be mobilized as long as the struggle is subordinated to the organizational straitjacket of the unions and their plans for cutting deals with Macron.

The decisive question is forming workers committees of action, consciously independent of the trade unions, in order to mobilize broader layers of workers in a struggle to bring down Macron and to overthrow the diktat of the capitalist financial aristocracy internationally. It is ever clearer that the banks determination to impose draconian cuts despite overwhelming popular opposition has placed Macron and the entire ruling class on a course to dictatorship.

National Statistics InstituteIts possible to fund pensions

Yesterday morning, Macron launched a hysterical diatribe against those who are correctly accusing him of trampling democratic principles, by imposing a cut that will impoverish the population with blatant contempt for mass popular opposition.

Today our society is sick with the idea, installed through sedition by political arguments that are extraordinarily guilty, that we no longer live in a democracy, and that some type of dictatorship has been installed, Macron said. However, he then warned that French bourgeois democracy has been badly weakened, and that dictatorship is being considered in France.

So install a dictatorship, he said, adding: Dictatorships justify hatred. Dictatorships justify violence to get out of problems. But in democracies there is a fundamental principle, which is respecting others, outlawing violence and fighting hatred. He accused all those who today in our democracy are silent on this of complicity, today and in future, of the undermining of our democracy and our Republic.

BNP bank, AXA and Swiss Life corporations as vultures

Macrons arguments are, in fact, those of a dictator seeking to justify his reign. For all his hypocritical invocations of respect and nonviolence, he has devised his cuts not with respect, but with contempt for the opinions and economic interests of the overwhelming majority of the working population. He is now trying to impoverish workers by ramming these cuts through a rubberstamp parliament and cracking down on working class opposition.

Macron has not only had police arrest over 10,000 people in yellow vest protests, but decorated police units involved in the killings of Zineb Redouane and Steve Canico, and the beating of elderly protester Genevieve Legay. He aims to show police that deadly violence is not only tolerated, but rewarded. He underscored this in 2018 with a politically "guilty" call to remember Frances fascist dictator during World War II, the genocidal anti-Semite Philippe Petain, as a great soldier.

The defense of fundamental social and democratic rights against Macron and the international banks requires the building of independent action committees in the working class in France and internationally, and a struggle to transfer state power to these bodies of the working class.
Rajasthan became the third state on Saturday -- after Left-ruled Kerala on December 31, 2019 and Congress-ruled Punjab on January 17 -- to pass a resolution calling for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act to be scrapped, indicating further intensification in the battle between Opposition parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the controversial law.

Tabling the resolution in the assembly, Rajasthans parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal called CAA an attack on the secular framework of India and described the criteria given for the eligibility for citizenship as tough. In many remote places, it is difficult for people to get documents. How will nomadic communities do so? he asked.

He also contended that the passage of CAA has tarnished Indias global image. Indias standing in the international community is not because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi or home minister Amit Shah but because India is seen as a melting pot of cultures and religions, he said, urging the Centre to sit quiet till the Supreme Court decides on CAA.

As Dhariwal read out the text of the resolution, several BJP members stormed the well of the house and shouted slogans against the state government.

A three-judge bench of the top court is hearing at least 143 petitions filed against CAA, which was passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019. The primary objections against the law, which eases a path to naturalisation for persecuted minorties  from Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who came to India before 2015, are that it linked citizenship to religion and that it is discriminatory against Muslims. The assembly resolution was passed by a voice vote after a heated debate, during which the BJP accused the Congresss move as appeasement politics while the Congress said that CAA was brought by the BJP to divert peoples attention from the current economic slowdown.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who was not in the assembly, tweeted shortly after the resolution was passed: Rajasthan assembly has passed a resolution today against the CAA and we have urged the central govt to repeal the law as it discriminates against people on religious grounds, which violates the provisions of our constitution.

#Rajasthan Assembly has passed a resolution today against the #CAA and we have urged the Central govt to repeal the law as it discriminates against people on religious grounds, which violates the provisions of our Constitution.

1/  Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) January 25, 2020

The resolution also urged the Centre to withdraw the new information being sought to update the National Population Register (NPR) 2020, citing widespread apprehension that the NPR is a prelude to an all-India National Register of Citizens (NRC). It added that the CAA, too, was designed to deprive a section of people from citizenship.

Leader of the Opposition in the assembly, Gulab Chand Kataria, dismissed the anti-CAA resolution as a move to vent frustration since states did not have the right to not implement the act and stated that CAA was in the interest of the country and would weed out anti-nationals.

When Kerala became the first state to pass a resolution against CAA, the Congress-led United Democratic Front, which is the main Opposition in the state, joined hands with the ruling CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front government. On January 14, Kerala also became the first to move the Supreme Court against the CAA. On Jan 17, when Punjab passed a resolution against CAA, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which is an ally of the BJP at the Centre, supported the resolution and sought the inclusion of Muslims in the list of communities that could be granted citizenship under the amended law.

The Centre, however, has maintained that CAA is not within the purview of state governments, and had said that there was no question of a roll-back no matter how many people opposed or protested against the law.
As many as 99 more people who returned to Kerala from China on Saturday have been kept under surveillance by health officials in the state for possible exposure to novel coronavirus (nCoV), health officials said in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.

IMAGE: Health workers in protective suits check the condition of a passenger on an airplane that just landed from Changsha, a city in a province neighboring the center of coronavirus outbreak Hubei province, in Shanghai, China, January 25, 2020. Photograph: David Stanway/Reuters

With this, a total of 179 people in the state are under surveillance.

A senior health official told PTI that 172 persons in the state are under home surveillance and the other seven are under observation at various hospitals across the state.

"Today, 99 new passengers arrived in the state. This makes a total of 179 persons under surveillance. Only seven people have any kind of symptoms. They have mild symptoms. We have sent their blood and respiratory specimen samples to the National Institute of

Virology, Pune," he said.

The official also said the health department has assigned a health worker for the 172 people.

One person each from Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta and Malappuram and three from Ernakulam are in the isolation wards of various health centres in the state.

"These seven people, who had shown mild symptoms of fever, cough and sore throat, were being treated at various health facilities in the state," the official said.

Meanwhile, NoRKA Roots (Non Resident Keralite Affairs) said Keralites in in various Chinese cities that are fighting the coronavirus are safe.

The state government agency said all possible assistance has been made available to the Indian community in Wuhan city, which is the epicenter of the outbreak.

"Supermarkets and food supply chains are operational in Wuhan. The Embassy has ensured that assistance is being made available to all the Indians there. In case of emergency, people can contact the Indian embassy through hotline numbers- 8618612083629 and 8618612083617," the agency said, quoting the embassy.

NoRKA, in a release, said the officials were in touch with the students, including from Kerala in Sichuan University and had issued various advisories.

It also said that the condition of the Malayali nurse in Saudi Arabia, who was diagnosed with the infection, was improving and hoped that she would be discharged in two days.

On Friday, health officials had tracked down 80 people who had returned to Kerala from China over the past few days and kept them under surveillance.

The government on Friday advised those under home surveillance to remain at home for 28 days from the date of their departure from China.

Health officials were also directed not to mingle with anyone for the safety of their near and dear ones.

If they show any symptoms of fever, cough and breathing problem, then health officials should be immediately informed, they had said.
I think this is fabulous, I think this is so exciting to be able to have an alternative, and to get everybody out, especially in this weather, and to come here to support candidates, and to get people out to vote, Kugler said.
Global health officials have almost as many questions as answers about the mysterious, pneumonia-like virus that originated in China last month and has spread to at least 12 other countries, including the United States. How exactly is it transmitted? How infectious is it and, most critically, how deadly?

They do know that the new virus is believed to have come from animals sold in a Wuhan market and that it shares many similarities with SARS, the coronavirus that also originated in an animal-to-human transmission in China in 2002, though it does not appear to be as deadly.

Similar to SARS - or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which infected more than 8,000 people and killed nearly 800 before it was mostly contained in 2003 - the new virus spreads through close person-to-person contact. Each infected person seems to spread the virus to about two others, through coughing or sneezing or by leaving germs on a surface that is touched by non-infected people who touch their faces, said Colleen Kraft, who is associate chief medical officer for Emory University Hospital and helped treat the first US Ebola cases in 2014.

The latest report from Chinese health authorities put the death toll from the new coronavirus at 41, with 1,300 suspected cases nationwide.

It is not nearly as infectious as the measles virus, which can live for up to two hours in the air after an infected person coughs or sneezes. Nor does it appear to be anywhere near as deadly as Ebola, which is also much harder to transmit. Ebola is passed largely through direct contact with an infected person's blood or bodily fluids.

Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Show all 154 1 /154 Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Paramedics wearing personal protective equipment carry patient on a stretcher on to an ambulance in North Point district in Hong Kong, China Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A medical worker wearing protective gear takes a rest as he waits for ambulances carrying patients infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus at an entrance of a hospital in Daegu, South Korea YONHAP/AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A medical worker sprays disinfectant on an ambulance after carrying a patient infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus at a hospital in Daegu YONHAP/AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People wearing protective face masks shop at a supermarket in Casalpusterlengo, one the northern Italian towns placed under 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hospital in Chuncheon, South Korea AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Soldiers in hazmat suits sanitize cargo from a China Airlines plane at the Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan City, Taiwan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Barricades are seen to block the entrance a the gate of a local mall in a nearly empty area in Beijing, China Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A vendor wearing a protective facemask waits for customers at a shop in Beijing AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus The body temperature of an Iraqi child returning from Iran is measured upon her arrival at the Najaf International Airport AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Volunteers hand out free facemasks at a shopping district in Quezon city, Metro Manila, Philippines Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers wearing 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attend to a patient inside an isolated ward of Wuhan Red Cross Hospital Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A drone operated by the Suwon municipal government flies around Changyong Middle School spraying disinfectant, in Suwon, South Korea EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers transfer medical waste at Leishenshan Hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wearing a protective mask rides a bicycle with his children in Guangzhou, China EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Volunteers in protective suits disinfect a railway station as the country is hit by an outbreak of the new coronavirus, in Changsha, Hunan province, China cnsphoto via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A woman repatriated from Wuhan carries a child as she walks upon her arrival at the Van Don airport in Vietnam's Quang Ninh province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly 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People evacuated from the Chinese city at the centre of a deadly virus outbreak, were transported to a quarantine zone on a remote island at the edge of the South China Sea, shortly after landing Indonesian Foreign Ministry via AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A woman wears a protective mask as she shops in a market in Beijing Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members hugging each other in an isolation ward at a hospital in Zouping in China's easter Shandong province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A portrait of Dr Li Wenliang is left at Li's hospital in Wuhan. He is regarded a whistleblower on the outbreak and died of the coronavirus which triggered wide-spread mourning on Chinese media Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Officers in protective gear enter the cruise ship Diamond Princess, where people tested positive for coronavirus, after the ship arrived at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, south of Tokyo Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Firefighters and personnel from the health ministry participate in a drill to prepare for the potential arrival of passengers infected with the coronavirus at the Viru Viru International Airport, in Santa Cruz, Bolivia Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Scientists are at work in the VirPath university laboratory as they try to find an effective treatment against the new Sars-like coronavirus AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers in protective suits attend to patients at the Wuhan International Conference and Exhibition Center, which has been converted into a makeshift hospital to receive patients with mild symptoms caused by the virus Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A girl wears a mask as a preventive measure against the coronavirus outbreak, in Bangkok, Thailand Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man is transferred from the World Dream cruise ship to an ambulance at the Kai Tak cruise terminal in Hong Kong as health officials conduct inspections AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers from a disinfection service company enter Lotte Department Store in central Seoul, South Korea EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man who arrived from Hubei province talks with police at a checkpoint at the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A doctor holds a handheld digital thermometer near health officials preparing a health check for arriving passengers from China at Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A resident walks across an empty track in Wuhan Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A scientific staff member works in a secure laboratory, researching the coronavirus, at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members preparing equipment to meet passengers of a military plane, which evacuated citizens of Russia and ex-Soviet countries from China's Wuhan province Vsluh.ru via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Staff wearing protective suits as they prepare to disinfect a Vietnam Airlines plane at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi Vietnam Airlines/AFP/Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A South Korean person, who was evacuated from Wuhan, arrives at the National Medical Center after showing suspected symptoms of novel coronavirus, in Seoul EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Officers in protective gear escort a person (under the blue sheet) who was on board cruise ship Diamond Princess and was tested positive for coronavirus Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A doctor being disinfected by his colleague at a quarantine zone in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Buses carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan, arrive at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Indonesian health officials conduct an exercise drill in transporting a patient requiring isolation at the Belawan port in Medan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus The Pasteur Institute in Dakar, designated by the African Union as one of the two reference centres in Africa for the detection of the new coronavirus that appeared in China, is hosting experts from 15 countries on the continent this weekend to prepare them to deal with the disease AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A government worker disinfects a co-worker after visiting a quarantined woman's home in Qingdao EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An aerial view of the deserted roads and bridges in Wuhan Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers hold a strike outside the Hospital Authority as they demand for Hong Kong to close its border with China to reduce the coronavirus spreading Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A person has their tempriture checked in Qingdao, China EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. Note the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/AFP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Malaysian nationals being directed from a bus by health officials in protective suits as they arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, after being evacuated from Wuhan Malaysia's Ministry of Health/AFP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People hoping to buy face masks crowd outside a medical supply shop that was raided by police for allegedly hoarding and overpricing the masks, as public fear over China's Wuhan Coronavirus grow in Manila, Philippines. The Philippine government has been heavily criticized after failing to immediately implement travel restrictions from China, the source of a deadly coronavirus that has now killed hundreds and infected thousands more Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Residents wearing masks and raincoats volunteer to take temperature of passengers following the outbreak of a new coronavirus at a bus stop at Tin Shui Wai, a border town in Hong Kong Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Italian citizens repatriated from Wuhan going though a health control zone after landing at the Mario De Bernardi military airport in Pratica di Mare, south of Rome, prior to be placed in quarantine Italian Defence Ministry/AFP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers arrange beds in a 2,000-bed mobile hospital, set up in an exhibition center, in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A doctor checks conditions of occupants in a hotel accommodating isolated people in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members wearing protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city of Wuhan, arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital. The Chinese army deployed medical specialists to the epicentre of the spiralling viral outbreak that has killed and spread around the world AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A baby wearing a protective face mask is pushed by a woman as they arrive from Shenzhen to Hong Kong at Lo Wu MTR station AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A health worker checks the temperature of a woman entering a subway station in Beijing Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A young child wears a protective mask and is covered in plastic while waiting to check in to a flight at Beijing Capital Airport The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday declared the coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Ambulance crews arrive at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, as it prepares for a return flight from Wuhan, China. Eighty-three Britons and 27 foreign nationals who were trapped in Wuhan are being flown back to the UK Tom Maddick / SWNS Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A woman carries a baby wearing a protective mask as they exit the arrival hall at Hong Kong High Speed Rail Station Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Camp beds at a Medical Assessment Center set up at the airport in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on the eve of the arrival of German citizens evacuated from Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Funeral parlour staff members in protective suits help a colleague with disinfection after they transferred a body at a hospital in Wuhan Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Muslims wearing masks pray for the victims of coronavirus at a mosque in Ahmedabad, India Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical officials waiting for people who wants to check the novel coronavirus at Myeongdong shopping district Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Children wear plastic bottles as makeshift homemade protection and protective masks while waiting to check in to a flight at Beijing Capital Airport Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A patient assisted by medical staff gets off an ambulance in Wuhan AFP/Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People line up to buy face masks from a medical supply company in Nanning, southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Countries began evacuating their citizens from the Chinese city hardest-hit by a new virus that has now infected more people in China than were sickened in the country by SARS Chinatopix via AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Millions spent their normally festive Lunar New Year holiday under lockdown Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Children with face masks wash their hands before prayer at Erawan shrine in Bangkok. Thailand has detected eight Coronavirus cases so far AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An Indonesian health officer points at the screen of a thermal scanner for passengers China confirmed that the deadly Wuhan coronavirus virus can be transmitted between humans AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Hospital workers wearing protective eyewear and masks examine an Indonesian student who returned from China in quarantine at a hospital in Banda Aceh AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Ambulance staff dispose of an outfit at the hospital in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A person checks the temperature of a passenger to help stop the spread of a deadly virus as he arrives at the Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International airport in Palembang AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Nepali students, wearing face masks, attend a class at Matribhumi School in Bhaktapur, on the outskirts of Kathmandu AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Two Buddhist monks wear face masks while walking along a street in Yangon AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Staff disinfecting a residential area in Ruichang, part of Jiujiang in China's central Jiangxi province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers are seen at the construction site of a new hospital being built to treat patients from a deadly virus outbreak in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on January 27, 2020. - China is rushing to build a new hospital in a staggering 10 days to treat patients at the epicentre of a deadly virus outbreak that has stricken thousands of people, state media reported on January 24. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP) (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images) HECTOR RETAMAL AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Vapor blurs the goggles of an ambulance driver while they work, in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers producing facemasks at a factory in Yangzhou AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff getting on an ambulance in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A vendor of traditional masks wears a facial mask at his shop in Thamel EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An airport official checks the temperature of a passenger upon his arrival at the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An ambulance driver talking with medical staff in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team leave the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market The new coronavirus appears to have its origins in a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, a popular transport hub AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers produce protective suits at a factory in Nantong AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers scanned by thermal imaging for body temperature as they go through health measures and procedures after they landed at Rome's Fiumicino airport on a southern airlines flight from Wuhan Aeroporto Di Roma/AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A Thai royal guard wears a mask while on duty at the Grand Palace in Bangkok EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wearing a face mask rides a nearly empty subway train in Beijing AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A shopper wearing goggles with a face mask and gloves uses a self checkout machine at a supermarket in Wuhan AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Members of the Italian Red Cross putting on protective gear, getting ready to give health checks to passengers that landed at Rome's Fiumicino airport on a southern airlines flight from Wuhan Aeroporto Di Roma/AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A member of the Hong Kong government's Civil Aid Service gestures at the entrance to the Lady MacLehose Holiday Village which is being used as one of two quarantine centres for people who have been in close proximity with suspected cases of a SARS-type virus. Hong Kong will turn two holiday camps, including a former military barracks, into quarantine zones for people who may have come into contact with carriers of the Wuhan virus, officials announced AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff wearing protective suits at the Zhongnan hospital in Wuhan STR/AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A Malaysia Health official checks passengers going through a thermal scanner upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Staff disinfecting Yingtan North Railway Station, China China banned trains and planes from leaving the major city at the centre of a virus outbreak on January 23, seeking to seal off its 11 million people to contain the contagious disease that has claimed lives and spread to other countries AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A passenger walks past a quarantine control station at Narita airport, Japan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Patients queue up to seek treatment in Wuhan Tongji Hospital Fever Clinic, in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Quarantine workers spray disinfectant at Incheon International Airport, South Korea EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A member of staff checks the temperature of a guest entering the casino of the New Orient Landmark hotel in Macau, after it reported its first case of the new SARS-like virus AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients to Jin Yintan hospital Little is known about the new disease which, if confirmed, would be only the seventh coronavirus known to science that can infect humans Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Members of the Three Gorges Medical Laboratory offering free masks to the public in Yichang, China AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Gabriel Leung, right, chair professor of public health medicine at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, speaks about the extent of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in China AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Members of staff of the Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team conducting searches on the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A quarantine officer at Incheon International Airport, South Korea, uses an electronic thermometer to check the temperature of passengers arriving by plane from Wuhan The virus causes symptoms of viral pneumonia, and has already led to several deaths EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A screen shows cancelled flights at Tianhe airport in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Health officials hand out information about the current coronavirus at Kuala Lumpur International Airport AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A store owner argues with security guards as he attempts to enter the closed Huanan wholesale seafood market AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers producing facemasks at a factory in Handan, China's northern Hebei province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff and security personnel stop patients' family members from being too close to the Jinyintan hospital Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus maya-goodfellowAn airport staff member uses a temperature gun to check people leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A rescue worker walks past a notice about new coronavirus that has broken out in China Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Health officials wear face masks at an inspection site at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members carry a patient into the Jinyintan hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A staff member checks body temperature of a child after a train from Wuhan arrived at Hangzhou Railway Station in Hangzhou AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A quarantine station measures passenger body temperatures at Narita Airport JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers walk past a notice displayed near a quarantine control station at Narita airport EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers walk past a poster alerting on coronavirus screening ahead upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An employee sprays disinfectant on a train, as a precaution against coronavirus, at Suseo Station in Seoul EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Kazakh sanitary-epidemiological service worker uses a thermal scanner to detect travellers from China who may have symptoms possibly connected with the previously unknown coronavirus, at Almaty International Airport, Kazakhstan Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Pharmacist Liu Zhuzhen stands near a sign reading "face masks are sold out" at her pharmacy in Shanghai AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus The Wuhan Medical Treatment Center, EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A worker in a protective suit at the closed seafood market in Wuhan Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers wear protective face masks at the departure hall of a high speed train station in Hong Kong AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A notice for passengers from Wuhan Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wears a mask while riding on mobike past the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market Getty

Yet Dr Kraft and global health officials from the World Health Organisation cautioned that understanding of the novel virus is still evolving and that the way it spreads and infects people could also change over time.

The transmission is going to be the same as other respiratory viruses, Dr Kraft said. Whether it's more severe in a person or lasts longer on the surface, those are things that can change. As we learn those things, we can gauge what our panic mode needs to be.

The WHO on Thursday said it was still too early to declare the outbreak an international public health emergency - a step the international body ultimately took for Ebola in 2014 and Zika in 2016.

Coronaviruses range from the common cold to more-severe diseases such as SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS. Some coronaviruses, including this new one, can cause severe symptoms and illnesses, including pneumonia.

Yet because there are still so many unknowns, there are many scenarios of how this virus could spread, said Tom Frieden, former director of the United States' Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

An unlikely possibility is that it can be transmitted as readily as the common cold and cause severe pneumonia in a small fraction of people, Frieden said. That seems quite unlikely, but it would be alarming because it could become like a circulating strain of flu all over the world, Frieden said.

Another possibility: the virus spreads like SARS - in other words not as readily as the flu - but causes less severe illness than that sister virus. That would be concerning but not as alarming, and potentially more controllable, he said.

There is no vaccine or treatment for this coronavirus, but the National Institutes of Health said human trials for a coronavirus vaccine could begin within three months. It is spreading in health-care settings, which officials say is also cause for concern.

Many things are giving us an advantage, but our disadvantage is the unknown - not fully understanding the disease, its severity and its transmission, Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO's health emergencies program, said at a news conference Thursday.

The Washington Post
Imperial Valley News Center

Australia National Day

Washington, DC - "Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State" "On behalf of the Government of the United States of America, I would like to congratulate the Australian people on the occasion of Australia Day on January 26.

"The U.S. Australia relationship is an admirable example of how two countries can work together to bring peace, stability, and prosperity to our people and the world. The tragic loss of life and property from the devastating Australian wildfires saddens us deeply. The surge in donations from Americans concerned about their Australian friends and the warm reception American firefighters received across Australia demonstrate our dedication to support each other. We celebrate the strength of our relationship and know that we will be there for each other in times of crisis. Australia is an indispensable partner in securing a free and open Indo-Pacific and the U.S. Australia alliance will continue to be a leading force for achieving peace and stability around the world.

"The people of the United States truly value our friendship with Australia and look forward to another year of deepening cooperation."
Loading Authorities in China have put 14 cities in lockdown, closed parts of the Great Wall of China and Disneyland in Shanghai. Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos announced on Saturday a Chinese national aged in his 50s, had tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Melbourne after spending two weeks in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak. He is being treated at Monash Medical Centre in Clayton after arriving in Melbourne at 9am on January 19 on China Southern Airlines flight CZ321 from Guangzhou. He displayed no symptoms on the flight to Melbourne, Ms Mikakos said.

Authorities warn it is "highly likely" there will be other cases of the deadly virus in Australia and it is still possible more passengers on the mans flight will be diagnosed with coronavirus. Mr Morrison noted that all flights out of Hubei province had been halted by the Chinese government. Mr Hunt said the government was prepared to deal with the spread of the virus. Australia has world-class health systems with processes for the identification and treatment of cases, including isolation facilities in each state and territory," Mr Hunt said. Our laboratories have developed testing processes for this novel coronavirus that can provide a level of certainty within a day.

Yesterday the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade raised the level of travel advice for Wuhan and Hubei Province in China to level 4  do not travel and issued a Smartraveller bulletin on the virus outbreak. The advice level for China as a whole has not changed. Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said it was important for people who had recently arrived in Australia from Wuhan, and those in close contact with them, to watch for signs of the coronavirus. We dont know exactly how long symptoms take to show after a person has been infected, but there is an incubation period and some patients will have very mild symptoms, Professor Murphy said. Symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, vomiting and difficulty breathing. Difficulty breathing is a sign of possible pneumonia and requires immediate medical attention.

People who arrive in Australia from an international flight with these symptoms should alert their airline, or a biosecurity officer if they have disembarked. Professor Murphy said it was not unexpected that the coronavirus would make it to Australia "given the number of cases that have been found outside of China and the significant traffic from Wuhan City". "There are other cases being tested each day, many of them are negative, but I wouldn't be surprised if we had further confirmed cases," he said. Victoria's deputy chief health officer Angie Bone said she was concerned that the infected man had visited a GP the day before presenting in hospital, but the doctor did not suspect the man had coronavirus despite him being a Chinese national and resident of Wuhan. The man was confirmed as having coronavirus at 2.15am on Saturday.

Loading Dr Bone said the man never went to the Huanan seafood wholesale market in Wuhan where the virus is thought to have originated. "Hes potentially a second-hand case," Dr Bone said, adding that little was known about the incubation periods of the virus so it was unclear where he contracted it. NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant confirmed all people tested for coronavirus in NSW had recently travelled to China. She described it as a continually "revolving number," and said some people in NSW had already been cleared of the virus, before others came forward to be tested.

"The fact is we are continuing to identify cases that meet the case definition," she said. "We still don't understand the transmissibility of this virus, but the evidence is that patient to patient transmission has occurred in Wuhan." Ms Mikakos said there was no cause for alarm for the community, and the patient in Victoria was isolated. She said the risk of transmission remained low. Victorian and Commonwealth officials would be stationed at Melbourne Airport and a hotline would be set up for people to get information about coronavirus. No one who arrived in Sydney on the last flight from Wuhan before the city was quarantined have self-reported having symptoms of the virus. Credit:Getty "This is an evolving situation. We are now one of 11 countries who have confirmed cases," Ms Mikakos said.

"I do want to stress there is no reason for alarm in the general community. We have had flu pandemic and other situations in the past, including SARs, our system is geared up well to respond to these situations." The Melbourne patient has pneumonia and is in a stable condition, she said. Hospital staff treating him are wearing masks, gloves, and gowns while treating the man in an isolated room in the Monash Medical Centre. Ms Mikakos stressed the man had spent his time since arrival with relatives at their home. He did not visit any public places, authorities said. Dr Bone said anyone travelling to and from China should already be on high alert for the virus, adding that the man had shown no symptoms on the flight. She said while authorities are not certain how infectious the virus was "it was quite possible" those who had contracted the coronavirus only become infectious once their symptoms appear.

Victorians and visitors returning from Wuhan City or other locations cases have been detected and being urged to closely monitor their health. Professor Murphy said the Victorian government had acted swiftly and appropriately. Victoria has followed its strict protocols, including isolating the affected person," he said. "I understand the patient has pneumonia and is in a stable condition. France has confirmed three cases of coronavirus marking the first confirmed diagnoses in Europe, while two cases have been confirmed in the United States.
The government has selected 118 people from different fields who will be given the Padma Shri Award. The list includes the names of Jagdish Lal Ahuja, Javed Ahmad Tak, Satyanarayana Mundayoor, S. Ramakrishna, Yogi Aeron, Tulasi Gowda, Abdul Jabbar and Usha Chaumar, among others.

New Delhi, Jan 26 (IANS) Ahead of the Republic Day celebrations, the government on Saturday announced 118 awardees to be conferred with the Padma Shri Award.

The government said Ahuja, who is also known as 'Langar Baba,' is being awarded for "selflessly organising langars for 500-plus poor patients daily for over two decades in Chandigarh".

Ahuja also provides patients with financial assistance and clothes.

The government said that Ahuja is a self-made billionaire who came to India empty-handed during the Partition. He sold off properties worth crores to fuel his mission and continues to serve undeterred even after being diagnosed with stomach cancer.

Tak, who belongs to Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir, has been working with specially-abled children for two decades to enable them to integrate into the mainstream life. Tak is wheelchair-bound since 1997 due to a spinal injury that he received from a bullet fired in a militant attack.

Another Padma Shri awardee, Sharif aka 'Chacha Sharif,' is a resident of Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh. The government said that Sharif, a bicycle mechanic, has been performing the last rites of thousands of unclaimed dead bodies for the last 25 years.

Among the other "unsung heroes" who will be awarded the Padma Shri is Tulasi Gowda, also known as the "Encyclopaedia of Forest" due to her vast knowledge of diverse species of plants and herbs, despite not having any formal education.

The government said that Gowda, despite growing up in poverty in a backward community, planted and nurtured thousands of trees over the past 60 years. "Even at the age of 72, she continues to nurture plants and share her knowledge with the people, carrying forward the message of environment protection," the government said.

Another recipient is Mundayoor, also known as 'uncle Moosa' of Arunachal, who has been promoting education and reading culture in remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh for the last four decades.

Mundayoor, who was born in Kerala, had left his government job as a revenue officer in Mumbai and moved to Lohit in Arunachal in 1979. He has established 13 libraries in remote areas such as Wakro, Chongkham, Lathaw and Ajnaw. He also started a home library movement, entrusting books to volunteers who in turn distribute the books to children.

Ravi Kannan, also known as Silchar's saviour, was included in the list of Padma Shri awardees. He is a surgical oncologist from Chennai, who has treated over 70,000 cancer patients free of cost in Barak Valley. The treatment includes accommodation, food, employment and spreading awareness.

He is known to have transformed the rural cancer centre into a full-fledged hospital and research centre. He quit his job in Chennai and shifted to Assam with family in 2007 to make healthcare accessible in the Barak Valley, where before his intervention, the nearest hospital was 300 km away.

Another awardee, Kushal Knowar Sarma, a veterinarian in Guwahati, has devoted his life to the conservation of Asian elephants. Interestingly, he has not taken a single weekend off in the last 30 years. He is acclaimed for treating more than 700 elephants every year. He has pioneered research in elephant anesthetic, especially using a remote tranquilising injection technique.

Arunoday Mondal, also known as 'Sunderban ke Sujan', is a doctor who travels six hours every weekend to treat patients in remote Sundarban villages. More than 250 people, 80 per cent of whom are poor, are treated every weekend for varied ailmets. He also arranges medicines, conducts medical camps and blood donation drives. He set up Sujan Sundarban, a free medical service centre, at his residence in Chandanpur after the Bengal floods in 2000.

The list also includes Yogi Aeron, known as Himalaya's helping hand. He started Helping Hand in Dehradun and is dedicated to providing medical help to the hill people. He treats over 500 patients free of cost every year. The patients include those suffering from burns or are mauled by animals. His patients are mostly poor, hill women from remote villages in the Himalayas.

Harekala Hajjaba is an orange vendor from Harekala village in Mangaluru, Karnataka, popularly known as 'Akshara Santa' or 'Saint of Letters'. He saved up money from selling oranges and started a primary school to educate the children in his village in Mangaluru, according to a report in the BBC.

Having not learnt how to read or write, the motivation to begin a school came from his own inability to talk to a foreigner who asked the price for oranges in English. Hajjaba started a primary school in his village in 2000 with just 28 students. He then took loans and used up his savings to buy land for that school. A few years later, he started a high school for students aged 10 to 14 in the same village.

Seeing his zeal to ensure education for the children in his village, philanthropists joined the cause, helping Hajjaba with whatever money they could donate.

Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder and vice-chairman of Naukri.com, India's leading job site, has also been named for Padma Shri. According to a Home Ministry statement, Bikhchandani has been given Padma Shri in the category of trade and industry.

His company also runs Jeevansathi.com, 99acres.com, and Shiksha.com.

Bikhchandani had graduated from IIM Ahmedabad in 1989 and started off from a servant quarter above a garage and a seed capital of Rs 2000. His company grew and attracted investments from leading global venture capitalists.

Besides them, 12 foreign nationals also made it to the list of 118 Padma Shri awardees this year.

aks/arm
Who elects the president of the United States?

In a democracy, that shouldnt be a trick question. Thanks to the Electoral College, it seems like one. The American people cast their ballots on a Tuesday in early November, but on a national level that vote is legally meaningless. The real election happens about six weeks later, when 538 presidential electors  most of them average citizens chosen by local party leaders  meet in their respective state capitals and cast their ballots.

Nearly always, the electors vote for the candidate who won the most popular votes in their state. But do they have to? Thats the question that the Supreme Court has agreed to answer in two related cases it will hear this spring. The cases  one from Colorado and one from Washington  raise an alarming prospect: Can presidential electors vote for whomever they please, disregarding what the voters of their state said?

More than 160 faithless electors have chosen to go this route since the nations founding, a tiny fraction of all electoral votes in history. But the issue has become freshly relevant because of a concerted effort to persuade dozens of Republican electors in 2016 to switch their votes to prevent Donald Trump from taking the White House. In the end, 10 electors voted or tried to vote for someone other than their states popular-vote winner  the most in a single election in more than a century. (In 1872, 63 electors went against their pledge to vote for Horace Greeley, the Liberal Republican candidate, but that was because Greeley died shortly after Election Day.)

Even though faithless electors have never come close to changing the outcome of an election, more than two dozen states have passed laws requiring their electors to vote for the states popular-vote winner. Some punish those who dont, while others replace faithless electors with ones who will do the job they pledged to do.
[January 24, 2020] PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL 72 HOUR DEADLINE ALERT: Former Louisiana Attorney General and Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Remind Investors With Losses in Excess of $100,000 of Deadline in Class Action Lawsuit Against Prudential Financial, Inc. - PRU

Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, the former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have only until January 27, 2020 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), if they purchased the Company's securities between February 15, 2019 and August 2, 2019, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. What You May Do If you purchased securities of Prudential and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email ([email protected]), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-pru/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action by overseeing lead counsel with the goal of obtaining a fair and just resolution, you must request this position by application to the Court by January 27, 2020.



About the Lawsuit Prudential and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws. The alleged false and misleading statements and omissions include, but are not limited to, that: (i) the assumptions used by the Company in establishing reserves failed to account for adversely developing mortality experience in its Individual Life business segment; (ii) the Company's reserves were inadequate to satisfy its future policy benefits liabilities; (iii) the Company had materially understated its liabilities and overstated net income as a result of flawed assumptions in calculating mortality experience; and (iv) as a result of the foregoing, the Company's financial statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

The case is City of Warren Police And Fire Retirement System v. Prudential Financial, Inc. et al., 19-cv-20839. About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is one of the nation's premier boutique securities litigation law firms. KSF serves a variety of clients - including public institutional investors, hedge funds, money managers and retail investors - in seeking recoveries for investment losses emanating from corporate fraud or malfeasance by publicly traded companies. KSF has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200124005482/en/

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 23:55:29|Editor: huaxia

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Some Syrians and their Chinese friends gather at a Chinese restaurant to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year in Damascus, Syria on Jan. 24, 2020. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)

by Hummam Sheikh Ali, Yihan Zheng

DAMASCUS, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- On the eve of the Chinese new year, some Syrians and their Chinese friends gathered at a Chinese restaurant in Damascus. They exchanged congratulations at tables where delicious Chinese food was served.

The place, called the Peace Restaurant, is like a venue for the gathering of Syria-based Chinese people and their Syrian friends, who can speak Chinese or know some Chinese words.

Many Syrian customers in the restaurant knew that "xin nian kuai le" means "happy new year" and were also expert in ordering Chinese food. On many tables the Jiaozi dumplings, a traditional food for the Chinese new year, were served.

The Chinese lunar new year, or the Spring Festival, falls on Jan. 25 this year.

Some Syrian customers at the restaurant said the Chinese new year tradition resembles the Syrian tradition in a way, for example, people wear new clothes and give children some cash.

When the "Chun Wan"(the Chinese Spring Festival Gala) was playing on the TV, they started wishing each other happiness and a new year of success and fulfillment.

Xia Kui, manager of the restaurant, told Xinhua that he is happy to be able to host some Chinese people who are unable, due to work responsibilities, to return home to celebrate the festival with families.

Watching "Chun Wan" with his Syrian friends in the restaurant, Li Guofu, director of Jianshuo Electrical Appliance Technology Co. Ltd, Foshan, China, said he is happy to celebrate the Chinese New Year with his Syrian friends in Damascus this year.

He said he feels safe and respected in Syria "as China is stronger nowadays, we get more respect and help outside our country."

Abir Kharfan, a pharmacist, said this is her first time celebrating the Chinese New Year with her Chinese friends in Damascus, and noted it was very impressive and the Chinese traditions are similar to the Arab ones.

Her friend, Amer Bikdash, spoke Chinese fluently and told Xinhua he has been to China several times and it has become part of his life to celebrate Chinese festivals as a member of the Syrian-Chinese Businessmen Council.

"I love the way money is put in a red envelope and given to someone as a gift at the new year time," he said.

Haytham Qahwaji, a Syrian businessman, said he is happy to celebrate the Spring Festival with Chinese friends in Damascus.

"Truly the Chinese people are so nice. They are so close to us culturally," he said.

The Spring Festival celebration has also attracted local media outlets such as the Sama TV, which aired excerpts of the Chinese Spring Festival Gala.

Hussam Hasan, head of the news department in Sama TV, told Xinhua that his channel is interested in the Spring Festival Gala.

"Our interest in the Gala this year comes from our keenness to get the Syrian people to know more about the Chinese culture," he remarked.
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The World Health Organization warned Thursday that the Coronavirus outbreak in China represents a "high global risk"  but stopped short of declaring a global Public Health Emergency. The number of confirmed cases rose to over 500, with at least 18 deaths in China  and some experts warn the true number of cases could be much higher. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the coronavirus originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where authorities are taking strict measures to try to halt the spread of the disease.
Tyler Sizemore / Tyler Sizemore

DANBURY  Police are asking for the publics help as they investigate a hit-and-run with a pedestrian.

An elderly man was hit by a car near Main and Patch streets between 6 to 10 p.m. Wednesday, police said. Another man then helped the pedestrian to his nearby car.
Indian solar energy story marked a new milestone after India topped the Asia Pacific Region (APAC) for solar photovoltaic (PV) tenders in December 2019.

According to analytics company GlobalData, with 49 percent tenders announced and a 75.4 percent share, India was No. 1 among all other countries in the region, followed by the Philippines (with six tenders and a 9.2 percent share) and Pakistan (with five tenders and a 7.7 percent share), according to a Saur Energy International report.

Globally, though, the renewable scene was gloomy.

Only 291 power plant tenders were announced during Q4 of calendar year 2019, which was a fall of 28 percent over the last four-quarter average of 404, according to the report. All top issuers of solar tenders for December 2019 in terms of power capacity involved in the APAC region were from India. About 85 percent of this equipment has been imported from China, Vietnam and Malaysia, according to The Indian Express.

India has installed 31 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity, 17 GW is under construction while tenders for 35 GW have been floated. For manufacturing solar PV cells, India has an installed manufacturing capacity of 3 GW and 10 GW for modules. The nation has set itself a target of 175 GW of installed clean energy capacity by March 2022, of which 100 GW is expected to be solar.

India faces import challenges

The December import figure has once again underlined a major problem the Indian solar sector faces. Related: Oil Bears Are Back As Demand Fears Go Viral

Despite the Indian governments Make in India program, plus heavy duties slapped on imports of these kinds of goods, the industry continues to bring equipment from abroad.

According to the Indian Express report, the money on imports of PV cells & modules in the last five years was about three times the cumulative Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of India at U.S. $4.83 billion that flowed into the entire renewable energy sector.

Theres no commercial production for upstream stages of solar PV manufacturing, such as wafers, ingots and polysilicon because of it being energy and capital intensive, hence the reliance on imports, The Indian Express reports.

SECI invites bids

Meanwhile, in January 2020, fresh bids were invited by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for putting up 1.2 GW of grid-connected solar power generation capacity under the eighth tranche of its inter-state transmission system program, pv magazine reported.

SECI will sign a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the successful bidders.

But not every expert or analyst feels that everything is all right with Indias solar energy program.

Some have pointed to a lull in recent months. The website downtoearth.org cited several reasons for the slump in solar energy, one of them being the haphazard implementation of the Goods and Services Tax, while another was the insistence of various provincial governments on selling solar energy at far cheaper rates to distribution companies.

Solar plants inability to run at their full installed capacity represents another hurdle. The report pointed out that of the total 63.9 GW of solar and wind capacity for which tenders were floated in 2018-19, 31 percent was canceled, 26 percent was under-subscribed and 10 percent was delayed.

Only 34 percent was auctioned for development, states a September 2019 says the article, the report notes, citing analytics firm Crisil.

By AG Metal Miner

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
A worker dispenses hand sanitizer to a shopper at the entrance of a supermarket in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020. The virus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan, already on lockdown, banned most vehicle use downtown. (AP)

Beijing: India is understood to have requested China to permit over 250 Indian students stuck in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in China, to leave the city, sources in Beijing said on Saturday.

About 700 Indian students, mostly medical students, are reported to be studying in different universities in Wuhan and surrounding areas. The Chinese authorities have prevented anyone from leaving Wuhan, a city of 11 million people that is at the heart of the viral outbreak, which has so far infected nearly 1,300 people and killed 41 others.

While a majority of the Indian students went home for the Chinese New Year holidays, over 250-300 students are said to be still in the city. The fast spreading virus has become a major worry for their parents back home.

Some students managed to leave the city just before it was sealed off on January 23. India has stepped up monitoring of passengers arriving from China, especially from Wuhan.

Sources here said that in view of the prevailing situation, India has requested both the Chinese Foreign Ministry and local officials in Wuhan to consider making arrangements for the Indian students to leave.

Asked whether China would consider any request of countries to move their citizens out of Wuhan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told media here on Thursday, "We always help foreign consular officials in China in their official jobs. We offer them all the assistance and convenience necessary and we work to guarantee foreign citizens legitimate rights and interest in China."

While specific detailed would be provided by local officials, he said China in principle always handles issues according to domestic laws, international laws and bilateral consular agreements.

Authorities have extended transport bans to 17 other cities around Wuhan in an effort to control the SARS-like virus, restricting travel for around 56 million in Hubei province.

On Saturday, officials also banned all private transport in the city as part of stepped-up measures to restrict movement.

While India has issued travel advisories to Indians travelling to China in view of the coronavirus, the Indian Embassy here in the last few days has set up hotlines for the students in Wuhan to extend assistance and has talked to local officials about supply of food and other necessities for them.
(Reuters) - Haiti should set a date for elections, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday, more than a week after Haiti's president began ruling by decree.

Pompeo did not specify which elections he was referring to, but Haiti failed to hold scheduled legislative elections last year.

"We need to have the elections. That is important," Pompeo said in an interview with the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald. "Once those elections will be held, there'll be a duly elected government. We won't have to be concerned about ruling by decree."

The U.S. State Department provided a transcript of Pompeo's interview with the newspapers.

Pompeo said he voiced concerns about the political situation with his Haitian counterpart in a meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, on Wednesday.

The Haitian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Haitian President Jovenel Moise is three years into a five-year term, which began in 2017 after the results of an initial vote, in October 2015, was scrapped over fraud allegations.

Moise's support in the country has never been overwhelming. Electoral turnout for the re-run election was low, with Moise receiving only 600,000 votes in a country of 10 million people. Last year, the country was mired in anti-corruption protests for months, with the opposition calling for Moise to step down.

Nevertheless, Moise has outlived his political opposition for now. The mandate of all deputies and most senators expired earlier in January and there were no successors as parliament failed to approve an electoral law last year necessary for holding legislative elections. In this situation, under Haitian law, the president rules directly.

Moise has blamed parliament for failing to approve the electoral law last year, though his opponents have accused him of trying to take advantage of the law.

The last two elected Haitian presidents, Rene Preval and Moise's political benefactor, Michel Martelly, both ruled by decree at some points.

Moise has said he wanted to overhaul the constitution. Though the precise changes he is seeking are not clear, it would be aimed at strengthening the presidency, which was weakened after the 30-year Duvalier family dictatorship.

(Reporting by Makini Brice in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Bengaluru, Jan 25 : A 14-year-old school girl died following "a cardiac arrest" during a dance session in a Karnataka village near the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), police said on Saturday.

"According to a video clip in the social media, the victim (Pujitha), a Class 9 student of a private school at Gollahalli village in Kolar district, collapsed while dancing with other students on Thursday.

"She was rushed to a private hospital at Bangarpet where doctors declared her brought dead," KGF Superintendent of Police Mohammed Sujeetha told IANS on phone.

KGF town is 30km from Gollahalli and 100km east of Bengaluru on the old Madras Road in the southern state.

"We don't have details on the unfortunate incident, as her parents did not file a complaint with us, nor the Vimala Hrudaya High School management have made a statement so far," Sujeetha regretted.

The K.L. Jalappa hospital told the local media in Kannada that as Pujitha suffered a cardiac arrest, efforts to revive her heart failed and she was dead by the time she was rushed to the hospital on the advice of the state-run primary health centre in the village.

"The school cancelled the cultural event for which Pujitha and other students were practicing," a source said.
Beijing: China can "win the battle" against the virus epidemic that has infected over 1,200 people across the country, President Xi Jinping said Saturday, in his second public comments on the crisis.

"As long as we have steadfast confidence, work together, scientific prevention and cures, and precise policies, we will definitely be able to win the battle," President Xi told a meeting of the elite Politburo Standing Committee, according to official news agency Xinhua.

Xi also warned China was facing a "grave situation" given the "accelerating spread" of a new SARS-like virus that has infected nearly 1,300 people across the country, the state media reported.

"Faced with the grave situation of an accelerating spread of the new coronavirus... it is necessary to strengthen the centralised and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee," Xi said, according to Xinhua.

The deadly viral outbreak in China has so far killed 41 people, while the number of infected cases has soared to nearly 1,300, the authorities said on Saturday. The 15 new deaths all took place in Wuhan, the city of 11 million where the deadly respiratory contagion first emerged, the Hubei Health Commission said.
San Francisco, Jan 25 : In a breather to the Chinese telecom equipment and smartphone giant Huawei, the Pentagon has blocked the Commerce Department-backed ban on sales that make it harder for US-based companies to sell equipment to the handset maker, the media has reported.

The US Department of Commerce had put Huawei on the "entity list" in May 2019, thus, preventing US firms from conducting business with the company unless they obtain a specific license, citing national security concerns with the Chinese telecommunications giant.

The Commerce Department's efforts to tighten the noose on Huawei Technologies Co. is facing a formidable obstacle: the Pentagon.

Commerce officials have withdrawn proposed regulations that would make it harder for US companies to sell to Huawei from their overseas facilities following objections from the Defense Department as well as the Treasury Department, people familiar with the matter said, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The Commerce Department has subsequently issued temporary licenses to delay that designation, but companies have already begun finding ways to continue selling equipment to Huawei without falling afoul of Commerce penalties.

Meanwhile, Huawei's latest smartphone Mate 30 Pro, unveiled in September, doesn't contain American components. The flagship smartphone competes with the likes of Apple's iPhone 11, which was also unveiled in September.

In the wake of the US ban, Huawei is sourcing audio amplifiers from the Netherlands' NXP rather than Texas-based Cirrus Logic, and relying entirely on its own HiSilicon semiconductor division for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips rather than Broadcom.

It's using other firms, like Japan's Murata and Taiwan's MediaTek, for other parts previously supplied by US manufacturers, The Verge had reported in December.

However, Huawei has not been able to divest itself of American suppliers entirely.

The company said it had been stockpiling components in anticipation of sanctions and separate teardowns revealed that some new devices were still reliant on American parts, the report added.
Gantz had recently warned Trump that debuting the proposal in the middle of the campaign would amount to a gross intervention in the election. But had he declined, he risked being seen as snubbing a plan expected to heavily favor Israels side in the decades-long conflict with the Palestinians, who have refused to even meet with the White House team crafting the proposal. He would also be ceding a coveted White House handshake with Trump, who is widely popular among voters here, to his rival.
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Grace Jones Ragland, 58, of Huntsville, Alabama, passed away on January 24, 2020.

Grace was born and raised in Chattanooga and was a 1979 graduate of Red Bank High. She is the daughter of Barry and Rosemary Jones. Graces DNA was written with one overriding mandateto be outside. Her childhood was soaked in dew and creek water. She adored her parents hand-built cabin on the banks of the Hiwassee where she collected bugs, rocks and skinned knees. The woods around the cabin whispered destiny to her and lay the foundation for the great adventure she would complete just before the end of her days.

Grace lost her way in college as she was confronted with the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis at the age of 18. She was determined to live life to the fullest in spite of this and to never ever fall victim to a woe is me attitude. She graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in home economics. She got married, settled down and had a child, Wills, whom she loved with all her heart.

Grace was made of different stuff. Her blood ran with the urgency of a wilderness stream, frothing with energy and desire to see what beauty lie just around the next bend. After her divorce, with MS increasingly attacking her body, Grace discovered mountain biking. It became her sword and shield helping her stave off the ravages of MS and give her life direction and purpose. She found that purpose as a racer and instructor. She worked as a spokesperson for a drug company and as a passionate, revered national advocate in the fight against MS. Graces message of tenacity and action has touched thousands of MS sufferers, and her example of unfailing courage has reached beyond the MS community to inspire all who have heard her story.

In the summer of 2018 at the age of 57, Grace embarked on her defining adventure, the 2750 mile Tour Divide bike race which stretched from Canada to Mexico along the Continental Divide. Grace battled the elements; rain, snow, cold, heat, and altitude, as well as the inner turmoil of MS, infection, isolation, and exhaustion. With her two mottos, I can, I will, I am, and Keep your eye on the prize she persisted.

After 41 grueling days, Grace reached the Mexican border and the end of the race. Shortly after returning home, she was diagnosed with Stage Four Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. With characteristic toughness, she blasted through chemo and achieved remission. She returned to the Rockies and spent one last glorious summer riding her bike among the wildflowers, drinking in wondrous, brief life.

Her story has been chronicled in the acclaimed book, Divide By One, which witnesses a spirit that is tested, yet comes shining through in the end. Hers is the story of each of us, a story of affliction and redemption that is recognizable and available to all. In name and in deed, she was Grace.

Grace was preceded in death by her parents, Barry and Rosemary Jones.

She is survived by her son, Wills Ragland and brother, Andy Barry Jones.

A celebration of life gathering will be held on her birthday, March 7th in Huntsville.
Photo: The Canadian Press

A Kelowna father is concerned after it appears the BC Human Rights Tribunal sent a package of his son's detailed personal information to the wrong person.

Sean, an 18-year-old Rutland resident, filed a complaint against his employer with the BC Human Rights Tribunal last year, and on Thursday, he received a package in the mail from the Tribunal. The package contained two letters addressed to him, along with a copy of the original complaint. The only problem was that it was somebody else's complaint.

They attached a complete stranger's complaint, and I'm telling you it has address, date of birth, social insurance number, all kinds of stuff, said Sean's father David. "They even attached a copy of her record of employment, it's a huge deal ... it's all confidential.

David called the BC Human Rights Tribunal, and a woman simply told him to destroy the documents. When he asked her where Sean's documents were, she said We don't know.

People sell this sh*t on the dark web and that's how people get identity theft, David said. As far as I'm concerned, the B.C. Government should be on the hook for this and at least offer my son some kind of identity theft protection.

The BC Human Rights Tribunal told Castanet it is unable to confirm or deny the existence of the complaint or the occurrence of the privacy breach due to privacy issues. Castanet has viewed the document Sean was mistakenly mailed.

Tribunal registrar Steven Adamson said they treat information privacy breaches very seriously.

In the extremely unlikely event where one occurs, upon learning of the breach the Tribunal will immediately investigate the extent of the breach and take every available action to contain the breach, Adamson said. The Tribunal will also notify all those affected by the breach and provide information about the extent of the breach and steps taken to ameliorate it.

David says the stranger whose documents his son received isn't even from the Okanagan.

If this went to somebody else who wasn't such an honest person, people would pay money for this stuff, believe me, he said. I want to know where my son's stuff is ... my son's 18. Identity theft could ruin him.

I think the public deserves to know that this sh*t is going on with our B.C. Government ... that kind of sh*t is really sloppy and really dangerous, in today's day and age.
On the occasion of 10th National Voters Day on Saturday, President Ram Nath Kovind said India's democracy, electoral process, and voters are the country's pride. "Our democracy, our electoral process, and voters are our pride. Through voters' participation, democracy strengthens," he said during his address at an event in New Delhi. "During my visit to Europe, various countries such as Switzerland and Iceland were influenced by our democracy and electoral system," said the President.

'There are citizens who do not understand the importance of voting'

"People's participation in general elections has upheld the faith in democracy. However, even today there are citizens who do not understand the importance of voting," he added.

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and Election Commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad were also present on the occasion.

On this occasion, the President gave away the National Awards for the Best Electoral Practices to the officers for their outstanding performance in the conduct of elections in different spheres. 'Belief in the Ballot-II' and 'The Centenarian Voters: Sentinels of Our Democracy' books were launched by Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and were presented to President Kovind.

PM Modi expresses gratitude to ECI

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter and expressed gratitude to the Election Commission of India for its contribution in making the election process more lively. Greeting every citizen on the day, PM Modi hoped that it encourages every citizen to exercise their rights to vote.

Greetings on National Voters Day.



We express gratitude to ECI for their many efforts towards making our electoral process more vibrant and participative.



May this day inspire us to work towards increased voter awareness and turnout, which makes our democracy stronger  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 25, 2020

READ | 'Declaration of Amaravati as Capital unconstitutional': YSRCP MLA writes to Prez Kovind

READ | Some voters do not realise importance of right to exercise franchise: President Kovind

'Elections are the root of Democracy'

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said on Friday that democracy has been the most enduring political system and that elections are the essential root of democracy. Addressing the 10th annual meeting of the Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA), Sunil Arora said, "Democracy has proven to be the most enduring political system. Democratic countries develop strong institutions to implement a fair electoral system and ensure good governance."

READ | CAA: 154 eminent citizens urge Prez Kovind to take action against those creating rukus

READ | President Kovind rejects mercy plea of Nirbhaya convict; all legal options exhausted

(With ANI inputs)
A major earthquake that struck Turkey Friday night killed at least 22 people and is being blamed for more than 1,200 injuries, according to Turkish authorities. The death toll from the disaster is still expected to rise.

The 6.8 magnitude earthquake knocked down a number of buildings near its epicenter in the eastern part of the country, according to Turkeys Disaster and Emergency Management Authority. Around 40 people were successfully pulled from under collapsed buildings, and major rescue efforts are now underway in the city of Elazig to locate and rescue others pinned under rubble. AFAD has estimated that in that city, a couple dozen people may still be trapped. Nearly 4,000 rescue workers total have been deployed, according to AFAD.

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Most injuries occurred in Elazig province. The town of Sivrice, in the east of the province, was closest to the epicenter. At least five buildings in the town of 4,000 collapsed.

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The region was hit by hundreds of aftershocks, some of which registered as above a magnitude 5 themselves. Earthquakes in the magnitude 5 range can damage poorly constructed buildings, while those above a 6.0 are considered capable of major damage. Hundreds of people fled their homes to seek shelter in mosques, schools, and other converted shelters. Hundreds of homes and other buildings are now considered unsafe.

Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon also experienced shaking from the earthquake. Turkey has a history of devastating seismic activity. In 1999, earthquakes killed 17,000 people in northwest Turkey. In 2010, a magnitude 6 earthquake killed 51 in Elazig.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has become emotional when referring to his late father during a speech at The Lodge.

Mr Morrison was addressing Australian of the Year nominees during a morning tea at his official Canberra residence when he struggled at times to get his words out.

'Earlier in the week my father passed. He loved Australia and he'd love you all because you have been building the country he loved,' he said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has become emotional when referring to his late father during a speech at The Lodge

'You have helped make Australia a better place, you have made us proud, you would have made him proud.'

Mr Morrison's father John died on Wednesday night, aged 84.

The PM announced the sad news by sharing a collage of pictures of his father to Instagram on Thursday afternoon, along with a heartbreaking tribute.

'Last night I received the sad news that my father John passed away quietly and peacefully. He was aged 84. He lived a great life and was much loved,' he captioned the post.

Mr Morrison announced the sad news of his father John's passing by sharing a collage of pictures of his father to Instagram on Thursday afternoon. Pictured: John, Scott and Marion Morrison

The Prime Minister penned a heartfelt tribute to his father, who was a Army member, a NSW Police Officer, and Waverley Mayor over the course of his diverse career

'He was a loving husband to my mum Marion for 57 years. He was a wonderful father to me and my brother Alan. He loved Jen as a daughter and was a devoted grandfather to our girls.

'Love you Dad and well done good and faithful servant.'

John served in the Army as part of his National Service and was also a NSW Police Officer and later, Commander. He was also a dedicated member of the Force for his entire career.

John (centre) served in the Army as part of his National Service and was also a NSW Police Officer and dedicated member for his entire career

Like his son, John was also a politician who served on the Waverley council. He is pictured with his wife Marion supporting Scott Morrison's election campaign last year

He also served on the Waverley Municipal Council, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, for 16 years, including for a brief period as mayor.

Mr Morrison praised his father for 'living a life of love, faith, duty and service'.

'Dad had a deep and committed Christian faith, which is one of his numerous legacies in my life. Our family will miss him terribly, but we are extremely thankful for his great blessing in all of our lives,' he wrote.

John was battling poor health when he celebrated his milestone 84th birthday in December last year. He is pictured with the rest of the Morrison family

The NSW Police Officer also served on the Waverley Municipal Council, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, for 16 years, including for a brief period as mayor

John was battling poor health when he celebrated his milestone 84th birthday in December last year.

At the time, Mr Morrison wished his father happy birthday on the floor of the House of Representatives.

'If I may take this moment of indulgence, as my father is watching from an aged-care facility near his home, I'd just like to wish him all the very best for his 84th birthday,' the Prime Minister told Parliament.

'Dad, we're all thinking of you at this very difficult time, and I wish I could be there with you.'

Mr Morrison said his dad 'had loved me unconditionally for all of my life, and I've been blessed in that respect' for Father's Day in 2018.

John is survived by his wife Marion, his sons, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Alan Morrison, and his grandchildren.

Despite the tragic news of his father's passing, Mr Morrison put on a brave face and gave a press conference in Canberra on Thursday.

The Prime Minister addressed the controversial Bridget McKenzie scandal in relation to alleged 'sports rorts'.

Just three hours later, Mr Morrison announced that his father had passed away the previous night.
Earlier this month, the ministry of home affairs released the Prison Statistics India (PSI) 2018 report. The report revealed that 1,845 inmates died in custody in 2018, the highest in Indian prisons in the last 20 years. Since 2000, the prisoner population across the world went up by 20%, but in India, that number was a staggering 71%. Additionally, since 2000, the rate of increase in the number of women prisoners (111.7%) was twice than that of the world rate.

The primary reason was the increase in the number of undertrials. In 2018, the proportion of undertrial prisoners in India was almost 70% of the total number of those imprisoned  their number during the last decade increased by 25.4%. The duration of trials also appears to be going up. The share of undertrails confined for more than three years has increased by 140% since 2000. But those confined for less than one year has decreased by 7.54%. This increasing period of incarceration is likely borne by mostly innocent people.

The rise is prison population leads to deplorable prison conditions, resulting in human rights violations. These stand in contravention of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoner (Nelson Mandela Rules) 2015, which calls upon governments to ensure that the prison regime should seek to minimize any differences between prison life and life at liberty that tend to lessen the responsibility of the prisoners or the respect due to their dignity as human beings.

In 2018, the average occupancy rate of prisons was 117.6%. However, these numbers vary across states and types of prisons. For instance, in Nagaland, the occupancy rate is 30.5%, while in Uttar Pradesh (UP) it is 176.5%. Similarly, while the occupancy of district jails was highest (132.8%), it was 58% for women jails.

The living conditions in prisons for vulnerable groups are even worse. In 2018, there were 19,242 women prisoners, 5,168 foreign national prisoners (excluding those confined in detention centres) and 6,623 suffering from mental illness. The information on other vulnerable groups  transgender prisoners and person with disability is missing too.

The prison administration is also overburdened with a 30% staff shortage. The inmate-to-staff ratio is 7:1, which itself might be inaccurate as a large number of staff might be tasked with work that is not directly related to prisoners. The inmate-to-correctional staff ratio stands at 756:1, and the correctional staff which include welfare, law and probation officers is completely absent in 14 states and union territories.

The inmate to medical staff ratio remains at 243:1. This shortfall, with the lack of effective health care, might also be a major reason behind the high number of custodial deaths in 2018. Data on prison deaths over the last few years indicate that deaths in prisons are increasing at a higher rate than the increase in the population of prison. The 2018 statistics must spur the criminal justice system to assess, evaluate and take affirmative steps to check this. It is an indication that the safeguards that our constitutional and statutory legislative framework has sought to set in place to prevent unnecessary and prolonged detention of persons have failed.

Constructive measures must be taken to address this.

Madhurima Dhanuka is the programme head and Siddharth Lamba is a project officer with the Prison Reforms Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)

The views expressed are personal
January 25 : Bollywood actor, director Nandita Das who is well-known for her efforts on behalf of humanitarian causes and organizations says that, people do not want another partition to happen. The wonderful students and women who have taken to the streets against the very divisive Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) are giving us courage to speak up. They are now finding their voice to speak against the current climate of fear.

Nandita Das was seen attending the 13th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival. She also launched her book on the author titled "Manto and I"

The Manto director also asserted that, The protests are important as they expose people to many realities. All these wonderful students and women, the many Shaheen Baghs springing up around the country, they are giving us a lot of courage to speak up. It is important to come out sometimes on the streets not just to expand the protests but for your own conscience. Sometimes, we need these reminders and reaffirmations that we are not alone.

There are ways in which they threaten you. They want us to be scared and we have to overcome that. I always feel that if you focus on your convictions, the courage will automatically follow. We don't need to seek courage. Just as fear begets fear, courage also begets courage, she said.

Talking about her film Manto, Nandita said, The reason I made a movie on Pakistani short story writer and playwright Saadat Hasan Manto was because I wanted people to respond to what was happening today. Another reason was to invoke the ''Mantoiyat'' in us. ''Mantoiyat'' means the will to be pursuing truth, the will to be more courageous and the will to be freer spirited. That's what Manto represents to me. It's not just the man, but Manto, the idea.

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 following religious persecution there will get Indian citizenship.

The CAA, enacted by Parliament, has caused countrywide anguish and social unrest with widespread protests all over the country.
Banh Mi & Ti | Photo: Nancy Y./Yelp

Ready to celebrate Lunar New Year? On January 25, families around the world take part in the celebrations for Tet, the first day of the Lunar New Year  and spring  for Vietnamese families. To kick off the celebration, families gather at home or at a favorite restaurant on New Years Day for a reunion meal, featuring specialities that include dua hanh (pickled spring onions), banh chung (sticky rice with meat or beans wrapped in leaves) and boiled whole chicken.

If youre looking for a feast to celebrate the Year of the Pig with friends and family, Hoodline has crunched the numbers to find the top Vietnamese restaurants in Pittsburgh, based on Yelp ratings and our own methodology. Happy Lunar New Year!

1. Banh Mi & Ti

Photo: sophia c./Yelp

Topping the list is Banh Mi & Ti. Located at 4502 Butler St. in Central Lawrenceville, the cafe and Vietnamese spot, which offers bubble tea and more, is the highest-rated Vietnamese restaurant in Pittsburgh, boasting 4.5 stars out of 258 reviews on Yelp.

2. Ineffable Ca Phe

photo: charmaine t./yelp

Next up is Lower Lawrenceville's Ineffable Ca Phe, situated at 3920 Penn Ave. With 4.5 stars out of 132 reviews on Yelp, the Vietnamese and breakfast and brunch spot, offering coffee, tea and more, has proven to be a local favorite.

3. Maiku Sushi

photo: jocelyn g./yelp

Strip District's Maiku Sushi, located at 1611 Penn Ave., is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the sushi bar and Vietnamese spot, which offers soups and more, four stars out of 190 reviews.

4. Two Sisters

photo: yuanyuan f./yelp

Two Sisters, a Vietnamese spot in East Liberty, is another much-loved go-to, with 4.5 stars out of 127 Yelp reviews. Head over to 216 N. Highland Ave. to see for yourself.

5. Tram's Kitchen

Photo: tina b./Yelp

Over in Bloomfield, check out Tram's Kitchen, which has earned four stars out of 327 reviews on Yelp. You can find the Vietnamese spot at 4050 Penn Ave.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
WASHINGTON  On the chilly grounds of the National Mall, within sight of the gleaming white Capitol where he is on trial for high crimes and misdemeanors, President Trump on Friday rallied abortion opponents gathered for their annual march and equated their battle with his own.

They are coming after me, Mr. Trump declared about a half-hour before the days trial session opened, with two of the juror-senators joining him onstage, because I am fighting for you and we are fighting for those who have no voice. And we will win because we know how to win. We all know how to win. We all know how to win.

For Mr. Trump, the strategy to win these days is counterprogramming. While Democrats and Republicans debate whether he should be convicted and removed from office, the president has offered up an alternative menu of events intended to focus attention on his economic record, present himself as a peacemaker and cater to his conservative base.

As the trial opened in earnest this week, he was hobnobbing with global corporate titans in Davos, Switzerland, trumpeting the growth of jobs and markets back home. As the House managers prosecuting him wrapped up their case on Friday, he became the first sitting president to attend the March for Life, bolstering his ties to the anti-abortion movement. And as senators begin posing their own questions next week, he plans to host Israeli leaders and release his long-awaited Middle East peace plan.
A new novel from a white Latina about a woman and her young son's trek across the U.S.-Mexico border has drawn praises, but has also been slammed by some critics, according to a published article in NBC News.

The novel written by Jeanine Cummins has unleashed social media warriors in regards to who gets to write about the experiences of Latino families when crossing the border of the U.S. and Mexico.

Jeanine Cummins got a seven-figure deal for the book after a ferocious bidding war. She identified herself as a white Latina because one of her grandmothers is from Puerto Rico.

The novel talks about a woman who owns a bookstore in Mexico and decided to migrate to the United States together with her son after her husband, a journalist, and other family members were killed by a Mexican drug cartel.

Several authors wrote a short description of the novel and this includes Sandra Cisneros, Julia Alvarez, Stephen King, Ann Patchett, and Don Winslow. Meanwhile, Winslow compared the novel to John Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath".

Moreover, The Washinton Post described the novel as "thrilling and devastating." The movie rights of the movie have already been sold. After the release of the book, actresses Gina Rodriguez and Yalitza Aparicio posted their pictures while reading the book. They also urged their followers to join Oprah's book club where the book has recently been featured.

However, even though the book talks about the experiences of a Mexican woman and her son, it was slammed by several Latino critics. One of the most prominent critics of the book is Mexican-American author Myriam Gurba. Her stance has ignited a fierce debate.

Gurba criticized the content of the novel because it is coming from the perspective of an outsider from Mexico that perpetuates the stereotypes of the narco-state. She said that the novel could inspire President Donald Trump to say "this is why we must invade."

The associate professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin focusing on Latino literature, Domino Perez, supports the stand of Gurba. He said: "'American Dirt' is the continuation of a systemic problem that involves the publishing industry more broadly and the public need to consume particular kinds of stories about Mexicans, preferably ones that reinforce popular beliefs," Perez said. "It ticks all of the boxes: a quinceanera, narcos, machetes, Dia de Muertos, violence, and suffering, lots of suffering. It's timely and does nothing to threaten the status quo."

Gurba and other Latino critics note that Cummins relies heavily on the work of other Latino authors. According to a recent survey, Latino critics feel that the works of Latino authors have been devalued in an industry that is mainly dominated by white Americans, which is about 80 percent.

Gurba said during the interview that, "'American Dirt' is precisely the kind of book that would appeal to readers because it is being marketed as a social justice and protest novel when instead it treats migrants like a zoo curiosity."

Meanwhile, Rigoberto Gonzales, a writer for The Los Angeles Times and a contributor for NBC News, praised the book's highly original story, but he also said that it got overshadowed by its "moments of pandering to social justice language."
The owner of Zen fuel station at Mankessim who is suspected to have shot and killed a police officer has been remanded into police custody after a court appearance.

The suspect, Isaac Eshun, whose station had been robbed on the day of the killing, is expected to reappear before the Cape Coast District Magistrate Court on February 7, 2020.

According to police, he was picked up over suspicion that cartridges retrieved from the crime scene were fired from a shotgun and pistol belonging to Mr. Eshun.

The deceased officer, Lance Corporal Kingsley Boahene of the Mankessim Divisional Police Command, was found 200 meters away from Mr. Eshun's fuel station.

A second accused person, Benjamin Eshun who is the driver of the Isaac Eshun, was also remanded into Police custody to reappear on the same date.

Lawyer for the accused persons, Daniel Arthur, told Citi News he will pursue bail options for his client.

Mr. Arthur also expressed disappointment that his client was the first suspect in the murder, given his fuel station had been robbed on the day of the incident.

It is quite unfortunate that somebody who has been robbed now will be accused of murder. But in any case, we will corporate with the police and ensure his liberty will not be trampled upon.

Karen Hammond, the wife of Isaac Eshun, remained confident her husband would be found innocent of the accusations against him.

According to her, her husband was at home at the time the killing is believed to have occurred.

Background

The incident occurred around 4:30 am on Wednesday.

The officer, who was not on duty, was found with gunshot wounds at about 200 meters away from a nearby crime scene.

Police had officially cited the robbers who robbed Mr. Eshun's fuel station as the main suspects in the case.

The police announced a GHS10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of suspected robbers.

Citinewsroom
For the first time, pricing details of the Samsung Galaxy S20 phones have been revealed. Going by the leak, the Galaxy S20 could share a base price tag with its predecessor, the S10, but things go downhill from there, with the most expensive device potentially costing up to US$1,699.

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We're just over two weeks away from Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event that will see the unveiling of the much-lauded Galaxy S20 series. There's not much we don't know about the phones alreadybar pricebut even that may have changed now.

A new leak has revealed the pricing details of the Samsung Galaxy S20 line, and things are, well...complicated. Going by the leak, from leakster Ishan Agarwal, the S20 phones will start at 899 for the 4G S20, 999 for the 5G S20, 1,099 for the S20+ 5G, and 1,349 for the base 128 GB S20 Ultra 5G.

Those prices are for the EU, obviously, so how do they convert into freedom units? Taking a look at the S10 series pricing is a good way to go about it.

While one would assume that Euros should be converted into dollars and, perhaps, a 20% VAT deducted to get pricing in the US, that doesn't appear to be the case here. With the Galaxy S10 phones, Samsung completely ignored every conversion, and sold the phones at the same prices in different currencies. The S10e, for example, had a price tag of 750 and US$750 in the EU and US respectively.

That effectively means the pricing for the phones in the US will likely be as follows.

S20 4G: US$899

S20 5G: US$999

S20+ 5G: US$1,099

S20 Ultra 5G: US$1,349

Going by this, the S20 4G will have the same price tag as the S10. Considering the much-improved software it's been touted to feature, that's a nice touch from Samsung. The 5G model will, of course, be more expensive. It'll be interesting to see if Samsung offers a 4G model of the S20+ at US$999, as that could turn out to be the most popular model.

The S20 Ultra 5G's listed price tag of US$1,349 is said to be for the base model with just 128 GB of storage. Going by rumors, there could be a model with 512 GB of storage and 16 GB of RAM. We wouldn't be surprised if it came with a price tag in the region of US$1,699.
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We are not done looking for those responsible.

This was the warning given by the Head of the Special Operations Response Team (SORT) Supt Roger Alexander yesterday during the Beyond the Tape TV programme on TV6.

Earlier in the day, Alexander was part of several units which went searching for kidnap victim Mattie Maraj in the eastern division.
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Vietnams 'Love Bus' follows neither a specific route nor a schedule. Instead, the charity vehicle makes its way to localities across the nation to aid those living in poverty and substandard conditions.

Xe Bus Yeu Thuong (Love Bus) was founded by Nguyen Huu Binh, a lecturer at Van Lang University in Ho Chi Minh City in 2011 and has spent nearly a decade helping the countrys needy, particularly those living in remote and highland regions.

According to Binh, the inspiration for Xe Bus Yeu Thuong came from a story he read as a child which told of poor children in a rural northern Vietnamese locality who spent their days watching trains pass by.

Seeing children in remote and highland regions lack so many necessities made me want to do something that would bring them some happiness, Binh told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

Its enough [for me] that [the love bus] lets kids have a day of relaxing fun and helps them believe in amazing miracles.

Together with two of his students from Van Lang University, Binh held the first Xe Bus Yeu Thuong road trip from Ho Chi Minh City to the Central Highlands provinces of Lam Dong and Dak Lak and the south-central provinces of Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, and Binh Thuan in August 2011.

Since that first trip, Xe Bus Yeu Thuong has attracted 200 participants and organized 100 tours through 63 provinces and cities across Vietnam to donate nearly 100,000 gifts to underprivileged children.

We give presents and also teach kids good manners by serving as role models and ensuring they say Thank you when they receive things, Binh explained.

A place with four nos

Most recently, Xe Bus Yeu Thuong made its way to Sung Hoa, a secluded village in Ngam La Commune, Yen Minh District, located in the northern province of Ha Giang.

Do you dare to go with us to the most remote place - where there is no electricity, no clean water, no telephone network, and no Wi-Fi - in Ha Giang Province? Xe Bus Yeu Thuong wrote in a recruitment post for the trip posted to its Facebook Page.

Underprivileged children and a resident receive gifts from Xe Bus Yeu Thuong in this file photo.

Sung Hoa is so remote that even Ha Giang locals have rarely visited the village, primarily because the roads are unfit for motorbikes.

For Xe Bus Yeu Thuong club members to make it to the village, they had to hike from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.

As we went there after a flood had caused landslides and made the road muddy, we had to hike into the village without any idea of how long it would take. We just hiked from hill to hill, said Pham Thi Kim Luc, a 34-year-old Xe Bus Yeu Thuong participant.

The eight-and-a-half-hour hike inspired the group to begin raising funds for a road into Sung Hoa.

By selling hand-made products such as fish sauce, herbal drinks, and jelly, as well as organizing trips and fundraising activities, the group collected VND80 million (US$3,446), enough for them to build two kilometers of concrete road.

We havent earned enough money [to build the entire road], so well build it section by section, she said.

Beyond one trip a month

Ha Giang in particular, and the northwest region in general, are among the Xe Bus Yeu Thuongs most visited destinations.

The club goes to the northwest region about 15 times a year, according to Luc.

On each trip, the club prepares a large meal for local children to expose them to foods they might otherwise never have an opportunity to try.

Aside from trips to remote destinations, Xe Bus Yeu Thuong also offers monthly finacial support to help senior citizens, street children, and visually-impaired people in Ho Chi Minh City afford food and housing.

The club members also cook meals for children suffering from cancer at hospitals in the southern metropolis every Wednesday.

The group prepares food, such as dried fish and candied ginger, as well as specialties sourced from different localities, to sell in order to raise funds for their activities.

Although the members have ups and downs on their travels with Xe Bus Yeu Thuong over the past nine years, their desire to help children in need has never waned.

Everyone else can choose easy tasks. Well take the tough ones, Luc said.

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by Nirmala Carvalho

The Hindu student, Dileshwar Marawi, was in grade 9. His teachers describe him as a good student, calm and quiet. His family dont blame the school, but some radical elements want to implicate the latter in the suicide.

Mumbai (AsiaNews)  Chhattisgarh police are investigating the suicide of a teenager at a Catholic school hostel.

Dileshwar Marawi, a grade 9 Hindu student, attended St Joseph's Higher Secondary School in Jairamnagar, Archdiocese of Raipur.

Fr Francis M Britto, from Janjgir parish, Champa district, told AsiaNews that he did not leave any note. His family has no clue about the reasons for his gesture.

The parents, explained the clergyman, arent blaming the school. But some anti-Christian elements are trying to connect Catholic institution to the boys suicide.

Last Monday, Marawi hung himself from a ceiling fan. Video surveillance cameras show him going into the school in the morning, then going to the hostel dormitory alone. Here he tied a wire to the fan and hung himself.

The police have opened an investigation.

None of the classmates know the reasons for the suicide, said school principal Fr Pankaj Shuklal. Even the police and family members can't explain it.

He was a good student and was about to start grade 10. He was calm and quiet. Nobody knows the reasons. However, some politicians, student associations and journalists want to implicate the school.

The boy, who was originally from Champa district, enrolled in the Catholic school in grade 6. His older brother also studied in the school and lived at the hostel.

His parents knew the school, and "for this reason, they don't hold it responsible, Fr Shuklal said.

Jairamnagar is the oldest mission in the Archdiocese of Raipur. The latter opened a Hindi-language middle school in 1931 for boys and girls with the aim of educating local Dalit children.

Under Fr Shuklal, St Joseph has become one of the best state schools. A few years ago, it was first in grade 12 exams, which open the door to a university education.

Both Hindi and English are used in teaching. The hostel hosts at least 300 pupils from neighbouring villages.

Thousands of youths have graduated from the school since it was created, achieving good positions in society.
The Wildlife Conservation Society, an advocacy organization based in New York, called for a global ban on the commercial sale of wildlife, especially in markets like those in China, saying that the latest outbreak proved the public health threat.

Christian Walzer, the organizations executive director of health, said that the astonishing diversity of wild animals in markets like these, packed in small cages in crowded market stalls, created a perfect laboratory for the unintentional incubation of new viruses that can enter human cells. Viruses can be spread through saliva, blood or feces.

Each animal is a package of pathogens, he said in a telephone interview.

But some Chinese consumers ascribe traditional medicinal benefits to the animals. Vendors and even officials in state news media have touted wildlife as alternative sources of protein and sources of revenue in impoverished regions.

An article by the Xinhua news agency last fall, for example, said that farming bamboo rats was helping to lift people out of poverty in Guangxi, another southern province.

Worries about meat supplies surged last year over the outbreak of African swine fever, which led to the killing of 40 percent of the countrys pigs. Production of domesticated livestock on the countrys farms is, compared to the sale of wildlife, subjected to far more regulation and inspection. Outbreaks still occur, but they are identified more quickly.

Part of the problem with the wildlife trade is that there is far less regulation, despite the greater risk of live animals infecting each other and people, especially in markets that can be unsanitary.

Mr. Walzer said that one problem with the legal production of some species is that it can blur the lines between those raised in captivity and those captured in the wild, where unknown viruses have existed for years without contact with humans.
AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU, Poland  Even before the gas chambers were destroyed and the savage toll of years of industrialized mass murder revealed to the world, prisoners at the largest Nazi concentration camp were already repeating two words: Never again.

But as the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz approaches, an occasion being marked by events around the world and culminating in a solemn ceremony at the former death camp on Monday that will include dozens of aging Holocaust survivors, Piotr Cywinski, the director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, is worried.

More and more we seem to be having trouble connecting our historical knowledge with our moral choices today, he said. I can imagine a society that understands history very well but does not draw any conclusion from this knowledge.

In this current political moment, he added, that can be dangerous.

All one has to do is look at the backdrop against which this anniversary is taking place.
New Delhi:

Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah claimed on Saturday that Arvind Kejriwal had won the 2015 Delhi Assembly polls by "misleading people", but this time he would fail. "He (Kejriwal) had won the 2015 election by misleading the public. What happened after that? What happened in Varanasi, Punjab, Haryana? They lost and he will fail in Delhi too this time," Shah said.

"The people of Delhi have made their decision for 2020 as well. The trend is set to continue. We won 88 per cent of the booths in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls," he added. The home minister was addressing a gathering at the "Jeet Ki Goonj" event held in the Jawaharlal Nehru (JLN) Stadium ahead of Delhi Assembly elections.

"When you support the BJP, you support the promise to secure the national boundaries of India. When you support the BJP, you are supporting the mission to make India a global figurehead," Shah told the gathering.

Slamming the Delhi Chief Minister over the state of education in the national capital, Amit Shah said that in last 5 years more than 93 thousand students have left schools. Who is responsible for this state of education in the state, Shah asked Kejriwal.

You have done nothing in last 5 years expect pollution water, air of Delhi and spending money on advertisement, Amit Shah added.

During his speech, Amit Shah also launched a scathing attack on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor for making false promises. On the issue of CCTV installation, Shah said that Arvind Kejriwal had promises 15 lakh CCTVs will be installed in Delhi, but failed to keep his promise.

Arvind Kejriwal, on the other hand, told Amit Shah not to make education a part of dirty politics or make fun of the hard work put in by students, teachers, and parents of Delhi government schools.

The Delhi chief ministers reply came after Shah alleged that the AAP did not build new schools after coming to power and also that the condition of existing schools deteriorated.

Kejriwal had promised to build 500 schools. Far from building new schools, the condition of existing schools is also in shambles. Seven-hundred schools do not have principals, more than 1,000 schools do not have science wing, there is shortage of 19,000 teachers. The Kejriwal government could not spend 30 per cent of the education budget, Shah tweeted.

Reacting to the allegation, Kejriwal invited Shah to see for himself the condition of government schools in Delhi.

Dont make education a part of your dirty politics. Please take out time and come with me to visit government schools. You are surrounded by negativity the whole day, meet our students, you will get some positivity. Do positive politics over education, he said at a press conference.

Kejriwal also said, Dont make fun of the hard work put in by students, teachers, and parents of Delhi government schools.

He also said that former BJP minister and four-time MLA Harsharan Singh Balli is joining the AAP. Balli was also present at the press conference.
'This is one of the contemporary issues in Indian politics. We want to teach it to our students', Political Science Department HOD Shashi Shukla said

Lucknow: In the midst of ongoing protests against Citizenship Amendment law (CAA), Lucknow University's Political Science Department has proposed including the issue as a topic in its curriculum, drawing flak from the BSP.

"We, in our department, teach the Constitution and citizenship. This is one of the contemporary issues in Indian politics. We want to teach it to our students," Political Science Department HOD Shashi Shukla said on Friday.

"As of now, it is at the stage of a proposal. Then it will pass through the entire academic process before it becomes a part of the syllabus," she told PTI. There is a lot of debate underway on this topic, she said.

"Especially, our students come to us saying they are asked about it everywhere. This makes us think that it should be included as one of the many topics," Shukla said. "It will, however, take some time. If approved by academic bodies, it can be included by next year," she added.

Noting that the department teaches about citizenship and the Constitution, Shukla said the issue was not being introduced as a course. "We have a paper on Indian politics in which we teach contemporary issues. This time we will include it also. It is just a proposal mooted by the faculty members," she said.

"We felt there is a need for our students to be informed about it in an objective manner and hence we have proposed introduction of CAA as a topic," she said. To a query, Shukla clarified that it would only be a topic in the syllabus and not a separate subject or paper.

"Students had proposed a debate on this issue during our annual debate competition in the Political Science Department in which we call affiliated degree colleges as well as students of the university," she said.

The topic of the debate will be 'CAA in favour of India' and it will be held on 15 February. "A lot of people are debating on the subject. Our students should also understand various aspects of CAA. Hence it was resolved to have a debate on the issue next month," she said.

BSP president Mayawati, however, said the proposal was "completely wrong and unfair" when the matter was being heard in court. In a tweet, she said, "The debate on CAA is fine but when the court hearing is going on, the inclusion of this highly controversial and divisive citizenship law by the Lucknow University in its curriculum is completely wrong and unfair. The BSP strongly opposes this and will definitely roll it back when it comes to power in Uttar Pradesh."

In 2017, Lucknow University became probably the first state-run university in Uttar Pradesh to start a six-month certificate course on Goods and Services Tax (GST) from academic session 2017-2018. The faculty of commerce was asked to initiate the course. The decision to start the GST course was taken at the vice chancellor's conference in order to create a workforce of GST-trained professionals.
Two journalists covering the rerun elections in Essien Udim, Akwa Ibom state, have been molested by thugs.

Among todays election is that of the senate rerun for the Akwa Ibom North-West District involving Godswill Akpabio, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.

Godwin Sunday, a cameraman with a television station, sustained some cuts near his eyes and had his camera destroyed when some thugs attacked him Saturday afternoon at the Independence High School, Ukana.

Journalists, including officials of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Akwa Ibom, were this morning temporarily prevented from entering the school which is the location for polling unit 9 in Ukana West Ward 2, Essien Udim.

Akpabios boys attacked me. I am a cameraman, I didnt expect this in the election, Mr Sunday said at Ukana.

He said his attackers told him the unit belongs to Akpabio and that we were not supposed to be there.

Another journalist, Edidiong Udobia, said some persons dragged him by his shirt and attempted to forcefully collect his phone where he was covering the elections at the village hall, Ikot Etan Unit 6, Ukana East Ward 9, Essien Udim.

Akpabios aide, Emmanuel Inyangettor, ordered them to collect my phone from me because he thought I was videoing him, Mr Udobia told PREMIUM TIMES.

The journalist said he handed over the phone to a police officer who checked through it and informed Mr Inyangettor and others that there was no video of him on the phone. He was then allowed to walk away with his phone, he said.

Dominic Akpan, the secretary of NUJ in Akwa Ibom, corroborated Mr Udobias claims.

I was about entering the bus when the doors (in the village hall) were shut and he (Udobia) did not come out, we tried to go in but they had locked the door. Immediately the door was open, a policeman escorted him out, Mr Akpan told PREMIUM TIMES.

PREMIUM TIMES could not immediately reach Emmanuel Inyangettor, as he did not respond to calls from this newspaper.

There have been reports of pockets of violence in the elections.

INEC, earlier today, said some of its officials were being held hostage in Essien Udim.

Mr Akpabio, has, however, disassociated himself from the violence in the elections.

READ ALSO:

His spokesperson, Anietie Ekong, in an apparent response to the reports coming out from Essien Udim, said the public should ignore infantile propaganda linking Senator Akpabio to anything that is going on in Essien Udim LGA in the name of rerun elections.

We have gathered that some PDP-sponsored thugs were planning to carry out a sinister plot during the rerun elections and link it to Senator Akpabio.

Security agencies should be on the watch out for miscreants and sponsored thugs, apprehend them and visit the full weight of the law on them, Mr Ekong said in a Facebook post, Saturday afternoon.

Mr Ekong said the minister has been in his house in Uyo, and not in Essien Udim, since Saturday morning.

Mr Akpabio lost his bid to return to the Senate for a second term in 2019 when INEC declared Chris Ekpenyong of the Peoples Democratic Party, winner of the poll.

Amid complaints of election fraud and a petition to the tribunal, the former Senate minority leader who was later appointed minister, said he was no longer interested in a repeat poll, but INEC rejected a replacement of candidate.

The electoral body is also conducting reruns for the state and federal constituencies in the area.

Both Nse Ntuen, the APC candidate for the Essien Udim State Constituency, and Emmanuel Akpan, the APC candidate for the Ikot Ekpene/Essien Udim/Obot Akara Federal Constituency on Friday, announced their withdrawal from the elections.

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Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin answers questions from the press after an interview on CNBC on the North Lawn of the White House in Washington, September 12, 2019. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was optimistic about the chances of a trade deal between the United States and Britain this year, adding that he met Britain's finance minister on Saturday to discuss it.

"I'm quite optimistic," Mnuchin said when asked about the potential for a deal between the two countries at an event held at the Chatham House think tank in London.

Mnuchin said he had a breakfast meeting with British finance minister Sajid Javid earlier on Saturday, having also spoken to him this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"We're focused on trying to get this done this year because we think it's important to both of us," he told the audience.

He said that after the United States recently concluded the initial phase of a trade agreement with China, deals with Britain and the European Union were now the focus.

While he conceded that Britain may need to finalise some issues with the European Union before it could discuss them with Washington, he didn't see this as creating a delay.

"I think a lot of the issues can be dealt with simultaneously and again we look forward to continuing a great trade relationship, and, if anything, I think there will be significantly more trade between the U.S. and the UK," he said.

Asked by a reporter if Britain's plan to implement a digital services tax on U.S. technology giants such as Facebook and Google could hinder trade negotiations, Mnuchin said he discussed the issue on Saturday with Javid.
Two days after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray declared his support to the Modi government over eviction of Bangladeshi and Pakistani infiltrators, the Shiv Sena on Saturday said that Muslim infiltrators from these countries should be thrown out of India.

The Sena also took a dig at Raj Thackeray over his ideological shift towards Hindutva saying that dealing with the Hindutva ideology as propagated by V D Savarkar and late party founder Balasaheb Thackeray was not a child's play.

It also taunted him saying that having two flags showed the confused state of mind.

'The Muslim infiltrators from Pakistan and Bangladesh should be driven out of India. There should be no doubt about that. But it is amusing to see a party changing its flag for it,' the Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana.

'Secondly, having two flags shows the confused state of mind. Raj Thackeray founded his party 14 years back on the issue of Marathi. But it appears to be turning towards Hindutva now,' it added.

Raj Thackeray on Thursday unveiled his party's new flag which is saffron in colour and bears the 'rajmudra' (royal seal) used during the times of warrior King Shivaji.

While addressing a rally later that day, he made it clear to his party workers that the new flag will not be used during elections.

'Dealing with the Hindutva of Savarkar and Balasaheb is not a child's play. But we are large-hearted enough to welcome those who take a pro-Hindutva stand. Even if the ideology is borrowed, it is pro-Hindutva. Go ahead if you think you can do it,' the Uddhav Thackeray-led party said.

It added that the MNS is unlikely to achieve anything from its new Hindutva stand as Shiv Sena had never shed its saffron colour.

'The Shiv Sena had already done a lot of work on the issue of Marathi. Hence MNS did not get any response from Marathi people. There is a criticism that Raj Thackeray has turned towards Hindutva as BJP wanted it. But MNS is unlikely to achieve anything on this front also as the Shiv Sena has done a lot work on Hindutva across the country,' it added.

'Shiv Sena formed the government in Maharashtra with Congress and NCP. This doesn't mean that the party has given up on its ideology. More than criticism, there is heartburn.

'BJP can join hands with anybody, including Mehbooba Mufti, but if others take a similar political move, it becomes a sin! Although the ideologies of the three parties (Nationalist Congress Party-Sena and Congress) are different, there is a consensus among them that the government will be run for the welfare of the people. What the BJP could not do in five years, the MVA government had achieved in 50 days,' it said.

Hitting out at the MNS chief for stating that the Shiv Sena had changed its colour to become part of the government, the party said such comments show the 'political bankruptcy'.

'Those who say this should check the masks and multi-coloured make up on their own faces,' it said.

'BJP changed its colour in 2014 and 2019. Now since Shiv Sena is not going to change despite being in alliance with Congress and NCP, a conspiracy has been hatched to divide the Hindutva votes,' the saffron party alleged.

'Raj Thackeray has now backed the CAA and will take out a march in its support. But a month ago, he had a taken different stand. He had then said that the new law is a move to divert people's attention from important issues like economic slowdown,' it said.

During his speech on Thursday, Raj Thackeray had defended the CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and also announced that the MNS would take out a protest march on February 9 seeking eviction of illegal migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Observing that frauds of general nature in the garb of friendly relations should not be so conveniently executed in the society, the district court directed a Zirakpur resident to pay a compensation of 46 lakh to a city resident. The amount is double the cheque amount of 23 lakh which was dishonoured.

Vineet Vermani, a resident of Sector 34 D, Chandigarh, had filed a complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, against Sushant Sood of Baltana, Zirakpur.

He had said in the complaint that he and Sood were childhood friends and even their fathers had been friends for over 22 years.

Vermani, who is the proprietor of an industrial mill store M/s National Ball Bearing & Machinery Store, Phase 5, Mohali, was contacted by Sood and his father in the first week of June 2013 for obtaining financial assistance, which was urgently required by the Sood family in order to come out of a financial crisis.

Accordingly, a sum of 14 lakh was given to Sood by Vermani in 2013. Then in March 2014, Sood again requested Vermani for 9 lakh, which was also paid by the latter.

After years of following up, Sood finally issued a cheque of 23 lakh to Vermani, but it was dishonoured due to insufficient funds.

In the court, Sood said he was innocent and had been falsely implicated. He counter alleged that Vermani had misused blank cheques given to him as security.

After hearing the arguments, the court directed the accused to pay to Vermani an amount double the cheque amount of 23 lakh. The court also awarded rigorous imprisonment to Sood for a period of two years.

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New Delhi:

Panga and Street Dancer 3D are the latest films to be leaked online by Tamilrockers. Both the films were leaked yesterday in full HD quality, on their release date. Panga stars Kangana Ranaut, Jassie Gill and Richa Chadha in lead roles. Street Dancer 3D, on the other hand, stars Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor in lead roles. It is directed by Remo D'souza. Earlier, films like Good Newwz, Dabangg 3, Panipat, Pati Patni Aur Woh, Housefull 4, Bala, Kabir Singh, Gully Boy, 2.0, Petta, Uri: The Surgical Strike and more also became the victim of piracy.

This piracy website has been banned innumerable times. But, every time a new movie is leaked online, they come out with a different proxy server.

In Panga, Kangana is playing the role of a retired kabaddi player, who returns to the sport after a seven-year break. While Jassie Gill plays Kangana's character Jaya Nigam's husband Prashant, Neena Gupta and Richa Chadha play her mother and mentor, respectively. The film has minted Rs 2.7 crore on its first day of release.

Kangana earlier revealed that she found the story of Panga touching. "My family has been my pillar of strength and have always stood by me in thick and thin. I could really relate to the emotions of the film. Plus, Ashwiny is known for her slice-of-life films and I loved her recent work Bareilly Ki Barfi. Panga is doubly special for me as for the first time, I will play the role of a national-level kabbadi player. That's going to be challenging for sure! I am looking forward to some exciting times with Ashwiny and the Fox Star team [the producers]," the Queen actor had said.

Street Dancer 3D, on the other hand, is about India and Pakistan being at loggerheads with each other through the medium of dance. The movie collected Rs 10.26 crore on its opening day. While it has been appreciated for good dance performances, critics dont seem to be impressed with the plot.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
To better understand how animals like spiders communicate with pattern and color, a University of Cincinnati biology student is turning to ancient dramatic art.

Biology doctoral student Jenny Yi-Ti Sung is studying how Beijing operas that date back thousands of years convey details about motivation and character to their audiences through the performers' colorful masks.

Like many jumping spiders, Chinese opera masks, or Jing masks, have unique patterns and colors that convey information to their intended audience. For spiders, the unique characteristics broadcast species, sex or even romantic intentions to possible mates. In Chinese opera, the masks help the audience instantly recognize heroes, villains, allies, foes and other supporting characters amid the frenetic action on stage.

"I'm interested in understanding how male spiders might use their patterns and colors to tell a female spider they're the same species and are a viable mate," Sung said. "I saw a parallel in Chinese opera masks. How do these visual patterns evolve to tell a specific identity?"

Sung presented her ongoing project to the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology conference in January. She is looking at whether the Jing masks are more alike or different within a particular opera compared to masks in unrelated operas.

"If the masks are in the same story, it follows that they are under selection for distinctiveness. So, they should show greater differences compared to masks in another opera," she said.

Sung examined 76 masks painted by artist Steve Lu in his 1968 book "Face Painting in Chinese Opera." Sung digitally scanned and resized the images for uniformity for her computer analysis.

Villains are often depicted in white with striking patterns. The hero traditionally wears a red mask with fewer adornments.

"He's very virtuous. He doesn't have many features on his face, which suggests he's calm, composed and mature," Sung said.

Most have symmetrical features that accentuate the character's mood or personality.

"It's rare for characters to have asymmetrical features. But that might be a nod to the audience that this character can't be trusted," she said.

Other recurring archetypes are the loyal friend and the Monkey King, which features a flat monkey-shaped nose and round muzzle.

"It's not just the face but the costume and performance. He jumps around the stage like a monkey," Sung said.

Sung subjected 76 masks to what's called an eigenface analysis, a computerized breakdown that can identify the most common or unique characteristics of faces. The analysis identified the facial features that were most similar or different in the 76 examples.

Sung's computer analysis also generated a grayscale version of the mean face (as in arithmetic mean rather than mean-looking) depicted in the 76 masks. The mean face features a patterned nose and forehead, heavily shadowed eyes and shaded mouth.

"This is what the computer considers the average of all 76 masks after doing some cool math kung fu, the covariance that shows the differences between the masks," Sung said.

Next, Sung plans to plot each mask to the eigenface dimensions and calculate Euclidean distances to investigate whether the masks that appear in the same opera have more variation than those in unrelated operas. This would suggest it's more important in Chinese opera to differentiate characters in the same story as opposed to characters in different stories, Sung said.

Sung said she has gotten positive feedback on her novel approach so far from peers at conferences.

"This is a delightful marriage of cultural interest and heritage with scientific interest in evolutionary biology," said Nathan Morehouse, an associate professor of biology at UC and Sung's advisor. "I think it's wonderful."

Facial patterns have recurring biological significance across species, Morehouse said.

"Jumping spiders have lots of colors and patterns on their faces that communicate information about what species they are, what sex they are and whether they're a good mate," he said.

Besides spiders, facial pattern recognition is found in many other animals, including a genus of primates called guenons. Many of these African monkeys share the same habitats where it would be advantageous to distinguish members of the same species at a distance, Morehouse said.

"When they live in mixed-species communities, their facial patterns evolve to be distinct so they can recognize each other," Morehouse said.

Morehouse said he applauds Sung's creative approach to a traditional biological discussion.

"In our lab we're always challenging ourselves to think creatively about the questions we ask," he said about the Morehouse Lab on the UC Uptown campus. "I think it enriches science and opens up new ways of thinking about things."

Sung said she hopes the study will shed light on evolutionary divergence, the fork in the road where members of the same species head in different genetic directions.

"Of course, there's no punishment to the audience if they don't recognize the faces properly. But in the wild, you'd get eaten," she said.

###
The storm that has been spinning over the Midwest for the past day and a half won't let go without a fight. Major freight movement disruptions aren't likely, but drivers will have to slow down at times, and shippers should expect minor delays.

SONAR Critical Events and radar, Friday, Jan. 24, 2019, 10 a.m. EST. Midwest-Great Lakes winter storm threat.

The storm will drop a little more snowfall today across parts of Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri. Tonight, the snowfall gets a bit heavier as it moves into Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin, Michigan's upper peninsula, Chicago and South Bend, Indiana. The snow will gradually fade in these areas tomorrow as it shifts to Detroit, Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio. In some areas, precipitation may begin as rain/freezing before changing to snow. Most areas won't see more than 6 inches of additional/new snowfall or much more than a glaze of ice, and the storm should finally exit the region by Sunday night.

Looking at the latest freight market trends in FreightWaves SONAR, Columbus and Joliet, Illinois, two of the top 10 markets in Outbound Tender Market Share (OTMS.CMH and OTMS.JOT, respectively), lie in the path of the storm. OTMS is a relative index that measures the number of accepted loads in individual markets in relation to total accepted load volume for the day in the U.S. The sum of all the markets equals 100. For example, on the chart below, OTMS.JOT equals 2.62. This means the Joliet market originated 2.62% of all U.S. accepted loads today, which ranks as the sixth highest among the 135 freight markets. Columbus' market share of 2.12% ranks ninth.

SONAR Heat Map List: OTMS

Fortunately, the winter storm won't be a showstopper. Drivers should be cautious of black ice and snowy roads, especially secondary roads. But widespread lengthy interstate closures are not likely. Carriers should be able to pick up loads in the healthy Joliet and Columbus markets without the weather getting in the way too much.

Story continues

Spreading the love?

After the storm does its job on the Midwest-Great Lakes, it won't stop there. Snow and freezing rain will spread into the Northeast tomorrow and Sunday.

SONAR Critical Events and radar, Friday, Jan. 24, 2019, 10 a.m. EST. Northeast winter storm threat.

Up to 6 inches of snowfall will pile up in spots from northern Pennsylvania and upstate New York to interior New England and southeastern Canada. A few localized areas of more than 6 inches are possible. Compared to the impact across the Midwest, winds will be stronger across the Northeast, with gusts potentially reaching/exceeding 40 mph. Fortunately, this storm won't affect large cities along the I-95 corridor.

Other notable weather

Look for icy spots and periodic snowfall today in the mountains of Idaho, northern Nevada, northern Utah, western Wyoming and western Montana. Drivers will have to chain up and take it slow over Lookout Pass (I-90), Lolo Pass (US-12) and Marias Pass (US-2).

Have a great day and a wonderful weekend, and be careful out there!

Image Sourced from Pixabay

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The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to prosecute public office holders seen as untouchables.

This was in a reaction to Nigerias recent ranking on Transparency International. TI ranked Nigeria as 146 out of 180 countries in its corruption perception index, scoring the country 26 out of 100 points.

In a statement by Okechukwu Isiguzoro, and Okwu Nnabuike, its president-general and secretary-general respectively, the group said We view the recent poor ranking of Nigeria in the corruption index by Transparency International with mixed feelings. 

Nigeria scored 26 out of 100 points according to Auwal Rafsanjani, the Head of Transparency International Nigeria, but the OYC describes the perception reports credited to Transparency International as biased verdict and not the true reflection of what is on the ground.

Read Also: If Nigeria Could Overcome Biafra War, It Would Overcome Boko Haram: Buhari

We insist that there are more gains in the fight against corruption, but Nigerians should accept the indictment by Transparency International as it is a blessing in disguise.

The Presidency should advance to the next level of the anti-corruption war, without perceived being selective as a way to prove that the reports were not a true reflection of what is on the ground.

The Federal Government should review their tactics in the fight against corruption by prosecuting and securing jail for those untouchables and overrated sacred cows whose pending cases had lasted more than a decade in various courts or swept under the carpet.

There should be accelerated hearings and judgment on those cases involving most former governors, ministers, senators, and others.
spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Shahnawaz Husain on Saturday said that Bhima Koregaon case was a conspiracy against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Bhima Koregaon was a conspiracy against the PM Narendra Modi. The Investigation Agency (NIA) is probing the case and those who are responsible will be punished," Shahnawaz said.

He further questioned Maharashtra Chief Minister, saying who is Uddhav Thackeray to speak on this issue.

Speaking on the issue of NCP chief Sharad Pawar's security, he said, "The category of security is fixed according to threat perception and it is not taken away keeping in mind that person is the Opposition leader. Sharad Pawar is a senior leader and Delhi Police takes care of his security in Delhi."

"There is a panel constituted in Central government that decides who should be given of which category of security according to the danger to that person," he added.

Speaking on the restoration of internet services in Jammu and Kashmir he said that the situation is normal and markets are open. People, who used to claim that if Article 370 will be removed there will be riots, are now speechless.

"Ministers are going in the Valley and many schemes are being introduced now by the Central government which were not implemented before," he said.

There is no doubt that people in Jammu and Kashmir believe that Article 370 was a big hurdle in their progress.

"Those hurdles are gone away and development in Kashmir have started quickly," Husain said.

Shahnawaz also slammed Congress MP Husain Dalwai for comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to former Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, he said, "Who is Husain Dalwai for talking about our Prime Minister."

"Congress should take action on him but the party itself insults Modi the entire day," he said.

"Congress has not only one Mani Shankar Aiyar, it has many. Husain should look at himself first before talking about Narendra Modi," he added.

Talking about the economy he said that International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva has said correctly that the economy of India has declined temporary but India is hope for the world. If compared to G-20 countries, then India's economy is better than them all.

"Economy has declined in one or two quarters but it will soon be improved. The share market is in good condition. The economy will also be in good condition," he said.

He said that the first budget of the Modi government 2.0 will strengthen the economy.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Trump to be first president to address March for Life in person

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President Donald Trump will address the annual March for Life in person when the pro-life rally takes place on Friday, making him the first sitting president to do so.

The March for Life organization made the announcement Wednesday, which also was the anniversary of the controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade.

In a statement, March for Life President Jeanne Mancini said that she and her organization are so excited for him to experience in person how passionate our marchers are about life and protecting the unborn.

President Trump and his Administration have been consistent champions for life and their support for the March for Life has been unwavering, stated Mancini.

We are grateful for all these pro-life accomplishments and look forward to gaining more victories for life in the future.

In previous years, Trump, like other presidents, had addressed the March for Life rally at the National Mall, but did so via video message instead of being on the stage itself.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List, celebrated the news of Trumps in-person speech, calling it a very important step forward for the cause.

President Trump has governed as the most pro-life president in history. His presence at the March for Life, the worlds largest pro-life event, signals a watershed moment for the Pro-life Movement, said Dannenfelser in a statement Wednesday.

Pro-choice groups were more critical of the announcement, with NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue taking to Twitter to argue that the move was a desperate attempt to divert attention from his criminal presidency and fire up his radical base.

Trump will be the 1st POTUS to attend the annual gathering of anti-choicers on Friday, which he announced today on the anniversary of #RoevWade [because] that's how he rolls, she added.

While he once identified himself as very pro-choice in a 1999 interview, Trump has garnered strong support among the pro-life movement for his policies while president.

This has included reinstituting the Mexico City Policy, which prevents tax dollars from going to organizations that promote or fund abortions abroad, appointing pro-life judges, and cutting funds to the United Nations' Population Fund due to its ties to Chinas forced abortion policy.

Last July, the National Right to Life Committee, reportedly the largest pro-life group in the United States, officially endorsed Trump for the 2020 election.

 we are proud to endorse the only presidential candidate who stands for the unalienable right to life, said NRLC President Carol Tobias in a statement at the time.

From his first day in office, President Trump and his Administration have been dedicated to advancing policies that protect the fundamental right to life for the unborn, the elderly, and the medically dependent and disabled.
(CNN)  US House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff gave his full-throated argument for removing US President Donald Trump from office in the House's final uninterrupted pitch to Republican senators on the fence, urging the Senate to "give America a fair trial" with additional witnesses and documents.

Schiff delivered a 67-minute final address to wrap up the House's three-day case against the President, in which the California Democrat and lead impeachment manager argued the case that Trump abused his office and obstructed Congress was proven  and he urged senators to find the courage to go against what might be popular opinion in their states.

"One of the things that we in this fellowship of office-holders understand that most people don't is that real political courage doesn't come from disagreeing with our opponents, but from disagreeing with our friends. And with our own party," Schiff said. "What happens when our heartfelt views of right and wrong are in conflict with the popular opinion of our constituents? What happens when our devotion to our oaths, to our values, to our love of country, to part from the momentary passion from a large number of people back home?"

But after three days of arguments from the House managers, GOP sources in the Senate and White House say they are confident they will defeat a motion next week calling for a subpoena of witnesses and documents, arguing they have successfully kept their caucus in line amid the Democrats' opening arguments.

The White House and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have been laying the groundwork for weeks to lock down opposition to moving forward on new witnesses, including a lunch this week with former Attorney General Michael Mukasey who argued about the thorny legal issues ahead if Trump were to assert executive privileges for witnesses sought by Democrats.

If the vote fails to move forward on witnesses, the Senate could move to acquit Trump by the end of next week.

And two of the key Senate Republican votes, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, said they were upset that Schiff cited a CBS News report that Republican senators had been told "your head will be on a pike" if you vote against the President.

The comment that sparked an audible reaction from Republican senators in the chamber, and Collins shook her head and said, "That's not true."

"He was doing fine with moral courage until he got to the head on the pike. That's where he lost me," Murkowski said. "He was moving right along with the good oratory, and then he got to a couple places and it was just unnecessary."

Leaving the Capitol Friday, Collins said of witnesses: "I haven't heard the other half of the case yet. I tend to like information." Murkowski gave a similar argument that she's only heard from the House's team.

Senate Democrats praised Schiff and the other six impeachment managers for a powerful performance in laying out a meticulous case for impeaching and removing the President. Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said that Schiff's comment was a "slight misstep of a few sentences in his closing," but added that it does "not effect the evidence, the case or its soundness."

Now the President's team gets its turn to detail Trump's defense, beginning with a three-hour session on Saturday, which will set the stage for a looming vote over witnesses that will occur after the senators get to ask questions of both sides. GOP Senate and White House sources are confident they will be able defeat the motion for additional witnesses and documents.

Democrats highlight McCain and Putin clips

Schiff and the other managers made a direct pitch to the senators throughout their three days of arguments, which concluded Friday with the case that Trump obstructed Congress in an unprecedented way by stonewalling the House's subpoenas.

They repeatedly played clips of the President's own words against him, and even showed an interview of the late Sen. John McCain  an Arizona Republican beloved by many in the Senate chamber who famously clashed with Trump  talking about the importance of Ukraine as a bulwark against Russia.

Schiff then showed Trump's news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018 in which Trump talked about the Democratic National Committee server conspiracy, calling it an "intelligence coup" for Russia. "Why? Because a former Mayor of New York persuaded a President of the United States to sacrifice all of that for a cheap shot at his political opponent," he said.

"I think we have done a very good job of doing what the House managers asked to do. We are hearing the case eight or nine hours a day," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, one of the senators Democrats are looking toward. "We are going to hear the President's argument. We are going to listen to the answers to our questions, study the record and see if we need more evidence at the point. I'll make my decision after I hear all of that."

Asked if he was open to hearing from witnesses like former national security adviser John Bolton or acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado said: "We've heard a lot of impeachment witnesses."

The House managers used video, quotes and tweets from Trump to bolster their case, including the President's attacks on witnesses who testified during the impeachment inquiry like Yovanovitch and Bill Taylor, who was the top US diplomat in Ukraine after Yovanovitch was ousted.

"President Trump's campaign of witness intimidation is reprehensible, debases the presidency and was part of his effort to obstruct the impeachment inquiry," said Rep. Val Demings, a Florida Democrat.

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, a Democrat from New York, concluded his presentation about the President's defiance of subpoenas by calling Trump a "dictator."

"If he is permitted to defy the Congress, categorically, to say that subpoenas from Congress in an impeachment inquiry are nonsense, then we will have lost  the House will have lost, the Senate certainly will have lost  all power to hold any president accountable," Nadler said. "This is a determination by President Trump that he wants to be all powerful. He does not have to respect the Congress. He does not have to respect the representatives of the people. Only his will goes. He is a dictator. This must not stand."

Getting a head of Trump's team

For the second day, Democrats used their time to try to get ahead of arguments likely to come from the President's legal team. Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado opened the day Friday by pushing back on the expected defense about the withholding of US security aid.

"One defense you may hear is that the aid was held up to allow for a policy review. But the evidence shows the opposite," said Crow, one of two House freshmen on the House impeachment manager team. "The evidence shows the administration didn't conduct a review at any time after the President ordered the hold. ... No review was necessary because it had already been done."

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat, pointed for the second day to Sen. Lindsey Graham's comments two decades prior when he was an impeachment manager during the Bill Clinton impeachment, this time saying that the day President Richard Nixon failed to answer a congressional subpoena was "the day he was subject to impeachment."

Graham took a sip of water when Lofgren cited him, and nodded while she recited his quote, before leaning over to Republican Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas and whispering something to him.

Schiff walked through all of the potential arguments he's expecting from the President's lawyers to kick off his closing, from an argument that the impeachment process was rigged against the President to unsubstantiated claims against the Bidens in Ukraine.

The House managers' presentation has been detailed and thorough across the three days they've spoken. Republican senators have derided it as repetitive, but the managers are making a pitch to the public as well as Republican senators they hope will consider backing subpoenas for witnesses and documents.

"I've been saying throughout, he's been arguing for the public for 24 hours, because they've been repeating again and again," said Sen. John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican.

Trump's team starts Saturday

On Thursday, Democrats pushed back on the notion there's any legitimacy to investigating former Vice President Joe Biden in Ukraine, as the President and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani have claimed. Trump attorney Jay Sekulow, however, suggested their focus on the Bidens "kind of opened the door for that response" from the defense team.

The President's lawyers will begin their arguments Saturday, and the trial is starting earlier, at 10 a.m. ET. Sekulow said they will go until about 1 p.m. ET, wrapping up early and giving senators a chance to go home  or to campaign in Iowa  for the rest of the weekend before resuming Monday. Republicans don't expect the President's team to use the full 24 hours allotted to them.

Sekulow said that Saturday's session would be a "sneak preview" of the case they will detail next week.

Trump complained about the start date on Twitter Friday morning, suggesting that the Saturday session would get bad TV ratings, calling Saturday "Death Valley in T.V."

Of course, it's been Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who has set the schedule, including the late night for amendment votes to set the trial rules and cutting the number of days each side has to use their 24 hours of arguments to three from four in the 1999 Clinton impeachment trial. McConnell's condensed schedule is part of an effort to end the trial next week  ahead of the President's February 4 State of the Union.

Whenever the President's lawyers conclude their presentation, the Senate will shift into 16 hours of senator questions of the two legal teams. Then the Senate will address the question of witnesses  with a vote looming under the Republican-passed trial rules on whether there should be subpoenas for additional witnesses and documents.

Republicans have picked up on an argument from McConnell that pursuing witnesses such as Mulvaney and Bolton would result in prickly, problematic legal issues if the President invokes executive privilege -- and that it could tie up the trial for weeks or months in the courts.

But Schiff pushed back that argument Friday, saying that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial, would be able to make decisions about evidence and privilege.

"We have a very capable justice, sitting in that Senate chamber, empowered by the Senate rules to decide issues of evidence and privilege. And so if any of these witnesses have a colorable claim that they wish to make or the President on their behalf, we have a justice who is able to make those determinations, and we trust that the chief justice can do so," Schiff told reporters. "Unlike in the House, where the President could play rope a dope in the courts for years, that is not an option for the President's team here, and it gives no refuge to people who want to hide behind executive privilege to avoid the truth coming out."

This story has been updated with additional developments Friday.

This story was first published on CNN.com "House impeachment managers wrap up their case with Trump's obstruction"
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

San Francisco police on Friday announced they've arrested a second suspect connected to a violent Chinatown robbery back in July that left two men injured.

On Wednesday, officers arrested 20-year-old Akeem Smith of Sacramento on suspicion of battery, assault, robbery and elder abuse.

Smith was already being held in Alameda County on related charges, according to jail records.

Back in October, police arrested a different suspect in connection with the July robbery. Oakland resident Dashawn Pierson, 19, was taken into custody on Oct. 22 on suspicion of robbery, assault, batter and elder abuse.

While serving Pierson's arrest warrant, officers located items connected to the robbery, police said.

The robbery happened at 1:09 p.m. on July 15. Officers initially responded to Stockton Street and Pacific Avenue after someone reported a robbery there.

Officers determined that three suspects had picked up a 56-year-old San Francisco man who had the watch on and threw him to the ground. The second victim, a 69-year-old San Francisco resident, tried to intervene and the suspects knocked the person unconscious.

Both victims were taken to a hospital for head injuries and have since been released, police said.

Although two suspects have been apprehended, a third suspect remains at large.

Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call the Police Department's 24-hour tip line at (415) 575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and start the message with SFPD. Tipsters can remain anonymous.

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.
San Francisco Police Department

San Francisco police arrested a man in connection with the killing of 20 year-old Amir Alkhraisat, whose body was found last week on Treasure Island, officials said Friday.

Danilo Barraza, 21, of San Francisco was arrested and booked into San Francisco County Jail on Thursday on one count of homicide, police said. The investigation is ongoing.
How tired are you right now? If you're like many Americans, your answer probably leans more toward the sleep-deprived side.

Fifty to 70 million of us suffer from sleep problems, according to the National Sleep Foundation. And it's not just falling asleep that vexes us. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that one-third of the U.S population -- 100 million people -- arent staying asleep during the night.

As a nation, we are not getting enough sleep, says Dr. Wayne Giles, M.D., the standing director of the CDCs Division of Population Health. To compound its importance, lack of sleep negatively affects overall health. A recent study found that individuals with insomnia are five times more likely to suffer from anxiety or depression and have double the risk of congestive heart failure.

It comes as no surprise that finding remedies for sleep is a lucrative industry. Hundreds of billions of dollars a year are spent on doctor visits and medical costs related to sleep disorders.

Unfortunately, over-the-counter sleep aids have well-known negative side effects, including drowsiness and creating chemical dependency. In 2019, the FDA required new boxed warnings for sleep pharmaceuticals Ambien and Lunesta for their negative side effects like sleepwalking and even sleep driving.

Enter CBD

In recent years, CBD products have hit the market offering promises of sleep relief with little-to-no side effects. There are capsules, tinctures, gummies. Brookestone has even advertised a CBD-infused pillow.

Sounds dreamy, but do these products work?

While more research is needed to back the current published findings, several hopeful studies have begun to emerge that show CBD as an aid for insomnia and sleep.

RELATED: The Top 5 CBD Gummies On The Market Right Now

What The Science Says

CBD is one cannabinoid that has been found to interact indirectly with CB1 and CB2 receptors in your endocannabinoid system (ECS). These two receptors are considered by current research to be the part of the ECS that aids with pain relief, inflammation, relaxation, and therefore sleep.

One study published in January of 2019 called Cannabidiol in Anxiety and Sleep: A Large Case Series, points to CBD as a hopeful sleep aid. While it looked at a small pool of only 72 adults, the study found sleep scores improved within the first month of CBD use in 66.7 percent of the patients, 48 adults. It attributes sleep relief can to CBDs calming effect in the central nervous system. Over time, the benefits fluctuated. 56 percent reported improvement in sleep after about two months of continued use.

Another notable survey conducted by Project CBD examined a larger pool of 1,521 people who used CBD for issues falling and staying asleep. It found that CBD reduced the average time it took these individuals to fall asleep from 62 to 20 minutes. Users also reported waking up less throughout the night, from 4 times on average to just once with CBD. It also concluded that 75 percent of non-CBD users reported waking up tired; that number dropped to 9% for people using CBD.

The evidence is admittedly limited at this point, said Scott Christ, CEO and Founder of Pure Capsules Company told Green Entrepreneur. Christ speaks to CBDs benefit as a business owner as well as from his decade-long personal experience with insomnia.I've had trouble falling asleep and issues with waking up multiple times throughout the night. I've been tracking my sleep for a couple of years, so I had some good baseline data of how much time I took each night to fall asleep, how much I spent in Light, REM, Deep sleep, and how much time I spent on week awake each night. FitBit is one app that tracks sleep which would make the discovery of your dose also more easy to find.

CBD has helped me fall asleep much faster, within 5 minutes most nights versus 30 to 45 minutes previously, says Christ. I spend significantly more time in REM sleep, and fall back asleep easier after waking up during the night. Christ has found through clientele who take PureCapsules, that the magic number hovers around 25 milligrams for sleep

Falling Asleep Versus Staying Asleep

Data is piling up showing that CBDs benefit is in its ability to help you remain asleep for longer. A 2012 study comparing CBD with a sleep aid called nitrazepam found that high-dose CBD at 160 milligrams increased the subjects duration of sleep.

It continues to suggest that higher doses of CBD are therapeutic for anxiety, insomnia, epilepsy, and that CBD allows for, mental sedation.

How does the entourage effect, so the combination of two or more cannabinoid, affect sleep? Does CBD need to be mixed with the cannabinoid THC to be effective, like it is often advertised in dosist products?

One 2018 study performed on 409 adults over the course of two years looked at insomnia and each individuals level of symptom relief. It concluded the cannabinoids CBD and THC both showed a statistically and clinically significant improvement for insomnia. This improvement on sleep and reduction of negative symptoms was stronger for Indica than Sativa strains.

The study also parsed apart the effect of varying THC and CBD percentages. It found that, THC potencies tend to be much higher than CBD potencies across all levels of symptom relief. This may indicate an interaction effect or that the optimal ranges may differ for the two cannabinoids. The study also suggests general improvement in symptom relief for those suffering from insomnia worked best with higher CBD levels and lower THC levels.

When it comes to the entourage effect, one study conducted in 2007 called Cannabis, Pain and Sleep found the effects of both cannabinoids THC and CBD in concert to be positive. The study measured CBD and THC for sleep aid and found results that indicate a mild activating effect of CBD, and slight residual sedation with THC-predominant extracts. This is particularly solid when it comes to symptom reduction permitting better sleep. The studys author says its not a hypnosis effect, but that individuals who experience less pain, inflammation, and anxiety is in fact what will help improve sleep.

Improvements on overall sleep are hopeful but not yet conclusive. Credible studies looking at CBD (PubMed lists 6,810 at the time of this writing) do not find negative side effects for sleep when it comes to CBD use. One 2018 study from the Department of Neurosciences and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, administered 300 milligrams of CBD to 27 healthy adults. The study found it did not effect the sleep-wake cycles of healthy adults. Its a small pool, and the study didnt focus on people with sleep issues to begin with. So take it with a grain of salt.

RELATED: Is CBD Oil Addictive?

CBD And Melatonin, CBN, And Mixing Sleep Aids

Another trend in CBD sleep aids is the combination of CBD with melatonin as well as other natural sleep aid mixtures. Those mixtures are beginning to include lesser-known cannabinoids like CBN.

What does the science behind these combinations, and are they safe?

When it comes to the combination of CBD and natural sleep aid melatonin, it appears to be. There are no known negative interactions between CBD and melatonin. Both are recognized as endogenous, which means they occur naturally in the body. The body already makes both CBD and melatonin, which is another reason they exhibit significantly less side effects.

CBN is a cannabinoid that may hold untapped sleep aid potential. Dr. Jeremy Riggle, International Cannabis Research Institute two time poster acceptee. Dr. Riggle is a keynote speaker and the current Chief Scientist who oversees a quality-control, laboratories, research development, testing of raw materials and finished products, and a team of biochemists for Marys Brands.

Unfortunately, and as is the case for most of the minor cannabinoids, the research is very limited, particularly studies on human subjects, Dr. Riggle told Entrepreneur. There is a study from 1976 by Musty, et al. in which they administered CBN to human volunteers and found that it produced greater sedation than THC. Another study using an animal model found that CBN extended the sleep cycle of rodents.

CBN has also been shown to be more effective when combined with other can, Dr. Riggle explained. Its for this reason Marys Medicinals launched a combination product that contains both CBD and CBN, focused on sedation.Dr. Riggle said Marys customer feedback has been, effective for helping them fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night. He adds the comapnys consumers have also reported no residual grogginess that sometimes occurs after using other common sedatives.

An interesting thing about CBN is that the plant doesnt make very much of it naturally. For this reason, Dr. Riggle says, it is often created through a degradation product of THC. Over time, when THC is exposed to heat or light it will slowly convert to CBN. We just accelerate this process crude THC extract and expedite the degradation of THC, converting the THC to CBN.. In this particular product, a tincture, the company produces it is made using no additional chemicals such as oxidizers and acids, solvents. It is part of the Marys Medicinals line because the CBN is indirectly made from cannabis, not hemp.

Your endocannabinoid system is naturally occuring, all cannabinoids including THC, CBD and CBN are simply plugging in to those receptors. When looking at how CBD and CBN may interact with one another, the short answer is, they dont. They wont really interact with each other, nor will they compete for receptor binding sites. In fact, they actually have quite different pharmacologies different effects on the body have completely different biochemical mechanisms.

The psychoactive effect of THC is believed to be due to it binding to CB1 receptors. CBN is a weaker agonist at CB1 and CB2 receptors than THC, said Dr. Riggle. This means CBN has a lower affinity for binding to the CB1 CB2 receptors. CBN, because it does bind to these receptors albeit to a lesser degree than THC, could potentially exhibit psychoactive effects. This would be more likely in a less experienced consumer than in one who consumes more frequently, but the possibility certainly exists, Dr. Riggle explained.

Hemp-derived CBN materials are starting to become available, slowly, Dr. Riggle explained. But there is a downside. Typically, hemp-derived CBN is isolated using chemicals and some type of oxidation. Thats why CBN products, like Marys, are sold in dispensaries because of they are cannabis-derived.

The Unregulated CBD Market

In July of 2019, the FDA warned CBD companies that they cannot make unsubstaniated health claims in order to market and sell their products. This warning pointed to specific claims that CBD could cure or help with cancer, alheimers, anxiety, pain relief. This warning does not mention sleep.

Meanwhile, the FDA has also not made any substantial moves in its own research and claims to support or deny. Unregulated CBD is unfortunately being sold online so be cautious and only purchase from trusted manufacturers. Consult a doctor and listen to your body when it comes to the dosage and the use of CBD.

RELATED: 6 Things You Need To Know When Shopping For CBD Oil

Here Are 5 CBD Brands For Sleep You Should Consider:

While any CBD tincture or capsule from a trusted brand can work for sleep, here are five different brands we have found to be effective.

(Photo courtesy of Marys Brands)

The Remedy CBN: CBD from Marys Nutritionals

Marys Brands, both of their sister companies Marys Nutritionals CBD line and Marys Medicinals cannabis line, offertinctures called The Remedy. In particular, the companys CBN:CBD combination tincture is a good option for those seeking some sleep relief. The company told Entrepreneur their hope was to create a product with the potential to help reduce common causes of sleep disturbances.More cannabinoid research is emerging to prove it as an effective option.

White Fox Remedies Tranquility Tincture (Photo by Lindsey Bartlett/Green Entrepreneur)

Tranquility from White Fox Remedies

The company White Fox Remedies makes a sleepy, sedative tincture called Tranquility. Ingredients in this relaxing coconut-oil based mixture include kava kava, skull cap, vanilla beans, and chamomile. Their flavor is subtle, a slight taste of coconut oil is welcomed. Each bottle contains 300 milligrams of CBD and each dropper at 10 milligrams. White Fox says to expect a 15 to 20 minute onset time.

(Photo courtesy PureCapsule Company)

PureCapsules CBD Tincture from PureCapsule Company

The PureCapsule Company A new company has a trusted and well-manufactured lineup of tincture and capsules worth trying for sleep aid. PureCapsules mint CBD Oil features full-spectrum CBD, meaning it contains more than the cannabinoid CBD but other beneficial cannabinoids as well. This is what constitutes the full spectrum of the hemp plants natural cannabinoids. The tincture is great for insomniacs because it works faster than other administration methods, says Pure Capsule Company's founder Scott Christ. The bottle contains 750 milligrams total, with 25 milligrams per dropper, which is his personal recommended dose for a nighttime. From his own experience with insomnia, Christ says tracking your sleep is crucial; You cant improve what you dont measure. Adding the time period for noticing difference should be at least three to four weeks, for some people even months.

(Photo courtesy of Mellowment)

Gravity PM from Mellowment

Mellowment has a popular series Sleep Aid capsules that contain, inside each, 25 milligrams of what Mellowment has called nano CBD: plus 1 milligram of melatonin, 1 milligram of chamomile. What is nano CBD you ask? Gravity says it extracts CBD from hemp using a unique process of water-soluble cannabinoid-rich nanoemulsion. Gravity PM gets its namesake from production partner Gravity Blankets, the inventor of those popular weighted blankets you keep hearing about.

Drops+ Sleep from Plant People

Another combination CBD and CBN mixture can be found in this popular tincture line from Plant People called Drops+ Sleep. The formulation contains CBD, a small ratio percentage (about 1:6) of CBN and CBC, plus terpenes Myrcene, Linalool, Humulene, Geraniol, Terpineol, Delta-3-Carene, Nerolidol. The offering comes in two different options for potency: 720 milligrams and 1440 milligrams. A company focused on transparency, Plant People lists its complete lab report online for its most recent batch. For even more good karma, the company donates a percentage of every single sale to environmental protection organization American Forests.

Related:

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Block It Out: Bose 700 Noise Cancelling Headphones

Can CBD Help You Sleep? Here's What The Research Tells Us



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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday met Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro and discussed ways to deepen ties between the two countries in a range of areas, including trade and investment.

Later in the day, Bolsonaro and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold extensive talks following which the two countries are expected to ink 15 agreements to boost cooperation in a wide-range of areas like oil and gas, mining and cyber security.

Bolsonaro arrived here on Friday, accompanied by his daughter Laura Bolsonaro, daughter-in-law Leticia Firmo, eight ministers, four members of the Brazilian parliament and a large business delegation.

Bolsonaro and Jaishankar deliberated on ways to deepen overall bilateral cooperation including in areas like trade and investment, officials said.

The Brazilian president is in India primarily to grace the Republic Day celebrations on Sunday as chief guest and explore ways to boost trade ties with India at a time when both the large economies are hit by slowdowns.

India's ties with Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, has been on an upswing in the last few years. The country has a population of 210 million with USD 1.8 trillion economy.

This is the first visit of President Bolsonaro to India.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, won a landslide victory in Brazil's presidential election in October 2018 and took the reins of the country in January last year.

India-Brazil ties have been on an upswing in the last few years.

The volume of bilateral trade was USD 8.2 billion in 2018-19. This included USD 3.8 billion worth of Indian exports to Brazil and USD 4.4 million as imports by India.

Both the governments feel there is huge potential to enhance the bilateral trade further.

Major Indian exports to Brazil include agro-chemicals, synthetic yarns, auto components and parts, pharmaceutical and petroleum products. Brazilian exports to India include crude oil, gold, vegetable oil, sugar and bulk mineral and ores.

Indian investments in Brazil were around USD 6 billion and Brazilian investments in India are estimated at USD 1 billion in 2018.

Brazilian investments in India are mainly in automobiles, IT, mining, energy and biofuel sectors. India has invested in Brazil's IT, pharmaceutical, energy, agri-business, mining and engineering sectors.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China Youth Daily reported on Thursday that the country announced that it will launch its first Mars mission probe in July 2020. This is the first time the country disclosed the launch month of its Mars exploration programme, according to the newspaper which cited sources from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).

The Mars probe will be sent by the Long March-5 Y4 carrier rocket. The Long March-5 Y4 rocket has recently completed a 100-second test for its high thrust hydrogen-oxygen engine, which is the last engine examination before the final assembly, Xinhua reported.

According to the CASC, China will send a probe to orbit and land and deploy a rover on Mars.In 2020, the Long March-5 rocket will carry out several missions, including the Mars probe launch and the lunar sample return.

A total of 24 high thrust hydrogen-oxygen rocket engine tests will be conducted this year for these missions. In November last year, China unveiled an experiment simulating the process of a probe hovering, avoiding obstacles and descending to land on Mars.

The experiment was held on a trial ground, the largest one in Asia for test landing on extraterrestrial bodies, in Huailai county, Hebei province, reported Xinhua. How to safely land on Mars is one of the biggest challenges facing the mission.

The experiment simulated the gravity of Mars, about one-third of the gravity on Earth, to test the design of the lander.



*Edited from an IANS report
The taxpayer bailout that the beleaguered Unity Center for Behavioral Health has called for may do little to solve the staggering financial losses reported by the three-year-old psychiatric facility, according to calculations by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Leaders of the emergency and short-term psychiatric hospital last month reported theyd experienced a $21 million annual loss and were on track to do so again this year. So they formally proposed a solution to the state. They asked the Oregon Health Authority to dramatically increase payments for a slice of the population served at Unity: people with protracted mental illness awaiting transfer to the Oregon State Hospital.

But even under the most charitable calculations, Unity would receive only about $7.4 million more in revenue a year if state officials greenlight the proposal, the newsrooms analysis suggests.

And if history is any indicator, the requested financial cushion could be far less.

Thats important because officials at the four hospital systems that together help finance the center have said they cant continue losing so much money and only anticipated a $6 million annual operating deficit.

The Oregonian/OregonLive shared its calculations with officials at Legacy Health, which operates the Unity Center. The calculations are based on Unitys past written statements and state hospital data maintained by the Oregon Health Authority.

Hospital officials did not dispute the newsrooms calculations. In a statement, Legacy said Unity is unfairly shouldering the responsibility to care for patients with severe mental health issues because the state hospital is full.

Unity wants to be paid the same per patient as the state psychiatric hospital.

We are working diligently with our partners to forge solutions that will enable Unity Center to be more financially sustainable, Lynnea Lindsey, director of behavioral health services for Legacy Health, said in a statement Friday. Fair reimbursement for the services we provide is one part of what we need to achieve this, but it is not the only answer.

The Oregon Health Authority is considering Unitys funding request, though it has never granted one like it before. Spokesman Robb Cowie said that Unity, Multnomah County and state officials will meet next week to continue to discuss solutions but have not decided what to do.

We want Unity to be successful, Cowie said in a statement. At the same time, we have to manage a statewide mental health system within our approved budget. We know that decisions we make about Unity will have consequences for other care providers across the state and the patients they serve.

Unity opened in February 2017 as an alternative place to treat severely mentally ill people who otherwise end up in ERs and jails. Unity now serves as the primary backstop for police, hospitals and other players in the Portland metro area.

And now it is playing that role for the state. In December, the states psychiatric hospital in Salem stopped accepting most patients who werent charged with a crime because of a judges ruling that those patients couldnt wait more than a week for treatment.

Now other patients who qualify for treatment at the state psychiatric hospital are waiting at facilities like Unity because there are no beds available. Thats particularly a problem for Unity, which has accounted for nearly 40% of patients qualified for transfer to the state hospital from acute care facilities since 2017, according to preliminary state data.

A Unity leader said that has caused a public health crisis, as patients wait for days in recliners in its psychiatric emergency room because the inpatient beds are full of people waiting to be transferred to the state hospital.

Most patients admitted to Unity are on the Oregon Health Plan, the states version of Medicaid, which is billed for their care. But once medical providers say the patient needs care from the state hospital, that triggers a cut off of Medicaid funding.

The state uses general funds to pay for patients to be treated at the state mental hospital.

No other Oregon hospital or treatment center receives the same per-patient funding rate as the state hospital, and allocating a higher rate to Unity would mark the only extra subsidy for an acute care provider.

The stakes are high. Portland and Multnomah County elected officials rely heavily on Unity, but said they have no responsibility to pay for the centers operations. That is up to the state, they said.

If the health authority does want to subsidize Unitys operations, the Oregon Legislature would have to give its approval, according to the Oregon Health Authority. Some state lawmakers expect to see a proposal during this years short session.

Unity, which is funded by Legacy, Oregon Health & Science University, Adventist Health and Kaiser Permanente, is the premier psychiatric hospital for the Portland area.

Unity officials say they factored in a $6 million annual revenue loss when they opened the doors. But the actual losses mounted faster with each successive year.

As early as the summer of 2019, Unity officials warned the Health Authority they were worried about their financial outlook. Those conversations ramped up to a fever pitch at the end of 2019 when Unity leaders said the facility might not be able to stay open without additional state general funds.

Unitys growing financial troubles became public less than three weeks ago, and it remains unclear how hospital officials have calculated their losses.

In a December memo, Unity reported an $11.9 million loss for the 2018 fiscal year, a $21.1 million loss for 2019  both before the judges ruling led to a backlog of patients awaiting transfer. They still project a $21.4 million loss for 2020. This is not financially sustainable, they wrote.

Unity pointed to three factors: higher staffing costs, long lengths of stay for people in the inpatient facility, and Unitys unanticipated role treating people awaiting transfer to the state hospital.

While Unity provided no financial details about the first two issues, hospital officials proposed the solution for the third.

They requested higher reimbursements from state, from the $834 per day theyve been receiving to $1,450, which Unity says is how much the state pays the state hospital.

Given the gap Unity Center is filling for the state in caring for this population, we request reimbursement for these patients to be increased, officials wrote.

Unity has not disclosed how the rate increase could impact its bottom line. So The Oregonian/OregonLive used publicly available information to seek an answer.

At the height of its crisis this month, Unity told the state that 30% of our beds are pending OSH transfer. The newsroom used that rate to calculate how much more money Unity could receive at the $616 higher rate, assuming 33 patients of Unitys 107 beds would be awaiting transfer to the state hospital every day for a year.

The total: $7.4 million more for a year.

And that is likely an overestimate, since about 20% of Unity beds are for adolescents, who cannot be sent to the state hospital.

State data also suggest that calculating that 30% of its beds would be consistently allotted to patients awaiting transfer is an overestimate. Before the judges ruling at the end of 2019, Unity served, on average, only 15 patients per month who qualified for the state hospital. At that rate, Unity would receive only $3.4 million more annually.

Hospital officials on Friday declined to say what percentage of Unity patients are typically awaiting transfer to the state hospital, or how much they estimate they could collect annually under higher rates.

When any one part of the ecosystem of behavioral health care in our state is strained or at capacity, the effect is felt by the rest of the care community and in turn, people seeking help, Lindsey, Legacys behavioral health director, said in a statement. We must work together so that people who are suffering from behavioral health issues can get the help they desperately need, when they need it and where they need it.

Legacy Health did not address the newsrooms calculations in its statement.

Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury agreed that no single entity will solve the problems Unity is facing. All partners should be focused on how to make sure Unity stays open, Kafoury said, but the county isnt planning to commit public funding to its operations. If more taxpayer money is in the mix, that is up to the state to decide, she said.

We all have a role to play and that's why were engaged at this point, Kafoury said. Not because we have some financial obligation or some statutory obligation but because we as a member of our community have an obligation.

Instead, she plans to use the crisis as an opportunity to ask the legislature to restore $9 million for community-based mental health treatment that was set aside in a previous budget so that people can get lower levels of treatment before they need to use a facility like Unity.

Amanda Fritz, the lone member of the Portland City Council in office when Unity was proposed in 2015, said Unitys struggles are concerning but not unexpected.

A former psychiatric nurse, Fritz said the entire health system is inadequate for people with mental illness and there arent enough community support options. Fritz said Unity plays a vital role.

But she agreed with Kafoury: The state has to figure this out.

Rep. Cedric Hayden, a Roseburg Republican who is vice chairman of the subcommittee on behavioral health, said lawmakers are already bracing for a budget ask in the upcoming session.

Ill be a little hesitant, he said of supporting funding for Unity.

Hayden, like others, said he has numerous questions.

Is Unity going to become a fixture that the state funds, in addition to the state hospital? he asked. Or will it be short term, with some parameters around it, for what they have to achieve?

-- Molly Harbarger and Brad Schmidt

mharbarger@oregonian.com | 503-294-5923 | @MollyHarbarger

bshmidt@oregonian.com

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
Cody Bahn, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

One of our goals for 2020 is to increase membership so we can make a better impact with youth and children in the community. After our first meeting of the year, we welcomed new member Dhelynn McClellan, Outreach Coordinator for The Treehouse Center in Conroe. We are off to a great start!

Speakers are a great way to share information with the members of Conroe Noon Kiwanis. We have a couple of speakers secured for upcoming meetings and hope to prospective members come to lunch to hear them.
He is probably the fittest mayor in the United States. And on Friday San Antonio's Ron Nirenberg took to Twitter to further show a commitment to the physical wellbeing of the city he leads by touting a final push of the citywide 1-million push-ups challenge.

As DreamWeek San Antonio wraps up, the mayor said he was challenged to do his part for the push-up challenge that annually coincides with the community summit.
Kearney, the global consulting partnership formerly known as AT Kearney, has announced an all-encompassing rebranding.

As part of a comprehensive review of Kearneys existing brand and value proposition, the firm reached out to clients, firm partners, colleagues, and alumni for their perspectives on what they find distinctive and valuable in Kearney people, how they work, and how the firm contributes to client successall of which contributed to shaping the new brand messaging, visual identity, and a highly personal storytelling approach to communications, the company said.

Consultants play a key role in shaping the future of the public and private sectors, particularly in this region with national transformations underway aspiring to be progressive, innovative and forward-looking. Our consultants work closely with leaders at all levels to develop and implement strategies and plans that make a difference. This brand refresh really puts the spotlight on our people as we work together with key stakeholders to create whats next in this region, commented Bob Willen, Head of Middle East and Africa, Kearney.

Our people are our brand, and our rebrand focuses squarely on that personal dimension, said Abby Klanecky, Partner and Chief Marketing Officer at Kearney.

One example of Kearneys new brand direction is a commitment to eliminating stock photography and using 100 per cent crowdsourced imagery from Kearney colleagues, showcasing their individual perspectives from around the world. From October to December 2019, the company collected more than 10,000 original photographs shot by Kearneys global employees.

The new name Kearney also reflects the firms emphasis on community. Kearney remains wedded to the values and commitment to client service embodied by the firms founder, Andrew Thomas Kearney. Removing initials A.T. from the name recognises the broader global Kearney family of employees, alumni, and friends who contribute to its success.

For decades, our brand was centered primarily around our heritage, in which we take extraordinary pride, said Klanecky. While showcasing our firms family name demonstrates that we remain true to our origins, our updated name, brand voice, and visual identity are more concise and personal, embracing who we are today.

Alex Liu, Chairman and Managing Partner of Kearney, observed: The most exciting aspect of our new brand is that it so accurately captures our voice. Our firm is refreshingly real, relatable, and original. To that end, we are eliminating industry jargon. Kearney people are always themselves. We speak plainly, listen closely, and build great working relationships. We take joy in each other, and in every success achieved side by side with our clients.

Kearney engaged global brand strategy, design, and experience firm Siegel+Gale to help gather insights from clients, partners, colleagues, and stakeholder communities to pinpoint distinguishing and original firm traits.-- Tradearabia News Service
The answer can be found in Sudhir Sitapatis book The CEO Factory published by Juggernaut Books. Sitapati had joined Hindustan Unilever (HUL) in 1999 as a management trainee fresh out of IIM Ahmedabad. During his career, he was always aware of the giant reputation that HUL held among its peers in the corporate world. Sitapati rose the corporate ladder to become executive director deeply ingrained in the HUL culture and practices.

Some of the best companies in India and abroad have HUL alumni as their CEOs. Sitapati, his colleagues at HUL and most leaders in the corporate sector are well aware of this. But it wasnt until his publisher, Chiki Sarkar, co-founder of Juggernaut Books asked why this was the case, until he pondered the question seriously and agreed there was a book that was waiting to be written about it.

In an exclusive conversation with Adgully, Sitapati speaks about his book The CEO Factory and the legacy of Hindustan Unilever.

What is the premise of this book?

The basic question I asked is Why is HUL a CEO factory? The real question is Why has this company done well for so long?

We have this ritual at HUL where retired directors meet once a year in July for dinner. Our former chairman, Harish Manwani in his last speech spoke about.the same things I have written in the book. He said that when he joined HUL in the 1980s and 70s it was one of the top 5 companies in India remains among the top 5.

Researching for the book, I actually realised that HUL had been a top 5 Indian company for much longer. We idealise companies after looking at their performance for 3-5 years and make heroes out of them but if you look at a longer period you find fewer and fewer companies who have stayed at the top of their game. While there have been some groups at the top for many years, no single company has been at the top of their game like HUL has.

What is the culture of HUL and how did you come to join the company?

Ive written in the book that the culture of the company is meritocratic, entrepreneurial, frugal, middle class and egalitarian. At the heart of Levers culture is our middle class soul.

HUL culture is interesting and has its antecedents in its Anglo-Dutch origins. Our social conscience comes from the English arm of Unilever. The Dutch arm brought in the hardworking and frugal mindset. HUL started hiring senior managers who were Indians as early as the 1950s, soon after Independence. The entrepreneurial culture has come in as a consequence of that.

It was at my dads insistence that I joined HUL straight out of IIM Ahmedabad. Dad started his career in L&T and his close friend from IIT Bombay was a senior guy at Lever. People from that generation and even leaders today have a different view of HUL.

He was opposed to me doing a desk job and felt that your first job should always be on the field. He felt that Lever gave the best training and for a young professional there was no better place than HUL to get their grounding.

Whoever joins HUL undergoes management training for a year. You spend a few months in every function doing the job where the rubber meets the road. In the first 2 months, I was going shop to shop along with a salesman often carrying a handcart. In those days I worked in the Dalda division when we used to own Dalda Vanaspati. Following that, I went door to door and did market research. So during the first year people get a taste of the operational realities.

Why are HUL alumni so valued in corporate leadership?

I would argue that most people who have left HUL and gone to other companies have been ambassadors of Lever culture. Often what you think is professional management in Indian companies owes its origins to Lever. It has been a fountainhead of management practices and corporate culture in India.

People who come to Lever have a shared experience of the company as a value driven meritocracy and a great collegial culture. It is a company where you can sleep at night without anything weighing on your conscience.

A few years ago someone from my IIM Ahmedabad batch had written in a blog that out of my 180 batchmates only 3 people in the last 20 years had stuck to their first job. He wrote that the 2-3 companies which had retained its employees were all top class companies.

The question is, why do some people stick to a company for a long period of time while others leave. I have been with HUL for 20 years and Im not the exception but the norm.

When you joined HUL in the 90s was it known for its consumer centricity?

Forget the 90s, it was Unilevers former chairman Prakash Tandon who set up the first market research division in India. Yesterday, while I was at the Market Research Society of India, I shared how the first market research in India was done in 1937 by Lever.

As I recall, when we introduced Dalda in this country most Indians were used to using ghee. The first market research was a team at Unilever standing outside Regal Cinema making puris in Dalda oil and getting consumers to give feedback. This was before even the silent era of cinema. Consumer centricity has been in the DNA of the company.

Most people are aware of HUL brands but not the company. Why?

If you have a portfolio approach to brands then the company has to take a backseat. In every category, we like to have 3-4 positions which are often counter to each other. Lets take tea for example, our brand Taza is known for freshness and Brooke Bond is about togetherness and connoisseurship. A consumer who wants connoisseurship doesnt also want to be associated with a brand known for freshness. This approach has led to 9 out of 10 Indians having sampled a HUL product during their lives which is a staggering number. Forget Facebook and Google, there is nothing in India that 90% of Indians have in common.

Also Read:

Jackie Kalwani elevated to Media Manager at Hindustan Unilever

Geometry Encompass and Hindustan Unilever Come Together Kumbh Mela 2019
A baby was found abandoned near a busy main road in east London this morning.

The baby boy was found in a grey babygrow and hat on Sandringham Road, Dalston, just off the busy Kingsland Road at around 11.40am.

Police said the baby appears to have been born outside of a hospital.

He is now being cared for at an east London hospital.

The Metropolitan Police has appealed for his mother to come forward, so that she can also receive medical care and support.

Appealing to the mother, Inspector Kevin Weeks said: "I would urge the mother of this baby to make contact either with police, your local hospital or GP surgery and let us know that you are safe and can receive any medical care you may need. Our primary focus is to ensure the wellbeing of both you and your child.

"I would also urge anyone who has information that could help us to reunite this baby with his mother to come forward."
January 25, 2020 - Ottawa, Ontario  Global Affairs Canada

Canadas diverse talent, access to new and growing markets, and progressive and open trade are all vital to Canadas economic prosperity and lead to good jobs and opportunities for the middle class.

This week, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, the Honourable Navdeep Bains, and the Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade, the Honourable Mary Ng, showcased Canada on the international stage at the World Economic Forums Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

The Ministers met with their international partners and business leaders from around the world to talk about how Canada is an excellent, stable place to invest and do business.

Minister Bains participated in sessions where he reaffirmed Canadas commitment to science, research, technology and innovation and underscored the governments desire to bring zero-emission vehicle manufacturing capacity to Canada.

In addition, Minister Bains announced our support of Mastercards project to help establish a new global Intelligence and Cyber Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia with an investment of $49 million. The Centre will focus on creating technologies and standards to ensure that Canadians and others around the world can safely use any device that could be connected to the Internetphone, tablet, computer, vehiclewithout concern that their personal and financial information could be stolen.

Minister Ng led discussion groups at the WEF Stewards meeting about the future of trade and the global economy, and promoted progressive trade deals as a way to create more opportunities and jobs for Canadians across the country.

Minister Ng also highlighted how an inclusive approach to trade policy ensures that all people benefit from the increasingly interconnected world  including women, Indigenous entrepreneurs, and small businesses.

As Chair of the Canada-led Ottawa Group on WTO Reform, Minister Ng led efforts to modernize and strengthen the World Trade Organization (WTO)  to create a more transparent, predictable system for businesses in Canada and around the world. She advanced discussions on how we can ensure trade disputes are resolved effectively, as well as how Ottawa Group members can help organize a successful 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in June 2020.

Minister Ng and her international partners spoke about key issues under discussion at the WTO such as e-commerce, investment facilitation, and fisheries subsidies  with a focus on giving businesses the stability they need to succeed. Meaningful agreement is needed at the next WTO Ministerial Conference to ensure sustainable management of the worlds fish resources  which we know is important for Canadian businesses in this sector.

Minister Ng also endorsed the Cairns Group Ministerial Statement on Agriculture, which reaffirms WTO members commitment to reforming agriculture trade in the long-term, to making progress across all areas under negotiation, and to supporting Canadian farmers and producers. She closed the week at the WEF at the WTO mini-ministerial meeting hosted by Switzerland where she briefed her counterparts on her discussions with the Ottawa Group on WTO reform and how it will benefit Canadian businesses from coast to coast to coast.
A new short film, 'Besties', shot in Enniscorthy will receive its world premiere in the Presentation Centre on Friday, February 7

The world premiere of a new short film, 'Besties', will take place in the Presentation Centre, Enniscorthy, at 7.30pm on Friday, February 7.

The film features members of Enniscorthy Drama Group and the launch is being organised to raise money for Focus Ireland.

The cast features some well known faces from the acting world in Enniscorthy including: Karen Franklin; Jennafer Boyd; Fintan Kelly; Summer Venn-Keane; Maeve Ennis and Jennifer Kelly.

The film was directed by local filmmaker, Dick Donoghue, and was produced by Jer Ennis.

The film was shot in Enniscorthy and tells the story of two best friends who fall out as a result of a misinterpreted situation.

There will also be two other short films premiered on the night.

'Dark Waters', starring Sharon Griffiths, with David Parsons, which was filmed in Bridgetown, and 'What Next Mother', which is a comedy filmed in Bunclody.

It stars Mary Gibson, Elaine Jordan, Niall Kennedy and Lauren Jordan.

All proceeds from the premiere night will be donated to Focus Ireland and those involved in the launch said the aim of the event will be to 'shine a light on the homelessness issue, raise much needed funds and also to show off local writing and acting talent'.
Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - Rwandan newspapers this week made a wide coverage of the latest shooting incident where a Ugandan national was shot by Rwanda security agents after he and two others were intercepted smuggling narcotic and illicit drugs into the country
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  A proposal to boost spending on early childhood programs  by tapping New Mexicos largest permanent fund  began a familiar march through the state House on Friday.

In a committee hearing, supporters of the legislation, House Joint Resolution 1, described it as a prudent strategy that would help interrupt the cycle of poverty in one of the poorest states in the nation.

The proposal has repeatedly passed the state House in recent years but run aground in the Senate.

Opponents argued Friday that the measure would damage the long-term financial strength of the Land Grant Permanent Fund, endangering a stable source of revenue for public schools.

Advocates nonetheless said the growing size of the fund  now $19.7 billion  and the creation of a new state department to coordinate early childhood programs add extra weight to their argument.

Rep. Antonio Moe Maestas, an Albuquerque Democrat and a co-sponsor of the proposal, said New Mexico is taking so little out of the fund each year that its irresponsible. The fund would continue to grow at a healthy rate, he said, even if the annual distribution climbs from 5% to 6%, as proposed.

We are hoarding cash amidst a crisis of our young people, Maestas said Friday.

Opponents said they have new arguments on their side, too. They suggested that a different source of funding  through creation of a new early childhood trust fund  is a smarter strategy to expand spending on prekindergarten and similar programs.

The proposed trust fund is part of a budget package recommended by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and a bipartisan legislative committee.

Rep. Rebecca Dow, R-Truth or Consequences, said Friday that there are challenges beyond just money. New Mexico, she said, needs to build up a qualified workforce in early childhood services to handle the increased workload.

Im extremely concerned, Dow said. More money isnt necessarily the answer.

The House Commerce and Economic Development Committee voted 7-4 along party lines Friday to endorse the legislation. It must also clear the Education Committee before reaching the House floor.

Approval by the Senate and by voters in a statewide election would also be required.

We have an opportunity to save a generation of New Mexicos children from poverty, and we dont have to raise a penny of taxes to do it, Rep. Javier Martinez, an Albuquerque Democrat and a co-sponsor of the legislation, told his colleagues.
After three days of eight-hour presentations by the House managers prosecuting the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump, the defense team took the stage Saturday morning. The presidents lawyers immediately made clear that they would not be following in the prosecutions slow, methodical, somewhat repetitive footsteps. Speaking for a scant two hours, they vowed to keep things short and sweet.

We dont anticipate using that much time, said Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, in his opening remarks. We dont believe that they have come anywhere close to meeting their burden for what theyre asking you to do.

And what does the presidents team contend that the House managers are asking the Senate to do?

Theyre asking you not only to overturn the results of the last election, but as Ive said before, theyre asking you to remove President Trump from the ballot in an election thats occurring in approximately nine months, Mr. Cipollone said. Theyre asking you to tear up all of the ballots across this country on your own initiative, take that decision away from the American people.

The Democrats pursuing the case against Mr. Trump say they are worried about the integrity of the electoral process, Mr. Cipollone said. But dont believe them, he warned. They are here to perpetrate the most massive interference of an election in American history. You cant allow that to happen.
The heartbroken boyfriend of alleged cancer scammer Lucy Wieland has revealed the final words he said to his girlfriend before finding out the devastating truth.

Brad Congerton, who was a doting carer to his girlfriend after believing she had aggressive ovarian cancer, told Wieland 'I love you' - just hours before discovering he had been allegedly lied to.

Speaking about the last time he talked to his then-girlfriend, Mr Congerton explained the meticulous morning routine he went through to care for her.

'Id sit her up in bed, get her some food, take her to the toilet, set up her biomat in bed to do three hours,' he told the Townsville Bulletin.

Lucy Wieland (pictured, right) allegedly defrauded her ex-boyfriend Bradley ( Congerton (left) between the end of May and mid-October 2018

Lucy Wieland (pictured) told friends and family she had aggressive ovarian cancer and needed pioneering treatment

'Set up her nebuliser to make sure it had enough juice and sit her medication by her bed.

'I did that every day for her. That morning, I kissed her goodbye, said "I love you" and went to work. That was the last time I spoke to her.'

Mr Congerton dedicated his life to caring for his sick girlfriend, spending all his life savings on pioneering treatment.

He also took out a $12,000 loan, and two other $5,000 loans, in a desperate attempt to save her.

His colleagues at the Australian Defence Force even held a huge fundraiser and a bake sale to help.

Lucy Victoria Wieland (pictured), 28, allegedly scammed loved ones and the Townsville community out of $55,000 by claiming the cash would be used to treat her cancer

But he was called into his manager's office at work one day and confronted with a detective and medical examiner who told him about the allegations.

The couple had met through the army seven years ago, with Wieland working at the Defence Bank.

Wieland, 28, allegedly scammed loved ones and the Townsville community out of $55,000 by claiming the cash would be used to treat stage five ovarian cancer on crowdfunding site GoFundMe.

Lucy Wieland (pictured) was allegedly stashing fake breast cancer drugs in her boyfriend's home

Fully committed to his girlfriend's health, Mr Congerton planned to have children with her and was planning their life together.

It was Mr Congerton who initially set up the GoFundMe page to save his girlfriend's life, titled 'help me save her life'.

He has since received death threats from the public, convinced that he must have known his girlfriend didn't have cancer.

But he was also allegedly being lied to, and was doing 'everything he could to save her'.

His own father was even considering withdrawing his super so they could go to Germany for a pioneering $50,000 treatment.

They had started to explore pricey alternative medicines, including vitamin infusions and hemp oil.

Brad Congerton (pictured) had spent all his life savings trying to save his girlfriend's life, after believing she had aggressive ovarian cancer

Brad Congerton (pictured, right) took care of Wieland, with his own dad offering to withdraw his super so they could go to Germany for treatment

And when Wieland went to apparent chemotherapy appointments, she would never let her boyfriend come in the clinic - saying she 'didn't want him to see her like that', he alleged.

Instead he would drop her outside and pick her up afterwards, while her supposed surgeries always happened when he was away for work.

Wieland was charged with fraud, possession of restricted drugs and forgery in 2018.

She is now also facing additional charges relating to alleged crimes committed against her ex-boyfriend.

Police are understood to have found pills labelled 'Letrozole', a breast cancer treatment, at Wieland's house.

But it will be alleged the drugs were actually an antibacterial treatment for urinary tract infections called methenamine.

Wieland was expected to appear in Townsville Magistrates Court on Thursday but she failed to appear as she now lives in Gladstone.

Her absence was excused by Magistrate Steven Mosch.

The case is expected to be heard on January 29.

Lucy Wieland (pictured) allegedly pretended to go to appointments at a cancer clinic despite not having the disease

Wieland previously accused Mr Congerton of betraying her after cutting off contact.

'I'm not accusing him of anything but what the f*** has happened? I thought I was dying,' she allegedly wrote to friends.

Wieland claimed she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in March 2018 and had to shut down her beauty salon due to her deteriorating health.

Police believe Mr Congerton was not aware the entire ordeal was an alleged scam, and those who knew the couple believe he fell prey to Wieland's lies.

Detective Inspector Chris Lawson said Wieland was arrested after a member of the public tipped off detectives.
The two streams trickling through the Hollin Hills neighborhood in Northern Virginia have long been part of the charm of the woodsy community, where homes were built without fences in what was meant to be a shared sense of harmony with nature.

But after years of polluted storm water runoff rushing in from nearby gutters, the streams are eroding - and so is the feeling of togetherness in an enclave of $1 million houses that has become part of a larger debate over how to fix damaged streams in the Chesapeake Bay region.

A normally cheery online neighborhood forum has crackled with angry exchanges about a Fairfax County plan to deal with the polluted waterways, with one side anxious about the ragged stream beds and the other worried their historic neighborhood will be overrun by a massive government project that will destroy dozens of towering trees.

Each group has accused the other of fearmongering, leading to a "real bitterness," said Monique Derfuss, who operates a gong meditation and yoga studio near one of the streams and is against the county plan. "Some people give me the stink eye because they know . . . I'm part of this group."

Since 2010, when the Obama administration enacted federal water quality requirements for the bay, 142 miles worth of streams have been repaired in its watershed, with about half of that work occurring in the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

A billion-dollar industry has emerged as local governments work to stay below EPA limits for urban runoff that allow them to qualify for storm water permits and that help determine federal funding to states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

But environmental scientists say it is unclear whether the high-cost projects are worth the investment. The work typically uses heavy machinery to clear old trees and plant new ones around re-engineered streams that contain boulders, wood and vegetation meant to absorb harmful pollutants.

In some cases, such projects may be hurting surrounding wildlife unnecessarily, some experts say.

"You modify the system so much that you risk transforming a stream ecosystem into something else. And the question becomes: Is that good?" said Solange Filoso, an aquatic biologist at the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science who advocates for smarter stream restoration designs and a greater focus on the sources of urban runoff.

"These restorations are not so reliable that they justify changing a stream ecosystem so dramatically for a result that is not 100 percent guaranteed," Filoso said. "I think that we may be losing a lot more than we're gaining."

Most stream restorations are geared toward state and federal mandates for reducing the amounts of nitrogen, phosphorous and sediments - byproducts of urban runoff - draining into the bay every year.

Filoso said there has been a tendency for projects to be done near the bottom of local watersheds, based on the assumption that they will filter out greater quantities of pollutants, allowing local agencies to claim they are closer to meeting those mandates.

Some of the "wetland complexes" created by the restorations appear to be successful at absorbing nitrogen, she said, but are not as effective at keeping phosphorous and small particulates of solid waste from entering the bay.

"They're trying to create little filters at the end that can solve all the problems in the watershed," Filoso said. "It's not happening."

Thomas Jordan, a senior scientist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, said a fair amount of guesswork is involved in the effort. He cited a $1 million project on his center's property in Anne Arundel County that initially caused the water to turn a rusty color - because of iron leaching out of rehydrated soil - and, later, appeared to be no more effective at removing pollutants than a beaver dam further downstream.

"And the beavers do that free," he said.

Jordan said growing urgency about the bay has allowed projects to go forward without conclusive evidence as to the best approach.

"They're going to try some stuff, where it looks like it might work," he said. "The rationale is: 'We need to do something now.' "

Rod Simmons, a plant ecologist who works for the city of Alexandria, Virginia, said the cumulative damage to the region's tree canopy because of stream restorations over the years should be alarming to local government officials.

He and other critics say the government should instead prioritize "low-tech" repairs that rely more on dead trees and other vegetation in the area to fortify streams.

"As a society, we get out of sorts over the loss of one acre of Amazonian rainforest, but we're doing the same thing right here," Simmons said. "You can't replant a forest, as much as these guys like to say you can. They put young trees back in and some seed mixture . . . but that hardly replaces the biodiversity that was there."

In Annandale, Virginia, a $1.7 million Fairfax County restoration of Indian Run required dozens of trees to be cut down. After nearly a year of construction, the now-widened waterway is fortified with large boulders. It winds through a clearing where young trees will be planted to replace the older ones.

But homeowner Laura Anderko said a family of barred owls that nested there seems to have disappeared. And polluted water still comes gushing down a long concrete chute from a nearby school parking lot during heavy storms.

"They're not fixing the source of the problem," said Anderko, a Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies professor who focuses on the public health effects of climate change. "If we're doing this in the name of the environment, then we should be very thoughtful about how we're going about it."

Local and state officials in the Washington region say the stream restorations have been vital in storm water management programs that include upgrading infrastructure, monitoring for illegal dumping and reimbursing homeowners who plant vegetation to prevent runoff.

Several jurisdictions have reaffirmed their commitments to such projects in recent weeks, after an EPA official in charge of the Chesapeake's cleanup called "the maximum daily loads" of pollutants allowed in the bay before it is considered unhealthy - known as TMDLs - "aspirational."

"The Bay TMDL is not simply aspirational, it's enforceable, and it's not simply informational, it's integral to our success," Ben Grumbles, secretary of Maryland's Department of the Environment, said in a statement.

Both Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, say they're considering legal action to force the EPA to be more aggressive about bay cleanup efforts. Northam's proposed budget also allocates $182 million to the Stormwater Local Assistance Fund, which helps finance stream restorations.

Fairfax County, the region's largest jurisdiction, has been the most active on stream restorations, completing 71 since 2010, with another seven under construction. The one planned for Hollin Hills has generated the most controversy.

That $2.6 million project began after Elizabeth Lardner - a resident who oversees park maintenance for the neighborhood - noticed a homeowner's sewer line had become exposed and was leaking raw sewage into the eroding stream bed.

Lardner, whose landscape architecture firm worked on park redesigns for Fairfax that have included stream repairs, asked the county to revive a dormant 2004 plan to restore the two streams in her neighborhood.

Fairfax officials readily agreed, seeing an opportunity to report another storm water cleanup project to state officials while also eliminating a safety hazard caused by a deepening gulch in one of the streams.

"To us, it was a win-win," said Meghan Fellows, a county ecologist overseeing the project, which the government estimates will stop 718 pounds of nitrogen, 360 pounds of phosphorous and 20 pounds of sediment from entering the Chesapeake every year.

The scale of the plan alarmed some residents. Soon, the neighbors were shouting during heated local meetings.

Proponents of the restoration plan warned the streams' erosion would cause trees to come tumbling down on people's houses and argued that the county is sparing the civic association the cost of repairing the streams itself.

Opponents - many of whom live near the streams and would be most affected by the construction - countered that some of the trees to be cut down are more than a century old and cannot be adequately replaced.

The fight escalated after the civic association voted in November to allow construction workers access to the streams, a decision opponents argued was rigged.

"My crap detector has been going way off the whole time," said Jeff Chown, who has led the fight for cheaper stream repairs done without the county's help.

Chown, whose work as a residential architect includes saving trees from potential harm, drew fire from several neighbors when he suggested that Lardner was working to push through the county project because she would benefit professionally in some way.

Lardner called the suggestion "offensive."

"I don't understand what our other choices are," she said.

The hostility is regrettable, said the civic association's president, Patrick Kelly. But the stream deterioration, he added, is urgent.

"There's definitely some pain as a result, especially for homeowners who live . . . where the construction vehicles will be entering and leaving their materials," Kelly said. "It's a challenge."

Supervisor Daniel Storck, D-Mount Vernon, who represents the area, said he supports the project but is open to scaling it down. The overall goal, he said, is dealing with the hundreds of streams in older neighborhoods that have been overrun by a tsunami of urban runoff.

On a recent afternoon, aluminum tags hung from dozens of trees surveyed by the county, in part to determine whether they will be cut down when the project launches later this year.

Marc Shapiro, 71, said the loss will not be worth whatever the restoration accomplishes in the neighborhood he's known since childhood. He pointed to a broken storm water pipe and the puddle of water below it, which sometimes dribbles toward one of the streams.

"And they want to come the last 100 yards up here to fix that and cut down trees all along the way," Shapiro scoffed. "This has been there forever. It hurts nothing."
Wednesday, the House Democrats began formal arguments in the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.

A number of people involved made not-quite-accurate claims over everything from Trump's phone call July 25 with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the Obama administration's aid to Ukraine.

Democrats focus on delaying aid, after Trump claims Ukraine got funds long before schedule

As Democratic House managers wrapped up their presentation about the first article of impeachment alleging abuse of power, Manager Jason Crow, D-Colo. said President Donald Trumps defenders might argue that the suspension of $391 million in military aid to Ukraine wasnt important because it was short-lived and the money was eventually released.

This defense would be laughable if this issue wasnt so serious, said Crow, a former Army Ranger. No, the delay wasnt meaningless. Just ask the Ukrainians sitting in trenches now.

Ukraine needed the funding because it had been invaded by Russia and was fighting for its territorial integrity. Crow played a video of Jennifer Williams, a State Department aide assigned to Vice President Mike Pences office, who attended a Sept. 1 meeting between Pence and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

President Zelensky explained that equally with the financial and fiscal value, that it was the symbolic nature of that assistance that really was the show of U.S. support for Ukraine and for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity, Williams said, in her testimony during the House inquiry. He was stressing that to the vice president, to really underscore the need for the security assistance to be released.

Crow argued that Trump only released the money to use it as leverage to pressure Ukraine into investigating his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.

The scheme was unraveling, Crow said. He only released it after he got caught.

Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., speaks as the House of Representatives debates the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019.

Earlier this week, Trump said while speaking at a news conference in Davos, Switzerland that Ukraine got the money long before schedule.

Story continues

Thats false, FactCheck.org said of Trumps claim. And the Associated Press concluded Ukraine got the money months late.

USA TODAY and the AP both point to the fact that the hold was lifted by the Trump administration after a complaint was submitted by a whistleblower. And FactCheck.org writes that the White House was under pressure from members of Congress and administration officials when the money was released.

Furthermore, FactCheck.org points out that Congress had to grant an extension to make sure the aid could be spent past the deadline originally set by Capitol Hill, adding that a Pentagon official said earlier this week the Defense Department had executed 99.8% of the funds for Ukraine and was working to obligate the remainder.

Finally, a government watchdog agency recently concluded that the Trump administration violated federal law when it withheld the funds intended to help Ukraine. "Faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law," the report by the Government Accountability Office says. "OMB withheld funds for a policy reason, which is not permitted" under the law.

Watchdog: White House budget office violated federal law by withholding Ukraine security funds

A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget disagreed with the GAOs conclusion.

 Martina Stewart and Bart Jansen

The Bidens, Burisma, a Ukraine prosecutor and a debunked theory

One of the managers, Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, spent her presentation Thursday outlining allegations of potential corruption by former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, were false. Garcia argued that President Donald Trump urged Ukraine to investigate Biden based on a debunked theory and at a time in 2019 when Biden was leading polls as the Democratic contender to challenge Trump.

The entire premise of the investigation that the president wanted Ukraine to pursue was false, Garcia said. There is simply no evidence  nothing, nada  in the record to support this baseless allegation.

Live impeachment trial updates: Trump says Saturday TV ratings for his team's opening arguments will be like 'Death Valley'

Garcia recited the history that Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma Holdings in 2014, at a time when the Ukraine gas company was under investigation because of its oligarch owner. Viktor Shokin became Ukraines prosecutor general in 2015 and he allowed the investigation to go dormant, Garcia said.

In late 2015, Joe Biden called for the removal of Shokin because he was widely perceived as ineffective and corrupt, Garcia said. Shokins removal was also sought by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, Garcia said. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators sent a letter Feb. 12, 2016, urging Shokins removal. Shokin was fired a month later. George Kent, who was the second-in-command at the U.S. embassy in Ukraine, testified that Shokin routinely lived more lavishly than his government salary would allow and covered up crimes.

Biden called for removal of the prosecutor at the direction of U.S. policy because the prosecutor was widely perceived as corrupt, Garcia said.

Former Vice President Joe Biden in Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 20, 2020.

But in a phone call July 25, 2019, Trump urged Ukraines new President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens and Burisma because he had heard horrible things about potential corruption in Ukraine. The call came after Trump hadnt pursued anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine in 2017 and 2018, but at a time when Biden was leading in polls to challenge Trump, Garcia said.

He pushed for an investigation in 2019 because that is when it would be valuable to him, President Trump, Garcia said. He had good reason to be concerned.

As USA TODAY has explained, Biden pushed for Shokins ouster because the prosecutor wasnt pursuing corruption by Ukrainian politicians.

Furthermore, USA TODAY spent a week in Ukraine and reported the message from two dozen government officials and anti-corruption investigators quickly became clear: The allegations against the Bidens are entirely lacking in evidence.

And, the notion that it was Ukraine -- rather than Russia -- who interfered in the 2016 presidential election, is a debunked theory, one of a handful of debunked theories Trump has espoused, USA TODAY has reported.

But one of the lawyers representing Trump in the trial said Thursday evening that the House managers focus on Joe Biden throughout their hours of presentations earlier in the day opened the door for Trump's team to concentrate on the former vice president in their rebuttal on behalf of the president.

For the last five hours, it's been a lot about Joe Biden and Burisma, Jay Sekulow said, They kind of opened the door for that response so we'll determine as a defense team the appropriate way to do it.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, agreed, arguing that the House managers decision to focus on Biden and Burisma had several consequences, including making Hunter Biden, the vice presidents son, not only relevant. He is now critical.

And, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said when Democrats claim that allegations against the Bidens have been debunked, he isnt so sure. Graham thinks more questions should be asked about why Hunter Biden was hired by Burisma and why he was hired after then-Vice President Joe Biden was put in charge of the governments portfolio dealing with Ukraine.

I don't know. Doesn't pass the smell test to me, Graham told reporters Thursday.

Graham said he wasnt accusing Joe Biden of corruption, but saying that more questions about the activities of both Bidens in Ukraine are warranted. I don't know anything about the Biden connection to the Ukraine, Graham said. So when the managers tell me this has been looked at and debunked, by who?

 Bart Jansen, Christal Hayes, Nicholas Wu, and Martina Stewart

Must an impeachable offense involve a statutory crime?

During the trial Thursday, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., challenged the argument from President Trumps defenders that impeachment must allege a violation of statutory law.

To make his point, Nadler played a 1999 video of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was a manager 21 years ago in the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton. The Constitution allows impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors, a term that has been debated during the Trump investigation.

Whats a high crime? Graham asked in the well of the Senate in 1999. How about an important person hurting somebody of low means? Its not very scholarly, but I think its the truth. I think thats what they meant by high crimes. Doesnt even have to be a crime. Its just when you start using your office and youre acting in a way that hurts people, youve committed a high crime.

Republicans have challenged the accusations of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress as vague and not grounded in established law.

For example, during the Dec. 18 debate by the full House on the articles of impeachment, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., who was a manager during President Bill Clintons impeachment trial said: the Constitution says that any civil officer, including the President, may be impeached for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. Unlike the Nixon and Clinton cases, there are no allegations that the President has committed a crime. We have had almost 3 years of nonstop investigations. We have had the Mueller report, we have had the Schiff investigation, we have had the Nadler investigation, and at no time has there been any evidence that indicates that Donald J. Trump violated any criminal statute of the United States.

This view is completely wrong, Nadler said Thursday of the Republican argument. It has no support in constitutional text and structure, original meaning, congressional precedents, common sense or the consensus of credible experts. In other words, it conflicts with every relevant consideration.

Nadler quoted two constitutional scholars who testified at a Dec. 4 hearing in the impeachment inquiry.

Michael Gerhardt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, said the Constitution plainly does not require a violation of law for impeachment.

Everything that we know about the history of impeachment reinforces the conclusion that impeachable offenses do not have to be crimes, Gerhardt said. We look, again, at the context and gravity of the misconduct.

Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, submitted written testimony that said: it is possible to establish a case for impeachment based on a non-criminal allegation of abuse of power.

During a break Thursday, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said she would like to hear a rebuttal from Trumps legal team that goes beyond saying abuse of power isnt an impeachable offense.

I am not particularly interested in legal arguments such as abuse of power is not impeachable because that has been rebutted by real constitutional scholars, Hirono told reporters.

 Bart Jansen

Trump switches up dates of Schiffs version of Zelensky phone call

President Donald Trump fired off hostile tweets about impeachment while he was in Davos, Switzerland, at the World Economic Forum.

President Donald Trump repeated one of his frequent factual errors Wednesday about Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiffs exaggerated version of the phone call between Trump and Zelensky.

The president said the White House released its partial transcript of the call in response to Schiffs rendition, but it was released the day before, on Sept. 25. Speaking during an Intelligence Committee hearing on Sept. 26, Schiff did a "parody of Trumps words on the call, and the president reacted by accusing him of treason.

Id watch his lies, Trump said in a Fox Business interview Wednesday. I watch where theyve actually played a rerun, which they shouldnt even do, it was so bad, where he goes before Congress, and he makes a statement that I made, and it was a total fraud. I never made it.

Thats why I released the conversation, because if I didnt release it, people would have said that I made the statement that he made. This guy is a fraud, Trump said.

Live impeachment trial updates: Trump attacks Democrats in morning tweet storm

The president made a similar claim during a news conference in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. When we released that conversation, all hell broke out with the Democrats, because they say, 'Wait a minute. This is much different than Shifty Schiff told us.' "

Trump is correct that Schiffs version was not totally accurate, relative to the summary of the call released by the White House, but the administration could not have released the call summary in response to Schiff. Rather, Schiffs version was based on the White House's summary.

Schiff gave "an embellished rendition of the White House memo of the July phone call," FactCheck.org said. "As weve explained before, Schiff said he was recounting 'the essence of what the president communicates' and 'in not so many words.' "

 Jeanine Santucci

Schiff: In 2016, Russia hacked Democrats after Trumps 'Russia, if youre listening '

In this image from video, House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., speaks during the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020. (Senate Television via AP) ORG XMIT: DCJE259

Schiff, the lead House impeachment manager, said Wednesday, In 2016, candidate Trump implored Russians to hack his opponents email account, something the Russian military agency did hours later. Only hours later, they hacked his opponents campaign.

Schiff referred to a remark Trump made July 27, 2016, during a news conference in Florida where he said he hoped Moscow could locate emails associated with his rival Hillary Clinton: "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," he said. "I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press."

The report on Russian interference in the 2016 election issued by special counsel Robert Mueller noted that within approximately five hours of Trumps statement, [Russian military intelligence] officers targeted for the first time Clintons personal office, including 15 email accounts at a specific domain, one of which belonged to a Clinton aide.

As noted by The New York Times, the events of that day in the summer of 2016 were part of an indictment against a dozen Russians charged with hacking by the Justice Department.

In written responses provided by Trump during the Mueller investigation, the president said he made the Russia, if youre listening  remark in jest and sarcastically, as was apparent to any objective observer.

Although federal prosecutors said in the hacking indictment that the Russian hackers corresponded with several Americans, a top Justice Department lawyer said in unveiling the indictment that there was no evidence that the Americans were aware they were corresponding with Russian intelligence officers.

 Martina Stewart

Cruz: Obama administration sent 'blankets and MREs' to Ukraine

During a break in the trial Wednesday night, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the Obama administration "sent blankets and MRE's" to Ukraine, "but they wouldn't give lethal aid."

"I traveled to Ukraine in 2014, came back and urged Barack Obama to give lethal military aid to Ukraine. The Obama administration refused to do so," Cruz said. "Instead, they sent blankets and MRE's."

Cruz's remarks echo others by fellow Republicans. Trump said Obama provided Ukraine with "pillows and sheets." In 2015, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said, "The Ukrainians are being slaughtered, and were sending them blankets and meals. Blankets dont do well against Russian tanks.

Milk or water: For senators at Trump impeachment trial, there are only 2 beverage options: milk and water

The Obama administration provided hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, according to CNN and PolitiFact.com.

Cruz is correct that lethal military aid began to be provided to Ukraine only during Trump's tenure. "The first lethal deliveries came from Trump," Jim Townsend, deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO Policy during the Obama administration, told PolitiFact.

 Martina Stewart and Savannah Behrmann

Were Republicans, Trump allowed to participate in the House inquiry?

In a wide-ranging pair of speeches on the Senate floor Tuesday, Jay Sekulow, a private lawyer for Trump, and White House counsel Pat Cipollone accused Democrats of seeking to remove Trump since he was elected.

Sekulow said Schiff committed a trifecta of improprieties by denying Trump access to evidence, counsel at hearings and the right to cross-examine witnesses during the House inquiry.

Thats a trifecta, a trifecta that violates the Constitution of the United States, Sekulow said.

Alexander Hamilton: Rep. Adam Schiff opens Trump impeachment trial arguments with a quote from Alexander Hamilton

House Democrats on three committees held closed-door depositions during the inquiry, but Republicans were allowed to attend and ask questions. The Judiciary Committee invited Trump's lawyers to attend and participate in hearings by questioning witnesses, but the White House declined to participate in what Cipollone called a "baseless and highly partisan" inquiry.

GOP lawmakers were a part of the depositions, and the White House lawyers representing the president declined to participate in the House Judiciary Committee hearings, as detailed by PolitiFact and FactCheck.org.

 Bart Jansen

What the Mueller report found on obstruction of justice

Sekulow said Tuesday that there was no obstruction, referring to the special counsels report on Russian interference.

The report detailed 11 episodes of conduct by Trump that might have constituted obstruction, but Mueller refused to make a firm conclusion on the issue.

As USA TODAY explained, In leaving that issue unanswered, Mueller neither charged Trump with an offense nor exonerated him, leaving the next moves up to Congress.

FactCheck.org said that in punting on the question, the Mueller report pointed to difficult [legal] issues involved in indicting a sitting president, including concerns about violating the constitutional principle of separation of powers as detailed in an October 2000 legal opinion by the Justice Department.

 Martina Stewart

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump: Fact-checking arguments
Six militants outfits in the northeast, including one from Tripura, have announced a complete shutdown in the region on January 26 against the purely anachronistic imposition in this part of the world.

The Tripuras National Liberation Front of Twipra (NLFT), Meghalayas Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), Manipurs Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL), Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), Assams Peoples Democratic Council of Karbi Longri (PDCK) and Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) are the organisations that have called the shutdown.

They have called for the shutdown from 6am to 6pm on January 26 claiming that the so-called republican Constitution of India fails to actually entitle the people of this region to republican liberty.

Indian rule in our region is theoretically republican, but in reality, deep-rooted oppression of the indigenous is prevalent, which is quite contradictory to republicanism, they said in a joint statement on January 23.

We are aware of the issue. We are on the alert, additional director general (law and order) Rajiv Singh said.

Every year, the militant outfits call for a boycott of Republic Day, which marks the adoption of the Constitution after Independence.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi India will put its military might, marching contingents, strategic defence weaponry and colourful tableaux on display.
In the Pacific Northwest, the range expansion of Barred Owls has contributed to a conservation crisis for Northern Spotted Owls, which are being displaced from their old-growth forest habitat. How will this interaction between species play out in the Sierra Nevada, where Barred Owls are just starting to move into the range of the California Spotted Owl? New research published in The Condor: Ornithological Applications suggests that wildlife managers may still be able to head off similar problems in critical areas of the Golden State -- if they act now.

The University of Wisconsin's Connor Wood and his colleagues used passive acoustic monitoring to survey Barred Owl populations over two years, deploying audio recorders over an area spanning more than 6,000 square kilometers across two national forests in northern California. Locating owl calls in the audio data allowed them to determine which sites were and were not occupied by owls. They found a 2.6-fold increase in the amount of territory occupied by Barred Owls between 2017 and 2018, and the old forest habitat preferred by Spotted Owls was the most likely to be colonized.

Populations of invasive species typically remain at low densities for several generations before growing rapidly. Because intervening to control a potentially damaging invasive species requires many resources, land managers often wait for strong evidence that a species will pose a threat before taking action. But, by the time the "growth phase" has started, it's often too late. Wood and his colleagues believe their results show that the growth phase of the Barred Owl population in the region is just beginning, meaning wildlife managers still have time to act. Only a narrow band of fairly unsuitable habitat connects the existing Pacific Northwest population of Barred Owls to the Sierra Nevada stronghold of California Spotted Owls, and the researchers recommend experimentally removing Barred Owls from the Sierra Nevada side of this pinch point to see if this can prevent them from becoming established further south.

"We suggested that managers act according to the Precautionary Principle: when there is a serious threat to human health or the environment, proactive responses are justified even if there is some uncertainty," says Wood. "We feel that experimental Barred Owl removals in the Sierra Nevada are an important step in determining the best long-term management strategy. This is not something that anyone takes lightly, but we feel that it is warranted because of the very real possibility that continued Barred Owl population growth could seriously endanger the California Spotted Owl. By catching this invasion in the early stages, we have a unique but potentially fleeting opportunity to inform policies that could prevent the California Spotted Owl from being driven extinct in the core of its range."
By ANI

NEW DELHI: BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday said that there is no doubt about the integrity of the women who are protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at Shaheen Bagh but it is a fact that they are being misled by certain prejudiced political interests.

"We have no doubt about the integrity of the sisters who are protesting at Shaheen Bagh. But certain prejudiced political interests have misled them. They should understand that CAA is not meant to end the citizenship of any person. It is only for certain persecuted minorities from three neighbouring countries that will be granted citizenship," Naqvi told ANI.

He further said that infiltrators are eating away the rights of the people and it is a challenge for both the society and the government.

"If certain infiltrators have entered a few places then this is not just a challenge for the government but for the society. The infiltrators are eating away the rights of the people. Some persons have brainwashed a certain section of the society to not take part in the census as well," he said.

"A new trend has started which is of 'protests along with prayers' on Fridays. On a fake and fabricated issue, an illusionary picture has been created which is miles away from the truth. The government has repeatedly said that there is no danger to citizenship of any person due to CAA," he added.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) grants citizenship to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Parsis and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a second confirmed case of the Coronavirus has been diagnosed in a 60-year-old Chicago woman who traveled to Wuhan in December and returned on January 13. The patient reported she had no symptoms during her flight and sought medical attention when she developed symptoms.

Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told news media that an additional 63 cases are presently being monitored in the US across 22 states. Authorities have also reported on three new cases that have been identified in France.

Since it was first identified on December 31, 2019, more than 1,000 people have now been infected worldwide, and in the latest report the death toll has climbed to 41, all having died in mainland China. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has continued to decline to formally designate this new epidemic a global health emergency, stating they require additional information before reaching their decision. The incubation period for the new newly designated virus, 2019-nCoV, can take up to 14 days before symptoms appear.

A comparison with recent epidemics is useful. In 2003, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus, also known as the Asian Avian Flu, spread across 32 countries, with over 8,000 cases and 800 deaths reported. SARS was the first occurrence of a Coronavirus where human-to-human transmission was documented. The SARS fatality rate was 10 percent.

In September 2012, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) epidemic germinated in Saudi Arabia and spread to 27 countries. Human-to-human transmission of MERS was first reported in May 2013 in France. However, researchers noted that the virus spread slowly among humans, suggesting a regression in its virulence. The MERS fatality index was 35 percent.

By comparison, the Spanish flu of 1918 had a death rate of 2 percent. The present Wuhan Coronavirus epidemic has a case fatality approaching 4 percent. Authorities are grappling with determining if the virus could become more virulent and infective. Presently there are no antiviral drugs or vaccines ready to prevent the disease. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has said that such a vaccine could be manufactured with human trials underway in three months.

Yesterday, the Chinese authorities made an extraordinary decision to extend the lockdown in central China to 12 cities around the epicenter of the outbreak, affecting over 36 million people. The Chinese government has come under significant criticism for attempting to sweep the issue under the carpet. As the infection rates began to escalate rapidly, fears of a pandemic on the heels of a major holiday event, the Lunar New Year, sent the financial markets into a frenzy. Only after health officials in Hong Kong reported on a mysterious respiratory illness that can be transmitted by humans did the magnitude of the problem come out in the open.

According to National Public Radio, hospitals in Wuhan are struggling to find enough doctors and nurses to treat and care for the rising number of patients seeking medical attention. Patients are being turned away from overcrowded hospitals and clinics after standing for hours in line waiting to be seen. There is insufficient protective gear, and health workers are at risk of acquiring the infection. Hospitals are sending out pleas for online donations and supplies. The city is rushing to build a new hospital within six days, and to staff it appropriately to treat patients.

Panic and frustration are seizing the Chinese people as they turn to social media to seek answers. Frustrated by the lackluster response, their posts express their anguish and ire as they feel helpless watching their families fall ill with the infection.

The local health response has been overwhelmed and that insufficient resources have been dedicated to the potential magnitude of such a crisis. It would be, to say nothing else, prudent to offer the Chinese government all the possible resources to aid them in addressing this burgeoning epidemic.

Ultimately, the Wuhan-coronavirus epidemic, possibly pandemic, is a byproduct of growing populations with ever-increasing social inequality. Poverty and social dislocation are creating unprecedented environmental disasters that capitalism, under the outmoded nation-state system, is woefully incapable of addressing.

The SAR and MERS epidemics are only the most recent development of human-to-human transmission of a virus that had been confined to animals. The viruses are adapting to the miserable conditions that capitalism has created. Just last year, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was grappling with the worlds second-largest Ebola epidemic on record, with more than 3,300 cases confirmed and 2,200 dead.

The Australian fires that have claimed at least 31 lives, destroyed thousands of homes and burned over 27 million acres of land are directly attributable to the intensification of climate change. Yet, no substantive actions or programs have been proposed to address this catastrophe or prepare for a future crisis that is surely on the near horizon.

One must ask, how prepared would the United States be should an epidemic similar to that presently developing in China affect it? When Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, leaving more than 5,000 people dead, countless households were left without running water or electricity for months, and many still remain so.

Nurses and doctors in the US are unable to keep up with the burdens of daily patient care. Hospitals are being forced to close due to a lack of funding. The uninsured and underinsured face the prospects of lower life expectancy. Could the United States muster the necessary response to address such an epidemic?

The Coronavirus emergency places in focus a health crisis which is an expression of the failure of the capitalist system to provide solutions to the most basic needs of the population. Inevitably, the inability of authorities to confront such health emergencies are intrinsically linked to social inequality and the subordination of science to profit.

Exposed is the fact that there are no coordinated global mechanisms in place to cope with a health crisis that could easily spiral out of the control of authorities, placing the lives of countless people in danger.
Describing the Kalapani dispute as a "baggage handed over by history", Nepali Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali on Friday said that he is optimistic that the lingering territorial issue would be resolved by the two countries through the "diplomatic process".

Speaking to ANI, Gyawali said that New Delhi and Kathmandu are preparing a mechanism to resolve the issue.

"Both sides are in close contact. We are optimistic that through diplomatic discussions we can solve the issue. It is not a new issue. It is a baggage handed over by history. There is a mechanism to solve this issue. We are preparing to hold that mechanism which can recommend the ways to resolve this issue," Gyawali said.

"We are optimistic that this would be resolved because both the countries have a good understanding. We are enjoying excellent relations. Any dispute which is unsettled in history should be settled so that we could move forward in a smooth way for the common good of the two countries," he added.

Nepal had raised objections over the inclusion of Limpiyadhura, Lipulek, and Kalapani areas under India's territory in a fresh map released by the Centre following the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into Union Territories.

India, on its part, has said that the map accurately depicts its sovereign territory and that it did not revise its boundary with Nepal in any manner.

Earlier, while speaking to reporters at an event, Gyawali had remarked that if India can resolve its boundary disputes with Bangladesh, then why not with Nepal.

The valley of Kalapani, with the Lipulekh Pass at the top, forms the Indian route to Kailash Manasarovar, an ancient pilgrimage site. The territory is also the traditional trading route to Tibet for the Bhotiyas of Uttarakhand.

After India closed the Lipulekh Pass in the aftermath of the 1962 Sino-Indian War, much of the Bhotiya trade used to pass through the Tinkar Pass. The Nepalese protests regarding the Kalapani territory started in 1997 after India and China agreed to reopen the Lipulekh Pass.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former Vice President Joe Bidens son Hunter Biden has been ordered to appear in court next week in connection with a contempt claim made against him in his ongoing child support case in Arkansas, PEOPLE confirms.

His appearance, at a Wednesday hearing in Independence County, will be his first in the case since it began last May.

Lunden Roberts, who first sued him for paternity and financial support, most recently argued he should be held in contempt by the judge for ignoring various court orders.

While paternity was settled earlier this month, following a DNA test in the fall that proved Hunter fathered a child with Roberts in 2018, the issue of child support remains pending.

Roberts has also asked the court to make Hunter pay her attorney fees.

In a motion for contempt filed this week (Roberts second such motion), her lawyers said Hunter has continued to refuse to provide needed discovery materials and financial records as ordered by the judge.

On Jan. 6, the judge said both Hunter and Roberts had to comply with all pending discovery by Jan. 16. But Roberts latest contempt motion states that Hunter has failed to provide any additional discovery information of any nature  including personal information such as his address and phone number and his previous years tax returns.

Hunters conduct is willful and contemptuous, Roberts motion states, arguing he should be found in contempt.

The defendant continues to act as though he has no respect for this Court, its orders, the legal process in this state, or the needs of his child for support, the contempt motion states, adding, This is but another example of the defendants unnecessary actions to frustrate prompt adjudication of this matter and increase the plaintiffs litigation costs.

On Tuesday, the judge ordered Hunter to appear next Wednesday morning and show cause, if any exists, as to why he should not be held in contempt for any of the alleged violations of this Courts orders.

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His team has not yet filed a response to the contempt motion, according to online court records.

However, he vigorously denied a similar motion for contempt filed by Roberts attorneys in December, including denying that he had not provided required financial and tax records and said that to the extent possible he had been following the judges orders.

In that earlier response, his attorney said Roberts contempt motion included histrionics and contended, in turn, that she had strategically included an exhibit in order to leak Hunters address to the media by putting it into the official record.

The two sides sharply disagree on whether Hunters intransigence is a stalling tactic  verging on contempt  or a reflection of his caution after being the target of all manner of speculation, innuendo and insult.

In December, the court ordered both Roberts and Hunter to provide five years of tax returns and five years worth of financial documentation for any money theyd received. Hunter had said in a November filing that he was unemployed since May.

Roberts pressed Hunter for more extensive financial records, including about businesses he had owned. She also scheduled a deposition of Hunter on Dec. 23.

But Hunter resisted, arguing that some of her requested financial and personal information was beyond the scope of what was necessary to resolve the single issue remaining in the case: how much he should pay to support the baby. He also asked for an order limiting the scheduled deposition and who would be in the room during it.

Public disclosure of the deposition can only be for the purpose of continued annoyance or attempts to embarrass the Defendant, Hunters attorney, Brent Langdon, wrote in December.

The court documents in the case outline ongoing disputes between Hunter and Roberts, including Hunters concern that his personal and financial information could become public as part of the suit.

A judge in the case previously ordered all financial information as well as their childs identity be kept secret.

Hunter has some reason to be guarded: In recent months, two unrelated parties have sought to legally intervene in the suit, making explosive and unproven allegations about Hunter in filings with the court, all of which have since been stricken.

Roberts suit was first filed on May 28 but did not become public for weeks, when it was covered by a local Arkansas paper. International attention has since followed the case, with both Hunter and Roberts being dogged by the tabloids in different ways.

They were already scheduled to return to court on Jan. 29 (the same day Hunter will now answer the contempt claim) for the purpose of addressing temporary child support for the minor child and other matters, the presiding judge wrote recently. Permanent child support will be determined in May.

In addition to confirming paternity this month, the judge also granted Roberts primary custody of their child, who is now a toddler, with visitation for Hunter to be agreed upon by both parties at a later date.

Hunters tumultuous personal life, including a surprise marriage, returned him to the headlines in 2019 at the same time as his dad launched a presidential bid  immediately becoming the leading contender to face President Donald Trump.

Hunters past business dealings in Ukraine and China have been heavily scrutinized by conservatives as a result, though no evidence of wrongdoing has emerged. What Trump did with these same theories about Hunter is also at the heart of his historic impeachment.

Roberts attorney Clint Lancaster previously told PEOPLE that she was a very, very private person who was focused on her child. Her team has suggested in court filings that she turned to a lawsuit after Hunters earlier support of their child ran dry.

My client wants this thing resolved, she doesnt want to be in the media, she doesnt want paparazzi hanging out at her dads place of business hoping to get a shot of her, Lancaster said earlier this month.

Roberts original suit stated that she and Hunter were in a relationship and had a child born in August 2018. Lancaster previously said that Roberts, who is in her twenties, met Hunter in the Washington, D.C., area.

Her attorneys said in court filings that she worked for Hunter and received money from him between May and November 2018.

Lancaster says Hunter has not given her any money since that November.

Hunters attorney told PEOPLE he does comment on pending cases beyond what was available in the court record.
GRINNELL, Iowa - John Russell is a man of many skills. But art, he feared, was not one of them.

On a recent icy morning, he paced inside a barn that had been converted into an art studio, trying to raise his courage - or at least his paintbrush - to begin tackling his latest effort to help Elizabeth Warren win the presidency: a gigantic hand-painted sign destined for a cornfield of a Floyd County farmer in rural northern Iowa.

Russell, the Warren campaign's rural-outreach coordinator in Iowa, had no prior experience in the art of sign painting.

"Absolutely none," he said.

But with a mock flourish, Russell, who wore a white plastic zip-up painters coverall to protect his clothes, moved toward his canvas. "This is what the Iowa caucus demands," he declared. "We're going to get creative."

The 29-year-old from Galena, Ohio, has been working for the Massachusetts Democrat's campaign since last April, when he decided to sell his farming equipment and move to Iowa. He lives in an apartment above a biker bar in Webster City, a town of about 8,000 an hour north of Des Moines, working for a candidate he believes will stop the systemic corruption that hurts small towns like the one he came from.

Last spring, he launched listening sessions in parts of the state where candidates rarely go. He put up fliers in small-town convenience stores and chatted up patrons at the local bars on Warren's behalf, many of them Trump voters. Plenty were skeptical, but he's still trying.

Russell has spent time in towns so small that he said he had "perfected" the art of cooking ramen noodles on camping equipment while parked outside a darkened public library, where he used the free Internet to check his email at night in areas where cellular service is spotty.

He put in about 6,000 miles a month driving around Iowa in his truck - a four-door, extended-cab 2018 Chevrolet Colorado with a 2.8-liter diesel engine, the one he used to use on the farm - until it broke down last fall. When there was a six-week backlog on the parts needed, the local Chevy dealer loaned him an Impala, which he drove until his truck was fixed.

"I don't know if the dealer is going to be reading this story, but that rental car traversed some pretty treacherous Iowa farm driveways and roads," he said. "Needless to say, it was not a four-wheel-drive, so that caused some issues."

While Warren's agenda and her calls for "big structural change" might draw more fans in places such as Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, which tend to be more liberal, the senator invested early and heavily in a field operation focused on winning over more sparsely populated parts of Iowa, gambling on the idea that trying to reach those voters could generate some support in a fluid race in which every delegate matters.

"We make it a point on the campaign to compete for votes everywhere," Russell said. "Everybody deserves representation, right? But doing 5 or 10 or 15 percent better in these rural areas? If we can do that everywhere, if we can replicate that, that's going to spell out the kind of numbers it takes to win."

For months, Russell visited farmers and held his listening sessions in rural areas. When Warren visited, he told her where to go to talk about rural policy, sending her to places such as Ringgold County, one of the poorest and most rural parts of Iowa, convinced that her message about affordable housing, universal child care and expanding economic opportunity would impress residents who have felt left behind by Washington.

Russell knows the pain of watching a community struggle. He came from a small town where jobs had been slowly sucked away by the collapse of the steel industry. Then the opioid epidemic came, opening another chapter of despair. Five of his friends died of overdoses. "It's just like, enough is enough," he said.

Russell began organizing, trying to elect Democrats to state and local offices, and even embarked on a failed bid for Congress in 2018, determined to change the trajectory of his town. When Warren announced her presidential bid, he decided to go all in. "That's how I got to Iowa," he said.

It is unclear whether Warren's big gamble on her Iowa ground game will pay off in the state's Feb. 3 caucuses. But Russell and other organizers have worked for months to turn out voters in small Republican-leaning towns by pointing out that they weren't the only Democrats in their communities.

Now, on the eve of the caucuses, they are trying to convince those Democrats who are considering Warren that they aren't the only ones supporting the senator.

And that's how Russell ended up painting signs that will end up in farm fields across the state in coming days, a final step of persuasion. "It is about saying you aren't alone out there," he said. "This is the visual embodiment of that. I don't think they are a big deal in any way, but it so nice [to have someone] drive by and say, 'Oh my gosh, in a cornfield of a guy I know whose politics are a mystery to me, there are Warren signs.' " That could, he argued, make a difference in turning out voters in a tight race.

But first, he had to paint them, and Russell was nervous about it. His canvass was a 4-by-6-foot piece of plywood, already painted in Warren's signature campaign color of liberty green - the result of "some serious haggling," he explained, with the paint specialist at Menards. "It's got to look like the Statue of Liberty," he'd told him, presenting a photo of Lady Liberty herself on his iPhone. "Turns out you really can't color-match that way," he said, but it worked out in the end.

And as Russell slowly painted inside the outlines of the letters spelling out the name "WARREN" in navy blue, he thought of the other signs he had dreamed up - including a Burma-Shave style series of signs that would spell out the words "Hope Over Fear," one of Warren's closing arguments here in Iowa.

Could he do it? Russell paused and thought about Bob Ross, the public-television painter who calmly taught a generation of amateur Picassos to be OK with a smudge here and there.

"No mistakes," Russell said, his paintbrush sliding back and forth. "Happy accidents."
The Church of England is set to offer help to families who cannot afford to pay for a loved ones funeral.

The move would be aimed at ending the scandal of paupers funerals, which deny grieving relatives the chance to mourn the dead with dignity.

There is rising concern about the treatment of more than 1,000 working families every year who are unable to pay for a send off when a relative dies.

More than 1,000 working families every year are unable to pay for a send off when a relative dies. Pictured is the church of St Peter in West Malling, Kent. (Stock image)

Public health funerals provided in such cases by local councils  still often called paupers funerals in the language of the Victorian workhouse  include only the barest committal ceremony and in some cases families are not allowed to attend.

These services cost around 1,500 compared to at least 4,000 for a private send off. Some 21 councils, it was disclosed last week, do not return ashes to families unless they pay a fee.

Around a third of the 4,000 public health funerals in the financial year that ended last March involved a working family that could not afford a private service, according to the Royal London insurance group.

The Church, which conducts around a quarter of funerals in England, could now bail out struggling families with cash subsidies, free use of churches and volunteer help from clergy or lay members.

Its parliament, the General Synod, is expected to back a call to set up a paupers funeral group, which could be led by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Reverend Canon Dr Sandra Millar, pictured in Oxford in 2017, is head of the Church of England's funerals. She said dead relatives can be committed to God without relatives present due to inadequate financial resources

The Synod motion, proposed by lay member Sam Margrave, has already won backing from more than a quarter of the bodys members.

It states that the Church should work with councils and funeral companies to find ways at an affordable price to deliver a more compassionate send-off for the departed and to meet the spiritual and emotional needs of those left behind.

The Church of Englands funerals head, the Reverend Canon Dr Sandra Millar, said: It is a terrible thought that someone is so alone when they die that they are known only to God.

That often happens when a person dies with no relatives. But it also happens when there are grieving family and friends  but little or no financial resource.
Joe Biden is locking down support from powerful New York donors who have spent the past year flirting with multiple candidates, setting him up for a major cash boost just as 2020 voting begins.

Bidens campaign  sometimes with help from the candidate himself  has spent the last few weeks reaching out to big donors who have collectively raised tens of millions for past presidential campaigns and are not yet attached to 2020 rivals. The Biden camp, which suffered serious money problems in the fall, came to them with a message: The time is now to join up and back Biden to beat President Donald Trump, after the former vice president lasted the whole year as the Democratic polling frontrunner, despite frequent predictions that his campaign was about to collapse.

The message landed. And Bidens campaign will cash in on those efforts in mid-February, when Biden will head to New York City for a pair of fundraisers hosted by a litany of Wall Street power players, many of whom previously helped Kamala Harris campaign or split their support among several candidates in 2019. Originally scheduled as one event, organizers had to split the Feb. 13 fundraising blowout in two because so many donors new to the Biden fold signed up to help.

Hosts for a cocktail-hour fundraiser will include financiers and former Harris supporters Blair Effron and Marc Lasry, both of whom were major donors to Hillary Clinton, as well as Jon Henes, a lawyer and Harris former finance chair, and Tom Nides, a Clinton donor and former State Department aide. Later that evening, another set of major donors will fete Biden, including former U.S. Ambassador to France Jane Hartley, Blackstone president Jonathan Gray and PR executive Michael Kempner  another who was once a bundler for Harris, who dropped out of the 2020 race in December.

In the last 30 days, I could see theres been a dramatic increase in the number of people who either had been with other candidates who dropped out or, for one reason or another, see where the tide is going and have decided to jump on the bandwagon, said Alan Patricof, a venture capitalist and bundler for Bidens campaign.

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Some of the more than two dozen people putting on the events are not formally endorsing Biden just yet. But they are certainly helping. And theyre part of a broader trend of Wall Street figures and other well-to-do donors moving in Bidens direction, including Barack Obamas former finance director, Rufus Gifford, who endorsed Biden this week.

While Bidens online fundraising has picked up, its not at the level of his top Democratic rivals  which makes it all the more important to recruit new donors capable of giving maximum-level $2,800 donations. Biden raised $22.7 million in the last three months of 2019, slightly behind Pete Buttigieg and well behind Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose small-dollar donor army is unmatched in the primary.

The swing toward Biden among elite donors is taking place at a bustling moment in New York politics: former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his team recently held a series of meetings with donors in New York to ask for their support.

People would be totally fine if Mike Bloomberg emerged as the nominee. But for that to happen, Joe Biden needs to collapse, said one major New York donor who is helping Biden.

The 2020 shake-up that took place eight weeks ago  when Harris dropped out of the race and Bloomberg unexpectedly launched his own campaign  is still reverberating in New York. Harris had built perhaps the strongest base of high-dollar donors in the city, and most of them did not make plans to go to work for other candidates immediately after she left the race. Some, especially members of Harris African American donor base, havent decided who they will support.

But Biden has waged an assertive campaign to gain support from Harris former supporters, as well as those who had backed New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former Texas Rep. Beto ORourke, two other candidates who dropped out in 2019.

Biden himself has recently called and sat down one-on-one with donors during visits to New York, which he has made roughly every other week for fundraising events even as voting draws close. The former vice president praised Harris during one New York City fundraiser on the day the California senator left the race in early December: A really good woman just dropped out. And she is really smart. She is really competent, Biden said.

Meanwhile, top Biden aide Steve Ricchetti met with more than 50 people, many of them banking and finance professionals, to urge them off the fence in early January. Days later, Biden campaign manager Greg Schultz left the campaign trail to meet with more than two dozen Biden-skeptical donors at the Manhattan law firm Kirkland & Ellis.

Schultz detailed the campaigns path to victory, discussed Bidens delegate path  and warned those assembled that Biden was the only candidate left in the race who could beat Trump in a general election.

Biden is not the only candidate trying to scoop up New Yorks unaffiliated donors. Buttigieg has built up a base of donors in New York, and there is widespread curiosity about Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who recently nabbed the co-endorsement, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, of the New York Times editorial page. And Bloomberg, a friend as well as a former mayor to many in the finance industry, has hired a team of finance professionals of his own to help him arrange meetings and court donors from coast to coast.

Bloomberg, who is self-financing his bid, is not interested in donors money. But he wants donors to publicly support and network for him as he tries to nab the nomination, according to multiple donors who have attended recent the recent meetings.

And half a dozen donors in New York interviewed by POLITICO professed fondness for the billionaire candidate  though few are prepared to go out on a limb to help his campaign, which they see as a long shot.

Fellow billionaire Tom Steyer is also making a new effort in New York. Steyer showed little interest in courting influencers there during the earlier stages of his campaign, preferring to spend his time talking to voters on the ground and self-fund a massive ad campaign. But Steyer recently borrowed a page from Bloombergs playbook and held a meeting with financial services heavyweights of his own in midtown Manhattan last week. Hosted by financier Robert Wolf, the event drew around 25 guests who came to meet Steyer and learn about his climate change plans.

But its Biden who is gaining the most steam right now, Wolf said.

It certainly appears that Biden has benefitted the most from those who have left the race, said Wolf, who has donated to several candidates.
Vincent Akande has been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment without fine for raping a minor by an Edo state Magistrate Court.

The convict was said to have sexually assaulted the 14-year-old girl who is said to be suffering from epilepsy.

Akande, a former vigilante victim was said to have violated the victim at the riverside at Ososo community, where she was fetching stones for sale.

In his ruling, Nosa Musoe, chief magistrate of the Igarra magistrate court, Akoko-Edo, said the accused was deceptive.

BraveHeart Initiative for Youth & Women (BHI), reacting to the judgement in a statement signed by Priscilla Usiobaifo, founder/executive director of BHI, said, This verdict offers a glint of hope for justice to sexual assault survivors in a country where security agencies, health workers, traditional stakeholders and many first responders show low interest and willingness to sanction sexual offenders. 

Read Also: Court Sends First Class Undergraduate To 13 Years Imprisonment

40 yrs old Vincent Akande did not only sexually assault the 14 years old victim but also threatened her with death.

He held his hunting gun towards her and threatened to kill her in a similar manner as was a 3yr old sexually assaulted and murdered in the same environs.

He took advantage of the victims vulnerability due to her disability.

The case of Vincent Akande was reported to BHI on the 22nd of May 2019. The case was transferred to SCIID, Benin on the 29th of May and the matter arraigned in court on the 3rd of June, 2019.

Vincent Akandes case brings to fore the Sexual and Reproductive Health challenges of girls with disabilities in Nigeria. Vincent sexually assaulted a 14 years old girl with a medical history of epilepsy.

The girl lacked basic education due to her medical condition and lived most of her childhood as an Out-Of-School girl. Being Out-of-School and from a poor home, this survivor has a significant vulnerability index.
There's nothing more intimate than a private elopement shared between you and your soulmate, especially in a place as breathtaking as Iceland. Brides Cassidy and Hannah decided to do just that, saying their "I dos" in the beautiful Icelandic countryside. Not a soul was in attendance, just themselves, the waterfalls, and their parents, who watched virtually through Facetime. These brides knew what they wanted, and despite the rain, they hiked to their chosen backdrop with filled backpacks, rugged boots, and large coats, all while keeping a tight grip on their bouquets. After their elopement, the newlyweds headed back to Reykjavik to celebrate, sharing a cake to honor their big day. If you're interested in seeing more of this romantic Iceland wedding, have a look through the pictures ahead!

Related: These Brides Renewed Their Vows in the Most Intimate Setting, and the Photos Are Breathtaking
Narayani M By

Online Desk

An INA veteran searching for his past, a forgotten love story, repeated flashbacks and generational shifts, and a modern-day India. Sounds like the perfect plot for a movie, does it not? This is Amazon Prime Video's most-recent web series "The Forgotten Army: Azaadi Ke Liye" by Kabir Khan that revolves around the actual forgotten Army - the Subhash Chandra Bose-led INA.

The series is set in two time periods - between 1942-45 when INA was formed and 1996.

It all begins with Surinder Sodhi (MK Raina), a man in his mid-70s to 80s visiting Singapore to meet his ailing sister. He's the protagonist driving the plot. Sodhi hardly has any time and scrambles to find peace in a house where his sister's grandson Amar (Karanvir Malhotra) is adamant about covering the student protests against the government in Burma.

When Amar is quizzed about why it is so important, he says it is "history in the making". At this juncture, you suspect that Kabir Khan is trying to remind the audience about the ongoing protests against the CAA, but not really.

Sodhi then starts recounting his time in Singapore, where he was serving in the British Indian Army. From there on the series constantly shuttles between the two timelines mentioned earlier.

The director's lifetime dream, the Forgotten Army takes us through the journey and struggles of the soldiers in the Army who fought during World War II.

As the flashback starts, we are teleported to the era of pre-independence, and in particular to 1942, when we meet a young introverted Sodhi (Sunny Kaushal) who is trying to work alongside the Australians and Britishers in their mission to hold their own against the Japanese. Eventually, the Britishers surrender and Singapore is renamed Shonan.

Sodhi and other Indians are captured by the Japanese as prisoners of war, who though offer to free them since they are "friends of Gandhi". Himself along with other freed prisoners are then introduced to a person from the Indian National Army (INA), formed by Netaji, who is now friends with the Japanese and has enlisted their help in freeing India.

The INA soldier they meet is one of the thousands of soldiers who had joined the Indian Army after being inspired by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's speeches. The INA also included the first woman regiment in the world - The Rani Lakshmi Bai regiment.

With 'Chalo Dilli' as their war cry, almost 30,000 soldiers - Sodhi included - march towards India to free their country from the British. What happens to their journey? Do they enter India? All these are answered in the rest of the episodes.

In the midst of all this, we have a romance brewing between Sodhi and photographer-cum-soldier Maya Srinivasan (Sharwari Wagh). You might have to switch on the subtitles for this part as the dialogues switch back and forth between English, Hindi and Tamil.

As mentioned earlier, there is a narrative set in present-day 1996 too which is when Sodhi, his grandson (Amar) and their Burma friends get stuck in unfortunate circumstances that leads the Colonel back to the events of 50 years ago. Can he bring his clan to safety to India? Watch to find out.

There might just be five episodes and each episode might span only 30-35 minutes each, but Azaadi Ke Liye has extensive war sequences and many events that are true to the book. Sunny and Sharwari deliver splendid performances as lead actors. The foreigners in the cast and the sets deserve a big hand too. That said, Kabir Khan's labour of love somehow feels like it deserves more.

The five-part series is sprinkled with enough nationalism to make every heart brim with pride, but you can't help wishing for more details, more information, more facts and not a shallow, Bollywood-like 150-minute-long plot. A character mentions "you won't find these in your textbooks." If only mere words could do the trick.

I was also expecting more on Netaji himself, but he's reduced to a mere shadow whose excellent oration wins over thousands of INA soldiers. The predictable climax in another letdown.

But that's not all, the 'Azadi Ke Liye' theme sung in Arijit Singh's soulful voice could be your next earworm as it appears in the background of every second war sequence.

Shah Rukh Khan's narration in the beginning of each episode is a bonus as it adds to the weight of the plot.

And lastly, all hail the trivia section in Amazon Prime that shows us the details of the cast, crew and notable facts events from the making.

All said, while the series can be binge-watched in a day, it cannot be guaranteed that the forgotten army will stay in the heart long enough.
Boris Johnson has ordered a review into how the UK spends its 14.6billion overseas aid budget  with an overhaul expected within months.

The Prime Minister wants to ensure handouts are closely aligned to the country's foreign policy objectives.

Options being considered include whether more research undertaken by British universities could qualify.

Boris Johnson (pictured) has ordered a review into how the UK spends its 14.6billion overseas aid budget  with an overhaul expected within months

For example, officials could suggest that British studies into cleaner energy should be funded by foreign aid because the technology could also help developing countries.

A decision is expected before the Treasury finishes its spending review in the next few months, setting departmental spending for the forthcoming years.

Ministers are understood to be making sure the UK goes as far as it can within the existing international rules on what counts as foreign aid, rather than trying to rewrite them.

Previously, they encountered resistance over changes to aid spending guidelines, which are set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Any alterations need the support of all 30 countries on the OECD's development assistance committee.

Mr Johnson is under pressure to improve how Britain spends money abroad after he pledged in last year's election to keep David Cameron's commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on overseas development.

The Daily Mail has revealed how the Prime Minister abandoned plans to scrap the Department for International Development (DfID) and incorporate it into the Foreign Office when he reshuffles his Cabinet next month.

International Development Secretary Alok Sharma has admitted DfID needs to 'spend money much more effectively'.

International Development Secretary Alok Sharma (pictured) has admitted DfID needs to 'spend money much more effectively'

The foreign aid budget rose by 493million in 2018 to reach 14.6billion for the first time.

Britain was the only G7 nation to hit the 0.7 per cent spending target  more than double the 0.29 per cent G7 average.

None of the other members  Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and America  met the target.

The US is the world's largest aid donor in cash terms, but its 25.7billion contribution is just 0.14 per cent of national income.

By comparison, Sweden allocates 1.04 per cent, Luxembourg 0.98 per cent, Norway 0.94 per cent and Denmark 0.72 per cent  while Australia ring-fences just 0.23 per cent.
COLUMBUS, OhioThe Ohio Republican Partys chair has asked a Southwest Ohio legislative candidate to end his campaign after he admitted to signing up seven years ago for Ashley Madison, an infamous dating site catering to people looking to cheat on their spouses.

Joe Dills, one of three Republicans running for House District 65 in Clermont County, said in an email to cleveland.com that while it was wrong for him to join the site, he intends to stay in the race.

In a Facebook post, Dills said he joined Ashley Madison while he was single and never used it beyond creating a profile for himself. He said the revelation was peddled by supporters of primary rival Jean Schmidt in an attempt to force him out of the race.

Dills said in a Facebook post that he signed up for Ashley Madison in 2013 after he was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force and his marriage with his first wife had ended.

I never used the site to actively meet with anyone and never was involved in any illicit behavior beyond creating the profile on that site, he wrote.

Dills didnt immediately return a text or email Thursday asking whether he planned to withdraw from the race.

But Dills wife, Nikea, in her own statement, said she wants her husbands campaign to continue.

Nikea Dills said she knew about Joes activity on Ashley Madison for years, before they were married, and have dealt with and healed from it together.

People may say just drop out so we do not have to face this in the public eye, but as Joes wife, the one most affected by Joes past, I say no way!! Nikea wrote.

The Ashley Madison website was hacked in 2015, resulting in account details for about 32 million users being made public via easily searchable websites.

Dills, a Union Township resident who owns a business cleaning and maintaining diesel engines, turned heads when the Clermont County Republican Party endorsed him last month over Schmidt, a former congresswoman from Miami Township, and Dillon Blevins, a National Rifle Association pistol instructor from Goshen Township.

Two weeks ago, the Ohio Republican Party endorsed Dills, even though the Ohio House Republican caucus recommended that the state party should back Schmidt, an ally of House Speaker Larry Householder.

House District 65, which covers northern Clermont County, is heavily Republican, meaning the winner of the March 17 Republican primary is all but certain to be elected in the November general election. The incumbent officeholder, Republican state Rep. John Becker, is prevented by term limits from running again.

In a statement Thursday, Ohio Republican Party Chair Jane Timken said that Dills crossed a line by joining this lewd and inappropriate website."

She continued: I call for his immediate withdrawal from the race. There is no place in our party for people that exercise such a gross lack of judgment.

When asked why Timken was calling on Dills to resign at the same time the head of her party  President Donald Trump  also engaged in lewd conduct by bragging about groping womens private parts, Ohio GOP spokesman Evan Machan said in a statement that theres no comparison between the two.

We want to be clear here, the voters will go to the ballot box on March 17th and they should know that the state party believes Mr. Dills is not fit for public service," Machan stated. "The voters of the 65th district will decide who will represent them.

Schmidt said in an interview that she heard about Dills admission from a story on the Cincinnati Enquirers website. When asked about Dills accusation that Schmidts allies were using this as a political weapon against him, she said she had absolutely nothing to do with this.

Asked about Dills offense compared to the presidents actions, Schmidt said she had no comment.

This is about Ohio and Ohio values, and the people of Ohio do expect us to have some moral integrity, she said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the first name of Nikea Dills, Joe Dills wife.

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Ohios road-safety laws rank among countrys worst in new survey

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Ohio secretary of state fills top elections security job

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Bhagyashree, who is best remembered for her role of Suman in Salman Khan's blockbuster film Maine Pyaar Kiya, is the latest addition to the cast of Prabhas-Pooja Hegde's upcoming multilingual film reportedly titled as Jaan. The actress will be essaying the role of Prabhas' mother in the film.

Speaking about why she gave her nod for this movie, Bhagyashree told a leading tabloid, " There's a wow factor that surrounds the role, something which I haven't played yet. A different skills set and a lot of practise is needed to pull off such a character, which is why I said 'yes' to the film."

She further added, "I feel like there wasn't a right follow up after Maine Pyar Kiya; hopefully, this Prabhas' film does the job. Having said that, Maine Pyar Kiya created history and it is difficult to surpass such a film. I feel blessed that people remember me with that same affection over years."

When asked whether she has watched Baahubali, she replied, "Who hasn't watched it? I'm so excited to work with Prabhas."

Meanwhile, the Maine Pyaar Kiya star couldn't stop raving about the grandeur of the sets constructed by the National award winning production designer, Ravinder Reddy and was quoted as saying, "Believe me, it's like heaven on earth! I'm sure the audience will experience the opulence while watching the film."

If reports are to be believed, Prabhas plays the role of a fortune-teller in this film while Pooja Hegde essays his love interest. Directed by Radha Krishna Kumar, Jaan is a multilingual film which will be releasing in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

While the first shooting schedule was filmed in Italy, the second schedule is being shot in a huge set erected at the Ramoji Film City.

Prabhas To Get Married After Jaan's Release? Inside Deets Out!

Saaho Effect: Prabhas Gives Strict Warning To Makers Of Prabhas 20?
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 25

By Ilkin Seyfaddini  Trend:

Uzbekistan will be launching a new credit information system in 2020, according to the decree of Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Trend reported via Uzbek media.

In his message to the Parliament of Uzbekistan, Mirziyoyev said that there should be no interference in the activities of financial institutions.

Speaking about the banking system in the country, Mirziyoyev pointed out that the banking system should develop in accordance with the interests of customers. He also said that certain transformations in all of the banks are expected to start in 2020.

Strict deadline of the implementation of credit information systems is till July 1st, 2020.

The president also instructed to develop a bill on financial control and external debt in the near future.
I appreciated the coverage of the decision by the Supreme Court of Virginia to uphold Gov. Ralph Northams (D) ban on firearms at the pro-gun rally in Richmond on Monday [Northams firearm ban upheld as rally nears, Metro, Jan. 17]. Can this be the dangerously partisan, pliable, Republican-appointed court that Virginia Del. Mark Levine (D-Alexandria) warned against in his Dec. 15 Local Opinions essay, Virginias redistricting amendment could guarantee partisan gerrymandering? The court that would give Republicans control over Virginia district lines forever, as he wrote in a constituent newsletter in November?
Business tycoon and philanthropist Anand Mahindra is a bit of a celebrity on Twitter - across his ten-odd years of tweeting, hes made us laugh, inspired us and even helped us out with our music playlists.

Unfortunately, theres just no pleasing some people. It all started when Mahindra posted a tweet sharing a few positive markers in Indias recently-troubled economy. Recent statistics have shown a mild upward trend in Indias manufacturing sector - something that Mahindra wished to highlight and share with millions of Indians anxious about the countrys fiscal futures.

Im often accused of being stupidly optimistic. If this trend continues then perhaps the adjective stupid will be discarded... https://t.co/nD10q8VETk  anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) January 24, 2020

A Twitter user by the name of Aarav promptly disagreed, however.



Yes , you are stupid .

India cud nt yet arrange for electricity, water, roads and law and order and now Modi & company has made sure that we stay in a turmoil for another 42 months and to add to it Rahul Gandhi , the dumb is leading the opposition  Aarav (@Aarav93555583) January 24, 2020

All fair points, no doubt - several Indians agree with Aaravs opinions, but simply calling Mahindra stupid without delivering a particularly constructive reply isnt what wed call a smart course of action.



Fortunately, Mahindra quickly showed him how its done.

Your pessimism is quite comprehensive. Is there ANYTHING you are optimistic about? Or have you exiled yourself to a remote cave in the mountains? Let me know if I can get Swiggy to send you a food package! https://t.co/R43n19RdIj  anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) January 24, 2020

Its a pretty clear message from the CEO - talk shit, get hit. The tweet gained close to 15k likes and over 2k retweets since it was posted, and Indian tweeters couldnt get enough of it.



Several of his fans and followers enjoyed his sarcastic, nonchalant reply:

Sir you are way too humble and cool !!

The person whom you responded to has NO FOLLOWERS! He was highly discourteous to you, a corporate honcho !! Yet you reverted so politely! Wow sir! You amaze and constantly inspire me.  Vidya Ganesh (@VidyaG88) January 24, 2020

Some felt that his reply was out of turn, however:



@anandmahindra with due respects 2 you, you may have brushed aside tweet of the gentlmen but deep down in yr heart I m sure u r aware of extent 2 which Indian Society has become polarized & if NRC comes anyone who has an iota of intellect knows there is nothing 2b optimistic  dilip shahani (@dilipshahani) January 24, 2020

Sh. Anand Sir: I am sure you dont have such staff for cleaning of vehicle. Freedom of speech doesnt mean you say anything to anyone. After reading such reply for a successful man I must say India is far behind in giving right education.   Sunil Chouhan  (@sunilc65) January 24, 2020

A fair point was raised by user Randominion, who brought up Mahindras peer, Rahul Bajaj.



Sh. Anand Sir: I am sure you dont have such staff for cleaning of vehicle. Freedom of speech doesnt mean you say anything to anyone. After reading such reply for a successful man I must say India is far behind in giving right education.   Sunil Chouhan  (@sunilc65) January 24, 2020

Bajaj has recently gone on record criticising the state of Indias government and further explaining how industrialists are shying away from being openly critical of its policies - which is something Mahindra may be guilty of here, if viewed from a well, pessimistic angle. The auto industry has suffered major losses through 2019, with over 2 lakh jobs being snapped out of existence in just a few months - a major blow to a country thats reeling from high unemployment rates.



Its all water under the bridge for Mahindra, though. With his recent, wildly popular XUV 300 model earning a 5-Star NCAP rating and becoming the safest car ever made by an Indian manufacturer, we cant blame him for wanting to be a bit more positive - even for a single tweet.
THE President and the Taoiseach were represented at the Funeral Mass of former senator and two-time Mayor of Limerick Patrick C Kennedy which took place this Saturday.

Mr Kennedy, 78, who was also a teacher, barrister and a past president of Limerick Chamber of Commerce, died peacefully at University Hospital Limerick during the week following a short illness.

He first entered public life in 1967 when he was elected to the then Limerick Corporation and continued to serve on the local authority  in its various guises  for 47 years.

He served as a member of the Administrative Panel in Seanad Eireann for 12 years  between 1981 and 1993.

Gifts offered as symbols of his life included a barristers wig, three books that he wrote, a family photograph and a gold medal which he received for Gaeilge.

A portrait of Patrick Kennedy wearing his mayoral robes was displayed on an easel next to his coffin which was draped in a simple white pall in front of the Altar at St Josephs Church, OConnell Avenue.

Chief celebrant, Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan  a brother-in-law of Patrick Kennedy  told the congregation that he lived a rich and varied life while his son, Tom, said he would have been impressed with himself given the turnout for his funeral.

Dad had probably one or two redeemable qualities such as Kennedy hair and the ability to speak well in public, he said

He told mourners, his father had enjoyed a long and varied career and that he worked on a number of significant projects and developments in the city during his time in local politics.

He definitely did his best for Limerick as a councillor and Mayor and president of the Chamber, he said adding he is probably one of the only people in the world to have never sent or received a text message.

The Taoiseach and @PresidentIRL were represented at the Funeral Mass, at St Joseph's Church, of former Mayor of Limerick and Senator Pat Kennedy. Report to come online and in print ( via @DHurleyLL) pic.twitter.com/njcwsZbfVW  Limerick Leader (@Limerick_Leader) January 25, 2020

The current Mayor of the city and county of Limerick, Cllr Michael Sheahan (pictured below with Bishop Cullinan, was among those who attended the funeral as did a number of former mayors and members of he legal profession.

Patrick C Kennedy is survived by his wife Loretto, his adult children Thomas, Loretto Jnr., Alex and Shane and his three grandchildren.

Following the Funeral Mass at St Josephs Church, OConnell Avenue he was laid to rest at Mount St Oliver Cemetery.
Proper structures must be instituted to ...
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, January 24, 2020

Google announced Friday it will begin testing additional variations in desktop search based on early feedback from users around the favicon and black ad label rollouts.

The idea is to bring a modern look to desktop search. "We're dedicated to improving the desktop experience for Search, and as part of our efforts we rolled out a new design last week, mirroring the design that weve had for many months on mobile, wrote a Google spokesperson to Search Marketing Daily. The design has been well received by users on mobile screens, as it helps people more quickly see where information is coming from and they can see a prominent bolded ad label at the top.

The new look on mobile launched in May 2019, in an effort to guide users through information on the web. The name of the website and its icon serves up at the top of the search results to help anchor each query search result.

advertisement advertisement

Web publishers told Google they like having their brand iconography on the search results page. The Google spokesperson said the company got lots of feedback from different sources, including direct channels. And while early tests for desktop were positive, Google always incorporates feedback from its users.

When asked whether this layout promotes unintentional click-throughs, the spokesperson said that once the feature launches to all users, Google might get a better sense of whether that is occurring.

Earlier this week, media outlets that began noticing the change said the new layout blurs the lines between organic search results and paid-search ads.

While the ads are clearly labeled, it does mean that the person who is searching takes a moment to read the URL to verify whether the result is an ad or content link, to an extent.
A Sydney council will review plans to build new toilets and showers at Mona Vale Beach following opposition from some residents who claimed the new building would be one of the biggest toilet blocks in NSW.

The Northern Beaches Council proposed a new 330 square metre amenities block housing toilets, outdoor showers, a lifeguard room and storage space as part of upgrades to the Mona Vale Surf Life Saving Club. Public amenities would no longer be housed in the surf club.

Plans to upgrade toilet and shower facilities at Mona Vale Beach are opposed by some residents. Credit:Kate Geraghty

But the plan angered some residents who demanded the council rethink the "oversized" building, which they claimed would increase waste and smell at the beach.

The council's chief executive Ray Brownlee said the new building, which would increase the number of toilets and showers at the beach, would improve safety and cater to increasing numbers of visitors.
Photo: Buena Vista Pictures

Watching a Michael Bay movie is not only about witnessing the many things he likes: fast cars, big explosions, blue and teal color palettes, hot bods, low angles, American flags. Theyre about going through the looking glass of American grotesquerie, where the cinematic indulgence is the point. His latest movie, Netflixs ensemble assassin movie 6 Underground, starring Ryan Reynolds, is a reckless blast specifically because it is filled with that movie magic known as Bayhem  action and destruction that only Bay could deliver on the scale that he does, whether its an extensive car chase that destroys Italian art in the process, or a big high-rise sequence seemingly built around his love of smashing glass. Love or hate his movies, its impossible to deny that Bay doesnt have his own aesthetic, which is something that plenty of directors  even Bays fellow filmmakers in the Criterion Collection  cant readily claim.

In honor of 6 Underground and its mastermind, weve assembled a list of 18 moments from Michael Bays directorial career that define his unique place in action cinema. That includes all of his Transformers movies, Bad Boys, The Rock, and plenty of other films that have brought mayhem to screens across the country.

18. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

A very, very big explosion in Egypt

This battle royale set among Egyptian ruins has a lot of Bay qualities that can be numbing  massive robots fighting over some literal plot device, American soldiers adding to the fire power, and Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox screaming as they dash away from one big boom to the next. But the biggest takeaway  other than the robot balls joke that John Turturro makes while clinging to the Great Pyramid of Giza  is one very special, record-breaking explosion. The climactic, dazzling air strike toward the end of this scene is like Bays own Apocalypse Now, and even won him a Guinness World Record for the largest explosion with actors present (a record that has since been beat by the 2015 James Bond movie Spectre).

17. 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Mortar attack

Though 13 Hours sits out awkwardly in Bays filmography as a bungled attempt to be taken seriously, his take on the incident at Benghazi leads with his signature style. With in-your-face filmmaking and a constant air of combat, its prime Bay. The mortar-attack scene best captures it  first, its the shot that follows a mortar from its launch to its target, just like the bomb in Pearl Harbor (also on this list). Then, its a soldier (played by James Badge Dale), running in extreme slow motion, sparks flying in his face, right before another one drops and creates a visceral explosion that Bay shows from multiple angles. Within the chaos and questionable politics of 13 Hours, Bays visual relationship to warfare stands out.

16. The Island

Hover-bike highway chase

In Bays 2005 rip-off of Logans Run, sexy clones played by Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor spend a lot of time on the lam, causing the directors thrill-ride inclinations kick in. The films center chase is the highlight, taking its protagonists from the back of a Mack truck to a hover bike (dodging air monorails!) to the side of a tall building. Inspired destruction arises when our heroes push giant metal train wheels from the back of the truck onto the freeway, which rip through the cars of the bad guys in pursuit. (Bay later reused some of this destruction for Transformers: Dark of the Moon.)

15. Bad Boys

Hangar explosion

Bay made a full evolution from music-video director to explosive action director with this finale in Bad Boys. It plays like a chamber piece in the context of his oeuvre, with select explosions in this gunfight (featuring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith) brilliantly building tension, getting bigger and bigger with each dramatic development. Of course, the showiest explosion comes last, with the hangars destruction  marking the first of his many captivating wide shots where an entire landscape seems colored with Bays beloved bright, fiery orange.

14. Transformers

Final battle in Mission City

The final battle scene in the first Transformers movie finds Bay taking after the sci-fi spectacle of his executive producer and longtime validator, Steven Spielberg, mashing it up with his own brand of PG-13 chaos. With grounded emotional work from Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox as they help secure the AllSpark for the Autobots, the scene finds a strength in limiting its robo-battling to a few streets. Its even got some now-classic Bay product placement, like when a Mountain Dew vending machine turns into an evil robot. Looking back on this sequence, you can see how Bays inclination for practical destruction found a productive match with the CGI action of the Transformers.

13. Transformers

Decepticons attack on Qatar base

One of the first glances we get at the big ol baddie Transformers (a.k.a. Decepticons) arrives in this early scene, when a U.S. base is attacked by a Decepticon named Blackout. Its an impressive mix of sonic booms and big hangar explosions, and presents a nighttime invasion that U.S. forces have no chance of winning. Add in some flying tanks that dozens of scurrying soldiers have to dodge, and its a succinct example of Bays destruction that subsequently makes for gripping filmmaking.

12. The Rock

San Francisco chase

One of Bays greatest car chases involves a Hummer (commandeered by Sean Connery) running away from a Ferrari (driven by Nicolas Cage) down San Franciscos hilly streets. The carnage is so ruthless (even a water truck gets smashed up) that a trolley gets knocked off the tracks in its last moments, and then launched into the air in a big ball of fire; Cages Ferrari is finally crushed by the blown-up trolley as it rolls down the street. In one of Bays most iconic moments of comic relief, a random passerby says: Hey man, you just fucked up your Ferrari. To which a cool-as-ice Cage replies: Its not mine.

11. Transformers: The Last Knight

Medieval explosions

The closest weve gotten to a Michael Bay medieval epic is the fifth (and, reportedly, his last) Transformers movie, Transformers: The Last Knight. In a cold open thats meant to further explain the Transformers history within our world (as these movies like to do), Bay handles the Dark Ages in a way hes most comfortable: big balls of orange fire from catapults hurtling through teal sky and explosions that dramatically eject people into the air in slow motion. This massive battle scene nonetheless sets the stage for Stanley Tucci in a big beard and clearly improvising for Bays IMAX 3-D cameras, playing a very drunk Merlin. This scenes conclusion  which involves something of a Transformer dragon  only cements this brief moment as one of Bays stranger but more grandiose cinematic passages.

10. Bad Boys 2

Car-dodging highway chase

Bays movies have an affection for trucks, in large part because of the havoc they can cause. Case in point: the highway chase scene in Bad Boys 2, which has Mike and Marcus trying to dodge cars that are being off-loaded from a carrier truck on a busy highway. Bay makes it an in-your-face spectacle by sporadically putting the viewer in the front seat of different cars as automobiles barrel toward the camera. For good measure, Bay throws a boat into the mix for an explosive finishing touch, because car + boat = awesome explosion.

9. Pearl Harbor

Bombing of Pearl Harbor

You can imagine just how much a movie about Pearl Harbor would be a dream gig for Bay  free rein for his militaristic impulses and a duty to make sure the explosions are historically accurate. Its no surprise, then, that Bay orchestrated one of his most iconic explosions ever toward the beginning of the invasion, starting with a shot that follows a bomb as its dropped on a U.S. warship. Seconds later, we see a grandiose wide shot of four warships exploding as planes fly by. Bay has said that the moment took three-and-a-half months to engineer, and that it required 12 cameras for what amounted to about 30 seconds of film. The result speaks for itself.

8. Transformers: Age of Extinction

Dogfight through Chicago

The fourth Transformers movie has a kind of manic quality that I love  namely the dogfight in the middle of the movie that happens through the Chicago skyline, with nicked buildings and explosions used as mere collateral damage. Mark Wahlberg (along with Jack Reynor) helps shoot at Decepticons using the Autobot artillery, and it inspires one of his strangest line readings: These alien guns kick ass! The scene ends on a perfect match of Bays beloved blue and orange  an exploding truck of Bud Light down in Chicagos financial district. The scene gets even more gratuitous: There are close-ups on all the light-beer casualties, followed up by footage of Wahlberg aggressively drinking from one as American flags wave in the background.

7. Armageddon

Meteor attack on NYC

Michael Bays first scene of mass destruction in Armageddon starts with a Godzilla joke  a dog knocks over some dolls of the King of Monsters  and then he tries to the top Godzillas destruction with balls of fire from space. Yes, this is very well the type of bombastic spectacle that led Roger Ebert to call the film an assault on the eyes, the ears, the brain, common sense, and the human desire to be entertained. But in the context of Bay this is a grand achievement, with flaming cars launched into the New York air, and meteors blasting buildings (and even a bus) like a missile strike. Within the indulgence, Bay also has the audacity to present the Chrysler Tower falling needle-first, cementing himself as a bona fide disaster artist.

6. 6 Underground

Hong Kong penthouse destruction

Bays cinema would be nothing without intricate architecture to destroy and glass to break. In 6 Underground, his appetite for destruction finds a perfect castle, a glass-adorned penthouse apartment in Hong Kong, with a pool on the rooftop. You can probably guess all the ways that Bay and his characters renovate the space and its pool, but the scene gets an extra nervous charge from Ben Hardys parkour moves as he bounces around steel poles in the Hong Kong skyline. And using the THX introduction to break the high rises glass? Thats pure cinema.

5. Transformers: Age of Extinction

Dropping a steamboat from the sky

Even when telling grandiose action stories, Bay is a disaster-story filmmaker at heart, and every now and then finds an inspired way to destroy things on a massive scale. In Age of Extinction, a Decepticon named Lockdown uses a giant magnet on its ship to lift up cars, boats, and other massive stuff, just so it can drop it on the Hong Kong streets below. Its like the ultimate Bay monster, and its way of picking up stuff and eventually dropping of different mobiles creates a great dramatic buildup. Case in point, when a steamboat hovers above a busy Hong Kong street, and then crashes down. In the words of Stanley Tuccis agape character: Oh myyy Goddd!

4. Pain & Gain

Blowing up Kershaw

Pain & Gain, Bays 2013 riff on a Coen brotherslike yarn, has the least number of explosions of any of his movies. And yet it shows that Bayhem is not just a feat of spectacle, but a perspective. Take this pivotal scene, where wannabe millionaire and reckless juice-head Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) and his accomplices decide to kill a man (Tony Shalhoubs Victor Kershaw) that theyve just extorted. They try to make it look like Kershaw got into a drunk driving accident, sending his car into a tractor in a parking lot. But when that fails, Lugo takes a very Bay-esque approach to it  blow him up. That, of course, isnt a sound fix to their problems, but they get an iconic cool guys dont look at explosions shot in the process.

3. 6 Underground

Florence car chase

Bay shows off his new Netflix money in 6 Underground by kicking off the ensemble action-comedy with his best car chase yet. With a group of assassins (including lead Ryan Reynolds) crammed into a Day-Glo Alfa Romeo, it brings Bay back to the Bad Boys energy of fast action balanced with frantic comedy, punctuated with nasty moments when you can see crashed cars send bodies through windshields. Its the kind of character-based, freewheeling chaos that Bay adores, and during its joy-riding through tight streets of Florence, he even throws in a Eurotrash version of Carl Orffs Carmina Burana (and, because he cant resist, a comic beat about Michelangelos David and his penis).

2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Optimus saves the day

Bays Transformers filming technique can sometimes amount to glorified exterior shots (blow stuff up, add robots later), but every now and then it creates a fleeting moment of grace. Case in point: Optimuss big return during the Battle for Chicago in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which finds Shia LaBeoufs Sam Witwicky and Rosie Huntington-Whiteleys Carly seeking cover at a bus station. Optimus glides through the impressive carnage on Chicagos riverside Wacker Drive, holding both a sword and gun, slicing and shooting his way through Decepticons. All the while, cars bounce around, and a gauntlet of big explosions surrounds him. For all of Bays desires for grandiosity, its a genuinely harmonious passage for Bays often clashing sensibilities of size, motion, and destruction.

1. Bad Boys 2

Destroying a $40 million mansion

Even with all of his CGI robots and images of city-wide destruction, Bays piece de resistance remains the third act of Bad Boys 2, featuring the destruction of a $40 million mansion, which gets torpedoed and then smashed by a yellow Hummer. The Plan B for Smith and Lawrences Mike and Marcus getting away comes in typical Bay fashion  a community-destroying downhill drive that barrels through a bunch of shacks (in a territory thats meant to be Cuba). We get a clear idea of the cars POV (say good-bye to the side-view mirror) and a wide view of its carnage, and it makes for eye-popping spectacle. Of course, this being one of Bays most expensive sequences, the Hummer is surrounded by explosions that go off as it blasts down a hill, as if this were a victory lap accompanied by Bays version of the all-American firework.
Benjamin Ivry in Forward:

Derek Walcott, the Nobel Prize-winning poet from the West Indies who died March 17 at age 87, was long inspired by Jewish culture, history and friendships. As the literary scholar Benedicte Ledent has pointed out, Walcotts poem A Far Cry from Africa draws a parallel between blacks and Jews. The poem, about the Mau Mau Uprising, a 1950s military conflict in British Kenya, Walcott ironically describes the rebels as savages, expendable as Jews.

Paula Burnett, another informed reader of Walcotts poetry, notes that although the paralleling of the New World black experience with that of Jews in the Holocaust had been a long-standing theme of Walcotts, the theme of Nazi atrocities takes on a fresh prominence in his collection, The Fortunate Traveler (1982) In it, swirling images express the inhuman treatment of people of color by colonizers, in a world overwhelmed by the Holocaust, so that the abbreviation A.D., instead of Anno Domini, appears to represent After Dachau. The Americanist Eric J. Sundquist points to a key essay by Walcott, The Muse of History, published in 1974, in which African slaves arriving in the West felt identification with Hebraic suffering, the migration, the hope of deliverance from bondage the passage over our Red Sea was not from bondage to freedom but its opposite, so that the tribes arrived at that New Canaan chained.

More here.
Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development, Ciaran Cannon, T.D., has issued an invitation to Dublin primary school pupils, including those in Fingal, to share their ideas on how we can create a better world by taking part in this year's Our World Irish Aid Awards.

The Awards were launched by Minister Cannon at Carrabane National School, Athenry, Co. Galway where he was joined by pupils and teachers to also mark the 15th Anniversary of the competition, which is the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's flagship global citizenship award scheme for primary schools.

Speaking at the launch, Minister Cannon said: 'In 2019, we published Ireland's Policy for International Development, A Better World. It sets out an ambitious view of the world we want to live in and outlines the things we must do if we are to play our part in meeting the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development.

'The Our World Irish Aid Awards are an important way of introducing our young people to this work and the very real challenges experienced by others less fortunate than ourselves around the world.

'This year, we mark the 15th Anniversary of the Awards. Our theme for 2020, A Better World, is both an invitation and a challenge to Dublin primary school pupils to think critically and creatively about how we can work together to create a more equal, peaceful and sustainable world. I would encourage schools to take part and look forward to seeing their projects later this year.'

The Minister for Education and Skills, Joe McHugh, T.D., added his endorsement saying: 'Children in schools up and down the country are already challenging older generations on issues like the climate and sustainability. The Our World Irish Aid Awards are a great way to encourage children to think about how they can make the world a better place. The resources offered to teachers are also of huge benefit as they help to embed ideas about sustainability across the curriculum and tap into young people's creativity and imagination.'

Registered primary schools nationwide receive curriculum-linked teaching and learning materials to help teachers and pupils discover more about each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Irish Aid's eight focus countries. Schools are invited to communicate their ideas and understanding of the issues in writing, song, film, artwork or another medium of their choosing.

This year's theme, A Better World, invites pupils to consider what the better world of their dreams would be like and what we can all do to make that better world a reality.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - The owners of a San Francisco Bay Area solar energy company have pleaded guilty to charges that they plotted a massive Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of $1 billion.

Prosecutors said Jeff and Paulette Carpoff began DC Solar, based in Benicia, as a legitimate company that made solar generators but it morphed into a fraud scheme that duped people into investing millions on a product that never provided much income.

Among the investors was Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which lost some $340 million.

As part of their plea deal, the husband and wife agreed to forfeit over $120 million in assets, including a fleet of collector cars and vacation homes purchased with cash.
This article is published through a partnership with New York Medias Strategist . The partnership is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. Every editorial product is independently selected by New York Media. If you buy something through our links, Slate and New York Media may earn an affiliate commission.

Because the skin under our eyes is the most delicate on our entire bodies, its an area that often needs special attention no matter your age. There are bags, puffiness, and dark circles to contend with, in addition to those fine lines and wrinkles. But thats what eye cream is for: Its a highly concentrated form of moisturizer, powered with ingredients like retinol and hyaluronic acid, to help address these issues. The formulas are often pricey  you can spend well over a hundred dollars for one in a department store, but, according to seven experts we spoke to (including three aestheticians and four dermatologists), you dont have to. Every eye cream our experts recommended for this list can be found at your local drugstore. All will brighten, hydrate, and smooth  and most of will cost you less than $30.

Best overall drugstore eye cream

All four of the dermatologists we spoke praised the RoC Retinol Correxion Anti-Aging Eye Cream due to its ability to target and treat a variety of under-eye concerns. This is one of my personal favorite eye creams for under $20, says Dr. Karen Hammerman of Schweiger Dermatology Group, who suggests it for pretty much everything: crows feet, fine lines and wrinkles, dark circles, uneven texture, and puffiness. According to Dr. Amanda Doyle of Russak Dermatology NYC, this is because the formula contains retinol, a powerful anti-aging ingredient, which helps to maintain and build collagen over time, resulting in the smoothing of wrinkles and the softening of the appearance of dark circles. And although retinol is a potent form of vitamin A that has a reputation for being potentially irritating, Hammerman says patients should not be concerned about applying it to their delicate eye skin, due to the time-release formula, which absorbs slowly and wont aggravate skin, while working quickly to smooth the surface of the skin and diminish fine lines. That being said, since retinol can make skin more sensitive to the sun, make sure you apply it only at night and be diligent about sunscreen during the day.

Best eye cream for dark circles

If youre dealing with raccoon eyes, Dr. Noelani Gonzalez, a dermatology specialist at Mount Sinai Health System, recommends this option from La Roche Posay. This cream has caffeine, which helps constrict blood vessels and diminish the appearance of dark under-eye circles, she explains. The caffeine works almost immediately to reduce the appearance of dark circles for the day. While this is the most expensive cream on our list, it also contains reflective pigments that help brighten the under-eye area instantaneously. According to celebrity aesthetician Jordan Mattioli, the best general application method is to dab a few dots of cream under the eye and tap it in gently to avoid pulling or tugging on the skin. Apply to the area under the eye and the sides of the eye but avoid your upper eyelid, she adds.

Best drugstore eye cream for sensitive skin

This is a fragrance-free eye cream loaded with hyaluronic acid, ceramides, and niacinamide  a great combination of ingredients to treat signs of aging, even on those with extremely sensitive skin, says Mattioli. Hammerman agrees and adds that not only are those ingredients extremely gentle for people with sensitive skin but they also restore and maintain the skins natural protective barrier and help to keep the eye area hydrated and smooth. Plus, the formula is nongreasy and noncomedogenic  meaning it wont clog your pores  making it a good bet for those with oily or acne-prone skin, too.

Best illuminating drugstore eye cream

Medical aesthetician Sofie Pavitt, who counts our columnist Rio Viera-Newton as one of her clients, loves this brightening eye cream from classic drugstore brand Olay. She calls it a great textured eye cream that moisturizes and smooths under-eye skin. But what sets it apart is its peachy tint, which helps to color correct and brighten dark circles, both neutralizing the dark shadows and providing an illuminating effect. It also acts as a good base to use under your usual concealer.

Best moisturizing drugstore eye cream

For those who have extremely dry under-eye skin, Gonzalez suggests this gel-textured eye cream from Neutrogena, which is chock-full of hyaluronic acid, a molecule which absorbs 1,000 times its weight in water and helps hydrate and plump the skin around the eyes. If you want the same plumping formula, but with the additional anti-aging power of retinol, Dr. Morgan Rabach, a dermatologist and co-founder of LM Medical NYC, also loves Neutrogenas Rapid Wrinkle Repair Under Eye Cream.

Best drugstore eye cream for puffiness

Generally, puffiness under the eye is caused by fluid build-up. To help treat it, master aesthetician Joomee Song loves this cooling eye gel that has a steel rollerball massaging applicator. Just like you can massage your face with a jade roller to encourage lymphatic drainage, increase circulation, and reduce puffiness, you can do the same with the area under your eye, she explains. And as a bonus, the cream is formulated with caffeine, peptides, and plant extracts to soothe, tighten, and brighten tired, swollen-looking eyes.

Best drugstore eye cream for under-eye bags

You know them when you see them: Those folds of puffy skin met by shadowy discoloration that we call bags. Generally, under-eye bags are caused by fluid retention, as well as the skin sagging and losing its natural elasticity over time. Sometimes they appear after a late night; some of us are born with them. In either case, Hada Labo Tokyo Age Correcting Eye Cream is full of caffeine to help tighten them up. Hada Labo is also unique for its use of super hyaluronic acid, which, according to Song, contains twice the moisture retention capacity of regular hyaluronic acid. Those ingredients combined help to hydrate, restrict blood vessels, retain moisture, restore radiance, and lessen dark circles, she says, which in turn will help reduce the appearance of bags. The texture is also superlight, so you can reapply throughout the day without having to worry about ruining your makeup, she promises. However, if your eye bags are pretty much constant  which can happen as you age  they are likely the result of a drooping fat pad under the eye. If this is the case, an in-office procedure is your best bet to fixing them permanently.

Best drugstore eye cream for the morning

This cream is ideal for morning routines because the mineral pigments give the under eyes a soft radiance that lasts throughout the day, says Mattioli. The lightweight formula, which includes both a hydrating gel and firming cream, is fragrance-free and fast-absorbing, so you can quickly layer it under your other skin care and makeup while youre running out the door. It also contains an effective mix of nourishing peptides and niacinamide to treat signs of aging.

Best drugstore eye cream for the evening

Alternatively, if youre looking for a richer night cream, Pavitt is a fan of Garnier SkinActive Ultra-Lift Anti-Wrinkle Firming Night Cream because it contains a small amount of vitamin A, which encourages cell turnover overnight, so you wake up with fresh, healthy skin and improved skin elasticity. It also contains rice peptides, which will give your skin an intense dose of hydration while you sleep.
PORTAGE, MI -- The forever chemical PFAS has been found at a former Portage City landfill and health officials are testing nearby private wells to check for migrating groundwater contamination.

Kalamazoo County and Portage officials issued a news release about the testing in the late afternoon of Friday, Jan. 24.

The landfill is at 9010 S. Westnedge Avenue and is now South Westnedge Park.

Sampling of 25 private residential wells near the site is being done this week, with results expected in about two weeks.

City and county officials say most homes near the site are served by municipal water that is tested regularly for PFAS and other contaminants. It has shown to be safe.

But because of testing in fall 2019 that identified PFAS contamination potentially migrating beyond the boundaries of the site, the city recently notified 103 affected down gradient property owners about the issue. The property owners were notified between Nov. 25 and Dec. 17.

Its not clear if all of those properties are served by private wells.

PFAS was first discovered in groundwater at the former landfill in May 2019 when the city began testing for it because the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy listed it as a contaminant.

Officials with Portage, EGLE,the county and the state Department of Health and Human Services plan to schedule a public information meeting the week of Feb. 10 to present well test results and "next steps."

They plan to announce the exact date, time and location of the event next week.

The state has a web site to provide information about PFAS sites around the state and various information about PFAS.

PFAS are a family of thousands of synthetic chemicals used in nonstick and waterproof products and firefighting foam. Exposure to the chemicals has been linked to health problems like cancer and autoimmune disease. They have been nicknamed forever chemicals because the compounds resist breaking down in the environment.

Also on MLive:

1.9 million Michigan residents drink some PFAS as evidence mounts about its dangers

Meet Michigan residents affected by PFAS in their drinking water

Major Michigan PFAS polluter named Business of the Year
Surkov served as Russian president's aide from September 20, 2013 to today, as well as from March 26, 2004 to May 7, 2008.

Head of the Center for Political Conjuncture Alexei Chesnakov has said Russian President Vladimir Putin's aide Vladislav Surkov left the civil service over the change of course "in the Ukrainian direction."

Surkov has promised to inform the reason for such a decision in a month, as well as further plans, the expert wrote on Telegram on January 25, 2020.

Surkov served as Russian president's aide from September 20, 2013 to today, as well as from March 26, 2004 to May 7, 2008.
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Mike Pompeo dropped F-bombs and shouted at NPR All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly for asking about Ukraine.

NPR provided PoliticusUSA with the segment of the interview that enraged Pompeo:

On whether he owes former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, an apology for her ouster in 2019:

You know, I agreed to come on your show today to talk about Iran. Thats what I intend to do. I know what our Ukraine policy has been now for the three years of this administration. Im proud of the work weve done. This administration delivered the capability for the Ukrainians to defend themselves. President Obama showed up with MREs (meals, ready-to-eat.) We showed up with Javelin missiles. The previous administration did nothing to take down corruption in Ukraine. Were working hard on that. Were going to continue to do it.

When pushed on the question of whether he defended or should defend Yovanovitch:

I have defended every State Department official. Weve built a great team. The team that works here is doing amazing work around the world Ive defended every single person on this team. Ive done whats right for every single person on this team.

On All Things Considered, Kelly described what happened after the interview ended:

I was taken to the Secretarys private living room where he was waiting and where he shouted at me for about same amount of time as the interview itself. He was not happy to have been questioned about Ukraine.

He asked, do you think Americans care about Ukraine?

He used the F-word in that sentence and many others. He asked if I could find Ukraine on a map. I said yes, and he called out for aides to bring us a map of the world with no writing. I pointed to Ukraine. He put the map away.

He said, people will hear about this.

Kelly asked Pompeo about Ukraine because he is going there this week. It wasnt a gotcha question or a topic that was out of left field. The Secretary of State is traveling there in days. There is speculation, especially in Ukraine, that Pompeo is going there to keep them quiet during the impeachment trial.

Pompeos conduct was unprofessional and completely uncalled for. Why is the Secretary of Stats so afraid of questions about Ukraine? The answer is the Pompeo is in up to his eyeballs in the plot, and he is worried that he is going to go down.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE:ALV), which is in the auto components business, and is based in Sweden, saw significant share price movement during recent months on the NYSE, rising to highs of US$86.79 and falling to the lows of US$77.35. 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 Autoliv's current trading price of US$77.35 reflective of the actual value of the mid-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Lets take a look at Autolivs outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change.

See our latest analysis for Autoliv

What is Autoliv worth?

Good news, investors! Autoliv is still a bargain right now. My valuation model shows that the intrinsic value for the stock is $118.59, but it is currently trading at US$77.35 on the share market, meaning that there is still an opportunity to buy now. Although, there may be another chance to buy again in the future. This is because Autolivs beta (a measure of share price volatility) is high, meaning its price movements will be exaggerated relative to the rest of the market. If the market is bearish, the company's shares will likely fall by more than the rest of the market, providing a prime buying opportunity.

What kind of growth will Autoliv generate?

NYSE:ALV Past and Future Earnings, January 25th 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. With profit expected to more than double over the next couple of years, the future seems bright for Autoliv. It looks like higher cash flow is on the cards for the stock, which should feed into a higher share valuation.

Story continues

What this means for you:

Are you a shareholder? Since ALV is currently undervalued, it may be a great time to increase your holdings in the stock. With an optimistic outlook on the horizon, it seems like this growth has not yet been fully factored into the share price. However, there are also other factors such as capital structure to consider, which could explain the current undervaluation.

Are you a potential investor? If youve been keeping an eye on ALV for a while, now might be the time to make a leap. Its prosperous future outlook isnt fully reflected in the current share price yet, which means its not too late to buy ALV. But before you make any investment decisions, consider other factors such as the track record of its management team, in order to make a well-informed buy.

Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters  the fundamentals  before you make a decision on Autoliv. You can find everything you need to know about Autoliv in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in Autoliv, 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.
Ahead of 71st Republic Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a telephone call today from Prime Minister of Israel, his Excellency Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel's Prime Minister extended his warmest greetings to the Prime Minister and the citizens of India on the eve of India's 71st Republic Day.

Prime Minister's Office:PM Narendra Modi received a telephone call today from PM of Israel,Benjamin Netanyahu, who extended his warmest greetings to PM&people of India on the eve of 71st Republic Day of India.Two leaders also exchanged greetings and good wishes for the Year 2020. pic.twitter.com/fYYr87SrXO  ANI (@ANI) January 25, 2020

READ | Republic Day 2020: What time is the national flag hoisted on Republic Day?

PM Modi and Benjamin Netanyahu exchange New Year greetings

During their telephonic interaction, the Prime Ministers of both the nations exchanged greetings and good wishes for the Year 2020. PM Modi and PM Netanyahu emphasized the significance of the strategic partnership between the two countries and expressed happiness at the growth of cooperation in all spheres. Prime Minister Modi stressed the significance of initiatives in the areas of agriculture, water and start-ups. The leaders also spoke about the efforts to facilitate air connectivity between the two nations. Global and regional matters of mutual interest remained to be some of the other key points of discussion. The Israeli and Indian Prime Minister also agreed to remain in touch, including in the context of the forthcoming initiatives and developmental plans for both the regions.

READ | Republic Day celebration in Bangalore: Witness first-ever pourakarmikas march

Republic Day 2020

The 71st Republic Day celebrations will see Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro as the Chief Guest for the Republic Day Parade. The 71st Republic Day parade will have 22 tableaux - 16 from States and Union Territories and six from various ministries, depicting the nation's rich cultural heritage and economic progress will roll down the Rajpath. The government departments' tableaux will showcase reforms brought under schemes such as Startup India, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna and Jal Jeevan Mission.

READ | Here's what you will see during the 90-minute-long Republic Day parade

READ | Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has stated that a man who mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian plane outside Tehran on January 8 is now in prison.

"Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an interview with German news magazine Der Spiegel that the man who mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane outside Tehran on January 8 is now in prison," Mehr News Agency reported.

Asked why it took the Iranian government three days to announce the plane was shot down, Zarif said: This was a complicated situation in a complicated time. Others needed much more time. Almost 32 years ago, the U.S. shot down an Iranian passenger plane. As of today, they still havent issued an official apology. The American officer who was responsible for shooting it down even received a medal. Meanwhile, the Iranian man who shot down the Ukrainian plane is now in prison."

As reported, 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  nine crew members (all Ukrainians) and 167 passengers (citizens of Ukraine, Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and the UK).

On January 11, Iran admitted that its military had accidentally shot down the Ukrainian passenger jet.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accepted full responsibility for the downing of the Ukrainian airliner.

ish
A Galena Park woman was allegedly stabbed to death by her husband Friday morning, according to police.

Mayra Falcon-Medellin, 38, was found dead by Galena Park Police Department officers and Harris County Sheriffs Office deputies around 4 a.m. inside her home in the 1700 block of Danaway Street.
Chinese coronavirus origin city Wuhan has taken on the appearance of doomsday as clogged hospitals are forced to turn sick people away, leaving them with no choice but to go home or wait outside.

One woman has travelled to multiple hospitals seeking urgent treatment for her ill husband, but was refused from each one and left stranded outside and with no option but to watch while he coughed up blood.

People just keep dying, no one is taking care of the bodies. If this goes on like this, we will all be doomed, the woman, named Xiaoxi, told The South China Morning Post.

I am desperate, I have lost count of time and days. I dont know if we will both live to see the new year.

Security check passengers at the entrance of a subway station in Beijing. Source: AP

She said her husband had been regularly coughing up blood and had a fever, but no hospital would take him in due to a lack of available beds.

Hospitals in Wuhan are at capacity with at least 12 nearby cities and 36 million people being placed into lockdown.

The total number of confirmed cases in China now stands at 1,287, the National Health Commission said, with 41 having been killed.

A 62-year-old doctor, named Liang Wudong, who worked at the hospital where the virus was first detected has died after being infected himself, the China Global Television Network reported on Saturday.

More than 1,300 people are infected globally, including a man who on Saturday was confirmed as the first victim in Australia.

Medical workers transfer a patient out of the intensive care unit at hospital in Wuhan. Source: AP

He is in a stable condition and has been isolated in Melbourne to undergo treatment, Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said.

The vast majority of the cases and all of the confirmed deaths to date have been in China, but the virus has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, France and the United States.

Footage, shared by news site Shanghaiist, from ground zero in Wuhan has emerged showing a hospital packed wall-to-wall with mask-wearing members of the public anxiously looking for help.

The virus is feared to have been caused by people in China eating the dead bodies of bats.

Story continues

Confronting images from Wuhan showed panicked locals stocking up on supplies as the city and its neighbouring areas were thrown into lockdown this week.

Security staffs clad in protective clothing check the body temperature of passengers at the entrance of a subway station in Beijing. Source: AP

In Australia, five people are undergoing testing for the virus in NSW and two in Queensland, with a number of people having already been cleared in both states.

France has had three people test positive - the disease's first appearance in Europe.

Two cases, including a Chicago woman returning from China, have been confirmed in the United States.

Other than in Victoria, no more victims have been confirmed in Australia.

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.
Kristie Flowers had been sick with the flu for four or five days in July before the 52-year-old registered nurse from Genoa, Colo., acknowledged she needed to go to the ER.

At Lincoln Community Hospital, about 10 miles from her home on the Eastern Plains of Colorado, doctors quickly diagnosed her with pneumonia and sepsis. Her right lung had completely filled with fluid, and Flowers needed much more intensive care than the 15-bed hospital could provide.

Doctors stabilized Flowers and transferred her by ambulance about 80 miles away to St. Francis Medical Center in Colorado Springs. There, doctors put her on a ventilator for 10 days as they slowly nursed her back to health. After two weeks, she returned to Lincoln Community Hospital for another week of rehab before going home.

After her insurance plan had paid its share, Flowers owed $8,000 in medical bills. A big chunk represented the $3,500 deductible from her employer-sponsored health plan. Never one to let the bills pile up, Flowers went to the bank and took out an $8,000 loan to pay off her medical tab.

Plans with annual deductibles of $3,000, $5,000 or even $10,000 have become commonplace since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act as insurers look for ways to keep monthly premiums to a minimum. But in rural areas, where high-deductible plans are even more prevalent and incomes tend to be lower than in urban areas, patients often struggle to pay those deductibles.

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That has hit patients like Flowers hard as they grapple with medical debt when emergencies happen - but small rural hospitals like Lincoln Community are suffering, too. These facilities often stabilize critically ill patients and then transfer them to larger regional or urban hospitals for more definitive care.

But when the hospitals submit their claims, bills from the first site of care generally get applied to a patient's deductible. And if patients can't afford to cover that amount, those hospitals often don't get paid, even as the larger urban hospitals where patients were transferred get close to full payment from the health plan.

"As soon as we send them to the city, those things start being paid by the insurance company," said Kevin Stansbury, CEO of Lincoln Community, "while we're still chasing the patient around for collections."

The result is financial headaches for patients and a substantial rise in the amount of uncollectible "bad debt" written off by all hospitals during the past few years. According to the Healthcare Financial Management Association, hospital bad debt increased by $617?million to nearly $56.5?billion between 2015?and 2018. More hospitals, especially those in rural areas, are left teetering financially.

At least 120 rural hospitals nationwide have shut down in the past decade. Without changes, advocates say, more will close, leaving patients such as Flowers in remote areas far from access to immediate emergency care.

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According to the nonprofit National Rural Health Association, bad debt for rural hospitals has gone up about 50% since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

"People in rural America were buying plans maybe for the first time, but buying plans they couldn't afford," said Maggie Elehwany, the group's vice president for government affairs and policy. The plans "seemed to make sense at the time, until they got sick."

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Part of the problem is that consumers primarily shop based on monthly premiums, and insurance plans can lower the monthly premiums they charge by increasing deductibles and copays. Some consumers take the gamble that they'll stay healthy and won't get stuck paying the high deductible. But others simply may not understand they are typically responsible for the full deductible before their insurance kicks in to cover the rest of their bills.

In many rural counties, consumers shopping on their state's health insurance exchange had little choice. This year, about 10% of enrollees, living in 25% of counties, many of them heavily rural, will have access to just one insurer in their local Affordable Care Act marketplaces, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis. (KHN is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)

"The exchanges have never worked the way they were envisioned," Elehwany said. "The goal was you go on your computer and it's going to be like buying an airline ticket, and just shopping around for what makes sense for you. There's no shopping in rural America. You have one choice."

In Colorado, for example, the average deductible in 2017 was nearly $5,800 for a bronze-level plan. According to an analysis by the Colorado Center on Law & Policy, 1 in 4 Coloradans would not be able to afford to pay that deductible over the course of a year. The ability to pay was even worse in rural areas.

Mark Holmes, director of the North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center, said that incomes are generally lower in rural areas than elsewhere, and that higher-income rural residents are more likely to travel to an urban hospital than to stay local. Lower-income rural residents, meanwhile, generally go to their local hospital, he said, but they are less likely to be able to meet a high deductible.

Rural residents are also less likely to be covered by employer-sponsored plans and, therefore, more likely to face high deductibles than their urban counterparts.

"They may never pay us," said Stella Worley, CEO of the 25-bed Keefe Memorial Hospital in Cheyenne Wells, Colo., near the Kansas line. "They get transferred onto high level of care and the other hospital gets paid. We get paid nothing - a lot."

Worley recalled one patient who had been treated and transferred to a larger hospital. Keefe Memorial wrote off $14,000 in total charges. The patient was billed $1,000 for his deductible and never paid it. Eventually, the unpaid bill went to a collection agency, which takes a 30% cut if it ever collects the fee.

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For many rural residents, paying a monthly premium and still facing thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs can feel like having no insurance at all. As a result, patients avoid seeking primary care services that could solve minor problems before they devolve into major health issues with much higher costs.

"Some of the people I know in our community trying to get insurance for their employees had a $10,000 deductible, which is really catastrophic insurance," said Rob Santilli, CEO of Gunnison Valley Health, in Gunnison, Colo. "It's not going to help them, and it immediately puts them into bad debt with the first instance when they need coverage."

To be sure, non-rural hospitals have also seen an increase in bad debt. But most city hospitals are part of a larger health system and can weather the storm better than small, independent rural hospitals operating on razor-thin margins.

Colorado has so far avoided the rural hospital closures that have plagued other states. Nonetheless, 22 rural hospitals in Colorado operated in the red last year, according to Michelle Mills, CEO of the Colorado Rural Health Center. That's double the number in 2018.

"We're definitely at a tipping point," Mills said.

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Hospital and rural health groups across Colorado are lobbying for changes in insurance plan designs to circumvent the impact from high-deductible plans. Lincoln Community's Stansbury suggested that primary care services, which help keep rural hospitals afloat and patients healthy, should be exempt from the deductible to encourage patients to keep up with their care.

Another option would be simplifying billing so insurance plans would pay hospital and doctor bills directly and send patients a single bill of what they owe. That approach would solve a common complaint from patients who struggle to reconcile multiple bills from various hospitals, doctors and other health care providers that stem from a single episode of care. It would also shift the burden of collecting the patient's portion of the bill to insurance companies, and protect the hospitals against uncollectible bad debt, leveling the playing field for the rural hospitals.

The Colorado Hospital Association is working with several state legislators to propose that sort of billing structure during the 2020 legislative session. Stansbury said the approach would also allow rural hospitals to focus on patient care rather than trying to collect payments.

"We just don't have the expertise for billing," he said. "We do it badly."

The National Rural Health Association favors requiring insurance plans that offer Medicare and Medicaid plans in rural areas to also offer exchange plans in those counties. If rural consumers had more options, they might be able to avoid high-deductible plans.

That could minimize bad debt for rural hospitals and pay dividends far beyond health care, Elehwany said.

"When you've got a small rural hospital and it closes, it's a nail in the coffin of that rural community," she said. "How are you going to attract a business? How are you going to keep your school if you don't have physicians? In rural America, health care is really part of the whole infrastructure of the community."

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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.
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. We'll use ROE to examine Greencore Group plc (LON:GNC), by way of a worked example.

Over the last twelve months Greencore Group has recorded a ROE of 14%. That means that for every 1 worth of shareholders' equity, it generated 0.14 in profit.

View our latest analysis for Greencore Group

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for return on equity is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations)  Shareholders' Equity

Or for Greencore Group:

14% = UK43m  UK306m (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2019.)

It's easy to understand the 'net profit' part of that equation, but 'shareholders' equity' requires further explanation. It is all the money paid into the company from shareholders, plus any earnings retained. You can calculate shareholders' equity by subtracting the company's total liabilities from its total assets.

What Does Return On Equity Mean?

ROE looks at the amount a company earns relative to the money it has kept within the business. The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. That means that the higher the ROE, the more profitable the company is. So, all else equal, investors should like a high ROE. That means ROE can be used to compare two businesses.

Does Greencore Group 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. Importantly, this is far from a perfect measure, because companies differ significantly within the same industry classification. As you can see in the graphic below, Greencore Group has a higher ROE than the average (11%) in the Food industry.

LSE:GNC Past Revenue and Net Income, January 25th 2020

That's clearly a positive. In my book, a high ROE almost always warrants a closer look. For example you might check if insiders are buying shares.

Story continues

Why You Should Consider Debt When Looking At ROE

Most companies need money -- from somewhere -- to grow their profits. That cash can come from retained earnings, issuing new shares (equity), or debt. In the first and second cases, the ROE will reflect this use of cash for investment in the business. In the latter case, the use of debt will improve the returns, but will not change the equity. In this manner the use of debt will boost ROE, even though the core economics of the business stay the same.

Greencore Group's Debt And Its 14% ROE

Greencore Group does use a significant amount of debt to increase returns. It has a debt to equity ratio of 1.09. Its ROE is quite good but, it would have probably been lower without the use of debt. Debt increases risk and reduces options for the company in the future, so you generally want to see some good returns from using it.

But It's Just One Metric

Return on equity is one way we can compare the business quality of different companies. Companies that can achieve high returns on equity without too much debt are generally of good quality. 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. It is important to consider other factors, such as future profit growth -- and how much investment is required going forward. So I think it may be worth checking this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

Of course Greencore Group may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have high ROE and low debt.

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.
A father in West Virginia who has been charged with murder for strangling his infant daughter, showed authorities how he committed the act using a teddy bear.

Jeffrey Hoskins showed the Jackson County Sheriff's Office how he strangled the baby girl in their Ripley home during his court interview, WSAV reports.

The baby was only six months at the time of the October incident.

Jeffrey Hoskins even showed the Jackson County Sheriff's Office how he strangled the baby girl in their Ripley home back in October 2018

'The child had significant bruising under her chin, on her arms and legs,' Chief Deputy Ross Mellinger said.

'Upon finally speaking with Mr. Hoskins, Mr. Hoskins had confessed to the strangulation of the child in which she has died from those injuries.'

Hoskins was detained at the time and charged with child abuse. He took off after posting bail.

He initially told authorities that the baby choked while he was feeding her.

'In a subsequent interview with the suspect, the child's father Jeffrey Hoskins, he confessed to not only strangling the child but attempting on four previous occasions to smother the child,' Mellinger explained to WV Metro News.

'Through the medical testing at the hospital, along with the medical opinion of the doctors there, and combined with Mr. Hoskins confession itself, suggests that there were multiple occasions prior to this one here where the baby was smothered and/or assaulted by the same father.'

Deputies share that the baby stayed on life support for 15 months because of legal challenges. Hoskins was charged with her murder after she died earlier in the week

At the time of the incident, Hoskins was only charged with child abuse. He fled the area after posting bail for that charge

Deputies share that the baby stayed on life support for 15 months because of legal challenges. The baby did die earlier in the week.

A grand jury granted a murder indictment for Hoskins on Thursday.

Hoskins was found hiding in a home in Arnoldsburg, West Virginia, where he is from. At the time of the incident, he was living at the home with a woman identified as his wife on Facebook.

At the time of the incident, he was living at the home with a woman identified as his wife on Facebook. The woman is the mother of the man's children

The woman is the mother of the man's children. She is not facing charges at the time but authorities say further charges could be pending.

Other children at the home have since been removed.

Facebook profile's for Hoskins and the children's mother indicate that they had another child in May of last year, roughly 8 months after the incident with their other child.
Europe's Catholic bishops are marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in then occupied Poland with a warning about ongoing hatred towards Jewish people. I in a statement, the bishops condemn anti-Semitism and what they call the "manipulation" of the truth for political aims.

By Stefan J. Bos



Saturday's published remarks reflect concerns within the Church about a rise in Holocaust denial and other forms of historical whitewashing. The statement was issued by the Council of European Bishops' Conferences and the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union.



It came just two days ahead of the anniversary of the Soviet army's liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during World War Two on January 27, 1945. More than a million people were murdered there, most of them Jews, as well as others the German Nazi's didn't like.

Listen to Stefan Bos' report



On Saturday, the bishops appealed for prayers and for candles to be lighted "for people murdered in death camps of all nationalities and religions."



"On this anniversary, we appeal to the modern world for reconciliation and peace, for respect for each nation's right to exist and to freedom, to independence, to maintain its own culture," the statement said. "We cannot allow the truth to be ignored or manipulated for immediate political needs."

German horror



The bishops described the power of Auschwitz as a symbol of the Nazi German horror. They recalled that the last three popes, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis, have all visited the site of the former camp.

Pope Francis, during his visit to the former Auschwitz-Birkenau, made no speech, the bishops noted, adding that his silent presence was very eloquent. They stressed that Pope Francis, in the memorial book at the site, wrote: "Lord, have mercy on your people. Lord, we ask pardon for such cruelty." He concluded his visit with a prayer at the Monument to the Martyrdom of Nations.



Europe's bishops also noted that Pope Francis said in recent days: "May the anniversary of the unspeakable cruelty that humanity learned of seventy-five years ago serve as a summons to pause. To be still and to remember. We need to do this, lest we become indifferent."



The bishops said that Auschwitz-Birkenau is a result of "the system based on the ideology of national socialism. It

meant trampling the dignity of man who is made in the image of God."

Rising nationalism

They also stressed that communist totalitarianism  like Nazism  claimed millions of lives in Europe's recent turbulent history.



The bishop's statement was published in a period of renewed rising nationalism in Europe and beyond.



Critics, including experts, have warned that some governments increasingly seek to replace honest historical inquiry with praising their nations' behavior during the war.



The 75th anniversary of the Auschwitz liberation has, for instance, been overshadowed by tensions between Russia and Poland over their country's role in the war.
When she realised she was a lesbian in high school, Hannah "felt like it was the end of [her] world". Loading "I could not envision a future where I wasn't married to a man, having kids and looking a certain way," she says. "To me growing up, being gay meant you couldn't have those things; they were incompatible just on a basic level ... I guess I never realised I had all these expectations for my life until they were brought into question." Deeply religious, Hannah felt as though she had to choose between her faith and her sexuality, a thought echoed by Fred. "I notice there's so many who [feel they] either have to come out and reject God or be Christian and in the closet," he says. "It's not easy to believe in a god when people tell you that God doesn't like us."

LGBT people are isolated from religion Fred is frustrated by the way radical Christians, such as Israel Folau, isolate queer people from religion. Folau claimed the NSW bushfires were God's punishment for the legalisation of same-sex marriage and abortion. In Sydney's Modern Orthodox community, Hannah says homophobia isn't overt, but it's an uncomfortable topic. "My uncle's gay and he was kind of non-existent in our lives for a long time ... I think he felt like he needed to escape the judgment of the community," she says.

"My parents brought us up kind of with this perspective that we should love him, but that we should kind of feel sorry for him." Congregations are 'welcoming, but not affirming' to gay people For mainstream Christianity, it's also a grey area. Dr Mark Jennings is a lecturer in religious studies at Murdoch University in Perth and says while there isn't a blanket stance on homosexuality in Christianity, there are several texts in the Bible that prohibit sexual relations between men. "There are many within Christianity who would take the view that because that's in the Bible that it is then binding for all of time and all of space and that's the end of it," he explains.

'Ive realised theres a lot of Christians that still want to love God and pray but [who also] accept themselves as gay.' Fred Bachour, gay Christian "But there are also those within Christianity who would say; 'well, yes, that applies for a particular time, but it was culturally and historically conditioned and we don't necessarily have to hold to that any more, just as we don't necessarily have to hold to some of the other prohibitions that existed in Biblical times such as, for example, the types of food that one could eat or the types of clothing one could wear'." Jennings is writing a book about LGBT experiences in the Pentecostal Church, where he says he has found many congregations are "welcoming, but not affirming", adding that they're happy for LGBT people to attend services if they're subtle about it. They're not condemning homosexuality, but they're not acknowledging it either, he says. "If a LGB person, for example, wants to date someone of the same sex and they're in a welcoming but not affirming church, they either have to make this quite difficult decision to leave their community, their home  or they have to keep it to themselves which is often a wrenching, deeply painful experience." Homosexuality and the Koran

In the Muslim community, Melbourne-based imam Nur Warsame is trying to make his faith a more inclusive one. He wants to open up a conversation among Muslims about homosexuality and what it means in the Koran. He should know; he's a hafiz, which means he's memorised the entire thing. Imam Nur Warsame runs a support group for LGBT Muslim youth. Credit:Jason South Nur is currently working on a project to reinterpret one of the most prominent extracts in all three Abrahamic scriptures: Sodom and Gomorrah. The story is centred around the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which are to be destroyed by God due to the evil ways of their people, who were greedy and frequently robbed visitors. Abraham's nephew Lot lived in Sodom and sheltered some strangers in his house to protect them from this evil, but the townspeople soon surrounded his house and, in some versions of the story, demanded sex with the men he was hiding. As punishment, God burned the cities to the ground. Dr Ibrahim Abraham, the Hans Mol Research Fellow in Religion and the Social Sciences at the Australian National University, says the story of Sodom and Gomorrah changes depending on who is telling it. "One reading of the Sodom and Gomorrah story is: here is divine condemnation on homosexuality. Here is divine violence deployed against homosexuality.

"The other interpretation is that it's not about sexuality at all. That this is a story about ancient Near Eastern hospitality codes. That the condemnation of the people of Sodom is because they are selfish, unrighteous, ungodly people who practice injustice. "The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is really an example that scripture is a battleground." Keeping sexuality a secret in fear of persecution Nur, who interprets Sodom and Gomorrah as condemning rape, says that whenever other imams use the story as an example of how sodomy is against Islam, he simply replies with "so our lesbian sisters are safe?", which usually wins him the argument. Born in Somalia, where homosexuality incurs the death penalty, Nur, aged six, moved with his family to Egypt, where "promoting sexual deviancy" through homosexual acts is illegal. He kept his sexuality a secret. "I knew the attraction was there, however I didn't have the emotional literacy or the safety of an environment that would allow me to question what these feelings I was having were," he says. "So you just suppress it. And the damage that does to a young person ... psychologically we [know now] that it is irreversible."

Nur moved to Australia in 1997, at age 15. He came out as gay in 2010, and helping LGBT Muslim teenagers through this same identity struggle has become his life's work. His Melbourne-based support group, Marhaba (Hello), was founded in 2013 and is a rare opportunity for queer Muslims to come together to socialise, discuss their spirituality and pray. Fred Bachour at the Metropolitan Community Church in Petersham. Credit:Edwina Pickles For Fred, his own search for a safe space led him to the Metropolitan Community Church in Sydney's inner-west suburb of Petersham, where churchgoers are predominantly LGBT. "It actually helped me affirm that I can be gay and be a faithful Christian," he says. "I've realised there's a lot of Christians that still want to love God and pray but [who also] accept themselves as gay." Australian Bureau of Statistics data from 2016 found that 43 per cent of people in same-sex couples identified with a religion, with Christianity being the most common. And a 2014 survey from Western Sydney University and the Young and Well Co-operative Research Centre found that more than half of religious LGBT youth had experienced a conflict between their faith and their sexual identity.

Abraham says that this conflict often comes from the messaging queer people of faith receive from mainstream society. "You often have these normative LGBT identities in the West that focus on 'coming out' and breaking with the institutions of traditional society. In the past that was families, but often it's churches as well," he says. "So rejection of organised religion has often been a foundational part of individual queer identity. It's part of that coming out, coming of age and coming into oneself as an individual free person." How does being gay fit into a religious identity? After a lifetime in a conservative church environment, one of Fred's major conflicts since coming out has been the liberal attitudes within the LGBT community surrounding sex and relationships. "Coming into the gay community and seeing the hook-up culture, it was mind-numbing," he says. Some of the first things he did to integrate into the community included completing a drag make-up course at TAFE and trying out a gay bathhouse. "I grew up watching all the romantic movies and seeing happily-ever-after kind of marriages; I'm very old-fashioned," he says. "So then after coming out and trying to find a relationship and finding that everyone just wants to hook-up, it's been disheartening. Part of me is like, why did I come out?"

Since revealing her sexual identity to a small selection of family and friends, Hannah has felt a new load of expectations placed on her that come with the word "lesbian". "I think those labels, they make us really comfortable and they make us feel like we belong, but at the end of the day it's very important for me to just take a step back and go like: who am I? Loading "I am gay but that's just my sexuality, it doesn't mean all of a sudden I dress a different way, that all of a sudden I think differently, all of a sudden I'm not interested in religion," she says. "It just means that I have to work out how that fits into my identity, but I don't want anything to be totalising, I just want to be true to myself." In Islamic culture, homosexuality is often associated with the Western world, a trope Nur is trying to change. "The damage for LGBT youth generally starts [within families] so I think, how can I get the message into homes?
(Adds background, comments)

LONDON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven

Mnuchin said he was optimistic about the chances of a trade deal

between the United States and Britain this year, adding that he

met Britain's finance minister on Saturday to discuss it.

"I'm quite optimistic," Mnuchin said when asked about the

potential for a deal between the two countries at an event held

at the Chatham House think tank in London.

Mnuchin said he had a breakfast meeting with British finance

minister Sajid Javid earlier on Saturday, having also spoken to

him this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"We're focused on trying to get this done this year because

we think it's important to both of us," he told the audience.

He said that after the United States recently concluded the

initial phase of a trade agreement with China, deals with

Britain and the European Union were now the focus.

While he conceded that Britain may need to finalise some

issues with the European Union before it could discuss them with

Washington, he didn't see this as creating a delay.

"I think a lot of the issues can be dealt with

simultaneously and again we look forward to continuing a great

trade relationship, and, if anything, I think there will be

significantly more trade between the U.S. and the UK," he said.

Asked by a reporter if Britain's plan to implement a digital

services tax on U.S. technology giants such as Facebook

and Google could hinder trade negotiations, Mnuchin

said he discussed the issue on Saturday with Javid.

(Reporting by William Schomberg and Elizabeth Howcroft, writing

by Sarah Young; editing by David Evans and Hugh Lawson)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Prosecutor-General's Office to review the legality of the sentencing of an opposition activist imprisoned for repeatedly taking part in unauthorized rallies, the Kremlin said.

Konstantin Kotov was sentenced to four years in prison in September 2019 under a controversial law that criminalizes participation in more than one unsanctioned protest within a 180-day period.

Putin ordered an investigation into Kotov's conviction to establish if the verdict was lawful and justified, the Kremlin said on its website.

The 34-year-old computer programmer was detained on August 10 for taking part in a rally to demand opposition and independent candidates be put on the ballot for the Moscow City Duma election that was held on September 8.

The barring of the would-be candidates sparked a wave of protests in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia last summer, some of which were violently suppressed by police as thousands were briefly detained, sparking international condemnation.

Kotov was one of several activists punished with prison sentences following the protests in what has been dubbed the "Moscow Case."

A group of Russian Orthodox priests highlighted the case of Kotov in a September 18, 2019, open letter expressing concern over the authorities' crackdown on the protesters.
A member of President Trumps defense team says that former Vice President Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden have relevant evidence and could be summoned to testify if the Senate votes next week to permit witnesses in the impeachment trial.

So you can expect if witnesses were called, its not going to be just a situation where the House managers get to call the witnesses they want, said Robert Ray, one of the presidents defense lawyers, in an interview on the Yahoo News podcast Skullduggery.

If your big contention here is that there was an improper motive by President Trump in pursuing this conversation with President Zelensky relative to the investigation of the Bidens, it seems to me your views about that are colored or affected by whether or not you think there was merit to such an investigation, Ray continued. Seems to me thats relevant evidence.

And after all, whos the defendant on trial in this matter? The president. Hes entitled to a defense. Its a rather odd concept to say, Oh no, no, no. You cant present a defense with regard to the Bidens. Thats irrelevant. Really?

Rays comments could be viewed as a warning to Senate Democrats that, if they open the door to witnesses, the presidents defense team could make the trial uncomfortable and potentially embarrassing for the current Democratic frontrunner in this years presidential campaign.

Moreover, Republicans have already argued that the grounds for calling the Bidens, or at least talking more about them, became even stronger late Thursday when one of the House managers, Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, argued on the Senate floor that even Hunter Biden  who has already expressed regret for taking a high-paying post on the board of a Ukrainian energy company while his father was the Obama administrations point man on Ukrainian policy  did nothing wrong.

Still, it is far from clear whether any witnesses will appear in the Senate trial. When Trumps defense lawyers start presenting their case on Saturday, they will argue that no witnesses are needed because the allegations at the heart of the case simply dont rise to the level that justifies removing the president from office, Ray said.

Story continues

Download or subscribe on iTunes: Skullduggery from Yahoo News

Ray was a last-minute pick to join Trumps defense team, and his selection surprised many in Washington. He had been the last independent counsel to oversee the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky investigations into Bill Clinton, succeeding Ken Starr, another Trump defense lawyer, who in September 1998 sent Congress the report that led to Clintons impeachment.

But Ray, in his sometimes combative Skullduggery interview, argued that, unlike with Clintons impeachment, the two articles brought against Trump  abuse of power and obstruction of Congress  have less substance because they allege conduct that does not amount to an actual crime.

For the first time in our history, we have articles that do not allege crimes, Ray said. And even in the case of Bill Clinton ... there was bipartisan support that understood that crimes had been committed. The only question was whether or not those crimes were such high crimes constituting an abuse of the presidents oath of office that was sufficient to warrant the presidents removal from office.

Attorney Robert Ray. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Christopher Goodney/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Ray offered few details about what to expect from the presidents lawyers beyond saying you can expect a full-throated defense on the law, on the facts and also on the constitutional issues. He repeatedly emphasized that the articles of impeachment passed by the House were fuzzy, nebulous and standardless, brushing aside the arguments made by constitutional scholars that abuse of power was central to what the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they gave Congress the power to impeach.

You want to talk about whether or not bribery was committed, then we can talk about that, Ray said. And if the Democrats thought it was so persuasive that bribery was shown here, why didnt they charge it? And the reason they didnt charge it is because theres insufficient evidence to show that bribery was committed.

Despite his pledge to mount a robust defense of the president, Ray pointedly did not pledge to defend Trumps repeated claim that his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was perfect.

Look, it would have been better, since it led to this impeachment, Ray said, if Trump had used the ordinary processes of government such as the U.S. Justice Department to look into the allegations of wrongdoing by the Bidens.

Im a great believer in the Department of Justice and its processes, he said. And if it had been left to me, it would have, I think, been better to have done it that way.

Still, Ray noted that Alan Dershowitz, another member of the presidents defense team, will argue that the Constitutions plain language as to what constitutes grounds for impeachment  treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors  doesnt justify the two articles the House passed.

If his argument prevails, theres nothing else to talk about, said Ray. Its over.

_____

Read more from Yahoo News:
She is a supermodel extraordinaire.

And Olivia Culpo put her credentials on display when she was spotted hitting the street in New York City this Friday.

The 27-year-old fashionista, who was crowned Miss Universe in 2012, bared her sculpted midriff in a green and gold floral ensemble.

Legging it: Olivia Culpo put her supermodel credentials on display when she was spotted hitting the street in New York City this Friday

Olivia's stylish turtlenecked crop top matched her high-waisted trousers, as well as her long overcoat that fell to her knees.

The Rhode Island native accentuated her screen siren features with elegant makeup and complemented her outfit's floral accents with gleaming gold stilettos.

Her outing comes after she posted a barbed Instagram message amid her gal pal Cara Santana's breakup from her fiance Jesse Metcalfe.

Mover and shaker: The 27-year-old fashionista, who was crowned Miss Universe in 2012, bared her sculpted midriff in a green and gold floral ensemble

Cara and Jesse were together for 13 years but reportedly split this week after he was pap-snapped getting cozy with two other women.

Jesse held hands with Hungarian model Livia Pullman and had lunch with her at the vegan restaurant Gracias Madre in West Hollywood over the weekend.

The Desperate Housewives hunk had drinks hours later with with Australian actress Jade Albany Pietrantonio in Sherman Oaks.

Coordinated: Olivia's stylish turtlenecked crop top matched her high-waisted trousers, as well as her long overcoat that fell to her knees

Cara was 'completely blindsided' by the photos, a source revealed to DailyMail.com, and has decided to break her engagement.

In the wake of the split Olivia posted an Instagram meme of Regina George from Mean Girls saying: 'Don't cheat... nobody likes a cheater.'

Olivia broke up with her NFL boyfriend Danny Amendola in 2018 after he was photographed frolicking on a beach in Miami with another woman.
Rudy Giuliani blew through a self-imposed deadline of noon Friday to reveal evidence of 'shocking crimes' by Joe and Hunter Biden on his newly-launched podcast - but told listeners who made it to the end: 'Get ready for it!'

The president's personal counsel - who is not part of his impeachment defense in the Senate - used the 35-minute YouTube recording and podcast to argue against impeaching Donald Trump.

At the end, he promised that he had facts 'shortly,' but this time offered no idea of when.

He had first promised new evidence when he appeared on Fox & Friends and vowed, in a rambling interview, to release proof of what he claims is deep corruption involving Ukraine and the Bidens.

While speaking about his investigation into Biden and his son Hunter Biden, Giuliani told the morning show he would release evidence later on Friday via a podcast that supports his claims of 'shocking crimes,' and said: 'I'm going to start a podcast at noon today.'

He added that he would also provide recorded testimony in the coming weeks that also backs his claims.

Giuliani claims he 'didn't go looking for dirt on Biden' but it was handed to him by two 'informants' 18 months ago.

On his YouTube channel-cum-podcast, called Common Sense, the former New York mayor said nothing to suggest where his new facts were.

Another promise: 'I particularly look forward to bringing to you many of the facts that I have discovered that no-one knows yet, that are quite dramatic and that clearly support every single thing that we've talked about,' Giuliani told viewers and listeners

Rudy Giuliani had promised to release shocking 'evidence' on Friday regarding Ukraine corruption that he claims will prompt an investigation into presidential candidate Joe Biden. But he blew past that deadline without producing any

The podcast was hosted on YouTube and on Giuliani's new website, which offers 'Insight on leadership, courage and the most pressing issues of our time,' but also appears to have elements copied from another website touting him as a public speaker, saying: 'Offering a dynamic and lively presentation accompanied by Q&A, Giuliani reminds audiences that eternal vigilance and leadership are required to protect freedom.'

On the podcast, during which car horns could be heard, Giuliani offered a lengthy, and at times hesitant, discussion of why he did not believe Trump should be impeached and eventually turned to his claims.

'This of course is an unfolding story,' he said, sitting in front of books which included his memiors, turned face-front to be more visible.

'We will follow it in more detail. I particularly look forward to bringing to you many of the facts that I have discovered that no-one knows yet, that are quite dramatic and that clearly support every single thing that we've talked about.

'I found those facts in my role as counsel for President Trump in order to defend him and I can think of no more appropriate thing to do than share them with you. They're somewhat startling so don't,' he said then trailed off.

'Get ready for it. I hope to see you very shortly.'

The podcast was published a few hours before a tape of his client, the president, demanding Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch be fired and saying 'take her out, do it!' to aides surfaced.

The tape was made at a dinner with Trump by Igor Fruman - who along with Lev Parnas were Giuliani's long-term Soviet-born sidekicks until they were indicted on campaign finance charges.

On Fox & Friends Giuliani had been very specific about what he would offer his listeners and viewers. 'I was given information about Ukrainian corruption,' he said without revealing who the two informants were.

'They told me that there was a great deal of collusion going on in Ukraine to fix the 2016 election in favor of Hillary Clinton. That what happened in Russia was a big hoax. That, actually, it was the Democrats projecting what they had actually done in Ukraine.

'I don't know if it's true or not. They gave me witnesses. I have since interviewed 10 of them. I've got eight of them on tape. I'm going to start a podcast at noon today.

'And starting next week, the people will hear these witnesses who our embassy will not give a visa to because they're still covering up the corruption the embassy was involved in in 2016.'

Giuliani has previously pushed the unproven theory that it was the Ukraine - and not Russia - that interfered in the 2016 election.

Without offering evidence, Giuliani also said during his interview: 'The embassy was involved in gathering dirt on Trump, on Trump Jr., and on [Paul] Manafort.

'And not only that, they were involved in turning over falsified evidence, absolutely completely falsified. Four witnesses will testify to that over the course of the next two to three weeks.

'I'm going to present over the next two to three weeks shocking crimes at the highest levels of both governments while the Senate is listening to a totally phony group of stories about non-impeachable offenses.

Together again: Igor Fruman (second left) appears to have made the tape which ABC News says features Lev Parnas (center)

The personal attorney of President Trump appeared on Fox & Friends on Friday and vowed, in a rambling interview, to release proof of what he claims is deep corruption involving Ukraine and Joe and Hunter Biden

While speaking about his investigation into Biden and his son Hunter Biden, Giuliani said he would release evidence later on Friday via a podcast that supports his claims of 'shocking crimes'

'It's like trying somebody for not a crime. It's a total waste of money. It's a complete show on the part of the Democrats.'

When asked how this ends, Giuliani said: 'This ends, hopefully, with Biden finally being put under investigation.

'You don't think if these things were said about Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr., they wouldn't be under investigation immediately?'

The former New York Mayor refused to answer directly when asked if Trump wanted him to continue investigating.

'Would you like me to give it up?' Giuliani hit back.

'They're a bunch of phonies. I did my job as an attorney. I did it well, I did it honorably, and I did the country a service in bringing out this corruption that everybody else is afraid to touch.'

Giuliani traveled to Ukraine in December and has said that he would release a report on what he found there.

The former New York City mayor has claimed - but has yet to offer proof - that Hunter Biden made millions from his work on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company, and from advising a Chinese hedge fund.

Giuliani, one of Trump's personal attorneys, is not serving on the president's defense team during the impeachment trial in the Senate.

He lobbied to be a part of it but Giuliani is also a potential witness in the case should the Senate vote to call additional ones.

The president has made Hunter Biden and his work in the Ukraine and China a frequent target of his political taunts at his campaign rallies.

Hunter Biden has previously said he never discussed his work in Ukraine or China with his father.

Giuliani and Trump allies claim Joe Biden, when he was vice president, pushed the Ukraine to fire a prosecutor to help the company Hunter Biden worked with.

Joe Biden said he was following international and Obama administration policy in regards to the prosecutor, whom there were concerns was not doing enough to fight corruption

Neither Biden has been charged with any wrong doing.
The Wahkiakum County ferry will operate around the clock until officials reopen State Route 4, which is expected to remain blocked two more days due to debris slide that sluiced across the roadway nine miles west of Cathlamet on Thursday.

The closure, located near West Fork Creek (milepost 25), will continue until engineers can examine the hillside and determine what work is needed to reopen the highway, according to a Washington State Department of Transportation press release.

There is no estimated time for reopening the highway in that location. Travelers should continue to avoid this area and plan to add extra time to travel on alternate routes, according to WSDOT.

The Wahkiakum County ferry, Oscar B, will run on a 24-hour schedule free of charge to give people an alternative route around the closure, said Beau Renfro, county emergency management coordinator. It leaves the Washington side of the Columbia River every hour on the hour and the Oregon side at a quarter after, he said.

Drivers should also use caution because of water over the roadway at milepost 13.8 near Seal River Road in the Grays River area, according to WSDOT.

A section of the highway between Grays River Street and Hull Creek (mileposts 17 to 17.5) reopened Friday morning after high water closed it Thursday afternoon and into the night. The shoulder remained closed because of erosion.

Heavy rain is expected to resume through the weekend in Wahkiakum and Cowlitz counties, according to the National Weather Service.

On Friday afternoon the Grays River fell just below flood stage of 12 feet after cresting at nearly 15 feet Thursday. When the river rises above 12 feet it can cause flooding on roads near the river, according to the Weather Service.

The Cowlitz River at Kelso hit about 20 feet Friday afternoon, but stayed below flood stage of 21.5 feet. It is forecast to remain slightly above 20 feet into next week.

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Saudi Arabia attempted to spy on Khashoggi's fiancee

Iran Press TV

Friday, 24 January 2020 6:44 PM

American intelligence authorities tipped off their counterparts in the United Kingdom to a plan by Saudi Arabia to spy on Hatice Cengiz, the Turkish fiancee of the slain Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in the UK last year.

The Guardian reported that the US believed Saudi Arabia had the "ambition and intention" to monitor Cengiz, who has been an outspoken advocate for justice for Khashoggi, in London last May, despite a global outcry over his brutal murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

According to the report, it is not clear if the intended surveillance of Cengiz was electronic or physical, or if it was successful.

The report said the revelation would highlight the concerns of human rights campaigners who have long argued the Saudis are using surveillance to monitor and intimidate opponents and the critics of Saudi Arabia.

'Unlawful behavior continues'

"Saudi Arabia is trying to put a lid on the whole [Khashoggi] thing, so it is understandable that they would try to make sure that Hatice's voice and advocacy is limited," Hala Aldosari, a Saudi activist and fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said. "All sorts of unlawful behavior continues, nothing has changed."

Khashoggi, a former advocate of the Saudi royal court who later became a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, was killed after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 to obtain some documents for his marriage to Cengiz, and his body was dismembered by a Saudi hit squad.

The Saudi government initially claimed Khashoggi left the consulate on that day, but Riyadh later said that he had been killed by a "rogue" group.

The Washington Post reported in November 2018 that the CIA had concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman had ordered the killing. Furthermore, an investigative team led by the United Nations also said it believed bin Salman was the prime suspect in the state-sponsored murder.

Earlier, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius wrote that there were "reports" that Cengiz and one of Khashoggi's sons had been "under Saudi surveillance in London last summer."

According to The Guardian, the revelation about Cengiz suggests that Riyadh is reinforcing what a former official in the administration of Barack Obama called a "state policy" to monitor dissidents and critics.

"They use a variety of tools as a matter of course. It is state policy," Andrew Miller, a Middle East expert who served in the Obama administration, said.

"The second point is that obviously the fallout from the Khashoggi murder has not fundamentally changed the Saudi state's posture. Fortunately no one else has been kidnapped and killed but they are still pursuing information about their opponents," he said.

The latest developments will spark further criticism of Saudi Arabia as independent United Nations rights experts earlier this week called for an investigation into the involvement of bin Salman in the hacking of the phone of Jeff Bezos, the owner of The Washington Post, for which Khashoggi was a columnist.

Last year, Norwegian police temporarily moved Iyad el-Baghdadi, a Palestinian human rights campaigner and a vocal critic of bin Salman, to a secure place after being alerted by the CIA about a possible threat against him from Riyadh.

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What rules shaped humanity's original social networks? Researchers in Japan developed new mathematical models to understand what conditions produced traditional community structures and conventions around the world, including taboos about incest.

"We think this is the first time cultural anthropology and computer simulations have met in a single research study," said Professor Kunihiko Kaneko, an expert in theoretical biology and physics from the University of Tokyo Research Center for Complex Systems Biology.

Researchers used statistical physics and computer models common in evolutionary biology to explain the origin of common community structures documented by cultural anthropologists around the world.

The earliest social networks were tightly knit cultural groups made of multiple biologically related families. That single group would then develop relationships with other cultural groups in their local area.

In the 1960s, cultural anthropologists documented social networks of indigenous communities and identified two kinship structures common around the world. In areas with hunter-gatherer communities, anthropologists documented direct-exchange kinship structures where women from two communities change places when they marry. In areas with agrarian farming communities, kinship structures of generalized exchange developed where women move between multiple communities to marry.

"Anthropologists have documented kinship structures all over the world, but it still remains unclear how those structures emerged and why they have common properties," said Kenji Itao, a first year master's degree student in Kaneko's laboratory, whose interdisciplinary interests in physics, math and anthropology motivated this research study.

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Experts in anthropology consider the incest taboo to be an extremely common social rule affecting kinship structures. The ancient incest taboo focused on social closeness, rather than genetic or blood relationships, meaning it was taboo to marry anyone born into the same cultural group.

Itao and Kaneko designed a mathematical model and computer simulation to test what external factors might cause generations of biologically related families to organize into communities with incest taboos and direct or generalized exchange of brides.

"Traditionally, it is more common for women to move to a new community when they marry, but we did not include any gender differences in this computer simulation," explained Itao.

Simulated family groups with shared traits and desires naturally grouped together into distinct cultural groups. However, the traits the group possessed were different from the traits they desired in marriage partners, meaning they did not desire spouses similar to themselves. This is the underlying cause of the traditional community-based incest taboo suggested by the study.

When the computer simulation pushed communities to cooperate, generalized exchange kinship structures arose. The simulation demonstrated different kinship structures, including the direct exchange basic structure, emerge depending on the strength of conflict to find brides and the necessity of cooperation with specific other communities.

"It is rewarding to see that the combination of statistical physics and evolution theory, together with computer simulations, will be relevant to identify universal properties that affect human societies," said Kaneko.

The current computer model is simple and only included factors of conflict and cooperation affecting marriage, but researchers hope to continue developing the model to also consider economic factors that might cause communities to separate into different classes. With these additions, the theory can hopefully be extended to explore different communities in the modern, global society.

"I would be glad if perhaps our results can give field anthropologists a hint about universal structures that might explain what they observe in new studies," said Itao.
The growing number of breadwinner mothers and stay-at-home fathers has exposed an inequality at the heart of the governments paid parental leave scheme.

Eligibility for the governments 18-week Parental Leave Pay is tied to the birth mothers income, except in cases of adoption and fostering.

Anastasia Smietanka and Nick Lovelock with their 4-month-old daughter Sadie. Credit:Chris Hopkins

If the birth mother earns less than $150,000, she can access the payment regardless of how much her partner earns.

But if the birth mother earns more than $150,000, the family will never qualify for Parental Leave Pay, even if her partner earns under the cap.
Student digs used to be associated with grotty rooms, rising damp and unreliable heating. Today's purpose-built accommodation can be very different, with ensuite bathrooms, attractive fixtures and fittings and wi-fi throughout.

Watkin Jones is one of the leading providers of this new brand of digs, building and managing sites across the UK, with a focus on the Russell Group of universities.

The group has moved into the build-to-rent sector too, providing attractive, well-located flats with plenty of communal space for meeting up and socialising.

Plush: Watkins Jones provides a smarter kind of student accommodation

This is a fast-growing field, as people of all ages actively choose to rent rather than buy their own homes.

Watkin Jones was a family business for generations so, when chief executive Richard Simpson was appointed a year ago, some investors were worried. So far, however, Simpson has proved them wrong.

With a strong track record in the rental sector, Simpson knows his stuff and is ambitious for the future, intending to step up growth in both the student and build-to-rent divisions.

Watkin Jones has an unusual business model, in that it finds sites, secures planning and builds properties but sells the assets to big institutions before construction starts so it does not need to tie up lots of capital.

Once the blocks are built, Watkin Jones will often manage them too, so it interacts directly with tenants and can tweak its services if demand dictates.

The group uses mattresses that are hard on one side and soft on the other, for instance, to accommodate different bedtime tastes.

It has even installed Chinese vending machines in some blocks to help Chinese students feel at home.

Midas verdict: Watkin Jones was recommended by Midas at 1.09 in 2016, just a few weeks after it floated. Today, the shares are 2.48. Sales, profits and dividends are growing steadily and the stock yields just over 3.5 per cent. The stock has had a great ride over the past four years but it should continue to deliver for both existing and new investors.
Rights Group: US-Taliban Must Commit to End Attacks on Afghan Civilians

By Ayaz Gul January 24, 2020

An international rights group Friday demanded that peace talks between the United States and the Afghan Taliban must include a commitment by both sides to end all attacks on civilians in line with the laws of war.

Amnesty International lamented in a statement that civilian casualties remain at near-record levels in Afghanistan, blaming them on both pro-government forces, including U.S.-led coalition partners, and Taliban insurgents.

"They must commit to protecting civilians, and all attacks on civilians must be investigated and prosecuted," it stressed.

Qatar talks stall

The statement came as American and Taliban representatives have been holding closed-door meetings in Qatar for the past few weeks, trying to resume their stalled negotiations to conclude a long-anticipated deal. But there has been no progress so far because both of the adversaries in the 18-year-old Afghan war seem to be sticking to their guns.

Washington wants a "significant and lasting" drop in insurgent violence before a deal is signed, followed by a reduction in hostilities by all sides to pave the way for starting Taliban-Afghan negotiations over a nationwide cease-fire and power-sharing.

The insurgent group, however has offered to scale back battlefield attacks for a brief period, reportedly up to 10 days, to sign the U.S.-Taliban deal, saying an extensive cease-fire with Afghan government forces would be one of the topics in intra-Afghan negotiations.

The Taliban in a statement earlier this week accused Washington of wasting time by making new demands, saying they had already "shown flexibility" and "now the ball is in their [the Americans'] court."

"In a conflict marked by attacks on civilians, the term 'violence reduction' is an absurdity. There can be no acceptable level of violence," said Omar Waraich, the South Asia director at Amnesty International.

The United Nations recently announced that the Afghan war had killed or injured more than 100,000 civilians in the last 10 years alone. Nearly, 34,000 Afghans have been killed during that period, most of them children.

"Claims of peace cannot be taken seriously as long as combatants continue to target civilians.  Peace talks must not, under any circumstances, become a license for impunity," Waraich stressed.

A U.S. State Department official, who had seen reports of recent violence in Afghanistan, said Friday during a background briefing, "The violence continues. It obviously underscores why there needs to be a peace process, on why the Afghan people seek peace. It also underscores the violence and the Taliban's lack of inhibition in attacking civilians."

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has rejected the Taliban's offer of a limited reduction in violence, saying his government would require a comprehensive insurgent cease-fire before participating in intra-Afghan negotiations.

The proposed U.S.-Taliban deal seeks insurgent counterterrorism assurances in return for international forces' gradual withdrawal from Afghanistan.

But the Taliban statement issued Tuesday ruled out the possibility of declaring a prolonged nationwide cease-fire until the foreign troop withdrawal deal was signed with the U.S.

"So long as the sovereignty of Afghanistan is under threat, the Islamic Emirate [Taliban]  will never deal on single point nor will it bend under the pressure of anyone," it insisted.

U.S. President Donald Trump stressed again Wednesday that a lasting reduction in Taliban hostilities was key to moving the Afghan peace process forward.

"Trump reiterated the need for a significant and lasting reduction in violence by the Taliban that would facilitate meaningful negotiations on Afghanistan's future," the White House said after a meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

VOA State Department correspondent Nike Ching contributed to this report.

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Police in the North are appealing for information following a stabbing incident yesterday evening.

A man was injured during a row with another man and a woman in a premises on Bradbury Place in Belfast where the incident occurred.

The argument spilled out onto the street where it is believed the injured man received stab wounds.

The top of one of the man's fingers is also believed to have been bitten off and he was taken to hospital for treatment.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the PSNI.
Anglers fish while a tugboat pulls a barge filled with coal along the coast of Banda Aceh in Indonesias Aceh province, Jan. 19, 2020.

The launch of a Chinese-backed coal-fired electricity plant has raised questions about Indonesias commitment to renewable energy sources and if it can meet a goal of renewables powering about a quarter of its energy plants, analysts and environmental activists said.

Unit 1 of PLTU Java 7, built in Banten province by the state-owned China Shenhua Energy Company Limited (CSECL) at a cost of U.S. $1.8 billion, began operations on Dec. 16, four months ahead of schedule. The second unit is expected to be completed next year.

Once finished the two units will make up the largest power plant in the sprawling archipelago, Southeast Asias most populous nation, officials said. It will have a capacity of 2,000 megawatts (MW) and require 7 million tons of coal each year to churn out all that electricity, they said.

But according to green energy advocates, the plants construction is not consistent with the governments target of using renewable sources to power 23 percent of Indonesias energy plants by 2025, as stipulated in the National Energy Plan (RUEN).

President Joko Jokowi Widodo launched a program to generate 35,000 MW of electricity after he first took office in 2014. He started his second five-year term last October.

Almost 80 percent of the targeted 35,000 MW are coal-fired plants. Indonesia is still far from meeting the commitment of the Paris Agreement, Mamit Setiawan, executive director of Energy Watch, an NGO, told BenarNews.

He was referring to a pact where world leaders meeting the French capital in December 2015 committed their countries to combating climate change and global warming by reducing emissions from fossil-based fuels such as coal.

Renewable energy still takes a back seat and is not a priority, he said.

The Java 7 project is being built by a joint venture between China Shenhua Energy and PT Pembangkit Jawa Bali (PJB), a subsidiary of the state-run power company PT PLN. The two companies formed a consortium under the name PT Shenhua Guohua Java Bali Generation (PT SGPJB).

China Shenhua Energy controls a 70 percent stake in the project, which is being funded by a loan from the China Development Bank. CSECL did not respond to a request from BenarNews for comment.

Throughout 2019, Indonesia added 385 MW of renewables, according to the Indonesian Clean Energy Outlook report released by the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) in December.

As of the end of last year, the total installed capacity of renewables was 10,170 MW, with hydropower still dominating, followed by geothermal, bioenergy, wind, solar and waste power, the report said.

Meanwhile, PLN, the state-run power company, predicts that the additional capacity of coal-fired power plants in 2020 could reach 5,500 MW.

In its report, the institute urged the government to improve the climate for investment in renewable energy through a stronger regulatory framework and better planning.

Although investors started losing their faith in the Indonesian market, the majority of them will still be in the wait-and-see mode, IESR said. The return of these investors next year will very much depend on policy and regulation quality.

The government must see that 2020 is a year to restore investor confidence and a year to strengthen the foundations of sustainable energy transformation in Indonesia, the report added.

PLN spokesman Dwi Suryo Abdullah acknowledged that investors in the energy sector were more interested in coal-fired power plants.

In addition to much lower costs, the return on capital is also more guaranteed, he said.

Were just talking about the target of fulfilling electricity. In Java, the number of electricity users is huge and we want to avoid another power deficit, Dwi Suryo told BenarNews.

Batang Toru

Java 7 is not the only China-backed project in Indonesia that has come under criticism.

PT North Sumatra Hydro Energy (NSHE), an independent power producer in which Chinas ZheFu Holding Group owns a majority stake, is building a 510-megawatt hydropower dam in the Batang Toru rainforest on Sumatra Island.

The plant will divide the habitat of about 800 Tapanuli orangutan and increase the risk of their extinction, environmental groups and scientists have warned.

The Batang Toru Ecosystem is the only known home to the Tapanuli orangutan, a species discovered in 1939. It has been identified as a distinct species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature recently listed the species as critically endangered.

PT North Sumatra Hydro Energy denied that the project would threaten protected animals.

Interconnectedness

A spokesman for the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Agung Pribadi, said the PLTU Jawa 7 Unit 1 would contribute significantly to the electricity supply on Java and Bali islands, strengthening the regions interconnectedness.

We know that the economy grows rapidly in Java and Bali. With the additional electricity supply from Java 7, industrial supply will be more secure, Agung told BenarNews.

PLNs Dwi Suryo argues that the Java 7 plan is far more coal efficient than conventional coal-fired power plants because it uses the so-called ultra-super critical boilers.

The technology, he said, could cut the use of coal to almost half.

But, he said, the company remains committed to promoting renewable energy sources.

Most importantly, to get investment we still have to look at opportunities. The cost of producing renewable energy is high, not to mention that production is not as efficient as coal, he said.

However, a member of the House of Representatives energy committee, I Nyoman Parta, accused the ministry of energy of not being serious in developing renewable sources despite interest among investors, especially in geothermal.

Its just a matter of habit. If you always wake up at 10, being told to wake up at 5 can make your morning upside down, Bisnis, an Indonesian daily newspaper, quoted Nyoman as saying.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday discussed issues related to the novel coronavirus (nCoV) with the officials at the PM's office and its preventive management in India, sources said.

The Health Ministry said that though nobody in India has tested positive for the infectious disease so far, which has affected several people in China, three persons -- two from Mumbai and one from Hyderabad -- who returned from China, have been put under observation for the novel coronavirus.

"As on January 24, as many as 20,844 passengers from 96 flights have been screened for Novel Coronavirus symptoms. Today, 4,082 passengers were screened in 19 flights. No nCoV case has been detected in the country so far. However, three persons have been put under observation," the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Friday.

A travel advisory issued has been extended to 12 more airports in the country in addition to the existing seven.

" Institute of Virology, Pune, is fully geared up to test samples of nCoV and ten other laboratories under the Indian Council of Medical Research's Viral Research and Diagnostics Laboratories network are also equipped to test such samples if a need arises," said a statement of the Health Ministry.

The Ministry has taken other measures to control the possible spread of the disease.

Till January 25, 1287 cases of pneumonia with nCoV were confirmed in China and a total of 41 people had died according to the Health Commission, Xinhua reported.

Cases have been reported from more than 20 provinces including Taiwan, and municipalities as well.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Express News Service

AIADMK former Lok Sabha MP KC Palanisamy, who was removed from the party in March 2018, was arrested in Coimbatore on Saturday early morning allegedly for misusing party name and symbol.

He was arrested by the police based on a complaint from Kandhavel, president of Muthukavundanpudur village panchayat near Sulur in Coimbatore. In his complaint Kandhavel alleged that KC Palanisamy of misusing the party flag and symbol without being a member of the party.

Based on the complaint, Sulur police registered a case against him under eleven sections on Friday night and detained him on Saturday early morning from his residence near Lawly Road in the city. Later he was taken to Magistrates house for remand proceedings, sources added.

Palanisamy was booked under sections 417, 418, 419, 464, 465, 468, 479, 481, 482, 485, 511 of IPC read with 66 C, 66 D of IT Act.

Palanisamy was removed from the party in March 2018 after he urged the party to back a no-confidence motion against the BJP-led central government, if it did not take a favourable stand on the Cauvery issue. Later he met Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami in presence of Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam in March 2019. And it was expected that he could have been reinducted into the party. However, the AIADMK party functionaries said that he was not reinducted into the party.

Palanisamy, who was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1989 from Tiruchengode constituency, was also former MLA from Kangeyam assembly constituency.

According to police sources, KC Palanisamy used the party name and symbol, attended functions giving speeches and later uploaded them in an online portal. He also used the party name and symbol to recruit membership for the party using a mobile application.
The Hackensack University Medical center confirmed that the patient hospitalized in Hackensack, New Jersey does not have coronavirus.

After an evaluation of the patient and consulting with the State Department of Health, experts have determined the patient does not have the Wuhan Coronavirus. Due to patient privacy, we are unable to provide additional information, the hospital said in a statement.

According to NorthJersey.com, the patient is a 25-year-old woman who was brought to a hospital in Hackensack by the Edgewater Emergency Medical Services on Thursday night.

Health officials believed a Texas A&M student who traveled from Wuhan, China may have contracted the virus.

Together with the Department of Health and local health officials, the hospital worked together to gather information on the patient to evaluate for possible infection with the coronavirus.

Coronavirus originates from central China, where the outbreak has currently reached to 830 people with 25 dead, according to Fox5NY.

It can cause coughing, fever, breathing difficulty, and pneumonia and has spread to Thailand, South Korea, and Taiwan.

The transmission of the disease is still unknown.

Person-to-person transmission is still being evaluated but appears to be occurring within case households and in the healthcare setting, the New Jersey health department told NorthJersey.com.

On Jan. 21, the United States reported its first case of the virus in Washington state.

A man in his 30s, who had just traveled to China had tested positive for coronavirus.

Though the infection is causing worldwide concern, the World Health Organization has not declared a global emergency yet.

From The Epoch Times
According to Zelensky, the punishment should be civilized, through the court.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that all those who were killing Ukrainians in Donbas will not be forgiven and must be punished.

Read alsoNo meeting held between Zelensky and Putin in Jerusalem  Russian media

"The worst thing is that people died, this is the punishment for all of us. And all those who took part in this, they will not be forgiven," he said in an interview with the Israeli Channel 9.

"Well, of course, the people who shot at the Ukrainians, the armed forces, of course, they should be punished. How else? Of course, as in the legal field, through the court, as is done in the civilized world. But the further it goes, the deeper the wound...," Zelensky said.
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Congress-led state governments have also swung into action with protests being held in their respective states.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi flanked by party leader Motilal Vora and Rahul Gandhi, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and other members of the delegation at 10 Janpath in New Delhi on Friday. (Photo; PTI)

New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday met Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and a delegation of ministers, mayors and chairpersons of municipal councils of the state.

Insiders claim that the two top Congress leaders exchanged notes with the leaders from Chh-attisgarh and urged them to work towards the welfare of the people of the state and fulfil the promises made to them.

AICC in-charge for Chhattisgarh P.L. Punia was also present during the meeting. The party is keen to corner the BJP-led Central government on the issues of economic slowdown, unemployment and also CAA.

Congress-led state governments have also swung into action with protests being held in their respective states.

Mr Gandhi is already addressing a rally in Jaipur on January 28. After this, he will also be visiting Chhattisgarh to address a rally on the failures of the Central government.

This Republic Day, Congress party members will be all out in support of the Constitution of India which came into effect on this day.

A party release said, It is the duty of every Congressman and woman to safeguard this sacred document, its fundamental principles and the values enshrined in it.

It also added that Apart from flag hoisting programmes the Congress partys leaders and members will be holding ceremonies at the Assembly level to conduct the reading of the Preamble of our constitution and reiterating the oath that is enshrined in its letter and spirit. The programme would highlight the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution and how they are under threat by the flawed policies of the BJP government.The Congress is also gearing up to corner the government in the upcoming budget session of parliament,
Storyful

An affable deer created somewhat of a buzz in a neighborhood near Salt Lake City, Utah, he regularly visited over the holiday period.The deer, nicknamed Cooper by local residents, has been playing with children in the neighborhood of Herriman and was even spotted posing for photos, reports said.Herriman resident Angelica Lujan recorded footage of the tame deer interacting with her children outside of her home on South Rowell Drive.Speaking to KSTU, a Utah Division of Wildlife Resources representative said despite the deers friendly attitude, the best thing for the animal is for people to leave him alone.People dont realize these beautiful, cute deer can be aggressive as they get older. Weve had times in the past where these friendly deer, they do get aggressive, said Scott Root, Conservation Outreach Manager, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.Weve had kids hurt at bus stops. Bad things happen when we feed deer in a residential area, Root added. Credit: Angelica Lujan via Storyful
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

It turns out that Stacy  the mom, wife and teacher who is angry at U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small over her vote to impeach President Donald Trump  is upset with a lot of other members of Congress, too.

She can be found in almost identical ads produced by the American Action Network criticizing Democratic Reps. Anthony Brindisi of New York, Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania, Abby Finkenauer of Iowa and seven other members of Congress.

The ads are part of a $2.5 million campaign by a group affiliated with the House Republican leadership.

Although the ads seem to imply the woman is a constituent of the member of Congress she is criticizing, where she actually resides remains a mystery. The ad shows her in a kitchen with her children talking about how she is disappointed with the member of Congress for voting for impeachment instead of focusing on issues that matter.

AAN communications director Calvin Moore did not respond to a Journal question on whether the woman was an actual resident in the 2nd Congressional District in New Mexico and a request to interview the woman.

But he claimed the woman is not an actress even though she appears in multiple ads across the country.

She is a mother and they are her children, Moore said of the youngsters appearing in the ad.

And she isnt the only purported mom appearing in AAN ads in multiple districts. There is also Ashley, who claims to be a mom, wife and nurse, and Melanie, who says she is a wife and working mother.

And they all follow similar scripts, criticizing members for promising to be different and urging them to get back to work on issues that matter such as addressing the opioid crisis and working on securing the border.

AAN said it has spent $11 million on ads in 30 districts with broadcast and cable television as well as digital and online media, which it said amounts to more than half of the total outside group spending against impeachment.

Torres Smalls campaign manager, Helen Smith, said the ad wasnt being truthful about the representative being sidelined on issues addressing opioid addiction and border security.

She said Torres Small is the co-sponsor of three bills with a Republican representative about border security, including increasing technology to strengthen security and addressing the recruitment and retention of Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection personnel.

Smith also said Torres Small voted in favor of a bill in December approving $3.8 billion in funding for substance abuse treatment, including opioids and helped secure $378 million for state and local law enforcement to address the opioid crisis.
So, here's what investors need to know: Can and will ServiceMaster correct Terminix's course?

The beginning of the exodus.

On October 21, 2019, ServiceMaster announced its preliminary results for Q3 2019.

The news was not good.

The company announced that it expected third-quarter 2019 net income of $25 million versus $71 million for the same period in 2018.

It also reported that Terminix had "$2 million in termite damage claims arising primarily from Formosan termite activity."

However, in the same report, ServiceMaster claimed that "[t]he increase in termite damage claims include[d] the resolution of a single $2 million termite damage claim from 2016."

For those reading closely, ServiceMaster seemed to be suggesting that the country's largest termite service provider paid $2 million in termite claims in Q3 2019, all from a single termite damage claim.

In the same report, ServiceMaster claimed that "Formosan termite activity has been increasing over the last few years, however due to a number of climatic and environmental factors it remains largely concentrated in the Mobile, Alabama area of the country."

However, these factors should be similar across the entire Gulf Coast region, unless, perhaps, by "environmental factors," ServiceMaster was suggesting that Terminix had allowed the homes under its "protection" in Mobile and Baldwin counties to go decades without providing necessary termite treatments, creating the perfect "environment" for massive termite infestations. In reality, Terminix has suffered routine losses of $1,000,000 or more in numerous arbitration or jury trials since June of 2018 with one law firm that has eight experienced trial lawyers devoting almost allot their time to fraud cases against Terminix. Terminix still has avoided a full disclosure of those losses to shareholders and analysts. It has escaped a $1,000,000 to $2,800,000 loss in only one trial since June 2018.

ServiceMaster's Q3 report also seemed to suggest that Terminix's contingent liability problems were about to get much worse, stating that "[s]tarting in 2018, the company initiated mitigating actions to limit our future exposure, including third party claims management, reinforcement of effective processes, improved documentation, and a change in pricing structure."

Self-Inflicted Wounds

ServiceMaster's Q3 report raises two obvious questions: 1) why aren't any of the announced changes intended to reduce the number of homes infested with termites? and 2) How could a change in pricing structure possibly reduce the number of termites destroying houses in Alabama?

ServiceMaster's 2019 Q3 report answered the second question, stating that Terminix expected $10 million of "targeted revenue reductions principally in the Mobile, Alabama area" and that its organic revenue growth should more than offset "a reduction in termite renewals driven partially by managed reductions from price increases in the Formosan termite market of Mobile, Alabama."

In other words, ServiceMaster was stating that its "solution" for Terminix's contingent liability problem was to target certain customers in Alabama with extraordinary price increases, with the expectation that these customers would not be able to pay and, thus, would have to cancel their lifetime contracts.

In other words, rather than providing the services that it promised, Terminix decided to gouge its south Alabama customer so they would leave.

According to numerous complaints from Terminix customers in Mobile and Baldwin Counties, they have begun to see annual renewal charges of thousands of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars per year.

As expected, Terminix effectively ran off many customers in south Alabama.

Arousing more concern, ServiceMaster announced that same day that Matt Stevenson was off the team and that Nik Varty would be acting as interim head of Terminix's Residential Termite operation, further blurring the line between ServiceMaster Global Holdings and Terminix International. Weeks later they hired Kim Scott, the CEO of a wood storage pallet-making company as the new leader of the troubled company. This raised concern that the problems at Terminix were so serious that experienced talent cannot be attracted to the country's largest termite prevention provider.

The Stock Price Fallout

Following the publication of its Q3 report, Wall Street financial analysts began reaching out to Campbell Law PC, a Birmingham, Alabama law firm that focuses its practice on exposing termite services fraud, to better understand the fraud claims being made against Terminix.

The first thing they learned was that the $2 Million dollar claim mentioned in the Q3 report was not for the resolution of a termite damage claim, but rather was a $2 million dollar arbitration award, obtained by Campbell Law against Terminix for defrauding just one of its customers. Before talking to Campbell Law, none of the investors knew that dozens of similar cases were on file and that scores more are in line to be filed.

Consequently, the Q3 report set off the first wave of warnings across the financial market.

At the same time, the analysts also asked Campbell Law for help drafting questions to ask Varty at the November 5, 2019 earnings call. Consequently, the word "Mobile" appears in the transcript of the call 19 times.

A review of the transcript shows it was not a good day for Varty.

Worse still for Terminix, the analyst also asked Varty whether Terminix's litigation problems could extend to cities outside of Mobile; Varty continued to assert that Terminix had not seen heavy Formosan termite activity outside Mobile.

However, according to Campbell Law, Terminix's own experts agree that Formosans are found in east Texas, all of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and the southern portions of North Carolina, Arkansas and Tennessee (and all of Hawaii).

On the day of its Q3 report, ServiceMaster stock was trading at $56.14; the following day it plummeted to $44.70.

It is currently trading at $36.87.

Since the filing of its Q3 report, several high-ranking officers at ServiceMaster, including its General Counsel, Michael Bisignano, have divested blocks of their common stock.

The Deceptive Trade Practice Act Investigation

Receiving over 800 consumer complaints, the Alabama AG's office is currently investigating Terminix's business practices as possibly violating Alabama's Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

According to Campbell Law, "intentionally targeting customers who were sold a home-protection warranty with unconscionable price increases is likely a violation of Alabama's Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which, if handled appropriately could result in real and equitable damages in the hundreds of millions of dollars."

Based on south Alabamians current distrust of "Montgomery politics," it is unlikely the state officials would enter into a quick and incomplete settlement, as this could potentially leave over 100,000 Alabama homeowners without an appropriate remedy. Especially seeing as how the head of Alabama's regulatory body recently testified that Terminix's wrongful conduct pretty much stands alone.

Nik Varty is Out

On Jan. 21, the company announced that CEO Nik Varty had stepped down. Naren Gursahaney, current board chairman, is serving as interim CEO while the company searches for Varty's replacement.

The Fire Sale

In announcing Varty's departure, Gursahaney stated that ServiceMaster will explore strategic alternatives for its ServiceMaster Branded businesses, "including potential sale of the segment."

If it follows through with the sale, the money ServiceMaster raises could be used as a bandage to help cover Terminix's contingent liability problem in Alabama.

However, according to Tom Campbell of Campbell Law, "if the Alabama Deceptive Trade Practices Act claim is expanded to hold Terminix accountable for all of its deceptive trade practices, Terminix not only would have to reinstate contracts that were cancelled due to its price increases, refund money collected when it was faking its prevention service and it would be required to provide or pay for comprehensive chemical retreatments for most, if not all, homes under contract with Terminix."

Campbell also stated that "Terminix has routinely failed to correctly treat its customers' homes, leaving them open to an infestation and then, as a matter of practice, Terminix allowed the chemicals to wear off without replacing them, sometimes for decades; this is a serious problem because Terminix's Termite Prevention Plans typically state that Terminix agrees to re-apply necessary chemicals at no additional charge for as long as the contract is in force. This means Terminix's cost structure will change dramatically because it will be paying out-of-pocket to do millions of termite treatments across America every few years."

The Future

According to Campbell, "Terminix has never directly addressed its liability problem in any sort of global sense; instead, it has made poor choices on a piecemeal basis that have, thus far, only made matters worse for Terminix, its customers, and ServiceMaster. With proper leadership and by directly and seriously addressing, in a global sense, the single contingent liability problem that ServiceMaster reports is the largest drag on its future claims exposure, ServiceMaster can perhaps sufficiently satisfy investors that it has heard the warnings and is promptly changing course. Until then, I imagine investors will likely continue to remain cautious. Raising cash by selling its non-pest control businesses is a start. But it isn't going to be enough cash. On the plus-side, ServiceMaster has substantially reduced in debt-load over the past five years so it also has room to borrow as long as creditors are patient and see a plan to fix this self-imposed disaster."

SOURCE Campbell Law PC

Related Links

www.campbelllitigation.com


Senior Congress leader Margaret Alva on Saturday said the Citizenship (Amendment) Act "negates" constitutional guarantees and rights given to all Indians and that the judicial system which is supposed to be the protector and the interpreter of the Constitution "has failed us".

Speaking at the 'Of the People, By the People: The Indian Constitution' session at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival here, the former governor of Rajasthan said she had expected the courts "to be more active and more vocal" on the matter.

"Of late identity is being associated with religion. I don't know how or why this has begun to take root. We have been told that certain people are welcome and certain are not, some get automatic citizenship and others do not. To me this is a negation of the constitutional guarantees and rights given to all Indians," she said.

The 77-year-old politician said even when courts, in repeated judgements, have said the basic features of the Constitution cannot be touched, how then today are we debating the whole question of what is secularism?"



"Today I would have expected the courts to be more active and more vocal and I am more than disappointed that our judicial system, which was supposed to be the protector, the interpreter and the defender of the Constitution and the constitutional rights of the citizens, has failed us," she said.

She lamented that the institution, which was supposed to defend the basic features, the fundamental rights of citizens has gone "silent" at a very crucial time in the Indian history.

"I refuse to submit any papers to anyone. Having been an Indian citizen for 70 years, who are you to ask me to prove my identity. I tell you to go check the records of Yerwada jail and Arthur Road jail, you will find names of my forefathers in the list of freedom fighters. I don't think Mr Shah can claim the same, she said.

The former Rajya Sabha member also urged people to take part in the civil disobedience movement.

If anyone comes to your doorstep, don't fill any forms, tear them down. Just do not cooperate, she added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Councillors have expressed support for Arklow United Football Club's appeal for a second pitch.

At last week's meeting, members of Arklow Municipal District considered a letter from the club asking for support for their plans to buy or lease land for a second pitch.

Councillor Pat Fitzgerald (FF) said around 260 young people and 400 members were involved in the club. They 'need space' and are 'choked up' at their existing grounds, he said.

Cllr Fitzgerald suggested that the club could potentially use land near the Coral Leisure Centre for their matches. However, he also expressed concern that this could interfere with other groups who use the same facilities.

Cllr Peir Leonard (Ind) said that the club was important to the children of the town and asked if the land could be resurfaced and made available for all clubs to use.

Cllr Fitzgerald asked if a lease would be required, adding that he thought councillors should help Arklow United if it was possible as they are 'pleading for support'.

District Manager Colm Lavery said a lease may be required.

Cllr Leonard raised a concern about the possible impact of the construction of the Arklow wastewater treatment plant on the area.

District Administrator Claire Lawless said that Irish Water's contractors would not be working close to this site.

Councillors agreed that the municipal district would investigate the request.
The samurai were a warrior class in the Japanese society that was active from the 12th century up to the late 1800s. They enjoyed very high prestige in Japan, and they were well paid by the feudal landholders for their services. The ways of the samurai are based on the Bushido code of virtues - the samurai is always loyal and has an indifference to pain. They are also brave enough to take their own lives in the form of ritual suicide called seppuku.

So which of the many samurai that lived in that period proves to be the greatest ever?

Who Is Miyamoto Musashi?

Based on the history that surrounds this samurai, he could be considered as one of the most famous samurai that ever lived. Shinmen Musashi no Kami Fujiwara no Genshin, as was Musashis full name, was born in the Mimasaka province, Japan, in 1584. His family already had a long tradition of samurai trained members, and it was his father Shinmen Munisai that did the first series of sword training with Musashi. This was happening when Musashi was not even 10 years old.

Unfortunately, both of his parents died when he reached the age of 10, leaving him to grow up in a monastery where he was introduced to the ways of Zen Buddhism. Musashi spent the next few years training his sword abilities, and he was just 13 years old when he decided to enter his first duel.

A Legend Was Born In Musashis First Duel

Two samurai in a duel.

One day, a professionally trained samurai called Arima Kihei was traveling close to the village Musashi was staying. Kihei challenged people of the village, probably not expecting anyone to fight a professional samurai. However, young Musashi responded to the challenge. In his first duel, a wooden sword was Miyamoto Musashis weapon of choice. Arima Kihei was equipped with a regular, and very lethal, shortsword. The fight did not last long. As Musashi charged Kihei with a wooden sword first, he lifted him off the ground, slamming his head into the ground. With the wooden stick, he finished the job and killed Kihei.

Musashi left the monastery when he was 16 years old and actually spent most of his life traveling through the rural parts of Japan, never settling anywhere permanently. One of his most famous fights was the one that happened in 1600. In the Battle of Sekigahara, the side Musashi was fighting for lost. Defeating all odds, Musashi somehow survived the battle and could become a ronin, which stands for ''masterless samurai''.

Embarrassing The Yoshioka Family

Another impressive display of his samurai skills happened in Kyoto, which was then the capital of Japan. He challenged the famous Yoshioka group, which had some of the best swordsmen in the country. In his fight with the leader of the group, Seijuro Yoshioka, Musashi once again grabbed a wooden sword (bokken) as his weapon of choice. The battle was over when he broke Yoshiokas hand, embarrassing the whole group.

Ancient Samurai Castle of Himeji, Japan.

To restore their honor, Seijuros younger brother Denshichiro wanted to fight Musashi. Unfortunately for him, Musashi did not stop with breaking his arm like he did with his older brother but ended up taking his life, now completely shattering the honor of the Yoshioka family. The Yoshiokas planned an ambush to kill Musashi, but again, failed miserably when he killed the new leader of the group, Matashichiro, and escaped.

Another notable fight of his happened in 1612 when he was about to fight the countrys most respected samurai called Sasaki Kojiro. This time Musashi held a real sword, slit Kojiros throat, and the fight was over. It is believed that Musashi won over 60 duels during his lifetime, and some of those happened when he faced more than one opponent.

Musashi's Final Days

When he knew death was near, Musashi withdrew from any fighting and wrote his book called Go Rin No Sho, which translates as the Book Of Five Rings. But another essential piece worth mentioning is called Dokkodo in which Musashi described the ways of self-discipline during his lonesome wanderings around the land of Japan. Miyamoto Musashi died in 1645 from natural causes.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a phone call with US President Donald Trump to discuss the security of telecommunications networks.

The conversation on Friday comes as Britain nears a decision on Huawei's role in the country's future 5G network.

'The two leaders discussed important regional and bilateral issues, including working together to ensure the security of our telecommunications networks,' the White House said in a statement.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a phone call with US President Donald Trump to discuss the security of telecommunications networks on Friday

The conversation on Friday comes as Britain nears a decision on Huawei's role in the country's future 5G network

Britain is expected to make a final call later this month on how to deploy Huawei equipment in its future 5G networks.

The United States has voiced significant concerns about the Chinese telecoms behemoth, which Washington fears could compromise British secrets.

Huawei, the world's biggest producer of telecoms equipment, denies it is a vehicle for Chinese intelligence.

British officials have proposed granting Huawei a limited role in the UK's future 5G network, resisting US calls for a complete ban, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Naval Service divers have recovered a body during their operation to find the remains of missing Wexford fisherman William 'Willie' Whelan (41) from the wreckage of the trawler Alize.

The body was taken to the shore where it will be removed to hospital for a full identification by the State Pathologist Office.

A post-mortem examination will also be conducted.

The remains are believed to be those of the missing fisherman.

It followed several days of intensive diving operations on the wrecked 12-metre trawler lying on the seabed off the Wexford coast.

The operation was a hugely challenging task given the depth involved and the amount of debris scattered around the trawler.

Expand Close Willie Whelans remains are believed to have been found / Facebook

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The operation was led by specialist Naval Service divers who staged numerous dives at the site yesterday.

They were assisted by members of the Garda Underwater Unit and experienced members of Wexford Sub Aqua Club, with the Coast Guard providing support.

Divers used the Irish Lights vessel Granuaile as an operations platform with dives focused on clearing a path to the interior compartments.

Once the body was secured from the seabed, it was transported to the ILV Granuaile for transfer to shore.

Recovery dives had been suspended on Thursday evening.

Further dives for the recovery of the body resumed at first light yesterday.

The Naval Service has assigned the LE James Joyce to support the recovery operation.

Mr Whelan and his friend, Joseph 'Joe' Sinnott (65), died when their trawler Alize foundered around 8km off Hook Head on January 4.

Mr Sinnott was found in the sea and recovered a few hours after the sinking, but died shortly after being airlifted to University Hospital Waterford (UHW).

The sinking of the Alize was detected when the trawler's Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) suddenly triggered.

A massive search and rescue operation was launched by the Coast Guard, RNLI and Naval Service with support from Wexford and Waterford-based fishing vessels.

Mr Sinnott's requiem Mass took place in Kilmore with his son Michael saying "the spirit" of his father was now trying to guide the recovery operation for his great friend Mr Whelan.

Mr Whelan had married only five months ago.
Bay of Plenty

We are looking for a storeman with an OSH forklift license. You will need to be physically for as the job is about 70% forklift...



View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nz
A uthorities are desperately tracing 2,000 people who flew from the region of China where the Coronavirus broke out to the UK in the last two weeks.

The Department of Health is hunting for passengers who came to Britain from Wuhan, a city of 11 million people which is on lock down amid the outbreak.

It comes as the death toll from the Sars-like virus has risen to 41, while the spread to Europe has been confirmed with three cases in France .

The fatalities so far have been contained to China, which has placed a reported 56 million people on lockdown, with the majority occurring in the Hubei province around Wuhan.

Coronavirus - In pictures 1 /106 Coronavirus - In pictures A sign advertising a book titled "How Will We Survive On Earth?" is seen on an underground station platform Getty Images Customers wearing face masks shop at the pork counter of a supermarket following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, Hubei province Reuters Westminster Bridge is deserted in London the day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the UK in lockdown PA Canadian passengers Chris & Anna Joiner ask for help onboard the MS Zaandam, Holland America Line cruise ship, during the coronavirus outbreak, off the shores of Panama City via Reuters A man crosses a nearly empty 5th Avenue in midtown Manhattan during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City Reuters The London Eye is pictured lit blue in support of the NHS, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues Reuters Boris Johnson addresses the nation on the Coronavirus lockdown Andrew Parsons Commuters cope with Coronavirus Jeremy Selwyn Milan's Piazza del Duomo empty AFP via Getty Images People in protective clothing walk past rows of beds at a temporary 2,000-bed hospital for COVID-19 coronavirus patients set up by the Iranian army at the international exhibition center in northern Tehran, Iran AP Martina Papponetti, 25, an ICU nurse at the Humanitas Gavazzeni Hospital in Bergamo, Italy poses for a portrait at the end of her shift AP Pope Francis celebrating a daily mass alone in the Santa Marta chapel at the Vatican, as part of precautionary measures against the spread of the new coronavirus COVID-19 AFP via Getty Imag Vysheyshaya Liga - FC Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino v FC Belshina Bobruisk - Torpedo Stadium, Zhodino, Belarus, March 27, 2020 Players in action during the match despite most sport being cancelled around the world as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues Reuters Hanks and Wilson both have coronavirus Tom Hanks General view of an emergency makeshift field hospital as it is set up at Pacaembu Stadium for coronavirus (COVID-19) patients with a capacity of 200 beds in Sao Paulo, Brazil Getty Images People on a busy tube train in London at rush hour despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling on people to stay away from pubs, clubs and theatres, work from home if possible and avoid all non-essential contacts and travel in order to reduce the impact of the coronavirus pandemic PA Naomi Campbell catches a flight in a hazmat suit with goggles, a surgical mask and rubber gloves @naomi Sophie and Emily Ward pose for a photograph with their hand-drawn picture of rainbows and a message on their window in St Helens, as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues Reuters Mia, aged 8, and Jack, aged 5, take part in "PE with Joe" a daily live workout with Joe Wicks on Youtube to help kids stay fit who have to stay indoors due to the Corona virus outbreak. PA Shoppers queue outside a branch of Costco, in Croydon, south London, on the weekend after Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered pubs and restaurants across the country to close PA Charing Cross Tube Bakerloo Line very quiet at 8.15am Jeremy Selwyn A woman with a plastic box over her head on the London Underground. PA A Racegoer attend Cheltenham Festival on Ladies Day wearing a fashionable face mask SplashNews.com Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits a laboratory at the Public Health England National Infection Service in Colindale PA A man who appears to be homeless sleeping wearing a mask today in Victoria Jeremy Selwyn A couple kiss in Milano Centrale railway station in Milan on March 8, 2020 AFP via Getty Images A combination picture shows visitors wearing protective face masks following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) looking at blooming cherry blossom nd a pigeon walking at an closed cherry blossom viewing spot during the first weekend after Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike (not pictured) urged Tokyo residents to stay indoors, in a bid to keep the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from spreading Reuters This combination photo created on March 5, 2020 shows tourists visiting Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap province on March 16, 2019 (top) and on March 5, 2020 AFP via Getty Images Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump looks at the $2.2 trillion coronavirus aid package bill as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Vice President Mike Pence stand by during a signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House Reuters A satellite image shows an empty South Beach during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Miami, via Reuters General view inside the empty stadium as the two teams line up prior to the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg match between Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund at Parc des Princes UEFA via Getty Images A Sainsbury's supermarket in Cambridge is among those to sell out of antibacterial hand sanitizer PA Tents and ambulances are set up next to the Princess Cruises Grand Princess cruise as it sits docked in the Port of Oakland on March 09, 2020 in Oakland, California. The Princess Cruises Grand Princess has been held from docking until today as at least 21 people on board have tested positive for COVID-19 also known as the Coronavirus Getty Images Medical staff produce traditional Chinese medicine to treat patients infected by the COVID-19 coronavirus at a hospital in Wuhan AFP via Getty Images Army soldiers wearing protective suits spray disinfectant as a precaution against the new coronavirus at a shopping street in Seoul, South Korea AP Russian President Vladimir Putin wearing protective gear walks at a hospital for patients infected with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on the outskirts of Moscow via Reuters A woman who has recovered from the COVID-19 is disinfected by volunteers as she arrives at a hotel for a 14-day quarantine AFP via Getty Images Passengers on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship are seen as the ship arrives at Daikoku Pier where it is being resupplied and newly diagnosed coronavirus cases taken for treatment as it remains in quarantine after a number of the 3,700 people on board were diagnosed with coronavirus Getty Images Dave Abel pictured in hospital in Japan Manchester United fans in the stands during the Premier League match at Old Trafford PA Police officers wearing masks stand in front of the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel in La Caleta, in the Canary Island of Tenerife AP Carnival revellers wear protective face masks at Venice Carnival Reuters A general view is pictured of Burbage Primary School in Buxton, Derbyshire after the closure of the school as a pupil's parent has tested positive for the novel coronavirus COVID-19 AFP via Getty Images People wearing face masks walk past the Olympic rings in front of the new National Stadium, the main stadium for the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Game Getty Images People leave Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre in Milton Keynes where Coronavirus evacuees are due to be released from quarantine today and allowed to go home PA Matt Raw, a British national who returned from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, leaves quaratine at Arrowe Park Hospital on Merseyside PA A woman wears a mask while crossing London Bridg Getty Images A general view of Worthing Hospital in West Sussex PA Passengers relax on board the Holland America-operated Westerdam cruise ship, which has been denied permission to dock in Thailand over coronavirus fears via Reuters A child waves as she sits in a vehicle carrying residents evacuated from a public housing building, following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, outside Hong Mei House, at Cheung Hong Estate in Hong Kong Reuters A woman wearing a Minnie Mouse face mask looks at her mobile phone in Beijing on February 11, 2020 AFP via Getty Images The Costa Smeralda cruise ship of Costa Crociere, carrying around 6,000 passengers, is docked at the Italian port of Civitavecchia after a health alert due to a Chinese couple and a possible link to coronavirus on board, in Civitavecchia, Italy Reuters A patient covered with a bed sheet at an exhibition centre converted into a hospital as it starts to accept patients displaying mild symptoms of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan AFP via Getty Images A medical official takes the body temperature of a man at the departure hall of the airport in Changsha, Hunan Province, as the country is hit by an outbreak of a new coronavirus, China Reuters The view of the Wuhan International Conference and Exhibition Center Getty Images A plane carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, arrives at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire A police vehicle enters the gates of the Royal Air Force station RAF Brize Norton in Carterton AFP via Getty Images Passengers wear face masks as the push their luggage after arriving from a flight at Terminal 5 of London Heathrow Airport AFP via Getty Images French citizens arrive and settle aboard of an evacuation plane with destination southeastern France, before departure from Wuhan Airport (WUH), China AFP via Getty Images Police stand at a checkpoint at the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge that crosses from Hubei province in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, China Reuters A member of staff at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside prepares for a bus carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China PA Doctor Paul McKay, who is working on an vaccine for the 2019-nCoV strain of the novel coronavirus, poses for a photograph with bacteria containing fragments of coronavirus DNA, at Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM) in Londo AFP via Getty Images Workers produce masks at the Thai Hospital Product Company Ltd. factory in Bangkok AFP via Getty Images Passengers wearing face masks are seen on a bus after disembarking from the Costa Smeralda cruise ship, after tests on a woman from Macau with suspected coronavirus came back negative, in Civitavecchia, Italy Reuters People hoard bottles of alcohol after the Philippine government confirmed the first case of the new coronavirus in the country, in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines Reuters Taking precautions: with fears growing that the coronavirus will spread from China, a health official checks a womans temperature on the underground in Beijing Getty Images An empty road is seen in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on January 27, 2020, amid a deadly virus outbreak which began in the city AFP via Getty Images Students wearing masks meditate prior to a lesson at a high school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia AP Medical staff at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital wear protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus AFP via Getty Images Staff move bio-waste containers past the entrance of the Wuhan Medical Treatment Center, where some infected with a new virus are being treated, in Wuhan, China AP Workers driving excavators at the construction site of a field hospital In Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The builders will complete the 1,000-bed hospital by February 3 to cope with the surge of 2019-nCoV patients in the city Getty Images Buddhist monks wear masks as they walk near Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodi AP A woman and a child wearing protective masks walk toward check-in counters at Daxing international airport in Beijing AFP via Getty Images An employee sprays disinfectant on a train as a precaution against a new coronavirus at Suseo Station in Seoul, South Korea AP A policeman wearing a mask walks past a quarantine notice about the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China at an arrival hall of Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan Reuters Paramilitary police wear face masks as they stand guard at Tiananmen Gate adjacent to Tiananmen Square in Beijing AP The resident wear masks to buy vegetables in the market in Wuhan Getty Images Staff sell masks at a Yifeng Pharmacy in Wuhan AP Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV AP

More than 1,300 people have been infected by the virus worldwide.

There are fears the virus may have reached the UK as Englands Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty said 14 people were given the all-clear on Thursday - but more were being checked over.

Work is on to build new facilities to deal with the outbreak in China / Getty Images

Professor Whitty said he felt there was a "fair chance" of the coronavirus emerging in Britain.

There were tests for a patient in Northern Ireland but these have been confirmed to be negative.

An employee sprays disinfectant on a train as a precaution / AP

All 14 people tested in the UK are thought to have visited Wuhan  the Chinese city where the outbreak originated.

It is understood Border Force officers have been recruited to assist in speeding up the search for passengers as testing for the virus continues in the UK.

Medical staff carry a box as they walk at the Jinyintan hospital / Reuters

In China, authorities in Beijing and other cities cancelled many public celebrations and other events marking Lunar New Year, which falls on Saturday.

Hospitals in Wuhan grappled with a flood of patients and a lack of supplies and videos circulating online showed throngs of frantic people in masks lined up for examinations.

Some complained that family members had been turned away at hospitals that were at capacity.

Authorities in Wuhan and elsewhere put out calls for medicine, disinfection equipment, masks, goggles, gowns and other protective gear.
Three children found dead in a house in Co Dublin have been named as brothers and sister Conor, Darragh and Carla McGinley.

The children were discovered in a house in Parsons Court, in the village of Newcastle, which is south-west of Dublin city, on Friday night.

A woman found at the scene, believed to be the childrens mother, was taken to hospital following the incident. Gardai have confirmed she is a relative.

The bodies of Conor, nine, Darragh, seven, and Carla, three, were removed from the semi-detached home by ambulance at around 10am on Saturday.

Gardai said a family liaison officer was in contact with their father Andrew McGinley and the extended family.

Mr McGinley has released a photo of himself with his three children.

Irish police continue to treat the sudden deaths as unexplained pending the outcome of post-mortem examinations on Saturday afternoon.

Expand Close Garda forensic officers at the house in the village of Newcastle (Caroline Quinn/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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It is understood it was not immediately obvious to officers how the children had died when they attended the scene.

It is also understood gardai are not looking for anyone else in relation to the incident.

Garda forensic officers were continuing to conduct examinations inside the semi-detached house on Saturday.

Neighbours, including parents with young children, attended the house throughout the morning leaving flowers at the door of the home which was guarded by a number of officers as forensic investigators continued inside.

Flowers have been left at the house in Parsons Court, Newcastle Co.Dublin where the bodies of three children were found last night. pic.twitter.com/Rw6gBSchzd  aoife moore. (@aoifegracemoore) January 25, 2020

Childrens toys could be seen in the windows of the house.

Many women could be seen in tears as they attended the scene, which has been described as a very quiet street and popular with young families.

One woman said the small community is in absolute shock, and many attended a local mass service on Saturday morning.

Councillor for the area Emer Higgins described the events as an unimaginable tragedy.

My thoughts are with everybody impacted, said the Fine Gael representative.

This is a really tight-knit community, its a small area, its a quiet area, and its just unthinkable that something like this could be happening on our doorstep.

Its so tragic. Its unbelievable that three young peoples lives could be cut short like that, in what seems to be a particularly tragic case.

A Garda incident room has been set up in Clondalkin Garda Station and gardai have appealed for anyone with information to come forward.
Tehran: Many new questions are being raised in the conflict between Iran and America. Recently, the way Israel has expressed concern over Iran's nuclear bomb, it is important to investigate some questions. At the same time, the question arises that is Iran really moving on the lines of Nazi Germany? Is Iran's atomic bomb dangerous for Jewish states? The way America and Israel are united on Iran and they have called upon the world leaders to take action against it, this concern is bound to arise. What is the whole truth of this? It will also see how the strategic equation of Central Asia changed after the end of the Cold War. After Saddam, Iran is no longer the enemy of Iran in Central Asia. Now his fight is direct with Israel.

America targetes Pakistan, says, ' handle Pakistan otherwise...'

According to the information found, the strategic equation of Central Asia has changed since the Cold War and the Gulf War. In this era, Iran and Iraq were involved in a mutual war. But after the Cold War and the end of Saddam Hussein's power, the strategic situation in the region has changed. After the end of the Iran and Iraq war, there has been a big change in the equation of Central Asia. Iraq has weakened after Saddam. He is clearly divided between Shia-Sunni and Kurdish. It is also being said that in such a situation, Iran has become the most fierce anti-Israel in Central Asia. In such a situation, this concern of America and Israel is inevitable. This concern is further exacerbated when Iran is involved in developing a nuclear bomb.

Shiv Sena's big announcement, Pakistan and Bangladeshi infiltrators must be removed

On Thursday, January 20, 2020, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared Tehran to an evildoer. At the same time, he said that the world should become aware of Iran. Calling action against Iran, Netanyahu has compared it to Nazi Germany and Hitler. Netanyahu has asked Jerusalem to collect more than 40 heads of state and government. He said that the way Iran is developing nuclear weapons poses a threat to the world along with Jews. He said that his only aim is to end the Jewish state.

US soldiers, victims of Iran's major attack, reach deep mental trauma
25.01.2020 LISTEN

UK based qualified social worker and NPP aspiring 2020 parliamentary candidate for Asante Akyem South, Mr. Eric Amofa Junior has underscored the need for the young people in the constituency to take advantage of the educational policies of the Akufo-Addo's government to secure a better future for themselves.

According to him, education is the best and single most expensive legacy any government can bequeath to its citizens.

Praising Akufo-Addo and the NPP government for the introduction of the free Senior High School education policy, the international financial expert and a social activist said there are still more young people especially girls who are not in school in the area.

Speaking to a section of the media at Juaso in the Asante Akyem South Municipality, Mr. Amofa Junior expressed the need for parents, traditional, religious and opinion leaders to encourage the young people to educate themselves.

"This is the only surrest way Asante Akyem South can have the needed quality human resource for accelerated socio-economic development ".

The NPP parliamentary aspirant disclosed that education, youth and women empowerment, health, agriculture, water and sanitation will be his main priority areas.

Mr. Amofa acknowledged the roles played by the former and current Members of Parliament, the Municipal Chief Executive and traditional leaders in advancing the development of Asante Akyem South Municipality.

He however observed that the time had come for a more vibrant, committed and visionary leader who will mobilize the people and more resources to develop the Asante Akyem South Constituency.
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Mummy GO replies those using her preaching for memes

Webby - January 9, 2022

Mummy GO, the founder of Rapture Proclaimer Evangelical Church of God, Evangelist Funmilayo Adebayo has said those behind the trending
Health care members make first aid to people as they cover their faces with sanitary masks after the first cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Hong Kong.

President Xi Jinping on Saturday warned that the spread of the coronavirus presents a "grave situation," as officials from central China to Hong Kong struggle to stop the spread of the disease that has so far infected more than 1,400 people worldwide and killed 42.

"Life is of paramount importance. When an epidemic breaks out, a command is issued. It is our responsibility to prevent and control it," Xi said at a meeting of the leaders of the Communist Party of China, according to state-run outlet Xinhua News Agency.



The party meeting, chaired by Xi, set up a central committee to oversee work to contain the virus, according to Xinhua. Groups will be sent to Hubei province, the center of the outbreak, to work directly on the ground. Xi ordered all levels of government to "put people's life and health as top priority," according to Xinhua.

China has already quarantined multiple cities, encompassing about 35 million people, to try to contain the spread of the virus.
Despite being born in China, University of North Georgia (UNG) sophomore Maggie Simmons knows very little about the language and culture other than what she has studied. Simmons plans to change that.

"I was adopted from Hubei Province in China at 13 months old, and I haven't had a chance to return to China due to finances," said the 19-year-old from Snellville, Georgia. "I decided it would be a good opportunity to study abroad in China to embrace my cultural heritage."

Simmons is one step closer to heading overseas. She and three other UNG students were selected in mid-January as semifinalists for the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS).

"I was happy that I was named a semifinalist, and so were my parents," said Simmons, who is pursuing a degree in modern languages with a concentration in Chinese for global professionals. She hopes to study in China.

Three other UNG students were selected as semifinalists.

Madelyn Beacham, a 2019 graduate with a bachelor's degree in international affairs with a Middle East concentration, hopes to study the Turkish language in Azerbaijan.

Daniel Shearer, a sophomore and member of the Corps of Cadets who is pursuing a degree in East Asian studies with a concentration in Japanese studies and a minor in leadership, hopes to study the Japanese language in Japan.

Megan Shockley, a junior and member of the Corps of Cadets who is pursuing a degree in modern languages with a concentration in Chinese for global professionals, hopes to study the Chinese language in Taiwan.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the CLS program funds American undergraduate and graduate students to complete intensive language study abroad in the summer. Dr. Victoria Hightower, assistant director of the Nationally Competitive Scholarships office and associate professor of history at UNG, explained the CLS is an incredibly competitive scholarship that only accepts 10 percent of applicants.

"This is a great honor," she said. "Being named a semifinalist suggests these students have the cultural and linguistic preparation to help them succeed, that they are self-reflective and persistent. Scholarship drafting is mentally demanding and I am always impressed by all of our applicant's level of persistence and ambition." Shockley, who applied for the CLS program last year but was unsuccessful in being selected as a semifinalist, hopes to earn the funding this year.

"It's really an honor to be one of the four semifinalists from UNG," she said, explaining she is applying for other scholarships and programs. "CLS is my first choice, and everything I do is dependent on whether I get accepted or not."

Beacham said the CLS program will help her with her career goals.

"My top choice for graduate schools is in Istanbul, Turkey," said the 22-year-old from McDonough, Georgia. "And Turkish classes are not offered at UNG."

Beacham said she became interested in learning the Turkish language after working with refugees at the International Rescue Committee.

"I thought if I want to in into the field of refugee settlement, then Turkish is a good language to know," she said. "The scholarship combines my interest in that and where I want to go to grad school."

She and the others, though, must wait until March to find out if they are finalists.

"Being a semifinalist is only half the journey," said Shearer, a 22-year-old from Suwanee. "I'm grateful to be selected, however I must concentrate on this current semester until I know the end results."

Hightower explained in the first round of CLS evaluation, applications are sent to two different readers who apply a very strict rubric to them. Scores are then compiled and the highest are selected to move on to the next round.

"Our semifinalists stand out because they were able to express deep cultural knowledge, an unwavering commitment to language learning, and a strong connection between their language and goals," she said.
A mother has claimed that she was kicked out of a shopping centre for wearing a bikini top while trying to replace her shirt that was lost at the beach.

New Zealand woman Gemma-Elaine Duggan was enjoying a family day by the beach at Tauranga when she misplaced her singlet.

Almost an hour's drive away from her home in Rotorua, the mother-of-five decided to go to the nearby Bayfair Mall to purchase a new outfit.

Gemma-Elaine Duggan claims she was kicked out of Bayfair mall in Tauranga because she was wearing a bikini (pictured) while trying to replace her lost shirt

But moments after entering, Ms Duggan claims she was approached by a security guard and told to leave.

The security guard reportedly claimed her bikini top violated the shopping centre's rules.

'I was mortified. I was so upset I just left. He created a scene in front of everyone by shouting across the mall, "Excuse me. Excuse me. Buy a shirt or leave",' she told the NZ Herald.

Ms Duggan, who was still wearing shorts, said she explained to the security guard why she was there and that the family were not from the area and could not go home to get a shirt.

But when she refused his request to get one from the nearest shop, instead wanting to pick the retailer herself, she said the guard told her to leave.

The conditions of entry sign (pictured) does not ban swimwear

The shopping centre's entry conditions, listed on a sign out front, state there is to be 'no smoking or vaping, riding, bikes, alcohol, loitering and gang regalia'- but does not ban swimwear.

Embarrassed and close to tears, the mother rushed back to her car while her husband went to speak to the security guard.

When her husband pointed out to the security guard that his wife's violation was not listed on the sign, the guard reportedly said it was 'the owner's rule'.

Ms Duggan said she was worried it could happen to other woman and that it felt as though she was being discriminated against because of her appearance.

'I'm embarrassed. If they're going to treat me that way they could very well do it to other women.

'I feel like they looked at my appearance and made a judgement that I was trouble and they didn't want me there so they decided the easiest way to get me out is to say I can't wear a bikini top.'

The incident has divided opinion among social media users, after the story was shared online.

Some believed the shopping centre was within its rights to enforce its own rules and shoppers should abide them.

The security guard said while swimwear was not listed on Bayfair mall's conditions of entry, it had been instated by the owner

'All private shops malls cinemas can have a dress code . Don't like it don't go,' one person wrote.

Another added: 'It's a bikini it belongs at the beach!'

Others felt it was too extreme.

'Wow that's just over the top. Excuse pun. But really? Beating the heat in a beach town is normal,' someone said.

'I totally saw someone with cheeky shorts yesterday almost gbangers and didnt get booted, leave her alone,' one comment read.

Daily Mail Australia has commented Tauranga Bayfair Mall for comment.
About 80 people have been hit by Metro trains in the past three years, he said. In about 70 percent of those cases, he said, the person did not intend to be hit. The most common causes are intoxication, inattention or assault. Medical accidents causing falls onto the track are rare, Stessel said.
By Trend

Azerbaijans regional policy focus is that the interests of big regional and international centers of power are aligned in Azerbaijan within the projects implemented in the country, rather than clash, Head of the South Caucasus Club of Political Analysts Ilgar Valizade told Trend.

During the Strategic View: Eurasia panel meeting, which was held as part of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Azerbaijani president answered a tricky question of a moderator. "Which of the powerful forces of Eurasia - Moscow or Beijing, would you call in case of necessity?" the moderator asked. The president answered that he would call to Baku. The presidents response was justified and laconic. The response fully expresses Azerbaijans foreign policy priorities.

The political analyst stressed that Azerbaijan pursues an independent policy in the region.

"This can be seen in the example of the implementation of the project for the development of oil and gas fields in Azerbaijan, where the US, Russian and Iranian companies are cooperating, head of the club added. No one is trying to harm the interests of each other because they understand and respect Azerbaijans interests, which is the country in which these projects are implemented.

It is very important to stress that Azerbaijans balanced position allows the country to play a key role in the regional security system for a long time, Valizade added.

For all these international and regional players, Baku is a partner in a dialogue on security, on the development of economic cooperation, and a partner in political dialogue, the analyst noted.

The expert also commented on the intention to create a regional center of the World Economic Forum in Azerbaijan. Valizade said that the creation of a regional economic center in Baku is another evidence that in the South Caucasus region, a dialogue with leading business representatives within the economic agenda is formed with direct participation, and in some cases - at the initiative of Baku.

At the initiative of Azerbaijan, a great number of large-scale projects are being implemented in the country, which have regional significance and go beyond the framework of the South Caucasus region, the expert added. In addition, transport and communication routes, multimodal routes such as North-South, East-West, South-West, Lapis Lazuli corridor pass through Azerbaijan.

The Caspian Sea-Black Sea corridor system is also being formed, noted the analyst. A new energy map is being formed with the implementation of large-scale energy projects. In recent years, Baku has been actively implementing transit projects related to the laying of the most important main fiber-optic cable lines of trans-regional significance. Of course, all this is a condition for Baku to play the role of an interactive platform, because a very big circle of participants, both economic entities and political players, is engaged in these projects. Apparently, the easiest way to facilitate these dialogues is in the place where it will be more productive, that is, in Baku."

The political analyst touched on the issue of joint development of the Nakhchivan and Goshadash fields in Azerbaijan with the Russian company Lukoil. He noted that the promising Nakhchivan and Goshadash fields were discovered by Azerbaijani geologists back in Soviet times.

"In particular, the Nakhchivan field, in addition to oil, also contains a significant amount of gas condensate. And of course, an agreement on the development of these fields will enable other companies and investors to pay attention to those places that are within the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea," Ilgar Valizade said.

"Among other things, Goshadash may become a continuation of large-scale projects implemented by Lukoil. On the other hand, this enables Azerbaijan to establish close cooperation with Russian oil companies already on its territory, in particular, at the Goshadash field. Here you can also note a great opportunity for the exchange of technologies, the opportunity to create some kind of joint oil infrastructure. In addition, we can talk about a new level of cooperation between the oil workers of Azerbaijan and Russia. In other words, this is a very profitable project for both Azerbaijan and Russia," concluded the political analyst.
Dividend paying stocks like Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) 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.

A 2.8% yield is nothing to get excited about, but investors probably think the long payment history suggests Bristol-Myers Squibb has some staying power. Some simple analysis can offer a lot of insights when buying a company for its dividend, and we'll go through this below.

Click the interactive chart for our full dividend analysis

NYSE:BMY Historical Dividend Yield, January 25th 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. Looking at the data, we can see that 47% of Bristol-Myers Squibb's profits were paid out as dividends in the last 12 months. This is a medium payout level that leaves enough capital in the business to fund opportunities that might arise, while also rewarding shareholders. Besides, if reinvestment opportunities dry up, the company has room to increase the dividend.

Another important check we do is to see if the free cash flow generated is sufficient to pay the dividend. Bristol-Myers Squibb paid out a conservative 35% of its free cash flow as dividends last year. It's positive to see that Bristol-Myers Squibb'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.

While the above analysis focuses on dividends relative to a company's earnings, we do note Bristol-Myers Squibb's strong net cash position, which will let it pay larger dividends for a time, should it choose.

Story continues

Consider getting our latest analysis on Bristol-Myers Squibb'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. Bristol-Myers Squibb 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 US$1.24 in 2010, compared to US$1.80 last year. Dividends per share have grown at approximately 3.8% per year over this time.

Dividends have grown relatively slowly, which is not great, but some investors may value the relative consistency of the dividend.

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. Strong earnings per share (EPS) growth might encourage our interest in the company despite fluctuating dividends, which is why it's great to see Bristol-Myers Squibb has grown its earnings per share at 17% per annum over the past five years. Earnings per share have been growing at a good rate, and the company is paying less than half its earnings as dividends. We generally think this is an attractive combination, as it permits further reinvestment in the business.

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. It's great to see that Bristol-Myers Squibb is paying out a low percentage of its earnings and cash flow. That said, we were glad to see it growing earnings and paying a fairly consistent dividend. All these things considered, we think this organisation has a lot going for it from a dividend perspective.

Earnings growth generally bodes well for the future value of company dividend payments. See if the 12 Bristol-Myers Squibb 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.
DNC leaders angry at Betsy Devos for comparing ending slavery to ending abortion

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Some Democratic Party leaders are angered that U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos compared the battle to end slavery in America with the fight to end abortion.

[Former President Abraham Lincoln] too contended with the pro-choice arguments of his day. They suggested that a states choice to be slave or to be free had no moral question in it, DeVos said during a speech at the Colorado Christian Universitys annual presidents dinner Wednesday night at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., according to the Colorado Times Recorder.

Well, President Lincoln reminded those pro-choicers that is a vast portion of the American people that do not look upon that matter as being this very little thing. They look upon it as a vast moral evil, she said.

Lincoln was right about the slavery 'choice' then, and he would be right about the life 'choice' today," she added. Because as its been said: Freedom is not about doing what we want. Freedom is about having the right to do what we ought.

DeVos also pointed out the irony of supporting a womans choice to have an abortion but not for mothers who want to enroll their children in nontraditional public schools.

There are many in the pro-life movement who heroically work to make abortion unconstitutional, DeVos said. Tonight, lets talk about making it unthinkable.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., a pro-abortion advocate, attacked DeVos for saying that both slavery and abortion are human rights issues. Pressley then challenged DeVos to "come say this to my face."

"Dear Betsy, As a black woman & the Chair of the abortion access task force, I invite you to come by the Hill and say this to my face. Would welcome the opportunity to educate you, Pressley wrote in a statement on Twitter.

The rhetoric & policies of anti-choice zealots like DeVos put the lives & bodily autonomy of far too many people at risk, she argued.

In a statement cited by Politico on Friday, the Democratic National Committee also weighed in.

"What an insult to the generations of Americans who still live with the scars of slavery and Jim Crow. What an insult to those who have fought valiantly to make abortion safe and legal in all 50 states," DNC CEO Seema Nanda and DNC Vice Chair and Louisiana Democratic Party Chair Karen Carter Peterson said.

"The secretary of education remains woefully uneducated on the history of our country. Her ignorance would be laughable if it werent so disturbing. As with so many issues shes commented on before, Secretary Devos has once again failed a simple test of competence and character. November 3 cant come soon enough, they added.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and United Muslim Action Committee will be holding a unique protest meeting of Urdu poets from various parts of the country in Hyderabad on Saturday evening to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR) on the eve of the 70th Republic Day.

Though the MIM had planned the rally from 7 pm till midnight, culminating in a tricolour hoisting ceremony, the Hyderabad police gave permission only till 11 pm. Originally, the rally was proposed to be held at the historic Charminar, but following the directions from the high court, the venue was shifted to Khilwat grounds, closer to Charminar.

AIMIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi tweeted on Friday that the venue had been shifted, but said he would hoist the national flag later at midnight.

Police rejected permission for protest meeting at Charminar, theyd advised us to instead move it to nearby Khilwat Ground which weve accepted. Poets Protest Meeting against CAA-NPR-NRC will begin on 25 night and well welcome Indias Republic Day by hoisting tiranga at 12 AM, he tweeted.

The organisers are hosting the event under the banner of Alliance Against CAA and NRC. There will be a mushaira (poetry recitations). Big names in Urdu poetry including Bollywood lyricist Rahat Indori, Sampat Saral and Lata Haya; and young voices such as Nabiya Khan, Aamir Aziz and Husain Haidry will be among the literary figures who will recite poems and ghazals in protest against the CAA and NRC, an MIM spokesman said.

Indoris poem Kisi ke baap ka Hindustan thodi hai has been a rage in anti-CAA protests being staged across the country. So is Azizs poems Acche Din Blues and Main inkaar karta hoon have also received wide acclaim on the internet in recent past.

The programme will end with singing of the national anthem and hoisting of national flag. Invitations for the event have been extended to members of civil society and religious scholars of all faiths, the spokesman said.

Apart from Owaisi, several other leaders from Muslim organisations including Jamat-e-Islami, Ahle Hadith, Jamiatula Ulema and Tameer-e-Millat are scheduled to address the gathering.

The MIM spokesman said the aim of the event was not only to celebrate Republic Day and Constitution, but also to emphasise the dangers to the Constitution from the CAA, NPR and NRC.

Earlier this month, the MIM had organised a massive rally against the CAA in Hyderabad that drew lakhs of people to it.

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Karen Matthews and her paedophile fiance have been pictured for the first time since police were called to a bust-up at her home.

The 44-year-old, dubbed 'Britain's worst mother', was pictured with criminal lover Paul Saunders, 57, buying trainers, visiting a Pets at Home store and getting a fish and chips.

The sick couple were also seen lighting up inside a white transit van and Saunders, who was jailed for abusing a 15-year-old girl, was pictured visiting a NatWest bank.

Police swooped on the mother's home on Thursday in a town in the south of England, and spoke to both before leaving without making any arrests.

Karen Matthews, 44, and her paedophile fiance Paul Saunders, 57, were photographed in a town in southern England

Matthews was seen walking out of a fish and chips shop during their shopping trip. Police swooped on her home this week following reports of a disturbance

Paedophile Saunders, who picked up Matthews several streets from her home, reportedly became engaged to Matthews six weeks into their relationship

Matthews and Saunders were also pictured lighting cigarettes in a white transit van during their outing on Saturday

Video footage obtained by MailOnline shows Matthews and Saunders leaving a B&M store and walking out of a fish and chip shop. Saunders was also filmed helping Matthews into their white van.

He picked up disgraced Matthews, who faked her own daughter's kidnapping in 2008, several streets from her home this Saturday.

Matthews was pictured wearing a beanie hat, black puffer jacket, black jeans and dirty trainers as she moved through the town.

Fiance Saunders, who is on the sex offenders register, was seen wearing a beanie, hooded coat, baggy trousers and black shoes.

Matthews reportedly got engaged to paedophile Saunders, who is a handy man, six weeks into their relationship.

She was pictured flashing a ring on her wedding finger this month that bears an uncanny resemblance to Kate Middleton's.

The sickening pair pictured leaving a fish and chips shop in during their trip in the area. Matthews has been pictured flashing a wedding ring this month

Saunders, (left), 57, was jailed after he admitted engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl. Criminal pair seen leaving a Pets at Home store (right)

Saunders pictured carrying a pair of trainers out of a shop in a town in southern England, followed by Matthews. She was jailed for eight years for pretending her daughter had been kidnapped

'The recent behaviour has shocked me. She knows about his past, she doesn't care,' a friend told The Sun.

'She thinks he's the victim in all of this. Now she's planning on having a baby with him. God forbid if they ever have a child.'

Matthews has had a number of nasty rows with her fiance recently after their engagement was revealed by a friend this month.

When officers were called to her home this week they went door to door before leaving the area.

Matthews was also offered 50,000 to leave the country and never return this week.

A friend told The Sun that Matthew's recent behaviour had 'shocked' her, and that Matthews was now thinking about having a daughter. The pair are pictured leaving a B&M store

Matthews pictured with Saunders carries clothes out of a B&M store in a town in southern England

Matthews pictured carrying clothes and what appears to be an adhesive out of the store with boyfriend Saunders who is carrying bags

Matthews, pictured right, faked the kidnap of her own daughter, pictured left. Her daughter has now been removed from her mother's care and given a new identity

Saunders pictured walking to a NatWest bank in a town in southern England. He is wearing a beanie hat, baggy trousers, hooded coat, black shoes and has a cigarette in his mouth

She had allegedly angered locals in the town where she moved to after a four-year stint in prison as she sees herself as a minor celebrity.

The amount offered is the same as she tried to get in reward money after staging daughter Shannon Matthew's disappearance.

The note read: 'Don't panic. Dear Miss Karen or whatever you call yourself now.

'I speak on behalf of many people. I will happily give you 50k you still seem to be searching for.

'In return I require you shut the f*** up and leave the country!! No f***ing kidding.

'Think hard on this. I'll be in touch.

'Bye.'

Sickening couple pictured talking as they walk away from the B&M shop carrying their purchases

Matthews talks to fiance Saunders. She was seen flashing a ring on her wedding finger after they became engaged and reportedly sees herself as a local celebrity. She also reportedly thinks he is a victim

Matthews, left and right, pictured standing next to a white transit van in black jeans and coat

Matthews hands Saunders what appears to be a receipt after the pair visited a Pets at Home store

Matthews was released from prison after serving half her sentence at New Hall prison, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and Foston Hall prison in Derbyshire.

Her daughter has been removed from her mother's care and received a new identity.

Saunders has admitted engaging in sexual activity with a child, making indecent images of a child and two counts of sexual assault.
Michael B Jordan as Bryan Stevenson and Jamie Foxx as Walter McMillian in Just Mercy

Based on lawyer Bryan Stevenson's memoir Just Mercy: A Story Of Justice and Redemption, writer-director Destin Daniel Cretton's courtroom drama adds a thick layer of Hollywood sheen to the true story of an Alabama pulpwood worker, who attempted to overturn his murder conviction from death row.

The script is tethered to the facts of the case.

There are no last-gasp twists in the judge's deliberations nor any surprise witnesses, whose evidence provides a missing piece of the narrative.

Just Mercy is a deeply conventional courtroom drama, galvanised by strong performances from Michael B Jordan and Jamie Foxx as the impassioned legal counsel and prisoner resigned to his grim fate, who learn valuable lessons about trust during four years of appeals.

The two actors savour meaty dialogue, countering hope with weary cynicism in energetic verbal exchanges against a backdrop of racial discrimination in 1980s Alabama - a southern state with a Latin motto that translates as 'We dare defend our rights'.

Oscar-winner Brie Larson makes the most of limited screen time and London-born co-star Rafe Spall wrestles with a questionable southern accent as the hard-nosed district attorney, whose conscience might be pricked by a miscarriage of justice on his watch.

On November 1, 1986, the town of Monroeville, where Harper Lee wrote To Kill A Mockingbird, recoils from news of a violent crime in the beating heart of the community.

Eighteen-year-old part-time clerk Ronda Morrison has been strangled and shot dead at Jackson Cleaners.

A trial lasting a day and a half finds local man Walter McMillian (Foxx), known as Johnny D, guilty of the heinous act.

The conviction hinges on eyewitness evidence from Ralph Myers (Tim Blake Nelson).

Sheriff Tate (Michael Harding) publicly professes Walter's guilt and a judge overrules the jury's recommendation of life behind bars to hand down a death sentence.

Two years later, idealistic lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Jordan) takes up Walter's case and braces for a hostile reception.

'What you're doing is gonna make a lot of people upset,' warns his mother. 'You better be careful.'.

Bryan co-founds the Equal Justice Initiative with southern firebrand Eva Ansley (Larson) and visits Holman Correctional Facility, where Walter is awaiting execution.

The lawyer attempts to buoy his client's spirits but Walter is aware of the slim chances of success against District Attorney Tommy Chapman (Spall).

'You know how many people been freed from Alabama death row?' Walter sternly asks Bryan. 'None. You ain't gonna be the one to change that.'.

Just Mercy is a showcase for Jordan and Foxx, who forge a compelling and moving screen partnership that energises the bloated running time.

The emotional beats of Cretton's script are predictable but there is undeniable satisfaction when they land, accompanied by heavenly harmonies from a gospel choir on the soundtrack.
In a first, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Sunday visit the newly-built War Memorial and pay homage to the martyrs before participating in the 71st Republic Day celebrations here.

"Before the commencement of the parade, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the nation in paying homage to the martyrs by laying a wreath at the War Memorial," an official statement said on Saturday.

The parade will start at 10 am with the Salute. Duration of the parade will be 90 minutes.

Republic Day Deputy Commander Major General Alok Kakkar said that this would be the first time the Prime Minister will lay a wreath at the National War Memorial on the Republic Day.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be received by the Chief of Defence Staff and the three Services Chiefs," Deputy Commander Major General Alok Kakkar had told ANI earlier.

This will also be the first time that the first Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat would attend the Republic Day parade and welcome the Prime Minister along with the three defence chiefs.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government had created the post of Chief of Defence Staff last month and appointed Gen Rawat as the first officer to hold the position.

The National War Memorial, which was inaugurated in February last year by the Prime Minister, has been built in memory of the Indian soldiers who laid down their lives for the country post-independence.

In the parade, Kakkar said 16 marching contingents from Army, Navy, Air Force and Paramilitary forces will take part along with 31 bands overall.

Meanwhile, the Army Air Defence Corps will for the first time take part as a marching contingent while the Signal Corps contingent would be led by Captain Tanya Shergill, who is a fourth Generation Army officer.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The United States government is planning to evacuate diplomats and citizens from the coronavirus-stricken Chinese city of Wuhan.

The US consulate is reportedly reaching out to all Americans registered as living in Wuhan - considered to be the epicenter of the deadly outbreak - to offer them a seat on a charter flight scheduled for Sunday.

A source familiar with the operation told CNN that roughly 1,000 Americans live in Wuhan, and those who choose to evacuate will be forced to pay for their spot on the plane.

News of the evacuation came as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide jumped to 1,396 on Saturday morning, including 42 fatalities.

The majority of the cases - and all deaths - have occurred in China.

The outbreak is believed to have originated in late December at a Wuhan supermarket that was illegally selling wildlife before travelers carried the virus to at least 11 other countries.

Some 57 million people across 15 Chinese cities - including Wuhan - are now on lockdown as officials work to slow the virus' rapid spread.

The United States government is planning to evacuate diplomats and citizens from the coronavirus-stricken Chinese city of Wuhan. Photos from inside the intensive care unit at Zhongnan Hospital in Wuhan show medical workers caring for critically-ill patients this week

News of the evacuation came as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide jumped to 1,396 on Saturday morning, including 42 fatalities. Patients are seen undergoing treatment at Wuhan Central Hospital

Officials are planning to temporarily shutter the US Consulate General in Wuhan (pictured)

The US evacuation was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, citing an official source.

The official source said that a Boeing 767 jet, which carries around 230 people, is scheduled to carry diplomats from the American consulate as well as US citizens and their families.

However, another source who spoke to CNN disputed the Wall Street Journal's claim that any available seats may be offered to non-US citizens and diplomats from other countries, saying that non-US citizens would only be allowed onboard if they are related or married to Americans.

It is understood medical personnel will be on the flight to care for anyone who may have been infected by the virus and prevent it from spreading.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said it is involved in the efforts to help Americans leave Wuhan.

'Department of State has the lead for the safe and expedient ordered departure of all US citizens from Wuhan, China,' CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund told CNN. 'CDC is aware and coordinating in the planning.'

Washington was given approval for the operation from China's Foreign Ministry and other government agencies following negotiations in recent days.

The US also plans to temporarily shut its Wuhan consulate, it said.

In a tweet on Friday, President Donald Trump thanked President Xi Jinping and China for its 'transparency' in fighting coronavirus.

'China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!' Trump wrote.

On Friday, US health officials revealed they are testing 63 people in 22 states who showed symptoms that could be indicative of the coronavirus, including fever, cough and runny nose.

Two American cases have been confirmed so far - a Washington state man in his 30s who was diagnosed on January 20 and a 60-year-old woman in Chicago whose diagnosis was reported Friday.

Both patients had recently visited Wuhan and are said to be recovering well in hospital isolation.

Health officials revealed on Friday that they are testing 63 people in 22 states

The coronavirus strain, known as 2019-nCov, is believed to have emerged from illegally traded wildlife at a seafood market in Wuhan, a city 700 miles south of the capital of Beijing.

While preliminary research suggests the virus was passed to humans from snakes, Chinese health officials reported this week that some cases have been caused by human-to-human transmission increasing the risk of it spreading.

As of Friday, 1,368 cases have been reported in China and another 28 have been reported across 11 other countries: Thailand (4), Taiwan (3), Singapore (3), France (3), Malaysia (3), Japan (3), South Korea (2), Vietnam (2), Nepal (1), Australia (4) and the US (2).

American officials have said they expected to see an increase in the number of cases as possible infections have been reported across seven states.

CONFIRMED US CORONAVIRUS CASES 1. Man in Washington state The first US coronavirus case was confirmed on Tuesday, January 21. The patient - a Washington man in his 30s who lives in Snohomish County - has been quarantined at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, outside of Seattle. The man had had traveled by himself from Wuhan but did not visit any of the markets at the epicenter of the outbreak. He reportedly had no symptoms upon arrival in the US on January 15, but after reading about the outbreak online and developing symptoms, he contacted his doctor. The patient allegedly sought treatment on January 16 and was tested the following day. He is said to be in stable condition. He is being treated in a bio-containment room by a few staff members and a robot to limit the spread of the virus. The robot has a stethoscope attached to take the man's vitals and a large screen so doctors can communicate with him, Dr George Diaz, chief of the infectious disease division at the Providence Regional Medical Center, told CNN. 'The nursing staff in the room move the robot around so we can see the patient in the screen, talk to him,' Dr Diaz told the network. Officials have also been monitoring more than a dozen people the man reportedly came into contact with in the five days between when he arrived back in the US and when he was diagnosed. 2. Woman in Chicago The CDC confirmed the second US case on Friday - a 60-year-old woman in Chicago, Illinois, who had traveled to Wuhan in late December. The woman, who has not been named, arrived at O'Hare International Airport on January 13 but did not begin experiencing symptoms until several days later. Health officials say the woman appears to be 'well' and in stable condition. She is in isolation, but it wasn't revealed which hospital she is in. Advertisement

Two people from Minnesota and three people from Michigan are currently being tested for coronavirus.

The patients from Michigan have reportedly agreed to remain in isolation until their tests results return, reported the Detroit Free Press.

Also being monitored are two college students, one from Texas A&M University and another from Tennessee Tech University.

For the Texas student, Brazos County Health District officials said the male had 'mild' symptoms that resembled the coronavirus and had traveled to Wuhan recently.

Results of tests will be announced to the public if the patient tests positive for coronavirus.

Officials said the patient is currently being kept isolated at home and that it is safe for student to attend classes.

'This patient did travel to the area of concern in China within the last 14 days and thankfully had mild upper respiratory symptoms, and he was improving,' said Dr Eric Wilke with the Brazos County Health Department.

'I believe the time the patient presented at the emergency department, it was more out of concern,' said Dr Eric Wilke with the Brazos County Health Department.

Meanwhile, the Tennessee Department of Health said it decided to test the student because he or she had 'very mild symptoms' and had a recent concerning travel history that met the criteria for testing.

No results have been confirmed and the student is being kept in isolation.

Los Angeles International Airport was also on high alert after a passenger who arrived on Wednesday was sent to hospital after he or she appeared to be ill.

The unnamed passenger arrived on an American Airlines flight from Mexico City around 7pm, reported CBS Los Angeles.

However, it remains unclear if the passenger is from Mexico City, or if they originated from another city.

Several people in California, particularly in Alameda County and the Bay Area, are also being examined to see if they have the virus that resembles SARS.

On Friday, North Carolina's Department of Health and Human Services also reported that it is investigating a case.

The suspected patient arrived at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on January 23 after having traveled to Wuhan but not to the seafood market to which many early cases have been linked, according to a news release.

Four other potential cases are also under investigation in New York state.

In Beijing today, workers in white protective suits checked temperatures of passengers entering the subway at the central railway station, while some train services in eastern China's Yangtze River Delta region were suspended, the local railway operator said

The UK has a consulate in Wuhan and it is not yet clear whether Britain and other countries will take similar steps to evacuate their citizens from the city.

In response to a request for comment from MailOnline, the Foreign Office refused to disclose how many diplomats are currently living in Wuhan.

'We are monitoring the situation in China closely. We have updated our travel advice and are keeping it under review. Our consular team are ready to assist any British people who need help,' the Foreign Office said in a statement.
Congress-ruled Rajasthan on Saturday passed a resolution against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in the Legislative Assembly, becoming the third state to do so after Left-ruled Kerala and Congress-ruled Punjab. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and deputy CM Sachin Pilot had repeatedly vowed to oppose the CAA and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC). Opposing the government's move, several BJP MLAs rushed to the well of the House and chanted slogans in favour of CAA. The resolution was passed on the second day of its Budget session.

READ | SC Allows Rajasthan Poll Panel To Hold Panchyat Polls By April, 2020

On Thursday, Pilot said the Centre should listen to people protesting against the Act across the country and asserted that democracy weakens if there is no dialogue. "We are requesting the central government to reconsider the Act. The Constitution has given the right to protest but if someone does it, they are attacked and called anti-nationals," the deputy CM said.

READ | BJP MLA Enters Rajasthan Assembly With A Basket Of Locusts, Seeks Compensation For Farmers

Punjab, Kerala pass anti-CAA resolutions

The Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala had in December last year passed an anti-CAA resolution in its Assembly after which it moved the Supreme Court against the CAA, seeking to declare it violative of the principles of equality, freedom, and secularism enshrined in the Constitution. Following Kerala, the Punjab government too passed a resolution demanding to scrap the contentious law in early January. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday had announced that the state will also pass an anti-CAA resolution. Several states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and other non-BJP states are mulling the same, while openly opposing CAA-NRC-NPR.

READ | BJP Boycotts Governor's Address On First Day Of Budget Session Of Rajasthan Assembly

About the new citizenship law

The BJP government has drawn huge flak from citizens across India over the CAA that fast-tracks citizenship for non-Muslim immigrants from neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The government says the law is necessary to provide relief to thousands of people fleeing persecution in those countries because of their faith. Opponents of the law contend that the bill purposely leaves out Muslim immigrants and does not provide relief to those fleeing similar persecution in neighbouring Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

READ | Rajasthan Govt To Introduce Resolution Against CAA: Pilot
Malaysian authorities confirmed its first three cases of a new virus as more than 1,000 people worldwide are treated for the deadly infection.

Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad told journalists on Saturday, the three Chinese nationals, from Wuhan, were in hospital being treated by medical staff for the newly identified coronavirus.

The three people are relatives of a father and son who were diagnosed with the infection in neighbouring Singapore on Friday.

The vast majority of cases of the virus have been in or around the Chinese city of Wuhan or have involved people who visited the city.

In China, almost 1,300 people have been infected, including 41 deaths.

Cases have also been confirmed in Hong Kong, Macao, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Nepal, France, Australia and the US.
Security guards wearing face masks walk past decorations for a cancelled Lunar New Year temple fair at Longtan Park in Beijing (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

Chinas most festive holiday has got under way in the shadow of the outbreak of coronavirus, as the death toll surpassed 40.

An unprecedented national lockdown that has kept people from travelling was expanded to more than 50 million residents, and authorities cancelled a host of Lunar New Year events.

The National Health Commission reported a jump in the number of infected people to 1,287, with 41 deaths.

The latest tally comes from 29 provinces and cities across China and includes 237 patients in serious condition.

Expand Close People wearing face masks walk under a canopy decorated for the Lunar New Year (Mark Schiefelbein/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp People wearing face masks walk under a canopy decorated for the Lunar New Year (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

All 41 deaths have been in China, including 39 in Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, and one each in Hebei and Heilongjiang provinces.

Health authorities in the city of Hechi in Guangxi province said that a two-year-old girl from Wuhan had been diagnosed with the illness after arriving in the city.

Australia announced its first case on Saturday, a Chinese man in his fifties who last week returned from China.

Malaysia said three people tested positive on Friday, all relatives of a father and son from Wuhan who had been diagnosed with the virus earlier in neighbouring Singapore.

France said that three people had fallen ill with the virus  the diseases first appearance in Europe.

And the United States reported its second case, a Chicago woman in her 60s who was hospitalised in isolation after returning from China.

China added three cities to those cut off from transportation, bringing the total to 16 in Hubei province and covering a population greater than that of New York, London, Paris and Moscow combined.

Authorities are trying to limit further spread of the disease by preventing people from leaving Wuhan, the city of 11 million where the outbreak originated, and the surrounding area.

The Chinese military dispatched 450 medical staff, some with experience in past outbreaks including Sars and Ebola, who arrived in Wuhan late on Friday night to help treat the many patients hospitalised with viral pneumonia, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The new virus comes from a large family of what are known as coronaviruses, some causing nothing worse than a cold.

Symptoms include cough and fever and in more severe cases shortness of breath and pneumonia, which can be fatal.

Sars, which started in China in late 2002 and killed more than 750 people, was a coronavirus.

It is not clear how lethal the new coronavirus is, or even whether it is as dangerous as the ordinary flu, which kills tens of thousands of people every year in the US alone.

Expand Close A man pushes a child in a stroller wearing a face mask past decorations for a cancelled Lunar New Year temple fair (Mark Schiefelbein/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp A man pushes a child in a stroller wearing a face mask past decorations for a cancelled Lunar New Year temple fair (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

The rapid increase in reported deaths and illnesses does not necessarily mean the crisis is getting worse.

It could instead reflect better monitoring and reporting of the newly discovered virus, which can cause cold and flu-like symptoms, including cough, fever and shortness of breath, but can worsen to pneumonia.

The National Health Commission said Saturday that it is bringing in medical teams from outside Hubei to help handle the outbreak, a day after videos circulating online showed frantic people in masks lined up for examinations and complaints that family members had been turned away at hospitals that were at capacity.

The Ministry of Commerce is coordinating an effort to supply more than two million masks and other products from elsewhere in the country, Xinhua said.

Wuhan is building a 1,000-bed prefab hospital to deal with the crisis, to be completed February 3.

It will be modelled on a Sars hospital that was built in Beijing in just six days during the 2003 outbreak.

With Chinese authorities afraid that public gatherings will hasten the spread of the virus, the outbreak put a damper on Lunar New Year.

Temples locked their doors, Beijings Forbidden City, Shanghai Disneyland and other major tourist destinations closed, and people cancelled restaurant reservations ahead of the holiday, normally a time of family reunions, sightseeing trips, fireworks displays and other festivities in the country of 1.4 billion people.

The vast majority of cases have been in and around Wuhan or involved people who visited the city or had personal connections to those infected.

About two dozen cases in all have been confirmed outside mainland China, nearly all of them in Asia: Hong Kong, Macao, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Nepal, Australia and Malaysia.

While most of the deaths have been older patients, a 36-year-old man in Hubei died on Thursday.
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It is a notorious Russian comedy that has been playing now for decades.

A career government official and his wife and other relatives are found to possess assets worth far more than what his state salary could justify.

If he responds at all, the official answers the uncomfortable questions with claims of his relatives' business or investment acumen despite their notable lack of prior experience.

The curtains on that play seemed to be rising once again last week when activists zeroed in on the wealth surrounding new Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who was appointed on January 15 by President Vladimir Putin in a major government shakeup.

Mishustin and his wife, Vladlena Mishustina, claimed total income over the past decade of slightly more than 1 billion rubles ($16 million), including 213 million and 789 million rubles, respectively, according to public disclosure filings that are mandatory for high-ranking officials.

The income comes from various sources -- Mishustin's salary as head of the tax service, profits from investments, and the sale of a business and other assets, according to the daily Kommersant.

Mishustin's declared income over the period in question consists nearly entirely of his government salary, Kommersant reported.

The couple's real-estate assets have raised further questions. The couple owns a house in a luxurious Moscow suburb valued at nearly $10 million, according to the online investigative site Proekt, as well as an apartment near the center of Moscow.

The opposition media organization Open Media, which is funded by former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, reported that at least two of Mishustin's sons studied at Institut Le Rosey, an elite boarding school in Switzerland, a luxury that costs about $100,000 a year.

Then there is his sister, Natalia Stenina-Mishustina.

She owns three residential properties -- including a 750-square-meter suburban villa next to her brother -- and a stake in Moscow commercial property, according to the BBC, citing in part nonpublic data it received from a whistle-blower in the Federal Tax Service. Her real-estate assets total more than $16 million, the BBC said.

Wealthy Russian politicians often disguise their wealth by registering assets in the names of their close relatives, including parents, children, and siblings.

Stenina-Mishustina worked for Aeroflot early in her career, according to various Russian media outlets, but it is unknown if she has been employed anywhere thereafter. She co-invested in a loss-making Moscow restaurant with Aleksandr Udodov, who is considered by Russian media to be a member of Mishustin's inner circle.

According to the state property register, Udodov -- whose biography on his own website lists no employment until 2010, when he was 41 years old -- gave Stenina-Mishustina the 750-square-meter home as a gift in 2009, the BBC reported.

Kommersant reported in 2011 that investigators sought to search Udodov's apartment in Moscow in connection with an illegal attempt by a shell company to receive a sales-tax refund totaling 1.87 billion rubles, which at the time was equivalent to $60 million.

Kommersant described Udodov at the time as "officially unemployed, but able to resolve many things in the tax sphere." Itera Group, a real-estate firm, issued a press release a few days later stating that Udodov worked there as a vice president and was not a suspect in any cases.

Mishustin has not commented on any of these reports.

Private-Sector Claims

However, unlike the typical storyline of Russian government officials and their enormous wealth, Mishustin's script has a bit of a twist that blurs the play's conclusion.

Mishustin worked in the private sector in the 1990s and from 2008 until 2010 in hot sectors where people were making money hand over fist -- in some cases, nearly overnight. Exactly how much Mishustin made during his years in business is unclear, though a 2010 statement by the tax service shows he earned a few million in at least one year.

Kommersant, which is owned by an oligarch close to the Kremlin, recently published a scenario that justifies how the Mishustins -- excluding his sister -- could legally possess so much wealth. The article was later cited by state media to dispel any rumors, while critics trashed it as a disguised press release by the family.

Kommersant claims -- without citing anyone -- that Mishustin transferred assets acquired during his business career, including a stake in an unnamed company, to Vladlena Mishustina upon returning to government service in 2010.

Mishustina sold the stake over two years and reinvested the money in "conservative" income-generating bank deposits, the paper reported, citing unspecified "media reports."

One-year Russian-ruble deposits paid on average around 6.5 percent over 2017-18, while dollar deposits at Russian banks paid around 2 percent, according to Russian central bank data.

An equal mix of dollar and ruble deposits would imply that the Mishustins have as much as $20 million in the bank, based on Mishustina's investment income over the past two years.

Kommersant claims Mishustin bought the elite home in the Moscow suburbs in 2000 with the salary from his first private-sector job.

The home purchase would have cost a small fraction of its current value. Russia defaulted on its debt in August 1998, sending the economy and real-estate prices crashing.

The apartment near the city center was given to the Mishustins in the early 2000s by the government as compensation for his low government salary, Kommersant reported, saying it was a common practice at the time.

"It is just a press release by Vladlena Mishustina signed by [the Kommersant author], with zero sources and evidence," said Leonid Volkov, an aide to popular opposition figure Aleksei Navalny.

'Dot.Ru' Boom

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the launch of market reforms opened the door to massive wealth for the select few who had the connections, the brains, or the moxie to meet the massive Russian demand for consumer and commercial goods.

Entrepreneur Oleg Tinkov was typical of that group, importing foreign electronics such as calculators and televisions for resale to domestic customers at prices far exceeding their cost. Tinkov eventually opened an electronics chain store and sold the business a few years later, making millions. In 2019, Forbes ranked him the 47th richest businessperson in Russia with a fortune estimated at $2.2 billion.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man before his 2003 arrest on tax-fraud charges that he called politically motivated, got his start in business in the 1980s during perestroika by importing computers. He parlayed the money from that business into a bank that would scoop up shares of Russian companies during the era of privatization in the 1990s.

The market for personal computers and software -- which had already taken off in the West and parts of Asia -- was nearly nonexistent in Russia when the Soviet Union collapsed. Profits from reselling imported "second-grade" computers in Russia were as high as 300 percent during perestroika, Kommersant reported in 1994.

Levon Amdilyan -- an economist who studied at Moscow State University alongside Yegor Gaidar, the future acting prime minister under Boris Yeltsin -- spearheaded the creation of a noncommercial organization in December 1988 called the International Computer Club (MKK).

Its goal was to establish contacts between Soviet and foreign technology specialists and to attract foreign technology, including computer hardware and software, into the country.

The club held an annual computer trade show in Moscow from 1990 through the mid-1990s, attracting the likes of Apple, IBM and other top U.S. technology companies, according to contemporary articles.

The forum, however, was intended for a "narrow circle" of people that included top brass at technology companies on the one hand and large customers on the other, namely government agencies and banks.

Senior Russian government officials "authorized to make buying decisions" were among the visitors, and they purchased "a lot, willingly, from everybody," Kommersant reported in 1994.

Amdilyan sometimes traveled with government officials to foreign technology trade shows, underscoring his influence with agencies at the time, according to Kommersant.

Mishustin, a friend of Amdilyan, was involved in the club from an early stage. During a rainy November day, as Amdilyan drove his daughter to school in 1989, he discussed the idea of holding a computer trade show in Russia with Mishustin.

"Over the course of two hours, we discussed and developed plans for the forum and picked a date: June 17, 1990. Now I can hardly believe that it was possible," the club's website quotes Mishustin as saying.

Thus, Mishustin would have been at the center of the burgeoning Russian computer hardware and software market, interacting with the biggest names in the industry at home and abroad.

MKK

However, the market was rife with illegal practices, with the Business Software Alliance estimating in 1995 that 94 percent of all business software in Russia was pirated.

After the Soviet Union collapsed, Amdilyan transformed MKK into a private joint-stock company owned 50-50 by him and Mishustin, according to registration documents. Mishustin's stake was eventually transferred to his wife.

Wholesale trade and consulting were among its listed activities, though it is unclear what the company exactly did aside from hosting the trade show and, then later, an elite conference in Sochi.

Mishustin would eventually become board chairman of MKK before leaving the private sector in 1998 to join the tax service, where he initially served as assistant to its chief, Boris Fyodorov, overseeing information technology.

Neither Amdilyan nor Mishustin have said how much MKK earned during the 1990s.

Amdilyan would go on to invest in technology companies such as Takskom, which would become one of five data operators to receive a license from Mishustin's tax agency for a new service, the Russian online publication Republic reported. The annual market for that service was estimated at $100 million, Republic said.

Back In Business

Mishustin would work the next decade in government, first moving up the chain at the tax service to deputy minister and then moving over to lead the federal agencies for the real-estate register and special economic zones.

When Mishustin left government service in early 2008 to join UFG Asset Management, an investment firm co-founded by his former tax boss Fyodorov, Russia was nearly as hot a market as China.

Russia's economy had been surging for about eight years amid high oil prices, and its stock market was the world's best performer over that period.

Amid the gold rush, Moscow-based investment firms were paying top dollar for executives, with multimillion-dollar annual salaries for top brass that could deliver deals not unheard of.

The industry riches were attracting some government officials like Mishustin into the private sector, where they could potentially leverage their connections to boost business. For instance, Troika Dialog, a Moscow-based investment bank, in 2007 hired former Deputy Economy Minister Andrei Sharonov as a managing director.

Mishustin received 79 million rubles, or about $2.5 million, in 2009. The tax service he ran told the daily Vedomosti in April 2010 that the amount comprised his UFG salary and consulting fees for the firm.

Two former executives active in the Russian asset-management business in the 2000s and speaking on conditions of anonymity said $2.5 million seemed "rich" and "generous." Mishustin, they said, would have had to bring "serious" business to justify such a payout.

Whatever the truth about the current source of Mishustin's money, the end result is likely to follow the usual script.

Mishustin will not respond to the reports. He will not be investigated. The majority of Russians, getting their information from state-controlled television, will never know about the matter.
The U.S. manufacturing sector may have recently contracted to its lowest level since the financial crisis, but the industry is still thriving in certain American cities, according to a new report.

Despite a recent slowdown, manufacturing plays an integral part in the overall economy: In 2018, the sector accounted for 12.8 million jobs in the country, up from 12.3 million in 2014, according to a new report published by AdvisorSmith. In fact, manufacturing accounted for a solid 8.2 percent of total employment in the country, while output was worth $2.3 trillion in 2018.

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Still, much of the action remains concentrated in the industrial Midwest and South, which accounted for 39 out of the top 50 cities where manufacturing is considered to be surging, the report found. The Northeast, meanwhile, had just three cities.

In the Midwest, cities with a solid manufacturing sector focused on automative, agricultural and raw materials, while the South maintained strong oil and gas, chemical and furniture industries.

HOUSING OUTLOOK 2020: A 'GOOD YEAR TO PURCHASE,' EXPERT SAYS

Interestingly, manufacturing continued to play a pivotal role in small and midsize cities, which accounted for nine out of the top 10.

Take a closer look at the top five cities where manufacturing is thriving:

1. Elkhart, Indiana:

Elkhart, nicknamed the "RV capital of the world," nabbed the No. 1 manufacturing city. Roughly 52 percent of RVs produced in the U.S. are made in Elkhart Country, according to the study.

In 2018, the Indiana city produced 507 percent more jobs for manufacturing, on a per-capita basis, than the average U.S. city. Its manufacturing output totaled $6.68 billion.

2. Columbus, Indiana:

The small city, located in central Indiana, is one of the biggest manufacturing cities in the U.S; 38 percent of the people who work in Columbus are employed by the manufacturing industry. The city is best known for producing automotive engines -- in part because the city serves as the headquarters of Cummins, a Fortune 500 company that designs, manufactures and distributes engines. It had a manufacturing output of $4 billion in 2018.

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3. Rocky Mount, North Carolina:

The small North Carolina city was once known for its textiles and agriculture industries but has evolved into a major manufacturing and pharmaceutical powerhouse. It's helped by its distribution-friendly location at a junction for major highways and railways.

It's home to several manufacturing companies, including Cummins, an engine-producing company and one of the area's largest employers.

4. Kokomo, Indiana:

The third Indiana city to land on the top five list, Kokomo is known for its automotive and manufacturing industries. Although it was once home to Chrysler, Delphi and General Motors, Kokomo took a hit during the financial crisis, which greatly impacted the automotive industry. Still, in the decade since then, the auto industry has bounced back -- and Kokomo along with it. Today, the city is one of the biggest producers of automotive transmissions parts in the world.

Kokomos manufacturing output was $3.7 billion in 2018

5. Sheboygan, Wisconsin:

The small Wisconsin city, which sits near Lake Michigan, was once an active shipping port. Today, it's a major industrial center that produces various manufacturing products, including automotive parts, metal products, furniture, plastics and orthodontic goods.

The largest employer in Sheboygan is Kohler Co., which manufactures enameled iron and metal sanitary ware.

In 2018, Sheboygan's output was $3.1 billion.

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A fans association of superstar Rajnikanth on Saturday petitioned the City Police Commissioner, demanding action against two Dravidian outfits for allegedly issuing death threats to the actor for his recent remarks on rationalist leader E V Ramaswamy Periyar.

The Rajanikanth Makkal Manram (Rajnikanth Fans Association), in its petition, alleged that activists of the Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam and Dravida Kahagam had issued the threat during their recent agitations against the actor, demaning that he apologise for his remark.

Besides the activists had also threatened not to allow Rajanikanth to participate in the shooting of his films anywhere in the state, the association said.

Addressing the 50th anniversary-cum-readers' connect event of Tamil magazine 'Thuglak' on January 14 in Chennai, Rajinikanth had said "In 1971, at Salem, Periyar took out a rally in which undressed images of Lord Sri Ramachandramoorthy and Sita -with a garland of sandal-featured and no outlet published it."



Only Cho Ramaswamy published it in Thuglak and made "strong criticism", he had said.

Some parties, including Dravidar Viduthulai Kazhagam, had protested againstRajinikanth's statement.

The DVK had demanded an unconditional apology and filed police complaints on January 17, seeking action against him.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 13:39:32|Editor: Yurou

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MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- A total of six militants have been confirmed dead as fighting planes pounded a hideout of Taliban fighters in Balkh district of the northern Balkh province on Friday, army spokesman in the northern region Mohammad Hanif Rezai said Saturday.

The air raids, according to the official, were conducted against Taliban fighters in Buka village of Balkh province on Friday evening killing six armed insurgents on the spot.

No civilian had been harmed in the raids, the official asserted.

Taliban militants who are active in parts of Balkh province with Mazar-i-Sharif as its capital 305 km north of Kabul haven't commented.
Newsfrom Japan

Tokyo, Jan. 25 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo police on Saturday arrested a Japanese man on suspicion of illegally obtaining trade secrets of a major communications company for which he was working after being instigated to do so by two Russian officials at the office of the Russian trade representative in Japan.

Held by the Metropolitan Police Department for alleged violation of the unfair competition prevention law was Yutaka Araki, a 48-year-old resident of the city of Urayasu in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.

The police also requested the two Russian men, believed to be intelligence officials, to appear for questioning through organizations including the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

The MPD suspects that Araki accessed a server of the company in Tokyo on Feb. 18 last year and obtained two sets of trade secrets to which he had been related without approval from the firm.

One of the Russian officials, who is a diplomat, is suspected of having abetted Araki to get the information. The other man, who may also have been involved in the case, returned to Russia around spring 2017, according to the police.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Paris [France], Jan 25 (ANI): French Health Ministry on Friday confirmed the first two cases of deadly coronavirus, with one of them involving a person who had returned from China recently.



The two cases were confirmed in the French cities of Paris and Bordeaux, French Minister of Health Agnes Buzyn said, adding that one of the infected men had contacted around 10 people upon his return to France, as per a report by Sputnik.

"The patient (from Bordeaux) is 48 years old; he has returned from China and had passed through Wuhan. He consulted (doctors) about his symptoms on January 23. Since yesterday, he has been hospitalized in Bordeaux, he is held in an individual chamber," the minister said.

The mysterious outbreak of novel coronavirus was first reported earlier this month in Wuhan, a Chinese city of an estimated 11 million people. Since then, there have been hundreds of confirmed cases in several countries, including China, South Korea, United States, Japan, Taiwan, Nepal, among others.

Coronaviruses (nCoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). A novel coronavirus is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans. (ANI)
Apart from knives, a reliable saucepans may be one of the most important items in any chefs kitchen.

After all, a saucepan, typically a deep pan with a long handle and lid, is a requirement for making everything from the most basic of sauces to perfectly cooked quinoa.

But, as with any kitchen tool, the choices can be overwhelming - as both home chefs and professionals must consider factors such as size, grip, and material when investing in the cookware.

To help with the selection, we asked top chefs to reveal their favourite saucepans - this is what they said.

As one of the most recognisable names in the industry, it is understandable and expected that numerous chefs named Le Creuset as the maker of their favourite saucepan.

They provide consistent heat distribution and are fun to work with, Matthew Whitfield, head chef at The Montagu Arms, told us. When you buy a pan from Le Creuset, you know its going to stand the test of time and be in your kitchen for many years to come.

John DeLucie, chef partner at Lumaca NYC agreed, adding that he also loves Le Creuset cookware.

They are durable, heat up fast and look great, he said. Theyre expensive, but the value is fantastic and they last forever!

Oliver Marlowe, owner and chef director at The Hunters Moon also relies on Le Creuset saucepans for getting the job done.

There just isnt better cook/stoneware out there and I want them all, he said.

A testament to the brands durability, Alistair Craig, head chef at Careys Manor Hotel & SenSpa, told us that his favourite item from Le Creuset is a shallow casserole pan given to him nearly twenty years ago.''

I use it pretty much every day and although it may look a little battered and not as shiny as it once did, it is a pleasure to cook in, he said.

When it comes to saucepans, many chefs prefer ones made of copper, as the metal is a perfect heat conductor - meaning more even cooking.

I love the Mauviel copper pan, Mauro di Leo, head chef at MAIA, told us. We use them throughout at MAIA.

Copper is amazing - second only to gold as a heat conductor, they get sauce to boiling point in no time and super importantly, these pans keep the temperature even across the surface. For aesthetics and functions, thats the pan for me.

According to Guillaume Gillan, executive chef at Bokan 37, his favourite is the smallest copper saucepan from Mauviel.

I think most chefs dream of working with Mauviel pans, he told us. It retains heat for such a long time, its easy to clean, maintain and [its] unbreakable - extremely important qualities for a kitchen.

All-Clad is another brand worth checking out, according to chefs, as it offers affordable yet reliable options.

According to Paul Wahlberg, executive chef and owner of Wahlburgers, his All-Clad saucepan ties for favourite with his antique copper ones.

Theyre my favourite because they have good heat conductivity, heavy gauge, theyre less likely to burn and are a good size for finishing sauces, he told us.

Guillaume Thivet, executive chef of Mister French NYC also recommends the brands cookware because it distributes heat perfectly, which makes cooking fun, reliable and perfect.

If you arent set on a traditional saucepan, you may consider investing instead in a wok version.

A Kadhai is an Indian style wok that can be used as a saucepan (Williams Sonoma)

According to Manish Mehrotra, executive chef at Indian Accent, his favourite saucepan is a Kadhai, or an Indian style wok.

Its one of the most versatile and indispensable items in my kitchen, he said. The wide surface helps control the heat distribution, and its thick, heavy bottom ensures the food is slowly and evenly cooked.

IndyBest product reviews are unbiased, independent advice you can trust. On some occasions, we earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products, but we never allow this to bias our coverage. The reviews are compiled through a mix of expert opinion and real-world testing.
A five-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by an unidentified person at Matunga in Central Mumbai, police said on Saturday.

The incident came to light on Thursday morning, when the police received a call about girl lying unconscious at Arora Junction in Matunga, an official said.

The police rushed the minor to civic-run Sion Hospital, where it was ascertained that she had been sexually assaulted, he said.

The victim's mother was traced and based on her complaint, a case has been registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said.

The police are working on some leads to nab the accused and have also formed six teams for investigation, the official added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Photograph: Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters

Mike Pompeo is said to have unleashed a foul-mouth tirade at a well known US radio host after she asked him questions about Ukraine in an interview.

Mary Louise Kelly, a respected broadcaster on National Public Radio (NPR), sat down for a pre-arranged interview with the secretary of state on Friday, whose wrath was apparently triggered by a string of questions about Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine. Kelly asked Pompeo whether he owed Yovanovitch an apology for not defending her in the face of a smear campaign orchestrated by Donald Trumps lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his associates.

Kelly said an aide to Pompeo then abruptly ended the interview, before Pompeo summoned her to his private living room at the state department and began berating her, asking her :do you think Americans care about Ukraine?

He used the F-word in that sentence and many others, Kelly said, describing a rant in the room where the notoriously thin-skinned former Republican congressman had called her.

Pompeo shouted at me for about the same amount of time as the interview Kelly recalled. He was not happy to have been questioned about Ukraine. Pompeo is due to travel to Ukraine next week.

Related: 'Get rid of her': Trump reportedly called for removal of Ukraine ambassador

In what appeared to be a bizarre attempt to browbeat her, he asked the host of the NPR programme All Things Considered if she could find Ukraine on a map, and when she said she could (she was a foreign correspondent and has covered intelligence and national security) he called for aides to bring a map of the world with no country or place names on it.

Kelly pointed to Ukraine, Pompeo put the map away and said: People will hear about this.

That is what happened. Kelly went on NPR after her interview aired, and gave her account of the encounter.

Yovanovitch was removed in May as the Trump camp was trying to put pressure on the Ukraine government to produce compromising material on Joe Biden and his son  the issue at the heart of the impeachment trial underway in the Senate.

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Kellys questions were particularly topical as a new recording surfaced on Friday in which Giulianis associates denigrated Yovanovitch and a voice that appears to the presidents can be heard saying: Take her out.

Pompeo told Kelly he had agreed to the interview to talk about Iran. But Kelly pointed out that she had confirmed with his staff that she would ask about both Iran and Ukraine.

I just dont have anything else to say about that this morning, Pompeo said. According to Kelly, he leaned towards her and glared as the interview was wound up.

Most of the interviews Pompeo gives are to conservative or evangelical Christian media or outlets from his home state of Kansas, where the tone of questioning tends towards the reverential and supportive. He has a history of attacking his interviewer when faced with challenging questions, often dismissing those questions as absurd.

In June 2018, when asked whether the statement about denuclearisation signed by Trump and Kim Jong-un at a summit in Singapore would be verified by weapons inspectors, Pompeo became angry telling a reporter: I find that question insulting and ridiculous and, frankly, ludicrous.

In the face of further questioning he said: Its not productive to do that, to say silly things. Its just  its unhelpful.

It soon became apparent that the North Korean leader had not made the disarmament pledges Trump and Pompeo had claimed.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : The Election Commission on Saturday imposed a 48-hour campaign ban on Kapil Mishra, BJP candidate from Delhi's Model Town constituency.

In a statement, the poll body said, "The Commission under Article 324 of the Constitution and all other powers enabling it in this behalf, bars Kapil Mishra from holding any public rallies, road shows and interviews in connection with the ongoing election to the assembly of NCT Delhi for a period of 48 hours starting from 5 p.m. on January 25 2020." The ban order was signed by Alok Kumar, Secretary, Election Commission.

The Commission has taken cognizance of Mishra's tweet on Thursday, where he said small pockets of Pakistan have emerged in Delhi and Shaheen Bagh, the epicentre of anti-Citizenship Amendment Act. He likened the February 8 Delhi election to a contest between India and Pakistan, which sparked a controversy.

Mishra claimed his remarks were "general" and that these do not come under the purview of the model code of conduct and the Representation of the People Act. The poll panel did not find Mishra's reply satisfactory.

Twitter reportedly took down one of his controversial tweets on Friday following the EC direction. Delhi Police have lodged an FIR under sections of the Representation of the People Act dealing with creating enmity among classes.

The FIR was filed on Friday following directions of the poll authorities.
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A California woman died after her clothing reportedly got caught in a raisin-processing machine in the Central Valley, officials say.

The incident was reported to emergency officials at 11 a.m., and Cal Fire and the Fresno County Sheriff's Office responded to the call from the Del Ray Packing Plant in the 3000 block of Indianola Avenue in Sanger, 15 miles east of Fresno.
An official wearing a mask waits upon arrival of a flight from Hangzhou, China at Changi Airport, Singapore January 22, 2020. REUTERS/Yiming Woo

SINGAPORE  Local company associations have been stepping up efforts to advise their members on precautionary health measures amid a rise in the number of confirmed cases of the Wuhan novel coronavirus around the world including Singapore.

Among the measures, the associations have been sending out advisories to thousands of member companies in recent days, urging them to do their part to curb the spread of the outbreak. One association plans to hold more sessions of a regular health workshop.

The Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME), which has around 10,000 members, sent out guidelines to members about the health and travel measures that they are encouraged to take.

The Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) has emailed all 5,000 employers under its contact list, advising them on various ways to protect the health of employees.

Similarly, the Singapore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) has updated more than 1,500 members about the situation in Wuhan.

One of the messages from the associations to the companies is the need for a contingency plan for alternative work processes to ensure business continuity.

In the guidelines disseminated to its members, ASME said, Instead of having meetings in-person, SMEs can conduct teleconferencing to minimise physical human contact and interaction. SMEs could divide operational groups into two or more teams.

Meanwhile, SNEF said it will increase the frequency of its ongoing three-hour workshop on the prevention of infectious diseases in the workplace. The workshop, typically held once or twice a month, is targeted at human resource practitioners as well as safety and health facilitators.

In response to media enquiries, the association said, SNEF has stepped up the runs to three-four times in the coming months. The workshops aim to increase the awareness of workplace infectious disease including viruses as well as the precautionary measures to take at various levels of alerts.

Story continues

As a precautionary measure, SCCI cancelled a networking session originally scheduled on Friday (24 January), the eve of Chinese New Year.

For future events, SCCI members have to register with full contact details to facilitate tracing if needed. SCCI said it will also be playing a health advisory video at its upcoming events to advise members about the outbreak.

The measures come as the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced on Thursday and Friday the first three confirmed cases of the Wuhan virus in Singapore.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said there is no need to panic in Singapore as the country is "much better prepared" to cope with the Wuhan outbreak since it experienced the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003.

Lee was speaking at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland prior to the MOH confirming the first case of the Wuhan coronavirus in Singapore.

ASME President Kurt Wee echoed the sentiment, saying the lessons from the SARS event are very applicable to the current Wuhan outbreak.

Wee said, Singapore companies will still remember the SARS event and we will apply the lessons of SARS to be able to respond readily and competently to the Wuhan situation right now.

The latest confirmed cases of the Wuhan novel coronavirus outbreak. (PHOTO: Yahoo News Singapore)

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PORTLAND, Maine - American seafood exporters are optimistic that a new trade deal with China will allow them to claw back into one of the worlds biggest markets for lobster, but help might not have arrived in time for the biggest day on the calendar.

The busiest season for lobster exports to China is around Chinese New Year, which took place Saturday. Lobsters have exploded in popularity as the middle class has grown in China, where red is considered a lucky colour. And lobsters, of course, turn bright red when cooked.

But President Donald Trumps trade hostilities with China led to tariffs in 2018 that cratered the U.S. lobster export market, while Canadas surged. A new trade deal between the U.S. and China announced on Jan. 15 is designed in part to give American exporters of seafood, especially lobsters, renewed access to China.

The market for China might come back, but its not coming back swiftly, or all at once, said Stephanie Nadeau, a Maine exporter who owns The Lobster Co. in Arundel.

Its not like youre going to get back all your business, Nadeau said. But it would help.

American lobster exports to China were worth more than $138 million through the first 11 months of 2018, and fell to less than $47 million through the first 11 months of last year, federal figures stated. Figures for December, typically a month of heavy exportation, were not yet available for 2019.

January is typically another heavy export month for lobsters. America sent more than $22 million in lobsters to China in January 2018, about six months before the tariffs were applied. The figure fell to less than $9 million in January 2019.

The Maine Lobster Dealers Association supports improved trade relations with China, but its unclear how this is going to play out in the market right now, said Annie Tselikis, the groups executive director.

One of the biggest remaining questions is just how much of the Chinese market American seafood exporters will get back. That will determine how much of a role the Chinese New Year rush plays in future years.

The four members of the congressional delegation in Maine, the biggest lobster fishing state, sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Jan. 23 asking him to hold China to its commitment to the new trade deal. The letter said knowing an exact dollar value of lobster that China has agreed to purchase will enable independent verification as to whether China either has met or again shirked its trade commitments to the U.S.

Regaining full access would take more work by the Trump administration, said John Connelly, president of the National Fisheries Institute in McLean, Va.

We urge the administration to work swiftly towards a phase-two solution that sees tariffs, import and export, removed so jobs in all sectors of the American seafood community benefit, he said.
In May 1942, Inder Kumar Gujral, a young student leader, attended a public meeting addressed by Jawaharlal Nehru in Lahore. Nehru told the audience that an elected Constituent Assembly would draft a Constitution for free India. Nehrus announcement took Gujral by surprise. He and others had assumed that the British would frame and impose a Constitution as they prepared to leave India.

But Nehrus proposal wasnt exactly a new one. The idea of a self-drafted Constitution had long fascinated Indias elite. The demand for a home-made Constitution drafted by an elected body became a constant drumbeat during the national movements final stages.

After the Second World War ended, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee dispatched senior cabinet ministers to India to negotiate the sub-continents constitutional future. Although the Cabinet Mission readily agreed to a Constituent Assembly, it was unwilling to concede the demand for universal adult suffrage. Under the Mission Plan, a majority of the Constituent Assemblys members would be elected by the legislatures of British Indian provinces.

Provincial MLAs would vote in three blocs -- Muslim, Sikh, and General (Hindus and others) -- for candidates to represent these communities in the Assembly. The provinces would elect a total of 296 members roughly in the ratio of one member for one million people. The composite Madras Province had the largest contingent of 43 while the United Provinces had 42. An additional 93 seats were allocated to the nominated or elected representatives of princely states.

Elections under the Mission Plan took place in July 1946. The Muslim League won a vast majority of Muslim seats while Congress nominees were elected to most general ones.

The Assemblys composition was broad and diverse. Many members had been involved in the freedom movement or were active in national or local politics. Several had already served in provincial ministries and mayors of important cities and towns. Some like the Maharaja of Darbhanga, were zamindars. Others like Minoo Masani were libertarians. Besides left-leaning progressives, notably K.T. Shah, there was also Somnath Lahiri, a Communist. The Assembly had sixteen women members, including Sarojini Naidu, Hansa Mehta, and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, who skillfully coordinated their position on various issues.

In December 1946, the Assembly convened in the erstwhile central legislatures library (now parliaments central hall). A recently released silent-movie clip (Indian Leaders Assembly on YouTube) vividly captures the opening days energy and excitement. It also shows empty seats as the League boycotted the proceedings. Anxious to press ahead, Nehru tabled the historic Objectives Resolution to constitute India into a sovereign republic. In its early months, however, the Assembly marked time as the Congress and the League engaged in intractable negotiations over the countrys future.

After partition became inevitable in June 1947, the Assembly got down to business. At independence, most League members left for Pakistan where a separate assembly convened in Karachi (Gujrals father was briefly a member). Their departure meant the Congress would be the Assemblys dominant force. As Granville Austin puts it, the party was led by a benevolent oligarchy comprising Rajendra Prasad, Nehru, Sardar Patel, and Maulana Azad.

The oligarchy shrewdly ensured the presence of legal experts such as Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar and political opponents such as Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and K.M. Munshi. It even secured the election of Jerome DSouza, a Jesuit from Madras, to ensure minority representation.

The Assemblys initial sessions took place amidst unprecedented carnage over Partition. On some days, members required curfew passes to attend meetings while Delhi and other cities were besieged by refugees. This surcharged atmosphere undoubtedly influenced the Assemblys decision to authorize sweeping restrictions on fundamental rights in the Constitution. It also strengthened members resolve to create a strong union within a federal system.

Taking a leaf from the Round Table conferences, the Assembly created several committees on specific subjects (fundamental rights, minorities, and allocation of powers). Drawing on the committees recommendations, the Assemblys advisor, B.N. Rau, prepared a draft constitution in October 1947.

Unlike the contemporaneously adopted Japan and Ceylon constitutions, the framing of Indias Constitution did not involve any foreign consultants or advisers. Instead, Rau, toured the United States, Ireland, and the United Kingdom in November 1947 for consultations. He met Presidents Truman and De Valera and leading judges in each country who offered him valuable suggestions.

Meanwhile, the Assemblys drafting committee headed by Ambedkar reviewed and revised Raus first draft. A second version was prepared in February 1948 and released to the public. Copies quickly sold out. The drafts salient features were summarized on All India Radio and analyzed in leading newspapers across the country.

As Rohit De notes, the Assembly was deluged by telegrams, postcards, and letters from schoolboys, housewives, postmasters, and chambers of commerce. Reflecting these inputs, the drafting committee made further changes and a third draft was ready by October 1948.

The Assembly then began a clause-by-clause debate. Members proposed thousands of amendments to the draft. Austin reckons that over two-hundred fifty members spoke in the Assembly. Over two hundred did so quite frequently. This stage of the process took almost a year to complete. Yet, unlike the American constitutional debates that took place in absolute secrecy, the Assemblys proceedings were open to visitors; reported widely; and meticulously transcribed.

By November 1949, the Assembly had before it a close-to-final version of the new constitution. At this stage, more amendments were moved, but most were rejected. Ambedkar then called upon the house to approve the final text. The Assembly did so on 26 November 1949 and the Constitution came into force on 26 January of the following year.

Decades after Nehrus Lahore speech and shortly after resigning as prime minister, Gujral reflected on the Assemblys overall legacy. To Gujral, the Assemblys greatest success was that it framed a constitution embodying the peoples aspirations. This was, by no means, an easy task. Indeed, in his new book, Madhav Khosla explains that the Assembly was fully alive to the challenge of creating a democratic republic in a land afflicted by extreme poverty, widespread illiteracy, dizzying differences, and diverse traditions.

And yet, Indias founders adopted a liberal and secular charter which enshrines fundamental rights, establishes basic institutions, and creates institutional checks and balances. The Republic, which they erected, is a solemn bequest to every succeeding generation of Indians each of whom is called upon to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.

Vikram Raghavan studied law in India and writes for the blog, Law and Other Things. His views are personal.
A short-circuit in electrical equipment could have caused the fire that broke out in Mehtab Cooperative Housing Society on SG Marg, Ambedkar Nagar, Kurla (West), on Friday, said residents.

The fire was reported at 9.53pm and escalated to a level-three (major) blaze by 10.21pm. However, no injuries were reported. Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) officials said the fire was brought under control at 1.10 am and cooling operations were stopped by 2.15am. The fire was confined to electric wiring, electric installations, household articles, documents, furniture, mattresses, wooden doors, windows, LPG stove, ceiling fans, etc, in 12 to 14 residential rooms on second floor of the ground-plus-two-storey structure, said P Rahangdale, chief fire officer, MFB.

While Rahangdale said the cause of the fire is being probed, residents said the blaze could have started owing to a short-circuit in a flat on the second floor of C wing. The room where the fire allegedly started belongs to Fazal Dahood Wala. His 70-year-old wife noticed the smoke and alerted the neighbour. Wala, who was not present in the house, rushed to the spot, and suffered a heart attack after the seeing their flat gutted. My mother is a cancer patient. She noticed the smoke and alerted others immediately. My father is stable now, said Farida, Walas daughter. Mehtab building is surrounded by other residential buildings, slum pockets and the civic bodys L-ward office.

Resident alleged that the fire brigade arrived an hour after the blaze was reported. We heard sparks and saw smoke coming from a house on the second floorPeople kept calling the MFB control room, but the fire engines arrived an hour later. The fire had escalated by then and cylinders started blasting, said resident Adnan Siraj Kazi.

MFB said the narrow lanes restricted their access to the building. Owing to LPG blasts, cracks developed on the wall of building, so firefighting was done from outside. The access to the building was narrow and vehicles parked on both sides of the lane made it difficult for us to reach, said Rahangdale.
The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras on Saturday congratulated its professors and an alumnus who have been conferred with Padma awards.

In a statement, IIT-Madras Director Baskar Ramamurthy said, "The institute congratulates all three awardees for the well deserved honour in recognition of their work and contributions".

Noted industrialist and TVS Motor Company Chairman, Venu Srinivasan who is an honorary professor at the premier institute was conferred with the Padma Bhushan -- the third-highest civilian award in the country.

While Pradeep Thalappil, a professor in the chemistry department of the institute and Prem Watsa, Founder-Chairman of Fairfax Financial Holdings and IIT-Madras alumnus (1971 batch) were awarded the Padma Shri-- the fourth highest civilian honour of the country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former Kano State governor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, says Governor Abdullahi Ganduje would regret his actions at the end of his tenure.

The former governor who spoke during a radio programme in Kano on Friday, accused Gandujes government of running on deception and falsehood.

He said, They will definitely regret at the end of their tenure, they will be saying had we known, we would have handed over to the winner in 2019. 

Read Also: Kwankwaso Is The Most Selfish Person I Know: Ganduje

On the recent allegations against him by Ganduje, Kwankwaso described them as falsehood, that lacked credibility and substance as they were contrary to the governors initial confession.

Kwankwaso also added that the governors contradictory utterances over the years had placed the Kwankwasiyya movement in an advantageous position for people to understand the falsehood aimed at tarnishing its good image.
Vicky Kaushals Close Friend Spills The Beans About The Actors Relationship With Katrina Kaif; Read On
A man arrested in unincorporated Lake Villa Friday on outstanding drug and stolen car warrants escaped Lake County sheriffs deputies who had placed him in a squad car, but he was found more than seven hours later still wearing the handcuffs that had been placed on him.
An Australian team of university researchers are in a race against time to develop a vaccine for the deadly coronavirus outbreak as the dangerous condition rapidly spreads worldwide.

The University of Queensland hopes to develop the vaccine within six months through its recently invented rapid response technology to help contain the disease outbreak which has already spread to 11 countries.

The first four cases in Australia - one in Victoria and three in NSW were confirmed on Saturday.

The university's School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences received a request from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to use its newly patented DNA-based molecular clamp technology to fast-track the vaccine.

University of Queensland researchers are developing a fast-tracked vaccine for coronavirus

CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA NEW SOUTH WALES: 4 Four people in NSW have been diagnosed with coronavirus, including three men and one woman. January 25 Three men aged 43, 53, and 35 who had recently travelled to China are confirmed to have contracted the disease.

Two flew in from Wuhan while the other arrived in Sydney from Shenzhen, south China.

They are being treated in isolation at Westmead Hospital and are in stable condition. January 27 A 21-year-old woman is identified as the fourth person to test positive for the illness in NSW.

The woman, a student at UNSW, flew into Sydney International Airport on flight MU749 on January 23 and presented to the emergency department 24 hours later after developing flu-like symptoms.

She is being treated in isolation at Westmead Hospital. VICTORIA: 4 January 25 A Chinese national aged in his 50s becomes the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Australia.

The man flew to Melbourne on China Southern flight CZ321 from Wuhan via Guangzhou on January 19.

He is now in quarantined isolation at Monash Hospital in Clayton in Melbourne's east. January 29 A Victorian man in his 60s is diagnosed with the coronavirus.

He became unwell on January 23 - two days after returning from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.

The man was confirmed as positive on January 29 and was subsequently seen by doctors at the Monash Medical Centre. He was assessed as being well enough to stay at home. January 30 A woman in her 40s falls ill with the coronavirus.

She was visiting from China and mostly spent time with her family.

She is being treated at Royal Melbourne Hospital. February 1 A Melbourne woman aged in her 20s is at home recovering. She returned from Wuhan on January 25 and fell ill two days later. She was not infectious on the flight, and has remained in isolation since being tested. QUEENSLAND: 2 January 29 Queensland confirms its first case after a 44-year-old Chinese national wass diagnosed with the virus.

He is being treated at Gold Coast University Hospital. January 30 A 42-year-old Chinese woman who was travelling in the same Wuhan tour group as the 44-year-old man tests positive. She is in Gold Coast University Hospital in stable condition. SOUTH AUSTRALIA: 2 February 1 A Chinese couple were placed in isolation in a public hospital. The man and a woman both aged 60, were from Wuhan and visiting relatives in South Australia. SA Health said the pair isolated themselves at home when they developed symptoms and awaited the results of the coronavirus test. Australia has raised the travel alert level to 'do not travel' for the city of Wuhan - the epicentre of the outbreak - and for the entire Hubei province. Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy says unless people have contact with someone who is unwell and has come from that part of China, there is no need for current concern. Advertisement

Dr Keith Chappell said his team of 20 researchers have spent the last 12 months preparing for a 'rapid response'.

'We thought we had three years ... but it's come a lot earlier than what we had hoped for so we'll go into action straight away,' he told reporters on Friday.

'We'll do all we can to ensure that we get this vaccine moving as quickly as possible but we need to be completely confident that it is safe and effective.'

Their revolutionary technology was designed as 'a platform approach to generate vaccines against a range of human and animal viruses.

It has already shown promising results in the laboratory in tests targeting other viruses such as influenza, Ebola, Nipah and MERS coronavirus.

The technology will use the DNA sequence of the coronavirus released by China to produce a protein that's the same as the one on the surface of the actual virus.

That protein will be the essence of the vaccine, capable of generating immune system responses that protect people.

'By injecting that we can get an optimal immune response in people that affords protection,' Dr Chappell said.

University Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Hj AC said the current outbreak represented a significant challenge to the international community.

'There is a lot that is still unknown regarding how easily the virus is able to be transmitted between humans,' he said.

Newly patented DNA-based molecular clamp technology will be used to fast-track the vaccine

Professor Trent Munro and Dr Keith Chappell hope the vaccine will be available within months

Dr Chappell (centre) admitted to reporters on Friday they have a big challenge ahead of them

A team of 20 researchers have spent the last 12 months preparing for a 'rapid response'

'Working with CEPI, The University of Queensland is using its vaccine technology to respond to this global health challenge.'

Dr Chappell believes the six month timeframe is realistic but admitted they've got a long way to go.

The fast-tracked vaccine will be distributed to first responders when it's ready.

'The best-case scenario if everything works perfectly, we aim to have the material ready for dosing humans in 16 weeks and we've got a long way to go to get there,' Dr Chappell said.

'Best-case scenario, this will be all over and we're not required. That's what we're hoping for but we're preparing for the worse so [we're expecting to produce] millions of doses.'
Text messages allegedly sent by Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos may have been sold to tabloid newspaper the National Enquirer by his girlfriends brother, according to sources quoted by The Wall Street Journal.

According to the paper, federal prosecutors are examining messages, including at least one photograph, first sent by the worlds richest man to news reporter Lauren Sanchez, with whom he was having an extramarital affair.

Last year, Mr Bezos hinted Saudi Arabia had played a role in the National Enquirers 11-page expose of the affair.

The Wall Street Journals claims come days after experts working for Mr Bezos also concluded with medium to high confidence a WhatsApp account used by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was directly involved in hacking the billionaires phone in May 2018, according to the FT, which saw the report.

The report was endorsed by two UN human rights officials.

Jeff Bezos' plan for future space colonies Show all 11 1 /11 Jeff Bezos' plan for future space colonies Jeff Bezos' plan for future space colonies An artist rendering of the future space colony that Jeff Bezos envisions as the future home of the human race Blue Origin Jeff Bezos' plan for future space colonies An artist rendering of the future space colony that Jeff Bezos envisions as the future home of the human race Blue Origin Jeff Bezos' plan for future space colonies An artist rendering of the future space colony that Jeff Bezos envisions as the future home of the human race Blue Origin Jeff Bezos' plan for future space colonies An artist rendering of the future space colony that Jeff Bezos envisions as the future home of the human race Blue Origin Jeff Bezos' plan for future space colonies An artist rendering of the future space colony that Jeff Bezos envisions as the future home of the human race Blue Origin Jeff Bezos' plan for future space colonies Jeff Bezos introducing a life-size model of the Blue Moon, a lunar lander that could move many tons of cargo between earth and the moon Blue Origin Jeff Bezos' plan for future space colonies An artist rendering of Blue Moon on the surface of the moon Blue Origin Jeff Bezos' plan for future space colonies Bezos also announced that his company Blue Origin will meet the current Administration's goal of putting Americans on the Moon by 2024 with the Blue Moon lunar lander Blue Origin Jeff Bezos' plan for future space colonies The Blue Moon would be powered by the BE-7 engine Jeff Bezos' plan for future space colonies Bezos also announced that his company Blue Origin will meet the current Administration's goal of putting Americans on the Moon by 2024 with the Blue Moon lunar lander Blue Origin Jeff Bezos' plan for future space colonies Bezos also announced that his company Blue Origin will meet the current Administration's goal of putting Americans on the Moon by 2024 with the Blue Moon lunar lander Blue Origin

The US attorneys office has also been investigating whether Mr Bezoss phone was hacked.

But according to The Wall Street Journal, who spoke to people familiar with the matter, evidence gathered by federal prosecutors includes a text message sent on 10 May 2018 from the phone of Ms Sanchez to her brother Michael Sanchez containing a flirtatious message originally sent from the Amazon boss.

The messages were reportedly among the materials handed to federal prosecutors as part of their investigation into whether American Media Inc  publisher of the National Enquirer  attempted to extort Mr Bezos, as he has claimed.

The materials given to prosecutors also include a message sent on 3 July 2018 from Ms Sanchezs phone to her brothers featuring a photo of a shirtless Mr Bezos.

Evidence of a payment of $200,000 (152,000) from the National Enquirer to Mr Sanchez in October 2018 has also been given to prosecutors, and appears to support American Medias earlier statements that Mr Sanchez was the source for the National Enquirers article on the affair.

Mr Sanchez has denied the allegations, telling The Sunday Telegraph that the images did not come from him and that he sincerely believes they were obtained illegally.

The report into alleged Saudi hacking of Mr Bezoss phone details how his iPhone X apparently started surreptitiously sending vast amounts of data immediately after he was sent an encrypted video file from the Saudi Crown Princes WhatsApp account in May 2018.

The pair had exchanged numbers weeks beforehand during a dinner they both attended in Los Angeles.

Prince Mohammed had been on a trade mission in an effort to attract further investment by US executives in Saudi Arabia.

But the relationship between Mr Bezos and Prince Mohammed deteriorated after the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. A CIA investigation concluded the Saudi Crown Prince personally ordered the assassination of the writer, who had written articles critical of the Saudi government.

The Saudi embassy has described the allegations they hacked Mr Bezoss phone as absurd.

In a statement to the FT after the publication of the report carried out on behalf of Mr Bezos, a Saudi official said: Saudi Arabia does not conduct illicit activities of this nature, nor does it condone them.

We request the presentation of any supposed evidence and the disclosure of any company that examined any forensic evidence so that we can show it is demonstrably false.
CHESTER  Students at Widener Partnership Charter School got a two-fold lesson in American history and supply chain management Friday morning when UPS employees visited for a Martin Luther King Day of Service event. Employees gave kindergarteners and second-graders a look at a UPS truck before reading King-themed books to students.

After pulling back the curtain on the workings of a UPS truck, the volunteers visited classrooms to read books on King to students. The books included My Uncle Martins Big Heart, recounting the personal memories of Kings niece and current Spelman College professor Angela Farris Watkins, PhD., from her childhood.

The event, in its second-year overall, marked the first time it was coordinated with Wideners Universitys Office for Civic Engagement and capped off a series of MLK Day events at the school.

Tying into the (Office of) Civic Engagement, we did a community service project on Monday where we hung up college banners in our middle school and our students learned about MLK. Some of the classes wrote what they have dreams about, said Principal/CEO Kareem Goodwin. Students were also reminded of the years King spent a half-mile west of their school at Crozer Theological Seminar in Upland and preaching in the city of Chester. On his birthday (Jan. 15) we made an announcement about MLK living in Chester during seminary school  we (told students) Dr. Martin Luther King has a strong connection to Chester, Goodwin said.

Recently appointed to his post, Goodwin hopes to expand the schools programing with the university civic engagement office through new events, including a college and career day in the spring. We posted all of our teachers colleges and inspiration quotes  we created this University Way and were going to tie this in with college and career day. Thats where we make the connection (with the Office of Civic Engagement).

The pennants display includes a HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) Boulevard with a hand-drawn Morehouse College mortarboard, Kings alma mater.

Were trying to develop more of a presence of UPS in Chester through events like these, said Jessica Feoli, a student community outreach coordinator in Wideners civic engagement office and liaison between both parties. On Earth Day well be planting trees  working with different organizations in Chester, establishing a presence on both ends.

UPS Communications Supervisor Davia Dally estimated the companys Chesapeake District participates in at least one community volunteerism per week, as part of a summer 2014 pledge to hit 20 million volunteer hours nationwide by this year.
British actor Laurence Fox became a target when he refused to accept allegations about overarching white racism and toxic masculinity in Britain. He recently earned additional ire from the left when he announced in a Sunday Times article that he does not "date woke women."

Woke woman Vicky Spratt was outraged. In an article at Refinery29 entitled "The Dangerous Rise of Men Who Won't Date 'Woke' Women,"* she wrote:

Laurence Fox  who you perhaps only knew as Billie Piper's ex-husband because you've never seen Lewis (what?)  does not date "woke" women who he believes are being taught that they are "victims", irrespective of whether they are right or not. [snip] Not wanting to date "woke" women, far from being laughable, is actually one of the more insidious aspects of it. Spend an afternoon on any major dating app and you'll come across (generally white) men saying openly sexist and misogynistic things. They might say "no psychos" or that they "f------ hate big eyebrows" in their bios. And, by and large, they also tend to hold extremely right-wing views and see themselves as victims of liberal thinking.

To Spratt, men who won't date "woke" women are far-right wackos who like Jordan Peterson even though he denies white privilege and urges Millennials to stop being social justice warriors. Worse, aside from the "incels" (heterosexual men who want a relationship with a woman but can't get one), Spratt says evil antiwoke woman men are becoming right-wing!

The reactionary influence of these ideas doesn't stop at dating, though. As the campaign group Hope Not Hate reported last year, a hostility towards feminism is feeding directly into far-right movements online. They found that a third of young British people today believe that feminism is marginalising or demonising men and warned that these beliefs were a "slip road" to other far-right ideas. This isn't just speculation. We know that the number of far-right referrals to the British government's deradicalisation scheme Prevent has dramatically increased recently. In the year from 2017/18 they jumped by 36%, while referrals for Islamism actually decreased by 14%.

The sad reality is that many woke women, especially young women, are awful. Worse, for young men interested in dating, they're scary. Fail to approach them, and you're a toxic sexist pig. Approach them the wrong way, and you're a rapist or sexual harasser. These are women, after all, who have been weaned on the books that Andrew Doyle so exquisitely mines for his satire alter ego, the ultra-woke Titania McGrath:

I'm only in Belfast for a few days, which is just as well because Titania McGrath is writing a new book and the deadline is imminent. There has been a rash of woke children's literature over the past few years, including such classics as Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, C is for Consent and The Little Girl Who Gave Zero F----. Never one to miss out on the latest trend, Titania has decided to write My First Little Book of Intersectional Activism. Younger readers might struggle with some of the jargon, but this doesn't concern Titania. After all, her first words as a baby were 'seize the means of production'.

When women are so scary, men have two options: they can retreat, as Fox says he will, or they can succumb to the harridans' demands and become simpering milquetoasts. (Think: Prince Harry.) In a very crude, disturbing, extremely NSFW video, Paul Joseph Watson exposes the second type of men:

One doesn't have to read John Gray's classic Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: The Classic Guide to Understanding the Opposite Sex to understand that men and women have different needs in normal relationships. In happy couples, the best dynamic is on in which the woman loves and respects the man and the man adores and respects the woman. If women are man-hating termagants who make it impossible for men to adore them (even as they respect them) and if men are servile wimps who make any respect impossible, the likelihood of successful relationships in a woke society is slim, indeed.

If feminists really want men to respect women, they might try respecting men first.

______________________

*Spratt also attacks Fox for not realizing that Sikh troops served in WWI and for challenging the notion of white privilege. Neither of those points is relevant to this post, so we won't address Spratt's intellectual arrogance in assuming that everyone should know an interesting but obscure historical fact or her ugly racist assumptions about white people.
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Linkedin Andi Hajramurni (The Jakarta Post) Makassar  Sat, January 25, 2020

While out fishing on Saturday night in waters just 5 kilometers from his home in Wakinamboro village, South Buton, Southeast Sulawesi, 16-year-old Muhammad Idul was impaled in the neck by a needlefish.

Living in the village on Siompu Island, Muhammad and his school friend Sardi are used to night fishing. Each of them was sailing a small boat, and they were already 500 meters away from the coast when the unexpected happened.

Sardi sailed in front of me. He didnt know that I was right behind him, so he turned on a flashlight. A needlefish immediately jumped in my direction right after he turned on the flashlight, and its jaw pierced the left side of my neck, Idul told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

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Tanzanian President John Magufuli has fired his home affairs minister Kangi Lugola on Thursday, accusing him of mismanaging a $452 million fire department contract.

President John Magufuli said the home affairs ministry, under Kangi Lugola, had signed a contract with a Romanian company without notifying the finance ministry or seeking approval from the parliament.

He announced the sacking of the two senior public officials shortly after he had inaugurated a housing project for prison officers in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

In his speech, televised live by the national Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation, the president cited lack of integrity as a key reason for the sacking. The deal was for the purchase of fire-fighting equipment.

He said Andengenye was involved in the preparation and signing of the project for the Tanzania Fire and Rescue Force, operating under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

He said other officials in the Attorney Generals Office and the Tanzania Fire and Rescue Force who were involved in the shoddy deal should be accountable.

When he came to office in November 2015, President Magufuli promised to stamp out corruption. Before he was president, Magufuli acquired the nickname the bulldozer for driving a program to build roads as minister for works, and later was hailed for his anti-corruption stance and his distinct dislike for wasting money.

In the past, he used to make spot visits to government offices and berated officials who he believed were not doing their work.

On the campaign trail for his reelection this year, Magufuli vowed that he would not tolerate corruption.
Being a young woman in a male-dominated field hasnt stopped Bella Franks carving out a successful international career as an engineer.

This week she spoke about her experiences to a group of female students keen to follow in her footsteps.

Bella was one of four guest speakers at the Women in Engineering Canterbury (WiE Can) event hosted by the University of Canterbury (UC).

WiE Can gives 60 female Year 13 students from high schools across New Zealand the opportunity to find out more about engineering by attending a series of hands-on workshops over five days, culminating in todays session hearing from high-profile female engineers.

Bella, who graduated from UC in 2010 with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering with Honours and is now working for Aecom as Associate Director of Buildings and Places, says engineering offers a varied and exciting career path.

She advises young women considering the profession to go for it.

Its such a rewarding career, says Bella. So many of the worlds most pressing issues need smart young women to solve them and drive human innovation forward.

Its rare in todays work environment to have such a tangible outcome to your efforts, such as a beautiful building or public space, so its very satisfying to be able to see the results of your work.

Bella spent four years living in New York working on one of the United States largest private real estate developments, the Hudson Yards project in Manhattan, and she is currently working on the City Rail Link in Auckland.

The 30-year-old says there is a certain amount of proving yourself as a young, female engineer, particularly in the construction world.

People can be very quick to write you off as inexperienced or out of your depth and it takes time to earn respect. Young males face this challenge too but often to a lesser extent.

Other WiE Can speakers were Transpower Chief Executive Alison Andrew, water resources engineer India Eiloart, and Larissa Wilson, a UC mechanical engineering student who recently spent two weeks at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, the United States.

UC College of Engineering Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Jan Evans-Freeman says the WiE Can initiative is part of the universitys commitment to boosting the number of female engineering graduates and increasing diversity in the profession.

Often young women have skills and interests that are very relevant to engineering but it might not be on their radar as a career option or theyre not sure how viable it is, says Jan. The aim of this event is to let them know they are wanted and there are amazing possibilities in this field.

Weve invited these four speakers because theyre all brilliant role models and show the diverse career paths and opportunities available to females who choose engineering.

Anna Manning, 18, from Whakatane, attended WiE Can last year and says it played a major role in her decision to enrol in Forest Engineering at UC in 2020.

Engineering was one of my ideas but I never really knew exactly what it involved, and I didnt know there were so many different types of engineering, and different career pathways you can follow, says Anna.

Im quite focused on the outdoors, the environment and sustainability, so Forest Engineering really appeals to me and I hadnt even known about it until WiE Can.

The workshops gave me a clearer idea of what I would be doing on a day to day basis in an engineering career which was really cool.
French Audio Brand ZOOOK, a pioneer in innovative consumer technology products, marks its entry into the smart home automation segment with the launch of ZOOOK Eagle Cam 100.

The Wi-Fi CCTV camera is built to provide all-round surveillance with 360-degree pan and 90-degree tilt capabilities with 4x digital zoom.

The ZOOOK Eagle Cam 100 is a full HD 2MP camera sporting SD card storage upto 128 GB. The camera can be enabled through Wi-Fi as well as LAN, and various features can be controlled via a smartphone.

The device can be connected with Amazon Alexa and users can also operate ZOOOK Eagle Cam 100 with voice commands. Leveraging AI capabilities, the camera-equipped to capture and send alert basis motion detection.

ZOOOK is planning to launch multiple devices catering to the IoT Smart Home Automation Segment in the coming months.

The security alarm feature in the camera works in sync with motion detection, and the loud alarm is blared obstructing unwelcoming activities. ZOOOK Eagle Cam 100 has been designed for powerful in-house monitoring abilities.

Its users can avail the benefits of this device with or without their absence for multiple scenarios such as staying updated with whereabouts of the pet, monitoring elderly parents, service staff, children, infants and many other scenarios.

ZOOOK Eagle Cam 100 is also useful in capturing pleasant moments, which the users can cherish for life.

The in-built microphone and speaker in the device enable two-way communication (i.e.) the user can listen as well as communicate via camera. Other notable features of the cam are cloud storage facility and 4x digital zoom capability to enlarge the images as per requirement and night vision feature to capture video during night time with crystal clarity.

Also, the camera is equipped with ultra-compressed recording which allows the users to store 10 days backup in only 32 GB micro SD card in advanced mode. The camera, however, can support upto 128 GB storage.

The product also provides seven types of notification ringtones along with vibration option which can work without router with camera's Wi-Fi for local usage.

"The smart home device market in India is growing exponentially and is slated to reach at USD 2,318m by 2024. We are delighted to expand our product line and embrace the emerging category. ZOOOK Eagle Cam 100 is the first product developed under this category and similar to the other products by ZOOOK, we promise to deliver innovative smart devices to our consumers at a reasonable cost," said Achin Gupta, Country Head - India at ZOOOK, on the launch of ZOOOK Eagle Cam 100.

ZOOOK's ability to offer best-in-class products alongside the timeless design concepts will further allow the company to hit the sweet spot in the burgeoning market of smart home and IOT based devices. For now, you can grab a ZOOOK Eagle Cam 100 at Rs 2,599 on Amazon.

This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible for the content of this article.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Simon Cheng, a former British consulate staff member in Hong Kong and China, was interrogated and tortured by Chinese authorities over participation in the Hong Kong protests. Cheng attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at London's Eventim Apollo, Jan. 25, 2020. (NTD Television)

LONDON, U.K.Once shackled and beaten by Chinese secret police, former British consulate worker Simon Cheng brought a unique perspective to Shen Yun Performing Arts, a theater experience that includes an artistic depiction of those who resist persecution. Cheng, who was detained over participation through social media in Hong Kongs democracy protests, said the stories he saw in New York-based Shen Yun made him feel emotional, on the verge of tears, and also grateful for the fact that he could see the show itself, a privilege people in China do not have.

Cheng made world headlines in August 2019, when, while returning to his native Hong Kong from a trip to China as a staff member of the British consulate, he was forcibly returned to China where he was detained, interrogated, and abused at the hands of the communist regime. Part of Chengs job was to gather information about the Hong Kong protestors as a monitoring exercise, but his interrogators demanded to know information about and forced him to confess to fomenting unrest on behalf of the British state, and other accusations, according to Cheng in an interview he gave the BBC.

He was returned to Hong Kong after 15 days and is currently in the UK. Great Britains Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab released a statement of support for Cheng after his release and expressed that Chengs mistreatment by Chinese authorities while in custody amounts to torture. Foreign Secretary Raab also summoned the Chinese ambassador to express [his] outrage at the brutal and disgraceful treatment of Simon at the hands of Chinese authorities.

So what exactly moved Cheng to tears in Shen Yun?

Its impressive to me. Im very grateful [of] Chinese culture, traditional culture and thats actually my first time to see that classic[al] Chinese dance, Cheng said. Young professional actors  I can see the energy and they feel very energetic. What I heard from the audiencethat they liked the way of the dance and they liked the dress, its really floating, he added, referring to Shen Yuns colorful, flowing costumes that many say stay in their minds long after the performance.

Cheng referenced a dance that made use of water sleeves, long flowing sleeves the dancers toss and catch with precision as if manipulating water. He saw in the movements something culturally Chinese, and said it made him remember as well the protests in Hong Kong, and felt it was in the spirit.

Not in China

Shen Yuns mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture and share it with the world. Because of this, its performers cannot set foot in China due to the regimes decades-long campaign to eradicate traditional culture, which is seen as a threat to the Chinese Communism Partys [CCP] legitimacy.

I heard it never ever get a chance to perform in mainland China. That is so unfortunate, Cheng said, referring to the classical Chinese dance company itself. That would be a loss of the Chinese heritage to most of the Chinese people. But what I saw is that I can see the Chinese authoritys persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and some people they just believe in their own faith. So Im quite sad and I would say that [Shen Yun] is not only a showcase of the Chinese culture but also a warning alarm to the world that Chinese [CCP] thought is now persecuting, even rooting [out] the Chinese traditional culture. Thats the way that we think that is a soft way to let foreigners know the facts happening in China.

Falun Gong is an ancient form of self-cultivation that follows truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance and includes meditative exercises. Shen Yun artists themselves follow in the global tradition of pursuing artistic breakthroughs by refining their inner characters, and they say their practice of Falun Gong allows them to follow such a path. In addition, the practice has been at the center of the persecution in China since the 1990s.

Communist Regime Persecution

Cheng elaborated on what moved him most about Shen Yuns depictions of Falun Gong practitioners and their peaceful resistance of the brutality against them.

Thats the power of the show, Cheng said about Shen Yuns ability to express a message through art. Meanwhile, he added, the torture these people of faith have experienced mirrors his own experience with the Chinese communist regime.

I feel that echoed with the whole shows and I even feel emotional and even want to cry when I see that theyve been beaten and even organ harvesting, Cheng said.

Forced organ harvesting is the gruesome crime of removing vital organs from detainees without their consent, usually as a final form of torture and execution by Chinese communist authorities. Since 2006, volumes of evidence have been amassed that confirms Falun Gong practitioners are among the most targeted groups subjected to organ harvesting. Others include Uyghurs, an ethnic minority from western China, and Christians. But Shen Yun depicts stories of Falun Gong practitioners and their real-life actions to resist the violence and spread the facts about whats happening to them.

So that is quite sad for me and hopefully that is a very good way to show that emotions to the foreigners who sense that feeling, that feeling of fear, that feeling of suppression that is actually happening in China. So I think that is a very good starting point  to let them feel that sense of fear, what kind of persecution happening in China, what their feeling, if they have been beaten or something, so that is still very important, Cheng said.

Reconnecting With Chinese Culture

Cheng gleaned any new insights into his culture of origin thanks to Shen Yun.

Because this is the first time I ever see the most classic Chinese dance, and in between scenes I can see lots of Chinese classic legends and the history in the show. So I think that is a perfect match within the performance, he said.

Lastly, Cheng commented on the beauty in Shen Yun and the way that the artists achieved the feelings that they evoked. He described what the energy of the show is like.

I would say that its something like lots of flowers  I watched the water sleeve[s]the women that show very like beauty, what we can feel in the Chinese literature. So thats a performance in a very classic way, I would say, and thats a very good way to show that really traditional Chinese culture to the foreign eyes. And I think that is very good to observe, thats kind of Chinese history and culture which we cant see in mainland China.

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.
Coronavirus, which has already infected hundreds of people and reportedly killed 18 people, still does not yet constitute a global emergency, the World Health Organisation reportedly said on January 24. While speaking to an international media outlet, WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the organisation is still not declaring a public health emergency of international concern as it is an emergency in China, but it has not yet become a global health emergency.

After a two-day emergency meeting in Geneva, the WHO has further urged China to keep its lockdown of approximately 20 million people 'short'. Ghebreyesus, while speaking to international media reporters, further stressed that the decision by WHO should not be taken as a sign that the organisation does not think the situation is serious and added that there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission outside China. He also hailed China for taking immediate measures that it believed were appropriate to contain the spread of coronavirus in Wuhan and other cities.

READ: 'Coronavirus Could Be Linked To Fruit Bats': Scientists As Bat Soup Videos Emerge Online

The new respiratory virus has claimed several lives since emerging from a seafood and animal market in Wuhan. It has also infected hundreds of other people nationwide and has been reportedly detected as far away as the United States of America. In an earlier reported, the WHO had confirmed that the SARS-like virus could be passed between people and the Chinese officials further warned that the virus could mutate and spread further.

The recent outbreak has further also caused a halt to many flights causing a great loss to the airline companies. It is expected to soon take a toll on the financial resource of the airline's companies. According to international media reports, another Chinese city, Huanggang which is a prefecture-level city in easternmost Hubei Province and neighbour of Wuhan will also follow the lead to suspending public transport in an out of the city due to the outbreak.

READ: Snakes Believed To Be The Origin Of Wuhan Coronavirus Outbreak

Snakes believed to be the origin

It is now also believed that the virus originated from Chinese Krait and the Chinese cobra. The scientists reportedly said that that the original source of the deadly infectious respiratory illness is a snake, more specifically, the Taiwanese Krait or the Chinese Kriat which is a highly venomous species of elapid snake found in much of central and southern China and Southeast Asia. According to international media reports, the virus has spread to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Tokyo, South Korea, Beijing, Shanghai, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Singapore. The mayor of the city of Wuhan has also urged citizens not to travel outside China during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday and the authorities have further issued a travel advisory warning in the backlash of coronavirus.

READ: China: Huanan Seafood Market Believed To Be Linked To SARS-like Virus

READ: Philippines Probing Its First Potential Case Of SARS-like Virus: Report
A ctress Rosie Perez said fellow screen star Annabella Sciorra told her in the mid-1990s that Harvey Weinstein had raped her, the former Hollywood mogul's trial heard.

Taking the stand at Weinstein's trial, Ms Perez said her friend Ms Sciorra had told at some point in 1993, her voice shaking on the phone, that something had happened to her.

She said she told her: I think it was rape.

Ms Perez said she asked if Ms Sciorra knew who had attacked her but the actress would not say at the time.

Actress Rosie Perez arrives for Harvey Weinstein's rape trial on Friday / AP

But months later, on another phone call from London, she named Weinstein, Ms Perez said.

Please go to the police, Ms Perez said she told her friend. She said Ms Sciorra responded: I cant  hed destroy me.

On Thursday, Ms Sciorra told jurors that the then-powerful movie producer pushed his way into her New York apartment, pinned her on a bed and forced himself on her in 1993 or 1994.

She said Ms Perez was one of a few people she told about the encounter. This was before coming forward publicly in 2017.

Harvey Weinstein arrives at New York City Criminal Court for the continuation of this trial / Getty Images

Weinstein denies ever having nonconsensual sex. His lawyers said Ms Perez should not be allowed to testify but Judge James Burke decided to allow it.

Defence lawyer Damon Cheronis pressed Ms Perez on why she did not go to police, or to Ms Sciorras home, when the actress first told her about the alleged assault.

Annabella Sciorra starred in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and Romeo is Bleeding / AP

Because I was being respectful, Ms Perez said.

Weinstein, the studio boss whose downfall energised the #MeToo movement, is charged with forcibly performing oral sex on a production assistant in his apartment in 2006 and raping an aspiring actress in a New York hotel room in 2013.

Ms Sciorra is among four additional accusers who are expected to testify against him and the 67-year-old producer of such Oscar-winning movies as Chicago and The Kings Speech could get life in prison if convicted.

Harvey Weinstein's alleged sexual misconduct helped spark the #MeToo movement / Getty Images

Ms Sciorra, 59, is best known for her work on The Sopranos.

Ms Perez, 55, was in 1989s Do The Right Thing and 1993s Fearless, which brought her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

Weinsteins lawyers seized on Ms Sciorras actions after the alleged assault. They asked such questions as why Ms Sciorra made the 1997 Weinstein-produced film Cop Land if he had raped her a few years earlier.

The film producer pleaded not-guilty to five counts of rape and sexual assault and faces a possible life sentence / REUTERS

Ms Sciorra said she was not aware of Weinsteins involvement until she had agreed to appear in the film.

The defence has also questioned why Weinsteins accusers stayed in friendly contact for years with a man they say had assaulted them.

Prosecutors sought to give jurors some answers on Friday by calling to the stand a forensic psychiatrist who testified about the same topic at the Pennsylvania trial that led to Bill Cosbys 2018 conviction on charges of sexually assaulting a woman.

Dr Barbara Ziv told Weinsteins jury of seven men and five women that most sex-assault victims continue to have contact with their attackers, who often threaten retaliation if the victims tell anyone what happened.

Victims are hoping that this is just an aberration, she said, and they tell themselves: I can put it in a box and forget about it. I dont want it to get worse. I can handle this physical trauma, but God forbid this ruins the rest of my life.

Victims can end up blaming themselves without knowing that their behaviour is entirely expected, said Ms Ziv, who has described herself as an expert on sexual assault victim behaviour who has evaluated more than 1,000 such people.
WASHINGTON - House Democrats wrapped up three days of scathing arguments against President Donald Trump on Friday, warning at his Senate impeachment trial that Trump will cheat in the November election if he is not removed from office and that no Americans - including senators themselves - were safe from his abuses.

Trump "has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law," Rep. Adam B. Schiff, D-Calif., said in an impassioned closing argument. "That has been proved."

Schiff, whose speeches have dominated the trial so far, pleaded with senators to look past what he portrayed as partisan politics and to subpoena new witnesses and documents to fully understand Trump's dealings with Ukraine, the heart of the Democrats' impeachment case.

"The American people do not agree on much, but they will not forgive being deprived of the truth, and certainly not because it took a backseat to expediency," Schiff said.

"Is it too much fatigue to call witnesses and have a fair trial? Are the blessings of freedom so meager that we will not endure the fatigue of a real trial with witnesses and documents?" he asked.

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"I implore you, give America a fair trial," he said at the end. "She's worth it."

But Democrats appeared no closer to reaching a deal with Republicans to issue subpoenas next week after the president's lawyers present their defense, starting Saturday.

The third and final day of the prosecution arguments saw fervent appeals to patriotism, dire warnings about national security and grudging praise from even some conservatives about how the seven House managers filled nearly every minute of their allotted 24 hours with a compelling narrative, boosted by scores of video clips, documents and witness testimony - including statements and tweets from Trump himself.

By the time Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. banged the gavel shortly before 9 p.m. EST, some senators appeared drained. Several slumped wearily over their wooden desks or rested their chins on their hands, and others paced the back of the chamber or leaned against the wall. At one point, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., put a foot up on his desk.

"I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted," admitted Schiff, who has spent the most hours at the lectern.

Democrats argued that Trump abused his power last summer by pressing Ukraine's newly elected president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, who is running for president, while he was blocking nearly $400 million in congressionally approved security aid for its war against Russian-backed insurgents.

Schiff portrayed Trump's demand to Ukraine as part of a pattern of soliciting foreign assistance in U.S. elections, which he argued was the exact reason impeachment was added to the Constitution as the remedy for presidential misconduct.

Schiff called up a clip of Trump's call during the 2016 campaign for "Russia, if you're listening," to hack Hillary Clinton's email server - a request that military intelligence officers in Moscow quickly heeded - and another clip of his more recent request for China to investigate Biden as well.

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"Do you think if we do nothing that it's going to stop now? All evidence is to the contrary," Schiff said. "You know it's not going to stop."

In an emotional appeal, Schiff warned that Trump believed only in "Trump first ... not America first" and wouldn't hesitate to call for an investigation of a Republican senator who drew his ire.

"The next time it just may be you," Schiff said. "Do you think for a moment, that if he felt it was in his interest, he wouldn't ask for you to be investigated?"

Schiff also appealed to Republicans' desire to be tough on Moscow, playing a video clip of the late Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who championed Ukraine's uphill fight against Russia before his death in 2018. McCain repeatedly clashed with Trump but is revered by many in the Senate.

Schiff warned that Trump's aggressive efforts to get Ukraine to help him win in November would backfire against U.S. interests and operations around the globe.

"If we're going to condition our support for our allies on their willingness to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into our politics, if we're going to condition the strength of our alliance on whether they'll help us cheat in an election, we're not going to have a single ally left," Schiff said.

Democrats also spent hours Friday arguing that Trump obstructed the House impeachment inquiry by directing administration officials to ignore subpoenas asking for testimony and documents.

"This is very simple," said Rep. Val Demings, R-Fla., another House manager. "The president abused the powers entrusted in him by the American people in a scheme to suppress evidence, escape accountability and orchestrate a massive cover-up, and he did so in plain sight. And his obstruction remains ongoing."

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Trump's legal team and his Republican allies have rejected the Democrats' charge of obstructing Congress, calling it "absurd" and saying the president has well-established authority to keep some material confidential.

Shortly before the trial resumed Friday, potentially damaging new evidence emerged about Trump's decision last year to remove Marie Yovanovitch as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine after the president's emissaries suggested she was blocking his efforts to get the Biden investigation going.

ABC News reported that a tape recording revealed Lev Parnas, a Soviet-born businessman and an associate of Trump's private lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, trying to convince Trump at a private dinner in April 2018 that Yovanovitch wasn't loyal to him.

"Get her out tomorrow. Take her out," Trump can be heard responding.

The president has claimed that he doesn't know Parnas, a Republican donor who was indicted last year on campaign finance charges, although multiple photos show the two posing together. Yovanovitch was recalled from Kyiv in May 2019.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said the recording shows "the kind of despicable conduct that the president engages in."

"A woman who's dedicated her life to this country, and because she's standing for truth and won't let him break the law, he is vicious to her," Schumer said. "No president should be like that."

Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's personal lawyers, dismissed the recording as irrelevant, saying he was "not concerned about that at all."

Sekulow said he and White House counsel Pat Cipollone will outline the president's defense for about three hours on Saturday, but will deliver the bulk of what is expected to be a scorching counteroffensive on Monday and possibly Tuesday.

Despite the Democrats' bruising arguments, Republicans have stood by the president during the trial. For now, the major remaining question in the trial is whether four Republicans will side with the 47 Democrats to call witnesses, such as John Bolton, the former national security adviser, and Mick Mulvaney, Trump's acting chief of staff, to testify about Trump's dealings with Ukraine.

Some Republicans aggressively campaigned Friday against subpoenaing witnesses, saying the president would claim executive privilege, creating a delay.

"This will draw a completely partisan impeachment out for weeks if not months," Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said. "I don't think that's a good thing for the nation. I think we understand the guts of this and the sooner this thing concludes, the better."

Opinion polls show that the majority of voters want the Senate to call witnesses, and Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said Republicans were ensuring the trial was "a whitewash and a sham."

"The president is happy as a clam that he's got all these Republicans in the Senate who aren't doing their jobs, not listening to the evidence, saying they're bored," Hirono said. "Maybe you don't want to hear what somebody's trying to say, because if in their heart of hearts they think it's OK for the president to have abused his power in this way. If any of them think that's OK, my gosh."

Democrats repeatedly pointed to gaps in the narrative where new witnesses or documents could provide answers. For example, after Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Biden in a July 25 phone call, a memo summarizing the conversation was placed in a highly classified computer system to shield it from view.

"Who ordered the cover-up of the call record?" asked Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., one of the House managers. "The American people deserve to know."

Before the trial resumed Friday, Trump addressed the annual anti-abortion March for Life rally on the National Mall, an effort to reinforce his support among evangelicals for his reelection campaign. He is the first president ever to attend the event.

"They are coming after me because I am fighting for you," Trump told the cheering crowd. "And we are fighting for those who have no voice, and we will win because we know how to win."

---

(Times staff writer Noah Bierman contributed to this report.)

---

(c)2020 Los Angeles Times

Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Quek Siu Rui has not taken a holiday in nearly eight years.

Since he co-founded Carousell in 2012, almost all of the 32-year-olds free time has been devoted to thinking about what is next, he said. I have this almost extreme view of the world where [if you do something] you've got to do it well and good. You've got to be laser-focused and almost obsessed about it.

As the face of one of Singapores most prominent start-ups  widely recognised as a pioneer in mobile classifieds  it comes as little surprise that Quek is almost constantly working. On weekends, he often has to remind himself not to send emails to employees, he said, admitting that he has wished the weekend would pass more quickly so his workweek could begin again.

So when asked what he would like to do as part of this interview series, where a Post journalist interacts with tech CEOs over an activity of their choice, Quek opted to go hiking  an activity he used to enjoy but has not had much time to indulge in.

My life has been relatively simple and focused on Carousell, its almost boring, the CEO said with a laugh. I haven't gotten a chance to do as much walking in my life because  Carousell comes first.

On a balmy, humid Saturday morning I met Quek at Bukit Timah Hill, Singapores highest hill at 163 metres tall. The place holds fond memories for Quek from his secondary school days when he used to hike there as part of an outdoor activities club and later on when bonding with colleagues in Carousells early days.

Dressed in a black T-shirt with the Carousell logo emblazoned across the front, exercise shorts and army-issue running shoes, Quek greeted me with his signature toothy grin before announcing that we would be embarking on a moderate trail. I groaned. With my general lack of fitness, I had hoped to take an easier route.

But Quek was rather more philosophical about the challenge: The outdoors really shapes you as a person, its therapeutic and through the challenging highs and lows you really learn perseverance, he said, recounting past climbing trips to Malaysias Mount Kinabalu and Nepals Annapurna circuit.

Story continues

Carousell CEO Quek Siu Rui and Post reporter Zen Soo hiking at Singapore's Bukit Timah Hill. Photo: Jarieul Wong

As I huffed and puffed up the trail, Quek recounted how he was always more interested in learning how businesses operate than in studying, even though he said he did fairly well academically.

As a student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic he embarked on several overseas internships to gain work experience, taking on everything from assembling chairs and making deliveries for a Taiwanese office chair factory to housekeeping duties at an adventure resort in Guilin, China.

And while serving in Singapores national service in his late teens, it was Apple co-founder Steve Jobs famous Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University that Quek printed out and tacked to the side of his army bunk as inspiration.

That same keen interest in business and entrepreneurship stayed with him when, as an undergraduate at the National University of Singapore (NUS), he applied for a year-long internship programme in Silicon Valley where students were sent to start-up hubs to gain working experience while taking entrepreneurship courses at universities such as Stanford.

In our Stanford courses we had the opportunity to listen to Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and Aaron Levie of [cloud storage start-up] Box, and we realised that these guys who started these companies were no different from you and I, said Quek. They were passionate about the problem they were trying to solve, and if they can do it, why cant we?

Inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit he saw in the Valley, Quek spent most of his free time learning how to build apps with his housemate, Lucas Ngoo.

I have this almost extreme view of the world where [if you do something] you've got to do it well and good. You've got to be laser-focused and almost obsessed about it.

Quek Siu Rui

Upon their return to Singapore in 2012, Quek and Ngoo teamed up with Marcus Tan, an old schoolmate of Queks who had participated in the same Silicon Valley programme a few years before, and came up with an idea for a mobile app that would allow users to list second-hand digital devices on a marketplace in 30 seconds, just by snapping a photo and typing a description for the listing on their smartphones.

We had all these gadgets lying around and no easy way to sell them because desktop classifieds sites were a hassle, said Quek, adding that to list on those sites meant that users had to snap photos and then upload the photos to an image hosting site before attaching them to a listing.

The app they had in mind would allow anyone with a smartphone to sell their second-hand products, said Quek, who added that he dreams of a world where buying second-hand on a platform like Carousell will be the first choice for consumers  saving them money, as well as being more environmentally friendly.

They took their idea to a hackathon event, where they built a prototype, pitched their idea, and won. Confident they were onto something, the trio took a leap of faith and decided to work full-time on Carousell in May that year. Quek pulled out of the honours programme at NUS and graduated from business school earlier than planned, while Tan quit his job as a business development consultant at Oracle.

I figured that building my own company would be the best honours year in the school of hard knocks, Quek said.

The Carousell application is displayed on a smartphone in an arranged photograph in Singapore, on Thursday, May 24, 2018. Photo: Bloomberg

Many people around the young entrepreneurs disagreed with their decision, however: They told us big companies already did the same thing and they would crush us, that our company wouldnt survive, he said. But we knew intuitively that the problem wasnt solved, because we werent using the desktop classifieds sites that existed. Everything had moved to mobile, with smartphones, but there wasnt a mobile solution.

The first 1.5 years were tough  the three co-founders did not draw salaries, took the subway to work every day and ate cheap meals, according to Quek. After building the online marketplace, they went to flea markets all around Singapore to convince sellers to sell their items on it.

By Carousells official launch in August, they had convinced some 70 sellers to list at least 10 items each, so early users had items to browse through. The first-ever item sold on the Carousell platform was a Kindle e-reader that transacted for S$75.

Eventually, they found that their app was most popular among female users aged 15 to 24, and decided to focus on building the fashion and lifestyle community to grow users in that demographic.

We learned that lesson quickly within our first six months, that if your target demographic is too broad, in the end youre targeting no one, said Quek. Its better to have 100 people love you, than thousands of people who just kinda like you.

At one point, Quek and his co-founders even wrote their own social media posts to engage users. We were writing Facebook posts, telling people what the top five peplum tops were, the top five little black dresses, he recalled. We knew nothing about [womens fashion] but we asked friends what was cool and then wrote that content because it resonated with our audience.

An employee works on a laptop computer at the Carousell Pte headquarters in Singapore, in May 2018. Photo: Bloomberg

By January 2014, a year and a half into their start-up journey, Carousell had become the No 1 shopping app in Singapore, primarily through word of mouth, and with almost no marketing spend. Even though some similar apps  such as Letgo and Gumtrees mobile app  have since sprung up, Carousell has so far managed to maintain its dominance in Singapore and other Southeast Asian markets like the Philippines, often by snapping up competitors.

Now valued at US$850 million, the company has a presence across eight markets in Asia and makes money by selling advertisements and charging car dealers and property agents a fee to post listings on the platform. Earlier this month, Quek was one of 10 entrepreneurs that were invited to have lunch with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and discuss the challenges of doing business in Singapore.

As we reached the summit of Bukit Timah Hill, beads of perspiration rolling off our foreheads after almost an hour of hiking, Quek drew comparisons between hiking and overcoming the challenges of being an entrepreneur.

Our instructor [in the outdoor activities club] used to say that you dont conquer Mount Kinabalu, you conquer yourself, and Ive always thought that its a great analogy to start-up life, he said. So many things you do are uncomfortable, but you actually end up becoming stronger and becoming a better version of yourself.

As we approached the end of the trail, Quek said he hopes that ultimately, both he and the company will stay humble and true to its mission of empowering sellers.

While the co-founder no longer needs to eat the cheapest meals, or have to scrimp and save to keep Carousell going, he remains thrifty: he lives with his mother in a flat in Singapore, and most of his clothes are from Uniqlo, the Japanese retailer known for its affordable casual wear.

What scares me is feeling settled, he said. Things change so quickly, and the problem we want to solve is so big, that if we ever feel like were already the best in the world ... that would be the start of our decline.

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New Delhi, Jan 25 : Two teams police from Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh have been set up to arrest Sharjeel Imam, one of the organisers of the anti-CAA protest in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, informed sources said.

A source said efforts have been intensified to arrest Imam who made controversial remarks about the northeastern region while delivering a speech.

According to sources, two separate teams have been constituted to trace Imam's location and arrest him.

Imam, who claims to be a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), triggered a row after a video of him giving a call to split the northeast region from India went viral.

In the video, captured at Shaheen Bagh, Sharjeel can be seen calling to split northeast from India to stop the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

"We know how Muslims are being treated in Assam. We have to save people from the NRC. The only way to do it is by cutting northeast from India," Sharjeel is seen saying.
A Roselle man has been indicted on nine counts after authorities say he intentionally set a series of fires in several locations throughout Linden, including a business, vacant home and dumpster.

Marcus D. Wise, 30, is charged with two counts each of second-degree aggravated arson, third-degree arson and fourth-degree criminal mischief. A grand jury also indicted him on second-degree attempted aggravated arson, third-degree attempted burglary and fourth-degree throwing bodily fluids at a law enforcement officer.

Authorities say Wises spree began on July 25. Union County Assistant Prosecutor Melissa Spagnoli, who is representing the state, said the Linden Fire Department responded to the 800 block of North Wood Avenue to a structure fire at a business around 10 p.m.

Firefighters responded to a fire at a vacant home on the 900 block of Seymour Avenue about a half-hour later, Spagnoli said.

Two additional fires were reported shortly after midnight: a brush fire on the 20 block of East Curtis Street and a dumpster fire on the grounds of Soehl Middle School, authorities said.

Wise was arrested after police responded to the 400 block of Roselle Street in Linden around 1 a.m. on a report of a person throwing rocks through a glass door of a building. Police found a lighter, piece of cardboard and a can of WD-40 on Wise, authorities said.

The investigation involved several local and county units, including the Linden Police Department, Union County Fire Investigation Task Force and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Newark Field Division.

He faces at least 10 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charges.

Rebecca Panico may be reached at rpanico@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @BeccaPanico.
President Xi Jinping on Saturday said that China is facing a 'grave situation' but exuded confidence that the country will 'win the battle' against the coronavirus epidemic that has claimed 41 lives and infected nearly 1,300 people so far.

IMAGE: People wear face masks as they arrive at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters

Stepping up all round efforts to contain the fast spreading SARS-like virus, China on Saturday announced that it will build another 1,300-bed makeshift hospital in Wuhan in the next 15 days in addition to the 1,000-bed hospital being built in the city in 10 days to treat more cases of the deadly virus.

The feverish pace at which the hospitals are being built indicate that China apparently is preparing to treat far more patients considering the speed at which the virus is spreading.

The virus has spread to Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Nepal, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and the US as of Thursday. Japan on Friday reported a second confirmed case.

The confirmed cases in China for the first time crossed the 1,000 mark and rose sharply to 1,287 as of Friday with 237 people in critical condition battling for their lives in China, the National Health Commission said on Saturday.

Almost all provinces, including Beijing, are reporting steady rise in the number of cases mostly of people who travelled from Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak.

The pneumonia situation has claimed 41 lives, including 39 in central China's Hubei province and one in north-eastern province Heilongjiang, the health commission said on Saturday.

Additionally, a total of 1,965 suspected cases have also been reported, it said.

China's Communist Party has set up a leading group to manage the coronavirus epidemic, state media reported on Saturday.

The decision was made at a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee -- the party's top leadership tier -- chaired by President Xi.

In the meeting, Xi said that people from different ethnic groups and sectors should work together to support efforts to contain the spread of the deadly virus.

The country is facing a 'grave situation', he was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post.

'As long as the nation has strong confidence and makes joint efforts with scientific and targeted measures, the battle of the prevention and control of the contagion will be won,' Xi said, chairing meeting on the day of the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year.

Xi called for all-out efforts to prevent and control the coronavirus-related pneumonia and extended his heartfelt gratitude to the medical staff on the frontline.

He also called for strengthening the protection of medical staff, ensuring the market supply of materials in need, intensifying disclosure of related information to guide the public opinion as well as the mobilisation of social forces to uphold the overall stability of society.

The Communist Party of China meeting urged concrete efforts to ensure access to adequate supplies of materials to Wuhan.

The participants of the meeting also urged all-out efforts to treat infectious patients, and disclose disease-related information in an accurate, open and transparent manner to address concerns from both at home and abroad, it said.

While underscoring the need to strengthen people's awareness in disease prevention and boost the confidence of the public, they also called for timely communication with the World Health Organisation (WHO), organisations of relevant countries and regions, as well as Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan province, and stepping up cooperation to jointly uphold regional and global health security, the statement said.

A Chinese doctor reportedly died of the coronavirus on Saturday morning, the first fatality among health workers since the pneumonia-like illness first surfaced in late December, state-run China Daily quoted online news website Paper.cn as saying.

Wuhan, the city of 11 million people, is where the virus is believed to have first emerged.

The victims' average age is 73, with 89 being the oldest and 48 youngest.

Also China's National Health Commission has dispatched 1,230 medical staff to Wuhan to combat the coronavirus outbreak in the region.

Local media earlier reported that 450 military medical personnel have also landed in the city to offer support.

Also, the local government in Wuhan on Saturday has banned all vehicles, including private vehicles in downtown Wuhan to curb virus, a report by the Daily said.

The city along with 12 cities in Hubei province have already banned all public transport to prevent the virus from spreading.

The virus epidemic has triggered a cause of concern for India too as many of the around 700 Indian students studying in universities of Wuhan and Hubei provinces are still stuck up there.

The Indian Embassy has established hotlines to keep close contact with them.

According to sources in Beijing, India is understood to have requested China to permit over 250 Indian students stuck in Wuhan, the epicentre of the new SARS-like virus, to leave the city.

Authorities have prevented anyone from leaving Wuhan, the city of 11 million people at the heart of the viral outbreak.

While majority of the Indian students left for home on Chinese New Year holidays, over 250 to 300 students are said to be still in the city and its surrounding areas.

Besides the students, the fast spreading virus has become a major worry for their parents back home.
BAGHDAD - Iraq cracked down on anti-government protesters who have been occupying key public squares for months, leaving four demonstrators dead Saturday in a country reeling from political turmoil and violence.

Security forces set fire to protesters tents in southern Iraq and reopened public areas in Baghdad just hours after a powerful Shiite cleric dealt a major blow to the movement by withdrawing his support, prompting his followers to leave the encampments.

Security forces fired tear gas and live rounds to disperse protesters in an operation to clear two squares in Baghdad, killing one and wounding 44, medical and security officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with regulations.

In response, protesters called for more people to take to the streets.

Three protesters were shot dead in the southern city of Nasiriyah after a day of altercations between protesters and security forces on a highway connecting the province to oil-rich Basra in the south.

Activists said the presence of cleric Muqtada al-Sadrs followers and his militia group had shielded the protesters. With that cover gone, many in the 4-month-old movement feared the worst.

Al-Sadr withdrew support after tens of thousands of his followers staged a separate anti-U.S. rally Friday in a nearby Baghdad neighbourhood, which most anti-government demonstrators didnt attend. A spokesperson for the cleric said the protesters insulted those participating in the anti-U.S. rally and even obstructed access to the one in southern Iraq.

The succession of events come during a political clash over naming the next prime minister, and they sent a clear message to elites: Iraqs streets were al-Sadrs domain.

He is reclaiming the mantle of populist leader with a popular base able to mobilize large crowds, said Fanar Haddad, senior research fellow at the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore.

In Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the anti-government protest movement in Baghdad, protesters said they were fearful of what would come next.

We are all alone now, said Mustafa, 24, who asked that his full name not be used because he feared reprisals.

The demonstrations have been critical of government corruption, high unemployment and Iranian influence in Iraqi politics. Crackdowns by security forces have killed at least 500 protesters since Oct. 1.

Iraq also has been roiled by U.S.-Iran tensions that reached fever pitch when an American drone strike this month killed top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani outside Baghdads airport.

Al-Sadr said he thought the protesters he broke with were supporters of me and of Iraq.

I am expressing my disappointment and my regret toward all those who doubted me among the Tahrir Square protesters, he said in a tweet Friday evening. He also accused them of being foreign paid tools.

But spokesperson Sheikh Salah al-Obaidi said al-Sadrs followers will be neutral, not with them or against them.

The unrest after al-Sadrs followers packed up their tents and the calm of his anti-U.S. rally underscored the clerics ability to manipulate the street during a critical time in Iraqi politics, analysts said.

Political blocs have yet to agree on a consensus candidate to replace outgoing Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, who resigned in December amid pressure from protests.

For him, its about political capital and relevance, said Sajad Jiyad, managing director of the Bayan Center, a Baghdad-based think-tank .

Al-Sadr, whos Sairoon party won the largest number of seats in the May 2018 federal election, has rejected every proposed candidate put forward by rival bloc Fatah. His show of force on the street is one way to ensure the next premier brings a pro-Sadrist agenda to government, analysts said.

Al-Sadr has shown that he can bring large numbers to the street  by asking his supporters to withdraw yesterday night is showing that he is the force behind the protests and can put an end to them if necessary, Jiyad said.

Following al-Sadrs decision Friday, riot police set fire to a protest camp early Saturday in a central square in the southern city of Basra, two activists said.

The protest square is now controlled (by the security forces), after they used force, activist Nakeeb Lueibi said. This is considered a betrayal by the al-Sadr bloc. ... There will be no peace after what has happened in Basra last night.

In Baghdad, key squares and roads that had been a focal point of protest violence reopened for vehicle access, according to a statement from the Baghdad Operations Command. That included the vital Mohammed al-Qasim highway, Tayaran Square and al-Nidhal Street.

Ahrar Bridge, which had been partly occupied by protesters, also reopened, and concrete blocs were removed in al-Khilani Square.

Protesters feared security forces would enter Tahrir Square.

(Al-Sadrs statement) gave the green light for the government to suppress the demonstrations, said Husanien Ali, a 35-year-old protester.

Others said they would remain resilient.

We called for more people to join us in Tahrir, said Noor, a protester who only gave her last name because she feared reprisal. We are rebuilding the tents.

Protesters continued to occupy bridges leading to the heavily fortified Green Zone.

___

Associated Press writer Murtada Faraj contributed from Baghdad.
Looking back at rare sports moments in the first part of 2021
A Wexford man applied today for the Criminal Assets Bureau to be directed to return to him a Toyota Landcruiser that was seized from a property in Cork in April last year as part of a money-laundering investigation.

Judge Olann Kelleher said that it fairness to the applicant, Christopher Moorehouse, a painter decorator from Esmonde Road, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, he had no criminal convictions of any kind.

However, the judge refused his application to have the Landcruiser returned to him on the basis that it was part of an ongoing Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) investigation into other parties who were subject to the seizure of expensive cars and other property.

Judge Kelleher said of the applicant, Christopher Moorehouse, He has no previous convictions  I say that in fairness to him I am not satisfied he has proved the car belongs to him. I refuse the application.

Mr Moorehouse told his counsel, David Fleming, instructed by Donal Daly, solicitor, that he had evidence of buying the Landcruiser for 34,750 and a trade-in and that his name and a Dublin address appeared on the logbook.

He said that he met a man at a wedding in April 2019 whom he knew from horse fairs over the years and they agreed to swap vehicles  the Landcruiser for an Audi Q7  for a week to see if they would be happy to trade. Mr Moorehouse said the Landcruiser, which he said he still owned, was seized from the other mans yard. And he said this other party also arranged to have the Audi Q7 picked up from his yard in Wexford.

Cross-examining them applicant, state solicitor Frank Nyhan, said the address that was under Christopher Mooreparks name on the logbook  5 Burton Park  does not exist.

Mr Nyhan said that during the time when the applicant had the Audi he was trying to sell it to a garage  You are trying to sell a car (the Audi) you dont own.

Mr Nyhan added, This application is a complete sham, you dont own that Landcruiser.

Mr Moorehouse said he was just talking to the garage about the Audi but he did own the Landcruiser.

Detective Garda Sandra Cullen of Cab said the Cork family and extended family that were still under investigation were using high-value goods to launder money from criminal activities.

I dont believe he (Christopher Moorehouse) owns the Landcruiser. It may be registered in his name. Vehicles are registered in different names in false addresses to launder the proceeds of criminal activities of (the Cork-based gang).

Mr Fleming said it was the applicants work vehicle and he had been left without it since last April.
Here are todays top news, analysis and opinion at 1PM. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times.

Delhi Metro services on Republic Day: Early trains, closed stations and more

Services of Delhi Metro will be restricted partially on Sunday under the instructions of the city police as part of the security arrangements for the Republic Day celebrations.

Read More

US urges India to release Kashmiri leaders detained without charge

The United States has urged India to permit regular access by our diplomats, and to move swiftly to release those political leaders detained without charge. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice Wells told reporters at a news conference in Washington after her return from a trip to the region.

Read More

Tihar gave all papers: Delhi court rejects plea of December 16 gang rape convicts lawyer

A Delhi court on Saturday disposed off a plea by the lawyer of the death row convicts in the 2012 gang rape and murder case seeking additional documents after the court noted that no documents are pending and all the documents have been supplied.

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Indians can no longer talk to each other in the age of the mob | Opinion

If a country loses the art of having a conversation with itself, that only strengthens majoritarianism. Rightwing trolls have certainly been the key offenders in organised trolling, vilification campaigns, slander and even sexual violence. But if the progressive response is to counter it, albeit in a less abusive idiom, with the same sort of thought control, it is entirely self-defeating, writes journalist Barkha Dutt

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Aussies & ball-tampering: Federers opponent accused of altering ball condition

Roger Federer survived a thrilling five-set encounter against Australias John Millman in round 3 of Australian Open on Friday. The 20-time Grand Slam Champion eventually came out the winner after a tie-breaker in the final set, and advanced to the fourth round win. But despite the strong fight, his Australian opponent John Millman was accused of ball tampering during the clash.

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Amitabh Bachchan poses with ladies at work Katrina Kaif, Jaya Bachchan and others

After treating fans with pictures of himself posing with Katrina Kaif, wife Jaya Bachchan and south stars Nagarjuna, Shivraj Kumar and Prabhu, Amitabh Bachchan has shared a fresh picture from the sets of the ad where he is posing with the ladies at work. Reportedly shooting for a jewelry brand ad, he also announced that the shooting came to end.



Read More

The many colours of Mandawa, a Sekhawati heritage

Just 170 km from Jaipur and about 260 km from Delhi lies an erstwhile little town full of colours and devoid of noise. Mandawa, a village in the Sekhawati region of Rajasthan, is bordered by the Aravalis in the east and the desert sands in the west.

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The Southington Police Department arrested a Connecticut State Police sergeant Friday.

It was the troopers second arrest in just over six months.

Gregory Smith, who is in his forties, has been placed on a leave of absence as a result of the arrest and the seriousness of the employees alleged conduct, Connecticut State Police announced in a release Saturday.

The reason for Smiths latest arrest was unclear. A Southington police sergeant said Saturday that information would not be available until Monday, when the media relations officer returned.

Gregory Smith, was previously arrested in July, when he was 42, on charges of assault, threatening and reckless endangerment, according to the states online court database search, which indicates the case is still pending.

The charges resulted from his wifes allegation that he had continuously physically assaulted her after they were married last January.

Smiths wife alleged that he pointed a gun at her in two separate incidents.

State police made the arrest in the first case.

They then put Smith on administrative leave, according to Saturdays release, which says that an internal investigation is ongoing.

meghan.friedmann@hearstmediact.com
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.Two women were killed and a 2-year-old boy was injured in a shooting at their Little Rock home early Saturday morning, police said.

Officer Eric Barnes said officers arriving at the home found the two women dead. Police say theyve identified a person of interest, but that person is not in custody.

Police said the boy was shot in the upper body and was hospitalized in serious but stable condition. Police said a teen who was inside the home was a witness and was not injured.

Barnes said investigators believe the shooting was the result of a domestic disturbance.
The death toll of the rapidly spreading novel Coronavirus jumped to 41 in China and the number of confirmed cases topped 1,200, as millions in the central Chinese province of Hubei continued to be under a government-imposed lockdown to contain the outbreak.

At least 237 people out of the infected are critical, Chinese health officials said Saturday.

More than a dozen cities have had restrictions imposed on public transportations; the exit and entry of residents in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei and a city of 11 million people, are being strictly monitored and regulated.

The first cases of the previously unknown virus were reported from Europe early on Saturday. France also confirmed reports of three people being diagnosed with the infection.

New cases have been reported from Nepal and the US in addition to the earlier ones from Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam.

In India, none of the thousands who have arrived from Chinese cities in the last fortnight have so far been tested positive for the infection, but at least 11 were believed to have been quarantined till Friday with flu-like symptoms. Four of them were declared uninfected late on Friday.

Flu-like symptoms are common in the nCoV infection, which poses a high risk to people who are vulnerable due to their age or other underlying health conditions.

Indian officials are monitoring dozens of people, including students who were in Wuhan when the outbreak began. In addition to the four who were declared uninfected, seven are under isolated observation in Kerala, news agency PTI reported. Of these, two were in state capital Thiruvananthapuram and one each in Thrissur, Kochi, Kozhikode and Pathanamthitta.

Authorities in India are worried about the large number of Indian students who have travelled back home or to other nations ahead of the Lunar New Year (LNY) holidays that have begun in China. There are around 600-700 Indians studying in Wuhan.

The Nepalese citizen, whose infection was confirmed on Friday, was also a student in Wuhan.

Across China, large-scale activities for the Lunar New Year celebrations, including temple fairs, winter sports, and exhibitions have been canceled in efforts to minimise large gatherings of people in the novel coronavirus-related pneumonia prevention and control.

The Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, falls on Saturday this year. Festival events and activities are usually held during the week-long national holiday. Beijings landmark Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, will stop admitting visitors from January. 25. The museum said in a statement that it will notify the public of its resumption date, official news agency Xinhua reported.

Meanwhile, health authorities are rushing to construct a new hospital in only 10 days to treat the rising number of patients infected with the virus. The new Wuhan city hospital is expected to be in use by February 3 and will have a capacity of 1,000 beds.

Construction began after reports claimed a shortage of hospital beds as the virus spread.

To address the insufficiency of existing medical resources, Wuhan authorities said in a Friday notice, the city is building a new facility modeled after the Xiaotangshan Sars hospital in Beijing.
A 15-year-old girl was allegedly gang raped in a moving car in Haryana's Panipat town by two youths, one of them being an acquaintance, said police on Saturday.

The Class 11 student was found unconscious near a park and later admitted to a private hospital here on Friday night.

Superintendent of Police Sumit Kumar told the media that both the accused were arrested and the car used in the crime was confiscated.

A case was registered on the statement of the victim against them under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The victim did not return after attending a tuition class on Friday. Late in the evening, the family came to know that she was lying unconscious in Model Town area.

The police said one of the accused knew her and called her near the crime scene to celebrate a birthday. Four youths, who were having liquor in a car, forced her to take liquor and she fainted.
Four officials of the Noida Fire Service, who had safely evacuated six people from an apartment engulfed in fire in 2018, have been decorated with the Fire Service Medal for Gallantry award on the eve of the 71st Republic Day, an official statement said on Saturday.

The awardees are Noida fire service chief Arun Kumar Singh, fire officer Maamchand Badgujar, currently posted in Ghaziabad, leading fireman Rameshwar and driver Satyendra Kumar Bhati, the statement said.

They had safely evacuated six people from a flat on the sixth floor of Parsavanath Apartments in Sector 93A of Noida on May 1, 2018, it said.

"They have been chosen for the 'Fire Service Medal for Gallantry' for their brave and courageous efforts during service and will be honoured by the President on Republic Day," it stated.

Overall, 25 Fire Service officials from Uttar Pradesh have been chosen for the Republic Day honour by the President.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday urged people, particularly the youth, to remain non-violent when fighting for a cause and stressed on the need to "hold fast to constitutional methods" of achieving social and economic objectives.

His remarks come in the backdrop of protests against the new citizenship law although he made no reference to them.

In his customary address to the nation on the eve of 71st Republic Day, Kovind cited Mahatma Gandhi's gift of 'Ahimsa' (non-violence) to the humanity and said that his talisman for deciding whether an act is right or wrong "applies to the functioning of our democracy".

He said modern India comprises three organs - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary - which are necessarily interlinked and interdependent.

"Yet, on ground, the people comprise the State. 'We the People' are the prime movers of the Republic. With us, the people of India rests the real power to decide our collective future," he said.

Stressing that both the government and the opposition have "important roles to play", the president said "while giving expression to their political ideas both must move forward in tandem to ensure that development of the country and welfare of its people are promoted consistently".

In his televised address, Kovind said Gandhi's ideals remain relevant in the nation-building efforts.

"It should be part of our daily routine to introspect on Gandhiji's message of truth and non-violence, which has become all the more necessary in our times," he said in his speech.

Recalling the importance of January 26, he said that even before 1947, this day was celebrated 'Purna Swaraj Day' (complete independence day) from 1930 to 1947.

Kovind said though the Constitution gave rights to all the citizens of a free democratic nation, but also placed on responsibility to always adhere to the central tenets of the democracy - justice, liberty, equality and fraternity.

"It becomes easier for us to follow these constitutional ideals, if we keep in mind the life and values of the Father of our Nation. By doing so, we will be adding a meaningful dimension to our celebrations of 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji," he added.

The president said the present third decade of the 21st century will be "the decade of the rise of New India and a new generation of Indians.

"More and more of those born in this century are participating in the national discourse. With the passage of time, we are gradually losing living links with our great freedom struggle, but there is no reason to worry about the continuity of the beliefs that guided it," he said.

Kovind said with advances in technology, the young minds of today are better informed and more confident. "The next generation remains strongly committed to the core values of our nation. For our youth, the nation always comes first. With them, we are witnessing the emergence of a New India," he said.

Concluding his speech by quoting Babasaheb Ambedkar "If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form, but also in fact, what must we do? The first thing in my judgment we must do is to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives", the president said "these words have always lighted our path. These words will continue to show us the way ahead to new glories".

Speaking about security, he said strong internal security is essential for the development of the country and therefore, the government has taken several concrete steps to strengthen the internal security system.

"I have nothing but unreserved praise for our armed forces, paramilitary and internal security forces. Their sacrifices to preserve the integrity and unity of our country present a saga of unparalleled courage and discipline," he said.

Kovind said as India and Indians march forward, "we remain committed to engaging the global community to build a secure and prosperous future for ourselves and for the entire humanity."



He made a mention about the achievement of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and said they were making further progress in Mission Gaganyaan. "... The nation excitedly looks forward to the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme gaining further momentum this year."



Speaking about number of welfare scheme launched by the government, Kovind highlighted the Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan' which has achieved astounding success in such a short time.

He said the same spirit could be seen in other endeavours and added "be it giving up cooking fuel subsidy or pushing digital payments, the common man has made the government programmes his own, making them truly effective."



He said the 'Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana' is a matter of pride, as the target of 8 crore beneficiaries has been achieved. "With this, those in need have access to clean fuel."



About the farmers, he said under 'Pradhanmantri Kisan Samman Nidhi', more than 14 crore farmer families have become entitled to receive minimum annual income of Rupees six thousand which has enabled the farmers, who feed the nation, to live a life of dignity.

He expressed hope that schemes like 'Jal Jeevan Mission', aimed at water conservation, will soon take form of a popular movement.

He said along with the welfare of needy, every policy initiative of the government is guided by the 'nation-first' principle and there is a consistent effort by the government to ensure overall development of each and every part of the country be it Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh, the states in the North-East or our Islands in the Indian Ocean.

The president also spoke about sound education system built in ancient times, with the setting up of great universities like Nalanda and Takshashila. "In India, knowledge has always been considered more valuable than power, fame or riches. In our tradition, educational institutions are respected as temples of learning."



He said the educational system mereged as path of empowerment after a long colonial rule.

"Even though the development of our educational institutions commenced soon after Independence, in an environment of scarcity of resources, our achievements in the field of education have followed a remarkable trajectory," he said, adding "our endeavour is to ensure that no child or youth is denied education. At the same time, we need to strive to reach global education standards by continuous reform of our educational systems.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A North Adams man has been indicted on a charges he shot and killed a Becket woman on a Pittsfield street August 25, 2019.

The Berkshire District Attorneys Office announced Friday that a Berkshire County grand jury handed up indictments charging Tyler Sumner, 25, of North Adams with murder, armed assault with the intent to murder and several firearms charges.

Police reports indicated Stephanie Olivieri, 32, was wounded at 3:22 a.m. the morning as she sat in a car near the intersection of Columbus Avenue and South John Street. The victim was transported to the Berkshire Medical Center where she was later pronounced dead.

Olivieri was living in Yonkers in New York City at the time of the shooting but had previously lived in Becket. Investigators believe she was an innocent bystander and not the intended target of the shooting.

Sumner was taken into custody by Pittsfield police Saturday, September 28. He is being held without the right to bail pending a January 29 arraignment in Berkshire Superior Court.
It is the hard-to-break habit that many of us turn to without realising.

And now a woman has issued a warning to all nail biters after her friend was rushed to hospital when he contracted an infection from the dirty habit.

Scotland woman Karen Peat shared confronting images of her friend's infected fingers after he was forced to undergo surgery.

A UK woman has issued a warning to others after her friend contracted a horrific nail infection

WHY DO WE BITE OUR NAILS? One psychologist claims it could be a distraction from negative feelings - and managing stress and anxiety could help kick the habit. Nail biting, like many habits, comes from a deep need to manage feelings of distress. It can develop as a response to triggers in the environment, initially as a way of regulating emotions,' says Professor Karen Pine, of the School of Psychology at the University of Herfordshire. 'These then persist because the brain has learned to associate that response to triggers, and generalises it more widely until it becomes unconscious and difficult to get control over. Accompanied with behaviours such as hair pulling or skin picking, it could signal the person is extremely anxious, he added. Advertisement

'Someone I know who prefers to remain nameless who bites their nails ended up having to get rushed to Glasgow Royal Infirmary today for emergency surgery because they had bitten their nails down too far and had got an infection in the finger,' Peat wrote on January 7.

'This person had been to two chemists and spoken to two separate pharmacists over the past few days who had advised to use magnesium sulphate and keep it covered it still got worse.'

Peat said that her friend was rushed to the emergency department, where he was told if the infection was left for much longer, it could have been fatal and spread to his arm.

'So please please stop biting your nails!,' she wrote.

Following the surgery, he was put on an antibiotic drip for a few days and lost the nail in his finger, which may never grow back.

'Didnt bite my nails for years. Started stress biting recently but these pics will stop me now,' one person wrote.

According to Harvard Health, Paronychia  an infection of the skin around the nails  can be caused by biting your nails or picking the skin around them.

The infection usually only lasts about 5-10 days and heals with proper treatment.

She has warned nail biters to stop and shared graphic photos to Facebook
46,000 gallons of a 97,000-gallon winery tank spilled into Northern California's Russian River roughly 65 miles north of San Francisco this week, the Washington Post reports.

Catch up quick: The wine spill, which was 20% contained on Wednesday, might be the largest in the history of Healdsburg, located in California's Wine Country. Two vacuum trucks were enlisted to help clean up the wine  which was reportedly cabernet sauvignon from Rodney Strong Vineyards.

Were lucky in that its winter, the river is high, theres a fair amount of dilution, Don McEnhill, executive director of Russian Riverkeeper, told KABC-TV. We havent had any reports of fish kills, certainly the biochemical oxygen demand and the acidity of the wine is going to kill some smaller insect type things that are fish food.

The bottom line: The vineyard, which is participating in the cleanup, could face misdemeanor charges or penalties, Californias Department of Fish and Wildlife told KABC-TV.

Go deeper: Wine industry begs Trump administration to forgo huge trade war tariffs
Winter-lovers have been waiting for a spell of real winter weather. Winter-dreaders have been looking around the corner to see if Old Man Winter is going to show up. Here are a few thoughts about February from long-range forecasters, and me.

In the past decade weve occasionally had an upper-air flow condition youve all come to know - the Polar Vortex. The Polar Vortex is a circulating storm system that usually hovers around the polar region. Occasionally the Polar Vortex shifts off the polar region. When the vortex shifts, it can move toward southeast Canada, Siberia, Europe or even break up into several pieces.

For Michigan, the Great Lakes and the eastern U.S. to get an extended period of cold yet this winter, the Polar Vortex is probably going to have to move off the polar region, and toward southeast Canada.

We dont see that Polar Vortex move in the next two weeks. Data is kind of hinting at some upper-air change three to four weeks from now, but not with much consistency and confidence.

Heres a look at one weather model called the GFS. It comes from the U.S. National Weather Service.

Upper-air forecast over the next 16 days, through February 10, 2020

Our upper-air flow may slowly go to a more northwesterly flow, but not until near the end of this model run. The last part of this animation is February 10. Most other data shows this mid-February cool-down. But there are no signs so far of a full blown Polar Vortex visit to near the Great Lakes.

Judah Cohen, Ph.D. ,Director of Seasonal Forecasting, Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER), a Verisk Business, studies the Polar Vortex. Cohen says a shift of the Polar Vortex off the North Pole and toward the eastern U.S. is still possible, but time is running out. Cohen thinks if we do get a Polar Vortex disruption in the second half of February it would be too late for a long stretch of extreme cold.

The experts at NOAA are starting to waiver a bit on a cold February. Look at how their three to four week forecast has changed from last week to this week. They issue the three to four week forecast every Friday. Here is their latest three to four week temperature forecast.

Three to four week temperature forecast for February 8 to February 21, 2020. (Issued by NOAA)

NOAA still feels it will cool down in the second half of February. But look at how much their forecast has changed in just one week. Next is the forecast from last week.

Three to four week forecast issued last Friday, January 17, 2020 (NOAA)

The latest discussion by NOAA says they are losing confidence in any real long lasting, significant cold snap.

My thoughts- Every time the upper-air flow seems to want to change this winter, it doesnt. I think whatever is causing the warm flow is a dominant feature right now. Can that change? Yes it can, but shows no signs of it. I definitely think we will have several normal cold days in February, maybe even lasting a week or two. I dont think we will get an extended severe cold snap.

Two more thoughts. Just because we may not get into a long cold snap doesnt rule out a big snowstorm. We are in a pattern where each storm can have a lot of moisture, which could be a lot of snow.

Also, it unfortunately doesnt mean we wont get a colder than normal period in March or April. Of course at that time the temperatures cant get bitterly cold, but could make an unpleasant spring. But again, if abnormal cold is having a hard time coming in February, it should have a hard time getting here in March or April.

Right now everything is indicated the Polar Vortex may not make an appearance in Michigan this winter.
VICTORIAIndigenous youth who rallied at the British Columbia legislature say their arrests earlier this week are minor when compared to the sacrifices of hereditary Wetsuweten chiefs who oppose a liquefied natural gas pipeline running through their traditional territories.

About 100 people attended a protest Friday at the B.C. legislature to urge Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and B.C. Premier John Horgan to respect Wetsuweten laws.

The protest comes two days after Indigenous youth occupied a B.C. government Energy and Mines Ministry office that ended when Victoria police arrested 13 people. Four of those arrested spoke during the protest on Friday.

TaKaiya Blaney, 18, said she was arrested by police at the ministry protest but has yet to be charged. She said Indigenous youth back the hereditary chiefs who are protecting lands that will ensure the survival of their people.

When you attack one, you attack us all, she told the crowd. We, as Indigenous youth, know that what Canada is willing to do to Wetsuweten people is a demonstration of the measures they are willing to go to bulldoze and destroy Indigenous lands in the name of profit and industry.

RCMP arrested 14 people at a Wetsuweten protest camp in northwest B.C. last January and police are now back patrolling the same area.

The youth protesters at the legislature chanted stand up, fight back.

Sii-am Hamilton, 25, said she was also arrested at the ministry office.

What we are doing right now is we are standing in solidarity with our relatives because we know what they have created at that camp is setting precedence for the rest of the world, she said. They are defending the land.

The hereditary chiefs from the Wetsuweten Nation near Smithers say the 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline project does not have their consent. Supporters of the chiefs felled trees along a road to a Coastal GasLink work site and are building a new support camp.

A B.C. Supreme Court judge extended an injunction against Wetsuweten members and anti-pipeline supporters on Dec. 31. It authorizes RCMP to arrest and remove anyone they have reasonable or probable grounds to believe is knowingly in contravention of the order.

Horgan said last week the courts ruled in favour of the project and the rule of law will apply to ensure work continues on the pipeline, which would start near Dawson Creek and extend to an export terminal at Kitimat.

The pipeline is part of the $40 billion LNG Canada project and has received approval from 20 First Nations along the pipeline route, said Horgan.

Protester Kolin Sutherland-Wilson, 26, said Horgan is not respecting Indigenous law.

When you say that the project is proceeding and that the rule of law must apply in B.C., you are citing a court ruling that effectively says Indigenous law is ineffective, he said. It should also be noted that in this country the rule of law has also included the potlatch ban and the residential schools.

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Government funding of around 400,000 has been allocated towards maintenance works on the Dunbrody Famine Ship over recent years.

The funding has been used to carry out essential works to the vessel, including painting, waterproofing and the instalment of a lift.

Minister of State Michael D'Arcy Jnr said: 'The ship has a high level of maintenance work which has to be done. At a particular point we gave a commitment of 400,000 in funding.'

The vessel went into dry dock at New Ross Boat Yard in January 2017 for several weeks and substantial repair and improvement works were carried out. She will once again go into dry dock in early 2021 for further works. Mr D'Arcy said the ship has been greatly improved over the past two years. A survey of the rigging will take place in early February, with specialists arriving from Cork at New Ross Boat Yard to carry out the job. Mr D'Arcy was highly complimentary of the work of Dunbrody staff. 'This is one of the major tourism projects, not just in Wexford, but in Leinster and Ireland. My view on this is that the tourist projects like this need to cluster with other projects like Hook Lighthouse and the Irish National Heritage Park. There are very few projects in any other county that are as close to each other.'

Mr D'Arcy said by clustering the projects the likelihood of tourists spending more time in the county increases. 'Then you will see that extra spend in cafes, bars and restaurants that will boost the economy.'

Dunbrody Visitor Experience CEO Sean Connick said the ambition of the team at the centre, of Failte Ireland is to see 100,000 people a year to visit the centre within the coming years. Mr Connick said: 'We are at a phase of ongoing maintenance rather than double spending. We are future proofing it and some of the repairs will have a longer time impact. For the next ten to 12 years the ship will be in and out of dry dock.'

Mr Connick said both the Dunbrody Famine Ship and the Jeannie Johnston should be designated heritage attractions. Mr D'Arcy said: 'It's something we are looking at.'

A committee of nine volunteers are involved in the Dunbrody project, namely: Willie Fitzharris, Frances Ryan, George Walsh, Walter O'Leary, Jim Walsh, John Fleming, Dr Brian Murphy, Ann Tubbritt and Colm Caulfield.

Mr Connick said: 'We turn over around 1.3m from the three projects each year. It goes back into the local economy in wages, local suppliers being used, along with trades an crafts people. We employ 30 people here during the winter time and 50 during the summer, the equivalent of a small factory.'

Between 60,000 and 70,000 people visit the famine ship each year and Mr D'Arcy said he foresees great things for the visitor attraction especially following the recent allocation of major funding to it from Failte Ireland. 'I see this as a partnership between government, the JFK Trust and the local authority and it's an excellent partnership.'
Chinas worst health crisis in years has sparked fear and uncertainty for businesses from North America to Asia that depend on trade in the affected region.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/1/2020 (718 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dr. Allison Arwady, Commissioner, Chicago Department of Public Health, speaks at a news conference, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020, in Chicago. A Chicago woman has become the second U.S. patient diagnosed with the dangerous new virus from China, health officials said. The patient is doing well and remains hospitalized "primarily for infection control," said Dr. Arwady said. (Tyler LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Chinas worst health crisis in years has sparked fear and uncertainty for businesses from North America to Asia that depend on trade in the affected region.

Experts say its too soon to know how disruptive the crisis will prove. But its already having an impact.

McDonalds has shuttered restaurants in five Chinese cities, including the inland port city of Wuhan where the crisis is centred. Shanghai Disneyland has temporarily closed as a precaution. Restrictions on travel and fears of flying to the region are threatening to depress demand for oil and jet fuel just as China's Lunar New Year is beginning.

In a sign of Chinas vast economic reach, even niche companies in America have begun feeling squeezed. In Houston, Rockstar Wigs worries that production delays in China will hold up shipments. Omaha, Nebraska-based Home Instead Health Care has stopped sending caregivers to the homes of elderly clients in Wuhan.

So far, there are 830 confirmed cases of the virus and 26 deaths. Wuhan and 12 other Chinese cities are on lockdown, isolating a combined population of more than 36 million.

"Personally, I now cannot go to Wuhan to negotiate new orders, meet with new vendors, take foreign companies for supplier visits, and visit trade shows, said Stanley Chao, a consultant in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, who helps foreign companies do business in China. I may lose three to five trips to China, which is my bread and butter. In turn, my team in China cannot work, and I may have to temporarily lay them off for a while."

The growing fears over the virus rattled financial markets Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index endured its worst day since early October and snapped a two-week winning streak. The S&P index fell 0.9% after having been down as much as 1.3% earlier. Shares in airlines and other companies in the travel and tourism industries, which stand to be among the hardest-hit sectors if the crisis worsens, fell sharply.

So far at least, the virus appears to be less lethal than the SARS outbreak of 2003, which killed hundreds, though it is too soon to say for sure. And Beijing has apparently been more forthcoming about the health risks this time, leaving less room for panic-inducing rumours to take hold.

The authorities are sharing more information, said Kent Kedl, partner at the consultancy Control Risks responsible for Greater China. Theyre getting out in front of it.

Moreover, because the outbreak coincides with the Lunar New Year holiday, many businesses are closed as tens of millions of migrant workers return from big cities to their hometowns in the countryside.

A man burn joss sticks as he prays at the Wong Tai Sin Temple, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020, in Hong Kong, to celebrate the Lunar New Year which marks the Year of the Rat in the Chinese zodiac. China is expanding its lockdown against the deadly new virus to an unprecedented 36 million people and rushing to build a prefabricated, 1,000-bed hospital for victims as the outbreak cast a pall over Lunar New Year, the countrys biggest and most festive holiday. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Still, Wuhan is a central hub for China. Isolating the region could devastate Chinese production in automobiles, aviation, high-tech mechanical and electrical manufacturing, said Ahmed Rahman, an economist at Lehigh University.

"Its central role in facilitating exchange between the Chinese hinterlands and the rest of the planet cannot be overstated, Rahman said. Arguably, out of all the regions of China, closing off Wuhan may be the most disruptive to the global economy."

Tourism could be hurt, too, because of the regions many flights to Bangkok and Tokyo.

Many businesses are scrambling to contain the potential damage.

McDonald's said it has closed all of its restaurants in five cities in Hubei province  Wuhan, Ezhou, Huanggang, Qianjiang and Xiantao  until further notice. Its operations are running in other cities in Hubei where public transportation is available.

The fast-food giant is also taking the temperature of all employees when they arrive at work and sending anyone with a fever or cold symptoms home. Delivery drivers are required to wear masks. McDonald's is also disinfecting high-contact surfaces more frequently at its Chinese establishments, including tables, chairs door handles and self-ordering kiosks.

The Shanghai Disney Resort announced Friday that it is temporarily closing Shanghai Disneyland in response to the prevention and control of the disease outbreak and in order to ensure the health and safety of our guests.''

Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler all have restricted travel to Wuhan and other parts of China affected by the virus. Most auto factories, though, remain closed for the Chinese New Year and havent been affected yet. Ford said in a statement that it has a special team monitoring the situation.

Fiat Chrysler has banned corporate travel in areas locked down by the Chinese government due to the virus, while GM has restricted travel to all of China unless it is business critical and approved in advance, a company statement said.

Home Instead Senior Care, based in Omaha, Nebraska, which sends caregivers to tend to elderly clients, has suspended service to its six or seven clients in Wuhan  after arranging for their families to take care of them. The company has 70 clients in the southern city of Shenzhen, where the virus has yet to strike. But worried clients there are already telling caregivers to avoid public transportation. The clients are saying, Take a taxi so youre not at risk of infection, said company spokeman Dan Wieberg.

At family-owned Rockstar Wigs in Houston, the operations manager, Anna Reger, said she worries that this could really put us behind this year."

The companys wigs, which range from platinum drag queen classics to neon Halloween specials, are hand-stitched with custom designs and special fibers in several Chinese factories where work is currently on hold.

Reger said the company typically starts on thousands of wigs right after Chinese New Year, seeking to be well stocked throughout the year and especially in time for Halloween. She said she's hoping Chinese authorities can resolve the problem soon.

"Im not going to let it stress me until we know what were dealing with."

The outbreak arrives just after the United States and China reached a truce in an 18-month trade war that involved the two worlds two biggest economies burying each others products in tariffs.

Stuart Shulman, president of Synchronis Medical in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said the Wuhan shutdown is "the double whammy." Already reeling from tariffs that have devoured as much as 30% of his profits, he now may not have any workers at the Chinese factory where medical gowns are cut and sewn.

"The timing is so catastrophic. I dont think a lot of people understand the situation," Shulman said. Because workers have left for the new year holiday, they may not be able to get back to work.

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Restrictions on travel and fears about flying to the region could take a toll on demand for oil, gasoline and jet fuel. The suspension of public transportation services and quarantine enacted Thursday could cause a short-lived oil demand drop of 50,000 to 70,000 barrels per day in the Hubei province, according to an analysis from S&P Global Platts.

Global oil demand is likely to drop by 150,000 barrels per day in the next two months, but if a significant economic slowdown were to ensue as a result of the virus spreading, then the overall demand impact could exceed the 700,000 barrels per day, said Claudio Galimberti, head of demand, refining and agriculture analytics at S&P Global Platts.

The SARS outbreak in 2003 led to a drop of 300,000 barrels of oil per day during the height of the epidemic.

___

Wiseman reported from Washington and Mendoza from San Jose, California.

AP writers Tom Krisher in Detroit, Alexandra Olson and Cathy Bussewitz in New York and Dake Kang in Beijing contributed to this report.
ALBANY  More than 200 people came to Townsend Park in Albany on Saturday morning for a "Global Day of Protest" to oppose going to war with Iran.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran came to a boiling point after a U.S. air strike killed top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq. However, people across the Capital Region -- and the globe -- are rallying in an attempt to pressure the Trump Administration to de-escalate the situation.
The case dates back to and prior to November 17, 2016. It was registered at Al Qusais police station.

A 31-year-old man, who managed to unlawfully obtain a UAE driver's licence issued from the Roads and Transports Authority (RTA) after he used a fake Saudi licence, has landed in court.

Public prosecution records show that the Emirati man applied at the RTA to replace a fake Saudi driver's licence (which he falsely claimed was issued from the Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia) with a UAE one.

The case dates back to and prior to November 17, 2016. It was registered at Al Qusais police station.

The defendant is charged with forgery and use of forged documents at the Court of First Instance. This is the second time his case is being heard by the court.

He had been convicted earlier and sentenced to three months in jail. The court ordered that his licence be confiscated. The verdict was later upheld by the Dubai Court of Appeals.

During the public prosecution investigation, a 31-year-old Emirati employee at the RTA said that the defendant applied for a driver's licence on November 17, 2016. "He wanted to replace a Saudi licence he had with a local one. His application was approved and he was issued the UAE licence.

"However, after contacting the competent department at the Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia to inform them that the defendant's Saudi licence was replaced with a Dubai licence, we received a letter from that authority, notifying us that there was no such licence issued from them."

According to that letter, the document, submitted by the accused and which was replaced by a Dubai-issued licence was forged," the witness told the prosecution investigator.

The competent authorities were then notified and a criminal complaint filed.

The letter was used by the public prosecution during the probe and as evidence.

The defendant will be sentenced on January 29.
SARS was believed to have come from civet cats. As a result, thousands of these felines were brutally killed. But it was later determined the virus originated from bats, then spread to other captive animals. Bat soup is another Chinese delicacy.





by Eric S. Margolis





Plagues from the east are nothing new. The Black Death and other epidemics arrived in Europe from China during the 1300s, killing a large percentage of its population. Much of this pestilence came from rats that stowed away on merchant ships coming from the east.













At the end of World War I, another pandemic, wrongly called the Spanish flu, killed an estimated 18 to 50 million people in Europe and North America.





Seventeen years after the SARS virus killed some 800 people in China and Canada and terrified the entire world, a new plague threatens the West: the Wuhan Coronavirus.





Officially named 2019-nCoV, the new virus has so far infected over 800 people in China. This latest plague erupted in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, population 11 million, which is located on the Yangtze River and is an important hub for national communications.





Like SARS, the Wuhan virus is believed to have come from a live animal market that specializes in exotic animals from the Himalayas or Chinas remote mountain regions. Serving exotic animals at dinner parties is a big status symbol in China. Sometimes they are even served while still alive. Dog meat is a favorite in northern China.





SARS was believed to have come from civet cats. As a result, thousands of these felines were brutally killed. But it was later determined the virus originated from bats, then spread to other captive animals. Bat soup is another Chinese delicacy.





Keeping large numbers of captive animals crammed together in cages with poor ventilation and no cleaning is an ideal vector for viral diseases. Each year, China consumes 730 million pigs. Fifty percent of Chinas factory farmed pigs have so far contracted lethal swine flu. Rising living standards have boosted demand for pork.





I have seen how China raises and transports pigs. Its a nightmare of brutality and inhuman behavior. No wonder so many of these intelligent sensitive animals fall ill and die. Swine fever could be payback for Chinas terrible cruelty to pigs.





And its not just China. Pigs in North America are treated almost as badly. A lady where I live was actually jailed and prosecuted for having given water to a truckload of thirsty, starving, terrified pigs on the way to the slaughterhouse.





In North America, animals destined for slaughter are packed together and then dosed with heavy antibiotics to combat communicable diseases from over-crowding and mistreatment.





When the SARS epidemic erupted in South China 17 years ago, the Chinese communist party tried to hush up the crisis, allowing infected people to travel to North America and Europe.





This time, China did the right thing by jumping hard on the epidemic: shutting down all air, sea and land communications with the greater Wuhan region and 14 smaller cities - right in the middle of Chinas huge new year celebrations when over 400 million people return to their homes. The epidemic could not have come at a worse time.





Some Wuhan residents have already flown to other parts of Asia and North America. Simply checking incoming air travellers for fever will not prevent the virus from spreading or identify passengers who have contracted and are developing the illness.





A better solution would be to quarantine all people arriving from Central China and even bar airlines coming from there until we better understand the new virus. We stop so-called terrorists and Muslims from flying to our shores. Why not potentially infective people?





China must also be pressed to cease its dangerous, inhumane trade in exotic wild animals and urged to treat all animals with humanity and care. China is a major cause of species loss. Aside from a few brave animal rights groups, there is very little consciousness of our animal neighbors in China nor understanding that animals are sentient beings with emotions similar to those of humans. The Chinese are one of the most intelligent people on earth. Yet when it comes to animals, all they see is walking food.





As Ive seen on my travels across China, it has made great strides in public sanitation and cleanliness as well as planting trees. Now, its time to stop abusing animals or the plagues will keep coming.




The Chilean flag also referred to as the "La-Estrella Solitaria", resembles the flag of Texas, also known as the Lone-Star flag. The two flags have a five-pointed star and the same colors (red, white and blue). The Lone-Star flag has a blue field that covers the left third of the flag with the lone star at the center while the Chilean flag has a blue square with a star in the middle. The red and white fields on the Texan flag are of equal size while the red stripe is longer than the white stripe in the Chilean flag. Both flags have a rectangular shape with a length to width ratio of 3:2. Texas adopted its flag on January 25, 1839, while the Chilean flag was officially adopted on October 18, 1817.

Colors and Symbolism

Even though the two flags have the same colors and five-pointed stars, the symbols have different meanings to Chile and Texas. The star on the Chilean flag represents a guide to honor and progress while the one of the Texan flag stands for the unity of Texas as one for the country, state, and God. The blue on the Chilean flag represents the Pacific Ocean and the sky while the one on the Lone Star flag stands for loyalty. The red on the Texan flag stands for bravery while the red stripe on the Chilean flag represents the blood spilled for the country to gain its independence. The white on the Chilean flag represents the white snow on the Andes while the one the Texan flag stands for purity.

History of the Flags of Chile

The first flags to be used in the region were the ones used by the native people in the Arauco War with the most popular one being the one used by Talcohuano chief and warrior of Mapuche during the nineteenth century. The flag had red, white, and blue emblems. The Mapuche troops used two flags in the eighteenth century with the most popular one being the blue one with a five-pointing star in the middle. The first official flag of Chile was embroidered by Javiera Carrera and raised on July 4, 1812, during a dinner with the American consul Poinsett to commemorate the anniversary of the independence of the US. The flag, which was referred to as Patria Vieja, had three stripes of yellow, white, and blue.

The victory at the Chacabuco War on May 26, 1817, symbolized a new beginning for the country and Chile adopted a new flag which was referred to as the Bandera-de-la-Transicion (transition flag). The transition flag is recognized as the first Chilean national flag. The Transition flag had three-equal fields: red, white, and blue. The colors were based on the colors of the Mapuche troops insignia. The Transition flag didnt get enough recognition since it resembled the French flag and the flag of the Netherlands. Therefore it disappeared after five months. The design of the current and third flag of Chile is attributed to Jose Ignacio, the minister of war of Bernado OHiggins. Arcos Antoni designed the flag, but many historians claim that it was drawn by Gregorio Varela.
Guest Column: Statement on Sentencing in Steele-Knudslien Murder

As the region's longest-serving LGBTQ organization, Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition has closely followed the case of the murder of Christa Steele-Knudslien, the North Adams resident and founder of the Miss Trans New England Pageant.

Today [Thursday], her murderer has been sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for parole after serving 25 years. In the two years since we lost Christa, the community has rallied around her memory and inspiration. In North Adams, a grassroots task force was founded in reaction to her death and those of other residents killed by their partners. This led to the Berkshire County Domestic and Sexual Violence Task Force, a coalition of community agencies such as Elizabeth Freeman Center, law enforcement, and the court system, currently working to end domestic violence in Berkshire County for good.

On the brighter side, over the past two years the Berkshire Pride Festival has grown to be a major event, celebrating and uplifting the trans community that Christa cared about so much. An annual award for local LGBTQ leaders has been established in her name and with her spirit. Clothing swaps have happened where Berkshire residents shared the joy and beauty of being trans, the same goal Christa had in mind when founding her pageant. Rainbow Seniors and the Berkshire Trans Group expanded their meetings, providing support and connection from Williamstown to Great Barrington.

Politically, a local contingent spent hours organizing and fighting to pass the state ballot measure last year that made Massachusetts the first state to successfully defend an attack on a trans rights bill, setting a strong precedent for human rights across the nation. And we mourned, as a community, at each Trans Day of Remembrance, a national event that struck home when we read Christa's name amongst those murdered.

Christa's life made our county, commonwealth, and country more beautiful, and her death has inspired us to make them safer for the most vulnerable amongst us.

Berkshire Stonewall urges our community leaders to continue this forward march toward a county where the well-being and safety of all LGBTQ indviduals, and trans women in particular, are valued and protected. We still have a long way to go, and despite our progress we are enraged by the reality that Christa's murder is part of an unjust pattern  that trans women are killed at rates far exceeding those of the larger population, and that up to 50 percent of trans women experience domestic violence in their lifetimes.

The message is so often that transgender lives are less valuable, and deserve less justice. That message is disturbing, painful, and unjust, and has real consequences to the lives of those in our community. This message starts to change when justice is served. But nothing can replace what was lost to our community when Christa was killed.

We at Berkshire Stonewall will, in the spirit of our namesake and in Christa's memory, continue fighting for our mission  the well-being of all gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Berkshire County.

Submitted by Ashley Shade, a member of the board of directors of Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition, on the coalition's behalf.
Sandalwood superstar Yash's bodyguard Ram played the role of Garuda in KGF: Chapter 1. The bodyguard-actor is now flooded with lots of movie offers thanks to the massive success of the movie.

The Prashanth Neel directed KGF: Chapter 1 was a pan-India blockbuster that catapulted Yash to national fame and recognition. The actor had cast his personal bodyguard as the principal antagonist of the action extravaganza. For the uninitiated, prior to KGF, bodyguard Ram had nothing to do with acting. He was associated with the Rocking star for the longest time as his driver cum bodyguard. But after having served Yash for over 12 years, Ram decided to leave his construction business to become a full-time actor.

Even though Ram nurtured the acting dream, it did not happen until he was spotted by the KGF makers during the script discussions of the movie. On being selected by Prashanth Neel for the role, Ram undertook acting workshops for about a year whilst sweating it out in the gym to get in shape for the role.

The massive success of the Sandalwood biggie prompted him to add his character name as his prefix to his own name. As of now, Garuda Ram is not just flooded with Kannada offers, but from other south industries. The actor has now signed Karthi's Sultan. He will be also be seen in another negative role in Jayam Ravi and Taapsee Pannu starrer yet-untitled project. He will also be making his Telugu debut in a film starring Raj Tarun.

ALSO READ: Superstar Yash On Fans Celebrating His Birthday: 'This Kind Of Adulation Is Unheard Of

ALSO READ: Yash Opens Up About Co-Star Sanjay Dutt; Shares Other Details of KGF: Chapter 2
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Two women have died and three other people have been hospitalized  two in critical condition  after a car crashed into a pole in Newark overnight, authorities said.

All five people were passengers in a black Infinity G35 when it struck into a No Parking for Street Cleaning pole and a tree at 15th Avenue and Hunterdon Street shortly after 3:30 a.m. Saturday, authorities said.

Three passengers were taken to the citys University Hospital. Two men are in critical condition and one woman is in stable condition, according to Catharine Adams, a spokeswoman for the city.

Adams said the incident is under investigation and no further information is available at this time.

New York City television station ABC-7 is reporting that firefighters had to cut away pieces of the car to free the passengers.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

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Countries including the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia and France have either issued travel advisories for China or raised their warning levels in a bid to reduce the spread of the countrys deadly new strain of coronavirus nCoV-2019. The advisories come as Australia, Malaysia and France confirmed their first cases of infections.

There are now more than three dozen confirmed cases of people with the new coronavirus overseas.

The heightened alerts contrast with advice issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), which recommended usual precautions as of Friday.



Australia

Australian health officials have confirmed four cases of coronavirus infections as of Saturday night.

These include one man from Wuhan that flew to Melbourne, Victoria in southeastern Australia, and three other men in Sydney, New South Wales in the east.

The Melbourne-based patient has pneumonia and is in a stable condition, according to a statement from Australias Department of Health. The man is in his 50s and exhibited no symptoms on his flight, the Guardian newspaper reported, citing Victorias state health minister, Jenny Mikakos.

The three men in Sydney, aged 35 to 53, arrived on flights from China and had some connection to Wuhan or Hebei province, Brad Hazzard, New South Wales state minister for health, said at a press conference Saturday evening.

On its travel advisory website, the Australian government recommended against travel to Hubei province, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, in light of severe travel restrictions some of its cities have placed on residents, effectively quarantining millions.

Malaysia

A woman and her two grandchildren, all of whom are Chinese nationals from Wuhan, Hubei province, the center of the epidemic, tested positive for the new strain of coronavirus Saturday, Bloomberg reported, citing Dzulkefly Ahmad, the countrys health minister.

According to the report, the trio had travelled to Malaysia from Singapore, whose health authorities notified their Malaysian officials. The patients are all related to a 66-year-old man and his son who had tested positive for the virus in Singapore, Bloomberg reported.

France

The French Minister of Health Agnes Buzyn confirmed Friday local time three cases of coronavirus infection in France, one in the southern city of Bordeaux and two in Paris. They are the first confirmed cases in Europe.

The Bordeaux patient, aged 48 and of Chinese origin, returned from China after spending time in Wuhan, and is currently quarantined in Bordeaux, French news outlet Le Figaro reported (link in French), quoting Buzyn.

Of the two Parisian cases, one had travelled to China, while the other is the individuals close relative, the report said.

There are likely other cases in Europe, Buzyn said Friday, according to the report. On Tuesday, the health minister had said that the risk of the nCoV-2019 virus arriving in France was low, but not out of the question. At the time, two other suspected cases in France were confirmed to be negative.

The incubation period of the coronavirus is around seven days, but can range from two to 12 days, the minister said Friday, according to the report.

In a statement (link in French) posted Friday, Frances Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs recommended travelers postpone trips to the province of Hubei, also citing travel bans in the region.

Nepal

The Nepali health department confirmed Saturday that a 32-year-old Nepali student that returned from Wuhan has been diagnosed with the virus, becoming the first case reported in South Asia.

Local medical professionals say the patient has already recovered and has been discharged, but those with whom the person had come into contact with are under observation.

Canada

On Saturday, Global Affairs Canada advised the public to avoid all non-essential travel, to the province of Hubei, including the cities of Wuhan, Huanggang and Ezhou, due to the imposition of heavy travel restrictions in order to limit the spread of a novel coronavirus. The advisory is the second-highest of four possible warning levels it may issue.

Canadian Minister of Health Patty Hajdu told Canadian media Thursday that five or six people in the country are under observation for potential infection. The individuals include people in Vancouver and Quebec. One suspected person has already been cleared of having the virus.

The U.S.

After diagnosing its first case in Washington state Wednesday, the U.S. Department of State raised its advisory level for Hubei province to Do not travel Thursday, the highest possible warning level.

On January 23, 2020, the Department of State ordered the departure of all non-emergency U.S. personnel and their family members, the department said in its advisory. The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Hubei province.

The U.S. confirmed Friday a second case of the new coronavirus in Chicago.

The U.K.

In a Thursday update, the U.K.s Foreign and Commonwealth Office advised against all but essential travel to Wuhan city.

British universities have warned students considering traveling home to China to celebrate the Lunar New Year run the risk of being quarantined upon return, the Guardian reported Saturday.

New Zealand

The New Zealand government has advised travelers to avoid nonessential travel to Wuhan.

The WHO

The travel warnings issued by individual countries contrast with that from the WHO, which, as of Friday, suggested travelers practice usual precautions.

A WHO stated Thursday that Chinese authorities had presented evidence of fourth-generation (coronavirus) cases in Wuhan, raising concerns that the virus is more contagious than initially thought. A fourth-generation infection refers to how many times a disease has been passed on between individuals.

Nevertheless, it is not yet a global crisis, the emergency committee of the organization announced Thursday after a two-day teleconference with members and advisers in Geneva.

In China, the virus has infected 1,370 and killed 41 people as of Saturday afternoon, according to Caixins calculations based on official releases.

Follow Caixin Globals latest updates on the coronavirus here.

Contact reporter Dave Yin (davidyin@caixin.com)






WASHINGTON  The Trump administration is making a concession on its proposed minimum fuel economy requirement for new vehicles, but environmental groups and a key Democratic senator complain it does not go far enough, and still falls well below the requirements set under the Obama administration.

Fuel economy standards would increase 1.5% per year from 2021 through 2026 under the new proposal. That's a reversal from the Trump administration's proposal in 2018, which sought to freeze the standards at 2020 levels.

Environmentalists and Delaware Sen. Tom Carper hardly cheered the move, which doesn't come close to the 5% annual increase that the Obama administration had mandated.

Carper, senior Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, released some details of the latest fuel-standards proposal in a letter Wednesday urging the administration to scrap its new mileage proposal as ineffective and costly.

My offices review of the draft final rule indicates that it utterly fails to provide any demonstrable safety, environmental or economic benefit to consumers or the country, Carper wrote in a letter to the Office of Management and Budget.

The office reviews proposed regulations before they are finalized and printed in the Federal Register. The administration hasnt released the numbers, but they are detailed in Carpers letter to Paul Ray, a management and budget administrator.

The Trump administration has billed its mileage standards as safer and less costly to motorists, but theres a growing chorus of critics disputing that, including the Trump EPAs own scientific advisory board. The mileage rollback has become one of the most fiercely contested rollback efforts by the administration, prompting legal battles with California and other states and splitting loyalties of top automakers.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which develops fuel economy rules, wouldnt comment Thursday. It reissued a statement saying the rule will improve fuel economy, cut pollution and make vehicles more affordable.

Story continues

When the Trump administration released its proposed Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Rule" in 2018, it calculated that the rule would save 12,700 lives in car crashes through model year 2029. The logic was that relaxed fuel mileage standards would cut the cost of vehicles, making them more affordable and increasing sales. Since new vehicles are safer, lives would be saved.

The proposal pegged the cost of meeting Obama-era requirements at $2,700 per vehicle and said buyers would save that much per car by 2025.

But Carper wrote that the administrations final proposal claims total savings of 474 lives through 2029. That number doesnt include deaths associated with increased air pollution from less-efficient vehicles, Carper wrote.

Those 470 prevented traffic fatalities are nowhere near enough to offset the premature deaths related to the 80 billion gallons of additional gasoline consumption in the administrations proposal, Dave Cooke, senior vehicles analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a separate statement.

Under calculations in the proposal, the purchase price would drop by $1,083 per vehicle under the revised standards, Carper wrote. But that would be erased by the cost of operating vehicles with lower fuel economy, which adds $1,423 to the cost, Carper wrote.

Adding hundreds of dollars to the cost of each vehicle would seem to be the opposite of the more affordable vehicles the SAFE rule promised, his letter said.

Last year, the administrations proposed fuel economy freeze touched off a huge legal fight with California, which has authority under the Clean Air Act to set its own greenhouse gas emissions, and by extension, gas mileage standards. Trump revoked Californias authority, and the state challenged the decision in court.

Later, the auto industry split on the matter with four companies, Ford, BMW, Volkswagen and Honda, siding with California. Most other automakers went with Trump.

Many automakers have been lobbying for a rollback from the Obama standards, but say they're willing to support a smaller increase. They contend that buyers have shifted so quickly to trucks and SUVs that they are having trouble meeting the current standards.

____

Krisher reported from Detroit.
Developers of Bray Town Centre have said that their 'most pessimistic' date for 'practical completion' is July of this year.

They said in their report to district manager Tom Murphy that fit-out will take three to four months after that. The developers said that their own businesses, including Elephant and Castle and the cinema, could open earlier than others.

This followed news late last year that the project was behind schedule.

Mr Murphy said that activity on the site has ramped up since Christmas and is operating at full tilt.

At the December district meeting, he had advised members developers Oakmount had indicated that a previous practical completion date of the end of December wouldn't be met.

'Since then they have discussed a work programme with contractors Glenbrier with a view to nailing down a firm date,' said Mr Murphy.

Mr Murphy told members that officials had gone back to Oakmount and told them that the members were seeking a credible practical completion date with no further drifting away from that date.

'Oakmount indicated that their most pessimistic practical completion date would be June 2020 and they hope that they will be able to bring that back,' said Mr Murphy. 'I know you members will be disappointed with this new date, we do hope it will be sooner.'

Some of the reasons for the delay included the fact that the architects went into liquidation without any warning, there was a delay in procuring materials, and wet and windy weather leading to almost six weeks of no laying of blocks.

He said that the maintaining of the facade on the Main Street has proven to be a difficult challenge, and was a condition of planning. Mr Murphy said that it is a much slower job than anticipated, with factors including a confined space, and a shortage of steel installation crews, as well as remedial works to an adjoining property which hadn't been anticipated.

Mr Murphy said that 'one would think' that the car park would open as soon as any business starts operating on the site.

He said that leases have been signed on several units, terms sent out to several, and that interest in the remaining units has been 'excellent' with a large number of viewings. Mr Murphy said that the branding is now on hoarding around the site.

Cllr Joe Behan said that by the sound of things some of the centre will hopefully be open next September. He sought clarification on whether the car park would open with the first units.

'I would certainly expect that having waited this long to have car parking available to the people of the town that it's a very serious priority for you and us,' he said.

'We never seem to hear who will be the anchor,' said Cllr Behan. 'We hear about great interest and people coming and looking, but who are the anchor tenants going to be? They are the ones who will attract other businesses into the shops and the town.'

'It's no craic for the manager to give bad news, but this is bad news,' said Cllr Dermot 'Daisy' O'Brien. He said that if the anchor tenants were known, there would be a sense of it being 'worth waiting for'.

'I don't believe that any significant part of the development should be open without parking available on-site,' aid Cllr Anne Fortune.

She said that the identity of the anchor tenants is the 64 million dollar question. She said that if it is known, then maybe other potential tenants would get excited about it. 'We need to have a bit of a lift, not bad news,' she said.

She wasn't overly concerned about the delay.

'We have been waiting 20 years, and are just six months behind schedule. The whole development is great news and if we have to wait another few months, well and good.'

Cathaoirleach Cllr Steven Matthews said that he was disappointed and had an earlier date in mind, but was not disappointed that the centre is actually close to opening.

He was delighted that the facade is slowing them down, as that means they are doing it properly. He said that the contractor has a reputation for working with older buildings.

'You do run into some difficulties with staffing, weather and so on, with a project like this,' said Cllr Matthews. 'They are working flat out and Bray will have its town centre opened.'

Mr Murphy said that he is fairly confident that if the owners chose to open their own brands he thinks it can be taken that the car park will be open at that stage.

He said that Savils are in charge of the marketing and this is their area of expertise. 'They are at the advanced stages of negotiations with anchors. A number of leases for other tenants are being signed.'

Mr Murphy said that officials have pressed for information about the anchor tenants and it's one of the first questions they ask Oakmount every month.
Thousands of people in the UK could be living with a hidden heart condition that puts them at risk of stroke and dementia.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of irregular heart rhythm, known to affect about 1.3 million in the UK. But experts believe many more people are living with the condition undetected.

They may experience symptoms such as palpitations, breathlessness and fatigue and their pulse will also often feel abnormal, with some beats stronger than others. Some will not notice any signs of the condition, and for others the symptoms can come and go  occurring for just a matter of seconds every few weeks.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of irregular heart rhythm, known to affect about 1.3 million in the UK. But experts believe many more people are living with the condition undetected

An irregular pulse can lead to blood pooling and clotting in the chambers of the heart. These clots can break away, potentially causing a blockage and triggering a catastrophic stroke, with little warning

But an irregular pulse can lead to blood pooling and clotting in the chambers of the heart. These clots can break away, potentially causing a blockage and triggering a catastrophic stroke, with little warning.

Now, early findings of a major study funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) suggest that as many as five per cent of men over the age of 65 could be living with silent atrial fibrillation. The figure is expected to be about half that among women of the same age.

You can have atrial fibrillation without any symptoms, explains Professor Barbara Casadei, BHF Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Oxford. But the fact that you do not have any symptoms does not mean you are not at risk.

When the heart beats normally, it contracts regularly to squeeze blood out and around the body, before relaxing to let blood back in. This process is controlled by tiny electrical messages, sent by the sinus node  the hearts in-built pacemaker.

Atrial fibrillation occurs when the upper chambers of the heart  known as the atria  also produce unco-ordinated electrical messages. This makes the upper chambers contract randomly and twitch, causing an irregular, or sometimes fast, heartbeat.

Evidence suggests atrial fibrillation also increases the risk of dementia by as much as 50 per cent. Those with the condition may suffer from mini-strokes, too small to cause any outward symptoms  but which damage the brain. Over time, this is thought to reduce mental function. You may not have the full symptoms of a stroke, but neurons are being destroyed, Prof Casadei explains. The brain doesnt make new neurons, so you are going to lose connectivity, lose neurons and accelerate cognitive decline.

A pilot study including 7,000 over-60s detected 60 cases of silent atrial fibrillation

The new study is tracking the heart rhythms of 40,000 participants over the age of 65. Each one will wear a stick-on chest patch, containing a microchip which continually records and stores electrical activity, over a two-week period. They will also have scans, undergo repeated cognitive tests and be followed up for life using their medical records.

We want to know whether it matters if people have even very short episodes of this irregular arrhythmia, as far as their brain health is concerned, Prof Casadei explains.

The results are expected to help doctors determine which patients are most at risk  and who should be treated with blood-thinning drugs, known as anticoagulants. We hope that by having all this information, we will know which patients are most at risk, Prof Casadei says.

A pilot study including 7,000 over-60s detected 60 cases of silent atrial fibrillation. This was about three per cent of men and one-and-a-half per cent of women.
Pakistan's Beleaguered Ahmadis Decry 'Deplorable' Attempt To Isolate Them

By Frud Bezhan, Daud Khattak January 24, 2020

To be considered Muslim, members of Pakistan's minority Ahmadi sect must deny the beliefs of their religion.

They must swear that the Prophet Muhammad is the final prophet, and denounce the Ahmadi sect's 19th century founder as a false prophet and his followers as non-Muslim.

The Ahmadis, or Ahmadiyya, consider themselves Muslim, but that is a view rejected by mainstream Islamic sects.

And since they refuse to declare themselves non-Muslims, the Ahmadis have been stuck in legal limbo, leaving them without fundamental human rights such as access to education and the right to vote.

Numbering almost 5 million, the community has been persecuted for decades, banned from publicly practicing their faith and the target of rising sectarian violence.

Authorities in the predominantly Muslim country of 208 million have done little to stem the attacks, with the government still refusing to grant the community equal status.

'Paranoia, Intolerance, And Bigotry'

In what Ahmadis say is the latest attempt to segregate its members, the Islamabad branch of Pakistan's Bar Association on January 15 made it mandatory for its 5,500 members to declare their religious affiliation. If they identify themselves as Muslim, members must sign an affidavit by January 31 declaring that they are not Ahmadis.

To be listed as a Muslim, the affidavit said the signatory must believe that Muhammad was "the last of the prophets"; that the founder of the Ahmadi sect was an "apostate, liar, and hypocrite"; and must not have ever referred to him/herself as "an Ahmadi."

The Islamabad Bar Association (IBA) said members who failed to comply would have their membership suspended and be publicly named.

The move has been condemned on social media and criticized by bar members and rights activists, who have alleged that it is an attempt to suspend Ahmadi lawyers from the association.

Amir Mahmood, a spokesman for the Ahmadi community, told RFE/RL that the IBA's "deplorable" decision risked further pushing the sect towards "isolation."

"This shows the level of religious extremism in society and how religious differences are getting deeper," Mahmood said. "It is a deliberate attempt to isolate the Ahmadis in Pakistan."

Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, a senator and member of the bar, said the move had "buried" the South Asian country's vision for a secular state "in heaps of paranoia, intolerance, and bigotry."

"I am deeply saddened to be put under the spotlight to prove my faith," said Khokar, who added that he would refuse to submit the declaration.

Khokar said that "some in the fraternity" were contemplating challenging the move in the Supreme Court.

IBA President Malik Zafar Khokhar said the purpose of the declarations was to simply "identify" the Ahmadi members of the association.

'Rights Are Being Violated'

"Ahmadis are being discriminated against and their basic human rights are being violated in every sphere of life," Mahmood said, citing freedom of religion, right of assembly, and voting rights.

Under Pakistani law, the Ahmadis cannot refer to themselves as Muslims or engage in any Muslim practices, including using Islamic greetings, calling their places of worship mosques, or participating in the hajj, or holy pilgrimage. Ahmadis risk imprisonment for up to three years and a fine if they break those laws.

Ahmadis are allowed to vote only for parliamentary seats reserved for non-Muslims and, since they refuse to declare themselves non-Muslims, most do not vote.

The world's roughly 12 million Ahmadis are followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the man who founded the movement in British India in 1889 and who Ahmadis believe was a messiah and prophet. For the mainstream Islamic sects, that contradicts a cornerstone of their belief that Muhammad was the final prophet.

Those beliefs have seen the Ahmadis come under pressure in a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. In Pakistan, members of the community have been systematically persecuted by both mainstream Muslim sects and the government.

In the 1970s, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto passed an amendment to the Pakistani Constitution declaring anyone who does not believe Muhammad was the last prophet as non-Muslim. Under the rule of military dictator Zia ul-Haq in the 1980s, the practice of the Ahmadi faith was declared a "blasphemous" criminal offense.

Ahmadis face a stark choice in Pakistan.

They can follow their faith and risk persecution and death or they can convert or leave the country. Thousands of Ahmadis from the subcontinent have left, with large communities in Britain, the United States, and Canada.

Growing Sectarian Violence

Religious discrimination and violence have increased in Pakistan, a mainly Sunni Muslim country, with attacks against Shi'a, Christians, Hindus, and Sikhs in recent years.

Ahmadis have become the target of the rising sectarian violence, with their burial grounds, mosques, and homes coming under attack. The community says the authorities have done little to stem the assaults.

In May 2018, a mob consisting of several hundred people led by hard-line Muslim clerics destroyed a 100-year-old mosque belonging to the Ahmadi community in the eastern city of Sialkot.

In August that year, a mob carried out a similar attack on an Ahmadi mosque in the eastern city of Faisalabad. Nearly 30 were wounded, and the mosque was largely destroyed.

In September 2018, Prime Minister Imran Khan revoked the appointment of Atif Mian, an Ahmadi and a Princeton-educated economist, to a key advisory role following protests by a hard-line Islamist party and opposition from within Khan's own party.

It is not only Ahmadis, but also those seen sympathizing with them, who have faced threats and violence.

Pakistan's justice minister was forced to resign in 2017 after followers of a radical cleric accused him of blasphemy for changes to the electoral law that were seen as a concession to Ahmadis. Protesters forced the virtual lockdown of Islamabad for weeks.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pakistan-beleaguered- ahmadis-decry-deplorable-attempt-to- isolate-them/30394936.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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I'm in a really grumpy mood. I'm doing my best to avoid nonsensical election coverage, but decisions must be made in what may turn out to be one of the most important elections of this still immature century. As usual, the media descends into the worst of horse-race journalism. Rather than scrutinising party policies and fairytale economics, headlines scream about the television debates.

Why can't Mary Lou McDonald take part? (Because she's not a candidate for Taoiseach). No one landed a "knock-out blow" on Wednesday night. (Aw! It's like a Formula One race with no crash. What a bore.)

Watch this 10-second clip of the Taoiseach pausing before answering a question about drug use! (As if I'm going to vote based on the expression on someone's face for half a second in a television studio.)

Fortunately, the discerning readers of this column expect more from me so I'll explain why I'll be voting Fine Gael. I arrive at my position mostly but not entirely by a process of elimination.

My first goal is to avoid at all costs the prospect of Sinn Fein coming anywhere near power. There are many reasons for this, but let's start with the terrorism.

I know this seems a quaint point when made to an uneducated younger generation and creates cognitive dissonance for journalists who don't like to be reminded of the very recent past. But in 2015, Mary Lou McDonald described Thomas 'Slab' Murphy as a "very typical rural man", "very nice" and even "very approachable". Murphy, for those who never knew or have chosen to forget, was the leading Provo IRA godfather from south Armagh's bandit country. Let me repeat: she said that in 2015.

How can so many journalists declare themselves bored by the apparently tedious fact she said an infamous director of terrorism was "very nice". What is wrong with people who want to turn their backs on this blatant moral turpitude?

Sinn Fein may be facilitated into government in Northern Ireland through the legal mechanisms of the peace agreements, but we in the Republic have a choice. To choose to ignore and dismiss McDonald's fine opinion of terrorists is something I cannot fathom.

Secondly, when Sinn Fein is presented with the opportunity to govern, the party refuses to do it. The party had six MPs that should have been in Westminster helping us with Brexit. There were nights when key votes turned on two and three votes. Their abstentionism trumped their patriotism.

Meanwhile in Stormont, the party collapsed the executive twice for three-year periods, leaving Northern Ireland with no government. The paralysis and harm this inflicted didn't matter to its MLAs.

The 'cash for ash' inquiry has revealed that Sinn Fein finance minister Mairtin O Muilleoir was emailing leading senior republicans Padraic Wilson, the former officer commanding of the IRA in the Maze, and Ted Howell, looking for instructions as to whether or not he could agree to the inquiry. If he's doing that, is McDonald doing that? Is any political journalist going to ask if she's seeking permission from the IRA to make political decisions? No. They're banging on about whether or not she should take part in a TV debate, distracting everyone from the implications of Wilson and his friends getting access to Garda files if Sinn Fein ends up in government.

Then there's Fianna Fail. As history shows, once a generation the party bankrupts the country. It is astonishing to me that having got out of the bailout just a few short years ago, so many journalists are actually buying the line that Fianna Fail was a mere innocent bystander for most of the 20 years it governed Ireland prior to the collapse.

Apparently, the crash was all about the global economy and not the fatal mismanagement of public spending or failure to keep an eye on Sean Quinn and Sean FitzPatrick. That's a convenient narrative being propped up by the media.

How can people forget so soon the trauma, the unemployment, the emigration and the suicides? The economy has recovered. Some people never will.

Micheal Martin is a likeable man who has behaved decently in opposition, but he was part of the problem and he cannot escape responsibility for that.

I'm as frustrated as the next person by the fact big problems like health and housing seem to be stuck in a rut. But we only got back on track in 2016. What we need now is a government that can govern and solve these complex problems without requiring the permission of the opposition or a random Independent TD. So if you didn't like the slow movement of the last government, blame new politics.

And so we come to the final process of elimination - the splitters. As DCU political scientist Gary Murphy wrote recently, the most likely outcome of this election is instability. A vote for an Independent, random soft left party or Green is simply a proxy vote for someone else, for fragmentation and for paralysis. The challenge for voters is to accept that a choice must be made. It's either Fianna Fail back again or Fine Gael.

That is the real choice, as depressing as it is. So the only possible answer is Fine Gael, with sufficient seats to crack on and solve some of the difficult problems we face. That's not an easy choice, but the relief of clarity comes simply by looking at the alternative.
The Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has reaffirmed his administrations plan to transform the educational sector of the State, vowing to increase governments investment for the good of the pupils.

Over 3,000 teachers from various schools and education districts across the State converged at De Blue Roof of the Lagos Television, Ikeja where the Governor formally launched the EKOEXCEL, a teachers professional development and training programme.

Earlier, primary school teachers went through a two week training process, organised by the State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB) to increase capacity and develop manpower of teachers in the State.

Mr Sanwo-olu noted that at the end, over 14,000 primary school teachers would have benefited from the initiative while over 500,000 pupils would have been positively impacted.

The governor said: I am particularly happy that this programme is holding at a time when all hands are on deck to ensure that the quality of teaching and learning is improved across all our schools in the State.

As a responsible government, we will continue the massive investment in this sector, with the training and retraining of our teachers, making the sector more ICT compliant, exposing our teachers to international best practices as well as ensuring that our schools become a destination for work and learning.

We resolved to address these problems through combining innovative technological approach that is scientifically based, with effective training and empowering our teachers in every Local Government to strengthen their capacity and deliver quality education to our children.

The governor, in a bid to encourage teachers and make good examples from outstanding ones, said the State Government will identify the best Head Teachers in all the 20 LGs and 37 LCDAs and reward them with a car each.

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, flanked by Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat (right) and Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folashade Adefisayo during the formal launch of the EKOEXCEL (Excellence in Child Education And Learning) at De Blue Roof, LTV, Agidingbi, Ikeja, on Saturday, January 25, 2020. FILE: Cross section of over 3000 Teachers from various schools and education districts in Lagos State at the formal launch of the EKOEXCEL (Excellence in Child Education And Learning) at De Blue Roof, LTV, Agidingbi, Ikeja, on Saturday, January 25, 2020.

He noted that his administration is not paying lip service to the repositioning of the educational sector, noting that it is the reason the education ministry got a significantly higher envelope in the 2020 budget.

READ ALSO:

The governor also promised that teachers will undergo free sight assessment and reading glasses will be provided for every teacher that requires it to be able to discharge their duties effectively.

EKOEXCEL, which is Excellence in Child Learning and Education Programme, is a Lagos State primary education transformation initiative.

With the EKOEXCEL Programme, over 14,000 Head Teachers and teachers will be moved from analogue to digital teaching, using tablets and updated curriculum. Over 3,000 primary school teachers from 300 public primary schools have been captured under the Pilot Scheme.

Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folashade Adefisayo; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Executive Chairman, State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB), Hon. Wahab Alawiye-King; Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat and Board member, LSUBEB, Idowu Sijuade-Tiamiyu during the formal launch of the EKOEXCEL (Excellence in Child Education And Learning) at De Blue Roof, LTV, Agidingbi, Ikeja, on Saturday, January 25, 2020. Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu (fourth left); Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folashade Adefisayo (third left); Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mrs. Abosede Adelaja (left); Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat (third right), with some teachers during the formal launch of the EKOEXCEL (Excellence in Child Education And Learning) at De Blue Roof, LTV, Agidingbi, Ikeja, on Saturday, January 25, 2020.

An initiative of the Governor Sanwo-Olu administration, the EKOEXCEL is aimed at developing a highly-skilled teaching workforce by training, supporting and motivating Lagos State teachers to succeed in the classroom of tomorrow and enhance the State Basic Education curriculum thereby empowering children to compete effectively in the world of work.

The programme will equip teachers with skills to deliver value, empower pupils with requisite knowledge to improve education and help in sustaining the growth of Lagos State as a leading knowledge driven city and economy in the world.
By Trend

A winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will be held in Strasbourg Jan. 27-31, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani parliament.

Azerbaijani delegation led by the head of the permanent delegation of the Azerbaijani parliament in PACE, chairman of the parliamentary committee on international relations and interparliamentary ties Samad Seyidov will take part in the session.

The commission included MPs Sevinj Fataliyeva, Sahiba Gafarova, Rafael Huseynov, Asim Mollazade, Sabir Hajiyev and Nagif Hamzayev.

During the session, reports of the Bureau and the Standing Committee on the work done will be heard, the results of the parliamentary elections in Belarus, the activities of democratic institutions in Poland, the safety of journalists in Europe, media freedom and other issues will be discussed.

Azerbaijani MPs will speak in discussions and express their opinion.

As part of the session, with the organizational support of the Azerbaijani delegation, an event dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the January 20 tragedy is planned on Jan. 28.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Hoi Ancient Town in central Quang Nam Province was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999, and has ranked as one of the best travel destinations in the world many times since. Photo by Do Anh Vu.
Hong Kong's protesters saw off the Year of the Pig and counted in the Year of the Rat on Friday with the same message to their government and the ruling Chinese Communist Party in Beijing as they had on Jan. 1: a demand for fully democratic elections and accountability for police violence during the protest movement that has rocked the city since last June.



With the now-ubiquitous black protest banner reading "Free Hong Kong! Revolution in our Time!" waving above the heads of hundreds of people at Kowloon's Wong Tai Sin Temple, a traditional meeting place at Lunar New Year, protesters held up five fingers, reiterating the five demands of the movement.



As the city's seven million residents hunkered down for the traditional festivities, many public celebrations including the fireworks display were called off, with police citing fears for "public safety" in the wake of a protest movement that has seen thousands of arrests and thousands of tear gas canisters fired at crowds, amid a storm of international criticism.



The Lunar New Year racing meet will go ahead, but with a prebooked crowd limited to 8,000 people, compared with the tens of thousands who normally like to try their luck on the horses at this time of year.

Health screening and body temperature checks will be mandatory for anyone who attends.



Meanwhile, visitors to a usually bustling festive market in Hong Kong's Victoria Park said the atmosphere was less fun and interesting since the government banned non-flower stalls, effectively banning a whole range of satirical novelty items that usually carried political messages.



"I came to support ... yellow [pro-protest] businesses, and I left after I had bought something," a shopper surnamed Lau told RFA. "Why are they wiping out what used to be a Hong Kong tradition? It doesn't make sense."



Sustainability



Another shopper surnamed Tseng said there are many businesses in Hong Kong that are deliberately looking to sell to, and support, the protest movement, whose participants are often young, vulnerable, and without a good income.



"Many shops are looking specifically for protesters to do handicrafts or workshops so they can make a living," Tseng said. "It's called sustainability."



A shopper surnamed Wong said she would spend as much as possible in yellow businesses to support those who support the movement.



The organizer of a yellow shopping event in Causeway Bay, who gave only a nickname, Lokson, said yellow businesses are often targeted by officials for health and safety spot checks.



But he said the yellow economy will remain as long as the protests continue.



"The people of Hong Kong have been fighting for their freedom for the past six months, so I want to give the people of Hong Kong economic freedom as well," Lokson said. "I think we need to stand up and take action."



He said the yellow economy has been built from the bottom up by people who aren't part of the financial elite in the city.



"It is similar to the current state of society, because it is made by a class that doesn't have powerful interests behind it, and it is resisting such powerful interests," he said.



Apps developed



A number of apps have been developed to help Hong Kong's diners and shoppers find businesses that support their broader political views and aims.



The Rice Pig guide, punning on the Michelin guide in Chinese, offers users a search function for restaurants in their district who identify as part of the yellow economy.



It also lists businesses that identify as "blue," shorthand for supporters of the administration of chief executive Carrie Lam and the Hong Kong Police Force.



Wolipay, "pay with you," is a reference to the 'shop with you' peaceful protests in malls and shopping districts in recent months. It allows filtered searches for specific types of goods and services, from supermarkets and coffee shops to pet grooming and cosmetics.



WoliEat lists restaurants in Hong Kong in terms of their political allegiance, and links to their listings on the restaurant app Openrice.



Meanwhile, politically neutral businesses are generally categorised as "green," halfway between yellow and blue on the spectrum of opinion.



Reported by Man Hoi-tsan for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Hwang Chun-mei and Li Zonghan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Raipur: In Chhattisgarh educational institutions, after the prayer on every Monday, various issues related to the constitution will be discussed. The school education department has also issued instructions in this regard on Friday. The state CM Bhupesh Baghel announced this on the Constitution Day in the Legislative Assembly. According to the order issued, the Preamble of the Constitution will be discussed in the first week of the month.

Chief impeachment manager Adam Schiff said this in Trump impeachment case

In the second week, the discussion will be held on the fundamental rights mentioned in the constitution, fundamental duty in the third week and the Directive Principles of State Policy in the fourth week. On being taught the text of the constitution in schools, CM Bhupesh Baghel said that every citizen should know about the constitution. The constitution is paramount in this country. Today the defense of the constitution is a big responsibility. Attacking the BJP, he said, 'Today the constitution is being teased, work is being done against it.'

Pakistan leads the list of the most corrupt countries, know India's place

Chhattisgarh will become the third state to teach the constitution in schools after Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Prior to this, the Congress government of neighboring Madhya Pradesh has also decided to make children know about the constitution in schools.

I changed my political route not my ideology: Uddhav Thackeray
Freedom from bureuacracy and political interference is important for the functioning of good institutions, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Venkatraman Ramakrishnan said on Saturday.

The British-American structural biologist of Indian-origin was speaking at the launch of a school of biosciences of Ashoka University at an event held here.

"Ashoka University is a private university, and initially I was a bit prejudiced against the idea of a private university. But, I was impressed by certain aspects of it," he said.

India-born Ramakrishnan, who was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with two of his peers for their research on the structure and function of the ribosome, praised the varsity, saying it is driven by "meritocracy".

The noted scientist said, "freedom from bureuacracy and political interference" is important for the functioning of a good institution, and appreciated the university for maintaining high standards.

He said, Ashoka University's emphasis on liberal arts could set a really good example in the country, besides other institutions.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Louth TD and Fianna Fail spokesperson on cross-border co-operation Declan Breathnach has said increased Garda resources are needed in Louth following the attempted raid of an ATM in Dunleer last week.

"This is not an isolated incident, but one of the many ATM raids in the border region over the past few months. I fear now that ATM services in Dunleer and across the region will be withdrawn as the risk of a raid increases.

'This is a huge threat to community and businesses in the area. The vast majority of people living on both sides of the border are decent law-abiding citizens who may lose out on vital services because of the actions of these thugs.

"Crime in Louth is simply out of control. The feud in Drogheda has led to shootings and murders becoming commonplace. We urgently need more Gardai on the ground. In the short term we may need to look at the possibility of reducing the operating hours of an ATM between midnight and the early morning. There is technology available which can turn off the ATM and automatically transfer it into a secure bunker."

Breathnach has previously called for the establishment of a cross-border crime agency to stop criminals evading capture by crossing the border. Chases of cars involving Garda or the PSNI have to end at either side of the border. Breathnach says this is an "operational gap" on the island of Ireland which was being exploited by criminal gangs. He says a cross-border agency involving both forces, as well as the Revenue and the Criminal Assets Bureau is needed.
In a big development on Saturday, NCP chief Sharad Pawar publicly contradicted Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on his wiretapping allegations. Acknowledging that phone tapping was a reality, he maintained that no one took it seriously. Moreover, he claimed that a minister in a state could not give orders in this regard. Thereafter, the NCP chief indirectly questioned how a minister in a state could possess information about phones being tapped.

NCP Chief Sharad Pawar on phone tapping: Everyone knows our phone is tapped, therefore we dont think about it seriously. As far as I know, the orders for phone tapping cannot be given by a state minister, so I dont know how much a state minister knows about this. #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/WPw4iVZNbL  ANI (@ANI) January 25, 2020

Read: Devendra Fadnavis Denies Wiretapping Charge, Says 'Not A Tradition Of Maharashtra'

'We have initiated a probe'

Speaking to the media on Friday, Anil Deshmukh who is also a senior leader of NCP had alleged that officials of the previous government led by Devendra Fadnavis were sent to Israel on state expense to procure the Pegasus software. He contended that the same software was used to spy on the opposition leaders. This was a reference to WhatsApps revelation that Indians were among those whose phones were hacked using Pegasus. He announced that the Maha Vikas Aghadi government had initiated a probe into this matter.

Read: Delhi Police Deny NCP's Allegations Of Withdrawing Sharad Pawars Security Cover

Anil Deshmukh had remarked, "During the BJP government's regime when the Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha elections were held, the government had attempted to tap the phones of senior Congress and NCP leaders to know whom they were talking to and what they spoke. The allegations state that some state officials were sent to Israel on government funding to procure the software. The software was then used to spy on leaders by BJP government and we have initiated a probe into this.

Read: Sanjay Raut Dares BJP To Spy On Him Amid Wiretapping Allegation, Invokes Balasaheb

Fadnavis denies allegations

Maintaining that wiretapping was not the tradition of Maharashtra, Fadnavis denied the allegations by the Home Minister. At the same time, he stressed that he was ready for an inquiry. Responding to this controversy, Deepak Kesarkar who was MoS Home in the Fadnavis government stated that it would be improper for him to comment before the conclusion of the probe. However, he made a sensational claim that the phones of the Sena leaders were tapped even during the Congress-NCP regime.

Read: Bhima Koregaon: Pawar Slams Centre For Transfer Of Cases To NIA, Alleges malafide Intent
I couldnt have imagined reaching this point when I left my homeland in 2003. I was simply seeking freedom. In Saudi Arabia, the royal family controls every aspect of life. If you want to go to university, open a business or get an eye operation, you will need a letter from the governor of your province  a member of the royal family. Freedom of speech is out of the question. Expressing an unpopular opinion can mean being arrested, tortured or killed. With thousands of members, the House of Saud doesnt want the state to function independently from it. Its how the royal family maintains complete control.
Srinagar, Jan 25 : Jammu and Kashmir police will be honoured with 108 gallantry awards, the highest ever for the force, on the Republic Day on Sunday. The CRPF has won 76 awards, the second highest.

The awards come on the heels of arrest of DSP Davinder Singh who was arrested while transporting two Hizbul Mujahideen militants and a lawyer to Jammu in a vehicle.

The police say the awards are a recognition of the services rendered by them.

"It is a tribute to police who have been in the forefront of the fight against militancy," Muneer Khan ADGP, Law and Order and Security, told IANS. "J&K police deserves all the accolades for giving unmatched sacrifices in maintaining law and order in J&K." He said J&K police deserves all the honours and it is time to congratulate the policemen and the officers adding that J&K police is a professional organisation and second to none in the world.

The J&K police have come a long way since the early years of militancy when its role was restricted only to burial of militants and people killed by militants.

But after the setting up of special operations group (SOG) in 1993, an elite anti militancy wing of police, the J&K police started taking part in counter terror operations. Over the years, the SOG has emerged as formidable force.

"The police is taking part in all the anti-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir," Farooq Khan, advisor to J&K LT Governor G.C. Murmu told IANS. "Police play an important role in collecting information vital for anti terror operations." Khan said after 1993, police have started taking a lead role in anti militancy operations and became a force to reckon with.

However, sources say, there is resentment in the J&K police after a government order gave powers to R.R. Bhatnagar, a newly appointed advisor to Lt Governor Murmu, in police transfers of officers.

One senior officer said the force is losing its relevance due to this order. "The micromanagement of the police force will now be done at the highest level. It will be extremely disastrous for the police force," he said.

"It will make police rudderless. How could somebody sitting in Delhi micromanage the things better than an officer on the field," he said.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Ernest Marples, Transport Minister under Harold Macmillan's Government, is pictured above with wife Baroness Ruth Marples. A prostitute was paid to dress him in women's clothing and beat him

Few judicial reports become bestsellers but then it is rare for an official inquiry to cover espionage, hypocrisy in high places, sado-masochistic orgies and a mysterious man in a mask.

But such was the Denning Report, the sensational concluding chapter to the Profumo affair, the scandal that convulsed post-war Britain and one that is dramatised in the popular BBC series The Trial Of Christine Keeler.

In the wake of the scandal, Lord Denning, the Master of the Rolls, was commissioned to assess the security risk posed by Keelers notorious relationships with War Minister John Profumo and Yevgeny Ivanov, a Russian spy.

The 1963 Denning Report would also prove to be a landmark: an eye-opening account of the sexual peccadillos enjoyed by some of the most powerful people in the land.

The public was agog to read its accounts of good time girl Keeler, her friend Mandy Rice-Davies and the upper-class sex parties they attended. The report flew off the shelves.

Yet there was one scandal that Denning refused to include in his report  a degrading sexual relationship between a senior Conservative Cabinet Minister and a prostitute. It was a true security risk more serious than anything involving Keeler and one which, had it been known, would almost certainly have toppled the Tory government of the day.

Today, I can reveal compelling evidence that then Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and Lord Denning colluded to suppress a long-standing arrangement between Transport Minister Ernest Marples and a prostitute who was paid to dress him in womens clothing and beat him.

There is good reason to believe that the woman was then paid off to prevent her story appearing in the press.

The official account of the episode remains classified, locked up in government archives for decades to come, but I have obtained the diaries of Dennings secretary, Thomas Critchley, a respected civil servant who recorded the drama as it unfolded.

Dennings investigation into the Profumo scandal had been close to its conclusion when, at 12.15pm on Tuesday, July 9, 1963, a woman calling herself variously Mrs Ann Bailey or Mrs Smith turned up at his Whitehall office as a voluntary witness.

Lord Denning, left, is pictured with Thomas Critchley outside No10 with the report into the Profumo affair. The 1963 Denning Report would also prove to be a landmark: an eye-opening account of the sexual peccadillos enjoyed by some of the most powerful people in the land

She was, wrote Critchley,  40ish, very painted with a bright vivacious manner who spoke quietly and fluently, and plunged straight into her tale. Mrs Bailey told Lord Denning that she had been a full-time prostitute and had been paid for a long sexual relationship with a very senior member of Macmillans Cabinet.

His sexual preferences were unusual and she disclosed them in great detail, including how he brought womens clothes and wore them for their sex sessions, describing their colour and frills.

It was impossible to doubt that she was telling the truth, wrote Critchley after he had heard the womans evidence. Next she described his further tastes of which, she said, whipping was the least sickening.

Before continuing into even more detail, Mrs Bailey looked at Dennings female shorthand writer and suggested she best leave the room as she would not want to hear what came next.

I can reveal compelling evidence that then Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (pictured above) and Lord Denning colluded to suppress a long-standing arrangement between Transport Minister Ernest Marples and a prostitute who was paid to dress him in women's clothing and beat him

To Critchley and the astonished Lord Denning, the prostitute described with perfect composure the ultimate in depravity. His requirements were very difficult and sometimes she had needed an assistant the Ministers habits and requests had got worse.

She also testified that even after their relationship ended, a series of annoying, obscene and filthy letters signed by the Minister with the initial E had reached her, describing the services and practices he still required.

Horrified, Critchley and Denning both reached the same conclusion after Mrs Bailey had departed: Every word of her story was true.

Mrs Bailey recalled servicing the Cabinet Minister on occasions at his luxurious house at 33 Eccleston Square in London.

Her detailed description of the interior of the house was confirmed the following day. Critchley understood the gravity of the information they now possessed: If what Mrs B said was true (and Denning didnt doubt it) [the Minister] was in a worse state than Profumo.

He was exposed to Blackmail (sic) and had been so exposed for years. He could be blackmailed into giving away the countrys secrets knowing what we did, ought we not at once to warn No 10?

The owner of 33 Eccleston Square was the Rt Hon Ernest Marples, Privy Counsellor, Minister for Transport and a former Postmaster General. Today he is remembered for implementing the Beeching cuts to the railway system, for introducing Premium Bonds, and for fleeing the country when under suspicion of tax fraud.

But he was a figure of considerable influence and, as a member of the Privy Council, had access to some of the nations most closely guarded secrets. Privy Counsellors are handpicked for their discretion.

They are informed first if a Prime Minister wants to send troops into action and will normally be given first notice of significant Royal developments involving, for example, the health of the Sovereign.

London in 1963 was a hotbed of spies from the Soviet Union and its satellites, all with instructions to target and blackmail vulnerable politicians, journalists and civil servants. The very fact that Mrs Bailey had come forward showed just how vulnerable to blackmail Marples was.

Critchley was convinced the prostitute had been deliberately encouraged to approach the Denning inquiry by a national newspaper so that once her evidence was authenticated and published in Dennings report, the newspaper would be clear to pay her and publish her life story.

This, in turn, would almost certainly have led to the collapse of the already scandal-ridden government.

As the final test of Mrs Baileys story, Denning decided to mount a confrontation between her and Ernest Marples on the afternoon of August 1.

As they met in Dennings office, Mrs Bailey jumped up, but Marples spoke first. Eh, Ann, he said in a broad Lancashire accent. Youve changed. They shook hands like old friends.

Afterwards, Marples had no doubt that, according to Critchley, Mrs Bailey would do all in her power to gain Lord Dennings acceptance of her story so that, well embroidered, she would be able to sell it for a sensationally large sum of money.

For several days, Lord Denning and Critchley held the governments fate in their hands.

Christine, the day she was freed from jail Tonight's concluding episode of the BBC's The Trial Of Christine Keeler sees the 22-year-old, played by Sophie Cookson, released from Holloway prison after serving half of a nine-month sentence for perjury. On the day Keeler was freed  June 9, 1964  she posed for these photographs by Ray Bellisario in a series of locations. David McCleave, who owns the copyright to the pictures, said: 'She thought they were some of the best pictures she had ever had taken. She told me, 'They're not sexual they show exactly how I feel  it's freedom.' In June 1964 Christine Keeler was released from Holloway prison after serving half of a nine-month sentence for perjury. She is pictured on the day of her release On the day Keeler was freed  June 9, 1964  she posed for these photographs by Ray Bellisario in a series of locations David McCleave, who owns the copyright to the pictures, said: 'She thought they were some of the best pictures she had ever had taken'. She is seen left in a hairdryer, and right posing with a cigarette on the sofa Advertisement

As Critchley recorded in his diary: Lord Dennings dilemma in this situation was acute (his) inquiry had been set up in the first place because confidence in the integrity of public life had been badly shaken by Mr Profumos conduct and the subsequent flood of rumours concerning Ministers.

If he were not to deal faithfully in his report with them he would be accused of covering up and the object of the inquiry would be defeated. Yet if he did attribute names to the rumours he would imperil the life of the whole government.

Denning at first argued for his judicial independence and full publication of the Marples scandal, while Critchley warned him that the revelations could ruin the lives of individuals but could damage the countrys standing both at home and abroad  for the inquiry was attracting international attention.

On August 14, 1963, there was a crisis meeting between the Prime Minister, Critchley, Lord Denning and Macmillans permanent private secretary, Tim Bligh, at Admiralty House. Critchley took his own notes.

The Prime Minister grandly stressed that he did not wish to influence Dennings final report in any way and that he did not want the conduct of particular Ministers relegated to confidential annexes.

Critchleys diary reports that Denning, presumably with fingers crossed behind his back, then told Macmillan that he was satisfied that none of the evidence before him showed that national security had been or might be endangered and he proposed to report this formally. This was an outright lie.

Published in October, the Denning Report enthralled the public with its details of sexual misconduct, which included a sado-masochistic sex party attended by society osteopath Stephen Ward, who had been at the heart of the Profumo scandal, and Mandy Rice-Davies.

A man in a mask had appeared naked except for a masonic apron and a sign saying, If my services dont please  whip me.

But for all the salacious material he did choose to include, Denning failed to name Marpless relationship with Mrs Bailey or to discuss the risks involved.

He balked at warning the Prime Minister that Mrs Baileys appearance before his inquiry could itself have been an attempt to extort money from a senior Cabinet Minister and Privy Counsellor.

He omitted to say that there was a real danger that Marpless degrading sexual relationship with her might well appear in a Sunday newspaper with all the implications for the Conservative government. But then Macmillan already knew that as he had been kept secretly informed throughout.

The Denning Report enthralled the public with its details of sexual misconduct, which included a sado-masochistic sex party attended by society osteopath Stephen Ward, who had been at the heart of the Profumo scandal, and Mandy Rice-Davies. Ward is pictured centre, with Christine Keeler, right

Instead of quizzing Lord Denning for details, the PM hinted at a curious compromise, suggesting to Denning that it might be appropriate at a later stage to write confidentially to the Prime Minister drawing his attention to suspicions of discreditable conduct on the part of Ministers in their private lives.

In other words, Lord Denning could assuage his judicial conscience by informing the PM of Marples behaviour and vulnerability to blackmail  but only after the Profumo storm had passed and in secret. The public would never be told.

The subsequent release of the official archives relating to the Macmillan government in 1994 revealed that the Prime Minister was apprehensive about the contents of Dennings impending report.

He wrote that he did not want to bring his long premiership to an ignoble end I did not wish to go down to history as a Prime Minister who had been drowned by filth which had seeped up from the sewers of London.

On August 2, 1963, Macmillan noted in his diary: I fear that Lord Dennings report will condemn one important Minister this will be another great shock and make my position impossible. In the end, however, Denning decided to defy his brief  and his responsibility to tell the truth  and excluded the Marples story altogether.

To add to the duplicity, he wrote in the report: I would normally regard perverted practices with a prostitute as creating a security risk at any rate if it was of recent date.

Which makes his omission of Marples more deceitful still.

Marples continued in office until the following year. It might seem significant that he and Thomas Critchley became firm friends and spent holidays together.

Marples even sent Critchley a gift of wine thanking him for all his help during this beastly business.

As for Mrs Bailey, why did she fail to sell her sensational story to the News of the World or one of its rivals? Critchleys diaries have nothing to say about this.

But what we do know is this: former Prime Minister Sir John Major, having recently read the full set of Denning papers locked up in the Cabinet Office, deemed them so explosive (the word he used in a private conversation with my contact) that he thought they should remain secret for a 100 years. Sir John declined to comment when I contacted him.

I suspect  although I do not pretend to have the evidence  that the real reason the papers will not be declassified in our lifetime is that Mrs Bailey negotiated a handsome payoff with Lord Denning in return for her silence. What other reason could there be?

Such a deal would have involved taxpayers money buying off a prostitute to keep her quiet to save the government of the day. I calculate that the amount would have been equivalent today to about 250,000. Now that really would have been a scandal.

The Trial Of Christine Keeler concludes on BBC1 tonight at 9pm. Tom Mangolds documentary Keeler, Profumo, Ward And Me is on BBC2 tonight at 10pm.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, January 25, 2020

The Jakarta Police have broken up a suspected child prostitution ring in Penjaringan, North Jakarta.

The police arrested on Jan. 13 six perpetrators and removed 10 suspected victims aged 14-18 years old. Another suspect was arrested on Friday.

The six suspects, who are accused of human trafficking, have been identified only as R or Mami A, Mami T, D or F, TW, A and E. The police have yet to reveal details about the seventh suspect.

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NIA files chargesheet against 7 Khalistani terrorists in case of extortion in Punjab

How this ISIS operative from Mangaluru lured her victims and converted them to Islam

Explained: What the Bhima Koregaon case that the NIA is taking over

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 25: The NIA will take over the probe into the Bhima-Koregaon case. This has irked the Maharashtra government.

What is the Bhima-Koregaon case. Let us find out

The charge:

The Pune police had detailed in a 5,000-page charge sheet a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the naxalites.

In the charge sheet filed, the police said that some of the naxal leaders were conspiring to kill the PM and had planned on procuring arms and ammunition with an intention of waging war against the country.

The police also said that the Maoists are trying to mobilise and incite Dalits and the Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune last December as part of this strategy.

Explained: What is the Preamble of the Indian Constitution

Kashmir shutdown: 2G data services, broadband restored in the Valley| OneIndia News

The violence:

The Maoist-backed conclave "aggravated" the violence at Koregaon Bhima on January 1, the charge sheet said.

The over 5,000-page charge sheet named 10 persons, including activists Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhavale, all arrested on June 6.

Besides, it named five Maoist leaders believed to be underground: Dipak alias Milind Teltumbade, Kishan Da alias Prashant Bose, Prakash alias Rituparn Goswami, Deepu and Manglu.

"Maoist leaders including...Rona Wilson and fugitive Kishan Da were conspiring the assassination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and waging war against the country for which they were planning to procure arms and ammunition," it stated.

The police cited several documents seized from the Maoist leaders to make the claim on Modi's assassination plan.

The larger conspiracy:

The larger conspiracy of CPI (Maoists) was to overthrow the democratic system in the country, and the accused were working in that direction, the charge sheet claimed.

The charge sheet, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and IPC, was filed in the court of District & Sessions Judge Kishor D Vadane here.

The Elgar Parishad had been organised with "inspiration, money and directions" of Maoists, it alleged.

"It is the policy of the CPI (Maoists)... to mobilise Dalit community's sentiments and mislead them and provoke them to take violent path against the system," it said.

"As a part of this strategy, Sudhir Dhavale and other members of Kabir Kala Manch (KKM, a cultural group) spread hatred by giving inciting speeches, presenting distorted history and staging provocative skits and songs," it said.

On the directions of CPI (Maoists) Dhavale and KKM, under the banner of Bhima-Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerana Abhiyan, galvanised Dalit organisations and organised Elgar Parishad on December 31, the charge sheet said.

Explained: What happened to the Kashmir Pandits 30 years ago

Inciting violence:

"During the conclave, inciting speeches were made, inflammatory songs and street plays were played...all these things aggravated the violence on January 1, 2018 at Bhima Koregaon (in Pune district) during 200th commemoration of Bhima Koregaon battle," it said.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Shivaji Pawar, the investigating officer, said Pune Police recorded the statement of surrendered Maoist leader Pahad Singh.

"Singh gave details of Milind Teltumbade's role. He revealed that Teltumbade has the responsibility of spreading Maoist network in urban areas and he is particularly involved in mobilizing the Dalit community for Maoist activities," he said.

Singh's statement is part of the charge sheet.

Vishrambaug police here had initially registered a case on the complaint of Tushar Damgude who alleged that "provocative" speeches at Elgar Parishad led to violence at Bhima Koregaon in which one person was killed.

In August, Pune Police arrested rights activist Sudha Bharadwaj, Telugu poet Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira and Gautam Navlakha in the case. The charge sheet does not name them.

Dalits at a commemoration event of the Bhima Koregaon battle -- in which the forces of the Peshwa, ruler of Pune, were defeated by the British East India Company -- came under attack on January 1.

While Dalits see the victory as an assertion of their identity as the British forces included Mahar (a formerly untouchable caste) soldiers, some Hindu right-wing organisations were opposed to the celebration.
Bridget and Justin ONeill were foster parents to 13 children over a 3-year span before their first child, Edie Rose, was born in October.

Now the support the Red Bank couple offered to others is being extended to them, as their 3-month old daughter awaits a lifesaving liver transplant.

More than 120 people have offered to donate a portion of their liver to Edie, her mother said on Friday, and plans were being made to screen some of the candidates later in the day.

Weve had so many people reach out to us, Bridget ONeill, 28, said by phone from Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia.

Edie, who was airlifted to the hospital Jan. 11, also is on a waiting list for a deceased donor.

Shes not metabolizing normally, Bridget said, adding, the need to do the transplant is urgent.

Bridget and her 31-year-old husband have more experience raising children than the typical first-time parents, though nothing could have prepared them for maintaining a vigil by their daughters bedside in a hospital.

Before getting married in 2015, the couple was living together and taking in foster children - sometimes as many as five at a time, Bridget said.

Their foster children ranged in age from 4 to 13, and some still keep in touch. One just turned 17 and got a drivers license, she said.

She explained that, unlike many other foster parents, they were willing to take in siblings.

Its often hard to place brothers and sisters, she said.

They were no longer housing any foster children when Edie Rose - named for Bridgets father and grandfather, whose first names are Edward - was born Oct. 10.

She was showing signs of jaundice, a yellow discoloration of the skin and eyes that is not uncommon in newborns.

However, Bridget said that her mother, a nurse practitioner, sensed almost immediately that something was wrong.

She was having serious health complications," Bridget said.

Two weeks ago, her symptoms took a dire turn.

Her health deteriorated in 24 hours," Bridget said.

Edie was airlifted to Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, which her mother says does about 20 pediatric liver transplants per year.

Theyve done one on as young as 6 weeks, Bridget said.

In Edies case, the ideal donor would be between the ages of 21 and 30, with blood types 'A' or 'O' and weighing under 100 pounds. In past social media posts, the family has asked anyone who may be a match to email EdieTheExtraordinary@gmail.com to be connected to Edies doctors directly.

They can move very quickly once they find the person that matches," Bridget said.

Recovery time from a liver transplant, if all goes well, can be remarkably swift. She was told about a child who returned to school in 4 weeks.

The human liver is crucial to digestion and, unlike a kidney, has the capacity to regenerate.

Edie weighs only 8 pounds, her mother said.

She a little, tiny peanut ... shes not doing any of the normal baby stuff," she said.

Bridget and Justin ONeill met about a decade ago while working at the former Gaetanos restaurant in Red Bank. She is the principal of Promise Academy Charter School in Manhattan.

While Edie awaits a transplant, Bridget, her husband and mother, Kristine Rovell, are staying at a house near the hospital provided by Gift of Life.

Its been wonderful to be embraced by the community," Bridget said.

Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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January 25 : Director, producer and screenwriter Subhash Ghais also the founder of Whistling Woods International refused to give any opinion on the students of other University. The director expressed that he his more bothered about his university students and their future. He believes in the philosophy of thinking about oneself. He further expressed that the person should think about his or her owns life, rather than bothering about other people's activity. Sheding light on the contibution for the country, one can express their thoughts through their profession and education.

Conversing more on this, Subhash said, "I am least bothered what's happening in other people's life and their activities. And if I am so much concerned , I'll accompany them, rather than chit chatting. I am not a politician to criticize or favour someone. I am a filmmaker and my motive is to concentrate on writing good scripts and making good films. I believe in following the principles of my university accept all and respect all."

Whistling Woods International is a film, communication and creative arts institute located in Mumbai, India. The institute is promoted by the Indian Filmmaker Subhash Ghai, Mukta Arts and Film City Mumbai.

On the occasion of the 75th birthday of filmmaker and Whistling Woods founder Subhash Ghai, the institute organised a grand convocation event where the chief guests honoured the students of the 2019 batch for their stellar performances.

India TV Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma on Friday attended the 12th convocation ceremony of popular film institute Whistling Woods in Mumbai. He, along with legends Salim Khan and Asha Parekh, was the chief guest of the ceremony.
India is learnt to have requested China to allow the remaining Indians in Wuhan to leave the city, the source of the novel Coronavirus and currently under an unprecedented civil lockdown to prevent the outbreak from spreading.

The Indian request comes in the backdrop of the US planning to evacuate its citizens in a chartered flight on Sunday.

The Wall Street Journal reported that US  which has a consulate in Wuhan  has hired a Boeing 767 jet, which carries around 230 people, for the job.

Washington was given approval for the operation from the Chinese foreign ministry, the report added.

Until Saturday evening, 41 had died from virus and the number of confirmed cases rose to 1355 on the mainland, according to the National Health Commission.

Wuhan authorities announced Saturday that Sunday onwards the movement of all vehicles in Wuhan except those deployed for special use such as free buses, official cars and supply transport vehicles will be indefinitely banned.

The tightening of restrictions in Wuhan  which was announced suddenly early on Thursday  has triggered panic and anxiety among the Indian community in the city, who feel they have been stranded in the middle of a serious medical emergency.

Around 250 Indians are still in Wuhan, the capital of the central Chinese Hubei province and city of around 11 million people.

Majority of them have already left the city, mostly flying back to India in the past two weeks for the Lunar New Year (LNY) holidays.

A handful of local Indian residents have helped the Indian embassy to compile a list of their compatriots in the city.

The remaining Indians mostly comprise students and around 50 working individuals.

Among the handful of Indian families based in Wuhan, majority have left, it was learnt.

One fear among community members is that essential supplies in the city will run out as the restrictions have been put in place indefinitely.

Rumours are spreading fast too  one is that the virus is airborne.

Many are confused whether to travel or not at this time since the virus can be transmitted from one human to another.

The two hotline numbers shared in a statement by the Indian embassy have been bombarded with worried phone calls and complaints from not only Indians in Wuhan but from other parts of China as well.

The Indian embassy has started a group for Indian residents remaining in Wuhan through which they are being regularly updated about the situation.

The extraction of the Indians from the locked down city will not be easy, and entirely depends on whether the Chinese authorities allow it.

As of now, outbound trains and flights besides road transport from Wuhan have been indefinitely stopped.

The worry for the local authorities  as well as India  is that more than 90 percent of the Coronavirus cases have been traced to a fish and seafood market in Wuhan.

If evacuated, will all the Indians from Wuhan be quarantined for two weeks? If so where?
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse)  Sat, January 25, 2020 08:06 718 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad2060ec0ca 2 News Helsinki,raising-children,travel,finland,destination Free

The Finnish capital is ranked first in the world's cities for having a family, according to a study performed by Movinga and published by the Daily Mail.

Parental leave, educational quality, healthcare, employment rates, air quality, kid-friendly activities... In all, 16 criteria were taken into account for this study, which was carried out between October 23 and November 19, 2019 in order to determine the world's best cities for having a family. No fewer than 150 destinations were analyzed.

The countries of Scandinavia are often considered to be models for society, and in this ranking there is no exception. Helsinki, Finland wins the gold medal in this study and Oslo, Norway takes the bronze.

Read also: Finland's 'ode' to a new era in libraries

It appears that it's best to bet on countries where temperatures don't climb high for the best possible conditions for raising children. Canada's Quebec City is ranked in second place, and the rest of the overall top 10 are Munich, Germany (4th), Copenhagen, Denmark (5th place), Stockholm, Sweden (6th), Reykjavik, Iceland (7th), Calgary (8th) and Montreal (9th) in Canada, and Gothenburg, Sweden (10th).

American cities came in tops for kids' activities with Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco taking the top three places for that criterion, while Singapore, Calgary and Vancouver were rated highest for education.
Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief, Raj Thackeray has said that his party is going to take out a big rally in Mumbai on 9 February to get illegal infiltrators from Pakistan and Bangladesh out of India. Raj Thackeray announced this while addressing a public meeting at the 'General Meeting' at NESCO Ground here on Thursday.

MNS chief Raj Thackeray has said that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) can be debated, but why should we give shelter to someone who has come into the country illegally. He said that I will meet the Home Minister or Chief Minister of the state on some issues. Muslim clerics of India go to other countries. No one knows what they do there, even when the police cannot go there. At the same time, Raj Thackeray has already said in a press conference in Pune that India is not a hospice.

He had said in the press talks that the infiltrators coming into India illegally from Bangladesh and Pakistan should be evacuated. India has not contracted humanity. There is no need for the Citizenship Amendment Act, because this law will increase the burden on India.

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South Korea's public health authorities announced Saturday that they have designated all of China as a "coronavirus watch" zone as part of efforts to prevent the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus here.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) pledged to safeguard public health as South Koreans celebrate the four-day Lunar New Year holiday. KCDC initially only designated Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, as a place of special interest with extra scrutiny in terms of quarantine procedures for people who arrive from the city.

Details on what measures will be taken will be announced later Saturday, the agency said.

The move to expand the watch zone comes as Seoul confirmed cases of the new coronavirus that causes pneumonia-like illness on Monday and Friday, respectively. It said earlier in the day that it has so far checked 32 other people for the new coronavirus with all testing negative.

"The government is checking all people who are complaining of symptoms with no coronavirus incidents being identified in the past 24 hours," said a KCDC official. She added that none of the 69 people who are under close observation after having come in contact with the country's second confirmed case are showing signs of being ill.

The first confirmed case involved a 35-year-old Chinese woman who arrived at Incheon International Airport, the country's main gateway west of Seoul, from Wuhan with the second being a South Korean who has worked in the city in Hubei Province since April 2019 and returned home after feeling unwell. The 55-year-old man arrived in South Korea on Wednesday with a fever.

The KCDC said the second patient is in stable condition with doctors treating him for a sore throat.

The KCDC plans to expand the areas -- subject to its scrutiny for possible infection -- to the whole of China rather than the affected ones in Hubei Province.
One year ago, I came to Davos and told you that our house is on fire. I said I wanted you to panic. Ive been warned that telling people to panic about the climate crisis is a very dangerous thing to do. But dont worry.

Its fine. Trust me, Ive done this before and I assure you it doesnt lead to anything. And for the record, when we children tell you to panic were not telling you to go on like before. Were not telling you to rely on technologies that dont even exist today at scale and that science says perhaps never will. We are not ...
Whats on TV

THE CAVE (2019) 9 p.m. on National Geographic. There is no endgame here, Ben Kenigsberg said of this documentary in The New York Times. Feras Fayaad, who was born in Syria, directed most of the film remotely, relying on cinematographers to record the lives of Dr. Amani Ballour and her patients in a secret, underground hospital outside Damascus. A hero in the film and in her community, Ballour is one of the rare women doctors in the country, and she is constantly challenged for it. This is the least of her worries in the hospital, known as the cave. Above ground  where war planes are zooming overhead  the demolition caused by bombings, malnutrition and chemical attacks brings Syrians of all ages to her care, where all she can do is her best.

UFOS: TOP SECRET EVIDENCE REVEALED 8 p.m. on History. This feature adds to one of Americas favorite conspiracy theories, and aims to expose any government involvement with and knowledge of extraterrestrial life. By presenting never-before-seen evidence  a manual called SOM 1-01  experts discuss the possibility of a U.F.O. cover-up by the government and question if everything weve been told about aliens is true.

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JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon will be Wall Street's best-paid banking chief for a fifth year in a row after scooping 24.1million.

The 63-year-old's package for 2019, up from 23.7million in 2018, takes his pay in the past five years to a staggering 112.3million.

The latest pay bonanza comes in a year JP Morgan posted the biggest annual profit of any US bank in history  27.8billion.

JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon (pictured with his wife Judith) earned 24.1m in 2019 up from 23.7m in 2018, taking his pay in the past five years to a staggering 112.3m

The bank, America's biggest by assets, also saw its shares climb by more than 40 per cent during 2019.

Having fallen as low as $15 during the financial crisis, they are now trading at $133.

City commentator David Buik, of Core Spreads, said: 'Jamie Dimon is the King of Wall Street. His stewardship of the bank has gone from strength to strength.'

Dimon has been running JP Morgan since 2005 and was credited with guiding it through the financial crisis relatively unscathed, building what he described as a 'fortress balance sheet'.

But he has been rocked by a series of scandals in recent years.

JP Morgan lost 4.3billion after trades by the so-called 'London whale' Bruno Iksil turned sour in 2012.

Dimon initially dismissed the mounting losses at the bank's London offices as a 'tempest in a teapot'.

But despite his troubles, Dimon is the only boss of a major bank to have kept his post since the 2008 crash and has been the best-paid Wall Street bank chief of the past four years.

And although others are yet to have their packages confirmed, he is expected to retain the crown this time as well.

Barclays bankers face bonus cuts Investment bankers at Barclays are braced for big cuts to their bonuses. Following criticism from activist investor Edward Bramson, chief executive Jes Staley is said to be squeezing pay to help the lender hit profit targets. Top-five shareholder Bramson was highly critical of Barclays' investment bank and pushed for it to be closed. It has prompted Barclays to slash the amount of cash available for bonuses, as Staley seeks to boost profitability. The bank has tried to make pay comparable to Wall Street rivals overall. But despite this bankers are now expecting double-digit falls in their 2019 bonuses, according to the Financial Times. Last year the bonus pool rose 9 per cent to 1.65billion. One source reportedly said: 'We are not asking people to get slaughtered, but it will be noticeable.' A Barclays spokesman declined to comment.

His closest competitor previously was James Gorman, 61, the boss of Morgan Stanley who received 22.2million.

But Gorman's annual pay was cut to 20.6million last week.

Santander UK boss Nathan Bostock was the best-paid bank chief in Britain with 6.4million in 2018.

JP Morgan has said Dimon's pay, which includes a fixed 1.2million salary and 3.8million annual bonus is largely tied to his performance.

The Harvard University graduate, who is chairman and chief executive of the bank, delivered a 12 per cent increase in profits and 43 per cent share price rise last year.

The stock ended 2019 at a record high of $140, giving the bank a market value of more than 335billion.

Despite previously saying he expected to step down in 2023, Dimon has recently hinted he could stay beyond that date.

British single mother Marianne Lake, JP Morgan's finance chief, has long been considered a leading contender to succeed Dimon when he retires. But after 15 years at the helm, some have suggested the executive has deliberately frustrated succession plans.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this week, he said: 'When and if we ever set an actual retirement date, we'll let you know.'

Dimon, who began his career at American Express in 1982, shielded JP Morgan from much the financial crisis by unloading 9billion of risky sub-prime mortgages in 2006, before they sent markets into meltdown.

And the married father-of-three was later dubbed Barack Obama's 'favourite banker', after the former president repeatedly sought his advice.

When another banking boss tried explaining the sector to Obama during a 2009 meeting, the weary president was said to have cut him off and replied: 'I'll talk to Jamie.'
Top 10 things you must know before the market opens today

Daily Voice | Banks, Metals, IT among 6 sectors likely to report double-digit profit growth in Q3FY2...

The S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty50 fell 0.8 percent respectively for the week ended January 24 while the S&P BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.73 percent, and the S&P BSE Small-cap index rose 0.93 percent in the same period.

Small and mid-caps outperformed despite the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) below 5 percent India GDP forecast for 2019-20 and subdued banking sector results which triggered profit-taking on D-Street and pushed benchmark indices lower.

The Nifty Mid-cap 100/Nifty Small-cap 100 rose 0.9 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. Market sentiments were also supported by the huge buying seen from foreign investors.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) pumped in nearly Rs 2,000 crore in the past two trading sessions of the week, provisional data showed. Global cues also supported the sentiment after the World Health Organisation (WHO) designated the coronavirus infection an emergency for China, but not yet for the rest of the world.

The market recovered in the second half of the week which suggests that bulls have not given up yet and we could see a continuation of the rally in the coming week.

The Nifty50 closed in the negative for the week ended January 24 but it managed to reclaim 12,200 levels which is a positive sign for the bulls after hitting a swing low of 12,087 in the week gone by.

Nifty formed a Bullish Candle on a daily chart whereas Bearish Engulfing gets formed on Weekly scale, and negated its formation of lower highs after four trading sessions which indicates the strength, suggest experts.

Market would trade cautiously as a lot of macro data on the global and domestic front would be announced along with the Union Budget. Momentum oscillator RSI also took support around its recent swing lows of 44  46 zone and turned northwards, Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Private told Moneycontrol.

Going forward, if Nifty holds above 12150 levels, then an up move towards 12,300 and 12,350 cannot be ruled out. However, major support remains intact at 12,100 and 12,050 levels, he said.

On the options front, maximum Put open interest (OI) is placed at 12,000 followed by 12,200 strikes, while maximum Call OI is placed at 12,500 followed by 12,300 strikes.

A good amount of writing was seen in 12,200 and 12,250 Put options; while marginal Call writing is seen at 12,450 followed by 12,350 strikes. Options data indicates a trading range between 12,000 to 12,500 zones.

India VIX fell down by 1.89 percent at 15.56 levels. However, volatility likely to stay higher ahead of the upcoming Union Budget, suggest experts.

Nifty formed a Bullish Candle on daily chart whereas Bearish Engulfing gets formed on Weekly scale, which implies that supply is visible at higher levels; but at the same time decline is being bought into, as per Chandan Taparia, Vice President, Analyst-Derivatives at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Momentum oscillator RSI has also taken support around its recent swing lows of 44-46 zone and turned northwards. Going forward, if Nifty holds above 12,150 levels, then an up move towards 12,300 and 12,350 cannot be ruled out. However, major support remains intact at 12,100 and 12,050 levels, he said.

Disclaimer: 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.
Terming his participation in the recently held World Economic Forum (WEF) as the cheapest official visit, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan disclosed that his trip was sponsored by two of his friends and well-known businessmen Ikram Sehgal and Imran Chaudhry, it was reported on Saturday.

Addressing the Breakfast at Davos, an event jointly organised by Pathfinder Group and Martin Dow Group on Thursday, Khan said his trip cost 10 times less than those of the previous leaders, Dawn news said in a report.

He recalled that his trip to the UN General Assembly last November was the least costly with $160,000 as compared to former President Asif Zardaris $1.4 million expenditure, former premier Nawaz Sharifs $1.3 million and even $800,000 of former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

Thanking Sehgal, a retired military officer and chairman of the Pathfinder Group, Khan said: He is instrumental in getting me here. Otherwise, I would not have burdened my government to pay a sum of $450,000 for two nights.

It is perhaps the first time that the expenses of a Prime Ministers official travel have been covered by private citizens or businessmen.

Reiterating that this was an austerity programme, Khan said the government should rely on the over nine million Pakistanis residing overseas.

The GDP of those nine million overseas Pakistanis in my opinion is almost 50 per cent of Pakistans (overall) GDP of 200 million people. So we can use this resource and they can sponsor these things, he said.

The premier said he had also stopped his ministers from going on junkets, Dawn news reported.

Whenever they say they want to go somewhere, I immediately cancel the trip until they convince me that it will be productive for the country. I dont allow them to go anywhere, he said.

To be able to attend the WEF annual meeting, a person has to be invited - in which case the event is free - or has to be a member of the Forum.

A membership of the WEF costs about $60,000 to $600,000, plus an additional fee needed to acquire an attendance badge, which runs about $27,000 per person to get into the conference.
Bill White, 104, has asked the public for Valentine's Day cards for his memory collection. He has received tens of thousands of them.

STOCKTON, Calif.  Diane Wright opened the door of an apartment at The Oaks at Inglewood, the assisted care facility in Stockton where she is the executive director.

Inside, three people busily went through postal trays crammed with envelopes near a table heaped with handmade gifts, military memorabilia, blankets, quilts and candy.

Operation Valentine has generated a remarkable outpouring of support from around the world for retired U.S. Marine Maj. Bill White. Earlier this month, a resident at The Oaks, Tony Walker, posted a request on social media to send Valentines Day cards to the 104-year-old World War II veteran and recipient of the Purple Heart. Walker believed White would enjoy adding the cards to his collection of memorabilia. The response has been greater than anyone ever thought possible.

I wasnt expecting anything like this, White said. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I still cant get over it.

Up until about a week or two ago, I was leading a quiet life. ... Now all of a sudden all hell has broken loose.

The goal of Operation Valentine was 10,000 cards. On Tuesday alone, 28 trays with 400 to 500 cards in each, about 14,000 total pieces of mail, were delivered by the U.S. Postal Service to The Oaks, where a vacant apartment near Whites has been turned into a makeshift mail room. In little more than a week, more than 20,000 cards and easily 200 packages have arrived, and more are delivered every day.

Pegasus Senior Living, which manages The Oaks, has joined in by asking each of its 37 communities to send cards to The Oaks or its corporate office in Dallas.

A lot of these letters are mentioning I have a father or a brother or a son in the military, Whites daughter, Mary Huston, said as she went through a tray of mail along with Walker and Whites granddaughter, Leah Schroeder, who was holding her 8-month-old daughter, one of Whites three great-granddaughters, Eloise. Its kind of a way to thank maybe those that have passed already. They cant thank them personally, so theyre doing it through him.

Story continues

Mary Huston sorts through some of cards that her father, 104-year-old retired Marine Major Bill White, has received for Valentine's Day.

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People of all ages have responded, including a 16-year-old.

You probably wont pick me, said Huston, recalling what the teenagers letter said. So, I pulled that one out because I wanted to answer that one. I wish I could answer all of them, but its just not realistic.

Huston said she and her family will do their best to express their appreciation by mail or social media.

Based on what has been collected already and with three weeks remaining to Valentines Day, Walker estimates some 100,000 cards, letters and gifts from people all over the world, many who dont know or ever will meet Maj. White, could arrive.

Its overwhelming, to say the least, Huston said.

104-year-old Marine Major Bill White, retired, has asked the public for Valentines Day cards for his memory collection. So far, he's received tens of thousands of them.

Inside Whites immaculate apartment are reminders of his military service and his travels around the world. White, who is believed to be the oldest living Marine, served on active duty for 30 years and has been retired from the Marines 55 years. He received the Purple Heart for injuries from a grenade blast in the Battle of Iwo Jima.

The force just picked me up and slammed me back against a wall, White said.

Above his bed draped with a U.S. Marines blanket hangs the iconic photograph of five U.S. Marines and a Navy corpsman raising the second American flag atop Mount Suribachi on the tiny island of Iwo Jima, an enduring image of World War II.

There was a 500-foot cliff there that it was on top of, White said. At that time I didnt know they were taking the picture a second time. I was directly underneath 500 feet down when that picture was taken.

White has led a colorful life, Huston said. When he got out of high school, he wasnt sure what he wanted to do. He loved trains and decided to travel by rail and find jobs along the way. White enlisted in the Marines but was not accepted. He worked on the Hoover Dam in south Nevada, then tried to enlist with the Marines again. This time he was accepted. Huston said her father went through paratrooper school, crossed the equator on the USS Colorado, became a shellback and fought in World War II and served during the Korean War.

After he retired from the Marine Corps, White worked for the Huntington Beach Police Department as a reserve officer then as a full-fledged officer and eventually became a jailer. White volunteered 30 years with the Boys Scouts Explorer Post 563 that became Huntington Beach Search and Rescue.

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White moved to Stockton for health reasons 15 years ago and has been a resident at The Oaks for about four years, he said.

This shows how much love and appreciation people have for our military and for our country, and its heartwarming to see that, Huston said.

Ive been a Marine for 85 years now  30 years active, 55 years retired, White said. So, if they feel like it, they could call me back on active duty anytime. Im still on the list.

Follow Bob Highfill on Twitter: @bobhighfill

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: WWII vet in California receives nearly 100k Valentine's Day cards
The coronavirus spreading in China is a US provocation, LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky expressed confidence at a meeting with students and teachers of the Institute of World Civilizations on Tatyana's Day.

Is it really a new type of virus or a provocation? The US is one to blame. The economy. Americans are afraid that they will not be able to overtake China or at least be at one level, he said.

According to the politician, such provocations are not new. As an example, Zhirinovsky cited bird flu and British beef that "someone did not like." Within a month, everything will be over. It was a provocation. Medications were bought up, someone became a billionaire. They mainly live in Switzerland, RIA Novosti quotes Zhirinovsky as saying.
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A coalition of various human rights and civil rights groups has said it will hold protest rallies in several cities in the US on January 26, demanding repeal of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

In Washington DC, the coalition will hold a rally from the premises near the Indian Embassy to the White House.

The group, mostly comprising Indian Americans, would also hold protest rallies in front of the Indian Consulates in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta and Houston.

"We demand that the Govt. of India immediately move Parliament to repeal CAA and immediately terminate its plans for an NPR and NRC," the group said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Indian-American Muslim Council, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Emgage Action, and Hindus for Human Rights on Friday announced to hold a Congressional briefing on the CAA at the US capitol on January 27.

At the briefing, a panel of top experts from the US and India - including from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch - will offer detailed analysis and perspective on CAA, organisers said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The ministry urged the travellers to cut their further travelling plans in case they felt sick and had fever, cough and cold. It also gave various helpline numbers in case of sickness or help required.

New Delhi, Jan 25 (IANS) The Health Ministry on Saturday issued a travel advisory to those visiting China from India or coming back from there in the wake of the outbreak of the contagious novel coronavirus.

The advisory, posted on the Twitter handle of the Health Ministry, said travellers to China are advised to avoid all "no-essential travel to China" and to "avoid close contact with people showing symptoms of illness such as cough, running nose etc".

"The travellers to China should follow simple public health measures all the time." The advisory suggested observing good personal hygiene, practice frequent hand washing with soap. Follow respiratory etiquette - cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing.

The ministry also urged all travellers to China to monitor their health closely and said "during your stay in China, if you feel sick and have a fever and cough seek medical attention immediately. Report to Indian Embassy in China (+8618612083629 and +8618612083617)"

The advisory said that if a traveller was feeling sick on the flight while coming back to India they must "inform the airlines crew about the illness".

It also stated "immediately report facts to the airport health office or immigration office on helpline number (01123978046)." It also asked the traveller to inform the airline crew about illness.

"If you feel sick within the span of one month after return from China immediately call the helpline (011-23978046) and follow the direction issued," the notification read.

The advisory stated that one should maintain effective isolation at home and with others in case of symptoms. It asked the people to report the illness to the nearest health facility and also inform the treating doctor regarding their travel history.

According to the notification, a total of 1,287 cases and 41 deaths have been reported so far in 29 provinces of China including districts and cities. In addition to it, 28 cases had been confirmed outside China mainland that constituted 5 cases in Hong Kong, 2 cases in Macao, Vietnam and France, 3 cases in Taiwan, 4 cases in Thailand out of which, two were cured. One out of two cases in Japan had also been cured, the ministry said.

There had been two cases in South Korea as well as in the US, 3 cases in Singapore and one in Nepal.

"The mode of transmission is yet unclear but the evidence points to human to human transmission occurring between close contacts through respiratory route," said the ministry, adding "the clinical signs and symptoms are mainly fever with a few patients having difficulty in breathing".

sfm/pgh/bg
Vice President Venkaiah Naidu met Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro on Saturday and discussed various issues such as terrorism, cyber security, trade and investment, an official statement said.

"Both leaders highlighted the shared values of democracy and pluralism and held discussions on matters such as combating terror, cyber security, trade and investment, science and technology, food security and parliamentary cooperation among others," said the statement issued by Vice President's Office.

Stating that India cherishes its partnership with Brazil in IBSA and BRICS, Naidu reiterated India's commitment to strengthen and deepen ties between the two nations further, according to the statement.

While IBSA is a dialogue forum of India, Brazil and South Africa, BRICS is an informal group of states comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

"The Vice President appreciated the fact that the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies held a special session on the importance of yoga in daily life on the occasion of the 5th International Day of Yoga last year," it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Six people were killed and two were seriously injured after a shooting on Friday in southwestern German town of Rot am See.

A 26-year-old gunman fired several shots in a building near the local train station and surrendered to police, according a local police spokesperson.

The victims were said to be related to the gunmen, his 65-year-old father, 56-year-old mother, two men aged 36 and 69, two women aged 36 and 62. In addition, a man and a woman were heavily injured by gun fire.

There were no indications of others involved in the crime.

Local police chief Reiner Moeller said he assumed it as a family drama and the man's motive was still unclear.

The gunman previously had made no criminal offense, said Moeller.

More than 100 officers were deployed to the crime scene and the surrounding areas were temporarily cordoned off.

Rot am See is a small town of some 5,000 residents in Germany's southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemburg.




(Bloomberg) -- Senator Bernie Sanders has jumped to the lead in Iowa over Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden, while support for Elizabeth Warren has slipped, according to a New York Times/Siena poll released on Saturday. The poll showed a wide margin of error, with many voters still open to switching their choice in the final days before the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses are held Feb. 3.Sanders had the support of 25% of likely caucus-goers, up six points since the previous version of the survey in late October  chiefly at the expense of fellow progressive Warren. Hes pulled ahead of former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Buttigieg at 18% and former Vice President Biden at 17%. Warren was at 15%, down from 22% in October, and Senator Amy Klobuchar was at 8%, days after the two U.S. Senators received a joint endorsement from the newspaper. Even with Sanders in the lead, the poll showed that 55% of those surveyed preferred a Democratic standard-bearer who is more moderate than most Democrats against 38% who wanted one who is more liberal than most. Voters were split on whether to support a candidate they agreed with on most issues, or one who has the best chance to beat President Donald Trump in Novembers general election. The survey of 1,689 registered voters in Iowa, including 584 Democratic caucus-goers, was conducted Jan. 20-23 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percentage points for the Democratic caucus electorate and 2.8 percentage points for registered voters. A RealClearPolitics average of recent Iowa polls shows Biden and Sanders essentially neck-and-neck followed by Buttigieg and Warren. (Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)

This post is part of Campaign Update, our live coverage from the 2020 campaign trail.

To contact the author of this story: Ros Krasny in Washington at rkrasny1@bloomberg.net

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To contact the editor responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net

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LOS ANGELES - Before sunrise one day in December, thieves sneaked into Anshu Pathak's exotic meat farm in Riverside County and pulled off a singular heist.

Someone cut away a section of fence. The evidence, Pathak said, suggests that they backed a trailer into the gap and lured up to 30 llamas and 160 ostriches inside. Also, emus, lambs, goats, alpacas and geese.

Then, they were gone. Animal control officers and sheriff's deputies wrangled about 50 additional llamas and emus that had spilled into the street. Another emu was found the next day wandering near Highway 74.

Days later, against the backdrop of the snow-capped San Bernardino Mountains, Pathak inspected the hastily patched gash in the barrier surrounding his Perris property. He was upset, sure. Yet he couldn't help but appreciate the Noah-like coordination it took to make off with such a large menagerie of animals.

"It must be organized, you know," Pathak said. "They planned it nicely."

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The burglary was weeks in the making, coming after controversy over the 14-acre farm, which animal rights activists allege is keeping livestock in inhumane conditions. Pathak has denied this, and he has the backing of animal control officers who said they visited every day for weeks; each inspection revealed no sign of neglect.

But from the activists' standpoint, these weren't thieves who took Pathak's prized animals. They were liberators.

Animal rights organizations call these operations "open rescues." They go undercover and shoot video of a location where they believe animals are being neglected or abused before entering the property, en masse.

Such operations have a rich history in California.

In 1985, a group called the Animal Liberation Front broke into scientific laboratories at the University of California, Riverside and took more than 450 animals, including a rare monkey, in what was described at the time as the biggest "rescue" raid of its kind in history.

More recently, six activists with a Berkeley organization called Direct Action Everywhere were charged with felony theft, burglary and conspiracy offenses on allegations of seizing chickens during rescues at farms in Sonoma County in 2018. They have all pleaded not guilty and have preliminary hearings scheduled later this year.

Groups such as Direct Action Everywhere openly publicize their rescues, often livestreaming them on Facebook, and make no effort to conceal participants' identities.

No one has come forward to claim responsibility for the Dec. 30 break-in at Pathak's farm. But 10 days before it took place, a Sherman Oaks nonprofit called the Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation issued a call for volunteers via Facebook.

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"We will be doing a mass rescue this weekend, and will need help from those local to Los Angeles," the post read. "There is a place in Riverside, where over a hundred animals are being kept. These animals are suffering, and appear to be housed on an abandoned lot. Animal Hope and Wellness has been investigating the scene, and due to the horrifying conditions have chosen to take action."

Video from the property shows emus and geese wandering around a collection of overturned buckets and wheelbarrows, skirting an armless mannequin and a discarded toilet. At one point, volunteers step gingerly over the decomposing carcass of at least one large animal that's partially buried in the dirt.

"There are well over a hundred animals. Geese, emus, donkeys, goats, alpacas, ostriches, dogs with no access to running water, dying and starving," the post read. "In addition to needing trailers and volunteers, we will need a place to take some of the animals."

The organization did not respond to requests for comment.

Pathak is reluctant to attribute blame to an animal rights organization; he thinks it's more likely that the spotlight it turned on his operation attracted other, more criminally minded opportunists.

"An animal activist is an animal activist," he said firmly. "A thief is a thief."

Pathak can't fathom why anyone would believe his animals need rescuing.

"Have you ever seen any farm like this?" he asked while leading a reporter on a tour of the property. "Have you seen this open farm with this many birds happy, food, running around?"

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One by one, he introduced them like relatives at a family reunion. There was a water buffalo named Gorgeous: "She'll come to you, she's very loving." An appaloosa llama, its snowy fur spotted with brown: "That's the most beautiful, that girl." A particularly impressive ostrich that stands 9 feet tall. A "French beautiful chicken."

Pathak says that any farm of a comparable size is bound to have livestock deaths, adding that male llamas and ostriches tend to fight with each other during breeding season and that his animals live with minimal human interference.

"They might kill me in front of you, you never know," he said. "This is real wild life."

But he strongly denies the allegations of neglect. Though he lives in Las Vegas, he says he visits the farm about twice a month and makes his workers send him time-stamped photos of the hose that connects to its well to make sure the water source is free of plankton and moths. The animals are fed 16,000 to 20,000 pounds of alfalfa and grain each week, he says.

"Understand one thing: I raise animals for meat," he said. "So if I don't feed my animals, how am I going to get the meat out of them?"

What Pathak has taken to calling "the drama" began in early December, he says, when an animal activist who lives in San Jacinto approached one of two caretakers who live on the farm full time and offered to gather donations for the animals.

But in soliciting the fundraising via Facebook, the woman made the situation seem desperate, "as if we are poor and we don't have money to feed these guys," Pathak said. He believes she also used the encounter as an opportunity to covertly photograph and videotape his land.

Other activists then picked up on the claims.

In mid-December, Kris Kelly, who runs a Beverly Hills animal rescue nonprofit called the Kris Kelly Foundation, posted on Facebook photographs taken from the street that showed emus and llamas standing near large puddles of water after a recent rain. She shared the farm's address and questioned why Riverside authorities weren't "doing anything to help these animals that are being STARVED and dropping dead left and right."

The Riverside County Department of Animal Services was inundated with complaints, spokesman John Welsh said.

"I bring up that post because it led to this onslaught of apparently some activism on social media," Welsh said. "And it appears some people might have taken matters into their own hands."

In a phone interview, Kelly said that she had never been to the farm but that someone sent her the photos in a private Facebook message complaining of the conditions there.

"It was just somebody, I don't know who they were," she said. "They just wanted me to post so they could get attention toward it."

About a week later, the Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation posted the video with a call for volunteers. The well-known animal rescue nonprofit counts celebrities as supporters and reported nearly $2.1 million in gross receipts on its 2017 federal tax return, the most recent year for which a filing was available.

The post received 1,200 reactions and was shared 785 times.

"Seven hundred and eighty-five shares," Pathak said, shaking his head. "So how many people think I am a bad guy?"

Pathak was born in India and raised vegetarian as part of his Hindu Brahmin upbringing.

Then he made the unlikely transition to a carnivore, moved to the U.S. and founded Exotic Meat Market in 1989 - selling everything from alligator to zebra, he says proudly. He has run the farm in Perris for the last seven years.

But his animals haven't always occupied the entire lot. The trash-strewn portion of the property where the video was shot doesn't actually belong to him; it's adjacent to one parcel he owns and a second that he leases, he said.

The previous tenants departed in a hurry, leaving behind remnants of an agricultural operation including a discarded drip irrigation system and a collection of ramshackle outbuildings, and the land became overgrown by weeds. Pathak says the landlord declined repeated requests to clean up the property or sell it to him.

So last January, he removed a fence separating his farm from the lot and let his animals graze in the area.

"If those weeds are here and if there's a fire, I don't want my animals to get burned like Australia," he said.

Riverside County Code Enforcement is working with Pathak and the landlord to clear up land-use violations related to four open cases, one each for excessive animals, excess outside storage, a non-permitted mobile home and an occupied recreational vehicle, county spokeswoman Brooke Federico said. Pathak also said that he's started spending some of his own money to clean up the space and that his landlord has promised to bring in some trash containers in the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, it is the cluttered front portion of the property that abuts busy Orange Avenue, so the animals grazing among the debris are the first thing that passers-by see.

And there are a lot of passers-by - even more than usual since the claims against Pathak went viral on social media.

On Jan. 8, a small throng of spectators had pulled their cars over to the shoulder of Orange Avenue to take pictures of the giant birds that clustered near the fence. Before long, a Riverside County Sheriff's deputy stopped to tell them to move along.

Inside the farm, an ostrich was chasing Officer Lupe Villa, of the Riverside County Department of Animal Services, through an open area for the birds to run that the caretakers call "the danger zone." One of the caretakers was trying to wave off the large bird with an even larger stick.

Villa had been called to the property to investigate yet another complaint, a daily occurrence since the controversy took root last month. He'll continue to come as long as people keep calling.

"We are a complaint-driven organization that responds to allegations of abuse," Welsh said. "But I can't stress enough that we have not seen any level of neglect or abuse on this property."

As for the missing animals?

"Everybody has their own story," Pathak said. "The real story is something else."

---

(c)2020 Los Angeles Times

Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A 27-year-old father has been charged with the murder of his four-month-old son after the baby suffered 'catastrophic brain injuries'.

Tiaan Burger, from Gladstone in Queensland, was arrested on Friday over the death of son Finnick Hercules Burger on January 15.

Finnick was taken to a Gladstone hospital by paramedics before being airlifted to Brisbane Children's Hospital on January 13.

Police said the baby had suffered 'multiple injuries', including 'catastrophic' injuries to the brain.

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Tiaan Burger, from Gladstone in Queensland, was arrested on Friday over the death of son Finnick Hercules Burger (pictured) on January 15

Burger appeared in a professionally-filmed 'Maternity Story' video (pictured) alongside his wife

Burger appeared in a professionally-filmed 'Maternity Story' video alongside his wife Megan where he spoke about fathering a son, The Sunday Mail reported.

'Having a son is something that kinda can't be replaced with anything else,' he said.

The young couple said Finnick was the only name they could agree on.

In an Instagram post last week, friend and professional photographer Laura Jarram paid tribute to the baby with a picture she snapped after his birth.

'You came into this world such a handsome little boy, but the universe decided that you were just too handsome for our earth,' she wrote.

'So hard to comprehend that just months ago I saw your little face for the first time and we had started making plans to photograph your first birthday and now your family are saying goodbye, way too soon.

Tiaan Burger, from Gladstone in Queensland, was arrested on Friday over the death of son Finnick Hercules Burger on January 15. Finnick was taken to a Gladstone hospital by paramedics before being airlifted to Brisbane Children's Hospital (pictured) on January 13

'I wish you so much love on your journey through the afterlife, please always watch over your beautiful mother, father and sister.'

A Queensland Ambulance Services spokesperson said paramedics had responded to a Sun Valley house for a reported medical episode involving an infant on January 12 at 5.24pm.

Burger was remanded in custody after the matter was mentioned in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Saturday.

Burger's defence lawyer Brendan Ryan said his client would fight the murder charge.

'The medical evidence is questionable so we are going to contest the medical evidence because we think there is another medical explanation for the baby's passing,' he told The Sunday Mail.

'The police haven't focused on the potential adverse physical reactions (the child could have had) having had his four-month injections three days beforehand.'

He is due to appear again on February 17.
Porter Warner Ill passed peacefully surrounded by beloved family on Wednesday, January 22, 2020.

Mr. Warner, a Lookout Mountain native, was a long-time resident of Signal Mountain, where he enjoyed life with his devoted wife of 56 years, Barbara Dalton Warner.



In addition to Barbara, Porter is survived by their daughters, Elizabeth Warner Stewart (Bob) and Anna Warner Turley (Lloyd) of Signal Mountain. The Warner grandchildren include granddaughters: Mary Landress Stewart, Grace Gilman Stewart, Elizabeth "Ella" Wells Stewart, Elizabeth Henley Turley and grandson, Lloyd Sanders Turley Jr., all of Signal Mountain.



Also surviving are beloved siblings: brother, Doug Warner and wife, Sandra of Lookout Mountain and sister, Mimi Warner Iversen and husband, Judd of Belmont CA. Surviving siblings-in-law include Lis Warner, Anna Dalton Overend and husband, Bill, Suzy Dalton and Robert Dalton. A host of cousins, nieces, nephews and dear friends also survive.



In addition to his parents, Porter Warner Jr. and Jane Gilman Warner, Mr. Warner was preceded in death by a brother, Joseph Henley Warner.



A graduate of Bright School, Mr. Warner was a member of the 1954 graduating class of Baylor School. Mr. Warner remained an active alumnus of both institutions. Upon graduation from Baylor School, he attended The Citadel. Recently shared from his personal journal is the quote "I shall always be indebted for the two years of my college life spent at The Citadel, learning the importance of rules and regulations, as well as the need for discipline...all of which are the educational essentials for constructive and orderly living." Mr. Warner graduated from the University of Chattanooga (UTC), in 1959, where he was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Mr. Warner served the Chattanooga Cotton Ball as a 1958 King.



Mr. Warner honorably served his great nation in the U.S. Army, fulfilling his patriotic commitment, in 1962. He remained an American patriot, passionately committed to the founding ideals of the United States.



A devout Christian, Mr. Warner was a devoted member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, having served for many years as Financial Secretary, Vice Chairman and Director of the Board of Laymen's Ministry. Additional service included leadership roles on the Church Parish Planning Council and the Chattanooga Mission Council. Mr. Warner was a guest member of the Marion Gaston Prayer Group of First Presbyterian Church. Other memberships included The Navy League of the United States, Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, Tennessee Historical Society, Chattanooga Zoo at Warner Park, Friends of the Chattanooga-Chickamauga Military Park and The Citadel Alumni Association.



Mr. Warner was an accomplished photographer, having enjoyed his passion for decades. He especially enjoyed the development of his own photographic content from "film" negatives. Additionally, Mr. Warner was an avid train enthusiast and model railroad builder and collector. Mr. Warner was most scholarly in matters related to history, geography and current events. Rarely would he miss an opportunity to engage others in conversation regarding same. Among his most endearing attributes was his keen sense of humor. Bright smiles and hardy laughter were hallmarks of his gracious personality befitting of the consummate southern gentleman.



Early in his career, Mr. Warner was employed with the Gilman Paint and Varnish Company. He later retired as a sales and technical consultant with Porter Warner Industries. Professional memberships included The Steel Structures Painting Council (having served as Treasurer of the Tennessee Chapter) and long-term association with The Painting and Decorating Contractors of America.



The Warner family remains most appreciative of the compassionate medical services provided by the offices of Edward R. Arrowsmith MD and David B. Elias MD and the domestic healthcare provided by Priscilla Konsavage.



The family will receive friends on Saturday, Jan. 25, from 37 p.m. at Chattanooga Funeral Home, East Chapel. Funeral services will be conducted on Sunday, Jan. 26, at 1:30 p.m., at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, with visitation one hour prior to services.



In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Porter Warner III Youth Ministry Fund, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 822 Belvoir Avenue, East Ridge, TN 37412.



Arrangements are under the care of Chattanooga Funeral Home Crematory and Florist East Chapel, 404 South Moore Road, East Ridge, Tn. 37412.



Please share your thoughts and memories at www.ChattanoogaEastChapel.com.






The first presumptive case of coronavirus in Canada has been identified at Torontos Sunnybrook hospital, Ontarios chief medical officer of health said Saturday.

A 50-year-old man, who returned from a trip to Wuhan, China, on Wednesday, called 911 the next day and was taken by ambulance to Sunnybrook with a fever and cough. Tests came back positive for coronavirus on Saturday and the man is now being treated in isolation in a negative pressure room at the hospital.

Officials described the mans illness as mild and said he was in stable condition, showing early signs of improvement.

Emergency and medical workers were aware of the patients travel history and took all precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, said Dr. David Williams, the chief medical officer.

The risk to Ontarians is still low, he told a press conference at Queens Park on Saturday.

Sunnybrook hospital remains open and continues to operate normally. In a statement Saturday, the hospital assured the public that it is safe for all patients and visitors.

Heath officials around the world are working to contain the coronavirus, known as 2019-nCoV, which as of late Saturday had infected nearly 2,000 people and led to 56 deaths in China, where it originated. Despite its rapid spread, as of Saturday the virus had not been declared an international public health emergency by the World Health Organization.

Toronto is well prepared for an outbreak, officials said, noting the province and Toronto Public Health are collaborating using protocols developed after the SARS outbreak more than a decade ago.

The system is working, Williams said. People did what they were supposed to do.

Dr. Jerome Leis, Sunnybrooks medical director of infection prevention and control, noted the patient showed some early signs of improvement on Saturday.

We know that the patients who do get worse, that can be after a few days, and so were still providing active medical care and the patient remains (quarantined), he said.

The Toronto mans diagnosis was confirmed by a local laboratory, but the coronavirus cannot be officially confirmed without a second test at the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases in Winnipeg.

Toronto Public Health is investigating every place the patient may have visited and any people he came in contact with, said Dr. Eileen de Villa, Torontos medical officer of health.

We have somebody whos had very little external contact, she said. Our focus is to understand who might have been exposed to this individual and in what sorts of settings this individual has been so we can determine who might have been exposed and who is at risk for further illness.

The coronavirus is not easily transmitted between people, said Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontarios associate chief medical officer of health, adding that the members of the patients household have been put into self-isolation and are being monitored for signs of infection.

The patient flew from Wuhan to Guangzhou, and from there to Toronto. Public officials are working to identify the passengers who sat within three rows of him on those flights.

De Villa said the patient took a private vehicle from the airport to his home and did not use public transit. His wife, who travelled with him, currently has no symptoms, Williams said.

All travellers from China are being screened for infection at airports in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, with airline staff and customs and immigration officers participating in the effort.

Chinese authorities have quarantined the area around Wuhan, in central Hubei province, shutting down transportation in and out of more than a dozen cities collectively home to more than 50 million people.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott urged the public to continue taking normal precautions to avoid flus and colds, including hand washing and coughing into ones sleeve.

We have been actively monitoring to quickly detect and contain any cases of the Wuhan coronavirus. I want to assure all Ontarians that  the system is working, she said.

Ontarians can rest assured that the provinces integrated health-care system today is far more prepared to respond to any potential health risks than in the past, said Elliott. We will continue to diligently monitor this issue to ensure that Ontario remains prepared to identify, contain and treat any additional cases of this virus.

Many of those infected by the coronavirus will have a very mild form of the disease, said Dr. Peter Donnelly, president and CEO of Public Health Ontario.

Many people in China probably dont even know they have it, havent even sought medical care. Or if they have sought medical care, have recovered quite quickly, he said.

Calling the situation very different from the SARS outbreak, which killed 44 people in Toronto in 2003, Donnelly said that this time the virus has been identified and theres a fast and reliable test for it.

That really is a game changer, because it means that you can very quickly find out whether people have this or not, he said. These are the tools you need to control this and to stop its spread.

In a statement, Mayor John Tory said the risk to residents continues to remain low.

Our front-line health-care workers are the best in the world and have procedures in place to keep people safe, Tory added.

Yaffe said that because confirmation of the case came only Saturday afternoon, public health teams were still in the early hours of their work.

We are continuing our investigative work and expect that we will have further updates, she said.

The public is being asked to visit a dedicated website at ontario.ca/coronavirus for updates.

Cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in almost every Chinese province, and it has now spread to many other parts of the world.

Australia and Malaysia reported their first cases Saturday  four each  and Japan its third. France confirmed three cases Friday, the first in Europe, and the U.S. identified its second, a woman in Chicago who had returned from China. The viral illness has also been confirmed in Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam.

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam declared a health emergency, closing schools until mid-February. A number of Lunar New Year events were cancelled.

With files from Ilya Banares and Star wire services

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On Friday, the English Commercial Court ruled in favour of P&ID, and against the Nigerian Government.

The following statement can be attributed to P&ID:

This decision is another victory in favour of P&ID as it continues efforts to compel the Nigerian Government to comply with its legal obligations to pay damages to P&ID  as has already been ordered by the English Court.

The ruling means that Nigeria must now justify its multi-year delay in challenging the Award at a special hearing to take place before this summer, failing which it will be barred from raising its allegations of fraud before the English Court.

Nigerias defeat in court comes after the English Court of Appeal on Monday rejected Nigerias attempts to delay its appeal by including claims of fraud. The Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Flaux stated that Nigerias application was misconceived.

P&ID urges the Buhari Administration to abandon its ill-fated attempts to avoid its legal responsibilities through the sham EFCC investigation targeting innocents  a campaign which Nigeria only launched in reaction to its previous defeats before the Tribunal and the English Court  and instead, accept the reality of the Arbitration Tribunal Award in favour of P&ID, and the decisions of the English Court.

Timeline of P&ID Award and Enforcement

In a raection to P&ID assertion above, a spokesperson for the Attorney General of the Federation said:

The Federal Republic of Nigeria yesterday appeared in the English High Court for a scheduled case management conference (CMC). The CMC was held for the Court to decide procedural issues relating to our application to set aside the arbitral award on the basis that it was procured by fraud and corruption.

A timetable has now been fixed for a hearing to decide if our application can be brought outside the normal time limits.

This is another positive milestone in the Federation's fight to overturn this award.

Based on new and credible evidence discovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) - referred to in court as seismic  it is increasingly clear that this was a highly orchestrated scam, involving a cover-up by ministers at the highest levels of office in the previous administration. These officials, who were entrusted to safeguard the future and assets of Nigeria, knowingly entered into the sham GSPA, and deliberately failed to defend the Federation in the ensuing arbitral proceedings.

It is telling that to date P&ID have said nothing to rebut these allegations of fraud.

These issues will now be before the Court to consider in relation to the Federation's challenge to this award.
CCTV images of Heeba Shah in an altercation with staffers of a vet clinic.

Mumbai: A non-cognizable offence has been registered against veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah's daughter Heeba for allegedly assaulting employees of a veterinary clinic in Versova in Mumbai, police said Saturday.

The incident took place on January 16 when Heeba went to the clinic to get her cats sterilized and was told to wait as a surgery was in progress there, an official said.

"Since she was made to wait despite having an appointment, Heeba got upset and assaulted the clinic's caretaker. The caretaker approached police after which a non-cognizable (NC) case was taken up," he said.

She was charged under Indian Penal Code sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation), the official said.

Heeba claimed that the gatekeeper did not allow her into the clinic despite having an appointment, and a woman staffer abused her after she complained about the gatekeeper, police said.

CCTV footage of Heeba's altercation at the clinic went viral on social media.
Delhi to ease restrictions, if Covid cases come down in next 2-3 days: Health Minister

Lata Mangeshkar health update: Doctor says,'She in ICU with Covid-19 and pneumonia, will be under observation'

7 more people under observation in India for possible exposure to Coronavirus: Govt

India

oi-Mousumi Dash

New Delhi, Jan 25: Observing the outbreak of fatal coronavirus, major Indian airports and the authorities are keeping high alert, seven more people who returned from China have been kept under observation following screening. Although no positive case has been detected in the country so far.

According to Union Health minister Harsh Vardhan, screening are done for a possible exposure to novel coronavirus even though no positive case has been detected in the country as of now.

Meanwhile, samples of these seven passengers have been sent to the ICMR-NIV Pune Lab.

Vardhan has also directed for multidisciplinary central teams to be sent to the seven states where thermal screening is being done at the seven major designated airports New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi.

The Union Health minister held a review meeting to analyse the preparedness for prevention and management of the deadly coronavirus in India.

Coronavirus death toll rises to 41 in China, 11 including 7 from Kerala under watch in India

He had also spoke to the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on Saturday and assured all support for screening at the border with Nepal, where a confirmed case has been reported.

As per PTI, eleven people, including seven in Kerala, two in Mumbai and one each in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, who are among hundreds of passengers who returned from China in the recent days were under observation in hospitals to check for possible exposure to the deadly novel coronavirus, central and state officials said on Friday.

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Story first published: Saturday, January 25, 2020, 16:04 [IST]
With the soul of an artist, the precision of a mathematician and the heart of an altruist, architect Maria Ogrydziak has been putting her mark on Northern Californias structural landscape for more than three decades. Based in Davis, the native of Stockholm with Estonian roots has quietly accrued an impressive portfolio of custom homes, retail spaces and even places of worship.

Ogrydziaks passion radiates through her work, largely because she feels blessed to be an architect.

I love what I do, and I feel lucky every time I get to do a project, she said. Every time its like a new experience, and a new journey with a client. For me, the design process is a huge part of my focus, and how I get there is exciting.

Upon moving to California in the 70s, Ogrydziak immediately fell in love with the Central Valley, specifically, its sky.

The first thing I noticed in California was the sky, the blueness, its grand expanse, she said. Wherever I am in the Central Valley, Im connected to the blue sky.

She opened her firm in 1985 and has conceptualized literally hundreds of structures since then.

In this interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Ogrydziak talks about her design process, her philosophy and what shes doing to help Davis homeless population.

More Information Details Maria Ogrydziak, Principal, Maria Ogrydziak Architecture. Born in Stockholm to Estonian parents, Ogrydziak graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in architecture in 1970. Prior to graduating, her fellow students voted her student body president, making her the first architecture student, the first international student and the first woman to hold the position. She also earned the Compton School Prize and Grunsfeld Traveling Scholarship Architecture Prize in 1969. Her portfolio spans more than three decades and includes custom homes, retail locations and places of worship. Ogrydziak's designs often feature crisp lines, an abundance of natural light and seamless indoor/outdoor flow. She has piled up awards and accolades during her career. Her ambitious remodel of the Davis Food Co-op earned the American Institute of Architects San Francisco's "Best of the Bay" and AIA California Council Honor awards. She also donates her time and insight to a variety of organizations. At the moment, Ogrydziak serves as the AIA Central Valley Chapter's representative to the national Custom Residential Architects Network, an organization that uses forums, conventions, publications, symposiums and local events to help architects learn more about their custom residential practices. Ogrydziak is a previous president of California's AIA Central Valley Chapter. During that time she founded and chaired the Sacramento Region Architectural Festival. In addition to being a former member of the Long Range Planing and Policy Committee for Sacramento, Ogrydziak worked as a design strategist for Zoning and Historical Design Guidelines, as well as project lead for Davis' City Core Planning Study. See More Collapse

Q: What does your design process entail?

A: Someone approaches me, we talk and I go see the place where everything will happen. During that time Im absorbing as much as possible. Its more than just about square footage and simple descriptions, its about understanding why someone wants to do somethingwhats their connection to the place? From there I start developing what I call a vocabulary for the site. The vocabulary incorporates all the openings, windows and connections to outdoor spaces. Sometimes the vocabulary comes through drawing from the clients culture, or what matters to them. Sometimes its shapes. Eventually it comes together and becomes vocabulary that I can use to build out of conventional materials. Its exciting when everything comes together.

Part of whats amazing as you think about architecture or creating a building, is how these are solid entities with so many parts and objectives to meet. You cant have multiple versions of the same thing in the same space. Im very conscious of that, to end up with one result. But it has to be right combination of everything.

Q: How would you define your architectural style?

A: Im very aware of clean lines, and windows and openings are a primary thing I try to bring into my work. The geometry comes from trying to create a place that is unique to that setting. Geometry is often reacting to and playing with whats around me. It might be a juxtaposition to natural form or seeking a way to provide a contrast. The infusion of natural light and being able to see through to the outside is extremely important, as is connecting to the sky. So I like to use large windows to make the sky feel ever present and attainable. In a strange way, the windows provide a connection to the universe, which represents openness and infinity.

Q: You studied Chinese painting and brush strokes before becoming an architect. Does it help inform your design process?

A: That is where it all started. I lived in Taiwan for two years as a teen, because my dad was an engineer for the United Nations. I painted every day. It was an amazing experience, learning how to create landscapes with my own hand, built with complex brushwork and ink.

That has stuck with me ever since. It helped me realize how important form is and how shapes relate, and how the space between the strokes is just as important. Its informed everything I do. My whole life has grown from there.

Q: You helped spearhead the design of Pauls Place, a community of small-unit apartments that will provide transitional housing, permanent supportive housing and day services for Davis homeless population. What inspired you to take on this project, and what was the intent behind the design?

A: I think good architecture and design is the answer to nearly everything. I really believe it makes a difference. I became very interested in the homeless issue, and co-founded a group that began meeting with volunteers and people who run shelters to get their input about what the homeless need.

The idea behind Pauls Place is that even if a residence is basic and small, it needs to have dignity and must work for the person living there. The top two floors are for housing.

They feature little gable roofs and popout windows, while the first floor is a place where people can come to receive resources and help. The design is expressive, to look more like a home than an institutional building.

The community supported the idea and weve raised enough money to break ground later this year. When I tell people every community can do this, I see signs of people saying maybe we can. Its certainly a different approach from some of the other solutions Ive seen for caring for the homeless.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 25

By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:

Inspection of planes of Kazakh Bek Air airline company revealed leaks in aircraft engines, glass peeling, use of adhesive tape to protect the spare parts, and worn tires, the Head of the Flight Safety Department of Kazakhstan Aviation Administration Linda Orledi said, Trend reports with reference To Kazakh media.

On the morning of Dec.27, 2019, the Fokker-100 plane of Bek Air airline implementing flight on the route Almaty  Nur-Sultan lost its height during take-off and broke through a concrete fence, colliding with a two-story building.

According to the latest data, 12 people died, and 66 were injured as a result of the Bek Air's plane crash on Dec. 27. A total of 98 people were on the plane, including nine children and five crew members.

Shortly after the accident, Bek Air companys operations as well as the use of Fokker-100 type aircraft in Kazakhstan have been suspended.

According to Orledi, multiple damages to the nose cone of the planes were detected during the inspection.

The problem is that the planes radar is behind the nose cone. Its very important to maintain the conditions for proper operations of the radar, she said.

Orledi also noted that identification plates were missing on both engines of about 50 percent of the companys planes, the presence of which is a mandatory requirement.

She added that leaks in aircraft engines were detected at most of the companys planes.

Its very important for the engineer to report the leak when its detected however there were no such reports. The leaks were so great that bowl to contain the leaks were under almost every plane, she said.

Spare part of the most of the companys planes were fixed using tape, she said.

The tape may be used on the plane, however it must be special tape and it once again must be reported. No documents indicating the fact were found, she said.

The fact of glass delamination in the cockpits was also detected, as well as the fact that panels in the luggage compartments of the companys planes dont have fire protection tapes or are in poor condition.

She also said that the tires of the majority of the planes were so worn that some of them were actually missing pieces of rubber, whereas the majority of the planes had holes in the floor of luggage compartment.

---

Follow the author on twitter: @nargiz_sadikh
Pianist Luu Hong Quang granted an interview to the Thoi Nay (Today) publication of Nhan Dan (The People) Newspaper to talk more about his music career path.

Making true music

Opening in the concert "Evolution" at the Hanoi Opera House in 2018, performing famous works of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Skryabin, Ravel, Liszt, the classical love audiences have realised the change in your music world. You chose more subtly and deeper pieces of music. Why is there such a change?

The early years of my 20s were a time when I had a lot of creativity and was relatively independent in playing. I worked alone, without the close supervision of a teacher, so I just did what I thought was the best, sometimes improvised and was out of control. After finishing studying with People's Artist Dang Thai Son, I went to find my own music path and fortunately I have recently been working with two professors.

Since October last year, many people have noticed the change and harmony in my style. It can be said that the change is thanks to the professor, who is of British descent so her taste is quite classic, bringing a new wind for me. I am very grateful to that professor, thanks to her, I have strengthened my belief that making true music is my path. Before that, I also cherished many plans, worked on projects and taught. But she told me that with my ability, I should follow my path and strive to perform and compete. When I was 28 years old, I graduated from graduate school and began working with Peoples Artist Dang Thai Son and had students win prizes but I continued to go to school.

So, that means your learning-path has not yet stopped, and are you on a journey to conquer new pinnacles?

In January 2019, the British professor helped me get a full scholarship to attend a music festival in Australia, and to work with a top American professor. While there, I was predestined to meet an American-style professor. Currently, I am working with her once a month. I realised what is right for me, what is not, and what needs improvement. The most special feature today is the change in the portfolio of my performances, which tends to be in depth and sophisticated. In the past, I played many good works but mostly those that created effect for the audience. Now, I'm focusing on in-depth pieces of music.

With my job, learning is a lifetime goal, not just a short-term one.

It seems that you are always dissatisfied with yourself even though you have a reputation and have achieved a lot of success?

When I was young, I always did random things to my liking. I pursued a long learning path. Now I study even more energetically than before. Every day, in addition to teaching, I practice the piano to work with my teacher. At 11:00 pm I practice with a little electric piano which my students gave me, because in the area where I live, it is not permitted to play piano at night.

Thanks to the guidance of the two professors, I believe that in just a few more years, I will develop a new step. However, I can never allow myself to think "finish" is the end, I believe I can always be even better. It is very important for artists to improve themselves and criticise themselves.

But at the peak of their reputation, doesn't everyone keep their sanity to always criticise themselves?

Everyone loves themselves and wants to be recognised as successful. For me, the greatest success is playing, teaching or doing anything related to music, I also do not compromise with poor quality products. Music is a job and music is a joy of life, these two opinions will lead to two completely different attitudes.

What is your opinion?

For me, music is probably life. I do not compromise with what is not right, although there are many difficulties I must still overcome. Every success has its price. I just focus on the core of the music, everything else will come. Investment, being strict with yourself is never redundant.

Luu Hong Quang's big dreams



Reading the memoir of Pianist Lang Lang - one of the most famous pianists of the 20th century, I saw that behind that glory was hard work, tears and the pressures of fame. Do you see your shadow in it?

I studued Lang Lang's hard work. I think that every success has its price. But I will not follow the path that Lang Lang walked. I have passed through the youth acclaimed as a talent of the people. I had both reputation and money. I have also witnessed countless stars rise and fall. The last remaining thing is whether you take the true music path or not? Do you love unconditional music? If anything happens, succeeds or fails, do you want to make music?

It is necessary to calmly answer all these questions before deciding to pursue the job. Because this job has too many temptations. But once you have identified then just move forward on that, do not hesitate anymore.

Are you dreaming of a Chopin Award - the most prestigious award for pianists? What inspired you about that big dream?

I am grateful to the two professors who taught me. They gave me the belief in my ability to develop further. My students' parents often ask how their children can achieve success like me. I use the analogy: If a person throws a stone having only set a target of 10 m, the person will succeeded very easily, with no satisfaction or disappointment. If another wanted to throw a distance of 1,000 m, the person will use all his strength to throw, maybe he will not reach his goal of 1,000 m but he will surely cross the distance of 10 m.

Everyone wants to be a good performer, working with famous orchestras at illustrious concert halls. Those images are the motivation for me to train hard. Everyone has the right to dream, why not make it the most beautiful dream.

Talking to a lot of Vietnamese students, I find their problem is not daring to dream higher.

It is necessary to set goals, because youth passes very quickly. There is nothing wrong with setting a high goal and failing.

Every year, you spend time returning to Vietnam to perform and teach students even though you settled in Australia. What does Vietnam mean to your career development path?

I grew up in Hanoi. When I return here, I like to walk around Hanoi's Old Quarter and reflect on my memories. Now Hanoi is more developed and more vibrant. The social context is suitable for business, but it is difficult for playing the piano. Some people are used to it, although I need a quiet space. But I still come back, my homeland is here, my parents are here, many fans are here. For me, the homeland is an integral part of my heart.

2020 is a special year celebrating the 250th birth anniversary of musical genius Beethoven. What are your plans?

It will be a busy year. On January 5, I returned to Vietnam for the first piano duet concert with my brother - Luu Duc Anh. We played Symphony No. 9 - the greatest masterpiece of Beethoven. I will then go on a tour with the French orchestra and conductor Francois Ragot at various venues in November. In this tour I will play Beethoven's 'Emperor' piano concerto. It is a great honour for me to play two great works of Beethoven and to perform to the Vietnamese and European public.

Thank you very much for the interview! We wish you peace and joy in the new year!
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 15:32:41|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Rescuers work on the site after an earthquake in the province of Elazig, Turkey, Jan. 25, 2020. At least 20 people have been killed and 1,015 others wounded in a powerful earthquake in eastern Turkey Friday night, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said on Saturday. The earthquake occurred at 8:55 p.m. local time (1755 GMT) in the province of Elazig at a depth of 6.75 kilometers and was followed by 228 aftershocks, according to the AFAD. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

ISTANBUL, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- At least 20 people have been killed and 1,015 others wounded in a powerful earthquake in eastern Turkey Friday night, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said on Saturday.

The earthquake occurred at 8:55 p.m. local time (1755 GMT) in the province of Elazig at a depth of 6.75 kilometers and was followed by 228 aftershocks, according to the AFAD.

The Bogazici University Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute has revised the magnitude of the tremor from 6.8 to 6.5 on the Richter scale.

Search and rescue teams were immediately dispatched to the region, with at least 18 people rescued from the wreckage so far, national news broadcaster NTV reported.

Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said emergency teams were still searching for 30 missing people.

Residents of affected areas spent the night in the open air under temperatures of minus eight degrees Celcius, after the AFAD warned locals not to return to their homes due to the risk of further aftershocks.
(Photo : Wang Ben Hong on Weibo ) [RUMOR] Samsung Galaxy Z Flip Looks Like a Folding Galaxy S10E? (Photo : Wang Ben Hong on Weibo ) [RUMOR] Samsung Galaxy Z Flip Looks Like a Folding Galaxy S10E?

Another set of Samsung Galaxy Z Flip rumors are now here to give you insights on how Samsung's new foldable phone will look like once its release in the market.

Since before, we already heard tons of rumors on Samsung's new foldable phone. According to Sam Mobile, the brand's new flip phone might be called the 'Galaxy Z Flip' compared to its first try of a foldable phone called 'Samsung Galaxy Fold.'

Aside from that, a known phone leaker named Ice Universe also mentioned that Galaxy Z Flip would have an 'ultra-thin glass cover' that will produce the unwrinkled screen display of the device.

On Friday. Jan. 24, a new set of leaked information about Galaxy Z Flip, was released by popular phone leaker Max Weinbach from XDA Developers.

New rumors about Samsung Galaxy Z Flip that'll make you buy it now

A tweet reveals that there are additional rumored features that Galaxy Z Flip has that you must know now.

First would be its confirmed 'ultra-thin glass that has crease' that will make the folding feature possible with the device. Since Galaxy Fold has a plastic display, Samsung seemed to be trying out a different OLED screen for their new foldable phone.

This is one major feature that is way different from Motorola's Razr folding phone, which has a plastic screen display, just like its latest Samsung Galaxy Fold-- making Samsung fans excited on its final look on its released date.

READ ALSO: Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G Series RUMORS and LEAKS: More Details on Specs, Price, & Features a Month Before Official Release

What does Samsung galaxy z flip small screen do

Since leaked pictures of the Galaxy Z Flip were already circulated online in China, one thing that grabbed attention to Samsung fans is the small screen that shows the time and phone battery percentage.

As mentioned by Weinbach, the smaller screen will not just show the time and battery percentage of the Galaxy Z Flip. Still, it will give information on how fast your phone is charging and a viewfinder for the camera to allow better usage for the rear camera on selfies.

He also clarified that the screen is just one inch in size.

Does Samsung galaxy z flip look like a folding galaxy s10e?

With the newly leaked information brought by Weinbach, a Twitter user observed that the new folding phone has the same specs with Samsung's other successful phone device, the Samsung Galaxy S10E.

As noted by Weinbach, he said that his 'legit source' called it exactly as 'a folding S10E.'

Samsung galaxy z flip camera features and fingerprint scanner

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip is also reportedly offering a dual 12-megapixel camera that has one wide-angle sensor and one ultra-wide sensor.

Weinbach also said that Samsung Galaxy Z Flip has a capacitive fingerprint scanner on the side and also has supported wireless charging and reverse wireless charging.

Samsung galaxy z flip offering 5g services?

There were also reports that Samsung's new foldable phone will provide 5G services from Qualcomm's new product, Snapdragon 855+ processor.

Though Weinbach confirmed this claim, it is still unclear whether the 5G services will available for all countries or only in North American models.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Mumbai, Jan 25 : Actor Saif Ali Khan is over the moon, what with his latest release "Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior" entering the Rs 200 crore club at the box-office. He says that the role will go down as one of his best ever.

"So pleased to be a part of such an inspiring and entertaining film! Thank you Ajay for this great part that will go down as one of my very best! God bless OM Raut, Kumarji, ADF films and the memory of Subedar Tanaji Malusare and Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaaj!" Saif said.

On Saturday, trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted the figures: "#Tanhaji crosses Rs 200 cr, shows no signs of fatigue... Continues to score, despite reduction of screens/shows + two prominent films hitting the marketplace... Will emerge #AjayDevgn's highest grossing film today [Sat]... [Week 3] Fri 5.38 cr. Total: ? 202.83 cr. #India biz." Ajay also announced on Instagram that the film has become a blockbuster. "Marching towards glory with all your love! Thank you for making #TanhajiTheUnsungWarrior a blockbuster hit of 2020! #TanhajiUnitesIndia," he wrote.

"Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior" chronicles the heroic story of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's subedaar Tanaji Malusare who sacrificed his life fighting valiantly against Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's army to save the Sinhagad fort.

In "Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior", Ajay Devgn in the titular role with Saif Ali Khan playing the antagonist Udaybhan Sinh Rathore, and Sharad Kelkar cast as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
A Korean funeral, circa 1900s. Robert Neff Collection



By Robert Neff



In June 1886, cholera appeared in Fusan (modern Busan). Its arrival was dreaded but not totally unexpected by residents as it had already wreaked havoc in Japan.



Characterized by horrible cramps  which many of the superstitious believed to be a malevolent rat-like spirit clawing its way through its victim's legs in an effort to reach the heart  the disease was extremely painful and deadly.



From Fusan, it rapidly spread north, killing tens of thousands of people. Yet, despite knowledge of the destruction in Japan, the Seoul foreign community  judging from diaries and letters  seemed, at least in the beginning, relatively blase to the dangers it faced.



Horace N. Allen, the American missionary doctor residing in Seoul, made no mention of the disease until July 2, when he sent a dispatch to the British legation announcing the first cases in Seoul.



A couple of days later, Annie Ellers, an American missionary, arrived at Jemulpo and recalled that as her party traveled between that port city and Seoul, the streets were filled with people mourning the loss of friends and family.



Efforts were made to appease the spirit through offerings made at little booths or shrines throughout the city. Some residents sought to protect themselves by pasting images of cats on their walls and doors. Others used wooden instruments to make scratching sounds similar to those made by cats in hope of scaring away the evil rat spirit.





A Korean coffin and what appears to be a dead horse, circa 1900s. Robert Neff Collection



Even the Joseon government resorted to superstitious beliefs  a battalion of soldiers, armed with rifles and a cannon, fired into the air one night in an attempt to drive the disease away from the city. And mudangs (shamans), equipped with drums and cat pelts, roamed the streets offering to dispel the evil spirit from those who could afford their services. Nothing worked.



As the days passed, the residents of the city avoided going out for fear of contracting the disease. Funerals became a luxury few could afford  financially or physically  and the corpses were often carried out in litters, sometimes piled four or five high, covered with straw and cloth. They were quickly buried in shallow graves that were just as quickly dug up and gorged on by feral dogs and other wild animals.



Sometimes there were no burials. Reportedly, the bodies of young girls were frequently seen floating in the streams and rivers. Even the living were occasionally taken out of the city and abandoned alongside the road in small straw huts so as not to burden their families.



Allen later wrote that the residents of Seoul "acted like fatalists and let their friends die almost uncared for once they were taken" with the disease.



Western doctors in the city could do little for their Korean hosts. Morphine and brandy were given to alleviate the pain of the cramps but the victims usually died within a few hours  a few managed to live for a day or two.





A Korean funeral going through the streets, circa 1910-1920s. Robert Neff Collection
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Demonstrations immediately engulfed more than 190 cities and towns across the county. The regimes supreme leader Ali Khamenei, in contrast with his previous claims about defending of the needy people, took his mask off and bluntly ordered the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and its subsidiaries to crack down on the ordinary people at all the costs.

Do whatever it takes to end it [protests], Reuters revealed in a special report on December 23.

Following Khameneis order, his thugs poured to streets and slaughtered more than 1,500 protesters by shooting them in the head and chest. They conducted an unprecedented suppression via armored vehicles, heavy machineguns, snipers, and even helicopters.

The IRGC agents publicly shot coup de grace for injured demonstrators. Additionally, security forces arbitrarily arrested around 12,000 protesters and transferred them to the regimes dungeons. Released detainees tell horrific narratives about ill-treatment by prisons guards, however, the fate of many of the mentioned number is unspecified.

At the same time, the long-time authority of the regime was endangered in Iraq and Lebanon. Over the past 40 years, the mullahs spent a huge amount of Irans national resources to strengthen their foothold in these countries. However, the young generation is now challenging Irans vassals in Iraq and rejecting Iran-backed paramilitaries and politicians, particularly Hezbollah, as the prominent proxy of the mullahs.

Subsequently, at the beginning of 2020, the supreme leader lost his top general Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike attack nearly the Baghdad International Airport. Soleimani as the commander of the IRGCs Quds Force was the implementer of Khameneis plan of suppression inside and aggression abroad.

The fact is the IRGC-QF commander had the blood of many innocent people in Iran and the whole Middle East on his hands and was playing a key role to prop up the regimes allies in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, etc.

Elimination of Qassem Soleimani is an irreparable blow to mullahs regime, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), stated on January 3.

Simultaneously, the Iranian regime took ironic actions which made it more isolated in the world. On January 6, Iranian officials announced that they wont abide by their commitments under the Iran nuclear deal.

This move prompted the European powers who ceaselessly defended the deal to issue warnings toward the regime and think about activating the trigger mechanism to prevent the Iranian regime from achieving nuclear weapons.

The mullahs always claim that they dont pursue to obtain atomic bombs, however, they dont explain how a medieval regime that commits any crime it wants under the pretext of punishment becomes eager for progression?

On the other hand, why dont the mullahs refrain from nuclear projects if they do not see the achievement of this project as insurance for their survival? Notably, these costly projects imposed the toughest economic conditions on the country over their regimes history.

In such circumstances, after eight years, Khamenei as the commander-in-chief attended the Friday prayer ceremony last week. His supporters and advocates expected him to resolve the complicated conditions of the country, but under the abovementioned blows, he had nothing to offer to his loyalists.

In this context, his participation in this ceremony not only didnt cure the regimes obstacles but exacerbated and intensified his forces concerns.

In February, Khamenei must deal with another crisis. Since several months ago, the scheduled parliamentary elections have prompted a new round of infighting among the different parts of power in the ruling system.

The Guardian Council, which is under Khameneis direct supervision, disqualified hundreds of nominees in addition to banning 90 of current members of the parliament [Majles]. Remarkably, several officials are questioning that while an MP has been disqualified how can he continue his functions right now?

The fact is the supreme leader distrusts and is disappointed by his allies and in the most sensitive time of his rule, he has no option except tightening his inner cycle. In this respect, despite the numerous crises and threats that are surrounding his regime, Khamenei is compelled to acquiesce to more defection and desperation among his supporters as the price of assembling an obedient Majles.
A quick-thinking service station attendant has locked herself in an office and called police after being confronted by a robber on the Gold Coast.

Police say a man went into the toilets at the shop about 7.40pm on Friday night before coming out with a T-shirt wrapped around his face.

He allegedly yelled at her, but she locked herself in the adjoining office and called triple zero.

Police then came and arrested the man, who was still pacing inside the store.

The 45-year old Varsity Lakes man was charged with attempted robbery, stealing, possessing tainted property, possessing dangerous drugs, possessing property of having acquired and failing to take reasonable care to dispose of syringe.
Just three weeks before switching to the Republican Party and pledging his undying support to President Donald Trump, New Jersey U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew told a voter he would not vote for the president, according to a new report.

I havent voted for him, I didnt support him, I will not vote for him, Van Drew said Nov. 30 in a voicemail to a voter in South Jerseys 2nd congressional district, according to a report published Friday by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The report comes as Van Drew gets set to appear with Trump at a rally in Wildwood on Tuesday night.

Van Drew sent the voicemail as the U.S. House of Representatives was preparing to vote on whether to impeach Trump. Van Drew was one of only two House Democrats to vote against impeaching the Republican president for abuse of power, and one of only three who opposed impeaching him for obstruction of Congress.

Shortly after the vote, Van Drew officially announced he was defecting from the Democratic Party and becoming a Republican.

Asked about the voicemail, Van Drew told the Inquirer on Friday: Ive pledged my support for the president in the Oval Office, on the floor of the House when I voted against impeachment, in South Jersey diners, and everywhere in between."

My support for President Trump couldnt be more clear  and hell hear it again from me in person on Tuesday night in Wildwood, Van Drew added to the newspaper.

Trumps appearance comes as Van Drew, a freshman congressman, faces what is likely to be a tough re-election campaign this year. Trumps backing could provide a boost in the largely purple district located at the bottom tip of New Jersey.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

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(Natural News) Climate change activists love to insist that carbon dioxide is behind global warming, and theyve made a sport out of refuting claims to the contrary. However, its getting harder to defend their delusional stance as more than 100 different scientific papers and counting show that carbon dioxides effect on the climate is actually quite small.

The papers use terms such as negligible to describe the effects of CO2 on the climate. For example, a paper from last year said there was not a consistent warming with gradual increase (in CO2) in low to high latitudes in both hemispheres, as it should be from the global warming theory. After pointing out the complexity of climate predictions, the researchers said it is simply not possible to support the notion that global warming stems from human-caused greenhouse effect.

Last fall, a group of 500 scientists and other professionals in the climate science space penned a letter to the United Nations sharing their view that there isnt a climate crisis and that they consider spending so much money on the issue to be cruel and imprudent.

In the letter, they encouraged the UN to follow a climate policy that is based on sound science, realistic economics and genuine concern for those harmed by costly but unnecessary attempts at mitigation.

The fact remains that the so-called global warming science that many adherents love to quote is based on a biased interpretation of questionable science that keeps getting repeated as though it were fact.

MIT Professor Richard Lindzen, an atmospheric sciences emeritus professor behind more than 200 different scientific papers, said that climate alarmists voices seem to get louder and louder as the climate changes less. He also noted that in a 2007 paper, the UN International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) admitted that its not possible to predict future climate states.

Lying to get what they want

He believes that those sounding the alarm bell about climate change are using it as a way of getting what they want. Activists are seeking supporters and funding, while politicians are using it to gain power and money. The media, he says, uses it to grab headlines because Doomsday scenarios sell.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was caught publishing fake data on global warming in a failed attempt to debunk a UN reports assertion that global warming was slowing down.

Meanwhile, data compiled by NASA showed that carbon dioxide was cooling the atmosphere instead of warming it up as commonly claimed. Thats not surprising when you consider the fact that 95 percent of climate software models have actually turned out to be wrong.

Carbon dioxide has been demonized, but the truth is that its what is sustaining life on our planet. If we got rid of it the way many climate change alarmists are pushing for, life on our planet would collapse. Plants wouldnt be able to breathe and would essentially suffocate. Wed have no food to eat and it would spell the end of mankind. So why are some people on a mission to get rid of it?

Sources include:

WND.com

NaturalNews.com
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trumps lawyers plunged into his impeachment trial defence Saturday by accusing Democrats of striving to overturn the 2016 election, arguing that investigations of Trumps dealings with Ukraine have not been a fact-finding mission but a politically motivated effort to drive him from the White House.

Theyre here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone told senators. And we cant allow that to happen.

The Trump legal teams arguments in the rare Saturday session were aimed at rebutting allegations that the president abused his power when he asked Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden and then obstructed Congress as it tried to investigate. The lawyers are mounting a wide-ranging, aggressive defence asserting an expansive view of presidential powers and portraying Trump as besieged by political opponents determined to ensure he wont be reelected this November.

Theyre asking you to tear up all the ballots across this country on your own initiative, take that decision away from the American people, Cipollone said.

Though Trump is the one on trial, the defence team made clear that it intends to paint the impeachment case as a mere continuation of the investigations that have shadowed the president since before he took office  including one into allegations of Russian election interference on his behalf. Trump attorney Jay Sekulow suggested Democrats were investigating the president over Ukraine simply because they couldnt bring him down for Russia.

That  for this, said Sekulow, holding up a copy of special counsel Robert Muellers report, which he accused Democrats of attempting to relitigate. That report detailed ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia but did not allege a criminal conspiracy to tip the election.

From the White House, Trump tweeted his response: Any fair minded person watching the Senate trial today would be able to see how unfairly I have been treated and that this is indeed the totally partisan Impeachment Hoax that EVERYBODY, including the Democrats, truly knows it is.

His team made only a two-hour presentation, reserving the heart of its case for Monday.

Acquittal appears likely, given that Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and a two-thirds vote would be required for conviction and removal from office. Republican senators already eager to clear Trump said Saturday that the White House presentation had shredded the Democratic case.

Several of the senators shook hands with Trumps lawyers after their presentation. The visitors galleries were filled, onlookers watching for the historic proceedings and the rare weekend session of Senate.

The Trump attorneys are responding to two articles of impeachment approved last month by the House  one that accuses him of encouraging Ukraine to investigate Biden at the same time the administration withheld military aid from the country, and the other that accuses him of obstructing Congress by directing aides not to testify or produce documents.

Trumps defence team took centre stage following three days of methodical and passionate arguments from Democrats, who wrapped up Friday by warning that Trump will persist in abusing his power and endangering American democracy unless Congress intervenes to remove him before the 2020 election. They also implored Republicans to allow new testimony to be heard before senators render a final verdict.

Give America a fair trial, said California Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead Democratic impeachment manager. Shes worth it.

In making their case that Trump invited Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election, the seven Democratic prosecutors peppered their arguments with video clips, email correspondence and lessons in American history. At stake, they said, was the security of U.S. elections, Americas place in the world and checks on presidential power

On Saturday morning, House managers made the procession across the Capitol at 9:30 to deliver the 28,578-page record of their case to the Senate.

Republicans accused Democrats of cherrypicking evidence and omitting information favourable to the president, casting in a nefarious light actions that Trump was legitimately empowered to take. They focused particular scorn on Schiff, trying to undercut his credibility.

Schiff later told reporters: When your client is guilty, when your client is dead to rights, you dont want to talk about your client, you want to attack the prosecution.

The Trump team had teased the idea that it would draw attention on Biden and his son, Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukraine gas company Burisma, while his father was vice-president. But neither Biden was a focus of Saturday arguments.

Instead, Republicans argued that there was no evidence that Trump made the security aid contingent on Ukraine announcing an investigation into the Bidens and that Ukraine didnt even know that the money had been paused until shortly before it was released.

Trump had reason to be concerned about corruption in Ukraine and the aid was ultimately released, they said.

Most of the Democratic witnesses have never spoken to the president at all, let alone about Ukraine security assistance, said deputy White House Counsel Michael Purpura.

Pupura told the senators the July 25 call in which Trump asked Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the Biden investigation was consistent with the presidents concerns about corruption, though Trump never mentioned that word, according to the rough transcript released by the White House.

Pupura said everyone knows that when Trump asked Zelenskiy to do us a favour, he meant the U.S., not himself.

This entire impeachment process is about the house managers insistence that they are able to read everybodys thoughts, Sekulow said. They can read everybodys intention. Even when the principal speakers, the witnesses themselves, insist that those interpretations are wrong.

Defence lawyers say Trump was a victim not only of Democratic rage but also of overzealous agents and prosecutors. Sekulow cited mistakes made by the FBI in its surveillance of a former Trump campaign aide in the now-concluded Trump-Russia election investigation, and referred to the multi-million-dollar cost of that probe.

You cannot simply decide this case in a vacuum, he said.

One of the presidents lawyers, Alan Dershowitz, is expected to argue next week that an impeachable offence requires criminal-like conduct, even though many legal scholars say thats not true. Sekulow also said the Bidens would be discussed in the days ahead.

The Senate is heading next week toward a pivotal vote on Democratic demands for testimony from top Trump aides, including acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton, who refused to appear before the House. It would take four Republican senators to join the Democratic minority to seek witnesses, and so far the numbers appear lacking.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican ally of Trumps, said he thought the legal team had successfully poked holes in the Democrats case and that the Democrats had told a story probably beyond what the market would bear.

He said he had spoken to Trump two days ago, when he was leaving Davos, Switzerland.

Asked if Trump had any observations on the trial, Graham replied: Yeah, he hates it.

___

Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Alan Fram, Andrew Taylor, Laurie Kellman, Matthew Daly and Padmananda Rama contributed to this report.
Some passengers came under gun attack around Rigasa train station in Kaduna state on Friday. TheCable reports that the incident hap...





Some passengers came under gun attack around Rigasa train station in Kaduna state on Friday.





TheCable reports that the incident happened shortly after travellers from the nations capital arrived in Kaduna.





The source said the passengers were making plans to connect various destinations within the state when the gunmen struck.





When the 6:30pm train from Abuja arrived Kaduna around 8pm, the passengers disembarked. Some of them proceeded to their destinations but those who tried to connect the town through the Rigasa-Airport road came under gunfire from suspected bandits, the source said.









NE could not independently verify if some persons were kidnapped in the incident which happened a week after Umaru Bubaram, emir of Potiskum in Yobe, was attacked in Kaduna.





The first-class monarch lost at least four of his aides in the attack. The Ansaru militant group later claimed responsibility.





Speaking on the latest attack, a resident disclosed that the gunmen fled following the prompt response of security personnel.





There was an attempted attack on passengers around the Rigassa train station but it was repelled by the army, I dont have the details, the resident said.





Samuel Aruwan, commissioner for internal security and home affairs, neither answered calls nor responded to a text message seeking his comment on the incident.





But Yakubu Sabo, spokesman of the Kaduna police command, said he was not aware of the attack. He, however. promised to find out and get back but had not done so at the time of this report.





Kaduna is one of the states in the country with the highest rate of insecurity. The fear of kidnappers and bandits made many residents to abandon the Abuja-Kaduna highway. Many people feel safe boarding trains whenever they are travelling.


(Photo: 10 Experiences You Should Have in Bali)

If you're looking for the perfect getaway, look no further than the Indonesian "Island of the Gods", Bali. There's never a deficit in things to do in this stunning paradise. Before you pack your bags, ensure the wonder of your trip and find Bali travel insurance with iSelect. Knowing you're covered as you travel allows you to fully enjoy your time away. Here are just 16 of the many experiences you should have during your visit to Bali.





Diverse Diving

While many enjoy the sea-life found in traditional scuba diving, Bali is the place to go further. For experienced divers or macro-photographers, muck diving is available throughout the island. Take a trip to Pemuteran Biorock and begin your hunt for gobies, scorpionfish, and eels.

Take Travel To New Heights

Looking for adventure on your Bali getaway? Head over to Tanjung Benoa where experienced professionals will show you how to strap on a jetpack and see the island from above. As you levitate up to ten meters above the water, take in the views of your surroundings and feel like a superhero as you do it. This water sport is available in various parts of Bali and should be booked in advance to ensure availability.

Time At The Tanah

One of the most famous tourist attractions in all of Bali is Tanah Lot Temple. This breathtaking structure has been separated from the mainland, leaving it surrounded by water at high tide. At low tide, you can walk to the Hindu temple for photo opportunities and moments of peace.

Dance and Drama

Traditional Balinese dance has a rich history of storytelling and expression. Dances often tell the stories of demons and evil spirits in Hindu scripture and how to overcome them. With angular movements of the body and wide emotion-filled eyes, dancers express the history of their culture. Shows can be found in almost every part of the island.

Paddy Pickin'

Feeling outdoorsy? The lush land of rice paddies found in Tabanan is a definite sight to see. As the sun shines over its emerald landscape, the fields of rice paddies can be experienced hands-on. Get down and dirty in the muddy fields and pick some rice as you learn the history of how it's grown and harvested.

Monkey Mayhem

What could be cuter than a temple full of monkeys? Take time to explore Monkey Forest in the village of Padangtegal, a community of Hindu temples that are home to more than 500 Balinese long-tailed monkeys. Be sure to grab a banana as you enter the grounds, and have your camera ready for prime photo opportunities with the rambunctious inhabitants. If you use a photo manager like ibi you can keep these photos for years to come.

Namaste in Ubud

Many tourists travel to Bali for the rest and meditation found in their various yoga retreats. Find your sense of peace and enlightenment on the island of Hindu tradition and awe-inspiring landscapes. The rich history of spirit and nature coexisting in Bali creates the premiere atmosphere for yoga enthusiasts to fully unwind and practice.

Snorkeling Spots Galore

There are endless possibilities when it comes to scuba diving in Bali. A lesser-known gem is The Reef at Kembali Beach Bungalows. With its often-calm currents and clear waters, the area is perfect for inexperienced snorkelers and families. You're sure to see wondrous marine life from sea turtles to butterflyfish.

Venture to Volcanos

Early risers and adventure seekers alike can make their way to an early-morning hike up Mount Batur. As one of the more novice treks on the island, this volcano has gorgeous views as the sun rises over Mount Agang and Mount Agung nearby. These hikes up various volcanos are one of the many activities to keep in mind when searching for "Travel Insurance Bali" and preparing for your visit.

Safari Species

Bali Marine and Safari Park is a must-see attraction for animal lovers. You can choose to visit for the day or stay the night to awake to the gentle giants roaming the grounds. The park is home to over a thousand animals including both rare and endangered species and works to ensure the wellbeing of their indigenous animals.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
An RSPCA branch in Putney, London, has released an appeal for volunteers to donate baby socks for its recovering animals.

The charity said that all animals  including cats, dogs and rabbits  can benefit from the clothing, which is used to keep them warm as they recover from anaesthetic.

The RSPCA explained that animals lose a lot of heat through their paws, and that the socks can even be used to make jumpsuits for kittens.

Emma Turner, ward supervisor at RSPCA Putney, said: We are running low on baby socks for the animals here and would be very grateful for any spares people may have at home.

Any keen knitters out there can help as knitted socks are great too.

We can use socks for all sorts of purposes  to help animals retain heat as they come round from operations, and we have even turned them into little jumpers for our tiny orphaned kittens.
San Francisco homeowner Carmen Hermida was suspicious when she got a postcard in the mail this month bearing the logo of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission from a private company selling protection programs for water and sewer lines on their property.

The mailer from American Water Resources Insurance Services said: The city has selected a provider to offer low-cost protection programs to San Francisco homeowners to assist with water and sewer line repairs.

As a homeowner who is also a low-income senior, I am wondering if this is really a good idea for me to do or not, Hermida said in an email. They specifically mention tree roots in sewer lines and as the city planted a tree in front of my house a few feet uphill from the sewer, that is a possibility. My money is tight and I don't want to be hornswoggled into another bright idea from the SFPUC.

American Water Resources covers the portion of water and sewer lines that are the homeowners responsibility.

The deal between the utilities commission, which provides water and sewer service in San Francisco, and American Water Resources is real. The two entities signed a four-year contract in 2019 that gives the company the right to use the city utilitys name and logo on all marketing, including direct mail, email and telemarketing.

The city gets a significant fee for every homeowner who buys the optional coverage, which will repair or replace the portion of water and sewer lines that are outside the home on the owners property. This portion, often called the lateral, is usually not covered by homeowners insurance, but it always pays to read your policy.

For a typical San Francisco house in the Sunset District, the cost to replace a full sewer lateral might be around $7,000 to $8,000, plus the cost of repairing the driveway and sidewalk, said George Salet, owner of George Salet Plumbing. The cost goes up if the home is more than 20 feet from the curb, or the sewer is more than 4 feet deep. Most plumbers will give a free estimate, he said. Not all leaks and blockages require a full replacement.

The fee for the San Francisco program is $4.49 a month for water line only, $8.99 for sewer line only or $12.99 for both. No matter which plan the homeowner chooses, the city will get $3.61 a month for each participating customer as a licensing and administrative fee. Customers will be billed separately from their water and sewer bill and can cancel at any time.

Those commissions sound awfully high compared to commissions in normal insurance market which are rarely more than 10%, said Robert Hunter, director of insurance with the Consumer Federation of America.

The PUC hasnt determined what it will do with the money it collects from the program. We are talking about low-income assistance, said Will Reisman, press secretary for the commission, but whatever it decides will be heavily vetted by the city attorneys office.

The city says it has negotiated better terms than homeowners could get on their own. There is no deductible or service fee and no limit on the coverage. For customers who are not part of a city program, we generally have a $50 service fee, and the limit is a few thousand dollars, said Lauren Slepian, a spokeswoman for American Water Resources.

As with any insurance or warranty plan, Hunter said people should ask themselves whether this is a risk they could cover out of pocket. If it would create a financial hardship, they should make sure they understand what is and is not covered and who is backing the plan.

American Water Resources is a subsidiary of American Water Works, a publicly traded company that operates regulated water utilities in about 1,600 communities in 16 states, including California. The firm is not a regulated utility. In California, it operates as American Water Resources Insurance Services. The company is licensed by the California Department of Insurance, and its home protection contract is regulated under the Home Protection Act, Slepian said.

This is the first time San Francisco has contracted with a company for this type of program. It put out a request for proposals and got two, from American Water Resources and HomeServe. American Water Resources was deemed the best, Reisman said.

The company has similar programs in other cities, including New York and Philadelphia. It also sells plans to customers outside of city programs.

The San Francisco program is open to residential properties with one to four units. Slepian estimates there are about 100,000 such properties in the city. The first postcard sent to homeowners this month had few details about the program. Enrollment forms will be mailed next month. In the meantime, homeowners can learn more, including applicable terms and conditions, at awrusa.com/sanfrancisco.

The terms say that in the event of a covered breakdown, American Water Resources will arrange for the repair or replacement of the customer-owned water or sewer line. A breakdown includes a leak in the water line or a clog, break or blockage in the sewer line caused by normal wear and tear, tree roots, defects in materials and earth movement caused by normal settlement and not caused by natural disasters  including earthquakes and floods.

According to Reisman, there is no exclusion for preexisting conditions, but no claims will be paid within the first 30 days of enrollment. In the terms and conditions, however, it says, damage incurred or existing prior to the Agreement Effective Date is excluded.

Asked to explain, Slepian said, Only preexisting conditions that did not display any evidence of a problem prior to enrolling are covered. These are generally problems that must be urgently taken care of and the 30 day effective window is intended to address this.

For water lines, the company will pay to repair or replace the portion from the shut-off valve at the house to the meter.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

Sewer lines have an upper and lower lateral, Slepian said. The upper portion is from the foundation to either the cleanout vent or the property line, which is often the curb. The lower portion is from that point to the main line. If theres a blockage, the program will clear out the entire portion, but if a repair or replacement is needed, we will cover the upper portion, she added.

The city covers the portion from the curb line to the sewer main if there is a structural defect, such as a collapsed pipe, Reisman said in an email.

The program will pay for repairs to driveways, public sidewalks and normal (but not extravagant) landscaping, Reisman said.

The program does not cover pipes inside the home, nor any damage inside a home caused by a water or sewer line backup, such as ruined carpets. Homeowners insurance might cover these problems.

The contract requires American Water Resources to maintain a 24/7 customer service line in several languages, and to hire licensed plumbing contractors to perform all work.

Many Bay Area cities require homeowners to have their sewer lateral inspected, and repaired or replaced if necessary, when they sell a home. San Francisco does not, but is considering such a policy, Reisman said.

If a leak was discovered during a point-of-sale inspection, any necessary repairs would be covered if the owner was enrolled and paid up, Slepian said.

The program will pay for damage caused by root invasion, regardless of who owns the tree causing the damage. Although homeowners could try to get the city to pay for damage caused by city-owned trees, its an uphill battle.

Starting in December 2011, the Department of Public Works began transferring responsibility for thousands of street trees to property owners in stages. Effective July 1, 2017, street tree responsibility was transferred back to the city under Proposition E, passed by voters in November 2016, John Cote, a spokesman for the city attorneys office, said in an email.

The citys general position since 2012 has been to not pay claims for city tree root intrusion into sewer pipes. The citys position is that tree roots do not harm undamaged sewer pipes. We accept the opinion of experts who say tree roots intrude into sewer pipes because the pipe is already damaged or defective, creating a leak that allows the roots access, he added.

Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kathpender
An armed attack on a highway rest stop in central Mexico has left at least nine people dead in the country's latest mass killing, state and federal authorities said Saturday.

The attack occurred Friday evening in Guanajuato state when a group of heavily armed men burst into a hostel restaurant frequented by truck drivers and opened fire.

Six people died on the spot, while three others were taken to a nearby parking lot and executed, the Federal Security Directorate reported. Two other people were injured.

Police and national guardsmen cordoned off the area, but the attackers escaped, officials said.

In recent years, heavily industrialized Guanajuato has gone from being one of Mexico's most peaceful states to one of its most violent. A network of pipelines crossing the state has attracted criminal gangs trafficking in stolen fuel.

In December, three officers died in an attack on a police station in the Guanajuato town of Villagran.

Earlier this month in southern Mexico, police found 10 charred corpses in a vehicle, the presumed victims of a drug gang.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office more than a year ago promising to attack violent crime at its roots.

But the country still saw nearly 29,000 murders last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
From Galicia in the north to Andalucia in the south - Spain's old coal plants are running out of steam.

The Iberian nation last year cut use of the dirtiest fossil fuel faster than anyone else in western Europe as renewable energy and cleaner natural gas take over. The combustible rock, which has kept the region humming through world wars and economic boom times, is increasingly out of favor with lawmakers and executives under pressure to do more to stop global warming.

"We are in a hurry, we have to move fast, everybody has to move fast,'' Iberdrola Chief Executive Officer Ignacio Galan said on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The Spanish utility plans to permanently shut its two remaining coal-fired power stations this year, replacing them with new wind and solar capacity.

Coal's share in the nation's electricity fell to a four-decade low of less than 5% from 14% a year earlier, according to the nation's grid operator Red Electrica. The sharp drop is yet another sign how the unprecedented surge in renewable power output coupled with the lowest seasonal gas prices in a decade have upended traditional energy economics.

Spain was anticipating exiting the fuel by the end of the decade, while the U.K. will shut all its plants by 2025. Germany last week struck a deal with its biggest power producers.

"The fall in coal generation means Spain could phase out the fuel much faster than the government ever imagined," said Dave Jones, an analyst at non-profit group Sandbag in London.

The nation burned as much as 70% less coal in 2019 than a year earlier, while the level in Germany fell 28%, according to data from S&P Global Platts.

The Spanish government made a start by shutting all coal-mining operations last year after striking a deal with unions to invest 250 million euros ($277.7 million) in impacted regions to enable a smoother transition to a green economy. That allowed a tax on burning natural gas at power plants to be abolished. It had been introduced to prop up the ailing mining industry.

Output is poised to fall further this year as both Iberdrola and Naturgy Energy Group plan to retire their plants this year. Energias de Portugal and Viesgo Holdco will shut their units by the middle of the decade. That would leave Endesa, the biggest producer of power from coal, as the only remaining operator after 2025. The company said that from 2022, its last operating plant will run for less than 10% of its theoretical maximum hours in any given year.

If the utilities stick to earlier statements, then Spain could be entirely without coal as early as 2027.

The prevailing market and political forces working against coal mean that Spanish plants faced a projected loss of 992 million euros in 2019, according to a report from Carbon Tracker, a think tank focusing on the energy transition.

The nation's lead in exiting coal is helped by having some of the best renewable resources in Europe, which, coupled with subsidies, has stimulated more power capacity than needed to keep the lights on.

"Spain is the most oversupplied electricity market in Europe," said Jones. "So it has the capacity to shut coal power plants and not wait for new capacity to come online."

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.

Preliminary analysis from the group showed that the fuel's share of Europe's electricity mix fell by 23% in 2019 from a year earlier and is set to decline further in 2020.

Spain's new coalition government plans to pass a climate law, proposed more than a year ago, saying that all electricity needs to come from renewables by 2050. It also includes plan to reach 74% by 2030. Spain generated 38% of its electricity from green sources last year.

For Jahn Olsen, a London-based analyst at BloombergNEF, coal is unlikely to ever bounce back after the jump in carbon emission costs in Europe over the past couple of years.

"The rationale to keep running coal power plants in Spain just isn't there," he said. "These plants are losing money right now, and they will continue to lose money in the coming years."

- - -

Bloomberg's Demetrios Pogkas contributed to this report.
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By Express News Service

JEYPORE: The district administrations move to allow the opening of a liquor shop near the Hanuman Temple at the Bus Stand has drawn the ire of locals.

Submitting a memorandum, residents of Parabeda, Aurobindo Nagar, Gopabandhu Nagar and Gauda street said the proximity of the liquor shop to the temple and Vikram Deb College would be a bad influence on students as well as those visiting the religious place. Easy accessibility of alcohol will harm the youth, residents alleged.

Earlier, locals and students of the areas had met Jeypore Sub Collector and demanded the withdrawal of license to open the liquor shop but it was not heeded.

On Friday, the residents again threatened to shut down the liquor outlet if the authority dismisses public opinion.
The following events are planned for the upcoming week throughout the region:  Jurassic Quest, featuring more than 100 life-like dinosaurs, dinosaur themed rides, live dinosaur shows and more, opens Saturday and runs through Jan. 23 at the Pennsylvania Convention...
The Worlds Best Bank (Awarded Worlds Best Bank by Euromoney in 2019) DBS unveiled a comprehensive 360-degree campaign in India, highlighting its Singaporean heritage and commitment to India. The campaign is being promoted across platforms such as television, out of home, digital and social media. Conceptualized by Leo Burnett, the integrated campaign kicked off with the TVC featuring brand ambassador, Sachin Tendulkar.

The brand film showcases how the bank resonates with the attributes popularly associated with Singapore, promising trust, stability and efficiency. The ad film takes viewers through a fast-paced, virtual tour of Singapore, while highlighting the ease of banking with DBS.

DBS has been expanding its footprint in the country following the establishment of its local subsidiary last year. Commenting on the campaign, Shoma Narayanan, Executive Director - Group Strategic Marketing & Communications at DBS Bank India said, The campaign underlines our ongoing commitment to India. It is the beginning of a story that we want to share  A story about the banks vision to be a partner in modern Indias growth story, while celebrating our rich Singaporean heritage.

At DBS, it has been our constant endeavour to harness technology to deliver a simple, safe and joyful banking experience. The narrative of our new brand film reaffirms DBS credentials as a world class bank, which seamlessly integrates banking into customers lives, Shoma added.

Neel Roy Cruz, Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett said, "DBS is the world's best bank and we wanted to amplify these credentials in the saturated Indian market. The creative challenge was to place the spotlight on the bank's rich Singaporean legacy and yet establish its strong affinity with customers in India."

"Sachin is the brand ambassador of DBS and who better than him to be the face of the campaign. His endorsement of the brand makes the campaign relatable with billions across India", he added.

Named Asias safest bank for 11 years in a row, DBS has been on an ongoing journey to shape the future of banking. DBS offers a compelling suite of services catering to the evolving banking needs of retail customers, small and medium businesses, as well as large corporates. In 2016, DBS launched Indias first fully digital bank, digibank by DBS, with the aim to deliver an entire bank in a smartphone app. Since its launch, digibank by DBS has acquired over 2.5 million customers.

Globally, DBS is the first bank to concurrently hold three global best bank awards. This was achieved after DBS was named Worlds Best Bank by leading global financial publication Euromoney in its 2019 Awards for Excellence. It follows the banks wins of Global Finances Best Bank in the World in August 2018 and The Bankers Bank of the Year  Global in November 2018.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: AAP national convener and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked Amit Shah on Saturday not to make education a part of "dirty politics" or make fun of the hard work put in by students, teachers, and parents of Delhi government schools.

The Delhi chief minister's reply came after Shah alleged that the AAP did not build new schools after coming to power and also that the condition of existing schools deteriorated.

"Kejriwal had promised to build 500 schools. Far from building new schools, the condition of existing schools is also in shambles. Seven-hundred schools do not have principals, more than 1,000 schools do not have a science wing, there is a shortage of 19,000 teachers. The Kejriwal government could not spend 30 per cent of the education budget," Shah tweeted.

Reacting to the allegation, Kejriwal invited Shah to see for himself the condition of government schools in Delhi. "Don't make education a part of your dirty politics. Please take out time and come with me to visit government schools. You are surrounded by negativity the whole day, meet our students, you will get some positivity. Do positive politics over education," he said at a press conference.

Kejriwal also said, "Don't make fun of the hard work put in by students, teachers, and parents of Delhi government schools."

"I want to ask Amit Shah Ji, what do you even know about education? You have various state governments and the central government with you. Show me one school that you have improved," he challenged.

The chief minister asked students of Delhi government schools how do they feel when Shah "mocks your hard work".

"I want to ask the students, how did you feel when our Hon'ble Home Minister Amit Shah mocked your hard work? Is he right in mocking and insulting your efforts and hard work of the last five years?" Kejriwal also sought to know from Shah if he has inspected a civic body-run school in Delhi.

"Have you ever examined or inspected even one MCD school since for the last 15 years? Then what is your interest in education? I would like to request you to play positive and not negative politics in the name of education," he said.
Wow Donuts & Drips. | Photo: Alyssa P./Yelp

Looking to sample the finest desserts around town?

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the most excellent dessert outlets in Plano, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of where to quell your sweet tooth.

January is one of the top months of the year for consumer spending at food and beverage shops across the Plano area, according to data on local business transactions from Womply, a software provider that helps small businesses get more customers. The average amount spent per customer transaction at Plano-area food and beverage shops rose to $20 for the metro area in January of last year, second only to December with an average of $21, and 7% higher than the average for the rest of the year.

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.

1. Wow Donuts & Drips

Photo: Venkatesan T./Yelp

First on the list is Wow Donuts & Drips. Located at 6509 W. Park Blvd., Suite 420, the shop to score doughnuts, coffee, tea and other sweets is the highest-rated source for desserts in Plano, boasting 4.5 stars out of 397 reviews on Yelp.

2. Sweet Hut Bakery & Cafe

Photo: Samantha T./Yelp

Next up is Sweet Hut Bakery & Cafe, situated at 2001 Coit Road, Suite 301. With 4.5 stars out of 307 reviews on Yelp, the bakery and cafe, which specializes in bubble tea and desserts, has proven to be a local favorite.

3. Sunny Donuts

Photo: Maya R./Yelp

Sunny Donuts, located at 6832 Coit Road, Suite 270, is another prime choice, with Yelpers giving the bakery, which offers doughnuts and confections, five stars out of 83 reviews.

4. Pinkberry

Photo: Amy T./Yelp

Last but not least is an outpost of the Pinkberry chain, an establishment known for its frozen yogurt and desserts, with four stars out of 30 Yelp reviews. Head over to 3310 Dallas Parkway, Suite 117, to give it a go for yourself.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued an unusual statement Saturday, criticizing NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly after a contentious interview with questions about Ukraine that she said ended with him unleashing an expletive-laced tirade.

Pompeo accused Kelly of lying to him "twice," including while setting the interview up in December and by disclosing his alleged outburst after that conversation, which he said was "off the record." He cited no evidence.

Kelly, in Friday's interview, asked Pompeo about former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who was recalled from her role. Democrats say the diplomat was seen as an impediment to President Donald Trump's demands that Ukraine investigate Democrat Joe Biden. A tape revealed this week appears to capture Trump saying "take her out."

Pompeo has repeatedly refused to answer questions from reporters about his acquiescence in Trump's decision to recall Yovanovitch, and has sidestepped questions about the reason for her removal, beyond saying the president lost confidence in her.

Kelly, the host of NPR's "All Things Considered," said Pompeo's aides agreed to questions on the topic ahead of time.

After the interview at the State Department, Kelly said Pompeo summoned her to an adjacent room where he shouted at her and used profanities for a time equal to the length of the interview itself.

He also asked his aides to bring out a blank map and demanded that the veteran reporter identify Ukraine. Kelly, who graduated from Harvard University and has a master's degree in European studies from Cambridge University, said she did so accurately.

Pompeo seemed to suggest that she didn't, in fact, point to the correct country, concluding his statement by saying: "It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine."

The two countries are about 3,600 miles (5,800 kilometers) apart.

"Mary Louise Kelly has always conducted herself with the utmost integrity, and we stand behind this report," Nancy Barnes, NPR's senior vice president of news, said in an emailed statement.

The spat lit up social media, with the Twitter hashtags #Bangladesh, #Pompeo and #PompeoMeltdown trending on Saturday.
Bengaluru, Jan 26 : Investors would soon be able to buy agricultural land directly from farmers within 30 days for setting up their industries in Karnataka, state Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa said on Saturday.

"We are amending section 109 of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act in the ensuing budget session of the assembly in March to enable investors buy lands from farmers in the state directly in a month," Yediyurappa told reporters here on return from the 50th World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting at Davos in Switzerland from January 21-24.

To improve the ease of doing business in the southern state, the 60-day limit for land acquisition will be reduced to 30 days after the Act is amended by the Assembly.

"If the land acquisition process is not completed in the two-month limit, the state government's approval can be deemed given for the investors to take possession of the land for building their production facility," asserted the Chief Minister.

State Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar said of the 30,000-acre land bank earmarked for industrial development across the state, about 12,000 acres was ready for allotment to investors.

Yediyurappa showcased the state's infrastructure and natural and human resources at a road show on the sidelines of the 5-day WEF meet for prospective investments in the manufacturing, services and agriculture sectors.

"Potential investors at the summit expressed concern over the delay in land acquisition across the state due to procedural and bureaucratic hurdles," recalled the chief minister.

Clarifying that section 109 of the Land Reforms Act would not be removed but amended for the benefit of the farmers and investors, the Chief Minister said his government was committed to provide ease of doing business in the state so as attract global investment in diverse verticals, especially infrastructure, services, manufacturing and agriculture to double the farmers' income.

As part of its new economic and industrial policies, the state government is also simplifying the rules to convert farm lands for industrial use.

"The online procedure will be simplified for land conversion in 30 days, failing which their application will be deemed approved to start building activity," reiterated Yediyurappa.

A three-day Global Investors Meet (GIM 2020) will be held in this tech city on November 3-5 to attract investments from across the country and overseas.

"The response to our first road show on GIM was encouraging as about 100 global firms attended it and expressed interest in investing in the state," noted Yediyurappa.

Asked if the state government had investment estimates at the GIM, the Chief Minister said it would be in thousands of crores, as several international firms were keen to invest in the state across verticals.

Besides Shettar, state chief secretary T.M. Vijay Bhaskar, additional chief secretary E.V. Ramana Reddy and Industries principal secretary Gaurav Gupta were part of the 10-member state delegation that participated in the WEF summit.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A former Grandview police officer who is already serving one life sentence in prison has now pleaded guilty to another murder. In 2013, Jeffrey Moreland was sentenced in Cass County to life in prison with no chance at parole for the brutal murder of Cara Jo Roberts.
As the world marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of a swathe of Nazi concentration camps, the hitherto neglected site of the Gusen camp in northern Austria has become a bone of contention, with the Polish government demanding it be better preserved. A few dilapidated barracks surrounded by weeds is all that remains of the "sub-camp", where historians say 35,800 detainees -- many of them Polish -- were worked to death. Much to the surprise of the Austrian government, the Polish Embassy in Austria said in December it wanted to buy the partly private land that hosted the site. Austria's government reacted quickly, announcing in January it wants to refurbish Gusen, indirectly recognising the indifference with which the site had been treated since the end of World War II. Gusen was part of a larger complex around the main camp of Mauthausen, located three kilometres (two miles) away. Long established as a museum, Mauthausen is the most visited memorial site in Austria. At Gusen, on the other hand, only the former command house, two barracks and the crematorium are still left, next to a housing estate built in the 1950s. "It is high time to offer the victims of Gusen a real place in history," Poland's ambassador to Austria, Jolanta Roza Kozlowska, told AFP. - Worked to death - The Mauthausen complex -- comprising about 40 satellite camps in Adolf Hitler's native Upper Austria state and extending as far as southern Germany -- was one of the most brutal work camps in occupied Europe, claiming more than 90,000 lives. Gusen, in turn, was the deadliest in the complex. Classified as "level III", prisoners, often deported for political reasons, were worked to death there. Dedicated to the exploitation of granite and later also to the construction of fighter planes, Gusen quickly surpassed the main Mauthausen camp in size. Some 71,000 people from 27 countries were interned there, with Poles constituting the biggest group. They included artists, church officials, professors, researchers and politicians. Among the victims was Father Jacques, who was interned after trying to save Jewish children. Dying of exhaustion shortly after liberation, he inspired the 1987 French film "Au revoir les enfants" (Goodbye Children). When Mauthausen was liberated in May 1945, the history of its "sub-camps" was concealed, according to Bernhard Muehleder, who leads educational visits to the camp complex. Austria, which was annexed in 1938 by Nazi Germany, was under allied occupation after the war until 1955. Gusen was in the Soviet zone, and the Soviets "did not force Vienna to conserve the traces" of the site, Muehleder said. In 1965, victims' family groups installed a small memorial at Gusen. It was not until 2004 that Austria's government set up a modest visitor centre. - Dozens of other sites - But victims' families and the Polish government want a more dignified place of remembrance. Since the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party took power in late 2015, Warsaw has multiplied initiatives to remember Polish victims at the hands of the Nazis. Almost six million Poles died during the conflict. Anton Helbich-Poschacher, owner of one of the plots on which the former camp was located, told AFP that he "saw half of the Polish government arrive last year". The 66-year-old businessman said he was ready to sell his property. In early January, Austria announced it had earmarked two million euros ($2.2 million) to acquire several plots and erect a memorial. "We are delighted that this acquisition is finally anchored in the programme of the new Austrian government," a coalition formed early this month between the conservatives and the Greens, said Polish ambassador Kozlowska. But aside from Gusen, there are numerous other Nazi sites spread through Austria. "Does the post-war saying 'Never forget!' also apply to dozens of other sites?" the Austrian newspaper Kurier has asked, inviting politicians and historians to weigh in on this delicate topic.
The scene where two boys and a girl were found in a house at Parson's Court in Newcastle village Picture by Fergal Phillips.

A woman leaving flowers left at the scene where two boys and a girl were found dead in a house at Parson's Court in Newcastle village, northwest of Rathcoole last night Picture by Fergal Phillips.

Shock and sadness were etched on the faces of neighbours in Newcastle on a grey overcast morning as they struggled to come to terms with the triple tragedy in their midst.

Three children lay dead in their family home in Parson's Court in the small County Dublin town as a pathologist and garda forensic specialists worked throughout the morning in the terraced house.

Locals who spoke to Independent.ie said their hearts went out to the parents of the children. The mother of the children, two boys and girl aged three, seven and nine, remains in Tallaght Hospital receiving treatment.

Gardai sealed off the entrance to the estate with tape which fluttered in the morning breeze.

A woman who lives at the entrance of the estate carried a bunch of flowers and laid it on the wall there the garda tape was tethered.

"My daughter is very upset. She knew the children. I'm totally shocked and don't know what to make of it. I just wanted to bring these flowers," said the woman.

She said two of the dead children attended Scoil Chronain gaelscoile in nearby Rathcoole.

Another neighbour, a mother of four, also brought flowers.

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"It's really terrible. The family were not living long in the estate. I can't believe this has happened on our doorstep," she said.

"My children played with the children in the playground in the estate which is very close to the house. We were not at home when it was discovered. We arrived back around 8pm and the place was swarming with guards," she said.

A 33-year-old local father said they had mixed with the other children in the locality and were "normal, happy-go-lucky kids."

A large number of local people converged on the small old Saint Finian's Church for a special Mass organised by the co-parish priest Fr Kevin Doherty who announced on social media that the Mass would be at 10am.

The church was full and tears flowed freely as prayers were said for the children and parents. Women standing near the rear of the church brushed tears from their cheeks during the Mass while a mother sitting in a pew hugged her young daughter close by her side.

Fr Doherty welcomed the large attendance and extended warm words to members of the local Church of Ireland community who were present.

He invited the people to attend the local creche next door to the church after the Mass where they could take comfort in each other's presence.

The priest, speaking to Independent.ie, said when grief comes to a family or community it can "leave a calling card of darkness and disillusionment."

The community of Newcastle was a larger family that had suffered a very tragic loss, he said.

He issued the invitation to the community to the Mass and it was an opportunity to come together to pray for the family. No words could describe what had taken place but the presence of people together in the church was important, he said.

"We pray especially for all parents and children," he said.

Darkness had come "but the light is among us.....each of us can be light to the other," he said.

He invited the community to write in a book of condolences which lay open at the back of the church.

Several pages were filled with heart-felt messages of sympathy.

Many of the messages were simple, direct and poignant: 'Spread your wings, Little Angels, rest in peace,' 'Rest easy, baby girl, you were always our angel,' 'God bless you, Little Angels,' and 'RIP Little Angels. You are with God now and he will look after you.'

At the church gates afterwards, a 24-year-old local man stood in the morning chill with his two adult sisters and a baby niece.

The three had grown up in Newcastle and, although the tragic family had not lived long in the community, they wanted to show sympathy and solidarity.

The young man said: "I was training with Saint Finian's GAA club last night in Abbotstown when word came that three children had been found dead. I didn't really believe it. It's hard to take in."
By Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude prices fell more than 2% on Friday and headed for a steep weekly decline over concerns that the coronavirus will spread farther in China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, curbing travel and oil demand. The virus has prompted the suspension of public transport in 10 Chinese cities, while cases of infection have been found in several other Asian countries and the United States. Brent crude was down $1.62, or 2.6%, at $60.42 by 2:16 p.m

By Laila Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude prices fell more than 2% on Friday and headed for a steep weekly decline over concerns that the coronavirus will spread farther in China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, curbing travel and oil demand.

The virus has prompted the suspension of public transport in 10 Chinese cities, while cases of infection have been found in several other Asian countries and the United States.

Brent crude was down $1.62, or 2.6%, at $60.42 by 2:16 p.m. EST (1916 GMT). The global benchmark lost 6.8% so far this week, in its third weekly decline.

U.S. crude dropped $1.62, or 2.9%, to $53.97 a barrel and was on course for a 7.8% weekly decline.

"It all about the coronavirus all the time, and we're not getting signs that things are getting any better," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

Health authorities fear the infection rate could accelerate over the Lunar New Year holiday this weekend, when millions of Chinese travel.

"It looks like the fear is going into the weekend. People don't want to go too long," Flynn said.

The latest U.S. rig count data, an indication of future supply from the world's largest crude producer, did little for oil prices.

U.S. energy firms added oil rigs for a second consecutive week, raising doubts over producers' plans to continue reducing spending on new drilling for a second year in a row in 2020.

While the U.S. government's latest supply report on Thursday showed crude inventories fell 405,000 barrels last week, gasoline stockpiles grew for an 11th consecutive week to a record high.

Oil inventories in the wider industrialized world are above the five-year average, according to OPEC figures, which analysts say is limiting the impact of supply losses.

"Such is the bearish pressure that a raft of ongoing crude supply outages are not gaining much traction," said analysts at JBC Energy in a report. Such outages include the shutdown this week of the bulk of oil supply in OPEC producer Libya.

The prospect of further steps by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, could offer support going forward. OPEC+ has been mostly limiting supply since 2017 and on Jan. 1 deepened a cut in output.

Saudi Arabia's energy minister said all options are open at the next OPEC+ meeting in March, including further cuts, Al Arabiya television reported on Thursday.

The current OPEC+ deal expires at the end of March. Russia's No. 2 oil producer Lukoil expects it to be extended, Interfax news agency cited its chief executive as saying on Thursday.

(Additional reporting by Alex Lawler in London, Roslan Khasawneh and Koustav Samanta; Editing by Marguerita Choy, Barbara Lewis and Cynthia Osterman)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The budget is expected to announce several direct and indirect tax reforms including further simplification of income-tax laws to encourage voluntary compliance and widening the tax base, and which involve more use of technology, people aware of the development said on condition of anonymity.

The finance ministry has been working on simplifying archaic income-tax laws and rationalising tax rates in line with recommendations of the task force on the Direct Tax Code (DTC), which submitted its report on August 19, 2019, they added.

Suggestions of the task force are being considered on merit, one of them said. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Rajya Sabha on December 5, 2019, that the DTC was under examination.

Besides simplification of tax laws, the task force also proposed lower tax rates, particularly personal income-tax rates, to enlarge the tax base. The government constituted the task force in November 2017 to review the existing income-tax legislation and to draft a new direct tax law in consonance with the economic needs of the country.

Both internal and external technology experts are also working in this direction; the purpose is to further simplify the taxation system for voluntary compliance. This is also proposed by a group of economists, whom the FM consulted last month, a second person said.

On December 20, 2019, Sitharaman held a pre-budget consultation with prominent economists, who suggested further simplification of direct and indirect tax regimes, including introduction of the Direct Tax Code, the person said. The meeting was attended by Rathin Roy, director, NIPFP; Shekhar Shah, director general, NCAER; Abheek Barua, chief economist, HDFC Bank; Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economic adviser, State Bank of India, and Ajit Mishra, director, Institute of Economic Growth, among others.

Announcements related to several indirect tax reforms, including the Goods and Services Tax (GST), are expected in the Union Budget on February 1, the people mentioned above said, although these changes will be made by the GST Council and not the ministry.

For further improving the performance of GSTN [GST Network] filing portal on permanent basis, several technological measures are being worked out with Infosys and will be in place by April this year, a third person said.

Some tax assesses had faced problems in getting one-time passwords (OTPs) and other glitches in filling their GST returns.

In order to help GST assesses, the government on Wednesday allowed taxpayers to file their GSTR-3B Returns in a staggered manner. The monthly return, filed on the twentieth day of every month, captures summarised details of outward and inward supplies by a taxable entity.

Accordingly, taxpayers having annual turnover below 5 crore in the previous financial year are divided in two categories. About 4.9 million tax filers from 15 states and Union territories can now file GSTR-3B by the 22nd of every month without any late fees. For the remaining 4.6 million taxpayers from the 22 states and Union territories the last date would be the 24th of every month, the third person added.

Sachin Menon, partner and national head of indirect taxes, KPMG in India, said, E-invoicing is one of the measures to simplify the GST regime, and once it is implemented the system could be further simplified by filing one return with two annexure which are auto-generated.

Pratik Jain, partner & leader, PwC India, said that the government has already taken several measures to simplify the taxation system, but that it could be improved further. Bulk of the time for the industry goes in reconciling the vendor invoices with their own purchases records. They are at a risk of losing input credits if vendors do not report the transactions, which very often they dont have control over.

With e-invoicing, to some extent this might be easier but government needs to explore some alternative to this, especially for smaller tax payers. One of the ways could be asking the purchaser to pay GST on behalf of the vendors. The other way could be to do away with this process for accredited vendors. Also government could explore allowing aggregators like online platforms to pay tax on behalf of small vendors, just like they have done for online cab aggregators, he said.

According to Atul Pandey, partner, Khaitan & Co, Government is looking to consolidate and simplify the laws relating to direct tax structure through a new Direct Taxes Code (DTC). It is expected that DTC will reduce tax rates and address the requirements of the economy. We also need to see whether DTC will help in bringing down the substantial number of cases where government tax administration is the biggest litigator.
New Delhi

Mukesh Singh, one of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Delhi gang rape case, approached the Supreme Court on Saturday challenging the rejection of his mercy plea by President Ram Nath Kovind.

President Kovind had rejected Mukesh Singhs mercy petition on January 17 within a span of just four daysin the fastest decision ever on a such a plea.

Singh relied on the guidelines laid down in the judgment by the top court in 2014 in the Shatrughan Chauhan vs Union of India case and assailed the manner in which the mercy plea was rejected.

Singhs unsuccessful attempt to get a presidential pardon had necessitated a fresh death warrant and pushed the execution of the four convicts from January 22 to February 1.

Hours before Singhs petition, a local court had disposed of a plea by the lawyer of three other death row convicts in the case seeking additional documents from the jail authorities to file the curative and mercy petition for his clients.

Judge AK Jain noted that all documents have been given to the defence team and that no further directions are required in that regard.

In December 2012, five men and one juvenile had raped and brutalized a young para-medic student in a moving bus in Delhi leading to nationwide outrage. The victim later died from the injuries received. One of the accused committed suicide in Tihar jail during the trial while the juvenile accused was sent to a reform house and released three years later.

The four remaining accused, Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur were convicted and sentenced to death by the trial court in 2013. The conviction and sentence were confirmed by the Delhi high court in 2014 and the Supreme Court in May 2017. Subsequently, the review petitions filed by three convicts, Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma against the Supreme Court judgment were dismissed in 2018 and the review petition by Akshay Thakur was dismissed in December 2019.

Additional Sessions Judge, Patiala House had on January 7, 2020 issued a death warrant against four convicts and scheduled their execution on January 22.

This left the convicts with two weeks time to file both the curative and mercy petitions.

Two of the accused, Mukesh and Vinay Sharma then filed curative petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the May 2017 judgment of the top court which had upheld their conviction and death sentence. The Supreme Court dismissed the curative petitions on January 14.

Immediately after that, Mukesh had filed his mercy plea before the President and also moved the Delhi High Court challenging the issuance of the death warrant by the trial court stating that the mercy petition is pending before the President

The Delhi High Court refused to stay the death warrant and asked Mukesh to go to the trial court. Mukesh, through his advocate Vrinda Grover, moved to the Patiala House court seeking postponement of the hanging.

The Patiala House court on January 16 asked the jail authorities to submit a fresh status report on the scheduled execution while also remarking that the hanging is unlikely to happen on January 22 because the mercy petition is pending.

The very next day Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora issued fresh death warrant rescheduling the execution date to February 1.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on January 20 dismissed a petition filed by Pawan Gupta who had argued that he was a juvenile at the time of commission of offence in December 2012.
Jonny Kim was already a Silver Star-awarded Navy SEAL and Harvard-educated doctor. Now the 35-year-old California native can add another title to his resume: NASA astronaut.

Kim was among 13 men and women to graduate this month from the agencys Artemis program, making him eligible for missions to the International Space Station, the moon and, ultimately, Mars. Even on a stage of people brimming with talent, he stood out.

Jonny, youre a Navy SEAL with a degree from Harvard Medical School, Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) said during the graduation ceremony at the Johnson Space Center. Thats just ridiculous! I mean, he can kill you and then bring you back to life. And do it all in space.

Or, as a headline at Task & Purpose put it: SEAL, Doctor, Astronaut  Navy Lt. Jonny Kim achieves your childhood dreams so you dont have to.

Kim is a first-generation Korean American, born in Los Angeles to parents who immigrated to the United States from South Korea in search of a better future for their children. Despite the accomplishments to come, he struggled with insecurity growing up, according to a 2017 profile in the Harvard Gazette.

 READ MORE: Girls High grad is promoted to colonel in U.S. Army

He had a hard time at school and, as his graduation from Santa Monica High approached in spring 2002, decided that only a bold move could turn things around. So he enlisted in the Navy as a seaman. He asked a recruiter if he could become a member of one of the SEAL teams and was promised only that he could try. Just the opportunity was enough, the Gazette reported.

I didnt like the person I was growing up to become, Kim told the newspaper. I needed to find myself and my identity. And for me, getting out of my comfort zone, getting away from the people I grew up with, and finding adventure, that was my odyssey, and it was the best decision I ever made.

The grueling SEAL training process provoked new doubts in him. He thought about quitting during hell week, a period of almost nonstop training that all candidates are required to complete.

Instead, he made the cut for the elite team and went on to serve as combat medic, sniper, navigator, and point man on more than 100 combat operations over two deployments to the Middle East, according to NASA. He was awarded a Silver Star and a Bronze Star along the way.

It was during his time in Iraq that Kim decided he wanted to become a doctor. He was serving as a medic one day in 2006 when two of his close friends were shot, the Gazette reported. Kim treated one of them, who had a severe wound to his face. Neither would survive.

It was one of the worst feelings of helplessness, Kim said, according to the paper. There wasnt much I could do, just make sure his bleeding wasnt obstructing his airway, making sure he was positioned well. He needed a surgeon. He needed a physician and I did eventually get him to one, but  that feeling of helplessness was very profound for me.

He earned a degree in mathematics from the University of San Diego in 2012 and his doctorate in medicine from Harvard in 2016. He was a year into a residency at Massachusetts General Hospital when he learned that he had been selected out of a pool of 18,000 applicants to become a NASA astronaut.

The call came while he was grocery shopping.

I think my heart was racing 100 beats a second, and I tried not to lose my composure in the middle of the grocery store, Kim said in a video released by NASA. But once I got the news and I hung up, I ran over to my wife, and I was jumping up and down and telling her that we got in.

His class included 11 NASA candidates and two Canadian Space Agency candidates. They completed two years of training, including spacewalking, robotics, International Space Station systems, and Russian, to become eligible for spaceflight.

The Artemis program has a goal of sending the first woman and next man to the moon by 2024 and to use whats learned there to make it to Mars.

These astronauts could one day in fact walk on the moon as part of the Artemis program, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said during the graduation. and perhaps one of them could be among the first humans to walk on Mars.

During the ceremony, the graduates took questions from students in the audience. Asked by an eighth-grade boy whether they had ever experienced self-doubt, Kim took the microphone. He said it is very human to doubt yourself.

Everyone in this audience, everyone watching, is capable of so much more than they think they are, he said.
Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: The Centre is inching closer to signing an agreement to solve the protracted Bodo problem in Assam.



Speculations are rife the agreement will be signed any day after Sunday.



What fuelled the speculations are some recent events including safe passage given to members of an insurgent group by the government to return to India from Myanmar and Bhutan, visit of top leaders of all four rebel groups and some Bodo organisations to New Delhi to join peace talks, the Assam government not opposing the interim bail petition of rebel leader Ranjan Daimary and hectic parleys held between Centres interlocutor in Bodo peace talks AB Mathur and several Bodo civil society organisations.



Daimary is serving life term in jail. Convicted in the 2008 serial bomb blasts case in Assam in which nearly 100 people had lost their lives, he walked out of jail on Saturday and was scheduled to catch a flight to Delhi to take part in the talks.



The Bodos have been fighting for long demanding the creation of a separate Bodoland state with areas falling under northern and western Assam. However, the states Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday that the Bodo agreement would not cause any division of the states territory.



The Central government is trying to come up with an agreement to solve the Bodo issue. It has clearly told us that there will not be any division of Assam. There wont be the creation of any Union Territory by slicing off Assams land and no part of undivided Sonitpur district will enter the BTC (autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council which administers four Assam districts), Sarma told journalists.



He appealed to people, particularly those who are living in undivided Sonitpur district in northern Assam, not to be worried about the agreement or believe in rumours.



Bodo organisations are not too excited. The All Bodo Students Union (ABSU), which has been a part of the movement for a long time, felt the Bodos are not going to get anything big.



The Bodos are not going to get gold or diamond. The agreement will only help unite the youths, who are lodged in the designated camps of the rebels after spending time in the jungles of Myanmar, Bhutan and Bangladesh, with their families, ABSU president Promod Bodo told this newspaper.



Activist Anjali Daimary insisted the settlement should be honourable.



We hope this agreement will fulfil the aspirations of the Bodos. For more than 50 years, the Bodos have fought for their rights. This will be the third Bodo accord and the government should know that this has to be signed as the previous two accords were not satisfactory. We dont want the fourth or the fifth accord, she said.



The first accord, which led to the creation of Bodoland Autonomous Council, was signed in 1993 with Bodo civil society organisations. The objective was to provide maximum autonomy to the Bodos for social, economic, educational, ethnic and cultural advancement. The second accord, signed in 2003 with erstwhile insurgent group Bodo Liberation Tigers, had led to the creation of the BTC.



The Bodoland statehood movement has its genesis in the 1967 demand by the Bodos  largest plains tribal group in Northeast  for carving a Union Territory named Udayachal out of Assam. The demand was raised by the Plains Tribal Council of Assam following the realisation that tribal blocks and belts notified by the British were being acquired by rich immigrant landlords.


The Queen has given Prince William a new role in the Church of Scotland as Prince Harry prepares to step back as a senior royal.

The Duke of Cambridge, 37, has been made the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and will act as the sovereign's personal representative at the annual meeting.

It comes almost immediately after his brother, the Duke of Sussex, made the ten-hour journey to Vancouver on Monday to join Meghan and Archie at the start of their new life away from the monarchy.

The Queen (pictured today leaving Sandringham) has given Prince William a new role in the Church of Scotland as Prince Harry prepares to step back as a senior royal

The Duke of Cambridge has been made the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. It comes almost immediately after his brother, the Duke of Sussex, made the ten-hour journey to Vancouver on Monday

The Lord High Commissioner role was established in the 1707 Act of Union between England and Scotland.

The Queen pledged to continue it during the first Privy Council meeting of her reign in 1952.

Prince William will now make the opening and closing addresses to the Assembly as well as carrying out official visits across Scotland.

The Church of Scotland is a Presbyterian church and only recognises Jesus Christ as King and Head of the Church.

It means that the Queen is able to attend services as an ordinary member of the congregation.

The terms of Harry and Meghan's departure were announced by Buckingham Palace last week. Pictured: William, Kate, Harry and Meghan altogether at Westminster Abbey in March last year

Prince William will now make the opening and closing addresses to the Assembly as well as carrying out official visits across Scotland. Pictured: Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Buckingham Palace last week

The monarch appoints a new figure to the role every year and previous royal family members who have taken it on include the Princess Royal, the Duke of Rothesay, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex.

The role is currently held by the 10th Duke of Buccleuch and 12th Duke of Queensberry, Richard Scott.

Many have interpreted Prince William's appointment at the Church of Scotland as a way of strengthening the Union as SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon prepares to make a renewed bid to break up Britain in the wake of Brexit.

Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan are adjusting to their new life in Canada where they will raise their son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor.

The terms of Harry and Meghan's departure were announced by Buckingham Palace last week. The couple have agreed to drop their HRH styles as well as pay back the 2.4million of taxpayers money that was used to restore their Windsor home, Frogmore Cottage

Prince Harry made an emotional speech last weekend at a private charity dinner in Chelsea, London, where he said that he had 'no other option' but to give up his role.

On Monday he undertook the ten-hour journey from London Heathrow to Vancouver International Airport on a Boeing 747.

The Duke of Sussex then boarded a WestJet plane to make the short journey on to Victoria Airport on Vancouver Island to join his wife and eight-month-old son.

The Queen and Prince Philip were seen today for the first time since Harry departed to Canada

Her Majesty was forced to pull out of the annual Women's Institute visit while she recovered from a cold

While he flew, he missed Prince William's first solo reception at Buckingham Palace where he ushered in a new era for the royals - and even gave Harry a mention in his welcoming speech.

He said: 'The African continent holds a very special place in my heart. It is the place my father took my brother and me shortly after our mother died.'

The terms of Harry and Meghan's departure were announced by Buckingham Palace last week.

Prince Edward, 55, and Lady Louise, 16, were seen cantering through the Windsor Great Park on the crisp January morning

Prince Andrew was also pictured talking with a friend as he trotted through the park today as his brother and niece enjoyed Windsor Great Park

Duke of Cambridge's current roles Colonel of Irish Guards Commodore-in-Chief of Submarines at Royal Naval Command Commodore-in-Chief at Royal Naval Command in Scotland Honorary Air Commandant at Royal Air Force Coningsby President Fields in Trust The British Academy of Film and Television Arts The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust United for Wildlife Vice President The Foundation of the College of St. George Patron Centrepoint Child Bereavement UK English Schools Swimming Association Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund Imperial War Museum Mountain Rescue Council England & Wales Royal African Society Swim England The Passage Tusk Trust Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust Welsh Rugby Union Honorary Fellow Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow St John's College, Cambridge The Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Medicine Honorary Life Member Automobile Association British Sub-Aqua Club Football Association Gloucestershire County Cricket Club Royal Aero Club Royal Ontario Museum Advertisement

The couple have agreed to drop their HRH styles as well as pay back the 2.4million of taxpayers money that was used to restore their Windsor home, Frogmore Cottage.

The couple have recently faced disruption over their attempt to trademark their Sussex Royal brand.

Their application was originally blocked by 34-year-old British doctor Benjamin Worcester.

He has since requested to 'rescind' his opposition after claiming that an impostor filled out the forms.

The Queen and Prince Philip were seen today for the first time since Harry departed to Canada.

Her Majesty was forced to pull out of the annual Women's Institute visit while she recovered from an illness.

But a spokesman for Buckingham Palace told MailOnline she had 'a slight cold' with an insider adding that it was 'no cause for alarm'.

Prince Andrew, 59, Prince Edward, 55, and Lady Louise, 16 were also all seen cantering through the Windsor Great Park today.

Last night Meghan posted a series of pictures on Instagram to raise awareness of International Day of Education and highlighted the charity trips she made before marrying Prince Harry.

The images include Meghan in Rwanda in March 2016 with World Vision - which was expanding access to clean water in rural areas - before she met Harry on a blind date four months later.

Other pictures posted today show the actress visiting university students in London in January 2019 and Harry in Malawi in September last year during the couple's Africa tour.

The Sussex Royal account posted the images alongside a caption that read: 'Today, on International Day of Education, we highlight the importance of access to education for all.

'The Duchess of Sussex has focused on this both prior to becoming a member of the Royal Family and now as patron of The Association of Commonwealth Universities.

'Working closely with CAMA, both The Duke and Duchess recognise the benefit both personally and to society at large when a young girl has access to education.

'On their recent tour to Southern Africa, The Duke supported the initiatives of @Camfed on the ground in Malawi.'
The BJPs Bhilwara district unit has warned of an agitation if police doesnt solve the case regarding alleged anti-CAA comments last month on a Facebook account in the name of IAS officer Tina Dabi.

District unit president Laduran Teli said if the police did not solve the case soon, they would launch an agitation.

Local BJP leaders also gave a memorandum in the name of Union home minister Amit Shah to collector Rajendra Bhatt and Superintendent of Police Harendra Kumar.

Teli said BJP leaders would ask their MLAs and MPs to raise the issue in the state assembly and the Parliament if no action was taken by police.

On December 17, some comments against the CAA were posted on Dabis Facebook page. There were protests by several organizations after which Dabi, who topped the UPSC exam in 2015, said her Facebook account had been hacked and she filed an FIR with police.

Teli said even a month after the event, police had failed to find out who was the culprit.

Police acts immediately in such matters but even though the inflammatory comments were posted from an IAS officers account a month back, no action has been taken. The role of the police seems suspicious he said.

Bhilwara SP Harendra Kumar said the case was under investigation.

We have to get details of the person who hacked the ID from Facebook whose server is outside India. We are communicating with them. As soon as we get information, we will arrest the culprit, he said.
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
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 13:36:32|Editor: huaxia

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WUHAN, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- China has sent 450 military medical staff, including professionals who have experience in the fight against SARS or Ebola, to the novel coronavirus hardest-hit city of Wuhan.

The medics, in three teams sent by medical universities of the army, navy and air force of the People's Liberation Army, arrived in Wuhan by military aircraft on Friday night.

The teams, composed of experts in respiratory health, infectious diseases, hospital infection control and intensive care unit (ICU), will be dispatched to the Wuhan hospitals with large numbers of novel coronavirus-related pneumonia patients, according to the military authorities.

Chinese health authorities announced Saturday that 1,287 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus, including 237 in critical conditions, had been reported in the country by the end of Friday.

The pneumonia situation had resulted in 41 deaths, the National Health Commission said.

The medics were mobilized from various hospitals affiliated to the military universities. All of them volunteered for the mission.

"We sent our best staff in various clinical departments. They have rich experience in battling contagious diseases," said Zhou Xianzhi, president of Air Force Medical University. "Some of them took part in major missions such as the battle against SARS and the fight against Ebola in Africa, as well as earthquake rescues."

Li Jun, a nurse of the pediatric ICU ward of Xijing Hospital, said she felt "extremely honored" to join this national mission.

Li canceled her plan to spend the Chinese Lunar New Year with her family and jumped right into the mission after her New Year's Eve duty at the hospital.

Li's 7-year-old daughter cried as she learned that her mom would stay in the worst-affected virus area for at least one month.

At the send-off ceremony, Li tried to avoid eye contact with her daughter but could not help breaking down in tears as she boarded the bus.

Song Liqiang, 50, is the deputy head of Xijing Hospital's Respiratory and ICU Department. He has experience working in the ICU during the SARS outbreak in 2003.

"I have no doubt that with all the concerted efforts from across the country, we will bring the situation under control," Song said.
There were more than a few puzzled faces in court last week when a man was told he faces being hit with a criminal conviction for catching a pike which was deemed too big to be taken from the water.

Tomasz Kaspryk, 18 Dun Darrach, Longford, was summonsed by Inland Fisheries Ireland while out fishing on a stretch of water at Clondra, Longford on July 26 2019.

When details of the case and prosecution were relayed to the court, Judge Seamus Hughes said he was blissfully unaware such a charge could be taken under current legislation.

If you catch one pike a day that is more than 50cm long you are in trouble if you dont put it back into the water, said defence solicitor Frank Gearty.

He (Mr Kaspryk) would say he snared the pike and unfortunately killed it while catching it."

Also read: Longford man fined for having no driving licence

Judge Hughes said was curious to know more about the delicacies associated with a fish which is sometimes referred to as the shark of the freshwater.

Ive never eaten pike in my life, he said, as he questioned Mr Kaspryk directly over its taste.

I dont know, came the reply from the defendant. I fish only to relax.

Again asked if he had ever tasted pike himself, Mr Kaspryk said: I like the fillet, leading Judge Hughes to remark: I still dont know if it is nice or not.

The district court judge, in light of full facts from the case being disclosed, said he would be adjourning matters until February 25 2020 ahead of more fishing lessons being meted out to the court.

Also read: Attempted theft of plant machinery in Monaghan
The national capital has been brought under a multi-layered security cover with thousands of armed personnel keeping a hawk-eyed vigil for the 71st Republic Day celebrations where Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will be the chief guest.

Facial recognition system and drones are part of the measures taken by the Delhi Police for the occasion and 10,000 security personnel have been deployed to maintain vigil, officials said.

Special security arrangements have been made for Brazilian President Bolsonaro, who is the chief guest for the Republic Day parade, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi Zone) Eish Singhal said.

Sharpshooters and snipers will be deployed atop high-rise buildings to keep a watch on the eight-km-long parade route from Rajpath to the Red Fort on Sunday, the officials said.

Hundreds of CCTV cameras have also been installed as part of the security arrangements, including at least 150 cameras in areas covering Red Fort, Chandni Chowk and Yamuna Khadar, they said.

"We have a four-layered security arrangement. Inner, middle, outer and one along the border areas across the national capital," Singhal said, adding that drones will be also deployed.

"Around 5,000 to 6,000 Delhi Police personnel have been deployed in New Delhi district along with 50 companies of paramilitary forces," he added.

The main zone of Rajpath will be closed till 12 pm on Sunday. The facial recognition system of Delhi Police will also be set up at vantage points for suspect identification.

More than 2,000 Traffic Police personnel have been deployed for smooth flow of traffic and facilitation of spectators and visitors to the venue.

Police personnel have been directed to stay alert since Delhi elections are also around the corner.

Anti-terror measures like tenant and servant verification, border checking, security of vital installations, malls and markets, patrolling in heavy footfall areas are being taken, the officials said.

The police have also asked hotels, taxi and auto drivers to remain alert. In view of the heightened security, patrolling in public places has been intensified.

"We have intensified patrolling in public places. Group patrolling, night patrolling and vehicle checking is being carried out with the help of Central Armed Police Forces. Frisking at metro stations, railway stations, airport and bus terminals has also been tightened," a senior police official said.

Apart from securing the main venue at Rajpath, adequate security and traffic arrangements for the 'At Home' function at Rashtrapati Bhavan have been made.

The security personnel have identified vulnerable spots such as crowded markets, railway stations, bus stands and other high-value establishments, and efforts are being made to secure them with deployment of extra police force.

A city-wide alert is also being exercised for the Republic Day, the officials said.

A traffic advisory has also been issued about the police's elaborate arrangement for route diversions for Sunday.

No traffic will be allowed on Rajpath from Vijay Chowk to India Gate from 6 pm on Saturday till the parade gets over on Sunday.

Flying of sub-conventional aerial platforms like para-gliders, para-motors, hang gliders, unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned aerial systems, microlight aircraft, remotely piloted aircraft, hot air balloons, small size powered aircraft, quadcopters or para jumping from aircraft are prohibited over the jurisdiction of the city till February 15, according to an advisory.

It has also asked people to report to the nearest police station incase they see any unidentified object or suspicious person.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
T he children found dead in a house near Dublin city were siblings aged three to nine, police said.

Gardai named the three children found dead in a house the village of Newcastle, Co Dublin. as brothers and sister Conor, Darragh and Carla McGinley.

They were aged nine, seven and three.

Officers have also confirmed that the woman being treated in hospital following the incident is a relative.

Conor McGinley, 9, Darragh McGinley, 7, and Carla McGinley, 3, with their father Andrew McGinley / PA Media

Post-mortem examinations will be conducted on Saturday afternoon to determine the cause of death.

The children's bodies were removed from the property at around 10am this morning.

Forensic investigators have searched the house / PA Wire/PA Images

Police said a family liaison officer was in contact with their father Andrew McGinley and the extended family.

Mr McGinley has released a photo of himself with his three children.

Garda at a house in the village of Newcastle, south west of Dublin city where three children have been found dead. / PA Wire/PA Images

Police previously described the deaths as unexplained but have stated they are not looking for anyone else in relation to the incident.

The children were found in a house in Parsons Court  a small housing development in the village.

Scene: An ambulance and police outside the property in Ireland / PA

Garda forensic officers were continuing to conduct examinations inside the semi-detached house late on Friday night.

One woman in the area said the small community is in absolute shock and many attended a local mass service on Saturday morning.
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The great-grandson of the Austrian branch of the Rothschild banking dynasty is suing the city of Vienna of 'perpetuating' Nazi laws by plundering a charitable trust.

Baron Albert von Rothschild, head of the Rothschild bank in Vienna, set up the charitable foundation in 1905, to endow the Austrian capital with pioneering psychiatric hospitals.

He set it up to commemorate his brother Nathaniel, a renowned art collector and leading advocate of psychiatric treatments.

The bequest funded the establishment of two institutions for the Nathaniel Freiherr von Rothschild Foundation for the Mentally Ill, which provided advanced care for nervous disorders.

Albert's great-grandson Geoffrey Hoguet, who lives in Mahattan, and a prominent investor, has brought the case over the 110million (93million) trust

And a codicil to Albert's will left the foundation with 20m crowns, which is worth around 120m (101million) today.

The foundation was put under a board of 12 trustees with nine nominees from the Rothschild family.

Albert's great-grandson Geoffrey Hoguet, who lives in Mahattan, and a prominent investor, has brought the case over the 110million (93million) trust, in what is the largest ever restitution claims by the descendants of Nazi victims.

The lawsuit has accused the district of plotting to sell valuable property from the foundation at grossly undervalued prices.

Baron Albert von Rothschild, head of the Rothschild bank in Vienna, set up the charitable foundation in 1905

The heir also wants to nullify the sale of the Maria Theresien Schlossel, a late baroque palace, which was one of the world's earliest centres of mental health.

The city is also accused of amending the charity's deeds to make the city the sole beneficiary of its assets.

Lawyer Wulf Gordian Hauser, representing the heirs, said the city is 'completing what was done in 1938,' according to The Financial Times.

He referred to when the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938 where they expelled the Rothschilds in the same year and dissolved the foundation in 1939.

The Rothschild families' claim aims to return the trust to its original form and repay its assets 'to the Austrian people'.

The Maria Theresien Schlossel, in Vienna, a late baroque palace, which was one of the world's earliest centres of mental health

'[The City of Vienna] has essentially rewritten a will to make itself the main heir, and in effect, has done by guile what had been done in 1938 by brute force,' the heirs told the Financial Times.

'The city's actions represent a grievous case of self-dealing, possibly the most cynical and corrupt in the history of aryanization and restitution in post war Austria.'

A lawyer representing the city of Vienna said a full rebuttal of the claims would be given in court.

Hannes Jarolim said: 'It is remarkable what arguments are being made about agreements with the Rothschild Foundation which were taken decades ago, and with the greatest respect and understanding of the original intentions of the foundation.'
President Xi Jinping warned Saturday that China faced a "grave situation" as authorities raced to contain a virus that has killed 41 people and caused a drastic scale-back of Lunar New Year celebrations. The world's most populous country, which is scrambling to contain the disease that has infected nearly 1,300 people and overwhelmed health facilities, is building a second field hospital and closing more travel routes. After more countries reported cases, Xi said at a Communist Party leadership meeting on the disease that China was "faced with the grave situation of an accelerating spread of the new coronavirus" but that the country will "definitely be able to win the battle," according to state media. Meanwhile China's most important celebration has been all but cancelled for at least 56 million people as authorities expanded travel bans across central Hubei province to try and contain the spread of the virus. In Wuhan, the epicentre of the emergency, 450 military medics were deployed to help treat patients in Hubei's capital city, where a seafood and live animal market has been identified as the centre of the outbreak. On Saturday, when they should have been celebrating the New Year, people waiting at one hospital in the city were angry and frustrated. "It takes at least five hours to see a doctor," one woman, who didn't want to be named, told AFP. One man in his 30s said some people had to queue for two days. Many people had brought their own chairs for the wait. Wuhan authorities will race to build the second makeshift hospital within a fortnight, state media reported, adding 1,300 new beds. They already started work Friday on the first new field hospital, which could be ready in just over a week. The two hospitals would be similar in size to the temporary facility that was built to tackle SARS in Beijing in 2003, when 650 people died from the disease in the mainland and Hong Kong. The city also plans to transform 24 general hospitals for temporary use to cope with the increasing number of patients, state media reported. Army medics, who arrived on military aircraft late Friday, include doctors with experience combating SARS or Ebola who will be dispatched to hospitals that are reportedly short on beds due to a crush of infected patients and worried locals. The virus has caused global concern because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). The new virus has now infected people nationwide and in nearly a dozen other countries. - 'Nobody can leave' - On the eastern outskirts of Wuhan, police manning a roadblock turned away a handful of vehicles trying to exit the city. "Nobody can leave," an officer told AFP. But the police allowed some medical workers who had gone home for the holidays to re-enter the city to help at crowded hospitals. Trapped residents were stocking up on masks, gloves and disinfectant while car traffic will be severely restricted from Sunday. The city has a shortage of medical supplies including goggles and masks, according to the official Xinhua news agency, which added that the government has shipped 14,000 protective suits and 110,000 pairs of gloves to Wuhan. Foreign citizens were set to be evacuated from Wuhan within the next few days. US coffee chain Starbucks said it would shut all its stores in Hubei during the Lunar New Year festival for "health safety". The government says most cases have been in Hubei and most of the deaths involved people who already suffered pre-existing health conditions. Underscoring fears that the virus could spread further, overseas Chinese tour groups will be suspended from Monday while domestic trips have already been halted. Beijing will suspend long-distance bus service entering and leaving the capital of 20 million people from Sunday due to "requirements of epidemic prevention and control," the official People's Daily newspaper reported. The National Health Commission also ordered nationwide measures to detect and isolate people carrying the virus on planes, trains and buses across the country. Xinhua said Saturday that temperature screening checkpoints have been set up in 387 railway stations across the country. Meanwhile, tourists from Hubei in Haikou, capital of the island province of Hainan, were told by the city government they had to spend 14 days in a hotel for centralised medical observation, and were forbidden to leave. - Hong Kong schools close - Beijing's Forbidden City, Shanghai Disneyland and a section of the Great Wall are among many attractions that have closed as a precaution. China's box-office film earnings for Lunar New Year's Eve on Friday were just one-tenth of last year's as people shunned crowds. Xi chaired a Communist Party leadership meeting which urged regional governments to make "the safety of the masses' lives and their physical health a top priority", state media said. Xinhua said the Standing Committee agreed to set up a working group that would visit Hubei. In Hong Kong, where five people have tested positive for the virus so far, city leader Carrie Lam declared the situation an "emergency" and schools, currently on holiday, will remain closed until February 17. The World Health Organization on Thursday stopped short of declaring a global emergency, which would have prompted greater international cooperation, including possible trade and travel restrictions. burs-rox-lth/bfm/cs The spread of a deadly virus is overwhelming hospitals in Wuhan, the city at the epicentre of the health emergency Chinese health authorities said the nationwide toll had jumped to 41 after 15 more people had died the day before in Wuhan, where the virus emerged Map showing countries and territories where cases of the China virus have been confirmed, as of 0700 GMT, January 25 Beijing's Forbidden City, pictured, as well as Shanghai Disneyland and a section of the Great Wall are among many attractions that have closed Authorities have expanded travel bans across central Hubei province to try and contain the spread of the virus China's aggressive response has won praise internationally, especially compared with its response to SARS, which saw the country accused of a slow-footed reaction and stonewalling
Last February, as part of their chronic feud over the disputed region of Kashmir, their warplanes bombed each others territory, the first time two nuclear-armed powers had ever done that.

Since then, trade ties have been shelved and the governments routinely insult each other. Even the Friendship Express, a train that used to run between the two countries, has stopped.

The roots of the border ceremony go back to the late 1940s, when the border was first demarcated by Indian and Pakistani officers who had served in the same regiment in the colonial army. The two sides decided that each evening they would lower their flags at the same time.

Apparently, those military manners arent totally dead; officers today said that as they perform the drill, the soldiers speak to each other through the gates down to the second to get the performance just right.

The idea behind this is, explained N.K. Singh, a retired Indian border officer, is that I understand you and you understand me. Its not a confrontation. Its a display of the best from both sides.



And, he conceded, this border is becoming a tourist spot.'



As the crowds grow, they get rowdier. They often scream vulgarities and signal certain things with certain fingers.
So far, no Indian student who has returned has reported any symptoms of coronavirus, authorities clarified. (Photo: AP)

Hyderabad: About 4,500 students have returned from China to India, though approximately 2,000 students are continuing to stay there in various medical colleges.

Around 300 students have returned to the two Telugu states. The Indian Embassy is following up with them to check if they have acquired any symptoms of coronavirus. In case there are any who have contracted the virus, they would be directed to government hospitals.

So far, no Indian student who has returned has reported any symptoms of coronavirus, authorities clarified.

Mr D.N. Trivedy, Indian consultant for Tianjin Medical University said: We have been able to get 4,500 students from China after the outbreak of coronavirus was confirmed. With Beijing also closing down, students have been removed from all small cities and they are returning to India. Still, there are about 2,000 students stuck in four medical colleges of China. The Medical University of Wuhan, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jining Medical University and Jilin Medical College are the ones from where our students have not been able to move out due to the lockdown.

These medical colleges have asked their students to opt for physical examination in medical camps set up in their hospitals. Students have been instructed not to move out from the campus. Food is being arranged for them in their dormitories.

A senior official from Delhi, on condition of anonymity, said, Those students who continue to remain in universities of China cannot be brought back till the virus is contained.

The Indian Embassy is in touch with the universities. They are doing everything for the safety of these students.
January 24, 2020

News

By David Vergun, Army News Service

Defense.gov

Addressing China Threats Requires Unity of U.S., World Effort, Esper Says

The National Defense Strategy identifies China and Russia as competitors of the United States in the so-called great power competition.

Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper focused attention on the threats posed by China and efforts by the Defense Department to counter those threats in a speech today at the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Global Security Forum in Washington.

"Unfortunately, the Chinese government has used its diplomatic, military and economic power to expand its bad behavior, rather than abiding by international rules and norms," he said.

China continues to weaponize space, as demonstrated by its development of directed-energy weapons and satellite jammers, he said.

To counter that effort, DOD has created its newest service, the Space Force, he said. "Much like NASA was a breeding ground for a wide array of high-tech breakthroughs, we believe the Space Force will be an incubator for a whole new generation of technologies," Esper said.

The department is also developing hypersonic weapons and defense against those weapons, he said. In partnership with industry, DOD is also working on artificial intelligence, long-range precision fires and a 5G network.

The secretary then touched on China's human rights violations against their own people.

"As we speak, the Communist Party of China is using artificial intelligence to repress Muslim minority communities and pro-democracy protestors," he said. "The party has constructed a 21st century surveillance state with unprecedented abilities to censor speech and infringe upon basic human rights. Now, it is exporting its facial recognition software and systems abroad."

The secretary also spoke about China's economic piracy.

Beijing is combining direct state investment, forced technology transfer, and intellectual property theft to narrow the gap between U.S. and Chinese equipment, systems and capabilities, he said.

Esper said the manner in which China has acquired much of this technology is also troubling. "Beijing is determined to exploit American intellectual property and know-how at any cost," he said.

Since 2018, the Justice Department has filed charges against Chinese nationals and entities in at least seven separate economic espionage cases, including a conspiracy to steal trade secrets from a major U.S. semiconductor maker. Over the same time period, the department has secured convictions and guilty pleas in at least six China-related espionage cases, Esper said.

These examples just scratch the surface, he noted. In recent years, Chinese hackers have besieged the department and its industry partners. American universities and colleges have also become prime targets for Chinese exploitation.

Despite widespread world outrage, Beijing shows few signs of changing its ways, Esper said. The government recently passed new legislation that tightens its grip over any data that flows across its networks, including access to the confidential information of U.S. corporations. President Xi Jinping's elevation of the "Military-Civil Fusion Strategy" to a national level puts our exports for peaceful, civilian use at risk of transfer to the People's Liberation Army, he said.

"Addressing these threats requires us to unite the nation around our competition with China," Esper said. "Our success is contingent upon a cohesive approach across public and private sectors. For the department, this means overhauling our policies and reshaping the culture within the department; between the department and industry; and among our allies and partners around the world."

The secretary then made the case that the department is taking aggressive reform steps to free up time, money and manpower. That reform includes developing stronger relationships with industry to expand the department's competitive edge. It also includes the elimination of a risk-averse culture within the department that's not conducive to experimentation and new ideas.

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Los Angeles  Ken Cuccinelli, one of President Trump's top immigration officials, previewed on Friday an expansion of a series of controversial policies the administration has implemented to severely restrict access to America's asylum system at the southern border and deter U.S.-bound migrants.

Cuccinelli, an immigration hard-liner and the second-highest ranking official at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), revealed that in the coming weeks, the Trump administration will expand programs designed to fast-track the deportation of asylum-seekers. It will also look to implement agreements with Central American countries that allow the U.S. to reroute migrants who express fear of persecution at the southern border to the region.

"The Trump administration is clearly attempting to scale up its crackdown on asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border," Jessica Bolter, an immigration expert at the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute, told CBS News.

The announcements came as Guatemalan and Mexican authorities have made concerted efforts to hinder the passage of the first U.S.-bound caravan of migrants of the year. On a call with reporters Friday afternoon, Cuccinelli was effusive in his praise for the governments of both countries, saying officials there, with the advice of DHS officials deployed in the region, have stopped, apprehended and deported "hundreds" of migrants trekking north.

Migrants, mainly from Central America and marching in a caravan, hold forms to apply for asylum, near Frontera Hidalgo, Chiapas

Migrants, mainly from Central America and marching in a caravan, hold forms to apply for asylum near Frontera Hidalgo, Chiapas, Mexico. ANDRES MARTINEZ CASARES / REUTERS

Along with the aggressive immigration enforcement by Mexico and Guatemala, Cuccinelli said the border policies his department has overseen have been effective in stemming the flow of migration from Central America and fueling seven consecutive months of lower border apprehensions since a 13-year high last May. Nevertheless, Cuccinelli said U.S. officials are still confronting a "crisis" at the southern border, suggesting that the expansion of restrictive asylum policies is warranted.

Story continues

In two weeks, Cuccinelli said, U.S. officials expect to expand two programs designed to expedite the deportation of asylum-seekers along the entire southern border. One of the policies, known as PACR, is for non-Mexican migrants who are generally rendered ineligible for asylum under the administration's sweeping third country transit asylum restriction, while the other, called HARP, is a similar policy for Mexican asylum-seekers.

The programs have drawn criticism and legal challenges from advocates. Migrants subject to these policies have very limited access to counsel and must try to fight their deportation and pass fear of persecution interviews with heightened standards in a matter of days, while detained in secure Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities.

Bolter called expansion of these policies the "bigger deal" in Cuccinelli's announcements. "Implementing the transit country asylum ban across the border through PACR will rapidly peel off any last chance the migrants had to access the U.S. asylum system from the southwest border," she said.

As early as next week, Cuccinelli added, the U.S. could start implementing its "Asylum Cooperative Agreement" with Honduras. A team of U.S. officials will be there to facilitate the implementation, he said. The agreement, one of three the U.S. forged last year with all countries in Central America's Northern Triangle, allows the U.S. to deny certain asylum-seekers access to America's asylum system at the southern border and require them to choose between seeking protection in the receiving country or returning home.

So far, only the deal with Guatemala has been implemented, with the U.S. deporting roughly 300 asylum-seekers from Honduras and El Salvador there, including dozens of families and children, according to the Guatemalan government's migration institute. Cuccinelli on Friday confirmed that DHS has not moved forward with controversial plans to send Mexican asylum-seekers to Guatemala, saying the new government in Guatemala City is still getting on its feet.

Honduras' U.S.-aligned conservative government has said it could receive asylum-seekers from Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Brazil sent by the U.S.

Cuccinelli said plans to implement the "Asylum Cooperative Agreement" with El Salvador will start soon after the accord with Honduras takes effect. In a 60 Minutes report that aired last month, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said his country did not have "asylum capacities" to accept asylum-seekers sent by the U.S.

During the call Friday, Cuccinelli also suggested there's a possibility that so-called extra-continental migrants  which could include asylum-seekers from Brazil, Venezuela and Africa who have journeyed to the U.S.-Mexico border in higher numbers in the past year  could be subject to the asylum agreements with the Central American governments.

Such a move would mean that the U.S. could send non-Spanish speaking migrants who seek asylum at America's southern border to Central America. DHS officials have had a more difficult time deterring these asylum-seekers since they are generally exempt from the department's main border policy, the Migrant Protection Protocols, or MPP.

Through MPP, also known as "Remain in Mexico," the U.S. has required more than 57,000 Latin American asylum-seekers to wait in often dangerous Mexican border cities for the duration of their U.S. immigration proceedings.

Advocates have strongly denounced the three asylum cooperative agreements, recently mounting the first legal challenge to try to block the regulation in place to enforce them. Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras all have skeletal asylum systems and have seen hundreds of thousands of their own citizens journey north in the past two years because of the extreme poverty, chronic political instability and endemic violence in the region.

Bolter, the immigration expert, said the full implementation of all three asylum accords will likely have a significant deterrence effect.

"Even if they are not able to scale up much past the hundreds that been sent now to Guatemala, it is likely to have an effect in promoting the message that the U.S. asylum system is closed  and I think that is probably the bigger objective here," she said.

Saturday Sessions: Andy Shauf performs "Things I Do"

Saturday Sessions: Andy Shauf performs "Neon Skyline"

Saturday Sessions: Andy Shauf performs "Try Again"
Friday, January 24, 2020

Join the conversation at the Albuquerque Death Cafe!

The next Albuquerque Death Cafe will take place on Sunday, February 16, 2020, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. We meet in the Fifth Floor Lounge at Manzano del Sol Village, 5201 Roma NE, Albuquerque, NM. The building is located just south of Lomas Blvd. and just west of San Mateo Blvd.

As always, refreshments will be provided. There will be gluten-free and low-sugar options. The event is free and donations are welcome. Send a note to Gail [at] AGoodGoodbye.com to RSVP.

The objective of the Death Cafe is to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives. Its an interesting, unstructured conversation with no specific agenda. The Death Cafe offers a relaxed, confidential and safe setting to discuss death. We drink tea (or your favorite beverage) and eat delicious cake or cookies. We also provide options for those avoiding gluten and added sugar.

The Death Cafe concept was started in the United Kingdom by Jon Underwood. He was influenced by the ideas of Swiss sociologist Bernard Crettaz, who started holding Cafe Mortel events in France and Switzerland. Albuquerque was the first city in the U.S. west of the Mississippi to hold a Death Cafe. Gail Rubin hosted it in September, 2012.

For more information about Death Cafes, visit this page at AGoodGoodbye.com or visit www.DeathCafe.com. Join the Albuquerque Death Cafe Meetup group to be kept apprised of upcoming events. Click here to go to the Meetup page.

Your Death Cafe Host

Gail Rubin, CT, The Doyenne of Death

Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist, hosts the Albuquerque Death Cafe. She is a pioneering death educator. Rubin is a public speaker, a published author of three books, host of a TV interview series and podcast, a blogger, a funeral industry trade journalist, a Certified Funeral Celebrant, and an innovator in the funeral business.

She created a conversation-starting game called The Newly-Dead Game, introduced the Death Cafe movement in the United States, and held the first Before I Die Festival west of the Mississippi in 2017. Albuquerque Business First named her one of their 2019 Women of Influence.

Learn more about Gail and the Before I Die New Mexico Festival here.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 04:16:53|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ISTANBUL, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that his country and Germany share a large part of the burden of Syrian refugees.

"It is a humanitarian responsibility of the European Union and the European countries to provide more and faster assistance to Syrians," Erdogan noted at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Istanbul.

Highlighting the recent attacks of the Syrian regime forces on the northern Syrian province of Idlib, the last stronghold of the rebels, Erdogan urged the international community to impose significant pressure on the regime to stop its "brutality," with an apparent concern that it would cause another influx of refugees into Turkey.

He said close to 400,000 people from Idlib have started moving toward Turkey's border to flee hostility in the region.

"The Turkish Red Crescent and the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority have started their work to build shelters to protect these people from harsh winter conditions," Erdogan said.

Meanwhile, Merkel said Germany is ready to provide financial aid to improve the humanitarian situation of Syrian refugees who were forced to spend the winter in tents near the Turkish border.

"We will also try to help by constructing sound and concrete shelters for them," she said.

Turkey is hosting over 3.6 million Syrian refugees on its soil, costing more than 40 billion U.S. dollars until now.

Ankara agreed to help curb the flow of illegal immigrants to Europe under a deal signed with the European Union in March 2016, in return for a total of 6 billion euros (6.62 billion dollars) in financial aid for the refugees.

The issue has been causing strains in ties between the bloc and Turkey, as Ankara has been urging the European countries to increase the funding.

"The EU had promised 6 billion euros of support, but not even 3 billion euros were given to international NGOs," Erdogan noted.
Lawrence N. Brooks, the oldest World War II veteran in the U.S. and believed to be the oldest man in the country, died on Wednesday at the age
(Natural News) A few months ago, a scientist at the Johns Hopkins Centre for Health Security just so happened to create a computer model mapping the potential global impact of a hypothetical disease outbreak almost exactly like the one thats right now happening with Chinese coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

What it determined, shockingly, is that as many as 65 million people could end up dying from this type of disease in a relatively short period of time.

Eric Toner, the guy behind the research, predicted that this monumental death toll would probably occur within 18 months of the first known cases of infection. Within the first six months, he further predicted, every country in the world would have the disease  or at least some form of it, seeing as how coronavirus is constantly mutating.

I have thought for a long time that the most likely virus that might cause a new pandemic would be a coronavirus, Toner stated prior to the current coronavirus outbreak thats now being widely reported.

We dont yet know how contagious it is, he further added. We know that it is being spread person to person, but we dont know to what extent. And initial first impression is that this is significantly milder than SARS. So thats reassuring. On the other hand, it may be more transmissible than SARS, at least in the community setting.

Utilizing a fictional virus calls CAPS for his computer analysis, Toner plugged in parameters to make it resistant to all modern vaccines and deadlier than SARS, which actual coronavirus is now turning out to be. Rather than originating in China, however, he had the fictional CAPS virus start in Brazilian pig farms.

Toner had CAPS start out small, initially infecting only farmers in close proximity to the infected swine. But eventually it naturally spread to crowded and more impoverished areas, only to eventually reach the big cities, other countries and everything in between.

Toners simulation also showed flights being canceled, travel bookings plummeting by almost half, and people spreading false information on social media about the diseases progression. All of this and more eventually triggered a global financial crisis in the model, with worldwide Gross Domestic Product (GDP) freefalling by 11 percent, and stock markets plummeting by anywhere from 20 to 40 percent.

Right on schedule, Toners predictions included urgent warnings about fast-tracking the production of new vaccines in this new age of epidemics

By the time the number of coronavirus infections reaches into the thousands, Toner predicted, major economic impacts would be felt all around the world. This is why he wants to see new vaccine production fast-tracked, which would seem to be the real-life impetus behind nearly all modern-day disease scares.

If we could make it so that we could have a vaccine within months rather than years or decades, that would be a game changer, he stated. But its not just the identification of potential vaccines. We need to think even more about how they are manufactured on a global scale and distributed and administered to people.

Its part of the world we live in now, he ominously concluded. Were in an age of epidemics.

Meanwhile, health authorities here in the United States continue to reassure the American public that theres absolutely nothing to worry about regarding the current coronavirus outbreak thats being reported, even as multiple confirmed cases of it are now being reported in Washington state, Texas, Illinois and elsewhere.

We dont want the American public to be worried about this because their risk is low, insists Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. On the other hand, we are taking this very seriously and are dealing very closely with Chinese authorities.

To keep up with the latest coronavirus news, be sure to check out Outbreak.news.

Sources for this article include:

ZeroHedge.com

NaturalNews.com
January 22, 2020

Contact: Kristina Heister, (570)729-8251 ext.2225

Jessica Weinman will arrive on February 3, 2020 as the acting superintendent of Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River. She will serve in this position until approximately May 30, 2020.

Weinman currently serves as the Facility Manager at Steamtown National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service. Steamtown NHS located in Scranton, Pennsylvania was created to preserve the history of steam railroading in America, concentrating on the era 1850 through 1950.

I am very appreciative of the opportunity to serve as acting superintendent for Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River. I feel truly honored to assist, even for a short time, with the protection of this site.

I chose the National Park Service as a career because it allowed me to contribute to public education and the preservation of our countrys diverse resources, history, and culture. I am very excited to be part of a team that actively aims to successfully manage such an important local and national resource. said Weinman. I look forward to working with my National Park Service colleagues, park visitors, partners, and the local community.

Wienman began her National Park Service career as a seasonal park guide at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota. Since then she has served in a variety of facility management positions in parks throughout the country, including Wind Cave National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Zion National Park. These positions provided a strong foundation in carpentry, asset management, facilities management databases, preservation and maintenance of historic and non-historic buildings and structures, roofing, electrical, plumbing and other trades. She has demonstrated her leadership skills as the Chief of Facilities at Devils Tower National Monument and, since 2017, as the Chief of Facilities at Steamtown National Historic Site where she manages a budget of over $3 million dollars and leads a staff of approximately 30 individuals. She was the recipient of the Intermountain Region Facility Management Excellence Award in both 2010 and 2014.
At the 51st edition of the Cairo International Book Fair (CIBF), which was opened to visitors on Thursday, stands out a book market that sells second-hand books, film posters and photographs.



"Soor al-Azbakeya is the secret heaven for all bookworms," said Atef Abdel Aziz, a man in his 70s, referring to the book market.

Soor al-Azbakeya, originally based in Attaba near downtown Cairo, participates in the CIBF every year.

But its booths are reduced to only 41 this year from 121 last year because of the high costs of renting, said Abdel Aziz.

Al-Azbakeya, along with the other old markets from the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria, stretches 369 meters at the CIBF site, with only nine meters for each bookseller, he added.

Ahmad, a student in engineering at Cairo University, complained that he found no satisfying book this year.

"This year some programming books aren't available here because many sellers did not take part in the ongoing CIBF," he said.

In contrast, Rehab Mansour, a mother of two children, was happy to find many books and magazines with very cheap prices.

"I bought 12 adventure magazines and 20 story books with only 100 pounds for my children to read during the vacation," she said.

"Soor al-Azbakeya is the best choice for us given the high prices at famous book stores," Mansour said. "I have no problem with used or low-quality publications because my kids only read them for one time and I couldn't afford high prices."

"The market for me is a window to find rare, hard-to-get or specialized printed materials," said Eman Mahmoud, a university student, who had bought a large number of books about Egyptian antiquities.

"Most of the sold books in al-Azbakeya are old but hold important value in authenticity," she added, noting these books cannot be found elsewhere because publishing houses only sell new books.

Atef Mahmoud, an Egyptian teacher, was happy after a long search for a few books published in the 1800s about the history of Europe.

The old market in the book fair is very important for researchers who look for rare books, he said.

Soor al-Azbakeya should be supported by the government as "a cultural heritage market for its historic importance in promoting the cultural awareness," Mahmoud added.

It is worth noting that the old book market is criticized by some publishing houses for harming their business by printing original stories with low quality paper selling them at cheap prices in violation of the intellectual property rights.

"The market should only work on selling the used and old books, not forging the new versions and harm our sales," said Ramy al-Sayyad, a book seller with Sherouq Publication House.

He attributed the high prices of new version books to the increasing costs of paper after Egypt devaluated its currency in 2016.




A suspect who was fatally shot by a federal agent and a San Antonio officer was preparing to drive into them with his pickup, according to a police report.

The report, released Friday, notes that law enforcement had Randall Glen Goodale, 45, under surveillance when they surrounded him about noon Jan. 13. in the 4400 block of Stetson View.

Police Chief William McManus said on the day of the incident that police were supporting a federal task force attempting to arrest Goodale on a federal warrant for felony possession of a handgun.

Goodale was driving a lifted red Ford F-250 when he backed into the driveway of a home. He got out and hid underneath the pickup, the report states.

Task force members drove up to the front of the home, some wearing marked bulletproof vests. Others were in full police inform.

As they arrived and blocked off the driveway, police said, Goodale jumped back into the pickup.

Several officers approached Goodale with weapons drawn and began ordering him to exit the pickup.

Police said Goodale ignored their commands, turned on the pickup and shifted into drive.

He then turned the wheel toward one of the officers, investigators said.

According to the report and McManus, the task force member was in fear for his life and fired at Goodale. A San Antonio officer also fired at him, according to authorities.

The report did not indicate whether a weapon was found in the truck with Goodale.

Video from security camera footage overlooking the driveway where Goodale was shot appeared to contradict McManus initial statement.

In the video, which was sent to the San Antonio Express-News and other media outlets by an unidentified source, an officer wearing tactical gear approaches from one side, with a few other task force members behind him, while three San Antonio officers can be seen on the other side.

A view of the inside of the pickup is blocked by a white trailer, and Goodale cannot be seen.

The video shows officers approaching with weapons aimed at the pickup, but there is no audio. Two officers then open fire moments after approaching the pickup.

The pickup is then seen slowly rolling forward before hitting at least one police vehicle, which appears to be an unmarked van.

McManus initially said Goodale had rammed police vehicles, prompting officers to open fire out of fear for their safety.

When asked about the video, the Police Departments public information office released a statement on it and and the shooting: Chief McManus provided information at the scene as the investigation was just under way. As always, this is preliminary information and subject to change as the investigation unfolds. Surveillance videos are important, however, they dont always provide the full scope of an officers perception. For example, there is no audio in the video you obtained so you cannot hear what the officers are experiencing. In addition, you cannot see what the suspect is doing so you do not know what the officers are perceiving.

The departments officer-involved shooting team is conducting an investigation. The U.S. Marshals Office confirmed that police are leading the investigation, despite federal involvement.

Results of the investigation will be forwarded to the Bexar County District Attorneys Office for an independent review, police said.

Investigators were attempting to retrieve video of the shooting from the home, but the homeowners, who have some relationship with Goodale, hid the device to prevent its recovery, police said.

After the shooting, an hours-long standoff ensued at the house where Goodale was shot.

McManus said previously that a SWAT team was called to make sure the home was secure so investigators could look through the home on a search warrant.

Three people who were inside the home walked outside without incident. Neither police nor federal officials have commented on what led to the standoff and whether any of the three involved are facing charges.

Jacob Beltran is a reporter covering San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | jbeltran@express-news.net | Twitter: @JBfromSA
Authorities have charged three people in connection with the kidnapping and robbery of a South Jersey man.

New Jersey State Police troopers responded to the Wawa on State Highway 77 in Upper Deerfield Township around 7 p.m. on Dec. 20 for a report of a robbery.

They found the victim, who reported he was accosted by two masked men with handguns at his residence and forced to drive to the Wawa and remove cash from an ATM, state police said.

The victim told troopers he was leaving his home with Ketara Malloy, 18, of New Castle, Delaware, when the bandits approached and ordered Malloy to leave.

The victim handed over money before he was forced at gunpoint to drive his vehicle to the store for more cash. He entered Wawa with one of the suspects and made a cash withdrawal, police said. While walking back to his vehicle, the victim dashed back into the store to call 911.

The robbers drove off in the victims vehicle, which was later recovered in neighboring Bridgeton.

Investigators determined that Malloy conspired with Amir Cook, 19, of Bridgeton, and Dashon Harris, 28, of New Castle, Delaware, to target the victim, according to police.

Cook was arrested during a traffic stop in Bridgeton on Christmas Day, while Malloy turned herself in to state police earlier this week. Authorities arrested Harris at a Bridgeton residence this week.

Cook and Harris were charged with robbery, kidnapping, conspiracy, possession of weapon for unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon, burglary and theft, while Malloy was charged with robbery and conspiracy.

All three were placed in Cumberland County Jail pending hearings.

Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Ted Cruz says Christian faith enabled him to forgive Trump's 2016 attacks on family

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Conservative Texas Sen. Ted Cruz explained Wednesday that his Christian faith was instrumental for his ability to forgive President Donald Trump for the hurtful things he said and tweeted during the 2016 presidential election.

Cruz, 49, spoke with ABC News' Paula Faris for her Journeys of Faith podcast this week over the phone in the middle of a busy voting day on Capitol Hill.

Cruz was asked specifically about how he was able to overlook the fact that Trump said some nasty things about him and his wife during the 2016 election when Cruz was arguably Trumps most viable contender for the Republican nomination.

For example in March 2016, Trump tweeted a post comparing the looks of his own supermodel wife, Melania, and Cruzs wife, Heidi, a managing director at Goldman Sachs. At the time, Cruz also accused the Trump campaign of organizing a National Enquirer story claiming Cruz had five mistresses.

Despite the tensions during the 2016 primary, Cruz is now one of Trumps most vocal supporters in the U.S. Senate.

There is no doubt that forgiveness is critical to what it means to be a Christian, Cruz told Faris. I try to forgive, certainly. As God has forgiven us, we are commanded to do the same.

He added that the call to forgive others is stated clearly in the Lords prayer.

Forgive us of our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us, Cruz explained. That is foundational. It is not easy. It is human to allow your feelings to be hurt and hold a grudge.

But at the same time, I do think one of the reasons I feel blessed to be a Christian is that politics can be ugly, hard work. People say nasty things. Harry Truman famously said, If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.

After the primary election was over and Trump won, Cruz said he had a simple choice to make.

I had a choice about whether or not to do my job, he said. We had obviously come through a rough and tumble primary. There were some hard shots that were thrown all around and thats the democratic process.

The son of Cuban immigrants said that his job was to fight for 28 million Texans each and every day.

I could have taken my marbles and gone home and said, You know what? My feelings were hurt and I dont like some of the things you said and did. So I am not going to vote for you, Cruz said. I think that would have been irresponsible. I think that would have been not doing the job Texans entrusted me to do.

A week after Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 general election, Cruz said he met with Trump and his transition team at Trump Tower in New York City in November 2016.

I met with the president-elect. I spent 4.5 hours with him and his senior team, he recalled. I said, Mr. President, we have been given a historic opportunity. It is exceptionally rare to have Republicans control both houses of Congress and the White House.

Cruz said he told Trump that he would do everything in his power to lead the fight in the Senate to deliver on the campaign promises they made. Cruz believed that if Republicans blow this opportunity, it may never come again.

Cruz touted his work in helping to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. He said that the result has been the lowest unemployment in 50 years.

Weve got the lowest African-American unemployment ever recorded and the lowest Hispanic unemployment ever recorded, he stated. Thats transforming peoples lives.

Cruz also said that he has worked hard to confirm the over 180 federal judges that Trump has nominated.

[They are] judges who are committed constitutionalists who will protect the Bill of Rights and will protect religious liberty, free speech, the Second Amendment, he told Faris. That is a critical promise we made to the voters, a promise we delivered on.
A retired State Police lieutenant was arraigned Friday on charges he stole nearly $12,000 in a holiday pay scam when he was a barracks commander.

David Andrade, 47, of Westport, was arraigned in Bristol Superior Court on a single count of larceny over $1,200 and violating public employee standards the Fall River Herald News reported. He entered a not guilty plea.

Prosecutors charge Andrade with claiming he worked 22 holidays from August 2018 to August 2019, his last year as commander of the Dartmouth State Police barracks. He allegedly falsified records to indicate he worked those holidays, thereby being eligible for special pay when he had actually taken those days off. He is charged with stealing $11,538.56.

Andrade is currently receiving a pension of $87,126 a year. The state Retirement Board has been notified of the charges brought against him.

The alleged scam was uncovered by a State Police internal audit and the evidence gathered was referred to the Attorney Generals Office for prosecution.

Andrade is expected back in court on March 19.
NEW DELHI: The Health Ministry, which earlier extended its travel advisory to 12 more airports in addition to the current seven, on Saturday constituted several central teams to visit states and designated airports to review preparedness for control of life-threatening novel coronavirus outbreak. ''7 central teams will visit the states and designated airports to review preparedness for control of novel coronavirus,'' a Health Ministry statement said.

Sharing more information, the Health Minister said that seven more people who returned from China have been kept under observation following screening for possible exposure to novel coronavirus. He, however, said that no positive case has been detected in the country so far. Samples of these seven passengers have been sent to the ICMR-NIV Pune Lab, the Health Minister said.

Dr Harsh Vardhan directed the multidisciplinary central teams to visit the seven states where thermal screening is being done at the seven designated airports - New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi.

Vardhan, who held a review meeting to analyse the preparedness for prevention and management of novel coronavirus in India, also spoke to the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on Saturday and assured all support for screening at the border with Nepal, where a confirmed case has been reported. The Health Minister also reportedly met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed the situation regarding the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Under directions from Dr Harsh Vardhan, a 24x7 NCDC Call Centre (+91-11-23978046) has been made operational, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday.

"The Call Centre will monitor the list of contacts furnished by Ministry of External Affairs; provide details of district and state surveillance officers to those who seek them; and in case of any clinical query, direct the concerned to the relevant Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) officer," the ministry said.

Live TV

Eleven people -- seven in Kerala, two in Mumbai and one each in Bengaluru and Hyderabad - who are among hundreds of passengers who returned from China in the recent days were under observation in hospitals to check for possible exposure to the deadly novel coronavirus.

As over 20,000 passengers returning from mainland China and Hong Kong underwent thermal screenings at the seven international airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) in Delhi has set up an isolation ward and kept beds ready for providing treatment to any suspected case of the respiratory infection. Coronavirus cases were first reported from Wuhan, the capital of central China's Hubei province. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has so far confirmed that 830 cases of coronavirus infection have been reported from China, along with nearly 41 deaths.

The coronavirus is a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes, but the virus in China is a novel strain and not seen before. It has killed several people so far and has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).
Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, yesterday confirmed that it has completed its recovery flights from Najaf International Airport to Bahrain International Airport.

The airline brought home a total of 1,164 passengers on nine recovery flights between 16 to 21 January 2020.

Gulf Air has worked closely with the Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain in the Republic of Iraq, and the Consulate of the Kingdom of Bahrain in Najaf to communicate with Gulf Air passengers, the airline said.

Gulf Air continues to monitor the situation in Iraq very closely. The safety of passengers and crews remain the airlines utmost priority, it added.

Bahraini parliamentarians last week said that citizens stranded in Iraq were struggling to come back.

The lawmakers said that there were many Bahrainis caught in unsafe places in Iraq and are unable to return to the Kingdom.

They urged the government to speed up efforts to send all Bahrainis home as Iraq is moving to more instability.

The MPs who submitted the proposal include Ahmed Al Damistani, Zainab Amir, Fadhel Al Sawad, Ahmed Al Saloom and Hamad Al Kooheji.

The MPs stated that they have been contacted by families who said that their relatives are in Iraq, struggling to come back.

Earlier last week, Bahrain Embassy in Iraq said that it has been receiving calls from citizens, who wanted to return to the Kingdom following escalation of clashes in the country.

The embassy stated that it is working with an airlines to ensure their safe return to the Kingdom as soon as possible.

All Bahraini citizens in Iraq will receive required attention and support, the embassy stated.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned citizens against travelling to Iraq amidst the recent developments.

The Kingdom of Bahrain is following the development of events in the brotherly Republic of Iraq that came as a result of the condemned terrorist acts which the Kingdom previously denounced, stressing the need to de-escalate in order to overcome this period, and to address all forms of violence, extremism and terrorism, the ministry stated.

The Kingdom also stresses the importance of immediate action to be taken by the international community, affirming the need to take all necessary measures to ensure security and stability in the region because of its vital and strategic importance for the whole world, it added.
As India gears up for Republic Day tomorrow, anticipations run high for what promises to be an important and momentous parade ceremony - although with over 10,000 security personnel assigned to cover the event, its also one of the countrys most extensive displays of armed and even digitized security forces throughout its history.

Controversial Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro happens to be this years chief guest, and according to DCP (New Delhi Zone) Eish Singhal, special security arrangements have been made to accommodate him and his entourage.

 Reuters; Bolsonaro shakes hands with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his ceremonial reception at the forecourt of India's Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Bolsonaro has been the subject of widespread global criticism for a variety of reasons - from insensitive sexist remarks to calls for violence and accusations of being involved in the displacement and violent suppression of several indigenous people from the Amazon rainforest.



For starters, officials have announced that the entire 8km parade pathway has been assigned to a crack team of sharpshooters and snipers - deployed on high-rise buildings and covering a line of sight from Delhis Rajpath to Lal Qila, or the Red Fort.

Hundreds of CCTV cameras have also been installed as part of the security arrangements, including at least 150 cameras in areas covering Red Fort, Chandni Chowk and Yamuna Khadar, the officials added.

 Reuters

We have a four-layer security arrangement. Inner, middle, outer and one along the border areas across the national capital, Singhal said, adding that drones will also be deployed. Around 5,000 to 6,000 Delhi Police personnel have been deployed in New Delhi district along with 50 companies of paramilitary forces.



No traffic will be allowed on Rajpath from Vijay Chowk to India Gate from 6 pm on Saturday till the parade gets over on Sunday. Access to Rajpaths main zone will continue to be cut off till 12 PM on Sunday with several facial recognition cameras deployed around the area to help identify and apprehend potential suspects during the event.

We have intensified patrolling in public places. Group patrolling, night patrolling and vehicle checking is being carried out with the help of Central Armed Police Forces. Frisking at metro stations, railway stations, airports and bus terminals has also been tightened, a senior police official said. Along with the heightened patrols, the police have also instructed hotel staff, taxi and autorickshaw drivers to stay alert. Tenant and servant verification, border checking, security of vital installations, malls and markets, patrolling in heavy footfall areas were among the anti-terror measures listed by police officials.

 Reuters; Participants perform during the rehearsal for the Republic Day parade in New Delhi.

Apart from securing the main venue at Rajpath, adequate security and traffic arrangements for the At Home function at Rashtrapati Bhawan have been made - apart from the 10,000 security personnel, the Delhi government aims to deploy 2,000 traffic police personnel, ensuring smooth flow of traffic despite the parade, and to help spectators and officials travel to and from the venue.



It comes as no surprise that given the proximity of the Delhi elections and the controversial nature of the parades chief guest, that security arrangements seem to be at a tighter level than usual. Some of the police restrictions will continue through to the end of the elections - with one of the more interesting ones being a blanket ban on unconventional flying gear such as hang-gliders and hot air balloons over the capital until February 15.
Spanish Foreign Minister reiterated Friday her countrys steady position in support of the UN process in the Sahara, which aims at reaching a political and mutually acceptable solution to the over-four decade dispute.

The Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya, who was on a working visit to Morocco, her first trip abroad, outside the European Union, since her appointment to the position mid-January, said Spains position is steady because it is a state position that transcends political differences.

Spain supports the UN Secretary General and his Sahara Envoy in their efforts to reach a political, lasting and mutually acceptable solution to the Sahara conflict, she said.

The Spanish official, following the example of the Spanish PM, refrained from citing the referendum option, which proved its unfeasibility.

She said Spain supports a solution in line with Security Council resolutions, which called on the parties to show compromise towards a realistic solution without referring to the referendum option.

Spains Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stressed in his speech last September before the UN General Assembly that the UN process is the only way to reach a political, fair and lasting solution to the Sahara issue.

Spain is Moroccos first trading partner and Morocco is Spains second largest trading partner after the US outside the EU.

The two countries cooperate closely in the fight against terrorism and management of migratory flows.
Sales in the MPV segment are on the rise. Maruti Ertigas success has shown other OEMs that this is a segment which has huge scope in India.

MG Motor, the British-origin automotive brand currently under SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation), deserves credit for making a successful debut in our country amidst a sluggish automotive economy. The company currently sells only the Hector 5-seater SUV and the all-electric MG ZS EV, but will expand its portfolio soon with the likes of an updated 6-seater (three-row) avatar of the Hector (probably wearing a different nametag). This is just a start and the company has got a lot planned for the Indian market and will give an insight into it at the upcoming Auto Expo 2020.

Sources tell Rushlane that MG Motor will be unveiling an all-new affordable 7/8-seater product at the biennial automotive event. Even though its launch will happen only in the later phases of the year, the pricing is reportedly in the range of Rs 12-20 lakh ex-showroom.

Apparently, MG Motor India has invested around Rs 1,000 crore in developing the MPV. Given the target pricing, it will be a serious rival to the likes of the Maruti Ertiga and Mahindra Marazzo while also being a cheaper alternative to Toyota Innova Crysta.

The focus towards the MPV market came as a direct result of the increased demand for vehicles having three rows of seating. This includes the entry-level Renault Triber as well as the upcoming luxury-minivan, the Kia Carnival. As per data, demand for MPVs grew by more than 30% (around 2.10 lakh units) and reached 8% of the passenger vehicle market, even though overall automotive sales plummeted by over 15% last year. In the MPV market, sales of the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga accounts to almost 50%.

It is too early to comment on the specifications, features or engine choices of the upcoming MG MPV. It would be ideal if the vehicle comes with both petrol and diesel variants, with the choice of an automatic transmission, since the market demands it.

From the MG Hector (prices start at around Rs 12.5 lakh), the Indian automotive market understood that the company can package a lot in a really attractive price bracket. The overall quality and experience may not be as much as the benchmark set by its popular rivals, but one cannot deny the fact that an MG product offers supreme value for money (if the customer sees vehicles as nothing more than a mode of transport).

MG Motor India plans to showcase almost 15 products at Auto Expo 2020, including hatchbacks, sedans and SUVs. It will be a wait before we can confirm whether all the products on display would make its way to our market.
The Greek government announced that a DDoS cyber attack hit the official state websites of the prime minister, the national police and fire service and several important ministries.

Yesterday the Greek government announced that the official websites of the prime minister, the national police and fire service and several important ministries were hit by a DDoS cyberattack that took them down. The websites involved in the attack have been already restored by the government IT staff.

[A denial-of-service or DDoS attack] led to the malfunction of certain websites. said Government spokesman Stelios Petsas.

Patsas confirmed that the countermeasures implemented by the government had success in neutralizing the attack, but he did not provide further details.

The attack hit several websites in late Thursday, including the prime ministers website, the ministries of public order, interior, foreign affairs, and merchant marine, as well as the Greek Police and Fire Service.

Last week, another cyber attack hit government websites and the local stock exchange.

A group of Turkish hackers named Anka Neferler Tim claimed to have hijacked for more than 90 minutes the official websites of the Greek parliament, the foreign affairs, and economy ministries, as well as the countrys stock exchange.

The group announced the attacks on their Facebook page, the hackers carried out the attack because Greece is threatening Turkey in the Aegean Sea and in the eastern Mediterranean. And now its threatening the conference on Libya.

The attacks were launched after Khalifa Haftar held talks in Athens, two days ahead of a peace conference in Berlin. Both Hatftar and the head of Tripolis UN-recognised government, Fayez al-Sarraj attended the conference, while representatives of the Greek government have not been invited to the conference.

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs  Greek Government, hacking)

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By Express News Service

CHITRADURGA: Health Minister B Sriramulu on Friday launched a broadside on former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, saying the JDS leaders love for Pakistan has increased, and if he wants, he can go and stay there.

Sriramulus statement comes after Kumarswamy had commented, If Pakistan was not our neighbour, the BJP wouldnt have got votes and come to power in India.

Addressing reporters at Bhovi Gurupeetha on the outskirts of the city, he said, Being a former CM, he shouldnt have made a statement like that. On Kumaraswamy demanding a ban on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bajrang Dal, he said both are nationalist institutions that are working for the betterment of the country.

He urged leaders not to make vague statements and said India believes in inclusive development, where everyone is treated equally. The minister further advised leaders to understand the gravity of any situation before talking to the media.

Reacting to former CM Siddaramaiahs statement that the state government was not yet being strong enough, he said the Congress leader was an unwanted person in his party and it was better not to take his words seriously.
Abu Dhabi-based sovereign investor Mubadala Investment Company and the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade have signed an implementation agreement with JSC Thermal Power Plants of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the development of a power complex at Talimarjan in the former Soviet republic.

The agreement establishes a roadmap for the future implementation of the transaction which will include the acquisition, development, financing and operation of the Talimarjan Power Complex.

The pact was signed at a ceremony in capital Tashkent between the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade, JSC and Mubadala in the presence of Sardor Umurzakov, the Uzbekistan Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade.

Addressing the gathering, Minister Umurzakov said: We are confident that this historic partnership will contribute to the growth of the region and help to create expertise in the development of the country's energy industry."

"This success sets a precedent for future private sector participation in the country and sends a positive message to the global investment community," he noted.

Khaled Al Qubaisi, CEO Aerospace, Renewables & ICT at Mubadala pointed out that this transaction was a testament to Mubadalas strategic and technical capabilities in the utilities sector.

"We are honoured to join forces with our esteemed Uzbek partners in one of the first privatizations in the conventional power generation sector in The Republic of Uzbekistan utilizing the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model, and we hope this is the first of many partnerships with the Republic," he noted.

Shukhrat Vafaev, the Deputy Minister of Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade, said:

"With the continuing rapid growth and development of the country's economy, and as part of the governmental process of attracting foreign investors, The Talimarjan Power Complex expansion, which will address the countrys growing power needs, will lay the foundation for further implementation of efficient energy production and distribution solutions in Uzbekistan."

"We look forward to working with Mubadala and building on this partnership in the future," he added.

Mohammed Alhuraimel Alshamsi, Utlilites Director, Mubadala said the upcoming complex comprises 1.7 GW of existing gas-fired conventional power, with a plan to further expand the complex to accommodate the growing power demand of the nation.

"Mubadala is proud to partner with the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade and JSC Thermal Power Plants on this strategic project, and we are committed to continued open and transparent stakeholder engagement throughout the implementation phase."

"We see this as the first step in a long and prosperous partnership with The Republic of Uzbekistan," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
(Photo : Reuters) The date of the Huawei Developer Conference 2020 is moved from February to March because of the 2020 coronavirus outbreak.

The Chinese tech company, Huawei, moved its February event Huawei Developer Conference 2020 to March instead of February due to the coronavirus that causes panic globally.

The Wuhan coronavirus has caused havoc in the different regions of China. With that, the company postponed the event to protect the health and well-being of the people who will be attending the conference.

The original plan was to conduct the conference on Febr. 11- 12 in Shenzhen, China. Now, it has been scheduled for March 27 -28, and it will be broadcasted live through a webcast.

READ ALSO: Huawei Just Unveiled Its Own Operating System: Meet HarmonyOS

Is it Safe to Visit China?

Wuhan has temporarily shut down its transportation to control the spread of the virus. Those who are living in the city have been advised not to leave in a week. Travelers can still travel to China, but they should be aware of the virus and exercise preventive measures advised by health experts.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) raised its travel advisory for Wuhan, China, to the highest level-- "Warning - Level 3" status. The health institute urged travelers to avoid going to Wuhan.

Travelers are advised to consult a doctor once they experience difficulty in breathing, and have a fever and cough.

Controlling the Spread of the 2020 Coronavirus

In China, the government is controlling the spread of the 2020 coronavirus by limiting the flow of public transportation and shutting its operations in 10 cities. This move had already affected 35 million citizens.

The first city that has been ordered to stop public transportation was Wuhan city, in which approximately 11 million people were affected.

Travelers from Wuhan who will go to the United States will pass through 1-5 airports, where they will be examined to check fever and other symptoms of the virus. Suspected infected people will be quarantined.

The Coronavirus Outbreak 2020

The coronavirus outbreak began in Wuhan on December 30, 2019, and now spreading across China. It is an infection that immensely affects the respiratory tract of a person, which is similar to MERS and SARS.

Who Were the Victims of the 2020 Coronavirus?

Most infected people are from China. Other countries with confirmed cases of coronavirus were Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, the U.S., and Singapore. The death toll continues to rise due to the spread of the virus, and more than 800 individuals have already been infected. Many regions in Asia had not celebrated the Luna New Year, and a portion of the Great Wall of China closed to slow down the spread of the disease. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are 291 confirmed cases. 70% of the total confirmed infected people are 40 years old and older, while 2/3 of the total confirmed cases are men.

No one knows when the spread of the virus will stop. For those who cannot make it to China, you can watch the conference through a webcast.

Read also: Huawei Official Says 5G is the 'New Electricity'

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
New Ross character Richie Roche lived an alternative lifestyle and did it his own way
Thousands of people have taken part in a rally in Drogheda to voice opposition to drug-related violence in the town.

The demonstration was organised in the wake of the murder of 17-year-old Keane Mulready-Woods earlier in January.

The teenager was murdered and dismembered and parts of his body were dumped in different locations in Dublin.

His killing was the third linked to an ongoing feud between rival gangs.

It sent shock-waves throughout the country, while representatives from Drogheda say people in the community are living in fear as the escalating feud continues with threats, intimidation and assaults targeting those both directly and indirectly involved.

Thousands have turned out in Drogheda to march against violence and crime in their town. pic.twitter.com/VD6L5G9SnR  aoife moore. (@aoifegracemoore) January 25, 2020

The rally saw thousands of people including political and religious leaders march from the towns historic Bridge of Peace to St Peters Church in the town centre.

Many carried placards calling for an end to the violence and imploring the Government to fund addiction and community services. They say the move is essential in tackling the issue, which is mainly centred on the sale and use of cocaine.

A number of youth and addiction support workers spoke on the steps of the church about the struggle to keep community services open on shoe-string budgets, while trying to keep vulnerable young people away from drugs and crime.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald and Labour leader Brendan Howlin all participated in the march.

Today the people of Drogheda are marching to express their revulsion at the rise in gangland crime in their community. Fianna Fail stands with them, and is committed to introducing tough new legislation to beat the gangs. pic.twitter.com/Ag09tFCJJu  Micheal Martin (@MichealMartinTD) January 25, 2020

Imelda Munster, the former Sinn Fein TD for the area, said: Theres a real sense of fear and apprehension around the town.

I was out in two separate estates that were directly affected by the feud, and it was the most eerie feeling I had ever gotten, three weeks after Christmas and there wasnt one child in the street out riding a bike or kicking a ball, and thats the sense of fear.

People are prisoners in their own home so this opportunity was for people to come together and send a message that whoever is in the next government, that this feud needs tackling.

Drogheda stands up against crime, intimidation and violence today. Great values and a great future for our town. pic.twitter.com/oPQwMueCfr  Cllr Pio Smith (@CllrPioSmith) January 25, 2020

The brutal killing of Mr Mulready-Woods has made law and order a key issue in the General Election campaign.

Mr Varadkar promised the public that his government would tackle the issue head-on.

He said: We need to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of Drogheda.

This is a great town, Ive seen the town at its best, there are so many opportunities here, its a great place to live.

Today is about standing shoulder-to-shoulder saying whats happened here in the last few weeks isnt for us and we want those people out and behind bars.

Expand Close The rally came after the murder of Keane Mulready-Woods, 17 (Garda/PA) PA Media / Facebook

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Whatsapp The rally came after the murder of Keane Mulready-Woods, 17 (Garda/PA)

I can promise the people of Drogheda that there will be additional garda every year, and we will continue to strengthen our laws and reform our courts and put more funding into disadvantaged areas to try and tackle some of the underlying causes that can give rise to crime.

Town mayor Paul Bell said the event was non-political and for the community as a whole, and he urged those involved in the murder of Mr Mulready-Woods to return the rest of his body so his family can bury their son.
The General Election, allied to current constructive developments in Northern Ireland, should provide a platform for the injection of new life into politics.

We have a golden opportunity to rise above the sometimes mindless confrontational posture of those seeking office and to begin to genuinely listen to one another.

For years we have drowned in the symbolic significance of the past, constantly revisiting it, making it impossible to think anew. We have become strangled by traditional loyalties, irrationally embracing the view that there are mainly two ways of thinking - the Fianna Fail way and the Fine Gael way.

The central point of an election is the imaginative creating and sustaining of a way of life that befits us as humans, working equally to the advantage of all; there can be no other justifiable alternative reason for having one.

Additionally, a general election should be shot through with moral considerations. Unfortunately, morality has been gratuitously assumed to be the business of the Church, a role the Church was happy to embrace, letting politicians off the hook.

Consideration of the relationship between Church and State has tended to be persistently ambiguous. The moral demands of the Church and the more pragmatic demands of governing the country have never been easy bedfellows.

Besides, the unstoppable momentum of voracious money-making and markets has distracted us from the crying demand that we seek to redress the injustice experienced by those who are bypassed by the imperatives of voracious market forces.

It is easy to forget there are issues, however, that lie beyond the immediate concerns of Ireland; chief of these is the problem of global warming, in relation to which far too many of us are happy to bask in the cheerful comfort of indifference.

Philip O'Neill

Oxford, England

Why does the media want to sack this Government?

The media headings lately are declaring loudly and cheerfully that we are going to have a change of government.

Why do the media people want to re-elect people who were re-elected five times in a row between 1987 and 2007 and who ended up bankrupting the country in 2010?

Why do media people want to get rid of a government which turned the country around from spending 50bn more than it was taking in and 15pc unemployment to balanced government expenditure and 5pc unemployment in less than a decade?

Many people have been rescued from unemployment and emigration by the recovery since 2011.

The current media narrative does not seem to make sense.

A Leavy

Sutton, Dublin 13

Let punishment fit the crime for drugs barons

The horrific murder and dismemberment of child victim Keane Mulready-Woods clearly suggests a Rubicon has been crossed within Irish organised crime.

Recent deaths of other young men gardai believe are the result of criminal drug dealing must be viewed by the State as a national emergency.

Over the years successive governments have agreed the illicit drugs market is the major source of income for organised crime gangs and in response have outlined multifaceted responses in attempts to counter the dealing epidemic and its savage consequences, without much success.

A national consensus on what is needed to confront the drugs barons has not emerged.

Measures called for to tackle the problem include more financial resources for improved Garda intelligence, a beefed-up witness protection programme, a greater armed Garda presence in housing estates, more gun controls and consideration given to greater use of the non-jury Special Criminal Court.

I take the view that such additional measures will have a very limited benefit, unless and until the judiciary enforce the minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years upon conviction for offences which relate to possession of drugs for sale or supply with a value of 12,500 or more, provided for under the Criminal Justice Act, 1999.

Tom Cooper

Dublin 6W

I'll vote - but would like 'none of the above'

Two weeks today and I'm going to have to decide one way or the other. It's a sad reflection at this point but I'm beginning to wish there was a 'none of the above' vote.

I have no idea where my marks will go. I'm quite sure I'm not alone.

But make no mistake, I will do my duty.

Brian McDevitt

Glenties, Co Donegal

It is now time to reform our unjust tax system

As Benjamin Franklin is oft-quoted: "There are only two things certain in life: death and taxes."

Time and time again we see the accumulation of direct and indirect taxes and how it impacts on households and its effect on spending power.

Year after year we see how direct taxes - ie USC, PRSI - and indirect taxes such as the TV licence, motor tax, VAT and excise duties are becoming more regressive.

Some of our public will not know they are paying public service obligations (PSO) to the tune of 38.68 per annum, per household, through our electricity bills.

That the Government may seek to increase this will add to further household costs.

We have also seen increases in some counties in the local property charge, by up to 13pc.

The introduction of the universal social charge (USC), which was the income and health levies, was only to be for a period to get us through the financial crisis - yet we still see it in our wage packets as a deduction.

Over the past number of years, we have seen insurance companies go to the wall and we, the hard-pressed householder, have once again been levied to pay because of these failures.

Whilst I only mention a few of these taxes and burdens, we see the Government offering tax breaks through the special assignee relief programme (SARP) for senior employees on multinationals.

Under the scheme, 30pc of income above 75,000 and under a 1m is exempt from taxes.

At the same time, they can receive a 5,000 tax-free allowance for private schools for each child.

While ordinary taxpayers above a certain amount will not be eligible for grants for universities or entitled to any forms of relief, we see the inequality that is rampant in a system protected by the Government of the day.

Major reform of our tax system is needed.

Christy Galligan

Letterkenny, Co Donegal

Social breakdown must be tackled across board

Patricia Casey is right to draw attention to the crippling level of social breakdown so rampant in society.

There are staggering thresholds of unemployment, destitution, welfare dependency, homelessness, educational failure, family breakdown, mental illness, alcoholism and drug addiction that need to be tackled from the top right to the bottom to create a healthier society.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London, UK

Change of jersey will see 'Green' shoots of recovery

As an avid overseas supporter of Irish rugby in general and of Connacht in particular, I note with regret the disappointing sequence of five successive defeats over the past few weeks despite heroic efforts against both Toulouse and Montpelier respectively.

It is fair to say Connacht are somewhat "off colour" in every sense of the word.

Coincidentally, the jerseys they were sporting in all five defeats are a very dark blue colour with a sliver of green as a depressing derivative of the proud provincial crest.

Connacht need to get back into wearing their traditional bright green jerseys as quickly as possible.

"Wearing the Green" will help them in every sense to get over "the blues".

Barry O'Brien

London, UK
Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh has accused the central government of taking a unilateral decision to transfer the probe into the Bhima Koregaon violence case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) while Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said the Centre handed over the case in haste because they were afraid that truth will come out.

The state has all the right to probe this matter. What was the reason to transfer the case in haste? They were afraid that truth will come out, Pawar told reporters in Mumbai.

Defending the intellectuals, he also said that speaking against injustice is not Maoism. It will be unfair to put people in jail by labelling them Maoists, he said.

Shortly before Pawar spoke, Deshmukh told a local television channel on Saturday, The Bhima Koregaon violence case was handed over to the NIA without taking the states consent. There was no communication made from the Centre before transferring the case. The decision has come at a time when we were trying to find out the real reason behind the case. We were also ensuring that no innocent should be convicted but Centre unilaterally transferred the case to the NIA which is against the Constitution.

Deshmukhs statement assumes significance in the wake of Pawars recent letter chief minister Uddhav Thackeray demanding a probe by a special investigation team (SIT) in the case. The NCP chief had said the erstwhile BJP-led government abused its power to book activists and called the arrests of activists a conspiracy.

Pawar had alleged that the action against them appeared vengeful and wrong and needed to be probed by an SIT headed by a judge or senior bureaucrat. He also alleged that few senior officials from the Pune Police commissionerate had misused their power and needed to be investigated.

At a press conference last month, Pawar had demanded that the government appoint an independent probe to thoroughly investigate the case.

Maharashtras home department was in the process of appointing a special investigation team to probe the entire episode. As a first step, Deshmukh and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar held a meeting with home department officials on Thursday.

The home minister also said that they will take legal advice before taking next step after the Centre transferred the case to the NIA. We will seek legal opinion to decide further course of action, he said.

Violence had broken out near the Bhima-Koregaon war memorial in Pune on January 1, 2018, leaving one dead and several others injured. Dalits visit the memorial in large numbers as it commemorates the victory of British forces, which included Dalit Mahar soldiers, over the army of the Brahmin Peshwa rulers of Pune in 1818.

The Pune Police had filed cases against activists and intellectuals linked to Left and Dalit movements, who had given speeches at Elgar Parishad, a gathering held on December 31, 2017. The activists were accused of inciting violence and were picked up in raids across the country. The police had claimed the organisers of the event had Maoist links. The NIA has the power to take over investigations, which it feels has a bearing on national security.

Both the NCP and the Congress have criticised the Centres decision, calling it an encroachment on the states powers.

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The Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace (IDFP) says the Federal Government has run out of excuses regarding numerous killings in the country.

The group, therefore, urged the government to arrest and prosecute those responsible for the killings.

This is contained in the communique of the IDFP 3rd Annual General Assembly and Peace Conference, with the theme: Interreligious Dialogue: Strengthening the Culture of Peace, Justice and Reconciliation.

Read Also: If Nigeria Could Overcome Biafra War, It Would Overcome Boko Haram: Buhari

The jointly signed communique by the co-chairmen of the IDFP, Alhaji Ishaq Kunle Sanni and Bishop Sunday Onuaha and other leaders of the forum, was presented to newsmen on Friday in Abuja.

Government must arrest and prosecute those responsible for the killings in Nigeria if there is still any leadership in this country. Government has exhausted her windows of excuses. As religious leaders, we may sound mild and conciliatory, it is necessary to sound a note of warning to the leaders of the nation. Things are not well with the nation. The government should avoid anything that will lead to anarchy in the nation, the communique said.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who was represented by Pastor Sheyi Malomo, the Chaplain, State House Chapel declared open the event which was attended by over 150 interreligious leaders mainly Muslims and Christians.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 00:58:41|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya attends a joint press conference with her Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita (not in the picture) in Rabat, Morocco, Jan. 24, 2020. Morocco and Spain on Friday pledged to continue their smooth coordination at different levels to develop bilateral relations and address common challenges. (Xinhua)

RABAT, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Morocco and Spain on Friday pledged to continue their smooth coordination at different levels to develop bilateral relations and address common challenges.

During a meeting in the capital Rabbat, Moroccan Prime Minister Saadeddine El Othmani and visiting Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya praised "the solid friendship and the dynamics of bilateral cooperation in various fields," said a statement published by official news agency MAP.

A high-level Moroccan-Spanish meeting will be held in the next few months to set up new partnerships between the two countries, the statement added.

It is the first official trip outside Europe for Gonzalez Laya, who was appointed on Jan. 12 as the Spanish diplomatic chief.

Earlier in the day, she inaugurated the new headquarters of the Spanish Consulate General in Rabat, before meeting with her Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita.
Britain has tested real-time facial recognition for a few years. In the trials, officers were often stationed in a control center monitoring a real-time feed of what was being recorded by nearby cameras. The system sent an alert when it had identified a person who matched someone on the watch list. If officers agreed it was a match, they would radio to other officers positioned on the street to pick up that person.
Photo: The World Famous Tin Room/Yelp

There's a brand-new gay bar in town. Called The World Famous Tin Room, it's at 3683 Fifth Ave. in Hillcrest.

Sister to the brand's original location in Dallas, the new spot describes itself as a "neighborhood dive bar with food during the day and go-go dancers at night." Its menu includes burgers, steak bites and fries and chicken fried steak.

The new business has gotten off to a solid start thus far, with a 3.5-star rating out of three reviews on Yelp.

Joshua S., who was among the first Yelpers to review the new spot on Jan. 16, wrote, "Great staff with a lot of Southern hospitality. Delicious food/hearty food. Definitely cannot wait to see the bar grow and become more!"

And Zach H. wrote, "Great vibe. Very homey, with that nice Southern hospitality. Place has amazing food; can't go wrong with the spicy chicken sandwich or the chicken fried steak, and the drinks never disappoint."

Interested? The World Famous Tin Room is open from 1 p.m.1 a.m. on Monday-Thursday, 1 p.m.2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m.2 a.m. on Sunday.

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.
Humanity's headlong dash toward our own destruction is marked in minutes and seconds in the ticking of the hypothetical Doomsday Clock. How close we are to destroying ourselves registers in the nearness of the clock's hands to midnight  the hour of absolute extinction.

In 2019, the clock's "timekeepers" with the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) fixed the hands at 2 minutes to midnight; that time, set in 2018, is the closest the clock's hands have come to doomsday since 1953, when the U.S. and the Soviet Union detonated the first hydrogen bombs.

And now the fictional clock ticks forward; its hands rest at 100 seconds to midnight, BAS President and CEO Rachel Bronson announced today (Jan. 23) in Washington, D.C. This new time indicates that humanity has entered "into a realm of a two-minute warning," in which every precious second will count if we want to forestall global catastrophe, Bronson said.

"Danger is high, and the margin for error is low," she said.

Related: Doomsdays: Top 9 Real Ways the World Could End

When the Doomsday Clock was introduced in 1947, the primary threat to humanity was nuclear weapons. That threat still exists today, but it has company: catastrophic climate change and disruptive technologies are also considered by BAS in their assessment of whether humanity is safer or more at risk than we were the year before.

In 2019, nuclear and climate conditions continued to deteriorate, and decisions by global leaders not only failed to reduce the damage  they made dangerous situations worse.

"Over the last two years, we have seen influential leaders denigrate and discard the most effective methods for addressing complex threats," Bronson said. Prior nuclear treaties are crumbling, new agreements between the U.S. and Russia are no closer than they were a year ago, and negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea regarding nuclear weapons reduction have been abandoned, according to Bronson.

The shadow of nuclear war also hovers over the Middle East; since 2018, when President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from a nuclear deal with Iran, tensions between the two nations have simmered. They finally erupted when a U.S. strike killed Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3. Days later, Iran threatened withdrawal from the nuclear deal, and Trump proposed that the deal's other signatories  Germany, France and the United Kingdom  should also abandon the deal, though they have not done so, Business Insider reported .

While the Doomsday Clock was set in November, prior to the U.S. actions against Iran, the events of recent weeks only confirm the board's assessment months earlier: "that we are rapidly losing our bearings in a nuclear weapons landscape that may expand beyond our recognition," Bronson said.

The hands of the Doomsday Clock now stand at 100 seconds to midnight. (Image credit: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)

Disruptive technologies

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) for use in weapons "that make kill decisions," and its use in military control and command systems is another new cause for concern, said Robert Latiff, a retired U.S. Air Force major general and an adjunct faculty member with the John J. Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

Even space has become "a new arena for weapons development" with the announcement of the U.S. Space Force, a new division of the U.S. armed forces that includes "preparing for space combat" as one of its primary goals, according to Latiff.

Equally troubling is the growing deluge of "fake news" (and its support by prominent politicians) and the rise of "deepfake" footage  digitally manipulated video that is increasingly difficult to distinguish from the real thing. By blurring the lines between truth and fiction, these technologies disrupt information and trust, introducing "a dangerous global instability," Latiff said.

Heat waves, ice loss, fires

2019 also brought alarming new evidence of climate change's momentum, and demonstrated its destructive power. In fact, humanity's disruption of climate on land and in the oceans is "unprecedented," according to a report released in September 2019 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body that evaluates the impacts of climate change.

Globally, the year was the second hottest since record keeping began in 1880, and the past decade was the warmest on record, NASA reported earlier this month. July 2019 smashed records as the hottest month ever recorded on Earth, after a sweltering heat wave baked countries across Europe and then flowed over Greenland , where it melted 217 billion tons (197 billion metric tons) of ice.

Ocean temperatures are warmer than they've been at any point in human history, and they're heating up at an accelerating rate. The world's thickest mountain glacier is retreating , the Sahara Desert expanded by about 10%, and the Arctic's most stable sea ice is disappearing.

Severe drought in Australia, also linked to climate change, fueled devastating brushfires that blazed across the continent over recent months. The flames destroyed thousands of homes, damaged fragile ecosystems and killed an estimated 1.25 billion animals, according to the World Wildlife Fund .

And in a report published in August 2019 in the journal Science , scientists warned that rising sea levels, extreme weather events and other disasters such as famines and fires caused by climate change could soon make coastal cities uninhabitable , displacing up to 1 billion people.

"The state of the world does, indeed, demand an emergency response," Sivan Kartha, a senior scientist at the Stockholm Environmental Institute in Sweden, said at the BAS announcement.

Though years have passed since the historic Paris Agreement, a global compact to reduce fossil fuel emissions, was signed in 2016, "we're far off course" from achieving its goals, Kartha said. However, recent surges in climate activism  despite politicians' inaction and widespread disinformation campaigns that discredit climate science  suggest that the public finds the climate emergency too dire to ignore, he added.

"An environment of misery"

While the Doomsday Clock marks the stroke of midnight as the hour of humanity's annihilation, in reality, the multiple threats of nuclear weapons, climate change, pandemics and weaponized technology will more likely ring in an apocalypse that "probably wont be quick or final," futurist and author Jamais Cascio wrote in October 2019 for the journal BAS.

"It will be an environment of misery, not an event or an end point," Cascio wrote. "Although worst-case scenarios theoretically make it easier to prevent dire outcomes, in the case of slow-moving apocalypses such as climate change, its difficult for humans to envision the scale of the problem and to imagine how we will actually experience it," he explained.

Nevertheless, however large the threat of annihilation looms, that doesn't mean all hope is gone, Cascio added.

"If we cant stop the disaster, perhaps we can minimize the harm," Cascio said. "Most important, acknowledging the sheer resilience of humanity might be the kick needed to keep fighting, even when things look lost."
(Photo : Handout by Reuters ) US Space Force Defends Logo After Star Trek Fans Compare it to Starfleet Command Logo (Photo : Screenshot from Donald Trump's Official Twitter Account) US Space Force Defends Logo After Star Trek Fans Compare it to Starfleet Command Logo (Photo : Screenshot from: Mark Hamill Official Twitter Account) US Space Force Defends Logo After Star Trek Fans Compare it to Starfleet Command Logo (Photo : Screenshot from: George Takei Official Twitter Account) US Space Force Defends Logo After Star Trek Fans Compare it to Starfleet Command Logo

On Saturday, Jan. 25, the U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted the official picture of the U.S. Space Force logo. After only a couple of minutes, the tweet became a national issue when a lot of Star Trek fans claimed that the logo looks exactly like the famous insignia from the iconic sci-fi franchise.

Does the United States Space Force Logo Look Exactly Like the Star Trek logo?

This is what Trump tweeted on Friday morning, Jan. 24, about the official logo of the newly-established U.S. Space Force.

"After consultation with our Great Military Leaders, designers, and others, I am pleased to present the new logo for the United States Space Force, the Sixth Branch of our Magnificent Military!" tweeted Pres. Trump.

The post has now gone viral with more than 32,000 retweets and over 100,000 likes from the account. Most users from the Twitterverse said that the logo looks accurately and might have been ripped from the original logo of Starfleet Command Logo from Star Trek.

Aside from the same logo, both organization-- though one's fictional-- have the same function. Starfleet Command is responsible for the "exploratory, scientific, and military department of United Earth before being integrated into the United Federation of Planets in 2161."

For the U.S, Space Force, it was recently created under President Trump when he signed for National Defense Authorization Act back in Dec. This team was created as a branch of the military under the Department of the Air Force.

Startrek actors react to the U.S. space force logo

If Star Trek fans got disappointed with the new U.S. Space Force logo, what more if you're an actor that was once part of the series?

Star Trek's Hikaru Sulu actor George Takei and one of the most known Trump critic retweeted the tweet by saying that "Ahem. We are expecting some royalties from this..."

Even Star Wars actor Mark Hamill got frustrated after seeing the new logo.

Shut up Star Trek fans; it's not your logo says U.S. Space Force

Back from the time when the said logo was signed, Gen. John Raymond, the previous commander of U.S. Space Command and Air Force Space Command, already commented that the said logo was not made 'rushed.'

"It's going to be really important that we get this right. A uniform, a patch, a song, it gets to the culture of service, and so we're not going to be in a rush to get something and not do that right," he added.

The exact department of the U.S. Space Force hasn't yet commented on the bashing of their new logo. However, we might see more of these negative feedback soon.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
When the polls closed on Nov. 5, 2019,the initial count showed the governor of Kentucky, Republican Matt Bevins, losing to his Democratic challenger, Andy Beshear. But rather than concede that he fell short in what should have been an easy reelection, Bevins claimed that "irregularities" had muddled the result - producing no evidence to support his accusations. At first, some Kentucky legislative leaders appeared to back him, and some pointed to the legislature's power to resolve an election dispute and choose the governor regardless of the vote. But Bevins was not popular even within his own party, and eventually, he had to concede when the local GOP did not go along with him.

We could imagine a similar scenario this November: What would happen if President Donald Trump had an early lead that evaporated as votes were counted, and then he refused to concede? The idea isn't too far-fetched; Trump has raised it himself. Before the 2016 election, he wouldn't agree to accept the results if he lost. After winning in the electoral college but losing the popular count by about 3 million votes, Trump claimed - with no evidence whatsoever - that at least 3 million fraudulent votes had been cast for his opponent, Hillary Clinton. He set up an "election integrity" commission headed by then-Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach to try to prove that "voter fraud" is a major problem. But after the commission faced attacks from the left and the right for demanding state voter records with an apparent plan to use them to call for stricter registration rules, Trump disbanded it, with no work accomplished. In 2018, the president criticized elections in Florida and California, where late-counted votes shifted toward Democrats, suggesting without evidence that there was foul play.

It's not just Trump who might not accept election results. Imagine that he wins in the electoral college, this time thanks to what Democrats believe is voter suppression in Florida. The Florida legislature and governor have already sought to stymie Amendment 4, a 2018 ballot initiative to restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated felons.When the state Supreme Court agreed that felons could not register to vote until paying all their outstanding fines, Gov. Ron DeSantis, R, praised the ruling and called voting a "privilege," rather than a right. Some Democrats have called the new rules a "poll tax," and a Florida public TV station concluded that "the implications of the bill passed by a majority-Republican legislature preventing former felons from voting could work to ensure Trump wins the 2020 presidential election." During Trump's impeachment trial this past week, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said that "we cannot be assured that the vote will be fairly won" in November because of the allegations that Trump was trying to "cheat" by pressuring Ukraine to announce an investigation into Joe Biden and his family.

External forces could cause an election meltdown, too. A recent NPR-News Hour-Marist poll found that "almost 4 in 10 Americans . . . believe it is likely another country will tamper with the votes cast in 2020 in order to change the result." What if Russians hack into Detroit's power grid and knock out electricity on Election Day, seriously depressing turnout - and Trump wins the electoral college because he carries Michigan? Most states do not have a Plan B to deal with a terrorist attack or natural disaster affecting part of a presidential election.

The vote this year is particularly vulnerable to a crisis of legitimacy because Americans' trust in elections is already low; that NPR poll found that only 62 percent of Americans think our elections are fair. A number of factors are contributing to this worrisome trend.

Republicans have passed laws and procedures aimed at suppressing the votes of Democrats, based on unsupported claims of voter fraud. Under Kobach's watch, for example, Kansas passed a law requiring people registering to vote to produce proof of citizenship, such as a birth or naturalization certificate. About 30,000 people had their registrations suspended or canceled for failure to show their papers until a federal court put the program on hold. Kobach defended the law in court in 2018, citing a handful of cases of noncitizen voting as the "tip of the iceberg" and claiming that the law would deter many more. But at trial in a suit brought by the ACLU, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson concluded there was no iceberg, merely an "icicle." Kobach's presentation of evidence was so faulty and deceptive that he was sanctioned twice by the courts.

Time and again, courts and scholars have debunked the myth of widespread voter fraud - but such claims still lead Republicans to believe that Democrats are cheating, and they prompt GOP-backed laws that lead Democrats, in turn, to believe that Republicans are cheating.

Yes, a few election administrators are incompetent, and in very close races, when procedures are put under a microscope during recounts and challenges, attention is focused on these weak links. Think of Brenda Snipes, the Democratic former election supervisor in Broward County, Fla., who presided over a series of mishaps during her tenure. In 2004, her office failed to deliver 58,000 ballots to absentee voters who had requested them. In 2012, election workers discovered almost 1,000 uncounted absentee ballots in county offices a week after the vote. In 2016, Snipes' office left a voter initiative on medical marijuana completely off some ballots. In the recount in the 2018 Senate race between Sen. Bill Nelson, D, and Gov. Rick Scott, R, Snipes' office missed - by two minutes - a key deadline because county officials did not know how to submit the vote totals to the state online. This error came after a faulty ballot design apparently caused many Broward voters to skip voting in the Senate contest entirely.

Snipes is not alone. Then-Georgia Secretary of State (and now governor) Brian Kemp engaged in one of the most despicable moments in modern American politics in 2018, when he wrongly accused Democrats of hacking into state voter registration databases (and posted the charges on the front page of the official secretary of state website the weekend before the election) to cover up his own failure to secure voters' private data.

Incompetent administrators come from both parties, but election problems tend to get the most notice in big cities, where there are more voters and more media attention - and more votes for Democrats. Big blunders sometimes lead to Republican charges of intentional vote tampering. It is no surprise that Trump called out Snipes during the 2018 recount, accusing her, again without evidence, of cheating to help fellow Democrats.

Recent elections have also seen both high-tech and old-fashioned dirty tricks used with uncomfortable frequency. In the 2017 U.S. Senate special election in Alabama, left-leaning groups backing Democrat Doug Jones (but working independently) used social media manipulation - based on Russian tactics from 2016 - to target Republican Roy Moore. One of these efforts, "Dry Alabama," involved inventing a pro-Moore Baptist group that supported a statewide ban on alcohol. One of the people behind the fake group told the New York Times that he hoped Dry Alabama's hardcore anti-alcohol message would depress turnout among moderate Republicans.

The 2018 race in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District saw straight-up ballot tampering: Evidence of improper tactics by consultant Leslie McCrae Dowless to support the Republican candidate, Mark Harris, was so overwhelming that the bipartisan North Carolina Board of Elections voted unanimously to order a new election unmarred by fraud. Trump, who speaks nonstop about nonexistent Democratic voter fraud, has remained mostly silent about North Carolina.

Finally, we have seen a rise in incendiary rhetoric about stolen elections. At an October 2016 campaign rally in Ambridge, Pa., Trump told an enthusiastic, mostly white crowd that it is "so important that you watch other communities, because we don't want this election stolen from us."

In 2018, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, claimed that if Democrat Stacey Abrams lost the Georgia governor's race, it would be because Kemp "stole" it. It is true that Kemp was an incompetent and malevolent secretary of state who was supervising the election in which he was running. But there was no good evidence that his actions changed the outcome of the election, which he won. Abrams nonetheless has refused repeatedly to call Kemp the "legitimate" governor of Georgia.

The combination of these four factors - Republican voter suppression, pockets of incompetence, dirty tricks and increasingly outrageous language about stolen elections - creates a volatile mix in our hyperpolarized era.

Unfortunately, we don't have any good short-term fixes available between now and November. It's not clear that can we rely on responsible leaders of both parties to assure democratic transitions and acceptance of election results. Republican responses to the impeachment hearings' evidence that Trump encouraged foreign interference in the 2020 elections are not encouraging. Many contested elections wind up in the courts: According to figures I've compiled for my new book, "Election Meltdown," election litigation has nearly tripled since 2000, with the highest number of cases occurring in the most recent national elections, in 2018. But the Supreme Court itself is polarized, and it is not certain that Democrats would accept a decision by a Republican-majority court handing yet another presidency to a Republican.

There are about nine months until Election Day. Some concrete steps could help minimize the chances of a meltdown, since we can't do much to fix problems after they occur. For example, journalists could be more careful not to "call" states for presidential candidates until they are absolutely sure enough votes have been counted that the outcome is clear. Social media companies could ban "deep fake" videos that are not labeled as manipulated. Government cybersecurity experts do more to thwart unusual ways of disrupting the voting process, such as attacks on the power grid. And election officials need to have a Plan B in the event of attacks on registration or voting systems. External and internal forces that seek to foment discord are not resting. We can't, either.

- - -

Hasen is the chancellor's professor of law and political science at the University of California at Irvine and the author of the forthcoming book "Election Meltdown."
Mochi, a Bernese mountain dog puppy, has an important job. She's a member of Macon Funeral Home's grief support team.



At just 8 weeks old, Mochi makes visits to those in need with her partner and mom, Tori McKay, the funeral office administrator.

On the funeral home website, McKay explains the thought process behind having a grief therapy dog that "sets the stage for a more kind and comforting experience for families."

"I've had this dream of having a dog at the funeral home for years," McKay said on the website. "10 to be exact."

After just turning 30, McKay and her husband decided they wanted to add an extra set of hands, or paws, to the North Carolina funeral home.

McKay said a Bernese mountain dog was always her choice for a grief therapy dog for the breed's laid-back personality and kind disposition. She also cites the hefty amount of research backing up the benefits of having animals around during times of grief.

Mochi will be receiving training in Asheville when she's between 6 months and 1 year old. Till then, she works with McKay to learn the ways of the home and socializing.

Related: Terminally ill rescue dog becomes police K-9 for a day


'Central Vista stretch required for Republic Day parade will be ready in time, some facilities later'

On the eve of 71st Republic Day Prez Kovind addresses the nation

India

oi-Mousumi Dash

New Delhi, Jan 25: President Ram Nath Kovind addressed to the nation on the eve of 71st Republic Day, on Saturday he urged the people of the nation, especially the youth to remain non-violent while fighting for a cause.

Though, his remarks came in the wake of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) but he didn't made any reference to it. He stressed on the need of holding fast to constitutional methods of achieving social and economic objectives.

Kovind said that modern India comprises of three organs the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. But on ground, the people comprise the State.

He elaborated it by saying that "We the People" are the prime movers of the Republic."

He said that, pople have to take a stand to keep up the democratic values of equality and plurality.

He also added that now it has become more important that Mahatma Gandhi's principles continue to be important for nation-building.

He further stated, "With the passage of time, we are gradually losing living links with our great freedom struggle, but there is no reason to worry about the continuity of the beliefs that guided it."

Kovind said, "We are now in the 3rd decade of 21st century. This will be the decade of the rise of New India &a new generation of Indians. More & more of those born in this century are participating in the national discourse."

Kovind said that with advances in technology, young minds of today are better informed and more confident. The next generation remains strongly committed to the core values of our nation. For our youth, nation always comes first. With them, the people of the nation are witnessing emergence of a New India.

Nirbhaya: President rejects death-row convict Mukesh Singh's mercy plea

Regarding the security of the nation, the President said strong internal security is essential for the development of the country. Hence, the government has taken concrete steps to strengthen the internal security system.

While concluding, he also mentioned the achievements of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), he said, "The nation excitedly looks forward to the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme gaining further momentum this year."

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Story first published: Saturday, January 25, 2020, 21:08 [IST]
RIO DE JANEIRO  Reading through the hacked cellphone messages of Brazilian prosecutors and judges, Glenn Greenwald knew he had a blockbuster story.

Mr. Greenwald, an American journalist, figured he was well equipped to weather the blowback. After all, he played a central role in exposing the secret intelligence programs leaked by Edward Snowden, the national security contractor, five years ago.

I assumed it was going to be very similar to the Snowden story, Mr. Greenwald said. Im going to know how to do this.

He greatly underestimated.

The cellphone messages sent shock waves through Brazil when the news organization Mr. Greenwald co-founded, The Intercept Brasil, wrote about them last year, raising doubts about the fairness of the vast corruption investigation that upended the country and ultimately helped pave the way for the election of Brazils far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  Jarel LaPan Hill is Mayor Alan Webbers pick for city manager on a permanent basis, the city of Santa Fe announced in a Friday night news release.

LaPan Hill, 38, has been serving as interim city manager since September, when she succeeded Erik Litzenberg, who left to become Santa Fe County fire chief. Before that, appointment, LaPan Hill had been Webbers chief of staff since he took office in March 2018.

LaPan Hill accepted the appointment and is expected to be confirmed at Wednesdays Santa Fe City Council meeting.

I am excited, delighted and encouraged by the support I have received from the mayor, my colleagues, and city residents, she said in a statement. Having a chance to serve the city I grew up in, at this moment of change, is a true honor.

A Capital High School graduate, LaPan Hill earned a degree in political science from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She went on to become chief of staff to the deputy secretary at the Department of Health during the Obama administration. She also was part of the Obama-Biden transition team.

Before that, she spent one year as health policy coordinator for the Montana Auditors Office.

The news release says that a nationwide search generated 52 applicants for the job.

In a phone interview Friday night, Lilia Chacon, a spokeswoman for the city, would not say how many people were interviewed or provide names of the finalists, only that three rounds of interviews took place.

LaPan Hill, who was making $88,000 a year as the mayors chief of staff, has been paid at a rate of $155,000 per year since becoming interim city manager.

The news release says that the City Council will negotiate the terms of her contract at its meeting on Wednesday.
In this file photo dated Friday, Nov. 15, 2019, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testifies before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. Read more

President Donald Trump is allegedly heard on a recording demanding the firing of then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch during a private dinner with top donors in April 2018, according to an audio file obtained by ABC News.

Get rid of her! Get her out tomorrow. I dont care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. OK? Do it, Trump is heard saying, according to ABC News, which said it reviewed the tape.

The recording, which The Washington Post has not independently verified, corroborates an account of the evening by Lev Parnas, a former associate of Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. In a recent interview, Parnas said he told Trump that evening that Yovanovitch was working against him.

I do remember me telling the president the ambassador was bad-mouthing him and saying he was going to get impeached, something to that effect, Parnas told MSNBCs Rachel Maddow last week.

In the interview, he apologized to Yovanovitch, saying he now believes he was wrong about her.

The Post first reported that Parnas and his business partner Igor Fruman bad-mouthed Yovanovitch to Trump at the dinner and that the president reacted strongly, saying she should be fired. The recording of the conversation was made by Fruman, ABC reported.

The report of the recording's existence, released in the midst of the Senate impeachment trial against Trump, helps bolster Parnas' claims about the access he had to the president and his inner circle.

But the 2018 conversation about Yovanovitch also raises questions about the impetus behind the effort to push her out, indicating that it began before the Ukraine pressure campaign.

The dinner took place before Parnas and Fruman began working with Giuliani and seven months before Giuliani has said he began his Ukraine investigation  suggesting that the duo were agitating against the ambassador for another reason and may have biased Trump against her early on.

Todd Blanche, a lawyer for Fruman, declined to comment.

Parnas' attorney, Joseph Bondy, said that the recording was not leaked by him or his client, but that it validates Parnas' recollection of that event with Trump.

"For some time, Mr. Parnas has indicated that he had previously heard such a recording. We do not possess the recording, and all of Mr. Parnas' statements regarding that event were based on his independent recollection of that event rather than the contents of the tape," he said.

Parnas located the recording in his iCloud accounts Friday, Bondy said, and provided it to the House Intelligence Committee.

In an interview with Fox News later Friday, Trump did not deny it was him on the tape. Instead, when asked about it, he defended his decision to fire Yovanovitch and skirted whether he was relying on Parnas to do it.

Well, I wouldnt have been saying that. I probably would have said  it was Rudy there, or somebody  but I make no bones about it, I want to have ambassadors  I have every right, I want ambassadors that are chosen by me. I have a right to hire and fire ambassadors, and thats a very important thing, Trump said.

Giuliani was not at the April 2018 dinner.

Trump's personal attorney Jay Sekulow, asked about the tape, told reporters in the Capitol that he's "not concerned about that at all."

Vice President Mike Pence was also asked about the tape Friday during an impromptu news conference with reporters in Italy.

"I have not heard the tape and would not be prepared to comment on it. All of the ambassadors for the United States of America serve at the pleasure of the president of the United States," Pence said, according to a pool report.

The audio, he added, "will only confirm what people already know: is that the president had concerns, and in his authority this president made a decision."

The recording provides further evidence of the long-running effort to push out Yovanovitch, whose ouster was sought by Yuri Lutsenko, formerly Ukraines top prosecutor.

Text messages from last year, released by the House this month, indicated that Lutsenko agreed to provide Parnas with damaging information related to former vice president Joe Biden if the Trump administration recalled the ambassador.

The messages, written in Russian, show Lutsenko urging Parnas to force out Yovanovitch in exchange for cooperation regarding Biden. At one point, Lutsenko suggests he won't make any helpful public statements unless "madam" is removed.

Its just that if you dont make a decision about Madam  you are calling into question all my declarations. Including about B, Lutsenko wrote to Parnas in a March 22 message on WhatsApp.

It's unclear if "B" is a reference to Biden or to Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company on whose board Hunter Biden, the former vice president's son, served from 2014 to 2019.

Four days later, Lutsenko told Parnas that work on the case against the owner of the gas company was proceeding successfully and evidence of the money transfers of "B" had been obtained.

And here you cant even remove one fool, Lutsenko lamented, using a sad-face emoticon as he again appeared to push for Yovanovitchs ouster.

"She's not a simple fool[,] trust me," Parnas responded. "But she's not getting away."

Parnas, days later, told Lutsenko that soon everything will turn around and well be on the right course. Lutsenko responded that he had copies of payments Burisma made to an investment firm co-founded by Hunter Biden.

The following month, Yovanovitch was removed from her post at Giuliani's urging. Lutsenko later said publicly that he found no evidence of wrongdoing under Ukrainian law by Hunter or Joe Biden.

The Washington Posts Paul Sonne contributed to this report.
An NYPD officer and his fiancee who allegedly starved and abused his autistic eight-year-old son, taunted the child for being cold as he collapsed from hypothermia after being forced into an unheated garage overnight in 'freezing temperatures.'

Micahel Valva, 40, and Angela Pollina, 42, attempted to emulate the Brady Bunch with their blended family - Valva's three sons and Pollina's three children- but that facade fell apart after little Thomas Valva died on January 17.

Valvas initial story  that Thomas was trying to catch the school bus and died after falling in the driveway - quickly came apart as homicide detectives investigated the death.

Audio obtained by authorities from family surveillance footage at the couple's home, captured him mocking and joking about his son, who as suffering severe effect from hypothermia that would later kill him, to his fiance. He was also recorded telling her he was 'f**king suffocating' the child.

The couple was arrested at their Long Island home for second-degree murder on Friday by Suffolk County officers.

Eight-year-old Thomas (pictured) died on January 17 after being 'starved, beaten and locked overnight in a garage in freezing temperatures'

Protective services ignored complaints that NYPD officer Michael Valva (left) and Angela Pollina (right) made his sons sleep in the garage

Pictured: The couple's home at 11 Bittersweet Lane in the Center Moriches hamlet in Long Island where Thomas died on January 17

The tragic incident began when Valva became enraged with Thomas and proceeded to beat the child before banishing the boy to the family's frigid garage when temperatures were a bitter 19 degrees that night.

The following morning, Thomas was so cold that he was 'face-planting' on the floor because his body had gone into hypothermia, according to Assistant District Attorney Laura Newcombe who cited extensive audio recording's taken from home security footage.

Nearly every room was set up with surveillance cameras to closely monitor the children, with labeling based on the child's name and room.

The camera found inside the garage was ominously labelled 'kids room.'

Thomas and Anthony Valva, his older brother, were seen on camera sleeping on the garage's concrete floor and 'shivering' two nights before the boy's death.

'They are on cold concrete. There are no pillows, no blankets, no mattress,' said Newcombe.

New York Post reports that one of the other children asks why Thomas can't walk.

Pollina said: 'Because hes hypothermic. When you wash with cold water and its freezing out you become hypothermic'.

The alleged murderers: Valva and Pollina (pictured with Thomas and their other children) were charged with second-degree murder on Friday

She later asks Valva the same question only to receive a callous response from the father.

'Because hes cold. Boo f**king hoo,' he said, according to prosecutors at the couple's arraignment.

At one point, Pollina walked into the garage and asked Valva what he was doing.

'Im f**king suffocating him thats what Im doing,' Valva said, prompting Pollina to answer, 'Take your hands off his mouth. There are people everywhere.'

Before calling 911, Valva is said to have placed the boy's cold body in a warm bath to raise his core temperature.

Authorities were dispatched to 11 Bittersweet Lane around 9.40am following reports that Thomas had fallen in the driveway and lost consciousness.

Thomas Valva (pictured) was a second-grader at East Moriches Elementary School and lived with his father

Responding officers found Valva performing CPR on Thomas in the basement before he was rushed to Long Island Community Hospital and pronounced dead.

Thomas' body temperature was just 76 degrees - 21 degrees below a normal temperature - when doctors later attempted to revive him.

'The medical examiner has ruled it a homicide with a major contributing factor of hypothermia. We believe certainly that Thomas was kept in the garage overnight preceding his death,' Suffolk Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said, according to NBC News.

In addition to hypothermia, Thomas also suffered head and face injuries that were not consistent with Valva's story.

The couple 'engaged in conduct which created a grave risk of death to this child,' said Hart.

Hart said: 'As with any unattended death, homicide detectives conducted an investigation which revealed inconsistencies in the timing and the nature of the child's injures as reported by his father.'

'We have determined Thomas was never in the driveway that morning and he suffered head and facial injuries that were not consistent with the father's account.'

Besides Thomas, Valva's six-year-old and 10-year-old brothers lived with the couple, as did Pollina's 11-year-old twin daughters and her six-year-old son.

The home security footage also helped investigators discovered that Valva's other sons were punished with 'food deprivation and exposure to extremely frigid temperatures.'

Thomas' mother, Justyna Zubko-Valva (left), a correction's officer, said: 'I just keep praying for this case to be fully resolved and my little angel Thomas to rest peacefully in heavenI just wished somebody helped him'

Authorities say eight-year-old Thomas Valva (pictured) died of hypothermia after he was kept inside a garage overnight in 'freezing temperatures'

Newcombe said that authorities had conducted a welfare check at the home in May 2019, but the family was not home.

The remaining children have been placed in Child Protective Services.

'We are still investigating the extent of the abuse and if it extended to all of the children,' said Hart.

A former nanny for the family said she witnessed the boys constantly being yelled at during her time babysitting from 2017 to 2018.

'Its sad. They wanted to give the impression they were the Brady Bunch family when it was more like a home crashing,' Amanda Wildman said.

A lawyer representing the Pollina (left) and Valva (right) say the couple maintains their innocence and have not admitted to any wrongdoing

Valva (right) is said to have repeatedly punished his sons with 'food deprivation and exposure to extremely frigid temperatures

'There was always screaming. The boys were constantly being yelled at. There never was a day where somebody wasnt screaming and the boys would just sit there quietly and take it.'

Justyna Zubko-Valva, Thomas' biological mother, spoke out for the first time since details of Thomas' death were revealed.

'I want to personally thank each one of you for love and support towards me and my children,' she wrote.

'I am still extremely heartbroken, and devastated over the cruel and tragic death of my little angel Thomas that could have been preventable. Please continue keeping us in your prayers.'

She's has long voiced her concerns over her children's alleged abuse and is mourning the lose of her son from a preventable.

Zubko-Valva, a corrections officer on Rikers Island, said her sons suffered abuse at the hands of Valva and that the older man had anger issues.

She claims that Valva tortured their children by starving, beating and locking them inside the garage for periods of time.

She says the children would go to school with soiled clothing and wear diapers, despite all of them being potty trained by age two.

No one did anything, said Zubko-Valva, adding that the children allegedly scoured for food in the school garbage on the floor.

She said she fought for justice for her children for five years, but was unable to gain custody before tragedy struck.

Zubko-Valva previously lost custody of her children and had not seen them in two years. It's unclear why she did not have custody of the children.

A 2018 East Moriches School District report Zubko-Valva shared on Twitter showcases the depths of abuse Thomas and his siblings suffered.

'Biggest concern is that Mr. Valva and his fiance Angela do not understand the depth of Anthony and Thomas's disabilities,' the report read, regarding Thomas' brother.

'Both Anthony and Thomas come into school hungry and frequently say they did not eat breakfast because they did not ask for breakfast or got in trouble.'

'The boys were afraid to go to the nurses's office for a while and they said it was because they were directed by Mr. Valva and Angela not to go to the nurse's office.'

Anthony had allegedly dropped around 11 pounds over the course of nine months.

A 2018 East Moriches School District report detailed concerns of abuse for Valva's two oldest sons, including being denied food and losing significant weight

The report says: 'Both Anthony and Thomas come into school hungry and frequently say they did not eat breakfast because they did not ask for breakfast or got in trouble'

Despite concerns from East Moriches School District and Zubko-Valva, Child Protective Services ignored complaints that Valva made his oldest son sleep in the garage.

New York state's Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) received a complaint in February that the now 10-year-old son of suspected murderer Michael Valva, 40, was coming to school in soiled clothes after being forced to sleep in the garage.

The allegations were dismissed as 'unfounded' by child welfare and the case closed the following day.

Records have now emerged showing that authorities were aware of long-running child abuse in the home.

They show that a phone call was made to child services, by an unnamed caller, on February 27 stating that Valva's son Anthony was forced to sleep in the garage because he was wetting the bed.

'For the past week, Anthony (9) has been coming to school with his clothes and backpack soaked in urine,' states the OCFS record, seen by The Post.

Thomas' distraught mother Justyna Zubko-Valva (pictured) said she had raised the alarm about Valva abusing their children but child services did nothing

Records show a phone call was made to child services, by an unnamed caller, on February 27 stating that Anthony was forced to sleep in the garage because he was wetting the bed. Despite the severity of the allegations, the record shows the agency closed the investigation just one day later

'Anthony has been staying in the garage and is not allowed in his room due to him urinating in his bed  Step mother (Angela) and Father (Michael) are aware that the child is arriving at school soiled and fail to adequately address the concern.'

It adds: 'The child's feet and hands are bright red, but it unknown if this is as a result of the child being soaked in urine.'

Despite the severity of the allegations, the record shows the agency closed the investigation just one day later, citing it a 'duplicate'.

The record was sent to Anthony and Zubko-Valva, in May 2019 along with a letter which dismissed the allegations as 'unfounded'.

'The investigating district/agency has determined the report to be unfounded and the subject (perpetrator) and other persons named in the report(s) have been notified,' wrote Kristin Gleeson, the director of the state central register division of child welfare and community services, in the letter.

'Every time, I kept telling the judge  'If you're not going to remove the children, they are going to die under his care and custody,' she told News 12 Long Island.

'There was evidence, hard evidence. Reports filed. Children were telling me, too, about the abuse.'

She said this whole time Child Protective Services did nothing to protect her kids.

Zubko-Valva (left), who lost custody of her children, has not seen Thomas (right) or his siblings in two years

Zubko-Valva said ex-husband Michael Valva (pictured) was abusive towards their three sons and had problems with his anger

'No one did anything,' said Zubko-Valva, adding that the children allegedly scoured for food in the school garbage on the floor.

'I just really want justice for my son. He deserves it. This should never have happened,' she said.

'I just keep praying for this case to be fully resolved and my little angel Thomas to rest peacefully in heavenI just wished somebody helped him'

In a Facebook post, Zubko-Valva shared a photo of the last time she saw her sons.

'The last kiss from my youngest son before he was taken away from me ... He always showed me so much love,' she wrote.

'My three loving children, whom two of them have special needs were taken away from me and deprived from any form of communication and contact with me. I was punished by the judge for loving my children unconditionally.'

The couple says they are innocent of any wrong doing.

'Both of them maintain their innocence 100 per cent. We'll see how the facts bear out,' Matthew Tuohy, their lawyer, said.

Valva released a statement regarding his son's death through his attorney.

'As with any tragedy, our office and Mr. Valva are shocked and saddened to learn of the horrible accident that took the life of young Thomas,' it read.

'We mourn his death with family and friends. Since Thomas' parents are in the midst of a divorce, we are unable to make any further comments at this time.'
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 21:52:12|Editor: mingmei

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Medical staff from Shanghai attend a medical training in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Jan. 25, 2020. A total of 136 medical staff from Shanghai arrived in Wuhan early Saturday morning. After medical trainings, those from several major hospitals of Shanghai are going to join the fight against novel coronavirus. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)
CNN Philippines (Metro Manila, January 25)  State-run China Global Television Network reported Saturday that a doctor who had been at the front line in battling the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, has died from the new virus.

Liang Wudong was a doctor at the Hubei Xinhua Hospital in Hubei province, where the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (2019 nCoV) began, CGTN said in Twitter post. He was 62, it added.

CGTN reported that at least 41 people have died and 1,297 others infected in China as of Saturday.

The deadly new virus has reached parts of Asia, the United States, France, and most recently, Australia, CNN International has reported. Wuhan, the most populous city in central China with 11 million people, was placed under lockdown Thursday, while public transport has been suspended in 10 neighboring cities, CNN added.

Meanwhile, the Philippines remains free from the new coronavirus, but authorities are on heightened alert to prevent the entry of the disease, increasing health screenings in airports, and indefinitely suspending flights to and from Wuhan.

RELATED: Five-year-old Chinese boy in Cebu tests negative for Wuhan coronavirus

Authorities in China have imposed indefinite travel restrictions on tens of millions of people across 11 cities to contain the virus, CNN reported Saturday.

READ: Coronavirus death toll in China hits 41 as medical staff struggle to cope

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more serious diseases such as such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

They can be transmitted between animal and human, or from infected human to another human, WHO said.

READ: Coronavirus explained: What you need to know
The Inter-Party Resistance against the New Voters Register says the Electoral Commission (EC) should brace itself for series of massive demonstrations nationwide.

The threats follow the ECs announcement of a date and modalities for the compilation of a new voters register despite a planned meeting between the Eminent Advisory Committee and the Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) scheduled for Thursday to iron out concerns raised over the exercise.

The Communications Officer for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi told Citi News that the Electoral Commission's posture is disrespectful to Ghanaians.

It is an insult to the EC as a corporate body because it is giving them away as a body which is not interested in protecting the democracy and the strides we have achieved since 1992. They should be prepared for more mass actions. We are not going to stop now. We are not going to give in.

We are not going to give up. We know the will of the people is supreme and the will of the people is what will prevail at the end of the day. We are going to occupy the headquarters of the EC and their offices across the 16 regions of the country and we are going to mobilize the ordinary people of this country to mount more pressure on the EC to do the right thing. Opposing parties angry about date

The various political parties kicking against the compilation of the new voters' register had earlier criticized the EC for announcing a specific date for the commencement of the exercise.

According to the group known as the Inter-party Resistance Against the New Voter's Register, the Commission acted in bad faith by announcing April 18, 2020 as the date to begin compiling a new register ahead of the 2020 general elections.

The group had suspended its mass actions which included demonstration exercises to await the outcome of an impending meeting between the various elections stakeholders and the EC's Eminent Advisory Committee.

But even before a date for the scheduled meeting could be announced, the EC on Thursday said the compilation of the new register will begin from April 18 to May 30, 2020.

The group therefore resumed its mass action.

Meanwhile, the Eminent Advisory Committee will meet IPAC on Thursday, January 30, 2020 to engage with the Inter-Party Advisory Committee on the Electoral Commission's plan to compile a new Voters' Register ahead of the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections.

---citinewsroom
Imperial Valley News Center

Its not too late to take precautions against the flu

Washington, DC - The flu can be uncomfortable, at best, but it can also be deadly. According to the Centers for Disease Control [CDC] so far this season there more than 13 million people have been sick with flu, at least 5,900,000 people have been to the doctor because of flu, more than 120 million people have been hospitalized because of flu and more than 6,600 have died.

Dan Weber, president of the senior advocacy organization, the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC], is advising its membership and older Americans, at large, to get a flu shot if you havent already done so.

Its not too late. The flu season is not over yet and the CDC says it can last for several more months, Weber warns. He points out that 53% of flu victims are 65 years old or older, noting that Medicare covers 100% of the cost.

Even if your physician does not take Medicare, there are alternatives. Most drug stores, particularly the major pharmacy chains, including CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid, offer Medicare-covered flu shots. And, free or low-cost shots are available at local clinics and public health facilities.

Weber adds, if you or someone in your family does come down with the flu, take precautions by following guidelines recommended by the CDC:

In addition to vaccination and appropriate use of antiviral drugs, CDC recommends everyday preventive actions to help stop the spread of germs.
Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) - Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg on Friday said calls to the corporate elite meeting in Davos to immediately disinvest in fossil fuels had been ignored.

"We had a few demands (coming into the World Economic Forum). Of course these demands have been completely ignored. We expected nothing less," Thunberg told reporters in the Swiss ski resort on the last day of the conference.

Thunberg was a highlight of the 50th edition of the conference, drawing massive attention including barbs by US Secretary Steven Mnuchin who on Thursday told the teen to go "study economics".

Asked about Mnuchin's comments, the Swede said: "Of course it has no effect. We are being criticised like that all the time."

"If we cared about that, we would not be able to do what we do. We put ourselves in the spotlight."

The spat between Mnuchin and Thunberg underlined the tensions over climate change at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, where governments and major firms have come under pressure to act now on global warming.

Asked about the 17-year-old's demand for an immediate halt to investment in fossil fuels, Mnuchin said on Thursday:

"Is she the chief economist? Who is she? I'm confused," adding after a pause that it was "a joke".

"After she goes and studies economics in college, she can come back and explain that to us."

In a speech on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump castigated the "prophets of doom" that predict a climate "apocalypse", in comments widely seen as an attack on Thunberg who sat in the audience.

But either by accident or design, there was no meeting between Trump and Thunberg at the forum.
Filmmaker Vinay Sinha, best known for producing cult comedy "Andaz Apna Apna", has died. He was 74.

Sinha passed away on Friday at Holy Family Multispeciality Hospital in suburb Bandra here, his daughter Priti Sinha said.

"He had a heart history but he was working then also. He was hospitalised two weeks ago for stomach ache. He was alright and was going to be discharged yesterday but he passed away in his sleep last afternoon," she told PTI.

The last rites of the producer were performed on Friday and a prayer meeting will be held on January 28.

Superstar Aamir Khan, who starred along side Salman Khan in the 1994 Rajkumar Santoshi-directed movie, was one of the first from the film fraternity to pay tributes to Sinha.

"Saddened to hear about the demise of Vinayji, the producer of 'Andaz Apna Apna'. It will remain one of my most memorable experiences and films. My heartfelt condolences to Vinayji's family. May his soul rest in peace," he posted on Twitter.

Salman said he is saddened by the sudden demise of the producer.

"Very very sorry and saddened to hear of the demise of Vinay ji, producer of a memorable film of mine - 'Andaz Apna Apna'. Deepest condolences to the entire family," he tweeted.

Veteran actor Kabir Bedi also mourned Sinha's death on the microblogging site.

"Deeply saddened by the passing of my dear friend Vinay Sinha, who gave Bollywood one of its most enduring comedies, 'Andaz Apna Apna', and gave me a friendship that endured from my earlier days in Bollywood. Eternal love and respect for you," he tweeted.

Sinha other producing credits include popular Hindi films such as "Ameer Aadmi Gharib Aadmi", "Naseeb" and "Chor Police".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Syracuse University police are deeply concerned about the safety of a senior at university who has been missing for six days, they said in a news release.

Allan Gonzalez, 22, a senior at the College of Engineering and Computer Science, has been missing since Jan. 18, according to Syracuses Department of Public Safety.

He was last seen at 1223 James St. and may have taken an Uber to Armory Square or Als Whiskey & Wine Bar, according to Syracuse police.

No one has heard form him since, university police said. We are deeply concerned about his safety and well-being.

Police described Gonzalez as 5-feet, 11-inches tall and weighing 175 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes. He lives off campus, police said.

They ask that anyone with information about Gonzalezs whereabouts call the Syracuse Police Department, who is handling the investigation, at 315-442-5222.

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.
(Newser)  Elizabeth Holmes is stretched thin in a couple of ways right now. The criminal case against the former head of Theranos is being heard in San Jose. A civil casea fraud lawsuitis proceeding in Arizona. Her lawyers handling the fraud suit have quit because they weren't being paid. So when a hearing was held Thursday in that case, Holmes was dialed in, Bloomberg reports. Unable to be in two courtrooms at once, the defendant decided to phone in to the less critical one, an expert said, and there's a logic to that. "If there's only so much money to go around, staying out of prison is always priority number one, period," he said. "Lawsuits seek only money, not imprisonment."

story continues below

It's unusual to have a defendant on Line 1, and of course, it's unusual to not have anyone representing one side in the courtroom. Holmes told the judge she wouldn't make any arguments over the phone. Lacking legal advice of her own, Holmes said she's leaning on the arguments being made by the lawyers for her co-defendants. The hearing ended without any decision; the judge was considering whether the suit should be taken up as a class action on behalf of thousands of Walgreens and Theranos customers. In that case, customers say the company and drugstore chain took blood samples when Theranos' tech was still being developed, leading to unnecessary treatments.The trial does not have a start date yet, per Fox Business. In the criminal case, prosecutors argue that Holmes knew her companys blood tests were unreliable, and misrepresented the capabilities of the companys technology. (Read more Elizabeth Holmes stories.)
Candidates for two Napa County Board of Supervisor seats on the March 3 ballot sat next to each other Thursday and described different ways to shape the future of world-famous wine country.

Incumbent Supervisor Belia Ramos and challenger Mariam Aboudamous are competing for the 5th District seat. Incumbent Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza and challenger Amber Manfree are competing for the 4th District seat.

They participated in a forum held by the League of Women Voters of Napa County at Napa Valley College. All four candidates sat at a table at the same time and answered questions submitted by the public.

Some people think the needs of the hospitality and wine industries are taking precedent over the needs of locals, the candidates were told. Their response?

One of the things that is interesting is the way in which what the county does is reported, Ramos said. Everything that is top news, everything that becomes divisive, everything that is the talk of the town, ends up being about land use.

In fact, the countys largest charges are health and human services, corrections and road maintenance. The countys priority is the most vulnerable. She cant help whats the top story in the newspaper, Ramos said.

The county has due process for land use applications, Ramos said. She added that the Board of Supervisors should consider such things as a remote winery law as it defines the future and puts people first at all times.

Her challenger Aboudamous said the question isnt based on the county providing basic services versus approving wineries. No one is saying not to approve wineries. But the county needs to figure out how to deal with traffic and housing workers.

Thats where Im at on this, said Aboudamous, who is on the American Canyon City Council. Im tying it right back to housing and traffic.

In the 4th District race, Pedroza said development cannot come at the expense of quality of life. Thirty-year cycles for the Napa County general plan arent appropriate any more. Shorter cycles are needed so residents know how the county will grow in a responsible way.

If our residents are not feeling appreciated and supported by the community were building, were building the wrong community, Pedroza said.

He said a significant number of development requests that are inappropriate for Napa County dont make it to the point where they are up for approval.

Manfree, his challenger, said her campaign slogan is putting locals first, something she perceives isnt happening. Projects need to be evaluated for how they affect the bigger picture of traffic, housing and the mix of jobs.

Im concerned that we have been treating winery permits as a right for a long time, Manfree said. But theyre not a right. Theyre discretionary. If its bad for the community, we dont have to grant them.

Candidates considered how to balance the divergent needs of a supervisor district.

The issues in the 5th District are different in such places as American Canyon and rural Coombsville, Aboudamous said. Its important to be in constant contact with residents by walking precincts, hosting town halls, going to events and holding office hours.

Its also a self-check, she said. There are a lot of very engaged community members in District 5. When I give them the opportunity to see me, they let me know, Youre doing a great job, but you messed up here. And they hold us accountable.

Ramos said shes held six town halls during her three years as supervisor. She has a newsletter and attends stakeholder meetings. At 5:12 a.m. that very morning, she answered a tough question involving county finances.

The unincorporated county has different needs than the cities, Ramos said. The 5th district is 62 percent American Canyon, 26 percent city of Napa and 12 percent rural Coombsville. City residents have city council members, but shes the only representative for Coombsville.

Taking that into consideration is one thing, Ramos said.

Pedroza said he holds an annual town hall meeting when its not election season. At them, he covers issues, listens and answers questions. He also holds neighborhood coffees.

The 4th District is diverse, Pedroza said. Hes been proud to work on the county taking over the resort concessions oversight at Lake Berryessa and working with Silverado homeowners to form an urban Firewise program.

Its really taking the time to invest in those relationships, understand issues and provide the solutions, he said.

Manfree said she lives in rural Soda Canyon. Issues there are remote wineries, permitting and vineyard conversion. Shes opposed to remote winery locations for such reasons as fire safety and impacts on roads, water and habitat.

There are water resources concerns you have in remote areas that you dont have in town because youre running on wells, Manfree said.

On the city side, she supports smart growth, making the community more bike-and-pedestrian friendly and focusing on mass transit instead of increasing infrastructure for single-occupancy vehicles, Manfree said.

Treasurer-Tax Collector

The forum included a separate question session for county Treasurer-Tax Collector candidates Michael Basayne and Robert Minahen. The department among other things manages a pooled portfolio of more than $600 million for the county, schools and special districts.

They considered the potential challenges for the countys tax base and investments over the coming 25 years.

There is the potential for natural disaster, terrorist attacks and economic downturn, Basayne said. The United States is enjoying its longest sustained economic expansion in history. At some point, the other foot will drop.

Its only a matter of time and therefore we have to really look closely at ways we can not only preserve, but create healthy reserves to sustain us through that 25-year period, he said.

Minahen said by far the biggest risk is another real estate bubble burst, though economists see nothing imminent. Skyrocketing real estate prices have led to a rising tax base. Pockets within the county have a significant amount of exposure.

American Canyon is a prime example, he said. It has grown up quickly. It has larger homes and the volatility in its housing market is dramatic. A housing market turn impacts them greatly.

Minahen is Napa Countys assistant auditor-controller. Basayne has held banking and financial positions for more than 30 years.

About 50 people attended the League of Women Voters forum.

You can reach Barry Eberling at 256-2253 or beberling@napanews.com.

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The Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation in Maharashtra's Thane district has sealed three branches of public sector lender Canara Bank for non-payment of property tax of Rs 2.75 crore, an official said on Saturday.

The bank, however, claimed that the action was taken even when the matter was before the court.

The civic body's spokesperson Yuvraj Badhane said that corporation officials sealed server rooms of three branches of the bank in the town on Thursday.

A senior official of Canara Bank said the bank has been paying taxes on time for the three branches which run from leased premises.

"In 2017-18, the corporation informed that the bank needs to pay an additional amount of Rs 2.69 crore in taxes ...we filed a case in a small-causes court (challenging the demand)," he said.

"The court asked us to deposit 25 per cent of additional amount in the court and then negotiate with the municipal authority," the official said.

"On January 23, the municipal authority sealed the branches even as the negotiations are still on," he claimed.

Saying that it has disrupted daily operations of the three branches, the officer said the bank has moved the Bombay High Court against the action and the matter would be heard on January 27.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Three people were infected in France, and one each in Australia and Nepal

New cases of coronavirus infection have been reported outside of China - namely, in France, Australia and Nepal. Deutsche Welle, Xinhua and The Economic Times reported that.

On Friday, January 24, French Minister of Social Affairs and Health Agnes Buzin confirmed three cases of coronavirus infection in the country. According to the French Ministry of Health, one patient was hospitalized in Paris, the second in Bordeaux. Later it became known about the third infected, who turned out to be a relative of one of the two sick people. All three had previously returned from China; they are currently in quarantined hospitals.

In Australia, a man of Chinese descent, aged 50, was infected with a coronavirus. He is currently in isolation at a hospital in Melbourne. According to Victoria Provincial Health Minister Jenny Mikakos, this person has been in Wuhan in China over the past two weeks.

The government of Nepal on Friday confirmed the first case of a deadly coronavirus that infected a Nepalese student. A 31-year-old man who is studying in Wuhan returned from China on January 5 and was hospitalized on January 13 after complaining of breathing problems.

As we reported, doctors managed to cure the first person infected with coronavirus in China. The patient was cured in Shanghai, as Sina reports. A 56-year-old patient who lived in Wuhan for a long time managed to cure. On January 10, her temperature rose, she felt tired; few days after that, she was hospitalized.
HARBOR BEACH - The annual Harbor Beach Souper Saturday will return from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on February 1, giving Harbor Breach residents some warmth this winter.

Attendees have to stop by the Harbor Beach visitor's center first to purchase a button for $3 and receive a map for all the soup samples and a ballot to vote on the best.

Darlene Schelke, the chairperson for this event, said she expects about a dozen local businesses to participate, each making about three gallons of their own soups and competing with each other.

A big variety of flavors will be available, with Schelke making a cheesy broccoli soup, and others making chicken soup, tomato soup, and Mexican soup.

"Some will be hot, some are mild," Schelke said. "With that many people, you get a variety."

All ballots have to be turned back in at the visitor's center by 2:30 p.m.

The first, second, and third place winners will receive $75, $50, and $25 in Harbor Beach bucks respectfully, which is toy-like money meant for use at Harbor Beach businesses.

Schelke called this event a fun thing to do in the winter and had about 200 people participate last year, with that number fluctuating year by year.

"People do come from a long way," Schelke said. "We had people come from Ann Arbor last year."

For any other questions, call Schelke at Darlene's Fashions at 989-479-9016.
Ogreloot.org scored 41 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 2/5.0 Stars by Social Team

This CoolSocial report was updated on 6 Feb 2016, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.

This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared the ogreloot homepage on Twitter + the total number of ogreloot followers (if ogreloot has a Twitter account). The total number of people who shared the ogreloot homepage on Delicious. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared, liked or recommended the ogreloot homepage on Facebook + the total number of page likes (if ogreloot has a Facebook fan page). The total number of people who shared the ogreloot homepage on StumbleUpon. The total number of people who shared the ogreloot homepage on Google Plus by a google +1 button.

Basic Information

PAGE TITLE DESCRIPTION KEYWORDS OTHER KEYWORDS javascript, browser,



The keywords meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. The description meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of the site. The title found in the head section of the homepage. CoolSocial advanced keyword analysis tool is able to detect and analyze every keyword on each page of a site.

Domain and Server

DOCTYPE CHARSET AND LANGUAGE DETECTED LANGUAGE English English SERVER nginx OPERATIVE SYSTEM

Operative System running on the server. Type of server and offered services. Represents HTML declared type (e.g.: XHTML 1.1, HTML 4.0, the new HTML 5.0) Character set and language of the site. The language of ogreloot.org as detected by CoolSocial algorithms.

Site Traffic trend during the last year. Only available for sites ranked <= 100000 in the world.

Referring domains for ogreloot.org by MajesticSeo. High values are a sign of site importance over the web and on web engines.

Facebook link

FACEBOOK PAGE LINK NOT FOUND

The type of Facebook page. The total number of people who tagged or talked about website Facebook page in the last 7-10 days. The URL of the found Facebook page. The description of the Facebook page describes website and its services to the social media users. The total number of people who like website Facebook page. Facebook Timeline is the new layout of Facebook pages. A Facebook page link can be found in the homepage or in the robots.txt file.

Twitter account link

TWITTER PAGE LINK NOT FOUND
Congress-led Rajasthan government on Saturday passed a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the state assembly.

This comes after Kerala and Punjab also passed a resolution against the newly amended citizenship law in their respective state assemblies.

Taking to Twitter, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said, "Rajasthan Assembly has passed a resolution today against the #CAA and we have urged the Central govt to repeal the law as it discriminates against people on religious grounds, which violates the provisions of our Constitution."

In a series of tweets, the Chief Minister further claimed that the amended citizenship law violates secular principles of the Constitution and also Article 14 of the Constitution.

"Our Constitution prohibits any kind of discrimination. This is the first time in the history of the nation that a law has been enacted which discriminates people on religious grounds. It violates secular principles of our constitution and also Article 14 of our Constitution," he said.

Gehlot further said, "Article 14 clearly states that the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. CAA clearly violates this article therefore it should be repealed."

"The term secular in the Constitution of India means that all the religions in India get equal respect, protection and support from the State. CAA aims to change this basic principle. For this very reason, CAA has been opposed across the country," he tweeted.

Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot had, on Thursday, informed that the state government will also bring out a resolution against the amended citizenship law.

"Everyone has the right to express their dissent. Our government will also bring a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act in the State Assembly," Pilot had said at a press conference here.

This comes after the Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to put a stay on the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 and granted four weeks' time to the Central government to file a reply on the petitions regarding the same.

The citizenship law is facing major protests and opposition across the country with some states including West Bengal refusing to implement in their respective states.

BJP, on the other hand, is also reaching out to the people in a bid to mobilise support for the newly amended citizenship law and "remove misconceptions created by the opposition".

The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and 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.)
Government officials were last night searching for some 2,000 people who flew from Wuhan to the UK over the past fortnight.

The Department of Health and the Border Force were scrambling to track down those who might not have shown any symptoms when they landed, but could still have been carrying the coronavirus.

There are usually three flights a week from Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, meaning up to 2,500 passengers and crew arrived over the two-week period, though some will have already left the country.

A rotation team of seven doctors were stationed at Heathrow on Saturday (passengers arriving pictured) in case any people flying in from China felt unwell. The Border Force is reported to be hunting for the 2,000 people who flew into the UK from Wuhan in the past fortnight

Passengers arriving at Heathrow today from China where the deadly coronavirus is sweeping the country and has killed 41

Flights from Wuhan are currently suspended, but a team of medics was yesterday dispatched to Heathrow to meet passengers arriving from other parts of the country.

Those awaiting loved ones were confronted with signs providing details of the dangers of coronavirus and symptoms to look out for.

Meanwhile, Public Health England installed a public health hub on the airside part of Heathrow, with teams of seven medical staff working in shifts to identify any potential carriers. Similar hubs have not been set up at other UK airports such as Gatwick and Manchester, even though they also receive flights from China.

A Public Health England spokesman said: Weve established a hub at Heathrow as this has the most direct from flights from China. As part of a precautionary approach, leaflets and information will be made available across UK airports, advising travellers from China on what do to if they feel unwell.

Travellers getting on planes across Asia are now being quizzed about the locations that they had recently visited, with officials looking out for any trips to Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province. Passengers also had their temperatures taken before they boarded flights. One passenger, who gave her name as Fen, said those flying from the city of Guangzhou, 600 miles from Wuhan, had been told to tell immigration officials if they had any potential symptoms.

An air steward was pictured wearing a face mask as he walked through the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport

Passengers pictured arriving at Heathrow airport, where medics are reportedly on standby to help anyone who feels unwell

Tow people pictured arriving at Heathrow airport wearing face masks

The checks were done when we were taking off, she said. We were told about what to expect at London, but as far as I know no one on the flight was ill. Guangzhou is a long way from Wuhan.

Another traveller, who arrived at Heathrow on an Air China flight from Beijing, said: They checked our temperature when we got on the plane, but when we arrived in London, nothing. Meulin Ha, who flew to Heathrow from Shanghai, saw no discernible difference from previous trips. Shanghai is about 500 miles from Wuhan and Beijing is 700 miles away.

When asked why no tests had been carried out on those arriving from Wuhan before flights were suspended, Professor Chris Whitty, Englands Chief Medical Officer, said experts had decided that screening would not provide any appreciable increase in benefit for the UK public.
The administration of Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure this week introduced Amy Cozze as director of elections/chief registrar.

Administration Director Charles Dertinger announced the appointment toward the end of the election commissions meeting Thursday afternoon. The career service position did not require approval of the countys election commission or county council, Deputy Director of Administration Becky Bartlett said.

Cozze, of Upper Nazareth Township, succeeds Acting Registrar Amy Hess, who will return to her position as deputy registrar. The county had given Hess through the holiday season to decide whether to take the chief registrar job. Hess had filled in as acting registrar following the departure earlier in 2019 of Dee Rumsey from the position.

"Previously, the deputy had always been promoted to registrar when the position opened, but in this case we went through career service hiring process," Bartlett said.

The annual salary for the chief registrar is $67,594.

Northampton County watchdog and blogger Bernie OHare reports Cozze has worked in McClures administration since 2018 and organized outreach efforts in 2019 to introduce the countys new ExpressVote XL machines to voters.

Problems with those machines marred their debut in last Novembers election.

Cozze ran in 2018 as a Democrat against incumbent Republican state Rep. Joe Emrick in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives 137th District covering communities in Northampton County.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
The latest impeachment related story  a non-story in my view  is about a tape recording in which President Trump (according to reports) instructed associates to fire Marie Yovanovitch, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. The recording apparently was made at a dinner party in April 2018 by Igor Fruman, one of Rudy Giulianis main Ukraine operatives (along with Lev Parnas).

Yovanovitch wasnt fired until May 2019. Thus, there is less to this story than meets the eye.

Nor did much meet the eye to begin with. According to reports, Trump demanded that Yovanovitch be fired after he heard she was bad mouthing the president in Ukraine. Get rid of her and take her out apparently was how he put it.

A president can fire an ambassador for any reason or no reason. If the ambassador is bad mouthing the president, thats an excellent reason.

To be sure, a wise president will want to confirm reports of the bad mouthing before he acts. In this case, Trump didnt act at the time he first heard such a report. Yovanovitch was removed more than a year later.

Since the tape recording, as reported, does not remotely show improper conduct by Trump, some critics are spinning it in a different direction. Trump has said of Parnas I dont know him. Yet, reportedly they were at the same dinner, and interacted there.

Ive interacted with public figures at fairly small dinners. If they dont remember me, and Im sure most of them dont, Im not offended. If they say they dont know me, Im not going to say they are lying.

I dont know if Trump is lying about whether he knows Parnas. Maybe it comes down to what the meaning of know him is in this context.

If Trump is lying, it wont be the first or last time. If a president could be impeached for lying, Trump should have been impeached long ago. Obama, under that standard, should have been impeached too  along with many other U.S. presidents.

The drive to impeach President Trump is about to fail. It doesnt seem to have turned public opinion against the president. Hence the continuing need for stories like the one arising from the April 2018 recording.
BANTAM  American Legion Post 44 of Bantam will honor a Henry E. Cattey, a Northfield resident who gave the ultimate sacrifice while serving with the United States Army in France during WW I. Cattey, a member of the American Expeditionary Forces, was killed while his regiment was liberating the French town of Bois Des Rappes. He was nominated for this honor by his nephews, Mark and Jonathan Cattey.

The ceremony will start with the retirement of last month's honorees' flag, Civil War veterans and cousins, Wilbur Hart of Colebrook and Willard Hart of Winchester. Wilbur was a member of the 34th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and Willard was a member of the 19th Volunteer Regiment of Litchfield County. The 19th eventually joined the Army of the Potomac and was redesignated as the 2nd Connecticut Volunteer Heavy Artillery. They were nominated by their descendant, Karl Crump.

The ceremony will start at 10 a.m. Feb. 1 in the Bantam Borough Hall at 890 Bantam Road/Route 202, Bantam.

American Legion Post 44 of Bantam has held a "Veteran of the Month" ceremony on the first Saturday of every month since November of 1989. Post 44 extends a welcome to all veterans to join Post 44 and help continue this mission.

Veterans and members of the public are invited to the ceremony which will be followed by light refreshments with members of Post 44, members of the honorees' families, veterans from other organizations and guests. For information, email post44.bantam@gmail.com

H.O.R.S.E. holding two-day tack sale

WASHINGTON, CT  H.O.R.S.E. of Connecticut will hold a two-day tack sale from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., to benefit the farms many rescues and to help with feed, veterinary and farrier costs.

Any saddle over $200 is $25 off, over $300 is $50 off. Buy two winter blankets, save $5. There are new and lightly used saddles, both English and Western, bridles, various weight blankets, saddle pads, chaps, boots and helmets . . . all sold at a portion of their original cost.

H.O.R.S.E. of Connecticut is a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization established in 1981, that moved to its permanent home on Wilbur Road, Washington, in 1995. Staffed by a dedicated team of volunteers, H.O.R.S.E. has saved more than 700 horses and maintains an ongoing commitment to educating the public regarding horse care. The tack sale is a way raise funds to help us continue this work.

H.O.R.S.E. of Connecticut receives no town, state or federal funding. Funds are raised through memberships, sponsorships, charitable contributions, and fundraising activities such as Tack Sales. All donations go directly to the horses. H.O.R.S.E. of Connecticut is located at 43 Wilbur Road, Washington. If you cant attend but would like to make a donation, please visit our website: www.horseofct.org or call 860-868-1960.

Free tax preparation services offered

THOMASTON  Volunteer tax preparation services will be available at the Thomaston Library, 248 Main St., Thomaston, CT, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, by appointment only, beginning Feb 4. Volunteers will be helping people whose incomes are $56,000 or less to prepare and electronically file their Federal and State tax returns. For an appointment call 860-283-4339.

Taxpayers must have a valid photo ID and Social Security Cards for themselves, spouses and dependents. They must also bring all 2019 tax documents for income and expenses and a copy of their 2018 return. Both spouses must be present to sign joint e-filed returns.

Stage company seeks memorabilia

WATERTOWN - The Watertown Stage seeks digital or physical copies of the Cameo Theatre and Country Cinema memorabilia, including interior/exterior photos, movie tickets, and artwork, for use in the Watertown Stage lobby, between 1919, up to 1972. Anyone who has digital photos for contribution to the ambiance of the theatre lobby, contact The Watertown Stage at 860-274-2193 or email contact@wtnstage.com

Region 7 to host community conversation

WINSTED  Regional School District No. 7s Board of Education will hold its their annual Community Conversation in the Roberta O'Hotnicky Little Theater at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 28. This is a chance for members of our communities to come together to receive an update on some interesting and important topics. It is also an opportunity for community members to share their thoughts about the educational priorities our Board of Education should consider moving forward.

This years Community Conversation will include the following topics:

High School Graduation Requirements: Northwestern administrators will provide a brief overview of the 25 credits now required for graduation (2023).

Portrait of the Graduate: Mr. Chichester will lead a brief discussion of the work involved in creating a vision for our Northwestern High School graduates.

Middle School Restructuring: Mr. Amara will explain next years new team structure, which will be adjusted due to dropping enrollment.

2020-21 School Year Student Schedules: Mr. Chichester and Mr. Amara will describe next years new schedule, which is necessary for students to acquire 25 high school credits.

Agricultural Education: Our Agricultural Education students will share some highlights from this years FFA National Convention in Indianapolis, IN.

Civil Rights Stories: Mr. Stapleton and his students will describe their important work and upcoming events.

The public is welcome.
Residents Cope, Flee as Coronavirus Locks Down China's Wuhan

By Joyce Huang January 24, 2020

China's efforts to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus with a transportation lockdown are sparking confusion among residents who are unsure of what steps to take.

Some 33 million people living in 10 cities are affected by the lockdown, with authorities in Hubei province's Wuhan, canceling flights and trains, and closing roads to prevent people from entering or leaving the metropolitan area, where hundreds have been infected with the pneumonia-like virus.

But with few independent journalists operating in Wuhan, and Beijing maintaining a tight control over information, many Chinese are relying on anecdotal reports from inside the quarantined city for information about how severe the situation has become.

A resident, who scrambled to flee before the lockdown, said that he was surprised to find the city's airport screening measures at the last minute were looser than expected.

"Upon my arrival [in another Chinese city], I had to go through stricter screening measures, which were not available before I flew out of Wuhan. This is so ridiculous that a stronger action is taken in a city, which isn't hit as hard as Wuhan," the resident told VOA on the condition of anonymity.

The resident, who lives a few kilometers away from the outbreak's suspected first infection site, the Huanan Seafood Market, said that he had to take his aging in-laws and grandmother out of Wuhan for fear that they may fall victim to the deadly virus.

The airport was jam-packed with people trying to flee Wuhan when he and his family managed to make it to their flight in early dawn, he said.

He said the city government had initially tried to cover up the outbreak after the first suspected cases were reported December 31. He said he had learned about several infected cases from his circle of friends through social media before they were made public this week.

According to local media reports, lawyer Shang Manqing' aunt and lawyer Gan Weidong's uncle in Wuhan respectively died of pneumonia-like symptoms on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

Both families accused health authorities of rushing to cremate their loved ones before the actual cause of their death was pronounced.

Rising Death Toll

Wuhan's lockdown comes as China braces for New Year celebrations, when hundreds of millions of Chinese travel to gather with family.

In Wuhan, there remained uncertainty about the impact of the quarantine, even among hoteliers bracing for a busy week.

A five-star hotel, that is a 30-minute drive from the seafood market, was still accepting tourists at around the noon time Thursday.

"If you have developed no symptoms, you can still enter Wuhan via taxi. Ma'am, it's very safe. I assure you," a hotel staff said.

Meanwhile, another hotel, close to the hardest-hit market area, advised outsiders not to travel into the city, adding that no one is staying with the hotel except long-term guests.

Weighing Economic Impact

The province's four other cities  Huangang, Ezhou, Xiantao and Chibi  have shut down their partial public transportation systems.

With many cities having canceled New Year celebrations, the nation's tourism sector will see an immediate impact, economists say. Quarantine measures could have broader impacts on the economy if they continue.

"This first quarter's numbers with respect to retail sales and restaurants and hospitality industries and the transportation industries will be affected as well," said Raymond Yeung, senior economist of Greater China at the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.

"But fortunately, if you look at the Chinese economy on the back of this phase 1 deal and the overall improvement of the trade sectors whereas the tech cycles seem to be very supportive ahead of the 5G rollout this year. That seems to boost the trade numbers in the first quarter. That can offset the impact of this new SARS epidemic," the Hong Kong-based economist added.

When the stock markets reopen in a week, investors will be keeping a close eye on any news, that may fluctuate shares prices, he said.

If the outbreak is quickly contained, the impact will be limited. However, if it protracts and quickly spreads, the regional economy will take a hit as it had during the 2003 SARS outbreak, Yeung said.

You Shibing, an economics professor at Wuhan University, said he agreed, noting the city's tourism sector will suffer a big loss at least during the week-long New Year vacation.

In recent years, Wuhan has been one of the most popular cities among domestic travelers with annual tourism income reaching $43.25 billion (300 billion yuan). In the previous National Day vacation last October, Wuhan attracted a record-high of 22.6 million travelers.

Professor You said that the city's manufacturing sectors may face a various degree of workforce challenges.

"The high-tech industries such as the manufacturing of electronic and opto-electronics products mostly hire local people. But the service sector including the agricultural reprocessing industry mostly hire migrant workers, who have left the city and may not be able to return," the professor said.

Any worker shortages could force local businesses to shut down future production, he added.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 19:15:05|Editor: Lu Hui

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KIEV, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- A three-day celebration of the Chinese New Year kicked off in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Friday.

During celebrations so far, locals and tourists alike have been treated to a traditional Chinese dragon dance and sky lantern show, among other festive displays.

Lviv, known as the "cultural capital" of Ukraine and a popular destination for tourists, has hosted Chinese New Year celebrations for nine years in a row now.

A fair with traditional Chinese cuisine and souvenirs in the heart of the city, alongside panda statues which are to be decorated by local artists, are among this year's major attractions.

According to Yury Kotyk, head of the festival's organizer the Ukraine-China Research Center, Lan Hua, artists will decorate 15 giant panda statues in different styles, since Lviv's Chinese sister city Chengdu is the ancestral home of China's giant panda population.

"When all the pandas are painted, we will place them in the touristy areas of Lviv, as well as in the buildings of organizations related to the Ukrainian-Chinese friendship," he added.

The primary goal of his organization is to unite the people of China and Ukraine by popularizing their respective cultures, Kotyk said.
An nuttins plenty fo me / I got no car, got no mule, I got no misery / De folks wid plenty o plenty / Got a lock an dey door / Fraid somebodys a-goin to rob em / While deys out a-makin more / What for?

Bet you cant read those lyrics without humming the tune that goes with them from Porgy and Bess, the American opera that has endured despite objections and charges of racism.

Does such ungrammatical patois mock characters as being unlettered, if not ignorant? Or is it an authentic, even affectionate, tribute to a language that derives from Gullah Creole and African-influenced dialect? Does the operas plot depict characters trying to make hardscrabble livings in Depression-era Charleston, or people in thrall to drugs, crime and poverty?

Further, are its main roles  crippled beggar Porgy, drug-addicted Bess, bullying Crown and cocaine-dealing Sportin Life  archetypes or stereotypes?

In the opinion of Westports Erik Novoa, 46, who has taught Opera and Us at Fairfield Universitys Quick Center, where the opera will be shown Feb. 1 as part of the Met in HD series, a piece like Porgy and Bess needs to be examined through the prism of history.

Porgy and Bess opened at the Alvin Theater in New York in October 1935. The critical reception was mixed, audiences were puzzled and it closed after only 124 performances. Since, however, it has had successful revivals, including a well-documented State Department tour to Russia.

Indeed, the demand for tickets to the current Met production has been so strong that three performances were added  a rare event.

With its brilliant George Gershwin score, the opera has long been considered the greatest, as well as the most familiar, American opera. But, from its beginning as Dubose Heywards novel, Porgy (made into a successful play by Heywards wife, Dorothy), it has not been without controversy. At the present time, with the rise in racism and hate crimes, can the country afford what Duke Ellington once labeled lampblack negroism?

More Information "Porgy and Bess" in HD is at the Quick Center, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield, Feb. 1 at 1 and 6 p.m. Call 203-254-4010 or visit quickcenter.com. See More Collapse

Obviously, times have changed. In 1935 there was no Civil Rights Act. Moreover, lynchings continued until the late 1960s. Thus, social conditions reflect an evolving attitude towards the opera.

When you dig deeper, past the surface layer, you have to find the message being conveyed, said Novoa in an interview at the Westport Library. We should address, not shy from, its problems, its issues, its significance.

He echoes Yale student Katherine Hu, who, in a December New York Times article titled Classical Opera Has a Racism Problem, urged confrontation over concealment.

She wrote, To survive, opera has to confront the depth of its racism and sexism point-blank. Stereotypes should be made visible she said, citing attempts to sanitize works like Turnadot and Madama Butterfly, both of which contain problematic portraits of Asians. We need to view the opera house, Hu wrote, as both a museum and a classroom, even if it involves discomfort.

Bringing opera into the 21st-century emphatically does not mean banning problematical works altogether.

Doing away with these works would destroy the art form, protests Hu, preventing us from reshaping otherwise beautiful compositions.

Novoa agrees. With a bachelors degree in history of ideas from Brandeis University and a masters in American studies from Fairfield University, Novoa filters his knowledge of opera and the arts through these other disciplines and his background.

My father, Salvador Novoa, was a principal tenor with NYC Opera in the late 60s through the very early 80s, he said. My mother was a ballet dancer who met my father during a production of Carmen, so Im a product of an opera. My life kind of makes a full circle. I emulated my father, singing duets with him; and my mother when I became a professional dancer and a teacher of partner dancing in Connecticut.

His opera classes, sponsored by the universitys Open Mind Institute, are part lecture, part discussion. I take my students not only through the story, but some of the critical thinking involved with opera in general. What and how are we looking at? Is it just to listen to good music?

Writes Hu, Opera companies have a responsibility to present classics in a way that helps audiences understand how problematic histories continue to reverberate today.

Take future Met in HD productions at the Quick Center, like Handels Agrippina and Donizettis Maria Stuarda, both of which examine power struggles led by women  surely a topic for current discussion. Or Puccinis Tosca, which deals with sexual exploitation and the gap between art and politics.

How closely should a production hew to its original intent? Should Porgy and Bess be performed by whites, despite the authors stated requirements that only blacks should be cast?

In 2018, the Hungarian State Opera cast whites and set the work not in a South Carolina ghetto, but a European refuge camp. The Gershwin estates objections were labeled racist by Szilveszter Okovacs, the opera companys general director.

As for either banning or updating (changing Ping, Pang and Pong in Turandot to Jim, Bob and Bill as a Canadian production did), would that solve the problem or, as Novoa said, just put a mask on it?

Porgy and Bess is an opera about black, Christian people by a white, Jewish composer, as opposed to, say, ragtime African-American composer Scott Joplins Treemonisha. The latter, rarely done, does not have the same imprimatur as the Gershwin piece.

Black music has been appropriated. An American narrative has somehow put black culture in the hands of white authors and composers who claim title to it, Novoa noted. And then we wonder why blacks are angry or resentful. These conversations need to be had.

Some take a more sanguine view, as African-American actress Audra McDonald, who has played Bess on Broadway, said in a New York Times article.

George Gershwin and DuBose Heyward were writing this piece from a place of love and from their understanding of African-American culture. But they were still outsiders in that culture, and therefore they cant possibly have perfectly drawn fine lines for their characters, because its an outside culture, especially at a time when there was no race mixing to speak of.

Still, Porgy and Bess, like all works of art, reflects who we were and are.

Opera is a complete artistic vision, a social presentation of us, a story about us in some form, Novoa said. Arts sole purpose is not to be a diversion. Audiences should be challenged, prompted to question. We can update our consciousness. Lets address the problem, lets talk about it. Lets normalize challenging conversations. Its how we build a better future for the next generation.

Norwalk resident David Rosenbergs column on the local theater scene appears monthly.
DES MOINES, Iowa  Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have spent the past year courting the Democratic Partys base with appeals to the working class and sweeping promises to curb climate change. But as they balance their responsibilities to participate in the Senates impeachment trial and rally voters on the campaign trail, theyre turning to private air travel, an option typically reserved for the elite and criticized as environmentally unfriendly.

Sanders is expected to charter a flight to Iowa this weekend while the Senate trial is in recess. Warren hasnt finalized her plans but is also considering private travel, and Amy Klobuchar hasnt ruled it out. Only Michael Bennet says hell be flying commercial.

The senators are facing an unprecedented challenge in the final days before the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses. At a time when they would typically barnstorm the state, theyre instead stuck in Washington as jurors in President Donald Trumps impeachment case. The little time they have for campaigning makes commercial travel tough.

But the private planes present unique issues for Warren and Sanders. As the leading progressive voices in a crowded Democratic primary, they often criticize rivals they deem insufficiently loyal to those values. The sudden use of private travel is an example of how ideological rigidity can sometimes collide with White House aspirations.

This is the problem of presenting your purity above your practicality, said Democratic strategist Chris Lippincott, who has not endorsed any of the 2020 primary candidates. When we think about certain candidates who talk a lot about the environment  youre going to hold them to a different standard.

Lippincott applauded the 2020 presidential hopefuls in the Senate for being willing to fly privately, if thats what their campaigns need.

I understand it, he said of trying to live progressive values at all times, but the reality is, theres a big risk of being perceived as being an ideologue and not a problem-solver.

Transportation emissions overall make up the largest share of U.S. climate-damaging emissions, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Globally, air travel pumps out about 3% of overall emissions of climate-destroying carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels. Surging growth of air travel in Asia and around the world means those emissions will triple by 2050, the United Nations says, and recent studies say even that figure underestimates the explosive growth of air travel and its emissions.

In March, Sanders campaign became the first to announce it would provide carbon offsets, donations to environmental groups meant to mitigate the environmental effects of extra emissions. Since then, it had spent about $9,000 on them through September. And during his primary challenge to Hillary Clinton in 2016, Sanders paid around $14,000 for such offsets.

His campaign is making payments to NativeEnergy, based in Burlington, Vermont, which is the same company that Clinton used for them during her presidential bid in 2016. Thats also the same firm Warren uses, with her campaign paying a little more than $10,000 to it in September.

Some climate advocates said they werent bothered by the private travel, especially because they view a more carbon-conscious administration as a far better result for the climate than four more years of Trump in the White House.

If youre a presidential candidate running to try to beat Donald Trump, who is a climate denier to his bones, and that requires you to move around the country  you should do that, said Leah Stokes, a professor and researcher into climate and energy politics at the University of California-Santa Barbara.

World leaders fly around in airplanes  this is the modern era, Stokes said. They cant just hop a speedy train to Iowa, she said.

Trump has made a similar point for the opposite reason, poking fun at Democratic environmental plans.

I really dont like their policy of taking away your car, of taking away your airplane rights, of Lets hop a train to California,' Trump said during a rally last February.

Sanders has pledged a $16.3 trillion environmental plan that would declare climate change a national emergency and calls for the U.S. to move to renewable energy across the economy until 2050. Warren wants to spend $3 trillion over 10 years to move the U.S. to 100% clean energy. And both are aggressive supporters of the Green New Deal, a sweeping plan to combat climate change.

Sanders recently suggested on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that hed consider a kind of jet-pooling arrangement in which he and other candidates could share private flights, saying, Maybe we can all chip in, get one plane and come back.

That opportunity might have presented itself last weekend since Sanders, Warren and others were campaigning in Iowa and then went to South Carolina for Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations and then on to Washington to be in the Senate. But they didnt share private flights.

Still, Sanders campaign says the senators comment to Colbert wasnt realistic. Even if several senators were looking to decamp from Washington to Iowa quickly after the impeachment trial concludes each day, they would be headed to different parts of the state.

Its not just those candidates tethered to Washington by the impeachment trial who often opt to fly private. Former Vice President Joe Biden spent at least $1.2 million on charter jets through September, while Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, had spent at least $750,000.

That was more than Sanders (at least $377,000) and Warren (at least $190,000) over the same period, though impeachment could change that. Spending data through December 2019 wont be ready until the end of the month. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg mostly flies private to campaign stops.

Buttigiegs, Bidens and Bloombergs campaigns all say they are also paying for carbon offsets.

Buttigieg faced criticism this summer for his penchant for flying private from presidential rival Beto ORourke, who produced an online ad filmed aboard a commercial jet proclaiming No private planes for this campaign. Buttigieg responded during a CNN climate change town hall by saying, This is a very big country, and Im running to be president of the whole country. ORourke, a former Texas congressman, dropped out of the race in November.

Sanders, meanwhile, drew fire after spending nearly $300,000 on private jets in September 2018, as he crisscrossed the country campaigning for other candidates during the midterm elections.

The issue also came up in August, when Sanders traveled to Paradise, California, which had been ravaged by wildfires, to unveil his plan to fight climate change. He was unapologetic.

Im not going to walk to California, Sanders replied when asked about flying private. We do the best we can as an example, but Im not going to sit here and tell you that were not going to use fossil fuels.

___

Knickmeyer reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Brian Slodysko in Washington and Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento, Calif., contributed to this report.

___

Catch up on the 2020 election campaign with AP experts on our weekly politics podcast, Ground Game.
Representative image

Nepal is facing the brunt of global warming with the melting of ice and shrinking glaciers in the Hindukush Himalaya region which provides water, ecosystem services for some 240 million people and a business as usual approach, Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali has warned.

Extreme weather incidents in Nepal are on the rise, he said, pointing out that the country witnessed the first-ever confirmed case of a tornado in March last year that led to the deaths of 31 people.

Research conducted by the Department of Hydrology of Nepal has established that the tornado incident was clearly linked to the global warming, he said.

Speaking to a group of visiting Indian journalists here on Friday, Gyawali said climate disruptions mostly harm the people and societies who have contributed least to the problem. Nepal is one of the countries at the receiving end, he said.

Nepal contributes only 0.027 per cent of the total global carbon emission and despite 45 per cent of its surface area covered by forests, the country is among the most vulnerable in terms of climate change impact, he said.

While announcing that the pressing issue of climate change would be the focus of the first edition of the Sagarmatha Sambaad' hosted by the Nepal government in April, the foreign minister said that scientists who analysed data for the last 45 years have concluded that Nepal's average maximum temperature was increasing at the rate of 0.056 per cent annually.

This increase, he said, was higher than the average global maximum temperature increase.

The minister also said that if the temperature increase continues in the current business as usual scenario, two-thirds of the glaciers in the Hindukush Himalaya region will melt by the end of the century.

Painting an alarming picture, Gyawali noted that women in Nepal's mountainous regions now have to travel more distances to fetch drinking water as wells and springs are drying up near to them due to the adverse effects of climate change.

He also pointed out that the ground water level in Nepal's southern Terai region, close to India, was also dropping to an alarming level.

Therefore, the Nepal government decided to dedicate the first edition of the Sagarmatha Sambaad to the urgent topic of climate change, which he said has now reached a crisis proportion.

The minister said the deliberations during the three-day dialogue session are expected to help build international consensus on the climate agenda and contribute to the existing global processes.

We strongly believe that the most challenging issues facing humanity can be addressed through discourses and reflections, he said, while explaining that Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) is a symbol of friendship, a landmark and a world heritage.

Mt. Everst itself is the tallest witness to all the events and developments unfolding around the world, including the adverse effects of climate change.

It is the barometer of the rapidly changing environment and ecosystems, the foreign minister said, adding that Nepal has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the first edition of Sagarmatha Sambaad to be held from April 2 to 4.
Single-issue voters  depending on the issue  often face condescending commentary about their limited world view.

Thats not as true for those who say climate change or immigration animates their politics. But for people who consider themselves pro-life, its common to hear the complaint that embracing the call to defend both mothers and pre-born children is an inadequate, shortsighted choice. I frequently hear that when speaking on college campuses across the country, and usually it's paired with the slur that if pro-life Americans really cared about children, we would do more for the living  though not those living in the womb.

An exchange I had with a student from Miami University of Oxford last May is case in point. The student argued that pro-lifers were actually going to cause suffering because if a baby was permitted to live, things might go wrong and the child could end up in foster care. The students conclusion was that we both need to end life in the womb and quit focusing on abortion until, apparently, all other problems in the world are solved.

My question to her was one Ive asked many people: Is it upsetting that the American Diabetes Association doesnt fight cancer, or that the American Cancer Association is not trying to cure every life-ending disease?

Roe should be the floor, not the ceiling: Sure, let's protect Roe v. Wade. But as abortion rights erode, we must do much more.

The answer to that question from her and others is always no. People understand that specializing in a subject, working to become more excellent and effective in addressing a problem, is one of the pursuits of adult life. At some point, passions become professions so that change can occur. And its the same for people who are engaged in the human rights issue of our day, abortion.

A dedicated voting bloc

With concern for the pain and problems abortion can cause, some voters crystallize abortion as the defining criteria for our vote. A recent poll of more than 40,000 Americans shows that pro-life voters are significantly more likely than those who support legal abortion to say they will only vote for a candidate who agrees with them on that issue (27% to just 18%).

Story continues

Participants in the 46th March for Life in January 2019 in Washington, D.C.

Just this week, a Marist Poll sponsored by the Knights of Columbus found "by a margin of 10 percentage points (45% to 35%), those who identify as pro-life are more likely to say abortion is a 'major factor' in their vote for president than those who identify as pro-choice."

Earlier this month, I debated the new editor of Christianity Today, Daniel Harrell, in a show hosted by Kerri Miller, on how people of faith could support President Donald Trump. The show was prompted by a controversial editorial written by the magazines outgoing editor, Mark Galli, who argued that, despite the fact that the president has followed through on all kinds of pro-life policies, he should be removed from office. It was a call for a purity test of sorts in political language and demeanor.

Shoddy, dangerous care: I was an abortionist. The abortion industry isn't willing to prioritize patient safety.

Should Christianity Today start applying a lifestyle, speech and demeanor test to all politicians, they will keep very busy. Many office holders might find that they fall short of the glory of God.

In the ballot box, voters are not choosing a pastor or pope, but a politician who has the ability to make a direct impact on public policy. And we make our choice from those listed on the ballot, after evaluating what those candidates pledge to do. Every voter must look at the issues of significance to them and make a choice about who will serve those interests.

A comprehensive culture of life

In addition to voting, there are many things that can be done to create a culture of life.

This week, at least tens of thousands of people came to Washington, D.C., for Friday's 47th annual March for Life and to express their grief at the loss of so many people.

Pro-lifers are often foster parents, lead adoption efforts and give to charity. Many pro-lifers fight for family leave policies or reforms on campus to help pregnant and parenting students. The motivation to help is played out one life at time.

I have two children with an incurable genetic condition, cystic fibrosis. On Friday, I march for the lives deemed too hard to be allowed to continue and to confront the idea that we need to eliminate the sufferer rather than address and overcome the suffering.

Participants in the 46th March for Life in January 2019 in Washington, D.C.

The irony is that organizations fighting things like cancer or diabetes are commended for the noble work they do, while those fighting for the potential of life in the womb face constant criticism, but pro-life Americans wont give up.

Abortion may be a single issue, but given the life and death stakes it represents, it deserves the time and attention of voters and citizens alike.

Kristan Hawkins is president of Students for Life of America, which has more than 1,220 groups on college, university and high school campuses in all 50 states. Follow her @KristanHawkins, or subscribe to her podcast, "Explicitly Pro-Life."

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: March for Life 2020: Single-issue voters like me aren't going anywhere
The Constitution authorizes presidential impeachment if the president can be shown to have committed "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." Democrats are ignoring this language and trying to recreate a parliamentary system.

Since the Nation's founding, it's been understood that the term "other high crimes and misdemeanors" refers to indictable crimes, just as treason and bribery do:

As you can read in the journals of past infamous impeachment trials, Founding Fathers, respected jurists, and legal scholars each argued near the very founding of our country: "[n]othing is impeachable that is not also indictable." (Source: Hinds' Precedents, Volume 3, Chapter 72, "The Impeachment and Trial of Samuel Chase," published by the U.S. Government Publishing Office[.)]

The Democrats, however, have no indictable offense against President Trump. Neither "abuse of power" nor "obstruction of Congress" forms the basis for a criminal complaint.

Three days of Democrat lectures establish that their problem with Trump is political, not criminal. Trump defied the foreign policy establishment's often left-leaning, always atrophied, and usually wrong approach to foreign policy. He also sneered at the House's demands for documents and witnesses that implicated executive privilege pointing out that they did not use a formal vote to initiate impeachment proceedings and would not take the matter to the Supreme Court. In other words, he's opposed their plans for a socialist, globalist America and made them look weak.

If the Democrats are not engaged in an actual impeachment, then what exactly are they doing? The answer to that comes from two legal thinkers, one writing about Nixon's impeachment and the other about Trump's.

Writing at Power Line, Steven Hayward discusses an essay that lawyer and legal scholar George Anastaplo wrote in February 1974, entitled "Impeachment and Statesmanship." The essay states in relevant part (emphasis added):

Certainly, "loss of confidence" should not provide the basis for impeachment. Ours is not  and probably should not be turned into  a parliamentary system. ... We should take care not to turn "loss of confidence" (or even "a pattern of misconduct") into an impeachable offense. A President should sometimes be quite unpopular, even for a long period of time, if the common good is to be served. The purpose of Presidential impeachment, it should be remembered, is not to serve as a recount of the last election, or as a censure of elected officials or as a way of gratifying public opinion.

Fast-forward 46 years, and Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at the South Texas College of Law in Houston, writes in Friday's New York Times (!) that "Trump Acts like a Politician. That's Not an Impeachable Offense." The gist of Prof. Blackman's essay is that presidents, even as they've put policies in place, have always had an eye to their political fortunes. Sometimes it's obvious ("what's good for the country is good for my re-election"), and sometimes it's subtle, as when Lincoln temporarily weakened the Union Army in 1864 to send Indiana troops home to vote, ensuring that Indiana would remain politically loyal to the union.

Just as Blackman explained what impeachment is, he also explained what it is not (emphasis added):

[R]egrettably, the House of Representatives has transformed presidential impeachment from a constitutional parachute  an emergency measure to save the Republic in free-fall  into a parliamentary vote of "no confidence."

And there's that idea again: we do not have a parliamentary system.

In a parliamentary system, people do not vote for the prime minister. Instead, they vote for party representatives. Whichever political party gets the most representatives in parliament gets to appoint that party's "prime" minister, who then gains executive control over the government. If the policies aren't working, parliament  including, sometimes, the prime minister's own party  will have a vote of "no confidence," automatically triggering new elections. The people will return to the polls to again choose representatives who will, in turn, once again choose a "prime" minister.

In America, though, the people choose their prime minister or, as we say, "the president." The Constitution does not allow Congress to dismiss the people's choice because it dislikes the president's policies. Instead, our system says that if the president does not commit an indictable crime, Congress has no say whether he stays in office. After a president's first four years in office, it's the people who get to vote on that president's policies and performance.

The Democrats have forgotten this important fact about our constitutional structure. Constitutionally minded voters should turn out in November 2020 to remind them.
It's the first time in its 178-year-old history that the iconic British motorcycle firm owned by the Bloor family has got into an alliance.

Three years after announcement, the two companies formally signed on the dotted lines on Friday for a long-term partnership, which aims to achieve global scale in a segment in which Royal Enfield has head-start.

IMAGE: Rajiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Auto, and Nick Bloor, CEO, Triumph Motorcycles, at an event in Pune to announce that the two companies will roll out jointly developed motorcycles from 2022, on January 24, 2020. Photograph: ANI Photo.

Triumph Motorcycles and Bajaj Auto will start rolling out the jointly developed motorcycles -- to be priced below Rs 2 lakh -- from Bajajs Chakan facility from 2022.

The roll-out is part of the non-equity alliance the companies have forged to primarily address the so-called middle weight segment of the market in India and globally. It's the first time in its 178-year-old history that the iconic British motorcycle firm owned by the Bloor family has got into an alliance.

Three years after announcement, the two companies formally signed on the dotted lines on Friday for a long-term partnership, which aims to achieve global scale in a segment in which Royal Enfield has head-start.

Currently, Eicher Motors motorcycle-making arm has a near monopoly in the segment. 3Emboldened by its success, two-wheeler makers in India and globally are looking to tap one of the fastest-growing segment.

The move, Triumph Chief Executive Officer Nick Bloor said, would create new entry point for the Triumph range around the world, and ensure it can compete in important large segments of the global motorcycle market, and attract new customers to the brand.

This is an important partnership for Triumph and I am delighted that it has formally commenced, Bloor said at a press meet at Bajaj Autos headquarters in Akurdi near Pune. It will take the brand into crucial new territories and is a crucial step in its ambitions to expand globally, particularly in the fast-growing markets of South East Asia, but also driving growth in more mature territories like Europe.

Rajiv Bajaj, managing director of Bajaj Auto, said there would be a huge appetite in India and other emerging markets for these new products. We look forward to working alongside such a famous motorcycle company and to leveraging each others' strengths and expertise to make the relationship a success for everyone, Bajaj said.

The first Made-in-India Triumph model from the new venture is likely to be a 400cc motorcycle, which will be rolled out of Bajajs Chakan facility.

The strategic partnership will make Bajaj one of Triumphs key distribution partners in crucial new markets for the brand around the globe. Going ahead, Bajaj will take over Triumphs India distribution activities.

In their other key overseas markets, where Triumph is not present, Bajaj will represent it and offer the new mid-capacity bikes as part of the full Triumph line-up. And in markets where Triumph is present, the motorcycles developed together from this partnership will join the current Triumph product portfolio and be distributed by the Triumph-led dealer network worldwide.

The partnership will help the two companies crack into the middleweight segment of the motorcycle market, which is led by Royal Enfield motorcycles. Royal Enfield makes 350cc and 500cc bikes and one 535cc bike. Bajaj makes one in that category -- the 375cc Dominar -- and Triumph one.

Through this deal, the duo is looking to hit the sweet spot of cost-competitiveness and pricing power. While Bajaj boasts a competitive cost structure through its economies of scale, Triumph, owing to its premium brand positioning, will have the pricing power.

Bajaj clarified that while the companies would collaborate in various ways, they would retain individual brand identity. Therefore, a Triumph model will never have a Bajaj branding and vice-versa. The duo will also stay clear of platform sharing.

We candidly acknowledge that when we go beyond the value-for- money space into the high-end space, where a brand's heritage and lineage becomes very important. We have no intention to spawn a motorcycle from the Triumph platform for Bajaj. Every brand has a place in the mind of the customer. It will do well if it stays in that space, Bajaj said.

This will be the second alliance for Bajaj with a global bike maker. It owns 48 per cent in Austrian bike maker KTM. The partnership has paid huge dividends to the partners with brisk volumes, market access, and cost benefits in its 12-year tenure.
President Donald Trump speaks at a March for Life rally on the National Mall in Washington on Jan. 24, 2020. (Patrick Semansky/AP Photo)

Trump: Defense Team Should Just Tell the Truth in Impeachment Trial

President Donald Trump said he thinks his defense team should stick to telling the truth as they make arguments for the first time in days in the Senate impeachment trial.

What my people have to do is just be honest, just tell the truth, Trump told Fox News on Friday. Theyve been testifying, the Democrats, theyve been telling so many lies, so many fabrications, so much exaggeration. And this is not impeachable.

The president insisted he hadnt committed a crime, noting that even Democrats agree. But the opposition party is attempting to convince senators that what Trump did was still impeachable.

I dont even know how to determine this, but they say its not a crime, everybody says that, Trump said.

[Democrats] say, But it doesnt have to be a crime. Well, maybe it doesnt have to be a crime, but can you imagine being impeached and you didnt commit a crime?

Hunter Biden, son of Vice President Joe Biden, waits for the start of his fathers debate at Centre College in Danville, Ky., on Oct. 11, 2012. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo)

Trump also commented on the House impeachment managers and Senate Democrats arguing that Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, wasnt linked at all to the impeachment proceedings.

When you look at the Bidens and the Biden family, when somebody with actually, not a job, who just was taken out of the NavyI mean, thrown out of the Navy, had nothing, all of a sudden the father becomes vice president  the son is making millions and millions of dollars, Trump said. Its corruption.

Trump was impeached by House Democrats on Dec. 18, 2019, for abuse of office and obstruction of Congress. The first charge stemmed from the presidents actions pertaining to Ukraine, primarily his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his placement of a hold on congressionally approved military aid to the country.

Trump asked Zelensky to look into corruption allegations against the Bidens, who both did work in UkraineJoe Biden, as vice president, leading efforts to reform the country, and Hunter Biden working for the Ukrainian company Burisma Holdings.

Trump noted that Joe Biden in 2018 talked about landing in Ukraine in 2016 and pressuring leaders to oust Viktor Shokin, a prosecutor who was probing Burisma.

Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin holds a press conference in Kiev on Nov. 2, 2015. Shokin has claimed he was pressured to drop a probe into Burisma, a Ukrainian company that employed Joe Bidens son, Hunter. (Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images)

I said, youre not getting the billion. Im going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: Im leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, youre not getting the money. Well, son of a [expletive]. He got fired, Biden said at a Council on Foreign Relations event.

And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.

The Bidens have denied wrongdoing.

Theres a lot of talk about Bidens son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great, Trump told Zelensky. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it It sounds horrible to me.

Zelensky said he was aware of what happened and would instruct his top prosecutor to look into it.

The issue of the investigation of the case is actually making sure to restore the honesty, he said.

House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) speaks during the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 24, 2020. (Senate Television via AP)

Democrats say Trump attempted to interfere in the 2020 election because Joe Biden is running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Theyve also sought to link his request for an investigation to the hold on aid, though Ukrainian and American officials have said Ukraine wasnt aware of the hold at the time of the phone call.

Trumps legal team, headed by White House counsel Pat Cipollone and personal lawyer Jay Sekulow, were set to make arguments to the Senate starting at 10 a.m. EST today.

The arguments were coming after the House impeachment managers, led by House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), made three days of arguments.

President Donald Trumps personal lawyer Jay Sekulow speaks to the press during a recess in the impeachment trial at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 24, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Sekulow told reporters on Friday night that concerns about foreign interference in an election fell flat when taking into account how Hillary Clinton, the Democrats 2016 nominee, paid for the dossier compiled by ex-British spy Christopher Steele.

So you can get on your horse and act haughty and proud about it, but you know what, lets look at what the evidence says, he said. Heres what the evidence says: There was foreign involvement. But lets not forget where it originated from.

Where did that foreign intelligence come from? Where did that foreign information come from? It came from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Sekulow added.

Were going to rebut and refute, and were going to put on an affirmative case tomorrow, he said, before saying Trumps team also planned to focus on the Bidens and Burisma.
A police officer was killed by two men who have a criminal record while he was on duty in Ninh Kieu District, located in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, on Friday afternoon.

Police in Can Tho City announced the demise of Nguyen Thanh Hai, a 36-year-old police captain working in An Hoi Ward, Ninh Kieu District on the evening of the same day.

Captain Hai was wearing his police uniform and patrolling at local Lunar New Year festivities to ensure public order and safety at around 3:40 pm on Friday, when Dang Ngoc Minh and Dang Ngoc Giau, both of whom are residing in Thoi Binh Ward, used a knife to chase him.

Hai was stabbed multiple times by the two men before he was rushed to Can Tho City General Hospital.

The police captain was pronounced dead at 4:45 pm on the same day.

Can Tho City police officers arrested the two shortly after the incident.

According to police, Minh, 33, and Giau, 29, are brothers and both have a criminal record.

Minh had been sentenced to nine years in prison for desecrating the national flag, a punishable crime according to the Criminal Code of Vietnam, while Giau had taken a three-year jail term for intentionally causing injury to people.

The case is under investigation by Can Tho City police.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 04:39:54|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BELGRADE, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The countdown to Chinese New Year was staged at the Kalemegdan fortress in Belgrade where citizens gathered to enjoy the second Chinese Festival of Lights together on Friday with Serbian government and embassy officials.

The light exhibition, due to last until Feb. 16, brings for the second time in Serbia, now both in cities of Belgrade and Novi Sad, a fairytale world of colorful flowers, flamingos, chariot horseman, Chinese dragons, lanterns and other light sculptures.

The Festival of Lights was opened just minutes before the Year of the Rat was welcomed in Beijing, by Serbia's Minister of Mining and Energy Aleksandar Antic, Minister of Culture and the Media Vladan Vukosavljevic, Mayor of Belgrade Zoran Radojicic and Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo.

Antic, who is also Serbia's national coordinator for the Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European wished prosperity, success and family happiness to Chinese people and leadership, announcing new impulses in the development of the ties between the two countries.

Vukosavljevic praised the friendship and exchange of experiences between Serbia and China, that came as a result the cooperation within the Belt and Road Initiative.

He wished prosperous years ahead to Chinese people - in their homeland, worldwide, as well as those who live, work or come to visit Serbia.

Ambassador Chen said that the celebration of the Spring Festival in Serbia helped the Chinese people here to feel like home, and reminded that economies of both countries had a prosperous year, while countries advanced bilateral ties further.

"The friendship of steel between our two countries is getting stronger with time," she said, wishing the prosperous Year of the Rat to everyone.

The arrival of the Chinese lunar year was marked by fireworks the moment when Beijing was 12: 00 a.m. midnight.
A mysterious company that has licensed its powerful facial recognition technology to hundreds of law enforcement agencies is facing attacks from Capitol Hill and from at least one tech giant.

San Franciscos Twitter sent a letter this week to Clearview AI demanding that it stop taking photos and any other data from the social media website for any reason and delete any data that it previously collected, a Twitter spokeswoman said. The cease-and-desist letter, sent on Tuesday, accused Clearview of violating Twitters policies.

The New York Times reported last week that Clearview had amassed a database of more than 3 billion photos from social media sites  including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Venmo  and elsewhere on the internet. The vast database powers an app that can match people to their online photos and link back to the sites the images came from.

The app is used by more than 600 law enforcement agencies, ranging from local police departments to the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. Law enforcement officials told the Times that the app had helped them identify suspects in many criminal cases.

Clearviews database of photos dwarfs those previously used by law enforcement agencies. Other technology companies capable of building such a tool, like Google, have decided not to because of concerns about the potential for abuse.

Tor Ekeland, a lawyer for Clearview, confirmed that it had received Twitters letter and said the company will respond appropriately. He declined to comment further.

The Times article set off angry protests from Democratic lawmakers and privacy watchdogs, who said it was paving the way for universal facial recognition technology that would effectively end peoples ability to remain anonymous while in public.

On Wednesday, Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., also sent a letter to Clearview, addressed to its co-founder and chief executive, Hoan Ton-That.

Widespread use of your technology could facilitate dangerous behavior and could effectively destroy individuals ability to go about their daily lives anonymously, Markey wrote.

The senators letter poses 14 questions to the company and asks that it respond by Feb. 12. Markey wants Clearview to provide a list of all law enforcement and intelligence agencies, as well as private entities, that use the app. He also asked about the collection of childrens information by the company and how it vets its product for accuracy and security.

In the absence of a rigorously enforced consumer privacy law, technology companies will continue to develop and market products that pose existential threats to our fundamental privacy rights, Markey said in a statement.

Ekeland said Clearview was reviewing Markeys letter and will respond accordingly.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said on Twitter that he was concerned that Americans personal photos were being included in a corporate database without their knowledge. He also said it was extremely troubling that Clearview had contacted police officers who were talking to the media, apparently after monitoring the activity of police officers who uploaded a photo of a Times reporter to the Clearview app.

Officials in Wydens office will meet soon with Ton-That in Washington, said Keith Chu, Wydens spokesman.

Ekeland said: Sen. Wydens office reached out to us in December, and we are in the process of scheduling a meeting. We look forward to it.

An aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, Josh Orton, also condemned Clearview, saying that its practices were disgusting and that Sanders, if elected president, would bar law enforcement from using facial recognition software.

In an interview this month, Ton-That defended Clearviews technology as a valuable resource for law enforcement.

Our belief is that this is the best use of the technology, he said.

He added that the company had no plans to release its app for use by the public, though some private companies use it.

Ton-That acknowledged that Clearview had amassed its database of photos by scraping them from publicly available websites like Facebook and Twitter. The social media companies said such activity would violate their terms of service, and Facebook said it was reviewing the situation with Clearview and will take appropriate action if we find they are violating our rules.

It is not clear what power Twitter and other social media sites have to force Clearview to remove images from its database. In the past, companies have sued websites that scrape information, accusing them of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, an anti-hacking law. But in September, a federal appeals court in California ruled against LinkedIn in such a case, establishing a precedent that the scraping of public data most likely does not violate the law.

The case eviscerated the legal argument that Facebook used to use on scammers and spammers, said Alex Stamos, director of the Stanford Internet Observatory and a former chief information security officer at Facebook.

When asked whether Facebook had sent a cease-and-desist letter to Clearview, a Facebook spokesman said the company had no updates to share at this time.

A Venmo spokesman, Justin Higgs, said on Wednesday, Scraping Venmo is a violation of our terms of service and we actively work to limit and block activity that violates these policies.

YouTube did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

One of Clearviews early investors was Peter Thiel, a venture capitalist who backed Facebook and sits on Facebooks board of directors. Jeremiah Hall, a spokesman for Thiel, previously told the Times that Thiels only contribution to Clearview was a $200,000 investment that was converted into equity, and that he is not involved in the company.

Kashmir Hill is a New York Times writer.
We did everything we could. Sometimes thats just the way it rolls.

-- Assistant Morton County States Attorney Gabrielle Goter, on a jury finding a man not guilty of attempted murder and other charges in a 2018 Mandan shooting case.

q q q

Nothing has ever come close.

-- Grant County Sheriff John Foss, on a drug bust that netted 5 pounds of methamphetamine -- the most ever seized in the rural county.

q q q

"We're into 2020 and we're struggling with these issues. Why has it taken us 10 years and beyond to get ahold of these issues? I find that a bit embarrassing."

-- Rep. Austen Schauer, R-West Fargo, talking about spaces throughout North Dakota's Capitol that don't comply with requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

q q q

"If you're in a wheelchair, you have to have somebody go with you to let you out, or you're going to camp in there. This is not acceptable."

-- Carel Two-Eagle, who uses crutches due to osteoarthritis, on restroom doors throughout the Capitol that are hard to open.

q q q

Its pretty much gone. It seems like a long time, but when you look at, in a downtown area where access is limited, we had 4 to 6 feet on top of the groundwater in some areas. This is a success.

-- State Environmental Quality Director Dave Glatt, on the cleanup of an underground diesel spill in Mandan. About 770,000 gallons of fuel was collected over 35 years.

q q q

By removing the stigma of these minor offenses, we can offer individuals a second chance at a successful, healthy and productive life and help address our states workforce shortage."

-- Gov. Doug Burgum, upon approving a first round of pardons under a new policy easing the process for people with convictions for low-level marijuana offenses.

q q q

"We think our kids are better than that. They should be in the walls of a building, a school."

-- Darin Scherr, business and operations manager for Bismark Public Schools, on the use of portable classrooms to deal with rising student enrollment.

q q q

"One of the things when it comes to election integrity is that once you come in and show your ID, that automatically goes back into our central voter file and so if you attempted to vote, let's say, in Minot or drive up to Killdeer or some other place, they would know that you voted already."

-- Secretary of State Al Jaeger, on new electronic pollbooks being distributed to North Dakota's 53 counties for use at polling locations.

q q q

There are goat coffee shops all over the world.

-- Karen Schmidt, co-owner of Balancing Goat Coffee Co., which recently opened in Mandan. The goat is tied in myth to the discovery of the drink.

q q q

Its just not warm enough for any melting worth worrying about.

-- National Weather Service meteorologist Tyler Kranz, on potential flooding impacts from the recent warm spell.

q q q

We thought we could be the bridge from Minot to Bismarck or Bismarck to Minot. There are a lot more electric vehicles in those cities than we have out in the rural area.

-- McLean Electric Cooperative General Manager Marty Dahl, on plans to install a fast charging station for electric vehicles near Coleharbor, just north of Lake Audubon at the gas station off U.S. Highway 83.

q q q

"The school district, the county, they get their same amount of revenue whether the farmers are paying taxes or not. It's just that, if the farmers are not, the rest of the taxpayers have to make up the difference. That's what it boils down to. I'm sympathetic to farmers. I understand it, but I still think that they should pay taxes on their property just like everybody else does."

-- Sen. Dwight Cook, R-Mandan, on changes in eligibility requirements for a farm residence property tax exemption that could make more agriculture producers eligible.

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There are fears in Courtown for the future of the popular Darkness Into Light walk for Pieta House which is due to take place again in May for the sixth year running.

Over 1,100 people registered to take part in the event last year, and yesterday (Monday) local organisers released an appeal for a new committee to come on board and take over the running of the event.

Geraldine Shiel Timmons explained that the current committee have found themselves faced with a lot of personal commitments this year, and the particular weekend in May does not suit a number of parents involved.

'A new committee is needed to take over and run the event. We are all under time constraints and we can't organise it this year, so we are looking for new active committee members, if possible strong individuals with previous experience, to come on board and take it over,' she said.

Over the last five years, the team have raised over 109,000 for the Pieta House charity with the event, raising more than 28,000 last year alone.

'It's fantastic event for the whole community and it's something we would like see be continued on. We now appeal to everyone who is interested in stepping forward to take over and run the event for this upcoming year,' said Geraldine.

Taking place all across Ireland and in various locations internationally, the annual Darkness Into Light walk provides an opportunity for people to connect with their local community and show their support for those who have been bereaved by suicide.

Anyone interested in coming on board or learning more about the running of the event are asked to send a message to the Facebook page 'Darkness Into Light Courtown' or call Geraldine on 086 3030302.
wuhan coronavirus

THE CENTRAL HOSPITAL OF WUHAN VIA WEIBO /via REUTERS

Friday and Saturday are meant to be the most festive days of China's year. Instead they are stalked by fear and anxiety.

As the coronavirus outbreak centered in Wuhan has spread, ordinary Chinese people are increasingly turning of local officials  a rare step in the authoritarian nation.

They cite hardship from a massive, 12-city lock down, as well as a complacent early response from officials.

Many are calling on the central government in Beijing to intervene.

Such an outbreak is a challenge for Chinese authorities, and has hamstrung the government in the past.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

#NewYear'sEveInICU was the top trend on Chinese social media Friday on what is usually the most festive day of the year.

According to the Guardian, the gallows-humor hashtag topped the Twitter-like Weibo platform as China entered the Lunar New Year, a grim reminder of a fast-spreading viral outbreak.

Novel coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV as it is known scientifically, has killed 41, sickened nearly 1,300, and spread to 12 countries.

The trend is also an example of frustrations bubbling over on China's social media, including the microblogging site Weibo and the app WeChat.

Those frustrations are being lobbed at local government, despite the censorship regime which makes criticizing anybody in power a risky business.

"Can you please send a responsible leader to Hubei?" reads a comment on the Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo, the Guardian reported, seemingly calling for China's central Communist Party to intervene from Beijing.

The comments are a sign that the government's quarantine of 35 million people across 12 cities could backfire, as both the healthy and the infected remain cut off from the outside.

"The first and golden rule of public health is you have to gain the trust of the population," said Lawrence O. Gostin, a professor of Global Health Law at Georgetown University who spoke to The Washington Post. He said the extreme measure is instead likely to "drive the epidemic underground."

Story continues

The virus is thought to have originated at a wet market in Wuhan, a city of roughly 11 million in the Hubei province. The first case was reported in December.

Wuhan, where a majority of the cases have been located, has been quarantined since Thursday. Travel in or out is prohibited to stop the spread, and authorities have made it mandatory to wear protective masks. Eleven more cities were added to the lock-down on Friday.

Wuhan's mayor admitted this week that initial "warnings were not sufficient"  and understated acknowledgement that the early phase of the outbreak was botched.

Officials initially said the virus could not be transmitted from human to human. Screenings were also not immediately put into place.

wuhan virus

Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

But with the spread, central government is trying to seize back momentum.

On Monday, President Xi Jinping stressed "the importance of informing the public to safeguard social stability." Major attractions including Disneyland in Shanghai and the Forbidden City were closed, and Lunar New Year celebrations were cancelled.

The virus is a dangerous challenge for China's leaders, historian Maura Cunningham told the Guardian: "The coronavirus is a problem for the Chinese Communist party because the CCP has historically not handled epidemics and other large-scale disasters well.

"The party has shown a knee-jerk tendency to clamp down on information and not be forthcoming with accurate statistics."

In 2002 and 2003, the SARS epidemic sickened 8,000 and killed 744  an outbreak that was also born in China. The government largely tried to cover up the illness until a whistleblower revealed the true scale of the disease.

There are signs that the government has learned from the SARS epidemic. This week the Worth Health Organization said the Chinese government was being cooperative and transparent with the organization.

However, as Wuhan faces shortages of hospital supplies and protective gear, plus overcrowding at medical facilities, discontent is beginning to foment online.

The New York Times cited multiple instances of frustration posted to Sina Weibo: "I hope the central government can take over before dawn," one commenter wrote. "It's almost like anarchy."

"Wuhan's party secretary and governor cannot soothe the people's anger," another wrote.

The perceived incompetence of local officials is contrasted unfavorably with support for medical professionals on the front line.

In response to an image shared by doctors, The Times reported that one commenter said, "The Wuhan government is not worthy of such good medical staff."

Read the original article on Business Insider
When Liu Jintao (Tony), a former graduate student of China University of Petroleum, was locked in a cell at the Beijing Tuanhe Labour Re-education Dispatch Centre in 2007, an inmate ran in from outside to pass a guards order: Dont damage his organs.

Recalling the horrors of the persecution he endured in communist China, Liu told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times that he was surprised by the order as a drug addict inmate was beating his back and waist at that time.

I felt strange why these guys did not care about my well-being but cared about my organs, the 39-year-old said in his testimony submitted to The Independent Tribunal Into Forced Organ Harvesting of Prisoners of Conscience in China, known as the China Tribunal.

Liu Jintao showing his criminal complaint against former communist party leader Jiang Zemin, who launched a brutal persecution campaign in July 1999 seeking to eradicate the spiritual practice in China. (The Epoch Times)

Before Liu was arrested, he had already learned about the state-run forced organ harvesting ongoing in China since the early 2000s. However, Liu said he couldnt believe it.

Every year during my detention, the authorities would force us to have blood taken and X-rays but never notified me of any result. I suspicious [sic] that these tests may have been somehow connected to organ harvesting, Liu told the China Tribunal.

Liu, who was arrested for practicing the Falun Gong spiritual discipline, said one day he overheard a drug addict telling other addicts how a Beijing womans husband (a Falun Gong practitioner) disappeared after being arrested.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a cultivation practice of mind, body, and spirit based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. In July 1999, seven years after the practice was introduced to China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a brutal persecution of Falun Gong and its tens of millions of adherents, perceiving the spiritual practice as a threat to the atheist ideology of the communist party. Since then, numerous Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested, detained, and tortured in China.

Liu, who started practicing Falun Gong in August 1997, was one of them, and the torture he endured for refusing to get transformed is hard to describe.

Falun Gong practitioners exercising in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, in 1998. (Minghui)

Liu recalled that it was way back in November 2006while he was studying for a Masters degree at the China University of Petroleum in Beijingwhen a group of police officers went to his classroom and arrested him.

A group of maybe five or six men from state security and 610 Office came to my classroom, and they found Falun Gong material on my computer and the Nine commentaries on the Communist Party by Epoch Times, Liu told the China Tribunal.

I asked them why are you arresting me? and where is your search warrant? Then one police officer took out a piece of paper and chucked it in front of me and said this is the paper that authorizes your arrest, Liu recalled. Without [any] court process, I was illegally detained for two years forced labor camp.

He was later transferred to Beijing Changping Brainwashing Class, where he said he was forced to watch videos slandering Falun Gong. However, this was just the beginning of the horrific persecution after being incarcerated for his faith.

Liu told the China Tribunal that after he was detained at Beijing Tuanhe labor camp in November 2007, he endured endless abuses: He was starved, beaten, shocked with electric batons, sleep-deprived, force-fed through a tube that was mixed with urine, and had his own feces shoved into his mouth. Liu added that the guards ordered criminal inmates to spit on him and even forced his mouth open and spit directly into his mouth, and once, the prisoners also stripped off his clothes and forced a toilet brush handle into his anus.

They pushed the handle so hard that I couldnt defecate, he said. They also handled my genitals and forced my back against an extremely hot heating unit. They also pinched my nipples hard with their nails.

They woke me at night by pouring cold water on me, or by piercing my skin with needles. They then dragged me to the ground, stripped me, and poured cold water over me.

An illustration of force-feeding, one of the torture methods used in Chinese labor camps and prisons. (Minghui)

In addition to the torture, authorities also drew blood from Liu and other detained Falun Gong practitioners. They also had an X-ray taken. However, as they were never informed of the test results, suspicions grew stronger that the tests could be linked to organ harvesting.

Eventually, it became evident that these suspicions were not unfounded. An independent investigative research, a 2016 report titled Bloody Harvest/ The Slaughter: An Update by David Kilgour, former Canadian Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific), Ethan Gutmann, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and David Matas, human rights lawyer, confirmed the organ harvesting allegations to be true.

The report stated that Falun Gong practitioners were frequently given blood tests and medical examinations while other prisoners (with the exception of Uyghurs, Tibetans, and certain House Christian groups who were also targeted) receive no such treatment.

The ultimate conclusion of this update and indeed our previous work, is that China has engaged in the mass killing of prisoners of conscience, primarily practitioners of the spiritual-based exercises Falun Gong, but also Uyghurs, Tibetans, and select House Christians, in order to obtain organs for transplants, Matas said.

Liu Jintao (C) at a rally in Sydney, April 16, 2015. (Shar Adams/The Epoch Times)

Unable to bear the gruesome torture and abuse any longer in November 2007, Liu signed a statement to renounce his faith, and eventually fled to Australia in 2013 with his wife and sought asylum.

Liu told the tribunal: I finally could not bear the tortures from the labor camp, and wrote the Three Statements in violation of my heart.  Under those tortures, I was completely beaten. I feel that I have betrayed my belief, sold my soul and conscience in order not to be persecuted, and live like a walking dead.

He said he wanted to go abroad to expose the persecution of the evil party, and have an excuse to persuade himself to live.

Liu Jintao at a rally held in Sydney in 2019. (Shen Ke/The Epoch Times)

After a narrow escape from forced organ harvesting, Liu is now speaking out for the numerous Falun Gong practitioners who are still detained in China and face a similar fate.

It is really a different world in Australia, he said at a rally held in front of the Australian Parliament in Canberra in 2013.

I can freely talk about the truth of the persecution. Many Chinese Falun Gong practitioners are still being tortured in China. I hope that the international society can help stop it and bring the murderers to justice.
The European Union and the United Nations expressed concerns, in a joint press conference on Friday 24 January about the recent upsurge in attacks against aid workers and civilians recorded in recent weeks in the north-eastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

Amidst a deteriorating security situation, they reiterated their commitment to work better together and strengthen efforts to provide life-saving assistance to those affected by more than ten years of crisis in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, in north-east Nigeria, and to increase support to people rebuilding their lives and communities.

A statement issued Friday by Abiodun Banire, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Nigeria, said on his first official trip outside Europe, Janez Lenarcic, European Commissioner for Crisis Management, joined by the Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Edward Kallon, met with the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, H.E. Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hon. Sadiya Umar Farouq, and H.E. Borno State Governor, Prof Babagana Zulum, as well as various partners from local CSOs, international NGOs and UN agencies implementing the humanitarian response in north-east Nigeria.

During this two-day visit, Commissioner Lenarcic and Mr Kallon, also met with people displaced and affected by the violence in the Borno State town of Gwoza and visited EU-funded relief projects.

Announcing that the European Union will allocate an additional 26.5 million in humanitarian aid, Commissioner Lenarcic declared: I saw first-hand today the suffering that the conflict has brought to peoples lives and how crucial humanitarian aid is to peoples survival.

What matters most is that humanitarian organisations can reach all the people in need, without restrictions, including in areas under the influence of non-state armed groups. It is vital that all States and parties to armed conflicts respect their obligation to allow and facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief. It is also key to implement in parallel a comprehensive strategy in the region, exploring political tracks while addressing the root causes of conflict.

Recent weeks have been marked by an upsurge in violent attacks from non-state armed groups and an increasing trend of illegal checkpoints on major supply and commercial routes directly targeting civilians, authorities and aid workers, especially in Borno State.

Twelve aid workers were deliberately and brutally murdered by non-state armed groups in 2019, twice the number in 2018. Two aid workers, Grace Taku and Alice Loksha, are still being held hostage by non-state armed groups and the humanitarian community call for their immediate and safe release.

This highly symbolic visit comes at a critical time and brings together the United Nations, international and Nigerian NGOs, local and national CSOs and the European Union, as one of the most important donors, highlighted Mr Kallon.

We are extremely worried that civilians and those who are providing them with assistance are the direct target of violent attacks, hindering our ability to save lives and help people rebuild livelihoods and communities.

All actors and stakeholders must strengthen their efforts to provide life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable people affected by the crisis, and do their utmost to guarantee the protection of civilians and aid workers, and safe, unconditional access to the people in need, added the Humanitarian Coordinator.

The humanitarian crisis in Nigeria remains one of the largest crises across the globe. In a complex and volatile security environment, the United Nations and NGO partners, in collaboration with local and national authorities in Nigeria, have delivered urgent support and basic services to over 5.6 million people in the crisis-affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, in Nigerias north-east.

In 2020, the humanitarian community estimates that 7.7 million people will need emergency assistance. Over 1.8 million people, across the three crisis-affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe are still living in camps or are hosted in other communities, that are themselves becoming extremely vulnerable. 1.2 million people in need remain cut off from humanitarian aid in hard-to-reach areas.
Science magazine published an article entitled "China's Missed Chance" in July 2003, arguing China lost an opportunity to show "growing scientific prowess" due to the lack of swift medical measures to bring SARS under control. Some 17 years later, does China have enough scientific strength to cope with the Wuhan pneumonia confidently and efficiently?

The WHO noted on January 12 that "China shared the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus." One day later, the organization published a report on diagnostic detection of the virus, delivered by a group of German researchers, who later reportedly "have developed the first diagnostic test" for the Wuhan virus.

Almost at the same time, China also developed a diagnostic testing device. Its speed can be argued as much faster compared to the SARS outbreak in 2003. However, China, where both SARS and the Wuhan virus first emerged, failed to be the first in relevant diagnostic research and development (R&D) in both cases.

China has seen a sharp rise in cases of the new coronavirus over the past two days. What caused the escalation? Some say this is because China has developed and implemented testing devices which can raise the effectiveness of relevant inspections. However, the first known patient with related symptoms surfaced on December 8, 2019. Yet until January 11, it had been called as "pneumonia with an unknown cause." There had been no research to unlock the mysterious virus in more than a month. Isn't that a major cause for the disease's quick spread?

China must have started relevant research and analysis as soon as the new virus was detected. Yet speed plays a crucial role in preventing and controlling the epidemic. Sample collection and research take time, yet in an epidemic outbreak like this, people would only hope authorities could respond faster.

Behind the fight against infections is the development and competition in technologies and R&D.

China's technological strength is growing, which is proven by the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, 5G technology, Chang'e-5 lunar lander and deep-sea submersible Jiaolong. Nevertheless, the country is still not able to produce certain high-purity chemicals or high-end analytical instruments. Only one Chinese scientist, Tu Youyou, was awarded the Nobel Prize, where scientists from certain Western countries, including Japan, can win the prize in consecutive years.

China's basic research, or fundamental scientific research, to improve scientific theories still lags behind. Reports have shown that China's investment in basic research only accounts for 5 percent of the country's total investment in R&D. Yet in developed countries, the proportion ranges from 15 to 20 percent.

Time is needed for basic research. But times waits for no one. Any attempt to seek quick success and instant benefits must be avoided. However, it is time for China to increase investment, focus on talent training, team building and policy adjustments in this field. In the end, solid scientific support is a crucial factor in maintaining the stable development of the country.
Activist and author Bettina Arndt, who has dedicated the latter part of her career to what she sees as the unfair treatment of men in today's society, has received an Australia Day honour for her work.

In a decision certain to outrage feminists and other community members, Ms Arndt was admitted as a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia for her "significant service to the community as a social commentator, and to gender equity through advocacy for men".

Bettina Arndt said she did not expect the award to silence or mollify her critics. Credit: Joshua Morris

Coming to prominence as a sex therapist and commentator, Ms Arndt, 70, now tours campuses to dispel the "myth" of a sexual assault crisis at Australian universities and their residential colleges.

The citation for her honour mentions her 2018 campus speaking tour, which was called the "Fake Rape Crisis" tour, as well as her contributions to controversial academic Jordan Peterson's website Thinkspot.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday termed VD Savarkar the first advocate of the two-nation theory as he proposed the idea three years ahead of Muslim League passing the Pakistan resolution.

Speaking at a panel discussion in Jaipur Literature Festival, Tharoor said, "The first advocate of the two-nation theory was actually VD Savarkar, as head of Hindu Mahasabha, who called upon India to recognise Hindus and Muslims as two separate nations, three years before Muslim League passed the Pakistan resolution in Lahore."

Several leaders across the political spectrum have time and again stoked controversy after voicing different views on Savarkar.

BJP and Shiv Sena have pushed for the Bharat Ratna award to be accorded to Savarkar. There are, however, some political parties that are allegedly opposed to the move.

On January, 18 Congress' alliance partner in Maharashtra - Shiv Sena's leader Sanjay Raut had said that those who believe that Veer Savarkar should not be conferred with Bharat Ratna should be put in the same jail he was lodged.

"We have always been demanding respect for Veer Savarkar. Those who oppose Bharat Ratna for Veer Savarkar be put for two days in Andaman's cellular jail where Savarkar was lodged. It is only then that they will realise his sacrifice and contribution to the nation," Raut told the media persons.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
HOLYOKE  While Democratic hopefuls continue their appeals to Iowas electorate, Holyoke residents have until Feb. 12 to register for the March 3 Massachusetts presidential primary.

City Clerk Brenna McGee said residents can register in person, by mail or online through the secretary of states website. McGee plans to keep her office open Feb. 12 until 8 p.m.

Voters can also request absentee ballots before the primary. McGee expects the ballots will arrive in the coming days. The clerks office will accept the absentee ballots until Election Day.

Early voting for the primary begins Feb. 24 and ends Feb. 28. Registered voters can cast early ballots at City Hall from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. McGee wants to hold an early-voting session at the senior center on Sargeant Street.

The early voting is a first for a presidential primary, according to McGee. The only other time we did it was for a presidential and state elections, she said. The window has been shortened to five days.

The March 3 primary also includes the special primary for the 2nd Hampden-Hampshire Senate seat vacated by Republican Donald Humason, who won the Westfield mayoral race in November.

State Rep. John Velis, D-Westfield, is on the primary ballot. Friday was the deadline for candidates to declare their intentions.

Voters return to the polls March 31 for the special election finale.

McGee said presidential primaries produce mixed turnout results. Voters appear more motivated when the races lack an incumbent. In 2016, 33% of Holyokes registered voters went to the polls while 7% cast ballots in 2012, when Barack Obama was the incumbent.

In 2008, 38% of registered voters turned out for the primary, which featured a wide-open field of Democratic and Republican candidates.

McGee held a voter registration drive in October at Holyoke High School. She plans to drop off registration forms at the school. Im going to reach out to the coordinator and remind them the deadline is happening.

McGee will test the voting machines in late February, a state requirement. The testing is open to the public and held inside the City Council Chambers.

She continues to seek funding for new electronic voting machines.
As US President Donald Trump prepares to host Israeli leaders in Washington to reveal details of his long-delayed Middle East peace plan, Palestinians warned on Friday that no deal could work without them on board. Trump invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief rival centrist former general Benny Gantz to the White House next week, saying he would unveil the plan before his Tuesday meeting with Netanyahu. But Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said there had been no communication with the Trump administration, and that no peace deal ...
After failing to force them to call off their 'dharna' at the historic 'Ghantaghar' (clock tower) Park in here against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act for the past nine days by seizing blankets, bed sheets and eatables, the police on Saturday cracked down on the women protesters arresting many of them.

According to the sources here, the cops forced their way into the dharna and arrested around half a dozen women protesters, including social activist Pooja Shukla.

The police allegedly threatened the other women protesters with stern action if they failed to call off their dharna forthwith. The protesters accused the cops of abusing them and making communal remarks. The police denied the charges.

Rapid Action Force (RAF) had been deployed at the dharna venue, sources said adding that more arrests might be made later in the evening if the protesters did not leave the venue.

The protesters, however, appeared determined to continue their dharna. ''We will not leave even if the police use force,'' said a woman protesters.

The 'Shaheen Bagh' style protest has been going on for the past nine days. The cops had tried every trick to force the protesters to call off their dharna but in vain.

The cops also prevented the protesters from erecting a tent at the Park, booked people, who tried to help the women with food and also took away blankets and eatables. The administration had also switched off the street lights and closed the public toilet near the venue.

The police officials, however, rejected the allegations and clarified that the blankets were seized after ''following the due process of law''.

Similar dharnas by the women have been on at many other places in the state.


(Photo: Utah)

It is always a good idea to go on vacation especially if one has been working so hard for months. Going on a vacation with one's family is a good way to bind the family love. Are you already planning a trip but considering whether to involve your family members or not? This should not be something to contemplate about because family is very important and should not be ignored.

There are lots of places to explore around the world but the problem is always finding a perfect place to have fun. To have fun in a new place, one has to put some factors into consideration. Some of these factors include season of the year, security and transportation system, various sightseeing locations present and landmarks present. All these will determine how your vacation will be and you should never joke with them when planning a trip. The US is a perfect place to visit if you are looking for various fun locations to explore.

Several cities will offer you a lot of beautiful things ranging from beautiful locations, good foods, hotels, and several sightseeing locations. The state of Utah is a good place to consider if you are planning your trip to the United States. There are several fun locations to be in Utah especially if you will be traveling with your family because there are fun things for every member of the family. Below are some fun things to do in Utah if you eventually visit the beautiful state;

Hiking - this is one of the activities to consider when you are in the state of Utah. There are several cities and charming small towns in Utah that have suitable places for hiking. The best way to go about this is by having a list of places to hike in the States to prevent confusion. Some of the best locations to hike in the state of Utah are Moab; a popular city in the eastern part of Utah, St. George; a city in the southwestern part of Utah among others.

Traveling to the United States requires planning because you will have to research the best places to visit while you are in the US right before travelling to the US. Since the United States is one of the biggest countries in the world, then one has to be specific when choosing the best location for one's vacation, especially if one has never been to the US. Apart from picking the right destination, one has to acquire all the necessary documents before travelling to the US. ESTA USA is one of the important documents that everyone traveling to the US must have, although it is limited to citizens of visa waiver program countries.

To know if you are eligible for an esta, you will have to research if your country is among these visa waiver program countries. If your country is not among, then you will have to settle for a US visa. Getting a US visa can be demanding especially if one is not familiar with the system. There are some important documents that everyone applying for a US visa must submit before the US visa can be granted.

Therefore, you have to research these documents before applying for a US visa. If you are using the ESTA, then you will have to confirm if your esta is still valid before traveling to the US. You can do this by asking the question is my ESTA still valid? You will also need an international passport that will serve as a mode of identification at the US port of entry. You should also research on the price and how to get a valid passport in your home country. Also, you should find out if you will need other important documents like the driver's license hospital test results, and other documents.

Exploring the various cities - another fun thing to do in the state of Utah is exploring the various cities. Exploring the various cities will open your eyes to the beauty of Utah and America as a whole. Cities like the salt lake, Ogden, St. George, Park city and Provo are some of the top cities of Utah. You should try to explore some of the sightseeing locations, restaurants, parks and other fun places in each city. You should also consider touring the various cities at night.

Exploring the various charming small towns - another way to enjoy your stay in the state of Utah is by exploring some of the charming small towns that are evenly distributed in the state of Utah. Towns like Alpine, Alta, Aurora, Bountiful, Castle valley, Dutch John and Elmo are some of the charming small towns to explore whenever you are in the state of Utah.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 00:34:40|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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by Keren Setton

JERUSALEM, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- T&E Zaeid Zaeid, a large and bustling boutique in the predominantly Arab city of Shfaram in northern Israel, was inaugurated just a few months ago, after years of development from a smaller shop down the street.

However, what characterizes the shopping complex is neither its rare-sight area of 2,000 square meters nor its ability to fully satisfy the fashion demands from the growing clientele, but its function as a meeting point of all walks of life regardless of their political, ethnic and religious background.

"The language of fashion crosses sectors. It crosses ethnic groups, and knows how to unite everyone in one place," said Zaeid Zaeid, owner of T&E Zaeid Zaeid who is great believer in the power of fashion as an eraser of divisions.

Zaeid, 39, is a Christian resident of Shfaram. In his shop, Christian, Muslim and Jewish employees and customers mingle and share opinions, with both Arabic and Hebrew heard from the aisles.

Countless words can be said on the delicate relations between Arabs and Jews in Israel. In times of tension, voices are often heard calling on Jews to boycott Arab businesses.

"People who say that are completely disconnected from reality. The reality in the country is completely harmonious. The sectors are completely combined," Zaeid told Xinhua.

But the Arab retailer had ever a stereotype to overcome before his boutique is able to cater to the diverse clients.

"People avoided coming here because they didn't perceive Arabs as being able to provide high fashion," said Zaeid. "I had to promote a story that said this is a unique place like Paris."

Liraz Maman, a Jewish customer who would get married in two months, was trying on a wedding dress in front of a mirror, in the company of her mother and other family members.

"It is just prejudice. I'm pleasantly surprised," said Maman. "There is great style here."

"Fashion does overcome boundaries as the common, happy goal of finding clothing for a special occasion brings people together," Zaeid explained.

Tzofnat, who came to T&E Zaeid Zaeid from the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, said it is a natural choice for her family to shop in this northern Arab city.

"Arab, Jewish or Christian, it doesn't matter. As soon as we have a common interest, we buy. And they have excellent products," Tzofnat said.

Shoshi Cohen brought her daughters to Shfaram all the way from Jerusalem to find dresses for an upcoming wedding.

The two-hour trip proved a success for Cohen, who said she would bring the male members of her family to the shop to buy suits.

"It completely changed my opinion ... There are stereotypes. But when I arrived here ... I really understood it's all nonsense," said Maya Cohen, a Jewish model who works at the shop.

"Everyone is here in one place because everyone has a happy occasion," said the owner Zaeid.
Martin Scorsese's 'The Irishman', Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert's 'American Factory', Noah Baumbach's 'Marriage Story' and Mati Diop's 'Atlantics' -- four more Netflix movies is to get Blu-ray and DVD releases this year under the Criterion Collection.

The Hollywood Reporter shares, that each one of the Criterion Collection home video releases will also include exclusive behind-the-scenes clips, special features and a filmmaker-supervised master.

Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci starrer 'The Irishman'debuted in theatres on Nov 1 last year and went on to Netflix release after a few days.

Whereas, 'Marriage Story' had its theatrical release on Nov 6 exactly a month ahead of Netflix starting to stream the divorce drama that stars Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver.

'American Factory' which revolves around a Chinese-owned factory in post-industrial Ohio was nominated for an Oscar in the best documentary category.

And 'Atlantics', Diop's feature directorial debut, earned the Grand Prix prize in Cannes.

However, 'Roma' by Alfonso Cuaron became the first of the streaming giant's films to join the Criterion library of classic and contemporary films and is going for a home video release on Feb 11.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Imagine a pristine T&T where there are no more homeless people or animals. One where hunger has been eliminated as the relic of a bygone era.

A world where pipe-borne water is delivered to every home every day, not wasted in an archaic system where significant leaks are either ignored or washed out to sea.
Some of the tractors from Wexford at the demonstration

An estimated 50 tractors from Wexford advanced on Dublin city centre last week as part of the two-day protest organised by the Individual Farmers of Ireland (IFI).

Organised to highlight the ongoing issues over beef prices, the protest brought traffic in the capital to a standstill as tractors trundled through the city centre and took up residence outside Merrion Square and St. Stephen's Green.

The following day, after an evening which saw some spend the night in their vehicles, the convoy travelled to Dublin Port Tunnel and onto the M50, causing major delays for commuters across Dublin.

One of the committee members of the IFI is a beef and dairy farmer from Wexford. Requesting that his name not be published in the paper, the farmer was one of those who camped overnight in the hope of meeting Leo Varadkar.

'We gave him the chance to come out and meet us but he didn't show,' said the farmer. 'He was inside the Dail and we camped outside overnight in our tractors, but he didn't come out.'

In addition to the estimated 50 tractors which travelled up from the county, the IFI representative said their numbers were swelled by those making their way up via public transport.

'There were 50 tractors which went up from Wexford, and approximately 150 people from the county altogether, some came up on buses and trains,' he said.

'We had a brilliant reaction from the public. I didn't see anyone who had a bad word for us. And it wasn't just the people passing by, there were others in cars, beeping their support, giving the thumbs up, even the guards were supporting us,' he said.

As one of the IFI's 11 committee members, the Wexford farmer opted to stay in his vehicle overnight, determined to underline the seriousness of the protest and its aims. Yet, in comparison to previous demonstrations, one night in a tractor wasn't all that discomforting.

'We've done it before for six weeks outside Slaney Meats, so what's one night? You either fight or you give up, it's not sustainable to keep going as we are.'

And with an election forthcoming the farmer said this protest should be seen as a warning shot for those in power.

'That's why we did it, the lads coming in have to realise we'll go bigger and better in a few months if we have to. No one wanted to be there, we were forced into it.

'I'm losing thousands every time I go in (to the factory) with cattle, we're 17c behind the EU average, 40c behind England, and 80% of our exported beef goes to the UK.

'All we want is enough to pay the bills, if it wasn't for Dairy Aid we'd be broken.'
SALEM, Ore. --- A Salem attorney is facing strangling, assault and other charges as well as an Oregon State bar investigation into two ethics complaints after being accused of strangling, assaulting and harassing a woman in Clackamas County.

Christopher Best of the Gatti Law Firm was arrested in November and indicted this month on three counts of strangulation, three counts of assault, two counts of menacing and three counts of harassment.

Best is accused of attacking and harassing a woman multiple times from January 2018 to April 2019.

Best did not respond to requests for comment. Gatti officials declined to comment.
Teen shot to death Friday evening in Kansas City, Kansas KANSAS CITY, Kan. - An 18-year old man was shot and killed Friday evening in Kansas City, Kansas. KCK police officers responded around 7:30 p.m. to a reported shooting in the 8000 block of Greeley Avenue. Officers were sent to a house to check the welfare of a person there, police said.

After a brief pause we restart the news on the blog this morning with a tragic note about a KCK murder overnight. Read more:
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You must understand the anger and frustration of those who feel strongly that taxpayer dollars and corporate funds should not be devoted to supporting this event, Mr. Kenney wrote in the letter, dated Jan. 21.

The Mummers divisions loosely organize many groups under broad banners  there is a Comic Division and a Fancy Brigade  and their leaders have always struggled to police the behavior of groups and participants. Mr. Kenney, himself a former Mummer, requested a meeting of the leaders with the citys managing director, and proposed several changes to how the Mummers organize.

We agree with his chain of thought that some things have to be improved, said Richard Porco, the president of the Comic Division. He said that the groups had improved a lot over the past four or five years, pointing to sensitivity training in 2016 and increased city oversight of the themes chosen by the groups.

Mr. Porco said that the two marchers with black-painted faces this year had put on makeup during the course of the parade, calling them two knuckleheads that took it upon themselves to put blackface on out of 10,000 marchers, approximately. He said that the Mummers do not condone blackface, but found it difficult to police amid the thousands of people wearing colorful costumes and makeup.

We try to stop it, he said. But its going to be a hard road to haul.

On Thursday, Councilwoman Cindy Bass introduced a bill that would penalize people who wear blackface at the parade, including with a $75 fine and a ban of up to five years from the parade. The bill is not final, she said in an interview on Friday, noting that it would have to take into account legal protections for free speech.
China has reportedly deployed 450 military medical staff to Wuhan which is stricken by a SARS-like virus that has already killed 41 people and infected thousands. According to a state media outlet, the medics arrived in the city on military aircraft on January 24, and will soon be dispatched to hospitals with large numbers of infected patients. The team consists of staff with some experienced in combating SARS or Ebola and it is also composed of experts in respiratory health, infectious diseases, hospital infection control and intensive care.

In a bid to treat patients, the Chinese city has also started to build a hospital with space for 1,000 beds. According to the municipal authorities, the hospital will be erected on a 25,000-square-metre lot is scheduled for completion by February 3. Meanwhile, Wuhan, the epidemic centre of a new virus, has designated seven hospitals to concentrate the infected patients.

READ: Coronavirus: India On Alert, 11 Under Observation Over Fear Of Infection

Coronavirus, which has already infected thousands of people and reportedly killed 41 people, still does not yet constitute a global emergency, the World Health Organisation reportedly said on January 24. While speaking to an international media outlet, WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the organisation is still not declaring a public health emergency of international concern as it is an emergency in China, but it has not yet become a global health emergency.

READ: Coronavirus Outbreak: How Dangerous Is It? Signs, Symptoms And Treatments Of The Disease

Precautionary measures

In a bid to take precautionary measures, China has also locked down ten cities, including Wuhan, Huanggang, Ezhou, Zhejiang, Qianjiang, suspending all public transport to contain the deadly virus. According to international media reports, the virus has further spread to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Tokyo, South Korea, Beijing, Shanghai, Vietnam, Taiwan, US, France, Nepal and Singapore. The mayor of the city of Wuhan has also urged citizens not to travel outside China during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday and the authorities have further issued a travel advisory warning in the backlash of coronavirus.

The Indian embassy in Beijing has also issued a travel advisory for people visiting India from China. The embassy said that travellers should avoid close contact with people who are unwell or showing symptoms of illness. It also asked all travellers from China, especially from Wuhan city, to monitor their health closely.

READ: Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Death Toll Rises To 41, 1300 Cases In China; 13 Cities Shutdown

READ: Australia Confirms First Coronavirus Case
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said the under-construction building that collapsed here in the Bhajanpura area talking a toll on four people was built 'illegally' and a probe will be done on how MCD allowed its construction.

"What has happened is very upsetting. The construction was going on illegally. We will give orders to investigate how MCD allowed it," Kejriwal told media persons here.

He urged the Election Commission to allow the Delhi government to provide compensation of Rs 10 lakh each to the kin of victims.

"We will request Election Commission to allow us to provide Rs 10 lakh each as compensation to kin of victims," he said.

As many as four people died after an under-construction building collapsed in Bhajanpura area here on Saturday, police said.Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) North-East Ved Prakash Surya said, "Four out of the 13 people who were taken to hospital from the site where an under-construction building collapsed in Bhajanpura, have died."Meanwhile, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari paid a visit to Bhajanpura area and met the villagers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Morocco is a source of stability for Spain and a strategic partner, said Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya.

The Spanish official, who was paying her first visit to Morocco and her first visit abroad outside the European Union, since her appointment md-January, commended the close cooperation with Morocco in the fight against terrorism and management of migratory flows, underscoring the need to further develop cooperation at the academic, scientific and technology levels.

The Spanish official also welcomed Moroccos readiness to engage in dialogue to resolve overlaps in territorial waters while acknowledging the North African Kingdoms sovereign right to delimit its territorial sea.

Spain is Moroccos first trading partner and over 20,000 Spanish SMEs export to Morocco, she said, adding that Morocco is Spains second largest trading partner outside the EU.

Echoing her, Moroccos Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita underscore the strategic partnership between the two countries.

He said Moroccans are the first non-EU community in Spain with over 30,000 Moroccan students enrolled in Spanish universities and educational institutions.

He said Spain and Morocco are working together to improve the EUs relations with its southern neighborhood.
Blue Water Navy veterans and eligible family members may qualify for VA disability benefits with presumed exposure to harmful chemicals like Agent Orange

Belleville, Illinois, Jan. 24, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Navy veterans who served on ships that entered the coastal waterways of Vietnam and who now have one or more medical conditions relating to herbicide exposure, including Agent Orange, may quality for disability benefits under a new law that took effect Jan. 1, 2020, according to Allsup Veterans Disability Appeal Services.

The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019 applies to any BWN veteran who was within 12 nautical miles of the Vietnam shoreline for any amount of time between 1/9/1962 to 5/7/1975. It also applies to veterans who served in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) for any amount of time between 9/1/1967 to 8/31/1971, where dangerous herbicides such as Agent Orange were used.

The new law makes it clear that Congress expands disability coverage to veterans with debilitating medical conditions that can be caused by exposure to herbicides like Agent Orange, said Brett Buchanan, VA-accredited claims agent with Allsup. Survivors and veterans whose herbicide exposure claims were denied now should consider filing a new claim under this law.

Veterans are not required to prove that they were exposed to the herbicide in order to receive VA disability benefits. Rather, if a veteran has one of the 14 VA-approved presumptive diseases (listed below) related to exposure, they may be eligible for VA disability benefits.

Previously, the VAs presumption of exposure extended to veterans who served on land or on the inland waterways of Vietnam. Under the new law, applicants are likely to experience lengthy wait times, as the VA must verify if each veteran served within the new location and date requirements.

This ruling provides a needed change for veterans who previously were left out of the VA compensation program after their service in Vietnam, Buchanan said. However, long wait times and complex appeals options also mean this is an important time to get help from a veteran appeals expert to ensure veterans get the disability benefits theyve earned.

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The 14 VA-approved presumptive diseases include the following cancers and other diseases.

Cancers

Chronic B-cell leukemia

Hodgkins disease

Multiple myeloma

Non-Hodgkins lymphoma

Prostate cancer

Respiratory cancers (including lung cancer)

Soft tissue sarcomas (other than osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposis sarcoma, or mesothelioma)

Other diseases

AL amyloidosis

Chloracne (or other types of acneiform diseases like it)

Diabetes mellitus type 2

Ischemic heart disease

Parkinsons disease

Peripheral neuropathy, early onset

Porphyria cutanea tarda

The VA also has extended benefits to children with spina bifida whose veteran parent was exposed to herbicides while serving in Thailand, as well as to certain survivors of the BWN and veterans of the Korean DMZ who have died from at least one of the 14 presumptive health conditions related to herbicide exposure.

If any BWN or Korean DMZ veteran has a condition they believe was caused by herbicide exposure but is not on the list of presumed conditions, they will need scientific and medical evidence showing that their health condition is connected to harmful-chemical exposure  like Agent Orange  or that the condition was caused by or made worse by military service.

For questions about benefits and filing VA disability appeals, visit Allsup Veterans Disability Appeals Service or call (888) 372-1190.

ABOUT ALLSUP

Allsup and its subsidiaries provide nationwide Social Security disability, veterans disability appeal, return to work, exchange plan and Medicare services for individuals, their employers and insurance carriers. Allsup professionals deliver specialized services supporting people with disabilities and seniors so they may lead lives that are as financially secure and as healthy as possible. Founded in 1984, the company is based in Belleville, Illinois, near St. Louis. Learn more at TrueHelp.com and @Allsup or download a free PDF of Applying for Social Security Disability Insurance: Getting It Right The First Time.

Attachment

Victoria Shockley

Pinkston Group

(919) 780-9727

victoria.shockley@pinkston.com



Rebecca Ray

Allsup

(618) 236-5065

r.ray@allsup.com


Summary The pace of expansion in the global construction industry in 2019 is expected to be the slowest in a decade, standing at 2. 6%, according to the analyst. The slowdown in construction output growth has been particularly severe in advanced economies, including the US, the UK and Australia.

New York, Jan. 24, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Construction Outlook to 2023 - Q4 2019 Update" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05751454/?utm_source=GNW

In China, where the authorities are stepping up investment in infrastructure to prevent a continued slowdown, growth will remain positive, contributing to a slight acceleration in growth in total output in the emerging markets. Central forecast is for global construction output growth to edge up to 3.1% in 2020 and then to stabilize at 3.4% over the remainder of the forecast period, which runs to 2023. This is in part driven by a projected improvement in the global economy in 2020, which in turn relies improvements in financial market sentiment and a stabilization in some of the large currently-troubled emerging markets.



However, geopolitical risks are intensifying, and could potentially undermine investor confidence and disrupt capital flows in the early part of the forecast period.Risks to the overall forecast stem primarily from a possible escalation in the trade war between the US and China, and also inflamed tensions between the US and Iran following the recent drone strikes on Saudi Arabias largest oil processing center, which have been blamed on Iran.



There is also a risk that China could overstep its efforts to support the economy, resulting in an unmanageable debt crisis, which would disrupt investment trends globally, most notably via the impact on demand in commodities markets. There are also other major emerging markets facing domestic political and economic stresses that could erupt into full-blown crises, creating a risk of contagion across these markets



This report provides a detailed analysis of the prospects for the global construction industry up to 2023.



Scope

- An overview of the outlook for the global construction industry to 2023

- Analysis of the outlook for the construction industry in major global regions: North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, South and South-East Asia, North-East Asia, Australasia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

- A comprehensive benchmarking of 92 leading construction markets according to construction market value and growth

- Analysis of the latest data on construction output trends in key markets



Reasons to buy

- Evaluate regional construction trends from insight on output values and forecast data to 2023. Identify the fastest growers to enable assessment and targeting of commercial opportunities in the markets best suited to strategic focus.

- Identify the drivers in the global construction market and consider growth in emerging and developed economies. Formulate plans on where and how to engage with the market while minimizing any negative impact on revenues.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05751454/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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Patna: Even before the heat over former JD (U) MP Pawan Varmas letter to chief minister Nitish Kumar questioning his decision to contest Delhi assembly polls with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could die down, another party rebel and election strategist has caused ripple in the NDA by targeting deputy chief minister and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi.

Hitting out at Sushil Modi after he accused some people of being ungrateful to Nitish Kumar, Prashant Kishor tweeted an old video on Saturday.

Kishor tweeted, There is no substitute to Sushil Modi in giving character certificate to people. Earlier, he used to speak on camera about Nitish Kumar, now that he has been made a deputy chief minister, he is giving a written certificate. His chronology is clear.

Kishors statement came on a video posted by Sushil Modi in 2014 in which he claimed that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has the DNA of betraying people.

Nitish is not Bihar and Bihar is not Nitish. Betraying someone is in the DNA of Nitish Kumar and it is not the DNA of Bihar. He has betrayed the mandate of people by breaking the 17-year-old alliance with the BJP. He betrayed George Fernandes, Lalu Yadav, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Sushil Modi had tweeted.

Kishors tweet sent the sparks flying in the NDA with leaders of both parties, the BJP and the JD (U), criticising the election strategist.

He is new to party and politics. In Bihar, what will be implemented will be decided by Nitish Kumar. You can juxtapose politics and business together. These tweets are just to keep oneself in limelight, said JD (U) MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh. Sushil Modi is our trusted friend, he added.

BJP state president Dr Sanjay Jaiswal said one should not take cognizance of Kishors utterances. He is creating a TRP for himself, he said. Party spokesperson Nikhil Anand called Kishor a political dalal.

A couple of days back, JD(U) national president Nitish Kumar had made it clear to another dissenting leader Pavan Varma that he was free to quit the party. Dont look at JD(U) in the context of statements by some people. JD(U) works with determination. We have a clear stand and dont have any confusion, the chief minister had said.

This is not the first time Kishor had targeted Sushil Modi. In November last year, Kishor in response to Sushil Modis tweet had said, It is nice to be lectured on morality by Sushil Modi, who became the Dy CM due to circumstances despite his partys defeat in 2015 (assembly elections), Prashant Kishor tweeted.

Modi had targeted Kishors seat-sharing formula by saying that though the seat-sharing pact would be decided by the leadership of the two parties, there were those who had joined politics without any ideology and were making statements about coalition dharma.

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[January 24, 2020] Endeavor Bank Announces Extension of the Offering Period to Complete its Capital Raise

Endeavor Bank (OTC Pink: EDVR) has extended the cutoff date to invest in its capital offering from January 24, 2020 to February 21, 2020. Momentum (News - Alert) has accelerated in recent weeks and so by extending the deadline, the Bank anticipates the additional time will maximize the amount of capital it hopes to raise in this capital round. Dan Yates, CEO, stated, "We are raising more capital to enable us to grow faster by hiring more producers, and to increase the Banks' legal lending limit in order to better serve our target market. We have a significant number of new investors participating in this round as well as continued support from current investors." Steve Sefton, President, added, "We believe that our strong asset, loan, and deposit growth in 2019 reflects the opportunity that exists in the local market for Endeavor's brand of business banking. We believe this is a compelling case for investors to consider joining us by investing in this round. Ordinarily, banks use an investment banker or professional fundraiser to find investors. Instead, the Endeavor Bank team chose to raise capital using a grass roots approach led by management targeting local business owners rather than institutional investors. If the offering was completed today, our local shareholder base would increase from the original 452 shareholders to over 600. We expect that number to grow by the time we finish the raise. That over 90% of our shareholders are locally based provides a built-in affinity group to support the Bank." Yates stated, "We invite potential investors to reach out to us, or see our investor website at www.edvrstockoffer.com for more information on the offering." About Endeavor Bank Endeavor Bank is primarily owned and operated by San Diegans for San Diego businessesand their owners. The bank's focus is local: local decision-making, local board, local founders, local owners, and relationships with local clients in the San Diego metropolitan market place and its surrounding areas.



Headquartered in downtown San Diego in the landmark Symphony Towers building, the bank also operates a loan production office in Carlsbad. Endeavor Bank provides traditional business banking services across a broad spectrum of industries and specialties. Unique to the bank is its consultative banking approach that partners business clients with Endeavor Bank's senior management. Together, we build strategies and provide resources that solve problems, plan for the future, and help clients' efforts to grow revenues and profits. Visit www.bankendeavor.com for more information. THIS PRESS RELEASE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. IT IS NOT AN OFFER TO SELL OR A SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO PURCHASE SECURITIES. ANY OFFER OF OUR COMMON STOCK WILL BE MADE ONLY ON (News - Alert) THE TERMS SET FORTH IN THE OFFERING CIRCULAR, WHICH IS AVAILABLE AT www.edvrstockoffer.com. THE SECURITIES OFFERED THROUGH THE OFFERING CIRCULAR ARE NEITHER INSURED NOR APPROVED BY THE FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION. THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS OVERSIGHT HAS NOT APPROVED THOSE SECURITIES.

Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes "forward-looking statements," as such term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs of the Bank's directors and executive officers (collectively, "Management"), as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the Bank's Management. All statements regarding the Bank's business strategy and plans and objectives of Management of the Bank for future operations, are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect" and "intend" and words or phrases of similar meaning, as they relate to the Bank or the Bank's Management, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although the Bank believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Bank's expectations ("cautionary statements") are the loss of key personnel, lower lending limits and capital than competitors, regulatory restrictions and oversight of the Bank during its "de novo" phase, the secure and effective implementation of technology, risks related to the local and national economy, the Bank's implementation of its business plans and management of growth, loan performance, interest rates, and regulatory matters, the effects of trade, monetary and fiscal policies, inflation, and changes in accounting policies and practices. Based upon changing conditions, if any one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if any underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected or intended. The Bank does not intend to update these forward-looking statements. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200124005495/en/

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By Express News Service

A 43-hour protest by more than 300 women near the Frazer town Mosque in the city similar to the Shaheen Bagh demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was called off on Saturday at 12.30 pm.

Women from various organisations and localities joined in at Pulkeshinagar on Thursday at 3 pm for the protest which was supposed be for 24 hours. However, the women continued it for 43 hours straight.



Dr Asifa Nisar, a Unani specialist by profession and organiser of the protest, said, "We decided to continue our protest for more than 24 hours. But we will have it called off in less than 48 hours as Republic day is coming up and we want to celebrate the Republic day and stand for our constitution. We called it of at 12.30 pm and it was a great success. We will continue to support other organisation in other protests."

The protest was under the banner #WomenForConstitution and the protest focussed on five demands which were, No CAA-No NRC-NO NPR, No privacy invasion, No police brutality, No racial profiling, No innternet shutdowns.

Talking about their stand against CAA she said, "The bill is not just against the Muslims, it is against all the Dalits, transgenders and all women. Now it is not a matter of one party or constitution but everyone in India. We stand for all. We have a right to citizenship and nobody can take it from us."

Another protester, Madhu Bhushan, a women rights activist said, "The CAA, NRC and NCR-all of it goes against the Constitution. In the case of CAA they might say it is for persecuted minorities. There are so many other minorities in other places like Sri lanka but they are not even considered. This law just make Muslims more vulnerable. While in the case of NCR it is an insane exercise. In order to get rid of illegal immigrants we have to undergo a huge exercise which will affect the poor and all the tribals. NCR is as well a horrendous exercise. Every sensible citizen should come out and protest."

Another protester said, "We want people to know that there are many citizens who disagree with the central government as they are misleading people."

Pulkeshinagar police official said, "They had permission for 24 hours but they are continued their protest for more than 24 hours and we provided them security."
The US housing market is now worth $33.6 trillion

By: Hitesh Khan/

 Homes in California account for 21.2% of the countrys total housing value, more than the next three highest-valued states combined

 Three U.S. metros are worth more than $1 trillion  New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco

 Texas added more housing value than any other state in 2019, thanks in large part to a slowdown across much of California

The total value of every home in the US Housing Market is $33.6 trillion , nearly as much as the GDP of the two largest global economies combined  the U.S. ( $20.5 trillion ) and China ( $13.6 trillion )  according to a new Zillow analysis .

Zillow is owned and operated by Zillow Group, Inc. and headquartered in Seattle. Zillow is the leading real estate and rental marketplace and a trusted source for data, inspiration and knowledge among both consumers and real estate professionals. Zillows proprietary data, technology and industry partnerships put Zillow at nearly every major point of the home shopping experience, helping consumers search for and get into their new home faster. Zillow offers a fully integrated home shopping experience that includes access to for sale and rental listings. In addition to Zillow.com, Zillow operates the most popular suite of mobile real estate apps, with more than two dozen apps across all major platforms. Launched in 2006.

US housing market

The total value of every home in the US Housing Market is $33.6 trillion, nearly as much as the GDP of the China and America combined.

Since 2010, when the US housing market was battling to regain its footing in the wake of one of the largest housing downturns on record, the national housing market added $11.3 trillion in value  a more than 50% increase.

About 14% of that gain was from new stock entering the market, with the remainder from increased values of the existing stock, underlining just how much home values rose during last decades recovery and then explosion.

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California lives up to its Golden State nickname, making up a whopping 21.2% of the nations housing value with 12% of the populationi. To put that into context, the next most populous state, Texas, makes up 8.8% of the U.S. population, but only 5.9% of the countrys housing value. To exceed the $7.1 trillion worth of homes in California, youd need to combine the next four states on the list  New York ($2.7 trillion), Florida ($2 trillion), Texas ($2 trillion) and Washington ($1.1 trillion).

With $66 billion each, North Dakota and Wyoming have the smallest shares of the US housing market.

At a more local level, three metros are beyond the trillion-dollar barrier  New York ($3.2 trillion) Los Angeles ($2.5 trillion) and San Francisco ($1.6 trillion). Los Angeles was the only market to add more than a trillion dollars of housing during the 2010s, adding $1.1 trillion. Three of the five metros that gained the most value were in California, as San Francisco ($827 billion), New York ($657 billion), San Jose ($360 billion) and Seattle ($356 billion) followed Los Angeles at the top.

While California cast the biggest shadow in the US housing market growth for most of the decade, more recent trends paint a different picture. The typical home value in California was growing at more than 20% annually for a period between the end of 2013 and early 2014, an incredibly rapid pace, but one that is also unsustainable. By the end of the decade, annual appreciation in California had slowed to less than 2%, allowing Texas to surpass it as the top contributor to the growth in value of the U.S. housing stock  total housing in Texas grew $89 billion over 2019, compared to $77 billion in California.

At the metro level, Washington, D.C. ($38 billion), Phoenix ($30 billion) and Seattle ($30 billion) have added the most value since the end of 2018. Two large metros lost value over this period  San Jose, down $49 billion, and New York, down $46 billion.

In 2010, Americans were grappling with falling home values, unsold subdivisions, and sky-high foreclosure rates, while policymakers were working to stimulate demand, said Zillow Economist Jeff Tucker. A decade later, were facing a very different set of challenges, as a persistent shortage of new homes and starter homes has kept home prices rising out of reach for many would-be first-time home buyers. More and more of the nations wealth is now tied up in our homes, as workers in some of the worlds most economically productive cities, such as San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle, have raced to get a foothold in homeownership there, driving up prices with their fierce competition. Most of this growth has come from rising prices for the same homes, not from actually building more homes, a troubling trend when it comes to affordability.

In the vast majority of the country, home value appreciation accounted for most of the growth in the total value of the housing stock last decade, including 86% of the growth nationally. However, two fast-growing markets, Charlotte and Austin, saw a greater share of growth come from new homes. Thats not to say that home value growth was slow in these markets  home values have outpaced the national average in both Charlotte and Austin since 2010  but the rate of new construction has been so great as to exceed that growth.

Metro Area Total Market

Value (Billions) Share of National Value Growth in 2010s (Billions) Growth in 2019 (Billions) United States $33,608 100.0% $11,336 $1,105 New York, NY $3,179 9.5% $657 -$46 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA $2,539 7.6% $1,065 $29 Chicago, IL $817 2.4% $110 $14 Dallas-Fort Worth, TX $589 1.8% $294 $23 Philadelphia, PA $578 1.7% $84 $22 Houston, TX $481 1.4% $221 $20 Washington, DC $903 2.7% $274 $38 Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL $658 2.0% $269 $8 Atlanta, GA $508 1.5% $198 $20 Boston, MA $845 2.5% $294 $10 San Francisco, CA $1,645 4.9% $827 $3 Detroit, MI $314 0.9% $142 $9 Riverside, CA $506 1.5% $246 $17 Phoenix, AZ $488 1.5% $237 $30 Seattle, WA $745 2.2% $356 $30 Minneapolis-St Paul, MN $363 1.1% $118 $11 San Diego, CA $587 1.7% $233 $8 St. Louis, MO $212 0.6% $40 $6 Tampa, FL $266 0.8% $111 $9 Baltimore, MD $289 0.9% $22 $1 Denver, CO $428 1.3% $212 $9 Pittsburgh, PA $182 0.5% $60 $11 Portland, OR $332 1.0% $134 $2 Charlotte, NC $228 0.7% $119 $15 Sacramento, CA $338 1.0% $156 $16 San Antonio, TX $161 0.5% $70 $9 Orlando, FL $221 0.7% $110 $14 Cincinnati, OH $157 0.5% $42 $8 Cleveland, OH $138 0.4% $29 $6 Kansas City, MO $168 0.5% $54 $6 Las Vegas, NV $209 0.6% $111 $2 Columbus, OH $159 0.5% $61 $7 Indianapolis, IN $141 0.4% $55 $6 San Jose, CA $688 2.0% $360 -$49 Austin, TX $252 0.7% $141 $22

About Zillow

The post US housing market recovery added $11.3T to value in the 2010s appeared first on iCompareLoan Resources.
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP)  A group set up by European clothing brands that has monitored factory safety in Bangladesh for years plans to leave, with its duties being assumed by a local group including unions and industry figures in the world's second-largest garment manufacturer.

The European group and a separate North American group were formed after the collapse of Rana Plaza, a building housing five garment factories that made clothing for international brands. The collapse in 2013 killed at least 1,134 people and was one of several fatal accidents in the country's garment industry that were blamed on safety lapses.

The uproar that followed the collapse prompted about 190 European brands including Marks and Spencer, H&M, Tesco and Carrefour to form the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.

Accord's departure, which officials said Thursday was planned for May, follows a protracted tussle with garment manufacturers who wanted Bangladesh's government to form a local watch group to monitor the sector.

Accord will be leaving Bangladesh and we are forming a national collaborative council in which brands, unions and industry will be together to monitor factories, Rubana Huq, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told The Associated Press. We are taking over from Accord all of its resources and will follow their protocols but it will be based on the national context.

The new council will operate within Bangladesh's regulatory framework and cooperate with the government, a joint statement from the Accord and the BGMEA said Wednesday. It will retain all health and safety inspections and remediation, safety training and complaints handling functions currently carried out by the Accord, it said.

The Accord existed alongside another monitoring group for North American brands called Alliance. It left the country on Dec. 31, 2018, as scheduled after inspecting about 1,000 factories.

The Accords tenure originally expired in 2018, but the group wanted to stay under some conditions against the will of the government and the garment manufacturers. It went to court and obtained an extension until Feb. 13, 2020.

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The manufacturers accused Accord of recommending unnecessary and repeated measures that put pressure on the industry. Accord has inspected 1,650 factories so far and recommended remediation work to make them compliant.

Joris Oldenziel, spokesman for the Accord, said Thursday in an email to the AP that the deal provides the necessary guarantees that the work, key principles and all policies of the Accord will be carried forward and that a sustainable solution has been found to maintain workplace safety in Bangladeshi garment factories.

He said the new council and the Accord Foundation in Amsterdam would cooperate closely as required for the implementation and management of the legally binding agreement between brands and unions even after leaving Bangladesh.

Prior to the start of the new council, the BGMEA and the Accord will agree to a plan regarding cooperation between the council and Accord Foundation staff from Amsterdam, in order to ensure that all functions to be assumed by the council and all relevant knowledge and information will be smoothly and fully transferred, he said.

Bangladesh is the worlds second-largest garment manufacturer after China, annually exporting garments worth about $35 billion, mainly to the United States and Europe. The South Asian country has about 4,500 garment factories employing about 4 million workers, mostly women from rural Bangladesh.
The Sudanese government signed a preliminary deal with one rebel group on Friday, a move that is seen as the possibility for reconciliation in Sudan.

The deal, signed by Sudan's ruling council and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) conveys special status to two regions: South Kordofan and Blue Nile. Both were already partly under control of rebel groups, and the sites of years of conflict.

"After this signing we are going to finalise the full agreement and the SPLM-North will be part of the new system in Khartoum," said Yasir Arman, deputy head of SPLM-N, at the ceremony.

This new status means that the two special regions will be able to draft their own laws, with an aim to resolving ongoing land disputes in the area, said Arman.

The process towards this first step began in October when the ruling council and the rebel groups re-started talks in an effort to end the conflicts.

"The government of Sudan is more willing than before to reach a peaceful settlement in Sudan", said General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, a major figure in the transition council and the head of the government delegation at the peace talks.

Another key point to the agreement is to unify the militias and government troops into one military, said Arman.

One voice absent from the ceremony was Abdelaziz al-Hilu of a rival SPLM-N rebel group who makes up the majority of fighters on the ground.
Why is Vladimir Putin racing to amend Russia's constitution? originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

Ever since Vladimir Putin announced a dramatic overhaul of Russia's constitution and the removal of his longtime prime minister and cabinet, Russians have been asking themselves a single question: What is Putin up to?

Since the Jan. 15 announcement, Putin hasn't slowed down.

He put forward a bill on Monday containing constitutional amendments and by Thursday the Russian Parliament had approved its first reading, 432-0.

A constitutional council specially formed to advise on the potential changes had not even convened before the amendments were submitted, fully written.

At the same time, the nation's new prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, who replaced Putin's longtime lieutenant Dmitry Medvedev, has spent the week forming his own government, the biggest political shakeup in a decade.

Some of Russia's most powerful officials have been shuffled into new positions, including Putin's powerful prosecutor general, Yuri Chaika, who's been in office since 2006.

Russian government resigns as Putin proposes constitutional changes

The moves have shocked both experts and ordinary Russians.

From the outset, many observers immediately interpreted the situation as Putin laying the ground to remain in power past 2024, when his presidential term expires.

PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, January 23, 2020. Sputnik/Alexei Nikolskyi/Kremlin via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. (Alexei Nikolskyi/Sputnik via Reuters)

But how these recent moves accomplish that isn't exactly clear. Russia's independent media outlets have been filled with articles from experts trying to puzzle out Putin's plan: Why now? Why so quickly? How do these changes add up to staying in power?

The Kremlin has said once Parliament approves the constitutional amendments they'll be put to a "public vote," but no one really knows what that means -- or when it will take place. It could be in April.

Putin's political opponents, however, especially in the beleaguered democratic opposition, have objected strenuously.

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On Wednesday, around two dozen prominent activists published a petition accusing him of carrying out "a special operation for illegally rewriting the constitution," calling Putin's recent moves a "coup" intended to remain in power for life. The petition so far has gathered more than 14,000 signatures.

Russia's constitution limits a president to two consecutive terms. Now 67, Putin is in his fourth term, taking advantage of a legal loophole in 2008 when he moved Medvedev into the presidency for a term and remaining as prime minister, not giving up any real power.

Putin could repeat that trick in 2024, but he's suggested he doesn't intend to, and among the proposed constitutional changes is one that limits future presidents to two terms, consecutive or not.

Some experts have said they believe the proposed changes show Putin intends to leave the presidency but hold on to power outside of it.

PHOTO: Federal Tax Service Chief Mikhail Mushustin speaking at President Vladimir Putin's meeting with the chief executives of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow, March 24, 2016. (Michael Klimentyev/Sputnik via AP, FILE)

The leading theory as to how that would work includes revamping an obscure governmental body, the State Council, which Putin has said should now have a new role. The council, currently a forum for gathering regional governors, could be transformed into a preeminent body where Putin could assume a new "paramount leader" position, similar to China's Deng Xiaoping.

The other changes, including transferring more power to the parliament and to the courts, appears intended to weaken the office of the presidency, experts said.

In essence, Putin has carried out a preemptive coup against himself to maintain power, as Sergey Guriev, an economist who teaches at Paris' L'Institut d'etudes politiques, put it in an article for the Russian newspaper Vedomosti. The practice, known to political scientists as a "self-coup" or "autogolpe," was frequently used by dictatorial strongmen in South America.

New Russian PM a career bureaucrat with no political desire

But as more details about the constitutional changes have emerged, other prominent experts have questioned whether they in fact suggest something more surprising: that Putin wants out.

The proposed changes, they noted, do not in fact leave the presidency weaker than other bodies. Contrary to what Putin had suggested, the actual text of the amendments shows the president will retain the power to appoint the prime minister over parliament. Crucially, they also make clear the State Council would be subordinate to the president -- whomever Putin chooses as his successor.

"Putin is not looking to dominate the system (although he will remain a key player), but rather to find a way to exert influence without risking any dangerous consequences for the state," Tatyana Stanovaya, a well-known analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center who also runs the political consultancy R.Politik, wrote in an article on Monday.

The changes submitted to parliament look more like an "insurance policy" for managing a successor, she wrote. They "are designed not so much to strengthen his own position after he steps down as president, but to create mechanisms for resolving differences with the future president, should they arise," Stanovaya wrote in another article.

PHOTO: US President Donald Trump (R) and Russia's President Vladimir Putin talk as they make their way to take the 'family photo' during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in the central Vietnamese city of Danang. (Jorge Silva/AFP/Getty Images)

According to this theory, Putin genuinely would step back while remaining protected in power, delegating domestic policy -- Stanovaya and others believe he's bored with it -- to his preferred successor. Putin would focus on international affairs and intervene only if he perceived a major unwanted change in direction.

For that, Putin most likely would head up a reformed State Council, but whether that will happen and how powerful it would be "directly proportionate" to how much control he felt he had over his successor, Stanovaya wrote, adding that it's likely Putin has chosen a successor -- although that person may not be revealed for quite some time.

Supporting that theory was Putin himself this week, dismissing the suggestion he could remain as a supreme leader-like figure overseeing a successor. On Wednesday, he rejected the idea that he'd stay on as a "mentor," similar to Singapore's long-time dictator Lee Kuan Yew in the 1990s.

"If we have some kind of institution appear above the presidency, it can only mean dual power," Putin told a televised audience in Sochi. "That is an absolutely fatal situation for a country like Russia."
The International Olympic Committee moved a Summer Games qualifying event in boxing from Wuhan to Amman, Jordan. A women's soccer qualifying match also planned for Wuhan has been shifted to Nanjing, China. Facing the biggest public health challenge to the Chinese government in more than a decade, Xi instructed China's highest ruling council, the Politburo Standing Committee, to "comprehensively mobilise" resources and manpower to provide medical aid, guarantee security and order in hospitals and provide markets with supplies in the cordoned-off city of Wuhan. People wear masks at the International terminal at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Saturday, as it emerged the coronavirus had spread to Canada. Credit:AP "As long as we are resolute ... we can win the battle of controlling the epidemic," he told top party leaders, according to CCTV. In the heart of the outbreak where 11 million residents have been on lockdown since Thursday, Wuhan banned most vehicle use, including private cars, in downtown areas. The city will assign 6000 taxis to neighborhoods to help people get around if they need to.

Wuhan plans to build a second makeshift hospital with about 1000 beds to handle the growing number of patients. The city has said another hospital was expected to be completed by February 3. Hubei province's Civil Affairs Department deputy director-general Hu Yinghai appealed for masks and protective suits. Loading "We are steadily pushing forward the disease control and prevention ... but right now we are facing an extremely severe public health crisis," he told a news briefing. CCTV, citing an announcement from China's tourism industry association, said the country would halt all group tours, both at home and abroad, from Monday.

A new study released Saturday suggested that each person with the virus is passing it to two or three others, which helps explain the virus's rapid spread. The mathematical model from researchers at Imperial College London and the World Health Organisation indicated that officials must stop more than 60 per cent of the virus's transmission to control the outbreak. Loading "It is uncertain at the current time whether it is possible to contain the continuing epidemic within China," researchers wrote. In Hong Kong, with five confirmed cases, the city's leader Carrie Lam said flights and high speed rail trips between the city and Wuhan will be halted and her government would raise its response level to emergency, the highest one. At US airports, passengers arriving from China stood out because of the face masks almost all wore as protection against the virus. But they voiced varying levels of concern.

In Chicago, Sophia Shek, 42, of Hong Kong said life in her city over the past week has been "pandemonium." Long lines snaked through stores to purchase supplies and some retailers have taken advantage of the crisis by hiking prices to as much as $90 a mask, she said. Friends asked her to stock up and bring back face masks and other short supplies. She said she is anxious about the virus and travelled only because the trip was for work. "I experienced SARS," she said of the similar coronavirus that killed 774 people and infected more than 8000, most of them in China, in 2002 and 2003. "This new virus is dormant so you don't know if the person next to you has it." A Chinese health worker checks the temperature of a man entering a subway station during the Chinese New Year and Spring Festival on January 25, 2020 in Beijing. Credit:Getty Images Bridget Russell, 55, a nurse from Austin, said the only extra precaution she noticed in Beijing was a sensor that checked passengers' temperatures. The mood on her flight from the Chinese capital was calm, but she admitted, "it was freaky looking up and seeing 99 per cent of the people wearing masks". She joined them, wearing one on the flight and at O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, after she arrived. At Los Angeles International Airport, Anthony Su, 53 who was on a flight from Taipei, Taiwan to his home in Los Angeles after 10 days in Fuzhou, a city in south-eastern China, said that when he first heard news of the outbreak he stopped going out.

"I tried to avoid public areas, not go to the restaurant or any public place," he said. Others were more sanguine. "We had SARS, so we are not that terrified," said Eric Tsang, 40, "We have experience - masks on, wash your hands regularly, that's OK for us." Tsang, visiting Los Angeles on business, said China has moved more quickly this time to quell the outbreak. "China is doing better than before," he said. "At least they acted very quickly. They asked to stop everybody, even during the holiday. I think this is a wise move."

The spread of the virus was felt halfway around the world in Lunar New Year celebrations of the Year of the Rat in Chinese communities in the United States. At the University of Washington in Seattle, 30 minutes south of where the first US case was confirmed, dozens of Chinese students turned out for the festivities - with some wearing face masks. They crowded into a residence hall lobby festooned with red paper lanterns, red tablecloths and garland with the Chinese character for happiness. Lindsey Gao, an 18-year-old freshman, said she was impressed by people who donned masks to protect themselves, but she didn't think it was necessary. "I admire them for doing that, but I think it looks a little weird," said Gao, who emigrated from China when she was 6. Her mother, who lives on Mercer Island, across a floating bridge from Seattle, disagreed. "She texted me last night, 'Did you buy a face mask?' I said no and she said, 'Well, do you want to die?'" A Chinese woman who declined to give her name said she had cancelled her family's restaurant reservations and would be having dinner at home. She doubted she'd be preparing a traditional Chinese feast; caution about the virus also kept her away from the Asian market to buy ingredients. The Northwest Chinese School, with locations in Bellevue and Seattle, sent out an email calling off weekend classes. "We take the health of our students and families very seriously and think that this is the best course of action," administrators wrote.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Quoc Dung

Vietnam has been undertaking its role as ASEAN chair since January 1. What headwinds and tailwinds do you foresee for the country in this role?

This is the second time Vietnam undertakes the role as ASEAN chair. Compared to 10 years ago, the global and regional situation as well as Vietnams status have changed significantly. Thus, the advantages and disadvantages for Vietnam as ASEAN chair in 2020 will also be very big.

Vietnam has equipped itself with a new status and strength, which are highly valued by the international community. The countrys external relations have been strengthened and expanded significantly, both bilaterally and multilaterally.

At the same time, we have learned good experiences from organising major events such as teh APEC 2016 and 2017, and ASEAN 2010. The ASEAN, after 52 years of development, has become one of the worlds more successful regional organisations, and has been playing an important role in Asia.

The process of building up the ASEAN Community has reaped numerous achievements, with the ongoing implementation of over 90 per cent of action lines in three master plans on implementing the ASEAN Community Vision 2025. Besides that, new trends in international relations, namely peace, co-operation, and multilateralism are in progress which is favourable for Vietnam.

However, instabilities in the global economy and a rise in protectionism and unilateralism, as well as strategic competition among major nations are causing lots of issues in the efforts of maintaining the ASEANs intra-solidarity, development, central role, and external relations.

Furthermore, complicated developments in some of the regional member states and some intra-obstructions such as co-operation effectiveness and operational apparatus have also been posing challenges for the ASEAN in 2020.

In the 2020 ASEAN Year, Vietnam is using the theme of Cohesive and Responsive, especially in context of multilateralism being challenged around the globe. Could you elaborate on this?

Multilateralism is facing more challenges than ever. Populism, polarisation, waves against globalisation, and the trend of choosing coercion instead of co-operation, competition, confrontation instead of dialogue, and concerted action have been making it increasingly difficult for multilateralism to move forward.

Vietnam and other ASEAN nations are trying to maintain and boost multilateralism, trade liberalisation, and a multilateral trade system in the region.

In this context, while working as ASEAN chair, Vietnam wishes to see a cohesive and responsive ASEAN in order to build up a more closely-linked ASEAN community, with more solidarity and an ability to more effectively respond to the impacts of global developments, and to raise the value and importance of multilateralism.

The ASEAN, which is a group of small- and medium-sized nations, needs to stay united and maintain the shared benefits both in terms of political and economic strategies among member states, as well as regarding maintaining and expanding awareness and community colours in all ASEAN peoples.

In addition, Vietnam emphasises the necessity and the requirement in strengthening the effectiveness of mechanisms and forums led by the ASEAN, in order to effectively respond to global challenges, and enhance the central role of the ASEAN.

These are priorities that Vietnam wants, together with member states to build up a stronger ASEAN Community with bigger solidarity, contributing to fostering confidence and boosted dialogues for the sake of peace, security, stability, and co-operation for development.

You mentioned the central role of the ASEAN. What will be Vietnams priorities with a view to enhancing this role?

The ASEANs central role has been increasingly reaffirmed thanks to boosted dialogues, fostered confidence, and the construction of an open-hearted, transparent, and rule-based regional structure, heading towards a peaceful and stable environment for development.

ASEAN nations are all aware of the importance in promoting the central role of the association, especially in the context of increased competition among major nations that are challenging the solidarity and role of the ASEAN.

Therefore, teh enhancement of the blocs central role is a very important priority for Vietnam in the 2020 ASEAN Year.

However, in order to promote this role, the ASEAN needs to do a good job in three aspects. First, it must stay united. Second, it must forge a common stance and have a common voice on regional and international issues. Third, it must get support and co-operation from its partner nations, especially the larger ones.

As ASEAN chair, Vietnam will find ways to increase the blocs shared benefits and improve co-operation among nations in all sectors, including ensuring regional peace and security, economic links, trade and investment relations, and bridging development gaps.

Besides, Vietnam will also continue boosting the construction of shared stances of the ASEAN on regional and international issues. In 2019, many major nations advanced a series of regional initiatives such as Chinas Belt and Road Initiative and the US Indo-Pacific strategy.

In this context, the ASEAN designed a document on shared stances on the Indo-Pacific, demonstrating its stance of independence and self-reliance, as well as targets, principles, and priorities of the bloc in regional co-operation. This is a typical example in the enhancement of the ASEANs central role.

How will Vietnam deal with the East Sea issue in its role as ASEAN chair, in terms of the negotiation process of the Code of Conduct on the East Sea (COC) and the genenal outlook in 2020?

The East Sea is of strategic importance as it boasts rich natural resources such as oil and gas. It is also the rendezvous of many global sea routes connecting the Pacific and Indian Ocean, Europe and Asia, and the Middle East and Asia.

More than 90 per cent of the worlds trade transport volumes are conducted by sea, and 45 per cent of which must go across the East Sea. Thus, all developments in the sea have always interested nations.

Concerns about the East Sea are revolving such issues as peace and stability; security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation; compliance of international law in the form of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea; the process in building up the COC; and economic activities of nations and fishermen.

Both the ASEAN and China wish to have a veritable and efficient COC, and also want to boost negotiations as soon as possible in order to reach this target. As ASEAN chair, Vietnam will actively co-operate with nations to expand common points and narrow differences and to obtain important progress in 2020.

The ASEAN is now boosting its relations with organisations and partners in Latin America. What will Vietnam do to beef up these relations?

In Latin America, the ASEAN has relations with the Pacific Alliance and the Southern Common Market. The dialogues between the ASEAN and these two organisations are conducted via the foreign minister meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

In general, the ASEAN and these organisations share many similar points, especially regarding trade liberalisation and open regionalism. They are both large markets with big potential for developing relations in many sectors.

In the upcoming year, Vietnam will continue improving both sides relations, with practical initiatives covering many co-operation sectors, boosting intensive economic integration, trade liberalisation, and equality, and beefing up enterprise development, especially in small- and medium-sized ones.
NDFB (R) supremo Ranjan Daimary, sentenced to life imprisonment for the 2008 serial blasts in Assam, was on Saturday released on interim bail from the Guwahati Central Jail and taken to New Delhi for participation in Bodo peace talks with the Union government.

A specially constituted division bench of the Gauhati High Court had on Friday granted him interim bail for four weeks, following which he was released from jail and escorted to the Lokopriyo Gopinath International airport enroute to New Delhi, Daimary's lawyer Manas Sarania told reporters.

Daimary was asked to pay a surety bond of Rs 50,000 and the government directed to make adequate security arrangements for his travel, Sarania said.

"The bail application was filed to facilitate Daimary's participation in the peace talks between the Centre and various National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) factions," he said.

Daimary was sentenced to life imprisonment along with nine others for their involvement in October 30, 2008 bomb blasts which claimed the lives of 88 people and injured more than 500.

The Centre is all set to sign an accord with the banned Assam-based insurgent group National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) on Monday, providing political and economic bonanza to the tribals, sans the outfit's key demand of a separate Bodoland state or union territory.

The tripartite agreement will be signed in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal by top leadership of the four factions of the NDFB, Joint Secretary in the Home Ministry Satyendra Garg and Assam Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna.

Earlier this month, the NDFB(S) faction, led by B Saoraigwra, signed an agreement to abjure violence, following which the government suspended operations against the outfit.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
question marks written reminders tickets

High-yielding equities can make for attractive investments, especially for those looking to generate income. However, chasing yield is not a wise strategy and at times can lead to poor investment decisions.

Its for this reason that investors should always triple check the safety of the dividend for high-yield stocks. Today, we take a look at Inter Pipeline (TSX:IPL) and its 7.60% yield.

Dividend growth

Inter Pipeline is a Canadian Dividend Aristocrat thats raised dividends for 11 consecutive years. As an Aristocrat, this midstream company has established a certain level of trust with investors. After all, it has raised dividends for more than a decade.

Although this is a great start, investors should note that achieving Aristocrat status is no guarantee of future dividend growth. In 2019, there were 15 companies who either suspended, cut or kept their dividend steady and as such, lost their Aristocrat status.

Unfortunately, Inter Pipeline is show-me territory. Last year, the company did not raise dividends, but as it paid out more in 2019 than in 2018, its still a dividend growth stock in the eyes of income investors.

However, this is the first warning sign that the dividend may be at risk. Inter Pipeline has until the end of 2020 to increase its dividend or lose Aristocrat status.

Growth rates

An important and often overlooked aspect when analyzing the safety of the dividend is that of growth rates. Is the company growing revenue and earnings? Or is it suffering from contraction?

Logic dictates that a growing company will be better positioned to maintain a dividend than one experiencing a period of negative growth.

Over the past five years, this midstream company has grown earnings by approximately 5% annually. Unfortunately, the good news ends there. In 2020, revenue and earnings are expected to contract by 1.8% 17% respectively. This is warning sign number two.

Payout ratios

Finally, its important to know if the dividend is well covered by earnings and cash flow. Depending on the industry, a payout ratio as a percentage of cash flow is more important than that of earnings.

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The midstream industry is an example of this. It is a good thing, as Inter Pipelines dividend accounts for ~118% of earnings.

Through the first nine months of 2019, Inters dividend accounted for 80% of cost-of-service and fee-based cash flows before sustaining capital. This is good news, as it means that the dividend is sustainable during times of normal operations.

The problem begins when it has a high level of new capital investments. Case in point  the Heartland Petrochemical Plant.

The first of its kind in Canada, the $3.5 billion project is the most ambitious in company history and has been a big drag on cash flows. The project is expected to enter commercialization by the end of 2021.

Of the $3.5 billion, the company is on the hook for another $1.3 billion in capital expenditures over the next two years ($900 million in 2020 and $400 million in 2021). Remember, this is over and above cash reserved for sustaining capital.

The good news is that the company has $1.2 billion available on its credit facility and generated $670 million in undistributed cash flow over the past two years.

By the companys definition, undistributed cash flow is equal to funds from operations less sustaining capital and dividends. Between the two, it appears to have sufficient cash to see Heartland through to completion.

Foolish takeaway

Is the dividend safe? As an Inter Pipeline shareholder myself, its probably the one company in my portfolio in which the dividend is teetering on the edge.

It all boils down to the companys ability to commission Heartland on time and on budget. Once operational, Heartland will generate approximately $450-500 million of average annual EBITDA. This implies massive growth potential for a company that generated ~$600 million in EBITDA in 2018.

Since the company kept its dividend steady last year, it recognizes that cash flow is tight and will be until Heartland is complete. Until then, the dividend cant be considered 100% safe.

More reading

Fool contributor mlitalien owns shares of INTER PIPELINE LTD.

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
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro witness the exchange of agreements at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Jan 25, 2020. (Photo: IANS/PIB) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro witness the exchange of agreements at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Jan 25, 2020. (Photo: IANS/PIB) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro witness the exchange of agreements at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Jan 25, 2020. (Photo: IANS/PIB) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro witness the exchange of agreements at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Jan 25, 2020. (Photo: IANS/PIB) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Jan 25 : In a major boost to their strategic partnership, Brazil and India on Saturday laid down a comprehensive action plan to enhance their cooperation in all areas, amid an economic slowdown.

While thanking President Jair Messias Bolsonaro for accepting his invitation to attend India's 71st Republic Day tomorrow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "Brazil and India's strategic partnership is based on common philosophy and values. Despite geographical distance, we have been members of various fora and significant partners in development too. That is why he and I today have agreed on bilateral cooperation in all areas." Announcing that an action plan to implement a slew of agreements and memoranda of understanding, had been formulated, the Prime Minister said, by 2023 (the platinum jubilee of the diplomatic relations between India and Brazil) the strategic partnership, people-to-people ties and business cooperation would be strengthened even further.

The two governments signed agreements and memoranda of understanding for cooperation in bioenergy, oil, natural gas, investments, legal assistance in criminal matters, early childhood related issues, health and medicine, traditional systems of medicine and homeopathy, cultural exchange, social security, cyber security, science and technology, geology and mineral resources, animal husbandry and dairy, cattle genomics.

"Animal husbandry, especially health care of cows is one of our unique areas of cooperation. At one point, India sent Gir and Kankreji cows to Brazil," Modi said.

Indian requirement of crude oil imports from Brazil went up after the US imposed sanctions against its suppliers Venezuela and Iran. Brazil imports chicken from India and wants reduction in import taxes on poultry. The bilateral trade between the two countries was $8.2 billion in 2018-19.

Accompanied by eight ministers and a delegation of business leaders, Brazilian President Bolsonaro arrived in New Delhi on Friday. He is the chief guest for the Republic Day tomorrow. This is his first visit to India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Brazil in November 2019 to attend the eleventh BRICS summit and extended the invite to President Bolsonaro for a visit to India.

A former army captain with Right-wing views, Bolsonaro assumed power in January last year after a landslide victory in Brazil's presidential election in October 2018. Last year, Bolsonaro announced that Indians will be allowed visa-free travel to Brazil.

Brazil and India are members of several multilateral fora like BRICS, IBSA, G-20 and G-4 and both the countries aspire to have a permanent seat at the UN Security Council.
Twenty-nine CISF officials, including five from the fire wing, have been decorated with different police service medals on the eve of the Republic Day, a force spokesperson said on Saturday.

The awardees include senior Commandant Vishnu Swarup, Commandant H K Brahma and Assistant Commandant Abdus Salam.

Swarup, who joined the force in 1997, has served in all the theatres that the CISF is deployed in like coal fields, airports security, Delhi Metro and port security.

He is also credited with raising its first aviation security training institute at Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu.

Officers awarded the distinguished service medal include Deputy Inspector General Sanjay Prakash, Assistant Commandant Harish Singh Karmyal, Assistant Sub Inspector Rajender Babu.

Five officials have been decorated with the fire service medals including ASIs Rashpal Dass and Darmiyan Singh.

The about 1.66-lakh personnel strong force guards 61 civil airports of the country apart from guarding sensitive infrastructure in the nuclear and aerospace domain.

It also provides security to vital business sector undertakings in the private domain.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A jealous ex-boyfriend has admitted stabbing his former partner to death in front of her children in a cocaine and booze-fuelled rage.

Hafiz Sharifi, 29, knifed Suvekshya Burathoki, 32  known as Fatima  in her home in Leicester on October 8 last year.

Police rushed to her terraced property in Bartholomew Street, near the city centre, at 8.30am, but despite desperate attempts to save her, she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The mum-of-three, from Nepal, died from multiple stab wounds.

Hafiz Sharifi, 29, admitted killing Suvekshya Burathoki at her Leicester home (Picture: SWNS)

At the time of her death, friends said she had been looking after her two sons, aged nine and seven, and her three-year-old daughter.

After stabbing her to death Sharifi fled the scene on foot but was arrested two days later in Coventry.

He admitted to police he had been drinking and also taken cocaine the night before he killed Ms Burathoki.

On Friday Sharifi, of no fixed address, admitted murder at Leicester Crown Court.

Suvekshya Burathoki was murdered in front of her children (Picture: SWNS)

Detective Inspector Mark Sinski, from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) major crime team, said: This was a brutal, violent murder that left the residents of what is a tightly-knit street in shock.

From those we have spoken to during the investigation, Fatima was well-known and incredibly well-liked by those who knew her.

Sharifi was unable to face up to his actions  he knew he was wanted  and tried to go into hiding.

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Det Insp Sinski added: I hope that Fatimas family can take some comfort from the fact he has today pleaded guilty to her murder.

It also means those who were due to give evidence in what would undoubtedly have been an emotional trial, will not have to do so.

My thoughts and condolences remain with Fatimas family and loved ones.

A friend of Ms Burathoki said: She had the two boys from a previous relationship and the girl from her present relationship.

Story continues

She was a Tamil who converted to Islam.

"I couldnt believe it when I heard she was dead.

She was an amazing mum who cared for her children and fed them well.

Sharifi was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at Leicester Crown Court on February 21.

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To say that 2019 was not a banner year for the cannabis industry and marijuana stocks may be understating just how poor things actually went. Despite Canada becoming the first industrialized country to legalize and commence the sale of recreational pot, and momentum for legalization remaining strong in the U.S., the black market has been virtually unstoppable throughout much of North America.

On the bright side, if there is a gleam of light to be found in these struggles, organic growth and ongoing legalizations in the U.S. should lead to significant growth in total cannabis sales in 2020.

America's top-selling marijuana states in 2020

In June, the team of Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics put out its latest annual report, "State of the Legal Cannabis Markets," which made a number of assumptions and estimates on future growth in Canada, the U.S., and abroad. Though certain aspects of their assumptions have changed (which is to be expected of the nascent, but rapidly evolving, pot industry), the report from Arcview and BDS points to 10 U.S. states surpassing $500 million in full-year marijuana sales in 2020.

Listed in descending order, the top-selling cannabis states in 2020 are expected to be:

California: $3.8 billion (recreational and medical mix) Colorado: $1.7 billion ($1.4 billion recreational, $0.3 billion medical) Michigan: $1.21 billion ($299 million recreational, $909 million medical) Florida: $1.2 billion (all medical) Washington: $1.1 billion (recreational and medical mix) Nevada: $960 million ($900 million recreational, $60 million medical) Oregon: $831 million ($796 million recreational, $35 million medical) Arizona: $804 million (all medical) Massachusetts: $682 million ($451 million recreational, $231 million medical) Illinois: $543 million ($270 million recreational, $273 million medical)

First off, you'll note that the report expects California's pot industry to register its first signs of true growth since 2017 this year. Despite its stagnant growth over the past two years, California remains the largest cannabis market in the U.S. by a substantial amount.

You'll also note just how robust sales in Arizona are expected to be, despite the fact that it's solely a medical marijuana-legal state at the moment. Even though Arizonans aren't guaranteed to be voting on a recreational pot initiative come November, it certainly seems likely at this point.

No surprise: MSOs are focusing their attention on many of these key states

What shouldn't come as a surprise is that vertically integrated multistate operators (MSOs) are ensuring that they have a presence in a majority of these top-selling cannabis states.

Perhaps the hottest state at the moment is Illinois, which just commenced adult-use weed sales on Jan. 1, 2020. Illinois became the first state ever to pass a bill allowing for the consumption and sale of recreational weed at the legislative level this past June. By 2024, Arcview and BDS foresee annual sales surpassing $1 billion. Both Cresco Labs (OTC:CRLBF) and Green Thumb Industries (OTC:GTBIF) have vested interests in the Land of Lincoln, with each aiming for the maximum of 10 open locations.

Nevada is another stealthy market that could be a big-time winner for MSOs. Even though the Silver State is slated to hit only $960 million in 2020 sales, Arcview and BDS believe it'll be the leading state for per-capita cannabis spending by 2024 (thanks, tourism). Green Thumb Industries has bet big on Nevada by acquiring Integral Associates in 2019. This acquisition gave Green Thumb eight retail licenses in the state, as well as the only marijuana store presence on the Las Vegas Strip.

And, of course, there's California, which is where all major MSOs want a piece of the pie. Cresco Labs recently went a different route via its now-closed acquisition of Origin House. Rather than buying up dispensary and cultivation licenses, the allure or Origin House is that it's one of only a select few companies to hold cannabis distribution licenses in California. Thus, Cresco Labs buying Origin House gives it access to more than 575 dispensaries in the Golden State.

Here's why things could remain challenging for U.S. pot stocks

While rising sales would obviously bode well for MSOs, there are still a number of issues that U.S.-focused cannabis stocks are going to need to contend with.

For one, marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, and that's highly unlikely to change anytime soon. For MSOs, this means being unable to transport marijuana across state lines, even in instances where two fully legalized states border each other. Instead, MSOs are being forced to set up redundant cultivation and processing operations in every state where they also have dispensaries. This nuisance leads to higher expenses for most U.S. pot stocks.

To build on this point, financing remains a key concern for most U.S. marijuana stocks. With minimal access to basic banking services, many have had to turn to common stock offerings or sale-leaseback agreements in order to ensure that they have enough capital on hand to fund their operations and ongoing expansion. Though Cresco Labs is one of the few MSOs to have (within the past few days) secured traditional forms of financing, access to cash could remain challenging.

Lastly, MSOs are contending with exorbitant tax rates on marijuana in select states. In California, pot consumers can expect state and local sales tax, an excise tax, a wholesale tax, and various fees such as laboratory testing to be factored into the final price of a pot product. High tax rates make it impossible for legal-channel weed to compete with the black market.

Thus, while sales of legal marijuana may be on the rise in 2020, life isn't going to get much easier for publicly traded pot stocks.
Shekhar Iyer By

An overwhelming narrative about women and children in protest at Delhis Shaheen Bagh has hardly unnerved the BJP. Instead, as the date of election to the Delhi Assembly nears, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other BJP leaders are more combative on the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

In fact, Shahs public assertions on the CAA have gone sharper as he leads campaign through streets of the Capital against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) that looks pretty confident of winning a second term.

The BJPs calculation is that its core voters, which still swears by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will see the Shaheen Bagh protest as an attempt in a pre-dominantly Muslim locality to force an elected government to blink on the issue. This could open the Pandoras Box for the government in the future.

Therefore, as the Shaheen Bagh is romanticised by Modis critics as the new symbol of a mass uprising in its making, the BJP is on a hard drive to sell the legislation.

Why should the Muslims be so upset with a law that grants citizenship to stranded Hindu and other non-Muslim refugees fleeing from persecution in neighbouring Islamic states? Nobody is taking away their status or rights.

According to BJP leaders, the exclusion of Muslims from this legislations scope is by no means an attempt to rob the Indian Muslims of their citizenship. Any outrage on this account contrived or otherwise is a bogus attempt to spread disaffection against the BJP government at the Centre, timed with the student unrest in certain campuses.

Even if the CAA may have stoked fears of a larger proportion among the minority community, the BJP would want the ire directed at the legislation to run its course, rather than appear squirming on what it thinks is for a right cause.

Consequently, attempts by some interlocutors to organise an appeal from either Modi or Shah to the Shaheen Bagh protesters have run into a cold wall. There were also suggestions that a delegation of protesters be allowed to meet them. All such attempts have been met with a rebuff, drawing a mix of anger and disappointment though the mainstream media accounts have sought to give the Shaheen Bagh a colour of Tahrir Square of the Arab Spring fame.

Shah and his strategists are firm that the bluff of the organisers must eventually be called off  even if it means the PM getting a very negative press in the West and US business leaders like George Soros showing the thumbs down.

The BJP counts on the utter chaos caused by the lockdown of an arterial road that links South Delhi and Noida due to Shaheen Bagh protest to result in a silent counter-narrative. Reports of children suffering on their way to school because their buses take a detour and even loss of one life due to an ambulance stuck in the traffic nightmare have added new dimensions to an agitation that is still perceived as totally Muslim in character.

This is notwithstanding public readings of the Constitutions Preamble or illusory poems of Faiz Ahmed Faiz that attempt to give an intellectual hue to a street protest.

Allegations of women protesters taking turns and being paid and fed by local politicians are juxtaposed against extreme distress faced by residents commuting from other parts of Delhi.

However, the BJP knows that this counter-narrative alone cannot easily upset Kejriwal whose trump card remains his governments decision to dole out freebies in the name of development.

In the battle for Muslim votes, the Congress AAPs other opponent in the Delhi Assembly elections  has been openly supporting the Shaheen Bagh protests to corner Kejriwal who has been rather mild in his criticism of the CAA and even urging the Shaheen Bagh protesters to exercise their rights without disrupting the traffic.

Both AAP and Congress have always had to fight for the same vote base the Muslims.

Ironically, many BJP leaders privately hold that a rise in the Congress vote in the 2020 polls will bring down the AAPs share and help the BJP gain.

The Congress sprung a surprise by coming second in the Lok Sabha polls of 2019, securing 22.5% of votes as against 15% in 2014. The AAP got only 18.1%. The BJP won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, bagging 56.6 %. This time, Kejriwal hopes that the Congress will underperform as it did in 2015, hurting the BJPs chances of winning even a decent number of seats.

Shekhar Iyer

The writer is a senior journalist.

This column will appear every fortnight
Theres a deadly virus spreading from state to state. It preys on the most vulnerable, striking the sick and the old without mercy. In just the past few months, it has claimed the lives of at least 39 children.

The virus is influenza, and it poses a far greater threat to Americans than the coronavirus from China that has made headlines around the world.

"When we think about the relative danger of this new coronavirus and influenza, there's just no comparison," said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "Coronavirus will be a blip on the horizon in comparison. The risk is trivial."

To be sure, the coronavirus outbreak, which originated last month in the Chinese city of Wuhan, should be taken seriously. The virus can cause pneumonia and is blamed for more than 800 illnesses and 26 deaths. British researchers estimate the virus has infected 4,000 people.

A second person in the U.S. who visited China has been diagnosed with the Wuhan virus, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. Public health workers are monitoring 63 additional patients from 22 states.

Influenza rarely gets this sort of attention, even though it kills more Americans each year than any other virus, said Dr. Peter Hotez, a professor of pediatrics, molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Influenza has already sickened at least 13 million Americans this winter, hospitalizing 120,000 and killing 6,600, according to the CDC. And flu season hasn't even peaked. In a bad year, the flu kills up to 61,000 Americans.

Worldwide, the flu causes up to 5 million cases of severe illness worldwide and kills up to 650,000 people every year, according to the World Health Organization.

And yet, Americans aren't particularly concerned.

Less than half of adults got a flu shot last season, according to the CDC. Even among children, who can be especially vulnerable to respiratory illnesses, only 62% received the vaccine.

If Americans aren't afraid of the flu, perhaps that's because they are inured to yearly warnings. For them, the flu is old news. Yet viruses named after foreign places  such as Ebola, Zika and Wuhan  inspire terror.

"Familiarity breeds indifference," Schaffner said. "Because it's new, it's mysterious and comes from an exotic place, the coronavirus creates anxiety."

Some doctors joke that the flu needs to be rebranded.

"We should rename influenza; call it XZ-47 virus, or something scarier," said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Measles in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 5,000 people in the past year  more than twice as many as Ebola. Yet UNICEF officials have noted that the measles, which many Americans no longer fear, has gotten little attention. Nearly all the measles victims were children under 5.

Some people may worry less about the flu because there's a vaccine, whose protection has ranged from 19% to 60% in recent years. Simply having the choice about whether or not to receive a flu shot can give people an illusion of control, Schaffner said.

But people often feel powerless to fight novel viruses. The fact that an airplane passenger spread SARS to other passengers and flight crew made people feel especially vulnerable.

Because the Wuhan virus is new, humans have no antibodies against it. Doctors haven't had time to develop treatments or vaccines.

The big question, so far unknown, is just how easily the virus is transmitted from an infected person to others. The WHO this week opted not to declare the Wuhan outbreak an international health emergency. But officials warn the outbreak hasn't peaked. Each patient with the new coronavirus appears to be infecting about two other people.

By comparison, patients with SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, spread the infection to an average of two to four others. Each patient with measles  one of the most contagious viruses known to science  infects 12 to 18 unvaccinated people.

Health officials worry that the new coronavirus could resemble SARS  which appeared suddenly in China in 2002 and spread to 26 countries, sickening 8,000 people and killing 774, according to the WHO.

The U.S. dodged a bullet with SARS, Schaffner said. Only eight Americans became infected, and none died, according to the CDC. Yet SARS caused a global panic, leading people to shutter hotels, cancel flights and close businesses.

Coronaviruses can be unpredictable, said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. While some patients never infect anyone else, people who are "super spreaders" can infect dozens of others.

At Seoul's Samsung Medical Center in 2015, a single emergency room patient infected 82 people  including patients, visitors and staff  with a coronavirus called MERS, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. The hospital partly shut down to control the virus.

"This is one of the finest medical centers in the world, on par with the Cleveland Clinic, and they were brought to their knees," Osterholm said.

Yet MERS has never posed much a threat to the U.S.

Only two patients in the U.S.  health care providers who had worked in Saudi Arabia  have ever tested positive for the virus, according to the CDC. Both patients survived.

Hotez, who is working to develop vaccines against neglected diseases, said he worries about unvaccinated children. Most kids who die from the flu haven't been immunized against it, he said. And many were previously healthy.

"If you're worried about your health, get your flu vaccination," Hotez said. "It's not too late."

-- Kaiser Health News

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
Kamala Harris, an Indian lawmaker from California, has now expressed her intention to support the Democratic Party's former Vice President, Joe Biden, after disassociating himself from the candidature for the presidential election of America, the world's strongest country. Let us tell you that last month, they decided to separate themselves from the election round.

Russia: Putin's constitutional reforms gets large number of MPs' support

On this matter, Democratic officials have indicated that Kamala can declare her support for the party's strongest candidate, Biden. Officials say that at the moment she is not declaring her support in the Senate due to the process of impeachment against President Donald Trump.

America targetes Pakistan, says, ' handle Pakistan otherwise...'

When Kamala was out of the race for candidacy, Biden addressed her as an aide. Praising him, Biden had said that Kamla is a strong leader and may later take the position of President, Vice President or Judge of the Supreme Court. But on the possibility of supporting Biden, Kamala Harris spokesman Chris said that nothing was clear in the matter at the moment.

US soldiers, victims of Iran's major attack, reach deep mental trauma
Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched a scathing attack on the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday, saying it failed its promises made ahead of the 2015 Assembly elections. He urged voters to give the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a chance to work for the betterment of people in the national capital.

Speaking at a rally at Karawal Nagar on Friday evening, Shah said the people of Delhi gave 15 years to the Congress and six to AAP, but they failed to ring in changes. He said, if elected, the BJP, under the stewardship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would break new grounds in putting the city at par with the best.



ALSO READ: Amit Shah blames Congress, AAP for 'provoking people, orchestrating CAA riots' in Delhi

We assure you that under the able guidance of Modiji, we will turn Delhi into the best capital city in the world. The change, under Modiji, which is being felt elsewhere in the country, would be felt in Delhi as well, the Union home minister said.

Think carefully before you vote. Theres a difference between the one who delivers on his promises and the one who reneges on them. The AAP has taken the city back by at least a decade, Shah said at a nukkad meet in Sonia Vihar.

He also accused the AAP of failing to build the promised schools, colleges and hospitals and augmenting public transport.

Drawing a parallel between Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, Shah said both toed the line of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in opposing the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
New Delhi: Hours after TV actress Sejal Sharma committed suicide by hanging herself in Mumbai, her co-star of 'Dil Toh Happy Hai Ji' Jasmin Bhasin took to Instagram to express grief. With an old picture of them together on the sets of 'Dil Toh Happy Hai Ji', Jasmin wrote, "It's unbelievable that you are no more with us, such a happy girl, your presence would just light up any place, only you know what you were going through that you decided to end your life. I will miss you I wish this would have never happened."

See what Jasmin posted:

Actor Rohit Roy also expressed shock over the news and wrote on Jasmin's post, "What? How?"

Sejal, 25, was found hanging at her rented flat in Mumbai's Mira Road on Friday. She was spotted by her friends, who later took her to the hospital but she was declared dead upon arrival. A suicide note was recovered from Sejal's residence, in which she stated that she took the extreme step due to personal reasons.

Aru K Verma, another co-star of Sejal, also said that he was shocked to hear about her death and recounted that he had met her some days ago.

Speaking to TimesofIndia.com, Aru said, "I am shocked to hear the news. It's very difficult for me to believe as I had met her just 10 days ago and we had even chatted on WhatsApp on Sunday. I am unable to come to terms with the news. I met her 10 days ago and she was absolutely fine. We hadn't met since last three-four months as I had also gone to my hometown, so when we met 10 days ago, she looked perfect."

Sejal hailed from Udaipur, Rajasthan, and had come to Mumbai some years ago to pursue a career in acting. 'Dil Toh Happy Hai Ji' is the only serial she had acted in apart from a few commercials and a web-series.

Sejal's body was handed over to her family for last rites following an autopsy. The police have registered a case of accidental death.
The young students of Balbriggan Chinese Language School held a special exhibition in Balbgriggan Library last weekend, showcasing the very finest of their Chinese calligraphy and artwork.

Students from six to ten years' old unveiled their painstakingly created work to families and friends and the wider Balbriggan community, all in celebration of Chinese New Year 2020.

Speaking in the run-up to the event, Assistant Principal of Balbriggan Chinese Language School, Ye Wang, explained what the day was all about:

'It's a celebration for the Chinese New Year, and all the paintings are by all the kids from our school. We just wanted to make an exhibition in the library for all of the community of the Chinese students. It will be the students' families and their parents as well, and all the community in Balbriggan, and Our Balbriggan will be coming as well.

'These are all children from the Balbriggan Language School art class, so these paintings are from work the children did last year. At the moment, we have a Chinese art class, which is only for Chinese students at the moment because it's all Chinese painting and Chinese calligraphy, but we'll probably have a class in the future for other students as well.'

Ye says: 'We teach Chinese students and then we have another class with students from Spain and Ireland, just a small class because we only started that class last year. For Chinese students we started classes two years ago but for international students we only started last year.'

Ye says that because the Chinese language is gaining in popularity, Balbriggan Chinese Language School is encouraging people in the community to learn the language themselves.

Based in Flemington Community Centre in Balbriggan, the school holds language classes for children and teenagers from both Chinese and non-Chinese backgrounds.

In true community spirit, the one-hour classes are offered at a nominal fee of 5 to encourage people to join.

For further details, contact Ye at: 085-8667779




Haiti - News : Zapping...





Arrest of a student armed with a 9mm pistol

The Haitian National Police (PNH) arrested Peralson Laguerre, a 16-year-old pupil of the Ecole Nationale Fagnel Nicolas in Jacmel who had in his possession a 9 mm pistol and a magazine containing 16 balls.



107 murders at Bel Air in 2019

According to the assessment communicated by Viva Rio, a Brazilian NGO working on the situation of violence in the Bel Air district, 107 cases of homicides were recorded in this district in 2019.



USA : Mike Pompeo concerned

"We are concerned about the president ruling by decree. I met while I was in Kingston, Jamaica with the Haitian foreign minister. We urged them to set a timetable, set a firm date for those elections. That is the most important thing. We think the Haitian Government has the capacity and the capability and the lawful right to do that. Once those elections will be held, there will be a duly elected government. We wont have to be concerned about ruling by decree," said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo



Coronavirus : Message to Haitian students in China

Guy G. Lamothe, the Permanent Representative of the Commercial Office of Haiti in China (BDCH) asks the Haitian community in China to follow to the letter the instructions of the Chinese health authorities concerning the presence in China of the Coronavirus 2019-nCoV "students living in or near Wuhan are in contact with BDCH. To date, no case has been reported in the Haitian community," adding that Sadrak Marcelin, the President of the Students' Association is also following the situation very closely... See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29858-haiti-flash-chinese-coronavirus-haiti-is-preparing-and-activating-its-alert-system.html



Increase for fuel prices on the agenda...

On a radio of the capital, Prime Minister ai Lapin said that the next government will have to adjust fuel prices at the pump, after a broad consensus with political and civil society leaders to avoid new riots, stressing that the State is currently analyzing several strategies without providing further details.



New President of the Petit-Goave Bar

Friday, January 24, Me Milord Anthony was elected without surprise at the head of the Bar of Petit-Goave Me Milord Anthony, dynamic and experienced lawyer becomes the new chairman of the council of the bar association of Petit-Goave. He intends to continue the projects already started while innovating. HL/ HaitiLibre / Guyto Mathieu (Petit-Goave Correspondent).



HL/ HaitiLibre


















By Chad Hipolito VICTORIA, British Columbia (Reuters) - Prince Harry and wife Meghan have settled, for now, into a seaside home near the most royal of Canadian cities - Victoria, British Columbia (B.C.)- named after a queen who reigned until 1901, during a great expansion of the British Empire. In the summer, tourists pile onto red double-decker buses like the ones that criss-cross London.

By Chad Hipolito

VICTORIA, British Columbia (Reuters) - Prince Harry and wife Meghan have settled, for now, into a seaside home near the most royal of Canadian cities - Victoria, British Columbia (B.C.)- named after a queen who reigned until 1901, during a great expansion of the British Empire.

In the summer, tourists pile onto red double-decker buses like the ones that criss-cross London. Every afternoon, hundreds flock to tea at the magnificent Fairmont Empress Hotel, or one of the city's many other tea rooms that fly the British flag.

"Victoria is probably more British than (the) British," said resident Bill Bray.

Indeed, thousands of British pensioners have chosen to retire on Vancouver Island, part of the province of B.C., which has a milder climate than the rest of Canada.

Prince Harry, 35, arrived on Monday, just a few days after reaching an arrangement with his grandmother Queen Elizabeth and other senior royals that will see him and Meghan, 38, quit their royal roles to seek an independent future.

Their move has led to questions about what it will mean for Canada. If they settle on Victoria, local residents said they would feel at home and enjoy more privacy than in Britain.

Victoria has often been a stop for members of the royal family who visit Canada, a former British colony whose head of state officially remains the British Sovereign.

George VI, who was Queen Elizabeth's father and Harry's great grandfather, hosted a dinner for 250 guests at the Empress in 1939, according to the hotel's website, and in 1951, a year before she became queen, Princess Elizabeth stayed at the hotel.

In 1966, the queen's mother visited Victoria and dedicated the cornerstone of the city's most important museum, the Royal B.C. Museum. In 2016, Harry's brother Prince William brought his wife, Kate Middleton, and their children to the city during an official visit to Canada.

"When I was a child... we used to sing 'God Save the Queen' before school started every morning," said Helena Isherwood, who works in a boutique shop at the Empress.

Harry and Meghan, with baby Archie, will like Victoria because "it's beautiful and I think they'll get some privacy here, and space," Isherwood said.

That would probably be a welcome change for the couple who on Tuesday issued a warning over harassment by paparazzi photographers after the Sun newspaper published images of Meghan taking a stroll through a park near Victoria.

"We don't have a big paparazzi culture in Canada, so I do think they will find some contrast to what they're familiar with coming from the U.K.," said Mischelle vanThiel, a royal expert at the Royal B.C. Museum.

Local resident Bray said Prince Harry would be "just another bloke on the street" in Victoria.

(Reporting by Chad Hipolito in Victoria, British Columbia; writing by Steve Scherer in Ottawa; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
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"Serving in the military changes you. The shades and degrees of change vary for everyone, but no one is ever the same as...
hawley josh senator.JPG

Joshua Roberts/REUTERS

Sen. Josh Hawley asked in a letter on Friday to four cabinet officials for information on "when and how" President Donald Trump's administration might consider blocking travel from China to the United States.

The request from the Missouri Republican came amid the second reported case of the Wuhan coronavirus in the United States, with one in Washington state and one in Chicago.

The Wuhan virus has already killed 26 people and infected more than 900 around the world.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, sent a letter on Friday to four members of President Donald Trump's cabinet to ask about "when and how" the federal government might consider blocking travel to the United States from regions in China affected by the Wuhan virus.

The letter comes the same day as the second confirmed case of the Wuhan virus in the US was reported in Chicago. The coronavirus, dubbed the "Wuhan virus" after the city in China where it's believed to have spread from, has already killed 26 people and infected over 900 around the globe.

"I fear more such infections are yet to come," Hawley said.

The virus has spread from Wuhan to at least eight other countries, and many parts of China including Beijing, Guangdong province, Tianjin, and Shanghai.

Hawley asked the secretaries of the Departments of State, Transportation, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services about "when and how the Administration might consider restricting travel to the United States from affected regions of China."

Restrictions on travel between two of the world's largest countries  and economies  could have a large impact on many industries.

Hawley added that he was concerned about Americans traveling in China possibly getting trapped in Wuhan as China has restricted travel in and out of the city.

Story continues

He criticized China for "unsurprisingly" failing to "be fully forthcoming with respect to the details of the spread of this virus. Hawley added that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have "noted glaring omissions in the data reported by the Chinese."

The State Department warns Americans from traveling to Hubei province, where Wuhan is located. The US government "has limited ability to provide emergency services" to Americans in Hubei province, the State Department says on its website.

The Department of State ordered on Thursday that "all non-emergency US personnel and their family members" evacuate, according to the department's website.

The Department of Transportation will respond directly to the senator about his inquiry, an official told Business Insider.

Hawley asked the secretaries if the federal government has explored how it might assist China in containing the outbreak if restrictions are placed on travel, and requested that the federal government "commit to inform the public" that a decision not to restrict travel was made "in the interests of transparency and appropriate public scrutiny."

Read the original article on Business Insider
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 01/25/2020



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So did Anny and Robert actually get married? Is the couple still together?

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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

couple Robert and Anny haven't appeared to be thriving as a couple on Season 7 of the TLC series, so did they end up calling it quits or did they actually get married -- and are they still together now?Robert, a 41-year-old from Winter Park, FL, and Anny, a 30-year-old from Santiago, Dominican Republic, are one of the couples starring on 's seventh season, which has been airing since early November 2019 on TLC.Robert and Anny got to know each other by video chatting and talking on the phone, but they only spent one day together in person before Robert popped the question.Robert and Anny spent a day together in the Dominican Republic, which happened to be one of the stops on a cruise Robert had taken for a vacation.After accepting Robert's sudden and unexpected marriage proposal, Anny traveled to the United States so the couple could begin a life together.Anny and Robert therefore had 90 days in which they could get married, or else Anny would have to return to her native country.Robert and Anny began getting to know each other better during her 90-day stay in the United States, but they seemingly bickered more than they got along -- at least at first.Robert was looking for a responsible and classy woman to become his wife and help him raise his son Bryson, but Anny's behavior left Robert with a lot of questions and doubts about her character and the future of their romance.Anny's main problem seemed to be the limited amount of money Robert was willing to spend on her.Anny's first shopping experience in America, for example, did not meet her expectations as, unbeknownst to Anny, he took her to a second-hand clothing store.Anny complained there were "a lot of ugly rags" in the store and she had envisioned Robert buying her fashionable clothes in America from iconic designers like Chanel and Versace."That's f-cked up," Anny said about the clothing in the store Robert had brought her to. "Rubbish."Robert told the cameras Anny was "very selfish" because money doesn't grow on trees. He wasn't happy with her and couldn't believe she had acted out in the store."I never buy used clothes in my country. All the clothes I buy are expensive. I am poor but I don't use f-cked up clothes," Anny told Robert.After getting over their argument, the pair enjoyed an expensive seafood dinner that night, and Anny commented how she'd love to have a similar menu at their wedding.Robert, however, said there was no way he'd be able to afford that -- and he wasn't okay with the idea of people eating and drinking on his bill.Anny was surprised to hear Robert didn't want a big wedding.The couple's tension then escalated further when Anny said she'd like to have a ceremony and reception in Miami Beach, FL, to which Robert replied, "Do you think I'm made of money?! Courthouse and boom. That's it."Anny didn't want to get married at a courthouse, and she said Robert had promised her they'd have the wedding of her dreams. Anny also implied Robert was not living up to his promises and her expectations, and she said she'd like to move to Miami, FL."I don't want to hear about Miami. Just appreciate where we live," Robert vented to the cameras.Anny then asked Robert to apologize for his behavior -- which included swearing -- and he said, "I'm sorry you are inconsiderate and a big-ass crybaby. How about that?"Robert called his first full day with Anny "a disaster" and said she was "ungrateful and selfish" and everything he did for her didn't seem to be enough.Anny told Robert not to marry her if he was so unhappy, and she reminded Robert he had promised her an iPhone10 and expensive clothing.Anny called Robert "a liar" and insisted he had done nothing for her.The couple eventually grew tired of fighting and made love, but the peace didn't last long.Since Bryson's mother is not in the picture, the young boy was apparently very close to his grandparents on his mother's side, Ben and Stephanie.Anny wasn't thrilled to meet anyone related to Robert's ex, and tension escalated once Stephanie revealed she's an adult film actress.Anny called Stephanie "disgusting" and seemingly wanted nothing to do with her after that. Stephanie, who claimed she was just being protective of Bryson, also rubbed Anny the wrong way by asking if she was on birth control.Stephanie thought she was being cordial and just sparking conversation, but Anny didn't like her or approve of her questions. Anny flat out called Stephanie "rude.""She totally shut me down pretty quick," Stephanie told the cameras in a confessional."I don't feel like she's here for the right reasons. I don't feel like she's here for love."Robert ultimately took his fiancee's side and didn't want her to feel disrespected, and he later put Stephanie in her place for making Anny feel uncomfortable.Stephanie and her husband, however, feared Robert was just looking for a maid and a woman to take care of Bryson.But the couple's issues didn't stop there, as Anny had a problem with Robert keeping old photos of his exes on his phone and social media pages.Anny, for example, found a picture of Robert kissing a girl and told her fiance, "Enjoy your life with them."Robert said he wasn't hiding anything from Anny and he has "five beautiful children by four different women." Robert revealed he doesn't get to see his other children often and he used to be a player."But now, I'm a different guy... I grew up and my priorities changed -- a lot," Robert told the cameras.When she first found out Robert welcomed five children with four different women, she said, "What the f-ck?!"Anny basically told Robert to delete the old women from his life or go back to them.But Robert refused to delete pictures of his son's mother since Bryson may want those photos when he's older.In addition, Anny expressed how Robert didn't give her enough love and affection, but he said she complained too much."He's going to have to delete those photos if he [wants] to get married to me," Anny said in a confessional, before admitting to Robert, "I don't know if I can marry you."Finally, Robert decided to compromise by keeping the old photos that included his children but erasing the ones of just himself with ex-girlfriends.Robert and Anny were then shown going apartment hunting together because they were both tired of sharing a bed with Bryson, who kicked and punched in the night, in their one-bedroom apartment."I don't have sex with him for more than seven days," Anny admitted to the cameras because of their living situation.Robert said it was time to move into a two-bedroom place so Bryson would have his own bed and he and Anny could have some privacy, but little did Anny know, he had just renewed his old lease for another year.Robert found a beautiful place for Anny on a lake that boasted two bedrooms and two bathrooms and came at a cost of $1,750 per month.Anny didn't want to wait a year to move, and she didn't understand why Robert had renewed his lease considering he knew she was coming to the United States.Anny thought it was "f-cked up," but Robert said he needed a place to live before she arrived.Robert wasn't willing to throw money away on two apartments, and he also pointed out Anny expected a nice wedding too. Anny was tired of having to wait for everything that Robert had promised her, but Robert insisted she wanted too much too soon and they were just checking out their options.The pair argued in front of the realtor, who noted Anny seemed very feisty. Robert told Anny she was "ungrateful," "selfish" and "inconsiderate," especially because she had argued with him in front of a person they didn't even know.Robert wanted to know whether Anny loved him or the apartment more, but she didn't answer -- she just "pouted like a little baby," according to Robert. Anny was waiting for Robert to step up to the plate and do things for her.Later on, Robert celebrated Anny's birthday by making her a birthday cake, and she finally felt appreciated and loved.Anny, who said she's a sexy girl who likes to show off her curvy body and dance moves, asked Robert to take her to stripclub to see what it's like in America. Robert told the cameras he was "just trying to chill and have a family" and he was over the stripclub scene."You should be happy I'm focusing on you. That part of my past is over with," Robert said.Anny called Robert "boring" and said she'd just enjoy the stripclub by herself on her birthday. Robert finally agreed to go for a little while, but he admitted he was a homebody and just liked spending time with his son.Anny didn't want to marry "an old man" who likes to stay home all the time, so Robert obliged to make her happy.At the club, Anny received a lap dance and was apparently touchy-feely with the dancers, which threw a red flag for Robert, who wasn't sure whether Anny was actually attracted to other women.Robert therefore flat out asked Anny whether she had ever been a stripper or "ever been with a woman before." Anny insisted she had never stripped but suggested they could have a threesome with another woman for his upcoming birthday.Instead of getting excited, Robert was turned off by Anny's comment since he didn't want that type of behavior in his house or around his young son."I feel disrespected because you think it's a joke and obviously this relationship to you is a joke," Robert told Anny."What I want is a good woman -- a woman who just wants her husband... And right now, what you're showing me, you are not what I want."Robert wanted a loving and caring woman who could set a great example for his son, but Anny said she just had fantasies she'd like to explore with her man."If he loves me, he has to accept me for who I am," Anny told the cameras, adding that Robert was no fun.Luckily, Anny got along great with Robert's sister Robin, whom Anny trusted and easily opened up to."He have to give me more sex because I don't come here to play games only," Anny told Robin."He's only sleeping and sleeping and sleeping. I don't want that. I want to have sex every day -- sometimes three times a day."Robin told Robert to compromise and try to sleep with his girl more, but Robert said he woke up at 5AM every day and came home late after working all day. Robert thought Anny was demanding because she wanted to be intimate three or four times a day."I'm not a machine," Robert complained.Robin realized her brother's relationship wasn't great and he and Anny needed to find some common ground or at least agree to disagree in order to avoid further conflict.However, Anny still went on to pick out a sexy, mermaid-style wedding dress with a train that was in Robert's budget for their big day.In the latest episode, Anny met Robert's big brother, Kenny, who was a little skeptical of Anny's intentions and whether she was just using Robert for money and a life in America.While chatting at a brewery, Kenny was acting a bit cold and judgmental.Kenny wondered if Anny was just going to walk away once she became a U.S. citizen, but Anny said Robert treated her with love and she was happy in that moment of time.Anny asked Kenny if he was going to attend her wedding, and he made a face, which really pissed Anny off. She didn't appreciate his attitude and called him out for not liking her."He was so mean. I was frustrated," Anny told the cameras in a confessional.Anny also claimed Robert had lied to her a lot, and she cited the following example: "Robert, you tell me you have three kids, and one month before I came, you tell me you have five. I was, 'Oh my God'... you never told me about that. I don't want a man with five kids. That's too much for me."The conversation got progressively worse, and Anny finally stormed out of the brewery crying.Anny felt very alone and said a man who loved her would never talk about her that way, especially in front of his family or friends.A copy of Robert and Anny's marriage license leaked out on the Internet after it was obtained by Soap Dirt.According to the couple's marriage license, Anny and Robert filed the paperwork in Orange County, FL, on August 12, 2019.Soap Dirt reported Robert and Anny tied the knot by traveling to Eustis, FL, which is just about 35 miles north of Orlando. The couple reportedly exchanged vows there on September 21, 2019!The couple tied the knot at The Little Wedding Chapel, according to Soap Dirt, which noted the venue offers very budget-friendly wedding packages that only cost a few hundred dollars (less than the iPhone Anny wanted Robert to buy her).The venue has seating for up to fifty guests and supplies a minister, decorations, a coordinator, bouquets of flowers, a photographer, music and more.It's clear Anny didn't have the beach wedding of her dreams, but it seemed Robert splurged a bit from what he had been hoping to spend.It's also possible Robert and Anny opted to upgrade to The Little Wedding Chapel's "Elope With Elvis" package, which costs an additional $350-$450 dollars depending on what options you want.This was both Robert and Anny's first marriage, reportedly.Want spoilers? Click here to visit our Spoilers webpage!
Trump Administration Moves to Stop California from Forcing Abortion Coverage into Every Health Care Plan NEWS PROVIDED BY Life Legal Defense Foundation Jan. 24, 2020 WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2020 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today, the Trump Administration took action against a 2014 California policy forcing all insurance providers to include elective abortion in all health insurance policies sold in the state. According to a letter from the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS OCS) to California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, California has 30 days to notify the Office whether it intends to continue enforcing its abortion coverage mandate, "or will instead agree to take corrective actions to come into compliance with the law." Failure to comply jeopardizes billions of dollars in federal funds that flow to California each year.



A little over five years ago, Life Legal Defense Foundation filed two complaints with the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS OCS). The complaints, filed on behalf of a number of California churches and residents, protested the decision by the Director of California's Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) to mandate that all health insurance policies sold in California had to provide coverage for elective abortions.



As today's letter from the HHS-OCR explains, the DMHC decision was the direct result of lobbying by abortion advocates, who had been outraged to learn that some religious employers had been able to secure, with DMHC approval, health coverage for their employees that did not include elective abortion. As the letter explains, "Abortion providers and advocacy groups, including Planned Parenthood. . . . pressured DMHC to not only reverse its decision to allow the coverage changes, but also to make elective abortion coverage mandatory for all health care plans falling under DMHC's jurisdiction."



DMHC responded to the "pressure campaign" by sending letters to the seven California health service plan insurers, ordering them to include coverage for abortion "without exclusion or limitation" in every plan they offered. This move "forced over 28,000 people out of plans that up until that time had chosen not to cover elective abortions."



As explained in Life Legal's complaints to the HHS-OCR, California's actions violate the Weldon Amendment, which prohibits various sources of federal money from going to any state or local government that discriminates against any health care entity "on the basis that the health care entity does not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions."



Under the Obama administration, those complaints languished for over a year and half, before we finally received a response, claiming that no violation was found.



However, under President Trump, the issue was re-examined, and today the Office of Civil Rights notified California of its determination that California's abortion mandate is in violation of the Weldon Amendment, and that the state must correct its policy if it is to continue to receive funds under several federal appropriations bills



"Abortion advocates will claim that Trump is jeopardizing the well-being of California residents by threatening to withhold these federal funds," said Life Legal's Vice President for Legal Affairs Catherine Short, who filed the complaints in 2014. "In fact, it is pro-abortion extremists in the state government who have decided that their highest priority is to force every man, woman, and child, every employer and employee, every church and school in California to be complicit in taking the lives of the most innocent and vulnerable among us."



About Life Legal Defense Foundation

Life Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a nonprofit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our nation. For more information about the Life Legal Defense Foundation, visit www.lldf.org.

CONTACT: Alexandra Snyder, 202-717-7371, asnyder@lldf.org Related Links www.lldf.org



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The government of the Bahamas has completed legislation to oversee the issuance and trading of cryptocurrency.

The DARE Bill 2020, as seen by the Nassau Guardian, outlines regulations for sellers and intermediary service providers of digital tokens  as well as the penalties for breaking them.

Fines of $500,000 or prison sentences of up to five years could be imposed on people who commit offences under the act.

Other punishments include a public reprimand, being banned from certain operations, suspension, redundancy, and more.

Businesses that provide digital token exchanges, custodial wallet services, digital custody services, and the transfer of digital assets will be required to register with the Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB).

The Bahamas is keen to be at the forefront of the cryptocurrency sphere and has introduced a number of initiatives to develop the industry and encourage investment.

Bahamas

The Bahamas is a crypto hotspot

The Central Bank of The Bahamas has introduced a digital version of the Bahamian dollar under a pilot scheme.

The central bank digital currency (CBDC) has been dubbed the Sand Dollar by officials and the initiative as a whole is referred to as Project Sand Dollar.

It will launch in the Exuma region and extend to the Abaco area in the first half of 2020.

A statement says this is a continuation of the Bahamian Payments System Modernisation Initiative (PSMI).

The scheme, which began in the early 2000s, aims to improve financial inclusion and access for the nations unbanked.

The post Bahamas introduces DARE crypto bill appeared first on Coin Rivet.


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In a speech delivered from the White House, President Donald Trump asked the nations mayors for cooperation.

We are here today to strengthen the bond of cooperation between the federal and local governments so that we can deliver great jobs, excellent schools, affordable healthcare, and safe communities for all of our people, said Trump.

As part of the United States Conference of Mayors 88th winter meeting in Washington, Trump spoke to a gathering of mayors on Jan. 24 in a crowded East Room.

He spoke about the recent progress made in trade deal negotiations, reduction of national unemployment rates, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICEs) efforts in removing MS-13 gang members from the country.

However, Trump also acknowledged further work is necessary to increase safety in cities and local communities. The opioid crisis is another issue that has seen some progress but still requires continual attention, he said.

He also emphasized the need to improve cooperation between local and federal governments in the area of law enforcement and public safety.

I urge all of you here today to cooperate fully with federal law enforcement. Were all on the same team. I think thats the biggest point; were all on the same team. We want to have safety, said Trump.

He continued, and, yousome have sanctuary cities, but even if you do have sanctuary cities, we want to be able to work together, because tremendous differences in crime numbers can happen, and it has been happening.

In line with the message of the need for increased measures to ensure public safety, President Trump, at the end of his speech, signed H.R. 2476, Securing American Nonprofit Organizations Against Terrorism Act of 2019.

This resolution will appropriate $75 million per year, for the next five years, to protect houses of worship and other nonprofits from terrorist attacks. Through the establishment of a Nonprofit Security Grant Program, eligible nonprofit organizations can apply for grants to improve security measures and protect against possible terrorist attacks.

Before the meeting with Trump, the United States Conference of Mayors held a 3-day conference to discuss their goals and visions for the United States in 2020. Participating mayors held panels during which they discussed various issues, including infrastructure, healthcare, immigration, safety, jobs, gun control, and more.

Contrary to Trumps emphasis on the need for local and federal government cooperation, many mayors cited a lack of dependability and partnership from the federal government.

Nan Whaley, Mayor of Dayton, Ohio, and Second Vice President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors explained in a Jan. 22 press conference that the Conference of Mayors was founded during a time when there was great inaction, so the nations mayors came together to advocate for partnership and action.

We continue to have frustration from the lack of partnership we see from this city [Washington, D.C.]. We continue to call for action around gun violence prevention, around opioid epidemics, around vast inequality in our communities, said Whaley.

Bryan Barnett, mayor of Rochester Hills, Michigan, and president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors stated that the mayors have collaborated on a plan for Americas future, centered around our three Is of infrastructure, innovation, and inclusion.

Given the emphasis on infrastructure throughout the mayors press conference, a member of the press questioned the mayors about the tax and cost concerns that come with infrastructure and where the funding would come from for such large-scale projects.

Heres the deal, we never want that [cost] to end the discussion, because we know that theres a very complicated answer to some of those things. But what I would tell you is that the men and women behind me have implemented local solutions to many of these [problems] by finding innovative ways to fund many of these initiatives, answered Barnett.

The United States Conference of Mayors 88th winter meeting was held from Jan. 22 to 24.

From The Epoch Times
By Lawrence Delevingne and Svea Herbst-Bayliss

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Glenn Dubin, who made a fortune building and managing hedge funds, is retiring from the industry after 40 years to focus on private investments, the billionaire investor said.

Dubin, 62, will turn over management and his equity stake in Engineers Gate LP, the quantitative hedge fund firm he founded in 2014, at the end of January, he told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

Engineers Gate President Greg Eisner will take over as chief executive and chair the investment committee. Dubin said Eisner already ran most day-to-day operations of the approximately $1 billion (761 million pounds) firm.

The firm hopes to increase its assets to as much as $2 billion despite profits cut by the high fees of building the high-tech business, according to a person familiar with the situation. Engineers Gates annualised gains of about 13% over the last four years come out to about 5% for clients, net of fees, the person said.

Dubin's exit adds him to a growing list of prominent managers who have stepped back from running hedge funds, including Louis Bacon, John Griffin, Stephen Mandel and Leon Cooperman, at a time of increasing pressure from clients and muted industry returns.

Dubin said he plans to focus on direct investing--as opposed to passive stakes in hedge funds--through his family office, Dubin & Co.

He is also on the boards of The Robin Hood Foundation, The Museum of Modern Art and Mount Sinai Health System, in addition to the executive committee of the Harvard Kennedy School.

"I want to be active, I want to be on boards, I want to be invested in operating companies," Dubin said.

Engineers Gate, based in New York and named after an entrance to Central Park, launched with $100 million from Dubin. The firm started with four portfolio managers and now has 14, among 90 other employees.

He said the decision to leave Engineers Gate had nothing to do with media attention related to his old association with Jeffrey Epstein, the late U.S. financier charged with trafficking underage girls.

Story continues

Dubin told Reuters that news coverage of his and his wife Eva Andersson-Dubins relationship with Epstein and related allegations by Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-jeffrey-epstein-documents/jeffrey-epstein-accuser-links-powerful-men-to-financier-civil-court-filing-idUSKCN1UZ27X had been "false" and upsetting but that he was encouraged by loyal friends who showed support.

The son of a New York City taxi driver and a first-generation college graduate, Dubin partnered with childhood friend Henry Swieca in 1992 to form Highbridge Capital Management, which became one of the largest and best-known hedge fund firms.

In 2004, the pair sold a majority stake to JPMorgan Chase & Co <JPM.N>. Dubin left Highbridge in 2013, when it controlled approximately $35 billion.

Dubin said he was proud of his time in the investment industry but had long planned to step back, especially with the growth of Engineers Gate and his youngest child leaving home for college.

"Its bittersweet," Dubin said by telephone. "Ive had a phenomenal career."

(Reporting by Lawrence Delevingne and Svea Herbst-Bayliss; editing by Diane Craft)
Access to safe, affordable health care is a fundamental human right and should never be denied to any New Mexican for any reason. The cost of medicine should not prevent someone from receiving care. Now, more than ever, vulnerable New Mexicans need access to care in the form of Medicaid and insurance coverage.

More than 80,000 patients are enrolled in the Medical Cannabis Program, which has one of the highest penetration rates of any states program at 5% of the total adult population.

In 2018, patients paid over $106 million out of pocket for medicine. Patients also pay anywhere from $70 to $200 for their certification. With financial burdens so high, patients need medical protection.

According to the May 2019 patient survey commissioned by the New Mexico Department of Health and conducted by Research & Polling Inc., 52% of patients reported household income of less than $35,000. Over half of those reported household incomes under $20,000. Sixty-four percent of patients do not work full time, whether theyre disabled, part-time workers, retired or unemployed. Given this data, medical cannabis coverage is, no doubt, a need far more than it is a want.

Real people are experiencing severe financial hardship due to the personal burden of affording their medicine.

Medicaid covers traditional prescriptions. Yet these (can be) more harmful or less effective than medical cannabis. If insurance covers one, why wouldnt it cover the medicine that actually works? Moreover, why wouldnt the state cover cannabis for Medicaid-eligible patients who are struggling due to out-of-pocket costs?

Currently, federal dollars cannot cover cannabis. However, state funds can cover cannabis with Medicaid, and this will likely save money. With the states optimistic financial outlook and revenue from adult-use legalization, New Mexico is ripe for including medical cannabis as a covered service.

In 2014, New Mexicos workers compensation law was updated to include cannabis coverage, deeming medical cannabis as the functional equivalent to prescriptions. This year, the federal U.S. District Court for New Mexico recognized medical cannabis dispensaries as the equivalent to pharmacies.

In the updated Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act, lawmakers added an intentional clause stating a qualified patients use of cannabis pursuant to the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act shall be considered the equivalent of the use of any other medication under the direction of a physician and shall not be considered to constitute the use of an illicit substance or otherwise disqualify a qualified patient from medical care.

Our governor indicated strengthening the medical program is a top priority in light of legalization. Strengthening the program and providing benefits for patients should always be a priority, regardless if legalization passes. To strengthen the program, you must ease access, provide an adequate supply and give patients the reimbursements they deserve. Otherwise, patients are forced to seek lower prices on the unregulated black market, where they risk criminal prosecution and their health.

Germany offers federal cannabis insurance and reimburses patients for flower, extracts and cannabis pharmaceuticals. It wont be long until other states enact cannabis coverage, too.

In 1978, New Mexico made history as the first state to statutorily allow the medical use of cannabis in some form. New Mexico again made history in 2007 as one of the first states to fully legalize the beneficial use of medical cannabis. And in 2019, it became the only program to allow nonresidents to enroll and access cannabis care.

Its time, again, for New Mexico to make history. Its time to demonstrate leadership and allow the states most vulnerable population to truly reap the beneficial use of cannabis by authorizing coverage for medical cannabis care.

Duke Rodriguez is a former Cabinet secretary for the Human Services Department, where he initiated statewide reform in welfare and Medicaid services. He served as COO for Lovelace, Inc. and COO of Diagnostek, Inc., a NYSE pharmacy benefit management company.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 23:38:27|Editor: Yurou

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ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- South Sudanese nationals represent the largest refugee population in Ethiopia, totaling 329,123 at the end of 2019, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.

Ethiopia, which hosts one of the largest refugee population in Africa along with Uganda and Sudan, is now home to more than 735,000 refugees, the majority of which from neighboring South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan, Kisut Gebregziabher, spokesperson for office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Ethiopia, told Xinhua.

Amid the influx of South Sudanese nationals in recent years fleeing the conflict that affected the world's youngest nation since late 2013, Ethiopia's Gambella regional state received 8,219 new arrivals in 2019, according to the latest UNHCR figures.

Refugees from Somalia represent the second largest refugee population in Ethiopia, totaling 191,575 at the end of 2019.

Somalia refugees constitute 26.1 percent of the registered refugees in Ethiopia, with 8,736 new arrivals in Ethiopia's Somali regional state during 2019, fleeing drought and generalized instability.

Of the 139,281 Eritrean refugees recorded at the end of last year, 72,737 were new arrivals.

The number of Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia was at 42,285, and 6,456 of them arrived in 2019.

The UNHCR urged the international community to support its humanitarian response activities in Ethiopia.

"The UN refugee agency and its partners are appealing for robust international support for refugee operations in Ethiopia with the launch of a funding appeal for 658 million U.S. dollars to assist over 735,000 refugees and more than half a million Ethiopian hosts in 2020," Gebregziabher told Xinhua on Friday.

"International support and solidarity is vital to ensure the implementation of the wide range of rights granted to refugees by Ethiopia during the last three years," he said.
A majority of lawmakers in Burkina Faso voted a new law providing for extending funding and training to local vigilantes in response to the growing firepower of jihadist groups in the Sahel nation.

Vigilante groups called koglweogo  guardians of the bush in the Moore language  will be the first beneficiaries of the fund. However, the United Nations and human rights activists expressed fear that it could empower fighters accused of ethnic killings in the past.

There are an estimated 40,000 such groups across Burkina Faso, according to the UN.

This law was voted unanimously by the parliament, Defense Minister Moumina Cheriff Sy told reporters after the vote.

It shows that beyond our differences of opinion we can be one when it comes to defending the homeland.

Earlier this week, on Monday, militants killed 36 people at a market in a village in northern Burkina Faso.

West Africa is facing a growing threat from Islamist extremist groups. Many of these groups originated in Mali but have since spilled over its borders, some of which establishing themselves in the north and east of Burkina Faso.

The country has become a desirable haven for many groups because of the security vacuum that has defined the country following the deposition of longtime strongman Blaise Compaore.
When the fog had lifted after my sons heroin overdose death, I often drove to the house in the South Valley where his dealer lived.

I used to park across from the house and sit there, hoping, fearing I would see the dealer emerge. Once, I chased after a shadowy figure who put something in his pocket and pedaled away on a bike.

Only after he turned to glare at me did I realize he was a kid, maybe 11 or 12.

I lost him.

All I knew about the dealer was that she went by the name Sam and that she had

corresponded with my son in dozens of cellphone texts about what she had to sell and what he wanted to buy.

After he died, his phone was handed down to his younger brother, who cleared the texts, erasing what little evidence there was connecting Sam to that last, lethal dose.

My vigil at the house, I think, was my way of making amends for not saving that evidence. I must have thought that somehow I would witness something to help nail her for the evil she sold to sick young men.

Nothing came of it. To this day, I regret that I was unable to get Sam and dealers like her off the streets.

But this week, one of those dealers was taken off the street forever. It took eight years, but Raymond Moya, 36, was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for distribution of heroin resulting in death in the 2011 fatal overdose of La Cueva High School student Cameron Weiss, 18. Its believed to be the first time a drug trafficker in New Mexico has been convicted of the crime and given such a stiff sentence.

Weiss mother hopes it wont be the last time.

I think this sets a precedence for other prosecutors to take a chance at trying cases like this, said Jennifer Weiss-Burke, who after her sons death became a

champion against the opioid crisis and the founder of Healing Addiction in Our Community and Serenity Mesa Youth Recovery Center. Its very difficult to prove that the drugs sold by a particular person are the drugs that actually ended up causing another person to overdose, but I think the U.S. Attorneys Office and the Drug Enforcement Agency did an incredible job with the details of this case, collecting evidence and proving that Raymond Moya was indeed the dealer who sold the heroin that caused Camerons overdose. I think other prosecuting agencies can use this case as a guide to determine what evidence they need and how to proceed so they might have the same success.

One of the few similar cases I could track down began April 29, 2015, when a person identified in court records as DJJ died of a heroin overdose. Rosendo Flores Angulo, a midlevel drug dealer in Albuquerque, and co-defendant Curtis Hutchinson of Edgewood were indicted on numerous federal drug trafficking charges, including distribution of heroin resulting in death. Both men later agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin resulting in death.

In his plea, Hutchinson admitted that he regularly sold heroin supplied by Angulo to finance his own addiction and that he had sold $20 of heroin  about 0.25 of a gram  to DJJ, which killed him.

In 2017, Angulo was sentenced 17 years in prison; Hutchinsons case file contains no final sentencing information.

Moya, however, had not agreed to plead guilty, rolling the dice and hoping for a better outcome with a trial.

Moyas attorney, Jerry Daniel Herrera, had argued that the timeline and toxicology of Weiss death called into question whether the heroin prosecutors

were connecting to his client was the cause of Weiss death and that others in Weiss circle were more responsible for his death  none who received as severe a penalty as Moyas, some who had received immunity for their testimony.

It took jurors minutes last May to convict Moya anyway.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Judith Herrera sealed Moyas fate, noting that life imprisonment was the only penalty she could impose under federal law because of Moyas previous convictions for serious drug or violent felony offenses.

According to his sentencing memorandum, Moya was a career criminal who made a good living in a bad drug trade, despite growing up with a father and sister addicted to heroin, the death of his girlfriend from a drug overdose and the deaths of at least five friends to the drugs and violence that enmeshed his world.

The memorandum also says that he used college financial aid to buy drugs and rejected court-imposed drug rehabilitation. His long criminal history includes trafficking, striking a woman with a handgun, shooting from a vehicle and stomping repeatedly on the head of an inmate in a gang-related attack at the Torrance County Detention Center.

Weiss, on the other hand, was a promising athlete who became addicted to opiates after being prescribed painkillers for injuries. Despite several stays in rehab, the addiction proved stronger.

Text messages linking Weiss to Moya, the recollection of friends who could detail his actions during the last week of his life and the autopsy report all helped form the case against Moya.

Weiss-Burke said she hopes Moyas fate sends a message, a warning, a promise.

The more we can hold drug dealers and traffickers accountable, the fewer people will be willing to sell and traffic drugs, she said. Its like a game to them. Drug dealers have never been held accountable for the deaths they cause  until now.

For those of us who have lost a loved one to opioids, we share in this victory.

I hope Sam is listening.

UpFront is a front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Joline at 823-3603, jkrueger@abqjournal.com or follow her on Twitter @jolinegkg. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.
Tuscaloosa police are asking for the publics help in finding a Bryant High School student who was reported missing on Thursday.

Rochelle Denae Dearman was last seen Thursday morning in the 4800 block of East Skyland Boulevard, police said. She did not arrive at school; she was reported missing by her father, police said Friday.

Rochelle was described as being 5-feet 1-inches tall and weighing 145 pounds. She has a light complexion, long black hair and wears glasses.

Anyone with information on Rochelles whereabouts was asked to call the Tuscaloosa Police Department at 205-349-2121 or Crime Stoppers at 205-752-7867.
Independent Reserve, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in Australia, is expanding to Singapore after an overwhelmingly positive response from the regulator.

Adrian Przelozny, CEO and founder of the Sydney-based exchange, announced Friday it had expanded its trading services to users in Singapore, saying in a statement that his team felt the time was right to make this move.

Przelozny referenced a number of positive moves by Singaporean regulators as part of his reasoning.

Related: Gemini Completes Second Level of Cybersecurity Compliance Exam

Independent Reserve offers a host of retail and institutional trading features, including a spot marketplace and over-the-counter (OTC) service. The exchange introduced insurance coverage against theft or loss of digital assets held in a clients account in February 2019.

Established in 2013, Independent Reserve claims it has more than 120,000 customers and 8,000 self-managed super funds (SMSFs), a private superannuation fund operated by its members and regulated by Australian law.

Singapore adopted an open-arms approach to cryptocurrency regulation when the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the countrys de facto central bank and financial regulator, created a legal framework  the 2019 Payment Services Act  that effectively brought all cryptocurrency payments providers under its jurisdiction.

The Payments Services Act was one of the main factors that influenced the Independent Reserves decision to move to Singapore, according to Przelozny.

Related: ErisX Adds New Trading Features With Etale Partnership

Having worked closely with Australian regulators, and as the only Australian exchange to have insurance on crypto assets, the response weve received so far from the Singapore market has been overwhelmingly positive, Przelozny said.

A number of other exchanges, attracted to Singapores regulatory regime, have also expressed an interest in moving to the country. Binance announced plans to set up a new fiat-to-crypto exchange in the country last year. A group of ex-Morgan Stanley bankers launched a crypto derivatives exchange in December after MAS published a proposal to regulate these types of financial products.

Story continues

New Singapore users will now have access to an institutional trading platform for cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, ether, litecoin and XRP. Singaporean dollar trading pairs will be integrated into its platform and will operate as a wholly separate entity from the Australian-based platform, Independent Reserve confirmed.

Related Stories
On January 21, the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) told the media that a soldier linked to fascist groups, who was arrested in December, has now been charged with unlawfully accessing a computer to disclose military information likely to prejudice the security or defence of New Zealand.

No further details have been officially released, including what the information was or who received it. The name of the 27-year-old man, who was based at Linton Military Camp, remains suppressed within New Zealand, meaning no media can identify him. No justification has been given for the name suppression.

The case raises disturbing questions, including whether the soldier had any contact with Christchurch terrorist Brenton Tarrant, who massacred 51 people and injured 49 in attacks on two mosques. The arrested soldier was reportedly questioned following the March 15, 2019 attacks, indicating that the NZDF knew about his fascist views. However, he was not dismissed from the army at the time.

Stuff reported on January 22 that the soldier used the pseudonym Johann Wolfe and was a self-described co-founder of the white nationalist group the Dominion Movement, which subscribed to the same identitarian politics as the March 15 terror suspect. The Dominion Movement took down its website following the Christchurch shootings, but Stuff noted that shortly afterwards a seemingly identical organisation emerged called Action Zealandia.

The soldier is also reportedly a member of far-right bodybuilding club Wargus Christi, which frequently posted anti-Semitic, anti-Islamic and homophobic material on Facebook.

Like Tarrants manifesto, Action Zealandia (AZ) rails against the replacement of white people by non-white immigrants. The Christchurch shooter donated thousands of dollars to similar identitarian groups in France and Austria. AZ recently vandalised the office of Chinese-born National Party MP Jian Yang with posters echoing the anti-Chinese propaganda peddled by supporters of the Labour Party-NZ First-Greens government.

Johann Wolfe is apparently well-known in extreme-right circles both in New Zealand and Australia. Speaking on a podcast run by Australian fascist group The Dingoes, in February 2019, he made racist statements about Maori and also declared that China is taking over New Zealand and sending colonists here. Like the Dominion Movement, The Dingoes removed its website after the March 15 massacre.

The revelation that a known fascist was allowed to serve for several years in the NZ military, with access to weaponry, should sound alarm bells. One report stated that the arrested soldier announced on social media he had joined a Nazi organisation in 2014, the same year he joined the Army. Internationally, as Tarrant indicated in his manifesto, the armed forces, police and other state agencies serve as incubators and protectors for extreme-right forces.

The charges against Wolfe follow an increase in fascist incidents in New Zealand. Soon after Action Zealandias vandalism of Yangs office, the Otago Daily Times reported on January 16 that Bilal Barekzai, a former Afghan refugee who opened an auto-parts business in Milton last August, had experienced more than 40 instances of property damage and theft, culminating in an alleged arson that engulfed several cars.

Barekzai said the attacks were racially motivated and he had received a threat saying: Your days are numbered here. Well burn your place fully down sooner or later and then well come after your homes and mosques. Barekzai complained that police had done nothing to prevent the attacks and tried to downplay the seriousness of whats been happening.

Milton, a small town south of Dunedin, is the location of the Bruce Rifle Club where Tarrant trained with military-style guns before carrying out his massacre. Peter Breidahl, a hunter, went to police in late 2017 to report racist and violent language used by members of the club. Breidahl said police dismissed his complaint, telling him there was nothing to worry about.

On January 22, the Temple Sinai and the Jewish Progressive Congregation in Wellington were spray-painted with swastikas. Events in New Zealand over the past year and beyond that has left us with a sense of insecurity and vulnerability, Temple chair Matthew Smith told journalists from NZME publishing.

Fascists have been emboldened by the entire political establishment and much of the corporate media, which have for years demonised Muslims to justify New Zealands participation in the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The ruling Labour Party and its coalition partner, the nationalist NZ First, have encouraged anti-immigrant sentiment against Chinese and other Asian people, scapegoating them for the high cost of living and low wages. NZ First, supported by the trade union-backed Daily Blog, pro-US academic Anne-Marie Brady and much of the media, depicts China as a threat in the same way as Action Zealandia.

In the lead-up to the 2017 election, NZ First leader Winston Peters ranted at a meeting in Dunedin that Yangs membership in the National Party left New Zealand exposed to being a pawn of the Communists in China. Peters backed unsubstantiated claims by Brady, whose work is funded by NATO and the Washington think tank the Wilson Centre, that Yang is a Chinese spy.

The anti-China campaign aims to align New Zealand more fully with the Trump administrations trade war and military build-up against China. At the same time, xenophobia is being promoted to divide the working class and block any unified fight against social inequality, which has worsened under the Ardern government.

The governments response to the Christchurch massacre has nothing to do with stopping the growth of the far-right. Ardern has exploited the atrocity to campaign internationally for stronger censorship of social media. Her government has also used the Christchurch attack to justify increased funding for the intelligence agencies and arming the police in many parts of the country. The military is also being expanded, with billions of dollars in upgrades and more troops being recruited.

Internationally, the crisis of capitalism has produced a powerful wave of mass protests and strikes and led growing numbers of workers and young people to support the perspective of socialism. The ruling class is responding with ever-more authoritarian forms of rule and encouraging far-right forces, for which there is no mass support.

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[17 January 2020]
Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor G C Murmu on Saturday said militancy remains the biggest concern as innocent youth are indoctrinated to take misguided paths in the union territory.

"On this day, I salute the bravery of our police and security forces for battling militancy and ensuring that there is public order in Jammu and Kashmir. The nation is proud of them," Murmu said in his Republic Day message here.

Extending greetings to the people on the occasion of the 71st Republic Day, Murmu said, "We also pay homage to civilians who have fallen prey to wanton violence."



"Militancy remains our biggest concern as innocent youth are indoctrinated to take misguided paths. Although incidents of militancy have come down drastically, the threat posed by it requires attention not only to eradicate it but also prevent loss due to it," he said.

He said the valiant security personnel need to continue to be on guard to thwart any attempts to disturb peace across Jammu and Kashmir, thereby disrupting the development, growth and opportunities for peace-loving people.

Referring to various curbs in the aftermath of abrogation of provisions of Article 370 last August, Murmu said these restrictions were necessary owing to the problems being created and propaganda from across the border.

"Our priority was that there should be no bloodshed which we have achieved," he said.

He said the restrictions on many fronts have been largely relaxed in a gradual manner.

"We facilitated people to perform their tasks even under difficult circumstances. I thank the people of Jammu and Kashmir for cooperating on this front," he said.

On the security front, a substantial number of bunkers are now complete in border areas of Jammu and the rest would be completed soon.

"We have sanctioned bunkers in Bandipora (north Kashmir) and will be doing so in Baramulla and Kupwara also," he said.

To improve investigation of cyber crime, two cyber police stations have been set up, one each at Jammu and Srinagar, the Lt Governor said.

"Out of the 2,014 sanctioned posts for two women police battalions, the process of recruitment against 1,350 direct recruit posts is in progress. Besides, out of the 2,014 posts sanctioned for two border battalions, the process of recruitment against 1,350 direct recruit posts is in progress," he said.

Referring to the fall of the PDP-BJP government in 2018 and subsequent developments, he said the last one-and-a-half years have been transformative for Jammu and Kashmir in many ways.

"Under the Governor's and the President's Rule, the goal has been simple - good governance and delivering development. To provide good governance, a people-centric and a development-oriented work culture has been introduced with a focus on results.

"The goal has been on timely completion of projects and delivery of benefits. In future, we will take more measures to ensure that the government is run in a rule-based manner with no arbitrariness or delays. Accountability will be ensured at all levels. The primary duty of government employees is public service and this will be ensured," he said.

Murmu said a lot has been done on the development front in the last 18 months.

"Implementation of the Prime Minister's Development Programme (PMDP) has been accelerated with substantial progress in the past 18 months as compared to the previous three years," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
SPRINGFIELD  The Hampden district attorney has filed additional charges against Miguel A. Rodriguez, the Springfield man accused last week of abducting an 11-year-old girl, to include multiple charges of sexual assault.

In documents filed Friday in Springfield District Court, prosecutors have added three counts of aggravated rape of a child with force and a single count of indecent assault and battery on a child under age 14.

Prosecutors also sought to have the court impound documents explaining the new charges, including the police report on the investigation. Judge John M. Payne agreed to impound the documents for six months.

Rodriguez previously was charged with kidnapping, assault with a dangerous weapon and intimidating a witness following the Jan. 15 abduction. This is the first time officials have indicated the victim in the case was also sexually assaulted.

Rodriguez was in court on Wednesday for a dangerousness hearing to determine if he should be a candidate for bail. Instead, prosecutors told the court that Rodriguez had repeatedly refused to meet with a clinician for a mental health evaluation. He was ordered to be taken to Bridgewater State Hospital for a mental health assessment.

He is due back in court on Feb. 11 to be arraigned on the new charges.

Rodriguez was arrested on the Massachusetts Turnpike several hours after he reportedly abducted the girl off the street as she walked home from school. The abduction  which officials said was a rare instance where a child was taken by a total stranger  triggered a regional Amber Alert that notified police departments, media and the general public throughout the Northeast.

As part of the Amber Alert, police released the name and photograph of the 11-year-old girl, and both have been used repeatedly in the media since. In light of the new charges, The Republican is no longer disclosing her identity.

Assistant District Attorney Rachael T. Eramo, in her request to the court for impounding parts of the case file, said the resulting and continuing publicity of the case could affect the integrity of the criminal investigation into the abduction and sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl. It also poses a threat to Rodriguezs constitutional right to a fair trial, she said.

Media attention in relation to this case is intense and ongoing. There has been statewide as well as nationwide media coverage of each scheduled court date, she wrote. Disclosing details (such as those in the court file) could bring undue or prejudicial publicity in the matter, affecting the defendants right to a fair trial.
We all have our own troubles. Leo and Micheal are battling away in the cage for the title of Taoiseach and me, well, all I'm worried about is dressing up like Dolly Parton.

I dressed as a woman once before and it was for a panto. It's not easy being a woman, what with all the underwear and the hair, the nails, the make-up and the glass ceilings.

In my view the padded bra is far more comfortable than the wire bra.

That wire bra would cut the shoulders off you. Now I know what Matt Talbot went through. Matt wore chains that bit into him. By all accounts he was making up for his sins.

Some of our politicians would be torn to ribbons if they took up self- flagellation as an act of atonement. It's far easier to go in to the confession box and say: "Bless me Father, for I have been fooling the people for years."

Personally I like to self-confess. I don't like anyone knowing my business. I say: "Bless me Billy, for I have sinned." I reply: "I forgive you my child. Go on away with you and drink a few pints to cure yourself."

Yes I am a sinner. I admit it freely.

TDs are also into selfless acts of self-forgiveness.

Their expenses could be a minefield of temptation for the unscrupulous, if such existed. They get a fixed rate per night and there is no need to provide receipts like the rest of the people of Ireland. There's a gain here, as regular guests usually get a preferential rate.

Some of the poorer TDs even have to opt for raffles.

Picture the scene: "And the winner of the hamper full of musty sell-by-date products is a mauve ticket serial number PQWERSDTVU 543217967532145673."

It's impossible to keep count of all the serial numbers. The winning ticket in some of these draws is often mauve or salmon.

I think it's because no one knows what mauve looks like or what colour a salmon is and therefore no one will claim the prize.

A few years back a few of us put together a Guinness world record attempt to see if we could get the most people dressed up as nuns in the one spot, namely Listowel.

Cora O'Brien was our leader. She and her husband Martin lost their son David to suicide 12 years ago. David was 16.

We raised a nice bit of money for Pieta House. Joan Freeman was in charge at the time and she promised to open a Pieta House in Kerry. Joan kept her promise.

The new record we set was 1,436 and they put us in the 'Guinness Book of Records' annual, that year.

I think I might have mentioned earlier that I only dressed up as a woman once.

Nuns are women too, you know.

But when I dress as Dolly that will be three times a lady.

Dressing as Dolly was Cora's idea. The 'Guinness Book of Records' people have changed their format. Now the aspiring record holders have to pay around four grand just to get a shot at the title.

The 'Guinness Book of Records' is no longer owned by Guinness. We are looking for a sponsor.

The records people have allowed us to dress people on the same lines as Dolly in public photographs. They are very nice to deal with and are doing their best.

The big problem is to keep down the cost of the costumes.

Cora is trying to negotiate with the records people on the footwear. For Nunday we turned away about a hundred because they weren't wearing black shoes.

Men will never get the hang of wearing high heels.

They will be falling off all over the place. Then there's the cost, as most men do not own high heels, although we did wear platforms when I was a teenager. I was 6ft 7in back in the day.

The event is not certain to get the go ahead until such time as Cora finalises the deal with the Guinness records people.

The record is 250, so we are very confident of beating same if only we can keep the cost of the Dolly outfits to a minimum.

The charities this time are The Hospice and Comfort for Chemo Kerry.

I am a patron of Comfort for Chemo. My mam and dad both died from cancer and they had a lot of travelling to do to get to the chemotherapy.

I got through Christmas no bother but then just in the last week the grief burst its banks again. I think part of it comes from thinking back on all they had to go through.

Mom only had about three sessions, as there was no point in carrying on with the treatment. But Dad was up and down to Cork for months.

It took some toll. One day he said to me "the worst part is I haven't the energy to write". Dad was a writing junkie and it was so sad. He had another play in him but he was too worn out.

Many people have to get the cancer bus nearly every day. Very often the chemo patients could be on the go from early morning until late at night.

The cancer bus is fuelled not by diesel but by love. The travelling is too much for people who are very often in extremis. Hence the plan to improve chemo services in Tralee.

Provided we get the deal done with the 'Guinness Book of Records' people, Dolly Day will take place here in Listowel on Saturday, June 27. I'm pretty certain Cora will negotiate a deal.

She's one of those kind but tough women who always seem to get things done. Our Pieta House would never have been opened but for women like Cora and Marie O'Carroll, who lost her 14-year-old son Nathan to suicide.

I call it The Power of the Mom.

You will never, ever in your life have a better day out anywhere. Picture hundreds of us dressed up as Dolly, dancing from 9 to 5 and much later than that. Save the date.
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.

The warden in charge when Jeffrey Epstein ended his life in his jail cell is being moved to a leadership position at another federal correctional facility, putting him back in the field with inmates despite an ongoing investigation into the financier's death, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

The federal Bureau of Prisons is planning to move Lamine N'Diaye to the role at FCI Fort Dix, a low-security prison in Burlington County, New Jersey, the people said. The move comes months after Attorney General William Barr ordered N'Diaye be reassigned to a desk post at the Bureau of Prisons' regional office in Pennsylvania after Epstein's death as the FBI and the Justice Department's inspector general investigated.

One of the people said the agency planned to move N'Diaye into the new role on Feb. 2. The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss an internal personnel matter.

It was unclear why the agency was planning to return N'Diaye to a position supervising inmates and staff members, even though multiple investigations into Epstein's death remain active. The inspector general's investigation is continuing, and the Justice Department is still probing the circumstances that led to Epstein's death, including why he wasn't given a cellmate.

Epstein took his own life in August while awaiting trial on charges he sexually abused girls as young as 14 and young women in New York and Florida in the early 2000s.

Epstein's suicide cast a spotlight on the Bureau of Prisons and highlighted a series of safety lapses inside a high-security unit of one of the most secure jails in America. Barr said Epstein's ability to take his own life in federal custody had raised "serious questions that must be answered." He said in an interview with the AP in November that the investigation revealed a "series" of mistakes made that gave Epstein the chance to take his own life and that his suicide was the result of "a perfect storm of screw-ups."

Two correctional officers responsible for watching Epstein have pleaded not guilty to charges alleging they lied on prison records to make it seem as though they had checked on Epstein, as required, before his death. Instead, investigators say they appeared to sleep for two hours and had been browsing the internet  shopping for furniture and motorcycles  instead of watching Epstein, who was supposed to be checked on every 30 minutes.

The attorney general also removed the agency's acting director in the wake of Epstein's death and named Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, the prison agency's director from 1992 until 2003, to replace him.

Since Epstein's death and N'Diaye's removal as warden, the Manhattan jail has had two interim leaders. The newest warden, M. Licon-Vitale, used to oversee a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. Her first big order of business has been to deal with jailed lawyer Michael Avenatti's complaints about his treatment at the lockup.

The Bureau of Prisons has been plagued for years by chronic violence, extensive staffing shortages and serious misconduct.
A total of 1,500 people registered for Winter Institute 15, the American Booksellers Associations annual conference for independent booksellers, which took place in Baltimore January 2124. Of those registered, 800 were booksellers.

This years event opened with a variety of programs, including a symposium in Washington, D.C., focusing on efforts to combat Amazons market dominance in bookselling, hosted by the ABA. After agreeing that breaking up Amazon would be the simplest solution to lessening the e-tailers clout, many booksellers expressed dismay that the company may be too big for even the government to confront.

Still, they were urged on to action. It is possible to initiate change, said panelist Matt Stoller, author of Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy (S&S). You have already started itand weve had more antitrust conversation in our politics this election cycle than anytime in the previous 25 years.

Technology was front and center at this years institute. Bookshop, the new online bookstore launched by Catapult publisher Andy Hunter, goes into beta next week. The site, which replaces the e-commerce function of the ABAs IndieBound, aims to give book buyers another online option and give ABA member stores a chance to earn a 25% affiliate fee. While Bookshop has a good deal of support as a marked upgrade from IndieBound, some booksellers are also skeptical about the program.

John Rubin of Above the Treeline presented Edelweiss360, which offers a faster way for indies to market to customers than Mailchimp and Constant Contact. All the materials needed to create a marketing email, including book covers and copy, are within Edelweiss. Treeline is also developing mobile websites for bookstores, which will eventually be available as individual bookstore apps, so that bookstores can sell direct to customers.

In addition, the long-awaited Batch for Books invoicing service, which collates a publishers invoices into a single payment system for booksellers, is being tested among a small group of ABA bookstores. HarperCollins, Macmillan, and Penguin Random House have signed on to the system, but Hachette and Simon & Schuster have not. More bookstores are expected to test the system this year, but no launch date has been set.

This years Winter Institute seemed to be more politically charged than usual, perhaps due to the events proximity to Washington, D.C., during the impeachment hearings. Or the tone might have been set by the prominent activist authors who presented keynotes on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. Calling out to a packed ballroom, Rebecca Solnit noted that her success as an author of books on feminism, politics, and environmental issues has been due to the support of booksellers. You are Rebeccas 600 mommies, and were all here together at last, she said. Solnit, whose memoir, Recollections of My Nonexistence, is due from Viking in March, thanked booksellers for embracing diversity, declaring, You all are why people can read those books, and describing bookstores as temples of resistance.

During Thursday mornings keynote, Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of Good Boy, My Life in Seven Dogs (Celadon, Apr.), who once worked at the New York City branch of a Canadian bookstore chain and also at Penguin, echoed Solnits sentiments, celebrating books during a time when, she says, the nature of truth is under attack by the Trump administration.

The American Dirt Controversy

Jeanine Cummins, the author of American Dirt, which was the subject of a controversy that erupted the week before WI 15 due to its depiction of Mexico and of Mexican immigrants to the U.S., appeared for a standing-room-only q&a with Javier Ramirez of Madison Street Books in Chicago. The crowd was primarily supportive, though there were several booksellers who expressed their concerns regarding the books content, as well as the publishers huge marketing push.

Cummins defended herself and the novel, which has been denigrated as inauthentic and trauma porn by its detractors. Explaining that there are stereotypes in this country about immigrants, she said she wanted tell another side of that story, and to get at the truth of the humanity of the people involveddespite the fact that she is neither of Mexican heritage nor an immigrant.

I know this book is going to engender a lot of conversations about who has the right to tell whose story, Cummins said. I wrote fiction that I hoped would be a bridge, because screaming into the abyss wasnt working. The tenor of the conversation has been untenable at times, but Im glad to be part of it.

Cummins expressed the hope that people would judge American Dirt on its own merits rather than on what its detractors say about it. Her appearance did not seem to quash the buzz surrounding the book, as booksellers continued to discuss it in hotel hallways and lobby bars throughout the conference.

Despite the different speeches, Winter Institute remains primarily focused on establishing and refining best practices for independent bookselling, while publishers there are intent on networking with booksellers and promoting forthcoming titles. The center of activity for the latter was the galley room, where publishers offered hundreds of galleys for booksellers to take. Various sessions also allowed sales reps to pitch their picks directly to booksellers either in groups or in one-on-one meetings.

The amount of granular knowledge exchange is simply amazing, said Gavin Grant, owner of Book Moon in Easthampton, Mass., who attended Winter Institute for the first time. Its been a very practical experience for me, regarding everything from how to set up preorder campaigns to finding great new books in the galley room.

Among the recurring themes this year was the growing importance of the need for bookstores to work with the ABA and publishers in their data collection efforts. In a keynote, Harvard Business School professor Ryan Raffaelli implored booksellers to fill out the ABAs annual ABACUS survey, which establishes benchmarks for the industry.

The ABA hosted a farewell event for Oren Teicher, who retired from his role as CEO. Incoming ABA CEO Allison Hill, who starts March 1, gave a short speech and highlighted her priorities. My new job is to help ensure that the peopleall of you carrying out the quiet revolutionary act of making the world better every day through books, bookselling, and bookstorescontinue to survive and thrive, she said. Among the issues that Hill has been tasked with addressing are the cost of goods for booksellers, slim margins, and the inability of many bookstores to pay a living wage.

The point was underscored by Jamie Fiocco, owner of Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, N.C., and president of the ABA board, during the WI15 Town Hall. Margins on books are not a viable business model, she said. We know that. We have a team that knows that the model is broken. We cannot pay ourselves what we are worth or what we need to live. The publishers know this as well. They are not the enemy. But the situation is practically untenable. It is a big issue and first on our plate, and we are going to have a lot of discussions on it.

Winter Institute 16 will take place Feb. 710, 2021, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Correction: Johanna Hynes's position was previously mistakenly described in the first photo caption.
(Newser)  Mike Pompeo apparently went off on an expletive-filled rant after an NPR interview didn't go the way he'd planned. Mary Louise Kelly sat down with the secretary of state on All Things Considered Friday for an interview that started off discussing Iran (full transcript here). Things took a turn when Kelly changed the subject and asked Pompeo if he thought he owed an apology to the former US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, for not defending her against what the Guardian calls a "smear campaign" at the hands of Rudy Giuliani and his associates. Pompeo's displeasure is clear as you listen to the full unedited interview, which you can do here; Pompeo abruptly cuts the sit-down short after saying things like "You know, I agreed to come on your show today to talk about Iran. That's what I intend to do" and refusing to answer. But then things apparently got more heated.

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Kelly told her co-host, Ari Shapiro, that after the interview ended, she was directed to Pompeo's private living room. "He shouted at me for about same amount of time as the interview itself. He was not happy to have been questioned about Ukraine," she said, per another NPR transcript. "He asked, 'do you think Americans care about Ukraine?' He used the F-word in that sentence and many others." She says he then demanded to know whether she could locate Ukraine on a map; when she said yes, he had aides bring out a world map that did not include any writing, and she pointed to the country, at which point he had the map taken away. "He said, 'people will hear about this.'" The Guardian notes Pompeo typically only gives interviews to "conservative or evangelical Christian media or outlets from his home state of Kansas." (Read more Mike Pompeo stories.)
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], Jan 25 (ANI): Madhya Pradesh government will release 186 prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment in various central jails of the state on the occasion of on Republic Day.



The 186 prisoners include 181 men and remaining are women.

The state administration grants release or remission for the well-behaved prisoners serving life sentences, every year on national festivals. The release of 186 prisoners in the state is part of that process. (ANI)


U S President Donald Trump was the ringleader of an effort to coerce Ukraine to dig up dirt on a domestic political rival, "worked hard" to cover it up and has shown no remorse, Democratic lawmakers said on Friday in his impeachment trial.

In their third and final day of opening arguments, Democrats tried to cement their case that Republican Trump had abused his power by pressuring Kiev to investigate Joe Biden, a former US vice president and a contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, and then obstructed Congress' inquiry into the matter by barring witnesses and withholding documents.

The Democratic-led House of Representatives last month passed two articles of impeachment, setting the stage for a trial in the Republican-led Senate on whether to oust Mr Trump before he seeks a second term in a November election.

It is the third such proceeding in US history.

Trump is accused of pressuring Ukraine ton investigate Hunter Biden / AP

Representative Hakeem Jeffries, one of the House managers prosecuting the case, said Mr Trump was "calling the shots" in soliciting Ukraine's interference in the 2020 US election and others in the White House assisted him in trying to hide evidence of the misconduct when it was exposed.

"President Trump tried to cheat, he got caught and then he worked hard to cover it up," said Mr Jeffries, who added that there was a "toxic mess" in the White House that needed to be cleaned up on behalf of the American people.

Mr Trump denies any wrongdoing and describes the impeachment as a hoax.

Democrats have accused Mr Trump of pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a July 25 phone call to investigate Mr Biden and his son Hunter, who served on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

They say Mr Trump temporarily withheld $391 million in US military aid to Ukraine as leverage for his demands.

Trump's allies have argued his conduct does not rise to the level of an impeachable offence. The US Constitution sets out the impeachment process for removing a president who commits "high crimes and misdemeanours."

"He has shown neither remorse nor acknowledgement of wrongdoing," said Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, who has spearheaded the prosecution of Trump in the trial. "Do you think if we do nothing, it's going to stop now?"

Democrats this week have outlined their charges that Mr Trump only grew interested in corruption in Ukraine when it appeared that Mr Biden could become a serious political threat.

People demonstrate outside of the US Capitol on the third day of the Senate impeachment trial / REUTERS

ABC News said on Friday it had heard an audio recording from April 2018 in which Mr Trump is heard saying he wants the dismissal of then-US ambassador in Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.

"Get rid of her!" Mr Trump said in the recording, according to ABC News. "Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it."

Mr Trump made his remarks while speaking to a small gathering of people that included Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two former associates of Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, ABC News reported. Mr Parnas and Mr Fruman have been charged in New York with violating election campaign finance laws.

If true, that would bolster Democrats' argument that Trump associates spent nearly a year trying to oust Ms Yovanovitch because they saw her as an obstacle in their efforts to pressure Ukraine.

Trump has said he had the right to fire Ms Yovanovitch, which he did in May 2019.
With the deadly novel coronavirus spreading rapidly outside China, including Nepal, the Gorakhpur administration has decided to build a separate ward in the district hospital for people infected with the virus, a senior health department official said on Saturday.

"Till date no case of coronavirus has been found in Gorakhpur. However, the department is ready and soon an isolation ward will be constructed in the district hospital," Chief Medical Officer Srikant Tiwari said.

Eleven people, who returned to India from China in recent days, have been put under observation in Kerala, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad for possible exposure to the virus. The symptoms for the virus include fever, cough and respiratory distress.

"The virus is deadly and it has already taken lives and has spread to many countries. Recently, a case was detected in Nepal too. We share a 1,751-km-long open border with Nepal and without checking the borders, the efforts of checking the virus at airports will go in vein," Dr RN Singh, who extensively worked on encephalitis during its outbreak in the district, told reporters.

"Health checkposts on Indo-Nepal border needs to be established to check the entry of virus into the country," the Gorakhpur-based doctor said.

On Friday, Nepal confirmed the first case of the coronavirus (nCoV), identifying the infected person as a Nepali student who recently returned from the Chinese city of Wuhan.

"In 2002-03, during SARS epidemic, we demanded health checkposts be at opened at borders at Sanauli-Bhairawa (India-Nepal) border, and it was accepted by the government. Cases of coronavirus have been detected in Thailand and many people from here go to Thailand and many come here from there, so health checkposts are essentially required," Singh added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Flags on the Harbour Bridge fly at half-mast as a mark of mourning and respect in Sydney (Rick Rycroft/AP)

A tanker plane that crashed and killed its three American crew members as they fought wildfires in Australia had just dropped liquid to suppress the flames, investigators said.

The crash on Thursday killed Captain Ian H McBeth, 44, of Great Falls, Montana; First Officer Paul Clyde Hudson, 42, of Buckeye, Arizona; and Flight Engineer Rick A DeMorgan Jr, 43, of Navarre, Florida, their employer, Canada-based Coulson Aviation, said in a statement.

The deaths came during an unprecedented wildfire season that has left a large swath of destruction in Australias southeast. More than 30 people have died, including three Australian volunteer firefighters.

Investigators went to where the C-130 Hercules tanker crashed in the Snowy Monaro region of the state of New South Wales, and a team was working to recover the Americans bodies, Australian Transport Safety Bureau Chief Commissioner Greg Hood told reporters.

Expand Close Firefighters continue to battle the wildfires in New South Wales, Australia (Noah Berger/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Firefighters continue to battle the wildfires in New South Wales, Australia (Noah Berger/AP)

He said it would be difficult to secure evidence and the remains because the wildfire is still burning and the team faces potential hazards such as aviation fuel.

Upward of 500 aircraft from several countries are fighting Australias wildfires, Mr Hood said.

So, if there are lessons to be learned from this particular accident, its really important that not only Australia learns these, but the world learns them, he said.

Coulson Aviation said Mr McBeth was a highly qualified and respected C-130 pilot with many years fighting fire, both in the military and with the company.

Mr McBeth, who is survived by his wife and three children, also served with the Montana and Wyoming National Guards, the company said.

Mr McBeth grew up in Wray, Colorado, a small town on the states rural eastern Plains.

He learned how to fly in the Wyoming Air National Guard while he was a student at University of Wyoming, his father, Bill McBeth, said.

He was determined, tenacious and tough. Probably the most all-around capable and competent person I ever knewIan McBeth's father

Ian McBeth worked as a construction specialist and later as a navigator on the planes, including several tours in Iraq.

He did the work after vision problems initially denied him becoming a pilot. He applied again at age 28, a year before his eligibility would run out, and was accepted.

He was determined, tenacious and tough. Probably the most all-around capable and competent person I ever knew, Bill McBeth said.

Mr Hudson graduated from the Naval Academy in 1999 and spent the next 20 years in different positions in the Marines, including as a C-130 pilot, Coulson Aviation said. He is survived by his wife.

Mr DeMorgan served in the US Air Force, with 18 years as a flight engineer on C-130s, the company said. He had more than 4,000 hours as a flight engineer, with nearly 2,000 hours in combat.

Ricks passion was always flying and his children, Coulson Aviation said.

He is survived by two children, his parents and his sister.

Expand Close A helicopter prepares to drop water on a wildfire that burns in the hills near Cobargo, Australia (Rick Rycroft/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp A helicopter prepares to drop water on a wildfire that burns in the hills near Cobargo, Australia (Rick Rycroft/AP)

A memorial service will be held on February 23 in Sydney for the US and Australian firefighters who have died this wildfire season, New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

We will pay tribute to the brave firefighters who lost their own lives protecting the lives and properties of others, she said.

The three US deaths brings the toll from the blazes to at least 31 since September.

The fires also have destroyed more than 2,600 homes and burned more than 104,000 sq km (40,000 sq m), an area bigger than the US state of Indiana.

Coulson grounded other firefighting aircraft as a precaution pending an investigation, reducing planes available to firefighters in New South Wales and neighbouring Victoria state.

The four-propeller Hercules drops more than 15,000 litres (4,000 gallons) of fire retardant in a single pass.

Ms Berejiklian said more than 1,700 volunteers and personnel were in the field.

Five fires were being described at an emergency warning level  the most dangerous on a three-tier scale  across the state and on the fringes of the national capital, Canberra.
At 10:01 UTC today the Associated Press tweeted that "hundreds" gather in central Baghdad to demand that American troops leave the country.

Thirty eight minutes earlier CNN had already reported that "hundreds of thousands" are protesting in Baghdad against the U.S. troop presence in Iraq.

When AP sent the misleading tweet the commander of the Iraqi Federal Police Forces Jaffar al-Batat had already announced that the number of demonstrators exceeds one million.

That number may well be correct. Reports said that the column of protesters was already eight kilometers long even while many were still arriving.

Muqtada al-Sadr, who had called for the protests but is hardly a 'radical', demanded that the U.S. follow the decision of the Iraqi parliament and end its occupation. All U.S. bases in Iraq must be closed, all security agreements with the U.S. and with U.S. security companies must be ended and a schedule for the exit of all U.S. forces must be announced.

Meanwhile the U.S. is pulling strings and tries to carve a new Sunni state out of western Iraq.

Al-Sadr promised to temporarily halt the resistance against the U.S. occupation if the U.S. commits to leaving orderly.

Otherwise ...
Jan. 25 updates. Click here for Jan. 26 updates.

6:50 a.m. UTCShandong Province and Xian City Announce Transportation Bans

According to the Chinese news portal Sina, Shandong province has begun banning trans-provincial inbound and outbound buses and taxis beginning on Jan. 26. The trans-municipal taxi service is also suspended.

Xian, the capital of central Chinas Shaanxi Province, will halt trans-provincial and trans-municipal buses and taxis starting at 6 p.m. local time on Jan. 26, according to Sina. Additionally, ride-hailing services are required to suspend their trans-provincial and trans-municipal services.

6:10 a.m. UTCChinas Foreign Ministry Will Provide Assistance for US Personnel Extraction from Wuhan

Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for Chinas foreign ministry, has said that China will provide assistance and convenience to an earlier quest by the U.S. government to withdraw its officials in its Wuhan Consulate, according to a Jan. 26 announcement on the ministrys website.

The U.S. consulate in Wuhan said in a statement that the Department of State is making arrangements to relocate its personnel stationed at the U.S. Consulate General in Wuhan to the United States.

We anticipate that there will be limited capacity to transport private U.S. citizens on a reimbursable basis on a single flight leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport on January 28, 2020 and proceeding directly to San Francisco.

Interested U.S. citizens in possession of valid passports should contact BeijingACS@state.gov with the their personal information.

As there are currently estimated to be 1,000 U.S. citizens in Wuhan, priority will be given to individuals at greater risk from coronavirus, the statement said.

4:40 a.m. UTCChinas Southern City Shantou Announces Partial Lockdown

Shantou, a city located in southern Chinas Guangdong Province, became the first city outside of Wuhans Hubei province to announce a citywide partial lockdown.

In an announcement published on its official website, the Shantou government announced four different measures in an effort to prevent furhter spread of the virus.

Beginning at 2 p.m. local time on Jan. 26, all public transportation services will come to a halt.

At midnight on Jan. 27, cars, boats, and people will be forbidden to enter Shantou without permission. Special supplies can still be transported into the city with permission.

Additionally, people arriving at Shantou at the local Chaoyang and Shantou rail stations will be subjected to screening and urged to leave.

There are no restrictions on people leaving the city.

In a separate announcement on Jan. 26, the Shantou government announced its first confirmed case of the virus. The patient, 66, a retiree from Wuhan, arrived in Shantou in the evening on Jan. 17. She tested positive on Jan. 24.

4:00 p.m. UTCUS, France Scramble to Evacuate Citizens From Epidemic-Hit Wuhan

The United States, France, Jordan, and Australia are coordinating with Chinese authorities to evacuate their citizens out of Wuhanthe now-locked down Chinese city where the deadly coronavirus outbreak first began.

The State Department ordered all non-emergency personnel and family members to leave on Jan. 23, according to its website. Details of the evacuation are still being finalized and are subject to change.

A spokesperson for the State Department told The Epoch Times on Saturday that the health and safety of U.S. citizens, including U.S. consulate workers in Wuhan, is their top priority.

There are currently limited emergency services available to U.S. citizens across Hubei province. The spokesperson encouraged individuals to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program to receive notifications and any health and security alerts or government plans.

Read more here.

3:25 a.m. UTCChina Death Toll Increase to 56 As Singapore, Macau, South Korea Report More Cases

Chinas National Health Commission announced that 56 people have died from the new coronavirus as of Jan. 25. The number of confirmed cases has also increased to 1,975.

Meanwhile in Singapore, the local health ministry has reported its fourth confirmed case, according to the Strait Times. The patient, 36, was a man from Wuhan who arrived in Singapore on Jan. 22. He tested positive on Jan. 25.

In Macau, the local government reported three more cases on Jan. 26, bringing the total number of cases in the city to five.

One of the three cases involved a retired Wuhan female resident, 58, who arrived in Macau on Jan. 23 by boat from Hong Kong.

The fourth case involved a 39-year-old housewife from Wuhan, who arrived in Macau on Jan. 22.

The fifth infected person was a 21-year-old teacher from Wuhan. She arrived in Macau on Jan. 23.

In South Korea, the local disease control and prevention center has reported a third case in the country. According to Yonhap News Agency, the patent, 54, lived in Wuhan and arrived in South Korea on Jan. 20.

Currently, the following jurisdictions outside of China have detected patients who have tested positive for 2019-nCoV:

Hong Kong: 5

Macao: 5

Taiwan: 3

Thailand: 5

Japan: 3

South Korea: 3

Singapore: 4

Malaysia: 4

Vietnam: 2

Nepal: 1

France: 3

Australia: 4

United States: 2

Canada: 1

3:15 a.m. UTC3 Beijing Doctors Test Positive for Coronavirus

Beijing Municipal Health Commission, in an announcement on Jan. 26, stated that three of its doctors had tested positive for 2019-nCoV.

One of the three doctors, surnamed Wang, traveled to Wuhan on a business trip on Jan. 8 and reported to Beijing on Jan. 16. He tested positive for the virus on Jan. 21.

The second doctor, Lu, went to Wuhan on Jan. 10 and returned to Beijing the following day. He also tested positive on Jan. 21.

The third doctor, surnamed Yan, recently went on trips to several areas in China, including the Chinese cities of Changchun and Dalian. During a meeting on Jan. 14, Yan sat next to Lu and began having a fever on Jan. 18. Yan tested positive for the virus on Jan. 25.

The announcement said the three doctors are now under isolation treatment.

3:00 a.m. UTCHong Kong Disneyland Announces Temporary Closure

Hong Kong Disneyland announced that its park will be closed beginning on Jan. 26 as a precautionary measure in line with prevention efforts being taken in Hong Kong to stop the spread of 2019-nCoV. However, it stated that its resort hotels will remain open.

Additionally, Ocean Park announced its closure beginning on Jan. 26 in response to the city governments decision on Jan. 25 to raise the citys response level to Emergencythe highest of Hong Kongs three-tier system.

1:50 a.m. UTCChina Suspends Local and Overseas Group Tours

China Association of Travel Services announced that travel agencies will suspend all group tours, according to state-run media China Daily.

The announcement came after a similar announcement by Chinas Ministry of Culture and Tourism, which halted all local and overseas tour groups on Jan. 24.

However, all groups that set their departure date before Jan. 27 are not affected by the travel freeze and may still depart, the association said.

12:50 a.m. UTCChinas Official Dead Toll Increases to 55 as 88-Year-Old Dies in Shanghai

Chinas official death toll has risen to 55 as an 88-year-old man was confirmed to have died from the new coronavirus. Local Shanghai authorities have said that the man was already suffering from pre-existing health problems.

There are 40 cases of confirmed carriers of the virus in Shanghai, according to official data from the regime.

Meanwhile, authorities in Hubei province alone have reported more than 323 new cases of 2019-nCoV, bringing the official total of infected persons in China to 1,610 based on figures released by the central government.

12:30 a.m. UTCCanada Says Coronavirus Has Spread to Toronto

The Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto has said that a patient from China in its care has tests positive and is presumed to be a carrier of 2019-nCoV.

The hospital said in a statement that it is caring for a patient who has a confirmed case of the novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China.

The test used is considered to have 95 percent accuracy in identifying the Wuhan virus.

The man in his 50s arrive in Toronto on Jan. 23 from Wuhan after flying through Guangzhou.

As he was at home for a few days, the people that live with him are now in self isolation, Ontarios Associated Chief Medical Officer Dr. Barbara Yafe told a press conference.

In the SARS outbreak of 2003, Toronto was affected and 44 patients died in the region. A total of 438 patients were infected across Canada.

9:40 p.m. UTCChina Sets up Epidemic Control Group Amid Accelerating Spread of Virus

Chinese leader Xi Jinping set up an epidemic control group on Saturday amid the pneumonia outbreak that has left 41 dead and around 1,400 sick.

In an emergency meeting with his closest political inner circle, Xi Jinping warned of the grave situation and the accelerating spread of the epidemic, saying the new task force should focus on containing the situation with utmost urgency and that should be the highest priority task for all levels of government organs, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The event coincided with the Chinese New Year, a week-long national holiday when tens of millions of Chinese living abroad and in other parts of China travel back to their hometown, heightening fears of the viruss further spread.

Read more here

2 p.m. UTCNew Countries Confirm Cases

Authorities in Australia and Malaysia confirmed new cases of coronavirus, meaning the Wuhan virus has spread to 10 countries around the world.

The virus already spread to Nepal, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, the United States, and France.

The Australian cases included a Chinese national who flew into Melbourne on Jan. 19 and didnt show symptoms until after landing. There were also three other menaged 53, 43 and 35who all arrived from Wuhan earlier in January, as early as Jan. 6.

All four were isolated and Australian authorities said the risk of transmission remains low.

Malaysian authorities, meanwhile, said three people tested positive for coronavirus.

The trio, all Chinese nationals, are related to the 66-year-old man who is isolated in neighboring Singapore with the illness. That man also transmitted the virus to his son.

1 p.m. UTCSocial Media Depicts Chaos in Wuhan

The epicenter of the virus is chaotic amid an ongoing quarantine and a rash of deaths from the coronavirus, known in some quarters as the Wuhan coronavirus.

Wuhan, a city of some 11 million, was locked down on Thursday.

Wuhan residents, including some health workers, took to Chinese social media, such as Weibo and WeChat, to relay their exasperation and fears for the future in a city that has entered into a partial lockdown. Some have gone out of their way to bypass Chinas internet firewall and access blocked sites so that their voices can be heard by the outside world.

In one video, what appear to be covered bodies are seen in a hospital hallway between two rows of seated patients, as fully covered medical staff continue to hustle about. The woman who took the video said some of the alleged bodies may have been there all morning. In another clip shared online, a patient is seen falling to the ground while waiting in line for treatment, apparently fainting.

Read more here.

12 p.m. UTCChinese Doctor Worries Outbreak Will Get Worse

A doctor in Wuhan City who has been treating patients with Wuhan pneumonia disclosed some alarming information about the new virus, and expressed concern that the disease will be out of control in the next several months due to the authorities slow response and lack of transparency.

The doctor, surnamed Xu, spoke to U.S.-based Chinese-language outlet Secret China on the condition of anonymity on Jan. 24.

He disclosed that by Dec. 31, 27 patients were confirmed to have been infected by the coronavirus, but Wuhans public health officials decided not to inform the public of the new disease. Moreover, some features of the novel coronavirus make it more dangerous than SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

Read more here.

10 a.m. UTCSnakes Could be Original Source of Coronavirus

Snakesthe Chinese krait and the Chinese cobramay be the original source of the coronavirus that has triggered an outbreak of a deadly infectious respiratory illness in China this winter.

The many-banded krait (Bungarus multicinctus), also known as the Taiwanese krait or the Chinese krait, is a highly venomous species of elapid snake found in much of central and southern China and Southeast Asia.

The illness was first reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan, a major city in central China, and has been rapidly spreading. Since then, sick travelers from Wuhan have infected people in China and other countries, including the United States.

Read more here.

Zachary Stieber, Olivia Li, Frank Fang, Eva Fu, Cathy He, and The Conversation contributed to this report.

From The Epoch Times
WASHINGTONTowards the end of his arguments Thursday night about why the U.S. Senate should convict President Donald Trump, Rep. Adam Schiff said, You know you cant count on him. None of us can.

But Friday afternoon, the National Mall was filled with people who believe they can count on Trump: demonstrators at the annual March for Life rally advocating an end to legal abortion. In the crowd of tens of thousands, I Vote Pro-Life First signs waved side-by-side with Trump 2020 banners as Trump became the first president to attend the massive annual rally. Women carrying signs saying I regret my abortion, marched beside young men carrying flags depicting the president standing atop a tank, and groups of high school students wore red Make America Great Again caps.

I wanted to be in this very important March for Life for the protection of the unborn. And especially because I know the President Trump is going to be here, so thats even a bigger incentive, said Carmen de Perignon of Maryland. Its a huge deal. Were very happy that hes here.

He won their allegiance not just by showing up, but by moving them closer to their long-held dream of seeing the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States overturned. I think the more conservative justices that our president gets seated, the better its going to be, said Kevin Hain from Delaware, who wore Trump paraphernalia and carried an I am the Pro-Life Generation sign.

In addressing the rally, Trump made much of his own 187 judicial appointments, saying, Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House.

Key among his appointments are Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, who may have swung the balance of the court towards outlawing abortion before it hears arguments in an abortion case this March. The change in the courts ideological composition was made possible, in large part, by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnells openly partisan refusal to allow confirmation hearings in 2016 on president Barack Obamas chosen appointee. Thats the same majority leader who is now accused of speeding to a predetermined verdict in Trumps impeachment trial.

And what about that trial, which was just reconvening in the Capitol building at the end of the mall as the rally was underway?

This is all a farce. Its a shame that weve had politicians for years not do anything better for our country and try to unseat a duly elected official, regardless of party. Its been a supreme waste of money and time, Hain said.

That vocal support for the president was also on display Monday at a gun-rights rally in Virginia. There, thousands of marchers, many of them heavily armed, heard appeals to re-elect Trump in November and to never forgive the party of Nancy Pelosi.

Trump has held inconsistent positions on both abortion and gun control  he declared himself pro-choice in every respect in the 1990s and has expressed support for banning some types of firearms  leading to charges of political opportunism when he adopted more conservative positions while running for office. But his vocal support, and his actions as president, have secured him a cultlike devotion among these motivated voting blocks, making support for him synonymous with support for their causes.

This is a key part of the political backdrop to the Senate trial that continues in the Capitol building.

On Friday, Democratic House representatives concluded their opening presentation, arguing that the president had obstructed Congress and abused the power of his office.

President Trump tried to cheat, he got caught, and then he worked hard to cover it up, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries told the Senate.

Taking up the argument, Rep. Val Demings outlined what she called Trumps blanket order directing the executive branch to refuse to provide any documents or testimony to congressional attempts to investigate him. She said it was historically unprecedented, and threatened the heart of our constitutional system of government  the checks and balances that the U.S. federal governments three branches provide each other.

The outcome is widely thought to be predetermined, with the Republican majority having more or less indicated before the trial began that it would quickly acquit Trump. The Democratic team arguing for Trumps removal from office has been making its presentation as much for the general voting public as for the senators who make up his jury.

But the people who were out marching this week provide some insight into why Republicans may be approaching the case as they have. While the Democrats make high-minded appeals to constitutional principles and the judgment of history, the judgment of cultural conservative activists is already in. They view Trump as a significant ally  one they know they can count on  who is being unfairly targeted, perhaps because of his association with them. They follow Trumps lead, and Republicans in both houses of Congress follow theirs.

With files from Jill Colvin of the Associated Press

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Major search and rescue efforts are underway in eastern Turkey after it was rocked by a 6.8 magnitude earthquake late Friday evening. At least 22 people have died, the country's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said Saturday, adding that 1,103 were injured, Euronews reports.

Rescue workers searched for people buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings in the Elazig province, the site of the earthquake's epicenter, Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said. He also warned that the death toll could rise.AFAD said 42 people had been pulled out from under the rubble since the earthquake, but that an estimated 22 others were still trapped in buildings in the city of Elazig, Euronews informs.
With the soul of an artist, the precision of a mathematician and the heart of an altruist, architect Maria Ogrydziak has been putting her mark on Northern Californias structural landscape for more than three decades. Based in Davis, the native of Stockholm with Estonian roots has quietly accrued an impressive portfolio of custom homes, retail spaces and even places of worship.

Ogrydziaks passion radiates through her work, largely because she feels blessed to be an architect.

I love what I do, and I feel lucky every time I get to do a project, she said. Every time its like a new experience, and a new journey with a client. For me, the design process is a huge part of my focus, and how I get there is exciting.

Upon moving to California in the 70s, Ogrydziak immediately fell in love with the Central Valley, specifically, its sky.

The first thing I noticed in California was the sky, the blueness, its grand expanse, she said. Wherever I am in the Central Valley, Im connected to the blue sky.

She opened her firm in 1985 and has conceptualized literally hundreds of structures since then.

More Information Details Maria Ogrydziak, Principal, Maria Ogrydziak Architecture. Born in Stockholm to Estonian parents, Ogrydziak graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in architecture in 1970. Prior to graduating, her fellow students voted her student body president, making her the first architecture student, the first international student and the first woman to hold the position. She also earned the Compton School Prize and Grunsfeld Traveling Scholarship Architecture Prize in 1969. Her portfolio spans more than three decades and includes custom homes, retail locations and places of worship. Ogrydziak's designs often feature crisp lines, an abundance of natural light and seamless indoor/outdoor flow. She has piled up awards and accolades during her career. Her ambitious remodel of the Davis Food Co-op earned the American Institute of Architects San Francisco's "Best of the Bay" and AIA California Council Honor awards. She also donates her time and insight to a variety of organizations. At the moment, Ogrydziak serves as the AIA Central Valley Chapter's representative to the national Custom Residential Architects Network, an organization that uses forums, conventions, publications, symposiums and local events to help architects learn more about their custom residential practices. Ogrydziak is a previous president of California's AIA Central Valley Chapter. During that time she founded and chaired the Sacramento Region Architectural Festival. In addition to being a former member of the Long Range Planing and Policy Committee for Sacramento, Ogrydziak worked as a design strategist for Zoning and Historical Design Guidelines, as well as project lead for Davis' City Core Planning Study. See More Collapse

In this interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Ogrydziak talks about her design process, her philosophy and what shes doing to help Davis homeless population.

Q: What does your design process entail?

A: Someone approaches me, we talk and I go see the place where everything will happen. During that time Im absorbing as much as possible. Its more than just about square footage and simple descriptions, its about understanding why someone wants to do somethingwhats their connection to the place? From there I start developing what I call a vocabulary for the site. The vocabulary incorporates all the openings, windows and connections to outdoor spaces. Sometimes the vocabulary comes through drawing from the clients culture, or what matters to them. Sometimes its shapes. Eventually it comes together and becomes vocabulary that I can use to build out of conventional materials. Its exciting when everything comes together.

Part of whats amazing as you think about architecture or creating a building, is how these are solid entities with so many parts and objectives to meet. You cant have multiple versions of the same thing in the same space. Im very conscious of that, to end up with one result. But it has to be right combination of everything.

Q: How would you define your architectural style?

A: Im very aware of clean lines, and windows and openings are a primary thing I try to bring into my work. The geometry comes from trying to create a place that is unique to that setting. Geometry is often reacting to and playing with whats around me. It might be a juxtaposition to natural form or seeking a way to provide a contrast. The infusion of natural light and being able to see through to the outside is extremely important, as is connecting to the sky. So I like to use large windows to make the sky feel ever present and attainable. In a strange way, the windows provide a connection to the universe, which represents openness and infinity.

Q: You studied Chinese painting and brush strokes before becoming an architect. Does it help inform your design process?

A: That is where it all started. I lived in Taiwan for two years as a teen, because my dad was an engineer for the United Nations. I painted every day. It was an amazing experience, learning how to create landscapes with my own hand, built with complex brushwork and ink.

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That has stuck with me ever since. It helped me realize how important form is and how shapes relate, and how the space between the strokes is just as important. Its informed everything I do. My whole life has grown from there.

Q: You helped spearhead the design of Pauls Place, a community of small-unit apartments that will provide transitional housing, permanent supportive housing and day services for Davis homeless population. What inspired you to take on this project, and what was the intent behind the design?

A: I think good architecture and design is the answer to nearly everything. I really believe it makes a difference. I became very interested in the homeless issue, and co-founded a group that began meeting with volunteers and people who run shelters to get their input about what the homeless need.

The idea behind Pauls Place is that even if a residence is basic and small, it needs to have dignity and must work for the person living there. The top two floors are for housing.

They feature little gable roofs and popout windows, while the first floor is a place where people can come to receive resources and help. The design is expressive, to look more like a home than an institutional building.

The community supported the idea and weve raised enough money to break ground later this year. When I tell people every community can do this, I see signs of people saying maybe we can. Its certainly a different approach from some of the other solutions Ive seen for caring for the homeless.
Actor Rajinikanth is currently shooting for his next Tamil film with director Siva. Reports have emerged that the film has been titled Mannavan. Neither the makers nor Siva have officially announced the title. Sources have revealed that the title, along with the first look poster, will be released soon.

Currently dubbed Thalaivar 168, the project marks the maiden collaboration of Rajinikanth and director Siva, best known for helming Veeram and Viswasam.

The project, being bankrolled by Sun Pictures, also stars Keerthy Suresh, Meena and Khushbhu in key roles. The film was officially launched last December in Chennai in a low-key affair.

Also read: Sejal Sharma suicide sends TV industry into shock, Jasmin Bhasin, Rohit Roy express grief

Its worth mentioning that both Meena and Khushbhu, two reigning stars of the 1990s, are reuniting with Rajinikanth after two decades. Keerthy Suresh will be seen playing Rajinikanths sister in the movie. The film is already confirmed as Diwali 2020 release. The makers are yet to reveal rest of the cast and crew.

Rajinikanth was last seen on screen in Darbar, which has been directed by A.R Murugadoss. The film, which also stars Nayanthara, saw veteran return to playing a cop after 25 years.

Despite opening to mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike, Darbar went on to make a killing at the box-office. It has emerged as the fifth Rs. 200 crore grosser for Rajinikanth after films like Enthiran, Kabali, Petta and 2.0. The film, which was dubbed and released in Telugu and Hindi, also featured Suniel Shetty as the prime antagonist. Actor Prateik Babbar, Nivetha Thomas and Yogi Babu played crucial roles. While Anirudh Ravichander had composed music, Santosh Sivan cranked the camera.

Meanwhile, there are reports that Rajinikanth and Murugadoss might reunite for another project next year. While shooting for Darbar, it is said that Murugadoss impressed Rajinikanth with a story idea which might be turned into a film.

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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Lima, Peru  Sat, January 25, 2020 09:02 718 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad2060edac6 2 News Peru,machu-picchu,tourism,travel,aviation,archeology Free

Peru's government promised on Thursday to protect the Machu Picchu sanctuary and other Inca ruins when building a new airport to serve the ancient civilization's capital of Cusco.

Machu Picchu and the Inca road system are UNESCO World Heritage sites, and the UN agency has previously expressed concerns over the proposed airport at Chinchero, less than 60 kilometers from the Inca sanctuary that was built in the 15th century.

"We have made a commitment that before work begins on constructing the Chinchero airport, in June of this year, we will present the heritage impact study that UNESCO demands," Transport Minister Edmer Trujillo, who is responsible for the project, told journalists.

UNESCO has told Peru that even though the airport will be built outside of the archeological areas, it is necessary to study how a potential increase in tourists would affect them.

The new airport will be able to receive six million passengers per year -- 60 percent more than the current Cusco airport, which has a capacity for 3,000 passengers a day but receives 5,000.

The existing airport cannot grow because it is inside Cusco, a major Andean city in southeast Peru.

Read also: Peru to install cameras at Machu Picchu after damage

Machu Picchu -- 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 -- is Peru's most popular tourist attraction, located about 100 kilometers from Cusco.

Trujillo said construction of the new airport would be constantly monitored by culture ministry experts in case archeological ruins are found.

The airport will be built at 3,780 meters above sea level in the old Inca Sacred Valley.

Many have criticized the impact it could have not only on the country's national treasures but on rural communities.

"Building an airport in the Sacred Valley will have irreparable effects in terms of noise, increase in traffic and uncontrolled urbanization," historian Natalia Majluf said in August.

But local Cusco authorities say it will bring in vital tourism revenue, which the region depends on.
The United Nations (UN) resident and humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon has urged the Nigerian government to find a political solution to Boko Haram insurgency.

Kallon said this while speaking at a press briefing to conclude the visit of Janez Lenarcic, European Union (EU) commissioner for crisis management, to Nigeria on Friday.

Kallon said, Let me make it emphatic that the UN doesnt engage with terrorists or organisations designated as a terrorist. But the UN will support efforts by the government to try to find a solution to the crisis in north-east Nigeria. 

Read Also: If Nigeria Could Overcome Biafra War, It Would Overcome Boko Haram: Buhari

Asked if there were ongoing efforts to get to the insurgents, he said: Not at this point in time. I dont even have the capacity and the systems to do this. We can support any effort by the government but in doing so to find a solution to this problem.

When we talk about political solutions, we are looking at various elements that are so critical to restore hope, build trust and also get people to start rebuilding their lives and livelihoods.

I strongly believe that where there is a political justification for conflict, there is a solution. You cannot harass the people you want to rule. It is not one of the easiest theories we addressed so far. You can gain power, but you cannot sustain power. So, there is a need to come to the table and try to find a political solution to the problem.

Reconciliation is an area we can engage and support and who are we going to talk to? The crisis in the north-east is a regional crisis and it has a regional implication.

So, the regional actors that are being affected by this crisis are also equally very important. So talking to Niger, Chad, and Cameroon which President Buhari has been doing and continue to do remains extremely critical in finding a solution to this crisis.
Bernie Sanders feud with Elizabeth Warren is well known, but I hadnt realized that he is now battling with Joe Biden until I saw this column by the appalling Paul Krugman. He indicts Sanders for dishonest attacks on Biden relating to Social Security, and, like many other observers, notes the recurrent viciousness of the Sanders operation:

While the news media has been focused on the spat between Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, something much more serious has been taking place between the Sanders campaign and Joe Biden. Not to sugarcoat it: The Sanders campaign has flat-out lied about things Biden said in 2018 about Social Security, and it has refused to admit the falsehood.

Briefly, Bidens sin is that years ago, he went along with what Krugman calls the Beltway consensus that ever-increasing Social Security spending needed to be curbed. But that since-recanted apostasy pales in comparison with Sanders deception:

In 2018, Biden gave a speech attacking Paul Ryan, the then-speaker of the House, for wanting to cut taxes on the rich and pay for those tax cuts by cutting Social Security and Medicare. [Ed.: Speaking of dishonesty] There was nothing in his remarks that should bother progressives. However, a Sanders adviser recently circulated a snippet from the video of the event that made it appear that Biden was actually supporting Ryans position and calling for Social Security cuts. A few days later a newsletter from the Sanders campaign quoted Biden out of context and made the same claim.

The Sanders campaign has refused to back down:

[T]he Sanders campaign has doubled down. Rather than admitting that it smeared a rival, the campaign is going around claiming that Biden has a long record of trying to cut Social Security.

Most delicious is Krugmans noticing the ugliness of the Bernie Sanders campaign:

There has always been an ugly edge to some of Sanders support, a faction of followers who denounce anyone raising questions about his positions  even Warren!  as a corrupt capitalist shill. Until now, however, you could argue that Sanders himself wasnt responsible for the bad behavior of some of his supporters. You cant make that argument now. The dishonest smears and the doubling down on those smears are coming from the top of the Sanders campaign; even if they arent coming directly out of Sanders mouth, he could and should have stopped them. The fact that Sanders isnt apologizing to Biden and replacing the people responsible says uncomfortable things about his character.

Actually, you can say a lot worse than that about Sanders character. But this civil war on the Left can only be good for the Republic.

And, as a bonus: Anita Hill in Iowa: Too late for Joe Biden to apologize. I would say it is too late for Anita Hill to expect anyone to take her seriously. But then, Im not voting in the Iowa caucuses.
French investigators to move ahead with Ghosn prosecution over palace party FILE PHOTO: Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn gestures during a news conference at the Lebanese Press Syndicate in Beirut

By Simon Carraud and Elizabeth Pineau

PARIS (Reuters) - French prosecutors investigating a party that former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn threw for his wife at the sumptuous Versailles palace will in the next few weeks ask judges to examine the case, bringing a prosecution a step closer.

Prosecutors have been investigating whether Ghosn - now in Lebanon after he last month fled prosecution in Japan on financial misconduct charges - knowingly used company resources to throw a party that was for private purposes.

An official with the prosecutor's office in Nanterre, near Paris, which has been handling the investigation, told Reuters a judge or judges would be assigned to pursue the case against Ghosn.

The judges have wider powers than prosecutors to pursue a criminal case. They can, in certain circumstances, order the detention of a suspect pending trial, or issue an international arrest warrant if the suspect is abroad.

Asked by Reuters to comment, Jean-Yves Le Borgne, one of Ghosn's legal team, said Ghosn had done nothing wrong over the party, but there may have been a misunderstanding between Versailles and party planners working for Ghosn.

The lawyer said Ghosn had offered to pay back the 50,000 euros ($55,470) cost of renting the venue for the party.

"Carlos Ghosn is ready to answer French justice. Regarding his possible travel to France, things are complicated," Le Borgne added, citing a travel ban imposed by Lebanese prosecutors, and an international Interpol notice requesting Ghosn's arrest, as demanded by Japanese authorities.

Renault did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ghosn was once a giant of the global auto industry but is now a fugitive from Japanese justice. He last month slipped out of Japan, where he was subject to strict bail conditions, managing to board a private jet to Turkey and from there flying to Lebanon, his childhood home.

He says the Japanese charges were fabricated as part of a plot to oust him from the Renault-Nissan alliance.

Story continues

HOME OF FRENCH KINGS

The party at Versailles, principal residence of generations of French kings until the French revolution of 1789, took place on Oct. 8, 2016. Ghosn said it was to mark the 50th birthday of his wife, Carole.

The case revolves around whether Ghosn was aware that Renault would end up footing the bill.

Ghosn has denied any wrongdoing. He said the event was never presented as a corporate party, and he believed the venue was being offered free to him personally as a goodwill gesture by Versailles.

He said he was later surprised to find out that it cost 50,000 euros and that the amount had been deducted from an allocation for the use of Versailles that Renault had been given in exchange for financing a renovation of the chateau.

However, a spokeswoman for Versailles Palace said it was clear at the time the party took place that the event was presented as corporate in nature, and that the ultimate client the venue was dealing with was Renault-Nissan.

"There was nothing which would allow us to believe this dinner was anything other than a corporate event."

She said that Versailles had documents demonstrating the parties were presented as corporate events, and said that Versailles was ready to share them with investigators. She declined to disclose the documents to Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Simon Carraud, Elizabeth Pineau, Gwenaelle Barzic, Sarah White and Gilles Gillaume; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Mark Potter)
Everyone has seen the warning. At the bottom of the email, it says: Please consider the environment before printing. But for those who care about global warming, you might want to consider not writing so many emails in the first place. More and more, people rely on their electronic mailboxes as a life organiser.

Old emails, photos, and files from years past sit undisturbed, awaiting your search for a name, lost address, or maybe a photo of an old boyfriend. The problem is that all those messages require energy to preserve them. And despite the tech industrys focus ...
A grotesque cleric who authorised the enslavement and mass rape of Yazidi girls by Islamic State jihadis claims he received funding from a terror financier in Britain.

Shifa Al-Nima, who was dubbed Jabba the Jihadi on social media after photographs were released of the 40-stone imam being arrested in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul this month, has told investigators that he received 4,500 from a man using the nom de guerre Abu Mustapha Al-Najmawi.

The Supreme Judicial Council of Iraq last week said Al-Nima had confessed to meeting Al-Najmawi during a pilgrimage to the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, where he was handed the cash.

Shifa Al-Nima, who weighs 40 stone, was captured two weeks ago by an Iraqi SWAT team. In hiding since July 2017, the obese cleric was too fat to stand and had to be carried to the back of a pick-up truck

I travelled to Mecca to perform umrah [pilgrimage] and I met with the terrorist Abu Mustapha Al-Najmawi, it quoted the cleric as saying.

He is a Mosul native who resided in London. We discussed religious topics and I explained to him the situation in Mosul and the details about the Iraqi forces and their affiliation with the Americans.

We talked about the role of jihadi factions and he gave me $6,000 [4,500] and asked that I spend it on armed groups.

British security sources last night said they were unaware of a suspected terrorist called Abu Mustapha Al-Najmawi operating in the UK, but were now investigating.

The arrest of Al-Nima  who issued fatwas that provided warped justification for raiding Yazidi villages in the Sinjar mountains of north-west Iraq and forcing women and girls to become sex slaves  is the biggest coup against IS since the death of the groups leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in October.

Al-Nima, who also issued fatwas urging IS fighters to expel Christians and to destroy ancient monuments across Iraq, was captured two weeks ago by an Iraqi SWAT team. In hiding since July 2017, the obese cleric was too fat to stand and had to be carried to the back of a pick-up truck.

Shifa Al-Nima was dubbed Jabba the Jihadi on social media after photographs were released of the 40-stone imam being arrested in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul this month

According to the Supreme Judicial Council, Al-Nima admitted: I also issued the fatwa to expel Christians from Mosul and I permitted killing of Shiites and issued other fatwas in regard to allowing IS fighters to enslave Yazidi women and sell them and killing the Yazidi men.

I also issued fatwas to confiscate houses of displaced people and permitted IS fighters to blow up mosques in Mosul which had graves of prophets and righteous people inside them, such as permitting the destruction of the Mosque of Prophet Yunus [Jonah].

As well as Al-Nima being likened to Jabba the Hutt, the slug-like alien from the Star Wars films, photographs of his capture led to comparisons with the Fat Bastard sumo wrestler character in the Austin Powers films.

Commentators celebrated the humbling of the once powerful cleric. Muslim activist Majid Nawaz tweeted: IS mufti Shifa Al-Nima is arrested. He was so overweight he had to be taken by police in the back of a pick-up truck. That he is this obese, immobile and humiliated is another blow to IS imbeciles who thought God was with them.

Former Tory councillor Macer Gifford, who travelled to Syria to fight with Kurdish forces against IS, said: Im delighted that the Islamic States very own Jabba the Hutt has been captured in Mosul. Hes responsible for the execution of men, women and children. This animal raped and murdered.

Scotland Yard last night declined to comment.
CEDAR FALLS  More than 300 people packed the Central Ballroom at the University of Northern Iowas student union Saturday for a Bernie Sanders rally.

But the big draw wasnt the Vermont senator vying for the Democratic nomination  Sanders wasnt in Cedar Falls.

Bernie Sanders, you see him all the time, but today I came because of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Thats why Im here today, said Joe Organist of Waterloo, a second-time-around Sanders supporter who agrees with the candidates Medicare for All proposal and opposition to war.

Shes my favorite. I wish she was running for president. She just needs to put a few years on, then well put her in the White House, said Organist, who protested the Vietnam War when he was 8 years old and the Iraq war in 2003.

Following surrogate stump speeches by filmmaker Michael Moore  Roger and Me, Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 911 - and Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan, U.S. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez. D-N.Y., took the stage to a standing ovation and chants of AOC!

In nine days, this is where its all going to start, and you all are going to be the ones to kick off this revolution, Ocasio-Cortez told the crowd.

We need to push for a fundamentally different approach, because its not just left versus right, its top versus bottom. We must win in November, but we also must heal. And the work of healing is deeper than the work of merely winning, she said.

During a question and answer session, she embraced Amber Hess of Larchwood when Hess broke into tears recounting how her wages were being garnished to pay for medical debt.

This is so wrong. To garnish a persons wages because they needed to go to the doctor is morally wrong, Ocasio-Cortez said. This is about power. Your wages are being garnished so that there could be a justifiable profit margin, and thats wrong.

Ocasio-Cortez also autographed a copy of an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Freshman Force comic that 10-year-old Ramona Saavedra-Dubord of Cedar Falls brought. The girl said meeting Ocasio-Cortez was inspiring.

It was very cool, she said.

The campaigns swing through Iowa ahead of the caucuses continues Sunday with Sanders appearing with Moore and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Perry, Storm Lake and Sioux City.

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By Trend

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 24 times, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on Jan. 25, Trend reports.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding regions.

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 regions.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
We live in an era of political earthquakes; but the Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi's defense of her country's ethnic-cleansers before the International Court of Justice at The Hague last month still came as a shock.

Not so long ago, Suu Kyi was hailed as an icon of democracy in the West. Her apostasy now adds to the growing sense that democracy is in danger worldwide.

The mood is certainly bleak at The Journal of Democracy, the house periodical of one of the Beltway institutions promoting democracy around the world. Writing in its 30th anniversary issue, Francis Fukuyama claims that we are living through a "'democratic recession,' with reason to worry that it could turn into a full-scale depression."

This jeremiad then opens out to denunciations of various "authoritarian populists" today, and to vague hopes of "rebuilding the legitimate authority of the institutions of liberal democracy."

As in many such dirges these days, it is never asked: What and whose democracy?

History has continuously revealed democracy as the most radical idea of the modern world, which more often generates chaos than freedom. Yet the massive infrastructure of democracy-promotion that came into being during the Cold War assumed that it was a guarantor of political stability and economic progress: In other words, it delivered something that totalitarian communism could not.

Ignoring democracy's tormented history, its ideologues naively reduced it to a magical formula, consisting mostly of elections, that can be applied to any political context and guarantee benign political outcomes.

Talking up the ideal of democracy abroad, they overlooked its daily violation at home, as a range of figures from Jawaharlal Nehru to Martin Luther King pointed out. (Abroad, too, avowed democrats expediently supported right-wing or military dictatorships from Congo to Iran, Chile to the Philippines.)

Of course, the boosters of democracy who aimed largely at securing a moral advantage against communism were assured of victory. Democracy-mongers, in retrospect, had it far too easy, ranged against regimes that were as inept as they were brutal.

Their sense of confidence could only inflate after communism collapsed, and history appeared, in Fukuyama's own conception, to have reached a safe terminus in liberal democracy.

Even Samuel Huntington, Fukuyama's mentor, set aside his profound reservations in the 1960s about America's democracy-promoters, to hail a "third wave" of democratization.

Such was the complacent mood in 1990 - the year that The Journal of Democracy confidently started publication - that the old and deep problems of democracy that date back to the French Revolution seemed to have disappeared along with the enemies of the West.

But in the postcolonial world, the challenges of democracy had long been in plain sight.

The teachers of democracy in the West had accomplished high economic growth, partly with the help of imperialism and slavery, well before they began to gradually extend democratic rights to most citizens.

But Asian and Africans in the world's poorest and weakest countries faced the task of instituting democratic rights simultaneously with economic development and political cohesion.

Moreover, the new nation-states in which democracy was meant to be implanted lacked some crucial ingredients. The people rather than a monarch or despot are supposed to be sovereign in a democracy. But in racially and ethnically diverse societies, potentially many peoples can claim to be the people.

Take, for instance, Iraq. Summarily "democratized" by the American military in 2004, a new "people," representing the Shia majority staked its claim on power, provoking many among the previously regnant people, the Sunnis, into open and still ongoing rebellion, and another minority into secessionism.

For a long time, the promise of growth and general improvement kept many new and artificial nations from damaging struggles over power and sovereignty. In some countries liberated from foreign rule, such as Burma, pitiless local despots kept the lid on the many conflicts and contradictions of nation-building, democracy and economic development.

The opening of this Pandora's box in the third wave of democratization was always likely to plunge much of the world into a prolonged era of instability. Unshackled from great power rivalry, history since 1990 has accelerated crazily, and often calamitously derailed, instead of coming to rest in the terminus of universal democracy.

Even in countries with routine elections and peaceful transfers of power, such as India, uneven economic growth and high inequality have corroded the few democratic norms that existed.

In 2014, a demagogue rose to power in classic fashion by blaming minorities and immigrants; he is now busy boosting a new people, the apparently neglected Hindu majority, while relegating many Muslims to second-class citizenship.

Likewise, the politics of xenophobia in the United States and Britain against a background of stagnant wages and growing inequality has exposed a democratic deficit long covered up by Cold War moralizing and posturing.

It is clear now that, with governments shrinking social welfare and marketizing public goods, and moneyed special-interests entrenched in legislatures, many citizens became militantly disaffected with their political representatives and institutions, and vulnerable to demagoguery.

Bewildered by their punitive mood, democracy-mongers seek fresh self-validation and moral high ground, this time by counterposing democracy to "authoritarian populism" at home rather than totalitarian communism abroad.

This reheating of the Cold War's moral oppositions and belated lamentations about "democratic recession" won't do. The so-called populists, whether you like them or not, have been empowered through democratic processes. They represent, albeit in grossly distorted form, long suppressed and fundamentally democratic aspirations for freedom, equality and dignity.

And they serve to remind us that democracy remains a radically destabilizing force, not a magical formula that, for all its repeated failures, keeps its vendors in stable employment.

- - -

Pankaj Mishra is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. His books include "Age of Anger: A History of the Present," "From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia," and "Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet and Beyond."
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, January 25, 2020 11:03 718 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad2060ef55f 1 People najwa-shihab,National-Library-of-Indonesia,literacy Free

Journalist Najwa Shihab will continue her role as duta baca (literacy ambassador) of the country's National Library this year.

On Thursday, she signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the head of the National Library of Indonesia, Syarif Bando, in Central Jakarta to mark the continuation of their collaboration.

In a statement, the founder of digital content platform Narasi.tv said she expected the collaboration to strengthen literacy across the country.

Insya Allah [God willing], this year well be traveling to small cities more to improve the young generations interest in reading, Najwa said in the statement.

Since being tapped for the role in 2016, Najwa has been on a mission to boost Indonesians reading habits and interests, especially among the young generation.

Syarif said Najwa had changed the development of literacy in Indonesia.

The library is becoming popular and one of the reasons is because of her, said Syarif, adding that literacy could help the young generation to face industry 4.0.

According to Woro Titi Haryanti, deputy of the library's development resources, Najwa attended literacy events in 12 locations last year and that each event was packed with visitors. She has also actively promoted her mission on social media. (wir/kes)
By Finian Cunningham

January 24, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - This week sees the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi Auschwitz death camp by the Soviet Red Army. But the momentous event is being overshadowed by renewed attempts by the Polish authorities  aided by American and German officials  to shift the blame for the Second World War on to the Soviet Union.

The grimly deceptive German maxim Arbeit Macht Frei (Works Sets You Free) adorning the iron-gate entrance to Auschwitz through which millions of prisoners passed on their way to death, could be subtitled today with the more honest phrase Wahrheit Macht Frei (Truth Sets You Free).

Because what is going on in the Polish commemoration of Auschwitz and claims about the origins of the Second World War more generally is an appalling distortion of history to suit current geopolitical interests in the West of undermining Russia. Concealing or denying the causes of war only traps the world into repeating war.

Rather than being given a full place of honor for the liberation of the extermination camp in southern Poland on January 27, 1945, by the Soviet army, today Moscow is being sidelined despite its crucial role in crushing the Nazi regime and all its horrors.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly declined to attend the 75th anniversary in Poland. Russia will be represented by its ambassador to the country. Putin is attending an equivalent event in Israel, and at that alternative commemoration will be afforded due prominence to mark the liberating achievement of Russias predecessor, the Soviet Union. It is understandable why the Russian president decided to give the event in Poland a miss because of the toxic claims made recently by Warsaw and other Western states concerning allegations that the Soviet Union colluded with Nazi Germany in instigating the war.

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This distortion of history has even gained an official status when the European Parliament  after Polish and Baltic state lobbying  adopted a resolution last September in which the Soviet Union is cast as equally culpable along with the Nazi Third Reich for starting World War II.

When President Putin slammed that resolution as nonsense and went on to point out Polands own documented collaboration with Nazi Germany, the current Polish government, along with German and American diplomats, doubled down on the accusations impugning Moscow for having partial responsibility for the worst conflagration in history.

Those Polish and Western accusations stem from the historical Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact which was signed on August 23, 1939, one week before the Nazis invaded Poland. Thus it is claimed that Stalins detente with Hitler emboldened the latter to launch the war.

As Radio Free Europe reported: German envoy Rolf Nikel and US Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher both said on December 30 that Germany and the Soviet Union colluded to start the war in 1939 that led to the death of tens of millions of people on continental Europe.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Moraweicka denounced Putins version of history as lying trampling the memory of those events. Poland must stand up for the truth, not for its own interests but for the sake of of what defines Europe.

Thats quite an audacious feat of historical distortion.

The motives for such re-writing of history are obvious. Germany can unburden some of its war guilt for terrorizing Europe with its fascist genocide.

By implicating the Soviets in Nazi horror, the Americans and their rightwing surrogates in Poland and the Baltic states can breath some air into the stale, breathless claims of Russian aggression towards modern-day Europe. That twist is especially odious given that the Soviet Union suffered the most out of any nation from Nazi barbarity, with up to 25 million dead and tens of millions more wounded.

Poland has perhaps the most to gain from falsifying history. Its own shameful past of colluding with the Nazi regime before and during the war is, it is anticipated, whitewashed and shoved down the memory hole.

The people lining up to disparage Russia over alleged Soviet complicity with Nazi Germany claim, ironically, that Putin is rewriting history by referring to Soviet records and propaganda.

One of the finest scholarly accounts of the period from the First World War until the late 1930s and the outbreak of war is the work by British historian AJP Taylor, entitled The Origins of the Second World War (published 1961). Taylor is no fellow-traveller of the Soviet Union. His study is a consummate exercise in objective scholarship.

The Russian perspective is substantially corroborated by Taylor (and other Western historians, see for example this recent essay by Michael Jabara Carley). The Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact on the eve of the wars outbreak was a desperate attempt by Moscow to keep the Third Reich at bay. Because, as Taylor points out, the Western powers, in particular Britain and France and Poland, had consistently rebuffed Soviet appeals to form a collective European security pact against Nazi Germany.

Britain, France and Poland looked the other way when Hitler annexed Austria in 1936 and invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938. The Fuhrers manifesto in Mein Kampf and his various ranting speeches during the 1930s explicitly targeted the Soviet Union and European Jewry for annihilation in a Final Solution.

Polish ministers during this period shared the Nazi contempt for Soviet and Jewish people. The case of Polish Ambassador in Berlin Josef Lipski proposing to Hitler in 1938 a scheme to deport European Jews to Africa is indisputable.

What Polish authorities today are compelled to deny is the objective historical record which assigns complicity to their predecessors in unleashing the Nazi monster. The fact Auschwitz and other Nazi extermination camps are on Polish territory does not seem to give these virulent Russphobes any pause for thought. The fact that the Soviet Red Army saved millions of Poles from Nazi barbarity  a barbarity that their vain, deluded political leaders emboldened  is perhaps the clearest example of how Lies Do Not Set You Free.
Lawyer: Russian Accused In Massive Bitcoin Theft Abruptly Extradited To France

By RFE/RL January 24, 2020

A Russian man wanted by the United States for a massive bitcoin-theft scheme has been extradited from Greece to France, the latest development in a multinational legal fight that focused attention on cryptocurrency money laundering.

In a post to Facebook on January 23, Aleksandr Vinnik's lawyer asserted that his client had been kidnapped, and suggested he had been sent to France without her knowledge.

Zoe Konstantopoulou also said Vinnik was in a Paris hospital, adding that he was "exhausted" and not fit for questioning.

Konstantopoulou did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking further comment.

Vinnik has been identified by U.S. and other authorities as an administrator or manager of a "digital-currency exchange" -- where people can buy and sell cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and others -- known as BTC-e.

He was arrested on a U.S. arrest warrant in 2017 on a Greek beach where he was vacationing with his family.

According to the U.S. Justice Department, Vinnik, now 39, was allegedly the mastermind behind an international money-laundering scheme that had processed over $4 billion in cryptocurrency transactions, including bitcoin stolen from another digital-currency exchange known as Mt. Gox.

The United States has fought in Greek court to have Vinnik extradited, but Russia filed a competing extradition request, saying he faced smaller, unrelated criminal charges in Russia.

Midway through the legal fight, however, France also lodged an extradition request in Greek court on similar theft charges.

Vinnik is one of seven Russians detained or indicted worldwide last year on U.S. cybercrime charges.

A Greek court had approved Vinnik's extradition to the United States in December 2017, but other courts issued competing rulings, prompting Greece's justice minister to step in to decide where he should be sent.

Greek authorities had no immediate comment on reports of Vinnik's extradition.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/lawyer-russian-accused -in-massive-bitcoin-theft-abruptly- extradited-to-france/30394959.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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A Portuguese immigrant in Massachusetts says two women cheated him out of $4 million in lottery winnings by taking advantage of his inability to read or speak English.

Joao Luis DaPonte filed a lawsuit this month against Maria Oliveira and Susana Gaspar in Bristol Superior Court over the ownership of a scratch-off lottery ticket. All three are from New Bedford.

DaPonte says that he hit a winner on November 23 playing a $10 Gold Rush ticket that he bought at Cafe Sao Paulo on Bolton Street.

Records indicate that DaPonte does not read or speak English and that the ticket said '$4MIL,' which translates to $4,000 in Portuguese.

Joao Luis DaPonte claims that Susana Gaspar (above) cashed the winning $4 million scratcher that he bought, after he thought the prize was $4,000 and gave it to her friend to cash

DePonte says he took this photo of the ticket soon after he purchased it. He thought it was for $4,000 because 'MIL' means 'thousand' in Portuguese

DaPonte says in the lawsuit that he had Oliveira cash the ticket in, believing she had previously done the same for others in exchange for a percentage of the winnings, The Boston Globe reported.

DaPonte says that Oliveira gave him $3,800 that he thought were the proceeds from his ticket.

Then on December 10, DaPonte was stunned to learn that Oliveira's boss, Gaspar, had just won $4 million on a Gold Rush ticket that she said she'd bought at Cafe Sao Paulo, which is next door to the bakery where they work.

Suspicious of the coincidence, DaPonte says he showed friends and a lottery retailer a photo he had taken of his own winning ticket, and was informed that the prize was $4 million, not $4,000.

Gaspar chose the lump sum option of $2.6 million, before taxes, and the remaining $1.6 million in winnings remains in escrow until the matter is resolved, records show.

The winning scratcher was purchased at the Cafe Sao Paulo (right). Gaspar and Oliveira work at the bakery next door, which is visible on the corner left

Gaspar and Oliveira deny the allegations, and have said that Oliveira purchased the ticket for her boss Gaspar on a break, and that the two had agreed to share the winnings.

Oliveira said she has 'never cashed in lottery tickets for anyone,' according to an affidavit in which she denies receiving a lottery ticket from DaPonte and ever giving him $3,800.

A lawyer for Gaspar and Oliveira said DaPonte's allegations were ludicrous.

'Why do you hand it (the ticket) to a stranger?,' attorney Walter P. Faria told the Standard-Times. 'It's hard to imagine someone else (a family member or a friend) didn't recognize it was $4 million, not $4,000.

DaPonte's lawyer and a lottery spokesman declined to comment.
As many as 19 top Army officers, including Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh, have been awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal, an official said on Saturday.

Six Shaurya Chakras too have been awarded for gallantry, he said.

A total of 151 Sena Medals, eight Yudh Seva Medals too have been announced on the occasion of Republic Day, the official added.

J-K Police gets max 108 gallantry medals, CRPF 76

The Jammu and Kashmir Police has bagged the maximum number of gallantry honours with 108 medals on the occasion of the 71st Republic Day, followed by 76 by the Central Reserve Police Force, according to an official communication on Saturday.

The tally for the Union Territory police, thickly involved in counter-terrorist operations in the Kashmir Valley, also includes three President's Police Medal for Gallantry (PPMG), out of the total four of these top category decorations announced this time.

These numbers have enabled the J-K Police to win a lion's share of 108 medals out of the total 290 gallantry awards declared on the eve of the Republic Day, as per the Union Home Ministry.

It is one of the highest tally of gallantry medals won by a police force in recent times, a senior officer in the security establishment said.

The CRPF that is also deployed in the UT for counter-terror duties apart from being the lead force in anti-Naxal operations continued its streak of getting the largest multi-theatre gallantry medals as it has been decorated with 75 PMG and a PPMG (posthumously) for CoBRA commando Utpal Rabha.

Rabha was killed in an encounter with Maoists in Jharkhand in June, 2018 and his citation said he displayed 'extraordinary valour' during the gun battle.

Other forces which have been decorated with the police bravery medal (PMG) include the state police units of Jharkhand (33), Odisha (16), Delhi Police (12), Maharashtra (10), Chhattisgarh (8), Bihar (7), Punjab (4) and Manipur (2).

Among the central forces, the Border Security Force (BSF) got nine PMGs followed by Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) four, and one for the Railway Protection Force (RPF).

Overall, a total of 1,040 police medals have been declared on the eve of Republic Day that includes 93 distinguished service medals and 657 meritorious service medals.

These police bravery awards are declared bi-annually on the eve of Republic Day and Independence Day.
Food-service workers at two major Lehigh Valley Health Network campuses will be working for a new company starting April 1, the health network said Friday afternoon.

The move affects close to 350 workers, but an LVHN spokesman said those workers jobs shouldnt be in jeopardy provided they apply for positions at the new company and meet the necessary criteria.

The workers are currently employees of Sodexo, the company LVHN has contracted to provide food services at the Cedar Crest and Muhlenberg hospitals.

The health network is switching its food-services contract from Sodexo to Compass One Healthcare, LVHN spokesman Brian Downs said Friday afternoon in an email. The switch aligns with LVHNs goal to provide a consistent visitor and patient experience across all its properties, he said.

Downs provided a statement further explaining the reasoning and implications.

Providing exceptional support services is an essential part of giving our patients and their families the health care experience they expect and deserve, the statement says, adding Compass One Healthcare already has a strong partnership with LVHN.

The company has provided environmental service for the health networks properties for nearly 25 years.

As for the affected Sodexo employees, the statement says:

Hourly staff who currently provide food and nutrition services at LVHN will have the opportunity to keep their employment. Management level employees will remain Sodexo employees.

No LVHN employees are being impacted.

The Cedar Crest campus is located off Cedar Crest Boulevard and Intestate 78 in Salisbury Township. It is LVHNs flagship campus. The Muhlenberg campus is located off Schoenersville Road and Route 22 in West Bethlehem.

Nick Falsone may be reached at nfalsone@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickfalsone. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A SARS-like virus that has claimed 41 lives since emerging in a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan has spread around the world.

Here are the places that have confirmed cases of 2019 Novel Coronavirus:

China

As of Saturday, almost 1,300 people have been infected across China, the bulk of them in and around Wuhan.

Nearly all of those who died were in the Wuhan region, but officials have confirmed two deaths elsewhere.

The city of Macau, a gambling hub hugely popular with mainland tourists, has confirmed two cases.

In Hong Kong, five people are known to have the disease. Three of those cases were confirmed in the 24 hours to Saturday morning.

France

There are three known cases of the coronavirus in France, the first European country to be affected by the outbreak.

One person is sick in Bordeaux and another is ill in Paris. A third person, who is a close relative of one of the other two, has also been confirmed to have the virus.

All three had recently travelled to China and had now been placed in isolation.

Japan

Japan's health authorities confirmed a second case on Friday. Local media said the patient was a man in his 40s who was originally from Wuhan and on a trip to Japan.

The country's first case was reported by the health ministry last week: a man who had visited Wuhan and was hospitalised on January 10, four days after his return to Japan.

Australia

Australia on Saturday confirmed its first case of the virus, a man who arrived in Melbourne from China a week ago.

Authorities said they were contacting people who had travelled on the same plane from China and offering advice.

Malaysia

Malaysia confirmed its first three cases on Saturday. All are Chinese nationals on holiday from Wuhan who arrived in the country from Singapore two days earlier.

A 66-year-old woman and two boys, aged two and 11, are in a stable condition and are being kept in an isolation ward at a public hospital, Malaysia's health minister said.

Nepal

Nepal said a 32-year-old man arriving from Wuhan had the deadly disease.

The patient, who was initially quarantined, recovered and was discharged. The government said that surveillance has been increased at the airport "and suspicious patients entering Nepal are being monitored".

Singapore

Singapore has announced at least three cases -- a 66-year-old man and his 37-year-old son, who arrived in Singapore on Monday from Wuhan, and a 52-year-old Wuhan woman, who arrived in the city-state on Tuesday.

South Korea

South Korea confirmed its second case of the virus on Friday.

The health ministry said a South Korean man in his 50s started experiencing symptoms while working in Wuhan on Jan 10. He was tested after his return earlier this week, and the virus was confirmed.

The country reported its first case on January 20 -- a 35-year-old woman who flew in from Wuhan.

Both remain in treatment and are in stable conditions.

Taiwan

Taiwan has uncovered three cases so far. It has since advised against travel to Wuhan and Hubei province and on Friday said any arrivals from Wuhan would be rejected by immigration.

All arrivals from the rest of China -- including Hong Kong and Macau -- must fill out health declaration forms on arrival.

It has also banned the export of face masks for a month to ensure domestic supplies.

Thailand

Thailand has detected five cases so far -- four Chinese nationals from Wuhan and a 73-year-old Thai woman who came back from the Chinese city this month.

Two of the Chinese patients were treated, and have since recovered and travelled back to China, the Thai health ministry said this week.

United States

On Tuesday US health officials announced the country's first case, a man in his 30s living near Seattle. On Friday a second case was announced -- a woman in her 60s living in Chicago.

Both were treated and are recovering.

Vietnam

Vietnam confirmed two cases of the virus on Thursday. An infected man from Wuhan travelled to Ho Chi Minh City earlier this month and passed the virus on to his son.

Both are being treated in hospital and are stable, Vietnam health officials said.
In the aftermath of the mountain lion attack Monday involving a 3-year-old boy, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has been flooded with calls of sightings from across the state asking wildlife officers to dart or trap lions and move them away from homes.

When people see a mountain lion in their yard or neighborhood, they are apprehensive, said Capt. Patrick Foy of the Department of Fish and Wildlife. They frequently want us to come in, catch it, take it elsewhere and let it go.

That isnt always an option, Foy said. If its on the other side of their fence and they live in an urban-wildland interface, that may not be the right thing to do. We try to educate homeowners how to coexist with mountain lions.

The rise in motion-activated wildlife cams and home security systems has led to a surge of verified sightings, Foy said.

Last year, my wildlife cam captured an image of a 200-pound lion in our backyard, perched and watching my wife, Denese, through a window as she prepared dinner. Ten days ago, reader Chuck Heimstadt of Pioneer (Amador County) sent me a video of a parade of five mountain lions at the entrance to his home; Chuck credits his neighbor, Chris Bruetsch, for capturing the event on a security camera.

With the home security systems, people start to realize that lions live all around us, Foy said. Weve had a big spike in reports, people calling in, either they see a lion or a track, and they want to know what to do.

A classic scenario

This past week, Janice Thomas, who lives in the hills above Berkeley, was alarmed at the sound of the growl of a mountain lion, which often sounds like an amplified house cat. Ive heard this sound at 20 feet on a dark night and it will send a shiver down your spine.

This followed a series of lion sightings last year in her neighborhood, which borders a greenbelt that includes Tilden Regional Park and watershed lands.

I need to know if its safe to have mountain lions in our neighborhood, Thomas said. I called city police nonemergency animal services who directed me to Fish and Wildlife, but its hard to make any personal connection there, and I havent been called back.

I love these animals, but have gotten nervous during my winter morning walk at 6:30 a.m., she said.

The answer, Foy said: go to wildlife.ca.gov and go to the page, Living with Wildlife. On the right, theres a click-on link, Report a Wildlife Incident. You will then get routed into the Wildlife Incident Reporting (WIR) System, which fast-tracks your encounter for the area where it occurred. You can also go directly to WIR at apps.wildlife.ca.gov/wir.

Phone calls to regional offices are usually met with educational information, but not a physical response unless there is a sense of imminent danger to people, pets or animals. Our personnel tries very hard to return those calls, Foy said.

Steve Bobzien / Special to The Chronicle

Prolific call volume

We get calls every day, so often, at all of our offices, Foy said. People who live in an urban-wildland interface, they see a mountain lion, its super exciting for them, and they call. That happens a lot. Or they find tracks on a hiking trail, these big tracks, and they frequently take pictures and want them identified.

Frequently, we are not going to respond in person, Foy said. We would respond if the animal is acting in any type of aggressive way or attacked any animals or people.

The Living with Wildlife arm of the CDFWs website is designed to Prevent or address conflicts with wildlife.

If a mountain lion confronts you on a trail, you should not run, back up or cower in fear. Instead, face it head-on. Ive had four head-on encounters with mountain lions at 20 feet, and in each case, they have sat straight up on their haunches, eyes locked on mine and motionless for a minute, and then slinked off to the side and disappeared into the grassland foothills.

When you sight a mountain lion near your home, Foy said, the first rule is to identify the level of risk.

If you have children, dogs or cats, get them inside, Foy said. If there is an attack, call 911, and dispatch will alert local law enforcement and regional wildlife officers.

Thats what happened this past week in Orange County.

Sebastian Kennerknecht / Pumapix.com

A family ambushed

A family of four was hiking about 20 minutes from the trailhead at Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park, when a lion leaped from a tree and pounced on a 3-year-old boy, said Foy, who was on-site and provided the details from the CDFW report.

The lion grabbed the boy like he would a deer as prey, Foy said. The father instantly reacted by charging and shouting at the lion. The lion had his son in its jaws around the back of his neck. As the father approached the lion, the lion let go of his son.

The lion assumed an aggressive posture, stared at him, hunched, shoulders back, like it was ready to pounce, Foy said. The father threw the backpack at the lion. Then the lion picked up the backpack with its mouth, then ran up the same tree it had jumped out of.

All this occurred in the flash of a few moments at 4:10 p.m. Monday, the end of the three-day holiday weekend. The first 911 call came in two minutes later, Foy said, and Orange County sheriffs responded at once, and minutes later, six state wildlife officers arrived.

The lion was up in the tree when the first sheriff deputy arrived, Foy said. After he consulted with our department, he killed the animal. DNA testing confirmed it was the lion that had attacked the child.

Foy said it was a last resort to put the lion down, a situation where a predator that attacked a 3-year-old boy represented a danger to others. The boy was treated for claw and bite wounds, released from the hospital and is expected to make full recovery, Foy said.

Were not happy about how this ended for the lion, Foy said. Unfortunately, in rare circumstances, we have no other choice.

Tom Stienstra is The San Francisco Chronicles outdoors writer. Email: tstienstra@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @StienstraTom
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

A suspect accused of killing one man and torturing another over missing drugs took a plea deal in federal court Friday.

Chase Smothermon, 33, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap in the August 2017 case that involved the death of 41-year-old John Soyka and kidnapping of Soykas friend Matthew Tressler.

Smothermon faces between 40 and 60 years in prison.

Smothermons girlfriend Mariah Ferry and Jose Torrez were also indicted in the case. All three had been previously charged in state court but federal authorities took over the case before trial could begin.

Smothermon outlines the crime in the plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court:

On Aug. 5, 2017, Smothermon was told money and marijuana were stolen during a burglary at his home and Soyka and Tressler were responsible.

Smothermon then set out to kidnap and beat the two men to teach them a lesson and recover my drugs and money. Smothermon struck Soyka multiple times in the head, bound him, and put him in the trunk of a car where he died shortly after. Smothermon lured Tressler to his house where he bound, gagged and beat him for hours and showed him a picture of a dead Soyka and threatened to do the same. Smothermon eventually released Tressler and buried Soyka in a shallow grave in rural New Mexico with the help of Ferry and another co-conspirator.

Smothermon then coordinated with others to clean up the scenes where Soyka was murdered, Tressler was beaten and Soyka was mutilated.

I knowingly kidnapped (Tressler) and (Soyka) because I believed they stole drugs from my home, Smothermon wrote in the plea agreement. I did so to punish them, to try to get my drugs back (or cash equivalent) and to serve as a lesson to others.
SUTHERLAND, AUSTRALIAThroughout Australias devastating fire season, one Facebook page has rallied an angry public like no other, with more shares and comments than anything coming from the prime minister or the countrys largest environmental groups.

That page belongs to Craig Kelly  a former furniture salesman who has spent a decade in Parliament setting himself up as the climate-change denier in chief.

Now, in Australias dark hour, Kelly has found his moment.

As the country fears it is being condemned to a fiery future by heat and drought, Kelly has been gathering and goading a right-wing tribe under the banner of posts that shout in all caps: Bush fires have nothing to do with climate change or Beware of climate alarmists: Everything they tell you is a lie.

Kelly, 56, insists he is just trying to protect everyday Australians from higher energy prices and lost jobs in coal and other industries.

But with posts and comments on his Facebook page that cherry-pick data and encourage violence against environmentalists, he has emerged as the public face of a parallel universe  the potent force that helps keep the government, despite the wishes of a broad majority of Australians, from taking stronger action on climate change.

For other politicians, this is a time to show sympathy for the fire victims and promise help.

Kelly prefers pugilism. He argues that the fires are no worse than in the past, that arsonists and socialists are to blame for the blazes, that coal is winning, that Arctic ice is not melting  and that those who disagree are no better than the censors in Orwells 1984.

Its all rather nefarious, said Michael E. Mann, an American climate scientist on sabbatical in Australia, who was once a target of climate denialists. The loyal soldiers of the fossil fuel industry like Kelly promote the talking points and incite a rabble.

Many Australians, even climate scientists, dismiss Kelly as a political Falstaff, outrageous if powerless. But his following has grown to include a wide swath of the country, including rural firefighters who share his Facebook posts, and his efforts have frequently aligned with Prime Minister Scott Morrisons attempts to steer people away from viewing the fires as a turning point for the countrys approach on climate issues.

Before Morrison started emphasizing that the best way to fight future fires would be through more preventive burning rather than serious action on global warming, Kelly was hammering the point. He blamed green madness and climate alarmists  a term used by U.S. President Donald Trump this week in Davos, Switzerland  for exaggerating the role of climate change and preventing the defensive burns, even though fire officials have said the problem is resources and time, not politics.

Echoing Kellys argument that cutting Australias greenhouse gas emissions will not prevent fires, the prime minister has also moved straight on to rebuilding and recovery rather than addressing the publics concerns about the warming climate.

Its a very cynical strategy based on the idea that the fires will end, the drought will be broken and people will move on, said John Hewson, a former leader of the centre-right Liberal party, to which Morrison and Kelly belong. The prime minister, he added, is trying to be seen to be doing a lot, but hes actually doing very little.

Kelly and Morrison, who serve in adjoining districts with lots of churches, small apartments and workers in the trades, have each other to thank for where they are. Kelly and other right-wing lawmakers toppled Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in a 2018 party coup, making Morrison the new leader. Morrison then overruled the partys preference for a moderate alternative to Kelly, protecting his candidacy.

It wasnt just Morrison. Turnbull and another prime minister, Tony Abbott, previously also pushed aside moderate challengers to ensure that Kelly returned to Parliament  a sign of his usefulness to leaders in rallying their conservative base.

Hes the tail wagging the dog, said Tom Kristensen, an artist, climate activist and volunteer firefighter in Kellys district who has closely tracked his Facebook posts. Hes part of a tiny minority that has too much power.

Australias conservative media outlets, dominated by Rupert Murdoch, have helped. In 2012, two years after Kelly was first elected, he drew a flood of media attention after joining Abbott, another climate denialist who would soon become prime minister, in opposing a plan to put a price on carbon emissions, describing it as a poisonous, toxic tax. In 2013, he joined Alan Jones, a notorious conservative radio host, for a wind-power fraud rally in front of Parliament.

Since then, Kelly has made regular appearances on Jones radio show, as well as on the Murdoch-owned Sky News, where he appeared on Tuesday night to talk climate.

Its just political opportunism at its worst, Hewson said. Sky, which is running its own anti-climate agenda, has been using him as a show pony. They can feed him lines and get him to say things.

Kelly has at times gone too far, even for his own party. Early this month, he brought his views on the fires to an interview on British television with Piers Morgan, the conservative commentator, who was so appalled that he called Kelly disgraceful.

In response, some members of Morrisons cabinet tried to distance themselves from Kelly. David Littleproud, the minister for the drought, dismissed Kelly as a sideshow who doesnt represent the views of the government.

(Critics have noted that Littleproud had only recently questioned whether climate change was being caused by human activity.)

After the debacle, Morrison called for a moratorium in his party on interviews with the international news media.

Nevertheless, Kelly embraced a lengthy interview with The New York Times, after announcing, I have to be careful because the prime minister told us not to talk to international media.

Over the phone, Kelly argued that his enemies had called him a denier to make him sound like a Holocaust denier. Kelly, who has no college degree and no scientific expertise, said he agreed that temperatures had been rising since the 1970s, but added that the human contribution was up for debate. (Scientists say this is not in dispute.)

He also insisted that the drought fuelling this seasons fires was unrelated to climate change (though there is evidence that warming temperatures have been a major contributor, in part by pushing rainfall farther south). And he said that these fires were bad, but not that bad.

People have forgotten our past  that we have had bush fires equivalent to this, he said.

The reality is that this seasons fires are unique for several reasons. They have covered a geographic spread beyond the fires of the past, in a year without El Nino conditions that usually accompany the countrys worst fire seasons. And they began as Australia endured its hottest, driest year on record.

Several months after the blazes started, scorching subtropical rainforest in September, they have burned 16 million acres, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and killed at least 29 people.

Those numbers are hard to find on Kellys Facebook page.

Craig Kelly is an excellent example of a scientifically illiterate person with a public platform, said Joelle Gergis, a leading climate scientist and writer at the Australian National University.

His opinions are ignorant and harmful, she added, because they confuse people rather than educate.

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Mexican National Guard troops this week blocked a caravan of migrants seeking to breach the countrys border with Guatemala - firing tear gas while dressed in full riot gear.

Now critics say the governments actions have created a virtual border wall on the countrys southern border with Guatemala.

Hundreds of those detained were put on planes and buses back to Honduras, where the majority began their journey.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had campaigned on a pledge to welcome migrants, but his governments actions have shifted over the past year.

But some critics say the hostile reaction seen this week was triggered by the Trump administrations threats of tariffs on goods imported from Mexico, which has created a de facto well on Mexicos southern boundary.

Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico Show all 24 1 /24 Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico Hundreds of Central Americans from a new migrant caravan tried to enter Mexico by force by crossing the river that divides the country from Guatemala, prompting the National Guard to fire tear gas AFP via Getty Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico Central American migrants at the international bridge that connects Tecum Uman, Guatemala, with Mexico AFP via Getty Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico Central American migrants - mostly Hondurans, travelling on caravan to the US - run after crossing the Suichate River, the natural border between , Guatemala, with Mexico AFP via Getty Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico AFP via Getty Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico AFP via Getty Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico Members of the police try to stop people crossing the Suchiate River EPA Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico A member of Mexico's National Guard detains a migrant Reuters Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico AFP via Getty Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico AFP via Getty Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico AFP via Getty Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico AFP via Getty Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico A member of the Mexican National Guard holds a migrant girl Reuters Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico A migran holds a Honduran flag as he cross the Suchiate river Reuters Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico A migrant reacts in Frontera Hidalgo, Mexico Reuters Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico AFP via Getty Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico AFP via Getty Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico AFP via Getty Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico EPA Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico AFP via Getty Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico AFP via Getty Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico The arrival of Honduran migrants to the border between Guatemala and Mexico EPA Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico Migrants pray as they gather near the border Reuters Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico A Central American migrant and his baby travelling on caravan to the US AFP via Getty Central American migrant caravan tries to enter Mexico Hundreds of people try to cross the bridge that allows the passage to Mexico EPA

Critics have lined up in opposition to the move, with congressman Porfirio Munoz Ledo, an ally of the president, wrote on Twitter: The National Guard today reignited the aggression against Central Americans.

It appears to be a systematic attitude or a state policy against the most elemental human rights. Whoever ordered it should respond to the Congress.

Enrique Acevedo, a columnist with Mexicos Milenio newspaper, said the administration is a government of the left that acts in complicity with Donald Trump in doing its dirty work.

 Donald Trump claims US are building a wall in Colorado - 370 miles from Mexico border

The US has praised Mexicos stance, with Chad F Wolf, acting secretary of homeland security, saying: The efforts by the Mexican National Guard and other officials have thus far been effective at maintaining the integrity of their border, despite outbreaks of violence and lawlessness by people who are attempting to illegally enter Mexico on their way to the United States.

Last year, the Mexican government replaced its immigration boss - a man widely seen as a defender of migrants - with Francisco Garduno Yanez who promise a more hard-line approach.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : US-based learning platform Udacity has launched a new Nanodegree programme titled 'Intro to Machine Learning with TensorFlow' that offers practitioner-level skills in new-generation Machine Learning (ML) through hands-on projects.

Developed by Google, TensorFlow is a deep learning framework that is widely used for creating ML models powered by multi-layer neural networks.

Its library offers users to perform various technologically-intensive functions by creating computational graphs.

The new Nanodegree programme incorporates advanced areas such as manipulating data, supervised and unsupervised learning, along with deep learning, the company said in a statement on Saturday.

"Learners can now choose between PyTorch and TensorFlow frameworks. Under this programme, students will also get the opportunity to acquire skills through hands-on projects that will display their expertise to the relevant employers," said Lalit Singh, COO, Udacity.

TensorFlow is utilized by several organizations to improve the quality of their businesses.

Google, for instance, utilizes this technology in its Cloud product to allow startups to build machine-learning models that work on data of any size.

Airbnb leverages this technology to improve the guest experience by driving large-scale classification and detection of images and objects.

Udacity collaborates with more than 200 global employer-partners including AT&T, Google, Facebook, Mercedes-Benz and NVIDIA to close talent gaps.

Headquartered in Mountain View, California, the privately-funded company has operations in India, China, Egypt, Germany and the UAE.
Although no case of Coronavirus has been reported in Morocco, sanitary monitoring at entry airports and ports has been activated as of this Saturday.

The move came after three coronavirus cases were confirmed in France.

In view of the latest developments in the global epidemiological situation, marked by the confirmation of the new virus in other countries, especially in Europe, Morocco has established health control at international ports and airports, with a view to ensure early detection of any possible case and stop the spread of the virus, if necessary, said the health department in a statement released this Saturday.

On Friday, the Ministry of Health reassured citizens that no cases were reported in the country and that the risk of the virus spread remains low.

In its Saturday statement, the Ministry of Health said it continues to consider the risk of the virus spread nationwide as low, and confirms, once again, that no suspected or confirmed cases have been registered so far.

It also reassures public opinion that the national system for epidemiological surveillance has been strengthened and that the virus diagnosis and care system for possible patients is operational.

The Moroccan Embassy in China has established a crisis cell to monitor the situation of Moroccan expatriates in the country and took precautionary measures by providing Moroccans with emergency phone numbers. In case of need, Moroccan nationals are called to contact the Embassy by sending e-mails to sifama.beiging@moroccoembassy.org.cn, including their passport number and their residential addresses, or call the following phone numbers: 8618701156920 or 8615652198381.

The Moroccan Embassy said it is in permanent contact with the Chinese authorities and with the Moroccan expatriates to monitor the situation.

The embassy called in a statement, members of the Moroccan community in China to be vigilant and to follow all the preventive measures recommended by the Chinese authorities.

The virus, which first broke in China, has infected more than 1,287 people in the Asian country, while the death toll has risen to 41 as of Friday.

Besides the three cases in France, two additional cases have been identified in the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The French and US patients have all traveled to China.

Several cases have also been reported in many Asian countries, including Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam.
London, Jan 25 : In a historic moment for the UK, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has signed the Brexit withdrawal agreement in Downing Street, which paves the way for the country's exit from the European Union (EU) on January 31.

After three years of bitter dispute, Johnson's deal officially became law after clearing all parliamentary hurdles and receiving royal assent on Friday, reports metro.co.uk.

Earlier on Friday, European Council's president Charles Michel and the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen signed the document in Brussels before it was transported to London on a Eurostar train.

Later in the day, the Prime Minister uploaded a picture of himself smiling at the camera as he put pen to paper with two Union Jack flags in the background.

Taking to Twitter along with the picture, he wrote: "Today I have signed the Withdrawal Agreement for the UK to leave the EU on January 31st, honouring the democratic mandate of the British people. ' "This signature heralds a new chapter in our nation's history." Downing Street officials said Johnson marked the document with a Parker fountain pen, as is traditional for ceremonial signings in No 10, reports the BBC.

It was witnessed by EU and Foreign Office officials, including the Prime Minister's Chief Negotiator David Frost, and Downing Street staff.

"The signing is a fantastic moment, which finally delivers the result of the 2016 referendum and brings to an end far too many years of argument and division," Johnson told the media on Friday night.

"We can now move forward as one country - with a government focused upon delivering better public services, greater opportunity and unleashing the potential of every corner of our brilliant UK, while building a strong new relationship with the EU as friends and sovereign equals." The UK will keep a copy of the agreement while the original will return to Brussels, where it will be stored in an archive along with other historic international agreements.

Next week's European Parliament vote is seen as all but a formality, after it was backed by Parliament's constitutional affairs committee on Thursday.

Once the UK leaves the EU, it will enter a transition period where it will follow the bloc's rules and regulations while the terms of the future relationship are worked out.
An ad hoc staff member of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Cross River state has been reportedly abducted by unknown gunmen.

The unidentified electoral official was abducted while conveying election materials for the rerun in Abi constituency on Saturday.

The abduction was confirmed by Mohammed Lecky, commissioner in charge of south-south, adding that the victim was the states presiding officer (SPO) for the poll.

Read Also: If Appointed INEC Chairman, I Wont Take A Kobo From FG To Conduct Elections: Galadima

He told newsmen that the victim was waylaid alongside his colleagues while conveying the materials through a river leading to the community.

Lecky added also that while the others including members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) have been released, the SPO is still being held, and the materials yet to be returned.

According to him, the security operatives accompanying the INEC team avoided a confrontation with the gunmen to avoid casualties.
Since the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by Parliament on 11 December last year, the country has united in protests against the contentious act. It amended the Citizenship Act of 1955 by providing a path to Indian citizenship for members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian religious minorities, who had fled persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before December 2014.



There are ways to protest but a Congress leader from Prayagraj has taken it to another level. The man from Prayagraj, who projected Rahul Gandhi as Lord Shiva once, has now made the strangest of appeals to the dead. Protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Congress leader Haseeb Ahmad went to a graveyard here and prayed to his ancestors buried there to provide proof of his citizenship.

Prayagraj: Congress leader Haseeb Ahmad went to a graveyard on 21st January and prayed to his ancestors buried there to provide proof of his citizenship, in protest against #CitizenshipAmendementAct. pic.twitter.com/mftoHTmGTv  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 24, 2020

"I have come to pray to my ancestors, along with other youths from my community, that my ancestors should testify that I am a citizen of this country.

"If they cannot do so, then I pray to the concerned authorities that the graves of my ancestors should also be put in detention camps along with my family because I do not have any documents to prove that I belong to this country," he said.

The entire incident has been video-recorded and is going viral on social media.

BCCL

Haseeb Ahmad is better known as the poster boy of Prayagraj because he makes news with his weird posters that he puts up on regular intervals. From projecting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as Lord Shiva to turning Sonia Gandhi into Rani of Jhansi, he has done it all.
Bolivia's Interim President Jeanine Anez on Friday said she would stand in the May 3 presidential election, which comes after the resignation of Evo Morales in November.

"I have made the decision to stand as a candidate in the national elections," Anez said in a speech.

A little-known senator, Anez assumed the presidency on November 12, two days after Morales resigned following three weeks of sometimes violent protests against his controversial re-election in a poll the Organization of American States said was rigged.

"I had not planned to participate in this election," Anez said, explaining that she had finally decided to stand due to the lack of unity among the opposition to Morales' Movement for Socialism (MAS) party, which is leading the polls.

However, the polls were carried out before economist Luis Arce announced he will stand in the election, backed by the MAS.

"The dispersion of votes and candidacies led me to make this decision," said Anez.

According to a poll published in early January by the Pagina Siete newspaper, the MAS leads voting intentions with 20.7 per cent, followed by Anez -- who was not yet a candidate -- with 15.6 per cent and centrist candidate and former president Carlos Mesa on 13.8 per cent.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Shaheen Bagh protests have been described as a modern-day satyagraha. It is early days yet, but worth asking whether the protests in the Delhi neighbourhood, and the peaceful protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens are satyagrahas in the sense that Mahatma Gandhi intended the word to be used. But before we come to that, it is important to consider Gandhis ideas on the subject and how they impacted the freedom movement.

The premise of the Indian freedom movement, if we consider Gandhi as the standard-bearer, was unique. It posed a moral challenge to imperialism, not a militaristic one. Gandhi gave the movement this thrust. For him, the moral struggle against British imperialism was anchored in the search for truth or satya.

Why did he choose a category as abstract and indefinable as truth? Gandhis movement was directed less against the British and more towards swaraj or self-rule, the self here standing not just for rule by Indians but for the higher Self that governs right behaviour and action or dharma. It is this anchorage in truth and non-violence that made the Gandhian project incredibly strong and, in some sense, unassailable.

He wanted to show the British the reality of their own untruth, which would force them to act in accordance with what was right. The satyagrahis needed to undertake this exercise within the portals of their own hearts at an individual level and in political acts of resistance to British rule and western civilisation.

In the current context, what then would be the moral centre of the protests? The answer lies in the acts of solidarity we have witnessed over the last month  people turning out in large numbers to hold the hands of those who feel threatened or disowned by the actions of the Modi government. Its imprint is found in the heart-bursting emotions we feel when we see students marching to protect the right of all Indians to equality before the law. But what is really at the bottom of these protests is Hindu-Muslim solidarity  something Gandhi strived for all his life and ultimately was assassinated for. In that sense, the essential impulse of the protests so far has been Gandhian.

But in the absence of a Gandhi-like figure, the ongoing resistance needs to be cautious about protecting this impulse of brotherhood and fraternity  also enshrined in the Preamble. Any act that seeks to vilify Narendra Modi and Amit Shah or connote violence in word or deed against the State or anyone else will compromise the struggle. As long as the protests can maintain their moral centre, it will be difficult for the BJPs propaganda apparatus to discredit them.

Yesterdays swaraj is todays Hindu-Muslim solidarity. We must not forget this. But equally, we must remember the deeper work of experiencing self-rule that Gandhi was at pains to embody through his life and work.

Hindu-Muslim solidarity continues to be the biggest of the unresolved issues facing India  bigger than, dare I say, Kashmir; bigger than Ayodhya; bigger than anything else that the government might imagine as the unresolved business of Partition and Independence. In fact, it underlies many of the biggest fault lines that have threatened to undermine the Indian experiment.

If the ongoing protests can take us closer to this ideal, provide it with the necessary symbolism and josh (to use a word that those in the government favour) for our age, they would have done their job. But for it to endure and flower, the satyagrahis of today will need to think beyond protests and posters. It will need all of us to ponder about what equality and fraternity really mean and whether we have mastered them within ourselves. We will need to make space for introspection, both personal and societal, in the current movement if we want it to succeed in the real sense.
A doctor has died from coronavirus nine days after getting infected with the deadly virus in China.

Liang Wudong, 62, from Hubei Province, was suspected of contracting the disease on January 16 at Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine and was transferred to the Jinyintan Hospital two days later.

The former ENT medic, who retired from the profession last June, died this morning.

He complained of tightening of the chest and feeling flustered when he was admitted to the hospital.



A detailed checkup of him revealed a chest infection, according to Wuhan Evening Post.

Dr Liang was immediately put in quarantine and later transferred to Jinyintan Hospital.

It is understood he has a history of heart disease and coronary heart disease.

A screenshot of messages from a closed group with doctors reveals that Dr Liangs mother had called the hospital and said that her son could not be saved.

A medical staff from the ENT department told local media that Dr Liang was allegedly infected with the virus.

Chinas state media originally reported that Dr Liang had been working at the front line of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan city but this has since been clarified.

The virus has killed 41 people in China and infected over 1,300 others, including a case in Chicago and another near Seattle.

Follow Us on Facebook  @LadunLiadi; Instagram  @LadunLiadi; Twitter  @LadunLiadi; Youtube  @LadunLiadiTV for updates
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Its easy to be cynical about the good intentions of a company caught up in one of the biggest frauds in history: the 1MDB scandal in Malaysia. Yet Goldman Sachs Group Inc.s new stance on boardroom diversity shows how even the most profit-oriented of finance titans can  when pushed  further the virtues of stakeholder capitalism.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where global leaders vowed to save humanity from climate change, Goldmans chief executive officer, David Solomon, set forth a vision for his banks role in imposing better governance on its clients. From July it wont manage the initial public offerings of American and European companies unless they have at least one non-white or non-straight male board candidate, Solomon said (the focus will be on women). In 2021, hes going to move toward requesting two.

The move carries weight. Goldman is one of the top three IPO underwriters of the past decade, alongside Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. It has an authority that wannabe public companies wont be able to ignore.

Going public is one of the critical junctures in a companys history. Its the moment when a century-old, family-owned widget maker, an upstart venture capital-backed tech unicorn, or a state-controlled behemoth, sets out on a course that will define its role in society for years to come. Getting the composition of its leaders right at the start sets the standard for what a company expects of itself just as it embarks on whats often a period of rapid growth.

Tech startups especially have been criticized for fostering a bro culture that can be a hostile place for women, exemplified by Uber Technologies Inc. under the previous leadership of Travis Kalanick.

But its not just about staff and society; shareholders will also benefit, according to Solomon. Companies with more diverse boards score better on measures of sustainability  an issue thats increasingly important for asset managers. Broader representation has also been associated with higher profits and performance, although the empirical data is mixed.

Story continues

Goldmans reputation could also use a little sprucing up, not only from the probes into its role raising money for the Malaysian investment fund 1MDB, but also around the subject of IPOs. Its no coincidence that Solomons declaration follows two listing flops of epic proportions. Last year, his bank was one of the IPO underwriters for WeWork, which only added a female director after its first prospectus was pilloried. The deal was pulled eventually in part because of lingering governance concerns.

International investors also spurned the biggest IPO of all time, Saudi Aramco, in part over concerns about controls and governance. Riyadh punished Goldman and its ilk by relegating them to the second-tier behind local banks, paying them considerably less after scrapping roadshows outside the Middle East.

The two deals were embarrassments that Goldman will be keen to move on from by putting a more positive gloss on this part of the empire. Whats more, its unlikely to lose out on any big IPO business given the relatively modest ambition of its pledge. Of the listings managed by Goldman in the past two years in the U.S. and Europe, fewer than 10% had a board lacking a diverse candidate (many countries already enforce quotas). Half of the banks top-10 IPOs in 2018 and 2019 took place in Asia and the Middle East, regions not covered by Solomons promise.

By flagging the more ambitious two-person target for 2021 now, Goldman is giving clients time to prepare. Its also shrewdly reading where the environmental, social and governance trend is headed. Its first mover advantage may win it admirers among more enlightened startup companies and executives who have been weighing direct listings as alternatives to costly IPOs.

It will take time for the vampire squid to shed its image as a pure opportunist, especially with 1MDB rumbling on. But whatever the motivation, pushing for greater diversity ups the collective pressure on other financiers to use their power for good. Over to you Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan.

To contact the author of this story: Elisa Martinuzzi at emartinuzzi@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Boxell at jboxell@bloomberg.net

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Elisa Martinuzzi is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering finance. She is a former managing editor for European finance at Bloomberg News.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion

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2020 Bloomberg L.P.
By Judy Hua and Tony Munroe

BEIJING, Jan 25 (Reuters) - The death toll from China's coronavirus outbreak jumped on Saturday to 41 from 26 a day earlier as the Lunar New Year got off to a gloomy start, with authorities curbing travel and cancelling public gatherings.

More than 1,300 people have been infected globally with a virus traced to a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife. Health authorities around the world are scrambling to prevent a pandemic.

State-run China Global Television Network reported in a tweet on Saturday that a doctor who had been treating patients in Wuhan, 62-year-old Liang Wudong, had died from the virus.

It was not immediately clear if his death was already counted in the official toll of 41, of which 39 were in the central province of Hubei, where Wuhan is located.

U.S. coffee chain Starbucks said on Saturday that it was closing all its outlets in Hubei province for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, following a similar move by McDonald's in five Hubei cities.

Wuhan, a city of 11 million, has been in virtual lockdown since Thursday, with nearly all flights at the airport cancelled and checkpoints blocking the main roads leading out of town. Authorities have since imposed transport restrictions on nearly all of Hubei province, which has a population of 59 million.

In Beijing on Saturday, workers in white protective suits checked temperatures of passengers entering the subway at the central railway station, while some train services in eastern China's Yangtze River Delta region were suspended, the local railway operator said.

The number of confirmed cases in China stands at 1,287, the National Health Commission said on Saturday.

The virus has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, Malaysia, France, the United States and Australia.

Australia on Saturday announced its first case of coronavirus, a Chinese national in his 50s, who had been in Wuhan and arrived from China on Jan. 19 on a flight from Guangzhou. He is in stable condition in a Melbourne hospital.

"Given the number of cases that have been found outside of China and the significant traffic from Wuhan city in the past to Australia, it was not unexpected that we would get some cases," Australia's Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy told a news conference.

"This is the first confirmed case. There are other cases being tested each day, many of them are negative, but I wouldn't be surprised if we had further confirmed cases."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it had 63 patients under investigation, with two confirmed cases, both in people who had travelled to Wuhan.

REINFORCEMENTS TO WUHAN

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus an "emergency in China" this week but stopped short of declaring it of international concern.

Human-to-human transmission has been observed in the virus.

China's National Health Commission said on Saturday it had formed six medical teams totalling 1,230 medical staff to help Wuhan. Three of the six teams, from Shanghai, Guangdong and military hospitals have arrived in Wuhan.

Hubei province, where authorities are rushing to build a 1,000 bed hospital in six days to treat patients, announced on Saturday that there were 658 patients affected by the virus in treatment, 57 of whom were critically ill.

The newly-identified coronavirus has created alarm because there are still many unknowns surrounding it, such as how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people. It can cause pneumonia, which has been deadly in some cases.

Symptoms include fever, difficulty breathing and coughing. Most of the fatalities have been in elderly patients, many with pre-existing conditions, the WHO said.

NEW YEAR DISRUPTIONS

Airports around the world have stepped up screening of passengers from China, though some health officials and experts have questioned the effectiveness of such screenings and of the lockdown.

Health officials fear the transmission rate could accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel before and during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, which began on Saturday, although many have cancelled their plans, with airlines and railways in China providing free refunds.

The virus outbreak and efforts to contain it have put a dampener on what is ordinarily a festive time of year.

Shanghai Disneyland was closed from Saturday. The theme park has a 100,000 daily capacity and sold out during last year's Lunar New Year holiday.

Beijing's Lama Temple, where people traditionally make offerings for the new year, has also closed, as have some other temples and the Forbidden City, the capital's most famous tourist attraction. Sections of the Great Wall near the capital were also closed off.

Film premieres have been postponed.

(Reporting by Sophie Yu, Yilei Sun, Judy Hua, Roxanne Liu, Se Young Lee and Cate Cadell; Additional reporting Lidia Kelly in Melbourne. Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Sam Holmes)
In a stunning claim made by an American website, Patheos, it was revealed that Icelands Parliament has voted to declare all religions as 'psychological disorders'. This move reportedly came after Althing (Iceland's national and world's oldest surviving Parliament) in 2017 voted to place mental health warnings on all bibles and ban American televangelists. However, soon after the story broke out, another website discovered that the news was entirely false.

Did Iceland's Parliament vote to declare religions as mental disorders?

Upon closer observation, it was discovered that the actual column was written by Andrew Hall and hosted on Patheos.Com which published articles about religion and atheism. Hall also took to Facebook to say that the column was satirical and humourous.

According to Halls column, Icelands Parliament voted in favour of the statute with only three lawmakers voting against it. The lawmakers who voted against it reportedly believe that the measure didnt go far enough. The satirical piece of news also quoted an anonymous representative who said Iceland did not want to end up like the United States and Saudi Arabia. It further added that Andrew Kinard, an MP also gave a full-throated defence for why religion is a psychological disorder.

Read: Prasar Bharati Takes On Reuters For Fake News On Plastic Ban

Read: Syed Akbaruddin Mocks Pakistan PM Imran Khan For Posting Fake News Video

Meanwhile, netizens were also quick to discover that the news was fake. Many users were left in disbelief and bemusement while others took the opportunity to dish out hysterical comments. Read it here;

India's public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati on Wednesday called out foreign media for spreading fake news about the Centre's initiative against Single-Use Plastic. On Tuesday, a report from an international news agency stated that India had 'held off' imposing a blanket ban on Single-Use Plastic as it was not able to cope with the economic slowdown and job losses. The report said the Modi-government had planned to outlaw six items on the occasion of 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi Jayanti.

Hitting out at the news agency, Prasar Bharati called its report 'fake'. It said the Centre had never planned to impose a blanket ban on plastic. Censuring Reuters, the public broadcaster said that the report was reflective of 'polemical approach' of the foreign media which intended to 'stoke controversies (and) spread negativity'. It added that such important was injustice towards 130 crore Indians' tribute to Gandhi on the Mahatma's 150th birth anniversary by doing away with Single-Use Plastic.

Read: NIA Takes Over Fake SIM Card Case Linked To Sub-Inspector Wilson's Murder In Tamil Nadu

Read: Malaysian Rights Groups Attempts To Block Singapore Ministers 'fake News' Directive
2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #4

Posted on 25 January 2020 by John Hartz

A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Jan 19, 2020 through Sat, Jan 25, 2020

Editor's Pick

The companies that have contributed most to climate change

Thought-provoking readings on those most responsible for the pollution.

Sometimes, in our struggle to address climate change, we need to see ourselves as facing not an incredibly complex (or wicked) problem (and one to which most of us contribute) but a clear-cut adversary. The worlds biggest fossil fuel companies inevitably make good candidates for that role, partly because they have done so much to delay political action, but also because they are literally the biggest source of the problem.

To learn more, an excellent place to begin is with a recent series from The Guardian. Starting on October 9, 2019, that paper published a significant cluster of stories in conjunction with the Climate Accountability Institute. The lead story is Revealed: The 20 Firms behind a Third of All Carbon Emissions; here is the first of three pages of links to the complete series (and a few later pieces).

Still, even identifying a clearly responsible party to blame might not make the climate problem look tractable: Getting off fossil fuels is a truly daunting challenge. Chris Turners essay Were Doomed. Now What?: An Optimists Guide to the Climate Crisis (The Walrus, November 2019) is more about its subtitle than its title. This thoughtful and thought-provoking look at some realistic but encouraging practicalities of converting the energy system makes a stimulating counterpart to the Guardian series. These stories update the 2017 Carbon Majors Report about the 100 most-carbon-polluting companies.

An important element in getting the world off fossil fuels involves how best to address the attendant, and fully understandable, concerns of all those who have been involved in the carbon economy, through employment or investments  including through retirement funds and pensions. A good starting place to learn about stranded assets is again in The Guardian.

The companies that have contributed most to climate change by SueEllen Campbell, Yale Climate Connections, Jan 24, 2020

Articles Linked to on Facebook

Sun, Jan 19, 2020

Mon, Jan 20, 2020

Tue, Jan 21, 2020

Wed, Jan 22, 2020

Thu, Jan 23, 2020

Fri, Jan 24, 2020

Sat, Jan 25, 2020
State Rep. Anne Hughes, D-Easton, is seeking a second term in office.

Hughes, who represents the 135th District, which covers Easton, Weston and Redding, kicked off her campaign earlier this month at Silvermans Farm in Easton. Gov. Ned Lamont and various other elected officials attended the event.

She emphasized her collaboration with her colleagues and the governor to address the climate crisis, access to health care and life-saving prescriptions, and economic disparity in the region, state and country.

In her first term, Hughes supported the Paid Family Medical Leave program and various environmental bills, among other initiatives.

She said she plans to continue her efforts to expand eligibility for absentee ballots, supporting aging in place, creating an act permitting the publication of legal notices on municipal websites and more.

Hughes defeated Republican incumbent Adam Dunsby to win the seat in November 2018.
Ms. Lauryn Hill Expands 2020 Tour with Six More Shows zo Zo is a staff writer at Okayplayer where he covers

The soul icon adds stops in DC, Richmond and the NYC area.

Ms. Lauryn Hill is filling out her 2020 touring schedule.

According to BrooklynVegan, Ms. Hill has expanded her tour docket with the addition of six new shows, including two stops a piece in Ohio and Washington, DC, a show in Richmond and three venues in the NYC-area. The upcoming leg of the tour launches on Valentines Day in Montclair, NJ, just a few miles outside of her hometown of East Orange. From there, Hill detours for a show in Dubai before heading south and, eventually, across the Atlantic for a performance in London in mid-July.

Scroll on for Ms. Lauryn Hills full touring schedule below and hold tight for her next transmission.

Tour Dates:

February 14th @ The Wellmont Theatre  Montclair, NJ

February 15th @ NYCB Theater  Westbury, NY

February 18th @ Veterans Memorial Auditorium  Providence, RI

February 20th @ Capitol Theatre  Port Chester, NY

February 22nd @ United Palace  New York, NY

February 26th @ Dubai Jazz Festival  Dubai, AE

March 3rd @ Carpenter Theater  Richmond, VA

March 6th @ Black Girls Rock  Washington, DC

March 7th @ Black Girls Rock  Washington, DC

March 10th @ Taft Theatre  Cincinnati, OH

March 12th @ MGM Northfield Park  Northfield, OH

March 14th @ Tower Theater  Upper Darby, PA

July 10th @ The Chapel  London, UK
While concerns continue to mount that the deadly coronavirus has spread to Connecticut, a spokesman for the state department of health said there are no confirmed cases here.

We have been monitoring a situation at Wesleyan University but as of today we have no confirmed cases in Connecticut, said Av Harris, director of communication for the state Department of Public Health.

Lauren Rubenstein, the director of media and public relations at Wesleyan, said Saturday the student who recently traveled in Asia and is suffering from a fever and a cough is in isolation.

We are providing health care and other services, Rubenstein said Saturday. No diagnosis (of coronavirus) has been made. Out of an abundance of caution, we are working with the state Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control to determine if the student ... has contracted the coronavirus or not.

Meanwhile the university has reached out to others who may have come into close contact with the student on campus, Rubenstein said. To date, none of these individuals have exhibited symptoms of concern, she said.

Harris said his office, working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will conduct surveillance and facilitate testing for individuals who may be at risk of infection. Up-to-date information can be found at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

The virus has been responsible for at least 41 deaths in China. There have been two confirmed cases in the U.S. involving a woman in Chicago and a man in Washington state. Both involved individuals who recently returned from Wuhan, China. Other infections have been confirmed in Australia, France, South Korea, Japan, Nepal, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Taiwan.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some causing illness in people and others that circulate among animals, including camels, cats and bats. It spreads among humans through coughing and sneezing. Laboratory tests are needed to confirm diagnosis. Symptoms can occur as quickly as two days to two weeks.

Harris said symptoms are similar to those ranging from the common cold to the flu. They include headache, coughs, runny nose, sore throat, fever and a general feeling of malaise. There is no vaccine and no approved drugs to fight the disease.

Doctors recommend drinking plenty of fluids and resting. In extreme cases a ventilator may be used to push oxygen into the lungs. diagnosis involves laboratory tests.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 25

Trend:

A winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will be held in Strasbourg Jan. 27-31, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani parliament.

Azerbaijani delegation led by the head of the permanent delegation of the Azerbaijani parliament in PACE, chairman of the parliamentary committee on international relations and interparliamentary ties Samad Seyidov will take part in the session.

The commission included MPs Sevinj Fataliyeva, Sahiba Gafarova, Rafael Huseynov, Asim Mollazade, Sabir Hajiyev and Nagif Hamzayev.

During the session, reports of the Bureau and the Standing Committee on the work done will be heard, the results of the parliamentary elections in Belarus, the activities of democratic institutions in Poland, the safety of journalists in Europe, media freedom and other issues will be discussed.

Azerbaijani MPs will speak in discussions and express their opinion.

As part of the session, with the organizational support of the Azerbaijani delegation, an event dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the January 20 tragedy is planned on Jan. 28.
An attorney for the man accused of killing Huntsville police officer Billy Fred Clardy III is asking a judge to set bail in his capital murder case.

LaJeromeny Brown has been held in the Madison County jail without bail set since Dec. 6  the day hes accused of fatally shooting Clardy during a drug operation in northeast Huntsville.

LaJeromeny Brown is held in the Madison County jail on a capital murder charge in the fatal shooting of Huntsville police officer Billy Fred Clardy III.

[Related: We need more Billy Clardys: Huntsville says goodbye to slain policeman]

Mr. Brown is currently unable to bond out and seek employment or be with his family, Defense attorney Brian Clark wrote in a motion filed Friday. The Defendant requests a bond in order to facilitate working with his attorneys in defending against these charges.

Brown is willing to wear an ankle monitor, said Clark, who represents Brown along with attorney John Brinkley.

The Eight Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits excessive bail, Clark wrote in court records, and the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure state bail is meant to ensure a defendant shows up for trial  not to be used as punishment. In Alabama, the suggested range of bail for a capital murder charge is $50,000 to no bail.

Brown is scheduled to appear in Madison County District Judge Patrick Tutens courtroom for a preliminary hearing on Monday afternoon. The judge will decide whether prosecutors have probable cause for the capital charge. Capital murder is punishable by the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Madison County Chief Trial Attorney Tim Gann and Assistant District Attorney Tim Douthit are prosecuting the case.

Brown, who is from Chattanooga, Tennessee, has a long criminal record, including time spent in federal prison on drug charges.

The authorities have alleged Brown was involved in a drug operation when he killed Clardy, a drug task force agent, at a home on Levert Street. Madison County prosecutors are seeking to seize the truck Brown was driving that day through Alabamas civil asset forfeiture law. The law allows the authorities to seize a persons property if theres probable cause to believe it is tied to criminal activity.

The vehicle was used, or intended for use, to transport and/or facilitate the transportation, sale, receipt, possession, or concealment of a controlled substance in violation of Alabama law and/or was purchased with processed of a controlled substance exchange, prosecutors wrote in court records. Brown denied the allegations in responding court filing.

Read more:

Mother of slaying suspect: My heart goes out to the officers family

Stolen guns used to kill 5 Alabama police officers in 2019

Community gathers to honor slain Huntsville police officer

Slain Alabama sheriff remembered as true peacemaker
Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has accused Moscow of pressuring his country to merge with Russia and he vowed he would never let it happen.



Lukashenka, speaking on January 24 to workers at a paper plant in eastern Belarus, slammed Russia, the country's main provider of cheap oil and natural gas, for exploiting Minsk's reliance on oil deliveries to force it to be "dissolved" into Russia.



"We have our own country, we're sovereign and independent. With our brains and hands, we earn what we can, we're building our own country. And we can't be a part of some other country," Lukashenka said.



"I can't betray you and dissolve Belarus, even into brotherly Russia."



"Even if I agree to that, Belarusians would eat me alive within a year," said Lukashenka, who has been president since the position was created in 1994.



"It's honorable to be the first [president of Belarus], but I sure don't want to be the last."



Belarus is heavily reliant on Russia for fuel and funding and is a key transit route for Russian energy supplies to Europe.

But Lukashenka, who has mocked the West's portrayal of him as "Europe's last dictator" and has not faced democratic elections, has also sought to maintain some distance between Minsk and Moscow.

Belarus has been at odds with Russia over oil-transit prices and tariffs for some time against a backdrop of increasing pressure by Moscow on Lukashenka to deepen integration between the two neighbors.



The two countries failed to agree on an oil-supply contract for 2020, leading Russia to halt supplies to refineries in Belarus, although they were partially resumed on January 4.



A two-month deal on gas prices hours before a December 31 deadline struck helped the sides avoid a gas shutoff to start the year.



Moscow and Minsk signed an agreement in 1999 to form a unified state, but little progress has been made in the ensuing two decades. Belarus was a Soviet republic until winning independence in 1991.



Meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lukashenka last year failed to bring the two sides together as the Belarusian president noted he was merely seeking "equal" terms.



Belarus was hit by rare public demonstrations in December, with protesters expressing anger over the perceived secrecy of the talks and objecting to closer ties to Russia.



The Kremlin, in defending higher energy prices and lower subsidies for Belarus, argues that Minsk should accept greater economic integration if it wants to continue receiving energy resources at Russia's domestic prices.



Lukashenka has since vowed to find alternative oil suppliers and said on January 24 that Minsk was negotiating additional supplies with the United States, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.



"Americans, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates...I have a brilliant relationship with them. They say they will supply as much oil as needed," Lukashenka said.



Earlier this week, Belarus announced a deal to import of oil from Norway.



U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to visit Minsk on February 1, becoming the highest-level U.S. official to visit Belarus since diplomatic relations with the United States were frayed more than a decade ago.



He will meet with Lukashenka and Foreign Minister Uladzimer Makey to "underscore the U.S. commitment to a sovereign, independent, stable, and prosperous Belarus, and affirm our desire to normalize our bilateral relations," a State Department spokeswoman said.

With reporting by AP and Reuters
Fergal Keane will have a new role within the organisation

Award-winning journalist and author Fergal Keane is stepping down as the BBC's Africa editor as he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The war correspondent (59) has reported from some of the most volatile and dangerous conflict zones in the world - including the Rwandan genocide - during a career with the BBC which has spanned more than three decades.

In a statement sent to staff at the BBC yesterday, head of news gathering Jonathan Monro confirmed the journalist, who grew up in Dublin and Cork, will "step back from his role" as Africa editor while he recovers.

He will be reassigned to a new role "that will enable him to continue to provide original and compelling journalism on different platforms across News and Current Affairs and more widely across the BBC," the memo said.

Mr Munro paid tribute to Mr Keane, the son of the late Kerry actor Eamonn Keane and nephew of playwright John B Keane, as someone who "brought huge insight, experience and thoughtfulness to the role, covering a wide range of different stories across the continent".

Supported

He said the reporter "has been dealing privately with the effects of PTSD, stemming from several decades of work in conflict zones around the world".

"He has been supported throughout this time by friends and colleagues in news, as well as receiving professional medical advice," Mr Munro added.

"But he feels he needs to change his role in order to further assist his recovery."
The memorial is being financed with money from a fund of up to 25 million Canadian dollars that the government established in 2018 as it settled class-action lawsuits brought by members of the military and the Mounties as well as other public servants who were harassed, discriminated against or fired because of their sexual orientation.

The program was almost as bizarre as it was hurtful. It emerged in the 1950s out of general Cold War paranoia. The Mounties set up a special unit on the theory that gay men and lesbians might be blackmailed by the Soviet Union into turning over government secrets. Officers conducted surveillance of gay bars across Canada and used threats and intimidation to get the names of gay men and lesbians in government. The police force even worked with a psychologist in a failed, almost farcical attempt to build a homosexuality detector known as the fruit machine.

There is no recorded case of any government employees, Mounties or military members having turned over anything to the Soviets out of fear that their sexual orientation would be exposed.

I went to the future site of the memorial with Michelle Douglas. She is now the executive director of the LGBT Purge Fund, but she is perhaps better known as the woman who fought back and ended the purge.
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Barna Groups recent research, The Connected Generation , was released on January 9, 2020, and, guys of Gen Z, you broke our hearts. Writing as those who love you, as a daddy boomer and a gal who is Gen X, we read what 15,369 interviews in 25 countries and nine languages reveal about you; you really dont want to get married and you really dont want to have children. Sad. Our hearts hurt for the 18 to 35-year-olds who are the focus of the study.

So what went wrong for you that marriage and family are downers and low priorities? You could blame it on your parents divorce, maybe mom or dad spent more time with the latest girlfriend or boyfriend or maybe even the dog had priority over you. Did you find that you were always caring for yourself and your needs because mom and dad were neglectful? Did this create your me mentality? But did you know that marriage can actually improve your health, wealth and contentment. The Harvard Medical Health Publishers stated that a healthy marriage can elongate ones life, improve mental health and deter heart attacks and strokes.



And, what was it that turned you against children? Was your childhood that horrific? Maybe your heart got twisted for the little ones because you saw so many children thrown away into the abortion dumpster? Climate change? I cant bring any more bodies into the world, especially those big massive carbon footprint stompers and devourers called 'babies'. Those critters are the ones that are filling the landfills of the world with uncompostable dirty diapers. With all the heartache and angst of your generation, we thought you would want to do it differently than your dysfunctional parents generation; but you have fizzled out. Oh! Wait for it having and raising children in that healthy marriage can heighten your financial success? YES! Two loving people committed to each other for life laser focused on the same goals breeds a bank account with goals for babies nursery, childrens swing sets, monumental vacays, then college then weddings then grandchildren. Did you know that children from a healthy marriage have increased literacy, higher education goals, decreased incarceration and decreased anxiety and depression?

Along with discarding children, family and marriage, the Barna study revealed you werent (and arent) overall interested in caring for the poor, the needy, the widows and the orphans. You just threw Saint James 1:27 over the cliff. Sure, Gen Z spends lots of time opening their Birch Boxes, sipping their 6 oz. $10 mocha caramel lattes, nightly excursions at the latest organic fusion restaurant, walking their adopted doggies and never missing a Barre class or Pilates class. And you do all these things so very well with that smug expression of, I am doing something amazing because I only eat organic. So, whats dope? We both will sum it up in one word according to Barna: Narcissism. Our words; not his.

According to Websters Dictionary, Narcissism is a noun meaning excessive interest or admiration of oneself or selfishness. Gen Z, according to Barna is leaving a legacy of narcissism. Gen Z will wake up to photo clouds of memories of sunny beaches and sand, filtered insta posts of their latest adventures. Few will be leaving a legacy of solid marriages that produce Godly children who serve together to make this world a better place. Hebrews 13:16 And dont forget to do good and to share with those in need. What better way to live these Biblical principles than by sharing ones life in marriage and then to ones children and grand-children. The Book of the Song of Solomon reminds us how beautiful marriage can be when two people make a daily commitment to each other.

Gen Z needs to make a choice, Whom will you serve? Yourself, leaving a legacy of Narcissism or Your Family leaving a legacy of life. When you think of your photo cloud will it be hollow with photos of you with random people, or photos of family with deep long lasting relationships.

And why cant Gen Z realize that they can have an education, career, travel with a wife or husband and children by their side? This is where the real adventure begins. Gen Z has been created for a greater purpose then saving for the next vacay. Why dont you sign up for a missions trip to dig for clean water in Africa! And bring the whole family! Now those are photos worth editing and posting on insta! Which legacy are you leaving?
Update - 6pm: A post-mortem examination is being carried out on the bodies of two brothers and a sister, who were found dead at their home in Co Dublin last night.

Gardai named them as Conor, aged nine, Darragh, aged seven, and three-year-old, Carla McGinley.

Their bodies were found at around 7.45pm, when gardai responded to a call at Parsons Court in Newcastle.

A female relative, in her 40s, was found at the scene and is receiving medical attention in Tallaght University Hospital.

It is understood the childrens father, Andrew McGinley, was not at the house at the time.

Around 150 people, including many of the children's classmates, turned out for a special mass at St Finian's Church in Newcastle earlier today.

Update 1pm: The three children who were found dead in a house south-west of Dublin city last night have been named by gardai.

Brothers and sister Conor, 9, Darragh, 7, and Carla McGinley, 3, were found at Parsons Court, Newcastle at 7.45pm.

A female relative, aged in her 40s, was found at the scene. She is currently receiving medical attention in Tallaght University Hospital.

The scene is currently being examined by members of the Garda Technical Bureau. Assistant State Pathologist Margot Bolster has attended the scene.

The bodies of the three children have been removed to the City Morgue, where a post-mortem examination will take place later today.

The results of the post mortem will determine the cause of death of the three children.

A family liaison officer has been appointed and is in contact with the father and the extended family.

An Garda Siochana are making no further comment.

Earlier: Three childrens bodies removed from house in Dublin

Update 12.48pm: The bodies of three children have been removed from a house in Co Dublin.

The three children were found dead in a house in Parsons Court, in the village of Newcastle, which is south-west of Dublin city, on Friday night.

Their bodies were removed by ambulance at around 10am on Saturday.

Garda forensic officers at the house in the village of Newcastle (Caroline Quinn/PA)

Gardai have described the deaths as unexplained.

It is understood it was not immediately obvious to officers how the children had died when they attended the scene.

It is also understood gardai are not looking for anyone else in relation to the incident.

Garda forensic officers were continuing to conduct examinations inside the semi-detached house on Saturday morning.

Neighbours, including parents with young children, attended the house throughout the morning leaving flowers at the door of the home which was guarded by a number of officers as forensic investigators continued inside.

Childrens toys could be seen in the windows of the house.

Many women could be seen in tears as they attended the scene, which has been described as a very quiet street and popular with young families.

One woman said the small community is in absolute shock, and many attended a local mass service on Saturday morning.

Councillor for the area Emer Higgins described the events as an unimaginable tragedy.

My thoughts are with everybody impacted, said the Fine Gael representative.

This is a really tight-knit community, its a small area, its a quiet area, and its just unthinkable that something like this could be happening on our doorstep.

Its so tragic. Its unbelievable that three young peoples lives could be cut short like that, in what seems to be a particularly tragic case.

A Garda incident room has been set up in Clondalkin Garda Station and gardai have appealed for anyone with information to come forward.
During the probe into Bhima-Koregaon case, Pune Police had claimed that Maoists and their supporters in urban areas were discussing a 'Rajiv Gandhi-type' assassination plan against Modi.

Mumbai: In a sudden move, the Centre has transferred the Koregaon-Bhima case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said on Friday night.

In a late night tweet, Deshmukh said, "I strongly condemn the decision to transfer the investigation of 'Koregaon-Bhima' case to NIA by the Central Government without any consent of Maharashtra State Government.."

The Union Home Ministry and the NIA were maintaining complete silence in New Delhi and the spokespersons of the two departments were not responding to queries from reporters.

The decision of the Centre has left the Maharashtra government fuming, with Deshmukh tweeting that the Centre took this decision after the new Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in Maharashtra decided to "go to the root of the matter".

"I condemn this decision. This is against the Constitution," the minister, who belongs to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), added.

"Sudden taking over of Bhima Koregaon riot case by NIA after Maha Vikas Aghadi govt started reinvestigation into the inquiry of Pune police, clearly substantiates conspiracy of BJP. Why it took two years for NIA to find that case is fit under its jurisdiction? Strongly condemn!" Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said in a tweet.

"Why did it take NIA two years to find out that the case is fit under its jurisdiction. Strongly condemn the decision," he said. NCP spokesperson and state Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik described the decision as a "cover-up" by the Centre to hide the wrongdoings of the previous BJP-led government in the state.

The case was being probed by the Pune Police.

The police had on Thursday briefed state Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and Deshmukh about the status of the probe. NCP chief Sharad Pawar had demanded that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) be set up under a retired judge to probe the action taken by Pune Police in the case.

The move comes a day after Sharad Pawar demanded a SIT probe in the Koregaon-Bhima violence, the Ministry of Home Affairs transferred the case to the NIA, said NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase.

"What is the BJP afraid of? Why have they suddenly lost faith in Maharashtra Police?" he asked.

Earlier on Friday, another NCP leader and minister Jitendra Awhad alleged that the Koregaon-Bhima violence case was a "conspiracy" of the previous BJP-led government to malign the image of activists sympathetic to Dalit causes.

"Taking action against those who recite poems of Namdeo Dhasal (a Marathi poet and Dalit activist) and arresting people on allegations of plotting to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi is too much. The case should be investigated again," the minister had said.

Violence had broken out near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial in Pune district on 1 January, 2018.

Dalits visit the memorial in large numbers as it commemorates the victory of British forces which included Dalit Mahar soldiers over the army of the Brahmin Peshwa rulers of Pune in 1818.

The police had claimed that provocative speeches at Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune on 31 December, 2017, led to the violence and Maoists were behind the conclave.

They later arrested several Left-leaning activists including Telugu poet Varavara Rao and activist Sudha Bharadwaj for alleged links to Maoists.

During the probe, Pune Police had claimed that Maoists and their supporters in urban areas were discussing a "Rajiv Gandhi-type" assassination plan against Modi.

Incidentally, as per the NIA Act, when the Centre deems any case fit to be probed by the NIA, the state police has to transfer relevant records to the Central agency.
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The main aim of stock picking is to find the market-beating stocks. But the main game is to find enough winners to more than offset the losers So we wouldn't blame long term China Telecom Corporation Limited (HKG:728) shareholders for doubting their decision to hold, with the stock down 32% over a half decade. And it's not just long term holders hurting, because the stock is down 27% in the last year. There was little comfort for shareholders in the last week as the price declined a further 1.6%.

Check out our latest analysis for China Telecom

To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' One flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price.

SEHK:728 Past and Future Earnings, January 25th 2020

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. In the case of China Telecom, it has a TSR of -22% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 4.7% in the last year, China Telecom shareholders lost 25% (even including dividends) . Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 4.8% per year over five years. We realise that Buffett has said investors should 'buy when there is blood on the streets', but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. Importantly, we haven't analysed China Telecom's dividend history. This free visual report on its dividends is a must-read if you're thinking of buying.

Story continues

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of companies that have proven they can grow earnings.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on HK exchanges.

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.
These numbers have enabled the Jammu and Kashmir Police to win a lion's share of 108 medals out of the total 290 gallantry awards declared on the eve of the Republic Day, as per the Union Home Ministry

The Jammu and Kashmir Police has bagged the maximum number of gallantry honours with 108 medals on the occasion of the 71st Republic Day, followed by 76 by the CRPF, according to an official communication on Saturday.

The tally for the Union Territory police, thickly involved in counter-terrorist operations in the Kashmir Valley, also includes three President's Police Medal for Gallantry (PPMG), out of the total four of these top category decorations announced this time.

These numbers have enabled the Jammu and Kashmir Police to win a lion's share of 108 medals out of the total 290 gallantry awards declared on the eve of the Republic Day, as per the Union Home Ministry.

It is one of the highest tally of gallantry medals won by a police force in recent times, a senior officer in the security establishment said.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) that is also deployed in the UT for counter-terror duties apart from being the lead force in anti-Naxal operations continued its streak of getting the largest multi-theatre gallantry medals as it has been decorated with 75 PMG and a PPMG (posthumously) for CoBRA commando Utpal Rabha.

Rabha was killed in an encounter with Maoists in Jharkhand in June, 2018 and his citation said he displayed "extraordinary valour" during the gun battle.

Other forces which have been decorated with the police bravery medal (PMG) include the state police units of Jharkhand (33), Odisha (16), Delhi Police (12), Maharashtra (10), Chhattisgarh (8), Bihar (7), Punjab (4) and Manipur (2).

Among the central forces, the Border Security Force (BSF) got nine PMG followed by Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) 4, and one for the Railway Protection Force (RPF).

Overall, a total of 1,040 police medals have been declared on the eve of Republic Day that includes 93 distinguished service medals and 657 meritorious service medals.

These police bravery awards are declared bi-annually on the eve of Republic Day and Independence Day.
Belarus has just bought two cargoes of Johan Sverdrup, the recently commissioned Norwegian oilfield and is in talks with several oil-producing countries from the Soviet Union to ramp up crude imports in the upcoming weeks. As Oil Price writes, this in and of itself might not seem such a big thing yet considering that Belarus in the past years was 100 percent reliant on Russian crude (and has barely purchased any in 2020), it marks an unexpected escalation of what initially seemed to a technical issue, a transit fee discrepancy, that should have been sorted on a professional level, without the involvement of politics. Instead, the undeclared war between Belarus and Russia is now upending traditional lines of supply and wreaking havoc in the two states.

Since Belarus has been receiving all crude oil duty-free up until the last days of 2019, Russias decision to move in the direction of harmonizing its oil sector taxation with the requirements of its post-CIS integration brainchild, the Eurasian Economic Union, renders it inadvertently one of its victims. The phasing out is not immediate as it is spread out over five years (2019-2024) yet Belarus does not want to sit idly whilst the margins and profits of its refiners shrink and their standing vis-a-vis Russia becomes unfavored. To complicate matters even more, 6mtpa of the 24mtpa Belarus annually purchased were only nominally related to the Eastern European state  the Kremlin used it as a political sweetener for purely political reasons, these volumes were customs cleared in Belarus (not Russia) so that the Belarussian budget gets some $600-800 million per year.

This might seem as a tough nut to crack  thanks to the duty-free character of crude imports Belarus saved approximately $2 billion per year and now would be compelled to purchase crude at market level. However, the particularities of post-Soviet deal-making render it even more complicated. All of the crude agreements are inextricably linked to the two sides gas agreements (Belarus has paid 132 USD/MCm whilst the average European price of Gazprom was 242 USD/MCm in 2018 and 202 USD/MCm in 2019), Minsks manifold debt repayment schemes vis-a-vis Russian state banks and President Lukashenkas erratic foreign policy.

Gas negotiations are palpably less toxic than the crude-related ones, owing in no small part to the fact that Gazprom controls Belarus gas transmission network, i.e. it cannot be used as a bargaining chip in bilateral negotiations/disputes. This is not the case with crude and one can see the result  as soon as the Belarussian-Russian dispute emerged, the Belarussian Trade and Anti-Monopoly Ministry declared that it seeks an immediate 16.6 percent hike on pipeline crude transit volumes (the crude which is supplied to Central and Eastern Europe via the Druzhba pipeline). The Belarussian President upped the ante by imposing a sudden 50-percent environmental tax on all crude and product transit volumes, needless to say that in a completely unannounced fashion.

Why Johan Sverdrup?

The reason for buying Johan Sverdrup is fairly straightforward  the 28 degree API density grade is very similar in its product yield to Urals, the crude for which both Belarussian refineries were initially configured. According to market rumors, the Belarussian state company BNK bought two Aframax cargoes and will ship them home from the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda, delivering them to the Novopolotsk Refinery by rail. The vicinity of Norways continental shelf played no small part in this  MT Breiviken which will deliver the first cargo loaded January 19 and by January 23 it had already reached its final destination, i.e. the required voyage was really quick, coming in handy for Minsks bargaining position even if it overpaid it.

What does Russia seek?

As much as Russia has garnered a rather adverse reputation for its energy sector-related dealings, with Belarus it faces a difficult dilemma  it wants to make sure that a powerful political message is made to President Lukashenka, all the while keeping Belarus oil sector out of the trouble. Its interests are by no means altruistic  Belarus largest refinery in Mozyr is co-owned by a joint venture of Rosneft and Gazprom Neft, meaning that Russian NOCs control 42.58 percent of the asset (the rest is controlled by the Belarussian state). Given that Belarus downstream was loss-making even in the good years of 2017 and 2018, primarily due to government-controlled fuel prices and currency devaluations, neither of the companies wants to incur even deeper losses.

What next?

As wild as the current situation seems, this is not the first time such unbridled negotiations take place. Tariff hikes are a usual subject for the two sides disputes, moreover in 2010 Belarus has already tried to import Venezuelan crude to demonstrate that it can survive without Russian deliveries. Lukashenkas cash-strapped regime needs further Russian loans and Moscows cooperativeness in keeping Belarus loss-making energy sector afloat, all the while Russia, seeking to enter a new period of detente with Europe, has no political interest in spoiling its geopolitical game by actions in Belarus. Hence, after the bombastic declarations and threats abate, Moscow and Minsk will curve out yet another modus operandi (which everyone knows will last only for a couple of years, only to repeat the entire process from scratch).
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Saturday appealed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to 'rethink' about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019.

"I appeal the Prime Minister of this country to rethink CAA. The Population Register is the first step towards NRC and this has been said in the parliament. We have opposed CAA and it was a wrong decision by the Centre. To Amit Shah, I have said that we will not support the Act," KCR told reporters.

Adding that CAA is unconstitutional, the Chief Minister said: "In Kashmir issue, we have supported the Centre. However, we don't agree with the Centre on CAA. This Act violates the Constitution."

"SC should take a suo-moto case and should reject CAA. Back to back BJP governments in several states are falling. If needed, we will meet other party leaders and oppose CAA. There are chances that I can organise conclave with other Chief Ministers against CAA in coming days," TRS leader said.

Rao added, "India should belong to all people and should not belong to only one religion. Other Chief Ministers are saying that our prestige will be in danger before other foreign countries."

Stressing that the economic situation in the country has worsened, he said: "The economic situation in the country has worsened and the world is saying this. It will have a severe impact on every state in this country. Our growth has been curbed by this current situation."

"BJP and the Congress have failed and next time, a federal government will be formed at the Centre. Regarding CAA, we will hold discussions in the coming assembly sessions. We openly oppose CAA and in future, we may bring resolution against it," Rao said.

The Chief Minister also thanked the people for reposing their faith in Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the Telangana municipal elections.

"Beijing is one of the most polluted cities and Delhi is also polluted. However, Hyderabad is safer because it has forest lands surrounding the city. We will also take the necessary action to ensure that Hyderabad doesn't suffer from the issue of pollution," the Chief Minister said.

He added, "Telangana has 9.5 per cent GDP growth. I am confused about why people from here go to Gulf countries and suffer there. Many people from Bihar, Chattisgarh and other places are working here and getting good salaries. I will go to gulf countries and speak to Telangana people who are suffering there. We will help them."

"We will give pension to everyone who has crossed 57 years. Earlier we said that we will give pension to unemployees and we have delayed this process. I will write a letter to PM to release the funds which are pending," said Rao.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A local artist born and raised in the Spring-Klein area won big in his first ever juried art contest this month with a portrait of one of the students in his art classes.

Clinton Millsap, the artist, won first place in the 50th Assistance League of Houstons Celebrate Texas Art Show with his portrait Recover. He hadnt won an art contest before, other than a sculpting contest to make a sculpture for the mascot of the band Iron Maiden.

Related: Huffman ISD displays students rodeo art

Millsaps winning painting was a portrait of one of the students at his school where he teaches art: Euduardo Simba, from Cabinda, Angola in Africa.

He has a wonderful story of survival from his country all the way to being an American immigrant, Millsap said. I take portraits of my students to collect faces for my portraits. His portrait seemed like it had to be done.

The title of the portrait, Recover, is a term he uses in his class, he said, as students can always recover their drawing, or painting, or idea.

Millsap said the appeal for portraits for him has to do with his fascination with peoples eyes.

I think that people who are viewing art are drawn to faces because thats what they see every day, so they gravitate to what they know, Millsap said. When people are viewing art, the most comfortable food to eat in the room is the portrait, and theyre always gravitating towards it.

Related: Texas art installations call for a spring road trip

The painting was uniquely made with an iron oxide paint, which creates a true rust on the canvas.

Millsap went to Klein High School and said he has been drawing and painting since he could hold a crayon more than 40 years ago.

Its just been a fascination with creating things, Millsap said. Ive never been able to stop creating. Its just an emotional feeling that I have to make something, and I just enjoy the process of actually doing it. Ive never had a huge purpose to it other than just the feeling I have to make something, or I dont feel right.

Millsaps work is on display, along with 61 other works of original art, in the KBR Tower, 601 Jefferson St.

paul.wedding@hcnonline.com
Republic Day 2020 Updates: The gravity-defying certical Charlie manoeuvre by the Sukhoi 30MKI brought the Republic Day parade to an end. Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the crowds at Rajpath.

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Tweeting in English and Hindi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished the citizens of India on the 71st Republic Day. He will visit the War Memorial in New Delhi, followed by Rajpath for the Republic Day Parade.

Kargil War hero Lt Gen YK Joshi, 15 Corps Commander Lt Gen KJS Dhillon, 3 Corps Commander Lt Gen Rajiv Sirohi and former 16 Corps Chief Lt Gen Paramjeet Singh will be awarded the Uttam Yudh Seva Medal. Meanwhile, four army officers will be awarded the Bar to Sena Medal (Gallantry) while 104 army personnel will be given Sena Medal (Gallantry) for their respective acts of bravery, on this Republic Day.

Indian Army Vice Chief Lt Gen SK Saini, Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh and Adjutant General Lt Gen Arvind Dutta among 19 officers will be awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal at the Republic Day parade at Rajpath today.

Central Armed Police Forces will be awarded 76 medals for gallantry. Naresh Kumar, Assistant Commandant, CRPF will receive his sixth Police Medal-Gallantry on Republic Day for neutralising three terrorists, including Lashkar-e-Taiba's top commander Shaukat Tak in Srinagar.

Thirty-six-year-old Mary Kom, also a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, won a bronze medal in the 2012 London Olympics while also being crowned as world champion six times in an illustrious career.

Eminent personalities, including former Union ministers Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and George Fernandes, Olympian boxer Mary Kom, former Mauritius prime minister Anerood Jugnauth, classical singer from Varanasi Chhannulal Mishra and Sri Vishveshateertha Swamiji Sri of the Pejavara Matha in Udupi have been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan.

The full route of the Republic Day parade starts from Vijay Chowk, through Rajpath, C-Hexagon, Tilak Marg, cross Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Netaji Subhash Marg and ends at Red Fort.

The Vijay Chowk outside the Rashtrapati Bhavan is the starting point of the Republic Day parade, which crosses Rajpath and ends at Red Fort.

Aided by dozens of drones in the air and hundreds of CCTV cameras and facial recognition devices, besides several anti-aircraft guns on the ground, the security personnel are keeping a hawk-eyed vigil over Rajpath, where President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be celebrating the occasion along with chief guest, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and other dignitaries, besides thousands of citizens.

With the 71st Republic Day celebrations set to begin here shortly, the entire national capital has been put under a multi-layered, ground-to-air security cover with thousands of armed personnel keeping a tight vigil over it, including the celebration venue Rajpath.

Recently, the Delhi High Court asked the Delhi Police to look into the matter of blockage of Kalindi Kunj road blockage which was causing an inconvenience to commuters, due to the protest at Shaheen Bagh.

The tricolour flag was unfurled at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi on Sunday. Demonstrations have been ongoing in the area since 15 December 2019, and protestors have blocked Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch to protest against the new citizenship law.

The Delhi police has also installed its facial recognition devices at all entry gates of the R-Day celebration venue to identify miscreants and suspects, said officials.

The celebration venue Rajpath will remain inaccessible to general traffic till 12 noon, till when the entry and exit gates of the Central Secretariat, Udyog Bhawan, Patel Chowk and Lok Kalyan Marg metro stations too will remain closed, beginning from 8.45 am.

Over ten thousand security personnel have been deployed to keep vigil over the Republic Day celebrations on Sunday, said officials. Sharpshooters and snipers have been deployed atop high-rise buildings to keep watch on the eight-km-long parade route from Rajpath to the Red Fort, they said

Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel celebrated Republic Day at 17,000 feet in extremely cold conditions. The temperature in Ladakh at present is minus 20 degrees Celsius. Also called Himveers, the personnel unfurled the national flag and chanted 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Vande Mataram'.

The C-Hexagon around India Gate will remain closed from 2 am on 26 January till the end of the parade. Besides, traffic on Tilak Marg, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg and Netaji Subhash Road will not be allowed from 5 am till the parade is over, it said. The Delhi Metro schedules on Yellow Line (HUDA City Centre to Samaypur Badli), and Violet Line (Kashmere Gate to Raja Nahar Singh) have also been partially modified for Sunday. The entry and exit at Central Secretariat and Udyog Bhawan Metro stations will remain closed till 12 noon. All the Metro parking lots will remain closed till 2 pm.

The Delhi Traffic Police has put in place certain restrictions on the movement of traffic in the national capital ahead of the Republic Day parade. According to the advisory, no cross-traffic will be allowed on Rajpath from 11 pm on Saturday at Rafi Marg, Janpath and Mansingh Road till the Republic Day Parade is over.

The first Republic Day parade was held in 1950 and was presided over by India's first President after Independence Rajendra Prasad.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi lays a floral wreath at the Amar Jawwan Jyoti or the eternal flame at the National War Memorial. He is flanked by Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and Army Chief Gen Naravane, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh, Air Force Chief Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro will soon reach the venue to take start Republic Day celebrations.

Additionally, an all-women team of CRPF will showcase their daredevil skills at Rajpath.

Major Sheena Nayyar will lead a contingent of the transportable satellite terminal. The system provides the fail-safe secure communication to the forces on the move.

Tania Shergill, a young Army officer who grew up in a family where for generations men had lived their life serving the nation in olive green uniform, will be leading an all-men contingent comprising 147 personnel on Republic Day.

After the Param Vir Chakra and Ashok Chakra awardees, the highest peacetime gallantry awards in India, the first contingent in the uniform of the erstwhile Gwalior Lancers is 61 Cavalry was led by Captain Deepanshu Sheoran. The 61 Cavalry is the only active serving horse cavalry regiment in the world. It was raised on 1 August, 1953 with the amalgamation of six state forces cavalry units.

The 21 Gun Salute was presented by 2233 Field Battery under the command of Lieutenant Colonel C Sandeep. On Republic Day every year, a 21-gun salute is given to the National Flag and the President during the Flag Hoisting Ceremony.

The marching contingent of the Corps of Signals is led by Captain Tanya Shergil, a fourth generation Army Officer. The motto of the Corps is Teevra Chaukas.

The National Service Scheme (NSS) contingent comprised 148 volunteers. The National Cadet Corps (NCC) Boys Marching contingent led by Commander Junior Under-Officer Charandeep Singh Bhaduria, NCC Directorate Uttar Pradesh, while the Girls contingent will be headed by Senior Under-Officer Shreeshma Hegde, NCC Directorate, Karnataka and Goa.

The Camel Contingent of Border Security Force under the command of Deputy Commandant Ghanshyam Singh. BSF's motto is Duty unto Death; There are over 75 different dress items which are necessary to ceremonially dress the camels and riders of the Force. There are over 75 different dress items which are necessary to ceremonially dress the camels and riders of the Force.

Birla Balika Vidyapeeth, Pilani's band is led by Senior Under Officer Charu Surana. The school has been continuously participating in the Republic Day parade for 56 years consecutively.

Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Goa are among the states whose colourful and culturaly rich tableaux are on display at the parade this year.

Suspension of mobile phone and Internet services on Republic and Independence days has been part of the security drill in the valley since 2005 when militants used a mobile phone to trigger an IED blast near the venue of Independence day celebrations.

Mobile phone services were snapped in Kashmir on Sunday as a precautionary measure for ensuring smooth passage of Republic Day celebrations in the valley, PTI reported. While mobile internet services were suspended hours after their restoration on Saturday, mobile phone connectivity was suspended in the early hours of Sunday.

Telangana tableaux depicts Bathukamma, a floral festival of the state and tableaux of Assam depicts bamboo and cane crafts from the state.

The tableau of Odisha shows the Rukuna Ratha Yatra of Lord Lingaraja. Rajasthan Meghalaya, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh were among the other states whose tableaux were at Rajpath.

The tableau of Jammu and Kashmir being showcased at the Republic Day parade. Jammu and Kashmir governments Back to Village program is the theme of the union territory's tableau and focusses on education in the Union Territory, especially in parts heavily impacted by terrorism.

The gun with a maximum range of 36.5 km has the capability of automatic gun alignment and positioning. The gun, which is equipped with inertial navigation system and advanced gun sighting system, has been designed to meet futuristic requirements of the Army.

The 'Dhanush' gun system, commanded by Capt. Mrigank Bharadwaj, was part of the Republic Day celebrations at Rajpath for the first time. The 155mm/45 Caliber Dhanush gun system is a towed Howitzer designed indigenously by the Ordinance Factory Board.

The cultural show be led by Arvind Gupta DAV Centenary Public School, Model Town, Delhi on the theme Yog  Vishwa Shakti ki Ore. The Baul, a group of mystic minstrels from the historical Bengal region, is the theme of Vinay Nagar Bengali Senior Secondary School, Sarojini Nagar, Delhi.

West Zone Cultural Centre, Udaipur presented the Garba, a folk dance of Gujarat. The children from Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya B-Block, JanakPuri, New Delhi perform on the theme Mharo Rang Rangilo Rajasthan.

Inspector Seema Nag, salutes standing on top of a moving motorcycle. Head Constable Meena Chaudhary is displaying the ready position to fire two pistols in both her hands while balancing herself on the motorcycle.

In a first, the daredevil stunts have been performed by an all-women contingent at the Republic Day parade. 21 women on five motorcycles make a human pyramid. Assistant Sub Inspector Anita Kumari VV leads this formation.

Additionally, three Chinook helicopters took part in the Republic Day parade for the first time after being inducted last year.

Trishul formation, comprising of three ALH helicopters in Vic formation. This is the first time that a tri-service formation is taking part in the Republic Day.

Wing Commander SK Chauhan leads the 'Vic' formation, comprising three Dornier aircraft. The captains of the other two aircraft are Squadron Leader Vikas Kumar and Squadron Leader Abhishek Vashisht.

Five Jaguar Deep penetration strike aircraft, in Arrowhead formation fly past at a speed of 780 kmph. The formation is led by Group Captain Parijat Saurabh.

Sukhoi 30MKIs of Indian Air Force execute the 'Trishul' manoeuvre. The formation is being led by Group Captain Nishit Ohri. The captains of the other two aircraft are Wing Commander Nilesh Dixit and Wing Commander Karan Dogra.

The gravity-defying manoeuvre by the aircraft brought the Republic Day parade to an end

Tricolour balloons are released into the sky at the end of the parade. President Ram Nath Kovind and chief guest and Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro leave from Rajpath after the National Anthem.

As the 71st Republic Day parade came to an end, Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the crowds at Rajpath.

The gun with a maximum range of 36.5 km has the capability of automatic gun alignment and positioning. The gun, which is equipped with inertial navigation system and advanced gun sighting system, has been designed to meet futuristic requirements of the Army.

The 'Dhanush' gun system, commanded by Capt. Mrigank Bharadwaj, was part of the Republic Day celebrations at Rajpath for the first time. The 155mm/45 Caliber Dhanush gun system is a towed Howitzer designed indigenously by the Ordinance Factory Board.

Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi witnesses Garba, the folk dance of Gujarat, being performed at Rajpath by 150 girls from different schools of the state . pic.twitter.com/ubL5dxAaaR

The cultural show be led by Arvind Gupta DAV Centenary Public School, Model Town, Delhi on the theme Yog  Vishwa Shakti ki Ore. The Baul, a group of mystic minstrels from the historical Bengal region, is the theme of Vinay Nagar Bengali Senior Secondary School, Sarojini Nagar, Delhi.

West Zone Cultural Centre, Udaipur presented the Garba, a folk dance of Gujarat. The children from Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya B-Block, JanakPuri, New Delhi perform on the theme Mharo Rang Rangilo Rajasthan.

Delhi: Inspector Seema Nag, salutes standing on top of a moving motorcycle. Head Constable Meena Chaudhary is displaying the ready position to fire two pistols in both her hands while balancing herself on the motorcycle. pic.twitter.com/VtqRRHgaJd

Inspector Seema Nag, salutes standing on top of a moving motorcycle. Head Constable Meena Chaudhary is displaying the ready position to fire two pistols in both her hands while balancing herself on the motorcycle.

In a first, the daredevil stunts have been performed by an all-women contingent at the Republic Day parade. 21 women on five motorcycles make a human pyramid. Assistant Sub Inspector Anita Kumari VV leads this formation.

Republic Day parade at Rajpath, Delhi: Trishul formation, comprising of 3 ALH helicopters in Vic formation. This is 1st time that a Tri-service Formation is taking part in the Republic Day pic.twitter.com/rdgyMxlnZ2

Additionally, three Chinook helicopters took part in the Republic Day parade for the first time after being inducted last year.

Trishul formation, comprising of three ALH helicopters in Vic formation. This is the first time that a tri-service formation is taking part in the Republic Day.

Delhi: Wing Commander SK Chauhan leads the 'Vic' formation, comprising three Dornier aircraft. The captains of the other two aircraft are Squadron Leader Vikas Kumar and Squadron Leader Abhishek Vashisht. #RepublicDay pic.twitter.com/0DIo2rlBEr

Wing Commander SK Chauhan leads the 'Vic' formation, comprising three Dornier aircraft. The captains of the other two aircraft are Squadron Leader Vikas Kumar and Squadron Leader Abhishek Vashisht.

Delhi: 5 Jaguar Deep penetration strike aircraft, in Arrowhead formation fly past at a speed of 780 kmph. The formation is led by Group Captain Parijat Saurabh. #RepublicDay pic.twitter.com/RGsQwRYHlK

Delhi: Su-30 MKIs of Indian Air Force execute the 'Trishul' manoeuvre. The formation is being led by Group Captain Nishit Ohri. The captains of the other two aircraft are Wing Commander Nilesh Dixit and Wing Commander Karan Dogra. pic.twitter.com/RMp1VmdHOE

Five Jaguar Deep penetration strike aircraft, in Arrowhead formation fly past at a speed of 780 kmph. The formation is led by Group Captain Parijat Saurabh.

Sukhoi 30MKIs of Indian Air Force execute the 'Trishul' manoeuvre. The formation is being led by Group Captain Nishit Ohri. The captains of the other two aircraft are Wing Commander Nilesh Dixit and Wing Commander Karan Dogra.

Delhi: A lone Su-30MKI flies at a speed of 900 km/hr and splits the sky with a Vertical Charlie. The aircraft is being piloted by Wing Commander Yathartha Johri along with Flight Lieutenant S Mishra. #RepublicDay pic.twitter.com/elUhceBqmW

The gravity-defying manoeuvre by the aircraft brought the Republic Day parade to an end

Delhi: President of India Ram Nath Kovind and President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro, leave as the #RepublicDay parade concludes pic.twitter.com/qqoaDu5PtD

Tricolour balloons are released into the sky at the end of the parade. President Ram Nath Kovind and chief guest and Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro leave from Rajpath after the National Anthem.

As the 71st Republic Day parade came to an end, Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the crowds at Rajpath.

Republic Day 2020 LATEST Updates: The gravity-defying certical Charlie manoeuvre by the Sukhoi 30MKI brought the Republic Day parade to an end. Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the crowds at Rajpath.

Sukhoi 30MKIs of Indian Air Force executed the 'Trishul' manoeuvre, while five Jaguar Deep penetration strike aircraft, in Arrowhead formation flew past at a speed of 780 kmph.

Five Apache helicopters flew in the formation led by Group Captain Mannarath Shylu VM, Commanding Officer 125 Helicopter Squadron. Wing Commander SK Chauhan led the 'Vic' formation, comprising three Dornier aircraft.

Trishul formation, comprising of three ALH helicopters in Vic formation. This is the first time that a tri-service formation is taking part in the Republic Day. Additionally, three Chinook helicopters took part in the Republic Day parade for the first time after being inducted last year.

In a first, the daredevil stunts have been performed by an all-women contingent at the Republic Day parade. 21 women on five motorcycles make a human pyramid. Assistant Sub Inspector Anita Kumari VV leads this formation.

West Zone Cultural Centre, Udaipur presented the Garba, a folk dance of Gujarat. The children from Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya B-Block, JanakPuri, New Delhi perform on the theme Mharo Rang Rangilo Rajasthan.

The cultural show be led by Arvind Gupta DAV Centenary Public School, Model Town, Delhi on the theme Yog  Vishwa Shakti ki Ore. The Baul, a group of mystic minstrels from the historical Bengal region, is the theme of Vinay Nagar Bengali Senior Secondary School, Sarojini Nagar, Delhi.

The children were conferred the award for exceptional achievements in the fields of bravery, social service, art and culture, sports, innovation and scholastic. It will be followed by childrens pageant comprising over 600 participants.

The tableau of Jammu and Kashmir being showcased at the Republic Day parade. Jammu and Kashmir governments Back to Village program is the theme of the union territory's tableau and focusses on education in the Union Territory, especially in parts heavily impacted by terrorism.

Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Goa are among the states whose colourful and culturaly rich tableaux are on display at the parade this year. Telangana tableau depicts Bathukamma, a floral festival of the state and tableau of Assam depicts bamboo and cane crafts from the state.

Birla Balika Vidyapeeth, Pilani's band is led by Senior Under Officer Charu Surana. The school has been continuously participating in the Republic Day parade for 56 years consecutively.

The marching contingent of the Corps of Signals is led by Captain Tanya Shergil, a fourth generation Army Officer. The motto of the Corps is Teevra Chaukas. The Camel Contingent of Border Security Force under the command of Deputy Commandant Ghanshyam Singh. BSF's motto is Duty unto Death; There are over 75 different dress items which are necessary to ceremonially dress the camels and riders of the Force.

The Indian Navy showcases its assets like Boeing P8I Long Range Maritime Patrol aircraft and the Kolkata Class Destroyer and the Kalvari Class submarine. The indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant under construction at the Cochin Shipyard.

Sikh Light Infantry Regiment is led by Major Anjum Gorka of 6th Battalion of the Sikh Light Infantry Regiment. The motto of the Regiment is Deg Teg Fateh and the war cry is Jo Bole So Nihal, Sat Shri Akal.

After the Param Vir Chakra and Ashok Chakra awardees, the highest peacetime gallantry awards in India, the first contingent in the uniform of the erstwhile Gwalior Lancers is 61 Cavalry was led by Captain Deepanshu Sheoran.

In the high-security enclosure at Rajpath, President Ram Nath Kovind took the National Salute. Prime Minister NArendra Modi, Brazilian Presidenr Jair Bolsonaro and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also present as the National Anthem plays and the tricolour is unfurled.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi lays a floral wreath at the Amar Jawwan Jyoti or the eternal flame at the National War Memorial. He is flanked by Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and Army Chief Gen Naravane, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh, Air Force Chief Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi urged people on the eve of Republic Day to rise above personal prejudices and stand united to protect the Constitution and its values, claiming that they are being attacked through a "deep-rooted" conspiracy.

Aided by dozens of drones in the air and hundreds of CCTV cameras and facial recognition devices, besides several anti-aircraft guns on the ground, the security personnel are keeping a hawk-eyed vigil over Rajpath, where President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be celebrating the occasion along with chief guest, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and other dignitaries, besides thousands of citizens. Twenty-two tableaux, 16 from States and Union Territories and six from various ministries and departments, depicting the nation's rich cultural heritage and economic progress will also roll down the Rajpath.

Preparations are under full swing for the 71st Republic Day Parade which will commence at the 9 am at Delhi's Rajpath on Sunday. India's rising military might, rich cultural diversity and socio-economic progress will be on full display during the event where Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro will be the chief guest.

Facial recognition software, CCTVs among security measures

The National Capital has been brought under a massive ground-to-air security cover, with thousands of police and paramilitary personnel keeping a hawk-eye vigil. Facial recognition system and drones are part of the measures taken by the Delhi Police for the occasion.

Sharpshooters and snipers will be deployed atop high-rise buildings to keep a watch on the eight-km-long parade route from Rajpath to the Red Fort on Sunday, officials told PTI adding that

hundreds of CCTV cameras have also been installed as part of the security arrangements.

Details of Republic Day Parade ceremony

The Republic Day Parade ceremony will commence with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the National War Memorial near the India Gate. He will lead the nation in paying tributes to the martyrs by laying a wreath. This is for the first time that the prime minister will pay homage to martyrs at the National War memorial instead of Amar Jawan Jyoti. The memorial was inaugurated by Modi in February 2019. Thereafter, the prime minister and other dignitaries will head to the saluting dais at Rajpath to witness the parade.

As per tradition, the national flag will be unfurled followed by the National Anthem with a booming 21-gun salute.

School children will convey the age-old message of yoga and spiritual values through dance and music during the parade, the defence ministry said.

The parade will commence with President Ram Nath Kovind taking the salute. The parade will be commanded by Parade Commander Lt General Asit Mistry, General Officer Commanding, Delhi Area. Major General Alok Kacker, Chief of Staff of Delhi Area, will be the second-in-command.

Twenty-two tableaux will be on display

Anti-satellite weapon Shakthi, Army's battle tank Bhishma, infantry combat vehicles and newly inducted Chinook and Apache helicopters of the Indian Air Force will be part of the grand military parade. Twenty-two tableaux  16 from States and Union Territories and six from various ministries and departments  depicting the nation's rich cultural heritage and economic progress will also roll down the Rajpath.

The first contingent in the uniform of the erstwhile Gwalior Lancers will be 61 Cavalry. The 61 Cavalry is the only active serving horse cavalry regiment in the world. It was raised on August 1, 1953, with the amalgamation of six state forces' cavalry units. The Indian Army will be represented by a mounted column of 61 Cavalry, eight mechanised columns, six marching contingents and fly-past by Rudra and Dhruv Advanced Light helicopters of the army aviation wing.

Indigenously-developed Main Battle Tank of the Indian Army, T-90 Bhishma tank, infantry combat vehicle Ballway Machine Pikate, the K-9 Vajra and Dhanush guns, transportable satellite terminal and Akash weapon system will be the main attraction in the mechanised columns.

The other marching contingents of the Army will include the Parachute regiment, the Grenadiers regiment, the Sikh Light Infantry regiment, the Kumaon regiment and the Corps of Signals.

The Naval contingent will comprise of 144 young sailors led by Lieutenant Jitin Malkat. It will be followed by the Naval Tableau titled 'Indian Navy - Silent, Strong, and Swift'.

The Air Force contingent, comprising of 144 air warriors, will be led by Flight Lt Shrikant Sharma. The Air Force tableau showcases scaled-down models of the Rafale aircraft, the Tejas aircraft, the Light Combat Helicopter, the Akash missiles system and the Astra missiles.

Various far-reaching reforms of the government including 'Start-up India', and 'Jal Jeevan Mission' will be showcased in six tableaux from different ministries and departments.

For the first time, a contingent of women bikers of CRPF will perform daredevil stunts. The contingent will be led by Inspector Seema Nag who will be seen saluting while standing atop a moving motorcycle.

The grand finale and the most keenly awaited segment of the parade, the flypast will comprise of the 'Trishul' formation by three advanced light helicopters. It is for the first time that a 'tri-service formation' is taking part in the Republic Day Parade.

It will be followed by the 'Vic' formation of Chinook helicopters, used for airlifting diverse loads to remote locations. Apache helicopters, Dornier aircraft, C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, an Airborne Early Warning and Control System aircraft and the 'Globe' formation comprising three C-17 Globemasters are also expected to enthral the people.

Five Jaguar Deep penetration strike aircraft and five MiG-29 upgrade air superiority fighters in 'Arrowhead' formation will also display their aerial manoeuvre. The parade will culminate with a fleet of Sukhoi-30 MKI jets splitting the sky with a breathtaking 'Vertical Charlie' aerobatic manoeuvre.

Republic Day medals, awards

A total of 1,040 police personnel will be conferred President's police medal for gallantry award and distinguished service on Republic Day. The Jammu and Kashmir Police will receive the maximum number of gallantry honours with 108 medals followed by the Central Reserve Police Force (76).

On the eve of the Republic Day, a total of nine personnel of the border guarding force, with six posthumous, have been awarded the Police Medal for Gallantry (PMG), a force spokesperson said. Four SSB personnel have also been awarded the police medal for gallantry (PMG) for killing a dreaded Naxal commander in Jharkhand.

Twenty-nine CISF officials, as well as 15 ITBP officials, have been awarded different police medals. The President's Police Medal for Distinguished Services was awarded to Ambika Nath Mishra, the principal chief security commissioner of the Eastern Railway and Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF) Commandant Bharat Singh Meena.

With inputs from PTI
Boeing's 777X, a new generation of the wide-body aircraft, completed its maiden flight on Saturday  marking a milestone for the company struggling through the increasing fallout from two fatal crashes of its best-selling 737 Max. Bad weather postponed an attempt at the first flight on Thursday and again on Friday.

The first flight, which took off from Everett, Washington and landed about four hours later at Seattle's Boeing Field is part of testing that will occur throughout the year as the company works toward winning regulatory approval. That process promises receive more scrutiny after the two crashes of the 737 Max.

Boeing's 737 Max single-aisle jetliners have been grounded since March after the second of two crashes, which together killed 346 people. The crisis hurt its reputation and has deepened in recent months, with the release of internal emails revealing employees boasted about convincing regulators and airlines to approve the 737 Max without costly simulator training and others expressing safety concerns. Earlier this month Boeing suspended production of the planes, a move that has rippled through its supply chain, costing close to 3,000 jobs at one manufacturer.

In remarks after the 777X landed, Stan Deal, who now leads Boeing's important commercial airplane business after his predecessor was ousted in the Max crisis last year, thanked the company's employees and said: "I want them to know we have your back."

Deal said the company is trying to regain the public's confidence and that putting a plane like the 777X "through its paces" shows the world "we know what we're doing" and that it knows how to design safe airplanes.

Boeing had aimed to first fly the 777X, a plane it launched at the 2013 Dubai Air Show, last year but the company faced delays because of snags with the General Electric GE9X engines, the largest aircraft engine in the world. The diameter of the engine fan is 11 feet, a foot wider than a NBA basketball hoop is high off the ground.

The plane is the largest twin-engine jet ever built and has a wingspan so wide  more than 235 feet  it features folding wingtips that reduce that width by more than 20 feet so the plane can fit into various airport taxiways and gates. The 777X-9 is slightly longer than Boeing's most iconic plane: the hump-backed 747, which is fading away as airlines opt for twin-engine aircraft that require less fuel.

The 777X, an updated version of the 777 that first flew commercially in 1995, faces its own challenges. Orders for wide-body jets have slowed and several airlines have signed up for rival Airbus' long-range single-aisle A321XLR planes. The 777X, which lists for $422.2 million although airlines usually receive discounts, can fit up to 426 passengers in a two-class configuration. Boeing had 344 firm orders for the 777X at the end of the third quarter, according to a company filing, and Emirates is its biggest single customer.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  The main crater of restless Taal Volcano spewed plumes of white smoke, government volcanologists said Saturday.

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said in its latest bulletin at 8 a.m. on Saturday that the steam-laden emissions reached areas southwest of the volcano.

State volcanologists also said the Taal Volcano Network, which could detect small earthquakes, recorded 420 volcanic earthquakes ranging from magnitudes 1 to 4, including 11 low-frequency tremors, within their 24-hour monitoring period. Of the total quakes, 176 were at magnitudes 1.2 to 4.1.

There were six volcanic earthquakes with magnitudes 1.5 to 2.3 that were not felt, the scientists added. Phivolcs earlier said tremors beneath Taal Volcano Island mean there is boiling water inside the volcano.

Phivolcs Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division chief Mariton Bornas said seven strong tremors were recorded, ranging from magnitude 1.2 to 2.7.

This volcanic activity likely signifies magmatic intrusion beneath the Taal edifice that may lead to eruptive activity, Phivolcs said.

Phivolcs also recorded a higher amount of sulfur dioxide emissions at around 409 metric tons per day from 224 tons per day over the past 24 hours.

Phivolcs chief Renato Solidum explained that the emitted sulfur dioxide can possibly spread to nearby areas such as the 14-kilometer danger zone but it will depend on the height of the steam plume and direction of the prevailing winds.

"[If] it's up there, then it won't really be affecting people," Solidum explained to CNN Philippines in a phone interview.

From live footage of Taal, it can be seen that steam is rising from another side of the volcano apart from the main crater. Solidum explained that steam is also coming from the vents from the fissures around the crater. He said some explosions can also occur in these vents.

However, with this available data, Solidum maintained they can still not predict when the anticipated explosive eruption of Taal will take place. Solidum said they are monitoring two types of magma: magma that is near the surface which was left over by the previous eruption and magma five kilometers deep in the volcano which can cause a big eruption. He said the explosive eruption can happen if there is movement of the deep magma.

"If that magma reaches the surface then eruptions can restart or it can happen again but if... it will just stay in that level then we don't see yet a resurgence," he said. "If the magma doesn't move then we don't have any activity for now."

"However, at the upper part of the volcano, the pit of the magma, will generate steam from boiling of the groundwater and that steam might either be emitted slowly or explosively so that can be a steam-generated explosion," Solidum added.

On Friday, Taal emitted thick ashfall, but Phivolcs Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division Chief Mariton Bornas said it is not that significant

"Hindi siya ganoon kalaki, pero may kaunting pagsipa sa bilang at lakas ng mga lindol sa nakaraang 24 oras," she said in a media briefing.

Alert Level 4 remains hoisted over Taal, meaning a hazardous eruption is possible within hours or days.

Military and police officers on Thursday started enforcing a total lockdown of all 199 barangays in 15 municipalities and cities in Batangas and Cavite, which have been identified as vulnerable to base surges and volcanic tsunami as a result of Taal's eruption. Everyone inside the 14-kilometer radius danger zone is being evacuated.
NewsX-Polstrat Delhi Elections 2020 Opinion Poll has predicted a comfortable victory for CM Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party, while BJP and Congress' seat and vote graphs will improve this time. The people of the Capital were satisfied with govt.'s work in education, health; pollution, jobs, corruption sectors are still challenges.

The people of Delhi are all set to elect assembly representatives for the next 5 years. The polling would be held on February 8 and counting of votes would take place on February 11, said the Election Commission earlier this month. But before the big day of polling, India News-NewsX in association with the Polstrat tried to figure out whats in the heart of people of Delhi and whom they are going to vote. In its opinion poll, India News-NewsX-Polstrat asked the citizens about a few hot topics that may impact, affect, and would be in the minds of voters before they exercise their right.

How was the ruling Aam Aadmi Partys (AAP) performance in last 5 years? And in which areas CM Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government did a good job?

In answer to all the questions the people of Delhi showed a thumbs up and it seems like Aam Aadmi Party would pass the election test with flying colors. The opinion poll suggests that off 70-member Delhi Assemby, the AAP may win 53 to 56 seats. Which means that the party is likely to return to the power but its numbers would slip from 67 to somewhere around 53-56.

The Opposition in Delhi, BJP may better its performance winning 12 to 15 seats. Last time, they had won only 3 seats. While, the Congress is expected to win 2-4 seats.

Talking about the AAP governments achievements then 28.57% people of Delhi lauded its work in Education. 18.82% people liked contribution in the Health sector, while 17.31% said AAP provided clean Drinking water.

Other important sectors which were examined and praised by the citizens were Jobs (0.56%), Economy growth (0.16%), Electricity (18.93%), Women safety 2.44%), Pollution Control (0.52%), Control over corruption (0.54%) and Public transport (2.30%).

All the 3 major parties- AAP, BJP, Congress- have fielded their candidates in all the constituencies to make the Delhi Elections an enthralling battle and win maximum number of seats.

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Hundreds of people from different communities are likely to form an 11-km-long human chain from the north to the south of the city on Republic Day "to uphold unity and protect the Constitution", organisers said on Saturday.

The human chain from Shyambazaar in the north to Golpark in the southern part of the city will be formed at noon for 10 minutes, said organisers United Interfaith Foundation India (UIFI), an inter-faith group comprising leaders of different religious communities in the state.

"We have decided to form a human chain on Republic Day as we want to drive home the message that we -- Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains -- are one. Everyone stands united as an Indian citizen and we will never allow anyone to sow the seeds of discord among us," UIFI general secretary Satnam Ahluwalia told PTI.

He said leaders of different communities have asked members of their communities to actively participate in the 11-km-long human chain which will cover areas like Park Circus seven-point crossing, Mullick Bazar, Ripon Street-AJC Bose Road crossing, Nonapukur, Raja Bazar and Maniktala.

Ahluwalia said while the UIFI has not asked the participants to carry any placard, "if any of them bring anything to voice their protest about any issue, they are free to do that, as we oppose any bid to muffle freedom of expression and right to live as guaranteed under the Constitution."



He said the decision to form the human chain was prompted by recent developments in the country that "attempted to divide the society".

Nirufa Khatun, one of the participants of the indefinite sit-in demonstration at Park Circus Maidan against CAA and NRC, said, "While we will continue our protests at the venue, some of us will also go to the nearest point of the human chain as we strongly feel about the issues."



"Once the women have come out to make their voices heard, there is no way they will head back home till the goal is realised," said Muzaffar Ali, one of the persons actively supporting the stir at Park Circus.

Meanwhile, some anti-CAA demonstrators who are on a sit-in before the Kolkata Municipal Corporation building had a scuffle with police when the cops asked them to leave the spot.

"One cannot stage protest in this fashion just by sitting anywhere. By organising such kind of protests, they are diluting the intensity of anti-CAA movement and strengthening hands of BJP," Mayor Firhad Hakim said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A poll has revealed that only one in 10 Britons sought God's assistance on Brexit last year while most worshippers prayed about the Australian wildfires.

The statistics, taken from over 2,000 adults in Great Britain by a Christian website, found that from last year's most worrying international affairs, people most often called on the Lord regarding the Australian wildfires (18 per cent), followed by the London Bridge Attack (18 per cent) and US/Iran conflict (11 per cent).

Lagging behind the year's most desperate crises was Brexit, with only one in 10 Brits kneeling down to ask for divine intervention with the country's withdrawal from the European Union.

Pictured: A house burns down in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney in December 2019. Last year, worshippers called on God's help most often with regards to the Australian bushfires

The data was collected by PremierChristian.news, a website which accompanies its news stories with a prayer.

Along with research into specific world events, the site found that people living in London are far more likely to pray than people living outside of the capital.

The study also found that almost three in five Brits say they never pray.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson signing the official European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020, inside No10 Downing Street yesterday

The late IRGC Commander Soleimani was killed on January 3 just moments after he climbed off a private plane at Baghdad airport after President Trump ordered a drone strike. 11 per cent of Britons prayed for God's help with regards to the US-Iran crisis at the end of last year

Marcus Jones, head of Premier Christian News said: 'It's not particularly surprising to see less and less people are choosing to pray regularly.

'What is interesting is despite many having big concerns about the future of our country and our world, people aren't choosing to respond in prayer.'

Another finding suggested that Christians are less likely to pray than worshippers from other faith groups.
Angola may ask Portuguese authorities to seize assets belonging to Isabel dos Santos, billionaire daughter of a former Angolan president, who is a suspect in a fraud investigation, Angolas attorney general said on Friday, Trend reports citing Reuters.

Angola named dos Santos a formal suspect over allegations of mismanagement and misappropriation of funds during her time as chairwoman of state oil company Sonangol, while Portugals market watchdog has opened inquiries into various firms in which she holds stakes.

Dos Santos, eldest child of former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, has denied any wrongdoing.

In a statement to Reuters on Thursday she said she always operated within the law and all my commercial transactions have been approved by lawyers, banks, auditors and regulators.

The attorney generals of Portugal and Angola, Lucilia Gago and Helder Pitta Groz, met in Lisbon on Thursday to discuss, among other things, how both countries could collaborate on the dos Santos case, Pitta Groz told Portuguese broadcaster RTP during a television interview.

Asked by RTP if Angola could ask Portugal to seize dos Santos assets, namely her shares in Portuguese companies and Portuguese bank accounts, Pitta Groz said: It could happen ... It could happen.

I will not say this is a reality now ... but when teams start working they could reach that conclusion, he said.

Separately, in an interview with Portuguese TV channel SIC, Pitta Groz highlighted that the civil case against dos Santos could be closed if she and her associates paid the state the $1.1 billion it alleges she and her associates owe for alleged embezzlement of public funds.

The second, separate case against her and three Portuguese nationals is a criminal case related to alleged mismanagement of Sonangol, which would remain open regardless of whether the debt was paid.

Pitta Groz told SIC dos Santos and other suspects, regardless of their nationality, should face justice in Angola.

One of the companies where dos Santos held shares, Efacec, said on Friday that dos Santos would offload her controlling stake in the firm - her second such move this week.

Efacec said in a statement that dos Santos had told the board she had decided to withdraw from the companys shareholding structure. It did not specify a reason and made no mention of any accusations against her.

On Wednesday, small Portuguese lender Eurobic, in which dos Santos was the largest shareholder with a 42.5% stake, said the businesswoman had decided to sell her share.

Dos Santos bought her controlling stake in Efacec for around 200 million euros in 2015 through offshore company Winterfell Industries.

The decisions to withdraw from Efacec and Eurobic coincided with increased scrutiny of dos Santos after hundreds of thousands of files - dubbed the Luanda Leaks - were released by several news organizations on Sunday.

A spokeswoman for the European Banking Authority (EBA) told Reuters on Friday the regulator was aware and following developments in the dos Santos case and, without providing any further details, said they were in touch with competent entities.

Dos Santos still holds significant indirect stakes in several important Portuguese firms such as oil firm Galp Energia and telecoms company NOS.

Dos Santos and Portuguese retailer Sonae each own 50% of holding company ZOPT-SGPS, which controls 52.15% of NOS.

Following the scandal, three non-executive board members at NOS stepped down from their roles on Thursday, the company said in a statement.

NOS shares fell by more than 5% on Friday morning before recovering most of the losses to trade 0.5% lower.
White House lawyers began their defense of Donald Trump at his historic Senate impeachment trial on Saturday, saying the president did nothig wrong in his dealings with Ukraine and American voters -- not Congress -- should decide his fate.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone said it would be a "completely irresponsible abuse of power" if the Senate follows the lead of the House of Representatives and votes to remove the 45th US president from office.

"They're asking you to do something that no Senate has ever done," Cipollone told the 100 senators gathered on a rainy Saturday morning for a rare weekend session at just the third impeachment trial in US history.

Democratic prosecutors from the House, which impeached Trump last month for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, had not convincingly made their case that he had committed "high crimes and misdemeanors," as demanded by the Constitution, Cipollone said.

"We don't believe that they have come anywhere close to meeting their burden for what they're asking you to do," he told a hushed Senate chamber.

"We believe when you hear the facts... you will find that the president did absolutely nothing wrong." House prosecutors spent the previous three days laying out a detailed case that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine and a White House meeting to pressure his Ukrainian counterpart to open an investigation into political rival Joe Biden and the former vice president's son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.

Adam Schiff, the chief House prosecutor, said the real estate tycoon turned politician poses an "imminent threat" to American democracy and his guiding principle is "Trump first, not America first." Cipollone argued that Democrats were asking the Senate to "tear up all of the ballots" from the 2016 presidential election and attempting to prevent Trump from running for re-election in November.

"They are here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history and we can't allow that to happen," the White House counsel said. "Let the people decide for themselves."



The Democratic-controlled House impeached Trump on December 18 in a party line vote, setting up a trial in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53 to 47 seat edge and the president enjoys the support of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

A two-thirds majority, or 67 senators, is required to remove a president from office and Democrats do not appear to have made any significant inroads so far in Trump's wall of Republican support.

Senator Mitt Romney, a Republican from Utah and occasional Trump critic, said he was "likely" to support a Democratic demand for further witnesses during the trial but other Republicans indicated that their minds were all but made up.

"Today we heard a case that was strong, that was clear and that completely undermined the case of the Democrats," Senator John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming, said of the White House defense.

Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa, said that in just two hours, "the White House counsel and their team entirely shredded the case that has been presented by the House." Shortly before his lawyers took the floor, Trump fired off a tweet with insulting nicknames for leading Democrats and told his supporters to tune in to the live television broadcast.

The White House lawyers kept their opening arguments short -- just under two hours -- in part, perhaps, because Trump, a former reality television star, had complained that Saturday is the "Death Valley" of TV viewership.

Following the defense presentation, Trump claimed it had demonstrated how "unfairly" he has been treated and showed he was the victim of a "partisan Impeachment Hoax." Trump's lawyers will resume his defense on Monday. They will have 24 hours spread over three days for their arguments but have said they are unlikely to use all the time allotted.

Saturday's brief session was a relief to the four senators battling for the Democratic presidential nomination, allowing them to return to the campaign trail.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and Colorado Senator Michael Bennet have been forced to remain in Washington while Biden and other candidates campaign in Iowa, which kicks off the nominating process on February 3.

Senators will have 16 hours next week to direct questions to both sides and consider whether they should subpoena witnesses, something Democrats have sought but Republicans have opposed.

The questions from senators will be submitted in writing to US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial and will read them out loud. Americans appear about evenly split on whether Trump should be removed, though several polls show a healthy majority want the Senate to subpoena witnesses for Trump's trial.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Jan. 25

By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend:

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov approved the Intergovernmental Turkmen-Turkish Commission for economic cooperation with the Turkmen side, Trend reports referring to the decree of countrys president.

The document was signed with a view to further developing partnership between Turkmenistan and Turkey.

Turkey is one of the largest trading partners of Turkmenistan. About 600 Turkish companies operating in the field of trade, investment, construction, energy, transport, communications, textile and processing industries are registered in Turkmenistan.

Turkmenistan exports products of textile, fuel and energy, chemical, agricultural industries. Meanwhile, Turkey exports metal and metal products, household goods, equipment, building materials, electrical engineering, chemical and light industry products, food, vehicles and medicines to Turkmenistan.
A 4-year-old Indiana boy who was accidentally shot in the head while play-wrestling with his father has died, authorities said.

Tripp Shaw died Thursday morning as a result of his injuries, the Monroe County Sheriffs Office said.

Tripp and his 36-year-old father were play-wrestling in their home in Bloomington on Jan. 19 when the mans concealed handgun slipped from his back and went off, the sheriffs office said.

The shot struck both of them in the head. The father is expected to recover, according to the sheriffs office.

One of the familys next-door neighbors, Kaili Frye, told CNN affiliate WXIN this week that she was stunned to learn what had happened.

Its horrifying. Its heart-wrenching. I cant even imagine what they are going through, Frye told WXIN.

The sheriffs office hasnt said whether the father will be charged, citing an ongoing investigation.

According to the National Safety Council, accidental and preventable gun deaths make up 1 percent of overall gun-related deaths in the United States. In 2017, there were 486 accidental or preventable gun deaths.

Accidental Shootings

Far fewer Americans fall victim to firearm accidents than some two decades ago, even though people own more guns, according to new data.

Decreased popularity of hunting, improved trauma care, and gun safety education campaigns have likely helped decrease the fatalities.

There has been a prominent push for the safe storage of guns. Gun manufacturers have partnered with law enforcement for a nationwide education drive called Project ChildSafe that has distributed over 37 million gun locks. But that project only started in 1999, while the decline in accidental death rates started decades before, dropping about fourfold between 1974 and 1999, according to Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Safety Council nonprofit (pdf).

Gun rights advocate Dave Kopel suggested some of the accidents may have actually been homicides with a perpetrator looking for a defense argument. That may partially explain why accidental deaths declined in near-unison with murders in the 1990s.

Epoch Times reporter Petr Svab contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire

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Media bodies on Saturday condemned the alleged attack on News Nation consulting editor Deepak Chaurasia by protesters at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh and demanded police action against perpetrators of the violence.

In a statement, the News Broadcasters Federation (NBF) said it is extremely concerned about the repeated instances of violence directed at journalists in the line of duty at Shaheen Bagh.

The Indian Women's Press Corps, in a statement, said it unequivocally condemns the use of physical force against all journalists and stands in solidarity with them.

These attacks have been fuelled by a growing spirit of intolerance by those claiming to be protestors at Shaheen Bagh, NBF president Arnab Goswami said in a statement.

"The most recent attack on senior journalist Deepak Chaurasia and his camera crew at Shaheen Bagh, which was recorded on camera, reflects the growing hostility of some of those at Shaheen Bagh towards journalists unwilling to toe their line," he said.

In recent weeks there have been similar attacks on several other TV journalists in the course of which camera equipment has been broken and destroyed and some journalists, including those who were victims of Friday's attack, have had to be hospitalised, Goswami said.

The NBF, which is the largest such organisation of news broadcasters pan India, demands immediate police action against those who have perpetrated the violence and seeks solidarity among all members of the Indian media against this relentless attack on reporters, and editors of news media organisations, he said.

Police said Chaurasia, 51, complained to them saying he was beaten up and his camera was snatched by a mob at the protest site.

An FIR has been registered under sections 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) and 34 (common intention) against unknown persons at the Shaheen Bagh police station, a senior police officer said.

The IWPC said it notes with deep distress and concern the Friday violence against the group of journalists by a section of people protesting at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi.

Chaurasia, Doordarshan reporter Nitendra Singh and their team of camera persons were manhandled by a group of protesters at the site and physically prevented from discharging their journalistic duties, it said.

A Times of India photo journalist was also reportedly threatened by some protesters while he was taking shots around the location of the agitation, the IWPC said.

Such attacks compromise and gravely undermine the media's constitutionally and legally guaranteed rights to gather and disseminate information, it said.

Violence and use of force against journalists undermines media freedom and needs to be condemned in the strongest terms by one and all, it added.

On his Twitter handle, Chaurasia uploaded a one-minute video in which he was seen surrounded by protestors and later manhandled by them. They tried to remove him from the spot and also snatched his microphone.

In another part of the video, a group of men can be seen trying to snatch a camera from the cameraman.
NASSAU, BAHAMAS:--- The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has urged countries in the Americas to be prepared to detect early, isolate and care for patients infected with the new coronavirus.

PAHO Director Carissa Etienne underscored critical need for preparedness in case of receiving travelers from countries where there is ongoing transmission of novel cases.

She spoke at a PAHO briefing for ambassadors of the Americas to the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington.

The organization also highlighted increased information for health workers on the virus and strengthening infection prevention and control measures in health facilities to prevent them from contracting acute respiratory diseases.

Health services need to be prepared because they will most likely be the entry point where cases of the new coronavirus will be detected, as has already happened with previous epidemics, Etienne said.

PAHO stands ready to support them because detecting cases early can prevent the spread of the disease.

Through January 24, some 846 confirmed cases of infection by Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCov) have been reported globally, including 830 cases from China.

Of these, 177 cases were severe and 25 died. Of the confirmed cases, 80 percent were people over the age of 40 and 64 percent were men.

Other cases have been reported in Thailand (4), Japan (2); Hong Kong (2), the Republic of Korea (2), Macau (2) and Singapore (1).

In the Americas, the United States has confirmed 2 cases of travelers from China, and other countries ruled out or is investigating suspicious cases.

In Wuhan, China, health workers were one of the affected groups, which has put health services under pressure.

For this reason, Etienne stressed the importance of the awareness and training of health personnel in the region and promoting the use of infection prevention equipment to protect them from disease.

The PAHO director said the organization has activated its incident management system, and that since the beginning of January it has shared information with ministries of health through the International Health Regulations channel and through its country representatives.

She said PAHO will continue to update information on what countries can do to effectively respond to this new virus, about which there is still uncertainty.

Last week, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus convened the Emergency Committee to advise him on whether the outbreak in China constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).

The Director of WHO decided not to declare a public health emergency at this time. However, he said it is an emergency in China, and that the outbreak poses a high risk at the regional and global levels.

The fact that WHO has not declared an emergency does not mean that we are not facing a major public health challenge, said PAHO Assistant Director Dr Jarbas Barbosa.

With globalization and international travel, its not unexpected that countries in the region can receive people with the virus, he said.

Having an imported case is not the same as having local or sustained transmission in a country, Barbosa added.

The Director of PAHOs Health Emergencies Department, Dr. Ciro Ugarte, stressed that epidemiological surveillance for early detection of cases, as well as the management of patients with proper infection prevention and control measures to limit person-to-person transmission, can reduce secondary cases and prevent a spread of the disease.

The nature of 2019-nCoV is very similar to influenza, and the symptoms are similar to those of SARS (Severe Acuter Respiratory Syndrome): fever, cough, shortness of breath and pneumonia, Ugarte said.

Ugarte added that there is no specific treatment and no vaccine for the new coronavirus
Parents are being compelled to spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars on digital devices such as laptops and tablets for school, prompting warnings of a growing digital divide in Victorian classrooms.

Parents are expected to spend hundreds of dollars on digital devices for schoolchildren. Credit:File image

Many schools, conscious of the large up-front cost of digital devices, have adopted no textbooks policies, using online texts instead to spare parents the additional financial burden of buying books.

Victorian schools are free to set their own policies on technology in the classroom, with the exception of the new mobile phone ban that will start this week in government schools.

Experts say the demise of the former Rudd governments Digital Education Revolution initiative, which provided federal funding for nearly a million laptops for high school students, triggered a growing shift towards making parents pay.
Adam Hochschild has a thing for rebels. So it will come as little surprise that the 77-year-olds latest book is a biography of Rose Pastor Stokes, who was born in the Russian Empire in 1879, made her way to the United States, married into money, and put her newfound resources toward fighting for workers rights. In March, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will publish Rebel Cinderella: From Rags to Riches to Radical, the Epic Journey of Rose Pastor Stokes.

The book, Hochschilds ninth, marks his first straight biography. It comes after a memoir (1986s Half the Way Home, about his strained relationship with his father) and a string of historical works. Hes best known for the latterspecifically the four histories hes written on movements for social justice. Theres his 1998 work about the early-20th-century campaign to end slave labor in the Congo (King Leopolds Ghost), his 2005 book on the struggle to abolish slavery in the British Empire (Bury the Chains), his 2011 examination of the pacifist protests against WWI (To End All Wars), and his 2016 look at American volunteer brigades fighting against fascism during the Spanish Civil War (Spain in Our Hearts).

Sitting at his desk in the Berkeley, Calif., home he shares with his wife, Arlie Russell Hochschild (a sociologist and fellow author), Hochschild says Rebel Cinderella is, in his mind, more a joint biography. The second subject is Stokess husband, Graham Stokes. An idealistic upper-class reformer, Graham married Rose Pastor in 1905. They were, to put it mildly, from different sides of the tracks. She was a Jewish immigrant who began working in cigar factories at age 11. He was a WASP, and a member of one of the countrys wealthiest families. The press went wild over the union, and the couple used their celebrity to support radical causes until they divorced after WWI, which he supported and she opposed.

Hochschild was drawn to Stokes and her husband in part because of their fairy tale romance. It was fascinating to write the story of a marriage between people from worlds so different you wouldnt believe it in a novel, he says. The couple also ran with quite the crowd; in Hochschilds estimation, they entertained some of the most notable people of their era. If you think about the most interesting people alive in the United States in the first 15 years of the 20th century, almost every single one of them was a friend or house guest or acquaintance: [Socialist Party of America leader] Eugene V. Debs, [muckraking journalist] Lincoln Steffens, [anarchist activist] Emma Goldman, [radical labor organizers] Bill Haywood and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn... The list goes on and on. Rose and Graham were at the center of all this.

Rebel Cinderella shares with Hochschilds previous books a sympathetic view of activists proposing radical social change. I cant think of anything more interesting to write about than people struggling to make a better world, Hochschild says. Theres something dramatic and emotionally interesting when someone is moved or shocked by something they see, and it takes them out of themselves.

Hochschilds voice rings with conviction as he describes his mission. He has an activist background himself. His early years as a journalist were spent at Ramparts magazine, and he also cofounded Mother Jones in the 1970s. He still writes the occasional article or opinion piece; he and actor/director Ben Affleck cowrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times last year urging continued foreign aid to the Republic of Congo. The two met about 10 years ago, when Affleck was launching a foundation to support economic and social development in Congo, and he has held an option on the film rights to King Leopolds Ghost for some time.

I hope its going to be a movie, Hochschild says. But having the rights and actually having it reach the screen are two different things. Im delighted Ben Affleck is involved, because I respect his commitment to the Congo. He has made that long-suffering country the focus of his philanthropy for the last dozen years and has spent a lot more time there than I have.

King Leopolds Ghost marked a turning point for Hochschild. For that bookwhich has, according to HMH, sold more than two million copies (in print and digital) in North America alonehe focused on making history feel as immediate as journalism. It occurred to me that a fascinating form in which to do a book would be to find a resonant episode and then draw portraits of people connected with it on all sides: as perpetrators, victims, observers, and bystanders, he says. I realized this was a really fascinating way to tell a storythrough a collection of characters who are all connected.

Publishers didnt respond, though. When Hochschilds agent, Georges Borchardt, submitted King Leopolds Ghost, nine editors passed on it. John Sterling at Houghton Mifflin was the exception. Although Sterling left the house shortly after editing King Leopold, Hochschild remained; hes been at HMH for two decades now, having struck up a long-standing editorial relationship with Bruce Nichols, senior v-p of the publishers general interest group. He has a special feeling for history, Hochschild says of Nichols. And he always seems to understand what Im trying to do.

Hochschild is currently working on a book about the First Red Scare, a period stretching from 1917 to 1920, when law enforcement officials led by Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer arrested thousands of labor organizers and other activists and deported 249 foreign-born radicals. Hochschild has, in fact, already published on the subject; his article When America Tried to Deport Its Radicals, based on his early research for the book, ran in the Nov. 11, 2019, issue of the New Yorker.

That Hochschild is still active as a journalist is unsurprising, as he still relies heavily on his skills as a reporter. When I was a daily newspaper reporter, out interviewing people, youd hear one striking thing and think, Thats my lead! Thats the phrase I can build my whole story around,  he says. For Rebel Cinderella, he found all sorts of those phrases in his subjects letters. Those are the gems youre always looking for.

Hochschilds in that process, of looking for gems, all over again. Right now, Im plowing through informers reports [on activists under surveillance during the First Red Scare], he says. And Im still looking for the phrase that leaps out to reveal something about the speaker and his prejudices and about the people hes observing. He pauses. It feels like the same thing I did as a 22-year-old reporter.
One in every two Australian adults have donated to the bushfire crisis so far, with the typical donor chipping in $50 each.

But expectations of how quickly the money will be spent are "probably unrealistic", according to the survey and research report commissioned by the peak body for fundraisers, the Fundraising Institute Australia, and conducted by a consultancy to the charities sector, More Strategic.

Celeste Barber raised more than $50 million through her online bushfire appeal. Credit:Wayne Taylor

Of 1000 people aged 18 and over surveyed, 52.7 per cent said they had donated money to bushfire appeals or charities. The typical amount given - that is, if you lined all donors up by how much they've given and selected the middle person - was $50.

The average donation was higher, at $122, thanks to a small number of very generous donors pulling up the numbers.
From when we first enter primary school we get to learn the names of the planets and the order in which they come with many of us learning ways to remember their order (Many Very Eager Men Jog Straight Up Narrow Paths, was the way in which I learnt their order).

However have you considered where each planet got its name from? So lets take them in order from the sun and see where all their names originated.

Thanks to Roman mythology, many of our planets are named after their gods and goddesses. Mercury, which zips around the Sun in just 88 earth days gets its name from Mercurius, in Roman religion, god of shopkeepers and merchants, travellers and transporters of goods, and thieves and tricksters. Venus, which was seen as the brightest planet in the night sky was named after the goddess of love and beauty. What about our home? Earth doesnt derive its name from Roman mythology but rather from an Old English and Germanic word literally meaning ground. The next planet out often referred to as the Red Planet, got its name primarily due to its colour and so was named after Mars the god of war. The largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter, was rightly named after the king of the Roman gods, the god of thunder, lightning, storms, light and sky. Following on is Saturn, the second largest of the planets was named after the god of agriculture. Uranus was discovered by famed Astronomer William Herschel in 1781, he originally wanted to call its Georgium Sidus, for the King of England George III. While many were not happy with this and it was a German astronomer Johann Bode who suggested the name Uranus, a Latinised version of the Greek god of the sky, Ouranos; however it wasnt until the mid-1800s that the name took fully hold. Finally, the planet furthest from the sun, Neptune, wasnt discovered until 1846 by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle. Again there was some controversy surrounding the naming of the planet with many believing that it should be named after French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier on whos mathematical calculations the discovery of the planet was made. Finally, it was agreed that as Neptune is distinguished by its vivid blue colour, it should be named after the Roman god of the sea. The planet that was never a planet, Pluto, was only considered a full planet from 1930-2006 and derived its name from the god of the underworld.

Limerick Astronomy Club email: limerickastronomyclub @gmail.com
Deputy Pat Casey has raised further serious concerns that Roundwood Post Office could be set to close.

The post master is due to retire at the end of this month. An Post have been advertising the vacancy contract since October of last year, but as of yet, no replacement Post Master has been confirmed.

Deputy Casey raised fears over the future of the service in October and is calling on An Post to ensure that Roundwood Post office doesn't end up in a similar situation to Laragh and Kilmacanogue, were both post offices were closed after no one was found to replace the retiring post masters.

'This is another hard blow for rural Wicklow and again highlights the lack of imagination or determination to keep vital services in rural Wicklow. The current office is due to close at the end of January,' said Deputy Casey.

'The residents of Laragh, Annamoe, Glendalough, Trooperstown already have to travel at least ten kilometres to either Roundwood or Rathdrum to avail of postal services. When you consider that Laragh is adjacent to one of Ireland's top tourist attractions the lack of imagination in generating additional services for the post office is breathtaking.

'There are serious concerns that Roundwood Post Office may close as there as been no response to the call for someone to run the service and this would mean that Bray or Rathdrum would be the nearest postal service which for older and more restricted customers is totally unacceptable. Time and time again rural Wicklow is being hit by the lack of interest by Government. An Post must ensure no interruption of service for Roundwood and ensure a smooth transition to a new service.'

An Post maintain that the search for a replacement Post Master is continuing. According to a spokesperson: 'It is still an ongoing process but we would be happy that the service will be maintained.'

Deputy Casey maintains that any closure of the service will impact greatly on the local community.

'Any closure would be totally wrong and will bring great hardship to the people of Roundwood and the rural hinterland as the distance to Bray or Rathdrum is far too great for many people. It is essential that the Government ensure that An Post provides a post office continues in Roundwood. There should not even by a temporary closure as this will effect many older people who collect their pension.'
Howie Carr suggests Democrats compile a Greatest Hits of their fantasies for getting rid of President Trump, among which we might find:

Jill Stein's recount (before Hillary was accused of being a Russian asset), faithless electors, emoluments clause, the 25th Amendment, Hillary's fake dossier, the Russian hoax, firing crooked James Comey, senile Bob Mueller and his 19 angry Democrats, Michael Cohen, Michael Avenatti (pre-indictments), Stormy Daniels, Brett Kavanaugh frame-up, tax returns, loans guaranteed by Russian oligarchs[.] ... And now, the Ukraine hoax. What are [Trump's] high crimes and misdemeanors? Record high numbers of Americans working, the stock market at record highs. Favorable trade deals, ISIS destroyed, millions off welfare and food stamps.

They used to love Donald Trump, back when they could attribute his success to Daddy plus corruption. They're accustomed to guys getting to be high rollers for those reasons. But on his way to the presidency they realized, to their horror, that Trump's basically a smart, honest man who figured out how to navigate a corrupt system. Liberal politicians are suspicious of anyone who isn't vulnerable to being bought off, blackmailed, or intimidated, and Trump was invulnerable to all three.

A number of factors came together in Trump to build his fortune: ability, intelligence, work ethic, guts, confidence, education. As a younger man, he was also quite handsome, which, whether we like it or not, does help. His dad's name helped him get started, and field experience with his dad from early ages familiarized him with the nuts and bolts of his future career.

Beyond these were what he did with them. There were three keys: first was to do good work. He made billions because he delivered excellent, beautiful buildings on budget and on time. Nobody else could match him. He subcontracted based on excellence rather than politics. Second, he avoided public ownership of his organization so that he never had to deal with boards of directors but could make all decisions himself. That gave him the huge advantage of speedy decision-making that publicly owned outfits couldn't match. Third, he supervised all work personally and often. Workers knew him by first name, and he knew their first names. Camaraderie developed. His work sites were enjoyable places to visit because of the high morale that resulted.

This just isn't the way liberals do things, partly because they're too lazy to work so hard but also, one suspects, because their confidence fails at key junctures. Seeking safety in numbers, they play the politics and network themselves into positions where they can command abler people. This is straight out of Atlas Shrugged, but where Ayn Rand attributed it to moral failure, I think it's more often due to lack of confidence or courage  psychology as much as morality.

This also underlies the visceral hatred the Left has for the president. Leftists envy his confidence, which spills over into everything else they hate about him: a gorgeous wife; successful, good-looking kids; no self-doubt; no fear of confrontation; the guts to change course on a dime when something isn't working as it should. Donald Trump deals in bottom lines. If you aren't adult enough to handle cutting to the point and calling things by their right names, you won't last long under him, and you certainly won't like being around him.

And there's the real rub: liberals in high places know that Donald Trump is superior to them by any measure that matters in the real world. So they veer off into the surreal, where they can literally make things up to slow or stop him. Slightly dimming his star might make their pathetic LED light look a little brighter  not make it brighter, but make it look brighter. With their narcissism, they see everything in black-and-white, zero-sum, win-lose terms, such that if he's better, they are necessarily lesser.

AT observers have noted before that Washington has become like high school with its gossip and backstabbing. It's always been that way, but with noticeably more heat and venom since the advent of Donald Trump. His very excellence excites hatred among the second-rate. And nothing describes the Democrat impeachment squad better than "second-rate."

Image: Donkey Hotey via Flickr.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has emphasized the importance of ratification by the Israeli side of the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries, which Ukraine ratified in August 2019.

He said this at a meeting with Speaker of the Knesset of Israel Yuli Edelstein, the press service of the head of the Ukrainian state reported.

"The introduction of a free trade area can help double the trade turnover between the countries in the short term," Zelensky said.

In addition, the participants welcomed the traditionally active bilateral political dialogue and expressed hope that its high dynamics would be preserved after parliamentary elections in Israel.

The recent achievements in the development of bilateral relations over the last decade, including the annual growth of tourism, were also noted.

According to the Office of the President of Ukraine, the parties said that since 2010, when the visa-free regime between Ukraine and Israel was introduced, tourist flows have increased by more than ten times.

Zelensky is on a working visit to Israel on January 23-24.

Negotiations on a free trade area between Ukraine and Israel began in 2015. On January 21, 2019, the countries signed the free trade agreement. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ratified the document on July 11, 2019. President Zelensky signed the law on ratification of the agreement on August 6, 2019.

At present, the agreement has to be ratified by Israel.

op
A vegans protest in a Perth supermarket has ended in a scuffle with a store manager after she refused to leave.

Tash Peterson live-streamed her staged protests at different Woolworths and Coles locations around the Western Australian capitol to Facebook on Friday.

She can be seen standing in the meat section with a face mask and a stuffed lamb while holding a sign reading Australia is on fire. Meat, dairy and eggs is the fuel. Watch Cowspiracy.

During the protest, a friend filmed and played a loud siren while a male voice spoke about the environmental impacts of eating animal products.

At one Coles location, a store manager asked Ms Peterson to leave the store and tried to block her sign.

After several attempts, the store manager grabbed the sign and the two had a brief physical alteration.

Ms Peterson remained silent during the incident but her friend accused the store manager of assault.

Im 30 centimetres away from you, the store manager can be heard saying as the two protestors are escorted from the store.

Ms Peterson said on Facebook one of the reasons behind her protest was to make a statement against the Australia Day tradition of eating lamb.

Tash Peterson staged protests at Woolworths and Coles locations in Perth (left). When Coles staff asked her to leave it became physical (left). Source: Facebook/Tash Peterson

On a day associated with violence and oppression, Australians have made a tradition of slaughtering millions of lambs every year, she posted.

Ms Peterson also said the production of meat and other animal products was one of the causes of the current catastrophic bushfire season.

Animal agriculture is the leading cause of climate change, deforestation, wildlife extinction and a majority of other environmental catastrophes, she wrote.

We as a nation are devastated by the loss of millions of wildlife, but turn a blind eye to the half a billion farmed animals who are murdered every year in Australia alone, she added.

Mr Petersons Facebook page is filled with videos of her previous protests.

Yahoo News Australia has contacted Coles and Woolworths for comment.

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.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: Following the nation-wide alert on novel coronavirus (nCoV) which was detected in Wuhan city in China, the district administration has beefed up precautionary measures in Ernakulam. Apart from monitoring the arrivals at Cochin International Airport and Cochin Port, persons suspected of having contracted the virus are being admitted to the isolation ward set up at the Ernakulam Government Medical College Hospital, Kalamassery.

The district medical officer has requested those who have come from the affected areas and havent diagnosed with nCoV should stay at home for 28 days since the day of their departure from China.

The CIAL authorities said intense screening is going on. A total of 24 passengers, who transited through various airports like China, Bangkok and Singapore were examined and briefed. No cases of suspicion were reported.

Considering the safety of their family members and neighbours, the persons under suspicion should avoid visiting public places and interacting with others. If the family has pregnant women and children or patients with acute illnesses, special attention should be taken, Ernakulam DMO N K Kuttappan said in a press release.

The official also asked the public to inform the primary health centres or district surveillance unit in case of suspicion. If anyone has fever, cough or breathing troubles should inform the nearby PHCs or district surveillance unit without any delay. They should cover their nose and mouth while sneezing and coughing, and hands should be washed with soap and water for 20 seconds, the release said.

According to health department officials, other than a businessman admitted in the MCH in Kochi, another person has been admitted in the Government Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. Besides, six persons who had visited Wuhan in the past 28 days are under observation at their houses.

Directions for public

Hands should be washed using soap and water after returning home

 Avoid spitting at public spaces

Cover nose and mouth with a towel while coughing and sneezing

For enquiries, call: 0471-2552066 or 1056
Trade ministers from 35 member countries of the WTO, including Piyush Goyal from India, met here on the sidelines of the WEF 2020 to discuss priorities and preparations for the June ministerial meeting of the global trade body.

The informal gathering of the WTO members and the WTO General Director Roberto Azevedo was held on Friday at the invitation of Swiss Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin.

The group met to discuss and define their priorities for the 12th WTO ministerial conference to be held from 8 to 11 June 2020, at Nur-Sultan in Kazakhstan, a post-meeting statement said.

It said the meeting on the fringes of WEF Davos summit was attended by 35 members of the WTO, who represent a wide spectrum of trade policy interests.

The ministers discussed their priorities with regard to ongoing WTO activities and processes.

High up on the agenda were negotiations on fisheries subsidies and current efforts to reform the WTO, including further developing the existing framework of WTO rules, to improve transparency in the implementation of WTO agreements and proposals for restoring the Appellate Body of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism.

In his remarks at the meeting, Swiss Federal Councillor Parmelin said the ministers expressed their resolve to preserve the credibility of the rules-based multilateral trading system.

The need to reform the WTO and to improve its functioning was also widely acknowledged, he said.

Given the significance of these negotiations for sustainable development and the WTO, Ministers instructed negotiators to step up efforts to ensure that the WTO delivers on the Sustainable Development Goal 14.6 and contributes to the long-term sustainability of global fisheries.

The Ministers underlined the urgency of taking the necessary actions to restore a fully functioning dispute settlement system in line with its fundamental principles.

Some participants indicated that they were working towards contingency measures that would allow for appeals in their trade disputes, in the form of an interim appeal arrangement, until the Appellate Body becomes operational.

Several participants addressed the diverse development levels of Members and how these should be taken into account in order to advance multilateral negotiations.

Several participants called for further progress in agricultural trade policy reform.

Numerous interventions stressed on the necessity to foster greater transparency of trade policy measures.

Several participants highlighted the importance of adapting WTO rules and commitments to today's realities.

Many Ministers welcomed the progress achieved in the Joint Statement Initiative negotiations such as on e-commerce, investment facilitation, micro, small and medium-sized companies.

Some also called for an extension of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions, while others considered that they needed to deepen their understanding of these issues.

The G20 Presidency made a presentation of the Riyadh Initiative on the Future of the WTO.
A legal fight between Susquehanna Township and the city of Harrisburg is heating up in Common Pleas Court over a proposed composting facility run by the city that would be located in the township.

A Susquehanna Township zoning officer last year testified that a composting facility identical to what is proposed by the city would be allowed on the property if it were run by the township, Dauphin County or the state. But not by Harrisburg.

Can Susquehanna Township do that?

Thats a question that will be decided soon by Dauphin County Senior Judge Lawrence Clark as part of the protracted fight over the citys efforts to use a portion of land in the township owned by the Harrisburg School District for composting of leaves and tree branches.

The dispute over a 5-acre portion of the 42-acre site north of Arsenal Boulevard and east of Capital Region Water treatment facilities began in 2017.

The land already had been used for leaf disposal by the school district for years, city officials say, and the Commonwealth uses its adjacent property for composting.

When city officials proposed an agreement with the school district to build a facility and use a portion of the vacant site for composting of plant-material (not food or animal waste,) and partner with the school district for environmental-science programs, some residents of the nearby Edgemont neighborhood revolted, raising concerns about additional traffic and declining property values and expressing distrust of the city.

The township said the city would need a special exception to use the site in a conservation zoned- district for composting. A zoning committee rejected the citys request for an exception last year.

Township officials said the proposal by the city goes way beyond the school districts previous dumping of piles of leaves, which wasnt lawfully permitted anyway. The township said the project would be detrimental to residents and referred to the citys proposal as a massive, industrial-like DEP permitted municipal yard waste and mulch production facility.

The city appealed to Common Pleas Court, putting the issue in front of Clark.

The city of Harrisburg wants to use 5-acres of the larger site for a composting facility.

In court filings, city officials have challenged the townships ordinance, among other arguments.

City Solicitor Neil Grover said municipal zoning laws typically determine what type of activity can take place on a particular parcel, not who is doing the activity.

Township officials called the citys claim frivolous and countered that the agencies that would be allowed to compost are the only agencies accountable to township voters.

Clark wrote in an order issued Friday:

Appellant has raised a preliminary issue as to whether the Susquehanna Township Zoning Ordinances definition of the term municipal building or facility creates an unenforceable distinction between governmental agencies based on the identity of the agency.

If Harrisburg were to be considered a municipal building or facility under the ordinances definition, Clark wrote, then the city could operate its proposed composting facility on the site as a matter of right.

Clark said that issue should be decided first, before other arguments brought by the township, including whether composting previously occurred on the site, and whether the project would meet a public school purpose, as required by the deed from the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth gave the property to the school district in 1973 with the condition that it be used for public school purposes. The land originally contained a middle school, but it was demolished and the property since has been used to store busses and equipment. If the deeds restrictive requirements are violated, the state could try to take the land back.

If Clark rules in favor of the citys argument on the zoning ordinance, and the composting is allowed by right, the city still would have to overcome other hurdles including approval from the states Department of Environmental Protection and an intergovernmental agreement with the school district.

Clark issued a second order Friday that asked the school districts new leaders if they would like to be a party in the litigation, since they own the land.

The proceedings could potentially and negatively affect the school districts title to all of the real property, Clark wrote.

As part of the citys proposal, the composting site would consist of a storage building and an educational pavilion. The entrance would be on Stanley Avenue, and between 10 and 25 city trucks per day would come to the facility during normal working hours during the peak disposal period between late September and early December. No city residents or non-city employees would be allowed to bring waste to the site.

The city would include a 6-acre buffer zone to allow space for wildlife and vegetation to continue to flourish, according to city documents.

Leaves and similar materials would be arranged into curing piles, with the piles being regularly turned as part of the composting process. After about eight weeks, the compost would be removed from the site and distributed to the public at other locations.

An engineer testified last year that hes been involved with many composting facilities around the state, and that the process will produce no significant odor. Its possible grinding or chipping of large tree branches would take place at the facility, although some of that process will also continue to take place at the site where limbs originate, he said.

Harrisburg has said the composing site would hold about 9,000 cubic yards of leaves and yard waste, including the composting piles, at any given time. In 2016, the city said, it generated 544 tons of leaves, equaling about 5,000 cubic yards.

Harrisburg needs the facility becuase its no longer allowed to burn plant and tree waste from city parks and yards in its incinerator, nor is it allowed to put it in landfills.

The city is currently depositing leaves at Swatara Townships facility, under a temporary agreement with that township.

READ: Harrisburg homicide victim was tied up, shot in head: relatives
As many as 11 Bangladeshi nationals who were living in the city illegally were detained here on Saturday, police said.

The Special Operations Group of the Gujarat police said it detained 11 persons from a settlement near Chandola Lake in Ishanpur here.

The police will now initiate the process to deport them to Bangladesh, SOG assistant commissioner of police B C Solanki said.

"The 11 Bangladeshi nationals lived here illegally and worked as labourers. They have been detained and we will initiate the process to deport them," Solanki said.

The detainees had failed to provide any documents supporting their Indian nationality, he said, adding that the police are investigating if they were involved in any criminal activity.

The men were detained after the SOG formed two teams to find them following instructions from the police commissioner, the official said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A SARS-like virus that has claimed 41 lives since emerging in a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan has spread around the world. Here are the places that have confirmed cases of 2019 Novel Coronavirus: - China - As of Saturday, almost 1,300 people have been infected across China, the bulk of them in and around Wuhan. Nearly all of those who died were in the Wuhan region, but officials have confirmed two deaths elsewhere. The city of Macau, a gambling hub hugely popular with mainland tourists, has confirmed two cases. In Hong Kong, five people are known to have the disease. Three of those cases were confirmed in the 24 hours to Saturday morning. - France - There are three known cases of the coronavirus in France, the first European country to be affected by the outbreak. One person is sick in Bordeaux and another is ill in Paris. A third person, who is a close relative of one of the other two, has also been confirmed to have the virus. All three had recently travelled to China and had now been placed in isolation. - Japan - Japan's health authorities confirmed a second case on Friday. Local media said the patient was a man in his 40s who was originally from Wuhan and on a trip to Japan. The country's first case was reported by the health ministry last week: a man who had visited Wuhan and was hospitalised on January 10, four days after his return to Japan. - Australia - Australia on Saturday confirmed its first case of the virus, a man who arrived in Melbourne from China a week ago. Authorities said they were contacting people who had travelled on the same plane from China and offering advice. - Malaysia - Malaysia confirmed its first three cases on Saturday. All are Chinese nationals on holiday from Wuhan who arrived in the country from Singapore two days earlier. A 66-year-old woman and two boys, aged two and 11, are in a stable condition and are being kept in an isolation ward at a public hospital, Malaysia's health minister said. - Nepal - Nepal said a 32-year-old man arriving from Wuhan had the deadly disease. The patient, who was initially quarantined, recovered and was discharged. The government said that surveillance has been increased at the airport "and suspicious patients entering Nepal are being monitored". - Singapore - Singapore has announced at least three cases -- a 66-year-old man and his 37-year-old son, who arrived in Singapore on Monday from Wuhan, and a 52-year-old Wuhan woman, who arrived in the city-state on Tuesday. - South Korea - South Korea confirmed its second case of the virus on Friday. The health ministry said a South Korean man in his 50s started experiencing symptoms while working in Wuhan on Jan 10. He was tested after his return earlier this week, and the virus was confirmed. The country reported its first case on January 20 -- a 35-year-old woman who flew in from Wuhan. Both remain in treatment and are in stable conditions. - Taiwan - Taiwan has uncovered three cases so far. It has since advised against travel to Wuhan and Hubei province and on Friday said any arrivals from Wuhan would be rejected by immigration. All arrivals from the rest of China -- including Hong Kong and Macau -- must fill out health declaration forms on arrival. It has also banned the export of face masks for a month to ensure domestic supplies. - Thailand - Thailand has detected five cases so far -- four Chinese nationals from Wuhan and a 73-year-old Thai woman who came back from the Chinese city this month. Two of the Chinese patients were treated, and have since recovered and travelled back to China, the Thai health ministry said this week. - United States - On Tuesday US health officials announced the country's first case, a man in his 30s living near Seattle. On Friday a second case was announced -- a woman in her 60s living in Chicago. Both were treated and are recovering. - Vietnam - Vietnam confirmed two cases of the virus on Thursday. An infected man from Wuhan travelled to Ho Chi Minh City earlier this month and passed the virus on to his son. Both are being treated in hospital and are stable, Vietnam health officials said. burs-hg/gle As of Saturday, almost 1,300 people have been infected across China, the bulk of them in and around Wuhan Passengers who arrived on one of the last flights from the Chinese city of Wuhan walk through a health screening station at Narita airport in Chiba prefecture, outside Tokyo Australia on Saturday confirmed its first case of the virus Vietnam confirmed two cases of the virus. An infected man from Wuhan travelled to Ho Chi Minh City earlier this month and passed the virus on to his son
Inside Hook

The human body has an energy field and were processing the world through it, says John Amaral, a self-described somatic energy practitioner and Doctor of Chiropractic, in a preview for the new Netflix documentary series The Goop Lab, which is an extension of Gwyneth Paltrows wellness empire.

Were not 100% sold on the whole energy field thing, but the human body does have a digestive system and were processing food through it, and Amaral seems to combine those two concepts in a viral Instagram video where he, uh, pulls energy out of Julianne Houghs butt.
New Delhi [India], Jan 25 (ANI): R K Chandolia, then private secretary of former telecom minister A Raja and one of the accused in 2G spectrum allocation case has moved an application in the Delhi High Court stating that CBI's appeal challenging their acquittal is now 'infructuous' due to 2018 amendment to the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.



Chandolia, in his plea, said that by virtue of PC (Amendment) Act, 2018, substituting the Section 13 of PC Act, 1988, the charge of criminal misconduct no longer applies to him.

According to Chandolia's application, the PC Act 2018 was introduced to remedy such gross misuse of power of launching criminal prosecution by investigating agencies against honest officers, who may have been negligent, but were not accused of receiving any illegal gratification. It is submitted that when the Act is beneficial in nature, then Section 6A of the General Clauses Act shall not apply.

"The amendment to the Section 13 of the PC Act, 1988 is relevant in the present case as the acts which are considered as criminal misconduct post amendment are limited only to dishonest or fraudulent misappropriation of property or illegal enrichment," the application said.

"In this case, there is no allegation by the appellant CBI against the applicant of dishonest or fraudulent misappropriation of property or illegal enrichment by the present applicant," the plea said.

Chandolia's plea, filed by advocate Vijay Aggarwal, said that it is a settled proposition of law that once an Act is repealed, it must be considered as if it had never existed and same would be considered obliterated from the statute books.

"The applicant (Chandolia) and other accused persons have acquired a vested right after having been declared innocent and exonerated from all the charges including but not limited to under the stringent section 13 (1) (d) of PC Act which is no longer a law in force," the application said.

It is stated that the 2018 amendment has entirely changed the definition of the offence of "criminal misconduct", as relevant to the case.

Chandolia argued that the High Court has to make a preliminary enquiry as to whether the allegations would stand in view of the narrower definition of "criminal misconduct" after the amendment.

The plea stated that the Amendment Act of 2018 did not have any "savings clause" to save the prosecutions launched under the unamended provisions of PC Act.

Chandolia has requested the High Court to decide the preliminary issue regarding the matter in the light of the grounds raised in the present application.

The High Court is currently dealing with the CBI's appeal challenging the acquittal of all accused including Raja in the 2G spectrum case. (ANI)


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Digital Editor
WHO officials questioned over Taiwan's exclusion from virus response

ROC Central News Agency

01/24/2020 06:24 PM

Brussels, Jan. 23 (CNA) Officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) were questioned Thursday about Taiwan's exclusion from the organization and its global disease prevention efforts amid escalating fears over the spread of a new coronavirus that originated in China.

At an international news conference after a two-day WHO emergency meeting in Geneva to discuss the deadly new coronavirus, a reporter asked whether the WHO would consider accepting Taiwan as a member and would exchange information about the virus, as diseases know no borders.

In response, Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO Health Emergencies Program, said only that his organization works "very closely with technical partners in China, Taiwan," referring to Taiwan.

He said that during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Taiwan in 2003, the WHO provided technical support to Taiwan.

"Nobody would deny necessary public health assistance in that situation," Ryan said.

He also said he believes the authorities in Taiwan are working very closely with those in China.

"I believe there have been joint missions and joint approaches to the response, so I would characterize, from our perspective, that there is technical cooperation going on between provinces in China and between WHO and any of those entities that seek our assistance," Ryan said.

The reporter posed the questions in the wake of Taiwan's exclusion from the two-day WHO meeting, which was attend by all the other countries that had reported cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) up to that point.

Taiwan, which confirmed it first case Tuesday, was not invited to attend, a decision that drew wide criticism of the WHO.

On Wednesday, President Tsai Ing-wen () urged the WHO not to exclude Taiwan from the global efforts to contain the virus, and she called on China to fulfill its responsibility as a member of the global society by providing adequate information to Taiwan about the spread of the deadly respiratory disease.

Since the new infectious disease emerged in Wuhan in December last year, China has reported 830 cases and 26 deaths. A few cases have also been reported recently in other countries, including Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States.

At its Geneva meeting this week, however, the WHO decided not to declare the virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), saying that although it was an emergency in China, that was not the case in the rest of the world.

On Thursday, Taiwan tightened its border control, mandating a health declaration by all visitors from China and banning the entry of residents of Wuhan, the epicenter of the deadly new coronavirus.

(By Tang Pei-chun and Frances Huang)

Enditem/pc

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Star Trek actor George Takei has mocked Donald Trump's the new logo for Space Force, after Twitter users pointed out that it resembles the show's iconic Starfleet command emblem.

The actor also blasted President Donald Trump by comparing Star Trek's utopian vision to the administration's 'cynical' political purposes.

Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek series, published an op-ed in The Washington Post where the 82-year-old claimed the Trump administration heralded 'race resentment' and called the president a 'mendacious thug.'

This comes after Trump unveiled the new logo for the Space Force, America's newest branch of the military on Friday.

After it was unveiled, Takei quickly tweeted: 'Ahem. We are expecting some royalties from this..'

Star Trek actor George Takei (left) hit back at President Donald Trump (right) on Twiter and in an op-ed after the new U.S. Space Force logo was revealed

Takei, a frequent critic of Trump, tweeted: 'Ahem. We are expecting some royalties from this..'

Social media users pointed out that the Space Force logo (left) looks a lot like the insignia from the Starfleet Command (right) as seen on Star Trek

In the Post opinion piece, Takei draws parallels between the Trump administration and an episode called 'Mirror, Mirror,' where the USS Enterprise bridge crew find themselves in a parallel universe where where 'cruelty' has replaced 'diplomacy.'

'The writers were issuing a warning: A free and democratic society can flip in the blink of an ion storm, and all that we take for granted about the rule of law, the chain of command and the civilized functions of government can be gone in an instant,' Takei wrote.

He points out irony of the 'comical appropriation', saying that Star Trek's universe promoted racial, economical and gender equality.

President Trump on Friday unveiled the new logo for the Space Force

The Trump administration, in his eyes, has encouraged the exact opposite.

He wrote: 'Contrast that for a moment with the current administrations values and practices: racial resentments and fear stoked for cynical political purposes, the wealthy made even more obscenely so through grift and political influence, coarse and bullying behavior masquerading as diplomacy, to name but a few.'

'Even the notion of a "Space Force" seems patently absurd coming from an administration where science is mocked and disregarded.'

Takei says the last three years have felt like parallel universe where 'instead of a president we have a mendacious thug' and the U.S. Senate is naive instead of deliberate.

George Takei (far right), who played Hikaru Sulu in the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, reacted on Twitter to the new logo

He also takes a shot at Melania Trump by suggesting she was apart of the design committee.

The reference to Melania Trump was a speech given by the first lady during the Republican National Convention in the summer of 2016.

Observers later noted that the speech given by Melania Trump bore many similarities to remarks delivered by Michelle Obama during her address before the Democratic National Committee in Denver in 2008.

He ended his op-ed by noting that the episode's parting message was that normalcy can be restored and suggests Trump use the Galactic Empire sigil from Star Wars.

One day before, Takei went on a Twitter spree where he shared a series of tweets mocking the logo resemblance.

Takei, who is a frequent critic of Trump, wrote in a subsequent tweet: 'I feel like Melania must have had a hand in copyi - I mean, designing this.'

Takei wrote in a subsequent tweet: 'I feel like Melania must have had a hand in copyi - I mean, designing this.'

Takaei once again suggested Trump use the Galactic Empire's logo and shared the hashtag 'ImperialWhiteHouse.'

'May I suggest a more politically aligned logo for the Trump Administration to emulate for the new #SpaceForce?'

He also shared a photo of several U.S. Space Force logos that appear to be earlier versions that people could vote on.

William Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk, also weighed in on the new logo by wondering if Star Trek or CBS would be filing a lawsuit.

Takei: 'May I suggest a more politically aligned logo for the Trump Administration to emulate for the new #SpaceForce?

Takei shared a picture of several U.S. Space Force logos that appear to be earlier versions

Shatner: 'Why aren't you asking Star Trek or CBS if they are going to file suit for copy infringement'

Shatner wrote: 'Why aren't you asking Star Trek or CBS if they are going to file suit for copy infringement.

On Twitter, Trump was accused of plagiarism and intellectual property theft and made fun of by users.

'Starfleet called. They want their insignia back,' tweeted one Twitter user.

Another Twitter user quipped: 'The only difference here is that the Space Force will be more like Spaceballs instead of Starfleet.'

Star Trek was a television series that aired in the mid-1960s. It then evolved into a franchise that included films, animated series, theme parks, and exhibits. One of the earlier stars of the TV series, William Shatner, is seen above as Captain James T. Kirk in this 1968 file photo

The reference to Melania Trump (left) was a speech given by the first lady during the Republican National Convention in the summer of 2016. Observers later noted that the speech given by Melania Trump bore many similarities to remarks delivered by Michelle Obama (right) during her address before the Democratic National Committee in Denver in 2008

One Twitter user responded to Takei by posting a meme showing Jean-Luc Picard, the captain of the starship USS Enterprise, putting his hand against his forehead

Another Twitter user wrote: 'Can the first mission of Space Force be launching Trump and his entire administration into the sun? Asking for a friend.'

Spaceballs is a reference to the 1987 Mel Brooks comedy which parodies Star Wars and other sci-fi movies and series like Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, and others.

Another Twitter user wrote: 'The estate of Gene Rodenberry should sue you for every penny you have...'

Rodenberry was the writer and creator behind the Star Trek television series.

Others on social media noted that the logo also bore a resemblance to other insignia used by the Air Force

The Russian space agency also used a similar looking logo, according to one social media user

Announcements made by Trump and the administration about the Space Force often draw ridicule from critics.

On Saturday, the Space Force has debuted its new utility uniform and service nametape.

'The first #SpaceForce utility uniform nametapes have touched down in the Pentagon,' tweeted @SpaceForceDoD.

Military.com reported that four-star rank on the uniform, as well as the Command Space Operations badge over the new navy blue-embroidered service nametape indicated that the showcased uniform belonged to Gen. John Raymond, the new - and first - commander of the US Space Force.

The uniform in the photo also showed off a United States Space Command patch and a full-color American flag.

Despite its celestial nature of the command, Space Force appears to be using a traditional earth-tone camo pattern for its daily-use, utility uniform.

The lack of a cosmic-themed uniform raised eyebrows on social media.

'How many trees are you expecting to find in space?' author James Felton tweeted, prompting a Twitter user to respond with a Star Wars reference: 'Come on, Jim. You know how difficult it is to defeat Ewoks in battle.'

The US Space Force tweeted out this image of a uniform bearing its new official nametape

Space Force's tweet about the earth-toned utility uniform and its nametape was mocked

Twitter users were quick to question why the space-themed military branch was using forest-colored camo, forcing Space Force to tweeted a few explanations

One Twitter user posted photos of a forest-hued camo and a black swatch, noting: 'I know this is hard to understand, but on the left there is a picture of camouflage and on the right there is a picture of space. Study these carefully until you can see the difference.'

'Have you been to a part of space where this camouflage would blend in?' tweeted Walter Shaub, the former director of the US Office of Government Ethics.

'Camo in space? WTF? More wasted tax dollars. Great job!' wrote a Twitter user, which prompted a response from the Space Force.

'USSF is utilizing current Army/Air Force uniforms, saving costs of designing/producing a new one. Members will look like their joint counterparts theyll be working with, on the ground,' Space Force tweeted.

'Buried lede: we had a ton of camo,' snarked actor Michael McKean.

When one Twitter user asked, 'Sorry for the question but why do we need camo in space?'

Space Force responded by tweeting: 'We dont. Space Operators are on the ground, on Earth working with joint partners like the @usairforce and @USArmy. Hence utilizing their uniform.'

The fact that Space Force is repurposing its uniform from the Air Force and Army shouldn't come as a surprise, though.
India issued on Saturday a new travel advisory asking citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to China while a senior adviser to the Prime Minister held a meeting with top bureaucrats to review the countrys preparedness in tackling the outbreak of a deadly new virus that is rampaging through central China.

According to officials aware of the development, principal secretary to Prime Minister, PK Mishra chaired a high level meeting attended by the cabinet secretary as well as the secretaries of home affairs, external affairs, defence, health and family welfare and civil aviation .

The meeting, the sources said, was convened at the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review mechanisms amid fears that the contagion could play havoc if it reaches India.

A 24X7 call centre at the National Centre for Disease Control in Delhi +91-11-23978046 has also been activated to encourage passengers with travel history to China, who develop symptoms such as fever, cough, respiratory disease etc, to self-report. The call centre will direct suspected cases to experts in their area, and will also monitor details of passengers provided by the ministry of external affairs.

So far, 11 people who have been to Chinese cities are under quarantine, of which four have tested negative for a novel coronavirus infection. Two more samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune on Saturday.

Special screening of travellers will also be conducted at the Nepal border near Uttarakhand with the neighbouring country reporting its first positive case of the virus.

Dr Harsh Vardhan has spoken to the chief minister of Uttarakhand today and assured all support for screening at the border with Nepal, where a confirmed nCoV case has been reported. He is also writing to the chief ministers of states requesting for their personal intervention to review the state preparedness for control and management of nCoV, said health ministry in a statement on Saturday.

Harsh Vardhan held a review meeting early on Saturday with experts from Indian Council of Medical Research, National Centre for Disease Control, health ministry etc. and formed seven central teams that will visit the states where thermal screening is being done at the seven designated airports (New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi).

The central teams that are expected to reach the states on Sunday shall consist of a public health expert, a clinician and a microbiologist. They shall review the end-to-end preparedness for management and control of nCoV in the states including reviewing that the infection control, surveillance and other guidelines are being followed properly or not.

The teams will also visit the tertiary hospitals attached to the airports for reviewing the isolation wards and availability of personal protective equipment and masks etc.

The Centre is extending all possible support to states in taking preventive measures and ensuring all states are equipped to handle any emergency situation that could arise. The government is also in touch with the World Health Organisation for technical support. The situation is being closely monitored, said a senior health ministry official.
A 'Breaking Bad'-style husband-and-wife smuggled 1million worth of crystal meth into the UK in bags of coffee and plastic children's Mexican wrestler dolls.

Paola and David Morrish now face jail after a package of 400 dolls was seized by Border Force at Stansted Airport in Essex last January and tracked to their address.

When the figures were sliced open, they were found to contain over 7kg of the Class A drug methamphetamine - made famous in TV blockbuster series Breaking Bad.

A 'Breaking Bad'-style husband-and-wife (pictured, Paola) smuggled 1million worth of crystal meth into the UK - in bags of coffee and plastic children's Mexican wrestler dolls

Paola and David Morrish (pictured) now face jail after a package of 400 dolls was seized by Border Force at Stansted Airport in Essex last January and tracked to their address

Police removed the drugs from the plastic children's toys, and tracked it back to an address in Chippenham, Wiltshire, which was listed on the delivery label, Swindon Crown Court heard yesterday.

Detectives watched as Paola, 42, stopped at the house and retrieved the dolls.

She then returned to the Malmesbury home she shared with her husband David and son.

Officers found Morrish had accepted other drug shipments from Mexican gangsters, including crystal meth disguised to look like coffee and sent in packets of coffee beans.

When the figures were sliced open, they were found to contain over 7kg of the Class A drug methamphetamine - made famous in TV blockbuster series Breaking Bad. Pictured: Paola

Paola from Malmesbury, pleaded guilty last year to being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of a class A drug, between October 2018 and February 2019. And her husband David Morrish, 48, of the same address, this morning admitted a charge of assisting an offender

Paola from Malmesbury, pleaded guilty last year to being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of a class A drug, between October 2018 and February 2019.

And her husband David Morrish, 48, of the same address, this morning admitted a charge of assisting an offender.

He had disposed of a package that had been received by Paola in February.

Peter Binder, defending David Morrish asked the judge to order a written pre-sentence report for his client, who is of previous good character.

David had disposed of a package that had been received by Paola (pictured) in February

Judge Jason Taylor QC adjourned sentencing the pair until March 20.

Paola was remanded in custody while David was granted bail.

He said: 'I apologise that I'm unable to proceed to sentence today. I hope you understand the reasons why.

'It is far better for you that there is a clear understand of what this case is all about,' he added.

A London-based gang member who was believed to be the intended recipient of the drugs, Paolo Matos, 35, fled his Battersea flat back to Mexico last year.

He is wanted by the UK and Italian authorities.
BAGHDAD - Tens of thousands of Iraqis marched Friday at the urging of popular Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, decrying U.S. influence in the country and demanding that Washington withdraw its troops.

Around Baghdad's Hurriyah Square, the streets were a sea of black, white and red, as protesters clutched Iraqi flags and wore shrouds around their shoulders. Iraq's government is under growing pressure to expel foreign troops after a U.S. drone strike killed Iran's most powerful military commander on Iraqi soil, inflaming regional tensions and leaving Baghdad's politicians fuming.

At the march Friday, loudspeakers denounced U.S. troops as occupiers. Posters depicted President Donald Trump hanging from a noose. The anthems of Sadr's years-long militancy against U.S. forces blared.

But the march itself was both disciplined and short, a set piece that made its point vociferously but dispelled fears of violent confrontation. Despite supporting Friday's so-called "million-strong" march, the Iranian-backed militias that have clashed with U.S. troops here had no obvious presence, and the tone of the day was strictly nationalist.

"Americans came to our country talking of freedom and democracy," Qayser al-Saad, 23, from Baghdad's Sadr City, said as he clutched at his sleeves on a bitterly cold day. "Today we're asking them to leave so we can have just that. It won't happen in a homeland occupied by foreigners."

After a period of relative stability, Iraq has been roiled by unrest since the fall. Anti-government protesters have repeatedly clashed with security forces, and more than 500 people have been killed, most of them young, unarmed men. The unrest has toppled a government and won mild electoral changes. But as protesters ramp up pressure for meaningful change, riot police have fired bullets into crowds and launched tear gas canisters heavy enough to smash skulls.

On Baghdad's streets Friday, Iraq's competing political currents were on full display. If the anti-American march appeared closely controlled by the political factions that had called it, the scene of anti-government protests was messy. Tahrir Square in central Baghdad was filled with tents, and crowds were smaller than before. Young men and boys strolled toward the site of days-old clashes - quiet in the moment, but seemingly a recipe for further bloodshed.

The months-long protests are leaderless, as activists reject the control of what they see as a corrupted political system. They, too, have demanded an end to foreign interference in Iraq's politics, decrying U.S. and Iranian influence in equal measure as they watch brinkmanship between the two inflame proxy battles here.

"We don't want any of them. We don't," Abbas Ali, a 31-year-old grocer, said in Tahrir Square on Thursday night. "It's not just about foreign troops. America built the system we're living in, and it's left us with no future. Iran has treated this country like its backyard. We want all of them out."

Iran-linked militias, which operate alongside Iraq's conventional forces, have repeatedly attacked protesters in Tahrir Square and southern cities, forcing many to leave their sit-ins and sowing fear among those who stay.

"Iraqi security forces have resumed their lethal campaign of repression against protesters who are simply exercising their rights to freedom of expression and to peaceful assembly. This latest escalation is a clear indication that the Iraqi authorities have no intention whatsoever to genuinely put an end to these grave violations," said Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International's Middle East research director.

Many of the young demonstrators at Tahrir had been wary of Friday's anti-U.S. march, fearing that it might blunt their momentum and boost factions that were already empowered in the wake of the killing of Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iran's elite Quds Force.

In response, Sadr, a pragmatic operator who has supported the anti-government protests, made clear that the two gatherings should not meet. Participants were bused from across Baghdad and the south to join his march, and a separate site was identified for them to rally before Friday prayers.

The cleric did not attend the event, but demands in his name were read aloud by a representative and echoed widely across printed signs in English and Arabic held by the marchers.

Calling on Trump to not be "arrogant" when addressing Iraqi officials, the message demanded that all foreign forces leave Iraq, that security agreements between Iraq and the United States be canceled and that Iraqi airspace be closed to U.S. military aircraft.

"If all this is implemented, we will deal with [the United States] as a non-occupying country. Otherwise it will be considered a hostile country," the statement said.

When the country's prime minister asked last week that U.S. officials provide a timetable for withdrawal, the State Department responded that any discussion with Baghdad would center on whatever force size the Trump administration determines is sufficient and that "America is a force for good in the Middle East."

In a weekly sermon Friday, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the leading Shiite cleric and a significant voice in times of crisis, threw his weight behind peaceful protests in support of Iraqi sovereignty and urged lawmakers to implement "real reforms."

"Procrastination in this matter will only lead to more suffering," his statement said.

- - -

The Washington Post's Mustafa Salim contributed to this report.
Elizabeth Warbansky desperately needs to scratch. Her arms. Her scalp. Her backside.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/1/2020 (718 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Elizabeth Warbansky desperately needs to scratch. Her arms. Her scalp. Her backside.

The constellation of red dots all over her body taunted her before she was prescribed anti-itching cream. If a bedbug isnt sucking on her blood, phantom pests are. Its been this way for the better half of the last six months, when the 66-year-old first learned her one-bedroom apartment in south River Heights was infested.

On one particular evening, resisting the urge to scratch, she sits upright on her sofa bed shortly after 9 p.m. Shes dressed in what was once a plain white nightgown, but has since been stained by splotches of blood. The fabric looks just like her sheets and pillows. She has tried washing out the blood, but the red stains have only turned to brown.

Elizabeth Warbansky, who has been living with an infestation for six months, has tried to wash out the blood left by bedbugs in her sheets, but she can't get the stains out. (Supplied photo)

This is how the bedbugs have marked their territory. But like the $180 in Coinamatic laundry receipts or the stack of notices she has received since the summer alerting building tenants that a pest-control company will be spraying  it is only physical evidence of a deeper struggle.

She knows she wont be able to sleep tonight, but she will try anyway. While she waits for her eyelids to droop, she is on high alert for the flat, round, amber-coloured insects. It isnt long before she spots one and squishes it against her skin with her index finger.

"Im going a little bit crazy at night," she says. "People are counting sheep and Im counting bedbugs."

For the afflicted, daily life means dealing with the stigma and myths associated with having blood-sucking pests in your home while existing in a nightmarish, sleep-deprived, extremely anxious state. The mental-health toll is often devastating, leaving tenants to question what it will take for governments to deal with the implications of having bedbugs, currently defined in Manitoba not as a health hazard, but a pest that "can create a lot of stress."

It can be sleep-depriving for landlords and property managers as well. They are involved in an endless battle to clear multi-unit complexes of the lint-size, trauma-inducing creatures.

In short, the challenges are infinite.

An adult bedbug is about the size of an apple seed. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

Advocates say there are far too few public education campaigns about bedbugs and support services for tenants  especially those who are marginalized  who try to rid their apartments of the pests. The fix can cost as little as $100 for a few loads of laundry and dry cleaning and up to thousands of dollars if multiple treatments are required, as well as replacing furniture. Although it has been determined the pests dont spread disease, research on the effect bedbugs have on mental health is limited.

"Its a huge issue. Theres no political champion for bedbugs. Its kind of odd but it almost needs one," says Christian Cassidy, housing co-ordinator at the Daniel McIntyre  St. Matthews Community Association.

In Winnipeg, statistics indicate the recent resurgence of bedbugs has plateaued. Last year, Orkin Canada ranked the city second-worst to Toronto for infestations, based on the pest-control companys national index of treatments, both with chemicals and heat.

Its a huge issue. Theres no political champion for bedbugs. Its kind of odd but it almost needs one.  Christian Cassidy

Pest-control staff across the city believe Winnipegs a hub for the bugs for reasons ranging from its roster of old buildings to the frequency of travel to and from the city to widespread poverty since low-income tenants may be unable to invest in cleaning supplies, laundry equipment or treatment.

The now-banned DDT, a potent insecticide, nearly wiped out bedbugs in the middle of the last century, but they began to make a major comeback in North America around 2000 in a near chemical-resistant form.

"I would be shocked if there was a multi-dwelling building in this city that hasnt been affected at some time or another. I would be absolutely shocked," says Clint Rosevear, manager of Orkin operations in Manitoba.

Orkin conducted 5,216 treatments in residential and commercial units in Winnipeg in 2019, up slightly from the previous year, but down from 2017  a landmark year for the pests. Poulins Pest Control figures mirror the overall trend.

The latters statistics since 2009 show annual treatments have increased more than 200 per cent over the last decade.

Some people carry a pack of gum in their purse; maybe a pen or two.

Entomologist Taz Stuart always keeps a vial of bedbugs handy.

"Bedbugs are a great hitchhiker, they can be in anything. They do not discriminate  you can be rich, poor, clean or dirty, bedbugs want to feed on your blood," Stuart says during an interview in his office, a dark room at Poulins Winnipeg headquarters where there are dead insects caught on traps in every corner, making his workspace look like a pest museum.

Despite bedbugs willingness to feast on anyone, it is tenants who rely on used furniture, cant access safe and affordable housing and dont control the maintenance of their units who are most vulnerable to infestations that, in some cases, never end.

Taz Stuart, entomologist and Director of Technical Operations at Poulin's Pest Control, keeps a vial of bed bugs on him and knows everything about bed bugs. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

A well-fed, reproductive female lays between two and five eggs a day. Eggs are laid with a substance similar to "crazy glue," Stuart says, and theyre hidden in cracks and crevices.

Although self-treatment could mitigate a minor infestation, its nearly impossible to get rid of a significant number of bedbugs without chemicals that only licensed professionals can purchase, or a heat treatment that roasts them  in all life stages  after about 10 minutes at 50 C. Ineffective self-treatment can also spread the misery, because the bugs can travel to neighbouring units.

Not only are professional treatments costly, but the preparation required beforehand and requirements afterward  laundering and cleaning everything and then constant vacuuming and steam-cleaning  can be expensive and exhausting.

Even when tenants follow instructions and chemical treatments are done approximately two weeks apart or appropriate heat treatment is conducted, Stuart says the risks of reintroduction and reliance on the actions of neighbouring tenants in a multi-unit building makes eradication even more difficult.

Codi Guenther, executive director of New Journey Housing, says dealing with infestations is draining financially and emotionally. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)

The executive director at New Journey Housing says some Winnipeg property managers unable to get rid of the pests opt to conduct bi-weekly or monthly chemical sprays. That leaves tenants with little incentive to ever unpack their belongings, since they have to keep piling them into garbage bags to prepare for frequent chemical treatments.

"Thats not a home, if youre living out of garbage bags and your clothes are in garbage bags. Thats just not an acceptable place to live, but many families are dealing with that," says Codi Guenther, an advocate for safe housing for newcomers at the resource centre on Broadway.

Guenther hears first-hand about how infestations drain tenants wallets and energy. A few years ago, a new mother confided in her about staying up all night armed with a flashlight, on guard over her newborns crib.

Others have approached New Journey Housing with stories about being banned from school until theyve dealt with the pests or after theyve been evicted because they were unable to keep up with the preparation required for treatments.

"Being able to think beyond the bedbugs, when youre in the middle of it, is a very difficult thing to do. Its hard to sleep (and) you cant take care of yourself, which means taking care of others can be even harder. It makes life even harder for people who often already have difficult and complex lives," she says.

Sitting in a South Osborne coffee shop around the corner from his new pest-free apartment, Tesheme Weldegergish cant help but rub imaginary bites on his forearms as he recounts the past five years.

You think you found one. Now what?  Positive identification is key; compare the bug to photos on the internet (check out the municipal or provincial website) or drop by a pest-control company or community associations housing department for a second opinion.  Immediately inform your property manager about the infestation. They are required to cover the cost of inspection and treatment.* (If you live in a multi-unit building, its also worth knocking on your neighbours doors to find out if theyve had any issues and to give them a heads-up.)  It is on you to follow the treatment preparation package. Ask your landlord or the pest-control company that is providing treatment for clarity.** You can also contact the bedbug hotline for guidance at 1-855-362-2847 or reach out to Bite Back Winnipeg's members. Tenants who qualify for the provincial Bug N Scrub program can get assistance to prepare for treatment.  Treatment preparation includes washing and drying all clothing items on high heat cycles and putting them in plastic bags or containers. As well, getting rid of unnecessary clutter and vacuuming and steam cleaning all furniture and cracks. Local community organizations may be able to lend vacuums and steam-cleaners, as well as bed covers and other supplies. click to read more  Positive identification is key; compare the bug to photos on the internet (check out the municipal or provincial website) or drop by a pest-control company or community associations housing department for a second opinion.  Immediately inform your property manager about the infestation. They are required to cover the cost of inspection and treatment.* (If you live in a multi-unit building, its also worth knocking on your neighbours doors to find out if theyve had any issues and to give them a heads-up.)  It is on you to follow the treatment preparation package. Ask your landlord or the pest-control company that is providing treatment for clarity.** You can also contact the bedbug hotline for guidance at 1-855-362-2847 or reach out to Bite Back Winnipeg's members. Tenants who qualify for the provincial Bug N Scrub program can get assistance to prepare for treatment.  Treatment preparation includes washing and drying all clothing items on high heat cycles and putting them in plastic bags or containers. As well, getting rid of unnecessary clutter and vacuuming and steam cleaning all furniture and cracks. Local community organizations may be able to lend vacuums and steam-cleaners, as well as bed covers and other supplies.  After a chemical treatment, tenants are expected to repeat vacuuming and steam cleaning frequently to achieve best results. Because chemicals don't kill eggs and eggs hatch after about two weeks, a minimum of two chemical treatments are advised. That means tenants must live out of plastic bags during that period or risk re-infecting items. * If your landlord refuses to treat the problem, you can contact 311 and make a complaint to the City of Winnipegs health department. Landlords are required to hire a pest-control company with a good reputation to treat the bugs. Non-compliance will lead to a fine. You can contact the provincial Residential Tenancies Branch to request a work order, organize dispute mediation or file a claim for damages. ** The property manager will opt for chemical treatment, the more affordable and common choice, or heat. In order to be effective, heat treatment is required for all affected units, so bugs cannot scatter, only to return later. Close

Its a trigger: thinking about the infestations that have cost him hundreds of dollars, awakened him in the middle of the night in a sweaty panic and made him skeptical of sitting during his daily ride to work on public transit.

"Its torture, but its not something harsh or bad right away. Its a slow torture," the 35-year-old says.

Five years ago, Weldegergish had no idea what a bedbug was. He became well-acquainted with the "nightmare" pests only after moving to Winnipeg from Sudan, having dealt with them twice since.

He turns his nose up at the thought of their dusty scent. Its one he will never forget; one he describes as "disgusting." Its one that led him to discover his most recent infestation.

A bedbug travelling along his sensitive skin jolted him awake on a summer night. His eyes opened, he pinched the bug and he smelled it. The familiar trace prompted him to tear off his sheets to search for bugs, their blood or their excrement stains. He would later find markings on his roommates mattress.

The finding sent him into a tailspin. He thought about the furniture he had to send to the dump and the months he spent living out of plastic bags the first time around.

"Because I had the experience before  it was a nightmare  I was so scared," he says.

Weldegergish considers himself lucky, since he was already preparing to move out because his landlord had served him with a notice to bump up the rent. Also, he learned about New Journey Housings subsidies for newcomer tenants dealing with bedbugs.

Movers helped him pack his belongings  like a three-dimensional game of Tetris  into a heated truck. It cost him about $170, approximately 20 per cent of the total price of the mobile treatment; the rest was covered by the newcomer housing resource centre.

Purpose Construction employees search for bedbugs. (Supplied photo)

Support services for people battling bedbugs are, at best, limited. New Journey Housing doesnt widely publicize its program because it cant handle much demand. In 2019, it supplied seven families with funds to treat their infested furniture in the heated van.

The van treatment costs nearly $1,000. And a few hours in a heated vault is more than $300, not including the cost of transporting furniture to a facility, such Poulins in Norwood. But Stuart, the companys in-house entomologist, says its the most effective way to get rid of the pests as long as the treated furniture isnt returned to an infested area.

Chemical treatments can be more affordable if all goes according to plan, but much depends on ongoing co-operation from tenants and property managers. Both Orkin and Poulins use a tic-tac-toe-like spraying method, which entails treating an infested unit and the ones above, on either side and across from it to ensure the bugs cant find new homes nearby.

"Id love to say a bottle of Snuggle Fabric Softener will fix things, but its not going to be that easy, unfortunately," Cassidy tells a half-dozen people during an afternoon community bedbug information session at Crossways Church.

Contrary to available resources, theres no shortage of myths about how to get rid of bedbugs. Cassidy assures a tenant that internet-prescribed solutions that include pouring fabric softener in a room, using over-the-counter chemicals or a can of Dr. Pepper are not effective.

He should know; hes been working with central Winnipeg tenants dealing with bedbugs for years as the community association housing co-ordinator.

A bed bug steamer at New Journey Housing. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)

The neighbourhood association relies on limited grants to offer low-income tenants help in the form of vacuums and steam cleaners that can be borrowed, bedbug indicator traps and the rare mattress cover. An annual total of $2,000 in provincial funding to fight the insects in the inner-city ward doesnt go very far.

So far in 2019-20, the province has approved 104 applications totalling upwards of $161,000 for its non-profit bedbug grant program. Community organizations can apply for a maximum of $2,000 each.

"Theres a ton of money being spent on fighting bedbugs in the city, but not any sort of co-ordinated event or way," Cassidy says. "And were not getting anywhere."

For several years, the association and other members of Winnipegs West Central Bedbug Coalition relied on a community bedbug prevention officer. The go-to expert comforted tenants and assisted them with treatment preparation, among other things. Community advocates mourn the loss of the provincially funded position, whose contract wasnt renewed in 2017. According to the province, the West End association didnt reapply for it.

Cassidys employer tried to self- fund it, but the people who access the associations services dont have the money to pay for consultations and cant afford to rent steam cleaners.

"It then ended up just being something that is done off the side of my desk, really," he says.

Community, hotel and parks associations, along with others, used to meet to brainstorm ideas to lobby for resources.

Overall, it seems the battle against bed bugs in Winnipeg has stalled, Guenther says.

In 2011, the province established a bedbug webpage and hotline (1-855-362-2847). Information aside, tenants can turn to the provincially funded Bug N Scrub program, which supplies low-income Manitobans with pre-treatment help: staff who can move furniture, do laundry and clean and remove clutter.

Jill Hisco, who manages the pest-control team at Purpose Construction, says supports arent keeping pace with demand. Everything is just sort of a Band-Aid, and were really leaving people out in the cold. (John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press)

"For seven years or so, we were providing probably 300 tenants with that service every year, and then something happened. The money just kind of dried up," says Jill Hisco, who manages the bedbug services provided by Purpose Construction, a non-profit social enterprise company hired by the province to run the program.

The subsidy started in 2011 but Hisco says around 2015-16 the qualification criteria was tightened so only people with major hoarding or sanitation issues were approved. Purpose has helped about 60 people since 2017, but she says that statistic doesnt meet the demand.

"Everything is just sort of a Band-Aid, and were really leaving people out in the cold. And people are losing their housing. If theyre not able to prepare, theyre getting the notice of eviction and then theyre out.

"This is a problem thats not going away in our lifetime. This is a problem thats not going away in our childrens lifetime. It has massively changed the way that independent living looks. With an aging population coming, a more vulnerable population, these resources dont exist and yet its only going to get worse," she says.

Home-care workers, Hisco adds, may decline service if a client has bedbugs.

But how can an elderly person  or anyone else  unable to do the heavy lifting before and constant cleaning required after to get rid of the pests or afford to hire someone to do it for them?

"Its almost like living with bedbugs has become acceptable, in a way," says Guenther. "It seems like, because its so hard to get rid of, people are trying a little bit less."

Warbansky was waiting in line at the grocery store checkout when a little girl with wandering eyes looked up at her: "What happened to your arm? Its all full of blood," she asked.

Warbansky's arm is covered in bites. (Supplied photo)

The 66-year-olds tear ducts couldnt take it; she realized under the fluorescent lights at Superstore that she had been relentlessly scratching her bites. She had the same reaction when her brother refused to let her into his car when she told him about the infestation. And when she became so overwhelmed doing laundry she forgot which machines in her building she had used.

Exhausted with the ongoing battle, Warbansky admits it doesnt take much lately to make her cry. She is taking antidepressants to stabilize her feelings and trudging on the only way she feels she can  searching for chemicals to kill the bugs herself; she alleges her property manager isnt co-operating.

A bleach-like smell lingers in her apartment. A dozen bottles, which are labelled "insect killer" and "insects destroyer" are empty on the kitchen counter. Nothing, she says, seems to work.

"You sit there and you just cry and what can you do?" she says. In the course of an interview, she pauses to kill bed bugs at least five times.

"Im so stressed out, and Im afraid. Where am I going to go at age 66 with no one to help me?"

A decade ago, two Winnipeg researchers asked themselves  and, later, 16 residents, five inner-city agency workers, three landlords and two public-health inspectors  "What happens when the bedbugs do bite?" Their question became the title of a research paper on the social impacts infestations have on inner-city residents.

The answers they collected were published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in 2011, during a period when the authors said Winnipeg experienced a "scourge" of bedbugs. They cited a local extermination company reporting 2,800 bedbug calls in 2010. (Combined, Orkin and Poulins performed 9,264 treatments last year.)

The reports authors, Elizabeth Comack and James Lyons, declined interview requests, citing unfamiliarity with bedbug specifics a decade after their work was published, but recent reporting reveals their findings are just as valid now as they were in 2011.

"The experience of losing their belongings, the social isolation and social stigma, and the stress, anxiety and sleeplessness (residents) encountered harmed their relations with family and friends, their ability to undertake work, education and family responsibilities, and even their identity or sense of self," the report states.

"For many residents, their already compromised health status was exacerbated by the physical reactions to the bedbug bites and the chemicals used to treat the problem."

Contrary to available resources, theres no shortage of myths about how to get rid of bedbugs. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

The duo argued the epidemic needs to be framed as a public-health threat to acknowledge both negative health outcomes  both physical and mental  that can result from dealing with an infestation, which can range from rashes to post-traumatic stress disorder. Doing so would also direct attention, they wrote, to the social determinants that need to be addressed in developing effective policies and practices in response to the problem to provide "adequate relief and resources."

A Manitoba Health spokesperson said in a statement that while the province appreciates bedbugs can be "very stressful," the departments position on bedbugs is similar to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

"All share the view that bedbugs are not known to spread disease, therefore they are not considered to be a medical or public-health hazard."

The spokesperson added the province is not currently considering changes to its position.

Daniel McIntyre  St. Matthews Community Associations Cassidy is among the advocates who thinks it should.

Since there isnt a political advocate for better resources and bedbugs dont fall under a specific municipal or provincial department  the issue is somewhat spread out between housing, public health and infrastructure interests, Cassidy says the problem isnt being sufficiently tracked.

"Without it being a public-health issue, nobodys doing research on it," he says, adding hes confident declaring it a crisis would draw more resources.

At the very least, he says Winnipeg could take note of Torontos model. Its public health department helps people identify bedbug samples if they submit an insect they are unsure about.

Benita Cohen says people who work in public health are "very concerned" about mental health  but the sector is chronically underfunded. As a result, resources have often been focused on addressing legally mandated activities such as disease surveillance, communicable-disease control  including vaccination  chronic disease prevention and maternal-child health.

Bedbug facts Click to Expand  The pests do not transmit any disease.  The bugs are visible to the eye in all stages, from when they are tiny white specks to full-grown adults, which are about the size of an apple seed.  Not everyone is allergic to bedbugs and will get red bites or welts if they are present.  The bugs often bite in zig-zag formations.  They do not discriminate based on cleanliness, although excessive clutter makes them more difficult to get rid of after they have been introduced to an area.  They can be found everywhere, including movie theatres and hotel rooms.  Bedbugs often hide under box springs and in furniture seams.  Properly trained dogs can be effective in sniffing out bedbugs.  Do-it-yourself treatments rarely work.Solutions found on the internet, including opening a can of Dr. Pepper, pouring kerosene fuel in crevices, putting out moth balls and sprinkling cayenne pepper in an infected area, will not get rid of them.  Spraying or pouring chemicals such as isopropyl alcohol and bleach will kill the bugs on contact, but will also only deter surviving pests to hide and migrate to other units (and likely, they will return after the traces are gone).

An associate professor of nursing at the University of Manitoba and director with the Canadian Public Health Association, Cohen notes that typically, public health hasnt been mandated to provide formal mental-health promotion services.

It definitely isnt lost on people working within the field that mental health has undeniable connections to public-health issues, Cohen says, pointing to the opioid and meth addiction crises as examples. It can be in a more informal way, but she says public-health practitioners certainly consider mental health when dealing with patients.

Its a "vicious cycle" in that there has been little research on the impact infestations have on mental health, she says.

"The lack of empirical evidence means that the issue of bedbugs may not be high on the public-health priority list."

From his office just outside the bedbug capital of Canada, Dr. Lawrence Loh says public health services simply dont have the resources or the expertise to deal with bedbugs.

"From my public-health perspective and the hat that I wear, we do recognize it has an impact on an individuals health and a disproportionate one on (low-income people)," says the Peel Region associate medical officer of health in the Greater Toronto Area.

But as far as hes concerned, dealing with bedbugs is a political issue and one that is deeply intertwined with poverty.

"It really falls on the people in power to figure out how do we address the infestations that are out there right now."

Perhaps clearly defining bedbugs as a public health issue would draw the urgency  from both the health and political spheres  that Christina Maes Nino says is so desperately needed.

"If youre a person who lives in a unit with bedbugs, there sure is an urgency to deal with," says Maes Nino, executive director of the Manitoba Non-Profit Housing Association.

"You need the money and the support to be able to help people to deal with them. Theres no magic bullet. Theres no magic spray thats going to deal with it. Its persistence, its having good support for tenants and having the resources to keep at it."

So you think you found a bed bug. Now what? Positive identification is key Compare the bug to photos on the municipal or provincial website or drop by a pest control company or community associations housing department for a second opinion. Notify your landlord They are required to cover the cost of inspection and treatment. In a multi-unit building, knock on your neighbours doors to find out if theyve had any issues and to give them a heads up. Call the provincial hotline Find out what resources are available to you. Containment Shake off your clothes before entering homes and other places. Add a bed bug warning label to any discarded items. Landlord does nothing? Notify 311 The citys bylaw officers can inspect and enforce remediation Notify the Residential Tenancies Branch Arrange for treatment yourself Keep your receipts Prepare for treatment Follow the treatment preparation package. Heat treatment is expensive and only really effective in single-family dwellings. Chemical treatments are more common and effective when treating multiple units. You may qualify for the provinces Bug N Scrub program for financial assistance. Furniture and appliances Move furniture 60cm from walls. Place small items and appliances in sealable storage containers. Dont stack objects on furniture. Vacuum and steam clean all furniture and cracks. The soft stuff Place clothing, blankets, etc. in bags labelled To wash. Wash items with hot water and dry on high heat for 30 minutes. Place washed items in bags labelled Cleaned. Pets and plants Take your pets with you. Wait 12 hours after a chemical treatment before bringing your pets home. Plants can stay in your home. Repeat as prescribed A minimum of two chemical treatments are advised to kill the bed bugs and their eggs. Vacuum and steam clean frequently to achieve best results. So you think you found a bed bug. Now what? Positive identification is key Compare the bug to photos on the municipal or provincial website or drop by a pest control company or community associations housing department for a second opinion. Call the provincial hotline Find out what resources are available to you. Notify your landlord They are required to cover the cost of inspection and treatment. In a multi-unit building, knock on your neighbours doors to find out if theyve had any issues and to give them a heads up. Landlord does nothing? Containment Shake off your clothes before entering homes and other places. Add a bed bug warning label to any discarded items. Notify 311 The citys bylaw officers can inspect and enforce remediation Prepare for treatment Follow the treatment preparation package. Heat treatment is expensive and only really effective in single-family dwellings. Chemical treatments are more common and effective when treating multiple units. You may qualify for the provinces Bug N Scrub program for financial assistance. Notify the Residential Tenancies Branch Arrange for treatment Keep your receipts Furniture and appliances Move furniture 60cm from walls. Place small items and appliances in sealable storage containers. Dont stack objects on furniture. Vacuum and steam clean all furniture and cracks. Pets and plants Take your pets with you. Wait 12 hours after a chemical treatment before bringing your pets home. Plants can stay in your home. The soft stuff Place clothing, blankets, etc. in bags labelled To wash. Wash items with hot water and dry on high heat for 30 minutes. Place washed items in bags labelled Cleaned. Repeat as prescribed A minimum of two chemical treatments are advised to kill the bed bugs and their eggs. Vacuum and steam clean frequently to achieve best results.

I am crying in my car in the Free Press parking lot because I swear I can feel every skin cell tickling.

The red bumps first appeared along my inner forearm and then again, in a cluster on my right foot. Im told by a walk-in clinic doctor and pest-control experts that Im lucky; some people arent allergic to the bites and dont know they have an infestation until they find thousands under their boxspring.

But at the moment, I dont feel lucky. I have only just begun to sandwich work days between hours of vacuuming my mattress, steam cleaning my couch and blow-drying my books spines alone in my West Broadway apartment. I have yet to realize these hours will be wasted and these items taken to the dump because of what I will learn was a severe infestation and subsequent inadequate treatment.

Free Press reporter Maggie Macintosh hired a dog and trainer to sniff out bugs in her new apartment. (Maggie Macintosh / Winnipeg Free Press)

Months from now, I will have lost more than half of my belongings and gone into debt after paying for traps, bottles of isopropyl alcohol, a session with a bedbug sniffing dog, a heat vault treatment and a move.

I estimate the ordeal cost me upwards of $5,000  and thats why I will visit the 17th floor at 155 Carlton St. My neighbours are fed up too, but tell me theyve been advised by staff at the Residential Tenancies Branch, as well as the provincial hotline, that they dont have much ammo.

The branchs director, Kathryn Durkin-Chudd, tells me it is "a neutral and impartial office" that defines the rights and responsibilities of tenants and landlords. In this case, tenants have to immediately tell their landlord of a suspected infestation and landlords are responsible for ensuring units are pest-free. Tenants must then co-operate with a treatment plan and do the preparation work prescribed, as per the Residential Tenancies Act.

"It is important for both landlords and tenants to know what their respective responsibilities are so everyone can act quickly to stop the spread," Durkin-Chudd says.

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If the landlord fails to comply, tenants can call 311 and the bylaw enforcement office could issue an order. If they dont follow an order, an individual landlord could face a fine up to $1,000 and a six-month-long jail sentence. Another option the branch allows tenants is to seek a repair request or compensation, before launching a lawsuit.

Meanwhile, landlords can file against tenants for compensation if they can prove a tenant introduced bedbugs to a suite.

The branch mediates disputes and rules on claims in a court-like fashion. During the 2018-19 fiscal year, it considered 1,175 claims from both tenants and landlords. It is unclear how many were bedbug related.

Filing a claim costs $50  although the winner is awarded $60, on top of damages. Tenants can also apply for financial aid through the branch.

As I jot down damages on a form in the sterile, grey downtown office, I realize how much time this is going to take and then, how fortunate I actually am. I can make time to print receipts, burn pest-control expert interviews on CDs and photocopy letters of support graciously written for me by my neighbours. I wonder who else can afford the costs, energy and time associated with filing a claim.

I had recently moved to the city; I had no way of finding out if the building had a history of bedbugs, until it was too late.

"It is nobodys responsibility to note infested properties, track their spread to see if the problem is getting worse or to help co-ordinate research or public-education campaigns," Cassidy says. "Nobodys in charge, so nothing moves ahead." Again, this is where he thinks a public-health issue designation could prompt change.

Unlike San Francisco, the City of Winnipeg doesnt have a service that publicly identifies residential buildings with bedbugs. Upon request, California laws entitle residents to a buildings bedbug history in writing. City pest-control specialist Nader Shatara says tenants can also call 311 and be directed to his department, which can provide information about a buildings bedbug complaint history.

There are two popular crowdsourced websites  bedbugregistry.com and registry.bedbugs.net  that list infestations in Manitoba. Each relies on self-reported findings and show only a fraction of the infested buildings in the province. I cant imagine adding the West Broadway complex to the list was on my property managers mind.

But its on mine. Its temporary, but I feel relief when I type in my old address. It was an itch that needed to be scratched.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie
Not a day goes by that citizens and pundits alike dont decry how partisanship in Washington is worse than ever. This week, as the Senate trial over a completely partisan impeachment gets underway, theyre half right.

If bipartisanship can be defined as an ability to compromise, work or vote with the opposing political party, then there certainly is a lack of it on Capitol Hill. However, on the most serious matters before Congress in recent days and decades -- the remaking of healthcare, a Supreme Court appointee, and impeachment of a president -- the inability to compromise exists exclusively on the Democratic side of the political divide.

For all their talk about a fair process Democrats on Capitol Hill have demonstrated by their votes that theyre interested in anything but. The internet has a long memory.

Footage from 1998 of those leading the 2020 impeachment charge, claiming that an impeachment should never be completely partisan action, is swirling through social media. Jerrold Nadler, Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Charles Schumer and others who were in office in 1999 howled loud and long that a partisan impeachment is not in the best interest of America or Americans.

They were right, but, of course, that was then, and this is now. That was their president, and this is #NotMyPresident.

President Bill Clinton, who was impeached by a partisan vote in the House, was acquitted of charges by a Republican-controlled Senate! Imagine the reverse happening to Trump.

President Clinton was impeached on December 18, 1998. As opposed to Trump, he had actually committed crimes. Clinton lied under oath about an extramarital affair with a White House intern half his age, then committed witness tampering and obstruction of justice in trying to cover it up. Those and other actions ultimately led to his disbarring. At the time, Republicans controlled both houses of the 106th Congress. They enjoyed a 55-45 majority in the Senate, 228-206-1 in the House.

Four Articles of Impeachment were ultimately brought against Clinton. The vote on two of them passed the House of Representatives with voting support from both parties. On Article One (perjury before a grand jury), five Republicans voted "no"; Article Two (perjury in the Paula Jones case) garnered twenty- eight Republican "no" votes and failed; Article Three (obstruction of justice) saw twelve Republicans vote against it; and Article Four (abuse of power) also failed due to eighty-one Republicans voting "no."

The two surviving Articles of Impeachment were (promptly) delivered from the House to the Senate, where Republicans enjoyed a ten-seat majority. At the end of the trial, Clinton was found not guilty on Article One via a bipartisan vote that saw ten Republicans vote 'nay' along with their Democrat colleagues. Not guilty was also declared on Article Two via another bipartisan vote that saw five Republicans vote against it.

The term limits now crowd will note that eighty-four current members of Congress also held congressional office the last time the nation saw its president impeached. There are currently forty-one sitting Democratic members of the House (all voted against all four Clinton articles). Another six Democrats, who are now senators, then served in the House (where they voted against all four articles). All voted for Trumps impeachment in the House in 2019. In all likelihood, all those in the Senate will vote to convict. None would vote to impeach their own; none wouldnt vote to impeach the others.

The bipartisanship during the Clinton impeachment was against his impeachment and against his conviction (Republicans joined Democrats in voting no in both houses). Concerning the Affordable Care Act, the only bipartisanship was on the side of voting against (Democrats joined Republicans in voting no, but it was passed via a 100% partisan Democrat vote in both houses of congress.) So also was the case with our most recent Supreme Court justice.

Concerning SCOTUS appointees, Republicans will and do vote to confirm Democratic presidential nominees, but Democrat legislators will seldom vote to confirm Republican nominees. Brett Kavanaughs 50-48 senate confirmation vote saw just one of the senates 46 Democrats break ranks, while the other 45 voted against confirmation in solid, locked-step solidarity. As usual.

Which brings us to Trump, where, once again, the only bipartisanship was for not impeaching. Some Democrats voted no along with Republicans, with one so disgusted by the antics of his own party that he switched. But Democrats crammed through the impeachment along a strictly 100% partisan vote, despite their own words from yesteryear declaring such a thing despicable being blared right into their faces.

When it comes to the most monumental issues of our day, there is bipartisanship in Washington, but it exists only on the Republican side of the congressional aisle. The calls for cooperation and fairness from the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Charles Schumer have a decisive air of Do as I say, not as I do because they do almost nothing in a truly bipartisan fashion.

Derrick Wilburn is a Centennial Institute Fellow, founder of Rocky Mountain Black Conservatives and Executive Director of POC Capitol Interns.
New Archbishop Nelson Perez, front, and retiring Archbishop Charles Chaput pray at the National Shrine of St. John Neumann in Philadelphia on Friday. Read more

After back-to-back mass shootings one weekend last August prompted calls for stricter gun laws, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput publicly argued that only a fool would believe that gun control could deter such violence.

The people using the guns were to blame, twisted, he wrote in a pointed column, by societys culture of sexual anarchy, personal excess, political hatreds, intellectual dishonesty, and perverted freedoms.

But when a gunman killed one person and injured three at a California synagogue in April, Chaputs designated successor, Cleveland Bishop Nelson J. Perez, applied a softer approach. He condemned the evil act of violence and offered prayers for those who were injured, loving care for the person who was killed, and comfort and consolation for their families.

The tragedies that triggered their remarks may have little to do with meaty questions of church dogma, but the manner in which both men responded might help the regions 1.3 million Catholics see a distinction between the outgoing archbishop and the man whom Pope Francis has named as his replacement.

 READ MORE: Nelson Perezs path from Philly priest to the regions first Hispanic archbishop

Much has been made of the significance of Perezs selection amid Francis perceived efforts to shift the ideological makeup of the traditionally conservative U.S. Catholic hierarchy more in line with platforms of his papacy.

Church analysts say the differences between Chaput and Perez may be more about style than theology, less about politics than presentation. And Perezs limited record on a national stage may be one reason he became the pontiffs choice for the job.

That understated profile actually says a lot about him, said Kathleen Sprows Cummings, a scholar at the University of Notre Dame. Hes not making hot-button issues his platform. Hes a moderate voice and who seems interested in building bridges instead of sowing divisions.

Chaput built a reputation as an outspoken and opinionated leader in the intellectual debate of the church and its intersection with politics and culture, according to the Rev. Thomas Reese, senior analyst for Religion News Service. Perez, the Cleveland bishop since 2017 and one of only three Latinos to be named a U.S. archbishop, comes across as more comfortable talking about families, migrants, and the poor  dinner-table concerns that make him more like Francis.

Or, as Reese put it: "Chaput is more interested in how we explain the faith. For Perez, its more about how we live it.

 READ MORE: Nelson Perezs appointment as archbishop brings speculation and celebration for Philly-area Catholics

Chaput had telegraphed his departure months before he turned 75, the typical retirement age for bishops, and said hes eager to continue his writings and public speaking. Perez, 58, had been a Philadelphia-area parish priest for two decades before serving as a bishop in New York and Ohio. After his appointment was announced Thursday, he avoided laying out any sweeping visions for the archdiocese and wont be installed as its archbishop until Feb. 18.

But a look at how each man has responded to some of the most debated aspects of church and public life in recent years could offer some clues.

Marriage, sexuality, and family life

In 2016, Francis issued an edict urging bishops to be more welcoming of divorced-and-remarried couples, gays, and those who live in an imperfect manner  and stirred up a renewed debate within the church on issues of sexuality, marriage, and family life that has since divided the global Catholic hierarchy.

Chaput quickly released pastoral guidelines that said divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, as well as cohabitating unmarried couples, must refrain from sexual intimacy in order to receive Holy Communion in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

He also has criticized the teachings of a Montgomery County native and Jesuit priest, the Rev. James Martin, who advocates greater acceptance of gays within the church. Chaput also objected to the inclusion of a line referencing gay Catholics in a document produced by the 2018 Church Synod on Young People.

There is no such thing as an LGBTQ Catholic,  Chaput said, or a transgender Catholic or a heterosexual Catholic.' "

Asked on Friday where he fell in the debate over nontraditional marriages and partnerships, and divorced Catholics, Perez declined to offer specifics.

 READ MORE: Visiting a Northern Liberties shrine, Phillys next archbishop says hes shocked that Im back here

I walk with the church, he said after meeting with children at a North Philadelphia social services agency run by the archdioceses charitable wing. I represent the teachings of the church, and embrace the teachings of the church, as stipulated by the church. I walk with the church, and Im loyal to the church.

His tenure in Cleveland shows little daylight between him and Chaput in action. In statements for the churchs National Marriage Week, Perez defined marriage as a partnership between a man and a woman.

Last fall, he enlisted five missionaries from a group called the Culture Project to speak to students in Cleveland schools and youth groups about chastity and a life of sexual integrity. The missionaries, whose talk topics include human dignity and virtuous use of social media, have also received endorsements from Chaput.

Perez is a fairly, you might say, conventional bishop in terms of his theology, said Paul V. Murphy, director of the Institute of Catholic Studies at John Carroll University outside Cleveland. I dont think thered be much difference between Archbishop Chaput and Bishop Perez on sexual issues in particular. Official church teachings on heterosexual marriage, LGBTQ issues, I think he would be very traditional in that regard.

A video on the missionaries program includes an introduction by Perez.

There is a great need for direction that ensures our human dignity and embraces a culture of holiness, he says.

National politics

In his 2008 book, Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life, Chaput wrote: Asking Catholics to keep their faith out of public affairs amounts to telling them to be barren, to behave as if they were neutered.

Its a mantra that defined Chaput as one of the most outspoken members of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy. It also resurfaced again and again in Philadelphia as he threw himself into secular public debates over gun control, whether communion should be offered to candidates who support abortion rights, and even presidential campaigns.

A prolific author and public speaker, Chaput in a 2017 op-ed denounced critics of President Donald Trump for what he described as unprecedented opposition.

Mr. Trump is now President Trump, and curiously, some of the harshest, ongoing fury directed at him has nothing to do with his personal character, Chaput wrote. Rather, its a very special brand of progressive intolerance for the approach his administration may take toward a range of difficult social issues, including abortion.

That came one year after Chaput panned both Trump and his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, as very bad news for our country in the midst of the 2016 presidential campaign.

"One candidate, in the view of a lot of people, is a belligerent demagogue with an impulse-control problem, he said then during a speech at the University of Notre Dame. And the other, also in the view of a lot of people, is a criminal liar, uniquely rich in stale ideas and bad priorities."

More recently, Philadelphias archbishop called out Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden for dropping his support for the Hyde Amendment, the 1970s law prohibiting the use of federal funds to pay for abortion.

The unborn child means exactly zero in the calculus of power for Democratic Party leaders, Chaput wrote in a column in June. The right to an abortion, once described as a tragic necessity, is now a perverse kind of sacrament most holy. 

Perez has dived less frequently into the political fray. When he has inserted himself into the nations current divisive politics, it has been to call for calm and respect.

When Trump last year lashed out at Rep. Elijah Cummings (D., Md.) in a string of tweets describing Baltimore as a dangerous and filthy place and a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess, Perez pushed back with a statement cosigned by two other prelates.

We find ourselves once more discussing how people, even our national leaders, use language that is divisive and disrespectful, it read. Such language is absolutely incompatible with the teaching of Jesus Christ.

Immigration

Chaput and Perez appear to differ little from each other  and the broader position of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops  in supporting comprehensive immigration reform and opposing the separation of migrant family members.

But Perez, a Cuban American who will become the first Hispanic archbishop of Philadelphia, has taken the issue head-on.

 READ MORE: A revolutionary idea: Phillys Latinos expect new archbishop Nelson Perez to be a change agent

The churchs position on immigration and the bishops call for immigration reform is not a political issue. It is a human issue. And for us it is a moral issue, Perez said during Fridays stop at the Casa del Carmen Family Service Center in North Philadelphia.

More directly, he suggested it was the responsibility of the church to advocate for immigrants by offering legal assistance and other help to those in need. He said he would seek to spotlight some of those resources in Philadelphias communities.

In Cleveland, Perez has supported young immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and has denounced immigration raids in Ohio. After a raid in Cleveland, he urged people to pray for affected families and press lawmakers for immigration reform.

This country, its soul, its heart, has been one of being a welcoming people. Its there at the Statue of Liberty at the harbor where immigrants came by the thousands and thousands. And so its painful to see the conversation at times and the rhetoric that we see with our immigrants, Perez said in a 2019 interview. Our rights and our dignity  listen, theres no wall that could stop that.

In 2017, Perez went to an Immigration Customs and Enforcement office with the family of a Cleveland-area man set to be deported to personally ask immigration officials to allow the man to stay in the United States, where he was the primary caregiver for a stepson with cerebral palsy.

In the waiting room, he prayed with other families, the Cleveland Plain-Dealer reported. He left a written statement with immigration officials, but ICE ultimately denied the mans bid to avoid deportation.

Sex abuse

Chaput arrived in Philadelphia in 2011 with a mandate to steady an archdiocese roiled by back-to-back grand jury investigations that implicated his predecessors, Cardinals Anthony Bevilacqua and Justin Rigali, in covering up years of misdeeds by sexually abusive priests.

He acted swiftly, suspending and later removing from ministry multiple priests implicated in those reports. And while accusations have continued to emerge and Chaput has not always earned plaudits for transparency from clergy sex-abuse victims and their backers, the archdiocese under his tenure has avoided another scandal.

He released a full list of all the accused clergy to have served in the archdiocese and established a compensation fund for victims, even those with claims too old for civil courts.

Perez, too, has had to contend in his short time in Cleveland with the sexual-abuse issue  one reignited by the scandal surrounding now defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and a 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report focused on six of the states eight dioceses.

But he likely has a different lens on the issue than his predecessor. When the first wave of the sex-abuse scandal erupted in 2002, Perez was a parish priest at St. William church in the Lawncrest section of the city.

The old-timers, they were trained in a very different church and I think they had a different experience of the 2002 abuse crisis as bishops, Terry McKiernan, founder of the watchdog group BishopAccountability.org, said in an interview last year. The new guard experienced the crisis as priests on the front lines.

Under Perezs watch, at least three Cleveland Diocese priests have been suspended for sexual impropriety with minors. And like dioceses around the county, the Cleveland Diocese came under pressure to release a list naming all priests accused of sexual abuse.

It took nearly a year until the bishop did  though victims groups criticized the fact that it did not list past parish assignments for the priests.

Statute of limitations legislation

The 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury not only sparked introspection and reform within Catholic dioceses across the nation, it added fuel to the legislative debate over whether victims of decades-old abuse deserve a second chance to sue their abusers.

Nine states, including New Jersey and New York, have passed laws opening a limited window for accusers to file fresh suits even if their claims fall years outside the established statute of limitations.

Chaput has fought ferociously against such proposals, both in Denver in 2006 and in Pennsylvania since he arrived, leading campaigns from the pulpit, lobbying legislators, and warning of crippling financial penalties.

Its a clear attack on the Church, her parishes and her people, he wrote of a 2016 bill before the Pennsylvania legislature. It covers both public and religious institutions  but in drastically different and unjust ways.

Still, in November, lawmakers in Harrisburg reached a compromise on their own version of a so-called window law, opting to leave it to voters in a statewide referendum.

Ohio debated a similar window law; it died facing opposition from the church in 2006, more than a decade before Perez moved there from his previous posting in Rockville Centre, N.Y.

Though his time as an auxiliary bishop in Long Island preceded wth the height of the political wrangling over New Yorks law, he has not been active in the churchs lobbying effort in either state, said Marci Hamilton, chief executive of Child U.S.A., a University of Pennsylvania think tank focused on child protection and a longtime advocate for changing the laws.

He didnt fight to support it either, she said. He just wasnt anywhere on the issue.

Asked Thursday  minutes after his introduction to Philadelphia priests, archdiocesan staff. and reporters as the regions next archbishop  whether he would oppose the victims window in Pennsylvania, Perez said: I support the issue.

That seemed at first to be a stark difference from his predecessor.

Then, Perez elaborated on his response, and in doing so, echoed Chaputs language in opposition: As long as it applies fairly to all and doesnt single anyone out. Thats fair and thats just.

Staff writers Allison Steele, William Bender, and Anna Orso contributed to this article.
When Sarah Brewsters car broke down a couple months ago, the 26-year-old therapist panicked. She didnt have $800 in cash to fix it, and the thought of a car loan overwhelmed her. How could she fit in another bill when shes already living paycheck to paycheck, desperately trying to pay down her student debt?

Like many Americans also crippled by student loans, Brewsters been making sacrifices since she graduated: She put off her wedding for two years and once she and her husband, Ryan, finally got married in November 2018, they decided they couldnt afford a honeymoon. For Christmas, they budgeted for just one gift apiece. Ryan, a firefighter, is saddled with his own debt from a two-year program. Sarah alone owes $50,000. And with student loan payments of $700 a month, or almost as much as their monthly $1000 rent, theyre worried they cant afford to have children.

Brewster, a Bernie Sanders supporter, says she will absolutely be thinking about student debt as she heads to the ballot box this year and that I would like to hope that people my age would be more likely to vote because of it.

She might not have much company.

Sarah Brewster and her husband Ryan pictured outside their home in Mining, Wisconsin. The Brewsters have been deeply impacted by their student debt: They haven't gone on a honeymoon or had children because they're worried about debt, despite both of them having jobs.

Most of the Democratic presidential candidates have prioritized tackling the nations staggering student debt crisis and many have called for some form of debt forgiveness. But while campaigns have made college financing a major issue, and are likely to continue doing so in the final push before the Iowa Democratic caucus on Feb. 3, some voters say its just one of many factors that will impact who they cast their vote for.

Roughly 54% of Americans say the nation's student loan debt crisis is a major problem, according to a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll published in April. And roughly 67% of respondents said they had delayed or put off a major purchase because of student loans, while 40% said theyve delayed a major life decision, such as starting a family.

In the U.S., student debt, the fastest-growing debt in the country, totals more than $1.5 trillion and has already surpassed credit card debt. In 2018, 65% of college seniors who graduated from public and private nonprofit colleges had student loan debt, according to The Institute for College Access & Success. Millennials, in particular, are hampered by higher education, as borrowers ages 25 to 34 owe almost $500 million, putting them behind in buying homes, saving for retirement and starting families.

Story continues

The average borrower owes just under $30,000. But others owe much more. Generation X borrowers have the most student debt, followed by baby boomers, and then Millennials.

Cory Bluemling, a 41-year-old art teacher at a private Los Angeles school, has three degrees and estimates that he owes around $160,000 in a combination of federal and private loans. He describes his situation as suffocating, overwhelming and so confusing.

If someone called me tomorrow and said, Hey, you have another $30,000 that you owe to this person Id probably say, Wow, OK.  I feel so disconnected to them.

Despite picking up odd jobs every summer, from bartending to hosting a trivia night to handyman work, Bluemling can only afford to make the minimum monthly payment  about $400  which means hell likely be paying loans his whole life. When it comes to the election, the student debt crisis matters, but hes thinking more about escalating tensions with Iran than anything else.

My student loans dont necessarily impact my vote, but it does impact the way Im looking at Democrats in the field, and how I think about who can help us get a reasonable playing field for all Americans, Bluemling says, though his top priority is any person who can beat Trump.

Most of the Democratic presidential candidates have vowed to confront the student loan crisis in some way, proposing that borrowers be allowed to refinance (Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota), or that the government buy back the majority of the debt (entrepreneur Andrew Yang). Theyve drawn on personal experience, too: Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, told voters he and his husband, Chasten, are working to pay down six figures of debt themselves.

But the most specific, detailed plans have come from Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Warren would forgive up to $50,000 for each individual earning less than $100,000, which would dramatically impact Americans with undergraduate degrees, but likely only make a small dent for Americans with graduate degrees. Last week, Warren said on day one of her presidency she would use executive action to cancel most student loans, sidestepping Congress on an issue thats drawn ire from both Republicans and some moderate Democrats.

Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren, a United States Senator from Massachusetts, has proposed radical changes to higher education in an effort to confront America's student loan crisis.

Sanders, on the other hand, has vowed to wipe out all student debt.

That will only solve part of the problem though, says Catherine Ruetschlin, an assistant economics professor at the University of Utah.

The student debt crisis has two sides to it, says Ruetschlin. One side is, what do we do about debt thats already accumulated thats holding back the generation struggling with debt from making the large investments like household formation, kids, buying a home, saving for retirement. The second side is, how do we prevent future generations from dealing with this problem?

In February 2018, Ruetschlin co-authored a study The Macroeconomic Effects of Student Debt Cancellation, that examined the effects of a one-time, federally funded cancelation of all outstanding student debt.

The study found that taking the current student debt total and pushing it back into the economy would lead to an increased GDP by somewhere between 80 to 110 billion a year over the next 10 years, as well as increased employment opportunities, with more than one million jobs being added to the economy every year. Circulating that debt back into the economy would create a small stimulus overall, Ruetschlin says, though it would likely be a dramatic and positive shift for those burdened by student loans.

But that doesnt change the fact that current and future students will still need to borrow, the result in shifting societal attitudes that higher education benefits the individual more than overall society, and therefore should be funded by the individual.

If we dont have a major structural change, Ruetschlin says, well find ourselves right back here.

Many of the candidates have also proposed wholesale changes to the higher education system, including free college at public institutions.

Some voters arent convinced. Terri Moffit, a 45-year-old accounting assistant in Rialto, California, for example, thinks the burden should fall on her if her child wants to go to college.

When Moffit, who grew up in an economically depressed corner of Chino, graduated from high school almost 30 years ago, she looked around at family and friends struggling with college and vocational school debt and realized that If I was going to go to college I was going to have to figure out how to make it happen.

So Moffit skipped higher education, instead taking classes here and there that could help further her career. Shes carved out a nice life for herself, her husband and her son.

Moffit says shes not necessarily against student loan forgiveness, but wonders if wiping out debt would deter borrowers from learning how to make good financial decisions.

Because she had no debt, its not a major factor in how she will vote. But she wont completely ignore it either, Moffit says, because the person who gets elected in 2020 may possibly get a second term, and they will be in office when its time for my kid to go to college.

Moffits 12-year-old son, Isaac, has already expressed an interest in joining the military after college, a prospect Moffit isnt wild about, but which could happen if she doesnt save enough for Isaac to attend college. She doesnt want him to take out loans and find himself like so many current borrowers, drowning in debt  especially because some of those borrowers dont even have degrees.

According to the Urban Institute, among students who began college in 2011, 32% were no longer in school and had not earned a degree or certificate six years later; 27% of borrowers were in that situation.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, has proposed canceling all student debt regardless of borrowers' income level.

Its miserable, admits Kelsea Miller, 26, who attended Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, from 2011 to 2015 and came agonizingly close to graduating with a degree in human services. But when she failed her internship credit in the summer of 2015, Miller says couldnt take out another loan to enroll in one more semester. Now, shes sitting on $45,000 in debt without a degree to show for it. Shes been in deferment for five months.

I didnt grow up with money, so even $45,000, even though I know other people have it worse, it seems like so much to me, ugh, says Miller, a freelance photographer and makeup artist. This is what everyone did  you got loans and you went to school. And if you didnt do that, you were a failure.

Miller plans to vote and says student loans are a huge issue, along with healthcare. In her friend group student debt is an open secret, She hasnt decided who shell support in the primary. She says she doesnt pay attention to the news too closely, partially because its often depressing, and partially because shes got other things on her mind.

Jasmine Turney can relate to that. Turney, 26, has $60,000 in student debt after attending Thiel College, a small liberal arts school in Greenville, Pennsylvania, and obtaining her undergraduate degree in criminal justice. Her debt has been a stumbling block since she graduated in 2012: Shes been engaged four years but cant afford a wedding, and her monthly payment is so low (less than $100) that she assumes shell be saddled with debt forever.

Turney, who works at a nonprofit, didnt vote in 2016, and shes not sure if shell vote in 2020. Shes got so much else on her mind  like making sure she can pay bills  that she doesnt have time to study candidates. Shes heard about the promises to fix Americas student loan crisis, of course. But shes got major doubts.

It seems so far-fetched to me, and too good to be true, Turney says. Im $60,000 in debt and someones going to help? That doesnt seem likely.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Election 2020: Democrats focus on student loan debt. Do voters care?
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Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 18:55:02|Editor: mingmei

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TIANJIN, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Wang Di pulled off a thumb-sized piece of white dough, sprinkled a little bit of black-colored pigment into it and kneaded it into the shape of rat's head.

"I will imagine the happy and joyful expression of the rat in my mind, and depict it on the dough until I am satisfied," Wang said.

Born in 1948 in north China's Tianjin Municipality, Wang is an inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of dough figurine making.

Making dough figurines for 40 years, she has created her third set of work related to the Year of the Rat.

Chinese Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival, falls on Jan. 25 this year. The lunar calendar has a 12-year cycle, with each year assigned an animal symbol: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

Rat is the first among the 12 animals of the ancient Chinese zodiac. In Chinese culture, they are a symbol of intelligence, fertility, affluence and agility.

"I changed the abominable image of rats to positive, optimistic and leisurely ones," she said.

Before making a dough figurine, she needs to prepare a certain percentage of wheat flour, glutinous rice flour, vaseline and preservatives and mix them together in a container, slowly add some water and then steam the dough for about 20 to 25 minutes. The dough would be elastic after cooling down.

The process of making dough figurines is not difficult, but to convey the sense of jubilation and vitality from figurines' expressions takes effort, according to Wang.

She looked for inspirations from Chinese classical legends, myths and famous books before creating the work named "dream."

In the work, a girl rests on a chair and dreams of a traditional story of a mouse wedding procession. A total of 15 rats strode in line. Some of them played the instruments of sheng, flute, suona horn and drum and some held small flags.

Dough figurine making can be traced back to the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-220 A.D.)

People first made dough food shaped like butterflies and lotus flowers to celebrate traditional festivals. As time went on, it has become a traditional handicraft art.

Wang used dozens of crafting tools with varying functions. "Scissors are used to cut figurine's hands, sharp tools for making cloth folds and tweezers for clamping small objects."

Wang has made a name for herself. She has visited over 20 countries and regions including Germany, Denmark, Sweden, the United States and Singapore to spread Chinese traditional dough figurine art.

"It's a pursuit of beauty and goodness. Being able to learn, inherit and spread this art, I feel honored and proud," she said.
US air safety regulators could clear the Boeing 737 MAX to return to service before mid-year, a person close to the process said Friday.

Boeing shares rallied following a CNBC report that the Federal Aviation Administration signaled to airlines that the MAX could be approved to resume flights before mid-2020.

A source close to the process confirmed the report to AFP.

The plane has been grounded since March following two deadly crashes. On Tuesday, Boeing announced that it did not expect to win regulatory approval until mid-2020.

An FAA spokesman reiterated that the agency has set no timeframe for certification, but indicated the process has moved forward from December.

"While the FAA continues to follow a thorough, deliberate process the agency is pleased with Boeing's progress in recent weeks toward achieving key milestones," the FAA spokesman said.

In December, the FAA publicly castigated Boeing for targeting an unrealistic return to service timeframe that seemed to be "designed to force FAA into taking quicker action."

A spokesman for American Airlines confirmed that the carrier had discussed the MAX with the FAA but declined to comment on the conversation.

United Airlines and Southwest Airlines, two other US carriers that fly the MAX, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Boeing suspended production on the MAX this month but Chief Executive David Calhoun said this week the company plans to begin ramping up 737 MAX production ahead of winning regulatory approval to resume service on the plane.

Calhoun, who began as CEO earlier this month, has highlighted restoring Boeing's reputation with regulators, customers and other stakeholders as an imperative as he tries to the turn the company around.

Boeing shares rose 1.8 percent to $323.62 in afternoon trading.
Visaya Hoffie fell onto the train tracks at 14 Street Station (pictured at the same station)

An Australian artist has lost her legs after she was run over by seven carriages of a New York City subway train.

Visaya Hoffie was visiting a friend from Brisbane who was studying in the US when she was run over by a train after tripping onto the subway tracks at 14th Street station about 4am on January 11.

The 23-year-old lay unconscious on the tracks for about 20 minutes before her life was saved by her bright pink top.

She avoided being struck again by a second oncoming train when the driver caught sight of her bright clothing and slammed on the brakes.

Visaya suffered multiple head wounds, a C2 vertebral fracture, a sheared vertebral artery, a skull depression and associated cuts and wounds as well as having both her lower legs amputated.

Despite all the injuries, she does not show any evidence of brain damage and is off life support.

In a heartfelt Facebook post Mrs Hoffie shared a photo of her daughter taken just moments before the horrific incident in her pink top (left)

Despite all the injuries, Visaya (pictured) does not show any evidence of brain damage and is off life support

Her mother Pat Hoffie is at her bedside in New York.

'It's difficult at the moment,' Mrs Hoffie told The Courier Mail from beside her daughter.

'But we are in the best possible medical home but we just have to put our heads together and work through it.

'We're in the middle of a very trying time.'

In a heartfelt Facebook post Mrs Hoffie shared a photo of her daughter taken just moments before the horrific incident in her pink sweater.

'This image of her [Visaya] was taken hours before the accident,' she wrote.

'The bright pink colour of her top is what alerted the engine driver of the second train to the fact that someone was lying across the track.

'When the first train had rolled across her unconscious body twenty minutes earlier, her black puffy jacket and black jeans had made her invisible to the driver.

'In the words of the investigating police, "it's a miracle she survived." Please pray that she continues to survive and to heal and to come home.'

On Wednesday, Visaya underwent further 'corrective amputation' on her left leg and is taking aspirin to avoid the risk of blood clotting.

She is also constantly being monitored for a pseudoaneurysm in the femoral artery leading into her brain by the neck brace she will have to wear for several months.

On Wednesday, Visaya underwent further 'corrective amputation' on her left leg and is taking aspirin to avoid the risk of blood clotting

Since the traumatic incident, the stitches in Visaya's face have been removed but the staples in her skull are expected to remain for 'some time'.

As she remains in hospital, Visaya is being checked up on by doctors and nurses every half-hour.

Visaya's work was showcased at the Queensland College of Fine Art's graduates collection in 2016, under the name Visaya Bose.

Her mother Pat and late father Santiage Bose were both well-known in Brisbane's art scene.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed in a statement they were providing consular assistance to an Australian woman in the United States.

'Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment,' the statement said.
BLOSSVALE, N.Y. -- A 22-year-old Blossvale woman was arrested Thursday and accused of stealing more than $3,000 from the convenience store she worked for, according to New York State Police.

Shania A. Leonard was charged with third-degree grand larceny and first-degree falsifying business records, state police said.

Leonard stole $3,290 from the Circle K convenience store, located at 1015 Main St. in Sylvan Beach, between October and November of 2019, police said. She worked as a cashier at the store, according to police.

She was arraigned in Oneida County centralized arraignment court and released, police said.

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PM Boris Johnson welcomes members of the Chinese community at Downing Street yesterday in celebration of the Chinese New Year

Boris Johnson has heralded the end of "far too many years of argument and division" as he signed the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement ahead of Britain's departure from the EU next week.

The Prime Minister said the UK can now "move forward as one country" after he put his signature to the document in Downing Street yesterday.

Earlier in the day, the presidents of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, formally signed the agreement in Brussels.

The Queen gave royal assent to the legislation on Thursday after it cleared both Houses of Parliament.

Mr Johnson said: "The signing of the Withdrawal Agreement is a fantastic moment, which finally delivers the result of the 2016 referendum and brings to an end far too many years of argument and division.

"We can now move forward as one country, with a Government focused upon delivering better public services, greater opportunity and unleashing the potential of every corner of our brilliant United Kingdom, while building a strong new relationship with the EU as friends and sovereign equals."

The PM signed the document with a Parker fountain pen in an anteroom outside the Cabinet Room in Number 10, witnessed by EU and Foreign Office officials who transported the treaty from Brussels.

The European Parliament is now expected to vote to approve the agreement on Wednesday, paving the way for the UK to leave on Friday.

It will mark the start of an 11-month transition period, during which the UK will continue to follow EU rules, before the final break with Brussels at the end of the year.

Mr Johnson, who held a Chinese New Year party in Downing Street yesterday, has said he wants to negotiate a comprehensive free trade deal with the EU by the end of the year.

However, Mrs von der Leyen and other senior EU figures have warned the Government's stated intention to end the UK's alignment with EU regulations means it will be impossible to achieve within such a tight timetable.
Kieran Greene was sitting alone in the waiting room at Rathfarnham garda station when he caught the attention of an officer on duty.

The father of three was nervously rubbing his face with his hands and said he "wanted to speak to someone in charge".

He said the "body up the mountains" was his partner's mother, Patricia O'Connor, and he had "done something terrible".

Saying he could not live with the guilt, he told detectives how he had killed her during a row, buried, exhumed and dismembered her, before scattering her remains.

Despite these admissions, he was free to go - the gardai did not believe him because at that stage, from the first grim discoveries on a Wicklow roadside, it was thought the victim was a man.

And, one garda, admitted, it was "an unusual story".

It was a story that Mr Greene would later claim was wrong.

A Central Criminal Court jury this week heard the astonishing and gruesome account he gave of Patricia O'Connor's death - both versions of it.

Mr Greene (34) denies murdering Ms O'Connor (61) at the house they shared on May 29, 2017. Three more people are on trial alongside him, charged with impeding his prosecution. These are his then-partner, Patricia's daughter Louise O'Connor (41), and her daughter Stephanie (22), as well as Louise's ex-partner Keith Johnston (43).

The backdrop to the case was a cramped and tense household of nine people from three generations of a family - Patricia and Gus O'Connor, their daughter Louise and her five children, and Kieran Greene.

Patricia, a grandmother of seven, had become "extremely hard to live with" since retiring from her hospital job, and was constantly "arguing about stupid things", Louise O'Connor said.

On June 1, 2017, Gus and his son reported his wife missing to gardai.

Nine days later, on June 10, a picnicker found an upper human torso in a ditch off the Military Road in Co Wicklow; the rest of Patricia's body parts were found over the following three days.

In his first voluntary interviews on June 12 and 13, Mr Greene told gardai there had been an argument about a cat in the house on the night of May 29 and Patricia had stormed out.

He said she returned about midnight and walked in on him in the bathroom, where she attacked him with a hurley. He struggled to get it off her, hit her with it and she fell, he said, perhaps hitting her head.

He blacked out and when he came to, she was lying on the floor and there was "blood everywhere".

He said he put her in the boot of his Toyota Corolla and drove her to Wexford, where he buried her in a shallow grave in a cornfield.

However, it was "playing on his mind" that she might be found and he returned to move the body, he said, but he could not lift it and dismembered it with a hacksaw.

He said he "spewed" while he did it, then drove the remains to the Dublin and Wicklow mountains, pulled in as he drove and ripped open bags to drop them into the ditch one at a time "until everything was gone".

"I got back in the car and sobbed and sobbed, I just thought 'my kids don't have to worry any more, I'm finally free'," he said.

He showed gardai the grave, was arrested and repeated this account.

He said life with Patricia had been "10 years of hell" and she "wanted everyone dead, down to the kids".

Asked if he had any help moving the body, he stressed: "No, I did it all on my own."

He was charged with murder and replied: "It was self-defence".

Six months later, while on remand at Cloverhill Prison, he asked to speak to gardai again. This time, he retracted his admission and said it was Patricia's husband Gus who killed her after intervening in the bathroom struggle.

"Mr O'Connor had something in his hand, a black bar or a crowbar, and he hit her on the head," Mr Greene told gardai. "She fell on the floor. He said, 'I'm defending you so you can take the rap for this'."

Mr Greene was "persuaded to take the blame", he said, and he buried the body alone, but later went to Mr Johnston for help.

Mr Greene said he drove him to Wexford and it was Mr Johnston who cut up the body and scattered the remains in Wicklow.

The charge against Stephanie O'Connor is that she disguised herself as her grandmother on the night of the alleged murder to pretend that she was still alive, while her mother Louise is accused of agreeing to this.

Mr Johnston is alleged to have assisted Mr Greene in buying implements to use in the concealment of Ms O'Connor's remains, and to have refurbished the bathroom at the house to destroy or conceal evidence.

In interviews, Stephanie O'Connor and Keith Johnston said they first heard Mr Greene say he had killed Patricia on June 12, just before he handed himself in to gardai.

Stephanie said she had slept all night and heard no disturbance on the night Patricia went missing. Mr Johnston said he carried out work on the bathroom after he noticed a step was broken.

Louise O'Connor said that before she "stormed out", her mother had said: "I'll be back when that bastard pops his clogs and I'll get what's mine." referring to her husband Gus.

This was the last she saw of her mother and she also slept through the night, she said.

Before Mr Greene turned himself in, he was crying and hugging the kids and saying: "If you do something wrong, you have to face up to it".

"He told me, 'I'm sorry but I hurt your mam," she said.

"I thought it was a sick joke. I was stunned."

Next-door neighbour Sam Lin told gardai he did not see anything out of the ordinary on the night of the alleged murder, and that the family were "very nice people".

Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis said Patricia had died from blunt force trauma to the head due to at least three blows from a solid implement.

The body had probably been dismembered with a power saw, the wrists possibly cut through with an unpowered hand-saw.

The trial continues.
By Trend

The tasks set by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in connection with the application of compulsory medical insurance were discussed at a meeting in Azerbaijans Cabinet of Ministers, Trend reports Jan. 25.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Ali Asadov.

Asadov said that at the meeting held Jan. 13, 2020, President Ilham Aliyev gave instructions to conduct serious work on raising public awareness in connection with property insurance and bringing property insurance issues in line with modern standards.

It was brought to the attention that, along with raising public awareness, marketing work should also be carried out, and the appropriate measures should be taken to ensure citizens interest in property insurance, Ali Asadov said. Property insurance is in the interest of citizens. By insuring immovable property in a compulsory manner, citizens will minimize the risks in emergency situations.

Noting the formation of the legislative framework in connection with compulsory insurance, Asadov added that the head of state prefers property insurance to be implemented as part of mutual interests of citizens and insurance companies.

In this regard, raising public awareness is an important factor, said the prime minister.

In turn, Chairman of Azerbaijans Central Bank Elman Rustamov made a presentation Insurance market in Azerbaijan: Strategic Outlook.

Noting the three main socio-economic roles of insurance, Rustamov said that this includes economic security of the population and business, ensuring social protection of the population and the economy with long-term investment sources.

Executive Director of Azerbaijans Compulsory Insurance Bureau Rashad Ahmadov informed about the work carried out in the insurance market. He said that special video footage has been prepared for raising public awareness, distributed in the media and social networks.

He emphasized the importance of educational institutions being covered by measures for raising public awareness and noted that measures will be taken in this area as well. Speaking about car and property insurance, Ahmadov said that the use of innovative systems is on the agenda.

Speaking about the work carried out in the field of agricultural insurance in Azerbaijan and the challenges ahead, Azerbaijans Agriculture Minister Inam Karimov noted that the reforms carried out by President Ilham Aliyev last year also covered agricultural insurance.

The need arose in Azerbaijan to apply a new mechanism of agricultural insurance to ensure the sustainability of the agricultural sector, and the experience of countries with a successful agricultural insurance mechanism was studied, the minister said.

Draft legislation has been prepared for the application of the most successful model, the Law On Agricultural Insurance was adopted last year, and the Agricultural Insurance Fund was established, Karimov added.

Under the new system, a public-private sector cooperation model will be used that is governed by non-profit principles and ensures private sector participation, said the minister.

Karimov noted that it is planned to introduce the first agricultural insurance product to the consumers by the end of 2020.

Then the presentation entitled Application of agricultural insurance was held by Azerbaijans Agriculture Ministry.

Azerbaijans Economy Minister Mikail Jabbarov noted that property insurance should also apply to state property, adding that there are great opportunities in this sphere. The minister also said that it is necessary to find ways to increase mutual trust of citizens and insurance companies, as well as for greater interest of citizens in this matter.

In turn, Azerbaijans Finance Minister Samir Sharifov noted that over the past 10 years, public funds worth 970 million manat (570.5 million) have been spent to help citizens affected by natural disasters.

The Minister for Emergency Situations Kamaladdin Heydarov emphasized that there is a need to amend the legislation accordingly.

Deputy Minister of Justice Azar Jafarov said that the ministry is ready to directly participate in all processes necessary in the legislative sphere.

Delivering speeches at the meeting, Head of ASAN Service (State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of Azerbaijan) Ulvi Mehdiyev, Deputy Emergencies Ministry Rafael Mirzoyev and others spoke about the work being done and the tasks set.

Summing up the meeting, Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov noted the importance of accelerating the work envisaged in the Plan of measures for the development of insurance sector in 2019-2021, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on May 21, 2019, and submitting a regular report in this regard.

The prime minister said that the implementation of resolutions adopted in the field of agricultural insurance should always be in the spotlight, adding that the work in this area has been accelerated.

Asadov instructed the heads of the relevant structures to successfully complete the tasks, and said that after three months the results of the work done will be discussed again.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
ATHENS, Greece - Greek police say they seized nearly 1.2 tons of cocaine and arrested 8 alleged members of an international drug trafficking gang.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 25/1/2020 (717 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ATHENS, Greece - Greek police say they seized nearly 1.2 tons of cocaine and arrested 8 alleged members of an international drug trafficking gang.

Almost all of the cocaine, 1.18 tons, was found during a Friday afternoon raid at a house in the western Greek port of Astakos, police spokesman Theodoros Chronopoulos said Saturday.

The drugs were carefully packaged in 1,040 nylon bags, ready to be distributed to intermediaries, Chronopoulos said.

Four more home raids in the Athens area yielded a small amount of cocaine, some cannabis, an AK-47 assault rifle and three pistols. Police also seized over 233,000 euros ($257,000) in cash and impounded five vehicles.

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Major General Petros Tzeferis, head of the Attica Security Directorate, said the cocaine came from the Caribbean and was destined to countries in Europe and northwest Africa.

Tzeferis said the investigation took six months and Greek police were aided by colleagues in Albania and Spain, as well as the Drug Enforcement Administration office at the U.S. Embassy in Athens.

Chronopoulos said the drug gang's leaders were two permanent residents of Spain, with several Albanian citizens as underlings. Police were looking for nine alleged members not yet under arrest.

Two of the people already detained were guarding the stash at the house in Astakos, Chronopoulos said. Three other suspects who allegedly rented a van to pick up the packaged cocaine also were arrested.

Tzeferis said that some of those arrested were already known to police. Four had prior arrests; one had been arrested five times, for armed robbery, attempted murder and drug offences.

Tzeferis added that the gang's estimated earnings from drug dealing "exceed 50 million euros" ($55 million).
Elazig:

A powerful earthquake has killed at least 18 people and injured hundreds in eastern Turkey, as rescue teams searched through the rubble of collapsed buildings for survivors early on Saturday. At least 30 people were missing following the magnitude 6.7 quake, which had its epicentre in the small lakeside town of Sivrice in the eastern province of Elazig. "It was very scary, furniture fell on top of us. We rushed outside," 47-year-old Melahat Can, who lives in the provincial capital of Elazig, told AFP.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said all steps were being taken to aid people affected by the quake, which caused widespread fear. "We stand by our people," Erdogan said on Twitter. People who fled their homes in panic were lighting fires in the streets to stay warm in freezing temperatures. The Turkish government's disaster and emergency management agency (AFAD) said the quake hit Sivrice at around 8.55 pm (1755 GMT). Turkey lies on major faultlines and is prone to frequent earthquakes.

Turkish television showed images of people rushing outside in panic, as well as a fire on the roof of a building. Interior, environment and health ministers said at least 18 people were killed, 13 of them in Elazig province and five others in the neighbouring province of Malatya, which lies to the southwest. Some 553 people were injured, they said. "There is nobody trapped under the rubble in Malatya but in Elazig search and rescue efforts are currently under way to find 30 citizens," Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said.

Rescue teams were searching for survivors trapped in a five-storey collapsed building in a village some 30 kilometres from Elazig, according to AFP journalists at the scene. One person was pulled alive from the rubble. Sports centres, schools and guest houses had been opened to accommodate quake victims in Malatya. Sivrice -- a town with a population of about 4,000 people -- is situated south of Elazig city on the shores of Hazar lake -- one of the most popular tourist spots in the region and the source of the Tigris river.

The lake is home to a "Sunken City", with archaeological traces dating back 4,000 years in its waters. The tremor was felt in several parts of eastern Turkey near the Iraqi and Syrian borders, the Turkish broadcaster NTV reported, adding that neighbouring cities had mobilised rescue teams for the quake area. "Everybody is in the street, it was very powerful, very scary," said Zekeriya Gunes, 68, from Elazig city, after the quakes caused a building to collapse on her street.

"It lasted quite long, maybe 30 seconds," added Ferda, 39. "I panicked and was undecided whether to go out in this cold or remain inside." The USGS put the magnitude as 6.7, adding that it struck near the East Anatolian Fault in an area that has suffered no documented large ruptures since an earthquake in 1875. "My wholehearted sympathy to President @RTErdogan and the Turkish people following the devastating earthquake that has hit Turkey. Our search and rescue teams stand ready to assist," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wrote on Twitter.

In Athens, the Greek premier's office said later that Mitsotakis had spoken by phone to Erdogan. "The Turkish president... said Turkish teams had the situation under control for now and that it would be re-evaluated in the morning," his office added. In 1999, a devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Izmit in western Turkey, leaving more than 17,000 people dead including about 1,000 in the country's largest city Istanbul.

Also Read: 6.2 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes In Indonesias Northwest

In September last year, a 5.7-magnitude earthquake shook Istanbul, causing residents to flee buildings in the economic capital. Experts have long warned a large quake could devastate the city of 15 million people, which has allowed widespread building without safety precautions.

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5000 KM on foot is nothing less than a herculean task but if it involves the Indian Army, it seems possible. A group of 100 army veterans plan to go the full distance to contribute to the Clean Ganga initiative.

Come August and these daring veterans will start from the holy river's genesis 'Gomukh' to 'Gangasagar', the point at which it merges into the sea in the Bay of Bengal, and then return to the starting point.

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'Mundaman Parikrama' will take around seven months to complete, during which the veterans plan to hold public meetings to mobilise participation of more people living along the river towards the cause that has both environmental and religious significance.

The team plans to hold more than 200 public meetings and two lakh school visits along the river course for creating mass awareness.

A tracker will be developed to keep a tab on an increase or decrease in pollution in and around the river. A report in this regard will be handed over to the Prime Minister's Office and other ministries concerned.

"We don't aim to blame anyone; we intend to depute 'panidars' just like we had 'zamindars' earlier on, to take responsibility for a particular stretch of the river," Lt Col H.C. Lohumi (retd), who is part of the endeavour, said.

BCCL

"Even a 15- to 16-year-old boy can take responsibility of one or two km of the Ganga. He can question authorities why an industrial unit is flushing its waste into the river or why locals dispose waste in it. This will create a mass movement," Lohumi added.

As per the rules of 'Mundaman Parikrama', the walker is not allowed to cross the river at any point, except at Gomukh and Gangasagar. He or she can move away from the banks for only a maximum of one yojan or 13 km, and must see the holy river once in 24 hours.

The Parikrama is an initiative under a broader project named 'Atulya Ganga', whose founder Gopal Sharma said: "For years, we have been trying to clean the Ganga but to no avail. The problem isn't that we aren't doing enough, it's that people aren't proactive enough. The people of the entire Gangetic plains need to be educated about the fragility and importance of this riverine ecosystem and the impact it had and still has on our economy, lifestyle and livelihood."

BCCL

The team will undertake the Parikrama for at least 10 years. Records will be maintained to cross check on progress in pollution reduction in and around the river.

In another endeavour under 'Atulya Ganga', Colonel Manoj Keshwar (retd) will carry a baton on a trans-continental journey on a bike -- from India Gate in Delhi to London -- to create awareness for the cause of the Ganga river.

"We aim to measure the Ganga from origin to the point of merger in the sea... we will ensure that we measure the pollution levels in the river and on shores in every region along the way," Colonel Keshwar said.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  In this case, his college education didnt help him.

Saying he should have known better, a justice sentenced Anthony Clark, a Georgia resident and former New Yorker, on Friday to six years in prison for bringing a cache of guns and ammunition into the borough last Feb. 26.

Clark, 33, is licensed to buy and carry a concealed weapon in Georgia. However, he is not licensed to have a gun in New York.

The defendant told Justice Mario F. Mattei his gun permit is honored in 30 states; New York, however, does not grant reciprocity.

I made a poor decision, Clark said.

But Mattei said Clarks college education, which both the defendant and Mark J. Fonte, his lawyer, highlighted in their pre-sentencing statements, might actually have worked against him.

Mr. Clark is an intelligent person. He has to know the laws in New York State, said Mattei.

And the judge said he wasnt buying the defenses argument that Clark was a victim of conflicting applications between New York and Georgia of a persons Second Amendment right to bear arms.

I think your argument on the Second Amendment doesnt apply in this case, because I think those guns would have ended up in the wrong hands, said Mattei. There are too many illegal guns in the city and on Staten Island.

Fonte said it was perfectly legal in Georgia for Clark to have the 11 guns in his possession. Yet it was criminal for him to do so once he crossed state lines into New York.

At some point, there has to be uniformity to this countrys gun laws, said Fonte. There should be reciprocity, there should be uniformity, but theres not.

Mattei said he still didnt know why Clark needed to have 11 firearms in the trunk of his car.

He deserves a substantial penalty for bringing this amount of guns to Staten Island, said Mattei.

Clark and a co-defendant, Celes Ramos, of Queens, were arrested at the 121 Precinct stationhouse in Graniteville.

In the trunk of their car, cops discovered nine loaded guns, two unloaded guns, a stockpile of ammunition, and an unspecified number of stun guns, said a criminal complaint.

The loaded guns were eight 9 mm pistols, and one .38-caliber pistol. The unloaded guns were a .40-caliber pistol, and a .22-caliber revolver, the complaint said.

A spokesman for the NYPD previously told the Advance Ramos and Clark were identified from information obtained through the Joint Firearms Taskforce.

The defendants were suspected of illegal arms trafficking between Atlanta and New York City, a police spokesman said.

The firearms were bought at a gun show in Georgia, a source with knowledge of the investigation previously told the Advance.

In September, Clark pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court, St. George, to first-degree criminal weapon possession to resolve his case. It was the top charge against him.

In exchange, he was told hed be sentenced to no less than five years in prison and no more than eight.

Assistant District Attorney John Hall sought the maximum sentence.

He said the defendant had been on the radar of federal and New York state authorities for a while. Hall said Clark had previously purchased several dozen guns before his arrest.

One of those weapons was later found in a known felons possession in New York, said Hall.

This defendant was caught while trafficking those firearms, said Hall. Under different circumstances, these guns would have made it onto the street.

Fonte, the defense lawyer, maintained Clark had the right to buy the guns.

However, he acknowledged the defendant didnt have the right to cross state lines with them, but added such laws need to be changed.

After Clarks plea hearing, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon said the case was an issue of public safety and not one of the Second Amendment.

This defendant transported dangerous firearms into New York State where he had no right to possess them, the D.A. said then.

Clark asked for the minimum sentence.

He said he has no prior criminal record, and his family depends on him for emotional and financial support.

My track record says I am not a threat to society, he said. This is the last time you will see me in this courtroom or any courtroom.

Besides prison time, Clark was sentenced to 30 months post-release supervision.

Meanwhile, Ramos, the co-defendant, resolved her case in October.

She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor weapon charge in exchange for a one-year conditional discharge.
Pompeo Heading To Ukraine, Belarus Next Week Before Visiting Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan

By RFE/RL January 24, 2020

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to travel to Ukraine next week as part of a weeklong regional tour that would also include legs in Britain, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, the State Department said on January 24.

Pompeo is due to fly from London to Kyiv on January 30 for his first visit to Ukraine as the U.S. top diplomat, amid an acrimonious impeachment trial currently under way in the Senate on whether to remove President Donald Trump from office.

A July 25, 2019 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is at the center of the trial. A transcript of the conversation revealed that the U.S. president had urged his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden, and his son. Critics say crucial military aid to Kyiv was withheld as leverage.

In Kyiv, Pompeo will meet with Zelenskiy, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystayko, and Defense Minister Andriy Zahorodnyuk to "highlight U.S. support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.

Ortagus said the state secretary will also meet with religious, civil society, and business community leaders, and attend a wreath-laying ceremony to honor those fallen in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 13,000 people since April 2014.

Pompeo will next head to Minsk on February 1, becoming the highest-level U.S. official to visit Belarus since diplomatic relations with the United States were frayed more than a decade ago.

He will meet with Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei to "underscore the U.S. commitment to a sovereign, independent, stable, and prosperous Belarus, and affirm our desire to normalize our bilateral relations," Ortagus said.

After the Belarusian capital, Pompeo will travel to Nur-Sultan for talks with Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbaev, and Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi aimed at reaffirming "our shared commitment to peace, prosperity, and security in Central Asia," according to the statement.

On February 2-3 in Tashkent, Pompeo is set to "underscore U.S. support for Uzbekistan's reforms and the country's sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity" during talks with President Shavkat Mirziyoev and Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov.

While in the Uzbek capital, the state secretary is to attend a meeting with the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan to "stress U.S. support for a better connected, more prosperous, and more secure Central Asia."

Amid growing tensions in the Middle East, Pompeo on January 1 canceled a planned trip to Kyiv, Minsk, Nur-Sultan, and Tashkent that was scheduled to start two days later.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pompeo-heading-to- ukraine-belarus-next-week-before-visiting- kazakhstan-uzbekistan/30395752.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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Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin was left in no doubt about the issues facing the town of Drogheda after a brisk walk around Mary Street and Marian Park.

With local candidate James Byrne and a team - as well as a TV crew in tow - he breezed from house to house, in the main, getting a good response.

But almost every discussion began with the violence that has left the name of the town badly tarnished.

One woman spoke of the fear that her children had at night and the sound of the helicopter flying low over the town.

'That should not be the norm for any town,' she added.

She said it wasn't unusual to hear the helicopter and the children wake up during the night with the noise. She had sympathy for the gardai, trying to do their job under difficult circumstances.

'Crime is causing a lot of concern and unease and there's a real sense of insecurity,' Deputy Martim stated.

'It needs a stronger response from the government and we need more gardai on the ground.'

He said all agencies must come together. 'The drugs gangs can't get control and there is a sense that they are out of control. The level of inhumanity and depravity is sickening people,' he stated.

During his door to door calls, he met Gay Martin, who said she had spent 11 hours in outpatients with her husband the previous day.

'We met her and health and housing were issues that came up a lot,' he continued.

The walkabout saw James Byrne proving very popular, greeted by past students, teachers and many who recognised the efforts of his father, Tommy, on their behalf for so many years.

One man, who is a FF supporter, said he had one regret in relation to the party leader and his relationship with Leo Varadkar, 'it's a pity you didn't put the boot into the man!' he quipped.
Singapores travel and tourism companies are now directly engaging with Indian travelers.

According to statistics of Singapore Tourism Board, India is the 3rd most important tourism market for Singapore, after China and Indonesia.

Singapore: The tourism industry of Singapore is targeting Indian students, the millennials, young IT industry workforce and women to the nation with educative and activity-based tourism on specially designed trips on famous resort island of Sentosa.

Sentosa has also positioned itself as a perfect holiday destination for Indian families with its varied attractions like Singapore Cable Car, extravagant shows like Wings of Time, Madame Tussauds, Universal Studios, mammoth S.E.A Aquarium, Fort Siloso skywalk and lovely beaches.

Speaking to this newspaper, One Faber Group (1FG) director, sales and business development, Patrick Lee, said they were in talks with several educational institutions in India to begin tours specially targeted at students and millennials. We are definitely keen on attracting the huge students population of India to Singapore through specially designed tours for them. Similarly, our host of attractions and activities will draw big number of Indian families to Sentosa in the upcoming summer holiday season, said Lee.

With one of the lowest crime rates in the world, Singapore is also an ideal travel destination for families and women travellers. The women and parents with their kids can travel at any time and be safe. There are no hassles of travel as we also have a reliable public transport system, cable car and taxi operations, Mr Lee added.

Another important target area is the employees of IT industry and the Singapore tourism industry is looking at increased arrivals from cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune, as most of these places now have direct air connectivity to Singapore. With increased disposable incomes and a desire to travel the population is being wooed by the industry.

The tourism sector stakeholders say Singapore can offer a holiday and recreation option to millennials and IT industry employees at a better price than Europe.

They also feel that a shared colonial heritage is likely to prove beneficial for them to attract travelers from India.

Singapores travel and tourism companies are now directly engaging with Indian travelers. For instance, One Faber Group, which is one of Singapores leading operators of a suite of leisure and lifestyle services with products and services including iconic Singapore Cable Car, Wings of Time and Faber Peak, recently appointed Delhi-based ISA Tourism Pvt Ltd (ISA) as its India market representative.

Appointing ISA as our India representative will help us in reaching out to new evolving travelers like young professionals, solo travelers and female travel groups. It will enhance 1FGs brand awareness among the potential travellers from India, Mr Lee added.

According to statistics of Singapore Tourism Board, India is the 3rd most important tourism market for Singapore, after China and Indonesia. And the stakeholders aim to increase the arrivals from India through targeted and specially catered packages. Indian travelers to Singapore have been constantly rising  from 9.43 lakhs visitors in 2014, it stood at 14.42 lakhs in 2018.

To cater to growing number of visitors, Singapores hospitality companies have been adding to the number of hotels and adding interesting facilities to attract more Indian tourists. For instance, Singapores leading operator of hotels and serviced residences  Far East Hospitality (FEH)  has been adding new properties specifically targeted at couples, families and upmarket clients. While its new hotel The Outpost Sentosa is aimed at couples and friends, The Village services families and niche property The Barracks has 40 upmarket rooms and suites in a heritage building. While newly refurbished property Orchard Rendezvous is located in the heart of Singapores business district.

Our hotels in Sentosa, each offers a distinct experience to target and attract specific segments. With a vast majority of the hotels in Sentosa positioned as luxury, we saw the opportunity to come in with a mid-tier proposition to cater to families and business travellers, said spokesperson from Far East Hospitality.

Adding 606 keys to the island and placing children at the centre of any vacation, Village Hotel Sentosa offers an experience tailor-made for families and groups. Next, a first of its kind in Sentosa, The Outpost Hotel caters exclusively for adults. The services and amenities it provides have been carefully curated with couples and millennials in mind. Last but not least, to cater to discerning and affluent travellers, The Barracks Hotel offers old school luxury, exquisite service and timeless charm., said the spokesperson.
California voters made marijuana legal to purchase and consume, but that hasnt stopped state and local law enforcement from seizing tons of it from black market growers and retailers.

By the end of 2019, agents at the California Bureau of Cannabis Control alone had seized nearly 24 tons of illicit cannabis, valued at nearly $133 million.

The haul is less than the amount of marijuana the California Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies destroy in a typical a year  the CHP alone in 2018 seized more than 80 tons of cannabis  but it reflects a growing emphasis on disrupting the black market by the state departments California created after voters legalized marijuana in 2016.

Black market cannabis operators made an estimated $8.7 billion in 2019, according to a forecast from BDS Analytics and Arcview Market Research. By comparison, the legal market made an estimated $3.1 billion.

The president of the United Cannabis Business Association, an industry trade group, called black market cannabis without question the single most pressing issue facing the states legal cannabis industry.

Every day, unlicensed shops are providing Californians access to untested, untraceable and untaxed products on an alarming scale, threatening the health of consumers as well as the very existence of the legal cannabis industry, said association President Jerred Kiloh.

But why is the state increasing enforcement now?

In 2018 and early 2019, the bureau focused on getting businesses licensed, said spokesman Alex Traverso.

Not every jurisdiction was ready to go on day one, Traverso said.

Unlike other states that have legalized adult use cannabis, California left the matter of whether it would be lawful to sell cannabis up to individual governments, with cities and counties crafting their own ordinances.

In Napa County, there is only one authorized cannabis vendor, Harvest House of Cannabis, in the city of Napa, where purchase requires medical authorization.

Were sort of at the mercy of those cities and counties to decide what they want to do, Traverso said.

Would-be marijuana retailers and producers also struggled to navigate the state licensing system, with a massive backlog nearly leading to an extinction event of thousands of growers having their temporary license expire in 2019.

By the second half of 2019, the bureau was cracking down on some of these illegal businesses, Traverso said.

Theyve been busy, Traverso said.

Bureau enforcement

We really started to pick up the enforcement where we were doing sometimes four operations in a week, he said.

Traverso said that the bureau often receives tips through its online system, which agents follow up with through surveillance and undercover buys as they gather enough evidence to get a search warrant.

There were a total of five raids in Sacramento County, netting state agents more than 1,665 pounds of cannabis worth more than $4.2 million, according to bureau data provided to The Sacramento Bee.

The majority of the bureaus enforcement activity took place in Southern California, in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties.

The single-largest raid came in Riverside, where agents seized 13,200 pounds of cannabis worth an estimated $22.8 million.

There were 43 raids in Los Angeles County alone, with more than half of all raids for the entire year taking place there.

Fish and Wildlife enforcement

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife participated in raids last year that seized more than 70 tons of black market marijuana.

Our main concern with illegal cannabis cultivation is environmental damage, said Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Janice Mackey. Activities such as water diversions, habitat destruction and haphazard use of pesticides can be detrimental to our native plants, fish and wildlife.

Mackey said that Fish and Wildlife focuses its enforcement efforts on sensitive watersheds, threatened or endangered species or places with a history of cultivation among other things.

Often, Mackey said, black market growers will attempt to hide in plain sight among legal grows in the same vicinity.

Fish and Wildlife also has discovered illegal grow operations hidden in remote areas of public lands, and on state property, she said.

SoCal focus

Illicit cannabis retailers took advantage of Southern Californias confusing legal landscape to trick people into thinking they were compliant when they werent, Traverso said.

While that isnt to say that Sacramento or the Bay Area didnt have its own bad actors, Traverso said, its just not as out in the open as it is in Los Angeles.

Traverso described a whack-a-mole like process of cannabis enforcement in Southern California. Bureau agents would go into a shop and take everything.

TVs off the wall. The shelving. Everything, theres nothing left, he said.

Then a short while later, he said agents would find a new black market operation up and running in the same area.

Its been a challenge on the enforcement front from day one, Traverso said.

Local jurisdictions

He said that it will take years for the state to get the black market under control, but that local jurisdictions can help speed that up.

The illegal market doesnt dry up overnight as you legalize, Traverso said. As more cities and counties open up, the problem will start to alleviate.

Traverso said that a lot of good things could come if cities and counties lifted their bans on marijuana operations, letting unlicensed cannabis companies that want to become legal do so.

Kiloh agreed that the black market wont disappear overnight.

But a focused effort on shutting down bad actors while fostering a stable economic environment that attracts consumers to existing and future legal retailers is absolutely critical to combating the growing number of unlicensed entities and products putting the health of Californians at risk, Kiloh said.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
One of the first British patients tested for the deadly coronavirus has compared his period in quarantine to a scene from an apocalyptic movie.

Craig Dillon, 27, told how he was bundled through a secret hospital entrance and into isolation at breakneck speed as soon as he mentioned his recent flight from China.

He described being probed by doctors and nurses wearing heavy-duty hazmat suits while their fellow medics watched with baited breath behind toughened glass.

The Westminster-based digital media guru is one of 14 people who have been tested and given the all-clear following returns from China where the deadly virus has killed 41.

Border Force agents have been deployed to crank up the search for 2,000 people who arrived in the UK from Wuhan province prior to a flight freeze enforced on Wednesday.

After waking up on Tuesday night dripping with sweat and struggling to breathe, Mr Dillon rushed to St Thomas' Hospital, London on the advice of a 111 operator.

Craig Dillon, the first British patient tested for the deadly coronavirus, has compared his period in quarantine to a scene from an apocalyptic movie

The 27-year-old fell ill following a holiday to Australia (right on Bondi Beach) which he returned from via a layover in China

The Westminster-based digital media guru (pictured with Boris Johnson) is one of 14 people who have been tested and given the all-clear following returns from China where the deadly virus has killed 41.

'When I arrived I was so weak I had to lean against the wall,' he wrote in the Telegraph.

'This doctor asked if I was okay and when I replied: 'I'm feeling really ill, I just came back from China,' he literally grabbed me by the arm and led me back outside the hospital.

'A nurse came out and gave me a mask and then I was shown to this secret door around the back.'

Curled up on a hospital bed in a sealed-off room, Mr Dillon said a doctor and nurse 'wearing gear like they were walking on the moon' started extracting blood from his hands via cannulas.

It was at this point his initial denial he had coronavirus began to seep away and be replaced by a creeping fear he may have been infected on his brief layover in the Asian country from his holiday to Australia.

He said the doctor took swabs from his nostril and back of his throat, before zipping it in a plastic bag and passing it out to other hospital staff through an airlock.

After waking up on Tuesday night dripping with sweat and struggling to breathe, Mr Dillon (pictured with Theresa May) rushed to St Thomas' Hospital, London on the advice of a 111 operator

Mr Dillon said: 'Because St Thomas's is a teaching hospital I kept on seeing lots of curious faces at the window - I felt like an exhibit.

'There was even a security guard at the door with a walkie talkie.

'The doctor later told me I was the first person in the UK to be tested. It was an anxious three hour wait for the results.'

After a tense three-hour wait, he breathed a sigh of relief when he was revealed to have caught pneumonia.

Mr Dillon likened his frightening experience to the disaster film Contagion, and said:' It all happened so quickly.

'One minute I was phoning 111, the next I was walking down a corridor into quarantine.'

It lays bare the seriousness being afforded to fending off the virus spreading on British soil.

Michael Hope described his ordeal as scary and claimed the medics who treated him 'looked like spacemen'. He is one of fourteen known patients to have tested in the UK  all of whom were found to be negative

Michael Hope, 45, who was rushed to an isolated unit at Newcastle's Royal Infirmary after telling his GP about his return from China

Some 14 people have been given the thumbs up following tests from medics, with up to 20 awaiting results from last night.

British authorities are racing to track down 2,000 people who arrived from Wuhan in the past two weeks, fearing they may be infected with the deadly coronavirus which has now hit European shores.

Border Force agents have been deployed to crank up the search for those who came from eastern China's Hubei province prior to a flight freeze enforced on Wednesday.

The death toll of the outbreak has climbed to 41 in China and 1,300 have been infected worldwide, but no cases have so far been confirmed in the UK.

Mr Dillon's experience matches that told by art teacher Michael Hope, 45, who returned from Wuhan with flu-like symptoms last Sunday.

He was quarantined for 27 hours at Newcastle's Royal Infirmary and finally given the thumbs up after being treated by medics who 'looked like spacemen'.

He said: 'I felt like E.T., to be honest. It was totally, totally surreal.' He added that it took his nurse several minutes to get into all the protective fear just to deliver him a banana for breakfast  and he was grateful for getting a nicotine patch passed under his door.

British patient Michael Hope, 45, was taken to hospital when he returned home with flu-like symptoms from teaching art in the locked down Chinese city (he is pictured in the city)

Three cases in France were confirmed on Friday - the first confirmations in Europe as the deadly coronavirus spreads to nearly every continent

Mr Hope arrived back Sunday feeling unwell, having been ill since January 4. He told his GP about his symptoms and recent return from Wuhan in a telephone clinic. He was rushed to the city's Royal Victoria Infirmary and put in isolation.

He underwent tests before getting the good news on Thursday evening he had the flu, but not the coronavirus. He said: 'The staff came in with their masks off, so then I knew I was going to be okay.'

During the isolation period, staff wore protective suits and they tested his blood, urine and took throat swabs.

It took his nurse several minutes to get into all the protective gear just to deliver him a banana for breakfast, and he was grateful for the delivery of a nicotine patch which was passed under his door.

Mr Hope said: 'The care was exceptional. It was scary being there but they made me feel quite relaxed. They were very human even though they looked like spacemen.

'I was impressed with the speed with which they dealt with it. They would come in through one sealed door and leave through another. Every time they left they had to dispose of their clothing.'
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 25

By Ilkin Seyfaddini  Trend:

First Tashkent International Investment Forum will be held in March of 2020, Trend reports via Uzbekistans Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade.

The event aims to bring together more than 1,500 executives of foreign and domestic companies, investors, exporters and international media.

The main purposes of the event are: opportunity to demonstrate the leading enterprises of Uzbekistan, as well as their sales to foreign investors, which are able to provide modernization and technological upgrading of production.

The event is held by initiative of the president of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

"The global experience shows, that only the state conducting active investment policy reaches stability and competitiveness of the national economy. So it can be stated, that, investment is the driver of the economy, its heart", stressed the head of state.

The forum program includes sessions in several areas: "Openness to business", "Deepening of regional ties" and Use of technological innovations".

The Forum is organized by Uzbekistans Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the man who mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane outside Tehran on January 8 is now in prison, Iranian news agency Egypt Today reported citing Mehr news agency.



During an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, Zarif was asked why it took the Iranian government three days to announce the plane was shot down.



"This was a complicated situation in a complicated time. Others needed much more time. Almost 32 years ago, the US shot down an Iranian passenger plane. As of today, they still havent issued an official apology," Zarif told the magazine.



"The American officer who was responsible for shooting it down even received a medal. Meanwhile, the Iranian man who shot down the Ukrainian plane is now in prison", he added.
The infection count and the death toll of the novel coronavirus first detected in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China continues to rise by the day. As of Saturday, it is reported that almost 1,300 are already infected in China alone, with 41 people confirmed dead  including a Chinese doctor treating infected patients, reports The Guardian.

Fear of global pandemic ensues as countries race against time to contain the spread of the virus. As of late, confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus were already reported in different countries such as the USA, France, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and Australia.

Preventing the spread of the virus proved to be an even harder task as millions of Chinese Travel for the celebration of the Lunar New Year.

Lockdowns and travel restrictions

Authorities worldwide are already working to prevent further spread of the highly contagious virus, especially in time for the Lunar New Year when billions of Chinese usually travel to spend time with family.

In the province of Hubei in central China, termed as the outbreak's epicenter, lockdowns have already been set to hopefully stop it from further spreading. At least 56 million residents are affected after travel restrictions are placed in 18 cities in Hubei alone, Aljazeera reports. There is now reduced access to roads and public transport, and multiple Lunar New Year celebrations were canceled in different cities in China as a precaution.

The usual buzz brought about by the festivities is now replaced with scenes similar to that of a ghost town as establishments get shutdown.

In Hong Kong, a health emergency was declared after 5 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus were detected. School cancellations are effective until February 17th and official visits to mainland China are halted.

Flights and public transport going to and from Wuhan are also suspended.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also advised to "avoid nonessential travel" to Wuhan  issuing a Level 3 travel warning.

In the Philippines, nearly 500 Chinese tourists are set to be deported back to Wuhan to stop the possible spread of the virus in the country.

They also imposed travel bans for flights going to Wuhan.

North Korea also banned tourists from entering the country, especially those coming from China.

Screenings and quarantine checks of arriving passengers in airports around the world, such as in Japan, the USA, South Korea, Nigeria, and Italy are also being done as efforts to contain the disease.

The origin

The novel coronavirus was first detected in a wet market in Wuhan City, China. The said market, considered as ground zero of the virus, engaged in the trade and slaughter of wild animals before it got shutdown.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology published a scientific paper centered on the novel coronavirus and found out that it was a 96% match to the virus known to thrive in bats.

It is also theorized that snakes could be a source, but bats remain as the prime suspects since snakes are known to prey on them. This makes much more sense considering that in the market that was considered as ground zero, a common delicacy of bat soup was made and sold.

It could be recalled that other deadly diseases that caused large-scale outbreaks, such as SARS, MERS, and Ebola were also found to have links with bats.

Symptoms, preventive measures

According to the USA's Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a novel coronavirus is a new coronavirus that has not been previously identified. Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that causes respiratory illnesses that could range from mild to severe, such as the common cold and the flu, to pneumonia and bronchitis that could be fatal especially for people with weak immune systems, children, and people with old age.

Symptoms brought about by the coronavirus include fever, coughing, shortness of breath, diarrhea, and throat pain. CDC reports that these symptoms may manifest within 2 to 14 days after exposure to the virus. In worst cases, the coronavirus could result in kidney failure and even death.

There is currently no known cure or vaccine for the virus, and if ever there is going to be one, this will most likely several years to complete. Currently, infected patients are only treated based on their given symptoms.

As there is no specific treatment for the virus itself, it is highly advised to just follow preventive measures to avoid getting infected with the disease. The number one rule to this, as CDC reports, is to avoid exposure and close contact to the virus and anyone infected.

Extra efforts to have clean hygiene is a must in order to be safe. This includes disinfecting everyday items that one uses; and the frequent washing of hands or the use of alcohol-based sanitizers. Face covering when coughing or sneezing is also a must.

Touching the eyes, nose, and mouth should also be avoided especially when hands are unclean. It is also recommended to use face masks when going out and engaging in crowds as a precaution. Viral droplets in the air may linger for a while after an infected person coughs or sneezes, and could be easily absorbed to infect a new one.

If sick, it is best to isolate yourself to prevent the further spreading of the virus and to contact a healthcare provider for immediate medical assistance.

New hospital for the "infected"

In what seems like a race against time, Wuhan started to build a 1,000-bed hospital that would be dedicated to treating patients infected with the coronavirus. The hospital will not just help tackle the outbreak in the city but would also serve as a quarantine ground to prevent it from further spreading from person to person. Protective gears will also be sufficiently supplied to avoid risks of transmission to the medical personnel. The project is expected to be done in 6 to 10 days.

The scene is reminiscent of when the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS caused an outbreak in 2003, with Beijing also building a hospital dedicated to the treatment of the infected. It could be noted that SARS also belongs in the family of coronaviruses.
Mumbai, Jan 25 : Actress Pooja Bedi's daughter Alaya F feels her colleague Ananya Panday doesn't have a good answer on nepotism.

Alaya will be making her debut in Bollywood with "Jawaani Jaaneman", which stars Saif Ali Khan and Tabu.

In a chat show, she was asked about the one thing she has that Ananya doesn't.

To which, she said: "Ananya Panday doesn't have a good answer on nepotism but I do." Talking about her contemporaries, Alaya said: "I look at all my contemporaries career graphs, every single one of them." Sharing her fondness for Kartik Aaryan, Alaya said: "I wouldn't mind doing a steamy scene with Kartik Aaryan after watching the steamy scene between him and Sara in the 'Love Aaj Kal' trailer." Asked about her reaction if she found Kartik in her bed, she said: "I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up and found Kartik Aaryan in my bed." Alaya also mentioned that she is prepared to tackle all the questions on her relationships.

"I am too simple to be single, I am too complicated to be in a relationship but I am just right to be in this industry," she said on Zoom's "By Invite Only" chat show.

In the 'Kill Marry Hook-up' section, Alaya said: "I'd marry Varun Dhawan, hook up with Kartik and kill Ishaan Khatter".

As for choices in the same gender, she said: "I'd marry Sara Ali Khan, hook up with Janhvi Kapoor and kill Ananya Panday."

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Imperial Oil (IMO) is expected to deliver a year-over-year decline in earnings on higher revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended December 2019. This widely-known consensus outlook gives a good sense of the company's earnings picture, but how the actual results compare to these estimates is a powerful factor that could impact its near-term stock price.

The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report, which is expected to be released on January 31. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

While the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call, it's worth handicapping the probability of a positive EPS surprise.

Zacks Consensus Estimate

This oil and gas and petroleum products company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.29 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -64.6%.

Revenues are expected to be $6.67 billion, up 11.7% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions Trend

The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

Investors should keep in mind that an aggregate change may not always reflect the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts.

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Earnings Whisper

Estimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. 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 Imperial Oil?

For Imperial Oil, the Most Accurate Estimate is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bearish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -18.84%.

On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #2.

So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Imperial Oil 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 Imperial Oil would post earnings of $0.44 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.42, delivering a surprise of -4.55%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates two times.

Bottom Line

An earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.

That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

Imperial Oil 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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Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 06:32:46|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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QUITO, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- A group of Ecuadorian opposition politicians accused of attempting to overthrow the government flew on Thursday to Mexico, where they have been offered diplomatic asylum, a top official said.

"This morning, the citizens in question took a commercial flight to Mexico City," Ecuadorian Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Valencia said, as he read from a written statement.

The politicians were charged with inciting rebellion against the government of President Lenin Moreno after anti-government protests broke out in October, sparked by a sudden hike in gasoline prices, and had been taking refuge at Mexico's embassy in Quito.

Their departure had been coordinated by the two countries, with Ecuador's government requesting Mexico's embassy "to provide the necessary measures so these citizens could leave Ecuador," said Valencia.

The politicians include three legislators and supporters of ex-president Rafael Correa.

Moreno, who was Correa's vice president and a member of his center-left PAIS Alliance party, succeeded him as president, but eventually broke with his progressive policies.
A former U.S. Border Patrol agent was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison for producing and possessing child pornography.

Vernon Lee Millican, 37, of Leakey, was sentenced Friday and ordered to pay a $10,000 special assessment under the Joint Victims of Trafficking Act, according to the Department of Justice. He is also to be placed on supervised release for 20 years after completing his prison term.

Millican pleaded guilty in October to one count of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

Hes sorry. Thats why we entered the plea, his lawyer, Julie Hasdorff, said in a previous story. He didnt want to put (the girl) through a trail, and he accepts full responsibility.

Officials said that between April 2014 and June 2018, Millican used multiple devices to make images and videos of himself sexually assaulting a prepubescent minor.

The girl told investigators that Millican began sexually abusing her when she was 6 years old until she was about 12.

Millican also was accused of sending sexually suggestive texts to the girl, who was 13 at the time, after she moved from Texas to Oregon, according to court records.

Today we put behind bars a brutal sexual predator who is a disgrace to the Border Patrol and the United States. His punishment is richly deserved, U.S. Attorney John F. Bash said in a statement.

A Del Rio sector Border Patrol agent assigned to Uvalde Station, Millican was fired last year in light of the charges. He was with the agency for 10 years.

Millican has been in federal custody since authorities searched his home on a federal warrant on Jan. 31, 2019.

Agents seized several items that contained child pornography, including a memory card with videos of Millican performing sex acts on the teen, a previous report states.

A heartbreaking reality of the world were living in is the hidden abuse of children, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs. Theyre suffering in silence every day, both in our community and around the world, as we go about our daily lives. The FBI will relentlessly pursue every lead to rescue children who are being victimized, and bring their perpetrators to justice."

A day earlier, another Border Patrol agent assigned to Uvalde Station was arrested in connection with an alleged sex crime.

Spencer Allen Cox, 24, was arrested Thursday and charged with online solicitation of a minor-meet with the intent of sexual contact. According to his arrest warrant affidavit, a 16-year-old girl told officials that they allegedly exchanged nude photos and he discussed a desire to have sex with her. Cox is a four-year veteran of the Border Patrol.

FBI agents, the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General and the Clackamas County Sheriffs Office in Oregon investigated Millicans case with assistance from the Real County Sheriffs Office.

Officials said the case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse that was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.

The project, led by the U.S. Attorneys Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, uses federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, and to identify and rescue victims, according to the DOJ.

More information about Project Safe Childhood can be found online at www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Jacob Beltran is a reporter covering San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | jbeltran@express-news.net | Twitter: @JBfromSA
Hundreds of people rallied in Baghdad on January 25, joining ongoing countrywide protests against the Shia-led government and in favor of political reform. A video shared to Twitter showed tear gas being fired in central Baghdad.

AFP reported that three protesters were shot dead during clashes in the capital, while other fatal shootings were reported in Nasriyeh. Iraqi security forces also raided a camp in Baghdad housing protesters, with footage showing tents burning.

The march came amid separate protests in Baghdad against the US military presence in Iraq, as previously reported by Storyful. Credit: Ehab Al Obaidy via Storyful
Indian Charge d'Affaires in Islamabad Gaurav Ahluwalia on Saturday expressed hope that India and Pakistan will continue to work towards creating a better future for their people.

"We hope India and Pakistan, having attained freedom at the same time, will continue to work towards creating a better future for the people of the two countries," Ahluwalia said here.

The relations between India and Pakistan have been far from cordial in recent times with the two countries often being at loggerheads with each other.

The relations between Pakistan and India worsened last year following the Pulwama terror attack. On February 14, over 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a fidayeen attack on the force's convoy in Jammu and Kashmir. Later that month, India carried out an airstrike at a JeM training camp in Balakot in Pakistan, eliminating a "large number" of terrorists.

The very next day, Pakistani jets violated Indian air space. However, India foiled an attempt by the Pakistan Air Force to carry out strikes on its military installations. In the air skirmish, India lost a MiG-21 fighter jet while PAF lost a much-advanced F-16.

Several months down the line the two nations were again at loggerhead after India abrogated Article 370 on August 5. The Article gave special rights to Jammu and Kashmir on August 5. Pakistan expressed serious reservations over New Delhi's action.

Islamabad cut off all the diplomatic ties with India and went on a drive to involve the international community in the matter. India contended that the abrogation of Article 370 was an internal matter and categorically told Islamabad to not create an issue.

Since then, Pakistan has also passed statements on internal actions taken by the Indian government like the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019.

Moreover, New Delhi has refused to engage in any kind of talks with Islamabad until the latter take action against terrorist organisations operating from its soil.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-26 00:24:31|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BAGHDAD, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Three protesters were killed and more than 15 were wounded in clashes with the security forces on Saturday in Baghdad and Iraq's southern province of Dhi Qar, security sources said.

The clashes erupted when riot police tried to reopen al-Fuhoud in the provincial capital city of Nasriyah, leaving three protesters killed and seven others wounded, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

In Baghdad, at least eight protesters were wounded in clashes with riot police at the perimeter of al-Tahrir Square, the epicenter of Iraq's anti-government protests since early in October, an Interior Ministry official anonymously told Xinhua.

There were no reports about deaths in Baghdad protests so far, the official said.

The clashes erupted after thousands of protesters poured in al-Tahrir Square to replace thousands of supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

In the morning, the security forces reopened bridges, squares and roads in Baghdad and other cities in southern Iraq, which were blocked during the past few months by anti-government protesters.

The advance of the security forces came hours after al-Sadr's followers withdrew following a tweet he posted, in which he accused some protesters of being supported by forces from outside Iraq.

Mass anti-government demonstrations have been launched in Baghdad and other cities in central and southern Iraq since early October, demanding comprehensive reform, fight against corruption, better public services and more job opportunities.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has emphasized that the issue of troop withdrawal from the occupied territory of Donbas depends only on the Russian Federation.

"In terms of withdrawal of troops from the temporarily occupied territory, here, of course, only Russia can do this, only they. These troops should be withdrawn from our territory. Here, I do not see any solution," he said in an interview with Israeli broadcaster Channel 9.
The Phoenix Hill Sports Park in the capital of Southwest Chinas Sichuan province hosted the 2021 Chinese FA Cup final as its inaugural event Sunday. Covering an area of 128,000 square meters, the park consists of two world-class sports venues, a retail and hotel complex, and a public plaza. It will be one of the venues of the 31st Summer World University Games

Jan 12, 2022 05:45 PM
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Discussed at length with the unions, the French government's pension reform was formally presented during a cabinet meeting here on Friday before it was sent to the National Assembly, where President Emmanuel Macron enjoys majority support and will likely be able to transform the controversial plan into law by the summer.

"The draft law is the result of long consultations ... Its objectives are equity between all French people and future generations and the simplification (of pension system)," Health and Solidarity Minister Agnes Buzyn said after the head of state met his ministers at the Elysee Palace.

Challenging a taboo, the government has proposed a point-based pension system with same rules applying to all citizens regardless of profession or sector to replace the current system of 42 regimes.

It also plans to end a specific regime for workers of public transport companies RATP and SNCF, which allows train drivers and other staff who work underground to retire at age 52, a decade earlier than the legal retirement age for a full public pension.

"I do not see why the reform would not be approved. Not to make the reform today is to sacrifice the young and the next generations. It is also to keep precarious people without a decent retirement," Labor Minister Muriel Penicaud told France Inter radio early Friday.

In a move to defuse public anger, Macron, who still refuses to drop the reform, has offered concessions, including a temporary removal of the so-called "pivot age" of 64, the most contested measure.

However, his "sweeteners" have failed to abate fierce opposition to his plan. For a seventh round of nationwide demonstrations, the unions' "determination remains intact," according to Yves Veyrier, head of the Force Ouvriere union.

"We have weeks, months of protests ahead of us," he was quoted by local media as saying.

Ahead of the Paris rally, Philippe Martinez, general secretary of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) union, said "the government is playing on stubbornness, we must continue to put pressure on it."

The unions, which say the reform will require people to work longer for a full pension, staged a wave of public sector strikes in early December that hit transport networks.

While signs of fatigue appeared among rail and metro strikers, industrial action persists in some other sectors. Energy workers on Wednesday temporarily halted power generation at France's biggest hydro-electricity plant, following a deliberate outage at Rungis, the world's largest fresh food wholesale market in southern Paris.

To add pressure on the government, dockers launched a "dead ports" operation early this week, blocking seaports and taking a toll on companies' activity.

The unions brought up to 400,000 people onto the streets of Paris on Friday, up from 250,000 people counted on Jan. 16, CGT data showed. The Interior Ministry's figure was not yet available.

Public anger was also reflected in opinion polls. Seven out of ten French citizens said the strikes and protests should continue, a BVA survey released on Thursday showed.

A new day of nationwide protests was scheduled for Jan. 29 ahead of a conference on the pension regime's funding, during which the unions should propose ways to bring the costly pension system into balance after they rejected the government's proposal to make workers extend their careers by two years to age 64.












Bhopal, Jan 25 : The Income Tax Department has launched a probe into a case pertaining to a transaction of Rs 274 crore from the bank accounts of two youths in Madhya Pradesh, officials said.

In what seems to be a 'questionable' transaction, sources in the know said the names of some companies involved in the diamond business have surfaced.

The youths -- Ravi Gupta of Bhind and Kapil Shukla of Rewa -- received a notice from the Income Tax Department in December last year showing them that their bank accounts reflected transactions of Rs 274 crore.

Claiming innocence, both said the bank accounts are "fake".

"We are investigating the matter. There are several questions like how the accounts were opened in the bank? Which companies are involved? In the initial investigation, the names of some diamond companies have surfaced," sources in the I-T department said.

A transaction of Rs 132 crore was carried out from Gupta's account while Shukla's account reflected a transaction of Rs 142 crore.

On this, the Income Tax Department sent a notice to Gupta to deposit Rs 3,49,00,000 and Shukla was asked to deposit Rs 1,6,00,000.

Both Gupta and Shukla earlier used to work at a call centre in Indore. The accounts under the scanner were opened between 2011 and 2012.

The I-T department suspects that the people associated with the diamond company may have played a role in this transaction.

The money came from accounts of different companies but an outright withdrawal was made when the figure touched Rs 10 crore. The amount was withdrawn from both the bank accounts in a period of six months.

Ravi Gupta said when the I-T notice came to him for the first time in March 2019, he tried to gather some information on this on his own.

It emerged that the I-T sent the notice in a case of illegal banking transaction. By using Gupta's name, PAN card and photograph, someone had opened a fake account at an Axis Bank branch in Malad in Mumbai.

Around Rs 132 crore was transacted in that account in 2011-12. Besides, there was a transaction of Rs 142 crore from Kapil Shukla's account.

Ravi asserted that he never went to Mumbai, and wondered how could the bank open an account in his name without verification. He also complained about it to the police and the CBI.

On the other hand, Kapil also expressed surprise over his account's existence at a Mumbai branch and the huge monetary transaction.

Sources said that both the youths may be questioned again in the days to come.
She's returning to the horror genre with Gretel & Hansel.

And Sophia Lillis was supported by her IT co-stars Chosen Jacobs, Jaeden Martell, Sophia Lillis, Wyatt Oleff, Jack Dylan Grazer, and director Andy Muschietti, at her new film's premiere in Los Angeles, California, on Wednesday.

The actress, 17, looked delighted while she posed for snaps with her fellow 'losers club' members and the filmmaker during the screening.

IT's a reunion! Sophia Lillis was supported by her 'losers club' co-stars (L-R) Chosen Jacobs, Jaeden Martell, Sophia Lillis, Wyatt Oleff, Jack Dylan Grazer and the horror film's director Andy Muschietti at the LA screening of Gretel & Hansel on Wednesday

Sophia put on a stylish display in a black floral-print gown that had flared sleeves for a boho chic flair, which she paired with a chic yellow handbag.

Her cropped brunette locks were brushed into a sleek, sideswept style, while she wore a natural palette of make-up for the outing.

In the adaptation of Stephen King's classic, the stars play childhood pals Beverly Marsh (Sophia), Bill Denbrough (Jaeden), Mike Hanlon (Chosen), Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack), and Stanley Uris (Wyatt), alongside Finn Wolfhard and Jeremy Ray Taylor.

Sweet: The actress, 17, looked delighted while she posed for snaps with her fellow actors and the filmmaker during the screening

Horror: In the IT adaptation, the stars play childhood pals Beverly (Sophia), Bill (Jaeden), Mike (Chosen), Eddie (Jack), and Stanley (Wyatt), alongside Finn Wolfhard and Jeremy Ray Taylor

The first film opens as Bill's brother is taken away by the malevolent Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Bill Skarsgard), a creature who feeds off the souls of children every 27 years.

During the summer following his sibling's disappearance, Bill enlists the help of his friends to investigate, and while they manage to defeat It they make a blood oath to return as adults if the monster was to return.

The sequel saw the young cast return for flashbacks, and Jessica Chastain (Beverly), James McAvoy (Bill), Bill Hader (Richie), Isaiah Mustafa (Mike), Jay Ryan (Ben), James Ransone (Eddie), and Andy Bean (Stanley) portray their adult counterparts.

Chapter Two: The sequel saw Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, and Andy Bean portray their adult counterparts

Stylish: Sophia put on a stylish display in a black floral-print gown that had flared sleeves for a boho chic flair, which she paired with a chic yellow handbag

Pretty: Sophia's cropped brunette locks were brushed into a sleek, sideswept style, while she wore a natural palette of make-up for the outing

Gretel & Hansel sees the classic fairy tale get a fresh twist, and sees Sophia star opposite Samuel Leakey who is making his feature film debut.

Director Osgood Perkins, the son of legendary Psycho star Anthony Perkins, revealed the name reversal in the title intrigued him immediately.

'In the title, the names are reversed, which obviously caught my attention,' said Perkins of the story, written by Rob Hayes (Monday).

Another reunion: Sophia and Wyatt were also joined by their I Am Not Okay With This co-stars Zachary S. Williams, Sofia Bryant and Richard Ellis at the event

Drama: I Am Not Okay With This is a forthcoming coming-of-age show about an Australian teen who navigates the trials of High School life, and it will be released on Netflix on February 26

While the director added that the film is, 'awfully faithful to the original story,' he didn't want Gretel and Hansel (Leakey) to be the same age.

'I wanted Gretel to be somewhat older than Hansel, so it didnt feel like two twelve-year-olds  rather a sixteen-year-old and an eight-year-old,' the director said.

'There was more of a feeling like Gretel having to take Hansel around everywhere she goes, and how that can impede ones own evolution, how our attachments and the things that we love can sometimes get in the way of our growth,' he added.

Lillis, who the director said is, 'really fantastic,' and Leakey, are joined by Alice Krige, who plays the third and final main character, the witch Holda.

New film: Gretel & Hansel sees the fairy tale get a fresh twist, Sophia stars opposite Samuel Leakey (L) and it is directed by Psycho icon Anthony Perkins' son Osgood Perkins (centre)
S cotland Yard has launched a murder investigation after a fatal stabbing late last night.

Officers were called to a property in Mount Pleasant Lane, Clapton, to reports of a disturbance at 11.29pm.

Police and the ambulance rushed to the scene, where a man was found with stab properties within the address.

He was declared dead at the scene despite the efforts of emergency services to save him.

Enquiries are ongoing to confirm the man's identity and to inform his family.

A 27-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody following the incident.

A statement from the Met Police said: "Homicide detectives from the Met's Specialist Crime Command are investigating. At this stage, no one else is sought in connection with this incident."

A post-mortem examination is due to be scheduled.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 16:29:47|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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NEW DELHI, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Ahead of India's 71st Republic Day celebrations, authorities have tightened security across major cities including capital New Delhi, officials said Saturday.

The step according to police officials has been taken to thwart possible attempts by militant or terror groups to disrupt official celebrations.

"In view of the Republic Day function adequate security arrangements are in place in the city and elsewhere to ensure celebrations are conducted without any disruption," a senior police official posted in New Delhi said.

The police officials have intensified checking and patrolling at metro stations, railway stations, airport and bus terminals as part of the security arrangement.

"Ahead of Republic Day, intensive foot patrolling at malls, strong vigil from morchas in markets and border picket checking were carried out. Private security guards deployed at malls were also briefed to be a part of the security apparatus," a statement issued by deputy commissioner of police South West Delhi said.

Reports said additional 48 Companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) have been deployed to supplement the internal mobilization by Delhi Police of around 22,000 police personnel, in uniform and plainclothes.

Apart from security deployment, authorities have installed CCTV cameras at strategic locations in the national capital to keep a vigil on the movement of people.

Police said multi-layered security arrangements were in place in the city and routes around the venue have been closed.

"Sharpshooters and snipers will be deployed atop high-rise buildings to keep a watch on the 8km-long parade route from Rajpath to the Red Fort on Sunday (January 26)," an official said.

The Delhi traffic police have issued an advisory for general public to avoid routes around Red Fort.

Likewise, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has closed parking facilities at all its stations from Saturday morning until Sunday 2:00 p.m. (local time).

On Thursday amid tight security, a full dress rehearsal for Republic Day parade was held in New Delhi.

Unprecedented security arrangements have been made in northeastern states of India and restive Indian-controlled Kashmir for the upcoming celebrations.

President of Brazil Jair Messias Bolsonaro will be the chief guest at Republic Day celebrations scheduled on Sunday in New Delhi.

The Republic Day in India marks adoption of the constitution of India. Every year the day is celebrated by India on Jan. 26. The main function is held in New Delhi, where India's armed forces - army, navy and air force display their skills and military might.
Coming to the rescue of the second wife of a deceased doctor, the Madras High Court has directed the Director of Local Fund Audits to sanction family pension with effect from the date of her husband's death.

C Sarojini Devi had challenged the order of the Director of Local fund Audits, Chennai, refusing to grant family pension on the ground that the marriage between the petitioner and doctor, a deceased government employee, was not valid and she cannot be considered to be the legal representative.

Citing a Supreme Court judgment, Justice Anand Venkatesh allowed her petition and said "... this court has to necessarily lean towards the presumption of marriage rather than branding the petitioner as a concubine."



"This will be the most appropriate way to deal with the facts of the present case, if justice has to be done to the petitioner," the judge said, quashing the order.

The doctor, A Chinnasamy married Sarojini Devi in 1975 during the subsistence of his first marriage and had three children through her.

After the first wife died in 1997, he nominated the petitioner on May 11, 1999 to receive the family pension after his death.

It was submitted that the petitioner lived with Chinnasamy for nearly 12 years even after the death of the first wife.

The special government pleader said the petitioner cannot be considered to be the deceased government employee's legal heir.

Citing an apex court judgment, the judge said the supreme court has held that "law presumes in favour of marriage and against concubinage, when a man and woman have co-habitated continuously for a long time."



It was very easy to brand the petitioner as a concubine and deprive her of her livelihood. However, the fact remains that she lived with the deceased from 1975 upto his death in 2009, Justice Venkatesh said.

This means that the petitioner lived with him for nearly 34 years, the judge said, adding she also gave birth to three children.

If the petitioner had made this claim when the first wife was alive, then obviously she will not be entitled for the pension since her relationship is not recognized by law, the court said.

After the first wife died, the petitioner lived with Chinnasamy till his death.

"During this period, it can always be construed that the petitioner and the deceased Dr A Chinnasamy were living as husband and wife and their long co-habitation itself raises that presumption of marriage."



Besides Chinnasamy had also nominated the petitioner to receive the family pension, the court said.

Quashing the order, the judge directed officials to sanction family pension with effect from the date of Chinnasamy's death on January 20,2009.

Officials should disburse the pension arrears within 12 weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of the order, the judge said, adding the petitioner shall be continued to be paid the family pension till her lifetime.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
It's official: Murray State becomes member of Missouri Valley Conference
NEWS PROVIDED BY

Alveda King Ministries

Jan. 24, 2020



ATLANTA, Jan. 24, 2020 /Standard Newswire/ -- Evangelist Alveda King submits the following and is available for comment:

Wow, what a week! We started with the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Then my birthday on Wednesday, January 22, the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in America. And now, today, the March For Life when hundreds of thousands of people of all ages, all ethnicities and all religious affiliation (and some with no religious affiliation) gather in Washington, DC to speak out for the pre-born. And, if that wasn't enough, we top the whole week off with the President of United States of America, Donald John Trump, in a historic event, addressing the crowd at the March for Life Rally under the authority and in the presence of God Almighty. Who could ask for anything more?



Let me also send you this meme to show my appreciations to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday a couple of days ago and even a few belated birthday wishes.



Evangelist Alveda King - saved from abortion in 1950 by the dream of MLK, Sr. Born 1/22/1951

https://www.civilrightsfortheunborn.org/howcandreamsurvive.htm



New Book

THE SPIRIT OF A DREAM

https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Dream-Inspired-Living-Ministry/dp/1679094068



New POTUS RELEASE

Three Reasons Why God Chose Donald Trump  Dr. Francis Myles on The Jim Bakker Show

https://youtu.be/a2MU9DBDmfw.
Renewed fighting entering its ninth day allows Houthi rebels to retake loyalist positions.

Houthi rebels have gained ground east of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, in what the defence minister acknowledged as a tactical withdrawal by government loyalists.

Renewed fighting, which entered its ninth day on Saturday, allowed the rebels to retake loyalist positions, loyalist commanders told AFP news agency.

Some of these positions had been under government control for three years, one of the commanders said on condition of anonymity.

Defence Minister General Mohammed Ali al-Maqdishi implicitly recognised the rebels advance in the Nihm area in comments published by the official Saba news agency.

Al-Maqdishi spoke of a tactical withdrawal from some positions during a meeting on Friday with loyalist commanders.

The loyalist forces would be redeployed to open a new front against the rebels, al-Maqdishi said, claiming the battle to liberate Sanaa has become inevitable.

The rebel advance came despite extensive air support for government forces from its allies in a Saudi-led coalition.

Coalition planes attacked Houthi positions more than 30 times in the last three days to reduce the pressure on the loyalists, one commander said.

The government accused the rebels of killing 116 people in a January 18 missile attack on a loyalist military camp in Marib province, east of Nihm.

The Houthis neither claimed nor denied they were behind that attack, which came a day after fighting between the two sides resumed, breaking months of relative calm.

In a report published on Friday, the International Crisis Group said the Houthis appeared to be making the biggest gains on the battlefield.

The think-tank warned that if the renewed fighting spread, it would represent a devastating blow to current efforts to end the war.
New Delhi:

Petrol and diesel prices witnessed a downward trend on Saturday, January 25. According to the Indian Oil website, the petrol rates are Rs 74.16 per litre in Delhi, Rs 79.76 per litre in Mumbai, Rs 76.77 per litre in Kolkata, and Rs 77.03 per litre in Chennai, respectively. On the other hand, the diesel prices in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai remained at Rs 67.31, Rs 70.56, Rs 69.67, and Rs 71.11 per litre, respectively.

In Noida, petrol is retailing at Rs 75.59 a litre, while diesel price is Rs 67.58 a litre. The price of petrol in Gurugram is Rs 73.79 a litre while diesel was selling at Rs 66.39 a litre.

India is 84 per cent dependant on imports to meet its oil needs and any spike in global prices has a direct bearing on its economy. Not just imports but even domestic crude oilwhich forms the raw material for making petrol, diesel and other petroleum productsis priced according to international benchmarks. Middle East accounts for more than two-thirds of the countrys oil imports, with Iraq and Saudi Arabia being the top suppliers.

Why Petrol, Diesel Prices Change Every Day?

The fuel prices are in India are revised daily. Petrol and diesel prices are revised every day at 06:00 am to sync it with the variation in global oil prices. Oil marketing companies (OMC) review the global fuel prices and decide petrol and diesel daily. Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum release the new rates at 6 am every morning. Generally, when international crude oil prices gain, prices in India move higher. Other factors also impact the price of fuel like rupee to US dollar exchange rate, cost of crude oil, global cues, demand for fuel, and so on.

Why Fuel Prices Differ In Every City?

The price of fuel includes excise duty, value-added tax (VAT), and dealer commission. As VAT varies from state to state, the price of fuel is different in every city.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo President of the Republic of Ghana on Tuesday inaugurated Gomoa Central and Agona East District Assemblies with Honourable Kweku Nyarko Koomson and Nana Kow Ponsi retaining their Presiding Membership positions respectively.

They both went unopposed with all the Assembly Members voting Yes to confirm them in elections conducted by Gomoa Central and Agona East District Directors of the Electoral Commission.

The inaugural address were delivered by the Central Regional Minister, Hon. Kwamina Duncan and Nana Owusu Nsiah, a Member of the Council of State at Agona Nsaba and Gomoa Afransi respectively

" As I inaugurate these Assemblies, to commence its Four-year tenure, be mindful of the fact that the Assemblies are a critical part of Government, and have a role to play in ensuring that the government delivers on its promises to Ghanaians together with your Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives

I charge you to advance the implementation of Government programmes in the Co-ordinated programme of Economic and Social Development Policies 2017-2024

Government has launched, and is pursuing a number of policies and programmes aimed at improving the welfare and well-being of Ghanaians including Free SHS, ' One District One Factory ', programme for Planting for Food and Jobs, Planting For Export and Rural Development, One village One Dam amongst many others"

President Akufo Addo further stated that Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has formulated a Rural Development Policy which provides a mechanism for implementation of Co-ordinated interventions on agriculture, social services, industrialisation, financial inclusion and skills development to ensure transformative change of the lives of rural people across the country.

" The aforementioned government programmes and other social protection interventions such as the Productive Inclusion and Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty and Labour Intensive Public Works (LIPW) are being implemented to anchor the policy

Let me remind you again that you are being inaugurated at a time when efforts are being made by Government through the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to enhance internal generated funds (IGF) of MMDAs, particularly in the area of property rates.

To this end, I invite you to take advantage of automation and other innovative systems developed by the Ministry to improve your IGF.

This can be achieved if street naming and property addressing is pursued vigorously,, working hand-in hand with the National Digital Property addressing System and the Ghana Post GPS"

His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo bemoaned unplanned and haphazard development currently going on in most Assemblies.

Slums being developed in marshy areas, and houses built on waterways have become a phenomenon with serious implications to national development and public safety.

" As you are sworn in today, work with your Assemblies to ensure compliance with the building rules and regulations on zoning and Development of lands and ensure that Lands are developed according to approved plans and designated land use to avoid flooding and its accompanying loss of lives and property

Section 12 (3) (f) of the Local Government Act, 2016 ( Act 936) specifies that Assemblies shall be responsible for the development, improvement and management of human settlement and the environment in the District

The Act also empowers the Assemblies to make Bye-Laws to address issues waste management, licensing and monitoring environmental service providers, solid waste collection and management, and any other matters that demand Local regulations in order to achieve and maintain a clean and healthy environment"

His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo further stated that the major function of the Assembly was to explore avenue for the creation of employment for the people, particularly the Youth.

" Thankfully, many of the Districts have a comparative advantage in achieving this in the Agricultural sector.

The sector has the capacity to generate employment that can provide surplus Food and Agricultural raw materials for Industry and export

As an Assembly, work towards a diversified and commercially oriented Agricultural sector with strong linkages to Industry and markets to generate employment and address rural poverty in Ghana."

The Agona East District Chief Executive, Hon. Dennis Armah Frimpong while congratulating the 30- Member Assembly urged them to contribute their quota towards the development of the District.

He noted that the everyday needs of the people in the district were all within the responsibility of the Assembly Members

" A clean environment, good roads, schools, clinics and potable drinking water are all urgently needed by our Communities

With the caliber of Assembly Members, am convinced that we shall deliver to meet the aspirations and needs of our people as an Assembly"

Similarly, the Gomoa Central District Chief Executive, Hon. Benjamin Kojo Otoo disclosed that the Gomoa Central District Assembly being new in the system was faced with lots of challenges. Am hopeful that with the help of the Assembly Members we shall tap all the untapped potentials in the district.

" I will entreat all Assembly Members to maintain close contacts with their Electoral Areas, consult people on issues discussed at the Assembly and also collate their views and opinions for presentation to the Assembly

This will let the people be part and parcel of the Local Governance system though it requires a lot of sacrifices

I will entreat you to submerge your personal interest for the welfare of the electorates"

The Agona East Assembly Members were sworn into office by His Worship Justice Isaac Appiatu, an Agona Swedru Magistrate Court Judge at Agona Nsaba

while Her Worship Justice Beatrice Amedzi, Gomoa District Court Judge at Gomoa Dawurampong sworn in the 22 Members of the Gomoa Central District Assembly at Gomoa Afransi.
B oris Johnson has discussed telecommunications network security with Donald Trump ahead of the government's final decision on using Huawei technology in 5G infrastructure.

The US has warned allies not to allow the Chinese tech giant to form part of their 5G networks, with the prime minister previously calling for alternative suggestions from those against the move.

There have been claims from the US that its involvement would be a security risk, something Huawei vehemently denies, and the UK is set to announce plans on using the firm or not imminently.

Security of telecommunications networks was discussed in a phone call between the two leaders on Friday, according to the White House.

Huawei could be used in non core parts of the UK's 5G infrastructure / REUTERS

The two leaders discussed important regional and bilateral issues, including working together to ensure the security of our telecommunications networks, a White House statement said.

It comes amid reports that UK officials have backed the firm to play a role. Huawei equipment would potentially be used in some "non-core" parts of the network, with a final decision due by the end of this month.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will raise the issue in talks with Chancellor Sajid Javid over the weekend.

It comes amid mounting efforts to persuade the UK to exclude the Chinese firm from its telecommunications structure, with a final decision by the National Security Council of senior ministers is widely expected next week.

Last year, the US imposed trade restrictions on Huawei over concerns about the companys security and ties to the Chinese government.

Allegations that their telecommunications equipment could be used to spy on people has been repeatedly denied by the tech giant.

Mr Johnson previously said: "The British public deserve to have access to the best possible technology.

"I have talked about infrastructure and technology. We want to put in gigabit broadband for everybody.

"Now, if people oppose one brand or another, then they have to tell us which is the alternative.
Infosys recently hit the headlines again over reports that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) intended to investigate the happenings in the company following the whistleblower allegations. On Friday, Infosys informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it had "not received any request from the SEBI to conduct further audits as reported by media." This is, even as the company added, that it had received letters from regulatory authorities seeking information on the anonymous whistleblower investigation. Infosys had said that it will continue to cooperate with regulatory authorities -- the SEC investigation and class action lawsuit in the US on this matter are on-going.

While one has to wait for clarity on what SEBI wants to investigate, if at all, the immediate question is what does it all mean from the perspective of an Infosys client. Infosys' internal audit committee gave a clean chit to the company stating that it found no evidence of financial impropriety or executive misconduct.

Analysts say that typically internal reviews and investigations have limited value from a client perspective and they would clearly favour a third party investigation. Additionally, these are also seen as issues that may not immediately impact Infosys' deliverables as these are mostly compliance- and finance-related issues. The case would then have a bigger impact on clients who are awaiting the outcome of the investigations to decide whether or not to sign new deals with the company.

Also read: Infosys whistleblower allegations: Audit panel finds no evidence of executive misconduct

That the company has to deal with developments at a time when it was showing signs of picking up its business momentum is a bigger concern for analysts. In the third quarter FY20 results, Infosys showed continued strength in large-deal wins despite, what analysts called 'a cautious environment'.

Analysts also point out that part of Infosys large-deal wins has to do with the fact that clients' decisions are not short-term processes since vendor growth plans and finalisation of projects do not happen over a week - it could be over a few months to a couple of quarters.

Over the past few years, Infosys has had to deal with a bumpy ride at regular intervals. It remains to be seen how this current development concludes.

Also read: SEBI to order forensic probe of Infosys whistleblowers' allegations

Also read: Infosys dismisses reports of SEBI audit into whistleblowers' allegations
Even with three simultaneous international efforts underway to create vaccines for Chinas deadly new virus, the process could take months, according to an international epidemiology group funding the research.

The announcement comes as officials confirm the first deaths caused by the virus, dubbed nCoV-2019, outside the epicenter of the outbreak in Central China.

The goal of these efforts is to shorten the process of going from genome sequencing of the pathogen to creating a vaccine ready for clinical trials to 16 weeks, according to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an alliance of public and private medical entities.

Vaccines often take a decade or longer to develop.

The coalition announced Thursday it is working with U.S.-based biotech company Moderna and the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; U.S.-based Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and the University of Queensland in Australia to develop inoculations against the new strain of coronavirus.

The CEPI is funding two of the projects and co-funding the third, and each team will trial a different approach to creating a possible vaccine, Reuters reported.

There are no guarantees of success, but we hope this work could provide a significant and important step forward in developing a vaccine for this disease, Richard Hatchett, CEPI chief executive said in a statement.

Coronaviruses are a category of pathogens that caused the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) that emerged in 2002 and the Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (MERS), and also includes far less lethal viruses such as some forms of the common cold. While scientists have developed a vaccine for SARS, sequencing its genome took more than a year.

There is still no vaccine available to protect against MERS.

As of Friday evening, Chinese authorities have confirmed 900 infections and 26 deaths caused by the disease, akin to pneumonia, including the first deaths outside Central Chinas Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak. One took place in Hebei, a province encircling Beijing, and another in Heilongjiang province in Northeast China.

By Friday, officials imposed travel restrictions or have locked down at least thirteen cities, including Wuhan, Ezhou, Huanggang, Xiantao, Zhijiang, Chibi and Qianjiang cities in Hubei province in an effort to quarantine millions of residents.

Since it was reported to the World Health Organization in December, the disease has spread to countries and regions including Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, the U.S., and Singapore.

Nevertheless, it is not yet a global crisis, the Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization announced Thursday after a two-day teleconference with members and advisers in Geneva.

"Make no mistake, this is an emergency in China," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "But it is not yet a global health emergency."

Follow Caixin Globals latest updates on the coronavirus here.

Contact reporter Dave Yin (davidyin@caixin.com)
Mexican immigration officials are reportedly facing criticism after their usage of the word 'rescues' following a confrontation with hundreds of migrants who had been resting in the shade after walking all morning on January 20. According to media reports, hundreds of Central American migrants came to Mexico from Guatemala, hoping that they would get a free passage to the United States but as soon as they reached there, they faced strong resistance from the Mexican national guardsmen.

Read: Migrant Caravan Crosses Into Mexico, Walks Along Highway

Scuffle between migrants and national guards

After the confrontation between the security officials and the migrants, Mexicos National Immigration Institute issued a statement that read, "INM rescues 800 Central American migrants who entered (Mexico) today irregularly." The word 'rescues' managed to grab a lot of eyeballs because the critics say that those requiring rescue usually don't run away from their rescuers. However, media reports have suggested that such euphemism has become the language of immigration policy not just in Mexico, but across the globe.

Read: US-bound Migrants Clash With Mexican Forces; Chaos At Guatemala Border

According to the report, European countries are guilty of using the same terminology for migrants coming from the Mediterranean sea. The United States is also guilty of using the terminology deployed by the Mexican immigration agency. According to international press, Mexican authorities have been using the term for quite a long time now and in some places, it seems a fit, like when they find 100 migrants stuffed inside a trailer in sweltering heat and driver has run-off or when they airlift people stuck in the middle of a desert without water trying to cross the border.

Read: Migrants, Troops Slowly Build Up On Guatemala-Mexico Border

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday did not use the word 'rescue' while talking about the incident. Lopez praised the efforts of Mexico's national guardsmen and expressed satisfaction with their actions. He further added that he had instructed his Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard to look after the security of the detained migrants and safely deport them to their respective countries.

Read: Mexico City Says Subway Escalators Broke Down After Corrosion Due To Urine


(CBS News) Seventy years ago today -- October 6, 1943 -- a group of rabbis and Jewish war veterans staged a small march in Washington to draw public attention to the Holocaust then taking place across Nazi-occupied Europe. We are still learning more about just what happened, both from archives and from the personal witness of those who somehow survived. Our Cover Story is reported now by Lee Cowan:

She remembers it vividly: "The train arrives, people getting out, lining up on the platform, and pretty soon they will be told, 'Men to one side and women to the other."

To talk with Irene Weiss is to touch the Holocaust in a truly personal way.

She's a survivor, and yet -- some seven decades later -- she can barely believe it had actually happened.

"At first, this was pretty hard to talk about, wasn't it?" Cowan asked.

"Yes. It was extremely difficult. And then I realized that we have to share the story. We can't let people forget it."

She was just 13 when the boxcar carrying her and her family arrived at Auschwitz on that all-too-busy platform.

Weiss knew little of what would come of her when the doors of the cattle car opened: "They were barking orders to get out. My father and 16-year-old brother lined up with the other men and boys, and the women and children and elderly in another line."

"Where did your mom go?" Cowan asked.

"Well, she and a very large number of the people from the train were headed right to the gas chambers," Weiss said. "Within a half hour, they were all dead."

That was her childhood reality. But the older she grew, the more unimaginable it all seemed -- until one day, she heard about a set of photos that she never knew existed. They were taken by the Nazis on the Auschwitz platform on the very day Irene arrived.

A picture captured that very moment: Irene to the left, alone on the Auschwitz platform: "I'm leaning in to see where my little sister went."

Story continues

Auschwitz_Spring1944.jpg

Hungarian Jews arrive at Auschwitz in the Spring of 1944. At the far left on the platform is Irene Fogel Weiss at age 13; her mother marched directly into the gas chambers. Yad Vashem

"The very first thing we asked is, 'When are we going to see our families?' " she said. "And they pointed to the chimney and they said, 'That's where your parents are. That's where your family is.'"

"They pointed to the chimney?"

"The chimney. And we ignored it. We ignored it totally. It cannot be."

And then there's this photo that captured Irene's family waiting in line for the Auschwitz gas chamber.

"These two little boys are my two little brothers, and for a long time I could not find my mother here, and I was very unhappy," Weiss said. "And then one day this little face here, sticking out, and I looked with a magnifying glass, and I found her. Ah, yeah, that's the one."

Auschwitz_Fogels.jpg

In the left foreground, Irene Fogel Weiss' two brothers, Reuven and Gershon Fogel, are pictured at Auschwitz; their mother, Lenke Mermelstein Fogel, is seated on the ground behind them. All perished at the Nazi concentration camp. Yad Vashem

The Holocaust, it seems, continues even now to reveal its horrific reality -- and not just to survivors like Irene Weiss.

At the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C., a 13-year project has uncovered evidence that the number of places where the Holocaust was put into practice was actually far more numerous than anyone imagined.

Geoffrey Megargee, the lead editor of a multi-volume encyclopedia being written on the Holocaust, said that when he started his research, his sense of the scope of the number of sites implementing Hitler's orders was in the range of 5,000 to 7,000, which to him was "an astounding number."

He now says the total to 42,500 -- six times what he originally thought.

"Exactly," he said. "When you put them all together, this was a shock."

Megargee's research doesn't change the number of people exterminated; What it does is enumerate the mind-boggling number of concentration camps, killing centers, ghettos, brothels and forced labor camps where the Nazis persecuted not only Jews, but Poles, homosexuals, Soviet prisoners of war, and many others, too.

"So what does that say about the notion that this was just taking place in a few corners of Europe and was the result of Hitler and a few mad men?" asked Cowan.

"I think it destroys it, utterly," Megargee replied. "Really, to say that you didn't know that there were camps, what was going on in the camps that were local, that would have been impossible."

Which raises the question: Just who beyond the notorious SS were complicit in the persecution?

For most of the last 70-plus years, German women for example, were thought to be largely innocent bystanders.

But disturbing new research to be released in a book this week paints an unnerving portrait of women's participation in the Holocaust. They, too, could be brutal killers.

"It takes a certain cognitive ability to carry out, to organize this kind of mass murder on this scale," said Wendy Lower, author of "Hitler's Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields." "And women are not innocent of that. They have that cognitive ability."

Lower said a generation of women was swept up in the nationalistic fervor of the Nazi movement. Banners like one reading "Women and girls -- the Jews are your ruin" were pervasive.

LeagueofGermanGirls.jpg

Members of the League of German Girls (the girls wing of the Hitler Youth) engage in paramilitary training in 1936; from the book, "Hitler's Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields." Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/BPK

She points to 23-year-old Erna Petri, who stumbled on six Jewish children who had escaped from a nearby train. She was so anxious to prove her loyalty to the Reich that she shot them all in the back of the head.

There was Johanna Altvater, who at 22 had moved East to be a secretary. One day while on a visit to a Jewish ghetto, one inquisitive child got too close: "She picked the child up by the legs and slammed it against the ghetto wall, like she was, you know, kind of shaking the dust out of a carpet."

These women weren't military -- they weren't under orders to kill. Lower points out, it's what they knew.

"They did it willingly," she said. "They weren't just conforming, they weren't just getting along. They were ideologically hooked."

Ursula Mahlendorf knows about getting ideologically hooked. "I was very enthusiastic, there was no time that I ever doubted anything," she said of being a Nazi. "Yeah, I was really proud. Yeah, Oh yes. Yeah."

She was a member of the Hitler Youth at the tender age of 10. She was forced to join.

"Everything the nation did was all right; everything that Hitler did was all right," Mahlendorf said. "And if bad things were done by the party, Hitler didn't know about it."

She later became a nurse's aide at a field hospital.

One day an injured Russian POW was brought in. She had been taught to hate anything not purely German. Two orderlies asked her if they should kill him instead of treat him.

What happened next surprised her.

"I've never felt a hate, a wave of hatred like that before, and I was just about to yell, 'Yes, you do it,' " Mahlendorf said.

Kill him? "Yeah, and I was aware of what it was, of what I would have been saying. That was one realization that always stayed with me: I could have killed."

She didn't; as far as she knows that POW survived.

Mahlendorf eventually moved to the U.S. as a Fulbright Scholar, and spent her life teaching at the University of California at Santa Barbara. But her Nazi past still haunts her to this day.

"Have your forgiven yourself?" Cowan asked.

"That's a hard one," she said. "Yeah, in part. I've got to live with myself."

She now counts among her friends Holocaust survivors who bear a different kind of witness.

The extent of the Nazi brutality may only be coming to light to researchers now, but for Irene Weiss, it was always there.

"This may be an odd question," said Cowan, "but do you ever wonder why you survived?"

"Pure chance in every way," Weiss said. "There were so many chances to die, and so many, occasionally, chances to survive another day. The system was rigged against survival."

For more info:

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C. "The Auschwitz Album: The Story of a Transport" (published by Yad Vashem, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum) "Hitler's Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields" by Wendy Lower (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt); Also available in eBook format "The Shame of Survival: Working Through a Nazi Childhood" by Ursula Mahlendorf (Penn State University Press) Read a sample chapter from "The Shame of Survival" National Conference Supporting Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia (NCSJ)

FedEx warns customers about text message scam

Amy Klobuchar's daughter speaks with voters

3-year-old boy's prayer for Pre-K class goes viral
JANUARY 28: This deal is now official.

JANUARY 24: The Nationals have reached a one-year, $2MM guarantee with first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, pending a physical, Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post reports. The deal can max out at $5MM with performance bonuses, and it includes a full no-trade clause. Zimmermans a client of CAA Sports.

Its no surprise reigning world champion Washingtons bringing back Zimmerman, aka Mr. National and the first player the franchise chose after moving from Montreal. General manager Mike Rizzo and Zimmerman suggested on multiple occasions in recent months that agreeing to a new contract was a formality.

The fourth overall pick in the 2005 draft, Zimmerman began to establish himself as one of the majors premier third basemen in 2006. He remained a highly valuable player at the position through 2013, but injuries and an overall decline have cut him down in recent years and forced a position change.

The 35-year-old Zimmerman transitioned to first base on a full-time basis in 2014, and he posted excellent numbers as recently as 2017. Zimmerman remained effective in the ensuing season, but he struggled to produce during an injury-limited 2019. He slashed a less-than-stellar .257/.321/.415 with six home runs in 190 plate appearances, but the right-handed hitter abused lefty pitchers (as he has done throughout his career) and was one of the Nats many playoff heroes in the fall. Zimmermans three-run homer against the Dodgers in Game 4 of the NLDS will always count as one of the greatest moments in franchise history. He also smacked a solo dinger versus the Astros in the Nats one-run victory in Game 1 of the World Series.

The Zimmerman agreement is the latest in what has been a busy offseason for the Nationals. The club lost Anthony Rendon in free agency, and hell be extremely difficult to replace, but in addition to keeping Zimmerman, it has re-signed Stephen Strasburg, Howie Kendrick, Yan Gomes, Daniel Hudson and Asdrubal Cabrera. The team has also picked up outside free agents in Will Harris, Starlin Castro and Eric Thames. Zimmerman, Kendrick and the lefty-hitting Thames figure to get the lions share of playing time at first for the Nats in 2020.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Stone Sapphire India Pvt Ltd, the Indian arm of Red Ridge Global, unveiled its ambitious 12-month vision for making playtime more affordable and accessible to millions of Indians.

At a media roundtable held at Hotel St Regis, Mumbai, the USD 500 million (half a billion-dollar) Red Ridge Global conglomerate announced new partnerships in India with global toy manufacturers that would now be able to leverage the group's mammoth distribution network. The media was addressed by Vick Rana, CEO - Red Ridge Global & Shobhit Singh, Director - Stone Sapphire India Pvt Ltd.

The Indian toy market was at an estimated USD 1.5 billion in 2018 and is expected to cross USD 3.3 billion by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 13.9 per cent between 2019-2024.

The industry ecosystem is fed largely by the domestic inputs in the unorganised sector is driven by general trade. Through their robust distribution network that they have carefully put together over the last seven years, Stone Sapphire hopes to minimise distribution costs and make better quality imported and locally manufactured toys available to children through the length and breadth of the country.

The company announced that it has recently joined hands with global toy manufacturing giants such as Hasbro and are now their distribution partners in India.

Stone Sapphire also brings with it a strong industry intelligence, which it hopes to capitalise on by aiding global manufacturers to set up their base in India.

With assistance in initiating manufacturing in the country, coupled with access to their solid distribution chain, Stone Sapphire offers unmatched two-pronged support to global toy brands.

"With our specialised expertise and strong presence in India, we hope to be a one-stop-solution for any global toy brand that wishes to spread footprints in India. There are several benefits that they will enjoy under the government's 'Make in India' initiative. India is one of the fastest-growing markets with immense possibilities, but comes with its challenges of compliances and requires a nuanced understanding of the various regional markets. At Stone Sapphire, toy manufacturers will find all their answers, support and the best distribution that takes them to the massive country's farthest corners. We are very positive about our next steps and are hugely encouraged by the promising talks with global names that are already underway", said Vick Rana, CEO - Red Ridge Global.

"It's an accepted fact that there is no replacement for early childhood play with toys. We are committed to helping India promote playtime, both indoor and outdoor, by making the best of the world's toys affordable and accessible. With our 360-degree support in manufacturing consultancy and access to the largest distribution network in the country, we hope to make this vision a reality. As India is on track to becoming an even bigger economic power, the emphasis for happy, healthy children who are torchbearers of that future, has only become more crucial. With our new partnerships, we dream of making that future brighter", added Shobhit Singh, Director - Stone Sapphire India Pvt Ltd.

Recently, there have been speculation possible import curbs on toys, thereby making them costlier and less accessible to a large number of children in India.

As a growing country where more and more children are getting hooked on to mobile phones and gadgets from a very early age, the necessity of real playtime with toys has never been more urgent.

In an ideal scenario, the industry should be aided in striking a balance between imported and domestically manufactured toys while maintaining quality standards. This would be a win-win for all parties involved.

In the past, many global giants have been very cautious in entering the Indian market due to its large size and limited, unorganised distribution avenues.

With the incredible success of Sk'oodle, Stone Sapphire has set new benchmarks on how it can be successfully done. What started as a cottage industry gradually grew to be a small scale to mid-scale enterprise and finally, a large brand that was able to sell top-quality children's materials at rates that are 30 per cent cheaper than poorer quality Chinese-made products.

This was made possible by creating their own OEMs and piece-by-piece put together their own supply chain through smart forward integration. This made economies of scale possible, significantly bringing down the costs. Sk'oodle's singular success has drawn more international brands to Stone Sapphire to help them leverage their intelligence in India.

Red Ridge, founded in 1998, is a global giant in stationery and DIY craft kits manufacturing, packaging and distribution. The brand has a solid presence across the world, in the USA, Canada, Hong Kong, India and Shanghai, Ningbo and Guangzhou.

Led by Indian origin Founder Vick Rana, Red Ridge Global's Indian arm Stone Sapphire has created a leading position in the country over the past seven years through its flagship brand Sk'oodle, a full range of art supplies, craft material and eco-friendly stationery for children.

This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Candidates look at employment opportunities at a job fair in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. [China Daily]

For a certain number of young Chinese, most of whom are under 30 years old, spending their lives commuting between home and office to work for other people is increasingly being seen as too mundane.

Having grown up during China's economic rise, these youngsters are eager to develop their careers by fully exploring their abilities and creativity  something which they struggle to do in private companies or public institutions.

"Both my husband and I like working creatively without boundaries," explained Huang Yilai, a resident of Shanghai who quit a stable job in 2005 to help her French husband Jonathan Lucy put together magic shows.

"I met Jonathan when he was still a university student in Shanghai. I was amazed by the shows he staged at the homes of French expats as a part-time job to finance himself," Huang recalls.

The couple, who settled down in the city known for its fast pace and bustling economy, gave up their professions having majored in business and international trade, and started to arrange tours for their magic shows.

In the beginning, they called performance companies and offered their services for free.

"We put on shows free of charge so that potential customers could better understand us," Huang remembers. "Had it not been for the uniqueness of our performances, they'd never have realized that their brands could be promoted using magic. To them, it was a completely new concept."

Fifteen years on, they now enjoy a relatively comfortable life in Shanghai. With a flexible work schedule, Huang explained that they have had plenty of time to stay at home with their child, and reiterated both how well the lifestyle works for them as well as their hope to continue it.

Huang's experience of working from home epitomizes an emerging trend in today's job market. Young people aged 30 and under are becoming much more interested in working for themselves than being tied to an office chair.

According to Ali Research, a new-business-centered research platform funded by Alibaba Group, there may be as many as 400 million people in China working for themselves by 2036.

Meanwhile, according to the "Population and Labor Green Paper: Chinese Population and Labor Issues Report No. 18  New Employment Styles in the New Economy," about 70% of those working in small offices or home offices (SOHOs) were born between 1985 and 1989.

Another report published last month by the Institute of Population and Labor Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) states that those born between 1990 and 1995 prefer free and open corporate cultures, while many born after 1995 are pursuing such lines of work as hosts of live web-streams or are becoming online influencers.

"Compared to sitting in an office, being self-employed makes me feel like I can use all my energies on working for things that I'm really interested in," explained one short video producer who preferred not to be identified.

This producer is 25 and majored in television and broadcasting. He chose to start filming his daily life with his girlfriend and releasing videos on TikTok (known in China as Douyin), an app that allows anyone, professional or otherwise, to upload short videos.

A single video on the platform has the potential to be viewed millions of times  a number that is large enough to attract advertisers.

However, the sheer quantity of short videos on TikTok means that views are unpredictable. As such, this video maker is considering opening a brick-and-mortar store to help cover his daily expenses.

Despite the unpredictability, he still has a strong desire to work for himself since it allows him to follow his passion.

The number of self-employed people surged in China around 2000 as the country embarked on a market-oriented economy, adopting policies centered around reform and opening-up.

However, according to Qu Guanyin, Deputy Professor in the Industry and Commerce Department of the Beijing Vocational College of Labor and Social Security, today's self-employed people  which consists of business consultants, lawyers, editors, writers and designers  are engaged in more intellectual-based work. This is in marked contrast to the clothes vendors or brokers that mushroomed around four decades ago.

"As a result of the market-oriented economy, self-employment adds vitality to the economy," Qu explained. "This has been achieved not only by helping release the liquidity of products, but also by improving the distribution of essential production factors."

Niu Tian, an assistant research fellow at the CASS Institute of Journalism and Mass Communication, said that many of today's self-employed people who have left organizations, whether public institutions or large firms, often have a strong competitive edge.

She added that the booming market economy has resulted in their work extending proactive ties with the platform economy, especially in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. At the same time, they have unleashed a strong creative power, thanks in part to their flexible work schedules.

However, she warned that many young people, either currently self-employed or looking to become so, are seriously concerned about the issue of social insurance: "Many of them, particularly those just starting out in such a new business model, often feel distressed when they don't know where to find their next order or how they can receive social and medical insurance as well as pensions."

Niu added, "We hope an organization can be established to coordinate between them and the government to protect and ensure their rights. Then they won't need to worry so much."

(Source: China.org.cn)
A seal pup found at Hook Head in poor health last week has become a viral internet sensation.

Bottlebrush, christened after an indigenous Australian tree in keeping with the Seal Sanctuary in Courtown's policy of calling all rescued seals this year after Australian trees due to the bush fires ravaging the country - was spotted on the grass area outside the walls of Hook Lighthouse on Wednesday.

Lighthouse manager Lorraine Waters said: 'Our staff members Noel Lynch, Jon Pearse and Robbie O Reilly could see his head on the grass. They approached it and skirted around the seal as they are as fast as lightning and are known to bite. They went out to check to see if it was still there as sometimes they just come in for a rest. At this stage it was noted that it had sustained a rather deep gash on its body over its flipper.'

Ms Waters said there had been stormy weather on the peninsula the previous few days so Bottlebrush - a grey seal who is only a couple of months old - may have gotten into difficulty and become separated from his mother.

Noel rang the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) who alerted staff at the seal sanctuary. He took a photo of Bottlebrush with the lighthouse in the background which has been viewed more than 100,000 times on Facebook.

A phone call from the Seal Sanctuary came into Noel who took some photos and a short video to send to the sanctuary. 'This was to help ascertain if they needed to come out as they could see his demeanour and the gash also. It was decided that the seal needed to be removed to the sanctuary.'

During this time a local couple kept an eye on the seal - who has been christened by Seal Sanctuary staff - staying within a safe distance as they too had become worried about it.

'At this stage our staff had everything well in hand. At around 2 p.m. a volunteer from the Seal Sanctuary called Mac arrived and our own staff helped her make the seal comfortable so she could transport it back to the sanctuary.'

Bottlebrush wasn't moving and there were fears it wouldn't survive. He was taken to the Seal Sanctuary in Gorey to recover.

On Saturday, another seal pup was found near the lighthouse. The seal pup was weak and as there was nobody available at the Seal Sanctuary to transport him to Courtown, a Gorey resident who had completed a tour of the lighthouse with his family took the seal (who is yet to be named) in the boot of his Volkswagen Passat after Noel put him in a covered fish-box.

The malnourished pup has been getting the best of care at the sanctuary.

Noel said lighthouse staff would only see a handful of seals a year so to have two pups arrive in a matter of days was very unusual. 'We've had close to 30,000 hits on Facebook already,' he said.

'We don't get many seals. You would sometimes see them at the front point of the lighthouse at the turning point. We take it for granted that they would come in to rest sometimes and if they aren't moving we'd take a look at them to see if their eyes are pink and red as that would indicate they have an infection,' Ms Waters said.

People can see the amazing work the staff at the Seal Sanctuary in Courtown do - open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. - by visiting the seals and the centre.
At least one worker died and another was injured after the roof of an under-construction building collapsed at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here, police said on Saturday.

The incident took place late on Friday night when the labourers were engaged in the construction of a 6,000-sq ft roof meant to link Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 of the airport.

"One person has died. The injured person is out of danger," Khurda Collector Sitanshu Rout said.

The deceased has been identified as Anataryami Guru, helper of a truck. He hailed from Badamba-Narsinghpur area in Cuttack district, while the injured worker is Nabakishore Swain, police said.

Special Relief Commissioner P K Jena said Guru was rescued alive after personnel of the NDRF, ODRAF and the State Fire Department cut through the concrete.

However, he succumbed to injuries in hospital.

"We have already informed the incident to our headquarters in Delhi. They will send competent persons to inspect the site within one or two days," BPIA director VV Rao told PTI.

"We have to see why it happened. What led to the collapse of the roof? Experts from our headquarter will investigate the matter looking into technical reasons behind the mishap," Rao said, adding that the incident has no impact on flight operation at the airport.

Bhubaneswar Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Anup Sahu said the police has already started questioning the officials and engineers of the construction company.

"We have set up a team to undertake a criminal investigation into the matter and trying to find out why the roof collapsed," Sahu said.

The DCP said: "We will initiate legal procedure required for the case. An expert team of engineers have been requisitioned to verify whether the safety measures were taken while executing the work. We have also sought the agreement paper for the construction of the building."



Meanwhile, Dilip Khatoi, the managing director of the construction company claimed that all safety measures were in place.

"The roof collapsed after the workers left the place. I am not sure how the helper of a truck came under the roof," Khatoi said.

All Odisha Contractors Association president, Prabhat Das, claimed that some workers of the construction company alleged that instead of using iron pipes, wooden shafts were used for the "centring of the roof". As a result, the roof collapsed as it could not withstand the load.

Ruling BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra expressed concern over the incident and demanded a high-level probe.

"We are not politicising the tragedy like BJP. We demand adequate compensation for the victims family and exemplary action against the persons responsible for the incident," Patra said.

Opposition and BJP and Congress also expressed concern over the incident and demanded a thorough probe into the incident. Congress MLA Suresh Routray demanded a CBI probe into the incident as the mishap took place while constructing the airports project worth about Rs 100 crore.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BJP leaders have "irritated" the people of Delhi by raising the amended citizenship act and NRC during election campaign and it would "backfire" on them, senior AAP leader and minister Gopal Rai has said.

In an interview to PTI, Rai said, "BJP has not done any work and is raking up these issues which has in turn exposed the negativity of the saffron party."



"People are getting irritated by the way BJP is raking up CAA, NRC and it is showing the BJP in bad light. The people who voted for the BJP in Lok Sabha polls are also supporting AAP in the upcoming polls," he said.

BJP leader Amit Shah has raised the issue of CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC) in his election campaign and accused the Opposition of saying the same things as Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Rai, who is seeking re-election from the Babarpur Assembly constituency, asserted that the Lok Sabha polls were fought on national issues but the upcoming Assembly election will be contested on local issues.

"The only thing people are talking about is the work done by the AAP. People are in the mood to vote on the basis of work done by our government," he said.

Ruling out any possibility of any post-poll alliance with the Congress, Rai asserted that the AAP would be winning over 67 seats in the upcoming polls so no such question arises.

"Congress is not in competition this year. Congress is not in competition and people are with AAP and there is no doubt among people on it," he said.

"If Congress is able to win a single seat in Delhi then it will be a big thing so there is no relevance to what they are saying," he said.

Rai said in the last five years his focus has been on providing basic facilities in his constituency.

"We have constructed roads, old cement pipelines have been replaced and opened 16 mohalla clinics, installed 2,000 CCTV cameras among other things," he said.

But in the next five years, he said he would focus on big projects.

"And in the next five years, we aim to build a hospital here and mini stadium and a conference hall where social functions can take place. Then we are also planning to install 2,000 more CCTV cameras in the area," he said.

"We are also planning to install street light in every lane of my constituency. A new school will also be constructed," he said.

Rai further said that he will be coming out with a separate manifesto for his constituency which will released soon.

The Assembly elections will be held on February 8 in Delhi which will witness a triangular contest among the ruling AAP, the BJP and the Congress.

The Aam Aadmi Party has dropped 15 sitting MLAs from its list of 70 candidates and given ticket to a total of 24 first-timers.

In the Assembly polls five years ago, the AAP registered a thumping win with the party bagging 67 seats, leaving just three for the BJP.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 21)  The Department of Finance (DOF) exposed Chevron Philippines for its "onerous" lease deal for a 120-hectare lot in Batangas, with the global oil firm paying peanuts to the government for the past 44 years.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said Chevron, which runs Caltex gas stations nationwide, secured the property owned by government in San Pascual town for a bargain. He said Chevron's contract with the Batangas Land Co. Inc., a subsidiary of the state-run National Development Company (NDC), allowed the unit of the multinational oil player to pay a "miniscule" rent at 0.74 per square meter (sqm) every month.

The DOF said the current fair market value in the industrial park where Chevron's oil import terminal sits  the main hub of its local operations  should be around 17.90 per sqm.

Chevron, an American chain of fuel refilling stations, secured the Batangas lot through the 1946 Bell Trade Act which granted the right for US nationals to own land here, the DOF said. When the trade deal expired, the firm was given "preferential treatment" to occupy a huge parcel of land inside the Batangas industrial park.

Then-President Ferdinand Marcos granted a 50-year lease deal with Chevron with lease rates set at a minimum of 2.5 percent of the property's value in 1974. Marcos' Letter of Instruction No. 276 said the rent should include the real estate taxes for the property, and included a provision that annual rentals must be paid based on the higher revaluation of the property.

"At 10.66 million per year since 2010, the rent Chevron has been shelling out is only around 4 percent of the 257.76 million per year that current fair market rental rates in the area would suggest," the agency said in a statement.

For its part, Chevron Philippines denied the allegations.

"The Chevron Philippines lease contract with BLCI (Batangas Land Company, Inc.) on the Batangas property was entered into in compliance with all Philippine laws and regulations. As one of the pioneer energy companies in the Philippines which has been operating here for over a hundred years, our commitment to the Philippine market remains strong. We will maintain open communication with the government, an important and valued partner, on this matter," said Raissa Bautista of Chevron Philippines corporate affairs in a statement.

All contracts between government and the private sector are now under scrutiny following President Rodrigo Duterte's order last year, which has been hastened by his anger over water concessionaires Maynilad and Manila Water as their deals allowed them to demand payment for losses incurred from the state.

READ: Chevron PH confirms oil leak in Batangas refinery

Dominguez, who sits as a member of NDC's board of directors, said Chevron paid a measly 146.51 million in rental fees for the past 44 years, or an average of 3 million annually. The DOF estimates that the property is now worth between 4.9 billion to 5.3 billion.

"Based on current standards that the State imposes on similar contracts, to have a rental yield of less than 1 percent is surely grossly disadvantageous to the government and the Filipino people," Dominguez said.

He noted that the lease rate had only been increased in 2010, which brought the annual payments to 10.66 million since then. This is well below DOF's estimates that the rental fee should be above 20 million monthly, or 257.76 million per year.

Chevron used to own 45 percent of the explortation and extraction operations in the Malampaya natural gas field off Palawan. Last year, it sold the stake to businessman Dennis Uy's Udenna Corporation.

READ: COA orders Malampaya consortium to pay 146-B in taxes

The company runs nearly 700 Caltex gas stations in the Philippines and provides jet fuels for airlines at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and the Mactan Cebu International Airport.
Christian refugee charged with blasphemy beaten by radical Muslims in grocery store

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A Pakistani Christian asylum seeker in hiding in Thailand says he was attacked by a group of radical Muslims at a grocery store two days before Christmas as his family has faced years of hurdles in their quest for resettlement.

Faraz Pervaiz, a ministry leader who often posted criticisms of Islam online, fled from Pakistan in 2014 after radical Muslims grew enraged by videos he and his father posted. Following pressure from Muslims groups, the Pakistani government filed a criminal blasphemy case against Pervaiz in 2017.

Although Pakistan is known for imprisoning more people for blasphemy than any other country, Pervaiz told The Christian Post that his case is the first instance in the history of Pakistans blasphemy law that the state itself registered a blasphemy case against someone.

Additionally, Pervaiz is the subject of two bounties that have radical Muslims in Bangkok eager to cash in on the reward.

The first bounty is the equivalent of $62,000 issued by the political party Tahreek-e-Labbaik in Pakistan over a year-and-a-half ago. Then last January, a radical cleric who sympathizes with the Taliban placed a bounty on Pervaizs head equal to about $124,000.

Since the location of Pervaizs Bangkok residence was disclosed online last July by a Muslim refugee, he and his family have been subject to increased death threats. Despite years of pleading with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to be resettled, he feels the entity and the international community are failing his family in their time of great need.

I am in a situation where we are helpless here, Pervaiz explained in a recent phone interview. Actually it's not the fault of UNHCR. This is the fault of my people, my Christian community. They are not taking any serious measures for our safety.

The increased threats against his life came to a head last Dec. 23.

Pervaiz said that he was on his way to his parents house when he stopped at a local Indian grocery store to buy sweets for his parents and his four siblings detained at Bangkoks Immigration Detention Centre. When he entered the store, he was confronted by a Muslim refugee he knew named Muhamad.

According to Pervaiz, Muhamad had come to him last April to be baptized in the name of Christ. Although Muhamad was baptized in front of the Pervaizs congregation, the baptism turned out to be a ploy by Muhamad to get more intelligence on how Pervaiz and his father were running their ministry.

Once Pervaiz entered the store on Dec. 23, he said, Muhamad approached him and said that Pervaiz needed to die because he is blasphemous.

He said that no one damaged Islam like [my family has] in the 72 years of in the history of Pakistan, he recalled.

After a verbal argument, Muhamad used his cell phone to call fellow Muslims to come to the store so they could attack Pervaiz. In little time, three of Muhamads colleagues arrived.

Without wasting any time, immediately they approached the shop while I was picking up the stuff from there, Pervaiz said. They started beating me very hard with the punches. They were like hungry lions. They jumped on me.

During the attack, the men pressed down hard on his spine and throat. But with the help of two Christian asylum seekers who entered the store and the elderly shopkeeper, Pervaiz escaped.

According to Pervaiz, the men chased him to his car. The car, he said, was gifted to him by a friend who was concerned that he needed a safe way to get around the city without being attacked.

As the men beat on the car, Pervaiz drove off. He said he kept driving until he was outside the city.

They brutally did their best to kill me, he stressed. I think my head bounty attracted that person.

After he fled, two of the Muslim men went to his parents house to harass and threaten the family.

They banged the door very [loudly] and they called my father to come out, Pervaiz explained. They said, You and your son, Faraz, we will kill you.'

Three of the men that attacked him in the grocery store are also registered with the United Nations as refugees, according to Pervaiz.

UNHCRs confidentiality policy does not allow the entity to comment or even confirm the existence of individual asylum cases.

Pervaiz was treated at a nearby hospital two days later. According to a medical document issued by the hospital that was obtained by CP, he was treated for an abrasion wound and contusion due to body assault.

Although he and his family have been registered with the UNHCR for years now, the family is no closer to being resettled to another country than they were five years ago. Meanwhile, other refugee families are being resettled at a much quicker rate, Pervaiz contended.

UNHCR, they never ever helped me to save me and my family, he said. The protection officer in the last conversation he said Your case is very complicated.

Pervaiz has reason to believe that a high-level Pakistani government official may have spoken negatively about him in communications to the UNHCR.

When he and his parents reached out to UNHCR to report the altercations on Dec. 23, not much help was offered from UNHCR except to suggest that the parents should move to a new residence for safety.

UNHCR also compelled Pervaiz to remove 474 videos he posted online that were critical of Islam and offensive to some Muslims, he said.

That is my identity. Where is my freedom of expression? he asked. Where is my liberty?

Pervaiz hasnt had much luck finding help from various international Christian ministries devoted to helping persecuted Christians.

There are many Christian groups where I feel like we are begging and they're ignoring, he said.

With his family in limbo, he continues to speak out publicly about his case in hopes it will produce better results for those in Pakistan whose blasphemy cases are ongoing.

I want to be their voice because their cases are scant like mine, he said.

Despite the trials and tribulations, Pervaiz still holds hope that his familys situation will improve.

I believe when the Christian world reads this article and pray, God will make a way for me  as He did with the Israelites in the time of Exodus, he stated. I believe something is going to happen. We believe in miracles. God is going to do it in Jesus name.
As soon as she announced she wasn't contesting last summer's European elections the speculation began that Marian Harkin was seeking another run at the Dail.

The former Mercy College school teacher, who will be 67 in November, created quite a shock in 2002 when elected as in an Independent candidate before turning her back on domestic politics and devoting her attention to the European Parliament were she has been an MEP from 2004 to 2019.

Europe always proved to be a strong calling for her, first contesting the 1999 election, losting on on that occasion but making up for it in 2004.

The Ballintogher native resigned her Dail seat at the 2007 general election and was re-elected to Europe in 2009 and 2014. She is now attempting to turn back the clock to 2002 in many respects and seek the electorate of Sligo/Leitrim to return her to the Dail after a 13 year absence. Much has changed in Ireland in respect of social issues during her time away in Brussels.

A more liberal, secular and tolerant Irish society is emerging evidenced by the passing of the Marriage Referendum in 2015, laws allowing for abortion in 2018 and a divorce referendum in 2019, all won by very clear majority of the electorate.

Harkin doesn't address these issues in her statement of declaration to run for the Dail but already there's been social media commentary from those involved in the aforementioned campaigns that Harkin is staunchly anti-choice.

During her 2009 Euro campaign she declared: "I am and always have been a prolife person", she said. It remains to be seen where her views sit now with an electorate, particulary women, increasingly disillusioned about the role of the Catholic Church in their lives.

Harkin does say that she has become increasingly concerned at the unbalanced nature of the allocation of national resources to regions such as the North West and the widening gap between urban and rural development.

"I first represented the Sligo/Leitrim constituency from 2002 to 2007 having mounted a political challenge as an extension of my work in the community/voluntary sector where I was determinedly focussed on the lack of delivery to this area", she said.

"The government's latest plan - Project Ireland 2040 has a core vision, it says that 'it prioritises the well-being of all of our people, wherever they live and whatever their background', she said. "This was exactly the kind of bland promise made by governments 20 years ago, but they failed to commit the necessary resources to deliver on this promise," she says.

If successful, she says she will work with like-minded politicians to demand long promised balanced regional development. "I believe there is a real opportunity for an Independent, either as an individual or part of an independent grouping in the Dail, to significantly influence the policy of the next Government in relation to regional and rural issues."

"As a member of Dail Eireann and of the European Parliament my work record stands on its own merit and if elected, I will bring the same commitment and dedication, along with my considerable experience to representing the people of the constituency," she said.
Democrats seeking to remove United States President Donald Trump from office via impeachment wrapped up three days of opening arguments late on Friday, urging Republicans to allow witnesses and new evidence to be part of the Senate trial.

Give America a fair trial, said Adam Schiff, the House of Representatives lead manager, at the end of his closing arguments before the Senate.

She is worth it, he added.

Over three often-gruelling days of argument, the Democratic managers from the House of Representatives attempted to persuade members of the US Senate, who will ultimately decide Trumps fate, that the president is an out-of-control autocrat willing to sacrifice his countrys national interest to further his own political ambitions.

Trump was impeached on December 18 for abuse of power related to his dealings with Ukraine and obstruction of Congress for refusing to participate in the House impeachment inquiry. He has denied any wrongdoing and repeatedly called the impeachment a witch-hunt.

As the trial enters a new phase on Saturday with Trumps defence team taking the podium, here is a look at how the House managers opening arguments unfolded:

Day 1

During the first hours of opening arguments on Tuesday, Schiff used video clips, along with screengrabs of text messages and emails, to construct a timeline of how Trump withheld nearly $400m in military aid to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into announcing an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and the origins of foreign interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

Lead manager House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff speaking during the continuation of opening arguments on the third day of the Senate impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump [US Senate TV/Handout via Reuters]

Schiff urged the senators to allow for testimony from witnesses, among them former National Security Advisor John Bolton and acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, and for new evidence to be introduced during the proceedings  a prospect that the Republican majority resisted the previous day. Schiff said it was incumbent upon lawmakers to learn the whole story because the truth is going to come out.

More emails are going to come out, Schiff said. More witnesses are going to come forward. Theyre going to have more relevant information to share. And the only question is, do you want to hear it now? Do you want to know the full truth?

Day 2

On the second day of their opening arguments, House managers honed in on the question of whether an actual crime has to be committed before a president can be impeached and on whether Bidens actions in Ukraine justified the Trump administrations demands for an investigation.

Anticipating what is almost certain to be a central tenet of the Trump defence, the Democrats teed up a number of videotaped comments from constitutional scholars and even Trump supporters  Attorney General William Barr and Trump defence team lawyer Alan Dershowitz among them  stating in the past that a statutory crime was not a prerequisite of impeachment.

Impeachment is not a punishment for crimes, New York Democrat Jerrold Nadler told the body. Impeachment exists to address threats to the political system.

In attempting to justify the first article of impeachment, that Trump abused his power, Nadler cited what he called a trifecta of high crimes and misdemeanours by Trump  abuse of his office to solicit election interference, betrayal of US national security interests and the intent to corrupt the 2020 presidential election.

Nadler and his colleagues also spent a fair part of the day arguing that there was no evidence the Bidens acted improperly in Ukraine  pre-empting another likely argument from the presidents defence team. They argued that Biden was carrying out official US anti-corruption policies when he sought the dismissal of Ukraines top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin. Trump, they said, only became interested in Ukrainian corruption after Biden announced that he was running for president in 2020.

There was no basis for the investigation that the president was pursuing and pushing. None. He was doing it only for his own political benefit, US Representative Sylvia Garcia said.

During a break in the proceedings on Thursday, Republicans said the House managers may live to regret dwelling on Bidens role in the affair. Trumps lawyer said that by doing so they made Biden a relevant subject for the rest of the trial.

They opened the door. They opened the door and its now relevant, Jay Sekulow, a personal lawyer for the president and a member of his defence team, told reporters. So we will address the appropriate issues as defence lawyers would.

Trumps personal lawyer Jay Sekulow speaks to the media during a break in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, [Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo] Trumps personal lawyer Jay Sekulow speaks to the media during a break in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, [Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo]

As the second day wore on, the hours appeared to take their toll on the senators in the chamber. There were more and more empty seats as legislators traipsed back and forth to the cloakrooms and noted that some senators were seen reading books or dozing at their desks.

Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trumps most ardent supporters, described the proceedings as mind-numbing. The Democrats, he said, were over-trying their case.

Day 3

During their final day of arguments on Friday, the Democrats made the case for the second article of impeachment  obstruction of Congress. House leaders said the president repeatedly stonewalled congressional committees during their investigation, and that he would continue to do so unless brought to heel by the Senate.

In this artist sketch, Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders, flanked by Senator Ben Cardin and Senator Tammy Baldwin, listens during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump [Dana Verkouteren/AP Photo]

Merely exposing the presidents scheme has not stopped him from continuing his destructive pattern of behaviour that has brought us to this sombre moment, Schiff said. He is who he is. That will not change. And nor will the danger associated with him. Every piece of evidence supports that terrible conclusion. That the president of the United States will abuse his power again.

Whats next?

Trumps defence team, led by White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, are expected to begin their efforts to exonerate the president during a shortened session on Saturday and continue on Monday and Tuesday next week. The team will have 24 hours in total to make its case, the same amount of time allotted to the Democrats.

Co-counsel Jay Sekulow described the Saturday hearing as a preview of things to come next week.

We have three hours to put it out, so well take whatever time is appropriate during that three hours to kind of lay out what the case will look like, Sekulow told reporters during a break in Fridays proceedings. But next week is when you see the full presentation.

For his part, Trump has taken to his favourite social media platform repeatedly throughout the trial, labelling the impeachment a hoax and railing against House managers.
New Delhi:

Joining Punjab and Kerala, Rajasthan on Saturday became the third state to pass a resolution against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). During the proceedings in Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot urged PM Modi-led centre to repeal the CAA. Meanwhile, several BJP leaders entered the well of Legislative Assembly and shouted slogans in favour of the CAA.

According to a report of NDTV, the resolution says, The CAA that has been enacted by the parliament recently is aimed at distinguishing illegal migrants on the basis of religion. Such discrimination of people on the grounds of religion is not in consonance with the secular ideas enshrined in the Constitution and is clearly violative of the Article 14.

"This is the first time in the history of the country that a law has been enacted which discriminates people on religious grounds. It is for this reason that the CAA has caused deep anguish and widespread protest all over the country," it adds.

It is to be noted that Kerala was the first state to pass a resolution against CAA, followed by Punjab. As per media reports, a special session of the West Bengal Assembly has been called on January 27 to pass a resolution to scrap the CAA.

Also Read: Bhima Koregaon Case: NIA Takes Over Probe, Maharashtra Govt Alleges BJP Conspiracy

According to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 and face religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

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Taiwan aware of Chinese fighters flying close to its territory: MND

ROC Central News Agency

01/23/2020 05:14 PM

Taipei, Jan. 23 (CNA) Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) said it was closely monitoring military activity by China on Thursday, when several Chinese fighter jets flew over the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan.

The Chinese military was conducting long-haul training, using its Xian H-6 bombers and KJ-500 early warning and control aircraft, the MND said.

On Thursday morning, the military aircraft flew close to Taiwan's southern coast, into the western Pacific, and then returned to China on the same flight path, the MND said.

The MND said it was fully aware of the situation and was following it closely.

Lin Ying-yu (), an assistant professor at National Chung Cheng University's Institute of Strategic and International Affairs, told CNA that the action on Thursday most likely meant China was resuming its routine long-haul training, since Taiwan's presidential and legislative elections were now over.

There is a possibility, however, that Beijing is attempting to divert attention away from the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in its territories, Lin said.

(By Wang Cheng-chung and Lee Hsin-Yin)

Enditem/pc

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- A former commander of a Mexican federal police unit that worked hand-in-glove with US agents fighting drugs cartels has been indicted in New York on drugs trafficking charges, US prosecutors said Friday.

Ivan Reyes Arzate was indicted by a grand jury in Brooklyn on Thursday with three counts of conspiracy to bring cocaine into the United States between September and November 2016.

The charges carry a minimum 10-year sentence if convicted, with a maximum penalty of life behind bars.

Reyes Arzate, who is being held in a New York prison, appeared before a federal judge on Friday and pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The judge agreed with the prosecution and ordered him to remain in custody, citing the danger of him trying to flee the country for Mexico.

Reyes Arzate had been chief of the Sensitive Investigative Unit, or SIU, between 2008 and 2016, acting as a key pointman between the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Mexico's security forces.

US prosecutors accused him of having "abused his position by providing assistance to Mexican drug cartels in exchange for at least hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes."



That assistance included "providing protection for ... drug trafficking activities" of some of Mexico's most notorious cartels, including the Beltran Leyva Organization, known for its extreme violence.

The SIU works alongside Mexico police forces and DEA agents to counter drugs trafficking, money laundering and other crimes linked to the powerful cartels. The unit's members receive training at the DEA headquarters in the United States and are kept informed of US operations underway in Mexico.

But while he was working alongside the DEA, Reyes Arzate was also passing information to the Beltran Leyva Organization and another cartel known as El



Seguimiento 39, as well as other criminal gangs, US prosecutors charged.

"With the defendant's corrupt assistance, these cartels conducted their criminal activity in Mexico without significant interference from Mexican law enforcement, and imported multi-ton quantities of cocaine and other drugs into the United States," prosecutor Richard Donaghue said.

Reyes Arzate turned himself in to authorities in Chicago in 2018 after being accused of passing on sensitive information about US investigations to Mexican drugs cartels.

He was sentenced that same year in Chicago to 40 months in jail, and was due to be released on January 27 and deported to Mexico, the prison service said. But on Thursday a grand jury in New York levelled fresh charges against him of conspiracy to smuggle drugs into the United States.

The prosecution has called for his case to be heard by Judge Brian Cogan, who oversaw the trial of Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Cogan is also due to preside over the trial of Mexico's ex-public security chief Genaro Garcia Luna, who was arrested in Texas last month for allegedly taking millions in bribes to help the crime boss smuggle drugs into the United States.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)


(Photo: The Ultimate Guide to Travel to Riviera Maya, Mexico)

Knowing the beaches of Cancun and the Riviera Maya has a very big disadvantage: you will not be dazzled by any other beach in the world.

The first time I saw the turquoise blue sea of Cancun I was 13 years old. Before, I had only seen the beaches of the Mexican Pacific... there is no comparison; this is true paradise.

To many, the Riviera Maya can seem like a luxurious and very expensive destination, especially if you have seen in magazines the huge and exclusive resorts where famous personalities stay.

But the reality is that there is something for every taste and pocket, and here we will give you the best tips for traveling to the Riviera Maya on a budget.

When is the best season to travel to Cancun and the Riviera Maya

To find the best prices you have to travel in the low season. Both airplane tickets, hotel rates and tours will be much cheaper. With this you will also avoid large concentrations of tourists.

The best periods to find cheap rates in Cancun and the Riviera Maya are:

Mid-January and all of February

During May and mid June

From the beginning of September to the beginning of December.

The hottest and most humid period is from July to September; June is the rainiest month; and during the months of November to February it is usually a little cold and very windy. But in general, Cancun and the Riviera Maya have an excellent climate to enjoy their beaches.

Buy your plane ticket in advance and during a promotion. The latter is super important, as sometimes buying the flight well in advance does not guarantee the best price. Always look for the offers of the airlines

How to get around cheaply in the Riviera Maya

Photo by Jianna Huang on Unsplash

In the Riviera Maya there is a lot to see and do and to make it worth your while you have to move around a lot. The transportation issue will not be a problem, as there is public transportation, taxis, buses... they come and go from one place to another, and they will drop you off right where you need to go.

From the Airport

When you arrive at the airport in Cancun you are offered a variety of ways to get to your hotel. The most expensive would be to take a taxi (excessively expensive). The two best options for getting around the Riviera Maya are renting a car and using private transportation, both of which may seem expensive at first, but you should book in advance.

Transportation from Cancun Airport

This service has many benefits, it is easy to book in advance, it is very comfortable and safe, and you will not have to worry about anything else but enjoying the trip.

Book online in advance, I recommend you to book your transportation with eTransfers, it has excellent reviews on TripAdvisor, and phone attention with English speaking operators, book your Cancun to Playa del Carmen Shuttle with eTransfers.

Rent a car in Cancun

The most comfortable and practical way to tour the Riviera Maya is to rent a car. A great advantage is that you can rent it in Cancun and return it in another city, besides this area of the country has very good roads well signposted and safe.

If you go with several friends and they share the cost of renting and gasoline, this option is ideal for you.

If you book it online you will find better prices, you can find very cheap cars by booking in advance your Car Rental Cancun by City Car Rental, remember to guarantee it to ensure availability.

Where to eat cheaply in the Riviera Maya

Photo by Josh Hammond on Unsplash

In Cancun and the Riviera Maya life is a little more expensive than in the rest of the country. When I go to visit my family in Michoacan, I am surprised at how much food I can buy with 100 pesos. But in the Caribbean, even the tacos at the corner stand are more expensive than in the rest of Mexico. But let's not be alarmed, there is always an option to take care of our pockets.

Restaurants

The most exclusive restaurants are located in the hotel zone of Cancun, but sometimes you only have to go a couple of blocks away from the most touristic areas to find a restaurant with affordable prices.

On 5th Avenue in Playa del Carmen there are a great number of restaurants, and some for small budgets: you can find pizza, tacos and quesadillas places.

Also if you walk to 10th Avenue, you will find even more restaurants, taquerias and fondas. To find even more affordable prices, you have to go to the area known as the "Ejido", which is on the other side of the federal highway.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Elsa Pataky and her husband Chris Hemsworth made the move from Hollywood to Byron Bay back in 2014.

And now the Spanish actress has opened up about her perfect life Down Under as she covers February's issue of Vogue Australia.

The 43-year-old, who shares three children - daughter India Rose, seven, and twin sons Sasha and Tristan, five - with Chris, said her old life in Tinseltown was 'consuming'.

'I changed my life to be a mum': Elsa Pataky opens up about her perfect life in Australia's Byron Bay in the February issue of Vogue Australia

She said: 'I feel Hollywood consumes you in such a way that it feels like work all the time. I think when youre in it you dont even realise but when you get out, it changes everything.'

Elsa said that she had always dreamed of raising her children in nature, and admits that she had to compromise her passion for acting to fulfill her dream.

'But I changed my life to be a mum, which I think is just the most amazing thing in the world... I wanted to pick my kids up, I wanted to take them to school, I wanted to be part of the school and be involved in what they do,' she said.

Motherhood: 'I changed my life to be a mum, which I think is just the most amazing thing in the world,' she said. (Elsa pictured with the family dog Sunny)

Life in Byron Bay has also allowed for her to have a farm with horses, which she regularly rides with daughter India.

She said: 'When we were trying to find a property, I had to have a place where I could have horses and my kids could be with them and enjoy that, too.'

With six years of living in the quiet community, the mother-of-three told the publication that she feels 'privileged' to enjoy such a beautiful life.

Living the dream: Elsa and Chris recently moved into their $20million 'mega mansion' in Byron Bay before Christmas

This comes after Elsa and Chris recently moved into their $20million 'mega mansion' in Byron Bay before Christmas.

Chris spent two years renovating the property, which he had previously bought for $7million back in 2014.

The February issue of Vogue Australia with Elsa Pataky and her children on the cover will hit stands on Monday
November 14 is when the last episode of Grey's Anatomy featuring Justin Chambers as Alex Karev aired. The series has featured Justin Chambers for sixteen long years, and it's a terrible shock to fans everywhere to hear that he's leaving. After all, Alex and Meredith are the only original interns left on the show.

The original set of interns were: Meredith, George, Cristina, Alex and Izzie. Over the years it's slowly dwindled down until it was just Meredith and Alex... Now I guess it's just Meredith.

Related:

Justin Chambers Exiting 'Grey's Anatomy' After 16 Seasons

Now, he's not the first main cast member to leave the medical soap, and all of the fans have gotten used to saying goodbye, but it'll be surreal to see a season of Grey's without Alex, nonetheless.

Fans have said goodbye to some favorites, such as:

Derek, Cristina, George, Izzie, Callie, Arizona, April and more.

But what's odd to the fans is that there was not a satisfying sendoff, or a death... Alex just vanishes! It is implied that he was visiting his mother, but there was no indication of returning.

Here are some of my favorite "Evil Spawn" moments.

In season one, Alex truly earned the nickname "Evil Spawn", from talking badly to nurses to posting photos of Izzie's lingerie shoot around the entire hospital. However he had endearing moments too, such as when Cristina and him competed to see who could deliver the most test results; all the while dodging hugs from patients.

And of course, we can't forget that Alex gave George syphilis. No, they didn't have sex, but Alex slept with Olivie prior to Olivia and George's relationship and well... wear condoms, kids.

Alex Karev was never a static character; he changed constantly throughout the course of the show. In sixteen seasons, Karev has had many relationships but only two were long-term--those were with Izzie and Jo. During these relationships you truly see Alex change, one relationship he's idolizing a woman with cancer, and trying to make her life better. In the other, he's truly found his match and begins to change for her.

Story continues

Ugh, and of course we can't forget the Alex/Rebecca storyline. Alex found a ferry boat victim who did not remember her name, or claimed not too when it later came back to her. He tried his hardest to take care of Rebecca, who was not mentally stable. He believed he could care for her because he cared about her--and she reminded him a lot of his mother, who he had spent his childhood taking care of.

Or that time he sang to a girl who was nervous and calmed around music, but could not take her iPod into the machine with her.

Honestly, he's amazing and there's so much more to him than being just "Evil Spawn".
chief alleged on Saturday that the Union government transferred the probe of the Koregaon-Bhima violence case to the fearing that fresh investigation by the Maharashtra government would expose dubious actions of the previous BJP-led dispensation.

The Union home ministry transferred the probe to the Investigation Agency soon after the Shiv Sena-NCP- Congress government took some steps to go to the root of the case, Pawar claimed.

Speaking to reporters here, Pawar noted the case was transferred to the central agency days after he wrote to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, alleging that the violence was the result of a conspiracy hatched by the then BJP-led government with the help of police, and sought an SIT probe.

"The deputy chief minister (Ajit Pawar) and home minister (Anil Deshmukh) called a meeting (of police officials) to know the factual position. But within four-five hours of that, the Centre handed over the probe to its agency," Pawar claimed.

While the Union government has got some additional rights (to transfer a case) under the Act, law and order is a state subject, the chief noted.

He also questioned the reason for handing over the case to the "in a hurry".

"It shows there is substance in the allegation that some officials misused powers to arrest people, including innocent ones," the former Union minister said.

"I think this (fresh probe by the state) would have exposed (the earlier government) and to avoid that this has been done," Pawar said, terming the Union home ministry's action as dubious.

The president also questioned the branding of Left-leaning activists arrested in connection with the case as 'Maoists'. Then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had not mentioned any Maoist connection when he spoke about the Koregaon-Bhima violence in the Assembly, Pawar claimed.

Pawar also asked the state government to probe "behavior" of the police officers who probed the case even though the matter has been transferred to the NIA now.

Shiv Sena leader Deepak Kesarkar, a minister of state for home in the Fadnavis-led government, had said on Friday that there was evidence against the arrested activists.

Pawar said he disagreed with Kesarkar. He did not know how much information was shared with Kesarkar when he was a minister of state, he added.

"The minister of state for home does not have as much powers as a (cabinet) minister," he said.

According to Pune police, the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, was supported by Maoists and inflammatory speeches made at the event led to the caste violence at the Koregaon Bhima war memorial in the district the next day.

During the course of the probe into the violence, the police arrested activists Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Varavara Rao for alleged Maoist links.
South Chicago Dance Theatre concludes the evening with an excerpt from director Kia Smiths Dancing Beyond the Borderline: An Immersive Performance Experience. In only three seasons, Smiths tireless efforts have resulted in remarkable growth for this company. And theres a lot to admire, with a strong cast of dancers, compositional integrity and a contemporary dance vibe infused with various hip-hop and social dance vernaculars. Big swaths of this piece are devoted to exploring that movement vocabulary, much of which is set to a mostly unintelligible voiceover about identity. Excerpts can be tricky. Had we gotten to see the whole thing, the overarching theme of the piece, purportedly about Smiths family history in the context of the Great Migration, might have been clearer. That sounds fascinating, but in this context, is neither immersive, nor a performance experience Im likely to remember.
The explosion happened about 4:30 a.m. inside a building at Watson Grinding and Manufacturing, which makes valves and provides thermal-spray coatings for equipment in various industries, authorities said. The building was reduced to burning rubble and debris, and some of the surrounding buildings suffered heavy damage to parts of their walls and roofs.
The new coronavirus could infect more than 250,000 in the Chinese city of Wuhan alone by early February, according to a new study by researchers.

The study, done by biostatistical researchers in the UK and the United States and released on Jan. 24, projects a drastic escalation of the viral outbreak that has infected more than 900 people and killed 26 in China, with cases confirmed in several countries in Asia, as well as the United States and France.

If no change in control or transmission happens, then we expect further outbreaks to occur in other Chinese cities, and that infections will continue to be exported to international destinations at an increasing rate, it said.

Researchers said their model predicted that by Feb. 4, infections at the disease center in Wuhan will surge to 132,000 to 273,000 people. The central Chinese city, with a population of 11 million, has been put under lockdown in an effect to stem the spread of the virus. Transport lockdowns have also been imposed on 12 other cities in the region, affecting more than 30 million people.

The study, however, said the travel restrictions in Wuhan are unlikely to be effective in halting transmission across China.

With a 99 percent effective reduction in travel, the size of the epidemic outside of Wuhan may only be reduced by 24.9 percent on 4 February, it added.

The study projected that the largest outbreaks outside the epicenter would be in the cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chongqing, and Chengdu.

Researchers also predicted that the countries or regions at greatest risk of importing infections through air travel are Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea. Both Hong Kong and Thailand have five confirmed cases, Taiwan has three, while Japan and South Korea each have two confirmed patients with the virus.

The United States on Jan. 24 confirmed its second coronavirus case in Chicago, with the first confirmed case reported in Washington state on Tuesday. More than 60 patients are currently being investigated in 22 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Jan. 24.

Meanwhile, France became the first European country to detect the disease, confirming two patients tested positive to the novel coronavirus.

Earlier on Jan. 24, researchers in Wuhan said that infected patients have presented new non-respiratory related symptoms, such as diarrhea, chest pains, and headaches, suggesting that the virus may be harder to identify than initially thought.

Official description of the symptoms of the virus is currently limited to fever and respiratory issues such as coughing and breathing difficulties.

From The Epoch Times
This story will be updated.

A second confirmed U.S. infection of a new viral respiratory illness was reported in Illinois and up to 63 cases are suspected across the country, news agencies reported Friday.

US state and national health officials on Friday announced steps to confront the global spread of a novel coronavirus that emerged in China last month. Meanwhile, France confirmed threevcases of the deadly new virus from China, the first reports in Europe.

The death toll in China reached 41 on Friday. Hundreds of cases of the illness have been confirmed in China since an outbreak began last month in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some of which cause the common cold. Others have evolved into more severe illnesses, such as SARS and MERS, although so far the new virus does not appear to be nearly as deadly or contagious.

WHAT'S NEW TODAY

 The number of confirmed cases rose to 830. Twenty-six people have died, including the first two deaths outside Hubei.

 After Wuhan halted all outbound flights, trains, buses and ferries on Thursday, 12 other cities in the central province of Hubei followed suit, with a combined population of more than 36 million now under lockdown.

 Wuhan is swiftly building a 1,000-bed hospital dedicated to the disease. The prefabricated structure, slated for completion Feb. 3, is modeled after the Xiaotangshan SARS hospital in Beijing. The SARS hospital was built from scratch in 2003 and featured individual isolation units that looked like rows of tiny cabins.

- The new virus claimed its youngest victim. A 36-year-old man in Hubei was admitted to the hospital earlier this month after suffering from fever for three days. He died following a sudden cardiac arrest on Jan. 23.

 South Korea and Japan both detected their second cases, and Singapore two more for a total of three.

 Hospitals in Wuhan are grappling with a flood of patients and a lack of supplies. At least eight hospitals in Wuhan issued public calls for donations of masks, goggles, gowns and other protective medical gear, according to notices online.

Read on for more detailed coverage.

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Portland Public Schools posted its highest graduation rates in a decade in 2019. At 81%, the four-year completion rate for the districts high school students rose 1 percentage over 2018.

But new data published by the Oregon Department of Education shows the latest results are a mixed bag for the states largest district  even as overall rates improved, a handful of schools saw major dips as advances for some underserved student groups essentially flatlined.

Here are four takeaways from the data, in seven charts:

>> Portland Public Schools is outpacing the state in overall graduation rates, but Oregon is catching up

Oregons largest school district has largely trended above the state average in overall graduation rates since 2014.

Portland Public Schools has seen a four-year increase of about 7points since the state adopted its current definition of graduation, which considers students to be on-time graduates if they earn a regular or modified diploma within four years of entering high school.

Over the same time, the state average increased by about 6 points. However, over the past two years, the statewide rate has risen a bit more than 3 percentage points, while Portlands rose only about 2 1/2 points.

Officials in both Portland and at the state level find themselves grappling with large gaps in the graduation rate between underserved communities and the rest of the student body.

>> Both Portland and the state have shown little progress in closing the gap between black students graduating and their peers

Over the last three years, the Portland district has increased the percentage of black students graduating by 5 points. The state, meanwhile, has seen an increase of 4 percentage points in its black graduation rate.

But both Portland Public Schools and Oregon overall have seen a persistent gap between black students graduating and their white peers. In Portland, that gap has averaged around 12 percentage points on average. Statewide, that number is closer to 10.

There is one Portland school thats outpaced both the district and state average in those gains: Jefferson High. The North Portland school, which became a college-credit-oriented magnet school that graduated its first class in 2012, posted black graduation rates above 90% for the classes of 2015, 2017 and 2019. The class of 15 was the first to spend all four years at Jefferson under the college magnet model.

Regional Superintendent Joe LaFountaine credits Jeffersons emphasis on gaining college credits for those gains. The schools close proximity to Portland Community Colleges Cascades campus allows Jefferson students to dual enroll and earn credits that can then transfer to a college or university.

LaFountaine said it helps that the schools staff and faculty are familiar with their students, in part because with about 600 students, the school is one-third as big as the districts largest comprehensive schools. Adults in the building form relationships with students that help them spot when they may be falling through the cracks.

One of the keys to that is by doing that by name. What were trying to do is address those students by name and try to find out what they need and desire, LaFountaine said.

>> Oregon is consistently making gains with Latinos while Portland has plateaued

Over the last four years, Portlands graduation rates for Latinos have risen from 65% to 72%. But since 2017, the district seems to have hit a wall  the Latino graduation rate has only grown incrementally since then, less than 1 percentage point per year.

Latinos represent just under 18% of the districts class of 2019.

Meanwhile, the state has seen gains in its Latino graduation rates every year since 2015. Oregon districts on average had a 5 percentage point gap between their white and Latino graduation rates for the classes of 2018 and 2019.

Portland Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero in 2019 said the district would implement culturally responsive programs to help boost Latino graduation. The percentage of Latino students graduating ticked upward less than 1 percentage point since then.

Administrators in McMinnville have had success with Spanish speakers who enter the school system with little or no fluency in English, leaning on educators with a proven ability to carve a path to proficiency for those students. The district also offers Latinos opportunities in nursing programs through a partnership with Willamette Valley Medical Center.

>> New principals in Portland Public Schools have their work cut out for them

Four Portland high schools had a new principal to start the 2019-20 academic year. And only one of those schools posted an increase in graduation rates from 2018: Roosevelt.

At Cleveland, Madison and Wilson high schools, graduation rates dipped by between 3 and 4 percentage points. LaFountaine pointed to administrative churn as a potential factor at two of those schools.

Cleveland is on its fourth principal in six years. Wilson is on its third top administrator in as many years. Filip Hristic, who took the helm at the Southwest Portland school in August, was previously posted at Roosevelt, which saw an 11-point increase in its graduation rate from 2015 to 2019.

Hristic said he tries to home in on inequalities, which he said exist at every school hes worked in. At Roosevelt, he and his staff were constantly looking for students who havent experienced success in school to offer support so they might walk across the graduation stage.

Hristic, who lives in Southwest Portland and has children attending schools that feed into Wilson, said he plans to implement the same strategy at his new post.

With every decision we make, we are asking ourselves: What do our students need? Hristic said.
BLACKSBURG  Insects do all sorts of acrobatics, buzzing about flowers or creeping along the undersides of leaves.

But until recently, nobody paid much mind to how gravity affects their tiny bodies.

Now scientists  including researchers at Virginia Tech  have discovered that the orientation of an insects body affects its breathing and heart rate in much the same way it does in humans.

Humans, when we stand up quickly, sometimes you feel dizzy, said Jon Harrison, an environmental physiologist at Arizona State University and a lead author of the study published last week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Because not enough oxygen is getting to the brain, the heart speeds up to pump more blood to the head.

We were able to show that grasshoppers do the same thing, Harrison said.

The discovery could quicken the pace of research on human health, as it relates to gravitational effects on respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Since insects have a different way of breathing and circulating blood than do humans, the similar responses to gravity were surprising.

Jake Socha, a professor in biomedical engineering and mechanics at Tech, said the initial finding was by accident.

Back in 2011, the team was using X-rays at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois to see inside grasshoppers respiratory systems. Insects breathe through tiny holes throughout their body. In grasshoppers, air sacs in the head and rear, connected by a series of pipes, act as the equivalent of tiny lungs.

Researchers were trying to find out the effects of anesthetics, Harrison recalled.

We were failing, he said. We were having a hard time finding a dosage of anesthetic that would put the insect to sleep and not kill it. When a grasshopper that happened to be positioned head-up died, Harrison recalled, we noticed the air sac in the head expanding right in front of our eyes.

Over several years, further experiments found the same gravitational effects. Regardless of the grasshoppers position, the air sac on top was inflated and the one below was compressed, because of the differences in blood pressure. Since the animals are so small, scientists didnt expect to see such a difference in pressure between those two poles.

Thats really weird, Socha said. It was suggesting to us that that little change in pressure was enough to influence the status of those air sacs.

That difference was especially acute when the grasshoppers were put to sleep.

Now heres whats weird. When you let the animal be itself ... then you dont see that, to the same degree, Socha said. You go, Oh the animals doing something to control those pressures.

Researchers found the same effects on the grasshoppers flow of blood, called hemolymph.

The blood is sloshing around this chamber like a can of soda, Socha said, describing how scientists had previously understood the inner workings of insects. If you imagine a can of Coke, and flip it over, you can calculate what the pressure would be, because its just a column of fluid.

But when researchers did the equivalent of that experiment on the insects  putting them head up or head down  Socha said, We didnt get that. Instead, heart rates decreased in the head-down position, much like how your heart rate slows down when doing a hand-stand.

The whole point is that lends more evidence to Oh, this animal is able to control its blood pressures, somehow, Socha said. The big question is how is it doing that? And we dont actually know.

Kendra Greenlee, a professor and chair of the biological sciences department at North Dakota State University, described the findings as really exciting.

I think this is a really good example of innovative research, said Greenlee, who has previously collaborated with Socha and Harrison but was not involved in the study. In general, we dont know very much about the insect heart and circulatory system, and I think this really opens it up to people to take another look.

Besides the potential benefit to biomedical research for humans, Harrison said, the finding is important for our understanding of insects.

It just goes to show how these [are] really fundamental things we dont know, Harrison said, which I think is one of the really fundamental lessons of science.

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In this series called Member Showcase, we publish interviews with members of The Oracles. This interview is with Kuda Biza, co-founder and CMO of Nunbelievable, co-founder of #ThisIsMyEra, and founder of the Amani Hope Foundation. It was condensed by The Oracles.

Who are you?

Kuda Biza: I build companies to solve the worlds biggest problems: education and hunger. My calling is to use business to impact lives.

My entrepreneurial journey began at 9 years old, cleaning my neighbors windows in Harare, Zimbabwe. In college, I launched a socially conscious clothing line with only $150, which has educated hundreds of African children. After college, I spent 10 years working for a Fortune 500 firm, bringing disruptive business opportunities to market and managing multimillion-dollar business lines. I also launched #ThisIsMyEra, a social enterprise focused on personal development.

Today, as co-founder and CMO of Nunbelievable, Im working with our customers to end the hunger crisis in a delicious way. Nearly 40 million Americans dont know where their next meal will come from. So, for every batch of cookies we sell, one of those Americans receives a meal.

Share an interesting fact about yourself that not many people would know.

Kuda Biza: I learned Arabic for a bracelet brand I launched in Saudi Arabia years ago. During a visit to Guatemala, I saw these beautiful handmade bracelets and wanted to bring them to the United States. But they already had a U.S. distributor, so I asked their CEO if I could open doors for them in Africa and the Middle East.

My intern was from Saudi Arabia, so I bought 400 bracelets, and he moved home to sell them. In less than 48 hours, we sold every last bracelet at a bazaar. Thats when we knew we were on to something big. A few months later, we opened a store in the largest mall in Jeddah.

What excites you the most about your business right now?

Kuda Biza: Our goal is to donate 1 million meals by 2022. After working in corporate roles with no clear social mission, nothing excites me more than combating hunger. Nunbelievable serves a higher purpose and is truly changing lives. Im also thrilled to see more consumers become socially conscious and choose brands that have a heart.

What did you learn from your favorite mentor?

Kuda Biza: In 2016, I briefly met Strive Masiyiwa, a fellow Zimbabwean entrepreneur and chairman of Econet. Since then, I have garnered many life and business lessons simply by following his Facebook page.

He is an excellent example of how to use the power of business to impact society through philanthropic efforts. The most significant lesson he taught me is this: If you want to succeed as an entrepreneur, identify a human need and reach out to solve it in a sustainable way. I have applied this to all my social ventures.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Kuda Biza: I would add to this quote from Mark Twain: The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. Theres a third important day: every day that you act on that why. When you take substantial action early and often, you benefit from the compound effect of those actions, similar to compound interest. The more action you take, the more you benefit.

I would also tell my younger self to stop procrastinating. Lost opportunities will never return. Define Now as No Opportunity Wasted. So, to my younger self: Take massive action, and ensure that there is no opportunity wasted.

How do you define great leadership?

Kuda Biza: They lead by example. Great leaders are also excellent communicators who listen to understand, not to reply. They clearly convey their ideas and vision.

They also inspire, motivate, and empower others to do great things. The ultimate litmus test that sets great leaders apart is their ability to create other leaders.

How do you evaluate a good business deal?

Kuda Biza: In a good business deal, all parties win. Everyone must benefit. The terms also have to align with the value that each party brings to the table, negotiated in good faith.

I also look at the outcome. Will the deal positively transform lives? The primary role of business and entrepreneurship is to solve problems and improve lives.

Whats your daily routine for success?

Kuda Biza: Thanks to my boarding school days, I learned to be an early riser. I remember a teacher telling me, Win the morning, win the day. Thats now hard-wired in me. I wake up around 4 a.m. every day, even without an alarm.

My morning routine follows a version of Hal Elrods savers approach from his book, The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM). This includes silence, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, and scribing. I pray and study the Bible, go to the gym, plan my day, journal in my #ThisIsMyEra planner, and read my affirmations aloud. During my commute, I read a book or listen to a podcast. Im an intermittent faster, so I usually only drink water and a protein shake before my first meal around noon.

In the evening, I close the day by reflecting in my planner. I go to bed by 9 p.m., so I get at least seven hours of sleep.

If you ever start a charity, what would it be called and what would it do?

Kuda Biza: Across the world, 61 million primary-aged children arent enrolled in school. In many developing countries like Zimbabwe, public school isnt free, and most families live on less than $2 per day. Ive witnessed children being denied access to education because their families couldnt afford it.

This is unacceptable. So, I started the Amani Hope Foundation to empower underprivileged children across the world by providing scholarships, school supplies, and educational programs. Amani means peace in Swahili, and we aim to provide peace of mind and hope to those who need it most. So far, we have educated more than 100 children in Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Ghana and have donated thousands of school supplies.

What do you want to be known for, or what do you want your legacy to be?

Kuda Biza: I want to be known as someone who mastered the science of achievement and the art of fulfillment. Although its important to achieve success in all areas of life  including family, career, health, relationships, finances, and impact  success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure, says Tony Robbins.

So, I want my legacy to be about not only success, but also experiences, joy, giving, and fulfillment. This way, I hope to impact and inspire millions of lives.

Connect with Kuda on LinkedIn or visit his website.

The words and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee alone. What worked for them may not work for everyone. Any claims in this article have not been independently verified.

Related:

Why Not Being Confident Can Sometimes Be A Good Thing

Why Social Entrepreneur Kuda Biza Defines 'Now' as 'No Opportunity Wasted'

14 Famous Businesses That Launched With Less Than $10,000



Copyright 2020 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Saturday flagged off a cultural carnival here held as part of the weeklong celebrations that started on Meghalaya Statehood Day on January 21 and will culminate on Republic Day.

Addressing the gathering of participants, Sangma said, "We felt that it would be appropriate to connect Meghalaya Day and Republic Day by having a series of programmes that would bring out the patriotism and a strong feeling of being a Meghalayan and an Indian."



The chief minister took part in the carnival by walking along with cultural troupes and people from all walks of life.

He hoped that the celebrations will become bigger in the future.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
It is unclear whether Blackburn or her staff sent the tweet as it posted during oral arguments in the Senate impeachment trial, which bans members from using electronics. She tweeted again about Vindman at about 8 p.m. ET on Thursday.

Vindman, who received his Purple Heart after being injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq, told lawmakers in November that Trump's push for Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden on a July call was "inappropriate," and he knew "without hesitation" that he had to report it.

David Pressman -- Vindman's attorney and a former ambassador to the United Nations for special affairs -- slammed Blackburn's tweets in a statement.

"This difficult moment in our country calls for seriousness and seriousness of purpose. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman has sacrificed enormously for our country. He believes in our country. And he believes in our country's great institutions, including the United States Senate," Pressman said.

"That a member of the Senate -- at a moment when the Senate is undertaking its most solemn responsibility -- would choose to take to Twitter to spread slander about a member of the military is a testament to cowardice. While Senator Blackburn fires off defamatory tweets, Lieutenant Colonel Vindman will continue to do what he has always done: serve our country dutifully and with honor."
Man holds the flags while people take part in the 35th India Day Parade in New York

By Aditya Kalra and Neha Dasgupta

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The United States wants India to buy at least another $5-6 billion worth of American farm goods if New Delhi wants to win reinstatement of a key U.S. trade concession and seal a wider pact, four sources familiar with the talks told Reuters.

U.S. President Donald Trump cited trade barriers last year when removing India from its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme that allowed zero tariffs on $5.6 billion of exports to the United States. In retaliation, India slapped higher tariffs on more than two dozens U.S. products.

Ahead of a Trump visit to New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi next month, negotiators on both sides are hammering out terms for a trade deal that would include New Delhi rolling back higher tariffs on some farm goods such as almonds, walnuts and apples, one of the sources said.

Both governments had hoped to work out a limited trade deal last year, but struggled to reach an agreement.

India's commerce ministry and the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi did not respond to a request for comment. The office of the U.S. Trade Representative did not immediately respond outside regular business hours.

While India has offered partial relief on medical device price caps that have hurt American pharma giants and a roll-back in tariffs on some U.S. goods, Trump's team wants a sweetener of $5-6 billion in additional trade for U.S. goods to restore GSP privileges, three of the sources said.

That demand was conveyed by the United States to India in late December, said two sources.

As part of the negotiation, the U.S. wants India to increase imports of frozen poultry products, the first source said. The U.S. has already been pushing India to cut the high import taxes on poultry products.

"The deal has to be agriculture focused, the U.S. is putting a number on everything (if India wants GSP back)," said one of the sources.

The sources asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the discussions.

Story continues

Other than the agriculture sector, the United States could be swayed if some of that additional revenue goes to its energy sector, said one of the sources.

Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan this week said India was looking forward to extending its energy cooperation with the United States and other countries, but didn't disclose any planned deals.

Trump is likely to visit India in late February, in what would be his first visit to the South Asian nation since he took office three years ago.

SMALLER CHINA-TYPE DEAL

India and the United States have built close political and security ties, but in recent years trade frictions have come to the fore. Trump has often named India as one of the countries with the highest tariffs in the world.

Trump's administration has also been upset with India's decision to force foreign card networks to store more data locally and imposition of stringent e-commerce investment rules that impacted operations of Amazon.com Inc and Walmart's Flipkart.

A fifth Washington-based source with knowledge of the U.S. administration's thinking said a U.S.-India trade deal would be far smaller than one the United States struck with China this month, but will "look basically the same".

China this month agreed to increase purchases of U.S. products and services by at least $200 billion over the next two years in exchange for the rolling back of some tariffs, defusing an 18-month row that had hit global growth.

"It will be challenging for the U.S. to see a reasonable agreement with India ... without concessions on the trade gap. Given the recent deal with China, India has to follow suit," said Samir Kapadia of Washington-based lobbying and advisory firm, The Vogel Group.

Trade between United States and India stood at $142.6 billion in 2018, but Trump wants to reduce its $25.2 billion deficit with India.

India has also offered the United States a commitment to increase purchases of almonds and apples and scrap an import tariff of 50% levied on Harley-Davidson motorcycles, the first source said. Trump has publicly said India's high tariffs on such bikes was unacceptable.

India initially also offered to relax some tariffs on high-end U.S. technology products, but that is now off the table, said one of the sources.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra and Neha Dasgupta; Additional reporting by Alexandra Ulmer, Nidhi Verma; Editing by Euan Rocha and Toby Chopra)
In this Aug. 13, 2019 file photo, Louisiana Health Secretary Rebekah Gee answers questions from the joint House and Senate budget committee about new contract awards for the Medicaid managed care program in Baton Rouge, La. Gee, who launched the Democrat's Medicaid expansion program but faced repeated criticism from Republicans about her management of it, is leaving the Edwards administration as the governor begins his second term in office. Gee, a medical doctor who has led the Department of Health since 2016, is resigning from the position effective Jan. 31, the governor's office announced Monday, Jan. 6, 2020.
Residents of crisis-hit Wuhan at the centre of the deadly coronavirus outbreak have described scenes reminiscent of 'doomsday' as China locks down the capital as it to struggles to contain the disease that has already infected nearly 2,000 people.

In Wuhan, the epicentre of the emergency, 450 military medics were deployed to help treat patients in the central city, where a seafood and live animal market has been identified as the centre of the outbreak.

Police at a roadblock on the outskirts of Wuhan turned away cars trying to leave the virus-stricken city, as other anxious residents trapped inside spent the Lunar New Year stocking up on masks and medical supplies or in long hospital queues.

Authorities have prevented anyone from leaving Wuhan, the city of 11 million people at the heart of the viral outbreak which has so far infected 1,975 people and killed 56 others.

People waiting at one hospital in the city were angry and frustrated.

'It takes at least five hours to see a doctor,' one woman, who didn't want to be named, said.

Medical staff members wearing protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city, walk at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan

In a sign of the growing strain on Wuhan's health care system, the official Xinhua news agency reported that the city planned to build a second makeshift hospital with about 1,000 beds. The city previously announced that construction of a hospital of the same size was underway and expected to be completed February 3 (pictured, medics at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital)

The world's most populous country scrambled to contain the disease that has already infected nearly 1,300 people, building a second field hospital to relieve overwhelmed medical facilities and closing more travel routes as the country marked the Lunar New Year holiday (pictured, residents bulk buy supplies amid the outbreak)

One man in his 30s said some people had to queue for two days.

Another resident, Xiaoxi, 36, said she had spent the past week taking her sick husband from hospital to hospital in a desperate attempt to get him tested for the virus.

She told the South China Morning Post: 'I have nothing. No protective clothing, only a raincoat, and I am standing outside the hospital in the rain,' said the woman, who gave her name as Xiaoxi.

'I am desperate, I have lost count of time and days. I don't know if we will both live to see the new year.'

A steady trickle of cars were seen approaching the roadblocks around 12 miles east of the city centre on Saturday morning, only for police in fluorescent jackets wearing masks to tell them to turn around.

The barricade, at one of the tolls for highways exiting the city, was blocked with red and yellow plastic barriers and cones.

'Nobody can leave,' a policeman said.

A stray dog ran across the empty road in front of the roadblocks, which were shrouded in grey fog and drizzle.

Journalists reported only seeing two vehicles allowed to pass the roadblock, including a white van which an officer said was 'buying medicines' and would later return to the city.

Authorities extended transport bans to 17 other cities around Wuhan in a gargantuan effort to control the SARS-like virus, restricting travel for at least 56 million in Hubei province.

While there are restrictions on anyone leaving Wuhan, a few people were allowed to enter the city through the barricade, such as desperately needed medical workers whose holidays were cut short to help overwhelmed hospitals.

An empty bus was also allowed to pass the roadblock into Wuhan after showing documentation to the police at the roadblock.

Three young nurses who crossed the barrier on foot said they were going to two hospitals. Two of them were waiting for a friend to pick them up.

'We went to our hometowns for holidays before the ban on transportation, but because of the epidemic we have to come back quickly to Wuhan,' said one.

Dragging wheelie cases behind them, they were holding their coat hoods up against the rain.

'They need us to go there, otherwise they will be too exhausted,' another medical worker who didn't want to be named said.

It came as millions of Chinese people around the world ushered in the Lunar New Year, marking the start of the Year of the Rat. But in Wuhan, streets remained on lockdown.

Xiaoxi said that Lunar New Year's eve felt like 'doomsday' as there was nowhere for her and her sick husband to go in the city.

Wuhan authorities will race to build a second new hospital within a fortnight, state media reported, adding 1,300 new beds.

They have already begun building a new field hospital to deal with the outbreak, which state media said could be ready in just over a week.

Wuhan went one step further Saturday, announcing vehicle use including private cars would be banned in downtown areas starting after midnight, state media reported. Only authorized vehicles to carry supplies and for other needs would be permitted after that, the reports said (pictured, medics at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital)

The vast majority of the infections and all the deaths have been in mainland China, but fresh cases are popping up. Australia and Malaysia reported their first cases Saturday and Japan, its third. France confirmed three cases Friday, the first in Europe, and the U.S. identified its second, a woman in Chicago who had returned from China (pictured, medics at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital)

Official news agency Xinhua said the two new hospitals in Wuhan would be similar in size to the temporary facility that was built to tackle SARS in Beijing in 2003, when 650 people died from the disease in the mainland and Hong Kong.

The medics, who arrived on military aircraft late Friday, include doctors with experience combating SARS or Ebola and will be dispatched to hospitals that are reportedly short on beds due to a crush of infected patients and worried locals.

The country's most important celebration has been all but cancelled for at least 56 million people as authorities expanded travel bans across central Hubei province to try and contain the spread of the virus.

On the eastern outskirts of Wuhan, police manning a roadblock turned away a handful of vehicles trying to exit the city.

'Nobody can leave,' an officer said.

But the police allowed some medical workers who had gone home for the holidays to re-enter the city to help at crowded hospitals.

'They need us to go there, otherwise they will be too exhausted,' said one of the women, pulling a suitcase.

The government says most of the cases have been in Hubei and most of the deaths involved people who already suffered pre-existing health conditions.

Underscoring fears that the virus could spread further, Beijing will suspend long-distance bus service entering and leaving the capital of 20 million people from Sunday due to 'requirements of epidemic prevention and control,' the official People's Daily newspaper reported.

The National Health Commission also ordered nationwide measures to detect and isolate people carrying the virus on planes, trains and buses across the country.

Distressing video has emerged showing a doctor collapsing on the floor as footage revealed the full scale of panic inside Wuhan hospitals, with crowded corridors and patients slumped on the floor. Video shows staff shouting at patients to calm themselves as medics desperately try to contain the situation. Some workers are reported to be wearing diapers as they don't have time to use the toilet amid the panic

Xinhua said Saturday that temperature screening checkpoints have been set up in 387 railway stations across the country.

Meanwhile, tourists from Hubei in Haikou, capital of the island province of Hainan, were told by the city government they had to spend 14 days in a hotel for centralised medical observation, and were forbidden to leave.

Foreign citizens were set to be evacuated from the virus-hit Wuhan within the next few days.

Residents in Wuhan were stocking up on masks, gloves and disinfectant.

'Everyone is just trying to protect themselves,' said a man in a surgical mask at a busy pharmacy.

But the man expressed confidence in the Communist authorities.

'The government is handling this. It's not a problem.'

The virus has caused global concern because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

The new virus has now infected people nationwide and in nearly a dozen other countries, with France saying three cases were confirmed there - the first known European infections.

Beijing's Forbidden City, Shanghai Disneyland and a section of the Great Wall are among many attractions that have closed as a precaution. China's film box-office earnings for Lunar New Year's Eve on Friday were just one-tenth of last year as people shunned crowds.

'Usually we celebrate as a family. Now, because of the virus I'm not even visiting my parents,' said Wang Fang, a 49-year-old Wuhan native.

'It'll be great just to be able to make it through (the outbreak).'

In the city centre, temples were closed and holiday festivities cancelled.

The city also announced it would ban ordinary traffic in the city centre from Sunday.

People waiting at Wuhan's Red Cross Hospital were angry and frustrated.

'It takes at least five hours to see a doctor,' one woman, who didn't want to be named, said.

'Nurses are brave but management is really messy.'

Many people had brought their own chairs for the wait.

Others gathered in pharmacies to buy medical supplies.

At one store, customers queued at the cash register while staff in protective gear retrieved what they needed and brought it out to them.

Pharmacy staff were in full body suits and gloves, wearing two sets of face masks.

People rifled through boxes of face masks, comparing different makes and models.

Full body suits had already sold out.

Amid fears of rising prices and lack of products, some sales were being restricted and officials were regulating sales.

'My duty is to supervise the price of what pharmacist are selling,' said Li Xiang, a market supervisor at one pharmacy.

'Goods must be from official channels and prices shall not be hiked.'

Li said the government was making an effort to 'maintain social stability and safeguard people's lives.'

A popular traditional Chinese medicine for treating fevers was being restricted to only two boxes per person to manage high demand.

A local radio station played in the pharmacy ran an advert reminding people to wear a mask.

'Everyone is just trying to protect themselves,' said one man in a surgical mask who declined to give his name.

'The government is in control of this. It's not a problem,' he added.

Meanwhile, in a taxi, a rap song playing on the radio echoed the patriotic fervour, telling people not to be afraid of the virus.

'Wuhan people are strong enough to fight and defeat it,' the rapper chanted.
Basta Boatlifts will unveil three new products at the 2020 Seattle Boat Show in East Hall Booth 1115. New products include:



5,000 lb. Capacity Galvanized Steel Boat Lift

The Quick Clamp Wheel Kit

Exclusive Basta Rubber Bunks.

5,000 lb. Capacity Galvanized Steel Boat Lift

The versatile 5k Series has two sizes. The shorter version is designed for shallow water locations like man-made waterski lakes and natural prairie lakes. The taller version is a robust choice for rough water conditions and deeper water installations. Optional longer legs and deep water sway & brace kits allow for installations up to 19  feet of water depth.

Basta Quick Clamp Wheel Kit

The patent pending Basta Quick Clamp Wheel Kit makes installation, removal and repositioning of boat lifts easier than ever before. The kit attaches to the boat lift with a screw activated clamp, making it possible to attach it without putting your face in the water.

The kit is attached on each side of the boat lift, using a standard  drive ratchet or a battery powered drill. It has a dual-sided handle making it easy to maneuver into place. The adjustable column provides up to a total of 26 lift making it easier to reach deeper water locations. Unlike other wheel kits, it is an easy on/off and fits many different brand boat lifts giving the operator the ability to perform more installations/removals in a day. The kit has a 1,200lb. capacity.

Exclusive Basta Rubber Bunks

Designed and engineered by Basta Boatlifts, the EPDM patent pending Basta Rubber Bunks feature a taller profile than the competition with greater cushioning properties, accommodating unique hull designs and strake patterns.

I am excited about these new additions to our product line. We have listened to the needs of our customers and I think they are going to love them! The 5k Series is super rugged and incredibly versatile. Its great for shallow water lakes and sturdy enough for rough and deep water. For those whose Spring and Fall fun include moving their boat lift, the Quick Clamp Wheel Kit is quicker and easier than any boat lift wheel kit on the market. People, and hulls, are going to love our supportive new rubber bunks, youve just got to see them. remarked Basta Boatlifts owner Bryce Hansen.

About Basta Boatlifts

Basta Boatlifts is the leader in hand-crafted luxury hydraulic boat lifts, seaplane lifts and PWC lifts. Basta patented the Over-Center gravity locking design in 1992 that changed the boat lift industry. Basta Boatlifts is a privately held company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, USA. For more information go to bastaboatlifts.com.
To date, there have not been any reported cases of fake policemen making phone calls to Luxembourg's residents, but it may only be a matter of time.

A German TV channel recently aired a story about a case of so-called fake policemen from Turkey scamming German residents out of several thousands of euros. Luxembourg Police's Tim Pauly has confirmed that, luckily, there have been no such cases in Luxembourg. However, there have been several instances involving individuals dressing up as police men in an attempt to get into people's homes.

It is worth noting that in Luxembourg, police have to be able to show proof of identity at any given moment. When in doubt, one can dial 113 to be sure.

Online crime

With an increase in online crime, the police are facing new challenges. Just recently, a scam video, urging individuals to provide their login details, was making the rounds on Facebook. This allowed criminals to gain access to people's private online accounts.

According to Tim Pauly, there has definitely been an increase in the presence of online crime in Luxembourg. The police advise it's always a good idea to remain skeptical when in doubt, as online criminals continuously come up with new scams.
Bringing cheer to travel enthusiasts, the government has decided to reward people visiting 15 tourist spots in a year by funding their expenses.

Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel said the move should not be construed as a monetary benefit, but as an incentive.

"The tourism ministry will fund the travel expenses of tourists who visit 15 destinations in the country in a year and submit the photos on our website," he said on Friday evening at the concluding ceremony of the two-day National Tourism Conference in Odisha's Konark.

Tourists, however, have to travel outside their home states to be eligible for contention.

"We should honour these people as brand ambassadors of Indian Tourism," Patel added.

The minister also said the Sun Temple at Konark would be included in the list of 'iconic sites'.

A special event will be organised to announce this very soon, he said.

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General of Tourism, said the ministry has been organising certificate programmes for candidates intending to work as tourist guides.

"But, participation of Odisha in this programme is very low and it needs to be enhanced. The state government should encourage students to take part in the certificate course," she said.

On the concluding day of the conference, jointly organised by the Odisha government and Ficci, a Memorandum of Intent (MoI) was signed between the state and Gujarat for cross-promotion of tourist sites, officials said.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), mentioning the key frameworks and policies, will be signed soon after discussions with relevant departments of both the states, said Sachin Ramchandra Jadhav, Director of Tourism, Odisha.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Linkedin I Wayan Juniarta (The Jakarta Post) Denpasar  Sat, January 25, 2020 18:18 718 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad2060f56c7 1 National coronavirus,Wuhan-coronavirus,Wuhan-coronavirus-in-Indonesia,Bali-Airport,sanglah-hospital,health-ministry,Chinese-tourists,health,outbreak Free

Two Chinese tourists who had flu-like symptoms at Denpasar's Sanglah Central Hospital have tested negative for the Wuhan coronavirus, the province's top health official announced Saturday afternoon.

The result of laboratory tests on their swab samples came out negative for the coronavirus, Bali Health Agency head Ketut Suarjaya told The Jakarta Post.

The tests were carried out at the Health Ministry's research and development center in Jakarta.

Their conditions have improved considerably and they would be discharged from the hospital today. Their families have notified us that they would then immediately return to China, he added.

The authority identified the tourists as a 6-year-old girl and her 3-year-old brother. Both were admitted to Sanglah on Wednesday night after displaying flu-like symptoms. The hospital staff rushed them to Nusa Indah Pavilion, the hospital's isolation ward for highly contagious diseases, before taking swab samples and administering medications.

The Chinese tourists hail from Shandong, a coastal province more than 900 kilometers from the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan.

Suarjaya revealed another tourist from Mexico, formerly suspected of having the virus, had tested negative and had been released on Friday after being put under isolation at the same hospital for two days.

The Mexican national had lived in China for a long time before moving to the Philippines and later Jakarta. He arrived in Bali on Jan. 9 and reportedly complained of fever.

The coronavirus outbreak in China as well as confirmed cases in six other countries have prompted the local authority to mount preventive measures, including activating thermal scanners at the island's Ngurah Rai International Airport and placing all regional hospitals on alert.

In 2019, more than 1.1 million Chinese tourists visited Bali, making the country the second-biggest contributor of tourists to the island after Australia.
In Pics: PM Modi to inaugurate new campus of Classical Tamil institute in Chennai today

PM Modis security breach: SC to announce name of judge to head probe panel today

India has everything needed to be hub for medical tourism: PM Modi

Brazilian President, PM Modi hold talks to boost ties, ink 15 pacts

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Jan 25: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on a four-day visit beginning on Friday met prime minister Narendra Modi today. The two leaders on Saturday inked 15 agreements to boost cooperation in a wide range of areas like trade and investment, oil and gas, cybersecurity and information technology.

Bolsonaro, during his first visit to India after assuming power, will be the chief guest at India's 71st Republic Day Parade on January 26.

Modi said an action plan has been finalised to further expand strategic ties between the two strategic partners.

"Your visit to India has opened a new chapter in bilateral ties between India and Brazil," Modi said in his media statement in presence of Bolsonaro.

Calling Brazil a valuable partner in India's economic growth, the Prime Minister also said both the countries are together on various global issues despite geographical distance.

On his part, Bolsonaro said the two countries have further consolidated already strong ties by signing 15 agreements providing for cooperation in a range of areas.

Bolsonaro arrived here on Friday, accompanied by his daughter Laura Bolsonaro, daughter-in-law Leticia Firmo, eight ministers, four members of the Brazilian parliament and a large business delegation.

Security heightened, facial recognition software in place ahead of Republic Day

This will be the third time that a Brazilian President will be the Chief Guest at the Republic Day.

The last time there was a Brazilian president as chief guest was in 2004.

India-Brazil ties have been on an upswing in the last few years.
There are a lot of critters that cause delays on the subway: raccoons, dogs, goats and geese. And now bed bugs. Workers at a subway control tower saw a couple of the bothersome bugs. That resulted in an evacuation and fumigation team getting called in, which caused massive disruptions to service in Queens right as the evening rush was starting. Who would have thought something so small would have created such big problems? Considering the MTA once blamed a pencil for delays, perhaps we shouldnt be surprised. Keep reading for more noninsect related news.

Train Daddy is leaving us for real

After two years on the job, wildly popular New York City Transit President Andy Byford has once again tendered his resignation to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and this time it seems like hes leaving for good. Byford had reportedly told the MTA he would resign in October of last year, saying he was fed up with meddling by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and didnt want to oversee layoffs and service cuts. Ultimately, the MTA managed to convince the Brit to keep calm and carry on, but that only lasted so long. Byford is credited with turning around the citys subway system after Cuomo declared a state of emergency in 2017. Hes considered one of the best in the world at what he does  reviving troubled transit systems  so his replacement will have big shoes to fill.

Cuomo makes his budget pitch

Facing a massive $6.1 billion budget gap fueled in part by Medicaid spending, Cuomo presented lawmakers with his fiscal year 2021 executive budget. He avoided splashy new spending initiatives or tax hikes, and decided to stick with what he knows: a new Medicaid Redesign Team that is supposed to find $2.5 billion in savings. The other $4 billion in savings will come from a variety of belt-tightening measures, including a $1.8 billion decrease in funding for localities and projecting more robust tax revenue. Cuomo made a series of other proposals as well, like renewing his push for recreational marijuana, legalizing e-bikes and e-scooters, and instituting mandatory paid sick leave statewide.

Eric Adams tells Ohioans to get out

The next potential mayor of New York City doesnt want Midwesterners snatching up all the housing in the five boroughs. Go back to Iowa! You go back to Ohio! he said during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day speech. The statements immediately got him roasted on social media as people took issue with the apparent sentiment that Adams doesnt welcome the transplants that make New York City what it is. Adams almost immediately said his statement was a gaffe and declared he has nothing against the Midwest  he was talking about the gentrifiers who act like they discovered New York. But even though singling out Iowans and Ohioans may have been a mistake, the rhetoric could be part of his broader campaign strategy for mayor.

Impeachment managers make their opening arguments

President Donald Trumps impeachment trial was in full swing last week as the U.S. Senate decided on trial rules and the Democratic impeachment managers began their arguments about why Trump should be removed from office. Rep. Jerrold Nadler made a splash before the opening arguments even started, as he and his colleagues debated with the presidents defense team over the rules of the trial. Chief Justice John Roberts admonished both Nadler and the defense for their lack of decorum before the Senate in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. A couple of moderate Republican senators were also unhappy with Nadlers implication that they would be complicit in a cover-up if they did not permit new witnesses. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries had a viral moment as well when he quoted the Notorious B.I.G. on the Senate floor.

Sheldon Silver is still going to prison 

Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver got a little bit of good news last week when judges overturned part of his 2018 corruption conviction. But it was largely outweighed by the bad news, which was that the judges still upheld most of the ruling. That means hes still going to prison, despite his best efforts. Silver has managed to remain a free man pending appeal since he was first convicted in 2015. Those charges were thrown out by a higher court in 2017, thanks to a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Silver was retried and found guilty again in 2018, but he once again appealed the decision and still hasnt seen a day in the clink. But even with the minor win, hes exhausted his get out of jail free cards, and hes finally headed to the big house.

 and so is Chris Collins

Former Rep. Chris Collins is also headed to prison, and since he pleaded guilty, he wont be appealing his insider trading conviction. So unlike Silver, who put off his prison time for years pending appeal, Collins should be on his way soon. A judge decided to give the disgraced congressman a 26-month prison sentence and a $200,000 fine.
On February 1, the first flight of RusLine Airlines to Yekaterinburg via Tambov will depart from Krasnodar International Airport, the press service of the air harbor reports.

Flights will be operated twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays on a CRJ-100/200 aircraft with a capacity of up to 50 passengers, AiF-Yug reports.

Departure from Krasnodar Airport will take place on Tuesdays at 11:40, the plane will arrive in Yekaterinburg at 18:40.
The one-day 'Punjab bandh' call given by radical Sikh outfit Dal Khalsa and SAD (Amritsar) against the CAA and the NRC evoked lukewarm response in most parts of the state barring Amritsar.

Markets and commercial establishments remained opened in most parts of the state as protesters at a few places faced opposition from shopkeepers for trying to forcibly down the shutters of their shops.

Protesters carrying black flags and placards against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) took out protest marches and raised slogans against the BJP-led government at the Centre.

The impact of the shutdown call was visible in Amritsar as traders kept their shops and commercial establishments shut.

The protest remained peaceful, officials said.

Carrying placards that read 'Punjab Rejects CAA, NRC' and raising slogans against the Union government, the demonstrators, led by Dal Khalsa president H S Cheema and spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh assembled at Bhandari bridge and took out a protest rally.

Cheema said by observing the 'bandh', the people of the state had registered their protest against the CAA and NRC, the RSS' agenda of 'Hindu Rashtra' and also reiterated that Punjab would not be part of a "theocratic Hindu state".

Terming the law as "divisive and discriminative", Kanwar Pal Singh said accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of "suppressing" the voices of protesters



"We are determined to contest and challenge the government's autocratic attitude," he said.

He further said that the government had "betrayed" Sikhs by not releasing prisoners who had served their sentence.

The Dal Khalsa leaders said a large number of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs participated in the protest and spoke in one voice against CAA.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Paris' Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport will open a medical screening service to check passengers arriving from China who may be affected by the novel coronavirus. This comes as Chinese authorities drastically step up measures to halt the spread of the virus.

On Friday, the French health minister confirmed that three cases of coronavirus had been detected and that the patients were being monitored in hospitals in Paris and Bordeaux.

Health authorities announced on Saturday that a medical screening service would be set up in Paris' Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport to check passengers arriving from China. Symptoms include respiratory difficulties and fever.

Meanwhile, China has quarantined cities and shut major tourist attractions from Disneyland to the Forbidden City and a section of the Great Wall as it scrambles to stop a deadly SARS-like virus from spreading further.

China's capital Beijing will suspend buses that enter and exit the city boundary, state media reported on Saturday.

The drastic moves come as hundreds of millions of people criss-crossed the country in recent days to celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday, which officially started Friday and is typically a time of gatherings and public celebration.

Epicentre of Wuhan in lockdown mode

Public transport has been stopped in 18 cities in central Hubei province, with train stations shut, events cancelled and theatres, libraries and karaoke bars closed in some locations.

The epicentre of the outbreak is provincial capital Wuhan, the biggest city on lockdown, where the government has halted all travel out of the Yangtze River metropolis of 11 million.

Wuhan residents have been told to stay home and authorities are restricting car traffic in the city central. There are few flights available to the city, deepening the isolation.

New hospitals being built

In Wuhan, city authorities have made it mandatory to wear a mask in public places.

Also in Wuhan, authorities are rushing to build two new hospitals in just weeks as a rising number of patients are infected by the new coronavirus.

The first facility is expected to be in use by 3 February and will have a capacity of 1,000 beds spread over 25,000 square metres, according to state media.

The second one will have 1,300 beds.

Cases of contamination detected so far

 Australia : four

 France : three

 South Korea : two

 USA : two

 Japan : three

 Malaysia : three

 Nepal : one

 Singapore : three

 Taiwan : three

 Thailand : five

 Vietnam : two

After more countries reported cases, Xi said at a Communist Party leadership meeting on the disease that China was "faced with the grave situation of an accelerating spread of the new coronavirus" but that the country will "definitely be able to win the battle," according to state media.

In Hong Kong, where five people have tested positive for the virus so far, city leader Carrie Lam declared the situation an "emergency" and schools, currently on holiday, will remain closed until February 17.

The World Health Organization on Thursday stopped short of declaring a global emergency, which would have prompted greater international cooperation, including possible trade and travel restrictions.
File pic

The Rajasthan Assembly has passed a resolution against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), news agency ANI has report.

Congress-ruled Rajasthan will be the third state to do so after Kerala and Punjab.

Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal has also summoned a special Assembly session on January 27 to pass a resolution against CAA, which has caused widespread protests across the country.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court had refused to put a stay on the Citizenship Act, and had given the Centre four weeks to respond to the petitions challenging the law.
Defence team uses just 2 hours on first day of opening arguments, saying removing Trump would set dangerous precedent.

In just two hours, lawyers for United States President Donald Trump told senators on Saturday that Democrats efforts to remove the president from office would set a very, very dangerous precedent in an election year.

It was the first day of their opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial of Trump.

White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, the head of the defence team, told senators they would be denying voters their right to give their opinion on Trump at the November 3 presidential election if they found him guilty and remove him now.

Democrats argued earlier this week that Trump should be removed for encouraging Ukraine to interfere in the election by pressuring its leader to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading 2020 Democratic presidential contender.

The defence tried to turn that argument of election interference against the Democrats by warning against removing a president less than 10 months before the American people will vote on whether to give him a second term.

For all their talk about election interference  theyre here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history, and we cant allow that to happen. It would violate our Constitution. It would violate our history. It would violate our obligations to the future, Cipollone said.

The Democratic-led House of Representatives impeached Trump last month on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, setting the stage for the trial in the Republican-led Senate.

Trump is expected to be acquitted in the Senate, where a two-thirds vote is required to convict and remove a president from office. No Republican senator has voiced any support for his removal.

Trump denies any wrongdoing.

Very consequential

The main focus of the Democrats case is a phone call last July in which Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Biden on unsubstantiated corruption allegations.

Democrats contend that Trump was trying to find dirt on Biden and his son, Hunter, who had served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, to help the president win a second term.

Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, the head of the prosecution, told senators this week that the campaign of pressure on Ukraine was a corrupt scheme in which Trump also temporarily froze nearly $400m in military aid to Ukraine.

Trump is also charged with obstructing Congress by telling administration officials to ignore requests to testify or produce documents for a House inquiry into the Ukraine affair.

Cipollone said taking Trump off the ballot in November would mean having to tear up all of the ballots across this country on your own initiative, take that decision away from the American people.

They are asking you to do something very, very consequential and, I would submit to you  very, very dangerous, he said.

In wrapping up the opening arguments on Friday, Schiff warned that Trump would abuse his power again unless he is removed from office and urged Republican senators to show real political courage and support a Democratic motion later in the trial for more witnesses.

Very compelling case for witnesses

Trumps team also made some claims on Saturday that Democrats say are false, including the assertion that the presidents lawyers were shut out of the impeachment inquiry.

That claim came despite the fact that a formal invitation was extended to Trumps White House lawyers, who rejected the initiation.

Cipollone in a letter on December 6 told the House Judiciary Committee that House Democrats wasted enough of Americas time with this charade and Trumps team did not participate in the hearings.

The first round of hearings, by the House Intelligence Committee, was not opened to participation by Trumps team. Republicans on the three committees conducting the investigation, however, were allowed to participate. Those hearings resembled the investigative phase of criminal cases when the subject of the investigation is ordinarily not brought in. Trump complained about not being invited, then said no when the next panel invited him.

House Democratic impeachment manager, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler arrives at the Senate with carts of documents as work resumes in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump [J Scott Applewhite/Reuters]

An important question that the Senate must still answer is whether witnesses will be called. Before opening arguments kicked off, the Republican-led chamber voted down nearly a dozen amendments to the Senates rules that would have subpoenaed individuals and documents to be included in the trial.

Democrats want to call at least four witnesses, including former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton and acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.

Speaking to reporters after Saturdays session, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Trumps lawyers did something they did not intended. They made a really compelling cause for why the Senate should call witnesses and documents.

The top Democrat in the Senate added that Trumps team kept saying there are no eyewitness accounts, but there are people that have eyewitness accounts: The very four witnesses and very four sets of documents that we have asked for.

Most Republicans have solidified around the argument that the House should have sued for the witnesses who refused to testify on Trumps orders, rather than looked to the Senate to compel their testimony. Others have suggested that the case has not been convincing enough.

It would take four Republican senators to join the Democratic minority to seek witnesses, and so far the numbers appear lacking.

According to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, about seven in 10 respondents  including majorities of Republicans and Democrats  said Trump should allow top aides to appear as witnesses. The poll showed the public slightly more likely to say the Senate should convict and remove Trump from office than to say it should not, 40-45 percent. But a sizable percentage, 14 percent, said they didnt know enough to have an opinion.

Whats next?

Saturdays session was a relatively short one because Republicans want to save the bulk of their arguments for early next week when they expect television viewership to be higher.

Rules passed by the Republican-led Senate give each side up to 24 hours over three days to present opening arguments, though Trumps defence team has said it likely will not use its time.

Trump speaks during a news conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland [File: Evan Vucci/AP Photo]

Before Monday, expect Trumps critics and defenders to take to Sunday morning US political talk shows to continue making their cases for and against the president.

Trump is only the third US president to be impeached. No president has ever been removed from office through impeachment, a mechanism the nations founders  worried about a monarch running the US  devised to remove a president for treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanours. One, Richard Nixon, resigned in the face of a looming impeachment.
The Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission held its first meeting of 2020 which included updates on chronic wasting disease (CWD), a preview of next years waterfowl and migratory hunting seasons, and Asian carp. The two-day meeting was held in the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agencys Region II Ray Bell Building.



Chuck Yoest, TWRAs CWD coordinator, reported that the number of CWD-positive and high-risk counties in southwest Tennessee has increased to seven and four, respectively.



Preliminary results from Unit CWD, indicate there was a decrease in the reported deer harvest of 18 percent compared to the 2018-19 season. This included a 7-percent decrease in bucks and a 30 percent decrease in does. In the highest CWD prevalence counties of Fayette and Hardeman, there was a 24 percent decrease in the reported harvest overall, including a 10 percent decrease for bucks and 37 percent decrease for does. Yoest shared concerns about these preliminary results emphasizing the need for an increased harvest in the CWD-affected counties.



To date, there have been a total of 648 CWD-positive deer detected in CWD counties since the disease was first detected in December 2018. During the recently completed 2019-20 deer season, 462 were detected. The vast majority of CWD-positive deer were harvested in Fayette and Hardeman counties. Preliminary results indicate these counties have experienced a statistically significant small increase in CWD prevalence since the 2018-19 deer season.



A preview of changes to the 2020-21 waterfowl and migratory game bird hunting seasons was presented. Discussion included changing crow hunting season to add more dates in January and February. The TWRA is proposing to offer two days of waterfowl hunting to veteran and military personnel, similar to what is currently offered for youth waterfowl hunt days. Federal frameworks for next year will require a bag limit reduction for scaup.



TWRA Fisheries Chief Frank Fiss announced that fisheries biologists had conducted additional surveys of Chickamauga Lake following last weeks first report of silver carp in the lake. No silver carp have been observed in these electrofishing surveys. He also provided an update on new federal funding for the control of Asian carp. In response to market prices, he also proposed a price increase for TWRAs Asian Carp Harvest Incentive Program for the remainder of fiscal year 2020.

Michael May, TWRAs Deputy Director for Business Operations, discussed Big Game E-Tagging. TWRA is promoting Tag Before You Drag where hunters will be required to tag their big game animal in the field prior to moving. They will be able to use the Agencys mobile app to simply E-tag and report their harvest in the field in one easy step, with or without cell phone service, prior to dragging.



Hunters will also have the option to use temporary transport paper tags which takes two steps. With this option, hunters will physically tag their big game animal before dragging and then be required to report the harvest prior to midnight.



Ben West, director and professor, UT Institute of Agriculture/UT Foundation gave a status report on the Lone Oaks Farm shooting facility in Hardeman County.



TWRA Executive Director Ed Carter recognized Ron Crabtree. He is known for his effort with outreach and education programs and his efforts to restore bobwhite quail. As president of the Music City Chapter of Quail Forever, he has worked tirelessly with chapter members to promote habitat, recreation, and outreach efforts.



A presentation was made on the Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program. The Tennessee Wildlife Federations J.W. Worthen spoke about the program. The commission also heard from program participant and champion shooter Emma Williams on her experiences.
The Rajasthan assembly on Saturday ratified a bill that extends reservation to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in Lok Sabha and state assemblies for another 10 years.

Today was the last day to ratify the Constitution (126th) Amendment Bill by state assemblies and it will come into effect from January 26.

During a debate on the ratification of the Bill, the BJP accused the state government of delaying the process.

Deputy Leader of Opposition in the assembly, Rajendra Rathore, said the debate on the ratification of the Bill was "without any basis" as it had already been passed by the Parliament and signed by the President.

Rathore alleged that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal had not followed the Statute Book and the session was called on a four days notice instead of a 21-day notice.

The Rajya Sabha had sent an advisory to the assembly secretariat on December 20 last year, saying the Bill's ratification should be done before January 10, he claimed.

"The government was in a deep slumber and woke up only on January 19, and hurriedly called the session on a four-day notice," Rathore said.

Dhariwal said BJP legislators are arguing that the session was called in a hurry, but have all BJP-ruled states ratified the amendment Bill.

He said the BJP as a responsible opposition should have alerted the government, if there was any delay.

"You have lost the right to be called the opposition. It was your duty to alert the government but you didn't. That's why people see the BJP as a useless opposition," the minister said.

Following the debate Speaker C P Joshi put the resolution to voice vote and it was passed in the House.

The provision giving reservation to SC and ST communities for the past 70 years in Lok Sabha and state assemblies expires on January 25.

The Parliament recently passed a constitution amendment bill in this regard and it has to be ratified by at least 50 per cent of the assemblies before it becomes a law.

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajasthan assembly Gulab Chand Kataria said it was unfortunate that there was no debate on the governor's speech.

To this, the speaker said it would have been ideal if the debate on the governor's speech was held today, but due to certain circumstances, it will take place when the House reassembles on February 10.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Kambiz Zarrabi

January 24, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - It is so noteworthy that any reference to the assassinated Iranian commander of the IRGC, Soleimani, by television commentators, and especially by the members of our Congress and other government officials, begins with the preamble that he was a bad, bad actor who had the blood of so many Americans on his hands. Why? Simple: Without emphasizing that point they might not appear "patriotic" enough!

The President and the Secretary of State have referred to him as the world's worst terrorist in charge of a terrorist organization that is the terror arm of Iran, which is itself the world's chief promoter of international terrorism. These characterizations are now fully established in everyone's mind, not to be questioned; and that's that - case closed.

Even the Iranian/American so-called scholars appearing as expert commentators during televised interviews either concur with, or choose not to question, the adjectives casually used in referring to Soleimani, the IRGC, or the Islamic Republic of Iran.

What's this all about? Let's ask a few questions:

Has the Islamic Republic of Iran been involved in the affairs of the Middle East, from Afghanistan to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere? Remember, that's Iran's own backyard. Yes, it has.

Has the IRGC's foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, headed by General Soleimani, been the principle element of Iran's attempt to promote its interests in the region? Yes.

Have these operations also resulted in the deaths of Americans, as well as many others, in the Middle East theater of war? Yes.

So, Aren't these allegations, in fact, statements of the truth? Yes, they are; but not the whole truth. Partial truths could lead us to unintended, but most often deliberately misleading, conclusions!

Let's do a little comparison to better understand this years-long drama:

Has the United States inserted itself for decades in the affairs of the Middle East, half-way around the world? Yes.

Have these involvements included the presence of military forces, massive sales of arms, and the creations of alliances of conveniences to serve America's stated purpose? Yes.

Have these activities caused the deaths of thousands of Americans, and of over a million local people, in addition to a near total devastation of the regional infrastructures and economies, from Afghanistan all the way to the Mediterranean Sea? Yes.

Now, let's set aside the cliche that one man's terrorist is another man's hero or freedom-fighter, and look at who General Soleimani was, whose assassination the Iranian nation mourns, and Iran's enemies celebrate:

The eight-year-war (1980-88) that Iraq's Saddam Hussein waged against the fledgling Islamic Republic of Iran soon after the hostage crisis, has always been regarded by Iran as the "imposed war", encouraged and supported by the Reagan administration to bring Iran to its knees, as well as to weaken Saddam's regime. The scheme was to be followed by some kind of destabilization process to reshape the pro-Iran Syrian government and the Shi'a dominated Lebanon.

This was exactly what the drafters of the 1996 paper, A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm , had foreseen. The masterminds of that paper were well-known American Zionist Neoconservatives who wrote the paper for Benjamin Netanyahu during his first term as the Israeli Prime Minister.

One year later, in 1997, the same group, plus several other like-minded thinkers, came up with The Project for the New American Century , almost as though designed to follow through with the "Clean Break" strategy.

I urge, I implore, the readers to search these highlighted titles in Wikipedia to better understand for whose benefit thousands of American servicemen and women have paid the price with their blood, and how many millions have lost their lives, injured or made homeless in the Middle East; the region that continues to smolder and ready to reignite in what could be the Grand Opening of the Gates of Hell! This is not another conspiratorial scenario: One of the original drafters of the Clean Break, and the principle architect of the Iraq War, David Wurmser, has just been appointed by Trump to head the Iran Project.

(No one should doubt that the Iranian officials are also well aware of all that and duly concerned about the potential implementation of that blueprint, which showed the collapse of the Islamic Republic as its ultimate goal.)

One of the local heroes of the Iran/Iraq war was a young soldier, Qassim Soleimani, who came close several times to losing his life on the battle front, especially when Saddam resorted to the use of chemical weapons, as the Iranians were reversing Saddam's gains and closing in on the outskirts of Baghdad. He more than likely knew about Ronald Reagan's comments when the American President was told that the Iraqis were using chemical weapons: "Well," Reagan was reported as responding: "an Iranian victory is not acceptable."

After gaining in rank, Soleimani had played an instrumental role in assisting the American counterparts in overcoming the Taliban resistance and to stabilize the new Karzai government in Afghanistan in 2001, for which Iran was officially credited and thanked for its efforts and cooperation with the Americans.

Then came George W. Bush's State of the Union address just a few months later, in February of 2002, during which he lumped Iran together with North Korea and Iraq as the Axis of Evil!

I wrote about it in one of my many posted articles at the time, and commented that I did not believe George W. Bush had any idea what he was reading; the speech was written by a Jewish Canadian Zionist, David Frum, credited for inserting those irrelevant words into that text; some say as an afterthought!

That man has since been rewarded with high tenure in several Zionist and Neocon think tanks, and makes routine appearances on the mainstream media as a writer and TV panelist. There is an old saying that a nutcase can throw a pebble into a well, which takes ten wise men to bring it back out! But the damage was done, and there was no way to undo it.

A year later, the United States attacked and occupied Iraq, supposedly under mistaken intelligence reports. That wasn't the way the Iranians were interpreting the episode. To them, the American occupation of Iraq did not appear as an intelligence error, but as a deliberate action and a prelude to expanding America's presence and influence from Iraq into Syria and, of course, Iran.

The removal of Saddam and his Sunny minority rule opened the way for the dormant Shi'a majority in Iraq to dominate the political scene, with the United States helping to stabilize the new regime. That at least was the official rationale given for the continued occupation of Iraq. However, the United States had other interests in Iraq, as well: namely the control over the future fate of Iraq's vast oil and gas reserves that lay mostly in the liberated Iraqi Kurdistan.

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Meanwhile, the Iranian government saw a new opportunity for establishing its presence in Iraq, its fellow Shi'a neighbor, to not just support the new ruling party, but to ensure that the Americans, the Saudis, and their principle proxy, the opportunistic Mojahedin-e-Khalgh (MeK), as well as certain Kurdish groups, do not embark on any covert or overt operations against Iran. Soleimani was in charge of the IRGC operations to monitor and safeguard against that. However, in spite of all efforts, repeated acts of infiltration, border clashes, and sabotage against Iranian targets inside Iran continued to take place, resulting in considerable damage and human casualties. Similar events continue to this day in the south-east and southern Iran by terrorist groups encouraged, funded and armed by the Saudis, which Iran believes also include Israel's involvements.

The extraterritorial operations of the IRGC, which became known as the Quds Force, also included confronting and neutralizing known enemies of the Islamic Republic, namely the Taliban, Al Gha'eda, and later the Sunni Islamic State or ISIS.

Even though the Quds Force under General Soleimani and the Americans were cooperating and fighting the common enemy, the Islamic State, the entrenchment of the American forces in Iraq next door to Iran, especially against the backdrop of continuing hostile regime-change rhetoric coming out of Washington, kept Iran on the edge.

In addition to the threats posed by the presence of the American forces in Iraq, as well as the Saudi-backed Sunni militias, Iran was also concerned, and quite correctly, with another player on the stage; Israel. The joint American/Israeli cyber attack, the Stuxnet computer virus, which had targeted Iran's nuclear facilities in 2010, was followed by the targeted assassinations of four Iranian nuclear scientists in the streets of Tehran, for which Israel in cooperation with the MeK operatives was semi-admittedly responsible; but thanks to "plausible deniability", neither was held accountable for acts of international terrorism!

The Saudi regime's concerns about Iran's increasing influence in the new Shi'a dominated Iraq has not been so much over Sunni versus Shi'a religious rivalry, but for pure and simple economics. The competition still exists between the potentials for a Qatar/Iran oil and gas pipeline through Iran, Iraq and Syria to the European markets, versus the competing Saudi line bypassing Iran, which the United States openly favors.

In the middle of all the instability and mayhem, the Sunni Arab block comprising the Arab Emirates and the Saudi regime, took advantage of the cancerous spread of an initially disparate local Sunni cells in Iraq and Syria, and began funneling funds and arms in their support. This was the early phase of what became known as DAESH, ISIL or ISIS movement (The Islamic State of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon).

The destabilization of Syria with the intension of collapsing the Assad government has long been part of the "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm" masterplan mentioned above. The growth and gradually better organized ISIS groups created a problem for Assad's Iranian and Russian allies. For Russia, Syria's strategic Latakia port has been a vital access to the eastern Mediterranean away from the contentious Black Sea for its naval fleet. For Iran, alliance and cooperation with the Assad government was important as a hedge against Israeli adventurism through the Golan area, as well as for providing a channel to link Iran with the Lebanese increasingly more powerful Hezbollah.

(Hezbollah has often been referred to as Iran's proxy on the Middle East staging grounds. An ally, yes, but a proxy it most certainly is not! If we were to call Hezbollah Iran's proxy, then America's Middle East allies are all American proxies; and that would include Israel and Saudi Arabia. Hezbollah was not a creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran; it preexisted the Iran's Islamic Revolution, and represents the majority of Lebanon's population, the Shi'ites. Since its role has been defending Lebanon against Israeli incursions, and quite successfully, it has understandably been the recipient of Iran's military assistance; and for the same reason, labeled as a terrorist group by the United States on behest of Israel.)

It is quite puzzling why the ISIS networks in Syria were regarded as anti-American. They were definitely and principally anti-anything non-Sunni-Moslem, which would include the main Western presence in the Middle East, the United States. However, their foremost objectives were to depose the Assad rule, and fight Assad's supporters, the Iranian Quds Force and the Russians.

These objectives actually coincided with America's and Israel's own designs, except for the fact that American forces were also targeted on many occasions. This created a strategic dilemma for the so-called "coalition of the willing" created to fight ISIS groups who were committing visible crimes and atrocities against their captives. So, the ISIS cells were divided into two groups: the good terrorists and the bad terrorists: the good ones, who were now given new names, were fighting the Assad forces, the Iranians and the Russians; and were, therefore, encouraged and helped by the "coalition" and the Israelis. The bad ones remained as the real terrorists that continued to fight the coalition forces.

General Soleimani and the Quds Force, as well as the Hezbollah contingents, were involved in fighting our "good" terrorists and, with Russia's help, managed to prevent the Assad government from the projected collapse.

It was in this chaotic and confusing mess that Congresswoman, Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, herself a two-terms Middle East war veteran, openly opposed the American involvements in Syria and the larger Middle East, engaged in counterproductive regime-change operations, especially when these involvements were not serving America's legitimate best interests, but the agendas of the tail that has been wagging the dog; Israel!

Ms. Gabbard, herself potentially a victim of those same IEDs that the Iranian Quds Force under the command of General Soleimani had provided for the Iraqi militias, did not parrot the same line as others in her televised interviews about Soleimani's assassination. She, unlike too many of her congressional colleagues, or the presidential hopeful (actually hopeless), Amy Klobuchar, refuses to kiss ass or compromise her integrity for the sake of her political ambitions!

Of course, we all understand that anyone who doesn't like or respect us is, by our definition, at the very best, wrong, and at worst, an evil terrorist. This worldview is not exclusive to us; it would perhaps help to appreciate that others feel that way, too.

We have our radical conservative hawks as do the Iranians in positions of power. We have genuine war-mongers, such as Pompeo and Bolton, as do they. We also have ambitious, opportunistic neocons, such as Giuliani, Graham and Cotton; and so do they.

I find it sad, even tragic, that the Democrats who oppose the Republican administration's aggressive policies toward Iran do not do so because they believe Iran does not deserve to be treated as an enemy of the United States: No; they, just as their Republican counterparts, are being wagged by the same tail, but perhaps not so violently!

As the Iranian nation continues to suffer under draconian unilateral sanctions by the American administration, what is keeping the two sides from a catastrophic military collision are the saner minds, perhaps mostly among the military leaderships, who understand the costs to all sides of such an eventuality.

May saner minds prevail.

Kambiz Zarrabi has devoted the last thirty-some years teaching, lecturing and writing about US/Iran relations. Previous to his retirement, his career included working as geologist/geophysicist in the oil and minerals exploration industries with American and Iranian firms and in the private sector. His tenure included serving at Iran's Ministry of Economy as the Director General of Mines in the late 60s and early 70s. He received his college education at the University of California in Los Angeles, graduating in 1960.

Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here

This article was originally published by "Payvand" -

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==See Also==

More than 1 million Iraqis out in the streets today telling America to get the f*** out of Iraq.



Absolutely amazing. pic.twitter.com/J5FXAepcNQ  Amin Karaji -    (@MidEastWitness) January 24, 2020

Trump will risk his troops, he doesnt care https://t.co/ZnVn4GR7UN  @tallyanne (@tallyanne1) January 24, 2020
Findings from a 700,000-year-old fossil bone indicate that a close relative of the most abundant seabird species in the North Atlantic, the modern dovekie, or 'little auk', used to thrive in the Pacific Ocean and Japan.

Seabirds are top predators in the marine ecosystem, and their distributions are shaped by numerous environmental factors in the ocean. As such, extensive scientific inquiries have been conducted on how seabirds respond to fluctuating oceanic environments in the ecologic and geologic timescales.

"The North Pacific has been one of the most intently investigated regions, but the fossil record of seabirds in the Pleistocene Epoch, about 2.6 to 0.01 million years ago, has been scarce," explains first author Junya Watanabe of Kyoto University's School of Science. "This has led to a frustrating lack of information in this critical time period concerning the origin of modern seabird communities."

In recent years, Watanabe and his team had been investigating seabird fossils from several locations in Chiba and Tokyo prefectures, gaining new insight on the Pleistocene seabird community in the region.

The group had been successful in identifying 17 fossils representing at least 9 species of birds: three species of ducks, a loon, an albatross, a shearwater, a cormorant, an extinct penguin-like seabird called mancalline auk, and a dovekie. Most of these species can be found in the region today; however, the presence of a dovekie was completely unexpected.

Watanabe explains his findings published in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

"At first it confused us that the fossil didn't match any of the Pacific auks, but once we compared it with Atlantic ones, the similarity with the modern dovekie was apparent. It is not clear whether the present fossil is from the same species or a very close cousin, but we are positive it at least comes from the same lineage."

The dovekies we know today are mostly restricted to the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, with their rare sightings in Japan considered accidental visits. Given the unlikeliness of such accidental visitors to be preserved as fossils, the new findings suggest that dovekies were once fairly common in Japan and the Pacific.

He continues, "Now the question is why dovekies are so rare in the North Pacific today, it's almost paradoxical given their abundance in the North Atlantic. That question remains unexplained, at least until recovery and investigation of further fossil materials."

Interestingly, local decline and extinction events in the past are common in many seabird groups. Deciphering possible causes of such events requires integration of knowledge from various disciplines, including paleontology, paleoclimatology, oceanography and seabird ecology. Watanabe and his team see this as a challenging but rewarding endeavor.
By Trend

Promotion and support of public-private sector partnership projects (DOST) are priority directions of Azerbaijans Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), Trend reports referring to the agency's statement Jan. 24.

In order to develop this area and effectively implement projects taking into account international best practices, the agency is taking measures to support legal and institutional framework, according to the report.

On Jan. 24, the Baku Business Center hosted the agency-organized presentation of a draft conceptual framework document on public-private partnership.

The event was attended by representatives of the relevant government agencies and interested parties who will be involved in the implementation of DOST projects in Azerbaijan, including Ivana Duarte, head of the Baku office of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The event participants were informed in detail by international experts about the conceptual framework document, the essence and significance of DOST projects.

It was noted that the document was prepared with the support of the EBRD, taking into account international best practices. The document reflects the order of project development, the basic principles, legal and institutional framework in this area, the mechanism for the implementation of projects and evaluation criteria.

At the event, Chairman of the Board of Azerbaijans Agency for the Development of SMEs Orkhan Mammadov delivered speech.

Mammadov noted that the use of the DOST model in various sectors of the economy is reflected in strategic roadmaps, adding that a State-Entrepreneur Partnership Development Center has been created in the agency to provide systematic activity in promoting and supporting public-private sector partnership projects.

The chairman added that such projects create a new basis and opportunities for the development of SMEs.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 19:35:06|Editor: Yurou

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) shakes hands with Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro before a meeting in New Delhi, India, Jan. 25, 2020. India and Brazil on Saturday inked 15 agreements for boosting mutual cooperation on a wide range of areas, including cyber security, oil and natural gas, and health and medicine. Bolsonaro arrived in New Delhi on Friday for a four-day visit. He will be the chief guest on the occasion of Republic Day Parade on Sunday in the Indian capital. (Photo by Partha Sarkar/Xinhua)

NEW DELHI, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- India and Brazil on Saturday inked 15 agreements for boosting mutual cooperation on a wide range of areas, including cyber security, oil and natural gas, and health and medicine.

Other agreements covered the cooperation in traditional systems of medicine and homeopathy, cultural exchange, social security, scientific and technological cooperation, geology and mineral resources, and animal husbandry and dairying, etc.

The agreements were signed in the presence of visiting Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Bolsonaro arrived in New Delhi on Friday for a four-day visit. He will be the chief guest on the occasion of Republic Day Parade on Sunday in the Indian capital.
The Odisha government on Saturday issued an advisory to different authorities including hospitals, airports, ports and railway divisions to put in place necessary arrangements to tackle any situation in view of the outbreak of novel coronavirus (nCoV) in China.

A preparatory meeting with state officials was held to review arrangements for prevention and management of suspected cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome due to nCoV.

The authorities of SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack, VSS Medical College, Burla Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar were told to function as nodal centres for isolation and treatment of such cases.

The state government wrote to the directors of airports in Bhubaneswar and Jharsuguda, Paradip Port Trust authorities and general managers of East Coast and South East Railway zones in the state to implement the advisory in public interest.

The airport authorities in Bhubaneswar and Jharsuguda were requested to establish screening facilities and report the suspected cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome due to nCoV to government officials, director of public health Ajit Mohanty said.

Novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from common cold to acute respiratory syndromes.

The virus that has so far killed 25 people and affected 830 in China is a novel strain and not seen before.

The Paradip Port Trust Hospital and the railway authorities are requested to create their own facilities for isolation and management of such cases.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Trump and Republicans have accused Biden  without evidence  of ousting Shokin because the prosecutor was investigating Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company that employed Hunter Biden on its board while the elder Biden was vice president. But former U.S. and Ukrainian officials have said the prosecutors investigation of Burisma had been dormant, and many had hoped that the change in prosecutors backed by Biden and others would lead to more aggressive anti-corruption investigations. Republicans also have pointed to concerns about the appearance of a conflict of interest, which were expressed by some of the Democrats top witnesses in the impeachment inquiry.
GOP senator John Hoeven on his way out after Saturdays court session was over. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Even in an impeachment trial, Saturdays stand apart from the workweek.

On the first day of arguments from the lawyers for President Donald Trump, the mood of the Senate was far more subdued than it had been during the three days that House managers presented their case.

After three straight days of Democrats trying to drive home their point through repetition and emotional appeals that Trump needed to be convicted, Republicans offered scattered critiques during the morning. As Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow described it to reporters on Friday, it would serve to preview arguments next week like a trailer to a movie. The result was somewhat inconsistent. While one White House lawyer, Patrick Philbin, went through arguments citing case law, another White House lawyer, Michael Purpura, didnt even speak before playing a video of Adam Schiffs comments  which he attacked as fake.

But the mood wasnt just different because an entirely new cast of lawyers was addressing the chamber. There was also was a sense of fatigue permeating proceedings on Saturday.

Everyone was exhausted. Senators seemed frazzled and worn down by the long week. A cacophony of coughs could be heard throughout the day and several lawmakers could be seen unwrapping lozenges on the floor. For much of the morning, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona sat with a shawl wrapped around her for warmth while Elizabeth Warren could be seen rubbing her arms in the frigid chamber.

Unlike the long days throughout the week, where senators  particularly Republican senators  roamed the room and shuttled back and forth from their cloakroom, there was relatively little movement on Saturday morning. Republicans seemed to take even fewer notes as they stared ahead at the presidents lawyers, who spoke for only two hours of their allotted time.

There were no vocal guffaws or emotional responses such as those provoked by Adam Schiffs closing address in Friday night, when Democrats seemed moved by the California congressmans oratory and Republicans were offended that he cited a CBS News report that GOP senators had been warned, Vote against the president and your head will be on a pike. (Some shouted Not true! in response.)

Instead, members gave off the air of teenagers being punished with a Saturday study hall for some unknown demerit. They were doing just enough to get through a court session that Trump had already complained would happen during Death Valley in TV on Saturday morning.

The frozen pose Mitch McConnell took throughout the proceedings at his front-row desk was actually par for the course.

Even mild changes from normal demeanor stood out, like when Bernie Sanders  who has often sat hunched over his desk  spent a long period leaning back in his wooden chair, hands folded across his chest.

Sanders was one of four presidential candidates in the chamber forced to spend the week off the stump. He and the other presidential candidates  Michael Bennet, Amy Klobuchar, and Elizabeth Warren  had tried to squeeze in local and national television hits at every opportunity during breaks and waited intently to rush back to the campaign trail at the first chance.

Once the trial adjourned for the weekend at noon, it finally gave senators  at least those not running for president  a respite. For 49 entire hours, they will not be compelled to listen to legal arguments. Many were ready to go home. Others had their spouses waiting for them in the building. Connie Schultz, the wife of Sherrod Brown, and Doug Emhoff, the husband of Kamala Harris, had watched the proceedings Saturday morning together in the gallery. This meant there were fewer lingering conversations on the Senate floor after the chief justice struck his gavel than there had been on previous days.

But at 1 p.m. Monday, with Death Valley over with, it will all begin again. At that point, once Trump lawyers like Ken Starr and Alan Dershowitz make their arguments, the Senate is likely to be far less sedentary.
The U.S. Department of State has sanctioned Leopoldo Cintra Frias, Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, or MINFAR, for gross human rights violations. As a result of the designation, General Cintra Frias and his immediate family members, including his children, Deborah Cintra Gonzalez and Leopoldo Cintra Gonzalez, are ineligible for entry into the United States.

As head of MINFAR, Cintra Frias bears responsibility for Cubas actions to prop up the former Maduro regime in Venezuela, said Secretary of State Michael Pompeo. Alongside Nicolas Maduros military and intelligence officers, MINFAR has committed gross human rights violations in Venezuela. These abuses include subjecting Venezuelans who opposed Maduro to cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment. Dismantling Venezuelas democracy by terrifying Venezuelans into submission, said Secretary Pompeo, is the goal of MINFAR and the Cuban regime.

Maduro has held control of Venezuelas security forces only because of the support he receives from Cuba and Russia.The United States will cut off Cubas remaining sources of revenue in response to its intervention in Venezuela, vowed a senior State Department official.Already, the United States has eliminated visits to Cuba via passenger and recreational vessels, such as cruise ships. The U.S. government also suspended scheduled air carrier service between the United States and all Cuban airports other than Havana. This will further prevent the Cuban regime from obtaining the resources it uses to support its repression of the Cuban people, and to fund its destructive intervention in Venezuela.

Meanwhile, countries in the region have taken action against the Cuban governments trafficking in thousands of Cuban doctors, another scheme aimed at enriching the regime.Brazil insisted on paying Cuban doctors directly, and at a fair wage.In response, the Cuban regime withdrew its doctors from Brazil.Cuban doctors have also recently left Ecuador and Bolivia.

Clearly, the Cuban regime fears democracy, declared Secretary Pompeo. We strongly encourage other governments and international organizations to continue promoting accountability for the Cuban regime for its involvement in violations or abuses of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cuba and beyond.
COXSACKIE  The 21st Century Economy is carrying some mixed blessings for Margaret Jones. Shes among a handful of people who operate Airbnbs in this Greene County community south of Albany.

State and local promotions have led to an uptick in visitors to the area, and her weekends are often booked solid.

But now she and others fear that two industrial-size solar projects proposed for the area could hurt tourism as well as detract from the value of nearby homes.

So she and others have started a group, Saving Greene, in opposition to the proposals. Developers are looking at a total of 2,500 acres for new solar farms, including one of 100 megawatts and another with 50 megawatts.

Forty five miles away, west of Schenectady on the other side of the Capital Region, Lynne Bruning is fighting a similar battle. Shes filed an Article 78 proceeding, or precursor to a lawsuit, against the Duanesburg planning board, solar developer Eden Renewables and landowner Richard Murray, contending the board erred in approving two 7.5 megawatt solar arrays on 66 acres next to the home, barns and acreage that she and her mother, Susan Biggs, own.

Duanesburg has since instituted a six-month moratorium on new projects.

Solar farms of all sizes are booming in parts of upstate New York. Sparked by a nationwide push for renewable or carbon-free electricity and hastened by a new state law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act that lays out goals and timelines for getting there, developers are flooding into upstate.

According to the New York State Independent System Operator, which oversee the states vast electric grid, there are more than 110 projects representing more than 10,000 megawatts of capacity.

They probably wont all be built, but that number represents a boom in solar development that will change the landscape in parts of the state, especially those areas near major transmission lines.

The projects range in size from a few megawatts that can power a small neighborhood, to 350 MW farms that could light up tens of thousands of homes.

Solar, along with wind turbines, currently make up a small portion of the states energy needs, with most of the power still coming from existing natural gas and nuclear plants. But they are coming in quickly. Drive down Route 32 south of Bethlehem and youll see one near the industrial site in Feura Bush and farther down in Greenville.

Community farms have opened in Altamont and in Halfmoon, allowing rate-paying members of the public to become members and get lower utility bills in the process.

But for some, such as Jones and Bruning, the farms may be coming too fast, leading to legal battles and local activist campaigns.

Bruning earlier this month organized a Sensible Solar Summit, to discuss how to deal with the onslaught of solar farms. Is there a better way to begin to site these projects? asked Bruning.

Most of those who came to the summit, at a Duanesburg church meeting room, said they understood the need for clean energy. But for some of them, there are unanswered questions and a feeling that some of the projects are beyond local control.

It all comes down to case law, said Ken Kovalchik, the Guilderland town planner. He said that it can be difficult to stop a solar project in court if it conforms with a localitys zoning and land use regulations.

Moreover, the states Article 10 law puts a state siting board in charge of approvals for facilities over 25 MW. The boards are required to get local input but some have contended it basically puts decisions on large projects in the hands of the state.

Others wonder precisely what happens when the panels become obsolete or begin falling apart at the end of their 15-25-year life spans. If the solar goes in we have to have an end game, said Marion Jaqueway of Schoharie, where a 30.5-acre, 5 MW farm is planned. Solar developers in most cases must post a bond to make sure there is some money to remove and dispose or update the panels.

Part of the backlash is playing out in the courts.

In Duanesburg, Biggs and Bruning in their filing claim the developers, Eden Renewables, left out her mothers home and barns in an initial depiction of the site plan. And they claim the planning board didnt follow proper procedures in allowing the site.

In Greene County, supporters of the proposed 600-acre Flint Mine Solar Farm went to court to oppose a 2018 town law that would curtail solar developments by keeping them out of agriculturally zoned land.

More for you Solar plant would go on 700 acres of Canajoharie farmland

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

The case was overturned last fall. But the project could still move forward since, at 100 MW, the state siting board, under Article 10, would come into play. The developers could argue before the siting board that the agricultural ban is unreasonably burdensome, said Laura Cottingham, one of the attorneys representing the Friends of Flint Mine Solar, which opposed the town's restrictive law. It is in the hands of the developer and the Siting Board, she said in an email.

Adding to the controversy in Greene County is another 50 MW farm proposed by Hecate Energy, which opponents fear could threaten the watershed for Sleepy Hollow Lake, a manmade reservoir that is the centerpiece and drinking water source for the eponymous development, which includes vacation homes and year-round residents.

Some of the opponents say they worry what it would do to nearby property values.

Gabriel Wapner, director of development for Hecate Energy, said studies in other places have shown no drop in property values. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority says the same thing, but not everyone is convinced.

That development, too, could be decided under the Article 10 proceedings.

That is the problem with New York State using Article 10 to permit the utility solar developments  local zoning may go out the window, said Nancy Harm, a member of Saving Greene.

In some cases, developers are planning berms or tree and brush barriers to shield solar arrays from view. Thats the plan in Montgomery County where a 90.5 MW, 700-acre solar farm is proposed by Avangrid Renewables.

Keith Hevenor, communication manager for Nexamp, the Boston-based firm that is finishing a 14 MW, 50-acre solar farm in Westerlo, conceded that altering the scenery can be contentious.

Its an emotional issue. Anything that changes your view.

Even the strongest solar proponents realize that the advent of solar farms represents a change for people who may have spent years in rural communities where little has changed.

These projects and proposals are new, said David Alicea, New Yorks lead organizing representative at the Sierra Club.

They are significant investments in communities that havent seen anything like this. People have really legitimate questions about this.

rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU
Maharashtra minister and NCPs chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said party leaders cannot be scared off with such a move.

Mumbai: The NCP on Friday accused the central government of withdrawing its chief Sharad Pawars security at his official residence in New Delhi and charged it with playing vendetta politics.

Maharashtra minister and NCPs chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said party leaders cannot be scared off with such a move. The partys fight against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah will continue, he asserted.

Mr Malik said Mr Pawar, a Rajya Sabha MP and former Union minister, had Y category security cover in the national capital. The security personnel deployed at Pawars residence at 6 Janpath in the national capital stopped reporting at the bungalow since January 20 and there was no prior intimation from the government about it, he added.

This is a kind of vendetta politics. They think NCP leaders will be deterred by this. It is their misconception. The fight against Modi and Shah will continue, the minority affairs minister said.

His party and ministerial colleague Jayant Patil also slammed the BJP and linked the alleged move of the Centre to the saffron outfit losing power in Maharashtra.

From by-lanes to Delhi, the BJP has taken it to heart the change of power in Maharashtra. Therefore, the BJP is behaving with vengeance. This is detrimental to the democracy! tweeted Mr Patil, the state NCP president who is also the water resources minister.

State Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad said Pawar cannot be scared off by such steps and likened the NCP president to a mountain from Sahyadri range. The love and affection of the people is his security cover, he added.

States social justice minister Dhananjay Munde echoed similar views. What mean level will you reach to? he asked Centre on Twitter, condemning the move. Mr Awhad also sardonically said it is good that the veteran leaders security has been withdrawn as Maharashtra has now learnt what narrow mindset the BJP-led government possesses.
The photographs Friday morning revealed what looking like a devastated war zone, but it was actually a west Houston neighborhood that had just suffered an accidental explosion at a manufacturing plant. Incidents like this  and the 2013 explosion of a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, and Novembers blast at the TPC plant in Port Neches  reinforce the need for strong regulations at industrial facilities that are near populated areas, or in this case, right inside one.

The explosion at Watson Grinding and Manufacturing was epic by any scale. Two people were killed and more than 200 homes were damaged. The blast was so powerful that homes were knocked off their foundations and doors were ripped off hinges. Police asked neighbors to look for debris  or body parts  up to a half-mile away. Frankly, its a wonder that the casualties werent even worse.

Authorities are still trying to figure out exactly what happened, although they dont believe arson or terrorism were involved. The chemical involved was apparently propylene. If the company had more than 10,000 pounds of it stored on site, it would be required to file a Risk Management Plan with the Environmental Protection Agency. The company did not have a risk plan on file, and its 2015 inventory listed only liquefied oxygen, not propylene.

Discrepancies like this must be explained by company officials, but of course all of this would take place after the disaster. Regulations are designed to prevent accidents like this, and compliance is essential to that goal.

This blast was even more troubling than recent ones in Texas because it occurred at a fairly small, nondescript facility in a part of Houston filled with homes and businesses. The TPC explosion, in comparison, was at a large industrial plant that had been operating for decades, even though it too was uncomfortably close to houses and shops.

Accidents like this will happen when companies are dealing with hazardous chemical, but theyve been happening too often in Texas in recent years. A 2016 investigation by the Houston Chronicle found there was a major chemical incident in the Houston area about every six weeks.

In the aftermath of incidents like this, safety inspectors and public officials in other places  like Southeast Texas  have to review whether something like this could happen in their jurisdictions. Most companies using these products operate responsibly, but some dont. And even the best-run facility could have something terrible happen.

This is why inspections have to be carried out and dangerous materials have to be stored properly. Texans should not have to accept the occasional World War II-style explosion as just something that could happen. These incidents are supposed to be few and far between. With better oversight and safer practices, they can be.
'Central Vista stretch required for Republic Day parade will be ready in time, some facilities later'

J&K: Seven terrorist associates of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen arrested in Bandipora

India

oi-PTI

Srinagar, Jan 25: In a major breakthrough on the eve of Republic Day, security forces arrested seven terrorist associates linked to the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen outfits in Bandipora district of north Kashmir, a senior police officer said.

"The seven overground workers were arrested from different parts in an overnight operation carried out jointly by the police, Army and CRPF and a large quantity of arms and ammunition were recovered from their possession," Senior Superintendent of Police Rahul Malik told reporters.

Presenting the arrested persons before the media, he said they were under surveillance for some time. "They were working for both LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist outfits and were not only providing shelter to the terrorists but were also helping them by arranging logistics, transport and finance," the officer said.

Asked whether they were planning an attack on the Republic Day in the district, Malik said that is a matter of investigation.

The importance of gunning down JeM terrorist Abu Saifullah alias Abu Qasim

"They are being questioned to know their plans," he said.

The arms and ammunition recovered from them included two pistols, two Under Barrel Grenade Launchers (UBGL), three rocket-propelled grenades, three UBGL grenades and 500 rounds of AK assault rifles, another police official said.

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Story first published: Saturday, January 25, 2020, 20:21 [IST]
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 01:00:41|Editor: Yurou

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Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev delivers an address to the Uzbek Parliament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Jan. 24, 2020. Shavkat Mirziyoyev has declared 2020 the year of the development of science, education and the digital economy, in an address to the country's parliament on Friday. (Photo by Zafar Khalilov/Xinhua)

TASHKENT, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Uzbekistan will prioritize the development of the digital economy, science and education, and fight against corruption in 2020, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said Friday in his message to the country's parliament.

Mirziyoyev has declared 2020 the year of the development of science, education and the digital economy, in his address to deputies, which was the third since he came to power in 2016.

The development of the digital economy and digital governance are the most important steps to make the country more attractive for foreign investments and to develop various sectors of the economy, Mirziyoyev said.

The president proposed to set up an independent anticorruption body to fight corruption, which is a serious "obstacle on the way of development," and also an agency for exports to stimulate the country's exporters.

Uzbekistan has started a project to train a million software programmers, hoping that they would be "a drive of the economy and the society in 3-4 years," he added.

Mirziyoyev said that the Central Asian nation will gradually reduce the state's role in cotton and wheat growing and trading starting this year and will make efforts to increase fruit and vegetable exports to 2 billion U.S. dollars.

Mirziyoyev's reforms for 2020 will also include easing restrictions on the domestic migration system and granting Uzbek citizenship to those living in the country since 1995.
2nd US coronavirus patient confirmed as 1st cases reported in Europe originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

France on Friday confirmed three patients there had contracted the new coronavirus -- the first cases reported on that continent -- after a second U.S. case was reported in Chicago earlier in the day.

The Chicago resident, a woman in her 60s, had traveled to Wuhan, China, in late December. She was admitted to the hospital and was last in stable condition, according to Illinois health officials.

MORE: Human-to-human transmission of new coronavirus reported in China

The patient called her doctor before seeking treatment and had not taken public transportation or attended any large gatherings, Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said Friday.

"This is a single travel-associated case -- not a local emergency," Arwady said. "There is no need for the general public to change their behavior in any way based on this news."

PHOTO: Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, speaks to reporters about a patient who has been diagnosed with the Coronavirus in Chicago, Jan. 24, 2020. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

"We understand that some people are worried about this virus and how it may impact Americans," Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said at a Friday news briefing. "The immediate risk to the U.S. public is low at this time."

MORE: College student quarantined in Texas with suspected coronavirus case

In 22 states, 63 people are being evaluated to determine whether they have coronavirus. Among those, 11 have tested negative and two have tested positive. In New York State, four people are being tested for coronavirus, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a news briefing Friday. Of those four, one tested negative for the virus and three others are waiting for their results.

Patient samples are being tested at the CDC in Atlanta, and health officials are working to provide those tests to states, which would speed diagnosis times.

As of Jan. 23, roughly 2,000 passengers entering the U.S. had been screened at airports. No cases of coronavirus have been detected from the airport screenings so far.

Story continues

Health officials reported the first U.S. case of the coronavirus Jan. 21, when it was diagnosed in a Washington state man in his 30s who'd recently traveled to Wuhan.

More than 900 cases of the coronavirus have been reported so far worldwide. Additionally, China's National Health Commission reported that three cases have been confirmed in Thailand, two in Vietnam, and one case each in Japan, Singapore and South Korea.

Hospitals in Wuhan overwhelmed by influx of patients

Hospitals in China are scrambling to treat the large influx of patients seeking treatment.

"Shortage of medical supplies, request help!" Wuhan's Children's Hospital posted on Weibo, a Chinese social network, asking for items including surgical masks, disposable clothing, gloves and goggles. Several other hospitals have posted similar requests.

PHOTO: Countries with confirmed coronavirus cases (WHO, CDC, NHC, Dingxiangyuan, local governments)

In the meantime, Wuhan broke ground on a brand new, 1,000-bed hospital to address the outbreak, expected to be completed by Feb. 3. The city is following in the footsteps of Beijing, where a similar fast-tracked hospital was built to address the 2003 SARS outbreak.

U.S. State Department issues China travel warning

This announcement comes as the U.S. State Department has warned Americans not to enter China's Hubei province due to the coronavirus, as Chinese authorities announced that the death toll from the virus has increased to 41.

The U.S. is also pulling out most of its diplomats and their families from the consulate general in Wuhan, the city of 11 million in which cases of the new virus first were discovered.

MORE: 1st confirmed case of new coronavirus reported in US: CDC

The State Department issued a new travel advisory late Thursday, declaring the Hubei region Level 4, Do Not Travel, the strongest of the four travel warning levels issued by the U.S. government. That puts it on par with hot spots and war zones like North Korea, Syria and Iran.

PHOTO: A thermal scanner monitor screen shows the temperature of arriving passengers at Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 24 Jan. 2020. (EPA via Shutterstock)

The first report of a person in China outside Hubei province dying from the new virus is that of an 80-year-old man in the northern province of Hebei, who'd returned from a two-month stay in Wuhan, according to The Associated Press.

MORE: What we know about the new coronavirus fueling worldwide anxiety

In response to the virus, officials at Shanghai Disneyland said that the giant theme park would close until further notice "in order to ensure the health and safety of our guests." The move comes during one of the park's busiest weeks of the year. The park is about a two-hour flight from Wuhan.

PHOTO: A worker from a cleaning and disinfection service sprays disinfectant in a train as part of efforts to prevent the spread of a new virus which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan at Suseo railway station in Seoul, South Korea, Jan. 24, 2020. (AFP via Getty Images)

The U.S. State Department says China itself remains on travel advisory Level 2, Exercise Increased Caution, because of arbitrary detentions and law enforcement concerns, including the so-called exit bans where U.S. citizens are prevented from leaving the country, often for the government to gain leverage over relatives that it is after.

A senior State Department official said the U.S. had seen "positive signs" in Chinas response to stem the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, but added that China has lacked transparency in the past and has shown it can be more preoccupied with saving face publicly than admitting and treating the problem.

"Were concerned, but cautiously optimistic," the official said.

The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of ABC News.
Canary Islands, January 25, 2020 (SPS)  Spanish political party Podemos has denounced "the expansionist policies of Rabat" in Sahrawi territorial waters, while urging the Spanish government in collaboration with the government of the Canary Islands to launch actions to curb "this Moroccan maneuver ".



"We will not allow our marine waters to be affected by Morocco, and we demand that the median established to date be respected," the political party said in a statement released Thursday.



"From Podemos Canarias, we reject Moroccos expansionist policy, not only with our waters, but also with the waters of Western Sahara, a non-self-governing territory awaiting decolonization, a conflict that has been going on for 43 years ", underlined in the statement, Francisco Lopez, regional secretary of Podemos.



According to media sources, the Moroccan Parliament approved "two draft laws relating to creation of exclusive economic zone and delimitation of the maritime borders, extending the illegal exclusive zone to Laguera, in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, and part of the waters close to the Canary Islands which Spain considers in its exclusive economic zone".



Faced with such an attack on international legality, the Polisario Front expressed its strong condemnation "of Moroccos manoeuvres and deplored Spains submission to the regime of Mohamed VI". " Making more concessions by the Spanish Government will only encourage Morocco to persist in its expansionism that the Saharawi people continue to suffer since Morocco occupied Western Sahara by force in October 1975 with the complicity of the Spanish authorities at the time", denounced the Polisario Front. (SPS)



062/SPS/T
'Idiot' Trump had better pull out troops from Iraq voluntarily: Hashd al-Sha'abi leader

Iran Press TV

Friday, 24 January 2020 3:28 PM

President Donald Trump had better voluntarily order the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq before they are forced out, says a high-ranking official from the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), better known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha'abi.

"Today all Iraqis, men and women, have poured out onto the streets to send out one clear message to the whole world: There is no place for foreign forces to be present on the Iraqi soil. Thanks to all Iraqis who heeded the call to attend the demonstration and participated in it. Thanks to the support offered by politicians, tribal figures, academics as well as journalists," Qais al-Khazali, leader of Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, which is part of the PMU, said in a statement released on Friday.

He also expressed profound gratitude to influential Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who initially called on Iraqis to join protests against the presence of US forces in the country.

"As for idiot Trump, the million-man march put across a clear message: If you do not leave willingly, you will then deserve a kick in the face," the PMU leader stated.

Iraqis want sovereign state far from interference, diktats: President Salih

The Iraqi president, Barham Salih, says his nation wants a state whose sovereignty is not violated by any means and its decisions are not manipulated by foreign interference and diktats at all.

"Iraqis insist on a state whose sovereignty is not violated, and is far from (foreign) interference and diktats. Iraqis desire a state that guarantees their security and rights, and maintains peace and stability in relations with its neighbors," Salih wrote in a post published on his official Twitter page on Friday.

'All options on table to remove US forces'

Furthermore, an Iraqi parliamentarian has said "all options are on the table" concerning the removal of US forces, either through diplomacy or by force.

"American proxies will be not be able to break the will of the Iraqi people regarding the removal of the occupier from the country. We stand with the demonstrators' demands. We want a homeland as they wish. They are looking for a homeland, where the occupier, murderers, terrorists and those responsible for the assassination of leaders of victory have been expelled, away from the will of the US embassy," Mohammad Karim, a member of the Fatah (Conquest) Alliance at the Iraqi parliament, told Arabic-language al-Maalomah news agency on Friday.

"All options have been offered to remove US forces from Iraq in a peaceful, calm and diplomatic manner. If they refuse to leave, they will then be treated as occupying forces, and will be driven out by force accordingly."

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis demonstrated in central Baghdad on Friday, calling for the expulsion of US troops.

On January 5, Iraqi lawmakers unanimously approved a bill demanding the withdrawal.

Late on January 9, Iraq's caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi called on the United States to dispatch a delegation to Baghdad tasked with formulating a mechanism for the move.

According to a statement released by the Iraqi premier's office, Abdul-Mahdi "requested that delegates be sent to Iraq to set the mechanisms to implement the parliament's decision for the secure withdrawal of (foreign) forces from Iraq" in a phone call with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The prime minister said Iraq rejects violation of its sovereignty, particularly the US military's violation of Iraqi airspace in the vicious airstrike that assassinated Iran's Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and the deputy head of the PMU, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, along with their companions.

The US State Department bluntly rejected the request the following day.

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Kenya is enduring its worst desert locust outbreak in 70 years, AP reports, as "hundreds of millions of the bugs swarm" into the country from Ethiopia and Somalia.

The impact: This infestation is destroying farmland and "threatening an already vulnerable region with devastating hunger," but March rains and new vegetation could worsen conditions.

The United Nations says that the numbers of fast-breeding locusts "could grow 500 times before drier weather in June curbs their spread," per AP.

says that the numbers of fast-breeding locusts "could grow 500 times before drier weather in June curbs their spread," per AP. Aerial pesticide spraying will cost about $70 million to fight the swarm, the UN says.

The big picture: A warming climate has contributed to the exceptional breeding conditions, Nairobi-based climate scientist Abubakr Salih Babiker told AP.

Go deeper: Insect Disturbance and Climate Change (USDA)
The seized painting 'Head of a young woman' by famous Spanish painter Picasso. Photo: Getty Images/Garda Civil

A Spanish billionaire banker, who is also an art collector, has been jailed for 18 months and fined 52.4m (44.6m, $58.4m) for trying to smuggle a national treasure Picasso painting out of the country to sell at an auction.

The artwork, Head of a Young Woman, is valued at 26m and is regarded as an artistic treasure by the Spanish government, meaning it cant be taken out of the country or sold without special permission.

In 2015, it was discovered by customs officials and police in the French island of Corsica on board the yacht of owner Jamie Botin, who was the-then head of the Madrid-based bank Bankinter (BAKA.SG).

Spanish prosecutors say that Botin, 83, was told by auctioneers Christies in 2012 that hed need a special permit to sell the valuable painting  that he bought in 1977  but had been denied one.

READ MORE: Rare 1 coin sells for record 1m

The court heard that Botin then sent the painting to his yacht in Valencia and ordered it to be stashed away.

When it was discovered in French territory three years later, Botin argued he was taking it to Switzerland for safe-keeping.

Spanish Civil Guards move the box containing Picasso's painting 'Head of a Young Woman' into the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid. Photo: Getty Images

However, the Madrid High Court found Botin guilty on Thursday of attempting to remove cultural goods from Spain without a permit.

He has also been ordered to give up the painting, which is now at the Reina Sofia art gallery in Madrid, according to a BBC report.

Botin, who Forbes say has a net worth of $1.7bn, may appeal against his sentence and its unlikely hell be sent to jail because of his age and the non-violent nature of the crime.

Botins father and brother were both chairmen of Spains Santander (SAN) bank and he was a vice-chairman before resigning in 2004.

Picassos Head of a Young Woman (1906) is a rare example of his pink period (1904-1906), a precursor to the Cubism he is more well known for.

READ MORE: This eight-year-old boy makes $26m a year on his YouTube channel
STATEN ISLAND -- The National Republican Congressional Committee has tapped Brooklyn prosecutor Joseph Caldarera as an on the radar candidate in the GOP House primary here.

The NRCC had given Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, Caldareras Republican rival, the same designation last year, part of the NRCCs overall Young Guns campaign program aimed at taking back the House majority.

Caldarera said the NRCC designation of him as a Young Gun proves they know that I can beat her.

In under three months they have put me at the same level of a 10-year career politician, Caldarera said, adding that he met with the NRCC in December.

The NRCC said getting a spot in its Young Guns" program is not an endorsement, but means that a candidate has met certain thresholds the group looks for in terms of candidate viability.

The NRCC declined to detail exactly what kind of metrics they consider, but noted that some of them include fundraising ability and campaign infrastructure.

Unlike Malliotakis, who has raised well over $1 million to date, Caldarera has yet to disclose publicly how much money he has raised. Caldarera entered the race at the end of 2019, in the middle of the most recent fundraising quarter.

Caldareras campaign said he has raised significantly less than Malliotakis.

OTHER ENDORSEMENTS

In addition to her NRCC designation, Malliotakis has also won major party support in the district, and she has garnered top Washington endorsements.

The state and district Conservative Party organizations selected her earlier this month as their nominee for Congress, and she has also been endorsed unanimously by the Staten Island and Brooklyn Republican executive committees.

GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, House Whip Steve Scalise and House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney have also endorsed the five-term assemblywoman.

Nicole Malliotakis long record of fighting for the residents of Brooklyn and Staten Island, her fundraising ability and her endorsements speak for themselves, said Malliotakis campaign spokesman Rob Ryan. Max Rose is our focus and Nicole Malliotakis will defeat him in November.

The Young Guns program mentors and supports candidates in races across the country and provides them with tools to run successful, winning campaigns against their Democratic opponents.

The NRCC could not immediately say what kind of specific backing they provide Young Guns" candidates, but the committee links to the fundraising pages of those candidates who are part of the program.

The NRCC has selected multiple candidates in other House primaries across the country for its Young Guns program as well, including states like Alabama and California.

We are pleased to add another round of impressive candidates to our Young Guns program, said McCarthy of the recent program additions. The socialist Democrats sham impeachment investigation has inspired hundreds of well-qualified candidates to run for office and put the majority well within our reach."

FOLLOW SYDNEY KASHIWAGI ON TWITTER.
The immense contribution of Seamus Mallon to politics and the peace process has been underlined by the large number of deserved tributes from across the political spectrum.

He rose to prominence in the civil rights movement and later became a major politician as deputy leader of the SDLP, and as Deputy First Minister in the Stormont power-sharing administration with David Trimble

Seamus Mallon was also a highly-regarded and consummate politician at Westminster.

Read More

He was a most fair, principled, courageous and wise man. The former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair described him as "one of the most important architects of peace in Northern Ireland. Brave, blunt, often prepared to swim against the tide if he felt it right, he was someone deeply respected and admired across the troubled landscape of Irish politics."

The DUP leader Arlene Foster in paying tribute reminded us of the two stark and clear choices he set forth: "We can live together in generosity and compassion or we can continue to die in bitter disharmony."

He was an avowed nationalist brought up in a largely Protestant village in South Armagh where he formed an understanding of and kinship with his neighbours, and he was an unrelenting opponent of the IRA.

Mr Mallon made an immense contribution, with others, to the Good Friday Agreement - which established the transforming peace process - and also to the reform of policing here.

He had many fine qualities including honesty, integrity and a deep humanity, but he was his own man.

A review of his biography, A Shared Home Place, with Andy Pollak carried the headline "Sombre, compassionate, prickly".

One of the most fitting tributes to him came from Pat Hume whose husband John worked so long and creatively with Mr Mallon. "Men like Seamus Mallon don't come along too often, and we should be grateful for his work in our time and preserve his values."
Newly-appointed Himachal Pradesh BJP president Rajeev Bindal on Saturday met senior party leaders, including former chief minister Shanta Kumar, and discussed ways to sharpen the BJP's functioning in the state.

"The organisation is strong but there is a need to sharpen it," he said after a meeting with Kumar at his residence in Palampur.

The closed door meeting with Kumar last for about an hour.

Bindal also met former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, senior leader Suresh Bhardwaj, former state president Satpal Singh Satti.

He said he met the leaders to seek their guidance.

Bindal was appointed president of the BJP's Himachal Pradesh unit on January 18.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Physicians are worried after they found traces of Marijuana in a number of heart patients. While smoking tobacco leads to one in every four cardiovascular disease-related deaths, the cause of similar effects from using marijuana is still not entirely known. Various studies suggest that Marijuana can be the inducer for triggering heart attacks and strokes.

The report got published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Ersilia DeFilippis, MD, a second-year cardiology fellow at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian, delved into marijuana's effect on the heart a few years ago while studying heart attacks in people under 50. She said, "We noted that 10 percent of patients in a registry of young heart attack patients had used marijuana and/or cocaine."Ersilia and her colleagues recently went through the medical literature to find out about the facts about the substance and limitations to previous studies.

They found, based on the responses to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2016, that over 2 Million People with heart disease have used marijuana. It is a common drug to be abused. Approximately 90 million American adults use it at least once in their life, and over 39 million have used marijuana in the past year.

"In addition to the 2 million marijuana users with diagnosed cardiovascular disease, many more may be at risk," DeFilippis says. "With many adolescents and young adults turning to marijuana, it is important to understand the cardiovascular implications they may face years down the line."

Researchers believe that cannabinoids may increase the activity of some prescribed drugs in the body. But limited data are available to guide physicians in adjusting the dose to compensate for marijuana use.

THC is the most psychoactive chemical in marijuana, but marijuana also contains more than 100 compounds, called cannabinoids, that are chemically related to THC. The percentage of THC contained in marijuana plant has steadily increased over the past 30 years.

"Higher potency may translate into greater effects on the conduction system, the vasculature, and the muscle of the heart," DeFilippis says. "It also highlights the need for real-world data given the variety of marijuana products and formulations available for purchase."

Receptors for cannabinoids are highly concentrated in the nervous system but also can be found in blood cells, muscle cells, and other tissues and organs. A small experimental study found that smoking marijuana can bring on angina (chest pain) more quickly in patients with coronary heart disease compared with smoking a placebo.

Though current evidence for a link between marijuana and heart attacks is modest, it's thought that smoking marijuana may increase cellular stress and inflammation, which are known to be precipitating factors for coronary artery disease and heart attacks.

Cerebrovascular events, including strokes, also have been associated with marijuana use. It's thought that marijuana may induce changes in the inner lining of blood vessels or alter blood flow.

"Although we need more data, the evidence we do have indicates that marijuana use has been associated with coronary artery disease, arrhythmia, cardiomyopathy, and more," DeFilippis says.

"Therefore, asking patients about marijuana use may help in risk assessment. In addition, we know that marijuana use affects the metabolism of many common cardiac drugs. In order to make sure patients are getting therapeutic doses without untoward side effects, it is important for cardiologists to talk to their patients about marijuana use," Ersilia concludes.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Srinagar, Jan 25 : The officer who led the operation that eliminated Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani will receive Police Medal for Gallantry from President Ram Nath Kovind on Republic Day. A 2008 batch IPS officer, Abdul Jabbar is among the 409 gallantry awardees.

On July 8, 2016, acting on an intelligence input, Jabbar, the then SSP of Anantnag, led a team of police personnel that killed Wani.

Wani was the poster boy of militancy in Kashmir. He was known to be active on social media, brandishing pictures with weapons to attract militants into his fold. Jabbar was moved out of J&K later.

After Wani's death, massive unrest took place in the Valley for almost six months. More than 100 civilians were killed across the Valley in clashes that followed.

Jabbar belongs to Aurangabad district in Bihar. The officer is currently serving on a deputation in the Intelligence Bureau.

The President's medal for gallantry is the highest police medal for valour. Three J&K police personnel, including Jabbar, and one from the CRPF will receive President's award this year.

This Republic Day, J&K Police will receive 108 medals, the maximum number of gallantry honours.
Thousands of students, activists and representatives from several Indian diaspora and human rights organisations gathered opposite Downing Street in London to protest against India's new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The rally, organised by student groups and Indian outfits in the UK, marched around a mile down the streets to gather outside the Indian High Commission in London.

The protesters carried placards reading Protect the Constitution, Stop Dividing India, United Against Racism in India and No Citizenship on the Basis of Religion.

The CAA came into force in India last December amid protests in India and around the world.

The Indian government has stressed that the new Act does not deny any citizenship rights but has been brought in to protect the oppressed minorities of neighbouring countries and provide them citizenship.

The protesters, from around the UK and describing themselves as representative of diverse and multi-faith Indian communities across the UK, demanded that the CAA be repealed because it undermines India's secular Constitution.

They also called for the abolition of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR), which they said in conjunction with the CAA, open the way for selective mass disenfranchisement of India's Muslim population.

UK Opposition Labour Party MP Sam Tarry addressed the demonstrators with the message that human rights in any country is an international issue.

We are not here as any anti-India demonstration, we are here as a pro-India demonstration. It is incredibly important that our voices are heard against laws that are not good for the future of the country, said the east London MP.

Messages of support from Labour MPs Stephen Timms, Clive Lewis and newly-elected Indian-origin parliamentarian Nadia Whittome were also read out, calling on the UK government to take up the issue with Indian counterparts.

On the eve of Republic Day, we are reminded of our core values of freedom, equality and diversity. We stand in solidarity with all the people in India and around the world in their fight against injustice and racism, said Harsev Bains, of the Indian Workers Association (GB).

The protest in front of the Brazilian embassy, which preceded the march to the Indian High Commission, seeks to highlight the fact that fascism today is a truly global problem, said a spokesperson for the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) India Society.

Some of the other groups backing Saturday's march included CasteWatch UK, Tamil People in the UK, Indian Muslim Federation(UK), Federation of Redbridge Muslim Organisations (FORMO), Kashmir Solidarity Movement, South Asian Students Against Fascism among others.

Saturday's demonstration, to mark the eve of India's Republic Day, will be followed by another protest outside India House in London on Sunday, when pro-Pakistani and separatist groups led by Tehreek-e-Kashmir UK plan to observe a so-called Black Day against the Indian government.

The Indian High Commission in London has raised serious concerns for the safety of the mission and its staff and Indian High Commissioner Ruchi Ghanashyam had even taken up the matter with UK Home Secretary Priti Patel.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has pledged robust security to prevent any violence during Sunday's protests, as the Metropolitan Police said that a proportionate policing plan would be in place.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tiger Shroff is gearing up for Baaghi 3. The actor shared a series of videos on his social media from Baaghi 1, Baaghi 2, and a small teaser for Baaghi 3.

The actor took to social media and shared 3 videos back to back with the caption 'Round 1' for Baaghi, 'Round 2' and 'Round 3 or final round? coming soon' as a build-up for Baaghi 3.

Tiger Shroff aces every character he plays on-screen. The actor is in full swing with his Baaghi 3 preparations and was shooting in extreme weather conditions like at exotic locations in Serbia. Tiger has time and again treated his fans with his movie looks and fans have been drooling over it.

Earlier, Tiger shared a BTS picture from the sets of WAR. Tiger Shroff set the screens on fire with the movie WAR which was the highest grosser of 2019.

The fans were enlightened to see the on-screen action scenes and were in complete sync. The action sequences were loved and kept everyone stunned with how unexpectedly stunning was each of the action scenes.

After setting the screens on fire with WAR, Tiger will now be seen in Baaghi 3 which is directed by Ahmad Khan and will also star Shraddha Kapoor.

ALSO READ: Baaghi 3: Tiger Shroff Pictures And Videos Leaked From The Sets!

ALSO READ: Disha Patani's Double Standards Exposed? Did She Betray Tiger Shroff By Breaking Her Own Rule?
New Delhi: The Election Commission on Saturday (January 25) imposed a 48-hour campaigning ban on BJP candidate Kapil Mishra following his controversial tweets calling Delhi election as a battle between India versus Pakistan.

The ban will come into force on 5 pm on Saturday stated the EC order, signed by the Chief Election Commissioner. Earlier, on January 24, the Election Commission has asked Twitter to take down the post of Kapil Mishra. The Delhi CEO Office has also issued a show-cause notice to Mishra following the issue.

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On Friday, Delhi Police had lodged an FIR against BJP's Model Town candidate Kapil Mishra over his controversial tweet in which he likened the upcoming Assembly elections to an India versus Pakistan contest.

Kapil Mishra is BJP candidate from Delhi's Model Town constituency. Delhi will go to polls on February 8 and the results will be declared on February 11.
[ Spoiler (click to open) ]

Sunny starts with politics, brings up travel ban expanding to pregnant women. Slippery slope, where does it stop, they discuss. Morally outrageous. Joy says were all still outraged, but what can we do about it. TR wonders why media cant make that a priority. Sunny wonders how will they know for sure, do you have to take a pregnancy test? I hate everything :mad:



TR directed and co-wrote his play, which is about the immigrant experience. Borrowed from the engravement on the Statue of Liberty. It was started before T45 admin, explains history and evolution of story. 12 actors talking in 12 different languages about their own stories of ancestral immigration. Were all descended from people who said No, I will not tolerate [lists examples of bigotry and oppression]. Feels its an extraordinary story. Ana talks about her familys history who fled from communism. Tells story of the northern migration, those who left the south to seek safety in the north. Story of people who had great dignity who said No and survived. Then they talk to the audience afterwards. Tells some stories from audience members.



Play is on a national tour, currently in Charlotte NC



Get you a woman who can do it all  pic.twitter.com/sG4OHpVgxM  Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) January 21, 2020

Tim Robbins talks politics and his playSummary of conversationToday is the last day for House Manager opening arguments. Starting tomorrow 10AM to 1PM, the WH defense will blah di blah about the Bidens, gaslight, lie, and whatever else.Jon Karl ABC joins the panel for his take. Plays clips of Schiff from last night. GOP are trash and will sit there and yawn with their stress balls and fidget spinners. Dems have put together a powerful case, doing an effective job using T45 own comments repeatedly. Using other clips to drive home their point. [During trial] they played clip with Karl and Mulvaney (we did it, Get Over It). Lt Col Vindman testimony also used, then he was subsequently attacked again. Joy doesnt think its been boring. Its been interesting. Ana says, how many times do we binge watchor, we can binge watch this serious issue. T45 claims its a hoax and sham, while you have Chief Justice Roberts presiding over the Senate with everyone taking oath for only the 3rd time in our countrys history. Sunny quotes stats of Americans including GOP who want to see witnesses. Karl doesnt think there will be witnesses. First theyd vote on subpoenas, then theyd vote separately on appearance. There would be court appeals by WH so the courts would drag out the process and the trial would never end. Bolton is going to talk, because he has a book to sell. But of course it would be after the trial. Fck that guy.Me-again is a broken record about political impact. Impeachment and removal IS a political process. Crack a history book. Dems already had a blue wave in mid-terms even without Mueller or impeachment. Nixon, which pales in comparison, drove a significant Dem win in 1974 mid-terms then won the WH in 1976. I skipped her blah blah. Ana wonders if Biden shouldnt just say hed testify. Biden has said he doesnt want to be part of this, and hes not a material witness. The GOP defense will be a-we didnt do anything wrong, b-ok it was wrong but we did it anyway, and c-look over here at Biden, which is the crux of his impeachment to begin with. Ana is mad about Sen. Marsha Blackburn continuing to smear Lt Col Vindman, has a low key rant. Sunny adds that Blackburn tweeted that she was reading a book. Technically she could be arrested, but the rules arent being enforced.Susie had a stye, Joys son-in-law told her to put a potato on her eye. She only had a sweet potato, but apparently potatoes absorb heat. They talk. They debate how long you can say Happy New Year. 3 days? All of January? SE talks about Larry David and his dating stories and a lot became George Costanza story lines. The other comedians would go on the floor when he was on stage, to see what hed do. But when he bombed, he bombed hard. Joy has said she doesnt want to do stand-up anymore, because the landscape has changed. SE says she agrees. You could explore and push the envelope and work your material and be edgy and then refine it to be audience friendly. CYE is very politically incorrect and theyre in their 10th season. They still talk about touchy topics, do they worry about pushing it too far. SE says Larry David is an equal opportunity offender.Ana brings up heckler who went after Harvey W. SE says she doesnt know the details but if she threw him out, thats fine. Talks about Rodney Dangerfield coming in his bathrobe and pajamas. Joy says people think Susie is so sweet. People shove phones in her face, so she can call their husbands bad names. Joy tells more stories about them doing stand-up back in the day. SE says her character also comes out when it involves customer service. Goes back to Anas earlier comment. If youre on stage trying to be likable, youre not going to be liked.The hosts explain the different purposes for social media platforms. Producers put together the meme for Meghan, Ana, Sunny, and Joy. The panel lols at the photos. Joy talks about her poor dog Bernie, she thinks hes having an anxiety attack over the impeachment. Tweet plus #dollypartonchallenge on Twitter and InstaEvery day Im putting this out there in the universe. Listen to me, universe, listen to me.Source links are below each video or section
Everyone in Hollywood has a backstory. The cast of NCIS: New Orleans gathered in The Big Easy from all across the country. Each has his or her own tale of survival before landing their NCIS roles. Former star, Shalita Grant, may have the ultimate story of perseverance. Heres what she did before becoming ATF Agent Sonja Percy in the hit CBS series.

Shalita Grant had a ridiculous number of auditions before NCIS: New Orleans

Shalita Grant as Sonja Percy and Vanessa Ferlito as FBI Special Agent Tammy Gregorio | Skip Bolen/CBS via Getty Images

Even though Shalita Grant is a Tony-nominated actress (for her work in the 2013 comedy, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike), the doors didnt open automatically for the star.

Grant packed up and moved to Los Angeles after feeling she did all she could do in the New York theater scene. Grant previously admitted to Daily Actor she thought about trying to get another show and try to win but ultimately didnt see it worth her time.

She didnt want the scope of her career focused on obtaining awards.

So I was like, I would rather go and see what the rest of my career has to offer. So, the next step was moving out to LA,' she said.

That move, however, didnt manifest into Grants dreams all at once. She assumed the Tony nomination might earn her industry respect, opening doors to all the roles she could imagine.

That was not the case, she said. Grant tested right away, multiple times, but didnt book anything. In fact, the NCIS: New Orleans star had 59 different projects she auditioned for in the span of a year.

Out of the 59, I had five tests. Four tests before the year and I had one more test for an HBO show that December before I booked NCIS, she said. The four tests, two went to network, two went to studio and no job. So for me, that was hard.

While auditioning, Grant said there was a week she cried in her car. The reality of it all sank in, particularly the way casting calls work.

A lot of times, stuff is already in play with other actors and the casting directors are covering their butts by taking on these other sessions where within like two days later you find out another person booked the job, she said.

So you realize of that audition I did two days ago where I made them laugh, they werent actually. They already had an actress with far more credits that they were looking to hire and her contract just went through. So that feels really bad.

Luckily, Grant didnt quit. Her big break was forming if only she could make ends meet long enough to get there.

What did Grant do to get jobs before ATF Agent Sonja Percy came along?

Though Grant moved to L.A. with a $10,000 cushion, that didnt last long  especially when she hadnt booked any jobs from the dozens of auditions.

I ran out of money and I was like, I have to find a way to support myself because my career [laughs]is in the gutter,' she said. This is typically where the strong separate themselves from the pack and find ways to carry one.

Many of Hollywoods elite started out as a waitress or barista, but Grant didnt want anyone to know her acting dream. Instead, she made up a whole life for herself, went on YouTube, and taught herself how to bartend.

I talked my way into a job at a dive bar and got fired because they figured out that I didnt know what I was doing, she said. And then I lied my way into another job at Dave and Busters. And I was working there, drenched in syrup and just having a bad attitude from clientele and I was embarrassed.

Grant didnt know NCIS: New Orleans was just around the corner

It took an entire year before Grant booked her first acting job. She guest-starred on the CBS show, Battle Creek, which didnt last. Then, panic set in.

When in my gonna book the next job? I dont want to live like this, Im too smart. There are so many other things I could do, this is awful, she said. And I really understood for the first time how LA can kill your dreams.

Grant was so close to quitting, she called her managers to say as much. They told her to stick it out, so, she did. From there, she landed roles about every other month with NCIS: New Orleans in the mix.

It was like a three-part thing where I was recurring but they gave me a holding deal and they were like, it could turn into a series regular. And here we are, she said.

That holding deal turned into Grant becoming a series regular by her fourth episode. Around the same time, she booked the PBS miniseries, Mercy Street, which had her flying back and forth between Virginia and New Orleans.

As for Grants next project, its unclear. Shell likely continue sticking it out, since its a proven method for success.

Hopefully Ill get another job. I love working. I love it. Its my favorite thing, she said. The NCIS franchise didnt writer her character off entirely, so theres always a chance Special Agent Percy could return. At least, fans hope so.

NCIS: New Orleans returns to CBS on Sunday, February 16.
Testing kits urgently needed in Wuhan

Global Times

By Leng Shumei and Hu Yuwei Source:Global Times Published: 2020/1/24 19:31:23

Shortage of medical resources, especially the testing kits, keep hovering hospitals in Wuhan, capital of central Central China's Hubei Province, while the whole China is fighting together against the novel coronavirus originatinged in the city.

A doctor from a Wuhan hospital confirmed with the Global Times that there's severe shortage of detection reagent for nCoV, coronavirus that has been identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness in Wuhan.

The shortage caused a local man and his father could not able to receive timely diagnosis and treatment on Wednesday night, according to media report.

The same problem also happened in other hospitals in the city, which reportedly lowered down the city's speed in disease control and prevention and left local suspected patients in a difficult situation.

Many patients in Wuhan revealed to the media that only hospitalized or highly suspected cases would be referred for examination of nCoV due to the shortage of the reagent kits. Patients with milder conditions are less likely to be admitted to the hospital immediately, but have to be treated and observed at home.

The National Health Commission announced on January 19 that it had delegated a batch of nucleic acid test reagent for the coronavirus to the local hospitals, and asked local authorities to step up testing.

However, many hospitals in Hubei Province only received only the first batch of reagent kits on TuesdayJanuary 22, and the number was pretty small, far less than the number of people who needed to be tested, media reported.

The reagent kits were first sent over to local centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) in each place. For now, at least, the CDC remains the primary users of the agency controlling kits use, whereas the main task of the hospitals is are to diagnose and treat suspected and confirmed patients.

Li Hui, the head of Shanghai Huirui Biotechnology Co Ltd, a company that produces the reagent kits, told the Global Times on Friday hat some company employees workers volunteered to get back to the production line from Spring Festival holidays as orders soar these days.

They can produce more than 400 boxes of reagents a day currently to serve more than 20,000 patients, and about a third of the kits are sent to Wuhan, said Li, adding that there are over 30 companies across country that are able to supply reagents in the market.

But their biggest pressure during the Spring Festival comes from the fact reality that many companies, along their supply chains, have been on vacationbegun to take holidays, with "greater pressure on procurement and transportation," said Li.

Many hospitals in cities in the vicinity of around Wuhan or other provinces have not yet to got get such testing kits and are still unable to diagnose the disease.

A medical worker from the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University told the Global Times on Friday that even the top hospitals in Shanxi Province are currently unable to diagnose the new coronavirus, and the period from onset to report is relatively long, since biopsies of all patients must be sent to Beijing for testing.

Hubei raised the level of respond to public health emergency to the level I, the highest, on Friday to curb the spread of the new coronavirus while more cities in the provinces shut down outbound transport channels as part of a city lockdown.

The cityWuhan also started s construction work to build 25,000 square meters of a temporary special hospital with containing more than 1,000 beds for Wuhan pneumonia patients in the city. The construction is due to complete on February 3.

Zeng Guang, former chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and a member of the national expert group for the new coronavirus battle, told the Global Times, if necessary, cruises in Wuhan, a costal city adjacent to near the Yangtze River, could also be used as temporary hospitals, but attention should be paid not to contaminate the river.

In a report of Caixin, Guan Yi, a professor in microbiology at Hong Kong University, estimated that the infected scope of the new coronavirus would be ten 10 times more larger than SARS in 2003.

However, according to Zeng, the current epidemic this time is far more less serious than SARS.

"The situation is serious, but only serious only in Wuhan," Zeng told the Global Times, noting that what the city has to do now is to release information in a timely manner and closely follow every case.

It is necessary to be cautious, but there's no need to panic, Zenghe said.

Wuhan locked down the entire city on Thursday morning and suspended its public traffic to prevent the wide spread an outbreak of the Wuhan pneumonia.

The measure triggered controversy on Chinese social media with some questioning if it the lockdown was too late.

"The lockdown is necessary to cut the source of the coronavirus as most patients discovered in other places and foreign countries are from Wuhan, it is aimed to protect the whole country," Zeng said.

In response to question over the timing of the lockdown, Zeng told media that he thought the timing is proper as residents would not cooperate if the lockdown was launched too early.

"The measure is early enough as no matter World Health Organization (WHO) nor any other country has issued such requirement to China," Zeng said.

WHO held a meeting over the Wuhan epidemic on Thursday receiving reports of current situation from China and some other countries and regions where related cases were found like Thailand and Japan.

According to a statement WHO sent to the Global Times, it is still too early to declare a public health emergency of international concern over the Wuhan pneumonia, given its restrictive and binary nature.

Media reported that Wuhan residents' daily life have been largely affected by the traffic suspension. Even some medical workers could not make it to work in time.

These are issues defects that local governments should have taken did not take into account before launching the lockdown and have to be remedied, Zeng said.

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On the surface, it might sound like the pathetic whingeing of a group of socially inadequate guys who are sexually frustrated, but it has grown into a misogynist, anti-feminist movement which espouses violence as a means to create a new world order in which women have been put back in their place.

Incel is an abbreviation of involuntary celibate. The term has been adopted by a deeply disturbed, and incredibly entitled, group of men. They believe that a womans body is a commodity, a sexual object they have a right to use. Their inability to do this leaves them angry and resentful towards a system they think is blocking, and victimising them.

A: We are living in a time when the gender divide is widening, with toxic results. The #MeToo movement, which has highlighted the unacceptably high rate of sexual harassment and assault, has led to many women being labelled manhaters. In reaction, some men are turning into vitriolic woman haters.

Q: Ive heard the term incels a few times, and recently read a headline claiming that they pose a real risk of committing domestic terrorism across North America. Who, or what, are they?

Many young men go through an awkward period when they think that women will rebuff them, but, instead of getting over it, incels gather online to reinforce each others twisted thinking, and fan the flames of rage. For a lot of solitary guys, these forums become a family or tribe, albeit one with which they can only connect sitting, alone, in front of a computer.

In incel jargon, the enemies are known as Chads and Staceys. This kind of male insecurity used to be played on by ads in which a weakling had sand kicked in his face by a buff jock, or Chad. A Stacey is the gorgeous girl, such as a cheerleader, who only dates Chads, and sneers at the ordinary guys. This perceived cruelty is used to justify violence and rape.

Incels operate on many of the same online platforms used by Islamic State, white supremacists, neo-Nazis and so on. Attempts have been made to close down many of these forums, but with limited success. Often, censorship drives them underground, or onto the Dark Web, where they are harder to monitor.

In the past few years, 50 deaths across the US and Canada have been attributed to incel violence. Two of these attacks made world headlines. In May 2014, a former student, Elliot Roger (22) opened fire on a university sorority house. His hate-filled online manifesto led to him being dubbed Saint Elliot by the incel community. In April 2018, self-proclaimed incel, Alek Minassian (25) killed 10, and injured many when he drove a van into a crowded Toronto street.

But these examples are a symptom, not the cause, of what is wrong. Last year, Melburnians were shocked by footage of a group of schoolboys loudly singing a sexist song on a crowded tram  I wish that all the ladies were holes in the road  At the time, a former student at that private boys school suggested that it was fairly typical behaviour that was not being strenuously dealt with by the institution.
It might be a long time before Prince William and Kate Middleton get over Megxit. A royal expert claims that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are still reeling following Prince Harry and Meghan Markles stunning decision to quit the royal family. Not only is Prince William going to miss his brother dearly, but the couple is also preparing to take on more responsibility as the royals attempt to get things back on track.

Prince William and Kate Middleton | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

How are Prince William and Kate Middleton handling the family drama?

At the start of the year, Harry and Meghan announced their plan to step down as senior members of the royal family. The announcement shocked royal watchers around the world and reportedly blindsided Queen Elizabeth.

In the days following the announcement, Harry took part in several meetings with Her Majesty, Prince Charles, and William at Sandringham. After much deliberation, Queen Elizabeth announced that she supports the couples decision and will reassess the situation next year.

Since then, Prince William and Kate have participated in several royal engagements. This includes hosting their first solo reception at Buckingham Palace. Although the couple put on a good public face, one royal expert believes they showed signs of severe stress.

I think the severity of whats happened has had a huge impact on his brother, on his sister-in-law, expert Katie Nicholl stated. Both of them are still reeling from the news, coming to terms with the reality of this situation.

There is no doubt that Prince William and Kate Middleton will be taking on more responsibility as a result of Harry and Meghans exit. The added stress they are under is also completely understandable as it has only been a few weeks since the decision was announced.

What will happen to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle?

After meeting with Queen Elizabeth, Prince William, and Prince Charles, Buckingham Palace has confirmed that Harry and Meghan will no longer perform duties on behalf of the crown.

The two have also been stripped of their royal titles and will stop being referred to as his or her royal highness. They will, however, retain their titles as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and are keeping their charitable organization, Sussex Royal.

Kate Middleton, Prince William getting a 'boost' in popularity amid 'Megxit' news, royal expert sayshttps://t.co/O6yPwdf2Gw  Dr. Jain (@ncj537) January 23, 2020

In their original announcement, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle revealed that they will be splitting time between North America and the U.K. Queen Elizabeth later confirmed that the two are planning on moving to Canada.

Because the Sussexes will no longer accept public funding, they will need to find a way to make money in the professional world. A source of income will be needed to fund their annual expenses as well as the purchase of a new home in Canada.

Kate prepares for a bigger role in the royal family

While Harry and Meghan are reducing their roles, Kate has been increasing her responsibilities over the past two years. Since Prince William is second in line to the throne, Kate Middleton has been taking on more public engagements and speaking gigs as she prepares to become Queen Consort.

This week, for example, Kate and Prince William hosted their first solo reception at Buckingham Palace. According to Express, they were joined by Queen Elizabeths youngest son, Prince Edward, and his wife, Sophie. Princess Anne was also at the event to help greet guests.

Although Kate did an amazing job putting up a united front, body language experts believe that she showed signs of stress and sadness.

In between the smiles and laughter, though, there are a couple of glimpses of a sadder, more reflective facial expression, both in the car and just before she enters the room to go on the royal stage, that might reveal some clues about her true emotions, expert Judi James shared.

James noted that Queen Elizabeth sent her best team of royals to help Prince William and Kate Middleton at the reception. Her Majesty is still on her winter break in Sandringham and was not available for the event.

Did Meghan Markle upstage Kate Middleton?

Kate is clearly doing her best to keep the monarchy moving forward, but some royal watchers believe Meghan recently upstaged her on social media.

This week, Kate traveled to Cardiff and appeared at the Ely and Careau Childrens Center. The event was part of Kates initiative, 5 big questions on the under 5s, and she later posted photos from the event on to her and Prince Williams Instagram account.

Harry + Meghan officially have more followers than Kensington Palace on Instagram https://t.co/Gy1aXGlAfG  HELLO! Canada (@HelloCanada) January 22, 2020

Shortly after the post, Meghan shared multiple images of her recent visit to a dog shelter in London. The timing of the post left fans speculating that Meghan was deliberating trying to outshine Kate, though it may have simply been a timing issue.

Even still, fans heavily criticized Meghan for sharing photos on the same day as Kate.

Prince William and Kate Middleton have not commented on the rumors surrounding Harry and Meghans exit.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have made their desires known, they want to be left alone by the press. In October 2019, the prince issued a stern warning to the British media to leave him, his wife and his young son alone. In a scathing statement, Prince Harry accused the press of bullying Meghan Markle. The warning did little to slow coverage, and in January 2020, the couple announced that theyd be stepping down from royal life in pursuit of more privacy. They appear to have their sights set on British Columbia as their new home, and there might be an excellent reason; British Columbia has pretty intense privacy laws.

Are Meghan Markle and Prince Harry really settling in Canada?

Prince Harry arrived on Vancouver Island last week. He joined his wife and young son, leading most royal family followers to assume the pair are planning to set down roots in the area. That might not actually be the case, though. The couple may be merely vacationing in the area while they consider their options.

Rumors were swirling that they were eyeing a $35 million mansion in Vancouvers most exclusive neighborhoods, but according to the New York Times, the listing agent claimed to be completely unaware of any interest by the couple. There is some belief that the couple may be considering Victoria for its moderate climate, as well as Toronto. Before she became the Duchess of Sussex, Markle called Toronto home and forged plenty of friendships there. Its possible shed like to head back to an area where she felt supported.

Speaking of support systems, Markles mother resides in California, and there was some belief that the royal couple would eventually settle into the sunny landscape of Malibu to be close to Doria Ragland. Heading to California would offer the couple very little in the way of protection from the paparazzi, though, and, instead, would place the family in their direct sights. People believe New York City might be on the couples shortlist, as well. Regardless of the possible United States locations on media shortlists, Canada, no matter what city, seems like their most likely home base, and thats because of the countrys privacy laws

What privacy laws does Canada have?

Privacy laws exist throughout Canada, but British Columbia appears to have laws specifically about photography and video. In fact, The Privacy Act specific to the province allows private citizens to sue individuals if they can prove that their privacy has been invaded when they had reasonable expectations of privacy. Surveillance and eavesdropping are also considered violations of the law.

The laws, however, have not been tested when it comes to a celebrity just yet. Canada, by and large, does not have the paparazzi culture that exists in other parts of the world. Its also impossible to tell how the countrys laws would translate to individuals who are not citizens of the country. For example, its hard to say if the regulation would be enforceable on individuals who travel to Canada to photograph the couple. By and large, privacy laws in the province and the overarching federal regulations have been primarily used for organizational data breaches.

Will Harry and Meghan be left alone if they do settle in British Columbia?

While British Columbia does have privacy laws on the books, the Huffington Post notes that theyve very rarely been challenged, and winning a case would be difficult. Any photos taken in a public space of a public figure would likely be considered fair game, explains Roger McConchie, a Vancouver-based lawyer who spoke with the Huffington Post. Since the royal couple are considered public figures, their privacy is far from a sure thing.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle postcards | Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images

If Markle and Prince Harry were to have their pictures taken in public, like in a park or out to eat, those pictures would likely be considered publishable. Photos that are taken using telephoto lenses of the couple in a home or in a private space, however, are subject to privacy laws, and any publication who chooses to use them could be sued, according to the privacy regulations currently on file.

The BBC suggests that the couple was probably safer from the lens of paparazzi back in the United Kingdom. Paparazzi photos of the couple have not been published since their wedding, although the media firestorm surrounding their movements is part of the reason they stepped away from the royal family, according to reports.
I came into the world to live out loud.

 Zola Ameer; Lucy Becks favorite quote.

There is nothing better than curling up with a good book in the dead of winter when the snow piles up and the wind howls with icy delight.

For thousands of baby boomers that lived in Kenosha in the 1960s and 70s, that invaluable joy of reading was instilled by Lucy Beck, librarian at the Boys and Girls Library in downtown Kenosha.

Just as Beck lit the spark of book loving here, she kindled the flame of storytelling, too.

As the years go by, less and less people remember her, her younger sister Pauline Beck said in an interview last month.

Lucys was a remarkable life, cut short by a rare skin disease she was diagnosed with in infancy: epidermolysis bullosa.

She was such a positive upbeat person despite these physical challenges in her life with her condition, Pauline said.

The physical challenges were brutal as well as visible.

EB took her hair and teeth. Her skin was paper thin and cracked. A bump could send her scurrying for antiseptic to keep the new wound free from infection.

Because of her scarred throat, all her food had to be ground, riced or pureed. She was rail thin.

Something like this is all in your attitude, Lucy once told a Kenosha News reporter. Either it makes you strong or bitter.

For Lucy, it was the former and not the latter.

With poor fine motor skills, she would flip through the cards in the library catalog drawers using her second knuckles, her nail-less fingers curled permanently.

It was a sight that I and my young friends never forgot. She knew us all by name and damn, we loved her.

The city loved and admired her too. She and Jane Bagg were chosen to share the Kenosha Woman of the Year title in 1976.

Became a childrens librarian

Lucy was the third of five children born to Rudolf and Malinda Beck on Dec. 13, 1940, in West Bend, Wis.

While in the dorms at Milwaukees Mount Mary College in the late 50s, Pauline recalled her sister ate so much cottage cheese, bananas and Hostess Twinkies that Lucy never touched those foods for the rest of her life.

After obtaining her bachelors degree in 1962, Lucy went on to earn her masters degree in library science at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

In late 1963, Lucy moved to Kenosha and started working as an assistant librarian at the Boys and Girls Library, 5810 Eighth Ave.  the building now home to Bradford Community Church Unitarian Universalist.

She left briefly in late 1965, but returned a few months later to take the place of lead librarian Martha Petty, who died unexpectedly at age 60.

At the library, she loved introducing children to new books, learning their interests, giving them reading suggestions and helping them research subjects.

She also discovered that some children came in just to talk to the librarians, who were not the authoritarian figures that parents and teachers were.

Lucy took on new personal adventures in those years, including a solo trip to Scandinavia when she was in her 30s. She also traveled with her parents to Germany and later South America, and she spoke fluent Spanish.

She learned to drive and purchased a red Mustang.

Beck held the position of lead librarian here until about 1979 when the Boys and Girls Library was folded into the Gilbert Simmons Library two blocks away.

She was director of childrens services at Simmons until her retirement in the summer of 1985 at the age of 44.

Her retirement was necessitated when a complication of EB  kidney disease  hit, and she needed peritoneal dialysis four times a day at her home.

She continued to carry a torch for literacy from her apartment, a cause she had worked for outside of her library job.

She started programs to benefit the local Latin American community, the Lincoln Neighborhood Center, the Christian Youth Center, and children and adults at the Womens Horizons Shelter, for which she was awarded the Wisconsin State Reading Associations Celebrate Literacy Award in 1986.

Great love: storytelling

Any telling of the tale of Lucy Beck would be remiss without directing a spotlight on her great love: storytelling.

She never took a course on the subject, but learned storytelling on the job at the Boys and Girls Library.

She got a great deal of satisfaction from storytelling because it was something she could do and do well, said Pauline, who recalled her sister telling stories to their nieces and nephews at the holidays. She enjoyed the feedback from people, and the children loved the stories.

Once, when Lucy told stories from the stage at the Milwaukee Zoo, relatives from her hometown came to watch her perform and were beaming with pride.

It was with great joy that she became a founding member of T.A.L.E.S.  Tri-County Area Liars, Elaborators and Storytellers  a group that she nurtured and guided.

Her signature story was Gagnon: Champion Moose Caller by Marshall Dodge.

She was mesmerizing on stage. As soon as she stepped up, her stature changed and the transformation would begin.

The story took over, and for the duration of the story, she was the story. recalled Kenoshan Tom Clark. She wasnt in pain. She wasnt bleeding. She was the story, and that euphoria type of feeling lasted quite a long time after that.

Beck was a storytelling mentor/friend who encouraged many people, including Clark and Kenoshan Mary Norris.

Both have been the recipients of Wisconsins annual Luck Beck Award, Norris in 1997 and Clark in 2016. A third Kenoshan, Sadari Saskill, was given the prestigious award on Sept. 28, 2019, at the annual Wisconsin Storytelling Get-Together held in New London, Wis.

The Beck family set up the storytelling award soon after Lucys death on Aug. 5, 1988. She was 47 years old when she died.

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WEST SPRINGFIELD  As they sorted through bags of batteries, diapers, water bottles and hand sanitizer Friday, Jade Rivera-McFarlin and Corinne Dumont talked about their upcoming trip to Puerto Rico.

Both women work for the Gandara Center, which has spent the last few weeks collecting momentary and other donations to help victims of the earthquakes that struck Puerto Rico earlier this month, leaving many on the island without shelter and electricity.

The community has really been so generous, said Dumont, communications and development associate for the organization.

The group will land Monday in San Juan and then make its way to Ponce, where a Gandara recruiter will take them to some of the most affected communities on the island. The organization has a recruiter on the island because it frequently hires Puerto Rican clinicians to work in its facilities across Western Massachusetts.

We have a strong connection to the island not only because of the clients we treat but also because of our staff, said Rivera-McFarlin, director of marketing and development.

Springfield City Councilor Adam Gomez visited the organization to express his appreciation. He has family members living in the affected areas. Gomez said the city is also doing whatever is necessary to help evacuee families as they arrive.

Springfield and Holyoke have welcome centers where people who are just arriving have been going for services, he said. We are not sure what those numbers will be, but just last week we had a family of 19 including a grandfather, aunts and uncles arrive.

Gomez added that the city is still working on finding permanent housing, jobs and mental health services for evacuees who arrived after Hurricane Maria struck the island in 2017.

Our focus has been sustainability, he said. Many of these families were living in hotels for almost a year, and after getting them temporary housing we are now working on providing them housing, steady employment.

It is still unclear how many families will move here due to the earthquakes. Gomez said there was already a steady migration before Hurricane Maria. The financial crisis had people arriving here well before these natural disasters, he said.

As for those remaining on the island, many need emergency supplies.

After having a conversation with Sen. Carmelo Rios Santiago from Puerto Rico, we were told what are needed most are survival backpacks, Rivera-McFarlin said.

During a conference call with state and local officials including U.S. Sen. Ed Markey and state Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, the senator said many Puerto Ricans are living in tents outside their homes.

Many of these communities have homes that were built without code enforcement in mind. People buy a plot of land and they just build, so when a natural disaster like this strikes the infrastructure cannot handle it, he said.

Rios Santiago said thousands of families are in need of housing, but the survival bags will help them manage living outdoors for days or weeks.

We shifted gears a little bit when he told us that and we have received so many backpacks and survival basics, Rivera-McFarlin said.

Beyond donations from the general public, the Gandara Center also received $1,000 from the Springfield Puerto Rican Parade Committee as well as several hundred dollars from Neighbor to Neighbor. Brightwood Elementary School donated about 150 backpacks and a local insurance company donated hundreds of reusable water bottles.

Freddy Venegas, who owns Aquarius nightclub, came through with backpacks and tents. Its been amazing to see the response, Rivera-McFarlin said.

Some of the packages have already been shipped, and JetBlue has covered the cost for 30 additional packages.

Gandara Center staff will be on the island for five days.
PHOENIX, Jan. 24, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GlobalTranz Enterprises, Inc. , a leading technology and third-party logistics solutions company providing award-winning Transportation Management System (TMS) products to shippers, logistics service providers and carriers today announced that Renee Krug, CEO will share strategic expertise at SMC3s Jump Start 2020 on January 27, in Atlanta.



Krug will be speaking on the panel, When Todays Supply Chain Meets Tomorrows Demands, which will examine the intersection of technology and innovation in the context of todays marketplace. A supply chain leadership veteran, Krug was selected to share her extensive expertise on how shippers can leverage technology-enabled 3PL partners to modernize their supply chains and seize a competitive advantage.

Jump Start 2020 is a three-day event that is focused on emerging trends, challenges and the newest innovations in the supply chain. Joining Krug on the panel will be leading supply chain executives including Wayne Spain, President and COO of Averitt Express and Mitch Weseley, CEO of 3Gtms. Bill Cassidy, senior editor of the Journal of Commerce will be moderating.

As shippers needs continue to evolve, they are increasingly turning to 3PLs that combine technology and hands-on service for help and guidance, said Krug. Jump Start 2020 is all about the process behind this evolution, and Im honored to share the stage with industry leaders.

Ranked the 8th largest freight brokerage in the US by Transport Topics and voted an Inbound Logistics Top 10 3PL provider for 2019 , GlobalTranz is driving strong growth with 25,000+ customers through technology innovation , a network of 34,000+ carriers, transformative M&A, creative products and superior customer service delivered by the some of the best people in the industry.

For more information on GlobalTranz, visit globaltranz.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @globaltranz.

About GlobalTranz

GlobalTranz is a technology company providing award-winning cloud-based multi-modal Transportation Management System (TMS) products to shippers, carriers, 3PLs and brokers. GlobalTranz is leading the logistics software and services market in innovative technology that optimizes the efficiency of freight movement and matches shipper demand and carrier capacity in real-time. Leveraging its extensive independent agent network, GlobalTranz has emerged as a fast-growing market leader with a customer base of over 1 million product users and 25,000 shippers. In 2019, Transport Topics named GlobalTranz #8 on their list of Top 10 largest freight brokerage firms in the U.S.
WASHINGTON - Republicans have repeatedly argued that the impeachment evidence against President Donald Trump is thin. They've said it is based upon "hearsay" that wasn't corroborated by people more intimately involved with the Ukraine effort (whose testimony the White House has blocked). They've suggested, despite numerous witnesses testifying to similar things, that the witnesses weren't credible and that they might have axes to grind.

But on Thursday, with House Democrats playing video of those witnesses' testimonies during Trump's impeachment trial, a Republican senator launched her own thinly sourced attack on one of those witnesses.

And not for the first time.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn,R-Tenn., who along with every other senator serves as a juror in the impeachment trial, took to Twitter and impugned the patriotism of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman.

Blackburn referred to an allegation that Vindman had badmouthed the United States in a conversation with Russians while serving overseas.

"Adam Schiff is hailing Alexander Vindman as an American patriot," Blackburn said. "How patriotic is it to badmouth and ridicule our great nation in front of Russia, America's greatest enemy?"

The problem with this very severe allegation - made against a Purple Heart recipient who served in Iraq, no less - is that it's anything but verified. It was made on Twitter in November by someone who said they had served with Vindman. Another person later launched a Twitter account confirming it. The New York Times reported that the originator of the claim had also trafficked in QAnon conspiracy theories but claimed they didn't necessarily believe in the movement.

A retired general, Mark Hertling, said at the time that he had spoken to the individuals who accused Vindman and confirmed their backgrounds. But Hertling told the Times that he felt there were holes in their story - including the idea that Vindman, a fluent Russian speaker born in the Soviet Union, would have been conversing with Russians in English.

Vindman's lawyer on Thursday called Blackburn's allegations "defamatory."

"That a member of the Senate - at a moment when the Senate is undertaking its most solemn responsibility - would choose to take to Twitter to spread slander about a member of the military is a testament to cowardice," said the lawyer, former ambassador David Pressman. "While Senator Blackburn fires off defamatory tweets, Lieutenant Colonel Vindman will continue to do what he has always done: serve our country dutifully and with honor."

Even as Blackburn took criticism Thursday for her tweet, she doubled down. She quoted Vindman's initial accuser and also accused Vindman of being a source for the whistleblower who launched the Ukraine scandal. Vindman said in his testimony that he spoke with an intelligence community official about Trump's July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which he was on, but he declined to identify the official, on advice of counsel because he said he didn't want to identify members of the intelligence community. There is no public evidence that he was a whistleblower's source.

Blackburn, though, stated it as fact, without providing evidence.

In doing so, Blackburn re-upped an unfounded claim she made previously that Vindman was the whistleblower's "handler." To this day, that allegation - "Vindictive Vindman is the 'whistleblower's' handler" - remains the pinned tweet on the senator's account.

She sent a similar tweet Thursday night, and this one was later retweeted by President Trump himself.

"Vindman's commanding officer, Army Lt. Col. Jim Hickman: "Do not let the uniform fool you. He is a political activist in uniform," she posted,

At the time of Blackburn's original "Vindictive Vindman" tweet, Republicans in the House's impeachment inquiry and elsewhere offered plenty of innuendo about Vindman, including suggesting he might have more loyalty to Ukraine because he was born in the Soviet Union and accusing him of inflating his importance. Blackburn took it further than most any other Republican, stating the accusation as fact. She did the same with Hickman's accusation in her Thursday night tweet.

Vindman indicated in his testimony that he knew the attacks were coming, but he insisted that telling the truth was important. He addressed his Soviet-born father, who he said had reservations about him testifying in ways that could earn the ire of Trump and his supporters - and might have led to worse in the Soviet Union.

Vindman told his dad that "sitting here today in the U.S. Capitol, talking to our elected professionals, is proof that you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to the United States of America, in search of a better life for our family. Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth."

On Thursday, a U.S. senator yet again offered her own flimsy version of the truth about him.
Thousands of residents of a downtown Toronto condo tower  described as the tallest in the country  reacted angrily Saturday when initially told they would be out of water for at least seven weeks.

Water at the Aura tower was cut off at 2 a.m. Saturday when a booster pump failed, according to an email to residents from the company that manages the building, ICC Property Management.

It sucks, tenant Paris Jeyachamdran, 21, told the Star at midday. I just went to the washroom at Starbucks.

Groups of residents gathered in the lobby, angry that representatives from the management company were nowhere to be found. A steady stream of people entered the building lugging stacks of bottled water. Later, word spread that nearby grocery stores were out of bottled water.

Theres no direction from anyone, said Leah Hartman, who has rented a one-bedroom unit in the building for the past five years. They just left us hanging.

The building, at the corner of Yonge and Gerrard streets, has 80 storeys, according to the website of the towers builder, Canderel Residential, which calls it Canadas tallest residential condominium. Residents say the buildings 995 condos are on 79 of those storeys. They estimate the number of residents at about 2,000.

Alla Orlova, 24, an international student from Russia studying finance at Seneca College, made plans to move in with friends in Richmond Hill, noting she cant spend weeks unable to shower, wash dishes or use her bathroom.

Its going to cost me so much extra money, said Orlova, noting the money shell have to spend to commute and share costs at her temporary Richmond Hill residence will seriously strain her budget.

Pranoy De, who pays $3,100 a month for a two-bedroom unit, booked a room at a nearby hotel for the day just so he could shower. Who can live without water? said De, 29.

The first management email to residents  the emails were shown to the Star  blamed the pump failure on low water pressure caused by a broken city water main. These pumps are unique and specially designed for Aura, the email said. Repair process takes at least seven weeks.

We kindly advise residents to find alternatives until we resolves (sic) the issue, it said, adding that the city will be held responsible for all damages caused.

City of Toronto spokesperson Brad Ross later told the Star that the city had been triple-checking water pressure in the area after hearing complaints from Aura residents. We have found no issues related to pressure or water service from the citys end to the building, Ross said in an email, adding that there had been no complaints from other buildings.

Earlier this week, a private contractor damaged the water main in the area, but the city took immediate steps to ensure water service was maintained while we undertook repairs, all of which are happening underground, Ross wrote.

Just before 11 a.m., residents received a second email from the management companys representative, Dona Gamage, saying technicians were on site working on an alternative. A man who answered the management companys emergency phone number  he would only give his name as Yaser  told the Star the plan was to use water from storage tanks.

Yaser said he was in contact with a member of the property management team, and added he would pass on the Stars request for an interview. The Star did not hear back, and interview requests sent to two email addresses  those that sent out the companys updates to residents  went unanswered.

The second email said the management company had asked Canderel if it had a replacement pump it could lend the building. We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience caused, and expect your understanding and co-operation regarding this matter, the management email said.

Residents were in disbelief.

If this pump is so special, how could they not have a backup or a contingency plan? said a 29-year-old tenant who would only give his first name, Luke. Did they think the pump was going to last forever?

Early in the afternoon, as the Star was interviewing residents in the lobby, a third email landed from the management company: We are placed (sic) to announce that we found an alternative solution to resolve the issue and water will be restored by midnight today.

Residents received a fourth email at 3:13 p.m. from the management company, stating that a fitness centre on the buildings fourth floor would allow residents to use the gyms showers. It added that members of the management team would deliver water bottles in the lobby later in the afternoon.

By evening, two deliveries of bottled water had arrived for residents in the lobby and a third was on the way, but water service had not yet been restored.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 25

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Despite the fact that Russia is one of exporters of car industry to neighboring countries and to world markets, the demand for Turkeys cars increases in this country, Turkeys ministry of Trade told Trend.

Turkey is interested on export of cars to the Russian and other markets, a source in the ministry said.

Turkeys export of cars to Russia increased by 16.4 percent from January through December 2019 compared to the same period of 2018, amounting to $528.1 million.

In December 2019, export of cars from Turkey to Russia dropped by 4.3 percent compared to December 2018, amounting to $31.3 million, the ministry said.

Turkeys export of cars dropped by 3.1 percent in 2019 compared to 2018, amounting to $30.5 billion or 17 percent of Turkey's total export.

Export of cars from Turkey increased by 2.9 percent in December 2019 compared to the same month of 2018, amounting to $2.5 billion or 16.5 percent of Turkeys total export.

Turkeys foreign trade amounted to $33.2 billion in November 2019.

In November 2019, Turkeys export increased by 0.1 percent compared to November 2018, amounting to $15.5 billion.

In this month, Turkeys import increased by 9.7 percent compared to the same month of 2018, and reached $17.7 billion.

Turkeys foreign trade amounted to $340.5 billion from January through November 2019.

Turkey ranks sixth in Europe on car production. Ford, Fiat, Renault, Toyota, Honda, Opel, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz and MAN are assembled in Turkey. Turkey also manufactures local brands of buses such as BMC, Temsa and Otokar.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Michael Pompeo issued an unusual statement Saturday attacking NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly after a contentious interview with questions about Ukraine that she said ended with him unleashing an expletive-laced tirade.

Pompeo accused Kelly of lying to him "twice," including while setting the interview up in December and by disclosing his alleged outburst following that conversation, which he said was "off the record." He cited no evidence.

Kelly, in Friday's interview, asked Pompeo about former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who was recalled from her role. Democrats say the diplomat was seen as an impediment to President Donald Trump's demands that Ukraine investigate Democrat Joe Biden. A tape revealed this week appears to capture Trump saying "take her out."

Pompeo has repeatedly refused to answer questions from reporters about his acquiescence in Trump's decision to recall Yovanovitch, and has sidestepped questions about the reason for her removal, beyond saying the president lost confidence in her.

Kelly, the host of NPR's "All Things Considered," said that Pompeo's aides agreed to questions on the topic ahead of time.

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Following the interview at the State Department, Kelly said Pompeo summoned her to an adjacent room, where he shouted at her and used profanities for a time equal to the length of the interview itself.

He also asked his aides to bring out a blank map and demanded that the veteran reporter identify Ukraine. Kelly, who graduated from Harvard and has a master's degree in European studies from Cambridge University, said she did so accurately.

Pompeo seemed to suggest that she didn't, in fact, point to the correct country: "It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine," Pompeo said in his statement.

The spat lit up social media, with the Twitter hashtags #Bangladesh, #Pompeo and #PompeoMeltdown trending on Saturday.

NPR didn't immediately respond to a voicemail and email seeking comment.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn.  Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a controversial measure Friday that would let religious adoption agencies deny service to same-sex couples.

The move comes after several groups, including the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, urged Lee not to sign the legislation.

The law allows adoption agencies to refuse to participate in child placement if doing so would "violate the agency's written religious or moral convictions or policies."

Under the law, which immediately takes effect, the state would be barred from denying an agency's license or grant application for public funds because of a refusal to place a child with a family based on religious objections.

The governor believes that protection of rights is important, especially religious liberty," Lee spokesman Gillum Ferguson said. "This bill is centered around protecting the religious liberty of Tennesseans and thats why he signed it.

Bill Lee has finished his first year in office as the 50th Governor of Tennessee.

Advocacy groups, including the Campaign for Southern Equality and the Human Rights Campaign, said the legislation targeted members of the LGBTQ community.

But proponents of the legislation, which included religious conservatives, said it was a necessary protection for faith-based groups.

Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said in a recent column published in The Tennessean the legislation puts children first and argued that it does not promote discrimination.

He said the law doesn't prevent other organizations from helping children.

"This law prevents the state from discriminating against faith-based organizations as they serve and meet the needs of children. It does not restrict others at all," he wrote.

The governor's signature comes a little over a week after the state Senate approved the measure with a 20-6 vote, despite objections from several Republicans, including Lt. Gov. Randy McNally.

Story continues

With the measure now signed, opponents are assessing how to proceed, including potentially taking legal action.

Hedy Weinberg, executive director of ACLU-TN, said the organization is considering its options.

The Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality, was more direct, saying, "This law is clearly discriminatory. As long as the LGBTQ community continues to be targeted by discriminatory laws, we will turn to the courts for recourse."

Beach-Ferrara said other states, including Michigan, implemented similar laws and had them halted in court.

"We anticipate that litigation around discrimination focused on adoption will continue to unfold, and the Tennessee law signed today will be part of that conversation, she said.

Follow Joel Ebert on Twitter: @joelebert29.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee gay adoption: Gov. Bill Lee signs anti-LGBT measure
BEIJING - The official death toll from the coronavirus in China jumped on Saturday to 41 from 26 a day earlier, as local media reported a doctor on the frontline of the battle to contain the virus in Wuhan city had died.

More than 1,300 people have been infected globally, as health authorities around the world scramble to prevent a global pandemic.

Doctor Liang Wudong, 62, at Hubei Xinhua Hospital in Wuhan, the city where the virus first appeared and which is in virtual quarantine, died from the virus, China Global Television Network reported in a tweet.

It was unclear if his death was already counted in the official toll of 41, 39 of which were in the central Hubei province.

The total number of confirmed cases in China now stands at 1,287, the National Health Commission said in a statement on Saturday.

The virus has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, France, the United States and Australia.

Australia on Saturday announced its first case of coronavirus, a Chinese national in his 50s, who had been in Wuhan and arrived from China on Jan. 19 on a flight from Guangzhou. He is in a stable condition in a Melbourne hospital.

Given the number of cases that have been found outside of China and the significant traffic from Wuhan city in the past to Australia, it was not unexpected that we would get some cases, Australias Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy told a news conference.

This is the first confirmed case. There are other cases being tested each day, many of them are negative, but I wouldnt be surprised if we had further confirmed cases.

Pictures uploaded to social media on January 25, 2020 by the Central Hospital of Wuhan show medical staff attending to a patient, in Wuhan, China.

French authorities reported Europes first confirmed cases on Friday evening.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it had 63 patients under investigation, with two confirmed cases, both in people who had traveled to Wuhan.

Human-to-human transmission has been observed in the virus, which health authorities believe originated in a market in Wuhan that traded illegally in wildlife.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus an emergency in China this week but stopped short of declaring it of international concern.

Wuhan, a city of 11 million, is in virtual lockdown. Nearly all flights at the airport have been canceled and checkpoints block the main roads leading out of town.

Authorities have since imposed similar lockdowns on more than 10 cities near Wuhan as part of the ongoing containment effort.

As Wuhan slides into isolation, pharmacies have begun to run out of supplies and hospitals have been flooded with nervous residents.

The city is rushing to build a 1,000-bed hospital by Monday, state media said.
As the fourth day of substantive proceedings in the Senate impeachment trial got underway Friday, President Donald Trump stepped up his appeal to right-wing forces and intensified his attacks on democratic rights, becoming the first ever president to make a personal appearance at the annual March for Life rally in Washington DC.

The march is held every year to mark the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion and demand its repeal. In brief remarks, Trump attacked the far left for working to erase our God-given rights.

President Donald Trump speaks during the annual March for Life rally on the National Mall, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020, in Washington [Credit: AP Photo/ Evan Vucci]

He said the Democrats have embraced the most radical and extreme positions taken and seen in this country for years and decades, and, you can even say, for centuries. He denounced New York lawmakers for supposedly cheering legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mothers womb right up until delivery, and repeated the lie that Virginias Democratic governor stated that he would execute a baby after birth.

Prior to Trumps appearance at the rally, the Department of Health and Human Serviceswhose secretary, Alex Azar, was also in attendancewarned that it would give California 30 days to drop its requirement that private insurers cover abortions, after which it would slash federal funds for health care programs in the nations largest state.

This boost to anti-abortion forces was the latest in a series of moves by Trump to counter the Democrats impeachment drive with appeals to right-wing and fascistic elements, including incitements to violence against his political opponents.

Less than two weeks ago, he retweeted an image of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer dressed in Muslim garb and standing in front of an Iranian flag.

On Monday, the eve of the opening of his Senate impeachment trial, Trump tweeted support for thousands of gun-rights activists, including many militia members carrying military-grade weapons, who rallied in Virginias capital of Richmond on Martin Luther King Day to protest mild gun control legislation making its way through the Democratic-controlled stated legislature.

On Tuesday, he confirmed that he plans to announce as soon as this coming Monday an expansion of his unconstitutional travel ban on seven countries, most of which are majority-Muslim. He reportedly will add seven additional countries, including Nigeria, Africa's most populous state.

On Wednesday, speaking from the billionaires' conclave at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said he would consider cutting entitlement programs in his second term, including Medicare and Social Security.

On Thursday, the State Department announced a new policy, which took effect Friday, denying visas to pregnant women suspected of wishing to give birth in the US in order to ensure US citizenship for the child, under the birthright citizenship provision of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. Trump has denounced the post-Civil War provision, enacted to grant citizenship to the freed slaves.

Also on Thursday, the administration finalized a rule stripping away environmental protections for streams, wetlands and groundwater, handing a victory to real estate developers and speculators.

None of this has been broached by the House Democratic impeachment managers in three days and a total of 24 hours of arguments for the conviction of Trump and his removal from office by the Senate. The prosecution completed its presentation on Friday with a defense of the second article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress, following more than two days of detailed and repetitive speeches reviewing evidence from the House impeachment inquiry on the first article, abuse of power.

With Republicans in control of the Senate, 53 to 47, and a two-thirds vote needed to convict Trump and remove him from office, there is little doubt of the outcome of the process. The hours and hours of speeches by the seven House managers have only underscored the right-wing and militaristic basis on which the Democrats are opposing Trump and seeking his removal. Absent is any reference to Trumps real attacks on democratic rights, on immigrants, and on the social conditions of the working class.

This largely accounts for the lack of engagement of the population in the proceedings in the Senate, despite the fact that they mark only the third impeachment trial of a president in US history, and the target, Trump, is hated and despised by a substantial majority of the American people.

Ratings agencies estimated the combined audience for the six networks covering the Senate trial at only 11 million on Tuesday, dropping 19 percent to less than 8,600,000 on Wednesday. That compares to the over 20 million who watched the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.

The Democrats arguments were saturated with animus toward Russia and China that recalled the heyday of anti-communist McCarthyism of the 1950s. They made clear that the opposition of the Democratic Party to Trump has nothing to do with the defense of democratic rights or the social needs of working people, but rather with differences over US imperialist foreign policy, centered on Ukraine and Russia.

The Democrats, acting as the political agents of the CIA, impeached Trump over his temporary withholding of military aid to Ukraine. The claim that Trump used the suspended aid to bully Ukraine into announcing a corruption investigation of Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter in order to rig the 2020 election against his likely opponent, thereby abusing his power and undermining American democracy, is an elaborate pretense.

The real issue is Trumps alleged reluctance to aggressively continue the anti-Russia policy initiated by the Obama administration. Anti-Russia hysteria and the absurd claim that Trump is a stooge of Vladimir Putin have been at the center of the Democrats opposition to Trump ever since the 2016 election, and the current impeachment drive is a continuation and escalation of the war-mongering campaign that has included the Mueller investigation and the drive for internet censorship in the name of fighting Russian- and foreign-inspired fake news.

The common theme of all of the Democratic speeches in the Senate is the charge that by disrupting military aid to Ukraine, Trump jeopardized US national security, undermined a US ally at war with Russia, and strengthened Putin.

Thus, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, who is leading the Democratic prosecution, declared on Wednesday: The United States aids Ukraine and its people so that they can fight Russia over there and we dont have to fight Russia here.

The claim is that Russia, by annexing Crimea and backing pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine after the US-backed and fascist-led putsch that overthrew a pro-Russian elected government in 2014, is seeking to redraw the map of Europe by means of aggression.

In fact, Russia and Ukraine were part of the same country, the Soviet Union, until the Stalinist bureaucracy dismantled the USSR in 1991, the same year that Ukraine, backed by Washington, declared its independence. In the intervening years, NATO has moved its eastern border hundreds of miles to Russias doorstep and surrounded Russia militarily, in preparation for carving up the country in the interests of the imperialist powers.

The US military, in keeping with the National Defense Strategy published in early 2018, has plans in place to attack both Russia and China, including with nuclear weapons.

Concluding his remarks Thursday night, Schiff contended that Trump had to be removed immediately, despite a national election less than 10 months away, because otherwise he would conspire with Russia and China to flood the American electorate with pro-Trump propaganda and fake news and steal the election, just as he supposedly did against Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Schiff even fantasized that Trump would sell out US interests in trade talks with China in return for Chinese meddling in the 2020 elections. He asked, So what if China does overtly or covertly start to help the Trump campaign? Do you think he is going to call them out on it, or do you think he is going to give them a better trade deal on it?

In his final remarks Friday on the abuse of power impeachment article, Schiff questioned Trumps patriotism, repeating a phrase that had been used earlier by House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler: This is Trump first, not America first.

He hailed Ukraines secession in 1991 as the final nail in the Soviet Unions coffin, and proceeded to show a clip of the joint press conference between Trump and Putin at the Helsinki summit in July of 2018, at which Trump questioned the CIA narrative that Putin engineered the defeat of Clinton in 2016.

You undermine the credibility of your own intelligence agencies, Schiff declared. You weaken the country Youve just told the world you trust the Russians more than our own intelligence agencies In the entire length of the Cold War, the Soviet Union had no such success.
Enugu state government has commenced demolition of illegal structures that may pose threat to the Akanu Ibiam International Airport.



This according to the state government is in line with the requests made to ensure illegal buildings at the airport are removed and relocation of the Oye-Emeke market away from the airport scene.

Addressing newsmen during the demolition, which was carried out by the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority (ECTDA), led by its Executive Chairman, Dr. Josef Umunnakwe Onoh, in company of officials of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Commissioner for Information, Nnanyelugo Chidi Aroh, stated that the exercise was in response to the safety concerns raised by the federal government about the airport.



The state commissioner for information assured that the state is ready to ensure the airport regains it international status.

Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika had earlier condemned the encroachment of developers building inside the airport facility posing great danger for airplane navigation.

Follow Us on Facebook  @LadunLiadi; Instagram  @LadunLiadi; Twitter  @LadunLiadi; Youtube  @LadunLiadiTV for updates
All set to celebrate the 71st Republic Day, India will showcase its military might, cultural diversity, social and economic progress during the grand parade at the Rajpath on Sunday.

The 90-minute-long Republic Day parade ceremony will begin after Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays respect at the National War Memorial near the India Gate. President Ram Nath Kovind will host this year's chief guest, Brazil President Jair Messias Bolsonaro.

As per the tradition, the Indian National Flag will be unfurled with a booming 21-gun salute followed by the national anthem. The Republic Day parade will commence following President Kovind's salute.

The parade will be commanded by Parade Commander Lieutenant General Asit Mistry, General Officer Commanding, Headquarters Delhi Area. Major General Alok Kacker, Chief of Staff, Delhi Area, will be the parade Second-in-Command.

Later, the winners of the highest gallantry awards -- Param Vir Chakra and the Ashok Chakra will be honoured.

READ | Republic Day Celebration In Delhi: All You Need To Know About The Grand Parade

List of Contingents at the Republic Day Parade

The first parade contingent in the uniform of the erstwhile Gwalior Lancers will be 61 Cavalry led by Captain Deepanshu Sheoran. The speciality of 61 Cavalry is that it is the only serving horse cavalry regiment in the world.

The Indian Army will be represented by a Mounted Column of 61 Cavalry, eight mechanised columns, six marching contingents and fly-past by Rudra and Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters of the Army Aviation.

READ | Republic Day 2020 In Jammu And Kashmir: Know Details

The main attraction in the mechanised columns:

Indigenously-developed Main Battle Tank of the Indian Army T-90 Bhishma Infantry Combat Vehicle (ICV) Ballway Machine Pikate (BMP)-II K-9 VAJRA-T Dhanush Gun System Newly-inducted five-metre Short Span Bridging System, Sarvatra Bridge System Transportable Satellite Terminal Akash weapon system

READ | Republic Day Celebration In Chennai: Where To Go To Celebrate R-Day

Other marching contingents of the Army will include the Parachute Regiment, the Grenadiers Regiment, the Sikh Light Infantry Regiment, the Kumaon Regiment and the Corps of Signals.

Marching for the first time on Republic Day will be the contingent of the Corps of Army Air Defence. It will be followed by The Combined Band of Bengal Engineers Group and Centre, Brigade of Guards Training Centre,3 Electronics and Mechanical Engineers Centre and Madras Regimental Centre.

READ | Odisha: Officials Conduct A Full Dress Rehearsal Of 2020 Republic Day Parade

The Naval contingent

The Naval contingent comprising of 144 young sailors will be led by Lieutenant Jitin Malkat as Contingent Commander, followed by the Naval Tableau titled 'Indian Navy - Silent, Strong, and Swift'. The fore part of the tableau exhibits the might and firepower of Navy in all three dimensions, while the next part exhibits the Navy's commitment to nation-building.

The Air Force contingent

The Air Force contingent, comprising of 144 air warriors, be led by Flight Lieutenant Shrikant Sharma. The Air Force tableau showcases scaled-down models of the Rafale aircraft, the Tejas aircraft, the Light Combat Helicopter, the Akash Missiles System and the Astra Missiles.

READ | Republic Day: 15 ITBP Officials Get Police Service Medals

Contingents of veterans, ICG, Police, NCC and NRC

The veterans' tableau, marking the recognition and respect to the soldiers' selfless service to the nation, will showcase the theme 'Force behind the Force'.

The Indian Coast Guard marching contingent will be led by Deputy Commandant Gaurav Sharma. The motto of the Indian Coast Guard is 'Vayam Rakshamah' meaning 'We Protect'.

The contingents of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Delhi Police and Border Security Force (BSF) will also march past the saluting dais.

READ | Twitter Launches Tricolor India Gate Emoji To Celebrate Republic Day

The National Cadet Corps (NCC) Boys Marching contingent will be led by Commander Junior Under-Officer Charandeep Singh Bhaduria, NCC Directorate Uttar Pradesh, while the Girls contingent will be headed by Senior Under-Officer Shreeshma Hegde, NCC Directorate, Karnataka and Goa.

The National Service Scheme (NSS) contingent comprising 148 volunteers will also take part in the parade. The massed pipes and drums band of the Indian Army will also be on display.

READ | Delhi: Traffic Advisory For Commuters Ahead Of Republic Day; Check Details

Showcasing of weapons and missiles

Anti-satellite weapon - Mission Shakthi developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Army's battle tank Bhishma, infantry combat vehicles, Air Forces' newly inducted Chinook and Apache helicopters, and tableaux depicting Akash and Astra missiles and Navy's prowess will be showcased during the parade.

Twenty tableaux - 16 from States and Union Territories and six from various ministries, depicting the nation's rich cultural heritage and economic progress will roll down the Rajpath. The government departments' tableaux will showcase reforms brought under schemes such as Startup India, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna and Jal Jeevan Mission.

Other highlights

School children will convey the age-old message of Yoga and spiritual values through dance and music and Indian Air Force aircraft will thunder in the sky projecting the air-power.

The proud winners of Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar will arrive in jeeps. It will be followed by children's pageant comprising over 600 participants.

For the first time, a contingent of women bikers of CRPF will perform daredevil stunts.

The grand finale and the most keenly awaited segment of the parade, the flypast will comprise of the 'Trishul' formation by three ALH helicopters. It is for the first time that a "tri-service formation" is taking part in the Republic Day parade.

It will be followed by the 'Vic' formation of Chinook helicopters, used for airlifting diverse loads to remote locations. Apache helicopters, Dornier aircraft, C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, Netra, an Airborne Early Warning and Control System aircraft and the 'Globe' formation comprising three C-17 Globemasters are some of the other highlights.

(With inputs from ANI)
They're Britain's rising stars of Hollywood.

And Lily Travers looked sensational as she posed for Tatler Magazine's March issue alongside Patricia Allison, Lily Travers, Sophie Simnett, Alex Lawther, Abubakar Salim and Anson Boon, on Saturday.

The actress, 29, put on a stylish display in a plunging red gown that had a frilled hem and was cinched at the waist with a statement belt.

Stylish: Lily Travers stunned in a plunging red dress as she led the rising British talents for striking shoot, which was released by Tatler on Saturday

Her blonde locks were gelled back into a coiffed style, and she gave her look a glamorous touch by accessorising with a pair of gold hoop earrings.

Lily will next be seen in new film Misbehaviour, which is led by Keira Knightley, and told the publication of her experience in the industry: 'I did pilot season once, and I like LA, but it can be quite lonely.

'It's different to London. There is so much talent here and there is a really nice hub with your peers. We all bump into each other at casting rooms and share stories. It's lovely to be part of that.'

Stunning: Sex Education star Patricia Allison looked striking in a beaded dress which she paired with a matching blazer that was adorned with flowers

Glamorous: Sophie, meanwhile, teamed a brown suede jacket with beige suit trousers, and wore a pair of leopard-print heels

Sex Education star Patricia looked striking in a beaded dress which she paired with a matching blazer that was adorned with flowers.

She takes on the role of Ola Nyman, lead character Otis' girlfriend, in the hit Netflix show, and she shared her gratitude for the fan interactions she's had following its release on the streaming platform.

Of a time she was recognised in Italy and Ghana, Patricia gushed: 'One lady thanked me and said it helped her son come out as gay to her. It's crazy how impactful the show is all over the world.'

Keen: Abubakar discussed how people have asked if he'd ever consider playing James Bond, after current 007 Daniel Craig steps down from the role, and said it would be 'interesting'

Sophie, meanwhile, teamed a brown suede jacket with beige suit trousers, and wore a pair of leopard-print heels.

The Disney star's fiery tresses fell gracefully over her shoulders in waves, and she wore glamorous make-up for the shoot.

Of how she's taken to fame over the years, she said: 'It can be overwhelming and wonderful and mad - especially when Im papped eating bacon sandwiches in airports - but I feel in control. Im just riding the crazy wave.'

Jamestown star Abubakar discussed how people have asked if he'd ever consider playing James Bond, after current 007 Daniel Craig steps down from the role.

Enthused: While Alex is set to take a role in Wes Anderson's new film The French Dispatch, and gushed about how the director 'likes to have a family feel to the film'

See more: Read the full feature in the March issue of Tatler

Sharing how flattered he felt, he said: 'People keep saying "you could do Bond", but I dont want to curse it. As a black actor it would be interesting to explore.'

While Alex, who is set to take a role in Wes Anderson's new film The French Dispatch, gushed about the exciting project: 'Wes likes to have a family feel to the film.

'The actors stay in the same building and every night wed have dinner in his house.

'Wes would sit at the top of the table and we would all talk about our days. It was lovely.'

Read the full feature in the March issue of Tatler available via digital download and newsstands Thursday 30th January.
Union Minister Ramdas Athawale on Saturday said that Assam and Northeast are integral parts of India and cannot be separated from the country.

His statement came in response to a remark by Sharjeel Imam, the chief co-ordinator of Shaheen Bagh protest, who had said that Assam will be separated from India.

"Assam and Northeast are an integral part of India. Government of India has tried to make North-east strong. If anyone tries to separate North-east from India then we will not spare them. Government is trying to do maximum development there. There are Muslims, tribals, Hindus, Dalits and Buddhists living there and we respect them. Terming the North-East a Muslim area is not right," Athawale told ANI.

A series of videos have gone viral on social media in which Imam is heard saying: "If we all come together, then we can separate the Northeast from India. If we cannot do it for permanently, then at least for 1-2 months we can do this. It will take the administration at least one month to disperse all of them."

"It is our responsibility to cut Assam from India. When this will happen, only then the Centre will listen to us," said Imam.

Assam Police on Saturday registered an FIR against Imam for his alleged statement.

Speaking on Shaheen Bagh protests, Athawale said that CAA is not taking away anyone's citizenship and the protests should stop now.

"Shaheen Bagh is witnessing peaceful protest and that is good. But the truth is that CAA is not taking anyone's citizenship. Muslims will not suffer from it.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
States Sue Over Trump Admin Rules That Could Weaken Oversight of 3D-Printed Gun Blueprints Distribution

A coalition of states is suing the Trump administration over new regulations that they say could allow for the online release of blueprints for 3D-printed firearms, which make it easier for anyone to access the files at home and make a functional plastic gun with a 3D printer.

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who is leading the effort to block the administrations rule, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on Jan. 23, seeking an injunction to block the administration from implementing the new rules. Joining him in the federal lawsuit are 20 other state attorneys general, including from Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, New York, Colorado, and Massachusetts.

The federal government released final rules on Thursday that would shift the oversight of certain firearms and ammunition sales from the Department of State to the Department of Commerce. The rules will come into effect on March 9.

The administration says the new rules will significantly reduce the regulatory burden on the U.S. commercial firearms and ammunition industry as well as promote American exports. The rules will also prioritize national security controls and ensure that restrictions are still in place on exports where human rights, illicit trafficking, and related issues may be of concern.

Ferguson and other state attorneys general argue that the rules are unlawful and will result in the deregulation of 3D-printed firearms because of loopholes in the Commerce regulations. They claim that the department will lack the power to regulate 3D-printed guns in any meaningful way.

According to the complaint (pdf), the rules will remove software and technology that is related to the design and production of certain types of firearms, including 3D-printed guns, from the U.S. Munitions Lists, where items on the list will be subject to federal export control under the Arms Export Control Act.

These removed items will be transferred to the Commerce Control List, according to one of the published rules, which states that it does not deregulate the transferred items. The Department of Commerce will still require authorization to export or reexport to any country any firearm or weapons that have been moved to the commerce list, including releases of related technology and software to foreign persons in the United States.

The rule also states that certain software and technology that can be used to produce firearms when posted online is still being controlled under the new rules in order to protect national security and foreign policy interests, but the communication of ideas regarding such software or technology is freely permitted.

The departments said, in a factsheet, that their rules regulate exports and the transfer of controlled technologies to foreign persons in the United States, while the domestic manufacture or possession of 3D-printed firearms by Americans is beyond the departments purview because it falls under the jurisdiction of existing domestic law.

The state officials are concerned about these 3D-printed weapons because they lack serial numbers, making them untraceable by authorities. They are also often made of plastic, meaning that they may not set off metal detectors at airports. They are also easy and cheap to make. Moreover, they could render current gun regulations unenforceable because people who are normally restricted from obtaining a gun could avoid background checks and other regulatory procedures. Due to these reasons, these weapons are often referred to as ghost guns.

Why is the Trump administration working so hard to allow domestic abusers, felons, and terrorists access to untraceable, undetectable 3D-printed guns? Ferguson said in a statement. Even the president himself said in a tweet that this decision didnt make any senseone of the rare instances when I agreed with him. We will continue to stand up against this unlawful, dangerous policy.

The Epoch Times contacted both the Departments of State and Commerce for comment on the lawsuit. A State Department spokesperson said that they do not comment on pending litigation as a matter of policy.

This is the second multi-state lawsuit Washington state has brought against the federal government in order to block the administrations effort to allow these blueprints from being published online. In July 2018, multiple states filed a lawsuit in the same district court arguing against the Trump administrations decision to let an open-source organization that publishes firearms-related designs online, Defense Distributed, distribute downloadable files for the production of 3D-printed guns online. The administration had just settled a dispute, which began in 2015, with the organization in June 2018, with the agreement allowing the organization to publicly distribute the files on the internet.

In November, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administrations decision to let the files be distributed online was arbitrary and capricious, and thus unlawful (pdf).

After the states filed the lawsuit in 2018, Trump wrote on Twitter that he was looking into 3-D Plastic Guns being sold to the public and had already spoken to the National Rifle Association about them. [D]oesnt seem to make much sense! he said at the time.

Some experts say that while 3D-printed guns are currently not as effective as conventional guns, they are also far less safe to use.

With the current state of technology, 3D printed guns arent nearly as effective as traditionally manufactured guns, John McAdams, a U.S. Army veteran with 25 years of hunting experience, told The Epoch Times. He currently runs The Big Game Hunting Blog that provides firearm and ammunition information and advice for readers.

A firearm receiver must be strong enough to safely withstand extreme amounts of pressure during firing, he added. For example, the typical chamber pressure for a 9mm Luger handgun cartridge is 35,000psi. For that reason, its not uncommon for 3D-printed guns to explode after a shot or two. Obviously, this can be very dangerous for the shooter as well as for anyone standing nearby.

In 2013, police officers in Australia downloaded the blueprints of a 3D-printed gun and manufactured two on a $1,700 3D printer to test the safety of the guns. In the test, the 3D-printed gun exploded upon firing, according to videos released by the police. However, ballisticians who were at the test told the police that the gun is more than capable of killing a person. The police department conducted the test in order to warn people about the dangers of these weapons.
Total assets of commercial banks under state ownership accounted for 42.7% of the total in the banking sector, followed by joint stock commercial banks with 41.6%.

Total assets of Vietnams banking industry reached VND12,070 trillion (US$518.18 billion) as of November 30, 2019 up 9.12% compared to the beginning of the year, according to the latest data of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).

Data: SBV. Chart: Ngoc Thuy.

Total assets of seven state-controlled commercial banks, including three major lenders namely Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank), and Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), were reported at VND5,161 trillion (US$222.7 billion), an increase of 6.13% over the beginning of 2019 and accounting for 42.7% of total assets in the banking sector.



Meanwhile, total assets of joint stock commercial banks were VND5,035 trillion (US$217.52 billion), increasing 10.56% compared to the beginning of the year and making up 41.6% of the total assets.



They were followed by joint venture banks and wholly foreign-owned banks with total assets of VND1,305 trillion (US$56.30 billion), up 14.89%; financial and leasing companies with VND194.68 trillion (US$8.4 billion), up 16%; co-operative banks with VND36.05 trillion (US$1.55 billion), up 11.18%; peoples credit funds with VND125.67 trillion (US$5.42 billion), up 11.05%; and Vietnam Bank for Social Policies with VND213.16 trillion (US$9.19 billion), up 8.83%.



As of November 30, 2019, total owner's equity of the banking system reached VND913.27 trillion (US$39.41 billion), up 13.29% against the beginning of the year.

In terms of owner's equity, state-owned commercial banks are behind joint stock commercial banks-VND324.44 trillion (US$14 billion) against VND365.47 trillion (US$15.77 billion), posting growth rates of 20.79% and 8.07% compared to end-2018, respectively, in which the formers high growth rate was due to BIDV selling 15% stake to South Koreas KEB Hana Bank for US$875 million, a record deal in Vietnams banking industry.

Such high growth in owners equity of state-owned commercial banks helped the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) jumped from 0.52% in the beginning of the year to 10.55% as of November 2019, catching up with the CAR of joint stock commercial banks at 10.63%.

Following Circular No.22 of the SBV, banks are required to keep the rate of short-term capital for mid- and long-term lending to below 30% by 2022.

As of November 30, 2019, state-owned commercial banks have brought the rate to under 30%, while joint stock banks reduced the rate to 30.99%. Hanoitimes

Ngoc Thuy
The defence team is made up of an array of well-known Washington, DC lawyer and Trump surrogates.

Largely hidden from public view during the months-long impeachment process, the lawyers tasked with defending US President Donald Trump against charges that he abused his power and obstructed a congressional inquiry stepped out of the shadows this week and decried as a ridiculous charade the proceedings against the president.

The Senate will turn its attention to the Trump team of lawyers on Saturday as they begin their opening arguments to defend Trump.

Here is a look at the lawyers on Trumps defence team:

Pat Cipollone (team lead)

The presidents lead litigator, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, stood before the Senate this week and accused Democrats in the House of attempting to subvert the will of the American people by overturning an election.

They arent here to steal one election, they are here to steal two elections, Cipollone said. They want to remove Trump from the ballot. They are asking the Senate to attack one of the most sacred rights we have as Americans  the right to choose our president.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone speaks during opening arguments in the US Senate impeachment trial Trump [US Senate TV/Reuters]

Cipollone, White House counsel since December of 2018, advised the president during former Special Counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation and was instrumental in managing his response to the Ukraine questions when they first surfaced. A graduate of the University of Chicago law school, he was introduced to Trump by Fox Newss Laura Ingraham during the 2016 campaign and has, as one official told the Wall Street Journal, been stapled to his side ever since.

The two are so close, in fact, that House impeachment managers said he may be a material witness to many of the facts of the case against Trump. In a letter to Cipollone, the Democrats warned that the potential overlap between his roles as a Trump defender and witness threatens to undermine the integrity of the pending trial.

Jay Sekulow

Jay Sekulow, Trumps personal lawyer, has been instrumental in keeping the presidents financial records from ending up in congressional hands or in those of state prosecutors in New York.

A radio talk show host and frequent television commentator, he has argued before the US Supreme Court 12 times, mostly on behalf of Christian groups.

Trumps personal lawyer Jay Sekulow speaks to the media during a break in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, [Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo] Trumps personal lawyer Jay Sekulow speaks to the media during a break in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, [Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo]

So far, he has been the lawyer to come to the microphones during breaks.

Were going to rebut and refute, and were going to put on an affirmative case tomorrow, he told reporters on Friday.

Ken Starr

The former special counsel whose investigation of Bill Clinton led to his impeachment in 1998, Ken Starr had little public connection to Trump before this weeks trial. Of the entire table, however, he has the most impeachment experience and was once solicitor-general of the United States.

Ken Starr testifies at the House Committee on Education and Workforce [File: Lauren Victoria Burke/AP Photo]

Robert Ray

Another former independent counsel with impeachment experience, Robert Ray succeeded Starr in the Clinton case and wrote the final report on his alleged wrongdoing.

Pam Bondi

A former county prosecutor and attorney general from Florida, Pam Bondi is admired by Trump for her telegenic qualities in his defence and is expected to play a public relations and communications role in the trial.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi listens to US Attorney General Jeff Sessions as he speaks to the National Association of Attorneys General 2018 Winter Meeting in Washington, DC [File: Joshua Roberts/Reuters]

Pat Philbin

Pat Philbin, Cipollones deputy, was a partner in a major Washington, DC, law firm before joining the Trump administration. A political appointee to the Department of Justice during the George W Bush administration, Philbin played a role in shutting down a domestic spying plan the Bush House wanted to enact following the attacks on September 11, 2001.

Mike Purpura

Another deputy White House counsel, Mike Purpura joined the staff shortly after the Democrats took control of the House and has taken the lead in protecting the White House from congressional inquiries.

White House deputy counsel Mike Purpura speaks on the Senate floor [Senate Television/AP Photo]

Purpura, a former New York City prosecutor and another veteran of the George W Bush administration, has in the past written to defend the notion of executive privilege.

Alan Dershowitz

A former Harvard law school professor and lawyer-to-the-stars, Alan Dershowitz claims to have voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and has expressed support for Joe Biden in the 2020 race. But his book, The Case Against the Democratic House Impeaching Trump, and frequent television appearances caught Trumps eye and he was brought onto the team to address the constitutional arguments against impeachment and removal.

Alan Dershowitz leaves the Manhattan Federal Court in New York [File: Mike Segar/Reuters]

Jane Raskin

Another face from Florida on the Trump team is Jane Raskin, a former federal prosecutor who once worked with Mueller in Boston and, much later, helped defend Trump from the special counsels investigation.

Eric Herschmann

Rounding out the group is Eric Herschmann, a partner in the New York firm Kasowitz Benson Torres, which has represented Trump for decades in everything from divorce proceedings to sexual misconduct allegations and bankruptcy cases.

Others

In addition to the lawyers, Trump announced Monday evening that he was bringing eight Republicans who stood firmly with him in the House over to the Senate to advise on the broader effort. The team includes members who served on the judiciary, intelligence, oversight, and foreign affairs committees that conducted the inquiry.

The House Republicans include Judiciary Committee ranking member Doug Collins of Georgia, Oversight Committee ranking member Jim Jordan of Ohio, and Reps. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Debbie Lesko of Arizona, Mark Meadows of North Carolina, John Ratcliffe of Texas, and Elise Stefanik and Lee Zeldin of New York.

Senate leaders, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, were said to be lukewarm about bringing over the House members initially, saying they wanted to avoid the circus-like atmosphere of the House proceedings, but relented and allowed the representatives to take on secondary roles advising the rest of the defence team on communication strategies and preparing for the question and answer sessions.
The Woodlands Township Board of Directors on Wednesday discussed the fate of two storefronts that currently house Randalls grocery stores that will close in mid-February. After discussion about the issue, the directors signaled that the Economic Development Committee will tackle the issue of find replacement grocery stores.

On Wednesday, The Woodlands Township President and General Manager Don Norrell provided an update on the issue to directors before the situation was discussed by the board members. He noted in his discussion that the township does not own any of the village centers and has no authority over what is inside the centers. He added that Director Shelley Sekula-Gibbs had asked him and township staff to explore possible replacements for the two stores.

This is the same information presented at the Grogans Mill Village Association. The township on Jan. 10 received a notice of the planned closure of two Randalls grocery stores located in the Grogans Mill Village Center and the Panther Creek Village Center. According to the notice we received, both of these stores are scheduled to close on or before Feb. 15, Norrell said. The property in the Grogans Mill Village Center is owned directly by Randalls. In the Panther Creek Village Center, Randalls leases the store property, that is a long-term lease. Some residents have expressed concerns about the loss of grocery store and pharmacy services.

Norrell also explained that when property is developed in The Woodlands, a permit called an Initial Land Use Designation, limits the permitable uses of the sites. Norrell said the ILUDs for both the Grogans Mill Village Center location as well as the Panther Creek Village Center provides that the allowable use is commercial, and it only prohibits manufacturing or warehouse uses for the sites.

As we look at future development for this site, it is important to remember that the Grogans Mill Village Center has property owned by about 10 different owners, Norrell added. The Panther Creek Village Center also has multiple owners, but most of the property is owned by Regency.

Related: 2 Randalls stores in The Woodlands to close

On Jan. 13, Christy Lara, director of public relations and communications for Albertsons, Tom Thumb and Randalls, said the two closures in The Woodlands are among five total closures in the Houston region in the latest round of stores shuttering in a challenging economy.

In such a competitive environment, our company must sometimes make tough decisions to close underperforming stores so that we can reinvest in our remaining stores in the marketplace, Lara said in an email to The Villager. We are working diligently to place as many employees as possible in other locations, and we remain committed to the Houston market area. We invite customers to shop at our remaining Randalls locations throughout the Houston and surrounding area, several of which were remodeled in 2019.

The two locations in The Woodlands are store No. 2673, located at 2250 Buckthorne Place, which is at the intersection of South Millbend Drive and Grogans Mill Road; and store No. 3054, at 4775 West Panther Creek Drive, which is located off The Woodlands Parkway near the intersection with Gosling Road.

During Wednesdays meeting, Township board Chairman Gordy Bunch said he has been quashing rumors about the future tenants of two sites and what would be in them in the future. He said false claims about apartments or a movie theater going into the spaces in the future are simply not true.

The Grogans Mill site can only be a grocery store. That site is prohibited to be anything by a grocery store, Bunch said. They are very in tune of the highest and best use of those sites is a grocery store. We have a lot of seniors that use those sites for pharmacies and medical services. They are proactively directing the prescriptions from Randalls to CVS stores in close proximity.

Newly-elected Director Shelley Sekula-Gibbs said there is a lot of resident concerns about the sites, and that in addition to the replacing of the store, residents have told her that the Grogans Mill Village Center needs to be freshened up. Sekula-Gibbs also said keeping sales tax dollars in The Woodlands was critical.

I think this is an important matter for not only the residents, but people who drive through, Sekula-Gibbs. For people who live close by, like I do, we appreciate the loss it is going to inflict on the neighborhood. The key for me as a director is we do work hard to fill that slot as soon as possible. If we dont freshen it up, there is still going to be that complaint. The residents want it to be comparable to other village centers, and I think that is a reasonable request. We want sales tax dollars coming out of that center, we dont want people bypassing it and doing their shopping elsewhere.

The two stores have seen an increase in customers since the announcement of the closures was made, as shoppers are seeking deals due to reduced prices and significant discounts on various items. The stores have stopped accepting most coupons since the notice of closures were publicized, and a wide range of perishable goods have been totally removed from the stores as workers aim to unload as many products and goods as possible. Various items such as pet food, hardware and medical supplies have been reduced in price by 10 to 20 percent. Both stores are expected to close no later than Feb. 15.

jeff.forward@chron.com
Chinese Christian details how gov't harassed family after shutting down church (interview)

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WASHINGTON  Its been over one year since Stephen first arrived in the U.S., fleeing from the communist government in China.

The Chinese Christian, whose church was shut down by government agents, told The Christian Post recently about the harassment he and his family faced before they fled the country.

Stephen (his real name will not be disclosed for security reasons) spoke with CP last week while attending the launch event of Open Doors USAs 2020 World Watch List, an influential data report ranking the worst 50 countries in the world when it comes to Christian persecution.

Stephens church (which will not be named for security reasons) is one of nearly 6,000 underground churches shut down by officials in China as authorities have cracked down on the house church movement in recent years, according to Open Doors USA.

I still kind of have [post-traumatic stress disorder], Stephen said. My sister asked me to immigrate to the states before. We prayed because we wanted to stay in China.

Stephen and his family attended the underground church for nearly two years before it was shut down by government officials in 2018.

On the day his church was raided, the churchs pastor and other church members were arrested.

Stephen, however, was spared arrest that day because he was on an airplane returning to China from an international trip. Upon returning to the country, he spent a couple of days in Beijing before returning to his home city.

On the day of the church raid, Stephen said local police officials went to his familys apartment and knocked on the door. However, his wife and four kids were too afraid to answer the door. Instead, his wife locked the doors and turned off the lights.

Although the police officials left the apartment complex without breaking down the door to the familys apartment that day, the familys trials with the authorities were only just beginning.

The next day while Stephen was still in Beijing, he got a call from his wife letting him know the electricity to their apartment had been shut off. His wife and kids were left in a freezing apartment in the dead of winter.

Stephen said he called the property manager to ask why the power had been cut off.

He said the policeman asked him to shut it off to see if anybody is living there, Stephen said.

He told the property manager that they did live there but he was on a business trip.

The property manager told Stephen that he would report that to the police and would turn the power back on if allowed. Although power was turned back on within 30 minutes of Stephens phone call, electricity in their apartment was shut off again the next day hours after Stephen arrived back home.

He again called the property manager. But this time, the property manager told him that he couldnt turn the power back on until Stephen showed up at the local police station.

'I prepared to go to jail'

He went to the local police station. He said he was prepared to be imprisoned.

I wore a very heavy jacket and heavy pants, he said. I go there and told the police officer, Why you turn off the power? You can just call me. You have my phone number. And he said, If we do not do that, you won't show up.

Stephen said he was ordered by a police officer to write his name and government identification number on a piece of paper in addition to the names and ID numbers of his wife and kids.

At that point, the police official introduced Stephen to three community officials who wanted to discuss issues related to the closure of the church and a school affiliated with the church that his children attended.

The officials offered his children free seats in a public school. Although some Chinese families desire the opportunity to send their children to a good public school, Stephen refused the offer.

I said Oh, thank you so much. I know this is a very good opportunity but please give to other people, he recalled. My wife and I are Christians. We want to educate [our children] with God's Word.

The officials didnt seem happy with his refusal and left the room.

One government official then asked him to sign a document vowing that he would no longer attend the church or be in contact with any of his friends from the church. Additionally, the document prohibited any posting online about church matters and street preaching.

Stephen refused to sign the document, stressing that friends and family need our support.

They were scared about why we visit each other. That's human beings doing natural things, Stephen told CP. I want the freedom to visit my brothers and sisters. I want to contact them. So I could not sign.

I understood they are doing their duties. They are under pressure, he added of the government officials. As Christians, we pray for them. They have to do whatever they do to earn money. So they kind of surprisingly let me go home.

To this day, he is not sure why the authorities released him that day.

'They probably didnt get the order to get me'

Although Stephen carried non-pastoral responsibilities within his local Christian community, he is not as outspoken as some other members of the community.

Until now, I don't know why they didnt break our door to the apartment, he said.

He even stressed that although the government places spies in his church, many of the spies probably didnt know him because he was very much behind the curtain in his role.

They probably didn't get the order to get me, he said. They want to treat me like regular other church members to do wellness education. That's their job. But in this case, the higher-level officials saw I went to this church only less than two years.

In the weeks following the church raid, Stephen was urged by fellow church members to flee from the area. There was fear that authorities would again arrest him and prod information from him related to ministry operations that could help the prosecution's case against the pastor.

He was eventually contacted through text message by a man claiming to be a lawyer representing landlords of properties rented by a ministry affiliated with the church.

The lawyer threatened to sue if he did not show up for a meeting the next day.

Stephen said he had reason to believe that the man who contacted him was not working for landlords but rather for government officials.

He was invited to teach a two-day class for Christian leaders in his home city. During those two days, he said he was chased by a police officer. The police officer also called his wife and asked: Where are you?

He and his family decided to follow through on the wishes of Christian leaders and fled from their city weeks after the raid on the church. On the day they departed, he said, special police were camped outside of his apartment from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m.

They traveled city-to-city in China, staying in Airbnbs he rented through friends names and in some friends houses.

About a month after fleeing their home city, they flew to the U.S.

In the U.S., Stephen and his family of six have shared one room in Stephens siblings home. Although he desires to go back to China, Christian leaders back home have warned that he shouldn't return home yet.

China ranks as the 23rd worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution on Open Doors USAs 2020 World Watch List. China has for years been labeled as a country of particular concern for egregious religious freedom violations by the U.S. State Department.

Open Doors USA CEO David Curry warned last week that through the use of a social score system and surveillance technology, China is creating a system of persecution for the future and is the greatest threat to human rights in the world today.

I saw with my own eyes the surveillance on the street but also in the churches, watching their congregation, Curry said. Facial scans when you come in and then tracking you and generating reports [with] assumptions built into their artificial intelligence system that is tracking Christian behavior.
MENOMINEE, MICHIGAN -- Michigan State Police on Friday, Jan. 24, raided what they said was an unlicensed marijuana dispensary located in Menominee, a city near the Wisconsin border in Michigans western Upper Peninsula.

Detectives from the Eighth District Marijuana and Tobacco Investigation Section executed three search warrants simultaneously from an ongoing investigation involving an unlicensed Marijuana dispensary in Menominee state police said in a release. "Edible marijuana products, THC vape cartridges, significant marijuana wax products, large amounts of pre-rolled marijuana joints (and a) sizable amount of processed marijuana were seized with a current value of $271,000.

Also seized were personal property valued at over $300,000, and $54,000 in cash.

State police didnt release any further information and havent announced any arrests.

Monominee police and members of the Upper Peninsula Substance Enforcement Team assisted in the raids.

A Marijuana Regulatory Agency map of actively licensed medical marijuana facilities doesnt include any businesses in Menominee.

-- 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:

Michigan recalls Savage Sticks vaping products

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Michigan marijuana industry supports vitamin E acetate ban

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- Meghan Markle's father, Thomas, has said in a film that he cried heavily during the wedding of his daughter to Prince Harry

- The father said he was also jealous of the Prince of Wales taking his daughter down the aisle, the duty that was traditionally his

- Thomas also called out his daughter and the royal family, saying they owe him because his daughter promised him to take care of him in old age

The father of the Duchess of Sussex, Thomas Markle, has revealed that he cried seeing his daughter marry Harry after he left the hospital.

The 75-year-old man in a 90-minute video that aired on Tuesday, January 21, said that he watched the ceremony after his recovery from a heart attack, Daily Mail reports.

In the same documentary, Markles dad said that he was also jealous to see the Prince of Wales doing what he ought to have done by walking his daughter down the aisle.

He said he cannot forget that particular moment and the emotions that it came with.

The father also spoke about how Prince Harry always behaves like a very sensitive 12-year-old kid, adding that his daughter and the royal family owe him because Meghan promised to take care of him when he aged.

Thomas said that his daughter once told him he would be taken care of. Photo source: Daily Mail

Source: UGC

The former Hollywood lighting director talked about the complicated nature of his relationship with his daughter.

Among other things, the father also spoke about how he could not make his daughters wedding and the many circumstances surrounding it.

PAY ATTENTION: Download our mobile app to enjoy the latest news update

In the Thomas Markle: My Story film, he was very embarrassed about the couples decision to quit their royal titles.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that International online streaming service, Netflix, has reportedly approached Prince Harry and Meghan for a movie job titled The Crown.

The service wants the royal duo to contribute to their popular movie. The Crown is a fictionalised account of Queen Elizabeth II's life, along with the lives of her family members.

Recall that Meghan and Harry had announced their decision to quit their roles as senior members of the royal family. This decision was trailed by controversy.

However, the Queen has accepted their decision and given her support concerning their royal retirement.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better

Which country would you leave Nigeria for? | Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
LANSING, MI -- Michigan voters can apply to receive an absentee ballot to vote in the March 10 presidential primary right now.

Early voting is easier than ever thanks to new laws adopted by voters in 2018. All registered voters in Michigan can vote using an absentee ballot for any reason, but they need to request one from their local clerks first.

Satruday, Jan. 25 is the deadline for clerks to send absentee ballots to overseas voters and members of the armed forces. Clerks must also have absentee ballots for all other voters available within 40 days of the election, according to the Secretary of States office.

County clerks across Michigan are scheduled to deliver absentee ballots to local clerks this weekend to be mailed out at the start of next week, said Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum.

Voters must request an absentee ballot by sending a completed application (available in large print here) to their local clerks office. Applications must be filled out in writing and can be turned in by hand, mail, fax or email, as long as a signature is visible.

For the presidential election, voters choose whether to participate in the primary for Democrats or Republicans. This must be marked on the ballot application.

Some counties will also be deciding on local questions in March. Voters in those areas can select nonpartisan if they only want to weigh in on local issues.

Requests for a mailed absent voter ballot must be turned in by 5 p.m. on March 6.

People who are already registered to vote can request an absent voter ballot in person at their clerks office anytime before 4 p.m. on March 9.

Voters have until 8 p.m. on March 10 to return their completed ballot to their local clerks office, either through the mail or in person.

Check your voter registration and find your local clerk at the Secretary of States Michigan Voter Information Center.

Michigans presidential primary is just a few short weeks away. There will be 19 candidates total on the March 10 ballot, including President Donald Trump, 15 Democrats and three other Republicans.

Democratic Party

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.

Former Vice President Joe Biden

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg

Former U.S. Housing Secretary Julian Castro

Former U.S. Rep. John Delaney, D-Md.

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hi.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Former U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Penn.

Businessman Tom Steyer

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Author Marianne Williamson

Businessman Andrew Yang

Republican Party
In an opening address to the spring session of the State Duma , the lower chamber of Russias parliament, its speaker, Vyacheslav Volodin, said that the Nazis decision to locate extermination camps in Poland during Germanys World War II-era occupation of that country was largely facilitated by anti-Semitism in Poland and the Polish-governments pre-war policies.

Hundreds of extermination and death camps where Jews, Slavs, and prisoners of war of other nationalities were purposefully extinguished were located in Poland, Volodin said.

This was largely facilitated by the pre-war atmosphere in Poland and the position of the leadership of this country, which fueled anti-Semitic sentiments in society, creating the ground for the subsequent genocide and the Holocaust. And for this, the current leadership of Poland must apologize to the Jews and the whole world.

Russia has recently been sparring with Poland over World War II history, particularly over the role of the Soviet Union at the start of the war and its agreement with Hitler under the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact.

In Poland, the issue is so sensitive that a 2018 law makes it a crime to publicly suggest the Polish state was responsible for crimes by the Nazis. The penalty is up to three years in prison. For its part, Russia has also prosecuted an individual for posting material online about the Soviet Union's collaboration with Nazi-Germany under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

There is little doubt that anti-Semitism existed in Poland before the Nazis located concentration camps there. What is debatable is the extent of anti-Semitism and the willingness of some Poles to look the other way or collaborate with the Nazis.

Volodins statement is misleading because it glosses over history. Poland

was occupied by both Nazi forces (in the west) and Soviet forces (in the east) in 1939, and then fully occupied and controlled by the Nazis in 1941, when the German army drove Soviet forces out of eastern areas.

During the Nazi occupation, Hitler showed no interest in maintaining the existence of a Polish state  unlike, for example, France, which from 1940 to 1942 was allowed to maintain a puppet regime in the southern part of the country ruled from Vichy. German-occupied Polish territory became known simply as the General Government and the term Poland and Polish was rarely used by the all-German administration.

In October 1939, the Germans began Operation Tannenberg, an anti-Polish, ethnic-cleansing assault that saw the mass killing of Poles and their forced deportation from areas deemed suitable for German colonization. Nazi Germany maintained complete control over its Polish possession; it could and did build concentration and extermination camps at will, using slave labor.

Although all the camps dedicated to extermination were located in occupied Poland -- including Auschwitz, Majdanek, and Sobibor  Germany operated several hundred concentration camps throughout all the territory it controlled. A number of concentration camps that deported Jews to extermination camps in the east were located in France, the most well-known being Drancy.

The Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact has figured in the Russian-Poland dispute. Critics both inside and outside of Poland argue that the pact gave Hitler a free hand to wage war without concern for a Soviet attack or a Anglo-French blockade. They say its Secret Protocol effectively divided Eastern and Central Europe between the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. In Russia, the pact and its details are rarely mentioned, and when the issue is raised, Russian officials have typically excused the pact as a necessary step to prepare the USSR for war.

Polygraph.info has explored the matter previously. On Aug. 20, 2019, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed the pact was necessary to ensure Soviet security while the USSR prepared for war against Germany. No mention was made of the fact that Soviet economic aid to Germany, which included vital raw materials and oil, made Germanys military campaigns in the West and the later invasion of the Soviet Union possible.

In a 2018 article for The Atlantic magazine, historian Edna Friedberg at the United Holocaust Memorial Museum captured the nuance of Polands occupied history.

As German authorities implemented killing on an industrial scale, they drew upon Polish police forces and railroad personnel for logistical support, notably to guard ghettos where hundreds of thousands of Jewish men, women, and children were held before deportation to killing centers, Friedberg wrote.

In contrast, the Polish Government in Exile based in London sponsored resistance to the German occupation, including some to help Jews in their native land, she wrote.

As to Volodins assertion that pre-war Polish leaders fueled anti-Semitism and laid the groundwork for the camps, Friedberg confirms that Jews were formally excluded from key sectors of public life in Poland.

But she notes that, The modern country of Poland was a new one established in the aftermath of the First World War, and during the 1920s and 30s it was still struggling to define its ideological footing and identity.

In all, the Nazis and all their collaborators murdered 3 million Polish Jews by the end of the war, Friedberg wrote, or 90 percent of the pre-war population.


The lawmaker representing Borno Central in the Senate, Kashim Shettima, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari came ahead of his time.The former governor of Borno State said this while speaking in an interview with Daily Trust.

The Kaduna State Government, has said that parents who fail to send their children to school will face prosecution in accordance with extant laws.This was disclosed by by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mrs Phoebe Yayi, in Kaduna in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday.

No fewer than eight persons have reportedly died in Edo state, following a fresh outbreak of Lassa fever in the state.This was disclosed by Musa Ebomhiana, chief press secretary to Philip Shauibu, Edo deputy governor.

The Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami has stated that his stand on Amotekun was misinterpreted.

Speaking in a new statement, he said he only said the security outfit needs to be properly backed by the law before take-off.I Was Misinterpreted On Operation Amotekun, I Did Not Say Its Illegal  Malami.

The Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency, has confirmed three new cases of Lassa fever in the state.The Executive Secretary of the Agency, Dr Rilwanu Mohammed disclosed this to journalists in Friday, saying that there has not been any record of death in the state since the outbreak of the disease. According to Mohammed, the epidemic was not new in the state, and that other than the 3 cases already confirmed, a sample of 15 cases suspected to be

The All Progressives Congress, APC in Akwa Ibom State says it has withdrawn will from the re-run election holding on Saturday. This was disclosed in a press conference on Friday in Uyo, by the State Chairman of the APC, Mr Ini Okopido.He said the party has withdrawn from the re-run election in Essien Udim local government area as it was dissatisfied with the conduct of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in

David Umahi, governor of Ebonyi state, has said that no one can unseat Godwin Obaseki, Edo state governor, because of his good works in the state.The governor said this when he received Obasekis wife in Abakaliki, Ebonyi capital, on Friday.Obasekis wife visited Umahi alongside first ladies of some southern states who were in Ebonyi for the Southern Nigeria Governors Wives Forum quarterly meeting.

The Supreme Court says the result sheets produced by Hope Uzodinmaof the All Progressives Congress in the March 9, 2019 governorship election in Imo State were admissible because the Independent National Electoral Commission didnt counter them.In a copy of the judgment released by the apex court on Thursday, it said the Court of Appeal and the election petition tribunal misread the pleadings by Uzodinma and APC in their dismissal of the petition and appeal.
Imagine if it had worked, Katyal suggests. Imagine if our president had leveraged his role as commander in chief to convince a foreign power to open an investigation into his political opponent. Imagine if the presidents rival lost the primary because news broke that he was under investigation. Imagine if that meant the president faced a weaker candidate in November 2020  and won re-election as a result.

The foreign country could then blackmail our president by threatening to expose the corruption, gaining leverage over our foreign policy. Meanwhile, the president might abuse presidential power in other ways in the belief that impunity was complete. If all this eventually became public, and truth does have a way of trickling out, this would have devastating consequences for the legitimacy of American elections.

This thought experiment perhaps isnt so far-fetched. We know now that Trumps pressure on Ukraine caused alarm in the White House and the intelligence community, with National Security Adviser John Bolton likening it to a drug deal. Yet for all that uproar, it almost didnt become public. It was only because of a whistle-blower that the information began to emerge, and the military aid to Ukraine was released only after the White House became aware of the whistle-blower and was being pressured by Congress.

In short, Trumps plan almost succeeded  and in any case, he will get away with it in the sense that he is sure to be acquitted by the Senate. When Republicans suggest that Trump did nothing wrong, what message does that impunity send to Trump and to future presidents?

The third thought experiment is simple: What if Trump werent president, but was like almost any other person in America?

What if he were a high school vice principal who ensured that a police detectives son would be accepted in advanced placement classes  and then added, Id like you to do us a favor, though. The favor would be an investigation of the vice principals ex-wife before their upcoming child custody hearing, in hopes of tilting the outcome in his favor.

In that situation, the vice principal would be fired. We all recognize that no school official or other person in a government bureaucracy should use public power for private benefit.
Such is the level of concern at a local primary school about child safety at pick-up and drop-off times that a safety committee has been set up to lobby the local authority into taking action on the matter.

Clonroche National School is unique in that it's the only school in the county that is located on the side of a national primary road.

However, what that means is that speeding traffic passing by the school gates - despite it being located just inside the Clonroche speed limit boundary - is a major issue.

When this newspaper met with the safety committee members they also pointed out that recent works to improve the condition of the road through the village has, ironically, compounded the danger at the school.

'The new road surface now just means the traffic is going even faster by the school,' said Gary Flood, one of the committee members.

While a campaign to have safety measures implemented began in 2012, the committee members said that very little has actually been done.

School Principal, Norma Doyle, said there are two key issues that need to be addressed, the volume of traffic going through the village and the speed at which its travelling.

'The volume and speed of traffic that passes the school is a very big issue,' she said.

'We are just inside the [speed limit] boundary and we are on a hill as well,' she added.

There have been fatal accidents within the speed limit boundary and just outside the village in the past and the committee is very concerned about the safety and welfare of children, especially at pick-up and drop-off time.

'There are times when you hold your breath when it looks like there's going to be a serious accident,' said Ms Doyle.

Another committee member, Mairead Furlong, said the speed of lorries passing by is a particular issue.

'At 3 p.m. it's a really serious issue, especially with people trying to reverse out of spaces,' she added.

A significant aspect of parking at the school is that due to its very close proximity to the national route parents mostly drive into the marked car spaces.

However, this means they have to reverse out onto the road which is in breach of road safety rules, however, motorists should not turn across and stop on a national route either so the situation in Clonroche is such that it's a catch 22 situation, albeit a very dangerous one.

The safety committee feels the speed limit sign on the approach to the village should be bigger and possibly located further back along the road.

'People are just past the sign when the reach the school so maybe if it was back further a bit it might help,' said Linda Buckley.

'There is also a very narrow margin so there's no room for a footpath either,' she added.

Another committee member, Delores Flood, said: 'We need something to be done to slow the traffic down. Maybe different signs are needed because the ones that are there are not making much difference.'

In addition to the safety committee members who met with this newspaper in the school other members include: Aidan Kielthy (Chairperson); Tracy Kehoe; Stephen Dooley; John Foley; and Debbie Carton.

A number of children have also written to Wexford County Council over the matter and expressed their concern about the safety issues outside the school because of traffic.

They also wrote that speeding is a serious issue.

The letters were directed towards the local authority's road safety division

The committee says the local authority has communicated with them on the matter but that all they've been told is that there is nothing that can be done due to the width of the road.

However, for them that's not good enough and as Ms Furlong pointed out there are genuine fears someone will be killed.

'They have to make an exception [here] because it's exceptional school circumstances.'
A 68-year-old man has been arrested after he threatened to 'attack UK interests in Spain' following a series of chilling calls to the British Embassy in Madrid.

The Beirut-born man is said to have targeted the British consulate in Malaga after being refused permission to travel to the UK to see his children.

Spanish police arrested the pensioner in the holiday resort of Benalmadena, and he has only been identified by his initials of S.Y.

Spanish police have arrested a Lebanese-born man who threatened to 'attack UK interests in Spain' in the holiday resort of Benalmadena

He is the same man that was held in 2009, after shooting at the British Consulate building in Malaga, Spanish officers said.

Detectives revealed today the man had been categorised as an 'extreme danger' to diplomats.

A spokesman for National Police in Madrid confirmed the arrest of the man, saying: 'Spanish National Police have arrested a man as the author of serious threats to British diplomatic interests and buildings in our country.

The 68-year-old is said to have targeted the British consulate in Malaga after being refused permission to travel to the UK to see his children

'The detainee made a series of phone calls to the UK embassy in the Spanish capital warning diplomats of a specific attack within the following 72 hours.

'Officers began an immediate investigation and together with staff responsible for security at the British Embassy, they managed to identify the author very quickly.

'They discovered he was the same man who had participated in a similar incident in 2009 against the British Consulate building in Malaga, where identical threats were made.'

The spokesman added: 'The investigation began on January 11 when the British Embassy in Madrid received several calls from a person who said: 'I will attack British interests in Spain in the next 72 hours, I have nothing to lose and I don't care about the consequences.'

'In the incident in Malaga in 2009 the same man fired several shots against the front and the flag of the British Consulate building there, and was filmed in action by a person who published the videos on different social media.

'For this reason he was considered a potential and extreme danger to the security of diplomatic representatives and their legitimate interests.'

Reports at the time of the September 1 2009 shooting said he had fired five shots, targeting the Union Jack flag.

No-one was injured in the incident and the gunman was described at the time as a 'stateless Lebanese man.'

They also confirmed he was well-known to several police forces because of his 'extensive criminal record' and revealed he had used ten different identifies to prevent his arrest.

It was not immediately clear what had sparked the latest round of threats.

A judge has already banned the detainee from going within 1,640 feet of British diplomats and British embassy and consular buildings as a result of his latest action.

He has also been handed a restraining order preventing him from phoning British embassies and consulates.

A source said today: 'If he hasn't got permission to travel to the UK it would probably be because of his criminal record.'

A British Embassy spokesman said: 'We are grateful for the quick response taken by the Spanish Police and for their work to protect our staff.'
SUNY Morrisville is pleased to announce their annual Yearling Sale will be held on Sunday, September 20, 2020. This year marks the 29th year for the annual sale. The Sunday venue follows the NY Excelsior Finals held Saturday, September 19 at Tioga Downs.

The New York breeding and racing program has been a strong economic supporter of the Morrisville Equine Program for many years. The SUNY Morrisville students greatly appreciate hosting the sale and making industry contacts with the consignors. These industry connections often lead to internships and further employment for our students. SUNY Morrisville is the only educational institution in New York and in the country that conducts a Standardbred yearling sale. The annual Sale is centrally located in N.Y. State and close to Ontario and Quebec.

In the 2019 Morrisville Sale, a total of 51 yearlings sold for an average price of $15,959, (highest in New York State) with a very impressive attendance having wide range of buyers filling all the seats until the last yearling went through the ring. The sale again showed an increase in average by 18.4 %percent from the previous year.

Entries are now being accepted for the Sept. 20 2020 Sale. Entry forms are available to download, fill in your entry online, or call Mary Taylor at (315) 684-6355.

(Morrisville)
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan congratulated Chinas President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang on the Lunar New Year, also known in China as Spring Festival, News.am reports.

In his letter addressed to Xi Jinping, Pashinyan said Armenia attaches great importance to the continuous deepening and strengthening of the traditionally friendly relations with China for the benefit of our nations.

Armenia attaches importance the expansion of multilateral cooperation with China, he said in a letter to Li Keqiang.
President Donald Trump has defended himself after audio leaked Friday of him ordering the firing of then-Ambassador to the Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

The recording, now in the hands of Congress and federal prosecutors, was made during a fundraiser dinner on April 30, 2018 at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. that included Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman - the two indicted sidekicks of Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

'Get rid of her!' is what a voice that appears to be the president is heard saying on an audio recording reviewed by ABC News. 'Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it.'

'I am not a fan of that ambassador,' Trump said in an interview with Fox News defending his actions on Friday. 'She wouldn't put my picture up, she was an Obama appointee I believe.'

'I make no bones about it,' he continued. 'I have every right, I want ambassadors that are chosen by me. I have a right to hire and fire ambassadors.'

Yovanovitch's attorneys have already denied that she did not put his picture up. Yovanovitch was a career diplomat who had been appointed an ambassador by both George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Asked if the order to fire Yovanovitch was directed at Parnas, a fixer who arranged interviews in Ukraine for Giuliani as he pursued his freelance investigation into alleged corruption, Trump demurred.

'I would probably say it was Rudy there or somebody,' Trump responded when asked whom the order was directed at. Giuliani has no position in the federal government and is Trump's personal attorney. it was unknown until now that he was at the dinner.

Trump defended his order to fire then-Ambassador to the Ukraine MarieYovanovitch in an interview on Friday with Fox News' Raymond Arroyo (right)

'She wouldn't put my picture up, she was an Obama appointee I believe,' Trump said of Yovanovitch, who was relieved of her post in late May 2018

Lev Parnas (left) and Igor Fruman (right) were at a fundraiser dinner on April 30, 2018 at the Trump International Hotel when they recorded Trump giving the order

Trump has repeatedly claimed not to know Parnas, who has produced picture after picture of them together in multiple locations, including the White House, Mar-a-Lago and the Trump hotel D.C.

'He's somebody that I guess, based on pictures that I see, goes to fundraisers,' Trump commented in the Friday interview, with Raymond Arroyo. The interview ran on Fox News, where Arroyo is a contributor, but he is also an anchor on the conservative Catholic EWTN channel, which was founded by TV nun Mother Angelica.

Last week Trump denied knowing Parnas 14 times in one White House question and answer session, then he denied it again on Wednesday, this time saying: 'I don't know him, other than he's sort of like a groupie.'

Parnas' attorney confirmed on Friday night that he had located the recording and passed it to the House Intelligence Committee. The recording reported by ABC News suggests that Parnas and Fruman were very much in Trump's inner circle.

Democrats seized on the recording as further evidence of Trump's involvement.

'If this is additional evidence of his involvement in that effort to smear her, it would certainly corroborate much of what weve heard, but Im not in a position yet to analyze that, not having looked at it,' said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., one of the House impeachment managers.

Parnas and Fruman are heard on the recording telling Trump that Yovanovitch is bad-mouthing him. Federal prosecutors have the recording and ABC News said it appeared to have been made by Fruman, and also featured a short video with Don Jr., the president's oldest son in it.

On it, Parnas appears to say: 'The biggest problem there, I think where we need to start is we gotta get rid of the ambassador. She's still left over from the Clinton administration.'

He also says: 'She's basically walking around telling everybody 'Wait, he's gonna get impeached, just wait,' he said.

That was when Trump said to get rid of her, the tape said.

Together again: Igor Fruman (second left) appears to have made the tape which ABC News says features Lev Parnas (center)

As the bombshell development reverberated - and Trump's impeachment trial continued - Trump's allies jumped to his defense.

The biggest problem there, I think where we need to start is we gotta get rid of the ambassador. She's still left over from the Clinton administration She's basically walking around telling everybody 'Wait, he's gonna get impeached, just wait.' What Lev told Trump (who denies knowing him

Republican Congressman Jim Jordan told reporters on Capitol Hill the president had the right to recall any ambassador he wished to.

And Vice President Mike Pence made the same argument, but dodged the issue of the tape itself.

'I have not heard the tape and would not be prepared to comment on it,' Pence told reporters traveling with him in Italy. 'All of the ambassadors for the United States of America serve at the pleasure of the president of the United States.'

Yovanovitch - who has served as ambassador to several countries and was first appointed to such a position by President George W. Bush - wasn't recalled until a year later in April 2019.

She told lawmakers in her testimony during the impeachment inquiry that she was recalled based on 'unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives' that she was disloyal to and undermining the president.

She also said in her testimony she never told embassy staff to disregard orders from the administration because Trump was going to be impeached.

'I did not and would not say such a thing,' she said.

The identities of others on the recording are unclear, ABC News reports.

During an early portion of the recording where video is available, Donald Trump Jr. is seen posing for pictures with people.

The event at the president's hotel that night was an event for The America First Action super PAC - a super PAC supporting Trump's re-election campaign.

The president and Donald Trump Jr. have denied knowing Parnas, who has been making the media rounds as he seeks a deal with federal prosecutors, saying they only had photos taken with him at fundraisers.

President Trump has repeatedly denied knowing him and did so again last week during a school prayer event in the Oval Office.

'I don't know him,' Trump said. 'I don't know Parnas other than I guess I had pictures taken, which I do with thousands of people.'

'I don't know him at all, don't know what he's about. Don't know where he comes from. Know nothing about him,' he said. By one count he denied knowing Parnas 14 times.

Trump Jr. has made similar statements.

'I met him at fundraiser events,' Trump Jr. told Fox News earlier this month. 'He was a donor at a super-PAC, shows up to some of these things like anything else. Honestly, I think it's funny, I didn't realize he was Ukrainian. I thought he was Israeli.'

Parnas and his attorney have released photos of Parnas with the president and various members of the Trump family, including Trump Jr. and Ivanka.

Shortly after President Trump's denials aired last week, Parnas' attorney released yet another new image of them together, this time a video of them speaking at Mar-a-Lago.

Parnas and Fruman face charges of violating campaign finance law.

Parnas has been on a media tour in recent days to talk about his work in the Ukraine with Giuliani. The White House has accused him of trying to stay out of prison.

The audio was made at a fundraising dinner for Trump's 2020 campaign on April 30, 2018 at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.; Trump, above, is seen at the White House on that date

Trump's limo 'The Beast' at the Trump hotel on the night of the fundraiser

Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman and David Correia with Rudy Giuliani in the Trump Hotel Washington D.C.

Three days later: Lev and Igor were in California with Donald Trump Jr. and Tommy Hicks Jr., a financier and campaigner Republican

The phone that was recording the Trump conversation reviewed by ABC News appears to be placed down on a table with the audio still recording. The president does not appear on the video reviewed by ABC News.

Parnas, when he appeared on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow's show last week, provided additional details on the campaign to remove Yovanovitch from her post as ambassador because she was impeding efforts to dig up dirt on Joe and Hunter Biden.

Parnas expressed regret over his involvement in ousting Yovanovitch, saying: 'I want to apologize to her.'

He described the scene at the dinner and said Trump turned to John DeStefano, who was his deputy chief of staff at the time, and said 'Fire her.'

'We all, there was a silence in the room. He responded to him, said Mr. President, we can't do that right now because [Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo hasn't been confirmed yet, that Pompeo is not confirmed yet and we don't have -- this is when [former Secretary of State Rex] Tillerson was gone, but Pompeo was confirmed, so they go, wait until -- so several conversations he mentioned it again,' Parnas recounted.

Pompeo had actually already been confirmed by the Senate and sworn into office.

A copy of the recording is now in the custody of federal prosecutors in New York's Southern District, ABC News reported, noting both the prosecution team and the White House declined to comment.

Parnas also told Maddow that he was 'absolutely' working for the president in his capacity as a legal aide to Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer.

Yovanovitch was the focus of text messages between Parnas and prominent Trump donor Robert F Hyde, which were made public on Tuesday.

Hyde, a Republican congressional candidate from Connecticut, repeatedly disparaged Yovanovitch in the messages and implied that she was under surveillance, often referencing her exact physical location.

However, Parnas told Maddow that while he was 'disturbed' by Hyde's messages, he never believed they were serious.

'I don't believe it was true, I think he was either drunk or was trying to make himself bigger than he was,' he said. 'I didn't take it seriously, and if you see, I didn't even respond to it most of the time.'

Maddow questioned whether Hyde could have been drunk throughout their text correspondence, which lasted several days.

Parnas replied: 'He's drunk the whole time. He wakes up and he's drunk. He starts at 6. I've never seen him not drunk.'

Hyde himself reacted to the release of the messages on Tuesday night.

He did not dispute the validity of the texts but said he was drinking when he sent the ones about surveilling Yovanovitch.

LEV'S PICTURE GALLERY: HOW HE KEPT MEETING THE MAN WHO DOESN'T KNOW HIM

You sure they didn't speak Mr. President: Lev Parnas' attorney released this video of them together at Mar-a-Lago

'I don't believe I've ever met him.' The House Intelligence Committee released this photograph of the two together in a document dump

Have we met? I'm sure we haven't! President Trump dismissed a photos of him and Parnas as just taken at a fundraiser - this is one of two taken on different occasions on front of the Florida state flag

Lev Parnas with Donald Trump at the America First Action Superpac Leadership Summit at Trump Hotel Washington D.C. June 18 or 19 2018. Also partially visible right, Donald Trump Jr

No, total stranger, so sorry: President Donald Trump alongside Lev Parnas in Florida before his election

Great to make your acquaintance for the first time: Lev Parnas and Donald Trump at the door of what appears to be Mar-a-Lago

I take thousands of photos: Lev Parnas and Donald Trump have not yet reached that number of pictures together, but there are certainly more than one

And who are you? No, I'm sorry, never met you. Lev Parnas and Trump at Christmas time in an undated photograph

AND HERE'S SOME MORE PEOPLE WHO 'DON'T KNOW' HIM EITHER

No, I don't believe we have: Mike Pence was the latest to say 'I don't know the guy,' with an inevitable picture emerging

We've never met, of course we can have a photograph: Lev Parnas' attorney tweeted this image just after Kellyanne Conway climbed aboard the fast-moving denial train

Lev Parnas with letter from Pete Sessions, Texas Republican Congressman to President Trump

THESE ONES HAVE STILL TO SAY IF THEY (DON'T) KNOW HIM...

Lev Parnas with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump

Lev Parnas and Ivanka Trump are seen together at Donald Trump's inauguration celebration at Union Station, Washington D.C., in January 2017 in a new batch of photos from Parnas' phone

Lev Parnas and Jared Kushner at Donald Trump's inauguration celebration in Union Station, Washington D.C., January 2017

Lev Parnas poses with with former Marine General John Kelly, then Donald Trump's chief of staff, at the America First Action SuperPAC Leadership Summit at Trump Hotel Washington D.C. June 18 or 19 2018

The legal team's (almost) all here: Lev had photographs of a dinner with Jay Sekulow, Rudy Giuliani, an unknown man, and Jane Raskin and her husband Marty. Sekulow and the Raskins are part of Trump's impeachment legal team; Giuliani is apparently still one of his legal advisors

Parnas was also tight with Trump's legal team, the photos show. Trump's personal attorneys Jay Sekulow, Rudy Giuliani, and Jane Raskin are seen above dining at Trump's DC hotel. The man sitting on the far right has not yet been identified

AND DON JR. SAYS HE DID KNOW HIM (THEY HAD SHARED BREAKFAST AND LEV MET THE KIDS...)

Parnas sits next to Donald Trump Jr in one of the photos released on Friday

Parnas mingles with Don Trump Jr and Trump Jr's children in one of the photos at Trump's inauguration celebration in Washington D.C. in 2017

Parnas (far right) poses with Jared Kushner, Don Trump Jr, and an unidentified man at Donald Trump's inauguration celebration in Washington D.C., in January 2017
Nepal is facing the brunt of global warming with the melting of ice and shrinking glaciers in the Hindukush Himalaya region which provides water, ecosystem services for some 240 million people and a business as usual approach, Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali has warned.

Extreme weather incidents in Nepal are on the rise, he said, pointing out that the country witnessed the first-ever confirmed case of a tornado in March last year that led to the deaths of 31 people.

Research conducted by the Department of Hydrology of Nepal has established that the tornado incident was clearly linked to the global warming, he said.

Speaking to a group of visiting Indian journalists here on Friday, Gyawali said climate disruptions mostly harm the people and societies who have contributed least to the problem. Nepal is one of the countries at the receiving end, he said.

Nepal contributes only 0.027 per cent of the total global carbon emission and despite 45 per cent of its surface area covered by forests, the country is among the most vulnerable in terms of climate change impact, he said.

While announcing that the pressing issue of climate change would be the focus of the first edition of the Sagarmatha Sambaad' hosted by the Nepal government in April, the foreign minister said that scientists who analysed data for the last 45 years have concluded that Nepal's average maximum temperature was increasing at the rate of 0.056 per cent annually.

This increase, he said, was higher than the average global maximum temperature increase.

The minister also said that if the temperature increase continues in the current business as usual scenario, two-thirds of the glaciers in the Hindukush Himalaya region will melt by the end of the century.

Painting an alarming picture, Gyawali noted that women in Nepal's mountainous regions now have to travel more distances to fetch drinking water as wells and springs are drying up near to them due to the adverse effects of climate change.

He also pointed out that the ground water level in Nepal's southern Terai region, close to India, was also dropping to an alarming level.

Therefore, the Nepal government decided to dedicate the first edition of the Sagarmatha Sambaad to the urgent topic of climate change, which he said has now reached a crisis proportion.

The minister said the deliberations during the three-day dialogue session are expected to help build international consensus on the climate agenda and contribute to the existing global processes.

We strongly believe that the most challenging issues facing humanity can be addressed through discourses and reflections, he said, while explaining that Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) is a symbol of friendship, a landmark and a world heritage.

Mt. Everst itself is the tallest witness to all the events and developments unfolding around the world, including the adverse effects of climate change.

It is the barometer of the rapidly changing and ecosystems, the foreign minister said, adding that Nepal has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the first edition of Sagarmatha Sambaad to be held from April 2 to 4.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi, Jan 26 : Lethal animal virus epidemic coronavirus, which has sent panic waves across the world, may have its origins at the epicentre of the epidemic, Wuhan, in a laboratory which has been linked to China's covert biological weapons programme.

The Washington Times reported the link with China's biological weapons quoting an Israeli biological warfare expert.

According to the report, Radio Free Asia this week rebroadcast a local Wuhan television report from 2015 showing China's most advanced virus research laboratory known as the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The laboratory is the only declared site in China capable of working with deadly viruses.

Dany Shoham, a former Israeli military intelligence officer who has studied Chinese bio warfare, said the institute is linked to Beijing's covert biological weapons programme.

"Certain laboratories in the institute have probably been engaged, in terms of research and development, in Chinese (biological weapons), at least collaterally, yet not as a principal facility of the Chinese BW alignment," Shoham told The Washington Times.

Work on biological weapons is conducted as part of a dual civilian-military research and is "definitely covert," he said.

From 1970 to 1991, he was a senior analyst with Israeli military intelligence for biological and chemical warfare in the Middle East and worldwide, holding the rank of lieutenant colonel.

China in the past has denied having any offensive biological weapons. The State Department, in a report last year, said it suspects that China has engaged in covert biological warfare work.

Chinese officials so far have said the origin of coronavirus that has killed many and infected hundreds in central Hubei Province is not known.

Gao Fu, Director of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told state-controlled media that initial signs as of Thursday indicated that the virus originated from wild animals sold at a seafood market in Wuhan.

As per the Washington Times, one ominous sign, said a US official, is that false rumours since the outbreak began several weeks ago are being circulated on the Chinese internet claiming the virus is part of a US conspiracy to spread germ weapons.

That could indicate that China is preparing propaganda outlets to counter future charges the new virus escaped from one of Wuhan's civilian or defense research laboratories.

The World Health Organization is calling the microbe novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV. At a meeting in Geneva on Thursday, the organisation stopped short of declaring a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

The virus outbreak causes pneumonia-like symptoms and prompted China to deploy military forces to Wuhan this week in a bid to halt the spread. All travel out of the city of 11 million people was halted.

The Wuhan site has studied coronaviruses in the past, including the strain that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, H5N1 influenza virus, Japanese encephalitis, and dengue. Researchers at the institute also studied the germ that causes anthrax -- a biological agent once developed in Russia.

It is not known if the institute's array of coronaviruses are specifically included in biological weapons programme but it is possible, Shoham said.

Asked if the new coronavirus may have leaked, Shoham said: "In principle, outward virus infiltration might take place either as leakage or as an indoor unnoticed infection of a person that normally went out of the concerned facility. This could have been the case with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, but so far there isn't evidence or indication for such incident." The former Israeli military intelligence doctor also said suspicions were raised about the institute when a group of Chinese virologists working in Canada improperly sent samples to China of what he said were some of the deadliest viruses on earth, including the Ebola virus.

In a July article in the journal Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, Shoham said the Wuhan institute was one of four Chinese laboratories engaged in some aspects of the biological weapons development.

He identified the secure Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory at the institute as engaged in research on the Ebola, Nipah, and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever viruses.

The Wuhan virology institute is under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. But certain laboratories within it "have linkage with the PLA or BW-related elements within the Chinese defense establishment," he said.

In 1993, China declared a second facility, the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, as one of eight biological warfare research facilities covered by the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) which China joined in 1985.

The Wuhan Institute of Biological Products is a civilian facility but is linked to the Chinese defense establishment, and has been regarded to be involved in the Chinese BW programme, Shoham said.

"The US has compliance concerns with respect to Chinese military medical institutions' toxin research and development because of the potential dual-use applications and their potential as a biological threat," the report added.

The biosafety lab is located about 20 miles from the Hunan Seaford Market that reports from China say may have been origin point of the virus.

Rutgers University microbiologist Richard Ebright told London's Daily Mail that "at this point there's no reason to harbor suspicions" that the lab may be linked to the virus outbreak.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo effectively confirmed threatening a female NPR host, shouting the f-word at her repeatedly and demanding she point at Ukraine on a blank map in a statement Saturday morning by accusing her of breaking an agreement to go 'off the record.'

All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly had revealed the astonishing conduct by Donald Trump's top diplomat Friday, telling how she was summoned to his private quarters at the State Department after she asked about Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch in an interview which Pompeo and his press adviser abruptly cut off.

During the f-word laced tirade he said: 'Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?'

On Saturday Pompeo issued a statement which accused her of breaking an agreement to go off the record - in effect confirming her account and simply claiming it should have been kept secret.

He also accused her of being 'on a quest to hurt President Trump and this administration.'

And he confirmed the most bizarre part of her account of his tirade - that he demanded an aide bring a blank map without names of countries - and point to Ukraine.

'It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine,' he said, in effect accusing her of not knowing where Ukraine is, although also raising the possibility that it is Pompeo who does not. It remains unclear why he has blank maps in his office.

Furious tirade: NPR host Mary Louise Kelly revealed how the Secretary of State had her summoned to his private quarters where he shouted the f-word at her, threatened her, and demanded she point to Ukraine on a blank map

STEP INTO MY OFFICE: Mike Pompeo posed in the outer office of his State Department suite with second wife Susan and son Nicholas

Pompeo deflected a series of questions about recalled Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, after an explosive new report about video of the president demanding her ouster

Pompeo accused Kelly of 'violating the basic rules of journalism and decency' by reporting their encounter.

Going 'off the record' is a two-way agreement between a journalist and the person they are speaking to not to report what they said; Kelly says she never agreed to go off the record.

Kelly had told how Pompeo said 'people will hear about this,' making it unclear how the meeting was 'off the record.'

He also claimed she had agreed not to ask about Ukraine in their on-air interview, which she had said on air was untrue.

'This is another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and his Administration,' he said.

'It is no wonder that the American people distrust many in the media when they so consistently demonstrate their agenda and their absence of integrity.

He said: 'Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?' He used the f-word in that sentence. Mary Louise Kelly on Mike Pompeo

'It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine.'

Pompeo has been to neither country as secretary of state but is due in Kiev next week. Kelly is a veteran foreign affairs reporter who has covered Afghanistan and Pakistan, and has lived in the UK and Italy.

The astonishing outburst was disclosed by on the program by Kelly Friday, who said: 'He shouted at me for about the same amount of time as the interview itself.'

Pompeo hurled the abuse after his interview with NPR's flagship news show at the State Department turned stormy, when Kelly asked about Ukraine, prompting the secretary of state to claim: 'I agreed to come on your show today to talk about Iran.'

Kelly said that his 'people' had been told she would ask about Ukraine as well as Iran, and pressed him on his handling of Yovanovitch.

WhatsApp messages from indicted Rudy Giuliani sidekick Lev Parnas' phone revealed last week how a Republican congressional candidate sent messages implying that he had the ambassador under surveillance.

Pompeo eventually launched an investigation, at the same time suggesting that the messages did not show anything had happened.

In the interview Kelly asked him twice about Yovanovitch, pressing him on whether he had defended her - which he claimed he had - and asking: 'Sir, respectfully, where have you defended Marie Yovanovitch?'

Pompeo replied: 'I've defended every single person on this team. Ive done whats right for every single person on this team.'

Kelly aksed: 'Can you point me toward your remarks where you have defended Marie Yovanovitch?' and Pompeo replied: 'I've said all I'm going to say today. Thank you. Thanks for the repeated opportunity to do so. I appreciate that.'

As he refused to answer further questions his aide, Katie Martin, the deputy assistant secretary in the bureau of global public affairs and a former Republican operative, intervened, saying repeatedly 'thank you' to cut off the interview.

Kelly said that Kelly then leaned in close to her and 'glared' at her for 'several seconds,' then aides asked her to see him in his private living room, and not to bring a recording device.

It was there 'where he shouted at me,' Kelly said, adding: 'He asked: "Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?" 'He used the f-word in that sentence and many others.

'He asked me if I could find Ukraine on a map. I said yes, and he called out for aides to bring us a map of the world with no writing.

'I pointed to Ukraine. He put the map away. He said: "People will hear about this."'

Pompeo, a West Point graduate who left the Army as a captain after a spell as a tank commander in West Germany, where he rose to squadron maintenance manager, has previously been director of the CIA before becoming Donald Trump's top diplomat.

The twice-married Republican, a former deacon and Sunday school teacher who keeps an open Bible on his desk, had been under pressure to run for Senate in Kansas amid fears the seat will go to Democrats but has declined.

He will visit Ukraine next week, making his first trip to the country at the heart of Trump's impeachment.

The man Donald Trump doesn't know: Lev Parnas, who has a string of photos with the president, has handed messages from his phone to the House Intel Committee, among them some which suggest Marie Yovanovitch was under surveillance

Surveillance? Some of the messages from Lev Parnas' phone which revealed an exchange between Parnas and Rob Hyde, a Republican congressional candidate, and Hyde and Dutch Trump supporter Anthony de Caluwe which suggested Marie Yovanovitch was being watched

As Trump's Senate trial on impeachment charges continues, the State Department announced Friday that Pompeo would travel to Kiev as part of a five-nation tour of Europe and Central Asia.

Since November, Pompeo has twice previously canceled plans to visit Ukraine, most recently just after the New Year when developments with Iran forced him to postpone it.

Pompeo will also visit Britain, as it finalizes its divorce from the European Union, along with Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan on the trip.

Trump's impeachment on charges of abuse of office and obstruction of Congress hinges on his policy toward Ukraine. Witnesses told House investigators that Trump wanted Ukraine to announce an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden's son in return for releasing critical military aid to Ukraine.

Pompeo has sought to stay above the impeachment fray and his stop in Ukraine will likely test his ability to continue to do so while leading diplomatic efforts to boost ties between Washington and Kiev that have been complicated by the process.

One of the impeachment witnesses, William Taylor, was until Jan. 1 the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Pompeo had appointed Taylor to the post over the summer to take over from Marie Yovanovitch, whose tour was abruptly cut short last May after Trump's personal attorney Rudolph Giuliani made unsubstantiated allegations against her. Yovanovitch testified that Trump supporters had mounted a smear campaign against her.

Just before the trip was announced, Giuliani said he would be presenting evidence of corruption involving the Bidens and Ukraine. Such allegations, even if they are unproven, may distract from Pompeo's mission in Kiev, which is to show U.S. support for the country in the face of Russian aggression.

Taylor departed Kiev just a day before Pompeo was to have arrived on his previously planned trip. The position was temporary and time-limited by law but his tenure could have lasted until mid-January.

how colleagues backed Mary Louise Kelly

Intervention: Katie Martin, Pompeo's press aide, shouted 'thank you' repeatedly to stop the interview

His departure prompted complaints from lawmakers that his departure was similar to Yovanovitch's early recall and sent a poor message to the embassy in Kiev and career diplomats more generally, as well as to Ukrainian authorities.

In Kiev, Pompeo will meet with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whose July 25 phone call with Trump triggered the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump's impeachment.

In that call, Trump disparaged Yovanovitch - who he had already fired - and asked Zelenskiy for 'a favor,' suggesting he wanted Ukrainian authorities to investigate Biden's son, Hunter Biden, for corruption. Trump has said the call was 'perfect' and has denied doing anything wrong.

In his meetings, Pompeo will 'reaffirm U.S. support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity' as the country continues to battle Russia-backed separatists in the east, the State Department said.

Pompeo also will honor Ukrainians who have died in the conflict, which intensified after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014, in a move condemned and rejected by most of the international community. The senior official said Pompeo would underscore that the U.S. will never recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea.

A senior official previewing Pompeo's earlier planned trip to Kiev, said the secretary would discuss Zelenskiy's anti-corruption efforts but would not comment on whether the secretary would raise Trump's desire for an investigation into Hunter Biden and his role on the board of a Ukrainian energy company or discredited claims that Ukraine and not Russia was responsible for interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

In addition, Pompeo plans to meet Ukrainian religious, civic and business leaders for talks on human rights, investment and economic and political reform, the department said.

Pompeo will begin his trip on Jan. 30 in London, where he will meet Prime Minister Boris Johnson and underscore the administration's desire to forge a free-trade trade deal with Britain as it exits the EU.

From Ukraine, Pompeo will travel on to Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan before returning home in time for Trump's State of the Union address to Congress on Feb. 4. Human rights, energy independence and economic reform will top Pompeo's agenda at each of those stops.

In Minsk, the secretary plans to affirm the U.S. commitment to improving ties with Belarus, which has had a strained relationship with Russia. President Alexander Lukashenko has pursued better relations with the West since Russia's annexation of Crimea as Belarus is wary that Russia could try to absorb it.

In September, the U.S. and Belarus agreed to upgrade diplomatic ties by returning ambassadors to each other's capitals after an 11-year break.
Participation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, undoubtedly, has become the main event of the political agenda in Azerbaijan this week.

Unlike the previous ones, the current forum will be remembered not only for its topics devoted to the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate and achievement of the sustainable development goals, or for a number of important meetings held with the participation of President Ilham Aliyev, but also for a clear message delivered by the Azerbaijani president at a panel meeting on the topic Strategic Outlook: Eurasia.

So, answering quite a provocative question by the panel moderator about which of the countries of the Eurasian space Ilham Aliyev would call first, having a choice, to Moscow or Beijing, the Azerbaijani leader unequivocally said - to Baku.

Judging by the protracted pause of the interviewer, such a response from the head of the Azerbaijani state puzzled the European moderator. Meanwhile, with this message, President Ilham Aliyev highlighted the important emphasis of Bakus foreign policy. The Azerbaijani president reminded Europe and the whole world that Azerbaijan implements a friendly policy towards its neighbors, but first of all, Azerbaijans national interests are always a priority of state policy.

Such a clear and reasoned message from the Azerbaijani president once again confirmed his personal connection with the people, as well as personal trust in the citizens of his country. This fact, voiced at the platform of such a significant European forum, is certainly worth a lot. Undoubtedly, the confident speech by the Azerbaijani president will be often quoted by many foreign media.

The variety of questions on the Davos platform was quite wide and the head of the Azerbaijani state gave clear answers to a number of questions regarding structural changes in the government, serious reforms in the political and economic spheres that were carried out in Azerbaijan, and will be carried out in the coming years.

All the achievements which we enjoyed during the years of independence we achieved due to the commitment of our people to our independence and the fact that we have managed to implement very serious reforms in political and economic area, President Aliyev said.

These words of the president testify that all the goals and tasks set for Azerbaijan, based on mutual trust, are always supported by people.

Azerbaijan has proved itself as an independent country pursuing a balanced domestic and foreign policy under the leadership of President Aliyev for a long time.

Azerbaijan continues to develop rapidly. The countrys opinion is taken into account in the region and the world. Our country is recognized as a reliable partner and the safest country in the region, which pursues an independent policy. It is the initiator of large-scale transnational projects that lay the foundation for economic sustainability of the entire region.

It is appropriate to stress that the leaders of many leading countries, including Russia and China, recognize Azerbaijan as a reliable and stable partner for building a long-term political dialogue and economic cooperation.

It seems that the presidents confident answer to the European moderators question in Davos was clearly justified and once again confirmed that Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani people are a single whole and such a model of interaction may serve as an example throughout the Eurasian space.
This is the horrifying moment two teenage killers use Rambo knives to stab a defenceless 18-year-old to death on a busy London street.

William Haines, 18, and a 17-year-old youth are filmed plunging the blades into Yusuf Mohamed's heart and leg at a food shop in Shepherd's Bush.

CCTV footage shows the knife-wielding thugs move in on Mr Mohamed as he walks past the store on Uxbridge Road.

This is the horrifying moment two teenage killers use Rambo knives to stab a defenceless 18-year-old to death on a busy London street

Haines crosses the road with one of the huge weapons before he thrusts at Mr Mohamed and pierces his heart

Yusuf Mohamed, 18, (left) was stabbed to death by the pair for, what the prosecution termed as 'no obvious reason'. Attacker William Haines (right) and a 17-year-old, who cannot be named due to his age, will be sentenced next month

The second killer then runs from the scene after ploughing the blade into his victim's thigh (pictured)

Haines crosses the road with one of the huge weapons before he thrusts at Mr Mohamed and pierces his heart.

The victim tries to run into the shop but trips by the door and sprawls out on the floor.

The 17-year-old attacker follows up with another massive knife and runs into the store after Mr Mohammed, who crawls backwards with the help of a customer.

The second killer then runs from the scene after ploughing the blade into his victim's thigh.

Footage shows the attackers fist bumping in an alley after the horrific killing.

Haines was found guilty of murder and possession of a blade following a trial at the Old Bailey, while the 17-year-old, who cannot be named due to his age, was found guilty of manslaughter and having a knife.

The pair will be sentenced next month for the attack on June 26 and are expected to be jailed for life.

William Haines, 18, and a 17-year-old youth give each other a fist bump after stabbing Yusuf Mohamed to death outside a food shop in Shepherd's Bush, west London

Mr Mohamed had been walking on Uxbridge road with friends when he was targeted 'for no obvious reason', the court heard.

Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones said during the trial: 'Suddenly, and for no obvious reason, the two defendants crossed the road towards Yusuf and his friends.

'Yusuf Mohamed had no time to run away, he had no time to do anything to protect himself. Unlike his attackers, he was not carrying a weapon. He stood no chance.'

Haines, who reached him first, acted with 'brutal efficiency' as he swung his 6.2in blade at the victim and stabbed him in his heart.

The prosecutor told jurors: 'Seeing Yusuf collapse to the floor, and as Yusuf desperately tried to retreat, crawling backwards on his elbows, (the 17-year-old) took out his own knife and followed him, stabbing him in the leg as he lay defenceless.

'As the two young men ran away, tucking their knives back out of sight, they gave each other a fist bump as if to say, 'Well done us'.'

Police officers are seen collecting evidence outside the convenience store where Mr Mohamed was stabbed to death last year

Jurors heard last week that Haines plunged the blade into the 18-year-old Chelsea fan 'right up to the hilt, as far as it would go'.

Mr Mohamed died within seconds at the scene.

Jurors were shown 'distressing' CCTV footage of the attack on Mr Mohamed outside the Intercontinental Foods shop.

With the help of a police dog officers later found a ruck sack dumped in bushes containing a large blade with a curved and serrated upper edge along with a sheath.

Another weapon was discovered by a dog walker.

Haines, of Acton, west London, had accepted being the person in the CCTV footage but claimed he could not remember the incident in the footage because he had had a drink.

Following the verdicts, the defendants were remanded into custody to be sentenced on February.

Detective Chief Inspector Rob Pack, from Specialist Crime who led the investigation, said the verdicts 'brought justice for Yusuf and his family'.

'This was a savage and callous attack where a young man lost his life in a matter of seconds,' he said.

'To this day, the motive for the killing is unclear. Both defendants clearly felt they could carry and use knives with impunity. that they congratulated themselves with a fist bump and smiles having so brutally taken a life is beyond comprehension.'

Following the verdicts, the defendants were remanded in custody to be sentenced on February.
CHAMPAIGN  Local hospitals and clinics are taking precautions to handle potential cases of a new virus that has killed dozens and sickened thousands in China.

These are strictly just-in-case measures at this point. While the second U.S. case has been confirmed in Chicago, there arent any virus cases under investigation in Champaign County, according to Champaign-Urbana Public Health District Administrator Julie Pryde.

Local Chinese New Year gala postponed in wake of virus outbreak 'We are afraid that this kind of large gathering of people will endanger public safety,' Emily Liu, director of the Chinese American Association of Central Illinois' annual event, said through a translator.

Local medical providers are differentiating potential seasonal flu patients from those who could possibly have been infected by the novel virus spreading in China by asking about their travel history.

Christie Clinic posted a notice on its website Thursday, urging anyone who has been in Wuhan, China, since Jan. 6 and now has a fever, cough or difficulty breathing to immediately notify the check-in employee and put on a mask that will be provided.

Carle has similar precautions in place.

We encourage patients to call ahead if they feel like they may have been exposed, so we can take proper precautions to isolate them to protect themselves and others, said Carle spokeswoman Jamie Mullin.

Isolation measures would involve the patient being masked and placed in isolation and medical caregivers putting on masks, gowns and other protective gear, Mullin said.

Theres no need to panic if you walk into a waiting room and see patients in masks, she advised. Patients are also being asked to put on masks when they come in with symptoms of flu, which is widespread in Illinois and across the U.S.

Its flu, RSV, there are a lots of things right now that are not the coronavirus, she said.

Thats why questions about travel history are important in the screening process, she said.

The University of Illinois McKinley Health Center is also warning students and staff about taking protective measures. Students experiencing fever, cough, shortness of breath or who in any way feel theyre at risk for coronavirus have been urged to contact the health center immediately, according to a post by center Director Dr. Robert Parker.

The health center is also advising washing hands frequently with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds, avoiding touching eyes, noses or mouths with unwashed hands and keeping a distance of at least six feet from people who are sick.
WASHINGTON  When President Donald Trump left Minneapolis after holding a rally there in October, he left behind a bill of $542,000.

Thats what local taxpayers paid for extra police protection, security barriers and other costs. And the city still hasnt gotten paid.

The city alone should not bear the costs of keeping residents, visitors and the president safe for a campaign rally, and we will continue to seek reimbursement for the event on behalf of Minneapolis residents and taxpayers, Mayor Jacob Frey said in November.

Minneapolis isnt alone. Several other cities, including El Paso, Texas, and Lebanon, Ohio, also have complained about unpaid rally costs.

Nor is the problem unique to the current president. When President Barack Obama flew into Seattle in August 2012 for a fundraiser, the bill to local law enforcement agencies was close to $100,000.

Wildwood Mayor Pete Byron said he doesnt want to foot the bill for Tuesdays Trump rally.

Do I think that our taxpayers should foot the bill for this? Absolutely not," he recently told NJ Advance Media. I will do my best to get a final tally, and I will certainly pass that on to the local Republican organization, and I hope that we get some sort of reimbursement for the event.

Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said the presidents re-election committee is not responsible for the costs.

The U.S. Secret Service, not the campaign, coordinates with local law enforcement for the protection of the president of the United States," Murtaugh said. "The campaign itself does not contract with local governments for police involvement. All billing inquiries should always go to the U.S. Secret Service.

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., though, said the Trump campaign should be paying those costs rather than ignoring the bills its receiving from municipalities.

I dont want to call the president a dead beat but hes close to it, said Pascrell, D-9th Dist. Let him pay his bills. The campaign should be paying for it, certainly not the states and the cities.

Last October, Pascrell asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate why the campaign was not reporting those unpaid bills as disputed debts, which he said was required by federal law and would let the public know how much those rallies cost taxpayers.

Donald Trumps presidential campaign may ignore their obligation to reimburse local officials for the significant assistance provided at these political events," he said in a letter to the commission. "But FEC regulations on reporting disputed debts clearly state that these disputes must be reported until the dispute is resolved.

The FEC, though, has only three of six commissioners in place, not enough to move forward on any investigation.

The commission is operating without a working quorum and unable to move forward on newly filed complaints and enforcement matters, spokesman Christian Hilland said.

El Paso billed the Trump campaign $470,417 for its costs stemming from a February rally in the city, then tacked on late fees when it was wasnt paid.

Mayor Dee Margo told NJ Advance Media that the next step was to send a collection notice.

We definitely want to get paid, Margo said.

Any advice for Wildwood?

You need a contract with them," he said.

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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Asia

India: Midday-meal workers walk out over poverty wages

Thousands of midday-meal workers in India took industrial action and demonstrated in the past week over wages, conditions and job security.

On January 19, the low paid, mainly women workers demonstrated in all districts across Punjab state to demand a pay rise and permanent jobs. In Bathinda hundreds marched along the Bathinda-Goniana Road and then demonstrated outside the state finance ministers office, stopping traffic.

Punjab midday-meal workers are only paid 1,700-rupees ($US23) per month. Protesters said that the education secretary had promised increases in salaries and allowances but then claimed that his request was being held up in the finance department.

On Tuesday, midday-meal workers in the south Indian state of Karnataka struck for two days and demonstrated at Freedom Park in Bangalore for their long outstanding demand for higher pay and benefits. The Karnataka workers only earn 2,600 rupees a month. Strikers also called for an end to the recruitment of workers from private agencies, midday meal workers to be covered by official labour laws, their salaries paid on the fifth day of every month and that they receive the same Employee State Insurance, Provident Fund and pension benefits paid to permanent employees.

Contract teachers in northern Sri Lanka demand permanent positions

A group of contract teachers in war-ravaged Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mulaitivu and Mannar in Sri Lankas Northern Province demonstrated outside the provincial secretariat on January 20 to demand permanent jobs. The protesting teachers complained that successive governments had ignored their long outstanding demand. The teachers presented a letter to the provincial governors office following the demonstration.

Bangladesh: Garment workers protest over safety and sexual assaults

Garment workers demonstrated outside the National Press Club in Dhaka on January 17 over ongoing sexual assaults in the factories. The protest was in response to the alleged rape of two garment workers in Dhakas Savar area on January 15 and December 31. The workers held street processions following the rally.

The Bangladesh Garment Sramik Samhati, which organised the protest, denounced the Awami League government for failing to protect the female garment workers and called on the government to ensure that those found guilty of sexual abuses are punished.

Bangladeshi garment workers demand pay rise

About 200 workersmost of them womenfrom the Dynamic Fashion factory in Dhaka demonstrated on the Shyamoli to Kalyanpur road on January 16 to demand a pay increase. The factory, which has 450 employees, exports shirts to the Netherlands, Belgium, UK, and the US. Protestors stopped traffic for two hours until police intervened and shut down the demonstration.

Construction workers in Bangladesh demand improved safety

Construction industry workers demonstrated outside Dhakas National Press Club on January 18 to demand improved work safety and adequate accident compensation. After the rally, which was called by the Imarat Nirman Sramik Union Bangladesh and the Trade Union Centre, workers held a street procession. There are over 3.5 million workers in the harsh and notoriously unsafe Bangladeshi construction industry.

Cambodia: Over 100 hotel workers demand severance pay

Unemployed workers from the recently closed Great Duke Phnom Penh hotel protested on Monday morning for outstanding severance pay, seniority benefits and unused annual leave. The hotel suddenly closed its doors on December 31 after 23 years of operations. Initial reports indicate that the company was not bankrupt.

The demonstration was organised by the Tourism Workers Union, which threatened to take the matter to the Labor Ministry if workers demands are not met. The union has not opposed closure of the hotel or called for full reinstatement of all workers.

Cambodian garment workers demand outstanding salaries

Nearly 2,000 garment workers in Kandal province demonstrated this week to demand employers pay outstanding wages. Cambodian garment companies have responded to falling export orders by slashing production, withholding pay and shutting plants.

Organised by the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union, the protest was larger than last weeks demonstration which involved about 1,000 workers from the Dignity Knitter and Eco Base factories in the Saang district.

This weeks event included 600 workers from Kandals Zhong Yin (Cambodia) B Textile, who have been protesting for a month-and-a-half to demand compensation after management shut down the factory.

The garment workers allege that they have not been properly paid since mid-Decemberwith some not receiving their full wages since Octoberand cannot pay bills and other basic expenses.

Australia and New Zealand

Victorian rail workers continue strike action

About 600 drivers, station staff and train controllers from V/Line, Victorias state-owned regional commuter rail network, will stop work for 24 hours on January 29 and February 7. They are in dispute with the state Labor government over wages and conditions in V/Lines proposed enterprise agreement. An indefinite overtime ban will begin on January 31.

The Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) members are taking action after 12 months of failed negotiations and a series of 24-hour rolling stoppages in December.

The RTBU is demanding annual 6 percent pay increases with no loss in conditions. The government wants to peg wage increases at 2 percent, remove driver training provisions and end guaranteed shift hours with cuts to public holiday loadings and other penalties.

Maryvale paper mill workers walk out again

About 160 maintenance workers from Australian Paper in Maryvale, southeast of Melbourne, held rolling stoppages Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week against the companys proposed enterprise agreement.

Called by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Electrical Trades Union and United Workers Union, the strikes follow several months of limited rolling strikes and work bans begun in September.

Australian Paper is a subsidiary of Nippon Paper, a global company with a net income of $10.3 billion. It wants a two-tier agreement that would see 15 percent lower wage rates for all new employees. Australian Paper also wants a freeze on existing employees wages until the pay of new starters catches up. The proposed changes could lead to full-time staff being replaced by contractors, cuts in sick and personal leave and alterations in the way overtime is calculated and rosters devised.

During wage negotiations in 2016 and 2017, the unions used the threat of a total closure by Australian Paper management to force workers to accept pay cuts. Australian Paper workers are now demanding pay increases that claw back what they lost in the last enterprise agreement and have rejected the companys proposed two-tier wage system.

The company has again threatened to close its Maryvale plant and move overseas if workers do not accept its latest enterprise agreement proposal. The unions are continuing closed-door negotiations with the company in the Fair Work Commission.

Dockers in Western Australia stop work

Around 200 members of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) stopped work for 24 hours at DP Worlds Fremantle container terminal in Perth on January 13 after 15 months of failed negotiations for a new enterprise agreement. The strike was followed by further actions, including rolling one-hour stoppages before the end of each shift and a range of work bans.

The MUA accused the Dubai-based company of bad faith negotiations that have included threatened job cuts and stripping away hard won workplace conditions and rights. On Monday, DP World cancelled all approved leave for its terminal workers in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Fremantle. DP World is the largest stevedore group in Australia and employs more than 1,800 waterfront workers.

New Zealand sonographers strike at Auckland hospitals

One hundred sonographers across Aucklands hospitals are taking partial strike action for 12 weeks in a dispute over pay and conditions. Employed by Auckland, Counties Manukau and Waitemata District Health Boards (DHBs), the sonographers began their industrial action on January 18 and will continue until April 11.

An Association of Professional and Executive Employees (APEX) spokesman said it had been in bargaining with the DHBs for more than six months. APEX wants a 10 percent pay rise for sonographers over two years, and an increase in personal development allowances.

The sonographers are refusing to perform scans for all GP referrals and outpatients, as well as banning working overtime. The union predicts record wait times for scans and videos, and potentially delayed diagnoses, during the dispute. The strike follows struggles by nurses, resident doctors and other health professionals since last year, amid ongoing reports of serious underfunding of the DHBs by the Labour-led government.

APEX complained this week that the DHBs had adopted a take it or leave it approach and were not working with us to reach a deal. It has requested facilitated bargaining with the Employment Relations Authority.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 36-year-old man was brutally murdered allegedly by sand mafia in the wee hours of Friday with the arm of an earthmover for resisting illegal mining from his compound at Ambalathinkala near Kattakada here.

Sangeeth Balan, father of two, was bludgeoned to death around 1am in front of his residence. Though he was taken to hospital by neighbours, he was declared brought dead. The Kattakada police have registered a case against six persons, all belonging to the area. One of them, Vijin, a native of Charupara, surrendered before the police while the other five are absconding. Sangeeths wife has identified two persons --- Uthaman and Saju --- from the gang.

According to the police, the gang came to Sangeeths compound around 12.30 am with earthmovers and trucks. Sangeetha, who was present at the house along with their two children, alerted Sangeeth, who was at his hatchery unit 30km away.

Sangeeth had earlier given permission to the Forest Department and panchayat to build a bridge for taking sand from their compound. But when Sangeeth, who rushed to the spot, realised the six men were part of sand mafia in the locality, he opposed their move. As he persisted and stood in front of the earthmover, the gang knocked him down with its arm.

Were on the lookout for the accused. Weve seized the vehicle used for the crime, said Kattakada CI D Bijukumar. Sangeeths body, which has been shifted to the Medical College Hospital for postmortem examination, will be handed over to relatives on Saturday. He is survived son Sreehari, 6, and daughter Sangeerthana, 4, besides wife Sangeetha.
The Cochin Dewaswom Board was asked to deploy only Hindu policemen.

Kochi: A controversy erupted Saturday over a Cochin Devaswom Board letter to the police commissioner of Kochi, seeking to deploy Hindu policemen to manage crowds and vehicles for a temple festival here.

Authorities of the Shiva-Subrahmanya Swamy temple, managed by the board, later withdrew the letter following opposition from the Police Association, which said policemen should not be deployed for festival duties on the basis of their religion.

The assistant commissioner of the board sent the letter on January 21, seeking Hindu policemen for the February 8 'Thaipooyam' festival at the temple.

The Ernakulam District Police Association urged the police commissioner not to accede to the application. The state committee submitted a memorandum to devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran, saying the religion of policemen should not be the criterion for deploying them for festival duties.

Following the protest, the temple authorities withdrew the controversial letter and submitted a fresh one.
There are now four confirmed cases of coronavirus in Australia as authorities scramble to contact passengers who shared flights from China with the patients.

Three men in New South Wales, aged 43, 53 and 35, and one in Victoria have caught the deadly disease which originated in Wuhan ad has killed 41 around the world.

The patient in Victoria is a Chinese national aged in his 50s who flew to Melbourne on China Southern flight CZ321 from Wuhan via Guangzhou on January 19.

He became the first confirmed case of coronavirus in Australia on Saturday morning and is now in quarantined isolation at Monash Hospital in Clayton in Melbourne's east.

The Sydney patients are being treated at Westmead Hospital, NSW Health confirmed on Saturday night.

None of the men is in a serious condition. They are in hospital simply to stop the virus spreading.

Two had flown from Wuhan while the other arrived in Sydney from Shenzhen, south China, officials revealed as they urged anyone with symptoms who has been to China recently to come forward.

Earlier on Saturday a baby was rushed from Sydney Airport to hospital for testing and was later discharged cleared of the virus.

The federal government has stepped up measures to protect Australians from the the deadly coronavirus virus after the first case in Australia was confirmed (stock image)

The deadly virus has already claimed 41 lives in China and is expected to rise worldwide

Five people tested in Queensland since have been cleared.

Another four people in South Australia are undergoing tests as a precaution but the likelihood of having the virus is low, according to authorities.

Officials expect more people will be struck down with the dangerous virus in coming weeks as it threatens to become a global pandemic.

CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA NEW SOUTH WALES: 4 Four people in NSW have been diagnosed with coronavirus, including three men and one woman. January 25 Three men aged 43, 53, and 35 who had recently travelled to China are confirmed to have contracted the disease.

Two flew in from Wuhan while the other arrived in Sydney from Shenzhen, south China.

They are being treated in isolation at Westmead Hospital and are in stable condition. January 27 A 21-year-old woman is identified as the fourth person to test positive for the illness in NSW.

The woman, a student at UNSW, flew into Sydney International Airport on flight MU749 on January 23 and presented to the emergency department 24 hours later after developing flu-like symptoms.

She is being treated in isolation at Westmead Hospital. VICTORIA: 4 January 25 A Chinese national aged in his 50s becomes the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Australia.

The man flew to Melbourne on China Southern flight CZ321 from Wuhan via Guangzhou on January 19.

He is now in quarantined isolation at Monash Hospital in Clayton in Melbourne's east. January 29 A Victorian man in his 60s is diagnosed with the coronavirus.

He became unwell on January 23 - two days after returning from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.

The man was confirmed as positive on January 29 and was subsequently seen by doctors at the Monash Medical Centre. He was assessed as being well enough to stay at home. January 30 A woman in her 40s falls ill with the coronavirus.

She was visiting from China and mostly spent time with her family.

She is being treated at Royal Melbourne Hospital. February 1 A Melbourne woman aged in her 20s is at home recovering. She returned from Wuhan on January 25 and fell ill two days later. She was not infectious on the flight, and has remained in isolation since being tested. QUEENSLAND: 2 January 29 Queensland confirms its first case after a 44-year-old Chinese national wass diagnosed with the virus.

He is being treated at Gold Coast University Hospital. January 30 A 42-year-old Chinese woman who was travelling in the same Wuhan tour group as the 44-year-old man tests positive. She is in Gold Coast University Hospital in stable condition. SOUTH AUSTRALIA: 2 February 1 A Chinese couple were placed in isolation in a public hospital. The man and a woman both aged 60, were from Wuhan and visiting relatives in South Australia. SA Health said the pair isolated themselves at home when they developed symptoms and awaited the results of the coronavirus test. Australia has raised the travel alert level to 'do not travel' for the city of Wuhan - the epicentre of the outbreak - and for the entire Hubei province. Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy says unless people have contact with someone who is unwell and has come from that part of China, there is no need for current concern. Advertisement

Prime Minister Scott Morrison released a statement on Saturday afternoon saying officials are now tracking down all passengers who took the same flight as the man infected in Melbourne.

The A380 plane, which can can carry 500, arrived at Melbourne's Tullaramine Airport around 9.25am on January 19.

Mr Morrison also announced the federal government has stepped up measures to protect Australians from the virus, along with a dire warning to not travel to China's Wuhan or Hubei provinces.

'From today (Saturday), anyone arriving in Australia on flights from other parts of China will be met and provided instruction on what to do it they have symptoms it start to develop them,' Mr Morrison's statement read.

'Chinese authorities have also imposed travel restriction sin at least five cities in the Hubei province.

'Australians travelling to these areas may not be able to leave until restrictions are lifted.

Mr Morrison added the federal government will continue to monitor the situation and take action when necessary.

In Melbourne, many CBD pharmacies are running out of protective face masks, which were already in huge demand due to the toxic haze from the state's bushfires that have blanketed the city in t recent weeks.

'I have been to nine pharmacies already, they're all out of them,' a Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology student originally from Shanghai told Reuters.

'And I need them, we all need them.'

The dangerous coronavirus has spread to 11 countries as the number of cases grows

Fourteen cities across the Hubei province in China are restricting the movement of people  by reducing or cancelling public transport and closing roads  to try and stop the virus spreading

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF THE CORONAVIRUS? Once someone has caught the virus it may take between two and 14 days for them to show any symptoms. If and when they do, typical signs include: a runny nose

a cough

sore throat

fever (high temperature) The vast majority of patients  at least 97 per cent, based on available data  will recover from these without any issues or medical help. In a small group of patients, who seem mainly to be the elderly or those with long-term illnesses, it can lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia is an infection in which the insides of the lungs swell up and fill with fluid. It makes it increasingly difficult to breathe and, if left untreated, can be fatal and suffocate people. Advertisement

However, health officials say the masks are not recommended.

'Face masks are not recommended for use by members of the public in Victoria for the prevention of infections like novel coronavirus,' the Victoria health department said in a statement.

Victoria Health Minister Jenny Mikakos told reporters on Saturday that the infected patient had been in Wuhan - the epicentre of the outbreak - for two weeks by himself.

'He was confirmed as positive after a series of tests early this morning,' Ms Mikakos said on Saturday.

Ms Mikakos said it was 'possible' the man wasn't contagious while on board as he didn't start showing symptoms until after arriving in Melbourne.

'We are now in the process of making contact with all the other passengers [on the flight],' she said.

'It is important to stress that there is no cause for alarm to the community.

In Queensland six people - including three from the Gold Coast - were being assessed for the virus, five of whom have now been given the all-clear.

Four others in Queensland were given an all-clear earlier in the week.

Three confirmed victims in NSW are now being treated in isolation in NSW hospitals

A passenger wearing a protective mask (pictured) is seen at Sydney Airport on Thursday, as a man in Melbourne is confirmed as the first Australian case of coronavirus

Did China pressure World Health Organisation not to declare international emergency? China's status as a major superpower may have influenced the World Health Organisation's decision not to declare coronavirus an international emergency, experts have warned. More than 1,300 people have been infected globally with the virus traced to a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife. Despite this, the WHO has failed to declare a global health crisis. On Thursday the organisation said it was 'too early' for such a decision but added an emergency could still be declared if the outbreak continues to spread. 'This should not be taken as a sign that we don't think the outbreak is serious, or that we are not taking it seriously,' said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 'Nothing could be further from the truth.' Now, baffled experts have warned that their decision may have been influenced by China. Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, told The Daily Telegraph: 'The criteria for declaring a public health emergency of international concern have been met.' But 'not all WHO decisions are made based on the developments in the biological world,' he added. Advertisement

A total of 18 people have been tested for the virus in NSW, with 12 of those given the all-clear.

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said two men with the virus in Sydney were not particularly unwell but were being kept in isolation at Sydney's Westmead Hospital.

Two travelled to Sydney from Wuhan and the third from China's southeastern Shenzhen.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant confirmed one man arrived in Australia on January 6, another arrived 13 days later and she was yet to confirm travel details for the third man.

'As far as I know, they were not on the same flight,' Dr Chant said.

'The risk of transmission is still very, very low. But we felt it was prudent to take this precautionary approach.'

They are two of six people being assessed in NSW, with two others cleared on Friday.

In Tasmania, a man in his 30s who travelled to Wuhan this month is being tested for the virus in Royal Hobart Hospital.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade overnight raised the level of travel advice for Wuhan and Hubei province to 'do not travel'.

The disease is listed as having 'pandemic potential', allowing border measures to be enhanced.

'The confirmation today by Victorian authorities of the coronavirus case was a matter that had been anticipated,' Mr Morrison said.

'The Australian government is of course taking this issue incredibly seriously.'

A pamphlet handed out by the Australian Government providing travellers with information on the deadly coronavirus (pictured)

Around a dozen cases being investigated nationwide, according to Queensland's Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young.

'It's an evolving number,' she told reporters on Saturday.

'We will be treating them as if they're confirmed cases, as a precaution.

'We still don't understand the transmissibility of this virus.

'If you develop fever, coughs or shortness of breath, you should ring ahead to your GP, discuss it and your GP will refer you to the emergency department.'

Australia's Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said it was important for people arriving from Wuhan - and those in close contact with them - to monitor for symptoms including fever, cough, sore throat, vomiting and difficulty breathing.

Experts are still learning about the virus.

'We don't know exactly how long symptoms take to show after a person has been infected but there is an incubation period and some patients will have very mild symptoms,' Prof Murphy said.

China has confirmed 41 deaths from the virus, while more than 1,000 people are now estimated to have been affected worldwide. Cases have been confirmed in 10 countries.

Patients with the novel coronavirus (pictured) typically have a fever, cough and trouble breathing, but some patients have developed pneumonia

Wuhan is a city of 11 million people which has been the epicentre of the outbreak. It is now treating dozens of patients (pictured)

'We're confident that outside the major epicentre of China there is not yet evidence of significant, or any, human to human spread,' Prof Murphy said.

Federal and state chief medical officers held joint discussions on Saturday with health ministers expected to do the same.

Prime Minister Morrison said the confirmation of a case in Australia had been anticipated and procedures are in place to manage the situation.

'I'd urge Australians to go about their day, go about their business in the knowledge that the professionals and the experts are there to provide the support that is needed in times like this are on the job and they're getting about it to keep you and your families safe,' he said.

The infected man in Melbourne has pneumonia and is in a stable condition, being treated in a negative pressure isolation room.

Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Angie Bone said the man felt tired after landing in Melbourne, before he started feeling ill later that day.

He then presented himself to a doctor on Thursday, four days after arriving in Australia.

'My understanding is he came off the plane and felt very tired and spent the next day resting in his room, towards the end of the day he developed symptoms,' Dr Bone said.

There is said to be little risk of him spreading the deadly virus in Melbourne, as he spent the last week with family and hasn't visited any public places since being in Australia.

'He stayed in his room as he was conscious he may have caught the disease, so his family didn't allow anyone in his room,' Dr Bone said.

Medical staff work in the intensive care unit at a hospital in Wuhan (pictured) have been working round the clock

'He has not been out and about, so I guess that minimises the risk to the broader community and he has taken all the appropriate precautions in terms of calling ahead to the GP clinic and to the hospital before he has presented on both of those occasions.

'So, he has done everything right. The family has done everything right to minimise the risk.

'There is a possibility the family may have caught the infection, we will be observing them very closely. It will help us understand how easy it is to transmit this virus.'

Dr Bone said the man wasn't a health care worker and may well have picked up the disease in a public setting.

France has confirmed two coronavirus cases, the first in Europe. Despite prevention measures such as sanitation being done in South Korea (pictured), the virus continues to spread globally

'There's no evidence of human to human transmission here [in Australia]. It will be very hard to be specific about where people catch it from,' she said.

Transportation in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, and at least 12 nearby cities has been shut down, effectively placing 36 million people into lockdown.

So far more than 1320 people have been infected in China while France has had three people test positive - the disease's first appearance in Europe.

Two cases, including a Chicago woman returning from China, have been confirmed in the United States.
Las Vegas killer Stephen Paddock was cheating on his longtime girlfriend Marilou Danley (pictured together) for years

The woman whom Las Vegas mass shooter Stephen Paddock cheated on his longtime girlfriend with has been warned by police in New Zealand for carrying a replica pistol in public.

'Kate', as the 29-year-old single mother is known, whipped out the real-looking pistol from her handbag when a reporter from the New Zealand Herald approached her outside a suburban shopping mall in Auckland.

'I have a permit to conceal and carry it with me,' she told the reporter when asked whether she was concerned for her safety, saying that she was 'prepared' to defend herself and her son from any threats.

The newspaper reported the incident to Auckland police, who rushed to Kate's home on Friday and seized the replica firearm, giving her a stern warning that it was illegal for her to carry it.

Kate, who has U.S. and Australian citizenship, revealed that she fled to New Zealand to hide after her former lover massacred 58 people in October 2017.

'I have been living here a while but I didn't want anyone to know,' she told the Herald. 'I still live with a lot of guilt knowing I could have potentially prevented it so as a result, I have a lot of people who want me dead for failing to do something.'

Kate said that she had no idea about Paddock's twisted plan to fire on the crowd at a country music festival from his sniper's nest in the Mandalay Bay Hotel, but that she wished she'd recognized signs of his mental deterioration sooner.

She previously told DailyMailTV how she met Paddock at a Miami bar in 2013, and how he grew increasingly erratic over the course of their sexual relationship - during which Paddock was also in a relationship with his long-time girlfriend Marilou Danley.

'I started hanging out with Stephen as we both had a passion for guns,' Kate told the Herald.

'We only hooked up enough times I could count on one hand,' she said.

'I turned into his therapist more than anything. Being called his 'mistress' is a stretch,' she continued.

'I think he saw hookers the way women see hairdressers, they kind of double up as therapists. I am not critical of hookers but there were always fights about that and texts of him being paranoid about what I was doing,' she said.

Kate says Paddock wasn't as 'rich' as he made out which may have led to his declining mental health.

'I think his finances contributed to his demise. He was frugal with money unless he was spending in Vegas and on hookers. That was his way to kind of indulge,' she said.

'His finances weren't great at the end. I come from a relatively well-off family so there was never any money exchanged. He never paid for anything. I was always the one who paid for lunch and dinner.'

The 64-year-old massacred Route 91 Harvest music festival revelers, seen running away from gunfire

Kate previously opened up to DailyMailTV about how she met Paddock, saying: 'My friend and I were at the hotel bar really drunk and we were buying everyone in the bar drinks.

'When I sat down in the bar Stephen was sitting next to me. We struck up a conversation. I've always been an avid hunter and have a collection of firearms, most I inherited from my grandfather.

'We shared a passion and I'm always way friendlier than I should be and it has gotten me into trouble several times.'

Kate described herself and Paddock as 'sloppy drunk' and said she invited him back to their hotel room where they ended up having sex.

She said that when he went to leave, Paddock offered her money and she was taken by surprise.

'I assumed it was for the drinks and then realized he thought we were hookers.

'I handed the money back and laughed it off.'

Paddock's mistress said he initially told her that he did not have a girlfriend and would tell her that he missed her and needed to see her. Pictured right is Paddock's girlfriend Marilou Danley

Paddock opened fire from his window at the Mandalay Bay Hotel (pictured) killing 58 people in October 2017

Prior to the massacre, Kate said Paddock began sending her increasingly paranoid and erratic text messages.

He last contacted her via text in the early hours of September 29, 2017, the woman told DailyMailTV.

Less than 48 hours later, he would rain terror down on the Las Vegas strip as he shot dead 58 people and left 850 injured from his 32nd-floor hotel suite at the Mandalay Bay Hotel.

With multiple rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition that Paddock calmly transported through the hotel using luggage carts, he opened fire on October 1, shortly after 10pm, on the crowd of 22,000 people below attending the Route 91 Harvest country music festival.

At 5:36am on September 29, Paddock texted his mistress. The cell phone number that the text messages came from has been independently verified by DailyMail.com using public records.

Paddock sent his mistress these chilling texts before the mass shooting which left 58 people dead in 2017. She tells DailyMailTV that she got freaked out by Paddock's increasingly erratic behavior when he tied her up during one kinky sex session

It is listed to an address he shared with his Filipino partner Marilou Danley in Mesquite, Nevada.

He wrote: 'I need to talk to you. Please. Call me when you get this. It'll be good to hear your voice. I need someone to talk to.'

At 5:57am, he then texted: 'Are you still in Las Vegas? I haven't been feeling that great and have been struggling a bit lately. It would be good to just hear your voice and hear how you are doing and potentially see each other. Even just for coffee. Please consider it.

Less than ten minutes later, Paddock wrote: 'Do you still have the same number? It was worth a try. I truly hope you are well, happy and life has been good for you. You're a good person and I do appreciate everything you have done for me. You have been more than a friend to me and I am sorry for anything I've done to hurt you. All the best.'

Concerned about him, Kate offered to travel to Las Vegas, but he told her not to bother.

The gunman, 64, regularly met the now-29-year-old single mother, who does not wish to be identified, for sex for four years. 'Looking back now knowing what I know the signs were there and I overlooked them and I feel absolutely horrific,' she said

In another message, he said: 'There are so many people who don't deserve to be alive.'

'There are so many people who don't deserve to be alive. Too many people are so concerned with themselves,' Paddock writes. 'You can be there for everyone but when you need someone there is nobody to be seen. I became a recluse for that reason. The best way to live life is with a wall between you and everyone else. So when they do hurt you, the sting isn't so bad.

In other messages he said: 'People in society have become evil, self loathing, selfish and entitled.

Paddock was killed after he opened fire on October 1, 2017

'The best way to go about it just disconnecting yourself from other humans.

'You will always end up being hurt and disappointed. People these days are evil.'

He added: 'I haven't been feeling that great and have been struggling a bit lately.'

The mistress - a single mom - said: 'He seemed angry and like he was in a trance. He just seemed out of it.

'He was talking about how the Government is evil and the human race is evil.'

She said the pair argued and she eventually stopped responding.

After hearing about the mass shooting at the country concert, she said it hadn't dawned on her that the culprit was her lover.

'I didn't even put two and two together when there was a shooting in Vegas,' she said.

'I feel horrible. Part of me wonders if the fight is what set him off.

She said her guilt led her to move overseas.

His mistress added: 'I've spent quite a while now feeling like the worst person in the world and having nightmares about what happened.

'I was his mistress for a few years.'
The death toll from a powerful earthquake in eastern Turkey rose to 29 as rescue workers raced against time Saturday to find survivors under the rubble. The magnitude 6.8 quake struck on Friday evening, with its epicentre in the small lakeside town of Sivrice in Elazig province, and was felt across neighbouring countries. The Turkish government's disaster and emergency management agency (AFAD) said 29 died in Elazig and in nearby Malatya while nearly 1,500 had been injured. The update came as a quake with a 5.1 magnitude hit Sivrice later Saturday. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cancelled a speech in Istanbul and attended the funeral of a woman and her son in Elazig. He later visited Malatya. He vowed the state would do "everything we can" to help those affected in a disaster he described as a "test". AFAD said 43 people had been rescued alive from collapsed buildings in Elazig. An estimated 19 others remained trapped in the rubble. Turkish news channels showed live images of people rescued. Among those pulled out alive was a woman called Azize who had contacted emergency authorities and spoken to a rescue worker by telephone, state news agency Anadolu reported. - Freezing temperatures - Almost 24 hours after the quake, officials then rescued a woman and her two-year-old child in her arms alive, CNN Turk broadcaster reported. Over 3,500 search and rescue personnel were working in the region while tens of thousands of beds, blankets and tents have been provided, the presidency said. The rescue efforts have been taking place in freezing temperatures as wood and plastic were burned to keep crowds warm. Hundreds of people anxiously waited on the other side of police barriers including a man who gave his name as Mustafa. "I have three relatives in that building: one man, his wife and her mother," the 40-year-old told AFP. "I was home during the earthquake. It lasted for so long, it was like a nightmare. I froze in the living room when it happened, my wife and our two children were screaming and running around," he said. He added that some neighbours jumped out of the windows in panic as families including his were forced to spend Friday night on the streets. Rescuers cleared the rubble one bucket at a time surrounded by broken wooden beams and concrete. - 'Screaming in terror' - Sivrice -- a town with a population of about 4,000 -- is situated south of Elazig city on the shores of Hazar lake -- one of the most popular tourist spots in the region and the source of the Tigris river. The lake is home to a "Sunken City", with archaeological traces dating back 4,000 years in its waters. Among the 1,466 people injured were residents in other southeast provinces including Diyarbakir and Sanliurfa. Tensions were high as one resident accused the government of lying. "They (the government) claim that only four people are trapped under the rubble. It is not true. I have five relatives in that building," Suat, a 45-year-old butcher, said. "There are four floors and three flats per floor. If there were five people per flat, do the math. Why are they lying?" Suat described the moment when the quake struck as he was at home in another neighbourhood and his children "were screaming in terror". The Ankara public prosecutor's office said it had begun an investigation into "provocative" social media posts but did not give further details. Erdogan also told citizens to "ignore gossip and negative propaganda". - Tremor felt elsewhere - The tremor was felt in several parts of eastern Turkey near the Iraqi and Syrian borders as well as in Iran, Lebanon and Syria. Officials said 72 buildings had collapsed while 514 were badly damaged and 409 had limited damage in the affected region. The US Geological Survey assessed the magnitude as 6.7, slightly lower than AFAD, adding that it struck near the East Anatolian Fault in an area that has suffered no documented large ruptures since an earthquake in 1875. There have been 462 aftershocks including 14 that were above four in magnitude, AFAD said. In 1999, a devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Izmit in western Turkey, leaving more than 17,000 people dead including about 1,000 in Istanbul. Experts have long warned a large quake could devastate the city of 15 million people, which has allowed widespread building without safety precautions. Such fears were acutely awakened in September last year when a 5.7-magnitude earthquake shook Istanbul, causing residents to flee buildings in the economic capital. Nearly 2,000 search and rescue personnel were sent to the region while thousands of beds, blankets and tents have been provided There have been nearly 400 aftershocks following Friday's quake including 12 that were above four in magnitude The rescue efforts have been taking place in freezing temperatures as wood and plastic were burned to keep crowds warm The interior minister said 39 people have been rescued alive from collapsed buildings in Elazig province Map locating the earthquake that hit eastern Turkey
Its already been a big year for Jeopardy!, with the long-running game show earning big ratings for its Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time tournament, which aired in primetime on ABC, and won Seattles Ken Jennings the GOAT title. The syndicated version is still chugging along, and on Friday, Jan. 24, another player from Oregon will be trying to score a victory by putting her answers in the form of a question.

Heather Nelson, a math teacher at Lake Oswego Junior High School, is among the three players who will compete on the Jan. 24 episode. As Nelson told KATU, the Portland ABC affiliate that airs the syndicated Jeopardy! show, she had been auditioning for Jeopardy! since 2007.

Nelson told KATU that shes having a watch party at her home on Friday, and added that there was only one math question, but its one that she got right.

On the Friday episode, Nelsons fellow players will be returning champion John Cuevas, from San Marcos, California, who has, in the previous two days, won $52,511; and Ashwin Monian, from Hatfield, Pennsylvania.

Jeopardy! airs at 7 p.m. on KATU, following the 6 p.m. news.

More of our coverage:

-- Kristi Turnquist

kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
We've lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So we'll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in EMIS Group plc (LON:EMIS).

What Is Insider Buying?

It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.

Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. As Peter Lynch said, 'insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise.

See our latest analysis for EMIS Group

EMIS Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when CEO & Executive Director Andrew Thorburn bought UK60k worth of shares at a price of UK12.07 per share. That means that even when the share price was higher than UK11.72 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. Generally speaking, it catches our eye when insiders have purchased shares at above current prices, as it suggests they believed the shares were worth buying, even at a higher price.

In the last twelve months EMIS Group insiders were buying shares, but not selling. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

AIM:EMIS Recent Insider Trading, January 25th 2020

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Story continues

Does EMIS Group Boast High Insider Ownership?

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Based on our data, EMIS Group insiders have about 0.1% of the stock, worth approximately UK793k. We consider this fairly low insider ownership.

So What Do The EMIS Group Insider Transactions Indicate?

There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. While we have no worries about the insider transactions, we'd be more comfortable if they owned more EMIS Group stock. Therefore, you should should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for EMIS Group.

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.
An Iranian student headed to university in Boston was deported at airport earlier this week.

Iran has condemned the illegal and inhuman treatment of its nationals by US border security officers after reports emerged of a student being deported despite having a valid visa.

Tensions have soared between Tehran and Washington since a US drone strike killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad on January 3.

An Iranian student was headed to a university in Boston but his visa was cancelled at the airport and he was deported by immigration officials.

Boston-based lawyer Kerry Doyle, who took on the case along with lawyers from two other private firms and the ACLU, said Abadi shared immigration paperwork electronically that showed he had been denied entry due to a concern that he would remain in the United States beyond the scope of his student visa.

Such absolutely discriminatory measures that only happen over peoples race, nationality or religion are against international human rights laws and principles, Irans foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.

These individuals were questioned by Americas border security over their political views and beliefs, and their social media accounts were forcefully entered, he said in a statement.

Five days after the killing of Soleimani, Iran retaliated by launching a wave of missiles at US troops stationed in Iraq.

Tehran was still on high alert hours later when its air defences mistakenly shot down a Ukraine International Airlines passenger jet, killing all 176 people on board.

These actions against Iranians are in line with the American regimes hostile and hateful policy against Iran  now manifested in harassing Iranians at Americas borders, Mousavi said.

The spokesman warned the US could face action through human rights bodies, without elaborating.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts said at least 10 Iranian students had been denied entry at US airports since August 2019, with seven of those denials occurring at Logan International Airport.
Boris Johnson reiterated the need for the US suspect in the Harry Dunn case to return to the UK during a phone call with Donald Trump, No 10 has said.

The Prime Minister spoke of needing to secure justice for the 19-year-olds family after the US rejected an extradition request for American suspect Anne Sacoolas on Thursday.

Harry died when his motorbike crashed into a car outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August last year.

Expand Close The two leaders discussed Harrys case on Friday (Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp The two leaders discussed Harrys case on Friday (Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

A Downing Street spokeswoman said that Mr Johnson raised the topic during a phone call with the US President on Friday.

The Prime Minister raised the tragic case of Harry Dunn, and the need to secure justice for Harrys family, a Downing Street spokeswoman said.

He reiterated the need for the individual involved to return to the UK.

Mrs Sacoolas, 42, claimed diplomatic immunity following the crash and was able to return to her home country, sparking an international controversy.

She was charged with causing Harrys death by dangerous driving by the Crown Prosecution Service in December.

Expand Close Ms Leadsom with Harrys mother Charlotte Charles (Jacob King/PA Wire) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Ms Leadsom with Harrys mother Charlotte Charles (Jacob King/PA Wire)

A petition on change.org called Justice for Harry Dunn  Extradite Anne Sacoolas, which is urging US authorities to extradite the suspect, reached 100,000 signatures on Saturday evening.

Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom met Harrys family on Friday, the day after she had informed them of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeos decision to refuse the request.

Ms Leadsom held talks with US ambassador Woody Johnson, the commander of RAF Croughton Colonel Bridget McNamara and the Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police.

The familys constituency MP, Mrs Leadsom said she had expressed her disappointment on their behalf during the discussion with the US ambassador.

Expand Close Harrys mother Charlotte Charles, stepfather Bruce Charles, family spokesman Radd Seiger and father Tim Dunn (David Mirzoeff/PA Wire) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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She told reporters that the Prime Minister is very much on the side of the family in their desire to see justice done, adding: All of us in Government are working to that end.

A spokesman for the US State Department said the request was rejected because it would render the invocation of diplomatic immunity a practical nullity and set an extraordinarily troubling precedent.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the move amounts to a denial of justice as he expressed the Governments disappointment at the decision.

It is understood that Mr Raab will meet with Mr Pompeo next week, where the pair are likely to discuss the case.

The Foreign Office maintains the suspect had diplomatic immunity, which has been disputed by the family, but Mr Raab said he would look to resolve the issue surrounding any immunity given to staff at the RAF Croughton base.
A controversy erupted on Saturday over a Cochin Devaswom Board letter to the city police Commissioner, seeking to deploy policemen from the Hindu community to manage crowds and vehicles for a temple festival here.

Authorities of the Shiva-Subrahmanya Swamy temple, managed by the Board, later withdrew the letter following opposition from the Police Association, which said policemen should not be deployed for festival duties on the basis of their religion.

TheDevaswom Assistance Commissioner sent the letteron January 21, seeking policemen from the community for the February8 'Thaipooyam' festival duty at the temple.

The Ernakulam District Police Association urged the city police Commissioner not to deploy police for the festival duty on the basis of religion.

The state committee submitted a memorandum to Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran, saying the religion of policemen should not be the criteria for deploying them for festival duties.

Following the protests, the temple authorities withdrew the controversial letter and submitted a fresh one.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
RIDLEY TOWNSHIP  The commissioners honored two township residents at their January meeting who have given much to many.

The honorees were Matt Tyson and Merrit V. Herr-Neckar, each of whom received resolutions from commissioners Tom Donahue and Steve Bidoli,

respectively.

Tyson, 24, began an annual Christmas toy drive for the young patients at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia 13 years ago called Matts Toy Drive. He

was inspired to begin this undertaking when he recalled the nearly year long stay at CHOP where he underwent a liver transplant when he was 11 years

old. Over the last 13 years Matt has collected more than 20,000 toys and about $10,000 in gift cards to be delivered to patients ranging in age from infants to 19 years of age. Along the way the toy drive has attracted scores of volunteers to help with the storing, packing and delivery of the gifts to the hospital.

Matts family has been involved with the project from the beginning.

The resolution reads: Now therefore be it resolved, that the Board of Commissioners of the Township of Ridley hereby acknowledge and salute Matt

Tyson for organizing such a worthwhile cause and also his family and supporters for their thoughtfulness and generosity in continuing to donate annually to Matts Toy Drive.

Thanks for shinning a positive light on Ridley Township, commissioners President Bob Willert told Tyson.

Herr-Neckar retired as an EMT at the end of 2019 after more than 50 years with various fire and EMT organizations throughout Delaware County. He

has been certified as an EMT, paramedic, firefighter, fire police and most recently, chaplain.

Whereas, our community is appreciative of Merrits lifetime of public service and commitment as he faithfully served in these selfless and distinguished

professions for 50 years, the resolution states.

You are a great role model for the young people who are EMTs, Willert said to Herr-Neckar. Where ever I went in Ridley Township, you were

there.

Willert said the two honorees bring honor to the township.

The resolutions will be recorded in the official minutes of the township and copies were presented to each honoree.
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology and Gothenburg University in Sweden have achieved something long thought almost impossible -- counting the molecules of the neurotransmitter glutamate released when a signal is transferred between two brain cells. With a new analysis method, they showed that the brain regulates its signals using glutamate in more ways than previously realised.

The ability to measure the activity and quantity of glutamate in brain cells has been long sought-after among researchers. Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain. Despite its abundance, and its influence on many important functions, we know a lot less about it than other neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, because so far glutamate has been difficult to measure quickly enough.

The new findings around glutamate are therefore very significant and could help improve our understanding of the pathologies underlying neurological and psychiatric diseases and conditions. The relationship between glutamate and these disorders, as well as our memory, our appetite and more, are just some of the questions which the researchers' newly discovered technology could help answer.

"When we started, everybody said 'this will never work'. But we didn't give in. Now we have a beautiful example of how multi-disciplinary basic science can yield major breakthroughs, and deliver real benefit," says Ann-Sofie Cans, Associate Professor in Chemistry at Chalmers and leader of the research group.

The key was to do the opposite of what had been previously attempted. Instead of using a biosensor made from thick layers, they used an ultrathin layer of the enzyme needed for biological identification. The researchers made it so that the enzyme, which was placed on a nano-structured sensor surface, was just a molecule thick. This made the sensor technology a thousand times faster than previous attempts.

The technique was therefore fast enough to measure the release of glutamate from a single synaptic vesicle -- the small liquid vessel which releases neurotransmitters to the synapse between two nerve cells. This is a process that occurs in less than a thousandth of a second.

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"When we saw the benefits of improving the sensor technology in terms of time, instead of concentration, then we got it to work" says Ann-Sofie Cans.

The research was carried out in two steps. In the first, the breakthrough was being able to measure glutamate. That study was published early in Spring 2019 in the scientific journal ASC Chemical Neuroscience. In the second part, which the current publication addresses, Ann-Sofie Cans and her research group made further important adjustments and ground-breaking discoveries.

"Once we had built the sensor, we could then refine it further. Now, with the help of this technology we have also developed a new method to quantify these small amounts of glutamate," she explains.

Along the way the group had many interesting surprises. For example, the quantity of glutamate in a synaptic vesicle has been revealed to be much greater than previously believed. It is comparable in quantity to serotonin and dopamine, a finding which came as an exciting surprise.

"Our study changes the current understanding of glutamate. For example, it seems that transport and storage of glutamate in synaptic vesicles is not as different as we thought, when compared with other neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine," says Ann-Sofie Cans.

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The researchers also showed that nerve cells control the strength of their chemical signals by regulating the quantity of glutamate released from single synaptic vesicles.

The fact that researchers can now measure and quantify this neurotransmitter can yield new tools for pharmacological studies in many vital areas in neuroscience.

"The level of measurement offered by this ultra-fast glutamate sensor opens up countless possibilities to truly understand the function of glutamate in health and disease. Our knowledge of the brain function, and dysfunction, is limited by the experimental tools we have, and this new ultra-fast tool will allow us to examine neuronal communication at a level we did not have access to before," says Karolina Patrycja Skibicka, Associate Professor in Neuroscience and Physiology at Gothenburg University.

"The new finding, that glutamate-based communication is regulated by the quantity of glutamate released from synaptic vesicles, begs the question of what happens to this regulation in brain diseases thought to be linked to glutamate, for example epilepsy."

More information on glutamate and glutamic acid:

Glutamate, or glutamic acid, is found in proteins in food. It occurs naturally in meat, in almost all vegetables, and in wheat and soy. It is also used as a food additive to enhance flavours, for example in the form of MSG, or monosodium glutamate.

Glutamate is an amino acid, and an important part of our body. It is also a neurotransmitter which nerve cells use to communicate, and forms the basis for some of the brain's basic functions such as cognition, memory and learning. It is also important for the immune system, the function of the gastrointestinal tract, and to prevent microorganisms from entering the body.

Source: Swedish Food Agency and Chalmers University of Technology
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 17:15:53|Editor: huaxia

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Rat has become a popular theme in China's "porcelain capital" as the country celebrates the Year of the Rat. The zodiac animal has not only made the procelain products more interesting, but also generated big business opportunities for artists in Jingdezhen, in east China's Jiangxi Province.



While senior artists set the trend to create rat-theme porcelain products, young people are displaying a sense of innovation by combining the rat images with popular culture.

NANCHANG, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- In his 100-square-meter workshop, Liu Yuanchang carefully creates the ears of a porcelain rat on a half-meter-high porcelain clay figurine. Beside him are dozens of clay modes waiting to be glazed.



Liu, 81, is a renowned porcelain sculptor in the city of Jingdezhen, east China's Jiangxi Province. He is putting the final touches on one of his rat porcelain products in honor of the Year of the Rat on the Chinese lunar calendar.



In 1997, the Year of the Ox, Liu made his first batch of porcelain products themed on a zodiac animal-- 100 porcelain oxen. He quickly sold out of the figurines.

"This the second time I have made zodiac animal-themed porcelain figures for the Year of the Rat," Liu said.

Porcelain-making artist Liu Yuanchang creates a porcelain work in the shape of the rat in Jingdezhen, east China's Jiangxi Province, Jan. 7, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhou Mi)

He has made many variations of the rat figurines. Some look cunning with lean faces and some look innocent with chubby faces. He said that people generally prefer cheerful rats because they believe they bring positive energy and good luck.

Chinese porcelain products themed on zodiac animals have been extremely popular with customers for years. "The Chinese zodiac is an important part of the Chinese culture," Liu said.

As a master in Chinese arts and crafts with a high reputation, Liu's zodiac animal-themed porcelain items have caused a craze among collectors. Prices continue to rise year after year. After five years, one of his works can easily rake in 10,000 yuan (about 1,400 U.S. dollars), 10 times its original price of 1,000 yuan.

GAINING POPULARITY

In Jingdezhen, Liu is not the first artist to make zodiac animal-themed porcelain. Zhou Guozhen, 89, was creating such kind of porcelain before Liu. Zhou set the trend of making zodiac animal porcelain in the city in 1996 when he made the first porcelain products themed on the Year of the Rat. Before that, artists in Jingdezhen mostly made Buddha-themed products.

Last year, Zhou made 999 porcelain pigs. This year, collectors have asked him to make 3,000 porcelain rats. Zhou has had to hire several assistants to help with the work.

"The growing popularity of zodiac animal-themed porcelain has brought business opportunities to the industry in Jingdezhen," Zhou said.

Porcelain-making artist Zhou Guozhen looks at his porcelain work in the shape of the rat in Jingdezhen, east China's Jiangxi Province, Jan. 8, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhou Mi)

He recalled that in 2010, the Year of the Tiger, porcelain tigers were in such high demand that thousands of gas kilns in Jingdezhen were working simultaneously to make the porcelain products every day.

"People regard the tiger as an auspicious animal to ward off evil things," he said.

Although "Shu," the Chinese character for a rat, is generally used to convey derogatory meanings in Chinese idioms, the image of the rat carries positive connotations in the Chinese zodiac culture.

"Rats are regarded as the embodiment of the god of wealth since rats will only appear in your home when you have an abundance of food," Zhou said. In the story of the Chinese zodiac, the rat wins the zodiac animal ranking by virtue of his wisdom and diligence, which also reflects the Chinese philosophy that people can fix their innate weaknesses by combining wisdom with diligence, he said.

Over the past few years, Zhou has spread the Chinese zodiac culture and porcelain culture abroad. One of his porcelain works, a porcelain goat, was on display at the British Museum. He made a porcelain monkey as a birthday present for the then UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, who was born in the Year of the Monkey and received a letter of thanks from him.

CREATIVE YOUNG ARTISTS

These days, more young artists are following in the footsteps of Zhou and Liu by creating Chinese zodiac animal porcelain and combining it with popular culture.

In Jingdezhen's Sanbao porcelain district, rats have stolen the spotlight in hundreds of workshops. Wu Anran, 34, sits in a pile of orange packing boxes and intently wraps porcelain rat coffee mugs and saucers. The products feature various rats throughout the four seasons. She said she wants the users to "feel like they are in a fairy tale while drinking coffee."

Porcelain designer Wu Anran checks her porcelain products themed on the Chinese Year of the Rat in Jingdezhen, east China's Jiangxi Province, Jan. 8, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhou Mi)

Wu has already sold 3,000 sets of coffee mugs and saucers, with each set costing 199 yuan. Many companies bought them as gifts for their employees and customers for the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year.

It was impossible for Wu and her team to produce thousands of coffee cups in just one month. Today, relying on the advanced industrial production line from a local company, she can fill orders effortlessly. The company has worked with more than 200 young artists like Wu.

"I can just focus on designing the products, and they will take care of everything else," Wu said.

In addition to the coffee cups, Wu created some porcelain rats for table decorations. Unlike the traditional rat porcelain created by her seniors, her rat products are more human-like. For example, one of her works features a rat raising its outstretched hands to its ears as if to say, "Whatever!" Wu believes her creations "have their own attitudes and personalities and could be favored by young people."

Feng Qing scans a porcelain work in the shape of the rat to modify the design in Jingdezhen, east China's Jiangxi Province, Jan. 9, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhou Mi)

In Jingdezhen, young people can boldly try all their creative ideas at a small cost. Feng Qing, 31, is helping more young people turn their wild ideas into reality. At his sampling center, a batch of porcelain rats was being removed from the molds. A designer provided an idea, and Zhao's team did the rest.

"We help many artists turn their ideas into data and send it to the factory," Feng said. "I see that the little rats have turned into different creative products, and such innovation truly gives a lot of hope for the future of Jingdezhen."

(Reporting by Wu Zhonghao, Zhang Zhaoqing, Guo Jiewen, Zhong Qun, Zhou Mi; Video reporters: Wu Zhonghao, Zhang Zhaoqing, Guo Jiewen; Video editor: Zheng Xin)
Plans for a 15m commuter and tourist ferry network in Cork Harbour, which will create up to 70 jobs, are to be lodged with local authorities shortly.

A group of private investors are aiming to have the tourist ferry service operational by next year and the commuter service up and running in 2022.

The new service will serve communities all along the harbour shores, including Crosshaven, Aghada, Cobh, Monkstown, Passage West, and on up to Blackrock, the new Docklands, and onto the city quays.

There are even plans to have a docking location at the rear of Pairc Ui Chaoimh, to bring passengers to and from sporting and concert events.

Adian Coffey, who leads the investors, Harbour Cat Ferries, said they intend to build pontoons in those areas to serve passengers and to purchase four 35m-long Catamarans, Enviro-Cat 35s, which will bring people around the harbour.

He said it was their intention to purchase two for the tourist business and two to operate the commuter routes.

The Enviro-Cat 35s were developed in Australia for operation in environmentally sensitive areas. They are slim, of double-hull designed, with water jet propulsion to give a smooth ride, with very low wake or disturbance to the river and harbour bed, Mr Coffery said.

The new ferries will each have capacity for 350 passengers and Mr Coffey said the commuter service will help reduce the number of cars on Cork roads on a daily basis.

He said the ferries have a top speed of 25 knots and would be able to bring commuters from Crosshaven and Aghada into the city centre within 45 minutes. Cobh would be just 25 minutes away.

The vessels, which are accessible for people with disabilities, will have toilets and a kiosk onboard serving refreshments. There will also provide space for bicycles, and pets will be allowed onboard.

The jobs being created will be for master skippers, deckhands and onshore services.

Mr Coffey said the company has had discussions with Spike Island and Blackrock Castle about increasing visitor numbers to both.

The company has had discussions with Spike Island and Blackrock Castle about increasing visitor numbers to both attractions.

While a ferry service operates to Spike Island from Cobh, Mr Coffey said he envisaged picking up tourists in the city and taking them to the island.

The Harbour Cat Ferries plan was initially lodged in 2007 and full planning permission was granted for the commuter service for eight docking locations.

However, the plans were put on hold when the recession hit.

The timespan on planning permission has now lapsed and the investors have to reapply for it.

Mr Coffey said the upsurge in the economy and expected growth in population in the area, allied to ever-increasing cruise liner visits, now made the project viable again.

He pointed out that the recently-published National Planning Framework 2040 envisages that Cork will become the fastest-growing city region in Ireland with projected 50% to 60% population growth in the next 20 years.

Extensive discussions have also been had with Port of Cork management, along with Cork City Council and Cork County Council management, all of whom are very supportive of the concept, Mr Coffey said.
A 76-year-old Manhattan woman who fell seven stories from an Upper East Side building on Friday was saved by landing on crates full of vegetables including carrots, onions, pears, and limes.

Barbara Heller, who recently had back surgery and had trouble walking, was in her apartment with a friend at around noon when she decided to walk toward the window because she was getting hot.

Police said she accidentally fell from her apartment window and landed on crates of produce that workers were unloading on the sidewalk below, according to the New York Daily News.

She was rushed to a hospital with a broken pelvis, a broken rib, a pierced lung, and some bruises, according to her ex-husband, Charles Heller.

Barbara Heller, 76, was miraculously saved by crates full of fruits and vegetables which broke her fall on a Manhattan sidewalk on Friday

She hadnt been feeling well and she was having trouble breathing, said the friend, Kelli Blue.

Heller suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

She wanted to get some air so I opened the window for her about a foot.

She opened it the rest of the way and was leaning out.

I heard this loud crash, but you hear a lot of crashes on First Ave.

Im nosy, so I ran out onto the terrace and it didnt even occur to me it was her.

When I looked down I thought she was dead and I was freaking out. I just ran down there.

Charles Heller told the Daily News that his ex-wife landed on a plastic storage bin that jutted out from a first-floor ledge.

She then dropped onto the boxes of produce, according to Heller.

Its quite amazing, Charles Heller said.

Its amazing to not only survive but to not have a head injury.

A supermarket worker who was hauling cases of food said he witnessed Heller fall to the sidewalk.

Heller accidentally fell out of the seventh floor window of her apartment building on New York's Upper East Side at around noon on Friday

She fell and hit the plastic storage container on the first floor and then rolled off and fell onto the pallet, Dante McFarlane, 22, said.

McFarlane is an employee of the Morton Williams supermarket on the ground floor at First Avenue and East 81st Street in Manhattan.

He said Heller landed on carrots, apples, pears, limes, and onions.

McFarlane said that pedestrians immediately came to her aid.

She was on her side, making noise, he said.

She knew her name. She was bleeding from one of her feet.

Barbara Heller underwent spinal fusion surgery in October, according to Blue.

Blue said she was helping her friend get to and from appointments and taking care of her dogs.

Barbara Heller has lived in the building since 1964, according to the Daily News.

She retired after working at Hunter College.

Heller was also a burlesque performer from New Orleans, according to Blue.
By Express News Service

LUCKNOW: With an intent to make policing smarter and effective, Yogi Adityanath government on Friday evening decided to segregate the system into two units  crime and investigation as one unit and law & order as the other.

By making a decision to this effect, the state government has conceded a two-decade-old demand of the police department. With crime and investigation being separated from routine policing, the cases are expected to be cracked and solved with increased pace and alacrity. One of the largest single police forces in the world, UP has over 2.5 lakh cops taking care of 75 districts. It has 33 armed battalions and other specialised wings/branches.

As per the latest decision, an investigation unit will be set up in each police commissionerate (so far two) and district police stations. This unit will be headed by an inspector crime appointed in each police station. This unit will be given a target to crack at least 40 cases in a year. The in-charge of crime and investigation unit will be appointed for a minimum period of two years.

This investigation unit will handle cases related to financial fraud worth over Rs 50 lakh, cases pertaining to counterfeit currency and those registered under IT Act. It will be handling cases falling under the ambit of Sections 406, 407, 408, 409, 420, 424, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 472 of Indian Penal Code. It will also handle the cases under POCSO Act, sedition, NDPC Act, organised liquor and weapon smuggling.

On the other, to bring about an image makeover of the police force, a lookout has been launched for a consultant who can help give it a more professional and corporate touch to police functioning while dealing with public.

The move is already afoot and Expression of Interest (EOI) has been invited by Integrated Technology Enabled Citizen-Centric Services (ITECCS) of UP police for association with a knowledge partner as part of Uttar Pradesh police change management programme.

As per the sources, the process to shortlist the most promising prospective partners from over 20 applications received from India and abroad is already on. The scrutiny and the presentations could take around 10 days after which the responsibility would be accorded.
The Election Commission on Saturday imposed a 48-hour campaigning ban on Kapil Mishra, the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) candidate for Delhis Model Town constituency for the February 8 elections in Delhis assembly elections, PTI reported.

The ban comes on the heels of the poll panel ordering Delhi Police to file a case against Mishra after his controversial India vs Pak tweets which the Election Commission concluded appeal to communal feelings.

Mishra sparked a massive row Thursday with a string of tweets that compared the February 8 election to an India vs Pakistan clash. In his other tweets and public statements that followed, Kapil Mishra had claimed that mini-Pakistans were being created in Delhi and alleged that Pakistani rioters are occupying the roads.

Watch | EC orders 48-hour campaign ban on BJPs Kapil Mishra for India vs Pak remark

On Friday, the Election Commission told the police to register the case under Section 123 of the Representation of Peoples Act that governs the conduct of elections. Section 123 of this law relates to corrupt practices in elections and bars people from promoting hatred between communities to affect the election.

Mishra, who was earlier with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and was a minister in the Arvind Kejriwal government before falling out bitterly with the party, had crossed over to the BJP last year.

The Model Town returning officer had sent him a show-cause notice for his tweets Thursday evening and asked Twitter to take down his tweet.

In his explanation, Mishra said that Pakistans proxies were likely to be present at Shaheen Bagh protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Delhi and that he was only responding to AAPs Manish Sisodia.

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Sobs of relief swept through a Dauphin County courtroom Friday afternoon when a boater escaped a prison sentence for a crash at Harrisburgs Dock Street dam that killed his fiancee and 3-year-old daughter.

District Attorney Fran Chardo sought a jail term for 26-year-old Cody Binkley of Robesonia, but Judge Scott A. Evans instead imposed a 3-year probation sentence and $100 in fines.

Evans made his ruling after the mother, grandmother, aunt and older sister of victims Mary Bredbenner, 25, and Madelyn Binkley, 3, begged him to show mercy to Binkley.

What happened was a terrible accident, said Michelle Bredbenner, Marys mom and Madelyns grandmother. We lost two lives and I see no need to ruin Codys life.

The tragedy that prompted Fridays court hearing occurred on the night of May 7, 2018, when the open boat piloted by Binkley struck the low-head dam that has drowned numerous people over the last few decades.

The boat capsized. Only Binkley was able to escape the dams suction. The family dog drowned as well.

Criminal charges were filed against Binkley nearly four months later. He pleaded guilty to several counts, including involuntary manslaughter, in November.

Chardo, who cited Binkleys admission that he had smoked marijuana on the day of the accident, requested an unspecified county prison term. He argued that Binkley was criminally negligent in taking a night trip on a stretch of the Susquehanna River with which he was not familiar.

It would be reckless for any novice boater to go out on that river in darkness, Chardo said. He said that, judging from video of the crash, that it appears Binkley inexplicably turned to ram the dam, causing the boat to flip.

It was my perception that escape was possible had Binkley taken other measures to get away from the dam, the prosecutor said.

Evans said another explanation is that Binkley panicked when the boat was caught in the dams suction.

Defense attorney Michael Palermo lobbied hard for probation.

Palermo cited the known dangers of the Dock Street dam. He noted that, just last week, the state House passed a bill making it a crime to not post warning signs and buoys to alert boaters about low-head dams. Such measures were taken at the Dock Street dam after the May 2018 fatalities.

I truly believe if there had been signs or buoys there this accident would have been prevented, Michelle Bredbenner told the judge after Palermo called her on Binkleys behalf. Cody is not to blame. He almost drowned, too.

Bredbenners daughter, Kammi, felt the same. She said her younger sister Mary wouldnt want Binkley to go to prison. In my personal opinion, no punishment is worse that the loss of his family, Kammi Bredbenner said. He doesnt deserve to be punished further.  Im not mad at Cody.

Binkley is still punishing himself, Palermo said. Even the thought of putting Cody Binkley in a prison would serve no purpose of justice, he said. He suffers every day.

Cody Binkley Sean Simmers | ssimmers@pennlive.com/2018PENNLIVE.COM

Binkley sobbed as he spoke to the judge. He insisted he didnt know the dam was there, that he couldnt see it in the darkness and didnt realize he was sailing his family into peril.

I couldnt have done anything else to get away, Binkley said.

This a case that Ive struggled with greatly, Evans said as he prepared to pass sentence. Its clear this (crash) was not intentional. I think everybody gets that.

He, too, mentioned the Dock Street dams lethal history. And he said hes never seen agony to match what he saw on Binkleys face during the hearing.

Binkley shook with sobs after Evans announced his punishment. Relatives who packed the courtroom burst into tears and hugged one another.
The Odisha government on Friday dissolved the governing bodies of all non-government degree colleges that are getting grants from the higher education department in a bid to free the educational institutes from the influence of politicians.

The higher education department announced in a notification that the governing bodies or managing committees of all non-government aided degree colleges have been dissolved except autonomous colleges and colleges established by minority communities.

The additional district magistrate or the sub-collectors of the districts concerned will now act as the presidents of these governing bodies.

Odishas higher education minister Arun Sahoo said the state government will appoint educationists or academicians as the presidents of these governing bodies to oversee their day-to-day academic activities.

We have decided not to keep local MLAs (members of legislative assembly) in government bodies as they are too busy and they may not be able to give time to colleges, he said.

Interference

The move to dissolve these bodies came following allegations that local MLAs used to recommend transfers and postings of lecturers in such colleges. They allegedly ran the colleges like their fiefdoms appointing and sacking teachers at their whim.

Officials in the states higher education department said the move was a part of suggestions from the World Bank that is funding a project named Odisha Higher Education Program for Excellence and Equity.

The higher education system in Odisha faces several challenges.

Odishas per capita expenditure on higher education for the population aged between 18 and 23 years is Rs 2700 compared to the national average of Rs 3865.

The state spends about 0.5% of its GSDP on higher education which is grossly inadequate to support the expanding the higher education system in the state.

Also, the general enrolment ratio is 17.5% compared to the national average of 23.6%.

Educationist Pritish Acharya welcomed the move, saying such an order would stem the rot in the colleges.

The colleges need to be run by educationists and not politicians. The standard of education in our colleges have gone down over the last two decades, said Acharya.

However, state labour minister Sushant Singh said a politician may not necessarily be the president, but they should be in the governing bodies to supervise the developmental activities of the colleges.

Former finance minister and Congress leader Panchanan Kanungo also questioned the move asking how the government officials would find time from their busy schedule to look after the college management.

This order is basically to deny any autonomy to the colleges. Do we have so many educationists available in all the villages and towns to head such governing bodies, he asked.

The process of politicians heading governing bodies of colleges in Odisha started in the 70s when new colleges sprung up with political patronage.

Over a period, these colleges started getting government aid for the payment of teachers salary as well as the management of the college.
Reluctance among Indian traders to ship premium basmati rice to Iran as US sanctions hobble its ability to pay has contributed to a sharp drop in overall exports from the world's biggest supplier of the grain, trade and government sources said. Rice shipments from India slipped by more than a quarter to 5.5 million tonnes between April and November 2019 - the first eight months of the fiscal year - from 7.5 million tonnes in the year-ago period, the sources said. In terms of value, exports dropped 19% to $3.8 billion from $4.7 billion.

The grain is India's biggest foreign exchange earning farm commodity, with shipments worth $7.75 billion in the 2018/19 fiscal year.

Basmati rice exports to Iran, New Delhi's top buyer of the aromatic grain, dropped to 600,000 tonnes in the eight months from 900,000 tonnes a year earlier, but traders, worried about delayed payments, have not signed any new contracts with Tehran in the past five days, the sources said. Shipments are not expected to significantly pick up, with buyers in Iran owing a record $281.41 million to India as US-imposed sanctions make it hard to pay for imported commodities, they added.

"We are in a precarious situation," Nathi Ram Gupta, president of the All India Rice Exporters Association, told Reuters. "We have urged the Indian government to step in to ensure that our dues are cleared by Iran."

Reuters was unable to contact traders in Iran for comment.

Iranian buyers paid some of the money they owed in November, the sources said, encouraging Indian traders to sign new contracts and ultimately pushing dues to an all-time high.

Of the 4.4 million tonnes of basmati rice shipped by India in the 2018/19 fiscal year, Iran accounted for 1.4 million tonnes.

"Our exports to Iran will definitely fall this year and that is going to drag down both the country's basmati and non-basmati rice exports. We're worried on two counts of India's falling rice exports and our mounting dues," said Vijay Setia, former president of the All India Rice Exporters Association.

Beside the drop in exports to Iran, non-basmati rice exports to Europe have also fallen, with trade and industry officials citing higher pesticide residues in shipments from India as a factor behind reduced purchases from the European Union. Higher benchmark prices in Thailand, the world's second-biggest rice exporter, have however prompted some buyers to opt for Indian rice, pushing rates for the Indian variety to their highest in nearly three months despite the fall in exports.

India's 5% broken parboiled variety rose to around $366-$371 per tonne from last week's $364-$368, the highest since Oct 31. Domestic prices have also risen on fresh orders from Africa, traders said.

Also read: After palm oil, India may impose import curbs on other crucial items from Malaysia

Also read: Exports to rebound next year but growth will be subdued
Nepal's Finance Minister Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada on Saturday expressed hope that India will reconsider its decision regarding a ban on import of refined palm oil.

"We don't know why our neighbouring country banned palm oil. There should be some other behind it," the Finance Minister said while speaking to ANI.

"We do hope that the Indian government will reconsider its decision. We are discussing this through our diplomatic channel, if necessary we can also go through the political channel," he said.

The Minister said 25 per cent of Nepal's exports to India is palm oil-related industry, so that would "adversely affect our industry."

Recalling that the two countries agreed to reduce trade deficit, the Minister said: We have agreed that we should try to reduce the trade deficit and in that spirit, We hope India will reconsider its decision."

There was no prior indication, so it was like a shock, he said.

He also stressed that Nepal should be the closest destination for investor from India and China.

Commenting on the trade relations between the two countries, he said: "Nepal's major trading partner is India of course. More than two-thirds of our trade is with India. India is one of our largest investment partner and perhaps the market for our products also. In that respect, India accounts a lot to our growth and prosperity."

"Besides, the prosperity of the Indian economy will spillover to the Nepalese economy in terms of market, tourists coming in the country, poverty being reduced, and unwanted migration not taking place. Several other spillover effects we get. So we would like that our neighbour prospers and we also benefit," he added.

Commenting on the issue of demonetized notes, he stated that the issue is being raised with India.

"In coming years, there should not be the kind of problem that has happened in the past," he said while adding that border trade is now smooth.

Referring to the border dispute, he said: "Border issues are longstanding issues. We can politically resolve the issues and we have been solving our border-related disputes by amicable discussions. I don't think that should be an impediment to our deep bilateral relation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
METROPOLITAN councillors are to write to the new Health Minister demanding immediate emergency funding be put in place to provide bed spaces and staff for the safe efficient functioning of University Hospital Limerick (UHL).

A motion from Green Party councillor Sean Hartigan was unanimously adopted at this months metropolitan meeting.

The City East member said people of all ages, but particularly the elderly are terrified to present to the Dooradoyle hospital.

People are lying on trolleys for days, not getting the care they deserve. Numbers of staff in the hospital are severely diminished due to under-resourcing and staff are consequently faced with inhumane levels of pressure from the beginning to the end of their shift, he said.

Government has to date made no effort to tackle this crisis and the management of the hospital has responded by initiating an investigation into identifying hospital sources who may have released information to the media.

Cllr Hartigan said he feels there is more concern from hospital bosses about data breaches, staff Facebook posts and the media attending UHL then there is for the sick elderly patients waiting for a bed.

The Lisnagry man acknowledged there is no point sending it to the outgoing Health Minister Simon Harris, saying he will probably be sending out his CV in three weeks time. 

Sinn Fein councillor John Costelloe said the emergency department at UHL is like Calcutta.

We have people waiting three or four days to see a doctor. Whoever gets the role of [Health Minister] needs to tackle this immediately, he said.

Social Democrats councillor Elisa ODonovan said he could not support the motion, arguing the SlainteCare strategy has already been backed by all the major parties.

And Fianna Fails Jerry ODea added: We know there are not enough trolleys. Your priority should be to elect TDs from Limerick who want to put University Hospital Limerick top of the list.

The motion was passed unanimously by metropolitan district councillors.
By Trend

A winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will be held in Strasbourg Jan. 27-31, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani parliament.

Azerbaijani delegation led by the head of the permanent delegation of the Azerbaijani parliament in PACE, chairman of the parliamentary committee on international relations and interparliamentary ties Samad Seyidov will take part in the session.

The commission included MPs Sevinj Fataliyeva, Sahiba Gafarova, Rafael Huseynov, Asim Mollazade, Sabir Hajiyev and Nagif Hamzayev.

During the session, reports of the Bureau and the Standing Committee on the work done will be heard, the results of the parliamentary elections in Belarus, the activities of democratic institutions in Poland, the safety of journalists in Europe, media freedom and other issues will be discussed.

Azerbaijani MPs will speak in discussions and express their opinion.

As part of the session, with the organizational support of the Azerbaijani delegation, an event dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the January 20 tragedy is planned on Jan. 28.
The Department of Justice looked for an extra 97m in funding to deal with an unprecedented increase in demand for accommodation of asylum seekers last year.

Internal departmental records show how it expected to go up to 60m over budget in 2019 because of the rise in applications for international protection.

The department said increasing asylum claims were having an immediate and very costly impact and were also slowing down how quickly applications could be dealt with.

In correspondence with the Department of Public Expenditure, senior officials warned that increased processing times were in turn  acting as a pull factor in attracting asylum seekers here.

The 97m request was one of a series of pleas for additional funding made by the Department of Justice ahead of Budget 2020.

The Data Protection Commissioner was granted just 1.6m of the 5.9m it had been seeking to deal with a doubling of complaints in the space of just two years.

In a request for additional money, the Department of Justice wrote: While resources are increasing, the DPC is still somewhat behind similar organisations in other jurisdictions in terms of resource levels.

Forensic Science Ireland also received less than half of the money sought despite a massive rise in demand for its services.

In its budget submission, the department said there were significant backlogs of cases that are having a negative impact on the criminal justice system.

It said that the gap between capacity and demand kept growing, with a 30% increase in sexual assault submissions in the first quarter of 2019.

The department said: DNA cases increasingly involve more suspects and more analysis needs. More complex drug cases are increasing at a faster rate than total drug cases combined.

Despite seeking an extra 5.5m in funding for the office, the Department of Public Expenditure granted 2.5m, or 45% of what was looked for.

The Inspector of Prisons also received just 700,000 of the 1.9m that had been looked for in advance of the budget. Patricia Gilheaney, the inspector of prisons, told RTE Radio last summer that the office did not appear to be fit for purpose because of the small budget available to it.

In a statement, a spokesman for the Department of Justice said that the budget had been framed in a difficult budgetary context particularly because of Brexit uncertainty. It said significant increases in funding had been received by the department, including 120m in current expenditure and 70m in capital funding.

Its request for 90m in funding for direct provision accommodation was prepared at a time when there was a sharp rise in the number of international protection applicants arriving. However, arrivals subsequently slowed down.

A yearly increase of 60% in applications had been predicted, but that this had subsequently plateaued at 40%.

The department said a significant allocation had been made to Forensic Science Ireland for the construction of its new laboratory in Kildare, while 2.5m in funding was reallocated as a result of integration of some roles from the Garda National Technical Bureau.

The spokesman said the Data Protection Commissioners budget has increased from 3.6m in 2015 to 16.9m in 2020.
A remarkable new species of meat-eating dinosaur has been unveiled at the Natural History Museum of Utah. Paleontologists unearthed the first specimen in early 1990s in Dinosaur National Monument in northeastern Utah. The huge carnivore inhabited the flood plains of western North America during the Late Jurassic Period, between 157-152 million years ago, making it the geologically oldest species of Allosaurus, predating the more well-known state fossil of Utah, Allosaurus fragilis. The newly named dinosaur Allosaurus jimmadseni, was announced today in the open-access scientific journal PeerJ.

The species belongs to the allosauroids, a group of small to large-bodied, two-legged carnivorous dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Allosaurus jimmadseni, possesses several unique features, among them a short narrow skull with low facial crests extending from the horns in front of the eyes forward to the nose and a relatively narrow back of the skull with a flat surface to the bottom of the skull under the eyes. The skull was weaker with less of an overlapping field of vision than its younger cousin Allosaurus fragilis. Allosaurus jimmadseni evolved at least 5 million years earlier than fragilis, and was the most common and the top predator in its ecosystem. It had relatively long legs and tail, and long arms with three sharp claws. The name Allosaurus translates as "different reptile," and the second part, jimmadseni, honors Utah State Paleontologist James H. Madsen Jr.

Following an initial description by Othniel C. Marsh in 1877, Allosaurus quickly became the best known--indeed the quintessential--Jurassic theropod. The taxonomic composition of the genus has long been a debate over the past 130 years. Paleontologists argue that there are anywhere between one and 12 species of Allosaurus in the Morrison Formation of North America. This study recognizes only two species--A. fragilis and A. jimmadseni.

"Previously, paleontologists thought there was only one species of Allosaurus in Jurassic North America, but this study shows there were two species--the newly described Allosaurus jimmadseni evolved at least 5 million years earlier than its younger cousin, Allosaurus fragilis," said co-lead author Mark Loewen, research associate at the Natural History Museum of Utah, and associate professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Utah led the study. "The skull of Allosaurus jimmadseni is more lightly built than its later relative Allosaurus fragilis, suggesting a different feeding behavior between the two."

"Recognizing a new species of dinosaur in rocks that have been intensely investigated for over 150 years is an outstanding experience of discovery. Allosaurus jimmadseni is a great example of just how much more we have to learn about the world of dinosaurs. Many more exciting fossils await discovery in the Jurassic rocks of the American West," said Daniel Chure, retired paleontologist at Dinosaur National Monument and co-lead author of the study.

George Engelmann of the University of Nebraska, Omaha initially discovered the initial skeleton of the new species within Dinosaur National Monument in 1990. In 1996, several years after the headless skeleton was collected, the radioactive skull belonging to the skeleton using a radiation detector by Ramal Jones of the University of Utah. Both skeleton and skull were excavated by teams from Dinosaur National Monument.

"Big Al," another specimen belonging to the new species, was discovered in Wyoming on United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in 1991 and is housed in the collections of the Museum of The Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. Previously thought to belong to Allosaurus fragilis, "Big Al" was featured in the BBC's 2001 "Walking with Dinosaurs: Ballad of Big Al" video. Over the last 30 years, crews from various museums have collected and prepared materials of this new species. Other specimens include "Big Al Two" at the Saurier Museum Aathal in Switzerland and Allosaurus material from the Dry Mesa Quarry of Colorado at Brigham Young University.

"This exciting new study illustrates the importance of continued paleontological investigations on public lands in the West. Discovery of this new taxon of dinosaur will provide important information about the life and times of Jurassic dinosaurs and represents another unique component of America's Heritage," said Brent Breithaupt, BLM regional paleontologist.

Early Morrison Formation dinosaurs were replaced by some of the most iconic dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic

Allosaurus jimmadseni lived on the semi-arid Morrison Formation floodplains of the interior of western North America. The older rocks of the Morrison Formation preserve a fauna of dinosaurs distinct from the iconic younger Morrison Formation faunas that include Allosaurus fragilis, Diplodocus and Stegosaurus. Paleontologists have recently determined that specimens of this new species of dinosaur lived in several places throughout the western interior of North America (Utah, Colorado and Wyoming).

Study summary

Dinosaurs were the dominant members of terrestrial ecosystems during the Mesozoic. However, the pattern of evolution and turnover of ecosystems during the middle Mesozoic remains poorly understood. The authors report the discovery of the earliest member of the group of large-bodied allosauroids in the Morrison Formation ecosystem that was replaced by Allosaurus fragilis and illustrate changes acquired in the genus over time. The study includes an in-depth description of every bone of the skull and comparisons with the cranial materials of other carnivorous dinosaurs. Finally, the study recognizes just two species of Allosaurus in North America with Allosaurus fragilis replacing its earlier relative Allosaurus jimmadseni.

Fact sheet: Major points of the paper

A remarkable new species of meat-eating dinosaur, Allosaurus jimmadseni, is described based on two spectacularly complete skeletons. The first specimen was unearthed in Dinosaur National Monument, in northeastern Utah.

Allosaurus jimmadseni is distinguished by a number of unique features, including low crests running from above the eyes to the snout and a relatively narrow back of the skull with a flat surface to the bottom of the upper skull under the eyes. The skull was weaker with less of an overlapping field of vision than its younger cousin Allosaurus fragilis.

At 155 million years old, Allosaurus jimmadseni is the geologically-oldest species of Allosaurus predating the more well-known State Fossil of Utah Allosaurus fragilis.

Allosaurus jimmadseni was the most common and the top predator in its ecosystem. It had relatively long legs and tail, and long arms with three sharp claws.

Study design

Comparison of the bones with all other known allosauroid dinosaurs indicate that the species possessed unique features of the upper jaw and cheeks (maxilla and jugal) and a decorative crest stretching from just in front of the eyes to the nose.

Many of the comparisons were made with the thousands of bones of Allosaurus fragilis collected from the famous Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry administered by the Bureau of Land Management that are housed in the collections of the Natural History Museum of Utah.

On the basis of these features, the scientific team named it a new genus and species of dinosaur, Allosaurus jimmadseni (translating to "Jim Madsen's different reptile").

Allosaurus jimmadseni is particularly notable for its slender, narrow skull with short sharp nasal crests compared to its close relative and successor Allosaurus fragilis.

The study was funded in part by the University of Utah, the National Park Service and the National Science Foundation.

New dinosaur name: Allosaurus jimmadseni

The first part of the name, Allosaurus, (aluhSAWruhs) can be translated from Greek as the "other", "strange" or "different" and "lizard" or "reptile" literally to "different reptile". The second part of the name jimmadseni (gym-MAD-sehn-eye) honors the late Utah State Paleontologist James Madsen Jr. who excavated and studied tens of thousands of Allosaurus bones from the famous Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in central Utah and contributed greatly to the knowledge of Allosaurus.

Size

Allosaurus jimmadseni was approximately 26 to 29 feet (8-9 meters) long.

Allosaurus jimmadseni weighed around 4000 lbs. (1.8 metric tonnes).

Relationships

Allosaurus jimmadseni belongs to a group of carnivorous dinosaurs called "allosauroids," the same group as the famous Allosaurus fragilis.

Other dinosaurs found in rocks containing Allosaurus jimmadseni include the carnivorous theropods Torvosaurus and Ceratosaurus; the long-necked sauropods Haplocanthosaurus and Supersaurus; and the plate-backed stegosaur Hesperosaurus.

Allosaurus jimmadseni is closely related to the State Fossil of Utah, Allosaurus fragilis.

Anatomy

Allosaurus jimmadseni was a two-legged carnivore, with long forelimbs and sharp, recurved claws that were likely used for grasping prey.

Like other allosauroid dinosaurs, Allosaurus jimmadseni had a large head full of 80 sharp teeth. It was also the most common carnivore in its ecosystem.

Age and geography

Allosaurus jimmadseni lived during the Kimmeridgian stage of the Late Jurassic period, which spanned from approximately 157 million to 152 million years ago.

Allosaurus jimmadseni lived in a semi-arid inland basin filled with floodplains, braided stream systems, lakes, and seasonal mudflats along the western interior of North America.

Allosaurus jimmadseni represents the earliest species of Allosaurus in the world.

Discovery

Allosaurus jimmadseni can be found in a geologic unit known as the Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation and its equivalents exposed in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah.

The first specimen of Allosaurus jimmadseni was discovered in the National Park Service administered by Dinosaur National Monument in Uintah County, near Vernal, Utah.

Allosaurus jimmadseni was first discovered by George Engelmann of the University of Nebraska, Omaha on July 15, 1990 during a contracted paleontological inventory of the Morrison Formation of Dinosaur National Monument.

Another specimen of Allosaurus jimmadseni known as "Big Al," was found on land administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management in Wyoming.

Further specimens of Allosaurus jimmadseni have been subsequently recognized in the collections of various museums.

Allosaurus jimmadseni specimens are permanently housed in the collections of Dinosaur National Monument, Utah; the Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, Montana; the Saurier Museum of Aathal, Switzerland; the South Dakota School of Mines, Rapid City, South Dakota; Brigham Young University's Museum of Paleontology, Provo, Utah; and the United States National Museum (Smithsonian) Washington D.C.

These discoveries are the result of a continuing collaboration between the Natural History Museum of Utah, the National Park Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.

Excavation

The first skeleton of Allosaurus jimmadseni was excavated during the summers of 1990 to 1994 by staff of the National Park Service's Dinosaur National Monument. The skeleton block was so heavy it required the use of explosives to remove surrounding rock and a helicopter to fly out the 2700 kg block. The head of the skeleton was missing

The first bones of Allosaurus jimmadseni discovered included toes and some tail vertebrae. Later excavation revealed most of an articulated skeleton missing the head and part of the tail.

The radioactive skull of the first specimen of Allosaurus jimmadseni, which had previously eluded discovery, was found in 1996 by Ramal Jones of the University of Utah using a radiation detector.

Preparation

It required seven years to fully prepare all of the bones of Allosaurus jimmadseni.

Much of the preparation was done by then Dinosaur National Monument employees Scott Madsen and Ann Elder, with some assistance from Dinosaur National Monument volunteers and students at Brigham Young University.

Other

The Natural History Museum of Utah houses the world's largest collection of Allosaurus fossils, which are frequently studied by researchers from around the world.

More than 270 National Park Service (NPS) areas preserve fossils even though only 16 of those were established wholly or in part for their fossils. Fossils in NPS areas can be found in the rocks or sediments of a park, in museum collections, and in cultural contexts (building stones, artifacts, historical legends, and documents).

The United States Bureau of Land Management manages more land--247 million acres--than any other federal agency, and manages paleontological resources using scientific principles and expertise.

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Donald Trump complained that the military dog honoured for its role in the operation that killed Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi got more credit than he did, newly surfaced recordings reveal.

An audio of the president talking to Republican donors at his Mar-a-lago estate in Florida on Friday evening details him providing details of the targetted killing of Iranian military leader, Qassem Soleimani.

In his speech to the donors, details of which were obtained by CNN, he claimed Soleimani had been saying bad things about our country before the strike, which led to his decision to authorise his killing.

How much of this s**t do we have to listen to? Mr Trump asked.

How much are we going to listen to?

All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Show all 6 1 /6 All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Alan Dershowitz Dershowitz is a controversial American lawyer best known for the high-profile clients he has successfully defended. Those clients have included OJ Simpson, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein. One longtime Harvard Law associated told the New Yorker Dershowitz "revels in taking positions that ultimately are not just controversial but pretty close to indefensible." Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Ken Starr Starr became a household name in the 1990s as the independent counsel who led the investigation that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment. That investigation began as a look into a real estate scandal known as Whitewater, and eventually led to impeachment after Mr Clinton lied under oath about having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. AP All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Jay Sekulow Sekulow is the president's longtime personal attorney, and, now, personal lawyer in the White House. He has been accused by former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas of being "in the loop" during the Ukraine scandal. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pam Bondi Bondi is the former attorney general in Florida, and a longtime backer of the president's. She made a name for herself in Florida for taking hyper partisan stances on issues, and her penchant for publicity. She is likely to be a prominent public-facing figure during the trial. AFP/Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pat Cipollone Cipollone is the White House counsel, and leading the president's defence team. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Rudy Giuliani While not officially named as one of the president's impeachment lawyers, it is hard to ignore Giuliani's outsized role in this process. The former mayor of New York has been making headlines for months as he defends his client, and for his apparent role in the effort to compel Ukraine to launch the investigation into Joe Biden. We'll see how he figures in the actual trial, which he has said he would like to be a part of. Reuters

The killing of the 62-year-old military leader, sharply escalated tensions in the region, and Tehran responded to the killing by attacking two bases in northern Iraqi used by US and Iraqi forces.

Mr Trump claimed the attacks had not harmed any American soldiers, but on Friday the Pentagon admitted that 34 service members had diagnosed with traumatic brain injury following the rocket attacks.

During his speech Mr Trump also referred to last Octobers military operation that resulted in the death of al-Baghdadi.

The month after the raid, Mr Trump honoured a military dog named Conan, that was involved in the operation, and gave it at an award at the White House.

Conan came over from the Middle East  just arrived with some of the great people from the special forces that did theflawless attack, the president said. And al-Baghdadi is gone. That was a flawless attack and I just met quite a few of them. And we just gave Conan a medal and a plaque.

Speaking to donors in Florida, Mr Trump also repeated his claim the Isis leader had died screaming.

He said the press wanted to give the dog much more credit than than they gave me for the killing.

Its true. The dog got more credit than I did, he said. The dog Conan became very famous.
... dozens of National Guard police. Im on the Guatemala-Mexico border. This bridge is the main crossing for migrant caravans on their way to the United States. But this group, which left Honduras in mid-January, is about to hit a barrier. And theyre still over 1,000 miles from the U.S. border. [Shouting] Mexico shouldnt allow millions of people to try and enter our country. Last year, President Trump threatened Mexico with import tariffs, if the country didnt seal its border with Guatemala. So Mexico deployed a newly formed security force to block migrants from entering. Now this wave of some 4,000 migrants is putting enforcement here to the test. I wanted to see how Mexico would handle the challenge. What I find is a country taking a much harder line on its southern border, in response to U.S. pressure. I witness three attempts by migrants to cross into Mexico, each time, met with increasing force. This attempt ends with Mexican authorities letting small groups through to register with Migration. Its a legal obligation, and also a way of breaking up the caravan. Once in Mexico, the first thing migrants hear is a warning from the U.S. repeated over a loudspeaker. And then, an offer to send them home. By the end of the day, close to 2,000 migrants have registered to stay in Mexico, many with the goal of someday still reaching the U.S. What they dont know is that Mexico will end up returning most of them to Honduras. Its a new day, and more migrants are on the border, undeterred and ready to cross into Mexico. This time, a few petition Mexican authorities on behalf of the group, appealing for compassion to let them continue the caravan. But Mexico doesnt budge. So the group turns to Plan B. Border security are waiting for them on the other side of the Suchiate River. The standoff ends with the migrants staying put in Guatemala, and waiting for an opportunity to try to cross again. A few days later, with border security nowhere in sight, hundreds of migrants manage to get through, by crossing the river at a different spot, only to be met by dozens of troops who were waiting for them several miles down the road. [Screaming] [Shouting] Some 800 people are rounded up and forced onto buses, soon to be deported. In the face of pressure from all sides, Mexico stopped this group from reaching the U.S. border, giving the Trump administration exactly what it wants.
WASHINGTON - Rep. Adam Schiff spoke for nearly an hour closing the House's case for the removal of President Donald Trump, advancing and rebutting scores of arguments, but many Republican senators left the chamber talking about only one line: His reference to a news report that GOP senators were warned that if they vote against the president, their "head will be on a pike."

"Not true!" an indignant Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., bristled afterward, saying senators were "visibly upset" by the comment. "Nothing like going through three days of frustration and then cap it with an insult on everybody."

The reference came from a CBS News report that had gone viral earlier Friday, quoting an anonymous Trump confidant claiming that senators were warned that "your head will be on a pike" if they vote against the president on impeachment. The report did not say who had delivered the threat or which senators had been so warned.

"I don't know if that's true," Schiff, D-Calif., said. "I hope it's not true. But I'm struck by the irony of the idea, when we're talking about a president who would make himself a monarch, that whoever that was would use the terminology of a penalty that was imposed by a monarch - a head on a pike."

Schiff sandwiched the reference between an anecdote about his father trying to get into the military with bad eyes and a flat feet during World War II, succeeding on the third attempt, and a tribute to the late representative Tom Railsback, R-Ill., who worked to build bipartisan support for President Richard M. Nixon's impeachment.

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., normally staid, smiled as Schiff told the story about his dad, which delved into lessons of courage as he urged the Republicans to break with their party leader.

When Schiff mentioned the alleged "head on a pike" threat, the GOP side of the chamber began to murmur and shift in outrage.

"That's not true!" said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who shook her head angrily, then crossed her arms over her chest in protest for the rest of his speech.

And after he ended his speech about 10 minutes later, the Republican outrage was brewing.

Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the Republican Conference chairman, denied any such threat and attacked Schiff for repeating the suggestion.

"What he has proven to all of us is that he is capable of falsehoods and he would tell it to the country and tell it to us sitting in the chamber when every one of us knows it's not true," he said. "Whatever gains he may have made, he lost all of it, plus some, tonight."

While it is not especially surprising that a party leader like Barrasso, whose vote for Trump's acquittal is not in question, would be vexed by the remark, the dismay of Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska - GOP senators who Democrats believe are open to voting next week for additional witnesses - could be more troubling.

"That's where he lost me," Murkowski said of the remark - though she quickly clarified that Schiff had lost her rhetorically, but had not necessarily lost her vote.

What neither Murkowski nor other GOP senators acknowledged is that it is hardly a secret that Trump makes no secret of his disdain for Republican lawmakers who don't follow his every cue. They hardly need to be reminded of the consequences for breaking ranks.

In October, as the impeachment investigation reached a fever pitch, Trump called Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, a "pompous ass" and "so bad for" the GOP after Romney criticized Trump's calls for foreign countries to investigate former vice president Joe Biden, a potential campaign rival.

Two Republican senators who had clashed with Trump - Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Jeff Flake of Arizona - chose to forgo reelection in 2018 rather than risk campaigning against a more Trump-friendly candidate.

Democrats rolled their eyes at the GOP outrage. A Democratic aide working on the impeachment probe but not authorized to comment publicly noted that Schiff "repeatedly said he hoped it wasn't true - they doth protest too much."

Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., noted that Trump's willingness to threaten and exact revenge on those who cross him politically was no secret.

"That's one of the worst-kept secrets in Washington - what this White House, this president does to people who cross him," he said. "And he's made it clear from Day 1."

And Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., suggested in a tweet that Republicans were feigning outrage to distract from the rest of Schiff's detailed argument for Trump's removal.

"I'm gonna let you in on a secret," he wrote. "Republicans who don't want to defend Trump's corruption on the merits are instead going to complain about how mean the House managers are."

- - -

The Washington Post's Rachael Bade, Paul Kane and Karoun Demirjian contributed to this report.
Syrian Army Liberates 3 Villages in Idlib Province, Combating Militants in Aleppo  Reports

Sputnik News

00:44 GMT 25.01.2020(updated 04:15 GMT 25.01.2020)

CAIRO (Sputnik)  Syrian government troops have liberated three villages in the northern province of Idlib, and are also fighting militants in the province of Aleppo, media reported.

According to the broadcaster Al-Ihkbariya, the Syrian Army established control over three settlements in southeastern Idlib on Friday.

The newspaper Al-Watan has reported about ongoing fighting in the province of Aleppo, northwest of the provincial administrative centre. The clashes are reportedly taking place in the Aleppo suburb of Zahraa.

Earlier in the week, the Russian Defence Ministry's Centre for Syrian Reconciliation reported that at least 40 Syrian Army servicemen and 50 jihadists had been killed and 80 more Syrian soldiers wounded after militants attacked their positions in the Idlib de-escalation zone.

The situation in the province of Idlib  the last stronghold of militants in Syria  has escalated since 19 December when the Syrian Army launched a new military operation in the area. On 12 January, a ceasefire that was agreed by Russia and Turkey, entered into force. Militants, however, continue to attack the Syrian Army and civilians despite the truce.

A Sputnik

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The Assam government registered a sedition case against Sharjeel Imam, one of the organisers of the anti-CAA protest at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi, who allegedly said that main aim of the protesters was to cut Assam and rest of the Northeast from the country.

"This is a dangerous statement and keeping in mind the seriousness of it, we have decided to regiater a case against him," Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said here, hours after Sharjeel's statement.

Police officials said the case was registered under section 124 IPC (sedition) and two other sections and also under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act at the crime branch police station in Guwahati.

Sarma, who has often maintained that CAA would help Assam to fight the "design of demographic invasion by immigrant Muslims," claimed that Shaheen Bagh protest was infact a protest by Muslims against the Hindus, Christians, Jains, Buddhists...whom the governement is trying to give citizenship through the CAA.

"I think the CAB in the context of India, is our historical responsibility to give citizenship to Hindus, Christains, Sikhs, Buddhists and others, who had taken shelter in India due to harassment," Sarma told television channels.

Most parts of Assam and rest of the Northeast have been witnessing protests against CAA. The indigenous communities fear that CAA would reduce them into minorities by giving citizenship to large number of Hindu Bengali migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. They want all post-1971 migrants be detected and deported, irrespective of religion.
Tony Evans reveals wife Lois glimpsed Heaven before her death

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Tony Evans revealed that his late wife Lois Evans saw a glimpse of Heaven before her passing and asked supporters to continue praying for him as he grieves her death.

So many of you prayed for my wife, so many of you sent cards, so many of you gave encouraging words," Evans, who is the senior pastor at the Oak Cliff Fellowship Church in Dallas, Texas, said in a recent Instagram video.

Lois Evans passed away on Dec. 30 at the age of 70 after battling a rare form of cancer.

It was a long journey, Evans admitted. While God didnt give us exactly what we wanted, which was total healing of course, He did extend her life beyond what doctors said she had given the rare nature of this particular disease.

Evans said that the prayers of supporters sustained his family through the ups and downs, through the struggles and stresses, through the pain.

It was a difficult season and life does hit us that way sometimes, he acknowledged. But I just want you to know what your prayers are doing for me now: They are keeping me strong. I still trust God. I dont always understand Him, but I do trust Him.

I choose to believe, even with the loss of Sister Evans, my precious wife of 49 and a half years, that Hes still good, He still knows what Hes doing ... Hes still the God of my salvation and I will rejoice in Him. I want you to rejoice in Him too. And I want you to keep trusting and keep praying to Him.

The pastor said his wife of nearly five decades went home well.

As things got closer, she asked me to let her go because it was clear that it didnt look like God was going to bring about the healing we wanted on this side, he said.

As she got closer to Heaven, she said, They want to give me an award. Theyre just waiting to play the song. She got a little glimpse of forever and even then was supported by your prayers."

The founder of the Urban Alternative asked supporters to pray "for me, our family, and our ministry, that the Word of God would go forth stronger than ever.

When she got sick, she said to me, Dont let my illness stop the Word of God from going forth, Evans said of his wife. That shows you what kind of woman she was, what kind of wife I had.

During her memorial service, the Evans daughter, Priscilla Shirer, elaborated on her mothers supernatural experience.

She said, Theyre trying to give me an award, but they cant find the right song, she recalled. She said that over the course of two or three days, intermittently. About a week later, Dad and I were in the room and we started playing worship songs. I picked a random worship song off my playlist, and as it started to play, she opened her eyes and said, Thats the song.

The Evans son, Jonathan Evans, then played the song their mother identified, titled The Victory Belongs to Jesus.

We have victory in Jesus Christ. She is justified and called and glorified, he declared. We have victory in Him because He has already overcome the world. I am afflicted but I am not crushed ... we have victory in Jesus Christ. I am strengthened in Him.

Previously, Tony Evans revealed his wife glimpsed the spirit realm on several occasions in the days leading up to her death.

"Simultaneous to the time of her departure were things taking place that were letting us know she was dealing with something outside of the earth's realm," he said at her memorial service.

"For example, she said to some who were gathered in the room, 'Do you see my mother? Do you see her? She's right over there by the fireplace.' Do you see her? Why can't you see her?

"On another occasion, she said, 'My father. There's my father.' And there was no one in the room physically. She was seeing something as the time of her departure got closer."

Evans said she also appeared to get a message from beyond this earth about the time of her departure.

"She said, 'Two days, two days, take me up.' Two and a half days later she was gone. She heard something, she saw something as the time of her departure got nearer, like Stephen in Acts chapter 7 who, when he was being stoned to death, he says he saw heaven opened and Jesus standing on the right hand of the Father giving him a standing ovation."

"When the time of your departure comes, you want to be close enough to God that you can hear things that other folk can't hear and see things that other folk can't hear," Evans said.

"One of the things that I've observed in life and in scripture is that when people walk with God and He doesn't take them suddenly, He will give them a glimpse of Heaven while they're still transitioning from earth. He will let them know, not only that it's time, but it's OK."
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Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Medan  Sat, January 25, 2020 14:45 718 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad2060f3421 1 National Pelindo-1,illegal-trade,Indonesia,Batam,Nipah,Riau-Islands,customs-and-excise Free

State-owned port operator Pelindo I has denied selling illegal fuel to Singapore boats through ship-to-ship transfer in the waters off the coast of Nipah Island, Riau Islands.

A tugboat belonging to the company, Sei Deli III, was caught by customs and excise officers for allegedly conducting illegal fuel trade in the waters on Sunday, prompting allegations that the the port operator was involved in the case.

The boat was seized by the officers when transferring fuel to another tugboat near the island.

Pelindo I senior vice president M. Eriansyah said Pelindo I never sold illegal fuel to Singaporean ships. He explained that Sei Deli III, which is currently being investigated by the Customs and Excise Patrol Team in Batam, was transferring fuel to TB Celebes, another tugboat also owned by the port operator.

Eriansyah said Sei Deli III was used to assist other ships to enter the port, as well as to conduct ship-to-ship activity.

We want to make it clear that Sei Deli III was transferring fuel to TB Celebes at that time, which belongs to Pelindo I as well. The fuel will be used for their own needs, including ship electricity and to keep the engine running, Eriansyah told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

He explained that Pelindo I had conducted an operational cooperation with TB Celebes since August. Pelindo I has obtained the required permits for the ships' operation, including the transhipment. He also added that this activity was aimed at increasing the non-tax revenue for the state budget, and all taxes incurred by the activities have been paid every month.

Pelindo I has six tugboats and five pilot ships that are operated in several areas in Riau Islands, such as Batuampar, Kabil, Tanjung Uncang and Nipah. All of them have official permits, he said.

However, he said Pelindo I would follow the investigation process. He also added that he was sure this investigation would be conducted properly. (dpk)
A Helena man convicted in the double homicide of a Helena Valley couple in 2018 was sentenced to life in prison Friday in Lewis and Clark County District Court.

Journey Ryder Wienke, who was previously found guilty of two counts of deliberate homicide and tampering with evidence, was one of three men convicted of the slayings of Charla Rae Taylor, 64, and David Muncie Taylor, 61. The couple was killed in their home with a pocket knife and a piece of rebar in March 2018.

On Friday Judge Mike Menahan sentenced Wienke to two life sentences, with the sentences to run concurrently. He also received a 10-year sentence for tampering with evidence, also to run concurrently.

Under Montana sentencing guidelines, Wienke would be eligible for parole in 30 years.

The couple's adopted son Kaleb David Taylor admitted to the crimes in July 2018. In March 2019, Kaleb was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole for two counts of deliberate homicide.

During Wienke's trial, Kaleb acknowledged that Wienke followed him into the home when he killed his parents but said Wienke "didn't have anything to do with it." The prosecution argued that circumstantial evidence points to Wienke holding the knife that night.

Kyle Hamm, the other man convicted of the homicides, was sentenced to 80 years in prison Jan. 13.

Lewis and Clark County Attorney Leo Gallagher has described the double homicide as "one of the most brutal nights of violence this community has ever seen."

During the sentencing hearing, Gallagher attempted to paint a picture of a young man given multiple opportunities to change his ways and asked that Judge Mike Menahan hand down a sentence that would "prevent him from leaving prison before his death."

"I don't think there is any chance he can be rehabilitated," he said.

Gallagher pointed to Wienke's pattern of conduct that "predates the homicides and continues in jail."

Wienke has served 687 days inside Lewis and Clark County Detention Center since his arrest in 2018, which will count toward his sentence.

Samuel Warkentin, the probation officer who conducted the presentence investigation, testified during the sentencing hearing that he would not recommend granting Wienke the ability to seek parole.

Warkentin detailed a long troubled history of neglect and drug abuse throughout Wienke's life. At 13 months old, Wienke was taken from his parents because of their drug addiction.

He bounced around between foster homes, before eventually being adopted.

By the time he was entering high school, Wienke's adopted parents had split up, and he began abusing drugs and alcohol, according to Warkentin's investigation. Courtroom testimony on Friday confirmed that Wienke, Hamm and Kaleb Taylor were using heroin and methamphetamine heavily during the time leading up to the double homicide.

His criminal record started days prior to his 18th birthday, when in 2014, Wienke and some other juveniles broke into a Phillips County saloon and stole a case of liquor. He was sentenced then to three years with the Department of Corrections' Missoula Assessment and Sanction Center, a treatment program Wienke completed.

He was released into the supervision of Great Falls probation officers in May 2015, but by August of that year, he had fallen back into a longtime methamphetamine addiction, failed his court ordered drug testing and absconded, according to Warkentin's testimony.

In 2017, Wienke was featured in an episode of a cable television reality program called "Intervention." Warkentin said Wienke is seen using illicit drugs, pawning items to pay for the drugs and eventually being checked into a hospital.

The prosecution also said Wienke has caused several problems since his incarceration, including threatening jailers and damaging jail property.

"Mr. Wienke has had multiple options to address his issues," Warkentin said from the witness stand. "There is not a whole lot more the Department of Corrections can offer him at this point."

Wienke's defense attorneys attempted to portray their client as a person afforded little to no opportunities in his life. Defense attorney Lisa Kauffman said in her closing argument that Wienke's mother was abusing drugs while pregnant with Wienke, causing substantial harm and setting Wienke up for a lifetime of hardship.

Kauffman also argued that the severe overcrowding at Lewis and Clark County Detention Center is to blame for the incidents since his arrest, and that law enforcement should not be surprised when tensions rise in such a setting.

Kauffman also asserted in her closing argument that Wienke has in fact been provided little to no treatment for drug addiction and mental health problems, and that the Department of Corrections has not exhausted its resources for treatment.

Kauffman and fellow defense attorney Brian Smith asked that the judge consider mitigating factors such as Wienke's age, lack of violent criminal activity, history of neglect and heavy drug abuse. They recommended their client be sentenced to 80 years with 40 years suspended and that he be enrolled in the NEXUS Methamphetamine Treatment Center.

"We should not be warehousing young people like animals," Kauffman said. "He's becoming institutionalized. He's becoming a criminal."

In his statement to the judge, Wienke expressed remorse for his crimes.

"There is no one to blame but myself because of my drug use," Wienke said. "I hope you find it in your heart that I can be rehabilitated and not get life in prison."

Judge Menahan said he took many factors, including Wienke's troubled past and lack of a violent criminal history, into consideration when constructing his sentence.

"I don't want to discount the possibility that you could demonstrate to a parole board an ability to rejoin society," Menahan said.

Menahan credited Wienke with the nearly two years of time served and recommended he participate in the NEXUS program, which will be at the discretion of the Department of Corrections.

The Taylor family was also seeking restitution to the tune of nearly $36,000, which Menahan granted.

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Just a few days ago, SaVi Pharmaceutical JSC (SaVipharm) broke ground for a high-tech research and development centre in Ho Chi Minh City. Costing VND200 billion ($8.7 million), the facility aims to study, approach, and transfer new and high-tech products while co-operating with domestic and international research and development (R&D) centres.

In addition, SaVipharms oral solid dosage factory will be invested with advanced equipment to ensure that the centres research is quickly put into commercial production. SaVipharm has recently received an EU-GMP certificate for the factory.

The R&D centre project is part of the companys strategic goals for development in the 2020-2025 period in which it will prioritise investment in human resources training, sci-tech, and R&D activities.

GIANTS IN RACE

SaVipharms move is aligned with the Ministry of Healths (MoH) scheme on development of IT and smart healthcare for 2019-2025 in line with the Politburos Resolution No.52-NQ/TW from last September on a number of guidelines and policies to proactively participate in Industry 4.0. The MoH has become the first ministry to approve such a scheme.

Under the scheme, one of the key tasks is to strengthen R&D activities and the application of smart technologies in manufacturing and hospitals among others, while enhancing international co-operation.

In this view, other domestic pharma giants such as Hau Giang Pharmaceutical JSC (DHG), Domesco Medical Import Export JSC, Imexpharm Pharmaceutical JSC (IMP), and Traphaco JSC have so far been taking bold actions to prepare for the sectors upcoming changes and possible technology boom.

Traphaco, the countrys second-largest publicly-traded drugmaker, is boosting sci-tech application in production, together with developing the ethical drugs (ETC) channel, seeking partners and production of franchised products, expanding the distribution network.

We are completing procedures for technology transfer with South Korean partner Daewoong for its strategic products at a new factory located in the northern province of Hung Yen, said Vu Thi Thuan, chairwoman of Traphaco. We also now have Mirae Assets as an indirect investor which helps us with opportunities to work with capable partners in technology transfer to shorten R&D, and the manufacturing of new high-quality products, thus enabling us to meet the requirements to join the ETC channel.

At present, State Capital Investment Corporation, Magbi Fund Ltd., and Super Delta Pte., Ltd., are Traphacos biggest shareholders with stakes of 35.67, 24.99, and 15.12 per cent, respectively.

Similarly, IMP, the fourth-biggest drugmaker, in December, approved the board of directors resolution in which they agree to spend VND7.37 billion ($320,500) on the Vinh Loc high-tech antibiotics plant.

IMP is now operating three plants, including one put into operation in the third quarter of 2019, and is developing a further facility, with its opening scheduled for this year. IMPs new factories focus on the manufacturing of western medicines which meet the standards set out by EU-GMP certification.

IMPs big shareholders are Vinapharm (22.87 per cent), and overseas investors (48.48 per cent). Its foreign ownership limit is 49 per cent.

In this trend, DHG, despite being the largest publicly-traded drugmaker, is not an exception. The group will boost technology transfer and co-operation with major Japanese stakeholder Taisho in upgrading its beta-lactam factory to increase access to the ETC channel and exports to Russia and Moldova. Currently, DHG, in which Taisho has completed a transaction to raise ownership to over 50 per cent, exports products to 14 countries.

Industry insiders believed that the recent developments of SaVipharm, DHG, Domesco, IMP, and Traphaco are just the opening initiatives. With the wide influence of Industry 4.0 and amid stiffening competition among multinational corporations (MNCs), they need to make more to adapt to the new changes of the pharmacy and healthcare sector when a number of new policies are performed.

2019 was a challenging year for domestic pharmaceutical firms. Although the drug giants have yet to make available their business results for the year, industry insiders see lower-than-expected performance, driven by no growth in the over-the-counter (OTC), and difficulties in the ETC channel due to tender regulations.

According to market researcher IMS, the local pharmaceutical market saw no growth in the OTC channel in the third quarter of 2019, although OTC makes up the majority of their revenue. For example, the segment now accounts for 92 per cent of Traphacos revenue.

Worse still, the issuance of a circular is more sluggish than expected, thus preventing them from taking advantage of the ETC channel. Moreover, their key projects are competed against heavily by fake products.

GRASSROOTS HEALTHCARE

According to the MoH, Vietnamese drug manufacturers are able to meet half of the total medicine market demand, while imports cover the remaining half. In addition, approximately 60 per cent of pharmaceutical end products, 90 per cent of active pharmaceutical ingredients, and most raw materials for the production of pharmaceuticals are currently imported. Thus, big opportunities abound for MNCs.

The last 12 months were also demanding for MNCs, with legal barriers being a concern. Such corporations require a feasible transition period together with clear technical guidelines for the transition to foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) establishment and, for their feasible operation in the future, legalise FIEs right to build up and protect the brands by themselves or by supporting the fee for the distributors to carry out marketing activities.

As a result, MNCs have taken a new approach to ease difficulties and to better cash in on the local market, with grassroots healthcare a target, involving Novartis, Zuellig Pharma, Sanofi, GSK, and Pfizer among others.

In particular, global drug giant Novartis in December signed an MoU with the MoH on raising primary healthcare in Vietnam through activities at commune and district levels from next year. Zuellig Pharma, one of the largest healthcare services groups in Asia, has presented more than 600 innovative eZCooler boxes to the representatives of six provinces to raise access to vaccines in remote areas.

Similarly, 2019 saw around one million Vietnamese children vaccinated with the GSK pneumococcal vaccine since it first became available five years ago.

In 2020, we will continue contributing to Vietnams healthcare development in both prevention and treatment. We will do this through evolving and improving our healthcare professional education and training activities, contributing to efforts to tackle serious healthcare issues such as antibiotic resistance and non-communicable diseases like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and improving immunisation coverage at grassroots levels, Daniel Millard, chief representative of GSK Vietnam, told VIR.

Evidently, Novartis, Zuellig Pharma, Sanofi, GSK, and Pfizer target grassroots healthcare as this is one of the top priorities of the Vietnamese healthcare sector currently. In the smart healthcare development sphere, one of the targets is to boost IT application at healthcare facilities, including those at the grassroots level, thus easing hospital overloads.

The country is also facing challenges in increasing healthcare expenditure, increasing health insurance coverage, financial capacity, and capacity to provide healthcare services. Meanwhile, many problems remain unsolved, including the reimbursement process and more. Thus, it is calling for the involvement of the private sector to join the MoHs efforts to fight non-communicable diseases and to increase peoples access to healthcare.

The giants are expecting the enforcement of the historic EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), which will bring more business and investment opportunities. The landmark deal will open the Vietnamese market in fields that the country has been seeking particular solutions to for years, such as intellectual property rights, direct pharmaceuticals imports, and tenders among others.

With high growth potential, driven by double-digit growth forecast in the next five years, reaching an estimated $7.7 billion in 2021 from the current $5 billion, Vietnams healthcare sector is expected to see a big change in the picture of foreign investment soon on the back of the EVFTA.
By now, most people know that not counting Israel, there are more Jewish people in New York City than anywhere else in the world. Wikipedia tells us that somewhere between 12 and 13 percent of New Yorks population is Jewish. As an American Jew, I was raised with pride in my religion, although my parents hardly ever stepped into a synagogue, unlike the parents of my wife, who resided for most of their lives in upstate Hudson, New York.

My twin brother and I were both Bar Mitzvahed in New Yorks Stephen Wise Free Synagogue. The fact that my parents fiercely identified as Jews and were quick to despise anti-Semitic individuals and rhetoric put them squarely in the middle of the Jewish population in this country, where far and away most people of Jewish descent do not see themselves as religious Jews.

There are many myths about American Jews, including that they dont drink or beat their wives and they all have money. In truth, some Jews run counter to the mythology. Nevertheless, there are some cultural norms that exist among Jews. Like many of the Asian populations in this country, education is part of the familial expectation among people of Jewish descent. While not all go to college, many do. All of this is goes to help explain the current spate of anti-Semitism that we see on the news every day.

To his credit, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has astutely added more cops to guard and patrol Jewish religious institutions and Jewish neighborhoods.

Part of the problem involves the charge of anti-Semitism against those who criticize the state of Israel. Im a pretty good example of this. I have some very negative feelings about Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, his close relationship with Donald Trump, and his unwise moves when it comes to expanding Israeli territory. While I am hardly in sympathy with those who talk about pushing Israel into the sea, I just think that the man has unnecessarily alienated major parts of the world and its leaders.

That said, when I hear people putting down Israel or the Jews who support Israel, my hackles go up. I do not think that Jewish people are unique in this. Many Catholics that I know are appalled at the abuses that have come to light in the Catholic Church, yet they dont like people taking shots at their church.

Now we have this spate of anti-Semitic horrors. We are talking about madmen who think it is their duty to kill Jews. We certainly had seen this before and it has always been so as this virus-like sickness infects people. Painting swastikas on buildings or pushing over gravestones are just a few of the manifestations of this sickness. While we describe all of this as terrifying, it really does amount to a few mentally ill people who are motivated by Donald Trump-type hate.

So, while we station police outside of synagogues and Jewish institutions, we are not dealing with the systemic disease that infects the minds of the vulnerable. Of course, when Trump suggested that there were very good people on both sides, in the Charlottesville riots, he was giving the green light to anti-Semites to go ahead with their heinous activities.

My wife and her colleagues in Great Barrington started the first regular curriculum for high school students on the Holocaust. It has certainly been highly imitated and copied, but such exposure wont stop a mentally ill person from doing what comes naturally. So often these bad actors are imitating what they heard at home. In fact, as part of her dissertation research, my wife asked her students whether they had ever heard an anti-Semitic remark in their homes. The results were terrifying. As the musical South Pacific suggested, Youve got to be carefully taught.

Sunday Freeman columnist Alan Chartock is a professor emeritus at the State University of New York, publisher of the Legislative Gazette and CEO of the WAMC Northeast Public Radio Network. Readers can email him at alan@wamc.org.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 25

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 24 times, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on Jan. 25, Trend reports.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, 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.
Then-White House counsel Don McGahn listens to U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh testify before a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 27, 2018. (Jim Bourg/Reuters)

DOJ Pushes Back on Houses Claims That Trump Lawyer Contradicted Department in McGahn Case

The Justice Department (DOJ) has pushed back on assertions made by House lawyers that President Donald Trumps lawyers had contradicted the DOJs position during the Senate impeachment trial in an ongoing case seeking White House counsel Don McGahns testimony.

House lawyers told a panel of judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a two-page letter (pdf) on Thursday, that a written response by the president and remarks made by his lawyer Jay Sekulow during the impeachment trial run counter to one of the central arguments the DOJ has used to prevent the enforcement of a subpoena demanding that McGahn testify before the House Judiciary Committee.

In that case, DOJs lawyers argued that the federal court should not referee the dispute between Congress and the Trump administration. They suggested that it wouldnt be proper for the court to become involved in the interbranch legal fight, because the case would affect the impeachment process.

House counsel Douglas Letter said in the Thursday letter that President Trumps arguments in the impeachment trial contradict DOJs assertion in this case that the Committee may not seek to enforce its subpoenas in court, while citing examples.

In light of President Trumps argument, it is not clear whether DOJ still maintains its position that courts are barred from considering subpoena-enforcement suits brought by the House, Douglas Letter wrote. At the very least, President Trumps recognition that courts should resolve such suits undermines DOJs contrary threshold arguments in this case, which seek to prevent the House and its committees from seeking judicial resolution of subpoena-enforcement disputes. The Executive Branch cannot have it both ways.

In one of the examples, Sekulow criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not waiting for the courts to rule on whether subpoenaed witnesses like acting White House chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney should testify before proceeding with impeachment. Pelosi said at the time back in November that we cannot be at the mercy of the courts. The courts are very important in all of this. Those cases will continue, when asked whether the House would wait until the legal cases play out.

We cannot be at the mercy of the courts. So take Article III of the United States Constitution and remove it? Were acting as if the Courts are an improper venue to determine constitutional issues of this magnitude? That is why we have courts. That is why we have a federal judiciary, Sekulow told the Senate floor on Jan. 21.

DOJs attorney Hashim Mooppan responded to the Houses claim in a two-page letter (pdf) to the court on Friday rejecting the assertion.

He said that the excerpts taken by the House were simply expounding on the Presidents position that the House cannot have it both ways.

They plainly were not reversing the position that the House may not properly seek judicial enforcement of subpoenas against the Executive, he said.

He argued that the presidents trial memorandum (pdf) had reaffirmed the departments position that a dispute where a congressional committee is trying to enforce a subpoena against an executive branch official is not one that should be heard in an Article III court.

Mooppan also objected to the Houses unprecedented commingling of using the McGahn lawsuit to support the impeachment proceedings.

We previously warned that the House seeks to use this litigation to support impeachment, he said. That unprecedented commingling vividly confirms the prescience of Justice Souters admonition that judicial intervention in this type of interbranch controversy would risk damaging the public confidence that is vital to the functioning of the Judicial Branch, by embroiling the federal courts in a power contest nearly at the height of its political tension.'

The D.C. Circuit is soon expected to release a ruling deciding on whether to enforce the subpoena on McGahn, after hearing oral arguments from both sides on Jan. 3.

McGahn, who was viewed as a key witness in then-special counsel Robert Muellers investigation, was subpoenaed by the chambers Judiciary Committee in April to provide documents and appear before lawmakers as part of their investigation of possible obstruction of justice by President Donald Trumpsomething that Mueller didnt conclude on in his report. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

The White House blocked his appearance in May, asserting executive privilege over the documents. House Democrats subsequently sued McGahn in August in an attempt to enforce the subpoena.

In November, a district court judge ruled that McGahn must testify before the House, saying that executive branch officials are not absolutely immune from the compulsory congressional process, even if the president expressly directs the officials non-compliance. The Justice Department (DOJ) subsequently appealed the decision to the appeals court.

The House also sent another letter (pdf) on Thursday asking the same court to rule expeditiously on another case related to the release of grand jury materials from Muellers investigation. The court also heard arguments on this case on Jan. 3.
The planned recruitment of personnel and further implementation of the blueprint for the South West regional security outfit named Amotekun are now on hold, PREMIUM TIMES can report.

It was gathered that some states had already fine-tuned the processes of recruitment before the controversial notification by the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, declaring the outfit as illegal.

The posture of the government towards Amotekun sparked regional protests in condemnation of the federal governments stance.

It was the argument by its proponents that Amotekun would be the antidote for the intractable kidnapping and ritual killings which had become regular tales in the South-west region.

They also argued that its complementary role would facilitate the fight against crime and help the statutory security agencies become effective in curbing crime in the region.

With the memo from Mr Malami, coupled with fears expressed by some sections of the country, the South-west governors met with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Thursday, in Abuja with a view to removing the obstacles to the initiative.

One of the critical resolutions reached at the end of the meeting was the need to back Amotekun with an enabling law by the states involved.

An official of the Osun State Government told PREMIUM TIMES on Friday that the conclusion from the meeting with the vice president resulted in the hosting of the attorneys general from the six states in Ibadan on Thursday to determine the nature of the legal framework for the security outfit.

The meeting which was hosted by the Oyo State Commissioner for Justice, Oyewole Oyewo, immediately constituted a three-member committee to provide a legal working document for the states.

Ismail Omipidan, Chief Press Secretary to the Osun State Governor, said another meeting has been scheduled for the next two weeks in Ibadan where further resolutions would be made on the matter.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the attorneys general would in the next meeting seek the inputs of the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission before finally preparing the necessary documents for onward transfer to the Houses of Assembly of each of the states.

It has however been confirmed that activities on Amotekun, particularly recruitment, would have to wait until the legal framework was put in place.

The Commissioner for Information, Ekiti State, Muyiwa Olumilua, confirmed that all procedures on the implementation of the security initiative would wait until the legal backing was in place.

You are aware that the governors just had a meeting with the Vice President and the Attorney General of the Federation regarding the security outfit, he said.

The fall out of that meeting is for us to try to put the necessary legal framework in place. That one will come before the recruitment process.

Mr Olumilua could however not state how long it would take to conclude the legal framework. He urged citizens to be patient as the state governments attempt to produce a well-designed framework.

Meanwhile, the Speakers of the Houses of Assembly of the states, who also met with the attorneys-general of the states, have promised to give speedy consideration to the bill when presented for enactment.

The governors of the states officially launched Amotekun on January 9 and many Amotekun branded vehicles donated by the sates have been assembled for deployments.

The DAWN Commission has also said it would soon come out with the standard operating procedures for the states to implement.
People wearing face masks walk out of Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa Resort and Spa on Friday (24 January), where the first patient confirmed with the Wuhan virus in Singapore had stayed before being admitted to hospital. (PHOTO: Getty Images)

SINGAPORE  As of Friday (24 January) morning, the Wuhan coronavirus  or 2019-nCoV  has spread to at least 13 countries and territories outside of mainland China, where over 800 people have been infected and 41 have died.

Singapore also announced its first confirmed case  a 66-year-old male Chinese national  on Thursday night. On the eve of Chinese New Year, the second and third cases were confirmed.

Amid growing concerns, Yahoo News Singapore spoke to medical experts here for more information and advice on how to protect oneself against infection.

Wearing masks: N95 or others?

While many of us may have picked up N95 masks during last Septembers haze, they may not necessarily be the most practical form of protection as they are less comfortable to wear in the long run.

Properly fitted, the filtration capabilities of N95 respirators exceed those of face masks. However, surgical masks are more practical and recommended by the (Ministry of Health) for the general public to use as they can block large-particle droplets and splatter from reaching the wearer's mouth and nose, said Dr Edwin Chng, the medical director of Parkway Shenton.

He explained that users should avoid touching the masks after putting them on and should take care to properly dispose of them once they are removed.

A surgical mask should be discarded after use and under no circumstances should it be used for longer than a day. Replace the mask immediately if it is damaged or soiled, Dr Chng added.

Watch our video on how to use and dispose of surgical masks:

Wash your hands

Another method to avoid contracting viruses is to wash your hands frequently.

Theoretically, in an area with a lot of transmission, everyone (should) consistently wear masks and wash hands (for a period of) 14 days. This will break the cycle totally, said infectious diseases specialist Leong Hoe Nam of the Rophi Clinic.

This is simple personal hygiene that saves lives and prevents illness, he added.

Story continues

Dr Leong noted that Betadine gargles have been shown to kill coronaviruses and, thus, the Wuhan virus as well. The product has also been shown to reduce colds by gargling three times a day, he said.

What and where to avoid

To reduce the risk of infection, people should avoid non-essential travel to Wuhan and stay away from those who are suffering from acute respiratory infections, said Dr Michael Wong, a senior family physician at Raffles Medical.

People should also avoid contact with farm or wild animals, and avoid eating raw or uncooked meat, he added.

While a flu vaccination won't protect you from the Wuhan coronavirus, it could still prove useful while you're travelling. (PHOTO: Getty Creative)

Should I get the flu jab?

Two of the doctors Yahoo News Singapore spoke to said that while getting a flu vaccination will not protect you from the Wuhan virus, it can still help in a number of ways.

For those who are travelling, a flu vaccination can help protect you from influenza, which has symptoms and signs that may mislead screening authorities at temperature checkpoints, and result in unnecessary anxiety and delays to your travel, said Dr Wong.

Dr Leong, who also recommended the vaccine, said, It won't protect you against Wuhan. But you don't want to be caught with an upper tract infection when the Wuhan virus eventually lands.

What is the Wuhan coronavirus?

The Wuhan coronavirus  or 2019-nCoV  is a new type of coronavirus that was discovered after Chinese authorities began investigating a cluster of mysterious pneumonia cases that were reported in Wuhan in Hubei.

Coronaviruses cause a variety of illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), said Dr Wong.

Such viruses usually circulate in animals such as bats, but can evolve to infect humans and spread among people. According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only seven, including the new virus, are known to infect people, he added.

In the case of 2019-nCoV, it has been postulated that two types of snakes  the Chinese krait and Chinese cobra  could be the original source of the viruses. With snakes having been sold at a local seafood market in Wuhan, this increases the likelihood that the virus might have jumped from bats to snakes, and finally to humans, at the start of the outbreak.

Dr Leong noted that, based on reports from China, the virus is like SARS but milder. Noting that everyone is at risk, he added, Based on SARS... The kids do better. We hope it plays out that way.

The only at-risk (group) is the elderly. Some healthy individuals will succumb because of an inappropriate response of the body to the infection, he said.

Related stories:

Wuhan coronavirus outbreak: Singapore confirms 2 more cases

'End of the world': Wuhan residents react to quarantine

Chinese told to comply with airport coronavirus checks after woman evaded screening in France

Virus outbreak: Scoot cancels Wuhan flights from 23-26 January

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" " A sunset scene of red lanterns decorates the Chinese temple Thean Hou Temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This temple is famous for its celebration of Chinese New Year. Mongkol Chuewong/Getty Images

Every year between late January and the third week of February, more than 20 percent of the world's population plunges into a period of feasts, festivities and fireworks. This mega-holiday goes by the names Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year or Asian New Year. It's celebrated in mainland China and in many other Asian countries, as well as by people of Asian heritage around the world, and it's one of the richest of all holidays in its variety of customs and traditions.

New Year in the West is celebrated for only one day, and, of course, the evening before. Traditional Chinese New Year, on the other hand, lasts two weeks. The holiday once had a close connection to Buddhist, Taoist and folk religious practices, but like many Western holidays, it is now mainly a secular celebration. There are many different ways to celebrate: Some, like paying honor to ancestors, are based on age-old traditions, while others, like watching a traditional gala on television, are very modern. Chinese New Year is a time to enjoy good times with family, to cultivate luck and to extend wishes of prosperity in the coming year.

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The celebration of the Lunar New Year is based on a calendar that originated in China in the 14th century B.C., which, in its earliest form, was connected to the Chinese agricultural cycle [source: History.com]. Early spring, when Chinese New Year takes place, was the time farmers began to prepare for planting. The last day of the year was also when the landlord came by to collect the yearly rent for farmers' land. Peasants who managed to pay it had reason to celebrate [source: Gao]. Before gunpowder was invented, they made loud noises by tossing sections of bamboo into a fire -- the heat caused these primitive firecrackers to explode with a bang.

In 1912, the Nationalist Chinese government started to play down the celebration of the Lunar New Year. Officials renamed it Spring Festival and urged citizens to use the Gregorian calendar prevalent in the West, which recognizes New Year on January 1. However, many Chinese still clung to the traditions connected with the lunar year. Then, the holiday was banned completely after Communists took control of China in 1949. New Year customs connected with religion and superstition did not fit with Communist dogma and were discouraged by the state [source: Rabkin].

The celebration of New Year in China began to revive in the late 20th century, when the Chinese government began to liberalize its rule. Today, Chinese workers get a week-long holiday that extends through the first half of the Chinese New Year period, and they have returned to celebrating the holiday in a big way [source: History.com].

But how are the exact dates of Chinese New Year determined each year? Read on to the next page to find out.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, January 25, 2020 12:40 718 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad2060f0405 1 National press-freedom-in-Indonesia,Philip-Jacobson,environment Free

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD plans to deport award-winning journalist Philip Jacobson, who allegedly violated his visa restrictions.

"I will contact the National Police and the Law and Human Rights Ministry's Immigration Directorate General to deport him as soon as possible," Mahfud said on Friday.

Mahfud said that the American journalist came to Indonesia on a visit visa. However, during his stay in Indonesia, Jacobson used the opportunity to carry out journalism work.

Read also: Indonesian organizations condemn arrest of environmental journalist

He also added that he would coordinate with the police and the ministry to see if Jacobson was involved in other crimes, such as espionage or drug trafficking.

If he is involved in other crimes, he will not be deported.

"If it's only an administrative violation, then why is he working as a journalist here? Why is he attending various forums with civil organizations, the regional council and such. It's outside of his visa purpose to write news," Mahfud added.

Jacobson, who works for environmental science and conservation news portal Mongabay, has been detained in Palangkaraya Detention Center, Central Kalimantan since Jan. 21.

He was arrested under Article 122 of the 2011 Immigration Law for residency permit misuse. (trn/dpk)
The television industry is in shock as the news of the second suicide in a month emerged Friday evening - actor Sejal Sharma was found hanging from the ceiling of her rented flat in Mira Road by a friend. Responding to the sudden demise of a co-star, several TV actors took to social media to express their grief.

One of the first ones to express her shock and grief was Dil Toh Happy Hai Ji lead actor Jasmin Bhasin. Jasmin wrote, Its unbelievable that you are no more with us, such a happy girl, your presence would just light up any place, only you know what you were going through that you decided to end your life. I will miss you I wish this would have never happened. Rip @i_sejalsharmaofficial.

Also read: Bigg Boss 13: Salman Khan angry over Sidharth-Asim spat, opens gate for the macho men to fight it out

A shocked Rohit Roy commented on her post and wrote, Whatttt ?? How ?!?!

Meera Deosthale also expressed her sadness. Sejal, May your soul rest in peace. My friend decided to end her life today and I am Shocked to know that a person who was always smiling and happy was suffering through depression. I wish u would have reached out to anyone and we could have helped u... sending u love and prayers.

Actor Mohit Vijay Abrol responded to Meeras post saying, WTF , this is shocking . I recently worked with her , she was so positive and happy . I have no words .

Donal Bisht, who replaced Jasmin Bhasin as Happy later in the show, also wrote a long note on her Instagram story. Sejal. Simmi from our Dil Toh Happy Hai Ji...I dont know you. I came after leap and you were before..I am shocked when I just got a call from journalist to comment on you took your life..My heart sinked...I dont know you in person, but can recall I have heard your name when I asked who else were there in the family before leap. Dil Toh Happy Hai Ji is part of my life and will always be my family. I can feel the loss. Rest in peace girl...it sinks me even more to think you were just a kid around 20-21. I just wish I knew you in person and could help...Any help, she wrote.

Sejals co-star Nirbhay Shukla also posted an Instagram story, in which he asked, Why did you do this, Sejal?

As per a PTI report, Sejal was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival.The police have recovered a suicide note, in which she has stated that she was taking the extreme step due to personal reasons, a police official told PTI.

Sejal hailed from Udaipur and came to Mumbai in 2017 to try her luck in showbiz. Before her debut on the Star Plus show Dil Toh Happy Hai Ji, she appeared in a few TV commercials and had also featured in a web series titled Azad Parindey.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Hollywood star Brad Pitt's SAG win won't make it to his Tinder bio as the actor doesn't have a profile on the dating app.

The 56-year-old actor had joked during the Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) awards that his outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role win for his work on "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" would boost his chances of finding on the the portal.

During an interview with Extra magazine, Pitt was asked if he was aware that Tinder subscriptions had risen because of his comments, to which he replied: ''I'm not on it. I'm not even really sure how it all works. It just sounded funny to me.''



While accepting his trophy at the awards ceremony last week, Pitt said he would add the honour to his list of achievements on his profile.

''I go to add this to my Tinder profile, Thank you my brothers and sisters, this means so much. More than I can possibly fathom. I watch everything, I watch you all and the work has been mesmerising, so I thank you all," the actor said in his acceptance speech leaving the audience in splits.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
French Health Ministry Confirms Three Cases of Coronavirus

Sputnik News

19:27 GMT 24.01.2020(updated 23:02 GMT 24.01.2020)

Earlier, two cases of a new type of coronavirus were confirmed in the French cities of Paris and Bordeaux, the first in Europe, French Minister of Health Agnes Buzyn said.

France has confirmed three cases of the deadly coronavirus from China, the French Health Ministry said.

The minister previously said that it is likely that there will be other cases.

The minister of health gave some information on the first case, reported in Bordeaux. "The patient [from Bordeaux] is 48 years old, he has returned from China and he has passed through Wuhan. He consulted [doctors] about his symptoms on January 23. Since yesterday, he has been hospitalized in Bordeaux, he is held in an individual chamber," Buzyn said, as quoted by France Info.

The minister added that the infected man had contacted around 10 people upon his return to France.

As for the second infected person, less information is available. He is also held in a personal chamber in the Bichat hospital in Paris.

The unknown type of viral pneumonia, which was first detected in late December, has recently been confirmed by China and the World Health Organization (WHO) to be a new strain of coronavirus, currently being labelled as 2019-nCoV or Novel Coronavirus. It has already killed 26 people and infected over 890 others in China.

Confirmed cases of the new coronavirus have also been recorded in the United States, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand. However, the WHO said on Thursday that it was too early to declare a global emergency.

The Chinese authorities have taken drastic measures to contain the spread of the virus, including imposing curfews and restricting travel for up to 44 million people in central China's major cities on the eve of Chinese New Year.

 Sputnik

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Mumbai, Jan 25 : Filmmaker-author Tahira Kashyap, whose actor-husband Ayushmann Khurrana plays a gay protagonist in the upcoming "Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan", says it is important to be in love, irrespective of gender.

"I am proud of the films that he (Ayushmann) is doing, and even this one," said Tahira, about her husband's upcoming film, adding: "I feel the idea is to celebrate love, and the day we stop thinking and about whether it's a love story between a boy and a boy, or between a girl and a girl, we will have developed as a nation. It is important to be in love irrespective of gender and I am happy that he did this film." Tahira was interacting with the media at a meet-and-greet session with 100 breast cancer women at TATA memorial hospital in Mumbai. She has been a stage zero breat cancer survivor, and Ayushmann is known to have stood by her through her battle with breast cancer.

Image Source: IANS News

At the meet-and-greet event, Tahira shared an account of her cancer experience. She also celebrated her birthday by cutting a cake.

"Now, I have my make-up and have done my hair, but when I first came to TATA (hospital), I didn't arrive like this. Coming here today brought back memories of the time I was here as a patient. I was stressed and I didn't know what was happening. I was here to consult doctors to decide my line of treatment but there isn't bad taste about it. Everyone goes through some kind of problem in life and in my life this (cancer) was the problem but I want to have a fond memory of it. When it happened, I got much of support and I have come out of it," she said.

"Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan" is a romantic comedy drama, themed on homosexuality. It is the second instalment in the series that started in 2017 with "Shubh Mangal Saavdhan".

The new film of the franchise stars Ayushmann Khurrana with Jitendra Kumar in lead roles, and is written and directed by Hitesh Kewalya. Aanand L. Rai and Bhushan Kumar have produced the film, which is scheduled to release February 21.

-- Syndicated from IANS
NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday addressed the nation on the eve of 71st Republic Day. During his speech the Preidsent said that though the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary are three organs of a State, but in reality, the people comprise the State.

President Kovind also hailed the government for coming up with many development schemes like Swachh Bharat and Ujjwala Yojana.

Here are the top highlights of the President's speech:

-We are proud of the achievements of ISRO.

-We hope that our athletes will do well in the Tokyo Olympics: President

-Our athletes will have the prayers and blessings the entire country: President

-We also wish the best for the Indian contingent for Olympics 2020. They have the support of crores of people in their country: President Kovind

-Access to health, education considered the foundation of good governance. In both these sectors, we have come a long way in seven decades: President

-GST has fulfilled the vision of One India, One Market: President Kovind.

-The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has achieved tremendous success in a very short time: President

-The government has come up with many development schemes like Swachh Bharat and Ujjwala Yojana: President

-Strong internal security is essential for the development of the country. Therefore, the government has taken several concrete steps to strengthen the internal security system: President

-For our youth, the nation always comes first. With them, we are witnessing the emergence of new India: President

-When our land was pushed into backwardness after long colonial rule, education emerged as a path to empowerment: Prez

-Constitution guarantees justice, liberty, equality and fraternity, says President Kovind

-The Legislature, Executive and Judiciary, are three organs of a State. But on the ground, the people comprise the State: President.

-'We the people' are prime movers of the republic, with us rests real power to decide our collective future: President

The President's address, which began at 7 pm, was broadcast on the entire national network of All India Radio (AIR) and telecast over all channels of Doordarshan in Hindi followed by the English version. The broadcast of the address in Hindi and English on Doordarshan will be followed by broadcast in regional languages by regional channels of Doordarshan. AIR will broadcast regional language versions from 9.30 pm onwards on its respective regional networks.
As the turned virulent, India is understood to have requested China to permit over 250 Indian students stuck in Wuhan, the epicentre of the new SARS-like virus, to leave the city, sources here said on Saturday.

About 700 Indian students, mostly medical students, are believed to be studying in different universities in Wuhan and its surrounding areas. Authorities have prevented anyone from leaving Wuhan, the city of 11 million people at the heart of the viral outbreak which has so far infected nearly 1,300 people and killed 41 others.

While majority of the Indian students left for home on Chinese New Year holidays, over 250 to 300 students are said to be still in the city and its surrounding areas. Besides the students, the fast spreading virus has become a major worry for their parents back home.

Some students managed to leave the city just before it was sealed off on January 23. India has stepped up monitoring of passengers arriving from China, especially from Wuhan.

The sources here said that in view of the prevailing situation, India has requested both the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the local officials in Wuhan to consider making arrangements for the Indian students to leave.

Asked whether China would consider any request of countries to move their citizens out of Wuhan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told media here on Thursday that, We always help foreign consular officials in China in their official jobs, we offer them all the assistance and convenience necessary and we work to guarantee foreign citizens legitimate rights and interest in China.

While specific detailed would be provided by local officials, he said China in principle always handles issues according to domestic laws, international laws and bilateral consular agreements.

Authorities have extended transport bans to 17 other cities around Wuhan in an effort to control the SARS-like virus, restricting travel for around 56 million in Hubei province.

On Saturday, the city officials have also banned all private transport in the city as part of stepped up measures to ensure little movement in the city.

While India has earlier issued travel advisories to Indians travelling to China in view the coronavirus, the Indian Embassy here in the last few days has set up hotlines for the students in Wuhan to extend assistance and has talked to local officials about proper supply of food and other necessities for them.
President of Brazil, Jair Messias Bolsonaro met with External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar, here on Saturday.

The visit of Brazilian President, who is the Chief Guest of Republic Day Parade, is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations in the fields of agriculture, energy, and defence.

Bolsonaro is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising several ministers, senior officials, chairman of Brazil-India Friendship Group in the Brazilian Parliament, and businessmen.

The second day of his visit is packed with several engagements, including his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which will subsequently, be followed by the exchange of agreements between India and Brazil in different fields.

Brazilian Ambassador to New Delhi Andre Aranha Correa do Lago had told ANI on Tuesday that the two countries would ink over 15 agreements and launch a plan of action for the strategic partnership during Bolsonaro's visit.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  Questions surrounding the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement will soon be answered as the Department of Justice finished its study on the "proper procedure" in ending the country's two-decade military pact with the United States.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Saturday told reporters he will submit the department's findings in a memorandum to President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday.

He refused to disclose details, but said his memo will answer certain points of contention, including the following: "Is the VFA a treaty or an executive agreement? If its a treaty, is Senate concurrence required for termination? Who will give the notice of termination? Is it necessary to state any ground for termination?"

These questions have cropped up following Duterte's order to scrap the VFA  a drastic response to the US' cancellation of Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa's tourist visa. Dela Rosa has admitted that alleged extrajudicial killings under his watch as chief of the Philippine National Police from 2016 to 2018 may be the reason behind the revocation of his visa.

READ: Another police general's US visa canceled, Dela Rosa says

On Friday, Malacanang announced that Duterte is no longer waiting for the US to change its mind  the President already ordered to start the termination process. Foreign Affairs Secretary Tedoro "Teddy By" Locsin, Jr. said he quickly coordinated with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to heed the President's order.

Locsin said they will also discuss the issue with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, saying the VFA is considered by the Philippines as a treaty  requiring Senate concurrence for its passage  while the US treats it as an executive agreement.

Whether the Senate needs to concur with the termination of the treaty is still unclear, as the Constitution only says that the upper chamber's nod is needed for a treaty to come into force. This question is also the subject of petitions before the Supreme Court assailing Duterte's withdrawal of the Philippines from the International Criminal Court.

Meanwhile, the VFA states it can be terminated via a written notice from either the Philippines or the US. Expiration will come 180 days from the time either party notifies each other.

The 1998 agreement includes lax visa and passport policies for American troops and allows the US government to retain jurisdiction over military personnel if ever they commit crimes in the Philippines.

Zia Alonto Adiong, member of parliament of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority in a statement on Saturday called on the government to reconsider the planned termination, noting how the US forces helped liberate Marawi City from terrorists in 2017.

"Although I do not necessarily agree on the entirety of the Visiting Forces Agreement, I likewise could not deny the fact that though it took us 5 long months before Marawi was finally liberated, part of it was also due to the assistance we received by virtue of this mutual defense cooperation," Adiong said.

"I think it will be prudent to continue our defense cooperation at least on the aspect of intelligence sharing at this crucial time that our country has been targeted by transnational crimes as a potential area of operation to expand the ISIS global terror network in the ASEAN region," he added.

The Philippines and the US also have the Mutual Defense Treaty, which basically states that each country would come to the defense of another in case of an attack by a foreign country, and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which aims to improve joint exercises and humanitarian assistance and disaster response.

Guevarra said their study does not include how terminating the VFA would affect these other agreements. He said it may have to be studied separately by the Departments of Defense and Foreign Affairs.

CNN Philippines' Anjo Alimario contributed to this report.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is planning to disburse grade pay to its 20,000 employees as per the recommendation of seventh pay commission, civic officials aware of the development said.

Standing committee chairman Hemant Rasane and Leader of the House Dheeraj Ghate conducted a meeting on Friday with PMC employees union, municipal commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad and the officers union to discuss the implementation of the seventh pay commission.

Employees union demand implementation of the 7th pay commission, but the administration is of the view that the salary of the staff is already higher than that of state government employees and hence, it is not required. We have requested the unions and the civic administration to reach a middle ground so that elected members can take a decision on it, said Rasane.

Rasane said that if the new pay scale is implemented, it would put an additional burden of Rs60-Rs70 crore on the PMC exchequer. The pay scale of PMC employees is already high while the civic bodys revenue is low and hence, when we take a decision on the implementation of the grade pay, we consider all aspects of it, added Rasane.

Ghate said that almost 70 per cent of PMC employees fall in the class three and class four bracket. They are employed to undertake cleaning work and we will surely implement the new pay scale for them, said Ghate.

We need to conduct a series of meetings to come to a conclusion and find common ground, added Ghate.

We offered the employees union an option to increase their other incentives, rather than the basic pay hike. However, they are not ready for it, said Rasane.
Three Frenchmen and one Iraqi man linked to a Christian charity went missing on Monday, last seen near the French embassy in Baghdad. No ransom or claim have been made. The four are experienced staff members who have been working with us for years, said the charitys director.

Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies)  Four men working in Iraq for SOS Chretiens d'Orient (SOS Eastern Christians), a French Christian charity, have been missing since Monday, the charity announced yesterday afternoon

The four, three Frenchmen and one Iraqi, were last seen near the French Embassy in Baghdad.

No ransom demand has been received as yet and no group has claimed responsibility for their disappearance, the organisation's director Benjamin Blanchard said.

The missing workers, who were in Baghdad "to renew their visas and register the association with Iraqi authorities, were experienced staff members who have been working with us for years, Blanchard explained.

Kidnappings of foreigners have become rare in Iraq in recent years. In the past, they were targeted by groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) group, as well as Iran-backed militias and criminal organisations.

SOS Chretiens dOrient has been in Iraq since the second half of 2014 when IS began its rise in Iraq and neighbouring Syria. It helped tens of thousands of displaced people, Christians and Yazidis, forced to flee Mosul and the Nineveh Plain when these areas were overrun by IS.

Today the charitys work is centred in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, where many Christian families have found refuge and still live after almost six years.

The four men left their hotel by car for a meeting, which posed no problem, Blanchard said.

When they did not return, the charity contacted French authorities early Wednesday. Since then, French and Iraqi authorities have been working together to locate them.

For security reasons and to protect the mens safety, their names have not been made public. For their part, French authorities have imposed a news blackout.

The abduction comes at a crucial time for Iraq. Tens of thousands of people, over a million according to some, took to the streets yesterday in response to an appeal by radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who is calling for the expulsion of US troops from Iraq.

This protest was separate from anti-government protests that have been going for months in the capital.

Iraqs domestic troubles have been complicated by international tensions, in particular the head-on collision between the United States and Iran, in both Iraq and elsewhere.
Former US Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and their work in the Ukraine is 'relevant evidence' in the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump, one of the president's defense lawyers claim.

The Democratic front-runner and his son could even be called to testify if the Senate votes to permit witnesses next week.

Trump's team claim that any discussion on the president's call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would have to take the Bidens and their actions in the country into account.

The President's defense team began their case for Trump's acquittal on Saturday after Democrats spent three days outlining their arguments for impeachment. Trump's team surprisingly didn't name Joe and Hunter Biden by name.

Scroll down for video

Hunter and Joe Biden (pictured at the World Food Program Awards in 2016) have 'relevant evidence' that could see them called as witnesses in Trump's impeachment trial

Robert Ray, one of the President's defense lawyers, claims Joe and Hunter Biden must be considered in any investigation into President Trump's call with Ukranian President Zelensky

Speaking before they began their case, Robert Ray, one of the president's defense lawyers, stated that the Bidens' dealings in the Ukraine is 'relevant evidence' in the impeachment trial and they could be summoned to testify if the Senate votes to allow witnesses next week.

The lawyer implies that as the Trump and Zelensky conversation was about a potential investigation into the Bidens, the merits of such an investigation would also need to be addressed.

Trump allies claim Joe Biden, when he was vice president, pushed the Ukraine to fire a prosecutor to help the company Hunter Biden worked with.

Joe Biden said he was following international and Obama administration policy in regards to the prosecutor, about whom there were concerns was not doing enough to fight corruption.

Hunter Biden has previously said he never discussed his work in Ukraine or China with his father.

President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Jay Sekulow speaks to the press during a recess in the impeachment trial as he began the president's defense on Saturday morning

Trump's defense lawyer Robert Ray claims there was more evidence to impeach Clinton

'So you can expect if witnesses were called, it's not going to be just a situation where the House managers get to call the witnesses they want,' Ray said in an interview on the Yahoo News podcast Skullduggery.

'If your big contention here is that there was an improper motive by President Trump in pursuing this conversation with President Zelensky relative to the investigation of the Bidens, it seems to me your views about that are colored or affected by whether or not you think there was merit to such an investigation,' Ray continued.

'Seems to me that's relevant evidence.

'And after all, who's the defendant on trial in this matter? The president. He's entitled to a defense. It's a rather odd concept to say, 'Oh no, no, no. You can't present a defense with regard to the Bidens. That's irrelevant.' Really?'

The call to testify could become uncomfortable and potentially embarrassing for the Democratic front runner as new polls emerge showing that Bernie Sanders is pulling ahead in Iowa.

This is the second impeachment of a U.S. President that Ray has been involved in.

He headed the Office of the Independent Counsel from 1999 until it closed for business in 2002 and he wrote the final words on the scandals of the Clinton years.

That included the report on Monica Lewinsky, the report on the savings and loan misconduct claims which came to be known as Whitewater, and the report on Travelgate, the White House travel office's firing and file-gate, claims of improper access to the FBI's background reports.

He was a last-minute pic for Trump's defense team, only being announced on Friday, January 17.

Jay Sekulow, personal lawyer for President Donald Trump, attorney Eric Herschmann, and Pat Cipollone, White House counsel, arrive to being the president's defense on Saturday

It is still undecided if witnesses will appear in the impeachment trial as the Senate is to vote on whether they will be permitted next week.

When Trump's team began their defense on Saturday they argued that witnesses were not needed as the allegations made against the president were not enough to justify removing him from office.

Ray claimed that the two articles brought against Trump  abuse of power and obstruction of Congress have less substance than those brought against Clinton because they do not amount to a crime.

'For the first time in our history, we have articles that do not allege crimes,' Ray said.

'And even in the case of Bill Clinton... there was bipartisan support that understood that crimes had been committed. The only question was whether or not those crimes were such high crimes constituting an abuse of the president's oath of office that was sufficient to warrant the president's removal from office.

'You want to talk about whether or not bribery was committed, then we can talk about that,' Ray added regarding Trump's impeachment versus Clinton's.

'And if the Democrats thought it was so persuasive that bribery was shown here, why didn't they charge it? And the reason they didn't charge it is because there's insufficient evidence to show that bribery was committed.'

Ray offered few other details of what the team's defense would include before they began on Saturday morning, apart from repeating that the 'fuzzy,' 'nebulous' and 'standardless' articles of impeachment passed by the House would be a main line of attack.

The president laid out the team's attack line in a tweet ahead of the trial - saying his lawyers will go after prominent Democrats Adam Schiff, Chuck Schumer, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who had no formal role in the making the impeachment case before the Senate.

'Our case against lyin', cheatin', liddle' Adam 'Shifty' Schiff, Cryin' Chuck Schumer, Nervous Nancy Pelosi, their leader, dumb as a rock AOC, & the entire Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrat Party, starts today at 10:00 A.M. on @FoxNews, @OANN or Fake News @CNN or Fake News MSDNC!,' Trump tweeted Saturday morning about 20 minutes before the trial began.

Despite being the president's personal counsel, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is not a member of the impeachment defense team but has claimed that he will reveal information on the Bidens that will confirm they are corrupt.

Donald Trump tweeted about his defense team's approach 20 minutes before it began

Rudy Giuliani continues to claim he has evidence to prove the Bidens are corrupt

He had first promised new evidence when he appeared on Fox & Friends and vowed by Friday to release proof of what he claims is deep corruption involving Ukraine and the Bidens.

'This ends, hopefully, with Biden finally being put under investigation,' he said

'You don't think if these things were said about Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr., they wouldn't be under investigation immediately?'

Giuliani is yet to release the new information.

The president has made Hunter Biden and his work in the Ukraine and China a frequent target of his political taunts at his campaign rallies.

Neither Biden has been charged with any wrong doing.
January 23, 2020 Megan Nortrup , 202-339-8314

FREDERICK, Md.  Four national parks in western Maryland: Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park (NHP), Antietam and Monocacy National Battlefields and Catoctin Mountain Park will conduct deer management operations in Feb. and March 2020 to protect and restore native plants, promote healthy and diverse forests and preserve historic landscapes.



Extensive safety measures will be in place to protect park visitors and neighbors during operations. Biologists, who are also highly trained firearms experts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will work under the direction of National Park Service (NPS) resource management specialists and in coordination with law enforcement park rangers to perform reduction operations in a manner proven safe and effective.



Limited park areas will be temporarily closed while reduction operations are underway. Visitors and area residents are encouraged to check their local parks website for the most up-to-date information and are reminded to respect posted closures. Hunting is illegal in these four western Maryland national parks.



The NPS will donate all suitable meat from reduction activities to local food banks. Last year, national parks in western Maryland and the District of Columbia donated nearly 12,000 pounds of venison to local food banks.



All four parks are implementing previously approved white-tailed deer management plans. Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park will conduct its second season of deer reduction activities. Antietam National Battlefield and Monocacy National Battlefield will conduct their fourth season of deer reduction activities. Catoctin Mountain Park will continue with the 11th year of its deer management efforts.



Overabundant deer populations damage vegetation and eat nearly all the tree seedlings compromising the ability of forests to sustain themselves. Deer also damage the crops that are a key component of the historic setting. Crop farming was present at the battlefields during the Civil War and the parks enabling legislation mandates preservation of these important cultural landscapes.



Deer management has produced positive results at several area national parks. Catoctin Mountain Park has actively worked to reduce deer populations in the park since 2010 and has seen more than an 11-fold increase in seedling density over the past ten years. Several additional national parks across the country actively manage deer populations including Rock Creek Park (D.C.), Gettysburg National Military Park (Pa.), Fire Island National Seashore (Ny.), Valley Forge National Historical Park (Pa.) and Cuyahoga Valley National Park (Oh.).

-NPS-
THE Vice President of the United States Mike Pence met with US troops during a refueling stop at Shannon Airport this Saturday afternoon

Mr Pence who was returning to the US following a private audience with Pope Francis in Rome, disembarked Air Force Two to meet with the troops in the main terminal building of the airport.

Great seeing US Troops from Texas, Pennsylvania, and New York during our stop in Ireland today! Proud of you and grateful for your service! God Bless Our Troops!, he wrote on Social media.

In a video which was posted on his verified Twitter account, he can been seen posing for photographs and addressing the troops, who are en route to Iraq.

I didnt want to miss the opportunity to get off Air Force Two and tell you how grateful we are to each and every one of you and your families that are going to keep the home fires burning during this deployment. Were proud of you. Grateful for you. I know if your commander chief was standing here he would say the very same thing, he said.

Great seeing US Troops from Texas, Pennsylvania, and New York during our stop in Ireland today! Proud of you and grateful for your service! God Bless Our Troops! pic.twitter.com/t33rIXNFco  Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) January 25, 2020

Mike Pence made his first official visit to Ireland last September to attend a number of engagements in Dublin.
A case of sedition was lodged against a JNU student leader here on Saturday for a speech he delivered on the AMU campus on January 16 against the amended citizenship act and NRC, police said.

"A video clip of this speech was circulating on social media since Friday night and subsequent probe, including inputs from AMU authorities, confirmed that it pertained to a speech, containing subversive comments, that was delivered when Sharjeel Imam was addressing a protest rally at AMU," Senior Superintendent of Police Akash Kulhari said.

Kulhari said that a police team has left for New Delhi to arrest the student leader.

When contacted, AMU spokesman Professor Shafey Kidwai said that the contents of the video include some comments which are "highly objectionable" and university authorities are taking this matter very seriously.

He said the authorities will write a letter to the police to take strong action in this matter.

"We have zero tolerance for any activity which can in any way come under the category of anti-national activity. On January 10, we had written to the state government requesting them to keep a strict vigil on any external element who may infiltrate the ranks of our students who are holding a dharna at the Baab-e-Syed gate against the amended citizenship act," Kidwai said.

"We have also issued strict directives to our security staff to be extra careful about the identity of any external element who can infiltrate the campus and try to instigate trouble," he added.

Kidwai said that it was also in the broader interest of the student leadership at AMU to ensure that no such mischievous element is given any sort of space inside the campus as it would reflect on them as well.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Vatican has been fully re-admitted to the Egmont Group of world financial intelligence units after a suspension two months ago sparked by an investigation into the purchase of luxury London real estate. Carmelo Barbagallo, president of the Vaticans Financial Information Authority (AIF), said on Thursday the AIF would resume its collaboration with foreign financial intelligence units in full transparency and in the spirit of active cooperation.

The Egmont Groups president, Mariano Federici, had notified the AIF that it had been re-admitted to the use of Egmonts secure communications network, Barbagallo said in a statement. Egmont is a Toronto-based informal organisation with about 165 members. Its secure network allows members to share information about crimes such as money laundering, tax fraud and terrorism financing.

Egmonts acceptance of the Vatican six years ago was seen as a major step forward in cleaning up the Vaticans negative imagefollowing years of scandals, particularly involving its bank. The suspension on Nov. 13 was a major setback for the Vatican, which risked again being seen as a pariah by the international financial community.

On Oct. 1, Vatican police entered the offices of the AIF and of the Secretariat of State - the administrative heart of the Catholic Church - as part of their investigation of an investment the Secretariat had made in London real estate. The officers, operating under a search warrant secured by the Vaticans own prosecutor, seized documents, computers and cellphones during the raids.

The raid prompted concerns in the international financial community about the AIFs ability to keep confidential documents secure and led to the suspension from Egmont. The suspension was lifted after the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Vatican prosecutors, the AIF statement said.

Barbagallo, 63, a respected senior Bank of Italy official, was appointed by Pope Francis in November to succeed Swiss lawyer and anti-money laundering expert Rene Bruelhart. Bruelhart had headed the AIF for five years and the pope decided not to renew his mandate.

Five Vatican employees were suspended after the Oct. 1 raids, including AIF director Tommaso di Ruzza. Domenico Giani, Vatican security chief and the popes bodyguard, resigned later over the leak of a document related to the investigation.
Viewers of Friday night's Late Late Show have donated more than 290,000 to a GoFundMe page set up by Munster rugby player Billy Holland and his wife Lanlih.

People watching at home were moved to donate after the couple shared their story of the tragic loss of their daughter Emmeline when she was just six months old.

Emmeline was diagnosed with a heart defect while still in the womb, but it was initially expected that heart surgery would allow her to survive.

However, after she was born she was transferred to CHI at Crumlin where her parents were told, when she was three weeks old, that Emmeline would not survive very long.

"You can't believe they're talking about your baby. It's something I just can't describe, what it was like at the time," Lanlih told Late Late Show presenter Ryan Tubridy.

Billy and Lanlih were later told that Emmeline had a rare syndrome which could mean that she could live a long life.

However, in May 2019 their baby girl had minor heart surgery, which she survived, but a week later she was due to go home to Cork when she suffered a setback.

She was taken to ICU and ten days later she passed away in Lanilah's arms. She was just six months old.

"It was just the rawest emotion imaginable," said Billy of losing his daughter. "It's impossible to put into words to be honest with you."

"It was so cruel that she didn't make it," added Lanlih.

"And after she died we got to bring her home but then we had to face into what no one should have to face, which was picking out a coffin, picking out a grave plot.

"And the house, when we were at home there was so much activity, there was nurses in and out, we had her oxygen machine on, and now it was just silent.

"The machines were turned off and it was just silent. It was unbearable, the silence. Honestly, my body still longs for her, physically longs for her, the weight of her, holding her to kiss and cuddle her. It's unbearable at times."

Billy and Lanlih shared their story as part of a lengthy tribute to Crumlin Children's Hospital on the Late Late Show, and they commended the staff of the hospital for their dedication, commitment, and compassion.

"Seeing the nurses and doctors coming up to us at the removal and funeral just shows they're such compassionate people," said Billy.

Their story was just one of several shared by the parents and families of children who have been, and continue to be, treated at Crumlin.

Viewers were hugely moved by the tribute, and the GoFundMe page set up by Billy and Lanlih has already exceeded 300,000.

The couple, who had hoped to raise 100,000 will divide the funds raised between CHI at Crumlin, Cork University Hospital (children's wards) and the Ronald McDonald House.

Speaking about the donations, Ryan Tubridy said, "We are overwhelmed by the support and generosity shown by viewers of The Late Late Show last night.

"As we gathered in the green room after the show last night, we watched in awe as the donations kept coming in, the Irish publics generosity knows no bounds.

"We all wanted to acknowledge and give thanks to these incredible families, attending these wards day in, day out, and the phenomenal, constant and unparalleled dedication and work that takes place at CHI at Crumlin and throughout of Ireland's children's wards.

"People looking on last night knew that these stories could be any person's story, could knock on any of our doors, that these supports are vital. When the call came, the Late Late Show viewers answered...and then some"
Locusts were spotted in some villages of Punjab's Fazilka and Muktsar districts triggering fear among farmers as the destructive swarms are known to devour the vegetation wherever they settle.

The Punjab Agriculture Department (PAD), however, said necessary arrangements were in place to tackle a possible locust attack while ruling out any damage to crops at this stage.

Farmers from the two districts have urged the agriculture department officials to take urgent steps to tackle the pests.

"We have found locusts in our fields... they are not in large numbers though," said a farmer in Fazilka.

According to officials, locusts, popularly known as 'Tiddi Dal', have come from neighbouring Rajasthan which was attacked by one of the most destructive pests earlier this month following which authorities there undertook a massive exercise to contain the outbreak.

A few locust swarms were also reported in Anoopgarh and Sri Ganganagar districts of Rajasthan after their attack emanated from the desert area of Pakistan, they said.

"There is no need to panic. A very small number of locusts have been spotted at a few places here," said PAD Director Sutantar Kumar Airi asserting that there was no damage to crops.

"We have around 250 to 300 big sprayers and also arranged chemicals for containing any attack of swarms of locusts," said Airi.

Officials said that the department has already pressed into service several monitoring and survey teams to keep a close tab over the situation and are constantly surveying the border districts of Bathinda, Muktsar and Fazilka.

They further said that they were in touch with agri experts from Rajasthan as well as the Union government, who are closely monitoring the situation in Rajasthan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Italian scientists reported this week that a volcanic explosion not only killed one person, but turned the victims brain material into glass.

This is the first time that scientists have found that a volcanic eruption produced such an effect.

Officials at the Herculaneum archaeology dig reported the finding in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Mount Vesuvius erupted almost 2,000 years ago, in the year 79. The eruption killed people in the nearby cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

The remains of a man lying on a wooden bed were discovered in Herculaneum in the 1960s. He is believed to have been the custodian, or caretaker, of a place of worship - the Collegium Augustalium at Herculaneum.

A report describing the discovery noted that archaeologists rarely find brain tissue in ancient human remains. When they do, the tissue is usually smooth.

A team led by Pier Paolo Petrone examined the mans remains. Petrone is with the Federico II University in Naples. He and his team discovered that the victims brain matter had been vitrified. Vitrification is a process by which tissue is burned at a high heat and turned into glass.

A study of burned wood found near the remains suggested that the heat reached temperatures as high as 520 degrees Celsius. A sudden drop in temperatures followed the burst of extreme heat, which vitrified the brain material, the report said.

The resulting mass found in the victims chest bones is also unique among other archaeological sites.

The report said the finding could be compared with victims of more recent historic events like the firebombing of the German cities Dresden and Hamburg in World War II.

Im John Russell.

The Associated Press reported on this story. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

bed  n. something on which to lie or sleep on

worship  n. the act of honoring God or a being with supernatural powers

unique  adj. different from everyone and everything else

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Can't allow every person who thinks of some solution to COVID-19 to file petition: SC

Nirbhaya convict Mukesh Singh moves SC challenging rejection of mercy plea by President

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Jan 25: Nirbhaya convict Mukesh Singh has moved the Supreme Court challenging rejection of mercy plea by President Ram Nath Kovind.

"A petition has been filed under Article 32 for judicial review of the manner of rejection of the mercy petition in terms of the judgement of the Supreme Court in the Shatrughan Chauhan case," advocate Vrinda Grover, who is representing Kumar, told PTI.

Mukesh Singh has argued non-application of mind, one of the five grounds on which judicial review of the order of the President or the Governor under Article 72 or Article 161, as the case may be, is available to death row inmates.

The other grounds are if the order is mala fide, the order has been passed on extraneous or wholly irrelevant considerations, that relevant materials have been kept out of consideration or if the order suffers from arbitrariness.

The development comes just hours after the public prosecutor, appearing for the Tihar jail authorities, claimed that the convicts are only adopting "delaying tactics".

The advocate appearing for two of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case moved the Patiala House Court on Friday alleging that the Tihar jail authorities are delaying in handing over certain documents.

Advocate A P Singh moved an application alleging that the jail authorities are yet to release the documents which are required to file curative petitions for Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Singh (25).

The Supreme Court had recently dismissed the curative petitions of other two convicts Vinay and Mukesh Singh.

On December 17, President Kovind had rejected convict Mukesh Singh's mercy plea. His curative petition has already been dismissed by the Supreme Court.
Transparency International has released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) this week and Sub-Saharan Africa is perceived among the most corrupt regions with an average score of 32.

Overall, more than two thirds of the worlds countries  along with many of the most advanced economies  are stagnating or showing signs of backsliding in their anti-corruption efforts.

In Africa, Somalia is still ranked the worlds most corrupt country.

According to TI, the countrys poor rule of law has created room for everything from petty bribery to high-level political corruption.

This year, Somalia is preparing to hold its first one-person-one vote in over 50 years.

The East African country has been ravaged by a decades-long civil war, and more recently, attacks by Islamist militant groups.

Transparency International has called for the establishment of structures for political accountability to facilitate anti-corruption mechanisms.

In Africa, Seychelles improves on its transparency record with a score of 66, well above 50 recorded in 2018, the highest mark in the region.

Other high-scoring countries include Botswana (61), Cabo Verde (58), Rwanda (53), and Mauritius (52).

Commenting on the latest report, Delia Ferreira Rubio, Chair of Transparency International, said, Frustration with government corruption and lack of trust in institutions speak to a need for greater political integrity.

Governments must urgently address the corrupting role of big money in political party financing and the undue influence it exerts on our political systems, Rubio said.
(Natural News) Gastrointestinal (GI) problems have always been a common occurrence in many patients with autism, yet the mechanisms behind this phenomenon are not fully understood. Studies have shown that around 70 percent of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have a variant of gastrointestinal disorder, including gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and gastritis. If left untreated, these conditions could lead to chronic pain and certain behavioral manifestations like aggressive behavior and the tendency to self-injure. Now, recent research suggests that gene mutations found in both the gut and brain could be the main culprit for the GI woes of patients with ASD.

A study published in the journal Autism Research confirms the existence of a gut-brain nervous system link in autism, opening a new path in the search for potential effective treatments that target behavioral issues associated with autism. The researchers claim that this is the first study to confirm that the gut and brain share autism-related gene mutations.

Our findings suggest these gastrointestinal problems may stem from the same mutations in genes that are responsible for brain and behavioral issues in autism, said corresponding author Elisa Hill-Yardin. Its a whole new way of thinking about it  for clinicians, families and researchers  and it broadens our horizons in the search for treatments to improve the quality of life for people with autism.

The relationship between the gut and the brain

Researchers from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University in Australia assessed the role of a synaptic adhesion network  a group of four postsynaptic adhesion molecules called neuroligins  in autism-associated GI dysfunction. They focused on studying a well-characterized mutation in neuroligin-3 called R451C. This particular mutation was first discovered by previous researchers in a landmark study in 2003 within two siblings diagnosed with autism. This mutation affects communication by altering the velcro between neurons that keep them in close contact with each other.

The researchers of the current study have built on the clinical work done in the 2003 study through an analysis of the function and structure of the gut in mice that have the same velcro gene mutation. From their analysis, the researchers found that the mutation affects multiple factors, including gut contractions, the number of neurons in the small intestine, the responses to a critical neurotransmitter important in autism, and the speed with which food moves through the small intestine. (Related: Autism linked to deficiency in healthy gut bacteria: Research.)

In addition, the researchers found significant differences in the gut microbes of mice with the mutation compared to those without it, even though both groups of mice were kept in identical environments. While this velcro mutation is considered rare in most cases, it is one of more than 150 different autism-related gene mutations that could alter neuronal connections. This suggests that there is a broader mechanism indicating that these mutations are the culprit behind the gut problems of many patients with ASD.

Hill-Yardin said that their research reveals a new target for the development of effective therapies designed to work on neurotransmitters to the gut. She also said that there is a need to better understand how existing medications for autism that target neurotransmitters in the brain are affecting the gut of patients with ASD. Future research should focus on investigating how gene mutations in the nervous system relate to the microbes found in the gut.

We know these microbes interact with the brain via the gut-brain axis, so could tweaking them improve mood and behavior? said Hill-Yardin. While this wouldnt reverse the gene mutation, we might be able to tone down its effects, and make a real difference in the quality of life for people with autism and their families.

Sources include:

ScienceDaily.com

OnlineLibrary.Wiley.com

FocusForHealth.org
Police in Ireland are investigating the deaths of three children whose bodies were found in a house in Ireland.

The Garda responded to a call on Friday night and found the body of brothers Conor, nine, and Darragh McGinley, seven, as well as their sister, three-year-old Cara.

A post-mortem will be carried out on Saturday to determine how the three children died.

A female relative in her 40s who was also found at the scene is undergoing treatment at hospital.

Police have described the deaths as "unexplained" but it is understood they are not looking for anyone else in relation to the incident.

Councillor for the area Emer Higgins described the events as an "unimaginable tragedy".

"My thoughts are with everybody impacted," said the Fine Gael representative.

"This is a really tight-knit community, it's a small area, it's a quiet area, and it's just unthinkable that something like this could be happening on our doorstep.

"It's so tragic. It's unbelievable that three young people's lives could be cut short like that, in what seems to be a particularly tragic case."

An incident room has been set up in Clondalkin police station and officers have appealed for anyone with information to come forward.
Q: In the 1980s, when our children were very young, my husband and I left Park Slope, Brooklyn, for Levittown to raise our family, even though neither of us were from Long Island. Our children are now grown and have moved back to the city, where we visit them frequently. Were interested in moving back to Brooklyn, but were torn. Were in our early 60s, so how would we adjust to being renters again? Or to owning an apartment rather than a house? Id miss having a backyard and my husband likes coming home to the suburbs. When do we know its time to move?

A: Sometimes, the decision to move is made for you: New love combines two homes. A job leads you to a new city. A baby demands more space. Its harder when the choice is all yours.

Right now, you need more information about what you want and whats available. Talk to a financial adviser about your long term goals and how selling your house and buying a new one could impact them. Talk to local real estate brokers and ask them to evaluate your home and its listing price. How quickly are homes are selling near you, and for what prices? Visit local open houses to assess your competition.
(TNS)  The firm handling Potter County's IT services said it is considering a pair of security options designed to bolster data backup solutions."I met with Potter County's primary vendors to discuss changing the county backup solutions to something more robust that would include features such as air gapping," said David Blankenship, Andrews & Associates IT Solutions Chief Information Officer. "Air gapping means that the backup data is not directly connected to the network. The reason that's important today is because more of the threats like new strains of ransomware attack backups as well."Andrews & Associates IT Solutions was hired by Potter County officials last August on the heels of an April 2019 ransomware attack that triggered a series of vast system outages."There's actually two that we're looking at," Blankenship said, regarding the potential cost estimates. "One is an updated tape product. Tape has been around a long time - air gapped because the backup data on tape, once the backup is there, is stored some place else so it can't get hacked. I'm waiting for quotes for both products. That is the lesser of the two, and it's expected it will be under $20,000."Blankenship said the other option being considered could potentially carry a six-figure price tag."The way the other product works, it also has some security measures and metrics it offers," he said. "When a backup is being made, it opens up access to what it needs to recover that data, copies that data, then closes it."Andrews & Associates IT Solutions previously noted a new firewall has been installed, the encryption process has been initiated on county IT devices, and another layer of protection would soon be introduced in the form of dual authentication - adding a second level of identity verification to the log-in process.County officials said, during the first quarter of this year, they are anticipating receiving a formalized IT disaster recovery plan crafted by Andrews & Associates IT Solutions.
A Red Bull pilot has reportedly died in a horror plane crash while training in Guatemala.

The aerobatic jet is seen spiralling to the ground before smashing through a marquee in Iztapa yesterday.

The shocking incident has reportedly killed two people with another missing, though it is not clear who they were.

Footage shows the aerobatic jet spiralling to the ground before smashing through a marquee in Iztapa yesterday. The crash has reportedly killed two people with a third missing

In a statement released last night, Guatemala's voluntary fire service confirmed two had died and said another was missing.

Guatemala Aeroclub said in a statement: 'With much regret and pain the club reports that today an accident occurred.

'We want to express our most sincere condolences and reiterate our pain to all those affected.

'As an association, we are already collaborating with the respective authorities carrying out the investigation into the incident.'

Footage shows the plane perform loops and barrel rolls before it dips and heads towards the ground.

It races towards the person recording before levelling out at the last minute.

But the plane hits the grass bottom first and skids along the earth and out of shot.

The plane races towards the person recording the footage before levelling out at the last minute, but then hits the grass and skids along the earth, before going out of shot

Red Bull pilot Kirby Chambliss said on Facebook: 'An accident occurred during this afternoon's practice session in Iztapa, Guatemala, ahead of the airshow scheduled for this weekend.

'Kirby is okay and safe. The airshow has been cancelled. We are unable to release any further details at this time.'

Francis Argueta Aguirre, head of the Directorate of Civil Aviation in Guatemala, added on Twitter: 'We regret the tragic accident that occurred on Friday in Iztapa, when the professional pilot of the Chambliss team sponsored by Red Bull, performed acrobatics manoeuvres prior to the exhibition that was scheduled for Saturday morning.

'Our deepest condolences to the bereaved.'
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Students all over the borough are invited to attend the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Fair on Saturday.

The fair, held at Curtis High School from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., will allow for students to access vital information on historically black colleges and universities across the country.

In some cases, students will be able to gain access to on site admission for select colleges at the fair.

Students can expect to be able to speak to representatives of 30 colleges, attend valuable financial workshops and sign up for top-notch mentorships.

Parents are also invited to attend as they can find out important financial-aid information as well as learn about resources to help them and their children.

The event is organized by the Historically Black Colleges and University Experience, which has been helping Staten Island students attend events like these for the past 10 years.

The HBCU experience has exposed hundreds of Staten Island high school students to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, said Celestine Cox, a spokeswoman for the organization. This annual free event has helped Staten Island students identify and attend HBCU Colleges all over the United States. Many students have graduated and returned to their Staten Island communities, she added.
According to pollsters, the country is as divided as ever, between those who love Brexit, those who hate it, and those who are so sick of it they cant stand to hear another word. Some Brits are thrilled at the prospect of a Global Britain, freed from the constraints of the E.U. and empowered to forge lucrative trade deals around the world. Others fear a smaller, more isolated, middling Britain, sucking the fumes of other nations roaring ahead. Stay tuned.
Beijing launched its highest level of emergency response to control the new coronavirus as three more people in the city have been diagnosed with the disease since Thursday, the municipal government said.



Twenty-nine people in Beijing were diagnosed with the disease by 2 pm on Friday, with one in critical condition, director of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission Lei Haichao said during a news conference held in Beijing on Friday afternoon.

The 273 people who have had close contact with the infected have been put under medical observation, and none have shown any irregularities thus far. The city also launched a level 1 public health emergency response - the highest level of response in China, Lei said.

The municipal government asked those returning to Beijing from infected areas to stay home for 14 days and avoid going out.

Shanghai and Chongqing also announced on Friday they had launched a level 1 response. Shanghai will enforce the measure that requires people from infected areas to stay at home or be quarantined in groups for 14 days, the municipal government said.

By Thursday, 20 people in Shanghai had been diagnosed with the disease and two are in critical condition, according to the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission on Friday.

Like many cities, Shanghai has canceled all large-scale public events.

Besides Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, Anhui provinces and Tianjin have all launched the highest level of public health emergency response as of 4:00 pm Friday.
In a revelation that threatens his hold on office, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been accused of lying about his attendance at a boozy Downing Street garden party in May 2020  at the height of Britain's strict COVID lockdown.

The latest: Johnson delivered a statement on Wednesday confirming for the first time that he attended a lockdown-breaking party, telling Parliament: "I want to apologize. I know millions of people have made extraordinary sacrifices. I know the anguish they have been through. I know the rage they feel."
Lucknow: The Lucknow police have filed an FIR against several protesters, including the son of Muslim religion guru Kalbe Sadiq, in the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) at Ghantaghar in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow. This case has been registered for traffic jams and violations of Section 144.

Earthquake in eastern Turkey, 18 died

On Friday, a procession was organized in support of women protesting at the Clock tower. Due to the procession, the clock tower was jammed. In this regard, the police have registered this FIR. A case has been registered in Thakurganj police station against 10 named and hundreds of unknown protesters under sections 145, 147, 188, 283 and 353 of the Indian Penal Code i.e. IPC.

Shiv Sena's big announcement, Pakistan and Bangladeshi infiltrators must be removed

Women are protesting in Ghantaghar in Lucknow about CAA and NRC. The movement is being intensified by Ramdhun and patriotic songs at the performance venue. The protesters say that we will not tolerate this injury on the basic spirit of the Constitution. We have to hit the road to save democracy and the Constitution. They say that our fight will continue.

Case can be filed against the chief organizer of protestors in Assam
The patient is a 30-year-old woman from Wuhan. It is not clear whether she is Japanese or Chinese. Fearing xenophobic reactions, the authorities are maintaining maximum confidentiality about those infected. Fear hasnt stopped lunar New Year celebrations. Yesterday thousands of people watched the Tokyo Tower lit in red to usher in the Year of the White Rat.

Tokyo (AsiaNews/Agencies)  The Japanese Ministry of Health confirmed the countrys third coronavirus infection this morning.

The patient identified by the authorities is a woman who comes from the Chinese city of Wuhan (the epicentre of the infection). She arrived in Japan on 18 January. It is not clear whether she is Japanese, Chinese or of a third nationality.

Health officials have said that they will maintain absolute confidentiality in such cases, given the very high risk of creating a media circus and sparking xenophobia or classism.

In any case, the 30-eyar-old woman shows no symptoms since catching the disease.

She went to a hospital in Tokyo of her own free will, where the infection was confirmed.

At 11 am today, Chinese authorities released the latest infection data, reporting at least 1,326 cases, 729 in Hubei province alone. Wuhan is Hubeis provincial capital.

The death toll currently stands at 41, 30 in Hubei, one in Hebei, one in Heilongjiang, and two in Guangxi. In the latter, a two-year-old girl is the youngest patient to be infected.

In one day, the number of infections and deaths almost doubled. Doctors warn that people infected initially show no symptoms.

Meanwhile, the virus is spreading to other parts of the world.

In Europe, three cases were confirmed in France, one in Bordeaux and two in Paris. One case has been reported in Australia, two in the United States, three in Singapore, one in Nepal, five in Thailand, two in Japan, two in Vietnam, two in South Korea, and one in Taiwan.

In Japan, the health emergency has not stopped Lunar New Year celebrations, which began today.

Last night, the iconic Tokyo Tower lit up in red, as it has done for the past ten years, to usher in the Year of the White Rat.

Thousands of people celebrated on the streets, albeit wearing health masks.
Poll panel tells Twitter to remove controversial tweet by BJP candidate from Model Town.

NEW DELHI: Poll authorities on Friday directed the Delhi Police to file an FIR against BJP candidate Kapil Mishra in connection with his controversial tweet in which he likened the election in the city to a India versus Pakistan contest, sources said.

The Election Commission had earlier asked Twitter to remove the tweet by Mishra, a candidate from the Model Town seat. A show cause notice was also issued to him by the poll authorities for violation of the poll code.

The returning officer (RO) has directed the Delhi Police to file an FIR against Kapil Mishra in connection with his controversial tweet, a a senior official of the Delhi CEO Office told this newspaper.

We took cognisance of the tweet, and wrote to EC last night seeking its removal. The EC then asked Twitter to remove his tweet. The tweet is a violation of the Model Code of Conduct and the the Representation of the People Act, so we have taken action, Delhi CEO Ranbir Singh said. We have also issued a showcause notice to Kapil Mishra, he said.

In its criticism of opposition parties over their protest against the citizenship law, the BJP has been accusing them of speaking Pakistans language. Authorities at the Delhi CEO Office had earlier said that social media posts are being constantly monitored to check for any provocative or inflammatory posts or tweets being made by users, related to the polls.

In a series of tweets in Hindi on Thursday, Mishra had also lashed out at anti-CAA protesters in Shaheen Bagh and other places in the city. India vs Pakistan 8th February Delhi. There will a contest on Delhi Roads between India and Pakistan on February 8. Pakistan has already entered Shaheen Bagh and small pockets of Pakistan are being created in Delhi, he had tweeted.

In another post, Mr Mishra claimed that the BJP will win the February 8 polls and Kejriwal will resign from his post when votes are counted. Mr Mishra faces AAP MLA Akhileshpati Tripathi in the elections.
Mitch McConnell pictured walked to his office ahead of the hearing: Getty Images

One of Barack Obamas top advisers as president says voters have a chilling lack of interest in the impeachment case, which he blames on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnells cynical calculation.

David Axelrod, Mr Obamas former chief strategist, met with a focus group of Democratic voters in Chicago on Friday in which he says impeachment didnt come up until more than an hour into the discussion.

When it did, the voters said they were ready to move on because the outcome of the Senate trial - in which Mr Trumps team began his defence on Saturday - was a foregone conclusion.

Speaking to CNN he said: I was in a focus group this morning for the Institute for Politics here at the University of Chicago with some Chicago Democratic voters, and it was chilling to hear them talk about this.

Because impeachment didnt come up, no one volunteered it, for 80 minutes into the focus group, and were right in the middle of the trial.

"When it came up, they said, you know, it's terrible what he did, the case has been proven, but we know how it's going to turn out, so we're not really that interested, we're ready to move on."

Mr Axelrod said Mr McConnell and the president were banking on that strategy working, describing it as: They can take the hit here, buffalo their way through this and the public will move on. Its a cynical calculation, but it may not be the wrong calculation."

Some 20 Republicans would need to vote with all Democrats to convict the president and remove him from office, a highly unlikely outcome.

Political analyst David Axelrod helped Barack Obama win in 2008 (Getty)

House impeachment managers wrapped up their third day of opening arguments in the impeachment trial on Friday, which has drawn millions of viewers.

But the peak audience of 11 million pales in comparison to the 20 million who tuned in to watch former FBI director James Comey testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2017, while 16 million watched Mr Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen testify before the House Oversight Committee in 2018.
(L-R) Brad Whitford, Joey Kramer, and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith perform during the 2018 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival at Fair Grounds Race Course on May 5, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/WireImage)

The classic rock band Aerosmith will be performing at this weekend's Grammy Awards ceremony, but when they do, it will be without founding member Joey Kramer, their drummer of 50 years. Kramer filed a lawsuit against the group to regain his place with them at the ceremony, but it was denied.

In April 2019, Kramer suffered minor shoulder injuries that forced him to miss dates on the band's "Deuces Are Wild" residency in Las Vegas. His drum tech John Douglas filled in, but when Kramer tried to return, they threw him a curveball  if he wanted to come back, he would have to re-audition, and the rest of the band would evaluate his performance to see if he could still play well enough to rejoin the band.

Aerosmith said they invited Kramer to rejoin the group, but he "has not been emotionally and physically able to perform with the band, by his own admission for the last 6 months."

"Joey has now waited until the last moment to accept our invitation, when we unfortunately have no time for necessary rehearsals during Grammys week," the band said.



Kramer, for his part, sued the six companies jointly owned by the five band members for breach of contract. However, Kramer said that the lawsuit was not about money.

"I am being deprived of the opportunity to be recognized along with my peers for our collective lifetime contributions to the music industry," he said in a statement. "Neither the MusiCares' Person of the Year Award nor the Grammys' Lifetime Achievement honors can ever be repeated."

Kramer's lawsuit was denied by a Massachusetts court, which said he "has not shown a realistic alternative course of action sufficient to protect the band's business interests."

With the lawsuit out of the way, it would seem that's the end of the story. However, CNBC spoke with attorneys and music industry professionals, some of whom said that this is not over.

"From a publicity angle, this is not the best look for the band," said Tommy Marz, founder of the music site Sound Vapors. "You're talking about an original member of the band that fans have come to love and expect to see on stage."

Dan Passarelli, an options trading educator and a member of the band The Bishop's Daredevil Stunt Club, said that the situation looks bad, but for the plaintiff more so than the defendants.

"This makes Joey Kramer look bad," he said. "Aerosmith is the brand name. The band will get much more support from the public. I think the perception in most people's minds is that if he didn't pass, he must not be very good at this point."

He added that the lawsuit might have created a rift that may never go away.

"There's really no coming back from this," he said. "Joey is probably out of the band for good after this."

As far as whether the band was within its legal rights to bar Kramer from returning, attorney J.R. Skrabanek said that depends entirely on the agreement that was in place.

"We can presume Aerosmith has a legal entity and an operating agreement that governs how it is to be managed, and the agreement may provide certain rights and remedies, including conditions members might have to meet to be eligible to play shows," Skrabanek said. "We really have no way of knowing because the band's operating agreement is a private  and likely confidential  document."

Be that as it may, Skrabanek said that it would have benefited all parties involved to keep this situation private.

"From a non-legal perspective, band infighting is always bad optics, and band members are well-served to keep any disputes between them out of the media," he said.

Rafe Gomez, co-owner of VC Inc. Marketing, said that there was a very simple remedy that could have bypassed the U.S. legal system entirely  use a second drummer, as was the case at the 2014 Grammys tribute to the Beatles.

"When [Beatles drummer Ringo Starr] was on stage, he was joined by veteran drumming superstar Kenny Aronoff," he said. "Kenny's performance was prominent in the audio mix, while the camera focused on Ringo's drumming. Everybody won with this arrangement... a similar approach would keep Joey's bandmates happy, and Aerosmith's fans would be thrilled."

Michael Stover, owner and president of the MTS Records label and the MTS Management Group publicity firm, said that this entire affair will go away the second the next news cycle comes up.

"From a PR standpoint, I don't see it making much difference," he said. "Aerosmith is a juggernaut. They will most likely reach some kind of settlement, and this will all go away."

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report
Two more men have accused Robert Goodlin, a former shop teacher, of sexually abusing them while they were students at New Jersey schools where he worked.

In May, Goodlin, 76, was sentenced to three years in state prison after he was convicted of sexually assaulting two other students when he worked at a public middle school in Elizabeth from 1993-2004.

Before he worked in Elizabeth, though, Goodlin taught wood shop and auto mechanics at Secaucus High School and ran the schools fishing club in the 1980s. The new lawsuits were filed by two students who attended Secaucus High.

One alleged victim, now 49, said Goodlin continually abused him between 1984-1987 at the high school and various other Secaucus locations, as well as in Goodlins car and at Goodlins lake house in West Milford.

The man claims Goodlin made sexually explicit comments toward him, including telling him he had a tight ass and asking him how often he masturbated.

The other alleged victim, now 51, says Goodlin used the fishing club as a false pretense and coercive tool for luring young male students to secluded areas of upstate New Jersey in order to sexually abuse them.

That student says on one occasion, at the Ramapo Valley County Reservation, Goodlin isolated him from other students, gave him alcohol, showed him pornography and masturbated in front of him.

The lawsuit says Goodlin also hired the student to work for his painting side business, and while they were painting once in Hoboken, he wrestled him to the ground, grabbed him by his throat, pinned him down and told him he was going to force him to have anal sex. He also called the student gay in front of other students during school, the lawsuit says.

Yearbook photos of Robert Goodlin when he worked at Secaucus High School.

The Secaucus school district is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which alleges the board, administration and coworkers knew or should have known about Goodlins behavior and failed to take any action.

No one from the district returned a request for comment on the lawsuits. Calls to Goodlins home went unanswered.

Goodlin was one of the teachers featured in an NJ Advance Media investigation that revealed a broken system for vetting and hiring teachers. The damning cycle, known as passing the trash, helped multiple educators get hired in new schools after allegations of misconduct or abuse, including one teacher later convicted of sexually assaulting six students in three different school districts.

Although several accusations were made against Goodlin while he was teaching in the Elizabeth school district, he was able to resign and went on to teach as a substitute in two other school districts, including Secaucus, the investigation noted. After NJ Advance Medias report, a law that would require schools to reveal investigations about sexual misconduct was passed by the state legislature.

In Elizabeth, authorities said Goodlins first victim was sexually assaulted from 1993-1998 at the victims Elizabeth home, in Goodlins vehicle and multiple times at Goodlins cabin located in North Jersey. The sexual abuse involving the second victim took place from 2002 to 2004 in various locations in Elizabeth. Both victims were under the age of 18 at the time of incidents.

In September 2018, a Union County jury awarded $1.15 million in damages to the first victim. The Elizabeth school district also paid a $600,000 settlement awarded in June 2017 in the same case, for a total of $1.75 million. A civil lawsuit filed by the second Elizabeth victim is ongoing.

Depositions and school documents from Elizabeth allege Goodlin demonstrated what experts called some of the most obvious signs a teacher could be grooming students for abuse, prompting reports from concerned teachers and calls to the Union County prosecutors office.

Despite the red flags, Goodlin was never removed from the classroom for more than a few days. Instead, in 2004, he was allowed to retire. After retiring, Goodlin worked again in Secaucus for four months as a substitute teacher and then for two years as a substitute in Wood-Ridge.

My clients are relieved that they are finally able to get justice against this serial child abuser under the new law passed by Gov. Murphy this year, said their attorney Brian Schiller, of Schiller McMahon in Westfield. Still, we hope that the governor will pass a similar bill which would remove the criminal statute of limitations for sexual assault, so that Robert Goodlin can be prosecuted for what he did to my clients when they were children. I cannot fathom anyone opposing new legislation which eliminates the criminal statute of limitations for sexual assault."

The criminal statute of limitations under the current law does not allow Goodlin to be prosecuted in the newly filed cases because the alleged abuse occurred in the 1980s, beyond the 25-year limit.

Read more:

Im sorry for anybody Ive inconvenienced, says former shop teacher who sexually abused 2 students

Teachers accused of sexual misconduct keep getting jobs in N.J. Heres why

Jessica Remo may be reached at jremo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaRemoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
A 1.5m settlement, plus costs, has been approved over the death of a pregnant young mother who had been kept on life support due to doctors' concerns about the Eighth Amendment.

Some 1.3m, for failings in care at Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar, will go to Natasha Perie's two children, now aged 11 and nine. Ms Perie was aged 26 and almost 15 weeks pregnant when pronounced brain dead in late November 2014.

She was kept on life support for almost another four weeks due to doctors' concerns about the implications of the Eighth Amendment - since repealed - for the foetus.

Life support was ended after her family obtained High Court orders to that end on December 26, 2014. Her father Peter Perie later took proceedings in which the main claim was for damages for his two grandchildren, the girl now aged 11 and the nine-year-old boy, over the loss of their mother's care.

Both children, who have different fathers, had been living with their mother in Mr Perie's home but, since her death, were separated to live with their fathers. The HSE admitted liability in the fatal dependency proceedings but disputed the extent of damages sought, some 3.2m.

The HSE defence was managed by the State Claims Agency which had offered some 1.5m. Nervous shock claims by seven family members were previously settled and Ms Perie's daughter received 150,000 in those proceedings.

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The larger fatal dependency hearing opened on Tuesday before Ms Justice Deirdre Murphy after a mediation failed to secure agreement and the 1.5m offer made earlier this week was not accepted.

The family had last November received an apology from the Mullingar hospital and the HSE over failings in Ms Perie's care at the hospital in late 2014. She was pronounced brain dead days after her admission there on November 27, 2014, but was then kept on life support.

Ms Justice Murphy heard evidence from Mr Perie, members of his extended family and the children's fathers. She also heard evidence from a doctor concerning the impact on the children of seeing their mother on life support.

Dr Frances Colreavy said Ms Perie's eyes did not close properly. She said nurses told her the children, especially the then six-year-old girl, were upset, with both refusing to touch their mother. The girl was described as "inconsolable".

Evidence was also given by a care expert who said both children would require live-in nannies until they left home. The judge expressed reservations about that and certain other aspects of the claim.

Talks began between the sides on Thursday and, yesterday morning, Mr Justice Kevin Cross was asked by Jonathan Kilfeather SC, instructed by Gillian O'Connor solicitor, of Michael Boylan Litigation, to approve the 1.5m offer.

Mr Kilfeather said the 1.5m offer was now being recommended arising from evidence given during the hearing before Ms Justice Murphy and the latter's views about some aspects of the claim.
The deadly respiratory virus that has infected nearly 1,300 people worldwide  including at least two people in the United States  has not reached the Bay Area, but public health and infectious disease experts are bracing for potential cases and ramping up outreach to those most at risk of falling ill.

In California, 18 people ranging from 3 to 58 years old had been tested as of Friday, and no cases of infection had been confirmed, according to the state Department of Public Health. Nationwide, 63 patients have come under investigation in 22 states; two were confirmed positive and 11 tested negative, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The positive cases  a man in Washington state and a woman in Chicago  are individuals who had recently traveled to Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak. Both patients are in stable condition but remain hospitalized for infection control.

This is a rapidly changing situation both abroad and domestically. This virus was only identified in the past month and there is much we dont know yet, said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, in a news conference Friday. While there are many unknowns, CDC believes the immediate risk to the American public continues to be low at this time.

Forty-one people have died from the new illness. The vast majority of cases have been reported in Wuhan or other areas of China. Though there are signs that the virus is spreading from human to human, its unclear how easily transmissible it is.

The outbreak was first reported in Wuhan at the end of December, with about 40 cases of pneumonia not caused by a previously identified virus or bacterium. About a week later, scientists found that the illnesses were all caused by a new coronavirus.

Members of the Bay Areas Asian American communities are closely watching the contagion, said Cynthia Choi, co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action.

There is a tremendous amount of concern because we have a lot of community members who have family there, Choi said. There is just widespread panic and concern.

Coronaviruses most often cause mild cold symptoms. But they can also cause severe illness. A coronavirus caused SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), which infected 8,000 people and killed nearly 800 worldwide in 2002 and 2003. Like the new coronavirus, SARS originated in China before exploding worldwide. A second coronavirus causes MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome), which has infected 2,500 people and killed nearly 900.

SARS eventually petered out, partly due to aggressive public health efforts to stop transmission. But before then it wreaked havoc worldwide, leading to quarantines of entire hospitals and tens of thousands of people in some parts of the world.

Fewer than a dozen people ended up testing positive for SARS in the United States. In the Bay Area, at least one resident was confined to isolation after falling ill with suspected SARS symptoms and refusing to comply with self-quarantine orders.

Officials with Bay Area hospitals and public health agencies said they are far better prepared now than they were 18 years ago to handle an outbreak of a never-before-seen disease.

Were way advanced compared to SARS, said Dr. Jeffrey Silvers, medical director of infectious disease at Sutter Health in the Bay Area. For starters, the cause of illness was identified much more quickly this time, resulting in an early diagnostic test.

Also, the original outbreak was identified very early by Chinese authorities. Less than a month after the first reports, travel out of Wuhan and other parts of China has been restricted and the government has shut down large gathering areas, including Shanghai Disneyland.

The United States started screening passengers flying from Wuhan to three U.S. airports  including San Francisco International  last weekend. As of Thursday, about 2,000 people had been screened, CDC officials said. But now that travel out of Wuhan has been stopped, U.S. officials are reconsidering how best to screen for potential incoming cases.

We are re-evaluating our approach, said Dr. Marty Cetron, director of CDCs division of global migration and quarantine. He added that recent public health efforts have focused on getting word out to people who recently traveled to China to be on alert for symptoms of the new illness and to contact their doctor or local public health department if they think they may be sick.

The spread of the virus comes as many travel within and out of China to other countries to celebrate the Lunar New Year, stoking fears amid what is considered one of the biggest traveling periods.

People have heightened awareness of the risk, said former San Francisco Supervisor and Assessor Mabel Teng. Lunar New Year is the most significant holiday.

Both U.S. patients who have tested positive reported themselves to health care providers.

The new disease primarily involves lower respiratory symptoms, including cough and shortness of breath, plus fever. At this time, patients are only suspected cases if they have symptoms and have recently traveled to Wuhan or have had close contact with someone who tested positive for the disease.

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.

Dr. David Witt, regional health care epidemiologist for Kaiser Permanente Northern California, said the health systems call centers have been fielding questions and concerns from patients who think they could be sick, or at risk of falling ill, with the new virus. But so far no cases have emerged.

At this point, theres way more worry than actual cases, he said. Witt added that Kaiser has disaster plans in place for these kinds of outbreaks, and that from what he knows of the new virus so far, the health system should be able to safely care for any patients that test positive.

We have had no major suspect cases in Northern California yet. But we will get some, he said. When that happens, we have directions on what kind of protection our staff needs to use. We will work with the health department to get the testing done. It will involve pretty strict isolation, but thats within the range of what we do routinely.

Dr. Susan Philip, director of disease prevention and control at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, advised people to take the normal precautions they would take during cold and flu season  washing hands, covering a cough, getting a flu shot, staying home when sick  to stave off common respiratory ailments that cause unnecessary worry.

She assured that local hospitals already have the infrastructure to handle any cases of coronavirus that may arise.

The equipment, the techniques, the procedures ... are already in place at the hospitals, and this is what we use every flu and cold season, Philip said. There are no special isolation (rooms), special techniques or special equipment required other than what is already good hospital practice.

Staff writers Alejandro Serrano

and Rachel Swan contributed

to this report.

Erin Allday is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: eallday@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @erinallday
The US president is expected to release the details of his long-delayed plan for Israel and Palestine within days.

United States President Donald Trump is expected to soon release his long-awaited Middle East plan  more than two years after his administration began drafting its vision for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The policy proposal has been delayed multiple times and has been kept largely under wraps.

Here is what we know so far:

The timing

Trump said the White House will release the plan on Tuesday at 17:00 GMT.

The US president held separate meetings on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rival in the upcoming Israeli elections, Benny Gantz. The Palestinian leadership, which has rejected the proposal before it is even released, was not invited to Washington, DC.

Sitting down in the Oval Office during his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump said his plan makes sense for everybody, and said that for Palestinians, its something they should want.

They probably wont want it initially, Trump said. But I think in the end they will  Its very good for them. In fact, its overly good to them. So well see what happens. Now without them, we dont do the deal and thats OK.

Trump added, We think theres a very good chance that theyre going to want this.

The proposal is expected to be favourable to Israel, and Netanyahu has hailed it as a chance to make history and define Israels final borders. He also invited several settler leaders to join him in Washington for the roll-out of the plan.

Trump held a separate closed-door meeting with Gantz.

The presidents peace plan is a significant and historic milestone indeed, Gantz told reporters later.

Immediately after the elections, I will work toward implementing it from within a stable, functioning Israeli government, in tandem with the other countries in our region.

The plan will be rolled out as Trumps Senate impeachment trial continues on Capitol Hill and as Netanyahu seeks parliamentary immunity from prosecution in corruption cases. Both leaders also face re-elections: Israelis are due back in the polls on March 2 and Trump is gearing up for the US presidential election on November 3.

The US has tried to release the plan multiple times previously, but Israel has been engulfed in a political crisis after Netanyahu failed to form a majority government twice last year, creating uncertainty over who would be in charge to negotiate a peace deal.

There have been several false starts by the US administration in the unveiling of a plan that has been ready for some time now, said Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen, the director of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Program at the United States Institute of Peace.

Some think that the administration is running out of patience waiting for Israeli elections that may yet again not be conclusive, Kurtzer-Ellenbogen told Al Jazeera.

Observers say by inviting both leading candidates, the US may be hoping to get Israels next prime minister on board in advance.

Palestinian rejection

The Palestinians have already dismissed the deal of the century, as the plan is widely dubbed, saying it will likely be heavily tilted in Israels favour  like several other steps taken by Trump since taking office in January 2017.

Over the past three years, the Trump administration recognised Jerusalem as Israels capital and relocated the US embassy there from Tel Aviv; reversed decades of US policy by refraining from endorsing a two-state solution; announced that it no longer views Israeli settlements in occupied territory as inconsistent with international law; stopped funding the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA; and slashed hundreds of millions of dollars of aid to Palestinians, among other steps.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) cut off all talks with Washington since the first of these moves, and a spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas said this week that the Palestinian leadership had a clear and unwavering position to reject any Trump-led initiatives.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh denounced the still-unpublished proposal in Ramallah on Monday, saying: We reject it, and we demand the international community not be a partner to it because it contradicts the basics of international law and inalienable Palestinian rights.

Shtayyeh added, It is nothing but a plan to finish off the Palestinian cause.

In a Twitter post, Saeb Erekat, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said any proposal that ignored Palestinian rights would be recorded in history as the fraud of the century.

Reminder to the International Community:Israel is an Occupying Power of the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders ( East Jerusalem , West Bank and GazaStrip ).Any deal, attempt or dictation that ignores this fact, will be recorded in history as the Fraud of the century  Dr. Saeb Erakat    (@ErakatSaeb) January 24, 2020

Trump said his administration has talked briefly to the Palestinians.

But we will speak to them in a period of time, he added. And they have a lot of incentive to do it. Im sure they maybe will react negatively at first, but its actually very positive to them.

We took away their money, Trump added. Thats a lot of money for them.

Jordanian protesters take part in a protest against the deal of the century, after Friday prayers in Amman, Jordan, with banners reading Down with the agreement of humiliation and shame and Jerusalem supports whoever supports it [File: Muhammad Hamed/Reuters]

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2014, and Palestinians say the policies of the Trump administration have rendered Washington incapable of being an honest mediator in any future negotiations.

This peace plan is a euphemism, said Noura Erakat, a human rights lawyer and assistant professor at Rutgers University. There is no peace involved in it.

It is an oppressive, top-down dictate to the Palestinians that the United States together with Israel are about to seal an oppressive status quo for Palestinians, Erakat told Al Jazeera.

The Palestinians want Israel to fully withdraw from the occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem  territories Israel has been occupying since the 1967 war. The Palestinians want those territories to become part of a future independent state, with East Jerusalem as its capital. They also seek the right of return for millions of refugees.

Economic plan

The economic portion of the veiled plan was published on June 22, just before its presentation in a gathering in Bahrain, which was boycotted by the Palestinian leadership.

Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner proposed a $50bn investment fund during a two-day workshop called Peace to Prosperity aimed at boosting the Palestinian and neighbouring Arab economies, arguing that this approach could generate prosperity in the occupied Palestinian territories, and Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon.

Jared Kushner speaking at the Peace to Prosperity conference in Manama, Bahrain [File: Handout via Reuters]

The plan included infrastructure, business and tourism projects as well as the construction of a travel corridor in Israel that would link the West Bank and Gaza Strip with a highway.

Israeli government officials did not attend the event in Manama while several Arab states stayed away or sent low-level delegations.

Contents of the plan

The development of the plan began in November 2017 by a Kushner-led team of advisers and officials including chief negotiator Jason Greenblatt, Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell and Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

The plan is reportedly dozens of pages long, but its political outlines remain a closely guarded secret.

Kushner said the proposal would not include the phrase two-state solution. Previous US administrations oversaw the peace process between the two sides based on the two-state solution, which sees a Palestinian state established within the June 4, 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

If you say two-state, it means one thing to the Israelis, it means one thing to the Palestinians, Kushner told the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in May.

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and White House Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt attending the opening of an ancient road in the occupied East Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan [File: Tsafrir Abayov/Pool via Reuters]

We said, You know, lets just not say it. Lets just say, lets work on the details of what this means.'

In an interview with the Times of Israel in 2018, Greenblatt said: It will include a resolution to all of the core issues, including the refugee issue, and will also focus on Israels security concerns. In fact, he added, the proposal will be heavily focused on Israeli security needs.

But we also want to be fair to the Palestinians. We have tried hard to find a good balance. Each side will find things in this plan that they dont like. There are no perfect solutions.

Palestinians fear that the plan seeks to use economic incentives to bribe them into accepting Israeli occupation, in what could be an Israeli aim to annex the majority of the West Bank and most of the Jordan Valley, a strategic and fertile strip of territory.

International support not guaranteed

It remains unknown what effect the announcement will have, and what will follow. It is also unclear if the plan will garner any international support. The UN and most of the international community have long supported a negotiated two-state solution as the basis of any plan in the region.

There are some in the White House who genuinely believe that there is enough in this plan that might make the Palestinian side think twice and after reading it might say, We dont like it but lets talk, said Hady Amr, former deputy special envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict under the administration of Trumps predecessor, Barack Obama.

We dont know exactly what is going to happen, but we do know that they have something rigorous that has been written up, Amr told Al Jazeera.

It will not answer every question, but it will answer a number of questions.
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A nurse wearing a protective suit and face mask treating the sick in Wuhan has claimed that 90,000 people have already been infected by the coronavirus in China  far more than the figure of just 1,975 issued by government officials.

Her warning from the heart of the outbreak emerged as the Chinese government faced accusations of censoring criticism of its handling of the disease in order to play down the crisis.

The outbreak of the new virus originated in China, where it has infected more than 1,970 people and killed 56, and has spread worldwide.

Speaking in video footage seen online, the unnamed woman says: Im in the area where the coronavirus started. Im here to tell the truth. At this moment, Hubei province, including Wuhan area, even China, 90,000 people have been infected by coronavirus.

The unnamed woman issued the warning in a social media video, saying she is working in Hubei province which includes the Wuhan area

The woman also advised everyone in Wuhan not to go outside, in order to avoid them being infected with the virus, and asked for more equipment to be sent to the city

Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying the country is facing a grave situation, held a politburo meeting on measures to fight the outbreak, state television reported on Saturday.

The country is facing a 'grave situation' where the coronavirus is accelerating its spread, Xi told the meeting, which took place on the Lunar New Year public holiday.

Despite China being initially praised for its transparency in managing the situation, critics have now claimed that officials are scrubbing the internet of videos that reveal the true situation.

However, the nurses report has been viewed almost two million times on YouTube. In the footage, she warns people not to go outside and to refrain from celebrating the Chinese New Year.

She said: I would like to say that everyone who is currently watching this video should not go outside. Dont party. Do not eat out. Once a year, we celebrate Chinese New Year. If you are safe now, you will be able to meet your family again healthy next year.

Making a desperate plea for supplies, she said: We dont care what the government says. I will tell you through social media. Everyone, please donate masks, glasses and clothes to Wuhan.

Please help us. Please donate disposable goggles, disposable masks and disposable clothing. Currently our resources are not enough.

In this Friday, Jan. 24, 2020, photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, a medical worker attends to a patient in the intensive care unit at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province

China's government has faced criticism for censoring the number infected. Pictured above is the Wuhan Huanan South China seafood market where it is believed coronavirus may have made the jump to humans

A patient is treated for coronavirus in Wuhan Red Cross Hospital today. Sufferers have reportedly collapsed in the street due to the infection

Horrifying clips have been posted online by shocked citizens only to be deleted shortly after. In one, the sick are seen sitting between drips and oxygen tanks next to three dead bodies covered in white sheets. The footage was deleted from social media channel Weibo.

Last week, in rare public dissent, a senior journalist at a Hubei provincial newspaper run by the ruling Communist Party called for an immediate change of leadership in Wuhan on Weibo. The post was later removed.

The Peoples Daily, a state-owned newspaper, posted a video of an apparently cured patient flashing the peace sign alongside four medics.

But the Global Times revealed that vital resources, including masks and goggles, were urgently needed.

Critics have also claimed that many health experts who would have been able to warn the government at an early stage of the dangers of coronavirus have been detained or had their research stopped because they were not working within the Chinese state.

The accusations of a cover-up echo the furore surrounding the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic in 2002 when the government concealed the existence of the illness not just from the outside world but from its own people.

This map shows all the areas where coronavirus has been identified so far, including Canada

A patient on a drip in the intensive care unit of Zhongnan Hospital at the University of Wuhan

Cities across the United States and Canada are on high alert amid the escalating coronavirus crisis as 63 people in 22 states are suspected to have contracted the deadly strain. The map above shows confirmed and suspected cases in the US and Canada

An Illinois woman has confirmed to have contracted coronavirus and is being treated at St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estate, Illinois (seen above on Saturday)

Newspapers were forbidden from reporting the disease other than occasional statements from government officials reassuring the public there was nothing to worry about.

The state put such effort into suppressing negative headlines that when an ill traveller from Guangdong arrived in Beijing, doctors had no idea what he was suffering from.

Cities across the US are on high alert as two coronavirus cases are confirmed in Chicago and Washington, 63 people are tested in 22 states and 1,000 American citizens are told to evacuate Ground Zero in Wuhan

Cities across America are on high alert amid the escalating coronavirus crisis as 63 people in 22 states are suspected to have contracted the deadly strain.

Two cases have been confirmed in the US but officials have said they expect that number to grow as dozens more people are being tested for the virus that's sickened more than 1,400 and killed 42 in at least 12 countries.

Surges in medical mask sales have been seen in areas where possible cases have been reported as people do what they can to avoid contracting the disease, which experts say may be spread as easily as the common cold.

Extra precautions are being taken at airports nationwide as all passengers inbound from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak originated in late December, are being funneled to five major hubs for screening.

The US government has also ordered evacuations for some 1,000 citizens and diplomats in Wuhan.

The city, which has a population of around 11 million, has been under quarantine since Thursday as officials try to slow the spread of the virus traced back to a seafood market where wildlife was allegedly sold illegally.

Tensions have been high at US airports as travelers worry about exposure to the virus in such a high-traffic, confined environment. Staff at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago are seen wearing face masks on Friday

Last week, US officials began funneling all passengers arriving in the US from Wuhan on direct or connecting flights through five major airports - including O'Hare (pictured) to ensure that they are screened

Passengers are seen arriving at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Friday

Screenings are also in place at Los Angeles International Airport. A staff member is seen wearing a face mask at LAX on Friday

Both of the American patients already diagnosed with the disease - a man in his 30s in Washington state and a 60-year-old woman in Chicago - has recently traveled to Wuhan. They are being held in isolation at hospitals and are said to be recovering well.

It appears that all of the patients currently awaiting test results after showing symptoms consistent with the virus - such as fever, cough and runny nose - had either visited Wuhan recently or were in contact with someone who visited the city.

Those patients are believed to have all been isolated either in hospitals or in their homes to reduce the risk of exposing others.

US health officials warned on Friday that the flu or other respiratory illnesses could complicate efforts to identify additional cases.

CONFIRMED US CORONAVIRUS CASES 1. Man in Washington state The first US coronavirus case was confirmed on Tuesday, January 21. The patient - a Washington man in his 30s who lives in Snohomish County - has been quarantined at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, outside of Seattle. The man had had traveled by himself from Wuhan but did not visit any of the markets at the epicenter of the outbreak. He reportedly had no symptoms upon arrival in the US on January 15, but after reading about the outbreak online and developing symptoms, he contacted his doctor. The patient allegedly sought treatment on January 16 and was tested the following day. He is said to be in stable condition. He is being treated in a bio-containment room by a few staff members and a robot to limit the spread of the virus. The robot has a stethoscope attached to take the man's vitals and a large screen so doctors can communicate with him, Dr George Diaz, chief of the infectious disease division at the Providence Regional Medical Center, told CNN. 'The nursing staff in the room move the robot around so we can see the patient in the screen, talk to him,' Dr Diaz told the network. Officials have also been monitoring more than a dozen people the man reportedly came into contact with in the five days between when he arrived back in the US and when he was diagnosed. 2. Woman in Chicago The CDC confirmed the second US case on Friday - a 60-year-old woman in Chicago, Illinois, who had traveled to Wuhan in late December. The woman, who has not been named, arrived at O'Hare International Airport on January 13 but did not begin experiencing symptoms until several days later. Health officials say the woman appears to be 'well' and in stable condition. She is in isolation at a hospital in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Advertisement

'We're really working to understand the full spectrum of the illness with this coronavirus,' Dr Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Messonnier, said at a briefing.

'The problem with this time of year is its cold and flu season and there are lots of cold and respiratory infections circulating.'

The CDC has recommended that anyone with symptoms contact a health-care provider before seeking treatment so the appropriate precautionary measures can be put in place.

The agency is trying to expedite screenings by providing up tests to state health officials.

It currently takes the CDC about four to six hours to make a diagnosis once a sample arrives at its lab.

Two people from Minnesota and three people from Michigan are currently being tested.

The patients from Michigan have reportedly agreed to remain in isolation until their tests results return, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Also being monitored are two college students, one from Texas A&M University and another from Tennessee Tech University.

The Tennessee Department of Health said it decided to test the TTU student because he or she had 'very mild symptoms' and had a recent concerning travel history that met the criteria for testing.

No results have been confirmed and the student is being kept in isolation.

For the Texas student, Brazos County Health District officials said the male had 'mild' symptoms that resembled the coronavirus and had traveled to Wuhan recently.

Results of tests will be announced to the public if the patient tests positive for coronavirus.

Officials said the patient is currently being kept isolated at home and that it is safe for student to attend classes.

'This patient did travel to the area of concern in China within the last 14 days and thankfully had mild upper respiratory symptoms, and he was improving,' said Dr Eric Wilke with the Brazos County Health Department.

'I believe the time the patient presented at the emergency department, it was more out of concern,' said Dr Eric Wilke with the Brazos County Health Department.

Medical supply stores around the Brazos Valley, where Texas A&M is located, are reportedly experiencing a medical mask shortage after the possible case was reported.

Genese Smith, who works at MediCare Equipment in Bryan, just a few miles off campus, told KBTX that an influx of customers came to the store looking for masks on Thursday.

'Within about 30 minutes of word getting out, we started getting phone calls asking if we have the masks, what kind of masks did we have, and how many we had available,' Smith said. 'Quite a few people started coming in, asking, and purchasing.'

Smith said the store typically stocks about 50 masks but has already ordered more.

Other stores in the area, including Texas A&M's Health Services Department, are also awaiting new shipments of masks after their current stocks ran out, per KBTX.

President Trump thanked President Xi Jinping and China for its 'transparency' in fighting coronavirus on Twitter Friday

In California, Los Angeles International Airport has been on high alert after a passenger who arrived on Wednesday was sent to hospital after he or she appeared to be ill.

The unnamed passenger arrived on an American Airlines flight from Mexico City around 7pm, CBS Los Angeles reported.

However, it remains unclear if the passenger is from Mexico City, or if they originated from another city.

Several people in the state, particularly in Alameda County and the Bay Area, are also being examined to see if they have the virus that resembles SARS.

On Friday, North Carolina's Department of Health and Human Services also reported that it is investigating a case.

The suspected patient arrived at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on January 23 after having traveled to Wuhan but not to the seafood market to which many early cases have been linked, according to a news release.

Officials are planning to temporarily shutter the US Consulate General in Wuhan (pictured)

Four other potential cases are also under investigation in New York state.

In Colorado, a patient with respiratory symptoms was placed in isolation at Lakewood's Centura - St. Anthony Hospital after they were found to have recently traveled to Wuhan.

The hospital said it could be several days for coronavirus test results to come back from the CDC, but public health risk is considered low at this time.

Coronavirus: What we know so far What is this virus? The virus has been identified as a new type of coronavirus. Coronaviruses are a large family of pathogens, most of which cause mild respiratory infections such as the common cold. But coronaviruses can also be deadly. SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, is caused by a coronavirus and killed hundreds of people in China and Hong Kong in the early 2000s. Can it kill? Yes. Seventeen people have so far died after testing positive for the virus. What are the symptoms? Its symptoms are typically a fever, cough and trouble breathing, but some patients have developed pneumonia, a potentially life-threatening infection that causes inflammation of the small air sacs in the lungs. People carrying the novel coronavirus may only have mild symptoms, such as a sore throat. They may assume they have a common cold and not seek medical attention, experts fear. How is it detected? The virus's genetic sequencing was released by scientists in China to the rest of the world to enable other countries to quickly diagnose potential new cases. This helps other countries respond quickly to disease outbreaks. To contain the virus, airports are detecting infected people with temperature checks. But as with every virus, it has an incubation period, meaning detection is not always possible because symptoms have not appeared yet. How did it start and spread? The first cases identified were among people connected to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan. Cases have since been identified elsewhere which could have been spread through human-to-human transmission. What are countries doing to prevent the spread? Countries in Asia have stepped up airport surveillance. They include Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines. Australia and the US are also screening patients for a high temperature, and the UK announced it will screen passengers returning from Wuhan. Is it similar to anything we've ever seen before? Experts have compared it to the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The epidemic started in southern China and killed more than 700 people in mainland China, Hong Kong and elsewhere Advertisement

In Washington state, where the first US case was confirmed, the Northwest Chinese school in Bellevue called off weekend classes for preschoolers through adults amid concerns about the virus.

'We take the health of our students and families very seriously and think that this is the best course of action,' officials wrote in an email announcing the cancelled classes.

On the University of Washington's Seattle campus, a Chinese student association has been distributing face masks and asking students to contribute to efforts to send supplies such as face masks and protective suits to China.

Tensions have been high at US airports as travelers worry about exposure to the virus in such a high-traffic, confined environment.

Last week, US officials began funneling all passengers arriving in the US from Wuhan on direct or connecting flights through five major airports to ensure that they are screened.

Public health entry screenings are currently taking place Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, John F Kennedy International Airport in New York and San Francisco International Airport.

The screening begins with a survey to determine whether a traveler shows possible coronavirus symptoms and whether they visited the meat or seafood markets in Wuhan that have been tied to the outbreak.

If they appear to have any symptoms associated with coronavirus, travelers are taken to on-site triage for further examination and a temperature check.

The State Department issued its highest travel warning for Wuhan on Thursday, advising Americans to not travel to the region.

The level 4 warning puts the city on par with countries such as Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.

The US government is also working to prevent American exposure abroad by bringing home all US citizens currently in Wuhan.

The US consulate is reportedly reaching out to all Americans registered as living in Wuhan - considered to be the epicenter of the deadly outbreak - to offer them a seat on a charter flight scheduled for Sunday.

A source familiar with the operation told CNN that roughly 1,000 Americans live in Wuhan, and those who choose to evacuate will be forced to pay for their spot on the Boeing 767 jet, which carries around 230 people.

The US evacuation was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, citing an official source.

However, another source who spoke to CNN disputed the Wall Street Journal's claim that any available seats may be offered to non-US citizens and diplomats from other countries, saying that non-US citizens would only be allowed onboard if they are related or married to Americans.

It is understood medical personnel will be on the flight to care for anyone who may have been infected by the virus and prevent it from spreading.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said it is involved in the efforts to help Americans leave Wuhan.

'Department of State has the lead for the safe and expedient ordered departure of all US citizens from Wuhan, China,' CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund told CNN. 'CDC is aware and coordinating in the planning.'

Washington was given approval for the operation from China's Foreign Ministry and other government agencies following negotiations in recent days.

The US also plans to temporarily shut its Wuhan consulate, it said.

In a tweet on Friday, President Donald Trump thanked President Xi Jinping and China for its 'transparency' in fighting coronavirus.

'China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!' Trump wrote.

Canada hospital says it has confirmed case of deadly virus

A Toronto hospital said Saturday it has a confirmed case of the deadly virus from China, Canada's first.

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre said it is 'caring for a patient who has a confirmed case of the novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China.'

Officials said the man is his 50s and recently flew from Wuhan, China to Guangzhou, China and then on to Toronto on January 23.

'He really wasn't in Toronto very long. He wasn't feeling well. I think he was at home and the people that live with him are in self isolation,' said Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario's Associated Chief Medical Officer.

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre said it is 'caring for a patient who has a confirmed case of the novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China.' Officials said the man is his 50s and recently flew from Wuhan, China to Guangzhou, China and then on to Toronto on January 23

People waiting for passengers wear masks at Pearson airport arrivals, shortly after Toronto Public Health received notification of Canada's first presumptive confirmed case of coronavirus, in Toronto

Travelers are seen above wearing masks at the arrival hall at Pearson airport in Toronto on Saturday

After the first presumptive case was announced, Toronto Mayor John Tory said health officials say the risk to the public is low

In Canada, while the case has been confirmed by a test in Toronto, officials said it has yet to complete separate testing by the federal government's National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases in Winnipeg.

The illness will officially be fully confirmed once it completes that testing.

Dr. David Williams, Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health, said they are 95 per cent sure it is the virus.

'This is the first presumptive confirmed case,' said Williams.

'While we are convinced our tests do demonstrate positivity there is confirmation at the national medical laboratory in Winnipeg and once that is done is is a fully confirmed case.'

The man is now in stable condition in isolation. He was admitted to hospital a day after his flight to Toronto.

Mayor John Tory said health officials say the risk to the public is low.

Xi warns of 'grave situation' as killer coronavirus accelerates, doctor dies and US evacuates its citizens from hotspot Wuhan after death toll jumps to 42 with 1,372 cases and 56 million on lockdown

The deadly coronavirus is 'accelerating' and China is facing a 'grave situation', the country's president has said - as at least one doctor has died from the virus and the US prepares to evacuate citizens from crisis-hit Wuhan.

The virus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan, already on lockdown and where the virus is thought to have originated, banned most vehicle use downtown and Hong Kong said it would close schools for two weeks as authorities scramble to stop the spread of an illness that has infected more than 1,400 people worldwide and killed 42.

Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke following an emergency government meeting to warn that the spread of the killer virus is worsening, as video emerged showing medics collapsing at hospitals in the capital of central China's Hubei province as the coronavirus outbreak continues to move across the world.

As of 8 pm local time (1200 GMT) on Saturday, the death toll in China had risen to 42, authorities reported. Some 1,372 people in China had been infected with the virus - traced to a seafood market in Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife.

The virus has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, and the United States.

China's president Xi Jinping has warned the virus is accelerating as Chinese cities remains on lock down. A patient is pictured above being rushed to Red Cross hospital in Wuhan today. People have been pictured lying in the street after collapsing

Coronavirus is now reported to have infected more than 1,280 people in several countries. (Medical staff wearing protective gear in Wuhan Red Cross Hospital today)

Passengers pictured arriving at Heathrow airport wearing face masks. The virus has not yet reached the UK, according to medical professionals, although cases have been recorded in neighbouring France

People wearing face masks to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city, are seen at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan (pictured, patients line up along the corridor)

China's President Xi Jinping addressed the nation today (pictured) and said: 'It is necessary to strengthen the centralised and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee'

State-run China Global Television Network reported in a tweet that a doctor who had been treating patients in Wuhan, 62-year-old Liang Wudong (left), had died from the virus. It was not immediately clear if his death was already counted in the official toll of 56, of which at least 39 were in the central province of Hubei, where Wuhan is located (right, doctors donning white boiler suits treat patients at Wuhan Central Hospital)

Photos from inside the intensive care unit at Zhongnan Hospital in Wuhan show medical workers caring for critically-ill patients this week

'Faced with the grave situation of an accelerating spread of the new coronavirus [...] it is necessary to strengthen the centralised and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee,' Xi said, according to official news agency Xinhua.

It comes as Liang Wudong, 62, who had been treating patients in Wuhan, died from the virus this morning, state-run China Global Television Network reported.

Wudong, who was retired but drafted in to help with the outbreak, died after time spent treating patients. It was also reported that another doctor, Jiang Jijun, has died from a heart attack while treating the afflicted.

It is unknown if the infectious disease specialist, who has treated bird flu and influenza A and tuberculosis over the years, died as a result of coronavirus or from exhaustion.

And the US, which has around 1,000 citizens in the city, is set to evacuate those it knows about - including diplomats - on a 230 seater charter flight tomorrow.

The US government won approval for the operation from China's Foreign Ministry and other government agencies following negotiations in recent days, The Wall Street Journal reports. The British Foreign Ministry is yet to confirm whether it will do the same.

Also today, distressing video has emerged showing a doctor collapsing on the floor as footage revealed the full scale of panic inside Wuhan hospitals, with crowded corridors and patients slumped on the floor.

Video shows staff shouting at patients to calm themselves as medics desperately try to contain the situation. Some workers are reported to be wearing diapers as they don't have time to use the toilet amid the panic.

Some 56 million people are now subject to restrictions on their movement as authorities expand travel bans in central Hubei province, now affecting 18 cities.

Other shocking developments in the outbreak today include:

China's National Health Commission said it had formed six medical teams totalling 1,230 medical staff to help

Videos from inside Chinese hospitals show patients crammed into overcrowded corridors and laid on the floor

Global airports have stepped up screening of passengers from China, though some have questioned its worth

China says virus is mutating and can be transmitted through human contact, mostly affecting the frail and old

Shanghai has shut all cinemas until 30 January in a desperate bid to try and stop the spread of the killer virus

Wuhan will impose ban on non-essential vehicles in downtown area from January 26 to contain virus outbreak

Hong Kong declares a virus emergency announcing a series of measures to limit city's links with mainland China

Starbucks said it was closing all outlets in Hubei province, following a similar move by McDonald's in five cities

Yum China Holdings Inc said it has temporarily closed some of its KFC and Pizza Hut stores in Wuhan as a result

All overseas group tour services, including hotel and plane bookings, from Chinese travel firms to be suspended

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has declared a virus emergency in the Asian financial hub, announcing a package of measures to limit the city's links with mainland China.

Schools, now on Lunar New Year holidays, would remain shut until February 17, while inbound and outbound flights and high speed rail trips between Hong Kong and Wuhan would be halted.

China's National Health Commission has announced it had formed six medical teams totalling 1,230 medical staff to help Wuhan. Three of the six teams, from Shanghai, Guangdong and military hospitals have arrived in Wuhan.

Did China pressure World Health Organisation not to declare international emergency? China's status as a major superpower may have influenced the World Health Organisation's decision not to declare coronavirus an international emergency, experts have warned. More than 1,300 people have been infected globally with the virus traced to a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife. Despite this, the WHO has failed to declare a global health crisis. On Thursday the organisation said it was 'too early' for such a decision but added an emergency could still be declared if the outbreak continues to spread. 'This should not be taken as a sign that we don't think the outbreak is serious, or that we are not taking it seriously,' said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 'Nothing could be further from the truth.' Now, baffled experts have warned that their decision may have been influenced by China. Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, told The Daily Telegraph: 'The criteria for declaring a public health emergency of international concern have been met.' But 'not all WHO decisions are made based on the developments in the biological world,' he added. Advertisement

China will suspend both domestic and overseas Chinese group tours, state media reported today, as it ramps up efforts to contain the new SARS-like virus.

Starting on Monday, all overseas group tour services, including hotel and plane ticket bookings, from Chinese travel agencies will be suspended, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Domestic tour groups were suspended from Friday, it said.

Wuhan, a city of 11 million, has been in virtual lockdown since Thursday, with nearly all flights at the airport cancelled and checkpoints blocking the main roads leading out of town. Authorities have since imposed transport restrictions on nearly all of Hubei province, which has a population of 59 million.

In Beijing today, workers in white protective suits checked temperatures of passengers entering the subway at the central railway station, while some train services in eastern China's Yangtze River Delta region were suspended, the local railway operator said.

The number of confirmed cases in China stands at 1,287, the National Health Commission said today.

U.S. coffee chain Starbucks said on Saturday that it was closing all its outlets in Hubei province for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, following a similar move by McDonald's in five Hubei cities.

Yum China Holdings Inc said it has temporarily closed some of its KFC and Pizza Hut stores in Wuhan in response to the coronavirus outbreak in the Chinese city.

'We will continue to evaluate the need for additional actions and preventive health measures,' Yum China said in an emailed statement.

The virus has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, Malaysia, France, the United States and Australia.

Australia on Saturday announced its first case of coronavirus, a Chinese national in his 50s, who had been in Wuhan and arrived from China on Jan. 19 on a flight from Guangzhou. He is in stable condition in a Melbourne hospital.

'Given the number of cases that have been found outside of China and the significant traffic from Wuhan city in the past to Australia, it was not unexpected that we would get some cases,' Australia's Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy told a news conference.

'This is the first confirmed case. There are other cases being tested each day, many of them are negative, but I wouldn't be surprised if we had further confirmed cases.'

Medical staff members wearing protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city, walk at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in China

The new virus comes from a large family of what are known as coronaviruses, some causing nothing worse than a cold. It causes cold- and flu-like symptoms, including cough and fever and, in more severe case, shortness of breath. It can worsen to pneumonia, which can be fatal. Most of China's provinces and cities activated a Level 1 public health alert, the highest in a four-tier system, the state-owned China Daily newspaper reported Saturday (pictured, medics at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital)

The world's most populous country scrambled to contain the disease that has already infected nearly 1,300 people, building a second field hospital to relieve overwhelmed medical facilities and closing more travel routes as the country marked the Lunar New Year holiday (pictured, residents bulk buy supplies amid the outbreak)

Distressing video has emerged showing a doctor collapsing on the floor as footage revealed the full scale of panic inside Wuhan hospitals, with crowded corridors and patients slumped on the floor. Video shows staff shouting at patients to calm themselves as medics desperately try to contain the situation. Some workers are reported to be wearing diapers as they don't have time to use the toilet amid the panic

Hong Kong on Saturday declared a new coronavirus outbreak as an 'emergency' - the city's highest warning tier - as authorities ramped up measures to reduce the risk of further infections. The announcement came as city leader Carrie Lam faced criticism in some quarters over her administration's response to the crisis (pictured, health surveillance officers use temperature scanner to monitor passengers arriving at Hong Kong International Airport in today)

Medical staff members wearing protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city, walk at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan

In Beijing today, workers in white protective suits checked temperatures of passengers entering the subway at the central railway station, while some train services in eastern China's Yangtze River Delta region were suspended, the local railway operator said

Medical workers of Army Medical University assemble before leaving for Wuhan in southwest China's Chongqing last night

People wearing face masks walk past luxury boutiques in the Sanlitun shopping district in Beijing, China, as the country is hit by an outbreak of the new coronavirus today

Workers take the body temperature of passengers before they enter the subway station outside Beijing Railway Station today. Some 56 million people are now subject to restrictions on their movement as authorities expand travel bans in central Hubei province, now affecting 18 cities

People wearing face masks to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city, wait for medical attention at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan today

People wear face masks as they select products in a supermarket in Beijing, China amid coronavirus today

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam takes part in a press conference in Hong Kong. She declared a mystery virus outbreak as an 'emergency' -- the city's highest warning tier

People wear face masks as they line up at the checkout in a supermarket in Beijing, China, as the country is hit by an outbreak of the new coronavirus

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it had 63 patients under investigation, with two confirmed cases, both in people who had travelled to Wuhan.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus an 'emergency in China' this week but stopped short of declaring it of international concern.

Human-to-human transmission has been observed in the virus.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF THE CORONAVIRUS? Once someone has caught the virus it may take between two and 14 days for them to show any symptoms. If and when they do, typical signs include: a runny nose

a cough

sore throat

fever (high temperature) The vast majority of patients  at least 97 per cent, based on available data  will recover from these without any issues or medical help. In a small group of patients, who seem mainly to be the elderly or those with long-term illnesses, it can lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia is an infection in which the insides of the lungs swell up and fill with fluid. It makes it increasingly difficult to breathe and, if left untreated, can be fatal and suffocate people. Advertisement

China's National Health Commission said on Saturday it had formed six medical teams totalling 1,230 medical staff to help Wuhan. Three of the six teams, from Shanghai, Guangdong and military hospitals have arrived in Wuhan.

Hubei province, where authorities are rushing to build a 1,000 bed hospital in six days to treat patients, announced on Saturday that there were 658 patients affected by the virus in treatment, 57 of whom were critically ill.

The newly-identified coronavirus has created alarm because there are still many unknowns surrounding it, such as how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people. It can cause pneumonia, which has been deadly in some cases.

Symptoms include fever, difficulty breathing and coughing. Most of the fatalities have been in elderly patients, many with pre-existing conditions, the WHO said.

It comes as residents of the Chinese city at the centre of the country's coronavirus crisis fear they are 'trapped' and will all be infected because of the government lockdown which has stopped anyone from leaving.

Authorities yesterday scrambled to shut tourist attractions and public transport systems in 14 cities in a bid to stop the spread of the deadly new coronavirus that has killed at least 56 people and infected more than 1,200.

In a drastic turn of events, part of the Great Wall of China and Disneyland in Shanghai were closed yesterday as authorities desperately try to stop people spreading the Wuhan coronavirus.

Thirteen cities, home to around 40million people, are reported to have followed Wuhan's example and gone into some form of lockdown in the past 24 hours with public transport halted and roads closed.

A man living in Wuhan yesterday told MailOnline people there are 'all trapped' and and he fears he and his family will become infected if they aren't allowed to leave the city.

The man, who is not a Chinese citizen, is part of an international community who are all 'panicked', he said, and want to get out of the city before they are made ill.

Policemen wearing protective facemasks to help stop the spread of a deadly SARS-like virus which originated in the central city of Wuhan, are seen in front of the closed gate of the Lama Temple in Beijing today

Security guards wearing face masks walk past decorations for a canceled Lunar New Year temple fair at Longtan Park in Beijing today

A woman wearing a mask helps her son put on his mask at Changi Airport in Singapore as the virus spread to the country

Yesterday Singapore confirmed its third case of the deadly coronavirus which emerged last month in the city of Wuhan in China (pictured, visitors wearing masks arrive at the departure hall of Changi Airport)

The virus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan, already on lockdown, banned most vehicle use downtown and Hong Kong said it would close schools for two weeks as authorities scrambled Saturday to stop the spread of an illness that has infected more than 1,300 people and killed 56 (pictured, medics at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital)

China cut off trains, planes and other links to Wuhan on Wednesday, as well as public transportation within the city, and has steadily expanded a lockdown to 16 surrounding cities with a combined population of more than 50 million, greater than that of New York, London, Paris and Moscow combined (pictured, medics at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital)

The vast majority of the infections and all the deaths have been in mainland China, but fresh cases are popping up. Australia and Malaysia reported their first cases Saturday and Japan, its third. France confirmed three cases Friday, the first in Europe, and the U.S. identified its second, a woman in Chicago who had returned from China (pictured, medics at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital)

People walk outside an entrance to a section of the Great Wall of China today which is closed to visitors in a bid to contain the disease

People pose for pictures in front of an entrance to the Badaling section of the Great Wall, which is closed to visitors

In a sign of the growing strain on Wuhan's health care system, the official Xinhua news agency reported that the city planned to build a second makeshift hospital with about 1,000 beds. The city previously announced that construction of a hospital of the same size was underway and expected to be completed February 3 (pictured, medics at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital)

Medical staff work in the ICU (intensive care unit) of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan

Fourteen cities across the Hubei province in China are restricting the movement of people  by reducing or cancelling public transport and closing roads  to try and stop the virus spreading

Chinese passengers wearing face masks walk past a thermal scanner set up to check the temperature of passengers at Colombo International airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Passengers walk past a thermal scanner set up to check the temperature of passengers at Colombo International airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka

A report published yesterday warned China's deadly new virus could have infected 350,000 people in a single city by the end of the month, according to experts who warn doctors are only diagnosing one in every 20 cases.

There were 1,287 confirmed cases and 56 people had died in China as of Saturday, Chinese state media reported.

Scientists now say thousands of people might catch the virus without ever knowing they have had it, making it far easier to spread than was initially feared.

A second patient was diagnosed in the US yesterday  a woman in Chicago  and 63 other people in 22 states are being monitored for possible cases . Across the Atlantic, British authorities have tested 14 people but all were negative  a small number of other people are expected to go through tests yesterday.

A man living in Wuhan, who is a foreign national and did not want to be identified, yesterday told MailOnline he feared thousands of foreign nationals are in the city unable to leave because of the Chinese government's drastic shutdown.

Overworked doctors battling deadly coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan are wearing NAPPIES as there is no time for toilet breaks Medical staff on the frontline of China's coronavirus outbreak are wearing adult diapers as they do not have time to go to the toilet, it has been reported. The death toll in China rose to 56 on Saturday from 26 a day earlier and more than 1,300 people have been infected globally with a virus traced to a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife. In Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak, health-care workers have been rushed off their feet as they struggle to cope with the unprecedented demand. Distressing video shows the full scale of panic inside the city's hospitals, with crowded corridors, patients slumped on the floor and screaming staff. It has now emerged that exhausted medics, all of whom are donning fragile haz-mat suits, are wearing diapers as they have such little time and do not want to remove their cumbersome clothing to answer the call of nature. 'We know that the protective suit we wear could be the last one we have, and we can't afford to waste anything,' a Wuhan Union Hospital doctor, who identified himself only as 'Mr. Do,' wrote on Weibo. Advertisement

He told MailOnline: 'Due to the recent lock down, we all are trapped now. Several international students and workers have families here. I also have a baby. The situation is very serious here. If they keep everyone inside Wuhan I am afraid we all shall get infected.'

The man said the government is using online channels and TV programming to tell Wuhan residents to stay at home and he feared officials would be angry at insiders for sharing information with the outside world.

'People are panicked,' he added. 'It is advised by the government and university authorities not to go out, stay at home and call a hospital in case of having any symptoms.

'Yesterday the government announced the travel ban and, soon after, people rushed to the markets to buy a lot of food for the next several days. Yesterday, almost all the shops were empty and closed.

'I am in contact with a big international community in Wuhan. Everyone is panicked.

'Most of them are trying to contact their countries' embassies for help... but no significant development has been made yet.

'Everyone is panicked and wants to flee the China and go back to their countries or at least to move to a safer city in China.'

A report produced by researchers from Lancaster University in England, the University of Florida and the University of Glasgow, estimated that only one in 20 coronavirus cases are being diagnosed.

Dr Jonathan Read, a biostatistics researcher at Lancaster, wrote with colleagues: 'If no change in control or transmission happens, then we expect further outbreaks to occur in other Chinese cities, and that infections will continue to be exported to international destinations at an increasing rate.

'In 14 days' time (4 February 2020), our model predicts the number of infected people in Wuhan to be greater than 250 thousand (prediction interval, 164,602 to 351,396).'

Dr Read told MailOnline: 'The estimate we came back with was that one in 20 people becoming infected are getting detected and confirmed as cases. There is potentially a lot of people not recognised.

'This could be for a number of reasons. One that springs to mind the most, common with respiratory and flu-like viruses, is a lot of people will get sick and never seek medical help. Unless you present yourself to a doctor or a hospital you won't get counted.'

Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, said: 'It's winter  it's an enormous city with lots of people with cold and flu. People would realise they were feeling ill, but not that they have the coronavirus.'

And Professor Paul Hunter, from the University of East Anglia, added: 'If it's [the virus] relatively mild, there is potential it has been spread in people that aren't ill.

'Any infection can range from making people really sick and then causing mild flu-like symptom. We can miss a lot of the mild cases.'

Shoppers wearing face masks exit a supermarket in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province today. The virus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan, already on lockdown, banned most vehicle use downtown and Hong Kong said it would close schools for two weeks as authorities scrambled to stop the spread of an illness that is known to have infected more than 1,200 people and killed 56, according to officials

A worker dispenses hand sanitizer to a shopper at the entrance of a supermarket in Wuhan today as residents arrive to buy supplies amid the virus outbreak in the city

Shoppers wearing face masks pay for their groceries at a supermarket in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province

Residents in Wuhan were stocking up on masks, gloves and disinfectant. 'Everyone is just trying to protect themselves,' said a man in a surgical mask at a busy pharmacy

In Wuhan, the epicentre of the emergency, 450 military medics were deployed to help treat patients in the central city, where a seafood and live animal market has been identified as the centre of the outbreak (pictured, residents buy supplies)

Official news agency Xinhua said the two new hospitals in Wuhan would be similar in size to the temporary facility that was built to tackle SARS in Beijing in 2003, when 650 people died from the disease in the mainland and Hong Kong (pictured,

The country's most important celebration has been all but cancelled for at least 56 million people as authorities expanded travel bans across central Hubei province to try and contain the spread of the virus (pictured, buying supplies in Wuhan)

Shoppers wearing face masks look for groceries with many empty shelves at a supermarket in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province

A shopper wearing a face mask checks his phone near mostly empty shelves at a supermarket in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province

A worker dispenses hand sanitizer to shoppers at the entrance of a supermarket in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province

Medical workers transfer a patient who is on the mend out of the ICU (intensive care unit) of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan

Members of staff check the temperature of a staff member at an entrance of the Shanghai Disney Resort, that is closed today during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday following the outbreak of a new coronavirus, in Shanghai, China

The fear of infections spreading fast led to dramatic shutdowns all over China yesterday.

Shanghai Disney Resort posted on its website: 'In response to the prevention and control of the disease outbreak and in order to ensure the health and safety of our guests and cast, Shanghai Disney Resort is temporarily closing Shanghai Disneyland, Disneytown.

'We will continue to carefully monitor the situation and... announce the reopening date upon confirmation.'

A section of the Great Wall known as the Badaling section  one of the most visited parts  is closed to tourists, Al Jazeera reports.

The following measures have been taken to control the disease's spread in and around China:

Beijing's Forbidden Palace, which hosts the Palace Museum, will be closed to visitors from today

The Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, is closed

A four-day carnival planned in Hong Kong, from January 25 to 28, was cancelled by the state tourism board

Hong Kong's Lunar New Year World Cup football tournament was called off

All public Lunar New Year events in Macau, home to more than half-a-million people, have been cancelled

Transport restrictions are reported to be in place in Wuhan, Huanggang, Ezhou, Zhijiang, Dangyang, Qianjiang, Chibi, Xiantao, Lichuan, Jingmen, Xianning, Yichang and Enshi

WHAT IS THE SITUATION IN THE US? Two people in the US have been confirmed to have caught the coronavirus  a man near Seattle, Washington, and a woman in Chicago, Illinois. The man, who is in his 30s, is in hospital in Washington state, close to Seattle, and recovering well. Authorities are also monitoring 43 people with whom he is believed to have been in close contact before he was diagnosed five days after returning home from Wuhan. The Chicago woman, who is in her 60s, returned from Wuhan on January 13. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is also testing another 63 possible cases in 22 states. There are 10 people in California being held in isolation while they wait for test results, CBS News reports, as well as a Texas A&M student who had visited Wuhan and a student at Tennessee Tech. Speaking on Wednesday, January 22, President Donald Trump he was 'not at all' concerned about the possibility of a pandemic. 'It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control,' he said. 'We have it totally under control. We do have a plan, and we think it's going to be handled very well.' Dr Martin Cetron, of the CDC, said the US was planning a 'very complex process' of rerouting passengers. He added: 'With increasing cases, we decided to move into this full-on, 100 percent coverage strategy'. The US announced it is pulling most of its diplomats and their families from the consulate general in Wuhan. Advertisement

WHAT IS THE SITUATION IN THE UK? Fourteen people have so far been tested for the Wuhan coronavirus in the UK, but no confirmed cases have been announced. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss the country's response to the threat. The last flight out of Wuhan (the city at the centre of the outbreak) to London Heathrow was met by doctors who screened patients getting off the plane to check whether any of them were sick. Flights are no longer arriving from Wuhan and there are no extraordinary measures in place to check patients from other Chinese destinations. More than 2,000 people are believed to have arrived from Wuhan since December 31, and health chiefs have yesterday urged recent arrivals to call NHS 111 if they feel ill. GPs have been told to ask anyone with flu-like symptoms if they have been to China  and then, if they suspect they have the coronavirus, to lock them in a room if they have and continue the consultation over the phone. Scottish officials yesterday confirmed they were testing five cases in Edinburgh and Glasgow 'as a precaution'. Another man was being tested in isolation at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, and there was a suspected case in Hillingdon, west London. Public Health England has still not revealed where the other cases are. Many are thought to be Chinese tourists. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said yesterday that there is an 'increased likelihood' of there being a case in the UK but that the NHS is 'ready to respond appropriately'. Advertisement





A worker takes the body temperature of a passenger before she enters the subway station outside the Beijing Railway Station today

Workers take the body temperature of passengers before they enter the subway station outside the Beijing Railway Station today

Chinese tourists wearing protective masks are pictured at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi international airport in Thailand today

Members of staff wearing masks are seen outside the Shanghai Disney Resort, that is closed today during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday following the outbreak of a new coronavirus, in Shanghai, China

A member of staff wearing a mask is seen outside the Shanghai Disney Resort, that is closed today during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday following the outbreak of a new coronavirus, in Shanghai

Flight attendants wear masks as they walk at the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong today as the city declares an emergency

Hong Kong has declared the outbreak of a new virus an emergency and will close primary and secondary schools for two more weeks after the Lunar New Year holiday (pictured Hong Kong International Airport today)

Aerial view of the construction site of a makeshift hospital in Wuhan. Chinese President Xi Jinping warned China was facing a 'grave situation' given the 'accelerating spread' of a new SARS-like virus that has infected nearly 1,300 people across the country, state media reported Saturday

The construction site of a makeshift hospital in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province coronavirus outbreak. The makeshift hospital is expected to pool medical resources to provide isolated and efficient treatment for infected pneumonia patients

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam freezes travel to Wuhan, shuts schools and cancels public events Hong Kong has declared the lethal coronavirus an 'emergency' and frozen all travel to and from Wuhan as part of cranked-up efforts to stop the spread of infection. The city-state's health authorities have confirmed five cases, all linked to the outbreak in China's Hubei province, and are treating a further 122 people suspected of having the disease. As part of the upgraded threat level, leader Carrie Lam (left with health chief Gabriel Leung) said schools that are currently on Lunar New Year holidays will remain closed until February 17 As part of the upgraded threat level, leader Carrie Lam said schools that are currently on Lunar New Year holidays will remain closed until February 17 and education authorities have asked universities to extend leave for students. The spread of the deadly virus which has killed 56 people has forced Wuhan into lock down, effectively quarantining its millions of inhabitants. And today Starbucks announced it has shut all outlets and suspended delivery services in the eastern Chinese region over 'health concerns' for its customers and staff. Advertisement

Businesses around China  the world's biggest nation and home to more than one billion people, a seventh of the world's population  are already having to take drastic measures.

Seven movies which were set to premiere over this weekend have cancelled their screenings and 70,000 cinemas across the country have closed their doors, The Telegraph reports.

McDonald's is believed to have ordered the closure of branches in five cities in the Hubei province, and clothing store Uni Qlo has shut down 17 stores in Wuhan city, where the outbreak began and is most dangerous.

Wuhan has now been in lockdown for two days, with residents told not to leave and forced to wear face masks. There is no public transport, major roads have been closed and the airport has been shut down.

Reports from the city described it as a 'ghost town' as streets were deserted at a time when millions would normally be preparing to celebrate.

And at least nine other areas have started to put similar measures in place.

Huanggang, close to Wuhan, is home to more than seven million people and yesterday announced it would shut down its public transport.

Movement of people is also reportedly being restricted in Ezhou, Zhijiang, Dangyang, Qianjiang, Chibi, Xiantao, Lichuan, Jingmen, Xianning, Yichang, Huangshi and Enshi, The Telegraph reports.

All these places are in the Hubei province, which is the epicenter of the outbreak  Wuhan is the capital. Hubei has a total population of almost 60million people  slightly more than England.

Hubei has by far recorded the most cases  549 out of the total, according to China Daily  and all but one of the 26 people who have died died in that province.

Chinese hospitals visited by journalists have been bustling with worried patients being screened by staff wearing full-body protective suits.

At a temperature-check station, a medical staffer in bodysuit, face mask and goggles took a thermometer from a middle-aged woman, pausing to examine the reading before quickly turning back to the patient.

'Have you registered? Then go and see the doctor,' the staffer said.

One 35-year-old man surnamed Li voiced the fears of many. 'I have a fever and cough, so I'm worried that I'm infected,' he said. 'I don't know the results yet.'

Scientists say that, on average, each person who becomes infected with the coronavirus is passing it on to between 1.4 and 2.5 other people, the BBC reports.

A number higher than one  as this one is  means an outbreak can continue to sustain itself without anyone catching the infection from the original source.

Despite the upcoming New Year celebrations, typically a joyous time of year, people in the Hubei province, which is where Wuhan is located and most of the cases have been diagnosed, have limited movement and are being told to stay home.

A man stands guard outside the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, which was ground zero for the outbreak at the beginning of this year. Photographed yesterday, January 24

A man sprays disinfectant on a train in Seoul, South Korea. South Korea has so far confirmed one case of the coronavirus

Public buses could be seen parked and unattended in Wuhan yesterday  the city's public transport has shut down

'This year we have a very scary Chinese New Year,' said a taxi driver in the city, who asked not to be named. 'People are not going outside because of the virus.'

Footage from Wuhan yesterday showed the dramatic consequences of city shutdown, as videos emerged showing a man reportedly disinfecting an entire neighbourhood with gas, shoppers fighting over food in a supermarket and traffic building up on blockaded roads.

SCIENTISTS WARNED A CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK COULD KILL 65MILLION PEOPLE THREE MONTHS BEFORE CASES EMERGED IN CHINA Leading US scientists warned a coronavirus could kill tens of millions of people three months before the deadly outbreak in China. Scientists at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security said 65million patients from every corner of the world would die in the event of a global pandemic. They modeled a simulation scenario last October which predicted it would take just 18 months to rack up the huge death toll. Dr Eric Toner, a senior researcher at Johns Hopkins, said he wasn't shocked when news of a mysterious coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan in late December. 'I have thought for a long time that the most likely virus that might cause a new pandemic would be a coronavirus,' he told Business Insider. Coronaviruses typically affect the respiratory tract and can lead to illnesses like pneumonia or the common cold. A coronavirus was also responsible for the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in China, which affected about 8,000 people and killed 774 in the early 2000s. Dr Toner's simulation of a hypothetical deadly coronavirus pandemic suggested that after six months, nearly every country in the world would have cases of the virus. Within 18 months, 65 million people could die. Advertisement

One resident told the BBC the atmosphere in the city felt like 'the end of the world'.

Dr Gauden Galea, a World Health Organization disease expert, said yesterday: 'To my knowledge, trying to contain a city of 11million people is new to science.

'It has not been tried before as a public health measure. We cannot at this stage say it will or it will not work.'

Information that emerged yesterday revealed the coronavirus is far more contagious than previously feared and can be spread third-hand via a simple cough or sneeze.

Dr David Heymann, an infectious disease expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: 'We are now seeing second and third generation spread,' CNN reported.

Third generation spread means people are catching it from others who also caught it from a person, not the original animal source.

Dr Heymann added there is growing evidence that coughs or sneezes even close to someone could infect them, but there is no proof the virus is airborne.

Its symptoms are typically a fever, cough and trouble breathing, but some patients have developed pneumonia, a potentially life-threatening infection that causes inflammation of the small air sacs in the lungs.

People carrying the novel coronavirus may only have mild symptoms, such as a sore throat. They may assume they have a common cold and not seek medical attention, experts fear.

For this reason, experts think the true number of people who have caught the infection so far is already into the thousands and potentially tens of thousands.

Its current death rate is between two and three per cent, meaning two or three people die for every 100 who catch the illness.

To try and cope with the outpouring of patients, authorities at ground zero  Wuhan city  have ordered a brand new hospital to be constructed over the next week, which is supposed to be a public holiday.

And governments and airports around the world are screening passengers arriving from China.

Countries including the US, Malaysia and Singapore have introduced rigorous checks, with all passengers coming in from Wuhan are having their temperature taken, regardless of whether they have any symptoms.

International flights out of Wuhan have all been cancelled because of the virus's spread, which has seen cases pop up in 11 countries/territories, most of which are in East Asia.

In the US, where two cases have been confirmed, authorities in Washington state are monitoring at least 43 people who they say had close contact with a patient from near Seattle. The second case was diagnosed in a woman in Chicago, Illinois.

People wear masks in the Jingshan Park in Beijing yesterday, January 24. New Year celebrations planned in the park will no longer go ahead

Posters have been put up warning people about fever at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea

Sixty-three suspected cases have appeared in 22 states and patients are in process of being tested.

There are reportedly 10 people in California who are being held in isolation while doctors wait for test results. A male Texas A&M University student who had travelled to Wuhan recently is also being tested, as well as a student at Tennessee Tech.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it would direct all flights from Wuhan to five airports and screen passengers at LAX in Los Angeles, JFK in New York, San Francisco International Airport, Chicago O'Hare International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta. It is not clear, however, if this has been put in place yet, Time reported.

President Donald Trump insisted earlier this week that the country wasn't concerned about the outbreak and added: 'We have it totally under control. We do have a plan, and we think it's going to be handled very well.'

In the UK, health bosses have urged hundreds of recent arrivals from Wuhan to call the NHS's 111 helpline if they feel ill and 14 patients have already been tested for the SARS-like infection  all have been negative so far.

Doctors have also been told to ask anyone with flu-like symptoms if they have been to China  and then lock them in a room if they are suspected to be infected with the coronavirus.

More than 2,000 people have flown into Britain from Wuhan, the Chinese city on lockdown, since cases first emerged last month, it is feared.

Scottish officials yesterday confirmed they were testing five cases in Edinburgh and Glasgow 'as a precaution'.

Another man was being tested in isolation at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, and there was a suspected case in Hillingdon, west London. Public Health England has still not revealed where the other cases are.

Anyone with the symptoms, who has travelled to the UK via Wuhan, will be tested for the virus and if cases are confirmed put in isolation at one of four UK super-hospitals: two in London, one in Liverpool and one in Newcastle.

The Russian government has stopped flights to and from Wuhan as a precautionary measure.

Two people in Russia, which borders China in the east, had to be tested for the coronavirus in St Petersburg, but there have been no confirmed cases there yet.

Everything we know we know so far about the deadly coronavirus in China: But how worried should we be?

The deadly coronavirus ravaging Asia is far more contagious than previously thought and someone who is infected can spread it with just a simple cough or a sneeze.

It has so far killed 26 people and infected more than 830 in at least 10 countries/territories within three weeks.

But experts predict the true number of people with the disease could be over 10,000 as they warn it may kill as many as two in 100 cases. Here's what we know so far:

What is the Wuhan coronavirus?

A coronavirus is a type of virus which can cause illness in animals and people. It is an RNA virus (RNA is a type of genetic material called ribonucleic acid), which means it breaks into cells inside the host of the virus and uses them to reproduce itself.

This coronavirus from Wuhan is one which has never been seen before this outbreak. It is currently named 2019-nCoV, and does not have a more detailed name because so little is known about it.

Dr Helena Maier, from the Pirbright Institute, said: 'Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that infect a wide range of different species including humans, cattle, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats and wild animals.

Experts say the difficulty of containing the coronavirus is that so many patients have mild, cold-like symptoms and don't realise they have the infection  but it can quickly turn deadly

'Until this new coronavirus was identified, there were only six different coronaviruses known to infect humans. Four of these cause a mild common cold-type illness, but since 2002 there has been the emergence of two new coronaviruses that can infect humans and result in more severe disease (Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronaviruses).

'Coronaviruses are known to be able to occasionally jump from one species to another and that is what happened in the case of SARS, MERS and the new coronavirus. The animal origin of the new coronavirus is not yet known.'

The first human cases were publicly reported from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where approximately 11million people live, three weeks ago after medics first started seeing cases in December.

By January 8, 59 suspected cases had been reported and seven people were in critical condition. Tests were developed for the new virus and recorded cases started to surge.

The first person died that week and, by January 16, two were dead and 41 cases were confirmed. The next day, scientists predicted that 1,700 people had become infected, possibly up to 4,500.

Just one week later, there have been more than 900 confirmed cases and those same scientists estimate that some 4,000  possibly 9,700  were infected in Wuhan alone. There are now 10 countries with confirmed cases and 26 people have died.

Where does the virus come from?

Nobody knows for sure. Coronaviruses in general tend to originate in animals  the similar SARS and MERS viruses are believed to have originated in civet cats and camels, respectively.

Chinese food market at the epicentre of deadly virus outbreak was selling KOALAS along with snakes, rats and wolf pups for locals to eat The Chinese food market at the centre of the deadly SARS-like virus outbreak claimed they were selling live koalas, snakes, rats and wolf pups for locals to cook and eat. The Huanan Seafood Market in the central city of Wuhan in China came under scrutiny on Wednesday after Chinese officials said the coronavirus may have originated in a wild animal sold at the food emporium. The market has since been closed and has been labelled 'ground zero' by local authorities. A list of prices for one of the businesses operating at the market showed a menagerie of animals available for sale including live foxes, crocodiles, wolf puppies, giant salamanders, snakes, rats, peacocks, porcupines, koalas and game meats, according to the South China Morning Post. The food menu shows a price of 70 RMB (7.70/$10) for koala meat. Wuhan Huanan Seafood Market (above) is allegedly selling wild animals including live wolf pups, civets and even koalas according to the South China Morning Post. A list of prices for one of the businesses operating at the market showed 'live tree bears' which is the Chinese for 'koala' (circled above) Advertisement

The first cases of the virus in Wuhan came from people visiting or working in a live animal market in the city, which has since been closed down for investigation.

Although the market is officially a seafood market, other dead and living animals were being sold there, including wolf cubs, salamanders, snakes, peacocks, porcupines and camel meat.

Bats are a prime suspect  researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in a recent statement: 'The Wuhan coronavirus' natural host could be bats but between bats and humans there may be an unknown intermediate.'

And another scientific journal article has suggested the virus first infected snakes, which may then have transmitted it to people at the market in Wuhan.

Peking University researchers analysed the genes of the coronavirus and said they most closely matched viruses which are known to affect snakes. They said: 'Results derived from our evolutionary analysis suggest for the first time that snake is the most probable wildlife animal reservoir for the 2019-nCoV,' in the Journal of Medical Virology.

So far the fatalities are quite low. Why are health experts so worried about it?

Experts say the international community is concerned about the virus because so little is known about it and it appears to be spreading quickly.

It is similar to SARS, which infected 8,000 people and killed nearly 800 in an outbreak in Asia in 2003, in that it is a type of coronavirus which infects humans' lungs.

Another reason for concern is that nobody has any immunity to the virus because they've never encountered it before. This means it may be able to cause more damage than viruses we come across often, like the flu or common cold.

Speaking at a briefing yesterday, Oxford University professor, Dr Peter Horby, said: 'Novel viruses can spread much faster through the population than viruses which circulate all the time because we have no immunity to them.

'Most seasonal flu viruses have a case fatality rate of less than 1 in 1,000 people. Here we're talking about a virus where we don't understand fully the severity spectrum but it's possible the case fatality rate could be as high as two per cent.'

If the death rate is truly two per cent, that means two out of every 100 patients who get it will die.

'My feeling is it's lower,' Dr Horby added. 'We're probably missing this iceberg of milder cases. But that's the current circumstance we're in.

'Two per cent case fatality rate is comparable to the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 so it is a significant concern globally.'

How does the virus spread?

Information emerged on Thursday, suggesting that the illness may spread between people just through coughs and sneezes, making it an extremely contagious infection.

It is believed to travel in the saliva and therefore close contact, kissing and sharing cutlery or utensils are risky. Because it infects the lungs, it is also likely present in droplets people cough up which, when inhaled, can infect the next person.

Originally, people were thought to be catching it from a live animal market in Wuhan city. But cases soon began to emerge in people who had never been there, which forced medics to realise it was spreading from person to person.

There is now evidence that it can spread third hand  to someone from a person who caught it from another person.

What does the virus do to you? What are the symptoms?

Once someone has caught the virus it may take between two and 14 days for them to show any symptoms.

If and when they do, typical signs include a runny nose, a cough, sore throat and a fever (high temperature). The vast majority of patients  at least 97 per cent, based on available data  will recover from these without any issues or medical help.

In a small group of patients, who seem mainly to be the elderly or those with long-term illnesses, it can lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia is an infection in which the insides of the lungs swell up and fill with fluid. It makes it increasingly difficult to breathe and, if left untreated, can be fatal and suffocate people.

What have genetic tests revealed about the virus?

Scientists in China have recorded the genetic sequences of around 19 strains of the virus and released them to experts working around the world.

This allows others to study them, develop tests and potentially look into treating the illness they cause.

Examinations have revealed the coronavirus did not change much  changing is known as mutating  much during the early stages of its spread.

However, the director-general of China's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fu, yesterday said the virus was mutating and adapting as it spread through people.

CAN YOU CATCH THE CORONAVIRUS THROUGH YOUR EYES? The deadly respiratory disease may be caught through the eyes. Wang Guangfa, who heads the department of pulmonary medicine at Beijing's Peking University First Hospital, was part of a team of experts that earlier this month visited Wuhan, where the virus first emerged. The respiratory expert has claimed that he may have contracted the disease because of a lack of eye protection. He says he developed conjunctivitis in his left eye after returning to Beijing and around three hours later he began suffering from a fever and catarrh - excessive discharge or build-up of mucus in the nose or throat. He said the most likely explanation of him contracting the virus was it entering through his eyes. Paul Kellam, professor of virus genomics at Imperial College London, said this is 'absolutely possible'. 'If you have droplets sneezed at you, they will wash from your eye to your nose,' he said. 'Your eye connects to your nose through the lacrimal duct. 'If you suffer from allergies and if your eyes run, so will your nose. Or if you put medication in your eyes, you'll taste at the back of your throat. 'It isn't unusual for flu and other viruses to be transmitted this way. You can also get respiratory infections through the eye.' Professor Kellam said it is for this reason healthcare workers must wear eye protection. And even though face masks that protect the mouth and nose are effective, they clearly 'won't protect the eyes'. Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, said: 'Transmission would potentially be by touching the eye so the virus is on the hand, which then makes it easy to spread from one person to another. 'Think of it like the common cold or the flu, touching nose/mouth/eyes is a way to spread them.' It is not known if conjunctivitis is a symptom of the new coronavirus. Professor Kellam said: 'There are many things that can cause conjunctivitis. It's an interesting coincidence.' Advertisement

This means efforts to study the virus and to potentially control it may be made extra difficult because the virus might look different every time scientists analyse it.

More study may be able to reveal whether the virus first infected a small number of people then change and spread from them, or whether there were various versions of the virus coming from animals which have developed separately.

How dangerous is the virus?

The virus has so far killed 26 people out of a total of at least 900 officially confirmed cases  a death rate of around three per cent. This is a higher death rate than the Spanish Flu outbreak which, in 1918, went on to kill around 50million people.

However, experts say the true number of patients is likely considerably higher. Imperial College London researchers estimate that there were 4,000 (up to 9,700) cases in Wuhan city alone up to January 18, while the official figure was around 400. If cases are in fact 100 times more common than the official figures, the death rate may be considerably lower.

Experts say it is likely only the most seriously ill patients are seeking help and are therefore recorded  the vast majority will have only mild, cold-like symptoms. For those whose conditions do become more severe, there is a risk of developing pneumonia which can destroy the lungs and kill you.

Can the virus be cured?

The Wuhan coronavirus cannot currently be cured and it is proving difficult to contain.

Antibiotics do not work against viruses, so they are out of the question. Antiviral drugs can, but the process of understanding a virus then developing and producing drugs to treat it would take years and huge amounts of money.

No vaccine exists for the coronavirus yet and it's not likely one will be developed in time to be of any use in this outbreak, for similar reasons to the above.

The National Institutes of Health in the US, and Baylor University in Waco, Texas, say they are working on a vaccine based on what they know about coronaviruses in general, using information from the SARS outbreak. But this may take a year or more to develop, according to Pharmaceutical Technology.

Currently, governments and health authorities are working to contain the virus and to care for patients who are sick and stop them infecting other people.

People who catch the illness are being quarantined in hospitals, where their symptoms can be treated and they will be away from the uninfected public.

And airports around the world are putting in place screening measures such as having doctors on-site, taking people's temperatures to check for fevers and using thermal screening to spot those who might be ill (infection causes a raised temperature).

However, it can take weeks for symptoms to appear, so there is only a small likelihood that patients will be spotted up in an airport.

Is this outbreak an epidemic or a pandemic?

The outbreak has not officially been confirmed as either an epidemic or a pandemic yet. This is likely because, despite the global concern, the number of people who have been confirmed to be infected is still relatively low.

A pandemic is defined by the World Health Organisation as the 'worldwide spread of a new disease'.

An epidemic is when a disease takes hold of a smaller community, such as a single country, region or continent.
The entrepreneur Andrew Yang was struggling in obscurity when, about a year ago, he went on Joe Rogans podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.

Almost immediately, the donations started pouring in. Senior members of Mr. Yangs campaign have said his two-hour interview with Mr. Rogan was responsible for bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars and significantly raising his profile.

Three months later, Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii joined the podcast; three months after that, on came Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. All of the candidates knew just how huge an audience Mr. Rogan had developed.

This week, Mr. Rogan, the stand-up comedian, mixed martial arts commentator and sometime actor who, through his podcast, has become an unlikely political influencer, said he would throw his support behind Mr. Sanders in the 2020 Democratic primary  an endorsement that could bolster the candidate particularly among the legions of disaffected male voters who have long been critical to his chances to win.
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying the country is facing a grave situation, held a politburo meeting on measures to fight a coronavirus outbreak concentrated in the central city of Wuhan, state television reported on Saturday.

The outbreak of the new virus has killed 41 people in China and has infected more than 1,300 globally, most of them in China.

The country is facing a "grave situation" where the coronavirus is "accelerating its spread," Xi told the meeting, which took place on the Lunar New Year public holiday.

The TV report said resources and experts will be concentrated at designated hospitals for treatment of severe cases, with no treatment delayed due to cost, and supplies of materials to Hubei province and its capital Wuhan to be guaranteed.

Information disclosure on the virus outbreak must be accurate, prompt and transparent, CCTV said.

(Reporting by Muyu Xu, Roxanne Liu, and Gabriel Crossley; Editing by Tony Munroe and Frances Kerry)
Is George Stephanopoulos, the Ben Rhodes of Bill Clinton administration for spinning bimbo eruptions to the press, now pulling the content strings at ABC News?

Sure seems like it, what with this little clip accidentally showing the former White House advisor drawing a line across his throat to cut President Trump's lawyer, Jay Sekulow from more than minimal screen time:

Here's the clip:

Here's what Conservative Treehouse, which first noticed the matter, had to say about it:

During a broadcast segment on ABC news reporters in the Capitol were interviewing President Trump defense attorney Jay Sekulow. Back in the ABC studio, Clinton operative George Stephanopoulos did not want to see ABC broadcasting statements from the defense and he is caught on camera using hand signals to tell the producers to cut-off the broadcast. Stephanopoulos realized he was caught:

It's far from the only evidence out there that something is going on.

Here's another one where some hidden producer, probably speaking into her earphone, seemed to be whispering into Alisyn Camerota's ear to shut it down as she spoke of public opposition to impeachment based on President Trump's stellar record:

Alisyn Camerota delivered a VERY rare criticism of Adam Schiff on CNN this morning, and I'm pretty sure a producer told her in her ear to get back to the purpose of today's show which is lobbying Lisa Murkowski.



Listen to this clip and tell me that's not what happened: pic.twitter.com/1SaGwlS59f  Eddie Zipperer (@EddieZipperer) January 24, 2020

Sure enough, Stephanopoulos's old buddy from the Clinton years, lyin' Joe Lockhart, announced his agreement with the uncomfortable points Camerota raised, too. Funny how those Clintonites have their nose for uncomfortable news. It was pretty clear that at least one Clintonite viewed those uncomfortable truths as poison to Democrats and didn't want that issue brought up at all.

It gets worse. Here's more evidence pointing to Stephanopoulos calling the shots from last November. I wrote about that here:

Project Veritas broke a scandal a couple of days ago, featuring an unwitting ABC News anchor, Amy Robach, fuming angrily that she had the Jeffrey Epstein scoop three years ago, with solid reporting, and ABC News refused to run it. Unlike Ronan Farrow, who quit NBC News on principle after the network spiked his Harvey Weinstein story and took his scoop to the New Yorker, (winning a richly deserved Pulitzer prize for it), Robach, for whatever reason, stayed on the job and decided to get along to go along, keeping her mouth shut. She's obviously found herself in hot water since the Veritas tape, and has since disavowed the interview, robotically saying her own work didn't meet journalistic 'standards' just like the good public relations people told her. Here's some of the stuff that did, for contrast. Ain't life fun when you're a media puppet?

I asked how many more spiked stories might be out there, noting:

Funny how many involve the Clintons and their allies. Robach, in this interview and beyond, said the spiking was all about keeping in good with the British royal family, one of whose members, Prince Andrew, has been implicated in the Epstein scandal. The brass supposedly wanted some interviews from them. It sounds like a smokescreen, and fortunately, we have Katie Pavlich to call bee ess. She spoke with Tucker Carlson last night, pointing out the far more likely possibility: George Stephanopoulos, the former Clinton confidant and bagman turned ABC News frontman, was likely behind it, particularly since the revelations came out right about when Hillary Clinton was running for president and the media, including him, was going all out to protect her.

...and this...

Would he do it? Well, recall that in the movie called "The War Room" about the early days of the Clinton campaign, Steph was overheard on the phone threatening a journalist if a story was not killed. He was vicious. Stephanopoulos has carried water for the Clintons for years, sitting on the Clinton Foundation board, which was House Clinton's de facto route for disguised bribery. He also went to a dinner party for Clinton's revolting buddy, Epstein, right after he got out of jail on a diluted child prostitution rap, something which was like a drunk driver being convicted for spitting on the sidewalk. Stephanopoulos knew, and no, he didn't treat Epstein like a pariah. He partied with him. And he's also a bigshot at ABC News. That's the part of the Epstein story nobody in the press wants us to think about. The Clintons don't want us to.

Bottom line, Stephanoupoulos is and remains a Clinton loyalist, hanging out with Epstein as the Clintons did, and making $75,000 in undisclosed donations to corrupt pay-for-play Clinton Foundation, something for which he was curiously unpunished, even though much bigger fish, such as Brian Williams, doing similar stuff, were made to pay. Now Stephanopoulos seems to be manipulating the news for the impeachment trial, doing his utmost to spin the story in the Democrats' direction, quite possible to please his original taskmaster Hillary Clinton.

It's like the Clintons control the entire network and George is happy to be the little pawn.

With an increasingly clear string of events like this, is it any wonder the public doesn't trust the media?

Image credit: ABC News / Grabien screen shot
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(Newser)  Graduation is three months away at Barbers Hill High School. That's how long DeAndre Arnold has to decide whether to cut his dreadlocks, USA Today reports. If he doesn't, he won't be permitted to walk across the stage at graduation, the Texas school has told him. And he might be barred from the prom. Arnold already has been suspended, and he missed classes last week. The issue is the length of his hair, the school district said. "There is no dress code policy that prohibits any cornrow or any other method of wearing of the hair," the superintendent said. "Our policy limits the length. It's been that way for 30 years." It's a standoff: The student and his family said he's not cutting his hair. Sandy Arnold, DeAndre's mother, doesn't get the district policy. "You don't tell girls they can't have short hair," she said.

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The superintendent said the policy reflects an "expectation of the community," saying that high expectations lead to success. Bernice King, a daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., tweeted a response to that argument, per CNN. "Deandre's locks do not reflect 'lowness' or a deviation from what should be a 'high expectation,'" King wrote. On Friday, the Arnolds said DeAndre had left Barbers Hill and enrolled in another school, per Fox 26 News; no other information was available. "We're here for DeAndre, but it's about more than that," Sandy Arnold said last week. "This is about all the other DeAndres that could come through Barbers Hill." One of them is DeAndre's cousin Kaden Bradford, a sophomore whose mother said he's been growing his dreadlocks since he was in sixth grade. The principal has told Kaden he can't come back to school unless he cuts his hair, she said. (Read more dreadlocks stories.)
In a table-top pandemic exercise at Johns Hopkins University last year, a pathogen based on the emerging Nipah virus was released by fictional extremists, killing 150 million people.

A less apocalyptic scenario mapped out by a blue-ribbon U.S. panel envisioned Nipah being dispersed by terrorists and claiming over 6,000 American lives.

Scientists from Canadas National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) have also said the highly lethal bug is a potential bio-weapon.

But this March that same lab shipped samples of the henipavirus family and of Ebola to China, which has long been suspected of running a secretive biological warfare (BW) program.

China strongly denies it makes germ weapons, and Canadian officials say the shipment was part of its efforts to support public-health research worldwide. Sharing of such samples internationally is relatively standard practice.

But some experts are raising questions about the March transfer, which appears to be at the centre of a shadowy RCMP investigation and dismissal of a top scientist at the Winnipeg-based NML.

I would say this Canadian contribution might likely be counterproductive, said Dany Shoham, a biological and chemical warfare expert at Israels Bar-Ilan University. I think the Chinese activities  are highly suspicious, in terms of exploring (at least) those viruses as BW agents. 
Sydney doctor Ian Chung has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day honours list for services to the law, to medicine and to the community.

Dr Ian Chung has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia.

Beside his practice as a GP, Dr Chung has a masters degree in psychiatry and has worked to help the homeless and those with alcohol and drug-related problems.

In his community work, he attends Charles Chambers Court, a Mission Australia aged-care facility. He was a doctor at Campbell House, Sydney City Mission, for 30 years from 1975. He also worked at the William Booth Institute of the Salvation Army and in remote NSW where mental health services were lacking.

He is the co-ordinating councillor of LawCare, a service of the NSW Law Society, where his role is to help lawyers stressed by their arduous work. He is also on the management committee of the Lawyers Assistance Program. He was a lecturer at the College of Law for 15 years.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador insisted Friday that Mexico had respected the human rights of hundreds of Central American migrants detained in a robust security force operation the day before. National Guard troops used tear gas to detain 800 migrants who surged into Mexico Thursday after wading across a river on the country's southern border with Guatemala. "Fortunately, human rights have been respected," the president told a press conference in Mexico City. "They were offered shelter, work, everything," he said, referring to a government plan to offer jobs and shelter to US-bound migrants to encourage them to stay in southern Mexico. National Guard forces in the southern state of Chiapas on Thursday prevented hundreds of Central Americans, who were trekking towards the city of Ciudad Hidalgo, from continuing their journey. The troops formed a human fence along a road and closed in on the migrants as some, including women and children, began to panic. Scuffles broke out as the troops used tear gas to disperse the crowd, an AFP journalist at the scene reported. Some people knelt down in the road and began to pray as they were halted. The Interior Ministry later said 800 migrants of Central American origin were "rescued" after crossing the border at the Suchiate River. Mexico faces pressure to keep migrants from crossing its northern border from US President Donald Trump, who last year threatened to impose steep tariffs if the country did not do more to stop a surge of undocumented Central Americans. Lopez Obrador deployed some 26,000 troops to the country's borders in response. The president told reporters on Friday that the so-called "2020 Caravan" which began in Honduras two weeks ago was "a non-spontaneous movement. Of course there is a need, but there is a political leadership." "Every day we are recommending...that human rights be respected, that care is taken that there are no injuries," said the leftist president, popularly known by his initials AMLO. Lopez Obrador said that Central American migrants, mostly from Honduras, have received medical care, food and shelter from Mexican authorities. Human Rights Watch said in its recent annual report that Mexico violated the rights of migrants who travel through its territory to apply for asylum in the United States.
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Its become common, if not cliche, for a critic reviewing a documentary about a turbulent real-world event to write something like, It exerts the power of a true-life thriller! Well, make no mistake: The Dissident does. Directed by Bryan Fogel, who in 2017 made the Oscar-winning Icarus (about the Russian doping of Olympic athletes), the movie is a full-blown investigation into the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi Arabian editor and Washington Post columnist whose gruesome murder, on Oct. 2, 2018, was in all likelihood conceived and ordered by the highest levels of the Saudi monarchy.

When it comes to edge-of-your-seat intrigue, this is a movie with just about everything. Its got mystery and conspiracy coalescing around men of unfathomable power. Its got inside-the-palace-walls homicidal backstabbing. Its got a freedom-fighting martyr-hero, Khashoggi himself  a worldly and ebullient but increasingly lonely and isolated 60-year-old man who occupies a precarious middle ground between the Saudi regime, which for years he claimed loyalty to, and the freedom of the West, which he breathed in like oxygen. It has the shadow intrigue of cyber-warfare (including the hacking of Jeff Bezos cell phone). And at its sinister center, it has a murder carried out like a Mob hit. The more we learn about the details of the crime (and view the minutes leading up to it on surveillance footage), the more The Dissident exerts something like the cant-look-away horror of a snuff film, albeit one in which we never actually see the ultimate deed.

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Yet as a documentary thriller of staggering relevance, The Dissident also prompted one additional thought. Watching this movie, with its urgent colliding themes of free speech, power, greed, technology, violence, and the increasingly global nature of government tyranny, I began to understand why the political conspiracy thriller has, for the most part, faded out as a form we can take seriously. Simply put: How can it compete? How can made-up tales of high-level treachery hold a candle to the scary realities on display in The Dissident?

The Khashoggi case, of course, has been amply reported, and the devotion with which international journalists turned up the heat on it started virtually the day that Khashoggi entered the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul to process the paperwork necessary for his impending marriage. He never came back out. And since, by that point, hed become an infamous thorn in the side of the Saudi monarchy, calling out its relatively new leader, the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, for his crackdowns on freedom of expression, almost anyone could connect the dots: that Khashoggi had been targeted by the Saudi regime for voicing forbidden criticisms.

For a while, the crime was covered up by a chain of denial that extended from the Saudis to the shameless oil-money kowtowing of President Trump. But Fogel, building on news reports, does his own deep dive into what happened and why. He talks to Istanbul police officials, whod gotten hold of the audio recording of Khashoggis murder, and he shows us chilling  and massively incriminating  excerpts from the transcription of it. He identifies the men who carried out the crime, several of whom were recruited directly from Mohammad bin Salmans personal security force. And he documents the terrifying way it all went down, from Khashoggi being slowly strangled (it took seven-and-a-half minutes) to the dismembering of his body by bone saw to the ordering of 70 pounds of meat from a local restaurant to cover up the smell of his body parts being burned.

Fogel also leads us through sidelong detours and connects the dots. The movie opens in Montreal, where Omar Abdulaziz, a 27-year-old associate of Khashoggis, is hiding out three months after the murder. Hes the dissident Saudi exile who showed Khashoggi the possibilities of fighting oppression through digital media, a tactic that may now be more necessary than ever, given the army of fake-news trolls  known, according to the film, as flies  that the Saudis use to crush information through Twitter.

We also get to know Khashoggi, who even when you followed the case remained a somewhat distant figure. In The Dissident, we see him in home-video footage as well as TV-news clips, and we take in his warmth, his gentle Teddy-bear fervor, and what one observer calls his innocence. By which he means: He had the quality of those who will never dare to part with their idealism. With his gray goatee and wire-rim glasses and balding pate and knowing twinkle, Khashoggi suggests Salman Rushie as played by Stacy Keach, and hes a compelling and touching figure, because he never set out to be a radical. He was, in fact, an inside player in the Saudi monarchy, which meant that he knew how to play ball with them; his intent was to nudge the regime toward greater openness. (Variety owner Penske Media has an investment from the kingdoms public investment fund.)

But all that changed when Mohammad bin Salman (the notorious MBS), with the benediction of his aging father, orchestrated a palace coup, arresting 11 Saudi princes and other members of the elite. MBS, handsome and opaque, with eyes so steady theyre beyond cold, emerges in the film as the Middle Easts answer to Vladimir Putin: a centralizer of power who will brook no dissent. He placated the people of Saudi Arabia by sprinkling them with surface freedoms (womens right to drive, etc.), but he destroyed the greatest freedom of all: the right to say what you believe. As Khashoggi put it in the headline of one of his many Washington Post columns that enraged the Saudis, Saudi Arabia Wasnt Always This Repressive. Now Its Unbearable. The film suggests, rather ominously, that just as it was the Saudis who funded the crushing of the Arab Spring, it was also Saudi money that fueled the airing of Jeff Bezos marital scandal, all as a way to threaten the owner of The Washington Post.

Khashoggi left the country, seemingly for good, which meant abandoning his wife and children, which broke his heart. The Dissident catches us up in Khashoggis second act, as he meets and becomes engaged to Hatice Cengiz, a Turkish woman 20 years his junior. He desperately wanted to have a life, but to put it in movie terms (which The Dissident encourages), Khashoggi, writing editorials out in the open, had become a whistleblower. He felt compelled to articulate a philosophy that would, if put into practice, tear Saudi Arabia as we know it to smithereens. So thats what they did to him. The Dissident is riveting, but its also a moving testament to a man whose courage burned too brightly to die with him.

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LOCAL BRIEFS: Nancy Bayless honor, PFLAG homeless forum, Spirtual Formation speaker

Nancy Walker Bayless, in green, poses with husband David Bayless, left, and family members.

Stetson University honors Nancy Bayless, School Board members who are former teachers praise local schools, gay and lesbian advocates examine homeless and dynamic teacher headlines Spiritual Formation Week at First United Methodist Church.

Stetson University honors Nancy Bayless



DELAND, Florida  Stetson University honored Nancy Walker Bayless of Hendersonville with its prestigious George and Mary Hood Award, given in honor of Dr. George Hood, former dean of students, professor and director of Student Counseling Services, and his wife, the late Mary Turner Hood, longtime assistant to president and Chancellor J. Ollie Edmunds.

A Florida native and 1962 graduate of Stetson, Bayless currently lives in Hendersonville with her husband David, a Hendersonville native.

After graduating from New Smyrna Beach High School, she enrolled at the Deland, Florida, school, starting a family legacy. Her brother, Russell Walker, is a 1963 Stetson graduate, and her sister, Janet Walker Mooney, graduated in 1976.

While at Stetson, Nancy was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority and served as the SGA vice president. After graduation, she taught high school math and later became a programmer and systems analyst, working with researchers at the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. After their retirement, she and David established a consulting firm, Bayless Associates, which has worked with school systems to analyze assessment and survey data to be used in developing strategic plans. She remains active at Stetson, serving on the College of Arts and Sciences Board of Advisors.

School Board members speak at teacher group

School Board members Dot Case and Mary Louise Corn were guest speakers at the Jan. 14 meeting of the Alpha Lambda Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma International, an organization of women teachers.

Case, a Delta Kappa Gamma International member, and Corn attributed the success of Henderson County Public Schools to dedicated teachers, a supportive community and excellent leadership from the administration.

The report from the November auction revealed the largest ever amount raised  $2,845. The proceeds help fund the recruitment grant, mini-grants, literacy resources, beginning teacher support.

PFLAG holds form on homelessness

PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbian and Gays) will meet at 6 p.m. xxx, Feb. 3, at Providence Baptist Church, 1201 Oakland St., and present a panel discussion on the LGBTQ community and homelessness at 7. PFLAG is a group of individuals who want to build a foundation of loving families, united with LGBTQ people and allies, who support one another as well as educate one another and the community to speak up as advocates.

Spiritual Formation Weekend is Feb. 22-23

The Rev. Dr. Mike Slaughter, pastor emeritus at Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church in Tipp City, Ohio, will present a daylong program, All In: For God, For Them, Forever, during First United Methodist Churchs annual Spiritual Formation Weekend Feb. 22 and 23.

The Rev. Mike Slaughter will teach and preach on Feb. 22 and 23 during Spiritual Formation Week at First United Methodist Church.Slaughter reminds people that Jesus call is clear: to live out the Kingdom of God in our lives and in our communities.

When Slaughter arrived at Ginghamsburg Church in 1979, worship attendance hovered at 90 people with just 118 members and a church budget of $27,000. Through his dynamic teaching, his heart for the lost and innovative approach to ministry, the church grew to more than 5,000 attendees a week, and its multi-million dollar budget supports a faith community committed to serving the poor, the lost and disenfranchised.

Registration is open for the Saturday, Feb. 22, program featuring Rev. Slaughter, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. A $15 fee covers lunch; proceeds provide meals for the food insecure in Henderson County. To register visit http://www.fumchvlnc.org/worship/spiritual-formation-weekend or by call the church at 828-693-4275. Payment can be made online with PayPal and by cash or check in advance or at the door.

Slaughter is also the guest preacher at worship services on Sunday, Feb. 23, at 8:30 and 11 a.m. (traditional) and 9:15 a.m. (contemporary). All services are open to the public.

FUMC is located at 204 Sixth Avenue West in Hendersonville. Convenient, handicap-accessible parking is available in the main parking lot on Buncombe Street.

Project Dignity sets postcard party Jan. 31

Project Dignity and Progressive Alliance of Henderson County are partnering on Friday, Jan. 31, at PAHCs regular Friday postcard party at Sanctuary Brewery Co. 147 First Avenue East.

Project Dignity of WNC Inc., a nonprofit organization, provides feminine hygiene products to women and girls in Henderson, Buncombe, Transylvania, and Rutherford counties who might be homeless, low-income or victims of domestic abuse. Snap or food stamps do not allow the purchase of feminine hygiene products. Project Dignity of WNC provides feminine products to 15 agencies and 30 schools in Henderson and Buncombe counties. Donations of supplies or financial support is welcome.

Those interested in learning about or supporting Project Dignity or writing postcards may drop in at Sanctuary Brewery Co. between 4:30 and 6 p.m. on Jan. 31.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro held wide-ranging talks on Saturday, a day before the Republic Day celebrations. The leaders focussed on boosting bilateral ties in various areas including medicine, defence, scientific research and trade.

President Bolsonaro who is the Chief Guest in the Republic Day celebrations, is expected to sign around 15 agreements with PM Modi to enhance cooperation between the two countries.

The Brazilian President arrived in India on Friday. PM Modi took to Twitter to welcome the leader. "A warm welcome to President Bolsonaro! We are delighted to host him and we look forward to his taking part in our Republic Day celebrations. His visit will add strength to India-Brazil relations," said PM Modi.

A warm welcome to President @jairbolsonaro! We are delighted to host him and we look forward to his taking part in our Republic Day celebrations. His visit will add strength to India-Brazil relations. pic.twitter.com/Ir5xqBbeSe - Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 24, 2020

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called on President Bolsonaro earlier to discuss ways to enhance the ties between India and Brazil. After the meeting, Jaishankar, in a tweet, said Bolsonaro's visit will open "new opportunities" for bilateral cooperation.

The Brazilian president was given a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in presence of President Ram Nath Kovind and PM Modi upon his arrival. Bolsonaro was accompanied by his daughter Laura Bolsonaro, daughter-in-law Leticia Firmo, eight ministers, four members of the Brazilian parliament and a large business delegation.

The Brazilian president is in India primarily to grace the Republic Day celebrations on Sunday as chief guest and explore ways to boost trade ties with India at a time when both the large economies are hit by slowdown.

India's ties with Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, have been on an upswing in the last few years. The country has a population of 210 million with USD 1.8 trillion economy. The volume of bilateral trade was USD 8.2 billion in 2018-19. This included USD 3.8 billion worth of Indian exports to Brazil and USD 4.4 million as imports by India.

Indian investments in Brazil were around USD 6 billion and Brazilian investments in India are estimated at USD 1 billion in 2018.

This is President Bolsonaro's first visit to India.

Also read: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to arrive in Delhi today; to be chief guest at 71st Republic Day parade

Also read: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to begin 4-day India visit from Jan 24
Ghana has stepped up its efforts to ensure citizens do not contract the coronavirus that has broken out in China and is now spreading faster.

While Ghanas mission in China has advised Ghanaians planning to travel to the Asian country to consider postponing their trips if possible, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has also extended its surveillance exercise at the airport initially for travellers from China to now

Ghanas Deputy Ambassador to China, Dr Charles Dwamena, in an interview, said the health alert advice had become necessary following the rise in the death toll of people who had contracted the disease, as well as the measures being taken by authorities in China as they moved to contain and eventually resolve the disease which was spreading.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) says though the situation calls for concern and caution, it will not have an immediate impact on trading between Ghana and China.

The President of GUTA, Dr Joseph Obeng, in an interview with the Daily Graphic said: Due to modernisation, importers of Chinese products often make their orders on the Internet and get them shipped to the port without them going to China because most of the major importers have long-standing relationships with the manufacturers.

include everyone coming in from any part of the world.

Ghanas Mission

In a telephone conversation, Dr Dwamena said given the fact that most people in many cities in China were being asked to stay indoors to avoid contracting the virus, it was better for Ghanaian travellers to the country to be on the safer side by suspending their trip until it was safe to visit.

If you can, suspend your intended travel to China, please do so as a safe precautionary measure, however, if it is urgent that you visit China, then adhere to all the safety measures to ensure that you do not fall victim.

Also, all Ghanaians in China are encouraged to comply with the directive to stay indoors so they can be safe from contracting the disease which is gradually becoming an epidemic, he advised.

The Deputy Ambassador indicated that there were about 300 Ghanaians living in the city of Wuhan where the virus was first found but so far, no Ghanaian has been reported to have contracted the virus.

Twelve other cities close to Wuhan in central China's Hubei province have also been locked out.

Dr Obeng said trade between the two countries would not be affected as transactions were now conducted electronically, but admitted that some of their members could be affected as they had to travel to conduct business.

There are some of our members who go to the malls in China to transact business but they are in the minority so definitely there could be some disruptions but that wont be enough to have a major impact on trade, he said.

Precautionary measures

Dr Obeng also said those GUTA members who had to travel to China at all cost had been cautioned to observe all the precautionary measures put in place to avoid direct contact with the virus.

He called on the Ministry of Health to immediately begin sensitising the public to the outbreak and also ensure that the entry points in the country, including the Tema Port were disinfected to prevent the virus from entering the country.

The GUTA President said the government had the obligation to ensure that personnel and equipment at these entry points were properly functioning to help screen people and goods entering the country from places where the virus had been detected.

This is not the first time we have been confronted by such a thing, but like the Bird flu which also caused a lot of scare, if we are able to contain any detection then we can prevent it from entering the country so the government must ensure that screening at the ports was done more effectively in the coming days.

MoH Alert

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health last Tuesday issued a public alert on the outbreak of the virus that is airborne and transmitted from humans to humans.

According to the ministry, there would be increased surveillance at the borders and other entry points to ensure that the virus was not smuggled into the country.

The ministry is also setting up quarantine centres across the country to help contain the virus should it call on the countrys borders.

Virus impact

The Chinese authorities have already confirmed that as many as 26 people have died due to coronavirus and the total number of confirmed cases in the country has risen to 900.

So far, five countries  the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom and South Korea  have reported confirmed cases of coronavirus following visits to China.

---graphic.com.gh


(Photo: Best Warm-Weather Vacations the Whole Family Will Love)

When the weather outside is frightful, grab your family and go on a warm-weather vacation. There's no better feeling than leaving the wet shoes and heavy jackets behind to put on a flowery Hawaiian shirt and flip flops. Warm-weather destinations in the United States are unlike any other warm-weather destination.

While you're sitting by the fire with your hot cocoa, do you find yourself dreaming of an adventure through a magical land or a warm sunny beach? Your dream destinations await, take a journey to Florida, Hawaii, and California for their weather, beaches, and attractions.

Florida

If you have small children, your warm-weather destination plans might include attractions that the whole family will enjoy. Like California, Orlando, Florida has theme parks like Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, Legoland and Seaworld. Disney World in Orlando is going to be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2021.

There are a lot of new attractions coming in over the next year for the celebration. If you have small children, while you're journeying through magical lands and visiting animals you're going to need the help of your trusty stroller. Your stroller may be too heavy to lug around and stroller rentals at the parks are typically located inside the front gate which means you'll have to carry your babies through the long line to get into the gates. Not to mention, stroller rentals in large theme parks can be expensive. Looking into stroller rentals in Orlando will save you time, arm strength, and money.

Bargain shopping is the best in Orlando. There are premium outlets located around the city that have top brand name stores for everyone in the whole family to enjoy.

Hawaii

Hawaii is known for its scenery, dancing, and surfing. There are dormant volcanoes, national parks, and zoos you can visit. If you're a history buff you can tour historic sites like Pearl Harbour. The best place you can go to Hawaii is the beach! Snorkeling, swimming with dolphins, fishing, and taking submarine rides are a scenic way to explore the ocean and view all of the marine life. Try taking an adventure through caves or mountain climbing.

If you're truly looking to have fun in the sun you need to go surfing. Feel the ocean breeze from the land or the middle of a wave. The waves on the beaches in Hawaii are of epic proportions and if you're a beginner you should consider getting some surfing lesson training in before you ride the waves. If you love the outdoors, Hawaii may be the warm-weather vacation destination your family will love.

California

California is home to Hollywood, Universal Studios, and Disneyland. Disneyland and Disney World Orlando are both expanding with a lot of new attractions like the new Star Wars land for all to enjoy. California is a great place to shop for top designer brand names. Some of the most famous people in the world head out to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills to indulge in fine shopping. If you're a Hollywood buff enjoy touring through the neighborhoods catching glimpses of A list celebrity homes. Stroll down the Hollywood Walk of Fame and see which celebrity prints your family's hands and feet fit in!

There's no doubt that Florida, Hawaii, and California are the best warm-weather hot spots in America. Orlando is the go-to destination for children and families. Don't miss out on the new upcoming attractions for Disney World's 50th anniversary. If you're tired of using your auto-starter to warm up your car each morning and need a break, book your family a ticket to a warm-weather destination today. You won't regret it!

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Karnataka imposes weekend curfew to contain the surge in Covid-19 cases; details here

Ansar-al-Islam case: NIA charges two for attempting terror strikes in Bengaluru

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 25: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a charge sheet in connection with the Ansar-al-Islam case.

It may be recalled that two suspected Bangladeshi nationals had been detained by the Border Security Force as they were unable to produce valid documents. The police then registered the case before handing it over to the NIA.

The NIA identified the accused persons as Mahmud Hassan and Mohammad Saad Hussain. Both had crossed the international border and entered India in 2018 from Bangadesh. They had concealed their identity and had produced fake documents.

NIA charges five dangerous JMB operatives

The NIA later learnt that the accused persons were given fake documents by their handlers in Bangladesh. It was further revealed that they had travelled from Agartala to Bengaluru and had been planning on carrying out terror attacks.

Investigations revealed that they had carried out a reconnaissance of several public places in Bengaluru. They had also tried to procure arms and weapons from Tripura and Mizoram in order to strike at Bengaluru, the NIA probe has also learnt.

Further investigations are on and the NIA is examining the incriminating material that the agency has found on the accused.
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Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank on January 25 is expected to register solid triple-digit growth in profit in Q3FY20 on account of Essar Steel recovery and lower tax rate. Also, there could be a substantial decline in provisions during the quarter.

"Highlight for the quarter will be strong recovery from Essar steel NPA leading to asset quality improvement and provision write-back and also build in only Rs 2,200 crore of slippages," said Prabhudas Lilladher.

Net interest income (NII) and pre-provision operating profit (PPoP) may grow around 30 percent each year-on-year (YoY), with loan growth of around 13 percent YoY driven by retail and SMEs.

Kotak Institutional Equities expects a PPoP growth of around 25 percent YoY led by loan growth of around 13 percent YoY and healthy NII growth (33 percent YoY, one-off due to NPL recovery). "NIM (core) is expected to remain stable QoQ."

Asset quality is expected to be stable for the quarter.

For All Earnings Related News - Click Here

"We expect a reduction in gross NPLs on the back of write-offs and slippages at around 1.5 percent (of total loan book) levels. Credit costs to decline sharply QoQ on account of resolutions in a few large cases like Essar Steel, Ruchi Soya, JP Power. Below investment grade portfolio will remain stable," said Kotak Institutional Equities which expects profit growth of 212.6 percent YoY (up 665.9 percent QoQ) and 33 percent in NII (up 13.4 percent QoQ).

Edelweiss also said slippages would stabilise and would largely flow from existing stress pool. "That said, we need to watch for downgrades to BBB and below list (system has seen higher downgrades)."

While seeing profit growth of 506 percent QoQ and 146 percent YoY, Motilal Oswal said, "We estimate gross slippages at 2.5 percent annualised and net stressed loans (excluding NPAs) to decline from current 3 percent."

Key things to watch out for would be movement in BB and below-rated book, slippages from SME and Agri segment.

ICICI Bank remained the top pick of all brokerages considering the improving asset quality and loan growth. The stock rallied 24 percent during the December quarter, outperforming Nifty Bank (up 10.5 percent) and Nifty50 (up 6 percent).

Also, it closed at Rs 533.95, up by Rs 6.25, or 1.18 percent on January 24, ahead of earnings.

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.
A veterans group is demanding President Trump apologizes for downplaying the traumatic brain injuries suffered by U.S. troops in the recent Iranian missile strike.

Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) said Trump's claims, that concussion injuries suffered by troops in the attack on the air base in Iraq were just 'headaches', 'minimized' the injuries endured by America's service men and women.

Trump said at a news conference in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday he did not consider potential traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) to be as serious as physical combat injuries and downplayed their severity as 'not very serious'.

'I heard they had headaches,' Trump said.

'No, I don't consider them very serious injuries, relative to other injuries that I've seen.'

Veterans of Foreign Wars (pictured) said Trump's claims, that concussion injuries suffered by troops in the attack on the air base in Iraq were just 'headaches', 'minimized' the injuries endured by America's service men and women

The VFW said in a statement (above) that it 'expects an apology from the president to our service men and women for his misguided remarks'

President Trump (pictured during a news conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday) claimed that the injuries were 'not very serious'

VFW said it 'expects an apology from the president'.

'In light of today's announcement from the defense department that 34 U.S. service members suffered traumatic brain injuries as a result of Iran's retaliatory strike and President Trump's remarks which minimized these troops' injuries, the Veterans of Foreign Wars cannot stand idle on this matter,' VFW National Commander William 'Doc' Schmitz said in a statement.

'The VFW expects an apology from the president to our service men and women for his misguided remarks. And, we ask that he and the White House join with us in our efforts to educate Americans of the dangers TBI has on these heroes as they protect our great nation in these trying times. Our warriors require our full support more than ever in this challenging environment.'

Former Vice President Joe Biden (pictured at a campaign community event in Claremont, New Hampshire) called President Trump's comments 'disgusting'

Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden also slammed the president's comments as 'disgusting'.

Speaking at a campaign event in New Hampshire on Friday, Biden took aim at Trump, claiming the president 'brushed off' possible cases of traumatic brain injuries.

'This week he brushed off the injuries sustained by those brave troops who were on the other side of the Iranian bombardment and missile attack in Iraq from Iran,' Biden said.

'And he said while they were being evaluated for traumatic brain injuries, he said no, they just have headaches.'

The former vice president added that there are '300,000 estimated people coming home from these wars suffering from post-traumatic stress as a consequence of being exposed to the traumatic brain injuries.

'And the idea that [it] is taken so lightly, I find it quite frankly disgusting.'

Biden's late son Beau served in the war in Iraq.

The president said he was initially told there were no injuries in the attack two weeks ago but the Pentagon announced on Friday that 34 U.S. troops have been diagnosed with concussions.

The Pentagon had previously said that 11 U.S. service members were transported to hospitals in Kuwait and Germany but it was confirmed Friday that 34 troops have been diagnosed with concussions from the Iranian missile attack on Al Asad Air Base.

According to a Defense Department spokesman, half of the troops affected have returned to duty in Iraq while eight were sent to the U.S. for further treatment. No Americans were killed in the attack.

The attack on the air base in Iraq over two weeks ago was a direct response to the death of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani in an American drone strike ordered by President Trump.

Thirty-four U.S. troops suffered injuries in the attack but there were no American casualties

The Iranian air missile hitting the Al Assad airbase in Iraq earlier this month on January 8

Former Vice President Joe Biden with his late son Beau (left) who served in the war in Iraq

The Pentagon claim that the number injured in the Iranian missile attack rose because symptoms were not immediately apparent and the concussion-like symptoms appeared days later in some cases.

'A lot of these symptoms, they are late developing, they manifest over a period of time, people, in some cases, their condition will improve and what we saw is a number of people who were initially screened for concussion-like symptoms ... saw their conditions improve rapidly and then others we saw their conditions didnt improve,' said Chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman

'Some got worse and some had severe enough symptoms that they were transported on for further treatment'.

On Friday, Joe Biden also criticized Trump for this week's announcement that he plans to extend his ban on travel from certain countries. Trump has called it a 'very powerful ban' that is necessary to ensure national security.

According to two new polls released this week, Bernie Sanders is pulling ahead of Joe Biden in New Hampshire.
Cleveland, Ohio, Jan. 24, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Independence-based developer and owner of single-family apartment homes, Redwood Living Inc. (Redwood), has named real estate industry veteran Kevin Kwiatkowski as the companys new Vice President of Acquisitions.



Kwiatkowski will immediately integrate into Redwoods portfolio of rental properties in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina and South Carolina, working with land brokers and helping to propel Redwoods expansion plans into new markets. He will leverage his prior industry experience to help Redwood meet their goals in 2020 and beyond.



At Redwood, our core values and culture are the cornerstones of our business, said David Conwill, CEO, Redwood. Kevin is an exceptional real estate developer who operates with high integrity and strong core values. We are ecstatic to bring him into the Redwood family as we build upon an already remarkable acquisition team, and pursue Redwoods vision and mission of delivering Redwood Apartment Neighborhoods throughout Suburban America.



Kwiatkowski brings over 20 years of experience in real estate acquisition, entitlement, and land development, including over 15 years with two of the top five national homebuilders, NVR Inc. and Pulte Group. He began his career in Ypsilanti Twp., Mich., where he served as the Townships Community & Economic Development Director. Kwiatkowski is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a Master of Science in Urban and Regional Planning.



Currently, Redwood owns and manages over 10,000 units in nearly 100 neighborhoods across six states, with plans for another 2,000 new units in 2020. Redwoods signature single-story apartments with attached garages situated in welcoming, green-centric neighborhood settings provide residents all the comforts of home plus the conveniences of a maintenance-free lifestyle.



####

About Redwood Living, Inc.

Story continues

Redwood Living, Inc. (Redwood) is an innovative development and property management company with neighborhoods in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina and South Carolina. The company believes that the growth of the rental population demands the response that Redwood provides. The success of this approach continues to be validated in new markets. Redwood is a company that believes in its mission, product and amazing people. It creates a simplified, relaxed lifestyle for residents, and offers a rewarding atmosphere for its employees. For more information, visit www.byredwood.com.

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Despite the blue wave of the 2018 midterms, the Republican Party still holds 61 percent of state legislative chambers. Their struggle is compounded by the tilted playing field created by Citizens United, especially at the state and local levels: A study looking back at the 2010s conducted by Anna Harvey, a professor of politics at New York University, published this fall in the journal Public Choice, concluded that Citizens United led not only to greater likelihoods of election for Republican state legislative candidates but also to larger within-district increases in their conservatism.

And until the last couple of years, it just hasnt been the case that progressives have built up organizations that are federated, said Alex Hertel-Fernandez, a Columbia professor and author of the book State Capture: How Conservative Activists, Big Businesses and Wealthy Donors Reshaped the American States  and the Nation. He argues that, even now, rather than pool resources across states as conservative networks do, liberals in rich blue states tend to send money to single-issue nationally led organizations, like Planned Parenthood or the American Civil Liberties Union.

One solution being pushed by some activists is to create a system of public campaign financing parallel to the widened stream of private funds. Seattle has recently adopted a democracy voucher program, which distributes funds to voters who can then donate to the candidates of their choice. (Seattle has also recently restricted corporate involvement in local politics through foreign interference laws.) And New York State will match six to one donations by people who give less than $250.

If broadened to the federal level, public financing might free candidates from the disproportionate influence of affluent and corporate donors, while allowing much of the money currently geared toward electioneering to be rededicated to movement building.

Once candidates are in office, such a program would spare politicians (and their constituents) the indignity of their spending as much as 70 percent of their time asking donors for money, as members of Congress currently do. Those dynamics have a concrete effect: A now infamous 2014 study that analyzed American politics across three decades found that average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence on public policy.

Though partisanship dominates national discourse, polls show that large majorities remain united in the belief that corruption is the most important issue facing the country. Armed with this knowledge, House Democrats passed a sprawling democracy bill last year that would provide a six-to-one federal match for any donation of $200 or less. These people-powered matching funds could supercharge the democratizing influence on politics that small online donations have already demonstrated in limited doses.
There are no mistakes in life, only lessons. This familiar quote by Robin Sharma best exemplifies one courageous teen currently attending the Butte High Career Center. Elizabeth McNabney, now a 16-year-old junior, never planned on becoming a statistic when she learned she was pregnant at age 14. McNabney is not alone. According to recent Centers for Disease Control statistics, more than 194,000 babies are born annually in the United States to women and girls aged 15-19 years.

Considering her condition, McNabney faced some adult decisions. She approached her situation with a level of maturity beyond her years. McNabney assessed her young age, level of education, and the lack of involvement and support from the childs father. All things considered, she decided to carry the pregnancy to term, prioritized her childs future needs and best interest, and made the difficult decision to put her baby up for adoption. I would have been a single mom having to work and go through school and wouldnt be able to afford a baby, she said.

McNabney found attending Butte High School while pregnant was challenging on many levels  especially concerning the response from some of her teen peers. I thought that I got judged a little bit harshly, she said. McNabney decided the Butte High Career Center, located in the former Webster Garfield School building on the corner of Front and Montana streets, would be a better fit for her priorities than dropping out. I wanted to continue my education, she said.

The Career Center provides an educational alternative to the main Butte High campus experience. The center broadens both options and paths to success to encompass a wider range of students and their individual needs. In McNabneys case, the decision allowed her to succeed in school without the teen pregnancy-associated stigma. That success includes maintaining a 3.4 grade point average with career aspirations to become either a veterinarian or a general surgeon. Ive always had an interest in medicine. I love animals and I love helping people, she said. She hopes to attend the University of Montana-Western in Dillon for her undergraduate work, after graduation.

McNabney is currently moving forward with a life more like that of a typical teen. Her favorite class is Jobs for Montana Graduates (JMG), which focuses on tactics for job success. We have a lot of guest speakers come in. They talk about what they look for when they interview people and what its like to be out of school and in the workforce, she said. The class also works to improve the quality of the school experience by providing activities for younger students attending school at the Center. We like to help our students here, she said. McNabneys favorite activities outside of school are somewhat studious. I write stories for a hobby. I like to read, too, she said.

Despite the return to normalcy, McNabneys experience has forever changed her  and those around her have made note. Her maturity, newfound level of responsibility and academic performance have earned her respect and admiration from the centers staff.

Elizabeth is reliable and dependable. She is a caring young lady with a bright future, said Melissa Johnson, assistant special education director. McNabneys instructor for her JMG class, Melissa Paul, had similar sentiments. Elizabeth is a great choice for Teen of the Month. She is very responsible and dependable. She is always willing to help out with anything and is a great leader in our school, Paul said.

McNabneys father, Patrick, is proud of the manner in which his daughter has handled things. She had to make some hard decisions. She is doing the very best with the opportunities she has now. Shes got a bright future ahead of her, he said.

McNabney offered some advice to other teens facing difficult challenges. Its okay to make mistakes, she said. Though she said she was frightened at first, McNabney added she found there were options and choices available to work through her difficulties.

Its really okay. The world goes on. You just have to think about it and find the best solution for you and your problem, she said. This is sound advice coming from a mature young woman who is mastering her life lessons well.

School officials select the Teen of the Month profiled each month. At the end of the year, one of the students will receive a scholarship.

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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia David John Hurley.

It is on the occasion of Australia Day that on my personal behalf and behalf of the people of Azerbaijan I offer my cordial congratulations to you and your people, Ilham Aliyev said in his letter.

I believe the development of the ties of friendship and cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Commonwealth of Australia will contribute further to the prosperity of our peoples, reads the letter. On this prominent day, I wish strong health and success to you, and everlasting peace and prosperity to the friendly people of Australia.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
A graffiti tagger has been arrested after allegedly spray painting 'Penis Man' more than 40 times around a town in Arizona.

The vandal evaded capture since November 2019 as he scrawled the offensive words around the city of Tempe, Arizona.

But former Arizona State University student Dustin Shomer was allegedly caught in the act on Thursday, January 23.

Dustin Shomer was arrested by Tempe police on Thursday and identified as the 'Penis Man' tagger

Dustin Shomer created 'Penis Man' graffiti around Tempe to protest 'local government'

Dustin Shomer in action in a YouTube video in which he tags as 'Penis Man'

Shomer, a native of Phoneix, Arizona, was allegedly caught red-handed by the Arizona State University Police Department at approximately 5:30PM. They called in the Tempe police to make the arrest.

'Tempe Police Detectives arrested Dustin Shomer after investigation revealed he was responsible for multiple graffiti incidents of "Penis Man" throughout the City of Tempe and across Arizona State University as well,' Detective Greg Bacon told the Daily Mail.

'Dustin was booked into the Tempe City Jail on 16 counts of aggravated criminal damage, 8 counts of criminal damage and one count of criminal trespassing in the first degree.'

Tempe Arizona Police Detectives arrested Dustin Shomer after an investigation revealed he was responsible for multiple graffiti incidents of 'Penis Man'

Dustin Shomer was a former student of Arizona State University where tags also appeared

Dustin Shomer created a YouTube video in which he wrote out his name to 'prove' who he was

According to Shomer's Facebook page, he is a former student of the Japanese Language and Literature in Arizona State University, which has a campus in Tempe.

Many of the 40-plus tags as 'Penis Man' appeared on the college campus.

In one of his social media posts, Shomer reportedly spoke about how 'Penis Man' was a protest against 'corrupt local government'.

'Penis Man' had been active since November when an early January ABC15 Arizona news report made him a local celebrity.

A 'Penis Man Fans' Twitter page was created to document the new locations where the graffiti appeared and even Presidential campaign badges were created by his fans.

'Penis Man' struck 40-plus locations throughout Tempe, Arizona

Fans of 'Penis Man' created their own Twitter page to track the new locations and copycats

Isaac Chavira, Tempe's transportation maintenance manager, said stunt wasted resources

The city's maintenance managers were initially lenient about the wide spread tags as the few tens of locations were nothing in comparison to the 300,000 cases of graffiti logged in Tempe in 2019. The police had also received no official complaint and so an investigation was not opened.

But the tagging became a problem when local historical landmarks began to be targeted, including the historic Hayden Flour Mill, the 'A' landmark on Hayden Butte and the front door of Tempe's municipal building.

'Penis Man' tags began to appear in more peculiar locations around Tempe, Arizona

'Penis Man' went vital after a TV broadcast showcased some of his more bizarre tags

'Penis Man' appeared to be opportunistic in his approach to tagging

'It's like, I get that anything longer than it is wide is phallic, but at a certain point, you just shake your head,' Tempe Vice Mayor Lauren Kuby told New Times.

'The public works staff has to work extra hours to clean that up.'

'There's a lot of time, material and resources that's being utilized to abate the graffiti so yes, I would like to see this stopped,' said Isaac Chavira, Tempe's transportation maintenance manager.

Shomer himself engaged in the hype on social media surrounding 'Penis Man'.

Dustin Shomer engaged in the social media debate about 'Penis Man'

Shomer appeared to claim 'Penis Man; was a protest against 'corrupt local government'

Without identifying himself, Shomer revealed more about 'Penis Man' through his posts

In a post to 'Unmodded - NEIGHB'rhood Group', he posted a picture of a tag saying 'Penis Them' stating: 'Can't stop them from coming and coming and coming all over the place.'

While not identifying himself, he commented several times in response to other users, telling one: 'if you don't like Penis Man, you're more than welcome to organize a significant movement that is effective in weakening the influence of venture capital and corrupt local government.'

He also commented: 'LGBTQ+ is a function of capitalist identity politics. Although anyone should be free to be who they are, they should not need a particular label in order to achieve validity in their sexuality or orientation.'
Srinagar, Jan 25 : The Pakistan Army had requested the Indian Army to de-escalate the action along the LoC last month, Lt. General K.J.S Dhillon, 15 Corps Commander, said at a press conference here on Saturday.

General Dhillon said that on December 27 last year the DGMO Pakistani Army called up his Indian counterpart and requested him to de-escalate the action along the LoC as it was causing casualties on the Pakistani side and inflicting heavy damage on their forces.

He said that the DGMO had conveyed to his Pakistani counterpart that the latter must stop abetting terrorism.

"However, the very next day, Pakistan made an attempt to push in infiltrators into India. The Indian Army gave a befitting reply to Pakistan," Gen Dhillon said.

He said that there is no change in the Pakistani attitude as it continues to push in infiltrators into Indian territory and resorts to ceasefire violations.

"Even now Pakistan is carrying out ceasefire violations along the LoC," he said.
A Non  Governmental Organization, Omaniae Ghana has gone into partnership with Good Deeds Day in an effort to working towards empowering the Ghanaian youth.

The said initiative is going to come to light through an upcoming event dubbed, 3rd African Regional Conference to be held from August 4 through to 7, 2020 with the theme, "Leveraging Corporate Responsibility, Youth Empowerment, Curbing Irregular Migration through Volunteerism under the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)."

This was made known at a press conference held at the African Regent Hotel, Accra on 22nd January, 2020.

The 3rd African Regional Conference which can be described as a door opener for the youth is aimed at giving the youth the opportunity to build networks for themselves, understanding the nature of volunteering activities and developing themselves through skills training.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Omaniae Ghana, Richard Osei Bonsu noted that the upcoming Conference is going to be a way of enhancing the community through several developmental projects, setting up of networks for all the stakeholders involved in the said event.

Kaynan Rabino, CEO of Good Deeds Day indicated that Good Deeds Day is a Global Day that seeks to tackle challenges globally to give all kinds of ideas from all over the world.

Touching on Irregular Migration, the Director, Centre for Migration Studies, University of Ghana, Professor Joseph Teye indicated that it is good to combat Irregular Migration and there are different ways of doing that which include spreading of the information on the dangers of Irregular Migration and empowering the youth.

Dr. Daniel Agbeko, CEO of Quente Africa speaking on entrepreneurship said  All the successful people on planet earth are people who started their own businessesa job or salary is not medicine for curing poverty; it only manages the poverty level. So as long as you continue taking salary, you will continue to remain in the poverty cycle unless you start something on your own.
By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Aviation Administrator Steve Dickson has called senior U.S. airline officials Friday and told them that the agency could approve the grounded Boeing 737 MAX's return to service before mid-year, people briefed on the calls said Friday.

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Aviation Administrator Steve Dickson has called senior U.S. airline officials Friday and told them that the agency could approve the grounded Boeing 737 MAX's return to service before mid-year, people briefed on the calls said Friday.

Dickson's calls come days after Boeing said it was pushing back its timeline for approval of the plane's return and "currently estimating that the ungrounding of the 737 MAX will begin during mid-2020."

A person briefed on one of Dickson's calls with the airlines said he told officials the Boeing mid-year timeline is "very conservative."

Boeing's best-selling plane has been grounded since March after two fatal crashes killed 346 people.

Boeing's stock erased losses on the news and was up 2%.

The agency confirmed in a statement Friday that Dickson is making calls "to reiterate that the FAA has set no time frame for completion of certification work on the aircraft." The agency added it is "pleased with Boeings progress in recent weeks towards achieving key milestones."

The FAA added that "safety is the top priority, and the FAA continues to work with other safety regulators to ensure that Boeing has addressed all known issues with the aircraft."

FAA approval before mid-year could only happen if Boeing continues to make complete and thorough submissions, the official said, and emphasized that unforeseen issues could always potentially delay approval.

American Airlines Group Inc , United Airlines Holdings Inc and Southwest Airlines Co have all pushed back the resumption of MAX flights until early June. This week, United told investors it does not expect to fly the Boeing 737 MAX this summer.

After Boeing revised its timeline this week, no U.S. carrier took any immediate action to extend flight cancellations. Airlines have said they will need at least 30 days after the FAA grants approval for pilot training, software updates and required maintenance.

Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun told reporters this week the company could resume production in April. Calhoun said the mid-year timetable came after the planemaker endorsed a plan for pilots to do simulator training before they resume flying the MAX.

(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Franklin Paul and Cynthia Osterman)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Fans of This Is Us took a big sigh of relief when the show returned for its midseason premiere. Without a weekly dose of the Pearson family, the days feel longer than usual. However, dearly departed patriarch, Jack Pearson, wouldnt be fully realized without Milo Ventimiglia. The actor effortlessly pulls off hero dad without breaking a sweat. Was he always so suave or is that something he deliberately put into Jack for the show?

Milo Ventimiglia is an extremely private guy

Milo Ventimiglia attends NBCs This Is Us Pancakes with the Pearsons | Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic

We cant emphasize how private Milo Ventimiglia is without first referencing that Jack Pearson is also very private on This Is Us. The similarities are interesting to note, though Ventimiglia said in past interviews hes nothing like Papa Pearson.

However, just as Jack kept his Vietnam War, Nicky, and alcoholism secrets, Ventimiglia keeps his dating life under wraps. The last semi-public relationship reported was with Kelly Egarian in 2017.

Ventimiglia made headlines since, during a couple of seperate outings with a mystery woman at Disneyland and Orange Is the New Black star, Diane Guerrero. The actor only makes the news because its so very rare to catch him in public with anyone anymore.

Previous relationships, he said, taught him to never date a costar again. With that, he seems to have realized not to appear in public unless he wants to give the impression hes dating that person. Its unclear if hes currently single or taken.

We cant blame him for keeping his private life private, but it makes fans everywhere wonder if hes always been this way or if it only came with the pressures of the spotlight.

Ventimiglias throwback photos are everything This Is Us dreams are made of

Thank the internet for the glory of throwback photos. Otherwise, This Is Us fans couldnt get a glimpse of Ventimiglia pre-showbiz. Recently, the stars former prom date posted a picture of a young Ventimiglia, proving hes basically been a heartthrob forever.

Awww milo! a fan replied. Aww, Milos always been so handsome. I wish he was my prom date back in the day (almost 15 years ago.. yikes), another said.

The throwback is only the beginning of the Ventimiglia treasure trove. The Anaheim, California native attended El Modena High School in Orange County where you can easily find photos of the actor via Classmates way before he shot to fame.

Ventimiglia graduated in 1995, but not before taking charge of the wrestling team, student government and, of course, drama, according to the page.

What else did Ventimiglia do before Hollywood?

That same year, while still attending the University of California, he landed a guest spot (as party guest) on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

He now credits star of the show, Will Smith, for showing him the ropes.

The most impactful thing for me being on that set was to see how Will Smith was with his crew, he told Interview Magazine. He was not just a TV star; he was a movie star already. He knew everyones name and was inclusive of everyone and the crew.

He added that the experience taught him how to treat others on-set.

It impacted me and how I am around my sets and my crews. Will Smith is a good man. So I just try to be a good man. It was a pretty impactful moment, Im very thankful that that was my first gig  being around him. 

From there, Ventimiglia took on guest appearances in many projects before landing his break-out character, Jess Mariano on Gilmore Girls. The rest, as they say, is history. Still, those throwback photos of a young MV are everything, so thank you, internet, for coming through.

This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, January 25, 2020 07:18 718 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad2060eaf64 1 Politics Jokowi,President-Jokowi,Yasona-Laoly,PDI-P,bribery-case Free

President Joko Jokowi Widodo has called on all ministers and state officials to be more careful about making statements in public.

Jokowi made the statement in response to journalists' questions regarding Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly, who conveyed incorrect information regarding the whereabouts of bribery suspect and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Harun Masiku.

Please be more careful, especially when it comes to data, numbers and legal matters. Dont trust information without verifying it first, he said on Friday.

Yasonna has been under scrutiny after he, alongside some other high-profile PDI-P officials, claimed that Harun left for Singapore on Jan. 6 and had yet to return to the country, when he had in fact returned to Indonesia on Jan. 7.

A report by Tempo magazine claimed evidence, including CCTV footage, indicated that Harun had returned on Jan. 7. After days of denial, the immigration director general, Ronny F. Sompie, who is Yasonna's subordinate in the ministry, confirmed the veracity of Tempo's report on Wednesday. He said there had been a delay in the processing of traffic data at Terminal F of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after Harun entered on Jan. 7.
By Diane Reynolds, Bradford Meisel, and Rick Gideon, Jr.

Americas city and local governments are under attack from ransomware, which disables entire computer system networks until the victim pays a ransom in cryptocurrency, and the results have been catastrophic. On Dec. 13, New Orleans suffered a ransomware attack that forced all city servers to shut down and Mayor LaToya Cantrell was forced to declare a State of Emergency. This was just the latest in a long string of devastating ransomware attacks targeting local governments in cities as well as smaller municipalities and school districts across the United States.

In May of 2019, Baltimore suffered a ransomware attack that cost the city approximately $18 million in remediation costs and left the city unable to close real estate purchases or process water bill payments for over two weeks. In March of 2018, the Atlanta suffered a ransomware attack that could reportedly cost taxpayers up to $17 million. On Nov. 23, 2019, the Livingston School District suffered a ransomware attack that disabled the districts computer systems and delayed classes.

Although the FBI and the United States Conference of Mayors have warned against paying ransom demands, in part because paying such demands will encourage hackers to strike again, many municipal governments have paid hackers ransoms in order to avoid lengthy system outages, even though regaining access to the data does not necessarily close the door the hackers used to access it in the first place.

For example, Jackson County, Georgia paid $400,000 in ransom and Riviera Beach, Florida paid over $600,000 in ransom after suffering ransomware attacks in March and June of 2019, respectively. Similarly, Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jerseys largest healthcare system, which operates 17 hospitals statewide, paid hackers an undisclosed amount after suffering a ransomware attack in December of 2019 that disabled computer networks for two days and delayed non-emergency procedures.

Since ransomware attacks can be the work of hostile state actors -- such as North Korea and Iran, or foreign organized crime syndicates -- municipal government cybersecurity can have critical global and national security implications.

While large cities may be the most appealing targets to hostile state actors seeking to create fear or chaos in the United States or retaliate for United States military action abroad, smaller municipalities may also be targeted by such foreign actors seeking to extort ransom that could be used to enhance weapons programs in anticipation of armed conflict.

In order to counteract the ransomware epidemic, municipal governments must make cybersecurity a priority and develop effective cybersecurity incident prevention and response practices that can minimize the effectiveness of ransomware attacks. It is evident, given our experience, that the most effective method of developing such cybersecurity incident prevention and response practices is for municipal governments to establish an interdisciplinary team of experts including specialized information technology and security professionals with diverse experience to oversee enterprise-wide cybersecurity.

While large cities should hire a team of full-time professional experts under the supervision of in-house city attorneys to fill this vital role, smaller municipalities with more limited resources would be well advised to retain outside law firms with cybersecurity and data privacy expertise to assemble and oversee such teams of outside experts.

An interdisciplinary cybersecurity team can assist municipal governments by conducting cybersecurity assessments in order to identify technical vulnerabilities and evaluate existing policies, practices, and procedures related to cybersecurity, including employee monitoring and technology use restrictions, which can often prevent employees from causing cybersecurity incidents by inadvertently downloading malware, including ransomware, from questionable websites. Based on the findings of such assessments, an interdisciplinary cybersecurity team can assist municipalities in creating and effectively implementing new policies and procedures that would reduce or eliminate existing cybersecurity risks, upgrading or replacing software, hardware, or other technology with identified vulnerabilities.

Although it may be impossible to prevent ransomware from continuing to strike Americas municipal governments, municipalities can best protect themselves, their residents, and national and global security by prioritizing cybersecurity and establishing an interdisciplinary cybersecurity team to oversee their efforts to prevent potentially devastating cyberattacks.

Diane Reynolds and Bradford Meisel are corporate, cybersecurity, and data privacy attorneys with McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, which has offices in New Jersey and eight other states. Rick Gideon, Jr. is chief strategy officer at Ecommerce L.L.C.

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.
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Linkedin Paul Ricard (Agence France-Presse) Paris, France  Sat, January 25, 2020 10:07 718 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad2060ef141 2 Health China,coronavirus,health,fear Free

Inflamed by past scares and Hollywood disaster blockbusters, few things feed collective panic like a virus, experts said Thursday, as China locked down the epicenter of a deadly flu-like outbreak.

AFP spoke to health specialists to find out why this is the case, and what can be done to limit the spread of worry.

Why so scary?

"There is an innate sense of fear around disease outbreaks, principally because it is an invisible enemy to the human eye," said Adam Kamradt-Scott, an expert in the spread and control of infectious diseases at the University of Sydney.

"This generates a level of fear, as no-one can really know if they have been infected until symptoms develop, by which time it may be too late."

Unlike bacterial infections, which can be treated by antibiotics, viruses respond to very few treatments, according to Sanjaya Senanayake, associate professor of medicine at The Australian National University.

"Also, respiratory viruses, such as influenza, seem to spread more easily from person to person than bacterial infections, and therefore have a higher outbreak potential," she said.

The outbreak has so far claimed 18 lives across China, with new cases reported in several Asian countries and the United States.

Science historian Laurent-Henri Vignaud said popular culture plays an underappreciated role in conditioning populations to fear pandemics.

"It's like in horror films where those infected become zombies," he said.

"It's extremely unsettling because it calls into question the social bond. We come to fear the sick."

Read also: Snakes could be the original source of the new coronavirus outbreak in China

What can authorities do?

The main driver of anxiety over the new strain of virus is likely to be its similarity to SARS, a viral lung infections which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.

The Chinese government took months to report SARS and initially denied World Health Organisation experts any access.

This time Beijing has locked down some 20 million people in several cities, closing roads and suspending rail and flight routes to contain the virus.

But Tom Solomon, a professor at the University of Liverpool, warned that quarantine could be "counter-productive".

"It can increase the level of panic, and just cause people to flee by other means," he said.

It is necessary to limit not only the spread of the virus, but also the fear it provokes, according to Rania MacIntyre, head of the Biosecurity Research Program at the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales.

"Health authorities need to find the balance between providing transparent information to the community without causing panic," she said.

Kamradt-Scott said it was incumbent on authorities to effectively "counter conspiracy theories and rumors".

Communication by authorities was poor during the last global pandemic scare, of avian flu in 2009, said Vignaud.

"The World Health Organization went straight away to the maximum alert level," thus causing panic, he said.

What does history tell us?

For Vignaud, the fear of epidemics spans much of our history.

"What comes to mind most is the plague" that spread periodically through Europe in the Middle Ages, he said.

Franco-Croat historian Mirko Grmek last century came up with the theory of pathocenosis -- that each epoch of human history will have diseases that fit their particular context.

Vignaud said this includes economic, political and social conditions, as well as those diseases perceived to be the most dangerous.

He gave the examples of cholera and tuberculosis in the 19th Century, which were helped to spread by the water pollution, overcrowding and lack of cleanliness that came with rapid urbanization.

The modern-day fear of a pandemic -- a truly global killer -- stems from globalization, according to Vignaud.

"The good side of it is you can take a plane and in a few hours time be anywhere on the planet," he said.

"The flip side is that the virus can now travel with you."

Read also: Indonesia heightens surveillance at ports of entry amid coronavirus fears

What role does media play?

"The media has a crucial responsibility to ensure that only accurate, factual information is reported, and needs to refrain as much as possible from speculation and hyperbole in these types of events," said Kamradt-Scott.

But the nature of 24-hour news cycles could nevertheless stoke fears with blanket coverage of what ultimately has only affected a few hundred people worldwide thus far, according to Senanayake.

"They need to keep reporting it till they feel that the outbreak is under control and no longer newsworthy," she said.

"With this outbreak, because it is in its infancy, I think it is reasonable for the media to keep updating the public as new information comes to light."

Topics : China coronavirus health fear
KABUL, Afghanistan  The Afghan government said on Saturday that it was investigating the fatal shootings by Afghan soldiers of a girl and her father in Kandahar Province, amid complaints by residents that the security forces have for years been accused of extrajudicial killings and other abuses.

The most basic details about the girl, named Naza, were conflicting. She was either 10, 13 or 17 years of age, according to different versions by at least three officials. One official said she had been out shepherding a herd of sheep near their home in Shah Wali Kot District in Kandahar when she was shot.

Khalil Ahmad Mujahid, a member of Parliament from Kandahar, said she had been in the fields near her home collecting vegetables when the soldiers had opened fire.

The family searched for the girl the whole night, and found her body in their lands the next day, Mr. Mujahid said.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo screamed obscenities at a reporter and demanded she proved she could find Ukraine on an unmarked map, it has been alleged.

National Public Radio (NPR) reporter Mary Louise Kelly interviewed the secretary for the programme All Things Considered on Friday. She asked Mr Pompeo whether he owed an apology to former US Ukraine ambassador Marie L Yovanovitch.

The State Department is facing questions over the treatment of Ms Yovanovitch before she was recalled as ambassador. Also, last week House Democrats released messages which suggest that Ms Yovanovitch may have been under surveillance before she was told to return to Washington from her posting in Kyiv.

During the interview, Mr Pompeo replied to the question, saying: You know, I agreed to come on your show today to talk about Iran. Thats what I intend to do. I know what our Ukraine policy has been now for the three years of this administration.

The secretary repeatedly tried to end the interview as Ms Kelly continued to press him on the matter. Immediately after the questions on Ukraine, the interview finished.

All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Show all 6 1 /6 All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Alan Dershowitz Dershowitz is a controversial American lawyer best known for the high-profile clients he has successfully defended. Those clients have included OJ Simpson, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein. One longtime Harvard Law associated told the New Yorker Dershowitz "revels in taking positions that ultimately are not just controversial but pretty close to indefensible." Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Ken Starr Starr became a household name in the 1990s as the independent counsel who led the investigation that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment. That investigation began as a look into a real estate scandal known as Whitewater, and eventually led to impeachment after Mr Clinton lied under oath about having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. AP All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Jay Sekulow Sekulow is the president's longtime personal attorney, and, now, personal lawyer in the White House. He has been accused by former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas of being "in the loop" during the Ukraine scandal. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pam Bondi Bondi is the former attorney general in Florida, and a longtime backer of the president's. She made a name for herself in Florida for taking hyper partisan stances on issues, and her penchant for publicity. She is likely to be a prominent public-facing figure during the trial. AFP/Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pat Cipollone Cipollone is the White House counsel, and leading the president's defence team. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Rudy Giuliani While not officially named as one of the president's impeachment lawyers, it is hard to ignore Giuliani's outsized role in this process. The former mayor of New York has been making headlines for months as he defends his client, and for his apparent role in the effort to compel Ukraine to launch the investigation into Joe Biden. We'll see how he figures in the actual trial, which he has said he would like to be a part of. Reuters

It was at this point that Mr Pompeo is said to have stood up, leaned in and silently glared at Ms Kelly for several seconds before leaving the room, NPR reports.

Moments later, an aide asked the reporter to follow her into Mr Pompeos private living room at the State Department without a recorder. But the aide reportedly did not say the exchange would be off the record.

Once inside the room, Mr Pompeo shouted at the reporter for being questioned about Ukraine and used repeated expletives, Ms Kelly claims. He is also said to have asked the reporter: Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?

Mr Pompeo then asked Ms Kelly to find Ukraine on a map and she claims that when she said she could, he called out for aides to bring us a map of the world with no writing.

Speaking to CNN, Ms Kelly added: I pointed to Ukraine. He put the map away. He said, People will hear about this. And then he turned, said he had things to do and I thanked him again for his time and left.

The Independent has contacted the US State Department for comment. However, NPR, The New York Times and CNN have also sought comment but have not received any response.

Ms Yovanovitch, a 33-year veteran diplomat, was abruptly recalled from Ukraine last May and has become a key figure in the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.

She testified last year that she was the target of a smear campaign by Mr Trumps personal lawyer Rudolph W Giuliani and two of his associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. The associates have since been indicted in a scheme to violate campaign finance laws.

The former Ukraine ambassador also testified she felt threatened by Mr Trump. The president also disparaged Ms Yovanovitch on Twitter.
Australian actress Margot Robbie was not at the AACTA International Award ceremony in December to accept her gong for Best Supporting Actress.

And on Saturday, the actress gave fans a glimpse at the dream holiday that made her miss the prestigious ceremony.

Margot, 29, shared an artfully spread out flat lay snap of her lavish holidays to the Maldives and Sri Lanka via Polaroid photos.

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'Classic Aussie abroad'! Margot Robbie shares Polaroid snaps of in the Maldives and Sri Lanka, giving fans a sneak peak of the dream holiday that made her miss her AACTA award win

In the snaps, a bikini-clad Margot posed with her friends and husband Tom Ackerley.

'Cant believe this was just a few weeks ago. What a trip,' the Bombshell star wrote in the caption.

Her friend Tom Turner's Instagram gave some more insight to the tropical adventure.

Tropical: Margot Robbie took to Instagram on Saturday to give fans a sneak peak at the dream holiday that made her miss the prestigious ceremony. Pictured in Sri Lanka with fans

'What a trip': The group later relaxed on a Sri Lankan beach, sipping canned beers at an ocean-side bar. Pictured left to right: Tom Ackerley, Josey McNamara and Tom Turner

Margot, Tom and her four friends hiked up to Little Adam's Peak in Ella, Sri Lanka, as well as exploring the popular tourist hike Ravana Falls.

The group later relaxed on a Sri Lankan beach, and sipped canned beers at an ocean-side bar.

They later boarded a small sea-plane, jetting off to their luxury Maldives resort.

Exploring: Margot (pictured), Tom and her four friends hiked up to Little Adam's Peak in Ella, Sri Lanka, as well as exploring the popular tourist hike Ravana Falls

So much fun! 'Cant believe this was just a few weeks ago. What a trip,' the Bombshell star (pictured standing centre) wrote in her Instagram caption

Despite the opulent location, Margot's friend Kelly McNamara confirmed that 'boys will be boys', filming the starlette's husband and friends all sliding down a waterslide together into the crystal clear waters.

Around the same time, Margot's name was being read out for the International Award for Best Supporting Actress at the AACTAs.

Margot accepted her awards from afar, sharing a thankful message with what appeared to be a Sri Lankan town as her backdrop.

'Boys will be boys: Margot's husband and friends all slid down a waterslide together into the crystal clear waters

Grateful: Margot accepted her awards from afar, sharing a thankful message with what appeared to be a Sri Lankan town as her backdrop

'I'm so sorry I'm not there in person, I am quite literally on the other side of the world right now,' Margot started her impromptu speech.

She added: 'Classic Aussie, just abroad. But I'm really, really grateful.

'I'm always so proud to represent the Aussies in this industry, so to be recognised by the Australian Academy is really special.'
A 20-year-old man has been charged with grievous bodily harm after allegedly assaulting a 22-year-old man in the Sydney CBD in a "one-punch" attack on Saturday night.

Police were called to St Andrews Square about 8.30pm after reports the 22-year-old had been punched in the face, fallen to the ground and hit his head.

The man was unconscious when police found him and took him to St Vincent's Hospital, where he was diagnosed with head, brain, and dental injuries.

Shortly after, police arrested the 20-year-old whom they took to Day Street police station and charged with reckless grievous bodily harm. He was refused police bail and will appear in Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday.
A former train driver who sparked rush hour chaos after hijacking a Southeastern train and locking himself inside a cabin has avoided jail.

Jeffrey Wheeler, 56, used his driver's keys to gain access to the rear driver's cabin on the 7.15am train travelling to Orpington from London Cannon Street Station on November 25 last year.

The ex-train driver, who agreed to leave his job with Southeastern trains under a settlement in October 2016, hit the emergency brakes to bring the commuter service to a halt two minutes into the journey.

Jeffrey Wheeler, 56, sparked rush hour chaos after hijacking a Southeastern train and locking himself inside a cabin, before walking along the tracks (file photo)

Wheeler from Plumstead, London, locked himself inside the cabin with a bar before exiting and walking along the tracks when police were contacted.

He was later arrested and taken out of a side exit, with the incident impacting up to 70,000 commuters.

Wheeler, whose actions cost the company 400,000, pleaded guilty at Inner Crown Court to obstructing the railway.

According to The Sun Online, Judge Silas Reid said Wheeler's actions were 'borne out of upset and spite'.

Wheeler disrupted the 7.15am train from Cannon Street station (above) to Orpington on November 25 last year, affecting up to 700,000 commuters (file photo)

The court heard Wheeler suffered depression after being let go from his role and resented the company as a result.

Wheeler was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, alongside a 20-day rehabilitation programme and 150 hours of unpaid work.

A spokesman for Southeastern reportedly said: 'The incident on 25 November caused widespread disruption and we would like to apologise to those passengers delayed by Mr Wheeler's actions.

'We are grateful to the City of London Police for their rapid intervention and hope that this sentence will deter others from disrupting the railway - risking their own safety and delaying the many passengers who rely on our services.'
LA GRULLA, TEXASThe graveyard sleuths moved with surgical precision. Even the big backhoe operator co-operated, chiseling a dirt staircase step by step into the rectangular hole now 6 feet below where the earth met blue horizon.

This was an exhumation for unidentified migrants. Even before U.S. President Donald Trumps ever-hardening immigration policies, places like this border village near the Rio Grande have had a need for the tender hands of forensic scientists.

They use DNA to end the mystery and ease the misery of families worried theyll never know what happened to sons and daughters, husbands and wives who hit the migration trail and vanished, often years earlier.

The Organization of International Migration, a U.N. agency, recorded the deaths of 405 migrants on the U.S. side of the border last year alone. An additional 91 migration-related deaths were recorded on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. Many others may never be documented.

Since 2014, at least 1,750 have perished along the border region, according to the international migration agency. Half of the deaths have been in Texas, surpassing Arizona, whose blistering terrain was once the leading death trap.

Eddie Canales of the South Texas Human Rights Center estimates there are hundreds more migrants buried throughout South Texas.

I have compared South Texas to the Mediterranean, he said. It swallows people.

La Grulla cemetery is a place of polished marble and pink granite headstones with Spanish surnames and unsubdued forever-in-our-hearts epitaphs. But on this recent day, the workers, led by the director of Operation Identification at Texas State University in San Marcos, were carefully pulling up pine boxes and thick bags from simple graves near the back fence of the cemetery.

Six unidentified migrants were laid to rest here at least four years ago. Their bones are unusual in that they were buried with care in a cemetery, placed a luxurious foot or so between one another. Each had a white wooden cross, set off with red plastic carnations.

Many immigrants who die on their journey end up in shallow, unmarked graves, or in cemetery plots paid for by overstrapped county governments. These had a measure of dignity in their burial.

But thats not exactly the view of Kate Spradley, the forensic anthropologist who runs Operation Identification.

Dignity is giving a person an identity so that the information on the remains can be given to their families, the scientist said as she stood amid the dusty graves.

Under the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, when a person dies and the circumstances arent known, a forensic exam and DNA samples must be collected and submitted to the unidentified and missing persons database at the Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas in Fort Worth. UNT houses a DNA clearinghouse known as the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUS. There, law enforcement and family members can access the databases.

But many counties have no medical examiners. Thats when forensic anthropologists like Spradley move in to begin the meticulous process of finding and identifying the bones with DNA sampling.

This sunny day, Spradley and her crew found papers on the bones of one man that indicate he was born in 1965 and died in 2016. Sixteen pesos buried with the body indicate he probably passed through Mexico or was born there.

Maybe hell soon get a name, too. Maybe hell be identified and matched with his family, perhaps remembered with sturdy Salma 23, Psalm 23, as some of the nearby graves are marked: The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not be in want ... Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

While Spradley brings her science to the bones, Canales brings his Mexican-American culture. Canales bilingualism helps him connect to the families that call him at the South Texas Human Rights Center searching for lost relatives. There have been 1,300 such calls just in the past 18 months, he said.

Sometimes, families find relatives alive in federal immigration detention. But at the end of the year, Canales said, he had a list of 490 missing migrants.

When he works with the families, Canales tries to draw out details about the coyote who smuggled the migrant into Texas. They know where they were left behind and I emphasize that and that I understand their anguish, he said.

Uncertainty over a missing loved one can weigh on family and friends forever. DNA and the work of Canales and these anthropologists can change that. Only then can the true process of borderless grieving begin.

Canales payback is often parting words of protection: Que Dios te bendiga, God bless you.

A retired organizer for a teachers union in Corpus Christi, Canales got a fresh career when he began hearing of bodies left in shabby, makeshift graves in Brooks County, a blistering hot stretch of land in the summer about an hour north of McAllen. More than 650 bodies have been unearthed in Brooks County in the past decade.

Thats why he started his organization in Falfurrias, the county seat, in 2013, only a month after the U.N. migration agency launched its own Missing Migrants Project after nearly 400 migrants died in two shipwrecks off the coast of Lampedusa, Italy.

Theres also a crucial Border Patrol checkpoint near Falfurrias, a key place that immigrants without legal status must pass to slip deeper into the country for work or to reach family.

Now, Canales works closely with ranchers and undertakers of funeral homes who are called to pick up bodies. If you find the funeral home, you find the memories, he said.

And that has led him and Spradley to La Grulla, after representatives of the Sanchez funeral home in nearby Rio Grande City told them they remembered unidentified remains being buried in the village of only about 1,700 that abuts the serpentine Rio Grande. Its in Starr County, just southwest of Brooks County.

Spradley has exhumed more than 200 sets of remains since she began her work in 2013. If families want to come to the lab and see the remains after theyve been identified, or even physically hold them, they can, she said. If they want a priest or a musician there, that, too, can be arranged.

As she stood in her hiking boots near the fresh exhumation, she called such reunions gratifying.

They dont have to wake up anymore and wonder, Spradley said. They know.
Sure, Ive converted my love of eating and drinking into a career. And its a sweet gig. But sometimes Im lazy. So this week, I turned my column over to a few local sommeliers and asked them to share their favourite wines at the LCBO. Heres what they came back with in the sub-$20, sub-$50, and splurgeworthy brackets.

First up was director of wine Myles Harrison at Louis Louix of The St. Regis hotel. His selection under $20 is Cave Spring Dry Riesling from Niagara (LCBO 233635 $15.95).

I always have a bottle of this wine in the fridge, he says. Its bright and fresh, and the acidity is energizing. It also has something to offer mid-palate, which I appreciateespecially at that price.

For a bit more dosh, he likes the 2015 Muga Reserve Crianza from Rioja, Spain (Vintages 177345 $26.95), which he calls generous and spiceda wintertime wine.

Ultimately, I like the winemaking style, the fruit, and the quality of the wine, says Harrison. Its made in a very old school, rustic style. For the price, its just so quality.

When its time to splash out, Harrison looks to the 2014 Markus Molitor Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese from the Mosel region of Germany (Vintages 316413 $140.45).

So much flavor, he says. Tropical warm yellow fruit explodes out of the glass. On the palate, it is spiced and electric. Unapologetically a sweeter wine, there is still a focused acidity that keeps this wine in line.

I would drink this for dessert, sure. But I wouldn't be afraid to pair a glass with some more earthy and savoury things as well.

Next I caught up with master sommelier Jennifer Huether, a free agent often spotted about town leading smart tastings.

Huether suggests raising a glass in support of Australia right now with the quaffable 2017 Paxton AAA Shiraz Grenache from McLaren Vale in Australia (Vintages 149898 $19.95)a sub-$20 red that comes from a family-owned, certified biodynamic winery.

This is a delicious blend which displays crunchy pomegranate, summer strawberries and a very silky finish, she says. It is smooth and juicy without being overly rich or tannic and is so easy to drink.

Close to $50, Huether recommends the 2016 Bachelder Lowrey Vineyard Old Vines Pinot Noir from St. Davids Bench in Niagara (Vintages 361816 $47.95), which she calls an outstanding example of Ontario single vineyard Pinot Noir.

This wine is filled with finesse, perfumed with violets and red fruits, and offers a distinct earthy note which showcases a deep sense of terroiror the vineyard it came from. Its long and elegant from start to finish.

For a high-end splurge, Huether turns to the 2017 Domaine A. F. Gros Beaune Les Boucherotts Premier Cru from Burgundy, France (Vintages 11729 $106.00).

This small boutique producer is putting out some fantastic expressions of Pinot Noir, she says, describing the wine as silky, juicy and fresh with red currants and floral elements. But she says its still young and advises holding off drinking it for five to eight years.

Next, I spoke with wine director Jonathan Robinson at Estia restaurant on Avenue Road. At under $20, he favours the 2017 Chateau de Treviac Corbieres from the South of France (Vintages 670505 $17.95).

I love this wine because its smooth enough for sipping on its own but possesses enough structure to stand up to hearty dishes such as a winter stew of lamb or beef, he says. And the wine offers bonus savoury notes of thyme and sage that can enhance herb-infused dishes.

For a bit more money, Robinson suggests the 2011 Icario Vino Nobile di Montepulciano from Tuscany, Italy (Vintages 534602 $21.95).

What I love about Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is that you get lots of bang for your buck, he says.

Comprised of Sangiovese and hailing from southern Tuscany, Vino Nobile is the less famous cousin of Rosso di Montalcino (baby Brunello) and Brunello di Montalcino. You still get many of the great qualities of its more expensive cousinrich flavours, and dark ripe cherry fruit with savoury characteristicsbut at a lower price. This wine will keep you company after a long day at work and will also keep people chatting about it over dinner.

And for pure indulgence, Robinson recommends the 2015 Equis Cornas from the Rhone region of France (Vintages 668194 $79.00).

When we think about spending big money on wine, our fears come to the fore. We ask, What if I spend all this money and the wine fails to impress? That is one of the many reasons I love wines from Cornas. They are so worth it, on every level, says Robinson. They are powerful and interesting enough during the first few sips to hold our attention. Yet they are complex enough that their aromas and flavours will evolve over a long dinner.

Heres to long dinners. And to nine exciting wines from reliable sources to help make that happen.
The most important South Korean defense companies will attend DefExpo 2020 an International defense exhibition that will take place in India from 5 to 9 February 2020. India is the world's second-largest military market for the defense industry.



South Korean Hybrid BIHO self-propelled air defense system tracked armored vehicle. (Picture source Army Recognition)

In 2017, South Korean defense Company Samsung-Techwin and the Indian Company L&T have signed a contract for the purchase of 100 K9 Thunder 155mm tracked self-propelled howitzers. The contract requires L&T to complete the delivery of 100 Indian versions of K9 called K9 Vajra to the Indian army by the end of 2020.

According to Indian military sources, India could select the South Korean-made Hanwha K-30 Biho mobile anti-aircraft tracked armored vehicle. South Korean Company Hanwha Defense plans to showcase the Hybrid Biho at DefExpo 2020.

The goal of Hanwha Defense is to win a $2.5 billion contract for the sale of Hybrid Biho air defense armored vehicles to the Indian government. In October 2018, the Indian defense ministry selected the Korean air defense system as the sole candidate that could respond to the Indian MoD (Ministry of Defense) tender. Defense Acquisition Committee of India is expected to review the contract documents and make the decision in the next few months.

South Korean Companies Doosan DST and Samsung Techwin designed the BiHo air defense armored vehicle to provide day/night all-weather close-in air defense against airborne threats flying at low altitude. Its development started in 1983 with the first prototype fielded in 1998. Serial production weapon systems deliveries happened between 2002 and 2007.

The 30mm twin-gun and missile air defense system 'HYBRID BIHO' was developed according to a request from the South Korean army for a new mobile SHORAD (Short-Range Air Defense System). The new vehicle is based on the 30 mm self-propelled anti-aircraft defense system 'BIHO' combined with the portable surface-to-air guided missile system Chiron which can be used to destroy low altitude aerial threats.

The 'HYBRID BIHO' can carry a total of 4 launchers of Chiron guided missiles, two on each side of the turret. The South Korean Armed Forces have successfully test-fired the new Hybrid BIHO in November 2016.

The KP-SAM Shin-Gung or Shin-Kung is a South Korean shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile manufactured by LIG Nex1. It is marketed internationally under the name of Chiron.

The Chiron is a two-man MANPADS (MAN-Portable Air-Defense System) which can be mounted on a tripod. The 10-kilogram missile features an integral Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system, full night and adverse weather capabilities, and a two-color infrared seeker to aid in negating countermeasures. It has a 7 km maximum target range and flies at a maximum altitude of 3.5 km and a maximum speed of Mach 2.1.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 24, 2020 | 04:47 PM | PADUCAH





According to the Paducah Police Department, representatives from the church called Paducah police and reported someone had stolen checks totaling more than $11,000 from the church's mailbox. Detectives gathered information from local banks and determined the checks had been cashed at an ATM in Hollywood, FL.



Thirty-five year old Vlad Dragos Baceanu of Hollywood, FL was identified as a suspect and Paducah detectives obtained an arrest warrant charging Baceanu with theft of mail matter.





Baceanu was arrested earlier this month in Florida and is awaiting extradition to Kentucky.







Paducah Police say the investigation is ongoing.

A Florida man was arrested after an investigation by Paducah police detectives reportedly linked him to thefts from a Paducah church.
EgyptAir is to launch a new year-round direct Dublin-Cairo service this summer.

The new route, which commences on June 5, will operate four times per week and will be Ireland's first scheduled air service to Egypt.

'We're very pleased to welcome EgyptAir to Ireland and to add Cairo to Dublin Airport's extensive route network,' said Dublin Airport Managing Director Vincent Harrison.

He added: 'Cairo is one of the world's great cities and we will be working closely with EgyptAir to promote this new route, which will be welcomed by both business and leisure travellers.'

EgyptAir Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Captain Ahmed Adel said he was 'delighted that EgyptAir would have four weekly flights linking the capital cities of Egypt and Ireland' from later this year.

The Egyptian Ambassador in Dublin, His Excellency Khaled Sarwat said the new route would 'further enhance and deepen the bilateral relations between Egypt and Ireland and boost the mutual investment, trade and tourism between our two friendly nations'.

With a metropolitan area population of 20 million, Cairo is the largest city in the Arab world.

It is located on the banks of the Nile, and the famous Pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx are less than 10 miles from the city centre.

Cairo is third on Lonely Planet's Top 20 cities to visit in 2020.

The market for air travel between Dublin and Cairo is increasing, according to Dublin Airport, with an estimated 14,000 passengers travelling between the two cities last year.

EgyptAir also has an extensive route network from its hub in Cairo to onward destinations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

EgyptAir, which is part of the global STAR Alliance, carried more than nine million passengers in 2019 on a fleet of 68 aircraft.

It operates more than 70 routes, including services to 18 African destinations, 17 in the Middle East, seven in Asia-Pacific and three in North America.
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.
ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed legislation that will cap insulin co-pays. Senate Bill 667 (SB 667) also requires the Illinois Department of Insurance to issue a report that includes a summary of insulin pricing practices as well as public policy recommendations to control and prevent overpricing of prescription insulin drugs made available to Illinois consumers. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) applauds Governor Pritzker and bill sponsors Senator Andy Manar and Representative Will Guzzardi for their leadership on this urgently needed legislation to provide relief from the burden of high insulin costs for people living with diabetes in Illinois.

"This American Diabetes Association-supported legislation marks a major victory in our fight for affordable insulin for all who need it," said LaShawn McIver, MD, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs & Advocacy for the ADA. "Approximately 7.4 million Americans must take insulin every day to live, and with prices nearly tripling between 2002 and 2013, people with diabetes often face financial hardships affording their insulin. Far too many are faced with hard decisions to either cut back or skip doses or forgo other necessities to pay for insulin. Thank you to Governor Pritzker, Senator Manar and Representative Guzzardi for introducing and passing this critical legislation, and for your continued efforts to protect the more than 1.3 million Illinoisans living with diabetes."

"The swift passage of the insulin bill, driven by ordinary people, shows that Illinoisans are united by the simple belief that no family should ever be forced to ration or go without life-saving medication," Senator Manar said. "This powerful display of grassroots advocacy proves that we can address the larger systemic issues related to expensive prescription drug prices. We must continue to force the conversation with those in power and always reject the notion that transformational change to this deeply-flawed industry is out of reach. I look forward to getting back to work with advocacy groups to build on the success of Senate Bill 667."

For more information about this legislation, please contact Senator Manar's office at: [email protected].

The ADA continues to be a leader in federal and state efforts to ensure that insulin is affordable and accessible for all people who need the life-sustaining medication. Learn more and join the fight at MakeInsulinAffordable.org.

If you are struggling to pay for insulin or know someone who is, the ADA has resources to helpvisit InsulinHelp.org.

About the American Diabetes Association

Every day more than 4,000 people are newly diagnosed with diabetes in America. Nearly 115 million Americans have diabetes or prediabetes and are striving to manage their lives while living with the disease. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is the nation's leading voluntary health organization fighting to bend the curve on the diabetes epidemic and help people living with diabetes thrive. For nearly 80 years the ADA has been driving discovery and research to treat, manage and prevent diabetes, while working relentlessly for a cure. We help people with diabetes thrive by fighting for their rights and developing programs, advocacy and education designed to improve their quality of life. Diabetes has brought us together. What we do next will make us Connected for Life. To learn more or to get involved, visit us at diabetes.org or call 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383). Join the fight with us on Facebook (American Diabetes Association), Twitter (@AmDiabetesAssn) and Instagram (@AmDiabetesAssn).

Contact: Alex Day, 703-253-4843

[email protected]

SOURCE American Diabetes Association

Related Links

http://www.diabetes.org


The Electoral Commissions Eminent Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet the Commission and the Inter Party Advisory Committee made up of the various political parties.

A statement issued by the EC on January 24, 2020, and signed by its Acting Director of Public Affairs, Sylvia Annoh, said the meeting will seek to engage with the Inter Party Advisory Committee on the Electoral Commissions plan to compile a new Voters register ahead of the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

It stated that the meeting will be held on Thursday, January 30, 2020.

The opposition National Democratic Congress which is a member of the Inter Party Advisory Committee has been kicking against the move to compile a new register.

Daily Guide
Paul Clyde Hudson, a 1995 Alamo Heights High School graduate, was one of three American firefighters killed in a plane crash while battling wildfires in southeastern Australia.

The trio was aboard a C-130 Hercules aerial water tanker that crashed after dropping fire retardant along a ridge.

Hudson, who lived in Buckeye, Arizona, is survived by his wife Noreen.

An Alamo Heights ISD spokesperson confirmed Hudson attended the high school from 1993 to 1995.

Hudson had recently retired from the United States Marine Corp as a Lt. Colonel after a 20-year career. He held master's degrees in both Business Administration and Information Technology Management from the Naval Postgraduate School, according to a statement from Coulson Aviation.

"Its with a heavy heart that I tell you we lost a great AHHS friend," a former classmate wrote on Facebook. "Paul Clyde PC Hudson died in a firefighting plane crash in Australia. A recent Marine Corps retiree he died as he lived ... helping others."

READ MORE: Firefighting plane crashes in Australia, killing 3 Americans

Hudson was the first officer aboard the California-based C-130. Captain Ian H. McBeth, of Montana, and flight engineer Rick A. DeMorgan Jr., of Florida, also lost their lives in the crash.

Since September, Australia has dealt with an unprecedented fire season. The death toll from the blazes now stands at 33 and fires have also destroyed more than 2,600 homes.

"Our hearts go out to their loved ones. They were helping Australia, far from their own homes, an embodiment of the deep friendship between our two countries, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in a statement.

"Thank you to these three, and to all the brave firefighters from Australia and around the world. Your service and contribution are extraordinary. We are ever grateful."
This Stacker slideshow showcases some of the most prominent African American writers in history whove had impacts that reached far beyond the page. Some of the esteemed authors include James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Frederick Douglass, Maya Angelou, and others.

This article was first published on theStacker.com
Social Security is commonly seen as a source of retirement income. But you're allowed to work and take Social Security retirement benefits or survivor benefits at the same time. If you do so before you reach full retirement age, though, Social Security may withhold part of your benefits.

Below we'll cover how you can get Social Security benefits even while you're still working. Learn how you can keep as much of that money as possible.

How much can you earn and still receive Social Security?

When you take benefits while you're still working, Social Security may withhold part of your benefit depending on your income if you haven't reached full retirement age. Your full retirement age is between 66 and 67 if you were born from 1943 to 1959; it's 67 if you were born in 1960 or later.

Social Security will withhold benefits at the following rates in 2021:

$1 for every $2 of earned income above $18,960 until the year you reach full retirement age. Let's say you're 64 and earn $20,000 from working, and you're already getting benefits. You've earned $1,040 above the earnings limit, so Social Security would withhold $520 from your benefit.

Let's say you're 64 and earn $20,000 from working, and you're already getting benefits. You've earned $1,040 above the earnings limit, so Social Security would withhold $520 from your benefit. $1 for every $3 of earned income above $50,520 the year you reach full retirement age until the month before you're eligible for your full benefit. Suppose you reach full retirement age in October. Social Security would only reduce your benefits if you earned more than $50,520 between January and September.

These rules apply whether you're an older worker taking benefits based on your own work record or you're getting a spousal benefit or a survivor benefit.

The key to understanding Social Security's rules about working and benefits is that everything changes when you reach the date when you can fully retire. After that point, you can earn as much as you want and still keep all your benefits. Earlier, though, you can give up some of your benefits.

Can you get your full benefit if you're still working?

If you've reached full retirement age and you're still working, you don't need to worry about any earnings limits. Social Security will not withhold money from your monthly benefit. Social Security also won't take money out of your checks if you claim early but your income is below the thresholds listed above.

What happens to the money Social Security withholds?

The Social Security Administration calculates the appropriate amount that you'll forfeit and then takes it out of your monthly benefits. You'll see entire monthly checks held back by the government to cover the withholding. For example, if you normally get Social Security of $1,000 per month but you have to forfeit $4,000, then Social Security will hold back four months' worth of checks.

As painful as it is to lose your benefits, there is some payback. If you lose a month's worth of benefits, then Social Security treats you as if you retired a month later than you did. Once you hit full retirement age, you'll start getting larger monthly checks based on that later retirement date. You might not get all your lost money back, but the bigger checks will gradually send some of it your way.

Are your Social Security benefits taxed if you're still working?

If you have earnings from working or you have other taxable income, such as distributions from a retirement plan, part of your Social Security may be taxed.

Whether you're still employed or you're a retiree, you'll pay taxes on up to 85% of your Social Security benefit if:

You're single with a taxable income of $34,000 or higher.

You're married filing jointly with a combined taxable income of $44,000 or higher.

You'll pay taxes on up to 50% of your Social Security benefit if:

You're single with a taxable income between $25,000 and $34,000.

You're married filing jointly with a combined income between $32,000 and $44,000.

If your income is below these limits, you won't owe taxes on your Social Security.

What if I stop working in the middle of the year?

There's a special rule for when you work part of the year but then retire. Regardless of your total earnings, you're still entitled to get Social Security checks for any month in which you've officially retired.

As an example, say you retire early at 63 and decide that you're going to quit your $200,000-per-year job at the end of June. You'd forfeit all of your benefits for the first six months of the year because of your high earnings, but, starting in July, you could still get checks for the remaining six months even though your total annual earnings were well above the annual limit.

Will I lose my Social Security Disability or SSI benefits if I work?

Rules for disability benefits are completely different from retirement benefits. In order to collect disability, the Social Security Administration requires that you no longer be able to engage in what's known as substantial gainful activity. For 2021, that means earning no more $1,310 per month unless you're blind, in which case a $2,190 monthly limit applies.

Unlike the retirement benefit rules, there's no phaseout for losing disability benefits. Earn a single $1 above the limit, though, and you lose every penny of what you get from Social Security Disability. If you make less than the amounts above, then you keep full benefits, but, if you make more, then you lose all of your disability benefits.

However, Social Security allows disabled workers a nine-month trial period to test their ability to work. During this period, you're allowed to collect your full benefit no matter how much you earn, as long as you report the income and still have a disability.

If you receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), your benefits are reduced by $0.50 for every dollar you earn above $85 in 2021.

Should I work and take Social Security?

If you want to maximize your monthly Social Security checks, the simplest retirement strategy is to wait until full retirement age before claiming your benefits. That way, you'll be able to earn an unlimited amount without losing a penny of your Social Security.

If waiting that long isn't an option, there are still some things you can do. For many, claiming at the beginning of the year in which you'll reach full retirement age works out fine because the higher earnings limits make it less likely that you'll give up your Social Security.

Finally, if you're expecting to work on a part-time basis, it's smart to look at the earnings limits and how they compare with your pay. If it looks like you might trigger the provisions, then you might decide to work a little less to keep all your benefits.
Victorias devastating bushfires have reignited the states bitter forest wars with environmental groups urging the Andrews government to step in and stop the planned "salvage logging" of burnt native forest.

The logging industry wants state and federal government support to "salvage" millions of tonnes of plantation and native timber from the charred bushfire zones of NSW and Victoria.

The logging industry wants support to "salvage" timber from the bushfire zones. Credit:Getty Images

But the backlash from environmentalists is already under way, with conservationists lobbying the state government to stop to any salvage logging in native forests before it has begun.

The Wilderness Society says the woodland is vital habitat for native species and must be allowed to regenerate naturally.
Medical staff from the Army Medical University based in Chongqing head to Wuhan to fight the pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus there. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

On Friday night, the eve of the traditional Chinese Lunar New Year that features family reunions, medical staff from three military medical universities and their affiliated hospitals of the People's Liberation Army were headed to Wuhan to fight the pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus there.

Of them, 135 came from the Army Medical University based in Chongqing, who have divided themselves into two groups specifically for critical conditions and normal conditions.

Another 150 came from the Second Military Medical University in Shanghai. A short video clip online shows how they rushed to the flight amid heavy rainfall at the airport, one after one, carrying luggage on their backs.

According to local media in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, where the Air Force Medical University is located, a total of 95 doctors and nurses were on their way. A photo widely spread online shows them sworn in by a flag with the words "critical condition treatment team".

Before them, echoing the call of the Central Military Commission, the PLA already had mobilized 40 doctors and nurses from their hospitals in Wuhan to help in the joint fight against the outbreak.

On Thursday night, 24 medical staff members from Southern Medical University had already arrived in Wuhan to help. The university was previously the First Military Medical University and became a civil one in 2004. In 2003, it played a major role in the fight against SARS.

"As an experienced team that had won the battle against SARS, we are responsible for helping our people amid the new pneumonia", said the 24 in a joint application letter, which was posted online.
Arlene Foster is to appear as a guest on RTE's Late, Late Show on Brexit night as a bridge-building gesture to the Republic.

The DUP leader has agreed to the highly symbolic interview in an attempt to help heal the wounds between north and south opened up by Brexit.

Relations between her party and Dublin are regarded as being at their lowest ebb in more than two decades.

Mrs Foster told the Belfast Telegraph on Friday night that she aimed to show people in the Republic first-hand that she wanted relations to improve and that she had no interest in seeing any new borders erected.

The First Minister will be live on air on RTE as the UK leaves the EU at 11pm on Friday.

The interview can also be interpreted as a signal to northern nationalists that Mrs Foster is committed to reaching across the political divide and making the new power-sharing Executive at Stormont work.

She told the Belfast Telegraph last night that she was a fan of the RTE programme, which is hosted by Ryan Tubridy. "I'm looking forward to the interview," she said.

"On the night the UK exits the EU, it's important for me to speak to an Irish audience and emphasise that I want a good neighbourly relationship.

"I grew up a few miles from the border and I have no interest in seeing any new borders either north-south or east-west."

She added: "Because we lived near the border, we always received RTE so I can remember as a child watching the programme - I never once have thought that I would be on it."

The DUP leader grew up on a farm near Roslea, but the family were forced to move out after the IRA tried to murder her father John Kelly, an RUC officer.

"They shot him in the head as he was closing in the cattle. He came crawling into the house, blood streaming down his face. We couldn't stay in Roslea.

"I'd to move house and school - it was traumatic," she has previously said.

Mrs Foster is not the first DUP politician to appear on RTE's flagship programme.

The Rev Ian Paisley and his wife Eileen took part in the show in January 2009.

He had stepped down as First Minister and DUP leader the previous year. The couple were interviewed by the Late, Late's then-host Pat Kenny.

Dr Paisley discussed his lengthy career and his life outside politics, including his teetotalism. Baroness Paisley talked about how she met her husband when he was a young preacher.

Brexit has seen massively deteriorating relations between the DUP and Dublin.

The party has clashed frequently with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tanaiste Simon Coveney, accusing them of "riding roughshod" over unionists.

Four months ago Mrs Foster described remarks by Mr Coveney as "deeply unhelpful, obstructionist and intransigent". DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds lambasted the Taoiseach.

"Our message to Leo is simple. He should reflect on his intransigent approach.

"He is destined to go down in history as the Taoiseach who restored a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland because his friends in Brussels will insist on it," Mr Dodds said at the time.

Dublin regarded the DUP's Brexit stance as reckless and believed that the party's own actions damaged the Union.

The DUP has dialled down the rhetoric since Boris Johnson's election triumph ended its kingmaker role at Westminster and ensured his Brexit deal would go ahead.

The DUP has been widely criticised for not agreeing to Theresa May's proposals, which would have avoided an Irish Sea border.

Mrs Foster this week said both deals were bad for Northern Ireland and it was like having to choose between "a broken arm or a broken leg".

Signing the withdrawal agreement in Downing Street yesterday, the Prime Minister hailed it as a "fantastic moment" for the UK and he hoped it would "bring to an end far too many years of argument and division".
ALBANY  Two cities on the Hudson River are taking different tracks to nail down an accurate 2020 census count --both hoping to hit their golden number.

Albany has budgeted $50,000 to mobilize its community and is taking advantage of a partnership with Albany County through which state financial support flows for the census count.

But Troy hasnt budgeted any funds and is counting on its participation in Rensselaer Countys effort.

At stake is what local governments rely on  money. Every resident that these two cities miss when the census launches officially on April 1 will cost them an estimated $2,000 annually for a decade and they could be cut out of programs that rely on a minimum population.

Thats 100,000 for Albany and 50,000 for Troy.

Once you cross that 100,000 people mark, its not just federal and state dollars that shift, its also access to certain grant opportunities, said Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan, who chairs the citys complete count committee.

As of 2018, the Census Bureau estimates Albanys population is 97,279, or 2,721 below the 100,000 mark. Troys estimated population is 49,374, or 626 short of 50,000.

Its a big deal. it impacts our funding. It impacts allocations of the federal stream of funding. I never heard of a community losing its entitlement status to CDBG (Community Development Block Grants) because they fell below 50,000, Troy Mayor Patrick Madden said referring to the population mark for this program.

There's $1.5 trillion from 316 federal programs at stake for the nation's states, counties, cities and other municipalities, according to George Washington University research professor Andrew Reamer's study, Counting for Dollars 2020: The Role of Decennial Census in the Geographic Distribution of Federal Funds.

Reamer underscored how an undercount means Albany's and Troy's access to federal funds will be diminished.

"The money goes to other New York state communities and Texas. Texas counties, unfortunately for Albany if there's an undercount, will get a few more cents," said Reamer, who works at the George Washington Institute of Public Policy.

Reamer's studies note that, "for communities and cities near the minimum requirement (200,000 for counties and 50,000 for cities), an undercount could leave the community ineligible for CDBG entitlement funds.

Madden is optimistic. Its hard to believe that we would be down from the last count. Theres a lot of people moving in. I think we have to see a net gain," he said.

The census results help determine federal and local legislative boundaries and funding for programs such as housing, school funding, day care, loans, transportation, transit, medical care, senior citizens and other programs.

Albany has been working on the census since March 2019. City Hall has #Be Counted signs posted from the mayors office door to throughout the first floor. Troy had a much later start and at City Hall theres a single sheet of paper promoting census jobs tacked on a counter.

Albany has participated in community events, pushing census participation at school concerts in the city, reaching out to the barber shops and beauty salons, filming videos to be posted online touting the complete count and working with pastors and other trusted members of the community.

Troy doesnt have the money to budget for a complete count. Its working along the same lines as Albany, but isnt as far along in the efforts and has merged its original efforts with Rensselaer County.

U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, has been tirelessly promoting participation in the census throughout his 20th Congressional District. An undercount of one-third -- the share of people who don't fill out the Census Bureau form when initially contacted by mail -- is the expected outcome.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Troy, Albany, Schenectady and Amsterdam are forecast to be undercounted, Tonko said.

People see it as a count and so what. This is a calculus that is reached routinely to determine if you qualify for a program. It would be dreadfully sad and negative for us to fall short or be lower on the list (to receive funds), Tonko said.

The congressman said he is pushing his district's municipalities to do whatever they can to reach out to their communities to get an accurate count. He said there has to be a constant reminder to residents that completing the census forms when they arrive in March benefits their families and hometowns.

The city of Schenectady's estimated 2018 population of 65,575 places it between Albany and Troy. Schenectady, like Albany, has a complete count committee.

It is critically important that Schenectady receives a fair and accurate count in the upcoming 2020 Census, Mayor Gary McCarthy said in a statement. We hope to utilize the local knowledge and expertise of each member of our committee in order to best implement a census awareness campaign  the success of which will require the involvement of every member of our community.

New York state is investing $70 million to get a complete count statewide. Some of the money will go to counties to assist their push on the census to avoid an undercount.

Minorities, the poor, immigrants, college students and children less that 5 years old are traditionally undercounted. President Donald Trumps administration's unsuccessful effort to include a citizenship question in the census is expected to have intimidated some members of the Latino community from participating, even though census responses are kept in confidence.

This is the first time the census can be done online. With both Albany and Troy having only about 80 percent of their households with internet connections, it may come down to old-fashioned door-to-door counting.

"You can probably never do enough. I think the proof is going to come when we start knocking on doors, Madden said..

We need to ensure were empowered to succeed, Sheehan said. Whatever that number ends up being, whether its 98,000 or 100,000, I want us to be able to end the year knowing that we did everything in our power to count everyone.
By PTI

BEIJING: A doctor from China's Hubei province, the epicentre of the fast-spreading coronavirus, died on Saturday reportedly due to the deadly disease, becoming the first medical professional to have fallen victim to it, according to a media report.

The death toll due to the virus rose to 41 in China with 1,287 confirmed cases, China's National Health Commission announced on Saturday. Of the 1,287 confirmed cases, the condition of the 237 is stated to be critical.

Liang Wudong (62), a surgeon at Xinhua Hospital in the province, died at 7 am (local time) on Saturday, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported, quoting the local Chinese media. Liang was suspected to have been infected with the virus last week, before he was transferred to Wuhan's Jinyintan Hospital for treatment, the report said.

ALSO READ| Australian government confirms first case of coronavirus in Melbourne

Chinese official media on Friday reported that the country also began deploying military medics to step up the treatment facilities in Wuhan and 12 other cities in Hubei province which are under total lock-down with suspension of all public transport.

State-run CCTV reported that China's central military command has ordered medical staff to help civilian doctors and nurses. It said 40 medical officers from the city's military hospital had already started work in the intensive care unit of Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital.

The decision to deploy military doctors also comes against the backdrop of growing apprehension among the medical staff over the threat posed by the virus to their lives as during the SARS or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome crisis in 2003, medical staff suffered major casualties.

Meanwhile, the Wuhan local government is rushing to build a 1,000-bedded hospital in the city's outskirts to treat coronavirus patients. Dozens of excavators were feverishly working at the site where the hospital will be built on the 25,000 sq metres just about in 10 days' time.

ALSO READ| China orders nationwide measures to detect virus on flights, trains, buses

It will be put into use by February 3, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Workers are being paid 1,200 yuan (USD173) per day, three times their usual wage, to accelerate the construction.

The hospital will be modelled on the one built in Beijing for the treatment and control of SARS or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, that spread rapidly on the Chinese mainland in 2003, killing over 800 people.

During that time, Beijing had built the Xiaotangshan Hospital, a temporary medical centre in the northern suburb of the city. As the unknown virus is wreaking havoc, Chinese and American researchers are working together to develop a vaccine against the deadly new strain of coronavirus, the South China Morning Post reported.

ALSO READ| China locks down more cities, restricting 56 million people amid coronavirus outbreak

The collaboration is taking place amid a growing international debate about whether the virus came from snakes or bats. At present, there is no cure for the virus which has pneumonia-like symptoms and is contagious among humans.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday stopped short of declaring the virus a global public health emergency, despite China's climbing death toll. The virus has spread to Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and the United States as of Thursday.
A mother and her two daughters were left in tears after they were told they were too overweight to fly business class.

Huhana Iripa, 59, Tere Ashby, 37, and Renell Iripa, 28, were waiting to board their Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to Auckland when they were refused to board due to their size.

The sisters, who were in Bangkok for weightloss surgery, said they were 'humiliated' in front of other passengers after airline staff rejected them from their $2,650 business class seats.

Huhana Iripa (right), 59, Tere Ashby (middle), 37, and Renell Iripa (left), 28, were waiting to board their Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to Auckland when they were refused to board due to their size

Thai Airways said the family were not allowed on board due to their size which would but them at risk (stock)

'We went up to business class check-in and the member of staff on the desk looked at us and said ''sorry you can't'',' Mrs Iripa told NZ Herald.

'A staff member then came forward and started saying ''no, you're too big, you're too big''.'

The women claim the stewardess then pulled out a measuring tape and measured their waistlines before placing them in economy seats.

'I've never felt discriminated against before because of my size, so this experience left me completely in shock.'

Renell Iripa and her sister and mother were not allowed on their business class seats due to their size

Tere Ashby (right) was left 'humiliated' after she was not allowed to board her flight from Bangkok to Auckland due to her size

They met with Thai Airways officials who compensated them $450 but they said it's not enough for the disrespect and trauma it had on them.

Flight Centre, the travel agency they booked with, were horrified at their customer's experience and offered a full refund.

Back in 2018, Thai Airways made headlines after banning people with waists larger than 56 inches on their new Dreamliner 787-900.

They stated that their seatbelts which have airbags in them are unable to be extended due to safety measures.

Mrs Iripa claims she wasn't informed of the situation when she booked the tickets and had no problem when flying to Bangkok from Auckland.

Thai Airways International New Zealand spokesman Wayne Cochrane told the publication that the airline could not 'compromise' customer's safety.
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Linkedin Judy Hua and Tony Munroe (Reuters) Beijing, China  Sat, January 25, 2020 12:53 718 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad2060f0f1c 2 World China,coronavirus,Wuhan-coronavirus,outbreak Free

The death toll from China's coronavirus outbreak jumped on Saturday to 41 from 26 a day earlier as the Lunar New Year got off to a gloomy start, with authorities curbing travel and canceling public gatherings.

More than 1,300 people have been infected globally with a virus traced to a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife. Health authorities around the world are scrambling to prevent a pandemic.

State-run China Global Television Network reported in a tweet on Saturday that a doctor who had been treating patients in Wuhan, 62-year-old Liang Wudong, had died from the virus.

It was not immediately clear if his death was already counted in the official toll of 41, of which 39 were in the central province of Hubei, where Wuhan is located.

US coffee chain Starbucks said on Saturday that it was closing all its outlets in Hubei province for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, following a similar move by McDonald's in five Hubei cities.

Wuhan, a city of 11 million, has been in virtual lockdown since Thursday, with nearly all flights at the airport canceled and checkpoints blocking the main roads leading out of town. Authorities have since imposed transport restrictions on nearly all of Hubei province, which has a population of 59 million.

In Beijing on Saturday, workers in white protective suits checked temperatures of passengers entering the subway at the central railway station, while some train services in eastern China's Yangtze River Delta region were suspended, the local railway operator said.

The number of confirmed cases in China stands at 1,287, the National Health Commission said on Saturday.

The virus has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, Malaysia, France, the United States and Australia.

Australia on Saturday announced its first case of coronavirus, a Chinese national in his 50s, who had been in Wuhan and arrived from China on Jan. 19 on a flight from Guangzhou. He is in stable condition in a Melbourne hospital.

"Given the number of cases that have been found outside of China and the significant traffic from Wuhan city in the past to Australia, it was not unexpected that we would get some cases," Australia's Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy told a news conference.

"This is the first confirmed case. There are other cases being tested each day, many of them are negative, but I wouldn't be surprised if we had further confirmed cases."

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it had 63 patients under investigation, with two confirmed cases, both in people who had travelled to Wuhan.

Read also: Australia confirms first coronavirus case

Reinforcements to Wuhan

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus an "emergency in China" this week but stopped short of declaring it of international concern.

Human-to-human transmission has been observed in the virus.

China's National Health Commission said on Saturday it had formed six medical teams totalling 1,230 medical staff to help Wuhan. Three of the six teams, from Shanghai, Guangdong and military hospitals have arrived in Wuhan.

Hubei province, where authorities are rushing to build a 1,000 bed hospital in six days to treat patients, announced on Saturday that there were 658 patients affected by the virus in treatment, 57 of whom were critically ill.

The newly-identified coronavirus has created alarm because there are still many unknowns surrounding it, such as how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people. It can cause pneumonia, which has been deadly in some cases.

Symptoms include fever, difficulty breathing and coughing. Most of the fatalities have been in elderly patients, many with pre-existing conditions, the WHO said.

Read also: Jokowi orders health minister to increase vigilance to prevent spread of Wuhan coronavirus

New Year disruptions

Airports around the world have stepped up screening of passengers from China, though some health officials and experts have questioned the effectiveness of such screenings and of the lockdown.

Health officials fear the transmission rate could accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel before and during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, which began on Saturday, although many have cancelled their plans, with airlines and railways in China providing free refunds.

The virus outbreak and efforts to contain it have put a dampener on what is ordinarily a festive time of year.

Shanghai Disneyland was closed from Saturday. The theme park has a 100,000 daily capacity and sold out during last year's Lunar New Year holiday.

Beijing's Lama Temple, where people traditionally make offerings for the new year, has also closed, as have some other temples and the Forbidden City, the capital's most famous tourist attraction. Sections of the Great Wall near the capital were also closed off.

Film premieres have been postponed.
Moscow, Jan 24 (UNI) European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen on Friday signed the Brexit agreement along with European Council President Charles Michel .

"Charles Michel and I have just signed the Agreement on the Withdrawal of the UK from the EU, opening the way for its ratification by the European Parliament," Von der Leyen said on Twitter.

British government's Brexit bill became law after Queen Elizabeth II gave it her royal assent, paving the way for Britain's exit from the European Union (EU).
The festival is screening more than 80 international films

The 6th Sudan Independent Film Festival, which runs between 21 and 27 January in Khartoum, screens over 80 films from the Arab world and international cinematic scene.

Fourteen films from Egypt are featured in the official selection's numerous categories.

In Feature Narrative Films category, three films from Egypt are screened: Yomeddine by Abu Bakr Shawky, Poisonous Roses by Ahmed Fawzy and EXT Night by Ahmed Abdulla.

The Feature Documentary Films category features: Dream Away by Marouan Omara and What Comes Around by Reem Saleh.

Egyptian shorts included in the Short Narrative Films are: Eyebrows by Tamer Ashry, FIFTEEN by Sameh Alaa, The Incident by Meedo Taha, Extra Safe by Nourane Sherif, My Father Couldnt Save the Kite by Khaled Medhat Moeit, Monsters of the Web by Ramy Elgabry, Once Upon A Time In the Cafe by Noha Adel, and Fake The Trap by Nada Riyad.

In Short Documentary Films, The Sea by Nahed Nasr is screened.

The festival includes two categories dedicated to Sudanese cinema: feature and short films. The festival's website revealed that in its sixth edition, the event "celebrates a new Sudan and the return of a new dawn of Sudanese cinema."

"The message behind SIFF 2020 is to celebrate the new footprint of the Sudanese cinema movement which has taken off, all thanks to every person who added a detail or an idea in any form of the arts, alongside those who helped us discover ourselves, one way or the other, as a nation and as individuals and those who contributed to us realising our collective and personal identity."

The festival screens films at many cultural centres in the Sudanese capital: Goethe Institute, the French Institute, the British Council, Sudan Film Factory, Comboni College, Global Conference Centre, and others.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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Campbell Newman, a divisive figure as Queensland premier, insists his government's actions would have been vindicated if it had been given a second term.

Brisbane's former lord mayor is being made an officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the annual Australia Day honours, one of many Queenslanders to be recognised.

Campbell and Lisa Newman and with the official portrait of the former premier.

Mr Newman said it was a great honour and paid tribute to the people who supported him during his political career: his family and colleagues.

This is recognition of what my family went through all those years and the support they gave me, he said.
Over 100 people have been kept under observation in Kerala and Maharashtra following screening for a possible exposure to novel coronavirus as the Prime Minister's Office on Saturday reviewed India's preparedness to deal with any situation amid mounting global concern over rising cases in China.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said no positive case has been detected in the country so far though samples of seven passengers have been sent to the ICMR-NIV Pune lab. A 24x7 call centre has been made operational.

Samples of four other passengers tested earlier have been confirmed to be negative for nCoV by the lab.

A senior health official of Kerala told PTI that 172 people in the state are under home surveillance and seven are kept in various hospitals.

"Today, 99 new passengers arrived in the state. This makes a total of 179 persons under surveillance. Only seven people have any kind of symptoms. They have mild symptoms. We have sent their blood and respiratory specimen samples to the National Institute of Virology, Pune," he said.

One person each from Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta and Malappuram and three from Ernakulam are in the isolation wards of various health centres in the state.

In Maharashtra, two of the three persons admitted to a hospital in Mumbai for possible exposure to the coronavirus have tested negative for infection but are still under observation as a precaution, while blood test results of a third person were awaited, officials said.

At a meeting in Delhi chaired by P K Mishra, Principal Secretary to the prime minister, health ministry officials presented an update about response measures being undertaken, official sources said.

The meeting was held on the instructions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Cabinet Secretary, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Defence Secretary, Health Secretary, Civil Aviation Secretary and several other top officials attended the meeting.

The sources said health ministry officials briefed Mishra on the preparedness of hospitals, laboratories as well as on measures being taken for the capacity building of rapid response teams to deal with possible cases of coronavirus.

Mishra also reviewed the preventive measures taken by other ministries like the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Meanwhile, under directions from Vardhan, the 24x7 NCDC call centre (+91-11-23978046) has been made operational, the Union Health Ministry said.

"The call centre will monitor the list of contacts furnished by Ministry of External Affairs; provide details of district and state surveillance officers to those who seek them; and in case of any clinical query, direct the concerned to the relevant Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) officer," it said.

Vardhan has directed for multidisciplinary central teams to be sent to the seven states where thermal screening is being done at the seven designated airports -- New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi.

Each central team will consist of a public health expert, a clinician and a microbiologist. These teams would reach the respective states on Sunday.

Vardhan, who held a review meeting to analyse the preparedness for prevention and management of nCoV in India, also spoke to the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on Saturday and assured him of all support for screening at the border with Nepal, where a confirmed case has been reported.

The Union Health Minister has urged the passengers who have a travel history to China since January 1, 2020, to come forward for self-reporting to the nearest health facility if they experience any symptoms such as fever, cough, respiratory distress, etc., and also inform their treating doctor.

On Friday, the Union Health Ministry also issued a fresh advisory asking the passengers to follow certain dos and don'ts if they are in China or if they are travelling or returning from China.

The advisory stated that during their stay in China, if they feel sick and have fever and cough, then they should cover their mouth while coughing and sneezing, seek medical attention promptly and report to the Indian Embassy in China.

The advisory also said that if they feel sick on flight, while travelling back to India from China, they should inform the airline crew about their illness, seek mask and self-reporting format from the airline crew, avoid close contact with family members or fellow travellers and follow other directions of crew and airport health officer.

As on January 25, 2020, a total of 1,287 cases and 41 deaths were reported in 29 provinces of China due to nCoV.

According to the health ministry's advisory on Saturday, 28 cases have been confirmed outside Chinese mainland - 5 in Hong Kong, 2 in Macao, 3 in Taiwan, 4 in Thailand, 2 in Japan, 2 in South Korea, 2 in United States, 2 in Vietnam, 3 in Singapore, 1 in Nepal and 1 in France.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US Space Force logo draws comparisons to 'Star Trek'



Washington, Jan 24 (AFP) Jan 24, 2020



Over the years, Star Trek has been responsible for inspiring real world innovations from tablet computers to needleless injection devices and real time translators.

Now, the science fiction franchise appears to have influenced Space Force, the US military's newest branch, in its choice of logo: a symbol resembling an arrowhead ringed by an orbiting object and set against a starry backdrop.

In the Star Trek universe, this is the insignia of Starfleet -- the peacekeeping and exploration force of the United Federation of Planets. The multiplanetary alliance is headquartered on Earth, and its adversaries include alien species like Klingons and Romulans.

It has appeared as a pin on the uniforms of iconic Star Trek characters such as Captain Kirk and Spock ever since the original series debuted in 1966, and continues to feature in the franchise's current shows and movies.

The Space Force logo was unveiled by President Donald Trump Friday, who wrote in a tweet: "After consultation with our Great Military Leaders, designers, and others, I am pleased to present the new logo for the United States Space Force, the Sixth Branch of our Magnificent Military!"

It drew immediate mockery among social media users.

"Should've been consulting with Gene Roddenberry's lawyers," wrote the popular "Pourmecoffee" account, referring to the late screenwriter and producer of Star Trek's original series and its first spin-off, "The Next Generation."

But if it is a case of imitation, then the plagiarism may not be new: the logo is strikingly similar to that of the Air Force Space Command that was founded in 1982 and succeeded by Space Force in December 2019.
On Friday, 50 years to the day after 25-year-old Navy pilot Michael C. Emmett died, his two brothers and the nephews he never knew visited the remote desert site where his supersonic fighter jet crashed in 1968.

They climbed up a desert wash in the North Pinyon Mountains of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to where the wreckage has sat untouched for decades.

At 12:17 p.m., the moment the crash occurred, they held a memorial service, read a poem, hugged and cried, and placed a memory jar in the cockpit. The jar contained an American flag, and details about their brother, the crash and their visit that day.

We wanted to honor Mike, but we really wanted to celebrate him, brother John Emmett, 60, said.

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He did what he loved to do. Whatever he set out to do, he did. This was supposed to be just one step in his life. He had big plans to go on and do so many things.

On Nov. 2, 1968, Emmett was practicing combat tactics over the desert with an instructor-leader observing from another jet. He was based at Miramar Naval Air Station.

The accident report said he was highly rated and highly aggressive, as a fighter pilot should be, said G. Pat Macha, the founder of Project Remembrance, which is a group that finds aircraft wreckage in California and at times helps family members connect to those sites.

He was flying a Vought F-8 Crusader, which was the hottest thing the Navy had at the time. The instructor-leader said he observed Michaels airplane in a spin at 10,000 feet and he called out Eject! Eject! Eject! and there was no response.

The report speculated the pilot might have been struggling to recover from the spin or he might have been unconscious.

When he struck the ground, he was vertical and the wreckage blew down the draw, Macha said.

Following the crash, Emmetts body was recovered. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

John Emmett, who was 11 when his brother died, remembers the car pulling up to the familys home in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to deliver the news. He remembers his mothers emotional reaction. He said were she still alive today she wouldnt have come along. It would have been way too difficult for her, he said.

As with so many plane crashes from years gone by, before GPS was able to pinpoint every location, the exact spot where Emmetts plane crash was lost over time.

In 2015, a hiker came across a strange piece of equipment in an area well off any trail. Macha, who has spent decades collecting information about California crashes, saw the photo of the equipment and recognized it as coming from a jet. He and members of his Project Remembrance team went to the area and found wreckage scattered all across the mountain.

When they came to the cockpit, and saw the ejector seat still intact, they knew it was the scene of a fatality.

Project Remembrance documents everything and makes videos of their finds. They do not reach out to families, but if they are contacted they will do their very best to help them find closure.

John Emmett said he had spent the past three years looking on the Internet for information about his brothers crash and six months ago came upon Machas video. He began to cry, he said.

Macha cries as well. What his remembrance group does touches him and the other members deeply.

Were all here because we respect those who have served and sacrificed on our behalf, Macha told the nine members of the Emmett family that had flown in from Northern California for the site visit. The key word is respect. When we are asked, we are proud and honored to be with you and to support you.

Robert Emmett, 70, who was 19 when his brother died and was away at college, said seeing the wreckage and reviewing photos and documents with his family the night before was emotionally intense.

For myself and my brother, it was time to reconnect and talk about those things we havent talked about in a long time, he said.

It brought back so many memories that had been suppressed over the last 50 years. The way we remember, Mike was funny, intelligent, a risk-taking guy. Everything we saw today kind of encapsulated that.

The Vought F-8 Crusader could fly upwards of 1,000 mph. Macha said roughly 1,000 of the jets were made; half were lost in combat or on training missions.

Michael, John and Robert shared the same mother, but not father. Michaels father was Giles G. Casey, who died while flying a transport plane during World War II over Spain or North Africa, depending on differing accounts. He never saw his newborn son. Their mother remarried four years later to a flight surgeon named Robert O. Emmett who adopted Michael. The couple then had the other boys.

The family was accompanied up the mountain Friday by nine members of the Remembrance team, all retired gentlemen from different backgrounds -- military, law enforcement, airline pilots, education, park rangers.

The most touching aspect that all of us feel is the respect that the Remembrance team places on these events, John Emmett said. Pat and his emotion, his tears showing respect for the pilots, the loss of life, and the feeling for the families. Its closure to us. It really is.

jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones
JAIPUR: The Congress government in Rajasthan on Saturday passed a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the state assembly. The resolution was passed with voice vote amid stiff opposition by the BJP which accused the ruling Congress of pursuing appeasement politics.

It is the second Congress-ruled state after Punjab to pass such a resolution. Earlier, Kerala Assembly too had passed a resolution against the CAA moved jointly by the ruling Left alliance and the opposition Congress-led UDF.

The resolution passed by the Rajasthan assembly urges Centre to repeal the law as it discriminates against people on religious grounds, which violates the provisions of Constitution. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot took to Twitter and inform that the state assembly has passed a resolution against CAA.

"Rajasthan Assembly has passed a resolution today against the #CAA and we have urged the Central govt to repeal the law as it discriminates against people on religious grounds, which violates the provisions of our Constitution," Gehlot said in a tweet.

In a series of tweets, Gehlot further claimed that the amended citizenship law violates secular principles of the Constitution and also Article 14 of the Constitution.

"Our Constitution prohibits any kind of discrimination. This is the first time in the history of the nation that a law has been enacted which discriminates people on religious grounds. It violates secular principles of our constitution and also Article 14 of our Constitution," he said.

Gehlot further said, "Article 14 clearly states that the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. CAA clearly violates this article therefore it should be repealed."

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"The term secular in the Constitution of India means that all the religions in India get equal respect, protection and support from the State. CAA aims to change this basic principle. For this very reason, CAA has been opposed across the country," Gehlot said in another tweet.

Addressing a press briefing, Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot had on Thursday, informed that the state government will also bring out a resolution against the amended citizenship law.

This comes after the Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to put a stay on the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 and granted four weeks` time to the Central government to file a reply on the petitions regarding the same.

The citizenship law is facing major protests and opposition across the country with some states including West Bengal refusing to implement in their respective states. BJP, on the other hand, is also reaching out to the people in a bid to mobilise support for the newly amended citizenship law and "remove misconceptions created by the opposition".

The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.
January 24, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - Adam Schiff, the liberal hero of impeachment, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the military-industrial complex and a fervent exponent of permanent war.

o some Democrats and journalists, Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) is a hero. All over the internet, people are thanking him for defending the Constitution, hoping hell run for president someday. After his performance during this weeks impeachment hearing, the worship was especially intense; a letter writer to the New York Times called it brilliant and a tour de force, while the conservative Washington Times made fun of all the blue-checked Twitter accounts losing their objectivity in ecstatic praise. As the face of the impeachment effort, especially for liberals disengaged from the election process, Schiff represents a glimmer of hope for domestic regime change.

Wed like to be on his side. After all, hes working hard to take down Donald Trump, one of the worst presidents in American history. But lets not get carried away in fandom. Schiff is a dangerous warmonger, and his efforts to fuel paranoia about Russia only serve to feed that agenda. It would be admirable if Schiffs impeachment crusade was limited to Trumps corruption. But something else drives him: he wants a proxy war in Ukraine with Russia, and he has for some time.

Adam Schiff physically resembles a prosperity preacher. That is to say, he looks like a classic dodgy American salesman, but with a beatific glow of righteousness. This creepily wholesome look lends a corny Cold War ambiance to his constant fulmination about the Russians. Its hard not to listen to him without thinking of Allen Ginsbergs 1956 poem America:

America, its them bad Russians Them Russians, them Russians and them Chinamen. And them Russians.

Assuring us that he is aware, actually, of what century this is, Schiff said in 2015, Now, were not seeing the same bipolar world we had between communism and capitalism. (Phew!) He then added, But we are seeing a new bipolar world, I think, where you have democracy versus authoritarianism. Schiff has not viewed this as a mere contest of ideas: he constantly advocated for Obama to impose tougher sanctions on Russia and give more weapons to Ukraine.

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Although delicately opposed to violence in some contexts  hes a vegan!  this isnt the only war Schiff has championed. He supported the Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya wars, greater US intervention in Syria, as well as the Saudi war with Yemen (although he has, in the past year, turned against the latter adventure, seeming to draw the line at sawing up journalists with bonesaws  he is a moderate after all, plus very popular with the media), and he has voted for nearly every possible increase in the defense budget.

As Jacobin s own Branko Marcetic observed two years ago, Schiffs bellicosity is extensively funded by arms manufacturers and military contractors. A Ukrainian arms dealer named Igor Pasternak held a $2,500 per head fundraiser for Schiff in 2013, as the late Justin Raimondo reported in a terrific analysis on Antiwar.com in 2017, at a time when Ukraine was desperately trying to counter the Obama administrations disinterest in funding its war with Russia. Despite that disinterest, the State Department approved some very profitable dealings for Pasternak in Ukraine after that fundraiser.

And thats only one example. In the current cycle, donations from the war industry have continued to flood his coffers. Many come from employees of firms with extensive Department of Defense contracts, including Radiance Technologies and Raytheon. PACs representing the defense industry also make a robust showing among Schiffs contributors, according to data on Open Secrets.org; companies funneling money to Schiff  sorry, contributing to those PACs  include Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Radiance, and others, including L3Harris Technologies (which got in big trouble with the State Department in September and had to pay $13 million in penalties for illegal arms dealing).

Guess what these companies want? War with Ukraine. Why wouldnt they? Last October, the United States approved a $39 million sale of anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, a joint contract between Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. The previous year, Ukraine bought $37 million worth of missiles from the same two companies. As a missile-maker, Zacks Equity Research has noted, Northrop Grumman also benefits richly from conflict in Ukraine, as missiles are heavily used in cross-border wars.

Despite his enthusiastic support for state violence and cozy ties to the makers of deadly weaponry, Schiff, an Alexander Hamiltonquoting windbag, doesnt have much crossover appeal to the sort of people who put These Colors Dont Run stickers on their trucks. His impeachment crusade only seems to reinforce Trumps support among the faithful; at this writing, 93 percent of Republicans oppose the presidents removal from office.

Welcome to the #Resistance.

Liza Featherstone is a columnist for Jacobin, a freelance journalist, and the author of Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers Rights at Wal-Mart.

This article was originally published by "Jacobin" -

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==See Also==
Metropolitan Police have launched a desperate search for a mother after a newborn baby boy was found abandoned in a bush on a residential street in London.

He was found wearing a grey babygrow and hat on Sandringham Road, Hackney, London, at around 11.40am today.

Police were called to the scene by a passerby who discovered the little infant wrapped up in a white knitted blanket.

A newborn baby boy (pictured) was left abandoned in a bush on Sandringham Road, Dalston, London, at around 11.40am today

A woman, whose grand-dad found the little tot, wrote on Facebook: 'My grand-dad has just found a baby abandoned in a bush on Sandringham road hackney e8. If you know anything please contact the police.

'The baby is ok but might not have been if he wasnt found!

'Cant Imagine what goes through a mothers head or what her circumstances are to have to come to this decision. She needs to be found. Please share to London and surrounding areas x'

Following initial reports, police said the baby appears to have been born outside of a hospital environment.

The baby was found wrapped up in a white knitted blanket on the residential street in east London (pictured). He is now being cared for at an east London hospital, and the Metropolitan Police have appealed for his mother to come forward

He is now being cared for at an east London hospital, and the Metropolitan Police have appealed for his mother to come forward so that she can also receive medical care and support.

Police are appealing for information to help trace the mother.

Inspector Kevin Weeks of the Central East Command Unit said: 'I would urge the mother of this baby to make contact either with police, your local hospital or GP surgery and let us know that you are safe and can receive any medical care you may need.

Graphic shows the location where the little infant was found

'Our primary focus is to ensure the wellbeing of both you and your child.

'I would also urge anyone who has information that could help us to reunite this baby with his mother to come forward.'

If you have any information that could help police, please call 101 and quote CAD 3039/25Jan.
SPRINGFIELD  More than two years after the FBI began probing possible police corruption linked to a 2015 brawl outside a popular East Forest Park restaurant, the U.S. attorneys office declined to prosecute the case.

Thats according to FBI Special Agent Joseph Brannan, who testified Friday during a motion hearing in the ongoing Nathan Bills case, which has consumed the Springfield Police Department for five years.

Sixteen defendants, including 14 former or current police officers, were indicted last year in connection with the alleged fight that pitted four African-American civilians against a group of young, off-duty police officers. One defendant has since had all charges dropped, and one of three charges was dropped Wednesday for a second defendant.

On-duty officers who responded to the scene on April 8, 2015, also have been accused of a cover-up to hide police involvement.

All have pleaded not guilty to various charges including assault, perjury and misleading investigators. The defendants have been split into separate groups and are headed to trial beginning March 30.

Superior Court Judge Mark D. Mason said his staff has sent out 1,000 juror summonses and plans to vet 200 potential jurors per day for five days  rivaling the breadth of the prospective juror pool for the Harvey Weinstein trial in New York City.

Ahead of the trials, attorneys for the defendants have filed a flurry of motions to suppress statements made to a statewide grand jury in Worcester in 2018, and to dismiss cases against their clients. Ongoing arguments have taken place before Mason this month, including on Friday in Franklin Superior Court in Greenfield, where the judge is presiding through February.

The Nathan Bills case is being prosecuted by state Attorney General Maura Healeys office. The investigation has been conducted jointly by her office and the FBI, according to court testimony.

Brennan testified Friday that the FBI pitched the Nathan Bills case to state prosecutors as a possible police corruption case in 2017, after the U.S. attorneys office declined to take it.

Lets just cut right to it: It wasnt until the U.S. attorneys office told you it wasnt interested in taking this case that you approached the AGs office, correct? Michael Packard, a lawyer for Officer Joseph DAmour, asked Brannan during cross-examination.

I work for the federal government so thats where it went, Brannan answered.

There was no explanation as to why the U.S. attorneys office didnt take the case. A spokeswoman for that agency declined to comment.

Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni also declined to prosecute, citing inconsistent eyewitness statements.

Brannan testified that some of the four civilians who were beaten early that morning in a parking lot near the restaurant said their assailants were off-duty cops, whom they saw talking with responding officers at the scene. The civilians reported watching the off-duty officers through a window, laughing inside the bar after the fracas ended.

H. Paul Cumby, Jozelle and Jackie Ligon, and Michael Cintron in 2018 collectively won an $885,000 civil settlement from the city related to the injuries they suffered in the fight.

DAmour was a brand new officer on patrol the night of the fight who arrived on scene with his partner. He reported receiving vague descriptions of the alleged assailants from the civilians and driving up Island Pond Road in East Forest Park to look for them.

Along with seven other defendants charged with perjury and/or misleading investigators, DAmour has argued FBI agents and prosecutors with the attorney generals office duped them by not informing them they were targets of the investigation as they prepared to testify before the grand jury.

State prosecutors on Friday argued they were not obligated to read defendants their Miranda rights, but Brannan testified they were offered some version of them them nonetheless, in pre-interviews before their grand jury appearances.

Packard and other defense attorneys have argued they were not. Packard peppered Brannan with questions regarding the specifics of those warnings Friday.

You dont know who said it, and you dont know the words? Was it written on a piece of paper? the defense attorney asked, regarding who cautioned the defendants they may be targets.

Brannan repeatedly responded he didnt recall.

The hearing will continue on Jan. 31.
Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja on Saturday asked the state government to immediately move the Supreme Court and help bring SYL water to the state and demanded that the central government explain its position on the matter.

Her statement comes a day after all parties in Punjab unanimously resolved not to give SYL water to Haryana.

Selja said Haryana has the right on the water of Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal and it has been validated by the Supreme Court.

"The decision of political parties of Punjab regarding not to provide water to Haryana is a clear violation of the Supreme Court orders," she told reporters.

"The Haryana government should immediately move to the Supreme Court on this issue and bring SYL water to the state and the central government should also explain its position in this matter. It was the responsibility of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre to get Haryana its rightful share of water, but why the central government is silent," she asked.

Selja said the Supreme Court had asked the central government to distribute the water of the SYL Canal between Punjab and Haryana, they why the Centre is not taking any steps for it.

"After all this, why did not the State Government pressurize the Central Government to get SYL water? Haryana Government should clarify what concerted efforts it has taken in this matter during the last three years," she said.

Selja claimed that the state Congress and people have struggled a lot in the courts on the issue of SYL. "We will not back down in claiming our constitutional rights. We have to turn this dream of all people into reality. We are determined to claim our right and we will fight for the interest of people with full force," she said.

The Haryana Congress chief said Haryana was given its share of water in the first place by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1976 by starting the Indira Gandhi Award.

In 1981, the Chief Ministers of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan signed an agreement to build SYL Canal in the presence of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In 1982, Gandhi started the construction of canal in village Kapuri of Patiala, she noted.

The historic Rajiv Longowal Accord was signed in 1985, under which the Iradi Commission was constituted and at that time the Congress Government had advocated for Haryana in front of the Commission, which gave right of 3.83 million feet of water to Haryana, she said.

"The Supreme Court's decision of the year 2002 and 2004 on SYL in favour of Haryana came into force. Even after this, when Haryana did not get its rightful share of water then in the year 2016, the Supreme Court took a historic decision and gave a clear order to the central government to construct the SYL canal," she said.

In 2019, with the Supreme Court directions to both states to resolve the matter by forming committees of their officials, it was clarified that if both the states do not construct the canal with mutual consent, the Supreme Court will itself get the canal constructed, she claimed.

"Today Haryana is craving for water and farmers of the state are in dire need of water. Haryana has right on the SYL water and the state will take it because the Supreme Court has given judgement many times in favour of Haryana," she said.

Selja claimed that Haryana Congress will play a leading role in this struggle and for the implementation of decision of the Supreme Court. "Non-compliance of orders is a clear violation of the Supreme Court," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Once in a lifetime, life throws a curveball and nothing remains the same. For Lisa Ray, this curve-ball came in the form of cancer.

On Friday, she said cancer had re-defined her life and helped develop a better relationship with fear, as she credited sheer will power and stubbornness for overcoming the darkest period of her life.

Speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival, Ray said although cancer had affected her, it also proved to be a gateway into a new phase of life as she got married while grappling with the deadly disease.

Ray, 47, was diagnosed in 2009 with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the white blood cells, which is considered incurable and fatal. A year later, the Indian-Canadian actor had said she was free from the disease.

reuters/representational image

"There is no doubt that going through cancer has changed and transformed the trajectory of my life, and I am still processing that on some level. There has been a pre-cancer and post-cancer life," she said.

Instagram/Lisa Ray

"Cancer has changed me, but also in a weird way, it has been a gateway into a new phase. People do not necessarily associate cancer with finding the love of your life, but I got married while living with cancer. There is no end mark for my cancer," she said.





Ray, one of India's first supermodels, said people came to her and lauded her for beating cancer, but she did not want to burst the bubble because she was still living with it.

"It has affected my life. It has re-defined my life and has helped me develop a better relationship with fear," she said.

bollybytes

"I had suicidal thoughts, had a lot of self-flagellating thoughts, a lot of self-loathing. On one hand, I was experiencing the prime of my success and fame in India and privately I was going through the deepest, darkest tunnel that you can imagine. It was the darkest night of the soul," she said on finding fame very early in life but not having the inner peace.

Ray said her sheer will power, stubbornness and Buddhist practices helped her recover from what she termed as "the darkest period of my life".

Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

"My life has spiraled out of control for too many times. Through my Buddhist practices I have come to a great sense of peace," she said.

Ray also said that she was an accidental actress, whose career started on the edge of the blade.

"I became an accidental actress. I am not being cute when I say that. It is a fact of my life. I never planned on being in front of the camera or being part of a profession I am identified with strongly. On one side was fame and fortune and on the other side was great personal trauma and sadness," she said.

Ray is expected to come out with three new books over the next few years, including a novel, a collection of poems, and a work of non-fiction.


Standardbred Canada members are invited to attend the SC Annual Meeting of Members.

The meeting will be held on Saturday, February 1, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. EST in the Britannia Room at the Hilton Mississauga/Meadowvale Hotel & Conference Centre, 6750 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, Ontario. Members will be asked to sign in before the meeting.

Important Links:
WASHINGTON - Lawyers for President Donald Trump argued Saturday that he had valid reasons for withholding military aid to Ukraine and that House prosecutors overlooked facts that are more favorable to his case, giving a short preview of the aggressive defense they are expected to mount next week in the Senate impeachment trial.

In a two-hour presentation that reserved their most provocative attacks for Monday, members of Trump's legal team echoed the president's justifications for his actions toward Ukraine and sought to plant doubts about both the prosecutors' case and its lead advocate, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

Yet in arguing that the case for Trump's removal was partisan and misleading, lawyers for the president omitted facts, presented claims that lacked context or downplayed evidence gathered by House investigators. Their most sweeping arguments did not specifically defend Trump, but instead framed impeachment as no more than a politically motivated effort to remove him from the ballot in November.

"They're here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history," said White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who said Trump did "absolutely nothing wrong."

"We can't allow that to happen. It would violate our constitution. It would violate our history. It would violate our obligations to the future," Cipollone told the Senate. "And most importantly, it would violate the sacred trust that the American people have placed in you."

After three days of arguments in favor of Trump's removal from House Democrats, most Senate Republicans rallied behind the president's defense, predicting acquittal. But a small group of closely watched Republicans largely reserved judgment or declined to comment, leaving open the question of whether the trial will include witnesses. Democrats need four Republicans to join them to secure further testimony or evidence.

Trump faces the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history amid accusations that he withheld military aid and an Oval Office meeting to pressure Ukraine's leaders into announcing investigations of his political rivals, including former vice president Joe Biden, now a presidential candidate. Trump was impeached by the House in December on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress related to these allegations and his directive that his administration not cooperate with the House's investigation.

His team's opening argument came on a day when more evidence emerged outside the Senate: A video was released showing Trump ordering the firing of Marie Yovanovitch, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, at a 2018 donor dinner. His order came minutes after Ukrainian American business executive Lev Parnas criticized her as an impediment.

Yovanovitch was removed more than a year later. Parnas is now under indictment on campaign-finance charges, and the video was released by Parnas' attorney.

At the end of a marathon week of presentations before the Senate, Trump's lawyers began speaking at 10 a.m. and ended by noon, allowing senators to return home for a short period before the trial resumes at 1 p.m. on Monday. The next session is expected to include full-throated attacks on Biden and his son Hunter, who served on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma while his father was in office and has become a target for criticism by Republicans. The intent is to argue that Trump was justified in seeking investigations into the Bidens despite the Ukrainian government never accusing them of any wrongdoing.

On Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., chastised both the House managers and the president's defense team for using overheated rhetoric as they debated ground rules for the trial. But when Trump's lawyers took the podium on Saturday to begin rebutting the managers' case, their tone was largely subdued.

"We are going to be very respectful of your time," Cipollones said in his opening remarks. "You heard the House managers speak for nearly 24 hours over three days. We don't anticipate using that much time."

The lawyers painted Trump as having sincere concerns about corruption in Ukraine, despite evidence to the contrary, and suggested he was justified in doubting the intelligence community's conclusion that Russia, not Ukraine, interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

In taking this approach, the lawyers landed repeatedly on themes that matter to Trump, including what he has described as his "perfect" July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, special counsel Robert Mueller III's report and omissions and errors by the FBI in documents submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court during the 2016 investigation of the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the election.

Because of that case, Trump attorney Jay Sekulow argued, the president had reason not to "blindly trust some of the advice he was being given" by intelligence officials.

Taken together, the lawyers' remarks laid the foundation for a defense of Trump's unconventional foreign policy toward Ukraine, led by his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani; and an attempt to shore up Trump's claim that by seeking investigations of the Bidens, he was working to fight corruption, not undermine a political opponent who he might face in November.

Focusing on the July 25 call, deputy White House counsel Michael Purpura suggested that witnesses who expressed concerns about it were politically motivated and said Trump's conversation with Zelensky reflected the administration's "legitimate concerns about corruption" in Ukraine.

A rough transcript released by the White House shows the president did not mention "corruption" or a general concern about the issue - only a theory about Ukrainian influence in the 2016 election that has been discredited and his request that Kyiv scrutinize the Bidens.

Purpura also spent considerable time claiming that Ukraine did not learn about the hold on military aid until late August.

"There can't be a threat without the person knowing he's being threatened," he said.

While two Trump administration officials - Pentagon official Laura Cooper and State Department official Catherine Croft - testified that they believed that Ukrainians knew about the hold before that time, Purpura argued that others' testimony was more credible.

The second part of the defense's presentation sought to raise doubts about the legal and constitutional validity of the impeachment inquiry. Deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin also mentioned the anonymous whistleblower, whose report helped launch the impeachment probe, and the House's decision not to investigate them.

"Motivations, bias, reasons for wanting to bring this complaint could be relevant," Philbin said. "But there wasn't any inquiry into that."

The details of the whistleblower's memo were confirmed by the rough transcript of the July 25 call released by the White House and by the evidence gathered during the House investigation.

In several moments, Trump's lawyers attacked Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who has helped to lead the impeachment inquiry.

Philbin noted that Schiff had once mischaracterized his staff's dealings with the whistleblower. Purpura also showed a video clip of Schiff parodying dialogue from the July 25 call during a House hearing, a dramatic embellishment that Trump and his allies say obliterates Schiff's credibility.

"We can shrug it off and say we were making light or a joke. But that was in a hearing in the United States House of Representatives discussing the removal of the president of the United States from office," Purpura said. "There are very few things, if any, that can be as grave and as serious."

Senators already allied with Trump declared the presentation a slam-dunk.

"In two hours, the White House counsel entirely shredded the case by the House managers," Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, told reporters, echoing several other Republicans who used a form of the word shred to characterize the effect of the lawyers' arguments.

But moderate Republican senators - whose votes will determine whether additional evidence is sought in the trial - did not share detailed opinions on the presentation or the possible need for witnesses.

"I think it's very likely I'll be in favor of witnesses, but I haven't made a decision finally yet and I won't until both side's opening arguments are done," Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told reporters on Capitol Hill.

"I thought for the most part, the House managers were effective, and I thought the president's attorneys this morning were very effective," Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., told CBS News.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, declined to comment when approached by The Washington Post.

A handful of moderate Democratic senators - who could prove pivotal if they choose to side with Republicans - declared witnesses necessary to the process.

"I thought they did a good job in presenting the defense for the president," Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., said. "[But] the most important thing I took away from today was they made very clear that there's not one witness that we've heard from . . . that had direct contact with the president."

Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., said he was "stunned" that Trump's lawyers argued at one point that cross examination is essential to due process, even as the White House bars witnesses from testifying on Trump's dealings with Ukraine.

"They American people deserve the truth. They deserve the whole truth," Jones said. "We're not getting it."

The House managers were not permitted to speak during Saturday's session - though they drew some attention around 9:50 a.m. as part of a procession transferring their 28,578-page trial record across the Capitol to the Senate.

"They don't contest the basic architecture of the scheme," Schiff said at a news conference after the presentation by Trump's lawyers. "They do not contest that the president solicited a foreign nation to interfere in our election, to help him cheat. I think they acknowledged by not even contesting this that the facts are overwhelming."

In his closing, Cipollone shifted the charges facing the president onto Democrats - a strategy often employed by Trump himself.

"It would be a completely irresponsible abuse of power to do what they're asking you do - to stop an election, to interfere in an election, and to remove the president of the United States from the ballot," he said. "Let the people decide for themselves."

- - -

The Washington Post's Colby Itkowitz, John Wagner and Karoun Demirjian contributed to this report.
Nepal on Saturday offered to play the role of a mediator between India and Pakistan, saying that it was important for the two countries to have dialogue to resolve their issues.

"Dialogue is the best way to resolve any problem. There may be differences but it can be resolved through dialogue. If necessary, we can play the role of a mediator too," a Nepal government source said here.

The source said that better solution to resolve the issues would be to develop better dialogue between two countries. "We can be instrumental, but it will be better (for the two sides) to develop direct contact," the source said.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have spiked since India abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August last. India's decision evoked strong reactions from Pakistan, which downgraded diplomatic ties and expelled the Indian envoy.

"When we come together, sit together and share views then things will be resolved. In every situation, we have to sit together and try to resolve the problem otherwise things can be deteriorated," the source said.

Expressing concern over the uncertainty prevailing over the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, the source said the grouping should be revitalised and misunderstandings should be removed.

"SAARC is not dead. It is alive. Only thing is that we have not met. Hope we can revive it," the source said.

The last SAARC Summit in 2014 was held in Kathmandu, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The 2016 SAARC summit was to be held in Islamabad. But after the terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18 that year, India expressed its inability to participate in the summit due to "prevailing circumstances".

The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to participate in the Islamabad meet.

In the last three years, India has been distancing itself from the SAARC, citing security challenge facing the region from terror networks based in Pakistan, which is also a member of the grouping.

"We are strongly against all forms and manifestations of terrorism. But there is no relationship between the two (SAARC and terrorism). We cannot connect the two issues," the source said.

Identifying the terrorism as a common threat to peace loving countries, the source said, "We have to deal with issue of terrorism".

"I think that misunderstandings should be narrowed down and SAARC should be revitalised. It would be better to revise SAARC. I have told India that SAARC should be revitalised. We can find out amicable solutions," they said.

SAARC summits are usually held biennially and hosted by member states in alphabetical order. The member state hosting the summit assumes the Chair of the Association.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Democrats are desperately trying to flog their impeachment show, but so far both the ratings and the reviews are bad.

Ratings fall flat as the vast majority of Americans tune out impeachment trial. Only 3% of Americans tuned in across all the major networks and cable news combined. https://t.co/pKuD1obnt6  Ted Davis (@tedsthetruth) January 23, 2020



Youve all seen the headlines: Impeachment trial gets lower ratings than Jeopardy! on a bad night. Ratings Show Americans Dont Care About the Impeachment Trial Enough to Watch It.

To be fair, I cant imagine how anyone could stand to spend hours watching Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler. So its a tribute to the hardy few who tuned in.

Then there is this, from Twitter: the demise of Mr. Peanut was being tweeted about more than the impeachment trial:

Mr. Peanut's death is trending over the impeachment pic.twitter.com/GFK6fZoUAj  Pete Catapano (@pcatapano) January 22, 2020

The first thing I heard after walking into work for the afternoon/evening shift: "There are twice as many people in Seattle tweeting about Mr. Peanut as the Trump impeachment trial."  @anikavarty  Taylor Blatchford (@blatchfordtr) January 22, 2020



The Democrats are getting their anti-Trump headlines, of course, but once again, there is little evidence that anyone cares. This isnt surprising: on the list of reasons why we should evict from office a duly elected President, He didnt give military aid to Ukraine for a while, and then he did ranks near the bottom.

The polls offer no evidence that voters are impressed by the Democrats performance. At Rasmussen Reports, Trump stands at 49% approval/49% disapproval, pretty much where he always does.

Then, too, the Democrats are playing without an endgame. There is no possibility of getting a 2/3 vote in the Senate, and never has been. So what will be the reaction of persuadable voters, when the whole impeachment farce turns out to be a colossal waste of time? Presumably those few who ever believed that what is happening in the Senate is serious will also see it as serious when the Democrats lose. It is hard to see this as a positive outcome for the Democrats.

Dont despair, though. Somewhere in the bowels of the House of Representatives, Democrats are already hard at work, preparing their second term articles of impeachment.
What is Australian food? It's a question that sends me into fits of frustration: as if there could be one simple explanation, one way to distil the taste and creativity and history of a country as large and diverse as Australia.

But it is also the line of inquiry that has been the foundation of my assignment for the past two years, as critic and columnist for The New York Times in Australia: to explore and explain the food and restaurants for a global readership.

Rene Redzepi of Copenhagen restaurant Noma brought a pop-up version to Sydney. Credit:

It's been an incredible two years. I've eaten wonderful Thai food in the middle of Australia's largest national park, sought out fantastic tacos in the suburbs of Adelaide and considered the pleasures of the country's emerging barbecue cookery.

I've explored the glory of Australia's old seaside pubs, its emerging Afghan and Ethiopian and Sri Lankan and Indonesian chefs, and followed my nose and stomach into the hinterlands of northern New South Wales, rural Victoria and the wine country of Western Australia. Rediscovering my home country, though the lens of its restaurants, continues to be a gift and an honour.
Trumps defence team begins its opening arguments on Saturday following three days of presentations by House Democrats.

US President Donald Trumps impeachment defence team kicked off their first day of opening arguments on Saturday following three days of presentations by the Democrats making the case against the president.

The day is expected to be shorter than the previous four days, with Trumps team saying Saturday will act as a preview to its line of defence.

Democrats from the House of Representatives gave 24 hours of arguments over three days. Trumps team will have the same amount of time.

As Trumps defence team takes the podium, here are all the latest updates as of Saturday, January 25:

Whats next?

Sunday talk shows. Although there is no Senate session scheduled for Sunday, expect the presidents defenders and critics to appear on Sunday political talk shows in the United States to continue to make their cases.

On Monday, Trumps defence team will continue their opening arguments.

And thats a wrap for the day

Trumps defence team took about two hours to deliver their first day of opening arguments.

They will be back at it on Monday.

#AmericansWantWitnesses trends

As Trumps team took to the podium to mount its defence, #AmericansWantWitnesses trended on Twitter.

The important question mark still on the trial is whether witnesses will be called.

Democrats want to hear from at least four people, including former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton and acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.

Republicans say Democrats should have called those witnesses during the impeachment investigation.

A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research suggested the public slightly more likely to say the Senate should convict and remove Trump from office than to say it should not, 45 percent to 40 percent. But a sizable percentage, 14 percent, said they did not know enough to have an opinion.

Call your senators and tell them #AmericansWantWitnesses. Numbers below. pic.twitter.com/O53q8YMyIZ  Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) January 25, 2020

#AmericansWantWitnesses and Trump should want them too if he's innocent.  Mrs. Krassenstein (@HKrassenstein) January 25, 2020

Trump again takes to Twitter to rail against impeachment

From the White House, Trump turned to his favourite social media platform as the defence team took the podium.

He tweeted that his team was making his case against lyin, cheatin, liddle Adam Shifty Schiff, Cryin Chuck Schumer, Nervous Nancy Pelosi and others of the Radical Left.

Our case against lyin, cheatin, liddle Adam Shifty Schiff, Cryin Chuck Schumer, Nervous Nancy Pelosi, their leader, dumb as a rock AOC, & the entire Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrat Party, starts today at 10:00 A.M. on @FoxNews, @OANN or Fake News @CNN or Fake News MSDNC!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2020

Trumps defence team makes a false claim

In his opening arguments, Trump defence team lead Pat Cipollone said the presidents team was not allowed to participate in the Houses impeachment inquiry, despite House Democrats making a formal offer to the White House to be present during the Houses hearings.

Trump team takes on Schiff

As expected, Trumps defence team went after lead House manager Adam Schiff over his interpretation of the Trump phone call with the Ukrainian president.

Trump railed against Schiff after the House Democrat talked about the call during impeachment hearings before the House Intelligence Committee.

Trumps team continued that line of defence on Saturday.

We can shrug it off and say we were making light or a joke, but that was in a hearing in the United States House of Representatives discussing the removal of the President of the United States from office, said defence lawyer Mike Purpura.

#TrumpTapes trends

An associate of Rudy Giuliani has provided congressional investigators with a recording of Trump saying he wanted to get rid of the US ambassador to Ukraine, whose removal emerged as an issue in the presidents impeachment, his attorney told The Associated Press on Friday.

The Giuliani associate, Lev Parnas, attended a small dinner with Trump at his Washington, DC, hotel in April 2018. Joseph Bondy, Parnass lawyer, said he turned over to the House Intelligence Committee a recording from the dinner in which Trump demands the removal of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.

The recording, which was first reported by ABC News, appears to contradict the presidents statements that he did not know Parnas, a key figure in the investigation. It came to light as Democrats continue to press for witnesses and other evidence to be considered during the Senate impeachment trial.

ABC News released a portion of the recording online late Friday. A voice that appears to be Parnas can be heard saying, The biggest problem there, I think where we need to start is we got to get rid of the ambassador. He later can be heard telling Trump, Shes basically walking around telling everybody: Wait, hes gonna get impeached. Just wait.'

A speaker who appears to be Trump then responds: Get rid of her! Get her out tomorrow. I dont care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. OK? Do it.

Harrowing #TrumpTapes reveal just how close @potus Trump and #LevRemembers Parnas have been and the vile attacks on career diplomat Ambassador Marie Yavonovich are all the more reason #AmericansWantWitnesses at the impeachment trial!  Christine Pelosi (@sfpelosi) January 25, 2020

Trump defence team expected to focus on Bidens, Burisma, executive privilege

Trumps defence team is expected to argue that the president did nothing wrong. They will also focus on Joe and Hunter Biden, the Ukrainian gas company and Burisma, and executive privilege.

Cipollone: House Democrats havent met burden

Lead lawyer Pat Cipollone opened his remarks by saying House Democrats did not meet their burden for what theyre asking you to do.

Youve heard the House managers speak for nearly 24 hours over three days. We dont anticipate using that much time. We dont believe that they have come anywhere close to meeting their burden for what theyre asking you to do, he said.

Trumps defence team takes centre stage

Opening arguments have started, with Trumps lawyer Pat Cipollone telling the Senate his team expects to go two-three hours on Saturday.

Who is on Trumps defence team?

Trumps defence team will likely begin their arguments on Saturday.

Like the House managers, they will be given 24 hours over three days to lay out their defence.

Read more about the key players in the trial here.

Who are the House managers?

The House of Representatives appointed seven Democrats to make their case against Trump, which they will conclude on Friday. They were granted 24 hours over three days to lay it all out.

Read more about them here.

Get caught up

Check out our live blogs from Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to get caught up on what the Senate has heard so far.
Poorer areas that delivered Boris Johnsons election triumph are facing fresh cuts to local services  as funds are switched to wealthy Southern shires instead.

Hundreds of millions of pounds will be diverted because of a new formula which significantly downgrades the importance of deprivation in assessing need, an analysis shows.

The shake-up will hurt high-profile Tory election gains including Workington, Stoke-on-Trent, Grimsby, West Bromwich, Sedgefield, Bishop Auckland and Redcar, it shows.

Now the new Conservative MPs representing those areas are being challenged to stand up to the prime minister before the cuts kick in next year.

They know these changes are wrong, so its time for them to decide what comes first  their communities or their careers? said Andrew Gwynne, Labours local government spokesman.

The fair funding review began under Theresa May but now threatens to become a major embarrassment to her successor, who won the election on a pledge to level up the country.

Instead, the areas of the North and Midlands which were hit hardest by a decade of austerity that stripped billions from town hall funding are threatened with more pain.

The analysis, carried out by the Labour group at the Local Government Association, has found that 37 Tory MPs represent seats at the sharp end of these cuts.

In County Durham, where the Conservatives snatched four seats including Bishop Auckland and Sedgefield  Tony Blairs old seat  the county council will lose almost 10 million a year.

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Cumbria, where the Workington seat switched from red to blue, will be another loser (7.55 million), as will Stoke (8 million), Sandwell, which includes West Bromwich (8.6 million), and Lincolnshire, including Grimsby (3.3 million).

Tory-run Hampshire will be the biggest cash winner (gaining 35 million), followed by Surrey (26m), which covers the constituencies of 11 Tory MPs including cabinet members Dominic Raab and Michael Gove.

Other Conservative areas set to enjoy a funding boost include Northamptonshire (7.5 million)  which was put in special measures after years of financial mismanagement  East Sussex (6 million) and affluent Wokingham (6 million, a staggering 30 per cent hike).

The biggest loser will be Birmingham (down by more than 48 million), followed by other big Labour city strongholds including Liverpool (16.2 million) and Manchester (10.4 million).

Mr Gwynne urged new Tory MPs not to duck the challenge, adding: The fair funding review has been exposed as just another Conservative plan to take hundreds of millions from deprived communities and funnel it towards leafy Tory shires.

In the new parliament, 37 Tory MPs represent communities at the sharp end of these cuts. This is a major test  their constituents will not forgive and not forget if they fail.

An LGA spokesperson said the analysis did not represent its preference, but acknowledged: It is an attempt to provide some information to councils that might help gauge the likely impact of the fair funding review on the relative distribution of adult social care funding.
HCA Houston Healthcare has launched a medical emergency helicopter service, the areas first new hospital-based air ambulance program since Memorial Hermann Health System founded Life Flight nearly half a century ago.

The HCA system unveiled the service Friday at The Womans Hospital of Texas, where the first helicopter is based and already in use. A second helicopter, to be based at the systems hospital in Conroe, will be added by early spring, HCA officials said.

Theres a need for additional emergency medical air transport further out in the community, said Allen Sims, HCA Houstons EMS executive. The communitys still growing. Traffics not getting any better. That should not prevent people in the suburbs and outside Beltway 8 from having access to the same high-level care as people closer in.

The helicopters, both of which will have a range of about 120 miles, will respond to 911 calls from areas in which it would take more than 45 minutes to go by ground as well as transfer adult and pediatric patients from other hospitals in need of a higher level of care. They will respond to all emergencies requiring urgent care, not just trauma cases, said Sims.

HCA Houston Healthcare has 13 area hospitals, 12 of which have helipads. All are ground-level.

The HCA program will be relatively small compared to Life Flight, one of the nations oldest, busiest air ambulance services and considered the gold standard in Texas. Founded in 1976 by the legendary Dr. James Red Duke, it has six aircraft, which operate out of five strategically located bases around the area and serve a 150-mile radius.

Life Flight averages about 3,500 missions a year. HCA Friday did not have figures for its projected annual missions.

HCA officials said the program is absolutely a signal the system wants to play a bigger role in emergency care in the region. The system previously upgraded two of its trauma centers  those at Conroe and Clear Lake  to Level II facilities, which are able to treat the most complex cases. A third HCA trauma center  at its Houston Northwest hospital, just west of Interstate 45 and about 7 miles north of Beltway 8  is currently in pursuit of the Level II designation and currently functioning as that level.

High-quality, high-profile emergency care is considered an excellent branding vehicle for hospitals. Like maternity care, it can instill loyalty in patients getting their introduction to a hospital.

HCA officials said the greatest need for additional air service is in the areas north-northwest quadrant, where HCA has hospitals in Conroe, Kingwood and northwest Houston. Sims said helicopters are crucial to bringing patients in need of serious emergency care from areas north of Huntsville, where ground transportation might not get them to a hospital in time.

Memorial Hermanns Life Flight currently has a helicopter and helipad at its hospital in The Woodlands.

HCAs aircraft, EC-145 twin-engine helicopters that will respond to emergencies within a 120-mile range, will be staffed with nurses and paramedics and feature a full array of medical technology capabilities, said Sims  ventilator, blood product administration, cardiac monitoring, ultrasound diagnostics, stroke and heart attack treatment and others. The helicopters will fly under instrument flight rules, meaning they can still take off when weather conditions might restrict flights under visual flight rules.

HCA is leasing the helicopters. Life Flight owns its aircraft.

Sims said the HCA air ambulance program could grow beyond the current plan for just two helicopters if a greater need is determined.

The Houston area is also served by a non-hospital-based air ambulance service, PHI Air Medical. It transports patients in 18 states and 65 bases across the nation, a few in the Houston area.

HCA officials Friday also unveiled a mobile simulation ambulance, complete with cutting edge adult, child and infant mannequins, that it will bring to Houston-area EMS stations for training purposes.

Dr. David Persse, head of Houston EMS, said hes excited about the opportunity for staff to train on the mannequins, the latest of which realistically portray disease conditions. Houston EMS currently has little access to such mannequins  theyre very expensive  so the training should provide a great benefit, said Persse. There will be no charge, said Sims.

todd.ackerman@chron.com
Following the ceremony, Algerian President Tebboune and Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum hosted a reception for the newly-appointed ambassador, during which the President warmly welcomed Vinh to take over the new position.



The President pledged to provide all possible support for Vinh to fulfill his mission in Algeria and voice his hope that the diplomat will actively contribute to the development of the bilateral cooperation.



President Tebboune also took the occasion to highly evaluate Vietnams achievements in national development, particularly in the field of economy. Algeria and Vietnam boast a long-standing friendship, he said, adding that Algeria wants to learn from Vietnams experience in economic development.



He suggested that the two countries should make greater efforts to beef up their friendship and multi-faceted cooperation.



Vinh, for his part, said it is an honour for him to be appointed as the ambassador of Vietnam to Algeria.

He reiterated that Vietnam always treasures and wants to strengthen its traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation with the African country.



The diplomat vowed to do his utmost to further consolidate the bilateral relations, especially in economy, trade and culture.



A day earlier, Ambassador Vinh presented a copy of his credentials to Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum. In the meeting, Boukadoum said he has good impression on Vietnam, noting that he will work with relevant Algerian ministries and agencies to further bolster economic cooperation with Vietnam in the coming time.
India will showcase its military might, cultural diversity, social and economic progress during the 71st Republic Day parade at the Rajpath on Sunday.

The 90-minute-long Republic Day parade ceremony will commence with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the War Memorial near the India Gate.

For the first time, Prime Minister Modi will pay his tribute to the martyrs by laying a wreath at the War Memorial instead of the Amar Jawan Jyoti.

President Ram Nath Kovind will host this year's Chief Guest -- Brazil President Jair Messias Bolsonaro.

As per the tradition, the Flag will be unfurled followed by the national anthem with a booming 21-gun salute.

The parade will commence with President Kovind taking the salute. The parade will be commanded by Parade Commander Lieutenant General Asit Mistry, General Officer Commanding, Headquarters Delhi Area. Major General Alok Kacker, Chief of Staff, Delhi Area, will be the parade Second-in-Command.

Later, the winners of the highest gallantry awards -- Param Vir Chakra and the Ashok Chakra will be honoured.

During the parade, the first contingent in the uniform of the erstwhile Gwalior Lancers will be 61 Cavalry led by Captain Deepanshu Sheoran. The 61 Cavalry is the only active serving horse cavalry regiment in the world.

The Indian Army will be represented by a Mounted Column of 61 Cavalry, eight mechanised columns, six marching contingents and fly-past by Rudra and Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters of the Army Aviation.

Indigenously-developed Main Battle Tank of the Indian Army, T-90 Bhishma, Infantry Combat Vehicle (ICV) Ballway Machine Pikate (BMP)-II, K-9 VAJRA-T, Dhanush Gun System, newly-inducted five-metre Short Span Bridging System, Sarvatra Bridge System, Transportable Satellite Terminal and Akash weapon system will be the main attraction in the mechanised columns.

The other marching contingents of the Army will include the Parachute Regiment, the Grenadiers Regiment, the Sikh Light Infantry Regiment, the Kumaon Regiment and the Corps of Signals.

Marching for the first time on Republic Day will be the contingent of the Corps of Army Air Defence. It will be followed by The Combined Band of Bengal Engineers Group and Centre, Brigade of Guards Training Centre,3 Electronics and Mechanical Engineers Centre and Madras Regimental Centre.

The Naval contingent will comprise 144 young sailors led by Lieutenant Jitin Malkat as Contingent Commander. It will be followed by the Naval Tableau titled 'Indian Navy - Silent, Strong, and Swift'. The fore part of the tableau showcases the might and firepower of Navy in all three dimensions, while the next part exhibits the Navy's commitment to nation-building.

The Air Force contingent, comprising 144 air warriors, will be led by Flight Lieutenant Shrikant Sharma. The Air Force tableau showcases scaled-down models of the Rafale aircraft, the Tejas aircraft, the Light Combat Helicopter, the Akash Missiles System and the Astra Missiles.

The veterans' tableau, marking the recognition and respect to the soldiers' selfless service to the nation, will showcase the theme 'Force behind the Force'.

The Indian Coast Guard marching contingent will be led by Deputy Commandant Gaurav Sharma. The motto of the Indian Coast Guard is 'Vayam Rakshamah' meaning 'We Protect'.

The contingents of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Delhi Police and Border Security Force (BSF) will also march past the saluting dais.

The National Cadet Corps (NCC) Boys Marching contingent will be led by Commander Junior Under-Officer Charandeep Singh Bhaduria, NCC Directorate Uttar Pradesh, while the Girls contingent will be headed by Senior Under-Officer Shreeshma Hegde, NCC Directorate, Karnataka and Goa.

The National Service Scheme (NSS) contingent comprising 148 volunteers will also take part in the parade. The massed pipes and drums band of the Indian Army will also be on display.

Anti-satellite weapon - Mission Shakthi developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Army's battle tank Bhishma, infantry combat vehicles, Air Forces' newly inducted Chinook and Apache helicopters, and tableaux depicting Akash and Astra missiles and Navy's prowess will be showcased during the parade.

Twenty tableaux - 16 from States and Union Territories and six from various ministries, depicting the nation's rich cultural heritage and economic progress will roll down the Rajpath. The government departments' tableaux will showcase reforms brought under schemes such as Startup India, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna and Jal Jeevan Mission.

School children will convey the age-old message of Yoga and spiritual values through dance and music and Indian Air Force aircraft will thunder in the sky projecting the air-power.

The proud winners of Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar will arrive in jeeps. It will be followed by children's pageant comprising over 600 participants.

For the first time, a contingent of women bikers of CRPF will perform daredevil stunts.

The grand finale and the most keenly awaited segment of the parade, the flypast will comprise of the 'Trishul' formation by three ALH helicopters. It is for the first time that a "tri-service formation" is taking part in the Republic Day parade.

It will be followed by the 'Vic' formation of Chinook helicopters, used for airlifting diverse loads to remote locations. Apache helicopters, Dornier aircraft, C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, Netra, an Airborne Early Warning and Control System aircraft and the 'Globe' formation comprising three C-17 Globemasters are some of the other highlights.

Five Jaguar Deep penetration strike aircraft and five MiG-29 upgrade air superiority fighters in 'arrowhead' formation will enthral the audience before the exhilarating trishul manoeuvre by Su-30 MKIs.

The parade will culminate with a Su-30 MKI splitting the sky with a breathtaking 'Vertical Charlie' aerobatic manoeuvre. The ceremony will culminate with the national anthem and the release of balloons.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Express News Service

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday announced the date for Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackerays Ayodhya visit.



Ayodhya mein jallosh! March 7, 2020, Raut said in a tweet earlier in the day.



The visit which was originally scheduled on Novermebr 24 will now take place on March 7, Raut told media later.



The complete schedule for the Ayodhya visit has been finalised. After Ramlalla darshan Uddahv Thackeray will perform Aarati at Sharayu banks. Thousands of Shiv Sena workers would be there to witness it, Raut said and added, this is the part of faith and should not be politicized.



The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government shall last for all five years and Lord Ram shall bless the government, Raut added.



He had announced earlier in the week that Uddhav Thackeray will visit Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh to mark the completion of 100 days in power. However, he had not specified the date at that time.



Thackeray had visited Ayodhya in November 2018 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. He visited Ayodhya again on June 15, last year. His visit now will be first after being sworn in as the CM on November 28, 2019.



The announcement of date came just days after the Raj Thackerays Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) adopted a Hindu hardliner stance at its mega rally.



The Shiv Sena, through party mouthpiece Saamana, had criticized newly acquired Hindutva stance of the MNS saying that sustaining the Hindutva stance is not anybodys job. While the MNS led a counter offensive against the Shiv Sena, the BJP too took potshots at the Shiv Sena over Uddhav Thackerays proposed Ayodhya visit.



It is good that he is going to Ayodhya. But what face will he show to Lord Ram when he asks him about abandoning Hindutva? MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande questioned, while BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra tweeted a video of the Uddhav Thackerays father Balasaheb and accused Shiv Sena of making a U-Turn from Balasahebs ideologies. He also asked whether Congress leader Rahul Gandhi go with Thackeray.



Why? Is the BJP taking [PDP chief] Mehbooba Mufti with them? There is no point of such criticism. The Congress party has welcomed the Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya, Raut replied in return.



Congress president Sonai Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had all hailed the SC verdict on Ram Mandir. Ive heard that they all had advocated building Ram Mandir. We shall certainly appeal them to join the visit. But, as I have already said the visit is all about faith and not the politics, Raut added.



The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator and state cabinet minister Jitendra Awhad said there is nothing wrong with the visit as it is a matter of personal faith.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.25

By Tamilla Mammadova  Trend:

Georgia exported 1,783 tons knitted goods to Turkey for a total amount of $37.8 million in 2019, Trend reports referring to the Georgian National Statistics Office (Geostat).

On an annualized basis, Georgia reduced the export of knitwear by $2.7 million.

In 2018, 1,752 tons knitted goods totaling $40.5 million were exported from Georgia to Turkey.

In 2019, Georgia exported 633 tons of men's suits to Turkey for a total amount of $13.6 million.

On an annualized basis, Georgia increased the export of men's suits by $2.6 million. In 2018, 534 tons of men's suits were exported from Georgia to the country for a total of $11 million.

Turkey ranks first in Georgias commodity circulation.

In 2019, total imports to Georgia from Turkey amounted to $1.6 billion. In turn, Georgia exported goods worth $202.3 million to Turkey.

The foreign trade turnover of Georgia with Turkey in 2019 exceeded $1.8 billion, which is 14.1 percent of the total trade turnover of Georgia.

In 2019, the external merchandise trade (excluding non-declared trade) of Georgia amounted to $12.8 billion, 2.7 percent higher year-on-year.

The exports equaled $3.7 billion (12.4 percent higher), while the imports stood at $9.1 billion (0.8 percent lower).

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Mila61979356
iStock(CHICAGO) -- A retired Illinois state trooper was killed and two other troopers, one current and one retired, were injured in a shooting at a Chicago-area cigar lounge Friday night, authorities said.



The woman who police identified as the shooter, Lisa V. McMullan, of Chicago, eventually turned the gun on herself and died at the scene, according to a statement from the Lisle Police Department.



The incident took place at the Humidor Cigar Lounge in Lisle, located about 25 miles west of Chicago.



Surveillance video captured the shooting and showed several people sitting in a room watching television, according to police.



Around 10:13 p.m., McMullan, 51, is seen standing up "without apparent provocation," drawing a handgun and shooting a man in the back of the head, police said.



She then fires several other rounds at two other men before fatally shooting herself, according to police.



The man shot in the back of the head was taken to a local hospital where he died.



Illinois State Police identified him as Gregory Rieves, a 51-year-old retired trooper. He had retired about a year ago and was with the department for 22 years, ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly said.



"Many people thought very fondly of him and many people are very saddened by this terrible violence," Kelly said at a news conference.



The two injured victims were identified as Kaiton Bullock, a 22-year-veteran of the department who was off duty at the time, and Lloyd Graham, a 55-year-old retired trooper.



Both of those officers remain hospitalized in stable condition, according to state police. They are expected to recover.



Kelly said that ISP is not involved in the investigation, meaning that it does not appear the shooting was related to their duties or conduct. Any relationship McMullan may have had to the victims will be investigated by the Lisle Police Department, which is taking lead, according to Kelly.



"This is certainly a painful moment for everyone in the Illinois State Police family," Kelly said.



The Humidor said in a statement on Facebook, "We look at all our customers as family and we ask you to pray for the victim and the speedy healing of the injured." The Lisle location will be closed Saturday, the shop said.



Copyright  2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it is requiring ZF Friedrichshafen AG (ZF) and WABCO Holdings Inc. to divest WABCO's North American steering components business before it will approve their pending merger.

Without selling off that part of WABCO's business, ZF's proposed $7 billion acquisition of WABCO (NYSE: WBC), approved by shareholders last year, "would eliminate competition between the only two suppliers of steering gears used on large commercial vehicles in North America," according to an antitrust lawsuit to block the deal filed by DOJ Thursday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Along with the lawsuit, however, DOJ filed a proposed settlement "that would resolve the competitive harm alleged in the lawsuit," the department stated. The settlement would have to be approved by the district court.

"The merger, as originally structured, would have given ZF a monopoly over an essential steering systems component used in trucks and buses that move products and people across the United States," said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim.

"Today's settlement, which requires the divestiture of WABCO's entire U.S. steering systems business, will ensure that commercial vehicle manufacturers continue to benefit from competition," he added.

Under the terms of the settlement, ZF and WABCO must divest the entirety of WABCO's R.H. Sheppard steering systems subsidiary, including its manufacturing facilities in Hanover, Pennsylvania, and Wytheville, Virginia, as well as other WABCO assets related to steering gears.

The gears direct the front wheels of trucks and buses and are a key component of advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) steering features, DOJ noted.

"ADAS steering features, such as lane-keeping assist, are already being implemented today, and are expected to be an area of continued importance as companies develop autonomous vehicle operations. The combination of ZF and WABCO would leave manufacturers of large commercial vehicles in North America without a sufficient competitive alternative for this critical input and likely result in higher prices, less favorable contract terms, and reduced research and development efforts."

Story continues

The proposed settlement, along with a competitive impact statement, will be published in the Federal Register, after which a 60-day public comment period will open for anyone wanting to submit written comments. The court can then enter a final judgment after determining whether the merger is in the public interest.

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 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
A photo of a Fairway in Chelsea New York City. It is opening on July 24, 2013 (Seth Holehouse/Epoch Times )

Fairway, New York Supermarket Chain, Files for Bankruptcy Protection

Iconic Manhattan store chain Fairway filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early Thursday morning after a struggle to recover from debt after its prior bankruptcy in 2016. Village Super Market, a publicly-traded company and a member of the ShopRite food cooperative, offered to buy five of Fairways stores in Manhattan and its warehouse for $70 million.

The New York Post reported on Tuesday that Fairway was planning to file for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy which would have meant closing and liquidation of all its 14 stores. Fairway denounced this on Twitter the next day, saying, Despite reports, Fairway Market has no intention to file for Chapter 7 or liquidate all of its stores. All 14 stores remain open for business, offering a complete range of high quality, specialty food products, and we look forward to seeing our customers and employees.

Despite reports, Fairway Market has no intention to file for chapter 7 or liquidate all of its stores. All 14 stores remain open for business, offering a complete range of high quality, specialty food products, and we look forward to seeing our customers and employees. pic.twitter.com/eqiMFODBGW  Fairway Market (@FairwayMarket) January 22, 2020

Filling for Chapter 11 bankruptcy means that the companys debt will be restructured and paid over a certain period while the business remains active. Fairways filed for Chapter 11 with a stalking horse agreement to sell five of its stores to Village Super Market (VLGEA), which currently owns around 30 ShopRite stores. Fairway also plans to find buyers for its remaining stores, Chief Executive Officer Abel Porter said in court papers, as reported by Bloomberg. The stalking horse deal will set the low bid for other potential buyers. [link]

Fairway Market

In 2007, Sterling Investment Partners, a Connecticut-based private equity firm bought a controlling stake in Fairway, a chain supermarket founded in 1933, with stores in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey, Bloomberg reported. The new owners had envisioned a rapid expansion of Fairway.

We believe that the New York metro area can satisfy a Fairway food store count that would be well in excess of 30 to 35 stores, Charles W. Santoro, managing partner of Sterling Investments Partners said in 2011, reported Wall Street Journal

When Fairways debt reached $200 million in 2012, the company, to raise capital, went public in 2013, reported Bloomberg.

Even so, the company was not able to raise additional capital or improve its performance which in turn impacted the companys ability to pursue its longer-term growth strategy, Fairway reported in its regulatory filing in 2016, according to Market Watch.

At the same time, the emergence of new competitors in New YorkWhole Foods and Trader Joes, together with changes to the consumer behavior pattern, including online grocery shopping, compounded Fairways financial difficulties. As a result, Fairway filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2016, reported Market Watch.

The company was able to reduce its debt through restructuring to $140 million, but it never fully recovered and had to file for bankruptcy protection again on Jan.23. Fairway is $211.5 million in debt, according to Bloomberg data.

Woman shopping in supermarket reading product information. (Shutterstock)

Village Super Market

Robert Sumas, Chief Executive of Village Super Market said, If we are successful in our bid, we are committed to keeping Fairway, including its name, unique product selection, and value, a part of this community, according to Wall Street Journal.

Village Super Market was able to maintain sustainable growth in the highly competitive supermarket industry.

It was also established in the 1930s by two New Jersey local grocers, brothers Nicholas and Perry Sumas. When Village Super Market went public in 1965, it operated six supermarkets in New Jersey. Raising capital through the public stock market allowed the company to construct two new stores and gradually add more stores reaching 30 stores in total, reported Market Watch.
Q&A with Andrea Watson: Building Teams to Solve Energy Challenges Globally

Jan. 24, 2020

NREL Group Manager for Integrated Decision Support Andrea Watson speaks at the NREL Staff Awards. Photo by Werner Slocum, NREL.

Andrea Watson leads the Integrated Decision Support group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). She and her team advance complex energy projects and programs that require strategy development, analytics, and technical decision-making. Watsons expertise lies in strategic planning, change strategies, and decision-making support as applied to clean energy projects and programs. Watson also leads NREL's work with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which focuses on assisting countries with policy, planning, and deployment support for advanced energy technologies.

How did your career path lead to NREL?

My first job in renewable energy was as an intern with Creative Energies, which installs off-grid renewable energy applications in remote parts of Wyoming. Before that, I was a National Outdoor Leadership School instructor, so I had a healthy appreciation for the environment. With renewable energy, I started to see where my work could make a real impact on protecting the environment and transitioning to a clean power system.

Andrea Watson, leader of the Integrated Decision Support group at NREL, also leads NREL's work with USAID, focusing on assisting countries with policy, planning, and deployment support for advanced energy technologies. Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL.

Later, I worked as a solar coordinator for a program in New York City funded by the Department of Energy (DOE). I assisted Con Edison in increasing photovoltaic deployment on their distribution grid. We received technical assistance from NREL, and I was introduced to some of the team here.

While working with NREL, I tried to over-deliver on everything in the hope they might notice me. Around that time, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act came to be, NREL started hiring, and Sheila Hayter recruited me.

You were a Fulbright Scholar in Chile in 2014. What did you learn that you brought back to NREL?

Fulbright is a U.S. Department of State (DOS) program, and much of the work I do at NREL is with USAID and DOS. Many partners have backgrounds in the Peace Corps or in international development. Before Fulbright, I had not worked as a part of the diplomatic arm of the U.S. government. Gaining that perspective became very relevant to the projects I'm involved in now at NREL.

How did you come to lead NREL's partnership with USAID?

Dan Bilello and Jaquelin Cochran were two founding team members who worked with USAID directly to design how NREL could be part of the Enhancing Capacity for Low Emission Development Strategies (EC-LEDS) initiative, a whole-of-government approach to helping countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions while developing economically.

When Cochran moved on from leading the project, I stepped in. I learned how to design and scope projects, how to understand what our partner agencies are looking to accomplish, and how to determine the laboratory's role in helping partners accomplish their goals.

Building off EC-LEDS, weve developed relationships with other USAID programs, including Power Africa and USAID missions around the world. We also designed and implemented the natural continuation of our cooperation with USAID in Washington, D.C., the USAID-NREL Partnership.

What common issue do you face when leading an international strategic partnership like NREL's USAID portfolio?

One main concern is assessing NREL's role as a research laboratory and how that frames our engagement with partners. When working with partners, we must define the questions that are uniquely appropriate for NREL or other DOE laboratories to answer but that are also relevant to the needs of these countries in their energy transitions.

We cannot lead with NREL's research goals alonewhat NREL might be interested in researching might not be what a country needs; however, there are many interesting research questions that are uniquely appropriate for NREL to answer about where a partner is in the energy transition and how they plan to achieve their goals. Identifying that space remains top of mind for me.

How does the USAID-NREL Partnership support the mission of the Integrated Applications Center (IAC)?

IAC is trying to answer problems people and governments have right now. That is what IAC and the USAID-NREL Partnership are all about: how we leverage NRELs cutting-edge research, development, and analysis to provide technical assistance, knowledge, and tools that help countries transition to clean energy.

The USAID-NREL Partnership is also a great example of a cross-directorate program. It draws from capabilities in multiple directorates but most heavily from Scientific Computing and Energy Analysis (SCEA) and Energy Systems Integration. Many questions we are trying to answer for our partner countries are about power sector modeling, and we work with an incredible team in the Strategic Energy Analysis Center within SCEA to deliver that expertise.

What are the most urgent energy challenges developing countries face?

One of the biggest challenges is that in order to understand that renewable energy might be the least-cost energy solution, countries must be able to model and analyze renewable energy correctly and compare it to other potential generation sources.

If a country doesn't have the data, capacity, knowledge, or analysis capability, they won't be able to assess renewable energy options correctly. They might miss the opportunity to take advantage of least-cost renewable energy options, and they might miss the opportunity to increase the resilience of their power systems and better leverage the resources within their borders.

Which projects or programs are you most excited about right now?

Within my group in IAC, I am most excited about the decision support work we are doing. We are thinking about how we can pay attention to more factors than just the results of a piece of analysis to better understand why, when, and how this technical work can directly influence decisions. This requires looking at multidisciplinary aspects of energy problems, which is a capability we already have, but growing that capability and continuing to recognize there are political and behavioral aspects as well as economic and policy drivers surrounding energy problems.

Within the USAID portfolio, it has been exciting to support the USAID Regional Development Mission for Asia (RDMA). This is a new program for NREL. I'm also excited to continue deepening our bilateral partnerships with USAID missions in places like Vietnam, Colombia, and the Philippines.

What emerging topics would you like to tackle in the future?

From the USAID-NREL Partnership perspective, we've done a great job of developing tools and platforms around grid issues and renewable energy resource data, but there is clearly demand and interest around transportation and electric vehicles. I think there is a lot more we can do to leverage our capabilities in that space, so I'm excited to explore that more in the next year.

Tell us about your sources of professional inspiration.

I care a lot about who I work for and who I work with, so I draw much of my inspiration from team members as well as mentors. I have consistently sought to surround myself with people who share my goals and care about how we do the work, not only the end results.

Im inspired to build teams and tackle problems such that we can find solutions and make an impact that tangibly improves our world. I am grateful that NREL provides an opportunity for me to do this every day.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

As she sentenced him to 108 years in prison, an Albuquerque judge told Rollie Bruvold that it meant he would likely die there.

And that is my intention, state District Judge Jacqueline Flores said at the hearing in 2015, to have you incarcerated for the rest of your natural life.

But theres a chance the 69-year-old convicted child rapist will soon be a free man, thanks to a July opinion by the state Court of Appeals that reversed six of his seven convictions. Appeals Court judges wrote that the vague timeline offered at trial left too much doubt about the victims age at the time of each alleged sexual assault. Thats a vital detail, because, by the time Bruvold went to trial, the statute of limitations had elapsed for crimes tied to abuse of a child over 13.

Bruvold is now scheduled to be resentenced Thursday on his sole remaining conviction  criminal sexual penetration of a child under 13, a first-degree felony that carries a sentence of up to 18 years. Because of the complex and drawn-out procedural history of the case, Bruvold has been continually in custody since 2002, his defense attorney said. He could technically be released after the hearing on Thursday, according to attorneys on both sides.

The Court of Appeals ruling comes nearly two decades after prosecutors first indicted Bruvold in a case that alleged disturbing, ongoing sexual abuse against three young female relatives stretching back to the 1980s. Bruvold was only taken to trial and convicted, however, on charges involving the youngest alleged victim regarding abuse that took place between 1992 and 2001.

In the months following the courts ruling, Bruvolds alleged victims have been trying to come to terms with the reality that a man they believed they would never see again may soon be on the streets.

He is a very controlling and manipulative individual who has no idea what boundaries are and has no respect for boundaries at all, said one of his alleged victims, whose accusations were not taken to trial. I was relieved to know that he was going to spend the rest of his life in jail away from society and anybody else that he could harm.

That hearing is a possible end to a case that included a seven-year stay at the states Behavioral Health Institute, during which he was deemed competent to stand trial after initially being found incompetent. He then went to trial, was convicted, sentenced and has been in prison for about 4 years.

Not enough restraint

Authorities began investigating Bruvold after a family member  one of the three women who alleges abuse by him  walked in and found him in bed with his youngest victim.

Court documents and trial testimony paint Bruvold as a controlling, mentally unwell man who rarely worked due to arthritis and gout. He did not allow his family to wear black, because of its association with the devil, maybe, his ex-wife told a jury, and he prohibited her from buying certain products, including anything by Procter and Gamble.

A violation of his rules could send him into a rage, family members said.

The youngest girl said during the trial that Bruvold walked around naked and frequently talked to her about sex. She testified that he began to sexually abuse her when she was 4 or 5 and continued until the relative caught and reported Bruvold in 2002. The young victim said Bruvold told her that what he was doing was normal, and that if she ever told anyone she would be taken to a concentration camp.

A third female relative described in a court hearing that she had been abused if not every day, every other day, maybe or, almost daily, sometimes several times a day. It began when she was young and ended when she reached puberty. She is one of the two alleged victims whose accusations were not taken to trial and the charges related to them ultimately dismissed.

Bruvold admitted having sexual relations with that youngest child, saying he didnt have enough restraint within himself, had been drinking heavily during that time and suffered from depression, court records show. He also said that he felt maybe he was wrong, but he didnt feel like he was a criminal.

But at a plea hearing prior to trial, Bruvold asserted his innocence. He said he could not accept any agreements, because the case was based on falsehood, and he could not plead guilty to something that never occurred. He also said the allegations were a political vendetta, and that he had been warned we are going to do this to you, by political fashionists (sic), and, indeed, theyve carried through their threats.

Perfect victim

After the case wound its way through court for a couple of years, Judge Albert Pat Murdoch found Bruvold was not competent to stand trial. Because he was deemed dangerous and because there was sufficient evidence to show hed committed the crime, Bruvold was remanded to the Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas for 45 years in 2006. As required by state law, every two years the court reviewed his competency status, and he faced the possibility of prosecution if he was found competent to stand trial.

If some miracle drug is ever found that makes Mr. Bruvold competent, everything would come back into play, a prosecutor said at a hearing in January 2006.

Whether it was a miracle drug or not, court documents show that, in 2013, based on an evaluation by a psychologist, a judge found there is no evidence that the defendant may not be competent to proceed in this case and ordered that the criminal case move forward.

Months after that, the state filed a new case against Bruvold, this one dealing primarily with the alleged crimes against the youngest girl. As he went to trial on those charges in July 2015, prosecutors described crimes against a perfect victim.

She admitted she has a learning disability, a prosecutor told jurors. Instead of doing all he could to help her in her condition,

Rollie took advantage of that fact  brainwashing her to believe that his unnatural activities with her were natural and normal.

In a closing argument, Bruvolds defense attorney said unanswered questions in the case would make it impossible for jurors to convict his client. He pointed out that the state did not present any evidence that the victim was under the age of 13 when any of the alleged abuse took place.

But after just three hours of deliberations, the jury found Bruvold guilty of all seven counts.

Abuse timeline

Defense attorneys made the same evidence argument in the appeal: the victim never provided her age or the date when the abuse happened, they said.

There was no testimony in the trial to place the sexual misconduct within the date of the indictment making this a first-degree felony, the appeal states.

In an opinion authored by Judge Jacqueline Medina, the Court of Appeals said the victims statements that abuse began when she was 4 or 5 would lead a reasonable juror to believe at least one of the rape counts took place before her 13th birthday. That allowed one conviction to stand.

But prosecutors had failed to ask more probative questions to establish a time frame for each occurrence, meaning the jury rendered its verdict based on supposition and conjecture.

The abuse stopped close to the victims 14th birthday, leaving a nearly one-year period during which sexual abuse would have fallen outside of the time frame required for a first-degree felony conviction. That raised the possibility that most of the abuse could have occurred during that period.

Henry Valdez, director of the Administrative Office of the District Attorneys, said children frequently have a difficult time relaying accurate, consistent timelines, which can make these types of cases difficult to prosecute. And because child cases are often reported years after the abuse, its rare to have any physical evidence that might help.

New charges

Michael Patrick, a spokesman for the District Attorneys Office, confirmed that prosecutors are looking to relaunch some of the charges against Bruvold, possibly prior to the upcoming sentencing hearing.

Patrick said he was not sure why the remaining charges against Bruvold were dismissed, pointing out that the case was handled by the previous district attorney. However, court documents show the counts were dismissed not long after the guilty verdicts that would lead to Bruvolds century-long sentence.

The family member who spoke with the Journal said that having to revisit the abuse that plagued her childhood is a horrible prospect. But she says she and the second woman whose allegations were also dismissed are probably willing to cooperate as witnesses if prosecutors decide to file new charges.

From our standpoint in terms of how dangerous this man is, she said, I think we would both stand up and we would both do what we needed to do to make sure that not only we stay safe and our families stay safe but that our community stays safe.
Apple is expected to launch a smaller, more affordable smartphone in 2020.

Japanese blog Macotakara has reported that Apple will name the device the iPhone 9.

Apple fans have been asking for a smaller and more affordable iPhone for years, and the iPhone 9 appears to meet these requirements.

There are many rumours about this device which have been circulating the Internet, and we have listed the most consistent ones below.

Build

The iPhone 9 is expected to be built using the same form factor as the iPhone 8  which many believe is why the new phone has been given its 9 name.

Most reports suggest that it will use a 4.7-inch LCD display and is expected to bring back the old home button  which was excluded from Apples smartphones when it launched its iPhone X.

However, another report has suggested that Apple will remove the home button from the original iPhone 8 design to make room for a larger screen. This screen would span 5.4 inches.

The same report also suggests that the iPhone 9 will include Face ID but not Touch ID  the inverse of what was suggested in earlier reports.

Camera

Analysts are unclear whether the iPhone 9 will have a single-lens camera like the iPhone 8, or will upgrade the camera system to one that uses two lenses.

Either way, the camera is expected to offer significantly improved performance compared to the iPhone 8.

Reports have also suggest that the cameras LED flash will be updated to better serve users.

PhoneArena believes that the iPhone 9s camera will offer similar performance to that of the iPhone 11, although it will lack an ultra-wide option.

Performance

Reports all state that the iPhone 9 will sport Apples latest A13 Bionic chipset.

However, while analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes the iPhone 9 will have 3GB of RAM, GSMArena reports that the device will offer 4GB.

Kuo also believes the iPhone 9 will come in 64GB and 128GB storage versions.

The analyst has also predicted that Apple will launch four iPhones that support 5G  although the cheapest two of these four devices  which would presumably include the iPhone 9  will not offer mmWave 5G, but sub-6GHz 5G.

For markets that do not yet have 5G networks, Apple will reportedly offer smartphones that dont support this technology.

These versions will cost less than their 5G counterparts.

Pricing and availability

Kuo has predicted that the iPhone 9 will be priced from $399, making it an attractive option for users who want a cheaper iPhone.

The analyst further predicted that this iPhone will be highly successful due to the low price point.

We estimate iPhone SE2 shipments in 2020 will reach 30-40 million units, said Kuo.

This is a significant figure, as Kuo has also predicted that Apple will sell a total of 80-85 million smartphones in this period. This means the iPhone 9 would be a popular option compared to the companys premium devices.

The iPhone 9 is set to launch in March 2020 in three colours  silver, space grey, and red  according to the reports.

Renders of the iPhone 9  which have a home button and a single camera lens  from OnLeaks are shown below.
Supermodel-actor Lisa Ray whose battle with cancer is now a published book, said that it was, in fact, books that helped her sail through the "darkest period" of her life.

From the Russian literary titan Fyoder Dostoevsky, to contemporary writers like Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood, Ray said she read "copiously and indiscriminately".

"Books have played a very big role in bringing me out of the darkest period of my life. I read copiously and indiscriminately. I read Russian writers like Dostoevsky. I also read a lot of Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood," Ray told PTI on the sidelines of the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival.

According to her, the 19th century Russian writers continue to inspire and enlighten generations and remain relevant even today because their works deal with universal themes.

The 47-year-old actor said when she was at the height of her desirability and fame in India, she cut herself off from the outside world in order to read.

"I actually disappeared, stopped taking calls, stopped accepting modelling offers and cocooned myself in my house and I read and it's a true story. I spent three to four months locked inside my house with a pile of books," she said.

"For me, books are borderless, transcendental. The best author to me is one who writes about things which we have experienced but may not have expressed," she said.

Talking about her book "Close to the Bone", which chronicles her battle with cancer, Ray said she liked to describe it not as a memoir, but as a "travelogue with a soul".

Deliberating on her fight against cancer, she said it taught her a lot about the meaning of success.

"There is absolutely no use in money and fame when you are suffering inside and are broken, you are experiencing trauma and not heading towards healing. That was the biggest lesson I learnt," she said.

"I also learnt an interesting word that I never came across, it's called coddiwomple. It essentially means a purposeful travel towards a yet unforeseen and unknown destination. This word describes me, my book and my life. I love it and think I have coddiwompled my entire life," she said.

Ray is expected to come out with three new books over the next few years, including a novel, a collection of poems, and a work of non-fiction.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
District of Columbia

Pompeo will travel to Ukraine next week

WASHINGTON  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Ukraine next week, making his first trip to the country at the heart of President Trumps impeachment.

As Trumps Senate trial on impeachment charges continues, the State Department said Friday that Pompeo would travel to Kiev as part of a five-nation tour of Europe and Central Asia.

Pompeo will also visit Britain, as it finalizes its divorce from the European Union, along with Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Pennsylvania

Social worker charged with human trafficking

MEDIA  A former child services caseworker has been charged with human trafficking, accused of recruiting a mother who was her client into prostitution in exchange for a favorable custody recommendation, authorities said.
Determined to meet an upcoming deadline that will allow it to participate in a $20 billion state fund intended to shield utilities from future damage claims, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said Wednesday that it had reached yet another deal with its creditors to restructure the company. Once again, Gov. Gavin Newsom has decided the deal isnt good enough.

It seems clear that rather than amend the debtors plan to incorporate the necessary changes, the debtors instead intend to try to leverage the Chapter 11 process to force the California Public Utilities Commission to approve  and the state of California to accept  a sub-optimal plan, wrote Gov. Newsom in his Wednesday court filing in objection to PG&Es latest financing plan.

Allowing the debtors to enter into the exit financing commitments will only further embolden the debtors strategy.

Newsom deserves credit for sticking to his demand that PG&E undergo a major material transformation before its allowed to exit the bankruptcy process.

PG&Es involvement in the devastating wildfires of 2017 and 2018 point to a utility in desperate need of an overhaul of its safety investments, its leadership structure and its corporate culture.

So far, the utility hasnt undergone these kinds of dramatic changes. Thats why so many politicians are eager to force change on PG&E. Whether its the more than 100 elected California leaders signing on to San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardos proposal to turn PG&E into a customer-owned nonprofit cooperative, or San Francisco Mayor London Breed offering $2.5 billion to buy PG&Es local power lines, theres an unusually strong political consensus that PG&E cant be allowed to continue business as usual.

In a statement, PG&E said it was committed to working with the governor to resolve outstanding differences.

We know the governor has concerns about the plan, the company said. Our updated plan will be forthcoming next week as part of the regulatory milestones set forth by the CPUC.

But in its latest deal, PG&E managed to resolve some of its most persistent differences with a group of bondholders led by Elliott Management, a hedge fund. While wildfire victims remain skeptical of the deal  they held a protest in Sacramento on Friday in opposition to shareholder profits and other portions of the companys bankruptcy plan  they also wont get paid until the company resolves its bankruptcy.

Newsom will have to balance the victims immediate needs with the states long-term need for more serious changes in fire safety and electricity provision. It wont be an easy balance.

There was a small example of the dilemmas involved earlier this week, when PG&E filed a regulatory request to recover nearly $136 million in rates from customers for a new project to install additional generation substations as part of the utilitys plan to reduce the number of customers who lose power in the companys planned fire-prevention power shut-offs. Reducing the number of people affected by the blackouts, which led to widespread chaos last fall, is unequivocally a positive thing.

But PG&E customers will rightly balk at paying higher rates for overdue improvements, and clean energy groups are rightfully concerned that the rapid pace of the utilitys plan will lead it to rely solely on gas-powered generators.

PG&E said it recognizes that diesel fuel is not preferred due to the environmental impacts associated with its production and use, while acknowledging that it used diesel-fueled generation during the 2019 shut-offs because it was the only option available.

Whats the responsible course? Thats a question elected officials will have to answer for the substation project and myriad other issues as the utilitys agonizing bankruptcy drags on.

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.
Maxine Waters (D) vowed last Sunday that Democrats "will not stop" their attempt to impeach Trump even if they fail this time. Her latest vexation is characteristic of the Dem's unceasing insanity. For anyone having any remaining doubt that the once respected Democratic Party of JFK is dead, I recommend David Limbaugh's latest book, Guilty by Reason of Insanity. In it he explains "why the Democrats must not win" with 380 pages of meticulously researched evidence backed up by 80 pages of end notes. (Included is at least one credit to American Thinker's Thomas Lifson and another for Brian C. Joondeph, a regular AT contributor.)

It took a while to finish the book because it is too mentally fatiguing to ingest so much disturbing information except when taken in small bites spread far apart. Below are three excerpts that provide some of his insights into what the party has become.

The Democratic Party is a vehicle of leftist extremism that poses an existential threat to America as founded  because it is at war with our first principles and traditions. It is anti-capitalist and rejects equality of opportunity in favor of a hierarchy of privileges of identity groups ranked according to their alleged level of historical oppression. It's a brazenly anti-life party that promotes gender anarchy, militant feminism, and hostility toward traditional male roles and masculinity itself. It prosecutes a vicious culture war punctuated by an ongoing assault on Christians' religious liberty (p. 2).

Leftist activism today, from identity politics to abortion, is me-centered. The left's myriad victims are trained to think only of themselves and never about the greater good. It is the politics of graceless, narcissistic self-directedness. For all its boasts about compassion, the left has long since abandoned any pretense of it and replaced it with envy, bitterness, and hate (p. 60).

The left has become a closed-minded mega-cult that arbitrarily declares issues beyond debate and opponents unworthy of respect or civil treatment. Those who don't agree are not just wrong, but evil (p. 233).

Mr. Limbaugh provides copious evidence the Dems operate like a cult, yet he does not include a definition of a cult's most common characteristics. Stella Morabito, a senior writer for The Federalist, separately makes up for that minor oversight in "4 Reasons The Left's Methods Are Far More Cult-Like Than Trump's." Using her list while reading Limbaugh's book makes it easier for us less intellectual readers to connect the dots.

1. Cults Are Defined By Their Methods, Not Their Beliefs. Cults use coercive and deceptive methods. They psychologically manipulate people and isolate people from other points of view. Consider also the left's large-scale imposition of political correctness throughout all of society's institutions, particularly in the media, which they control. It is a cult-like practice because it is designed specifically to isolate people from other points of view through social pressures of ostracism and worse. 2. A Cult Leader Does Not Allow Any Criticism. Leftist leaders are also far more intolerant of criticism, and far more punitive to their critics. If you speak your mind about any of their sacred cows, you are liable to be socially punished by mobs and even lose your job. 3. A Cult Leader Aims the Control the Lives of His Followers and Keep Them Utterly Dependent.  [T]he agenda of dependency [has been] promoted for generations by leftist elites who run the media. We see the results of those policies in broken families, widespread welfare dependency, and the cultivation of ignorance in both K12 and higher education. 4. Cults Are Interested In One Thing Only: Amassing Power and Recruits. They [Dems] hope to secure a "permanent majority" (their words) by gaining recruits (voters) through dependency programs, open borders, and the continuing cultivation of ignorance in education. These practices reflect an unquenchable appetite for power that exactly parallels the operations of cults.

Obviously, there is much more in Limbaugh's book than could possibly be summarized here, but reading it should open many eyes to truths that have been so successfully silenced in our postmodern era.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

A U.S. district judge in Albuquerque on Friday shot down the latest bid by ex-Sheriff Tommy Rodella to win release from federal prison for roughing up a motorist after a road rage incident in which he brandished a gun.

U.S. District Judge James Browning ruled that a new U.S. Supreme Court decision related to firearms and crimes of violence doesnt apply to Rodellas criminal sentence. The former Rio Arriba County sheriff was convicted in 2015 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The U.S. Supreme Court last June struck down a clause in the federal sentencing law as unconstitutionally vague. The high court applied its decision retroactively, leading to predictions of the early release of federal inmates sentenced in some violent crimes.

But Browning, in announcing a 49-page decision, determined Rodella was sentenced under a different clause in the law that wasnt invalidated.

Browning said he realized Rodella would have been immediately released from prison had he ruled otherwise, and added at least Im trying to move it along in a timely manner should the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals find his ruling is wrong.

Rodellas attorney, Susan J. Clouthier of Houston, asked the judge for paperwork to be drawn up to permit such an appeal. But she told the Journal after Fridays hearing that we havent fully decided whether to appeal.

After a four-day jury trial in 2015, Rodella received three years and a month for violating the civil rights of a 26-year-old motorist he accosted on a county road near Espanola in 2014. He also was sentenced to an additional seven years for brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. He is incarcerated in Texas.

The jury found Rodella guilty of acting under color of law in violating the rights of Michael Tafoya of Espanola.

Rodella was in plainclothes and traveling with his son in his personal SUV when he began to tailgate and pursue Tafoyas car while both were in traffic, authorities alleged.

Tafoya came to a stop after hitting a pole at the end of a private driveway and testified at trial that he didnt know Rodella was a law enforcement officer.

Authorities say Rodella jumped out of his personal SUV with a gun while Rodellas son pulled Tafoya from his car. Rodella is alleged to have cursed at Tafoya and shoved his law enforcement badge in Tafoyas face.

Tafoya, who testified he feared for his life, was arrested. The criminal charges were later dropped.

At the trial, three other motorists in addition to Tafoya testified to aggressive or threatening behavior by Rodella at traffic stops.
You could sense type of loss in John O' Deas talk to Clane Historical Society, recently. John spoke about The History of Clongowes Wood Farm in a talk at Clane GAA on January 8.

The dispersal of its prize winning herd in 2013, due to changes in the agriculture business, hit home with him.

A former manager of the farm, John spent some time on talking about the the herds of cattle which used grace the farm and named many of the people from the locality who worked on the farm.

John, who came from near Kilmalock, a dairying area of Limerick, was head hunted for the job as manager of the farm at Clongowes Wood College and began work in January 1976.

The land he farmed had been bought by the Jesuits in 1814 for around 16,000, equivalent to 1.3 million in todays prices. It included land in Rathcoffey

In the late 1930s the farm was run by a Jesuit priest, Fr Finucane, who got prizes in the RDS for agriculture. The farm served a number of purposes, including providing food for the staff and students at the school.

The farm needed and provided work for many locals and John named many of those who were involved in work there around his time as manager.

He recalled how after World II, the first tractor was bought for the farm, from McGees of Ardee, and how horses were gradually displaced.

Shortly after Ireland joined the EEC in 1973, Clongowes employed an agricultural consultant to advise on how best to go forward. After the introduction of quotas in 1983, the farm produced 300,000 gallons of milk.

Its Holstein-Friesan herd won many prizes.
Benny Gantz, the leader of Israel's Blue and White party who is challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in upcoming elections, has accepted President Trump's invitation for a separate, one-on-one meeting at the White House on Monday.

Why it matters: A meeting between the U.S. president and a foreign opposition leader is very unusual. It indicates the importance the White House places on showing Gantz that he is respected and dispelling concerns he's walking into a political trap.

Gantz has few foreign policy credentials, and a meeting with the president of the U.S. is a significant achievement to show voters a month before the elections.

For the record: Two of Gantz's close advisers will accompany him to Washington. Yoram Turbowitz was the chief of staff to former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and General Amir Eshel is a former commander of the Israeli air force. Eshel is Gantzs point of contact with the Trump administration on the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, and he met for many hours with U.S. Ambassador David Friedman about the plan, which Trump said could be released on Tuesday.

What Gantz is saying: In a statement on Saturday, Gantz said the White House plan will go down in history as a meaningful landmark, mapping the way for different players in the Middle East to finally move ahead towards a historic regional agreement.

"There is a special long-standing bond between the United States and Israel, built on shared values and joint interests. The United States is Israel's closest ally and friend, and under President Trump's leadership, the alliance between Israel and the United States has grown stronger, deeper and more significant than ever."

How it works: Netanyahu announced he will meet Trump separately at the White House on Monday and Tuesday.

Context: Gantz previously considered turning down Trump's White House invitation when Vice President Pence stated that Gantz was invited on Netanyahu's recommendation.

The big picture: Little more than a month remains before Israel's elections on March 2. Had Gantz rejected Trump's offer, he could've risked alienating the Trump and being seen as a politician who couldn't handle the relationship with Israel's most important ally.

Go deeper: Gantz considers turning down Trump's White House invitation
When it comes to general elections, commentators tend to get in a tizzy about suddenly listing out what are the issues of the day.

In reality, there's been no real change in the issues affecting voters for the past 20 years or more apart from the addition of climate change which is kind of a two edged sword, those concerned about our actions on the planet and those who are also concerned but who don't wish to have the burden and cost of the clean-up visited on ordinary, working folk.

These are just some of the issues which politicians are likely to face when they meet voters on the doorsteps over the next couple of weeks.

To the credit of the present government some of the items which would have appeared on previous lists of issues have disappeared such as road infrastructure with work now well underway on the upgrade of the N4 from Collooney to Castlebaldwin and the Western Distributor Road from Caltragh to Kevinsfort.

1. Health

Access to disability and mental health services is a major worry for many. Waiting lists are too long.

Overcrowding is another bigg issue. SUH has just seen its highest figures with 4,967 having waited on trolleys at the hospital in 2019.

2. Local Property Tax

Sligo householders have faced a big hike in 2020 thanks to FG, FF and some independents on Sligo County Council.

Minister Paschal Donohoe has said Local Property Tax (LPT) will increase for some households under planned reforms in 2021 if FG are back in power - that's a second rise for those living in Sligo.

3. Garda Station

Long promised new station for Sligo but not delivered upon. Refurbishment taking place at present to Sligo but a new green field site near Summerhill College is unlikely to get the go ahead now especially in light of the designation of Letterkenny as the regional headquarters.

Having a Minister like Joe McHugh in Donegal seems to have paid off.

Looking back, spending millions on a new station in Ballymote hardly seems justified when the greater need was in Sligo. Ironic that those arrested in Sligo had to be transported to Ballymote for processing.

4. Climate change

Who will pay for new carbon taxes? Phasing out of petrol and diesel cars is good and fine but who can afford to pay for electric cars - a move which the EU says may well be illegal.

In any event, where are all the electric charging points? Issues remain over this and range of eletric cars. Who can afford to sit around for two or three hours on a journey to Dublin for the car to charge?

5. Housing

The waiting list for social housing is in the region of 1,000, which is just far too many. Major housing developments are needed for Sligo both local authority and private. Rents are sky high, with a rent pressure zone designated for the first time in Sligo/Strandhill.

6. Crime

Never too far off the agenda when people are asked about their concerns. Sligo cannot be complacent. It has had just as big if not bigger problems than Drogheda in the recent past.

More Garda resources are needed plus a far more visible presence on the streets. The deterrent effect of Gardai on the beat seems to be a forgotten part of policing in modern Ireland.

House burglaries are a big worry. A travelling gang from the North were able to burgle a number of houses in Sligo and Leitrim during the run up to Christmas without getting challenged or caught despite a clear description that they were driving a white Audi on several occasions. The gang must have felt there was easy pickings to be had and could go about their business without being confronted by Gardai.

7. Childcare

Still too costly but acceding to demands to help with an insurance bail out will not help the situation. More paid leave for parents might be better in the long term.

Better financial rewards for stay-at-home parents might also be a consideration.

8. Rural issues

Roads, agriculture, tree planting appear to be the main issues along with access to broadband, the latter still hard to believe in 2020. If there's a change of Government will the present plan be scrapped?

9. Urban centres

Town centres can be wastelands. Sligo has the highest commercial vacancy rate in country. Incentives or enforcement measures badly needed to breathe some life into our main streets.

10. Retirement

So what exactly is the retirement age in Ireland. It's anyones guess at the moment from 65 to 68.

From 2021 the State pension age is rising to 67 having changed to 66 in 2014.

For many who have retired at 65 it means having to sign on for the 'dole' to bridge the gap, a frustrating and annoying situation for many who have worked for over 40 years or more.

11. Local Authority funding:

Sligo County Council is still struggling over serious underfunding.
NDA ally Goa Forward Party (GFP) on Saturday said it would be moving a motion seeking a debate on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) during the coming session of the Goa Legislative Assembly.

The budget session of the Assembly will be held from February 3 to 7.

GFP chief Vijai Sardesai said that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday appealed opponents of the CAA to have an open debate with him.

"When the CM has appealed for an open debate on CAA, we are sure the government will allow our motion (in the Assembly)," he said.

"What better forum than the Assembly one can have for a televised debate on CAA," he added.

The CAA was an attempt at "de-citizinisation" like demonetisation of currency, Sardesai further said.

The GFP was earlier part of the BJP-led state government, but its ministers were dropped from the state cabinet last year.

Sardesai was speaking to reporters after inducting former MGP leader Jagdish Bhobe into his party. Bhobe had contested the 2017 Assembly election on MGP ticket from St Andre constituency.

The contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act grants citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who arrived in India before 2015 fleeing religious persecution.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BETHEL  The public is set to discuss proposals on selectmen terms, budget approvals and other possible changes to the charter at a meeting on Tuesday evening.

The Charter Revision Commission has recommended 21 changes to town rules, including requiring the town to complete construction plans for major projects before going to referendum.
Prabhu Chawla By

Donald Trump rushes in where angels fear to tread, which, in this case, is the devil infested vale of Kashmir. The compulsive interventionist and disruptionist pokes his Pinocchio nose into every situation ignoring the odour and the stench. Subject of liberal ridicule at home, he is taking his Big Brother role a tad seriously. Facing an impeachment at home, the US President is tilting at the windmills of world peace with the panache of a panacea pundit. He is escalating his battle for a second term by attempting to win hearts abroad rather than seeking votes at home.

While his predecessor Barrack Obama won the Nobel peace prize before he even moved into Pennsylvania Avenue, Trump is still struggling to broker peace treaties in regions where US is directly or indirectly involved. America factors in conflicts in West Asia and Kashmir into its algorithm of global diplomacy. Without the Valley, innumerable interlocutors, opinion peddlers, media-wallahs and politicians would lose both their relevance and jobs. Successive American presidents have tried to resolve K but failed and withdrew. With the US economy hitting the high notes and Americans falling for Trumps ultra nationalism, there was hardly a need to for an outreach involving Kashmir.

But not for Trump and the Art of the Deal. Even as Modiology rendered irrelevant and silent all dialogue-obsessed megaphones, the Donald went on an overdrive. He is a headline machine from North Korea to New Delhi but his undiplomatic adventurism has predictably been counterproductive. Last week, he preened on stage once again the global mediator between Pakistan and India during a visit to Davos to address the World Economic Forum.

The Imran-Trump bromance was on full swing: Trump said, Were talking about Kashmir and the relation to whats going on with Pakistan and India. And if we can help, we certainly will be helping. And weve been watching that and following it very, very closely. The isolated Imran was elated. He replied beaming, And of course, we always hope that the US will play its part in resolving it, because no other country can. There were few takers for Trumps unilateral intervention. India ignored his remarks.

On the inverse side, Trumps Kashmir obsession reflects the desperation of the Pakistan establishment to regain lost credibility. The US has been leveraging the relationship for strategic actions in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the region. The Pak Army uses Imran as the face of its fixed democracy. Two years after being in power, Imran has failed to exploit his connections with the Indian elite and peaceniks to nudge the Indian government to resume the dialogue.

During the past two years, Pakistan has failed to persuade any major superpower except China to support its views on Kashmir. Even the abolition of Article 370 didnt alter international perception about Pakistan as a terror haven. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it absolutely clear that he wouldnt talk unless terror camps across the border were totally destroyed and the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks are handed over to India to face trial. Both India and Pakistan-based Think Tanks are facing imminent closure as none of their paid retired diplomats and defence officials could penetrate the Modi establishment. Trump is Imrans only option left to revive lost connectivity with his former Indian hosts and the chatteratti, who were used to enjoying foreign junkets with luxurious hospitality

to prevent an imaginary India Pakistan war.

Imran has been begging Trump ever since he became the Pak premier to wade into the Valley. During his US visit in July 2019, he told Trump: You will have the prayers of over a billion people if you can mediate or resolve this issue. Since then POTUS has been sweating it out to collect Pak prayers. It was when he claimed that Modi had sought his intervention on the same issue. Expectedly, the Indian Opposition was up in arms in Parliament.

External Affair Minister S Jaishankar punctured Trumps boast, and turned the tables by insisting: It has been Indias consistent position that all outstanding issues with Pakistan are discussed only bilaterallyI would further underline that any engagement with Pakistan would require an end to cross-border terrorism. In the US, the Democrats called Trumps claim amateurish and delusional and insisted that Everyone knows PM Modi would never suggest such a thing.

But Trump has a habit of repetition, which many sociologists say is a factor in his charisma build-up. Since July, he has repeated his mediation offer seven times. During his France visit last year, he ensured that his Kashmir agenda made to prime time news. He hardly misses an opportunity to remind Modi that he is forever available to bring Imran to the talks table. Foreign policy wonks are baffled over Trumps excessive obsession with Pakistan.

They feel that his moves may prove disastrous during the American elections if the powerful and wealthy Indian diaspora turns against him. Access to the massive Indian market and foreign policy mechanism is important for the success of both American diplomacy and business equally. A total ban on dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad would choke the flow of information from within the government agencies, which is freely available to high profile interlocutors. But Trump advisors feel that Americas top tech companies have acquired enough control over the Indian corporate ecosystem and are powerful enough to influence important fiscal and strategic policies. In Pakistans case, a cordial relationship is not necessary to achieve the same.

For example, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos was royally ignored by Indias political leadership while the top business leaders, Bollywood icons and other lobbies unrolled the red carpet for his Christian Louboutins. For US diplomacy, the continuity of its core policy of influencing the global narrative takes precedence over market forces. Trump is convinced that reviving the dead K-bomb is the best way to ensure the efficacy and sustenance of its embedded emissaries in the Indian establishment disguised as promoters of peace. Trump is just blowing his own trumpet. He doesnt know India holds the trump card.
Pakistan may be out of the 'Grey List' of the international terror financing watchdog FATF next month due to the active support of China and tactical support of some Western countries, an official said on Thursday.

New Delhi: Pakistan may be out of the 'Grey List' of the international terror financing watchdog FATF next month due to the active support of China and tactical support of some Western countries, an official said on Thursday.

At a meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) held in Beijing, Islamabad submitted its compliance report and got support from the FATF current chair and its "all-weather friend" China and a few Western powers.

China, which hosted the key meeting of the international terror financing watchdog, said on Thursday that Pakistan has made "visible progress" to strengthen its counter-terrorism financing system, which should be encouraged by the world community.

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Asia Pacific Joint Group met in Beijing this week to scrutinise Pakistan's progress report to adopt stricter laws against terror financing and money laundering. China is the President of the FATF and co-chair for Asia Pacific Joint Group.

A Pakistani delegation led by Minister for Economic Affairs Division Hammad Azhar is in Beijing to brief the financial task force about the steps taken by Islamabad to implement the recommendations made by the FATF.

Asked how China viewed Pakistan's progress, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told the media in Beijing that he has no information on the proceedings which is still going on but praised Islamabad's efforts.

"Pakistan has made great efforts to strengthen its domestic counter-terrorism financing system with visible progress. Its political will and active efforts should be recognised and encouraged by the international community," he said.

"We hope the FATF will continue to offer constructive support and assistance to Pakistan in its continued efforts to improve the counter-terrorism financing system and effectively fighting the terrorist financing," he said.

"As FATF president and co-chair for Asia Pacific Joint Group, China will continue to uphold an objective, just and constructive attitude and participate in relevant discussions," he said.

"The next plenary of the FATF will be held in February in Paris and Pakistan needs just 12 votes out of 39 to exit the 'Grey List' and move to 'White List'. There is a strong possibility of Islamabad getting enough support to exit the 'Grey List'," an Indian official privy to the development said.

In recent meetings of FATF, Pakistan has got the support of Malaysia and Turkey besides China.

If Pakistan could convince a few Western nations with their report of taking action against terrorists, the country will be out of FATF 'Grey List', which will be a cause of worry for India, the official said.

If Pakistan comes out of the FATF 'Grey List', it will be easy for the country to get financial aid from the IMF, World Bank, ADB and the European Union, helping improve its precarious financial situation.

The FATF in October last decided to keep Pakistan on its 'Grey' list for failure to curb funnelling of funds to terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and others.

If not removed off the list by April, Pakistan may move to a blacklist of countries that face severe economic sanctions, such as Iran.

Pakistan has submitted a 650-page review report to the FATF on 8 January.

The report was submitted in response to 150 questions raised by the FATF regarding new Pakistani policies on money laundering.

The report outlined the steps taken by Pakistan between October 2019 to January 2020 to implement the group's recommendations.

The FATF meeting scrutinises whether Pakistan has complied with an earlier agenda presented to it.

"I want to stress that the FATF is an important international cooperation platform and to fight money laundering and terrorist financing its aim and goal is to help countries better fight money laundering and terrorist financing and prevent the international financial system from being abused," Geng said.

The FATF is backed by the UN Security Council passed resolutions which made its recommendations binding and in case of deficiencies, sanctions could be imposed.

In the Beijing meeting, Pakistan provided a list of its action taken to comply with the FATF diktat.

Pakistan was placed on the 'Grey List' by the FATF in June 2018 and was given a plan of action to complete it by October 2019 or face the risk of being placed on the blacklist along with Iran and North Korea.

The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

The FATF currently has 35 members and two regional organisations -- the European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council.

India is a member of the FATF consultations and its Asia Pacific Group and was represented in the meeting by a team of officials from the ministries of Home, External Affairs and Finance.
Germany is hoping to engage Bolivias next government in talks over a scrapped joint venture deal to develop the South American countrys massive lithium reserves, as members of its car sector struggle to meet electric vehicles production targets due to a supply shortage of battery cells.

Both nations signed a lithium partnership in 2018 following three years of intense lobbying from Berlin, which said a small privately-owned company from Germany was a better bet than its Chinese rivals.

Bolivias state-owned lithium company, YLB, and Germanys ACI Systems planned to build four lithium plants in the Salar de Uyuni salt flats, which hold the worlds second-largest lithium deposit.

The joint venture was also going to build a factory for EV batteries in the country, which is sitting on about nine million tonnes of lithium, or around 25% of the worlds known reserves.

The deal was cancelled in November following local protests and a change of leadership at YLB following president Evo Morales resignation.

Morales had fled Bolivia earlier in the month after losing the support of the military and police amid widespread protests over a disputed election. His supporters say he was the victim of an orchestrated coup. Opponents argue he was forced from power after manipulating the constitution to run for a fourth term in office then seeking to win that vote with electoral fraud.

Bolivians will choose a new president May 3, and Berlin is closely following related developments as the venture is considered vital for the German auto industrys plans to develop electric batteries.

The new head of YLB, Juan Carlos Zuleta, said last week the deal would not be revived, adding that the state-owned company planned to apply strict limits to foreign investment in the extraction and processing of the key element for the production of batteries that power EVs and smart phones.

Zuleta, however, doesnt seem fully opposed to letting foreign companies in as he noted that a similar deal with Chinas Xinjiang TBEA was being reassessed. He also hinted recently that Tesla should be considering building a plant in Bolivia. Related: Oil Bears Are Back As Demand Fears Go Viral

Demand for the white metal is expected to more than double by 2025. The soft, light commodity is mined mainly in Australia, Chile and Argentina.

Bolivia wants to strengthen local know-how and become a producer, but its lithium is found at higher altitude and contains more magnesium (Mg) and potassium than in neighboring Chile and Argentina, making the extraction process much more complicated and costly.

Uyunis higher rainfall and cooler climate mean that its evaporation rate is not even half that of Chiles Salar de Atacama, where brine ponds evaporate quickly.

Germanys push comes as some of its key auto industry actors are beginning to show signs of distress. Manager Magazin reported on Thursday that Daimler has been forced to reduce its 2020 production targets for the Mercedes-Benz EQC EV to 30,000 from about 60,000 due to a supply shortage of battery cells from LG Chem.

Daimler expected to sell around 25,000 EQC vehicles last year, but was only able to build around 7,000, Magazin reported.

German Economy Minister, Peter Altmaier, has urged local industries to secure raw materials for electric batteries to reduce dependence on Asian suppliers.

By Mining.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
A photograph of detained former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah surfaced on Twitter on Saturday in which he seemed almost unrecognisable sporting a salt and pepper beard, triggering reactions of awe and anger from netizens, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Omar is among the three former chief ministers of the erstwhile state who continue to be in custody since August 5 when the Centre abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and divided it in two Union Territories.

This is first picture of 49-year-old Omar to have appeared in public domain after five months of captivity. It showed him smiling in a snow covered jacket and sporting an unkempt greyish beard.

'I could not recognise Omar in this picture. Am feeling sad. Unfortunate that this is happening in our democratic country. When will this end,' West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked on the micro-blogging site.

Congress leader Milind Deora tweeted that successive Indian governments have benefited richly from Abdullah's economic and political views.

'...Muting nationalists like him made our national discourse poorer. Complete normalcy must be restored soon,' he said.

Congress spokesperson Salman Soz said that after seeing Omar Abdullah's "leaked" photo, some were asking the National Conference leader to come back on Twitter and carry on as usual.

'It's as if he is off on a holiday. The govt illegally detained him (and others), judiciary played along, most media asked no questions. You are complicit,' he said on Twitter.

'How bad must it be that we are feeling happy just to see a smiling pic of the former CM of J&K @OmarAbdullah. Would truly be a happy moment when he and the rest are out and about, not under house arrest, hear them speak and read his tweets. Till then just the pic brings hope!,' Shiv Sena Deputy leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said.

Omar and two former chief ministers -- his father Farooq Abdullah and political rival Mehbooba Mufti -- were detained along with a large number of politicians, activists, lawyers on August 5 under section 107 of Code of Criminal Procedure.

The stringent provision allows local law enforcement authorities to put a person in preventive custody for a period of six months if that person is suspected to commit a breach peace or disturb public tranquillity.
The Assam Police on Saturday registered an FIR under an anti-terror law against activist Sharjil Imam, who came to limelight during the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Delhis Shaheen Bagh, for his alleged remarks threatening to cut-off the state from rest of India.

Additional Director General of Assam Police GP Singh said the FIR was registered against Imam under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act at the crime branch police station in Guwahati.

An FIR has been lodged against Sharjil Imam for his speech and inter alia commission of offence u/s 13 (1)/18 of the UA(P)ACT read with section 153 A, 153 B and 124 A IPC at Guwahati Crime Branch Police Station, Singh tweeted along with the purported video of Imams speech.

Imam was heard telling in the audio clip that Assam should be cut-off from the rest of India as Bengalis -- both Hindus and Muslims -- are being killed or put into detention centres.

Earlier, Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the Assam government would register a case against Imam his seditious comment aimed at disrupting law and order in the state.

Assam government has taken cognisance of this very seditious statement and we will register a case against this individual, Sarma said.

Union minister Ramdas Athawale, too, said that Assam and Northeast are integral parts of India and cannot be separated from the country.

Assam and Northeast are an integral part of India. Government of India has tried to make North-east strong. If anyone tries to separate North-east from India then we will not spare them. Government is trying to do maximum development there. There are Muslims, tribals, Hindus, Dalits and Buddhists living there and we respect them. Terming the North-East a Muslim area is not right, Athawale was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

(With inputs from Agencies)
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus chief political rival confirmed Saturday he has accepted President Donald Trumps invitation to Washington, and will meet the president before the unveiling of the administrations long-awaited peace plan.

Benny Gantz was initially inclined to accept the joint invitation that Vice-President Mike Pence extended to both him and Netanyahu two days ago in Jerusalem. Given the upcoming Israeli election on March 2, and the desire to present a united front to what is expected to be a favourable plan for Israel, Netanyahu said he suggested including Gantz at the summit.

But over the weekend, Gantzs camp began leaking that he would likely decline, fearing that Netanyahu was using the meeting as an electoral ploy to upstage Gantz in Washington and re-focus the campaign away from his indictment on corruption charges.

The two leaders remain deadlocked after two inconclusive elections in 2019 and are engaged in another heated campaign.

In weekend consultations with his advisers, Gantz appears to have found a compromise he could live with. Hell meet with Trump privately on Monday and then return to Israel immediately to lead the parliamentary hearing on Tuesday seeking to reject Netanyahus plea for immunity from Israeli lawmakers.

The peace plan devised by President Trump will go down in history as a meaningful landmark mapping the way for the different players in the Middle East to finally move forward toward an historic and regional agreement, Gantz said in a live TV address. These are fateful times, both for Israels border and character as well as its democratic fabric. Therefore, I have decided to accept the invitation extended to me by President Trump and meet with him in person this Monday as the leader of the largest party in Israel.

The plan, which would be rolled out as Trumps Senate impeachment trial continues on Capitol Hill, is expected to be extremely favourable to Israel and offer it control over large parts of the West Bank. The Palestinians seek the entire territory, which was captured by Israel in 1967, as the heartland of a future independent state and have preemptively rejected the Trump peace plan. Most of the international community supports the Palestinian position.

Netanyahu has said he plans to annex the Jordan Valley as well as Jewish settlements across the West Bank, which would all but extinguish any possibility of creating a viable Palestinian state.

A campaign focused on diplomacy, Netanyahus forte, would serve the prime minister well among his hawkish base and distract from his murky legal situation. Shortly before Gantz spoke, Netanyahu issued a statement lauding Trump and saying an opportunity such as this comes once in history and cannot be missed.

After announcing he would meet Trump, Gantz reiterated his critique of Netanyahu.

To promote the deal of the century we need to be united under a prime minister who has public legitimacy to implement it, he said, adding that one under indictment could not be trusted to do so.
Uma Kadhir, a 37-year old Mumbai resident just quit a housekeeping staff job in a pharmaceutical company after she was diagnosed with severe immune deficiency. This was purely because she was not allowed to eat in the same cafeteria as the other staff and her work timings did not permit more than 20 minutes of absence. Result: She skipped meals.

We, being housekeeping staff, were not permitted to eat in the main cafeteria or on our seats. Going to a nearby public canteen to eat meant a 20-minute walk and I was often reprimanded for being absent for a long duration. The company often cut half-day pay for this. Hence I ended up skipping meals regularly, said Kadhir.

Discrimination between regular workers and contractual/blue-collared workers is one of the biggest issues plaguing Indian companies. While companies will not admit, there is a clear divide between the two not only in pay but also in the way the latter are treated.

Not being allowed to use common facilities like lifts (with officers only lifts) or cafeterias as also the absence of breaks during work timings and no insurance benefits shows that there is a class divide at the workplace which India Inc chooses to ignore.

Says Kamlesh Singh, a night watchman at a financial services major, My salary is due since the past two months. If the company is indeed facing a slowdown, why is it only salaries of the guards and cleaners been held back?

Singh gets no public holidays that fall on Saturdays despite the entire office being shut. Though he is a full-time employee, he is allowed only seven days of annual paid leave while other employees get 25 days.

Right now, laws on discrimination at the workplace only relate to gender-based discrimination, discrimination against persons with disabilities and sexual harassment. There are no legal provisions in Indian law yet for the class or seniority-based discrimination. This makes it a challenge for workers facing discrimination to take any legal recourse.

Kavita Das, a member of the document dispatch team at a Kolkata-based advisory firm faced inappropriate behaviour from her supervisor. When she raised a complaint, Das was told that sexual harassment prevention laws dont apply to her since she is a 'blue-collar worker' and was subsequently fired.

Dragging the matter to court was not a financial possibility and hence Das decided to shift out of Kolkata to her native place in Purulia, West Bengal. Though she is the sole earning member of her family, Das still remains unemployed due to fear of similar untoward incidents.

Her younger sister Asha works at an FMCG firm in Mumbai as a packing agent. An evening routine at the plant every day is to do a security screening of the workers which also involves checking their bags. This, Asha says, is to ensure that no 'thefts' take place.

"Why has the company presumed that we would steal? Regular employees do not have to undergo this shameful frisking every day," she said.

A legal solution to discrimination based on the employee position needs immediate cognizance. Not only do such practices demotivate workers but also makes them feel like an unwanted resource. It is a fact that each worker, from the chief executive to the junior-most staff, can make or break an organisation's reputation and brand.

Equality seems to be a popular buzzword with human resource professionals in Indian companies. Apart from the token gender equality strategies that these firms advocate, what is needed is that equality and fair practices be applicable to all.
Myanmar's agent, Union Minister Kyaw Tint Swe, center, and members of the delegation take their seats at the International Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020.

Following Thursdays ruling by the U.N.s top court that ordered Myanmar to protect Rohingya Muslims from genocidal acts, the countrys ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party said that the government need not implement special measures.

The ICJs ruling lists four points in its provisional measures, mandating that Myanmar must prevent the killing or serious injury of the Rohingya, ensure that the military does not harm the Rohingya or conspire to commit genocide, preserve evidence related to the allegations, and report on its compliance with the measures until the ICJ issues a final decision on the case.

NLD party officials have said the ruling favors what they call a biased report from the U.N.'s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Myanmar while ignoring evidence submitted by the Myanmar government.

The FFM's final report issued in September 2019 found signs of genocidal intent in a 2017 military-led crackdown on Rohingya communities in Myanmar's northern Rakine state, and presented critical evidence that government security forces committed atrocities and serious crimes under international law.

NLD spokesman Myo Nyunt told RFAs Myanmar Service how the party is interpreting the ICJ's ruling.

I understand that we dont have to implement any special measures, he said.

The government said the military will cooperate in the investigations. The requirement is to submit reports on the situation once every four months or six months. Thats how we understand the ruling, the spokesman added, referring to the courts order that Myanmar report on steps it is taking to comply with the ICJs decision in four months time.

The comments by Myo Nyunt however, do not necessarily represent the views of Aung Sung Suu Kyi, Myanmars de facto head of government.

Shortly after the court issued its decision, Myanmars government issued a statement taking issue with the legally binding ruling, saying the ICJ must still reach a factually correct finding on the charges that genocide occurred in northern Rakhine state, but did not state whether it would comply with the ruling.

An official from Myanmars Democratic Party for a New Society (DPNS), which is independent of the NLD but shares similar goals, said that the ruling was acceptable.

This decision does not confirm genocide. It is not like we are admitting that genocide happened, said Ngwe Lin, a central committee member of the DPNS.

It is more like an order to prevent genocide. I think it is acceptable. I think this is not a very bad demand, he said.

Myanmars military told RFA that it is waiting on the government to make a decision on the ruling.

Myanmar is a sovereign state, and the government will act on this issue according to existing laws, said military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun.

The military will follow [the course of] action the government [decides on], he added.

Mya Aye, a Muslim politician from the Federal Democratic Force, meanwhile told RFA that the resolution of the issue should not be contingent on international pressure.

The government should approach the issue with democratic and human rights values. We should forget about whether the international community is putting pressure on us or not, he said.

This is a problem that exists in our country. We have to resolve it anyway. In the eyes of todays rapidly changing world, it is barbaric to be so perverse as to keep ignoring international demands, Mya Aye added.

Rights activists respond

Officials from several rights groups told RFA that the ball is now in the Myanmar governments court to prove that it deserves the respect of the international community.

The ICJ rulings impact on Myanmar will depend on the government and the military, Cheery Zahau, an ethnic Chin human rights and womens rights activist, told RFA.

It depends on how seriously they are taking the ICJ decision and how seriously they respect human rights and offer protections she said. If they keep rejecting [rights] and do whatever they want, it could cause many negative effects [for them]. It could hurt the reputation [of Myanmar] in the international community even more.

Meanwhile, Aye Lwin, a prominent Muslim community leader and former Kofi Annan Commission member, told RFA, The Myanmar authorities have announced that they noted the ICJ ruling, so they will keep doing what they are supposed to.

The [FFM] report suggested they investigate further, he said. Both the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Commander-in-Chief have said they will keep investigating and will take action against violators.

Aung Htoo, a Sweden-based human rights attorney, drew similarities between Myanmar and Yugoslavia.

In the case where Bosnia and Herzegovina filed lawsuits against the former Yugoslavia, the ICJ made the ruling, and the accused party didnt comply, Aung Htoo told RFA.

So, Bosnia and Herzegovina requested another provisional measure to send in U.N. troops, which actually happened, he said. If Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmars military are still headstrong and refuse to comply, Gambia might request another provisional measure to take a similar action.

Aung Htoo added that Myanmar needs to reform its citizenship laws, stop killings and persecutions, and reverse the policies that limit the rights of Rohingya in Myanmar.

Many rights groups have condemned Myanmar over its handling of the 2017 crackdown on the Rohingya and have produced credible reports based on testimony of the brutality, satellite images of burned villages, and other evidence of atrocities.

Besides documenting the violence, the U.N. FFM's report said that the roughly 600,000 Rohingya still living in Myanmar could face an even greater threat of genocide.

Myanmars civilian-led government has dismissed the accusations, saying that its security forces were conducting a clearance operation to rid the region of Rohingya militants who carried out deadly attacks on police outposts.

Reported by Kyaw Lwin Oo for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 25

Trend:

Azerbaijani officials are in talks with Turkish colleagues to provide assistance and technical support in connection with the recent earthquake in Turkey, a source in Azerbaijans Cabinet of Ministers told Trend Jan. 25.

Consultations are conducted at various levels, both through the Turkish Embassy in Azerbaijan and directly.

At least 20 people were killed in a magnitude 6.8 earthquake that struck Jan. 24 at 20:55 (GMT +3) in Turkeys Elazig and Malatya cities, and about 1,500 people were injured.
We Sri Lankans also have a penchant for religion and we should be able to practice any religion - Buddhism, Christianity. Hinduism, Islam or any other. We may print or write whatever we want and express ourselves in a decent manner.





by Zulkifli Nazim





Without Freedom of thought and expression I am a slave to the demagogues, preachers and ancient traditions claiming the right to tell me what to think, how to live, what to believe  and that I must not question, but only obey. This is not a full human existence. To be truly free to live, one must be free to think and speak.





A. C. Grayling  British Philosopher and Author.





Freedom: who could object? Yet this word is now used to justify a thousand forms of exploitation. In the name of freedom - the freedom of the powerful to exploit the weak, the rich to exploit the poor.













The definition of freedom is, the condition of being free from restraints, but freedom is more than that, freedom is having the right to be me and express myself.





Freedom lets us talk how we want and explain about yourself to be how you want yourself. You can protest for what you believe is right and even if it's wrong you are able to express it. You can have a religion to follow what you believe in, not what you are forced to believe in. Not being afraid to say what you believe, as well as, get to write how you want and about what you want to write about.





The freedom of the press  you must have the provision to write entertaining stories or serious stories however you may want to, where you can share them. Without this freedom we would not be ourselves. Every morning we must wake up, not having fears of whether or not we will live that day. We should be confident to act our normal selves. We should have no fear of this and we must be Allowed to confidently live our day. It is all of these things that make us who we are, and with the freedom we have fought for, we really can be ourselves. So freedom might just be a word in the dictionary, but to us, freedom is life.





Freedom also means for children to be able to go to school, adults to go to work without being harassed, walk around, and do almost anything without worrying about the safety of oneself and those you love. Technically, freedom means the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. To us and others living here, freedom is the their right.





We Sri Lankans also have a penchant for religion and we should be able to practice any religion - Buddhism, Christianity. Hinduism, Islam or any other. We may print or write whatever we want and express ourselves in a decent manner. We can petition, if we feel necessary. We should have the privilege of having whatever job we are qualified for. We cannot be forced to have certain professions. From cradle to the grave, a persons life chances are dominated by the extraordinary levels of inequality that characterise the modern world.





The extent of global inequality is breathtaking and is shockingly entrenched in our social, political and economic fabric. Today, the income of the worlds 2,153 billionaires have more wealth than the 4.6 billion people. The 22 richest men in the world have more wealth than all the women in Africa. In Sri Lanka The wealthiest 20 percent of the population account for over 52 percent of the nation's income while the poorest 10 percent account for only 2 percent. The world as a whole is far more unequal than any single country. Such grotesque unfairness would probably precipitate social and political meltdown were it to occur within a single country and it is happening world-wide.





Our broken economies are lining the pockets of billionaires and big businesses at the expense of ordinary men and women. The wheels of our economies, businesses and societies are mostly driven by women who often have little time to get a useful education, earn a decent living or have a say in how our societies are run, but unfortunately they are trapped in the dungeons of economy,





Freedom is not just a word. With freedom we should be able to choose our own moral compass, make our own decisions. Freedom to us means no one rules our life. We have an amazing inherent privilege to have freedom. Being free means we should have the privilege to marry and lead decent lives with whoever we want. There is equality and equity, because we are free. Being free is a beautiful thing.





People always say its good to put your feelings into words. But is it true? If you think about it, the advice seems somewhat counterintuitive. If you are anxious, scared, or worried about something, is it really going to make you feel better to dwell on this anxiety by speaking or writing about it? Think, Reflect and ponder.





Freedom and Judicial Usurpation by Governments





We have come to know that the Chinese government installs software that monitors and censors on certain anti-government websites. Journalists and human rights defenders from Bahrain to Morocco have their phones tapped and their emails read by security services. Facebook takes down wall posts after States complains of subversive material. Google hands over user data to law enforcement authorities that includes IP addresses, location data and records of communications. The US government conducts mass surveillance of foreign phone and internet users.





Each of these acts threatens both an individuals freedom to express themselves, and their right to maintain a private life and private communications. Physical or online surveillance, monitoring of communications or activities, State intrusion into private, family or home affairs  prevent an individual from exercising their true freedom of expression. This is actually infringements on the right to privacy.





We could previously communicate with our friends and colleagues without it being known to anyone else. We could move around cities, countries and continents and meet with whomever we wished without it being known. We could follow and join groups and movements without having to disclose identities. We could publish and distribute pamphlets, posters, brochures, newspapers and books without knowing the creator, publisher, and reader. The ability to act without being observed was innate to the act of expression so we benefited from privacy as we expressed ourselves by living our personal, political and professional lives. Most importantly, we believed that these were rights worth protecting, enshrining in constitutions and promoting through advocacy and protecting in law. Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right. It also underpins most other rights and allows them to flourish.





The right to speak your mind freely on important issues in society, express yourself in writing to papers, writing books and journals. Have access to information and hold the powers that be, to account, plays a vital role in the healthy development process of any society.





The lack of access to freedom of expression is a problem that particularly affects the already marginalised  that is, minorities facing discrimination both in developed and developing countries means they are often excluded from meaningful participation in society, and from the opportunity to better their own circumstances. In other words, discrimination is one of the core elements of unequal access to freedom of expression.





Both direct and indirect forms of discrimination must be prohibited by powerful legislation. Direct discrimination occurs when an individual is treated less favourably than another person in a similar. Indirect discrimination refers to laws, policies or practices which appear neutral at face value, but have a disproportionate impact on the exercise of rights as distinguished by prohibited grounds of discrimination.





Unless and otherwise we uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity and recognize that democratic and participatory governance based on the will of the people, assures the right to live a life in dignity, free from hunger and free from fear of violence, oppression or injustice, and in pledging to the principle of equality, where no individual is be denied the opportunity to benefit from development, then we can say that we are on the path to freedom.





Let us find some solace in this great saying





A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials  Seneca-Roman Stoic Philsopher and Statesman.
Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Dmytro Kuleba has said he did not consider Hungary to be a country that blocks the process of Ukraine's achieving prospects for EU membership.

"Hungary has never denied Ukraine's European perspective. It's true that after a certain dispute with them had appeared, Hungary began blocking a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission. But in the EU, Hungary supports sanctions against Russia imposed in response to aggression against our country. And in principle, it is not blocking anything. And we have our bilateral track where we are trying to solve problems. But I don't see and have never heard Hungary deny Ukraine's European perspective," Kuleba said in an interview with Radio Svoboda.

He also added that he did not know a single EU country that would oppose Ukraine's "approaching the EU as close as possible and becoming an integral part of the wide European space."
Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said the BJP did not lose last year's Maharashtra assembly elections, but was betrayed by the Shiv Sena.

He also said that the Sena not only left its ally, but also its own ideology.

Speaking at the BJP workers' meeting here, Gadkari said, "I don't think BJP lost the election. Shiv Sena left us and its own ideology. BJP has not lost the elections, but it has been betrayed."



The BJP and the Sena, which fought the October 21 state assembly polls in alliance, had secured a comfortable majority by winning 105 and 56 seats respectively. However, the Sena broke its three-decade-long ties with the BJP after the latter declined to share the chief minister's post with it.

The Sena then joined hands with the NCP and the Congress and formed a government headed by Uddhav Thackeray.

On the recently-held Zilla Parishad results in Nagpur, Gadkari said the BJP should have got more voting percentage.

"But BJP's strength is still intact in Nagpur rural and the city and those who have come together against us are afraid of our strength. They may have come together, but we will defeat them," he said.

Earlier this month, the BJP lost control of the ZP in Nagpur, the home district of Gadkari and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Gadkari asked the workers to focus on expanding the party base and reaching out to the people.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As party parliamentary primaries approach in Ghana, aspirants focus on fostering a constituent-friendly view of themselves through their personal cultivation of the constituency and the use of perks of the office (if incumbent or holding a position in government) to do so.

Consider the fact that legislators/aspirants spend on average about 3-4 days a week (which is not highly possible) in their home constituencies.

Consequently, voters focus on what they know about their legislator when they vote and most of that is pleasing to ears and sight. Then, legislative incumbents run-up large reelection margins and use that cushion of votes to pursue their own interests rather than those of voters.

Voters are not blind to such activities but they are so easily rationalized by legislators in their frequent visits to their districts and minimized by the truly excellent constituency service they provide voters. And the large vote margins discourage others from contesting the elections of incumbents; hence, incumbents face nominal competition.

However, in this modern-day and age, the dynamics in politics have greatly changed towards both voters and aspirants of political parties. In an era where money is an essential electoral resource, the future of voters is at risk. Note that a constituency is important for as long as it sustains the politicians own interests.

Voters/delegates have had to discover a political personal ideology towards aspirants who want to stand on the partys ticket. This personal ideology of delegates is what I describe as aspirants financial bargaining-power.

This ideology makes delegates cheaper on the face of political aspirants as they (delegates) are bought like goods and services in exchange of votes. Those delegates who get the highest financial returns and have direct access to the cocoa farm of the aspirant turn to declare his/her support for the aspirant against party rules. This is the existing phase of Ghanas political growth.

Aspirants turn to be philanthropists overnight: sharing motorbikes, fertilizers, knapsack sprayers and spraying monies as if they have a key to the warehouse of Bank of Ghana (BOG). They are now chief mourners at public funerals and their donations are always made public with mischievous intent at the end of the tunnel.

Commonly, aspirants are often seen associating with community members, being seen as children's friends, eating common foods with the locals and playing games with the masses wherever they find themselves. Charlie!, but their hired and voluntary photographers are always taking records of every activity for public records as achievements. Oh my God! What is happening to this generational politics of bootlicking with its accompanying features.

What is disheartening most times is how delegates and non-delegates weigh the financial muscles of aspirants and then choose who has the biggest cocoa farm where cultivation could be made easily. In this case, virtues of truth, honesty and transparency are thrown to the dogs. How then do we expect the winning candidate to work even after winning a parliamentary election?!

Without mincing words, our electorates would prefer a Chinese citizen who has a wider cocoa farm to be elected into Ghanas parliament to a citizen of Ghana despite the unconstitutionality of the alien citizen. The voices of the electorates would always go after a non-sweat harvest that would fill their stomachs temporarily.

The framers of the parties constitution didnt envisioned this growing calamity that is eating the fabric of our democracy. Amendments need to be made to help restore sanity towards presenting competent candidates even if they have no cocoa farm for delegates to harvest.

Columnist: Abdul-Razak Lukman

Freelance Writer
On Dec 13, 2019, the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment against the president  abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

The first article revolved around the allegation that the president used to power of his office to extort another country, Ukraine, to gain personal political favor for the President. The second article involves the president and his administration refusing to comply with Congress, to provide documents and witnesses, so that Congress can perform their Constitutional duty of oversight of the executive branch of government.

The first article passed the House by a 230-197 margin. The second article passed by a 227-195 margin. Both votes were mainly along party lines, with Democrats voting for the articles of impeachment and the Republicans voting against. For the third time in U.S. history, a president was impeached. It now rests with the US Senate, where, if there is a 2/3 vote for impeachment, the president will be removed from office.

If this happens, it would be the first time in our history a sitting president is removed from office after Impeachment.

Without drilling too far down, I would simply say this is a somber and sad matter. Its a grave matter to overturn an election by impeachment. But its imperative that we adhere to the Rule of Law and that no man is above the law.

The House was diligent in its investigation, calling 12 government and State Department officials to testify. Since that December vote, there has been more documents and testimony coming out from the investigation of Rudy Giuliani and the trial of Lev Parnas offering more damning evidence against the president.

As in a criminal trial, there are five components to the Senate trial. The defendant is President Donald J. Trump, and he has his own lawyers that include White House counsel. The prosecution are Democrats from the House. The Judge Chief Justice John Roberts and the jury are the U.S. Senate. The foreperson of this jury is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Senators swear a general Oath to uphold the Constitution, but for this impeachment trial, they took a jurors oath, not a legislators oath.

Rule XXV of the Senate Rules in Impeachment Trials provides the text: I solemnly swear (or affirm) that in all things appertaining to the trial of ____, now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help me God.

The senators took an oath before almighty God to judge the case impartially.

But even before the House Judiciary Committee voted to send articles of impeachment to the full House for a vote, Mitch McConnell said he was working in total coordination with the White House about President Donald Trumps upcoming trial in January.

In an interview with Fox News Sean Hannity, McConnell said, Everything I do during this, Im coordinating with White House counsel. Therell be no difference between the presidents position and our position as to how to handle this. Exactly how we go forward, Im going to coordinate with the presidents lawyers. McConnell added, The case is so darn weak coming over from the House. We all know how its going to end. There is no chance the president is going to be removed from office. My hope is that there wont be a Republican who votes for either of these articles of impeachment.

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in December, hed made up his mind President Trump should be acquitted. He dismissed the notion of being a fair juror and said he didnt see the need for a formal trial in the Senate.

I am trying to give a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind," he said. Im not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here. Later on when Graham was questioned whether it was OK to not be impartial, Graham replied, Its what Im going to do, so it must be all right.

Could you imagine if in a criminal trial, members of a jury made these comments in full public view. How long do you think it would take for the judge in charge of that trial to dismiss those members? in this case, its highly unlikely Chief Justice Roberts will remove McConnell and Graham from this trial. And these Senators certainly arent going to recuse themselves.

We now see the top Republicans in the U.S. Senate openly defying their oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. I used think the Republican Party was the party of The Rule of Law and our best and most fervent protector of the Constitution. Sadly, that party no longer exists.

Robert K. Bomberger lives in Lower Paxton Twp.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 25

By Samir Ali - Trend:

Armenian authorities and the illegal regime in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan have been recently conducting the armenization policy under the cover of reconstructing Azerbaijans historical and cultural monuments on the occupied territories, reads a statement by the Azerbaijani community of Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region, Trend reports Jan. 25.

The puppet regime having rehabilitated the Yukhari Govhar Agha Mosque in Shusha city considered an architectural pearl of Nagorno Karabakh and naming it as the Persian cultural center some time ago, currently is going to rehabilitate Shusha fortress founded by Panah Ali Khan Javanshir, the builder of Karabakh Khanate in the 18th century, reads the statement. According to the information disseminated by mass media, it is not ruled out that in the future the same vandalism will be applied to the historical monuments in Aghdere and Lachin districts.

It is well known that thousands of our cultural, historical and religious monuments on Azerbaijans occupied territories have become victims of Armenian aggression, the Azerbaijani community said. Some part of these monuments has been completely erased from the earth, and the remaining monuments have been brought into unfit condition.

Along with occupying our lands, exposing our people to genocide and displacing thousands of people from their native land, Armenia also destroys our historical monuments, the statement said. Armenia hypocritically calls these processes repair and rehabilitation work in order to erase this stain from itself.

Not only us, but also international organizations should think of the outrageous purposes of Armenia under the cover of rehabilitation of these monuments, as spread of this tendency jeopardizes cultural-historical heritage of the world, reads the statement.

All the monuments, situated in occupied territories, were erected by our forefathers, they bear handprints of our ancestors, the Azerbaijani community said. Vitalization of these monuments, which were inherited for us, will be one of our main duties after the return of the Azerbaijani lands.

All these along with being in contradiction with the obligations undertaken by Armenia to UNESCO, are also the manifestation of this countrys hypocrite trait and the attempt to deceive the international community and to give a cultural and civil veneer to its vandalism actions, the statement said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, 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.
LE MARS, Iowa  As the longtime owner of Archies Waeside steakhouse, Bob Rand has a story about almost everybody who wanted to be, or was, president in the past few election cycles.

Once, during the 2016 presidential race, Ben Carson and his campaign team showed up unannounced, and hungry. President George W. Bushs security detail shut down the highway so he could arrive safely in town. Bob Dole came to the restaurant during his bid for the presidency, walked into the cooler and cut his own steak from a side of beef.

It was the damnedest thing I ever saw in my whole life, said Mr. Rand, reminiscing in the wood-paneled dining room, as waitresses pushed metal carts loaded with plates of New York strip and homemade hash browns to diners in booths.

Forty miles away, across the snowy terrain of bent cornstalks and grain silos, steak was also on the menu. Members of the local V.F.W. club were shooting pool at Whimps Place, as diners sat before plates of tenderloin. The owner, Dan Radigan, could remember just one politician who pushed through the restaurants door. I think Senator Thune was here once, he said.
Inventing a cure underneath the... skin?!

Ahammune, cure for vitiligo

The money

Rs 2 crore from two grants

Undisclosed amount from angel investors

Whats the USP?

The new drug candidate basically cuts off the fuel that fires the immune system that kills the melanin cells, thereby causing vitiligo. Killing of these melanin causing cells causes vitiligo. This vitiligo relevant pathway has been tested on animal models of the disease that replicate human vitiligo, offering the translational advantage. No FDA approved drug for re-pigmentation

The key number

Unattended market with a forecast potential of $2.4 billion by 2024

Underneath the... skin?!

While pharma companies all over the world are finding solutions for almost all problems that afflict the human body, Ahammune is a small startup (incubated at Venture Centre), that first sought to find a cure for this skin disorder that is largely unattended to by Big Pharma. Says co-founder Parul Ganje, In India vitiligo has a prevalence rate of 2%, but in Rajasthan and Gujarat it is as high as 8%. Though thought to be a cosmeceutical disease, the impact of vitiligo goes beyond, given the social issues a patient has to face. We decided to find a cure for this immune system disorder because no one has really focussed on it seriously. Often, the path to drug discovery is long and treacherous. Several iterations, several misses, several big bucks and the solution, still elusive.

Parul Ganje, co-founder, Ahammune. (HT/PHOTO)

Auite audacious then for a small startup to go into such a territory? Says Ganje, I have a PhD in skin biology and am quite aware of how people with vitiligo suffer. It was only natural that I take my learnings and hunt for a cure.

Ahamunne has developed a drug that is formulated into a cream. This cream has to be used for a period of at least three months before it starts working to change the pigments to natural colour. Our skin sheds its upper layer and that process takes a month till the cells at the lower layers come up, says Ganje.

Ahamunne is currently undergoing clinical trials. Human trials are scheduled for next year.Ganje explains, Large pharma companies have the wherewithal, the expertise and access to markets. While they too embark on the drug discovery path they are always on the lookout for innovations by smaller companies. If everything falls into place, we will leverage our innovation and licence our patent. Patents are the huge asset in the pharma world.

The outside view

Ahamunne will need more funds. Drug discovery and trials are a money sucking machine. Having accessed two grants, sucessfull clinical trials should open up the government coffers. Ganesh Natrajan, entrepreneur and mentor, believes that Ahammune has the potential to be a unicorn, because, It is a category creator both in Indian and global markets. And because valuation chases unique value propositions which benefit a large addressable customer base.

Fuelling the future to be truly eco-nomical

Greenjoules , manufacture drop-in biofuel

The money

Greenjoules is looking to raise Rs 1,000 crore in the next 24 months.

Current funding not revealed

USP

The biofuel is a completely interchangeable substitute for conventional petroleum-derived fuels like diesel and petrol. It does not require adaptation of the engine, fuel system or the fuel distribution network.

The key number

Diesel consumption in India is at 90 million kiloliters (1KL=1,000 litres) per annum

Fuelling the future

Greenjoules set up two years ago and is incubated at the Science and Technology Park. Currently petroleum companies purchase first generation biofuels like biodiesel (for blending into diesel), and ethanol (for blending into petrol). These biofuels cannot be used as 100% replacements and hence, must be blended with diesel or petrol. Besides, they consume vegetable crops as raw materials. Greenjoules developed innovative technology to make a biofuel that uses agri-waste, so there is no impinging on human/cattle consumption. Besides, it can be used as a 100% replacement for diesel. Viraraghavan (uses only one name), V Radhika, R Sethunath, VS Shridhar, and 21-year-old Shweta (uses only one name), founded Greenjoules to create the Abhilasha biofuel.

V Radhika, Viraraghavan, V Shweta, VS Shridhar and R Sethunath of Greenjoules. (HT/PHOTO)

We first identified certain specific agri-wastes and mixes and developed a process that gives us this biofuel with zero effluent generation in its production, giving users the biggest bang for the carbon footprint reduction buck, says Viraraghavan.

In five years, I think we can cross the billion dollar mark. There are many forces that are working in our favor. India is introducing the Bharat VI fuel standard and we meet it. Companies are getting conscious about clean fuels. In its Biofuels Policy, 2018, the government has recognised drop-in fuels. We have a report from IIT Chennai IC Engine Labs that has found our fuel equal in performance to diesel on efficiency and consumption, among other metrics, Viraraghavan adds.

Greenjoules set up its manufacturing facility in Chakan, Pune in June last year and has a production capacity of 150 KL every month.

According to Viraraghvan there are a few speed breakers the company faces. The first problem we face is acceptance. Even though our product is tested and validated by IIT Chennai, meets with the Indian diesel standards (BIS:1460) and is is in use, companies, while accepting that they need to reduce their carbon footprint and adapt biofuels, are reluctant adopters. What we have noticed is that a manager is judged on operational performance rather than adopting innovative practices that will lead to greater efficiencies. As a result, though they can see it work they do not want to jump onto something new, especially if the fuel is not certified by the engine makers.

We need to work on getting large manufacturers of boilers and engine OEMs to ratify our fuel, then the users of their equipment will be more open to using it, Viraraghvan believes.

The other challenge is sales to petroleum companies.

While there is a robust program to buy Biodiesel and Ethanol, Drop-In fuels are not part of this program currently even though Government Policy recognizes these fuels as Biofuels. To facilitate that, Greenjoules is now approaching the Indian Institute of Petroleum at Dehradun to get their certificate as well. In parallel, we also need to advocate policy change with the Government, so petroleum companies start using Drop-In fuels like ours.

The outside view

Hardik Joshi, director, entrepreneur engagement and training, Science & Technology Park, Pune, believes Green Joules has the potential to be a unicorn because, All the co-founders have led several teams and companies. The product they have developed is far superior to other solutions in the market and it is easily replicable, so it is possible for them to licence their technology. This is apart from the basic fact that the sheer market size provides potential for growth.

Omni-channeling the unorganised sector

Gabbar Deals, omnichannel mobile retail

The money

In first five months - gross merchandise volume (GMV) of Rs 40 crore

No funding revealed

The key number(s)

Currently, Gabbar claims to have has tied up with 30 mobile phone stores in Maharashtra. The company has served 12,000 customers since launch five months ago.

USP

Accessing the billion-dollar unorganised mobile retail space, transforming the manner in which business is conducted

Setting opportunity

Currently, offline stores complain about losing business to online portals. Online portals offer huge discounts and tackle humungous logistics to ensure viable economics.

Now, meet the omnichannel - where offline and online serve customer needs. Neeraj Raka of Gabbar Deals sees things differently and aims to capture a huge opportunity. No less than the mighty Reliance is moving to monetise, for itself, unorganised retail in India. However, at the micro-scale Raka does have first-mover advantage. Says Raka, Our model is win-win for everyone - brand, retailer, consumer.

Raka explains, Lets say you go onto an e-commerce platform to buy a phone. The e-com platform/brand website will accept your order and then get into huge logistics acrobatics to deliver your phone within 24 hours, at the very least. This can go up to a few days too.

In comes Gabbar Deals. You buy a mobile phone online and Gabbar Deals B-to-C app ensures delivery within two hours. The delivery person is an expert, who can assist the customer. The customer pays the original online portal price. This is largely on account of the rationalisation of discounts being offered by online portals in this category, says Raka. Customer satisfied.

Neeraj Raka of Gabbar Deals. (Shankar Narayan/HT PHOTO)

Now, retailer. Says Raka, Gabbar also helps negotiate commissions given by the manufacturer.And platform where order was placed? The retailer gets what he would otherwise, while the e comm platform and I share a commission percentage, says Raka.

Will Gabbar Deals take on other categories? That will have to wait. Our business model helps customers get the best deal along with service. We help online portals shed logistics cost while helping offline stores expand businesses, is all Raka is saying for now.

The view from outside

Manish Gandhi, managing Partner, Venture Catalyst believes Gabbar Deals has the potential to become a Gabbar (unicorn), because, They can change the way the mobile phone industry works by synergizing offline and online retail to get a win-win situation for all players.
This was Iowa caucus night back in the mid-1970s. And these are members of the national media covering the voting. It was so unusual to see national media in Iowa back then that people actually paid to watch them. The Democratic Party charged $15 a head for people to watch the media watch the people. See, in previous years, Iowas caucuses just hadnt attracted national attention. There are 3,000 frozen media members in downtown Des Moines  Just over a decade later, Iowa is the place to be.  Its Iowa caucus night. Lets party. [shouting] The caucuses are now a key part of the presidential election cycle. Bush, 57. Theyre the first chance to see what kind of support candidates have among voters. So how did we get here, from caucuses that only Iowans seem to care about to the national spectacle we see today? Turns out, a lot of it was accidental. For most of Iowas history, its caucuses were dominated by political insiders. There was little room for input from rank-and-file members. An historian writing in the 1940s put it like this: The larger number of party voters were deprived of a voice. But the old ways start coming to an end in 1968. The countrys in turmoil, and so is the Democratic Party, mostly over the Vietnam War and civil rights. Basically, the party establishment wants to handle things one way, and many rank-and-file members have other ideas. All this comes to a head as the Democrats hold their national convention. Protesters gather outside. So do police. Inside, the mood is also tense. All this division leads the Democratic Party to rethink the nomination rules to include the voices of all party members in the process. This is how we come to the moment when Iowa becomes key to electing a president, basically by accident. First up, how Iowa became first to hold a presidential contest. It starts with new rules to give everyday members more of a say. So by 1972, winning Iowa now involves four stages. Iowans choose their top candidates, first at the precinct level. These are the caucuses at the heart of this story. But technically, theres further voting at the county, congressional district and state levels. The new rules make things a lot more inclusive, but this creates new delays. Committees need to be formed, and everyone needs to have up-to-date party materials. The problem is, the state party only has an old mimeograph machine to make copies of all this. Its really slow. So because of an old machine and a bunch of new logistics, the party decides it needs at least a month between each step to do it all. The national convention is set for early July, so youd think that the state-level convention would happen about a month before, in June. Except, the party cant find a venue thats available to hold everyone. That little detail helps push everything earlier in a chain reaction. See whats going on here? The precinct caucuses now have to happen early in the year. The party chooses a date that makes Iowas the first presidential contest. The New Hampshire primary has been the first kickoff contest since the 1950s, but Iowa Democrats arent necessarily looking for national attention. They just think itll be fun to be first. Still, attention is what they get. The story begins with George McGovern. People didnt know much about the Iowa caucuses. As a matter of fact, there wasnt a great deal of interest in them. Hes the long-shot candidate. Hes been at the bottom of national polls. He often walked the campaign trail alone, little known by the voters. Most people think this guy, Edmund Muskie, is going to be the big winner in Iowa. That challenge is great, but we can meet it. Then comes caucus night. As the people vote, state party officials gather at their headquarters. Richard Bender is one of them. And we had about 10 or 12 press people show up. These press people included one guy, Johnny Apple. Johnny Apple, a 37-year-old political correspondent for The New York Times. Iowas Democrats arent ready to publicize the results right away. They hadnt expected much demand. According to Bender, only Johnny Apple asked for them that night. I happen to be fascinated with such things, so I made it my business, beforehand, to understand it. Bender sets up a phone tree to gather results from across the state. He adds them up himself with a calculator. And the next day, Apples article helps swing the national spotlight onto the caucuses. Hes got quite the story to tell. Muskies won, but just barely. Not the runaway win people were expecting. And McGovern comes in a strong second. No one expected that, either. The reformed caucus rules helped a long-shot candidate rise to the top. And because this is happening so early in the election now, and because Apples article gives the results national coverage, something else happens. That got picked up by some of the national news shows. The Democratic front-runner has been damaged in Iowa. And wow, all of a sudden, we were being paid attention to. McGovern eventually wins the Democratic nomination. I accept your nomination with a full and grateful heart. He loses the presidential election, but some havent forgotten what those early caucuses did for McGovern, including Georgias former governor, Jimmy Carter. Three years later  There was a major headline on the editorial page of the Atlanta Constitution that said, Jimmy Carters running for what? [laughter] And the What was about this big. [applause] Im running for president.  Carter heads to Iowa before any other Democratic candidate. Hes got no national profile. He didnt have hordes of press following him around. It was a very lonely campaign. Washington pundits call his candidacy laughable. I remember when we couldnt find a microphone. Jimmy Who? becomes a catchphrase. Carters own campaign film plays it up. Jimmy who? I dont know who he is. But as long as Iowans come to know him and like him, Carter bets that the media will start paying attention, just like with McGovern four years earlier. Carter campaigns as locally as possible. One day, he learns that hes been invited on a local TV show. And I said, that is great. I cant believe it. I said, What are we going to do? He said, Do you have any favorite recipes? And I said, What do you mean, recipes? He said, Well, this is a cooking show. Well, they put a white apron on me and a chefs hat. That was my only access to TV when I first began to campaign in Iowa. His opponents are in Iowa, too, but they spend far less time there. Carter wins. Surprisingly top of the class after his win in a somewhat obscure race in Iowa against the others. You cant tell until we go to the other 49 states, but its encouraging for us. A year later  I, Jimmy Carter, do solemnly swear   he becomes the 39th president. Now we need to head to 1980 because we havent talked about the Republicans yet. Heres the states Republican chairman that year. Hes asked why Iowas caucuses have become so important. I think because Jimmy Carter got his start in Iowa in 1976. The Republicans in Iowa are keen to copy the Democrats success, and one candidate in particular gets inspired by Carters underdog win: George H.W. Bush. Hes running against Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and others, and hes near the bottom of the pack. Your name isnt really a household word, but Ronald Reagan can  But Bush goes big in Iowa. He gets a surprise win. Its a far cry from just months before. I was an asterisk in those days. And my feelings got hurt. And now, Im no longer an asterisk. Bush is now the third underdog to get a boost from the caucuses. The next morning on CBS, he distills the essence of this new Iowa effect. We will have forward, Big Mo on our side, as they say in athletics.  Big Mo?  Yeah. Mo  momentum. Bush loses to Reagan, but becomes vice president. And the desire to capture the Big Mo from Iowa has only grown, thanks in large part to Iowas embrace of being first, and the media storm that descends every four years. Thats despite the fact that most candidates who win  This is a job interview.  dont become president. Plus, many point out that the states overwhelmingly white population doesnt reflect the countrys diversity. I actually think that we can find places that represent that balance of urban and rural better. But the race to get the Big Mo out of Iowa persists because its the first chance to upend expectations, and put political fates in the voters hands.
A man accused of stabbing his 22-year-old wife to death had recently moved in with his new bride after an arranged marriage.

The woman was found injured at a Balcatta home, in Perth, and died at Royal Perth Hospital last Saturday.

Mohammad Ali Halimi, 25, is alleged to have led police to the body after showing up at Mirrabooka Police Station covered in blood that afternoon.

Pictured: police taped off the home and conducted forensic testing after the husband led them to the body on Saturday afternoon

Halimi, who has been charged with murder, was assisted by security officers who helped seat him while appearing in Perth Magistrate's Court this week.

The couple are understood to have lived in Australia for several years after immigrating from the Middle East separately, The West Australian reported.

It's believed the husband and wife recently moved into the Balcatta home after getting married in Melbourne.

There are unconfirmed reports the newlyweds were brought together through an arranged marriage.

An anonymous neighbour told the publication Halimi appeared to be a well-spoken young man.

'I had a couple of neighbourly chats with Ali and when he went to Melbourne for his marriage, I looked after his bins and mail. I spoke to him when he was back home and I met his wife,' the neighbour said.

The 25-year-old held jobs as a factory worker and Uber driver.

'He wanted me to visit and was concerned that his wife would be alone a lot when he returned to work,' the neighbour added.

'I am so sad...that two lives are now gone.'
A STUDENT from Lapu-Lapu City went viral on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020, after he was shown on social media using a wang-wang or siren just to get to school.

Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Ahong Chan identified the student as the boyfriend of his daughter, Jasmine, and vowed to turned him over to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) Central Visayas on Monday, Jan. 27, so he can be investigated, said LTO 7 Director Victor Caindec.

The viral video was originally uploaded as an Instagram story by a certain JasmineKingChan, who is believed to be the mayors daughter.

Based on the videos caption, the male student, who is allegedly studying in an aeronautics school in Lapu-Lapu City, was running late for an exam.

The video has been shared across Facebook, provoking the ire of netizens.

Caindec said the student committed traffic violations such as reckless driving, failure to wear a seat belt and infraction of Presidential Decree (PD) 96.

PD 96 provides that any siren, bell, horn, whistle or other similar gadgets may be attached to and used only on motor vehicles designated for official use by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, National Bureau of Investigation, Land Transportation Commission, police and fire departments; and hospital ambulances.

In a post on his official Facebook page, Caindec said the students license will be suspended for a year.

Caindec will also conduct an investigation to determine the owner of the vehicle and why it had a siren.

On his Facebook page, Chan condemned the act made by the student and stressed that he will not tolerate such violations, even if the erring persons involved are friends or family. (HBL, RTF)
Experts are questioning why Chinese authorities have suddenly leaped into action, weeks after the first coronavirus case was reported.

Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) has been left concerned about China's transparency in light of the quarantine of victims of the virus, as well as China's wider response.

More than 1,300 people have been infected globally with the virus traced to a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife.

More than 1,400 people have been infected globally with the virus traced to a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife

Photos from inside the intensive care unit at Zhongnan Hospital in Wuhan show medical workers caring for critically-ill patients this week

Richardson told The Telegraph: 'From a medical and human rights perspective, it is essential in these situations that people can trust the information available.

'I have real concerns about people who are supposedly "spreading rumours" being harassed by authorities, especially at a time when people are concerned they are not getting accurate information.'

She believes the Chinese state could have deliberately silenced medical experts raising the alarm about the virus, and halted medical research.

It comes amid claims China's status as a major superpower may have influenced the World Health Organisation's decision not to declare coronavirus an international emergency.

The WHO has failed to declare a global health crisis. On Thursday the organisation said it was 'too early' for such a decision but added an emergency could still be declared if the outbreak continues to spread.

'This should not be taken as a sign that we don't think the outbreak is serious, or that we are not taking it seriously,' said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

'Nothing could be further from the truth.'

Now, baffled experts have warned that their decision may have been influenced by China.

Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, told The Daily Telegraph: 'The criteria for declaring a public health emergency of international concern have been met.'

But 'not all WHO decisions are made based on the developments in the biological world,' he added.

Previously, the country's persistence has encouraged the WHO to include traditional Chinese medicine in its traditional compendium. And under pressure from the country, Taiwan was excluded from receiving global health advice for the past three years.

Some have suggested this is due to China working its way up the ranks in major international organisations.

Frances Eve, a deputy director at Chinese Human Rights Defenders said: 'China has a strategy of taking more prominent roles in inter-governmental organisations. It is using them to promote Chinese interests.'

The death toll from China's coronavirus outbreak jumped on Saturday to 41 from 26 a day earlier as the Lunar New Year got off to a gloomy start, with many transport links and tourist sites shut, while Australia confirmed its first four cases.

Photographs show patients undergoing treatment at Wuhan Central Hospital as it has emerged the death toll has jumped to 41 with 1,281 cases and 56m people on lockdown across 18 Chinese cities

State-run China Global Television Network reported in a tweet that a doctor who had been treating patients in Wuhan, 62-year-old Liang Wudong (left), had died from the virus. It was not immediately clear if his death was already counted in the official toll of 41, of which 39 were in the central province of Hubei, where Wuhan is located (right, doctors donning white boiler suits treat patients at Wuhan Central Hospital)

More than 1,300 people have been infected globally with a virus traced to a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife. Health authorities around the world are scrambling to prevent a pandemic.

Hu Yinghai, deputy director-general of the Civil Affairs Department in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, made an appeal on Saturday for masks and protective suits. Hospitals in the city have made similar pleas.

'We are steadily pushing forward the disease control and prevention ... But right now we are facing an extremely severe public health crisis,' he told a news briefing.

Vehicles carrying emergency supplies and medical staff for Wuhan would be exempted from tolls and given traffic priority, China's transportation ministry said on Saturday.

Wuhan said it would ban non-essential vehicles from its downtown starting Sunday to control the spread of the virus, further paralysing a city of 11 million that has been on virtual lockdown since Thursday, with nearly all flights cancelled and checkpoints blocking the main roads leading out of town.

Authorities have since imposed transport restrictions on nearly all of Hubei province, which has a population of 59 million.

In Australia, three men, aged 53, 43 and 35 in New South Wales were in stable condition after they were confirmed to have the virus after returning from Wuhan earlier this month, the state's health minister, Brad Hazzard said.

'The community needs to understand that it is being well handled,' Hazzard said, urging calm.

A Chinese national in his 50s, who had been in Wuhan, was also in stable condition in a Melbourne hospital after arriving from China on Jan. 19, Victoria Health officials said.

State-run China Global Television Network reported in a tweet on Saturday that a doctor who had been treating patients in Wuhan, 62-year-old Liang Wudong, had died from the virus.

It was not immediately clear if his death was already counted in the official toll of 41, of which 39 were in the central province of Hubei, where Wuhan is located.

U.S. coffee chain Starbucks said on Saturday that it was closing all its outlets in Hubei province for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, following a similar move by McDonald's in five Hubei cities.

Huge efforts are being made by construction workers in Wuhan to erect a new hospital in less than a week on the government's orders. Officials said the medical facility must be built to cope with overwhelming numbers of coronavirus patients

In Beijing on Saturday, workers in white protective suits checked temperatures of passengers entering the subway at the central railway station, while some train services in eastern China's Yangtze River Delta region were suspended, the local railway operator said.

The number of confirmed cases in China stands at 1,287, the National Health Commission said on Saturday.

The virus has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, Malaysia, France, the United States and Australia.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it had 63 patients under investigation, with two confirmed cases, both in people who had travelled to Wuhan.

While China has called for transparency in managing the crisis, after cover-up of the 2002/2003 SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), officials in Wuhan have come in for criticism over their handling of the outbreak.

In rare public dissent, a senior journalist at a Hubei provincial newspaper run by the ruling Communist Party on Friday called for a 'immediate' change of leadership in Wuhan on the Twitter-like Weibo. The post was later removed.

Airports around the world have stepped up screening of passengers from China, though some health officials and experts have questioned the effectiveness of such screenings and of the lockdown.

Health officials fear the transmission rate could accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel before and during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, which began on Saturday, although many have cancelled their plans, with airlines and railways in China providing free refunds.

The virus outbreak and efforts to contain it have put a dampener on what is ordinarily a festive time of year.

Sanya, a popular resort destination on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, announced that it was shutting all tourist sites, while the island's capital city, Haikou, said visitors from Wuhan would be placed under 14-day quarantine in a hotel.

Shanghai Disneyland was closed from Saturday. The theme park has a 100,000 daily capacity and sold out during last year's Lunar New Year holiday.

Beijing's Lama Temple, where people traditionally make offerings for the new year, has also closed, as have some other temples and the Forbidden City, the capital's most famous tourist attraction. Sections of the Great Wall near the capital were also closed off.
Yellow vests protesters gathered on Saturday near HM Prison Belmarsh to support WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and condemn the extradition hearing against the whistleblower, Trend reports citing Sputnik.

The protest comes two days after Westminster Magistrates' Court in London decided to postpone the hearings on Assange's extradition to the United States from February to May.

At the same time, lawyer and member Assange's legal team Renata Avila confirmed the day before that the whistleblower had been moved out of solitary confinement in the prison, where he had been held since April.
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Ministers are in a race against time to help British scientists develop a vaccine against the deadly coronavirus as they warned the infection was expected to reach the UK within days.

Officials working for Health Secretary Matt Hancock say that after three cases were uncovered in France over the weekend, the 'operational assumption' is that it will reach Britain by the end of the week  and possibly even sooner.

The Mail on Sunday understands the development has led Mr Hancock to order an acceleration in trials of vaccines targeting the virus.

People wearing face masks arrive at Heathrow Airport in London, Britain, 24 January 2020. The UK is to begin monitoring direct flights from China to stem the spread of the coronavirus in Britain.

Ministers are in a race against time to help British scientists develop a vaccine against the deadly coronavirus as they warned the infection was expected to reach the UK within days

Health officials are trying to track down an estimated 2,000 people who have recently returned to Britain from the region around the city of Wuhan, where the outbreak began.

There is a particular focus on schools and universities attended by more than 100,000 Chinese students.

The Department of Health said it was trying to find 'as many passengers as we can' who arrived from Hubei province in the past two weeks to check on their wellbeing.

Teams of doctors have been seconded to meet passengers off flights into Heathrow from China.

Public Health England has also made a breakthrough by developing a genetic test capable of diagnosing the virus 'on the same working day'.

Officials working for Health Secretary Matt Hancock say that after three cases were uncovered in France over the weekend. Pictured: Patients waiting for medical attention in Wuhan

The 'operational assumption' is that it will reach Britain by the end of the week  and possibly even sooner. Pictured: People wearing surgical mask in West London

A senior Government source last night said: 'We are determined to lead the world in the response to this. We are accelerating our plans for dealing with the virus when it finally arrives here.'

So far 31 people in the UK have been tested for Wuhan coronavirus  17 since Friday  with all cases proving negative.

However, the source said the contagion was spreading through several clear stages  the outbreak in China, the spread beyond China and then first positive case in the UK, which is expected 'within days'.

The hope is that imported cases can be identified immediately by medical teams at Heathrow, which is still receiving direct flights from China, and that any potential British outbreak is strangled at birth.

The doctors will then shepherd possibly symptomatic passengers into NHS care where they will be isolated so they do not spark a 'homegrown' outbreak.

NHS hospital staff have been told to look out for patients who might have the virus.

England's Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty has issued strict instructions to staff on how to protect themselves from infection.

However, as the virus has a week-long incubation period, health officials know that infected travellers could slip into Britain unawares  infecting others before becoming symptomatic.

That would trigger a major scramble to identify and quarantine all those who came into contact with the infected person, to stop a full-blown outbreak.

The virus has a week-long incubation period which means infected travellers could slip into Britain unawares  infecting others before becoming symptomatic. Pictured: Medical staff in protective clothing in Wuhan

Health officials are trying to track down an estimated 2,000 people who have recently returned to Britain from the region around the city of Wuhan, where the outbreak began

The chance of that frightening scenario was raised last night after it emerged two of the three Chinese nationals who have tested positive in France arrived without showing symptoms.

One of them entered France by land after flying into the Netherlands from China, underlining the limits of airport screening.

With the prospect of a pandemic, scientists at Imperial College, London, are working on a vaccine which they hope to be ready for human trials in less than two months.

Infection specialist Professor Robin Shattock said his team had two possible vaccines to test on animals in a fortnight.

Like other tests being developed, these are not traditional vaccines which offer the immune system a small part of virus to recognise.

Instead, they provide human cells with genetic instructions to fight the virus, which should mean they are safer and quicker to progress through trials.

Professor Shattock said: 'We are ready to rapidly move those into human studies if somebody wants us to respond.' He cautioned, however, that the approach was new and they were going from 'point zero'.

The UK is also contributing to an international non-profit body, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), set up in 2016 after the West Africa Ebola epidemic.

CEPI is funding three other projects to find a vaccine, two in the US and one in Australia. It has set them a deadline of getting into human trials in 16 weeks.

The current record is for a Zika vaccine, which took seven months to go from the lab to human trials.

Doctors fear if it takes that long this time, coronavirus could already have swept the globe.

UK Government searches for 2,000 people who flew into Britain from infected Wuhan over past two weeks

By Peter Henn

Government officials were last night searching for some 2,000 people who flew from Wuhan to the UK over the past fortnight.

The Department of Health and the Border Force were scrambling to track down those who might not have shown any symptoms when they landed, but could still have been carrying the coronavirus.

There are usually three flights a week from Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, meaning up to 2,500 passengers and crew arrived over the two-week period, though some will have already left the country.

NHS hospital staff have been told to look out for patients who might have the virus

Flights from Wuhan are currently suspended, but a team of medics was yesterday dispatched to Heathrow to meet passengers arriving from other parts of the country.

Those awaiting loved ones were confronted with signs providing details of the dangers of coronavirus and symptoms to look out for.

Meanwhile, Public Health England installed a 'public health hub' on the airside part of Heathrow, with teams of seven medical staff working in shifts to identify any potential carriers.

Similar hubs have not been set up at other UK airports such as Gatwick and Manchester, even though they also receive flights from China.

A Public Health England spokesman said: 'We've established a hub at Heathrow as this has the most direct from flights from China. As part of a precautionary approach, leaflets and information will be made available across UK airports, advising travellers from China on what do to if they feel unwell.'

Travellers getting on planes across Asia are now being quizzed about the locations that they had recently visited, with officials looking out for any trips to Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province.

Passengers also had their temperatures taken before they boarded flights.

One passenger, who gave her name as Fen, said those flying from the city of Guangzhou, 600 miles from Wuhan, had been told to tell immigration officials if they had any potential symptoms.

'The checks were done when we were taking off,' she said. 'We were told about what to expect at London, but as far as I know no one on the flight was ill. Guangzhou is a long way from Wuhan.'

Another traveller, who arrived at Heathrow on an Air China flight from Beijing, said: 'They checked our temperature when we got on the plane, but when we arrived in London, nothing.'

Meulin Ha, who flew to Heathrow from Shanghai, saw no discernible difference from previous trips. Shanghai is about 500 miles from Wuhan and Beijing is 700 miles away.

When asked why no tests had been carried out on those arriving from Wuhan before flights were suspended, Professor Chris Whitty, England's Chief Medical Officer, said experts had decided that 'screening would not provide any appreciable increase in benefit for the UK public'.

Doctors are on standby at Heathrow to meet any sick passengers arriving from China as all 31 patients tested for coronavirus in UK are CLEARED and Border Force hunts 2,000 people who flew in from Wuhan in last two weeks

Border Force agents have been deployed to crank up search for those who came from eastern Hubei province

While 14 people have been tested and given the all-clear, up to 20 people were last night still awaiting results

The deadly coronavirus has hit Europe with France confirming its first three cases of the deadly condition

Medics are being stationed at Heathrow to monitor passengers as virus has now reached almost 12 countries

Doctors have been dispatched to Heathrow to immediately treat any passengers feared to have carried the coronavirus from China and stop the deadly infection spreading on British soil.

This afternoon, passengers from Beijing touched down at London's flagship airport where a rotation team of seven medics are on standby for anyone feeling sick.

UK health officials have erected clinician hubs for people exhibiting symptoms of the virus, yet have warned these signs of infection may not sprout up until long after they leave the airport and fan out across the country.

Border Force agents are already racing to track down 2,000 people who arrived from the outbreak's epicenter of Wuhan in the two weeks before a flight freeze was imposed on Wednesday.

The global death toll of the crisis has climbed to 55 and 1,300 have been infected worldwide, but no cases have so far been confirmed in the UK.

According to two separate scientific analyses of the epidemic, each person infected with coronavirus is passing the disease on to between two and three other people on average at current transmission rates.

All 31 patients probed for coronavirus across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been cleared.

But England's chief medical officer has warned doctors to brace for cases of infected persons in the UK over the coming days.

Only across the Channel, France is treating its first three cases in Paris and Bordeaux, according to the country's health minister Agnes Buzyn who added it was likely others would arise.

Passengers arriving at Heathrow today from China where the deadly coronavirus is sweeping the country and has killed 41

A rotation team of seven doctors are stationed at Heathrow (passengers arriving pictured) in case any people flying in from China feel unwell

Although a flight freeze has been imposed on planes from Wuhan, other flights from China are coming into the UK today

Pictured: Boris Johnson celebrating Chinese New Year. Pressure is now mounting on the government to ramp up Britain's response and screen all passengers on flights from China

Timeline of how the UK has reacted to the coronavirus outreak January 22 The Department of Health announces enhanced monitoring from all flights from Wuhan to the UK, but there are few to be checked, after the Chinese city of Wuhan is essentially shut down in an attempt to control the spread of the virus. Train stations and the airport were closed, while ferries and long-distance buses were also stopped. 'To my knowledge, trying to contain a city of 11 million people is new to science,' Gauden Galea, the WHO's representative in China said. There are 17 confirmed fatalities from the virus. January 23 Public Health England confirms that 14 people in the UK have been tested for the virus, with five having come back negative, and another nine awaiting results, while Health Secretary Matt Hancock says the NHS is 'ready to respond appropriately' to any cases of coronavirus that emerge in the UK. The World Health Organisation says it is 'too early' to declare a public health emergency. Singapore, Vietnam and Hong Kong all report their first cases of the illness. January 24 Matt Hancock chairs a Cobra meeting on the Government's planned response to the virus. Afterwards, he reiterates to reporters on Whitehall that the threat to the UK is 'low'. Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty, confirms that the tests for coronavirus on 14 people in the UK have all come back negative but there are checks ongoing on others. Health officials team up with Border Force agents and airlines to try to track down around 2,000 people who have recently flown to the UK from Wuhan. Three cases are confirmed in France - one in Bordeaux and two in the Paris area - the first in Europe. The Chinese National Health Commission reported a jump in the number of infected people to 1,287, while the death toll rises to 41. January 25 Four cases are confirmed in Australia, one in Victoria and three in New South Wales. Advertisement

Dr. Yazdan Yazdanpaneh, the lead doctor on the case, said the two patients at Paris' Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital have separate, specially equipped rooms and were doing well. He could not say when they may eventually be released. Ways in which the virus can be transmitted remain unclear.

Yazdanpaneh said both patients are from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the viral respiratory illness first was detected. The virus so far has infected more than 1,200 people and killed at least 41.

The patients in Paris are a couple, a 31-year-old man and a woman of 30. They arrived in France on Jan. 18 without symptoms, but one developed symptoms the next day and the other soon followed, the doctor said.

Yazdanpaneh, a leading French expert who heads Bichat's infectious diseases unit, said that cases imported from China were 'not a surprise' and that France had prepared, including by developing a test that provides rapid results for suspected cases.

As the scramble to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus is ratcheted up:

China's National Health Commission reported the number of people infected with a new virus has risen to over 1,400 with 41 deaths;

Thirteen Chinese cities were in lockdown with the virus also confirmed in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, the US, Vietnam and Nepal;

Hong Kong declared the coronavirus outbreak and emergency;

Boarding schools were warned that thousands of Chinese pupils could be stranded in the UK;

Australia confirmed on Saturday its first four cases of the new coronavirus;

The Chinese army deployed medical specialists to Hubei province as authorities expanded travel bans;

The Department of Health confirmed it was trying to find 'as many passengers as we can' who arrived from Wuhan as the public were cautioned it was 'highly likely' the coronavirus would reach British shores.

Some of these may have already flown back to China such as 15 students who visited Cambridge University on January 13, but have since returned to Asia.

The scale of the global outbreak and fears it could be unleashed on Britain sparked a snap meeting of the government's Cobra committee chaired by Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

Boris Johnson, who was occupied with hosting Chinese New Year celebrations, left the top-ranking officials to thrash out a plan to fend of the virus and dismiss the overall threat as 'low'.

But following the meeting, chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said: 'We think there's a fair chance we may get some cases over time.

'Of course this depends on whether this continues for a long time, or whether this turns out to be something which is brought under control relatively quickly.'

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control is also forecasting more cases of the disease to sprout up in the continent.

The United States has moved to pull out its diplomats from their Wuhan consulate, but the UK Foreign Office is refusing to say whether British consulate staff will follow.

Among this first batch of UK patients to be tested for the killer condition was art teacher Michael Hope, 45, who returned from Wuhan with flu-like symptoms last Sunday.

He was quarantined for 27 hours at Newcastle's Royal Infirmary and finally given the thumbs up after being treated by medics who 'looked like spacemen'.

The check-ups of those who have arrived on British soil from China is being carried out by heavily-suited doctors, according to Mr Hope who was one of the first treated.

He said: 'I felt like E.T., to be honest. It was totally, totally surreal.' He added that it took his nurse several minutes to get into all the protective fear just to deliver him a banana for breakfast  and he was grateful for getting a nicotine patch passed under his door.

Mr Hope arrived back Sunday feeling unwell, having been ill since January 4. He told his GP about his symptoms and recent return from Wuhan in a telephone clinic. He was rushed to the city's Royal Victoria Infirmary and put in isolation.

He underwent tests before getting the good news on Thursday evening he had the flu, but not the coronavirus. He said: 'The staff came in with their masks off, so then I knew I was going to be okay.'

During the isolation period, staff wore protective suits and they tested his blood, urine and took throat swabs.

It took his nurse several minutes to get into all the protective gear just to deliver him a banana for breakfast, and he was grateful for the delivery of a nicotine patch which was passed under his door.

Mr Hope said: 'The care was exceptional. It was scary being there but they made me feel quite relaxed. They were very human even though they looked like spacemen.

'I was impressed with the speed with which they dealt with it. They would come in through one sealed door and leave through another. Every time they left they had to dispose of their clothing.'

Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomes members of the Chinese community at 10 Downing Street, London, in celebration of the Chinese New Year

British patient describes quarantine scare Craig Dillon Craig Dillon, 27, told how he was bundled through a secret hospital entrance and into isolation at breakneck speed as soon as he mentioned his recent flight from China. He described being probed by doctors and nurses wearing heavy-duty hazmat suits while their fellow medics watched with baited breath behind toughened glass. The Westminster-based digital media guru is one of 14 people who have been tested and given the all-clear following returns from China where the deadly virus has killed 41. After waking up on Tuesday night dripping with sweat and struggling to breathe, he rushed to St Thomas' Hospital, London on the advice of a 111 operator. 'When I arrived I was so weak I had to lean against the wall,' he wrote in the Telegraph. 'This doctor asked if I was okay and when I replied: 'I'm feeling really ill, I just came back from China,' he literally grabbed me by the arm and led me back outside the hospital. 'A nurse came out and gave me a mask and then I was shown to this secret door around the back.' After a tense three-hour wait, he breathed a sigh of relief when he was revealed to have caught pneumonia. Advertisement

In the early hours of Saturday China's National Health Commission reported the number of people infected with a new virus has risen to 1,287 with 41 deaths. The commission said the latest tally comes from 29 provinces across China, including 237 patients in serious condition.

All 41 deaths have been in China, including 39 in Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, one in Hebei and one in Heilongjiang.

A man in his 50s has now been quarantined in Melbourne, Australia after contracting the deadly virus. He showed no symptoms of the virus when he travelled back alone from Wuhan, via Guangzhou, in China on January 19.

Pressure is now mounting on Mr Hancock to ramp up Britain's response and screen all passengers on flights from China.

Travellers arriving at Heathrow from the Chinese city of Wuhan, at the heart of the outbreak, revealed they were not subject to any screening checks, and that it was a 'completely normal flight'.

MailOnline understands passengers flying from China are not mandated to undergo a medical probe, but are advised to go to one of the doctors hubs in the terminal if they feel unwell.

Ed Davey, the acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, today told Mr Hancock to 'pull his finger' out and demanded he explains how the Government plans to protect the British public from the killer SARS-like infection, which has struck down more than 900 people across the world and can be spread through coughing.

US president Donald Trump said the coronavirus outbreak 'will all work out well' as he praised China's handling of the outbreak, tweeting: 'China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!'

Hospitals in Liverpool, Newcastle and two in London  the Royal Free and Guy's And St Thomas'  have readied their 'high consequence infectious disease' treatment centres to receive patients. The hospitals are each equipped with high-tech isolation units and staffed by separate teams who specialise in treating adults and children.

Officials admitted it would be almost impossible to stop the virus arriving in the UK because of a two-week incubation period  meaning someone could arrive from China showing no symptoms, before later falling ill.

The festivities to herald in the Year of the Rat in 2020 came as the Government held a Cobra crisis meeting to discuss the coronavirus outbreak

A man wears a face mask next to a coronavirus notice at Heathrow Airport this morning. Heathrow has since announced it will have a 'public health hub' for travellers

Public Health England said: 'No system of checks can claim to offer absolute protection because of the incubation period of the virus.

'Some people might only show symptoms 14 days after exposure to an infected person.'

England's chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, said there was a 'fair chance' Britain would see cases emerge  and stressed that tackling the virus would be a 'marathon not a sprint'.

Last night a study of the first 41 cases in Wuhan, published in the Lancet medical journal, showed two thirds of them were among otherwise-healthy people  suggesting anyone could be at risk.

Worryingly, even those who did not show symptoms were able to carry and transmit the disease, the study showed. Fears of a possible pandemic also sparked a stampede for protective face masks across Britain, with one Scottish pharmacy selling an unprecedented 2,000 in one day.

Before all flights were cancelled out of Wuhan on Wednesday night there were three direct journeys to Heathrow each week.

Ministers yesterday ordered search parties to track down the estimated 2,000 people who have flown to the UK from Wuhan in the last fortnight. They will then be contacted and quizzed about their health. If any show signs of the virus they will be asked to undergo immediate testing.

Sources yesterday defended the failure to introduce passenger screening at UK airports, saying it was 'ineffective' against a virus that can have an incubation period of up to 14 days. Professor Whitty said: 'The risk to the UK remains low, but there may well be cases in the UK at some stage.'

Officials said people feeling ill should call, rather than visit, their GP for fear of spreading the virus.

Guests of Mr Johnson included the Chinese ambassador to the UK, Lui Xiaoming (pictured today attending the celebrations)

Mr Johnson hosted figures from the British-Chinese community in the heart of Westminster ahead of the lunar new year on Saturday

None of the fourteen patients tested in the UK (pictured, where they were reportedly being treated) yesterday have the virus. MailOnline understands up to 10 more patients are being tested

Revealed: Advice to NHS doctors if they fear a patient has coronavirus Doctors in the UK have been told to leave the room straight away and shut their patient in if they think they might have the Chinese coronavirus. Public Health England earlier this week issued official guidance for doctors as concerns grow that the contagious illness will make its way to the UK. No cases have been confirmed in the UK yet. At least 15 medical workers in Wuhan have become infected while treating patients with the virus. The PHE guidance, issued to GP practice doctors this week, read: 'If [the Wuhan coronavirus] is considered possible when a consultation is already in progress, withdraw from the room, close the door and wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water. 'Avoid physical examination of a suspected case. The patient should remain in the room with the door closed. Belongings and waste should remain in the room. 'Advise others not to enter the room. If a clinical history still needs to be obtained or completed, do this by telephone. 'The patient should not be allowed to use communal toilet facilities. 'Instruct them to not touch anything or anyone when walking to the toilet. Instruct the patient to wash their hands thoroughly after toileting.' If the patient is critically ill, they should be put into an ambulance, PHE said. But otherwise, a hospital should be phoned ahead and warned and the patient must be told to get there without using public transport or a taxi. Advice for NHS staff:  Ask for detailed travel history from all patients with flu-like symptoms to help identify potential cases.  If a GP identifies a possible case, the person should be isolated immediately and medic must then contact their NHS Trust airborne virus team to set up a test.  Patient should be taken to nearest 'appropriate isolation facilities' for checks and testing.  If coronavirus is detected, the patient will be transferred to an Airborne High Consequences Infectious Diseases centre - these are Guy's and St Thomas' and the Royal Free in London. Royal Liverpool. Newcastle upon Tyne Hospital. Advertisement

The government usually convenes Cobra - short for Cabinet Briefing Room A - to deal with a developing or imminent crisis. It sees senior ministers, often led by the Prime Minister, sit down with senior officials and experts in Whitehall.

First set up in the 1970s, as well as being convened in the wake of terrorist attacks it has also met recently to discuss foreign and domestic issues including floods which struck part of the UK last November and the migrant crisis at Calais.

Professor Whitty, who was part of the meeting, said: 'COBR met today to discuss the situation in Wuhan, China, and elsewhere in Asia. I updated on the current situation, the preparedness of the NHS, and possible next steps.

'We all agree that the risk to the UK public remains low, but there may well be cases in the UK at some stage. We have tried and tested measures in place to respond. The UK is well prepared for these types of incidents, with excellent readiness against infectious diseases.'

'We have global experts monitoring the situation around the clock and have a strong track record of managing new forms of infectious disease. The UK has access to some of the best infectious disease and public health experts in the world.

'There are no confirmed cases in the UK to date. We have been carefully monitoring the situation in Wuhan, China, since the beginning of the outbreak and are now implementing our planned response.

'A public health hub will be set up in Heathrow from today. This consists of clinicians and other public health officials, in addition to existing port health measures. The World Health Organization has rightly responded quickly and China has introduced strong public health measures.'

Public Health England yesterday confirmed 14 patients in the UK were tested for suspicious symptoms that were similar to those caused by the coronavirus. No identities were confirmed but most were thought to be Chinese tourists.

Scottish officials said they were testing five cases in Edinburgh and Glasgow 'as a precaution'. Another man was being tested in isolation at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, and there was a suspected case in Hillingdon, west London. The locations of the other patients were never confirmed.

MailOnline has not been told where the new cases are in the UK  only that there a handful of patients being tested with suspicious coronavirus-like symptoms.

When asked why no physical tests were carried out on arrivals into the UK from Wuhan on Wednesday  the city's last flight into Britain before the shut down, Professor Whitty said: 'Every country does this slightly differently, that's always been the case.

'The way the UK does this, and will continue to, is to make sure we get the best scientific advice for the particular threat.'

He said that after a meeting of the Scientific Advisory Group of Experts, it was concluded: 'The screening would not really provide any appreciable increase in benefit for the UK public.'

When asked whether checks would be upscaled to include people who have arrived on all flights from China, Mr Whitty said: 'We're trying to get ourselves to a place where we can provide a sustainable system that can be scaled to whatever the outbreak looks like.

'It may be that this spreads, it may be that this goes down over time and we need to be ready to respond to either of those.' He added that Britain 'needs to plan for all eventualities'.

Amid fears that Britain can do little to stop the virus spreading, Health Secretary Matt Hancock stressed that officials were 'well prepared' for its arrival. As well as the announcement this afternoon that Heathrow would set up a public health hub, all UK airports have medical experts on hand and information is being provided to all passengers returning from China.

Student newspaper The Tab today revealed 15 students from Wuhan (pictured) attended the University of Cambridge this week, before the city was placed on lockdown

Cambridge University's Jesus College posted on Instagram this week, writing: 'It's been great having the Wuhan University students around the College to learn from a range of lecturers'

On its website, the university says: 'From 13-22 January 2020, Jesus College welcomed 15 visitors from Wuhan College, China, for an education enrichment programme'

Passengers this morning arrived at Heathrow Airport wearing protective masks over fears of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak

Passengers are pictured arriving at Heathrow Terminal 4 today wearing protective masks as signs have been installed around the airport warning passengers of the symptoms of the virus

Photos from inside the intensive care unit at Zhongnan Hospital in Wuhan show medical workers caring for critically-ill patients today, January 24

WHAT IS THE SITUATION IN THE US? Two people in the US have now caught the coronavirus  a man near Seattle, Washington, and a woman in Chicago, Illinois. The man, who is in his 30s, is in hospital in Washington state, close to Seattle, and recovering well. Authorities are also monitoring 43 people with whom he came into contact with before he was diagnosed five days after returning home from Wuhan. The Chicago woman, who is in her 60s, returned from Wuhan on January 13. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is also testing another 63 possible cases in 22 states. There are 10 people in California being held in isolation while they wait for test results, CBS News reports, as well as a Texas A&M student who had visited Wuhan and a student at Tennessee Tech. Speaking on Wednesday, January 22, President Donald Trump he was 'not at all' concerned about the possibility of a pandemic. 'It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control,' he said. 'We have it totally under control. We do have a plan, and we think it's going to be handled very well.' Dr Martin Cetron, of the CDC, said the US was planning a 'very complex process' of rerouting passengers. He added: 'With increasing cases, we decided to move into this full-on, 100 percent coverage strategy'. The US announced it is pulling most of its diplomats and their families from the consulate general in Wuhan. Advertisement

But ministers have faced criticism for failing to monitor jet passengers arriving from China, when other countries  including Turkey, Malaysia and Singapore have since introduced more rigorous checks with passengers having their temperature taken regardless of symptoms.

Acting Lib Dem boss Ed Davey criticised Mr Hancock, telling Sun Online: 'It's time Matt Hancock pulled his finger out. We need to know how long the UK government has known the level of threat and how he is going to protect our citizens.

'These problems do not know borders and Hancock needs to work with international partners to stop this situation before it gets worse.'

Exiting the Cabinet Office this afternoon, Mr Hancock said: 'We have just held a Cobra meeting on the coronavirus concerns. As I made clear to the House yesterday, the clinical advice is that the risk to the public remains low and the chief medical officer will be making a full statement later today.'

Anyone with the symptoms, who has travelled to the UK via Wuhan, will be tested for the virus and if cases are confirmed put in isolation at one of four UK super-hospitals: Two in London, one in Liverpool and one in Newcastle.

Officials yesterday warned thousands of foreign students who have gone back to China to celebrate their New Year this weekend could return to the UK unaware they have the virus.

Universities are already identifying staff and students who have recently visited the worst-hit areas, with some told that they will not be allowed back on campus unless they agree to a 'suitable quarantine period'.

Student newspaper The Tab today revealed 15 students from Wuhan attended the University of Cambridge this week, before the city was placed on lockdown. It reported that the students also went clubbing in the city and that Cambridge Colleges have emailed students a document with advice regarding the coronavirus.

MailOnline has seen an email sent to students at Cambridge's Jesus College, where the Wuhan travellers went to, which says none of the visitors have shown any signs of infection as of yet.

Private schools, many of which also have large contingents of Chinese students, also issued guidance. China sends more pupils to UK fee-paying schools than any other country.

The Boarding Schools Association (BSA) said 'schools might wish to consider planning for the eventuality that some boarders either cannot or choose not to travel home at half-term or, more likely, Easter'.

While there is 'no immediate cause for concern' the situation needs to be closely monitored, independent school groups have said.

The Foreign Office has updated its travel advice to Britons in China, advising against all travel to Wuhan City following the coronavirus outbreak.

'The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advise against all travel to Wuhan City,' guidance on the gov.uk website now reads.

'If you are in this area and able to leave, you should do so. This is due to the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak.'

Huge efforts are being made by construction workers in Wuhan to erect a new hospital in less than a week on the government's orders. Officials said the medical facility must be built to cope with overwhelming numbers of coronavirus patients

News footage from China shows a patient being wheeled out of a Wuhan hospital on a stretcher by medics wearing protective clothing and masks

Shoppers at Oxfordshire's Bicester Village outlet wear face masks today amid fears of catching the killer coronavirus

A man in Manchester is pictured today wearing a face mask in Manchester's Chinatown. The Government's Cobra committee is meeting in Downing Street to discuss the threat to the UK from coronavirus

A spectator wears a mask as she watches the Changing of the Guard ceremony outside of Buckingham Palace this morning

A woman in Glasgow's George Square wears a face mask today. Five patients in Scotland were tested for coronavirus after returning from China with flu-like symptoms

Two women are seen wearing protective face masks as they walk through the streets of central London this morning

Shanghai's Disneyland will close to visitors tomorrow for 'the prevention and control of the disease outbreak'. Visitors wearing masks walk past the resort today which has taken the extraordinary step of closing during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday

The Forbidden City (pictured today) is also closed and part of the Great Wall of China, a huge tourist destination and one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was shut to stop the spread of the coronavirus

France is treating its first three cases in Paris (pictured) and Bordeaux, according to the country's health minister Agnes Buzyn who added that the number was likely to rise

HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE FLOWN TO LONDON FROM WUHAN SINCE THE OUTBREAK BEGAN? Before Wuhan's unprecedented move to cancel all flights out of the city on Wednesday night, there were three direct journeys to London Heathrow each week. Hubei province, where Wuhan is, first reported a mysterious bout of pneumonia cases on December 31. Tests later confirmed it later turned out to be the killer coronavirus. MailOnline has calculated there were 10 flights from Wuhan between then and when the city home to 11million people was put on lockdown - with the last flight on Wednesday, January 22. China Southern airline, which operated all of the flights landing at Heathrow, are thought to use the Boeing 787-800 plane for the near 12-hour journey. Information online suggests the plane holds 219 passengers, including 36 in business class, 72 in economy plus and 111 in standard economy. Therefore, it is thought that at least 2,000 patients will have travelled directly from Wuhan to London since the outbreak first began. Public Health England said it was 'really not in their remit' to confirm the numbers - but added: 'Individuals should seek medical attention if they develop respiratory symptoms within 14 days of visiting Wuhan, either in China or on their return to the UK. 'They should phone ahead before attending any health services and mention their recent travel to the city.' Advertisement

The World Health Organisation last night stopped short of declaring it a 'global health emergency', but said there was no doubt it 'may yet become one'.

The virus  previously unknown to science  first appeared in Wuhan last month. It originated in a meat market and scientists believe it 'jumped the species barrier' from snakes, which may have been on sale illegally, to humans.

Symptoms begin with a fever, a dry cough and sneezing. This is followed by shortness of breath about a week later, which can develop into pneumonia.

All 26 deaths known about so far have occurred in China and most patients were elderly. The virus has now spread to nine countries including the US, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam.

Japan has recorded two cases, one of which exposes how infected travellers leaving China could be missed by health checks. The Wuhan resident, in his 40s, developed a fever several days before his journey to Japan. But his condition then stabilised. He reported a fever again three days after he arrived and is now in a Tokyo hospital, Japan's health ministry said.

On Wednesday night, China suspended all flights out of Wuhan. Direct flights from the city to Heathrow were halted as a result, although there are still many flights into the UK from other Chinese cities. Currently, there are no screening measures on these flights on arrival.

Yesterday the NHS's Chief Medical Officer wrote to hundreds of thousands of doctors and nurses advising them to establish whether patients had recently visited Wuhan. The letter said Chinese New Year celebrations could 'amplify transition', including within the UK, due to the 'mass movement' of people around the world.

University staff are worried that some of the Chinese students who will travel home this Saturday will bring the infection back. As coronavirus has an incubation period of up to two weeks  the time between infection and symptoms beginning  they may pass it on before they even feel ill.

Medical staff work in the ICU (intensive care unit) of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan

Medical workers transfer a patient who is on the mend out of the ICU (intensive care unit) of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan

People are seen passing through a quarantine tent at Beijing West Railway Station as 14 cities around China had special measures put in place today

Medical workers at Zhongnan Hospital are pictured in protective gear today, Friday January 24

Public buses could be seen parked and unattended in Wuhan today  the city's public transport has shut down

An unverified video posted on Twitter claims to show members of Central Theater Command  a division of the People's Liberation Army  standing guard outside a train station in Wuhan

Passengers at the Beijing Railway Station were today pictured wearing face masks amid fears of the outbreak spreading to the capital. Major Lunar New Year celebrations have been cancelled in the city

People wear masks in the Jingshan Park in Beijing today, January 24. New Year celebrations planned in the park will no longer go ahead

Medical staff transfers a coronavirus patient in Wuhan City - a metropolis of 10million people where 2,000 people in Britain today have been in the past fortnight

An employee this morning sprayed disinfectant on a train at Suseo Station in Seoul, South Korea, as a precaution against the coronavirus

Coronavirus: What we know so far What is this virus? The virus has been identified as a new type of coronavirus. Coronaviruses are a large family of pathogens, most of which cause mild respiratory infections such as the common cold. But coronaviruses can also be deadly. SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, is caused by a coronavirus and killed hundreds of people in China and Hong Kong in the early 2000s. Can it kill? Yes. Twenty-six people have so far died after testing positive for the virus. What are the symptoms? Its symptoms are typically a fever, cough and trouble breathing, but some patients have developed pneumonia, a potentially life-threatening infection that causes inflammation of the small air sacs in the lungs. People carrying the novel coronavirus may only have mild symptoms, such as a sore throat. They may assume they have a common cold and not seek medical attention, experts fear. How is it detected? The virus's genetic sequencing was released by scientists in China to the rest of the world to enable other countries to quickly diagnose potential new cases. This helps other countries respond quickly to disease outbreaks. To contain the virus, airports are detecting infected people with temperature checks. But as with every virus, it has an incubation period, meaning detection is not always possible because symptoms have not appeared yet. How did it start and spread? The first cases identified were among people connected to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan. Cases have since been identified elsewhere which could have been spread through human-to-human transmission. What are countries doing to prevent the spread? Countries in Asia have stepped up airport surveillance. They include Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines. Australia and the US are also screening patients for a high temperature, and the UK announced it will screen passengers returning from Wuhan. Is it similar to anything we've ever seen before? Experts have compared it to the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The epidemic started in southern China and killed more than 700 people in mainland China, Hong Kong and elsewhere SCROLL DOWN TO SEE MAILONLINE'S FULL Q&A ON THE CORONAVIRUS Advertisement

One in five international students in Britain is from China. Professor Juergen Haas, the head of infection medicine at Edinburgh University, said there would be 'many more' suspected cases, especially in cities with high Chinese student populations. These include Manchester, Birmingham and London.

Mr Hancock yesterday told the Commons: 'The number of deaths and the number of cases is likely to be higher than those that have been confirmed so far and I expect them to rise further. The public can be assured that the whole of the UK is always well prepared for these type of outbreaks.'

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation, said: 'Make no mistake. This is an emergency in China. But it has not yet become a global health emergency. It may yet become one.'

Jeremy Farrar, of research charity the Wellcome Trust, said: 'This isn't just a China issue, it's going to affect us all.'

The locations of all the 14 patients is not clear at this stage, but earlier today tests on five patients in Scotland had not yet ruled out coronavirus. It is unclear where they are being treated but sources say they are at both Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary.

All of the patients in Scotland are thought to be in isolation and MailOnline understands they flew in to London in the past fortnight before making their way to Scotland. It is unclear if they are related.

Another patient in Northern Ireland  who also travelled from Wuhan, but it is unclear when  is being treated at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital.

It comes as pressure grows on ministers to do more to protect the public. Health Secretary Matt Hancock sought to issue reassurances today as he addressed MPs about the killer outbreak. He promised all passengers on direct flights from China will receive information on what to do if they fall ill.

Passengers from Wuhan last night claimed they were just waved through Heathrow and told to ring NHS 111 if they began to feel ill  despite Government promises of 'enhanced monitoring' of flights out of the Hubei city.

Nine Chinese cities and towns, including Wuhan  which has banned all flights in and out of the city, have been placed in quarantine in a desperate attempt to try to contain the SARS-like virus. Shocking videos show how passengers at airports feared to have the virus are being wheeled out in a special 'quarantine box'.

Officials in China's capital Beijing announced major Chinese New Year events were cancelled because of the constantly-mutating virus, which can cause pneumonia and organ failure.

In a separate development, a passenger on a flight to Los Angeles from Mexico City was taken to hospital and quarantined after showing 'disturbing' symptoms consistent with China's deadly coronavirus. If confirmed, they will become the second case on America soil. The first case  an unidentified man in his 30s in Washington  is being treated by a robot, it was revealed yesterday.

Unverified footage emerging on social media purports to show corpses of coronavirus patients being left unattended in the corridor of a hospital. A woman can be heard saying from behind the camera: 'Three corpses, [they] have been lying here all morning'

Unverified footage posted by a blogger on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, appears to show the corridor and lobby of a hospital crammed with hundreds of mask-donning patients waiting to see the doctor. At least nine cities in China's Hubei Province have been locked down

SCIENTISTS WARNED A CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK COULD KILL 65MILLION PEOPLE THREE MONTHS BEFORE CASES EMERGED IN CHINA Leading US scientists warned a coronavirus could kill tens of millions of people three months before the deadly outbreak in China. Scientists at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security said 65million patients from every corner of the world would die in the event of a global pandemic. They modeled a simulation scenario last October which predicted it would take just 18 months to rack up the huge death toll. Dr Eric Toner, a senior researcher at Johns Hopkins, said he wasn't shocked when news of a mysterious coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan in late December. 'I have thought for a long time that the most likely virus that might cause a new pandemic would be a coronavirus,' he told Business Insider. Coronaviruses typically affect the respiratory tract and can lead to illnesses like pneumonia or the common cold. A coronavirus was also responsible for the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in China, which affected about 8,000 people and killed 774 in the early 2000s. Dr Toner's simulation of a hypothetical deadly coronavirus pandemic suggested that after six months, nearly every country in the world would have cases of the virus. Within 18 months, 65 million people could die. Advertisement

Queen Elizabeth University Hospital  which is thought to be treating one of the patients  has yet to issue a statement, saying the Scottish Government would release an update later today.

Senior doctors told the Record that they believe the cases may both be down to just the flu, given the patients' symptoms.

One source told the newspaper: 'There was no doubt the situation was being taken seriously because of the symptoms being displayed and the specific origin of travel.

'The patient came through London to Glasgow and after the symptoms were flagged up no chances were taken.

'The tests that were carried out could not immediately isolate what the condition might be and it may take a bit longer to be absolutely sure what doctors are dealing with. Obviously they are erring on the side of caution in the meantime.'

Regarding cases, the Prime Minister's deputy spokesman told reporters: 'These measures are purely precautionary and nobody has tested positive. We are well prepared and well equipped.'

Scottish Government sources confirmed five patients were being tested  after issuing a statement to say the correct figure was just three on Thursday.

Confusion surrounded the true number of patients being tested, with the Edinburgh Evening News reporting that the three patients were being treated at the city's Royal Infirmary - and one in Glasgow.

Professor Jurgen Haas, head of infection medicine at the University of Edinburgh, also claimed there were four cases in Scotland - three in Edinburgh and another in Glasgow.

But the Daily Record said a source had revealed two patients were taken into isolation in Glasgow, saying the city's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital was treating at least one patient and had implemented control measures. It reported a third patient was being tested in Edinburgh.

The coronavirus can lead to pneumonia, which can kill people by causing them to drown in the fluid flooding their lungs

Is it was reported some of the patients in Scotland were being treated at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow

The other patient in Scotland was being treated in Edinburgh, thought to be at the city's Royal Infirmary (pictured)

The patient in Northern Ireland  who also travelled from Wuhan, but it is unclear when  was being treated at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital on Thursday

Last night there was a suspected case in Hillingdon, west London (pictured, the Hillingdon Hospital in Middlesex). Public Health England has not revealed where the other cases are

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF THE CORONAVIRUS? Once someone has caught the virus it may take between two and 14 days for them to show any symptoms. If and when they do, typical signs include: a runny nose

a cough

sore throat

fever (high temperature) The vast majority of patients  at least 97 per cent, based on available data  will recover from these without any issues or medical help. In a small group of patients, who seem mainly to be the elderly or those with long-term illnesses, it can lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia is an infection in which the insides of the lungs swell up and fill with fluid. It makes it increasingly difficult to breathe and, if left untreated, can be fatal and suffocate people. Advertisement

Discussing the potentiaL spread, Professor Haas said: 'Here at the University of Edinburgh we have more than 2,000 students from China and they are always coming and going back to China so we are relatively sure we will have cases in the UK from travellers coming back from China.'

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'There are currently no confirmed cases of coronavirus (WN Co-V) in Scotland and the risk to the Scottish public remains low.

'Following travel to Wuhan, China, two people confirmed as diagnosed with influenza are now being tested for Wuhan Novel Coronavirus as a precautionary measure only. Three further people are also undergoing testing on a similar precautionary basis.

'As the situation develops we will update should there be any confirmed cases of Coronavirus, rather than provide a running update on cases being considered on a precautionary basis.'

The BBC broke the news of the suspected case in Northern Ireland, reporting that it is believed the man is being treated in an isolated ward of the hospital.

Belfast Health Trust, which runs the hospital where the patient is being treated, repeatedly declined to comment to MailOnline about the potential case. The Public Health Agency (PHA) also declined to comment.

It is understood a patient arrived at the Royal Victoria showing symptoms which may or may not be associated with the condition but it will be some time before results are returned.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has insisted officials would 'not hesitate' to ramp up UK measures to protect the home nations from the spread of the deadly Chinese coronavirus.

Workers in protective suits are pictured today checking the temperature of passengers arriving at the Xianning North Station on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations, in Xianning, a city bordering Wuhan

Police holding guns wear face masks outside the Beijing railway station this morning. The virus has so far spread to the USA, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan

Chinese food market at the epicentre of deadly virus outbreak was selling KOALAS along with snakes, rats and wolf pups for locals to eat The Chinese food market at the centre of the deadly SARS-like virus outbreak claimed they were selling live koalas, snakes, rats and wolf pups for locals to cook and eat. The Huanan Seafood Market in the central city of Wuhan in China came under scrutiny on Wednesday after Chinese officials said the coronavirus may have originated in a wild animal sold at the food emporium. The market has since been closed and has been labelled 'ground zero' by local authorities. A list of prices for one of the businesses operating at the market showed a menagerie of animals available for sale including live foxes, crocodiles, wolf puppies, giant salamanders, snakes, rats, peacocks, porcupines, koalas and game meats, according to the South China Morning Post. The food menu shows a price of 70 RMB (7.70/$10) for koala meat. Wuhan Huanan Seafood Market (above) is allegedly selling wild animals including live wolf pups, civets and even koalas according to the South China Morning Post. A list of prices for one of the businesses operating at the market showed 'live tree bears' which is the Chinese for 'koala' (circled above) Advertisement

In parliament Thursday morning, the Health Secretary told MPs: 'Currently the evidence suggests the vast majority of cases are in Wuhan.

'Obviously we keep that under constant review and we will not hesitate to take further steps if that's necessary to protect the British public.'

He added: 'We have been closely monitoring the situation in Wuhan and have put in place proportionate, precautionary measures.'

His comments came amid growing fears the safety checks at UK airports were not tough enough.

Shadow health minister Sharon Hodgson said arrivals seemed to be getting 'virtually no screening'.

And she asked if flights from other Chinese cities would be monitored. Officials said yesterday just passengers from Wuhan would be monitored.

Travellers from the giant city, home to 11million people, were separated last night at Heathrow Airport, as part of a drastic plan to contain any potential spread of the virus.

Ministers announced the Wuhan flight  one of three direct flights that go to London each week  would land in an isolated area of Terminal 4, and passengers would be met by a team of medics.

But holiday-makers arriving from the virus-hit city expressed their shock as they were met by a health team but had not been subject to any screening checks.

Instead, they were given a Public Health England leaflet, advising them to contact doctors if they felt ill before being allowed into the country before they were let directly though the airport after baggage reclaim and immigration checks. One said it felt like a 'completely normal flight'.

By contrast, countries including the US, Malaysia and Singapore have introduced more rigorous checks, with all passengers coming in from Wuhan are having their temperature taken, regardless of whether they have any symptoms.

The Chinese food market at the centre of the deadly SARS-like virus outbreak claimed they were selling live koalas, snakes, rats and wolf pups for locals to cook and eat.

The Huanan Seafood Market in the central city of Wuhan in China came under scrutiny on Wednesday after Chinese officials said the coronavirus may have originated in a wild animal sold at the food emporium.

The market has since been closed and has been labelled 'ground zero' by local authorities.

A list of prices for one of the businesses operating at the market showed a menagerie of animals available for sale including live foxes, crocodiles, wolf puppies, giant salamanders, snakes, rats, peacocks, porcupines, koalas and game meats, according to the South China Morning Post.

Fourteen Chinese cities, including Wuhan  which has banned all flights in and out of the city, were placed in quarantine in a desperate attempt to try to contain the SARS-like virus, which can cause pneumonia and organ failure

Chinese tourists were pictured today wearing black face masks at the Vladivostok International Airport in Vladivostok, Russia. China last night confirmed a death in the Heilongjiang province, which borders Russia

THE KILLER VIRUS MAY HAVE COME FROM BATS, SCIENTISTS SAY The killer coronavirus sweeping across the world may have come from bats, scientists have said. Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the People's Liberation Army and Institut Pasteur of Shanghai came to the conclusion. In a statement, the team said: 'The Wuhan coronavirus' natural host could be bats but between bats and humans there may be an unknown intermediate. Tests of the virus, which has yet to be named, have revealed it targets a protein called ACE2  just like its cousin SARS, the South China Morning Post reported. Tracing the evolution of the virus, the team of experts found it belonged to betacoronavirus, making it structurally similar to SARS. Authorities have pointed the blame on food markets in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak that scientists are scrambling to contain. Rodents and bats among other animals are slaughtered and sold in traditional 'wet markets', which tourists flock to see the 'real' side of the country. Advertisement

And the UK is carrying no checks on passengers coming in to Britain on the dozens of flights originating from Wuhan which come via Bangkok in Thailand, Shanghai in China or Hong Kong.

Wuhan earlier this week shut down its entire public transport system as it tried to halt the outbreak of the deadly virus.

People were told not to leave the area and the airport and train stations will be closed to outgoing passengers, in a week when millions are travelling for the upcoming New Year holiday.

Two cities close to Wuhan  which has ordered all residents to wear face masks in public places  have now also been locked down.

Ezhou has shut down train stations, and Huanggang will suspend public buses and trains and order cinemas and internet cafes to close their doors.

Officials in Beijing, the Chinese capital home to 21million people, announced all major Chinese New Year events in the city were cancelled.

Fears of the coronavirus, which has yet to be officially named, have grown as Saudi Arabia yesterday was claimed to have become the tenth country to declare a confirmed case in an Indian nurse working at al-Hayat hospital, some 560 miles (900 km) southwest of the capital Riyadh. But the claim was later dismissed by India's consulate in Jeddah, who said the nurse actually only had MERS - or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, another type of coronavirus.

Health officials say the first American man infected with the coronavirus may have come in contact with at least 16 people before he was put in isolation. The unnamed man from Washington state flew in to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport from China on January 15 and returned to his home in Snahomish County before being diagnosed with the virus five days later on January 20

In addition to the confirmed cases in Washington and Illinois, cases are suspected in California - particularly in the Bay Area and in Alameda County- in Texas and in Tennessee

The Brazos County Health District in Texas is investigating a suspected case of the deadly new coronavirus in a person who recently traveled to Wuhan - the Chinese city where the disease originated (file photo)

WHAT OTHER OUTBREAKS HAVE BEEN DECLARED A GLOBAL HEALTH EMERGENCY? 2009 Swine flu epidemic In 2009 'Swine flu' was identified for the first time in Mexico and was named because it is a similar virus to one which affects pigs. The outbreak is believed to have killed as many as 575,400 people. 2014 Poliovirus resurgence Poliovirus began to resurface in countries where it had once been eradicated, and the WHO called for a widespread vaccination programme to stop it spreading. Cameroon, Pakistan and Syria were most at risk. 2014 and 2019 Ebola outbreaks Ebola killed at least 11,000 people across the world after it spread like wildfire through Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2014, 2015 and 2016. More than 28,000 people were infected in what was the worst ever outbreak of the disease. Almost 4,000 people were struck down with the killer virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo last year. 2016 Zika outbreak Zika, a tropical disease which can cause serious birth defects if it infects pregnant women, was the subject of an outbreak in Brazil's capital, Rio de Janeiro, in 2016. Advertisement

Vietnam also reported two cases Thursday afternoon. Reports say the father and son, whose identities were not revealed, had arrived from Wuhan. Both are said to be in a good condition.

Singapore announced just hours before that it also had a confirmed case, with a 66-year-old man also from Wuhan testing positive for the virus.

Four cases have also been recorded in Thailand and two in Hong Kong. Taiwan, Japan, Macau and South Korea have all reported one case.

The US has also reported a case  an unidentified man from Washington state, who is in his 30s. It was revealed that he had came into close contact with at least 16 people before he was put in isolation.

According to health officials, he wasn't diagnosed until Monday, January 20 - five days after he landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport from China. He did not fly directly from Wuhan, where he originally set off from. Nor did he visit any of the markets thought to be at the source of the outbreak.

The patient is being treated by a robot armed with a stethoscope in a small, 20-foot-by-20-foot room at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Business Insider reported.

Officials warned the US is expected to see additional cases. Washington state Health Secretary John Wiesman predicted that the number of Americans infected would likely grow as the coronavirus continues its spread at a faster rate than previously thought.

'I would expect that at some point we're going to have more cases in the US,' Wiesman said, noting that there is no need to panic as public health officials are well-equipped to handle and contain outbreaks.

Dr Martin Cetron, director for the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine at the US's Centers for Disease Control, said the CDC has instructed the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Department to redirect anyone who tries to get from Wuhan to the US without going through any of the five airports set-up for screening.

He described funnelling as 'a very complex process that involves reissuing tickets and rerouting passengers from all over the globe through connecting indirect flights'.

The Washington state patient who became the first recorded case of the new coronavirus in America is currently in isolation at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett (pictured)

UK IS ONE OF THE FIRST COUNTRIES TO HAVE A SPECIFIC TEST FOR THE CORONAVIRUS The UK is one of the first countries outside China to have a specific laboratory test for the coronavirus at the centre of the latest outbreak. Any patient with symptoms who has travelled to Wuhan in the previous 14 days will have samples taken, which will be sent to a Public Health England (PHE) laboratory and processed the same day. Samples are taken from the nose, throat and deeper down, then sent to PHE's lab in Colindale, north London. PHE also has the capability to sequence the viral genome and compare this to published sequences from China. This can provide valuable information on any mutations in the virus over time and help inform actions and treatments. Advertisement

CDC officials have also suggested the possibility of redirecting entire flights inbound from China through airports with screening checkpoints.

When a traveller is sent for a screening in the US, they are first required to take a survey about possible symptoms, such as cough or fever, as well as whether they visited the meat or seafood markets in Wuhan that have been tied to the outbreak.

If they appear to have any symptoms associated with coronavirus, they are taken to on-site triage for further examination and a temperature check.

Two passengers flying from Shanghai on United Airlines were reportedly examined at O'Hare on Tuesday after appearing to show symptoms of coronavirus, the airline said.

It's unclear what led officials to single out the passengers, but they were both cleared and released after examination.

President Donald Trump addressed the deadly new virus during remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, early Wednesday morning. He praised the CDC's rapid response and said the situation is being handled 'very well'.

Clips posted on Twitter claim to show the impact the unprecedented decision to shut down Wuhan has had, with deserted streets reminiscent of the disaster film 28 Days Later.

Traffic has piled up on the city's major roads, which have been blocked by police vans enforcing travel bans.

In one video an eerily quiet street is seen being 'disinfected', with billowing fumes filling the air, while another shows huge 'quarantine tents' lining a neighbourhood.

Another clip reportedly shows an airline passenger being wheeled out of an airport in a quarantine box, amid suspicions he has the coronavirus.

Part of the Great Wall of China, a huge tourist destination and one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was closed to stop the spread of the coronavirus, according to reports today, and Shanghai's Disneyland will close to visitors tomorrow for 'the prevention and control of the disease outbreak'

Two people are pictured wearing protective face masks at Changi Airport in Singapore today, January 24

Kharn Lambert, a PE teacher based in China, is trapped in China along with his 81-year-old grandmother

BRITISH GRANDMOTHER, 81, IS TRAPPED IN WUHAN AFTER VISITING HER PE TEACHER GRANDSON A British grandmother is trapped in Wuhan and unable to return home after the city was quarantined in a desperate bid to contain the outbreak. Veronica Theobald, 81, from Lancaster, has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and has not left the house where she is staying in over a week for fear of falling ill. She was visiting her grandson, Kharn Lambert, a PE teacher who has lived in the city for five years, and was due to fly back to England on Monday. However, her return was cancelled after the city was placed on lockdown. Mr Lambert said: 'There is no knowing how long she will have to stay here, and I'm worried about her running out of the medication she needs for her health so I'm in constant contact with the British embassy. 'I do worry if I have to go out for whatever reason that I will bring something back into the house and she will become infected and fall ill. 'She only brought enough medication for her time here plus and an extra week in case of any flight delays etc. But nothing can prepare you for this. 'My family at home are extremely concerned about her, but I'm trying hard to reassure them that I am taking the best care of her as I can.' Mr Lambert said the embassy had put them in touch with a doctor who will be following up on his grandmother's health after the weekend. He said the mood in Wuhan has changed in the last 24 hours, due to the short amount of time residents were given to prepare for the lockdown, saying: 'People are starting to realise the seriousness off the situation. Due to the hysteria caused by the lockdown yesterday, it was difficult to get food and any food that was available had been increased in price. However, I went to the supermarket today and the shelves had been restocked.' Advertisement

Wearing a protective suit, a mask and gloves, the man allegedly showed symptoms during screening and was isolated from other travellers.

Social media users complained that shops have bumped up the price of fresh produce and shoppers have been seen physically fighting a crowded supermarket.

One Twitter user, the BBC reported, said the threat of food shortages and disinfectant in the street made it feel like 'the end of the world'.

A top official at the National Institute of Health (NIH) revealed that human trials for a vaccine targeting 2019-nCoV, what scientists have temporarily labelled it, could begin within three months.

Anthony Fauci told Bloomberg Law that his agency is working with Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech company Moderna Inc to develop the vaccine.

'We're already working on it,' he said. 'And hopefully in a period of about three months, we'll be able to start a phase I trial in humans.'

Vaccine experts at Baylor University are also reportedly working on modifying a vaccine they designed to prevent SARS to protect against the new, related coronavirus.

But the school's Dean of Tropical Medicine, which is developing the shot, Dr Peter Hotez, has already told DailyMail.com that it's likely years away from deployment.

An Oxford University expert said the outbreak so far was 'extraordinary'. Dr Peter Horby said: 'We haven't seen this large-scale spread since SARS.'

Speaking about whether he thought the World Health Organisation should declare it an international emergency, he added: 'There are three criteria  one, is this an extraordinary event? Two, is it spreading internationally? Three, is an international response required? In my opinion all three of these have been met.'

SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, is caused by the SARS coronavirus. It first emerged in China in 2002.

By the end of a nine-month outbreak, the virus had spread to several other Asian countries as well as the UK and Canada, killing 775 and infecting more than 8,000.

On Thursday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it is 'too early' to declare an international public health emergency over the outbreak 'given its restrictive and binary nature'.

Speaking at a press conference, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said: 'Make no mistake, this is though an emergency in China. But it has not yet become a global health emergency. It may yet become one.'

Builders in Wuhan, the city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, are scrambling to construct a brand new hospital in just a week over a national holiday (Pictured: Construction work today)

Government guards in Wuhan, where the outbreak began, check a car for illegally smuggled animals on January 24. The virus is believed to have jumped from animals to people

What do we know about the deadly coronavirus? What are the symptoms... and how worried SHOULD the world really be?

CHINA SHUTS PART OF THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA AND DISNEYLAND 'AS ARMY IS DEPLOYED ON THE STREETS' Part of the Great Wall of China and Disneyland in Shanghai have been closed to stop people spreading the deadly Wuhan coronavirus, Chinese officials announced today. At least 10 cities in China, home to around 33million people, have gone into some form of lockdown in the past two days, with public transport halted and roads closed down. And footage posted online reportedly shows military personnel being deployed onto the streets of Wuhan, from where the virus has emerged, to help with efforts to contain the outbreak. Chinese New Year is due to be celebrated tomorrow, which normally means millions of people travel around the country and the world to visit family. But major festivities all over the country have been cancelled, including those at Beijing's Forbidden City, a major tourist destination, and fairs and carnivals in Beijing and Hong Kong. But travel experts have warned the deadly coronavirus could have a major impact on global tourism unless lessons are learned from previous epidemics. Gloria Guevara, president of London-based World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), said transparent communication is vital to 'contain panic and mitigate negative economic losses'. WTTC analysis of previous major viral epidemics shows the average recovery time for visitor numbers to a destination was 19 months, but this can be reduced to just 10 months with 'the right response and management'. It stated that the Sars outbreak of 2003 cost the global travel and tourism sector as much as 38 billion ($49.75bn), while the worldwide economic impact of the 2009 swine flu pandemic was up to 42billion ($55bn). Advertisement

It emerged yesterday that the deadly coronavirus spreading across Asia is far more contagious than previously thought and someone who is infected can spread it with just a simple cough or a sneeze, scientists say.

Twenty-six people with the virus are now confirmed to have died and more than 800 have been infected in at least nine countries. But experts predict the true number of people with the disease could be as many as 10,000 as they warn it may kill as many as two in 100 cases. Here's what we know so far:

What is the Wuhan coronavirus?

A coronavirus is a type of virus which can cause illness in animals and people. It is an RNA virus (RNA is a type of genetic material called ribonucleic acid), which means it breaks into cells inside the host of the virus and uses them to reproduce itself.

This coronavirus from Wuhan is one which has never been seen before this outbreak. It is currently named 2019-nCoV, and does not have a more detailed name because so little is known about it.

Dr Helena Maier, from the Pirbright Institute, said: 'Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that infect a wide range of different species including humans, cattle, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats and wild animals.

'Until this new coronavirus was identified, there were only six different coronaviruses known to infect humans. Four of these cause a mild common cold-type illness, but since 2002 there has been the emergence of two new coronaviruses that can infect humans and result in more severe disease (Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronaviruses).

'Coronaviruses are known to be able to occasionally jump from one species to another and that is what happened in the case of SARS, MERS and the new coronavirus. The animal origin of the new coronavirus is not yet known.'

The first human cases were publicly reported from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where approximately 11million people live, three weeks ago after medics first started seeing cases in December.

By January 8, 59 suspected cases had been reported and seven people were in critical condition. Tests were developed for the new virus and recorded cases started to surge.

A man stands guard outside the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, which was ground zero for the outbreak at the beginning of this year. Photographed today, January 24

China spent the first few days of coronavirus outbreak ARRESTING people for spreading 'rumours' that SARS had returned China spent the crucial first days of the new coronavirus outbreak arresting people who talked about it online and harassing journalists trying to cover the story. While Chinese officials were quick to inform world health authorities about the new disease, they appear to have tried to repress the news at home. That could have allowed the disease to spread quickly through cities such as Wuhan, now thought to be the epicentre of the virus, because citizens were largely unaware it existed and took no precautions against it. The move also has chilling echoes of the 2003 SARS outbreak, which China initially tried to cover up and ended with the deaths of almost 800 people. Chinese officials then reported the infection, identified at the time as an known kind of pneumonia, to the World Health Organization on December 31. A domestic investigation was launched on January 3, with authorities saying they had ruled out flu, avian flu and another common respiratory illnesses as a cause. Police at the time said they had arrested and punished eight people 'publishing or forwarding false information on the internet without verification.' Advertisement

The first person died that week and, by January 16, two were dead and 41 cases were confirmed. The next day, scientists predicted that 1,700 people had become infected, possibly up to 4,500.

Today, just one week later, there have been more than 800 confirmed cases and those same scientists estimate that some 4,000  possibly 9,700  were infected in Wuhan alone. There are now 10 countries with confirmed cases and 26 people have died.

Where does the virus come from?

Nobody knows for sure. Coronaviruses in general tend to originate in animals  the similar SARS and MERS viruses are believed to have originated in civet cats and camels, respectively.

The first cases of the virus in Wuhan came from people visiting or working in a live animal market in the city, which has since been closed down for investigation.

Although the market is officially a seafood market, other dead and living animals were being sold there, including wolf cubs, salamanders, snakes, peacocks, porcupines and camel meat.

Bats are a prime suspect  researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in a recent statement: 'The Wuhan coronavirus' natural host could be bats but between bats and humans there may be an unknown intermediate.'

And another scientific journal article has suggested the virus first infected snakes, which may then have transmitted it to people at the market in Wuhan.

Peking University researchers analysed the genes of the coronavirus and said they most closely matched viruses which are known to affect snakes. They said: 'Results derived from our evolutionary analysis suggest for the first time that snake is the most probable wildlife animal reservoir for the 2019-nCoV,' in the Journal of Medical Virology.

So far the fatalities are quite low. Why are health experts so worried about it?

Experts say the international community is concerned about the virus because so little is known about it and it appears to be spreading quickly.

It is similar to SARS, which infected 8,000 people and killed nearly 800 in an outbreak in Asia in 2003, in that it is a type of coronavirus which infects humans' lungs.

Guests today wore face masks at the Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa Resort and Spa in Singapore following the confirmed new cases in the country

People in Hong Kong are picturing lining up to get free vitamin C tablets and bottles of hand sanitiser this morning

CAN YOU CATCH CORONAVIRUS THROUGH THE EYES? The deadly respiratory disease may be caught through the eyes. Wang Guangfa, who heads the department of pulmonary medicine at Beijing's Peking University First Hospital, was part of a team of experts that earlier this month visited Wuhan, where the virus first emerged. The respiratory expert has claimed that he may have contracted the disease because of a lack of eye protection. He says he developed conjunctivitis in his left eye after returning to Beijing and around three hours later he began suffering from a fever and catarrh - excessive discharge or build-up of mucus in the nose or throat. He said the most likely explanation of him contracting the virus was it entering through his eyes. Paul Kellam, professor of virus genomics at Imperial College London, said this is 'absolutely possible'. 'If you have droplets sneezed at you, they will wash from your nose to your eye,' he said. 'Your eye connects to your nose through the lacrimal duct. 'If you suffer from allergies and if your eyes run, so will your nose. Or if you put medication in your eyes, you'll taste at the back of your throat. 'It isn't unusual for flu and other viruses to be transmitted this way. You can also get respiratory infections through the eye.' Professor Kellam said it is for this reason healthcare workers must wear eye protection. And even though face masks that protect the mouth and nose are effective, they clearly 'won't protect the eyes'. Advertisement

Another reason for concern is that nobody has any immunity to the virus because they've never encountered it before. This means it may be able to cause more damage than viruses we come across often, like the flu or common cold.

Speaking at a briefing yesterday, Oxford University professor, Dr Peter Horby, said: 'Novel viruses can spread much faster through the population than viruses which circulate all the time because we have no immunity to them.

'Most seasonal flu viruses have a case fatality rate of less than one in 1,000 people. Here we're talking about a virus where we don't understand fully the severity spectrum but it's possible the case fatality rate could be as high as two per cent.'

If the death rate is truly two per cent, that means two out of every 100 patients who get it will die.

'My feeling is it's lower,' Dr Horby added. 'We're probably missing this iceberg of milder cases. But that's the current circumstance we're in.

'Two per cent case fatality rate is comparable to the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 so it is a significant concern globally.'

How does the virus spread?

Information has emerged today, Thursday, suggesting that the illness may spread between people just through coughs and sneezes, making it an extremely contagious infection.

It is believed to travel in the saliva and therefore close contact, kissing and sharing cutlery or utensils are risky. Because it infects the lungs, it is also likely present in droplets people cough up which, when inhaled, can infect the next person.

Originally, people were thought to be catching it from a live animal market in Wuhan city. But cases soon began to emerge in people who had never been there, which forced medics to realise it was spreading from person to person.

Police officers wearing masks today checked a car for smuggled wild animals at an expressway toll station outside of Wuhan, on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations

CHINA BUILT A LAB TO STUDY SARS AND EBOLA IN WUHAN IN 2017 - AND EXPERTS WARNED A VIRUS COULD ESCAPE Scientists warned in 2017 that a SARS-like virus could escape a lab set up that year in Wuhan, China, to study some of the most dangerous pathogens in the world. China installed the first of a planned five to seven biolabs designed for maximum safety in Wuhan in 2017, for the purpose of studying the most high-risk pathogens, including the Ebola and the SARS viruses. Tim Trevan, a Maryland biosafety consultant, told Nature that year, when the lab was on the cusp of opening, that he worried China's culture could make the institute unsafe because 'structures where everyone feels free to speak up and openness of information are important.' In fact, the SARS virus had 'escaped' multiple times from a lab in Beijing, according to the Nature article. The Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory is located about 20 miles away from the Huanan Seafood Market and some have wondered if the outbreak's epicenter is coincidental, but the scientific community currently believes that the virus mutated through and jumped to people through animal-human contact at the market. Advertisement

There is now evidence that it can spread third hand  to someone from a person who caught it from another person.

What does the virus do to you? What are the symptoms?

Once someone has caught the virus it may take between two and 14 days for them to show any symptoms.

If and when they do, typical signs include a runny nose, a cough, sore throat and a fever (high temperature). The vast majority of patients  at least 97 per cent, based on available data  will recover from these without any issues or medical help.

In a small group of patients, who seem mainly to be the elderly or those with long-term illnesses, it can lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia is an infection in which the insides of the lungs swell up and fill with fluid. It makes it increasingly difficult to breathe and, if left untreated, can be fatal and suffocate people.

What have genetic tests revealed about the virus?

Scientists in China have recorded the genetic sequences of around 19 strains of the virus and released them to experts working around the world.

This allows others to study them, develop tests and potentially look into treating the illness they cause.

Examinations have revealed the coronavirus did not change much  changing is known as mutating  much during the early stages of its spread.

However, the director-general of China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fu, yesterday said the virus was mutating and adapting as it spread through people.

This means efforts to study the virus and to potentially control it may be made extra difficult because the virus might look different every time scientists analyse it.

More study may be able to reveal whether the virus first infected a small number of people then change and spread from them, or whether there were various versions of the virus coming from animals which have developed separately.

Sri Lankan airport officials stand next to a thermal scanner monitor that shows the temperature of passengers at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo, pictured this morning

How dangerous is the virus?

The virus has so far killed 26 people out of a total of at least 800 officially confirmed cases  a death rate of around three per cent. This is a higher death rate than the Spanish Flu outbreak which, in 1918, went on to kill around 50million people.

However, experts say the true number of patients is likely considerably higher. Imperial College London researchers estimate that there were 4,000 (up to 9,700) cases in Wuhan city alone up to January 18  officially there have only been 444 there to date. If cases are in fact 100 times more common than the official figures, the death rate may be considerably lower.

FOOTAGE CLAIMS TO SHOW CORPSES OF CORONAVIRUS VICTIMS ARE LEFT LYING IN HOSPITALS 'FLOODED WITH HUNDREDS OF PATIENTS' Corpses of coronavirus victims are allegedly being left unattended in a corridor of a hospital flooded with patients in Wuhan as the Chinese city is ravaged by the deadly infection, it has been revealed. The chilling scene, captured by a woman who claims to be a nurse, was posted to the country's social media today but quickly censored. In a post, the self-proclaimed medical worker described how patients were being sent in non-stop without any quarantine measures, warning that 'everyone will end up being infected and dying'. The now-removed video was shared onto Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, by a user known as 'magic girl Xiao Xi'. It was believed to be filmed at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital, one of the facilities appointed by the government to receive suspected and diagnosed coronavirus patients. In another shocking video, hundreds of people could be seen inside a Chinese hospital. It is unclear when the footage was taken - but it is claimed to be from the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. Advertisement

Experts say it is likely only the most seriously ill patients are seeking help and are therefore recorded  the vast majority will have only mild, cold-like symptoms. For those whose conditions do become more severe, there is a risk of developing pneumonia which can destroy the lungs and kill you.

Can the virus be cured?

The Wuhan coronavirus cannot currently be cured and it is proving difficult to contain.

Antibiotics do not work against viruses, so they are out of the question. Antiviral drugs can, but the process of understanding a virus then developing and producing drugs to treat it would take years and huge amounts of money.

No vaccine exists for the coronavirus yet and it's not likely one will be developed in time to be of any use in this outbreak, for similar reasons to the above.

The National Institutes of Health in the US, and Baylor University in Waco, Texas, say they are working on a vaccine based on what they know about coronaviruses in general, using information from the SARS outbreak. But this may take a year or more to develop, according to Pharmaceutical Technology.

Currently, governments and health authorities are working to contain the virus and to care for patients who are sick and stop them infecting other people.

People who catch the illness are being quarantined in hospitals, where their symptoms can be treated and they will be away from the uninfected public.

And airports around the world are putting in place screening measures such as having doctors on-site, taking people's temperatures to check for fevers and using thermal screening to spot those who might be ill (infection causes a raised temperature).

However, it can take weeks for symptoms to appear, so there is only a small likelihood that patients will be spotted up in an airport.

Is this outbreak an epidemic or a pandemic?

The outbreak has not officially been confirmed as either an epidemic or a pandemic yet. This is likely because, despite the global concern, the number of people who have been confirmed to be infected is still relatively low.

A pandemic is defined by the World Health Organization as the 'worldwide spread of a new disease'.

An epidemic is when a disease takes hold of a smaller community, such as a single country, region or continent.
The Jammu and Kashmir Police has bagged the maximum number of gallantry honours with 108 medals on the occasion of the 71st Republic Day, followed by 76 by the CRPF, according to an official communication on Saturday.

The tally for the Union Territory police, thickly involved in counter-terrorist operations in the Kashmir Valley, also includes three President's Police Medal for Gallantry (PPMG), out of the total four of these top category decorations announced this time.

These numbers have enabled the Jammu and Kashmir Police to win a lion's share of 108 medals out of the total 290 gallantry awards declared on the eve of the Republic Day, as per the Union Home Ministry.

It is one of the highest tally of gallantry medals won by a police force in recent times, a senior officer in the security establishment said.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) that is also deployed in the Union Territory for counter-terror duties apart from being the lead force in anti-Naxal operations continued its streak of getting the largest multi-theatre gallantry medals as it has been decorated with 75 Police Medals for Gallantry and a PPMG (posthumously) for CoBRA commando Utpal Rabha.

Rabha was killed in an encounter with Maoists in Jharkhand in June, 2018 and his citation said he displayed "extraordinary valour" during the gunbattle.

Among other awardees of the CRPF is Assistant Commandant Naresh Kumar, who is being decorated with a gallantry medal for the sixth time.

The officer was part of the famed quick action team (QAT) of the CRPF based in Srinagar that specialises in conducting counter-terror operations.

Kumar, who served for about five years in Kashmir, has been involved in operations that killed more than 50 terrorists.

Atul Karwal, Director of Sardar Vallabhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad, the alma mater of the Indian Police Service officers also won a PMG.

Karwal has been awarded for an operation he participated in 2016 when he was the CRPF Inspector General (IG) in Kashmir.

CRPF Director General (DG) A P Maheshwari praised his troops "for keeping the flag of the force flying high".

"I also salute the families of personnel who laid down their lives in the line of duty," the CRPF chief said.

Other forces that have been decorated with the police bravery medal (PMG) include the state police units of Jharkhand (33), Odisha (16), Delhi Police (12), Maharashtra (10), Chhattisgarh (8), Bihar (7), Punjab (4) and Manipur (2).

Among the central forces, the Border Security Force (BSF) got nine PMG followed by SSB 4, and one for the Railway Protection Force (RPF).

Overall, a total of 1,040 police medals have been declared on the eve of the Republic Day that includes 93 distinguished service medals and 657 meritorious service medals.

These police bravery awards are declared biannually on the eve of the Republic Day and Independence Day.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Earlier, Visva Bharati University officials had said the spring festival will be held on 19 February instead of 9 March, citing law and order issues

Suri: Authorities of Visva Bharati University are willing to hold the annual 'Basanta Utsav' on its usual schedule, the day of Holi, if the West Bengal government provides adequate security for the event, an official said.

Earlier, varsity officials had said the spring festival will be held on 19 February instead of 9 March, citing law and order issues. "A committee has been formed to look into the date of 'Basanta Utsav'. If the state government ensures adequate security and other related arrangements, the festival may be celebrated on 9 March," Visva Bharati spokesperson Anirban Sarkar said on Friday evening.

He also said members of the committee would soon meet the state's Education Minister Partha Chatterjee to discuss the date of the event. Sarkar had earlier told PTI that the varsity authorities faced inconveniences due to the massive turnout at the festival last year, and were open to reconsider the date in 2020.

However, the proposal to hold the event on a different date had sparked controversy and led to protests by a section of students. The 'Basanta Utsav' is held inside the campus of the central university in Birbhum district.
Shes the supremely stylish assassin who is hellbent on killing Eve, the MI6 agent who is fascinated by her.

But could Villanelle, the Paris-based psychopath, have found herself another victim  her mentor Konstantin Vasiliev?

Our exclusive pictures show the Russian spymaster lying motionless on the ground in a scene for the forthcoming third series of Killing Eve, the drama that has become a hit for the BBC in the UK and US.

In her clutches: Villanelle takes a closer look as Konstantin lies motionless on the ground

Outlandish: Jodie Comer in one of Villanelle's unusual outfits as the stylish assassin

Returning to the screen: Sandra Oh will be starring again in the hit series with co-star Comer

But what we dont know is whether Villanelle  played by Jodie Comer  has killed off her handler or whether she is trying to save his life after a murder attempt by another assassin.

The scenes, filmed on at platform at Londons Liverpool Street station last week, show Villanelle dressed in a flamboyant green outfit consisting of a jacket adorned with feathers and matching wide-leg trousers.

She is seen looking down at Konstantin before crouching to take a closer look at his face in what is believed to be the series finale.

Reunited: Actresses Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh return for what is believed to be the final installment of the show

Plot twist: Fans will be left gripped by the new show which is loved in both the US and UK

The images will leave Killing Eve fans suspicious that Villanelle has once again tried to murder her friend.

She shot Konstantin  played by Danish actor Kim Bodnia  in the chest during the finale of the first series.

While his body was never seen, MI6 agent Carolyn Martens (Fiona Shaw) claimed Villanelle had killed him.

But in a dramatic twist in series two, he appeared in Carolyns living room, much to the surprise of Eve, played by Sandra Oh.
Chetana Belagere By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: "If someone asks me how close I am to her, I really don't know how to explain. She is my sister. We grew up together. Today, I feel miserable to see her in that state. Her young children are unable to get moral support. We are definitely short of funds and need help to ensure my sister's treatment happens without any glitch," grieves 38-year-old Manish Thapa, brother of Preeti Maheshwari, who is the first known Indian national afflicted with the coronavirus and battling for life.

Speaking to The New Indian Express, Manish Thapa, senior product manager at Bengaluru's Amazon, explained why he has started a page on two crowdfunding platforms in India to raise Rs 1 crore for his sister's medical expenses.

Preeti's husband Anshuman, a trader, has been living in China for past 17 years. With the cost of treatment mounting ever since Preeti was admitted on January 11, gathering money through crowdfunding platforms became the only option.

"Money woes aside, we are even struggling to fly to China. My maami (Preeti's mom) is the best moral support my sister's kids can get with their mother in pain. Unfortunately, her visa was denied twice before it came through on January 21. And now she can't fly to China as there is a travel ban," Manish explained.

"She was scheduled to fly today. We were happy thinking that my sister will get to see her mom and also Anshuman and the kids will have had some kind of support. It is a very unfortunate state," said Manish.

Maheshwari, a primary art school teacher at the International School of Science and Technology in Shenzen, was admitted to a private hospital with severe Type 1 respiratory failure, Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome (MODS) and septic shock on January 11.

Manish said Preeti is undergoing treatment in the Critical Care Unit of Shekou Hospital in Shenzhen and continues to be on external respiratory support and ventilators. She is also undergoing dialysis and blood purification.

"It was even worse situation the whole of last week as there she was on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), which is a treatment that uses a pump to circulate blood through an artificial lung back into the bloodstream and it is like a medically induced coma," he said.

The only good news is that Preeti was out of the ECMO machine and responding. She was reportedly made to sit down in a wheelchair and communicated with her husband and her 14-year-old daughter Prashansa through gestures.

"We are happy Prashansa got to spend about five minutes with her mom. My sister could communicate with her through gestures. Her younger child is nine years old," Manish said.

Thanking all those who have been helping him on both ImpactGuru.com and Milaap (with Rs 1 crore set as the target on both platforms), Manish said he grew up in the house of Preeti's mother in Old Delhi as a kid. He said: "I know what condition my maami is in. Again, the doctors haven't given us an estimate of how much this treatment will cost. We were told initially to arrange about Rs 54 lakhs. This is going to be a long road for recovery and we need money. Hence, I have kept the amount to Rs 1 crore on the crowdfunding platforms."

When asked why he resorted to crowdfunding, he said primarily because "my maami never asked for this. But I know their situation. Our relatives too can't afford that much. Hence, in such a situation, I felt a crowdfunding platform is best where your relatives donate, share and talk about this with their friends and somehow arrange the money."

Now, Manish is receiving emails from several people whose relatives have battled illnesses that have led to Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome (MODS) and septic shock and recovered. "It is a great moral support and positivity is all that we need right now," Manish said.
The Oba of Benin, Omo Noba Nedo Uku Akpolokpolo Ewuare II on Friday called for the peaceful co-existence and unity among Nigerians.

Ewuare II made the call during a courtesy visit on the governor of Niger, Alhaji Abubakar Bello, at Government House, Minna.

There is need to pray for peaceful co-existence and unity of Nigeria, he said.

He said that Edo and Niger states have a long sustained relationship dating back to its creation by the ex-military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd).

The traditional ruler, who was happy with the warm reception accorded Edo indigenes in the state, added that his visit would further boost the bond of relationship between the two states.

He said that the visit was to reciprocate the gesture done him by the state Governor and the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, Chairman of the state council of traditional leaders who attended his coronation in Benin city.

Responding, Bello who was represented by the state deputy governor, Alhaji Ahmed Ketso said Niger has a sustained relationship with the traditional rulers in the state.

We will continue to make the traditional institution relevant and also sustain the existing relationship, he said.

He said that the roles of traditional leaders in the country must be supported and respected in view of their significance as the custodian of cultures of every society.

The governor noted that many social vices in the country could be tackled if the traditional institutions are strengthened and recognised by governments at all levels.

He said that Ewuares visit would further strengthen the long cordial relationship existing between the two states.

Bello gave the assurance that the state government would continue to respect the rights of non indigenes in the state.

According to News Agency of Nigeria NAN, Oba Ewuare was accompanied by the Etsu Nupe and other High Chiefs from Niger and Edo.
Sudans transitional government and a rebel group have signed a preliminary peace deal, paving the way for eventual reconciliation through ongoing talks.

General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy chief of Sudans Sovereign Council, inked the deal on Friday along with Malik Agar, head of one of the two factions of Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), which has been fighting the government in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions.

The government of Sudan is more willing than before to reach a peaceful settlement in Sudan, Dagalo said at the signing ceremony that was held in South Sudans capital, Juba, and was overseen by South Sudanese President Salva Kiir.

The ruling council has made peace-making with rebels fighting Khartoum one of its main priorities as it is a key condition for the countrys removal from the United States sponsors of terrorism list.

The body took over the reins of government in August after military and civilian parties and protest groups signed a three-year power-sharing deal after months of strife following the overthrow of long-time President Omar al-Bashir in April.

The transitional government and rebel groups restarted peace talks last October to end Sudans long-running conflicts that have killed thousands of people. They have until February 14 to ink a comprehensive peace deal.

Terms of the deal

The agreement grants special status to the Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions, which are partly under the control of rebels.

Under the deal, the two regions will be allowed to draw up their own laws, said Yasir Said Arman, deputy head of SPLM-N led by Agar.

The agreement also seeks to resolve long-standing disputes on the sharing of resources such as land, as well as to unify all the various militias and government troops involved in Sudans multiple conflicts into a single military, according to Arman.

After this signing we are going to finalise the full agreement and the SPLM-North will be part of the new system in Khartoum, Arman said.

Although Fridays preliminary deal was hailed by signatories as a step in the right direction, there was no comment from Abdelaziz al-Hilu, leader of the rival SPLM-N faction, the main fighting faction on the ground.

SPLM-N split into two factions in 2017.

Al-Hilu has called for a secular state with no role of religion in lawmaking, the disbandment of all of former al-Bashirs militias and the revamping of the countrys military. If these demands were not met, al-Hilu said he would call for self-determination in areas under his control.

Al-Hilu is demanding certain political changes that the interim government cannot really embark upon, Rasha Awad, editor of the online Sudanese newspaper Altaghyeer, said.

The transitional government is under pressure to end wars with rebel groups as it seeks to rehabilitate the countrys battered economy, attract much-needed foreign aid and deliver the democracy it promises.

With some groups still in talks and others yet to even start negotiating, Sudans road to peace remains long, Al Jazeeras Hiba Morgan said. But Fridays signing offers a glimmer of hope for those whove suffered from years of war.
NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Susan C. Keating, CEO of the WomenCorporateDirectors Foundation (WCD), acknowledged the announcement by Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, who said his firm would not help companies go public without at least one "diverse board member," with a focus on women.

Goldman Sachs made a commitment to diversity because its own data shows improved financial performance with diverse boards.

Keating said, "At WomenCorporateDirectors, we're calling on the leaders of top financial institutions to take a similar stand. We know that diversity in corporate governance allows companies to better address the complexities and challenges of global business today, and multiple studies have found that companies with three or more women on the board of directors show stronger financial performance."

WCD has been advocating for more women on corporate boards since its founding two decades ago in New York City. Since its beginning, it has grown into a global organization with 79 chapters and has become a regular resource for top corporations and search firms seeking qualified women for boards of directors.

"With every S&P 500 company having at least one female director and 27% of S&P 500 board seats now held by women, WCD is clearly gaining serious momentum in achieving their mission, and we are thrilled to be supporting them as the global lead sponsor," says Camille Asaro, partner of KPMG LLP and a director of the WCD Foundation.

"We are at a pivotal time for leaders to make the decisions that will take their companies into the future, not keep them in the past," says Keating, "and WCD is eager to ally with those who can take this next step."

For more information, please contact Suzanne Oaks Brownstein or Trang Mar of Temin and Company at 212.588.8788 or [email protected].

About WomenCorporateDirectors Education and Development Foundation (WCD)

WCD represents the preeminent women leaders in business today. WCD members serve on thousands of boards across six continents. Our members include CEOs, board chairmen, lead directors, C-suite executives, board members, and heads of global divisions in the major indices such as S&P 500, FTSE 250, DAX, Nikkei, and beyond. A 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, WCD has 79 chapters around the world. For more information, please visit womencorporatedirectors.org or follow us on Twitter @WomenCorpDirs, #WCDboards.

SOURCE WomenCorporateDirectors Education and Development Foundation, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.womencorporatedirectors.org


The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has warned that an outbreak of locusts in the Horn of Africa may soon spread to other countries.

In a joint press conference Friday, the FAO and the East African regional body IGAD said locusts feeding on crops could leave millions of people without food.

Bukar Tijani is the deputy head of Africa for the FAO. He gave an update on the locust migration in the region.

"The invested area  definitely Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia but also Eritrea," Tijani said. "Then countries at risk in eastern Africa  South Sudan and also Uganda. Sudan and Egypt are also infested, so we are looking at a whole region of the locust because of these conditions, which is very suitable for locust breeding.

Unusual weather patterns, including heavy rains since October, and general climate conditions are blamed for the spread of the desert locust swarms.

Thiofilas Mwenda describes how the pests ruined his farm in eastern Kenya.

At around five in the evening, yesterday locust invaded on my farm, ate my maize," Mwenda said. "In the morning, they started eating maize and other food crops on the farm. Then they started eating animal feeds. It ate everything in my farm. I dont know what to do.

The United Nations food and agricultural agency warns the food situation will worsen if nothing is done to stop the swarms from spreading.

Tijani says people who lost their crops and food supply will need financial support.

For food insecurity, FAO is working very closely with World Food Program, and they know exactly what we are doing, how we are doing, and we are making assessment so that we can look at families who have been affected, that have lost livelihoods to support them before the next rainy harvest season," Tijani said.

Authorities say they are dealing with locust numbers in the billions.

Stephen Njoka of Desert Locust Control Organizations says they are deploying aircraft to control the swarms.

The respective governments have acquired pesticides," Njoka said. "I want to assure the people of Kenya and Ethiopia where we are spraying now the pesticides we are using are safe for non-targets, and they should not fear poisoning. We do, of course, tell people where we have sprayed you take sometime before you go in there, and the people who are on the ground should have protective clothing.

The FAO says the locust invasions may continue until June.
TV actor Sejal Sharma,who was found hanging at her Mumbai residence on Friday, was stressed due to her fathers deteriorating health, reports suggest. Sejals co-star Nirbhay Shukla has claimed she was stressed.

Nirbhay told SpotboyE, Sejal was mentally stressed due to her fathers health. I had texted her on November 15 to meet and she replied me saying that she was travelling to Udaipur for a medical emergency. I asked her what had happened and she replied me saying that her father had got a heart attack.

Also read: Panga Vs Street Dancer 3D box office day 1: Kangana Ranaut film off to a slow start at Rs 2.5 cr, Varun-Shraddha film earns Rs 11 crore

He further said, Sejals father was unwell since quite sometime; he was suffering from cancer. The heart attack must have shaken her up. I kept following with her and she said hes recovering--- but all is not well. And, then I got busy with my work.

Nirbhays Instagram post reacting to the sad development.

Elaborating on the last time he had a chat with her, Nirbhay said he talked to her in January and they even planned to meet soon. In December, she messaged me to wish me on my birthday. Then I think in January, I spoke to her and we planned to meet. She was also supposed to meet Ayesha Kaduskar who used to play Nainas sister on our show and she was pretty close to her.

Sejal was found hanging at around 4 am on Friday at her residence in Mira Road in the neighbouring Thane district of Maharashtra. Two of her friends were present at her residence at the time. A suicide note has also been recovered. In the suicide note recovered by the police, Sharma has stated that she was taking the extreme step due to personal reasons, a police official told PTI.

Sejal was known for her role of Simmy Khosla in the show Dil Toh Happy Hai Ji.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
The Rajasthan government has asked the Health Department to be prepared to tackle any situation arising from coronavirus outbreak.

State Health Minister Raghu Sharma said that as a precautionary measure the Health Department has been put on alert for prevention and management of the disease.

"The virus outbreak originated from China. The Union Health Ministry should issue an advisory and also make screening facilities available at all airports," he said.

"As a precautionary measure we have asked the health department to remain on alert for prevention and advance management of the disease," Sharma said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Torrential rain kills dozens in Madagascar



Antananarivo, Jan 24 (AFP) Jan 24, 2020



At least 26 people have died in Madagascar after almost a week of heavy rain in the north-west of the island, the government said on Friday.

The tropical Indian Ocean nation is in the midst of an intense six-month rainy season that often results in casualties and widespread damage.

Flooding in the districts of Mitsinjo and Maevatanana has claimed at least 26 lives since Sunday, and 15 more people are still missing and thousands have been displaced, the National Bureau of Disaster Risk Management (BNGRC) announced on Friday.

Strips of road were swept away by the rains and access to affected areas has been cut off.

The BNGRC warned that flooding in lowland and rice-growing areas also posed a risk of "food insecurity and malnutrition".

A disruption in the supply of basic goods could also lead to surge in prices, it added.

Prime Minister Christian Ntsay declared the situation a "national loss".

"The government is calling on national figures and international partners to help the Malagasy people with emergency aid, early recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction," spokeswoman Lalatiana Andriatongarivo said in a statement.

The rainy season usually stretches from October to April in Madagascar, a former French colony off Africa's southeastern coast.

Global warming has increased the risk and intensity of flooding, as the atmosphere holds more water and rainfall patterns are disrupted.

Built-up urban areas with poor drainage systems are especially vulnerable to heavy downpours, scientists say.

Nine people were killed in January 2019 after heavy rains caused a building to collapse in the capital Antananarivo.

During this period, the country is also often hit by cyclones and other tropical storms.

Cyclone Belna landed in the northwest last month, killing at least two people and displacing hundreds.
The Union minister blamed the AAP and the Congress for instigating violent protests against the CAA in the national capital.

New Delhi: With opinion polls and reports indicating that the Aam Aadmi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal has an edge in the forthcoming Delhi polls, the BJP has fallen back on its nationalist plank to consolidate the Hindu vote bank. The top leaders of the party ranging from home minister Amit Shah to information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar have begun evoking Pakistan to woo the voters. The saffron camp is trying to project that the Delhi elections was actually a contest between India and Pakistan.

On Friday, Mr Javdekar, also BJPs election in-charge for Delhi, speaking to the media said that the voters in the national capital need to decide on whether they want Jinnah wali azadi or Bharat Mata ki jai. On Thursday, the home minister said that Mr Kejriwal, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan speak the same language. Kapil Mishra, BJP candidate from Model Town, had earlier tweeted that the Delhi election was a contest between India and Pakistan.

Referring to Shaheen Baghs anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests, Mr Javedkar said : We have seen Jinnah Wali Azadi slogan being raised there. Now, Delhi people need to decide if they want Jinnah Wali Azadi or Bharat Mata ki Jai.

The Union minister blamed the AAP and the Congress for instigating violent protests against the CAA in the national capital. Delhi people should ask both the parties why did they instigate violence? The nexus of AAP and Congress is behind the Shaheen Bagh protest. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia have supported the protest. Mr Kejriwal sympathises with people raising Jinnah Wali Azadi slogans and not with the persecuted minorities in Pakiatan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, he said.

Mr Javadekar blamed AAP and Congress for misleading and poisoning the minds of the minorities, including children. He asserted that the CAA was not going to affect citizenship of any Indian and blamed that political parties were raising the bogey of CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC) to defeat the BJP in the elections. The CAA is aimed at providing citizenship to persecuted minorities including Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, he added.

Addressing a Nukkad Sabha in the Lakshmi Nagar constituency, BJP president J.P. Nadda alleged that the Congress and the AAP were misleading people on the citizenship law.
The controversy over Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is turning murkier by the day. Days after The Guardian claimed Bezoss mobile phone was hacked by Saudi Arabian prince in 2018, a new report, this time by Wall Street Journal, has revealed that it was, in fact, the multi-millionaires girlfriend who played a role in their personal chats becoming public.

According to the WSJ report, federal prosecutors in Manhattan have evidence indicating Lauren Sanchez, Bezos  girlfriend, provided text messages to her brother Michael Sanchez containing a flirtatious message from the Amazon chief. Sanchez sold these messages to the National Enquirer for its article about Bezoss relationship, the report said.

The sensational claim comes days after Bezoss much publicised India visit with Sanchez. The photos of the couple posing in front of Taj Mahal in Agra had gone viral on social media.

In India to review Amazon's India operations and meet industrialists, the 56-year-old had kicked off his three-day visit on January 14 and visited the Raj Ghat to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi hours after landing in New Delhi. He also interacted with children and indulged in a kite-flying session with them. Later, he also attended a business summit.

The text messages, which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, were among the materials turned over to federal prosecutors as part of their investigation into whether American Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer, attempted to extort Mr. Bezos, the people said. The U.S. attorneys office has also been investigating whether Mr. Bezos phone was hacked, according to the people.

In a story published in January last year, The Enquirer had quoted the text from May 10, 2018 to make a point about Bezos extramarital affair with Sanchez. A July 3, 2018, text message sent from Sanchezs phone to her brothers includes a photo of a shirtless Bezos.

Bezos had in February 2019 accused the newspaper's owner of trying to blackmail him with the threat of publishing "intimate photos" he allegedly sent to Sanchez unless he said in public that the tabloid's reporting on him was not politically motivated.

In a January 22 report, The Guardian newspaper said his mobile phone was hacked by Saudi Arabian prince in 2018 when, during a friendly WhatsApp exchange, a malicious video file sent by Mohammed bin Salman infiltrated the multi-billionaire.

The guardian said the encrypted file was sent to Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post, on May 1, 2018, after which large amounts of data were exfiltrated from Bezoss phone within hours.

The Saudi government said the allegation that the crown prince hacked Mr. Bezos phone was absurd and called for an investigation.

In March last year, the security chief for Bezos had claimed that Saudi government had access to Bezos' phone and gained private information from it.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-26 02:31:38|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ISTANBUL, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from an earthquake that jolted eastern Turkey on Friday has risen to 29, as 42 people were rescued from ruins of collapsed buildings, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said Saturday.

The earthquake occurred at 8:55 p.m. local time (1755 GMT) in the province of Elazig at a depth of 6.75 kilometers and was followed by 401 aftershocks, according to the AFAD.

The Bogazici University Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute has revised the magnitude of the tremor from 6.8 to 6.5 on the Richter scale.

At a statement posted on its website, the AFAD put the number of wounded people at 1,243, noting that search and rescue operations are going on in the debris of three buildings at the city center.

Turkish national broadcasters showed live footage of rescuers pulling a person out from the ruins 20 hours after the quake.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the treatments of 128 people have been continuing in hospitals, and 34 of them are in intensive care, but none in critical conditions.

Meanwhile, a total of 814 prisoners in a prison in the neighboring province of Adiyaman were transferred to other prisons in the region after severe damages were detected in the building.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, canceled his activities in Istanbul and traveled to Elazig.

He attended the funerals of a mother and son who lost their lives under the ruins of their collapsed building. Erdogan also visited some injured people at a hospital.

Various municipalities in Istanbul and several others across the country launched aid campaigns, announcing a list of the most needed items for the earthquake survivors through social media platforms.
Former California Rep. Pete Stark, a feisty liberal who protested wars and helped to reshape the health care system, died Friday at his home in Maryland, his family said. He was 88.

The laws and policies he helped craft during his 40-year career in Congress ultimately changed the machinery of U.S. health care. He created the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, best known as COBRA, which allows workers to continue receiving health coverage for a period of time after they leave a job. Stark also helped craft the Affordable Care Act, the signature policy change of the Obama administration.

Even before he ran for Congress, Stark established himself as an audacious, forward-thinking, and sometimes divisive figure.

Today, America has lost a champion of the people and a leader of great integrity, moral courage and compassion, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said Friday. Congressman Pete Stark was a master legislator who used his gavel to give a voice to the voiceless, and he will be deeply missed by Congress, Californians and all Americans.

Working as a banker in the 1960s, Stark took stances that seemed radical at the time, but resonate today: He provided free employee child care and worker buses, making it easier for his largely African American employee force at the Oakland branch to get promotions and move to branches in Walnut Creek.

He came to politics as a rebel, turning against his Wisconsin Republican roots and registering as a Democrat, before unseating Rep. George P. Miller in Californias 8th Congressional District. By that time, Stark was fiercely populist and antiwar.

Pete Stark gave decades of public service to East Bay residents as a voice in Congress for working people, his successor, Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of Dublin, said on Friday. His knowledge of policy, particularly regarding health care, and his opposition to unnecessary wars demonstrated his deep care for his constituents. Our community mourns his loss.

After serving 20 terms in office, Stark lost a bid for re-election to Swalwell in 2012.

In an obituary circulated Friday, family members remembered him as a persistent supporter of LGBTQ rights, a champion for foster children and the first openly atheist member of Congress. They also recalled how, before his days in Washington, he hung a giant peace sign on the headquarters of his bank, Security National, to decry the fighting in Vietnam.

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.

Congressman Stark will rightly be remembered and celebrated for his commitment to fighting for those in need, particularly Americas children, Pelosi said. His work to advance the well-being of Americas foster children and ban anti-LGBTQ discrimination in adoptions, enact paid family leave, strengthen access to quality education, protect clean air and clean water and leave our children a more peaceful world leaves a powerful and lasting legacy. He fully and fundamentally believed that government was about fighting for the peoples interest, not the special interests, and cherished his responsibility to lift up families in the Bay Area.

Stark is survived by his wife, Deborah Roderick Stark, and his first wife, Eleanor Brumder Stark, as well as seven children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Donations can be made in his honor to the Congressman Pete Stark Health Policy Internship program via the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com
One side of the room seemed to be smirking.

Mitch McConnell is resorting to his Merrick Garland playbook. Hell let the Democrats make all their noble points, but its Kabuki. Republicans have perfected the dark art of Theres nothing to see here, just keep moving. McConnell long ago choreographed the end, with Democrats losing the argument and the acquitted scoundrel triumphantly sweeping into the Capitol to make his State of the Union address.

At night, tipsy Republican staffers treated Senate office buildings as a pub crawl, roaming the halls with celebratory bottles of wine.

Some Republicans were paying attention at the trial  or wanted to be seen paying attention. Susan Collins was glued to the proceedings, as was the senator to her left in a magma-colored shawl, Lisa Murkowski. Republicans like Collins who are vulnerable in 2020 have to be alert and figure out how to find their way out of the hearings without doing more political harm. A Trump confidant told CBS News that Republican senators were warned, Vote against the president and your head will be on a pike.

Seated at the back of the class, Mitt Romney looked dutiful, and the thought must have crossed his mind thats hes in a position to inflict payback on Trump for calling him a pompous ass and tricking him into an interview for secretary of state only to humiliate him. (Revenge is a dish best served with milk.)

But more senators on the Republican side were telegraphing boredom.

Lindsey Graham yawned and rearranged his yellow pencil and went on walkabouts, later telling reporters, About the fourth time you tell me the same thing is twice too much. He cleaved to his lap-dog role, saying preposterously of Trump: What he wants to do is get to the truth.
The e-commerce segment requires policies and regulations to benefit the overall jewellery industry along with the consumers, he added.

The upcoming Union Budget should come up with business-friendly policies for the gems and jewellery industry, according to Shailen Mehta, Co-founder of eJOHRI, an onmichannel jewellery startup.

"We believe if the industry receives adequate support from the government in the upcoming budget with policies that are business-friendly for the sector, sentiments will change for the better. With online shopping increasing by the day, the government should come out with suitable policies in the e-commerce sector which would benefit the consumers and in turn the jewellery industry," Mehta said.

Noting that the gems and jewellery industry is one of the most evolving and thriving industries in India as well as one of the major contributors towards the economy, he also said that the the past year was not a good one for it with many losing their jobs due to the challenging times and insecurity prevailing in the sector.

On the company's plans for the year ahead, he said that the online platform would look to "aggressively" expand its operations.

"eJOHRI has been able to have more than 20,000 products (on the platform) in the last six months. In the next six months we will grow this to 50,000 products," Mehta said.

He said that the the immediate strategy of the company is to get more jewellers on board and more strategic decisions may follow during Diwali this year.

Last month the Mumbai-based startup had announced that it raised $1 Mn funding led by London-based investor Rajesh Ranavat alongside other investors in a Pre-Series A round.

Also Read: Catch all the latest and live Budget Updates & Analysis here

People bought gold post Uri attack, jewellers to tax dept

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Get latest gold rates on the go with the Gold Rate Now App on your Android smartphone. Click here to download.
Nobody can go back and create a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. Maria Robinson

This column continues to stress the need for Edwardsville to continue to create a Truly Local mentality. The case for Edwardsville to adopt a Truly Local mentality can be intangible at times. Ultimately, it comes down to real facts, figures and logic. Over time, we will convey in greater detail each of the facts, figures and logics discussed below in future columns. Lets briefly touch on a few of the common tangible reasons for Edwardsville to adopt this hyper local mentality.

#1 - Greater Financial Return. Numerous studies over the years show that dollars spent with locally owned and operated businesses recirculate throughout Edwardsville between three and seven times. This is compared to those same dollars being spent with Big Box and National Chain businesses, which circulate just one time. Using a 10% sales tax as only an example, one million dollars spent with big boxes and chains will return $100,000 in sales tax to Edwardsville versus $300,000-$700,000 when being spent with locally owned businesses.

#2 - Greater Community Support. Additional studies have shown that owners of locally owned and operated businesses support local causes, organizations and charities by approximately a three-to-one margin over businesses with outside or Wall Street ownership. The foundations of many communities are often built through active volunteerism, non-profit organizations and civic groups; this is a vital component to thriving communities.

#3 - Community Involvement Quotient. Owners and managers of locally owned and operated businesses are four times more likely to be involved in leadership, politics and chambers in their communities than owners and managers of Big Box, Chain and out-of-town or Wall Street owned businesses.

#4 - Less Poverty Expectation. A recent study indicated that a communitys poverty rate is somewhat directly linked to the percentage of prosperous locally owned and operated businesses. Put another way, the greater percentage of Edwardsvilles retail dollars taking place with Big Boxes, Chains and out-of-town or Wall Street owners within a smaller or midsized community, the higher the poverty rate might be expected to be. The more local innovation, creativity and entrepreneurs there are, coupled with active support of such by the various communitys government entities; the greater expectation for an increase in the average household incomes.

#5  Higher Financial Return Downtown. Dollars invested in Edwardsvilles downtown district return is on average approximately 30% higher return on our

investment or ROI. There is no better return a community can make of their tax dollars than stimulating the return of the heart and soul of our downtown.

#6  Housing Market Stimulation. Want to grow the real estate values in and around downtown Edwardsville? It has been shown that by returning the vibrancy, heart and soul of our downtown, we can also expect to see an increase in surrounding real estate values as well. Not only does this create renewed pride in Edwardsville, it grows the real estate ad valorem tax base, which benefits the schools as well as the entire community.

As I indicated in previous columns, it isnt that Big Boxes, Chains and out-of-town or Wall Street owned business are bad, that isnt the case at all. The devil is always in the details, or in this case, the devil is in the balance. Cities that find a way to balance the growth of the Big Box or Chain segment of the community ALONG with the growth and support of the Truly Local business segment will find an economic balance that leads to greater prosperity. To a large degree, Edwardsville has found that balance already.

John A. Newby, author of the Building Main Street, Not Wall Street  column dedicated to helping communities combine synergies with local media companies allowing them to not just survive but thrive in a world where Truly Local is lost to Amazon, Wall Street chains and others. His email is: john@360MediaAlliance.net
Size is the big issue of 2020. Not so long ago, it felt hugely comforting to be an investor in an extra large stock market fund, run by a star manager.

The fund's scale seemed to provide the ideal mix: security, plus the power to outperform. But then came Neil Woodford, bringing in his wake worries about other popular funds.

Concerns have been mounting that big name funds may be just too big and also illiquid in the event of a downturn.

Concerns have been mounting that big name funds may be just too big and also illiquid in the event of a downturn

Criticism is being levelled at their typical share selection strategy. The 'growth' investing style has yielded generous rewards over the past decade.

But it is under threat from the new enthusiasm for 'value' investing which involves finding cheap, hidden-treasure shares.

While Woodford's problems were particular to Woodford, the scandal has sparked anxiety about other star managers and their funds.

The first fund under scrutiny is the 19.7billion Fundsmith Equity, managed by Terry Smith, a figure famed for his bumper salary and combative opinions.

This week Smith mounted a defence of his growth-investing principles, following a period when his fund has not been top of its league.

The second fund in the spotlight is the 6.7billion Lindsell Train UK Equity managed by Nick Train, another maverick and advocate of growth investing.

His credo is that outstanding businesses 'will create wealth' so long as you hold onto them.

He contends that investors should not regard periods of underperformance as unforgivable lapses. These pronouncements may remind you of the utterances of Warren Buffett, the legendary US investor.

Smith and Train were beneficiaries of Woodford's fall. But they have also  perhaps unfairly  suffered from the fallout, as has Mark Barnett, manager of Invesco Perpetual's 5.6billion High Income and 2.6billion Income funds.

Both of these were formerly managed by Woodford.

This atmosphere of fear led to the downgrading of Lindsell Train UK Equity by Morningstar, the fund rating group.

At the same time, the slowdown at Fundsmith raised suspicions that Smith was being affected by the relaxed vibe of Mauritius, where his operation is headquartered.

This week Interactive Investor, the investment platform, confirmed that Lindsell Train UK Equity would stay on its Super 60 best buy list, following a review prompted by Morningstar's move.

Dzmitry Lipski, Interactive Investor's head of funds research, ruled that the fund did not face liquidity issues.

Fundsmith UK Equity is also a Super 60 recommendation, an accolade that Smith is rightly eager to retain. His pledges to his investors included a vow that, if need be, '57 per cent of the fund could be liquidated in seven days'.

The controversy over best-buy lists (despite its closure, the Woodford fund remained for a while a Hargreaves Lansdown recommendation) suggests that Interactive Investor will be taking extra care over its rankings.

The Barnett funds do not appear on any best buy lists.

But while you may be willing to give Barnett more time to remedy his funds' issues, and be prepared to place trust in Smith and Train, it would still be short sighted to ignore the shift in thinking on fund size and strategy.

While Neil Woodford's problems were particular to Neil Woodford, the scandal has sparked anxiety about other star managers and their funds

The principal advantage of a big fund is that it can out muscle the rest, but only if it retains the capacity to achieve its aims.

Jason Hollands of investment platform Bestinvest says: 'A fund that invests in government or corporate bonds gains from its size because it has a better chance of securing a good allocation of stock in a new issue.

'But when a fund that invests in shares gets bigger, it may start to lose the dynamic that propelled its growth.'

As an alternative to the big names, investors could seek out flexible, middle-sized funds that also hold blockbuster shares. Options include the 3.7billion TB Evenlode Global Income and the $738million GuardCap Global Equity.

Those prepared to be more adventurous could opt for value funds such as Fidelity Special Situations which Hollands cites as his favourite.

Smaller companies are back in favour. Already money is flowing into such funds as Blackrock Smaller Companies and Henderson Smaller Companies (which are both investment trusts), and TB Amati UK Smaller Companies.

You could say investors taking this route are succumbing to trends, but a diversified portfolio, with a mix of investment styles and sizes of funds will always be in vogue.
Dear Reader,

Who would have thought that a virus present in bats could infect humans, via the unlikely medium of snake meat? Yet entire cities containing millions have been shut down in China, in an effort to contain the epidemic. At the time of writing this, the disease is spreading, although the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said it is too early to declare a global health emergency and the epidemic is at present confined to China.

It is no wonder then that the Shanghai Composite index has plunged. A hit to the Chinese economy will have ripples across the world, not least to the price of metals. Reuters says copper prices are on course for their biggest weekly drop in 17 months.

Economists and market analysts have lost no time in telling us what happened during previous pandemics. DBS Group Researchs Taimur Baig and Radhika Rao point out that the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in 2003 spread to two dozen countries and led to 774 deaths. On the economic cost of SARS, DBS Research says, "Hong Kong and Singapore saw about 100 bps decline in bond yields and a 15 percent decline in equity market valuation. The loss of GDP was as high as 2.5 percent for Hong Kong and around 0.5 percent for Singapore."

Stock markets in the rest of the world, after an initial wobble, have been resilient. For good reason. A chart from Charles Schwab shows that world markets recovered swiftly from any worries caused by the previous epidemic scares, such as the swine flu outbreak, the camel flu in 2013 or the Ebola outbreak in 2014.

In India, of course, the markets are now firmly fixated on the Union Budget 2020. The boilerplate advice by most commentators this time has been, "Sure, we know the true fiscal deficit is high, but in the context of the slowdown, we should forget about the deficit for now."

All that may be fine, but what exactly is the real fiscal deficit, after accounting for off-balance sheet borrowing? Surely we need transparency about that number before we decide whether the deficit is too high or not? That is why we said the government needs to come clean about the true state of the fiscal deficit in the Budget.

We looked at the data and found that the roots of the current slowdown lie in the credit crunch, which is why the finance minister must use the Budget to tell us how she will fix it. The Budget is bound to tell us of the governments grand plans to boost capital spending on infrastructure, but heres our take on the limits of what the government can do.

Investors should remember the once bitten, twice shy maxim and recall that what was sold to them as a great opportunity turned out to be a great myth.

The December quarter corporate results continue to be iffy, with the macro challenges finally taking their toll on L&T, while banks such as Kotak Mahindra and Axis feel the heat. But the results are of the past quarter and the markets are already looking forward to a rosy future.

Easy financial conditions are providing the liquidity for a market rally on the expectation that better times lie aheadthe IMF predicts a decent bounce in the Indian economy next fiscal year. Its also likely the worst may be over for the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.

And, of course, last week saw the annual jamboree at Davos discussing the usual topics by the usual suspects, who badly need to walk the talk. But why worry? Bridgewater Associates co-CIO Bob Prince told Bloomberg at Davos the boom-bust cycle is over. Bank of America said it is irrationally bullish risk assets, at least till it all ends in tears. Perhaps that is why there have been a record junk bond sales in Europe.

Next weeks Union Budget comes at a time of crisis for the Indian economy. But such times of crisis have often proved to be great opportunities for root-and-branch reform. At times like these, when the finance minister is hemmed in on all sides, what is needed is inspired out-of-the-box thinking.

Will Nirmala Sitharaman rise to the occasion, thus ensuring a place for her in the history books? Heres to hoping she delivers a Dream Budget.

Cheers,

Manas Chakravarty

Since everyones eyes are going to be glued on the Budget, there will be no edition of the Weekender next Saturday. But do watch out for our special edition of the Panorama newsletter bringing you the key takeaways from the Budget.
MORE than 120 Irish orphans in children's homes were used in commercial trials by drug companies to test new vaccines, a new report to be published by the Government later this week reveals.

The drug trials in the 1960s and 1970s were conducted in five children's homes by a research team from University College Dublin, allegedly without the consent of relatives in many cases. The report says that the tests on the vaccines may have left some of the children susceptible to serious illness.

It is understood that the Department of Health became aware of the controversy over seven years ago, but it was not made public.

The homes involved were: Madonna House, St Patrick's Home, the Bird's Nest and the Cottage Home in Dun Laoghaire. A mother and baby home at Bessborough in Cork was also the location for a trial in the early Sixties.

The report raises the consent issue, questions the legality of the vaccine and criticises the absence of documentation.

According to the report, the tests were legal at the time and the results published in some medical journals. However, today, under legislation introduced in 1987, such trials could not proceed without the consent of parents or guardians.

The report also says it is not possible to determine whether the legal requirements regarding vaccination, under the Therapeutics Substances Act, were complied with.

Some of the children on which the tests were conducted were handicapped. A number of babies were also involved. The trials were conducted to test new vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough. Trials were also conducted on polio and rubella vaccines.

The trials were led by top medical microbiologist Professor Irene Hillary, the former head of the UCD National Virus Reference Laboratory. She told the inquiry that she had the permission of the medical officers of the children's homes to conduct the trials, that the trials were for the public good and that the vaccine used was less strong than the standard vaccine.

According to the 40-page report, which has been seen by the Sunday Independent, there is no documentation regarding consent to the trials, consent could only have been given by parents or guardians and none of the children were followed up after vaccination.

An inquiry was ordered in 1997 into the affair by Mr Brian Cowen, when he was Health Minister. The report will be laid before the Dail on Thursday by Health Minister Mr Micheal Martin. The final report was cleared in the last two weeks by the Attorney-General.

Many of the 123 children involved in the trials, now adults, have battled to have the full truth told about the events. The report also notes that many of those who were involved in the trials are since deceased.

Prof Hillary also told the inquiry that the decision to use children's homes was due to the fact that they were a defined group, who were well-monitored by nursing and medical staff.

She also pointed out that most of the results of trials were published and permitted by the National Drugs Advisory Board and, as a result, there was nothing secret about them. Some of the trials were conducted in the community, with the consent of parents, as well as in the homes.

She emphasised that no child suffered any injury from the vaccination and that she did get permission from some mothers in the mother and baby homes for the trials.

In some cases, the vaccine was around 25 per cent less strong to see if it caused less reaction. According to correspondence contained in the report from the children's homes to the Eastern Health Board, it is claimed that some of the homes believed their children were being given the standard vaccine, rather than the experimental one. As a result, some of the children may have been left susceptible to illness, the report suggests.

The main trials were conducted on behalf of the drug company Wellcome, now called Glaxo Wellcome. The report says that some children used in one trial may have been more susceptible to polio infection as a result of being given the trial vaccine.

The trials were conducted in 1961, 1968 and 1973-1974. At the Bird's Nest and Cottage Home in south Dublin, around 60 children at a time were used for tests. These tests mainly involved the "three in one" vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP). The aim of the tests was to improve the performance of the vaccine and to reduce the possible adverse side effects which can include fever, fits and more serious reactions.

In correspondence in 1993 with one of those used in the trials, the Department of Health said it was satisfied that there was no added risk to the children who received the vaccines.

It said that the studies were conducted in line with the ethical rules of the Irish Medical Council. At the time, it added, there were no statutory controls into how drug trials were conducted.

According to Glaxo Wellcome, in 1973, the Eastern Health Board noted an increase in reports of the level of adverse reactions among vaccinated children in Dublin. Wellcome undertook to investigate what was considered to be an improved form of Trivax (a triple vaccine) in Dublin to try and reduce the possible side effects.

Approval for the trial was sought from the National Drugs Advisory Board and a "no objection" letter was received from it. In total, 116 children participated in the 1973 study - 57 children in the care of two children's homes and 59 children living in the wider community.

The vaccine under investigation in the children's homes was considered to cause fewer reactions than the treatment already generally available, the company said. The company has insisted that there is no question of the trial being undertaken with children, simply because of their status as children in care. The report was prepared by the Department of Health's Chief Medical Officer, Dr Jim Kiely.
A Border Security Force (BSF) officer who was killed fighting cattle smugglers along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Tripura and personnel responsible for blocking infiltration of terrorists and firing by Pakistan have been awarded police gallantry medals on the eve of the 71st Republic Day.

A total of nine BSF personnel have been awarded the Police Medal for Gallantry (PMG), six of them being posthumous, a force spokesperson told PTI.

Second-in-command rank officer Dipak Kumar Mondal, along with his team, intercepted cattle smugglers in the dead of the night near an unfenced border area in the Sipahijala district of Tripura in October 2017, but were attacked with stones, bricks and sharp-edged weapons.

Monday was fatally injured after smugglers crashed their four-wheeler into Mondal, who succumbed four days later on October 20 in Kolkata, where had been taken for better treatment.

In recognition of his act of raw courage, conspicuous gallant action and display of the highest level of bravery, late Shri Dipak Kumar Mondal has been awarded the PMG, says the citation.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Sat Narayan Yadav and Constable Vijay Kumar Pandey have also been honoured posthumously along with Assistant Sub Inspector Vijay Karan Singh, for effectively countering Pakistans unprovoked firing in Jammu along the International Border (IB) on June 3, 2018.

Head Constable Santosh Kumar and Constable Chandrappa Lamani have been awarded the PMG for foiling an infiltration bid in Kashmir in February 2017 and eliminating a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist in the gun battle.

Another BSF jawan, Constable Tapan Mondal, who was killed in firing by Pakistan along the International Border in Jammu in November 2017, has been awarded the PMG for keeping his colleagues safe.

Constables Devendra Singh and Brijendra Bahadur Singh have also been awarded the gallantry medal (posthumously) for displaying bravery along the Pak border in September 2017. The BSF is primarily tasked to guard Indian frontiers with Pakistan and Bangladesh apart from being deployed to conduct anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
The US is working to broaden the scope of the ban on Huawei in 2020. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross revealed to Bloomberg that the government is working on new rules aimed to deny even more US-related technology to Huawei.

Up until this point if 35% or less of a company's business is done in the US it was allowed to export products to Huawei. The US is reportedly looking to decrease that number to 10% or less, severely limiting the number of US-based companies allowed to trade with Huawei.

According to the report the US government is working on a regulation that would deny Huawei products designed in the US and manufactured outside of it, broadening the scope of the ban even further.

US semiconductor makers have pointed out that a full clampdown on US goods to Huawei would be counterproductive as Huawei will likely find replacement technology from non-US providers. Another concern is that China could retaliate by closing-off the entire Chinese market to US companies. The Chinese market is the biggest in the world and currently being aggressively pursued by Apple and other makers.

There is no deadline for enacting the new measures, but it's reportedly happening soon.

Source
The Property Brothers just gave pal Tamron Hall a new title: Property Sister!

The HGTV stars stopped by Halls show on Jan. 10 to discuss their latest venture, a quarterly magazine titled Reveal, which is published by Meredith, PEOPLEs parent companyand while there, the brothers and Hall shared plenty of laughs.

Shes our Property Sister from another mister, Drew Scott joked while backstage.

I have known these guys since my Today show years and now to have them on my show is incredible, says Hall. Theyre self-deprecating, theyre so good at what they do, theyre so loving, they love what they do. Theyre handsome, they are taken now both of them! All those great things!

PEOPLE cameras followed the twins around New York City for a day as they promoted Reveal, making appearances at Tamron Hall and Live with Kelly and Ryan.

RELATED: Drew and Jonathan Scott Take Their Empire to the Next Level: See the Cover of Their New Magazine

Astrid Stawiarz/Getty

We have now done 400 hours of original programming, 400 episodes, which means we have done more episodes of this kind of programming than anyone else, says Jonathan.

The magazine will focus on the subjects of home, decor and renovation, while also delving into the HGTV stars love of entertaining, family, food, wellness, music, travel and more, with a focus on their personal stories.

RELATED VIDEO: Drew Scott Discusses the Launch of the Brothers New Magazine, Reveal

Weve been moving down this path, inspiring people, for years and years and we thought, we want to take it to the next level, Jonathan told People in December. We want to do something thats a little bit different and talk about how it all starts at home, but home impacts every other aspect of your life.

The publication follows the launch of fellow HGTV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines Magnolia Journal, a lifestyle quarterly that debuted in 2016. Reveal will be available for $9.99 per issue on newsstands or for an annual subscription price of $20 for four issues.

Watch the full episode of PeopleTV Specials: Drew & Jonathan Scotts Big Reveal, streaming now on PeopleTV.com, or download the PeopleTV app on your favorite device.
The Russian Embassy in China is developing a plan of Russian citizens' departure from Hubei Province and the city of Wuhan, which was closed due to the coronavirus, the press attache of the Russian Embassy in China, Georgy Egorov informed.

According to him, at the moment there is no official response to the request for the departure of foreign citizens from Wuhan. "We are receiving requests from our citizens to explain to them how to leave Hubei province and Wuhan. At the moment, we are processing all these appeals and working together with the Chinese side on the organization of the departure of Russian citizens from Wuhan and Hubei, Egorov said.
[January 24, 2020] Strayer University and The Blackhouse Foundation Name Donald Dankwa Brooks Winner of Scriptwriter Competition to Bring Real Perspectives on Criminal Justice to the Classroom

During the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, Strayer University, in partnership with The Blackhouse Foundation - a leading voice working to elevate and increase the number of diverse voices in filmmaking - announced the winner of ScriptED, a nationwide competition to discover a talented, up-and-coming scriptwriter who can help bring real perspectives to Strayer's Criminal Justice program. While at Sundance, Strayer and The Blackhouse Foundation will host a panel on the impact of authentic storytelling through film on the future of education. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200124005496/en/ Photo credit: The Blackhouse Foundation Donald Dankwa Brooks was awarded first place for his original script that demonstrated a keen awareness of the complex perspectives surrounding criminal justice. He was one of five finalists - selected from the more than 100 submissions that came from competitors across the country - awarded a trip to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah to pitch their scripts to a panel of esteemed judges. The judges included representatives from Strayer University, The Blackhouse Foundation, the criminal justice system, and the film and television industry. To recognize the unexpectedly high caliber of the final scripts, each of the four finalists were given a $10,000 gift from Strayer. In addition to the $10,000 grand prize for winning the contest, Brooks also received an additional $15,000 gift from Strayer. Brooks also won the opportunity to be a writer in residence with Strayer Studios - a production team dedicated to infusing course curriculum with cinematic content to better engage students and help them grasp subject matter in more meaningful ways. "We are proud to announce Donald as the winner of the ScriptED competition. His script captured the complexities and community experiences surrounding criminal justice in a powerful way," said Karl McDonnell, CEO of Strategic Education, Inc (SEI), the parent company of Strayer University. "Strayer Studios is dedicated to engaging students by infusing course curriculum with cinematic content. Brooks has developed a concept that we believe will resonate with students and bring Strayer's Criminal Justice program to life. We're thrilled to have him working alongside the Studios team."



The contest called for an original script that addressed the key principles and reality of community experiences in criminal justice to spark debate and understanding of this topic among Strayer University students. "This is an amazing feeling. I can't wait to join the Strayer Studios team and bring my concept to life. I'm proud to be part of this important movement to advance criminal justice learning and spark debate among Strayer students," said Brooks.

Brooks, from Brooklyn, NY, is a screenwriter and filmmaker who formerly worked to build scenario-based training materials for the Baltimore Police Department. As a writer in residence, Brooks will work with Emmy Award-winning filmmakers to develop a series of educational videos that pair with course curriculum, over a six-month period. "We were impressed with the authentic story Donald told in his script that we believe will spark a sincere debate and better understanding of criminal justice among Strayer University students," said Brickson Diamond, Chairman of The Blackhouse Foundation. "As we work to elevate and champion diverse talent in film, we hope to continue to partner with education institutions, like Strayer University, to advance storytelling for these new important audiences." A panel of judges evaluated submissions and participated during the live pitch session at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, including Karl McDonnell; Nicole Cattell, Head of Strayer Studios; Judge Victoria Pratt, former Chief Judge in Newark Municipal Court, current Professor of Professional Practice at Rutgers University's School of Criminal Justice and nationally acclaimed advocate for criminal justice reform; Aaliyah Williams, Founder and CEO of Just A Rebel; and Brickson Diamond. "Donald's script about a rookie cop in training and the ethical dilemmas he faces reflects cases our justice system encounters every day. I believe it will draw students in, help them understand the realities of the criminal justice system, and foster greater compassion for the individuals, families and community members impacted by it," said Judge Pratt. "Donald undoubtedly captures the nuances and complexities of today's criminal justice system," said Williams. "His script exhibits the difficult balance of insightful and authentic storytelling while also managing to compel and entertain. I believe his work will help increase student engagement in their course work and I look forward to helping Donald elevate his work commercially as well." Strayer Studios and the ScriptED competition are part of a series of initiatives by the University and SEI to support working adult students, including the implementation of cutting-edge AI technology and other programs to deliver student services and support persistence towards degree completion. To learn more, visit: https://www.strayer.edu/outcomes About Strayer University: Founded in 1892, Strayer University is an institution of higher learning for working adult students. It offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business administration, accounting, information technology, education, health services administration, public administration, and criminal justice. Strayer University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104 (267-284-5000, www.msche.org). The Commission is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. For more information, visit www.strayer.edu. About The Blackhouse Foundation: The Blackhouse Foundation works to expand opportunities for black content creators by providing pathways to opportunities within film, television, digital, and emerging platforms. Blackhouse provides opportunities for minority creatives to learn about the financial, production, marketing and distribution resources that will raise the profile of their content, while also providing participants with a nucleus for continuing support, community and education. To learn more, visit www.theblackhouse.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200124005496/en/

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A Ukrainian nongovernmental organization (NGO) has hired a former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump to help secure meetings with officials in Washington in March.

The Kyiv-based Institute for Democracy and Development is seeking meetings with members of Congress, "key representatives" in the Trump administration, and civil society from March 2 to March 5, it said in a Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filing with the Department of Justice on January 21 and published three days later.

The NGO has agreed to pay Michael Caputo's New York-based Zeppelin Communications $1 for organizing the meetings as well as cover any expenses, according to the FARA filing.

Caputo, a Republican strategist who has done political consulting work in Russia and Ukraine in the past, advised Trump on the New York Republican primary in 2016. Caputo is married to a Ukrainian.

The NGO will send 10 to 15 representatives to Washington for meetings to discuss Ukraine's "civic development and the future of Ukraine-United States relations," the filing said.

U.S.-Ukraine relations have been impacted by an impeachment trial that is seeking to determine whether Trump sought to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to open two investigations beneficial to his 2020 reelection campaign by withholding military aid and a White House visit invitation.
Three weeks into her job as Portlands police chief, Jami Resch said shes working on getting to know community leaders, doesnt expect to make significant changes and believes the bureau is moving in the right direction.

Resch, 45, was sworn in as chief on Dec. 31 in a quick transition after Chief Danielle Outlaw accepted a job to become Philadelphias police commissioner. Resch served as Outlaws deputy chief and will mark 21 years with the bureau next month.

She met with reporters Friday in a round of individual interviews in a 15th floor conference room at police headquarters downtown and talked about her short- and long-term goals.

To deal with an ongoing staffing shortage, Resch said the bureau has changed patrol shifts to have more officers available at times when emergency calls typically are more frequent and temporarily eliminated some specialty units in two of its three precincts. There are now 104 officer vacancies in the bureau that has an authorized strength of 1,001 officers.

The chief said she plans to reach out to area law enforcement agencies to help during large-scale city protests expected this election year. She said she wont allow officers to use the controversial aerial flash-bang grenades for crowd control, a step Outlaw had taken after the distraction devices caused serious injuries to protesters. Resch also supports her predecessors call for not allowing protesters who commit crimes to wear masks during demonstrations, but theres no law prohibiting the conduct now.

Resch said she believes federally mandated reforms have improved officer encounters with people in mental health crisis, though 2019 saw an increase in fatal police shootings of people suffering from mental illness.

The bureau halted its use of Central City Concerns sobering station, finding it wasnt a safe place to bring people who were either drunk or under the influence of drugs, but is working with the city and local partners, such as the county and nonprofit service agencies, to find an alternative, she said.

She said she also believes the Unity Center for Behavioral Health needs more resources and that stable transitional housing for people with mental illness is sorely missing.

She said shes committed to leading the bureau as chief for at least five years, when shes eligible for retirement. But she said shell need support from within the bureau and outside for that to happen. (It would be the longest tenure since Chief Charles Moose, who served from 1993 to 1999.)

Her relationship with City Hall? My role over there is to make sure whoever is in those chairs understands who the Portland Police Bureau is and what we do, she said.

Heres what she told The Oregonian/OregonLive in a 19-minute session. Her answers have been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

What are your short-term goals?

The biggest one has been to try and meet everybody who wants to meet me. Theres been an overwhelming positive support for me, and Ive been super appreciative of it. Im trying to get to know everybody as quickly as I can because I think its super important that the community get to know me. Thats been my personal short-term goal. Im trying to fit that in as much as I can with the job requirements. And also, just to continue that forward momentum that we had started when now-Philadelphia Police Commissioner Outlaw was here.

I know there were a lot of questions from bureau members at first: Am I going to come in and make a huge shakeup? Am I going to change everybody in the chiefs office? Am I going to move people around in their positions? Because that unknown can be unsettling. For me to able to say, Thats not going to happen, I think made a calming effect for folks.

And for the community to know, I think you have a great police agency, and that Im not going to make significant changes because I dont think there needs to be. When I say I dont think there needs to be, that doesnt mean that we dont need to continue to improve, but I am staying the same course that we were on.

What do you mean by moving forward?

That the changes that were made in the bureau (resulting from the citys settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice) are going to continue. They were made for very positive reasons. They had positive impacts on the bureau. I felt the community has felt those positive impacts, as far as just how much more transparent we are in relation to use of force, our accountability measures that have been put into place, and then also moving forward and continuing to build and strengthen those community relationships.

We say build community relationships a lot, and it makes it sound like were at the ground floor and were not. We need to continually strengthen the relationships that we have. When I say moving forward, I want to be able to provide the officers more time to do that, and thats very difficult when we have an increased call load and we have a decreased number of officers. But there are ways we can be creative that allow officers and the community to interact more when its not a call for service or a crisis.

Do you feel the bureau has improved in its police encounters with people in crisis? With all the federal Justice Departments mandated reforms, how can you show the community the bureau has improved?

What I wish I could do is do just that: literally show them. I rode around with (Traffic) Officer Bill Balzer (who was assisting patrol on some calls) a couple of days ago. We responded to a call. It came out as a fight. It was actually two people who happened to be brother and sister. The brother was attempting to help his sister, who he thought was having some mental health issues and she was not cooperating with that. I stood back and watched both of the officers who responded take so much time and so much compassion in talking to this woman and in also talking to her brother and trying to bring in every resource possible in a very calming, considerate manner. When we show up, people watch, and this woman didnt want to be watched. They were able to talk to her for a significant length of time; and reassured her and were actually able to talk to her brother and able to take her to a local area resource. If people could see that. I dont think they understand the amount of compassion that the Portland Police Bureau takes when it deals with these people because you dont see those encounters. You dont see them in the paper. You dont see them in the news. Yes, I think weve made significant strides in how we interact with people who are experiencing or who we perceive are experiencing mental health issues.

(The Police Bureau hasnt allowed The Oregonian/OregonLive to shadow officers assigned to its Behavioral Health Units mobile crisis teams or attend the units advisory council meetings despite repeated requests.)

What changes has the bureau made to deal with its staffing shortage?

Our strategic services division created a living staffing tool for us. They looked at our calls for service, our response times, our number of officers and kind of broke down what are the minimum number of officers that we need. What we were seeing during a certain time of day, officers were responding literally from call to call to call. They didnt have time to do anything in between. We went from a 3-shift configuration to a four-shift configuration. We added what we refer to as what I believe is a B shift from about noon to 10 p.m. Were trying to distribute the officers evenly so they have the ability to do some proactive work and occasionally eat lunch.

When we start to climb out of the shortage, well be able to continually modify our staffing with this tool, a computer program they developed for us.

North and Central Precincts are doing away with their street crimes units.

Precinct commanders are tasked with running their precincts. When the precincts are more fully staffed, they have the ability to pluck maybe three or four officers out and have them specifically address something and thats what a street crimes unit would do. As the staffing starts to get lower, our primary response is calls for service, and were also accountable for overtime. I think the precincts were realizing that because we had officers specializing in the street crimes units, that we were going through a lot of overtime. To be fiscally responsible as well as address our calls for service, those units have been collapsed. The hope is when our staffing begins to increase, those types of units will be brought back.

Whats the bureaus relationship with the Unity Center for Behavioral Health. How do you feel Unity Center is working as the citys main psychiatric ER?

Im very grateful for Unity. I met with the new director a couple of weeks ago. Shes very cooperative and wants to have a great relationship with the police, which I feel is critical because of the fact that we do interact on so many occasions. I wish that Unity actually had more resources. I know from my understanding they were designed for one thing and they had to take on many other roles, and I think if we had more of those types of resources -- I constantly mention stable transitional housing -- that would lessen the encounters folks have with the police because theyd actually have a place to go. I think thats where the shortfall seems to be. The people who work at Unity and the people who provide mental health services across the state and the county, theyre fantastic, compassionate people, but just like the law enforcement system or the criminal justice system, the mental health system has been cut so severely. They just literally cant do what they want to do. Its really important for us to have a good relationship with them.

Can you explain why the bureau at the end of December abruptly cut off its use of the CHIERS van and Central City Concerns sobering station?

(CHIERS stands for Central City Concerns Hooper Inebriate Emergency Response Service)

I remember when I was an officer in the street if you found somebody who was intoxicated and they couldnt tell you where they live, you took them to detox. They had some soup and they were OK and went home. But things had changed over time, and they were experiencing more people who either were under the influence of alcohol and some other substance, or they were experiencing mental health issues. They were having more incidents. They were running out of safety rooms and they were unable to staff it appropriately. So when I made that decision, I was told by Central City Concern they did not have the staffing to provide a safe environment for the folks that we were bringing there and they were turning away a lot of folks already by that point because they were so agitated, that it wasnt a safe environment for them. In my mind, it seems pretty logical to me, if Im taking you out of situation because I dont feel that you can care for yourself it makes no sense to then take you to a place that I cant guarantee your safety. Just based on that information, we stepped away from the sobering station. We are 100 percent committed to finding a better solution than our local area emergency rooms. We are working with the mayors office and all of our community partners to try to figure out what this long-term sustainable answer will be.

We put out a request for information to see if any companies around were interested in doing this work. If we cant find a company or business here whos interested in it, then maybe well be working with all our partners to create our own. Obviously, its something we feel is important to have.

What can the public expect to see in how police respond to city protests this year?

I think what youre going to see is more of what you saw on Aug. 17, where it was a citywide response. Were going to be reaching out to our surrounding agencies as much as we can to ask for assistance on those larger-scale ones. When we have these large-scale ones, my message is going to be to those coming down here with the intent to express their rights and their opinions, to do so in a lawful manner. That criminal activity will be addressed, whether its immediate if we can handle it or whether its after the fact with follow-up (investigation). We will continually do our best to ensure the safety of everybody who comes down here.

Outlaw had temporarily halted any use of the aerial flash-bang grenades as a crowd control device? Is that still in effect?

Thats still in effect. Its not my intent use them again.

Do you support legislation to bar protesters from wearing masks?

If youre coming down here to commit crime and wear a mask, then yes, I support that. But if youre going to come down here to lawfully walk around and express your opinions and beliefs and wear a mask, then youre fine. But if youre wearing a mask to commit a crime, then no I dont support that.

Youve said youre committed to leading the bureau as chief for the next five years. Many of your predecessors were unable or chose not to last that long. How do you expect to achieve that goal?

Honestly, it will take a lot of support internally and externally. When I meet people in the community, and theyre like, What can I do to help? Im like, You can publicly support us. You can publicly support me. There will be some controversies, something that will happen. I ask people to please dont rush to judgment. Please get all the information that you can. But its going to take a lot of internal and external support to allow me to be here five years. Thats just when Im eligible (for retirement). That doesnt mean Id leave right away.

How do you see your role and relationship with the mayor and City Hall?

I do work for the mayor of the city of Portland, and I understand that. Obviously, the Police Bureau is very influential in the city. I think a lot of people are very, very curious about what we do and why we do it. My role over there is to make sure whoever is in those chairs understands who the Portland Police Bureau is and what we do.

What do you like to do when youre not on the job?

I like to go to national parks. I went to nine last year. I like to do big road trips to national parks. Weve kind of got the Western ones done. Now we have to venture a little farther away.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.

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A French national who was convicted for his crucial role in recruiting youths in France to fight as jihadists in Syria was handed down a 22-year prison sentence in a Paris court on Friday evening.

Prosecutors named Mourad Fares, 35, as the key to francophone youth recruitment for Syria. They pointed out that he showed no regret for his actions, and looked unfazed after the verdict was read out.

Fares fled Syria to Turkey in 2014, where he was arrested and handed over to French authorities.

During his trial he admitted that he had an indirect hand in recruitment, primarily through the videos he posted, as well as aided in helping a number of fighters get to Syria, but said he was not directly involved in combat in Syria.

Prosecutors said that Fares had actively participated in fighting with Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a group which morphed in to Islamic State (IS).

He then switched to a cell of francophone fighters affiliated with the Al-Nusra front, which the prosecution maintained he led.

His recruitment work contributed to the dozens of French fighters who left to join IS in Syria and Iraq. The insurgents were routed from their so-called caliphate in 2019 by coalition forces.

IS has also targeted France, which has been on high alert since 2015 after a number of jihadist attacks in the capital, Paris, and in other cities have killed some 250 people.

The terrorist group called on French nationals to initiate their own attacks, including on security forces. France remains on high alert.
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When Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, the global outrage was instantaneous. Nevertheless, a year and a half later, the murky circumstances behind his death remain a source of constant speculation, and despite the Saudi Arabian governments decision to execute several unidentified men for the crime, it remains unclear just how much justice has been served.

Khashoggis death almost certainly stemmed from his criticism of the Saudi Arabian government, and the idea that Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman had no idea about it simply doesnt stand up to scrutiny. The Dissident, documentarian Bryan Fogels somber recap of the circumstances surrounding the tragic event, presents

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Unlike Fogels Oscar-winning Olympics doping expose Icarus, the new documentary focuses less on new information than condensing and making sense of the situation as it stands. It makes up for a dry and sometimes stilted filmmaking approach through sheer clarity of purpose: Khashoggis name may have generated headlines, but The Dissident goes beyond the details of his demise to position them in the broader context of his career. Fogel assembles a sturdy compendium of talking heads to explain how Khashoggi managed to speak truth to power for so long, and why his fate reverberates for other Saudis who share his sentiments.

To that end, the movies chief subject is fighting the same battles. Montreal-based video blogger Omar Abdulaziz, a 27-year-old pundit whose anti-Saudi government tweets led to his expulsion, provides a centerpiece for Fogels narrative as he jumps between the investigation into Khashoggis death and his work leading up to that point. Abdulaziz, whose siblings remain imprisoned as a result of his public activism abroad, embodies the ethos that ultimately sealed Khashoggis terrible fate. Watching the young man explain his quest is harrowing in light of how things turned out for his inspiration.

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Abdulaziz was ultimately a victim of a cybersecurity breach traced back to the Saudi Arabian government, and he wasnt alone. As Fogel elucidates in one of the more scandalous revelations, the Saudis hacked into Jeff Bezos phone  possibly even initiating the National Inquirer story about his affair  presumably because the Washington Post owner didnt censor his publications response to Khashoggis execution. The smoking gun here involves screen grabs of Bezos WhatsApp exchanges with the Crown Prince (aka MBS), a direct connection that facilitated the ability to hack his phone. If there were any lingering doubts about the countrys top dog playing a role in this damning conspiracy, The Dissident does a fine job of extinguishing them.

Juggling haunting 3D graphics with a moody score, Fogel illustrates how the Saudis developed a digital strategy for targeting its critics abroad, including thousands of pro-Saudi Twitter accounts run by propagandists at the behest of the government. It also touches on the upside to the digital age, with Twitter becoming so prevalent in Saudi Arabia that some 80 percent of its residents use the service. That platform has enabled a new energy among those keen on pushing back at the thrones tyrannical grip, and the ability to conceive of a new Middle East committed to democratic ideals.

For Abdulaziz and his peers, victory comes in small doses, with the rise of the so-called Bee Army opposition movement aiming to protect Saudi activists seeking an outlet to voice their concerns. Khashoggis support for the movement may have catalyzed the governments efforts to take him out, and while the stone-faced Abdulaziz doesnt exactly sob for the camera, its clear that hes wrestling with some measure of guilt.

At the same time, The Dissident makes it clear that Abdulaziz embodies his mentors relentless drive by explaining its evolution. The movie doesnt dwell on every facet of Khashoggis career, but provides an ample survey of the sacrifices that elevated his voice. One of his longtime peers claims that the dissident label doesnt capture the mans essence. Jamal was more of a reformer, he says, pointing out how he pivoted from 30 years of government work to a role in American media that put him in a better position to expose its oppressive tendencies.

Khashoggi only appears in fleeting archival material throughout, and The Dissident often lacks the benefit of hearing him voice his own concerns. (Its also short on detailing the bulk of his reporting, but thankfully the internet has that covered.) Nevertheless, his final career stage is explained through a fascinating origin story  the decision to abandon his family and home for a new life in Washington D.C., away from the clutches of Saudi influence, speaks volumes about the nature of his resolve. He finds the opportunity for a fresh start with young fiance Hatice Cengiz, who had been waiting for him outside the consulate when he never came out. Cengiz drifts through the documentary like a phantom, recalling their courtship in touching voiceover but clearly so traumatized she has yet to fully process his loss.

Of course, nobody has. When Fogel finally gets around to recounting the horrifying details surrounding Khashoggis murder, they unfold with the harrowing rhythms of a real-time thriller, as UN officials and Turkish investigators explain the mutilation and cover-up that unfolded over the course of several hours. Khashoggi himself diagnoses the problem  You have no right! he cries in his last few minutes  and the movie excels at positioning that miscarriage of justice front and center.

At a memorial for Khashoggi that closes the movie, Cengiz addresses her late fiance, bemoaning a world of politics devoid of your ideas. Thankfully, The Dissident assures that world has yet to arrive, and closes with Abdulaziz carrying on Khashoggis desire to launch an alternative media network for likeminded citizens. The government had its way, but Khashoggis story is just getting started, and The Dissident marks the beginning of an important new chapter.

Grade: B

The Dissident premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.

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A US citizen who participated in the Venezuelan Embassy Protection Collective was detained, searched and interrogated for the second time by US government agents about his political beliefs and participation in the anti-war movement.

By Max Blumenthal

On his way back from a Christmas visit to his family in Nicaragua, 31-year-old US citizen Sergio Lazo Torrez was detained by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officers at Fort Lauderdale International Airport on January 20, then interrogated by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents who grilled him about his involvement in the US anti-war movement.

Torrez was a participant in the Venezuela Embassy Protection Collective, a group of activists and journalists formed in April 2019 to defend Venezuelas embassy in Washington DC against a takeover attempt by the Trump-backed coup administration of Juan Guaido.

As The Grayzone reported, Torrez was previously detained by CBP at Dulles International Airport on August 2 after returning from a solidarity trip to Venezuela with fellow members of the collective, including this reporter. There, he was questioned for several hours about his activities in Caracas and was forced to surrender his cellphone for a search.

Torrez described the January 20 interrogation as longer and more intrusive than the last one. They made me feel powerless because you cant defend yourself and they can do whatever they want, he told The Grayzone. Even though Im a US citizen, they told me that every time I come back to the country, Im going to be forced to go through the same thing.

As soon as Torrez arrived at the customs desk in Fort Lauderdale, he was taken aside and escorted into a windowless room. Two DHS agents in plainclothes entered and proceeded to interrogate him.

They immediately probed his connections to the anti-war movement in the US, focusing in on Code Pink and International Answer, and demanding names of friends in the two organizations.

Code Pink and Answer helped organize last years defense of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, and participated in the solidarity trip that August which culminated with a meeting with Venezuelas elected president, Nicolas Maduro.

According to Torrez, the DHS agents demanded to know who paid for the trip to Venezuela, and what was discussed at the Foro Sao Paolo the Embassy Protection Collective participated in. The Foro Sao Paulo is an annual gathering of leftist political forces in Latin America that was established by the Workers Party of former Brazilian President Lula Da Silva. Right-wing politicians like Sen. Marco Rubio have cast the forum in a conspiratorial light, painting it as an avenue for Cuban communist infiltration of the continent.

Next, the DHS agents asked if anyone Torrez had traveled with had given money or gifts to Venezuelan officials. He said they had not. Venezuela is currently the target of a draconian US sanctions regime that forbids virtually all business transactions between US citizens and the countrys government.

At this point, Torrez said he asked what he did wrong, protesting that he had already been asked similar questions during his interrogation last August. The officer insisted that he was conducting the kind of routine security check his agency employs to track down Americans who travel to Turkey and return with bags full of ISIS propaganda.

Torrez explained that he was in Nicaragua simply to celebrate Christmas and New Years with his family. He then challenged the agent: Do I look like a terrorist? Most of the people doing terrorism in the US are white guys doing mass shootings.

At this point, the DHS agents seized Torrezs phone and began rifling through his photos. They found one of a Nicaraguan man wearing a t-shirt that read, Fuck Trump. This prompted them to ask Torrez, a naturalized US citizen, about his views of Trump and the US government. He refused to comment.

After nearly four hours of interrogation and confinement, Torrez was let go. On his way out, DHS officers handed him a card directing him to a hotline for travelers who are subjected to frequent secondary screenings. They told him he can expect to be interrogated each time he returns to the US from a trip abroad.

Its just ridiculous being harassed for having a different political opinion and not agreeing with the international politics of this country or how this country thinks it can control the politics in Latin America and decide policy wherever it wants, Torrez reflected.

They think this harassment is a way to stop us from doing our activism, but it just gives us more energy to keep going, he continued. Its just adrenaline for us.

Four members of the Embassy Protection Collective are currently on trial for trespassing and interfering with the US State Departments functions. Kevin Zeese, Margaret Flowers, Adrienne Pine and David Paul face federal charges punishable by up to a year in prison, a $100,000 fine each, and restitution to the government for police time and damages if they are convicted.
New Delhi: Delhi's Patiala House Court will on Saturday (January 25) hear the petition filed by an advocate for two of four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case. The application accuses Tihar jail authorities of not handing over certain documents, in an attempt to cause delay to the filing of convicts' mercy and curative petitions.

On Friday, advocate AP Singh moved an application in the court alleging that the jail authorities are yet to release the documents which are required to file curative petitions for Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Singh (25). The fourth convict Mukesh Singh is the only one whose mercy petition has been rejected by President Ram Nath Kovind.

According to IANS, Singh stated in the application that the convicts undertook several steps to obtain relevant information necessary for filing the mercy petitions. In regular interval, the convicts requested the concerned authority to supply documents pertaining to their medical records from 2012 to 2015 and 2019-2020, records of cellular confinement, records of the amount earned in prison through labour, records of educational and reformative activities like Tihar Olympics and Painting, etc.

"Despite multiple requests, the documents pertaining to convict Vinay Sharma had not been provided and further similar documents should be directed to be provided for convicts Pawan Gupta and Akshay Thakur from the superintendents of the respective jails," the application said.

The four convicts of Nirbhaya case are scheduled to be executed at Jail No 3 in Tihar prison on February 1 at 6:00 am.

On January 22, the Ministry of Home Affairs had moved the Supreme Court for fixing a seven-day deadline for executing the death penalty of condemned prisoners. The plea of MHA assumes significance in view of the death row convicts in the sensational Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case of 2012 filing review, curative and mercy petitions, which has delayed their hanging.

On December 16, 2012, a 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted in a moving bus in south Delhi by six people. All the 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.

Four of the convicts were sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013, and the verdict was confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014 and subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court in May 2017, which also dismissed their review petitions.

The juvenile involved in the crime was convicted by a juvenile justice board and released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.
Mayor of the Borough District of Sligo Cllr. Gino O'Boyle says if elected to the Dail he will not vote for a Fine Gael or Fianna Fail nominee for Taoiseach.

Cllr O'Boyle has been selected to stand as the People Before Profit candidate for Sligo - Leitrim. He has served on the County Council since the passing of his father in 2015 and was elected Mayor in June 2019.

It is the first time he is standing in a General Election. PBP ran Nigel Gallagher in 2016 and he polled 1,768 first preference votes.

Cllr O'Boyle has a long record of local activism. He was involved in Right 2 Water, the Marraige Equality Campaign and was the first councillor in Ireland to have a successful motion passed in support of Repealing the Eight Amendment.

Since becoming Mayor, Gino has helped local school children organise the Climate Strike in Sligo. He opened up the Mayor's office to local LGBT groups and has started a grassroots campaign to stop Sligo County Council putting up rents.

Cllr O'Boyle said: "Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have run this country for nearly eighty years. Their policies have produced great inequality and terrible public services.'

"Ireland now has the unenviable record of having the longest waiting lists for access to hospitals services in Europe.

"Governments led by these parties have run down the stock of council housing and will not do anything to cut rising rents."

As a candidate of People Before Profit, Gino says he makes one pledge to the electorate: a vote for him will never be used to put a FG or FF Taoiseach into office.

Instead, he is presenting a set of radical policies which break the cycle of right-wing domination. He supports a living wage to combat the high cost of living in Ireland. He wants to restore the retirement age to 65, in contrast to FF and FG who want to increase it to 68.

Cllr O'Boyle says he is committed to radical action on climate change and wants to see free public transport, proper grants and public enterprise to retrofit homes.
An exhibition honouring the survivors of the holocaust through images of current day Auschwitz will open at Bethlehem College this evening.

The photographic exhibition titled Auschwitz. Now tells the stories of holocaust survivors and will be open to the public at the schools performing arts centre from January 25 to February 5 before embarking on a nationwide tour.

Curators of the exhibition, Perry and Sheree Trotter, have been interviewing and photographing holocaust survivors around the world for more than ten years.

This month marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the largest and most deadly complex of concentration camps built by the Nazi regime.

Perry says that although their visit to Auschwitz was very difficult, their strongest impression from their time there is that Europe has not taken full ownership of its role in Jewish suffering.

Hence, the title Auschwitz. Now. It hints at the notion that the antisemitism that drove Hitlers annihilation of European Jews is still a present reality, says Perry.

Auschwitz II-Birkenau wagon used to transport Hungarian Jews. From the exhibition Auschwitz. Now. Photo:  Copyright 2019 Perry Trotter, Holocaust and Antisemitism Foundation, Aotearoa New Zealand.

Speaking of what motivates them, Perry says telling the stories of the survivors is our core work.

For this exhibition they decided it was time to travel to Europe and experience Auschwitz firsthand, but what shocked them most during their visit was peoples attitudes towards the holocaust.

The memory of the Holocaust is quickly being lost. Meanwhile antisemitism and extremism is increasing at an alarming rate.

"Because we had spent so much time listening to survivors, there was a certain familiarity about the places we saw," says Perry.

"Despite that, it was pretty tough going, its quite incomprehensible what happened there.

"The shock to me was more in the general engagement of society, there didnt seem to be real ownership of what had happened there 75 years earlier.

The exhibition title hints at the notion that the antisemitism that drove Hitlers's annihilation of European Jews is still a present reality, says Perry.

He says their exhibition plays a role in resisting these anti-semitic attitudes, as it presents a "well-rounded" introduction to the issue.

"Presenting the memory of the holocaust accurately is part of what needs to happen, thats part of what motivates what we do."

Perry, and Sheree - who interviews the survivors, both spent hours talking with and photographing individuals for their projects.

Telling the stories of the survivors is our core work. Our stories are presented in a brief format and curated to reach a new, media-savvy audience, particularly the younger generation," says Perry.

To date, the pair have captured the stories of 70 survivors resident in Australia, Israel, USA and New Zealand.

Their first exhibition, Shadows of Shoah, was launched by Prime Minister John Key in 2013 and toured museums, galleries and public spaces from Invercargill to Whangarei.

Special guest speakers at tonights event include MP Hon Alfred Ngaro, Dame Lesley Max and Dr David Cumin. Bethlehem College are hosting the memorial event in co-operation with the Holocaust and Antisemitism Foundation Aotearoa NZ, founded by Sheree and Perry.

January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day and is also the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

The official launch of the Auschwitz Now is at 7pm tonight, Saturday January 25, at the Bethlehem College Performing Arts Centre. Admission is free, but registration is requested. There will be an opportunity to give a koha.

To learn more about the launch, exhibition and 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, further information is available at www.25january2020.com.
Imagine driving down 38th Street in Columbus and seeing nothing but farmland  no hospital, YMCA, other businesses or schools. That was Amy Blasers view almost every day growing up in the 1970s and 80s.

I remember this part of the community was a pasture, recalled Blaser from inside Columbus Community Hospital, where she serves as vice president of physician relations and business development. I was in the same childhood home for 20 years  I had a typical All-American childhood growing up.

Still, as much as she enjoyed her youth, Blaser never imagined she would return to her hometown once she was an adult.

When I was in high school, I was looking forward to what college had to offer, and honestly, I did not have a distinct plan to come back to where I grew up, recalled Blaser, who managed the service desk at Kmart when it was in town all through her high school years.

Fast forward a few decades later, Blaser is entering her 10th year as a CCH vice president, and Columbus itself has grown leaps and bounds. Although she has played an instrumental part in helping with CCH and the communitys growth through her hard work professionally and numerous service efforts, according to many who know her, Blaser is too humble to take or want any credit.

If youre passionate about something, you can always find time to make it happen, she said, with a smile. The best gift my parents ever gave or instilled in me was work ethic.

CCH President/CEO Mike Hansen, who promoted Blaser to her current role 10 years ago this summer when he first took the helm at the hospital, praised and called her a leader in Columbus.

I really admire her work ethic. Shes a super hard worker not only here, but also in the community, Hansen said. Shes 110-percent committed to everything that she does. Shes really connected to the purpose of what we do here at CCH and is dedicated beyond belief. She wants to make sure that everybody she comes into contact with is successful.

She just inspires people to do the best they can.

GROWING UP

Blaser was born in 1970 at the old St. Marys Hospital, which is now the home of Nebraska Public Power District in Columbus. She grew up in a home near the intersection of 34th Street and 48th Avenue alongside a younger sibling, attending Lost Creek throughout elementary school. Life was good.

We lived on a street where all the neighbors had kids, Blaser said, recalling a lot of fun times she and her peers had growing up.

She eventually went to Columbus Middle and High schools, where she blossomed as a person and really developed a passion for learning and helping others.

I have just tremendous memories of being a student in Columbus Public Schools  I have great memories of all my years, she said. Academics were always something I loved growing up.

By ninth grade, Blaser was very serious about becoming a pharmacist as it was a way she could help others and feed her love of education. But in the midst of high school, one teacher specifically  Roberta Uhrig  had a profound impact on and helped her realize her true calling: Business.

We really made a genuine connection, Blaser said.

With much support from her teacher and others, Blaser ran for and served in a statewide officer capacity for DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) her junior and senior years. Being in that role for the nonprofit, which aims to prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe, was a highly-rewarding experience.

Around the same time, Blaser elected to take an intro to marketing class. Like Uhrig, fellow business teacher Ramona Schoenrock guided Blaser and helped her figure out what she wanted to do in life.

I never looked back after that, Blaser said, reiterating how those two teachers really helped her discover her love for business. I knew business was just the route I was going to go. They really saw the passion that I had for marketing and business. I loved learning.

FINDING HER WAY

Upon graduating high school, Blaser chose to pursue a major in business administration at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. While there, she got a job working 4-9 p.m. weekdays in the independent youth treatment center and then the business office at Lincoln General Hospital (now Bryan Medical Center). She was responsible for numerous tasks, such as registering people for in-patient treatment and helping work out payment plans for their accounts.

Then, each summer, officials gave her a full-time position in the main business office that enabled her to learn all aspects of the operation. Blaser called those years working in Lincoln valuable experience.

Although quite the bookworm and hard worker, Blaser still vividly remembers one Thursday night while in college in which she decided to break her routine and go to a dance with her friends after they pleaded with her.

I took my academics very seriously, but they kept asking, so I decided to go, she said.

It turned out to be a good move as she ended up meeting the man who would become her husband, Chris, that night. Chris, a fifth-year senior who grew up on a farm near Duncan and went to CHS two years ahead of Blaser, made quite an impression.

The two dated for three years and were married on Oct. 30, 1993. With Chris being a fifth-generation farmer, there was no doubt in their minds Platte County is where they wanted to be.

LOVE FOR HEALTH CARE

Knowing Chris was the man she was meant to be with, Blaser was happy to move back to Columbus in the early 1990s and start her professional career with CCH, where she has been ever since. Shes approaching her third decade at the organization in a few years, though it undoubtedly never gets old  every day is an adventure for her.

Ive been so grateful and so proud to be working at Columbus Community Hospital, no matter what my position was, she said. Ive loved the work and the challenges at hand. In health care, what we do every day  its the people, the patients - is so unique, gratifying and fulfilling.

Blaser climbed through the ranks throughout the years, eventually earning the fourth vice president position after a very competitive application process approximately a decade ago.

I never set my sights on moving up in the organization, but I was always open to taking on more responsibilities, said Blaser, who also earned her MBA through Wayne State College. I have an amazing team I work with.

In her current role, Blaser is responsible for physician recruitment and relations, occupational health, volunteer and guest services, the CCH Foundation, marketing/community benefit and all of CCHs clinics, such as orthopedic, ENT, general surgery, plastic surgery, psychology, visiting physicians and the one in Humphrey.

Every day I get to come to work at Columbus Community Hospital its exciting as the first day I was here, and even more so, she said. Im so proud of the work that gets done across this organization.

HOME SWEET HOME

Blaser and her family live on their farm along the Platte River, where they grow corn and soybeans and have cattle.

It has been awesome, she said. Its a perfect place to raise a family and live. I honestly could not think of any other place Id rather live.

The Blasers have two children: Elizabeth and Liam. Elizabeth is a freshman at Wayne State College. Shes part of the RHOP (Rural Health Opportunities Program), a special cooperative program between Wayne State College and the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Liam is a freshman at Columbus High, where hes a multi-sport athlete.

When shes not helping out on the farm, at CCH or at her childrens events, Blaser manages to stay busy through all sorts of service work and community efforts.

Since 1970, shes been an active member of First United Methodist Church. Shes also served in various board capacities with dozens of organizations, such as the Columbus Safety & Health Council, Columbus United Federal Credit Union, Prairie Valley Red Cross and Court Appointed Special Advocates. She also has a long history of volunteer service with the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce, specifically as a Commodore and Admiral for many years.

Although shes proud of all organizations shes been associated with, Blaser pointed to her time as a board member from January 2013-December 2018 with nonprofit Columbus Area United Way. She served as its campaign chair in 2014 and board chair in 2018.

Pat Heimes, I have huge respect for the work she did, Blaser said of the longtime nonprofit executive director who recently resigned.

Blaser remains quite active in the community, serving on the boards like the CPS Foundation and the CPS Alumni Association. Additionally, shes a committee member for the Cattlemens Ball 2020, which will take place in Columbus later this year.

She is not only committed to the hospital but also to the community in general, Hansen said. Shes wanting to do things in work and life in general that are going to be beneficial to our community.

Blasers dedication to the community has been recognized with several prestigious honors. She received the Columbus Morning Rotarys Service to Mankind Award and the local chambers Charles Farnham Volunteer of the Year honor in 2012. Then, in 2014, she earned the chambers Rich Anderson Volunteer of the Year. Most recently, in December, she was presented the Ovation Award at the Columbus Area Business Hall of Fame ceremony.

The award is given to women who demonstrate support of the goals of professional women and provide unselfish assistance on their behalf. Winners are chosen who have demonstrated excellence in business or profession, provided valuable service to business or profession and to the community, who have exhibited initiative and creativity-enhancing the efficiency of business or profession and have exhibited initiative and creativity-enhancing the stability and improvement of the community.

Columbus has undoubtedly evolved and grown throughout the last few decades, and though Blaser reflects fondly on the small town it once was during her youth, shes proud of how its developed and eager for whats ahead.

Ill be celebrating my 50th birthday in March, and when I look back, I cant ever imagine a better place to grow up and be from than Columbus. Its all Ive ever known, Blaser said. People can argue a million places that could be great, and they could be, but I look back and think it was all meant to be.

Im looking forward to so many more years of being on the front line of a lot of wonderful organizations and the good work we do.

Matt Lindberg is the managing editor of The Columbus Telegram. Reach him via email at matt.lindberg@lee.net.

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By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 24, 2020 | 09:12 PM | PADUCAH

Women looking for a fun way to spend their Saturday are in for a treat at the Real Woman's Expo and Bristol's Bridal Expo in Paducah.Bristol Broadcasting is hosting both events at the Schroeder Expo Center on the riverfront in downtown Paducah.The Real Woman's Expo will take place from 10 am until 5 pm and includes dozens of exhibitors, cooking demonstrations, craft demonstrations, manicures, Handbag Heaven and more.Local chefs will be doing cooking demonstrations throughout the day. Daniel and Gabrielle Dodd, owners of Branch Out Foods in Paducah, will be making falafel."We'll be showing how to make it, from the base chickpeas, all the way to the fried, herb-packed fried ball it is," said Daniel Dodd. "You've got different herbs like cilantro and parsley, and then it's got different spices like cumin and coriander, and then just some salt."Tickets for the event are $3 in advance or $5 at the door.Bristol's Bridal Expo will take place from 9 am until 3 pm. That event includes exhibitors for wedding products and services such as caterers, photographers, florists, bridal and menswear, cakes, ceremony and reception venues and much more. Since 2001, thousands of brides from all over the region have come for this exciting event.Tickets for Bristol's Bridal Expo are $5 in advance or $10 at the door, and also include admission to the Real Woman's Expo. Guests at both events will be eligible for thousands of dollars in door prizes.For more information on these events, or to purchase tickets, click the links below.

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WASHINGTON  Parkland. El Paso. Orlando. Annapolis. Dayton. Chattanooga. San Jose. Pittsburgh.

And Jersey City.

All had mass shootings, and Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop on Friday joined a panel of leaders of cities with that unwanted distinction to discuss the best ways to respond.

This obviously the worst panel to be a part of, he told NJ Advance Media. Its a bad club to be a part of and I think that the common thread through all this is theyre becoming more and more frequent.

Fulops city was the most recent site of a mass shooting. In December, a police officer as well as three people in a kosher supermarket were murdered by two people in what the mayor described as an attack on the Jewish community.

Were trying to tell people here that they should be getting ready," Fulop said. Its not a question of if its going to happen to them any more.

Fulop said the first police officers who responded felt they were outgunned by the killers, who had rifles and a pipe bomb. The city plans to station a police car equipped with weapons in each precinct in order to respond with ample firepower until SWAT teams get there, Fulop said.

Its just a mismatch between the perpetuators and the police department with revolvers and handguns, he said.

But that has to be balanced with concerns that heavily armed police will be seen as occupiers by the communities they serve, Fulop said.

Other lessons learned, Fulop said on the panel, was the need to update emergency communications in town. Several smaller facilities in Jersey City did not have the same access to information as larger institutions, he said.

Another is that for residents of some minority communities, violence is an every day occurrence, and there was some resentment when the national media came to town to focus on one shooting.

They feel like theyre being slighted, and rightfully so, Fulop said.

He told NJ Advance Media later that the city was working with minority communities to address issues such as PTSD caused by the daily violence.

You have to treat violence as a health issue, he said. Its not just about violence and policing, its about health and wellness.

Several of the mayors drew applause when they called for more gun regulations.

We know how easy it is to get guns in this country, said Sam Liccardo, mayor of San Jose, California, where four people were killed last June before the gunman took his own life.

Mayors said they were the ones the community turned to for information and comfort during and after the tragedy.

You are the communicator, said Bill Peduto, mayor of Pittsburgh, where 11 worshippers in a synagogue were killed in October 2018. "You can either profess hate against hate or you can find light."

And memories of the killings will remain long after the rest of the nation turns its attention elsewhere.

Trauma is real and it has horrible, horrible after-effects in every community, said Christine Hunsckofsky, mayor of Parkland, Florida, where 17 high school students and staff members were gunned down in February 2018. We relive this every time there is another shooting.

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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The framers, in fact, wanted a government that wasnt too sensitive to voters  that mediated voters whims and prejudices through representatives presumably taking a longer, cooler view. Senators six-year terms reflect that. As Alison LaCroix, a University of Chicago professor who teaches constitutional law and American history, told me, The Senate is supposed to have a little more deliberative power and maybe be a little less beholden to the people. When senators say they should kick an issue back to the people, theyre arguably violating the spirit of the chamber.

LaCroix made another excellent point: Whats happening to Trump isnt muscling voters out of the process but, rather, taking into account what voters recently did. You only get an impeachment vote when people have changed their minds, she said, referring to their opinions about a sitting president. The votes comes from the House, and we know, from things like the midterm elections, that some amount of people have changed their minds. Another party has gained control of the House. That has to be telling us something.

Granted, that switch in the House majority wasnt a referendum on Trumps interactions with Ukraine, which were the grounds for his impeachment and hadnt yet come to light. But they were absolutely a referendum, in part, on his behavior and character. Lawmakers who are now assessing and acting on the worst of that behavior and character are hardly turning a deaf ear to voters.

If Republican leaders were really so invested in a government that didnt diverge from voters desires, more of them would be questioning the Electoral College. Because of it, the country has a president, Trump, who received about three million fewer votes than his opponent. Because of it, George W. Bush won the 2000 presidential election despite being the choice of fewer Americans than Al Gore. But both Trump and Bush are Republicans. So its fine if the system and voter sentiment arent perfectly aligned.

Similarly, Republicans  Democrats, too  are fond of tarring opponents by saying that theyre too beholden to polls. The implication is that elected officials should have the courage of their own convictions and not outsource their judgment to constituents. Saying that only voters should decide Trumps fate is precisely such outsourcing. And Election Day is essentially the biggest poll of all.

Theres an additional, profoundly important wrinkle in the case of Trumps impeachment and trial. They stem specifically from actions he took to corrupt the next presidential election by getting a foreign government to smear a potential rival. To give those actions a pass is to green-light more of the same or worse, meaning that voters verdict on Trumps behavior might be fatally tainted: not a clean expression of popular will but a product of, well, cheating. The election cant be the remedy when the election is whats at issue.

But McCarthy, McConnell and other Republicans are determined to spare their party the humiliation of Trumps removal and to protect themselves from his wrath (and his bases fury) if he isnt saved. So they reach for whatever arguments they can. Some are more plausible than others. The assertion that an election next November forbids honor this January is a joke, and the framers would have laughed at it.

I invite you to sign up for my free weekly email newsletter. You can follow me on Twitter (@FrankBruni).

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.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasized that it was necessary to settle six problems in the textile and garment industry to avoid losing important export markets.

Vitas last week oganized a ceremony to commemorate the 20th anniversary of its establishment.



The target of exporting $100 billion worth of textiles and garments by 2030 is far higher than the targeted figure of $80 billion set by Vitas.

Meanwhile, the industry is still waiting for a new development strategy to improve the existing problems in material supply.



Globalization has brought big benefits to Vietnams textile and garment industry. The export turnover of textiles and garments in 2019 is estimated to reach $39 billion, or 22 times higher than $1.75 billion in 1999.



The multilateral FTAs, including CPTPP and EVFTA, that Vietnam has signed are expected to give a push to a new development stage.



However, economists said it would be not easy to take full advantage of the opportunities as Vietnam has to import 86 percent of fabric it needs to make garment products for export, according to Vitas.

Vietnam has jumped to the third position, just after China and Bangladesh, in the list of the worlds biggest textile and garment producers.

Vietnam has jumped to the third position, just after China and Bangladesh, in the list of the worlds biggest textile and garment producers.



However, the US-China trade war is causing more competition among textile and garment powers.



According to Vu Duc Giang, chair of Vitas, buyers are more demanding and setting higher requirements, from sample development to material sources. They are also considering the conditions of enterprises, including the environment and working conditions.



Buyers were thinking more carefully before making decisions and comparing the prices offered by Vietnam and other countries such as Bangladesh and Myanmar.



The rapid increase in labor cost has placed difficulties for Vietnamese enterprises. Meanwhile, Bangladesh still has low labor costs, $110-150/worker/month.



There are two big problems the textile and garment industry isfacing. First, the domestic supply of materials can satisfy 50 percent of demand. Second, even if Vietnamese enterprises do the outsourcing or buy materials and sell finished products, they have to make profit of over 25 percent of total capital to have capital for re-investment and equipment upgrading and improve the productivity by 20 percent.



Experts said Vietnam needs a new development strategy for the time to come. If it just seeks market opening opportunities through tariff cuts under FTAs, the advantage will fade over time once other countries also sign FTAs with Vietnams current partners.

Thanh Mai

Textile and garment companies need more orders for 2020 The number of orders that textile and garment companies have received for 2020 is just equal to 80 percent of that in the same period last year.
SANTA CRUZ (BCN)

The lives and deeds of three Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter volunteers who died when the boat they were on caught fire last September near Santa Barbara are being commemorated with a Little Free Library, shelter officials said Friday.

Diana Adamic, Tia Salika and Berenice Felipe "dedicated themselves to promoting animal welfare and humane education in Santa Cruz County," the shelter said in a news release.

The fire shortly after 3 a.m. on Sept. 2 left 33 passengers and one crewmember dead on the 75-foot commercial diving boat Conception as it was anchored off Santa Cruz Island southwest of Santa Barbara during a three-day diving trip, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Adamic was a longtime volunteer and humane education coordinator. Salika, Adamic's daughter, and Felipe, Salika's friend, also volunteered at the shelter, assisting with education and Summer Camp programs, and fostering numerous cats and kittens through the shelter's foster care program.

The little library in their memory, located near the shelter entrance on Rodriguez Street in Santa Cruz, is available for the public to exchange books with their community.

"These three stellar individuals were invaluable members of both the shelter team and the Santa Cruz community. They will be deeply mourned but also celebrated," former Animal Shelter Humane Education Coordinator Jen Walker 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 opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) has condemned the Liberal-National government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison for delays in the construction of 12 new attack submarines.

Collins Class Submarine, HMAS Sheean, in Cockburn Sound, Western Australia [Source: Royal Australian Navy]

The Australian National Audit Office released a report on January 14 into the submarine project, titled Future Submarine ProgramTransition to Design. It reported that the projects initial design phase is now nine months behind schedule. This comes after testimony in Senate estimates hearings last November that revealed planned construction of the first submarine has been delayed by a year. The accumulating delays have pushed back the scheduled operational activation of the submarine fleet from the original forecast of the mid-2020s to the current expectation that the first submarines will not be ready until the mid-2030s.

This delay is so substantial that it threatens a submarine gap, with several years potentially separating the mothballing of the current, ageing Collins-class submarine fleet and the deployment of the new long-range attack submarine fleet.

Amid escalating geo-strategic tensions that are being fuelled by US imperialisms aggressive confrontation of China, this threat to Australias global submarine capacity has raised alarm bells within the military and intelligence establishment.

The Labor Party is giving full throated voice to these concerns. While the opposition has closed ranks behind the government over the nation-wide bushfire crisis, refusing to criticise Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his government for its indifference to the suffering of working class communities, on this issue of national security the Labor Party is keen to burnish its militarist credentials.

Richard Marles, deputy leader of the Labor Party and opposition defence spokesman, wrote an op-ed piece for the Australian on January 16 headlined Australia needs these submarineshow late will they be?

Richard Marles (left) addressing US Studies Centre [Source: United States Studies Centre]

Marles boasted: The decision to acquire 12 long-range submarines was first made by the Rudd Labor government. In a world characterised by uncertainty this is a vital acquisition for our nation. Submarines have capabilities unlike any other platform. They project Australian defence in a unique way. They are one of the most strategic assets Australia has. And this is the most expensive Defence acquisition in our nations history. Labor totally supports the Future Submarine Program and Australia cannot afford to see it fail in any way.

While Marles did not spell out the possible role for the new submarines, it is openly acknowledged within foreign policy think tanks and defence industry publications that one of their crucial tasks in the event of a US-led war with China will be cutting off crucial naval trade and military passageways in South East Asia, including the strategic Malacca, Lombok and Sunda straits.

Australias attack submarines are designed to be fully interoperable with US forces, and will, in other words, be integrated into US military strategy. The submarine megaproject is directly bound up with ensuring Australian imperialisms global interests in the event of war between the US and its great power rivals.

The Labor Party is seeking to conceal these issues before ordinary people, promoting submarine construction as a purely defensive measure.

In his op-ed, Marles described as breathtaking the Australian National Audit Office report detailing of the mounting problems at every stage of the submarine project. This had prompted a warning in 2018 by the chairman of the governments Naval Shipbuilding Advisory Board, former US Navy secretary Don Winter, that an assessment should be made whether the projects risks outweighed the benefits of proceeding.

Marles, outraged at any suggestion that the submarines construction not proceed, thundered: This is a moment when every Australian concerned about the defence of our nation should be aghast at how the Future Submarine Program is being managed by this government. Yet, with all of these red flags, where is the [defence] minister?

Notably, the Labor Party has said not one word of criticism as the cost of the submarine construction project escalates ever higher than the original $50 billion estimate. In Senate estimates hearings last November, military officials revealed that the build would now cost at least $80 billion, with another $145 billion to maintain and upgrade the twelve submarines until the year 2080.

During the estimates hearings, Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching raised no objections to the extraordinary expenditure. Instead, she grilled the government about whether nuclear-powered submarines had been considered. Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds insisted that, Australia doesnt have the qualified personnel, experience, infrastructure, training facilities and regulatory systems required to design, construct, operate and maintain a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.

Responding to Kitchings questions, Reynolds said, are you saying you and the Labor Party would like a nuclear-powered submarine? The Labor senator refused to answer this, saying only, You are the government, minister. Thats a discussion probably best had in another place.

In 2012, shortly after the Labor government announced the plan to construct 12 new submarines, Jeffrey Bleich, the US ambassador to Australia, publicly declared that Washington regarded Australian submarines as crucial to security in the Asia-Pacific region. He urged the purchase of American-built nuclear vessels. The blatant intervention into Australian domestic politics underscored what is at stake for Washington in the still unresolved question of how the new submarine fleet will be acquired and sustained.

The consistent position of the Labor Party has been to advance itself as the most determined advocate of a vast expansion of Australias military forces, marching in lockstep alongside Washington as it prepares for regional and even global war.
Sweden's Madelene Sagstrom fired a bogey-free five-under par 67 on Saturday, stretching her lead to two strokes after the third round of the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio. Sagstrom, seeking her first LPGA title at the Florida event, followed up a career-low 62 on Friday with a solid effort to sit on 15-under 201 after 54 holes at Boca Raton. "I didn't make as many putts today but I rolled some nice ones in the beginning and I felt like I kept the momentum going," Sagstrom said. "I feel great. I'm really proud of myself. I'm really happy." Japan's Nasa Hataoka overcame an opening bogey to also shoot 67 and seize second, with South Korean Kim Sei-young and American Danielle Kang sharing third on 204 and France's Celine Boutier and American Cydney Clanton one shot further back. Sagstrom birdied the par-5 opening hole, the par-3 third and sixth and the par-5 eighth to take command. "I just wanted to let loose and see what would happen," Sagstrom said. She sank another birdie at the par-4 15th, but missed out on a concluding birdie for a third consecutive day when a 12-foot putt slid by the cup. Sagstrom, 27, said she would be delighted to capture the title on Sunday but was thinking long term about simply being happy about how she handles the situation of playing with a final-round lead no matter how she fares. "It would mean everything (to win)," Sagstrom said. "Tomorrow my goal is just to go out and make myself proud and be able to be proud of the way I handled myself." Hataoka, chasing her fourth career LPGA title, bounced back from her stumble at the start with three birdies in a row starting at the par-3 third, then added another to close the front nine. Hataoka, who turned 21 earlier this month, birdied the 15th and par-3 17th as well to stay on Sagstrom's heels. Kang opened and closed with birdies among her seven in a bogey-free 65 while Kim fell out of a share of second with a closing bogey after opening with a birdie, running off three more in a row starting at the par-5 eighth and making back-to-back birdies at 15 and the par-5 16th. Spain's Carlota Ciganda, who was second after 36 holes only one adrift of Sagstrom, struggled to a 75 with five bogeys against two birdies. Sagstrom took a two-stroke lead after Saturday's third round
Rating: 3.0 /5 Star Cast: Director:

Available On: Amazon Prime Video

Language: Hindi

Duration: 5 Episodes/ 30-40 minutes

Story: The Forgotten Army - Azaadi Ke Liye, is based on the true story of soldiers from the Indian National Army (INA), who marched towards the capital, with the war cry 'Challo Dilli', to free their country from the reign of the British. Lead by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose INA was forged out of British defeat in Singapore during WWII, it also showcases the first-ever women infantry regiment anywhere in the world.

Review: The Forgotten Army has the potential to influence and become the new war cry in the current troubled times. The show raises several questions about the idea of the motherland, what freedom means and how keeping freedom alive is a bigger and harder fight. But amid the ideas, we also get a love story, a struggle to portray three cultures appropriately on screen and a jumbled narrative.

At the start, we meet an old and grumpy Captain Sodhi (played by MK Raina) landing in Singapore to meet his sick sister in 1996. But instead of spending time with her, he finds himself reminiscing his own days in Singapore during World War II, in 1940's. He soon warms up to his nephew, Amar who is a photojournalist and wishes to capture the political ongoing crisis in Burma (1996).

Sodhi then tells Amar about his enlistment in the Indian National Army and their attempt to free India from British Raj through military action. We are soon sent back and forth between 1940s to 1996, several times as the story proceeds in 5 episodes. With a complex narrative that wishes to share more than it can take on, we get a script that finds it hard to justify a good amount of run time for each sub-plot.

Written by Kabir Khan, Heeraz Marfatia and Shubhra Marfatia, the series, unfortunately, takes a Bollywood approach. While the period drama itself would have been a solid plotline, we also get a forced love story that spans over decades and tries to adds an unnecessary layer of star crossed lovers. The era inappropriate dialogues in the 1940s and 1996 keeps you from getting involved in the story.

The historic story has indeed been missing from the cinema and I am glad it has been brought to life. We get to see a new aspect of the fight against British Raj, a fight that was away from our motherland and fought on the outside. It's impact on the conditions within the country and how it led to the last blow for the British government.

Kabir Khan also makes a strong effort to share his point of view on Indian society, and the current conditions. Within a dialogue, he warns us, the fight to keep the freedom is harder than the fight that has been already fought. It is our time now, and the fight has been going on since 1996, when Burma was fighting for their freedom and we still are today, around the globe. The series also gives a glimpse of the proud moment when first-ever Rani of Jhansi women's regiment was created.

It is in this part of the show that you can't stop watching. It keeps you hooked, even the love story between Rajan and Rasammah is more interesting and fun to watch. Another aspect of the show that I really enjoyed was, the way Sunny Kaushal's character struggles with the idea of his Motherland. How his motherland is India, separate from the Britishers that rule it now. He is often seen using the British induced learnings only to realise it was there to brainwash him. The downside of his character arc is that we don't actually get to see him go through the emotional change, it just restricted a dialogue most of the time.

The show also had plenty of loopholes, like the Japanese soldier Daichi-san, committing hara-kiri when his orders were to retreat? Sodhi finding missing pieces of his love story 1996? Who is the badly animated bluebird flying to help them decades apart? Why are the soldiers in Burma following a group of kids when the entire city is in trouble? How are they even tracking them?

Tremendous effort has been made to establish the war scenes and to channel the idea of a war that went way beyond our country's bounds. But it remains only to the screen. Shah Rukh Khan appearing in every episode for a war update through a voice-over is cute. Use of archive foot that has been made, adds to the sense of patriotism but the loss remains in the end when the story gets dramatise to appeal the masses.

Sunny Kaushal, Sharvari Wagh, Rohit Chaudhary, Tj Bhanu, R. Badree, Toshiji Takeshima and more leave a strong trace, but the story is mainly carried by Sunny and Rohit. Their chemistry and the little comic relief in the show is fun to watch, Sharvari Wagh on the other hand, is charming in her debut work. Overall, The Forgotten Army leaves an impact with a forgetful script.

Spoiler: With the way, The Forgotten Army has been true and raw about the realities of war, I was hoping they would also add the same for the love story's end. Things would have been much more real, and admirable if Sodhi had returned back home and chose to live his remaining life, like Maya did.

Amazon Teases 14 New Shows: Abhishek Bachchan, Manoj Bajpayee, Saif Ali Khan And More In 2020
A dark cloud descended over the south of the county at the weekend when news of the death of Fr Michael Murphy arrived, just weeks before his 95th birthday.

Known as Fr Tidy, Fr Murphy transformed the communities he served as parish priest. In each of his postings across the diocese of Kerry, he brought with him not only his smile and good humour but also his vision and can-do spirit.

Aside from his role as parish priest to so many localities, he became synonymous with Tidy Towns groups in the towns and villages he served in.

"It was his hobby," said secretary of Kenmare Tidy Towns Maureen Finnegan.

His Tidy Towns endeavours began in Sneem, where he was Parish Priest from 1981 to 1990. He is remembered fondly there and helped them to a gold medal in the national Tidy Towns competition in 1987.

He then repeated the trick in Kenmare town after he moved to the parish in 1990. It was there he served until this retirement to Killarney in 2004.

It was also in Kenmare that he was laid to rest on Tuesday afternoon, in the grounds of Holy Cross Church, and the local community came out in force to say goodbye to a man they cherished and remember fondly.

"He led by example. He was not too posh to pick up litter," recalls Maureen, "and we learned from him.

"The best tribute I can say is that he was just like us. He was one of us."

During his time in the town, he helped the locality secure a Tidy Towns overall gold medal in 2000, just as he had done in Sneem 13 years previously.

Kenmare was also named as Ireland's tidiest small town in 1996 and, of course, in that gold medal-winning year of 2000.

These wins led to even greater things for Kenmare and, in total, the town has 20 Tidy Towns medals.

"Any litter would feel nervous when he was around, like turkeys before Christmas," Maureen said. "He had vision and action."

But the man never took the credit and, when praised by Kenmare Tidy Towns just recently, his reply was: "We did it together".

Following their most recent win, Maureen visited him to show him the medal, and one of the last photos taken of Fr Murphy was of him holding this medal in his hands.

By any measure, it was a fitting last photo of a man who was known to many as Fr Tidy.

"We kept it going after he went [to Killarney]," Maureen said. "We could not let him down."

Fr Murphy was laid to rest yesterday, January 21, following Funeral Mass in St Mary's Cathedral, Killarney. In the homily, his brother Bishop Bill Murphy, said he will forever be remembered "for his involvement in the social life of the various parishes he served.

On its way to Kenmare and Fr Murphy's final resting place, the grounds of Holy Cross Church, the cortege met guards of honour in both Kilgarvan and Kenmare. It was the least an icon of his standing deserved.
Sharing a big tent requires including those who do not share every one of our beliefs, while always making clear that we will never compromise our values, said Gray. The truth is that by standing together in solidarity, we share the values of love and respect that will move us in the direction of a more humane, more equal world.
Established on the 15th September 2009, the Kaleo Baptist Basic School started with forty (40) pupils, precisely fourteen(14) girls and twenty-six(26) boys with only two teachers.

Through hard work and determination by the founders, the school has developed into one of the leading basic schools in terms of sports, discipline, and academia in Kaleo and the Nadowli-Kaleo District of the Upper West Region.

Presently, the school has a student population of three hundred and ninety-three (393), thus, from Kindergarten(KG) up to JHS One (1) with twenty(20) teaching and One non-teaching staff.

The school's Classroom infrastructure was fully funded by the philanthropic works of a group known as 'Care for Kaleo' in the United Kingdom. In addition to the infrastructure, some furniture and other teaching and learning materials were provided by the philanthropic organization.

According to the Headmistress of the Baptist Primary School, Rebecca Saan, the birth of the school was masterminded by a VSO from the United Kingdom, Andy Hempson who was attached as a teacher at the Kaleo Senior High/Technical School.

He was a member of the Baptist Church and worshipped with the Kaleo congregation while in Ghana. He later made friends with the head pastor and other members of the church which led to the establishment of the school.

The head pastor of the Kaleo Baptist Church, Solomon Bagonluri said "ten years of providing quality education" to the poor and vulnerable for whose sake, the school was established was no mean achievement for the Church.

Mr. Bagonluri urged teachers of the school to pay much attention to instilling some moral values in the pupils as a way of grooming them to become responsible future leaders who would not tolerate corruption in their social and public life.

He further mentioned that he expects pupils who passed through the school to have the skill of creativity to be able to solve problems in everyday life and be self-sufficient and not dependent on the government for employment.

Mr. Bagonluri commended the pupils for comporting and disciplining themselves anytime they attend any public gathering and also said he is impressed by the fact that the pupils are very fluent in the 'Queens language' and commended the teachers for doing a yew man's job.

For his part, Albert Mwaabu who is the headmaster of the Baptist Junior High School said he is very impressed with the caliber of pupils in the school.

According to him, the brilliance of the J.H.S One pupils is unmatched and that teachers who do not prepare well before honoring their lessons may get disgraced by the pupils through their intellectual discourse in class.

Mr. Mwaabu commended the Nadowli District Education Directorate for assisting the school with adequate staff but appealed to them to provide them with some textbooks to augment the limited number of teaching and learning materials. He expressed appreciation to the Parent-Teacher Association and the School Management Committee of their enormous support and cooperation.

School Prefect of the Kaleo Baptist Junior High School, Israel Bagonluri who spoke on behalf of his colleague students said: "they are very grateful to the Almighty God for seeing them through all this period of ten years." He encouraged his colleagues to continue to take their studies seriously since that is the only way to achieve what they aspire to become in the nearest future.

The Kaleo Baptist is ten years old and has embarked on a root-match to launch its anniversary celebration in Kaleo. The theme for the celebration is "Baptist education, quality education, the role of the teacher".
For a few gripping minutes, Rep Adam Schiff, the lead impeachment prosecutor against President Donald Trump, had made the restless Senate snap to attention.

Voice cracking as he spoke, Schiff made an impassioned plea late Thursday for removing Trump from office, framing the choice in moral terms. "If right doesn't matter, we're lost, he said.

You know you can't trust this president do what's right for this country, Schiff said. "You can trust he will do what's right for Donald Trump. He'll do it now. He's done it before. He'll do it for the next several months, he'll do it in the election if he's allowed to. This is why if you find him guilty you must find that he should be removed. Because right matters."



Reactions to the speech were as divided as the country. Democrats gushed, tweeting glowing words about the California Democrat's rousing late-night speech.

Republicans said they were unconvinced, and strenuously rejected the idea that Trump can't be trusted.

Still, even some Republicans gave Schiff grudging respect for the skill of his arguments.

I thought he was passionate and his case has been well articulated, said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican. Still, he added, in the end it's all going to come down to the facts, the law and the what people think is the threshold for what's an impeachable offense.

Schiff is unlikely to win over enough GOP senators to convict Trump, as most are solidly supporting the president. But for his articulate presentations to the Senate he has won praise from some senators like South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who shook his hand and told him he was doing a good job after the first day of House arguments.

Schiff is the face of the House's impeachment case against Trump, which has made him the principal target of Trump's ire. Though he has six managers by his side, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Schiff, her confidant, as the lead impeachment manager.

He is setting the tone of the prosecution's case, working methodically to convince even his most ardent detractors that Trump deserves to be removed from office.

In a way I do feel like I'm introducing myself to a number of the senators, Schiff said in an interview with The Associated Press before arguments resumed on Thursday.

He said many of them are familiar only with conservative criticism of him, and they are finding I'm not the demon that I'm portrayed as on Fox." Schiff said he wishes that the Graham exchange wasn't caught on camera, because it was nice to have a private moment. And I don't want to discourage that kind of thing. But I very much appreciated his comments.

Though Graham has ridiculed the case against the Republican president and heaped scorn on Democrats like Schiff, he said on Thursday he believes the California Democrat is well spoken and did a good job of creating a tapestry, taking bits and pieces of evidence and emails and giving a rhetorical flourish ... sometimes effectively, sometimes a little over the top. Other Republicans had similar words. Missouri Sen.

Roy Blunt said the Democrats had admirable presentations, even though he found them repetitive and said he didn't learn much new. Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst says she's not a fan" of Schiff, but believes he has been presenting a calm, level case against the president.

Graham, who was an impeachment manager himself in President Bill Clinton's 1999 trial, again complimented the House impeachment managers Friday on the way they have conducted themselves, but said he was less impressed with Schiff's closing speech on Thursday evening.

He told me that I have to get rid of this president now, because I can't trust him to do what's best for the country because he'll only do what's best for Donald Trump, Graham said.

"That decision needs to be made by the voters. Schiff, who represents parts of Hollywood, has been a frequent target of conservatives since the then GOP-led House Intelligence Committee started investigating Trump's ties to Russia in the 2016 election.

He was frequently on television questioning Trump's actions.

The criticism intensified, though, when Democrats took the House majority in early 2019 and he became chairman of the intelligence panel. And it reached a full-on roar as he took charge of the impeachment investigation of Trump's dealings with Ukraine last fall.

Trump has trained his ire on the congressman on Twitter and elsewhere, alternatively calling him shifty, sleazy, and liddle. He has also turned his name into a vulgarity, occasionally calling him Schitt on Twitter, and dubbed him pencil neck at a campaign rally.

Trump tweeted about Schiff only a handful of times in 2017 and 2018, but hundreds of times since Democrats gained the House majority.

In contrast to the president, Schiff has tried to set a non-combative tone on the Senate floor, with conciliatory words to the Senate. He said at the start of his arguments on Wednesday that he was deeply grateful for their attention and understands that it's hard to sit and listen four hours on end.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
I am a member of that unjustly vilified uppermiddle class and an erstwhile elite Manhattan SAT tutor, so I know well what pressure drives parents to the behaviors described as dream hoarding. Granted, there are plenty of deplorable examples of NIMBYism, elitism and cheating on the part of bad actors (no double entendre intended), but these are only small symptoms of the larger problem. These parents are in fierce competition with one another to maintain their families class status  the unfortunate side effect being the squeezing out of potential new entrants  because the pie is shrinking for them, as it is for everyone but the ultrarich.
2 1 of 2 Tony Avelar / Associated Press Show More Show Less 2 of 2 Tony Avelar/Associated Press Show More Show Less



CEO Jed York said he hoped the 49ers have the chance to visit the White House if they win Super Bowl LIV against the Chiefs in Miami on Feb. 2.

We have to get to that point, York said to reporters Friday. For me, personally, I respect the office of the president. Im not going to get into politics. I hope that we have that decision to make. And I hope that we have that opportunity. And I hope were fortunate enough to get a call from the president to invite us to the White House.
SAN DIEGO -- Ryan Palmer wasn't aware of any score but his own Friday at Torrey Pines, and he knew it was good enough to at least get himself back into the mix at the Farmers Insurance Open.

He was on the North Course without much bustle -- Tiger Woods was on the South -- and without any scoreboards. As he kept piling up birdies, Palmer was tempted to get out his phone and see where he stood.

"I said, 'Just don't look. We'll see when we get done.' I knew it would be close," he said.

It was much better than that. His 10-under 62 -- with a bogey on the last hole -- went a long way, taking him to a two-shot lead over Brandt Snedeker going into the weekend.

It was a magnificent round to match the weather along the Pacific bluffs.

Related: Leaderboard | Tee Times | Insider: When will Tiger win No. 83?

But it wasn't pretty for everyone.

Woods opened his round with four putts from 25 feet for a double bogey, and then a spurt of birdies around the turn to get some momentum, only to stall the rest of the way for a 71 that left him six shots behind.


Delta Air Lines was Friday fined $50,000 by the US Department of Transportation to settle allegations it discriminated against three Muslim passengers who were ordered off their planes.

In its consent order, the department said it found Delta engaged in discriminatory conduct and violated anti-discrimination laws when it removed the three passengers.

In one incident on July 26, 2016, a Muslim couple were removed from Delta Flight 229 at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris after a passenger told a flight attendant their behavior made her very uncomfortable and nervous.

Mrs X was wearing a head scarf and the passenger said Mr X had inserted something into his watch.

The flight attendant said she saw Mr X texting on his cell phone using the word Allah several times.

The captain then spoke with Deltas corporate security, who said Mr and Mrs X were US citizens returning home and there were no red flags.

However the captain refused to let them re-board the plane.

The Department of Transportation said the captain had failed to follow Deltas security protocol and it appeared that but for Mr and Mrs Xs perceived religion, Delta would not have removed or denied them reboarding of their flight.

The second incident covered in the order involved another Muslim passenger who boarded Flight 49 at Amsterdam heading for New York on July 31, 2016.

Other passengers and flight attendants complained about him but the first officer saw nothing unusual about him and Delta security also said Mr As record had no red flags.

The captain prepared the plane for departure but then returned to the gate and had Mr A removed and his seat searched.

The Transportation Department said the captain had not followed Deltas security protocol and the removal of Mr A after being cleared was discriminatory.

Delta disagreed that it engaged in discriminatory conduct but does not dispute that each of these two incidents could have been handled differently, the order said.

The government said the fine establishes a strong deterrent against future similar unlawful practices by Delta and other carriers.

Following the July 2016 incidents, Delta said it had reviewed and enhanced its procedure to investigate suspicious activity to make it more collaborative and objective.
Photo: The Admiral/Yelp

Want to find out about the newest businesses to open in Washington? From an eyelash and eyebrow beauty service to a pizza restaurant, read on for a rundown of the newest businesses to debut recently.

Wink and Blush Beauty

Photo: Wink and blush beauty/yelp

Wink and Blush Beauty recently opened at 641 Florida Ave. NW in Ledroit Park. So far, it's been well-received with a five-star rating out of six reviews on Yelp.

The business offers eyelash services, eyebrow threading and makeup. It also offers training classes and beauty products.

The Admiral

Photo: The Admiral/Yelp

The Admiral bar and traditional American spot recently opened at 1 Dupont Circle NW. It's off to a positive start with four stars out of 11 reviews on Yelp.

Crab cakes, cioppino, pan-seared chicken and lobster linguini are among the entrees. Craft cocktails, wine and beer are also on offer.

DC Stone Pizza

Photo: scott k./Yelp

A new addition to the U Street Corridor, DC Stone Pizza is a Mediterranean spot located at 1501 U St. NW.

Pizza varieties include Hawaiian with ham and pineapple, Mediterranean with chicken shawarma and one with pepperoni, sausage, bacon, ham, salami and beef. In early days, the restaurant has earned 4.5 stars out of three Yelp reviews.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
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White Label Datings considerable Members Area volume carries better than 85% UK traffic, and focuses on the English-speaking market. The exclusive launch will include new ad zones such as a 42x42 icon, 300x100 mobile adhesion and inbox ad; as well, there will be a separate channel for mainstream-only traffic, ideal for SFW brands or those able to meet creative restrictions with their banners.

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Former AIADMK MP K C Palanisamy was arrested in the early hours of Saturday from his residence here on charges of operating a website in the name of the party and also misusing its 'two leaves' symbol after he was expelled from the party, police said.

He has been remanded to judicial custody till February 7.

The arrest follows a complaint by Muthugoundenpudur village panchayat president P Kandavel that Palanisamy was participating in party functions despite being expelled from the AIADMK and also running a website and misusing the party's symbol for his personal benefit, thus confusing the cadres, police said.

Palanisamy was booked under the Information Technology Act and also various IPC sections including 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and was taken to Sulur police station for interrogation, they said.

While being taken to the station, Palanisamy, who represented Tiruchengodu constituency in the Lok Sabha in 1989, claimed that it was a 'fake complaint.'



Palanisamy was expelled from the party in 2018 for stating that the party could support the no-confidence motion against the BJP-led government at the Centre if the Cauvery Management Board was not set up.

He has also filed a case in the Delhi High Court seeking holding of elections to the party general secretary post.

After being questioned for more than 10 hours, he was taken to the Coimbatore Medical college hospital for checkup and produced at the house of Judicial Magistrate C Vediyappan around 6 PM who remanded him to judicial custody.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Francis met with Iraqi President Barham Salih. During the visit, discussions centred on promoting stability and the reconstruction process, encouraging the path of dialogue as well as preserving the historical presence of Christians in the country, of which they are an integral part.

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  The President of Iraq, Barham Salih, visited the Vatican today where he met with Pope Francis (pictured) and later Card Pietro Parolin, secretary of state, as well as by Mgr Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States.

Guaranteeing a place for Christians in the future of Iraq and promoting the countrys stability were key points in the talks.

In a statement, the Vatican noted that During the cordial discussions, the good bilateral relations were evoked, and the parties focused on the challenges the country currently faces and on the importance of promoting stability and the reconstruction process, encouraging the path of dialogue and the search for suitable solutions in favour of citizens and with respect for national sovereignty.

Attention then turned to the importance of preserving the historical presence of Christians in the country, of which they are an integral part, and the significant contribution they bring to the reconstruction of the social fabric, highlighting the need to guarantee their security and a place in the future of Iraq.

Finally, the parties discussed the various conflicts and grave humanitarian crises that afflict the region, underlining the importance of the efforts made with the support of the international community to re-establish trust and peaceful co-existence.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 25

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

A delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) consisting of 32 people will arrive in Azerbaijan to observe the parliamentary elections to be held in Azerbaijan Feb. 9, reads a statement by PACE.

The statement was published after the pre-election visit of the PACE delegation to Azerbaijan on Jan. 22 and 23, Trend reports Jan. 25 referring to "Election 2020" Independent Media Center established by Azerbaijani Central Election Commission (CEC).

The representatives of state institutions welcomed observation of the elections by the PACE delegation and stressed their political will to organize elections transparently, in a free and fair atmosphere, reads the statement.

It was noted that the delegations activities wont be limited to the elections day alone, but are a process involving several stages, all of which need to be analyzed and evaluated in order to assess the entire electoral process.
Dr Luong Ngoc Khue, director general of the Administration of Medical Service, Ministry of Health, talks to Vietnam News Agency about how hospital quality standards improved healthcare after being introduced in 2012.

Dr Luong Ngoc Khue, director general of the Administration of Medical Service, Ministry of Health.VNA/VNS Photo

Last year marked the seventh year the Vietnam Set of Hospital Quality Standard was in actions. Have hospitals been able to reach those standards?

The set of 83 quality standards have gradually become the new norm for the countrys healthcare system over the last seven years. Though criticised as being vague and unpractical at first, the standards are now welcomed at most hospitals and are seen as high goals for hospitals to achieve.

After the standard set was implemented, many hospitals have changed for the better, with, for example, better patient reception, more greenery as decoration and much cleaner restrooms. Several private hospitals and the non-insurance high-quality service departments of a few public hospitals even managed to reach international standards. There are currently four hospitals having their quality recognised by the US-based Joint Commission International.

Clinical services were also improved through time. National-level hospitals have exchanged nearly 2,000 cutting edge techniques to satellite hospitals of which 85 per cent later reported a decrease in the number of patients having to be transferred to bigger hospitals for treatment.

Notably, several techniques to transplant heart, liver, kidney or cornea were widely carried out in many hospitals.

How important is hospital quality assessment to develop the healthcare system?

Hospital quality assessment is very important for patients to make their choice of hospital. Hospital quality also serves as a reference to calculate medical fees and service packages of insurance companies. In general, having the pros and cons of a hospital pointed out will help improve its quality for the sake of the patients.

The set of 83 quality standards is a benchmark for a hospital to see where it is now and how well it is doing.

Could you share the results of the hospital quality assessment in 2019?

We found that many hospitals were very competitive regarding services and they truly cared about improving their quality. They tried to conform to patient-friendly criteria like better hospital interiors, offering guidance for patients and strictly upholding confidentiality.

On the other hand, many still struggled to control hospital infections, to use technology in operations and offer better nutrition to their patients. Several hospitals were found overloaded with small-sized infrastructure which really undermined their efforts to improve services.

We also noticed a few Departments of Health rated hospitals in their locality as very high, at four out of five stars for example. If the hospitals are really that good, they had better be the best. But otherwise, it will be bad for hospitals and patients.

So will the Ministry of Health make any changes in assessing hospitals this year?

We are expecting to add new criteria on infectious diseases, antibiotic resistance and nursing practices in 2020.

The health ministry will also set up a Quality Assessment Council and independent assessment units to have separate organisations objectively measure hospital quality. VNS

HCM City fosters development of smart healthcare HCM City has invested extensively in smart healthcare development, with a focus on healthcare big data platform and the use of information technology in hospital management and expertise management.
A New Jersey court dismissed one mans attempt to dismantle a settlement reached last year between the Ramapough Lenape Nation and the Township of Mahwah, which was reached after years of litigation.

Thomas Powers, a member of the Ramapo Hunt & Polo Club homeowners association, filed a pro se lawsuit, claiming his constitutional rights had been violated, which a judge dismissed Friday, after the club went to trial and lost. The settlement dropped all fines and settled civil litigation between the township and the tribe.

In his lawsuit, Powers argued the settlement violated municipal ordinances, a potential driveway allowed under the settlement was a safety hazard, and the driveway should be moved, according to a release.

The judge called Powers claims totally specious and said the court ruling against the club from last year barred any disgruntled Polo Club members from future litigation, according to a release.

The trial was due to disagreement regarding the Ramapoughs hosting of religious gatherings on their land, which is adjacent to the Ramapo Hunt & Polo Club homeowners association. After the club declined to join the settlement agreement with the township, they went to trial and lost, and the court dismissed the clubs case.

We are pleased with the ruling and look forward to better relations with our neighbors at the Hunt & Polo Club, a representative for the Ramapough Lenape Nation said in a release.

The township previously levied thousands of summonses and over $1 million dollars in fines against the tribe since 2016, in an effort to stop religious practices on their land, a release said. Both the township and the club filed several lawsuits against the tribe, which countersued both groups in federal court for racial and religious discrimination.

Mr. Powers raised the same issues a court already considered and rejected after a full trial, Brittany Thomas, a fellow with the Center for Constitutional Rights who argued at the decision Friday, said in a release.

Filing yet another lawsuit seeking to infringe on the Ramapoughs right to religious practice was pure harassment, she said.

Powers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Ramapough Lenape Nation, which consists of about 5,000 members living around the Ramapo Mountains in Bergen and Passaic counties in New Jersey and Rockland County, New York, were recognized by the state of New Jersey in 1980 as a Native American tribe, but are not recognized federally.

Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @briannakudisch. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.

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Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao celebrates the victory of the TRS in municipal elections in Hyderabad along with ministers K.T. Rama Rao and V. Srinivas Goud and MP K. Kesava Rao on Saturday. (Photo: S. Surender Reddy)

Hyderabad: Appealing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rethink on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday came down heavily on the NDA government for bringing such a legislation in the first place.

Addressing a press conference at Pragathi Bha-van after the TRS landslide victory in the urban local body elections, he said that the CAA was not at all good for the country and that it is 100 per cent a faulty and bad Act.

He felt that the Supreme Court must take suo motu cognisance of the CAA and quash this draconian law to protect the integrity of the country.

Replying to the Congress which had questioned his silence on the CAA, NPR and NRC, he said: I am in touch with Chief Ministers of other states that are opposed to the CAA, and leaders of like-minded parties. If necessary, I will take the lead and invite all of them for a meeting in Hyderabad to chalk out a course of action to fight against this regressive legislation. We will fight against it. We are not sca-red of anyone or any party.

Announcing that the TRS will pass a resolution against the CAA in the Budget Session of the Assembly, Mr Rao said it was a matter of concern that the CAA left out a particular religion from its ambit and was therefore discriminatory.

Mr Rao said that the implementation of the CAA will put the stamp of religious stigma on the democratic nation which has stood strong as a secular country. The CAA will certainly destabilise the secular fabric of this country. Maintaining that the TRS was a secular party which believed in the Constitutional proclamation of not discriminating anyone on the basis of religion, caste or creed, he made it clear that the TRS will remain a secular party and not lose its secular credentials just for the sake of votes or temporary political gains.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao announced that the TRS will hold a huge public meeting in Hyderabad against the CAA with 10 lakh people.

Replying a question with regard to Chief Ministers conclave against the CAA in Hyderabad, he said it was not against any person or individual but for the sake of the nations integrity.

Mr Rao said that there was no clarity on the CAA since various Union ministers were speaking in different tones and were self-contradictory.

Asked whether he would work with the Congress on the issue of the CAA, he said that for the sake of the future of the country he was prepared to work with it. The country is drowning under the peoples movements against the CAA and with meaningless acts of the BJP government at the Centre with regard to the economic slowdown.

Stating that he was pained when he heard of Muslims left out of the CAA, Mr Rao said India had the largest Muslim population and pointedly asked if they were not citizens of the country.

He said, the BJPs lathi rule will not sustain for long. In a democratic country the elected governments have to review their decision when there is opposition on any of the decisions. But the BJP government has adopted an adamant attitude, which not good for the country. The CAA is also not good for the future of Indians living abroad.

Mr Rao said that India is a Union of States and the state governments are not merely executive bodies, they have Constitutional powers and obligations and they have every right to oppose or support the actions of the Union government.

Mr Rao said that the Federal Front, an idea he has previously floated, will come to power in the 2024 elections with a coalition of the regional parties as the people have lost confidence in the BJP and the Congress.
Vietnam's Quang Ninh Province, home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site Ha Long Bay, has become the third Vietnamese destination on well-heeled Indians radar for their extravagant weddings, according to a Vietnamese diplomat.

Vietnamese Ambassador to India Pham Sanh Chau revealed earlier this month that a mega-wedding of an Indian billionaire will be organized in Uong Bi City, located in Quang Ninh, on March 17 this year.

The city is the third destination in Vietnam that has emerged as a dream wedding venue for deep-pocket Indians, following Phu Quoc Island off the southern province of Kien Giang and the central city of Da Nang.

According to Ambassador Chau, there will be more and more wedding ceremonies of Indias super-rich to be held in Vietnam in the near future as the Southeast Asian country has the advantage of convenient airway links to Indian localities.

Particularly, low-cost Indian airline IndiGos direct routes connecting Kolkata with Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and budget carrier Vietjets non-stop flights between Ho Chi Minh City and New Delhi play an important role in bringing more Indian visitors to Vietnam.

The number of two-way passengers between Vietnam and India has increased significantly since the direct flight routes were opened by IndiGo and Vietjet, Ambassador Chau said.

About 700 to 800 Indian groups will visit Vietnam in June 2020, he revealed.

Indias super-rich people are known for eye-watering expenditure on elaborate nuptials, while Vietnam is competitive in offering quite diverse options of venues for resort tourism, seminars, medical treatment, and wedding planning.

This makes India an attractive feeder market for Vietnamese travel firms.

India climbed into the top 16 markets with the highest number of visitors to Vietnam in 2019.

In terms of growth, the country ranked third with a rise of 27.7 percent year-on-year to 169,000 tourists, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Seoul, Jan 25 : Samsung Electronics has created an in-house technology platform unit and named a new chief for its home appliance business in the company's latest reshuffle, corporate sources here said.

Samsung combined its in-house tech units related with Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and big data solutions to set up a new tech group, tentatively named "next-generation platform centre," according to the company officials.

The centre will be headed by Chung Eui-suk, an executive vice president who is best known for leading the development of Samsung's AI-based digital assistant, Bixby, reports Yonhap news agency.

The South Korean tech giant also appointed Lee Jae-seung, former Consumer Electronics (CE) business division development team leader, to head its home appliance business.

Previously, Kim Hyun-suk, president and CEO of Samsung's CE business division, co-held the title as home appliance business chief. It was revealed in Samsung's senior executive reshuffle on Monday that Kim no longer heads the company's home appliance business, although he retains his CEO position for Samsung's CE business division.

Lee Won-jin, an executive vice president who leads service business team at Samsung's visual display unit, will serve the same job for the company's mobile business unit.

The move will allow Lee, former managing director at Google Korea, to focus on developing contents services for both mobile phones and TVs.

The latest reshuffle followed changes to leadership at Samsung this week. Earlier, the company named a new mobile business chief, and promoted 162 executives.

Infusing young blood into its smartphone business division amid growing Chinese competition in markets like India, Samsung Electronics named 52-year-old Roh Tae-moon its new mobile business chief -- taking over from DJ Koh, current president and CEO of the IT and Mobile Communications (IM) business division.

HC Hong, President and CEO of Samsung Southwest Asia since 2015 and was instrumental in taking India to the top of global smartphone manufacturing map, has also moved on into a new role within the company, according to a letter accessed by IANS.

Samsung usually announces personnel reshuffles in December, but the appointments were delayed as trials involving Samsung Group heir Lee Jae-yong and key executives have dragged out longer than expected.
A Great Falls pilot died in a plane crash while fighting wildfires in Australia on Wednesday.

Ian McBeth, 44, from Great Falls, died serving as an air tanker pilot with Coulson Aviation (USA) Inc. when the C-130 Hercules crashed. There were no survivors, Col. Buel Dickson, 120th Airlift Wing Commander, wrote on the Montana Air National Guard 120th Airlift Wing Facebook page.

"It is with a heavy heart that I inform you we lost a valued Airman and friend last night," Dickson wrote.

Three men died in the crash. First Officer Paul Clyde Hudson, 42, of Buckeye, Arizona, and Flight Engineer Rick A. DeMorgan Jr., 43, of Nevarre, Florida, also died in the crash, according to a press release from Coulson Aviation.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed the deaths in the state's Snowy Monaro region, which came as Australia grapples with an unprecedented fire season that has left a large swath of destruction.

McBeth is survived by his wife, Bowdie, and three children, Abigail, Calvin and Ella, according to the Coulson Aviation release.

"Ian's love for his wife and children was evident for anyone who spent time around him," according to the release.

McBeth was a C-130 pilot with many years experience fighting fire both with the military and with Coulson Aviation. McBeth served with both the Wyoming, Nevada and Montana Air National Guards. He was also an instructor and an evaluator pilot, according to the Coulson release.

He had more than 4,300 flying hours as a military pilot and navigator in the C-130, 836 of which are combat flying hours, according to a press release from the 120th Airlift Wing.

Capt. Cassandra Ross with the Montana Air National Guard knew McBeth and said he was a committed airman.

He was an incredible person, Ross said. He was very selfless. Service before self definitely embodied in him.

On Facebook, Dickson expressed condolences to McBeth's family.

"It is never an easy thing to manage. The loss of a brother in arms affects us all," he wrote. "Please know through difficult times such as these you are never alone. Dont hesitate to reach out and lean on each other as we navigate this loss together."

Coulson Aviation echoed those condolences for all three men's families.

"The aviation industry and emergency service sector is a small community both in Australia and around the world. This will be deeply felt by all," the group wrote in its release.

The crash brings the death toll from the blazes to at least 31 since September. The fires have also destroyed more than 2,600 homes and razed more than 25.7 million acres, an area bigger than the U.S. state of Indiana.

Coulson grounded other firefighting aircraft as a precaution pending investigation, reducing planes available to firefighters in New South Wales and neighboring Victoria state. The four-propeller Hercules drops more than 4,000 gallons of fire retardant in a single pass.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the national air crash investigator, and state police will investigate the crash site, which firefighters described as an active fire ground.

There is no indication at this stage of what's caused the accident, Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.

Berejiklian said there were more than 1,700 volunteers and personnel in the field, and five fires were being described at an emergency warning" level  the most dangerous on a three-tier scale  across the state and on the fringes of the national capital Canberra.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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LOS ANGELESThe Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) has announced that it will once again be traveling to Las Vegas for AVN's InterNEXT Expo.

The annual B2B event will run from January 26-28 at the Sahara Las Vegas, where it will provide seminars, networking sessions, executive dinners and other opportunities for interaction among a range of industry operators.

ASACPs Executive Director Tim Henning will be in attendance to represent the association and to meet with digital media companies, regulatory stakeholders and more.

InterNEXT Expo provides ASACP with an unmatched opportunity to educate stakeholders at every level, from the most established operators to the newest companies, Henning explained. This event represents a range of unique opportunities for the association to raise awareness of the many dangers facing todays digitally connected youth, and the measures that can be taken toward protecting children from exposure to age-restricted materials.

The event's promoters are providing ASACP with a table at the Meet Market networking event and sponsor-level banner placement. In addition, the promoters are helping underwrite Hennings attendance at the show through complimentary Executive-level admission and by covering two nights of his hotel stay in Las Vegas.

Its important for the industry to stand together on important issues, such as preventing children from seeing age-restricted materials online, Theo from InterNEXT parent GFY said. By helping ASACP have a presence at our events, we make it easier for the association to reach the decision-makers that can best influence childrens online safety.

I hope that all InterNEXT attendees will take a moment to meet with Tim and learn how they can help, Theo added.

ASACPs Travel Sponsor, DialXS, is underwriting Hennings airfare and also providing three additional nights of hotel accommodations for further meetings between Henning and industry leaders.

InterNEXT has long provided valuable assistance to the association, for which we are grateful, Henning stated. Without the generous financial and material support that our sponsors provide us, including DialXS travel expense assistance, we could not reach the necessary decision-makers or achieve ASACPs ongoing record of success.

This success includes ASACPs globally recognized Child Exploitation Tipline that has processed more than 1 million CP reports to-date; its award-winning Restricted To Adults (RTA) meta-label that helps filter age-restricted materials; plus market-specific Best Practices; and a universal Code of Ethics that guides companies to child-safe operation.

ASACP has always led the way in online child protection, thanks to the ongoing support of our sponsors, and this expertise is needed by the industry now more than ever, Henning concluded. As 2020 rolls on, the worldwide calls for mandatory age verification and other measures will continue, with ASACP ready to respond with alternatives and education regarding this serious subject.

For more information, or to schedule a meeting with Henning in Las Vegas, email [email protected]p.org.
The ended their one year relationship in December, but have since reconnected.

And on Friday, Channing Tatum, 39, confirmed that he and Jessie J, 31, are indeed a couple again as he shared a sweet snap of the duo to Instagram.

If that wasn't enough evidence, earlier in the day, the Step Up actor was captured arriving at his girlfriend's house in Los Angeles.

'Gonna watch this unicorn sang tonight': Channing Tatum, 39, confirmed that he and Jessie J, 31, are indeed a couple again as he shared a sweet snap of the duo to Instagram on Friday

In the snap, Channing and Tatum were both wearing inflatable unicorn head gear.

The handsome actor shared a sly smile, as his girlfriend kissed his chin. 'Gonna watch this unicorn sang tonight. Then we gonna get it in! Horns out!' he wrote.

This comes after a source revealed to E! News on Wednesday, that the duo are indeed 'fully back together.'

Stopping by: Earlier in the day, the Step Up actor was seen arriving at his girlfriend's house in Los Angeles

'They really care about each other': This comes after a source revealed to E! in a report on Wednesday that duo are indeed 'fully back together' after taking time apart'

'They took a few weeks apart but ultimately decided they really care about each other,' the insider declared to the site.

The couple were also seen hugging each other at the LA Equestrian Center, in photos obtained by Page Six.

The big screen star and Bang Bang songstress 'seem very happy to be spending time together again,' the source added, as 'Jessie has been staying at Channing's house this past week' and they have been 'super-giddy around each other.'

Break-up reason: It's believed Channing and Jessie - who split in December after a year together - decided to go their separate ways because they were struggling to make their long-distance relationship work due to their globe-trotting and highly-demanding careers

It's believed Channing and Jessie - who split in December after a year together - decided to go their separate ways because they were struggling to make their long-distance relationship work due to their globe-trotting and highly-demanding careers.

A source said at the time of the split: 'He [Channing] is super busy with his career, as a dad and will be travelling a lot in the coming months. He has a world awaiting him and is trying to manage how busy he is which isn't easy.'

Jessie and Channing went public in October 2018 - the same month his ex-wife 39-year-old Jenna Dewan filed for divorce from him after eight years.

Their beginning: Jessie and Channing went public in October 2018 - the same month his ex-wife 39-year-old Jenna Dewan filed for divorce from him after eight years

Jessie (born Jessica Cornish) originally met the Lego Movie 2 star in 2015 when she presented him with the MTV Movie Award for best comedic performance for his film 21 Jump Street.

Channing shares a six-year-old daughter named Everly with Jenna who he split with in April of 2018 after a nine-year marriage.

Jenna is expecting her first child with actor boyfriend Steve Kazee in a matter of weeks.
Vietnam began thinking of flying non-stop to the US 16 years ago, but the plan has yet to be implemented.

In 2003, after signing the aviation agreement with the US, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) decided that Vietnam Airlines, the state-owned national flag air carrier, will fly to the US by 2005 at the earliest.

In mid-2005, the then head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) Nguyen Tien Sam announced Vietnam would have non-stop flights to the US at the end of the year or in early 2006. At that moment, the plan on flying with one stop was put into consideration. However, the plan failed.

In early 2019, Vietnam had necessary conditions for its airlines to fly non-stop to the US when the FAA gave CAT 1 certificate to CAAV. However, to date, the plan to fly to the US remains on paper.

In early 2019, Vietnam had necessary conditions for its airlines to fly non-stop to the US when the FAA gave CAT 1 certificate to CAAV. However, to date, the plan to fly to the US remains on paper.

According to CAAVs head Dinh Viet Thang, in order to develop, Vietnams aviation has to connect with the US, because this is the largest economy and aviation market in the world.

The non-stop air route to the US is believed to be very promising with a potential 2 million passengers who are Vietnamese living and studying in the US, and the increasingly high demand for exporting goods to the vast market.

However, to date, only Bamboo Airways, a rookie in the aviation market which just began flying months ago, has shown strong determination to provide non-stop flights to the US.

A representative of Bamboo Airways said the airline is following necessary procedures and seeking partners to fly to the US. The first flight is hoped to be provided in late 2020 or early 2021.

Bamboo Airways president Trinh Van Quyet has mentioned his plan to fly non-stop to the US at meetings with the local press or at important conferences.

Quyet estimates that with the return ticket of $1,100 for 240 seats, the airlines would collect VND116.3 billion and incur a loss of VND13 billion a month.

However, if raising the airfare to $1, 300, it would make a profit of VND8 billion a month and be able to compete with other airlines in the region. If leasing Airbus A350, it would make a profit of up to VND28 billion, also with the airfare of $1,300.

If the number of seats cannot be fully occupied, Bamboo Airways will adjust the business plan and fly for 16 days a month instead of 17 days. It also may fly via third countries such as Japan and South Korea to get more passengers.

Meanwhile, Vietnam Airlines still hesitates to fly to the US.

Flying non-stop to the US wont be as easy as buying land, Vietnam Airlines CEO Duong Tri Thanh said when talking about the obstacles for the air route.

M. Ha

Vietnam Airlines deploys self-service kiosks to speed up check-in services The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines announced on January 14 that all passengers flying with the airline will be able to carry out self-service check-in service at kiosks when departing from Hanoi, Da Nang, Nha Trang, and HCM City.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A man robbed a bank in Grasmere on Saturday afternoon, police said.

Police responded to a call for a robbery at 1:45 p.m. at a Santander bank located at 1320 Hylan Blvd., an NYPD spokesman said.

The man passed a note to a cashier demanding money, according to the spokesman.

The man received an unknown amount of cash and fled the location in an unknown direction, the spokesman said.

Police described the man as a white male wearing a black hoodie sweatshirt and camouflage pants, according to the NYPD.

The investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the NYPDs Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-8477 (TIPS). For Spanish, dial 1-888-577-4782 (PISTA). The public also can submit tips on the Crime Stoppers website, or by texting tips to 274637 (CRIMES), then entering TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.
The new coronavirus has infected almost 3,000 people and killed 82 (up from 900 infected, and 26 killed on Friday).* The recently-sequenced virus has spread from its point of origin, China, to Europe and the U.S., where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has now confirmed five cases. Almost all of the cases are still concentrated in China, where prevention efforts have shut down Shanghai Disneyland, part of the Great Wall of China, and several McDonalds. The New York Times calls it a rapidly expanding outbreak which has fueled fears of a global pandemic. So how worried should you be? Weve sifted through the news and spoken with two researchers who have studied similar kinds of viruses, and an infectious disease doctor helping with prevention efforts, to find out.

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Is it time to panic?

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No. The important thing to remember is that while there are a lot of cases, a lot of them are not severe, says Tracey Goldstein, a professor in the department of pathology, immunology, and microbiology at the University of California, Davis. Im not worried right now about my personal risk. If youre going to be coming in contact with a lot of people, its prudent to wash your hands. But thats mostly because were in the middle of flu season (and its a bad one).

But there are still concerns, right?

I think that our first concern can rightly be the people in China, says Columbia epidemiologist Simon Anthony. Both because of the virus, and because of the vigorous response, which is a hassle even if warranted: China has shut down outbound travel from Wuhan, where the virus originated. Wuhan resident Yasin Gaardo has been posting videos to Twitter, of police blocking a road, and of a supermarket running out of vegetables. Public transportation is locked up90 percent of Wuhan people are staying inside, he told CNN. I can say Im worried but Im not in panic mode right now. Perhaps as you should be.

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The alarming part might be the speed at which the virus is spreading. The rapid pace is part of why it keeps making newsits an important global health story, even if most individuals are not personally at riskand the constant news fuels the feeling of panic. Im certainly more concerned now than I was a week ago, says Anthony, noting that the respiratory nature of the virus makes it relatively easy to spread from human to human. Theres also, he says, the fact that it brings back memories from SARS, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

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How are coronavirus patients being treated?

Hospitals have a checklist of things they look for in patients, says Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Health. But its hardimpossibleto diagnose on symptoms alone, since the symptoms are the same as other similar viruses. What matters most is if patients have recently traveled to an affected area, or come in contact with someone who has. If the new coronavirus is a possibility, the patient will be isolated, and a nasal swab can be used to run a test to look for the new viruses genome (in the States, the swabs are sent to the CDC for this testing). Theres no antiviral treatment for the new coronavirus, so treatment involves isolating patients, and caring for them through any of the more severe symptoms that arise in about a quarter of the cases.

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In Wuhan China, hospitals are extremely overburdened by the influx of patients, reports Sui-Lee Wee in the New York Times. One resident with a chest infection wasnt tested for the virus at the first hospital he went to, and then, after he went home in the symptoms worsened, was turned away from three more for lack of beds. In the U.S., protocol to handle the virus is still somewhat hypothetical; just over 100 people have been tested according to the CDC, and only five of them have been positive. So far doctors like Blumberg have mostly been dealing with coronavirus by educating people on the basics. Ive been responding to a lot of press inquiries, says Blumberg.

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So how does this relate to SARS?

SARS also spreads via the air, through coughing, and traveled around the globe causing panic. And though SARS was more severe, both are coronaviruses. A coronavirus is a kind of virus with a spiky crown-like exterior that affects the respiratory tracts and guts in mammals. There are more than 3,000 species of coronavirus, but they are most commonly found in bats, as Goldstein and Anthony describe in a study in which they tested everything from humans to shrews. Just seven species (with the addition of this new virus) are known to affect humans. One of those is actually the cause of the common cold, to which the symptoms of coronavirus in many cases are similar, though complications of this new one can include pneumonia and sepsis. Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), of which there was an outbreak in 2012, is another coronavirus. The new virus does not appear to be as deadly as MERS (34 percent mortality rate), or SARS (10 percent)its death rate is 4 percent.

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Why doesnt the new coronavirus have a catchy name like MERS or SARS?

Technically speaking, its name is 2019-nCoV, short for 2019 Novel Coronavirus. Colloquially its going by a few things including Wuhan coronavirus. But as Helen Branswell points out in a piece for Stat News, the World Health Organization frowns on labeling diseases after a place or region. Its stigmatizing. It also doesnt really point out anything helpful about the virus.

Sure, but, why did it originate in Wuhan? Is that random?

Sort of! Theres quite a few things that need to align, says Goldstein, for a virus like this to make the jump to humans. Not only do humans need to come into contact with a bat (or snake), or other animal that the bat/snake has come into contact with, but the machinery of the particular species of virus needs to be able to infect humans. This coronavirus seems to have originated at a market with animal meat.

OK, SARS, MERs, now this. Are these kinds of outbreaks becoming more frequent? And should we worry about that?

It does seem like theres been an uptick. There are two reasons for that, explains Goldstein. It might be that were just better at detecting and tracking the spread of viruses. But also, were moving around moreflying and interacting with more speciessays Goldstein. The thing that definitely has changed is we are such a global world now.
With the increasing cases of Lassa fever reported across the country, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has activated a National Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) to coordinate the response activities.

Since the beginning of the year, Nigeria has been experiencing a sporadic increase in the number of Lassa fever cases and deaths.

Between January 1 and 24, a total of 195 confirmed cases were reported from 11 states country, leading to 29 deaths.

This figure is expected to rise as more states have reported cases of the disease.

PREMIUM TIMES reported the announcement by Kaduna State on Saturday and other states  where cases and deaths from the disease have been confirmed.

Of the confirmed cases, 89 per cent were from Ondo, Edo and Ebonyi states.

Though Lassa fever remains a major public health challenge in West Africa, Nigeria bears the highest burden of the disease.

The Nigerian health agency in a statement issued on Saturday, said the increase in the number of cases at this time of the year is not unusual, due to ecological factors

It said the National EOC includes representatives from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Federal Ministry of Environment, World Health Organization, UNICEF, US Centers for Disease Control, and other partners.

The agency said it is also supporting states in strengthening their preparedness and response capacity.

Response

Over the last three weeks, NCDC said it has deployed Rapid Response Teams to support five of the affected states.

It added that it has rapidly increased risk communications and community engagement activities to ensure that Nigerians are aware of the risks of Lassa fever and measures to protect themselves.

Lassa Fever occurs all year round. However, cases increase sporadically during the dry season (November through May).

Weekly epidemiological report from the health agency shows that there is a decline in the fatality rate of reported Lassa fever cases from 23.4 per cent in 2019 to 14.8 per cent this year in same reporting week.

Treatment

In bid to reduce case fatality, NCDC said it will continue to support treatment centres across states to effectively manage suspected and confirmed cases.

It said Nigeria can effectively and timely diagnose samples of suspected cases as the country now has five laboratories with the capacity to diagnose the disease in Nigeria.

These laboratories are critical to reducing turnaround time between identifying a suspected case and confirmation.

This ensures prompt case management and other response activities, thereby reducing the number of deaths.

The Director-General, NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu, said Nigeria is also contributing to research and other activities for the development of a Lassa fever vaccine.

NCDC and the three main treatment centres in the country- Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Federal Medical Centre Owo and Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital Abakalilki- are set to commence Lassa fever epidemiological studies that will provide data to guide research and response activities.

NCDC remains committed to protecting the health of Nigerians. It is important for members of the public to practice good hygiene and take measures to protect themselves and their families, he added.

Lassa Fever

Lassa fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic fever (VHF) caused by Lassa virus. The disease is endemic in Nigeria and cases are recorded all year round.

The natural carrier of the virus is the multimammate rat, but the disease is also spread through human to human transmission.

Lassa fever is largely transmitted through contact with items or surfaces contaminated with urine, faeces, saliva or blood of infected rats.

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It can also be transmitted from person-to-person through contact with blood, urine, faeces and other body fluids of an infected person.

To minimise the risk of infection, members of the public are advised to ensure their environment is always kept clean to avoid contact with rodents.

Also, health care workers are advised to maintain a high index of suspicion as Lassa fever can present with fever just like malaria and other illnesses.

It is also very important that healthcare workers maintain standard care precautions when managing patients.

Early symptoms are fever, headache, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, sore throat etc. In very severe cases, the patient bleeds from body openings.

NCDC advised that if a patient does not respond to treatment for malaria or other febrile illnesses after 48 hours, it is important to test immediately for Lassa fever.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

Health officials throughout the Bay Area are reminding residents how to take care precaution against the coronavirus, which has already killed 25 people worldwide.

Although no cases have been confirmed in the Bay Area, since Friday about 800 people have been sickened across the globe by the virus, which originated in Wuhan, China sometime last month.

Officials with San Francisco's Department of Public Health on Friday said currently there are zero cases citywide, but they're actively monitoring the situation.

"We are working very closely with both our partners, the California Department of Public Health as well as the Centers for Disease Control, the CDC, to monitor the novel coronavirus and enact prevention measures. At this time, residents of San Francisco and the Bay Area are at very low risk of becoming infected," said Dr. Susan Philip, DPH's director of disease prevention and control.

"The only exception is if they've traveled to Wuhan, China or have been in contact with an individual who has traveled to that area and has symptoms of respiratory illness, which includes fever, cough and shortness of breath," she said.

To lower the chances of becoming infected, Philips recommends that people regularly wash their hands, cover their coughs with their hands and stay home when they're sick.

"There does seem to be some person-to-person transmission happening, but we don't know the extent to it. We also don't know the entire severity of the illness; while some people become very, very ill with pneumonia and, and as we said some people have died. Many other people may have less severe illness and not even need to seek care in a hospital or emergency room, so there's much to learn about this virus," she said.

Other Bay Area counties, including Alameda, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Contra Costa and Solano, said no cases have been confirmed there.

Officials with the CDC confirmed there have been two cases nationwide, one in Washington and another in Illinois. In both cases, both patients had recently returned from Wuhan.

The Illinois case involves a woman in her 60s. She remains hospitalized and is in stable condition, CDC officials said.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some of which circulate among animals like camels, cats and bats. Although rare, some viruses can evolve and infect humans, like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), according to the CDC.

The CDC is monitoring people arriving from Wuhan at a handful of airport nationwide, including San Francisco International Airport.

With the Lunar New Year set to start on Saturday and with Chinese New Year festivities getting underway in San Francisco, city health officials said the virus shouldn't anyone's plans.

"We're not advising people change their plans for Lunar New Year," Philips said.

Anyone who has traveled to Wuhan in the last 14 days, or who has come in contact, or has respiratory symptoms is urged to seek medical care right away and let their providers know about any recent travel.

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.
BEIJING - Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned Saturday the "accelerating spread" of coronavirus infections had created a "grave" situation in his populous nation, which extended travel restrictions to 48 million people in hardest-hit Hubei province, banned inter-province buses to Beijing and canceled tour group travel abroad.

As the Lunar New Year, China's biggest holiday, began without much of the usual festivity, Hong Kong announced that schools would be closed through Feb. 17. The United States, France and Russia sought ways to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan, the central Chinese city of 11 million where the outbreak originated and is continuing to spread.

The pneumonia-like disease caused by a new coronavirus has killed at least 56 people and infected more than 1,900 worldwide, though conditions in Wuhan - where overcrowded hospitals are short of basic supplies - have led to speculation the outbreak may be far worse.

Two cases have been confirmed in the United States - one in Chicago and another outside Seattle, in travelers who have returned from Wuhan. Infections also have turned up in South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, France and Australia.

Though the vast majority of illnesses and all the fatalities are within China, growing concern about the disease rippled across the globe. Governments outside China continued to ramp up precautions.

Japan, expecting 400,000 Chinese tourists this week, advised staff at airports and shops to wear face masks while serving customers, something usually considered inappropriate for customer-facing employees. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said airlines arriving in Japan had been asked to distribute health surveys and advise customers to report symptoms, while checks had also been stepped up for customers arriving by cruise ship.

In Granada, Spain, a tourist from Wuhan was isolated in a hospital after he showed up there with a fever, a Spanish media outlet reported. Other tourists in the group, who had no symptoms, were advised to remain in their hotel.

The International Olympic Committee moved a Summer Games qualifying event in boxing from Wuhan to Amman, Jordan. A women's soccer qualifying match also planned for Wuhan has been shifted to Nanjing, China.

Facing the biggest public health challenge to the Chinese government in more than a decade, Xi instructed China's highest ruling council, the Politburo Standing Committee, to "comprehensively mobilize" resources and manpower to provide medical aid, guarantee security and order in hospitals and provide markets with supplies in the cordoned-off city of Wuhan.

"As long as we are resolute . . . we can win the battle of controlling the epidemic," he told top party leaders, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Officials have announced the emergency construction of two hospitals to treat patients in Wuhan, where existing facilities are overflowing and medical personnel have been collapsing from exhaustion.

A new study released Saturday suggested that each person with the virus is passing it to two or three others, which helps explain the virus's rapid spread. The mathematical model from researchers at Imperial College London and the World Health Organization indicated that officials must stop more than 60 percent of the virus's transmission to control the outbreak.

"It is uncertain at the current time whether it is possible to contain the continuing epidemic within China," researchers wrote.

At U.S. airports, passengers arriving from China stood out because of the face masks almost all wore as protection against the virus. But they voiced varying levels of concern.

In Chicago, Sophia Shek, 42, of Hong Kong said life in her city over the last week has been "pandemonium." Long lines snaked through stores to purchase supplies and some retailers have taken advantage of the crisis by hiking prices to as much as $60 a mask, she said. Friends asked her to stock up and bring back face masks and other short supplies.

She said she is anxious about the virus and traveled only because the trip was for work. "I experienced SARS," she said of the similar coronavirus that killed 774 people and infected more than 8,000, most of them in China, in 2002 and 2003. "This new virus is dormant so you don't know if the person next to you has it."

Bridget Russell, 55, a nurse from Austin, said the only extra precaution she noticed in Beijing was a sensor that checked passengers' temperatures. The mood on her flight from the Chinese capital was calm, but she admitted, "it was freaky looking up and seeing 99 percent of the people wearing masks." She joined them, wearing one on the flight and at O'Hare International Airport after she arrived.

At Los Angeles International Airport, Anthony Su, 53 who was on a flight from Taipei, Taiwan to his home in Los Angeles after 10 days in Fuzhou, a city in southeastern China, said that when he first heard news of the outbreak he stopped going out.

"I tried to avoid public areas, not go to the restaurant or any public place," he said.

Others were more sanguine.

"We had SARS, so we are not that terrified," said Eric Tsang, 40, "We have experience - masks on, wash your hands regularly, that's OK for us."

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.

Tsang, visiting Los Angeles on business, said China has moved more quickly this time to quell the outbreak.

"China is doing better than before," he said. "At least they acted very quickly. They asked to stop everybody, even during the holiday. I think this is a wise move."

The spread of the virus was felt halfway around the world in Lunar New Year celebrations of the Year of the Rat in Chinese communities in the United States. At the University of Washington in Seattle, 30 minutes south of where the first U.S. case was confirmed, dozens of Chinese students turned out for the festivities - with some wearing face masks. They crowded into a residence hall lobby festooned with red paper lanterns, red tablecloths and garland with the Chinese character for happiness.

Lindsey Gao, an 18-year-old freshman, said she was impressed by people who donned masks to protect themselves, but she didn't think it was necessary.

"I admire them for doing that, but I think it looks a little weird," said Gao, who emigrated from China when she was 6. Her mother, who lives on Mercer Island, across a floating bridge from Seattle, disagreed. "She texted me last night, 'Did you buy a face mask?' I said no and she said, 'Well, do you want to die?'"

A Chinese woman who declined to give her name said she had canceled her family's restaurant reservations and would be having dinner at home. She doubted she'd be preparing a traditional Chinese feast; caution about the virus also kept her away from the Asian market to buy ingredients.

The Northwest Chinese School, with locations in Bellevue and Seattle, sent out an email calling off weekend classes. "We take the health of our students and families very seriously and think that this is the best course of action," administrators wrote.

Kevin Ma, 28, a Seattle tutor said he hasn't detected any stigma or ethnic profiling of Chinese people. "I don't think we're there yet," he said. "People are pretty sensitive to the fact that just because you are Chinese doesn't mean you have it."

- - -

Denyer reported from Tokyo, and Abutaleb and Bernstein reported from Washington. The Washington Post's Shibani Mahtani in Hong Kong, Bonnie Rochman in Seattle, Mark Guarino in Chicago, Miranda Green in Los Angeles and Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report.
By Express News Service

VISAKHAPATNAM/VIJAYAWADA: With the Union Health Ministry issuing travel advisory to Visakhapatnam International Airport in view of the increasing coronavirus cases reported in China, the Airport authorities are making arrangements to screen suspected international passengers coming from China and Thailand to Visakhapatnam.

Airport director Raj Kishore told TNIE that as per the directive they have taken up awareness campaign among international passengers, who come to the city from China via Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

He said they will screen suspected international passengers having cold, cough and fever. A screening camp was set up at the airport and the airport is fully geared up to do the preliminary tests. However, till now no cases were detected, he said.

Air Asia service from Kuala Lumpur to Vizag operate five days in a week and Scoot operates four days in a week from Singapore to Vizag. Though the two flights have capacity to ferry 2000 passengers in a week, there will be about 100 passengers from China.

According to tours and travel association of AP, most of Indians visit Shanghai and Beijing apart from Guangzhou. Guangzhou is the largest manufacturing hub and hence most Indians visit the province. However, there will be only 100 passengers in a week from these provinces, they said.

The medical screening norms for coronavirus is not applicable to another major airport in the state, the Vijayawada airport, as it is not an international airport. The officials, however, are on an alert.

Stating that medical screening for coronavirus is not applicable to them, Vijayawada airport director G Madhusudan pointed out that international travellers visiting Vijayawada are normally screened at any of the international airports in the country before they come to Vijayawada.

However, to be on the safe side, medical emergency units at the airport were instructed to make necessary arrangements in case of any SOS. "Though we do not have screening mechanism, we have displayed in the airport lounge do's and don'ts in case passengers suspect themselves of having symptoms associated with Coronavirus. There will be taken to medical emergency units and district health and medical officials will be alerted," he explained. No cases have been reported so far.
From a forbidden ingredient to Meghan and Harry, weve selected the best long reads of the week from across the Stars newsrooms.

Want to dive into more long features? Sign up for the Weekend Long Reads newsletter to get them delivered straight to your inbox every Saturday morning.

1, She was fighting corruption in Ukraine when she was attacked with acid. Critics say the case raises hard questions for Canada

Whoever ordered the murder of activist Katya Gandziuk has not been brought to justice. Its the kind of case that has some questioning Ottawas cozy ties and millions of dollars in aid to Ukraine.

2. Its been banned in China for 20 years. But its still a popular Chinese New Year ingredient in Toronto

Fat choy (black moss in English) is a type of edible, land-dwelling algae related to spirulina that resembles long strands of black hair that puts the fat choy (achieving prosperity and riches) in Gung Hay Fat Choy. It is considered an auspicious delicacy to have on the holiday, but the harvesting of fat choy is causing desertification in parts of China to a point where the government banned it.

3. Its not paparazzi, this is news: Canadian photographers zoom in on Harry and Meghan privacy debate

Longtime news photographer Lyle Stafford says the couple should expect to make headlines when they step out in public. This is a news event, he said, referring to Harry and Meghan stepping back from their royal duties and moving part time to Canada.

4. A climate scientist says dry cold is the same as wet cold. I set out to prove him wrong

The Ottawa winter seemed to numb my toes the moment I stepped outside and kept me shivering no matter how thick my long johns were. I blame it on the wet cold, on the extra humidity in Ontario. Having experienced Albertas dry winter, I can confidently say I prefer the latter. And I know Im not alone. Except wet cold and dry cold are a myth. Or so Ive been told, writes Rosa Saba.

5. The proof was on his phone the whole time. The story of one mans wrongful conviction

Despite having proof he was innocent, even though he was at least six inches taller than the suspect police had been looking for, and even after a victim testified he was just 75 per cent sure he recognized his assailant in Lance Richardsons mug shot, he found himself sentenced to four years in jail.

Thats when I was stunned, Richardson said in an interview with the Star this week.

6. Could splitting mortgage costs with investors make housing more affordable? Canadas top banker believes it would

Heres how it works: If a prospective homebuyer wants a home for $1 million but can only realistically afford to carry a mortgage on $500,000, then an investor of some kind could be found to buy the other half of the home, says Stephen Poloz.

7. For one Marie Kondo consultant, what sparks joy is changing clients consumption habits

Once an emotional shopper, KonMari consultant Ivanka Siolkowsky became a staunch environmentalist. Professionally she started making sure every piece of discarded client clothing found its way into a donation bin (even donating excess hangers to university dormitories). Privately she stopped purchasing anything but necessities.

8. Theyre the beating hearts of the citys neighbourhoods. So why are Torontos public libraries still chronically underfunded?

In a rapidly growing city struggling with escalating violence and poverty, Torontos libraries increasingly serve as community centres and shelters, as well as offering social interaction that counters the isolation of the digital age.

But at the same time, they have seen a significant drop in staffing, a budget that leaves them chronically underfunded, and service levels that are declining rapidly compared with the citys growing population.

9. A shocking report details how Ontarios most vulnerable youths are shuttled from child protection to the justice system

Ontarios most vulnerable youths are being retraumatized by child protection and justice systems that set them up to fail and leaves them languishing for months in pretrial detention, according to researchers who tracked kids in the care of foster parents and group homes.
President of Brazil, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, who is the chief guest for this year's Republic Day Parade, received a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday.

President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi received Bolsonaro, upon his arrival at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

A warm welcome to President @jairbolsonaro!



We are delighted to host him and we look forward to his taking part in our Republic Day celebrations.



His visit will add strength to India-Brazil relations. pic.twitter.com/Ir5xqBbeSe  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 24, 2020

Earlier in the day, the President of Brazil had met with External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar in New Delhi. The visit of President Bolsonaro is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations in the fields of agriculture, energy, and defence.

Bolsonaro and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be holding extensive talks following which the two countries will ink 15 agreements to boost cooperation in a wide range of areas such as oil and gas, mining and cybersecurity.

READ | With Jair Bolsonaro's Vist, India-Brazil Likely To Sign These 15 Agreements From Various Fields

READ | Jaishankar Calls On Brazilian Prez

Bolsonaro's visit to India

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met with Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro on Saturday and discussed ways to strengthen ties between the two countries in a range of areas, including trade and investment.

Bolsonaro arrived in India on Friday, accompanied by his daughter Laura Bolsonaro, daughter-in-law Leticia Firmo, eight ministers, four members of the Brazilian parliament and a large business delegation.

The Brazilian president is in India primarily to grace the Republic Day celebrations on Sunday as the chief guest and explore ways to boost trade ties with India at a time when both the large economies are hit by slowdowns.

READ | Brazil President To Be Chief Guest At Republic Day During 4-day Visit To India

The second day of his visit is packed with several engagements, including his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which will subsequently, be followed by the exchange of agreements between India and Brazil in different fields.

India's ties with Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, has been on an upswing in the last few years. The country has a population of 210 million with USD 1.8 trillion-economy.

READ | Brazilian President Bolsonaro To Arrive In India On 4-day Visit Today

(With inputs from ANI)
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLC Budha Naga Jagadeeshwara Rao has filed a police complaint, alleging his house was attacked by YSR Congress Party workers on Thursday.

In his complaint filed with Visakhapatnam district Superintendent of Police A Babuji, Rao has claimed that he was targeted because he supported the motion moved by TDP leader Yanamala Ramakrishnudu in the Andhra Pradesh legislative council against the Decentralisation Bill.

Rao further alleged in his complaint that the YSRCP workers raised slogans and burnt his effigy in front of his house.

Speaking to ANI, TDP MLC Duvvada Ramarao condemned the attack by the YSRCP workers on the "house of the people's representative", deeming it "unfortunate" and "against the culture of the state."

"Our party is not against the development of Visakhapatnam. Our leader Chandrababu Naidu has worked significantly in the development of the city. We are against the decentralisation of systems in Visakhapatnam and that we why we are opposing the Decentralisation Bill in the state's legislative council," Ramarao said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Nepal's Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali on Friday said that if India can resolve boundary disputes with Bangladesh, then why not with his country, about the Kalapani dispute. This statement comes a day after a Ceremonial Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) between the armies of China and India was held in Ladakh sector on the occasion of "Chinese Spring Festival" on Thursday, a defence spokesman said.

"If India can solve the land and border issues with the other country (Bangladesh), why not with Nepal," Gyawali said while addressing a press conference.

Last year, Nepal raised objections after India released fresh maps of the newly-created union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh which showed Limpiyadhura, Lipulek and Kalapani areas were shown under Indian territory. While Nepal claimed they lie within the Nepalese territory, India responded that the map accurately depicted the countrys sovereign territory and did not revise its boundary with Nepal. However, it is under Indian administration as part of Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand.

Gyawali further said Nepal's current territory was demarcated, based on the Sugauli Treaty of 1816 and other consecutive complementary treaties December 1816, 1860 and 1875. He added that as per the treaties, Nepal's western border is demarcated by the Kali river. Nepal wants to solve this unresolved issue according to the letter and spirit of Sugauli treaty, based on correspondence at that time, historical maps and evidences," he added.

"I do believe that both the countries have strong political stability. Leaders are visionary. They have good personal contact as well, and a commitment to resolve the pending issues. We can resolve it through the diplomatic process.".

READ: Belagavi border row: Raut asks MES to wait till SC order is out

READ: India, China border personnel meet at Ladakh

India, China Border Personnel Meet At Ladakh

The meeting was conducted at Chinese BPM Huts at DBO-TWD Meeting Points, the spokesman said. He said the Indian delegation was led by Lt Col Amit Kumar Sharma and the Chinese delegation was led by Lt Col Lee MingJu.



"Both the delegations interacted in a free, congenial and cordial environment," he said, adding the meeting reflected the mutual desire to maintain and improve relations at the functional level in the border areas. The spokesman said a cultural programme showcasing Chinese Culture and traditions was organised by the Chinese Side.

"The delegations parted amidst a feeling of friendship and commitment towards enhancing the existing cordial relations and trust along the borders," the spokesman said.

READ: Israel building underground defense system on Lebanon border

READ: US-bound migrants clash with Mexican forces; chaos at Guatemala border

(With Inputs from ANI) (Pic credit: ANI)
Washington: US President Donald Trump vowed to stand with anti-abortion activists as he became the first sitting president to speak at the March for Life, an annual gathering that is one of the movement's highest profile and most symbolic events.

"Today as President of the United States, I am truly proud to stand with you," he told a crowd of thousands braving the cold on the National Mall. "Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House."

US President Donald Trump is watched by pro-life campaigners on stage at the March for Life in Washington on Friday. Credit:Bloomberg

It was just four years ago when a political committee supporting one of Trump's Republican rivals unveiled an ad slamming his views on abortion, complete with footage from a 1999 interview in which he declared, "I am pro-choice in every respect".

But on Friday, local time, Trump was hailed in speeches and on signs as "the most pro-life" American president ever.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : President Ram Nath Kovind, here on Saturday, invoked Mahatma Gandhi's message of truth and non-violence and urged the people, especially the youth, to follow non-violence while expressing concern over a cause and stick to constitutional methods of achieving social and economic objectives.

"It should be part of our daily routine to introspect on Gandhiji's message of truth and non-violence, which has become all the more necessary in our times," said the President in a televised address to the nation on the eve of 71st Republic Day.

His message gains significance in the backdrop of protests, some of them violent, across the country against the new citizenship law. However, he didn't make a direct reference to protests.

"When fighting for a cause, people, particularly the youth, should not forget the gift of ahimsa (non-violence) Gandhiji gave to humanity. Gandhiji's talisman for deciding whether an act is right or wrong also applies to the functioning of our democracy," the President said.

The government and the opposition both had important roles to play, and while giving expression to their political ideas both must move forward in tandem to ensure the country's development, he said.

Modern India, he said, had three organs -- legislature, executive and judiciary -- which were necessarily interlinked and interdependent. "Yet, on ground, the people comprise the State. 'We the People' are the prime movers of the Republic. With us, the people of India, rests the real power to decide our collective future," he said.

The President said the third decade of the 21st century would be "the decade of the rise of New India and a new generation of Indians." He said the next generation remained committed to the core values of our nation. "For our youth, the nation always comes first. With them, we are witnessing the emergence of a New India," he said.

Rcalling the importance of January 26, he said even before Independence -- from 1930 to 1947 this day was celebrated as "Purna Swaraj Day".

"It becomes easier for us to follow these constitutional ideals, if we keep in mind the life and values of the Father of Nation. By doing so, we will be adding a meaningful dimension to celebrations of the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi," Kovind said and added, as we all march forward, "we remain committed to engaging the global community to build a secure and prosperous future for ourselves and for the humanity." Mentioning the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) achievement, he said it was making progress towards the Mission Gaganyaan.

On the welfare schemes, he said the 'Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan' had achieved huge success. He praised the success of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi and expressed the hope that schemes, like Jal Jeevan Mission aimed at water conservation, would soon become popular movements.

Stating that internal security is essential for the development of the country, the President said, "I have nothing but unreserved praise for our armed forces, paramilitary and internal security forces. Their sacrifices to preserve the integrity and unity of the country present a saga of unparalleled courage and discipline." Concluding his speech, the President quoted Babasaheb Ambedkar: "If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form, but also in fact, what must we do? The first thing in my judgment we must do is to hold to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives".

These words had always lighted our path and they would continue to show us the way ahead to new glories, the President said.
JD Womens College of Patna has issued a notice directing the students to follow the prescribed college uniform and prohibiting burqa inside the classroom, except Saturdays. The notice was issued by the proctor of the college.

Talking to Hindustan Times, Veena Amrit, proctor of JD Womens College said, We already have a uniform for the college and all the students have been following the prescribed dress code as mentioned in the prospectus. We have banned burqa only inside the classroom to maintain the uniformity. This is done to ensure that every student is in the same uniform.

It is not possible to know if a girl is wearing the college uniform under the burqa. So, we have asked them to stick to the college uniform that is mentioned in the college prospectus, she added.

Moreover, a fine of Rs 250 has been imposed for those who do not follow the uniform code and Rs 500 for those who are found using mobile phone inside the campus.

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Picture a neighborhood composed of low and middle income families, each with two parents, no homeless people, no street drugs, safe to walk the streets at night. Is this the figment of an overactive imagination? Well, it is in fact a peek at a neighborhood in New York City where the son of immigrant parents read The New York Times every morning in high school, before orchestra rehearsal. Me. The principal, strongly authoritarian and well loved, opened a weekly assembly of highly diverse youngsters by reading a psalm from the Bible. Tough-as-nails, yet tenderhearted teachers passed on a tradition of excellence in thought, expression, and civility while preparing us for a wide range of careers in a free and independent America.

This typical school of 1940s New York City had higher standards and grade profile than any counterpart today and operated on a budget far smaller in equivalent dollars than any current public school budget. In these backward times, the schools were free of substance abuse problems, sexual promiscuity, and identity problems. There was an abiding respect for the authority of teachers and parents and for the dignity of every person regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity. There were clubs in my school for religion, for foreign languages (including Latin). A Reporters Club recorded significant events for the school paper. There were toy drives for a local hospital . . . The list of extracurricular engagements was long.

I think its revealing that dictionaries in these retrograde times did not prefix definitions of words referring to high moral standards, such as virtue, with the phrase regarded as. It did not have to be stated that opinion or point of view is not a valid basis for morality.

Where were we coming from? Where was I coming from? Well it was not from vengeance against Americas sins, real and imagined  the basis for any ideology that dismisses the human flaws in every person, including saints and heroes. The journey I took  we took  was down-to-earth and mindful of the power that gave us life, known worldwide as God by people of every degree of intelligence.

A childhood flashback and reflection will perhaps help bring some focus to a past that still speaks to the present. This was before World War II . . .

At a street in Brooklyn that was closed to traffic for several blocks, archways with curlicue designs were raised on wooden posts . Bunting and lights trimmed a parade route for a feast. At twilight the ornate arches burst into sparkling color, as the lights entwining them went on. The smell of roasted nuts, sweets, and sundry aromas of Italian cuisine floated through the air in eddies, as curb-side vendors turned the street and sidewalks into a mile-long buffet of deli-grade food. People thronged and milled along the chain of carts and tables, ate, drank, and gabbed in block-party style.

Before long there was a boom of drums, a splash of cymbals, a blare of brass and woodwinds from the direction of the church and la processione began. Musicians in white shirts played robust marches, while men in shirtsleeves carried la Madonna di Pompei along the route. When the preciously sculpted symbol of the Holy Mother returned to the front steps of the church, fireworks filled the sky with brilliant streaks of light and volleys of artificial thunder that thrilled little Tony (me) to his core.

Festa  a unity of faith, family, friends, food, and fun  was to these 1940s Mediterraneans in Brooklyn as natural as breathing. And equally natural to these backward folk making their home in America was a freedom of thought and action within limits trespassed only by the mad. As a child, when you took a turn that way, you were brought back with appropriate corrective action. Any moppet philosopher thus checked, who asked why, was perhaps secretly admired but it was made clear that what is right and what is wrong was not for him or her to decide. You questioned established wisdom like you questioned the need to eat.

It was the job of parents to transmit time-honored wisdom and the job of children to learn it. Later, after completing the needed study on matters of vital importance, the child thinker could discover for himself the ironic truth, missed by many an intellectual, that in order to move freely in lifes journey, one must heed restraints imposed by fundamental constants of life  regardless of who we are and where we come from. This is the break-off point, from which so many stray, to be gathered by activists for movements that lack genuine concern for those they pull into their fold.

Mid-20th century saw a rapid loss of understanding regarding timeless constants relating to the fundamentals of life. We are living at a time when the status of man is undergoing profound upheavals, observed Igor Stravinsky in 1947. Modern man is progressively losing his understanding of values and his sense of proportions. This failure to understand essential realities is extremely serious. It leads us infallibly to the violation of the fundamental laws of human equilibrium. [1]

What this composer touched on, and what has occupied the minds of philosophers and theologians throughout human history, is the vital importance of achieving a harmony between what is changeable and what is not changeable, which is well expressed in the plea: God, grant me the grace to accept with serenity the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. [2]

Although the childhood experiences mentioned above prove nothing regarding the cultural health of America in the first half of the twentieth century, they point to a co-relation between family-with-faith-in-God  linked to eternal constants of life  and the attendant wellbeing. As I grew into an adult, during the war-ravished 20th century, I became more than ever aware of the need for a harmony between what belongs to the state and what belongs to the people or, as scripture codes it, what is Caesars and what is Gods [3].

In 1950, as I entered a classroom before the start of a college class session, I saw on a blackboard the words Damn the Absolute! Was the student insane, I thought? Was he not cursing himself? Can you do away with what makes you tick? In my mind this was an implicit death wish, for if you break away from what got you here in the first place and made it possible even for you to breathe, you are in essence committing suicide, spiritual if not physical.

It would not be long before radical distortions of reality, dressed in endearing language, would be fed the public in the news, on campus, even in church, in order "to demolish beyond hope of repair the engine of Western metaphysics"  to use the words of J. Hillis Miller, an outspoken academician of the political Left.

The Absolute that was being condemned (demolished) is  lets face it  the very Absolute raised by liberals themselves who have said, If there were no God, one would have to be invented. Well, there is no need to invent God or even to prove the existence of God with rationales that manage only to prove what one already believes. What is really needed, especially among those who would govern people or improve their lives, is to wake up.

A sober comparison between life in America before and after mid-20th century shows what has been lost and what has been gained at the hands of Leftist agents of change, raising necessary questions not asked or answered by most people of influence in America. How, for example, has the progress pushed by Leftist activists improved life for all of us today? Is it possible that loving, not hating, one another (a Christian constant), in an atmosphere of freedom and independence  so despised by the Left  is an important clue to why living in America was better before than after the progress thrust on America? Is it possible that swinging a wrecking ball against the West, in pursuit of a world populated with virtual zombies instead of real human beings, was not such a good idea, after all?

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[1] Igor Stravinsky, Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons.

[2] Reinhold Niebuhr, 1892-1971]

[3] Implied in the injunction Give to Caesar the things that are Caesars, and to God the things that are Gods. (Luke 20:25)

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Anthony J. DeBlasi is a veteran and lifelong defender of Western culture.

Graphic credit: Public domain vectors
In early January, two of the most famous people in the world announced that they no longer wanted to live in the spotlight. Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex decided that they were tired of always being under a microscope and chose to step down as senior members of the royal family to live a more private life.

The duke and duchess previously expressed how the intense media scrutiny was affecting them and following their decision, were granted to permission by Queen Elizabeth II to forge new paths. The pair also revealed that they will spend a good amount of their time in North America now. But will residing in Canada really offer them the privacy they have hoped for or could their choice actually make things worse?

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images

The duke and duchess took a parting shot at the British tabloids

After their announcement, Harry and Meghan took a parting shot at the U.K. media that reported on them for the past two years with the statement on their website.

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. 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.  [The Duke and Duchess] 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.

However, in their quest for privacy even more attention is now being paid to them. According to BBC media editor Amol Rajan, the way to stay out of the media is not to be too interesting. Recent events have, ironically, seen interest in the Sussexes radically increase.

Couple issues legal warning over paparazzi photos in Canada

Residence where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are staying in North Saanich, British Columbia | MARK GOODNOW/AFP via Getty Images

Initially, Meghan arrived in Vancouver ahead of her husband while he stayed behind in U.K. to iron out some things with his family. While on a hike with Archie and her dogs the duchess was photographed, leading her attorneys to issue a legal notice to the U.K. press concerning the use of paparazzi photos.

In a piece for The Telegraph, royal expert Camilla Tominey wrote, As the couples lawyers, were busy issuing legal warnings to the British newspapers which ran the paparazzi pictures of Meghan and Archie walking the dogs down a woodland trail, American broadcasters were happily reporting on the story.

Tominey noted thats because the North American media does not have the same responsibility to abide by legal notices issued to the U.K. press.

Could Meghan and Harry be subjected to more intrusion now?

News reporter Amelia Brace in North Saanich, Vancouver Island, British Columbia | ALIA DHARSSI/AFP via Getty Images

At the moment the prince and retired actress arent getting the privacy they desire. Currently, there are reporters camped out front of the property theyre staying at and photographers with long-focus lens cameras trying to get shots inside the home.

The Sussexes are reportedly alarmed about this but as editor of Majesty Magazine Ingrid Seward said, the rules that apply in the U.K. dont apply in Canada and the paps can come from all over the world and lie in wait for them.

Its tough to say when and if Harry and Meghan will get some privacy but as Tominey pointed out, The paparazzi and major U.S. networks are already treating the Sussexes the same as other celebrities. They might still be called duke and duchess but from a media perspective, they are now fair game without the Palace to protect them.

Read more: Everyone Thinks This Young Royal Will Take Over For Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Now
BRUNY ISLAND, Australia  The name of the future is Australia.

These words come from it, and they may be your tomorrow: P2 masks, evacuation orders, climate refugees, ocher skies, warning sirens, ember storms, blood suns, fear, air purifiers and communities reduced to third-world camps.

Billions of dead animals and birds bloating and rotting. Hundreds of Indigenous cultural and spiritual sites damaged or destroyed by bush fires, so many black Notre Dames  the physical expression of Indigenous Australians spiritual connection to the land severed, a final violence after centuries of dispossession.

Everywhere there is a brittle grief, and it may be as much for what is coming as for what is gone.

The dairy farmer Farran Terlich, whose properties in the South Coast were razed in a firestorm that killed two of his friends, described the blaze as a raging ocean. These communities are destroyed across the board, he said, and most people are running dead.

Dead, too, is a way of life.

Many homes will not be allowed to be rebuilt in threatened areas. Where they are allowed, they may not be affordable because of new building codes; if built, they may not be insurable. Local economies, like local ecosystems, may never recover.
- Suspected bandits have carried out fresh attacks in some communities in Niger communities leading to 11 deaths

- Four women were also kidnapped by the suspected bandits

- The attack has been confirmed by the senator representing Niger East senatorial district who lamented that the situation was getting out of hand

Eleven persons have been killed and four women kidnapped as gunmen attacked five communities in Shiroro local government area of Niger state.

Kudodo, Galapai, Dnakpala Makera and Dnalgwa communities were attacked in the early hours of Saturday, January 25.

The bandits were said to have moved from house to house to carry out their activities.

The attack is coming barely one week after eight communities were sacked by bandits in the same Shiroro local government where a village head and 16 others were killed.

One of the victims of the attack, Saidu Yisa, said that two of his wives were raped by four of the bandits in his presence before he was shot at a close range.

Senator Sani Musa represents Niger East at the Senate

Source: Twitter

The senator representing Niger East senatorial district Alhaji Sani Musa confirmed the latest attack saying that the situation is getting out of hand.

He lamented the incessant killings and called the federal government and security agencies to up their strategies.

As the attacks continued, more villagers in my constituency are awaiting their fate as no sign of succour seems to be coming their way. It is confirmed that the bandits are attacking all through the night to this afternoon and most communities are in grave danger, he said.

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Senator Musa raised alarm over the incessant killings of his constituents by bandits in the last few weeks.

Media reports from the area indicate massive attacks on communities in Shiroro, Rafi and Munya local government areas of Niger state in recent days.

In a statement he signed over the weekend, the lawmaker described as unfortunate the fresh attacks in the area from Tuesday, January 14 which left two persons, including a village head dead while over 30 persons were abducted.

In a similar development, Abdulsalami Abubakar, former head of state, lamented that this is not the best of times for Nigeria, especially in relation to issues of insecurity.

He said Nigerians must do all within their powers to unite and make the country liveable.

Abubakar made the call on Tuesday, January 21, in Kaduna state venue of an event organised by the Sir Ahmadu Bello memorial foundation.

According to Abubakar, Nigeria is currently at an unpleasant point in its existence as a result of security challenges.

He pleaded with the people to play roles that would help reduce or end insecurity in the country, part of which is to volunteer information when the need arises, and especially since those who carry out criminal activities live among the citizens.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has given an assurance that terrorism in the northeastern part of Nigeria will in no time become a thing of the past.

The president gave this assurance on Friday, January 24, as he received Janez Lenarcic, the European Union (EU)'s commissioner from crisis management in Abuja.

He said that just like in the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, the insurgency in the region will definitely be defeated, although it might time some time.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service!

Who do you think can replace President Buhari in 2023? Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
A magnitude 4.5 earthquake has struck off Vancouver Island, where Megan Markle and Harry have been staying.

The quake was reported at about 1.30pm local time, and officials said that there were no reports of damage.

No tsunami is expected to hit the island as a result, according to the U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been staying at an opulent $14 million Vancouver Island mansion, which they have used since Thanksgiving, and a close friend revealed the two have no plans to move out anytime soon.

The quake was reported at about 1.30pm local time, and officials said that there were no reports of damage

Harry is seen returning to Vancouver Island on Monday left, while Meghan Markle walks her dogs on the island on Tuesday right

Geologists located the epicenter of the earthquake near the south end of the island.

Meghan and Harry have been living in a mansion on Saanitch Inlet outside of Victoria on the island's southern tip.

The couple , along with their baby son Archie, are living at the scenic, wooded property of Mille Fleurs on Vancouver Island after dramatically exiting from their royal roles.

The residence of Prince Harry and and his wife Meghan is seen in Deep Cove Neighborhood

The couple have been staying in the $14 million mansion since Thanksgiving

Their new neighbors have spotted them out hiking and down at the farmers' market, but residents of North Saanich say they will ensure privacy for Harry and Meghan at their Canadian island hideaway.

North Saanich was home to a little more than 12,000 people in 2018, according to Canadian government census data.

That's about a third of the population of Windsor, where Harry and Meghan most recently lived in Frogmore Cottage, and a tiny fraction of the number of people in London or Toronto, where Meghan lived for years while working on the television show 'Suits.'
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said the recent increase in crimes on Staten Island and citywide is connected to the implementation of the new bail reform laws.

In the last 28 days -- roughly the amount of time that the new reform has been in place -- robberies on Staten Island saw a 61% spike, from 13 instances from Dec. 23, 2018 to Jan. 19, 2019 to 21 cases in the same period this year, NYPD data shows.

Sex crimes saw a 27% increase with three more cases reported to police, the data shows.

There has also seen an increased in stolen car cases, Shea added.

However, burglaries on Staten Island declined 20%, from 30 cases to 24.

Citywide, the majority of crimes increased compared to the same period last year, including robberies, which increased by 27%, and burglaries, which increased 8.6%, according to the NYPD CompStat report.

Now as you see in the first three weeks of this year, we are seeing significant spikes in crime, Shea said during a press conference on Friday. So either we forgot how to police New York City or there is a correlation.

THE 2020 REFORMS

The new criminal justice reforms went into effect on Jan. 1, drastically changing they way bail is applicable to defendants.

Under the new law, people accused of non-violent offenses, like criminally negligent homicide, second-degree burglary and robbery, among others, could be released without bail.

How does a person get to work? Who does that person get to drop their kids off at school? Thats not a property crime thats life changing, Shea said. We are seeing immediately at the same time that we have populations dropping significantly in local populations. Dont tell me its not a correlation.

The NYPD top brass said that he supports some of the changes put in place with the new reform that could potentially solve social inequalities in the criminal justice system.

Someone committing a crime and sitting in jail because of their bank account, or lack of a bank account, has to be corrected, he said. But there are clear things that have to be fixed and the clock is ticking.

Shea also added that he strongly disagree with the new discovery laws saying that they swung back 180 degrees.

The new laws require the D.A.s office to provide the names and contact information for victims and witnesses of crimes to defense attorneys, and allow defense attorneys to file a motion to visit the site of a crime  even if that site is someones home.

When you have instance where witnesses and victims will be afraid to call the police, that is a real problem, and that needs to be fixed, Shea said.

SHEA NOT THE ONLY ONE TO QUESTION REFORMS

Staten Islands District Attorney Michael E. McMahon shared almost identical concerns earlier this month during a legislative breakfast during which his office used the cases of two recidivist felons to highlight the potential hazards of the new reform.

Here you have someone that the courts and the law have deemed to be a persistent mandatory felon that judges have deemed should not get out of jail maybe ever again, and if they were to commit those crimes today, they would be released with no bail, said Mark Palladino, chief of the D.A.'s Trial Division.

Palladino was referring to the cases of David Orama and Brad McPherson, who were sentenced to 16 and 17 years to life in prison, respectively, on burglary convictions.

During the informational session, McMahon added that the new discovery laws put victims of a crime at risk.

They are put into a position when they have no rights, McMahon added.

McMahon previously shared his concerns over the new legislation multiple times, including in a commentary on SILive.com, defining it as a slap in the face to every family that has suffered the loss of a loved one to crime.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have made the news more than ever lately. The two recently announced that they are completely stepping back from their lives as royals. Though theyll continue to do philanthropic work, it will not be on behalf of the queen.

Harry and Meghan are making a major change, but not everyone is convinced this couples marriage is forever. Heres why bookmakers predict the couple will divorce within the next five years.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Steve Parsons/ WPA Pool/Getty Images

Harry and Meghan recently gave up royalty

The Sussexs decision to give up their HRH royal titles and step back from royal life was not an easy one, as Harry revealed in his words at a recent dinner in London. Ever since Harry and Meghan began dating, their relationship has been under immense scrutiny. More specifically, the media have lashed out at Meghan, and the negative stories took a toll on the two.

Meghan was often at the center of rumors and bad press, and Harry was directly affected by it as well. Ultimately, the two decided that leaving the family was their only hope for a more normal, peaceful life.

Fans predict the couple will divorce by 2025

Per Daily Mail, European bookmakers (also known as those who calculate odds for certain bets) say the odds are 3/1 that Harry and Meghan will divorce by 2025. While those at Irish bookmaker Paddy Power suggest the two wont have a lasting marriage, they do believe the couple will achieve financial independence, with odds at 2/1 for doing so. Paddy Power suggests that a 100-Euro wager on the couples divorce would turn into a 400-euro win, should the couples marriage actually end.

The two are essentially isolating themselves

Though the specific formula for calculating the likelihood of a royal family divorce isnt easy to understand, there are a few major reasons why the odds suggest the two might not end up together. First, Meghan and Harry are choosing to isolate themselves. They are leaving the royal family, and Meghan doesnt have much of a relationship with her family (with the exception of her mother), so the two will only have each other. And that isolation might not be a good thing.

Meghan and Harry are also in an intense spotlight. Its hard to naturally progress a marriage when people are constantly berating you, starting rumors, etc., which seems to be something Meghan and Harry will have trouble escaping, despite their want for a more private life.

Even if they divorced, Harry probably wouldnt rejoin the family

Though we are rooting for the two to stick together, royal divorces are not totally uncommon. But even if the couple did separate, Harry probably wouldnt rejoin the family. He showed signs of wanting to leave long before his departure officially happened, and though he might choose to move back to the United Kingdom, he probably wouldnt want to live the life hes been living for more than 30 years.

Still, we are hoping that Meghan and Harry find peace in their new life and can continue to build a bright future together.
34 US troops injured in recent Iranian strike: Pentagon



Washington, Jan 24 (AFP) Jan 24, 2020



Nearly three dozen US troops suffered traumatic brain injuries or concussion in this month's Iranian air strike on a military base in Iraq, the Pentagon said on Friday.

"Thirty-four total members have been diagnosed with concussions and TBI (traumatic brain injury)," Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters.

President Donald Trump had initially said that no Americans were injured in the strike on the Ain al-Asad base in western Iraq on the night of January 7-8 although authorities later reported that 11 troops were injured.

Hoffman said that 17 of the victims had been initially transferred to Germany to receive treatment, eight of whom arrived back in the US on Friday.

"They will continue to receive treatment in the United States, either at Walter Reed (military hospital near Washington) or at their home bases," he told a press conference at the Pentagon.

The nine other victims who were flown to Germany "are still undergoing evaluation and treatment there," he added.

Seventeen other troops who were treated in the region have returned to duty in Iraq.

The airbase -- one of the largest in Iraq, with 1,500 US troops making up the bulk of a coalition presence directly adjacent to thousands of Iraqi forces -- was targeted in retaliation for the US killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a January 3 drone strike in Baghdad.

Democratic lawmakers seized on the announcement to accuse Trump of lying about the strike.

"Though he downplays these injuries as 'headaches,' roughly half of all TBIs require surgery and can lead to lifelong disabilities," said congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida.

Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed, the Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee, called TBI "a serious matter."

"It is not a 'headache,' and it's plain wrong for President Trump to diminish their wounds. ... He owes them an apology," Reed said.

At a rally in New Hampshire, Joe Biden, a frontrunner to challenge Trump in this year's election, said the president "brushed off" the troops' injuries.

"I find it, quite frankly, disgusting," Biden, a former vice president, said.
Jon Voight, one of President Trumps most vocal supporters in Hollywood, is still very much on the MAGA train.

The Ray Donovan actor posted a video on his Twitter account on Friday blasting the Democrats for committing the crime of impeaching Trump.

Voight said the Democrats who have put Trump on trial in the Senate are a group of radical left wingers who are trying to knock down a nation of Gods glory.

Let us stand among the greatest statues that stand on the White House grounds, where truths were spoken long ago by our forefathers, the Oscar winner best known for his role as Joe Buck in the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy said.

Jon Voight, the 81-year-old Academy Award-winning actor, posted a video on his Twitter page blasting Democrats for impeaching President Trump

Let us remember what this house stands for, this White House. It stands for trust, and stands for moral obligation.

It stands for the safety of the United States of America.

Voight, who is the father of Angelina Jolie, warned that the president is in much danger from this radical left wing group.

I say radical because this group has only filthy lies and distortion of the mighty truths that have been written, he said.

Voight continued: The truth, my friends, the truth that holds the greatest scripture, that is the Declaration of Independence.

We as a nation have gained this back with President Trump.

And what does the left want to do? To knock down a nation of Gods glory.

This is a disgrace to mankind and a disgrace to the people of the United States of America.

This is a crime - an impeachment to take down a nations success for their control of deceit and disgusting lies against our President Trump, who held to his promise for our country (and) his word for our country's love.

Voight ended this speech by invoking religious figures, including Jesus and Moses.

We call upon our highest prayers and ask Jesus, Moses, and all saints to save the truth that has been taken down by these cruel individuals of the left and ask God to place his hands upon this nation of the United States of America and bless and protect the truth for our President Donald Trump, so he can continue his legacy as one of our greatest presidents, the Varsity Blues actor said.

Trump's defense team began their case for the president's acquittal on Saturday after Democrats spent three days outlining their arguments for impeachment - rolling out his greatest hits but surprisingly barely mentioning Joe and Hunter Biden by name.

President Trump's defense team began their case for his acquittal on Saturday

'The president has done absolutely nothing wrong,' White House Counsel Pat Cipollone said

Instead they sought to undercut the Democrats legal arguments and portrayed the president as a victim of political enemies who wanted to undercut his election and denied him due process during the House investigation.

'The president has done absolutely nothing wrong,' White House Counsel Pat Cipollone said.

'They're here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history,' Cipollone noted. 'And we can't allow that to happen.'

Trump's team isn't showing its hand as to whether the Bidens will make an appearance when the trial resumes on Monday.

This is the second time that Voight has released a video on his social media to comment on the impeachment proceedings.

Last month, after the House of Representatives voted to impeach the president, Voight declared that evil is trying to win.

In the video, Voight also made religious references and quoted Abraham Lincoln, saying: This not what God would want.

This left wing lacks truth, and are afraid of Trumps truth to save this country, Voight said.

The Midnight Cowboy star urged Americans to stand with God, with President Trump ... more now than ever, for the evil is trying to win. This is a battle for truths and the left are afraid of the true truths that President Trump has brought forth.

He added: If the impeachment proceeds, America will fall, for President Trump has built it back and the extreme left are destroying this nations glory. ... This is evil intent to destroy a president who has America in his hands.

Voight ended the video by asking: What do we do? We pray and hope that in God we trust.

In November, Voight was rewarded for his steadfast support for Trump when the president awarded him the National Medal of Arts in an East Room ceremony at the White House.

In November, Trump awarded Voight the National Medal of Arts at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House

The president called him 'an actor of astonishing range and depth' and 'one of America's greatest living legends in cinema.'

He later invited Voight to travel with him on Marine One and Air Force One for a 'dignified transfer of remains' ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

In a brief interview beforehand at the Trump International Hotel near the White House, Voight praised the National Endowment for the Arts and said he was 'humbled' by the honor - but then vented about California culture and his fellow artists who thrive in it.

'They're programmed, you see,' he told DailyMail.com.

'There's been an attack with propaganda that was inserted over the years, you know. A lot of it in the '60s.'

'And people don't realize that they've been undermined. The Democratic Party's been undermined, overtaken by Marxists, and, you know, and atheists,' Voight added.

'They took God out of their platform. Can you imagine that?' he asked.

Voight was referring to a fracas that erupted on the floor of the 2012 Democratic National Convention after party activists purposely omitted 'God' when they drafted the quadrennial platform document.

As media reports threatened to give the DNC a lasting black eye, a vote was called to reinsert the word. When convention chair Antonio Villaraigosa called the roll, he heard an outcry of dissent but declared 'the ayes have it' anyway.

A chorus of boos exploded through the sea of Democrats, generating even worse headlines and an estrangement from some people of faith that the party is still working to correct.

President Barack Obama had personally intervened, party officials said at the time, to restore platform language saying Democrats supported giving 'everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential.'

Instead, the 2012 language had declared that 'each one of us should be able to go as far as our talent and drive take us.'
New Delhi, Jan 25 : The 40-day-long Shaheen Bagh protest has been emerging as a symbol of the anti-CAA agitation. But those living in the vicinity of the protest site and Delhi-Noida commuters have started raising their voices against it.

Since the start of the protest, the route that connects Noida and Delhi and is frequented by motorists has been partially blocked. It has increased traffic pressure on the Delhi Noida Direct (DND) flyway.

"Why they need to block a road? Why can't they hold the protest at Jantar Mantar," asked Jatin Arora, a software engineer who commutes from Lajpat Nagar to Noida Sector 62 daily.

Even the residents of Sarita Vihar and Kalindi Kunj areas are facing problems. "We need to go through lanes just to get across that patch. That's possible only on a two-wheeler or on foot. The protestors must shift out from here," said Ritu, a undergraduate student of Amity Univeristy.

It was also causing safety and security risks for passersby, said Iqbal, a resident of Shaheen Bagh.

Recently, a section of Sarita Vihar residents registered protest against the road occupation. They also issued an ultimatum to South East DCP Chinmoy Biswal to either shift them out by February 2 or "the residents will remove protestors." Shaheen Bagh protestors on Friday announced that they would be vacating a lane on route 13a for ambulance and school buses.

The people are protesting there against the December 15 police crackdown on anti-CAA protests.
A World War Two plane that went missing in Europe with its crew on board has been discovered more than 70 years later.

Wreckage of a bomber manned by British airman Sergeant Charles Armstrong Bell, which disappeared in 1943, was found submerged in Lake Markermeer, near Amsterdam, this week.

Sgt Bell, from Langley Park, Durham, was listed as Missing In Action along with six other crew members when their Short Stirling bomber BK716 was lost as it returned from a bombing run in Germany.

Police believe the remains of the crew are still on board.

Lancaster plane on the runway in 1942 / PA Wire/PA Images

As preparations get under way to recover the plane in March, the Bomber Command Museum of Canada contacted Consett Police, part of Durham Constabulary, in a bid to track down any living relatives of the sergeant.

A family member contacted Consett Police after appeals were shared on social media and relatives of the six other crew members have also been traced.

A spokesman from Durham Constabulary, appealing for other relatives, said: Charles Armstrong Bell was the son of James Ainsley Bell and Elizabeth Bell and lived at 10, Quebec Street, Langley Park with his wife Frances.

On his memorial stone he is listed as a son and husband, making us believe that he did not have children.

Frances later remarried a John Wharton and may have had a sister by the name of Lilly Dobbin. Frances died in 2003 and we can find no record of Lilly Dobbin.

It is unknown where family members may have ended up, so please share this post to maximise our chances of success.

It would be great to help in this worthy cause to ensure that an airman who paid the ultimate sacrifice is represented by his family at his burial.
Later in the day, Bolsonaro and Narendra Modi will hold extensive talks following which the two countries are expected to ink 15 agreements

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday met Brazilian president Jair Messias Bolsonaro and discussed ways to deepen ties between the two countries in a range of areas, including trade and investment.

Later in the day, Bolsonaro and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold extensive talks following which the two countries are expected to ink 15 agreements to boost cooperation in a wide range of areas like oil and gas, mining and cyber security.

After the meeting, Jaishankar said in a tweet that Bolsonaro's visit will open "new opportunities" for bilateral cooperation. "Pleased to welcome the Chief Guest for Republic Day 2020 President Jair Messias Bolsonaro of Brazil. His visit will open new opportunities for our bilateral cooperation. It also symbolizes the global rebalancing underway," he said.

Bolsonaro arrived in Delhi on Friday, accompanied by his daughter Laura Bolsonaro, daughter-in-law Leticia Firmo, eight ministers, four members of the Brazilian parliament and a large business delegation.

Bolsonaro and Jaishankar deliberated on ways to deepen overall bilateral cooperation including in areas like trade and investment, officials said. The Brazilian president is in India primarily to grace the Republic Day celebrations on Sunday as chief guest and explore ways to boost trade ties with India at a time when both the large economies are hit by slowdowns.

India's ties with Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, has been on an upswing in the last few years. The country has a population of 210 million with USD 1.8 trillion economy. This is the first visit of Bolsonaro to India.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, won a landslide victory in Brazil's presidential election in October 2018 and took the reins of the country in January last year. India-Brazil ties have been on an upswing in the last few years.

The volume of bilateral trade was USD 8.2 billion in 2018-19. This included USD 3.8 billion worth of Indian exports to Brazil and USD 4.4 million as imports by India. Both the governments feel there is huge potential to enhance the bilateral trade further.

Major Indian exports to Brazil include agro-chemicals, synthetic yarns, auto components, and parts, pharmaceutical, and petroleum products. Brazilian exports to India include crude oil, gold, vegetable oil, sugar, and bulk mineral and ores.

Indian investments in Brazil were around USD 6 billion and Brazilian investments in India are estimated at USD 1 billion in 2018. Brazilian investments in India are mainly in automobiles, IT, mining, energy and biofuel sectors. India has invested in Brazil's IT, pharmaceutical, energy, agri-business, mining, and engineering sectors.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 25

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has sent a condolence letter to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

I was deeply saddened by the news of heavy casualties and destruction caused by a powerful earthquake that struck Elazig province, reads the letter. At this difficult time, I express our readiness to provide any kind of support, and extend, on my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, my deepest condolences to you, the bereaved families, the loved ones of those who were killed and the brotherly people of Turkey, and wish the injured the swiftest possible recovery. May Allah rest the souls of the dead in peace!
Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are reportedly held hostage inside a public secondary school in Essien Udim, Akwa Ibom, in the ongoing rerun elections in the state, the electoral body has told PREMIUM TIMES.

The school  Independent High School, Ukana  is the location for polling unit 9 in Ukana West Ward 2, Essien Udim.

Godswill Akpabio, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, is from the ward.

In Independent High School, Ukana, poll officials have been taken in, we learnt that there are persons who are either they are fake or real DSS officers and soldiers. The poll officials, their phones have been taken away from them, we cant reach them and an insider has sent a message to us that what they are doing there they are thumb-printing, they dont allow the use of card reader in the place, the INEC official said at about 12:20 p.m. on Saturday.

The official said voting materials for the ward were hijacked since 6 a.m. or thereabout.

There are some disruption going on there, despite all that we have said that we must change the image of what we are doing. This is only one local government area, he said.

INEC spokesperson in Akwa Ibom, Don Etukudoh, confirmed the development to PREMIUM TIMES. They are still being held hostage right now, Mr Etukudoh said at 1:52 p.m.

Earlier in the day, thugs, assisted by the notorious State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian police, prevented some journalists from entering the Independent High School, Ukana, until the intervention of the police spokesperson in the state, Nnudam Fredrick.

The journalists, including officials of Nigeria Union of Journalists in the state, later left the school premises to other polling units in the local government area.

Mr Akpabios spokesperson, Anietie Ekong, in an apparent response to the reports coming out from Essien Udim, said the public should ignore infantile propaganda linking Senator Akpabio to anything that is going on in Essien Udim LGA in the name of rerun elections.

We have gathered that some PDP-sponsored thugs were planning to carry out a sinister plot during the rerun elections and link it to Senator Akpabio.

READ ALSO:

Security agencies should be on the watch out for miscreants and sponsored thugs, apprehend them and visit the full weight of the law on them, Mr Ekong said in a Facebook post, Saturday afternoon.

Mr Ekong said the minister has been in his house in Uyo, and not in Essien Udim, since Saturday morning.

Mr Akpabio lost his bid to return to the Senate for a second term in 2019 when INEC declared Chris Ekpenyong of the Peoples Democratic Party winner of the poll.

Amid complaints of election fraud and a petition to the tribunal, the former Senate minority leader who was later appointed minister, said he was no longer interested in a repeat poll, but INEC rejected a replacement of candidate.

The electoral body is also conducting reruns for the state and federal constituencies in the area.

Both Nse Ntuen, the APC candidates for the Essien Udim State Constituency, and Emmanuel Akpan, the APC candidate for the Ikot Ekpene/Essien Udim/Obot Akara Federal Constituency on Friday announced their withdrawal from the elections.
Billions of locusts swarming through East Africa are the result of extreme weather swings and could prove catastrophic for a region still reeling from drought and deadly floods, experts said Friday. Dense clouds of the ravenous insects have spread from Ethiopia and Somalia into Kenya, in the region's worse infestation in decades. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated one swarm in Kenya at around 2,400 square kilometres (about 930 square miles) -- an area almost the size of Moscow -- meaning it could contain up to 200 billion locusts, each of which consume their own weight in food every day. The locust invasion is the biggest in Ethiopia and Somalia in 25 years, and the biggest in Kenya in 70 years, according to the FAO. If unchecked, locust numbers could grow 500 times by June, spreading to Uganda and South Sudan, becoming a plague that will devastate crops and pasture in a region which is already one of the poorest and most vulnerable in the world. This could lead to "a major food security problem", Guleid Artan from regional expert group the Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC), told a press conference in Nairobi. The locusts, he said, were the latest symptom of extreme conditions that saw 2019 start with a drought and end in one of the wettest rainy seasons in four decades in some parts -- with floods killing hundreds across East Africa. The FAO says the current invasion is known as an "upsurge" -- when an entire region is affected -- however if it gets worse and cannot be contained, over a year or more, it would become what is known as a "plague" of locusts. There have been six major desert locust plagues in the 1900s, the last of which was in 1987-89. The last major upsurge was in 2003-05. - Not 'the end of times' - Artan said the invasion had come after a year of extremes which included eight cyclones off East Africa, the most in a single year since 1976. This was due to a warmer western Indian Ocean, a climate condition known as the Indian Ocean Dipole which has conversely led to severe drought in Australia that is experiencing its own extremes: bushfires, hail and dust storms. "We know East Africa is one of the most vulnerable to climate change. We know this region will see more extremes," he warned. One expert at the press conference in Nairobi had to reassure attendees that the locust invasion following the drought and floods was not a portent of the biblical "end of times". The massive swarms entered Kenya in December and have torn through pastureland in the north and centre of the country. While farmers were relatively lucky as their crops had already matured or been harvested by the time they arrived, herders face another heavy blow as vegetation for their animals is consumed by the voracious locusts. Artan said the pastoralists were just emerging from three years of drought, and that recovery from a dry spell usually takes them up to five years. And if the locusts are not brought under control by the start of the next planting and rainy season -- typically around March -- farmers could see their crops decimated. As thick clouds of the insects descend on plants and blacken the sky, Kenyans have been seen shooting in the air, banging cans and racing around, waving sticks in desperation to shoo them away. In eastern Meru, residents accused the government of not doing enough, complaining there were still swarms present despite aerial spraying being carried out. "They told us that we will not see them again but there are still many of them spotted yesterday and today on trees and vegetation in the farm," said Emmanuel Kubai, a resident of Igembe North where villagers were hurling stones to vegetation to scare them away. - 'Bodes ill for the region'- Stephen Njoka, director of the Desert Locust Control Organisation for Eastern Africa, which is based in Nairobi, said Kenya had five aircraft spraying pesticides on swarms, and four others conducting surveillance. He said the chemicals did not pose a threat to humans and that authorities were doing their best to limit damage to other small insects, pollinators and pastureland. Similar control operations are under way in Ethiopia and Somalia. However insecurity in Somalia was hampering some spraying operations, the FAO has said. The species -- desert locusts -- are notoriously difficult to control as they often occur in remote areas and can move up to 150 kilometres (90 miles) in one day. According to the regional Food Security and Nutrition Working Group, East Africa is already experiencing a high degree of food insecurity, with over 19 million people experiencing acute hunger. Save the Children's regional director for East and Southern Africa, Ian Vale, said in a statement Wednesday that the charity's staff in Kenya were battling "swarms so thick they can barely see through them". "This new disaster bodes ill for the region in 2020... The erratic weather of 2019 and the decade prior has already severely eroded the capacity of families to bounce back from unexpected crises."
The deadly Coronavirus continues to wreak havoc in China and abroad as the death toll due to it in this Far East country rose to 41 with 1287 confirmed cases, China's National Health Commission announced on Saturday. Of the 1,287 confirmed cases as of Friday night, the condition of the 237 is stated to be critical, the Commission announced.

The pneumonia situation had resulted in 41 deaths, including 39 in central China's Hubei province and one in northeastern province Heilongjiang, it said. Additionally, a total of 1,965 suspected cases have also been reported, it said.

The virus has spread to Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Nepal, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and the United States as of Thursday. Japan on Friday reported a second confirmed case.

13 cities shutdown due to Coronavirus

It has triggered a cause of concern for India too as many of the 700 odd Indian students studying in universities of Wuhan and Hubei provinces are still stuck up there. The Indian Embassy has established hotlines to keep close contact with them.

Battling the fast-spreading Coronavirus, China has begun building a 1,000-bed hospital in Wuhan which is expected to be completed in less than ten days. It also began deploying military medics to step up the treatment facilities in Wuhan and 12

In view of the virus scare, several cities, including Beijing, have cancelled special events marking China's Lunar New Year. The festival is also known as the Spring Festival. Large cultural activities during the spring festival in Beijing such as temple fairs were cancelled to prevent the spread of the virus.

China's biggest city Shanghai raised the emergency response to public health safety to level 1, the highest, following Beijing, and Hubei, Hunan, Zhejiang, Anhui and Guangdong provinces as more cases were reported. Beijing so far has reported 34 confirmed cases of Coronavirus infection, official media reported. The Chinese disease prevention authority on Friday released pictures and information of the first Wuhan Coronavirus that Chinese experts had discovered.

What is Coronavirus?

While scientists are yet to ascertain the origins of the disease, the CoV is transmittable from human to human as well as animals and humans, creating a possibility of it going pandemic. CoV causes illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). WHO has sent directives to hospitals around the world on infection prevention and control, but are yet to declare a public health emergency.

(With PTI Inputs)
Back in the late 1980s when the last land-use plan was written for the Bitterroot National Forest, elk were so prized that many land management decisions centered on ensuring they would flourish.

Thirty years later, biologists have a much better idea of what makes an elk tick.

Not surprisingly, some of that information about elk that land managers used for the 1987 Bitterroot National Forest Plan is not true anymore.

Now, Bitterroot Forest officials are asking the public to weigh in on a proposed forest plan amendment for elk habitat objectives that will take into account a myriad of studies from both the Bitterroot Valley and beyond.

Forest officials recently extended the comment period to Feb. 10 after sportsmen and other interested in elk habitat found it challenging to understand just what the agency seeks to accomplish.

Bitterroot Forest wildlife biologist Justin Martens said people need to have a handle on the context of whats happening now to understand where the agency wants to go.

When the 1987 plan was written, the agency used the best information out there to develop objectives for managing what folks then considered an indicator species for the forest. If elk were doing well with the available habitat, then other species should fare well, too.

The current plan uses measurable metrics that land managers could use to analyze projects.

Thermal cover was one of those metrics. Managers focused on ensuring there was ample canopy left in the forest that would help elk stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

As it turns out, elk dont need that.

A study completed around 2000 showed that unless the conditions were extreme, elk did just fine maintaining their body temperatures in both the summer and winter.

We have elk now in places like Arkansas and theyre thriving, Martens said. Elk adapt well in all in a lot of different environments. Thermal cover was older science that didnt really fit anymore.

The 1987 plan also contained standards centered on roads in different drainages. It attempted to predict the number of miles that could potentially be constructed in those drainages and made assumptions that didnt turn out to be true.

Until now, Bitterroot National Forest Environmental Coordinator Amy Fox said the forest has addressed those outdated metrics on a project-by-project basis.

Since 2000, weve done 15 plan amendments on separate projects that specifically related to elk habitat objectives, Fox said. Now were proposing to do a programmatic amendment to the forest plan related to elk habitat that will get us more in line with current science.

The agency plans to work closely with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to develop the amendment, Fox said.

Initially, we applied the elk objectives with a broad brush when management of elk habitat might work better if it is specific to places like the West Fork or the north half of the Sapphires or the East Fork, Fox said. Right now, were not exactly sure what the new standards or the guidelines might say. We are asking the public to help us with that.

The Bitterroot National Forest is due for a revision of its forest plan, but it has to wait until other national forests complete theirs.

Across the country, its taking longer than anticipated for forests to do their forest plan revisions, Fox said. Theres only so much funding to go around. Were likely still at least a couple of years out.

If the forest can complete an amendment for elk habitat objectives, Fox said it could be rolled into the update. It also would give managers and the public time to see if what they come up with works well.

Right now, were at the very beginning of the process, Fox said. Thats the hard thing about scoping. If you go out with something that's very detailed, people think youve already made up your mind. In this case, weve told people what were thinking about doing and theyve told us that were not giving enough information.

Its hard to hit that sweet spot, she said.

As a biologist, Martens said the information that would be most helpful for him would come from people who could point to science-based studies or research.

If someone comes in and says that 10 years ago there werent any elk on their place and now theyre calving in his backyard, thats good to know, but it may not help us on this project, Martens said. We know elk are very adaptable. Traditionally, they were a plains animal and now we have elk that are thriving in the middle of Nebraska.

We know that habitat is one piece of the pie, Martens said. We want to do what we can to make the best habitat possible.

To learn more about the need to conduct a Forest Plan amendment for Elk Habitat Objectives, visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=57302.

Send written comments to: Bitterroot National Forest, Attn: Forest Plan Amendment, 1801 N. 1st Street, Hamilton, MT 59840. Comments should include: 1) name, address, phone number, and organization represented, if any; 2) specific facts and supporting information for the responsible official to consider.

Electronic comments must be submitted via the project comment page: https://cara.ecosystem-management.org/Public//CommentInput?Project=57302

For additional information, contact Martens at 406-821-1213 or Jeff Shearer, project manager at 406-375-2608.

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A book of condolence has opened in Belfast after the death of former deputy first minister Seamus Mallon.

Mr Mallons death at the age of 83 on Friday has led to an outpouring of gratitude as thousands of people paid tribute to the former SDLP deputy leader.

A book of condolence opened in Belfast City Hall on Saturday, and another will open at the Guildhall in Derry on Sunday.

American actress Sharon Stone was among those to sign the book in Belfast, alongside her friend, the Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams.

Ms Stone called Mr Mallon a legend, a real warrior of peace as she signed the book along with hundreds of others, including his party colleagues in the SDLP.

SDLP Deputy Leader @NicholaMallon and our Belfast council team signing the book of condolences for Seamus Mallon, at Belfast City Hall. pic.twitter.com/hurWvIwMoT  Social Democratic and Labour Party (@SDLPlive) January 25, 2020

The actress message in the book read: With respect and admiration.

The ex-deputy leader of the nationalist SDLP was an architect of the Northern Ireland peace process and a key figure in negotiating the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which largely halted violence.

Former US senator George Mitchell, who was heavily involved in creating the Good Friday Agreement, also paid tribute to Mr Mallon, who was deputy to Lord Trimble at Stormont from 1998 to 2001.

Expand Close Former US president Bill Clinton, then-UK prime minister Tony Blair, former first minister David Trimble and Seamus Mallon, pictured in 2000 (Chris Bacon/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Former US president Bill Clinton, then-UK prime minister Tony Blair, former first minister David Trimble and Seamus Mallon, pictured in 2000 (Chris Bacon/PA)

Its a great loss for me personally as it is for the people of Northern Ireland, Mr Mitchell told Q Radio.

Seamus Mallon was a strong and effective political leader for many decades including the period during which the negotiations were held among all of the parties in Northern Ireland that led to the agreement that brought an end to the violence of the Troubles.

Former US president Bill Clinton, who was in office at the time of the Good Friday Agreement and championed peace talks in the 1990s, also paid a touching tribute to former Newry and Armagh MP Mr Mallon.

He said: From his earliest entry into politics, Seamus never wavered from his vision for a shared future where neighbours of all faiths could live in dignity, or from the belief he shared with John Hume and the entire SDLP that non-violence was the only way to reach that goal.

Sincere condolences to both family & colleagues of former deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon RIP. I pay tribute to his leadership, recognising his significant role in the peace process, an unwavering commitment to the Patten report & his subsequent support for @PoliceServiceNI  Simon Byrne (@ChiefConPSNI) January 25, 2020

As his partys chief negotiator in the talks leading to the Good Friday Agreement, he was respected by all parties for his intelligence and integrity, his candour and convictions.

Mr Mallon was a former teacher who lived in Markethill, Co Armagh, a largely Protestant town. He is survived by his daughter Orla.
Members of Ottawa communities that have been targeted by hate crimes are welcoming the Ottawa Police Service's decision to bring back a unit dedicated to fighting those offences.

The force announced this week it was reintroducing the hate crime unit, less than a year after confusion arose over whether one ever existed in the first place.

Sahada Alolo, co-chair of the Community Equity Council, said she hasn't reported hateful incidents she's personally experienced as a Muslim woman of colour.

She said the existence of the dedicated unit will change that.

"Not only will I report it, I will actually encourage people to report it," Alolo said. "Once we have the numbers and people have the data ... a lot more can be done to change."

'A win-win'

There were 110 reports of hate crimes in Ottawa last year, the police service said, up from 104 in 2018 and 95 in 2017.

The force is adding two new specialized hate crime investigators to the security and intelligence section. In their announcement of the dedicated unit, Ottawa police said they will accept online reports from people who witness hate incidents or graffiti.

Alolo said the council and community stakeholders have been calling for the return of a dedicated unit, and said the fact that happened is a sign police are listening.

"It's a win-win for both sides," she said. "The police [will have] the resources to do their job well and the community [is] beginning to trust that the police is on their side and working to cap hate."

Matthew Kupfer/CBC

Waiting for results

Rev. Anthony Bailey, coordinating minister at Parkdale United Church, said the announcement shows police are taking hate incidents seriously.

Bailey was among the signatories to a letter welcoming the police announcement, along with the Canadian Anti-Hate Network and 613/819 Black Hub. His church was also one of the religious institutions targeted in a racist graffiti spree in 2016.

Story continues

"I think making it acceptable for people to report what they've experienced is absolutely essential," Bailey said.

Bailey said people are sometimes reluctant to come forward because they don't believe they'll be taken seriously or potentially face language barriers.

He said he's waiting to see if the dedicated unit will help address that reluctance.

"We'd like to see the promised results and the promised responsiveness," Bailey said.

Radio-Canada

Rabbi Aytan Kenter, senior rabbi at Kehillat Beth Israel  also the target of racist vandalism in 2016  said his community is feeling more vulnerable after recent attacks on U.S. synagogues.

He said he hopes the new unit will provide a point of contact when the community seeks protection during large gatherings, such as the High Holy Days.

"We're not alone as Jews in feeling the sense of fear in relation to crimes that are based upon who a person is  and what it is they believe, or who they love," Kenter said.

Confusion in 2019

In May 2019, after racist graffiti was scrawled on a black Ottawa family's home, the force somewhat confusingly said it never had a dedicated unit to fighting hate crimes.

It was a perplexing statement, given that there were multiple reports billing the hate crime unit as the first of its kind in Canada when it was created in 1993.

On its 15th anniversary, former mayor Larry O'Brien heaped praise upon it  even declaring Jan.15 "hate crime awareness day" in the capital.

That confusion led former interim chief Steve Bell to tell CBC News the unit was "renamed or moved over to the security and intelligence" section in January 2017.
State Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, introduced legislation Thursday that would reimburse schools for revenue lost during wildfire-related power shutoffs.

"My bill will ensure school districts are made financially whole while providing a mechanism to offer makeup days for students who have missed classroom time," Dodd said.

The state's school funding is based on the average daily student attendance. Under the current law, schools forced to close because of a public safety power shutoff could lose part of their expected funding allocation.

Senate Bill 884, co-authored by state Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, authorizes the state to backfill the average daily attendance money. The bill also authorizes school districts to receive money for makeup days offered at the end of the school year if the power shutoffs or other disasters force significant closures during the year.

The Sonoma County Office of Education is sponsoring the bill.

A man with a previous conviction for resisting arrest was charged with three counts of attempted murder on Friday for allegedly trying to strike two police officers and another man in Livermore early Wednesday morning.

Matthew Kelly, 38, who was shot by officers after he allegedly tried to hit them, was arraigned on Friday and is scheduled to return to court next Friday to be assigned an attorney and possibly enter a plea.

Kelly, who has addresses in Newark and Fremont, suffered a single gunshot wound to his right leg and was treated at a local hospital.

Livermore police said that at about 3:25 a.m. on Wednesday two officers pulled over a Toyota driver who they suspected of driving under the influence on southbound Airway Boulevard south of Kitty Hawk Road near Interstate Highway 580.

The officers walked the Toyota driver off of the roadway and onto a private access road to conduct a sobriety check but several minutes later they saw a black 2011 Kia Soul traveling south on Airway Boulevard and then turning onto the access road, according to police.

The Kia Soul driver, later identified as Kelly, accelerated directly at the officers and the pulled-over driver so the drivers fired their guns at him as he allegedly tried to run them over, police said.

The officers and the pulled-over driver were able to avoid the Kia Soul, which Kelly then drove to the end of the access road before making a U-turn. The Kia Soul eventually stalled at the entrance of the access road and other responding officers took Kelly into custody, police said.

Kelly was charged with two counts of attempted murder of a peace officer for allegedly to strike Livermore officers Kurt Cofer and Eric Santin, and an additional attempted murder count for allegedly trying to hit the pulled-over Toyota driver.

Kelly also was charged with two counts of assault on a peace officer and assault with a deadly weapon, namely the Kia Soul.

Police in San Francisco have arrested a man accused of killing a 19-year-old whose body was found on Treasure Island last week, more than a week after he'd been reported missing.

On Friday, Jan. 17 officers located the body of Amir Alkhraisat of San Francisco around 11:45 p.m. in the 400 block of Avenue M.

Alkhraisat was pronounced dead at the scene and police have not said how exactly he may have died.

Alkhraisat's family had reported him missing on Jan. 8 and, after an investigation, officers determined his disappearance was suspicious in nature, police said.

On Thursday, officers arrested 21-year-old Danilo Barraza of San Francisco as a suspect in the case. Barraza has been booked on suspicion of murder and is being held without bail.

San Francisco police on Friday announced they've arrested a second suspect connected to a violent Chinatown robbery back in July that left two men injured.

On Wednesday, officers arrested 20-year-old Akeem Smith of Sacramento on suspicion of battery, assault, robbery and elder abuse.

Smith was already being held in Alameda County on related charges, according to jail records.

Back in October, police arrested a different suspect in connection with the July robbery. Oakland resident Dashawn Pierson, 19, was taken into custody on Oct. 22 on suspicion of robbery, assault, batter and elder abuse.

While serving Pierson's arrest warrant, officers located items connected to the robbery, police said.

The robbery happened at 1:09 p.m. on July 15. Officers initially responded to Stockton Street and Pacific Avenue after someone reported a robbery there.

Officers determined that three suspects had picked up a 56-year-old San Francisco man who had the watch on and threw him to the ground. The second victim, a 69-year-old San Francisco resident, tried to intervene and the suspects knocked the person unconscious.

Both victims were taken to a hospital for head injuries and have since been released, police said.

Although two suspects have been apprehended, a third suspect remains at large.

Health officials throughout the Bay Area are reminding residents how to take care precaution against the coronavirus, which has already killed 25 people worldwide.

Although no cases have been confirmed in the Bay Area, since Friday about 800 people have been sickened across the globe by the virus, which originated in Wuhan, China sometime last month.

Officials with San Francisco's Department of Public Health on Friday said currently there are zero cases citywide, but they're actively monitoring the situation.

"We are working very closely with both our partners, the California Department of Public Health as well as the Centers for Disease Control, the CDC, to monitor the novel coronavirus and enact prevention measures. At this time, residents of San Francisco and the Bay Area are at very low risk of becoming infected," said Dr. Susan Philip, DPH's director of disease prevention and control.

"The only exception is if they've traveled to Wuhan, China or have been in contact with an individual who has traveled to that area and has symptoms of respiratory illness, which includes fever, cough and shortness of breath," she said.

To lower the chances of becoming infected, Philips recommends that people regularly wash their hands, cover their coughs with their hands and stay home when they're sick.

"There does seem to be some person-to-person transmission happening, but we don't know the extent to it. We also don't know the entire severity of the illness; while some people become very, very ill with pneumonia and, and as we said some people have died. Many other people may have less severe illness and not even need to seek care in a hospital or emergency room, so there's much to learn about this virus," she said.

Other Bay Area counties, including Alameda, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Contra Costa and Solano, said no cases have been confirmed there.

Authorities targeted a suspected fencing operation during an early morning sting Thursday at several homes along the peninsula and San Francisco, arresting eight people and seizing more than $2 million in stolen property, including electronics, cameras and laptops.

The investigation, dubbed "Operation Shattered Glass", was prompted by several recent auto, commercial and home burglaries throughout San Mateo County.

The investigation led to an organization in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood that was allegedly purchasing and selling stolen goods from the break-ins, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office.

Most of the stolen items were electronics, laptops, cameras, and commercial retail merchandise.

On Thursday, officers from several agencies, including the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office Crime Suppression Unit, executed eight search warrants and several arrest warrants.

The search warrants were carried out at five homes throughout San Mateo County, and at two houses and one storage unit in San Francisco. The seized stolen goods are valued at more than $2 million, the sheriff's office said. In addition, more than $150,000 in cash was seized as well as three vehicles and a residence, worth more than $1.2 million.

The suspects arrested in the sting Thursday were booked into San Mateo County Jail on suspicion of several crimes, including criminal profiteering, money laundering, possession of stolen property, and tax fraud/evasion.

Six of suspects are from Daly City: Juarez Nino Vicente-Silvestre, 30; Yamel Cristina Vallejo Lopez, 28; Armando Ortez, 40; Kevin Orlando Hernandez Sanchez, 26; Jose Maldonado Soto, 30; and Alex RiveraPeraza, 42.

The other two suspects were Rudy Alexander Riverafolgar, 18, of Pacifica; and Zhipeng Chen, 36, of San Francisco.

Saturday will be mostly cloudy with patchy fog in the morning. There will be a chance of showers in the afternoon. Highs will be around 60 degrees. Southwest winds will be 5 to 10 mph.

Saturday night will be mostly cloudy with showers likely. Lows will be in the mid 50s. Southwest winds will be 10 to 20 mph.

Sunday will be mostly cloudy in the morning before becoming partly cloudy. There will be a chance of showers in the morning. Highs will be in the upper 50s. West winds will be 10 to 20 mph.

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.
Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for release publication, distribution or dissemination directly, or indirectly, in whole or in part, in or into the United States.



VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 24, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Broadway Gold Mining Ltd. (Broadway or the Company) (TSXV:BRD) (BDWYF) is pleased to provide an update on its reverse takeover transaction (RTO) by the current shareholders of Mind Medicine, Inc. (MindMed) by way of plan of arrangement (the Arrangement) as announced on July 26, 2019 and October 15, 2019. Effective January 23, 2020 Broadway and MindMed have executed an amendment (the Amendment) to the definitive arrangement agreement (the Arrangement Agreement) to extend the closing date of the Arrangement from no later than January 31, 2020 to no later than March 31, 2020. All other terms of the Arrangement Agreement remain in full force and effect and unamended.

On December 19, 2019, MindMed completed the first tranche of its previously announced brokered private placement financing of Class D non-voting shares (the Shares) of MindMed at a price of CAD$0.33 per share (the Brokered Private Placement) for gross proceeds of $6,194,726. MindMed anticipates closing a second tranche of the Brokered Private Placement on or about February 11, 2020 raising an aggregate of up to CAD$15 million. There can be no assurances that MindMed will elect to close the second tranche.

In connection with the proposed RTO, Broadway is pleased to announce that it obtained an interim order from the Supreme Court of British Columbia on January 20, 2020 (the Interim Order). The Interim Order provides for, among other things, the holding of an annual and special meeting (the "Meeting") of the holders of common shares of Broadway (the "Shareholders") to approve the Arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia). The Meeting is scheduled to be held at the offices of Wildeboer Dellelce LLP, Suite 800, Wildeboer Dellelce Place, 365 Bay St., Toronto, Ontario M5H 2V1 on Wednesday, February 19, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. (Toronto time). The record date for determining Shareholders entitled to receive notice of and vote at the Meeting was fixed at the close of business on January 14, 2020.

Story continues

A management information circular (the Circular) in respect of the Meeting has been mailed to shareholders of Broadway and has been filed under Broadways profile on www.SEDAR.com. Broadway Shareholders are encouraged to review the Circular.

At the Meeting, shareholders of Broadway will be asked, among other things, to elect the directors and to appoint the auditor of the Company (both before and after completion of the Arrangement, if approved), to approve the Arrangement (the Arrangement Resolution), to approve the consolidation of the existing issued and outstanding securities of Broadway on an eight-for-one (8-1) basis (the Consolidation), to approve the creation of a class of majority voting shares which are expected to be issued, if at all, to preserve Broadways status as a foreign private issuer under U.S. securities laws and the change of name of Broadways common shares to subordinate voting shares and to approve the de-listing of Broadways common shares from the TSX Venture Exchange, effective and conditional upon the approval of the Arrangement. The Arrangement Resolution requires approval of not less than two-thirds of the votes cast at the Meeting.

If the Plan of Arrangement is approved and completed, Broadway intends to transfer all of Broadways right, title and interest, and all associated liabilities, in the Broadway and Madison mine (the Spin-Out Transaction), which comprises 450 acres of land, a 192 acre ranch, buildings, mine equipment and fixtures, 6 patented, 35 unpatented mineral claims, and mineral rights to a four-square-mile property, in the Butte-Anaconda region of Montana (the Madison Project) to a wholly-owned B.C. subsidiary of Broadway, Madison Metals Inc. (SpinCo). SpinCo was incorporated on October 11, 2019 for the purpose of acquiring the Madison Project in connection with the Arrangement. Pursuant to the Plan of Arrangement, SpinCo will issue 49,860,204 common shares to Broadway as consideration for the Madison Project (the SpinCo Consideration Shares), which SpinCo Consideration Shares will be distributed to the holders of record of the Companys shares immediately before completion of the RTO on a pro-rata basis (other than to shareholders who dissent in accordance with the provisions of the Arrangement). Broadway shareholders will be entitled to receive one SpinCo Consideration Share for every common share of Broadway on a pre-Consolidation basis held by such shareholder. As a result, assuming the Arrangement is completed, each Broadway shareholder will hold shares of SpinCo as well as their post-Consolidation subordinate voting shares of the Resulting Issuer. The SpinCo Consideration Shares will not be listed or posted for trading on any stock exchange; therefore there will be reduced liquidity for SpinCo shares. There is no guarantee or assurance that securities of SpinCo will ever be listed for trading on any stock exchange or that any market for the SpinCo Consideration Shares will develop and as a result SpinCo shareholders may not be able to re-sell their SpinCo Consideration Shares.

If the Arrangement Resolution and related matters are approved at the Meeting, Broadway will seek a final order from the Supreme Court of British Columbia on or about February 24, 2020.

In addition to shareholder approval, the Arrangement and related matters is subject to the receipt of regulatory and court approvals. Broadway and MindMed have received conditional approval from the Neo Exchange Inc. (the Neo Exchange) for the listing of the subordinate voting shares of Mind Medicine (Mind Med) Inc., the resulting issuer following the RTO (the Resulting Issuer). Listing is subject to the Resulting Issuer fulfilling all of the Neo Exchanges listing requirements, including minimum distribution and other listing requirements.

If all the conditions of the Arrangement Agreement, a copy of which can be found under the Companys profile on www.SEDAR.com, are satisfied or waived and all the necessary shareholder, regulatory and court approvals are received, Broadway and MindMed plan to close the RTO by the end of February 2020 and commence trading on the Neo Exchange shortly thereafter. There can be no assurances that all such conditions will be satisfied or such approvals obtained.

About MindMed

Mind Medicine, Inc. is a neuro-pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and deploys psychedelic inspired medicines to improve health, promote wellness and alleviate suffering. The companys immediate priority is to address the opioid crisis by developing a non-hallucinogenic version of the psychedelic ibogaine. The MindMed executive team brings extensive biopharmaceutical industry experience to this ground-breaking approach to the development of next-generation psychedelic medicines.

About Broadway

Until execution of the Arrangement Agreement, Broadway was focused on the exploration and development of the Broadway and Madison mine and the delineation of the porphyry source of their mineralization; the Companys right, title and interest to the Broadway and Madison mine - 450 acres of land, a 192 acre ranch, buildings, mine equipment and fixtures, 6 patented, 35 unpatented mineral claims, and mineral rights to a four-square-mile property in the Butte-Anaconda region of Montana, a porphyry-based mining district - will be spun-out to Broadways current shareholders as a result of the Arrangement. Assuming completion of the Arrangement, Broadway will have acquired the business of MindMed, will be a developer and distributor of the 18-MC Program for treatment of opioid and other forms of substance addiction.

Information in this News Release

All information contained in this news release with respect to Broadway and MindMed was supplied by the parties respectively for inclusion herein, and each party and its respective directors and officers have relied on the other party for any information concerning the other party. Broadway has not independently verified the information provided by MindMed and shall bear no liability for any misrepresentation contained therein.

For Further Information, Please Contact:

Duane Parnham, Executive Chairman President and CEO Broadway Gold Mining Ltd.

+1 954.860.5664

IR@broadwaymining.com

www.broadwaymining.com



Media:

Adam Bello

Primoris Group Inc.

+1 416.489.0092

media@primorisgroup.com



For more information on MindMed please contact:

Jamon JR Rahn

Mind Medicine Inc., Director

jr@mindmed.co



Cautionary Statement on Forward-looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively, forward-looking statements) within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as expects, or does not expect, is expected, anticipates or does not anticipate, plans, budget, scheduled, forecasts, estimates, believes or intends or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results may or could, would, might or will be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements relate, among other things, to: the terms and conditions of the proposed Arrangement; the terms and conditions of the proposed Brokered Private Placement; the receipt of Shareholder, Court and regulatory approvals for the Arrangement, the listing of the subordinate voting shares on the Neo Exchange and the closing of the Arrangement. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; and the delay or failure to receive board, shareholder or regulatory approvals. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. In evaluating forward-looking statements and information, readers should carefully consider the various factors which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward looking statements and forward-looking information depending on, among other things, the risks that the parties will not proceed with the Arrangement, the Spin-Out Transaction, the Brokered Private Placement and/or other associated transactions, that the ultimate terms of the Arrangement, the Spin-Out Transaction and/or other associated transactions will differ from those currently contemplated, and that the Arrangement, the Spin-out, the Brokered Private Placement and/or other associated transactions will not be successfully completed for any reason (including the failure to obtain the required approvals or clearances from regulatory authorities).

Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Broadway and MindMed assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law. The statements in this press release are made as of the date of this release. Broadway undertakes no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third parties in respect of Broadway, MindMed, their respective securities, or their respective financial or operating results (as applicable).

The securities to be offered in the Offering have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act) or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, United States persons absent registration or any applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange Inc. 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 and neither of these entities has in any manner passed upon the merits of the Arrangement or any associated transactions. None of the TSX Venture Exchange or the Canadian Securities Exchange and their Regulation Services Providers accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Completion of the Arrangement is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, final acceptance by the Neo Exchange Inc. and if applicable, disinterested shareholder approval. Where applicable, the Arrangement cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Arrangement will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the Circular prepared in connection with the Arrangement, any information released or received with respect to the Arrangement may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of Broadway should be considered highly speculative.

The TSX Venture Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.
Back in the day, one of my pet peeves would be when someone would cite a startling anecdote or consequential fact that he or she saw in the newspaper. I would invariably ask, which newspaper. He or she would shrug. The newspaper.

Those days are long gone. The more likely response today would be I saw it on Twitter. Or Facebook. Or an email blast. Or any number of unfiltered websites that dont pretend to embrace the basic values of journalism  accuracy, fairness and accountability in a commitment to acknowledge and correct errors.

In the late 1970s, nearly three-quarters of Americans trusted what is now sometimes disparaged by the far left and far right as mainstream media: newspapers, radio and television. Now, just 41% of Americans have confidence in mass media, according to a recent Gallup poll.

I would be the last to suggest that the public is best served when three national television networks and major metropolitan newspapers  which set the agenda for local broadcast news  are the dominant gatekeepers. Indeed, there is great value to citizens being able to spot-check a story about a court ruling by reading it for themselves, watching a historic Senate debate on impeachment or a city council zoning dispute, or instantly seeing the accounts of eyewitnesses at a protest or disaster scene on social media.

The problem is that the unrelenting flow of information includes so much misinformation and disinformation. The amazing tools that could enhance our democratic engagement can also distort or dissuade it.

Thus the need for a movement to advance news literacy. The News Literacy Project and the E.W. Scripps Co. have sponsored the week of Jan. 27-31 as National News Literacy Week. As welcome as their efforts may be, this cannot be limited to a one-week mission. There are various forces, whether ideologues determined to convert us or even foreign interests hellbent to divide us, stoking cynicism about trusting journalism.

They benefit when their audiences are unable to identify and accept objective truth.

Most important, Americans must not become desensitized to the voices that want us to become numb to independent scrutiny. The most fundamental threat to a democracy is from an authoritarian figure who claims, in essence, You cant believe anything but from me. That is the case in Vladimir Putins Russia, Rodrigo Dutertes Philippines or Tayyip Erdogans Turkey.

And, most alarming, it has become apparent in the United States, with President Trump making claims of fake news and journalists being enemies of the people even as the Washington Posts Fact Checker has documented him making more than 16,400 false and misleading statements.

The continuing threat to our democracy is very real. Major internet companies claim to have put in safeguards. But as Ann Ravel, a former Obama-appointed member of the Federal Election Commission recently wrote on CNN.com, political actors are manipulating stories and spreading false information online in efforts to influence voters. She suggested the self-regulatory efforts on political transparency by Facebook, Twitter and Google are full of holes. Facebook recently announced that it had identified and taken down four state-backed disinformation campaigns that originated in Iran and Russia.

FBI Director Christopher Wray  a Trump appointee  has warned that the foreign meddling in the 2018 midterms was merely a dress rehearsal for 2020.

But foreign interference is just part of the challenge.

Some American political operatives betray no obligation to tell the truth or even subject their spin to the validation of mainstream media. As Steve Bannon, a former head of conservative Breitbart News who became a chief strategist for Trump, put it so tellingly in 2018, The Democrats dont matter. The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with s.

Consider it flooded. The alternate reality presented to Americans was evident again last week when cable networks CNN and MSNBC offered viewers gavel-to-gavel coverage of the House managers impeachment arguments hour after hour while Fox News often relegated to those scenes in a muted video box on the screen with its Trump-apologist commentators riffing ridicule about the proceedings.

The challenge for this society is to educate future generations to distinguish between propaganda and truth. The News Literacy Project is on the case, and The Chronicle recently hosted one of its news boot camps for teachers in the Bay Area. The educators were briefed on everything from verification of photo and video images to identifying and understanding news media bias.

The Literacy Project aims to prepare 20,000 teachers to help 3 million students become critical news consumers, according to Mike Webb, its senior vice president of communications.

Dan Schnur, a veteran political strategist and USC professor, has characterized modern media consumption as the iPodization of politics. People increasingly tend to tune into political commentary, as they do with music, to hear what they want to hear  neglecting discordant sounds. The danger to our democracy is that it leaves too many impervious to facts and resistant to reality or new ideas.

Its no wonder our nation is so hopelessly polarized with so many Americans stuck in zones that are flooded with, well, propaganda.

Sources matter. Facts matter. Truth matters.

News literacy has become an essential challenge for our democracy.

John Diaz is The San Francisco Chronicles editorial page editor. Email: jdiaz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnDiazChron
Blue Moon was the place to be last weekend, as the country venue brought in the live music stylings of Kin Faux Band.

READ MORE: Laredo celebrates menudo with 25th annual Menudo Bowl at L.I.F.E. Downs

The group, which hails out of San Antonio, is well known for their high energy brand of Texas Country.

Kin Faux got the venue dancing, with many of the visitors to the bar getting up out of their seats and on the dance floor once the music started up.

The group was highly requested by the Blue Moon faithful.

READ MORE: Main Event Laredo announces opening date, scavenger hunt

Click through the gallery to see scenes from Kin Faux Band's visit to Blue Moon.
Donald Trump's lawyers prepared to deliver his first full-throated defense Saturday in the Senate's historic impeachment trial, after Democratic prosecutors spent three days making their case for the US president's removal from office. Capping 24 total hours of arguments, Democrats told the 100 senators that Trump abused the power of the presidency in pressuring Ukraine to launch investigations that would help him politically, and then sought to block efforts by Congress to investigate. Democrats said they had met that burden of proof, as lead House impeachment manager Adam Schiff warned that Trump would remain an "imminent threat" to American democracy if he stays in power. "This is Trump first, not America first," congressman Schiff told the chamber. "I ask you, I implore you," he added, addressing Republicans who hold the power to allow witnesses to testify, against Trump's wishes. "Give America a fair trial," Schiff said. "She's worth it." Trump has signalled he remains in tight control of his party, with many Senate Republicans expressing public support for the president despite a vigorous, comprehensive case outlining his misconduct. "I don't believe anything they've said so far is impeachable," Senator Rick Scott told reporters. "I'm looking forward to the White House tomorrow starting to set the record straight, because this has just been partisan." Trump's team begin their defense at 10:00 am (1500 GMT) Saturday, a timeslot which Trump, a former reality television star, referred to in a tweet as "Death Valley in T.V." His side's arguments will continue Monday and Tuesday, before the chamber turns to questioning and then votes on whether to hear from witnesses, something Democrats have sought from the start. Trump's defense will be "much more concise" and "easier to understand" than the prosecution arguments, Republican Senator Mike Braun told Fox News. Democrats argued that Trump's refusal to allow top officials to testify and to supply subpoenaed documents to the Ukraine investigation supported the second charge against him, obstruction of Congress. Trump blocked the executive branch from responding to 71 specific requests for documents, including five subpoenas, related to his pressure on Kiev to help his 2020 reelection effort, Democratic impeachment manager Val Demings told senators. Trump also prevented 12 current and former administration officials, most of them subpoenaed, from testifying to the investigation, she said. "President Trump's obstruction of the impeachment inquiry was categorical, indiscriminate and historically unprecedented," Demings said. - 'Absolute power corrupts' - She said Congress could not afford to allow Trump to reject its powers in such a wholesale manner. "Executive power without any sort of restraint, without oversight, and without any checks and balances, is absolute power," she told the Senate hearing. "And we know what has been said about absolute power. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely." On Twitter, Trump dismissed the entire process. "The Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats have gone crazy," he tweeted. "They know it's a con, but just can't sell it! Public strongly against Impeachment." Americans appear about evenly split on whether Trump should be impeached and removed. Several polls show a healthy majority want the Senate to subpoena key witnesses for Trump's trial. - Fight over subpoenas - Closure of the Democrats' opening arguments paves the way for Trump's team to urge acquittal in only the third ever impeachment trial of a US president. Trump's clearance is virtually assured: Senate Republicans hold a 53-47 majority, and a vote by 67 senators is required for conviction and removal. Democrats were hoping however to woo some Republicans to embrace their arguments that the Senate should subpoena four current and former White House officials with direct knowledge of Trump's Ukraine machinations. There were hints that at least two or three Republicans were considering supporting the subpoenas, though none had committed. But without four crossovers, analysts were predicting that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a key Trump defender, would be able to bring the trial to a vote on the charges by late next week, and see Trump soon exculpated on a party-line vote. - 'Rebut and refute'- If Democrats gain support for subpoenas, Republican leaders threatened to demand their own witnesses and call Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden and his son Hunter to testify, because their connections to Ukraine had been at the heart of Trump's scheme to tarnish his election rivals. Trump and McConnell also suggested the president would claim executive privilege to reject the subpoenas, which would lead to court challenges and ensure that the trial could go on for weeks more. Neither party relishes that thought as the battle ahead of November elections intensifies. The prosecution showed senators scores of videos, internal documents and extensive witness testimony to lay out their case that Trump abused his powers. Before a national television audience, Democrats detailed how Trump flagrantly undertook last year to force Kiev to help him tarnish Biden. Trump defense lawyer Jay Sekulow said they would open their reply by putting on an "affirmative case" that would "rebut and refute" those arguments. House Managers Adam Schiff (C) and Jerry Nadler (R) speak to reporters on the fourth day of the Senate impeachment trial on January 24 The prosecution team detailed how President Donald Trump undertook to force Kiev to help him tarnish his possible 2020 reelection rival, former vice president Joe Biden US President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Jay Sekulow speaks to the press during a recess in the impeachment trial on January 24 Members of the Democratic prosecution and Trump's defense teams in the impeachment trial in the US Senate.
At least 31 killed and thousands displaced by heavy rains and flooding in southern African island nation, officials say.

At least 31 people have died in Madagascar after a week of heavy rains in the countrys northwest, officials said.

At least 15 people remained missing on the popular tourist island, according to the countrys national disaster management office, as flooding intensified in the districts of Mitsinjo and Maevatanana.

The tropical Indian Ocean nation is in the midst of an intense six-month rainy season that often results in casualties and widespread damage.

Strips of road were swept away by the rains and access to affected areas has been cut off.

Torrential rains also made important roads impassable, while a dam near the town of Tanambe burst, flooding surrounding villages and farmland.

National disaster

The National Bureau of Disaster Risk Management (BNGRC) warned that flooding in lowland and rice-growing areas also posed a risk of food insecurity and malnutrition.

A disruption in the supply of basic goods could also lead to a surge in prices, BNGRC added.

The bad weather has displaced nearly 107,000 people, with Prime Minister Christian Ntsay declaring the situation a national disaster.

The government is calling on national figures and international partners to help the Malagasy people with emergency aid, early recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction, spokeswoman Lalatiana Andriatongarivo said in a statement.

The rainy season usually stretches from October to April in the former French colony off Africas southeastern coast.

Global warming has increased the risk and intensity of flooding, as the atmosphere holds more water and rainfall patterns are disrupted.

Built-up urban areas with poor drainage systems are especially vulnerable to heavy downpours, scientists say.
ROCKFORD, MI  The Rockford Chamber of Commerce is defending a business accolade given to a major Michigan polluter in the face of public backlash and criticism from the victims of drinking water contamination caused by the company that the chamber just honored.

The chamber came under fire this week for naming Wolverine World Wide  a global footwear giant responsible for widespread fluorochemical pollution in northern Kent County  as recipient of its 2019 Business of the Year award on Jan. 17.

Belmont residents whose drinking water has been poisoned by PFAS chemicals Wolverine used at its former leather tannery have expressed outrage at the award.

Chamber officials are framing the response as a misunderstanding and now say the award was meant to specifically honor Wolverines local retail store, not the broader company.

In a photo posted on social media by the chamber and Wolverines social media accounts, the award is made out to Rockford Footwear Depot/WWW.

Thank you to @RockfordMiCC for honoring WWW + our Rockford Footwear Depot with the 2019 Business of the Year Award! Were grateful to our employees for the positive impact they made in our hometown, especially through our Super Mega Warehouse Sale, which raised $771k for @HWMUW. pic.twitter.com/rzYMXWkzHX  Wolverine Worldwide (@WolverineWW) January 21, 2020

The depot is located in part of Wolverines former leather tannery, which operated from 1908 to 2009 on the banks of the Rogue River in Rockford. All but one building, which is now the shoe store, was demolished with minimal environmental testing in 2010.

We understand that Rockford Footwear Depot is an arm of Wolverine, said chamber director Linda Southwick. But the award went to the Rockford Footwear Depot.

Belmont residents with unsafe drinking water say theyre not convinced by the hair-splitting.

To say its only for the shoe store is a diversion tactic, said Sandy Wynn-Stelt, who lives across the street from Wolverines House Street dump. Nobody goes into the shoe depot and doesnt think of it as Wolverines. They have a Wolverine Worldwide sign out front.

Money spent at the store goes to Wolverine, she noted. Nice try.

Southwick said the chamber has been bombarded with criticism about the award. Social media users have taken the chamber to task for celebrating a company responsible for contaminating the groundwater in a 25 square-mile-area for decades.

Wolverines pollution  discovered in 2017 thanks to the efforts of a dogged Rockford citizen group that overcame significant pushback from company, city and chamber officials  is the most severe example of PFAS contamination in Michigan.

The chamber issued a press release on Friday afternoon, in which it stated it recognizes the severity of this issue and is certainly not blind to its effect.

The chamber says the award was meant to recognize volunteering by Footwear Depot employees and the stores support for local charities, civic causes and events. Wolverines store was selected by a popular vote among the 400-some chamber members.

Southwick defended Wolverine, saying that its dumping of waste containing 3M Scotchgard wasnt done maliciously and the company and regulators are responding in a responsible way.

Wolverine is currently finishing excavations at its former tannery that were ordered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last year. The company is also capping several areas of its House Street dump under EPA oversight. In December, the company agreed to pay $69.5 million to extend Plainfield Township water mains to contaminated neighborhoods after a contentious two-year negotiation process with state and township officials.

Wynn-Stelt, whose husband Joel died in 2016 of liver cancer that she believes was caused by drinking highly-contaminated groundwater, says the chamber should have known that awarding Wolverine, or its store, Business of the Year under the present circumstances was disrespectful to the people in Belmont whose drinking water has been poisoned.

I dont doubt those employees are good volunteers and are probably deserving of an award, she said. But I think its short-sighted of the chamber to not be able to see two steps down the road and realize how this is going to appear to the people of Belmont.

This is what happens when youre beholden to a company, Wynn-Stelt said. Its very obvious who runs that town."

READ MORE:

When the biggest company in town poison the water

How citizen sleuths cracked the Wolverine tannery pollution case

Wolverine shoes still coated in PFAS, product testing shows

Details murky about major piece of $69.5M Wolverine water deal
Donald Otto Baker, 98 years plus 11 months old, passed away Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020, at his farm home in New Haven Township, Olmsted County.

Donald was the oldest son of Otto and Elizabeth (Teske) Baker, born on Feb. 23, 1921, at Saint Marys Hospital in Rochester. He attended country school in New Haven Township while helping on the family farm. He married his childhood sweetheart, Katherine "Kate" Ida Burdick, on April 17, 1942.

Donald was a World War II Veteran. He entered the Army Air Force through the draft in October 1942. Basic Training took place in Texas and then again in Missouri when the Army and Air Force split. After basic training, he traveled to North Carolina and New York, where Kate joined him. He joined the Army Medical Corps as Sgt. Baker and received orders to join the war front. He was deployed to Naples, Italy, marching to the troop ship on Dec. 24, 1944. While serving as a medic in the 10th Mountain Division, he received a citation and a bronze star for this unselfish service.

Donald was a kind and gentle man who served his community as well as his country. He served on the New Haven Town Board from 1955 to 1973, often taking his turn as chairman. He was a life member of the Pine Island Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) in Oronoco. He was serving as Commander of the VFW Post 9647 at the time of his death. Donald especially enjoyed talking to Mr. Dickie's Pine Island Middle School class about his World War II experiences. Donald was always willing to share his time, talent and resources with any friend, neighbor or stranger who was in need.

Donald was a full time dairy and crop farmer who also had employment off the farm. He worked for Luke Implement in Pine Island from 1963 to 1973 and Mayo Clinic from 1975 to 1986.

Preceding Donald in death were his parents; beloved wife, Kate, who passed away in 2012; sons-in-law, Caryl Carney, Donald Atkinson and David Stoddard; and sister-in-law, Nora Baker.

He will be remembered as the best dad and granddad ever. He was loved by many and will be missed by all.

Donald is survived by his daughters, Betsy Carney and Mary Stoddard; grandchildren, Christopher Carney, David Carney, JoLeen (Arick) Hammon, and Jennifer (Jeremy) Posey; 10 great-grandchildren and 10 great-great-grandchildren. Also surviving Donald is his brother, Raymond Baker of Pine Island.

Arrangements are being provided by Mahn Family Funeral Homes, Box 117, Pine Island, MN 55963.

Services will be 11 a.m. Wednesday Jan. 29 at Saint Paul Lutheran Church, 214 Third St. SW, Pine Island. Visitation will take place from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28 at Mahn Family Funeral Homes, 209 First Ave. NW, Pine Island and one hour prior to the service Wednesday at the church.

Burial will be in Pine Island Cemetery.

Blessed be his memory.
WASHINGTON  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lashed out in anger Saturday at an NPR reporter who accused him of shouting expletives at her after she asked him in an interview about Ukraine. In a direct and personal attack, Americas chief diplomat said the journalist had lied to him and he called her conduct shameful.

NPR said it stood by Mary Louise Kellys reporting.

Pompeo claimed in a statement that the incident was another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Donald Trump and his administration. Pompeo, a former CIA director and Republican congressman from Kansas who is one of Trumps closest allies in the Cabinet, asserted, It is no wonder that the American people distrust many in the media when they so consistently demonstrate their agenda and their absence of integrity.

It is extraordinary for a secretary of state to make such a personal attack on a journalist, but he is following the lead of Trump, who has repeatedly derided what he calls fake news and ridiculed individual reporters. In one of the more memorable instances, Trump mocked a New York Times reporter with a physical disability.

In Fridays interview, Pompeo responded testily when Kelly asked him about Ukraine and specifically whether he defended or should have defended Marie Yovanovitch, the U.S. ambassador in Kyiv whose ouster figured in Trumps impeachment.

I have defended every State Department official, he said. Weve built a great team. The team that works here is doing amazing work around the world  Ive defended every single person on this team. Ive done whats right for every single person on this team.

This has been a sensitive point for Pompeo. As a Trump loyalist, he has been publicly silent as the president and his allies have disparaged the nonpartisan career diplomats, including Yovanovitch, who have testified in the impeachment hearings. Those diplomats told Congress that Trump risked undermining Ukraine, a critical U.S. ally, by pressuring for an investigation of Democrat Joe Biden, a Trump political rival.

Yovanovitch, who was seen by Trump allies as a roadblock to those efforts, was told in May to leave Ukraine and return to Washington immediately for her own safety. After documents released this month from an associate of Trumps personal attorney suggested she was being watched and possibly under threat, Pompeo took three days to address the matter and did so only after coming under harsh criticism from lawmakers and current and former diplomats.

Pompeo was rebuked Saturday by four Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who said his insulting and contemptuous comments were beneath the office of the secretary of state.

Instead of calling journalists liars and insulting their intelligence when they ask you hard questions you would rather not answer, your oath of office places on you a duty and obligation to engage respectfully and transparently, the letter to Pompeo said. It was signed by Sens. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the committee, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Cory Booker of New Jersey.

After the NPR interview, Kelly said she was taken to Pompeos private living room, where he shouted at her for about the same amount of time as the interview itself, using the F-word repeatedly. She said he was not happy to have been questioned about Ukraine.

Pompeo, in his statement, did not deny shouting at Kelly and did not apologize. Instead, he accused her of lying to him when setting up the interview, which he apparently expected would be limited to questions about Iran, and for supposedly agreeing not to discuss the post-interview meeting.

Kelly said Pompeo asked whether she thought Americans cared about Ukraine and if she could find the country on a map.

I said yes, and he called out for aides to bring us a map of the world with no writing, she said in discussing the encounter on All Things Considered. I pointed to Ukraine. He put the map away. He said, people will hear about this.'

Pompeo ended Saturdays statement by saying, It is worth nothing that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine.

Nancy Barnes, NPRs senior vice president of news, said in a statement that Kelly has always conducted herself with the utmost integrity, and we stand behind this report.
The Pentagon disclosed Friday that 34 US service members had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury following Irans missile strikes on an Iraqi base earlier this month, a number higher than the military had previously announced. The revelation belies US President Donald Trumps initial claim that no Americans were harmed in the attack.

Eight of the 34 injured arrived in the US on Friday from Germany, where they and nine others had been flown days after the January 8 missile strike on Iraq's Ain al-Asad air base. The nine still in Germany are receiving treatment and evaluation at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest US military hospital outside the continental United States.

Jonathan Hoffman, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said the eight in the US will be treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, or at their home bases. The exact nature of their injuries and their service and unit affiliations were not disclosed.

Trump and other top officials initially said Iran's retaliatory strikes for the January 3 killing of Irans Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani had not killed or injured any US service members.

The military said symptoms of concussion or traumatic brain injury were not immediately reported after the strike and in some cases became known only days later. Many were in bunkers before nearly a dozen Iranian ballistic missiles exploded.

Trump: 'I heard they had headaches'

Last week, US military officials said 11 troops had been treated and transferred out of Iraq for concussion symptoms after the attack on the Ain al-Asad base.

Responding to the disclosure while he was in Davos Wednesday, Trump appeared to dismiss the injuries.

I heard they had headaches, said Trump at a news conference. I dont consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries I have seen.

Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat and his partys ranking member on the Armed Services Committee (and who served as an officer in the 82nd Airborne Division), called on Trump to apologise.

Story continues

TBI is a serious matter, said Reed in a statement, referring to Traumatic Brain Injury. It is not a headache', and its plain wrong for President Trump to diminish their wounds. He may not have meant to disrespect them, but President Trumps comments were an insult to our troops. He owes them an apology.



TBI has become a larger concern for the military in recent years as medical science improves its understanding of its causes and effects on brain function. It can involve varying degrees of impairment of thinking, memory, vision, hearing and other functions. The severity and duration of the injury can vary widely.

Renewed questions of US military policy on brain injuries

The question of US casualties took on added importance at the time of the Iranian strike because the degree of damage was seen as influencing a US decision on whether to counterattack and risk a broader war with Iran. Trump chose not to retaliate, and the Iranians then indicated their strike was sufficient for the time being.

Pentagon officials have said there had been no effort to minimise or delay information on concussive injuries, but its handling of the injuries following Tehran's attack has renewed questions over the US military's policy regarding how it deals with suspected brain injuries.

While the US military has to immediately report incidents threatening life, limb or eyesight, it does not have an urgent requirement to do so with suspected TBI, which can take time to manifest and diagnose.

Hoffman said US Defense Secretary Mark Esper had directed the Pentagon to review the process for tracking and reporting injuries.

"The goal is to be as transparent, accurate and to provide the American people and our service members with the best information," Hoffman said.

Various health and medical groups for years have been trying to raise awareness about the seriousness of brain injuries, including concussions.

According to Pentagon data, about 408,000 service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury since 2000.

(FRANCE 24 with AP and REUTERS)
New Delhi :

Hours after Delhi Police lodged an FIR against Kapil Mishra  the BJP candidate from Model Town seat for Delhi assembly polls, Twitter deleted his post where he referred upcoming Assembly elections in Delhi as contest between India and Pakistan. On request of Delhi Chief Electoral Officer's office and as directed by Election Commission of India, Twitter has deleted Posts of BJP leader Kapil Mishra, reported ANI.

Earlier on Friday, Delhi Police lodged an FIR against Kapil Mishra. The FIR was filed after Delhi Chief Election Officer (CEO) Ranbir Singh wrote to police asking to register the case under the Representation of Peoples Act.

The FIR has been lodged at the Model Town Police Station under Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, sources said.

The poll body had earlier asked Twitter to remove the post, terming it as a "highly objectionable" comment that "appeals to communal feelings". The EC had also said that Twitter should intimate it about the action taken.

Kapil Mishra, who was a minister in the outgoing Arvind Kejriwal government before a bitter falling out with Aam Aadmi Party leaders, had crossed over to the BJP and is the partys candidate from Model Town.

A show-cause notice was also issued to him by the poll authorities for "violation of the poll code".

In his explanation, Mishra claimed that Pakistans proxies were likely to be present at Shaheen Bagh- ground zero for protests against the amended citizenship law. He also claimed that he was only responding to AAPs Manish Sisodia in his tweet.

"Who is playing the Hindu-Muslim card? Manish Sisodia who says he is with Shaheen Bagh protesters? Priyanka Gandhi who supports those who burned vehicles at Turkman Gate in Delhi? Kejriwal who is distributing Rs 5 lakh to hooligans? Who are giving tickets to people like Amanatullah and Shoaib Iqbal, known for making provocative speeches?" Mishra said in his tweet posted in Hindi.
Appalling.

There is no other way to describe what happened to a 90-year-old woman at Shannondell. She was scammed out of $8,500 dollars by someone pretending to be from law enforcement.

She was asked for bail money for her grandson, who she was led to believe had been in a DUI-related accident.

Unable to drive, the woman gave the envelope of cash to someone impersonating a police officer.

This is an example of a scam  one that has been used elsewhere around the area recently  that has several slight variations and is not uncommon.

It is illegal, on many levels, and we can all hope the guilty party  or parties  eventually get the old book thrown at them.

There are, however, legal scams  or shams  that go on every day.

We are all victims, but we just dont call timeout long enough to catch our collective breath from the daily grind to realize it.

Here are four examples  a Mt. Everest, if you will  of the most egregious:

1) Printer Ink  So, you just bought a printer and some sales kid with gigantic earrings and a nose ring (ehat happens when they sneeze?) had you temporarily insane enough to believe you got a great deal.

Not quite.

Whatever you plunked down for the printer was merely a down payment on the tree-killing process that is print-o-mania.

The payments on it come in the form of continual, and seriously marked up, purchases on ink cartridges that always seem to run out all too quick (a good portion of the ink in them is used up before it even reaches the paper).

And, as we become increasingly reliant on computer printouts, as opposed to pen and paper, running out is inevitable. There is no such thing as universal ink that works in any type of printer, and no generic brands.

In order to function in modern society, the companies  like Arab sheiks setting the price on oil based on their whims  set the price to make a humongous profit off the dire need to replenish our ink.

Some say to join clubs where you get a slight markdown, or buying laser printers that are significantly more expensive.

These amount to ways to treat the symptoms without finding a cure.

After posting on Facebook that this might be one of the biggest rackets going, a friend who works behind the curtain in the computer business was quick to affirm my accusation.

He said: Im going to say that detention and separation of immigrant children at the border is the biggest racket, but this one is basically brazen theft. Its akin to (drug) pushers giving you your first hit for free.

2) Dog Licenses  This one is a bit like acid reflux, the way it keeps coming up.

Once a year, in November or December, I get a reminder that Rex needs to have his dog license renewed.

Man, what a stone-cold racket.

Its not like I dont already have my bases covered. Updated shots? Check.

Rabies shot? Check.

Microchipped? Rex is too lazy to run off, so no check mark needed.

What do I need this annual piece of paper for? Anyone? Anyone?

Into whose pockets does the fee go? Anyone? Anyone?

They need to have a record of my rescue dogs existence because  why, exactly?

Thing is, I cannot take him to doggy daycare, let alone board him when we go away, so I have no choice but to submit.

I recently mailed in my annual fee, and Im still waiting for e-mail confirmation. Certainly not coming as fast as the e-mail reminding me to pay it.

Perhaps Montgomery County Treasurer Jason Salus can provide some answers.

3) Prevagen  When they first created the term Snake Oil, I think they had this stuff in mind.

The makers of this supplement claim it comes from  jellyfish oils, and may improve memory (note the qualifier of may in there).

The ads say it is pharmacist recommended. By what pharmacist? Give me a name.

This one is personal. My mother wont relent about this stuff. She resides in an assisted living facility, and Ive gotten more calls about replenishing her supply from the staff (surely do to her nagging them) than when she has been seriously ill. Only time I ever heard from her doctor, other than when she was in the hospital, was when she had him call me (he couldnt prescribe it because it wasnt  a real medicine).

His basic point was that it is harmless so, if she wants it, get it.

Thanks, Doc.

Problem is this: At $2 per pill, with no hard proof it does anything, it is quite harmful  especially to those on fixed incomes.

And then there is this, the FTC and New York Attorney Generals office filed suit against the makers of Prevagen, Quincy Bioscience, LLC. The suit claims the company made false statements about their purported clinical evidence in their advertising.

Because it targets older people, claiming to help with mild memory loss due to aging, are they any worse than those who bilked the grandmother at Shannondell out of her money?

The only difference is that this is a slow bleed, as opposed to a one-shot deal.

4) Bottled Water  Surely you have gone into a restaurant and they ask you if want bottled water (at a price) or tap water?

Choose the tap water, please. If the waiter or waitress  with gigantic earrings and/or a nose ring (still want to know what happens when they sneeze)  sneers at you like you have no class, its their problem.

With the exception of a mere few cases, bottled water has proven to be a total sham. Its just tap water dressed up in a labeled bottle.

Considering that blind taste tests show that participants cannot tell the difference between bottled and tap water, it is like paying for a bottle of air to breathe  as opposed to just breathing it.

According to a 2017 article in Business Insider, we spend roughly $100 billion per year on bottled water (more than milk, beer and now soda).

Meanwhile, it is estimated than 90 percent of the plastic bottles are not recycled, adding to the environmental nightmare.

A 2009 documentary film Tapped  made to expose pollution in sea water  laid out the damning case against the scam of bottled water.

Said actor Ed Begley, Jr.: The film Tapped illustrates quite clearly how weve been getting soaked for years by the bottled water industry.

Appalling.
Epstein was found dead in his cell in August 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges

The warden in charge when Jeffrey Epstein died in his jail cell is getting a cushy new supervisor's job at 'Club Fed' despite Attorney General Bill Barr's demand that he be reassigned to a desk job.

Lamine N'Diaye is being reassigned to a leadership role at FCI Fort Dix, a low-security prison in Burlington County, New Jersey, two people familiar with the matter said.

The move comes months after Barr ordered N'Diaye be reassigned to a desk post at the Bureau of Prisons' regional office in Pennsylvania after Epsteins death as the FBI and the Justice Departments inspector general investigated.

One of the people said the agency planned to move NDiaye into the new role on February 2. The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss an internal personnel matter.

Lamine N'Diaye is being reassigned to a leadership role at FCI Fort Dix (above), a low-security prison in Burlington County, New Jersey

It was unclear why the agency was planning to return N'Diaye to a position supervising inmates and staff members, even though multiple investigations into Epsteins death remain active.

The inspector general's investigation is continuing, and the Justice Department is still probing the circumstances that led to Epsteins death, including why he wasnt given a cellmate.

Epstein died in August while awaiting trial on charges he sexually abused dozens of girls as young as 14 and young women in New York and Florida in the early 2000s.

Epstein's death cast a spotlight on the Bureau of Prisons and highlighted a series of safety lapses inside a high-security unit of one of the most secure jails in America.

His death was ruled a suicide by hanging by the New York City medical examiner, but his attorneys have contested that finding and argued he may have been killed.

Barr said even Epstein's ability to take his own life in federal custody had raised 'serious questions that must be answered.'

He said in an interview with the AP in November that the investigation revealed a 'series' of mistakes made that gave Epstein the chance to take his own life and that his death was the result of 'a perfect storm of screw-ups.'

Epstein died in August at MCC Manhattan (above) while awaiting trial on charges he sexually abused dozens of girls as young as 14 and young women in New York and Florida

His cell is seen above after his death. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging by the New York City medical examiner, but his attorneys have contested that finding

Two correctional officers responsible for watching Epstein have pleaded not guilty to charges alleging they lied on prison records to make it seem as though they had checked on Epstein, as required, before his death.

Instead, investigators say they appeared to sleep for two hours and had been browsing the internet - shopping for furniture and motorcycles - instead of watching Epstein, who was supposed to be checked on every 30 minutes.

The attorney general also removed the agencys acting director in the wake of Epstein's death and named Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, the prison agencys director from 1992 until 2003, to replace him.

Since Epsteins death and N'Diayes removal as warden, the Manhattan jail has had two interim leaders.

The newest warden, M. Licon-Vitale, used to oversee a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. Her first big order of business has been to deal with jailed lawyer Michael Avenatti's complaints about his treatment at the lockup.

The Bureau of Prisons has been plagued for years by chronic violence, extensive staffing shortages and serious misconduct.
Tiffany Scanlon has always been candid on her podcast Keep It Real with fellow Bachelor star Rachael Gouvignon.

And on Monday's episode, the 33-year-old revealed her heartache after having been rejected by a guy who she thought she had a 'deep' connection with on a date.

Naming him David, the blonde said she was ghosted for 'the rest of the week' and eventually told at a boat party that he's after 'something casual'.

'I felt a little more rejection': The Bachelor's Tiffany Scanlon, 33, revealed her heartache after a guy she had a 'deep' connection with on a date told her he was after 'something casual'

Tiffany began by telling Rachael, guest Katie and her listeners, how she went on a date with David last week.

David 'slid into' her direct messages on Instagram, and after she postponed a few dates, they eventually met.

'I thought the date was really good because the chats weren't just your surface level s**t,' Tiffany recalled. 'We were talking about mental health, ambitions and family.

'We got really deep, and we were there for a good couple of hours. And that to me is always a good sign. If the time flies and you're chatting, it's a good sign.'

Heartache: Naming him David, the blonde said she was ghosted for 'the rest of the week' after their great date, and was eventually told at a boat party that he's after 'something casual'

Tiffany went on to reveal how David ghosted her, and that she eventually gained the courage 'after a few drinks' to confront him at a boat party.

'[He] didn't message me all of the rest of the week,' she said. 'I knew I was going to see him at this boat party yesterday. So I see him on the boat, and he kind of comes and says hi, but doesn't really spend that much time talking to me.'

Tiffany said that she instantly 'noticed something was off' and decided to be direct.

Candid discussion: Tiffany concluded by saying that it was 'a bit of a downer' for her and that she 'just felt a little more rejection'

'After a few drinks, I finally got up the courage to go talk to him. I'm pretty direct. I said, "I thought I would hear from you after our date".

'He got into this spiel and eventually revealed to me that he doesn't think we're on the same page because he's just looking for something casual right now. And that he can tell that I am looking for something more serious.'

Tiffany concluded by saying that it was 'a bit of a downer' for her and that she 'just felt a little more rejection'.

Podcast: Tiffany spoke about her dating life on the latest episode of her Keep It Real with Rachael Gouvignon (pictured right) podcast, aired on Monday

The Perth-based media personality starred on Richie Strahan's 2016 season of The Bachelor.

While she failed to find love with the rope access technician, she did embark on a romance with co-star Megan Marx soon after.

It wasn't to be however, with the couple announcing their split the following year.
UTICA  Utica Police continue to ask the public for help solving a murder, more than two months after the crime was committed.

33-year-old Todd Rodgers of Utica was shot while inside of his vehicle on Miller Street on the night of November 22nd. He was later found on James Street and died at the hospital that night.

Police once again have made a plea to the public for information on the case, saying on Facebook that This violence cannot go unanswered and we must work together with the community to solve this crime.

Mohawk Valley Crime Stoppers has offered a $1,500 reward for information leading to an arrest.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Utica Police Department Major Crimes Unit at 315-360-6976, the Criminal Investigations Division at 315-223-3510, or submit information using Mohawk Valley Crime Stoppers Oneida County.
The Jersey City home where a newborn was found dead Saturday morning, with the umbilical cord still attached, was cited for multiple health and housing code violations last summer.

Hudson County Prosecutors Office members were in and out of 33 Suburbia Court Saturday morning at 6 a.m. after a woman was found with a lifeless newborn on the couch of the single-family home. It was initially reported that the incident occurred at 31 Suburbia Court.

The home, on a relatively quiet street on the southwest side of the city, was blocked by police tape.

The Hudson County Prosecutors Office did not provide any details, but police said in radio transmissions that there are needles all over the place, feces everywhere and maggots." Police also said in the radio transmissions that the umbilical cord was still attached to the baby.

The Jersey City Municipal Task Force inspected the property in June 2019 after neighbors complained about mosquitoes, rats and other on the property that had appeared abandoned.

Saturday morning a neighbor, who didnt want to be identified, said that the owner died last year and her son was living there. The neighbor, 61, also said that numerous people were constantly in and out of the home.

Last year, Jersey City Municipal Prosecutor Jake Hudnut, as head of the quality of life task force, cited William Kelly, 57, the son of the deceased owners of the home, for health code, housing code, buildings/construction, and sanitation for unsafe conditions and public nuisances.

In a phone interview Saturday afternoon, Kelly said he came home at 4:30 a.m. Saturday after found the woman, who he described as an acquaintance, in pain. Kelly said he eventually called police, who responded and found the lifeless newborn, he said.

Kelly did not address the condition of the home, or whether he called police before or after the woman gave birth. He said was calling from the prosecutors office on Duncan Avenue.

After the city inspections last June Kelly reached out to The Jersey Journal to complain about the city sending 40 people to the home. At the time he didnt claim any responsibility for the shape of the home, saying that the bank owned it.

Reached Saturday morning, Hudnut declined to comment.

The neighbor said a body was removed from the home last year. She was aware that the home was cited by the city and cleaned up, but she also said the city should have done more.

Police said in radio transmissions that there were two women in the home at the time, and one of them was taken into custody.
Find a job you love and youll never work a day in your life, its said. This line, however poignant, doesnt really hold true for many working professional. There are those people who hate having to wake up early each day to commute long hours to a job they dont really like. Add to that the monotonous workplace that leaves many yawning by lunch time desperately looking for a discreet place to nap. And what about days when one gets told off for a job badly done? Or having to work through the niggling pain in ones neck from spending too many hours on the laptop? Most office-goers face these daily struggles. But heres the thing. A solution is possible. If only all offices could include some unconventional amenities in the premises.

via GIPHY

Nap room

In some offices in Japan, lunchtime nap is a legit thing and its introduced to increase the productivity of employees. Known as hirune, the companies encourage employees to take a nap during work hours. Doesnt it sound like a good idea?

via GIPHY

Therapy dogs

There are many who feel dogs are instant stress busters. With a rise in work-related stress, employees who love dogs would enjoy some time to play with the four-legged creatures to relax a little. In fact, back in 2017, a company based out of Gurugram created quite a stir when they decided to bring in dogs for a stress-relieving session. And why just dogs? Animal lovers wouldnt mind playing with cats to relieve stress either.

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On-site massages

Imagine how wonderful it would be to get a massage during a tiresome office day? Sounds too good to be true? However, many offices around the world actually provide the facility of on-site massages. Often this perk can actually increase your productivity, say experts.

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Office swing

An indoor swing next to the work stations almost sounds like an office setting from a movie. There are, however, many companies  prominently Google  that have this option for their employees.

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Punching bag

Torn between deadlines and targets? Got a shouting from the boss? Didnt like the lunch you brought in? There are several such moments during the work day when one gets angry and frustrated. Isnt a punching bag an awesome idea to let off some steam and resume the work day on a better note?

via GIPHY

Do you want something to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.

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By Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude prices sank more than 2% on Friday and Brent logged its biggest weekly decline in more than a year as concerns that a coronavirus will spread farther in China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, curbing travel and oil demand. The virus that has killed 26 people and infected more than 800 has prompted the suspension of public transport in 10 Chinese cities, while cases of infection have been found in several other Asian countries, France and the United States.

By Laila Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude prices sank more than 2% on Friday and Brent logged its biggest weekly decline in more than a year as concerns that a coronavirus will spread farther in China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, curbing travel and oil demand.

The virus that has killed 26 people and infected more than 800 has prompted the suspension of public transport in 10 Chinese cities, while cases of infection have been found in several other Asian countries, France and the United States.

Brent crude settled at $60.69 a barrel, down $1.35, or 2.2%. The global benchmark fell 6.4% this week, its biggest weekly loss since Dec. 21, 2018.

U.S. crude futures ended at $54.19 a barrel, shedding $1.4, or 2.5% on Friday and clocking a 7.4% weekly decline, their largest since July 19.

"It all about the coronavirus all the time, and we're not getting signs that things are getting any better," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

Health authorities fear the infection rate could accelerate over the Lunar New Year holiday this weekend, when millions of Chinese travel.

Experience with previous outbreaks such as SARS in 2003 and MERS from 2012 suggests the economic impact of an epidemic is relatively small. However, hedge fund positioning in oil has become lopsided, with bullish positions outnumbering bearish ones, leaving the market vulnerable to any disappointing news about consumption, said John Kemp, a Reuters market analyst.

Money managers increased ICE Brent crude oil futures and options contracts by 2,828 contracts to 428,990 for the week to Jan. 21, a 15-month high, while the speculator group raised its combined U.S. crude futures and options positions by 6,811 contracts to 274,347 during the period.

The latest U.S. rig count data, an indication of future supply from the world's largest crude producer, did little to support oil prices as energy firms added oil rigs for a second consecutive week.

Also the U.S. government's latest supply report on Thursday showed gasoline stockpiles grew for an 11th consecutive week to a record high.

"It's difficult to get constructive (about) the oil market until we see more declines in world inventory," said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston.

Oil inventories in the wider industrialized world are above the five-year average, according to OPEC figures, which analysts say is limiting the impact of supply losses.

The prospect of further steps by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, could offer support going forward. OPEC+ has been mostly limiting supply since 2017 and on Jan. 1 deepened a cut in output.

(Additional reporting by Alex Lawler in London, Roslan Khasawneh and Koustav Samanta; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Cynthia Osterman)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
A single mother was crushed to death by machinery in a California raisin processing plant when a piece of her clothing became caught in the machinery and caused it her to strike her head.

She was believed to have been clearing debris from a machine used to break up bunches of raisins when it hit her.

Nearby co-workers immediately powered off the machine but she had suffered severe trauma to the head and died from her injuries.

Yaneth Valladares, 33, who died Friday in an industrial accident was a single mother of three

The accident happened in this Del Rey Packing Company processing plant in California

The tragic accident happened on Friday morning just after 11 am in a Del Rey Packing Company processing plant in Fresno County, California.

The woman was identified as 33-year-old Yaneth Lopez Valladares.

According to a GoFundMe started to help with her funeral expenses, Valladares was a single mother of three. The funding page says her family wish to send her to be buried with her mother outside the US.

'On January 24th, 2020 we received devastating news. Our beloved Yaneth Valladares was involved in a accident that took her life away,' it reads.

'She was a mother of three wonderful kids, who will no longer have the privilege to see her. She was a single mother trying to make a living for her kids.

'Unfortunately, this incident happened so fast and it took us by surprise. As a family we would like to send her to be buried with her mother outside the U.S.'

Fresno County Sheriff's Office responded to the 911 call just after 11 am on Friday

Employees standing feet away from Valladares noticed her distress and called 911 but she was not breathing when first responders arrived.

'We learned that a woman, 33-years old was working, processing some raisins with a couple of coworkers,' Fresno County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer, Tony Botti, told Boston25 News.

'Those workers later noticed that she got caught in a machine it appears that she maybe had some loose clothing that got caught on a piece of equipment, and that caused her to get stuck, and ultimately the trauma took her life.

'There's heavy equipment. It's a dangerous occupation so in a split second something can take a turn for the worst.'

Valladares was working for farm labor contractor named Blessed Harvest and clearing off a Stem Grading Line machine when the accident happened.

It is thought to have been her second season working in the plant.

The coroner and the California Department of Occupational Safety and Health were called in to investigate. An autopsy will be a carried out to determined Valladares' exact cause of death.

The investigation will also find out whether employees at the plant had been taught how to use the machinery correctly or if the plant had any violations.

Single mother Yaneth Valladares was crushed to death by machinery in raisin processing plant

The owner of the processing plant was initially too shaken up by the accident to comment but police said he arrived immediately at the scene and was cooperating with the investigation.

The owner later commented that his heart went out to the family and friends of Valladares.

'This is obviously a very traumatic situation with the owner for the employees to see one of your colleagues lose their life so suddenly in a job that they do on a regular basis and maybe take for granted,' Botti said.

'We're fortunate to have a chaplaincy unit here staff to send people out to consult people give them whatever they need in these difficult times.'

ABC reports that the processing plant was shocked by the accident with other workers leaving in tears. The Fresno County Sheriff's Office Chaplaincy unit was made available for those impacted.

'We are in deep sorrow,' Del Rey Packing Co. President Gerald Chooljian said in a statement.

The Department of Occupational Safety and Health warned it may take several months for them to complete their investigation.

In a statement they said: 'An employee working for a farm labor contractor named Blessed Harvest was working on a Stem Grading Line when their clothing got caught on a shaft to a cylinder that breaks up raisin bunches, causing the employee to strike their head.'
- The news of Bobrisky has set social media buzzing with mixed reactions

- While a few have commended the police on the arrest, others believe it is a misplaced priority on the part of the police

- According to some people, there are more pressing issues facing the country than Bobrisky lifestyle choices

Earlier on, Legit.ng reported the news of how Nigerian cross dresser and rumoured gay man, Idris Okuneye popularly known as Bobrisky, was picked up from his Lekki home by officers of the law and whisked away to an unknown destination.

Unconfirmed reports suggest his arrest is in connection with his cross dressing life style and this appears to have angered several Nigerians on social media.

While some maintained that Bobrisky's arrest is justified as he has influenced others to follow in his footsteps, others kicked against it as they slammed the Nigerian Police Force for what they believe is abuse of Bobirsky's fundamental human right, stating that cross dressing is not a crime in Nigeria.

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This is not his first dance with law enforcement officers.

Recall a while back on his birthday, social media was thrown into a turmoil after news broke that men of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), had been stationed at the venue of the event and prevented Bob's party from going on.

Although unconfirmed at the time, several posts by Bobrisky on popular social media platform, Snapchat, confirmed that he truly could not proceed with his celebration.

Meanwhile, though many people are known to cheat in their marriages, very few are often brazen enough to pull through with a deceptive scheme such as secretly wedding one woman while still legally married to another.

This appeared to be the case of a Nigerian man who recently had his traditional wedding to a second wife. Facebook use, Awele Ejiofor who revealed she is friends with him and his first wife, broke the news on Facebook.

Bobrisky's Birthday: Nigerians condemn Police over disruption at party venue | Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
A Malaysian health officer hands leaflets to arriving passengers at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang district in the state of Selangor, Jan. 21, 2020.

Malaysian health officials announced four confirmed coronavirus infections on Saturday, becoming the fourth Southeast Asian country where the virus has emerged.

Early Saturday, Malaysian Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad confirmed that three Chinese nationals  a 65-year-old woman and her two young grandsons  were infected and had been admitted to Sungai Buloh hospital in Kuala Lumpur for treatment. He identified the woman as the wife of the man detected with the virus in Singapore on Thursday.

Hours later, Noor Hisham Abdullah, director-general of Malaysias health department, announced a fourth confirmed infection.

This case is not related to the three positive cases that were reported earlier today (Saturday), he said in a post on the health departments official Facebook page.

Cases of the coronavirus have also been reported in Vietnam, and Thailand confirmed a fifth infection on Friday.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said his government had no plans to block Chinese tourists from entering Malaysia.

No stopping them, Mahathir told reporters on Saturday, referring to Chinese tourists.

We will check them, he said. By checking, it would enable us to detect [the presence of the virus] at early stage.

China has confirmed more than 1,300 cases of the virus and at least 41 deaths, reports say. It has blocked an unprecedented 36 million people from travelling, as the Asian country and the Chinese diaspora mark Lunar New Year, typically the most festive holiday of the year.

Australia confirmed four cases on its soil on Saturday, bringing to at least 11 the total number of countries outside China to be touched by the previously unknown strain of coronavirus first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Five others tested negative

In Malaysia, five others who were traveling with the grandmother tested negative for the virus, the Malaysian health minister said.

Right now we have the grandmother and the two young kids in an isolation and observation ward, Dzulkefly told a news conference. The mother of the children requested to stay with the kids and were allowing her to.

Noor, the Malaysian health departments director-general, said Malaysias fourth confirmed case involved a 40-year-old man from Wuhan in Chinas Hubei province. He said the man arrived with his wife and child by bus from Singapore in Johor Bahru, capital of the state of Johor, on Jan. 22.

As of Saturday, the man was reported to be suffering from fever and coughing but in a stable condition while undergoing treatment at a government-funded hospital, Noor said.

Johor health officials had also located all 17 Chinese tourists who were in the same bus and screening results showed that they did not have fever and there was no symptoms of infection, Noor said. The visitors had been placed under isolation at a health facility, he said, without elaborating.

There was no confirmed case of the coronavirus in the Philippines as of Saturday. A 5-year-old Chinese boy recently tested negative for the virus, while health officials said they were monitoring a 36-year-old man from the central city of Tacloban.
New Delhi:

At least three terrorists, including self-styled Jaish-e-Mohammeds Kashmir chief Qari Yasir, were gunned down, while one jawan was injured in an encounter between security forces and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Tral on Saturday. The injured jawan was rushed to a nearby Army hospital.

The three Jaish terrorists were trapped at the site in the encounter. Another terrorist is suspected to be Burhan Sheikh, who was being trained to be a fidayeen.

Qari Yasir was a Pakistan-based terrorist. He was behind the killing of two members of the nomadic Gujjar community from a forested area in Pulwama district in August in 2019.

Abdul Qadeer Kohli of Rajauri district and Manzoor Ahmed of Khonmoh area of Srinagar were abducted by JeM terrorists from 'Dhok', a temporary shelter, from the forested area of Tral in Pulwama district on August 26 last year.

Later, bullet-riddled bodies of Kohli and Ahmed were recovered by a search and rescue party. Qari Yasir was the main mastermind behind this whole operation.

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A case has been registered against JNU student Sharjeel Imam in Aligarh for his controversial speech delivered during the students protest at Aligarh Muslim University on 16 January against CAA and NRC

Aligarh: A case has been registered against JNU student Sharjeel Imam in Aligarh for his controversial speech delivered during the students protest at Aligarh Muslim University on 16 January against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens (NRC), the police said on Saturday.

"We have registered a case against Sharjeel Imam on the basis of a video in which he is making anti-national statements at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students protest on 16 January," Aligarh Senior Superintendent of Police Akash Kulhari said.

The SSP said that a police team is being sent to arrest Imam.

In a separate development, Assam Police too on Saturday registered an FIR against Imam for one of his speeches at Shaheen Bagh in which he is allegedly inciting people to "cut off" Assam from the rest of India.

"An FIR has been lodged against Sharjeel Imam for his speech and inter alia commission of offence under Sections 13 (1) and 18 of the UA (P) ACT read with Section 153A, 153B, and 124A of Indian Penal Code at Guwahati Crime Branch Police Station," said GP Singh, Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, at a press conference in Guwahati.

A series of videos have gone viral on social media in which Imam, the chief co-ordinator of Shaheen Bagh protest, is heard saying: "If we all come together, then we can separate the Northeast from India. If we cannot do it permanently, then at least for 1-2 months we can do this."

"It is our responsibility to cut Assam from India. When this happens, only then the government will listen to us," he is heard saying further in the video. (ANI)
Delhi BJP candidate Kapil Mishra on Saturday claimed that the AAP and Congress are losing their ground in the national capital. According to him, since they are losing, they want to fight it in police stations, courts and on paper. His statements come after the Chief Electoral Officer asked the Delhi police to file an FIR against Mishra over his controversial tweet.

Speaking to ANI, he further alleged, "The AAP is supporting rioters because they have not worked in the last five years. No buses, flyovers, clean drinking water, or schools were provided by the AAP government. There has been no reduction in pollution in Delhi. So they made Shaheen Bagh just before the polls as both Congress and AAP are doing vote bank politics."

Kapil Mishra, the former Law Minister in Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's cabinet, was given a ticket by BJP to contest the election from the Model Town Assembly constituency.

FIR filed against Mishra

The BJP candidate had posted an extremely controversial tweet, claiming the February 8 Delhi Assembly election as a fight between 'India and Pakistan' on the streets of Delhi. Immediately after, the Election Commission of India had directed Twitter to delete his tweet and asked the Delhi police to file an FIR against him.

Read: 'Concerned citizens will judge leaders by what they say': Kapil Sibal slams Vijayvargiya

BJP leader Kapil Mishra, on 23rd January, had tweeted '...On 8th February there will be a contest between India and Pakistan on the streets of Delhi.' #DelhiElections2020 https://t.co/RII7su01pn pic.twitter.com/s9eztEUMXG  ANI (@ANI) January 24, 2020

Speaking about it, unapologetic Mishra said, "The FIR registered against me is unnecessary as those who are rioters, those who made hate speeches and pelt stones are roaming free." He added, "Can anybody tell what wrong I have said? What I have said is true and it is the voice of the people of Delhi. It is not my problem if AAP and Congress can't digest it."

Read: 'Mega publicity event' of ministerial visits to J&K a 'flop show': Congress

Delhi Assembly elections

The Election Commission of India announced that Delhi would go to the polls on February 8. The results will be declared on February 11. In the previous election, AAP had won a resounding majority bagging 67 out of 70 seats as against BJP who could win only from three constituencies. So far, neither BJP nor AAP has named its Chief Ministerial candidate despite declaring the candidates for all 70 seats.

Read: Amit Shah lists 'failures' of the AAP govt; says 'Delhi is unsafe in their hands'

Read: BJP 'irritated' people of Delhi by raking up CAA, NRC during poll campaign: AAP leader Gopal Rai
President Donald Trump is flanked by National Security Advisor John Bolton as he speaks in Washington in 2018. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Trump on Yovanovitch Firing, Alleged Recording: I Wouldnt Have Been Saying That

President Donald Trump responded to an ABC News report claiming that he had told a group that he wanted former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch removed from office.

Get rid of her, Trump allegedly said in a conversation. Get her out tomorrow. I dont care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. OK? Do it. The report claimed he made the comment to lawyer Rudy Giulianis business associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who were both indicted in New York.

When he was asked about the alleged recording and the context by Fox News, Trump said that he wouldnt have made the statement.

Well, I wouldnt have been saying that, Trump told Fox. I probably would have said if it was Rudy there or somebody. But I make no bones about it. I wont have ambassadors, I have every right. I want ambassadors that are chosen by me.

Trump also pushed back against an allegation that he relied on Parnas to oust Yovanovitch. Trump has stated often that he does not know either Parnas or Fruman.

No, no, but I have a lot of people and hes somebody that I guess, based on pictures that I see, goes to fundraisers, Trump said of Parnas. But I am not a fan of that ambassador.

White House counsel Kellyanne Conway said Trump and any other president has the right to hire and fire any ambassador or staff member.

Trump can have whichever staff to serve at his pleasure as an ambassador or staffer, Conway told reporters. How that  is a high crime or misdemeanor or impeachable offense coming eight months before the next election is a puzzle to me, she said.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch is sworn in prior to providing testimony before the House Intelligence Committee in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Nov. 15, 2019. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham echoed her comment and defended Trumps move to remove Yovanovitch.

Every president in our history has had the right to place people who support his agenda and his policies within his administration, Grisham said in a statement.

ABC News claimed the recording was made by Fruman, but it didnt say how it obtained the tape or how it knows who might have made it. It added that it was handed over to federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

In February 2019, Yovanovitch was formally recalled while Parnas and Fruman were arrested in October of last year. They were charged with making illegal campaign contributions. Both have pleaded not guilty on the charges.

Yovanovitch, meanwhile, offered public testimony during the impeachment inquiry in November 2019 and alleged there was a pressure and smear campaign against her.
January 15, 2020 Katie Cullen , 907-443-6116

The National Park Service invites the public to comment on proposed changes for park compendiums in Alaska through February 15, 2020. A compendium  one for each NPS area in Alaska  is a compilation of designations, closures and restrictions adopted under the discretionary authority within the regulations covering national parks. This regulatory tool helps manage Alaska's national park areas for the publics enjoyment, use and protection.



The National Park Service (NPS) seeks public comment on allowing the use of electric bicycles (e-bikes) in Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. The reason for this proposed addition is as follows:



On August 30, 2019, the National Park Service published an e-bike policy. A stated goal of the policy is to address e-bikes so that the NPS can exercise clear management authority over them within the National Park System. The policy provides that e-bikes are to be allowed in areas where traditional bicycles are allowed. Under national NPS regulations, traditional bicycles are allowed only on roads, parking areas, and designated trails. 36 CFR 4.30(h).



Under Federal law specific to conservation system units in Alaska, which include national parks, nonmotorized surface transportation methods for traditional activities  and for travel to and from villages and homesites are allowed notwithstanding any other provision of law. 16 USC 3170(a). It has been the position of the Department of the Interior that these methods include the use of traditional bicycles. E-bikes do not fall under this allowance because they have an electric motor and therefore are not nonmotorized.



Although ANILCA allows traditional bicycles anywhere within conservation system units in Alaska, NPS Region 11 (Alaska) proposes to allow e-bikes only on roads, parking areas, and designated trails where traditional bicycles are allowed. This will ensure that the NPS manages e-bikes in Alaska in the same way it manages e-bikes outside of Alaska. The nationwide policy intended to achieve a consistent management framework for e-bikes within the National Park System. In addition, the NPS has no data on the level of bicycle use on more than 20 million acres in Alaska that are off-trail and not in designated wilderness. This would make it very difficult to anticipate the impacts of allowing e-bikes in those same, vast locations  impacts that could include concerns about public safety associated with remote, cross-country travel, protection of resources in sensitive biomes such as tundra, and management objectives such as preserving wilderness character in eligible wilderness.



To review and comment on this proposal go to: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/BELA-Compendium-2020



A written copy may be requested directly from the park or the National Park Service, 240 W. 5th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501, Attn: Compendium. The National Park Service is committed to making all practicable efforts to make the park compendiums accessible and usable by all individuals. If you require assistance please call 907-697-2621.

Comments will be accepted via parkplanning.gov, by mail, or hand delivered between January 15 and February 15, 2020. Comments are welcome at any time in addition to this timeframe, but comments received after February 15, 2020 will be considered in future compendium revisions.



For more information on compendiums in Alaskas National Parks go to: https://www.nps.gov/locations/alaska/proposed-compendiums.htm
The German chancellor has signaled the government's intention to provide funds for "this humanitarian action." Turkey's leader has proposed building shelters for refugees displaced by fighting in Syria's Idlib province, DW reports.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also warned that 400,000 refugees displaced by fighting in Syria's Idlib province are heading towards the Turkish border.

Renewed fighting between the Russian military, regime forces and rebel militant groups in the area has triggered a new exodus of refugees, he said during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Merkel said Germany is willing to support efforts to build shelters in northern Syria for refugees displaced by fighting in Idlib.

"I can imagine that we can provide German funds for this humanitarian action," Merkel said, without providing any figures.
Indian Americans, would also hold protest rallies in front of the Indian Consulates in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, and Houston

Washington: A coalition of various human rights and civil rights groups has said it will hold protest rallies in several cities in the US on 26 January, demanding the repeal of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). In Washington DC, the coalition will hold a rally from the premises near the Indian Embassy to the White House.

The group, mostly comprising Indian Americans, would also hold protest rallies in front of the Indian Consulates in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, and Houston. "We demand that the Government of India immediately move Parliament to repeal CAA and immediately terminate its plans for an NPR and NRC," the group said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Indian-American Muslim Council, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Emgage Action, and Hindus for Human Rights on Friday announced to hold a Congressional briefing on the CAA at the US capitol on 27 January.

At the briefing, a panel of top experts from the US and India, including from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, will offer detailed analysis and perspective on CAA, organisers said.
Ellen DeGeneres was seen for the first time since she appeared to confirm that she will hold the first sit-down interview with Meghan Markle since quitting the royal family.

When asked on camera Friday whether the chat show host was excited to sit down with Meghan for a tell-all interview, she replied: 'Sure, I'm excited.'

Meghan is yet to give an interview after the bombshell decision she and Harry made to take a step back from Royal duties.

It is not clear whether Ellen confirmed the interview or was simply joking. A spokesperson for Ellen did not return DailyMail.com's request for comment.

Sighting: Ellen DeGeneres was seen for the first time since she appeared to confirm that she will hold the first sit-down interview with Meghan Markle since quitting the royal family

Candid: It is not clear whether Ellen confirmed the interview or was simply joking. A spokesperson for Ellen did not return DailyMail.com's request for comment

The veteran chat show host was seen taking a lengthy phone call during a stroll about in Los Angeles on Friday.

Ellen wore loose-fitting plum tracksuit bottoms designed by Beyonce's Ivy Park brand for her morning walk.

She paired them with a matching baseball cap and a comfy cream hoodie made by label Essen.

It comes after insiders exclusively revealed to DailyMail.com that Meghan has told her inner circle of friends that she is planning to give her first interview to Ellen, after the two became close.

Out and about: The veteran chat show host was seen taking a lengthy phone call during a stroll about in Los Angeles

Comfort: Ellen wore loose-fitting plum tracksuit bottoms designed by Beyonce's Ivy Park brand for her morning walk

'Ellen and Meghan have already discussed a sit-down interview. That has been in the works for quite some time now,' a source at the Ellen Show confirmed.

The two met by chance years ago at a dog shelter in Los Angeles where Ellen encouraged Meghan to adopt her first dog Bogart, and the women have stayed in touch.

Ellen and her wife Portia de Rossi even took a trip to London to visit Prince Harry and Meghan after the birth of Archie over the summer, remarking on her talk show: 'I see them get attacked and it's not fair. They are two of the most down-to-earth compassionate people, they're doing so much good for the world.'

Stroll: She paired them with a matching baseball cap and a cream hoodie made by label Essen

It's because of their friendship that Meghan wants to give Ellen her first interview, as a friend told DailyMail.com: '[Meghan] said Ellen understands her pain and suffering. That she epitomizes authenticity. [Meghan] feels like they are kindred spirits.'

'Ellen getting the first shot at an in-depth interview is surely going to put Oprah's - (and Gayle King's) nose out of joint,' a source added to DailyMail.com.

'After all, Oprah wooed Meghan's mother by having her spend the day in Montecito, wrangled an invite to the wedding and has been pretty vocal in her support of the couple's decision to break away,' the source said.

Meghan Markle has told her inner circle of friends she is planning to give her first interview to Ellen DeGeneres after the two have become close, insiders exclusively told DailyMail.com

Ellen and her wife Portia de Rossi took a trip to London to visit Prince Harry and Meghan after the birth of Archie over the summer (pictured), remarking on her talk show: 'I see them get attacked and it's not fair. They are two of the most down-to-earth compassionate people, they're doing so much good for the world'

'Ellen getting the first shot at an in-depth interview is surely going to put Oprah's - (and Gayle King's) nose out of joint,' a source said. 'After all, Oprah wooed Meghan's mother by having her spend the day in Montecito, wrangled an invite to the wedding and has been pretty vocal in her support of the couple's decision to break away,' the source said. Pictured: Oprah attending Meghan's wedding (left) and Gayle King at Meghan's baby shower (right)

But Ellen hinted at how close they were back in November, revealing she had invited a pair of dancers onto her show after Meghan sent her a text about the 'great' duo.

She also said that while spending time with Meghan and Harry in London, they talked about their work on wildlife conservation, something both couples share a passion for.

The insider added: 'Meghan adores Ellen and loves the fact that she and Portia are huge animal lovers.

'She said they have stayed in touch since meeting in person and have become close.

'She said they actually have a lot in common and that Ellen has been a huge support, especially since moving to Canada.

A source at The Ellen Show told DailyMail.com the interview will 'be all hush-hush and most likely at a secret location' because the 'studio poses too many challenges'.

They added: 'Ellen has a way of making things happen. Plus Ellen has made it clear to her staffers that Meghan is one of the nicest, most real people she's ever met and that Harry is just the same.

'She would want a sit-down with the both of them together. She wants her fans to see what she already knows to be true.

'I wouldn't be surprised if they forge even more of a friendship now that Meghan is in North America.'

The two met by chance years ago at a dog shelter in Los Angeles where Ellen encouraged Meghan to adopt her first dog Bogart (right), and the women have stayed in touch

DeGeneres held Archie on a summer trip to the UK, telling her studio audience how she fed him. Ellen also said that while spending time with Meghan and Harry in London, they talked about their work on wildlife conservation

Meghan may also sit down with Oprah, who attended her May 2018 wedding, or Gayle King, who went to Meghan's baby shower, the source said. But Meghan wants to talk to Ellen first.

On Tuesday, both Oprah and Gayle launched an extraordinary defense of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's decision to step down from the royal family.

Oprah, 66, who has grown close with the couple over the past few years, defended them after being stopped by reporters while walking with Gayle, 65, in New York.

In a video published by TMZ, Oprah said that she supported the Sussexes '1,000 percent' in their decision to step back from the royal family, adding that she believes Prince Harry 'did what he needed to do for his family.'

She said: 'I don't think anybody else has any right to say anything, when a person has sat and thought about what is the best decision for him and his family, and then he makes that decision... none of us have any right to say anything about that.'

Meanwhile Gayle insisted: 'Prince Harry didn't make that decisions in a vacuum. There were a lot of conversations.'

Oprah added: 'I support them because I believe that when you have thought about this as long as they have... And even in the Queen's statement, take note, this has been going on for months.'

She went on to praise Prince Harry for the choice, saying: 'Who doesn't have feel what it takes to make those decision, to give up everything you've known your whole life, to say 'I am going to choose this new life and what I believe to be the truest vision to myself?'. Who are any of us to stand in judgement of that? That's what I think.'

The insider added: 'Meghan adores Ellen and loves the fact that she and Portia are huge animal lovers. She said they have stayed in touch since meeting in person and have become close.' A source at The Ellen Show told DailyMail.com: '[Ellen] would want a sit-down with both [Harry and Meghan]... She wants her fans to see what she already knows to be true'

Earlier this week, DailyMail.com revealed that Meghan had told her friends that quitting the royal family was the best thing that could ever happen to Harry, saying 'it was her love for him that made this possible,' a friend said.

'She said that like her, his spirit was being crushed and she simply couldn't stand to see him suffer anymore,' the friend added.

Harry was seen grinning as he stepped off a plane in Vancouver late on Monday night, heading back to his wife and eight-month-old son Archie. Meghan herself was seen beaming while out for a walk with Archie and her two dogs on Monday morning.

The couple have been staying at an opulent $14 million Vancouver Island mansion, which they have used since Thanksgiving, and the close friend revealed the two have no plans to move out anytime soon.

Meghan and Harry also have no intention of stripping the word 'royal' from their SussexRoyal website, as the insider added: 'Meghan says they will always be considered royalty regardless of where they live or what they do.'

Over the weekend, it was dramatically announced that Harry and Meghan will no longer use their HRH titles and will repay around $3 million [2.4 million] of taxpayers' money spent refurbishing their Frogmore Cottage.

Earlier this week, DailyMail.com revealed that Meghan had told her friends that quitting the royal family was the best thing that could ever happen to Harry, saying 'it was her love for him that made this possible,' a friend said. Harry was seen grinning as he stepped off a plane in Vancouver late on Monday night (pictured)

A source at The Ellen Show told DailyMail.com the interview will 'be all hush hush and most likely at a secret location' because the 'studio poses too many challenges'. They added: 'Ellen has a way of making things happen. Plus Ellen has made it clear to her staffers that Meghan is one of the nicest, most real people she's ever met and that Harry is just the same'

Still, a number of unresolved issues remain, including whether Harry and Meghan will be required to strip the word 'Royal' from their SussexRoyal website, and who will pick up the hefty bill for their continuing security requirements.

However, Meghan's friend told DailyMail.com: 'Meghan and Harry are not planning on changing their website or Instagram name. They are still considered the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. And they will keep the Royal part in.

'She described herself and Harry as game changers destined to hack the status quo. And now they can finally go about their business.'

The friend added: 'Meghan has been telling her close friends that this is the best thing that could ever happen to Harry.

'That out of anyone he will flourish the most and that it was her love for him that made this possible.'

The insider also revealed that 'Meghan told her friends that there is no rush to move out of the place they've been staying. That they're welcome to live there as long as they like.

'Meghan calls it her happy place and says that in the last couple of months, she's felt more at home than she ever did in the UK.'
Planning permission has been granted for the building of a crematorium at Dowdallshill, Dundalk.

Approval was given by Louth County Council to plans by Gerard Hughes to build a crematorium with a new entrance from the Racecourse Road.

The devlopement is for a crematorium facility to accommodate two cremators and necessary support facilities e.g. cold rooms, plant spaces and staff welfare facilities, as well as an administration area/offices, and public facilities consisting of a public hall/ceremonial space, viewing area and toilet/baby change facilities. These will be located in a single storey building with mezzanine containing the main accommodation (705sq)

Permission was also granted for a new vehicular entrance from Racecourse Road, landscaping, roads and parking infrastructure within the site. The planning application was accompanied by a Natura Impact Statement.

Among the conditions set down in the planning permission is a requirement that the crematorium be operated in compliance with UK Process Guide and operate and maintain the cremators in line with best practice techniques.

A number of local residents objected to the application citing concerns about increased traffic on the Racecourse Road, as well as environmental concerns relating to the release of emmssions from the cremators.

A submission supporting the development was made by Gerard Quinn of Quinn Funeral Homes, who noted that 'it would be a welcome option for bereaved families in the Dundalk area.'

He pointed out that at the moment, families need to travel a minimum of 70km to the nearest crematorium. 'This has a bearing on the choice of either burial or cremation a family will make.

This choice should be based on their religious or personal preference rather than the availability of a particular facility locally,' His firm would like to support the application which in their experienced opinion would be an asset to the town going forward.
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WASHINGTON  The Trump administration is moving swiftly to ensure that China is keeping its promises to protect American intellectual property, ratcheting up searches for counterfeit goods at ports and increasing pressure on e-commerce companies like Amazon to halt online sales of Chinese knockoffs.

The administrations effort, unveiled on Friday, included a Department of Homeland Security report detailing the extent of the influx of counterfeit products from China and the public health and economic risks they pose to the United States.

The initiative serves as a warning to China, which this month reached a partial trade agreement with the United States, that the administration will aggressively monitor Beijings commitments.

The 54-page report includes a series of recommendations and actions that the United States government will take to crack down on certain products coming primarily from China, like fake Louis Vuitton bags and car airbags, as well as illicit drugs including fentanyl, cocaine and ecstasy. Trump administration officials estimate that more than 100,000 packages a day from China contain items that could defraud or harm Americans.
Their noses are wet and theyre here to play, these pint-sized snugglers are ready to lick and wag their way into the end zone for the big game next weekend. Of the 160 shelter dogs and puppies from across the country participating in Animal Planets 16th annual Puppy Bowl and the third annual Dog Bowl, 19 of the furry athletes were selected from Connecticut rescues.

Every year Animal Planet showcases shelter dogs in the Puppy Bowl and Dog Bowl, where the canines will romp and chew their way to glory in this adorable spin on the Super Bowl.

Five of these playful pups were selected from the Danbury Animal Welfare Society (DAWS). Stephanie Barksdale, the operations manager at DAWS, said this is the second year DAWS has had its dogs participate in the Puppy Bowl, with four pups on the second strings lineup in 2019. This is the first year the shelter has had one of its dogs make the starting lineup. DAWS darling Starla will be representing the shelter as a starting member of Team Ruff at the Puppy Bowl, airing on Animal Planet on Feb. 2 at 3 p.m. Starla is a cocker spaniel/'Siberian husky mix who has already found a loving home with a New Milford family.

Barksdale said Starla was found wandering around an abandoned area in rural Virginia when she was six weeks old and was rescued by one of DAWSs partner shelters, A Reason to Believe Animal Rescue. At eight weeks, she was transported to DAWS where she was adopted by her foster family, who renamed her Colbie. Now shes living happily ever after, Barksdale added.

DAWS pups Floofer and Lindy will be playing second string for Team Fluff at the Puppy Bowl. Both have since been adopted with Floofer finding a home in Southbury and Lindy now lives with a family in Danbury.

Barksdale said having DAWS canines participate in the Puppy Bowl and the Dog Bowl is beneficial to the shelter because it shows off the dogs.

Somebody may have tossed them out in Virginia or Kentucky but when they get here theyre playful, theyre fun, theyre spunky, theyre peppy and they want to be with other dogs and be with people. It allows us to show them off on national TV and it will spotlight how wonderful these dogs really are.

Starla is not the only Connecticut pup starring in the Puppy Bowls starting lineup. Sadie, an American staffordshire terrier/American bulldog mix from Pet Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) in Norwalk will be playing for Team Fluff on game day. PAWS executive director Ellen Simmonds said Sadie was part of a litter of 10 puppies who were rescued along with their mother after Animal Control found them under a bridge in Hartford. Simmonds said that Sadies mama was found emaciated and that her 10 pups had completely sucked her dry. Luckily, PAWS was able to provide the mother and puppies with the medical care and love they needed until they were ready to find their forever homes, which all of them found. Simmonds added that typically PAWS doesnt have many puppies at the shelter, as it tries to take in the communitys neediest animals but thought Sadie would be a stellar candidate when the Puppy Bowl reached out to the shelter.

Two of DAWSs now adopted senior dogs, Snow and Spunky, will participate in the Dog Bowl on Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. Barksdale noted that she feels people overlook the benefits of adopting an older dog. An older dog is already trained and housebroken, already has decent manners and theyre just as much fun as puppies. They want to go on walks, they want to cuddle up with you, she said. You dont have to do a lot with older dogs other than give it love and affection and take it for walks.

The rest of Connecticuts second string pups at the Puppy Bowl include Benjamin from the Connecticut Humane Society in Newington, Braham and Rubble from East Hartfords Pack Leaders of Connecticut and Squash and Tin Man from Dog Star Rescue in Bloomfield. The rest of the Connecticut canines will represent their respective shelters at the Dog Bowl. These dogs will include Jaxon from Pack Leaders of Connecticut, Ivy from the Friends of the New Haven Animal Shelter, Harper, Lady Jane, Mickey, Spud and Sweet Potato from One More Dog Rescue in Wethersfield and Little Ricky from William Berloni Theatrical Animals.

Currently Ivya white senior pitbull terrier, from the Friends of the New Haven Animal Shelter is looking for a loving home. For more information about her, call 203-946-8110. One More Dog Rescue also still has two of its Dog Bowl participants listed on the shelters website as looking for homes. Harper is an adult boxer and Lady Jane is a senior yorkie mix with visual and hearing impairments. For more information about them, visit omdrescue.org.

According to Animal Planet, in previous years all of the dogs and puppies that have participated in the Puppy Bowl and the dogs in the Dog Bowl found forever homes.

When asked about how many critters DAWS houses, Barksdale said the shelter can have as many as 90 animals in the system at any given time. She noted that when adopting from a shelter like DAWS, people are able to actually save two pets.

Every dog and cat we can get out of here, we save another from euthanasia down South.

Barksdale said adopting a pet from DAWS is a simple process and noted that the shelter wants to find a home for each animal..

A shelter is not a place for a pet, she said. A house is a place for a pet.

For more information about all of the shelters participating in the Puppy Bowl and the Dog Bowl, visit animalplanet.com/tv-shows/puppybowl.
Flybe's billionaire owners have sparked fury by asking the government to bail out the airline with a 100million loan.

The struggling operator was saved from collapse last week after striking a 10million deal with the taxman.

Now the wealthy consortium that owns Flybe, Connect Airways, wants a short-term loan.

Flybe's billionaire owners have sparked fury by asking the government to bail out the airline with a 100million loan

It has infuriated rivals, including British Airways-owner IAG and Ryanair, who claim it is getting special treatment.

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary dubbed any deal a 'bailout for billionaires'.

Mr O'Leary even issued a legal threat warning it would take the Government to court over its intervention.

Last night, an IAG spokesman said: 'Flybe's owners have very deep pockets and they should be bailing out the airline not taxpayers.'

Chancellor Sajid Javid dismissed his complaints, insisting that the package of measures agreed last week were not state aid

But Chancellor Sajid Javid dismissed his complaints, insisting that the package of measures agreed last week were not state aid.

Connect comprises Cyrus Capital Partners, Stobart Group and Virgin Atlantic, which is half-owned by US giant Delta Airlines.

Ministers are set to decide on the loan within two weeks.


Paris Jackson was among the high-profile people to hit the catwalk when fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier hosted the final runway show of his 50-year career in Paris, France on Wednesday.

Staying in the City Of Lights, the daughter of the late King Of Pop Michael Jackson slipped back into rock star mode to play a show on-board a boat on the Seine river with beau Gabriel Glenn and their band The Soundflowers.

Leading up to the gig, the couple were spotted while walking arm-in-arm as they made their way to the El Alamein boat, decked out in their hippie-chic style.

City Of Lights: Paris Jackson and beau Gabriel Glenn boarded a boat on the Seine river in Paris, France to play a show with their band The Soundflowers on Friday

Initially, Jackson appeared a little camera shy when she covered her face with her hand as she flashed a peace sign.

The California native, 21, went with brown leather, or possible suede, pants that hugged her hips and upper legs and flared at the bottoms in a 1960s design.

She also wore an olive tank top and a red vest that had plenty of fringe to keep with her penchant for hippie culture.

At times Jackson covered up with a red-patterned jacket, as well as a yellow scarf, platform shoes, and her hair styled long, with slightly unkempt look, and a part in the middle.

Ready to rock: Initially, Jackson appeared a little camera shy when she covered her face with her hand as she flashed a peace sign

Hippie chic: The California native, 21, wore brown leather, or possible suede, pants that hugged her hips and upper legs and flared at the bottoms in a 1960s design

Blast from the past: She also wore an olive tank top and a red vest that had plenty of fringe to keep with her penchant for hippie culture

Glenn opted for black stone-wash jeans that had four rips along the front of them, along with a yellow-patterned shirt and black leather jacket.

He also rounded out the ensemble with black leather boots and had his long blonde hair flowing well past the middle of his back, but pushed back off of his face.

The musician also was seen carrying his guitar case in his right hand as the couple made a bee-line to the boat for their gig.

Once they reached the reach the ramp to climb aboard, Jackson seemed to light up and flash a number of big beaming smiles towards the adoring cameras.

Beaming: Jackson seemed to light up and flash a number of big beaming smiles towards the adoring cameras once they reached the ramp to climb aboard the boat

Sweet: The couple held hand the entire walk onto the boat

JBody art: ackson's flashed her array of tattoos on her her arms with her sleeveless ensemble

Loving life: The daughter of pop legend Michael Jackson appeared to be great spirits

Earlier in the week Jackson was a hit when she wore a stunning multi colored outfit that made the most of her impressive 5ft9in frame while storming the catwalk of Gaultier's final show of Paris Fashion Week.

The star lit up the purple tinted runway in a pair of snazzy snakeskin print slacks that were well tailored.

She added a shirt with an orange and purple hue, several beaded necklaces, red bracelets on her wrists and snakeskin heels.

But what stood out the most was her long silk cape which appeared to be a large scarf tucked in just so.

It's like 1968 all over again! Paris Jackson was seen on the catwalk forJean-Paul Gaultier's final runway show during Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday

Leggy wonder: The 21-year-old cover girl was a hit as she wore a stunning multi colored outfit that made the most of her impressive 5ft9in frame

Layered in hippie madness: Jackson lit up the purple tinted runway in a pair of snazzy snakeskin print slacks that were well tailored. She added a shirt with an orange and purple hue and several beaded necklaces added. There were also red bracelets on her wrists

The beauty wore her hair down in soft waves and had on a green gem headband.

After Paris walked the show she was seen heading out of the studio.

The star was decked out in her normal boho style with a knitted green sweater over a brown cropped tank top with layers of necklaces and her tattoos showing.

Green headband: The beauty wore her hair down in soft waves and had on a green gem headband

Hip pocket: Paris walked with her hand in her pocket down the runway

Her hair was down in soft waves and her makeup was still fresh.

The Chanel spokesperson flashed a peace sign as she was followed out by security.

Jackson also had on patterned slacks with sneakers and a brown coat over her arm with a rust colored scarf hanging from her neck.

After the show: After Paris walked the show she was seen heading out of the studio. The star was decked out in her normal boho style with a knitted green sweater over a brown cropped tank top with layers of necklaces and her tattoos showing

Peace out: The Chanel spokesperson flashed a peace sign as she was followed out by security

This comes after the LA native was seen modeling AGL shoes.

The beauty flashed her incredibly long and toned legs while wearing a tiny bodysuit.

'So honored to work with the dynamic business savvy sisters vera, sara, and marianna and the company they control thats been in their family for three generations,' Paris captioned the shoot.

Paris likes Paris: Jackson seemed to be happy in France where she has visited many times

Striking a pose: Jackson has sent temperatures soaring in her latest campaign for AGL shoes

Paris opted for a black netted ensemble that allowed her many tattoos to be on show.

The star - born Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson - styled her hair out into voluminous curls for the shoot.

Her glam featured a soft complexion with a sultry cat-eye style shadow to complete the look.

Another shot had Paris flaunt her long and lean legs in a pair of snakeskin printed peep-toe boots.

Music-minded: Paris Jackson was in her element as she sang from the heart

Legs eleven! Another shot had Paris flaunt her long and lean legs in a pair of snakeskin printed peep-toe boots

Showing them off: Paris opted for a black netted ensemble that allowed her many tattoos to be on show

Over the holidays Paris was spotted enjoying some down time with her boyfriend, Gabriel, and brothers Prince Jackson, 22, and Prince Michael Jackson, A.K.A. Blanket A.K.A. Biggie, 17, in Rome.

Paris and Prince are the children of the late Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe.

Bigie's mother is unknown after Debbie has denied it's her.

The trio lost their father on June 25, 2009, after Michael suffered a cardiac arrest at his home in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles and died shortly thereafter.

The 50-year-old had been rehearsing for a planned concert residency at London's O2 Arena between 2009 and 2010.
A man has been rushed to hospital after shots were fired in Wood Green.

MPS Haringey said officers were investigating gunfire on Wood Green High Road and nearby in Green Lanes just before 7pm on Friday.

A man was shot in the leg on Wood Green High Road and has been rushed to hospital.

Police said a cordon has been put in place and a Section 60 authorised.

No arrests have been made.

TfL said the A105 Green Lanes has been closed in both directions due to the police incident.
Texas led the nation in 2019 in job creation, even as the state unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 3.5 percent in December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

The state unemployment rate, 3.5 percent, was in line with the national rate.

San Antonios unemployment rate dipped to 3 percent in December. Indeed, the rate has stayed at or below 3.1 percent since last February, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reports.

Among Texas largest cities, unemployment last month was lowest in Austin at 2.6 percent, followed by San Antonio.

Joblessness increased slightly throughout the McAllen, Brownsville and Laredo areas, all of which had the highest unemployment rates among Texas metros in December.

Last year, Texas added nearly 343,000 new jobs statewide. California was the only other state to add more than 300,000 jobs.

Private-sector job growth in Texas was powered by gains in the construction industry, as well as in professional and business services, and health and education  three industries that each added more than 55,000 new jobs last year.

Statewide, that job growth was greatest in good-paying industries.

In 2018  the most recent year wage data is available  the average construction worker in Texas earned more than $65,000. Workers in professional and business services jobs that year earned over $74,000.

But education and health services workers, who make up a significant chunk of the Texas labor force, made on average $48,300 in 2018, a little less than what a parent with one child needs to cover the average cost of living in Texas.

San Antonio, meanwhile, saw construction employment spike 10 percent in 2019, adding about 6,600 jobs. Manufacturing employment, bucking the state and national trend, grew 5 percent locally.

Bexar County workers in construction and manufacturing jobs earned about $60,000 on average in 2018, the BLS says.

Employment in leisure and hospitality also grew by nearly 7,000 jobs last year, though workers in that industry earned less than $23,000 on average in 2018.

While the 2017 federal tax cut contributed to job growth and investment in Texas, a slight slowdown is expected to come in this year and in 2021, according to Luis Torres, a research economist at Texas A&M University in College Station.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was a sugar rush that was going to give us growth for one year, and once it dissipated, were going to go back to a growth rate around 2 percent. And thats what were seeing right now. Its slowing down, Torres said.

Trade disputes with China, the European Union and the U.S. North American neighbors have been a drag on growth for the economy over the past year, Torres said.

The U.S. was in the midst of expansionary monetary policy, the economy was doing well, he said. With the TCJA, we had that momentum growth. We wouldve been better off, we wouldve grown more, if we wouldnt have had the trade war.

Torres noted that maquiladora factories just across the border from McAllen and Laredo have shed thousands of jobs  fallout of the nationwide manufacturing slowdown caused by the trade war. That, along with violence in Mexico, has spurred a slowdown within border communities in Southeast Texas.

The border economy on the Mexican side is a major driver of what happens economically on the Texas side, he said. So when this economy starts to slow down, youre going to feel it on the other side of the border.

But the recent U.S. trade deal with Canada and Mexico, as well as the Phase 1 trade agreement with China, are bringing clarity for Texas businesses that rely on international trade  even if the deals are imperfect, Torres said.

Were in a better position because we have certainty, he said. Last year, talking with business people, their major complaint was the uncertainty. Whats going to happen? At least now, (business owners) know what the rules are.

The presidential election later this year could create some uncertainty for business owners. But even if projections of a slowdown are accurate, Torres said Texas is likely to continue growing at a healthy rate.

A slowdown should be expected because the economy is at such a high level of employment, Torres said. But people take that the other way around  its not a negative. Weve been in the longest expansion in history.

diego.mendoza-moyers@express-news.net
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 24) The Philippine government is now working on the process of terminating its Visiting Forces Agreement with the United Statesa day after President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to scrap the 1998 deal over the cancellation of Senator Ronald Bato Dela Rosas visa

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Duterte already gave the order Thursday night despite previously setting a one-month deadline for the US government to reverse its decision on the senators visa.

Eh apparently hindi na nasunod kasi tinanong ko siya (Duterte) kagabi eh, "When will the process start?" "Tonight, Panelo told reporters in a chance interview in Malacanang on Friday.

[Translation: Apparently it was not followed because I asked him last night, When will the process start? Tonight.]

The process of starting it has commenced or will commence today, Panelo said, noting he has already relayed the order to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Teddyboy Locsin Jr.

Locsin, for his part, said he has already called Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana for them to start the termination process.

Called Sec Lorenzana as Vice ChairI am Chair of VFAto start process of terminating USVFA. Step 1 calling the Senate Foreign Relations Committee because on our side it is a treaty; on US side Executive Agreement, the countrys top diplomat said in a tweet.

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea is also set to meet with US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim to discuss the latest developments on this issue, Panelo added.

The VFA is the first of two agreements between Washington and Manila about the treatment of their troops when they are in the US or the Philippines.

Among the provisions of the deal include lax visa and passport policies for US troops, and rights of US government to retain jurisdiction over military personnel, among others.

The VFA can be terminated by either the Philippines or the US by writing to the other party that they want to end the agreement. Expiration, however, will come 180 days from the time either party notifies each other.

Whether the Senate needs to concur with the termination of the treaty is still unclear, as the Constitution only says the upper chamber's nod is needed for a treaty to come into force. This same question is the subject of petitions before the Supreme Court assailing Duterte's withdrawal of the Philippines from the International Criminal Court.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the department has now been tasked to study the "proper procedure" of the deal's termination process.

No Congress approval needed

On the other hand, Lorenzana said the termination of the VFA does not need the approval of the Congress. Hence, the government may unilaterally initiate the termination.

"The termination of the VFA may be unilaterally initiated by the Philippines, and it is well within the right of the Philippine government to do so if it determines that the agreement no longer redounds to our national interest," said Lorenzana in a latest statement.

"Such a termination does not need the approval of the Philippine Congress. All that is required is that a notice of termination be served to the US government."

Lorenzana earlier said that authorities are just waiting for the next move of the US.

The ball is in the US hand. Lets see how they react to (Dutertes) statement , Lorenzana said in a message to reporters.

He also said he understands why the President was displeased with Washingtons move to cancel Dela Rosa's visa.

He said the chief executive was only being true to his promise of supporting those who helped launch the administrations flagship anti-illegal drugs campaign.

It is a direct affront to (Duterte) being the architect of the drug war that he started upon his assumption of office, the Defense Secretary said.

He ordered Bato, then the newly installed Chief PNP (Philippine National Police), to launch the drug war and enjoined the entire PNP to do their duties and pledged to would back them up. That he would take responsibility for their official actions. That he would go to prison for them.

'Not my fault'

Dela Rosa meanwhile hit back at critics and netizens who blamed him for the President's ultimatum.

"Kasalanan ko ba 'yun? Bakit nila ako sisisihin? Di ko kasalanan 'yun. It's purely an executive decision na ginagawa ng Pangulo," Dela Rosa said in a media briefing, debunking claims he asked for Duterte's help.

[Translation: Is it my fault? Why would they blame me? It's not my fault. It's purely an executive decision made by the President.]

Dutertes warning also drew mixed reactions from fellow government officials and lawmakers.

Locsin, in an earlier tweet, said he found the Presidents statement as a good move.

Senator Kiko Pangilinan, on the other hand, said it would be better for the executive branch to focus on more pressing issuesparticularly the relief efforts for those affected by the Taal Volcano eruption as well as monitoring the outbreak of the new coronavirus in China.

CNN Philippines Alyssa Rola, Eimor Santos, and Xave Gregorio contributed to this report.
A retired salesman has received a suspended prison sentence for the sexual abuse of a young boy while they were both members of a Christian youth group in the 1960s.

Gordon Black (70) was aged between 16 and 20 years old when he molested the victim, who was then aged between 12 and 16. At the time they were both in the 'Boys Brigade', an international Christian youth organisation and Black had a more senior position.

The victim, now aged 66, said he still becomes angry when he thinks about the abuse. He said he can still recall the smell of cigarettes on his abuser's breath.

Black of Mill Meadows, Arklow, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three counts of indecent assault of a male on dates between 1965 and 1969. The maximum prison sentence for the offending at that time was two years.

Judge Martin Nolan said that Black had exploited a situation of strength over the victim and said his actions were reprehensible. But he said he didn't think that Black deserved a prison sentence, noting that Black admitted his offending and had expressed genuine remorse. He also noted the absence of any other convictions at his age.

He suspended a two-year prison term on condition that Black keep the peace for that period.

Garda Keith Alford told Fiona McGowan BL, prosecuting, that one of the assaults took place after a trip organised by the youth group. Black was driving the victim home and pulled the car over and told the victim to get into the back seat because he wanted to 'show him something'.

Black got into the back seat too and molested the child. He took out his own penis and tried to get the victim to kiss it and repeatedly asked him to do so.

The child began to panic and was becoming upset. The court heard that Black saw how upset the child was becoming and he stopped and 'fixed himself up'.

In 2017, the victim went to gardai. He said that during this assault Black kissed him on the lips.

'I'm 66 now and I can still remember the smell of cigarette on his breath,' he said.

Black admitted the offending to gardai and told them that he himself had being abused as a child by three different people. He told gardai about a incident during a Boys Brigade camping trip in Laytown, Co Meath, when he molested the victim.

The victim had no memory of this attack but Black's admission was followed up by a guilty plea.

In a statement, the victim said that recalling the abuse still makes him angry. He said the attacks prevented him from being able to show affection for his daughters when they were children.

Luigi Rea BL, defending, said his client was a much younger man at the time of this offending and has gone on to live an otherwise blameless life, raising a family and working as a salesman.

'He was going through a phase which he has long long passed out of,' counsel said. Mr Rea said his client fully understood now the serious consequences of his actions.
City of Elgin spokeswoman Molly Gillespie said the city is waiting to "receive an agreement from the county and Koloni to review and then determine if participation is viable, and what funding, if any, would be needed by partners.
Tim Martin can barely disguise his horror at the thought of giving up drinking for an entire month. And certainly not this month, that's for sure.

I only have to mention the words 'Dry January' and the Brexiteer business tycoon is having none of it. 'Each to their own,' the JD Wetherspoon founder and chairman says. 'It's a bit radical for me.'

In fact, Martin is immensely looking forward to a tipple on Friday, when he will toast Britain's exit from the EU with a pub crawl of 'five or six' of his chain's Central London pubs.

Tonic: Wetherspoons founder Tim Martin is convinced that Brexit will provide a massive boost to Britain's economy despite what the doom-mongers proclaim

Suitably refreshed, he will then speak at an evening Parliament Square rally organised by Brexit Party chairman Richard Tice.

His 870 Wetherspoon pubs across the UK and Ireland will cut the price of ten drinks  including Spain's Estrella Galicia and a bottle of German lager Beck's for as little as 1.49  to help Brexit supporters celebrate and Remainers drown their sorrows.

'How do you come up with a celebration for a divided country?' ponders Martin, who has ambitiously called his Brexit-themed drinks promotion 'Let's Stay Friends'.

'It'll take more than a few drinks in Wetherspoons to unite Remainers and Brexiteers,' he concedes. 'But since we selected some drinks of EU origin, at least it's a gesture.'

Martin, 64, is the City's most outspoken critic of the EU and has donated 224,000 to the Brexit Party.

Only last week, he told the CBI and the Food and Drink Federation trade bodies to 'take a wise-up pill' and accept the result of the referendum as he blasted them for 'doubling down on Project Fear stories' about job losses and rising food prices after Brexit day on January 31.

He's speaking to the MoS from holiday, where he is enjoying balmy 25- degree temperatures.

But being away from Britain hasn't diverted his attention from Brexit, which he is convinced will be a 'massive boost for Britain's economy' in spite of what the doom-mongers proclaim.

If people want pubs to survive tax must be fair

Giving just one example, he expects leaving the EU to boost profits at his FTSE 250-listed pubs chain because the Government will be able to eliminate the 'incomprehensible' tariffs on around 13,000 imports, including food and drink products sold by Wetherspoons such as its New Zealand Chardonnay.

Martin also hopes Brexit will help revitalise the UK's coastal towns, which will in turn boost Wetherspoon's seaside watering holes such as the Royal Victoria Pavilion in Ramsgate, Kent.

'Coastal communities will benefit from regaining control of fishing waters,' Martin says. 'The more prosperous communities are, the better pubs will do.'

Martin donated 50,000 to Boris Johnson's Election campaign, when the Tories pledged to keep pubs open in neglected towns and villages outside London.

He says Boris is 'right to be concerned about pub closures'.

But the real threat hanging over the pub trade is the tax inequality between pubs and supermarkets, he says, which has meant supermarkets have been able to undercut pub prices 'by a tremendous amount'.

Pubs pay 20 per cent VAT on food sales and the equivalent of 20p per pint in business rates, while grocers pay zero VAT on food and business rates of 2p per pint.

'If people want pubs to survive, particularly in small towns, there has to be tax equality or they'll just get clobbered by supermarkets,' Martin says. 'The principle of tax is, it should be fair.'

Martin met Johnson during his leadership campaign and reports that the Prime Minister 'does a good act of being a semi-comedian but is actually quite a hard worker'.

The same could be said of Martin, a trained barrister who was called to the Bar in 1979 but jokes that he quit law to make his 560million fortune propping up the bar instead.

Beneath the Brexit bluster and pub banter is the shrewd founder of a 1.6billion pub and hotels group whose shares have gone up around 300 per cent over the past decade.

JD Wetherspoon's sales for the year to July 26 are forecast to rise to 1.9billion, up from 1.8billion, with pre-tax profits broadly flat at around 100million.

Asked why Wetherspoons has succeeded in such a tough market, Martin quotes business guru Julian Richer, who recommends the Japanese principle of 'kaizen', or continuous improvement.

He has focused on being something to everyone and is proud that his pubs can appeal to City stockbrokers, students, pensioners and families with children at the same time.

Tim Martin, 64: No drinks before 6pm Family: Married to Felicity since 1982 with four children, aged between 28 and mid-30s. His father worked for Guinness and his grandfather for Allied Breweries. Martin named the company after his primary school teacher then added 'JD' because it was the nickname for Boss Hogg (pictured) Career: Qualified as a barrister in 1979 but took over his local North London pub six weeks before being called to the Bar and founded Wetherspoons. Martin named the company after his primary school teacher then added 'JD' because it was the nickname for Boss Hogg, above, (Jefferson Davis Hogg) in the American TV series The Dukes Of Hazzard. Pub session: Two pints of either Abbot Ale or Adnams Broadside and two glasses of Merlot. Beer o'clock is 6pm. 'No lunchtime boozing  even on holiday.' Favourite Wetherspoons pub: 'It's like asking Tiger Woods to choose his favourite woman; there are so many.' Hobbies: Surfing  he spent part of his childhood in New Zealand.

Each week, Martin invites around 20 Wetherspoons managers to a meeting in Watford to discuss ideas for improving the business that are 'from the shop floor, rather than the board'.

He also visits around 15 Wetherspoons pubs each week  he spent Christmas Day at two of his Devon pubs  and incentivises staff by paying out half the company's post-tax profits as a monthly bonus. Last year, his 40,000 employees split a bonus pot of around 50million.

He has also handed free shares in the company to around 10,000 staff since he founded Wetherspoons 41 years ago, and pays pub staff on average ten per cent more than the minimum wage.

In the 1980s, after 'about three pints of Adnams Broadside', Martin decided his pubs should have 'Moon' in the title  The Moon Under Water (named after George Orwell's vision of the ideal pub), The Harvest Moon, The Moon And Sixpence, and so on. 'That was too much moon branding for some people,' he says with a chuckle.

Since then, all his pubs have been given individual names, their own interior design and their own distinctive patterned carpets, which inspired a tribute Tumblr blog.

Many Wetherspoons are in historic buildings and the group will spend 80million this year on buying new pubs and extending existing ones.

'A lot of people in the pub industry have tried to create what the Americans call a cookie-cutter  it's a Litten Tree or a Bar Med or a Barracuda,' Martin says.

'But we have understood pubs aren't a brand. That has given our pubs a bit of soul; they fit with their local area.'

With one exception. Martin admits The Hope and Champion in the Beaconsfield service station by the M40  controversially Britain's first motorway pub when it opened in 2014  is struggling.

'It hasn't been a great success, but we're trying to make it work,' says Martin. Dropping his usual swagger, he admits: 'We still get a lot of things wrong.'

On Friday night, with the Abbot Ale flowing, Martin could be forgiven for being a little less self-deprecating about something he believes 17.4million of his fellow Britons got absolutely right.
This article, New Space Force uniforms mocked by Star Wars fans, originally appeared on CNET.com.

The US Department of Defense on Friday released the first images of the uniforms for US Space Force, the newly announced division of the military.

"The first Space Force utility uniform name tapes have touched down in the Pentagon," the USSF tweeted from its official account, attaching a photo of the uniforms.

USSF officially launched in December 2019, when President Trump signed into law the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. The new uniforms were welcomed with praise in a tweet by the US Navy, which called the clothing "out of this world." However, not everyone was impressed.

While the new uniforms do not look like anything out of Starship Troopers, Battlestar Galactica, Pacific Rim or even Star Trek, the uniform design earned unwanted attention from Star Wars fans who mocked the outfits for being covered in camouflage.

After all, outer space isn't known for forests intergalactic soldiers would need to blend in with. So Star Wars fans pointed out that perhaps President Trump thinks Space Force will soon be at war with Ewoks, who live on the fictional forest moon of Endor.

"Are they fighting on the forest moon of Endor?" sci-fi author Chuck Wendig tweeted in response to the Space Force tweet. He wasn't alone in his questions.

"LOL. Perfect for hiding in that space jungle," Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi tweeted.

"People are mocking the Pentagon's new camo Space Force uniforms as if the Battle of Endor never happened," another person tweeted.

"There are some smart asses joking the new Space Force camo is only useful on Endor; I'm sorry but it's far more useful than that. It's also going to work just fine on Naboo, Dagobah, Kashykk, Takodana and the dry parts of Scariff," another Twitter user joked.

After the uniforms and Endor trended all day Friday on Twitter, the USSF responded with a tweet on Saturday, explaining it's designing uniforms similar to other military branches to prevent keep costs down.

"USSF is utilizing current Army/Air Force uniforms, saving costs of designing/producing a new one," the USSF said. "Members will look like their joint counterparts they'll be working with, on the ground."

The USSF did not mention any plans to attack fictional Star Wars destinations, and didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Here are some of the more entertaining tweets from those curious about the new USSF uniforms:
"Americans should understand that there will be a significant, long-term economic cost to our polarized politics and dysfunctional government," Washington Post economics columnist Steve Pearlstein writes on the Sunday Business cover.

The backdrop: House impeachment managers are arguing that the constitutional powers of Congress to indict a president will never function if Trump isn't found guilty of obstruction, while Trump's defense team is arguing that impeaching Trump would revoke voters' ability to judge the president for his actions.

"In the modern era, there are few if any examples of a country with a healthy, thriving economy and a broken political system. What distinguishes a successful economy from a failing one  what distinguishes Denmark from Italy and South Korea from North  is ... the laws, rules, norms and policies that create the framework in which any economy operates. ...

We can see [the] deterioration in our inability to adapt to changing conditions  the rise of China as an economic superpower, the influx of economic and political refugees, and the threat from global warming. ...

[O]ur approach has been to deny the problem, demonize those with whom we disagree and ostracize anyone who dares to compromise."

 Pearlstein, in the Post

Where it stands: Unemployment remains at a 50-year low, per the latest data from the Labor Department. But, chief financial officers are bracing for an economic slowdown this year, according to Deloitte's quarterly survey of nearly 150 executives at top North American companies.

The bottom line: "'Trump Impeachment Trial Begins. Stocks Hit New High.' If the headline sounds too good to be true, thats only because it probably is.

Go deeper: Trump's economic shield against impeachment
CPI(ML) secretary general Dipankar Bhattacharya on Saturday demanded "immediate rollback" of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and withdrawal of plans to update the National Population Register, which many suspect would lay the groundwork for NRC implementation.

Bhattacharya, who took part in an agitation here with Left leaders, including CPI(M) politburo member Subhashini Ali, as part of state-wide protests against the recent measures taken by the Narendra Modi government, also asked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to come clean on the issue.

"We are faced with an unprecedented danger. The spirit of our Constitution is under attack. Citizenship has been indirectly linked with religion through the CAA," Bhattacharya told reporters.

He also contended that Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman had "said on the floor of the Parliament" that the number of people who were likely to benefit from CAA -- which aims at fast-tracking the accordance of citizenship to non- Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh -- was "just about 33,000".

"Such a little number could have been accommodated under the citizenship law that was previously in place. Earlier too, India had given entry to refugees," Bhattacharya pointed out, and added that "the government may not admit it, but the RSS is busy telling people that Hindus would not suffer on account of CAA".

"Hindus need to know that most people whose citizenship was put in the doubtful category in Assam were from the majority community," the CPI(ML) leader said.

He insisted that "it is high time that Nitish Kumar took a clear stand as CAA has been implemented with his support and NPR is underway".

"What does he mean by his opposition to the NRC in this backdrop?" Bhattacharya asked.

Ali, who has been in town since Friday and had addressed citizens' protests in different parts of the Bihar capital, said "the fight does not involve just one community. The participants include women, workers and farmers who do not belong to any one religion".

She said India has survived because it adopted secularism as a guiding principle in contrast with Pakistan "which became an Islamic republic and ended up suffering disintegration with the creation of Bangladesh".

The BJP "thinks that it can get away with anything just because the party enjoys a brute majority in Parliament", she said, while advising the saffron party to learn from the example of Indira Gandhi - who enjoyed phenomenal popularity but faced electoral humiliation after Emergency in 1975.

"This is not how democracies function. Ram Vilas Paswan, who is a Union minister, has admitted that he does not know when and where his parents were born. It is not that just one particular community will face problems," Ali pointed out.

The Left parties' agitation, marked by "human chain" formations in all district headquarters of Bihar, received support from former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM and former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP.

Delegates from these parties were seen holding hands with Left supporters in front of the Buddha Memorial Park here, a stone's throw from the Patna Junction.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
With Tet fast approaching, foreigners in Vietnam recall handing out lucky money (li xi) to children and elders.

During Tet, which falls on January 25 this year, it is an indispensable tradition to offer "li xi" in Vietnamese, to children and elders in red envelopes.

36-year-old Jun Mo from Busan, South Korea, has experienced four Tet celebrations in Vietnam. In 2017, when visiting his girlfriend's family in the northern City of Hai Phong, he was told to hand lucky money to both minors and seniors.

It is an indispensable tradition to offer lucky money during Tet. Photo by Shutterstock/Nguyen Quang Ngoc Tonkin.

Before departure, he withdrew VND30 million ($1,293), all in VND500,000 ($21.6) notes.

"I took what the bank gave me. On the first day of the new year, I took the sheet of notes to give out, lighting up many faces," Jun Mo recalled.

Fond of kids, he handed "li xi" to every child he met. In South Korea, it is the custom that lucky money increases according to a childs age.

"That time, I spent equally." For seniors, he spent double.

When his girlfriend complained, he smiled saying those who received lucky money would eat more and grow well, a popular Vietnamese expression. After Tet, the sheet of banknotes was depleted.

To prevent her boyfriend from spending too much, his girlfriend changed the money into VND50,000 ($2.1) and VND100,000 ($4.2) banknotes, disappointing many subsequent recipients.

"When some kids asked their parents why I didnt give them bigger notes, I felt simultaneously embarrassed and amused," he remembered.

In spite of detailed preparation, Japanese teacher Megumi had a bad encounter while dressed in a traditional "ao dai" to her boyfriend's house to celebrate Tet in Hanoi last year.

Megumi and Long had decided parents would be given red envelopes featuring dragon patterns, containing VND1 million ($43.2), while flower-patterned equivalents would go to his sister, containing less money.

Standing in front of her boyfriend's family, Megumi forgot everything, handing Long's sister the dragon-patterned envelope.

Megumi, embarrassed, asked her to return the envelope, instead giving it to Long's mother. "I am sorry, I've made a mistake," she explained.

At dinner, Megumi did not meet anyones eye, afraid her actions could affect the couple's new year luck.

A smiling Long had to spend quite some time reassuring his partner that it would not be the case.

This year, the Japanese teacher bought envelopes in different colors to avoid messing them up.

For Blandine, the French mother of an adopted Vietnamese daughter, giving lucky money during Lunar New Year is a way to display affection.

Living in Paris, 33-year-old Le Thi Hiep resided in a foster home in central Da Nang City, until earning a scholarship to study in France.

With a Vietnamese daughter, Blandine learned more about Tet and its traditions. When Hiep is in France, Blandine always gives her daughter a red envelope with 10 euros inside on the first day of Lunar New Year.

"I visit Blandine's house every year to receive lucky money and her blessing for the new year," Hiep explained.

Blandine (L) and Hiep. Photo courtesy of Blandine.

On first receiving a red envelop and hearing "Chuc Mung Nam Moi" (Happy New Year in Vietnamese) from a French speaker, a surprised Hiep burst into tears.

"Mom also explained that for Vietnamese, the number 10 represents the rewards of dedicated studying, wanting me to score high marks."

The 33-year-old still receives lucky money from her French mother each Lunar New Year. For Blandine, the meaningful custom affords both givers and receivers much needed happiness.
The Doomsday Clock ticked down to a hundred seconds to midnight on Thursday, January 23. The 'doomsday' symbolizes the greatest stage of peril to humanity since its creation in 1947 as the risk posed with the aid of climate crisis and a growing nuclear race loomed largely.

Rachel Bronson, president of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, explained how close the planet is on how close the world is to climate change's catastrophe in seconds.

Panels of experts, including 13 Nobel laureates, took part in deciding the Doomsday Clock. The time was originally set to seven minutes to midnight - held from 2018 to 2019 and 1953. The furthest it has ever been at 17 mins, following the end of the Cold War in 1991.

Mary Robinson, chair of an independent group of global leaders called The Elders and the former president of Ireland and former UN high commissioner of human rights, said the world needs to wake up. "Our planet faces two simultaneous existential threats," Robinson said.

Robinson said that countries that don't aim to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions warming the Earth and continues to exploit fossil fuels are issuing "a death sentence for humanity."

Scrapped treaty

Subject expert Sharon Squassoni said the arms managed to control obstacles that helped prevent disaster on the nuclear front over the last half of the century. He added the treaty might be dissolved next year.

The demise in 2019 of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, with the US and Russia entering a new competition to deploy once-banned weapons, is included.

Squassoni said Pyongyang vowed to press beforehand with a new strategic weapon despite initial hopes that Washington's unorthodox approach to North Korea might produce results.

While public pressure presents a "sliver of hope" for the climate, Robinson said leaders are seemed unpressured to avert nuclear threats.

Robinson said the nuclear weapons would be used by accident, intention, miscalculation, or design once weaponry is available and inevitable.

Climate hope?

The two most critical UN summits on the climate crisis - including the COP25 talks - fell dismally brief on the required steps to limit global warming in the goals laid out by the Paris Agreement. Scientists say it is essential to prevent doomsday.

ALSO READ: Here's Why Climate Scientists are Hopeful on Solving Climate Change

The outcomes had been already apparent in the record-breaking heatwaves and flood India faced in 2019, and the wildfires that raged from the Arctic to Australia.

Sivan Kartha, a scientist on the Stockholm Environmental Institute, underscored there is no purpose on assuring that any nation would remain hospitable to human civilization if humankind pushes the climate to the other side of the ice age.

Russia. in the meantime, has introduced a new hypersonic float missile. The United States is trying out its very own weapons that severely limit response times for directed nations.

Robinson urges the world leaders to work together in 2020 as environmentalists try to tug humanity back from the brink.

"Now is the time to come back together - to unite and to act."
Following India's ban on import of refined palm oil from Nepal, the country's Finance Minister Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada on Saturday expressed hope that India will reconsider its decision while suspecting a political reason behind the ban.

Speaking to the media, the Finance Minister said "We don't know why our neighbouring country banned palm oil. There should be some other politics behind it." "We do hope that the Indian government will reconsider its decision. We are discussing this through our diplomatic channel, if necessary we can also go through the political channel," he said.

READ | Davos Diplomacy Likely Between India And Malaysia To Defuse Palm Oil Row

Dr Yuba said the ban will affect Nepal's economy as the palm oil-related industry forms 25 per cent of the country's total exports.

He further said that the two countries have agreed to reduce the trade deficit and in that spirit, Nepal is hopeful that India will reconsider its decision. The ban came as a shock to the country, as there was no prior indication, the Finance Minister added.

READ | Goyal: Govt Has No Role In SEAI Advisory On Import Of Palm Oil

Speaks on the trade relations

Dr Yuba stressed that Nepal should be the closest destination for Indian and Chinese investors.

"Nepal's major trading partner is India. More than two-thirds of our trade is with India. India is one of our largest investment partner and perhaps the market for our products also. In that respect, India accounts a lot for our growth and prosperity."

The Finance Minister said that the ban on palm oil will have an impact on both the country's economies, in terms of markets, tourists, efforts reduction of poverty and migration.

READ | If India Can Resolve Disputes With B'desh, Why Not Us, Asks Nepali Foreign Minister

He further said that demonetization does not pose as a problem in the trade anymore. The border trade is smooth now, claimed DR Yuba.

Referring to the border dispute, between India and Nepal, he said: "Border issues are longstanding issues. We can politically resolve the issues and we have been solving our border-related disputes by amicable discussions. I don't think that should be an impediment to our deep bilateral relation."

READ | Nepal SC Asks Govt To Furnish Country's Historical Map Relating To Kalapani Border Issue

(With inputs from ANI)
President of Brazil, Jair Messias Bolsonaro on Saturday paid floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat in New Delhi.

Union Minister V Muraleedharan also accompanied him for paying tributes at the final resting place of Gandhi.

Earlier in the day, Bolsonaro had received a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Saturday.

Bolsonaro, who will be the Chief Guest for this year's Republic Day parade was received by President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi upon his arrival at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Earlier in the day, he had met with External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar in New Delhi.

The visit of the Brazilian President is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations in the fields of agriculture, energy, and defence.

Bolsonaro was is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising several ministers, senior officials, chairman of Brazil-India Friendship Group in the Brazilian Parliament, and businessmen.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
There was a time when you probably wouldn't even think of Netflix when discussing films that should be in The Criterion Collection. Now, the streaming giant has announced that four of its originals will be part of the film archive. The Irishman and Marriage Story are two of four, which doesn't exactly come as a surprise: the films are nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, and the latter's lead actors (Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson) are also up for the best actor and actress awards.

The supernatural romantic drama Atlantics -- a horror film that's also a social commentary -- will be added to the collection, as well. It was one of the films Netflix purchased at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix. Finally, the Criterion Collection is also adding the documentary film American Factory about a Chinese company opening a factory in Ohio. It was the first film produced by Barack Obama's and Michelle Obama's production outfit, and it premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

Netflix didn't say when the originals will become part of the archive, only that they'll officially be added to the collection later this year.
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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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may have stepped back from royal life, but that doesnt mean theyve left the royal family.

So, when it comes to the thorny question of their security, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are likely to receive the exact same level of diplomatic protection as any other royal, regardless of whether or not they are active members, says Mark Stephens from London law firm Howard Kennedy.

If you take the Dutch royal family for example, where a number of them work  the King is an airline pilot  they still have diplomatic immunity because of their status as a member of the royal family, says Stephens.

The same is the case in the Middle East  Saudi Arabia or Kuwait or the UAE. So its perfectly normal. There are no exceptions for Harry and Meghan.

If the line of royal succession follows its current path, then Prince Harry will one day become both the son of and the brother to the King of England. So, his security needs  and that of Meghan and 8-month old son Archie  are only going to become more crucial.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry | DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/POOL/AFP via Getty

If theyre covered by either the Canadian or British security services, they will also have the intelligence attached which comes with that, explains Stephens. If you employ a private security firm, they wont have the intelligence which is necessary to provide effective close protection.

So, they are clearly going to get that, whatever grumblings there may be from people who are concerned about it being paid. Its all being paid for at the moment and it doesnt change by virtue of them stepping back.

As for the even trickier question of whos going to pick up Harry and Meghans security tab, Stephens suggests its likely to come from the same place it always has: the British taxpayer.

We pay for the security of ex-politicians and government ministers who have two days in the job, so it is perfectly reasonable for a lifelong member of the royal family to have security, he adds. And I think the [U.K.] government will feel like that.

Story continues

Cant get enough of PEOPLEs Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!

This will likely come as a relief to the Canadian public  73% of whom believe that Harry and Meghan should pay their own costs in a recent Angus Reid survey.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry | Samir Hussein/WireImage

Earlier this week The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) also delivered an 80,000-signature petition to the office of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau requesting that Canadian taxpayers dont pick up Harry and Meghans multi-million dollar security bill.

Canadians are pleased to welcome the Duke and Duchess to Canada, but have made it crystal clear that taxpayers should not be forced to support them while they are living here, says CTF director Aaron Wudrick in a release. The Queen has made clear that British taxpayers will no longer be supporting the Duke and Duchess. Prime Minister Trudeau owes it to ensure Canadian taxpayers receive similar respect.
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All five people tested in Scotland for coronavirus are clear of the infection, the government has said (Steve Parsons/PA)

The five people suspected of having coronavirus in Scotland have tested negative, the Scottish Government has said.

On Thursday, five patients were confirmed as being tested for the infection, but ministers have now announced they have been given the all-clear.

Across the UK, test results for 31 suspected cases have come back negative, with no confirmed cases of the potentially fatal infection.

All the people tested in the UK are believed to have visited Wuhan  the Chinese city where the outbreak originated.

The UK Government is advising that the risk to the public remains low, although Health Protection Scotland has urged travellers returning from Wuhan who become unwell within a fortnight from a sore throat, cough or breathing difficulties to call their GP or NHS 24.

We have released an update on Wuhan novel #coronavirus. There are no confirmed cases of the virus in Scotland, and the risk to the public remains low.



Read our latest update  https://t.co/sWRk9PJ0PU



View Health Protection Scotland's latest advice  https://t.co/lhLWEeCJuj pic.twitter.com/HEPuCnLoTo  Scottish Government (@scotgov) January 24, 2020

Scotlands Chief Medical Officer Catherine Calderwood said on Friday: Scotland is well prepared for these types of outbreaks  we have a proven track record of dealing with challenging health issues and the UK was one of the first countries in the world to develop a test for the new virus.

I am being kept fully informed about the precautionary steps being taken, including timely updates on the patients who are currently being tested.
Police are looking for two men who witnesses said ran east after the shots were fired. Investigators believe the incident may have stemmed from a dispute and was not random.
Toronto, Jan 26 : The Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations (CTCCO) launched a drive on Saturday to raise donations for the Chinese city of Wuhan to prevent cross-infection and curb the spreading of the novel coronavirus-related pneumonia.

CTCCO Chairman Wen Guoning told the Xinhua news agency that CTCCO will set up donation boxes at shopping centres in Toronto area Saturday evening.

Nearly 50,000 Canadian dollars (about $38,000) were raised till Saturday afternoon.

The donated money will be used to purchase necessary supplies for epidemic prevention, which will be sent to China as soon as possible, he said.

Hospitals in Wuhan, the central Chinese city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, are calling on public support for protective supplies such as masks and suits, as supplies run low and the number of cases grows daily.

Chinese health authorities announced Saturday that 1,287 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), including 237 in critical condition, had been reported in the country by the end of Friday.

The pneumonia situation had resulted in 41 deaths.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-26 05:52:51|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DAMASCUS, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army seems determined to capture rebel-held areas in Idlib and Aleppo provinces in northern Syria, with two official statements released Saturday regarding such intention.

The Syrian army said in a statement on Saturday evening that it's determined to put an end to the "violations" of the rebels of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and allied militant groups in Aleppo and Idlib.

It charged that the Nusra Front and like-minded groups are targeting residential areas in Aleppo and de-escalation zones in Idlib, noting that the Syrian military assault will not stop at responding to the attacks and violations, but it will continue until fully eradicating the terrorist groups.

The rebels' attacks are spreading "death, destruction and fear" among civilians, "which is not allowed to continue," the statement read.

"The lives of the innocent civilians are trusted to the Syrian army, which is determined to put a final end to the repeated violations of the rebels that are hindering the return of normal life to areas in Aleppo and Idlib," the statement added.

Earlier in the day, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said that the military operation of the Syrian army will continue in rebel-held areas in the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib provinces in northern Syria.

The military operation against the rebels in Aleppo and Idlib comes as part of the Syrian forces' retaliation against the shelling of the rebels on residential areas, including that in Aleppo where 23 people have been killed over a week, said the ministry.

The ministry said the Syrian military campaign is "precise and studied" and comes to respond to the "calls of the civilians" who are being struck by the rebels in Aleppo and Idlib.

It said the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front is still preventing civilians from leaving through the three humanitarian corridors set up by the Russian and Syrian forces in Aleppo and Idlib recently.

Earlier in the day, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said intense battles are taking place in the countryside of Idlib province in northwestern Syria and the countryside of Aleppo province in the north.

The battles are part of the offensive launched by the Syrian army in the southern and southeastern countryside of Idlib and the western countryside of Aleppo, according to the observatory.

The UK-based watchdog said the Syrian army advanced toward the city of Maarat al-Numan in southern Idlib amid airstrikes and shelling on rebel positions.

The army forces are three kilometers away from the city, which is crucial in securing the stretch of the main road between Hama and Aleppo through Idlib.

The progress on Saturday comes two days after the rebels in Idlib launched a massive counter-offensive against the government forces in southern Idlib, during which they reportedly captured several points and pushed the army to redeploy.

Meanwhile, the observatory said that civilians continued to leave their areas in the western and southwestern countryside of Aleppo as a result of the military showdown.

It noted that more than 90,000 people have so far left their areas in western Aleppo over the past 11 days amid the escalation in the military campaign.

The Syrian army has been prioritizing capturing areas in Aleppo and Idlib as part of the effort to secure the entire road connecting the capital Damascus in the south with Aleppo in the north.
A Harris County deputy constable exchanged gunfire with a suspect in a domestic disturbance Friday night, though no one was injured or struck by bullets, authorities said.

The Precinct 4 deputy was responding to the call in the 1400 block of Hatchmere Place, Constable Mark Herman said on Twitter.
Nigerian actor, Adeniyi Johnson opened up about he got nervous when Funke Akindele told him to kiss Mercy Aigbe in the movie, The Return of Jenifa.

Mercy Aigbe recently had a birthday bash and a video of the celebration was uploaded on her YouTube channel.

In the video, Johnson narrated how the mother of two contributed to the success of his acting career.

In his words,

My name is Adeniyi Johnson but the name would not have been If I had not met Mercy Aigbe. Over time, there have been a lot of misconceptions about how I rose to become a star. Few people that are close to me, know my source. I am never shy to be affiliated with the name, Mercy Aigbe. I had attended an audition for the movie, The Return of Jenifa. Luckily for me, I was picked. I was told I would be acting with Mercy Aigbe, even though I was an up and coming actor. When I got on set, Funke

Akindele told me I would be kissing Mercy Aigbe. I felt she wasnt supposed to tell me, because acting with her alone gave me tension, let alone kissing her.

Read Also: Is Your Brother Dead?  Kcee Blasts Troll Who Tried To Slam Him

The estranged husband of Toyin Abraham added that he had to check if his breath didnt smell.

I had to check my breath every now and then. She (Aigbe) acted the role of my girlfriend in The Return of Jenifa. I think she saw what other people didnt see in me. She told me I did well. The first sub-lead I ever played was given to me by Mercy Aigbe. I would continue to make you proud. Thank you for allowing God to use you for me, he added.
BERLINSix people were killed and another two wounded in a shooting in the southwestern German town of Rot am See on Friday, police said. The suspects parents were among the dead and the other victims also were believed to be relatives.

A man called police shortly after 12:45 p.m. (local time) and told them he had killed several people, regional police chief Reiner Moeller said at a news conference.

Police kept the man on the line and, when they arrived at the scene several minutes later, arrested a 26-year-old German national as the suspect in the slayings, Moeller said.

Officers found the bodies of six peoplethree women and three men, ages 36 to 69in and behind a building where a bar is located.

Another two people were hurt, and one of them has life-threatening injuries, Moeller said. The suspect also threatened two children, ages 12 and 14.

The suspect had a license to own firearms as a shooting club member, Moeller said. Authorities believe he used a semi-automatic pistol.

We cant say anything so far about the motive, he said. Because of the victims and the wounded, we believe it was a family drama, since according to what we know at present all were related to each other.

The suspects mother and father were among the dead, the police chief said. Police were working to clear up how the others were related.

They planned to question the suspect and were waiting for his lawyer.

Rot am See is located about 170 kilometers (105 miles) northwest of Munich. It is a town of some 5,300 people in a rural area of Baden-Wuerttemberg state.
The recently launched OPPO F15 is going on sale starting today in India. OPPOs latest design marvel, OPPO F15 comes in a sleek design at just 7.9mm thick and weighs only 172gms. The new powerhouse by OPPO comes with a laser light-reflective back cover which adds to the overall aesthetics of the OPPO F15. Equipped with a 48MP Ultra Wide-Angle Macro Quadcam, OPPO F15 is the ideal smartphone for consumers who like to Flaunt their style.

OPPO F15 stands out for its minimalistic light-weight design, 48MP Ultra Wide-Angle Macro Quadcam, VOOC 3.0 Flash charge and Fingerprint Unlock 3.0 all packed in a sleek 7.9 mm thick Polycarbonate body. Taking the legacy forward of the well-appreciated F series, OPPO F15s Ultra Wide-Angle Macro Quad Camera delivers superior shots. Using its four-in-one-pixel combination technology, its 48MP rear camera sensors are designed to capture sharper images with greater detail. The Wide-Angle mode allows users to directly autofocus using the Macro lens and get clear pictures of objects as close as 3cm. At the front, OPPO F15 features a 16MP selfie camera with a f/ 2.0 aperture. The latest algorithm behind the AI Video Beautification feature applied both at the front and back cameras, provides a customized analysis of every face. OPPO F15 is available in an 8+128GB storage variant for superior performance and will be sporting two exciting colours Lightening Black and Unicorn White which is inspired by the reflection of sunlight on water. The smartphone supports VOOC 3.0 flash charge backed by a massive 4000 mAh battery for an uninterrupted user experience. The 6.4inch Full HD AMOLED screen in OPPO F15 comes with 5th Generation Corning Gorilla Glass.

OPPO F15 is equipped with an MTK P70 processor which ensures a spectacular lag-free gaming experience along with enhanced camera capabilities.

Starting today till 31st January 2020, customers can avail Zero Down payment EMI options on Bajaj Finserv and get 10% cashback on HDFC Debit/Credit Cards EMI and Consumer Loans. ICICI Bank Debit/Credit Cards holders and YesBank Credit cardholders can avail 5% cashback on EMI Transactions. Also, the company is offering one time screen replacement starting today till 26th January, 2020. Customers can also avail exciting EMI options from Home Credit, IDFC First Bank, and HDB Financial Services. Jio customers can enjoy a 100% additional data plan with OPPO F15.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Widespread corruption remains to be an impediment to economic and social development in countries throughout Latin America. This week, Transparency International released their latest corruption index, which measures the perception of corruption in different countries around the globe, according to an article by Forbes.

The index considered the perception of public sector organizations, experts and business people in determining which countries are most corrupt. The year's Index has drawn on 13 surveys and expert assessments to measure public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories, giving each a score from zero as 'highly corrupt' to 100 as 'very clean.'

This year's result indicates that corruption is more pervasive in countries where big money can flow freely during electoral campaigns and where governments fails to listen to the voices of the masses and only to those in the upper-class society.

Latin America garnered an average score of 43 for the fourth consecutive year on the CPI which indicates the region's failure to make significant progress in the combat corruption. The report emphasized the countries' ranking is affected by the challenges such as political leaders acting in their own self-interest at the expense of the citizens they serve and political party financing which compromises electoral integrity.

Among the Latin American countries, Uruguay and Chile stand out as the region's least corrupt countries. While many countries in the region are working to increase transparency, implement new money laundering controls, and equip their police and court systems with the tools necessary to investigate and prosecute political corruption, most of the region performed quite poorly.

Here are the most corrupt countries in Latin America, according to the CPI:

1: Venezuela:

2: Haiti

3: Nicaragua

4: Guatemala and Honduras (tie)

5: Paraguay and the Dominican Republic (tie)

6. Mexico

7. Bolivia

8. El Salvador

9. Brazil

The recent Global Corruption Barometer highlighted vote-buying and other corruption issues in Mexico. However, there are positive changes in the country such as the recent anti-corruption reform, along with a new, legally autonomous attorney general's office.

Meanwhile in Nicaragua, social unrest and human rights violations continue to increase. Moreover, the country lacks public services and consultative decision-making.

The Index further shows that Brazil remains stagnant in the corruption index. This is due to the series of setbacks to its legal and institutional anti-corruption frameworks and difficulties in advancing wide-ranging reforms to its political system. There is a growing political interference with President Bolsonaro's anti-corruption institutions. For instance, Brazil's Supreme Court injunction virtually paralyzed its anti-money laundering system. In addition, congressional approval of legislation threatens the independence of law enforcement agents and the accountability of political parties.

Delia Ferreira Rubio, chairperson of Transparency International stressed the urgency of the situation that governments must act upon immediately.

"Governments must urgently address the corrupting role of big money in political party financing and the undue influence it exerts on our political systems," she said.

The Corruption Perceptions Index was launched in 1995 as Transparency International's flagship research product. Since then, it has become the leading global indicator of public sector corruption, offering an annual snapshot of the relative degree of corruption by ranking countries and territories from all over the globe. In 2012, Transparency International revised the methodology used to construct the index to allow annual score comparison.
Even though Meghan Markle has stepped back as a senior royal member of the rivalry, there is still going to be a rivalry between her and Kate Middleton wherever they go -- even on social media.

Early this week, the Duchess of Cambridge promoted her initiative "5 Big Questions." She posted a series of photos on Instagram showing her visiting the organization as part of her child and welfare campaign, which also includes Ely and Caerau Children's Center.

According to the caption, the campaign "aims to spark the biggest every conversation on early childhood that will ultimately help bring about positive, lasting change for generations to come."

However, the Duchess of Sussex also made a surprise post on Instagram that same Wednesday, promoting her prior visit to an animal charity in the U.K. even though she already fled the country two weeks ago.

Her caption reads, "The Duchess of Sussex popped in to see the amazing people at Mayhew to hear about the incredible progress made throughout the festive period."

Page Six reported that Meghan's Instagram post "dismayed courtiers at Buckingham Palace" because it was shared right after Kate uploaded hers.

Comments on Meghan Markle's Instagram post were mixed, and in a few hours, the photo already has 300,000 likes.

One person said, "2-week old photos and you post on the day Catherine is launching an initiative? Very very insecure and sad."

Another royal watcher said, "You can't just help yourself can you Meghan? The Duchess of Cambridge is on the front page of UK newspapers, and you have to release a photo from 2 weeks ago."

"Meghan, you need to calm down and leave. It's ridiculous," one commented.

"Trying to steal Kate's thunder again," another royal watcher said.

The London Times said that Meghan's post on her shared Instagram account with Prince Harry is said to be the "latest clash of campaigns by the Sussexes and other members of the royal family."

It was also noticed that the Sussexes now have more than 11 million followers on the social media platform, overtaking the Cambridge' followers for the first time in history.

In another Page Six report, Prince Harry and Meghan and Prince William and Kate are long rumoured to be feuding -- with many of their insiders believing it sparked the infamous Megxit.

However, that is not the only the time Meghan tried to upstage her sister-in-law.

The bombshell that rocked the british royal family this month was announced the night before the Duchess of Cambridge's 38th birthday.

In their statement, they said they want to be "financially independent" as they carve out a "progressive new role.

Another time Meghan tried to compete with Kate is during the damaging ITV documentary of the Sussexes' which aired last October. It was the worst timing for Kate and Prince William who had just returned from a royal tour of Pakistan.

In the documentary, Meghan hinted that she was not happy being a royal after claiming that she and her husband were "existing and not living."

While the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's 10-day Africa tour started on September, their documentary did not air until October. It completely stole away the spotlight on Kate and Prince William's importan Pakistan royal tour.

The Evening Standard said, "This move has certainly overshadowed the Pakistan visit and what has been achieved during the last few days, as well as a lot of work by an awful lot of dedicated people."
President Donald Trump personal lawyer Jay Sekulow addresses the impeachment trial in the Senate (Senate Television via AP)

Donald Trumps lawyers have opened their impeachment trial defence by asserting the president did absolutely nothing wrong when he asked Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden.

Pressing the Republican-led Senate chamber to acquit Mr Trump of charges that he abused his power and obstructed Congress, his lawyers accused Democratic prosecutors of omitting key evidence when they presented their case.

Mr Trumps legal team plan an aggressive, wide-ranging defence asserting an expansive view of presidential powers and portraying him as besieged by political opponents determined to undo the result of the 2016 election and ensure he will not be re-elected this November.

Expand Close President Donald Trump, and his legal team, insists he did nothing wrong (Alex Brandon/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp President Donald Trump, and his legal team, insists he did nothing wrong (Alex Brandon/AP)

Theyre here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history, White House counsel Pat Cipollone told senators. And we cant allow that to happen.

Theyre asking you not only to overturn the results of the last election, but as Ive said before, theyre asking you to remove President Trump from an election thats occurring in approximately nine months.

Theyre asking you to tear up all the ballots across this country on their own initiative, take that decision away from the American people.

Mr Trumps lawyers also aim to put Mr Biden on the defensive as he campaigns for the Democrat presidential nomination.

From the White House, Mr Trump tweeted: Any fair minded person watching the Senate trial today would be able to see how unfairly I have been treated and that this is indeed the totally partisan Impeachment Hoax that EVERYBODY, including the Democrats, truly knows it is.

The opening of the defences case comes after a three-day presentation by House Democrats.

As they wrapped up on Friday, they asserted Mr Trump will persist in abusing his power and endangering American democracy unless Congress intervenes to remove him before the 2020 election.

They also implored Republicans to allow new testimony to be heard before senators render a final verdict.

Adam Schiff, the lead Democratic impeachment manager, urged: Give America a fair trial. Shes worth it.

Expand Close Adam Schiff wrapped up the Democrat case on Friday (Scott Applewhite/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Adam Schiff wrapped up the Democrat case on Friday (Scott Applewhite/AP)

Mr Schiff closed Democrats case after methodical and impassioned arguments detailing charges that Mr Trump abused his power by asking Ukraine for politically-motivated probes of political rivals, then obstructed the Congress investigation into the matter.

Mr Trumps lawyers contend he was within his rights as president when he asked Ukraine for the investigation.

Defence lawyers are expected to press the argument that Mr Trump is a victim not only of Democratic outrage but also of overzealous agents and prosecutors.

In response to allegations that he invited foreign interference, they have already argued it was no different from the Hillary Clinton campaigns use of a former British spy to gather opposition research on Mr Trump in 2016.

Expand Close White House counsel began their case on Saturday, and will continue on Monday (Senate Television via AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp White House counsel began their case on Saturday, and will continue on Monday (Senate Television via AP)

Acquittal is likely, given that Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and a two-thirds vote would be required for conviction.

Mr Trumps team began their legal arguments on Saturday but only a short hearing was planned, and they will continue their case on Monday.

The president is being tried in the Senate after the House impeached him last month on charges he abused his office by asking Ukraine for the probes at the same time the administration withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid.

The second article of impeachment against Mr Trump accuses him of obstructing Congress by refusing to turn over documents or allow officials to testify in the House probe.
Hearts of Winter (Hallmark at 8) An interior designer brings new life to the house of a widower and his daughter and finds love in the process.
Deputy Nationals Leader Bridget McKenzie has bought a $2 million property in one of Melbourne's swankiest suburbs raising questions about her commitment to rural and regional Australia.

Records show Senator McKenzie, who styles herself as a gun-toting champion of the bush, settled on a near-beachfront two-bedroom cottage in Middle Park in the lower house seat of Macnamara this month. It is her second Melbourne property purchase.

Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie is under pressure over her handling of a $100 million sports grants program. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Senator McKenzie's internal enemies nicknamed her the "Senator for Elwood" when it emerged she was living in Melbourne and not the bush, which the Nationals claim to represent.

Her parliamentary register now lists her Elwood property as an investment that she rents out. Her office said she lives in Wodonga. Confirmation was sought as to how long the Senator has been living there.
Duhar will stay under the house arrest from 8:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m.

The court has changed the restrictive measure for Yana Duhar, the suspect in the case of murder of journalist Pavlo Sheremet as 112 Ukraine correspondent reported.

According to the decision of the court, Duhar will stay under the house arrest from 8:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. She will be able to work and serve in the military unit at other time.

The lawyers asked to release her under a personal commitment; they appealed by the fact that Yana Duhar studies and she is on the military service and earn money in such a way and cannot stay under the house arrest, the message said.

The prosecutors noted that Yana Duhar cannot be released under a personal commitment because she married a citizen of Iraq in 2015 and can escape abroad. Moreover, the law enforcers said that the suspect may influence the witnesses.

As we reported, National police detained the persons of interests in case of the murder of journalist Pavlo Sheremet. They are also notified of suspicion.

Totally, there are five main suspects in the murder of the journalist.

Kyiv Pechersk District Court chose a preventive measure for Yulia Kuzmenko in the form of the detention for two months.

Pechersk district court of Kyiv chose the restrictive measure in the form of the 24-hour house arrest for military nurse Yana Duhar.

Andriy Antonenko was also arrested for two months.

Ukrainian journalist Pavlo Sheremet was killed in Kyiv in the morning of July 20, 2016. His car exploded in the citys downtown. The vehicle belonged to his civilian wife, Editor-in-Chief of Ukrainska Pravda outlet Olena Prytula; she was not in the car at the moment. The Ukrainian police qualified the explosion as intentional homicide. Then Ukraines Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko assumed the murder could be the part of some greater plan, perhaps designed by the Kremlin. The key version of Sheremets murder was his professional activity.
Editor's note: This classic Answer Man column first ran Nov. 28, 2014.

Dear Answer Man, here's a question I'd love to have answered. My son recently got his flu vaccination through the Rochester Public Schools, administered by Mayo Clinic. The bill came to $67.17 after a $7.46 reduction listed as a contractual adjustment.

Walgreens offers a flu vaccination for $34.99.

How can a for-profit business, administering these shots on a catch-as-catch-can basis, do so at half the price of a nonprofit/government collaboration, administered en masse?  Responsible Father

There are several angles on this, including the clinic's cost for providing services off-site. Also, to be fair, I'm quite sure that Olmsted Medical Center has been involved in the school program as well. While the school vaccinations might not be the cheapest, they're convenient, and it's important to get kids vaccinated.

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For the record, I called Walgreens to confirm the price, and the pharmacist said many of their customers have insurance that pays the full cost or has a co-pay typically up to $25. So the Responsible Father above needs to check his insurance plan. Also, shop around  I've seen flu shots advertised for less than $34.99.

Dear Answer Man, here's a stumper: Have you ever been to Plowville?  D.D.

Hasn't everyone been to Plowville? Yes, of course, I've seen the Plowville marker on Dodge County Road 34 west of Kasson. It marks the spot where the first National Soil Conservation District Field Day and Plow Matches were held, on Sept. 6, 1952.

That might not seem like an event of great national significance, but it attracted the two candidates for president that year, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson, which I think is amazing. Nowadays, the only way you see presidential candidates together is in perfectly controlled TV debates, but that day in 1952, you had the Republican general and the Democratic U.S. senator roaming a farm field between Kasson and Dodge Center.

The purpose of the event was to promote soil conservation, after the devastation of the Dust Bowl days. The legacy of the New Deal conservation efforts are the more than 3,000 conservation districts that cover most of the private land in the United States.

According to the historic marker along County Road 34, the event attracted about 125,000 people. If true, that's just about everyone who lived in the immediate area in those days  Dodge County had about 12,000 residents in 1950.

There must be some photos of that event, but I don't see them in the PB's archives or online. If you have pics of Ike and Adlai on the farm in 1952, please share and they'll be preserved here for posterity.

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Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) - The Mauritanian government Thursday gave reassurances about the countrys medicines coverage against certain practices attributed to private pharmacies, an official source told PANA here
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Thurstons luck began to change in 1871 as William Morris was made a judge and left his job as justice of the peace to him. Immediately Thurston was elected to the Omaha City Council, becoming its acting president and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which in turn led to his appointment as police judge at a $2,500 annual salary. The following year Thurston married Martha Poland, then, in 1873, resigned as justice of the peace to form the law firm of Thurston & Brown.

In 1874, Thurston was appointed Omahas city attorney and in 1875 he was elected to the Nebraska Legislature and was nominated as Nebraskas district judge for the Third District. With the retirement of A.J. Poppleton, Thurston became general counsel for the Union Pacific Railroad and was made one of nine directors of the Omaha Public Library.

Perhaps Thurstons greatest local notoriety came in 1877 when I.P. Print Olive was indicted for killing three men in Custer County in what was known as the Great Burning Man Case. The Nebraska Legislature appointed Thurston as counsel for the prosecution. By 1882 Thurston was known as one of the most successful trial lawyers in Nebraska.
Dedicated volunteers ready to make a positive impact on the park Subscribe | What is RSS News Release Date: January 21, 2020

January 21, 2020 Contact: Joe Zagorski, 423-346-6294 Contact: Matt Hudson, matt_hudson@nps.gov Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning and Obed Wild & Scenic River will be hosting the annual Cumberland Trail work day on Saturday, February 15.



Volunteers should meet at the Rock Creek Campground, located just off of Catoosa Road in Morgan County, at 10:00 AM (ET). Trail maintenance will be performed on the 2.5-mile section of the Cumberland Trail between Rock Creek Campground and Alley Ford. Work will concentrate on routine trail maintenance such as cleaning out clogged water bars, removing down logs and limbs, cutting back brush along the trail and establishing the original trail base in some areas. The event is expected to conclude around 3:00 PM (ET).



Participants should wear sturdy shoes or boots and bring work gloves, shovels, loppers, clippers, and small bow saws or folding saws.



Volunteers should bring clothing appropriate for weather conditions, and plenty of water, snacks, and a lunch. Also sunscreen and bug spray may be needed. In the event of bad weather this work day will be rescheduled.



For updates call the park visitor center at (423) 346-6294, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter at @ObedNPS.




President Donald Trump's legal team is expected to continue presenting its defense on Monday in the ongoing impeachment trial.



Trump's defense team spent two hours offering remarks Saturday and has been allotted 24 hours over the course of three days to present the president's case, the same amount of time as House impeachment managers had to make their opening arguments, which they began giving on Wednesday.

White House counsel Pat Cippollone began his opening remarks by arguing that House managers have not met their burden of proof.

"You've heard the House managers speak for nearly 24 hours over three days," he said. "We don't anticipate using that much time. We don't believe that they have come anywhere close to meeting their burden for what they're asking you to do."

"The president did absolutely nothing wrong," Cipollone added.

In closing, Cipollone asked the audience of Senate jurors to "think about whether what you've heard would really suggest to anybody anything other than what would be completely irresponsible abuse of power to do what they're asking you to do."

"To stop an election, to interfere in an election and remove the president of the United States from the ballot? Let the people decide for themselves," he said.

Senators sat through through several long days of testimony from Democratic House managers, who serve as the prosecutors.

The president is being tried in the Senate after the House impeached him last month on charges he abused his office by asking Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, Trump's potential 2020 election rival, and other Democrats at the same time the administration withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid.

The second article of impeachment against Trump accuses him of obstructing Congress by refusing to turn over documents or allow officials to testify in the House probe.

As House managers wrapped up on Friday, they asserted that Trump will persist in abusing his power and endangering American democracy unless Congress intervenes to remove him before the 2020 election. They also implored Republicans to allow new testimony to be heard before senators render a final verdict.

Give America a fair trial, said California Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead Democratic impeachment manager. Shes worth it.

Following Saturday's arguments, Schiff tweeted that President Trump's legal team is "trying to deflect, distract from, and distort the truth."

After the presentation of Trump's case, Senators will have an opportunity to submit written questions to both sides.



Republican senators say they discussed the plan for the 16-hour Q&A session of the trial during their conference lunch Friday.

A member of leadership in each caucus will likely review questions before sending them to presiding Chief Justice John Roberts to read during the trial.

If there are similar questions from multiple senators, they will likely be combined into one question. Senators' names will be attached to their questions when they are read.

If a super-majority of senators, 67 of the 100, approve an article of impeachment with a vote of guilty, the president would be convicted and removed from office.

It takes just 51 votes during the trial to approve rules, call witnesses or dismiss the charges. Republicans control the chamber, 53-47.

The Associated Press and CNN contributed to this report.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 08:53:12|Editor: Lu Hui

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KATHMANDU, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- A Nepali student studying in China has been found infected with the new coronavirus, an official of Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population has said.

"It is the first confirmed case of infection from the deadly virus," Dr. Hemanta Chandra Ojha, chief of Zoonotic and Other Communicable Disease Control Section at Epidemiology and Disease Control Division under the Ministry, told Xinhua on Friday.

He said that the patient who had come to Nepal from Wuhan, China was tested positive during a specimen test at the laboratory of the World Health Organization in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China. "We had received the confirmation on Thursday evening," he said.

The man infected with the virus had come to Nepal on Jan. 5 from China and visited the hospital complaining about respiratory problem on Jan. 13. After his condition was improved following medication, he was discharged last week.
Vigil held for killing of Christopher DeAndre Mitchell

The family of Christopher DeAndre Mitchell held a candlelight vigil with Black Lives Matter to commemorate the first anniversary of his shooting death by officers from the Torrance Police Department.

Mitchell was killed on Dec. 9th, 2018, during an officer-involved shooting in a Torrance when officers responded to a call about a stolen vehicle. Authorities said he was armed with a rifle and in a stolen vehicle. Police later clarified the alleged rifle was a toy air rifle. The family feels the police already had in their minds they wanted to shoot Mitchell because within fifteen seconds of making contact with him, they were already shooting. When viewing the video you can see Mitchell had his hands up, complying with the officers.

The officers involved in the shooting have been exonerated. Black Lives Matter members, family and supporters at the vigil feel the justice system is once again protecting officers wrongdoing.

The mother of Mitchell, Sherlyn Haynes, is still deeply hurt by the situation, and the justice system isnt doing anything about her son being killed unarmed. Haynes said, Im extremely hurt. I miss my son so much. Im demanding justice, and Im demanding these officers be put in jail. They murdered Christopher within 15 seconds. He had his hands up, and they shot him through his hands. He automatically assumed my son gang bangs, and he doesnt.

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District Attorney Jackie Lacey has not prosecuted the shooting officers. They are still patrolling the streets every day.

The family of Mitchell and Black Lives Matter is fighting every day to see that officers get prison time. Haynes also said, This is what Jackie Lacey does. She doesnt prosecute officers. She lets them get away with murder. Living without Christopher has been so hard for me.

The family attorney Peter Carr said, Sherlyn is one of the strongest people I know. She has endured so much. Unfortunately, were here a year from now, and the city of Torrance still hasnt given us any information regarding the shooting. They have disregarded the law. It is sickening that law enforcement can take a persons life and get away with it.

Black Lives Matter representative Sheila Bates said, We are asking that the officers be fired from the police department. We are pushing for D.A. Jackie Lacey to file charges, although she has decided not to file charges. Also, we are demanding that Torrance city council create an oversight commission of the police department to hold these officers accountable. Weve learned that the two things that are most likely to prevent and stop these murders are the officers being accountable and limit interactions with the police.

The court system waited eight months before they released the names of the shooting officers (Matthew Concannon, Anthony Chavez.) Haynes said, Heartless, racist, murderous cops from Torrance, they dont need to be on the streets because they are armed and dangerous. I believe if they are on the street any longer, they are going to keep murdering our kids.

The family feels the death of Mitchell is being swept under the rug. His case has no significant media coverage, so the system can get away with no justice for the family. This shooting was no different than Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and the many other unarmed killing of black people in the country. Officers involved got promoted months later after they killed Mitchell. Bates said, The officers got awards and were given raises. This is Jackie Laceys legacy; this is what she does. Almost 600 people in LA county were murdered while in police custody and she has filed charges against one of them. And that was only after BLM led by the family have been out in front of D.A. Jackie Laceys office for over a year. Dont vote for Jackie Lacey in 2020.

Haynes is pushing everybody to get involved before it happens to your child. I think everybody should start protesting and fighting so Jackie Lacey wont be re-elected. Everybody has to be aware of whats going on and pay attention. Please dont wait until it happens to your family. Get it involved now. Dont wait. Everybody needs to learn that Jackie Lacey is letting officers get away with murder.
An early warning system for bad bank loans is taking effect this year. Beware false alarms.

U.S. banks are starting to book provisions for potential loan losses under a new system regulators devised eight years ago to avoid the kind of catastrophic surprise that caught the industry and regulators off guard during the financial crisis. The idea is to force banks to boost reserves based on models that factor in the economy, rather than wait for loan payments to stop.

But mighty swings in estimated loan losses in recent years show how the system also has the potential to raise concerns prematurely or to even send mixed signals. When the rule, known in the industry as CECL, was initially written in 2012, regulators and analysts estimated the provision increase for the four largest U.S. banks would be $56 billion. Last week, banks said it's a mere $10 billion.

That $46 billion gap at JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo . shows how economic shifts and the lenders' assumptions can have a significant impact on estimates -- a level of discretion that could allow executives to delay higher reserves or set off a surge in provisions if they are too conservative heading into the next economic slump. It's also possible assumptions will diverge among firms, leading to confusion.

"We expect higher volatility in provisions under the new rule," Maria Mazilu, an accounting analyst at Moody's Investors Service, said in an interview. "We will only find out how good the models at predicting losses are in the next downturn though."

The rule was prompted by widespread criticism of global banks for being too slow to recognize potential loan losses heading into the 2008 crisis. It's meant to alert shareholders earlier to any brewing trouble by essentially amplifying expected loan losses based on the stages of the economic cycle.

When it was first proposed, the U.S. was still climbing out of the worst recession since the Great Depression, and projections were grim. Banks have reshaped their lending books over the years. And today, after a long run of economic growth, few in finance are expecting a downturn soon, leaving reserves far lower. Yet all that could change anew when the economy starts heading south.

The old rule allowed less discretion: Banks set aside provisions when borrowers stopped making payments. The new rule requires lenders to model losses from the day a loan is made. Because that standard gives so much more discretion to banks' internal models, it will decrease comparability among peers, Moody's has warned.

But if the rule works as envisioned, big banks will head into the next bout of turmoil with larger loan-loss reserves -- a buffer in addition to their underlying capital, which has also been increased by post-crisis regulations.

Bank regulators gave firms up to four years to absorb the initial impact on their capital from the accounting rule change. But regulators stopped short of reducing capital requirements to balance out the jump in reserves. That means when reserves do rise further on the risk of a downturn, big banks would need to replenish capital eroded by the hit to earnings.

"If you're not overcapitalized, then CECL's impact on reserves will be higher capital," said Warren Kornfeld, an analyst at Moody's covering consumer finance companies. "Reserves will go up by x, but capital won't be allowed to go down by x."

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup noted while posting earnings last week that initial implementation will reduce their capital by about 0.2 percentage points.

Wells Fargo lowered its loan-loss provisions because the new rule allowed the bank to write up the value of some collateral backing soured loans. The company didn't say how much positive impact the reduction would have on its capital.

Smaller banks also have expressed concern about the volatility CECL may cause. And because they lack resources to handle projections internally, some have noted the risk of relying on models and economic forecasts from third parties, such as Moody's. Community banks and credit unions were given a reprieve last year when their deadline for compliance was extended to 2023. But mid-size banks like Wintrust Financial Corp., Illinois's biggest publicly traded bank, weren't included.

"CECL is going to be all over the board on this," that bank's chief executive officer, Ed Wehmer, said on his company's earnings call this week. "And if the guy at Moody's has a bad day or a hangover or his hemorrhoids act up, he could take the banking business down because everybody's basically using Moody's baseline as their basis for this."
As the group was finishing up the scarf distribution and boarding the buses for Catholic Charities, Coci said, one of the students found a $5 bill on the ground. She asked if she could cross the DuSable Bridge to the south and give it to a homeless man she had just talked to, but the buses needed to leave and Coci encouraged her to hang onto it and donate it to someone at Catholic Charities.
Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

As a coronavirus outbreak unfolds in China, Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping convened a meeting with top officials on Saturday to issue orders that he hopes will contain and reverse the epidemic. He called the virus spread a grave situation and called for a blocking war to limit the contagions transmission.

Wuhan, where people who worked at a meat and poultry market were the first to become hosts of the coronavirus, has been hit the hardest.

As of a little past midnight on Sunday, 42 people in China have died after being infected with the coronavirus; 38 of them were in Wuhan, the outbreaks epicenter. More than 1,400 infections have been identified within Chinas bordersthough doctors in Wuhan have told Chinese press that the actual numbers could be an order of magnitude higher.

Wuhan has a population of 11 million. Like most metropolises, it bleeds into the smaller cities around it. Shutting down the city required a massive mobilization of police and soldiers, who are guarding expressway toll booths, train stations, and other key locations like certain hospitals in the city, some armed with rifles and wearing hazmat suits. To free up manpower, a portion of roads in Hubei, the province with Wuhan as its capital, have been blocked using walls of dirt and large boulders.

Service staff working on high-speed trains that normally stop at Wuhan said the line will be skipping the citys station for at least a month. This suggests that the quarantine in Hubei province will last for at least that amount of time.

Bus, subway, and ferry services in Wuhan have already been halted. Ride-hailing companies have suspended their services. From Sunday onward, private cars will be barred from roads in the city center. The only way to move around the city is via taxi or special buses arranged by the city government.

And for many people, the only destination is their nearest hospitalor any hospital that hasnt been overwhelmed.

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Medical staff are stretched thin. Most waiting rooms are packed with people who need to be tested for the coronavirus, as well as patients who are already suffering from acute symptoms. Doctors and nurses have been working consecutive shifts for days, with some opting to wear adult diapers so that they can focus on providing medical care.

One doctor that treated patients for the coronavirus has died after becoming infected himself.

Another doctor in Wuhan wrote an open letter to Chinese officials on the message board of state-run publication Peoples Daily, calling for an investigation of the Wuhan Health Commission. The doctor said that the commission attempted to cover up the coronavirus outbreak by banning mentions of lung infections in CT scan reports. (The post has been censored.)

In the past couple days, some facilities ran out of protective gearlike goggles, medical face masks, rubber gloves, disposable biohazard coveralls, and shoe coveringsso medical personnel have fashioned their own out of soft plastics. But supplies are arriving Wuhan from across the country, and the roads have been cleared to move them to hospitals around the city.

Schools and shops are closed. Many hotels have been ordered to turn away visitors, but some still take them in because non-locals, like migrant workers who are stranded in the city, have nowhere else to go.

Chinas Coronavirus Keeps Spreading but the WHO Still Wont Declare a Global Emergency

People in Wuhan are desperate, confused, angry. They are unable to leave, and many cant access the medical care that they need. Conditions have been improving over Saturday as supplies and doctors have been flowing in from other parts of the country, but locals still fear that its late for some of those who have been infected. Even if adults remain at home, they worry that they may carry the virus and infect family members who are more vulnerable, like young children, the elderly, or people with other medical conditions.

A new hospital that will specifically house and treat patients infected with the coronavirus is under rapid construction. It will have a maximum capacity of 1,000, and is modeled after a facility constructed in Beijing in 2003 during the SARS epidemic that killed nearly 800 people.

Though the people of Wuhan have just one issue on their minds now, the Saturday front page of Wuhans main newspaper had a banner headline referring to Xi Jinpings Lunar New Year address to the nation: Continue to create the Chinese nations mighty history in humanitys great historic time. Reports about the epidemic came later.

The Chinese government has promised to cover the medical expenses of patients who are diagnosed as carriers of the coronavirus. But with diagnostic kits in short supply, and with hospitals turning away people who are seeking help, the financial aspect no longer matters to many in Wuhan. It is the uncertainty of whether their symptoms will worsen that eats at them.

There is little doubt that the coronavirus current footprint is the result of human mismanagementafter the initial outbreak, a potluck gathering organized by the local government involving 40,000 families was not canceled, and tickets for other events organized by city officials were distributed to people. Wuhans mayor has already been questioned on a program on state-run broadcaster CCTV, drawing intense ire from the public.

The United States plans to evacuate 230 people, including American diplomats and citizens, from Wuhan, according to the Wall Street Journal. The plane will take off and head stateside on Sunday with approval from the Chinese foreign ministry and relevant agencies. State Department officials believe that there are about 1,000 Americans in Wuhan.

Fifteen other cities have been placed under quarantine or other restrictions. In all, 46 million people have been cut off from the rest of the country.

Many other major cities in China have canceled their public events. Venues like the Forbidden Palace and many public museums remain closed, and people are generally discouraged from gathering in large groups. The Beijing city government said it will not allow buses from outside the municipality to enter the capital. Over in Hong Kong, chief executive Carrie Lam declared a virus emergency, and has halted all official visits to mainland China.

On Monday, the Chinese government will suspend all sales of flight tickets and hotel bookings to overseas destinations, but the virus has already reached other parts of Asia, as well as North America, Western Europe, and Australia. So far, the World Health Organization has not declared a global health emergency.

Legal professionals in China have suggested that the Chinese government should extend the Lunar New Year holiday by a week or two, delaying the trips of hundreds of millions of people within the country as they head back to work, or at least lowering the number of passengers on trains, planes, buses, and boats.

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WASHINGTON  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday accused an NPR reporter of lying about whether she had agreed to keep a remarkable post-interview conversation off the record.

In an unusual statement, Pompeo shot back at NPR host Mary Louise Kelly after she reported that he grew irritated at her questions about Ukraine and shouted at her in an expletive-laced exchange when the interview was over.

Pompeo said Kelly had agreed that conversation was off-the-record; she said no State Department officials made that stipulation and she would not have agreed to it. Pompeo also suggested, but did not directly state, that Kelly could not point out Ukraine on a map, contrary to her account of the conversation.

Pompeo did not dispute Kelly's most explosive allegation: that he shouted and swore at her and suggested Americans don't care about Ukraine.

"NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly lied to me, twice," Pompeo said in a statement released by the State Department. "First, last month, in setting up our interview and, then again yesterday, in agreeing to have our post-interview off the record."

NPR's senior vice president for news, Nancy Barnes, said the station stood by Kelly's account. Mary Louise Kelly has always conducted herself with the utmost integrity, and we stand behind this report, she said on Saturday.

Kelly interviewed Pompeo on Friday about Iran and Ukraine. Kelly said Pompeo became agitated when she pressed him about his response to attacks on former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.

Pompeo: After interview, Pompeo cursed at reporter, yelled: 'Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?'

At President Donald Trump's direction, Pompeo ousted Yovanovitch early from her post amid a smear campaign by the president's allies. The former ambassador is a widely respected career diplomat, and Pompeo has declined multiple times to publicly defend her, amid ongoing attacks from Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Guiliani.

Story continues

Kelly asked Pompeo if he owed Yovanovitch an apology, and continued to press him when he avoided directly answering her questions.

After the interview, Kelly said she was taken into Pompeo's private living room.

"'Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?'" Pompeo apparently shouted at Kelly after the interview.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks about Iran, Tuesday Jan. 7, 2020, at the State Department in Washington.

"He used the F-word in that sentence and many others," Kelly said. "He asked if I could find Ukraine on a map. I said yes, and he called out for aides to bring us a map of the world with no writing. I pointed to Ukraine. He put the map away."

Pompeo, in his Saturday statement, suggested Kelly did not correctly identify the location of Ukraine on the map. Before becoming a host at NPR, Kelly spent a decade working as the station's national security reporter, a role in which she traveled extensively, according to her NPR biography.

"It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine," Pompeo's statement said.

"It is shameful that this reporter chose to violate the basic rules of journalism and decency," Pompeo added. "This is another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this Administration."

Pompeo's public tussle over Ukraine comes at an awkward time. Trump's top diplomat is scheduled to travel to Ukraine next week for a meeting with that country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a central figure in the impeachment proceedings against Trump.

Democrats have accused Trump of pressuring Ukraine, a pivotal U.S. ally in the effort to counter Russian aggression, for political favors.

The State Department said Pompeo is going to Kyiv to "highlight U.S. support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity." The Eastern European country is at war with Russia.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pompeo: NPR host 'lied,' didn't know Bangladesh from Ukraine
(Photo : Screenshot From Apple Mania Facebook Page) Apple is a company loved by many despite the many accusations it faces. (Photo : Screenshot From Apple Watch Facebook Page) The Apple Watch is a brilliant way to not only use certain features to contact people or play music but also monitor your health.

The Apple Watch stolen concept has become the headlines of media online as Masimo claims that apple stole their concept of a health monitoring portable device through unjust means. Apple was have said to obtain this confidential information by hiring previous employees of Masimo and Cercacor.

With the direction of former CEO Steve Jobs, Apple was more than a tech company but rather an innovation company looking for further solutions to advance our technological capacities.

What happened to the Apple Watch Stolen Concept?

Media reports have been blasting up around the accusations Apple is facing by the American technology company called Masimo for stealing their company trade secrets. A Cupertino-based company was also accused of improperly using their health monitoring patents on their Watch.

Who is Masimo?

Masimo is known to the world as a medical technology company that focuses on developing and manufacturing special innovative and noninvasive patient monitoring types of technologies. These technologies include an array of medical devices and sensors which were applied to the Apple Watch.

This humble and silent company decided not to sty humble and silent anymore as they finally went public and accused Apple of stealing their trade secret for the Apple Watch.

Trade secrets are a huge part of the industry because they give a certain company a competitive marketing advantage, which is why this became a huge deal for Masimo.

Apple Vs. Masimo

A subsidiary of Masimo called Cercacor filed this lawsuit in a federal court with claims that the Cupertino company has obtained sensitive information on the grounds of merely establishing a scheme where they would hire former and current Masimo employees to obtain that secret.

The signal processing technology was a signature for Masimo and included in the patent. They stated that Apple infringed 10 of its patents, which was definitely a huge issue for them.

Masimo and Cercacor mentioned that a specific non-intrusive detection technology was the definite backbone behind Apple's resolution of their Apple Watch performance setbacks. Included in this methodology was the process of using light transmitters and certain detectors to be able to measure the blood oxygen levels and heart rates of users.

Next Action

There was a mention in the indictment at the federal court of Santa Ana, California, that the American company actually contacted Masimo way back in 2013 to propose potential cooperation with it. Apple has stated that they want to "learn more about Masimo's technology and integrate it into Apple's products."

Shortly after this happening, the Chief Medical Officer of Masimo and the Chief Technology Officer of Cercacor started stating that Apple was able to obtain confidential information from them by poaching its employees.

Masimo and Cercacor have stated they warned Apple to respect their rights, and although Apple may seem to be a bigger company than them, they are not going to put down the fight.

The companies said in the complaint: "Given that Apple appears to be seeking information and expertise from Masimo and Cercacor in a targeted manner, Masimo and Cercacor have warned Apple to respect their rights."

It is reported that four patents have been awarded to the former CTO of Cercacor. Masimo and Cercacor are also demonstrating that their engineers have been involved. The two companies said that the technology executive learned the ideas at the company, not through research. This would allow Masimo and Cercacor to own or at least jointly own the four patents currently assigned to Apple. The two companies also expect the lawsuits to prevent the American manufacturing giant from further using its patents. This ongoing lawsuits begs us to ask the question "What will happen to the Apple Watch?"

Almost everyone was excited about the Apple Watch until the recent lawsuit which exposed a side of Apple that did not please a lot of people. Apple has been known to be one of the most brilliant tech companies worldwide, not only because of its technological contributions but also on how much it impacted the market from computers to mobile phones.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
President Xi Jinping on Saturday said that China is facing a "grave situation" but asserted confidence that the country will "win the battle" against the coronavirus epidemic that has claimed 41 lives and infected nearly 1,300 people so far.

Stepping up all round efforts to contain the fast spreading SARS-like virus, China on Saturday announced that it will build another 1,300-bed makeshift hospital in Wuhan in the next 15 days in addition to the 1,000-bed hospital being built in the city in 10 days to treat more cases of the deadly virus.

The feverish pace at which the hospitals are being built indicate that China apparently is preparing to treat far more patients considering the speed at which the virus is spreading.

The virus has spread to Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Nepal, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and the US as of Thursday. Japan on Friday reported a second confirmed case.

The confirmed cases in China for the first time crossed the 1,000 mark and rose sharply to 1,287 as of Friday with 237 people in critical condition battling for their lives in China, the National Health Commission said on Saturday.

Almost all provinces, including Beijing, are reporting steady rise in the number of cases mostly of people who travelled from Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak.

The pneumonia situation has claimed 41 lives, including 39 in central China's Hubei province and one in north-eastern province Heilongjiang, the health commission said on Saturday.

Additionally, a total of 1,965 suspected cases have also been reported, it said.

China's Communist Party has set up a leading group to manage the coronavirus epidemic, state media reported on Saturday.

The decision was made at a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee - the party's top leadership tier - chaired by President Xi.

In the meeting, Xi said that people from different ethnic groups and sectors should work together to support efforts to contain the spread of the deadly virus. The country is facing a grave situation, he was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post.

As long as the nation has strong confidence and makes joint efforts with scientific and targeted measures, the battle of the prevention and control of the contagion will be won," Xi said, chairing meeting on the day of the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year.

Xi called for all-out efforts to prevent and control the coronavirus-related pneumonia and extended his heartfelt gratitude to the medical staff on the frontline.

He also called for strengthening the protection of medical staff, ensuring the market supply of materials in need, intensifying disclosure of related information to guide the public opinion as well as the mobilisation of social forces to uphold the overall stability of society.

The CPC meeting urged concrete efforts to ensure access to adequate supplies of materials to Wuhan.

The participants of the meeting also urged all-out efforts to treat infectious patients, and disclose disease-related information in an accurate, open and transparent manner to address concerns from both at home and abroad, it said.

While underscoring the need to strengthen people's awareness in disease prevention and boost the confidence of the public, they also called for timely communication with the World Health Organisation (WHO), organisations of relevant countries and regions, as well as Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan province, and stepping up cooperation to jointly uphold regional and global health security, the statement said.

A chinese doctor reportedly died of the coronavirus on Saturday morning, the first fatality among health workers since the pneumonia-like illness first surfaced in late December, state-run China Daily quoted online website Paper.cn as saying.

Wuhan, the city of 11 million people, is where the virus is believed to have first emerged. The victims' average age is 73, with 89 being the oldest and 48 youngest.

Also China's National Health Commission has dispatched 1,230 medical staff to Wuhan to combat the coronavirus outbreak in the region.

Local media earlier reported that 450 military medical personnel have also landed in the city to offer support.

Also, the local government in Wuhan on Saturday has banned all vehicles, including private vehicles in downtown Wuhan to curb virus, a report by the Daily said.

The city along with 12 cities in Hubei province have already banned all public transport to prevent the virus from spreading.

The virus epidemic has triggered a cause of concern for India too as many of the around 700 Indian students studying in universities of Wuhan and Hubei provinces are still stuck up there.

The Indian Embassy has established hotlines to keep close contact with them.

According to sources here, India is understood to have requested China to permit over 250 Indian students stuck in Wuhan, the epicentre of the new SARS-like virus, to leave the city.

Authorities have prevented anyone from leaving Wuhan, the city of 11 million people at the heart of the viral outbreak.

While majority of the Indian students left for home on Chinese New Year holid ays, over 250 to 300 students are said to be still in the city and its surrounding areas. Besides the students, the fast spreading virus has become a major worry for their parents back home.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As tensions between Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren rose earlier this month, Mr Sanders found himself with an unusual ally: President Donald Trump.

During a raucous campaign rally in which Mr Trump critiqued some of his Democratic challengers, the president launched into an unprompted defence of Mr Sanders. Ms Warren had accused Mr Sanders of telling her that a woman couldn't win the White House in November, but Mr Sanders insisted he would never say such a thing. Mr Trump concurred.

I don't believe that Bernie said that. I really don't, Trump told his supporters. It's not the kind of thing he would say.

As the Democratic primary intensifies before the first contests to decide the nominee, Trump and his allies have issued a series of curiously favourable comments about Mr Sanders. They've played up the Vermont senator's electoral strength and fundraising prowess. And they've suggested that if Mr Sanders doesn't secure the nomination, it will be because the party rigged the primary against him. It's a sentiment that resonates with some Sanders' backers who believe the Democratic National Committee worked against him in 2016, when Hillary Clinton won the nomination.

In offering occasional support for Mr Sanders, Mr Trump is taking a page out of his own playbook from the election four years ago and betting that the Democratic divisions that helped him win the White House are even deeper now.

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

Indeed, more moderate Democrats fear that Mr Sanders  a self-described democratic socialist  would struggle to pull together a robust coalition in the general election. But they also worry his supporters might not vote in large enough numbers for any other nominee if Mr Sanders fails in his second quest for the party's nomination.

Both scenarios would benefit Mr Trump. The president is closely monitoring the Democratic race, and has taken note of Mr Sanders' strong fundraising and polling, according to Republicans who have spoken with him about the election. But if Mr Sanders stumbles in the coming weeks, Mr Trump is also said to see an opportunity to suppress some of the senator's most ardent supporters, or even win over some of their votes.

For some Democrats, it's a worrisome prospect.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren embrace after the Democratic Presidential Debate at the Fox Theatre on July 30 2019 in Detroit Michigan (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

There are people who are very anti-establishment, who have a lot of oppositional feelings about the political establishment, said Jennifer Palmieri, who advised Clinton's 2016 campaign. Sanders is appealing to them and if that doesn't work for them, then the Trump team hopes they'll come their way.

Though Mr Trump and Mr Sanders are at odds on most major issues, they have some striking similarities. Both rose to political prominence without the backing of their parties' establishment, but now wield significant influence over those parties' policy positions. Both men have forged visceral connections with lower income voters, in part by pledging to revamp trade policies they say have hurt American workers.

In 2016, Mr Sanders and Mr Trump did share a small number of voters. According to data from the Pew Research Center, 3% of voters who consistently backed Mr Sanders in 2016 Democratic primary voted for Trump in the general election. Another 11% of Mr Sanders supporters voted for third party candidates over Clinton.

David Riley Campbell, 23, was among the Mr Sanders supported who didn't back Ms Clinton against Mr Trump (Campbell said he didn't vote for anyone in the general election). He said he's learned his lesson and will be going blue no matter who in 2020. Still, he acknowledged he would be much, much less enthusiastic about a candidate other than Sanders.

There's a very short list of candidates I trust, said Campbell, who is volunteering in Iowa for Sanders before the Feb. 3 caucus.

It's that lingering distrust of other Democrats among Mr Sanders supporters that Mr Trump's team is eager to capitalise on if the senator falters in the coming weeks.

Mr Trump has sent multiple tweets over the past week suggesting Democrats were rigging the election against Mr Sanders because he was being pulled off the campaign trail to serve as a juror in the Senate impeachment trial during the final weeks before the caucus. Trump never mentioned that three other senators  including Warren of Massachusetts, Mr Sanders' chief progressive rival  were also marooned in Washington for the trial.

On Thursday, senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway wrote in The Washington Post that if Democrats were serious about nominating the most electable candidate, they would side with Mr Sanders. He's the candidate, Conway wrote, who actually won primary contests and proved he can play David to Goliath in key places four short years ago.

Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for Trump's campaign, said those comments don't change the fact that the president sees Mr Sanders as a someone who could be a complete disaster in the White House. Yet Murtaugh also gave a nod to Mr Sanders' supporters, saying it's obvious the knives are out for the senator in the Democratic primary.

It would be completely understandable if the Sanders camp said, 'Here we go again,' Murtaugh said.

Mr Trump used a similar strategy in 2016. He urged Mr Sanders to run as an independent after Sanders fell behind Clinton in the race for delegates, which determine the Democratic nominee, and openly courted Sanders' supporters.

Four years later, some of Mr Sanders' backers say their eyes are wide open to Mr Trump's strategy.

What they're trying to do is throw a wrench into the works. They're trying to do whatever they can to keep us at each other's throats, said Randy Bryce, a Sanders supporter and former Wisconsin congressional candidate.

Mr Sanders' campaign did not respond to questions about the favourable comments from the president and his advisers. Earlier this month, Mr Sanders distanced himself from Mr Trump's assertions that Democrats were rigging the 2020 primary against him.

His transparent attempts to divide Democrats will not work, and we are going to unite to sweep him out of the White House in November, Mr Sanders said in a statement.

Associated Press
The coronavirus outbreak has led to a surge in sales of face masks, even though experts have cast doubt over their effectiveness.

According to the US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the best precautions against the virus are washing your hands frequently, trying not to touch your face and avoiding close contact with those who are ill.

There are two main types of face mask. N95 respirators, which are generally used to combat smoke or heavy pollution, block out particles as small as 0.3 microns in diameter  but the coronavirus is 0.12 microns wide.

Coronavirus outbreak has led to a surge in face mask sales. Pictured are two people wearing the masks at Heathrow airport yesterday

But they are not an ideal defence. Washing your hands and not touching your face are better ways to stop the disease spreading, according to US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Surgical masks, which rarely filter particles smaller than 5 microns, are more common but far less effective. However, a study published in The Lancet reported how a seven-year-old child from Wuhan who wore a mask was not infected  in contrast to her ten-year-old brother who did not.

Professor Stanley Perlman, from the University of Iowa, said: Wearing a mask may stop an individual from directly touching their mouth and nose, which is a common way that viruses and germs enter the body, but what we teach is that theyre not very good.

There is mounting concern about of a shortage of masks in China. From what I have heard, the mask shortage is much more severe than what the public knows, said Cao Jun, general manager of Chinese mask manufacturer Lanhine.

Almost all hospital workers nationwide are facing a huge shortage, not just in Wuhan.

Surgical masks, which have proved popular, rarely filter out particles smaller than 5 microns - and coronavirus is only 0.12 microns

The warning about the effectiveness of face masks comes as authorities in China are reportedly concerned that they could run out of them during the coronavirus outbreak

Taobao, the Chinese equivalent of Amazon, has urged sellers not to profit from the deadly virus after prices rose from 20 for a pack of 20 masks to more than 120.

Meanwhile, a pharmacy at Edinburgh University sold more than a years worth of masks in a single day as Chinese students began panic-buying.

Leading airlines say they will provide protective gear to any cabin crew and passengers who request them.
Photograph: Eric Risberg/AP

Theres nothing surprising about a billionaire winning the support of the mayor of San Francisco, a city flush with tech wealth and new money.

But when the billionaire is Mike Bloomberg  and the endorsement is the latest from a string of California mayors he mentored and supported  the vow of support raises some eyebrows.

Bloomberg announced on Thursday that London Breed, San Franciscos first black female mayor, would serve as his campaigns chair of African Americans.

London Breed. Photograph: Eric Risberg/AP

Voters re-elected London Breed by a wide margin because she is taking on the biggest and toughest issues  and she puts progress over politics, the former New York mayor said in a statement. Im honored to have her support and look forward to working with her not only to win this election, but to help make San Francisco and all of California stronger, fairer, and greener  with more affordable housing, more good jobs, and healthcare for all.

Breed, who previously supported the California Senator Kamala Harris in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination, said on Facebook that she is backing Bloomberg because he is the only candidate for president with a real plan for African Americans, touting his Greenwood Initiative to increase black home ownership and the number of black-owned businesses.

She acknowledged his harmful legacy of stop-and-frisk, the policing strategy that led to widescale racial profiling in New York City when Bloomberg was mayor, saying Bloomberg owned up to his mistake when he apologized for the 12 years he allowed the policy to flourish.

Of course I was a bit surprised to see the mayor endorsed Bloomberg, said Lateefah Simon, president of the Bay Area Rapid Transit board and longtime friend of Breed. But herein lies the power of the individual. Its not San Francisco endorsing Mayor Bloomberg. Its Mayor Breed.

For some in San Francisco, thats the problem. I havent met many Bloomberg supporters in San Francisco, local lawmaker Matt Haney told the Guardian. In fact, I dont think Ive met any. It doesnt seem reflective of where the residents of San Francisco are. I dont think her endorsement is reflective of how residents feel.

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A recent UC Berkeley poll found that 85% of Californians have either a negative opinion of Bloomberg or no opinion at all. Yet since entering the race late in November, Bloomberg has secured the endorsements of the mayors of three major cities in the state  San Francisco, Stockton and San Jose. I havent met any Bloomberg supporters who were not elected officials, period, Haney said.

Bloomberg, one of the richest people in the United States, has for years invested in developing political and support network for local leaders, providing them access to both money and expertise. All three California mayors who recently announced endorsements went through Bloombergs Harvard City Leadership Initiative, a training program for city mayors  Stockton mayor Michael Tubbs and San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo in 2018, and Breed in 2019. Tubbs attended the CityLab Summit in Paris in 2017, another Bloomberg-sponsored conference.

In San Francisco, Bloombergs support included a $275,000 donation to support a soda tax and $7.1m to defeat an initiative to reverse a ban on e-cigarette sales  both measures supported by Breed. In 2018, San Jose received up to $2.5m from Bloomberg Philanthropies to tackle climate change. In June, Bloomberg Philanthropies donated $500,000 to a Stockton-based education reform group.

Mike has made significant investments in San Francisco, in cities throughout California, and indeed across the nation, Breed said on Facebook.

Its significant that Bloomberg has been able to win the endorsements of black trailblazing mayors like Tubbs and Breed.

At his first campaign stop in Stockton, California, in December 2019 Bloomberg stood next to Tubbs and apologized again for stop-and-frisk, but never acknowledged why the policy was harmful, or who it harmed.

There isnt a politician alive who hasnt made a mistake, Breed said of stop-and-frisk. The difference with Mike Bloomberg is he owned up to his.

I think there is a long track record of people reaching out to black leaders and black communities in transactional ways, Alicia Garza, founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, told the Guardian. It really represents a lot of whats wrong with politics in this country and I think its hard to believe that change will happen when these same kinds of dynamics are at play.

With that being said, she continued, there are decisions that leaders are having to make and theyre doing the calculus. Every leader has a right to do that.

Garzas group, Black to the Future Action Fund, will be announcing its endorsement in February. While she demurred on her thoughts on Bloomberg and stop-and-frisk, she made a point to say that the group will consider not just [the candidates] future plans, but interrogating their records since theyve been in power.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 24, 2020) - Destiny Media Technologies Inc. (TSXV: DSY) (OTCQB: DSNY), the makers of Play MPE, a cloud-based music distribution, collaboration and content discovery platform, today announced the appointment of Lisa Embree as Chief Financial Officer.

Ms. Embree is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CGA) with over 18 years of accounting, audit, and financial reporting experience. Since January 2011, Ms. Embree has been a consultant, providing financial reporting services to public companies in the software industry, both in the United States and Canada.

About Destiny Media Technologies Inc.

Destiny Media Technologies ("Destiny") provides software as a 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 music collaboration and performance tracking platform to efficiently and securely promote, distribute, receive and discover pre-released promotional music releases. The platform is used by the world's largest record labels and thousands of independent artists and record labels in six continents.

Contacts:

Fred Vandenberg, fredv@dsny.com CEO,

Destiny Media Technologies Inc., 604-609-7736 x236

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CANBERRA, Australia  The bodies of three U.S. flying firefighters and the cockpit voice recorder from the water bomber in which they died battling Australias unprecedented wildfire crisis were retrieved on Saturday as their grieving families arrived in Sydney, officials said.

Ian McBeth of Great Falls, Mont., Paul Clyde Hudson of Buckeye, Ariz., and Rick DeMorgan of Navarre, Fla., died when their C-130 Hercules tanker crashed Thursday after dumping fire retardant on an out-of-control blaze northeast of the town of Cooma in southern New South Wales state.
Soon-to-be Mercer County Sheriff's Officer Alesha Bethea, right, waits to enter the Mercer County Community College gymnasium for the ceremony. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

It's no easy task to endure the 22 intensive weeks of challenges, both physical and mental, that one is faced with during Mercer County Police Academy training.

Alesha Bethea did it twice.

She didn't pass the firearms portion the first time around, so she came back, went through it all again and Thursday graduated with 60 other candidates with Class #22-19.

Bethea spent 4 years as a dispatcher at Trenton and now will go to work as a Mercer County Sheriff's Officer.

"Im thankful for the second chance to follow my dream of becoming a law enforcement officer," she said. "I knew this was something I wanted to do since a young age. This process started for me in September of 2017 and its finally ended today January 23rd, 2020."

"Ive learned to always keep God first, believe in myself, never give up on my dream and work hard. Im beyond thankful for this opportunity afforded to me by (Mercer County Sheriff) Jack Kemler."

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Mercer County Sheriff Jack Kemler, left, greets new Mercer County Sheriff's Officer Alesha Bethea, right, onstage. Mercer County Executive Brian Highes is at center. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Class speaker NJ Transit Officer Michael Flanagan delivers remarks. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

NJ Transit Officer Michael Flanagan, of Jersey City was voted Class Speaker.

During his remarks he related how during their training, at the end of academy day they were informed about the shooting in Jersey City at a kosher supermarket that left 6 dead including Detective Joseph Seals, who was killed in the line of duty earlier that same day.

Flanagan, who lives blocks from where the shooting took place, said he went to the hospital where Seals was brought and joined other state, local and federal officers standing vigil.

He noted that most of the officers there would not have known Seals personally but "What they did know is that he was a brother in blue, and that in the line of duty they had lost a member of the blue family."

Flanagan told his classmates, "You have the opportunity to impact someone's life for the better, to make a difference in the communities that you serve."

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A moment of prayer at the graduation. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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This video shows each graduate receiving their certificate. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Graduate Ahmet Ekiz, Alternate Route, is greeted onstage by Mercer County Sheriff Jack Kemler. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Audience members take photos during the ceremony. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Audience members applaud at the graduation. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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New Jersey State Trooper Thomas Burrell , left hands Nina Ydo, 3 1/2 to his son-in-law and Nina's Father, New New Jersey Transit Police Officer Jonathan Ydo after the ceremony. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Family photo after the ceremony. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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New Trenton Police Officers pose for a group photo with Mayor Reed Gusciora and Police Dirceton Sheilah Coley, after the ceremony.(Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Audience members applaud at the conclusion of the ceremony. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Related:

42 new police officers graduate from Mercer County academy

59 women and men from across New Jersey get their police badges

45 officers from 5 counties graduate police academy (PHOTOS)

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Crucially, it also means Mr. Gantz will be able to fly back to Israel in time to oversee a key proceeding Tuesday regarding Mr. Netanyahus attempt to obtain parliamentary immunity from prosecution on serious corruption charges. Lawmakers are expected to reject the request, with Mr. Netanyahus party, Likud, vowing to boycott Tuesdays debate in protest, but if Mr. Gantz were in Washington, that likely would have been delayed.

In effect, Mr. Gantz, who had seemingly been cornered by the White House invitation, found an unseen exit, allowing him to avoid aiding Mr. Netanyahu without offending Israels closest and most powerful ally.

Following this important meeting, I will return to Israel in order to lead the debates regarding Netanyahus immunity from up close, Mr. Gantz said in Hebrew, in an announcement that was carried live by Israeli television.

These are not regular days for the state of Israel, he added.

A meeting of the American president and Israeli prime minister with Mr. Gantz, who is merely a member of Parliament, could have embarrassed him in the eyes of Israelis. Mr. Netanyahu could have put him on the spot before the cameras by cajoling Mr. Gantz to join a unity government after the March 2 election. It would have meant communicating in English, in which Mr. Netanyahu is peerless among Israeli politicians and Mr. Gantz is much less comfortable.

Mr. Gantz, who is tacking to the right in his campaign this time, was full of praise for Mr. Trump, calling him a true friend of the state of Israel, the citizens of Israel and the Jews of the United States, and saying his leadership has made the alliance between us deeper, stronger and more powerful than ever.
Rajasthan passes resolution against Citizenship Amendment Act

India

oi-Deepika S

Jaipur, Jan 25: After Punjab and Kerala, Rajasthan on Saturday passed a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act in the assembly.

So far, Punjab and Kerala governments have passed resolutions against the newly amended citizenship law in their legislative assemblies.

This comes after the Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to put a stay on the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 and granted four weeks time to the Central government to file a reply on the petitions regarding the same.

The top court indicated setting up a Constitution Bench to hear the pleas.

Amit Shah dares Opposition on Citizenship Act, says protest as much as you can

The citizenship law is facing major protests and opposition across the country. BJP, on the other hand, is also reaching out to the people in a bid to mobilise support for the newly amended citizenship law and "remove misconceptions created by the opposition".

The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : The Patiala House court on Saturady while disposing of the plea filed by Nirbhaya convict's counsel seeking relevant documents to exercise the remaining legal remedies noted that "jail authorities have already complied with the request".

Session Judge Ajay Kumar Jain stated that the jail authorities have already complied with the request made by the convicts. They have supplied the documents "whatever lying with them and today also brought, paintings, diary entry "Darinda".

"In view thereof, no further directions for supply of any documents required. However, the jail authorities are directed to hand over copy of paintings and note book titled 'Darinda' to the counsel for convicts today in court itself against acknowledgement. Application disposed of accordingly," the court said.

During the course of hearing, Public Prosecutor said these were mere delaying tactics adopted by the convicts.

Advocate A.P. Singh, lawyer for three of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape case had moved an application before the court seeking directions to the Tihar Jail authorities to supply him the relevant documents in order to exercise the remaining legal remedies available with the death row convicts -- Vinay Pawan and Akshay.

The Public Prosecutor also told the court that he spoke to the jail authorities over the phone and a report in this regard will be filed shortly as the jail officials were on their way to the court.

The judge demanded from the convicts lawyer to show what he has filed.

Singh, said that he received some documents, but has still not been supplied with the personal diary of one of the convict -- Vinay Kumar Sharma and also the medical documents.

Judge then asked the lawyer to wait for until the report arrives form the Tihar Jail.

On this, the convicts lawyer said he was not questioning the intention of the jail. "I know the jail has been changed. It isn't there fault, too," he said.A The Public Prosecutor refuted the allegation saying that the defence counsel was trying to defeat the speed of law.

"We have supplied all the documents to the counsel. We have supplied all the documents except the painting and some other documents. We have nothing apart from that," public prosecutor said.

Singh, in his plea filed before the Patiala House Court sought urgent orders of the court in order to file a mercy petition of Vinay Sharma and in relation to requests for documents for convicts Vinay Sharma, Pawan Kumar Gupta and Akshay Kumar Singh.

He further said that the convicts undertook several steps to obtain relevant information necessary for filing the mercy petitions. In regular interval, the convicts requested the concerned authority to supply documents pertaining to their medical records from 2012 to 2015 and 2019-2020, records of cellular confinement, records of the amount earned in prison through labour, records of educational and reformative activities like Tihar Olympics and Painting, etc.

The Supreme court had recently dismissed the curative petition for the other two convicts -- Vinay Kumar Sharma, 26 and Mukesh Singh, 32.

The court had recently issued death warrant against the convicts and fixed 6 a.m. on February 1 as the date and time of execution of the death penalty.

The 23-year-old victim in the case was brutally gang raped and tortured on December 16, 2012, which later led to her death. All the 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.

Four of the convicts were sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013, and the verdict was confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014 and subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court in May 2017, which also dismissed their review petitions.

A Juvenile involved in the crime was convicted by a juvenile justice board and released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.

Hearing in a different case, Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde on Thursday said a condemned person cannot fight the death penalty endlessly and it was important for the capital punishment to reach its finality.A The death penalty, he noted, cannot be questioned at every turn by the convict.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Authorities are trying to track down 2,000 people who have travelled from China (Picture: PA)

More than 30 people in the UK have been tested for coronavirus but there are still no confirmed cases, the Government said on Saturday.

The Department of Health (DoH) said as of Saturday afternoon, 31 people across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have been tested for virus, but all had come back negative.

There are also no confirmed diagnoses in UK citizens abroad, and the risk to the public is still classed as low.

The update comes as authorities were trying to track down2,000 people who recently flew to the UK from the Chinese region of Wuhan to check they have not been affected by the deadly coronavirus.

The Department of Health said it is trying to find as many passengers as we can who travelled to Britain from Wuhan - the region most affected by the outbreak - in the past two weeks, with health officials working with Border Force agents and airlines to track them down.

On Friday coronavirus was confirmed as reaching Europe, with three cases confirmed in France.

Englands Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty previously said there was a fair chance cases will emerge in Britain as the overall number reported around the world climbed to more than 1,200, including 41 deaths, all in China.

READ MORE

Coronavirus outbreak: What are the symptoms?

How is the international media reacting to the coronavirus?

Speaking after a meeting of the Governments Cobra emergency committee in Whitehall on Friday, chaired by Health Secretary Matt Hancock, he said he was working closely with the other UK chief medical officers.

We all agree that the risk to the UK public remains low, but there may well be cases in the UK at some stage, he said.

Coronavirus: confirmed cases. See story HEALTH Coronavirus. Infographic PA Graphics

He went on: The UK has access to some of the best infectious disease and public health experts in the world.

He added: We think theres a fair chance we may get some cases over time. Of course this depends on whether this continues for a long time, or whether this turns out to be something which is brought under control relatively quickly.

Story continues

He said the virus looked less dangerous than Ebola, recent coronavirus MERS and SARS virus.

It has been confirmed that 14 people in Scotland with symptoms have tested negative for the coronavirus (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

A public health hub has been set up at Heathrow, staffed by a rotating team of seven clinicians, but there are no plans to introduce blanket temperature screening of travellers because it can take seven to 10 days for symptoms to appear.

China is in lockdown, with public celebrations cancelled in major cities.

The US has also reported its second case, involving a Chicago woman in her 60s, while Australia also confirmed its first case in the state of Victoria.

---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK---
New Delhi:

The West Bengal State Eligibility Test i.e. WB SET 2020 Answer Key has been formally released on Saturday, according to the latest updates. According to the official notification published on the website, the West Bengal SET Answer Key 2020 has been published online and can be downloaded easily by aspirants. The candidates who have appeared in the examination can check the answer key on the official website of the board i.e. wbcsc.org.in.

For the convenience of the students, we have mentioned the steps through which the candidates can download the answer key:

Step 1: Visit official exam portal of WBCSC i.e. wbcsc.org.in

Step 2: Find and Click Link for SET Question Papers in the Top Menu

Step 3: You will be redirected to a new page with dropdown menu

Step 4: Select the SET Exam year i.e. 2020 from the drop-down menu

Step 5: A new page will open consisting of subject-wise question paper sets and their respective answer keys

Step 6: Download the WB SET 2020 answer key for the subject you appeared for in the exam

Step 7: Save WB SET 2020 answer key in PDF format on your device

Along with publishing the WB SET 2020 Answer Key online, the official exam authority i.e. West Bengal College Service Commission (WBCSC) has also uploaded a detailed notification which provides detailed details about the window to raise challenges or file objections against the answer key.

According to the notification, candidates will be able to raise challenge or file objections against the WB SET 2020 Answer Key released for various subjects by sending a mail to wbcscsetkeys2020@gmail.com.

WB SET 2020 exam answer key consists of the correct answers to the questions asked in the exam against which candidates can compare the answers provided by them to predict their estimated score.
Peel Regional Police have arrested two people and seized a firearm and drugs after a search warrant took place at a Brampton residence, they announced Friday.

Police conducted a search warrant in the area of John Street and James Street , where they found items, including a hand gun, 66 rounds of ammunition and drugs worth $4,000, police said in a press release.

Cory Godschalk, 24 and Alyseya Travers, 18, both of Brampton, were arrested and face four charges each, including unauthorized possession of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance.

Both attended a bail hearing on Friday.

Osobe Waberi is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @OsobeWaberi

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More than 3,000 miles separate Noorvik, Alaska, and San Antonio, as the crow flies. But this week, the 2020 census connected them.

In a remote Inupiat Eskimo community near there, the census began. It wont start until March and April for the rest of us, but in the hard-to-count village, snow is starting to break up.

It allowed census director Steven Dillingham to travel by bush plane and snowmobile and knock on 90-year-old Lizzie Chimiugaks door. The Native Alaskan elder became the first U.S. respondent of the 2020 census.

As a group, theyre hard to reach, so census workers get started early, when paths to their villages are open and before residents get swept into the fishing and hunting season.

On San Antonios West Side, a group of about 20 Native Americans from throughout the United States gathered to talk about similar issues and how to address the reality that Native Americans, like Native Alaskans, are the most undercounted by the census.

The young Native American leaders, most of them women, are members of the National Urban Indian Family Coalition based in Seattle. They represent urban Indians living in cities such as San Antonio, Las Vegas, Denver and Chicago. They run 40 centers or agencies in about 20 states.

They met at Progreso Hall near the offices of American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions, the nonprofit agency of the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation. AIT hosted them.

Theyre gearing up not only for the census, but for getting out the Native American vote in November. The two efforts are similar. They must raise awareness, educate and encourage participation.

Its all part of the first major national effort to push Native American census participation. The coalition says its a movement that has been building for two years.

Frankly, they sounded like theyre scrambling, but thats not so unusual. Throughout the country, everyone seems to be scrambling to get ready for the count. Even hiring enough census workers appears to be a challenge.

Some of the native representatives come from states, like Texas, that showed disinterest in an accurate count and failed to provide adequate state funding for the job.

Its self-defeating not to count every resident. The fresh data could translate into additional congressional seats, governmental funding, business and job creation and research in the state.

At stake is the distribution of that funding for roads, schools, hospitals and more. In Texas, which is growing so rapidly, an undercount would be criminal.

A great deal of what they discussed underscored the tremendous work ahead of them, convincing a vulnerable population to provide personal information to a government they dont trust.

So, they focused on smart strategies, communication and collaboration. They vowed to share information and best practices and talked about a couple of novel ways to encourage more Native Americans to be counted.

They talked about using available resources, such as computers and internet access in public libraries, and of inviting people without access to technology to use it to answer the census in their own agencies and offices.

Theyre worried about counting natives who are homeless and about messaging that doesnt scare their communities from participating. They told stories of fellow natives who know too little about the census and the political process, of having to explain what a primary or caucus is. They talked about how public schools are failing their people.

They talked about some advances, too. A representative from the Little Earth Residents Association in Minneapolis spoke of getting a polling place in its community and about running for office and bringing her community along with her.

A native leader spoke about a project that created elementary school census ambassadors, who take home positive messages about census participation to their parents.

Another shared an idea heard at a college campus event, where Dreamers  undocumented students  signed cards pledging to fill out the 2020 census despite their fears.

The Constitution is clear on the issue of who to count. Its everyone residing in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. islands and territories, and immigrants and visitors here at the time of the count.

The young native leaders spoke passionately about why theyre working on this effort  because they want to be in this fight, because its about Native American representation and survival.

Eddie Sherman, whos on the coalitions staff, picked up on that idea and brought it back to the coalitions major national campaign, making the invisible visible.

Theres no better way of doing that than by being counted. That goes for all of us.

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
A 7-year-old boy was sexually assaulted in a movie theater bathroom, according to San Antonio police.

On Wednesday, officers arrested Christopher Branum, 22, in connection to the case.

According to an arrest affidavit, the child's mother told police she, the boy and his siblings were watching a movie at the Santikos Rialto movie theater at 2937 NE Loop 410 when her son asked to go to the bathroom.

She escorted him and waited outside until he finished, police said.

RELATED: Affidavit: New Braunfels man had 11 drinks before fatal wreck on I-35

Fifteen minutes later, the boy asked his mother to take him to the bathroom again. Once they were in the hallway the boy told her that he was sexually assaulted by a man during his first trip to the bathroom, leading the mother to notify theater staff and call police, according to the affidavit.

The boy detailed the assault to police and said the man was still inside the theater. He pointed out Branum as the suspect, according to the affidavit.

Police reviewed the surveillance footage and determined the boy and Branum were both in the bathroom for about two minutes, authorities said.

Branum was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. His bail was set at $75,000.

Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSA
About a decade ago (2011, to be specific), the Williams Institute at UCLA School od Law, a think tank dedicated to conducting rigorous, independent research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy, tried to answer a pretty simple question: How many people are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender?

A simple question  but not especially easy to measure. To get his answer, the papers author, Gary J. Gates, looked at nine surveys and ultimately found an estimated 3.9% of adults in the United States were LGBT. (The Williams Institute has since revised that up somewhat; their latest figure is 4.5%.)

He also found that of the 3.5 percent that identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual, more than half fell into that last category. In other words, a clear majority of queer people were bisexual.

And yet, anecdotally at least, its not unusual for bisexual and pansexual people  a group that includes both trans and cisgender people who have the capacity to form relationships with people of the same gender and those of another  to feel left out, or to have their identity and queerness questioned outright. There are terms for this: bisexual erasure, bisexual invisibility.

Bex Hexagon is one of three organizers behind BiCon, a two-day conference for the bisexual and pansexual community scheduled in both San Francisco and Oakland for the weekend of Feb. 1. Its not difficult for her to run down the list of things shes heard others (queer and straight) say about bisexual and pansexual people  things like its just a phase or bisexuals are just confused or bisexual people cant be monogamous.

Pop cultural represenations often serve to prop up these sorts of myths. In just the past week, Ive seen a bisexual character hypersexualized and involved in orgies on a popular network television show (the new Charmed) and watched an interview in which a reality television star called a co-star gay for not wanting to get married to her male partner (Vanderpump Rules). (In the last instance, at least, the co-star could shoot back on Twitter. (I)ts called being bisexual, she tweeted. (E)verheard of it?)

BiCon, then, will serve as something of a local counterweight to all of this. The organizers are expecting around 130 people over the two days  not including speakers and volunteers  and theyre planning more than three dozen sessions that will explore bisexual and pan identities as they relate to gender, art, race and age.

More Information BiCon: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Feb. 1, Saturday. SF LGBT Center, 1800 Market St., San Francisco. 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Feb 2, Sunday. East Bay Community Space, 507 55th St., Oakland. $100-$60 or pay what you can. See More Collapse

Theres no flashy origin story for BiCon, the first conference of its kind in the Bay Area in more than 25 years. It started with Hexagon and her friend Martin Rawlings-Fein just hanging out.

This was around December 2018, and they were talking about how nice it would be to have a community space that acknowledges bi and pan identities.

We need a conference, Rawlings-Fein said.

Hell, yeah! We need a conference, Hexagon said.

Thats it. Thats the origin. Pretty soon after, their friend Marisa Musso had signed on as the third organizer.

They started small  occasional meetups, a speed dating event (for friends or dates), and then a mini one-day conference, Unico(r)n, in October. All the events, Hexagon says, drew more people than they anticipated. When they finally put out a call for speakers for the full conference, roughly 40 people applied.

What's amazing is how many people are excited about this and how the response from the community has been so awesome, Hexagon says. Theyre hoping that, more than just offering a space for community, the conference might also lead to more fundamental changes in the way not just our community is perceived, but how we see ourselves.

We can start saying, you know, we really do belong at this table.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

The conference splits itself between San Francisco on Saturday and Oakland on Sunday. That was a must, Hexagon says. The organizers know what exclusion feels like, so theyre doing everything they can to open the event up to anybody who wants to come.

The conference covers a lot of ground. There are sessions on sci fi, poetry and comics, sessions about consent and sex and sexual health, and sessions about shame, inclusive sex education and disability. There are also breakout spaces for people of color, parents and bi and pan men.

Marie Watson is leading a session that seeks to link older and younger generations. She says she felt like she won the bisexual Emmys when she got word that she could lead a session. Its going to mostly be about how generations can come together and teach about what LGBTQ history is, she says. That means the youth teaching the elders, too, while understanding that it was through the work of older queer people that were here  it couldnt have been done without them.

Sahil Khanna, who uses they/ them pronouns, is talking about their experience as a queer, poly Indian American. They want to share their story, in part, because growing up they had never heard one like it. I had this really strong dissonance about who I was on the inside and the life I was living, they say. There wasnt a lot of validation for the inside me, coming from the outside me.

And Jenny Kwan is hosting a panel on trans and gender nonconforming bi and pansexual perspectives. She, like Watson and Khanna, found BiCon through the organizers earlier events. I just fell in love with the energy, Kwan says. She appreciated how inclusive it felt, how even in their one-day mini conference, they made room for conversations about race and ethnicity. Its one of the few spaces, she says, where she really feels seen, feels solidarity. She wants others to know that feeling. Community shouldnt be a luxury, especially when having a strong community can vastly improve a life in so many ways.

It is really important to kind of push back against the isolation and then be able to get some visibility, she says. Not just visibility from the standpoint of advertising to outsiders  but also just for ourselves, having representation, to know that were OK, that we can find each other and form those chosen family ties.

Ryan Kost is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rkost@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @RyanKost
A travel expert has said that travelling to China is still safe, as long as you practice "good travel hygiene".

Cases have been confirmed in China, the US, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Macao, Taiwan, Vietnam, and France.

Fears are growing that increased travel expected over the Lunar New Year period this weekend could aid the spread.

But just how worried should travellers to China be?

Mr Calder advised practising basic hygiene while visiting mainland China / The Evening Standard

The Independent's senior travel editor Simon Calder told The Evening Standard that, for most people, the coronavirus isn't fatal.

"It doesn't actually cause much harm to the average person, but unfortunately, a number of people have contracted the virus, developed pneumonia, and died, but they tend to be people who are elderly, frail, and have pre-existing conditions", he said.

"That means that unless you fall into one of those categories, it is unlikely that the virus will kill you."

The Chinese government has set out to buld a hospital in 5 days / Getty Images

The veteran reporter said that as long as traveller's adhere to good hygiene standards they should be able to avoid contracting the virus.

"The best precaution for anybody travelling to China, to anywhere in Asia, indeed anywhere in the world, is to practice good travel hygiene, and that's very straightforward it just means scrupulously washing your hands with soap, particularly after you have been in contact with things that other people have touched.

"It means if you see someone who is not looking well, then just avoid them, and with food and drink just be wary about, for example, undercooked meat and don't eat it.

"I personally become a vegetarian when i am in interesting parts of the world.

"So just take very basic precautions and the overwhelming odds are that you will be fine."

A health officer (L) screens arriving passengers from China in Singapore / AFP via Getty Images

Mr Calder's advice comes as two cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in France.

One of the people, a 48-year-old man, passed through Wuhan, the epicentre in China for the virus, before travelling to France on Wednesday, the minister said.

That person is in hospital in the south-western city of Bordeaux.
As Bihar assembly elections are only a few months away, the war of words between Prashant Kishore and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi has begun.

On Saturday, Kishore targeted the Bihar Deputy Chief Minister tweeting, "There is no substitute to Sushil Modi in giving character certificate to people. Earlier, he used to speak on camera about Nitish Kumar, now that he has been made a deputy Chief Minister, he is giving a written certificate. His chronology is clear."

This statement from the Janata Dal (United) leader came on a video posted by Sushil Modi in 2014 in which he claimed that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has the DNA of betraying people.

"Nitish is not Bihar and Bihar is not Nitish. Betraying someone is in the DNA of Nitish Kumar and it is not the DNA of Bihar. He has betrayed the mandate of people by breaking the 17-year-old alliance with the BJP. He betrayed George Fernandes, Lalu Yadav, Jitan Ram Manjhi," Sushil Modi had tweeted.

The spat between the two political leaders erupted after Pavan Verma on January 21 wrote a letter to Nitish Kumar questioning him about his "political ideology" on the Citizenship Amendment Act, Register of Citizens and Population Register.

Varma had also alleged that in a private conversation, the Bihar Chief Minister spoke against the top Bharatiya Janata Party leadership and said that it is out to destroy the institutions of the country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
IWCriticsPick

Editors note: This review was originally published at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Focus Features releases the film to VOD on Friday, April 3.

Three films into her career, filmmaker Eliza Hittman continues to prove herself as one of contemporary cinemas most empathetic and skilled chroniclers of American youth. Hittmans trio of features  It Felt Like Love, Beach Rats, and Never Rarely Sometimes Always, her first studio effort  have all zoomed in on blue-collar teens on the edge of sexual awakening, often of the dangerous variety. Hittmans ability to write and direct such tender films has long been bolstered by her interest in casting them with fresh new talents, all the better to sell the veracity of her stories and introduce moviegoers to emerging actors worthy of big attention. (This is not the kind of film many mainstream outfits would support and make, and more power to Focus Features and Hittman for endeavoring to bring it to the masses.)

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The backwards  or, at least, stuck-in-time  attitudes of the films small-town Pennsylvania setting are laid bare in its opening credits, as quiet teenager Autumn (Sidney Flanigan, in her debut role) sings at a high school talent show mostly populated by students wearing costumes more suited to a production of Grease than a 2020 outing. Autumns aching performance of a song about the terrible consequences of love is brave, and more dramatic when one of her peers chucks trash at her in the middle of it. Only later will Autumns reputation reveal itself, and even then without much in the way of full explanation, but her place in the social hierarchy as an easy mark (in more than one way) is swiftly established.

What this all means to Autumn is up for debate, but its soon clear why shes so uncomfortable and why her peers seem a bit too up on her relationship status: shes pregnant, and shes on her own. Despite a caring mother (Sharon van Etten in an all-too-brief role) and a vibrant best friend and cousin (Talia Ryder, in her first feature), Autumn is clever enough to realize she has to figure this one for herself, even with limited resources and the revelation that her preferred option is not currently available to her. Hittmans scripting doesnt push it too far, a fine match for Flanigans restrained performance, and when the teen tells her small towns seemingly lone clinic doctor shes not sure if she wants to be a mother, everything weve seen so far (from Autumn, from her family, from her hometown) supports that belief.

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Autumns eventual desire for medical care of her own choosing sets her on a journey of emotional confusion and bureaucratic snags that will feel all too real for anyone who has ever experienced even a fraction of her journey of self-determination (and self-care). Shes joined on her desperate, often unnerving trip to New York City to procure an abortion by her beloved Skylar, with Hittman designing an odd couple thats incredibly relatable and just wonderful to watch onscreen together. While its Autumn who keeps things close to the vest, with Ryder cast as the more outspoken and vibrant of the pair, Hittman mines Flanigans reserve for some of the films most notable dramatic beats. Nothing, however, can compare to a single-shot take in the films final act that shows off Flanigans formidable skill, as Autumn is forced to crack open during a personal interview filled with the one-word answers from which Never Rarely Sometimes Always takes its title.

The films first act is occasionally so heavy-handed as to detract from the drama at its center, often layering on relatively smaller instances of male aggression and toxicity that, in Hittmans attempt to illustrate the environment both Autumn and Skylar have been raised in, fall oddly flat. Theres something clearly wrong with Autumns father (Ryan Eggold) before he affectionately wrestles the family dog, only to call her a slut for enjoying the attention (yes, shes just another girl in his life he can demean), and whatever is happening with the girls creepy manager Rick (Drew Seltzer) is awkwardly handled with little payoff.

The film hits its stride once the pair hit the road, heading out to New York City for a dizzying few days that will forever impact their lives. Along the way, they even meet the films most compelling male character: played by On Becoming a God in Central Florida standout Theodore Pellerin, who meets the girls on the bus and wont stop needling Skylar for a date. His brand of toxic masculinity is most fine-tuned, and hes the kind of dude who would surely deem himself a nice guy, one of the good ones, even as his presence becomes all the more uncomfortable for both the girls and the audience.

The bond between Autumn and Skylar is the beating heart of Never Rarely Sometimes Always which, despite its subject matter and a heartbreaker of a first trailer, isnt just the wrenching drama many might expect. Yes, its a searing examination of the current state of this countrys finicky abortion laws and the medical professionals tasked with enforcing them (from the small-minded to the big-hearted), and if art can have any impact on its consumers, the film will stick with many of its viewers, perhaps even changing long-held beliefs. But its also a singular look at what it means to be a teenage girl today, and with all the joy and pain that comes with it. Autumn and Skylar will never be as vulnerable as they are right now, straddling the line between child and adult, and doing their damnedest to make the right choices for themselves. No one understands that as keenly as Hittman, but perhaps Never Rarely Sometimes Always will remind more people of that naked, terrible fragility and what it means.

Grade: A-

Never Rarely Sometimes Always premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Focus Features will release it on March 13.

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The acting director of the War Memorial has promised its trouble-plagued official history of Australia's deployment to East Timor is back on track after an intervention from Foreign Minister Marise Payne.

The official account of Australian peacekeeping efforts in East Timor has been hampered by alleged interference and attempted censorship by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as The Age revealed last year.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Also taking in Australia's military operations this century in Afghanistan and Iraq, the exhaustive official history is a legacy project of former prime minister Tony Abbott, who commissioned it in 2015 with a budget of $13 million.

Former foreign minister Alexander Downer is among those who said they believed concerns about Australia's relationship with Indonesia have contributed to DFAT's resistance to the project.
Cafe Diem | Photo: Rachel O./Yelp

Ready to celebrate Lunar New Year? On January 25, families around the world take part in the celebrations for Tet, the first day of the Lunar New Year  and spring  for Vietnamese families. To kick off the celebration, families gather at home or at a favorite restaurant on New Years Day for a reunion meal, featuring specialties that include dua hanh (pickled spring onions), banh chung (sticky rice with meat or beans wrapped in leaves) and boiled whole chicken.

If youre looking for a feast to celebrate the Year of the Rat with friends and family, Hoodline has crunched the numbers to find the top Vietnamese restaurants in Philadelphia, based on Yelp ratings and our own methodology. Happy Lunar New Year!

1. QT Vietnamese Sandwich

photo: augustina g./yelp

Topping the list is QT Vietnamese Sandwich. Located at 48 N. 10th St. in Center City, the Vietnamese spot, which offers sandwiches and more, is the highest-rated Vietnamese restaurant in Philadelphia, boasting 4.5 stars out of 505 reviews on Yelp.

2. Cafe Diem

Photo: Trina H./Yelp

Next up is Bella Vista's Cafe Diem, situated at 1031 S. Eighth St. With 4.5 stars out of 240 reviews on Yelp, the Vietnamese spot has proven to be a local favorite.

3. Cafe Nhan

Photo: jenny d./Yelp

Cafe Nhan, a Vietnamese spot in Newbold, is another much-loved go-to, with 4.5 stars out of 129 Yelp reviews. Head over to 1606 W. Passyunk Ave. to see for yourself.

4. Pho Ha

photo: kim d./yelp

Over in Dickinson Narrows, check out Pho Ha, which has earned four stars out of 461 reviews on Yelp. You can find the Vietnamese spot at 610 Washington Ave.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
The word feral is defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as unsocialized behavior suggestive of a wild beast.

But Amanda Hodder, foster coordinator with the Vista-based rescue group Love Your Feral Felines, has a different definition.

To me, feral just means misunderstood, Hodder said. So many of these cats can be socialized toward humans with time and attention.

The Oceanside resident is one of four volunteer officers for LYFF, which was founded in April 2011 by Vista resident Christine Hubbard. While working at a North County animal shelter, Hubbard was surprised to learn about the high euthanasia rate for cats and kittens deemed feral.

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Feral cats are born or abandoned in the wild. In the absence of human interaction and neutering/spaying, they can develop defensive, stand-offish and sometimes hostile behaviors.

When these cats and kittens hiss, spit, growl, hide and spurn physical contact, shelters will declare them un-adoptable. If theyre not picked up by feral cat rescue groups, most will be euthanized.

LYFF has two programs for giving feral cats another shot at life.

Amanda Hodder, foster coordinator for the all-volunteer Love Your Feral Felines rescue group, cuddles Ralphie, one of 15 kittens rescued from a high-kill shelter in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. (Pam Kragen/San Diego U-T)

Over the past six years, the organization has taken part in the countywide barn cats movement. Designed for feral cats that prefer living outdoors away from humans, LYFFs Barn Cats program sends pairs of spayed feral cats to live in barns and out-buildings on ranches and other rural properties to control vermin.

Over a five-week barn socialization program, the cats gradually come to associate the barns with food, shelter and minimal but positive human contact. LYFF also works with the Feral Cat Coalition and SPOT Rescues Cat Team to rescue wild cats and neuter them to gradually reduce the population of cats in the wild.

The second program, which launched in May, is for under-socialized kittens. Overseen by LYFF senior director Melissa Dunaj of Fallbrook, the new program takes in under-age and abandoned kittens that would otherwise be euthanized or go feral in the wild.

The kittens are spayed or neutered, vaccinated, de-wormed and micro-chipped, then sent to live with foster families where theyre socialized to live indoors with people and, in some cases, other pets.

Since May, just over 140 kittens have been rescued through the program. About 70 kittens are now in foster care and, of those, about 20 are ready for adoption at events like one from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct 8, at the Kahoots pet store at 1535 Valley Parkway in Escondido.

Brianne Youngberg, a veterinary hospital nurse who joined LYFF in June as its behavior assessment coordinator, said that since the program started six months ago, only 11 kittens have failed to graduate into socialized behavior. This is usually because theyve lived too long without human contact. Those who dont socialize after six months of training become barn cats.

These kittens have missed the window of learning things and having positive interactions with people, Youngberg said. If we get them young enough, we can work with them.

Tigger, a 5-week-old kitten in Love Your Feral Felines new Under-Socialized Kitten Foster Program, shares a transport cage with his littermate Bagheera, back left. (Pam Kragen/San Diego U-T)

When litters of kittens born in the wild arrive at local shelters, Youngberg said its often impossible to know whether their skittish behavior is feral or just plain fear. Cats are solitary creatures, very sensitive to noise and not as adaptable to change as dogs. As a result, many cats appear hostile at shelters.

They all start out with the behaviors that are describes as feral. Theyre scared, they hiss, they growl, they run and hide, theyve got airplane ears (arched back like plane wings), she said. But Ive seen them transform in just 24 hours when you get them home.

Depending on the age of the kitten, the socialization training takes from a few weeks to a few months, with the average foster stay about four to eight weeks, Youngberg said.

Among the socializing techniques is something called burrito-ing, where the kittens are swaddled in a towel or blanket and held to reduce anxiety. Another is for foster parents to build trust by getting the kitten to lick baby food off their fingers.

Baby food is the key to every kittens heart, said Dunaj, who joined LYFF in June after volunteering for three years at a local animal shelter.

Right now, LYFF has 25 foster families caring for kittens. Dunaj said it could use at least a dozen more. About half of the kittens now in foster care are feral and lack the social skills for adoption. The other half are abandoned newborns who would die without full-time nurturing.

When kittens from 2 to 4 weeks old arrive at shelters or are found in the wild, their chances of survival are low. Not only do they need to be fed by bottle every two to four hours, 24 hours a day, they also need to be physically stimulated to go to the bathroom (a mama cat will lick her kittens abdomens to stimulate the reflex, but foster parents must rub the kittens abdomens with a washcloth).

Because shelters dont have the manpower to care for under-age litters, they keep groups like LYFF on call for emergency pickups. Two weeks ago, a litter of underweight, underage kittens arrived at a local shelter just an hour before closing time. Hodder said she was given just 30 minutes to find someone to pick up the kittens or they would be euthanized that night. Fortunately, a transport driver arrived in the nick of time and the kittens are all now safe in foster care.

Hodders day job is as a receptionist. She started volunteering for LYFF as an afternoon driver, transporting cats from shelters to barn homes. But the more she learned about the fate of feral cats at shelters, the more she felt compelled to do.

Nothing involving rescue was as hard as not getting involved. I needed to do more, she said. There were a lot of sleepless nights, but it was something I had to do.

Hodder recruits foster families who must undergo training to participate in the program, but are required to give only their time and love. All animal care costs are covered by LYFF, which is a donor-supported nonprofit (loveyourferalfelines.com).

It costs LYFF about $35 to $50 per month to care for each cat, plus the $50 one-time cost of spaying/neutering and the ongoing cost of transport cages and unexpected veterinary care.

Theyd like to grow donations by at least 50 percent next year to take in more feral cats from Orange, Riverside and Los Angeles counties.

Melissa Dunaj, senior director for the Love Your Feral Felines rescue organization, cuddles Tinkerbell, one of 15 kittens saved from a high-kill shelter in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. (Pam Kragen/San Diego U-T)

As the organization grows, Hubbards dream is to one day have a property donated where she can build a permanent home for LYFF. Dunaj said it will be unlike any other shelter.

We imagine large community cat rooms, two-story cat condos where each kitty has enough space to feel comfortable and other cat-friendly amenities to keep the kitties stress-free while giving the public a place they will feel good about visiting and adopting from, she said.

Most months, LYFFs expenses top $2,500, but last month they doubled to $5,000 because LYFF joined 10 other local groups that arranged a convoy rescue of dogs and cats from high-kill shelters in Louisiana after Hurricane Harvey.

LYFF took in 15 hurricane refugees, including Ralphie and Tinkerbell, tiny striped kittens who love being held; Bandit, a curious black and white kitten; and Rory Donovan, an outgoing light gray kitten who loves to play. Most of them are now fully weaned and socialized and should soon be ready for permanent homes.

Dunaj said she and her fellow volunteers have an emotional connection to every kitten they save and when these once unwanted kittens are adopted, its cause for celebration.

That was the case on Sept. 17, when one of the programs most notoriously finicky cats, Posh, found her new parents at an adoption clinic in Oceanside.

Posh was born to a cat that lived in a car mechanics garage. While all of her siblings eventually found homes, the 6-month-old Bengal mix would hiss at all comers at adoption events. Youngberg said theyd nearly given up hope for Posh until she locked eyes and hearts with a couple who stopped by the adoption area on a whim.

They just bonded instantly, Youngberg said. I captured the whole interaction on video as I sobbed.

Before and after photos of Doug, a feral kitten when he was taken in by Love Your Feral Felines, left, and when he was adopted a few months later. (Love Your Feral Felines)

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com
There are few international crimes more outrageous than the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, slaughtered by agents of his own government at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul over a year ago.

Time has passed; the world has moved on. But a new documentary about exactly what happened to him is sure to stir renewed outrage, providing excruciating details of the execution itself and deeper context around Saudi Arabias manipulation of social media to control and punish those who speak out.

The Dissident, by the Oscar-winning filmmaker Bryan Fogel, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday and received a standing ovation before a group that included Khashoggis former fiance, Arab freedom activists and a U.N. official who reported on the atrocity and recommended action against the regimes leader Mohammad Bin Salman, or MBS. (None was taken.)

Also Read: Saudi Arabia Sentences 5 People to Death for Jamal Khashoggi Murder

We all recall the brazen act: A distinguished journalist who wrote for The Washington Posts opinion page, a critic of Saudi Arabia, murdered in broad daylight on foreign soil by Saudi agents, then cut into pieces by a government physician to remove his remains. The act was denied by Saudi Arabia until international outrage forced a series of half-hearted confessions.

The film is a call to action to continue to fight for Jamals legacy and what he believed in, Fogel said before the screening.

The Dissident may feel like it rambles in parts, and it does. But there is no denying the searing power of the story as it describes Khashoggis last moments, which history documents verbatim and with live audio thanks to the Turkish recording of the apparently-bugged consulate.

The scene is stomach-turning. Khashoggi arrived at the consulate on Oct. 2, 2018, to pick up a document for his marriage, as his fiance Hatice Cengiz remains outside.

Has the sacrificial victim arrived? asks a Saudi official, according to the transcript.

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Yes, comes the answer.

Thank God.

Also Read: Saudi Officials Admit Jamal Khashoggi Was Killed at Istanbul Consulate

Khashoggi is quickly confronted by the consul-general, who demands that he send his family a dictated text. Khashoggi refuses, but that exchange is quickly cut short as the killing team closes in. Dont do this! Khashoggi shouts, as he eyes a towel and asks if they intend to anesthetize him.

If only. No, instead the killers  who are identified by name in the film  suffocate him over seven and a half minutes, possibly using a plastic bag. Clothes, clothes, one barks, taking off Khashoggis clothes for a decoy to wear out on the street in a bid to misinform.

The military doctor discusses the size of body parts as he cuts them with a bonesaw and fits them in plastic cases. The film does not play the audio  which is a blessing  but even the English-language transcript is enough of a horror show. The military doctor discusses the size of body parts as he cuts and fits them in plastic cases.

What kind of government does this? The government of MBS, which also embarked on a massive campaign to discredit Khashoggi, using a Twitter farm to call him a traitor and worse. Few remain to speak for him besides the courageous Cengiz, who devotes her time to keeping Khashoggis memory alive. Khashoggis children and other family members do not speak up  they live in Saudi Arabia, silenced.

Also Read: About That Saudi Tsunami That Just Washed Through Hollywood

The film also introduces us to another Saudi dissident, the much-younger Omar Abdulaziz, who worked with Khashoggi to fight for free expression and a more open government, as well as a counter-Twitter campaign driven by fellow activists. Abdulaziz has political asylum in Canada, where he has started an online talk show.

But it is clear that not only has Saudi Arabia hacked Abdulazizs phone, from which authorities may have learned about Khashoggis movements, but  as we have just learned  the phone of Amazon chief and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos. Bezos met MBS on a tour to the United States, and a U.N. special rapporteur concludes in the film that MBS infiltrated Bezoss phone when they exchanged numbers.

All of this disturbing information bears renewed attention on this case and how the world regards Saudi Arabia, which is trying hard to sell its message of reform and attract investment for a post-oil reality.

Fogel was moved to tell Khashoggis story on the heels of winning Best Documentary at the Academy Awards to Icarus, a story about sports, doping, Russia and Olympic corruption, he said in an interview at TheWraps studio at Sundance on Friday.

He said he hopes the world will still take punitive action against Saudi Arabia on behalf of a man who loved his country and wanted the best for it.

The film closes with a tragic ending shot of Khashoggis grave. The journalist who yearned for the right to live freely in his own country does not even have the dignity of an Arabic-language epitaph. His name is inscribed in Turkish on his tombstone.

Read original story The Dissident Revives Jamal Khashoggis Brutal Murder: Has the Sacrificial Victim Arrived? At TheWrap
Hang, 35, a train barrier operator in Thu Duc District, offers a traditional meal to her ancestors on the last day of the year. In her career of 15 years, Hang has never had the chance to reunite with her family during Tet in northern Hung Yen Province. "We cannot leave our station when on duty. We are not allowed to sleep either."
A 5.0 magnitude earthquake hit southern Puerto Rico on Saturday afternoon, following a series of quakes and aftershocks that have rocked the island over the last few weeks.

The epicenter of the quake was about 10 miles south of Indios at a shallow depth of 8 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

More than 950 earthquakes and aftershocks have been recorded on Puerto Rico since Dec. 31, devastating infrastructure, causing power outages and water shortages and driving thousands of people to shelters. More than 4,000 people remained in shelters Saturday, and officials expected that number to rise, according to The Associated Press.

The worst quake  a magnitude 6.4 on Jan. 7  killed at least one person and knocked out power to virtually the entire island of more than 3 million people. Days later, a magnitude 5.9 quake caused further damage and triggered a landslide in the southern municipality of Penuelas.

The island became embroiled in further turmoil last week when a Facebook video showed angry people breaking into a warehouse filled with unused emergency supplies dating from Hurricane Maria in 2017. The discovery particularly outraged those affected by the earthquakes, many of whom have struggled to find basic supplies.

A protest is held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020.

Hundreds of people participated in a protest in San Juan on Thursday over the unused emergency aid. Later in the evening, police fired tear gas at a small group of protesters.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump declared a "major disaster" in southern Puerto Rico and released billions of dollars in aid.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Puerto Rico earthquake: Magnitude 5.0 quake shakes island
She's one of Australia's biggest Hollywood exports, known for roles in big hit movies including Muriel's Wedding and About A Boy.

And Toni Collette turned heads on Friday as she attended the Sundance Film Festival in Salt Lake City, Utah, for the premiere of her new drama Dream Horse.

The 47-year-old Golden Globe-winning actress looked effortlessly chic for the event, as she posed for cameras on the red carpet.

Little Miss Sunshine! Toni Collette looked effortlessly chic at Sundance Film Festival on Friday as she attended the premiere of her new drama 'Dream Horse'

The Knives Out actress, known for eccentric style, kept true to form in a stylish pair of textured grey trousers, which she paired with a high-neck blue blouse.

Toni accessorised with a pair of white boots, a statement brass detailed feather necklace and a star embellished clutch.

And she made sure to keep warm from Salt Lake City's freezing cold in a long off-white trench coat that featured trendy gold buttons.

Another hit? The critically acclaimed actor, has experienced a career resurgence in recent years, recently winning a Critics Choice award for her starring role in Netflix's Unbelievable

The Hereditary star was all smiles, as she wore her honey blonde tresses out past her shoulders in a loose tousled wave.

Toni opted for a less-is-more makeup look, flaunting her flawless complexion with a simple blush matte lip, and adding a hint of drama with a smokey eye.

The critically-acclaimed actress has experienced a career resurgence in recent years.

Toni is attending the Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of her upcoming drama Dream Horse in which she stars opposite Homeland dreamboat Damian Lewis.

Chilly! Earlier in the day Toni braved Salt Lake City's wintery weather, as she bundled up in a long-line black puffer jacket with a fur-lining trim at the Sundance Film Festival

Earlier this month, she won a Critics Choice award for her turn as a detective in Netflix's true-crime drama Unbelieveable.

Despite the pomp and splendour of awards season, Toni has been busy taking care of her husband, Dave Galafassi, who is recovering from a motorcycle accident.

She told her Instagram followers last month that Dave was 'recovering slowly'.

'Recently my husband had a devastating motorbike accident. He's now recovering slowly but well. We're so lucky to still have him,' she wrote.
A woman was fatally shot while helping her boyfriend fight two other men in Mid-City late Thursday, according to New Orleans police.

The slain woman, 22, and her boyfriend began arguing with the other men in the 4100 block of South Carrollton Avenue about 11:40 p.m., police said. One of the men left to grab a gun, slapped the womans boyfriend and  with his companion  began attacking the boyfriend, according to police.

The woman then went to her car, grabbed her own gun, returned to the scene of the melee and pointed the weapon at the armed man with whom she had been fighting, police said. The armed man shot the woman in the chest; she dropped her weapon and ran to her car, police said.

The wounded womans boyfriend took her to a hospital, where she was later pronounced dead, according to police. She is at least the 12th homicide victim reported in New Orleans this year.

Police didnt identify the victim or name any possible suspects. Anyone with information can call Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111.

In other matters recently handled by local authorities:

 New Orleans police investigated two other shootings Thursday.

About 7:10 p.m. in the 1600 block of South Liberty Street in Central City, a 30-year-old man was shot while he was inside his car by an unknown attacker who was outside the vehicle. He drove himself to a hospital, police said.

Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

Earlier, about 4:45 p.m., a 35-year-old man was shot by several unknown attackers while he stepped out of his car on Shepard Court in Algiers, police said. Paramedics brought the victim to a hospital while the shooters fled.

 New Orleans police on Thursday investigated an Uptown carjacking at gunpoint as well as an attempted armed robbery in Treme.

About 2 p.m. at the corner of Robert and Danneel streets, a 21-year-old man as well as his passenger were pulled out of their car at gunpoint by two other men who pulled up in another vehicle, police said. The men fled in the victims vehicle.

About 6:10 p.m. at the corner of Ursulines Avenue and Treme Street in Treme, two men approached a 25-year-old man demanding money, threatened to shoot the victim when said he didnt have any cash, and ran away, New Orleans police said.

 Lakisha Williams, 38, and Brittany White, 33, pleaded guilty in New Orleans federal court Friday to roles in a local credit-card fraud ring, officials said.

Williams and White acknowledged they helped obtain information from stolen credit and debit cards, encode it onto fraudulent cards and then used that information to buy items at stores. The ring would then return the items at a different store of the same chain and have money recredited to them, prosecutors said.

Williams took flights with others to various U.S. cities to carry the scheme out, costing stores between $150,000 and $200,000, prosecutors said.

-Staff writer Ramon Antonio Vargas
You can bet that unless something changes, no one in a position of authority will propose the obvious and simple solution to let us find out how much federal income tax individual companies pay for any given year to help support the system that gives their business a chance to succeed in our country.
A 27-year-old man has appeared in court charged with the murder of his four-month-old son.

Tiaan Burger was arrested on Friday over the death of Finnick Hercules Burger earlier this month.

Police said the baby had suffered "multiple injuries".

He was taken to a Gladstone hospital by paramedics before being airlifted to the Queensland Children's Hospital on January 13.

He died the following day.
The uncle of a passenger onboard the Ukrainian airliner shot down by Irans Revolutionary Guard says he and other families of victims are launching court cases in Ontario, Canada.

Ali-Asghar Gorji, uncle of Puneh Gorji, said in a Facebook post January 24 families are suing the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic and the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) for a terrorist act.

A Ukrainian Boeing 737 taking off from Tehrans airport in the morning of January 8 was shot down by two Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles within a short distance from the runway. After three days of denials, the Iranian military accepted responsibility saying the incident was the result of human error. All 176 passengers onboard died.

Gorji in his post added that victims families are also planning to appeal to the International Criminal Court. He did not refer to how many families are involved or their identities but explained that because of expected pressures by Iranian authorities on family members, they will remain anonymous.

Mr. Gorji appealed to all victims families to join the legal effort.

Puneh Gorji and her husband Arash Zarrabi were residents of Canada, visiting Iran and they were on their way back when the plane was shot down.

Dozens of Canadian citizens and residents were on board of the airliner, flying to Kyiv, Ukraine to catch a flight to Canada.

Iran has rejected demands by the Ukrainian and Canadian government to release the flight recorders for expert analysis, asking for hardware and software from the United States to conduct its own investigation. Skeptics believe Irans conduct is a delaying tactic not to share information, although it has already accepted responsibility for the downing of the plane.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association will build a 200-megawatt solar power plant next door to the 253-MW coal-fired Escalante Generating Station near Grants, which the association plans to close this year.

Tri-State announced the $200 million solar project Jan. 15, a week after revealing plans to pull the wholesale electric supplier completely out of coal by 2030. Its one of eight new utility-scale solar and wind facilities the association now plans to build in New Mexico and Colorado, providing a gigawatt of renewable-energy generation.

That will replace two-thirds of the 1.5 GW of coal-fired electricity Tri-State will lose after closing Escalante in December, and after ending all operations in 2030 at the 1.3-GW Craig Station in Colorado, which supplies power to Tri-State member cooperatives and to other utilities that co-own some of the plants generating capacity.

Tri-State is a wholesale association that sells electricity to 43 distribution cooperatives in four states, including 11 in New Mexico.

The Escalante Solar plant will be in Prewitt on land near the coal-fired Escalante station. That could help offset job losses at the coal plant, which employs 107 people, while replacing some of the local taxes that will disappear when Escalante shuts down, Tri-State CEO Duane Highley said.

Escalante Solar represents an early investment in the communities near our generating station, in light of our recent announcement on its closure, Highley said in a prepared statement. We will continue our commitment to the local community as we move forward with the transition of our resources.

None of the other planned solar and wind facilities announced by Tri-State will be in New Mexico.

The Escalante Solar project will be Tri-States largest solar plant, either operating or planned, said Tri-State spokesman Lee Boughey.

Tri-State will buy all electricity generated by the plant, which will be built and operated by solar developer Turning Point Energy. It will provide enough power to supply the equivalent of nearly 62,000 typical cooperative member households.

Once operating, Escalante Solar wont offer many permanent positions, but it will provide hundreds of construction jobs before then, Boughey said.

The association will give generous severance packages to coal plant employees, plus supplemental funding for health benefits and educational and financial planning assistance. Its also providing $5 million in economic development assistance for communities affected by plant closure.

Our first priority is to focus on the employees and community needs in this difficult transition, Boughey told the Journal. Were working with the surrounding communities to help plan for the future. The community knows how best to use the resources we offer, so were leaving it to them to apply the funding as they see fit for the biggest impact.

State officials have advocated for renewable generation to be located in communities affected by coal plant shutdowns, including the Farmington area, which will be hurt by the planned 2022 closure of the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station, said Tripp Stelnicki, a spokesman for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

We want replacement power to be located in the affected communities whenever possible, so we welcome Tri-States announcement, Stelnicki told the Journal. Were also happy that the association is offering severance packages for affected employees. Some of them will retire, but we want to help the others find new employment right where they are.

Workforce Solutions Secretary Bill McCamley said his department is working with Tri-State to determine the shutdowns impact on individual employees.

About 20% could probably retire now; another 50% are within two to five years of retirement, and the remaining 30% will need long-term options, McCamley said. We need to tailor programs to help them.

The government will encourage Turning Point Energy to hire locally and train laid-off Escalante employees for construction. Its also applying for an emergency grant from the U.S. Department of Labor for education, job retraining and wage subsidies for businesses that hire former Escalante employees and train them on the job. And its working with U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, D-N.M., on a local career fair for February.

Still, the extent of forthcoming layoffs is uncertain, because Escalantes closure will also affect a nearby mine run by Peabody Coal Co. that supplies the plant. About 40 people work at the mine.

We dont know the exact number of employees there, McCamley said. But the mine supplies a bunch of places, so it may continue to serve other customers even after Escalante closes.

Local economic development groups are reaching out to state officials and legislators for economic development assistance and help in luring companies to the area to buffer the impact of Escalante, said Robert Castillo, president of the Cibola Communities Economic Development Foundation and CEO of Continental Divide Electric Cooperative in Grants.

Our biggest, immediate concern is the loss of jobs for our residents, Castillo said. This is a very trying situation for the people in our area.

One legislative initiative could help in those efforts. House Bill 8, co-sponsored by five legislators in this years session, would allow counties to form Electric Generating Facility Economic Development Districts next to fossil fuel plants that are being retired. The districts would have bonding capacity to raise money for projects to recruit new businesses.

The governor supports the bill, Stelnicki said.

It could convert the existing Escalante coal plant site into a new industrial site, repurposing the area for additional industrial opportunities, Stelnicki said.

Tri-State says its switch from coal to clean energy projects means 50% of all electricity consumed by its member cooperatives will come from renewables by 2024, helping the association meet state mandates in New Mexico and Colorado.

Apart from those mandates, however, the Escalante closure reflects the dim future of coal-fired plants, Boughey said.

The closure is driven by the economics of operating the plant, which is often not competitive in the marketplace with todays low-cost renewables, Boughey said. Renewable prices are so low now that we get a green energy dividend from developing those projects, which helps us to retire our coal units early.
Kilrush Drama Group are all systems go in preparation for the festival Play, The Salvage Shop by Jim Nolan, due to be performed in St Brigid's Hall in Carnew in February.

Sadly, festival favourite Mick Byrne has had to step down from directing due to illness, but the group are lucky that Pat Whelan has stepped into breach.

'Pat was to play the role of Josie Costello in the play, and when Mick was unable to continue with direction, Pat agreed to direct. Pat is a two time All Ireland Director, having directed Bridge Drama Group to wins in both the Confined and Open All Ireland Drama Finals,' said PRO Mary Doran.

The Salvage Shop is set in Garris, a small coastland town and the grace notes are silent at Garristown Brass Band but troubled bandmaster and opera buff, Sylvester Tansey, is haunted by personal betrayal and the memory of a glorious past and won't let go of the baton.

As the band moves to replace him, Sylvie clings to the lifeline of the annual regatta, meanwhile his son Eddie, euphonium player in exile, invokes the intervention of the great Luciano Pavarotti as he struggles to forge a reconciliation with his father.

Mary described the cast this year as strong, which will include Michael Dunbar playing the role of Sylvie Tansey.

Michael won the Best Actor award in the All Ireland Open Drama Finals last year for his portrayal of Thomas Dunne in Kilrush Drama Group's production of The Steward of Christendom.

The group also welcome multi-award winning actress, Ellie Willoughby, back to take on the role of Katie Tansey, Sylvie's granddaughter, while the Sylvie's son Eddie is being played by Joe Sinnott.

The role of Rita Shanahan is being played by Catherine Stafford, P.J. Arthur plays the role of Stephen Kearney.

Replacing Pat Whelan in the role of Josie Costello is John Redmond.

The stage crew under the direction of Lar Duffy are busy building the set and the first staging of the production will take place in St. Brigid's Hall Carnew on Thursday, February 20 and Friday, February 21.
Police at a roadblock on the outskirts of Wuhan turned away cars trying to leave the virus-stricken city on Saturday, as other anxious residents trapped inside spent the Lunar New Year stocking up on masks and medical supplies or in long hospital queues. Authorities have prevented anyone from leaving Wuhan, the city of 11 million people at the heart of the viral outbreak which has so far infected nearly 1,300 people and killed 41 others. AFP saw a steady trickle of cars approaching the roadblocks around 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of the city centre on Saturday morning, only for police in fluorescent jackets wearing masks to tell them to turn around. The barricade, at one of the tolls for highways exiting the city, was blocked with red and yellow plastic barriers and cones. "Nobody can leave," a policeman told AFP. A stray dog ran across the empty road in front of the roadblocks, which were shrouded in grey fog and drizzle. AFP journalists only saw two vehicles allowed to pass the roadblock, including a white van which an officer said was "buying medicines" and would later return to the city. Authorities extended transport bans to 17 other cities around Wuhan in a gargantuan effort to control the SARS-like virus, restricting travel for at least 56 million in Hubei province. While there are restrictions on anyone leaving Wuhan, a few people were allowed to enter the city through the barricade, such as desperately needed medical workers whose holidays were cut short to help overwhelmed hospitals. An empty bus was also allowed to pass the roadblock into Wuhan after showing documentation to the police at the roadblock. Three young nurses who crossed the barrier on foot told AFP they were going to two hospitals. Two of them were waiting for a friend to pick them up. "We went to our hometowns for holidays before the ban on transportation, but because of the epidemic we have to come back quickly to Wuhan," said one. Dragging wheelie cases behind them, they were holding their coat hoods up against the rain. "They need us to go there, otherwise they will be too exhausted," another medical worker who didn't want to be named told AFP. - 'Maintain social stability' - In the city centre, temples were closed and holiday festivities cancelled. The city also announced it would ban ordinary traffic in the city centre from Sunday. People waiting at Wuhan's Red Cross Hospital were angry and frustrated. "It takes at least five hours to see a doctor," one woman, who didn't want to be named, told AFP. "Nurses are brave but management is really messy." Many people had brought their own chairs for the wait. Others gathered in pharmacies to buy medical supplies. At one store, customers queued at the cash register while staff in protective gear retrieved what they needed and brought it out to them. Pharmacy staff were in full body suits and gloves, wearing two sets of face masks. People rifled through boxes of face masks, comparing different makes and models. Full body suits had already sold out. Amid fears of rising prices and lack of products, some sales were being restricted and officials were regulating sales. "My duty is to supervise the price of what pharmacist are selling," said Li Xiang, a market supervisor at one pharmacy. "Goods must be from official channels and prices shall not be hiked." Li told AFP that the government was making an effort to "maintain social stability and safeguard people's lives." A popular traditional Chinese medicine for treating fevers was being restricted to only two boxes per person to manage high demand. A local radio station played in the pharmacy ran an advert reminding people to wear a mask. "Everyone is just trying to protect themselves," said one man in a surgical mask who declined to give his name. "The government is in control of this. It's not a problem," he added. Meanwhile, in a taxi, a rap song playing on the radio echoed the patriotic fervour, telling people not to be afraid of the virus. "Wuhan people are strong enough to fight and defeat it," the rapper chanted. People in Wuhan are buying medical supplies in pharmacies where staff wear full body-suits, gloves and masks China's new viral outbreak has so far infectednearly 1,300 people and killed 41 others Authorities have prevented anyone from leaving Wuhan, the city of 11 million people at the heart of the viral outbreak Anxious Wuhan residents spent the Lunar New Year stocking up on masks and medical supplies
FCT police arrest traditional ruler over murder of officer

The FCT Police Command has arrested the Chief of Ushafa in Bwari Area Council, Mohammed Baba, following the alleged killing of a police officer by a mob at his palace.

The command Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Anjuguri Manzah, disclosed this in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

He said the secretary to the chiefs palace, Danlami Busa was also arrested in connection with the case.

Mr Manzah said an assistant superintendent of police, Eric Isaiah, was murdered at the palace of the chief while trying to arrest one Moses Peter aka Dogo, a suspect wanted for culpable homicide.

He said one Domnic Emmanuel, had on January 21, reported at Bwari Police Divisional Headquarters that his brother, Moses, engaged to work as mason was found unconscious after being attacked and severely injured.

According to Mr Manzah, the brother told the police that Mr Moses was rushed to Bwari General Hospital for medical attention and was able to provide vital information as to his assailants before he died.

He said Peter aka Dogo and one John (surname unknown) were fingered as the alleged perpetrators of the act.

According to him, on the strength of this, the Bwari Divisional Police Officer detailed his detectives to visit Ushafa village and make inquiries on the matter.

He said the detectives sighted and accosted Peter aka Dogo, who resisted arrest and invited his friends from a nearby drinking joint to intervene.

Mr Manzah said his friends insisted that the suspect must be taken to the Chief of Ushafa palace before the police could effect his arrest.

He said the two police detectives obliged the crowd and went to the chiefs palace, where they met the secretary to the chief.

Instead of addressing the issue, the chiefs secretary, at the instance of the Chief incited the crowd, who descended heavily on the two detectives.

As a result, a re-enforcement team led by late ASP Eric Isaiah, Patrol and Guard Officer, Bwari Division, with three others were deployed.

They arrived the scene with a police hilux vehicle which was used to rescue the two officers who escaped with the suspect, Peter aka Dogo.

Sadly, the crowd brutally attacked and murdered ASP Eric Isaiah in cold blood after inflicting injuries on other members of the team, he said.

Mr Manzah said the Commissioner of Police in charge of FCT, Bala Ciroma, had condemned the murder of the officer, describing it as barbaric and unpatriotic.

He said the commissioner had directed that the killers of the police officer be arrested and brought to justice.

He said the commissioner had warned that the command would not treat attack on police officers while on lawful duty with levity.

(NAN)
January 24, 2020



POCATELLO  Four Idaho State University College of Business economics students will present their research papers at the Western Social Science Association conference in Portland this April.

Economics Professor Karl Geisler arranged for a student panel presentation session in which ISU and Colorado State University students would present their research projects. Students presenting include Liem Lucas, Simon Orgill, Ritesh Yadav and Jennifer Ibeabuchi.

I think its important for students to see that the ideas and concepts theyre learning in the classroom have broader real-world implications, said Geisler who will attend the conference along with the students and economics Professor, Iris Buder. The ability to attend a conference such as this lets our students see how economic knowledge is applied in the real world. It also gives students a great chance to network for future jobs and graduate schools.

The professors said each of the students volunteered to attend the conference and put extra time into developing their research in order to take advantage of the opportunity.

This gives our students the opportunity to push themselves, Geisler said. They will have to prepare, practice and deliver a professional presentation to an audience of experts in their fields. Having the ability to speak confidently about sound economic conclusions based on data is a valuable skill for our students to hone no matter what career path they take after graduation.

The professors noted that most of the students have plans to attend graduate school, but arent sure of where they want to go or which field of economics is most intriguing to them.

These conferences are where some of the foremost experts in a field gather to present and discuss their research, said Lucas, one of the students attending. Undergraduate students in attendance gain exposure to the substance of this research, which aids in developing their understanding of the insights of the field, as well as the actual research process. Hands-on experience like this is invaluable for students, especially those interested in pursuing education at the graduate level. As such a student, I am beyond grateful and excited for this opportunity.

The students will be able to take full advantage of the conference in addition to presenting on their research including taking part in sessions on environmental, natural resource economics, heterodox economics, business and finance, and globalization and development.

Buder said she encourages students in her Econometrics class to research topics that intrigue them personally, which is what inspired each of the students topics.

I ask students to write a research paper that incorporates empirical analysis, as part of this course, Buder said. I help them in any way I can. At the beginning of the semester, I meet with students to assess what their fields of interest are or if they have a research question in mind, then we look for data on that topic.

The students research topics include the impact of food assistance programs in the United States by Lucas, the relationship between the use of assisted reproductive technology and infant health outcomes by Ibeabuchi, the impact of corruption on economic growth by Yadav and the impact of obesity on health-related quality of life by Orgill.

Contributions from College of Business alumni and friends have made it possible for students to attend this conference.

"We would like to extend our thanks to the Wells Fargo Grant and the Dean's Excellence Fund from the College of Business, as their generous donation has sponsored this opportunity for the students, Buder said. It's wonderful to see the support that has been provided to these students."
Tensions rose in the Love Island villa after Rebecca Gormley outmanoeuvred Siannise Fudge during a tense recoupling.

The former Miss Newcastle picked Luke T, prompting a furious reaction from Siannise who had set her sights on the newcomer.

Siannise, who has been unlucky in love since arriving in the Cape Town villa, chose to couple up with Nas Majeed as friends but was visibly upset.

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Its like a kick in the teeth, she told Rebecca.

Its like you have gone behind my back. We will talk more about this later.

Viewers were quick to take sides but appeared equally split.

One said: We can all agree now we love Siannise and not Rebecca right?

Another praised her for giving Nas another chance at love.

Video of the Day

YES SIANNISE she just shot RIGHT UP in my estimations #whatagirl SO SO SO HAPPY for Nas  hopefully they get someone in there for him now!!!! And her actually.... #LoveIsland @LoveIsland  Jessica :) (@JessieeeJ__x) January 24, 2020

They said: YES SIANNISE. She just shot RIGHT UP in my estimations #whatagirl SO SO SO HAPPY for Nas. Hopefully they get someone in there for him now!!!! And her actually.

But others applauded Rebeccas bolshie behaviour.

Rebecca stepping on everyones toes because she came to find her man #LoveIsland pic.twitter.com/S5ouvS43rE  cherie (@_Chxrie_) January 24, 2020

Some joked that Rebecca had no qualms about stepping on everyones toes.

Rebecca is the Regina George of this season. Very beautiful and outgoing but lowkey messy and always stirring the pot. #loveisland pic.twitter.com/jKSBijIkMh  Mia Rose (@MiaRoselynn) January 24, 2020

Others compared her to Regina George, Rachel McAdamss character in the film Mean Girls  a ruthless and popular high school socialite.

Love Island continues on ITV2.
Norfolk Naval Shipyard Breaks Ground for $200 Million Renovation of Historic Dry Dock 4

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS200124-03

Release Date: 1/24/2020 9:46:00 AM

By Michael Brayshaw, Lead Public Affairs Specialist, Norfolk Naval Shipyard Public Affairs

PORTSMOUTH, VA (NNS) -- Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) held a groundbreaking for the renovation of its historic Dry Dock 4 January 23.

This $200 million renovation, spanning nearly three years, marks NNSY's biggest initiative yet in the realization of Naval Sea Systems Command's (NAVSEA) Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP). SIOP is a 20-year, $21 billion program dedicated to completely refurbishing the nation's four public shipyards by modernizing equipment, improving workflow and upgrading dry docks and facilities.

The Dry Dock 4 renovation will meet the Navy's needs for submarine overhaul during the 2020s and decades into the future, supporting Ohio, Virginia and Columbia-class boats.

"Today's groundbreaking will ensure this historic dry dock will continue to serve the Navy and nation for the future Navy, just as it has done for the last 100 years," said Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition) James Geurts. "The Navy continues to invest heavily in our naval shipyard workforce and supporting infrastructure to ensure we can continue to support the world's finest naval force now and into the future."

First opened in April 1919, Dry Dock 4 was the first of three dry docks built at NNSY during its World War I-era expansion. Approximately 1,012 feet long, 144-feet wide and 40-feet deep, it ranked among the largest concrete structures in the world when it opened. Notable ships that have graced the dock include USS Langley (CV-1), the nation's very first aircraft carrier; USS Texas (BB-35), a battleship that fought in both World Wars; the battleship USS Arizona (BB-39) that received its modernization at NNSY a decade prior to being destroyed in the attack on Pearl Harbor; and the British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, one of many Allied fleet repairs conducted at NNSY during World War II.

"If these walls could talk, they would tell a compelling story of vital service performed right here for the United States Navy in the past century," said Shipyard Commander Captain Kai Torkelson. "Now, more than 100 years later after it opened, we are upgrading the dock, not only so it can support the needs of the current Navy, but the Navy in the 2050s and 2060s, on all classes of submarines, both present and future."

During its renovation, two-and-a-half feet of concrete will be replaced from the dry dock's floor, as well as two feet from the sidewalls. In addition to replacing the dry dock caisson, there will be a complete restoration of the pumpwell while upgrading all mechanical and electrical equipment. To complete the massive overhaul, approximately 2,300 linear feet of mechanical and electrical services in the dock area will be replaced.

In addition to the dry dock renovation, NNSY will also be renovating the adjacent Buildings 261 and 1539, which house a storage area and repair shop, and their surrounding area. A separate $26 million, two-and-a-half year project, the building renovations will provide new roofing, interior enhancements and other upgrades. In addition, the dock's Stiff Leg Derrick Crane, that is no longer in service, will be removed.

These projects continue determined efforts in America's Shipyard to modernize and streamline its work on Navy submarines. In June 2019, NNSY dedicated its Submarine Maintenance Facility, which consolidates submarine maintenance, production and support shops into a single facility adjacent to the shipyard's submarine dry docks and piers.

Discussing the importance of renovating NNSY to support both workforce capabilities and Navy needs, NAVSEA Commander, Vice Admiral Tom Moore said, "Your shipyard has been in existence longer than our great nation. It was designed and laid out to build ships powered by the wind and coal. SIOP is our opportunity to rethink the infrastructure of our shipyards to improve workflow, modernize our capital equipment, and execute the dry dock modernization needed to maintain our current and future Navy. As the only public shipyard on the east coast able to dry dock an aircraft carrier, and given your co-location with the largest Fleet concentration in the Navy, we are dedicated to deliver a 21st Century Shipyard to support our amazing women and men who keep our ships in the fight."

NNSY, a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command, is one of the oldest, largest and most multifaceted industrial facilities belonging to the U.S. Navy, specializing in repairing, overhauling and modernizing ships and submarines.

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Leader of Human Smuggling Operation Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison: DOJ

A Florida man who headed a human smuggling operation that transported Cuban nationals to the United States through Mexico has been sentenced to 9 years in prison, according to the Justice Department (DOJ).

George Ferrer Sanchez, 46, of Miramar, Florida, was sentenced by a district court judge on Wednesday for orchestrating a conspiracy to launder the proceeds of an alien smuggling operation. He previously pled guilty to participating in a conspiracy to commit money laundering, the department announced in a statement on Friday.

Ferrer Sanchez was also ordered to pay a $5.4 million forfeiture money judgment and to forfeit two properties to the federal government.

The 46-year-old was the leader of an alien smuggling conspiracy that was operating in Miami between around January 2009 and June 2015, according to DOJ, citing court records. He had directed an operation that stole vessels used to smuggle the Cuban nationals to the United States via Mexico for payment.

Once the illegal immigrants were smuggled to Mexico, Ferrer Sanchezs operation would contact the migrants family members and friends in South Florida asking for payment for their release. The funds acquired from the conspiracy were laundered through business and real property, according to the court records.

His arrest and prosecution was the result of the work of a multi-agency task force, Operation Sisyphus Task Force, established to combat Caribbean-based organized crime. The task force has in recent years targeted organizations that have been using coercion and extortion to force migrants and their families to make payments for the release of loved ones.

This follows a similar announcement where a Mexican woman, who led a human smuggling organization, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for her role in a conspiracy to transport illegal immigrants.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on Wednesday that Brenda Yadira Gamez-Castaneda, aka Guera La Trailera, 41, was sentenced by a district court judge for her role in the criminal enterprise as well as for illegally reentering the United States after being previously deported. She given 24 months for that conviction, which will run concurrently with her sentence for transporting illegal aliens. Following her sentence, she will be deported back to Mexico, authorities said.

ICE officials said, citing court records, that the operation began around May 2019 where two co-defendantsRoberto Flores-Brewster and Adolfo Medina-Cervantezharbored and transported illegal immigrants in a property in Donna, Texas. Flores-Brewster then transported the migrants to Gamez-Castaneda, who then with the help of another defendant, Silber Vazquez-Mireles, transport the illegal immigrations to other stash houses and hotels. The illegal immigrants would then remain at these locations until Gamez-Castaneda arranged drivers to smuggle them beyond the South Texas U.S. Border Patrol (CBP) checkpoints.

Gamez-Castaneda was found responsible for smuggling at least 25 illegal immigrants, among which were minors who she used to assist in the conspiracy. One of the migrants was held involuntarily, while another was also held by coercion in connection with a demand for payment, officials said.

Gamez-Castanedas sentence was enhanced after the court heard evidence that she had obstructed and impeded the administration of justice by destroying evidence, demanding people to destroy evidence, and directing a co-defendant on what to say to authorities, according to the statement. She also tried to leave the United States after finding out that she was being investigated.

Her co-defendant Vazquez-Mireles, 32, also from Mexico, has been sentenced to 3 years and 4 months in prison for his role in the smuggling operation, a sentence which was enhanced due to obstruction of justice. Meanwhile, Flores-Brewster, 60, and Medina-Cervantez, 29, are set to be sentenced in March.

CBP has repeatedly warned about the efforts of human smugglers to bring individuals in the United States. The department saw an unprecedented number of illegal aliens entering the country to seek asylum last year, which prompted the Trump administration to ramp up efforts to address the impending problem.

One of the administrations top priorities is to end loopholes from the current catch and release policy, in which migrants are released into the interior of the country as they await a court hearing, often never to be seen again.

The administration implemented the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), more commonly known as the Remain in Mexico policy, at the beginning of 2019 as an attempt to curb the flow of illegal immigration and prevent fraudulent or nonmeritorious cases. The policy sends migrants back to Mexico while they wait for a court to process their claims. The administration expanded the implementation of the MPP in June that year after the United States and Mexico reached a deal.

The number of apprehensions and inadmissible have fallen over the past seven months since its peak at 144,000 in May last year. Since May the number of those apprehended or deemed inadmissible fell by 72 percent through to December last year, according to CBP data.
France, US and Russia on Saturday moved to evacuate their citizens while India is believed to have reached out to Beijing to allow its people stranded in Wuhan to leave the central Chinese city, which is the epicentre of the novel coronavirus (nCoV) outbreak that has killed 41 people and infected at least 1,300.

The evacuation plans come as Chinese President Xi Jinping warned on Saturday that situation had become grave given the accelerating spread of the virus across the country, which has now put as many as 18 cities on lockdown  including Wuhan where policemen were seen turning cars back from city borders.

The increase in the number of fatalities  from 26 on Friday to 41  was the sharpest single-day spike in deaths due to the previously unseen virus that is believed to have begun spreading late December from a seafood market in Wuhan.

Around 250 Indians are still in Wuhan, people aware of the situation said, adding that hundreds more are believed to have headed back to India in the past two weeks for the Lunar New Year holidays. The remaining Indians in the city mostly comprise students and around 50 working individuals, these people added.

India has requested the Chinese foreign ministry as well as local officials in Wuhan to consider making arrangements for Indians to leave, news agency PTI quoted sources as saying. It is not clear how and when India plans to evacuate its citizens if approval is granted.

The United States was reported to have begun arranging for a charter flight, a Boeing 767 jet that can carry around 230 passengers, to bring its citizens and diplomats back from Wuhan on Sunday, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Washington was given approval for the operation from the Chinese foreign ministry, the report added.

Russia too was consulting with China while France was setting up a bus service to evacuate its citizens from Wuhan, according to media reports quoting the Russian embassy and the French consulate.

In India, a top adviser of the Prime Minister met senior bureaucrats from across several ministries to review response mechanisms if the contagion spreads to India, while authorities also issued a fresh travel advisory urging people to avoid going to China unless essential.

There are at least 11 people who have been isolated with symptoms similar to an nCoV infection  with dozens more being monitored over phone after they travelled to Chinese cities.

The virus also expanded its footprint as Australia confirmed its first four cases on Saturday. Late on Friday, Malaysia confirmed three and France reported Europes first infection.

Hong Kong also declared an emergency, scrapping celebrations and restricting links to mainland China. Apart from these, positive cases of coronavirus have been reported from South Korea, Thailand, Nepal, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore and as far as the US.

Authorities in Wuhan said they will build a second hospital dedicated to coronavirus patients, a day after construction began for a 1,000-bed facility scheduled to be completed within ten days. About 450 military medics have also been deployed to help treat patients in the central city.

Regions far from the epidemic epicentre, such as Beijing, have also started to clamp down on the flow of people. On Saturday, the countrys capital said it would suspend buses in and out of the city, on top of closing tourist attractions and cancelling large-scale events during the Lunar New Year holiday.

As long as we have steadfast confidence, work together, scientific prevention and cures, and precise policies, we will definitely be able to win the battle, Chinese President Xi told a meeting of the elite Politburo Standing Committee on Saturday.

The virus has caused global alarm because of its similarity to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).The newly identified strain still has many unknowns surrounding it, such as how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people. It can cause pneumonia, which has been deadly in some cases, and shows flu-like symptoms.

Particularly at risk are people who are either very young or old and those with a compromised immunity due to other diseases.

(with agency inputs)
New Delhi: Nirbhaya's accused have again imposed a new way. The lawyer of the convicts AP Singh has once again approached the Patiala House Court on Friday. This time, the lawyer has filed a petition, accusing the Tihar Jail administration that there is a delay in giving the documents necessary for the convicts to file a curative and mercy petition.

Shiv Sena's big announcement, Pakistan and Bangladeshi infiltrators must be removed

According to information found, the lawyer for the culprits, AP. Singh's petition is likely to be heard on Saturday, 25 January. Jahan Tihar Jail spokesperson Rajkumar says that documents have been sent to the lawyer on WhatsApp and mail. At the same time, the jail staff had taken the papers to his office but his office was closed. He has accused the lawyer of hanging the case. It is noteworthy that the Supreme Court recently rejected the corrective petition of two other convicts Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and Mukesh Singh (32). The four convicts are to be hanged at 6 am on February 1 under a new death warrant issued from Patiala House Court.

Earthquake in eastern Turkey, 18 died

It is also being said that due to the curative petition of Mukesh, a convict of Nirbhaya from the Supreme Court and the mercy petition from the President, Mukesh has no legal option left. The curative petition of another Nirbhaya convict Vinay has also been dismissed in the Supreme Court. However Vinay has the option of mercy petition. And save curative to renewable and both options for mercy.

Coronavirus killed 27 in china, spreading in 10 countries after India including Europe
Russian 'Propaganda Machine' Selects Kansas City As Its Second Radio Broadcast Site Commuters interested in conspiracy theories about George Soros, Hillary Clinton and the Republican National Committee have a new option, courtesy of the Russian government. Early this month, a radio station based in Liberty, Missouri, signed a three-year deal to broadcast Radio Sputnik across Kansas City.

. . . Objectivity is a myth and real journalists knows that writing a captivating story is far more important than phony attempts at fairness . . . Real honesty comes from letting people KNOW where you're coming from and helping to inform so viewers can MAKE UP THEIR OWN MIND . . . In that sense, this news outlet has beenby most locals whilst the motivations of other institutions aren't nearly as transparent.Here's another take on the not-so-local newsie effort . . .
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Joseph Bondy, the lawyer for Lev Parnas, called on Congress to release the tape of Trump demanding the former ambassador to Ukraine be taken out.

Bondy said on MSNBC, I hope they make it public. I was noting Senator Schumer saying we have to make it public. I think we have to hear the I think thats the best way we have to ensure our chances of having a fair trial or a real trial if you will.

Parnass lawyer didnt rule out releasing the tape himself, Well, maybe we will, but I want to listen to the full tape as you might imagine as Mr. Parnass lawyer. I think its important that it gets out there. I think this is one of the most important ways that we can try to push the issue of having a trial thats not like a mime show that has evidence and witnesses and we know the time is short.

Video:

Lev Parnas's lawyer calls for Trump tape to be made public by Congress and suggests he may release it himself after review. pic.twitter.com/yTk8T7OH8W  Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) January 25, 2020

The best way forward would be for the House Intelligence Committee to release the tape ASAP. Senate Republicans are going to do everything that they can to prevent the tape from playing a role in Trumps trial, but the public needs to hear this recording in order to understand that Trump has been working on the Ukraine plot for a long time and that the president has been lying about his role in the scheme.

Either way, it looks like the tape will be coming out soon, and when it does, Trump is going to have an even bigger set of political woes to tweet about.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Follow Jason Easley on Facebook
(Adds detail from London, Manila and Mexico City)

* Lunar New Year activities take place across the world

* Death toll from the coronavirus in China rises to 41

* Cases spread outside China

By Stefica Nicol Bikes and Lidia Kelly

SYDNEY/MELBOURNE, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Chinese communities around the world greeted the Year of the Rat on Saturday with dances and parades, although celebrations were marred by worries about the coronavirus outbreak that has upended Lunar New Year festivities in China.

In Sydney, which welcomed in the year with golden rat statues set up at the entrance to its downtown Chinatown precinct, authorities said crowds might be smaller than usual.

"We don't know if quite as many people will come this year because of the coronavirus and I'd like to especially acknowledge Wuhan city government," said Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, referring to the central Chinese city at the epicentre of the virus.

Some 100 community events were planned across Sydney until Feb. 11, including dragon boat races and the annual lunar lantern display. Last year, the festivities in the city, home to a large and growing Chinese population, attracted 1.5 million people.

In Manila, and in London's brightly decorated Chinatown, some revellers wore protective face masks.

'FRIGHTENING'

For China's 1.4 billion people, the holiday is the most important of the year and millions of people travel thousands of miles back to their hometowns to gather with family and friends.

But China, seeking to control the spread of the illness, cancelled many large-scale celebrations of the holiday, closed part of the Great Wall and suspended public transport in many cities, stranding millions.

Chinese state television's traditional Lunar New Year extravaganza on Friday paid tribute to the people of Wuhan and to medical staff fighting the coronavirus crisis.

Many events, such as making offerings at temples, wandering around at outdoor festival fairs, and even family reunion dinners at restaurants, have been cancelled as public gatherings were discouraged.

Story continues

Young people posted on social media appeals to reduce family gatherings or to at least wear masks when greeting one another with New Year's wishes, which is typically seen as disrespectful in the Chinese culture.

In Wuhan, the most affected city, the mood was nervous.

"There's so much news, so much data, every 10 minutes there's an update, it's frightening, especially for people like us in a severely hit area," Lily Jin, 30, a resident of the city, told Reuters.

In Thailand, Zhao Xiaoli, a tour guide from Eastern China's Anhui province, said that precautions have been taken.

"(We have advised tourists to) avoid crowded places, take care of personal hygiene, and go to see a doctor immediately if they show symptoms of flu, fever and coughs," he said.

On the other side of the globe, people in Mexico City's Chinatown celebrated on Friday evening. One reveller, acupuncture student Froylan de Hilario, struck an optimistic note.

"Ten years ago in Mexico we had the H1N1 flu and we weren't as advanced in medical matters," he said. "In China there is a lot of technology in medical matters." (Additional reporting by Praveen Menon in Auckland, Muyu Xu in Beijing and the Beijing bureau; Writing by Lidia Kelly and Frances Kerry; Editing by Sam Holmes and Hugh Lawson)
At least one worker died and another was injured after the roof of an under-construction building collapsed at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here, police said.

The incident took place late on Friday night when the labourers were enagaged in the construction of a 6,000-sq ft roof meant to link Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 of the airport.

The deceased has been identified as Anataryami Guru, the helper of a truck, while the injured worker is Nabakishore Swain, they said.

Around 10 other workers at the site also suffered minor injuries, a police officer said.

Special Relief Commissioner P K Jena said Guru was rescued alive after personnel of the NDRF, ODRAF and the State Fire Department cut through the concrete.

However, he succumbed to injuries in hopsital.

"One person has died. The injured person is out of danger," Khurda Collector Sitanshu Rout said.

"Action will be taken against those responsible for the accident," said Bhubaneswar DCP Anup Sahu.

Meanwhile, Dilip Khatoi, the managing director of the construction company claimed that all safety measures were in place.

"The roof collapsed after the workers left the place. I am not sure how the helper of a truck came under the roof," Khatoi said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Originally posted on IdahoEdNews.org on Jan. 24.

BOISE  President Marlene Tromp touted Boise State Universitys commitment to innovation  even when it comes to cutting budgets.

But there are limits, Tromp told legislative budget-writers Friday morning. Tromp said she is worried about maintaining the course offerings students need to graduate within four years.

Im not sure we can face another budget cut and still keep those courses intact for our students.

Tromps budget presentation  her first as Boise States new president  capped a week of Education Week hearings in the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. It will be several weeks before JFAC tries to write up a higher education budget. But Tromps comments help frame JFACs decision, as she talked about juggling student needs against budget realities.

The states largest four-year institution, Boise States enrollment reached a record 26,272 students this fall, or about a third of the students in Idahos higher education system. As Boise State attracts students to campus, the challenge is keeping them on track.

The reason many students stop out is money or math, Tromp said. She urged lawmakers to continue funding the Idaho Opportunity Scholarship  Gov. Brad Little wants to backfill $7 million of one-time scholarship money to make it a permanent line item. Meanwhile, Tromp said Boise State is trying to remake its math programs, moving away from non-credit remedial classes to for-credit courses students can put towards a degree.

Seventy-nine percent of Boise State students return for their second year on campus. But that retention rate has dropped slightly over the past two years. For low-income students, eligible for federal Pell grants, the retention rate is 71 percent.

Boise States graduation rate is trending upward; nearly 50 percent of students receive a degree within six years of enrolling. Since Boise State serves an older demographic  its average student age is 26  many students are balancing classes with work and family commitments. But we are still striving to improve our rate, Tromp said.

Tromp also sees some other opportunities.

This fall, Boise State will launch a rural pilot program in Payette, McCall and Mountain Home  sending faculty into communities at the start and the end of the semester and stationing support staff in the communities full-time. The goal is to help rural students stay on track as they take hybrid courses.

Boise State hopes to expand the program into three new communities each year. If it works, Idaho could emerge as a national leader in serving rural students, Tromp said. The nation has underserved our rural students.

While Littles budget includes a few line items for higher education  the Opportunity Scholarship proposal and $1 million to launch a joint cybersecurity major  the overall budget is virtually flat. Little has proposed just a 0.4 percent increase in general fund spending at the states four-year institutions.

The four institutions have also been ordered to cut their budgets by 1 percent this year and 2 percent next year. For Boise State, the cuts will come to more than $3.1 million.

Budget realities have forced Boise State to be more innovative and more thoughtful, Tromp said. For example, Boise States library moved several journal subscriptions to a pay-per-use plan, using the savings to hire a staffer who will work to expand the librarys open-source catalog.

But Tromp didnt downplay the challenges. Its never easy to face a budget cut.

A somber assessment of the 60 percent goal

After Tromp wrapped up her presentation, State Board of Education Executive Director Matt Freeman offered a sobering update on Idahos signature education goal.

Idaho wants 60 percent of its young adults to hold a college degree or a professional certificate. For years, Idaho has been stuck at 42 percent, and its postsecondary completion numbers remain among the lowest in the nation.

Freeman tried to put the stagnant numbers into perspective. He said the 60 percent goal reflects Idahos population, not Idahos graduation rates. In other words, he said, the State Board cannot control the number of adults who move into the state for a job  or move out to take a job elsewhere.

At its February meeting, the board will set other metrics that are within its control. The board will come up with specific graduation goals for each college and university.

The State Board first established the 60 percent goal in 2010. Since then, the state has moved its target date from 2020 to 2025  and even the revised deadline could be unrealistic.

In response to a question from Rep. Caroline Nilsson Troy, R-Genesee, Freeman conceded that the budget cuts could make it more difficult for Idaho to meet its college go-on and completion goals, putting more pressure on a new wave of college and university presidents. Theyre going to have to figure it out.  They know the customer they serve, and its the student.

But Freeman also emphasized a recurring theme from Education Week: the presidents collective commitment to put collaboration ahead of self-interest.

This week you heard unprecedented solidarity among the university presidents, he said. Its the real deal.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  A government hospital in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan has placed two patients under observation amid heightened precautions against the novel coronavirus.

Audie Cipriano, chief of the medical staff at Ospital ng Palawan, said a 10-year-old Brazilian girl and another Taiwanese child are being held for the next 24 hours.

Cipriano said the Brazilian child and her family live in Wuhan, China, where the outbreak of the deadly new virus began. The family arrived in El Nido, Palawan last Wednesday for a vacation.

The girl was brought to the hospital at around 1:00 a.m. Saturday, but Cipriano noted that her fever has gone down.

"Mukha naman pong nag-dedecrease na 'yung symptoms... We are still advising na yung batang Brazilian to have a confirmatory test," Cipriano said.

[Translation: It seems the symptoms are decreasing. We are still advising that the Brazilian child undergo confirmatory test.]

Meanwhile, the Taiwanese child was transferred to the Ospital ng Palawan from a private hospital after her parents said she may have been exposed to people from Wuhan.

Cipriano said the young Taiwanese patient has pneumonia, and the doctors are now trying to determine if it was bacterial or viral.

"Kung bacterial siya hindi siya corona, kasi virus ang corona e (If it's bacterial then it's not corona because corona is a virus)," Cipriano said.

He said patients should be isolated for five to 14 days under the protocol, but the families of both patients are insisting on being discharged as soon as possible.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque told CNN Philippines local test results on the two tourists are expected by Sunday. He said specimens have been sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

The new coronavirus, believed to be a cousin of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, has left 41 people dead in mainland China.

According to the World Health Organization, common signs of coronavirus infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, it can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.

Following the spread of the new coronavirus in parts of Asia, the United States, France, and most recently, Australia, the Philippines' Department of Health has asked all tourists who have been to Wuhan and who show symptoms to immediately seek medical attention.

There is no confirmed case of the novel coronavirus in the Philippines. A five-year-old Chinese boy recently tested negative for the virus, while the DOH said it is monitoring a 36-year-old man from Tacloban.

CNN Philippines' Stringer Catherine Santos contributed to this report.
(Newser)  With only nine days to go in Iowa, a New York Times/Siena College poll of likely caucusgoers has a new frontrunnerand he's no moderate. The survey of 1,689 registered Iowa voters puts Bernie Sanders in the lead at 25%, ahead of center-left hopefuls and a high-profile liberal. The poll has Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden sparring at 18% and 17%, respectively, while Elizabeth Warrenwho led in an October poll with 22%has slumped to 15%, and Amy Klobuchar is stuck at 8%. The Sanders surge is reflected in other recent Iowa polls, which CNN crunches down to Sanders at 21% and Biden 19%, followed by Buttigieg (17%), Warren (16%), and Klobuchar (7%).

story continues below

But Iowa polls can be unreliable at this stage, partly because the caucus process involves two voting rounds at each site, per Politico. What's more, almost 40% of voters in the Times poll said they might be persuaded to switch to another candidate. And 55% say they'd prefer someone who's "more moderate than most Democrats," compared to 38% itching for a more liberal candidate. But if Sanders wins Iowa and New Hampshire, where he also tops the polls, he could gain powerful momentum. "Bernie's authentic," says an Evansdale voter. "Pretty much everything he's sayingI can't put it better than he can." (Hillary Clinton recently made headlines with her thoughts on Bernie, then walked them back.)
OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- Daniel Monaco waited 30 years for this moment.

The 37-year-old Baton Rouge resident beamed from ear to ear as he kneeled down behind Pumpkin, one of the three African penguins from the Mississippi Aquarium brought over for the Penguins & Pops event Saturday morning.

I drove all the way over here because Ive waited 30 years to meet a penguin, Monaco said. I read a book about the Antarctic when I was a small boy. I asked, but my mom said we couldnt take a vacation to the Antarctic to visit the penguins.

So this is the first time Ive been face to face with a penguin -- and its super awesome. Im very excited to be here, Monaco, his inner child clearly visible as he spoke.

Monaco was the first in a line of at least 100 people who arrived prior to the 11 a.m. start time for the event -- with Monaco arriving at 9:30 a.m.

This is a wonderful event, said Ric Urban, Vice President of Animal Care for the Mississippi Aquarium. Look at the line here just to see the penguins. Its a great partnership to raise awareness for the aquarium and penguin conservation.

The aquarium partnered with Pop Brothers popsicles for the event. For a $10 contribution, patrons could have their picture taken with the penguins and receive a special treat from the Pop Brothers stand.

The photo op took place on Cash Alley in downtown Ocean Springs, right in front of the Pop Brothers location.

The Mississippi Aquarium is here to bring awareness and bring these wonderful animals to the public, Urban said, and let people get close to conservation. If you get close to conservation, you begin to care. Thats what were trying to do.

Flip, Pumpkin and Thumper were the three African penguins on hand and were treated like rock stars -- primarily by the many children who came to see them.

Urban noted that over the past 100 years, African penguins have declined in population from 100,000 to less than 20,000.

An 80 percent decline in 100 years -- thats terrible, he said. We are working towards stopping that decline. Given the rate of decline, we could lose them. They could go extinct. But were working on reversing that.

Urban added that he and the rest of the staff are getting increasingly excited for the spring opening of the Mississippi Aquarium and encouraged the public to support the aquariums efforts by visiting the Mississippi Aquarium website at www.msaquarium.org/.
Hit by economic slowdown, India and Brazil on Saturday drew up an ambitious plan to boost their stuttering economies by expanding cooperation in oil, gas and minerals sectors, and set a target of USD 15 billion in bilateral trade by 2022.

The decisions were taken during wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro here.

On Brazil approaching the WTO against India for extending support to sugarcane growers, sources said it was agreed to address the issue through bilateral consultations.

The two leaders recognised that there were great synergies between India and Brazil, the two large economies with a combines GDP of around USD 4.5 trillion and having a total population of 1.5 billion.

The volume of bilateral trade in 2018-10 was USD 8.2 billion which included USD 3.8 billion worth of Indian exports to Brazil and USD 4.4 million as imports by India.

The two sides inked an investment cooperation and facilitation treaty providing for a framework to increase trade and investment in high growth areas. A separate pact was inked for cooperation in the field of oil and natural gas while another one was sealed in the bioenergy sector.

The areas identified for expansion of cooperation included oil and gas, agriculture, bio-fuels, animal husbandry, health and science and technology.

"The two sides also agreed to set a target of USD 15 billion in bilateral trade by 2022 given the complementarities between the two economies," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

He said the two leaders recognized agriculture to be a key focus area for bilateral cooperation and important part of both economies.

In the field of bio-fuels, an MoU on cooperation in bioenergy was signed between two countries.

"Both Modi and Bolsonaro agreed that the two countries could collaborate in the field of ethanol production. Given that Brazil is a leader in this field, they would share state of art technology with India in this sector. Prime Minister Modi stated that this would serve India's developmental goals," Kumar said.

The two sides also agreed to cooperate in the field of animal husbandry.

Recognizing the common genetic heritage in cattle, Kumar said both the countries agreed to collaborate in assisted reproductive technology that is expected to help increase dairy production in India.

"In this context, both sides welcomed the decision to set up a Centre of Excellence in Cattle Genomics in India with Brazilian assistance," he said.
Mayor Eric Papenfuse said Saturday that flags across Harrisburg will be lowered in honor of longtime mayor Stephen Reed, who died Saturday after a long battle with prostate cancer.

Mayor Reed dedicated his life to the citizens of Harrisburg and central Pennsylvania, Papenfuse said, in a written statement. His transformative vision left an indelible mark on every major development project in our capital for over a generation.

Papenfuse, who became mayor in 2014 amid the citys financial crisis, has long been critical of Reeds policies. On Saturday, he said the city mourned Reed.

On behalf of our city, he wrote, I extend my condolences to his family.

Flags at City Hall, City Island and Riverfront Park will fly at half-staff in Reeds honor.

Wallace McKelvey may be reached at wmckelvey@pennlive.com. Follow him on Twitter @wjmckelvey. Find PennLive on Facebook.

Read the TAPPED OUT special investigation of drinking water.

Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.

--

The following have been published today on PennLive:

Former Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed dies at 70

Once dubbed Harrisburgs mayor for life, Stephen Reed leaves complicated legacy

We have Stephen Reed to thank for City Island, Harrisburg U, Restaurant Row and more | Nancy Eshelman

Stephen Reed wasnt a crook but a visionary: Dauphin County Commissioner George Hartwick

Longtime Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed through the years: photo gallery

Stephen Reeds dying thoughts on Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse, as revealed by Fred Clark

Stephen Reed loved Harrisburg Senators baseball so much, he bought the team

Politicians had to lie to discredit him: Ex-superintendent Gerald Kohn on Stephen Reed

Critics, rivals remember Reed for his warmth, charm: People still knew that he loved this city

Whitaker Center thanks Stephen Reed for his help in establishing it as Harrisburgs 'Crown Jewel
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.

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By Express News Service

Nepal is eager to hand over the chairmanship of SAARC to Pakistan so that Islamabad can resolve its issues with New Delhi, Nepalese Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said on Friday.

The push for India-Pakistan talk came despite New Delhis well-stated position that it will not sit for any discussion with Islamabad until the neighbouring country stops sponsoring terror on its soil.

Extending an invitation to PM Narendra Modi for the first Sagarmatha Sambaad to be held in April, Kathmandu also said New Delhi can resolve land boundary issues like it had done with Bangladesh.

Nepal is ready and eager to handover the SAARC Chairmanship to Pakistan. India and Pakistan can sort out their differences through negotiations, keeping in mind the challenges facing the region, Gyawali said, assuring India that Nepalese soil would not be used against any neighbour.

SAARC summits are usually held biennially and hosted by member states in alphabetical order. The member state hosting the summit assumes the Chair of the Association.

Nepal strongly believes in regionalism and multilateralism. So, we all know there are problem but no problem is immune that cannot be solved through negotiations or discussions, Gyawali said at a press briefing on Sagarmatha Sambaad in Kathmandu.

If India can resolve land boundary issue with Bangladesh, why not Nepal? There should be no unresolved baggage being carried forward as there is an increased level of understanding between the leaders of the two countries, Gyawali said.

Nepal had raised objection to a new map released by India in November last year claiming Limpiyadhura, Lipulek and Kalapani areas shown as Indian territories lie within its borders. New Delhi had released the map to account for the new UTs of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

We have invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi and are awaiting the confirmation. Leaders of all SAARC countries, including Pakistan PM Imran Khan, have been invited and Nepal would be happy to host all the regional leaders so that they can have discussions amongst themselves on the challenges facing the region, Gyawali said.

The Sambaad looks to forge a common consensus among countries on the impending climate crisis and encourage political leaders to mobilise political willpower to tackle the menace, he added.
By Express News Service

MYSURU: Asserting that the BJP Government at the Centre is committed to implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), party national organising secretary BL Santhosh declared here on Friday that the registration process will take off in the next 20 days. He also sought to dispel fears about the Act saying that no one, including the BJP, can snatch away the citizenship of minorities, which is guaranteed under the Constitution.

Hitting out at the Left and other opposition parties, the intellectual community and a section of Muslims for carrying out a malicious and mischievous campaign against Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government and the Citizenship Amendment Act, he said that Muslims need not worry as there will be no infringement on their rights or citizenship.

When the CAA does not even apply to Indian Muslims, who has asked actor Naseeruddin Shah, politicians CM Ibrahim and Zameer Ahmed or others to produce any documents? Santhosh questioned.

ALSO READ: CAA stir - Students vow to fight 'Godses of past, present and future' on Shaheed Diwas



We are not worried about the protests. Only a section of Muslims, intellectuals and ultra-Leftists have taken to the streets spreading fear that peoples Aadhaar card and other benefits will be withdrawn. We are speaking to Muslim clerics and people from the community across the country to clear the air. Once the registration starts, we will know the exact number of refugees, he said.

BJP govt fulfilling its constitutional obligations

Referring to the 1950 pact signed by the Indian and Pakistani governments to protect the interests of minorities in both countries and to ensure dignity of life, employment and property, Santhosh said the BJP government is only fulfilling its constitutional obligations.

The Hindu population has reduced from 23% to just 2.3% in Pakistan in the decades after Partition. About 68% of the refugees from that country are Dalits who include Valmikis, Bhovis, Megawalis and others. What should we do when they come running to India? The government is committed to ensuring a respectable life for them as they cannot get shelter in any of the Islamic states, he said.

ALSO READ: Protest marches against CAA, NRC on January 30, says Yogendra Yadav

He criticised the Congress and Rahul Gandhi for opposing the CAA, pointing out that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had herself agreed that citizenship can be decided by the government based on the conduct of refugees.

Pointing out that Rahul Gandhi had not accepted the invite of BJP president J P Nadda for a debate on the CAA, Santhosh observed that many prominent Congress and Muslim leaders have preferred to remain in the shadows fearing that it may lead to a backlash.

The constitutional process has been completed and the CAA will be implemented across the country. The resolutions passed by the state assemblies of Kerala and Punjab, rejecting the CAA, do not hold good under the Constitution, he added.

Cauvery row will be resolved

Santhosh said the BJP government, which took steps to repeal Article 370, abolish triple talaq, resolved nagging issues in the North-East and passed the CAA, will also put an end to Cauvery water dispute, Belagavi border row and the Kalasa-Banduri issue.
A journey for a better life is marred by considerable risk of serious human rights violations and abuses.

On board the Ocean Viking in the Mediterranean Sea  Kelly was eight months pregnant with twins when she climbed onto a fragile rubber boat on the shores of Libya in complete darkness.

It was past 9pm. All she could hear were the waves and the smugglers forcing 94 people, including other women and children, onto a boat that was unfit for the sea.

Nobody knew how long the journey would be. They only heard stories of those who had taken the same route before them.

I didnt want to get into the water. It was too risky. I thought the journey wouldnt finish and Id die, Kelly told Al Jazeera after being rescued by an NGO vessel. But despite experiencing the perilous journey at sea, she said she would do it again if she had to because living in Libya was hell and this was the only way out.

Almost 10 percent of the more than 636,000 refugees and migrants in Libya are women, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The United Nations says these people are subjected to unimaginable horrors from the moment they enter Libya. But the travesties of life for them start the moment they leave home.

The journey is marred by considerable risk of serious human rights violations and abuses every step of the way, the UN said, adding that being gang-raped by smugglers has been reported by an overwhelming majority of women and older teenage girls.

These women told me about the terrifying and cruel journey they made to Libya, Mali Ebrahimi, a midwife with medical charity Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) on board the Ocean Viking, told Al Jazeera.

They were exposed to physical violence at the hands of smugglers and the military. They were raped or sexually abused. Some were beaten up. In detention centres, they were repeatedly kicked in the abdomen. Some were burned in the genital area.

About 4,500 people are currently held in official detention centres across Libya. Thousands more are held in prisons run by armed groups.

The most recent @Mixed_Migration snapshot examining protection risks within and en route to #Libya is live. The data indicate that physical abuse is the most common protection incident faced by #refugees and #migrants. pic.twitter.com/O50BN2HQ98  Ana-Maria Murphy-Teixidor (@amurphyteixidor) January 7, 2020

One of the women we rescued was not taking care of herself and didnt wash her private areas to avoid being a target of sexual violence, Juan Pablo Sanchez, an MSF medic, told Al Jazeera. She left hygiene behind to kind of protect herself.

UN staff at detention centres documented torture, ill-treatment, forced labour, and rape by the guards. It also reported that women are often held in facilities without female guards, exacerbating the risk of sexual abuse and exploitation, and often subjected to strip searches carried out, or watched, by male guards.

Some reported being subjected to intrusive cavity searches and having their breast and buttock fondled during searches. Male guards also routinely enter womens cells and washing and sanitation facilities without warning, a UN report said.

Gender has been identified as a significant factor behind the extent of vulnerability faced by migrants and refugees.

Research and interviews done by the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC) revealed that sexual and physical abuse appeared to be the most common protection risk, and women are nearly three times more likely than their male counterparts to experience or witness sexual abuse.

The research also revealed that more than 17.5 percent of young female migrants and refugees reported sexual abuse on their journey to Libya.

Many of the female migrants said they had to enter the prostitution business to repay debts to smugglers who remained the main perpetrators of sexual assaults in Libya, accounting for 45 percent of the incidents.

Migrants smuggled into Libya reported severe human rights violations and risks that included rape and amounted to deaths during these journeys, an IOM spokesperson Safa Msehli told Al Jazeera. These journeys are very difficult and challenging and awareness raising is key so that migrants are aware of the risks and dangers of being exploited by such smuggling gangs.

Women have reported being raped several times with the shaft of a Kalashnikov, according to a report by the charity SOS Mediterranee. Some have been abused so badly they no longer know the difference between having sexual intercourse and being raped.

The MMC quoted a 22-year-old woman from Nigeria saying that women were forcefully raped to the threat of abandonment in the desert, before adding she and some other women were sold and forced into prostitution.

Victoria left Cameroon when she was 16 and gave birth to her daughter in Morocco before arriving in Libya [Faras Ghani/Al Jazeera]

To be sold and forced to have sex with Arab or African men either to pay [for] the journey or to extract your money is a common thing to happen to you as a woman or a girl, all over the journey from day one in the desert until you depart Libya, a Nigerian migrant was quoted as saying by the UN.

Another woman said: When I was in the toilet, a guard entered. I told him to leave immediately. He refused and kept staring at me. Even animals are left alone to do their business.

Aderonke was one of the thousands to have been exploited and abused on the way to and in Libya.

She fled her home in Nigeria without telling her family, including her two young daughters. She left behind what she called problems in my country, hoping to find work in Libya where those she had known had gone before her.

They did warn her of problems along the way and in Libya but Aderonke did not realise how bad things were until she embarked on a solo journey.

I came to Libya to make money but all I got were beatings and violence, Aderonke told Al Jazeera. I was routinely kidnapped, locked and beaten up and they kept asking me to contact my family for ransom.

All I wanted was a better life. I wanted to get out of Nigeria and earn some money. I planned on going back home one day with enough to help my family and my daughters. I didnt even tell them I was 

At that moment, Aderonke broke down. She was unable to finish off the sentence.

Sorry, Ive dealt with a lot. I dont want to think about all that any more.

Names changed to protect the identity
Even though shes a royal, many women around the world view Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge as extremely relatable every time she opens up about parenting and the things she does for her three children.

Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis mom recently spoke about another moment mothers everywhere can relate to when she revealed that she tried making a special gift for her oldest son but wasnt successful at it. Read on to find out what that was and what Kates kids love to make with her these days.

Prince George and Kate Middleton | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

The duchess tried making this for Prince George

On Jan. 15, Kate and Prince William visited children in Bradford in the West Yorkshire district. It was the couples first royal engagement of the year and they were there to promote cohesion in the city.

While at the Bradford Khidmat Center, the duchess met a group of ladies who were crocheting. Kate then told them about her experience when she took up knitting in 2013 and attempted to make a onesie for Prince George.

I tried knitting when I first had George. I tried to knit him a very special jumper, but I got halfway down and it splattered, Williams wife admitted.

The Duchess of Cambridge added that she recognizes that its such an amazing skill.

What George and Charlotte enjoy making with their mom

Kate Middleton, Princess Charlotte, and Prince George | Aaron Chown  WPA Pool/Getty Images

While Kate may not be the best at knitting, she does have skills in the kitchen and loves to cook. The duchess previously said that her children enjoy making some dishes with her as well.

Two of their favorites the young prince and princess help their mom make are homemade pizza and cheesy pasta.

Matthew Kleiner-Mann, chief executive of the Ivy Learning Trust, relayed a conversation he had with Kate about her kiddos learning to cook.

She was telling us how much her children love cooking and how they cook for her. They made cheesy pasta the other day. One stirs the flour, one puts the milk and butter in. And they make salads and stuff, Kleiner-Mann told reporters.

The little royals love these dishes as well

Prince George and Princess Charlotte | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

In addition to pizza and cheezy pasta, Prince George s favorite food is Italian cuisine. The future king really likes all types of pasta and any Italian dish.

As for his sister, well the Duchess of Cambridge previously spoke with 2017 MasterChef winner Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed and explained that her young daughter is a big fan of curry.

Kate also mentioned that its a bit tricky to make because Prince William and the children differ when it comes to how hot and spicy they like it. She then noted that Charlotte handles the heat better than her father.

Yours is medium, and I quite like it hot, Kate said to William, before adding that Charlotte is pretty good with heat.

Read more: Do Prince George and Princess Charlotte Have Any Pets?
Photograph: Ali Al-Saadi/AFP via Getty Images

Veterans of Foreign Wars, a prominent organization advocating for US military veterans, has called for Donald Trump to apologize for remarks downplaying brain injuries recently suffered by nearly three dozen American service members in Iraq.

Related: Trump downplays brain injuries suffered by US troops in Iran missile strike

The group was joined by several other US veterans organizations, criticizing Trumps remarks and saying they showed a lack of understanding of injuries and what US troops face in overseas conflicts.

The VFWs statement stems from Trumps remarks on injuries resulting from a 8 January Iranian missile strike on a US base in Iraq. Thirty-four US soldiers suffered from concussion or traumatic brain injury (TBI) after the strike, which was a reprisal for the US drone strike assassination of the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani. Donald Trump had previously said that the US suffered no casualties from the attack.

Veterans of Foreign Wars cannot stand idle on this matter, William Doc Schmitz, VFWs National Commander, said in a statement. TBI is a serious injury and one that cannot be taken lightly. TBI is known to cause depression, memory loss, severe headaches, dizziness and fatigue  all injuries that come with both short- and long-term effects.

The VFW expects an apology from the president to our service men and women for his misguided remarks. And, we ask that he and the White House join with us in our efforts to educate Americans of the dangers TBI has on these heroes as they protect our great nation in these trying times. Our warriors require our full support more than ever in this challenging environment, Schmitz said.

The statement also also come amid ongoing tension between Trump and military leadership. Multiple reports claim that former commanders  and active duty senior officers  complain that Trump has undermined chain-of-command.

Richard Spencer, who was fired as secretary of the navy fired after butting heads with Trump over war crimes cases, for example, said in a Washington Post op-ed that the president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices.

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Trump also became embroiled in controversy over an October 2017 condolence call to the widow of Sgt La David Johnson; she claimed the president said her husband knew what he signed up for and didnt remember his name.

It is now Trumps statements after the Iranian attack which have caused upset.

So far, so good, Trump said after the strike. Im pleased to inform you the American people should be extremely grateful and happy, Trump said. No Americans were harmed in last nights attack by the Iranian regime.

After the Pentagon announced on 16 January that troops were being treated for concussion symptoms, Trump claimed the discrepancy was because he heard about the injuries numerous days later. Trump also downplayed the severity, saying, I heard that they had headaches. And a couple of other things. But I would say, and I can report, it is not very serious.

I dont consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries I have seen. Ive seen people with no legs and no arms, he said.

Eight of the injured service members were considered in serious enough condition to be moved to the US.

The Presidents comments show a lack of understanding of concussions, TBI, and what our service members face in conflicts overseas, said Jeremy Butler, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America CEO, in an email to The Guardian. This is why IAVA works so tirelessly to educate the American public, including the president, about the issues facing todays service members and veterans.

Joe Chenelly, national executive director of AMVETS, told The Guardian in an email: We are working with the White House on this to ensure the president is aware of the seriousness of even the slightest concussions, which are in fact brain injuries.

Further, this is an excellent opportunity to raise awareness of the realness and severe impact all invisible wounds can have on humans, Chenelly continued. We also are pleased the Administration has shown constraint in not escalating the military conflict with Iran. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 16:07:44|Editor: mingmei

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CAPE TOWN, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Cape Town Executive Mayor Dan Plato hosted a tea party in the civic center on Friday afternoon to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year, also known as Spring Festival.

Attending the party were Chinese Consul General in Cape Town, Lin Jing, and representatives from the Chinese and local communities.

Ald Ian Neilson, Cape Town deputy executive mayor, was also present.

In his speech, Plato said the Chinese community has become part of the local society and that the Chinese culture adds color to the diversity of the city.

He praised the Chinese community for contributing to the economic and social development of Cape Town.

The Chinese community has much for the Capetonians to learn from, particularly in regards to their diligence and work ethics, Plato said.

Consul General Lin Jing said the past year has seen fruitful cooperation between China and South Africa on the one hand and between Cape Town and Chinese cities on the other.

People-to-people exchanges hold the key to the development of bilateral ties, Lin said.

He thanked the City of Cape Town as well as the Capetonians for their cares and help to Chinese people living in the country.

The Chinese Consulate General will continue working with Cape Town and other local government of all levels in the three Cape provinces to promote friendship and cooperation, Lin said.

The Cape Town Chinese Artistic Troupe presented the famous dragon and lion dance and other performances, drawing applause from the audience, who were also entertained by various Cape Town-based ethnic artists and performers with songs and acrobatics.

This was the second time that Plato hosted a tea party to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Soon after he took over the post of Cape Town mayor last year, he treated the Chinese community to a tea party in celebration of the Chinese New Year.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : A death-row convict in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case on Saturday moved the Supreme Court seeking judicial review of his mercy petition, which was rejected by the President.

On January 17, the President rejected the mercy petition of Mukesh Kumar Singh (32). Now he has filed a review petition under Article 32 for the judicial review of the rejection of mercy plea in the backdrop of the apex court verdict in the Shatrughan Chauhan case.

A Delhi court has issued death warrant for the four convicts at 6 a.m. on February 1.

Mukesh had moved the mercy petition after the apex court dismissed his curative petition against conviction and death sentence. It also dismissed the curative petition of Vinay Kumar, another convict.

A five-judge Bench, comprising Justices N.V. Ramana, Arun Mishra, R.F. Nariman, R. Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan, unanimously held that there was no merit in the curative petitions of convicts, who sought reconsideration of the death penalty.

"In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this court in the Rupa Ashok Hurra vs. Ashok Hurra & another case, reported in 2002 (4) SCC 388. Hence, the curative petitions are dismissed," the court said.

The curative petitions were taken up in-chambers, without presence of the convicts' lawyers, by the Bench headed by Justice Ramana. The in-chambers review is the procedure to consider curative and review petitions.

The Bench also dismissed the plea to stay execution of the death sentence. "The applications for oral hearing are rejected. The applications for a stay of execution of death sentence are also rejected," said the court.

Six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder of a 23-year-old woman on December 16, 2012. One of the accused was a minor and appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another committed suicide in Tihar Jail.

The four convicts were sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013. It was confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014 and upheld in May 2017 by the Supreme Court, which also dismissed their review petitions.
Representative image

The Consulting Editor of News Nation TV channel, Deepak Chaurasia, was allegedly attacked by protestors at Delhis Shaheen Bagh on January 24. The senior reporter filed a complaint saying he was beaten up and his camera was snatched by a mob at the protest site.

The Shaheen Bagh police station has registered an FIR under sections 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) and 34 (common intention against unknown persons).

Chaurasia had earlier shared a video on his Twitter handle which showed him surrounded by protestors, who are seen manhandling him. They are also seen grabbing the camera person in an attempt to snatch away the camera.

The senior reporter, in a tweet, described the incident as one similar to "mob lynching". He said, I have heard that the Constitution is in danger. I have heard that they are fighting to protect democracy. When I reached Shaheen Bagh to show their fight to the nation, I got nothing short of mob lynching (roughly translated)."

In light of the alleged attack, Yoga Guru Ramdev has cancelled his visit to the Shaheen Bagh area.

A report in India Today states that the Delhi Police advised Ramdev not to visit the site of the protest, and that he cancelled his visit as per their recommendation.

Protestors, mostly women, have been camping at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh for 40 days, demanding the withdrawal of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as well as the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
File image

After remaining shut for more than five months, 2G mobile internet services on postpaid as well as prepaid phones will be restored in the Kashmir Valley from Saturday but can only be used to access 301 websites approved by the Jammu and Kashmir administration, an official order said. According to a notification issued by the home department of the Jammu and Kashmir administration, access to the internet with 2G speed on mobile phones will resume from January 25.

Access shall be limited only on whitelisted sites and social media applications will continue to remain out of bounds for the Valley's residents, it said, adding, data services shall be available on postpaid as well as prepaid sim cards.

The move comes within a week of the administration ordering restoration of prepaid mobile services in the Valley and resumption of 2G mobile data service on whitelisted websites across the Jammu division.

The sites approved include search engines and those associated with banking, education, news, travel, utilities and employment.

The latest development comes after the Supreme Court, in a significant ruling on January 10, asked the Jammu and Kashmir administration to review within a week all orders imposing curbs in the Union Territory.

The Supreme Court came down heavily on the UT administration for arbitrarily shutting down the internet, the facility described as a fundamental right by the apex court.

Internet services, landline and mobile phones were snapped across Jammu and Kashmir on the eve of the Centre's announcement to scrap special status of the erstwhile state and its bifurcation into Union Territories on August 5.

While most of the services except mobile internet were restored in Jammu within a week, Kashmir witnessed restoration of landlines and postpaid mobile services and internet facilities for essential services like hospitals in phases.
The heir to the Austrian branch of the Rothschild family sued the Vienna authorities over property seized by the Nazis during the Second World War, The Financial Times informs.

The publication reports that the great-grandson of Albert von Rothschild, an American investor Geoffrey Hoguet appealed to the court.

The foundation was founded by Baron Albert von Rothschild in 1905, which, among other things, owned several buildings, including a palace, where one of the world's first psychiatric hospitals was located. In 1938, the fund was confiscated by the Nazis, like other Rothschild property in Austria. In 1956, it was restored, however, according to Geoffrey Hoguet, the Rothschilds were not informed about this.
(Newser)  Old pals of Jeffrey Epstein, look out: Emails of his alleged madam may well have been hacked. So says a letter from Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyer about documents unsealed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Fox News reports. In the letterwritten in response to a defamation case against Ghislaine by Epstein accuser Virginia Guiffrethe lawyer, Ty Gee, points out "the difficulty and complexity" of a case involving over 8,600 pages of materials that should be redacted or remain sealed. Gee says roughly 2,000 of the pages were mistakenly made public last August by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, per the Daily Mail.

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Eight groups, from the Ursuline College, consisting of 15 students took part in the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition at the RDS in Dublin last week.

They were accompanied by their physics teacher and mentor, Mr. Anthony Carolan.

Maura and Brid Madden who invented and constructed a safe charging station for mobile devices, in order to monitor overheating and prevent fires were awarded second in the senior technology section and a special award from Portwest for best safety project.

The second project was conducted by Fatma Dogan, who had studied the link between left and right brain dominance in relation to dyslexia.

The third individual project was presented by Nadia Mohamed, who investigated the link between leaf yeast growth and associated pollution in different areas of Sligo.

The fourth project was an innovative technology device coded and built by Ellen Woodward.

It monitored and displayed complex emotions of the wearer.

The fifth group consisted of Rosha McDonnell and Laoise Moylan who investigated the effect of different frequency LED light on metabolic rate in organisms.

This idea awarded them a highly commended for their work.

The sixth group taking part consisted of Isobel Roche, Holly O'Boyle and Tara Ni Bhroin, who conducted a study on phantom limb sensation and mirror therapy.

The seventh group, made up of Kate Ward and Yaida Joof, tested and recorded the correlation between loud eating and concentration on tasks.

The final grouping of Ella McDaid, Niamh Carolan and Lile Hensey, built a prototype adjustable lens system to increase solar cell efficiency.

They were delighted to win a highly commended for this project.

Between all the groups, two were highly commended, there was a second in the Senior Technology category and a special award was won.

All the students had a very enjoyable experience and one in which they will remember for some time, say the Ursuline.

Congratulations to all eight groups and best of luck in the future with their projects.

The Ursuline paid a special tribute to all their sponsors and in particular Abbott who have assisted them for many years and IT Sligo who not only gave financial assistance but also ran a judging session with lecturers prior to Christmas, which was invaluable.
US Delivers Six Light Attack Helicopters to Kenyan Army Amid Troop Withdrawal Debate

Sputnik News

19:33 GMT 24.01.2020

The US has delivered six light attack helicopters to the Kenyan military weeks after an al-Shabaab attack on a US base there killed three Americans. The move comes amid a debate in US foreign policy circles about withdrawing significant US forces from Africa.

On Thursday, six MD-530F Cayuse Warrior light attack helicopters arrived at Embakasi Barracks in eastern Nairobi, where a symbolic handover ceremony transferred the aircraft from US Army to the Kenyan Army's Joint Helicopter Command, according to a press release by US Africa Command (AFRICOM).

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Michael D. Turello, commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, greets Dennis Banks, a training pilot assigned to MD Helicopters, during a Helicopter Handover Ceremony at Embakasi Barracks, Kenya, Jan. 23, 2020.

"In getting the MD-530 aircraft we are proving ourselves as an effective force multiplier on the battlefield," Kenyan Defense Force Chief Gen. Samson Mwathethe said during the ceremony. "The successful delivery of these assets could not have come at a better time for us."

The helicopters, which are modified versions of the civilian MD 500 commonly used by police and forestry departments for observation, were bought through the Foreign Military Sales program run by the US Department of State. The deal is valued at $1.4 billion and includes training and logistics support, as well as a second batch of six helicopters, Air Force-Technology reported.

'Take Ownership of the Problem'

Under US President Donald Trump, Washington has pared back its financial commitments in Africa, with the fiscal year 2020 budget that began this past October seeing a 57% reduction in US aid to Kenya, to just $43.5 million. While much of that covers civil programs such as Pepfar, a health initiative combating HIV/AIDS transmission, it also includes military aid.

Following shifts in US defense strategy under Trump toward "great power competition" with Russia and China, the Pentagon has begun exploring the withdrawal of significant US forces from AFRICOM.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters earlier this week the Pentagon was weighing the redeployment of between 6,000 and 7,000 troops from AFRICOM to US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), part of a larger shakeup that could affect some 200,000 US service members around the globe.

That means that US partners in Africa must pick up more of the slack as American forces depart. The Pentagon's 127 Echo program has a $100 million budget to train "surrogate forces" able to "take ownership of the problem," freeing up US troops.

In addition, some US allies like France, which once ruled a vast colonial empire in western Africa and retains strong economic and political ties to a number of those countries, have agreed to small troop increases, with Paris announcing last week it would send another 220 troops to the region.

'Could Not Have Come at a Better Time'

The helicopters arrive amid continued fallout from a January 5 attack on a US air base in Kenya by the militant group al-Shabaab, which has close ties to al-Qaeda.

The group staged a mortar bombardment before dawn of Camp Simba and the Manda Bay air base near the country's southeastern coast, killing one American soldier and two American contractors. The attack also damaged six aircraft.

New details released by AFRICOM earlier this week revealed that Kenyan soldiers hid in tall grass during the early stages of the attack, but that US forces botched their defense as well, with the base commander reportedly taking an hour to respond, The New York Times reported.

Kenyan military leaders rejected the accusations, telling the Nairobi-based Daily Nation it was "strange" to hear firm conclusions about the attack while the Joint Board of Inquiry had not yet completed its investigation.

"Americans' response after the attack was not swift. It is Kenyan soldiers who were the first responders to the attack during which they managed to fell five of the al-Shabaab attackers," a spokesperson for Kenya's Department of Defense told the Nation.

After the attack, the Pentagon dispatched between 50 and 100 more troops from the 101st Airborne Division to Manda Bay to bolster security at the base, which is close to the border with Somalia, where al-Shabaab retains significant sway. In 2013, the airstrip was extended to allow C-130 Hercules transport aircraft to operate from it, easing the transfer of larger troop numbers as well as Manda Bay's use as a drone base for the Pentagon's undeclared wars in Somalia, Yemen and Libya.

 Sputnik

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In a bonus for consumers, pineapples are now cheaper and taste even sweeter

Farmers missed out on peak demand for pineapples during the holiday period

Growers in Queensland are shipping off 70,000 pineapples a day to stores

Drought-affected farmers desperately try to sell off tonnes of the excess fruit

Australians have been encouraged to eat more pineapples this summer as drought-affected farmers desperately try to sell off tonnes of the excess fruit.

Growers in Queensland are shipping off more than 70,000 pineapples a day to stores, after the crippling drought prolonged ripening of the popular fruit.

As a result, farmers missed out on peak demand for pineapples during the holiday period.

'Fruit quality is really good, sweetness is amazing but there are just a lot of pineapples out there,' Tropical Pines sales director Joe Craggs told the ABC.

Growers in Queensland are shipping off more than 70,000 pineapples a day to stores, after the crippling drought prolonged ripening of the popular fruit

A fire tore through a farm at Bungandarra west of Yeppoon and destroyed stock and millions of dollars worth of equipment (pictured: burned pineapples on the farm)

'I think the combination of production that's come from central Queensland and some of the other areas has created a glut, certainly in the last week, with a lot of pineapples in market and in stores.'

Mr Craggs believes there hasn't been as much demand for pineapples compared to summers gone by.

'It's a tricky start to the year; we're just trying to give the crop and growers the best possible chance. Growers out there are all trying to support each other and we're just trying to sell the pineapples as well as we can.'

Mr Craggs said current batches will taste even sweeter as a result of the hot and dry conditions this summer.

And due to the over-abundance of pineapples, consumers will be paying less at the supermarket checkout.

However, some of the pineapples have shrunk due to recent moisture and humidity.

The drought and bushfire crisis has caused a horror pineapple season for local growers.

Pineapple grower Ryan Brooks has been doing it tough since a fire tore through his farm at Bungandarra west of Yeppoon.

The blaze wiped out Brooks and Sons Farms' packing shed and millions of dollars worth of equipment.

There's set to be an oversupply of pineapples until at least the end of February.
A delegation of Hindu saints is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi by the month-end or the beginning of February and give him a copy of the resolutions adopted at the Vishwa Hindu Parishads Sant Sammelan at the Magh Mela in Prayagraj on January 21, senior office bearers of the Parishad said on Saturday.

Participants in the Sant Sammelan had unanimously arrived at the decision to demand that Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas be entrusted with the responsibility of construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on the model proposed by the VHP three decades ago.

On November 9 last year, the Supreme Court had paved the way for construction of the temple in Ayodhya.

Senior office bearers in the Parishad said discussions were on among the saints to head to New Delhi after the Basant Panchami ritual bathing at the 43-day Magh Mela on January 30 to meet the PM.

Ambrish Singh, VHPs regional organisation secretary for UP, said the Parishad was trying its best to ensure the Central government gave the responsibility for temple construction to Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas.

In its November 9 verdict last year, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre to form a trust for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya within three months. The period ends on February 8.

Currently, discussions are on among the saints for meeting PM Modi personally and handing over a copy of resolutions adopted by them at the recently held Sant Sammelan in Magh Mela so that an appropriate decision could be taken by the Central government within the deadline of February 8, he said.

Ashok Tiwari, VHPs kendriya sant sampark pramukh, said usually the decisions taken by saints at every sant sammelan gets conveyed to the central government through news reports but when it comes to some special issues, a delegation of senior saints meets top government functionaries.

Discussions among saints on the issue are still on. We will announce the date for meeting the PM if and when it gets finalised, he added.

VHP working president Alok Kumar said the Parishad had forwarded a proposal to Central government on the Ram Temple model and other issues. Now, it was up to the government to take a call on it, he added.

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Carter, who ran as a Democrat and caucuses with that party although he identifies himself as the only socialist in the General Assembly, is a controversial guy. He tweeted out his personal faults two years ago as a way of getting ahead of foes who might try to reveal them. Threatened by gun-rights activists, he left town Monday, ahead of a huge pro-gun rally in Richmond, saying some of the threats had targeted his family.
A couple from Germany was attacked and harassed by three drunk men in Uttar Pradeshs Jaunpur district while they were on their way to Rishikesh in the neighbouring Uttarakhand.

Timothy Benjamin Hatton, from Fliederweg in Germany, and his Turkish wife Duyga Keskin Hatton, who are touring India in their private caravan, lodged a complaint with the Madiyahu police station.

The complaint was filed on January 16 and the first information report or FIR was registered later in the night.

Police swung into action on Thursday evening after Jaunpurs superintendent of police Ashok Kumar got to know about the matter. Police then nabbed two of the assailants on Friday while one is still at large.

The two of the assailants, Nitin Yadav and Ramashankar Yadav, who hail from Jaunpur have been arrested. The hunt to nab the third assailant Sachin Yadav is still on, Kumar said.

A case has been registered under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 427 (commits mischief thereby causing loss or damage to the amount of Rs 50) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Kumar added.

The case has been transferred to Barasathi police station.

Police said the Hattons were attacked near Singarpur village by the three men in a motorcycle as they were going to Rishikesh from Varanasi. They have been vacationing in India since November last year.

Hatton said in his complaint that the men, who were chasing them, stopped their vehicle at around 8pm after they got stuck at the railway crossing near Singarpur village.

The men tried to barge inside their vehicle and made obscene gestures. They also hurled stones at their vehicle and tried to pull the couple out. They fled after some locals came to the couples help.

A Swiss couple was attacked in the states Fatehpur Sikri, 40km from Agra, in October 2017, triggering criticism.

Quentin Jeremy Clerc and his girlfriend Marie Droz both 24  were chased by a group of four local boys, and hit with sticks and stones.

While Clerc suffered a skull fracture and nerve damage, Droz was left nursing a number of broken bones.
The BJP held protests across Madhya Pradesh on Saturday after a Dalit man who was set ablaze last week in the state's Sagar district died in a Delhi hospital on Thursday.

Dhanprasad Ahirwar (24) was doused with kerosene in Dharmshri Colony, some 170 kilometres from here, on January 14 allegedly by four people who wanted him to take back a police complaint. All four have been arrested.

Ahirwar, who sustained 70 percent burns, was initially treated in Sagar, then shifted to a hospital in Bhopal, and later air-lifted to a facility in New Delhi where he succumbed on Thursday morning.

"The BJP's Anusuchit Jati Morcha staged protests across the state and submitted memorandums to the district administration," said the party's state media cell in charge Lokdendra Parasher.

The BJP MLA from Naryaoli in Sagar, who took part in a protest there, said Ahirwar's death had exposed the "anti- Dalit face" of the Kamal Nath government, adding that crimes against the backward and downtrodden had increased since the Congress came to power in the state.

MP BJP chief Rakesh Singh said police did not act on Ahirwar's repeated complaints that his life was in danger, adding that law-enforcers behaved in this manner because of the Congress government's "vote-bank politics and policy of appeasement".

Singh said the party would organise a mega protest in Sagar on January 28.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Each region in Vietnam welcomes Lunar New Year (Tet) with its own unique dishes.

Square sticky rice cakes (banh chung) and frozen meat are popular in the north, spring rolls in the center and braised pork and bitter melon soup in the south.

In his 2010 book "Discovering Traditional Vietnamese Cuisine", Professor Ngo Duc Thinh, former director of the Vietnam Institute of Cultural Studies, wrote: "Because Tet dishes are used as offerings to ancestors, they are meticulously prepared to ensure food safety."

Each region has its own specialties that reflect local culture, he wrote. Hanoians, for instance, use chilli powder to reduce the strong smell and neutralize cold energy generated by fish and shrimp.

Hue locals use a wide range of peppers when cooking, with green chillies adding taste to dishes and red chillies decoration.

Southerners usually mix chillies with sweet foods, consume alcohol and eat sugarcane with salt and pepper.

Because of the different use of spices and herbs, Tet cuisine is unique to the three main regions of Vietnam.

Northern Tet Dishes

In Thinhs view, Hanoi retains the largest number of traditional Tet dishes in the north. Traditionally, a northern Tet meal consists of four bowls and four plates (not including sticky rice, dipping sauce, and pickled onions), which represent four pillars, four seasons and four directions.

Traditional northern food during Lunar New Year. Photo by Shutterstock/Vietnam Stock Images.

A bigger meal would have six bowls and plates each or eight bowls and plates, signifying wealth and prosperity.

Northerners still follow this tradition, the four bowls usually comprising vegetable soup with pork skin, pork rib soup with bamboo shoots, mushroom meatball soup, and glass noodles while plates feature boiled chicken, fried spring rolls, square sticky rice cake, and Vietnamese sausage.

Some families add modern dishes like fried chicken and other western food, though traditional dishes are irreplaceable.

Plates are usually served before bowls, with main courses followed by eye-catching desserts like caramelized lotus seeds, kumquat preserve and caramelized ginger.

In the north, dishes are typically served hot and eaten with spices like pepper, chillies and ginger due to the cold Tet weather.

Central Tet Dishes

Tet cuisine across central regions has a lot in common with its northern neighbor, including banh chung and pork rib soup with bamboo shoots. Lemongrass skewers and pickled vegetables are other Tet favorites.

Central Vietnam experience extreme weather conditions, its people considered industrious and frugal. The combination of geography and climate has shaped local lifestyles and customs, with food no exception.

People in central Vietnam celebrate Tet with round glutinous rice cake (banh tet). Photo by Shutterstock/Nguyen Phu Sy.

Compared to both north and south, cuisine here is less sophisticated. Locals celebrate this special time of the year with boiled chicken, boiled pork, round glutinous rice cake (banh tet), and a stir-fried dish. Fresh spring rolls are also a must-have during Lunar New Year.

Steamed rice and hot and sour soup served with meat soaked in fish sauce, fermented shrimp sauce, braised pork, and fried chicken are popular treats.

Southern Tet Dishes

Warm weather and fertile soil in the south enable all kinds of fruits and vegetables to flourish, giving rise to richly flavored main courses and desserts.

Southern families eat bitter melon soup during the first Lunar New Year meal to usher in a new year of peace and happiness. Photo by Shutterstock/bonchan.

Tet cake represents the soul of the festival for southerners. Unlike banh chung, which is square-shaped, banh tet is cylindrical and filled with various ingredients like green and black beans, banana, coconut, and salted egg.

Southern families eat bitter melon soup during the first Lunar New Year meal to usher in a new year of peace and happiness.

Another southern must-have is braised pork with boiled or salted eggs, usually eaten with coconut rice.

Southerners have a wide choice of dishes during the most festive time of year: lotus root salad, crispy pickled pig ears, dried shrimp, pickled onions, Vietnamese pork sausage, and spring rolls.

Due to the hot climate, southerners add ingredients to their sweet and sour soup like snakehead fish, and eel with banana flowers.

Southern dishes tend to be sweeter, thus southerners have a wider choice of desserts like caramelized coconut, tamarind preserve, custard apple preserve, banana candy, amongst others.

Sweet fermented rice is by far the most popular southern dessert.
Patna, Jan 25 : The rift between the BJP and the JD-U in Bihar deepened further after poll strategist Prashant Kishor launched a blistering attack against deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

Kishor, sharing an old video of Sushil Modi on Twitter, said: "Nobody can match Sushil Modi when it comes to giving character certificate. Earlier, he used to give certificate by saying, but now that he is the deputy chief minister, he does that by writing. His chronology is very clear." In the video shared by Kishor, Sushil Modi is seen accusing Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar of deceiving the BJP. "Nitish Kumar is not Bihar and Bihar is not Nitish Kumar. Betrayal is in his DNA," Sushil Modi, who also slammed RJD chief Lalu Prasad and others in the same video, is seen saying.

Kishor also shared a tweet by Sushil Modi in which he praises Nitish Kumar.

Sushil Modi's tweet says: "Everything is not fair in politics. He gave someone his chief ministership, helped someone get to the Rajya Sabha, gave someone - who had no experience in politics - a high rank in the organisation. But some people are thankless." Kishor has been miffed with his party JD-U of late and has raised questions on many issues including the recent CAA and the NPR.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  A former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist has pleaded guilty to lying to the U.S. government about his involvement in a Chinese program that recruits people with knowledge of foreign technology and intellectual property.

Turab Lookman, 67, faces up to five years in prison and $250,000 fine after pleading guilty in Albuquerque federal court Friday to one count of making a false statement to a federal investigator, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Lookman, of Santa Fe, was charged in May for lying to a LANL counterintelligence about being recruited by the Thousand Talents Program. Investigators found that Lookman actually applied for and was eventually asked

to participate in the program for monetary compensation.

The Laboratory proactively recognized this issue and since then has worked cooperatively with federal law enforcement and will continue to assist as appropriate during the sentencing phase, LANL spokesman Kevin Roark said in a statement Friday.

Lookman joined LANL in 1999 and worked there until recently, online LANL sources indicate. He was named a Laboratory Fellow in 2017, one of LANLs highest awards for it scientific staff.

A LANL news release from 2017 said Lookmans work has received enormous worldwide attention and that he was co-author of two books and more than 250 publications. Lookman was also the recipient in 2009 of LANLs Fellows Prize for Outstanding Research and the 2016 Distinguished Postdoctoral Mentor Award.

Thousand Talents was started in 2008 as an effort to attract successful Chinese people abroad to return home to boost the economy. It has attracted more than 7,000 people back to China, mostly from the United States, the scientific journal Nature reported last year.

Also in 2018, news reports emerged that the program had become the subject of U.S. government investigations.
The Jan. 22 editorial An extraordinary expansion of power said bad things would flow from Senate acquittal of President Trump in his impeachment proceedings. This may be true, but in blaming Senate Republicans for these consequences, the editorial pinned the tail on the wrong donkey.
Despite a struggling energy sector, Texas enjoyed strong job growth in 2019, ending the year with solid employment gains and unemployment rate near historic lows, the Texas Workforce Commission reported Friday.

Texas employers added nearly 343,000 jobs last year, growing about 3 percent, according to TWC estimates. In December, employment in the state grew by 29,800 jobs after gaining 33,000 in November. The unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, up slightly from its historic low of 3.4 percent, but still indicating a very tight labor market.

As we reflect on 2019, it is clear that it was a strong year for the Texas economy, said Bryan Daniel, TWC Chairman and Commissioner Representing the Public, in a statement. We look forward to continued growth in our great state throughout 2020.

Energy woes

State and local jobs statistics will almost certainly be revised down in March. Early jobs data is based on small samples, and data is revised when more information is available.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, which calculates expected revisions early, estimates that the states job growth will be closer to 2 percent for 2019. In December, the bank calculated a huge downward revision to employment data for the second quarter in Houston, finding that employment in the region likely grew at a rate of less than half a percent, compared to early estimates of nearly 4 percent.

Local and state employment growth was held back in 2019 by the energy sector, which struggled particularly in the second half of the year. Mining and logging employment, which in Texas is dominated by the oil and gas industry, shed a net 9,800 jobs in 2019, according to employment data, down 4 percent. In 2018, the sector had added 24,400 jobs.

Much of the sectors 2019 losses happened in the second half of the year as energy investors tightened their purse strings amid meager returns and oil prices mostly hovered between $50 and $60 a barrel, barely a break-even point for many companies.

Mining and logging shed 4,800 jobs in the state in December, the largest month-over-month loss since April 2016, when the oil and gas industry was reeling from an oil bust.

Jesse Thompson, a senior business economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, speaking at the Houston West Chamber of Commerce economic conference Friday, said that while he expects the energy sector to stabilize in 2020, it wont provide much of a boost to the local economy this year since companies are likely to have trouble financing new projects.

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(Energy) companies are going to have to fund everything they do this year out of cash flow, Thompson said. To the extent that anyone makes a decent amount of money this year, theyre going to put that money into paying investors and paying their lenders.

Still, he said, energy is also unlikely to be as much of a drag on Houstons economy this year as it was in 2019 - as long as oil prices dont go any lower than they are right now. Energy companies responding to a survey conducted by the Dallas Fed largely reported that theyd be able to finance planned projects with current crude oil prices.

If (oil prices) were to collapse or go to the low $50s, maybe were in a different story, Thompson said.

Crude oil settled at $54.19 on Friday in New York.

Houston hiring, but slower

The Houston region finished 2019 by adding 6,700 jobs in December, a continuation of strong gains in employment, but a slowdown compared with recent months. In November, the region added 9,400 jobs.

The local jobless rate was 3.6 percent in December.

Over the year, local employment grew 3 percent, adding 90,000 jobs in 2019. Thompson, of the Dallas Fed, said that he expects that growth rate to be cut nearly in half to about 1.6 percent when revisions to 2019 employment numbers are made in March.

Texas Inc.: Get the best of business news sent directly to your inbox

Thompson projects that job growth in Houston to be between 1.8 and 2.3 percent in 2020  healthy job growth, he said, as long as trade policy continues to stabilize, the national economy remains strong and oil prices dont nosedive.

Slowing down from strong growth means about average growth in 2020, Thompson said. We will see what happens with trade policy.

erin.douglas@chron.com

Twitter.com/erinmdouglas23
She welcomed her daughter Marlie-Mae with fiance Matty 'J' Johnson in June 2019.

And On Thursday, Laura Byrne, 33, candidly revealed that she was anxious about having sex for the first time after giving birth.

Speaking on her Podcast Life Uncut, the reality TV star said: 'The doctors tell you that you'll be ready to have sex at the six week mark... but I was not ready.'

'I was expecting it to be horrific': The Bachelor's Laura Byrne (pictured) has shared intimate details about her sex life with Matty J after giving birth

'I was so tired and the thought of having sex would make me want to cry... so we had sex at about eight weeks,' she revealed.

'I had a lot of stitches so I was expecting it to be horrific but it was fine,' she told her co-host Brittany Hockley - who was a finalist on the 2018 Bachelor.

Laura went on to say that she was 'pleasantly surprised', because 'it didn't hurt and it wasn't scary'.

She also gave a graphic description of her private areas to listeners, mentioning that it was 'swollen' and likened the after effects of a 'bee sting'.

'It was exactly how I had remembered it being, nothing seemed any different,' Laura explained with relief.

Candid:Speaking on her Podcast Life Uncut on Thursday, she revealed it took the couple eights weeks to have sex after she gave birth and she was 'pleasantly surprised' because 'it didn't hurt'

She also discussed her plans to put the spark back into her relationship with Matty J, and revealed that her New Year's resolution was to 'have more sex'.

'I'm getting back on that bandwagon,' Laura said. 'The less of it you have, the less of it you need.'

She added that the 'full-time consuming nature' of parenthood had gotten the better of her and Matt.

'I'm getting back on that bandwagon': She also discussed her plans to put the spark back into her relationship with Matty, and revealed that her New Year's resolution is to 'have more sex'. Pictured with daughter Marlie-Mae

'As much as we absolutely love each, there are aspects of our relationship that have been massively put on the back-burner,' she said.

'I just want to reshuffle my life and put our relationship back up the pile.'

Laura and Matt fell in love on the 2017 season of the Bachelor.

The pair became engaged while on vacation in Fiji in April 2019, two months before they welcomed their daughter. They plan to marry later this year.
BEREA, Ohio - Women voters across four Great Lakes states are a major factor why Donald Trump might have some ground to make up if he is to again win Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in the 2020 election, a recently released poll suggests.

Among women polled, their support for a Democrat over Trump ranged from 11.2 percentage points in Ohio to 26.1 points in Michigan, according to the Great Lakes Poll, released Wednesday by Baldwin Wallace Universitys Community Research Institute. The preference among men ranged from 2.5 points in favor of Trump in Ohio to 4.4 points against in Pennsylvania.

This was one takeaway from the first of four Great Lakes polls BW will be conducting this year, in partnership with Ohio Northern University in Ada and Oakland University in Rochester Hills, Michigan. The states were chosen because they flipped from Democratic in 2012 (Barack Obama) to Republican (Trump) in the last presidential election.

After the findings were released Wednesday, cleveland.com published a series of stories providing both an overall summary of the poll, and delving into individual issues.

Here are some of the highlights. Read more about each topic by following the links below:

* Trump trails in each of the four states, indicating the extent to which hell have to entice wavering voters to swing his way before November. Yet Democratic support was softest in Ohio, where the generic Democrat led Trump just 44.3% to 39.4%, with the rest undecided.

Donald Trump trails in four key states he won four years ago, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, according to the Great Lakes Poll from Baldwin Wallace University.Rich Exner, cleveland.com

* Women breaking away from Trump could be a deciding factor in 2020 presidential race: Women are more likely than men to vote for the Democratic nominee than Trump, although there are still many women who are undecided.

* Voters distrust social media as a source of campaign news and worry about foreign interference: Theyre wary of getting presidential campaign news from social media, with the majority viewing articles on social media as untrustworthy or misleading.

There is a general distrust in the news find on social media, according Baldwin Wallace University's Great Lakes Poll.Rich Exner, cleveland.com

* Immigration was a key issue in 2016: What do voters think about it today?: The bulk of voters polled disapprove of how President Donald Trump has handled immigration policy.

* Should popular vote replace Electoral College?: Those polled overwhelmingly said they supported getting rid of the Electoral College system.

* Its the economy, voters in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania say about the 2020 election: Wisconsin voters rank health care as the No. 1 issue in this years presidential campaign. In Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, its the economy.

The economy is the top issue among voters in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, while health care is the No. 1 issue in Wisconsin, according to Baldwin Wallace University's Great Lakes poll.Rich Exner, cleveland.com

* Good news for Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders: Biden or Sanders lead in each of the states, followed by Elizabeth Warren and Michael Bloomberg, though the primaries wont reach these states for several weeks.

Joe Biden leads polling in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, while Bernie Sanders leads in Wisconsin, according to the Great Lakes poll released by Baldwin Wallace University.Rich Exner, cleveland.com

BW, in partnership with Ohio Northern and Oakland universities, polled more than 1,000 registered voters in each state from Jan. 8-20. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 to 3.3 percentage points for the statewide results in each state, higher for sub groups.

BW said the poll included quotas for age, education, and gender for each state based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau from the overall adult population in each state. The makeup of voters may be different.

There will be a second poll in the spring. BW hopes to time that poll to when the Democratic nominee becomes clear. Plus additional Great Lakes polls are planned for September and October.

Lauren Copeland, associate director of the Community Research Institute at Baldwin Wallace University, noted that the large number of undecided voters left ample room for Trumps support to grow.

If you take into account the people who are undecided, the race is a tossup in all four states, Copeland said.

A BW Ohio poll a month before the 2016 election showed Hillary Clinton leading Trump, 43.2% to 34.4% with a substantial number undecided at the time. In the election, Clinton received almost exactly that support (43.6%), but Trump did much better (51.7%) in the state.
24.01.2020 LISTEN

Former President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Bice Osei Kuffour, popularly known as Obour, has confirmed his bid to contest the upcoming parliamentary primaries of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The Konkontiba hitmaker will be contesting in the Asante Akyem South constituency where he has initiated several developmental projects.

In a statement , Obour said his decision was borne out of his desire to serve his people and contribute his quota to society.

I am very happy to announce today the 24th Day of January 2020 that I, Bice Osei Kuffour (Obour), have firmly decided to contest the NPP primary in the Asante Akyem South Constituency to serve my people and contribute to improve the electoral fortunes of the great NPP ahead of the 2020 general election when given the nod, the statement said.

Below is the full statement:

Once to every man, woman, and nation comes a moment to decide. Over the past few months after successfully leading the Musicians Union of Ghana for eight years many were the calls on me to avail myself for service to the good people of Asante Akyem South where I hail from.

I was not very clear in my mind then as I had other competing considerations. After very extensive consultations with my maker (God), immediate family, friends and loved ones, the call on me to avail my self to service is overwhelming.

The media carried several news articles of rumours of me going to contest the Asante Akyem South seat for parliament which I then responded was not a decision yet.

I am very happy to announce today the 24th Day of January 2020 that I, Bice Osei Kuffour (Obour) have firmly decided to contest the NPP primaries in the Asante Akyem South Constituency to serve my people and contribute to improve the electoral fortunes of the great New Patriotic Party (NPP) ahead of the 2020 general elections when given the nod.

I thank my very loyal and dedicated followers for your prayers and support in arriving at this well thought out decision. I would be picking my nomination forms on Tuesday 28th January 2020 at the NPP office in Juaso.

God bless Asante Akyem South.

God bless Ghana our motherland.

Thank you

Signed

BICE OSEI KUFFOUR AKA (President Obour)
Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is planning to hold a conference to discuss the future of a current federal law which largely exempts online platforms from legal liability for the material their users post, sources familiar with the plans said on Friday.

A U.S. government source said the department plans to invite a wide range of interested parties to the conference to examine the future of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, including representatives of industry, Congress, "thought leaders" and officials of President Donald Trump's cabinet.

Any changes to the law could have implications for companies such as Facebook, Alphabet Inc's Google and Twitter which publish large amounts of user content with only limited ability to monitor it for offensive language and imagery.

All three companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The tech publication "The Information" reported on Friday that the department was planning to hold what it described as a "workshop" on the law's future in February. But the source familiar with the government's plans said a date for the event has not yet been fixed.

Plans for such a conference come in the wake of a speech last month in which U.S. Attorney General William Barr said that the Justice Department was "studying Section 230 and its scope." Barr said that "many are concerned that Section 230 immunity has been extended far beyond what Congress originally intended."

Barr said current law had "enabled platforms to absolve themselves completely of responsibility for policing their platforms, while blocking or removing third-party speech - including political speech - selectively, and with impunity."

Some lawmakers and experts want the companies to bear more responsibility for policing their services, which could steeply increase costs for the internet giants.

Several professors across the United States who study laws around speech and expression on the internet were invited to the event, according to four people asked to attend. Two said they had not been given details on the event's timing, participants or structure.

Emma Llanso, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology, said the Justice Department is considering holding public panels and private meetings, according to an invitation she received this week.

(Reporting By Mark Hosenball; Additional reporting by Paresh Dave and Katie Paul in San Francisco; editing by Diane Craft)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The Anti-Defamation League was founded in 1913 as a means to end the defamation of Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment for all.

This past month, it provided testimony before the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in Washington, D.C., as part of its efforts to counter the rise in anti-Semitism globally.

Here are the recommendations that were presented to the USCIRF:

* Provide robust political leadership to reassure communities, by speaking out against manifestations of anti-Semitism and other scapegoating.

* Utilize the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of anti-Semitism to provide educational guidance for law enforcement, teachers and community leaders.

* Make an effort to improve public reporting on anti-Semitic incidents and other forms of hate violence and discrimination.

* Ensure that there are specific senior government officials tasked with combating anti-Semitism and all forms of hate.

* Mandate, hate crime prevention and response training into law enforcement education.

* Collaborate closely with Jewish communities to address issues of concern, including security and freedom of worship.

* Ensure schools are addressing the Holocaust, modern-day anti-Semitism, and anti-bias training.

* Vigorously combat violent extremist groups that attack Jews or other communities, regardless of whether such extremists emerge from the right, the left, or religious and ethnic communities.

* Lastly, ensure that social media companies enforce robust terms of service against cyber hate, including the particular forms in which anti-Semitism manifests.

 Macomb Daily Staff
A top medic who contracted Coronavirus says the deadly respiratory disease is so contagious it can be transmitted through the eyes.

Wang Guangfa, who was a leading figure in helping China fight Sars in 2003, himself caught the virus but has since recovered.

Mr Wang says he believes he became infected because he did not have protective eyewear.

The respiratory specialist at Beijings Peking University First Hospital had reportedly been ridiculed in some parts of the media after he contracted the disease despite saying it was preventable and controllable two weeks ago.



The expert has now claimed that he may have contracted the disease because of a lack of eye protection when visiting fever clinics and isolation wards in Wuhan, in Hubei province, where the outbreak emerged.

His warning comes as 14 patients tested for coronavirus in the UK were given the all-clear, although checks are now being carried out on more people.

news comes as it emerged doctors treating sick patients are collapsing at work as hospitals become overwhelmed in one city, the Daily Star reports.

He said: At that time we were highly vigilant and wore N95 masks.

But then I suddenly realised that we didnt wear protective glasses.

He says he developed conjunctivitis in his left eye after returning to Beijing and around three hours later he began had a fever and severe catarrh.

Mr Wang thought he had the flu at first as he had never seen a Wuhan patient suffering from conjunctivitis before.

But later took the test for the coronavirus when flu medication did not work and he tested positive.

He said the most likely explanation of him contracting the virus was it entering through his eyes.

Chinas National Health Commission expert Li Lanjuan said that staff who had direct contact with coronavirus patients needed to wear protective glasses whilst other people only need face masks.

There are currently 830 confirmed cases of patients infected with the virus in China and a small number of cases have been confirmed in other countries including the United States, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Singapore.

The latest official death toll from the virus is 26.

Follow Us on Facebook  @LadunLiadi; Instagram  @LadunLiadi; Twitter  @LadunLiadi; Youtube  @LadunLiadiTV for updates
Guwahati, Jan 12 (UNI) The Indian Chamber of Commerce in association with the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission, Guwahati, has developed the India Bangladesh Trade Portal for the North East India Region, an official said here.

12 Jan 2022 | 5:30 PM

New Delhi, Jan 12 (UNI) Consumer complaints under the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s ombudsman schemes jumped 22 per cent in FY21, the bulk of them related to debit cards, online banking and credit cards.

"The volume of complaints received under all the three Ombudsman Schemes increased by 22.27 per cent on an annualized basis and stood at 3,03,107 during the reported period," RBI said in a statement on Wednesday.
Trump is only the third president in the 243 years of the US to stand trial before the Senate after Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998, endowing the Senate proceeding with the weight of history.

White House lawyer Pat Cipollone said the impeachment was a Democratic Party attempt to overturn the 2016 elections and bar him from the November election. Instead, he said, "Let the people decide that".

Trump's defence came after 24 hours of arguments stretching over three days by the prosecutors from the House of Representatives that had impeached him.

The defence held only two hours of abbreviated arguments on Saturday, which Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulow said was a "trailer" for their fuller case when the trial resumes on Monday.

The high drama in the trial will, however, come when the defence concludes their arguments and the Democrats resurrect their demand to call witnesses to trial, a demand rejected by the Senate on the first day of the trial.

Democrats will need four Republican senators to defect in order for the demand for witnesses to pass in the 100-member Senate, which has 53 Republicans.

Trump is unlikely to be convicted and forced out of office because a two-thirds majority is required for this.

Therefore, the Democrats are hoping the televised spectacle of the trial and the impeachment proceedings will be their propaganda bonanza for the November election.

Hitting at the credibility of the Democrats, White House Deputy Counsel Michael Purpura highlighted the lead Democratic prosecutor Adam Schiff's fake version of Trump's call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelentsky that is at the centre of impeachment.

Schiff, the head of the House Intelligence Committee who led the investigation of Trump, later claimed he was not serious and was spoofing Trump.

Trump is charged with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in the trial presided over by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts with the senators acting as jurors.

The allegations arise from Trump's call to Zelentsky in which he asked him as a "favour" to investigate activities of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in his country.

Before the trial resumed Trump tweeted insults against the Democratic Party's Congressional leaders as well as the media: aceOur case against lyin', cheatin', liddle' Adam aceShifty" Schiff, Cryin' Chuck Schumer, Nervous Nancy Pelosi, their leader, dumb as a rock AOC, & the entire Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrat Party, starts today at 10:00 A.M. on @FoxNews, @OANN or Fake News @CNN or Fake News MSDNC!"

Schiff is the leading prosecutor, Schumer is the Democratic leader in the Senator, Pelosi is the speaker of the House and AOC is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes, a leftist leader of the party.

Sekulow reached back to the investigation of the allegations of collaboration between the Russians and Trump in the 2016 election that were disproved by an investigation by Independent Counsel Robert Mueller.

The Democrats had pinned their hopes on the Russian allegations to remove Trump and when that failed, they raked up the Ukraine issue, Sekulow said.

Pakistan came up briefly during the defence arguments when Sekulow cited Trump's freezing military aid to Islamabad because it was not cooperating on counter-terrorism.

He brought it up as an example of Trump freezing aid for cause while trying to refute the Democratic argument that he withheld aid to Ukraine because he wanted Zelentsky to order the probe.

As in Pakistan's case, Trump had a legitimate reason -- to ensure the Zelentsky government was against corruption.

Criticising the Democrat's reliance on the US intelligence agencies, Sekulow said that he did not have to "blindly trust some of the advice he was being given by the intelligence agencies" because of the false reasons given by a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent to get a warrant for surveillance of a junior Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page.

The Justice Department's inspector-general found factual errors in the application for the warrant and the secret court that issued the warrant also criticised the FBI in a rare public statement.

The Trump team said that he was right to seek an investigation of alleged corruption in Ukraine and he did nothing wrong because the military aid was released without the probe and, therefore, there was not quid pro quo.

Sekulow projected statements by various witnesses who said their allegations about Trump withholding aid to Ukraine and other matters were based on their own interpretation.

Speaking a news conference after the trial session ended, Schiff said that he wanted to call other witnesses who may have direct knowledge of Trump's dealings with Ukraine precisely because as Sekulow said there were no direct evidence.

The Democrats want to call former National Security Adviser John Bolton and Trump's acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.

At the news conference a prosecutor, Jerry Nadler who heads the House Judiciary Committee reiterated the description of Trump as a dictator that he made during arguments on Friday night and said he should be removed to "safeguard democracy."

Democrats say that request to Zelentsky to probe the Bidens was inviting foreign intervention in US elections because Joe Biden is the leading Democratic Party candidate for the nomination to oppose him.

Moreover, they say that he froze about $400 million in Congressionally-approved military aid for pressure Zelentsky to order the probe and this endangered US national security as Ukraine is at war with Russia.

Schiff and the other prosecutors said delaying the aid was an attempt at a quid pro quo.

Zelentsky has said that he did not feel pressured by Trump.

Hunter Biden, who was removed from the Navy allegedly due to drug use and had no energy business experience landed a directorship in a Ukrainian gas company with monthly payments reportedly between $50,000 and $83,000 while his father was overseeing Washington's dealings with Kyiv.

The former vice president has publicly admitted that he got the Ukrainian leaders to fire the prosecutor investigating his son's company.

The Republicans say the son's appointment was unethical and the father had the prosecutor removed to protect his son's company.

In their arguments, the Democratic prosecutors said there was nothing wrong in Hunter Biden getting the job and his father had the prosecutor dismissed because he was corrupt.

Even if the Senate approves calling the witnesses, Trump could exercise his executive privilege to stop them from testifying, in which case they could go to court to compel their appearance at the Senate trial extending its duration by months if not weeks.

The House charged him with obstruction of Congress because he refused to allow some of this staff to testify and release documents requested by the House investigators.

The Republicans want a quick end to the trial but they can counter the Democrat's request for witnesses by calling former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, to testify in order to embarrass them and their party.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in)
The parents of a jailed gangster were among four persons arrested here on Saturday for allegedly helping their son continue his extortion activities from inside the prison, police said.

Pratap Behera and his wife Phulabati, parents of Litua alias Bharat Behera who is now lodged in Choudwar Circle Jail here for over five years, have been arrested, a police officer said.

Litua had allegedly called up a city-based businessman from inside the prison and demanded Rs 50 lakh from him, he said.

He had asked the businessman to hand over the money to his parents, the officer said.

Two others who were following Litua's instructions from inside the jail were also arrested, he said.

All the four were produced before a court here which remanded them to judicial custody, the officer added.

Two women associates of another jailed gangster Md Shakil were arrested last month for allegedly carrying out his extortion activities through his instructions over the phone.

When contacted, a senior jail official said neither the undertrial prisoners nor the convicts have any access to telephones inside the jail.

"The duo (Shakil and Litua) might have made the calls with the telephones of their relatives when they came to meet them in the prison," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
C hina's president has said the nation faces a "grave situation" as the coronavirus spreads.

Xi Jinping told a policy meeting, aimed at looking for measures to fight the outbreak, that the virus was "accelerating its spread".

A report from state television in the country said plans have dictated resources and experts will be concentrated at designated hospitals for treatment of severe cases.

It said no treatment delayed due to cost and supplies of materials to Hubei province, including its capital Wuhan where the virus broke out, would be guaranteed.

China's President Xi Jinping has said the nation is in a 'grave situation' / REUTERS

It comes after the death toll from the outbreak climbed to 41 as of Friday. There have been more than 1,300 infections confirmed globally.

The fatalities so far have been contained to China, which has placed a reported 56 million people on lock down, with the majority occurring in the Hubei province around Wuhan.

Hu Yinghai, deputy director-general of the Civil Affairs Department in Hubei province, said: "We are steadily pushing forward the disease control and prevention ... But right now we are facing an extremely severe public health crisis,"



Inspections: Teams are looking for victims of the virus across China / Getty Images

In a bid to stop the spread, China's capital city Beijing will stop all inter-province shuttle buses from January 26, local media reported on Saturday, with no detail of when bus services will be resumed.

Wuhan authorities said they are rapidly constructing a new 1,000-bed hospital to deal with the crisis, to be completed on February 3. The facility will be modelled on a Sars hospital that was built in Beijing in just six days during the Sars outbreak.

People wearing masks walk through the Ginza shopping district / Getty Images

State-run China Global Television Network reported in a tweet on Saturday a doctor who had been treating patients in Wuhan, 62-year-old Liang Wudong, had died from the virus.

It was not immediately clear if his death was already counted in the official toll of 41.

The Department of Health is hunting for passengers who came from Wuhan, a city of 11 million people which is on lock down amid the outbreak.

Medical staff carry a box as they walk at the Jinyintan hospital / Reuters

Outside of China, the virus has been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, Malaysia, France, the United States and Australia.
A police officer has been injured and two people arrested during a republican march in Glasgow.

Hundreds of people took part in the procession commemorating Bloody Sunday through the city on Saturday. There was a counter-protest also taking place.

The march to remember those who lost their lives was organised by the West of Scotland Band Alliance and set off at 11am.

There was a large police presence to prevent disturbances and the procession was paused on several occasions.

People march during the West of Scotland Band Alliance March for Justice in Glasgow / PA Wire/PA Images

One officer suffered minor injuries as a result of missiles being thrown and two people were arrested for minor disorder offences.

Chief Superintendent Mark Hargreaves said: We can confirm that the procession concluded at its destination shortly after 1pm without significant incident.

Police presence at the West of Scotland Band Alliance March for Justice in Glasgow / PA Wire/PA Images

Officers dealt with minor disorder, including missiles being thrown, which resulted in minor injury to a police officer.

The procession was stopped a number of times as a result of protest activity to mitigate any further incidents, ensure the safety of all persons involved, and the wider community.

Two people have been arrested for minor disorder offences.
Kiran Balannanavar By

Express News Service

BALLARI: Tourists visiting Hampi can now got first-hand information about its history, monuments and special features, by the click on a button.

The Hampi World Heritage Area Management Authority (HWHAMA) has tied up with software company DigiTour for real-time data on the monuments, and an app has been unveiled in this regard. The facility has been created with information on the Vijaya Vittala Temple and Hazara Rama Temple on a pilot basis. The DigiTour app must be downloaded on the phone to walk through the monuments.

A code will be given to the tourists on payment of Rs 10 and the tourists can have their mobile guide while taking a tour. In the coming days, tourists can use the code and download details about the monuments. This is being done to discourage unauthorised guides misleading foreign visitors and domestic tourists. It was also found out that many guides were either giving incomplete or even wrong information about monuments, while some guides were also charging a higher fee.

The new system is aimed at tackling such issues. Speaking to TNIE, HWHAMA Commissioner P Lokesh said that the application had a soft launch during the recently concluded Hampi Utsav. Once the code is uploaded on the app, one can get all the related information and pictures about the monuments. The app will also guide the tourists to important monuments, including the Vijaya Vittala Temple, Queens Bath and Ugra Narasimha statue. The same application will be linked to booking of battery-operated buggy trains and double-decker buses, which will soon be introduced in Hampi. The visitors can book buses through the DigiTour app, he said.

The application has been developed by a team of local youth from Hagaribommanahalli in Ballari. The HWHAMA has now sought permission from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for extending the same service across monuments in Hampi.

Meanwhile, the Hampi authorities will soon make in uniform compulsory for authorised guides, in a bid to filter out unauthorised guides and private persons, who fleece tourists on the pretext of taking them on a tour. Talks are on with government agencies and training workshops will be conducted for guides.
Police confirmed a white Maltichon called Henry died as a result of the firearm being discharged (Picture: Police)

A dog has been shot dead after getting caught up in the crossfire of a gang attack in Scotland.

Police confirmed a white Maltichon called Henry died as a result of a firearm being discharged in Cumbernauld, in North Lanarkshire, on Thursday.

A man, 27, was also shot after being targeted at around 6.55pm and has been taken to hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries to his back.

The dogs 52-year-old owner suffered a minor injury to her hand.

A man, 27, was also shot after being targeted (Picture: Getty)

Police said three men got out of a silver Ford Focus and chased the 27-year-old man while carrying a firearm, which was fired, and a bladed weapon.

The suspects are described as wearing dark clothing and possibly balaclavas.

The silver Ford Focus was found burnt out Fannyside Mill, Moore Road, at Forrest Road near to Blackthorn Roundabout around 7.55pm the same night.

The partial registration plate is 67 ZKZ.

Armed officers attended alongside local officers as standard procedure.

Police are appealing for the public's help (Picture: Getty)

Police Scotland's Major Investigation Team believe it was a targeted attack.

Detective Chief Inspector Gillian Grant, senior investigating officer, said: "This was completely reckless and the fact this happened in a residential street shows the suspects had a complete disregard for the safety of the public.

"A woman who was simply walking her dog has been left absolutely devastated.

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"There is an increased police presence in the area and reassurance patrols will be carried out. A team of detectives will be conducting CCTV and house-to-house enquiries.

"I would appeal to the public to contact us with any relevant information about this attack because this behaviour cannot be allowed to happen in our communities.

"I would ask specifically if anyone witnessed the attack or saw a silver Ford Focus shortly before or after the incident to contact us.

Also could I appeal to anyone driving in the Eastfield Road and Dullatur Road area last night around 6.55pm to check dash cam footage and contact us."
A group of researchers from Australia has formulated a genetic test that could detect people's susceptibility towards developing glaucoma, which is a debilitating ocular disease that can potentially make its sufferers go blind.

The team of scientists suggests that there are 107 genes that are responsible for the onset of this condition.

They are looking forward to 20,000 people's participation in their Genetics of Glaucoma Study in order to help them find more genes involved in the disease.

Glaucoma is characterised by progressive damage and degeneration of the optic nerve which also causes gradual loss of vision. It is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide and is predicted to affect 76 million people by 2020.

There is still no proven cure for the disease, but treatment can reliably slow or halt deterioration in most cases. Up to 50 per cent of those affected are not even aware.

Stuart MacGregor, lead researcher and the head of QIMR Berghofer's Statistical Genetics Group, Associate Professor, said that identifying new genes allowed them to develop a glaucoma polygenic risk score (PRS) that can predict who is likely to get the eye disease.

"Glaucoma is a genetic disease and the best way to prevent the loss of sight from glaucoma is through early detection and treatment," MacGregor defined.

"Our study found that by analysing DNA collected from saliva or blood, we could determine how likely a person was to develop the disease and who should be offered early treatment and/or monitoring," he added.

He also feels that unlike existing eye health checks that are based on eye pressure or optic nerve damage, the genetic test can be done before damage begins so that regular screening can be put in place.

Clinical lead researcher and academic head of the Department of Ophthalmology at Flinders University, Professor Jamie Craig, said that the study results gave hope that mass screening for glaucoma could be offered in the future.

"There are Australians who, if they'd had appropriate treatment a few years earlier, wouldn't have gone blind," said Professor Craig, who is also a consultant ophthalmologist.

"One in 30 Australians has glaucoma, but most people only find out they have it when they go to the optometrist because they are losing vision, or for a general eye check," shares Craig, continuing, "Early detection is paramount because existing treatments can't restore vision that has been lost, and late detection of glaucoma is a major risk factor for blindness."

He said that glaucoma can arise at any age but most of those affected are in their 50s or older, so their aim is to offer blood tests to people of that age to find out if they are at risk, and then hopefully act on it.

This test is likely to be helpful in identifying those who would benefit from a more aggressive intervention such as surgery rather than simple eyedrops.

The researchers are hoping to get in touch with people with a family history of the disease. "We want to know who will get glaucoma, and for those who are susceptible, we want to be able to pinpoint at what age they're going to get it," said Associate Professor MacGregor.

The researcher concluded, "That would allow us to develop a personalised approach for earlier treatment of high-risk individuals, and means people at lower risk could have less intensive monitoring and treatment. This would have benefits for patients, doctors and the health care system with reduced interventions and reduced costs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Assam Police on Saturday registered an FIR against former JNU student Sharjeel Imam for his alleged statement that Muslims are in such numbers that they could cut off the entire Northeast from the rest of India.

"An FIR has been lodged against Sharjeel Imam for his speech and inter alia commission of offence under Sections 13 (1) and 18 of the UA (P) ACT read with Section 153A, 153B, and 124A of Indian Penal Code at Guwahati Crime Branch Police Station," said GP Singh, Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, at a press conference here.

A series of videos have gone viral on social media in which Imam, the chief co-ordinator of Shaheen Bagh protest, is heard saying: "If we all come together, then we can separate the Northeast from India. If we cannot do it for permanently, then at least for 1-2 months we can do this. It will take the administration at least one month to disperse all of them."

"It is our responsibility to cut Assam from India. When this will happen, only then the Centre will listen to us," he is heard further saying in the videos.

Responding to this, Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said the state government has taken cognizance of this seditious statement and has decided to register a case against him.

Vivek Garg, an advocate and RTI activist, has filed a complaint to register an FIR under relevant sections of IPC and the Security Act against Imam.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The battleline has been drawn between self-acclaimed male barbie, Bobrisky and Instagram blogger, Gistlover.

Information Nigeria recalls news went viral that he had been arrested and whisked away by soldiers and policemen.

Reacting to the post, Bobrisky denied the reports and he also went ahead to take a swipe at Gistlover and former Kanyamata friend, Miwa.

This ignited a war as Gistlover went digging into the arrest saga and uploaded a video of the male cross-dresser walking into an office belonging to Lagos Internal Revenue Service, LIRS, with claims of what went down.

According to the Instagram blogger, the controversial celebrity revealed that he didnt undergo any surgery and he wears butt pad.

Also, the blogger revealed the most talked about Nigerian transgender doesnt have any money and it was the boyfriend of his bestfriend, Tonto dikeh that gave him the sum of 5 million naira.

See the full post below:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7t1Z1GnCxV/?igshid=9z5rkw1y0l89
Report says USs lack of interest, Europes power struggle have made it possible for both countries to infiltrate Libya.

Russia and Turkey have formed an alliance to exploit insolvency of the West in the Libyan crisis to pose as sponsors of a future political solution in the North African country, according to a report by French newspaper Le Monde.

Libya, a large oil producer, has been engulfed by chaos since 2011 when longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed in an uprising.

According to Le Monde, a lack of interest by the United States and power struggles in the European Union due to its reported obsession with migration and armed groups has made it possible for Russia and Turkey to step into Libya.

The newspaper also attributed other countries failure to consistently support the post-Gaddafi transition and the growing activism in the Mediterranean for Turkey and Russias influence in Libya.

Turkey recently sent military personnel to Libya to support and train forces of the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Fayez al-Sarraj.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned of chaos in Libya unless peace is quickly established.

Ankara and Moscow launched a joint call for a ceasefire in Libya from January 12.

Closer ties

The leaders of Turkey and Russia recently cemented ties between the two nations with the launch of TurkStream  an undersea pipeline stretching 930 kilometres (578 miles) from Anapa on the Russian Black Sea coast to Kiyikoy, west of Istanbul.

The pipeline will carry Russian gas for Turkish domestic consumption, while a second leg slated for construction will carry Russian gas to southeast Europe through Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary.

TurkStream enables Russia to bypass Ukraine to sell gas to Europe while bolstering Turkey as an important energy transport hub.

They also deepened military cooperation after Turkey took delivery of a Russian-made S-400 missile defence system last year.
MOSCOW, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Russia's tourism watchdog said on Friday it was recommending that travel operators stop sales of packages to China due to the new coronavirus.

It recommended that Russians refrain from visiting China until the "epidemiological situation stabilises".

China is taking measures to contain the coronavirus, which has killed 26 people and infected more than 800. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Catherine Evans)
White House lawyers began presenting their defense of President Donald Trump on Saturday at his historic Senate impeachment trial for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone took the floor for opening arguments at an extraordinary weekend session of the 100-member Senate, which will decide whether the 45th US president should be removed from office.

Democratic prosecutors from the House of Representatives, which impeached Trump on December 18, wrapped up their detailed case for the president's removal late Friday over his dealings with Ukraine.

Cipollone said the House prosecutors had not made their case.

"We don't believe that they have come anywhere close to meeting their burden for what they're asking you to do," he said.

"In fact, we believe when you hear the facts... you will find that the president did absolutely nothing wrong."



The White House counsel said Democrats were asking the Senate to "overturn the results of the last election."



"They're asking you to tear up all of the ballots across this country on your own initiative," he said.

"Take that decision away from the American people."



Trump's lawyers will have 24 hours spread over three days to present their defense of the president to the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53 to 47 seat majority.

They plan to speak for up to three hours on Saturday and resume their presentation on Monday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Museum of Chinese in America on Friday said that a fire has likely destroyed all of its priceless 85,000-piece collection telling the story of Chinese migration to the United States.

According to officials at the New York City museum, the fire, which on Thursday night consumed part of the building holding the museums archive, likely did not do the damage on its own. Instead, officials are worried about water damage. The museums president told NBC News that firefighters are barring museum workers from entering the building, leaving the officials with little hope of salvaging items that will only degrade further in the following weeks.

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The museums president, Nancy Yao Maasbach, told the New York Times on Friday that one hundred percent of the museums collection, other than what is on view, had been destroyed.

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UPDATE: As we continue to receive information from officials, we are preparing for the possibility that the collection is severely damaged or lost. We are on call and ready to enter upon notification the building is safe. We will need help. Thank you for your continued prayers.  Museum of Chinese in America (@mocanyc) January 25, 2020

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The building that burned is historic on its own. A former public school that educated immigrant children for many decades, the Chinatown building has more recently been used to host community groups, nonprofits, a dance studio, and a senior center, in addition to the museums archives. According to NBC New York, the fire injured several firefighters and a 59-year-old man who suffered from smoke inhalation when it erupted Thursday.

I know the neighborhood is in shock tonight, Mayor Bill DeBlasio, who called the buildings senior center a pillar of the Chinatown community, tweeted Thursday. Were going to help the community get through this.

FDNY members continue to operate on scene of a 3-alarm fire at 70 Mulberry St. in Manhattan. pic.twitter.com/dl7dng6I57  FDNY (@FDNY) January 24, 2020

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This will be an extended operation- FDNY Chief of Fire Operations Thomas Richardson, from the scene of the 5-alarm fire at 70 Mulberry Street in Manhattan. Read more: https://t.co/2YI7sbdRhU pic.twitter.com/bwMGpKpjUT  FDNY (@FDNY) January 24, 2020

The Museums collection included many donated items. Its artifacts included documents, letters, newspapers, family albums, clothing, restaurant menus, and many miscellaneous objects owned by generations of immigrants. Masbaach described the collection as priceless.

Museum officials said that 35,000 documents had already been digitized before the fire, mitigating some of the loss. And the artifacts on display at the museum, which is located a few blocks away, are safe. But as the Times noted, the museum often displayed copies of documentsin order to keep the real artifacts safe in the archives.
26 die, 850 affected worldwide; 10 Indians put under observation.

Beijing/New Delhi: China on Saturday expanded its lockdown against the deadly coronavirus to an unprecedented 36 million people and rushed to build a prefabricated, 1,000-bed hospital for victims as the outbreak cast a pall over Lunar New Year, the countrys biggest, most festive holiday. As the number of confirmed cases around the world climbed sharply to more than 850, with at least 26 deaths, all of them in China, in India 10 people  seven in Kerala, two in Mumbai and one in Hyderabad  were put under observation for possible exposure to the deadly novel coronavirus, Central and state officials said on Friday.

They were among the hundreds of passengers who returned from China in recent days.

Officials in Kerala said another 73 people were being kept under medical surveillance at their homes in the state.

As over 20,000 passengers returning from mainland China and Hong Kong underwent thermal screenings at the seven international airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin, the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi has set up an isolation ward and kept beds ready for providing treatment to any suspected case of the respiratory infection.

India on Friday said that it was closely monitoring the situation in China in view of the coronavirus outbreak, even as the Indian embassy in Beijing on Friday decided to call off the Republic Day reception in the Chinese capital on January 26 in view of the decision of the Chinese authorities to cancel public gatherings and events.

New Delhi is concerned because a significant number of Indian students study at the central Chinese industrial city of Wuhan  the epicentre of the outbreak  which is an educational hub that has prestigious technical institutes.

The Indian embassy also said that the relevant Chinese authorities have assured all assistance to residents of Wuhan, including food supply. It added, At present, it is reported that supermarkets (particularly those that are government run) and e-commerce services, including food delivery continue to remain operational in Wuhan.

The Indian embassy in Beijing tweeted, In view of the evolving situation due to the corona virus outbreak in China as well as the decision of Chinese authorities to cancel public gathering and events, @EOIBeijing has also decided to call off the Republic Day reception scheduled to be held @EOIBeijing on January 26th.

The Indian embassy also said, Embassy of India has been receiving queries from Indians in Hubei province as well as their relatives in India in connection with the evolving situation of the corona virus epidemic in China. In this regard Embassy of India is in touch with relevant Chinese authorities in Beijing and Wuhan as well as Indians in Hubei Province, especially in Wuhan. We are closely monitoring the evolving situation in China, including advisories issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) in this connection.

The US reported its second case, involving a Chicago woman in her 60s who was hospitalised after returning from China. She was reported to be doing well.

Transportation was shut down in Wuhan, the city of 11 million at the epicentre of the outbreak, and in at least 12 other cities in central Chinas Hubei province, encompassing a population bigger than that of New York, London, Paris and Moscow combined. And authorities in Beijing and other cities cancelled many public celebrations and other events marking Lunar New Year, which falls on Saturday.

Hospitals in Wuhan grappled with a flood of patients and a lack of supplies. Videos circulating online showed throngs of frantic people in masks lined up for examinations, and some complained that family members had been turned away at hospitals that were at capacity.

Authorities in Wuhan and elsewhere put out calls for medicine, disinfection equipment, masks, goggles, gowns and other protective gear.
The government will soon issue the legal document amending Decree 116 on the conditions for manufacturing, assembling, and importing cars, and providing car maintenance services.

Under the new regulation, car imports will be examined by vehicle type instead of by consignment, while pre-customs clearance examinations will be replaced with post examination. The time needed to fulfill import procedures for one consignment of imports will be shortened from 45 days to seven days.





The regulation, once it takes effect, is expected to lead to an import boom.



Moreover, the EU-Vietnam FTA (EVFTA), with the roadmap of cutting the car import tariff to zero percent after 9-10 years, will help improve the competitiveness of car models from Europe.



Foreign made cars will have more favorable conditions to enter the Vietnamese market as Vietnam will accept the EUs quality certificate five years after the agreement implementation. This means that European cars wont need to be examined and certified for quality when entering Vietnam.



With the new policies, car dealers believe that car imports will go through customs clearance more quickly, more cars will arrive, and the prices will be more attractive.

Foreign made cars will have more favorable conditions to enter the Vietnamese market as Vietnam will accept the EUs quality certificate five years after the agreement implementation. This means that European cars wont need to be examined and certified for quality when entering Vietnam .

Nguyen Thi Hien, a car dealer in HCM City, believes that in 2020, consumers will show special interest in imported cars as the imports are expected to decrease in price as a result of the new policies.



Pham Ngoc Than, CEO of Ben Thanh Auto, also commented that Vietnamese people favor imports thanks to high and stable quality.



Representatives of Ford, Toyota and Honda said if the regulations are loosened, the enterprises will increase imports to satisfy the increasingly high demand.



Manufacturers are concerned



The motorization period is expected to begin after 2020 and Vietnams automobile market scale is believed to reach 1 million cars by 2030. Analysts commented that the market is still large and the opportunities are equal for all manufacturers and importers.



In such conditions, making investments to compete with imports in the context of the market opening will be not easy, but tax reduction policies may give higher motivation to domestic enterprises.



The representative of an enterprise said he was concerned about imports. Once the regulations are loosened, Thailand and Indonesia, the two big exporters, would be willing to slash prices to bring cars to Vietnam. Meanwhile, the production costs in the two countries are 20 percent lower than Vietnam.



Le Ngoc Duc, CEO of Hyundai Thanh Cong Vietnam, said his company only plans to increase sales from 80,000 cars in 2019 to 90,000 in 2020, a modest increase, because of anticipated difficulties.

Kim Chi

Car market slowdowns at year-end Car dealers at many firms in Vietnam are complaining about slow sales as it approaches the end of 2019.
Baghdad, Jan 25 : Tens of thousands of people filled the streets of Baghdad to protest against the presence of US troops in Iraq.

Protesters gathered in the Al Jadriyah neighbourhood of the capital after Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr called on Iraqis to demonstrate, reports Efe news.

Participants carried Iraqi flags and banners written in both Arabic and English with slogans such as: "No, no, to the US", "Yes, yes to the Iraqi sovereignty", or "Global terrorism is carried out in the United States of America".

Supporters of the cleric sported t-shirts and placards with his picture.

As in many other protests, demonstrators burned pictures of US President Donald Trump.

Friday's demonstration comes three weeks after a US attack near Baghdad airport killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and several Iraqi Shiite militia leaders on January 3.

Days after the strike, Iraq's Parliament approved a process for the departure of US troops from the country.

"If the US meets these demands then it will not be an aggressor country," Al Sadr said in a statement read by one of his advisors in front of the protesters in Al Jadriyah.

"If it violates the conditions and specified time it will be a hostile country." Al Sadr announced several demands, including the closure of all US military bases and security companies in Iraq.

In addition, he requested the cancellation of all security agreements with "the occupant".

Al Sadr said they will resort to all peaceful means until their demands are met and all the soldiers leave Iraq.

After the death of General Soleimani, Al Sadr, who supports the largest alliance of political parties in Iraq's Parliament, called on combatants to "be prepared" to face the Americans again.

Al Sadr led the 2003 insurgency after the US invasion of Iraq, despite not being aligned with Iran and has even supported popular protests against the government and foreign presence in the country, including the Iranian.

Iraq has been rocked with protests in recent months.

Pro-democracy activists have sporadically taken over party of central Baghdad calling for an end to corruption and Iranian and US influence in Iraqi politics. Human rights groups have denounced alleged police violence against those protesters.

Over 500 people are thought to have been killed in clashes.

Shia militias have also protested against the US specifically. Demonstrations outside the US embassy in late December came just before the US decided to take out Soleimani.
Sudhir Suryawanshi By

Express News Service

MUMBAI: The political temperature in Maharashtra shot up on Friday as the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) criticised the Centre for withdrawing Y category security cover to party chief Sharad Pawar in New Delhi. Parallelly, the state government launched a probe into allegations of phone tapping by the erstwhile BJP government led by Devendra Fadnavis. And the Centre wrested back control over the Bhima Koregaon case, as it transferred it to the National Investigation Agency from the state police.

Security personnel deployed at Pawars Delhi residence stopped reporting for work since January 20, the NCP claimed, adding the withdrawal happened without prior intimation. Pawar is a Z+ category protectee in Maharashtra and a Rajya Sabha member.

The Centre withdrew Sharad Pawars security out of jealousy but such moves will scare no one, Maha Vikas Aghadi minister and NCP spokesman Nawab Malik said, even as his colleague Jitendra Awhad warned of a full scale probe into snooping, a charge Fadnavis was quick to reject. Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Digvijay Singh and Sanjay Rauts phones were tapped by BJP misusing Pegasus spyware bought from Israel, Awhad alleged. With Home Minister Anil Deshmukh ordering the probe, Awhad added, Officers were sent to Israel. The why needs to be investigated.

As for Bhima Koregaon case, Pawars push for a probe into the alleged phone tapping of activists made the Centre anxious.

Awhad said, The Pegasus spyware was obtained to tap into conversations of political leaders, journalists and Dalit writers and activists of Bhima Koregaon and malign them. Facebook has revealed that and a case was registered in San Francisco.

Saying The MVA did not withdraw or downgrade Fadnavis security for we do not believe in vendetta, Awhad said, We have reasons to believe that phone tapping is linked to the Bhima Koregaon case too.

Shiv Sena legislator Deepak Kesarkar, who was minister of state for home in the Fadnavis government, was quick to clear himself saying, I was not part of any decision of the previous government. If the snooping charges are true, there should be proper investigation.

Former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis said phone tapping is not a tradition of Maharashtra.

As the chief minister, I never gave such an order to tap Opposition phone calls. The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi is free to initiate any probe it likes. They can also try Israel and Kesarkar in our government, who was a minister. We have no objections, the BJP leader said.
A midcentury modern boutique hotel is not quite what you would expect to find off the beaten path in Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas.

The beauty of the Fredonia Hotel is rooted in its rich historic origins. The hotel opened in 1955 as the crowning jewel of the town. Peer back into the hotels storied past and youll find it was one of the most unique "community-owned hotels" in America, financed completely by the citizens of Nacogdoches. From the color of the brick to the hotels name, Nacogdoches residents had a hand in selecting all the finer details of this Texas inn.
"I always felt bad that neither of my parents lived long enough to see me become press secretary  after overcoming the challenge of a cleft palate."

A recent article in The Atlantic explored whether any remnants of Bidens stutter emerged during the Democratic debates. In the article, Biden described the ways both students and teachers mocked him for his speech as a child, and the ways hed practice passages from literature in the mirror at night to work on speaking fluidly.

To my way of thinking, those are accomplishments to be extolled. After all, isnt this supposed to be the land of opportunity?

But why are personal attacks becoming more commonplace?

Ray LaHood, a former congressman from Peoria, says there has been a breakdown in political civility.

"Republicans have moved further to the right and Democrats have moved further to the left and there is less of a desire to work together in a bipartisan manner," he said.

But it goes beyond the polarization of the political parties, he said. The advent of social media has contributed to making political discourse coarser.
Emirates NBD, a leading banking group in the region, has signed an agreement with Dubai Land Departments (DLDs) Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA), to become an escrow agent to provide banking services for jointly owned properties accounts in accordance with the recently issued law no. (6) of 2019 for jointly managed properties.



Emirates NBD is the first bank in the UAE to partner with RERA following the issuance of the new law in September 2019, and the partnership aims to boost competitiveness and enhance investment in the real estate sector.



The new law applies to all major real estate development projects and jointly owned properties in Dubai, and covers the management of common areas and amenities. Following the introduction of the legislation, several groups of stakeholders, such as developers, community management companies, hotel operators, insurers, investors, and owners are advised to take steps to ensure their operations are compliant with relevant regulations.

Under the agreement, Emirates NBD will act as a trustee for the account and provide banking services with the aim to safeguard owners interests and ensure compliance with real estate procedures and regulations. The agreement follows a successful pilot run, conducted by Emirates NBD, on setting up and managing the jointly owned properties accounts.



Marwan Bin Ghalita, CEO of RERA, said: We are pleased to partner with Emirates NBD to consolidate Dubais position as the worlds premier real estate investment destination based on innovation, trust, and happiness.



Through this agreement, DLD will create a register for jointly owned properties featuring all information related to the land owned by developers and real estate units meant for independent ownership. RERA and Emirates NBD will work closely to ensure that the Emirate remains a leading real estate destination where the rights and interests of investors are safeguarded and protected.

Ahmed Al Qassim, senior executive vice president and group head, Corporate & Institutional Banking at Emirates NBD said: Emirates NBD has consistently played an active role in supporting the growth and development of the UAE real estate sector. We have an established track record of offering escrow account trustee services for Dubai-based real estate projects for several years.



Emirates NBD has closely and extensively worked with DLD and RERA on various initiatives, and todays agreement builds on our existing strong relationship. It reaffirms Emirates NBDs standing as a preferred partner and service provider for public and private entities in the UAE.  TradeArabia News Service
New Delhi [India], Jan 25 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that India and Brazil as two world's largest democracies and developing countries, there is a lot of similarity between the thinking of both countries on various global and multilateral issues.



"As the two biggest democratic and developing countries, there is a deep similarity in the thinking of Brazil and India on various global and multilateral issues. Whether it is the serious issue of terrorism or environment, or the challenges before the world, our thinking is quite similar," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while addressing a joint presser with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro following their bilateral talks.

"Brazil and India's interests are similar. The two countries will further strengthen their cooperation on multilateral issues," the Prime Minister added.

Welcoming the Brazilian President and his high-level delegation to India, the Prime Minister said, "I whole-heartedly welcome my friend Bolsanaro and his high-level delegation to India. This is our third meeting in the last eight months. This demonstrates the deepening friendship between the two countries."

"Tomorrow at the Republic Day parade on Rajpath, you will witness the diversity of India. Brazil is also a country that celebrates many festivals with fervour. I thank you (Bolsonaro) for accepting the invitation of India," Modi said.

Outlining that the strategic partnership between India and Brazil is based on similar ideologies and values, the Prime Minister said he and the President agreed to expand the bilateral cooperation in all fields.

Expressing happiness over the exchange of agreements between the two sides, Modi said, "We are focusing on new ways to expand our defence and industrial cooperation. In defence cooperation, we want a broad-based partnership. Brazil is a valuable partner in India's economic transformation."

Earlier, Bolsonaro and Modi witnessed the exchange of MoUs between the two countries in various fields including cybersecurity, bioenergy and health and medicine. (ANI)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged European countries on Friday to take on their share of providing support for displaced Syrians.

"It is a humanitarian responsibility of the European Union and the European countries to provide more and faster assistance to Syrians," Erdogan said at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Istanbul.

He said close to 400,000 people in Syria's northwestern Idlib province were moving toward Turkish border as a result of renewed attacks by the Syrian government.

Turkish aid groups have begun building more than 10,000 houses in Idlib to shelter the growing number of people displaced by the fighting, while Turkey seeks to prevent a new influx of migrants across its border.

"The Turkish Red Crescent and the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority have started their work to build shelters to protect these people from harsh winter conditions," Erdogan said.

Meanwhile, Merkel said Germany is ready to provide financial aid to improve the humanitarian situation of Syrian refugees who were forced to spend the winter in tents near the Turkish border.

"We will also try to help by constructing sound and concrete shelters for them," she said.Turkey is hosting over 3.6 million Syrian refugees on its soil, costing more than 40 billion U.S. dollars until now.

Ankara agreed to help curb the flow of illegal immigrants to Europe under a deal signed with the EU in March 2016, in return for a total of six billion euros (6.62 billion dollars) in financial aid for the refugees.

The issue has been causing strains in ties between the bloc and Turkey, as Ankara has been urging the European countries to increase the funding.

"The EU had promised six billion euros of support, but not even three billion euros were given to international NGOs," Erdogan noted.

Turkish military sent to Libya to train pro-Serraj forces

Turkey has sent a training and cooperation team to Libya as part of a military cooperation agreement signed in November with the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) of Fayez al-Sarraj, Erdogan said.

"We sent, are sending our military delegation to there... We will not leave Serraj alone. We are determined to provide all the help we can on this point," Erdogan said.

Last week, Germany hosted a summit on Libya involving the rival camps, their main foreign backers and representatives which agreed that a permanent ceasefire has to be achieved in Tripoli to allow a political process to take place.

Speaking in Istanbul after talks with Merkel, Erdogan also said countries which attended the Libya summit in Berlin on Sunday should not favor Serraj's opponent, Khalifa Haftar, after he left the meeting without signing a ceasefire deal.

Haftar's Libya National Army (LNA) faction is supported by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, which have for years provided training and weapons, according to UN reports.
The resignation of Vladislav Surkov was reported by Aleksei Chesnakov, an adviser to Surkov and director of Moscow's Center for Political Studies.

The Kremlin has denied reports that a longtime key aide to President Vladimir Putin is stepping down.

The resignation of Vladislav Surkov was reported by Aleksei Chesnakov, an adviser to Surkov and director of Moscow's Center for Political Studies, RFE/RL reported.

Read alsoPutin's aide Surkov leaves civil service over Ukraine  expert

In a Twitter post on January 25, Chesnakov said Surkov was resigning due to what he called a "change of course on Ukraine."

However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there is no decree yet on Surkov's resignation. He also told Russian media that there had been no change in Kremlin policy on Ukraine.

"As for the alleged change in the policy on the situation in Ukraine, this has nothing to do with reality and reflects only a personal viewpoint of the person who speaks about that," Peskov told the TASS news agency.
President Trump made an announcement Friday afternoon to the delight of all those looking to find anything to do but work.

The president revealed in a tweet the logo for the new United States Space Force, prompting many to make the joke that he has "boldly gone where 'Star Trek' has gone before" due to the similarity to the Starfleet Command logo.
Earlier this month, there was some great news for the conservationists who are trying to save the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard. For the first time, India had succeeded in artificially breeding the Great Indian Bustard.

Nine Bustard eggs that were collected from the Desert National Park in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan during the summer of 2019 were artificially incubated and chicks were hand-reared at a work station near Sam in the vast stretch of habitat At present, all nine chicks are doing well.

BCCL

Interestingly, seven are females, one male and the sex of the ninth is yet to be ascertained, providing researchers with the "foundation captive stock" which can enable them to breed the birds ex situ, and save the species from extinction, so to say.



The successful artificial breeding of the Bustard was part of a ten-year-long project piloted by Rajasthans Forest Department, led by Arindam Tomar, Chief Wildlife Warden. Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India and Abu Dhabi based National Avian Research Centre, which had expertise in breeding Houbara Bustard was also part of the project.

The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) is one of the heaviest flying birds in the world and weighs as much as 15kgs and can grow to around a metre high. The GIB was once found in 16 states of India, but over the years their population has declined drastically due to large-scale unchecked habitat loss, increased poaching, predators such as feral dogs and eagles, and insufficient measures by state and central governments.

Today they found only in Rajasthan and Gujarat and the total population is less than 150 birds in the wild.

BCCL

In 1994, the Great Indian Bustard was listed as an endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Natures (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.



Though the artificial breeding of the GIB chicks is a monumental success there are challenges ahead. About 15 percent of the bustard population dies by hitting electric lines that are on the rise around their breeding habitat. The presence of feral dogs in the desert park is also another major threat.

Earlier this week the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department had proposed to reintroduce GIB in the Son Chiraiya Bird Sanctuary in Shivpuri. Under the proposal, eggs will be brought from Jaisalmer and incubated at the Gharial Breeding Center at Devri. The last time a GIB was found in MP was in 2007 when an injured bird found in Gwalior, but it had died during treatment. Even though the forest department says that there are some birds in the Devkho jungle, their numbers are unknown.
Trump to Unveil Long Postponed Mideast Peace Plan

By VOA News January 24, 2020

U.S. President Donald Trump says he plans to release his long delayed Middle East peace plan before hosting Israeli leaders at the White House next Tuesday.

"It's a great plan. It's a plan that really would work," Trump told reporters as he flew to Florida for a Republican Party meeting.

Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz next week. The two will face off in March for the third Israeli general election in a year, with Netanyahu struggling to hold on to power after his indictment for alleged corruption.

Trump said he is surprised and delighted that the two bitter political rivals will come to the White House at the same time, calling it "unheard of."

"They both would like to do the deal. They want to see peace," Trump said.

The Palestinians were not invited to the White House and have rejected the U.S. plan before any details have been made public.

Palestinians are angry the Trump recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and moved the U.S. embassy there in 2018. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as their capital for a future state. They also are upset at Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recent declaration that Jewish settlements in the West Bank are legal.

Trump told reporters that U.S. officials spoke briefly to the Palestinians and said they have a "lot of incentive" to embrace a peace plan.

"I'm sure they maybe will react negatively at first, but it's actually very positive for them," he added.

The Trump administration unveiled the economic portion of its plan in June, which calls for $50 billion in international investment in the Palestinian territories and neighboring Arab states over 10 years.

Palestinian officials rejected it as an insult, saying the West can't simply throw money at them while ignoring a two-state solution.

The White House has been working on a Middle East peace plan since Trump became president three years ago but has postponed releasing the details in part because of the Israeli political situation.

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The new President of Tamil Nadu unit of BJP would be appointed in a week or 10 days, senior party leader L Ganesan said on Saturday.

The BJP's TN unit, with a strength of about 35 lakh, was functioning headless since Tamilisai Soundararajan quit the post in September 2019, after being appointed as the Telangana governor.

Talking to reporters here, Ganesan said the President of the party's state unit would be selected in a week or 10 days.

".. Most likely it may happen in a week or 10 days.." he said.

Recently, reports emerged that the top post was filled and the name of the candidate would be announced by party leader and Uttar Pradesh Minister Sidharthnath Singh during his visit to the State on January 17.

Those who were heading the post of Tamil Nadu unit in the past include former Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan, La Ganesan, KN Lakshmanan, C P Radhakrishnan among others.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
LAS VEGAS - The parents of a 3-month-old baby found dead last weekend in a North Las Vegas trash bin have been arrested on felony child abuse and destroying evidence charges, police said Friday.

Raul Ramos, 52, and Adriana Hernandez, 32, were found living in a short-stay apartment after having been evicted recently from a home near the alley where the boys body was found last Sunday, police Officer Eric Leavitt said.

The neighbourhood is about a 20-minute drive north of the Las Vegas Strip.

Phone calls and tips from neighbours helped identify Ramos and Hernandez, Leavitt said. They were jailed pending an initial court appearance at which they are expected to have attorneys represented to defend them. Leavitt said they dont have attorneys yet.

The childs name and cause and manner of death have not been made public by the Clark County coroners office. Police said there were no obvious injuries on the body.

Leavitt said the couple had two other children, a 2-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl, who were taken into Clark County Child Protective Services custody.

The neighbourhood is about 9 miles (14.5 kilometres) north of the Las Vegas Strip.
The Trump administration has launched yet another salvo in its ongoing war against immigrants, and citizenship rights more broadly, issuing an order which will effectively block pregnant women from visiting the United States.

According to documents obtained by Buzzfeed and Vox early this week, the State Department has issued a diplomatic guidance to all American embassies telling them to deny visas to women they suspect of coming to the US to give birth. The guidance is putatively aimed at ending birth tourismthe supposed phenomenon, hyped by the far right, of women traveling to the US to give birth so that their children acquire American citizenship.

This policy makes the process of applying for a US visaalready a confusing, expensive and unpleasant experience for a significant section of the worlds population attempting to visit the USpotentially an even more degrading one. It places substantial new barriers in the way of obtaining a B-visa, which is a short-term visa granted to tourists, business travelers and people seeking urgent medical care.

Embassy officials are prohibited from asking applicants whether or not they are pregnant. However, if they have reason to believe the applicant will give birth during their stay in the United States, [they] are required to presume that giving birth for the purpose of obtaining U.S. citizenship is the applicants primary purpose of travel, and deny them the visa.

The applicant can try to persuade the officials to change their minds by demonstrating a different and permissible primary purpose of travel, including having already arranged for specialized medical treatment in the US. But, as the guidance makes clear, even this may not be sufficient: The fact that an applicant has an arranged birth plan with a doctor or medical facility in the United States or simply expresses a preference to give birth in the United States over other locations is not sufficient to rebut the presumption that their primary purpose of travel is obtaining U.S. citizenship for the child.

Visa officials, who are not health care experts by any stretch of imagination, are expected to make determinations about whether or not a woman might need specialized care during her pregnancy. Beyond that, even if they were to determine that specialized care available only in the US might be needed, the guidance directs officials to deny visas if the applicants do not demonstrate that they have both the means and the intent to pay for all treatment-related costs.

The inhumanity of these new directives is evident, even to those who work within the Trump administration. A State Department official, who spoke on conditions of anonymity, told Vox that pregnant women who applied for these types of visas often did so because the countries in which they lived did not have the kind of medical care that was needed, and oftentimes they did not have the money to get better care. As the official put it, people will die because of this.

Kelly Kirkpatrick, a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health, told The Cut: We know this rule and the many other anti-immigrant rules finalized by the Trump administration over the last few years intentionally target women, people with low incomes, people of color, and people who may be traveling to the U.S. to seek asylum  as a doctor in the United States, I know the rates of intimate partner violence and abuse increase for pregnant patients; this makes me even more concerned for those who may be seeking asylum.

Such concerns are simply and cruelly brushed aside by the administration as it continues its unrelenting assault on immigrant rights. However, this particular guidance has an even more sinister aspect to it, since it targets the issue of American citizenship itself. It is worth noting that despite being promoted as a major problem by members of the Trump administration, there is no evidence of birth tourism being a significant factor in shaping immigration flows.

According to the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, there are 4.1 million children who are US citizens born to undocumented immigrant parents. However, in the vast majority of cases, the birth happened several years after the parents had come to the United States. In fact, as noted by Vox, a 2011 study by the Pew Research Center showed that in over 90 percent of the cases, non-citizen mothers gave birth to their children two years after coming to the US. Given that context, it should be obvious that the logic underlying this guidance is quite different from what is being presented.

The Trump administration has made no bones about its desire to overturn guaranteed birthright citizenship, enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitutionthe principle that every child born in the United States has the right to American citizenship, regardless of the nationality of its parents. Trump announced in 2018 that he wanted to sign an executive order which would overrule the Constitution and deny citizenship to children born to undocumented immigrants.

Such measures, which have not yet been enacted, are being pushed for by the most right-wing elements in the administration including Trumps fascistic advisor Stephen Miller, who sets immigration policy.

Recognizing that a direct attempt by the White House to overturn constitutionally protected rights might provoke mass protests, these elements are trying to subvert existing citizenship laws through flanking maneuvers. The new State Department guidance targeting pregnant women is one such move.
A 22-year-old woman from Uganda was arrested on Saturday for allegedly killing a man at Baga beach, police said.

Minamu Hafusa was held from Anjuna area after the body of local resident Jafrino Barretto was found on Friday, an official said.

"The accused is from Uganda and is here on a tourist visa. We have arrested her for killing Barretto," Calungute police inspector Nolasco Raposo said.

Another official said Barretto was bludgeoned to death and Hafusa was held as a probe found the deceased was last seen with her.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A sunbed addict who has had over 250 of the tanning sessions despite being just 19 years old has been told to stop or they could kill her.

Nadia Long first started going on them when she was 15 before it eventually became an almost daily habit.

This is despite it being illegal for under 18s to have sunbeds.

Nadia Long (pictured, left and right) has been told to stop her sunbed addiction or it could kill her

Nadia first started going on them when she was 15 before it eventually became an almost daily habit

This is despite it being illegal for under 18s to have sunbeds

She got hooked because she claimed they cleared up her acne.

Worried Nadia now has loads of new moles on her arm and back and has been warned by doctors to ditch her addiction or risk dying.

The personal trainer from Belfast, northern Ireland said: 'I used sunbeds due to having severe acne.

'It was a quick fix and they became an addiction because who doesn't look having a bit of tan and feeling good about yourself.'

Nadia noticed the moles at the end of last year before her worried mum brought her to the doctor.

The GP said it was a 'serious concern' and advised her to stop.

Worried Nadia now has loads of new moles on her arm and back and has been warned by doctors to ditch her addiction or risk dying

The personal trainer from Belfast, northern Ireland said: 'I used sunbeds due to having severe acne'

But stubborn Nadia ignored the advice and proceeded to get another sunbed.

She finally listened to the experts on last Wednesday after an appointment at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

She described it as 'the biggest wake-up call ever' and insisted she will never use a sunbed again.

Shaken Nadia added: 'They said to me that if I don't stop sunbeds now then skin cancer is the only thing in my future.

'And when that is said to you the thought of having a tan makes you want to vomit.

'It is awful. People don't realise the effects sunbeds can have on you and what they can do.

'They are just taking you away from your family. What for a tan? It is definitely not worth it.'

She finally listened to the experts on last Wednesday after an appointment at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast

Nadia said the hospital scare 'shattered' her and she is now begging young girls to think twice before getting a sunbed.

And her Facebook plea was shared more than a thousand times.

She wrote: 'Nothing has ever scared me as much there not worth I'm basically killing myself.

'Anyone who has moles or even has a concern I would advise you to get an appointment as soon as you can from your GP.

'I hope to god this message gets out and everyone realises how scary sunbeds can be the damage they can cause.

'Here's to tan in a bottle from now and forever more.'

Nadia said the hospital scare 'shattered' her and she is now begging young girls to think twice before getting a sunbed

The addict is now remarkably calling for the UK to ban sunbeds because of the health risks

The addict is now remarkably calling for the UK to ban sunbeds because of the health risks.

Nadia has compromised by using a tinted moisturiser and said: 'I feel really strongly against them now and I have gone from being one of the tannest girls in Belfast to sheet white and not a care in the world.'

Sunbeds are just as dangerous as smoking, according to the World Health Organisation.

They let out harmful UV rays that damage the DNA in skin cells which can lead to malignant melanoma - the deadliest form of skin cancer.

And this skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the UK, according to the British Skin Foundation.

More than 2,500 Brits die from the disease each year.
A college for women here on Saturday withdrew its ban on wearing of burqa in its premises after it had prohibited it as part of the institute's new dress code.

Acknowledging that the prohibition was due to a misunderstanding, the college authorities said that it has "no intention to disturb or harass students of any community".

"Students are informed that they have to come to college in the prescribed dress code every day, except on Saturday.

"Besides, the use of 'burqa' is prohibited both inside the classroom and the college premises. A fine of Rs 250 will be imposed if anyone is found violating the code," the notice by J D Women's College said.

College principal Shyama Roy confirmed that the ban on wearing of burqa in the institute's premises has been withdrawn and said that the college has issued a second notice specifying that there is no ban on the clothing.

"There is a dress code of the college which specifies that a student has to wear a maroon colour kurta, white salwar and white dupatta. There is a misunderstanding in the notice ... We sincerely apologise for it," Rekha Mishra, a teacher of the college, said.

J D Women's College is affiliated to Patliputra University.

Mishra said students may come to college wearing 'burqa' and attend classes after removing it at the college premises if they wish.

"Many students used to come to classes in their home dresses in burqa, which was opposed by some others. Following the objections, college authorities issued notice asking students to strictly comply with the dress code," another teacher of the college said on condition of anonymity.

The students who had objected to the ban on using 'burqa' inside the college expressed happiness over the college administration's decision to withdraw it and said they will comply with the prescribed dress code.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.25

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

The OPEC cuts didnt fully solve the problem  instead they offer a light bandage to get through the first quarter of 2020, Trend reports with reference to Rystad Energy, the independent energy research and consulting firm headquartered in Norway.

"But after that, we believe the market will begin to realize the looming over-supply reflected in our balances and call-on-OPEC," says Bjrnar Tonhaugen, head of oil market research at Rystad Energy.

The conclusion that deeper cuts are needed is driven by Rystad Energys bottom-up supply analysis, which points to a surplus of oil barrels sloshing around despite the most recent OPEC+ policy. In our revised supply forecast in the upcoming release of our OilMarketCube database, we incorporate the new OPEC+ agreement assuming full compliance with the new targets by core OPEC members Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE. We find that OPEC production is likely to average 29.3 million bpd for the first quarter of 2020, which compares to our call-on-OPEC of 29.0 million bpd.

Rystad Energy expects the oil market balance outlook to be further challenged later in the year, after the initial effect of the new IMO 2020 marine fuel regulations wears off and demand fears creep back into the market. We therefore see our call-on-OPEC at an average of 28.9 million bpd for the subsequent three quarters.

"As long as OPEC sticks to production pledges and Saudi Arabia cuts an additional voluntary 400,000 barrels as promised, the implied production target for OPEC is 29.2 million bpd  above our call-on-OPEC and thus likely to result in stock builds and downward pressure on oil prices," says Tonhaugen.

The market looks nearly balanced for 1Q20 with 0.3 million bpd of implied stock builds, and if we include a positive effect from IMO 2020 on crude demand to the tune of 0.3 million bpd in 1Q20, the market balances in the first months of 2020.

Come March, however, OPEC+ may be forced to cut even deeper to balance the market for 2020 as a whole.

"Worryingly, for the last three quarters of 2020, the call-on-OPEC is forecast to average 28.9 million bpd on the assumption of a positive IMO effect, but only 28.3 million bpd without our expected 0.6 million bpd IMO effect on crude demand. In other words, the implied production target for OPEC of 29.2 million bpd is likely not low enough to avoid stock builds and downward pressure on oil prices, putting the $60 Brent oil price environment in jeopardy in 2020," Tonhaugen cautions.

"OPEC seemingly heeded our warning call that deeper production cuts are needed to sustain $60 Brent prices in 2020, but more is needed  the current price floor is fragile beyond 1Q20," Tonhaugen concluded.

The 7th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting, held in December 2019, decided for an additional adjustment of 500 tb/d to the adjustment levels as agreed at the 175th Meeting of the OPEC Conference and 5th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting. These would lead to total adjustments of 1.7 mb/d. In addition, several participating countries, mainly Saudi Arabia, will continue their additional voluntary contributions, leading to adjustments of more than 2.1 mb.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku hosts a presentation of the books of the First Deputy General Director of TASS News Agency Mikhail Gusman, "Formula of Power" and "Formula of Life", a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza reports.

The event takes place at the Baku Book Center in the framework of the Russian-Azerbaijani conference "Moscow-Baku: a dialogue of cultures", which started yesterday.

Gusman noted that most of what is stated in the books is not the stories of the author himself, but the stories of his parents. I was always delighted and excited by the phenomenon called Baku. Why did Vladimir Mayakovsky almost every month come here with his poems? Why did Sergey Yesenin spend here many days? He wrote here Persian motives. The first literary mystery: everyone knows the poem Shagane, my Shagane, and most people are sure that this is some girls name. But this is not so. This is the name of the village of Shagan, where Polad Bulbul oglu currently lives. Some even assumed that this was the name of writer Marietta Shaginyan, but its definitely not Marietta Shaginyan," Gusman said.

He also said that he was born not in the Azerbaijani family, but both his parents spoke Azerbaijani. I was brought up in a family of people who not only loved this city but felt as an inextricable part of it. I can talk about it for hours. I grew in a very friendly family and at the same time in a very friendly yard, we had a very friendly city, the author said.

Mikhail Gusman shared that he would like to tell as many people as possible about Baku. I wanted people to learn about this great city, about that time, about those moods, about those feelings, about the sensations that have been saved in this city to this day. Yes, a lot has changed, some colors from this palette are gone. But this is a great picture of the city, which even today splashes with bright colors. It is no coincidence that great artists were born and lived in our city, he concluded.
But by then all the ghoulish efficiency of Auschwitz was gone. There had been flowers in the window boxes of buildings on the way to the gas chambers, because the blooms tended to calm the fears of the doomed. There had been teams of prisoners trained  it was this or be killed  to drag corpses from the kill rooms to the crematoria. There had been officers to assure their soldiers that savagery in wartime is glorious, or at least mandatory.
Many crops, including nonresistant soybeans and specialty crops, are extremely sensitive to dicamba and can be damaged by small amounts in the air.

Prior to the resistant seeds, dicamba had not been widely sprayed during growing season because of its propensity to drift. Instead, it was largely used as a burndown weedkiller to control weeds before planting and after harvest.

During those two years where the seeds were planted and the herbicide was not approved, many farmers illegally sprayed older versions of dicamba, which were not approved for use on the crops and were likely to drift. This illegal spraying harmed Baders crops, the Bader Farms suit alleges. The lawsuit also alleges Monsanto and BASF knew this would happen because it would likely lead to future sales because farmers would engage in defensive planting to protect their crops from drift.

Even after their new versions of dicamba were approved, the damage continued. In 2017, an estimated 3.1 million acres of soybeans were damaged by dicamba, according to an analysis by University of Missouri crop science professor Kevin Bradley.
China will suspend both domestic and overseas Chinese group tours, state media reported Saturday, as it ramps up efforts to contain a new SARS-like virus that has infected nearly 1,300 people.

Starting Monday, all overseas group tour services,including hotel and plane ticket bookings, from Chinese travel agencies will be suspended, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Domestic tour groups were suspended from Friday, it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In his New Year's speech ahead of the Spring Festival celebration, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to enable all rural residents living below the poverty line escape the abyss in 2020 and to eliminate absolute poverty nationwide.



In this way he announced the final stage of a very successful campaign which saw about 14 million people shaking off poverty per annum on average during the past five years. This, undoubtedly, constitutes the most important human rights contribution of all time, with credit going to the central authorities and all central, provincial and local officials involved in the campaign.

However, the campaign owes its success first and foremost to the people who were living in poverty themselves. It is based on the targeted poverty alleviation policy adopted by the Chinese government in 2014, whose sophistication and effectiveness are self-evident.

The approach is not about giving handouts to poor people, but about encouraging them to lift themselves out of poverty through their own hard work.

According to President Xi, in achieving success in the poverty alleviation program it is important that their enthusiasm be aroused and that an appeal is made to their creativity. They should receive training to develop skills so that they can find jobs or open their own businesses.

At the same time, their desire to lift themselves out of poverty and work hard for a better life should be stimulated. Undoubtedly, the people have accepted the challenge by increasing their capacity for self-development.

Consequently, targeted poverty alleviation is a very good example of China's people-centred development. It makes clear that development is for the people, that it is reliant on the people, and that its fruits are shared by the people. People-centred development is based on the concept of "putting people first."

As President Xi made clear in his Congratulatory Letter to the International Symposium on the 30th Anniversary of the Adoption of the UN Declaration on the Right to Development, putting people first as part of development means increasing their benefits, ensuring that the people are their own masters and supporting development in an all-round way.

This philosophy consists of three elements. First, policies must focus on the people's needs. This means the government should address the pressing concerns of the people and should give priority to their interests.

Second, policy should tap into the people's accumulated wisdom. This means that policy should rely on their own experiences and practices. They are invited to provide input for and comment on government measures through online consultations and other channels of communication. This leads to policies that are more targeted and effective.

Third, the policies should stimulate the people to play an active role by showing initiative and by contributing ideas, creativity and enthusiasm in an all-round way.

Some commentators have occasionally expressed scepticism regarding the success of the targeted poverty alleviation program. They believed the policy was bound to fail due to being overambitious, unpopular within poor communities, and ineffective because of corruption.

President Xi's pledge has proved the sceptics wrong. Hopefully, they will now be able to acknowledge that China has won this "critical battle."

There are several reasons to do so. First, by reducing poverty, China is promoting the rights to subsistence and development, which are key human rights. Second, the policy of targeted policy alleviation is well captured by the saying that in order to feed a hungry person it is better to teach him how to fish than to give him a fish. Third, the concept of "putting people first" as applied to poverty alleviation is a very good way to give effect to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

According to its Preamble, it is up to every individual and every organ of society to promote and observe the rights laid out in this document: These should be brought to life by the people in their relations with other people.

Therefore, the Universal Declaration is very much a "people's charter." The policy of targeted poverty alleviation emphasizes the role people can and should play themselves to promote and protect human rights; it underscores the importance of the contribution made by businesses and other social actors; and it stresses the need to focus on local conditions. For these reasons, the concept is closely connected to the aim and the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Therefore, China's success in combating poverty deserves much praise and imitation by other countries.

Tom Zwart is Professor of cross-cultural law, Utrecht University.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

If you would like to contribute, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn.
First in an occasional series highlighting unseen jobs in Oregon and the people who do them. If you know someone who you think we should feature, call 503-221-4320 or email jramakrishnan@oregonian.com

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As most people clock out for the night, Leila Omers day is just beginning.

She puts on gloves, grabs her cleaning cart and goes from room to room in the basement of Portland State Universitys engineering building, where shes a night custodian. By the wee hours, everything will be spotless and Omer will head home before the sun is up.

As she puts on her headphones and listens to music while she cleans, Omer has a lot of time to think.

Sometimes she thinks about what shell do when she gets to her Southwest Portland home at 3 a.m. She doesnt always go to sleep right away. Shell pour herself a glass of wine and relax before catching a few winks, then wake up to get her children ready for school.

As she pushes a giant garbage cart through the halls and wipes down door handles and desks, shell wonder about the people who were in the building before she got there.

I really hope they didnt spit in here, she says, spraying disinfectant on the metal spout of a water fountain. That means we cant use this rag for anything else.

The single mother of four children three girls and a boy, ages 3 to 17  often thinks about her job and the things its brought her.

Since immigrating to the U.S. and becoming a mom at 18, Omer has worked as a custodian for a decade and supported four children, largely on her own.

Omer says she wasnt always proud of her profession.

For a long time I was feeling ashamed of my job, she says. At that time, I was married. Its just how the person youre with makes you feel. It had never been just me. I didnt really like it before, and I didnt know why.

That changed when she and her husband divorced and Omer became the sole provider for her children.

The work we do  its important, she says. If those kinds of services arent available, this place is filthy.

Omer passes a group of freshmen huddled together, quietly sharing snacks and poring over their notes. She wheels a garbage cart through a lab, and a few students briefly smile at her as they throw out empty takeout boxes.

She picks up a nearly-empty trash can, into which someones dumped an open soda bottle. Even though the garbage bag is new, it now has to be replaced or else itll get sticky.

I dont mind, Omer says as she replaces the trash bag. But sometimes people will do things like leave their pizza boxes on the table. Then I think, the garbage can is right there. Just put it in.

As the night goes on, the crowd thins out, and Omer may have to ask people to leave if theyre not students, occasionally calling campus security.

She adds that while she doesnt feel scared, working alone at night can offer its own challenges  especially if something goes wrong.

When youre working in labs with things of value, its going to be your fault because youre the janitor.

Omer is one of 85 custodians that clean buildings on the PSU campus. Several others work the same night shift in the engineering building, each one working alone on a different floor. But Omer says she doesnt feel lonely. She has made friendships on the job some of which have lasted beyond the workplace.

One girl  she would never pass me in the hall without saying hi, Omer says. One day, when I felt more confident with her, I asked her if shed tutor my daughter and she said yes.

Take it or leave it

Omer enjoys her job and the stability its given her and her family. But she often remembers the path that brought her to this point.

Of Ethiopian descent, Omer grew up in Djbouti. Her father died when she was young, and her mother remarried and had more children. She was raised by her grandparents and didnt have much contact with her mother. When Omer was in her teens, her grandmother gave her some advice.

She said, Your mom is going to America. Go over there and work and support me from there.

Omer was reluctant to go, especially with her mother and several half-siblings she didnt know.

If I was going to build a life, I wanted to build a life of my own, she says.

Eventually, she got the chance. She had already met the man whom she would eventually marry. He came to the U.S. first, and after she arrived in Texas, Omer moved to Portland to be with him.

They began taking classes at Portland Community College, but Omer soon got pregnant with their first child.

Friends told her it would be difficult, and even her husband worried about how their lives would change.

They said its very expensive, life is going to be hard, I didnt speak the language, Omer says. I said, take it or leave it.

She put her studies on hold and took care of their children. Around the time the oldest started school, she and her husband split up.

The plan

In the years that followed, Omer balanced work and finding a place for her family to live. She found a job as a custodian. After several years of uncertainty and looking for affordable housing, she and her children moved into a home she got through Habitat for Humanity. But Omer had one more plan: going back to college.

Omer hopes to do that once her youngest child starts preschool. Then, she wants to work with immigrants settling in this country, as she did nearly 20 years ago.

When I came, I just wanted someone to guide me, she says. I would really love to help people coming to the U.S. from the beginning, to help them get back on their feet.

She plans to keep her night job and take afternoon classes at PCC, finishing what she started when she first arrived in Portland.

Thats really what I want, she said. If nothing changes, thats my plan.

And for now?

I like what I do, Omer says. I just go home in peace. Im taking care of my kids, taking care of me, doing what I love. Its like, you get to go and work. You have a responsibility.

She smiles.

Its just really exciting how my life turned out.
Google just struck a major deal with Activision Blizzard to have its cloud service power games from the publisher, such as Call of Duty.

An announcement was just made this afternoon that will see Google Cloud as the backbone of the infrastructure for Activision Blizzards game hosting needs.

This means games like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Heroes of The Storm and others. Basically, any game with online capabilities that Activision Blizzard publishes will use Google Cloud for game hosting infrastructure.

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The partnership is a multi-year deal

The deal will span over multiple years which means this is a big win for Google. Games like Call of Duty are consistently in the top-selling games list every single year.

So it would stand to reason that Activision Blizzard would want to pay big for ensuring it has a powerful infrastructure for its popular IPs.

Both companies will utilize this deal to power new player experiences in Activision Blizzards library of games. No specifics were given what these experiences would be. However players of games like Call of Duty, Overwatch and more can expect things such as low latency and low packet loss during gameplay.

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Activision Blizzard already does quite a bit to help minimize these things. But with the power of Google Cloud they should improve. Which means an overall better gaming experience for the player.

The deal may also foster new types of personalized in-game offers. Which more or less sound like targeted ads, using Google Clouds AI tools. Expect more details on how this will be implemented to surface down the road as both companies lay more groundwork.

For the time being though, the way Google and Activision Blizzard describe it is optimal personalized interactions. You might see these kinds of interactions in emails coming from Activision Blizzard. Or in the Blizzard launcher in the panels that talk about deals or in-game items you can purchase.

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YouTube is now the exclusive streaming platform for Call of Duty League

A huge part of this partnership relates to YouTube. Because YouTube will now be the exclusive streaming platform for Activision Blizzards Esports leagues.

This includes Call of Duty League, Overwatch League, Hearthstone Esports and more. Where once these may have been streamed on both YouTube and Twitch, or just Twitch, theyre now going to be on YouTube only going forward. At least till the partnership contract runs out.

At that point, both companies will either need to renew the deal and extend it, or streaming for Activision Blizzard Esports will transition to other platforms too. The YouTube-hosted streams will being this week, starting with the Call of Duty League which just started today.
The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge and New Ross Bypass will finally open to drivers at noon on Thursday, January 30.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will officially open the bridge on Wednesday, January 29, at 3.30 p.m. and members of the Kennedy family are travelling from America to attend the ceremony.

The 887 metre structure named the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy bridge - which crosses the river Barrow between Wexford and Kilkenny - forms part of upgrades to the 230 million New Ross bypass.

Dunganstown, near New Ross, is the ancestral home of assassinated US President John F Kennedy, with the bridge  which is reputed to have cost 233m to build  being named after his mother Rose, whose ancestors hailed from Bruff, Co Limerick. President Kennedy was the first Irish Catholic elected to the position.

A Wexford County Council spokesperson confirmed that atleast one, if not more, of the Kennedy clan will be attending the opening. We had hoped that the former US Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith would be able to attend as she is the last surviving child of Joe and Rose Kennedy. However, it is understood that she is too frail. But we have been assured that one or others are aiming to come along as it is a significant event for them.

Speculation is mounting that it will be either Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, the only surviving child of the late President or cousin and grandson of the late Attorney General Robert Kennedy who was also assassinated, Congressman Joe Kennedy III. The council spokesperson would not confirm or deny these reports.

The last time a notable visit by the famous Kennedy clan was in 2013 when the lighting of the Emigrant Flame was carried out by Kennedy Schlossberg.

Fianna Fail councillor and General Election candidate for the area, Michael Sheehan, confirmed that the council has invited a list of dignitaries to the prestigious and historical opening with many travelling to the event from abroad. There are some notable names due to attend and we will welcome members of the Kennedy family to the official opening.

Cllr Sheehan pointed out that the bridge will have huge benefits for the area which has been in the doldrums due to high unemployment figures and lack of business investment in the south east region.

Ive been informed that final details on the bridge opening are being put together. All of the work on this massive bridge is complete which is seven times the size of a hurling pitch, said Cllr Sheehan.

The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge is the longest bridge in Ireland, and its two main spans are the longest post-tensioned concrete spans of their type in the world. There will be reduced congestion in New Ross town and improvements to the quality of life of people living in the area. Tailbacks in and out of the town stretch to up to five kilometres daily. Now there is a potential for economic growth due to inward investment along with opportunities for the development of the New Ross, new tourism and recreation initiatives. It provides a chance for a clean break from the areas industrial past and legacy of Albatros, (defunct fertiliser plant on 55 acres of land on the outskirts of New Ross) rural decline and to reboot the town.

The bridge, which has been beset by several delays, was due to open, along with the bypass, in early 2019. In the summer crumbling concrete was detected at one ofthe supporting piers for the structure and was thought to have been caused by voids within one of the 11 piers which occurred during the high-pressure blasting of concrete during construction.

An Italian man working on the bridge from South Kilkenny to New Ross received serious injuries after an accident on the bridge last November.

Cllr Sheehan said the opening of the scheme means that chronic traffic congestion and tailbacks in New Ross will be a thing of the past, particularly during peak times, with travel time savings of up to 30 minutes.

This will provide significant efficiencies on the strategic N25 route from Cork to Rosslare Europort while also supporting the future growth and sustainability of New Ross Town and the south east region. The scheme also links the N25 route with the N30 New Ross to Enniscorthy route.

The project is a public-private partnership (PPP) with a joint venture of BAM Civil Construction and Spanish builder Dragados responsible for construction.

It has been delivered as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) Contract between Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the PPP Company, consisting of BAM PPP, PGGM Infrastructure Cooperatie U.A. and Iridium Concesiones de Infraestructuras S.A.

On average, a workforce of 300 people was employed throughout construction and approximately 2.5 million work hours were completed on site to bring the scheme to fruition.

Project works include over 14km of new dual carriageway comprising the N25 and N30 National Primary Routes, one kilometre of new single carriageway comprising the N30 national primary route and three new at-grade roundabout junctions creating connections between the new mainline and the existing N25 and N30 at Glenmore, Ballymacar and Corcorans Cross.

The bypass road has been completed for several months and some significant works remain to be completed on the bridge prior to the road being opened with further works expected to continue once it opens.

A schedule of inspections, audits and certifications also need to be closed out before the project can open to traffic once approved by Transport Infrastructure Ireland officials.
Senate Republicans defeated a series of amendments from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to subpoena the Trump administration for Ukraine documents on the opening day of the bitterly fought impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.

Schumer offered several measures seeking a trove of documents from the White House, the State Department and the Office of Management and Budget that the Trump administration refused to turn over during the House's impeachment inquiry, but the amendments were thwarted one by one on 53-47, party-line votes. At around 7:30 p.m. ET, Schumer introduced his fourth amendment subpoenaing testimony from acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

LIVE UPDATES: Impeachment trial of President Trump

Schumer's amendments are part of an effort from Democrats in both the House and Senate to attack the resolution laying out the rules of the trial, which puts off a decision about seeking witnesses and documents until after opening statements are given and senators have a chance to ask questions of the House impeachment managers and the President's legal team.

The debate over the trial rules played out after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell decided to alter the trial resolution shortly before it gaveled in Tuesday, amid concerns from key Senate Republicans and an uproar from Democrats.

The new resolution will give the House impeachment managers and the President's team three days each to make their 24 hours of trial arguments, instead of two as McConnell had initially proposed. There were also changes to the section of the resolution that would not have admitted the House's evidence without a vote  now, evidence will be admitted automatically unless there is a motion from the President's team to throw out evidence.

But the changes did little to satisfy Democrats in either chamber, who have accused McConnell and Senate Republicans of working with the President to rush through the impeachment trial.

Democrats erupted when McConnell's four-page organizing resolution was released Monday night, dividing 24 hours over two days for opening arguments, delaying the question of witnesses until after the arguments were completed and requiring a vote for the House evidence to be submitted. Despite the changes, Democrats on Tuesday pushed for the Senate to obtain documents and witness testimony at the outset.

"If the Senate votes to deprive itself of witnesses and documents, the opening statements will be the end of the trial," House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, the lead impeachment manager and a California Democrat, said during the trial debate Tuesday, "So to say, 'Let's just have the opening statements and then we'll see,' means let's have the trial, and maybe we can just sweep this all under the rug."

Two GOP aides said the changes McConnell made were the result of concerns from moderate Republicans. The alterations were hand-written into the resolution  a sign they were hastily put together before the trial began early Tuesday afternoon.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and other colleagues "raised concerns about the 24 hours of opening statements in two days and the admission of the House transcript is the record," Annie Clark, a Collins spokeswoman, told CNN. "Her position has been that the trial should follow the Clinton model as much as possible. She thinks these changes are a significant improvement."

The move is a sign of how closely McConnell, who cannot afford to lose more than four GOP senators to keep control of the trial, is keeping the pulse of the moderates in his conference.

Schumer's amendments sought subpoenas for a host of documents related to Ukraine, including those tied to the President's calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, discussion of investigations related to the Bidens and Burisma, and the freezing of US security assistance to Ukraine. The amendments included calls to subpoena the White House, National Security Council, State Department and OMB for documents.

"The McConnell rules seem to be designed by President Trump for President Trump. It asks the Senate to rush through as fast as possible and makes getting evidence as hard as possible," Schumer said on the Senate floor Tuesday. "The McConnell resolution will result in a rushed trial with little evidence in the dark of night."

But McConnell said on the Senate floor before the trial began that he has the votes from Republicans to move forward. McConnell said his proposal tracked closely with President Bill Clinton's 1999 impeachment trial that was "fair, even-handed and tracks closely with past precedents."

Impeachment guide: Voting on the trial rules

"Here in the Senate, the President's lawyers will finally receive a level playing field with the House Democrats, and will finally be able to present the President's case," McConnell said.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who is leading the President's defense, said the President's team backed the resolution.

"We believe that once you hear those initial presentations, the only conclusion will be that the President has done absolutely nothing wrong," Cipollone said. "And that these articles of impeachment do not begin to approach the standard required by the Constitution."

Trump is in Davos, Switzerland, for the Davos World Economic Forum, but he still weighed in on Twitter when the trial started on Twitter. "READ THE TRANSCRIPTS!" he wrote.

Debate could go into closed session

Tuesday's session was the first substantive day in the Senate trial after the House impeached Trump last month for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. House Democrats charge that the President abused his office by withholding US security aid and a White House meeting while pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rivals, and then covered it up by obstructing the impeachment inquiry.

The House impeachment managers and the President's legal team included a summary of their case against the President  including playing television clips of the President's comments and snippets of the witness testimony from the House impeachment inquiry  as they detailed their case for pursuing documents and subpoenas to witnesses.

The President's lawyers pushed back against the House, charging that the House's impeachment inquiry failed to give the President due process and the House failed to actually follow through on its subpoenas in court after the White House challenged them.

The managers and the President's team each received an hour to debate each amendment, with several speaking at the lectern in the well of the Senate. Schiff and Cipollone used the time to push back on charges the other side was making, jumping in before or after the designated speaker who gave the bulk of the argument.

While the main debate on Tuesday was fought over the rules of the trial, House Democrats also opened up another front in the fight with the President's legal team, accusing Cipollone of being a "fact witness" in the President's Ukraine scheme.

"You must disclose all facts and information as to which you have first-hand knowledge that will be at issue in connection with evidence you present or arguments you make in your role as the President's legal advocate so that the Senate and chief justice can be apprised of any potential ethical issues, conflicts, or biases," the House impeachment managers wrote to Cipollone.

The White House dismissed the House's allegations.

"House Democrats are trying to run one of the President's strongest advocates off the case before it even starts," White House legislative affairs director Eric Ueland said. "They won't succeed."

From 1999 to now

Since the House passed the two articles of impeachment last month, McConnell has said he would follow the precedent of Clinton's 1999 impeachment trial. McConnell has pointed to the fact that the Senate put off the question of witnesses until later in the trial, after opening arguments and the senators' period for asking questions had concluded. At that point, three witnesses were deposed, and portions of those depositions were played in the Senate chamber.

McConnell's resolution similarly puts the question of witnesses until after each side has 24 hours for their opening arguments  split over three days now, instead of two  and 16 hours of Senate questions. At that point, the Senate will vote generally on whether it should seek witnesses and documents, and then it will consider individual witnesses.

But Democrats say there are key differences. The Senate's Clinton witnesses had already testified before the grand jury, while the witnesses Democrats are now seeking  Mulvaney, former national security adviser John Bolton, White House budget official Michael Duffey and White House aide Rob Blair  refused to testify during the House's impeachment inquiry.

Democrats have also pointed to other divergences from Clinton as a sign McConnell is trying to rush the trial. The Clinton trial still provided four days per side for opening arguments, though splitting it up over three days means it's unlikely the sessions will stretch beyond midnight as initially expected.

Schiff on Tuesday cited the documents Democrats are seeking from the Trump administration as the most important pieces of evidence to still obtain.

"If we're truly interested in fair trial, the first step ought to be the production of the documents," Schiff said. "Those will reveal precisely who the most important witnesses are."

This story has been updated with additional developments Tuesday.
Some of our favorite and most trusted IoT devices help make us feel secure in our homes. From garage door openers to the locks on our front doors, we trust these devices to recognize and alert us when people are entering our home. It should come as no surprise that these too are subject to attack.

Steve Povolny is head of advanced research at McAfee; we discuss a pair of research projects they recently published involving popular IoT devices.

The research can be found here:
A woman is facing charges after the pick-up she was driving in the wrong direction on U.S. 59 around 2 a.m. Saturday collided with an 18-wheeler in Cleveland.

Nobody was killed or seriously injured in the collision, according to the Montgomery County Police Reporter. The green Dodge pick-up, with Tennessee plates, was traveling south in the northbound lanes at the time of the crash, the news service reported.
Luka Magnotta had set up at least 70 Facebook pages and 20 websites under different names, which he used to plant rumours about himself, including that he was in a relationship with a high-profile convicted murderer

Deanna Thompson was scrolling idly through Facebook one evening when she saw a video link.

It had attracted tens of thousands of views on social media and almost as many comments.

When she clicked on it, the animal lover was merely hoping to distract herself from the breakdown of her relationship and, noticing it featured two tiny kittens, assumed she was about to see yet another video of some adorable pets playing together.

So what Deanna actually found was all the more traumatising: she watched in horror as a hoodie-wearing figure put the two kittens in a translucent plastic storage bag, switched on a vacuum cleaner and sucked out all the air. He continued filming as the creatures died a terrible death.

The shock changed Deannas life, transforming her into an amateur sleuth obsessed with tracking down the brute responsible.

Along with a growing army of detectives on Facebook, she sparked a two-year hunt for the man eventually unmasked as Luka Magnotta  a killer whose actions became ever more desperate as his online notoriety grew.

Now that search and its consequences are the subject of a compelling Netflix documentary, Dont F*** With Cats.

Since its release a few weeks ago, it has become one of the most talked-about true crime series of recent years.

Its troubling themes have proved too harrowing for some viewers.

Yet millions more have found themselves transfixed by a drama which shines a light into the darkest recesses of the internet and poses uncomfortable questions about a culture  and profit-hungry behemoths such as Facebook  which give a platform to anyone seeking fame or, in this case, notoriety.

What Deanna actually found was all the more traumatising: she watched in horror as a hoodie-wearing figure put the two kittens in a translucent plastic storage bag, switched on a vacuum cleaner and sucked out all the air. He continued filming as the creatures died a terrible death

The hunt for the kitten killer is an example of the so-called hive mind  a collective consciousness similar to the behaviour of bees  as internet users around the world came together to solve what would turn out to be a series of appalling crimes.

Yet, as the documentary makes clear, it was that same intensity of online attention which drove Magnotta to acts of ever greater cruelty.

The documentary was never going to be just about killing, said its British director, Mark Lewis, who first proposed it to Netflix 18 months ago.

This story is all about internet culture, about chasing self-esteem online.

The video which set the story in motion  the one seen by Deanna  was first posted on December 21, 2010 with the title 1 Boy, 2 Kittens.

The most distressing parts of the footage are hidden from Netflix viewers and instead we see Deannas tearful reaction.

It is all the more disturbing as the perpetrator, with his face pixelated, appears to be playing affectionately with the kittens before suffocating them.

Its heartbreaking, says Deanna, as she describes one of the kittens attempts to save itself.

It reels you into thinking, Oh, this is a super-cute video, he loves those cats. But suddenly it turns into something brutal.

The title of the series refers to one of the internets most basic unwritten rules: that virtually anything can be shared online, no matter how sordid, except anything which harms cats. The public response was overwhelming.

Deanna, a self-confessed computer nerd who works as a data analyst for a Las Vegas casino, immediately became part of a Facebook group of about 15,000 set up to find the unknown killer and who pored over every frame of the video in forensic detail.

The shock changed Deannas life, transforming her into an amateur sleuth obsessed with tracking down the brute responsible. Along with a growing army of detectives on Facebook, she sparked a two-year hunt for the man eventually unmasked as Luka Magnotta  a killer whose actions became ever more desperate as his online notoriety grew

The cover on the bed where the crime took place, a Russian-sounding voice in the background, the type of Marlboro cigarettes smoked by the perpetrator  all were scrutinised for hints about the mans identity or location.

And piece by piece, suggestion by suggestion, the sleuths closed in on the truth.

There was a notable breakthrough, for example, when Deanna visited an obscure online forum for vacuum-cleaner repairs in order to trace the make and model of the yellow appliance used to suffocate the kittens. She established that it was made by Kenmore and was available only in North America.

Whoever made this video, we knew that we could start looking in Mexico, the United States or Canada, she says.

If the hive mind was making remarkable progress, a darker side of the internet was soon evident in the form of mob justice.

One member of the Facebook group was a man called Joe Panzarella, the leader of a Long Island-based biker gang called Rescue Ink, which specialised in taking vigilante revenge on perpetrators of animal cruelty.

And when another, entirely innocent Facebook user was identified as a potential culprit, Rescue Ink somehow persuaded him to confess with catastrophic results.

The victim was suffering from mental health problems, and as a result of the subsequent torrent of abuse directed at him, took his own life.

Deanna was appalled but, still determined to hunt down the kitten killer, helped form a breakaway group from among the more responsible Facebook investigators and redoubled her efforts.

There was another leap forward when they received an anonymous tip that the perpetrator was a man called Luka Magnotta and they embarked on the laborious process of analysing the locations featured in his Facebook pictures.

Using Google Maps, they pinpointed a block of flats where hed been living in Toronto, for example, although, frustratingly, Magnotta had already left.

Deanna and her colleagues discovered that he had been born in Ontario and had changed his name from Eric Newman. Once a would-be model with high cheekbones and pouty lips, Magnotta had become obsessed with Hollywood, dedicating his life to pursuing stardom.

Failing to find success in the fashion world, he became a stripper, appeared in gay porn videos and posted thousands of clearly photoshopped images of himself leading a jet-set lifestyle in glamorous locations around the world.

Hungry for fame, Magnotta had set up at least 70 Facebook pages and 20 websites under different names, which he used to plant rumours about himself, including that he was in a relationship with a high-profile convicted murderer.

But as the Facebook investigators closed in on their target, something else was starting to happen: Magnotta seemed to be feeding off the notoriety he was gaining. And as the focus upon him intensified, so his actions grew more extreme.

Indeed, his next move was to release two further videos of him killing kittens  one fed to a python and the other drowned in a bath while tied to the end of a pole.

Then, revelling in the attention, Magnotta apparently confirmed to those hunting him that he was indeed the killer. Now Deanna feared that he might pose a threat to people, too.

It is well known that some psychopaths kill animals before moving on to murder people, and in Deannas view it was a race against time to bring him to justice.

This was chillingly confirmed when Magnotta sent her a video taken as she walked through her place of work. I know who you are and I know where you work, Magnotta tells Deanna on the clip. Her own life was at risk.

Stabbed to death: Jun Lin was attacked by Luka Magnotta with a screwdriver. The more I read about Jun Lin, it hit me so hard that Id worked 18 months to get this person stopped, and then he committed murder, Deanna said later

The Facebook sleuths begged Magnotta to seek help, but to no avail. They made several attempts to pass their vast cache of evidence to Canadian police but heard nothing back  until their worst fears proved correct.

In 2012, Magnotta posted a new video, entitled 1 Lunatic, 1 Ice Pick. It showed a blurred figure stabbing a naked man 100 times with a screwdriver. The killer had moved on to humans.

The screwdriver was painted silver, which it was later discovered had been to make it look like the ice pick used by Sharon Stones character in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct.

A torso was found in a suitcase outside Magnottas apartment in Montreal, along with binbags stained with blood, a dead puppy and Magnottas ID.

Any remaining doubts were dismissed when it turned out that Magnotta had been caught on CCTV casually disposing of the items and  such was his narcissism  checking his reflection on the way back into the building.

Viewers are told that Magnotta dismembered the corpse  although it is not clear how  and that he sent various body parts to the headquarters of Canadas two leading political parties.

The killing of 33-year-old Jun Lin, a Chinese engineering student, had a devastating effect on Deanna. For all her efforts, she had been powerless to help.

The more I read about Jun Lin, it hit me so hard that Id worked 18 months to get this person stopped, and then he committed murder, she said later.

Finally, Canadian police were obliged to act, sending Magnottas details to forces around the world, and he was apprehended in Berlin on June 4, 2012, in an internet cafe.

The owner recognised Magnotta from newspaper reports and flagged down a passing officer.

Magnotta had been looking up his own mugshot on the Interpol website at the time.

So reviled was the murderer that no airline company would fly him back to Montreal and a plane from the Royal Canadian Air Force had to be used instead.

Magnotta's lawyers claimed he was schizophrenic but the prosecution argued that he had faked the condition and, instead, suffered borderline personality disorder.

In December 2014, he was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Whatever the truth about his mental state, he showed little or no emotion when confronted with his crimes.

You see him being given a photo of Jun Lin and he doesnt even react, says director Mark Lewis.

He was far more focused on making it clear to people that he had been a model and an actor.

Deeply conflicted about the role they played in trying to track down Magnotta, Deanna and her group of online crusaders were initially wary about taking part in the Netflix documentary.

They were haunted that Magnotta might not have resorted to murder had they not provided the very audience he seemed to crave.

One of the things which keeps me up sometimes at night is, were we complicit in his crimes? she asks.

Maybe I did exactly what the killer wanted. These people dont deserve our attention.

There are so many people in society loving true crime and serial killer documentaries. Every killer has fans.

People write to these guys in prison. Its insane. I am guilty of that as well. I watch these documentaries. Im in one now.

Deannas campaign is far from over. Her group has launched an online organisation which seeks to alert local authorities to animal abusers and has played a role in a number of successful arrests.

In the final moments of the documentary, however, she poses a troubling question about our ever-increasing fascination with true crime.

You at home, watching a whole documentary about Luka Magnotta  are you complicit? she asks, before concluding: Perhaps its time we turned off the machine.
ALBANY, Ore -- Newly released court documents are sheddng light into the investigation into Craig Lazon, who is accused of killing his wife, Tiffany, 37.

According to a probable cause affidavit, police did a welfare check at Tiffany Lazon's townhouse on Jan. 8 at the request of her daughter. There they found the back door open and all the lights on, but Tiffany was nowhere to be seen. Her mother and daughter told investigators they had not heard from her since around Christmas time, according to court records.

RELATED: Husband charged with murder in Tiffany Lazon case

In the documents, investigators said they spoke to neighbors who say they saw Craig Lazon and other men moving things out of the townhouse into a U-Haul moving truck after her disappearance.

Neighbor Rebecca Blankenship said she remembers hearing Tiffany and Craig fighting over the summer.

"He would cuss and call her names," Blankenship said. "It escalated a lot."

Two days after police first went to Tiffany's townhouse, they got a call from a friend of Craig Lazon, according to the affidavit. They said the friend let Lazon borrow a circular saw on Jan. 3 or Jan. 4. When Lazon returned it, it looked as if it had been taken apart, and the blade was missing.

Investigators said they found blood and hair on the saw that matched Tiffany's DNA, and police also found her blood in the storage area of the U-Haul.

Tiffany's body has not been found.

"I would just like them to find her, and the family can have closure, and he can be punished for his crime," Blankenship said.

MORE: Missing woman case now a death investigation

Investigators said Lazon admitted to borrowing the saw but said he returned it in the same condition he got it. He also told police that he believed his wife went to Washington State to see a friend but police said that friend told them she had not seen Tiffany in years, according to the affidavit.
Wabi House. | Photo: Lyle G./Yelp

Got a hankering for ramen?

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the most exceptional ramen outlets in Fort Worth, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of where to achieve your noodle dreams.

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.

1. Shinjuku Station

Photo: Aly B./Yelp

First on the list is Shinjuku Station. Located at 711 W. Magnolia Ave. in Fairmount, the Japanese restaurant, which is known for ramen and sushi, is the highest-rated destination for ramen in Fort Worth, boasting 4.5 stars out of 722 reviews on Yelp.

2. Wabi House

Photo: Wabi House/Yelp

Next up is Wabi House, situated at 1229 Eighth Ave., Suite 227. With 4.5 stars out of 217 reviews on Yelp, the joint to score ramen has proven to be a local favorite.

3. Sushi Nomi

Photo: Ariana K./Yelp

Sushi Nomi, located at 8653 N. Beach St., Suite 205, is another notable choice, with Yelpers giving the sushi bar, which also offers ramen and other Japanese food items, 4.5 stars out of 249 reviews.

4. Poke Stop

Photo: Linn P./Yelp

Finally, there's Poke Stop, an eatery that specializes in sushi, ramen and poke, with 4.5 stars out of 234 Yelp reviews. Head over to 8605 N. Beach St. to give it a go for yourself.

Deciding when to check out the top outposts above? Fridays tend to be the busiest days of the week for consumer spending at restaurants across the Fort Worth area, while Mondays are least busy, according to data on local business transactions from Womply, a small business CRM software provider. Last year, average daily transactions at restaurants climbed to 65 per business on Fridays, compared to 44 daily transactions on average for Mondays.

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.
Boris Johnson has used a phone call with US President Donald Trump to 'reiterate the need' for the woman charged over Harry Dunn's death to be returned to the UK.

The Prime Minister spoke of the need for the 19-year-old's family to secure justice after an extradition request for American suspect Anne Sacoolas was rejected on Thursday.

Harry Dunn's family have been fighting for Mrs Sacoolas, 42, to face justice after their son died when his motorbike crashed into a car outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August last year.

Boris Johnson has reiterated the need for US suspect Anne Sacoolas in Harry Dunn case to return to Britain to face justice during a call with Donald Trump. Pair are pictured together at the NATO leaders summit in Watford, near London, in December last year

Harry Dunn (right), 19, died when his motorcycle crashed in a head-on collision with a car allegedly driven by Anne Sacoolas (left), 42, on August 27 last year

A Downing Street spokesman said that Mr Johnson raised the topic during a phone call with the US President on Friday.

'The Prime Minister raised the tragic case of Harry Dunn, and the need to secure justice for Harry's family,' a Downing Street spokesman said.

'He reiterated the need for the individual involved to return to the UK.'

Mrs Sacoolas, 42, claimed diplomatic immunity following the crash and was able to return to her home country, sparking an international controversy.

She was charged with causing Harry's death by dangerous driving by the Crown Prosecution Service in December.

Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom (left) pictured with Harry Dunn's mother (centre), his stepfather Bruce Charles (second right) and family lawyer Radd Seiger (far right)

Tim Dunn, the father of Harry Dunn, outside South Northamptonshire Council offices in Towchester, following yesterday's meeting with Ms Leadsom

The Dunn family's spokesman Radd Seiger said today that UK authorities are exploring all options, including trying Mrs Sacoolas in her absence.

'I am informed by officials in London that the UK authorities are urgently considering all their options following the rejection of the extradition request,' he wrote,'including trying Anne Sacoolas in her absence and issuing an Interpol Red Notice'.

A petition on change.org called 'Justice for Harry Dunn - Extradite Anne Sacoolas', is urging US authorities to extradite the suspect, reached 100,000 signatures on Saturday evening.

Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom met Harry's family on Friday, the day after she had informed them of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's decision to refuse the request.

Ms Leadsom held talks with US ambassador Woody Johnson, the commander of RAF Croughton Colonel Bridget McNamara and the Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police.

The family's constituency MP, Mrs Leadsom said she had expressed her disappointment on their behalf during the discussion with the US ambassador.

She told reporters that the Prime Minister is 'very much on the side of the family in their desire to see justice done', adding: 'All of us in Government are working to that end'.

The family's spokesman revealed today that UK authorities are considering trialling Mrs Sacoolas in her absence

Ms Leadsom and mother Charlotte Charles, who said the meeting went 'really well'. She said the family are feeling 'very much supported' by Ms Leadsom and the rest of the government

The Business Secretary leaving the council offices, following the US' refusal to extradite Ms Sacoolas. Ms Leadsom described the news as 'frustrating' and 'very disappointing'

A spokesman for the US State Department said the request was rejected because it would render the invocation of diplomatic immunity a practical nullity and set an extraordinarily troubling precedent.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the move 'amounts to a denial of justice' as he expressed the Government's disappointment at the decision.

It is understood that Mr Raab will meet with Mr Pompeo next week, where the pair are likely to discuss the case.

The Foreign Office maintains the suspect had diplomatic immunity, which has been disputed by the family, but Mr Raab said he would look to 'resolve the issue' surrounding any immunity given to staff at the RAF Croughton base.

Harry Dunn's father described a meeting with Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom yesterday as 'promising'.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, pictured, has turned down the extradition request for Mrs Sacoolas, family spokesman Mr Seiger said

Tim Dunn said: 'Some things we agree on and some things we don't agree on. But I feel like she's behind us, I really do.'

Speaking after a meeting with Harry's family, Ms Leadsom said: 'We've been talking about the frustrating news that the extradition was refused yesterday by the US government.

'Obviously Harry's family are disappointed and very upset by that, but equally very determined that the driver of the car that killed Harry Dunn should be brought back to the United Kingdom to face justice.

'We are absolutely united in our determination to get justice for Harry.'

Ms Leadsom added: 'I've been talking with Harry's family about what the next steps are and it will take some time to consider what the government's next steps should be. But I am working on that with my colleagues in government.'

Ms Leadsom said she could not comment on whether the government would block any future extradition proceedings, adding: 'We just heard that news last night. It was obviously very disappointing and I will be seeing what more can be done on behalf of Harry's family.'

Addressing what she said to the US ambassador on Friday morning, Ms Leadsom said: 'I expressed my disappointment on behalf of Harry's family, but also really importantly for the local community near to the RAF Croughton base.

'It's very concerning that this, which was at its heart a tragic road accident - which does unfortunately happen all the time, right across the world - but in this instance, the fact that there is no justice for Harry, makes the pain of losing him so much worse and that's what we have to address.'

The parents of Harry Dunn, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn (left and centre) along with their family lawyer and representative Radd Seiger (right) pictured together on Good Morning Britain in December

Pushed on what was said in the meeting with the US ambassador, Ms Leadsom said: 'I don't want to comment on that meeting, it was, of course, very cordial.

'The relationship between the UK and the US is a very deep and long-standing and very good relationship - and we do have frank conversations - but I don't want to comment on that meeting.'

Asked if the Prime Minister was going to comment on the case, Ms Leadsom said: 'The Prime Minister is very much on the side of the family in their desire to see justice done for Harry.

'All of us in government are working to that end.'

Commenting on the meeting with Ms Leadsom, Harry Dunn's mother Charlotte Charles said: 'The meeting went well with Andrea - it went really well.

'There's points that she's given us which she's going to take away and has fully assured us that she'll be working on, and we're very much feeling supported by her and the rest of the government.

'It's going to take time, it's not an overnight thing, but we'll get there.'

Speaking about what the family now wants after the extradition request was refused, Charlotte Charles said yesterday: 'She has to come back.

'I still don't understand how she can even live with herself and carry on with her life and drive.

'I don't understand that, she must be made of different stuff to us, I don't know. But she has to come back, one way or another.'

Meanwhile, the Foreign Secretary has said the Government 'would have acted differently' from the US secretary of state after he refused to return the suspect charged with causing the death of Harry Dunn to the UK.

Dominic Raab appeared to suggest he would have agreed to extradite 42-year-old Anne Sacoolas if he was put in the same position as Mike Pompeo.

Mr Raab said the rejection of an extradition request for her 'amounts to a denial of justice' and that the Foreign Office believes she should return to the UK.

Earlier yesterday, Harry's family slammed the 'indefensible' US decision to block the deportation of Anne Sacoolas in a 'dark day for the special relationship' and demanded a meeting with Boris Johnson.

America yesterday refused to hand over a diplomat's wife who is accused of killing a 19-year-old British biker in a crash near a US airbase.

Mr Dunn was killed in a head-on collision with a car on August 27 last year near RAF Croughton, in Northamptonshire.

Ms Sacoolas, 42, the wife of a US intelligence official, is believed to have been driving on the wrong side of the road and was charged with causing death by dangerous driving. But she claimed diplomatic immunity and flew to the US.

The PM (pictured on BBC Breakfast) played down expectations of a legal breakthrough

Asked if the Prime Minister was doing enough, family spokesman Radd Seiger told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I have to say at the moment not. We did not welcome his public comments last week.

'He is the leader of the gang, he aspired to be Prime Minister. History was made last night when the Americans decided not to return her.

'That's the first time in history that the United States has turned down an extradition request. It's one of the darkest days in the history of this special relationship.

'Boris Johnson wanted to be Prime Minister, he is now being tested severely. I expect him today to rise to that challenge and come and meet with me and the family and tell us what he's going to do about it.'

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said the Government is disappointed about the decision not to extradite Harry Dunn crash suspect Anne Sacoolas to the UK, adding: 'We feel this amounts to a denial of justice, and we believe Anne Sacoolas should return to the UK. We are now urgently considering our options.'

Mr Seiger told MailOnline yesterday: 'The family are not at all surprised at these developments and are taking it in their stride having factored it in to their planning and strategy.

'This is a lawless corrupt administration that appears intent on attacking even it's closest international ally. If Trump and Pompeo think this is an end to the matter, they have another thing coming to them. Team Harry will sit down with the Government tomorrow (Fri) and work out our next steps. And next steps there will be. The whole world is on Team Harry's side. This is not a battle the US Government is going to win.'

Yesterday he told Good Morning Britain: 'History was made last night. This is the first time the US have ever refused an extradition request from the UK. It's one of the darkest days in the history of the special relationship.'

He added: 'It's a completely indefensible decision both legally and morally.'

Reacting to Mr Raab's comments on the extradition refusal, the teenager's family said: 'We are obviously grateful for any intervention that the Foreign Office (FCO) is making on our behalf.

'However, the fact remains that the FCO are still defending the judicial review proceedings.

'It remains our position that intelligence officers at RAF Croughton have diplomatic immunity and that if we dare challenge that in court they will seek to effectively make us bankrupt if the we lose the case by forcing us to pay legal costs.

'That amounts to a huge arm around the US Government's position that their (the US) personnel are free to come to the UK, kill UK citizens or shed their blood, and then get on the next plane back home.

'How they have the front to maintain that position after last night's decision is a complete mystery to us and should trouble everyone on this side of the pond.

'As things stand, it matters more to the FCO that the status quo be maintained and protected than the lives of their own people and their families' ability to seek justice in the event of the worst happening.

'If we have that wrong, they are more than welcome to make that concession now or meet with us to explain why they will not do so.'

Mr Seiger said: 'What it threw up unfortunately is just the corrupt nature of this (Trump) administration that seems intent upon taking a wrecking ball to every institution there is.'

Boris Johnson last week said the chance of the suspect ever returning to the UK was very low.

Mr Seiger last week said the Prime Minister's comments made on BBC Breakfast were 'a very powerful blow' which have 'done real damage' to his bid to bring the wife of an American intelligence officer back to Britain to face justice.

'I was watching the BBC Breakfast interview in disbelief - my jaw hit the floor,' he told MailOnline. 'We are incandescent with rage,' he said.

Demanding a greater show of support from the PM, Mr Seiger questioned whether the Mr Johnson is more interested in currying favour with President Trump than supporting the grieving parents of a British citizen.

'Boris Johnson's comments have made my job ten times harder. We were beginning to make real progress,' he said.

'We felt that although we weren't supported by authorities initially, through hard work and dialogue, we were building bridges.

'Home Secretary Priti Patel reached out - along with our MP Andrea Leadsom - and we were bringing the government and Harry's family together.

'When he [Boris Johnson] spoke on BBC Breakfast I was in disbelief. It wasn't the public line we agreed on.'

Mr Seiger added: 'It's not just about Harry anymore, it's about the ability to allow a sovereign nation to apply the laws of the land to the foreign visitors.

'Everyone right up to the Home Secretary agrees with this - all except for Boris who is off in La La Land.'

Mr Seiger also revealed that Harry's mother Charlotte had begun therapy to begin to process his son's death, adding: 'It was especially difficult over the holiday season.'
Reuters

Schools in Singapore, where the first case of a coronavirus was confirmed on Thursday, are asking parents and staff to provide details of travel during the lunar new year holidays as part of measures to fight the disease that has killed 25 people in China.

A 66-year old Chinese national was the first case of the virus in Singapore, while another has tested positive preliminarily, authorities said on Thursday. The virus has infected more than 800 in China.

In this phase of enhanced preparedness, our schools, including Ministry of Education Kindergartens, and Institutes of Higher Learning will take measures to ensure the safety and well-being of our students and staff, the education ministry told Reuters in an e-mail on Friday.

Schools have instituted travel declarations for all students and staff, it added.

Parents in Singapore have started receiving e-mails from schools asking them to state where their children will be traveling for holidays. Many people have planned travel over the long weekend for the new year.

The ministry said there are no student trips planned currently to Hubei province, the epicenter of the virus. None are planned for China in February. It said it would advise educational institutes to postpone trips in March and later, if necessary.
A supporter of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) paints over the party logo at party headquarters in Phnom Penh, Nov. 18, 2017.

The family of an activist with the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) who died three months ago while being taken into custody by authorities called Friday on court authorities to expedite an investigation into her case and provide them with justice.

Sam Bopha, 48, from Svay Rieng province had been involved in an argument with her husband in October last year after his fathera former elected official with the CNRPconfessed to authorities about acting party chief Sam Rainsys planned return on Nov. 9 to restore democracy in Cambodia, which the government had labelled part of a coup attempt and ultimately blocked.

Sam Bophas father-in-law filed a domestic abuse complaint against her with the police, who came to detain her at her home, but she was killed after she fell from an officers motorbike en route to the local station, her brother Sam Dina told RFAs Khmer Service at the time, suggesting that the arrest appeared politically motivated because of the large police response to a family dispute.

Sam Dina said in October that police ignored his sisters pleas that she was sick, and that her health condition likely led to her falling from the motorbike. She sustained serious injuries in the fall and died before reaching a local hospital.

On Friday, Sam Dina told RFA that he had filed a complaint with the provincial court on Nov. 9 and was only questioned by the court at the time, but never received any response, and urged authorities to speed up his sisters case.

Im afraid that Cambodia has no rule of law, he said, warning that if the two police officer he believes are responsible for his sisters death are not held to account they will likely continue to commit crimes.

Sam Bophas family has asked for U.S. $30,000 in compensation for her death and for the suspects to be prosecuted.

Svay Rieng Provincial Courts Chief Secretariat Tep Phalla told RFA he is not aware of the case and referred further inquiries to the courts chief prosecutor, who could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Speaking to RFA, Nuth Bopinaroth, the provincial coordinator for local rights group Licadho, said that Sam Bophas case is being delayed because it involves a police officer, and said it was wrong for authorities to arrest her when she was ill.

She should have been treated first, he said.

The police were wrong to force her [to go]  and must be held accountable in the case.

Under surveillance

The call for the Svay Rieng Court to speed up its investigation into Sam Bophas case came as CNRP activists warned that they have come under intense monitoring by police following an order from National Police Commissioner Neth Savoeun for local authorities to scrutinize those he said are working to incite anarchy in the country.

Neth Savoeuns Jan. 16 directive, which was released to the public on Friday, called for vigilance and increased security during the Jan. 24-27 Lunar New Year celebration.

The National Police Commission advises the directors of judicial police  to strengthen measures to protect security and order by focusing on a few issues, such as the collection of information related to security and public orderand especially to determine the motives of any activities that might provoke security issues or social chaos, the statement said.

Responding to the directive on Friday, the CNRPs Phnom Penh chief Morn Phalla told RFA that authorities will use the order to persecute his party at the local level, adding that local activists have complained to him that they are being watched and feel vulnerable to police arrest.

There are two intentions in the order: One is to prevent people from revolting against the government, and the other is to prevent the future repatriation of Sam Rainsy, he said.

The police measure is more related to the intimidation of the opposition.

Morn Phalla urged authorities to stop targeting supporters of the CNRP.

In September 2017, Cambodian authorities arrested CNRP President Kem Sokha for attempting to topple the government, and the Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP two months later for its role in the alleged plot.

The move to dissolve the CNRP was part of a wider crackdown by Prime Minister Hun Sen on the political opposition, NGOs, and the independent media that paved the way for his ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) to win all 125 seats in parliament in the countrys July 2018 general election.

Since the election, authorities have detained several CNRP activists over allegations of treason and have restricted or surveilled others, while appearing to turn a blind eye to physical assaults against at least 14 party supporters by unknown assailants believed to be associated with the CPP.

Concerns valid

On Friday, National Police spokesman Lieutenant General Chhay Kim Khoeun denied Morn Phallas allegations, saying the police order was meant only to address security concerns and was not politically motivated.

If they dont abuse the law, no one will bother them, he said.

However, Licadho senior investigator Am Sam Ath told RFA that the CNRP is being persecuted by the ruling party, so their concerns are valid.

He expressed concern that the police order will extend beyond the Lunar New Year celebration and impact the potential return of Sam Rainsy from self-imposed exile in Paris, France, where he has lived since 2015 to avoid a string of what he says are politically motivated charges and convictions.

Now the CNRP is preparing its strategy for second repatriation attempt and I am concerned that the activists living inside Cambodia will be persecuted, he said.

Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Ed McGuinness is Chairman of Islington Conservative Federation and stood for Hornsey & Wood Green at the general election. He grew up in Belfast.

There is no doubt the thumping majority earned by the Conservatives nationally, and the realisation that the Democratic Unionist Party could no longer be Westminster power brokers, played a much more prominent role in bringing back power sharing last week than the more pressing needs of hard-working nurses or the lack of governance for three years.

Yet it was within hours, back around the Executive table in Stormont, that the new finance minister, Conor Murphy of Sinn Fein, was criticising the British Government, describing the mere 2 billion of funding for the Province as woefully inadequate.

Julian Smith, the Northern Irish Secretary, was right to point out that during the 36-month shutdown MLAs who were not even sitting in Parliament Buildings, save for one theatrical display in October 2019, all whilst costing the taxpayer 15 million in salary.

There is a much deeper issue here than the usual efforts eke out that little bit more from London, one that goes right to the heart of the current Northern Irish political culture, defined as it is by an eye for complaint rather than opportunity and which is still centred on traditional Unionist and Nationalist divides.

Sinn Fein, who view the economy on an all-Ireland basis, mention the Assembly must have strong economic policies. Great, but which government does not want strong economy polices? Mostly they devote their manifesto to bashing the Tories, bashing Brexit, and spend three pages attempting to justify the need for a border poll on Irish unification despite that a plurality of voters in Northern Ireland voted for pro-Union parties.

The DUP do a little better, at least mentioning the word economy more than a handful of times. However, the bulk of the economic section in their manifesto talks about the rest of the UK, mentioning amongst other things: cancelling HS2, building a third runway at Heathrow, and digital infrastructure. They do talk about having access to Icelands renewables through an, interconnection making landfall in Northern Ireland (although more hot air courtesy of the DUP is probably not required at this juncture).

All great, but mostly irrelevant when it comes to actually generating wealth and prosperity in the part of the country you are asking voters to let you govern on their behalf  and mostly centred on boosting their pro-Union credentials.

The politics of Northern Ireland is moving on from the bi-polar attitude of the past, where Sinn Fein and the DUP can rely on their Nationalist and Unionist support bases, towards one where voters care, not just about how their public services are run, but about how enterprise and productivity can be improved across the country. The 8.8 per cent rise of the Alliance Party  a party with no outward Nationalist or Unionist core policy  across the country shows this evolution from traditional Northern Irish politics towards a more mainstream style closer to that we experience in the rest of the UK.

This shift presents an opportunity for more conventional, national parties to stand. The argument for why we should do extends beyond offering voters a more diverse choice and political expediency. For the Conservative Party, in particular, for whom the importance of the United Kingdom is woven into our history and values, this presents an opportunity to cement those credentials in a manner that the DUP as a regional party cannot do, particularly as the threat of a second Scottish referendum looms on the horizon.

The arguments for intent therefore are clear, but what about actual opportunity? In 2019 the Conservatives were the only national party to field candidates in Northern Ireland, in four of the eighteen constituencies, so there is a first-mover advantage. In addition the swings away from the traditional parties, of -6.7 per cent and -5.4 per cent for Sinn Fein and the DUP respectively, present an opening that the Conservatives can exploit.

In terms of gaining electoral representation, the vote share across Northern Ireland does not necessarily tell the full story. For opportunity CCHQ need to look at places like North Down and East Belfast where moderate, Conservative policies still chime well with the public.

North Down, for example, which was represented by independent Lady Sylvia Hermon from 2001 to 2019, rejected the DUP in favour of the moderate Alliance Party. Notably the Conservative candidate saw a vote share increase of +2.4 per cent, which was higher than the national vote share increase for the Tories (+1.2 per cent) and much higher than the average Northern Ireland increase (+0.2 per cent).

In terms of Assembly elections, Belfast East provides a great opportunity. At the general election the constituency swung -6.6 per cent from the DUP, mostly in favour of the Alliance Party. The Conservatives did not field a candidate but had they done so, a swing in favour of more mainstream politics would have been evident.

Clearly there is a realism argument here. The numbers and swings to the Conservatives are small, there is no denying it. These kind of seats are won over decade-long campaigns and hard work by activists.

For example, take Blyth Valley, a cornerstone of Labours Red Wall, which crumbled to the Conservatives in 2019. The election swings to the Conservatives in all three previous General Elections was +2.7 per cent, +5.1 per cent, and +15.2 per cent before Ian Levy gained the seat in 2019.

The reasons for this were partly Brexit-related, but also rooted in a deeper disaffection with a system in which Labour took too many of its traditional voters for granted. This created an opportunity for the Tories, and a commitment to invest and build on success, no matter how small initially, paid off. Similar success could be gained in Northern Ireland if the Party shows a like willingness to field candidates and properly resource long-term strategies, focused on the day-to-day concerns of the voters.

Traditional politics in Northern Ireland still means Unionist and Nationalist. The people of Northern Ireland deserve so much more than this bipolar choice when they go to the ballot box  and over the past 32 years there has been a shift away from it.

As the population feels more secure, there is more emphasis being placed on the standards of schools, healthcare, and the productivity gap in Northern Irish industry. Yet the parties there remain entrenched, denying voters their opportunity to choose something better.

As a national party, committed to standing in every seat, the Conservatives can and should offer that choice  and if the strategy is right, have a realistic chance of success too. Not only that, but with a true national voice we can back up our credentials as the Party of the Union (rather than simply another unionist party).

It is time we ended the oligopoly on electoral success in Northern Ireland, upended the traditions of politics there, and offered Ulsters voters the alternative they deserve.
Photo: David R./Yelp

A new bakery, offering coffee and tea, sandwiches and more, has made its debut in the neighborhood. The new addition to Alhambra, called Corner On The Market, is located at 5345 N. Seventh Ave.

Customers can start their day a variety of toast options, including topped with specialty jam and butter, or red beet hummus and olive oil. There are also pastries such as mini cookies, poptarts and cake pops. For lunch, expect salad and deli sandwiches. When it comes to drinks, you'll find fruit or veggie smoothies and an assortment of coffee. (Click here to view the menu.)

The new bakery has proven popular thus far, with a 4.5-star rating out of two reviews on Yelp.

Amanda B., who was among the first Yelpers to review the new spot on Jan. 19, wrote, "The coffee and pastries are locally sourced. We had the breakfast burrito (not on the menu, but a must order), egg and bacon toast and a mango Bressane by Suss pastry. Everything was outstanding."

Yelper Jeff H. added, You'll find artesian breads (green chili to cranberry walnut), pastries as well as breakfast toast, salads and sandwiches.

Head on over to check it out: Corner On The Market is open from 7 a.m.2 p.m. on Monday-Saturday and 8 a.m.2 p.m. on Sunday.

Want to keep your finger on the pulse of new businesses in Phoenix? 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.
CALIFORNIA - There is a critical shortage of blood, Vitalant said. Local residents will have the opportunity to save lives by donating blood during the Vitalant Winter Classic Blood Drive on Saturday, Jan. 25 in Chico, Redding and Yuba City.

This is a day when the community comes together to help save lives, said Joe Ayer, Senior Manager of Recruitment at Vitalant. Blood on the shelf helps patients every dayfor traumas, cancer treatments, and critical transfusionsand enables us to be ready if disaster strikes.

During the event, donors will receive a Vitalant branded hat, scarf and glove set, as well as hot cocoa and refreshments. Participants can also enter to win a trip to Hawaii, Mexico or Disneyland.

If you would like to donate blood, stop by any of the locations listed below.

Vitalant Chico

When: Saturday, Jan. 25 from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Where: 555 Rio Lindo Avenue, Chico

Contact: 530-893-5433

Vitalant Redding

When: Saturday, Jan. 25 from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Where: 2680 Larkspur Lane, Redding

Contact: 530-243-0160

Vitalant Yuba City

When: Saturday, Jan. 25 from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Where: 1290 Stabler Lane, Ste 830

Contact: 530-674-3140

For more information on Vitalant, CLICK HERE.
F.F. writes: I received a phone call from Sky Protect about renewing cover for our Sky TV system. The caller asked me to confirm my bank details, which I gave. I did not think any more about this until I found 249 had been taken from my account by Sky Protect Limited. As I normally pay by monthly direct debit, I phoned Sky and found that the caller was not from the official Sky Protect scheme. My bank says it cannot help as I had nothing in writing.
India and Brazil on Saturday inked 15 agreements to ramp up cooperation in a wide range of areas and unveiled an action plan to further broadbase strategic ties after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro.

In the action plan, the two countries have set specific goals for deeper cooperation in areas of defence and security, trade and commerce, agriculture, civil aviation, energy, environment, health and innovation and vowed to work together to conclude an agreement to deal with international terrorism.

The major focus of the talks was on boosting bilateral trade and investment as both the large economies were hit by global economic slowdown.

The 15 agreements will provide for cooperation in a wide range of areas including oil and gas, mineral resources, traditional medicine, animal husbandry, bioenergy and trade and investment.

"Your visit to India has opened a new chapter in ties between India and Brazil," Modi said, summing up the outcome of his talks with Bolsonaro.

Calling Brazil a valuable partner in India's economic growth, the prime minister said both the countries have been on the same page on various global issues and exuded confidence that the ties will strengthen further.

"Despite geographical distance, both India and Brazil are together on various global issues as there is convergence in our views," Modi said in his media statement in the presence of Bolsonaro.

The prime minister said focus is being given to new ways of boosting defence industrial cooperation.

"We want to have broad-based cooperation in defence," he added.

On his part Bolsonaro said the two countries have further consolidated the already strong ties by signing 15 agreements which will provide for cooperation in a range of areas.

According to the action plan, the two countries will encourage greater collaboration between their defence industrial bases and work together to conclude an agreement in combating international terrorism and transnational organised crime.

It mentioned that the two sides will strengthen established institutional mechanisms and promote coordination on bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral issues of mutual interest based on the principles of equality and trust.

Bolsonaro arrived here on Friday, accompanied by his daughter Laura Bolsonaro, daughter-in-law Leticia Firmo, eight ministers, four members of the Brazilian parliament and a large business delegation.

The Brazilian president will grace the Republic Day Parade as chief guest on Sunday.

Earlier, the Brazilian president was given a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of President Ram Nath Kovind and Modi.

India's ties with Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, have been on an upswing in the last few years. The country has a population of 210 million with $1.8 trillion economy.

This is the first visit of President Bolsonaro to India.

The volume of bilateral trade was $8.2 billion in 2018-19. This included $3.8 billion worth of Indian exports to Brazil and $4.4 million as imports by India.

Both the governments feel there is a huge potential to enhance bilateral trade further.

Major Indian exports to Brazil include agro-chemicals, synthetic yarns, auto components and parts, pharmaceutical and petroleum products.

Brazilian exports to India include crude oil, gold, vegetable oil, sugar and bulk mineral and ores.

Indian investments in Brazil were around $6 billion and Brazilian investments in India are estimated at $1 billion in 2018.

ALSO READ: PM Modi, Brazilian President Bolsonaro hold talks to boost bilateral ties

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ALSO READ: US wants a $6 billion give and take to seal trade deal with India
Press Release

24 January 2020

SAN FRANCISCO - Today, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants is launching an exclusive partnership with Fotografiska New York, the internationally renowned destination for photography. As part of the official partnership, Kimpton will unveil a curated multi-dimensional photography pop-up installation titled "Stay Human," at Fotografiska's newly opened U.S flagship museum, Fotografiska New York. Following the January 23rd preview, the installation will move to the Kimpton Eventi Hotel in Chelsea and then travel across the country to five additional Kimpton properties throughout 2020, with pop-ups at the EPIC in Miami, the Nine Zero in Boston, the Gray in Chicago, the Born in Denver and the Everly in Los Angeles. Kimpton is also partnering with Fujifilm Instax to create unique on-site photography experiences for Kimpton hotel guests across the country.

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The interactive installation spotlights original photography from acclaimed artists Evelyn Bencicova, Kelia Anne MacCluskey and Elizabeth Bick, and will feature an accompanying reimagined audio guide that enhances the photography through evocative sound design and a first-person narration from each artist on the inspiration behind the work. The installation was inspired by Kimpton's Stay Human campaign, which is grounded in the idea that in our world of rapid innovation and constant technological changes, people crave more authentic connections, personal experiences and humanity. Each artist interpreted the spirit of Stay Human in her own distinct way, disclosing her process and sentiment behind each photograph in the accompanying immersive audio guide track.

Photo: Kimpton

"We're deeply inspired by Fotografiska's mission to make photography more accessible and inclusive to all, particularly as we continue to explore what it means for travelers to be human today," says Kathleen Reidenbach, Chief Commercial Officer at Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. "This immersive installation is unlike any other and we can't wait for our guests to experience it - listening to these incredible artists tell you about their work first-hand brings our Stay Human campaign and perspective to life in a new meaningful way."

The collection of work was created specifically for the Kimpton installation with each artist having been hand-selected by Fotografiska New York's exhibitions team. Based in Berlin, Evelyn Bencicova specializes in photography and art direction, informed by her background in fine art and new media studies. Her artwork is never quite what it first appears to be, and explores a distinctive aesthetic in which the conceptual meets the visual. Kelia Anne MacCluskey is an LA-based photographer and director that often incorporates strong and conflicting visuals in her work, and aims to teeter on the line of absurdity. Elizabeth Bick is a New York-based photographer whose work is influenced by her training in classical and modern dance, often spotlighting uncontrolled human movement and the intersection of light and shadow. Additional background on each artist can be found here.

"Kimpton and Fotografiska have a shared commitment to fostering genuine connections and inspiring a more conscious world, so we couldn't be more thrilled to have Kimpton as our official hotel partner for our opening year," says Pam Harris, Executive Director at Fotografiska New York. "Together, we've organized this thought-provoking installation as a way to bring people together through the power of photography."

"There's always a story behind a photograph or piece of art. In Kimpton's design approach, we thoughtfully curate collections and works that are nuanced, inspired and un-formulaic," says Ave Bradley, Creative Director and Senior VP of Design at Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. "With this installation, we're lifting the veil and connecting the photographer to the viewer on a deeper level. It creates a multi-sensory art experience that transports and inspires our guests."

Following the premiere event at Fotografiska New York, the Kimpton x Fotografiska traveling installation will pop-up at the following Kimpton hotels from January to August 2020:

New York City (Kimpton Hotel Eventi): January 28 - February 25, 2020

(Kimpton Hotel Eventi): January 28 - February 25, 2020 Miami (Kimpton EPIC Hotel): March 4 - April 1, 2020

(Kimpton EPIC Hotel): March 4 - April 1, 2020 Boston (Kimpton Nine Zero Hotel): April 9 - May 7, 2020

(Kimpton Nine Zero Hotel): April 9 - May 7, 2020 Chicago (Kimpton Gray Hotel): May 15 - June 12, 2020

(Kimpton Gray Hotel): May 15 - June 12, 2020 Denver (Kimpton Hotel Born): June 20 - July 18, 2020

(Kimpton Hotel Born): June 20 - July 18, 2020 Los Angeles (Kimpton Everly Hotel): July 26 - August 23, 2020

View a selection of photography featured in the installation here, and explore the immersive Kimpton x Fotografiska audio guide to the traveling installation to enhance your visit, or to follow along from anywhere. Join the fun at Kimpton x Fotografiska activations taking place at Kimpton hotels across the country, including FUJIFILM Instax cameras on loan, Foto-gin-ic cocktails at Kimpton Wine Hours, local parties and visiting photographer experiences.

As the Official Hotel Partner of Fotografiska New York, Kimpton is featuring Kimpton x Fotografiska hotel packages at Kimpton Hotel Eventi and Kimpton Muse Hotel in NYC. The experiences include tickets to Fotografiska, camera rentals by FUJIFILM INSTAX, and two complimentary welcome drinks to be enjoyed before or after your Fotografiska adventure.

For more information on the Kimpton x Fotografiska partnership and traveling installation, please visit www.kimptonhotels.com/foto.

About Fotografiska New York

Fotografiska New York is the newest global outpost from the internationally renowned, Stockholm-based destination for photography. Located at 281 Park Avenue South, the six-floor, 45,000 sq ft. historic landmark is home to a multi-concept venue, featuring three floors of exhibition space, and a restaurant and bar named Veronika operated by the award-winning Starr Restaurants group and designed by Roman and Williams. A versatile event venue with vaulted ceilings and skylights hosts programming for the Fotografiska member community as well as private hire.

Since opening in Sweden in 2010, Fotografiska has become a haven of innovation, inclusivity and free expression. Guided by the brand pillars of inclusion, inspiration, innovation, sustainability and relevance, Fotografiska has become a global name synonymous with contemporary photography. Fotografiska's exhibition history and presentation of photography is powerful and unparalleled, and includes over 200 exhibitions to date, such as David LaChapelle, Annie Leibovitz, Albert Watson, Sally Mann, Cooper & Gorfer, Ren Hang, and Christian Tagliavini.

For tickets, memberships, and more information about Fotografiska New York, please visit www.fotografiska.com/nyc, or follow Fotografiska New York on Facebook and Instagram.
25.01.2020 LISTEN

As part of H.E, The president, NANA AKUFO ADDO and NPP government developmental agenda, the one - village - one - dam is one of the Nana Akufo Addo administration flagship programme aimed at all-year-round agricultural activities in the five Northern Regions of the Country to enhance food security in the country under the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme ( IPEP).

In 2017 budget, GH94, 446, 182 million earmarked for the construction of the dams to support farmers in both crops cultivation and rearing of livestock to boost the country food security for internal and external use.

During the President and the Vice President thanks given a tour in the five Northern Regions, The vice President H.E Dr. Alhaj Mahamudu Bawumia launched the one - village - one - dam flagship programme in the five Northern Regions comprise of Upper East Region,

Upper West Region,

Northern Region,

North East Region and

Savanna Region

He further stated that, 570 communities in these regions were farmers suffered seasonal rainfall challenges in the cultivation of food crops thus one - village - one - dam in these communities is necessary.

The minister for special development, Hon. Madam Mavis Hawa Koomson announced that 300 communities dams projects were been awarded for constructions in the five Northern Regions with which 174 communities dams in the northern Region,

83 communities dams in the Upper East Region and

43 communities dams in the Upper West Region.

In 2019, During H.E the President, Nana Akufo Addo visit in the Regions in His third time tour, with the minister for special development, Hon. Madam Mavis Hawa Koomson announced that most of the dams in the Upper East Region and the Upper West Region were completed and handed over to the chiefs of the various communities.

The following illustrated some of the dams constructed in the the Regions.

UPPER East Region.

1. Maritan dam in the pusiga constituency,

2. Asongezeri dam in the Nabdan constituency,

3. Gbedembilsi dam in the Builsa South,

4. Bilinsah dam in the Builsa North,

5. Sakaa dam in the chiana - paga constituency,

6. Kutanga dam in the Bawku central,

7. Anyorpia dam in the Bongo district.

8. Kuzugu dam in the Kasena - Nankana west district,

9. Kuliyaa dam in the Kasena - Nankana west district,

10. Kajelo dam in the Kasena- Nankana west district,

11. Katiu - Sas dam in the Kasena - Nankana west district,

12. Kayoro dam in the in the Kasena - Nankana west district,

13. 4 communities dams in the Garu - Tempane constituency,

14. 3 communities dams in the Bawku west,

15. 4 communities dams in the Binduri district,

16. 4 communities dams in the Pusiga district.

UPPER WEST REGION.

1 Tokuu in the Nandom district,

2. Tuopare dam in the Nandom district,

3. Kataa dam in the Wa East district,

4. Duose dam in the Wa East district,

5. Degri dam in the Wa West district,

6. Sentu dam in the Lambussie district,

7. Duong dam in the Nudowlikalbo district,

8. Singi dam,

9. Bihee dam,

10. Jonga dam,

11. Yibille dam etc These and many more dams have been constructed within the last three years in the administration of H. E the President, Nana Akufo Addo, and NPP government.

indeed Nana Akufo Addo DESERVES ANOTHER TERM TO DO MORE FOR THE INTEREST OF THE GOOD PEOPLE OF GHANA.

LONG LIVE GHANA

LONG LIVE FOSCO TESCON LONG LIVE NPP
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal read out the Preamble of the Constitution at the Republic Day celebration at Chhatrasal Stadium here on Saturday and asserted that the responsibility of protecting the Constitution lies with citizens of the country.

"We were gifted the Constitution by those who got freedom for the country by making huge sacrifices. It is the responsibility of 130 crore population of the country to protect it. If the

Constitution is protected, the country will sail through difficult circumstances easily," he said in his address at the 71st Republic Day celebration by the Delhi government.

Citing the Model Code of Conduct ahead of Delhi Assembly elections, Kejriwal kept his address short. "There are lots of conversations I have with you every year on Republic Day but due to the Model Code of Conduct, I will not be able to (do so) this year," he said.

The Chief Minister concluded the address with recital of "ham honge kamyab" song and slogans of "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Inquilab Zindabad".

Assembly elections in Delhi will be held on February 8.
For the third time in 20 years, a coronavirus has made the jump from animals to humans, and scientists are drawing on past experience to determine the best way to handle the deadly, rapidly spreading disease.

There's no specific treatment for coronaviruses  a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to pneumonia. With time, most people will recover on their own, doctors say.

The best way to treat symptoms is to take pain and fever medications, use a room humidifier or take a hot shower to help ease a sore throat and cough, drink plenty of liquids, and rest, the CDC says. That typically includes taking Tylenol, aspirin or decongestant, said Jay Cook, Chief Medical Officer at Providence Regional Medical Center in Washington, which received the first U.S. case of the Wuhan virus.

Treatment "is really supportive care," Cook said. "It's pretty miserable for a while, but the virus typically runs its course."

Coronavirus: Something far deadlier than the Wuhan virus lurks near you, right here in America

However, should the virus cause a secondary bacterial infection, doctors would prescribe antibiotics, Cook said. Sometimes a ventilator may be necessary.

Scientists are also investigating alternative approaches to treating the Wuhan coronavirus  including some antiviral medications and convalescent plasma treatments  but none have been FDA-approved. A vaccine, meanwhile, is still months or possibly years away.

"There are no drugs that are currently approved, so everything now is experimental," said Michael Ison, an infectious disease specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

There are seven strains of coronavirus that infect humans, according to Greg Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic Vaccine Research Group. Four are common colds, but three have "pathological significance": severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and, now, the Wuhan coronavirus, formally called the 2019 novel coronavirus.

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"This is the third one now," Poland said. "The previous two, SARS and MERS, were controlled with individual and population-level public health measures. No vaccine. No anti-viral. They were controlled with handwashing, face masks, isolation, etcetera. Theyre not high-tech, sexy solutions, but they are basic."

In 2003, SARS caused global panic when more than 8,000 people became sick and nearly 800 died across dozens of countries. A decade later, MERS began to spread to countries in and near the Arabian Peninsula, as well as in South Korea, killing more than 850 people. SARS has since been controlled, and MERS has been "essentially controlled," Poland said.

"We know about SARS and MERS and other coronaviruses. But this ones novel. We dont have a lot of information about how this virus interacts. We know nothing, for example, about how this will affect pregnant women, who are particularly vulnerable to influenza," Poland said.

Outbreak: Bogus coronavirus conspiracy theory about patents, vaccine spreads on social media

Health officials say the Wuhan virus is low-risk and probably spreads through tiny droplets when a person coughs or sneezes. The likelihood of contracting the coronavirus, and of suffering a severe case, increases among the elderly and people with pre-existing conditions.

It's still early on, but Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, estimates that about 4% of people who contract the Wuhan coronavirus die from it. The moratlity rate for SARS was closer to 9 or 10%, and, for MERs, about 30 to 35%, he said.

When the first U.S. case of Wuhan coronavirus arrived at Providence, hospital staff took an abundance of caution to wear protective clothing and treat the patient in isolation, Cook said. Doctors took a lab sample from the patient, sent it to the CDC in Atlanta and received the results within 24 hours, Cook said.

"The symptoms are almost the same (as the cold). There's really not a good way to tell the difference," Cook said. "You depend on laboratory tests."

The isolation room, which the hospital has kept up and running ever since the Ebola outbreak several years ago, has a variety of specialty features: negative air flow, a contained restroom and an adjacent room for personnel to don and doff their protective equipment.

"We used exactly the same processes that we would have used for Ebola," Cook said.

China, meanwhile, is addressing the outbreak on a large scale: Authorities in Wuhan said Friday they were constructing a 1,000-bed hospital to treat coronavirus patients. The hospital is planned for a 270,000-square-foot lot and will be completed early February.

Coronavirus vaccine: Drugmakers chase vaccine as virus spreads globally

"In the absence of a vaccine or treatment, the best way you contain outbreaks is to identify cases, isolate them, and trace contacts," Fauci said.

While the Wuhan coronavirus has drawn international attention in recent weeks, Poland encouraged people not to forget about the threat of influenza.

"Nobody worries about influenza, but my guess is far more people will die from influenza this year than from any coronavirus," Poland said. "If this were pandemic influenza but we called it something exotic like 'novel coronavirus,' people would be out of their minds. Yet people dont give it a second thought. We cant even get them get flu vaccines."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coronavirus in Wuhan, China: How do you treat? What are the symptoms?
Dinev earlier this month acknowledged his drivers license was suspended, but said he is not currently picking up fares and was alone in the vehicle when he was stopped by police. He also said he was unable to renew his companys certificate of operation because he has an outstanding debt to the city for unpaid rent at the Uptown train station where Park Ridge Dispatchs office used to be.


By Kim Hyun-bin



The commercialization of the fifth-generation (5G) technology garnered explosive popularity among the public in the beginning, attracting over 500,000 new subscribers each month from last April to October. But the demand was short-lived with the lack of the introduction of 5G smartphones, a shortage in marketing budgets and the unstable coverage, which have become barriers for telecommunication companies.



According to data released by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), there were 4,355,176 5G subscribers in November, but the increase month-on-month was 9.3 percent, marking the first single digit growth since April.



After the commercialization of the 5G network, over 500,000 subscribed each month hitting a peak in August with 882,831. However, in the following months the growth rate continuously dropped, 672,248 and 516,048 for September and October respectively.



The drop in the increase rate of subscribers can be attributed to the lack of new 5G smartphones and the shortage in spending on marketing.



"Usually, the year end is off-season and company marketing budgets are depleted. Also a lot of our budget was used when the new iPhone was released in October, but we began to boost marketing at the beginning of the year," a KT official said.



According to telecom companies, the new iPhone being LTE based also contributed to the decline in 5G subscribers.



The three major telecommunication companies SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus engaged in fierce competition in the initial stages of the commercialization of 5G networks, providing extensive discounts for customers purchasing 5G phones.



Telecom companies provided over 500,000 won in discounts for the Samsung Electronics Galaxy S10 5G and LG Electronics V50.



The extreme discounts led to poor performances. SKT's operating profit for the second quarter of last year was 322.8 billion won, a drop of 6.95 percent compared to the same period the previous year, while KT saw a 27.8 percent and LGU+ a 29.6 percent drop.



"There were large sums of money spent for marketing to attract initial 5G customers. Instead of engaging in price competition, now we will focus on enhancing the quality of the 5G network to appeal to customers," an official from one major telecom company said.



One of the biggest criticisms among 5G subscribers is the unstable coverage.



"I live in Seoul but sometimes the 5G network does not work so I need to switch the smartphone into LTE mode," said Kim Jung-ho, a Seoul resident in his 30s.



At the end of 2019, there were around 94,400 5G base stations, a major shortage in comparison to the 870,000 LTE base stations constructed around the country.



"It is difficult to increase the number of base stations and enhance quality in the short run. It will take an estimated three more years to construct more base stations to provide stable coverage. We also encountered a similar problem when we first launched the LTE network," another major telecom official said.



Because 5G has a shorter coverage range than LTE, in theory there needs to be 10 5G base stations to provide the same coverage as one LTE base station.




The government in Rajasthan on Saturday passed a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in the state assembly with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongly protesting the move led by the ruling Congress.

Rajasthan became the third state in the country after Kerala and Punjab to pass a resolution against the amended citizenship law.

BJP legislators went on the offensive with some of them crowding into the well of the House and shouted slogans as soon as the states parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal presented the resolution in the assembly.

The Congress resolution said CAA flouts the basic nature of the Constitution and that a substantial section of people believes that National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) have the same base.

It also said the the Census should continue only after taking back the new provision as introduced in NPR, it read.

The resolution further said that the amendments introduced recently under CAA divides people on religious grounds and also deprive a particular community of availing Indian citizenship.

It said many people will face inconveniences with the proposed additional information as sought under the CAA. Assam is a living example, it said.

It demanded the Centre revoke amendments in CAA and clear doubts on NPR.

Our Constitution clearly says India is a secular nation and Article 14 makes it clear that no person in the territory of India will be deprived of equality before law or equal protection of laws. The goal of the Citizenship Amendment Act-2019 i.e. CAA is to differentiate illegal immigrants on the basis of religion, according to the resolution.

Such a law has been brought which differentiates people on the basis of religion for the first time in the history of the country, it said. This will put the countrys secular fabric at risk.

No provision has been made in the CAA regarding migrants from other neighbouring countries such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan, which raises many questions, it added.

The CAA grants Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
By Julia Love and Lizbeth Diaz

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador faces growing criticism he is doing U.S. President Donald Trump's bidding after erecting a "wall" of security forces who clashed with Central American migrants near the Guatemala border this week.

Mexico, under the threat of punitive U.S. tariffs, has bowed to Trump's demands to contain mass movements of migrants travelling through the country toward the U.S. border.

Such concessions previously stirred little criticism from the Mexican public, due to president Lopez Obrador's reputation as a leftist supportive of the poor and foreign migrants.

But footage of Mexico's National Guard military police marching into Central Americans and using tear gas has triggered growing condemnation, including from the United Nations.

"It's a wall of riot shields," said Duncan Wood, director of the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute in Washington. "I didn't think I would live to see the day when Mexico would do this kind of thing."

Lopez Obrador defended the National Guard and migration officials at his regular news conference. He said the caravan of Central American migrants was not spontaneous, hinting that Honduran activists were driving it for political ends.

Previous Mexican governments have also faced criticism they were bending to Washington's will on migration.

Trump has made immigration a key issue in his re-election campaign and wants a wall built along the U.S-Mexico border.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Roberto Velasco rejected the notion that his government had effectively created Trump's wall along the Suchiate River separating Mexico and Guatemala.

"That's totally wrong," he said in response to a question on Mexican radio. "Unfortunately, Mexico has never developed a border, which means we inherited poor infrastructure."

Mexican offices of several U.N. agencies said they were worried about the impact Thursday's operations would have on children and other "vulnerable" groups.

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"Mexico has the right to control the entry of foreigners as long as there is no excessive use of force," the groups wrote in a joint statement, urging Mexico not to separate families.

On Thursday, National Guard members corralled families onto buses for detention and deportation.

Enrique Vidal of human rights group Fray Matias de Cordova, who witnessed the scenes, said National Guard members began clashes by marching on the migrants. Some migrants were beaten, while pepper spray affected pregnant women, children and people with disabilities, and one minor passed out, he added.

As Mexico put migrants into detention centres on Monday, Fray Matias recorded three cases of children separated from their parents from a few hours to up to two days, Vidal said.

He said Fray Matias and other rights groups have been stopped from visiting detention centres to monitor conditions, or have had to conduct interviews with security forces present.

Lopez Obrador has offered migrants jobs. But Vidal said that when they reached the southern border, migrants found "a military operation of containment and detention."

Under pressure from Trump, Mexico has deployed thousands of National Guard to stem migrant flows. Apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border have fallen about 70 percent over seven months.

However, Mexico's response has pushed migrants to take more dangerous routes, said Christopher Gascon, head of the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration's (IOM) Mexico mission.

"They put themselves in even riskier situations," he told Reuters.

As of Thursday, Mexico said it had transferred at least 800 migrants, including unaccompanied minors, to migration centres where they would be given food, medical attention and shelter.

Thousands of migrants have entered Guatemala from Honduras in recent days, one of the biggest surges since three Central American governments signed agreements with Washington obliging them to take on more of the burden of dealing with migrants.

(Reporting by Julia Love and Lizbeth Diaz; additional reporting by Raul Cortes and Dave Graham; Writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel, Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)
CAMEROON, Cameroon - The U.N. deputy chief said Friday there is an alarming crisis in education, pointing to the 258 million children under the age of 17 who are not going to school  and only 49 per cent completing secondary education.

In addition, about 770 million adults are illiterate, most of them women, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told the U.N. General Assembly on the International Day of Education.

She said the situation is alarming, not only because of the millions who arent getting an education  and never did  but also because of the crisis in the number of children, young people and adults who are in education, but not learning.

Former British prime minister Gordon Brown, the U.N. special envoy for education, has said he continues to be shocked that more than 400 million children leave school for good at age 11 or 12 and 800 million children are leaving the education system without any qualifications worth their name.

The U.N. goal for 2030 is to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.

At an event at the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in Paris, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said not only do we need massive investment, but an overhaul of educational systems is necessary.

To rethink education and prepare the coming generation to deal with major issues like the digital revolution and the climate emergency, Azoulay said UNESCO appointed a commission of independent experts last September led by Ethiopias President Sahle-Work Zewde to produce a report in November 2021 on the Futures of Education.

Brown said one reason why the situation is so grave today is that there are 75 million children in crisis-affected countries who are unable to go to school, have their education disrupted, and dont attain any educational standards.

Yasmine Sherif, director of Education Cant Wait which is the first global fund dedicated to education in emergencies, told a news conference at the U.N.: Just think what will happen with this generation, and with all of us one day, if these 75 million children dont access a proper, decent quality and continued education, she said.

The fund has received pledges of almost $590 million since it began three years ago and is helping youngsters in 30 conflict and crisis-affected countries from Syria and Afghanistan and Mali, Bangladesh and Central African Republic, she said.

Brown, who chairs the funds high-level steering group, said it is crucial for all levels of education. He said only a fraction of refugees  1-3 per cent  go on to higher education. compared, for example, with Syria where it was 20 per cent before the conflict began in 2011.

General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande told the U.N. event that there has been an increase in school enrolment rates worldwide, with more children going to, and staying in school longer.

While this is commendable, he said, it is unacceptable that 20 years into the 21st century about 258 million children and youth do not attend school, 617 million children and adolescents cannot read and do basic math and millions of refugees and internally displaced persons, and people with disabilities are out of school, he said.

Muhammad-Bande called this a blight and urged governments to ensure access to free and quality primary and secondary education, as well as affordable and inclusive vocational and technical education.

Deputy Secretary-General Mohammed said: This international day must be a call to action ... so that quality education for all is no longer a goal for tomorrow, but a reality.
BEIJING - China's leader on Saturday called the accelerating spread of a new virus a grave situation, as cities from the outbreak's epicenter in central China to Hong Kong scrambled to contain an illness that has infected more than 1,200 people and killed 41.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/1/2020 (718 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Passengers from United flight UA850 direct from Beijing arrive at Terminal 5 at O'Hare International Airport, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020 in Chicago. A Chicago woman has become the second U.S. patient diagnosed with the dangerous new virus from China, health officials announced Friday. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune via AP)

BEIJING - China's leader on Saturday called the accelerating spread of a new virus a grave situation, as cities from the outbreak's epicenter in central China to Hong Kong scrambled to contain an illness that has infected more than 1,200 people and killed 41.

President Xi Jinping's remarks, reported by state broadcaster CCTV, came at a meeting of Communist Party leaders convened on Lunar New Year  the country's biggest holiday whose celebrations have been muted  and underlined the government's urgent, expanding efforts to control the outbreak.

Travel agencies have been told to halt all group tours, the state-owned English-language China Daily newspaper reported, citing the China Association of Travel Services.

In this Friday, Jan. 24, 2020, photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, a medical worker attends to a patient in the intensive care unit at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province. China expanded its lockdown against the deadly new virus to an unprecedented 36 million people and rushed to build a prefabricated, 1,000-bed hospital for victims Friday as the outbreak cast a pall over Lunar New Year, the country's biggest, most festive holiday. (Xiong Qi/Xinhua via AP)

Millions of people travelling during the holiday have fueled the spread of the outbreak nationwide and overseas after it began in the city of Wuhan in central China. The vast majority of the infections and all the deaths have been in mainland China, but fresh cases are popping up.

Australia and Malaysia reported their first cases Saturday  four each and Japan, its third.

Canada reported its first case Saturday in Toronto. Officials said the man is his 50s and recently flew from Wuhan to Guangzhou, China and then on to Toronto on Jan. 23.

France confirmed three cases Friday, the first in Europe, and the U.S. identified its second, a woman in Chicago who had returned from China.

In this combination image of photos taken Feb. 6, 2019, top, and Jan. 25, 2020, bottom, people walk under a canopy of spinning fans for a Lunar New Year temple fair that was held in 2019 and canceled in 2020. China's most festive holiday began in 2020 in the shadow of a worrying new virus as the death toll surpassed 40, an unprecedented lockdown kept 36 million people from traveling and authorities canceled a host of Lunar New Year events. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

In the heart of the outbreak where 11 million residents are already on lockdown, Wuhan banned most vehicle use, including private cars, in downtown areas starting Sunday, state media reported. Only authorized vehicles would be permitted, the reports said.

The city will assign 6,000 taxis to neighbourhoods, under the management of resident committees, to help people get around if they need to, China Daily said.

In Hong Kong, leader Carrie Lam said her government will raise its response level to emergency, the highest one, and close primary and secondary schools for two more weeks on top of next week's Lunar New Year holiday. They will reopen Feb. 17.

Lam said direct flights and trains from Wuhan would be blocked.

People walk past a checkpoint for temperature checks and mandatory face masks at the Qinhuai scenic zone in Nanjing in eastern China's Jiangsu province, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020. The virus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan, already on lockdown, banned most vehicle use downtown and Hong Kong said it would close schools for two weeks as authorities scrambled Saturday to stop the spread of an illness that is known to have infected more than 1,200 people and killed 41, according to officials. (Chinatopix via AP)

In a sign of the growing strain on Wuhan's health care system, the official Xinhua news agency reported that the city planned to build a second makeshift hospital with about 1,000 beds. The city has said another hospital was expected to be completed Feb. 3.

The new virus comes from a large family of what are known as coronaviruses, some causing nothing worse than a cold. It causes cold- and flu-like symptoms, including cough and fever, and in more severe cases, shortness of breath. It can worsen to pneumonia, which can be fatal.

China cut off trains, planes and other links to Wuhan on Wednesday, as well as public transportation within the city, and has steadily expanded a lockdown to 16 surrounding cities with a combined population of more than 50 million  greater than that of New York, London, Paris and Moscow combined.

China's biggest holiday, Lunar New Year, unfolded Saturday in the shadow of the virus. Authorities cancelled a host of events, and closed major tourist destinations and movie theatres.

A shopper wearing goggles, a face mask and gloves uses a self checkout machine at a supermarket in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020. The virus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan, already on lockdown, banned most vehicle use downtown and Hong Kong said it would close schools for two weeks as authorities scrambled Saturday to stop the spread of an illness that is known to have infected more than 1,200 people and killed 41, according to officials. (Chinatopix via AP)

Temples locked their doors, Beijing's Forbidden City and Shanghai Disneyland closed, and people cancelled restaurant reservations ahead of the holiday, normally a time of family reunions, sightseeing trips and other festivities in the country of 1.4 billion people.

We originally planned to go back to my wifes hometown and bought train tickets to depart this afternoon, said Li Mengbin, who was on a stroll near the closed Forbidden City. We ended up cancelling. But Im still happy to celebrate the new year in Beijing, which I hadnt for several years.

Temples and parks were decorated with red streamers, paper lanterns and booths, but some places started dismantling the decor.

People in China wore medical masks to public places like grocery stores, where workers dispensed hand sanitizer to customers. Some parts of the country had checkpoints for temperature readings and made masks mandatory.

The National Health Commission reported a jump in the number of infected people, to 1,287. The latest tally, from 29 provinces and cities across China, included 237 patients in serious condition.

Of the 41 deaths, 39 have been in Hubei province, where Wuhan is the capital city. Most of the deaths have been older patients, though a 36-year-old man in Hubei died this week.

French automaker PSA Group says it will evacuate its employees from Wuhan, quarantine them and then bring them to France. The Foreign Ministry said it was working on "eventual options" to evacuate French citizens from Wuhan who want to leave. It didn't elaborate.

The National Health Commission said it is bringing in medical teams to help handle the outbreak, a day after videos circulating online showed throngs of frantic people in masks lined up for examinations and complaints that family members had been turned away at hospitals that were at capacity.

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The Chinese military dispatched 450 medical staff, some with experience in past outbreaks, including SARS and Ebola, who arrived in Wuhan late Friday to help treat many patients hospitalized with viral pneumonia, Xinhua reported.

Xinhua also said medical supplies are being rushed to the city, including 14,000 protective suits, 110,000 pairs of gloves and masks and goggles.

The rapid increase in reported deaths and illnesses does not necessarily mean the crisis is getting worse but could reflect better monitoring and reporting of the virus.

It is not clear how lethal the new coronavirus is or even whether it is as dangerous as the ordinary flu, which kills tens of thousands of people every year in the U.S. alone.

___

Associated Press writer Rob Gillies, Associated Press researcher Henry Hou and video journalist Dake Kang contributed to this report.
A committee of parliamentarians drawn up to suggest ways to combat spread of child pornography has recommended digital messaging and social networking service providers be made to bypass end-to-end encryption to track down suspects and all devices sold in India must have new software that detects attempts to access such content.

The suggestions cover legislative, technical, social, institutional and educational interventions such as making intermediaries  companies like Facebook that runs WhatsApp and Google that owns Gmail  adhere to a code of conduct to make the internet safer for children and for changes to existing laws that make punishment harsher for convicts and gives the government more powers to block suspect online content.

It (the committee) also feels that the Prime Minister should take the lead in building up a global political alliance to combat child pornography on social media along the lines of the initiative he took to create the International Solar Alliance. He could do this either at the G-20 or at the United Nations, said the report that was submitted to Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday.

The committee has also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to flag the issue of child pornography and the measures required to combat it in his radio broadcast Mann Ki Baat and that there must be mandatory apps on all devices sold in India that monitors childrens access to pornographic content.

The 14-member committee, led by Congress MP Jairam Ramesh, was set up in December by Naidu after some members voiced concern over widespread misuse of social media for accessing pornographic content and child abuse. The committee met with stakeholders such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and ShareChat.

Among the other recommendations is introducing new provisions in Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) act to punish anyone who reaches out to a child with the intent of  whether personally or on behalf of someone else  sexual assault.

A third key recommendation was to amend the information technology law to punish people letting children access or pornography or those that play a part in sharing pornographic content involving children.

Campaigns in schools to dissuade risky sexual behaviour such as sexting, a new tip line and cooperation with foreign countries to track down illegal sexual content on platforms such as the dark web were among other significant suggestions.

Digital rights activists said the technical recommendations were problematic since such measures can potentially create a mass surveillance infrastructure since there are little legal safeguards against government snooping. Such oversight is a product of the committee concluding its entire work within 4 weeks and not putting out a call for evidence or invited experts from the fields of gender, childcare or digital rights, said Apar Gupta of Internet Freedom Foundation, a non-governmental organisation that works for online freedom.

End-to-end encryption is a security practice standard across the world and makes digital communications virtually impossible to snoop on. At present, companies such as Facebook cooperate with authorities by giving access to data stored on their servers.

The Posco act was amended in August to make punishments stricter for many offences, and including provisions that for the first time laid down punishment for using children in acts of pornography. Lawmakers are still fine-tuning more regulations for digital companies to check the spread of content such as child pornography and rumours that incite violence.

The committee also suggested that some NGOs/activists should be allowed to carry out investigations to trace abusers of children by using child pornographic content as bait once they obtain approval for a new nodal agency that it also recommended be set up.
Sharad Pawar, the 79-year-old NCP president enjoys 'Z+' category protection in Maharashtra, where his party is a key constituent in the Shiv Sena-led government.

Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Friday accused the Centre of withdrawing its chief Sharad Pawar's security at his official residence in New Delhi and charged it with playing "vendetta politics".

Maharashtra minister and NCP's chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said party leaders cannot be scared off with such a move.

"The party's fight against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will continue," he asserted.

Malik said Pawar, a Rajya Sabha MP and former Union minister, had 'Y' category security cover in the National Capital.

The security personnel deployed at Pawar's residence at 6 Janpath in the National Capital stopped reporting at the bungalow since 20 January and there was no prior intimation from the government about it, he added.

"This is a kind of vendetta politics. They think NCP leaders will be deterred by this. It is their misconception. The fight against Modi and Shah will continue," the Minority

Affairs Minister said.

His party and ministerial colleague Jayant Patil also slammed the BJP and linked the alleged move of the Centre to the saffron outfit losing power in Maharashtra.

"From by-lanes to Delhi, the BJP has taken it to heart the change of power in Maharashtra. Therefore, the BJP is behaving with vengeance. This is detrimental to the democracy!" tweeted Patil, the state NCP president who is also the water resources minister.

The 79-year-old NCP president enjoys 'Z+' category protection in Maharashtra, where his party is a key constituent in the Shiv Sena-led government.

Pawar had played the lead role in crafting the three-party ruling coalition in Maharashtra in November, 2019. The Congress is the third constituent of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi.
free tax help

Doing your taxes

IRS Free File

This year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is again offering the IRS Free File program. Free File is available to any taxpayers who earned $69,000 or less in the 2019 tax year.

If you qualify, Free Files tax preparation software partners will offer you one or more free commercial tax prep services. You can even use the program to file your taxes electronically, with no additional cost. Depending on the software you get, you may also have access to free state income tax filing.

If you earn more than $69,000 a year, youll still have access to some of Free Files features. You can prepare your tax returns electronically, rather than needing to use a pen and paper. The forms will also check your math, so you dont make any mistake. Errors could cause a delay when the IRS processes your tax return.

Last year, some tax preparation software providers may have made it difficult for those qualifying for Free File to find the appropriate free service. Some users felt pushed toward competing products. They also were charged fees for a service that they believed was free. That left many taxpayers feeling cheated.

This year, Free File providers cant prevent their Free File page from showing up in and internet search. Meanwhile, providers cant charge qualified taxpayers fees for federal return preparation and electronic filing.

If you qualify for the Free File program, and want to make sure you have a legitimate offer, you can check the name. Legitimate offers should be called IRS Free File Program Delivered By and then end with the name of the tax software provider or software platform.

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, or VITA, is a program partly funded by IRS grants, with locations in shopping malls, schools, and libraries. IRS-certified volunteers offer tax-preparation services to low and moderate income filers, older Americans, individuals with disabilities, and those with limited English language skills. In general, your income must be below $55,000 per year to qualify for VITAs free tax help. Most VITA sites are available from February until April, but some sites remain open until the filing extension deadline in October. VITA can help you prepare your tax return, and most locations will also e-file your tax return for you. This IRS tool can help you find your local VITA site, or you can call toll-free at 800-906-9887.

Story continues

Tax Counseling for the Elderly

Tax Counseling for the Elderly, or TCE, is available to individuals age 60 and older. The program offers tax preparation and counseling services from IRS-certified volunteers. TCE is partially funded by IRS grants, which partners with local non-profits to train volunteers to help senior citizens with their tax returns. You can find a TCE location and learn more about the program by calling 888-227-7669 toll-free.

AARP Tax-Aide

free tax help

If you have a low to moderate income, you can get free tax help from IRS-certified volunteers from Feb. 1 until April 15. This program has been around for over 50 years. You dont have to be an AARP member, and there is no age requirement to get free tax help. AARP offers a Tax-Aide Site Locator so you can find a location near you, or you can call 888-227-7669 toll-free.

MilTax and the Armed Forces Tax Council

The Armed Forces Tax Council, part of the IRS-funded VITA program, offers free tax help for military personnel. It specially trains volunteers in tax issues that military members frequently encounter.

MilTax is a Department of Defense program that provides free tax software from H&R Block as well as financial and legal resources and other help to military personnel and military families. You can also speak to a tax adviser at no cost by calling the Military OneSource Tax Hotline at 800-730-3802.

Low Income Taxpayer Clinics

The Low Income Taxpayer Clinic Program (LITC) receives some funding from the IRS and is supervised by the Taxpayer Advocate Service. The program is designed to help people and families with incomes lower than 250% of the federal poverty limit. However, each individual clinic will decide if a taxpayer meets their guidelines. The program provides low-cost or free tax help to taxpayers who need assistance solving tax problems, like income tax audits and tax collection disputes. LITCs are operated by nonprofits, universities, and law schools. They can also offer legal representation if you have go to tax court to resolve your tax issues, and assistance to individuals whose primary language is not English. The IRS has an online directory of tax clinics.

Other Free Tax Help

Tax issues dont always involve filing a return. If youre having other problems with your taxes, other services can assist you:

Taxpayer Assistance Centers

Although these centers cant actually help you prepare a tax return, they offer free assistance in setting up payment plans, understanding letters from the IRS, and solving any tax problems. They will also review your documents before you file to help make sure you have everything in order. These centers are mainly in larger cities, and youll need to make an appointment ahead of time. You can check the IRS website to find a center near you.

Taxpayer Advocate Service

If you havent been able to solve your tax problems by dealing directly with the IRS, the Taxpayer Advocate Service can help you. The taxpayer advocate service should be used when you have an issue bigger than simply trying to file your return. The organization reports directly to Congress and is independent from the IRS. It helps both businesses and individuals who are having long-term struggles with a tax issue, no matter what their income level. You can call them toll-free at 877-777-4778.

The Bottom Line

free tax help

If youre going to be using any of these services, make sure you have all your tax documents and other important information available, including all

Tax Tips

If youre able to afford professional tax help, it can be a great investment. A tax preparer or tax accountant can help you figure out what deductions youre able to claim based off of your job, filing status, and lifestyle. You can also work with a financial advisor. Finding the right financial advisor that fits your needs doesnt have to be hard. SmartAssets free tool matches you with financial advisors in your area in 5 minutes. If youre ready to be matched with local advisors that will help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.

If you want professional tax help maximizing your deductions, but would prefer to use an online service, TurboTax or TaxSlayer can help you minimize your tax bill and maximize your refund.

Photo credit: iStock.com/Feverpitched, iStock.com/Natee Meepian, iStock.com/NoDerog

The post How to Get Free Tax Help appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.
By CALVIN WOODWARD and HOPE YEN

WASHINGTON (AP)  President Donald Trump gave a false account Wednesday of some of the circumstances that got him impeached.

As the Senate impeachment trial wrestled with the fate of his presidency, Trump offered distorted statements about how the episode developed. He claimed Ukraine got U.S. military aid early, when the package of assistance at the heart of the impeachment case was conspicuously late.

In a claim easily refuted by the calendar, but often repeated by him nonetheless, Trump said he only released a rough transcript of his phone call with Ukraine's president because a Democrat had misstated the content of the call. In fact, Trump released it before that Democrat gave his account of the call.

The White House, as an institution, joined in the distortion, contending Trump never pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to announce an investigation during their phone conversation. Trump actually devoted much of the call to pressing for such a probe, and witnesses testified he exerted pressure in other ways for such a probe to be declared publicly.

A look at some of Trump's claims from the economic forum in Davos, Switzerland, and statements by others in the matter:

IMPEACHMENT and UKRAINE

TRUMP, on military aid to Ukraine: Remember this, they got their money and they got it early."  interview Wednesday with Fox Business Network.

TRUMP: They got their money long before schedule.  news conference.

THE FACTS: They got the money months late.

Congress approved nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine in the early months of 2019. U.S. officials involved with the aid learned in the summer that Trump had ordered the assistance to held back, as he pressed Ukraine to announce an investigation of Democrats.

It was released Sept. 11, only after a whistleblower's complaint about Trump's pressure on Ukraine had surfaced and a few days after Democrats in Congress opened the investigation.

Previous rounds of assistance were not similarly disrupted.

___

TRUMP, on Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead impeachment manager for the Senate trial: I'd watch his lies. I watch where they've actually played a rerun, which they shouldn't even do, it was so bad, where he goes before Congress, and he makes a statement that I made, and it was a total fraud. I never made it. That's why I released the conversation, because if I didn't release it, people would have said that I made the statement that he made. This guy is a fraud.  Fox interview.

THE FACTS: No, Schiff spoke after Trump released the rough transcript of his July phone call, not before. Trump's claimed motive for coming out with the transcript is demonstrably untrue.

The White House released the account of the conversation on Sept. 25. Schiff gave his account on Sept. 26, while leading a House Intelligence Committee hearing on the matter, as the panel chairman.

Trump has made much of Schiff's account, seizing on how the Democrat put words in Trump's mouth in describing the president's conversation with Ukraine's leader. Schiff made clear in the hearing he was not to be taken literally  he said he was characterizing Trump's conversation in not so many words," attempting to describe the essence of it, and doing something of a parody.

Schiff based his account on the rough transcript. He obviously did not cause it to be released.

___

THE WHITE HOUSE: Schiff keeps lying. At no point on the call did President Trump ask President Zelensky to announce investigations.  tweet Wednesday after Schiff's opening argument in the Senate trial.

THE FACTS: The White House accusation is both groundless and hairsplitting. Schiff did not say that Trump demanded that Ukraine's leader announce an investigation during the phone call.

Schiff said: President Trump pressured the president of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations. That comports with testimony given to his House committee. In essence, Trump wanted that announcement but didn't ask for it in the phone call. The pressure came in other ways.

The rough transcript of the call, to which the White House tweet links, actually shows Trump repeatedly pressing Zelenskiy to investigate Joe Biden and Democrats. He did not demand in that call that Zelenskiy announce it. He pressed him to conduct it.

After brief opening chatter about Zelenskiy's election win, Trump quickly if obliquely raises a grievance: The U.S. has been good to Ukraine, he said, but thats not necessarily been reciprocated because things are happening that are not good.

When Zelenskiy says Ukraine is almost ready to buy more anti-tank missiles from the U.S., Trump immediately  and now famously  responds, according to the rough transcript: I would like you to do us a favor, though." He adds: "I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation.

Thus begins an extended exchange, consuming most of Trump's remaining remarks, about Trump wanting Ukraine to do the probe and to have his personal lawyer and the U.S. attorney general involved, resolving we will get to the bottom of it. I'm sure you will figure it out. He dangles the possibility of a White House visit for Zelenskiy before they conclude.

Gordon Sondland, Trump's EU ambassador and a point man in the effort to get Ukraine to do what the president wanted, testified in Schiff's hearings that Trump didn't actually care if the Ukrainians followed through on a probe. He just cared that an investigation be announced, he said.

___

TRUMP, on Ukraine aid: There's something else I'm always stressing. Why isn't Germany and France and U.K. and all these other countries in Europe that are much more affected than us, why aren't they paying something?  Fox interview.

THE FACTS: They are paying plenty.

European Union institutions have provided far more development assistance to Ukraine than the $204 million from Washington. Specific EU members as well as Japan and Canada also contribute significantly.

Since 2014, the EU and European financial institutions have mobilized more than $16 billion to help Ukraine's economy, counter corruption, build institutions and strengthen its sovereignty against further incursions by Russia after its annexation of Crimea.

The U.S. is a heavy source of military assistance. The aid package held back by Trump as he pressed Ukraine to investigate Democrats was worth nearly $400 million. But NATO also contributes a variety of military-assistance programs and trust funds for Ukraine. In most such cases, the programs are modest and NATO countries other than the U.S. take the lead.

___

TRUMP on his July phone call with Zelenskiy: The president of Ukraine said it was perfect."  Davos news conference.

THE FACTS: No, Ukraine's president didn't say that.

While Zelenskiy initially said there was no discussion of a quid pro quo, he told Time last month that Trump should not have blocked military aid to Ukraine. Zelenskiy also criticized Trump for casting the country as corrupt.

On that call discussing military aid, Trump asked Zelenskiy to investigate Trumps political rivals in the U.S.

Look I never talked to the president from the position of a quid pro quo, Zelenskiy said. But you have to understand. Were at war. If youre our strategic partner, then you cant go blocking anything for us. I think thats just about fairness."

Its true that in early October, Zelenskiy had told reporters there was no pressure or blackmail from the U.S. But he did not state the call with Trump was perfect.

In any event, Zelenskiy knew months before the call that much-needed U.S. military support might depend on whether he was willing to help Trump by investigating Democrats.
Nepal government sources on Saturday clarified that National Register of Citizens (NRC) is India's issue and Kathmandu is not concerned about it.

Sources added that they haven't spoken to New Delhi regarding NRC. They also said that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah have made it clear that the exercise is India's internal affair.

"We haven't spoken to the Indian Government, regarding NRC. They (Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah) made it clear and it has not been necessary to talk about it, it's an issue of India," claimed a Nepal government source.

.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mitch McConnell pictured walked to his office ahead of the hearing: Getty

Senators heard the contours of an impeachment defence strategy on Saturday that promises to be vintage Donald Trump: Bold, personal, on the attack  and always thinking about his re-election bid.

Within moments of the Trump defence team beginning their case, the tone of the trial changed. They spoke in more pointed tones, at times almost repeating Mr Trumps tweets and fiery lines at political rallies, official events and over the loud hum of Marine One on the White Houses South Lawn. The lawyers discussed matters unrelated to the impeachment articles House Democrats passed late last year, and echoed the president by attacking an intelligence community officer whose complaint about his actions towards Ukraine prompted the entire impeachment affair.

The presidents lawyers are working for a man who believes that the best defence is a good offence, William Galston, who worked for also-impeached Bill Clintons White House, told The Independent.

Of the remaining two days of the defence teams time, Mr Galston expects more of the same: Id expect lots of attacks on the witnesses, the whistleblower, House Democrats, and the Bidens, coupled with the argument that what the president did does not come close to grounds for removal from office.

Legal experts pounced quickly when Patrick Philbin, deputy counsel to the president, suggested that the whistleblower acted not out of concerns about national security but because of an alleged political bias.

Nothing about the whistleblower (even bias if it existed) matters. He tipped the police off to the bank robbery. The tip has no bearing on the evidence compiled during the investigation that proves the crime. This is just a big red herring. Dont be distracted, Joyce White Vance, a former US attorney, tweeted.

Since House Democrats opened their impeachment inquiry last October, Mr Trump has accused them of trying to take down his presidency because they know they cannot defeat him in November. His lawyers on Saturday wasted no time in making the Senates impeachment trial as much about the next election as the charges the president is facing.

Story continues

A sometimes-animated White House Counsel Pat Cipollone accused the Democratic managers of asking you to tear up all of the ballots across this country, adding: I dont think they spent one minute of their 24 hours talking to you about the consequences of that for our country.

The tactic was vintage Mr Trump. Thats because the president often takes a charge levied against him and turns it around on an opponent. House Democrats spent the last three days telling senators that he was out to steal an election. So Mr Cipollone did what his boss would do: he accused them of the same thing.

The top White House lawyer turned back to the Trump-like tactic as he wrapped up the rare Saturday session. With his client having been impeached on an abuse of power charge, Mr Cipollone projected that same offence onto the 100 senators who will decide Mr Trumps fate.

We ask you out of respect to think about whether what youve heard would really suggest to anybody anything other than it would be a completely irresponsible abuse of power to do what theyre asking you to do: to stop an election, he said. To interfere in an election. And to remove the president of the United States from the ballot. Let the people decide for themselves.

Mark Rom, a Georgetown University public policy professor and a former congressional aide, called the case and approach the defence team laid out perfectly predictable.

Trumps defence is seeking to deny, dissemble, discredit and disavow any suggestion that Mr Trump in any way acted inappropriately in his conduct with Ukraine, Mr Rom said as the Saturday session closed. The relevant jury is not in fact the Senate. It is President Trump, and the voters who support him.

Another favourite Trump tactic his legal team deployed on Saturday was to use certain words over and over. The president has done the same since taking office, making such words and phrases like fake news part of the national vocabulary.

Deputy White House counsel Michael Purpura spoke for nearly a half hour, trying to rip apart House Democrats case. He accused them of cherry-picking evidence and excluding information that would exonerate Mr Trump.

Thats a word the president used last year following the release of the former special counsel Robert Muellers election meddling report. The former FBI director did not exonerate Mr Trump, but that did not stop him from using the word over and over again.

Then there were Mr Trumps lawyers attempts to distance their client from some of the key witnesses who delivered damning testimony against him during the Houses impeachment process.

Most of the Democrats witnesses have never spoken to the president at all, Mr Purpura told senators. That sounded a lot like Mr Trumps claims  even when there is evidence to the contrary  that he doesnt know someone who might create political or legal heartburn for him.

Jay Sekulow, one of Mr Trumps lawyers, held up Mr Muellers report and again and again, and said it failed to prove Mr Trumps 2016 campaign organisation colluded with Russia in order to gain an advantage over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

The Mueller reports findings have nothing to do with the Ukraine matter, making Mr Sekulows inclusion confusing. No matter, however, because it surely pleased his client  Mr Trump still brings up the Mueller report almost weekly.

The president often describes himself as a unique chief executive, claiming his America first approach has produced a string of accomplishments  trade deals and deceased terrorist leaders that his predecessors lacked the gumption to pull off. Mr Sekulows argument about his clients actions towards Ukraine was as blunt as it was simple: Mr Trumps approach was new but the president did nothing wrong.

Disagreeing with the presidents decision on foreign policy matters and whose advice he is going to take is in no way an impeachable offence, Mr Sekulow said. Had he then played Mr Trumps political rally walk-off song  The Rolling Stones You Cant Always Get What You Want  it would have been fitting.

Impeachment Trump

At the White House, the press office called a lid about 20 minutes after Mr Trumps attorneys began laying out their case. That means the group of journalists responsible for tracking his movements and statements on Saturday were dismissed. The early lid was a sign the president would not be moving far from television coverage of his own defence.

Likely sensing their client was watching, they opted to go right at House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff, who closed House Democrats case on Friday night by describing Mr Trump as a corrupt king who should be swiftly kicked out of the Oval office.

In a move that surely pleased Mr Trump, Mr Purpura played a video clip of Mr Schiffs now-infamous parody last year of the presidents 25 July call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. Although the House Intelligence chair led his hyperbolic version of the talk, based on a White House-prepared summary, by saying his parody was in so many words, Mr Trump has used it to rhetorically bludgeon the man he calls Shifty Schiff.

Thats not the evidence. Thats fake, Mr Purpura said of Mr Schiffs satire. Lets stick to the evidence.

Also playing a big role in the defence teams presentation was that very White House transcript of the Trump-Zelensky call.

Mr Purpura and company echoed Mr Trump by contending that the document is an actual transcript of the conversation. Yet, that very White House-crafted document states it is not a verbatim account of the Trump-Zelensky chat. No matter for the defence team, however. If the boss says its a transcript, they will too.

Their strategy appears as much about election day in nine months than the Senates final votes on the two articles of impeachment in the coming days. So, as Georgetowns Rom noted, contending the call summary is a word-for-word transcript that Democrats have twisted should help keep Mr Trumps conservative political base motivated to get to their polling place in November.

Choppy waters, however, could still lie ahead for the defence team.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer of New York wasted little time finding a group or reporters and television cameras at the Capitol following the Trump teams presentation. With a grin, he contended the presidents lawyers inadvertently made Senate Democrats case about witnesses for them. Thats because the lawyers panned the Democratic managers for leaving out this and that during their case-making; Mr Schumer said any holes in his partys case could be plugged by new witnesses and documents.

The legal team has two days to come up with a convincing argument on another potentially troublesome claim, Mr Galston said.

The defence team is on notice because their coming claim that you cant impeach/remove without an actual crime, he said, is going to get a chilly reception  even among some of the presidents supporters.

Read more

Trump sides with Bernie Sanders in row with Elizabeth Warren

Trump lawyer begins impeachment defence with warning to senators

Obama ally says voters lack of impeachment interest is chilling

Senate Republicans might not even want Trump to win

Trump to conservatives at pro-life rally: You still need me
Advertisement

A shocking photograph of Aboriginal men lined up, shackled with heavy chains around their necks, and being guarded by white men armed with rifles is just one of many confronting images captured in the late 1800s.

Black and white photos have emerged showing the cruel treatment of Indigenous Australians at the hands of white settlers in the late 1900s.

Other harrowing pictures depict Aboriginal men and boys chained together, standing or sitting, wearing just a cloth around their waists.

Aboriginals lined up, shackled by neck chains and wearing just a pair of briefs with white men standing guard, pictured with a huge rifle is just one many chilling images that have emerged

The shocking black and white photos showcase the cruel ways Aboriginal people were treated from the late 1890s

Huge groups of Aboriginal men and boys are pictured chained together, standing or sitting, wearing just a cloth around their waist, as white police men and 'Aboriginal trackers' stand beside them with four rifles

Aboriginal prisoners (pictured) were chained and forced to lay a railway near Derby, Western Australia, about 1897

The photos, taken between 1890 and the 1930s, show Aboriginal prisoners being captured moments after being caught committing petty crimes such as killing cattle.

The raw images show rows of chained Indigenous people standing under the shade of a tree with police men and 'Aboriginal trackers' pictured with four huge rifles.

Police were paid per indigenous prisoner and cruelly brought them into jail using chains.

While some Aboriginal prisoners are captured working on a boat, other prisoners were forced to lay railways in Derby, Western Australia.

In early Australia, incarceration was used as a tool to weaken the Aboriginal Australians and they were often arrested for petty crimes such as stealing and killing cattle.

The confronting collection of photographs show Aboriginal prisoners across the country, from on board ships to working on wharf rail lines and chained to railway wagons.

Some Aboriginal prisoners are captured on a boat (pictured) while other prisoners were forced to lay railways

Police were paid per indigenous prisoner and cruelly brought them into jail using chains where they were forced to work

In early Australia, incarceration was used as a tool to weaken the Aboriginal people and were often arrested for petty crimes

The haunting collection of photographs show Aboriginal people chained, captioned 'Native Prisoners on N.2', in about 1930

A chilling image shows one lonely Aboriginal man (pictured) standing in chains as he leans against a tree with a piece corrugated iron at the stump of the tree as well as a hat and pile of cloth

One of the photos is captioned 'native prisoners on N2', which is believed to be a ship, shows 12 Aboriginal men lined up with chains to their necks, dressed in rags.

Two white men were photographed leading one Indigenous prisoner by a chain alongside three horses and whip in hand around 1910.

At least 22 Aboriginal prisoners are seen to be chained together while standing in a shallow river of water wearing a cloth around the groin region.

Another image shows white man dressed in shirt and trousers holding a chain connected to two elderly Indigenous prisoners

Hundreds of Aboriginal prisoners were captured and chained, forced to work on many projects including laying rails

Two white men are pictured with three horses, with one of them leading an Aboriginal man by a chain to his neck

At least 20 Indigenous Australians were photographed standing in a shallow river, all chained together (pictured)

Haunting photos show the disturbing history and abuse of aboriginal people in the early twentieth century (pictured 1930)

Another image shows a white man dressed in a shirt and trousers holding a chain that is connected to two elderly looking Indigenous prisoners.

A chilling image shows one lonely Aboriginal man standing in chains as he leans against a tree with a piece corrugated iron at the stump of the tree as well as a hat and pile of cloth.

A line of Indigenous men were photographed at the turn of the century wearing chains during their transit to jail, surrounded by what appears to be white first class citizens.

Australia is marking their ten year anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)

One decade ago, the declaration was passed to combat the discrimination, marginalisation and human rights violations of the 370 million Indigenous people living in more than seventy countries today

A line of Indigenous men were photographed at the turn of the century wearing chains during their transit to jail (pictured)

At least 30 Aboriginal prisoners are pictured chained together being led to Cossack Goal in Western Australia around 1902

Shocking images of entrapped Indigenous Australians serve as a reminder of the dark past and oppression that was suffered

The haunting photos show the disturbing history and abuse of aboriginal people in the early twentieth century.

Australia is marking their ten year anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

One decade ago, the declaration was passed to combat the discrimination, marginalisation and human rights violations of the 370 million Indigenous people living in more than seventy countries today.

A decade since this landmark legislation, shocking images of entrapped Indigenous Australians emerged, serving as a reminder of the dark past and oppression that was suffered.
London: British police are to start operational use of live facial recognition (LFR) cameras in London, despite warnings over privacy from rights groups and concerns expressed by the government's own surveillance watchdog.

First used in the capital at the Notting Hill carnival in 2016, the cameras will alert police when they spot anyone already on "wanted" lists.

"The use of live facial recognition technology will be intelligence-led and deployed to specific locations in London," the city's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

Police in Britain are looking beyond CCTV to real-time facial recognition surveillance in a move denounced by human rights and privacy activists. Credit:AP

"This is an important development for the Met and one which is vital in assisting us in bearing down on violence."
Billie Eilish got candid about her mental health in a revealing, new interview.

While recently speaking with CBS's Gayle King, Eilish detailed how she struggled with aspects of her newfound fame, explaining that she felt "joyless" and "was so unhappy last year."

Not only that, but Eilish also confirmed to King that the suicidal lyrics in songs like "Bury a Friend" were about herself and all based on her own past experiences.

Related | Billie Eilish Opens Up About Her Mental Health

"I don't want to be dark, but I genuinely didn't think I would make it to 17," Eilish said, before recalling one incident in Berlin when she was alone in her hotel room.

"I remember there was a window right there," she shared, before adding that the only thing that stopped her was thinking of her mom. "I remember crying because I was thinking about how the way that I was going to die was, I was going to do it."

That said, Eilish said that she's felt stronger in the last six months as she began to "come out of" her depression  to the point where she's now actively trying to help fans feeling the same way.

"I just grab them by the shoulders and I'm like, 'Please take care of yourself and be good to yourself and be nice to yourself,'" she said. "'Don't take that extra step and hurt yourself further.'"

Watch Eilish's entire interview, below.

If you or someone you know needs help today, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
Security forces killed two terrorists in an hours-long exchange of fire in Awantipora town of Pulwama district on Saturday, the Jammu and Kashmir Police said.

The encounter between security forces and terrorists broke out in the morning during a cordon-and-search operation in Hari-Pari area of Tral, a police official said.

The official said a credible input about the presence of terrorists was received.

"#Awantipora #encounter update: In the exchange of fire two #terrorists have been #killed. Operation is in progress. Further details shall follow," the Kashmir zone police said on Twitter.

It also retweeted a post informing that seven hardcore overground workers of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen outfits were arrested in a joint operation by Bandipora police, Army and CRPF.

"Arms/Ammunition recovered. They (were) involved in harbouring, providing logistics support to militants.02 FIRs registered under relevant sections of law," it added.

On Wednesday, security forces killed another terrorist in Awantipora, who was later identified by a senior police officer as a Pakistani national affiliated to the proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit.

The "most wanted" terrorist was operating under code names "Abu Saifullah" and "Abu Qasim" and was active in militancy-infested south Kashmir for the past over one and a half years, the officer said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who has said little publicly about the growing coronavirus crisis, now has ordered mobilization across the country and drastic measures to hold back the contagion, the New York Times reports.

What he's saying: "Confronted with the grave situation of this accelerating spread of pneumonia from infections with the novel coronavirus, we must step up the centralized and united leadership under the party central leadership.

The latest: Hong Kong, where five cases of the illness have been confirmed, said it would close schools for two weeks, per AP.

Today is Lunar New Year, a traditional time of travel. But China is locking down at least three cities with a combined population of over 18 million.

a traditional time of travel. But China is locking down at least three cities with a combined population of over 18 million. 41 people have died globally from the coronavirus strain that originated in Wuhan, China, AP reports  and the respiratory illness has made its way to Europe, with France confirming three cases.

Wuhan banned private cars downtown.

A stat that gives you a sense of the scale of these cities: Wuhan, population: 11 million, will assign 6,000 taxis to specific neighborhoods.

The big picture: The deadly coronavirus has not yet sufficiently spread internationally to designate the outbreak as a global health emergency, the World Health Organization announced on Jan. 23.

Go deeper: Death toll climbs in coronavirus outbreak
Kabir Khan's brand new series on Prime Video, The Forgotten Army: Azaadi Ke Liye, features Sunny Kaushal and newcomer Sharvari Wagh as the leads in the series, which is based on true events from India's history.



The show will take you back in time to India's battle for freedom and how the Azad Hind Fauj, led by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, played a crucial role in that.



The series, which marks Kabir Khan's digital debut and is based on one of his documentaries also called The Forgotten Army, is now streaming on Prime Video and the audience verdict is finally here.

Well, it seems like people have been giving a positive response to the series and are calling it one of the best shows about Netajis Azad Hind Fauj.

I Cried a lot after watching #TheForgottenArmy , I read about them and netaji a lot from the books of @anujdhar nd @chandrachurg , specially #conundrum owns a spcl place in my heart! MY HEART BEATS FOR NETAJI.  Rahul Chatterjee (@yourmanRahul) January 25, 2020

@kabirkhankk one of the best series #TheForgottenArmy @  Yashu Kumar Sharma (@YashuKumarShar3) January 25, 2020

It's all about true patriotism, true sacrifice and true love for the motherland, "India". Salute from the bottom of my heart to all the soldiers of Azad Hind Fauj. I would request to Everyone to watch #TheForgottenArmy

Jai Hind   Ankit Sharma (@ankit2489786) January 25, 2020

Watching #TheForgottenArmy . Thanks to #kabirkhan for this wonderful series. Best way to remember the sacrifices of Indian national army on this #RepublicDay  Tirumalarao S (@sravanamt) January 25, 2020

Feel of pre-independence era is on point.This is a necessary tribute to important part of Indian History. #TheForgottenArmy #KabirKhan @PrimeVideoIN  Meghana (@08meghana) January 25, 2020

Sunnys brother Vicky Kaushal, who attended the screening of The Forgotten Army on Thursday night, took to Instagram to applaud Sunny's performance in the web series.



"Till a few years back, we used to often record each others audition tapes, jam on those scenes and be each others critics. To see him flourishing into this confident, mature and honest actor, it just fills my heart with so much happiness and awe," the Uri actor wrote in his post.





Plan on catching the series on Prime Video? If you do watch it, let us know your verdict in the comments below.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has been working on his empathy.

He knows at times he does not come across as overly compassionate when he's been asked about the impact of his Government's failings on the lives of people.

Speaking on the 'Floating Voter' podcast, Mr Varadkar said: "Sometimes, maybe I don't show that I care enough."

He says this is down to him being "blunt and straight talking" which can "come across as a bit insensitive sometimes".

"I understand that," he added. However, he said his partner, Dr Matthew Barrett, believes the accusations that he lacks empathy are unfair.

"I was actually talking to Matt, my partner, about that the other night and he said, 'like that is so wrong and that's so unfair'," Mr Varadkar said.

"Every evening when I'm home I'm talking about all the problems of the day and the struggles to get on top of those difficult issues like homelessness and overcrowding."

The Taoiseach said Mr Barrett also told him: "You really do care but you know it's the doctor in you. You want to get in there quickly and, you know, fix the problems, stem the blood."

Expand Close Good to meet you: Leo Varadkar is all smiles as he and partner Matt Barrett join villagers in Varad / Facebook

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Whatsapp Good to meet you: Leo Varadkar is all smiles as he and partner Matt Barrett join villagers in Varad

He also accepts he does not take criticism very well and can be overly defensive when questioned about human tragedies.

"I think anyone when they're being criticised or when they're being attacked they're going to be a little bit defensive sometimes so I think that's probably a fair criticism.

"I hate to hear people dismiss facts and figures and statistics as if they don't matter. The core behind truth is facts and figures and statistics," he added.

He dismissed suggestions that he was seeking a presidential style General Election campaign which would focus on just him and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin.

"I'm very happy to go toe-to-toe with Micheal Martin like I did last week and will again next week, but actually a lot of our campaign, a lot of our messages is that Fine Gael has as a team, really strong team," he said.

Since taking office he has learned you need a good team to "cover for you".

"I mean cover for you in a good way. Not cover up for you," he added.

As for his potential next Cabinet, the Taoiseach said the only nailed on positions are that of his Brexit negotiating team, Tanaiste Simon Coveney and European Affairs Minister Helen McEntee. He said after that everything is to play for.

"I would want that team to remain in place, and you'll see what Prime Minister Johnson did in the UK, he kept his cabinet in place until they had actually left (the EU) and now he's going to refresh his cabinet in February," he said.

"I have a similar view that we should keep the same Brexit team in place until we get the trade deal, which has to be done by the end of this year," he said.

He would not give any commitment on Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy and Health Minister Simon Harris who have both faced criticism for their handling of their department.

However, he said: "Eoghan Murphy and Simon Harris are in good standing, and they've had really tough briefs.

"What really disappoints me is the extent to which some people who don't have much solutions or new ideas when it comes to health and housing they try to cover that up by targeting those two guys personally. I think that's kind of nasty," he added.

He expanded on his offer to form a grand coalition between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail if no other government could be formed after the election while also claiming Mr Martin "didn't know basic facts about the Brexit withdrawal agreement".

"If we end up in a situation whereby Fine Gael can't do that and Fianna Fail can't do that and both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have ruled out Sinn Fein, the only way to avoid a second election is for Fine Gael and Fianna Fail to come together in some way, and I'd be willing to talk to Fianna Fail about that," he said.

Mr Varadkar said Mr Martin's rejection of his offer was a "little bit arrogant and a little bit irresponsible".

"What Fianna Fail are saying is 'we're not going to touch Fine Gael, even though we've spent two-and-a-half years negotiating budgets with them and supporting us through confidence and supply'," he said.

"So essentially, he's saying that if you don't give Fianna Fail enough seats to form a government with the smaller centre-left parties, 'I'm going to go off in a huff and refuse to take part in the government', and that's not a very responsible or mature position in my view," he added.

Separately, he said he did not want to make right to die legislation an election issue but said people should be allowed make a "living will" so medical professionals could fulfil their wishes in the final days.

"People who are dying, particularly those who get hospice care, they get a really dignified pain-free death but there are others who have every operation, investigation, you name it, under the sun done in their last couple of days or last couple of weeks in life and that's not always for the best," he said.

He said advanced healthcare directive legislation which allows people set out their wishes has been enacted but has not been commenced.
"A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it."

- Rabindranath Tagore

I still don't understand why it is difficult for millions of Nigerians to understand this simple fact, that I am the best President Nigeria has ever had and would ever have in a long time to come.

Apart from my brother, General Sani Kano who never passed an examination in his life time I am the best educated President in Nigeria's History. Yet my detractors always make it look as if I am the worst, educated.

Yes, let the truth be told, I don't have any WAEC Certificate anywhere. I didn't need it. I am a Fula man. Full blooded and blue blooded. Of what use could the Certificate have been anyway? I have achieved what millions of Nigerians would never achieve. I am the President now and there is nothing anyone could do about it.

Moreso, at least, I am far better than Sani Kano who never had any Certificate at all. In my own case, I only stopped midway through Form 4. Some were even suggesting that the school that cooked the fake WAEC Certificate for me was not in existence when I claimed to have attended, what is the big deal about that? Does it matter when the school was created? Even if the school was created in 2014, of what difference is it? The bottom line is to have the Certificate issued. And I got one.

Hmmm, my supporters. I love them to death. They are the dumbest in the world. They are so stupid that even my own stupidity was alarmed. I am glad that majority of them are as brainless as me. They have nothing in their heads. They would defend me on anything, no matter how absurd. You couldn't reason with them. You couldn't present facts to them. Even many Babiallahs are more reasonable than them. Yes, they are proofs that I am the best Present yet in Nigeria's History.

My supporters, even me, I am offended by their idiocy, but I still love them. This is because, if they were not idiots, I would not have been able to mislead them and they would still hail me. Many of them claim to have eyes, yet I am not sure they could see all the damages I have done. This convinced me more that I am the best President.

I lied to them that I would declare my assets and would make declaration of assets a precondition to being in the cabinet. I did not do it. My supporters, in their usual stupid manners have manufactured excuses, which are at best nincompoopish to defend me. At times when I read their defence of me, I am like "Wooow!!! So there are still so many who are more stupid than me in this country?"

Honestly, before I became President, I had thought I was the most stupid person in this country. But now I know better. With what I have seen among my hailing supporters, I could walk with my head straight and my shoulder high. I could shape my arms like those of the crab and gallivant around, with my chest puffed out and my gait guided gratuitously. If I had any doubt before now about being the best President, it has been erased.

I told them I had 150 cows, I laughed how they all believed me hook, line and sinker. I had told them over 20 years before then that I had the same number of cows. This time around when I was giving them the same number of cows, I didn't even think about it. Well, I could not have thought about it even if I wanted to because I have no brain anyway. Someone had pointed out to me that one must have a brain in order to think. I didn't think because I had no brain.

My supporters, they defended the fact that the number of my cows never increased or decreased for 20 years. See how stupid my supporters are? I was very upset with them for giving the impression that there were gays and lesbians among my cows! Despite my own level of stupidity, I could not imagine the level of theirs. Didn't they know that this was not acceptable to Islam and Quran? Yes, the idea of gay and lesbians are not acceptable to Islam and Quran. They made me upset. But I still love them for their idiocy anyways.

I told them I would fight corruption and they all began dancing and jumping up and down. Ha! My supporters, they licked every lie I flailed at them. They swallowed every rubbish I threw at them. They reminded me of Umaru Dikko, the man I wanted to crate from London to Lagos when I was a pupil dictator in 1984/85, unlike now that I am a full blown tyrant. Umaru had told Nigerians that until he has seen them scavenging from refuse dumps he would not be persuaded that that there was poverty in the land.

My supporters were scavenging from the refuse heap of my lies like hungry goats. How could they believe that someone like me who made $2.8 billion disappear as an ordinary Secretary of Kerosene, would fight corruption? I took NGN 134 billion of Gas Fund Trust (GFT) and did what I like with it without any accountability, under Sani yet they still believed that I would fight corruption. I never thought there were worse dummies than me in Nigeria until I found my supporters, Walahi Sumobillahi!

That $2.8 billion was the first of its kind in Nigeria's History. I laid that record. I am very proud of it. Actually, during this my second coming, I was determined to lay a new record. I did that with the help of Maijibiti Barawo, the GMD of CPNN. I approved a ghost contract worth $26 billion from my hotel suite in London. And trust my supporters, they applauded it, defended it, praised it and shut down any critique of it.

Some of my critics were upset that I detained Samson Dansaki for over 4 years. I don't understand them. This man only gave me N800 million out of the 2.1 billion he took. He should have given me at least a billion out of the money. I had no choice, I had to use him to fight corruption the easiest way by locking him up regardless of Court injunctions. I just don't understand why people could not understand what I am doing!

Ha! my supporters, they are amazingly stupid. How could they believe the dumb stories that I was poor? How in the world? I had ten Toyota Prado SUVs in my entourage before I became President. I had an estate in Abuja in my name rented by the United Peoples of the World. I had my children in the UK going to the best schools. My son, Yunusa, rides a bike that costs meagre N58m. I have landed properties in Port - Harcourt, Kaduna and Daura. Is that the life style of a poor man?

When I went to pick the nomination form of my party, Congress of Progressive Alliance, (CPA), I told them I borrowed the N25 million. I have never seen such a celebrated dance by idiots in my life. It was a metastasized celebration across the land. My popularity soared. I became a cult figure. People began to express their supports through weird ways. I was dumfounded. Stupefied. Bewildered. They all believed my lie which myself could not and did not even believe. For the whole week, I was celebrating the master stroke, drinking champagne. Yes, I drank champagne as if it was going out of fashion o. No, no, no, no, don't come with that o. Quran is not against champagne at all. Neither is Islam.

Since I became President, I have made my predecessor look like Anab Mohammed (SAW). I increased the cost of petrol. I increased the cost of staple foods. I increased the VAT tax. Light has become more expensive and inconsistent. Everything now costs more. Lives are no longer secure. Kings have been kidnapped in their palaces. Emirs are attacked anyhow. Boko Haram is now technically stronger. But I trust my dumb supporters, they have defended me all the way and very well too. I have absolute faith in their lunacy, in their cretinism. I could always count on their derangement to come up with senseless defences of my actions.

The most interesting aspect of my leadership is that I have allowed my Fula people to kill members of other ethnic nationalities unrestrained. I didn't have to say anything. The Police knew that they dared not arrest them. The Armed Forces knew they had to protect my Fula people. Have you ever seen any of them arrested and or tried? Even when my Fula people claimed responsibilities for massacring others, have you seen them arrested by anyone? My people have massacred villages, murdering women and children, destroying farms, raping women, burning down century old settlements. I didn't know it was going to be this easy.

People offered no resistance that I had anticipated. They don't want to give up their lands to my invading people and yet they are not willing, even when they are able, to defend their lands. They just threw up their arms, helplessly, sermonizing about "unity" of Nigeria. Which "unity"? The only "unity"of Nigeria I understand is when my Fula people dominate every strata and control everything. Anything outside that does not make any sense to me.

I never knew Nigerians are this cowardly, Allah! Walahi! I never knew I could get away with this much. All I needed to do was to sneez by arresting any one vocal person and you see the rest running helter - skelter, with their tails between their legs. They scurry into their holes so fast that I am amused to the point all I have to do is just pick my rotten teeth in front of the television in Osa Rock.

I think my problem right now is this Yorubawa people. They are trying to prove stubborn and difficult. I brought RUGA, they frustrated it. Now they came up with Amotekun trying to cause problems for my people's ability to occupy and take over their land. But I would get them. I have some other plans up my sleeves. It is not over until it is over.

Those Yorubawa people, I would always find traitors among them. There are few black legs among them who would eat faeces for position. All they want is money and position. I have plenty of that to give, as long as I remain in Osa Rock. Many of them are shameless. They don't care what happened to their people as long as they get to become Ministers or anything of the sort. I would give them contracts and make them betray their people.

There is even one among them, who they call "National Leader" of whatever. Some of his people call him "strategist." I sized him up and I found his thinking constricted. To say he is myopic is a gross understatement. I find him very useful. He is a good tool. He wants to succeed me. I smile to myself about him in my quietude. There are many of these people in my party that I had thought were smart. But they are not. They are cowards and they are very greedy.

And those others from the East who call themselves Biafrans... Hmmmm! They irritate me a lot. I despise them more than I despise those sneaky and stubborn Yorubawa people. I don't like them at all. They thought I have dealt with them, already. They have not the slightest idea. This second term is another term given to me by Allah. And Walahi, I swear I would use it. Some of them have tried to reveal my secret plan for Third Term. I have denied it and I know that as usual, they believed me.

One thing I have been able to confirm is that I am the most idiotic politician in Nigeria. I am so stupid that it is beyond amazement. But the seamless adulation by my ululating supporters beats me. I used to think that you get admired for being smart and intelligent. I never knew I could be so much adored and worshipped for being brainless and vacuous and dumb. I never knew that. It is a new revelation to me.

Is there any doubt still that I am the best President in Nigeria's History?

Remi Oyeyemi.
Iraqi protesters say they will remain in Tahrir Square as security forces reopen roads previously shut by demonstrators.

Baghdad, Iraq  Security forces have pushed closer to Baghdads Tahrir Square, the main anti-government protest camp in Iraqs capital, reopening several roads that were previously shut down by demonstrators demanding reforms and an overhaul of the countrys political system.

At about noon local time on Saturday, security forces fired tear gas and live bullets at Khilani Square, a few hundred metres away from Tahrir Square, medics said.

According to several witnesses and medics, riot police also set fire to a number of protest tents on the nearby Sinak Bridge, sending a column of thick black smoke into the sky.

Later on Saturday, protesters retook Khilani Square while thousands gathered in Tahrir Square and set up new tents, stressing that they will not leave until their demands were met.

There were no official reports of casualties in Tahrir Square, although medics confirmed that several protesters were wounded.

I just arrived to Tahrir Square with my friends and everyone is telling us to go back because the situation is getting dangerous, Qamar Imad, a 17-year-old girl told Al Jazeera. But we wont leave Tahrir because it is ours. The sound of bullets will only strengthen our resolve.

On Sunday, Iraqs High Commission for Human Rights told journalists two protesters were killed on Baghdad the day before. At least three protesters were also reported to have been killed in the southern city of Nasiriyah.

Al-Sadr rally

The developments came after people believed to be supporters of powerful Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr began packing up their tents and leaving sit-ins in central Baghdad.

Al-Sadr, who was behind a mass protest on Friday in a different area in the capital, calling for the departure of US troops from Iraq, issued a statement on Twitter expressing his disappointment in anti-government protesters who had accused his rally of being pro-government.

From now on I will not interfere in these [anti-government] protesters affairs neither in a negative nor positive way, said al-Sadr, who also heads the biggest bloc in Parliament.

Smoke rises from burning tents as Iraqi security forces raid at Tahrir Square during ongoing anti-government protests in Baghdad [Thaier al-Sudani/Reuters]

Many observers saw his initial support for the anti-government protest movement  which has been calling for the removal of Iraqs ruling elite since October  as a form of protecting demonstrators from pro-Iran militias.

Some protesters in Tahrir Square blamed Saturdays violence on al-Sadrs decision to no longer be involved in the protest movement.

However, one al-Sadr supporter refuted this, saying although some of the Shia leaders supporters had left Tahrir, the majority of his followers were still present.

Al-Sadr did not order us in his statement to withdraw from the protests, 24-year-old law student Durgham Hamid told Al Jazeera. He was merely expressing his disappointment in those in Tahrir Square who have been criticising him and his motives, Hamid added.

We are still here at the sit-ins, and we will not leave until our demands have been met, contrary to what other protesters have been saying, he continued. We are one people and stand together united.

High tensions

Separately, a statement from the Baghdad Operations Command said key squares and roads that had previously been a focal point for protesters were reopened for vehicle access.

The vital Mohammed al-Qasim highway, Tayaran Square and al-Nidhal street were all reopened, in addition to Ahrar Bridge, which had been partly occupied by protesters in a standoff with security forces.

However, protesters continue to occupy Jumhuriya and Sinak bridges, which lead to the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Security forces have pushed closer to Baghdads Tahrir Square, the main anti-government protest camp, reopening several roads that were previously shut down [Thaier al-Sudani/Reuters]

Meanwhile, tensions in Tahrir Square remained high, with people responding to it in different ways: A man with his eyes shut was lip-syncing to a nationalistic song blaring out from his tent, just as a group of men carrying a crate full of Molotov cocktails ran past him. At one edge of the square, a group of medics huddled together, keeping a wary eye in the direction of Khilani, while next to them a young teenager was busy slicing up potatoes from an industrial-sized bag.

We dont know if they will attack us in another hour or at night or tomorrow, one protester said, as he ducked out of his tent wearing a bulletproof vest and fastening on a helmet. But we will defeat them, inshallah.

Medical and police sources said two protesters were killed on Friday night in central Baghdad: One was shot by a live round in his neck and the other was hit with a military-grade tear gas canister. At least 25 other protesters were wounded.

In the southern city of Basra, riot police set fire to a protest encampment in the central square shortly after midnight on Saturday.
My attention was recently brought to the allegations of Christian Association of Nigeria statement asking President Buhari What is the essence of SIM card registration if the authorities can not utilize it to find these killers who depend on phones as a mean of interaction to do their criminalities?

I will like to bring the attention of the Christian Association of Nigeria to one of the major breakthrough of this administration under the most performing Minister of the Decade, Dr Isa Ali Pantami, the Hon Minister of Communication and Digital Economy.

It will be recalled that Dr Pantami while addressing the Executive Councils of both the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), who paid a courtesy visit to the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy Headquarters, Abuja directed telcos and NCC to blacklist 9.2 million pre-registered SIM Cards.

Dr Pantami asserted that President Muhammadu Buhari is a result-oriented individual, stressing that his modest achievement as the Director-General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) elevated him to the post he occupies today on merit.

After the Ministers directive, it will be recalled that the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy had cleared about 9.2million unregistered and preregistered Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards hitherto in the country within three weeks!

During his appearance before the Senate Committee on Communications at the National Assembly Abuja, Dr. Pantami said while he believes that ICT should be used to improve the security and economy of the country, the situation he met on ground was that it was being used to perpetuate insecurity.

Pantami said: When I was appointed and assigned portfolio, by President Muhammadu Buhari, immediately I reported to the ministry and I received briefings.

In the course of the presentation I immediately directed the NCC, looking at the security implication of unregistered SIMs or preregistered SIMs, I said we will not continue to ignore because even before I was appointed to this place , it has been worrying me that most of the crimes being committed in Nigeria, either in the process of coordination or committing SIM cards were involved.

And I felt, whatever we do as a government, protection of lives and property of Nigerians should be our priority. Any other issue should be secondary.

I mentioned this to them clearly that under my leadership I will not allow that to continue. If there is anything that should be our priority it is for us to make use of ICT to promote the security of Nigeria.

But the situation I inherited, ICT was being used to compromise the security of Nigeria because people planning to make any attack or robbery, usually coordinate using SIM cards.

When Nigerians are kidnapped, people negotiate what to be paid, using SIM cards. And I think this is something that should not be tolerated. We should not allow our platforms to be used for that.

So I ask them immediately to go and begin or conclude audit exercise. Without audit exercise, we will not be able to know, the total number of unregistered/preregistered SIM cards.

That figure was not available by the time I joined the Ministry and I gave them only one week to conclude that audit exercise.

The did so and they came forward with around 9.2million preregistered, unregistered or partially registered SIMs. With this number definitely it was difficult for us to curtail any crime committed in the country.

So I gave them another two week to announce to all Nigerians to come forward and conclude their registration. If it is incomplete, you have two weeks to complete. If it is preregistered, you need to come forward and present your bio data and all the information required to complete it. After that period the number was reduced to 2.4million.

Then that 2.4million I gave them another one week and I said by 25th of September 2019, you should make sure that that there is no unregistered, preregistered or partially registered sim on our networks in Nigeria. All these 2.4million should either be blocked or deactivated.

Whoever comes forward to present the necessary information then you can activate, deactivate or de-block his number. This is based on result presented to me on 26th September 2019.

They have carried out the assignment and they presented a reporter me that as at 26th September 2019, there wasnt any unregistered or preregistered sim being used in Nigeria.

And I forwarded another letter to them that whenever a crime is committed, in which SIM is involved, we have informed security agencies to let us know. I will give you the number used to commit the crime and you only 60 minutes to produce the details and information with regards to that.

And if you fail to do that definitely the operators must be sanctioned. Because this has been the agreement with them. And I will not tolerate that henceforth.

To date I dont have any information contrary to the directives we have given and I want to assure this committees that I know the provisions of the Section 4 Constitution which is all about the protection of life and property. That will be our priority and we want to make use of ICT to improve that. Pantami said.

I think the Christian Association of Nigeria should rather commend the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy for taking the bull by the horn in ensuring that ALL SIM Cards in Nigeria are registered and any SIM Card linked to criminal activities are tracked within 24 hours by the security agencies in collaboration with the service providers.

Adewole Kehinde is the Publisher of Swift Reporters and Public Affairs Analyst based in Abuja. [email protected]
TRENTON  Blood brothers and sisters or not, relatives of elected and appointed city officials are out of luck.

Distant relatives of city leaders can no longer get jobs in Trenton government as part of a newly passed anti-nepotism ordinance thats causing a stir.

The legislative body voted Thursday night to enact the legislation that Mayor Reed Gusciora and at least two council members feel could have dire consequences for Trentonians.

The mayor told The Trentonian he will decide whether to veto two of the three ordinances.

The nepotism ordinance, one of three measures co-sponsored by Robin Vaughn and Santiago Rodriguez, passed with majority support. Two other bills regarding policies over bullying, sexual harassment and fraternization also passed with little discussion.

The latter specifically bans romantic relationships between supervisors and subordinates.

The nepotism and fraternization measures were approved 4 to 2 while at-large councilman Jerell Blakeley was the lone legislator to vote against the anti-bullying bill. East Ward councilman Joe Harrison was absent from the meeting.

Calling the legislative bodys actions boneheaded, Blakeley said he voted against the bills because they empowered council members to engage in witch hunts.

This is an ordinance in search of a problem that doesnt exist, he said of the anti-nepotism ban. Trenton is a small city, and nearly everyone is related. This is a self-inflicted issue that will cause mayhem as we seek to recruit people to serve on boards and commissions. We should be encouraging our residents to serve on boards, not putting up needless barriers for folks who want to serve this city.

The anti-nepotism ordinance, intended to root out favoritism and conflicts of interests, prohibits blood, step and through-marriage relatives of elected officials and appointed members of Trentons boards and commissions from being considered for full-, part-time and seasonal employment with the city.

The ban list includes spouses, children, parents, siblings, grandparents, in-laws, first cousins, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles, foster children, domestic partners and cohabitants of city leaders from seeking employment, according to the ordinance.

The policy doesnt apply to current city employees with relatives who are presently elected or appointed or may hold office in the future.

The ban is intended to prevent powerful stakeholders from influencing hiring of prospective relatives, but city leaders wonder if the ban goes too far.

Mayor Reed Gusciora said the anti-nepotism and anti-fraternization ordinances, in particular, were needlessly broad and triggered fears from employees.

They wondered whether sending an emoji or going to lunch with colleagues theyre wrongly perceived to be romantically involved with or interested in puts them in danger of violating the policies, the mayor said.

The nepotism policy is going to be a challenge to enforce, Gusciora said. Nobody in my family wants to work for me, so thats settles that. But City Hall is chock full of people who are distantly related  I didnt even know that so and so was related to me.'

Employees in confidential departments, such as personnel, finance and law, are prohibited from dating workers since they make personnel decisions impacting public trust, safety and city morale under the ordinance.

Relationships may be allowed between employees if theres not a power imbalance and who dont work in the confidential departments, unless it adversely affects operations, with the mayor holding ultimate discretion.

While theres an exception for married employees, everyone found to violate the fraternization policy risks being transferred, reassigned or fired.

Blakeley acknowledged there were well-intentioned provisions in the fraternization bill but said its not my business who dates who in city government.

We already have rules that prevent from people dating their subordinates and superiors. Im not sure we need an ordinance about who they can date and who they can live with, he said.

North Ward councilwoman Marge Caldwell-Wilson joined Blakeley in voting against the nepotism and fraternization measures.

She voted for the anti-bullying ordinance, pointing out she actually filed a bullying complaint against a council colleague thats still being investigated.

Caldwell-Wilson refused to name the council member who she complained about but clarified it wasnt Vaughn, who she hit with a cease-and-desist letter last year over alleged defamatory attacks.

About the nepotism measure, Caldwell-Wilson said shes concerned qualified Trentonians will be passed over for jobs simply because theyre have distant family ties to a someone in office.

I have a saying when you talk to one person in the city of Trenton, youre talking to about 10 families, she said.

Gusciora will consider vetoing the nepotism and fraternization ordinances but doesnt intend to disturb the anti-bullying/anti-sexual harassment bill, which enhances protections for workers.

The bill broadly defines what constitutes bullying for city employees and elected officials, including unreasonable public criticism, reprimands, or trivializing of anothers work, and giving workers the silent treatment.

Those investigated and found to have violated the ordinance could be required to apologize, attend counseling or be fired under the ordinance.

Gusciora, who has had a contentious relationship with the legislative body since taking office, felt it was ironic that Vaughn co-sponsored the anti-bullying legislation.

I think Im gonna file a bullying complaint against Robin, Gusciora joked.

The administration took Vaughn and council president Kathy McBride to court, and won, for not complying with the Faulkner Act and an ordinance that required the council president to restore removed items to the next meetings agenda.

Vaughn  who The Trentonian playfully dubbed Radioactive Robin  has been criticized for how shes comported herself in office. She has gone after city officials from the dais and in fiery email exchanges.

Tiring of the constant criticism and ad hominem attacks on himself and colleagues, law director John Morelli went so far as to file a hostile work workplace complaint with the HR department against the West Ward councilwoman.

Vaughns spirited exchanges with former water director Shing-Fu Hsueh were also cited by city insiders as part of the reason he resigned after 15 months on the job.

She did not respond to a message seeking comment about the ordinances.
WASHINGTON - Over the last three days, House Democrats have presented compelling evidence in the form of snappy video clips, punchy PowerPoint slides and impassioned oratory, building a case that removing President Donald Trump from office is imperative to protect the Constitution and the country.

Starting Saturday, Trump's lawyers will get their say - and they appear ready to deliver the public tarring of 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter that Trump had sought from Ukraine.

Unlike the trial sessions so far, which all stretched into the night, Saturday's proceedings will last only a few hours. White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and outside counsel Jay Sekulow plan to outline a preliminary case - just enough, a source close to the legal team said, to offer fodder for Sunday morning TV talk shows.

"I guess I would call it a trailer, coming attractions," Sekulow said Friday, explaining that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asked Trump's lawyers if they would start with a short session Saturday so senators could leave town to campaign, or at least catch up on their sleep.

"Next week is when you'll see the full presentation," he added.

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The president's team will get 24 hours, over three days, to argue his defense. It's not clear if they will use all that time, but the outlines - less a response to the House arguments that concluded Friday than a blistering counter-offensive - came into sharper focus Friday.

If there is a theme, it may be from Trump's top liaison to lawmakers, Eric Ueland, who was overheard vowing "revenge" as he left the Senate chamber.

Sekulow did not contest that Trump had indeed urged Ukraine to investigate Biden last year while the president had blocked $391 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine for its war with Russian-backed separatists.

Rather, Sekulow brushed off the matter at the heart of the Democrats' impeachment case as no different than the Democrats' hiring a Washington firm that used a retired British spy during the 2016 campaign to compile a dossier about Trump's alleged dealings with Russia.

"Adam Schiff just said that this idea of solicitation of foreign interference is deplorable," Sekulow said during a break in the trial, referring to the House lead impeachment manager.

"I wonder if he thought that about the fact that the Clinton campaign had sought ... the Steele dossier, who was utilizing assets that a former British spy had in Russia to get information on the president, then candidate. Is that not foreign interference?" he asked.

Alan Dershowitz, the veteran defense attorney who has joined Trump's defense team, will appear Monday, when the president's lawyers plan to roll out the bulk of their argument.

Dershowitz has been preparing his hourlong argument in Miami Beach, Fla., poring over old legal texts to find support for his argument that abuse of power, one of the charges against Trump, is "too vague" to constitute an impeachable offense.

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In his view, Democrats have misinterpreted the writings of Alexander Hamilton, whom House managers have cited numerous times to make their case that Trump's efforts to seek help from a foreign power - in this case Ukraine - in a U.S. election is the classic definition of an impeachable offense.

"His gravest concern was what happened here: a strictly partisan vote in the House. That's not the way he thought impeachment should go," Dershowitz said in a phone interview.

Republican senators appeared enthusiastic after House managers spent part of Thursday trying to knock down unsubstantiated allegations that Biden had acted improperly as vice president to protect his son Hunter who sat on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company. Both Bidens have denied any wrongdoing.

In their presentation, Democrats clearly sought to inoculate Biden - and undermine the president's defense - before Trump's lawyers get to make their case.

But Trump's lawyers will argue that the president's demands to Ukraine were legitimate and are eager to hold Biden's actions up to partisan scrutiny days before the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses, the start of the Democratic nomination contest.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of Trump's most ardent defenders, urged the president's legal team to go after the Bidens' dealings in Ukraine and later suggested that an independent counsel should be appointed after the impeachment trial concludes.

"When the (House) managers tell me this has been looked at and debunked - by who?" Graham said. "That's becoming relevant because they talked about it almost 50 times that the president had no reason to believe that anything improper occurred in the Ukraine with the Bidens. The question is, will that withstand scrutiny?"

During their presentation, the House managers sought to preempt likely defense arguments that Trump's actions were warranted, that Trump did not commit a crime, and that impeachment is a political vendetta by Democrats seeking to overturn the 2016 election and worried about November.

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"When the president's counsel now gets up and makes those arguments, every Republican senator and the American people would've heard already why they're utter nonsense," Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Friday.

(EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

Schumer said impeachment was "too important" for White House attorneys to resort to "name calling" and "conspiracy theories" when it's their turn.

He also lay down a challenge for Republican lawmakers to allow for witnesses, noting that four Republicans would have to switch sides and vote with the 47 Democrats to make that happen.

"We're seeking the truth at a momentous time in the American republic," Schumer said. "It is on the shoulders of four Republican senators to join us in demanding it. Will four Republican senators, just four, rise to the occasion, do their duty to the Constitution and to their country to seek the truth?"

In many cases, Republicans have impugned the credibility of the Democrats arguing for impeachment rather than challenging the facts of their case - a strategy the president's legal team is likely to continue to use.

(END OPTIONAL TRIM)

Trump, who is intensely focused on media coverage and its effect on public opinion, has tried to counter-program this week's impeachment proceedings.

He spent two days at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, returning on Wednesday night after firing off a 142 tweets and retweets, a personal record for the president, mostly about the impeachment. He spoke Friday at the March for Life on the National Mall, the first president to do so.

Meanwhile, in an unusual flurry of activity, the administration issued new rules that weakened protection for the nation's wetlands and streams, and threatened to cut federal funds to California over its mandate that health insurers cover abortion.

And next week, as the Senate trial continues, Trump will play host to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, and will sign a revised trade pact with Canada and Mexico on Wednesday.

But the president remains intensely focused on the trial, eager for a robust defense in the Senate and on TV. In a tweet Friday, he complained about the Saturday morning opening slot for his lawyers, although the schedule was set by McConnell.

"After having been treated unbelievably unfairly in the House, and then having to endure hour after hour of lies, fraud & deception by Shifty Schiff, Cryin' Chuck Schumer & their crew, looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V.," Trump tweeted.

---

(c)2020 Los Angeles Times

Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Mumbai, Jan 25 : Actor Karanvir Malhotra, who plays a pivotal role in Kabir Khans web series "The Forgotten Army" says that he shot for the show even before he faced the camera for his other series, "Selection Day", which released last year, so technically Khans series could have been his screen debut.

Talking about the show Karanvir said: "Technically, I first shot for 'The Forgotten Army' and it was supposed to be my debut, but 'Selection Day' released first. Getting a chance to be directed by Kabir Khan and work with such a talented cast and crew is definitely a career-high. I am glad I got an opportunity to work on two roles that are so different from each other, at the start of my career. This project has ensured a sense of fulfilment. It's overwhelming to receive so many messages and positive feedback from people who have watched the show." "The Forgotten Army: Azaadi Ke Liye", which released on the OTT platform Amazon Prime video on January 24. The show is based on the historical 'Dilli Chalo' march by Indian soldiers led by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose during World War II.

The show also features Sunny Kaushal, Sharvari, and Rajvir Chauhan. Karanvir plays Amar, a young budding photojournalist working on a project for BBC. Amar's character has been inspired by Kabir Khan's experiences when he made his directorial debut with the documentary film "The Forgotten Army" in 1999.

Born and brought up in Delhi, Karanvir moved to Melbourne, Australia, for higher study. He later pursued theatre and performed at Melbourne Fringe Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival, and Short+Sweet theatre festival. He was also a part of Australian Shakespeare Company, and performed for their production "Romeo And Juliet".
When Andy Byford was recruited to run the New York City subway, the system was in crisis. Trains broke down routinely. A series of accidents raised safety concerns. Constant delays made riders late for work, meetings and medical appointments.

Mr. Byford has been praised for helping reverse the steep decline, driving down major delays and raising the subways on-time rate from historic lows.

But on Thursday Mr. Byford announced his resignation, ending a two-year tenure marked by a rocky relationship with the man who hired him: Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who controls the state authority that runs the subway.

His departure has raised questions about the future of the nations largest subway, including the fate of his long-term plan to modernize the antiquated system and whether the subway can maintain the strides it has made in recent months.
Before Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Lodz had the second-largest Jewish population in Poland. It became the country's second-largest Jewish ghetto. My relatives were listed as living in the Lodz ghetto, but exactly how they died is not known. Israel's Holocaust museum Yad Vashem lists them as presumably murdered, but whether they were transported from Radogoszcz station to Auschwitz or dumped in a mass grave in the Lodz cemetery is unclear. When I visited Lodz years ago to try to shift the dust from my family's past, I scanned tombstone after tombstone for my surname. Many had been bulldozed, stacked or broken. I sat in front of that mass grave for a long time, wondering if my family lay deep within that soil. This Monday will be the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the former army barracks converted into concentration and extermination camps in German-occupied Poland. The gates to the first Auschwitz camp, bearing the infamous legend Arbeit Macht Frei ("Work Sets You Free"). Credit:Shutterstock

Six million Jews died in the Holocaust and about 1.1 million of them in Auschwitz. People with disabilities, LGBTI people, Gypsies and many more were also murdered. It is estimated about 10,000 Poles were killed in Auschwitz without ever being registered as a prisoner. They died from starvation, beating, sickness, labour, lack of medical care, execution by shooting, lethal injection or murdered in the gas chambers. It was in Auschwitz that the Nazis turned systematic killing into an industry. Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum president and chief executive Jack Kliger expects about 120 survivors from around the world to commemorate the event under the gates of the site. Its a marked drop from the 60th anniversary, when 1500 survivors attended, but as the years go on, the number of survivors dwindles. Museums are thinking of fresh ways to keep the stories alive, long after the survivors are gone. "In a world of rising intolerance, antisemitism and Holocaust denial, it is crucial for the world to come together to remember and to educate younger generations," Kliger says.

A tragic journey My grandparents fled to Bialystok, then in Poland but soon to become Soviet territory, but struggled to find food, shelter or people willing to help. By April 1940 they had moved east, to Grodno in Soviet Belarus. It was there that my grandmother had her first child, Minya. They were transferred to a refugee camp in central Russia, living in a church and chopping trees for basic rations. In 1941, my grandparents took the arduous train ride to Samarkand in Uzbekistan, thinking this may be a safe place for them. But weakened by the journey, Minya caught pneumonia. Despite Francis begging guards for medicine, she got none and the one-year-old died. They buried her in an unmarked grave, dug by my grandfather. There was heavy rain that evening and when the rains stopped and the floods cleared, Albert returned to the place where he had buried Minya and found nothing. It is difficult for you to imagine the pain and suffering of burying your own child in a grave - it is something that I will never forget, said Francis.

Francis and Albert Precel with their son, David, in Melbourne. When they returned to Lodz in 1947, everything they had known was gone. Describing this to me years ago in their small Elsternwick flat, my grandfather's eyes glazed over. My father, David, who grew up in Melbourne as an only child without any living relatives, remembers lighting a candle every year for the sister he never met. "But my parents, together with other Jewish immigrants, became like family, so I never felt alone," David said. That extended family included Holocaust survivors Harry and Anita Shafar, who arrived on the ship Ravello in Melbourne with their daughter Katie as refugees in 1952.

Anitas freedom came with the liberation of Auschwitz. She met her husband Harry, who had been freed from the Terezin concentration camp, in a displaced persons' camp in Vienna. An estimated 35,000 Jewish refugees came to Australia after World War II. Anita and Harry Shafar on their wedding day in Vienna. For Anita and Harry's daughter-in-law Susan Shafar, keeping the lessons and spirit of Holocaust survivors alive has become more important as she has had her own children. At 18, her father Sam Weizman was picked off the street in Poland and sent to the camps for five years. He never saw his parents again.

I know he was definitely in Auschwitz because he has a number, she said. He was on a death march. The Nazis were hoping to get rid of as many people as possible, they got them to march through all sorts of weather, starving, people died along the way. If they didnt walk fast enough they were shot, she said. Pile of shoes from the victims of the Holocaust at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Credit:Shutterstock Ive been very aware that dad went through hell. What he lost and the devastation of the Jewish community in Poland. For me the last thing I can do is try and maintain my Jewish heritage as much as possible and honour those who didn't have the opportunity to. She is training to be an educator at the Jewish Holocaust Museum in the hopes of teaching young people tolerance and to stand up against bigotry.

Jewish Holocaust Museum director Jayne Josem said with an increase in visible antisemitic attacks, the Holocaust remains "frighteningly relevant". "When we start the year and learn about someone raising a Nazi flag above their house in rural Victoria, we realise the hatred and ignorance still lives on in segments of the population ... I think that's why we do what we do and the survivors who do come here and talk feel it's so important to overcome that ignorance and hatred that inevitably is out there," she says. The gatehouse of the Nazi extermination and concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Brzezinka, Poland. Credit:Reuters In Melbourne there have been cases of bullying at schools, Nazi salutes at far-right protests or Nazi uniforms worn. In December in New Jersey, six people died in a shooting targeting a kosher supermarket and five people were injured in a machete attack at a rabbi's Hanukkah celebration in New York City. "We learn from the Holocaust and Auschwitz just how bad humans can be if they are left unchecked," Josem says.

Since the Holocaust there has been genocide in Rwanda, mass persecution of the Rohingyas and the Kurds and death and displacement of Syrians. Have we learnt anything? "If the pendulum is swinging in the direction of society becoming more racist, I have to hope that with what we are doing it's got to come back the other way," Josem says. "If more people stand up and say that's enough, then maybe it will start swinging back." Like my grandfather, hatred was something Susan Shafar's father did not believe in; racism and intolerance should be rallied against. I was shocked. He wasnt bitter. If anything he was really open to people with different ideas and different religions, said Susan.
The Preamble to the Constitution makes it clear that, first, the source of sovereign authority is the people of India and, secondly, India is to be constituted into a sovereign democratic republic. The expression democratic is used to make it quite clear that the Constitution rests on the principles of democracy and on the peoples will. It is a republic as there is no hereditary monarch as its executive head.

The Constitution is not pledged to any economic order. It contains the necessary elements of growth, expansion and elasticity to enable the country to adopt any economic order the peoples representatives may choose to adopt through the machinery provided for in the Constitution and the organs of government.

By far the most important feature of the Constitution is the adoption of the principle of adult suffrage. The principle was not adopted by the Assembly in any light-hearted mood but with the full realisation of its implications. If democracy is to be broad-based and the system of government that is to function is to have the ultimate sanction of the people as a whole in a country where a large mass of people are illiterate, and where people owning property are few, the introduction of any property or educational qualifications for the exercise of the franchise would be a negation of the principles of democracy.

The adoption of universal suffrage is a great and bold venture of faith of the Constituent Assembly in the people of the country and in the principle of democracy. It is hoped that modern facilities in respect of methods of communication, the radio, and the political education imparted to the masses by organisations, like the Congress, will enlighten the electorate in the wise use of their franchise.

It is hoped that the elections under the new Constitution will reveal our genuine faith in the fundamental principles of democracy and in the establishment of a secular state without distinction of caste, creed or class. Closely allied with the principle underlying the principles of the Constitution dispensing with communal electorates are the provisions in the chapter on fundamental rights that every citizen shall have equality of opportunity in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the state, that no citizen on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place or birth, be ineligible for or discriminated against in respect of any employment or office under the State.

A special exception, however, has been made in respect of the backward class of citizens. The abolition of untouchability is another notable step taken by the Assembly.

The Constitution has accorded the proper place to the judiciary as it should in any democratic constitution, especially in a federal constitution. The limitations on the powers of the different organs of State can be preserved in no other way than through the medium of courts. The Supreme Court of India under the new Constitution has wider powers than the highest court in any known federation, including the Supreme Court of the USA. It is both a final court of civil appeal from all courts in India, and the final interpreter of the Constitution.

In regard to the location of executive power and the relationship that should subsist between the legislature and the executive, the Constituent Assembly, after giving its best consideration to every type of democratic government, has ultimately adopted the institution of responsible government as obtaining in Great Britain and Dominions.

In regard to citizenship, the Constitution deliberately adopts the principle of single citizenship for the whole of India and not a dual citizenship, a common feature of many federations. It is hoped that this will lead to the consolidation of the Indian nation. The Constitution does not purport to enact a detailed law as to citizenship but leaves it for Parliament to frame such a law.

The taxing provisions are in line with the taxing provisions in other federal constitutions and recent developments in regard to the division or distribution of proceeds as also the grant of subsidies. The articles in regard to inter-state trade relations are an improvement upon similar provisions in other constitutions.

They are more elastic and flexible and have been framed with a view to suiting the exigencies and economic conditions of a vast continent like India.

The Constituent Assembly has taken a wise and bold step in regard to the State language for the whole of India, realising that language is the most important factor in consolidating and unifying a nation. At the same time it recognises the importance of regional languages in so vast a country as ours. It has not lost sight of the need for English for legal purposes for some time and for scientific and international purposes in the world as constituted today.

There is no merit in the criticism that the Constitution is far too detailed and elaborate if only we remember the complex conditions in the Indian continent and the fact that we are taking over existing institutions and administrative machinery with the new Constitution and that adequate provisions had to be made for their smooth working and their harmonious relations with the new government. On the whole it may be claimed that the Constitution contains within itself the necessary elements of growth, flexibility and expansion.

Any Constitution, however well designed, is what the people make of it as it is the human element that after all is the most important in the working of any institution. The experience of all civilised countries demonstrates the truth of the above statement.

If there is a genuine flaw in the Constitution which impedes its smooth working or the countrys progress in any direction, a comparatively easy and flexible method of amendment has been provided for.

Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar was a member of the drafting committee of the Constituent Assembly.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- A year ago, I sat with Vale SAs then-Chief Executive Officer Fabio Schvartsman in Davos, sipping lukewarm coffee. He chatted amiably about the next stage of the turnaround at the Brazilian mining giant, unaware that within 24 hours a river of sludge from one of his dams would take 270 lives in the town of Brumadinho. This week, he was among executives and former employees charged with homicide.

The disaster on Jan. 25, 2019, a human and environmental catastrophe thats been compared with BP Plcs Deepwater Horizon oil spill, was supposed to be a moment of reckoning. It was, after all, Vales second such accident in just over three years. Yet 12 months on, shares in the $70 billion group are back at pre-Brumadinho levels, pointing to something less dramatic. The rebound also suggests investors are struggling to grasp the painful longer-term costs of such accidents for the company and the industry, in the era of stakeholder capitalism.

The dam at the Corrego do Feijao mine was a problem from the beginning. It dated back to 1976, when it was started by a company later acquired by Vale. The dam was built over decades, using the tailings, or mining waste. New layers were added on top of old ones, until 2013. Unfortunately, such dams require water to drain out if they are to remain stable; the technical investigation found this one was too steep, and allowed to get too wet. High iron content made it brittle, too.

In the end, there was no warning. After heavy rainfall in late 2018, it simply collapsed, releasing 10 million cubic meters of mud  roughly 4,000 Olympic swimming pools  in under five minutes.

The timing for Vale was painful. It found itself accused of negligence and worse, just as the miner was emerging from another accident, the 2015 collapse of a dam owned by Samarco Mineracao SA, its joint venture with BHP Group. Schvartsman, a former pulp and paper executive, had stepped into the top job in 2017 vowing never again.

Story continues

The markets immediate reaction was strong. Vale lost nearly a quarter of its value, almost $20 billion. Investors calculations of the ultimate cost were then obscured, though, as the hit to supply at the worlds largest iron-ore exporter eventually drove prices of the steelmaking ingredient well above $100 per metric ton.

The cost is still unclear. That shouldnt be startling. BP was still raising estimates for outstanding claims for Deepwater Horizon years after the event. In the end, the British oil major sold more than $70 billion of assets to remain in business; its shares havent recovered.

The scale and jurisdiction are different here. Still, its surprising that Vales shares have bounced back.

That doesnt mean that no costs have been priced in. Compare Vale with iron ore-focused rival Rio Tinto Group. Rios London shares have risen almost 18% in the past 12 months thanks to surging iron-ore prices. Add in the impact of reinvested dividends, and the total return is more than 30%. The share increase alone implies a gap of some $16 billion with Vale.

Some of that sum reflects the impact of lost revenue, given the 93-million-ton hit to production during a year when the price of high-quality Brazilian iron ore fines delivered to northern China averaged more than $100 a ton.

The remainder, though, isnt too far from what Vale itself has already set aside, handed out or had frozen for potential liabilities from Brumadinho: It paid $1.6 billion for reparations and compensation in 2019, and has provisioned $5.4 billion. Some 7.5 billion Brazilian real ($1.8 billion) of assets are frozen by the courts.

The trouble is, that covers mostly first-order costs, like payouts for workers and families, the wider clean-up and some fixes to similar facilities elsewhere. Vale plans to spend $1.8 billion over five years shifting to dry stacking, a safer method to dispose of mine waste. By 2023, it says 70% of its production will use this.

The wider impact of Brumadinho and the 2015 disaster on Vale and the industry will be more profound. Risks to tailings dams and other mining installations are already increasing, and there may be more monitoring in some corners. Extreme weather including heavy rainfall is far more frequent, and declining ore grades, or the percentage of minerals in rock thats dug up, mean more waste to deal with. This coincides with increased concern among shareholders for the environmental impact of investments.

Higher bills for more inspections might be manageable for large miners, but what about significantly slower permits, higher costs of closure, or projects that get blocked entirely by disgruntled communities? During a high tide for populism in Brazil and elsewhere, thats harder than ever to estimate. Its unlikely Brumadinho will be forgotten by governments and communities as disasters like Mount Polley in 2014 largely were.

According to a report by the Church of England Pensions Board, 40 of the top 50 mining companies had made disclosures on their websites about tailings dams as of late December, as requested by campaigners and shareholders. Thats a solid three-quarters of the mining industry by market capitalization, but leaves plenty of laggards. Schvartsman, in the aftermath of Brumadinho, said Vale was a Brazilian jewel that could not be condemned because of an accident. His gross underestimation of the seriousness of the situation cost him his job, and moreInvestors and rivals would be wise not to make the same mistake.

To contact the author of this story: Clara Ferreira Marques at cferreirama@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Matthew Brooker at mbrooker1@bloomberg.net

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Clara Ferreira Marques is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering commodities and environmental, social and governance issues. Previously, she was an associate editor for Reuters Breakingviews, and editor and correspondent for Reuters in Singapore, India, the U.K., Italy and Russia.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion

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Lloyds will be forced to set aside hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation for fraud victims when it reveals its annual profits next month.

Sources close to talks over a redress scheme told The Mail on Sunday the bank could pay 500million or more to victims of a fraud at the Reading branch of its tarnished subsidiary HBOS.

Talks are yet to conclude but sources said Lloyds boss Antonio Horta-Osorio wants to compensate victims swiftly after meeting some in person.

Lloyds could pay 500m or more to victims of a fraud at the Reading branch of its tarnished subsidiary HBOS

He saw customers break down in tears as they described how corrupt bankers ripped apart their businesses.

Rogue bankers at HBOS Reading destroyed small businesses between 2003 and 2007 and squandered the profits on prostitutes and luxury holidays.

Six bankers and advisers were convicted of fraud in 2017 and sentenced to a total of almost 50 years in jail.

Horta-Osorio wants to draw a line under the saga after a review by retired judge Sir Ross Cranston found the bank's original redress scheme, which paid out 102 million, had 'serious shortcomings'.

Sources said Horta-Osorio, who has been at the helm of Britain's biggest retail bank since 2011, is keen to salvage his reputation before departing as chief executive.

He has also halted three legal battles with victims in an effort to repair relations between the bank and its small business customers.

Victims have been fighting for fair compensation for more than a decade. Nikki Turner, director of victims' group SME Alliance, said: 'We have struggled with this for years.

'We hope this will encourage other chief executives to be more hands-on. How do you know what's going on in the bank, if you don't know about it personally?'

Sources said Lloyds boss Antonio Horta-Osorio wants to compensate victims swiftly after meeting some in person

Lloyds will work with victims, regulators and MPs to finalise plans for a new compensation scheme to be announced within weeks. Sir Ross Cranston is expected to lead the discussions.

The payouts will take another bite out of Lloyds' profits  alongside a hefty bill for PPI payouts to be announced on February 20.

The Mail on Sunday revealed the extent of customer complaints at Lloyds in December.

Documents showed the bank owed about 770million to 4.37million people at the end of August last year  around one in seven of its customers  on top of payouts for mis-sold PPI.

A Lloyds spokesman said: 'The group is committed to ensuring Sir Ross Cranston's recommendations are implemented and that customers affected by the HBOS Reading fraud are offered the option of an independent re-review of their cases, looking again at the assessment of any direct and consequential losses that flowed from the fraud.'
The distraught wife of a man who went missing during a morning walk in Melbourne has begged him to come home.

John Cowlishaw, 72, has Alzheimer's and has not been seen since setting out for a walk from him Camberwell home around 8am on Friday.

His wife, Pam, became emotional while asking for public help to find Mr Cowlishaw, who left out without any money, identification or the GPS tracking watch he usually wears.

John Cowlishaw, who has Alzheimer's, has not been seen since leaving his Camberwell home on Friday

'I'm very worried now. It's been so long. He has been on numerous long walks before but I've been able to go and get him back home,' she told reporters while speaking alongside police on Saturday.

'Come home please, come home. Ask someone for help. Ask,' she pleaded with Mr Cowlishaw.

He has grey wavy hair, wears black-framed glasses, and left the house wearing a blue jumper, blue suit pants and a white chequered shirt.

As well as Alzheimer's, Mr Cowlishaw has high blood pressure and requires medication.

'He wouldn't know our address. So if people saw him, he'd be friendly. He's very friendly, he chats to people all the time,' his wife said.

'Within minutes he's forgotten that he's spoken to you or to anybody.'

Anyone who sees Mr Cowlishaw should stay with him, make sure he's okay and call triple-zero, police say.
The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge and New Ross Bypass will finally open to drivers at noon on Thursday, January 30.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will officially open the bridge on Wednesday, January 29, at 3.30 p.m. and members of the Kennedy family are travelling from America to attend the ceremony.

The 887 metre structure named the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy bridge - which crosses the river Barrow between Wexford and Kilkenny - forms part of upgrades to the 230 million New Ross bypass.

Dunganstown, near New Ross, is the ancestral home of assassinated US President John F Kennedy, with the bridge - which is reputed to have cost 233m to build - being named after his mother Rose, whose ancestors hailed from Bruff, Co Limerick. President Kennedy was the first Irish Catholic elected to the position.

A Wexford County Council spokesperson confirmed that at least one, if not more, of the Kennedy clan will be attending the opening. 'We had hoped that the former US Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith would be able to attend as she is the last surviving child of Joe and Rose Kennedy. However, it is understood that she is too frail. But we have been assured that one or others are aiming to come along as it is a significant event for them.'

Speculation is mounting that it will be either Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, the only surviving child of the late President or cousin and grandson of the late Attorney General Robert Kennedy who was also assassinated, Congressman Joe Kennedy III. The council spokesperson would not confirm or deny these reports.

The last time a notable visit by the famous Kennedy clan was in 2013 when the lighting of the Emigrant Flame was carried out by Kennedy Schlossberg.

Fianna Fail councillor and General Election candidate for the area, Michael Sheehan, confirmed that the council has invited a list of dignitaries to the prestigious and historical opening with many travelling to the event from abroad. 'There are some notable names due to attend and we will welcome members of the Kennedy family to the official opening.'

Cllr Sheehan pointed out that the bridge will have huge benefits for the area which has been in the doldrums due to high unemployment figures and lack of business investment in the south east region.

'I've been informed that final details on the bridge opening are being put together. All of the work on this massive bridge is complete which is seven times the size of a hurling pitch,' said Cllr Sheehan.

'The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge is the longest bridge in Ireland, and its two main spans are the longest post-tensioned concrete spans of their type in the world. There will be reduced congestion in New Ross town and improvements to the quality of life of people living in the area. Tailbacks in and out of the town stretch to up to five kilometres daily. Now there is a potential for economic growth due to inward investment along with opportunities for the development of the New Ross, new tourism and recreation initiatives. It provides a chance for a clean break from the area's industrial past and legacy of Albatros, (defunct fertiliser plant on 55 acres of land on the outskirts of New Ross) rural decline and to reboot the town.'

The bridge, which has been beset by several delays, was due to open, along with the bypass, in early 2019. In the summer crumbling concrete was detected at one of the supporting piers for the structure and was thought to have been caused by voids within one of the 11 piers which occurred during the high-pressure blasting of concrete during construction.

An Italian man working on the bridge from South Kilkenny to New Ross received serious injuries after an accident on the bridge last November.

Cllr Sheehan said the opening of the scheme means that chronic traffic congestion and tailbacks in New Ross will be a thing of the past, particularly during peak times, with travel time savings of up to 30 minutes.

This will provide significant efficiencies on the strategic N25 route from Cork to Rosslare Europort while also supporting the future growth and sustainability of New Ross Town and the south east region. The scheme also links the N25 route with the N30 New Ross to Enniscorthy route.

The project is a public-private partnership (PPP) with a joint venture of BAM Civil Construction and Spanish builder Dragados responsible for construction.

It has been delivered as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) Contract between Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the PPP Company, consisting of BAM PPP, PGGM Infrastructure Cooperatie U.A. and Iridium Concesiones de Infraestructuras S.A.

On average, a workforce of 300 people was employed throughout construction and approximately 2.5 million work hours were completed on site to bring the scheme to fruition.

Project works include over 14km of new dual carriageway comprising the N25 and N30 National Primary Routes, one kilometre of new single carriageway comprising the N30 national primary route and three new at-grade roundabout junctions creating connections between the new mainline and the existing N25 and N30 at Glenmore, Ballymacar and Corcoran's Cross.

The bypass road has been completed for several months and some significant works remain to be completed on the bridge prior to the road being opened with further works expected to continue once it opens.

A schedule of inspections, audits and certifications also need to be closed out before the project can open to traffic once approved by Transport Infrastructure Ireland officials.
It's a sunny, summer's day and I'm standing, transfixed, in a small museum in Jerusalem. And struggling to fight back the tears.

I'm in a standalone building in the grounds of Yad Vashem - the vast Israeli museum that's dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust. Yad Vashem itself - the main museum - has just been a somewhat overwhelming experience. But even that has not prepared me for this - the Children's Memorial.

This extraordinary underground cavern, designed by architect Moshie Safdie and literally carved out of the earth, stands as a tribute to the 1.5 million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis. Yes, 1.5 million lost little ones, not least the toddler Uziel Spiegel, whose parents Abe and Edita generously donated funds so that this memorial could be created - to honour not just their two-and-a-half-year-old son who died in Auschwitz, but the thousands and thousands of other children who were so cruelly torn from their families, and from the world.

To enter the Children's Memorial is to enter another world. A place where light is lost and darkness dominates.

But as I stand there in the darkness, I am aware of sparks of light, splintering, and disappearing into infinity. Memorial candles, lit to remember the dead in this completely mirrored room, are reflecting all around me, like thousands of tiny stars twinkling in the firmament.

And as I stand there, awestruck at the hypnotic beauty of it all, a quiet voice rises to the surface of my consciousness and I realise that what I am hearing is a list of the names of the dead children, delivered mantra-like, and echoing, one after another after another, into the darkness. Name age. Name age. Name age.

With a young son back home in Dublin, excitedly awaiting my return from Israel, it's all too much. Finally, overcome, the dam breaks, and the tears flow.

Years later, I found myself in Krakow. And yes, a visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp was definitely on my 'to do' list.

Auschwitz. A single word that needs no explanation. With its horrors long depicted in books and films, dissected by academics, debated on radio and on television, it is one of the most universally recognised place-names of the modern age.

And so we think that, somehow, we understand all about the grotesque malevolence that ran riot here in human form. We've watched 'Schindler's List', after all. And 'Sophie's Choice'. 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' and 'Life is Beautiful'.

So, Auschwitz? Yes, Auschwitz was horrific. We get the picture. And even after my Yad Vashem experience years earlier, that's what I thought too. That it was so familiar in so many ways that it wouldn't have any power over me. That's exactly what I thought - fool that I was - before I walked into Auschwitz on that spring morning a decade ago, passing under that famous 'Arbeit Macht Frei' sign, before progressing on into the bowels of the death camp.

That's what I thought too before I stood in a dormitory in Block 5, with its huge floor-to-ceiling display case running the entire length of the room. A glass case full of thousands of shoes. Not arranged in pairs or sizes, but all jumbled in together as if tossed, like bodies of no consequence, into a mass grave.

Almost all the shoes were black or brown and many had deteriorated. But every now and then there peeped out a flash of red - female shoes, some of them so tiny that they must have been taken from the feet of small girls. Girls whose names I'd heard, perhaps, while I stood that day in the darkness at Yad Vashem.

To read beforehand that when Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated in January 1945 some 43,000 pairs of shoes were discovered in the camp is one thing. To see thousands of them all heaped together, each a symbol of a life cut short, and in such horrendous circumstances, is quite another.

It's an utterly overwhelming experience. As were the suitcases. Thousands of them, all those old-fashioned leather ones in browns and blacks. Some battered from use, others more pristine.

But it wasn't that sight in itself that floored me. It was the names the fact that the owners of the suitcases had written their names on them. Some in a colour that stood out. Some in large, capital letters. Others in a child-like hand. Real names. Real people.

Suddenly, after the footless shoes and other more anonymous 'exhibits', this is reality. This isn't a scene from 'Sophie's Choice' or 'Life is Beautiful'. Meryl Streep and Roberto Benigni have no role here because this is not fictionalised history. This is the real thing - history in the raw.

For those names that you can't take your eyes off are the names of real people. Children, just kids who attended school in the likes of Warsaw or Berlin; middle-aged men and women who were teachers, or shopkeepers or bakers; young adults who were just embarking on life.

So the penny drops as you stand there, right in front of that wall of suitcases, and Auschwitz is no longer like a movie set. It is a place of horror, a place that proves beyond any doubt that at a certain time in the middle of the 20th century the world's axis took a malevolent tilt, a tilt that, but for the heroism of others, might have become a terrifying new norm for humanity. Leave the past in the past, say some. But how can Auschwitz ever really be past?

The day after visiting the death-camp, my husband and I set out on foot from our Krakow hotel in search of Oskar Schindler's factory in the Podgorze district. Eventually we found it - dilapidated and lack-lustre but, thankfully, at that time, with not even a hint of the tourist theme-park about it.

It was a Sunday morning and we were the only two visitors. After much knocking, an old man eventually let us in and pointed us in the direction of a steep staircase. And so we climbed to the spartan office where Oskar Schindler had planned his lifesaving campaign.

I flicked through the visitors' book lying on what had been Schindler's actual desk. Time and again, as I turned the pages, the same phrase kept appearing. The languages were different but the sentiment was the same. 'Nie vergessen'. 'Ne jamais oublier'. 'Never forget.'

And I thought of little Uziel Spiegel, the toddler whose death in Auschwitz gave rise to that extraordinary Children's Memorial in Jerusalem's Yad Vashem. Like so many of the million-plus souls who perished in the horror of Auschwitz, Uziel never grew old as those who were left grew old. Age did not weary him. Nor the years condemn. But at the going down of the sun, and in the morning - particularly in this anniversary month - surely, we should remember him.

Monday marks 75th anniversary of liberation of Auschwitz
Boris Johnson is 'preparing to sack five women from his cabinet but has planned to promote junior female staffers amid concerns over sexism accusations'.

The Prime Minister is going ahead with the changes as part of plans to move on from Brexit after Britain's departure on Friday, No 10 figures confirmed yesterday.

Those who may be at risk include Liz Truss, the international trade secretary, Andrea Leadsom, the business secretary, Therese Coffey, the welfare secretary, Theresa Villiers, the environment secretary, and Esther McVey.

Downing Street is concerned about accusations of sexism after the reshuffle because women will make up the majority of those who may be dismissed.

Those who may be at risk include Andrea Leadsom, the business secretary (right) and Esther McVey (left)

The shake-up is currently scheduled for the second week of next month.

The prime minister is understood to be resigned to suffering the embarrassment of a sharp drop in the number of female cabinet members, according to The Times.

At the moment eight women sit around the cabinet table but Mr Johnson is hoping that there will soon be a new influx of women into government.

Of the 109 paid positions across government, 38 are held by women and an increase in their number could allow the prime minister to claim to be leading the most female government.

Therese Coffey, the welfare secretary (left) and Liz Truss, the international trade secretary (right) are also at risk according to reports

Oliver Dowden, the Cabinet Office minister, and Kit Malthouse, the police minister, could be promoted.

However Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Commons leader, and Geoffrey Cox, the attorney-general, are currently regarded as the most vulnerable men in the cabinet.

Helen Whately, a culture minister, and Lucy Frazer, a justice minister, are regarded as cabinet prospects, and Penny Mordaunt could return in the up coming reshuffle.

In the last general election the Tories did relatively poorly among younger women. A YouGov analysis of the election on December 12 showed a significant gender gap among 18 to 24-year-olds.

Downing Street is concerned about accusations of sexism after the reshuffle because women will make up the majority of those who may be dismissed

Dehenna Davison (left) has been pipped as a future star, while Home Secretary Priti Patel (right) is safe

While they attracted 28 per cent of younger males only 15 per cent of women in that age group voted Conservative.

Theresa Villiers, the environment secretary is also said to be at risk in the reshuffle

Downing Street is also understood to be keen to raise the profile of older new female MPs who have had long careers before becoming involved in the government.

It comes as Boris Johnson signed the Brexit divorce deal today, hailing the 'fantastic moment' that sends the UK officially on a path to quit the EU in a week's time.

The Prime Minister voiced his hope that it 'brings to an end far too many years of argument and division' ahead of Brexit on January 31.

Tory MPs welcomed the move. Transport minister George Freeman said the signing of the treaty proved 'democracy is working' after 'three years of gridlock'.

The UK will leave the EU on January 31 and will then enter into a standstill transition period during which the two sides will try to hammer out a complete trade deal.

Mr Johnson is adamant that he will not agree to extend the transition period and that December 2020 must be viewed as a hard deadline.
South Africas entire economy was hijacked. How many people have gone to prison so far?

This is the question which CNNs Richard Quest asked The Money Shows Bruce Whitfield when he was interviewed at the World Economic Forums annual meeting in Davos.

While South Africa has a delegation at the event, Quest said the country does not have the same profile as previous years.

He said while there can be many reasons for the lower profile, there is no value in coming to Davos to court investors if the policies are not there to make it attractive.

Ramaphosas attempt

President Cyril Ramaphosa may have made a good impression at Davos two years ago, but the true impact and scale of state capture has now come to light  and the world has seen the impact.

Since then we have discovered just how awful the state capture was, Quest said in his interview.

This is one of those few subjects where Pravin Gordhan said if you think it was bad, I am telling you it is worse.

Quest said people who have been coming to Davos for the past five years used to hear it is going really well and we have got everything under control from South Africans.

The country has now turned around and informed investors that actually, the whole economy was hijacked, and the losses are actually much bigger than what we thought.

And by the way, it you think it was bad it was actually much worse, and we are not even sure we have dealt with it.

Asked the question as to what must be done to change South Africas tarnished image, Quest answered: How many people have gone to prison so far?

Richard Quest interview
Air crash investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder from the charred wreckage of a water bomber that crashed while fighting bushfires in southern NSW, and are hoping it will reveal what occurred during the flight's final moments.

New vision of the hillside where the Lockheed C-130 Hercules crashed at Peak View was released on Saturday morning as investigators gained access to the site, revealing twisted wreckage spread over hundreds of metres of charred bushland.

Two ATSB personnel recover the cockpit voice recorder from the wreckage of the C-130, which crashed in southern NSW. Credit:ATSB

The entire crew - US nationals captain Ian McBeth, first officer Paul Clyde Hudson and flight engineer Rick DeMorgan jnr - were killed in Thursday's crash. Their bodies were recovered from the site on Friday night as their families prepared to fly to Australia.

The wreckage of the four-engine aircraft is barely recognisable, with only the tail left intact. Aerial footage of the crash site appears to show the plane ploughed through an open hillside, before disintegrating into a treeline at Peak View.
Victims of property theft had overwhelmingly positive experiences with Portland police officers who helped them, according to an independent survey conducted by the National Police Foundation.

Significant differences in survey completion by gender, race, and age are also noted in the findings. Implemented by the National Police Foundation, the survey tested a new polling method utilizing text messages.

The National Police Foundation sent eight questions via text last October to 2,318 Portland residents who had been victims of property crimes and had contacted police for assistance.

The 538 respondents ranked their sentiments on a five-point scale from most negative (1) to most positive (5), police said in a news release this week.

People were fairly equal across precincts and genders and evenly distributed among precincts, according to the National Police Foundation, a nonprofit organization seeking to advance policing through innovation and science.

But the study also found:

 86% of respondents were white.

 Non-white respondents were significantly less likely to complete the survey than white (18% of black respondents completed the surveys compared to 25% of white respondents).

 Younger residents were less likely to complete the survey than older residents (17% of those 30 and under completed compared to 42% of residents 60 and over).

 Women were more likely than men to complete the survey (25% compared to 21%).

 The differences in completion rate by age category were large: 25 percentage points separated the youngest and oldest age categories.

The survey analysis notes the predominantly white sample size may not accurately reflect the perceptions of non-white people, stating that more data is needed to confirm that specific non-white subgroups  especially African Americans -- share similar satisfaction rates to whites.

The survey was funded, developed and carried out by the National Police Foundation, which approached the Police Bureau seeking opportunities to test a new method of survey using texts and emails.

Victims of property theft were selected as participants because they span a wide cross-section of the community. There are countless other topics that we could collect data on, said Sgt. Kevin Allen, a police spokesman. This is one narrow, but valuable, perspective.

The Police Bureau also wanted to avoid contacting others who had more sensitive interactions with police officers. We did not want to potentially re-traumatize victims of personal crimes such as assault, rape, or robbery by asking questions about their contact with us, Allen said.

According to the Portland Police Bureau, the survey found:

 85.47% felt extremely positive about the officer listening to what they had to say.

 77.86% felt extremely positive the officer was fair with them.

 69.27% felt the officer was respectful to them.

 Taking the whole experience into account, 61.97% felt the interaction with police was extremely positive.

At the same time, police said the respondents also offered feedback that included some who said police didnt have time for them.

The survey also found that people who reported online, instead of reporting in person, were less satisfied overall.

Find the survey here.

-- Piper McDaniel; amcdaniel@oregonian.com; 503-221-4307; @Piperamcdaniel

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
France confirmed on Friday its first three cases of the Wuhan coronavirus, with two patients being hospitalised in Paris and the other in the southwestern city of Bordeaux, Trend reports citing Reuters.

Health Minister Agnes Buzyn told a news conference authorities had confirmed two cases, Europes first, and that more cases were likely to occur in France.

In a separate statement on Friday, the health ministry announced the third case, a relative of one of the first two.

Earlier, the charity SOS Medecins said it had treated one of the cases, a patient of Chinese origin who was showing symptoms of a fever and who said he had been in contact with people from Wuhan in China, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak.

Buzyn said the patient was 48 years old and had returned two days ago from a trip to China which included a stop in Wuhan.

Hes been put in an isolated room so as to avoid any contact with the outside world. Hes fine, she said.

Most of the cases and all of the deaths so far have been in China, where officials have imposed severe restrictions on travel and public gatherings.

The virus has created alarm, but there are still many unknowns surrounding it, such as just how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people. It can lead to pneumonia, which has been deadly in some cases.

The World Health Organization on Thursday declared the virus an emergency in China, but stopped short of declaring it a global health emergency.

Buzyn said the official advice to those suspecting they might have caught the virus was not to go to hospital - to avoid spreading it - but to call a special number where they would be told what to do.

The minister said she planned to hold daily news conferences on the issue.
The Ombudsman has launched an investigation into why more than 1,300 people under 65 are being housed in nursing homes.

Peter Tyndall, who investigates complaints against government departments, local authorities and the HSE, launched the probe after receiving complaints about the situation.

It is at the top of a list of issues he has raised in a Submission for Party Manifestos. He points to the fact that this is an issue despite the many scandals in institutional care including the Magdalene laundries.

Disability Federation of Ireland head of policy Dr Joanne McCarthy said the situation is a national disgrace.

We dont know exactly how many people are in this situation but it could be more than 1,300, more than 1,400 people, she said.

They are people with one form of disability or another who are in inappropriate care settings that are designed for older people. These are wasted lives.

Mervyn Taylor, executive director of the vulnerable adults support and advocacy Sage Advocacy, said: This is a very, very serious situation and merits serious investigation.

Ombudsman Mr Tyndall has told party leaders he is investigating the situation of people under 65 who are inappropriately placed in nursing home care.

They include people with disabilities who are unable to get an appropriate care package from the HSE for them to be cared for at home.

There are also people with intellectual difficulties still in institutional care as there is insufficient funding to meet their support needs, Mr Tyndall said.

He said this is still the case regardless of whether or not appropriate housing has been identified and adapted.

Mr Tyndall told party leaders in his submission: Support for people with disabilities inappropriately placed in healthcare settings has never been a priority.

Despite the many scandals in institutional care including the Magdalene Laundries, there has never been consistent and sufficient funding to support people to remain in, or return to, their own communities. Properly funding a move away from congregated settings to appropriate community provision needs to be a key priority for any incoming government.

To facilitate this, support for social care should be separated from the health service. It has been and will remain a low priority in this context when compared to the pressing needs of emergency admissions and acute care.

And he added: The health model of disability is inappropriate. It needs to be replaced by a person centred approach which respects the rights and preferences of individuals and allows them to be engaged and respected members of their local communities.

The numbers of those under 65 and being housed in nursing homes has increased every year.

In June 2017, there were 1,222. This figure had risen to 1,313 in June 2018. They are being housed in a number of cases under the Nursing Homes Support Scheme.

Also known as the Fair Deal Scheme, it provides financial support to people who need long-term nursing home care.
It took a phone call to Camp Lejeune from Houstons police chief to get a Marine back to Houston to grieve with his family after Fridays deadly explosion at Watson Grinding and Manufacturing.

Gerardo Castorena Jr.s father was one of two men killed by the early morning blast at the Spring Branch-area plant, which damaged more than 200 nearby homes, knocked dozens off their foundations, and rattled windows across the city.

But his superiors at the North Carolina base did not immediately authorize him to return home because his fathers identity had not yet been officially confirmed, Police Chief Art Acevedo said.

It made it a priority for us to get the young Marine home, said Acevedo, noting the Marine was expected home Saturday night.

The 4:30 a.m. explosion obliterated much of the Gessner Road plant, killing Gerardo Castorena Sr., 45, and coworker Frank Flores, 44, both of whom had showed up early to work out in the on-site gym.

Investigators spent Saturday combing the wreckage, but ended the day without releasing new details. Authorities have identified the chemical involved as propylene, which is used for the production of films, fibers and plastic packaging, but Acevedo said determining the cause of the blast will take days.

After taking his second tour of the site, Mayor Sylvester Turner said more must be done to protect Houstonians from dangerous chemicals and called on state and federal lawmakers to give the city more regulatory leeway.

Dozens of volunteers fanned out to help those with damaged homes prepare for incoming rain by boarding up blown-out windows and putting tarps on damaged roofs. Scores of homeowners gathered at a nearby Mexican restaurant to hear from a gaggle of plaintiffs attorneys. Some homeowners were working on little sleep, their hands shaking and their bodies splotched with bruises from the debris the blast tore from their walls and ceilings.

The bulk of the trauma Saturday, however, rested with the Castorena and Flores families.

Its with a heavy heart that we had to say goodbye to a loving father, son, brother, and friend yesterday morning, the Castorena family said in a statement Saturday evening. We do ask for privacy as we grieve during this time. Thank you all to those for your kind words and support as we get through this difficult time.

In addition to his son in the Marines, Castorena Sr. also was a father to three girls, said his former wife of 15 years, Frances Carraquillo. Carraquillo joined relatives and friends in paying tribute to Castorena in a Facebook post asking for help in paying for his funeral and for her sons travel expenses from Camp Lejeune.

This Friday my father was taken from me in the accident at Watson, the Marine wrote. This is by far the hardest thing Ive ever had to go through.

Flores wife, Margarita, said when reached by phone Saturday that she was surrounded by loved ones but was not ready to talk.

A longtime Watson Grinding and Manufacturing employee who asked to not be identified said he worked closely with Flores and Castorena Sr. and said both were well-liked, but could not comment further because he was not authorized to speak with media.

Mourned as Frankie in social media posts, Flores was a longtime employee of the Watson plant, Acevedo said after speaking with the family.

He was a leader of that family, the chief said. He was completely loved by that family and all about hard work.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Massive west Houston explosion claims two lives, devastates Gessner-area neighborhoods

Very dangerous place

The explosion didnt shock Thomas Gonzales, who worked at Watson Grinding and Manufacturing for a year and filed a formal safety complaint against the company with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 2006.

That place is very dangerous, Gonzales said.

In the complaint, Gonzales described equipment not securely fastened to the floor and employees working with grinders and tungsten carbide spray without dust masks or gloves. Tungsten carbide can cause a skin allergy, lung allergy or lung scarring, according to the New Jersey Department of Health.

OSHA responded to Gonzales by recommending citations for several of his complaints, according to a letter from the agency included in a worker compensation suit he filed in 2007. In the suit, he alleged he had injured his back tripping over extension cords left on the floor. A judge dismissed the case.

Over the years, OSHA has also cited the family-owned machining company  which makes and services parts for everything from the oil and gas to aerospace industries  for safety violations and workplace injuries. In 2013, OSHA issued a fine initially assessed at $13,400 for failing to protect workers from machines. Two years later, a worker lost an index finger to a lathe at the facility. Last year, an employee was crushed when an 831-pound metal shaft tipped over.

The firm was founded by James Watson and is now owned and headed by his son, John M. Watson, who could not be reached for comment. A statement released by the company late Friday expressed condolences to the families and a willingness to cooperate with investigators.

The company started small in 1960 and has grown over the years to more than 100 employees. Public records suggest the business grew to be a financial success. Watsons former house has been listed at $4.1 million, and he took out a $2 million loan for a 6,400-square-foot modernist home west of River Oaks. Texas Parks and Wildlife lists him as the owner of a 56-foot yacht.

Here for a while

On HoustonChronicle.com: What we know about Watson Grinding and Manufacturing

A little more than a mile down Gessner from the plant, at Chavez Mexican Cafe, about 100 homeowners gathered to hear lawyer Robert S. Kwoks pitch, as he pledged to represent them in lawsuits against whoever is deemed responsible for the disaster and seek relief for damages to their property, mental and physical injuries and lost wages.

Many families from the working-class area said they hadnt had time to see a doctor yet and were rattled and disoriented from the ordeal. About half of the dozens of families at the lunch said by a show of hands that they did not have homeowners insurance.

Wendy Bostick Honda and her family are staying in the first story of their home because the upstairs is too damaged.

Ive been having a headache ever since, Bostick Honda said. And were all still hear noises and feeling vibrations. Last night, I kept having nightmares. I keep thinking, Are we going to have another explosion?

The womans usually healthy 2-year-old dog wont eat or even come out of her bedroom.

The event was plagued by an evident language barrier that prevented many from clearly following the discussion. Still, a long line formed at the end of the meeting to provide their information to Kwoks team.

Back at the blast site, Turner vowed that the citys response to the explosion would continue far past when the dust and debris settle.

We werent just here yesterday and now we are gone. We are going to be here for a while, Turner said. If your home was impacted, if you are needing help  if you dont have insurance, for example  I want people to reach out and let us know so we can assist them.

The mayor also said the federal government handicaps what information cities and the general public can retrieve from companies, though he didnt cite specific pre-emptions. He called on the Legislature and Congress to do everything in their power to at least allow us to have the information.

It is important to identify the cause or causes of this explosion in order to mitigate the risk of something like this happening again, Turner said. But I want to emphasize its important for the city to know what chemicals are being housed, stored in these facilities, and right now we are pre-empted from knowing.

A 2016 analysis by the Houston Chronicle found that the city had a role as well. That analysis found that Houston firefighters often dont know where hazardous chemicals are because of poor city inspection processes.

The Watson Grinding blast was the citys first fatal explosion of 2020, but such incidents are a common occurrence in the region. The Houston area experienced five major chemical incidents last year.

Jordan Blum and Perla Trevizo contributed to this report.
GLENS FALLS  With nearly $50,000 in grant and individual funding, the Charles R. Wood Theater is getting an upscale face-lift and some high-tech advances before the 2020 season gets under way.

The initiative  a front lobby makeover, and a high-tech telecoil loop system for people with hearing loss  is a joint project of the Wood Theater and the Adirondack Theatre Festival.

Designed to enhance the theater-going experience for patrons, the loop system was just installed on Thursday and the lobby re-do is scheduled for completion before ATFs summer season opening in June.

The lobby is the calling card for any theater. Its the first thing you see when you come to a show and the last thing you see when you leave. It sets the tone for what to expect when you attend a production, said Chad Rabinovitz, ATF producing artistic director, on Friday. Im always taken aback by the level of work that I see at Wood Theater shows. Now well have a lobby that reflects the quality of whats on stage.

The new lobby space, funded by a Charles R. Wood Foundation grant and designed by local scenic designer Andy Nice, is a bit Broadway in its elegant lines and modern fixtures and furnishings.

My favorite part of the Wood Theater is that it feels like a Broadway theater and now to bring that to the outer lobby, said Emily Murphy, executive director of the Wood Theater. The design is very dramatic and regal and the design is just what we were shooting for. I really love it.

Perhaps even more exciting is what the loop system brings to the theater. For people with hearing loss, it opens up an opportunity to enjoy films, dance recitals and original plays.

With its sophisticated technology, the loop links wirelessly with an individuals hearing device, whether a hearing aid or a cochlear implant, and brings clear, crisp sound while muting ambient noise like people flipping through programs or clapping.

And it was ATF board member Pam Fisher, who first came up with the idea for the system and then she raised the $17,000 needed to have it installed. Fisher has hearing loss, and even though she loves the arts and theater she often could not hear the performances.

Even though I am on the ATF board, I never went to the film festival and now I will really be able to enjoy the movies, she said. It is life changing.

When Fisher first had the idea to bring the loop to the Wood Theater, she went to Proctors in Schenectady because that theater had recently installed a loop.

When I experienced it at Proctors, it was one of the best days of my life, she said.

As part of an MBA assignment at the University of Albany, Fisher and three other team members took on the initial fundraising for the loop, raising about $5,000. But she still had a long way to go. So she set aside every Monday to meet with people all summer to raise the balance.

It came from individuals and families, she said.

The way it works for someone with a hearing device is when they come into the theater, they can switch the hearing device to the telecoil setting. Fisher said some people may not know how to do this, but their audiologist can help or turn it on. The coil will recognize their device and transmit the sound to their ear.

But even people with hearing loss who do not have a hearing device can use the loop. The Wood Theater box office has 10 small loop boxes that patrons can use and plug their own personal headphones into.

Im ecstatic to have had the opportunity to work with Pam on the loop project to help bring greater accessibility to the Wood, said Rabinovitz. All of us who put on shows pretty much just have one goal: To entertain as many people as possible. Its incredible that now well not only improve the theatergoing experience for many patrons, but also open our doors to new audiences we couldnt reach before.

Kathleen Phalen-Tomaselli is a reporter and photographer covering Washington County, arts and life, features and breaking news.

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Northampton Community College student Ashley Barrasso never imagined shed be joining a protest in her states capitol or speaking about climate change for large groups.

For most of her young life, Barrasso couldve been described as quiet and shy. A good student, but not someone to rock the boat or draw attention to herself.

The Northampton Area High School graduate landed at NCC after dual-enrolling at the college during high school. Barrassos the eldest of six and the first in her immediate family to attend college. Community college seemed like the simplest and most affordable option, but the Saylorsburg resident wasnt expecting an immersive college experience.

She thought shed go to class, study hard at her biology major and work to earn money to put towards transferring to another school.

On Saturday, the 21-year-old will graduate with an associates degree in biological science during NCCs winter commencement. More than 600 students from across the region will earn degrees in the ceremony where DeSales University President Rev. James J. Greenfield is the commencement speaker.

Nobody would describe Barrasso as a wallflower today. She leaves NCC as a student leader and president of the colleges Climate Action Network Club. At Northampton, she discovered a huge passion for the environment thatll fuel her future college and career choices.

Her prolific efforts on campus to champion environmentally conscious causes, such as CANs campaign against single-use plastics means students who dont know her name affectionately recognize her as climate change lady, said Anita Forrester, who is faculty advisor for CAN and an associate professor of geography.

When Barrasso enrolled in Forresters environmental sustainability class she hadnt found her voice.

But the topics that we discussed in class quickly interested her, causing her to come out of her shell and speak up more. It was clear that in environmental issues she had really found her calling," Forrester recalled. "She began putting in more effort in class accordingly, revealing over the course of that first semester that inside of her was this deeply-focused, energetic student who wanted to succeed, who had ambitions, and who had a lot to offer everyone else around her once she was in an environment that both nurtured her and resonated her.

Barrasso expected to pursue a medical biology pathway until she took Forresters class.

I wanted to do more biomedical engineering. I was planning on working in a hospital, she said. Ive got no interest in anything outdoorsy. I never thought of myself as someone who would be advocating for things like this. It is now my whole life and it is crazy I used to be someone who didnt know anything like this.

Shes grateful NCC offers a medical biology or environmental biology pathway because it altered her life path. She hopes to transfer to a four-year college next fall -- perhaps Lehigh University or Lafayette College -- and eventually work in a chemical lab developing sustainable chemicals -- especially an alternative to PFAS flame retardants -- for a company like DuPont.

Her early semesters were spent working during the days and taking night classes, so Barrasso didnt join any clubs. She struggled with social anxiety and stayed close to home. When Barrasso was a freshman in high school, her father died leaving her family reeling. Her parents were divorced but still quite close, even vacationing together, she said.

Struggling with anxiety and grief in high school had limited me from expressing the ideals and goals I really wanted to achieve. I was always academically a good student, but I was too nervous to let me voice be heard, Barrasso wrote in a student questionnaire. I decided that NCC would be the start to a new me, one that wasnt afraid to take risks and get involved on campus to make change.

Grad Spotlight - Ashley #Commencement is January 25, and #NCC #Grad, Ashley, is proud of what she's done at #NCC & has an exciting future ahead. Take a look at northampton.edu/commencement.htm to find information for the big day! #College #Winter2020 #Graduates #Graduation #Classof2020 Posted by Northampton Community College on Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Things flipped on their head once she enrolled in Forresters class, so much so she opted to stay an extra semester to get more involved.

Soon she found herself in Harrisburg advocating against fracking alongside classmates and folks from the Better Path Coalition, something that put her outside her comfort zone. But she discovered she enjoyed activism and using her voice.

In March, Barrasso got a chance to travel to Atlanta, Georgia, to train with former Vice President Al Gore at the Climate Leadership Project. She learned how to make presentations about the urgency of climate change and engage with climate change doubters in a respectful manner. Shes already given three on campus and plans to return for a sustainability symposium.

Barrasso and other NCC students recently were invited by U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh Valley, to visit her in Washington, D.C., after meeting her at several community events.

Shes found fighting global warming appeals to the part of her thats always fought for the underdog. This time its the people living on the frontlines of climate change, combatting rising sea levels and natural disasters.

If we dont address this problem nothing else will matter. This gave me, almost, a purpose. It is not just me in my community. It is the entire planet, Barrasso said. Specifically being someone that lives in the US., we have a higher duty as one of the main polluters in the world. We have this moral obligation to do better.

When Barrasso enrolled in Donna Acerras honors section of intercultural communication last spring, it didnt take long to recognize her academic strengths and passion for social issues, her professor recalled. The course focused on Finnish culture and communication and Barrasso dove into learning the Finnish education system.

It was wonderful to watch her embrace what she was learning and share it with others, Acerra said.

As Forrester got to know Barrasso, her interest in helping others quickly became apparent.

Ashleys considerateness is hardly limited to the campus either, as she is active in environmental groups off-campus too, in addition to the ways in which she brings that knowledge to her family, Forrester said. In some ways, being from such a large family and being the first person in her family to go to college have been obstacles for her because of the work-school-family balance shes had to keep, except that her family has only served to motivate her further. The safety and health of the people around her -- family, friend, or stranger -- are her top concerns.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
The UAE government has announced support for the plan and programme launched by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, to help develop better skills, jobs, and education for a billion people by 2030 to qualify them for the labour market.

The UAE is one of the first countries to support the declared strategic goal, along with several other countries such as the US, Denmark, and numerous major companies and international organisations.

The cooperation agreement with WEF was signed by Dr Ahmad bin Abdullah Humaid Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education and Advanced Skills in the presence of Sheikh Khalid bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Office; Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group; Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and The Future, and other senior UAE officials.

Under this agreement, UAE becomes an active member of the programme, which will extend for the next 10 years, and aims to provide better skills and education for a billion people around the world and enhance the quality of life for generations to come, which is in line with the slogan of the current World Economic Forum, Davos 2020 "Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World".

Lauding the key WEF agreement, Dr Al Falasi said: "It is a pleasure to announce the support of international efforts to provide and spread education, skills and appropriate environment for them."

"Through the agreement, we seek to find appropriate solutions and invest in human capital, which is a major national priority for us in the UAE," he stated.

WEF Founder and Executive Chairman, Professor Klaus Schwab said the best way to create a more cohesive and more inclusive society was to provide job opportunities for all.

"We here in Davos are working with our partners to create a global platform that will provide a billion people with the skills they need in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and as this is an important and pressing transformation, the least we have to do is move faster to renew and develop skills," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
In his own words, Seamus Mallon was simply there to help people.

The former deputy SDLP leader and one of the architects of the Good Friday Agreement who passed away at the age of 83 yesterday, downplayed his key role in the peace process.

In a poignant interview last year, the former Deputy First Minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly was humble about the role he played in achieving peace in the North.

"I would simply put it this way; I got some things right, we got some wrong, but I was able to get on from the ones that were wrong to put them right.

"And as regards the ones I got right, I just regarded them as a stepping stone onto the next big issue," he said.

Cancer

"It's impossible to assess one's role but I'll put it this way: At the very heart of my involvement in politics was to help people, especially to help people in a divided society, where awful things were being done to them and I hope I helped in those circumstances."

His death following a battle with cancer drew tributes from across the political divide last night, both north and south.

Referring to him as a "lifelong civil rights campaigner," President Michael D Higgins said: "His reputation as a politician and community activist of unsurpassed courage, civility and fairness is held by all those who had the privilege of knowing him.

"He was instrumental in bringing into being a meaningful discourse that heralded a new possibility of civil rights within a shared island."

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar praised his work on bridging divides: "History will remember Seamus as an architect of the Good Friday Agreement, a committed peace builder and a tireless champion of an inclusive Ireland."

Former UUP leader and the first First Minister of Northern Ireland, David Trimble, said that while he and Mr Mallon didn't always see eye to eye, he had a deep respect for him.

Speaking on RTE's Six One News last night, Mr Trimble said he had visited him as recently as last weekend after learning he was seriously ill and had also planned to visit this weekend.

"There were disagreements but at the end of the day, Seamus was committed to peaceful, democratic solutions and was prepared to do the work," he said, adding that Mr Mallon didn't "have much time for people not prepared to do the work".

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was "one of the most important architects of peace in Northern Ireland".

"Brave, blunt, often prepared to swim against the tide if he felt it right," he wrote on Twitter last night.

"I spent many hours listening to him and learning from him. He had a brilliant turn of phrase and sharp wit," he wrote

"He could be difficult but never ill intentioned."

Mr Mallon was "tough to negotiate with but always for a purpose," he added.

Honour

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said last night that he had the "honour and pleasure" of knowing and working with Mr Mallon for almost 40 years in which time he "got to know, admire and respect a wonderful person".

Noting how he was a key negotiator for his party in the talks leading to the Good Friday Agreement, he said Mr Mallon remained "a strong opponent of violence from all sides.

"He was an extremely able parliamentarian at Westminster and Stormont and was the MP that contributed most to the reform of policing in Northern Ireland by his work on the passage of the legislation in Westminster."
34 US troops suffered concussion, brain injury in Iranian strike: Pentagon

Iran Press TV

Friday, 24 January 2020 5:58 PM

The Pentagon has said that dozens of US troops were wounded in an Iranian retaliatory missile attack earlier this month despite Washington's initial claim denying casualties.

The Pentagon said on Friday 34 service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury following the Iran strike on January 8. They suffered concussions.

"Thirty-four total members have been diagnosed with concussions and TBI (traumatic brain injury)," Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington, DC.

Hoffman said that the eight injured troops who had been previously transported to Germany had been moved to the United States, but nine of them still remain there.

"They will continue to receive treatment in the United States, either at Walter Reed (a military hospital near Washington) or at their home bases," he said.

The nine other victims "are still undergoing evaluation and treatment there (in Germany)," he added.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) fired volleys of ballistic missiles at Ain al-Asad, a large airbase hosting about 1,500 US troops, and another outpost in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan.

The missile operation was in response to Washington's January 3 assassination of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who led the IRGC's Quds Force.

The assassination also resulted in the death of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was the second-in-command of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).

Speaking on the morning following Iran's reciprocal military operation, US President Donald Trump had said that "no Americans were harmed in last night's attack".

"We suffered no casualties, all of our soldiers are safe, and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases," he added.

The Pentagon had also initially ruled out any casualties from the attack.

Speaking last week, however, US Central Command spokesman Captain Bill Urban said that 11 of their troops were injured from the Iranian missile strikes, and they had been taken to US bases outside Iraq for further treatment "out of an abundance of caution."

On Wednesday, Trump appeared to play down the injuries, saying he "heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things."

The development marks the latest report in a string of recent revelations undermining initial US claims downplaying casualties and damage following Iran's retaliatory missile attack.

Reports and satellite images have gradually revealed what US media have described as "extensive" damage at the base.

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Ministers are drawing up plans for the emergency evacuation of more than 200 Britons trapped at the centre of the deadly coronavirus epidemic in China.

The Government, which initially said it would leave British citizens in Wuhan to avoid spreading the virus to the UK, performed a dramatic U-turn yesterday after concluding that keeping expats there could be a death sentence.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab ordered officials to examine the logistics for an airlift, although a source said a number of things need to fall into place on the Chinese side before we can make any firm promises.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is pictured walking to Downing Street on Thursday. Raab has ordered officials to examine the logistics for extracting British citizens from virus-stricken Wuhan

Medical staff members wearing protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city, arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan on January 25, 2020

A picture released by Xinhua News Agency shows a medical worker checking the drip of a patient in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, 24 January 2020. The official death toll from the coronavirus last night stood at 55, with almost 1,400 confirmed infections

Demand for action from expats trapped in Wuhan grew louder when Chinas President Xi Jinping yesterday admitted that his country was facing a grave situation.

The official death toll last night stood at 55, with almost 1,400 confirmed infections. Video clips on social media laid bare the meltdown at Chinese hospitals struggling to cope.

One nurse said 90,000 people had been infected in Wuhan, but the claim was unverified.

An undated photo shows passengers arriving at Heathrow airport wearing face masks. British expats demanded the Government get us out of here. One who was trapped in Wuhan told fellow Britons: London thinks youre all dead!

Map shows the locations and deaths from the coronavirus

In a sign of the growing strain on Wuhan's health care system, the official Xinhua news agency reported that the city planned to build a second makeshift hospital with about 1,000 beds. The city previously announced that construction of a hospital of the same size was underway and expected to be completed February 3 (pictured, medics at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital)

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sore throat

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As more than 56 million people in 18 Chinese cities were on lockdown, British expats demanded the Government get us out of here. One who was trapped in Wuhan told fellow Britons: London thinks youre all dead!

The Foreign Office reversal followed the launch of similar evacuation plans by the US and French governments.

America may send a charter flight for its citizens as early as today.

The news came as:

The UK began a race against time to develop a vaccine against coronavirus, ordered by Health Secretary Matt Hancock, as experts warned the infection was likely to reach the UK within days;

Public Health England developed a new test which diagnoses an infection in under 24 hours  more than 30 people have so far been tested in the UK, but none proved positive;

Health officials stepped up efforts to track down an estimated 2,000 people who have arrived in the UK from Wuhan in the past fortnight;

A 62-year-old doctor treating patients in Wuhan was confirmed as being among the latest fatalities, while a two-year-old girl became the youngest to be infected.

A Chinese health worker checks the temperature of a woman entering a subway station during the Chinese New Year and Spring Festival on January 25, 2020 in Beijing, China

People wearing face masks to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city, are seen at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan (pictured, patients line up along the corridor)

China's President Xi Jinping addressed the nation today (pictured) and said: 'It is necessary to strengthen the centralised and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee'

A senior Government source said: It is a fast-moving situation and it requires some tough calls to be made.

Originally, the advice we received was that Britons should stay in China, rather than risk spreading the virus to the UK.

'But the situation is now so bad locally, and the medical system so overstretched, that it could prove to be a death sentence. We need to get people out.

Coronavirus is now reported to have infected more than 1,280 people in several countries. (Medical staff wearing protective gear in Wuhan Red Cross Hospital today)

The vast majority of the infections and all the deaths have been in mainland China, but fresh cases are popping up. Australia and Malaysia reported their first cases Saturday and Japan, its third. France confirmed three cases Friday, the first in Europe, and the U.S. identified its second, a woman in Chicago who had returned from China (pictured, medics at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital)

So we are looking at removing Britons. But we do not yet know how the logistics will work. They are challenging.

Despite the crisis, Chinese New Year celebrations yesterday got under way in London and Manchester.

The biggest event outside Asia will take place today when thousands of people gather in the capital for a huge parade from Trafalgar Square to Chinatown.

Did China pressure World Health Organisation not to declare international emergency? China's status as a major superpower may have influenced the World Health Organisation's decision not to declare coronavirus an international emergency, experts have warned. More than 1,300 people have been infected globally with the virus traced to a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife. Despite this, the WHO has failed to declare a global health crisis. On Thursday the organisation said it was 'too early' for such a decision but added an emergency could still be declared if the outbreak continues to spread. 'This should not be taken as a sign that we don't think the outbreak is serious, or that we are not taking it seriously,' said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 'Nothing could be further from the truth.' Now, baffled experts have warned that their decision may have been influenced by China. Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, told The Daily Telegraph: 'The criteria for declaring a public health emergency of international concern have been met.' But 'not all WHO decisions are made based on the developments in the biological world,' he added. Advertisement

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Please get us out of here: 200 Britons beg for rescue from China as coronavirus outbreak crisis deepens

The contrast could hardly be more stark. The usually bustling streets of Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, were eerily quiet yesterday, while in the wards and corridors of its hospitals there were scenes of ever-increasing chaos.

From his apartment in the city, British PE teacher Kharn Lambert looked out at the deserted streets with mounting anxiety, but was most concerned about his visiting 81-year-old grandmother, Veronica Theobald.

The pensioner, from Lancaster, is too frightened to go out because her debilitating lung condition  chronic obstructive pulmonary disease  means that she may not survive a bout of the deadly coronavirus which has already claimed 55 lives as it sweeps across central China.

Britons stuck in the city include 81-year-old grandmother Veronica Theobald, from Lancaster. The streets of Wuhan remained quiet today as medical professionals rushed to treat those infected (Pictured on Saturday at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital)

There are 200 to 300 Britons stuck in Wuhan, it has been estimated, including teachers and businessmen. Pictured above is a patient in the Wuhan Red Cross hospital

She needs about 18 different medicines each day and, if she caught this virus, Im afraid it would kill her, Mr Lambert, 31, said last night.

Mrs Theobald arrived in Wuhan in early December and was due to return to the UK tomorrow but her flight was one of those cancelled when the city was effectively closed off to the world on Thursday. She has just a weeks supply of her vital drugs left.

As Mr Lambert and his grandmother waited anxiously, elsewhere in the city yesterday British expats were exchanging angry messages on social media about the apparent intransigence of the Foreign Office in response to their pleas to get us out of here.

Their fury deepened as it emerged the US government was planning an airlift and the French had organised an evacuation by coach.

The British Government, by contrast, was still saying yesterday afternoon that there were no plans to evacuate Britons because it might increase the risk of spreading the infection.

Supermarket shelves have been swiped clean following a spike in panic buying as the city goes into lock down

Medical professionals pictured outside Wuhan Red Cross hospital. China maintains the number of those infected is not above 2,000, while reports claim it could be as high as 90,000

The view was shared by some experts, but failed to convince those trapped in Wuhan.

One angry British expat simply told fellow members of a social media chat group: London thinks youre all dead!

Another unnamed member of a WeChat group  the Chinese equivalent of WhatsApp  stormed: There hasnt been any engagement with the British citizens in Wuhan by the Foreign Office.

Its an utter p***take that were being left here like this.

Last night the Government finally relented, concluding that the threat posed by the virus was worse than they had realised, and in a dramatic U-turn announced they were devising plans for an airlift of British nationals.

After The Mail on Sunday told Mr Lambert of the development, he said: The French and American embassies seemed to be doing everything they could to provide their citizens with every opportunity to leave the city, while the Foreign Office appeared to be sitting back to see how things developed.

People wearing facemasks in Wuhan city as they wait for medical attention at the hospital

A man pictured on a drip in the Intensive Care Unit of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University on Friday. China is frantically fighting to contain the virus

Im glad theyve finally seen sense to get us out of here, but I have to say that, since the lockdown, no one in any official capacity tried to connect with the British community in Wuhan to see if there was anything that we could be assisted with.

Anxiety grew when Chinese state media reported an admission by President Xi Jinping that his country was facing a grave situation. Such candour is rare from a regime that prides itself on keeping problems out of public view.

At the same time, an increasing number of social media video clips were laying bare the appalling situation inside Wuhans overcrowded hospitals, including footage of a doctor apparently collapsing.

In other videos, staff were seen shouting at patients. Some exhausted medical workers were reported to be wearing adult nappies because demand meant they had no time to use the lavatory.

As the day wore on, opinion in Whitehall began to shift, with the realisation that even the might of China was unable to cope with coronavirus. They, too, saw the footage from Wuhans hospitals and concluded that the local medical system was in complete meltdown.

One senior Government source admitted that leaving the expat Britons in Wuhan could prove to be a death sentence. We need to get people out.

The scale of the outbreak as of 10pm on Sunday. Only three cases have been reported in the UK so far, while the majority are being reported in China

A man and a woman pictured wearing face masks as they look at their smartphones in Jingshawn park overlooking Beijing's forbidden city

For three days, Wuhan has been a city alone after the authorities closed bridges and tunnels connecting different districts. On Friday, the government there announced an effective curfew and all journeys by private car were banned from midnight last night. Mr Lambert, who has lived in China for five years, was sitting down to watch his beloved football club Liverpool play Wolverhampton Wanderers on television in the early hours of Thursday when he spotted a newsflash that Wuhan was to be placed in quarantine.

He said: Most people were asleep, of course, but then they woke up to find they were effectively locked in. I was utterly gobsmacked and so was everyone else.

Wuhan is home to between 200 and 300 Britons  businessmen, English teachers and students.

Its a complete ghost town out there, said Mr Lambert. Normally the place is thronged with people but now its just dead with only a few food shops open.

He ventured out on Thursday to replenish stocks of food, but found many store shelves picked clean. It was definitely panic-buying, but you cant really blame people  no one knew when the shops would be resupplied, or how things would develop, he said.

The outbreak of a new virus linked to a wildlife market in central China is prompting renewed calls for enforcement of laws against the trade in and consumption of exotic species (pictured, meat from trafficked wildlife)

Viral footage purports to show a fashionable Chinese young woman biting one of the wings of a cooked bat at a fancy restaurant. The deadly coronavirus could come from the animal

He has been following careful precautions to protect his vulnerable grandmother after his trip out, disinfecting his shoes, clothing, door handles and any items he has bought, then putting all his clothes in the washing machine before taking a shower.

According to reports, America has arranged a charter flight for its nationals today.

The evacuation details for Mr Lambert and Mrs Theobald were last night far more sketchy.

Last night officials were reporting that 1,372 people across China had been infected. Few believe them  and the numbers of cases reported elsewhere around the world have begun to grow.

As frantic efforts to build and equip two hospitals in less than a week continued, it emerged the dead included Liu Wudong, 62, a doctor who had been treating patients in Wuhan.

The Chinese government has sent 450 medical staff to Wuhan along with 14,000 protective suits and 110,000 pairs of gloves, masks and goggles.

Yesterday, Australia confirmed four cases of coronavirus, as did Malaysia. France has three and five were reported in Hong Kong.

What did they expect? Grotesque market where virus began By Mark Hookham for the Mail on Sunday A menagerie of beasts sit listlessly in their cages close to the hanging carcasses of skinned animals in the open-air market in Wuhan, the city at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak. Scientists believe the deadly disease made the critical transmission from animals to humans at the Huanan Seafood Market, notorious for offering wild animals, including koalas, foxes, rats and wolf pups. Chinese vendors kill porcupines (pictured at the Wuhan market) to extract an undigested material from their gut, which is believed to cure diabetes, dengue fever, and cancer Deers and raccoons are seen at the Wuhan food market, which is feared to be 'ground-zero' of the coronavirus outbreak These photographs, showing caged beavers, snakes, porcupines, a small deer and what appear to be young wolves, were uploaded to Chinese social media almost three weeks after the market was shut down by investigators on January 1. Research suggests the Wuhan virus  scientifically known as 2019-nCoV  was passed to humans from snakes, but bats, badgers and rats have also been identified as possible sources. It is believed 112 species of exotic animals were on sale at the market before the outbreak. Experts say all of the animals there should have been destroyed as soon as the outbreak was detected, but were not, sparking criticism of the Chinese authorities. Conservationists have long denounced Chinas trade in exotic wildlife  driven by demand for traditional medicines and unusual delicacies  for its potential to spread disease. Snakes stuck in a cage together at the market where coronavirus is believed to have jumped from animals to humans Carcasses pictured hanging in the open air at the Wuhan food market, China Advertisement

Boris Johnson has come under pressure to pull British diplomats out of Wuhan where infection from the deadly coronavirus is most potent.

The United States was today preparing to evacuate 1,000 of its citizens and consulate staff from the disease-hit Hubei province, sparking speculation the UK would follow suit.

But the Foreign Office wouldn't tell the MailOnline about the immediate future of its diplomats in its Wuhan consulate, saying only that it is 'monitoring the situation in China very closely'.

Now, acting Lib Dem leader Ed Davey has slammed the government's seemed inaction and demanded it draws up an evacuation blueprint to safeguard its citizens from the infection which has killed 55.

He told MailOnline: 'The Conservative government should assemble COBRA to ensure the safety of UK citizens and government officials in Wuhan and make sure preparations are in place for evacuation.

'The Conservatives must follow advice of senior medics. So far Boris Johnson has totally failed to show he knows how to handle this dangerous situation.'

His warning comes as doctors were dispatched to Heathrow to immediately treat any passengers feared to have carried the coronavirus from China and stop the deadly infection spreading on British soil.

This afternoon, passengers from Beijing touched down at London's flagship airport where a rotation team of seven medics are on standby for anyone feeling sick.

UK health officials have erected clinician hubs for people exhibiting symptoms of the virus, yet have warned these signs of infection may not sprout up until long after they leave the airport and fan out across the country.

Border Force agents are already racing to track down 2,000 people who arrived from the outbreak's epicenter of Wuhan in the two weeks before a flight freeze was imposed on Wednesday.

The global death toll of the crisis has climbed to 55 and 1,300 have been infected worldwide, but no cases have so far been confirmed in the UK.

All 31 patients probed for coronavirus across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been cleared.

But England's chief medical officer has warned doctors to brace for cases of infected persons in the UK over the coming days.

Acting Lib Dem leader Ed Davey has slammed the government's supposed inaction and demanded it draws up an evacuation blueprint to safeguard its citizens from the infection which has killed 41

Passengers arriving at Heathrow today from China where the deadly coronavirus is sweeping the country and has killed 41

A rotation team of seven doctors are stationed at Heathrow (passengers arriving pictured) in case any people flying in from China feel unwell

Only across the Channel, France is treating its first three cases in Paris and Bordeaux, according to the country's health minister Agnes Buzyn who added it was likely others would arise.

The head of France's health department, Jerome Salomon, said Saturday evening that all three are doing 'very well.'

Still, France remained concerned about its citizens in Wuhan, the now-locked down Chinese city where the outbreak began. France's Foreign Ministry said Saturday that French and Chinese officials were studying 'eventual options that would allow our nationals who wish to leave.'

According to two separate scientific analyses of the epidemic, each person infected with coronavirus is passing the disease on to between two and three other people on average at current transmission rates.

Although a flight freeze has been imposed on planes from Wuhan, other flights from China are coming into the UK today

Pictured: Boris Johnson celebrating Chinese New Year. Pressure is now mounting on the government to ramp up Britain's response and screen all passengers on flights from China

Timeline of how the UK has reacted to the coronavirus outreak January 22 The Department of Health announces enhanced monitoring from all flights from Wuhan to the UK, but there are few to be checked, after the Chinese city of Wuhan is essentially shut down in an attempt to control the spread of the virus. Train stations and the airport were closed, while ferries and long-distance buses were also stopped. 'To my knowledge, trying to contain a city of 11 million people is new to science,' Gauden Galea, the WHO's representative in China said. There are 17 confirmed fatalities from the virus. January 23 Public Health England confirms that 14 people in the UK have been tested for the virus, with five having come back negative, and another nine awaiting results, while Health Secretary Matt Hancock says the NHS is 'ready to respond appropriately' to any cases of coronavirus that emerge in the UK. The World Health Organisation says it is 'too early' to declare a public health emergency. Singapore, Vietnam and Hong Kong all report their first cases of the illness. January 24 Matt Hancock chairs a Cobra meeting on the Government's planned response to the virus. Afterwards, he reiterates to reporters on Whitehall that the threat to the UK is 'low'. Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty, confirms that the tests for coronavirus on 14 people in the UK have all come back negative but there are checks ongoing on others. Health officials team up with Border Force agents and airlines to try to track down around 2,000 people who have recently flown to the UK from Wuhan. Three cases are confirmed in France - one in Bordeaux and two in the Paris area - the first in Europe. The Chinese National Health Commission reported a jump in the number of infected people to 1,287, while the death toll rises to 41. January 25 Four cases are confirmed in Australia, one in Victoria and three in New South Wales. Advertisement

As the scramble to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus is ratcheted up:

China's National Health Commission reported the number of people infected with a new virus has risen to over 1,400 with 41 deaths;

Thirteen Chinese cities were in lockdown with the virus also confirmed in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, the US, Vietnam and Nepal;

Hong Kong declared the coronavirus outbreak and emergency;

Boarding schools were warned that thousands of Chinese pupils could be stranded in the UK;

Australia confirmed on Saturday its first four cases of the new coronavirus;

The Chinese army deployed medical specialists to Hubei province as authorities expanded travel bans;

The Department of Health confirmed it was trying to find 'as many passengers as we can' who arrived from Wuhan as the public were cautioned it was 'highly likely' the coronavirus would reach British shores.

Some of these may have already flown back to China such as 15 students who visited Cambridge University on January 13, but have since returned to Asia.

The scale of the global outbreak and fears it could be unleashed on Britain sparked a snap meeting of the government's Cobra committee chaired by Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

Boris Johnson, who was occupied with hosting Chinese New Year celebrations, left the top-ranking officials to thrash out a plan to fend of the virus and dismiss the overall threat as 'low'.

But following the meeting, chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said: 'We think there's a fair chance we may get some cases over time.

'Of course this depends on whether this continues for a long time, or whether this turns out to be something which is brought under control relatively quickly.'

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control is also forecasting more cases of the disease to sprout up in the continent.

According to two separate scientific analyses of the epidemic, each person infected with coronavirus is passing the disease on to between two and three other people on average at current transmission rates.

The United States has moved to pull out its diplomats from their Wuhan consulate, but the UK Foreign Office is refusing to say whether British consulate staff will follow.

Among this first batch of UK patients to be tested for the killer condition was art teacher Michael Hope, 45, who returned from Wuhan with flu-like symptoms last Sunday.

He was quarantined for 27 hours at Newcastle's Royal Infirmary and finally given the thumbs up after being treated by medics who 'looked like spacemen'.

The check-ups of those who have arrived on British soil from China is being carried out by heavily-suited doctors, according to Mr Hope who was one of the first treated.

He said: 'I felt like E.T., to be honest. It was totally, totally surreal.' He added that it took his nurse several minutes to get into all the protective fear just to deliver him a banana for breakfast  and he was grateful for getting a nicotine patch passed under his door.

Mr Hope arrived back Sunday feeling unwell, having been ill since January 4. He told his GP about his symptoms and recent return from Wuhan in a telephone clinic. He was rushed to the city's Royal Victoria Infirmary and put in isolation.

He underwent tests before getting the good news on Thursday evening he had the flu, but not the coronavirus. He said: 'The staff came in with their masks off, so then I knew I was going to be okay.'

During the isolation period, staff wore protective suits and they tested his blood, urine and took throat swabs.

It took his nurse several minutes to get into all the protective gear just to deliver him a banana for breakfast, and he was grateful for the delivery of a nicotine patch which was passed under his door.

Mr Hope said: 'The care was exceptional. It was scary being there but they made me feel quite relaxed. They were very human even though they looked like spacemen.

'I was impressed with the speed with which they dealt with it. They would come in through one sealed door and leave through another. Every time they left they had to dispose of their clothing.'

Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomes members of the Chinese community at 10 Downing Street, London, in celebration of the Chinese New Year

British patient describes quarantine scare Craig Dillon Craig Dillon, 27, told how he was bundled through a secret hospital entrance and into isolation at breakneck speed as soon as he mentioned his recent flight from China. He described being probed by doctors and nurses wearing heavy-duty hazmat suits while their fellow medics watched with baited breath behind toughened glass. The Westminster-based digital media guru is one of 14 people who have been tested and given the all-clear following returns from China where the deadly virus has killed 41. After waking up on Tuesday night dripping with sweat and struggling to breathe, he rushed to St Thomas' Hospital, London on the advice of a 111 operator. 'When I arrived I was so weak I had to lean against the wall,' he wrote in the Telegraph. 'This doctor asked if I was okay and when I replied: 'I'm feeling really ill, I just came back from China,' he literally grabbed me by the arm and led me back outside the hospital. 'A nurse came out and gave me a mask and then I was shown to this secret door around the back.' After a tense three-hour wait, he breathed a sigh of relief when he was revealed to have caught pneumonia. Advertisement

In the early hours of Saturday China's National Health Commission reported the number of people infected with a new virus has risen to 1,287 with 41 deaths. The commission said the latest tally comes from 29 provinces across China, including 237 patients in serious condition.

All 41 deaths have been in China, including 39 in Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, one in Hebei and one in Heilongjiang.

A man in his 50s has now been quarantined in Melbourne, Australia after contracting the deadly virus. He showed no symptoms of the virus when he travelled back alone from Wuhan, via Guangzhou, in China on January 19.

Pressure is now mounting on Mr Hancock to ramp up Britain's response and screen all passengers on flights from China.

Travellers arriving at Heathrow from the Chinese city of Wuhan, at the heart of the outbreak, revealed they were not subject to any screening checks, and that it was a 'completely normal flight'.

MailOnline understands passengers flying from China are not mandated to undergo a medical probe, but are advised to go to one of the doctors hubs in the terminal if they feel unwell.

Ed Davey, the acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, today told Mr Hancock to 'pull his finger' out and demanded he explains how the Government plans to protect the British public from the killer SARS-like infection, which has struck down more than 900 people across the world and can be spread through coughing.

US president Donald Trump said the coronavirus outbreak 'will all work out well' as he praised China's handling of the outbreak, tweeting: 'China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!'

Hospitals in Liverpool, Newcastle and two in London  the Royal Free and Guy's And St Thomas'  have readied their 'high consequence infectious disease' treatment centres to receive patients. The hospitals are each equipped with high-tech isolation units and staffed by separate teams who specialise in treating adults and children.

Officials admitted it would be almost impossible to stop the virus arriving in the UK because of a two-week incubation period  meaning someone could arrive from China showing no symptoms, before later falling ill.

The festivities to herald in the Year of the Rat in 2020 came as the Government held a Cobra crisis meeting to discuss the coronavirus outbreak

A man wears a face mask next to a coronavirus notice at Heathrow Airport this morning. Heathrow has since announced it will have a 'public health hub' for travellers

Public Health England said: 'No system of checks can claim to offer absolute protection because of the incubation period of the virus.

'Some people might only show symptoms 14 days after exposure to an infected person.'

England's chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, said there was a 'fair chance' Britain would see cases emerge  and stressed that tackling the virus would be a 'marathon not a sprint'.

Last night a study of the first 41 cases in Wuhan, published in the Lancet medical journal, showed two thirds of them were among otherwise-healthy people  suggesting anyone could be at risk.

Worryingly, even those who did not show symptoms were able to carry and transmit the disease, the study showed. Fears of a possible pandemic also sparked a stampede for protective face masks across Britain, with one Scottish pharmacy selling an unprecedented 2,000 in one day.

Before all flights were cancelled out of Wuhan on Wednesday night there were three direct journeys to Heathrow each week.

Ministers yesterday ordered search parties to track down the estimated 2,000 people who have flown to the UK from Wuhan in the last fortnight. They will then be contacted and quizzed about their health. If any show signs of the virus they will be asked to undergo immediate testing.

Sources yesterday defended the failure to introduce passenger screening at UK airports, saying it was 'ineffective' against a virus that can have an incubation period of up to 14 days. Professor Whitty said: 'The risk to the UK remains low, but there may well be cases in the UK at some stage.'

Officials said people feeling ill should call, rather than visit, their GP for fear of spreading the virus.

Guests of Mr Johnson included the Chinese ambassador to the UK, Lui Xiaoming (pictured today attending the celebrations)

Mr Johnson hosted figures from the British-Chinese community in the heart of Westminster ahead of the lunar new year on Saturday

None of the fourteen patients tested in the UK (pictured, where they were reportedly being treated) yesterday have the virus. MailOnline understands up to 10 more patients are being tested

Revealed: Advice to NHS doctors if they fear a patient has coronavirus Doctors in the UK have been told to leave the room straight away and shut their patient in if they think they might have the Chinese coronavirus. Public Health England earlier this week issued official guidance for doctors as concerns grow that the contagious illness will make its way to the UK. No cases have been confirmed in the UK yet. At least 15 medical workers in Wuhan have become infected while treating patients with the virus. The PHE guidance, issued to GP practice doctors this week, read: 'If [the Wuhan coronavirus] is considered possible when a consultation is already in progress, withdraw from the room, close the door and wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water. 'Avoid physical examination of a suspected case. The patient should remain in the room with the door closed. Belongings and waste should remain in the room. 'Advise others not to enter the room. If a clinical history still needs to be obtained or completed, do this by telephone. 'The patient should not be allowed to use communal toilet facilities. 'Instruct them to not touch anything or anyone when walking to the toilet. Instruct the patient to wash their hands thoroughly after toileting.' If the patient is critically ill, they should be put into an ambulance, PHE said. But otherwise, a hospital should be phoned ahead and warned and the patient must be told to get there without using public transport or a taxi. Advice for NHS staff:  Ask for detailed travel history from all patients with flu-like symptoms to help identify potential cases.  If a GP identifies a possible case, the person should be isolated immediately and medic must then contact their NHS Trust airborne virus team to set up a test.  Patient should be taken to nearest 'appropriate isolation facilities' for checks and testing.  If coronavirus is detected, the patient will be transferred to an Airborne High Consequences Infectious Diseases centre - these are Guy's and St Thomas' and the Royal Free in London. Royal Liverpool. Newcastle upon Tyne Hospital. Advertisement

The government usually convenes Cobra - short for Cabinet Briefing Room A - to deal with a developing or imminent crisis. It sees senior ministers, often led by the Prime Minister, sit down with senior officials and experts in Whitehall.

First set up in the 1970s, as well as being convened in the wake of terrorist attacks it has also met recently to discuss foreign and domestic issues including floods which struck part of the UK last November and the migrant crisis at Calais.

Professor Whitty, who was part of the meeting, said: 'COBR met today to discuss the situation in Wuhan, China, and elsewhere in Asia. I updated on the current situation, the preparedness of the NHS, and possible next steps.

'We all agree that the risk to the UK public remains low, but there may well be cases in the UK at some stage. We have tried and tested measures in place to respond. The UK is well prepared for these types of incidents, with excellent readiness against infectious diseases.'

'We have global experts monitoring the situation around the clock and have a strong track record of managing new forms of infectious disease. The UK has access to some of the best infectious disease and public health experts in the world.

'There are no confirmed cases in the UK to date. We have been carefully monitoring the situation in Wuhan, China, since the beginning of the outbreak and are now implementing our planned response.

'A public health hub will be set up in Heathrow from today. This consists of clinicians and other public health officials, in addition to existing port health measures. The World Health Organization has rightly responded quickly and China has introduced strong public health measures.'

Public Health England yesterday confirmed 14 patients in the UK were tested for suspicious symptoms that were similar to those caused by the coronavirus. No identities were confirmed but most were thought to be Chinese tourists.

Scottish officials said they were testing five cases in Edinburgh and Glasgow 'as a precaution'. Another man was being tested in isolation at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, and there was a suspected case in Hillingdon, west London. The locations of the other patients were never confirmed.

MailOnline has not been told where the new cases are in the UK  only that there a handful of patients being tested with suspicious coronavirus-like symptoms.

When asked why no physical tests were carried out on arrivals into the UK from Wuhan on Wednesday  the city's last flight into Britain before the shut down, Professor Whitty said: 'Every country does this slightly differently, that's always been the case.

'The way the UK does this, and will continue to, is to make sure we get the best scientific advice for the particular threat.'

He said that after a meeting of the Scientific Advisory Group of Experts, it was concluded: 'The screening would not really provide any appreciable increase in benefit for the UK public.'

When asked whether checks would be upscaled to include people who have arrived on all flights from China, Mr Whitty said: 'We're trying to get ourselves to a place where we can provide a sustainable system that can be scaled to whatever the outbreak looks like.

'It may be that this spreads, it may be that this goes down over time and we need to be ready to respond to either of those.' He added that Britain 'needs to plan for all eventualities'.

Amid fears that Britain can do little to stop the virus spreading, Health Secretary Matt Hancock stressed that officials were 'well prepared' for its arrival. As well as the announcement this afternoon that Heathrow would set up a public health hub, all UK airports have medical experts on hand and information is being provided to all passengers returning from China.

Student newspaper The Tab today revealed 15 students from Wuhan (pictured) attended the University of Cambridge this week, before the city was placed on lockdown

Cambridge University's Jesus College posted on Instagram this week, writing: 'It's been great having the Wuhan University students around the College to learn from a range of lecturers'

On its website, the university says: 'From 13-22 January 2020, Jesus College welcomed 15 visitors from Wuhan College, China, for an education enrichment programme'

Passengers this morning arrived at Heathrow Airport wearing protective masks over fears of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak

Passengers are pictured arriving at Heathrow Terminal 4 today wearing protective masks as signs have been installed around the airport warning passengers of the symptoms of the virus

Photos from inside the intensive care unit at Zhongnan Hospital in Wuhan show medical workers caring for critically-ill patients today, January 24

WHAT IS THE SITUATION IN THE US? Two people in the US have now caught the coronavirus  a man near Seattle, Washington, and a woman in Chicago, Illinois. The man, who is in his 30s, is in hospital in Washington state, close to Seattle, and recovering well. Authorities are also monitoring 43 people with whom he came into contact with before he was diagnosed five days after returning home from Wuhan. The Chicago woman, who is in her 60s, returned from Wuhan on January 13. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is also testing another 63 possible cases in 22 states. There are 10 people in California being held in isolation while they wait for test results, CBS News reports, as well as a Texas A&M student who had visited Wuhan and a student at Tennessee Tech. Speaking on Wednesday, January 22, President Donald Trump he was 'not at all' concerned about the possibility of a pandemic. 'It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control,' he said. 'We have it totally under control. We do have a plan, and we think it's going to be handled very well.' Dr Martin Cetron, of the CDC, said the US was planning a 'very complex process' of rerouting passengers. He added: 'With increasing cases, we decided to move into this full-on, 100 percent coverage strategy'. The US announced it is pulling most of its diplomats and their families from the consulate general in Wuhan. Advertisement

But ministers have faced criticism for failing to monitor jet passengers arriving from China, when other countries  including Turkey, Malaysia and Singapore have since introduced more rigorous checks with passengers having their temperature taken regardless of symptoms.

Acting Lib Dem boss Ed Davey criticised Mr Hancock, telling Sun Online: 'It's time Matt Hancock pulled his finger out. We need to know how long the UK government has known the level of threat and how he is going to protect our citizens.

'These problems do not know borders and Hancock needs to work with international partners to stop this situation before it gets worse.'

Exiting the Cabinet Office this afternoon, Mr Hancock said: 'We have just held a Cobra meeting on the coronavirus concerns. As I made clear to the House yesterday, the clinical advice is that the risk to the public remains low and the chief medical officer will be making a full statement later today.'

Anyone with the symptoms, who has travelled to the UK via Wuhan, will be tested for the virus and if cases are confirmed put in isolation at one of four UK super-hospitals: Two in London, one in Liverpool and one in Newcastle.

Officials yesterday warned thousands of foreign students who have gone back to China to celebrate their New Year this weekend could return to the UK unaware they have the virus.

Universities are already identifying staff and students who have recently visited the worst-hit areas, with some told that they will not be allowed back on campus unless they agree to a 'suitable quarantine period'.

Student newspaper The Tab today revealed 15 students from Wuhan attended the University of Cambridge this week, before the city was placed on lockdown. It reported that the students also went clubbing in the city and that Cambridge Colleges have emailed students a document with advice regarding the coronavirus.

MailOnline has seen an email sent to students at Cambridge's Jesus College, where the Wuhan travellers went to, which says none of the visitors have shown any signs of infection as of yet.

Private schools, many of which also have large contingents of Chinese students, also issued guidance. China sends more pupils to UK fee-paying schools than any other country.

The Boarding Schools Association (BSA) said 'schools might wish to consider planning for the eventuality that some boarders either cannot or choose not to travel home at half-term or, more likely, Easter'.

While there is 'no immediate cause for concern' the situation needs to be closely monitored, independent school groups have said.

Huge efforts are being made by construction workers in Wuhan to erect a new hospital in less than a week on the government's orders. Officials said the medical facility must be built to cope with overwhelming numbers of coronavirus patients

News footage from China shows a patient being wheeled out of a Wuhan hospital on a stretcher by medics wearing protective clothing and masks

Shoppers at Oxfordshire's Bicester Village outlet wear face masks today amid fears of catching the killer coronavirus

A man in Manchester is pictured today wearing a face mask in Manchester's Chinatown. The Government's Cobra committee is meeting in Downing Street to discuss the threat to the UK from coronavirus

A spectator wears a mask as she watches the Changing of the Guard ceremony outside of Buckingham Palace this morning

A woman in Glasgow's George Square wears a face mask today. Five patients in Scotland were tested for coronavirus after returning from China with flu-like symptoms

Two women are seen wearing protective face masks as they walk through the streets of central London this morning

Shanghai's Disneyland will close to visitors tomorrow for 'the prevention and control of the disease outbreak'. Visitors wearing masks walk past the resort today which has taken the extraordinary step of closing during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday

The Forbidden City (pictured today) is also closed and part of the Great Wall of China, a huge tourist destination and one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was shut to stop the spread of the coronavirus

HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE FLOWN TO LONDON FROM WUHAN SINCE THE OUTBREAK BEGAN? Before Wuhan's unprecedented move to cancel all flights out of the city on Wednesday night, there were three direct journeys to London Heathrow each week. Hubei province, where Wuhan is, first reported a mysterious bout of pneumonia cases on December 31. Tests later confirmed it later turned out to be the killer coronavirus. MailOnline has calculated there were 10 flights from Wuhan between then and when the city home to 11million people was put on lockdown - with the last flight on Wednesday, January 22. China Southern airline, which operated all of the flights landing at Heathrow, are thought to use the Boeing 787-800 plane for the near 12-hour journey. Information online suggests the plane holds 219 passengers, including 36 in business class, 72 in economy plus and 111 in standard economy. Therefore, it is thought that at least 2,000 patients will have travelled directly from Wuhan to London since the outbreak first began. Public Health England said it was 'really not in their remit' to confirm the numbers - but added: 'Individuals should seek medical attention if they develop respiratory symptoms within 14 days of visiting Wuhan, either in China or on their return to the UK. 'They should phone ahead before attending any health services and mention their recent travel to the city.' Advertisement

The World Health Organisation last night stopped short of declaring it a 'global health emergency', but said there was no doubt it 'may yet become one'.

The virus  previously unknown to science  first appeared in Wuhan last month. It originated in a meat market and scientists believe it 'jumped the species barrier' from snakes, which may have been on sale illegally, to humans.

Symptoms begin with a fever, a dry cough and sneezing. This is followed by shortness of breath about a week later, which can develop into pneumonia.

All 26 deaths known about so far have occurred in China and most patients were elderly. The virus has now spread to nine countries including the US, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam.

Japan has recorded two cases, one of which exposes how infected travellers leaving China could be missed by health checks. The Wuhan resident, in his 40s, developed a fever several days before his journey to Japan. But his condition then stabilised. He reported a fever again three days after he arrived and is now in a Tokyo hospital, Japan's health ministry said.

On Wednesday night, China suspended all flights out of Wuhan. Direct flights from the city to Heathrow were halted as a result, although there are still many flights into the UK from other Chinese cities. Currently, there are no screening measures on these flights on arrival.

Yesterday the NHS's Chief Medical Officer wrote to hundreds of thousands of doctors and nurses advising them to establish whether patients had recently visited Wuhan. The letter said Chinese New Year celebrations could 'amplify transition', including within the UK, due to the 'mass movement' of people around the world.

University staff are worried that some of the Chinese students who will travel home this Saturday will bring the infection back. As coronavirus has an incubation period of up to two weeks  the time between infection and symptoms beginning  they may pass it on before they even feel ill.

Medical staff work in the ICU (intensive care unit) of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan

Medical workers transfer a patient who is on the mend out of the ICU (intensive care unit) of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan

People are seen passing through a quarantine tent at Beijing West Railway Station as 14 cities around China had special measures put in place today

Medical workers at Zhongnan Hospital are pictured in protective gear today, Friday January 24

Public buses could be seen parked and unattended in Wuhan today  the city's public transport has shut down

An unverified video posted on Twitter claims to show members of Central Theater Command  a division of the People's Liberation Army  standing guard outside a train station in Wuhan

Passengers at the Beijing Railway Station were today pictured wearing face masks amid fears of the outbreak spreading to the capital. Major Lunar New Year celebrations have been cancelled in the city

People wear masks in the Jingshan Park in Beijing today, January 24. New Year celebrations planned in the park will no longer go ahead

Medical staff transfers a coronavirus patient in Wuhan City - a metropolis of 10million people where 2,000 people in Britain today have been in the past fortnight

An employee this morning sprayed disinfectant on a train at Suseo Station in Seoul, South Korea, as a precaution against the coronavirus

Coronavirus: What we know so far What is this virus? The virus has been identified as a new type of coronavirus. Coronaviruses are a large family of pathogens, most of which cause mild respiratory infections such as the common cold. But coronaviruses can also be deadly. SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, is caused by a coronavirus and killed hundreds of people in China and Hong Kong in the early 2000s. Can it kill? Yes. Twenty-six people have so far died after testing positive for the virus. What are the symptoms? Its symptoms are typically a fever, cough and trouble breathing, but some patients have developed pneumonia, a potentially life-threatening infection that causes inflammation of the small air sacs in the lungs. People carrying the novel coronavirus may only have mild symptoms, such as a sore throat. They may assume they have a common cold and not seek medical attention, experts fear. How is it detected? The virus's genetic sequencing was released by scientists in China to the rest of the world to enable other countries to quickly diagnose potential new cases. This helps other countries respond quickly to disease outbreaks. To contain the virus, airports are detecting infected people with temperature checks. But as with every virus, it has an incubation period, meaning detection is not always possible because symptoms have not appeared yet. How did it start and spread? The first cases identified were among people connected to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan. Cases have since been identified elsewhere which could have been spread through human-to-human transmission. What are countries doing to prevent the spread? Countries in Asia have stepped up airport surveillance. They include Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines. Australia and the US are also screening patients for a high temperature, and the UK announced it will screen passengers returning from Wuhan. Is it similar to anything we've ever seen before? Experts have compared it to the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The epidemic started in southern China and killed more than 700 people in mainland China, Hong Kong and elsewhere SCROLL DOWN TO SEE MAILONLINE'S FULL Q&A ON THE CORONAVIRUS Advertisement

One in five international students in Britain is from China. Professor Juergen Haas, the head of infection medicine at Edinburgh University, said there would be 'many more' suspected cases, especially in cities with high Chinese student populations. These include Manchester, Birmingham and London.

Mr Hancock yesterday told the Commons: 'The number of deaths and the number of cases is likely to be higher than those that have been confirmed so far and I expect them to rise further. The public can be assured that the whole of the UK is always well prepared for these type of outbreaks.'

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation, said: 'Make no mistake. This is an emergency in China. But it has not yet become a global health emergency. It may yet become one.'

Jeremy Farrar, of research charity the Wellcome Trust, said: 'This isn't just a China issue, it's going to affect us all.'

The locations of all the 14 patients is not clear at this stage, but earlier today tests on five patients in Scotland had not yet ruled out coronavirus. It is unclear where they are being treated but sources say they are at both Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary.

All of the patients in Scotland are thought to be in isolation and MailOnline understands they flew in to London in the past fortnight before making their way to Scotland. It is unclear if they are related.

Another patient in Northern Ireland  who also travelled from Wuhan, but it is unclear when  is being treated at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital.

It comes as pressure grows on ministers to do more to protect the public. Health Secretary Matt Hancock sought to issue reassurances today as he addressed MPs about the killer outbreak. He promised all passengers on direct flights from China will receive information on what to do if they fall ill.

Passengers from Wuhan last night claimed they were just waved through Heathrow and told to ring NHS 111 if they began to feel ill  despite Government promises of 'enhanced monitoring' of flights out of the Hubei city.

Nine Chinese cities and towns, including Wuhan  which has banned all flights in and out of the city, have been placed in quarantine in a desperate attempt to try to contain the SARS-like virus. Shocking videos show how passengers at airports feared to have the virus are being wheeled out in a special 'quarantine box'.

Officials in China's capital Beijing announced major Chinese New Year events were cancelled because of the constantly-mutating virus, which can cause pneumonia and organ failure.

In a separate development, a passenger on a flight to Los Angeles from Mexico City was taken to hospital and quarantined after showing 'disturbing' symptoms consistent with China's deadly coronavirus. If confirmed, they will become the second case on America soil. The first case  an unidentified man in his 30s in Washington  is being treated by a robot, it was revealed yesterday.

Unverified footage emerging on social media purports to show corpses of coronavirus patients being left unattended in the corridor of a hospital. A woman can be heard saying from behind the camera: 'Three corpses, [they] have been lying here all morning'

Unverified footage posted by a blogger on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, appears to show the corridor and lobby of a hospital crammed with hundreds of mask-donning patients waiting to see the doctor. At least nine cities in China's Hubei Province have been locked down

SCIENTISTS WARNED A CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK COULD KILL 65MILLION PEOPLE THREE MONTHS BEFORE CASES EMERGED IN CHINA Leading US scientists warned a coronavirus could kill tens of millions of people three months before the deadly outbreak in China. Scientists at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security said 65million patients from every corner of the world would die in the event of a global pandemic. They modeled a simulation scenario last October which predicted it would take just 18 months to rack up the huge death toll. Dr Eric Toner, a senior researcher at Johns Hopkins, said he wasn't shocked when news of a mysterious coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan in late December. 'I have thought for a long time that the most likely virus that might cause a new pandemic would be a coronavirus,' he told Business Insider. Coronaviruses typically affect the respiratory tract and can lead to illnesses like pneumonia or the common cold. A coronavirus was also responsible for the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in China, which affected about 8,000 people and killed 774 in the early 2000s. Dr Toner's simulation of a hypothetical deadly coronavirus pandemic suggested that after six months, nearly every country in the world would have cases of the virus. Within 18 months, 65 million people could die. Advertisement

Queen Elizabeth University Hospital  which is thought to be treating one of the patients  has yet to issue a statement, saying the Scottish Government would release an update later today.

Senior doctors told the Record that they believe the cases may both be down to just the flu, given the patients' symptoms.

One source told the newspaper: 'There was no doubt the situation was being taken seriously because of the symptoms being displayed and the specific origin of travel.

'The patient came through London to Glasgow and after the symptoms were flagged up no chances were taken.

'The tests that were carried out could not immediately isolate what the condition might be and it may take a bit longer to be absolutely sure what doctors are dealing with. Obviously they are erring on the side of caution in the meantime.'

Regarding cases, the Prime Minister's deputy spokesman told reporters: 'These measures are purely precautionary and nobody has tested positive. We are well prepared and well equipped.'

Scottish Government sources confirmed five patients were being tested  after issuing a statement to say the correct figure was just three on Thursday.

Confusion surrounded the true number of patients being tested, with the Edinburgh Evening News reporting that the three patients were being treated at the city's Royal Infirmary - and one in Glasgow.

Professor Jurgen Haas, head of infection medicine at the University of Edinburgh, also claimed there were four cases in Scotland - three in Edinburgh and another in Glasgow.

But the Daily Record said a source had revealed two patients were taken into isolation in Glasgow, saying the city's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital was treating at least one patient and had implemented control measures. It reported a third patient was being tested in Edinburgh.

The coronavirus can lead to pneumonia, which can kill people by causing them to drown in the fluid flooding their lungs

Is it was reported some of the patients in Scotland were being treated at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow

The other patient in Scotland was being treated in Edinburgh, thought to be at the city's Royal Infirmary (pictured)

The patient in Northern Ireland  who also travelled from Wuhan, but it is unclear when  was being treated at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital on Thursday

Last night there was a suspected case in Hillingdon, west London (pictured, the Hillingdon Hospital in Middlesex). Public Health England has not revealed where the other cases are

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF THE CORONAVIRUS? Once someone has caught the virus it may take between two and 14 days for them to show any symptoms. If and when they do, typical signs include: a runny nose

a cough

sore throat

fever (high temperature) The vast majority of patients  at least 97 per cent, based on available data  will recover from these without any issues or medical help. In a small group of patients, who seem mainly to be the elderly or those with long-term illnesses, it can lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia is an infection in which the insides of the lungs swell up and fill with fluid. It makes it increasingly difficult to breathe and, if left untreated, can be fatal and suffocate people. Advertisement

Discussing the potentiaL spread, Professor Haas said: 'Here at the University of Edinburgh we have more than 2,000 students from China and they are always coming and going back to China so we are relatively sure we will have cases in the UK from travellers coming back from China.'

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'There are currently no confirmed cases of coronavirus (WN Co-V) in Scotland and the risk to the Scottish public remains low.

'Following travel to Wuhan, China, two people confirmed as diagnosed with influenza are now being tested for Wuhan Novel Coronavirus as a precautionary measure only. Three further people are also undergoing testing on a similar precautionary basis.

'As the situation develops we will update should there be any confirmed cases of Coronavirus, rather than provide a running update on cases being considered on a precautionary basis.'

The BBC broke the news of the suspected case in Northern Ireland, reporting that it is believed the man is being treated in an isolated ward of the hospital.

Belfast Health Trust, which runs the hospital where the patient is being treated, repeatedly declined to comment to MailOnline about the potential case. The Public Health Agency (PHA) also declined to comment.

It is understood a patient arrived at the Royal Victoria showing symptoms which may or may not be associated with the condition but it will be some time before results are returned.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has insisted officials would 'not hesitate' to ramp up UK measures to protect the home nations from the spread of the deadly Chinese coronavirus.

Workers in protective suits are pictured today checking the temperature of passengers arriving at the Xianning North Station on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations, in Xianning, a city bordering Wuhan

Police holding guns wear face masks outside the Beijing railway station this morning. The virus has so far spread to the USA, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan

Chinese food market at the epicentre of deadly virus outbreak was selling KOALAS along with snakes, rats and wolf pups for locals to eat The Chinese food market at the centre of the deadly SARS-like virus outbreak claimed they were selling live koalas, snakes, rats and wolf pups for locals to cook and eat. The Huanan Seafood Market in the central city of Wuhan in China came under scrutiny on Wednesday after Chinese officials said the coronavirus may have originated in a wild animal sold at the food emporium. The market has since been closed and has been labelled 'ground zero' by local authorities. A list of prices for one of the businesses operating at the market showed a menagerie of animals available for sale including live foxes, crocodiles, wolf puppies, giant salamanders, snakes, rats, peacocks, porcupines, koalas and game meats, according to the South China Morning Post. The food menu shows a price of 70 RMB (7.70/$10) for koala meat. Wuhan Huanan Seafood Market (above) is allegedly selling wild animals including live wolf pups, civets and even koalas according to the South China Morning Post. A list of prices for one of the businesses operating at the market showed 'live tree bears' which is the Chinese for 'koala' (circled above) Advertisement

In parliament Thursday morning, the Health Secretary told MPs: 'Currently the evidence suggests the vast majority of cases are in Wuhan.

'Obviously we keep that under constant review and we will not hesitate to take further steps if that's necessary to protect the British public.'

He added: 'We have been closely monitoring the situation in Wuhan and have put in place proportionate, precautionary measures.'

His comments came amid growing fears the safety checks at UK airports were not tough enough.

Shadow health minister Sharon Hodgson said arrivals seemed to be getting 'virtually no screening'.

And she asked if flights from other Chinese cities would be monitored. Officials said yesterday just passengers from Wuhan would be monitored.

Travellers from the giant city, home to 11million people, were separated last night at Heathrow Airport, as part of a drastic plan to contain any potential spread of the virus.

Ministers announced the Wuhan flight  one of three direct flights that go to London each week  would land in an isolated area of Terminal 4, and passengers would be met by a team of medics.

But holiday-makers arriving from the virus-hit city expressed their shock as they were met by a health team but had not been subject to any screening checks.

Instead, they were given a Public Health England leaflet, advising them to contact doctors if they felt ill before being allowed into the country before they were let directly though the airport after baggage reclaim and immigration checks. One said it felt like a 'completely normal flight'.

By contrast, countries including the US, Malaysia and Singapore have introduced more rigorous checks, with all passengers coming in from Wuhan are having their temperature taken, regardless of whether they have any symptoms.

The Chinese food market at the centre of the deadly SARS-like virus outbreak claimed they were selling live koalas, snakes, rats and wolf pups for locals to cook and eat.

The Huanan Seafood Market in the central city of Wuhan in China came under scrutiny on Wednesday after Chinese officials said the coronavirus may have originated in a wild animal sold at the food emporium.

The market has since been closed and has been labelled 'ground zero' by local authorities.

A list of prices for one of the businesses operating at the market showed a menagerie of animals available for sale including live foxes, crocodiles, wolf puppies, giant salamanders, snakes, rats, peacocks, porcupines, koalas and game meats, according to the South China Morning Post.

Fourteen Chinese cities, including Wuhan  which has banned all flights in and out of the city, were placed in quarantine in a desperate attempt to try to contain the SARS-like virus, which can cause pneumonia and organ failure

Chinese tourists were pictured today wearing black face masks at the Vladivostok International Airport in Vladivostok, Russia. China last night confirmed a death in the Heilongjiang province, which borders Russia

THE KILLER VIRUS MAY HAVE COME FROM BATS, SCIENTISTS SAY The killer coronavirus sweeping across the world may have come from bats, scientists have said. Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the People's Liberation Army and Institut Pasteur of Shanghai came to the conclusion. In a statement, the team said: 'The Wuhan coronavirus' natural host could be bats but between bats and humans there may be an unknown intermediate. Tests of the virus, which has yet to be named, have revealed it targets a protein called ACE2  just like its cousin SARS, the South China Morning Post reported. Tracing the evolution of the virus, the team of experts found it belonged to betacoronavirus, making it structurally similar to SARS. Authorities have pointed the blame on food markets in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak that scientists are scrambling to contain. Rodents and bats among other animals are slaughtered and sold in traditional 'wet markets', which tourists flock to see the 'real' side of the country. Advertisement

And the UK is carrying no checks on passengers coming in to Britain on the dozens of flights originating from Wuhan which come via Bangkok in Thailand, Shanghai in China or Hong Kong.

Wuhan earlier this week shut down its entire public transport system as it tried to halt the outbreak of the deadly virus.

People were told not to leave the area and the airport and train stations will be closed to outgoing passengers, in a week when millions are travelling for the upcoming New Year holiday.

Two cities close to Wuhan  which has ordered all residents to wear face masks in public places  have now also been locked down.

Ezhou has shut down train stations, and Huanggang will suspend public buses and trains and order cinemas and internet cafes to close their doors.

Officials in Beijing, the Chinese capital home to 21million people, announced all major Chinese New Year events in the city were cancelled.

Fears of the coronavirus, which has yet to be officially named, have grown as Saudi Arabia yesterday was claimed to have become the tenth country to declare a confirmed case in an Indian nurse working at al-Hayat hospital, some 560 miles (900 km) southwest of the capital Riyadh. But the claim was later dismissed by India's consulate in Jeddah, who said the nurse actually only had MERS - or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, another type of coronavirus.

Health officials say the first American man infected with the coronavirus may have come in contact with at least 16 people before he was put in isolation. The unnamed man from Washington state flew in to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport from China on January 15 and returned to his home in Snahomish County before being diagnosed with the virus five days later on January 20

In addition to the confirmed cases in Washington and Illinois, cases are suspected in California - particularly in the Bay Area and in Alameda County- in Texas and in Tennessee

The Brazos County Health District in Texas is investigating a suspected case of the deadly new coronavirus in a person who recently traveled to Wuhan - the Chinese city where the disease originated (file photo)

WHAT OTHER OUTBREAKS HAVE BEEN DECLARED A GLOBAL HEALTH EMERGENCY? 2009 Swine flu epidemic In 2009 'Swine flu' was identified for the first time in Mexico and was named because it is a similar virus to one which affects pigs. The outbreak is believed to have killed as many as 575,400 people. 2014 Poliovirus resurgence Poliovirus began to resurface in countries where it had once been eradicated, and the WHO called for a widespread vaccination programme to stop it spreading. Cameroon, Pakistan and Syria were most at risk. 2014 and 2019 Ebola outbreaks Ebola killed at least 11,000 people across the world after it spread like wildfire through Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2014, 2015 and 2016. More than 28,000 people were infected in what was the worst ever outbreak of the disease. Almost 4,000 people were struck down with the killer virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo last year. 2016 Zika outbreak Zika, a tropical disease which can cause serious birth defects if it infects pregnant women, was the subject of an outbreak in Brazil's capital, Rio de Janeiro, in 2016. Advertisement

Vietnam also reported two cases Thursday afternoon. Reports say the father and son, whose identities were not revealed, had arrived from Wuhan. Both are said to be in a good condition.

Singapore announced just hours before that it also had a confirmed case, with a 66-year-old man also from Wuhan testing positive for the virus.

Four cases have also been recorded in Thailand and two in Hong Kong. Taiwan, Japan, Macau and South Korea have all reported one case.

The US has also reported a case  an unidentified man from Washington state, who is in his 30s. It was revealed that he had came into close contact with at least 16 people before he was put in isolation.

According to health officials, he wasn't diagnosed until Monday, January 20 - five days after he landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport from China. He did not fly directly from Wuhan, where he originally set off from. Nor did he visit any of the markets thought to be at the source of the outbreak.

The patient is being treated by a robot armed with a stethoscope in a small, 20-foot-by-20-foot room at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Business Insider reported.

Officials warned the US is expected to see additional cases. Washington state Health Secretary John Wiesman predicted that the number of Americans infected would likely grow as the coronavirus continues its spread at a faster rate than previously thought.

'I would expect that at some point we're going to have more cases in the US,' Wiesman said, noting that there is no need to panic as public health officials are well-equipped to handle and contain outbreaks.

Dr Martin Cetron, director for the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine at the US's Centers for Disease Control, said the CDC has instructed the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Department to redirect anyone who tries to get from Wuhan to the US without going through any of the five airports set-up for screening.

He described funnelling as 'a very complex process that involves reissuing tickets and rerouting passengers from all over the globe through connecting indirect flights'.

The Washington state patient who became the first recorded case of the new coronavirus in America is currently in isolation at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett (pictured)

UK IS ONE OF THE FIRST COUNTRIES TO HAVE A SPECIFIC TEST FOR THE CORONAVIRUS The UK is one of the first countries outside China to have a specific laboratory test for the coronavirus at the centre of the latest outbreak. Any patient with symptoms who has travelled to Wuhan in the previous 14 days will have samples taken, which will be sent to a Public Health England (PHE) laboratory and processed the same day. Samples are taken from the nose, throat and deeper down, then sent to PHE's lab in Colindale, north London. PHE also has the capability to sequence the viral genome and compare this to published sequences from China. This can provide valuable information on any mutations in the virus over time and help inform actions and treatments. Advertisement

CDC officials have also suggested the possibility of redirecting entire flights inbound from China through airports with screening checkpoints.

When a traveller is sent for a screening in the US, they are first required to take a survey about possible symptoms, such as cough or fever, as well as whether they visited the meat or seafood markets in Wuhan that have been tied to the outbreak.

If they appear to have any symptoms associated with coronavirus, they are taken to on-site triage for further examination and a temperature check.

Two passengers flying from Shanghai on United Airlines were reportedly examined at O'Hare on Tuesday after appearing to show symptoms of coronavirus, the airline said.

It's unclear what led officials to single out the passengers, but they were both cleared and released after examination.

President Donald Trump addressed the deadly new virus during remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, early Wednesday morning. He praised the CDC's rapid response and said the situation is being handled 'very well'.

Clips posted on Twitter claim to show the impact the unprecedented decision to shut down Wuhan has had, with deserted streets reminiscent of the disaster film 28 Days Later.

Traffic has piled up on the city's major roads, which have been blocked by police vans enforcing travel bans.

In one video an eerily quiet street is seen being 'disinfected', with billowing fumes filling the air, while another shows huge 'quarantine tents' lining a neighbourhood.

Another clip reportedly shows an airline passenger being wheeled out of an airport in a quarantine box, amid suspicions he has the coronavirus.

Part of the Great Wall of China, a huge tourist destination and one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was closed to stop the spread of the coronavirus, according to reports today, and Shanghai's Disneyland will close to visitors tomorrow for 'the prevention and control of the disease outbreak'

Two people are pictured wearing protective face masks at Changi Airport in Singapore today, January 24

Kharn Lambert, a PE teacher based in China, is trapped in China along with his 81-year-old grandmother

BRITISH GRANDMOTHER, 81, IS TRAPPED IN WUHAN AFTER VISITING HER PE TEACHER GRANDSON A British grandmother is trapped in Wuhan and unable to return home after the city was quarantined in a desperate bid to contain the outbreak. Veronica Theobald, 81, from Lancaster, has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and has not left the house where she is staying in over a week for fear of falling ill. She was visiting her grandson, Kharn Lambert, a PE teacher who has lived in the city for five years, and was due to fly back to England on Monday. However, her return was cancelled after the city was placed on lockdown. Mr Lambert said: 'There is no knowing how long she will have to stay here, and I'm worried about her running out of the medication she needs for her health so I'm in constant contact with the British embassy. 'I do worry if I have to go out for whatever reason that I will bring something back into the house and she will become infected and fall ill. 'She only brought enough medication for her time here plus and an extra week in case of any flight delays etc. But nothing can prepare you for this. 'My family at home are extremely concerned about her, but I'm trying hard to reassure them that I am taking the best care of her as I can.' Mr Lambert said the embassy had put them in touch with a doctor who will be following up on his grandmother's health after the weekend. He said the mood in Wuhan has changed in the last 24 hours, due to the short amount of time residents were given to prepare for the lockdown, saying: 'People are starting to realise the seriousness off the situation. Due to the hysteria caused by the lockdown yesterday, it was difficult to get food and any food that was available had been increased in price. However, I went to the supermarket today and the shelves had been restocked.' Advertisement

Wearing a protective suit, a mask and gloves, the man allegedly showed symptoms during screening and was isolated from other travellers.

Social media users complained that shops have bumped up the price of fresh produce and shoppers have been seen physically fighting a crowded supermarket.

One Twitter user, the BBC reported, said the threat of food shortages and disinfectant in the street made it feel like 'the end of the world'.

A top official at the National Institute of Health (NIH) revealed that human trials for a vaccine targeting 2019-nCoV, what scientists have temporarily labelled it, could begin within three months.

Anthony Fauci told Bloomberg Law that his agency is working with Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech company Moderna Inc to develop the vaccine.

'We're already working on it,' he said. 'And hopefully in a period of about three months, we'll be able to start a phase I trial in humans.'

Vaccine experts at Baylor University are also reportedly working on modifying a vaccine they designed to prevent SARS to protect against the new, related coronavirus.

But the school's Dean of Tropical Medicine, which is developing the shot, Dr Peter Hotez, has already told DailyMail.com that it's likely years away from deployment.

An Oxford University expert said the outbreak so far was 'extraordinary'. Dr Peter Horby said: 'We haven't seen this large-scale spread since SARS.'

Speaking about whether he thought the World Health Organisation should declare it an international emergency, he added: 'There are three criteria  one, is this an extraordinary event? Two, is it spreading internationally? Three, is an international response required? In my opinion all three of these have been met.'

SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, is caused by the SARS coronavirus. It first emerged in China in 2002.

By the end of a nine-month outbreak, the virus had spread to several other Asian countries as well as the UK and Canada, killing 775 and infecting more than 8,000.

On Thursday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it is 'too early' to declare an international public health emergency over the outbreak 'given its restrictive and binary nature'.

Speaking at a press conference, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said: 'Make no mistake, this is though an emergency in China. But it has not yet become a global health emergency. It may yet become one.'

Builders in Wuhan, the city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, are scrambling to construct a brand new hospital in just a week over a national holiday (Pictured: Construction work today)

Government guards in Wuhan, where the outbreak began, check a car for illegally smuggled animals on January 24. The virus is believed to have jumped from animals to people

What do we know about the deadly coronavirus? What are the symptoms... and how worried SHOULD the world really be?

CHINA SHUTS PART OF THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA AND DISNEYLAND 'AS ARMY IS DEPLOYED ON THE STREETS' Part of the Great Wall of China and Disneyland in Shanghai have been closed to stop people spreading the deadly Wuhan coronavirus, Chinese officials announced today. At least 10 cities in China, home to around 33million people, have gone into some form of lockdown in the past two days, with public transport halted and roads closed down. And footage posted online reportedly shows military personnel being deployed onto the streets of Wuhan, from where the virus has emerged, to help with efforts to contain the outbreak. Chinese New Year is due to be celebrated tomorrow, which normally means millions of people travel around the country and the world to visit family. But major festivities all over the country have been cancelled, including those at Beijing's Forbidden City, a major tourist destination, and fairs and carnivals in Beijing and Hong Kong. But travel experts have warned the deadly coronavirus could have a major impact on global tourism unless lessons are learned from previous epidemics. Gloria Guevara, president of London-based World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), said transparent communication is vital to 'contain panic and mitigate negative economic losses'. WTTC analysis of previous major viral epidemics shows the average recovery time for visitor numbers to a destination was 19 months, but this can be reduced to just 10 months with 'the right response and management'. It stated that the Sars outbreak of 2003 cost the global travel and tourism sector as much as 38 billion ($49.75bn), while the worldwide economic impact of the 2009 swine flu pandemic was up to 42billion ($55bn). Advertisement

It emerged yesterday that the deadly coronavirus spreading across Asia is far more contagious than previously thought and someone who is infected can spread it with just a simple cough or a sneeze, scientists say.

Twenty-six people with the virus are now confirmed to have died and more than 800 have been infected in at least nine countries. But experts predict the true number of people with the disease could be as many as 10,000 as they warn it may kill as many as two in 100 cases. Here's what we know so far:

What is the Wuhan coronavirus?

A coronavirus is a type of virus which can cause illness in animals and people. It is an RNA virus (RNA is a type of genetic material called ribonucleic acid), which means it breaks into cells inside the host of the virus and uses them to reproduce itself.

This coronavirus from Wuhan is one which has never been seen before this outbreak. It is currently named 2019-nCoV, and does not have a more detailed name because so little is known about it.

Dr Helena Maier, from the Pirbright Institute, said: 'Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that infect a wide range of different species including humans, cattle, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats and wild animals.

'Until this new coronavirus was identified, there were only six different coronaviruses known to infect humans. Four of these cause a mild common cold-type illness, but since 2002 there has been the emergence of two new coronaviruses that can infect humans and result in more severe disease (Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronaviruses).

'Coronaviruses are known to be able to occasionally jump from one species to another and that is what happened in the case of SARS, MERS and the new coronavirus. The animal origin of the new coronavirus is not yet known.'

The first human cases were publicly reported from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where approximately 11million people live, three weeks ago after medics first started seeing cases in December.

By January 8, 59 suspected cases had been reported and seven people were in critical condition. Tests were developed for the new virus and recorded cases started to surge.

A man stands guard outside the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, which was ground zero for the outbreak at the beginning of this year. Photographed today, January 24

China spent the first few days of coronavirus outbreak ARRESTING people for spreading 'rumours' that SARS had returned China spent the crucial first days of the new coronavirus outbreak arresting people who talked about it online and harassing journalists trying to cover the story. While Chinese officials were quick to inform world health authorities about the new disease, they appear to have tried to repress the news at home. That could have allowed the disease to spread quickly through cities such as Wuhan, now thought to be the epicentre of the virus, because citizens were largely unaware it existed and took no precautions against it. The move also has chilling echoes of the 2003 SARS outbreak, which China initially tried to cover up and ended with the deaths of almost 800 people. Chinese officials then reported the infection, identified at the time as an known kind of pneumonia, to the World Health Organization on December 31. A domestic investigation was launched on January 3, with authorities saying they had ruled out flu, avian flu and another common respiratory illnesses as a cause. Police at the time said they had arrested and punished eight people 'publishing or forwarding false information on the internet without verification.' Advertisement

The first person died that week and, by January 16, two were dead and 41 cases were confirmed. The next day, scientists predicted that 1,700 people had become infected, possibly up to 4,500.

Today, just one week later, there have been more than 800 confirmed cases and those same scientists estimate that some 4,000  possibly 9,700  were infected in Wuhan alone. There are now 10 countries with confirmed cases and 26 people have died.

Where does the virus come from?

Nobody knows for sure. Coronaviruses in general tend to originate in animals  the similar SARS and MERS viruses are believed to have originated in civet cats and camels, respectively.

The first cases of the virus in Wuhan came from people visiting or working in a live animal market in the city, which has since been closed down for investigation.

Although the market is officially a seafood market, other dead and living animals were being sold there, including wolf cubs, salamanders, snakes, peacocks, porcupines and camel meat.

Bats are a prime suspect  researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in a recent statement: 'The Wuhan coronavirus' natural host could be bats but between bats and humans there may be an unknown intermediate.'

And another scientific journal article has suggested the virus first infected snakes, which may then have transmitted it to people at the market in Wuhan.

Peking University researchers analysed the genes of the coronavirus and said they most closely matched viruses which are known to affect snakes. They said: 'Results derived from our evolutionary analysis suggest for the first time that snake is the most probable wildlife animal reservoir for the 2019-nCoV,' in the Journal of Medical Virology.

So far the fatalities are quite low. Why are health experts so worried about it?

Experts say the international community is concerned about the virus because so little is known about it and it appears to be spreading quickly.

It is similar to SARS, which infected 8,000 people and killed nearly 800 in an outbreak in Asia in 2003, in that it is a type of coronavirus which infects humans' lungs.

Guests today wore face masks at the Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa Resort and Spa in Singapore following the confirmed new cases in the country

People in Hong Kong are picturing lining up to get free vitamin C tablets and bottles of hand sanitiser this morning

CAN YOU CATCH CORONAVIRUS THROUGH THE EYES? The deadly respiratory disease may be caught through the eyes. Wang Guangfa, who heads the department of pulmonary medicine at Beijing's Peking University First Hospital, was part of a team of experts that earlier this month visited Wuhan, where the virus first emerged. The respiratory expert has claimed that he may have contracted the disease because of a lack of eye protection. He says he developed conjunctivitis in his left eye after returning to Beijing and around three hours later he began suffering from a fever and catarrh - excessive discharge or build-up of mucus in the nose or throat. He said the most likely explanation of him contracting the virus was it entering through his eyes. Paul Kellam, professor of virus genomics at Imperial College London, said this is 'absolutely possible'. 'If you have droplets sneezed at you, they will wash from your nose to your eye,' he said. 'Your eye connects to your nose through the lacrimal duct. 'If you suffer from allergies and if your eyes run, so will your nose. Or if you put medication in your eyes, you'll taste at the back of your throat. 'It isn't unusual for flu and other viruses to be transmitted this way. You can also get respiratory infections through the eye.' Professor Kellam said it is for this reason healthcare workers must wear eye protection. And even though face masks that protect the mouth and nose are effective, they clearly 'won't protect the eyes'. Advertisement

Another reason for concern is that nobody has any immunity to the virus because they've never encountered it before. This means it may be able to cause more damage than viruses we come across often, like the flu or common cold.

Speaking at a briefing yesterday, Oxford University professor, Dr Peter Horby, said: 'Novel viruses can spread much faster through the population than viruses which circulate all the time because we have no immunity to them.

'Most seasonal flu viruses have a case fatality rate of less than one in 1,000 people. Here we're talking about a virus where we don't understand fully the severity spectrum but it's possible the case fatality rate could be as high as two per cent.'

If the death rate is truly two per cent, that means two out of every 100 patients who get it will die.

'My feeling is it's lower,' Dr Horby added. 'We're probably missing this iceberg of milder cases. But that's the current circumstance we're in.

'Two per cent case fatality rate is comparable to the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 so it is a significant concern globally.'

How does the virus spread?

Information has emerged today, Thursday, suggesting that the illness may spread between people just through coughs and sneezes, making it an extremely contagious infection.

It is believed to travel in the saliva and therefore close contact, kissing and sharing cutlery or utensils are risky. Because it infects the lungs, it is also likely present in droplets people cough up which, when inhaled, can infect the next person.

Originally, people were thought to be catching it from a live animal market in Wuhan city. But cases soon began to emerge in people who had never been there, which forced medics to realise it was spreading from person to person.

Police officers wearing masks today checked a car for smuggled wild animals at an expressway toll station outside of Wuhan, on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations

CHINA BUILT A LAB TO STUDY SARS AND EBOLA IN WUHAN IN 2017 - AND EXPERTS WARNED A VIRUS COULD ESCAPE Scientists warned in 2017 that a SARS-like virus could escape a lab set up that year in Wuhan, China, to study some of the most dangerous pathogens in the world. China installed the first of a planned five to seven biolabs designed for maximum safety in Wuhan in 2017, for the purpose of studying the most high-risk pathogens, including the Ebola and the SARS viruses. Tim Trevan, a Maryland biosafety consultant, told Nature that year, when the lab was on the cusp of opening, that he worried China's culture could make the institute unsafe because 'structures where everyone feels free to speak up and openness of information are important.' In fact, the SARS virus had 'escaped' multiple times from a lab in Beijing, according to the Nature article. The Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory is located about 20 miles away from the Huanan Seafood Market and some have wondered if the outbreak's epicenter is coincidental, but the scientific community currently believes that the virus mutated through and jumped to people through animal-human contact at the market. Advertisement

There is now evidence that it can spread third hand  to someone from a person who caught it from another person.

What does the virus do to you? What are the symptoms?

Once someone has caught the virus it may take between two and 14 days for them to show any symptoms.

If and when they do, typical signs include a runny nose, a cough, sore throat and a fever (high temperature). The vast majority of patients  at least 97 per cent, based on available data  will recover from these without any issues or medical help.

In a small group of patients, who seem mainly to be the elderly or those with long-term illnesses, it can lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia is an infection in which the insides of the lungs swell up and fill with fluid. It makes it increasingly difficult to breathe and, if left untreated, can be fatal and suffocate people.

What have genetic tests revealed about the virus?

Scientists in China have recorded the genetic sequences of around 19 strains of the virus and released them to experts working around the world.

This allows others to study them, develop tests and potentially look into treating the illness they cause.

Examinations have revealed the coronavirus did not change much  changing is known as mutating  much during the early stages of its spread.

However, the director-general of China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fu, yesterday said the virus was mutating and adapting as it spread through people.

This means efforts to study the virus and to potentially control it may be made extra difficult because the virus might look different every time scientists analyse it.

More study may be able to reveal whether the virus first infected a small number of people then change and spread from them, or whether there were various versions of the virus coming from animals which have developed separately.

Sri Lankan airport officials stand next to a thermal scanner monitor that shows the temperature of passengers at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo, pictured this morning

How dangerous is the virus?

The virus has so far killed 26 people out of a total of at least 800 officially confirmed cases  a death rate of around three per cent. This is a higher death rate than the Spanish Flu outbreak which, in 1918, went on to kill around 50million people.

However, experts say the true number of patients is likely considerably higher. Imperial College London researchers estimate that there were 4,000 (up to 9,700) cases in Wuhan city alone up to January 18  officially there have only been 444 there to date. If cases are in fact 100 times more common than the official figures, the death rate may be considerably lower.

FOOTAGE CLAIMS TO SHOW CORPSES OF CORONAVIRUS VICTIMS ARE LEFT LYING IN HOSPITALS 'FLOODED WITH HUNDREDS OF PATIENTS' Corpses of coronavirus victims are allegedly being left unattended in a corridor of a hospital flooded with patients in Wuhan as the Chinese city is ravaged by the deadly infection, it has been revealed. The chilling scene, captured by a woman who claims to be a nurse, was posted to the country's social media today but quickly censored. In a post, the self-proclaimed medical worker described how patients were being sent in non-stop without any quarantine measures, warning that 'everyone will end up being infected and dying'. The now-removed video was shared onto Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, by a user known as 'magic girl Xiao Xi'. It was believed to be filmed at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital, one of the facilities appointed by the government to receive suspected and diagnosed coronavirus patients. In another shocking video, hundreds of people could be seen inside a Chinese hospital. It is unclear when the footage was taken - but it is claimed to be from the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. Advertisement

Experts say it is likely only the most seriously ill patients are seeking help and are therefore recorded  the vast majority will have only mild, cold-like symptoms. For those whose conditions do become more severe, there is a risk of developing pneumonia which can destroy the lungs and kill you.

Can the virus be cured?

The Wuhan coronavirus cannot currently be cured and it is proving difficult to contain.

Antibiotics do not work against viruses, so they are out of the question. Antiviral drugs can, but the process of understanding a virus then developing and producing drugs to treat it would take years and huge amounts of money.

No vaccine exists for the coronavirus yet and it's not likely one will be developed in time to be of any use in this outbreak, for similar reasons to the above.

The National Institutes of Health in the US, and Baylor University in Waco, Texas, say they are working on a vaccine based on what they know about coronaviruses in general, using information from the SARS outbreak. But this may take a year or more to develop, according to Pharmaceutical Technology.

Currently, governments and health authorities are working to contain the virus and to care for patients who are sick and stop them infecting other people.

People who catch the illness are being quarantined in hospitals, where their symptoms can be treated and they will be away from the uninfected public.

And airports around the world are putting in place screening measures such as having doctors on-site, taking people's temperatures to check for fevers and using thermal screening to spot those who might be ill (infection causes a raised temperature).

However, it can take weeks for symptoms to appear, so there is only a small likelihood that patients will be spotted up in an airport.

Is this outbreak an epidemic or a pandemic?

The outbreak has not officially been confirmed as either an epidemic or a pandemic yet. This is likely because, despite the global concern, the number of people who have been confirmed to be infected is still relatively low.

A pandemic is defined by the World Health Organization as the 'worldwide spread of a new disease'.

An epidemic is when a disease takes hold of a smaller community, such as a single country, region or continent.
The funeral mass of the late Seamus Mallon will take place on Monday, January 27 at 12pm in Saint James of Jerusalem Church, Mullaghbrack, Co Armagh.

The former Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister and deputy leader of the SDLP passed away aged 83 yesterday.

Mr Mallon played a key role in the peace process, culminating in the Good Friday Agreement.

Offering his condolences, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said:

"Seamus Mallon was an Irish patriot. He lived for our country and has left an indelible mark on the lives of everyone who enjoys the peace he helped forge...I'm proud to have called him a friend."

Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar said: "I am greatly saddened to learn of the death of Seamus Mallon, one of Irelands greatest political leaders.

"History will remember Seamus as an architect of the Good Friday Agreement, a committed peace builder and a tireless champion of an inclusive Ireland. He always opposed sectarianism and discrimination in any form.

When others in his community advocated violence, Seamus had an unswerving commitment to constitutional nationalism. He was a peacemaker who put us on the path to reconciliation.

"I extend my profound sympathies to his immediate family, particularly his daughter Orla, grand-daughter Lara, and son-in-law Mark."

President Michael D Higgins also paid tribute to Seamus Mallon, saying few people have influenced the peace process in Northern Ireland more.

Very sad to learn of passing of the great Seamus Mallon. He has made an extraordinary contribution to politics & people on this island. He was tough, intelligent and passionate, always working for peace and reconciliation.

My sincere condolences to his family and friends. RIP pic.twitter.com/q9waXGamwE  Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) January 24, 2020

Tanaiste Simon Coveney tweeted: Very sad to learn of passing of the great Seamus Mallon. He has made an extraordinary contribution to politics & people on this island. He was tough, intelligent and passionate, always working for peace and reconciliation.

My sincere condolences to his family and friends. RIP.

RTE will broadcast the funeral mass on its NewsNow digital platform on Monday.
World number four Daniil Medvedev eased past Alexei Popyrin in straight sets Saturday to set up a last-16 clash with former Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka.

The tall Russian had few problems dispatching the unseeded Australian 6-4 6-3 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena as he steps up his quest for a maiden Grand Slam crown.

"I knew it was not going to be easy and happy to win in straight sets," said Medvedev, insisting he had no expectations in Melbourne.

"(But) of course every time no matter what tournament I'm super disappointed (if I lose).

"Hopefully I can win seven matches here, but very tough." He now plays experienced 2014 champion Wawrinka after the Swiss got an easy ride through his clash against John Isner, with the American retiring injured while losing 6-4 6-1.

Wawrinka, a former world number three who has never returned to his best since knee surgery in 2017, said he was happy to be in the second week of a Slam once again.

"I think I was playing well again today," he said. "I was really happy the way I was moving, the way I was playing.

"That's very positive. It's great to be back in the second week, that's for sure. Feeling way better."



Popyrin conceded an early break and was never allowed into the match by a man seeded behind only the Big Three of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

After Medvedev rattled through the first set, Popyrin went off for treatment for a leg problem midway through the second.

When he returned the Russian was ruthless, wrapping up the set then completing a routine victory, using his strength and big serve to good effect.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Tessa Vikander

VANCOUVER (Reuters) - The first phase of battle over whether Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou should be extradited to the United States wrapped up on Thursday after four days, with lawyers for Meng challenging prosecution claims that her alleged actions are a crime in Canada.

In a Vancouver courtroom, lawyers for Meng opposed the Canadian prosecutor's arguments saying her alleged actions are not a crime in Canada because the charges of bank fraud are dependent on violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. Canada had no sanctions against Iran when the extradition process began.

The judge said she would reserve her decision for a later date. Lawyers connected to the case expect a written judgment before April 27, when Meng is set to call evidence related to her arrest, which she alleges was improperly conducted.

On Thursday, in their final arguments Meng's lawyer, Scott Fenton, told the judge that the U.S. request to extradite Meng is "all and only about sanctions risk."

Fenton said that to side with the prosecution, and allow Meng to be extradited, would be an embarrassment to the Canadian judicial system.

"The court is being embarrassed. There can be no fraud here because all risk to HSBC is based on underlying sanctions risk which cannot exist in Canada," he told the judge.

The United States has charged Meng with bank fraud, and accused her of misleading HSBC Holdings Plc about Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's business in Iran.

Court proceedings show the United States issued the arrest warrant, which Canada acted on in December 2018, because it believes Meng covered up attempts by Huawei-linked companies to sell equipment to Iran, breaking U.S. sanctions against the country.

But Meng's legal team argued that "double criminality," is the central issue in this case. Under Canadian extradition laws, a person can only be extradited if the offense they are alleged to have committed in another country is also considered illegal in Canada. This is commonly called "double criminality."

Unlike the United States, Canada did not have sanctions against Iran at the time Canadian officials authorized the start of the extradition process, her lawyers have said.

Story continues

If the judge finds that double criminality has not been met, then Meng would be free. However, the prosecution could immediately appeal the decision. Legal experts have said it could be years before a final decision is reached due to appeals.

'INHERENTLY POLITICAL'

Meng has said she is innocent and is fighting extradition. She entered court wearing a white polka dot dress with a long-sleeved black top and stiletto heels that she has often favored during the trial.

Meng's lawyers acknowledge that between 2011 and 2016, Canada had economic sanctions against Iran, but that at the time the U.S. requested Meng for extradition, Canada had already done away with sanctions against Iran, "along with the rest of the civilized world."

The case is therefore inherently political because it is about whether Canada imports the U.S. sanctions law  a "political law"  and applies it to an extradition request, said Richard Peck, one of Meng's lawyers.

On Wednesday, prosecutors argued that Meng should be extradited on fraud charges, and that contrary to her defense argument, the case is not solely about violation of U.S. sanctions against Iran. They argued that the judge's job was to "ensure that Canada doesn't become a safe haven for fraudsters."

Meng, the daughter of Huawei's billionaire founder Ren Zhengfei, remains free on bail in Canada, and has been living in a mansion in Vancouvers exclusive Shaughnessy neighborhood.

Meng's legal team is currently only scheduled to call evidence in the last week of April, and a second phase of the trial, focusing on abuse of process and whether Canadian officials followed the law while arresting Meng, is set to begin in June. Closing arguments are expected in the last week of September and first week of October.

(Writing by Denny Thomas; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
Chinese hackers have exploited a zero-day vulnerability the Trend Micro OfficeScan antivirus in the recently disclosed hack of Mitsubishi Electric.

According to ZDNet, the hackers involved in the attack against the Mitsubishi Electric have exploited a zero-day vulnerability in Trend Micro OfficeScan to infect company servers.

This week, Mitsubishi Electric disclosed a security breach that might have exposed personal and confidential corporate data. According to the company, attackers did not obtain sensitive information about defense contracts.

The breach was detected almost eight months ago, on June 28, 2019, with the delay being attributed to the increased complexity of the investigation caused by the attackers deleting activity logs.

On June 28, last year, a suspicious behavior was detected and investigated on a terminal in our company, and as a result of unauthorized access by a third party, data was transmitted to the outside, reads a data breach notification published by the company.

The intrusion took place on June 28, 2019, and the company launched an investigation in September 2019. Mitsubishi Electric disclosed the security incident only after two local newspapers, the Asahi Shimbun and Nikkei, reported the security breach.

Mitsubishi Electric had also already notified members of the Japanese government and Ministry of Defense.

The two media outlets attribute the cyber attack to a China-linked cyber espionage group tracked as Tick (aka Bronze Butler).

The hacker group has been targeting Japanese heavy industry, manufacturing and international relations at least since 2012,

According to the experts, the group is linked to the Peoples Republic of China and is focused on exfiltrating confidential data.

According to people involved, Chinese hackers Tick may have been involved. According to Mitsubishi Electric, logs (to check for leaks) have been deleted and it is not possible to confirm whether or not they actually leaked. reported the Nikkei.

According to the company, at least tens of PCs and servers in Japan and overseas have been found to have been compromised. The amount of unauthorized access is approximately 200 megabytes, mainly for documents.

The security breach was discovered after Mitsubishi Electric staff found a suspicious file on one of the companys servers, further investigation allowed the company to determine that hack of an employee account.

According to the media, hackers gained access to the networks of around 14 company departments, including sales and the head administrative office. Threat actors stole around 200 MB of files including:

Personal information and recruitment applicant information (1,987)

New graduate recruitment applicants who joined the company from October 2017 to April 2020, and experienced recruitment applicants from 2011 to 2016 and our employee information (4,566)

2012 Survey results regarding the personnel treatment system implemented for employees in the headquarters in Japan, and information on retired employees of our affiliated companies (1,569)

Now ZDNet has learned from sources close to the investigation that the Chinese hackers have used a zero-day flaw in the Trend Micro OfficeScan antivirus in the attack on Mitsubishi Electric.

The attackers have exploited a directory traversal and arbitrary file upload vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2019-18187, in the Trend Micro OfficeScan antivirus.

Trend Micro has now addressed the vulnerability, but we cannot exclude that the hackers have exploited the same issue in attacks against other targets. After the security firm patched the CVE-2019-18187 flaw in October, it warned customers that the issue was being actively exploited by hackers in the wild.

Trend Micro has released Critical Patches (CP) for Trend Micro OfficeScan 11.0 SP1 and XG which resolve an arbitrary file upload with directory traversal vulnerability. reads the security advisory published by Trend Micro in October 2019.

Affected versions of OfficeScan could be exploited by an attacker utilizing a directory traversal vulnerability to extract files from an arbitrary zip file to a specific folder on the OfficeScan server, which could potentially lead to remote code execution (RCE). The remote process execution is bound to a web service account, which depending on the web platform used may have restricted permissions. An attempted attack requires user authentication.

The issue affects OfficeScan versions XG SP1, XG (Non-SP GM build), 11.0 SP1 for Windows.

In a case study on its website, Trend Micro lists Mitsubishi Electric as one of the companies that run the OfficeScan suite. reported ZDNet.

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs  Mitsubishi Electric, hacking)
New Delhi: Television actor Sejal Sharma, known for playing the lead role of Simmi Khosla in 'Dil Toh Happy Hai Ji', committed suicide by hanging herself at her Mira Road residence in Thane district of Mumbai. She was found hanging from the ceiling of her rented flat by a friend in the early hours of Friday, an official told news agency PTI. Sejal was immediately rushed to a hospital by the friend where she was declared dead by the doctors on arrival.

"The police have recovered a suicide note, in which Sharma has stated that she was taking the extreme step due to personal reasons," the official added.

According to an IANS report, the possible reason behind the suicide might be some disturbance in the late actress' personal life.

Sejal hailed from Udaipur and came to Mumbai in 2017 to try her luck in the showbiz industry. Before her debut on 'Dil Toh Happy Hai Ji', she appeared in a few commercials. She had also featured in a web-series titled 'Azad Parindey'.

Following an autopsy, the actor's body was handed over to her family for last rites. Meanwhile, a case of accidental death has been registered at Mira Road police station.

(With agencies inputs)
New Delhi :

Senior Journalist and president of News Broadcasters Federation (NBF) Arnab Goswami has condemned the attack on News Nations Deepak Chaurasia. NBF, an industry association of more than 78 news channels representing broadcasters from 25 states and 14 languages, may issue a statement in this regard. Goswami said that the media should unite and condemn this matter and strict action should be taken against the 'lynching'.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said that he will write a letter to the Press Council of India over the issue. Condemning the attack on Chaurasia, Javadekar said that this was a shocking case of extremism and the culprits must be exposed.

The BJP has also slammed the lynching incident. Deepak Chaurasia was reporting from the site when a man wearing yellow pullover tried to stop him. Unfazed by the disturbance, the senior journalist continued to do his work. Several senior journalists have come out in Chaurasias support and said that he was simply doing his job.

Meanwhile, an FIR has been filed on complaint of the senior News Nation journalist after he was allegedly manhandled and roughed up by some miscreants at Shaheen Bagh. Demonstrations have been ongoing in the area since December 15 last year.

Police said the journalist complained to them saying he was beaten up and his camera was snatched by a mob at the protest site. An FIR has been registered under sections 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) and 34 (common intension) against unknown persons at the Shaheen Bagh police station, a senior police officer said.

Hundreds of people, led by women, have been demonstrating at the venue, blocking a key road which links Noida to Delhi. A major part of the crowd swells between 8 pm and 12 pm when the regular protesters are joined by working professionals and businessmen once they return from work. While the protesters has maintained their agitation is completely peaceful, Today's incident has raised serious questions about their claims.

This is not the first time the Shaheen Bagh protests has created a controversy. Earlier this month, seevral BJP leaders claimed that 'Jinnah wali Azadi' slogans were chanted during an anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protest at Shaheen Bagh.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Former deputy Opposition leader Tanya Plibersek has been slammed by her own supporters for arguing all school children should pledge their loyalty to Australia.

Ms Plibersek took to Twitter on Saturday to share an article about her ideas ahead of her Australia Day address at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday.

The Federal Labor MP argued patriotism is about acceptance and lending a hand rather than exclusion, but was harshly criticised by users on her own side of politics.

Federal Labor MP Tanya Plibersek has been slammed by her own supporters for arguing all school children should pledge their loyalty to Australia

She said the incredible spirit of generosity from Australians during the latest bushfire ravaged summer was the best example.

'This has been patriotism at its practical best; patriotism as the thread connecting us all as Australians.'

On Sunday she will call for all school students to be taught the Australian citizenship pledge, which states: 'From this time forward, I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect, and whose laws I will uphold and obey.'

Labor supporters quickly criticised Ms Plibersek for the move they believed was more suited to right-wing politics

Ms Plibersek's remarks quickly became trending online with many of her supporters rejecting the idea as American and old fashioned.

'Are you just trying to lose the next election? (This is) all things I loathe about America. Going to vote in the religious bigotry bill too? Just to really break my Labor heart?' a woman said.

Controversial feminist commentator Clementine Ford also slammed the idea.

Controversial feminist commentator Clementine Ford also said she was disappointed in the move

'Huge fan Tanya, but I think there are more elegant and less nationalistic ways to codify good citizenship here,' she said.

Ms Ford then argued Labor Leader Anthony Albanese was not being a good citizen when he pledged to keep Australia Day on January 26.

Other people pointed out the pledge is already made by immigrants who become Australian citizens.

One man remarked 'that the left are eating their own' and remarked that the behaviour was proof they were uneducated.
The importance of gunning down JeM terrorist Abu Saifullah alias Abu Qasim

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 25: The terrorist, who was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Pulwama district earlier this week was identified as a Pakistani national affiliated with proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit, a senior police officer said on Friday, adding the ultra operated in militancy-infested south Kashmir under code names "Abu Saifullah" and "Abu Qasim".

The officer said the slain terrorist was wanted in connection with the abduction and killing of two civilians and threatening special police officers (SPOs) and non-local labourers to leave the Valley.

A close associate of JeM self-styled chief commander Qari Yasir of Pakistan, who was killed in an encounter with security forces in Kupwara district in July 2013, Abu Saifullah was trapped along with his local associate during a search and cordon operation at Zaintrag village in the Awantipora area of Pulwama on Tuesday morning, he said.

2 terrorists shot dead in encounters in Pulwama

The operation, which was launched on specific information, turned into a gunfight when the hiding terrorists opened fire on the joint search parties of police, 50 Rashtriya Rifles and 185 Battalion of the CRPF, the officer said.

The heavy firing by the terrorists resulted in grievous bullet injuries to Sepoy Rahul Ranswal of the Rashtriya Rifles and SPO Shahbaz Ahmad of local police, who were evacuated to the Army's 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar but both succumbed to injuries there, he said.

Kashmir shutdown: 2G data services, broadband restored in the Valley| OneIndia News

During the process of evacuation of the injured jawans, the terrorists fled the cordon area, the officer said, adding they were tracked down in the forest area of Nagander village, which is about one Kilometer away from the encounter site of Zantrag, next day resulting in a fresh encounter. The "most wanted" terrorist, Abu Saifullah, was killed there.

However, his other associate managed to escape and a hunt is on to neutralise him, the officer said.

J&K: Associate of JeM terrorist arrested in Pulwama

"Abu Saifullah has been active in Tral and the Khrew area of Awantipora for more than one-and-a-half years and was a close associate of slain JeM chief Qari Yasir. He was involved in the abduction and killing of two civilians - Abdul Qadeer Kohli and Manzoor Ahmad Kohli - and injuring a shopkeeper, Naseer Ahmad Ganie, last year," he said.

Saifullah was also wanted in a case related to pasting of posters wherein the SPOs were threatened to leave their jobs and non-local labourers were asked to leave the valley, the officer said.
WASHINGTON  Turnover continues in the office of U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5, as three more staffers depart for other jobs.

Hayess outreach director Kayla Reasco will soon become the deputy chief of staff for Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, a source with knowledge of the move confirmed.

Hayess spokesperson and district director are also moving on. Press Secretary Sam Dorn is joining the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg in Virginia, Dorn said.

Veronica DeLandro, who ran Hayess Connecticut office in Waterbury, left the team at the end of December, Dorn said.

The first-term congresswoman already had received resignations letters from at least two other staffers.

In a statement this week, Hayes said she has learned her staff wont stick around forever.

Working for an elected official involves long hours, stressful environments, and lower pay than what these talented individuals could be earning in the private sector, Hayes said.

The challenges of this year, in a freshman office, required a tremendous commitment on the part of my staff.

While I am sad to see members of my team move on, I recognize that the experience gained in these jobs opened a vast network of opportunities, she said.

I am so proud of the work we have done together and am excited to see what they accomplish moving forward.

Dorn, who previously worked for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said he loved his time in Hayess office. He compared the office of a first-term member of Congress to a start-up, with energy, possibility and some kinks to sort out.

In July, Hayess Chief of Staff Joe Dunn resigned. Her first press secretary, Jason Newton, left his job in the first several months of Hayes freshman term.

In an earlier interview, Hayes insisted she maintains a positive workplace but not every employee was the best fit.

I never asked anyone to do anything I wouldnt do myself, she said in July.

emilie.munson@hearstdc.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson
Chancellor Sajid Javid welcomes US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin ahead of a meeting at 11 Downing Street (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

America is prepared to dedicate a lot of resources to securing a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK this year, the countrys treasury secretary has said.

Steven Mnuchin said he was quite optimistic about striking an agreement between Britain and the US in 2020 as he spoke at Chatham House in central London.

Mr Mnuchin earlier met Chancellor Sajid Javid for breakfast at 11 Downing Street, over which he was also expected to raise concerns over the potential for Britain to allow Huawei to help build its 5G infrastructure.

On a future trade deal, he told the audience: Weve said that our goal  your goal is trying to get both of these trade agreements done this year  and I think from a US standpoint we are prepared to dedicate a lot of resources.

If the UK and US have very similar economies with a big focus on services, and I think this will be a very important relationship.

And this is going back to the president during the campaign, he said, post-Brexit, theyll be at the top of the list.

'My job as treasury secretary is to focus on what is good for America. Having said that, that doesnt mean that things we do arent good for other people.'



US Treasury Secretary @stevenmnuchin1 is asked about his views on 'globalism' and Trump admin. approach



1/2#CHevents pic.twitter.com/wzpKuhhuy0  Chatham House (@ChathamHouse) January 25, 2020

Britain will seek to conduct parallel trade talks with the US and European Union after it leaves the bloc on January 31.

Mr Mnuchin also reiterated the USs opposition to Britains plans to tax tech giants.

The Chancellor intends to introduce a 2% levy on the revenues of search engines, social media platforms and online marketplaces which derive value from UK users.

He has said the digital services tax will only be a temporary measure until an international agreement is in place on how to deal with online giants such as Google and Facebook.

But Mr Mnuchin said the US believes any tax that is designed specifically on digital companies is a discriminatory tax.

He said such a tax is not appropriate and has violations to our tax treaties and other issues.

So, were working through that and I think we have a good outcome of trying to give some room now in 2020 to continue these discussions.
Veronica Theobald is trapped in Wuhan after the city was put in lockdown (Picture: Getty)

A British grandmother is stuck in the Chinese city of Wuhan after it was put on lockdown following the coronavirus outbreak.

Veronica Theobald was due to fly home from the city, where she was visiting her grandson Kharn Lambert, on Monday but her return was cancelled after it was put on lockdown.

The 81-year-old from Lancaster, who suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is now running out of medication and has not left the house where she is staying for more than a week for fear of falling ill.

The news comes as British health officials were trying to track down around 2,000 who have flown to the country from China in the last two weeks.

Wuhan is just one area of China affected by the lockdown, which now restricts the movement of 56 million people.

A prefab hospital is being built in Wuhan to deal with the crisis (Picture: Reuters)

Ms Theobalds grandson Kharn, a PE teacher in Wuhan who has lived in the city for five years, told the PA news agency: There is no knowing how long she will have to stay here, and Im worried about her running out of the medication she needs for her health so Im in constant contact with the British embassy.

I do worry if I have to go out for whatever reason that I will bring something back into the house and she will become infected and fall ill.

READ MORE

What the coronavirus means for the economy

Coronavirus outbreak: your questions answered

She only brought enough medication for her time here plus an extra week in case of any flight delays etc. But nothing can prepare you for this.

My family at home are extremely concerned about her, but Im trying hard to reassure them that I am taking the best care of her as I can.

Chinese New Year celebrations were left subdued after cities across China were put under lockdown amid the deadly coronavirus (Picture: Getty)

Mr Lambert said the embassy had put them in touch with a doctor who is due to check up on his grandmothers health after the weekend.

He said the mood in Wuhan had changed in the last 24 hours.

People are starting to realise the seriousness off the situation, he added.

Due to the hysteria caused by the lockdown yesterday, it was difficult to get food and any food that was available had been increased in price. However, I went to the supermarket today and the shelves had been restocked.

Story continues

Fellow Briton Mustafa Siddiqui, 36, a Londoner who has lived in Wuhan for 14 years, said: This is the first time in a decade Ive seen the city this quiet. Its very eerie outside, people are taking precautions, they are wearing masks, they are wearing surgical gloves.

In my opinion the message did go out a little slow, but you have to put this in a context that this is Chinese New Year time and the authorities do not want to create panic.

Two British teachers working in the city have also told how they are unable to return to Wuhan while it remains on lockdown.

Chris Raymond, a teacher from Reading, is unable to return to Wuhan, where he's been living for three years, following the outbreak of coronavirus (Picture: PA)

Chris Raymond, 28, from Reading, has lived in the city for three years but is on holiday in the UK.

He said: Im due back on February 14 so Im hoping that it all blows over by then or at least the airports are open.

Another teacher, who wanted to remain anonymous, said if the ban is not lifted, he could potentially move back to the UK.

I plan on continuing to travel past my planned return date by a couple of weeks and then if the place is still a no go, go back to the UK and return when I can, he said.

Its a pain as all my stuff is in my flat and Im really sad as I love my job and hope to be back as soon as possible.

If I hadnt been out the country when I heard about the lockdown  a few hours before it happened  I would have got out the city with all my stuff and come back to the UK.

Chinese New Year celebrations were said to be subdued amid the concerns over the worsening crisis, which has claimed at least 41 lives.

Wuhan is currently building a 1,000-bed prefab hospital to deal with the outbreak, which is hoped to be completed by February 3.

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New mothers should work half days when they return after maternity leave to reduce stress on their babies, according to a parenting guru.

Erica Komisar, who is an American parenting consultant and psychoanalyst, was speaking at an event in London which was co-hosted by the Centre for Social Justice.

The 55-year-old said that taking half days was better than working two or three longer shifts a week because babies' experience of stress caused by separation from their primary carers increases over time.

Erica Komisar (pictured), who is an American psychoanalyst and parenting consultant, was speaking at an event in London which was co-hosted by the Centre for Social Justice

Ms Komisar said: 'Shorter periods of time each day are much better than longer days.

'Parents get it in their minds that it is better to have part-time work where they work three 12-hour days and then two days at home with the baby.

'That inconsistency is crazy-making for a baby.'

The mother-of-three also caused controversy by criticising nurseries which she blamed for poor mental health among teenagers.

She added that it was much better to leave a child with a relative, where possible, or with an 'emotionally sensitive and passive nanny' who is able to give one-to-one care.

Ms Komisar, who is the author of Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters, took six months off after the births of each of her children.

She then returned to work for just one and a half hours every day.

The 55-year-old said that taking half days was better than working two or three longer shifts a week because babies' experience of stress caused by separation from their primary carers increases over time (stock image)

Every new mother is legally bound to take the first two weeks off after the baby is born - or four weeks if they work in a factory.

Statutory Maternity Leave, which is made up of Ordinary Maternity Leave and Additional Maternity Leave, actually entitles new mothers to take up to 52 weeks off.

But 52 per cent of working women in the UK did not feel emotional or physical needs were catered for by their employers when they returned to work, according to a study of of 1,000 mother carried out by The Mummy MOT.
The four-year-old boy is described as having red hair and freckles

A frantic search is underway for a little boy who went missing on his family property in East Gippsland.

Police have spent much of Saturday scouring the large private property on Waterholes Rd in the tiny town of Waterholes for the child, who has been missing since 1.30pm.

'Police are searching the large rural property with the assistance of Dog Squad, Air Wing, Water Police, Search and Rescue and other agencies,' a Victoria Police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.

The four-year-old boy is described as having red hair and freckles and is believed to be wearing black pants and a light blue shirt at the time.

Surrounded by forest, Waterholes is 241 kilometres from Melbourne.



Police have spent much of Saturday scouring the large private property on Waterholes Rd
Miller said Roosevelt is one of three high schools in Indiana built for African-American students during an era of rampant segregation. The two others are Crispus Attucks in Indianapolis and Lincoln High School in Evansville. Each is still open, although Lincoln is no longer a high school.
Some countries export products while some have become influential at exporting culture. As a representative of Chinese iconic brands, Chacha has, for the fourth consecutive year, chosen Times Square, well-known worldwide as the Crossroads of the World, as the locale from which to issue Chinese New Year greetings, touching the hearts of people all over the world.

Chacha's communication efforts go far beyond the famous intersection at 42nd Street and Broadway. From 2017, Chacha started sending out the annual greetings from landmarks in 10 of the world's key cities, including New York (US), Toronto (Canada), Sydney (Australia), St. Petersburg (Russia), Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (South Korea), Kuala Lumpu, (Malaysia), Singapore, Jakarta (Indonesia) and Bangkok (Thailand). Chacha issued the message in both Chinese and the languages spoken in the destination city, telling the story of the traditional culture behind Chinese nuts.

Exhilarating! Chinese New Year's festive atmosphere on the streets of New York

What kind of sparks will fly when products that are specially sold before and during Chinese New Year land on the streets of New York? Two passers-by from France, Sydni and Paisen, marveled, "The packaging is so cool that I didn't recognize that it was nuts! It's really different from what I imagined traditional Chinese food to be. It's fashionable and trendy!" When she and her friends opened a bag of Small Yellow Bag Daily Nuts, they were immediately overwhelmed by the rich variety and fresh, crisp taste. In the past, all they knew about what Chinese do during the holiday is that they set off firecrackers, go to temple fairs and eat dumplings at a reunion dinner. Today they had gained a new understanding of the modern way of celebrating Chinese New Year.

Bryan, a San Francisco resident, said when he received the Chacha New Year gift package, "Chinese culture has become very popular around the world. Many of my Chinese friends get together and make dumplings during the period, then serve them with a lot of food and snack treats. I often shoot a video and upload it to Facebook in order to show all of my friends how to enjoy Chinese nuts."

A male fashionista, who happened to pass by on the street, tasted the nuts as soon as he received the special Chacha New Year (inclusive of a bag of Small Yellow Bag Daily Nuts) put together in collaboration with a famous brand designer. He said that Chinese people are very smart. The design helps ensure the fresh and natural quality of the nuts for a longer time. Unlike pies and cakes we take as a gift when we visit our friends or families during holidays, Chacha nuts are much healthier.

As Chinese culture becomes more well-known around the world, traditional Chinese New Year snacks, such as melon seeds and nuts, have evolved into a popular snack worldwide. What does every person in the middle of their daily routine want when it comes to food? Undoubtedly, the answer is taste and freshness. To respond to the needs of demanding consumers, Chacha is committed to its strategy with a focus on creating fresh products, supported by its capabilities across the industry chain and advanced technologies. The company selects A-class seasonal nuts from plantations around the world and makes them available to shoppers everywhere after being processed in accordance with the unified and rigorous standards that are applied in order to maximize the quality and freshness of the products at Chacha's nine manufacturing facilities worldwide.

Innovation reinforces the brand power of makers that specialize in Chinese New Year delicacies

Chinese New Year is far beyond a holiday in China and the special purchases that every family makes in preparation for the event are far beyond simply being "food". Stocking up for Chinese New Year is the first important step for Chinese when getting ready to celebrate the important annual event. Nuts and melon seeds, among other popular snacks, and the New Year's Eve dinner, are the ways in which Chinese people show their respect for everything that happens in their life.

Based on the tradition of purchasing holiday goods for the Spring Festival (the other name of Chinese New Year) in China, well-known 20-year old snack brand Chacha Food, has launched the Daily Nuts series, empowering the company to beat other competitors and become a leading nut snack brand in China.

Nowadays, returning home for the Chinese New Year with a box of Chacha nuts has gradually become a new tradition in the country. Nevertheless, Chacha's potential is far beyond that. The Chinese nuts market is expected to experience explosive growth over the next ten years as the country's annual per capita consumption of nuts now stands at a mere 221 grams compared with about 6.6 kilograms in the US. As a result, the market offers huge growth potential as the consumption in China only accounts for one third of that in the US even though China is ten times larger.

Given this scenario, nearly all Chinese snack manufacturers are exploring effective ways to take the leading position in the Chinese nut snack segment. The key to Chacha's success is that the company has accumulated many years of experience in creating premium products and expanding sales channels in addition to its ongoing efforts in product positioning and resource integration.

Chacha conquers massive international markets with Daily Nuts

With the rise of the Chinese economy and the world's interest in Chinese culture, Chacha has exported its nut products in time for Chinese New Year to the rest of the world, becoming a vehicle through which the message of a modern China is conveyed, alongside the brand's success in the domestic market.

Currently, Chacha has expanded into international markets with its nut products exported to more than 40 countries and regions worldwide. The company's current focus is on the key markets of the US and Indonesia where the company boasts the largest sales. The brand's success in these two are very different, but very important markets is a strong testament to its international strategy and corporate competence. The question then becomes, how can small Chacha nuts satisfy the taste buds of shoppers worldwide?

High quality and deep brand awareness play a key role in the global expansion of Chinese food manufacturers. In the Korean market, Chacha provided melon seed samples as a teaching tool and courseware model to Chinese language teachers at 500 primary and secondary schools in Seoul and Busan. The effort helps South Korean consumers build awareness of Chinese nut products and enhances the brand association that connects potential melon seed buyers with Chacha.

In addition, Chacha is also implementing a localization strategy, which focuses on addressing the tastes of local consumers, with the aim of strengthening consumer resonance and accelerating expansion into overseas markets. In Thailand, Chacha Food rolled out a coconut-flavored melon seed product. The product has now become one of the most popular snacks in Southeast Asia.

Chacha's business growth is reflected in data. The company has expanded its presence into over 40 countries and regions across the world, including Russia, the US and Southeast Asia. In 2019, Chacha started operation of its new plant in Thailand. With the new facility, the company aims to increase the contributions by overseas markets to its total sales to between 30% and 40%.

The Chinese believe that stocking plenty of goods in preparation for celebrating Chinese New Year ensures they will reap the harvest of their hard work over the coming year. Chacha, one of the iconic makers of Chinese New Year snacks, has expanded its presence beyond Southeast Asia to the wider European and US markets, serving as a model for sharing China's leading brands with the world.

SOURCE Chacha Food Co. Ltd

Related Links

www.qiaqiafood.com


Catholic believers light candles during a mass payer for 39 Vietnamese people found dead in a truck near London last month, at a church in Nghe An province, Vietnam, on Nov.30,2019. (Kham/ Reuters)

Irish Court Approves Extradition Over Vietnamese Truck Deaths

DUBLINAn Irish court on Jan.24 approved the extradition of one of the two Northern Irish men charged with manslaughter over the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people found in the back of a truck near London last year.

British authorities are seeking Eamonn Harrison, 23, on charges of human trafficking and immigration offenses, as well as the 39 crimes of manslaughter in a case that has shone a light on the illicit human smuggling trade.

Judge Donald Binchy deferred ordering Harrisons handover to Britain until Feb. 4. Binchy said the lengthy judgment would not be available until early next week and granted a request from Harrisons lawyer for more time to consider it.

Airport personnel load a coffin into an ambulance at the Noi Bai airport on Nov. 27, 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam. (Vietnam News Agency via AP)

The discovery of the bodies in the back of a refrigerated truck that was smuggling them into Britain highlighted how poor citizens of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East pay large sums of cash to middlemen for perilous, illicit journeys to the West.

The UK authorities, citing mobile phone analysis, cell tower data, and CCTV footage, allege that Harrison delivered the trailer in which the people were found to a Belgian port before its onward journey to Britain, a lawyer for the Irish state said last month.

Police officers drive away a lorry (C) in which 39 dead bodies were discovered sparking a murder investigation at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, east of London, Britain, on Oct. 23, 2019. (Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)

Harrison had challenged the extradition order. His lawyer argued that a lack of information in the warrant about the place of death and how Harrison was involved made it fundamentally defective.

Police in Vietnam arrested 10 people last year in connection with the deaths. The British driver of the truck has admitted plotting to assist unlawful immigration and acquiring criminal property.

Another man from Northern Ireland has been charged with conspiring to arrange the travel of people with a view to their exploitation and conspiracy to break immigration laws. Two other men from the British-run region are also wanted on suspicion of manslaughter and human trafficking.

By Graham Fahy, writing by Padraic Halpin
Hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the streets of Baghdad Friday in a mass demonstration demanding the immediate withdrawal of US troops from the country.

Waving Iraqi flags and chanting Get out, get out occupier, and Death to America, the crowds expressed the immense popular anger that has built up over decades against the murderous role played by Washington in Iraq. Some carried signs threatening armed resistance, while others wore white capes, symbolizing burial shrouds, indicating their willingness to die in such a struggle.

Demonstrators protest US actions in iraq [Credit: AP Photo]

Miriam, an 18-year-old high school student participating in the demonstration, told Al Jazeera: Im here today to protest against the United States occupying our lands. We want to liberate our country from these chains of oppression.

The demonstration was called as a million-man-march by the populist Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, undoubtedly in an attempt to provide a controlled release for rising popular anger. Sadr, who leads one of the most powerful blocs within Iraq's corrupt bourgeois government, is trying to balance between Washington and Tehran and finds his position increasingly challenged by a revolt from below.

Among the hundreds of thousands who marched were countless workers and youth whose entire lives have been shaped by US imperialisms crimes, from the first Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991, through a subsequent regime of draconian sanctions, which US officials themselves acknowledge claimed the lives of half a million Iraqi children, to the war of aggression launched in 2003 based on lies about weapons of mass destruction.

The World Socialist Web Site described the impact of that war as sociocide, i.e., the murder of an entire society. The death toll from the US intervention was estimated at one million, while millions more were driven from their homes. One of the most advanced societies in the Middle East in terms of health care, education and other basic social indices was reduced to rubble. The conditions of life in Iraq are still shaped by the shock and awe inflicted upon the country by the US military.

The bitter resentments over this long and bloody history have been reignited in the wake of the US drone missile assassination of Irans Gen. Qassem Suleimani, along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a prominent member of the Iraqi government and leader of the Popular Mobilization Forces, the predominantly Shia militias that are part of Iraqs armed forces.

The killing of Suleimani and al-Muhandis, along with eight other Iraqis and Iranians, at Baghdads international airport on January 3 constituted both an unprovoked act of war against Iran and a war crime.

While bringing the world to the brink of a catastrophic new war in the Persian Gulf, the assassinations were a brazen violation of Iraqi sovereignty. Trump administration officials have repeated baseless and until now wholly unsubstantiated charges that they carried out the murders to preempt a supposed imminent attack on US forces or interests in the Middle East. The reality is that Suleimani was in Baghdad at the invitation of Iraqs interim prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, to discuss attempts to ease regional tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The Iraqi parliament convened two days after the assassination and passed legislation demanding the expulsion of all US military forces from the country. Abdul Mahdi on January 9 formally requested that Washington send a delegation to Baghdad to negotiate the terms a US withdrawal.

The response was one of anger and imperialist arrogance. Trump declared that the US had built a very expensive air base in Iraq and that Were not leaving unless they pay us back for it.

He threatened punishing sanctions, which the Treasury Department and other agencies have already drawn up. Washington also told Baghdad that it would close off access to Iraqs $35 billion account held at the Federal Reserve Bank in New Yorka lasting legacy of the US military conquest of the countryimposing a financial blockade that could collapse its economy and impose even greater suffering upon its population.

The State Department said it would send a delegation to Iraq only to discuss how best to recommit to our strategic partnershipnot to discuss troop withdrawal, but our right, appropriate force posture in the Middle East.

Trump reiterated this standpoint after meeting with Iraqi President Barham Salih at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday. Asked about the threatened US sanctions, Trump replied, Well see what happens, because we do have to do things on our terms. Salih, an opportunist political creature of every regime since the start of the US occupation in 2003, came under intense fire for agreeing to meet with Trump, with many warning him not to return to Iraq.

These events have laid bare the essential neo-colonial character of Washingtons intervention in the Middle East over the past three decades, carried out under the shifting banners of a war on terrorism, human rights, weapons of mass destruction and defense of democracy.

The roughly 6,000 US troops now in Iraq were brought in on the pretext of defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Washingtons own Frankenstein monster, a jihadist militia that grew out of the Al Qaeda-linked forces the US and its allies unleashed in their regime-change war in Syria, which then turned eastward, overrunning roughly a third of Iraq in 2014. The war against ISIS resulted in the devastation of Mosul, previously Iraqs second city, along with cities and towns throughout Anbar Province, leaving tens of thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless.

Now US military commanders are saying ISIS is no longer a serious threat, and that Iran and Iranian-influenced Iraqi Shia militias, which carried out much of the fighting against ISIS, are the principal enemies in Iraq. There have been reports of discussions between US officials and Iraqi Sunni politicians aimed at fostering a separate Sunni Iraqi state that could host US bases.

What is involved is a new imperialist carve-up of the Middle East. Trump has expressed the criminal character of this operation most openly in Syria, where he has ordered US troops to take the oil, occupying the oil and gas fields of northeastern Deir Ezzor province, while suggesting bringing in a major US energy conglomerate to loot the countrys resources.

Underlying this turn to unabashed imperialist banditry lies the failure of the multiple US military interventions and regime-change operations in the Middle East to achieve Washingtons strategic aims. It is now turning toward a region-wide war against Iran as part of its buildup for great power confrontation with China, attempting to use military force to establish a chokehold over the energy resources upon which the Chinese economy depends.

The uprising of the Iraq masses has been expressed not only in the mass demonstration against the US occupation, but in the continuous protests against social inequality, unemployment and regime corruption that have shaken the country since last October, leaving some 600 dead.

These struggles are unfolding as the country approaches the centenary of the Great Iraqi Revolution of 1920, when the Sunni and Shia populations of Iraq united in a heroic struggle against occupying British forces that had carved out a colonial possession from the carcass of the defeated Ottoman Empire.

British imperialism retaliated with unrestrained brutality, employing poison gas and terror bombings against an impoverished population, costing the lives of close to 10,000 Iraqis. I am strongly in favor of using poisoned gas against uncivilized tribes [to] spread a lively terror, Winston Churchill, then minister of war, declared.

Formal independence and more than a half of a century of bourgeois nationalist rule in Iraq and throughout the Middle East have failed to either free the region from imperialist oppression or meet the fundamental social and democratic demands of the masses of working people. Now, the methods touted by Churchill are returning with a vengeance.

The mass protests in Iraq, together with the struggles of workers and youth in neighboring Lebanon as well as Iran, which are unfolding amid a global eruption of class struggle, point the way forward.

It is now seventeen years since the mass demonstrations against the 2003 Iraq war, involving millions of people in the US, Europe, and internationally. There is enormous opposition to war among workers and youth throughout the world. This opposition must be connected to the expanding wave of class struggle and protests against social inequality.

It is the struggle of the working class against capitalism, in Iraq, the broader Middle East and internationally, that provides the only answer to the reimposition of colonialism and a new imperialist world war. This emerging mass movement must be armed with a socialist and internationalist program to unify workers across the globe in the common struggle to put an end to the source of war and social inequality, the capitalist system.
Three children found dead in a house in Co Dublin after an unexplained incident have been named as brothers and sister Conor, Darragh and Carla McGinley.

The siblings, all aged under ten, were discovered in the village of Newcastle, which is south-west of Dublin city, in Ireland, on Friday night.

A woman in her 40s believed to be their mother was taken to hospital following the incident at Parsons Court.

The bodies of Conor, nine, Darragh, seven, and Carla, three, were removed from the semi-detached home by ambulance at around 10am on Saturday.

Conor, Darragh and Carla with their dad Andrew McGinley (Picture: PA)

Gardai said a family liaison officer was in contact with their father Andrew McGinley and the extended family.

Mr McGinley has released a photo of himself with his three children.

Police are investigating the "unexplained" deaths (Picture: PA)

Irish police continue to treat the sudden deaths as unexplained pending the outcome of post-mortem examinations on Saturday afternoon.

It is understood it was not immediately obvious to officers how the children had died when they attended the scene.

It is also understood gardai are not looking for anyone else in relation to the incident.

Garda forensic officers were continuing to conduct examinations inside the semi-detached house on Saturday.

Flowers outside a house in the village of Newcastle, south west of Dublin city where three children were found dead on Friday (Picture: PA0

Neighbours, including parents with young children, attended the house throughout the morning leaving flowers at the door of the home which was guarded by a number of officers.

Childrens toys could be seen in the windows of the house.

Several women could be seen in tears as they attended the scene, which has been described as a very quiet street and popular with young families.

One woman said the small community is in absolute shock, and many attended a local mass service on Saturday morning.

Irish police have described the deaths as unexplained (Picture: PA)

Councillor for Fine Gael Emer Higgins described the events as an unimaginable tragedy.

She said: My thoughts are with everybody impacted.

This is a really tight-knit community, its a small area, its a quiet area, and its just unthinkable that something like this could be happening on our doorstep.

Story continues

Its so tragic. Its unbelievable that three young peoples lives could be cut short like that, in what seems to be a particularly tragic case.

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A police spokeswoman added: "Gardai are currently attending the scene of an incident at a domestic house in Newcastle, Co. Dublin.

The bodies of three children, two boys and a girl, have been discovered.

"Gardai are currently investigating the circumstances of their unexplained deaths.

"A female in her 40s has been taken to Tallaght Hospital.

A Garda incident room has been set up in Clondalkin Garda Station and gardai have appealed for anyone with information to come forward.
Former Jamaican Police Officer, 2 Others, Charged in Deadly Irvine Home Robbery

A former Jamaican police officer was one of three men charged in a deadly home invasion in Irvine, Calif., said authorities on Jan. 23.

Raymond Alcala, 20, was shot multiple times on Oct. 26 in a home on Bayleaf Lane in Irvine. Police were called at about 5:45 a.m. by a man who said he had also been attacked. Alcala died from his injuries, while the other man survived.

In October, police released pictures of two of the men along with surveillance video and asked for the publics help in identifying the suspects.

Omar Miller, 41, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who is a former police officer in Jamaica; Devon Quinland, 33, of Westminster; and Andre Andrews, 34, of Hollywood, Florida were charged in the killing on Dec. 13. Quinland was arrested on Dec. 17, and Andrews and Miller were arrested Wednesday.

Andrews and Quinland each obtained a vehicle for use in this crime, the criminal complaint alleges, according to City News Service. The defendants also surveilled the victims home.

Andrews and Quinland are alleged in the criminal complaint to have used a crow bar, screwdriver and duct tape, while Andrews and Miller allegedly entered the residence with gloves on and armed with a gun.

The suspects are accused of pistol-whipping the other victim, William Phan, and using duct tape to restrain him.

Miller and Andrews were charged with three felonies: murder, conspiracy to commit a crime, and assault with a firearm, reported City News Service. They also face special circumstance allegations of robbery, sentencing enhancements for the personal use of a firearm, and inflicting great bodily injury on the surviving victim.

Quinland was charged with murder with special circumstance allegations of murder during a robbery, a count of conspiracy to commit a crime, and assault with a firearm.

Andrews and Miller appeared in court for the first time on Thursday at the Central Justice Center. Andrews is scheduled for arraignment and a bail review hearing on Feb. 7, while Miller and Quinland will be arraigned on Feb. 28.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Photo: Philip Pacheco/AFP via Getty Images

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has managed to stand out among President Trumps national-security advisers for his overt sycophancy. (Hes like a heat-seeking missile for Trumps ass, a former ambassador told journalist Susan Glasser.) Without psychologically diagnosing Pompeo, one might note that a certain kind of personality tends to fawn excessively over those who outrank them, while abusing those they consider beneath them.

Which brings us to Pompeos interview with NPR. It got off on the wrong foot when Pompeo complained about being asked a question on Ukraine  a country that is, you know, in the news  only to be told that the topic had indeed been cleared beforehand with his staff. While Pompeo insists he only agreed to discuss Iran, NPR says it put its intention to raise other topics in writing beforehand. Reporter Mary Louise Kelly asked Pompeo about complaints that he had failed to defend his staff. Pompeo dismissed those complainants as unnamed sources, to which Kelly replied that at least one was Senior Adviser Michael McKinley.

Amazing clip. Pompeo: zip.



Brava, @NPRKelly and Morning Edition. I don't get to say that very often these days, but it is justified here. pic.twitter.com/3iEHEPjCef  Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) January 24, 2020

Pompeo refused to answer Kellys questions and ended the interview abruptly. Then he brought her into his office living room, where he shouted at her and asked, Do you think Americans care about Ukraine? (Remember, the Trump party line is that the administration cares deeply about Ukraine and it was peacenik Barack Obama who failed to supply Ukrainians with the military aid that was delivered under this administration.)

Then, in what was apparently intended to be a decisive blow for Pompeo, he asked if I could find Ukraine on a map, Kelly reports. She said yes. Before we continue the narrative, heres a thing to understand about the Can you find Ukraine on a map? challenge: Its not a difficult challenge! Ukraine is a reasonably sizable country, and in recent months its map has been used heavily in the news because of a massive presidential scandal in which it features. Even if it were hard to find Ukraine on a map, Kelly has two decades of foreign-affairs reporting experience and a masters degree in European Studies from Cambridge. This is a bit like daring a professional mathematician to multiply 4 times 12.

So obviously, Kelly replied yes. But then, instead of taking her word for it, Pompeo told his staff to bring us a map of the world with no writing. One unanswered question is, Why does Pompeos staff have unlabeled maps lying around? Just so he can trap reporters who question him with his geographical pop quizzes? Regardless, at this point, Kelly successfully identified Ukraine on Pompeos unlabeled map.

Unbelievably, Pompeo responded Saturday by implying Kelly actually failed to locate Ukraine on a map, and instead pointed to Bangladesh, a country thousands of miles away:

The notion that an experienced foreign affairs reporter would be unable to locate a country that has been at the center of domestic and world news  and would think its next to India, not Russia!  is implausible, and indicates not only Pompeos dishonesty but the sheer level of absurdity he believes he can pass off. Were supposed to believe Kelly could not even identify the correct continent on which Ukraine is located?

It would be tempting to say the pressure of the Ukraine scandal is getting to Pompeo, but its probably more likely that this is just the kind of person Pompeo is  and the sort of behavior that has drawn him to Trump, and Trump to him.

This post has been updated.
The Conroe/Lake Conroe Chamber of Commerce honored Brent Wunderlich at the 86th Annual Chairman's Awards Gala on Thursday for his unexpected role in 2019.

This year, the sold-out business attire event with a Oh, the Places You Will Go! theme to honor the outgoing chairman fell on a week day at a new location. The previous location, La Torretta Lake Resort and Spa is undergoing renovations to soon become Conroes new Margaritaville Resort.

Nevertheless, dozens of members and sponsors gathered at the Lone Star Convention Center on Thursday evening to applaud Wunderlich, who stepped into the leadership position a year sooner than anticipated, said Chamber President Brian Bondy.

Not shying away from the change in plans or the challenge, Bondy said Wunderlich managed to juggle his responsibility as a new father moving into a new home and traveling the nation as the senior director for strategic distribution operations at McKesson.

We knew it was going to be tough, Wunderlich said noting that immediate past chairman George Waggoner with First National Bank Texas helped him ease into the position. There was going to be a lot to accomplish.

Over the year the chamber would be involved in numerous events and efforts from helping to pass a Conroe Independent School District bond to rallying together at the Montgomery County Day at the Capitol, along with success annual Tastefest, Athena, and Lobsterfest events.

In a show of gratitude, the chamber and elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Conroe and state Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe honored Wunderlich for his determination and dedication with gifts, including a gavel and globe.

As the past vice chair of business development and now as the past chairman of the board, Brent has seen a lot of good things happen with this chamber over the past four to five years, Bondy said. His leadership in the community speaks volumes about who he really is, but it is with his family, Isabelle and Oliver, that defines what an outstanding person he really is.

Its with his co-workers at McKesson that illustrates his commitment to excellence in the workplace, he continued. Its with his involvement in Leadership Montgomery County, the Montgomery Community Foundation, the Education for Tomorrow Alliance and others that points out what it really means to lead from the front.

Brady shared having the chamber lay out the priorities for economic growth, more workers, education, and the infrastructure needed as critical noting Wunderlich did it all with class and while bringing people together.

Brent is my honor tonight to thank you for a remarkable year of leadership with real accomplishments. Not just for our chamber, but our community, Brady said. And not just for this year, but for years to come.

Your energy, your vision, your ability to work with all parties, is really elevated the leadership role of this chamber, he continued. My view, the work that you did with education, back in the remarkable investments of Sam Houston, the remarkable energy of Lone Star - but pulling the two chambers of commerce together to help pass a successful bond issue, thats going to help change the future of our community.

In his farewell address, Wunderlich acknowledged the time commitment to the role, especially as a new father, and expressed appreciation to his supportive wife, the chamber and community for the truly remarkable 2019, which wrapped the year up with the recruit and upgrade of 222 new members.

Its been a great ride, weve accomplished so much and Im so thrilled to be a part of it, but Im also glad to be stepping off the stage and giving the gavel to somebody else, said Wunderlich who would later ceremoniously present the gavel to incoming chairman, Patricia Brown, with Woodforest National Bank.

I have enjoyed all of the opportunities Ive had to work closely with the folks in the community, our business constituents, and for all of you so close to the great individuals and companies that make up this community, he added. I will be appreciative of the friendships that were formed and strengthened over the past year and I believe one of the greatest aspects of this chamber, in particular in this fast- growing community, is our relationships with each other.

Several awards were presented throughout the night, including to the Godmother and Chairman MVP, Rebecca Riley with Lone Star College and Godfather Heath Melton with The Howard Hughes Corp. The chairman also awarded The Horizon Award to Melton and Jennifer Millington with Primrose School of Conroe. Debbie Dykes with Network in Action was recognized as the Diplomat of the Year followed by the small business of the year, Cut N Shoot Studios, and large business off the year Crown Beverage Packaging.

A ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. March 31 for the 2020 Wall of Honor Inductees.

mellsworth@hcnonline.com
A CPI (M) leader in Indore allegedly set himself afire on Friday evening. He has been hospitalised with more than 90% burns, said police.

The leader Ramesh Prajapati, 75, was a retired government employee and he took part in the agitations organised against CAA and NRC in Indore.Some pamphlets were recovered from his pocket which were against CAA and NRC, said a police officer.

According to police, Prajapati reached Geeta Bhavan square in the evening, doused himself with kerosene and set himself afire. Some passers-by informed the police which rushed him to MY Hospital where his condition is stated to be critical.

District secretary of CPI (M) Chhotelal Saravad said, Prajapati had been taking part in the partys agitations against CAA and NRC at Manikbagh and Barwali Chowki for quite sometime. The stress may have driven him to take the drastic step.

However, Tukoganj police station in charge Nirmal Kumar Shriwas said, No suicide note was recovered from the possession of the man. No one has come forward so far to claim either from his family or anyone else that he made an attempt to end his life in protest against CAA or NRC. Investigation is going on and we are yet to know what drove him to take such a drastic step. His condition is service and we cant record his statement right now. Pamphlets recovered from his pocket didnt suggest either any reason behind why he took the step.

His son Deepak Prajapati said, No political colour should be given to the incident.
Maharashtra Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde has ordered a review of two Metro routes in Thane city, a statement from his office said.

At a meeting held in Mumbai on Friday, Shinde, who is guardian minister of Thane district, directed officials of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority to carry out a survey and review the present routes of Thane-Kalyan and Kalyan-Taloja lines.

The minister's decision came in the wake of demand by local villagers to change these routes for fear of displacement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Considering the preponderance of extreme weather, new potential health epidemics and the existential threat of the climate crisis, there may be a tendency to think of the increasingly robust global wireless telecommunications network as benign.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 23/1/2020 (719 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Considering the preponderance of extreme weather, new potential health epidemics and the existential threat of the climate crisis, there may be a tendency to think of the increasingly robust global wireless telecommunications network as benign.

Click to Expand G(eneration) primer 1G - Analog technology from the 1980s, speeds of 2.4 Kbps 2G - Digital technology from the 1990s, speeds of 64 Kbps 3G - Digital technology from the 2000s, speeds of 144 Kbps up to 2 Mbps 4G - Digital technology from 2008, speeds of 100 Mbps up to 1 Gbps 5G - Coming soon, speeds up to 20 Gbps

But for many around the world that is not the case.

In fact, there is a sizable global movement to stop the development of the next iteration of that wireless network, the so-called 5G (fifth generation) network, because of potential health concerns many believe are caused by low level radiation produced by radio frequency transmitters.

The most fundamental understanding of the need to upgrade the network is because of the obvious increase in the volume of traffic brought on by our increasing reliance on digital communication of every kind and the traffic jam that the next wave -- the Internet of Things -- is likely to produce.

The need to upgrade the network is because of the increase in the volume of traffic brought on by our increasing reliance on digital communication of every kind. (Kin Cheung / The Associated Press files)

But for many who suffer from electromagnetic hypersensitivity, the development of the 5G network is a growing concern. Among other things 5G will mean the installation of hundreds of thousands of new network antennas that will be closer to homes than ever before.

Saturday has been designated Global 5G Protest day.

The website, Stop5Ginternational.org, lists more than 200 scheduled events that day in countries around the world.

There won't be a protest per se in Winnipeg but there will be an information session led by former Fisheries and Oceans scientist, Margaret Friesen. (It will be held at 1:30 at the Westminster Co-op Multipurpose Room, 145 Maryland Avenue.)

Friesen, suffers from electromagnetic hypersensitivity, has spent a lot of time familiarizing herself with the medical literature and has spent time trying to hold government regulatory bodies to account.

She does not believe Winnipeg has yet been inundated with new small antennae all over the place, but she fears we might never know.

Retired biologist Margaret Friesen suffers from electromagnetic hypersensitivity and has familiarized herself with the medical literature in relation to 5G. (John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press)

"The general public will not be told about this because the way the policy is written, based on federal policy, lamppost and utility poles are considered non-tower structures," she said, hence community consultation will not be required and there will be no public disclosure.

One of her fundamental concerns is, as she says, "We are going to be exposed to this untested technology without proper safety testing."

At the crux of her message is the fact that Health Canada's Safety Code 6, created by Health Canada to establish safety limits for human exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic energy in certain frequency ranges, has not been updated for 30 years and, among other perceived shortfalls, removed acknowledgement of electromagnetic hypersensitivity with no explanation.

Friesen points out that the federal government has a vested interest in the on-going development of wireless network as it earns billions of dollars in revenue from periodic auctions of radio frequency spectrum. Not to mention the tax revenue from the entire wireless industry.

It would seem that public conversation and even concern about potential health concerns connected to prolonged use of smartphones seems to have died down, but Friesen said for those who are listening that is not the case.

"There is a lot of science. There are thousands of studies that show biological affects from radio-frequency radiation at well below Safety Code 6 levels," Friesen says, citing things such as DNA damage and brain cancer to more mundane symptoms such as headaches and nausea.

Margaret Friesen is concerned the public will be exposed to untested technology without proper safety testing. (John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press)

And while many of us might be prone to shrug and imagine that that it's likely scientists on the fringe who publish on the subject, that too would be incorrect.

"Many scientists worldwide now believe that radio frequency radiation should be elevated to a Class One human carcinogen, on the same list as cigarettes, x-rays, and asbestos," Dr. Anthony Miller, professor emeritus with the University of Toronto, and adviser to the International Agency for Research on Cancer said following a wireless technology symposium held in May at Womens College Hospital in Toronto.

Related Items Click to Expand Poll Loading... Are you concerned about possible health risks from 5G? Yes and I suffer from electromagnetic hypersensitivity Yes, the research in health and safety seems to be lagging behind Yes, but I'm sure Health Canada has our best interests in mind No, we're surrounded by radio waves. A few more won't hurt. No, people smarter than me continue to study the effects No, electromagnetic hypersensitivity doesn't hold up to scrutiny Are you concerned about possible health risks from 5G? Yes and I suffer from electromagnetic hypersensitivity 5% (18 votes) Yes, the research in health and safety seems to be lagging behind 39% (146 votes) Yes, but I'm sure Health Canada has our best interests in mind 10% (36 votes) No, we're surrounded by radio waves. A few more won't hurt. 13% (49 votes) No, people smarter than me continue to study the effects 17% (65 votes) No, electromagnetic hypersensitivity doesn't hold up to scrutiny 17% (63 votes) Total Votes: 377 View ResultsHide Results

Not surprisingly, the telecommunications industry has a different take on the matter.

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A spokesman for the Canadian Wireless Technology Association, which represents all the major telecommunications companies in the country who are investing billions of dollars building the 5G network, said that all mobile communications infrastructure use low-energy radio frequency energy, similar to electric appliances such as televisions and baby monitors.

And, as if to discount the apparent urgency of the focus on 5G, he said that the radio frequencies used by 5G are not new, and have been used for years in applications such as fixed wireless communications and satellite internet services.

"The potential health effects of RF (radio frequency) energy from mobile communications have been studied for decades, and according to national and international governments and agencies, such as the World Health Organization, the American Cancer Society, and many others... there is no substantiated scientific evidence of harmful health effects from RF technologies used within national and international safety standards," he said.

The industry notes its adherence to Health Canada's Safety Code 6, which brings the whole debate full circle.

That's because Friesen and many others, including Frank Clegg, past president of Microsoft Canada and now CEO of Canadians for Safe Technology, believe it is Health Canada that is complicit by not listening to the scientists and creating more stringent regulations.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
I recently participated in an anti-racism workshop, and we discussed the concept of tokenism.

Tokenism is being the one black student in a classroom full of white students. Its being the only Hispanic employee in a predominantly white organization, and its when that historically white school or organization says its diverse because of that one black or Hispanic student or employee.

For me, its meant being one of two black students in my class at St. Thomass Day School. Its meant being the only black person in most of my classes at Hopkins School. I never understood why these private schools in New Haven didnt have more black students when the citys black population has been at least 30 percent for decades. How could these organizations say they wanted more diversity, be in one of the most diverse cities in the state and I was the only black person in my classes?

To my family, it seemed that one sign of success meant having access to white work environments, having enough money to purchase a home in a white neighborhood or being able to send your kids to schools with white kids. My paternal great-grandparents  one born and raised in Arkansas; the other in Louisiana  moved to Connecticut during the Great Migration, when most of the homes in the Newhallville section of Dixwell Avenue were owned by white people. Several years ago, I found my grandmothers yearbook from her senior year at Hillhouse High School. I was surprised to learn that she had so many white classmates, seeing that the school has been predominantly black for quite a few decades.

My grandmother sent my aunt to Day Prospect Hill, the girls school that merged with Hopkins in the 70s. She made sure that my dad participated in academic enrichment programs at Yale University. He went on to attend a predominantly white university. He and my mother hoped I would do the same. My parents moved our family to Hamden and sent me to private schools, where I was one of a few black students.

Being the only black student meant that I would get questions about my hair, my skin and my cultural traditions. Being the only black student meant that I became bilingual. I learned how to talk like the white kids at school to fit in, and I had to talk like my black family members and friends outside of school. Being the only black student meant that my white classmates and friends would reveal their prejudices about black people. They were comfortable telling me because I wasnt like the other black people they saw on television. It also meant that when my grandfather, who grew up in rural Mississippi in the 1940s, talked about how awful white people were, that I shouldnt repeat what he said to my white classmates. I learned this after my first-grade teacher called my parents and told them what I had said.

When I declared that I would attend Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University instead of applying to Yale like my mother dreamed I would, my father scoffed, We could have just sent you to public school if you were going to go a historically black college, as if the college preparatory skills that I learned at Hopkins would go to waste at an institution meant for black students  as if historically black colleges were remedial or for black students who did not have the grades or the SAT scores to get into white colleges. Many HBCUs were established for black students in the 1800s after they were rejected from other universities because of their skin color. Nowadays, black students opt to attend HBCUs because they want to live and learn amongst students and faculty who look like they do. I was one of them.

So when my college counselor said I would be a great match for George Washington University, I cringed at the thought of spending another four years of being the fly in the buttermilk, as my great-grandmother called being the only black person in a group of white people.

After graduating from college, many of my work environments were white, except now I was better equipped to deal with them because of my upbringing. The same rules applied, except I was working with white managers who could keep black employees out of their departments or organizations or fire me if I went from playing my part as the token to complaining about being the token.

As an adult in predominately white work environments, my quest has been to figure out how use my access to white spaces to help other black people be successful.

Stacy Graham-Hunt is membership director at the Arts Council of Greater New Haven. She can be reached at stacygrahamhunt@gmail.com.
Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Saturday said that he had yet to receive any new evidence about the death of special CBI judge B H Loya who had handled the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case.

Many people had contacted him saying that they had evidence, but none so far had come up with actual proof, he said, speaking at the Press Club here.

To a query whether the probe into Loya's death will be reopened, the minister said, "I received several phone calls from people who claimed they had (new) evidence.

"I told them they can come and meet me. But no one has yet come to meet me with proof (showing that a fresh investigation was needed)," Deshmukh, who belongs to the NCP, said.

He had said earlier that the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in Maharashtra was open to investigate Loya's death afresh if any new material surfaced.

Loya, who was hearing the high-profile Sohrabuddin Shaikh case, died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, when he was visiting the city to attend the wedding of a colleague's daughter.

There were demands from some quarters that the death should be probed as the judge was allegedly under a lot of pressure.

But the Supreme Court rejected multiple pleas for independent probe, holding that Loya died of natural causes.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In 2017, Meek Mill was sued by three different parties over a shooting that happened at a December 2016 concert at the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, Connecticut. One man, Dylan Thomas, was shot in the leg and sued the rapper as well as Live Nation and the concert venue for damages. That case was dropped last year.

Now, the two remaining partiesthe families of two men killed in the shootinghave both agreed to drop their lawsuits, as the Blast reports and Pitchfork can confirm via court records. (When reached for comment by Pitchfork, a representative for Meek Mill also confirmed that the suits have been dismissed.) The family of Jaquan Graves withdrew their suit on January 13, while the family of Travis Ward dropped their case on January 22.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Meek Mill will be performing at this years Grammy Awards as part of a tribute performance for the late Nipsey Hussle.

Originally Appeared on Pitchfork
Known as Clo to most of my friends, I've just turned 43 and am a kind, caring, social creature who believes that smiling, a positive attitude and a little bit of charm will get you through most things in life. When it came to having babies, I was never somebody who dreamt of having kids, and counted down the days until it happened. Rather, I always knew I didn't not want to have kids.

In my early late twenties/early thirties, my priorities were definitely to enjoy myself. I was a late bloomer in terms of self-confidence and it was at this time that I really began to enjoy the person that I was. Working in PR really supported this, as it's very social and my day job involved working on music festivals; it was quite the dream. In my mid to late-thirties, I really wanted to meet my 'one', and I was in a relationship where I started to feel that this might be it, we might have a family. It was at this stage that I started to think about my lifestyle and working life in a different way. I had been working for myself for five years, running a small PR company which - being in the height of the recession - could be quite precarious, and made the decision to look for something more secure. I moved to the corporate side of the tracks and started working client side at Vodafone Ireland, where security was key, work-life balance was a pleasure and market leading maternity benefits were the icing on the cake.

While my working life flourished, the relationship came to a natural end and I suppose it was during the years that followed where the thoughts of meeting 'the one' and starting my own family life were ever present.

While over the next few years I dated, enjoyed life, and started and ended a couple of relationships, I didn't meet somebody that I wanted to spend my life with. At the same time, my want for a baby and awareness of my age infinitely grew. While I still was open to and hopeful of meeting someone, I started to think about potentially 'going it alone' and started to put things into place to support this.

I had been renting and living in gorgeous, big houses which I sublet and houseshared for almost 10 years. I made the decision to live on my own in a space that could accommodate a baby and bought a two-bed house in Dublin. It was a stepping stone to my pending suburban life. Happy that I was in a good place, life continued, open to meeting someone, comforted by the fact that if I didn't, I was set up to do it myself.

Then, 18 months ago, I was having a delightful time on a beach in Croatia when I received a routine call from my doctor on recent blood tests. All were fine with a slight pause on my phosphorus levels that were low, followed by a comment that this didn't matter as I wasn't trying to have a baby. I corrected her, saying that while I wasn't trying right now, I was planning to in the next 12 to 18 months, either with somebody or on my own.

Thankfully the doctor's manner was lovely because it cushioned her very straight-up initial response, which was that if I wanted to have a baby, I would really want to set that in motion now. She explained (rightly so) that even if I began the process then and there, the likelihood was that it would take a minimum of a year to happen, if not more. If I was to hold off as I intended, my chances of success would be depleted and I would be 45 by the time I had my baby if it did happen, and to think about how that would impact my life.

It was a very sober conversation accompanied by a lot of tears on my part, but I made the decision that day looking out at the beautiful ocean to just go for it. It was a very bittersweet, scary moment.

Yes, I was joyous and relieved that I was finally just going to go for it, but sad that you're accepting that you're not going to fall in love and make a baby with that person - for me, that was definitely a grieving process that I had to go through.

Over the next four months, I underwent tests at my local doctor and hospital, and these tests were sent to a specialist. At this stage, I was told I was in pretty good shape for baby making, which actually shocked me because of my age, and was referred for one more internal X-ray before being directed to a fertility clinic.

It was December by the time my first appointment at the fertility clinic actually took place, and I was chomping at the bit to get started, but still a little bit terrified. The main things that played on my mind were: would I manage on my own? Wouldn't I be terribly lonely and isolated and in turn resent my decision? Could I cope financially? I appreciate these are standard fears for many women regardless of single or married status, but the fear was real nonetheless.

This first appointment was without a doubt the lowest part of the whole process. I was told the harsh realities around the chances of success for somebody of my age, eggs, hormones levels was 2% for IUI (intrauterine insemination), up to 5% for follically assisted IUI and only 7% for IVF (in vitro fertilisation). I cried more in that consultation office and the weeks over Christmas than I could remember for a long time. The self-loathing was the worst, berating myself for leaving it so long, or not meeting somebody.

The feeling of pure and utter despair. I wallowed over Christmas, but I also started to formulate a plan. I took myself off to a bootcamp for a week over the new year period and spent the week working out and getting physically and mentally strong.

There were also a few tears shed for very different reasons during that week, as I achieved a number of personal goals, proving to myself that I was strong and I was capable of a lot more than I gave myself credit for.

I came home buoyed and full of confidence with a plan of action. I returned to clinic and told them I would like to proceed with two rounds of follically assisted IUI and, if that didn't work, I intended to go abroad for double donor IVF (when both donor egg and donor sperm are used to create an embryo) because the chances of that working were greatly increased compared to regular IVF, and it was a similar price.

I was comfortable with this approach as I was giving myself a year to throw everything at this, and thought it was the most sensible approach to spending the funds available and time. I would give IUI a couple of chances using my own eggs, and if that didn't work, I would go straight to the option with the highest percentage chance of working. So that was it.

In March, I ordered my donor sperm selected from Cryo International Sperm bank in Denmark and began my treatment in April. This involved taking one injection for seven days to grow the follicle, adding a second injection to the mix for the following seven days to prevent ovulation, and a final trigger injection to start the ovulation process 36 hours before the insemination.

You are monitored with internal scans over this time to see how the follicles are growing and to make sure they are not overstimulated. The clinic is looking for one to maximum two follicles of the right size before proceeding. I started this process twice without completing the treatment; the first time it was cancelled because I confused my injections and took the wrong one at the wrong time and had to abandon it for that month; the second time because my follicles collapsed just days before the planned insemination for no known reason.

This was the second hardest time in the process, with also a lot of tears. It was almost a year since I had made the decision in Croatia to start everything and to stop literally hours before the procedure was just gut-wrenching. It was at this stage that I decided to take a break from it all.

I was going to a friend's wedding in the following weeks and wanted to really enjoy it, and then went to a couple of festivals and had a ball. It was a long road and I was now more aware that I had no idea how long it would actually be, and I wanted to have recent joyous memories to get me through what might be some hard and challenging months ahead.

I started my third round of treatment - this time to completion. And against all the odds, it worked first time.

I waited a full 16 days to do the test, starting to believe it might have worked after day 12 when I compared the little cramps that I was experiencing to that description of feeling an embryo catching the side of the uterus, which would be normal on this day should it have been successful. I woke up at 2.30am, went to the bathroom and made myself go back to sleep. I woke up again at 4.30am, did the test, cried tears of joy at the word pregnant, and set a picture of it to my nearest and dearest, waiting for everybody to wake up!

The word I would use to describe this moment and every moment since then (amidst the usual fears of the first weeks of pregnancy) is content.

And this is the happiest and luckiest that I have ever felt.

My family, friends and colleagues (also great friends) have just been phenomenal throughout this whole experience. I firmly believe that alongside the beauty of science and medicine, holistic healing, acupuncture and positive visualisation all played their part in making this happen. Positivity, support and love emanated from everybody around me and I believe played its part in making my dream of a baby a reality.
Conservative writer Marc Thiessen every year states the 10 best and worst things he thinks Trump did.

The 10 best:

He has continued to appoint conservative judges at a record pace. He ordered the operation that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He delivered the biggest blow to Planned Parenthood in three decades. His tariff threats forced Mexico to crack down on illegal immigration. His maximum pressure campaign is crippling Iran. His withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty is delivering China and North Korea a strategic setback. He stood with the people of Hong Kong. He has got NATO allies to cough up more money for our collective security. He implemented tighter work requirements for food stamps. He continued to deliver for the forgotten Americans.

And the 10 worst:

He gave Turkey a green light to invade Syria and attack our Kurdish allies. He invited the Taliban to Camp David. He asked the president of Ukraine to investigate Hunter Biden. He continued to attack dead people. He continued to spread the canard that the United States is fighting endless wars. He used his emergency authority to circumvent Congress on the border wall. He lost a needless government shutdown fight. He said the Soviet Union was right to invade Afghanistan and congratulated China on the 70th anniversary of the Communist takeover. He used anti-Semitic tropes to attack his enemies. He ridiculously claimed Our country is FULL.

Would be interesting to weigh each one as to importance. I dont care much about funding for Planned Parenthood but I do care about ISIS and betraying the Kurds.

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Around 4 a.m., a 32-year-old man was shot in a leg while he was walking in the 8000 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue in the Chatham neighborhood. He took himself to Jackson Park Hospital, where he was listed in good condition, police said.
A well-known Co Down coffee shop famed for its dog club has ceased trading.

The Dundonald Old Mill and Gift Shop on Belfast Road in Dundonald had been a popular spot for afternoon teas and lunches.

It was also famous for the waterwheel outside its 250-year-old building.

The venue drew dog-lovers, with customers being encouraged to bring their pets to regular meetings of the Mill Doggies' Club.

But now the venue has closed, and the company behind the business has ceased trading.

A meeting of creditors of Dundonald Old Mill Ltd is to be held at the offices of insolvency advisers HNH in Belfast on February 5.

A spokesman for HNH confirmed the business had ceased trading but had no further comment.

The coffee shop was owned by Carolyn Hamill.

Belfast Telegraph restaurant critic Joris Minne said the venue had been "quite a charming place" but had fallen victim to changing fashions.

"We're going through a period of transformation in the restaurant sector and the arrival of the big chains in Belfast has had an impact on the independent sector, which is catering increasingly for older people," he said.

"And I imagine that Dundonald Old Mill - which is spectacularly beautiful - may be suffering from something like that."

And he added that with the surge in delivery services from restaurants like Just Eat and Deliveroo, "we're in danger of losing that personal touch".

Naomi Armstrong-Cutter, a DUP councillor on Ards and North Down Borough Council, said the coffee shop would be missed.

"It is a lovely wee place. You had to go upstairs for coffee and downstairs is the gift shop, selling kitschy aprons and gifts and homemade jams and so on," she said. "I remember going as a child as a treat with my mum and dad. The outside always had the old wheel spinning around."

She added that competition in the area had grown. "There are more cafes around now, though Dundonald Old Mill would have always been a favourite."

According to the website of the business, its waterwheel was one of the largest in Ireland, with a 32-foot diameter.

It dated back to 1850, when the buildings were converted from a linen bleaching mill to a corn mill.
Thats fake. Thats not the real call, he said. We can shrug it off and say we were making light or a joke. But that was in a hearing in the United States House of Representatives discussing the removal of the president of the United States from office. There are very few things, if any, that can be as grave and as serious. Lets stick with the evidence.
The Kaduna State Government has confirmed a case of Lassa fever in a young male from Chikun Local Government Area.

Its health ministry said the victim is now being treated at the Infectious Diseases Control Centre.

The government urged the public to maintain the highest standard of individual hygiene and to report any suspected cases promptly.

In a statement made available on the State Governments Twitter page and signed by Amina Baloni, the Commissioner of Health, it said all KDSG health facilities are on alert to look out for cases.

The Ministry of Health has supplied our infectious diseases control centre with the necessary commodities and our health personnel are ready to manage any cases that may arise, the official said. The epidemiology unit is monitoring the situation closely, and all health facilities are on alert.

The confirmation came just as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control disclosed that 24 deaths have been recorded since the outbreak of the virus this month.

Below is the full statement:

Ministry of Health has confirmed a case of Lassa fever in a young male from Chikun LGA, who is now being treated at the Infectious Diseases Control Centre. The public is urged to maintain the highest standard of individual hygiene and to report any suspected cases promptly.

A statement signed by Dr. Amina Baloni, the Commissioner of Health, stated that all KDSG health facilities are on alert to look out for cases.

The Ministry of Health has supplied our infectious diseases control centre with the necessary commodities and our health personnel are ready to manage any cases that may arise. The epidemiology unit is monitoring the situation closely, and all health facilities are on alert.

READ ALSO:

We wish to appeal to members of the public to maintain the highest standards of personal hygiene, keep food in proper storage and to remain vigilant to report suspected cases to the relevant authorities.

Suspected cases should be reported to the State Epidemiology unit on 08036045755 or 08027396344 or by contacting the nearest Local Government Health Authority official.
Adam Schiff dismissed heckles from Republican senators who were outraged he closed his argument for Donald Trump's impeachment by reminding them of a report they would have 'their head on a pike' if they voted for the president's conviction.

'No I don't think so,' he said Saturday at a press conference when asked if he made a mistake by saying that.

Some of the Republicans outraged included Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski - two votes Democrats will need when they try to call additional witnesses in the trial.

'Look, there's going to be efforts to distract from the facts, there's going to be attacks on the managers. If the worst they could point to is that I refer to a published report by CBS, that's pretty thin gruel. The problem they have is they don't want to talk about the evidence,' Schiff said.

Collins actually yelled out on the Senate floor during Schiff's closing argument after he referenced a report that Republicans were being threatened to support the president.

Adam Schiff dismissed heckles from Republican senators who were outraged with the way he closed his argument for Donald Trump's impeachment

'Not true!' Collins yelled audibly inside the chamber when Schiff referenced the CBS News report that Republicans were warned if they vote against Trump 'your head will be on a pike.'

The outburst was a potentially damaging sign for Schiff, a California Democrat who has earned plaudits for his poise and arguments managing the case against Trump. Without Collins and a small handful of Republicans, Democrats have no hope of calling witnesses they believe will blow open the case against Donald Trump.

Without witness, they say it will be a 'sham trial.'

Other Republicans audibly groused at Schiff's invoking the report, which was attributed to a Trump confidant and called out the comment publicly after the Democrats concluded their initial case to remove Trump.

Chief Justice John Roberts, who was presiding in the chamber, did not admonish Collins or other lawmakers for speaking without being recognized. Senate rules require senators to sit silently during the trial. During a later stage they must submit questions to both sides in writing only.

Schiff's comment came as he wrapped up three days of arguments, just after a passage where he sought to appeal to the moral courage of senators willing to buck their party  in a clear appeal to Collins and a small group of Republicans he hopes will vote to allow witnesses and documents for a 'real trial.'

He referred to the 'fellowship of officeholders' and held up those willing to face the wrath of constituents or disagree with their friends. He admonished those who would say: 'She's a Republican-in-name-only' to blast those who may disagree with the party line.

Collins left the chamber afterward walking alongside GOP Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, who as conference chair orchestrate's the party's message. Collins is up for reelection in purple state Maine, and has sometimes gone against party leadership, even while regularly disappointing Democrats and occasionally provoking their ire.

As always, Collins was seated next to Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, seen as one of just three or four Republicans who might break with Trump and the GOP leadership team that has defended the president even amid controversy.

Sen. Susan Collins yelled out on the Senate floor in response to Schiff

Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Schiff lost her with his remark

'He was doing fine on the moral courage until he got to the head on the pike - that's where he lost me,' Murkowski told afterwards. She also denied receiving any threats. Advisors reportedly have urged Trump not to call potential holdouts so as not to risk alienating them.

Murkowski continued: 'He was speaking along. He's a good orator, you've got to give him that. He was moving right along with the good oratory, and then he got to a couple places. It wasn't necessary,' she said. Murkowski clarified that she didn't mean her vote was decided.

Immediately after Schiff's closing statement, Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma also called the claims 'not true.'

He called the remark 'insulting and demeaning to everyone.'

The blowback raised the potential that Schiff had committed a blunder similar to that by fellow manager Rep. Jerry Nadler, who told senators listening to him that if they vote against witnesses they would be complicit in a cover-up. The remark drew howls from Trump's legal team  which was followed by Supreme Court Justice John Roberts admonishing both sides.




Hyderabad, Jan 25 : Breaking his silence on Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Saturday announced that the state Assembly will pass a resolution against the Act.

He also announced he is ready to lead a nationwide campaign against CAA.

Terming CAA "100 per cent wrong", he appealed to the Supreme Court to strike it down.

Addressing a news conference, he announced he would soon hold a meeting of chief ministers and like-minded political parties in Hyderabad against CAA and NRC.

Saying that he has already spoke to several CMs, he said if necessary, he would hold anti-CAA and anti-NRC meeting "with 10 lakh people".

KCR, as Rao is popularly known, said the Indian Constitution has given equal rights to people, irrespective of their religion, caste and region.

Terming CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC) the biggest blunders of the BJP government, he urged the Prime Minister to recall the Act.

He noted that the country is facing criticism from intellectuals across the world on CAA and NRC.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president said TRS was opposed to such decisions and that was why it voted against the Bill in Parliament.

He said he had conveyed his feelings clearly to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, when the latter had called him for support to the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Parliament. "Excluding one community, Muslims, in the name of CAA, pained me a lot", he said.

KCR said there was no question of TRS compromising on secularism. "India cannot be converted into a Hindu nation. We are a secular country. This country belongs to all the people. We should continue to be secular," he said.

He lashed out at the Centre for ignoring the crucial issues such as economic slowdown, unemployment and development.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 01/24/2020



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

couple Rachel Bear and Jon Walters have reunited in England again after spending months apart.Rachel and Jon have shared on Instagram that they're back in each other's arms, proving they are still trying to make a long-distance relationship work."Reunited at last," the couple captioned a selfie photo posted on their shared Instagram account, FollowOurFairytale on Wednesday.The couple also added a red-heart emoji to their Wednesday post.The posting occurred hours after Rachel had posted a photo of a sign that read, "UK Border," showing she had arrived in the U.K., on her own Instagram account.On Thursday, Rachel uploaded a photo that featured Jon and her daughter Lucy in the background. Jon was walking Rachel's daughter in a stroller."We took a family stroll in the woods today. It was beautiful in so many ways," Rachel captioned the image. "#beautiful #england #stroll #nature #naturewalk #rachelandjon #lucy."And then more recently, Rachel shared a sweet family photo in which the three of them were smiling big."LOVE," Rachel wrote alongside the Friday image, although she changed the "O" to a red heart. "#england #lunch #trip #visit #nohesnotinamericayet #love #iloveyou #lucy #rachelandjon #blackandwhite."Jon also posted a family selfie on Friday but in black and white."Cheese," he briefly captioned the picture.Just last month, Jon revealed the couple had finally had submitted Jon's spousal-visa application when commenting on one of Rachel's Instagram photos."Where does his visa stand? [Were] you able to save up the $11,000?" one follower asked Rachel, according to In Touch Weekly.Jon then commented in December 2019, "Yes we did," and added, "Our visa application is in -- it's a long wait now, but the hard part is over. Thanks for asking."Jon and Rachel, who got married in May 2018, appear to have last reunited in the UK in May 2019, where they celebrated their wedding anniversary."Happy 1 year wedding anniversary to me and my baby. I love you @jonjwalters -- It's good to be back," Rachel captioned an Instagram photo at the time."#ivemissedyou #anniversary #oneyear #england #sand #iloveyou"Rachel was a 33-year-old from Albuquerque, New Mexico, when she became acquainted with Jon, a 34-year-old from England, for the first time singing karaoke on an app.Jon and Rachel were first introduced to fans on Season 2 of : Before the 90 Days, but the pair had already established a relationship through video chatting and phone calls.Rachel was pregnant at the time, and Jon couldn't wait to be a part of the child's life, although he was not the baby's biological father.The pair met for the first time in England in late 2017 after getting to know each other from different countries for a year-and-a-half.: Before the 90 Days' second season documented Rachel and Jon meeting, getting engaged, and tying the knot in Spring 2018, but Jon's criminal past has prevented him from relocating to the United States with ease.Jon explained on the spinoff there are numerous assault charges and five convictions under his belt from younger years when he would get into physical fights with people.In October 2018, Rachel told Instagrammer John Yates in an Instagram Live session that she and Jon were working very hard to save the money needed for a K-3 or immigrant visa processing.Rachel and Jon then announced in March 2019 they had finally saved enough money to begin the visa process.When a fan asked Rachel and Jon last year in a Q&A session on Instagram Stories whether they'd ever appear on a future season of , they replied, "A happily married couple doesn't make great TV. It makes even worse TV if they are just working and saving for a visa.""Maybe in the future," they continued, "Until then, subscribe to our YouTube."Rachel and Jon added it would be "boring" for people to watch them on given there is no baby, engagement or wedding storyline to share.Want spoilers? Click here to visit our Spoilers webpage!
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  A shipment of pork-celery dumplings from China which was seized at a port in Manila last December has been found to be infected with the African swine fever.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) in a statement on Saturday said the Manila International Container Port has ordered that the contents of the shipment be buried to prevent the spread of the virus, which affects only pigs.

The BOC said the container, consigned to Dynamic M Int'l Trading, Inc., arrived at the Manila North Harbor last December 11, 2019. It had other food items such as pork-chicken balls and roast-chicken wings.

The shipment was placed on hold as authorities suspected it contained misdeclared items, the BOC said, noting that the items did not have a sanitary permit from the Bureau of Animal Industry.

"After 100% examination of its contents and undergoing laboratory test from the Veterinary Quarantine Services (VQS), the pork-celery dumplings indicated the presence of ASF virus," the bureau said.

The MICP assured the public that it remains vigilant in preventing the entry of pork products that could have the swine fever virus.

The Philippines' import ban on pork and pork products covers 16 countries hit by swine fever, namely Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Moldova, South Africa, Zambia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Belgium, Latvia, Poland, Romania, China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Mongolia, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

The virus quickly spreads in an affected hog, which could lead to death after three to five days, threatening food supply. It does not infect humans, but they can carry the virus and spread the disease.

The Philippines had its first African swine fever case in July last year, meaning an outbreak. Cases of African swine fever have since been confirmed in a number of cities in Metro Manila and some provinces in Luzon, including Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan and Cavite.

LOOK: A timeline of African Swine Fever in the PH

Reports say cases have also been reported recently in Tarlac and Bataan.

LOOK: A timeline of African Swine Fever in the PH
Boris Johnson was bombarded with emoji-laden WhatsApp messages by controversial Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman, sparking fears that the Prime Ministers phone has been hacked.

The Arab state is at the centre of an international storm over allegations that billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezoss phone was compromised after he opened a file sent by the Crown Princes account on the messaging app.

Mr Bezos owns the Washington Post that published articles by journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was brutally murdered by the Saudi regime in 2018.

Boris Johnson and Prince Mohammed bin Salman meet in Saudi Arabia in December 2016

Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson pictured before attending a meeting at Downing Street in 2018

Now The Mail on Sunday can reveal Mr Johnson has been in regular contact with Bin Salman on WhatsApp after the pair swapped numbers when he was Foreign Secretary.

And the Crown Princes endless use of emojis has baffled Mr Johnson and his team.

Security sources said the level of contact with Mr Johnson was worrying, and the current relations with Saudi Arabia were being tested severely by Bin Salmans behaviour.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman poses with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos during the tycoon's visit to Riyadh in November 2016

Last night Downing Street refused to comment on whether Mr Johnson had received videos and pictures from Bin Salman on the app.

Cyber-crime experts say opening such files would be like giving a burglar the keys to your home and could allow hackers access to data, photographs and contacts.

Officials also refused to say if Mr Johnsons phone had been checked by security services, but sources said all appropriate action had been taken to protect the device.

The Saudi kingdom has strenuously denied that Bin Salman was involved in hacking Mr Bezos, with Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud slamming the allegations as absurd.

Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir in Brussels earlier this week

The report further pointed to messages later sent from the prince's WhatsApp account to Bezos that showed 'apparent awareness' of private information. One included a meme with a photo of a woman the report said resembled the woman Bezos was having an extramarital relationship with before going public with his divorce

The Saudi Crown Prince and Mr Bezos exchanged phone numbers in spring 2018, with Bin Salman allegedly sending a WhatsApp video containing imagery of Swedish and Saudi Arabian flags draped over one another with Arabic lettering written across them.

Mr Bezoss security guards say the video was the Trojan horse that hacked the billionaires phone. He would later be embarrassed when details of an extramarital affair leaked to an American magazine.

Experts said last night it was possible to hack into phones through corrupted WhatsApp messages. Brian Lord, former deputy director for cyber operations at GCHQ, said: An emoji on its own is not big enough to contain a virus, it has to be something that has to be opened. It has to be something that the user clicks on, like a video or a picture or sound file which contains a virus or malware that can then run in the background of the device.

The malware is a bit like opening a back door and once that door is open the hacker can keep going in and out again remotely. It would be like a burglar having your house keys and sneaking in and out of your house stealing from you without you knowing.
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Prince Charles was last night facing embarrassment after taking a series of private jet flights while lecturing world leaders about climate change.

On a trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, the Prince met activist Greta Thunberg and used an electric Jaguar car to travel to the Swiss resort.

But the MoS can reveal that in the 11 days before his high-profile appearance, Charles took three flights on private jets for official Government business and one on a helicopter.

After his speech last Wednesday, during which he urged world leaders to take bold and imaginative action on the environment, he took a fourth jet to Israel for an official trip.

Prince Charles meeting climate activist Greta Thunberg after he gave a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The Prince pointedly used an electric Jaguar executive car to travel through the Alps to the Swiss ski resort

The type of private jet used by Prince Charles. A Bombardier Global Express (model shown above) flew 944 miles from Austria to collect the Prince from his Birkhall residence in Scotland a the beginning of the string of flights on January 11

Taking into account an additional five so-called empty-leg flights required to collect the Prince, his jet and helicopter travel totalled more than 16,000 miles in less than a fortnight at an estimated cost to the taxpayer of 280,000.

Last night, a Clarence House spokesman said: Global travel is an inescapable part of the Princes role as a senior member of the Royal Family representing the UK overseas.

When he travels he does so at the request of the British Government. He does not choose the destinations any more than he chooses the means by which the journeys are undertaken.

According to the Paramount Business Jet calculator, which lets passengers work out their carbon emissions, the air travel will have emitted more than 162 metric tons of carbon  18 times an average Britons annual total.

Muna Suleiman, of Friends Of The Earth, said: Climate targets cant be met without cutting pollution from aviation emissions, and private jets are a particularly wasteful way to travel.

Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, pictured boarding a helicopter on their visit to the Isles of Scilly in July 2018. The Queen's helicopter was dispatched to collect the Prince at Sandringham

Prince Charles offers his condolences to Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said (right) on the death of Sultan Qaboos, who ruled Oman for 50 years and died at the age of 79, in Muscat, Oman, on 12 January.

Oman Air offers two direct flights from London to Muscat a day, but Palace aides said the trip was organised at less than 12 hours' notice and at the request of the British Government. The trip whisked him 3,765 miles to Muscat

Prince Charles speaks with Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of World Economic Forum, before his special address at the 50th World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 22

But a Royal source said: The Prince has been campaigning against the dangers of global warming for 50 years.

As soon as there is a more efficient way of travelling, bearing in mind all the factors involved, hell be the first to adopt them.

The string of flights began on January 11 when a Bombardier Global Express flew 944 miles from Austria to collect the Prince from his Birkhall residence in Scotland.

It flew him to Muscat, where he paid his respects on behalf of the Queen following the death of Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said. Palace aides said the trip was organised at less than 12 hours notice.

Last Wednesday, the Prince flew 750 miles by private jet from Scotland to Switzerland for the Davos summit.

Later that day he travelled 1,740 miles to Israel. Officials said a private jet was chosen for security reasons and the Prince only accepted the Davos invitation because it was on the way to Israel.
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The Chinese and the Zambian government on Friday launched a mega-housing project aimed at empowering local people with houses.

The Kingland City Housing Project is a public-private partnership project between Chinese firm Sun Share Investments Limited and the Zambia Air Force with an investment of 1.4 billion U.S. dollars. The project also involves a school and a police station.

Li Jie, Chinese Ambassador to Zamia said during the commissioning of the project that public-private partnerships mode was an effective way to solve the shortage of funds for infrastructure development.

"It is an internationally popular mode of infrastructure financing in recent years and has a great development prospect in the public service field and commercial development," he said

The project, according to the Chinese envoy, was a beneficial attempt to the cooperation between the two entities.

With the joint efforts of the Chinese and Zambian governments and enterprises, the development of cooperation in economy and trade between the two countries has been deepened, he added.

According to him, China's direct investment in Zambia maintained a constant growth with an increase of 470 million U.S. dollars in 2019, leading among African countries.

Zambian President Edgar Lungu said the project was a demonstration of what could happen when the public and private sector coordinate in delivering infrastructure projects.

Zambia, he said, needs efforts of various stakeholders to ensure sustained development and commended the developers of the housing project for their efforts.

The government, he said, will continue providing a conducive environment for the public sector and the private sector to collaborate in public-private partnership projects.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Thirty-four U.S. troops had been diagnosed with concussions and traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a result of the Iranian missile attack on U.S. military base in Iraq earlier this month, the Pentagon said on Friday.

"Eight service members who were previously transported to Germany have been transported to the United States, they would continue to receive treatment in the United States either at Walter Reed or their home bases," Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said at a press briefing.

Hoffman said that nine service members were still undergoing treatment in Germany, and the rest of the 17 injured troops have already returned to duty in Iraq.

U.S. military said last week that 11 service members were treated for concussion symptoms from the blast of Iranian missiles.

Hoffman noted that the symptoms "are late developing and manifested over a period of time."

Seeking revenge for the killing of Iranian senior commander Qassem Soleimani by a U.S. drone strike on Jan. 3 in Iraq, Iran retaliated on Jan. 8 by launching ballistic missiles 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.

U.S military initially said that no casualty was reported from the Iranian attack. President Donald Trump then downplayed the seriousness of those injures.

"I heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things, but I would say and I can report that it's not very serious," Trump told reporters on Wednesday at a press conference in Davos, Switzerland.

More than 5,000 U.S. troops are deployed in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces in the battle against Islamic State militants.
Hit by economic slowdown, India and Brazil on Saturday drew up an ambitious plan to boost their stuttering economies by significantly expanding cooperation in key sectors like oil, gas and mining, while setting a target of USD 15 billion in bilateral trade by 2022.

The decisions were taken during wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro.

On Brazil approaching the WTO against India for extending support to sugarcane growers, sources said it was agreed to address the issue through bilateral consultations.

The two leaders recognised that there were great synergies between India and Brazil, the two large economies with a combines GDP of around USD 4.5 trillion and having a total population of 1.5 billion.

The volume of bilateral trade in 2018-10 was USD 8.2 billion which included USD 3.8 billion worth of Indian exports to Brazil and USD 4.4 million as imports by India. The two sides inked an investment cooperation and facilitation treaty providing for a framework to increase trade and investment in high growth areas.

A separate pact was inked for cooperation in the field of oil and natural gas while another one was sealed in the bio-energy sector.

"There is significant potential for further strengthening the energy partnership taking into account that India is one of the leading countries in global oil demand growth and that Brazil is expected to sharply increase its oil production in the next decade," according to a joint statement issued after Modi-Bolsonaro talks.

It said the two leaders committed to explore ways of deepening bilateral relations in the energy field.

Apart from oil and gas, the other areas identified for expansion of cooperation included agriculture, bio-fuels, animal husbandry, health and science and technology.

"The two sides also agreed to set a target of USD 15 billion in bilateral trade by 2022 given the complementarities between the two economies," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

In the talks, the two sides also agreed that there was a great potential for increased ethanol production and uptake in India's fuel mix and looked forward to further collaboration in the area.

It was decided that both sides will encourage their companies to explore ways for promoting investments and cooperation in the upstream, midstream and downstream areas, through sharing of experience including through joint development activities in oil and gas projects in India, Brazil and in third countries.

"It was noted that Indian oil and gas sector offers investment opportunities to Brazilian companies in exploration and licensing of upcoming fields, operationalization of already discovered fields and related projects," the joint statement said.

In the mining sector, the two sides agreed that mining activities and investments offered a significant potential for enhancing bilateral cooperation in this sector.

During the talks, Prime Minister Modi invited Brazilian industry to explore business opportunities in India in infrastructure, food processing, bio-fuels and other renewable energy sources, animal husbandry and agro sectors.

President Bolsonaro also called upon Indian industry to identify business opportunities, including in Brazil's automotive, leather, oil and gas, including oil refining, and pharmaceutical sectors.

The two leaders also welcomed the signing of a social security agreement and hailed it as an important step to facilitate movement of professionals and business persons between India and Brazil.

"Both leaders emphasized that World Trade Organization as a central element in supporting growth in developing countries. Recognizing the complementary nature of trade and investment, they also agreed that established bilateral mechanisms could be suitably utilized to stimulate greater cooperation," said the joint statement.

The two sides also agreed to cooperate in the field of animal husbandry.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Brad Pitt attends the Maltin Modern Master Award Honoring Brad Pitt during the 35th Santa Barbara International Film Festival at the Arlington Theatre on January 22, 2020 in Santa Barbara, California. (Photo by Matthew Simmons/Getty Images for SBIFF)

It has long been speculated over, but Brad Pitt has finally had his say and confirmed he turned down the lead role in The Matrix.

The part of Neo, which many consider a classic role in modern cinema, eventually went to Keanu Reeves, but the star wasnt the producers first choice, with, apparently, many others coming before him - including, now it seems, Pitt.

Speaking at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, while receiving the Maltin Modern Master Award, Pitt was asked to reveal roles he had turned down.

Read more: Brad Pitt shares his reaction to Jennifer Aniston reunion photo hysteria

He responded: "I'll give you one, only one, because I really believe it was never mine.

"It's not mine. It's someone else's and they go and make it. I really do believe in that. I really do. But I did pass on The Matrix. I took the red pill, the star said, referencing the famous red pill/blue pill scene from the movie.

He continued: Thats the only one Im naming  I wasnt offered two or three. Only the first one. Just to clarify that. I come from a place, maybe its my upbringing, if I didnt get it, then it wasnt mine.

It was someone elses and they go and make it. I really do believe in that.

If we were doing a show on the great movies Ive passed on, we would need two nights.

Actors Keanu Reeves (L) and Sandra Bullock attend Spike TV's "Guys Choice 2014" at Sony Pictures Studios on June 7, 2014 in Culver City, California. (Photo by Mark Davis/WireImage for Spike TV)

However, it wasnt just Pitt who was offered the role, with movie bosses even considering making Neo female when they tried to tempt Sandra Bullock on board.

Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura told The Wrap last year: "We went out to so many people I don't remember. We were getting desperate. We went to Sandy Bullock and said, 'We'll change Neo to a girl'.

Read more: Angelina Jolie credits children for giving her 'strength' in years following Brad Pitt split

"Joel Silver (the producer) and I worked with Sandy on Demolition Man and she was and continues to be a very good friend of mine. It was pretty simple.

"We sent her the script to see if she was interested in it. And if she was interested in it, we would try to make the change. It just wasn't something for her at the time. So really it didn't go anywhere."

As well as Bullock and Pitt, Di Bonaventura has also previously revealed both Leonardo DiCaprio and Will Smith were approached for the, but both turned it down.
Representative image

The deadly Coronavirus continues to wreak havoc in China and aborad as the death toll due to it in this Far East country rose to 41 with 1287 confirmed cases, China's National Health Commission announced on Saturday.

Of the 1,287 confirmed cases as of Friday night, the condition of the 237 is stated to be critical, the Commission announced.

The confirmed cases have crossed 1,000 mark for the first time with many Chinese cities struggling to fight the afflictions.

The pneumonia situation had resulted in 41 deaths, including 39 in central China's Hubei province and one in northeastern province Heilongjiang, it said.

Additionally, a total of 1,965 suspected cases have also been reported, it said.

The virus has spread to Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Nepal, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and the United States as of Thursday. Japan on Friday reported a second confirmed case.

It has triggered a cause of concern for India too as many of the 700 odd Indian students studying in universities of Wuhan and Hubei provinces are still stuck up there. The Indian Embassy has established hotlines to keep close contact with them.

Battling the fast spreading Coronavirus, China has begun building a 1,000-bed hospital in Wuhan which is expected to be completed in less than ten days.

It also began deploying military medics to step up the treatment facilities in Wuhan and 12 other cities in Hubei province which are under total lock-down with suspension of all public transport.

The fast spreading virus dampened the celebrations of China's Lunar New Year which began today. On Friday Chinese bid goodbye to "the year of the pig" to welcome "the year of rat" on Saturday.

In Chinese lunar calendar, years are grouped into a 12-year cycles, with each year assigned an animal symbol: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

In view of the virus scare, several cities, including Beijing, have cancelled special events. The festival is also known as the Spring Festival. Large cultural activities during the spring festival in Beijing such as temple fairs were cancelled to prevent the spread of the virus.

China's biggest city Shanghai raised the emergency response to public health safety to level 1, the highest, following Beijing, and Hubei, Hunan, Zhejiang, Anhui and Guangdong provinces as more cases were reported.

Beijing so far has reported 34 confirmed cases of Coronavirus infection, official media reported.

The Chinese disease prevention authority on Friday released pictures and information of the first Wuhan Coronavirus that Chinese experts had discovered.

The Wuhan government is rushing to build a 1,000-bedded hospital in the outskirts of Wuhan to treat Coronavirus patients.

Dozens of excavators were feverishly working at the site where the hospital is being built on a 25,000-sq metre plot in just about 10 days. It will be ready by February 3, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Workers are being paid 1,200 Yuan (USD 173) per day, three times their usual wage, to accelerate the construction.

The hospital will be modelled on the one built in Beijing for the treatment and control of SARS or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, that spread rapidly on the Chinese mainland in 2003, killing over 800 people. Beijing then had built the Xiaotangshan Hospital, a temporary medical centre in the northern suburb of the city.

Amid the unknown virus wreaking havoc, Chinese and American researchers are working together to develop a vaccine against the deadly new strain of Coronavirus.

At present, there is no cure for the virus which has pneumonia-like symptoms and is contagious among humans.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday stopped short of declaring the virus a global public health emergency, despite China's climbing death toll.
(Natural News) The horrendously bad decisions of human beings who hold power in government, media and industry have brought the human race to a perfect storm of conditions that will strongly contribute to the spread and fatalities of the coronavirus pandemic now threatening the world.

As I relate in an emergency podcast below, the following conditions are now converging into a worst case scenario when trying to stop a pandemic (or a best case scenario for the globalists trying to achieve depopulation):

#1) Open borders policies that allow infected people to walk right across the border into the United States, with no health screening whatsoever.

#2) Sanctuary city policies that protect infected illegals from being discovered or deported.

#3) The widespread practice of biosludge distribution onto food crops. Biosludge is the raw human sewage sludge thats collected by every city in America, slightly dried to reduce water mass, then loaded onto trucks and dumped on nearby farm fields. Its sold to farmers as free fertilizer because its rich in nitrogen. It also means that any coronavirus which makes its way into the sewage system will be distributed by U.S. cities onto farm fields, obviously contaminating food crops and multiplying the effects of the pandemic. (See the full documentary at Biosludged.com to learn about biosludge.)

#4) The now-legal practice in Washington State of liquefying dead human bodies and flushing them into the municipal sewage system, where they become biosludge to be spread on crops. This practice was just recently legalized in Washington, and it means the dead will be used to fertilize the food crops that are fed to the living. When people start dying from coronavirus, will they also be flushed into the sewage systems?

#5) The practice  now common in filthy liberal cities  of allowing people to openly defecate in the streets, with no repercussions or arrests. Since viruses often infect human feces and other body excretions, this likely means that coronavirus will be found in the raw human feces that gets washed into storm drains during rain storms. The storm drains in San Francisco, Seattle and other coastal cities empty directly into the ocean, where viruses are then washed onto the beaches of North America, infecting beach goers and mixing with aquatic ecosystems to produce even more potentially dangerous variants of infectious disease.

#6) The continued attacks on natural medicine and the censorship of sources like Natural News that can teach people how to avoid or overcome infections even when pharmaceutical medicines fail (or are completely out of supply).

#7) The compromised human immune system due to widespread vaccination practices that actually weaken, not strengthen, the veracity of the human immune response. People who routinely receive vaccinations such as flu shots are discovered to be more vulnerable to future infections. Widespread immunization practices across North America, Europe, Australia and other countries have created a highly vulnerable population that can be easily infected with coronavirus.

These factors now converge to create a perfect storm for the coronavirus outbreak, which is actually a weaponized, engineered biological weapon being unleashed against humanity in order to achieve depopulation.

It will very likely succeed, since humanity has been begging for self-destruction through all the practices detailed above.

Most notably, the highest fatalities from any such pandemic will occur in cities; especially cities where the homeless are more populous and filthy, unsanitary conditions exist. In other words, liberal cities.

Listen to my urgent podcast for more details:

Brighteon.com/0aaf4243-1dfe-47e9-9c56-32232a96cdfc
The Karnataka government on Saturday passed an order instructing to put Dr BR Ambedkar's photo at all government programmes during the Republic Day celebrations in the state on Sunday.

Architect of Indian Constitution, Babasaheb Ambedkar was born on April 14, 1891.

He was an Indian jurist, economist, politician and social reformer who campaigned against social discrimination towards the untouchables (Dalits) and supported the rights of women and workers.

Ambedkar was conferred with the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in 1990.

During the 71st Republic Day parade, India will showcase its military might, cultural diversity, social and economic progress at the Rajpath in New Delhi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A study published in Lancet in 2010 indicates that almost 1 in 5 men and over 1 in 6 women are overweight in India. The study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) looked at the burden of overweight population in six countries -- Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa -- and found that between 1998 and 2005, India's overweight rates increased by 20%. The experts said that "In absolute numbers, the burden of overweight population would be mammoth in India and China."

OECD author Michele Cecchini said, "The results varied across countries surveyed. Seven in 10 Mexican adults are overweight or obese, while nearly half of all Brazilians, Russians and South Africans are also in this category. China and India report lower levels of obesity , but are also rapidly moving in the wrong direction. Low- and middle-income countries have far fewer health care resources to deal with the consequences of obesity, which include higher rates of cardiac disease, cancer and diabetes."

Obesity is the root for several non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In another Lancet study the prediction is that by 2030, nearly 70% of all global deaths will be from non-communicable diseases like cancer, diabetes, and respiratory and heart disease.

Manuel Uribe of Mexico has worry etched large on his face. At 560 kilos he has earned himself the dubious distinction of the World's Fattest Man, an honor that he can hardly gloat about. Videos of him holed up in his modest home with layers of fat for company is bound to stir the sensitivity of fellow humans. Besides suffering from low self esteem, due to an aesthetically deplorable body, Manuel is incapacitated in many ways

Mans fascination for his body has been well documented since his cave- dwelling days. His idea of perfection stems, perhaps, from the sculpted bodies that have found a place of pride in several sites of worship and mythological texts. Although science has helped to define an ideal body in the modern sense, the aesthetic adulence given to body contours remains untarnished.

Problems with Prosperity

That obesity is on the rise, globally, is hardly a contentious issue. From being a poverty-stricken country, post independence, India has cruised her way to her place on the global pedestal. But not before offering a pound of her flesh! India has been crowned the diabetes capital of the world. A growing bandwagon of computer potatoes, plentiful money and food and lack of exercises are some of the reasons behind India's 'crowning glory'.
Concerns of scarcity, rising prices, men and women in uniform protecting our nation and increasing dependence on foreign nations to fulfill our energy demands defined the energy outlook of the early and mid-2000s. America was not apt to return to a period of relative abundance and low prices, anytime soon, then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan famously said.

What a difference a decade makes. In just a few short years, and continuing today, the domestic shale revolution has transformed America into a global energy production leader. Pennsylvanias shale gas resources have helped position the U.S. to become a net energy exporter for the first time in almost seventy years.

Thanks to shale, the United States is the worlds number one oil and natural gas producer  a feat nearly unimaginable a dozen years ago.

Pennsylvania quickly emerged as the nations second largest natural gas producer  resulting in direct benefits for consumers, manufacturers, and not to mention, improved air quality. In fact, it was shale development that carried Pennsylvania through the depths of the Great Recession at the turn of the last decade.

Hard-working Pennsylvanians realize energy savings of $1,100 - $2,200 per household, according to Public Utility Commission data, as wholesale electricity and natural gas prices have plummeted thanks to our abundant supply.

As clean, domestic natural gas maintains its position as the largest electricity production source, carbon emissions tied to the power sector continue to fall, according to new federal data, soon to reach levels not seen since the Reagan administration. This sustained improvement in air quality has saved more than 26,000 lives since 2008, according to new University of California San Diego research.

While consumers, manufacturers and our shared environment have been the shale revolutions clear winner, as we enter a new decade, Pennsylvanias energy job creators face strong market challenges. Amid a global downturn in energy prices, the competition for capital investment needed to create jobs and grow the economy is increasingly fierce.

Focusing on balancing the supply-demand equation through modernizing and expanding our energy infrastructure and increasing in-basin use among power generation and manufacturing, are steps in the right direction. Progress on pipeline build-out and completion of the petrochemical plant under construction in Beaver County will help drive production growth and support thousands of good-paying jobs, especially among the regions building trades.

Connecting under-served communities to abundant, affordable natural gas and increasing its use, are keys to fully realizing shales long-term economic and environmental opportunity. Without supportive state and federal policies, realizing those shared benefits will be more challenging.

Misinformed policy positions from some presidential candidates to ban the safe, responsible use of hydraulic fracturing are alarming. Should such a ban be enacted, more than 600,000 Pennsylvanians would be out of work and our states economic output would take a $261 billion hit, according to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report. It is no wonder voters fear the economic impact, a Rasmussen Reports survey found, of such a ban.

At the state level, it is against this backdrop of scarce investment dollars, declining rig counts and slowing permit applications that Gov. Wolf prepares to give the annual budget address. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania took a step back this month, gaining the undesired title spot as the state with the highest permit fees. PA DEP permit fees will increase 150 percent to $12,500 per well, and we are deeply concerned that such a significant hike will further discourage development in Pennsylvania.

With the increase in funding, we are hopeful the Department of Environmental Protection will take meaningful action at addressing notoriously long permit delays, that often run more than six months, which will help boost Pennsylvanias competitiveness.

Strengthening Pennsylvanias tax and regulatory structure by not increasing energy taxes, has helped to better position the Commonwealth to attract job-creating investment. As a result, Pennsylvanias unique natural gas impact tax is on track to generate nearly $2 billion through this year.

Just as energy predictions in the early 2000s were inaccurate, it is impossible to predict what the 2020s have in store. For certain, our economy demands affordable, reliable energy and, with the right actions and policies, Pennsylvanias energy abundance will play a central role for decades to come.

David Spigelmyer is president of the Pittsburgh-based Marcellus Shale Coalition. Learn more at MarcellusCoalition.org.
Connecticut officials and institutions are monitoring the spread of a new virus that has infected hundreds of people in China, while experts are urging awareness but quelling panic about the outbreaks potential spread in the United States.

Forty people have died in China and more than 800 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV, according to the New York Times. The epicenter of the outbreak is in Wuhan, a city of about 11 million people in central China; transportation in the city and at least a dozen others has been shut down in an effort to contain the illness.

Its a time for vigilance, but not panic, said Dr. Dan Bausch, director of the United Kingdom Public Health Rapid Support Team, who spoke to students at Quinnipiac University on Friday. We have a few cases imported into the United States now, and thats not unusual or unexpected at this phase. Its a very rapidly evolving situation, and we have to monitor as it goes forward.

There have been two confirmed cases of the virus in the United States: a man in Snohomish County, Washington tested positive for the virus earlier this week, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a second case in Chicago on Friday. Both patients had recently been traveling in Wuhan.

We are keeping a very close eye on this in Connecticut and following the CDC guidelines, Department of Public Health spokesman Av Harris said. We have been and remain in close contact with local health departments, health care facilities, and medical providers to share with them the national guidance on this from CDC.

Virulent strain

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that typically only cause mild respiratory disease, such as the common cold, but have also caused severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and Middle East respiratory syndrome, according to the CDC.

The new strain is more virulent, said Dr. Richard Sutton, a professor in Yale School of Medicines Section of Infectious Diseases. For whatever reason, SARS and MERS and this one have much higher case fatality rates. Whats not known yet is how it transmits, or how efficiently it moves: while there has been information so far that suggests human-to-human spread, that hasnt been determined, he said.

Doctors also dont yet know what may make people more contagious, or what can prevent that transmission, said Dr. Richard Martinello, medical director for infection prevention at Yale New Haven Health.

While CDC considers this a serious public health threat, based on current information, the immediate health risk from 2019-nCoV to the general American public is considered low at this time, the agency said in a news release Friday.

In an email sent to local health departments and doctors Friday, State Epidemiologist Dr. Matthew Cartter said that healthcare providers should obtain a detailed travel history for patients being evaluated with fever and acute respiratory illness.

If a patient has symptoms and has recently traveled to Wuhan or been in close contact with someone else who is under investigation for the coronavirus, they meet the CDCs criteria for being treated as possible patients under investigation. Healthcare providers should contact DPH, and have patients wear surgical masks and be evaluated privately or in isolation, if possible, Cartter said in the email.

The CDC said it is implementing public health entry screening for incoming passengers from Wuhan at New Yorks JFK Airport, as well as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Chicago.

There are no current screenings or precautions in place at Bradley International Airport, because we dont receive any direct flights from the impacted region, spokesman Ryan Tenny said. We do continue to closely monitor the situation and will adjust as necessary.

Yale New Haven Hospital staff members have been instructed to screen patients with acute respiratory infections about their recent travel and contacts. Martinello said the focus for the last two weeks has been on ensuring that the staff is aware of the need to ask about travel history, and of the protocol for what to do if a case is suspected, by isolating the patient and taking precautions.

Were starting to think about what our resources are, in terms of simple things like gloves, masks and respirators, he said. Do we have enough for our anticipated needs as weeks go on?

Were approaching this from an abundance of caution, Martinello said.

At UConn Health facilities, everyone who presents for care is asked if they traveled outside USA in past 30 days, spokeswoman Jennifer Walker said. If yes, the location is linked to a CDC information page which lets the RN check if there are any outbreaks or concerns.

Flu season is here

While the novel coronavirus is dominating headlines, were still experiencing a really bad flu season, Martinello said. We are seeing a lot of patients, many of them needing to be in our intensive care units. Based on the numbers alone, its a bad year.

There have been 20 flu-related deaths in Connecticut as of Jan. 18, according to the Department of Public Health, and more than 3,700 people have tested positive for influenza. Nationwide, the CDC estimates that since October, there have been more than 140,000 hospitalizations related to the flu, and more than 8,200 flu deaths.

Some of the same preventative measures can be used to avoid both the flu and the coronavirus, said New Haven Health Department Epidemiologist Brian Weeks. He stressed basic hand hygiene, sneezing and coughing into your elbow to avoid spreading germs and staying home from school or work if youre feeling sick. Its not too late to get a flu shot, he said.

With any kind of respiratory illness, its the very young children whose immune systems are developing, as well as the elderly, whose immune systems are weakening, Weeks said. Conditions like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can cause more severe symptoms.

People dont need to think its the zombie apocalypse, but they do need to keep in mind that they do their best efforts to make sure they stay healthy and other people stay healthy, he said.

Colleges are preparing

Connecticut universities, many of which have students who were recently traveling over holiday breaks, are also taking early precautions.

Wesleyan University notified students on Friday that a student came to the health center with a cough and fever; the student had been at a large international airport where another person was identified to have the coronavirus, spokeswoman Lauren Rubenstein said. Out of an abundance of caution, we are working with the state Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control to determine if the student has contracted the coronavirus or not. No diagnosis has been confirmed yet.

The student is in isolation, and people the student has been in contact with are also being monitored. So far, none of these individuals have exhibited symptoms of concern, she said.

This happens every once in a while, in our global culture, with so much travel said Dr. Phil Brewer, Quinnipiac University Medical Director for Student Health and EMS. With illnesses like SARS, H1N1 (swine flu) and avian flu, what starts out as an endemic in a small place in some country can affect just about anybody anywhere.

Brewer compared preparing for a local case of the virus to wearing a seat belt: what are the odds that youre going to have a crash in your car in the next week or month? Really low, He said. But you still wear your seat belt every single time, because there is a possibility. And this is kind of the same thing: the odds that were going to see somebody at Quinnipiac who has coronavirus is really really low, but we still have to take the necessary precautions.

The first step, he said, is screening all patients for their recent travel history, to help with early recognition of potential cases. Quinnipiac is also starting to contact students from China who may have traveled there over the holiday break, he said. We can contact them and see if they have any symptoms, and if so, have them come in to be seen, he said. Theyll also emphasize that if students do develop any symptoms, to come in early and not wait.

If a student does report symptoms and a travel history that indicate they may have the virus, the school would notify Yale New Haven Hospital to prepare for a patient needing isolation before bringing them in, Brewer said. The Quinnipiack Valley Health District would also be contacted, to collaboratively start contact tracing, to determine people the sick person was in close contact with who also need to be monitored.

The University of Connecticut has about 2,700 undergraduate and graduate students from China across its campuses, spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said. However, we do know that a significant number of these students remained in the U.S. over the winter break and did not return to China, significantly lessening their chance for exposure to the virus.

All students and others on campus who come for treatment having developed a fever and symptoms of a lower respiratory illness are screened for recent travel, she said. Students have also been encouraged to call the 24/7 nurse line with questions.

Sacred Heart University health and wellness officials are monitoring the situation and are meeting to review and discuss best practices and protocols, the university said in a statement.

Yale said in a statement that the university will adhere to recommendations from both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Connecticut Department of Public Health.

Liz.teitz@hearstmediact.com
Editor's note: Bio, a historian and wrote from the University of Ilorin, writes on the killing of 22-year Ropvill Dalep by members of the Boko Haram terrorist group.

Bio, queries the sudden quietness from the National Association of Nigerian Student over the death of Dalep who was a Plateau state student at the University of Maiduguri.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Legit.ng.

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What is known today as the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has an enviable history? It started as National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS) sometime in 1956.

The students who pioneered the idea intended the organization to be a rallying point for Nigerian students.

For decades of the existence of NANS which assumed its present nomenclature in 1980 saw the organization vigorously discharging the mandate of pursuing issues centred on the countrys education system, welfare or rights of students and challenging bad government policies with alternative perspectives.

Until the late 80s and as one of its leaders in my undergraduate days at the Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU) Zaria, NANS defined its existence as a formidable and potent students body. But the reality today is different. NANS has morphed into a quasi-political organization, comprising lobbyists and debased chasers of the shadows of illicit wealth from corrupt politicians.

My heart bled when I read contents and arguments raised in the public statement signed by NANS, one Danielson Akpan released mainly in respect of Ropvil Daciya Dalep, an undergraduate student of the University of Maiduguri, who was abducted by Boko Haram on his way back to campus from Jos and later killed. May the soul of Dalep and other victims of terrorism in Nigeria find eternal peace.

But the statement advertised the final degeneration of NANS to an embarrassing level. Our students body has lost its voice of conscience. They canvassed positions far beyond their purview and displayed generous ignorance anchored on presumptions. We have never had it this bad in NANS.

The contents of the public statement portraited NANS more like a pressure group for politicians and betrayed the essence of her existence. Worse still, it never made pretensions of mutating into worthless paid activists in the service of masked paymasters.

How it has become the duty of NANS officials to dabble into the campaigns of advocating for the sack of service and security chiefs beats my imagination. This is the subsisting posture and sermons of politicians or sabs hellbent on reversing the gains Nigeria has recorded on the Boko Haram/ISWAP counter-operations.

It is quite tragic and it traumatized me to realize that NANS could afford to commercialize the killing of one of her own by visiting politicians with press statements ostensibly written to extort money from Nigerian politicians and spite the government.

That the students body has become a willing tool in the hands of desperate politicians who are covertly instigating and funding terrorism, violence and killings in the country to discredit the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is most incredible.

When we functioned under NANS, the union was respected each time it raised its voice on a national issue.

There were no lone rangers in the union as the statement exposed, but decisions were debated and decisions collectively endorsed before stepping out in public domain. Our position was concrete and our views held sacrosanctly.

But we have consciously fretted away such veneration. We are pained. We are bereaved over the killing of the UniMaid student and other Nigerians by Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists. We mourn with the grieving families and all Nigerians caught in this nightmare and quagmire of terrorism.

But for those who are still alive, the action of the NANS should worry us more. It is senseless and outright wickedness to side with oppressors of your country in her moment of torments as demonstrated by the greedy, selfish and unfocused leadership of NANS. They are worse than the proverbial snake in green grasses.

The world and Nigerians have the divine responsibility to closely monitor the destructive tendencies and satanic inclination of NANS. I suspect some of them are on the payroll of the foreign sponsors of Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorism in Nigeria.

I was shocked that NANS' sight was blurred in seeing the determination, commitment and difference the Federal Government of Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari has made and continue to make in quenching the consuming fires of insurgencies and insurrections in the country.

Perhaps, by NANS cursed wisdom, President Buhari is wrong for reclaiming the 18 LGAs in the Northeast which Boko Haram forcefully annexed before his Presidency.

Buhari could be wrong for freeing over 20,000 Nigerians held in captivity in secret camps by insurgents.

The President is wrong for deflating IDPs camps in the north east and the steady progress in the reconstruction and rebuilding of the Northeast devastated by years of insurgency. These are the reasons I suspect have caused the restlessness of these odious NANS officials.

But NANS cannot play this smartness on Nigerians. We are neither deceived by their veiled devilry, garbed in polluted wisdom and sympathy with terrorists kingpins. They want the Service and Security Chiefs who have achieved these milestones in counter-terrorism in Nigeria to be sacked and pliant ones appointed to reverse the gains. This is a crazy idea!

I have discerned that this has been the desire of foreign agents and other sponsors of terrorism in the last year. It has been the fervent prayers of Boko Haram sponsors. And its unfortunate that NANS has submitted itself to the dance of such destructive drumbeats, with the lyrics trumpeted by enemies against their own country.

Let me remind.NANS that their induced anger with President Buharis determination to regenerate and redeem Nigeria cannot change this narrative.

NANS must realize that under the Buhari Presidency NNPC is no longer open for anyone to loot. Therefore, by accepting to play such unpatriotic roles of emergency activists in the hope of approaching any government official to suppress a script or to collect cash and become rich or live large on campus is an unrewarding investment now.

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It is not a lucrative business now. NANS must be goaded into the realization that nothing under the Buhari Presidency pays, except hard work. So, they can continue to spew the nonsensical and destructive campaigns, but no ones ox is gored.

Under this government, it has also not been easy with paid emergency activists. The NANS leaders can confirm from the experiences of Charlie Boy, Deji Adeyanju and several others who have had to diversify their trade in order to keep afloat. And in truthfulness to these NANS leaders, they are worse than the devil by joining the league of those pulling down Nigeria.

Why would they think of using the killing of the UniMaid student as a source of cake to service their epicurean lifestyles? It is the lowest level of debasement any human being on earth can condescend. Today, I can confirm that truly, NANS itself has also died! It should first mourn its funeral. What a pity!

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service!

Buhari should put an end to banditry, unrest in Zamfara - Nigerians cry | Legit TV

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Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan has called for transparency and a sense of urgency in the "tough battle" against the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan City, central China's Hubei Province.

Sun made the remarks at meetings of a State Council mechanism for dual prevention and control of the outbreak, which were held on Monday, Thursday and Friday.

Noting that the widening spread of the virus, Sun urged local authorities and relevant departments to enhance their sense of responsibility, and take stricter and more targeted measures to contain the virus.

She called to integrate resources and scientific deployment of medical personnel to strengthen treatment, adding that the work to develop effective medicine and study on the virus should be intensified.

While calling for greater efforts to ensure the supply of medicine, disinfection materials, prevention and treatment equipment, Sun demanded transparency in reports of the pneumonia and efficient control at the local level.

Sun made an inspection tour to Wuhan earlier this week, calling for all-out efforts to curb the outbreak.
Condemning the statement given by chief co-ordinator of Shaheen Bagh protest Sharjeel Imam, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday said that India is a nation and not a chicken's neck that can be broken or separated.

"No one can break India or any region. India is a nation and not a chicken's neck that can be separated or broken. I do not accept such statements. I condemn it," said Owaisi while speaking to ANI here.

"Such nonsensical talks will not be tolerated," he added.

In a video that has gone viral on social media, Imam can be heard saying: "Do you know what is happening to Assamese Muslims? NRC is already applied there, they have been put in detention centres. We may come to know that in 6-8 months all Bengalis have been killed - Hindu or Muslim. If we want to help Assam, then we will have to stop the way to Assam for the Indian Army and other supplies. The 'Chicken Neck' belongs to the Muslims."

"If we all come together, then we can separate the Northeast from India. If we cannot do it permanently, then at least for 1-2 months we can do this. It is our responsibility to cut Assam from India. When this happens, only then the government will listen to us," he is heard saying further in the video.

Aligarh Police and Assam Police have registered an FIR against Imam for his controversial remark against the Citizenship Amendment Act and Register of Citizens (NRC) and for inciting people to "cut off" Assam from the rest of India.

The Aligarh SSP Akash Kulhari said that a police team is being sent to arrest Imam.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The second case of the new Chinese coronavirus in the United States has been diagnosed in Chicago, health officials said Friday. They said they are monitoring another 62 possible patients in 22 states suspected of having the illness.

All of the patients are vacationers from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the new coronavirus - or 2019-nCoV - an outbreak that Chinese health officials on Friday evening suggested has caused at least 1,200 cases and 41 deaths. The first US affected person, a Washington state guy in his thirties, was confirmed on Tuesday. The second one is a Chicago female in her sixties.

Both Americans were recent vacationers to Wuhan. The patients arrived in the US earlier before an absolute travel ban from the city commenced this week, as instructed by the Chinese government.

CDC's Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said on a smartphone briefing for reporters, the experts are expecting to locate additional cases.

Noting that the two confirmed cases were tourists from Wuhan, Messonnier stated that the outbreak risk in America is low. "We are making an aggressive response to become aware of these cases early," she said.

ALSO READ: First Death From Pneumonia Outbreak Reported in China

Both of them showed cases entered US airports without signs and symptoms, she noted, and contacted their health practitioner a few days afterward, leading to their analysis and medical isolation.

The CDC did not offer a list of the 22 states with possible patients, but Texas A&M University saw a likely situation in Texas on Thursday. Eleven more humans suspected of getting the coronavirus have been screened and tested negative, according to Messonnier.

The first Chinese case of the coronavirus had been declared on December 31 and was traced to a seafood and meat market in Wuhan. Like SARS and MERS, the virus transmits from animals to humans and mutated to emerge as transmissible from character to individual. Cases were started in Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and Taiwan.

The Chinese ban on travel to and from Wuhan implemented this week quarantines 35 million humans for the duration of Chinese New Year. Partly in response, a World Health Organization panel on Thursday declined to advocate a global emergency announcement over the outbreak, arguing that most of the cases had been restricted to China, where aggressive measures had been being undertaken to prevent the spread of the virus.

ALSO READ: Bats and Snakes Are The Likely Cause of China's Coronavirus. Here's Why

Allison Arwady, the chief scientific officer on the Chicago Department of Public Health, advised that the hazard of virus contagiousness appears lower before patients manifest signs of the pneumonia-like illness, which include fever, cough, headaches, and problem breathing. The Chicago patient is in stable condition, stated Arwady. She did no longer use public transportation or attend public gatherings earlier than she became sick.

So far, CDC has screened about 2,000 tourists from China for the disease on about two hundred flights, CDC's Martin Cetron stated, but have not discovered any cases. The business enterprise is reevaluating the screening taking vicinity now at five US airports, in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, in mild of the Chinese travel ban, he added.

"This is an evolving situation, and facts are coming in almost every hour," Messonnier stated. She added they are expecting more cases in the US and would peer these cases among near contacts of sufferers.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky at the World Economic Forum in Davos jokingly promised to get foreign investors a "nanny" in Ukraine, the finance ministry made a new Eurobond issue worth EUR 1.25 billion at a record low rate, while the government applied new methodology in counting the country's population  these are the main economic developments of the outgoing week.

Ukraine and the rest of the world watched the most important economic news come from Davos, Switzerland, where the annual World Economic Forum was held this week. Led by President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's delegation also included Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, as well as a number of ministers and legislators.

During his address, Zelensky said Ukraine's task was to gain leadership in Eastern and Central Europe. Either jokingly or seriously, he also suggested that the EU take Ukraine in instead of the UK following Brexit.

An important statement by the president was for foreign investors to bring in Ukraine money and technology. Zelensky complained that Ukraine was "underinvested" and "not enough liked", promised to provide "nannies" to large foreign investors, and also to exempt from income tax for two years participants in the renewed privatization process if they invest at least $100 million.

"We will provide a separate contract with the state for each investor, a large company that will bring $100 million or more to Ukraine. It is the state that will protect you. You will have a manager, an investment nanny. This is a manager who speaks five languages, and this manager will work with you 24/7. Any question, any problem You will be in touch with your manager and there will be no problems," Zelensky promised.

Anticipating outrage over unequal business conditions, PM Honcharuk said the state-sponsored Investment Nanny program would also apply to businesses already operating in Ukraine. At the Forum in Davos, the head of government also said the Rada will imminently pass legislation giving his Cabinet more powers required to "address issues of investors' concern," including tax preferences, land issues, and infrastructure.

The initiative of the country's leaders to create a comfortable environment for "elite business circles" did not particularly resonate with a number of experts in Ukraine who suggested that the authorities better improve the business climate in the country, ensure a truly independent and corruption-free judiciary, and once and for all cease unjustified law enforcement raids on businesses.

"If we want to address the issue systemically rather than assist chosen investors in manual mode, key problems must be resolved with the courts and law enforcement. Reform of the SBU, setting up a new financial investigation service, and judicial reform," said Serhiy Fursa, an expert with Dragon Capital Investment Company.

Oleksandr Parashchiy, head of the analytical department at Concorde Capital, believes that the "investment nanny" initiative is a sign that in general the situation with the investment climate in Ukraine is unlikely to change for the better.

"Why are all these investment nannies a bad sign? That's because the government is sending a signal to all of us  don't expect any improvement in the investment climate. The authorities are only able to set up for the chosen ones and 'investment AC', while all the rest will keep on dwelling in the already developed investment-climatic conditions," the expert emphasized.

Also in Davos, Ukrainian politicians and officials held a series of meetings, of which the most important one was between Zelensky and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. Following their meeting, the Fund noted the progress in Ukraine fulfilling the conditions for launching a new cooperation program. In particular, in reforming the judiciary, increasing respect for the law, and achieving economic growth. Georgieva emphasized the importance for Kyiv to complete its "homework" to have the new cooperation program considered by the IMF Executive Board.

German consultants for Ukrzaliznytsia railway operator

The Forum in Davos was also marked by a rather sensational agreement reached between the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine and Germany's largest railway operator Deutsche Bahn to attract German experts to reforming Ukrzaliznytsia.

Initially, PM Honcharuk assured that the state would retain control over the country's railways, while German experts would reform management mechanisms. However, the next day, Honcharuk delivered a shocker that the Ukrainian railways will be "handed over" to Deutsche Bahn for ten years.

However, he immediately specified that this was only a political decision by the government. After all, negotiations would have to continue to agree on the details.

The statement caused some stir in Ukrainian media as a wave of questions arose amid misunderstanding. Neither Ukrzaliznytsia nor the infrastructure ministry officials, whom UNIAN asked for a comment, were aware of the transfer of Ukrainian railways to the management of the foreign company, whose shareholder is another country's government.

Parliamentarians from the relevant transport committee were also clueless. Its deputy chair Yulia Klymenko said that the government alone could not hand over Ukrzaliznytsia to Deutsche Bahn's management because it is a strategic asset worth 5% of Ukraine's GDP.

Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Kryklii tried to save the prime minister from the media blow, stating that at this stage the government is attracting Deutsche Bahn to cooperation and development of Ukrzaliznytsia as an advisor. Although in the future, the status may change. The minister said that Ukraine will consult with German experts, in particular, in two areas: the development of passenger and freight transportation.

"Infrastructure is a component that is always in state ownership. Passenger and freight transportation  indeed, this is a separate scenario. But it's too early to talk about it," said Kryklii.

Later, Deutsche Bahn in turn announced that the company was not planning to take Ukrzaliznytsia into own management.

New eurobond issue

An important economic news of the past week was the Ministry of Finance making this year's first issue of eurobonds, denominated in euro and maturing in 10 years. The total volume amounted to EUR 1.25 billion at a record low rate of 4.375%.

"Thanks to this effective solution, we are saving UAH 2 million per day for the state budget," PM Honcharuk said. The Prime Minister recalled that until 2022 Ukraine was forced to annually allocate about UAH 484 billion from the state budget to service the public debt.

Raiffeisen Bank Aval's senior analyst Mykhailo Rebryk believes that the placement of eurobonds will have a neutral and positive effect on the Ukrainian financial market. According to him, the euro in the course of payments on debts is likely to be converted into a dollar bypassing the market  through the National Bank, which will not lead to pressure on the hryvnia exchange rate. Experts also expect that the placement may simplify and reduce the cost of entry into the eurobonds market for Ukrainian companies.

In addition to external bonds, the Ministry of Finance plans to borrow money on the domestic market. Most likely, the next bidding will take place January 28, where for the first time hryvnia securities will be offered to investors for a 7-year circulation period. Experts predict that such a step increases the likelihood of another hryvnia strengthening.

Population count

Minister Dmytro Dubilet this week presented the results of the population count, an important indicator for forecasting the economic and social situation. As of December 1, some 37.29 million people resided in Ukraine, of whom 10%, 3.7 million, live in the capital city of Kyiv.

Gender distribution is as follows: 20.01 million women, 17.28 million men.

Government estimates do not include people permanently residing abroad and in territories temporarily beyond government control. The minister also said that whereas a traditional census would cost UAH 3.4 billion, the latest count was a cheap alternative. Three methods were used to estimate the population of Ukraine. First of all, mobile operators gave the government anonymous information about the total number of subscribers in the territory. Secondly, the Cabinet considered the Pension Fund's data and scooped up figures from the State Statistics Service and state registers. Thirdly, the government processed data from the state register of individuals. Then they "cleaned" the base based on income, pensions, social benefits, subsidies, and also supplemented the list with data from the passport database. Fertility, mortality, emigration and immigration statistics were also taken into account.

According to Dubilet, all the methods used gave approximately the same result with a marginal error of 2.86%. Therefore, it can be stated that over the years of independence of Ukraine, the population decreased by 15 million. The results obtained change many statistical indicators. The fact is that a few days ago the State Statistics Service claimed that the population of Ukraine was almost 42 million. In addition, the new estimate changes the calculation of GDP per capita. Economists have already calculated that the new data mean every citizen has become "wealthier" by $500 to $1000.

"$4,200. This is an actual GDP per capita for 2019. Not $3,700, as some economists thought. An additional $500 from the remote count," said Dmytro Boyarchuk, director of Case Ukraine Analytical Group.

Coordinator of NBU expert platform Andriy Blinov estimated the growth at $1,000. "After revaluing and specifying the population stats, Ukraine's nominal GDP per capita jumped from around $3,100 in 2018 to about $4,100 in 2019," he said.

The specified stats are changing other approaches, based on which state bodies shape their activities. This will affect, for example, the employment service, which receives state funding for 42 million people, not 38 million.

Industrial output drop and increased trade

The State Statistics Service this week reported the decline in industrial output as of the end of 2019 at 1.8% on year against growth a year earlier. Compared to November 2019, industrial output in December slid by 1.1%. The largest decline was recorded in the production of electrical equipment, textile industry, production of motor vehicles, woodworking industry, mechanical engineering, as well as production of coke and petroleum products. The largest growth in annual terms was recorded in pharmaceuticals, production of computers, electronic and optical products, chemical industry, extraction of crude oil and natural gas, and production of other machinery and equipment.

In the penultimate week of January, the State Statistics Service also reported on other important economic indicators. In particular, the retail trade turnover in Ukraine in 2019 increased by 10.5% compared to 2018, while agricultural production last year grew by 1.1%.

Next week the National Bank will be holding a board meeting on monetary issues, where, according to market expectations, the key rate could be cut significantly.

Oleksandr Kunytsky
Between now and the end of March there will be approximately three million lambs born in Ireland.

A significant number of those will take their first, tentative steps on Wexford soil courtesy of the some 96,000 ewes in the county.

And a smaller, but no less significant, amount may not be born at all, dying in the womb because someone forget to lock up their dog at night.

Pat Murray, is the Wexford representative on the IFA's (Irish Farmer's Association) Sheep Committee, and he estimates that 20 dog attacks occur throughout the county each year.

That might not seem like a lot, but some of the more severe attacks can have devastating consequences for the farmers involved.

One such Enniscorthy farmer, who preferred not to be named, lost 68 sheep during an attack last year, an incident which cost him, in financial terms, 8,000, but an intangible amount in terms of stress and worry.

'The two dogs entered the shed shortly after 9 a.m. on the day. I discovered them that evening, sometime after 5 p.m. As a result of the attack 68 sheep were slaughtered or had to be humanely put down,' he says.

'When I came into the shed and saw what had happened my initial reaction was one of disbelief, I just couldn't believe what I was looking at.'

Although he tries to downplay the emotional impact of the attack, the farmer admits it left him 'distressed', the shock of seeing his animals massacred having a longterm impact.

'I'm paranoid about it happening again, I've been putting more cameras in the shed but I don't have WiFi there so have to top them up with credit to make sure they're always on.'

Then there's the financial cost. Although insured against dog attacks the scale of the attack meant the Enniscorthy man was left out of pocket to the tune of 8,000.

And this was just one of several attacks he has endured in recent years, each with a common denominator.

'People don't realise that once a dog gets a taste for blood it doesn't matter if they're a doberman or a terrier. I've had several dog attacks over the years but this was the worst one and in each case there was always a husky involved.'

'This attack involved a husky and a doberman but the doberman didn't do a tenth of the damage the husky did. Those dogs are bred to kill and they're not even on the dangerous dog list.'

For Pat, the emphasis is on ensuring dog-owners act responsibly, regardless of the breed.

'It's about responsible dog ownership, making sure to have them on a lead at all times. There's plenty of dangerous dogs out there, and for any dog their immediate instinct is to run after a sheep.

'People don't realise the damage that can be done, and the implications, some of it which isn't always seen. At this time of the year the ewes can end up aborting after the attack, through the stress, the physical toll, of having to run away.'

Working in tandem with the Dog Warden, Pat is striving to educate the public on the danger their dogs present to farmers.

'We're trying to be proacive, urging people to keep their dogs locked up a night. Even if you leave them out for half and hour they can go and do damage, and there's more attacks in the darker evenings,' Pat says.

Currently dog owners can be fined up to 200 for not controlling their animals, a figure which Pat would like to see increased.

'The law needs to be tightened up, and stronger fines should be introduced. The databases for dogs need to be linked too, there's currently four of them and we need to have just one'

With a current flock of between 500-600 sheep and lambing season in full swing, then Enniscorthy farmer believes harsher penalties need to be introduced to help protect not just his animals but also his livelihood.

'The guards need to have more severe fines for people who don't have licenses for their dogs, and they need to police rural areas more. There's still dogs loose around here, although they haven't done anything yet,' he says.

And with last year's attack still fresh in his memory the farmer says he wouldn't hesitate to act if faced with a similar situation.

'I have the right to shoot a dog. Would I? If I seen him attacking one of my sheep I would.'
The trial for a Rochester man accused of fatally stabbing two of his neighbors in March 2018 that was scheduled to begin on Monday was rescheduled for a later date.

Glenn Roger Johnson, 55, pleaded not guilty in Olmsted County District Court in October 2018 to two felony charges of first-degree murder-premeditated. He has been held on $3 million bail since shortly after the March 17, 2018, incident at the Salvation Armys Castleview Apartments.

A pretrial hearing was scheduled for Friday, with a jury trial date set for Monday, but a motion requesting a continuance was filed earlier this month. At the time the motion was filed on Jan. 16, Johnson had not yet met with an evaluator on the topic of mental health status at the time of the incident.

Rochester Police were called to the apartments about 6:30 p.m. March 17 by Phillip William Hicks for a report of harassment by a neighbor. Police reviewed surveillance video, which allegedly showed Johnson popping his head out of his apartment while Hicks knocked on another neighbors door.

Johnson and Hicks could allegedly be seen arguing on the video, and the two "lightly pushed" one another. Johnson told the responding officers that if Hicks came back to his door, he would "flatten him," according to court documents. Officers issued warnings to both parties and left around 7:05 p.m.

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Ten minutes later, police received a second call that two men had been stabbed.

Johnson allegedly stabbed and killed Eric Alan Flemming, 45, and Hicks, 57, with a pair of kitchen knives. Both men were transported to Mayo Clinic HospitalSaint Marys, where they were pronounced dead.
Controversial facial recognition cameras being brought in by Britain's biggest police force face being shut down by legal challenges from civil liberties groups.

The Metropolitan Police announced on Friday it will deploy the cameras in London within weeks, with images compared against a database of known criminals, helping the force to catch suspects, according to Scotland Yard.

But campaigners claim the scheme will breach privacy and 'pave the way for a surveillance state' and are set to go to court to close it down.

Surveillance plot: Holliday Grainger and Callum Turner in The Capture highlighted concerns over the technology

Fears over the misuse of facial- recognition technology were raised by BBC1's hit thriller last year The Capture, starring Holliday Grainger and Callum Turner.

Big Brother Watch launched a crowd-funded High Court action against a Met Police pilot scheme for the technology in 2018.

The action was paused because the force said it had yet to make a decision on the use of the technology.

And in July, an independent review commissioned by the Met found that in trials just 19 per cent of matches were accurate with 'absolute confidence'.

However, the force has forged ahead with the system, claiming it now has 70 per cent accuracy, though independent experts have questioned this.

Big Brother Watch claims the technology breaches the public's privacy under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The campaign group's director Silkie Carlo, said yesterday: 'The Met were going to make a decision when they had the results of their independent review, but clearly they didn't like the results of the review.

'We're urgently considering our options for the most robust action we can take. We will continue to challenge it until we can win.'

And Hannah Couchman, of civil-rights group Liberty, warned: 'This move by the Met paves the way for a surveillance state.'

Data protection watchdog the Information Commissioner's Office yesterday said it was concerned the legal framework was not in place for the technology's roll-out across the country.

Met Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave said the force believed that a High Court ruling in September allowing the use of the technology by South Wales Police provided the legal basis for the Met's roll-out of facial recognition kits costing 200,000.

But Ed Bridges, a former Lib Dem councillor from Cardiff, has claimed his image was captured unlawfully by South Wales police when he went out to buy a lunchtime sandwich.

The High Court ruled against him and the case is now subject to an appeal.

Mr Ephgrave added that the technology was a 'fantastic crime-fighting tool' that would allow the force to 'bear down on violent and serious offenders'.
Taipei, Jan 25 (IANS) Two individuals were confirmed to be infected by the novel coronavirus that caused pneumonia, raising the total confirmed cases in Taiwan to three, the island's epidemic monitoring agency said on Friday.

The two new cases were a woman from the Chinese mainland and a man from Taiwan, who were both in their 50s and arrived in Taiwan on January 21, the agency said, adding that they have both been to Wuhan of central China, the Xinhua news agency reported.
While CN used licensed contractors, they didnt pull the proper permits or locate utilities before digging, the city alleged.

The city lost 7 million gallons of water. The repair cost the city was in the hundreds of thousands, in addition to the inconvenience of lost water service, a boil order for our residents and businesses, the city said.

When the city said it further inquired, CN told the city they were wanting to close the right-of-way off Gary Road, in effect blocking access to the citys animal control facility.

It wasnt until December that the city became aware of the IDEM permit and scope of the plan, the city said.

CN denied on Friday the cause of the water main break is related to the company.

"The break occurred near our property and our track was impacted by the break. We have not performed any construction activity for Whiting to date. The only activity that we have had in the area is unloading rail," the company said.

'The lion's share'

In a letter sent Wednesday to BP, Copeland urged the company to reconsider.
The International Financial Corporation, an offshoot ofthe World Bank, approved a 100 million dollar loan to the region of Casablancato build two new urban rail connections as well as hundreds of kilometers of roads.

The loan is the first in the MENA region to be granted byIFC without a sovereign guarantee, the IFC said in a statement. The loan is also the first of its kind granted by the IFC for the purpose of an infrastructure project, it said.

The tram extension project aims at adding 39 new stops along 26 additional kilometers as Casablanca seeks to reduce traffic jam and offer better public transportation to its population.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, IFC vice president forAfrica and the Middle East Sergio Pimenta said the deal is in line with King Mohammed VIs efforts to promote regionalization.
Assam government would register a case against the alleged mastermind of the Shaheen Bagh protests in Delhi for his "seditious" comment "aimed" at disrupting law and order in the state, a minister said on January 25.

Addressing a press conference, Assam Finance Minister said Sherjil Islam was heard saying in an audio clip that the state should be cut-off from the rest of India and taught a lesson, as Bengalis -- both Hindus and Muslims -- are being killed or put into detention centres.

"Assam government has taken cognisance of this very seditious statement and we will register a case against this individual," Sarma said.

"A lot of wrong things have been said by this individual, aimed to create law and order situation in Assam... They want to destroy India. We will bring this person to the court so that he is punished in accordance with the law," he added.

Thousands of people, including women and children, have been protesting since December 15 at Shaheen Bagh and nearby Jamia Millia Islamia against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The minister said the state government has verified the authenticity of the audio clip.

"The entire pattern of protests against the CAA has the same narrative in both Assam and the rest of the country. It has been fanned by members of a particular community," Sarma alleged.

"A section of this community wants to create another Pakistan out of India and we cannot allow it. We have to be vigilant against these forces," he said.

The people of the north east and Assam will never allow this. Assam is an integral part of India, Sarma said.
New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday (January 24) directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take over the investigation of the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence, in which activists and lawyers were jailed for alleged Maoist links. The development is likely to spark a tussle between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Centre and Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra over the issue of Centre not consulting the state, before transferring the case to the central agency, NIA.

The case was being probed by the Pune Police, before being transferred to the NIA. During the probe, Pune Police had claimed that Maoists and their supporters in urban areas were discussing a 'Rajiv Gandhi-type' assassination plan against PM Narendra Modi.

On Friday, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh hit out at the Union government for transferring the 2018 Koregaon violence probe to NIA without the state government's consent. Taking to Twitter, Deshmukh wrote, "...I condemn this decision. This is against the Constitution."

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Earlier in the day, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar labelled serious allegations against former CM Devendra Fadnavis and his government and demanded Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to constitute a new Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the Bhima Koregaon case.

Some media reports had said that Pawar, in a letter written to CM Uddhav, claimed that the violence was the result of a conspiracy hatched by the then BJP-led government in the state with the help of police.

Former Maharashtra CM and BJP leader backed the MHA's decision of transferring the probe to NIA, and told news agency ANI, "It is the correct decision because this case isn't confined to Maharashtra, we see its spread all over the country. The central government has taken the right step. This will expose urban Naxals."

Violence had broken out near Koregaon-Bhima war memorial in Pune district on January 1, 2018, leaving one dead and several injured. Dalits visit the memorial in large numbers as it commemorates the victory of British forces which included Dalit Mahar soldiers over the army of the Brahmin Peshwa rulers of Pune in 1818.

The police had claimed that provocative speeches at Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune on December 31, 2017, led to the violence, and Maoists were behind the conclave. They later arrested several Left-leaning activists including Telugu poet Varavara Rao and Sudha Bharadwaj for alleged links to Maoists.

(With PTI inputs)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will begin an African tour on January 26, Ankara said in a statement.

After a two-day visit to Algeria, Erdogan will travel to the Gambia and Senegal, where he will discuss economic cooperation and other bilateral issues with Gambian and Senegalese Presidents Adama Barrow and Macky Sall.

Erdogans talks with the African leaders will also cover the fight against terrorism, with Turkish media reports indicating Erdogan will focus on eradicating the influence of exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for masterminding a failed 2016 coup attempt.

Erdogan has made it a foreign policy priority to establish new ties with emerging economies in Africa. He has visited more than 20 African countries since he was elected president in 2014.

Ankara, which has diplomatic representations in 41 countries on the continent, compared to 12 missions in 2009, is aiming to have a Turkish diplomatic mission in every African country and wants to play a major role in development and trade in the continent.

Turkey has established strong military ties with Somalia and deepened its relationship with Sudan, while its presence in West Africa is also being felt.

Turkeys foreign trade volume with African countries has increased six fold in the past fifteen years  to over 14 billion 2017.
Veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai is in the eye of the storm yet again after he was trolled for deleting his tweets, twice over. Sardesai had apparently misquoted the Home Minister Amit Shah in these tweets.

Rajdeep Sardesai

In the first tweet, he had alleged that Mr Shah, during a rally in election-bound Delhi, only spoke about Article 370, Citizenship Amendment Act and Pakistan, but not on schools or hospitals.

.@sardesairajdeep, listen till end and retweet if you have any shame left.

and @indiatoday do a fact-check on ur sold journalist. pic.twitter.com/vrNkgIZCDQ  Shash (@pokershash) January 23, 2020

But when someone pointed out his error and sent him a video of Shah's speech, which showed Home Minister talking about electricity, hospitals and schools, Sardesai deleted his tweet.

Sardesai

He then tweaked his tweet a bit and posted another one, claiming that Shah devoted more time to CAA and Article 370 but very little to issues such as water, electricity, schools and hospitals.

Sardesai 2

Someone pointed out again that Shah had devoted a lion's share of time and space to basic issues and, only in the later part of his speech, referred to CAA and Article 370. This led to Sardesai, who anchors a prime-time show on IndiaToday television, deleting his tweet once again.
Four-time BJP legislator and former minister Harsharan Singh Balli on Saturday joined the Aam Aadmi Party in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal here.

Addressing the media, Balli lauded the efforts of Kejriwal government in the field of education and health.

"I appreciate Kejriwal ji for serving Delhi as his motherland... I pray to God to bless him with all the success," the former legislator from Hari Nagar constituency said.

"I joined when I was around 20-years-old... back then was based on values. I am happy today that I am joining hands with a personality who is working hard to transform Delhi as the number one city in India and the world," he added.

A minister in the previous Madan Lal Khurana-led Delhi cabinet, Balli further said that he wanted "to contribute to Kejriwal's progressive and honest politics".

"Several people from my constituency (Hari Nagar) are joining the AAP today along with me as they share the same sentiment," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Modified On Jan 22, 2020 01:27 PM By Sonny for Tata Altroz

The premium hatchback only gets a manual gearbox for now. However, you could expect at DCT at a later date

Tata Altroz launched with prices ranging from Rs 5.29 lakh to Rs 9.29 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

It gets BS6 petrol and diesel engines paired to a manual transmission; no automatic at launch.

The Altroz is offered in five variants - XE, XM, XT, XZ and XZ(O).

Features like semi-digital instrument cluster, auto AC with rear AC vents and ambient lighting only offered on XZ trim.

The Altroz rivals the Hyundai Elite i20, Maruti Suzuki Baleno, Honda Jazz, Volkswagen Polo and Toyota Glanza.

The Tata Altroz premium hatchback is finally on sale. The Altroz, which was first previewed in the form of the 45X concept at Auto Expo 2018, is powered by BS6 petrol and diesel engines with prices starting from Rs 5.29 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

Here is the full price list for the Tata Altroz (ex-showroom, Delhi):

Altroz Variants Petrol Diesel XE Rs 5.29 lakh Rs 6.99 lakh XM Rs 6.15 lakh Rs 7.75 lakh XT Rs 6.84 lakh Rs 8.44 lakh XZ Rs 7.44 lakh Rs 9.04 lakh XZ(O) Rs 7.69 lakh Rs 9.29 lakh

Related: Tata Altroz Variants Detailed

The Altroz is offered with the choice of two engines - a 1.2-litre petrol and 1.5-litre engine. While the former makes 86PS and 113Nm, the oil burner, a detuned version of the Nexons diesel engine, churns out 90PS and 200Nm. For now, both engines are only available with a 5-speed manual. However, Tata Motors is expected to offer a turbo-petrol engine along with a DCT auto in the coming months.

In terms of features, the Altroz comes equipped with dual front airbags, rear parking sensors, ABS with EBD, speed alert, seatbelt reminders and ISOFIX child seat anchors as standard. It was recently awarded a five-star safety rating in the Global NCAP crash tests. Tata offers an audio system and ambient lighting in the drivers footwell from the mid-spec variant onwards. The Altroz starts offering premium features like the 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system, rear parking camera, LED DRLs, push-button start-stop and cruise control one variant below the top one.

The top-spec XZ trim of the Altroz gets features like a 7-inch TFT display in the instrument cluster, rear AC vents, ambient lighting, a wearable key, auto AC, front and rear armrests, leather-wrapped steering wheel and gear knob and rain-sensing wipers. The XZ(O) trim only has an aesthetic addition of a blacked out roof. Tata is also offering the option of factory-fitted customizations across variants priced as follows: Rhythm (over XE) - Rs 25,000 Rhythm (over XM) - Rs 39,000 Style (over XM) - Rs 34,000 Luxe (over XT) - Rs 39,000 Urban (over XZ) - Rs 30,000

Also read: Tata Altroz First Drive Review

The Tata Altroz takes on the likes of the Maruti Suzuki Baleno, Toyota Glanza, Honda Jazz, Volkswagen Polo and the Hyundai Elite i20, which is due to receive a generation update later in the year.

Read More on : Altroz on road price
Southern Baptist megachurch pursing semi-autonomous model by adding new campus

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A megachurch in Georgia has decided to pursue a multisite model for worship by adding a second campus that will have its own pastoral staff.

Christ Place Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in Flowery Branch headed by pastor Jeff Crook that boasts approximately 8,000 members, plans to add the new campus by October of this year.

The new campus will meet at the North Hall Community Center and Park in Gainesville, which is about 30 minutes driving time from their main campus.

The church forwarded The Christian Post an FAQ document explaining that the new campus will not simply broadcast the main campus worship, but rather will have a level of autonomy.

Our mission is to reach and raise the next generation to live out Gods truth. We feel that a part of this mission is to reach and raise the next generation of preachers and worship leaders, the church explains.

Pastor Jeff will lead a preaching team that will develop and deliver messages together  same text, same message title, same outline. Each pastor will then preach with their own style to fit their context in their location.

The congregation was founded in 1955 and originally named Blackshear Baptist Church, with pastor Crook beginning his tenure in 2004.

In February 2018, Blackshear Baptist changed its name to Christ Place Church. According to a press release at the time, the change came as part of their move to a new facility.

We have clarity of mission, and the vision God has given us pounds in our hearts, the 2018 press release said, according to The Christian Index.

The new name will help us better accomplish our mission. The name will also keep our vision constantly before us. Ultimately, we desire to make Christ preeminent in everything, even our name.

In recent years, some prominent multisite megachurches have opted to make their satellite campuses more autonomous.

In 2017, for example, The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas, headed by pastor Matt Chandler, announced their plan to make all of their campuses autonomous by 2022.

We believe, compelled by the Holy Spirit, that ... to multiply out to individual autonomous churches gives us the best possible ability and capacity to contextually reach the city of Dallas with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Chandler said at the time.

We're all a bit anxious right now ... because this thing really is beautiful, and God has done some stunning and spectacular things. We're just compelled that there are better days ahead."
Meghan McCain of The View is very proud of her Arizona roots. Raised in Phoenix, the talk show host often gives a shout out to the western state and is never shy about voicing her devotion to her home.

In a recent interview on Sunday Today, a Saturday Night Live cast member revealed that she has this in common with the conservative panelist from the Grand Canyon state.

The Views Meghan McCain | Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

Recent return home

McCain is the daughter of the late John McCain, who served as Arizonas senator for close to 20 years. The co-host of The View had shared last spring that she was still in too much grief following her fathers death in August 2018 to visit her home state.

241 days. I made you teach Ben how to grill your dry ribs because I knew at some point you wouldnt be able to, McCain captioned her Instagram post in April. I miss you every. single. day. I still cant go back home to Arizona.

People recently reported that McCain made the journey back home earlier this month. Im really looking forward to having some much needed family time, she said. Her visit back to Arizona came on the heels of a tumultuous week on The View, when the departure of co-host and friend Abby Huntsman was announced.

SNL parody

The View has previously been subjected to jokes and parodies of the all-female panel. One in particular was considered high praise to the ABC daytime talk show hosts.

In April, NBCs Saturday Night Live put on a sketch of their version of The View, with Kate McKinnon as Joy Behar, Melissa Villasenor as Ana Navarro, Aidy Bryant as McCain, Leslie Jones as Whoopi Goldberg and Cecily Strong as Abby Huntsman. Bryant was quick to grasp McCains penchant for mentioning her home state.

Can I just say something as the Princess of Arizona? Bryant, as McCain, said in the segment, according to Newsweek. There is a crisis at the border, and the border is right up in my Arizona.

McCain, who once interned for the NBC show, immediately took to social media to praise the performance. Im not supposed to be on twitter because of hiatus BUT this sketch is hilarious, and being parodied by @SNL is a huge pop cultural honor, she tweeted. Signed, your old intern and the princess of Arizona.'

Im not supposed to be on twitter because of hiatus BUT this sketch is hilarious, and being parodied by @SNL is a huge pop cultural honor.  Signed, your old intern and the princess of Arizona https://t.co/HUtON4Xi3V  Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) April 14, 2019

Arizona gals

Bryant recently spoke with Todays Wille Geist and shared that she has a few things in common with the person she portrays on the daytime talk show skit. According to E! News, the SNL star revealed that like McCain, she is also from Phoenix and the two attended the same school, Xavier College Preparatory.

Telling Geist that she and McCain are Arizona gals through and through, Bryant recalled that they didnt really know each other well in school since she was a freshman while McCain was a senior. Isnt that so weird and wild, she said to Geist, humorously adding, You know, her dad had a computer lab named after him, mine did not unfortunately.

The comedian also revealed that McCain showed a gesture of support for Bryants impersonation of her in their SNL sketches. She very sweetly sent me flowers once, which was, I thought, very classy.

Fans are hoping to see Bryant as McCain on SNL in the (very) near future!
The Versova police have registered a non-cognisable offence against Heeba Shah, daughter of veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah, for allegedly assaulting two employees of a veterinary clinic in Andheri here last week.

According to police, the incident was captured on a CCTV camera installed at the premises.

In the video of the incident on January 16, Heeba can be seen allegedly assaulting the veterinary clinic employees.

Further details are awaited.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Over 130 workers from the state-owned Kahatagaha Graphite Lanka mining company, walked out on strike on Tuesday over low pay and brutal working conditions. Workers also initiated a hunger strike about 600 metres below the surface, participating section by section, to highlight their demands.

Kahatagaha Graphite Lanka, which is administered by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, is located in Kurunegala District in the North Western Province, about 150 kilometres from the capital Colombo.

The mine workers reluctantly ended their strike on Thursday after senior officials from the Ministry of Industry and the company intervened and made a series of promises.

Workers were granted a paltry wage rise of 50 rupees ($US 3 cents) a day, following discussions at the Kurunegala Labor Commissioners office. Officials also promised to settle their other demands on February 28.

The mine workers told WSWS reporters that they have been subjected to numerous broken pledges by Sri Lankan governments and have no faith in the latest promises.

This weeks industrial action by mine workers is a politically significant development and the first walk out this year against President Gotabhaya Rajapakse.

Last year, two weeks after Rajapakses election on November 16, about 5,000 plantation workers across several estates in Nuwara Eliya district struck over promised pay rises and management attacks on working conditions.

Both strikes point to the widespread and seething social opposition across all sectors of the Sri Lankan working class that will erupt, sooner rather than later, and challenge the Rajapakse government.

The Kahatagaha Graphite workers strike was initiated and maintained in defiance of the two existing trade unions at the mine, the Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya and the Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya, which are affiliated to Sri Lankas two main capitalist parties, the United National Party and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party respectively.

These unions, whose local presidents did not participate in the walkout, have repeatedly scuttled Kahatagaha Graphite workers struggles.

The mine workers demands include: a wage increase backdated from 2012; 21 days annual leave, as stipulated under existing labour laws; a 7,800-rupee special allowance for all workers, including contract employees; and Saturday working hours to end at 11.15 a.m., with overtime rates paid for additional hours after that.

The strikers also want permanent jobs for all contract workers that have been employed for over 180 days and for 13 unskilled labourers that have been at the mine for more than two years to be treated as skilled employees.

Mine workers told WSWS reporters about the low pay and harsh conditions they endure at the mine.

Working hours are from 7.15 a.m. to 2.15 p.m., with unskilled workers only paid 688 rupees per day (US$3.80), compared with 982 rupees for permanent and skilled workers. Although workers are paid a 100-rupee meal allowance per day, this only covers two-thirds of the cost of the midday meal.

The mine currently employs 23 workers on six-month work contracts. Management uses this arrangement to evade official guidelines to make these employees permanent.

Annual leave is only 14 days, which is a violation of existing labour laws. Workers only recently learnt that they are entitled to 21 days leave annually. If a worker has four no-pay days leave per year they are penalised and their salary reduced.

The Kahatagaha Graphite mine, which was established by a private company in 1872 during the British colonial rule, was taken over by the Sri Lankan government in 1971.

The state-owned enterprise was closed in 2002, the government claiming it was not profitable, but reopened again in 2006. While the mine previously employed around 1,000 people, its workforce has been drastically reduced and currently employs around 135 workers.

In line with International Monetary Fund austerity demands, successive Sri Lankan governments in the past six years have pledged to slash spending and privatise key state-owned industries.

The workers have not been granted a pay rise since 2012, despite several strikes during this period. These strikes have been betrayed by the unions following bogus promises by successive governments.

One young worker who has been employed at the mine since 2018 explained that they were determined to win their demands.

Early this month, he and another 12 workers made an official complaint to the Labour Department Office in Kurunegala about the companys refusal to pay them, the contract workers and a permanent electrician a special allowance. They demanded that all contract workers be made permanent. The Labour Department is supposed to investigate their complaint on 28 January.

Despite the popular promises of this government I dont think that they have any concern for the workers, the young mine worker said. If they have genuine concern there are ways to prove it. Ive heard that management once called the special task force of the police to break a strike. The only things weve won at this mine has only been achieved through the struggle of workers.

The author also recommends:

Workers must adopt a socialist internationalist program to oppose Sri Lankas authoritarian, communalist Rajapakse regime

[7 December 2019]
Around 30 Sri Lankans currently staying in Wuhan, the epicentre of the new SARS-like virus, would be evacuated from the city, authorities said on Saturday.

Sri Lankas Foreign Ministry said that instructions have been given to the students to protect themselves from the fast-spreading infection.

Initially, there were around 85 Sri Lankan students in Hubei Province, however, most of them had returned to Sri Lanka for the holidays before the outbreak of Coronavirus, the statement issued by the ministry said. In the event of a necessity for evacuation, the Embassy in consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Relations in Colombo and other agencies of Government, are making preparations for the students and their family members numbering 30, it added. The virus which spread from Chinas Wuhan has so far resulted in 41 deaths, including 39 in central Chinas Hubei province and one in north-eastern province Heilongjiang, the health commission said.

Additionally, a total of 1,965 suspected cases have also been reported, it said.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan health authorities said that at least two people including a Chinese woman were admitted to hospital for suspected corona virus. Their blood sample have been sent to the medical research institute for testing, officials said.
After a three-month hiatus, 2019 Yonkers International Trot winner Zacon Gio resumed serious work last Friday (Jan. 17). With trainer Holger Ehlert in the jog cart, Zacon Gio trained 2,000 metres in his first fast workout of the year. Zacon Gio was timed in 2:49, trotting his final 400 metres in about 30 seconds, according a Facebook post by Ehlert.

After three months of vacation Zacon Gio worked on the round track 2,000 meters (in) 2:49 with 30-(second) last 400 meters in the company of Vai Mo Blessed and Maine [ sic ] in about a month we are ready to run.

To view a video of Zacon Gios workout, click here.

Zacon Gio is a six-year-old Ruty Grif son out of the Yankee Glide mare May Galde Font Sm. The three-time Group 1 winner is 21-for-30 in his career with $996,834 earned for owner Giuseppe Franco. Zacon Gios last start came in the Yonkers International Trot on Oct. 12. In his first start outside Italy, Zacon Gio romped to a three-and-a-quarter length victory in the $1 million stakes with Roberto Vecchione in the bike. Zacon Gio maintains a 12-race win streak dating to Oct. 25, 2018.

Zacon Gios first start of 2020 could be less than one month away, according to Ehlerts post. The trotters main targets this year include the Group 1 Gran Premio Lotteria at Agnano in Naples this spring and a title defense of the MGM Yonkers International Trot this fall.

Slide So Easy Honoured in Denmark

Slide So Easy, the 2019 Yonkers International Trot runner-up, was honoured in his home country of Denmark with year-end awards. After a 10-year-old campaign that saw the Quite Easy son win eight of 16 starts with another six placings and more than double his earnings to 4,464,884 kr, Slide So Easy earned Older Horse of the Year and Horse of the Year titles.

Slide So Easy won races at home and abroad in 2019. His biggest wins last season each produced lifetime marks. He trotted a 1:10.3 kilometer rating when besting Coktail Fortuna by a neck in a 1640-metre Gulddivisionen leg at Kalmar on June 23. Slide So Easy lowered his mark again to 1:10.2 in a 1600-metre League 1 trot at Charlottenlund on Aug. 25. Slide So Easy was only worse than second in two starts this year, including when seventh in the Group 1 Oslo Grand Prix at Bjerke June 9.

Slide So Easy came to the U.S. ahead of the foreign contingent for the Yonkers International Trot, staying with Ake Svanstedt. Slide So Easy took full advantage of his inside draw in the Yonkers International, staying inside and finishing second at odds of 22-1 and adding $250,000 to the trotters bankroll.

Slide So Easy raced four more times after his Yonkers International Trot bid, finishing his season with a victory in a 2,000-metre League 1 Final at Charlottenlund.

Slide So Easy is owned by Team Clemmensen & Christensen and trained by Flemming Jensen.

Cleangame Presented Save the Date for 2020 MGM Yonkers International Trot

Yonkers Raceway Director of Racing Alex Dadoyan presented Jean Michel Bazire with a Save the Date for the 2020 MGM Yonkers International Trot for his trotter Cleangame. At Hippodrome de Vincennes in Paris for this weekends Grand Prix dAmerique, Dadoyan made the presentation after the Bazire trained and driven C D captured the Prix de Yonkers Raceway Thursday (Jan. 23).

Cleangame is regarded among the top trotters in the world. The eight-year-old Ouragan de Celland son went 13-for-16 in 2019, earning 628,750. His biggest victories to date came in the Group 2, 150,000 42nd Grand Prix du Sud-Ouest on Oct. 13 and the Group 2, 130,000 Grand National du Trot Final on Dec. 1. Most recently, Cleangame dominated his rivals in the 90,000 Prix de Brest at Vincennes on Jan. 18.

Cleangames appeared to be on the way to victory over Propulsion, Bahia Questnot, and Bold Eagle in this falls Group 2 UET Trotting Masters Final at Vincennes, but made a break on the lead in deep stretch. In his career, Cleangame has earned 1,269,720.

Cleangame is a gelding, excluding him from the biggest races at the Vincennes Winter Meeting.

Yonkers International Trot Veterans Line Up in Grand Prix dAmerique Sunday

Three Yonkers International Trot veterans will start in the Group 1, 900,000 Grand Prix dAmerique at Vincennes Sunday (Jan. 26). Uza Josselyn and Bahia Quesnot, mares who started in the 2019 renewal of the International, and Ringostarr Treb, who came to New York in 2018, will each bid for Frances biggest race.

Uza Josselyn finished sixth in the 2019 Yonkers International Trot and prepped for the Grand Prix dAmerique with fourth-place finishes in the Grand Prix du Bourbonnais and Grand Prix de Bourgogne and a seventh-place finish in the Grand Prix de Belgique. The nine-year-old Love You daughter made the field based on her earnings of 1,274,678. Pierre Vercruysse will drive for Rene Aebischer. Uza Josselyn was seventh in the 2019 Grand Prix dAmerique.

Bahia Quesnot made a break at start of the 2019 Yonkers International and did not finish the race. However, she rebounded at home for trainer and driver Junior Guelpa, finishing second in the Grand Prix de Bourgogne to punch her ticket to the Grand Prix dAmerique. Guelpa will drive again on Sunday, Bahaia Quesnots second Grand Prix dAmerique bid after finishing 10th in 2019.

Ringostarr Treb was favoured in the 2018 Yonkers International Trot, but made a costly break in stride on the first turn of the $1 million stakes. The 2018 Elitloppet champion won two Group 1 races in 2019: The Hugo Abergs Memorial and the Sundsvall Open Trot. The Jerry Riordan trainee made a break in the Grand Prix de Bourgogne, but qualified for the Grand Prix dAmerique field on earnings of 1,648,631. Ringostarr Trebs Grand Prix dAmerique bid will be his final start before going to stud.

The 2020 Grand Prix dAmerique field is the richest ever assembled, with the 18 starters combined earnings standing at 25.9 million. The race will be streamed on LeTrot.com.

Lionel Wins in Norway

Norwegian trotter Lionel, who finished second in the 2018 Yonkers International Trot at 11-1 odds and eighth in the 2019 renewal after making a break in deep stretch, found the winners circle in his home country on Jan. 18. The 10-year-old trotter bested nine rivals at Bjerke Travbane with owner and trainer Gran Antonsen in the sulky.

The 2020 edition of the $1 million MGM Yonkers International Trot is set for Sat. Sept. 12. For more information on the race and its participants, visit internationaltrot.com.

(SOA of NY)
The magic of ancient goddesses and heroines of Irish history will be in the air in Tralee shortly as two writers combine to lead a day of storytelling, music, song and meditation in The Meadowlands Hotel on Sunday, February 2, next from 10am until 4pm.

It marks a homecoming for one of the pair - Tralee native Clodagh Finn. Clodagh, who has worked for The Sunday Independent and The Irish Independent grew up across the road from the hotel, and is delighted to join forces with Listowel-based writer Kate Fitzpatrick for the occasion.

Both women were brought together by the figure of ancient Irish horse goddess Macha; meeting each other while they were separately researching her myth at the royal site of Emhain Macha in Armagh. The research informed Kate's latest work Macha's Twins and Clodagh's Through Her Eyes: A New History of Ireland in 21 Women.

Two riveting reads duly made their mark on a wide Irish readership with the pair enjoying a fantastic dual launch in Listowel in November. Now, they lead In Honour of Women at the Meadowlands in what's billed as day of inspirational wisdom from our ancient past through to the present.

Tickets at 75 are available at www.eventbrite.ie/e/in-honour-of-women or through info@coisceimtralee.ie or phone (087) 2915343.
Monica Palma

It saved me once too often,

Youd never know how often.

Ive pictured you in coffins:

My baby in a coffin.

But I love it when you blink your eyes.

 Distortions, by Clinic

Contributed by Zach Seeger / How do we know were still alive? Reverse Marie Kondo: the accumulation of our stuff; at least this was how it was prior to 2008. At that point, we liked our post-tragedy end of capitalism raw and dire with a sprinkle of self-indulgence. We wanted to preserve the cubicle of our burgeoning cybernetic social-media world. Finally, those twentieth-century people-messes of politics and direct interaction would be left behind, and internet humans could live sentiment-free in a materially banal world. After the recession, though, came a stream of art trying to save art: hopeful futures hedged with the forms of the past.

Jonathan Ehrenberg, Ouroboros, 2020, acrylic, clay, plaster, and wire on wood panel, 24 x 18 x 2 inches



Three Legged Race at Essex Flowers is a curatorial homage to the early to mid 2000s by artists who consistently deliver in their practices. Its an attempt at preserving the not-so-distant pasts conversations about what it means to be human in an environmentally turbulent world exacerbated by political upheaval and territorial bickering. Each artists work signifies an object waiting to be activated in an optimistically predetermined cyberpunk cube.

Sean McCarthy, Saint Anthony Reading, 2019, video (b&w, silent), 0.6 second loop, mage size 2.5 x 3 inches



In Sean McCarthys St Anthony Reading, a black-and-white animated loop furthers the preservationists toil. Reminiscent of Blakes Ghost of a Flea, St Anthony academically twitches in determined rote, the song and dance of research.

Jonathan Ehrenbergs Ouroboros, a mixed-media wall piece, is an incomplete symbol in harlequin camouflage, snakily poised like an extension cord waiting to be plugged in. The piece hangs as a talisman, tactile and enigmatic.

Karen Azoulay, Untitled mask , 2019, safflowers, glitter, wax , 15 x 7 x 7inches



Three-Legged Race, installation view at Essex Flowers

Virginia Poundstones Sweet Flowers (Snow) is a video that congers images of Kurosawas The Blizzard (Dreams), but instead of figures trudging impossibly in white-out conditions, the video displays a glib tap-dancing plant emoji, bizarrely taunting a reproductive impossibility with joyful gait. Its as if Beckett had designed an emoji to remind flora of future futility.

Karen Azoulays Untitled mask is an amalgam of organic material that awaits ritual activation. Hardly a static piece, it is one part harvest and one part VR glasses. It waits pensively for the rainy season, one that promises to be a lush masquerade in which comedy and tragedy die under the sun.

Janine Polak, Solo, 2019, glass sculpture

Rachel Domms multivalent Lasagna Waves is an oil pastel drawing on paper that could read as a schematic poster of phalanxed labia from a doctors office, a fringed petal of a dried daffodil, or a waxy expanse of brain made to catch the honey from the bees knees. Its ridges of cavernous abysses could also be the fungal interior of an ancient cave holding secrets.

Linnea Vedders Hoax stitches a material narrative. It casts history as a process, recapitulating the labor of its creator. Its patchwork flatness frames a physical reality that manifests as the opposite of what its claiming to be  that is, a hoax. Its texture, tenderness, and clumsiness reveal an arch category blunder that unabashedly declares the works objectiveness.

Kevin Fords Gray White Oxford Seagull Outlet Boot Orchid personifiesa glitchy screen. Hallucinations appear on the wall, leaking, bleeding, borderless and dissolving like transitions in a Jeremy Blake video. The piece, however, is ominously physical, forming a flat portal that threatens to dissolve the room into vacation oblivion.

Rufus Tureen, Chinese Television spot for AM I WHO I WAS, 2019 , a solo show in Ningbo, China 2:27 minutes



Rufus Tureens television spot for AM I WHO I WAS as is in keeping with the self-reflecting, infinity-room mirror of indulgence. Alive in carefree, no-critic time travel, this pied piper of lyrical seductiveness lures us into a future more like the past.

Lydia McCarthys Space-time Self, a large inkjet print, serves as a gridded substrate for future masks, future selves. The topography of the head is well mapped, but the head itself is held together by the most feeble of adhesives. In the future, she suggests, we will need both advanced engineering and DIY ingenuity to survive.

Melissa Brown (left and right), Monica Palma (center)

Monica Palmas paper sculpture A Kind of Hug is a conical wormhole prying through a crack in the door. At first glance, it appears to be waiting to spring forth, but it could also be slinking back through the cracks in retreat. The brightly colored paper suggests a makeshift listening device, or a crunched-paper spyglass into a vault where all our significance is buried.

Melissa Browns modestly scaled ink-on-paper pieces ostensibly seem to utilize the most conventional materials to inform us of where we are, who we are in this room. In fact, they are mysterious distortions of figures and interiors that decline to describe immediate surroundings, instead heightening a sense of cosmic otherness. With lyrical brilliance, they simultaneously seduce and disturb.

Janine Polaks Solo glass sculpture appears as a tank-top pillow, an emptied IV bag waiting to be refilled. The piece could be construed as a genderless ice shell torso, but its figuration is a stretch. The earnestness of the composition suggests a vessel for the future maintenance of the human body.

Distinguishing this smart and varied yet cohesive and quietly moving exhibition is a collective innocence: a sincere belief that people will remain curious, aware of their potential to physically engage. The pieces appear as frozen, figurative fragments in a remote world, waiting like mystical runes to unlock a coded future.

Three Legged Race, with Karen Azoulay, Melissa Brown, Rachel Domm, Jonathan Ehrenberg, Kevin Ford, Lydia McCarthy, Sean McCarthy, Monica Palma, Janine Polak, Virgina Poundstone, Rufus Tureen, Linnea Vedder. Essex Flowers, 19 Monroe Street, New York, NY 10002. Through Sunday, February 2.

About the author: Zach Seeger is a painter, sculptor, and writer who works in Brooklyn, New York. He has recently exhibited at Arts + Leisure and Freight + Volume (New York) and Baby Blue Gallery (Chicago). A series of paperworks are currently part of the exhibition Malled and Walled: American Style, curated by Fred Fleisher in Zurich.

BONUS SONG:

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Hopeful Australian home buyers have been left stunned after a tiny 1960s flat in Bondi sold for a staggering $1.28million in one of the first auctions of the year.

The auction of the unit at 21/24 Sandridge St saw an investor drive the selling price $480,000 over the reserve price of $800,000, according to The Daily Telegraph.

A couple engaged in a fierce bidding war with the investor on Saturday but gave up after the price skyrocketed $180,00 over the median price for a two-bedroom property in the area.

Hopeful Australian home buyers have been left stunned after a tiny 1960s flat in Bondi sold for a staggering $1.28million on Saturday

A couple engaged in a fierce bidding war with a investor but gave up after the price skyrocketed $180,00 over the median price for a two-bedroom property in the area

The seller said they purchased the flat 27 years ago and only paid $180,000 for it at the time.

The investor, who owns several properties in Bondi, said he paid a 'a crazy price' for the 56 square-metre apartment.

Despite the price already paid, he noted the property would need to be fixed up before being rented out.

He said the view of Bondi Beach was what won him over to the property and made it worth the price.

The property is currently rented out to fashion designer Alicia English, 23, and fashion buyer Maddie Batt, 23, who currently pay $440 a week.

Despite the price already paid, the investor noted the property would need to be fixed up before being rented out

'We think we've convinced him to let us live here,' Ms English said.

The two said they were stunned as they watched the action as the price continued to climb.

'When they said the price guide was $800,000, we thought it might go for a bit more than that, but not $1.28 million,' Ms Batt said.

The sale could be a sign that Australia's housing market is heading for a bumper year after a slow year in 2019.






BEIRUT  Lebanon and Japan have about 40 days to decide whether ousted Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn will be extradited to Japan or stand trial in Lebanon, a judicial source and a source close to Ghosn said on Thursday, following his escape from Japan.

Ghosn fled to Lebanon, his childhood home, as he was awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies.

Japan and Lebanon have no extradition agreement, and Lebanon does not typically hand over its nationals. Ghosn's legal team is hoping to hold the trial in Lebanon, where the former auto executive has deep ties and hopes to clear his name.

Japan has in recent days asked Lebanon to clarify what files Tokyo needs to send as part of an official extradition request, the two sources said.

"They came back and requested a clarification. Today, we sent that to the Japanese," the judicial source said.

That communication is significant because, according to Lebanon's rules for dealing with Interpol notices, it triggers a roughly 40-day period by the end of which agreement must be reached between the countries on where and how Ghosn will stand trial, the sources said.

Japan must now either send a formal extradition request to Lebanon or send Ghosn's file to Beirut and agree on a process for trying him there, the source close to Ghosn said.

An Interpol spokesperson said on Friday the organization did not itself dictate a timeframe or require any action to be taken by countries and such a framework is set locally.

Ghosn, who holds Lebanese, French, and Brazilian nationality, was questioned earlier this month by Lebanese prosecutors who confiscated his passport and imposed a travel ban as part of the Interpol arrest warrant process.

The source close to Ghosn said the former executive can appeal to Lebanon's prosecutor to drop the ban and return his passport if Japan does not respond within the timeframe.

Story continues

Japanese prosecutors have said they are still pushing for Ghosn to be tried in Japan.

Ghosn has struck out at what he has called Japan's unjust judicial system and said the alternative to fleeing would have been to spend the rest of his life languishing in Tokyo without a fair trial.

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Washington: Shouts, glares and unprintable words: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lost his temper at a journalist after she questioned him on the administration's stance on Ukraine, a country at the heart of President Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

It began when Pompeo gave an early morning interview to NPR radio.

Much of the discussion dealt with Iran, but journalist Mary Louise Kelly closed by asking Pompeo about Ukraine.

Democrats accuse Trump of abusing his office by pressuring Kiev to investigate his potential election challenger Joe Biden, a charge for which Trump has been impeached and is currently facing trial in the US Senate.

Pompeo, a close associate of Trump, has been accused of personally failing to defend Marie Yovanovitch, Washington's former ambassador to Ukraine who was abruptly called home last spring after being subjected to a smear campaign led by Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer.

"Do you owe Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch an apology?" Kelly asked Pompeo.

A tense exchange followed, wherein Pompeo said he had "defended every State Department official," while Kelly asked, in vain, when he had publicly defended Yovanovitch.

"I've said all I'm going to say today. Thank you," Pompeo said finally, ending the interview.

But the story didn't end there, and Kelly related the rest in an NPR broadcast on Friday evening.

She said she thanked the secretary, who did not reply but leaned in and glared at her before leaving the room.

A staffer then invited Kelly to Pompeo's private living room, without her recorder.

There, Pompeo "was waiting and... he shouted at me for about same amount of time as the interview itself lasted," Kelly said.

"He was not happy to have been questioned about Ukraine," Kelly said, adding that the secretary asked her "do you think Americans care about Ukraine?" while saying swear words.

Pompeo then asked his advisers to bring out a map of the world without the countries labeled, to prove that Kelly knew where Ukraine was located. "I pointed to Ukraine. He put the map away," Kelly said.

"People will hear about this," said Pompeo, who has publicly attacked journalists in the past.
The International Court of Justice yesterday ordered Myanmar to take urgent measures to protect its Rohingya population from genocide, a ruling cheered by refugees as their first major legal victory since being forced from their homes.

A lawsuit launched by Gambia in November at the United Nations highest body for disputes between states accuses Myanmar of genocide against Rohingya in violation of a 1948 convention.

The courts final decision could take years, and yesterdays ruling dealt only with Gambias request for preliminary measures. But in a unanimous ruling by the 17 judge panel, the court said the Rohingya face an ongoing threat and Myanmar must act to protect them.

Myanmar must take all measures within its power to prevent all acts prohibited under the 1948 Genocide Convention, and report back within four months, presiding Judge Abdulqawi Yusuf said, reading out a summary of the judgement.
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The Queen and Prince Philip have been seen for the first time since Harry departed to Canada after Her Majesty was forced to pull out of the annual Women's Institute visit while she recovered from a cold.

Prince Harry travelled from London Heathrow to Vancouver on a BA plane to join Meghan and Archie on Monday, as the couple begin their new life since stepping down as senior royals.

Her Majesty, 93, was pictured driving through the Sandringham Estate while Prince Philip, 98, who was seen not wearing a seat belt, accompanied his daughter Princess Anne as she drove through the Norfolk estate.

The Queen was unable to attend a WI meeting on Thursday, which she goes to every year at West Newton village hall as part of her winter stay at Sandringham, after catching a cold.

The Queen was pictured driving through the Sandringham Estate - two days after she was forced to cancel a visit to the WI in Norfolk

The Queen was seen for the first time since Prince Harry departed for Canada this week where he joined Meghan and eight-month-old Archie

The Queen was unable to attend a WI meeting on Thursday, which she goes to every year at West Newton village hall, as part of her winter stay at Sandringham

A spokesman for Buckingham Palace told MailOnline the Queen had 'a slight cold', while an insider added it was 'no cause for alarm.'

It comes as the Queen's youngest son Prince Edward, 55, and 16-year-old Lady Louise, were seen cantering through the Windsor Great Park today.

And it seems Lady Louise, who is thirteenth in line to the throne, was showing her father the way, as she cantered ahead through the park.

Prince Andrew was also pictured talking with a friend as he trotted through the park on the crisp January morning.

Prince Philip, 98, was seen not wearing a seat belt as he drove through the Sandringham Estate with his daughter Princess Anne

Princess Anne and her father Prince Philip travelled together through the Norfolk estate while the Queen was also seen driving through

Prince Edward, 55, and 16-year-old Lady Louise, were seen cantering through the Windsor Great Park on the crisp January morning

Prince Andrew was also pictured talking with a friend as he trotted through the park today as his brother and niece enjoyed Windsor Great Park

Zara Tindall in her new role as a Director at Cheltenham Race Course

Prince Harry arrived at Vancouver International Airport following a ten-hour journey on a Boeing 747, then boarded a WestJet plane to make the short journey onto Victoria Airport on Vancouver Island to join the rest of his family.

While he flew, he missed his brother William's first solo reception at Buckingham Palace where he ushered in a new era for the royals  and even gave Harry a mention in his welcoming speech, saying: 'The African continent holds a very special place in my heart. It is the place my father took my brother and me shortly after our mother died.'

It followed Harry's emotional speech in London's Chelsea last Sunday evening, saying he had 'no other option' but to give up his official royal duties and forge a new life in Canada, where his wife and son are setting up home.

Meanwhile it was claimed that Harry was given no choice but to agree the deal which allowed him to step down, with the Queen saying his decision must not overshadow other royals' high-profile engagements this week.

Prince Harry smiles as he steps off a WestJet plane after arriving at Victoria Airport on Vancouver Island in Canada on Monday

Meghan posted a series of pictures on Instagram last night to raise awareness of International Day of Education and highlighted the charity trips she made before marrying Prince Harry.

The images include Meghan in Rwanda in March 2016 with World Vision - which was expanding access to clean water in rural areas - before she met Harry on a blind date four months later.

Other pictures posted today show the actress visiting university students in London in January 2019 and Harry in Malawi in September last year during the couple's Africa tour.

The Sussex Royal account posted the images saying: 'Today, on International Day of Education, we highlight the importance of access to education for all. The Duchess of Sussex has focused on this both prior to becoming a member of the Royal Family and now as patron of The Association of Commonwealth Universities.

'Working closely with CAMA, both The Duke and Duchess recognise the benefit both personally and to society at large when a young girl has access to education. On their recent tour to Southern Africa, The Duke supported the initiatives of @Camfed on the ground in Malawi.'

In 2017 Meghan visited India as a World Vision Global Ambassador where she advocated for gender equality. The actress focused on highlighting girls lack of access to education, speaking with activists who work to improve access to girls latrines
The women leaders, including two Ministers, had dadhikarma (a dish in which poha is a key ingredient and is consumed on auspicious occasions) in the bustling Dharamtala area.

Kolkata, Jan 25 (IANS) The women brigade of West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) here on Saturday had a feast of poha (flattened rice) in protest against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kailash Vijayvargiya's linking the food to Bangladeshi infiltrators.

Targeting Vijavargiya, Minister of State for Health Chandrima Bhattacharya said, "We are all having poha. Thus, according to Kailashbabu we are all Bangladeshis. We have no problem with that. Poha is a health food."

Women and Child Development and Social Welfare Minister Shashi Karma, a doctor, was seen serving dadhikarma to the party workers as well as journalists.

Lok Sabha member Mala Roy, said, "Poha is considered auspicious. He (Vijayvargiya) has lost his senses. Commoners consume poha. It shows they have no connect with the common people."

Party workers also held posters reading: "No CAA, No NRC, No NPR".

Vijayvargiya, in Indore on Thursday, had claimed labourers who recently carried out construction work at his house could be Bangladeshis as they had "strange" eating habits and they ate only 'poha'. "When a room was being added to the house, I found eating habits of some workers 'strange' as they ate only 'poha'," he said.

To confirm his suspicion, the BJP leader claimed that he spoke to the supervisor. "I suspected them being Bangladeshis and two days after that they stopped working at my house. I have not filed any police complaint yet. I only mentioned this incident to warn people," he said.

Vijayvargiya's comments led to howls of protest from his opponents. It sparked off a debate on Twitter with many users stating consumption of 'poha' couldn't be a yardstick for someone's nationality.

ssp/pcj
A new technique that can enable a person to hold their breath for over five minutes has been developed by medical researchers who aim to use it as a treatment method to cure heart conditions such as arrhythmia.

The University of Birmingham research that was published in Frontiers in Physiology initially proposed this technique as a means for the diagnosis of ischaemic heart disease.

The technique involved hyperventilating conscious, unmedicated patients using a mechanical ventilator which delivers air to the patient via a face mask. Hyperventilation causes hypocapnia that leads to temporary constriction in the coronary arteries.

The research team was able to confirm that mechanical hyperventilation and hypocapnia were well-tolerated and safe for patients with angina.

This bought the idea to induce breath-holds of over five minutes to support an emerging new technique in which radiotherapy, instead of radiofrequency or freezing, is used for cardiac ablation.

In this procedure, patients with arrhythmias undergo precisely targeted radiotherapy, applied from outside the chest, to destroy tissue that is allowing incorrect electrical signals to cause an abnormal heart rhythm. Breathing is a problem because each breath causes the heart to move within the chest.

Lead author Dr Michael Parkes, of the University's School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, explained "Stopping breathing with a safe breath-hold of over 5 minutes, using mechanically induced hypocapnia and now with oxygen-enriched air, could allow surgeons to target the radiotherapy for cardiac ablation much more precisely."

The next step is to test this technique in patients with cardiac arrhythmias to see if they too can hold their breath long enough to apply the radiotherapy.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In the backdrop of the threat posed by Coronavirus, the Rajasthan government on Saturday has issued an advisory to all departments asking them to be aware of the symptoms of the virus and take precautionary measures.

The state government has issued an advisory as a precautionary measure against the novel coronavirus.

"As a precautionary measure we have asked the all relevant departments to be aware of the symptoms of the virus and if some affected person lands in the state proper steps should be made to deal with solution," Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma told ANI.

He also asked the government of India to provide screening facilities at every airport in the country.

Earlier in the day, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan held a high-level meeting in Delhi with senior officers of the Health Ministry, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), to review the preparedness against novel coronavirus.

"The situation is being closely monitored at the highest level for adequate preparedness. All the officials of my Ministry, concerned departments and States/UTs have been put on high alert for Novel Coronavirus. We are taking all required possible precautions to manage all possible scenarios", a release from the Union Health Ministry read.

The Union Health Minister has directed for multidisciplinary central teams to be formed and sent to the several states where thermal screening is being done at the seven designated airports, including New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Kochi.

Harsh Vardhan also informed that no novel coronavirus case has been detected in the country so far. However, 11 persons were put under observation; out of which four have tested negative for the virus.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf agreed to a lifetime ban from the banking industry and a $17.5 million fine on Thursday, a result of the fake-accounts scandal that roiled Wells Fargo when he ran the bank.

Stumpfs punishment  which he agreed to in a settlement with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Wells Fargos federal regulator  punctuates a dramatic downfall for the once-venerated banker. Taking office as CEO in 2007, he successfully led the bank through the financial crisis and its 2008 acquisition of Charlotte-based Wachovia before resigning in the wake of the banks fake accounts scandal.

The OCC also announced charges against five former Wells Fargo executives and settlements with two others Thursday. In total, former executives are facing $59 million in fines from regulators.

Carrie Tolstedt, who used to run the consumer bank  where the alleged abuses occurred  was among those charged. Regulators are seeking an industry ban for Tolstedt, along with a $25 million fine.

Enu Mainigi, a lawyer for Tolstedt, said, Throughout her career, Ms. Tolstedt acted with the utmost integrity and concern for doing the right thing. A full and fair examination of the facts will vindicate Carrie.

In addition to Tolstedt, the other former executive who were charged were general counsel James Strother, chief auditor David Julian, executive audit director Paul McLinko and consumer bank risk officer Claudia Russ Anderson. Former chief administrative officer Hope Hardison and chief risk officer Michael Loughlin agreed to pay a total of $3.5 million in seperate settlements.

The actions announced by the OCC today reinforce the agencys expectations that management and employees of national banks and federal savings associations provide fair access to financial services, treat customers fairly, and comply with applicable laws and regulations, Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting said in a statement.

Never again

Wells Fargo said it is freezing any remaining compensation payments to the former executives while it reviews the OCCs findings.

We must all dedicate ourselves to ensuring that such failings never again occur at Wells Fargo, the banks new outsider CEO, Charlie Scharf, wrote in a letter to staff after the charges were announced.

Rather than attempting to move past the fake-accounts scandal as quick as possible, Scharf has expressed direct contrition for the banks actions and emphasized that recovering lost trust and satisfying regulators will take substantial time.

Wells Fargo is based in San Francisco and has its largest employment base in Charlotte, where it has about 27,000 workers.

Abuse and threats

Regulators said that the root cause of the misconduct was the business model in the firms consumer bank, which set unreasonable sales goals on purpose, and then put unreasonable pressure on employees to reach those goals. That fostered an atmosphere that perpetuated improper and illegal conduct, the OCC said.

The practice was highly profitable for the banks consumer wing, known as the Community Bank, and Tolstedt, its then-leader, was praised and highly compensated for the units success.

That success came at a cost: the pressure to meet the impossible goals led to the opening of millions of accounts in customers names without their knowledge, among other misconduct, regulators said.

The Bank tolerated pervasive sales practices misconduct as an acceptable side effect of the Community Banks profitable sales model, and declined to implement effective controls to catch systemic misconduct, the OCC said. Instead, to avoid upsetting a financially profitable business model, senior executives, including Respondents, turned a blind eye to illegal and improper conduct across the entire Community Bank.

Management of the consumer bank badgered and intimidated employees to meet the intentionally unattainable goals, the OCC said. Employees were subjected to hazing-like abuse, regulators found, and were threatened with firing or actually fired if they didnt meet the goals.

More legal issues

After widespread public outcry, the sales goals were removed in 2016. Since the revelation of the sales practices, the bank has struggled to recover. Stumpf and his successor, Tim Sloan, both resigned.

In September 2016, the bank was fined $185 million for opening the sham accounts.

The Federal Reserve has capped the banks growth since February 2018. Even Saturday Night Live made fun of the scandal.

Scharf, an acolyte of JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, got the banks top job late last year with a mandate to fix the mess, get regulators off the banks back, and get the bank growing again.

The scandal makes that harder: its spent billions on legal costs, including a $1.5 billion charge last quarter that hurt the firms earnings.

The legal woes dont appear to end with the OCCs action Thursday.

Federal prosecutors, including those in North Carolina, have opened a criminal investigation into multiple former Wells Fargo executives, American Banker reported this month, and indictments could come as soon as by the end of January.



By Austin Weinstein of The Charlotte Observer wrote this story.

2020 The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)

Visit The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) at www.charlotteobserver.com
Leibowitz noted that in China, this strain of coronavirus has shown to have a 3% to 4% mortality rate, killing mostly the elderly. This strain is not unlike many other types of coronaviruses, he said, or even strains of flu, which also can evolve into more serious conditions for older patients. The patients who experience harsher symptoms may develop pneumonia or systemic heart failure. At this time, there is no vaccination for this specific strain.

It doesnt appear to be very contagious at this point, Leibowitz said. The flu is much more contagious. ... I dont think anyone should be particularly paranoid yet.

According to the CDC website, the symptoms of this strain, identified as 2019-nCoV, include fever, coughing and shortness of breath. These symptoms may become present as soon as two days after exposure to germs, or as late as two weeks afterward.
It was a sell-out show at the Ashdown Park Hotel when three legends in Irish music -Sharon Shannon, Frances Black and Mary Coughlan - came together for one night only to thrill and entertain the Gorey crowd.

As part of the Irish tour for 2020, each artist performed a set with their own musicians, featuring many of their greatest hits, which really got the crowd going. After this, all three ladies joined together on stage in a spectacular finale to finish the night in a truly magical way.

It was a unique evening of music that really lifted the spirits of all present, and the Irish tour will continue for another month.

Combined, the three musicians have over 60 years' experience in the music industry and have been highly praised for their talents.

Sharon Shannon is known far and wide for her love of traditional Irish music, while Frances Black has been on the scene since the late 80s.

Mary Coughlan has 10 albums under her belt, as she has taken the classic standards of jazz balladry and rock, blending her own singular mixture.
Let's sit together: Nepal offers to play role of mediator between India and Pakistan

International

oi-PTI

Kathmandu, Jan 25: Nepal on Saturday offered to play the role of a mediator between India and Pakistan, saying that it was important for the two countries to have dialogue to resolve their issues.

"Dialogue is the best way to resolve any problem. There may be differences but it can be resolved through dialogue. If necessary, we can play the role of a mediator too," a Nepal government source said here.

The source said that better solution to resolve the issues would be to develop better dialogue between two countries. "We can be instrumental, but it will be better (for the two sides) to develop direct contact," the source said.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have spiked since India abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August last. India's decision evoked strong reactions from Pakistan, which downgraded diplomatic ties and expelled the Indian envoy.

"When we come together, sit together and share views then things will be resolved. In every situation, we have to sit together and try to resolve the problem otherwise things can be deteriorated," the source said.

Bodies of 8 Indian tourists under postmortem in Nepal; to be flown back on Thursday

Expressing concern over the uncertainty prevailing over the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, the source said the grouping should be revitalised and misunderstandings should be removed.

"SAARC is not dead. It is alive. Only thing is that we have not met. Hope we can revive it," the source said.

The last SAARC Summit in 2014 was held in Kathmandu, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The 2016 SAARC summit was to be held in Islamabad. But after the terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18 that year, India expressed its inability to participate in the summit due to "prevailing circumstances". The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to participate in the Islamabad meet.

In the last three years, India has been distancing itself from the SAARC, citing security challenge facing the region from terror networks based in Pakistan, which is also a member of the grouping.

"We are strongly against all forms and manifestations of terrorism. But there is no relationship between the two (SAARC and terrorism). We cannot connect the two issues," the source said. Identifying the terrorism as a common threat to peace loving countries, the source said, "We have to deal with issue of terrorism".

"I think that misunderstandings should be narrowed down and SAARC should be revitalised. It would be better to revise SAARC. I have told India that SAARC should be revitalised. We can find out amicable solutions," they said. SAARC summits are usually held biennially and hosted by member states in alphabetical order.

The member state hosting the summit assumes the Chair of the Association.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, January 25, 2020, 15:55 [IST]
In the coming weeks famed West Kerry musician Breanndan Begley will submit yet another application to Kerry County Council seeking planning permission for a small house on his land in Baile na bPoc.

The application will begin the 13th year of his quest for planning permission, which so far has yielded nothing but frustration and the threat of jail and massive fines over a 'log cabin' style mobile home that he lives in on the site.

The mobile cabin, built on a truck chassis, was intended to serve as a temporary home while Breanndan went through the process of securing planning permission for a permanent house on his site. However, the cabin was deemed an unauthorised development by Kerry County Council and for most of the five years that Breanndan has lived there he has faced the threat of jail or a fine of up to 12.6 million or both for failing to comply with orders to remove it.

Until he has a new house to move into, Breanndan will neither abandon his temporary home nor pay any fine. This leaves jail as the remaining option and it holds no fear over him. "I'll willingly accept my artist in residency in Mountjoy. I have a few things I want to compose," he says.

The jail threat is just one of many low points in Breanndan's long-running campaign to secure planning permission for a modest house on land that was farmed by his father and grandfather before him in Baile na bPoc. It has been a campaign, marked by frustration and failure, that has left Breanndan at a loss to comprehend the logic of the planning system.

The musician, television presenter, adventurer and former teacher couldn't have imagined the saga that would unfold when he first applied in 2008 for planning permission for a house designed in the style of the cottages to be found on the Great Blasket Island. He felt confident that he met the aspirations and requirements of the Kerry County Development Plan when he submitted his initial planning application. He was a native of Baile na bPoc and a native Irish speaker seeking to build on his own land in a gaeltacht area. He planned to build a house that was in keeping with the vernacular architecture of the rural area and there were no objections to the application.

But things didn't work out as Breanndan hoped and so began a debilitating routine of planning applications that were modified and re-modified followed by refusal after refusal. At the end of it all he can't understand why he won't be allowed build in a village that had a population of 235 people before the Famine and is now reduced to a mere dozen or so locals. He even has a map from 1840 showing a house on "the exact spot" where he wants to build. Neither can he understand why one small house can make such a difference when the landscape of West Kerry is peppered with houses, over a third of them holiday homes in which a light rarely glows.

"They turned me down because the [planning application] notice was too high, because it was too low because the notice was hand-written rather than printed... There was a problem another time because I had a caravan parked on the site," he recalls.

"I was told that I had failed to prove I was from the locality. I had to get a letter from the Parish Priest, who was the same age as myself, to say I was a local," he added.The great irony in this is that Baile na bPoc is known to the world outside the narrow confines of West Kerry because the Begley family of famed traditional musicians come from there. However, Breanndan still had to get a letter from the priest.

As the tedious cycle of application and rejection dragged on Breanndan put up a mobile home on his roadside site in June 2015, believing this would require no planning permission. He didn't go for a conventional mobile home but instead built what looks like a wooden cabin mounted on a truck chassis. The structure, which was designed in consultation with environmentalist Duncan Stewart, is entirely passive - water comes from a well, sewage goes to a bio-toilet specially imported from Sweden, it needs only minimal heating and it's designed to blend into the landscape. In fact it is so well concealed in a hollow scooped out of the sloping field that it is almost invisible from the road.

The mobile was intended as a temporary stop-gap until Breanndan got planning permission for a permanent house, and because it was mounted on a truck chassis that could be towed he felt confident he was on the right side of the planning regulations. However, Kerry County Council deemed the structure an 'unauthorised development' and ordered Breanndan to remove it.

Last March Breanndan sought planning permission to retain the mobile home, including with his application a petition signed by dozens of locals as well as a raft of letters of support from the arts and cultural community in Ireland and abroad. There were no objections to the application for planning permission, but again it was unsuccessful.

The council planning officer who examined the application stated that "the proposal is for the retention of a living unit/log cabin type structure located on what appears to be a moveable base/trailer on a site located in a Rural Area within the line of Protected Views and Prospects. The applicant has had two pre planning meetings, both with negative outcomes and has submitted four previous applications for a dwelling on site all which have been refused permission mainly on grounds of visual impact. One such application . was appealed to An Bord Pleanala who also refused for reasons relating to visual impact A refusal of permission is again recommended."

The Council accepted the recommendation and in May informed Breanndan that his application was refused, principally because: "The structure would be unduly obtrusive on the landscape and would seriously injure the visual amenities and natural beauty of the area. The proposed development would extend and consolidate the pattern of and set a precedent for undesirable ribbon development of an excessive density and of a suburban nature in an exposed and sensitive rural setting. The structure would therefore interfere with the character of the landscape, which is necessary to preserve in accordance with  the Kerry County Development Plan.

In June Breanndan appealed the council's decision to An Bord Pleanala, stating among other things that the impact on the landscape would be eliminated, that he had a genuine housing need, that his place within his community was deep rooted, and that his contribution to and preservation of the cultural and linguistic heritage of Corca Dhuibhne was well documented.

In August the appeal to An Bord Pleanala was withdrawn and in November Breanndan submitted a new application seeking permission to build a permanent stone-fronted cottage and to remove the mobile cabin. That application was withdrawn after the council pointed out a technical failure - the site notice had got wet and was illegible. In the next week or two Breanndan will submit a new application in the hope that he will finally get permission to build in the townland where his people have lived for generations.

"This world of planning is all new to me. All I want to do is build a house that I can live in. An ait a tsaolaionn and t-ean is a fearr leis a bheith [A bird prefers to be in the place where he was born]," he says.

Breanndan's experience has left him with the view that the council's planning policies have room for improvement - to put it politely. He can look out from Baile na bPoc and see houses scattered across the landscape, farm buildings that stand out against the skyline, houses that got planning permission in areas prone to flooding, and it makes no sense to him that a wooden cabin, let alone a house built in the style of a Blasket Island cottage, could "seriously injure the visual amenities and natural beauty of the area".

"Kerry County Council has about ten arms and they're all pulling against each other. What's suffering as a result is not the tourists, not the cows but the Kerry people," he says.

Tangled web of priorities surrounds rural planning

Throughout West Kerry houses dot the landscape, ribbon development is widespread, mini housing estates stand out on hillsides, over a third of the houses are holiday homes with vacant windows staring out on the majestic scenery. It's not easy to discern any plan or pattern; the houses might just as well have fallen randomly out of the sky.

Some of these houses pre-date planning regulations, some come from the time when county councillors could use the power of a Section 4 Motion (later called a Section 140 Motion) to force a planning application through the system regardless of the views of planning officials, many more were built during the boom years.

Yet, even though the sprawl of houses across the countryside might give the impression of a planning free-for-all, the kind of difficulties Breanndan Begley has encountered in his efforts to build a house on his own land are familiar to many in West Kerry where planning remains a contentious issue.

Since the Local Government Reform Act of 2014 curtailed the use of Section 140 Motions, planners have been freed from councillors canvassing on behalf of their constituents. Planners now refer to the Kerry County Development Plan 2015 - 2021 as the basis for their decisions and it takes a successful appeal to An Bord Pleanala to force a change of tack.

While planning applications can by rejected for a very wide number of reason, two are frequently cited in West Kerry: 'injurious to the landscape' and 'extending an undesirable pattern of ribbon development'.

In an area as scenic as West Kerry it's difficult for any house to have no impact on the landscape and even though the County Development Plan provides design guidelines for blending houses into a rural setting, following the guidelines is no guarantee of success with a planning application. Meanwhile, the ribbon development that planners now want to avoid was previously allowed spread across West Kerry to such an extent that it's difficult to find any roadside site that doesn't add to it.

Both the impact on the landscape and undesirable ribbon development were cited by the council when it rejected Breandan's planning application last year. However, retired consulting engineer Jim Ryan, who supports Breanndan's planning application, believes that in coming to this decision the council is failing on another commitment: to "promote the use of Irish within the wider community and provide linguistic support for the gaeltacht as an Irish-speaking community".

"The County Development Plan includes aspirations about maintaining and developing gaeltacht areas. But how can you foster these areas when somebody like Breanndan can't get planning permission on his own land?" he said.

Jim Ryan also argues that Breanndan's house would fall within the existing settlement of Baile na bPoc and therefore should not be considered as an extension to ribbon development.

Set against this the County Development Plan points out that, "the difficulty for the Planning Authority is that the rural landscape can only accommodate a certain number of such houses before irreparable and irreversible damage is done"

It would seem that Breanndan Begley's hopes of living among his own people are bogged down in the very uncertain ground between this harsh assessment and the council's aspirations about supporting rural (gaeltacht) communities. And he is not alone, but the difference between Breanndan and others who have gone down the same road is that he isn't giving up.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The kitchen at OHenrys Publick House started out easy on Minthorne Street. To nail down the British eats in the inaugural days of service, a limited menu went into effect with the pubs mainstays -- hand-dipped fish 'n' chips and bangers 'n' mash, crisp-skinned sausages templed over creamy mashed potatoes.

Now the crew is ready to debut the full program of food and drink at the Tompkinsville restaurant.

Its British comfort food, Lisa McFarland summed up. As co-owner, she also serves as the restaurants chef.

For the impending grand opening this weekend, shell deliver OHenrys mainstays like Cottage Pie, a beef version of a Shepherds Pie. The casserole is roasted with peas, carrots and a mashed potato topping.

Bangers and mash come two ways at OHenrys -- infused with whiskey and served with peppers, onions and whiskey gravy or with a sweet Guinness onion gravy.

There are drunken clams made with light ale and burgers served on brioche buns with sweet potato or steak fries. The fish 'n' chips are battered and crisp-fried chunks of haddock presented alongside steak fries and a souffle cup of creamy tartar sauce.

STRICT BRIT THEME

McFarland also emphasized the lighter fare -- a beet and tomato salad, Portobello burger (with or without a fried egg), plus a chicken-artichoke combination tossed with mayonnaise.

Its like a sandwich-salad served on a flatbread as an appetizer or over a salad, McFarland described.

Will she ever do chicken parmigiana in the English mix?

As much as I can probably knock the socks off it, theyre doing Italian food next door," said the chef in a reference to neighbor Flour + Oak. And she said she plans on sticking with the Great Brit theme.

My dream was always to have a pub, said McFarland.

She said that with OHenrys, life has come full circle. After schooling at St. Joseph Hill Academy, she went on to New York City Techs hospitality program. After graduation, she worked in Manhattan kitchens, then in the wine-import business and as a caterer.

Her entrepreneurial partner, Bobby Digi, described himself as a serial entrepreneur and civic leader who has a passion for food and bringing people together.

With roots in the hospitality business as owner of nightclub and cabaret Notes, formerly of Richmond Terrace, he explained that hes driven into the restaurant realm on Staten Island by his compassion for community, a lover of good food, culture, travel, art and people.

He pointed to the design of the space that blends McFarlands international food served against the backdrop of local artists work. Brooklyn-born Digi was brought to Africa by his mom with stops in London in between. Hes travelled to British city since a youngster and has family there.

THE BAR AND PRIVATE ROOM

At lunchtime recently, bartender Joe Castellano filled a flute with The Victorian -- sparking wine, lemon vodka and St. Germaine elderflower liqueur. The mixologist also designed drinks muddled with fresh fruit like Strawberry Fields, an elixir built on freshly muddled berries.

Digi and McFarland said they hope for private parties and dinners in their separate dining room. In the main dining space, they said they are proud of the physical bar, the centerpiece of OHenrys. Digi reclaimed the ornate wooden piece from The Choir Loft, a Stapleton watering hole that lived from 1977 to 1994 -- peaking in the 80s. A jukebox at the entrance is another nod to the days of yesteryear on Bay Street.

Saturday night is the grand opening party and Choir loft reunion party coming back to see the bar, said McFarland.

As for the name of the place, Digi created it out of a blend of elements.

My third son is named Henry. Our family name is Olisa. And Digi is my middle name, he explained.

And McFarland has a nephew named Henry.

We just want a nice experience for guests from the time they come in, she said, adding that the food and customer service will make the pub stand out on Staten Island.

OHenrys is located at 10 Minthorne St., Tompinksville; 718-442-6200, OHenrys via Facebook. It is open for lunch and dinner daily at noon to 3 p.m., then 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Sunday, 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Lisa McFarland, the chef and co-owner of O'Henry's.

The Cottage Pie, a casserole made with ground beef, peas and carrots topped with mashed potatoes.

Fish 'n' chips

Guinness is on draft

Bangers 'n' mash combines crispy sausages over mashed potatoes with a Guinness-onion sauce

O'Henry's bar is from the former Choir Loft on Bay Street

Local artwork includes this flag by Vince McDermott

The ceiling has a British flag theme, a design by local artist Tariq.

The specials on a chalkboard are a pre-cursor to mainstays that will make their way onto the permanent menu.

The juke box at the entrance of O'Henry's is a detail from the former Choir Loft, once on Bay Street.
6.8-magnitude eartquake hits eastern Turkey

A massive earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 strikes eastern Turkey on Friday, killing at least 20 people, causing buildings to collapse.

A 6.8-magnitude earthquake killed 6 jolted Friday eastern Turkish province of Elazig, according to Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute in Istanbul.

20 PEOPLE REPORTED KILLED SO FAR

The country's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) first announced the quake with a magnitude of 6.8, but Kandilli Observatory revised the figure to 6.5 shortly after.

Search and rescue teams were sent to the region, and further information is yet to come, Soylu said, adding that some buildings in the city center were damaged.

He also said that rural villages might have suffered damage to some extent, without giving further details.

Notably, National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the army was ready to step into action if need be.

The quake was also felt in many other provinces including Adana, Osmaniye, Tunceli and Hatay.

In 2010, Elazig province was hit by a 6-magnitude earthquake, killing a total of 51 people.
Chetana Belagere By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: Interrogation of the Railway ticketing scamster, 35-year-old Ghulam Mustafa has revealed that he had stored details on Indian Space Research Organisations sophisticated Cartosat series of satellites. These satellites -- totally nine -- are a series which are part of Indias remote sensing programme used for Earth's resource management, defence services and monitoring.

Investigators have smelled something very fishy. We have taken him into custody from the Railway Police Force (RPF) for 10 days. Primary interrogation has revealed not only about the e-ticketing scam but his possible terror links, too. The matter is very serious, said an investigating officer involved in the interrogation.

Mustafa, a native of Jharkhand, was arrested from Bhubaneshwar on January 8 and was found to be the key operator of the e-ticketing scam in India. During his arrest, the police had seized two laptops and a mobile phone. RPF had launched an operation for him called Operation Thunderstorm since last year against ticket touts and this man was under their radar.

After his arrest, it was known that he had used a software named ANMS and managed to do the multi-crore e-ticketing scam.

However, as the RPF cannot investigate the scam and it was known that Mustafa stayed in a room in Rajagopalnagar area of Bengaluru, a complaint was lodged on January 15 by Akhilesh Kumar Tiwari of RPF. Based on that complaint the Rajgopalnagar Police took him to custody and were investigating when they came upon this shocking revelation that Mustafa had seemingly sensitive details about ISROs Cartosat series of satellites.

Cartosat-3 with the highest camera resolution in its time has the capability of high-quality imaging at one-metre resolution and was launched on November 27, 2019. All nine satellites in the Cartosat series are currently operational.

When his laptop was seized along with details of central government websites, bank account details, a number of Pakistani softwares, several hacking softwares, alongside details pertaining to ISROs CartoSat, the investigators realised they had stumbled on something big.

He is a dangerous criminal with a rich knowledge of technology. There were several encrypted messages on his laptop. It is a very sensitive issue, said another official involved in the investigation.

The police are also interrogating the owner who gave him the room and also finding out if there are Mustafas other associates terror-related links who had stayed with him or were in contact with him.

HAWALA AND CRYPTO BUSINESS

Mustafa and his team has apparently some 3,000 bank accounts under their names and the kingpin for this is yet to be arrested.

We suspect that the kingpin Is one Hamid Ashraf who is based in Dubai, Arun Kumar, Director General of RPF had earlier said.

Interestingly, Hamid Ashraf, has reportedly sent a message to the DG listing out 25 things that allegedly exposed IRCTC's security system.

The purported message by him also apparently challenges the DG and says that the ANMS software will be closed forever on January 25, 2020.

Ashraf is being hunted by IB, NIA, and RAW too. With specific links established to Ashraf he has also revealed that he would convert the money collected through various bank accounts to cryptocurrency and send that abroad through shadow net, which was allegedly used in terror funding, money laundering, and others, the officer added.

Meanwhile, Mustafa was interrogated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) too. The intelligence Bureau which was also involved in the interrogation found that he was using the Darknet for his activities.

He personally has 10 bank accounts in his name and there has been digital footprints to show his terror links, the officer investigating said.

According to NIA sources, the decryption of his laptop revealed that he was a follower of the Pakistan-based Tableek-e-Jamaat and had many Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Gulf countries, Indonesian, and Nepali numbers.

He is also said to have transacted with several anti-national elements from Bhatkal (Karnataka) and Odisha.



CASE TO CID?

The Bengaluru police are looking at the sensitivity of the case and the nature of involvement of several anti-national elements and the case might soon be handed over to Central Investigation Department.
The Pentagon has said 34 US troops were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries suffered in this month's Iranian missile strike on an Iraqi air base.

Half of the troops have returned to their military duties, it added.

Seventeen of the 34 are still under medical observation, said Jonathan Hoffman, the chief Pentagon spokesman.

President Donald Trump had initially said he was told that no troops had been injured in the January 8 strike. The military said symptoms were not immediately reported after the strike and in some cases became known days later.

After the first reports that some soldiers had been hurt, Mr Trump referred to them as "headaches" and said the cases were not as serious as injuries involving the loss of limbs.

Mr Hoffman's disclosure that 34 had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI) was the first update on the number injured in Iran's missile attack on Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq since the Pentagon said on January 17 that 11 service members had been flown out of Iraq with concussion-like symptoms.

The strike was launched in retaliation for a US drone missile strike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.

Meanwhile, thousands of Iraqis rallied at two central Baghdad intersections yesterday after a prominent cleric called for a "million strong" protest against the US military presence.

The march appeared not to gather further steam, however, dissipating after several hours. Some protesters headed to join separate anti-government demonstrators at Baghdad's Tahrir Square, and others boarded buses to go home.
New research shows that the deadly coronavirus that has killed 17 people in China may have originated from snakes.

A study published Wednesday by Chinese scientists in the Journal of Medical Virology, showed that the deadly virus may have originated in a highly venomous snake called the Chinese krait.



Scientists examined protein codes from patients and compared them with samples from animals infected with the virus, including snakes, People reported.

Researchers found that the samples found in people were most similar to those found in Chinese krait and Chinese cobra.

The Chinese government revealed that seven of the 17 people who have died from the Wuhan coronavirus did not have pre-existing conditions before they contracted the illness.

More than 500 people have been infected in five countries, including the United States.

A Washington man in his 30s who was diagnosed had recently traveled from Wuhan and was being kept in isolation "out of an abundance of caution," according to health officials.

Authorities in China on Thursday enforced a partial lockdown in the central city of Wuhan, as well as nearby Huanggang and Ezhou, as authorities battle to contain the deadly outbreak.



The Wuhan virus is a cousin of SARS and MERS. All three are coronaviruses.
Following specific information about the presence of militants in the area security forces launched a joint operation by the army and the police.

Srinagar, Jan 25 (IANS) One army jawan sustained injuries in the ongoing gun battle between security forces and militants on Saturday in the Tral area of south Kashmir, the police said.

On Wednesday, a foreign militant belonging to the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) was killed in an encounter at Khrew area of south Kashmir. A second militant was believed to have escaped from the encounter site.

The slain militant identified as Abu Saifullah alias Abu Qasim, was active for more than a year and was an associate of Qari Yasir, a foreign terrorist belonging to the JeM.

Two security force personnel were killed in the encounter including a special police officer and an army soldier on January 21.

zi/skp/
WASHINGTON  Republican senators allied with President Trump are increasingly arguing that the Senate should not call witnesses or subpoena documents for his impeachment trial because Mr. Trump has threatened to invoke executive privilege, and a legal fight would take too long to resolve.

But it is far from clear that Mr. Trump has the power to gag or delay a witness who is willing to comply with a subpoena and tell the Senate what he knows about the presidents interactions with Ukraine anyway  as Mr. Trumps former national security adviser John R. Bolton has said he would do.

Here is an explanation of executive privilege legal issues.

What is executive privilege?

It is a power that presidents can sometimes use to keep information secret.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Constitution implicitly gives presidents the authority to keep internal communications, especially those involving their close White House aides, secret under certain circumstances. The idea is that if officials fear that Congress might someday gain access to their private communications, it would chill the candor of the advice presidents receive and inhibit their ability to carry out their constitutionally assigned duties.
Here are todays top news, analysis and opinion at this hour. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times.

US strongly urges Pakistan to fulfill FATF commitments

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Shah Rukh Khan takes a dig at himself in hilarious video as Raees completes three years, watch video

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PUSHING forward with the Shannon LNG Project is a joke, MEP Mick Wallace said this week when he also accused Fine Gael of being out of touch on environmental issues.

According to the Independent MEP, a new study by industry consultants Artelys claims that Europe does not need new gas infrastructure to ensure security of supply and warns that 29 billion of EU funds could be wasted on 32 mostly unnecessary projects including the LNG proposal in Tarbert.

Pushing forward with the Shannon LNG Project is a joke. It was an unfunny joke before this report was released but this just cements how deranged the Governments decision was to lock us in to this expensive, environmentally damaging project in the middle of a climate crisis, Mr Wallace said.

Read also: University of Limerick to eliminate seven million plastic bottles a year in new initiative

The LNG project proposed for the landbank at Tarbert Ballylongford was again listed as a Project of Common Interest (PCI) by the EU Commission last auturm, making it eligible for EU funds. The EU Parliaments Committee on Industry, Research and Energy was due to vote on this list, which includes 32 gas-related projects, this Wednesday.

Mr Wallace, who is a member of the committee, supports the findings of the Artelys report which says that existing EU gas infrastructure is sufficiently capable of meeting a variety of future gas demand scenarios in the EU28, even in the event of extreme supply disruption cases. The study was carried out on behalf of the European Climate Foundation.

Wallace has now urged other MEPs to reject all gas infrastructure projects on the PCI list when it comes before them for a final vote next month. He has also called on the EU Commission to examine the PCI list in terms of its compatibility with the European Green Deal.

Meanwhile, John Fox, PRO for Tarbert Development Association says the expectation is that LNG (now backed by US-based New Fortress Energy) will apply for planning permission to Kerry Council later this year.

Our concern is jobs, Mr Fox said. We dont care who builds it provided there is proper planning and sustainable development. That has always been our position and we have never deviated from that.

The LNG proposal was sent forward to the European Court of Justice last February following a judicial review in the Irish High Court. Mr Justice Garrett Simons referred the matter to the European Court of Justice to determine whether or not the project must be assessed under the EUs Habitats Directive.

But he also told the developers of the project, Shannon LNG that no construction could begin until the European Court of Justice ruling had been made and if the developers wished to do so they must apply to the Courts with four weeks notice.

No ruling is expected for at least another year.
New Delhi:

A police complaint has been lodged against the daughter of veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah, Heeba Shah for allegedly assaulting two women workers at a veterinary clinic in Mumbai. As per the complaint filed, Heeba allegedly assaulted them on January 16 when she visited the clinic to get two of her friends cats sterlized.

Heeba was booked under IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation) on January 17, reports Mid Day.

Mriidu Khosla, a trustee of The Feline Foundation told the tabloid, ''On January 16 at 2.50 pm actress Heeba Shah walked into our community veterinary clinic with two cats for sterilisation. Our clinic caretaker asked her to wait for 5 minutes as a surgery was on. After 2-3 minutes of waiting she aggressively said to our staff members, Dont you know who I am? How can you make me wait for so long outside without any assistance? How come no one helped me to get my cats cage out of the rickshaw on arrival?''

Mriidu added, "A senior staff member asked her to leave the premises with her cats, after she began to verbally abuse us for no reason. She also slapped and assaulted two female staff members. The physical abuse was harsh, extremely violent and disturbing to say the least."

Responding to the allegations, Heeba told the daily, ''I did hit them, but they started it. The gatekeeper didnt allow me to enter the clinic and asked several questions. I told him that I had an appointment. In the clinic when I told the attendant about the watchman, she also started abusing me and speaking rudely. Then one of the women there pushed me and told me to get out from the premises immediately. This is not the way to speak to anyone who is visiting the clinic. The lady in the clinic started fighting with me. The clinic staff should talk politely to customers visiting their clinic.''

Heeba is Naseeruddin's daughter from his first wife Parveen Murad.

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HONOLULU, Jan. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- HawaiiKidsCAN will host the one-of-a-kind Hawaii Education Innovation Showcase to give community members a taste of the personalized learning opportunities used and developed by local Hawaii families.

WHAT:

- Hawaii Education Innovation Showcase

- Celebration of National School Choice Week

WHO:

- Several hundred students, parents, teachers and community leaders

WHEN:

- 3-6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26

WHERE:

- Entrepreneurs Sandbox, located at 643 Ilalo Street in Honolulu

This event is planned by HawaiiKidsCAN.

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/hawaii.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
Levoy Ballard has a roof over his head for the first time in nearly four years.

But that doesnt mean hes out of the woods, so to speak.

"I came out here to get some help," the Rochester man said as his wife, Rhonda, received a free haircut during Fridays Project Community Connect event.

The four-hour event brought more than 40 agencies together at John Marshall High School, offering an array of services for people facing homelessness and those struggling with limited incomes.

While the Ballards found an apartment in November with the help of Zumbro Valley Health Center, Levoy Ballard said hes still seeking legal assistance to help file a disability claim connected to musculoskeletal disease in his back, which sometimes makes it difficult to get out of bed, let alone find work.

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"Winters the worst," he said of his time being homeless, adding that he considered getting arrested to avoid sleeping outside when he knew the citys skyways would be closed this winter.

On Thursday, in addition to finding a haircut, a meal and other assistance, the Ballards took home a pair of shoes and a pair of boots from the Shoe Away Hunger program, which was providing shoes through a sponsorship by the Homeless Community Network, which organized Project Community Connect.

Dave Glasser, the shoe program coordinator, said the turnout for footwear was beyond what is typically seen by the Twin Cities-based nonprofit.

"Theres a lot of need coming on this bus," he said of the mobile unit used to dispense donated shoes, which are typically sold for $2.50 and $5 each to help provide food for the organizations food program.

When the funds provided by the event ran out, Glasser said his team kept handing out shoes, without the expectation of direct reimbursement.

"Well find a way," he said.

Larry More, family advocacy specialist at Three Rivers Community Action, said thats the type of spirit that has made Project Community Connect happen each year since 2009.

"We rely on a lot of help and volunteers to put the event on," he said.

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As planning started last year, a longtime organizer needed to step down for personal reasons, but More said others stepped up. He became part of the three-person team leading the effort, but it was a variety of committees who made it happen, he said.

"Its not just one or two people planning the event, its the whole Homeless Community Network agencies who put the event on," he added.

Agencies participating Thursday went beyond those helping people find shelter.

Winona State University nursing students Christine Olson and Amanda Moldenhauer were providing foot massages as part of a health care corner, which also provided blood pressure and vision checks, among other help.

"The foot care is more of a way to get people to relax," Olson said, noting that it also allows time to discuss possible medical concerns.

"Sometimes they just want someone to listen," Moldenhauer said.

The pair said the event provided information for people needing to connect with various agencies, but it also provided the students with better insight to the many services provided in the community.

"Im learning so much about what we can do for public health," Olson said.

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More said such connections are another key part of the annual event.

"Its a good way for us providers to connect," he said.

Jennifer Belisle, program and agency services director for Channel One Regional Food Bank, said all connections are important when it comes to helping people in the community.

She said the event helps her agency connect with people and provide information on changes to the program, but it also can obtain information to make the program better.

"Were getting feedback on what kind of needs people have," she said.

Across the gymnasium, Sam Hauck, of Cardinal of Minnesota, was doing more than showcasing services.

As a recruiter, she was hoping to help people find a way to make ends meet by handing out job applications for the Rochester-based residential services provider.

The recruiter said the companys flexible schedules can help families find added income without requiring special training before being hired.

"Well give them everything they need," she said, adding that the only requirement is typically the desire to help others.

Michele Merxbauer, Olmsted Countys housing program manager, said Cardinals approach added another needed opportunity to the event.

Nearly three hours into the event, participants were demonstrated the needs by outpacing attendance recorded in previous years, which has ranged from 250 and 360 since 2014, according to More.

Among those benefiting was Jessey Finley of Rochester. The single mother of four took her two sons to get free haircuts.

"They dont get their hair cut often," she said, noting that the combined $30 expense can be better used for food or gas money to get to work.

While she said most services her family needs are secured, she planned to see what the event had to offer before heading to the door.

Ballard predicted she and anyone else attending would likely find some help.

"You have a lot of resources here, and they treat you right," he said.
The referendum of 1972 was Ireland's bridge to our Brexit. It was our chance to escape eternal infernal dependence on England. It was a tipping point. And we happily tipped.

We didn't quite know what we were tipping ourselves into, however. This was a deeply conservative country. Its rulers had been entrenched for decades. At the top there was a deep seated fear of young people. Fianna Fail had been in power with just two short breaks for 34 years on the trot, prompting one commentator to note: "They look less like the Soldiers of Destiny and more Dad's Army."

In the coming year they would call a snap election with the deliberate intention of locking out newly registered young voters. Taoiseach Jack Lynch beat the introduction of the new electoral register by a fortnight. Student leader Pat Rabbitte said he was sickened by the move, remarking: "The democratic right of almost 200,000 young people is to be sacrificed in the party political interests of Fianna Fail."

With the Troubles raging in the North, tourist numbers in the South were down. According to one Fianna Fail TD, Bord Failte wasn't part of the solution, but part of the problem. He told the House: "I remember going into Bord Failte one morning with a gentleman who was looking for a grant. We met a lady there with a mini skirt on her and that was the only qualification she had."

Becoming part of Europe offered a smorgasbord of possibilities to the more broad minded. This was a sheltered society where it was perfectly reasonable for a TV critic to write: "Among the latest acquisitions from the BBC is a comedy series called The Goodies. This is goon stuff, perpetrated by Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie and Graeme Gordon and put over with great ingenuity and originality. But it is a mistake, I think, to plunge RTE viewers into this kind of television comedy without adequate preparation."

After boosting the lifestyles of farmers, the biggest impact of joining the EEC was on the lives of Irish women.

The lot of Irish women in 1972 was a truly sorry one. The average industrial wage for a man was 50 against 22 for a woman. One in four women working outside the home were clerk/typists while one in 25 were nuns. Females were barred from most apprenticeships, and while a male could sign on the dole upon turning 18, a female couldn't. It was a time when many of the big purchases of the average Irish household - the fridge, the TV set, the record player - were bought in weekly instalments by hire purchase agreement.

In 1972 it was standard practice for hire purchase firms, along with the banks, to refuse a loan to a married woman unless her husband underwrote it, even if she was out in the workplace bringing in her own income. If a husband and wife shared a passport, he could travel on it alone, while his wife could only do so with his permission.

The EEC demanded these oppressions be addressed, and ordered the government to start by putting equal pay on the statute books. The politicians complied by drafting the legislation, but then did nothing to enact it. The Federated Union of Employers raised furious objections to paying women the same as men, insisting it would ruin the economy.

The priest Vivien Cassels spoke for many when he remarked: "There is still a high percentage of women working for no valid reason, though they realise that by doing so they are depriving many young people from starting their careers in the civil service, banking or teaching."

Europe said welcome to a new world.
Welcome Guest! You Are Here:
Germanys Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Friday for the fragile truce in Libya to be turned into a lasting ceasefire, during a visit by the German leader to Istanbul.

Erdogan warned the conflict in Libya risked chaos (that) will affect all the Mediterranean basin.

Efforts need to be made to turn the fragile truce into a solid and permanent ceasefire, Merkel said at a joint press conference.

Eastern Libyan forces under strongman Khalifa Haftar have been battling since April to seize Tripoli from the UN-recognised Government of National Accord, which is supported by Turkey.-

I hope the Haftar side will take positive steps, Merkel said.

World powers have stepped up efforts in recent weeks to find a political solution, but rocket attacks on Tripolis airport this week threatened resumed fighting.

Erdogan accused Haftar of showing no intention for reconciliation and criticised his failure to sign the ceasefire document during an international conference in Berlin on Sunday.

Haftar has not signed it but only verbally accepted it, said Erdogan. We do not see this as full acceptance.

Erdogan and Merkel also inaugurated a new campus for the Turkish-German University in Istanbul, which opens at a time of warming relations between the two countries.

Merkel described it as an extraordinary example of cooperation between Turkey and Germany.

SOURCE: AP
The Metropolitan Police Service said Friday it will use the cameras to automatically scan the faces of people passing through small targeted areas where intelligence suggests serious offenders will be found.

London police say they will start using live facial recognition cameras in operational deployments, in a major advance for the controversial technology.

Real-time crowd surveillance by police in the British capital is among the more aggressive uses of facial recognition in modern democracies and raises questions about how the technology will enter people's daily lives.

Rights groups said the London police deployment threatens civil liberties such as the right to privacy and represents an expansion of surveillance.

London police said the facial recognition system, which runs on technology from Japan's NEC, looks for faces in crowds to see if they match any on "watchlists" of people wanted for serious and violent offences, including gun and knife crimes and child sexual exploitation.
The father who murdered his wife, three young children and the family's dog in their Disney town home and lived with their bodies for two weeks told investigating Florida deputies that his children were at a sleepover.

Concerns that Anthony Todt, his wife Megan and their children Alek, 13, Tyler, 11, and four-year-old Zoe were missing sparked after relatives hadn't heard from the family since January 6.

Todt, 44, initially claimed that everyone was sick with the flu and gave no indication that his family had been killed.

When Osceola County Sheriff's deputies entered the Todt family's home in Celebration -a gated community designed and developed by Disney- on January 13, he told them the children were sleeping over at a friend's house and his wife was asleep upstairs.

Anthony Todt was charged with murder for killing his wife Megan and three children Alek, Tyler and Zoe and dog in Celebration, Florida - living with the bodies for at least two weeks. Police records released on Friday reveal the gruesome scene police walked into on January 13, first encountering 'a strong foul odor' when entering the home

In a 911 call, Todt's sister revealed Megan (pictured) made a remark that 'the world was ending on the 28th'. No one had heard from the family in weeks, as Todt claimed everyone was sick with the flu

Instead, authorities would soon discover the deceased bodies of Megan and the three children wrapped in blankets inside the master bedroom.

Todt confessed to the killings as it emerged he had stabbed his wife and sons repeatedly. It is not clear how he killed four-year-old Zoe.

He is charged with four counts of murder, as well as animal cruelty for also killing the family dog Breezy.

Police have yet to pinpoint his motive for the killings but he was drowning in debt in both his home and business, and was being evicted.

Officers even recalled encountering a 'strong foul odor' when entering the 202 Reserve Place address, according to new police records obtained by DailyMail.com.

Todt, who later revealed he attempted to overdose on Benadryl after the killings, was barely able to stand and was shaking as deputies began inspecting the residence.

An officer noted that 'sticking out of the blankets was a foot that was black and blue in color', as Todt is believed to have lived with the rotting bodies for a period of time.

Police entered the home (pictured) of Todt on January 13 and found the decomposing bodies wrapped in blankets at their home in Celebration, Florida, - a gated community designed and developed by Disney

'I could smell a foul odor that I suspected was something or someone deceased,' an officer wrote.

Todt told officials Megan was upstairs sleeping, but when police called out her name, they received no response.

An officer went up to the master bedroom and said they saw 'a person was laying on the bed covered with blankets.

'I pushed the door open further and observed two persons laying on mattresses on the floor covered up.

Alek (left), Zoe (center) and Tyler (right) pose together for a photo years before they were killed by their father, Antony Todt

Todt (pictured) confessed to Florida authorities that he killed his wife, three children and dog inside their home

'I then approached the person that was covered up on the bed... I removed the blanket and observed the person was obviously deceased due to the body starting to decompose.'

Another officer report states they saw 'sticking out of the blankets was a foot that was black and blue in color.'

Officers note that they immediately found the bodies of Megan and the two young boys, then after looking further, found Zoe's body wrapped in a blanket at the feet of her mother.

The day the bodies were discovered, nine 911 calls were made to the sheriff's office, several from Todt's sister, frantically saying she had saw on social media that bodies were found in the town where her brother and his family lived.

The 44-year-old is charged with four counts of murder, as well as animal cruelty for also killing the family dog Breezy

She had made several calls before asking police to perform wellness checks at the home. An FBI agent investigating Todt for fraud in Connecticut also called at least twice, following up on wellness checks the office reportedly conducted.

Prior to the gruesome discovery, the sister revealed Megan made a remark that 'the world was ending on the 28th'.

The Orlando office of the Medical Examiner released a preliminary autopsy report showing that doctors have yet to determine the cause of the family members' deaths.

The reports also note small stab wounds, 3.2 X 1.1 centimeters for Megan.

According to Alek's report, he suffered a 5.9 X 3 cm stab wound. His body had a brown-green color as decomposition set in and his feet were mummified.

Tyler, the reports show, suffered a stab wound 10.7X2.1 centimeters in size. His eyes, the medical examiner noted, were collapsed because of the decomposition.

Zoe's autopsy showed no obvious signs of injury.

The medical examiner will not determine a cause of death until lab results on bodily fluids are known, possibly in up to two months.

Anthony Todt with his three children and their dog. Police found the bodies in the family home on Monday but were unable to definitively identify them until Wednesday

Police had pushed for the affidavit to remain under seal.

It remains unknown exactly when Todt committed the murders.

Todt is in police custody. Many of the details of the crimes remain unknown.

He witnessed a hit man trying to murder his mother, at the request of his father, 40 years ago.

Police first visited the family home on December 29 after a relative called, saying they were concerned after being told they had the flu. Police have suggested he was replying to texts, telling people that the family was unwell.

The family was about to get evicted from the house, which they rented for $5,000 a month from a landlord who lives down the street

It is not known if he was doing so as himself or if he was pretending to be his wife and using her phone.

Meanwhile, neighbors and residents in Celebration still wonder why Todt killed the family then lived with the corpses for more than a week before he was arrested by Osceola County Sheriff's deputies.

Details are scant after the sheriff's office convinced a judge to seal the arrest affidavit when Todt was charged with four counts of premeditated murder and animal cruelty.

Todt was heavily indebted to financial institutions and was under investigation for bilking Medicaid for services to patients who didn't exist.

The family was about to get evicted from the house, which they rented for $5,000 a month from a landlord who lives down the street.

Bobbie Sedwick became a music teacher to the two Todt boys in September 2018 and would teach at their home twice a week. She taught her last lesson to the children on December 12.

Sedwick tells DailyMail.com that she received a text from Megan on December 30 telling her the classes would start again on the second week of January. She never heard from her again.

'I don't think Megan knew about any of the massive debt or fraud charges,' Sedwick said. 'Life was normal as it always had been. There were no red flags in behavior in her, the kids, or Tony for that matter.'
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In a recent study from Barna, more than 15,000 people between the ages of 18 and 35 rated the churchs impact on issues of poverty and injustice. The results were surprising. 73% of the respondents who identified as practicing Christians believe that the church as a whole is making a positive impact in its effort to fight injustice.

However, that is a significant contrast from their non-Christian counterparts, 68% of whom are not at all convinced that church is effective in its efforts for justice.

These two very different perceptions cannot both be true. So, which group is right, and what is the cause of the different view of the other group?

Is the church really making a difference or not?

According to the same study, Christians are almost twice as likely as those with no faith to be inspired to give of their time to help others in need (56% to 32%) [and] to report that their beliefs compel them to give of their own resources (46% to 26%).

The reality is, Christians, churches and parachurch non-profit organizations across the world are doing a lot to help those in need. One recent example is a church in Missouri that erased $43 million in medical debt for families living in the state. Another relevant example is the many churches on both sides of the US/Mexican border that are providing shelter for asylum seekers by building bunk beds in their Sunday school classes.

Some Christian organizations have also brought in volunteer lawyers to help these people understand the immigration laws. We dont refer to them [as migrants and asylum seekers], one pastor said. We refer to them as our guests.

These are just a few of the many ways churches and parachurch organizations fighting injustice across the world. Contrary to popular opinion, many churches actually have a tremendous impact.

So, why do people doubt the churchs impact on the world?

There are many possible reasons we could point out to help explain why so many non-Christians do not see, experience or believe in the churchs impact on the world. This skepticism could come from the media, which tends to report negative headlines much more readily than positive ones. In other words, if one church sends relief to hurricane survivors in a third-world country, and another church is involved in a sex scandal, you can guess which of these is more likely to make headlines.

Another reason might be that people outside the church have different goals and standards for justice. For example, many churches are involved in the pro-life movement, which some non-Christians do not consider to be an injustice that needs to be addressed.

However, I want to point out another possible reason many people struggle to see the genuine impact that so many Christians and churches are having on the world. This comes from another study from Barna, where a poll asked respondents to describe the primary traits or qualities of Evangelicals as a whole by choosing from a list of positive and negative adjectives, including caring, narrow-minded, friendly, homophobic, generous, racist, hopeful and the list goes on. However, the two most common descriptors chosen were related to the conservatism of Evangelicals as a whole. Almost 40% of all non-Christians categorized Evangelicals as first and foremost Religiously Conservative, and then Politically Conservative.

While leaning toward the right or left of the political spectrum is neither good nor evil in and of itself, the fact that Politically Conservative was a far more common descriptor than caring, generous, encouraging or friendly, should serve as a vital warning to all of us.

Jesus said, By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another, (John 13:35). We must work hard to ensure that the world knows we are Christians by how we love, not by how we vote.
January 21, 2020 Dena Matteson , 573-323-4814

Van Buren, MO - Ozark National Scenic Riverways is proposing a temporary closure on the taking, pursuing or releasing of all feral swine within the park. The temporary closure would support interagency efforts to eliminate feral swine in Missouri.



The temporary closure would align Ozark National Scenic Riverways with its partners and neighbors in the statewide efforts to eliminate feral swine from Missouri. It is a crucial step in meeting the goals of the Missouri Feral Hog Elimination Partnership. This is a cooperative effort by a number of agencies and organizations within Missouri, including the U.S. Forest Service, Missouri Department of Conservation, the USDA Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service, and the Missouri Department of Agriculture.



The proposed closure would include an allowance for opportunistic take of feral swine by persons possessing a valid State deer or turkey hunting permit who are hunting deer or turkey in compliance with the permit.



Feral swine are extremely destructive. They pose a growing threat to private landowners and to valuable cultural and natural resources on public land. Sensitive ecosystems and irreplaceable cultural and archaeological sites are extremely vulnerable to their impact. Feral swine are also known to carry diseases which could be devastating to the agricultural industry if introduced to the domestic swine population.



This closure to hunting of feral hogs within Ozark National Scenic Riverways is a positive step toward eliminating them from the park and from the state, said Acting Superintendent Russ Runge. Protecting the parks valuable natural and cultural resources from destruction is a top priority.



The proposal for temporary closure is available for public review and comment on the Planning, Environment and Public Comment website at parkplanning.nps.gov/ozar. The proposal will be open for comment from January 22 to February 11.



Ozark National Scenic Riverways preserves the free-flowing Current and Jacks Fork Rivers, the surrounding resources, and the unique cultural heritage of the Ozark people.





www.nps.gov/ozar



About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees who care for Americas 419 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at www.nps.gov, on Facebook www.facebook.com/ nationalparkservice, Twitter www.twitter.com/ natlparkservice, and YouTube www.youtube.com/ nationalparkservice.
NEW DELHI - India and Brazil on Saturday agreed to boost trade and investment across a range of fields such as defence, mining, biofuel, cybersecurity, food, the environment and health.

Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded Brazil as a valuable partner as he and visiting President Jair Bolsonaro witnessed the signing of 15 agreements by their officials in the Indian capital.

Bolsonaro said he was looking forward to being the chief guest at Indias National Day military and cultural parade on Sunday in New Delhi. India celebrates Jan. 26 as the anniversary of its adoption of Constitution in 1950.

Modi told reporters that the two sides have reached an agreement to promote investment in each others country.

India and Brazil will also work for reforms in the functioning of the United Nations, Modi said. Both India and Brazil are seeking membership on the U.N. Security Council.

Indias trade with Brazil in 2018-19 stood at more than $8 billion. Top export items from India include organic chemicals, chemical-based products, pharmaceuticals, machinery and textile products.

The main items Brazil exports to India are petroleum products, mainly crude oil, cane sugar, copper ore, soy oil and gold.

According to Indias External Affairs Ministry, Brazilian companies have invested in the automobile, information technology, mining, energy, biofuel and footwear industries in India.

Indian companies have invested in sectors such as information technology, pharmaceuticals, energy, agribusiness, mining and automobiles in Brazil.
A uthorities have tested 31 people for coronavirus across the UK, though all there results have come back negative.

This indicates tests on 17 people have been completed in the last 24 hours, after 14 people had been given the all-clear by Friday afternoon.

There are no confirmed diagnoses in UK citizens abroad. Outside of China, the virus has been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, Malaysia, France, the United States and Australia.

The update comes as the Department of Health bids to track down around 2,000 people who have recently flown into the UK from Wuhan, the area of China worst affected by the outbreak and where it is thought to have originated.

Coronavirus - In pictures 1 /106 Coronavirus - In pictures A sign advertising a book titled "How Will We Survive On Earth?" is seen on an underground station platform Getty Images Customers wearing face masks shop at the pork counter of a supermarket following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, Hubei province Reuters Westminster Bridge is deserted in London the day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the UK in lockdown PA Canadian passengers Chris & Anna Joiner ask for help onboard the MS Zaandam, Holland America Line cruise ship, during the coronavirus outbreak, off the shores of Panama City via Reuters A man crosses a nearly empty 5th Avenue in midtown Manhattan during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City Reuters The London Eye is pictured lit blue in support of the NHS, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues Reuters Boris Johnson addresses the nation on the Coronavirus lockdown Andrew Parsons Commuters cope with Coronavirus Jeremy Selwyn Milan's Piazza del Duomo empty AFP via Getty Images People in protective clothing walk past rows of beds at a temporary 2,000-bed hospital for COVID-19 coronavirus patients set up by the Iranian army at the international exhibition center in northern Tehran, Iran AP Martina Papponetti, 25, an ICU nurse at the Humanitas Gavazzeni Hospital in Bergamo, Italy poses for a portrait at the end of her shift AP Pope Francis celebrating a daily mass alone in the Santa Marta chapel at the Vatican, as part of precautionary measures against the spread of the new coronavirus COVID-19 AFP via Getty Imag Vysheyshaya Liga - FC Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino v FC Belshina Bobruisk - Torpedo Stadium, Zhodino, Belarus, March 27, 2020 Players in action during the match despite most sport being cancelled around the world as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues Reuters Hanks and Wilson both have coronavirus Tom Hanks General view of an emergency makeshift field hospital as it is set up at Pacaembu Stadium for coronavirus (COVID-19) patients with a capacity of 200 beds in Sao Paulo, Brazil Getty Images People on a busy tube train in London at rush hour despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling on people to stay away from pubs, clubs and theatres, work from home if possible and avoid all non-essential contacts and travel in order to reduce the impact of the coronavirus pandemic PA Naomi Campbell catches a flight in a hazmat suit with goggles, a surgical mask and rubber gloves @naomi Sophie and Emily Ward pose for a photograph with their hand-drawn picture of rainbows and a message on their window in St Helens, as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues Reuters Mia, aged 8, and Jack, aged 5, take part in "PE with Joe" a daily live workout with Joe Wicks on Youtube to help kids stay fit who have to stay indoors due to the Corona virus outbreak. PA Shoppers queue outside a branch of Costco, in Croydon, south London, on the weekend after Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered pubs and restaurants across the country to close PA Charing Cross Tube Bakerloo Line very quiet at 8.15am Jeremy Selwyn A woman with a plastic box over her head on the London Underground. PA A Racegoer attend Cheltenham Festival on Ladies Day wearing a fashionable face mask SplashNews.com Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits a laboratory at the Public Health England National Infection Service in Colindale PA A man who appears to be homeless sleeping wearing a mask today in Victoria Jeremy Selwyn A couple kiss in Milano Centrale railway station in Milan on March 8, 2020 AFP via Getty Images A combination picture shows visitors wearing protective face masks following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) looking at blooming cherry blossom nd a pigeon walking at an closed cherry blossom viewing spot during the first weekend after Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike (not pictured) urged Tokyo residents to stay indoors, in a bid to keep the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from spreading Reuters This combination photo created on March 5, 2020 shows tourists visiting Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap province on March 16, 2019 (top) and on March 5, 2020 AFP via Getty Images Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump looks at the $2.2 trillion coronavirus aid package bill as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Vice President Mike Pence stand by during a signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House Reuters A satellite image shows an empty South Beach during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Miami, via Reuters General view inside the empty stadium as the two teams line up prior to the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg match between Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund at Parc des Princes UEFA via Getty Images A Sainsbury's supermarket in Cambridge is among those to sell out of antibacterial hand sanitizer PA Tents and ambulances are set up next to the Princess Cruises Grand Princess cruise as it sits docked in the Port of Oakland on March 09, 2020 in Oakland, California. The Princess Cruises Grand Princess has been held from docking until today as at least 21 people on board have tested positive for COVID-19 also known as the Coronavirus Getty Images Medical staff produce traditional Chinese medicine to treat patients infected by the COVID-19 coronavirus at a hospital in Wuhan AFP via Getty Images Army soldiers wearing protective suits spray disinfectant as a precaution against the new coronavirus at a shopping street in Seoul, South Korea AP Russian President Vladimir Putin wearing protective gear walks at a hospital for patients infected with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on the outskirts of Moscow via Reuters A woman who has recovered from the COVID-19 is disinfected by volunteers as she arrives at a hotel for a 14-day quarantine AFP via Getty Images Passengers on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship are seen as the ship arrives at Daikoku Pier where it is being resupplied and newly diagnosed coronavirus cases taken for treatment as it remains in quarantine after a number of the 3,700 people on board were diagnosed with coronavirus Getty Images Dave Abel pictured in hospital in Japan Manchester United fans in the stands during the Premier League match at Old Trafford PA Police officers wearing masks stand in front of the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel in La Caleta, in the Canary Island of Tenerife AP Carnival revellers wear protective face masks at Venice Carnival Reuters A general view is pictured of Burbage Primary School in Buxton, Derbyshire after the closure of the school as a pupil's parent has tested positive for the novel coronavirus COVID-19 AFP via Getty Images People wearing face masks walk past the Olympic rings in front of the new National Stadium, the main stadium for the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Game Getty Images People leave Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre in Milton Keynes where Coronavirus evacuees are due to be released from quarantine today and allowed to go home PA Matt Raw, a British national who returned from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, leaves quaratine at Arrowe Park Hospital on Merseyside PA A woman wears a mask while crossing London Bridg Getty Images A general view of Worthing Hospital in West Sussex PA Passengers relax on board the Holland America-operated Westerdam cruise ship, which has been denied permission to dock in Thailand over coronavirus fears via Reuters A child waves as she sits in a vehicle carrying residents evacuated from a public housing building, following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, outside Hong Mei House, at Cheung Hong Estate in Hong Kong Reuters A woman wearing a Minnie Mouse face mask looks at her mobile phone in Beijing on February 11, 2020 AFP via Getty Images The Costa Smeralda cruise ship of Costa Crociere, carrying around 6,000 passengers, is docked at the Italian port of Civitavecchia after a health alert due to a Chinese couple and a possible link to coronavirus on board, in Civitavecchia, Italy Reuters A patient covered with a bed sheet at an exhibition centre converted into a hospital as it starts to accept patients displaying mild symptoms of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan AFP via Getty Images A medical official takes the body temperature of a man at the departure hall of the airport in Changsha, Hunan Province, as the country is hit by an outbreak of a new coronavirus, China Reuters The view of the Wuhan International Conference and Exhibition Center Getty Images A plane carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, arrives at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire A police vehicle enters the gates of the Royal Air Force station RAF Brize Norton in Carterton AFP via Getty Images Passengers wear face masks as the push their luggage after arriving from a flight at Terminal 5 of London Heathrow Airport AFP via Getty Images French citizens arrive and settle aboard of an evacuation plane with destination southeastern France, before departure from Wuhan Airport (WUH), China AFP via Getty Images Police stand at a checkpoint at the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge that crosses from Hubei province in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, China Reuters A member of staff at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside prepares for a bus carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China PA Doctor Paul McKay, who is working on an vaccine for the 2019-nCoV strain of the novel coronavirus, poses for a photograph with bacteria containing fragments of coronavirus DNA, at Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM) in Londo AFP via Getty Images Workers produce masks at the Thai Hospital Product Company Ltd. factory in Bangkok AFP via Getty Images Passengers wearing face masks are seen on a bus after disembarking from the Costa Smeralda cruise ship, after tests on a woman from Macau with suspected coronavirus came back negative, in Civitavecchia, Italy Reuters People hoard bottles of alcohol after the Philippine government confirmed the first case of the new coronavirus in the country, in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines Reuters Taking precautions: with fears growing that the coronavirus will spread from China, a health official checks a womans temperature on the underground in Beijing Getty Images An empty road is seen in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on January 27, 2020, amid a deadly virus outbreak which began in the city AFP via Getty Images Students wearing masks meditate prior to a lesson at a high school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia AP Medical staff at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital wear protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus AFP via Getty Images Staff move bio-waste containers past the entrance of the Wuhan Medical Treatment Center, where some infected with a new virus are being treated, in Wuhan, China AP Workers driving excavators at the construction site of a field hospital In Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The builders will complete the 1,000-bed hospital by February 3 to cope with the surge of 2019-nCoV patients in the city Getty Images Buddhist monks wear masks as they walk near Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodi AP A woman and a child wearing protective masks walk toward check-in counters at Daxing international airport in Beijing AFP via Getty Images An employee sprays disinfectant on a train as a precaution against a new coronavirus at Suseo Station in Seoul, South Korea AP A policeman wearing a mask walks past a quarantine notice about the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China at an arrival hall of Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan Reuters Paramilitary police wear face masks as they stand guard at Tiananmen Gate adjacent to Tiananmen Square in Beijing AP The resident wear masks to buy vegetables in the market in Wuhan Getty Images Staff sell masks at a Yifeng Pharmacy in Wuhan AP Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV AP

There are fears that the virus could hit British shores, after England's Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty said there was a "fair chance" of cases being identified in the country.

China today confirmed it was dealing with 1,372 cases while the death toll stood at 41.

Workers in protective suits check the temperature of passengers arriving at the Xianning North Station / REUTERS

Xi Jinping told a policy meeting, aimed at looking for measures to fight the outbreak, that the virus was "accelerating its spread".

A report from state television in the country said plans have dictated resources and experts will be concentrated at designated hospitals for treatment of severe cases.

People are being tested across China / Getty Images

China's State Council Information Office is to hold a press briefing on the coronavirus outbreak on Sunday.

The fatalities so far have been contained to China, which has placed a reported 56 million people on lock down, with the majority occurring in the Hubei province around Wuhan.

In a bid to stop the spread, China's capital city Beijing will stop all inter-province shuttle buses from January 26, local media reported on Saturday, with no detail of when bus services will be resumed.

Wuhan authorities said they are rapidly constructing a new 1,000-bed hospital to deal with the crisis, to be completed on February 3. The facility will be modelled on a Sars hospital that was built in Beijing in just six days during the Sars outbreak.

The outbreak has hampered celebrations on Lunar New Year in China, the first day of the Year of the Rat.

Temples locked their doors, Beijing's Forbidden City, Shanghai Disneyland and other major tourist destinations closed.

Other people cancelled restaurant reservations ahead of the holiday, normally a time of family reunions, sightseeing trips and other festivities in the country of 1.4 billion people.
More than 35,000 self-styled 'weirdos' and 'misfits' have applied to work in Downing Street, Dominic Cummings revealed last night.

Addressing a meeting of government advisers, Boris Johnson's chief adviser said he had been overwhelmed with replies to his unconventional job advert.

Mr Cummings also encouraged ministers to think outside the box and look to recruit staff from outside the traditional civil service routes.

Dominic said that 'confident public school bluffers' need not apply - and warned that those who failed to make the grade would be 'binned' within weeks. Last night he revealed that he will be recruiting several new staff from those who responded

He said the Cabinet Office, which has jealously guarded the civil service in the past, was now being 'cooperative' about recruiting from outside.

The Daily Mail illustrated how Mr Cummings' job advert might look on a poster - calling for 'super-talented weirdos' to apply to work at Number 10

In an extraordinary blog post this month, Mr Cummings said he wanted to shake up recruitment to No 10, adding: 'We need some true wild cards, artists, people who never went to university and fought their way out of an appalling hell hole.'

He said that 'confident public school bluffers' need not apply - and warned that those who failed to make the grade would be 'binned' within weeks.

Last night he revealed that he will be recruiting several new staff from those who responded.

Mr Cummings also issued a warning to ministers that they will be rewarded for delivery, rather than how well they perform on the media.

A source said: 'He basically said that ministers will get 'points' from No10 for getting on with job, not for appearing on the telly.'

The warning comes as ministers brace themselves for a government reshuffle, which is expected to see a major clear out next month.

Mr Cummings also warned that ministers who fail to get a grip on public procurement will be frowned on as the government tries to drive down waste and free up resources for the PM's priorities.
Reporter

Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).
The government has urged people with travel history to China since January 1 this year to voluntarily report themselves to authorities if they experience symptoms related to the deadly novel coronavirus (nCoV) such as fever, cough and respiratory distress.

It said it has set up a 24x7 helpline (+91-11-23978046) to attend to public queries on the virus strain that had been not been encountered before. It has killed 41 people and infected more than 1,300 people in China and is reported to be spreading to several other countries.

Officials said on Friday that 11 people, who returned to India from China in recent days, have been put under observation in Kerala, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad for possible exposure to the virus.

The health ministry said the helpline will monitor the list of contacts furnished by the Ministry of External Affairs, provide details of district and state surveillance officers to those who seek them and direct the public to the relevant surveillance officer for any clinical query.

The ministry also asked travellers, who are in China or returning to India from there, to follow certain "Dos and Don'ts".

During stay in China, if they feel sick and have fever and cough, they should cover their mouth while coughing and sneezing, seek medical attention promptly and report to the Indian Embassy in China, the ministry advisory said.

If travellers feel sick on flight, when returning to India, they should inform the airline crew, seek mask, avoid close contact with family members or other travellers and follow directions.

Twenty-eight cases of the novel (new) coronavirus have been confirmed outside Chinese mainland 5 in Hong Kong, 2 in Macao, 3 in Taiwan, 4 in Thailand, 2 in Japan, 2 in South Korea, 2 in the US, 2 in Vietnam and 3 in Singapore and 1 each in Nepal and France, the advisory said.

The virus has emerged from a seafood and animal market in China's Wuhan city.

The common symptoms of the novel coronavirus strain also include shortness of breath and breathing difficulties, according to the World Health Organisation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Japanese sweet-shop owner has banned Chinese tourists from his store because he wants to 'protect himself against the coronavirus'.

The sign with the heading 'no Chinese allowed in the shop' was put up outside the confectionery store in Hakone in the Kanagawa prefecture.

This comes as Japan - a popular holiday destination for Chinese tourists for the lunar new year - confirmed its second case of the coronavirus.

A Japanese sweet-shop owner - in Hakone in the Kanagawa prefecture - has banned Chinese tourists from his store because he wants to 'protect himself against the coronavirus'

China has gone into lockdown today and authorities and businesses are scrambling to shut tourist attractions and public transport systems across the country in a bid to stop the spread of the deadly new virus. Two cases have been confirmed in Japan

The sign also says that 'Chinese are banned from entering' because the owner would 'hate to have the virus scattered about (here).'

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF THE CORONAVIRUS? Once someone has caught the virus it may take between two and 14 days for them to show any symptoms. If and when they do, typical signs include: a runny nose

a cough

sore throat

fever (high temperature) The vast majority of patients  at least 97 per cent, based on available data  will recover from these without any issues or medical help. In a small group of patients, who seem mainly to be the elderly or those with long-term illnesses, it can lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia is an infection in which the insides of the lungs swell up and fill with fluid. It makes it increasingly difficult to breathe and, if left untreated, can be fatal and suffocate people. Advertisement

The owner, who has not been named, is believed to have translated the words to mandarin using an app.

He told local newspaper Asahi Shimbun: 'I want to protect myself against the coronavirus. I don't want Chinese tourists to enter.'

The first cases of the coronavirus identified were among people connected to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China.

Wuhan, a city of 11 million, has been in virtual lockdown since Thursday, with nearly all flights at the airport cancelled and checkpoints blocking the main roads leading out of town.

Authorities have since imposed transport restrictions on nearly all of Hubei province, which has a population of 59 million.

A total of 41 people have died from the virus so far, of which 39 were in the central province of Hubei, where Wuhan is located.

The number of confirmed cases in China stands at 1,287, the National Health Commission said on Saturday.

U.S. coffee chain Starbucks said on Saturday that it was closing all its outlets in Hubei province for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, following a similar move by McDonald's in five Hubei cities.

The virus has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, Malaysia, France, the United States and Australia.

This comes as Japan confirmed its second case of the coronavirus. Pictured: Chinese tourists arrive at Narita airport

Chinese tourists are pictured outside the Narita airport in Japan. Japan is one of the most popular holiday destinations for Chinese people during the New Year

Australia on Saturday announced its first case of coronavirus, a Chinese national in his 50s, who had been in Wuhan and arrived from China on January 19 on a flight from Guangzhou.

He is in stable condition in a Melbourne hospital.

Experts have compared the coronavirus outbreak to the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

The epidemic started in southern China and killed more than 700 people in mainland China, Hong Kong and elsewhere.
Rational Approach To Juba University Fees Issue

"My appeal to Prof John Akec with his staff is that, kindly allow them to sit but they must be given timeframe to settle the fees. Should they fail to honour it, the Administration will then be on the safe side."





By Pal Chol Nyan

This morning, 22 Jan 2020, some students who failed to pay their tuition fees were barred from sitting for exams. They rioted and an informed source confirmed it to me that the rioting students tore the examination papers and vandalized the properties out of anger.

Tearing examination papers is a crime and punishable by law. This means, the paper set for today will be cancelled and questions reset. It gives the lecturers another tedious work to sit with the Examination Council to see what to do.

Secondly, those who did this should have something to answer and account for. It is a misconduct.

During my University days in Khartoum, students who did not afford to pay their tuition fees used to be allowed to sit on condition that they write and sign an undertaking to pay theirs after the exams. If they failed again to pay, they will not be allowed to see their results.

Thirdly, the economic situation in our country is dire. There are families who have no regular sources of income to enable them pay for their children.

I don't deny that in other parts of the region, Africa and the World, it is those who come from well-to-do families who have their children enrolled in Universities.

In the countries with security and stable economy, the Primary and Secondary Educations are free but when it comes to tertiary education, tuition fees are compulsorily paid and it varies from one College to another.

It is worth mentioning that the fees being paid by the students are used to meet the basic requirements in the University and as allowances for the administrative and teaching staff.

I applauded the promise by our President to increase the salaries of the University staff to boost their morale in the work they do: teaching. I understand this has been affected.

We have doctors, engineers , teachers and so many other professionals because of the work teachers do in the schools and universities. It is in realizing solid education that this country will prosper, grow and become a sustainable place to live in and for posterity.

What is killing our people is ignorance and it is, in my opinion, due to lack of education. As such we should be obliged to embrace and support education in all ways.

The rioting students should also know that the teaching staff are human beings. They have families to care for. They have their own physical and material needs that they would want to see available. They are doing a commendable and a great job.

I continue to beseech the students that payment of tuition fees for higher education is obligatory. It is in the Admission Guide that is usually given on getting admission form, which the students must read to understand before filling the form. It is there that the students tend to know what happens in case no fees are paid or the punishment in case of any misconduct.

University means universal education. Those studying there are expected to show high degree of integrity and respect but that doesn't compromise their rights when they see that things go wrong. I pray that this issue will be resolved and all will be well.

My appeal to Prof John Akec with his staff is that, kindly allow them to sit but they must be given timeframe to settle the fees. Should they fail to honour it, the Administration will then be on the safe side.


A Helena man convicted in the double homicide of a Helena Valley couple in 2018 was sentenced to life in prison Friday in Lewis and Clark County District Court.

Journey Ryder Wienke, who was previously found guilty of two counts of deliberate homicide and tampering with evidence, was one of three men convicted of the slayings of Charla Rae Taylor, 64, and David Muncie Taylor, 61. The couple was killed in their home with a pocket knife and a piece of rebar in March 2018.

On Friday Judge Mike Menahan sentenced Wienke to two life sentences, with the sentences to run concurrently. He also received a 10-year sentence for tampering with evidence, also to run concurrently.

Under Montana sentencing guidelines, Wienke would be eligible for parole in 30 years.

The couple's adopted son Kaleb David Taylor admitted to the crimes in July 2018. In March 2019, Kaleb was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole for two counts of deliberate homicide.

During Wienke's trial, Kaleb acknowledged that Wienke followed him into the home when he killed his parents but said Wienke "didn't have anything to do with it." The prosecution argued that circumstantial evidence points to Wienke holding the knife that night.

Kyle Hamm, the other man convicted of the homicides, was sentenced to 80 years in prison Jan. 13.

Lewis and Clark County Attorney Leo Gallagher has described the double homicide as "one of the most brutal nights of violence this community has ever seen."

During the sentencing hearing, Gallagher attempted to paint a picture of a young man given multiple opportunities to change his ways and asked that Judge Mike Menahan hand down a sentence that would "prevent him from leaving prison before his death."

"I don't think there is any chance he can be rehabilitated," he said.

Gallagher pointed to Wienke's pattern of conduct that "predates the homicides and continues in jail."

Wienke has served 687 days inside Lewis and Clark County Detention Center since his arrest in 2018, which will count toward his sentence.

Samuel Warkentin, the probation officer who conducted the presentence investigation, testified during the sentencing hearing that he would not recommend granting Wienke the ability to seek parole.

Warkentin detailed a long troubled history of neglect and drug abuse throughout Wienke's life. At 13 months old, Wienke was taken from his parents because of their drug addiction.

He bounced around between foster homes, before eventually being adopted.

By the time he was entering high school, Wienke's adopted parents had split up, and he began abusing drugs and alcohol, according to Warkentin's investigation. Courtroom testimony on Friday confirmed that Wienke, Hamm and Kaleb Taylor were using heroin and methamphetamine heavily during the time leading up to the double homicide.

His criminal record started days prior to his 18th birthday, when in 2014, Wienke and some other juveniles broke into a Phillips County saloon and stole a case of liquor. He was sentenced then to three years with the Department of Corrections' Missoula Assessment and Sanction Center, a treatment program Wienke completed.

He was released into the supervision of Great Falls probation officers in May 2015, but by August of that year, he had fallen back into a longtime methamphetamine addiction, failed his court ordered drug testing and absconded, according to Warkentin's testimony.

In 2017, Wienke was featured in an episode of a cable television reality program called "Intervention." Warkentin said Wienke is seen using illicit drugs, pawning items to pay for the drugs and eventually being checked into a hospital.

The prosecution also said Wienke has caused several problems since his incarceration, including threatening jailers and damaging jail property.

"Mr. Wienke has had multiple options to address his issues," Warkentin said from the witness stand. "There is not a whole lot more the Department of Corrections can offer him at this point."

Wienke's defense attorneys attempted to portray their client as a person afforded little to no opportunities in his life. Defense attorney Lisa Kauffman said in her closing argument that Wienke's mother was abusing drugs while pregnant with Wienke, causing substantial harm and setting Wienke up for a lifetime of hardship.

Kauffman also argued that the severe overcrowding at Lewis and Clark County Detention Center is to blame for the incidents since his arrest, and that law enforcement should not be surprised when tensions rise in such a setting.

Kauffman also asserted in her closing argument that Wienke has in fact been provided little to no treatment for drug addiction and mental health problems, and that the Department of Corrections has not exhausted its resources for treatment.

Kauffman and fellow defense attorney Brian Smith asked that the judge consider mitigating factors such as Wienke's age, lack of violent criminal activity, history of neglect and heavy drug abuse. They recommended their client be sentenced to 80 years with 40 years suspended and that he be enrolled in the NEXUS Methamphetamine Treatment Center.

"We should not be warehousing young people like animals," Kauffman said. "He's becoming institutionalized. He's becoming a criminal."

In his statement to the judge, Wienke expressed remorse for his crimes.

"There is no one to blame but myself because of my drug use," Wienke said. "I hope you find it in your heart that I can be rehabilitated and not get life in prison."

Judge Menahan said he took many factors, including Wienke's troubled past and lack of a violent criminal history, into consideration when constructing his sentence.

"I don't want to discount the possibility that you could demonstrate to a parole board an ability to rejoin society," Menahan said.

Menahan credited Wienke with the nearly two years of time served and recommended he participate in the NEXUS program, which will be at the discretion of the Department of Corrections.

The Taylor family was also seeking restitution to the tune of nearly $36,000, which Menahan granted.

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- Megan Young and Mikael Daez have finally tied the knot after being together for nine years

- The two confirmed the big news through their personal social media accounts

- Aside from this, Megan and Mikael also shared some sweet photos from their wedding online

- Mikael first revealed to the public back in February 2017, that he and Megan were together as a couple

PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed

Kapuso celebrity couple Megan Young and Mikael Daez stunned the online community with their latest posts on their personal social media accounts.

It can be recalled that the two recently celebrated their ninth anniversary earlier this year, January 6, as they greeted one another on social media.

KAMI learned that the celebrity couple has finally tied the knot after being together for nine years.

In her online post, the Miss World 2013 titleholder shared photos of themselves with their backs turned as they held up a peace sign.

Megan also wrote in her caption their married names, "Megan Young-Daez & Mikael Daez-Young."

Furthermore, Mikael also uploaded photos from their church wedding with the caption, "Hello to Megan Young-Daez and its time for me to get used to Mikael Daez-Young. #Finally."

PAY ATTENTION: Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news!

As reported earlier by KAMI, Megan Young and Mikael Daez flaunted their trip to Iceland through various Instagram photos. The celebrity couple decided to tick one item off their bucket list by going on a vacation in the Nordic country. The two of them spent their days in Iceland hiking, swimming, and enjoying the scenery.

Megan Young is a Filipina actress who won the title of Miss World 2013. She started as a contestant of the reality television show StarStruck and later became a member of ABS-CBN's Star Magic. Mikael Daez, on the other hand, started his career as a commercial model in various advertisements. He then ventured into acting and signed a contract under GMA Network.

POPULAR: Read more news about Megan Young

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Source: KAMI.com.gh
SYDNEY  The three American firefighters who were killed when the aerial water tanker they were in crashed while battling wildfires in Australia have been identified by their employer.

The men who died Thursday in the crash of the C-130 Hercules were Capt. Ian H. McBeth, 44, of Great Falls, Montana, who also served with the Wyoming National Guard; First Officer Paul Clyde Hudson, 42, of Buckeye, Arizona; and Flight Engineer Rick A. DeMorgan Jr., 43, of Navarre, Florida, Canada-based Coulson Aviation said in a statement.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed the deaths in the states Snowy Monaro region, which came as Australia grapples with an unprecedented fire season that has left a large swath of destruction.

In its statement, Coulson said McBeth was was a highly qualified and respected C-130 pilot with many years fighting fire, both in the military and with Coulson Aviation.

McBeth is survived by his wife, Bowdie, and three children, Abigail, Calvin and Ella.

Ians love for his wife and children was evident for anyone who spent time around him, according to companys news release.

McBeth was a C-130 pilot with many years experience fighting fire both with the military and with Coulson Aviation. McBeth served with both the Wyoming, Nevada and Montana Air National Guards. He was also an instructor and an evaluator pilot, according to the Coulson release.

Capt. Cassandra Ross with the Montana Air National Guard knew McBeth and said he was a committed airman.

He was an incredible person, Ross said. He was very selfless. Service before self definitely embodied in him.

On Facebook, Col. Buel Dickson, 120th Airlift Wing Commander, expressed condolences to McBeths family.

It is never an easy thing to manage. The loss of a brother in arms affects us all, he wrote. Please know through difficult times such as these you are never alone. Dont hesitate to reach out and lean on each other as we navigate this loss together.

Hudson graduated from the Naval Academy in 1999 and spent the next twenty years serving in the United States Marine Corps in a number of positions including C-130 pilot, Coulson said. He is survived by his wife.

DeMorgan served in the U.S. Air Force with 18 years as a flight engineer on the C-130, the company said. He had had more than 4,000 hours as a flight engineer with nearly 2,000 hours in combat.

Ricks passion was always flying and his children, Coulson said. He is survived by two children, his parents and his sister.

He had more than 4,300 flying hours as a military pilot and navigator in the C-130, 836 of which are combat flying hours, according to a press release from the 120th Airlift Wing.

Coulson Aviation echoed those condolences for all three mens families.The aviation industry and emergency service sector is a small community both in Australia and around the world. This will be deeply felt by all, the group wrote in its release.

Coulson said in a statement that one of its Lockheed large air tankers was lost after it left Richmond in New South Wales with retardant for a firebombing mission. It said the accident was extensive but had few other details.

The only thing I have from the field reports are that the plane came down, its crashed and there was a large fireball associated with that crash, Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said she had conveyed Australias condolences to U.S. Ambassador Arthur Culvahouse Jr.

Our hearts go out to their loved ones. They were helping Australia, far from their own homes, an embodiment of the deep friendship between our two countries, she said in a statement.

Payne added: Thank you to these three, and to all the brave firefighters from Australia and around the world. Your service and contribution are extraordinary. We are ever grateful.

The tragedy brings the death toll from the blazes to at least 31 since September. The fires have also destroyed more than 2,600 homes and razed more than 10.4 million hectares, an area bigger than Indiana.

Coulson grounded other firefighting aircraft as a precaution pending investigation, reducing planes available to firefighters in New South Wales and neighboring Victoria. The four-propeller Hercules drops more than 15,000 liters of fire retardant in a single pass.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the national air crash investigator, and state police will investigate the crash site, which firefighters described as an active fire ground.

There is no indication at this stage of whats caused the accident, Fitzsimmons said.

Berejiklian said there were more than 1,700 volunteers and personnel in the field, and five fires were being described at an emergency warning level  the most dangerous on a three-tier scale  across the state and on the fringes of the national capital, Canberra.

Also Thursday, Canberra Airport closed temporarily because of nearby wildfires, and residents south of the city were told to seek shelter. The airport reopened after several hours with Qantas operating limited services, but Virgin and Singapore Airlines canceled flights for the rest of the day.

The blaze started Wednesday, but strong winds and high temperatures caused conditions in Canberra to deteriorate. A second fire near the airport that started on Thursday morning is at a watch and act level  the middle of the three tiers.

Residents in some Canberra suburbs were advised to seek shelter and others to leave immediately.

The defense force is both assisting to a degree and looking to whether that needs to be reinforced, Chief of Defense Angus Campbell told reporters.

I have people who are both involved as persons who need to be moved from areas and office buildings that are potentially in danger, and also those persons who are part of the (Operation) Bushfire Assist effort, he said.

The Billings Gazette contributed to this report.

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Houston ISD image

A Sugar Land man who reportedly taught piano lessons in his home and worked as a music teacher at a Houston ISD elementary school, was recently arrest for alleged possession and distribution of child pornography, according to documents recently filed in federal court.

Robert Peri, known as Mr. Peri to his students at Memorial Elementary, was arrested at his residence in Greatwood, a master planned community located in Sugar Land, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, following a search by Homeland Security Investigations agents .
The 3-by-3.5-inch sepia-toned picture arrived at the Owasco Town Hall on Dec. 3 from David Jester in California. Great care had been taken to protect this old picture, which was taken in early September 1866. It was encased in bubble wrap supported by cardboard. Two small scraps of paper were enclosed with faded writing.

I must admit: This mailing caused a great bit of excitement.

Although the old picture taken after the close of the Civil War was water-stained and creased, it clearly showed the gathering of history's heroes with President Andrew Johnson. He was flanked by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, Secretary of State William H. Seward and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. There may have been others at the picnic serving in the presidents cabinet who accompanied Johnson on his Swing Around the Circle Tour, but they have not been identified. The tour was scheduled from Aug. 27 to Sept. 15, 1866. I wonder if the two generals who married Martin sisters, named Emery Upton and Andrew Alexander, are in this picture. Somewhere among the men seated at the table are Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, Phil Sheridan, George Custer and David Farragut. Only one side of the table was pictured.

I also think the black man featured to the back left side of Johnson could be his former slave Henry, who along with 10 other slaves was freed by Johnson in 1863 in Tennessee. It is recorded that Henry was listed as a servant in the Johnson household and accompanied him to the White House. Perhaps he was on the tour acting as his valet.

The back of the picture said, Picnic at the Gov. Grove on the lake. This note was written by Evelina Throop Rochester. She identified some of the people sitting at the table and wrote her listing on the two small scraps of paper that were sent with the picture. The names listed above were as she wrote them.

The Governors Grove was actually in Willowbrook, the home of Gov. Enos T. Throop. It is located on the east side of Owasco Lake in the town of Owasco, and called Martin Point today. I wrote a column for The Citizen in August of 2007 about the tour. The menu served at this picnic has even been published.

Johnson was slipping in popularity, and wanted Grant along "to attract and please the crowds and bolster his popularity. He insisted Grant stand next to him when pictures were taken. Grant wrote from Auburn to his wife, I am getting very tired of this expedition and hearing political speeches. Disgusted, he left the tour shortly after the Auburn visit.

While researching several sources of the Swing Around the Circle Tour, I was struck by many ironic similarities. Does history repeat itself? Johnsons staff became alarmed with his demeanor, rash outbursts and subsequent actions at political rallies. He would not prepare a script and, even worse, would engage in nasty retorts back at the many hecklers in the crowds. At one speech lasting over an hour, he referred to himself 200 times. He would not follow their council and advice. Like Grant did later in 1867, many of his staff became weary of his obstinate attitude, quit and left their posts.

The press followed the schedule of the entourage in their Baltimore & Ohio train. They were provided a special car. They were having a field day. They called the tour a political disaster. At each stop, the train was met by large, sometimes angry crowds. At one point, prior to the Auburn stop, a platform collapsed, injuring one hundred people and killing 13. In Auburn, Grants carriage injured a boy running alongside and caused the youngster the loss of his leg.

The Swing Around the Circle Tour was arranged by William Seward and Gideon Welles to garner support for Johnson for the next election in 1868, but it only proved to show Johnson's lack of diplomatic and professional deportment. Recorded press releases said he used vile and abusive language, costing him 1 million future votes in the North.

President Andrew Johnson created further disfavor when he tried to fire Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in 1867. Johnson wanted Stanton to resign. He refused. The president proceeded to suspend him when Congress was not in session. The House of Representatives brought an impeachment article against him in May of 1868 for this action, basing their argument on him violating his office with the suspension under the Tenure of Office Act. When it came down to a vote in the Senate, he was acquitted by one vote. Undaunted, the House proceeded with gathering 11 more articles to impeach him. He was not reelected.

The Willowbrook picture shows excitement and camaraderie a year before all of the evolving political problems during the Johnson presidency, but those problems were evidently brewing nonetheless.

I am grateful for the valued assistance of my friend Todd Gaglianese, who worked a month restoring the picture shown here, and the scraps of paper sent with it. He removed the mold, creases and water stains, and adjusted the tone.

Laurel Auchampaugh is the Owasco historian and can be reached at the Owasco Town Hall from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoons or at historian@owascony.gov.

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P resident Donald Trump's lawyers have accused the Democrats of striving to overturn the results of the 2016 election as his defence kicked off.

Mr Trump's lawyers opened their impeachment trial defence in a rare Saturday session by saying the Democrats' investigations into his dealings with Ukraine were not a fact-finding mission.

Instead they claimed it was a politically motivated effort to drive him from the White House.

"They're here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history," White House Counsel Pat Cipollone told senators. "And we can't allow that to happen."

White House Counsel Pat Cipollone speaks during impeachment proceedings / Senate Television via Getty Imag

The Trump legal team's arguments were aimed at rebutting allegations that the president abused his power when he asked Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden and then obstructed Congress as it tried to investigate.

Mr Trump is mounting a wide-ranging, aggressive defence asserting an expansive view of presidential powers.

It aims to paint a picture of the president being besieged by political opponents determined to ensure that he will not be re-elected this November.

Mr Cipollone said: "They're asking you not only to overturn the results of the last election, but as I've said before, they're asking you to remove President Trump from an election that's occurring in approximately nine months.

House Impeachment Managers Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Val Demings (D-FL), Jason Crow (D-CO) and Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) arrive at the Senate Chamber / REUTERS

"They're asking you to tear up all the ballots across this country on their own initiative."

From the White House, Mr Trump added name-calling, tweeting that his team was making his case "against lyin', cheatin', liddle' Adam "Shifty" Schiff, Cryin' Chuck Schumer, Nervous Nancy Pelosi" and others of "the Radical Left."

The president's lawyers were making only a truncated argument on Saturday before resuming on Monday.

The attorneys are responding to two articles of impeachment approved last month by the House - one that accuses him of encouraging Ukraine to investigate Mr Biden at the same time the administration withheld military aid from the country.

The other accuses him of obstructing Congress by directing aides not to testify or produce documents.

A 2018 recording of the president has been unearthed / Getty Images

Mr Trump's defence team took center stage following three days of methodical and passionate arguments from Democrats, who wrapped up on Friday by warning that Mr Trump will persist in abusing his power.

They claimed he would endanger American democracy unless Congress intervenes to remove him before the 2020 election.

They also implored Republicans to allow new testimony to be heard before senators render a final verdict.

Representatives vote in the US Senate Chamber / REUTERS

"Give America a fair trial," said Adam Schiff, the lead Democratic impeachment manager. "She's worth it."

The defence team accused House impeachment managers of omitting evidence favorable to Mr Trump and painting in a nefarious light actions that the president was legitimately empowered to take.

They argued that there was no evidence that Mr Trump made the security aid contingent on Ukraine announcing an investigation into the Bidens and that Ukraine didn't even know that the money had been paused until shortly before it was released.

"Most of the Democratic witnesses have never spoken to the president at all, let alone about Ukraine security assistance," said deputy White House Counsel Michael Purpura.

Mr Pupura told the senators the other main reason for the July 25 call in which Trump asked Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the Biden investigation was in line with the president's concerns about corruption.

Adam Schiff speaks during the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump / AP

But Mr Trump never mentioned that word, according to the rough transcript released by the White House.

Mr Pupura said everyone knows that when Mr Trump asked Mr Zelenskiy to "do us a favor," he meant the US, not himself.

Defence lawyers say Mr Trump was a victim not only of Democratic rage but also of overzealous agents and prosecutors.

The lawyers probably will cite mistakes made by the FBI in its surveillance of a former Trump campaign aide in the now-concluded Trump-Russia election investigation.

In response to allegations that he invited foreign interference, they already have argued that it was no different from Hillary Clinton's campaign's use of a former British spy to gather opposition research on Mr Trump in 2016.

Acquittal was likely, given that Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and a two-thirds vote would be required for conviction.

Mr Trump, with his eyes on the audience beyond the Senate chamber, bemoaned the trial schedule in a tweet, saying it "looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in TV."
Home Four wheelers Maruti Suzuki S-Presso Exports To Latin America, Africa & Asia Begins lekhaka-Stephen neil gershom

Maruti Suzuki has commenced exports of its S-Presso hatchback to the Asian, Latin American and African markets. India's best-selling car manufacturer made the announcement regarding the S-Presso's exports just a few months after the entry-level hatchback's launch.

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Police are investigating the incident, which occurred in Belfast on Friday night (PA)

Police are investigating after a man was stabbed and had part of his finger bitten off in an attack in Belfast.

The incident happened in Bradbury Place between 7.50pm and 8.10pm on Friday.

It is understood the man was involved in an altercation with another man and a woman inside premises which then spilled out into the street.

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The man sustained stab wounds and the top of one of his fingers was bitten off.

He was taken to hospital for treatment.

PSNI Sergeant Julian Jackson said: I would appeal to anyone who was in the Bradbury Place area of Belfast last night between 7.50pm and 8.10pm and witnessed this incident, or anyone who has information that could assist with our inquiries, to contact us at Lisburn Road on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference 1783 of January 24.

Alternatively, information can also be provided to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
News Release Date: January 17, 2020



Contact: Naaman Horn, 307.699.0142

The National Park Service regional office serving NPS units across the states of Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming, and Utah welcomes Justin Jager as the new regional aviation manager. The position provides oversight and technical expertise in support of the regions diverse aviation programs.

Justin will be a great resource for the fire programs in our region, said Regional Fire Management Officer Jay Lusher. He has nearly twenty years of experience in aviation operations supporting wildland fire suppression, prescribed fire, law enforcement, search and rescue, and all-hazard and resource management.

Jager is a FAA and DOI certified UAS remote pilot, has a certificate in Aviation Safety and Security from the University of Southern Californias School of Engineering, and holds a Master of Natural Resources degree with an emphasis in Wildland Fire Ecology and Management from University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. He also has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Natural Resource Management from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Jager began his career as an intern with the Student Conservation Association where he performed trail and backcountry maintenance work at Kenai Fjords and Rocky Mountain National Parks. His volunteer work opened the door for a paid trail worker position at Rocky Mountain National Park. After working on trail crews for four seasons, Jager joined the Arrowhead Hotshots crew based out of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

I love working outdoors and feeling like the work I do is making a difference, noted Jager. Doing trail work was a great starting point, but when I discovered aviation I knew I had found my true calling.

As he advanced in his career, Jager worked as an assistant lead Fire Specialist with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Alaska Fire Service. Next he served as the assistant helicopter crew supervisor, and later as overall supervisor, with BLMs Ely District Office in Ely, Nevada. He will be coming to his new job from his current position as the Interagency Aviation Officer supporting Grand Canyon National Park, Coconino National Forest, Kaibab National Forest, and the Flagstaff and Verde Valley National Monuments.

Having worked out of the greater Grand Canyon area I already have great relationships with many of the players, said Jager. I am excited to work with all the parks across the region and our many partners and stakeholders to continue the success of our aviation programs.

Jager succeeds Steve Sorensen, who served in the position for eight years before retiring.
Mayor Steve Benjamin of Columbia, SC, will kick off the grand opening of the Mike Bloomberg 2020 Democratic presidential campaign office in Chattanooga on Monday. The opening will be at 724 Cherry Street at 5 p.m.

Mr. Benjamin serves as national co-chair of the Bloomberg campaign and is the first black mayor of Columbia. He will meet with voters and local officials, share Mr. Bloombergs vision for the country, and discuss his support of Mr. Bloomberg.

Mr. Blomberg's campaign said, "Mike is focused on bringing opportunity to all Americans. He recently announced his plans for the All-In Economy that will bring jobs and income growth to people and communities that have been short-changed by President Trump. Last week, he rolled out the Greenwood Initiative, his plan to address the systemic and unacceptable wealth gap faced by Black Americans.

"The Chattanooga campaign headquarters joins offices in Nashville and Knoxville as part of our campaign to defeat Donald Trump and elect Mike president of the United States."

Tennesseans head to the polls on Super Tuesday, March 3.
Alberta has long been a heartland for Conservatives. The province has delivered prime ministers and cabinet members to Ottawa for a century, but its role in choosing the next leader of the Conservative party could be subdued.

There are no prominent Albertans in the race so far and the voting structure could force candidates to think nationally, not regionally. Despite limited potential to influence the outcome of this particular contest, Alberta's position in discussions of frustration and policy could hold its place firmly in the national spotlight.

Alberta's prominence in the Conservative party of 2020 is not as it was when Stephen Harper was defeated in 2015. A slew of prominent cabinet ministers during the last Conservative government came from Alberta, people like Rona Ambrose, Jason Kenney, Jim Prentice and Monte Solberg.

"There aren't a whole lot of visible, high-profile Conservative MPs in Alberta," said Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University.

With no obvious home-grown choice, Albertan party members will have to look to someone else.

Alberta is a loyally Conservative province, where the party took all but one seat in the last election.

However, when it comes to leadership races, concentrated support doesn't always help. In the 2017 race that elected Andrew Scheer, each riding was weighted equally, meaning candidates needed broad support across the country. It's unclear if the rules will be changed this time, but it means securing this province's support likely won't guarantee victory.

"If you had someone who said 'I'm running for the Conservative Party of Canada to represent Alberta's interests,' you're not going to win," Bratt said.

Political and regional fissures

While Albertans may not decide the outcome of the Conservative leadership, the province encapsulated two polarizing issues in the 2019 election: climate policy and the future of Canada's natural resources. The intersection of the two will be a challenge to solve for the incoming leader, according to Solberg, a former cabinet minister in Harper's government.

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"I think for any potential new leader they've got to show that they have an understanding of the natural resource sector and have to figure out how to convincingly reconcile the environment and resource development," he said.

He added the successful candidate will have to speak to agriculture workers in the Prairies and auto workers in Ontario with equal authority, alluding to a broader dilemma for the party.

Nathan Denette/Canadian Press

"It shows the challenge that the Conservative party has with the fissures both ideologically but also geographically," Bratt said.

Those divisions exist between fiscal and social conservatives, but also beyond party boundaries as tensions rise between Ottawa and Alberta over climate policy, oil and gas and fiscal transfers.

That anger was communicated to the federal Liberals as they were shut out of every seat in Alberta and Saskatchewan in October's election.

After the Conservatives lost, Scheer acknowledged in November that Albertans "are on the front lines" of decisions made by Trudeau's government.

Wexit anger

Frustrations in Alberta have led to a rise in separatist chatter and the provincial government is currently examining how the province could be more autonomous. The Wexit Canada party was also recently approved by Elections Canada to run candidates in the next election.

The question for Conservatives is who could carry the mantle and represent those sentiments for Alberta, now that former interim party leader Rona Ambrose has taken herself out of the race.

If name recognition is a must, Bratt says there's only one option left in Alberta: Calgary MP Michelle Rempel Garner.

Solberg agreed: "She'd be a welcome entry in the race, there's no doubt about it."

Names will continue to fly, but time is ticking down. Candidates have to confirm they're in by the end of February.

"If anyone's going to get in," Solberg said, "they need to do it quickly."
The United States has called upon India to swiftly release political leaders being held in Kashmir and grant regular access to its diplomats to the area even as it also acknowledged measures taken by the Indian government towards the normalisation of the situation in the Valley.

I was pleased to see some incremental steps, including the partial return of internet service in Kashmir, Alice Wells, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, told reporters at a briefing about her recent visit to India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka on Friday.

She said the recent visit of foreign diplomats to the region, which included American envoy Ken Juster, was a useful step. She added that the US continued to urge the government to permit regular access by our diplomats, and to move swiftly to release those political leaders detained without charge.

While the US has acknowledged the August 5 nullification of Article 370, which revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and was followed by restrictions, as an internal matter of India, it has appealed to the Indian government to rapidly restore normalcy in Kashmir with special stress on the release of political leaders and restoration of internet and communication services.

US President Donald Trump said earlier this week in Davos that the US was watching the situation in Kashmir in relation to India-Pakistan relations. With Prime Minister Imran Khan by his side, the American president had also offered to help resolve the India-Pakistan dispute.

India has maintained that the Kashmir issue can only be resolved bilaterally and that there is no room for the involvement of a third party. It has also said that the nullification of Article 370 is an internal matter of the country.

The restrictions in place in Kashmir since August 5 have also drawn the attention of an increasing number of US lawmakers, especially Democrats. Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who are running for president, have been critical of them.

The United States has continued to keep a close watch on the situation in Kashmir. Closely following @USAmbIndia & other foreign diplomats recent trip to Jammu & Kashmir, Wells had said in tweet posted by her department on the visit of foreign diplomats to Kashmir. Important step. We remain concerned by detention of political leaders and residents, and Internet restrictions. We look forward to a return to normalcy.
Isabel dos Santoss secret to becoming a billionaire in Angola, one of the worlds poorest countries, was simple. She got her dad, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Angolas president, to give her money from the nations treasury.

O.K., it wasnt quite that simple. A maze of shell companies, overseas tax havens and complex management and investment schemes funneled millions to and fro before the money ended up in her hands, according to an examination of more than 715,000 leaked emails, contracts and other documents obtained and examined by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and shared with several news outlets, including The New York Times.

Yes, this is another tragic tale of a resource-rich, underdeveloped country plundered by predatory political leaders and their families. But thanks to the investigation, we also know that Ms. dos Santos had the assistance of Western firms, including the Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey & Company and the accountants at PwC, who helped manage some of the 400 companies and subsidiaries in 41 countries controlled by Ms. dos Santos and her husband. In some cases, the couples advisers oversaw financial transfers that the current Angolan government describes as acts of money laundering. All the while, these Western advisers collected a share of the proceeds.

Boston Consulting Group managed a Swiss jewelry company that the Angolan government bought with money borrowed at a high rate of interest from a bank controlled by Ms. dos Santos. After she and her husband ran the jewelry company into the ground with lavish spending, the government was left owing $225 million.
Members of The Lester Group reached out recently to animal advocate Alice Ann Blevins to inform her of a large number of feral cats was residing outside of the clock tower at Commonwealth Center, a building owned by Lester Properties.

The cat colony started off as many do. Compassionate and concerned staff members in the building started feeding a few strays. The word apparently spread among the cats. Before long, the area became a feline feeding frenzy.

Theyve been so nice to these cats the whole time, but theyve just of course reproduced, said Blevins, an animal welfare advocate who was asked for assist.

When Blevins arrived on the property to conduct an assessment of the colony, she estimated that nearly 30 cats and kittens relied on the generosity of the business. However, the numbers arent an exact science.

Its hard to really say for sure because weve gone when the feeding time happens, and weve counted that way, Blevins said. Weve already taken out 19, and three right now are waiting to be fixed, but thats part of the 19. And then my last count was I have probably 10 more.

When the cats are wild, its difficult to come up with extremely accurate numbers. In the United States, feral cat population estimates jumped from 70 million in 2004 to 146 million today.

Thats what happens. People have one or two cats, and theyre not going to let them go hungry  and when youre an animal lover, youre not going to, Blevins said. Of course, theyre going to reproduce. I dont think people understand how quickly cats reproduce.

According to National Today, cats have an average of 1.4 litters each year, with an average of 3.5 kittens in each litter. That adds up to 420,000 kittens over seven years.

In the Martinsville-Henry County area, no concrete numbers for the feral cat population exist.

We really dont know how many are out there, Blevins said. We suspect there are thousands out there. We really dont know.

With the numbers growing nationally, a practice called TNR  trap, neuter, return  is gaining popularity. The idea appears to have surfaced in 1990, when Alley Cat Allies, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Bethesda, Md., formed to develop solutions for the worlds feral cat problem.

According to Alley Cat Allies, multiple long-term studies show that the sizes of neutered feral cat colonies decreased over time. One study found a 66% decrease over 11 years. Another 10-year study showed colony size decreases of up to 32%.

That addresses the breeding issue, but these cats in Martinsville need to be relocated. The Lester Group offered to spay and neuter the entire colony in exchange for the cats finding a new residence.

Its awesome, Blevins said. Ive told them theyre sort of the poster child.

Blevins said she hopes to find several nice homes with understanding people to care for these cats.

With a big colony like this, once you get them fixed, thats wonderful, but where do they go? Thats the thing. Theyre only good for barn cats, Blevins said. Some of the first ones we took, they were pretty young kittens, and a couple that were younger, they actually came out pretty tame.

But these that were getting now, theyre feral, truly feral, and they will always be feral. They need to go to barns, and we need to find barns. Theyre already fixed. Theyve had rabies shots, so its a pretty good deal if you need mousers.

She said these cats would be good workers in a farm setting where they are fed regularly and have a warm barn in which to sleep, but she cautioned against believing they would become lap cats.

Certainly, people, if theyre going to take in a cat, they want it to be a pet and these arent, Blevins said. These older ones are just scared to death. Theyre scared of everything. Its pitiful. It really is pitiful. But theyre very healthy. We have had a couple of sick ones in this group. There are two there that are sick now that were hoping we can get, but by and large, theyre very healthy cats.

In the future, Blevins said she hopes to collect data that could better represent the number of cats in colonies in the area.

If we have numbers, then we might be able to apply for funds for those cats, Blevins said. This is just kind of a pilot start to this. I hope that it will grow.

At both the start of a new year and a new decade, there couldnt be a better time to mobilize a concerned citizens cat colony community.

Its a situation that we keep putting off and putting off, but at some point, weve got to deal with it, Blevins said.
PHOENIX - A woman angry about not being allowed to board a plane at Sky Harbor International Airport was arrested after allegedly mentioning an explosive device, resulting in hundreds of travellers having to evacuate part of one concourse, police said Saturday.

A police bomb squad responded Friday but found no device and the airport soon returned to normal though three flights were delayed.

Police said 53-year-old Hope L. Webber was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanour false emergency reporting and felony making a false terrorism report.

Webbers statements to airline personnel during the incident related to an explosive device, Sgt. Mercedes Fortune, a police spokeswoman, told The Associated Press.

Webbers hometown wasnt available, Fortune said Saturday.

American Airlines said in an email that employees had called police to deal with a disruptive female passenger trying to board a flight to Salt Lake City shortly before it was supposed to take off.

Parts of Terminal 4 were briefly evacuated.

Jon Connor, a filmmaker, said he was walking to his plane when all of the sudden hordes of people started walking in his direction.

Passengers posted pictures of crowded hallways on social media.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has sent a condolence letter to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

I was deeply saddened by the news of heavy casualties and destruction caused by a powerful earthquake that struck Elazig province, reads the letter. At this difficult time, I express our readiness to provide any kind of support, and extend, on my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, my deepest condolences to you, the bereaved families, the loved ones of those who were killed and the brotherly people of Turkey, and wish the injured the swiftest possible recovery. May Allah rest the souls of the dead in peace!
Border Force officials were called to intercept a small boat carrying 28 migrants in the English Channel in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The boat carrying a group of 26 males and two females who have presented themselves as Pakistani, Afghan, Iraqi, Iranian and Syrian nationals are the latest to carry out the bid.

Authorities were alerted of the discovery at 5.30am.

On alert: Border Forces officials were told of the 28-strong migrant group found in the English Channel on Saturday morning

Medical checks were carried out on the group in Dover before they faced interviews by immigration officials.

Tony Eastaugh, Home Office Director for Crime & Enforcement, said Britain was working 'in tandem' with French and Belgian authorities to tackle illegal migrant crossings.

'We have extra patrols on French beaches, drones, specialist vehicles and detection equipment which has been deployed to stop small boats leaving European shores,' he said.

Another group of migrants were further seaside resort of Stella Plage, near Le Touquet in northern France, in the early hours of Saturday morning, leading the French coastguard to be alerted.

Eight migrants went on to be discovered in a boat with a damaged engine, according to Premar Manche, which monitors the Channel.

The group was taken to Boulogne-sur-Mer at 5.10am suffering with mild hypothermia and they were then handed over to border police, according to the coastguard.

'in tandem:' Officials from the UK are working with their counterparts across the Channel with the bids by migrants

A group of 12 migrants, who presented themselves as Iranian nationals, were intercepted as they travelled across the Channel on Friday morning, while French authorities confirmed earlier that day that a further 11 migrants were intercepted off the coast of Calais.

On Thursday, seven men who presented themselves as Syrian nationals were intercepted by Border Force and taken to the UK.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday hit out at the Centre alleging that anyone who opposes the ruling BJP's "agenda of hate" is dubbed as an "urban naxal".

A day after the Centre handed over the Bhima-Koregaon case to the NIA, Gandhi attacked the central agency saying its "stooges" can never erase "the symbol of resistance".

"Anyone who opposes the MOSH agenda of hate is an 'Urban Naxal'.

"Bhima-Koregaon is a symbol of resistance that the Government's NIA stooges can never erase," he said on Twitter.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the probe into the 2018 Koregaon-Bhima violence on Friday, a day after the Maharashtra government held a review meeting with senior Pune police officers to take a call on pursuing the matter.

The Centre's decision has angered the Uddhav Thackeray-led government in Maharashtra, which was seen to be preparing to withdraw all cases against intellectuals and social activists accused of inciting the clashes.

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said handing over the Koregaon-Bhima probe to the NIA is against the Constitution and condemned it.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
They are raising two young children and recently welcomed Petey the puppy to their family.

And power couple Chrissy Teigen and John Legend were spotted doing a bit of house hunting with daughter Luna in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon.

Model Chrissy, 34, dressed for comfort in a flowing black longline coat which she pair with some fuzzy grey open-toed sliders.

Out and about: Power couple Chrissy Teigen and John Legend were spotted doing a bit of house hunting with daughter Luna in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon

She kept her brunette locks tied in a bun and donned some pink-tinted shades to give more of an incognito look.

The doting mum held Luna, three, in her arms as she walked around inspecting potential homes.

Hubby John, 41, showed up to join the pair to check out one property, rocking denim jeans and a suede jacket over a jazzy print shirt.

Place in the sun: Hubby John, 41, showed up to join the pair to check out one property, rocking denim jeans and a suede jacket over a jazzy print shirt

Casual: Model Chrissy, 34, dressed for comfort in a flowing black longline coat which she pair with some fuzzy grey open-toed sliders

But with a packed schedule for the day he left 30 minutes before Chrissy.

After completing the famously stressful task of viewings, the flawless beauty stopped of for pizza with her daughter and the family nanny.

Chrissy and John married at Lake Como in 2013, seven years after they first met.

They had daughter Luna in April 2016, and son Miles in May 2018, both through IVF treatment.

Chrissy's outing came after she recently credited bone broth with helping her deal with postpartum depression after the births of her children.

Latest addition: Chrissy and John revealed they had adopted a puppy named Petey. The couple brought Luna and Chrissy's mom Vilailuck to the adoption center

When prominent gynaecologist Dr. Jen Gunter criticized bone broth on Twitter, calling it a 'rebranding' of simple stock, the mother-of-two defended the food for helping her heal from the 'physical aspect' of postpartum.

'It is such an amazing scam to rename stock as "bone broth," claim miraculous health benefits, and sell it for a small fortune,' Gunter mused online.

Bone broth is made from the bones of cows or chickens, cooked down for an extended period of time to extract the most amount of nutrients. Stock, on the other hand, consists of more mean and is cooked for a shorter period of time.

A bone to pick: Chrissy looked calm and collected just hours before a having Twitter exchange about bone broth, something many have touted as a 'miracle food'

Believers claim the collagen and gelatin-rich broth helps with everything from joint health to stomach problems, weight loss, inflammation and much more.

Chrissy stepped in with her experience, telling the Dr. 'Real bone broth is rich with marrow and deep flavor. Chicken stock is...water.

'When i was suffering horribly from post partum depression, I was covered in bruises, had no energy and no ability to sleep. I attribute much of the physical aspect of getting better to bone broth.'

She also credited the antidepressant Lexapro and having time to reflect with helping her mentally.

'Mentally, it was lexapro,' the Lip Sync Battle DJ went on. 'And my time doing silly things that gave me a moment to be calm and reflect. Things you find incredibly stupid. But things that worked for me. Because this mental health thing isnt just about studies. Human beings need nurture and care and healing.'

Though many have praised bone broth as a cure-all, others have dismissed it as a food fad.

Talking to the Huffington Post back in 2018, William H. Percy, PhD, an associate professor at the Sanford School of Medicine of the University of South Dakota, said: 'Unfortunately, there are no miracle foods, no matter how much people want one to exist.'
GREENWICH  Police are continuing to investigate the death of Elizabeth Deering, as families across the region mourned the 77-year-old former nanny, who died after she was hit by a car on Milbank Avenue.

Deering, who was known as Bridget, worked as a child-care provider in New York City after immigrating from Ireland as a young woman. She also volunteered at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, caring for premature babies, according to a death notice.

In 1997, she was interviewed by the New York Times about working as a nanny in New York, and how people treated nannies in different parts of the city. She said she was happy to work on the Upper East Side.

Deering had moved recently to Greenwich from New York and made friends with the staff at the Agnes Morley complex, who visited her every day in the hospital after she was hit by a car.

On Jan. 8, Deering was struck by a vehicle at the pedestrian crossing on Milbank Avenue near the Agnes Morley senior housing complex, where she lived. Police said the 43-year-old driver from Rye Brook, N.Y., stopped after the collision and is cooperating with investigators. According to police, the accident took place at 5:21 p.m., in the middle of a brief snow squall.

Deering died of her injuries Jan. 16.

Though she had no immediate relatives, her death notice stated she is survived by the many children whom she cared for and the families who loved her.

Town leaders and officials with the Greenwich Housing Authority are proposing safety modifications to the crosswalk near the Agnes Morley apartments, which was the site of another pedestrian fatality in February 2018.

Robert Bono, 70, who was also an Agnes Morley resident, died in that accident, which also happened at night while it was snowing.

Sam Romeo, chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Greenwich Housing Authority, said he is hoping for a number of safety improvements for the crosswalk on Milbank  including better lighting and a blinking sign to warn motorists when a pedestrian is crossing.

The road is a narrow one, sloping downhill, which can encourage drivers to pick up speed. With cars parked on both sides of the street, there can also be problems with sight distances along sections of the roadway, especially at the crosswalk near Agnes Morley.

A speed-monitoring device last week calculated that the average speed of drivers in the area was 34 mph  with some cars traveling well over that, police said. The speed limit in the neighborhood is 25 mph.

The crosswalk is one of many in town that are mid-block, and it is of particular concern due to its proximity to Agnes Morley, a senior housing complex run by the towns Housing Authority.

The towns concern should be the fact that its very dark with a decent amount of pedestrian traffic, police Lt. Jim Bonney said. Theyre elderly and slow moving, and during inclement weather it makes it more difficult to see them.

Bonney recommended the town install free-standing poles with lights and a rapid flash beacon, similar to what is by the crosswalk outside Town Hall on Field Point Road. A pedestrian can push a button to turn on flashing lights to warn drivers that someone is walking through the crosswalk.

Its a good warning that someone is actually going to be in the crosswalk, Bonney said, estimating that the cost would be about $2,500. Those lights would increase the safety for anyone walking.

Deerings death was Greenwichs second in recent months involving a pedestrian hit by a car. In late November, 62-year-old Regina Dowling owas struck by a vehicle in a crosswalk near the Old Greenwich train station. She later died of her injuries. A local motorist was later charged with a misdemeanor in connection with that collision.

Donations in Elizabeth Deerings memory can be made to Operation Smile at operationsmile.org or by calling 1-888-249-3797.
WASHINGTON  Admirers still stop and thank them on the street and in airports, send fan mail and sometimes even offer to pay for their meals. But supporters of President Trump still insult and threaten them online  even the ones who work in the White House.

The star witnesses of last Novembers House impeachment proceedings shook the Trump White House and turned a handful of previously obscure government officials into political household names.

And just as their names and faces were beginning to fade from public memory, they were resurrected this week in the Senate by the House Democrats presenting their case for convicting the president. The House managers repeatedly played video clips of those witnesses, on large screens set up in the old Senate chamber, to buttress their case that Mr. Trump improperly pressured Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son, Hunter Biden, as well as discredited allegations of Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 election.

The effect has cut both ways for these accidental political stars. In some quarters, they are being cheered anew by admirers, while in others they are drawing a new round of insults and invective from supporters of Mr. Trump  and even from the president himself.
The U.N. deputy chief said Friday there is an alarming crisis in education, pointing to the 258 million children under the age of 17 who are not going to school  and only 49 percent completing secondary education.In addition, about 770 million adults are illiterate, most of them women, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told the U.N. General Assembly on the International Day of Education.

She said the situation is alarming, not only because of the millions who arent getting an education  and never did  but also because of the crisis in the number of children, young people and adults who are in education, but not learning.Former British prime minister Gordon Brown, the U.N. special envoy for education, has said he continues to be shocked that more than 400 million children leave school for good at age 11 or 12 and 800 million children are leaving the education system without any qualifications worth their name.

The U.N. goal for 2030 is to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.At an event at the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in Paris, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said not only do we need massive investment, but an overhaul of educational systems is necessary.

To rethink education and prepare the coming generation to deal with major issues like the digital revolution and the climate emergency, Azoulay said UNESCO appointed a commission of independent experts last September led by Ethiopias President Sahle-Work Zewde to produce a report in November 2021 on the Futures of Education.

Brown said one reason why the situation is so grave today is that there are 75 million children in crisis-affected countries who are unable to go to school, have their education disrupted, and dont attain any educational standards.Yasmine Sherif, director of Education Cant Wait which is the first global fund dedicated to education in emergencies, told a news conference at the U.N.: Just think what will happen with this generation, and with all of us one day, if these 75 million children dont access a proper, decent quality and continued education, she said.

The fund has received pledges of almost $590 million since it began three years ago and is helping youngsters in 30 conflict and crisis-affected countries from Syria and Afghanistan and Mali, Bangladesh and Central African Republic, she said.

Brown, who chairs the funds high-level steering group, said it is crucial for all levels of education. He said only a fraction of refugees  1-3 percent  go on to higher education. compared, for example, with Syria where it was 20 percent before the conflict began in 2011.

General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande told the U.N. event that there has been an increase in school enrollment rates worldwide, with more children going to, and staying in school longer.While this is commendable, he said, it is unacceptable that 20 years into the 21st century about 258 million children and youth do not attend school, 617 million children and adolescents cannot read and do basic math and millions of refugees and internally displaced persons, and people with disabilities are out of school, he said.

Muhammad-Bande called this a blight and urged governments to ensure access to free and quality primary and secondary education, as well as affordable and inclusive vocational and technical education.Deputy Secretary-General Mohammed said: This international day must be a call to action ... so that quality education for all is no longer a goal for tomorrow, but a reality.

(Image Credit: Unsplash/@impatrickt/Representative Image)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 25

Trend:

The tasks set by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in connection with the application of compulsory medical insurance were discussed at a meeting in Azerbaijans Cabinet of Ministers, Trend reports Jan. 25.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Ali Asadov.

Asadov said that at the meeting held Jan. 13, 2020, President Ilham Aliyev gave instructions to conduct serious work on raising public awareness in connection with property insurance and bringing property insurance issues in line with modern standards.

It was brought to the attention that, along with raising public awareness, marketing work should also be carried out, and the appropriate measures should be taken to ensure citizens interest in property insurance, Ali Asadov said. Property insurance is in the interest of citizens. By insuring immovable property in a compulsory manner, citizens will minimize the risks in emergency situations.

Noting the formation of the legislative framework in connection with compulsory insurance, Asadov added that the head of state prefers property insurance to be implemented as part of mutual interests of citizens and insurance companies.

In this regard, raising public awareness is an important factor, said the prime minister.

In turn, Chairman of Azerbaijans Central Bank Elman Rustamov made a presentation Insurance market in Azerbaijan: Strategic Outlook.

Noting the three main socio-economic roles of insurance, Rustamov said that this includes economic security of the population and business, ensuring social protection of the population and the economy with long-term investment sources.

Executive Director of Azerbaijans Compulsory Insurance Bureau Rashad Ahmadov informed about the work carried out in the insurance market. He said that special video footage has been prepared for raising public awareness, distributed in the media and social networks.

He emphasized the importance of educational institutions being covered by measures for raising public awareness and noted that measures will be taken in this area as well. Speaking about car and property insurance, Ahmadov said that the use of innovative systems is on the agenda.

Speaking about the work carried out in the field of agricultural insurance in Azerbaijan and the challenges ahead, Azerbaijans Agriculture Minister Inam Karimov noted that the reforms carried out by President Ilham Aliyev last year also covered agricultural insurance.

The need arose in Azerbaijan to apply a new mechanism of agricultural insurance to ensure the sustainability of the agricultural sector, and the experience of countries with a successful agricultural insurance mechanism was studied, the minister said.

Draft legislation has been prepared for the application of the most successful model, the Law On Agricultural Insurance was adopted last year, and the Agricultural Insurance Fund was established, Karimov added.

Under the new system, a public-private sector cooperation model will be used that is governed by non-profit principles and ensures private sector participation, said the minister.

Karimov noted that it is planned to introduce the first agricultural insurance product to the consumers by the end of 2020.

Then the presentation entitled Application of agricultural insurance was held by Azerbaijans Agriculture Ministry.

Azerbaijans Economy Minister Mikail Jabbarov noted that property insurance should also apply to state property, adding that there are great opportunities in this sphere. The minister also said that it is necessary to find ways to increase mutual trust of citizens and insurance companies, as well as for greater interest of citizens in this matter.

In turn, Azerbaijans Finance Minister Samir Sharifov noted that over the past 10 years, public funds worth 970 million manat (570.5 million) have been spent to help citizens affected by natural disasters.

The Minister for Emergency Situations Kamaladdin Heydarov emphasized that there is a need to amend the legislation accordingly.

Deputy Minister of Justice Azar Jafarov said that the ministry is ready to directly participate in all processes necessary in the legislative sphere.

Delivering speeches at the meeting, Head of ASAN Service (State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of Azerbaijan) Ulvi Mehdiyev, Deputy Emergencies Ministry Rafael Mirzoyev and others spoke about the work being done and the tasks set.

Summing up the meeting, Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov noted the importance of accelerating the work envisaged in the Plan of measures for the development of insurance sector in 2019-2021, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on May 21, 2019, and submitting a regular report in this regard.

The prime minister said that the implementation of resolutions adopted in the field of agricultural insurance should always be in the spotlight, adding that the work in this area has been accelerated.

Asadov instructed the heads of the relevant structures to successfully complete the tasks, and said that after three months the results of the work done will be discussed again.
A cleaner who stole dozens of luxury watches worth at least 15,000 each belonging to Morocco's King Mohammed VI has been jailed for 15 years.

The 46-year-old woman, who has not been named, was sentenced in a court in the country's capital, Rabat, during an overnight session that stretched into Saturday morning.

Fourteen men, including gold merchants that she sold the watches to, were also convicted of involvement in the affair and jailed for at least four years.

One man was convicted of being the woman's accomplice and was jailed for 15 years.

Morocco's King Mohammed VI, pictured in Rabat in March last year, reportedly has a taste for luxury watches. He is shown wearing a diamond-encrusted one worth an estimated 920,000 ($1.2million) in a September 2018 Instagram post

The palace worker is reported to have melted down most of the 36 stolen luxury watches, and stripped them of jewels, before selling the parts to merchants in Casablanca, Fez and Rabat.

She sold a small number of the stolen watches in tact, which were valued by prosecutors at at least 15,000 each, reports DW.

During the trial, the 14 men were also accused of trying to form a 'criminal gang' but told the judge they had no knowledge of the robberies.

One of the men accused used the money to buy golf cars worth up to 12,000 each and an apartment worth 20,000 in his sister's name, reports Arabic women's weekly magazine Sayidaty.net.

King Mohamed reportedly has a taste for luxury watches, as well as fancy cars, paintings and yachts.

Fourteen men were also jailed for at least four years each after they were convicted of involvement. Morocco's king is pictured above at a UN Climate Change conference in Marrakesh

He was pictured wearing a 920,000 ($1.2million) diamond-encrusted Patek Philippe watch in white gold in a September 2018 Instagram post.

Forbes magazine in 2014 classified the 56-year-old monarch as one of the world's richest men with wealth estimated at more than $2.5 billion.

The conviction comes after 25 people went on trial for an alleged robbery of luxury watches and jewellery from a royal palace in Marrakesh this week.

'This is extremely unusual that a robbery should take place at a royal palace,' Moroccan writer and journalist Ali Lmrabet told Al Jazeera.

'The last time it happened was about 40 years ago. Normally, anything to do with the security of the king is shrouded in security, so it must mean that someone near the king has authorised that this information be disclosed.'
The possibility that CRRC could win the contract raised concern among some security experts, members of Congress and Metro board members that the cars could be built with capabilities or access for the Chinese government to spy on the nations capital or launch cyberattacks. The worry was based in part on links the Justice Department has made between the communist government and previous hacking operations in the United States, as well as heightened tensions between the two countries over tariffs.
Kwame A Plus, a former NPP sympathizer and current founder of TPP has described the NPP as a very wicked political party, accusing them of sabotaging Nkrumah and how they accused former president, J.J Rawlings of murder but now see him as their best friend.

A Plus who sounded pained with the post he made on his official Facebook page wrote:

Those who were against Kwame Nkrumah and even opposed the building of the Akosombo dam, Tema Harbour and the Accra Tema Motorway and orchestrated his overthrow were the same people who formed a party purposely to accuse JJ Rawlings of everything including Murder, collapsing of Ghanaian owned businesses and businessmen to win power only to turn around and make him their best friend and hero. Apparently closing down Ghanaians business (banks) is not a bad thing even if they donated soFact is, he is human. He made some mistakes. But JJ Rawlings was not evil. He is a hero. He wanted the best for Ghana but NPP didnt allow him. Just as they didnt allow Osagyefo!!! Very wicked people!!!me of the said stolen depositors money to their campaign.

Fact is, he is human. He made some mistakes. But JJ Rawlings was not evil. He is a hero. He wanted the best for Ghana but NPP didnt allow him. Just as they didnt allow Osagyefo!!! Very wicked people!!!

---Ghbase.com
NYPD cop and fiancee allegedly froze 8-year-old boy with autism to death, police said originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

An 8-year-old boy with autism died of hypothermia last week after his NYPD cop dad allegedly placed him inside a freezing cold garage as temperatures dropped well below zero, officials said.

Suffolk County police arrested 40-year-old Michael Valva and his 42-year-old fiancee, Angela Pollina, on Friday for the second-degree murder of Thomas Valva.

Valva called the police on Jan. 17 to report that Thomas fell in the driveway of their home around 9:30 a.m. in Center Morchices, New York, while waiting for the school bus.

The child was taken to Long Island Community Hospital where his "body temperature was at 76 degrees," Suffolk County Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said at a press conference on Friday.

MORE: 2 day care workers charged with child abuse after authorities say video shows one throwing child into cabinet

"Thomas Valva was subjected to freezing temperatures in the homes, unheated garage, overnight when the outside temperature was 19 degrees," said Hart.

As police investigated Thomas' death, Valva launched an online fundraiser to cover the cost of his son's funeral expenses. The community's donations to the now-defunct fundraiser surpassed Valva's requested $10,000 goal.

Police found that the injuries to Thomas' head and face were inconsistent with Valva's description on the 911 call and there was a history of reports to child protective services.

"Not only did they fail to render any type of meaningful aid, they lied to the police officers, they lied to the EMTs," Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini told reporters on Friday. "This is one of the worse crimes...he died right in front of their eyes."

The medical examiner ruled the boys death a homicide and found that hypothermia was a major contributing factor, the Associated Press reported.

Story continues

Suffolk County Judge Edward J. Hennessey ordered both Valva and Pollina held without bail. Their case will be presented to a grand jury and the next court date is on Jan. 29.

PHOTO: NYPD officer Michael Valva, 40, charged on Jan. 24, 2020 with the second-degree murder of his 8-year-old son Thomas Valva. Right: Angela Pollina, 42, charged on Jan. 24, 2020 with the second-degree murder of 8-year-old Thomas Valva. (Suffolk County Correctional Facility)

MORE: Single Mom Facing Child Abuse Charges Receives $95K in Support

Thomas' mother, Justyna Zubko Valva, told News12 Long Island that she begged a family court judge to remove their children from her ex's custody or they were "going to die."

"Every time I kept telling the judge, 'if you're not going to remove the children, they are going to die under his care and custody,'" said Zubko Valva to the station. "There was evidence, hard evidence. Reports filed. Children were telling me too about the abuse."

Valva has two other sons, ages 6 and 10, while Pollina has twin 11-year-old daughters and a 6-year-old daughter.

Sini said the 10-year-old and 8-year-old boys were both on the autism spectrum and were at times forced to sleep in the garage.

PHOTO: April 13, 2017 file photo of Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy Sini in Central Islip, New York. (File/Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Valva joined the NYPD in 2005 and, according to online records, he earned $100,000 in 2019. The transit cop has been suspended without pay, the police department said.

MORE: Preventing Child Abuse by Promoting Health

If convicted, the couple faces 25 years to life in prison.

The community is expected to hold a vigil for Thomas at Kalers Pond on Sunday from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
She was the first woman appointed to sit solely as a judge of the Federal Court in 1993, the first woman appointed to the NSW Court of Appeal in 1996 and in 2013 became its first female president. NSW Governor Beazley as a barrister in 1983. Credit:Gary McLean But "attitudinally there is still room for growth," she said. "There is absolutely no doubt about that. One of the most significant ways that men and women will participate equally in their work lives is for there to be equal pay. I have heard stories, and these can come from male barristers, where females are still offered [less] than men to take the same brief." Head of the Cancer Genetics Unit at Royal North Shore Hospital, Professor Bruce Robinson, also received the highest honour for his eminent service to medical research, national healthcare and tertiary education His career has spanned roles in PhD supervision, as dean of the Sydney Medical School and chair of Australia's peak advisory and funding body for medical research, the National Health and Medical Research Council.

"The most rewarding thing is to have seen us move from collecting families with rare endocrine cancers and trying to understand what their cancers look like, to being in a position where we can understand what's causing that cancer at a genetic level and having drugs at our disposal to target those genetic abnormalities and potentially cure those people," he said. "The pace of this era in medicine is really quite extraordinary." I want Australia to provide a more equitable access to healthcare Professor Bruce Robinson AC One of his greatest career challenges was in the policy realm, as chair of the government taskforce of expert clinicians reviewing Medicare since 2015. "I want Australia to provide a more equitable access to healthcare for people across the country, wherever they live and regardless of their income. That's what a good Medicare should do," he said. "We've made some improvements that will help to enable that. But there are still lots of things that could be done. As a doctor I sit here and see people from different walks of life. They've got different backgrounds, different means at their disposal. Ideally, they should all be able to get the same treatment."

Professor Bruce Robinson, the head of the Cancer Genetics Unit at Royal North Shore Hospital. Former state Premier Barry O'Farrell was one of 59 people awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia for his "distinguished service to the people and Parliament of New South Wales [and] to the community", particularly in his role as premier. Mr O'Farrell swept the March 2011 state election, ending years of Labor dominance and establishing the Coalition government that remains in power. He began a series of infrastructure projects including the WestConnex motorway and redevelopment of Sydney's convention centre. Loading A $3000 bottle of wine ended it all, when Mr O'Farrell resigned in 2014 after giving incorrect evidence to the Independent Commission Against Corruption that he had not received the wine from the head of a company linked to the Obeid family.

After leaving politics he became chair of his beloved Wests Tigers NRL team, chief executive of horse racing body Racing Australia and chair of Diabetes Australia. He left all three roles last year and is expected to be appointed Australia's ambassador to India. Former premiers Edward Baillieu of Victoria and Campbell Newman of Queensland were also made Officers of the Order of Australia. University of Technology Sydney Professor Larissa Behrendt, a Eualeyai and Kamillaroi woman, received the same honour for her service to Indigenous education and research, the law, and the visual and performing arts. "They look like three disparate areas but for me the theme has always been around Indigenous self-determination and social justice," she said. She was drawn to the law to advocate for Aboriginal people suffering injustice and "reform the legal system where it is creating inequalities", but has found the greatest potential for change in education and the arts.

I hope one day all Australians feel Aboriginal history and culture is a part of their history and culture. Professor Larissa Behrendt AO "We struggle in policy areas around issues of Indigenous disadvantage and closing the gap. We have Royal Commissions into things like youth detention, child protection and deaths in custody, but we still see over-representation in the criminal justice system," she said. "When we see an Aboriginal person graduate from university, that is a person whose life circumstances are profoundly changed ... I hope one day all Australians feel Aboriginal history and culture is a part of their history and culture. I feel like the creative industries and storytelling are really the most effective ways to try and have that happen." Brigadier John William Shanahan won the highest distinguished service honour for his leadership roles with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces in Afghanistan. He was the first non-American commanding general of NATO's Train Advise Assist Command - South, responsible for Afghanistan's Kandahar, Uruzgan, Zabul and Daykundi provinces.

When an insider attack injured the command's previous leader in October 2018, Brigadier Shanahan extended his 12-month deployment to the country to 18 months and led the command through the Afghan elections. Loading "The world was expecting Kandahar [province] to be on fire. I was parachuted onto that drop zone," he said in a Department of Defence interview. "We got the governors and the leaders of the Afghan security forces together and we talked about how we were going to run the elections safely. That calmed a lot of things down." The Kandahar elections went ahead and Brigadier Shanahan handed over command in early 2019.
Concern has been expressed that a historic railway bridge in south west Wexford which has been out of use for a decade is being left to rot and could eventually fall into the river.

Former Labour county councillor Denis North, who worked for CIE for 45 years, including 13 years operating the bridge, said the central span may fall into the River Barrow in years to come if it isn't maintained and returned to use.

Irish Rail CEO Jim Meade informed Mr North in May that there is no proposal to close the Barrow Bridge.

'The Barrow Bridge operating equipment is very old and requires significant resources to maintain and operate,' Mr Meade wrote.

He said: 'While the railway line is suspended, the focus of operation has been to support the Port of New Ross shipping operations in line with our statutory responsibility for the bridge operation.'

He said: 'In order to ensure the consistent delivery of the required shipping lane access for the Port of New Ross, we have reviewed the operation with the Port of New Ross Chief Executive and our Chief Civil engineer and propose to temporarily secure the bridge in the open position for shipping traffic, to improve the navigation controls and lighting on the bridge to a required standard and to allow the remote monitoring of bridge operations. The effect of this proposed change will ensure the reliability of the operation for maritime navigation and reduce our operations and infrastructure costs in the meantime.'

Mr North said leaving the bridge in the 'open' position indefinitely is not the way forward.

Built in the early 1900s, the Barrow Bridge used to serve trains running from Limerick to Rosslare Harbour. It transported cement and beet for four months every year from Thurles to Rosslare Strand and, in later years, from the beat plant in Mallow to Rosslare.

'A lot of students would have gotten to college in Waterford on that train line.'

The line was closed in 2008 and some minor works to maintain the bridge have continued ever since, mainly spraying weed killer along the line.

Mr North said: 'As far as I know the bridge was being maintained but the line has just been left there. I don't think anything has been done in terms of maintenance. I want to see the line maintained because we don't know what will happen in the future with climate change - more people might be using public transport over cars.'

Calling for his old employers, CIE, to invest in maintaining the line, Mr North, who was a New Ross Urban councillor from 1974 to 1979 and a county councillor from 1979 for one term, said during the time of former Labour leader Brendan Corish an attempt was made by CIE to close the Rosslare Harbour to Connolly station line.

'We went on a deputation to meet the minister. These days there is talk about the greenway. At the moment shipping is going up to New Ross under the bridge and back. Back in the 1950s, 60s and 70s there were hundreds of ships going through that Barrow Bridge up to New Ross and they would have to make a return journey. Now I don't think there are 100 in a year.

'CIE have opened the bridge and plan to leave it in an open position all of the time. Effectively they want to abandon the bridge and if they do that we will never see a train going on that line again. There is a preservation order on the bridge.'

Mr North recalls working on the line an operating the bridge from 1989 until he retired and has fond memories of that period when there was a huge volume of vessels on the Barrow.

'I hate to see it being just left there. We saw what happened on the line from Waterford to Cork. They took out the span and just put in a scrapyard. It will rust away and fall into the river unless something is done. It should be opened to traffic but only when required,' Mr North said.
MEDFORD, Ore.  A Medford man was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison on Friday for viciously assaulting his girlfriend and then repeatedly threatening her over the phone after he was put behind bars, according to the Jackson County District Attorney's Office.

33-year-old Matthew Ryan Pierpoint was originally arrested and charged back in August of 2019. On August 27, Pierpoint was in an argument with his girlfriend when she tried to get her two small children into her car and leave.

"Mr. Pierpoint followed the victim to her vehicle and punched out the drivers side window, causing glass to shatter in the victims face," the DA's Office said. "Mr. Pierpoint then grabbed the victim out of the drivers seat, threw her on the ground, placed his hands around her neck, and began strangling her."

While continuing to strangle her, Pierpoint yelled into his girlfriend's face that "he was going to kill her," according to the DA's Office. Though he grabbed her by the legs and tried to drag her back inside, she was able to get away and run back to the car.

This abuse all happened in front of the victim's children.

Pierpoint's girlfriend was able to drive away and call 911 from a neighbor's house. Deputies responded and found her with multiple injuries across her face, neck and body that corroborated her story. Law enforcement tracked Pierpoint down the same day.

While in jail, Pierpoint reportedly called the victim dozens of times between August and early September.

"In each of these calls, Mr. Pierpoint threatened and verbally abused the victim," the DA's Office said. "During these calls, both the victim and Mr. Pierpoint made statements that corroborated the underlying domestic violence incident and the victims injuries. On six of these calls, Mr. Pierpoint pressured and attempted to manipulate the victim into not showing up to testify against him, refusing to testify if she did show up, and to recant her story if she had to testify."

Law enforcement was still able to locate the victim and make sure she would be willing to testify at trial.

In all, Pierpoint was convicted for an Assault IV charge (felony domestic violence), two counts of Strangulation (felony domestic violence), Menacing (also domestic violence), Criminal Mischief II, and six counts of Tampering with a Witness. A jury unanimously found him guilty in a trial that lasted less than three days.

"The jury also unanimously found enhancement facts (facts that allow the court to increase the length of incarceration) were present on each count," the DA's Office said. "Specifically, the jury found that Mr. Pierpoint was 'persistently involved in criminal activity similar to the conduct alleged' . . . the jury also found that Mr. Pierpoint demonstrated a 'lack of remorse.'

Judge Laura Cromwell sentenced Pierpoint to 10 years and 6 months in prison, with two years of post-prison supervision. Judge Cromwell also "admonished" Pierpoint for his violent, abusive, and manipulative behavior.
A swimsuit model and cancer survivor who was arrested for stripping at the AFL Grand Final in 2014 has flown to Turkey for facial reconstructive surgery.

Heather McCartney, 31, is on the mend after having extensive work to repair her shattered nose in an Istanbul hospital.

The single mother, who emigrated to the Gold Coast from Scotland aged 22, posted a photo of herself arriving at Istanbul Airport on Instagram on Friday.

She also posted an old photo of herself covered in blood and bruises, along with an X-ray of her broken nose.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Ms McCartney revealed the truth behind her grand final stunt, and even promised to repeat it if Scotland becomes independent

Scroll down for video

Heather McCartney arrived in Istanbul on Friday and has since checked into hospital

Ms McCartney made headlines by stripping off in a corporate box at the 2014 AFL grand final

Ms McCartney sustained the horrendous injuries in 2018, and said she had no choice but to have the expensive operation overseas.

'I was also told by many surgeons in Australia and Asia that my surgery could not be achieved,' Ms McCartney said.

'My nose was broken so badly that they refused to work on it. I had a lengthy, costly and frustrating time consulting with many surgeons around the world.'

Her then husband Stewart Weatherill was charged with assault but was never convicted.

But the magistrate implemented a five year protection order for him to not contact or come within 100 metres of Ms McCartney or their young daughter until 2023.

The model also shared an old photo recovering from her injuries and X-ray of her broken nose

Ms McCartney said she's feeling really good after the surgery, where parts of her rib cartilage were used to reconstruct her nose.

'I'm glad that it's finally happened,' she told Daily Mail Australia from Istanbul on Saturday.

'It's been a long time waiting. I am a little sore on the ribs where they took parts from, however that's how it works.

'No pain, no gain. I've found the best surgeon and he was happy to explain to me the process with the rib cartilage and was realistic about my expectations and results.'

She's now waiting to see the maxillo facial surgeon about realigning her jaw.

'It's sitting a couple of centimetres out and it hurts on the daily,' Ms McCartney said.

'Also my dentist will fix the broken teeth after my jaw has been reworked. It's taking ages but my daughter has been priority before this. So Mummy has to wait.'

'It's been 48 hours since I had surgery. I'm at maximum swelling now I hope . It hurts bad and I am back in my hotel chilling,' Heather McCartney (pictured) posted on Instagram on Saturday

Ms McCartney said she has to undergo reconstructive surgery to repair damage to her nose

She has since posted a series of Instagram stories of her hospital admission, city views from her bed, selfies donning her hospital gown, enjoying the bedside dining service and of her post-operation recovery at her hotel.

Ms McCartney will be in Istanbul for another week before heading to Scotland, where her family are currently looking her three-year-old daughter Annah.

Her Instagram post was inundated with messages from supportive well-wishers.

'My goodness babe, I'm wishing you all the best for health and recovery and peace as you truly deserve it,' one commented.

Another added: 'Hope everything turns out the way you want it to. Good Luck!'

Ms McCartney, now 31, first arrived in Australia nine years ago as a backpacker.

Originally from Scotland, the former Playboy model is also a cancer survivor

Ms McCartney cheering on Hawthorn at the 2014 AFL grand final, where she was later arrested

She caused a stir when she stripped off at the MCG during the 2014 AFL Grand Final between Hawthorn and the Sydney Swans after she made a bet that she would 'get naked' if the Hawks won.

The Hawks thrashed the Swans by 63 points that day.

She spent the night in a police cell and was later fined $300 for the stunt.

'It was a bet. I said if Hawthorn win, I'm getting naked. They won, and I got naked,' she told the Herald Sun at the time.

'What a f*****g day, it was great'

Ms McCartney posted a raunchy photograph of herself, with her hair in pigtails, wearing just a yellow bikini top and dark bottoms - Hawthorn colours - and a red AFL ball in one hand after being released from police custody.

At the time of the stunt, she had just begun treatment for aplastic anemia, a cancer of the blood.

Five years on, Ms McCartney has no regrets about the stunt and would consider doing it again.

'That old chestnut,' she laughed when asked about it by Daily Mail Australia.

'Six months prior to that I had just been told I had a couple of weeks to live. I then had my bone marrow/stem cell transplant treatment and survived. It was a bucket list thing, spur of the moment.

'And if Scotland get their independence, I'll do it again.'

Ms Cartney later went into remission and had given up partying and booze when she found out she was 24 weeks pregnant in March 2016.

The single mum says she's missing her little girl but is excited for her new nose and face

Heather McCartney, now 33, first arrived in Australia nine years ago as a backpacker

The shock discovery was made during a cancer check-up.

'I was pretty shocked at first, but I'm pretty excited and happy about it,' Ms McCartney told Daily Mail Australia at the time.

'I just told them what had been happening - I had just been feeling normal but I started thinking my stomach was getting a big bigger.'

'I didn't think there was a chance I could get pregnant.'

She gave birth to her 'miracle baby', daughter Annah Rose, now three-and-a-half in June 2016.

Heather McCartney said she had no choice but to have the expensive operation overseas.

She and Annah later returned to Brisbane and will return there after she recovers from her recent surgery back in Scotland.

'We are both Australian citizens. I've lived in Australia almost a decade now. It's home,' Ms McCartney said.

'For a short time I needed my family support so I went back to Scotland for that.'

'My hope for Annah and I are that we are happy, healthy and progress in life the best we can.'

'I just love her to bits and I want the very best for her.'
The Commissioner for Health in Edo State, Dr Patrick Okundia, on Friday, in Benin said 76 out of 175 suspected cases of Lassa fever tested positive to the virus.

Okundia made this known during a Lassa fever committee meeting, chaired by the State Deputy Governor, Mr Philip Shaibu, and representative of the World Health Organization.

A total of 76 suspected cases of Lassa fever were confirmed yesterday (Thursday) in the state and they are currently on admission in the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital.

We have not recorded any new death but have also reduced our case fatality rate to less than 10 per cent. The number of cases in the ward now is 34, and we have discharge over 28 patients that have been fully treated and cured, he said.

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Disney fans have watched their beloved animated films reemerge in new, live action form over the few past years.

And now it's clear the studio has no intentions of stopping, announcing the development of the tragic 1942 classic Bambi via Variety on Friday.

Live action Bambi will be crafted by top talents.

The minds behind Captain Marvel and Netflix's Sierra Burgess Is A Loser will collaborate on the script, while Depth of Field production, created by Chris and Paul Weitz will be in charge of producing the film.

It's coming: Disney's 1942 classic Bambi will be next in a long line of animated Disney films to transform into a live action remake

Behind the magic: he minds behind Captain Marvel and Netflix's Sierra Burgess Is a Loser will collaborate on the script, while Depth of Field production, created by Chris and Paul Weitz will be in charge of producing the film

Fans are to expect the 'same photo-realistic CGI' used in prior remakes - such as Disney and director Jon Favreau's The Lion King - to tell the story of everyone's favorite fawn.

The film's arch carries along some heavy themes, such as coping with loss and questioning the morality of hunting.

Seeing the loss of Bambi's mother played out in all too life-like CGI form may be disturbing for some viewers, but isn't likely to be a deterrent.

Heavy themes: The film deals directly with loss, as Bambi loses his mother in the first few minutes of the film

It's no wonde that Disney remains eager to convert all of their classic animated features into CGI replicas - with the current releases having grossed over $8.2 billion worldwide already.

And two Disney remakes are heading to theaters in the next year and a half alone.

Niki Caro's Mulan will premiere in March of 2020, while the Emma Stone driven 101 Dalmations prequel, Cruella, remains slated for a May 2021 debut.

In terms of scheduled live-action Disney films with pending release dates like Bambi, the list is endless.

All too real: Disney transformed The Lion King into a live-action feature in 2019

The original: Disney's original The Lion King hit theaters in the Summer of 1994

But at the top of that lengthy to-do list is Rob Marshall's The Little Mermaid featuring Melissa McCarthy, Javier Bardem, and Halle Bailey, as well as Robert Zemeckis' stab at the eerier tale of Pinocchio.

A sequel to Peter Pan titled Peter and Wendy is in the works, as well as a new rendition of The Hunchback of Notre Dame featuring the musical talents of longtime Disney collaborators Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz.

There is no set production schedule or release date for the impending live-action Bambi film at this time.
Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - Some 92 migrants, mostly Somalis, including five pregnant women, 1 baby under two months old and 32 unaccompanied teenagers, were rescued on Friday off Libya by the humanitarian ship, Ocean Viking, Frederic Penard, director of operations for SOS Mediterranean, the NGO that chartered the boat, told the media
Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - Activists of the Free Destourian party in Tunisia and many members of the civil society organizations held a sit-in this Saturday outside the seat of the Assembly of Tunisian People's Representatives (Parliament) to denounce political violence in the country
The United Nations and the European Union have expressed concerns over incessant attacks on humanitarian workers in the North-east.

The UN resident and humanitarian in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, expressed the concerns during a press conference in Abuja on Friday.

Today, we are here to send a joint message. We are extremely worried about the challenges faced by civilians and aid workers in the North Eastern States of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, Mr Kallon said.

According to him, there have been an upsurge in violent attacks from non-state armed groups and an increasing trend of illegal checkpoints on major supply and commercial routes directly targeting civilians, authorities and aid workers in Borno State.

He asked the government to explore a political solution to the problem in the region.

The first thing I want to establish is that crisis in North-east Nigeria has a regional dimension, so there must be dialogue among the regional actors by talking to States around Nigeria: Chad and Cameroon which President Buhari has been doing and continue to do. This remains extremely critical in finding the solution to this crisis, he said.

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PREMIUM TIMES reported a series of attacks on aid workers and civilians by Boko Haram.

In 2019, 12 of them were murdered by the armed group.

Mr Kallon also said over 1.8 million people, across the three crisis-affected states which is almost the equivalent of the entire population of Slovenia, the home country of the EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, were still living in camps or hosted in other communities who are themselves, extremely vulnerable.

EU

Also speaking, the EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic, said Europe and Nigeria shared a common fight against terrorism.

I am talking about millions of people who are in need of humanitarian assistance, including those that are beyond the reach at the moment of humanitarian community in the territory under the control of organised armed groups, Mr Lenarcic said.

Mr Lenarcic also said there is need to ensure security and safety of humanitarian workers in the North-east.

He said all those involved in the crisis were obliged under international humanitarian law to allow access to the suffering population.

Nigerian government

Meanwhile, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Farouq, said a dialogue is being put in place to discuss the safety of humanitarian workers.

She said the government of Nigeria has put in resources through different organs to give support to these workers.

According to her, the government of Nigeria has put in a lot of resources in the military to fight these people (insurgents) but as you know, in crisis no matter how much you put, sometimes we begin to see that we dont see any impact but we are doing our best.

The President has given us directives that we should focus more on early recovery even in North-east. We should also think of developing these areas and how we are going to relocate these people. We should empower them so that they can be economically self-reliant, she said.
New Delhi, Jan 25 (UNI) Accusing the present NDA regime of making an assault on Constitution and Constitutional values under a conspiracy, Indian National Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Saturday called upon the people of the country to unite to save the fundamental institutions of the nation.



In a message to countrymen on the eve of the 71st Republic day, Mrs Gandhi said,the truth is that an assault is being made on the Constitution and Constitutional values under a conspiracy. Further Constitutional values are being attacked in an organized manner and Constitutional institutions are being sacrificed at the altar of personal egos. In such a situation, it is the duty of every citizen to unite to save the Constitution.



She asserted that there was a perception among the citizens of the country that constitutional values are not safe in the hands of the present Government.





To divert attention from the problems of unemployment, agrarian distress and price spiral, a conspiracy is being hatched on divide people in the name of religion, region and language and weaken the Constitution. An unprecedented atmosphere of fear and insecurity is being created in the country.



"The common man feels that the Constitutional values are not safe under the present dispensation,she said.







Charging the present government with crushing dissent, she said,today, agriculture and farmers are on the verge of bankruptcy, the youth is running helter-skelter in search of jobs. The economy is in a sorry state. However, anyone who raises a voice is being crushed by the government machinery.





"Today the responsibility of protecting the Constitution lies on the shoulders of every Indian.



UNI AR RP SHK2043


(Photo: Sun, Sea, Sand But No Sex in Bali? )

Sun, sea, sand and sex... there is nothing that gets Aussies hotter under the collar and in the mood than when they are on holiday.

But, for loved up couples heading to Bali, this could all be about to change. Indonesia is extremely popular, with about 1.18 million Australians booking flights to go here each year. The majority heading to this beautiful island known as one of the most romantic destinations in the world and ideal for honeymoons.

But now a law has been proposed that would ban sex before marriage with those being caught facing up to a year in prison.

This could be an issue for Aussies who according to Durex's Great Aussie Sex Survey, holidays are the most common occasion for them to have sex.

Sex & Relationship Expert, Annabelle Knight explains: "Essentially our sex lives get a bit of a boost when we go away, especially to hot countries where we might have a little less clothing on and a little more skin on show. From a psychological standpoint we tend to be more relaxed on holiday and in a stress free and positive state of mind, which can have a positive effect on libido and desire."

Despite the fact the law has since been delayed, the Australian government has still posted a warning to tourists. Its Smarter Traveller site stated: "The Indonesian Parliament recently considered revising the Criminal Code... A revised Criminal Code could have implications for foreign residents and visitors, including tourists."

The law has been delayed but not before holidaymakers started cancelling their flights and accommodation, rearranging their trips for fear of being arrested.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Australian Elizabeth Travers, who runs about 30 villas on the island, said: "The law has not even changed yet and I have already received cancellations. One client said they no longer trust coming to Bali because they are not married."

She added: "I have traded through two bombings and multiple nature disasters and think that if the central government is serious about enforcing such laws, the tourism industry would be destroyed and trigger the end of life in Bali as we know it."

The delay has come after a backlash from both travellers and local businesses - especially given than tourists contribute the most to the economy and this could have a huge impact if they are to stay away. This is just one of several controversial laws to be proposed - on an island that is known for already having quite strict laws - and a petition was set up which received more than a million supporters.

Human Rights Watch also intervened, stating: "The current bill contains articles that will violate the rights of women, religious minorities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, as well as freedom of speech and association."

While the delay is a positive sign, if these laws were to come in it would take around two years for them to come into effect. So, what could this mean for your future holiday and do you really need to be cancelling a once in a lifetime trip?

The UAE is a country that already has very strict laws around how you can behave with your significant other. The Dubai code states: "Holding hands for a married couple is tolerated but kissing and petting are considered an offence to public decency."

In 2017, Jamie Harron from Scotland, was arrested for public indecency in the UAE because he touched a man's hip in a bar. It cost him 32,000 in legal fees and three months in jail (although he was out after 24 hours). A couple hit the headlines for kissing in a restaurant, receiving a month in jail while another were found having sex on the beach, receiving a prison sentence not only for indecent behaviour but sex outside marriage.

So, what is it really like to go to a destination where there are laws around how you can behave with your significant other?

Chelle Shohet, who has been to Dubai with her partner Jon 10 times before they were married and seven times after they tied the knot, said she was wary the first time she visited: "On the first trip I was unsure as to what we could and couldn't do so I read up on it and was cautious and paid attention to our surroundings."

When it comes to the laws she said: "It all depends on if you are respectful and discreet.

If you are loud brash and flaunt the rules and a native Dubai person takes offence then yes the rules are strict and severe."

Chelle confirms that there are various things you can't do: "Don't kiss especially snog in public. Don't be overly touchy and feely and physically affectionate in public." But, she added: "You can get a room together unmarried in the international hotels and you can hold hands and or link arms."

She adds that she's been quizzed on this topic regularly and thinks some people are put off by concerns over cultural clashes. However, says: "We felt very comfortable and happy to go there repeatedly even taking family (including unmarried family) with us."

Chelle recalls only one time when it was an issue. She became ill during a trip to Dubai and had to have emergency surgery in the 'women and children's hospital'. She was in intensive care post surgery for four days before being put on a women's gynaecologist ward with other local residents of Dubai and explained: "I was very seriously ill and would have died had the doctors not acted so quickly. My then partner - now husband - was with me and had to wait outside. He said he did feel at that point that he couldn't argue or demand answers as he was aware it was a women's hospital and he didn't want the fact we were not married to become an issue. But ultimately we were very grateful for the amazing treatment and support I received."

Speaking of the proposed law in Bali, Chelle said: "I do not think in this day and age this will be popular or practical. I think it will be something that - like the hotels in Dubai have done - Bali will find ways around the rules in order to maintain the tourism."

So, whether this law is approved or not, don't let it put you off visiting this breathtaking destination - respect all the laws and customs and you'll have once-in-a-lifetime experiences, without fear of your trip ending in a prison cell.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Pritzker has worked with Lightfoot on the casino tax structure and has expressed a desire to find a way to make sure the project can succeed after a consultant found last summer that the taxes lawmakers approved are so high the project might fail to attract a developer. While the governor has said he wants the rollout of recreational marijuana to continue without substantive changes for the time being, a spokeswoman on Friday said the administration looks "forward to working with the city to consider ways to give local communities more options to regulate consumption within their borders.
MIDDLETOWN - City officials joined religious leaders Friday in a ceremony celebrating the opening of a new mosque on Broad Street.

Mayor Ben Florsheim, state Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, and Cromwell Town Councilor James Demtriades were welcomed for the traditional Friday prayer  the jumah  at the newly-opened Omar Islam Center.

The thee legislators joined more than 50 Muslim men at the mosque, which is located in a converted auto body shop that was donated rent-free to the congregation.

A smaller number of women prayed separately in another room in the mosque.

The officials joined the faithful in removing their shoes before entering the mosque.

The close proximity of houses of worship of three religions attracted positive comments from the civic leaders and the mosques founder and imam, Ahmed Bedir.

The Omar Islam Center is just steps away from the Congregation Adath Israel synagogue and around the corner from the World Mission Society Church of God.

An iman typically functions as a prayer leader but also serves as a role model for the Muslim community in all its spiritual and secular undertakings, according to oxfordislamicstudies.com.

Until now, worshipers had to go to a mosque on the Berlin Turnpike or in Windsor, said Mo Islam, who serves as a spokesman for the mosque.

lslam, an associate director Pratt & Whitney, also is a member of the Cromwell Planning & Zoning Commission.

Bedir originally had sought to lease the former Knights of Columbus Hall on Main Street in Cromwell as the home of the mosque.

Despite backing from the Knights, and the fact the building had hosted dozens of events over the years, the PZC rejected the mosque proposal because of concerns about traffic.

Undeterred, the imam and Islam moved on and eventually received an offer from service-station owner Khalid Mahmud to take over a portion of his property.

When he presented the proposal to planning officials in Middletown, the response was positive, Bedir said.

The people he dealt with in the citys planning office were very, very helpful, and so kind, the imam said.

Islam, for one, was not surprised. What I always say is Any time one door closes, another opens, he said.

The main hall where the men pray was done over in a shade of white that dazzled in the afternoon sun Friday.

The most prominent feature in the room is the mihrab, the niche that points in the direction of Mecca.

Muslims pray facing towards Mecca.

The service Friday was somewhat unusual because non-Muslims are usually excluded from mosques during the daily prayers.

However, Islam said one of Imam Bedirs goals is to inform and teach residents about the Islamic religion.

I told him if you want to do that, were going to have to make some changes, Islam said Friday.

The only way non-Muslims can appreciate the beauty and passion of the religion is by being exposed to it, Islam said.

Bedir has already worked with members of Adath Israel over issues involving parking for the Jewish High Holy Days, and he said he wants to develop more interfaith efforts.

I do media relations for him, but I tell him he doesnt need my help, Islam said. Hes phenomenal. He has so much energy and passion.

After the iman allowed non-Muslims into the mosque for the prayers, once the service concluded, he urged the municipal officials to eat from a buffet that was set on long tables in the prayer room.

Im happy you have found a home, Demetriades told the congregation.

He encouraged them join with other Americans to fight against ignorance and bigotry.

Each and every one of us has an obligation to fight, Demetriades said. Your voice is your power.

Im really happy to have you in Middletown, Florsheim said.

It is a testament to the city, to Connecticut and to our region that we have three different religions sharing space with one another. Its very exciting, he added.

Lesser began his remarks by offering the tradition Muslim greeting, ASalamu alaykum (Peace be upon you).

Muslims came to America before there was an America, Lesser said, explaining the first record of a Muslim arriving in American took place in 1730.

He said America is better and stronger when we are all together.

And, like his colleagues, Lesser offered his help.

The imam took Lesser upon his offer, asking his help in getting schools to recognize Muslim holidays.

Nathan Deyo, the operations manager for the Mystic Oil Co., also was a very welcome guest. He said Khalid Mahmud is part of our business and part of our family.

Mystic Oil donated $2,000 to the mosque for use in its religious instruction program for children, Deyo said.
Washington: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Ukraine next week, making his first trip to the country at the heart of President Donald Trumps impeachment.

As Trumps Senate trial on impeachment charges continues, the State Department announced Friday that Pompeo would travel to Kyiv as part of a five-nation tour of Europe and Central Asia. Since November, Pompeo has twice cancelled plans to visit Ukraine, most recently just after the New Year when developments with Iran forced him to postpone the trip. Pompeo will also visit Britain, as it finalizes its divorce from the European Union, along with Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Trumps impeachment on charges of abuse of office and obstruction of Congress hinges on his policy toward Ukraine. Witnesses told House investigators that Trump wanted Ukraine to announce an investigation into former Vice President Joe Bidens son in return for releasing critical military aid to Ukraine.

Pompeo has sought to stay above the impeachment fray and his stop in Ukraine will likely test his ability to continue to do so while leading diplomatic efforts to boost ties between Washington and Kyiv that have been complicated by the process.

One of the impeachment witnesses, William Taylor, was until Jan. 1 the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Pompeo had appointed Taylor to the post over the summer to take over from Marie Yovanovitch, whose tour was abruptly cut short last May after Trumps personal attorney Rudolph Giuliani made unsubstantiated allegations against her. Yovanovitch testified that Trump supporters had mounted a smear campaign against her.

Just before the trip was announced, Giuliani said he would be presenting evidence of corruption involving the Bidens and Ukraine. Such allegations, even if they are unfounded, may distract from Pompeos mission in Kyiv, which is to show U.S. support for the country in the face of Russian aggression.

Taylor departed Kyiv just a day before Pompeo was to have arrived on his previously planned trip. The position was temporary and time-limited by law but his tenure could have lasted until mid-January. His departure prompted complaints from lawmakers that his departure was similar to Yovanovitchs early recall and sent a poor message to the embassy in Kyiv and career diplomats more generally, as well as to Ukrainian authorities.

Pompeo responded testily on Friday when asked about Ukraine and Yovanovitch in an interview with NPRs Mary Louise Kelly. Repeating a frequent talking point, he said the Trump administration had done more for Ukraine than President Barack Obama had done, including supplying the country with lethal defensive weaponry.

This administration has delivered the capability for the Ukrainians to defend themselves, he said. President Obama showed up with MREs, we showed up with Javelin missiles. The previous administration did nothing to take down corruption in Ukraine. Were working hard on that. Were going to continue to do it.

The Obama administration pushed Ukraine to do more to fight endemic corruption.

Asked about Yovanovitch, who is still employed by the State Department, Pompeo replied: Ill say only this: I have defended every State Department official. We have built a great team. I have defended every single person on this team. I have done whats right for every single person on this team.

After the interview, Pompeo shouted his displeasure at being questioned about Ukraine, repeatedly using expletives, according to Kelly. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In Kyiv, Pompeo will meet with Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whose July 25 phone call with Trump triggered the whistleblower complaint that led to Trumps impeachment. In that call, Trump disparaged Yovanovitch and asked Zelenskiy for a favor, suggesting he wanted Ukrainian authorities to investigate Bidens son, Hunter Biden, for corruption. Trump has said the call was perfect and has denied doing anything wrong.

In his meetings, Pompeo will reaffirm U.S. support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity as the country continues to battle Russia-backed separatists in the east, the State Department said. Pompeo also will honor Ukrainians who have died in the conflict, which intensified after Russia annexed Ukraines Crimea peninsula in 2014, in a move condemned and rejected by most of the international community. A senior official said Pompeo would underscore that the U.S. will never recognize Russias annexation of Crimea.

The senior official, who previewed Pompeos ultimately postponed trip, said the secretary would discuss Zelenskiys anti-corruption efforts but would not comment on whether the secretary would raise Trumps desire for an investigation into Hunter Biden and his role on the board of a Ukrainian energy company or discredited claims that Ukraine and not Russia was responsible for interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

In addition, Pompeo plans to meet Ukrainian religious, civic and business leaders for talks on human rights, investment and economic and political reform, the department said.

Pompeo will begin his trip on Jan. 30 in London, where he will meet Prime Minister Boris Johnson and stress the administrations desire to forge a free-trade trade deal with Britain as it exits the EU.

From Ukraine, Pompeo will travel on to Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan before returning home in time for Trumps State of the Union address to Congress on Feb. 4. Human rights, energy independence and economic reform will top Pompeos agenda at each of those stops.

In Minsk, the secretary plans to affirm the U.S. commitment to improving ties with Belarus, which has had a strained relationship with Russia. President Alexander Lukashenko has pursued better relations with the West since Russias annexation of Crimea as Belarus is wary that Russia could try to absorb it.

In September, the U.S. and Belarus agreed to upgrade diplomatic ties by returning ambassadors to each others capitals after an 11-year break.
D onald Trump has been accused of saying he wanted to get rid of the US ambassador to Ukraine following the emergence of a tape provided to congressional investigators.

It comes amid the US president's trial in the Senate, after the House accused him of abusing his office by asking Ukraine to probe Joe Biden while withholding military aid the nation.

The recording was provided to congressional investigators by Lev Parnas, an associate of Mr Trumps personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

Mr Parnas was reportedly among a small group speaking with Mr Trump when the recording was made. In the recording, Mr Trump demanded the removal of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch at an April 2018 dinner at his hotel in Washington, according to ABC News.

The impeachment trial continues in the Senate / REUTERS

The ambassador's removal a year later has become an issue in the presidents ongoing impeachment trial.

The recording also appears to contradict the presidents statements that he did not know Mr Parnas, a key figure in the investigation.

A speaker, who appears to be Mr Trump, says on the clip: Get rid of her! Get her out tomorrow. I dont care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. OK? Do it.

Mr Parnas and associate Igor Fruman worked with Mr Giuliani on a push to get Ukraine to announce it would investigate former vice president Mr Biden.

On the recording, the two men tell Mr Trump the US ambassador had been insulting him, which leads directly to the apparent remarks by the president.

The White House denied any suggestion of presidential wrongdoing.

House impeachment manager Adam Schiff, walks from the podium as the Democrats finishing presenting their case / AP

The tape came as Democratic House prosecutors concluded their final arguments on Friday.

They said the president would continue to abuse his position ahead of the 2020 election unless Congress intervenes to remove him from office.

He is who he is, Representative Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told senators.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks during the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump / AP

You cannot leave a man like that in office.

"You know its not going to stop. Its not going to stop unless the Congress does something about it.

After three days of Democratic presentations before Republican senators, the presidents legal team are expected to start tabling their defence on Saturday morning.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said: Every president in our history has had the right to place people who support his agenda and his policies within his administration."

Republicans have defended Mr Trumps actions as appropriate and are casting the process as a politically motivated effort to weaken him in his reelection campaign.

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and acquittal is considered likely.

The Senate is heading next week towards a pivotal vote on Democratic demands for testimony from top Trump aides, including acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton who refused to appear before the House.

It would take four Republican senators to join the Democratic minority to seek witnesses, and so far the numbers appear lacking.
The Daily Beast

Henry Nicholls/ReutersBritish Prime Minister Boris Johnson has offered a groveling apology to the nation after he was caught out for attending a boozy garden party in the backyard of 10 Downing Street at the height of the coronavirus lockdown.The gathering in May 2020when people in Britain were banned from meeting more than one other person outsidewas only exposed this week when ITV News obtained an invite sent out to 100 people urging them to head out to the sunny garden and bring your own b
Tim Fischer/Midland Reporter-Telegram

The 3-year-old girl who was injured in a shooting Wednesday night is in stable condition, and a 16-year-old male involved in the incident is in custody, according to a press release from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Midland Police Department officers were attempting to serve a search warrant at the residence at 2009 E. Pine Ave. in an ongoing narcotics investigation, and there was an exchange of gunfire between officers and the teen, according to the release.
A case has been registered against three people, including two sadhus, for alleged illegal felling of trees from a government land in Shamli district, police said on Saturday.

Sadhus Yogi Mevhnath and Rakesh Nath and another person were booked for illegally felling Mango trees from the Public Works Department land at Bibipur village under the Jhinjhana police station area in Shamli after a complaint by a forest department official, they said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Crown, Netflixs on-going drama about Queen Elizabeth, tells the story of the 1966 Aberfan coal mine tragedy. Her Majesty visited this Welsh village of 5,000 eight days after a devastating avalanche of slurry smashed a school and other buildings just after 9 a.m. It killed 144 people; 116 were children.

To get a sense of this profound loss, consider recollections by Philip Thomas -- now 63. In 1966, he was 10. Despite being buried, he survived. He recalls: I was taken to hospital. Mum and Dad did not know. In frantic efforts to find their children, they were with the parents digging at the school and visiting the mortuary in the chapel.

It wasn't until 4:30 p.m. that they tracked me down. By then I'd had an operation. Though my left ear was nearly torn off, they saved it, but not three fingers on my right hand which were crushed as I protected my head. I had a fractured pelvis and lost my spleen.

I remember Mum sitting on the end of the bed and asking a nurse why my sheets were red. The nurse said, 'They're not red: that's blood.' It was 50/50 as to whether I'd live. For two months, I was in hospital. When I finally went home, the streets were strangely quiet. Out of the 32 children in my class, only three survived and whenever me and my brother went out, we saw hardly anyone my age.

Prior to the Queens coming to Aberfan, Netflix shows Philip, her husband, attending the funeral. The too-long mass grave is filled with too-short coffins. Later, Philip tells Elizabeth of the weeping townsfolk surrounding the array of caskets and listening to a pastor read meaningful Scriptures. It was extraordinary. The grief, the anger  at the government, at the coal board, at God too. The rage behind all the faces, behind all the eyes. They didnt smash things up or fight in the streets. What did they do? They sang  the whole community. It was the most astonishing thing I ever heard. Anyone who heard that hymn would not just have wept. They would have been broken into a thousand tiny pieces.

The words of Jesus

Philips words recall those of Jesus in Mt 21:42: "Did you never read in the Scriptures, THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER [stone]; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'? 43"Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. 44And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust."

Jesus quotes Psalm 118: 22,23. Matthew, Mark, Luke and Peter (twice) repeat this verse. Six times God inscripturated this truth. What notoriety! Lets have ears to hear.

How did our humble carpenter know soberly to warn us about a more terrible and universal two-part avalanche? He who falls (part-one) on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls (part-two), it will scatter him like dust."

Our first parents rebellion deeply wounded us and our world: natural calamities, disease, fractured relationships at every level  even war  and internally, we cannot even trust ourselves. Still, Gods image thrums in us. So, we build  building buildings, building families, building businesses, building cities, building cultures.

Into this busy, damaged world came Jesus. Simeon prophesied over infant Jesus (Lk 2:34): This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of manyrevealing the thoughts of many hearts.

Defiantly or haphazardly, many builders rejected this stone. The Greek apodokimazo, comes from: apo = away from + dokimazo = to prove, to test. It means to cast away after determining something is useless. Trash.

Jesus tells his disciples he(!) will be trashed (Mk 8:31): The Son of Man must suffer many things and be trashed by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law. Having no place for Jesus, these elites preoccupy themselves with their own agenda. And, what about common folk? They follow both their own natural desires and the elites lead. Luke (17:25) records Jesus: The Son of Man must first suffer many things and be trashed by this generation. Like us.

Two realities

Somehow, despite previously participating in ongoing devaluations of Jesus, some of us reconsider, embracing repentance, faith, and humility, falling upon this stone. In our wounded world, we are still broken to pieces. The Greek sunthlao means to break, break in pieces, crush, shatter. Dear God. At least we have the Foundation upon which to rest our brokenness. Energized by God, we rebuild, and rising produce fruit.

But, a person who persistently depreciates this stone starts stones rolling that will roll back over him (Prov. 26:27). Consider Haman, Esther 7:10: They hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Also, during this life, or at death, like the Aberfan avalanche, the ultimate stone precipitously falls. Jesus warns: On whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust." The Greek likmao, is used of winnowing chaff, grinding to powder - isolated bits blown by the wind  no foundation  ultimately alone/meaningless.

Application

From 11/15  4/16, I served as co-interim pastor for Helenas Grace Community Fellowship. During a revision of its vision statement, I suggested: We are a family of sinners pursued by Christ. One leader quietly/firmly added broken before sinners. I spoke up: Exactly! We are a family of broken sinners who invite Christ into our brokenness.

If not, Jesus says we will be pulverized.

Lets join the Aberfan townspeople who knew by heart marveling Charles Wesleys 1740 hymn Jesus, Lover of My Soul: Other refuge have I none/Hangs my helpless soul on Thee;/Leave, ah! leave me not alone/Still support and comfort me. All my trust on Thee is stayed/All my help from Thee I bring;/Cover my defenseless head/With the shadow of Thy wing.

This is the second of six columns based on Scriptures where astonished Jesus asked elite leaders: Did you never read? Despite their high level of education, they remained in their own shallow comfort zones. He expected them to connect what they had read in Scripture with life.

Steve Bostrom, descendant of Swedish homesteaders, husband of Via, father of eight, father-in-law of seven, and grandfather of 13, loves Helena and serves here as a pastor at large. He is ordained by the Presbyterian Church in America. To contact him, email: stevebostrom@gmail.com.

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Rating agency Moodys has affirmed the government of Ghana's long-term issuer and senior unsecured bond ratings at B3 and changed the outlook to positive from stable.

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It has also concurrently affirmed the rating of the bond enhanced by a partial guarantee from the International Development Association (IDA, Aaa stable) at B1.

The decision to assign a positive outlook reflects Moody's rising confidence that the country's institutions and policy settings will foster improved macroeconomic and fiscal stability over the medium term, in part as a consequence of the reforms implemented under the recent IMF reform programme.

READ ALSO: 5 competent females Mahama may want to consider as running mate for 2020

Moodys said: Those reforms are beginning to bear fruit, as seen, for example, in the return to primary fiscal surpluses, measures to smooth the debt maturity profile and increasingly sustainable growth prospects.

It, however, emphasised: Pressures and risks remain, as evidenced by persistent revenue challenges, a potential repeat of pre-election fiscal cycles, and the emergence of significant arrears and further contingent liabilities in the energy sector, all contributing to rising public debt.

But the positive outlook reflects increasing confidence that the government will manage those pressures in such a way as to sustain and enhance external and fiscal stability.

The decision to affirm the B3 rating balances, for now, those positive medium-term trends and existing challenges.

It said a key constraint on the rating is the country's significant exposure to international capital flow reversals, which tend to coincide with exchange rate volatility and rising external and domestic borrowing costs, putting pressure on already weak debt affordability.

Measures which reduce that exposure by demonstrating reliable liquidity risk management and increasingly firm control over the debt position would support an upgrade to a B2 rating, it added.

However, those measures will take time to evidence impact.

READ ALSO: Bawumias usefulness in Ghana has reduced drastically - Former Suhum MCE

As a consequence, it noted that the outlook is unlikely to be resolved quickly and may even extend beyond the usual 18-month period in order to monitor how policy unfolds following the forthcoming election, and in particular the government's progress in implementing its energy recovery strategy.

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Also, Ghana's foreign- and local-currency bond and deposit ceilings remain unchanged, namely the foreign-currency bond ceiling at B1, the foreign-currency deposit ceiling at Caa1, and the local-currency bond and deposit ceilings at Ba3.

Ghanaian Traders Share Thoughts on Sales During Christmas | #Yencomgh

READ ALSO: Akufo-Addo, Mahama good at spotting fine and juicy women - Allotey Jacobs

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Source: YEN.com.gh
January 22, 2020 Deanna Boensch , 662-680-1632

TUPELO, MS: The National Park Service (NPS) announces the availability of the Administrative Record File for public review on the Meriwether Lewis Firing Range Site. The firing range is located on the north side of the Natchez Trace Parkway near Milepost 378, approximately 8 miles south of the Meriwether Lewis Monument and Campground, and has not been used since 2016. The site will be evaluated for potential presence of contaminants.



The Administrative Record includes documents that the NPS will use to select a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) response action if necessary. The Administrative Record File currently includes the Preliminary Assessment/Site Inspection Report. The Administrative Record will be updated to include other documents considered in the selection of a cleanup action, if required, including the Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis (EE/CA) report, comments submitted by interested persons, NPS responses to significant comments, and the EE/CA approval memorandum.



The Administrative Record File is available in digital format. To request a digital copy, please provide your email address or mailing address to:



Bela Varga

Acting Environmental Management Branch Chief

NPS Region 2 South Atlantic Gulf

1924 Building, 100 Alabama St. SW

Atlanta, GA 30303

(404) 507-5722

e-mail us



www.nps.gov

About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for Americas 417 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov.


By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Homegrown motorcycle maker Bajaj Auto and British Triumph Motorcycles on Friday formally commenced their non-equity partnership. They would build a new engine and vehicle platform in the mid-capacity range (200- 750cc).

The bikes developed by the companies will have a starting price under Rs 2 lakh and will challenge the dominance of Royal Enfield in the segment. At present, Royal Enfield faces almost no competition in the mid-capacity cruiser category and enjoys a solid brand trust among riding community.



We are confident that there will be a huge appetite in India and other emerging markets for these new products. We look forward to working alongside such a famous motorcycle company and to leveraging each others strengths and expertise to make the relationship a success for everyone, said Rajiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Auto India.



Under the partnership, Triumph will further expand its global reach, with the partnership offering a new mid-sized sector opportunity and, importantly, a new entry point to several high-volume emerging markets, including India and other Asian markets.

Bajaj will take over Triumphs Indian distribution activities, at a date yet to be confirmed. In other key overseas markets, where Triumph is not currently present, Bajaj will represent Triumph and offer the new mid-capacity bikes as part of the full Triumph line-up.

In all other markets where Triumph is present, the motorcycles developed together under this partnership will join the current Triumph product portfolio and be distributed by the Triumph-led dealer network worldwide.

The products that will come out of the partnership will help attract a younger, but still discerning, customer audience.., Triumph Motorcycles CEO Nick Bloor said.
Fifty-two out of 218 visitors from Wuhan, the epicenter of a new coronavirus outbreak, has left Da Nang for China as of Saturday, according to a local travel companys executive.

The 218 Wuhan visitors entered Da Nang on Wednesday, before China shut down the city, Nguyen Minh Xoang, general director of the Hai Van Cat travel firm, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Saturday morning.

The firm has helped 52 of them come back to China, Xoang said.

Vietnam has ceased flights to and from Wuhan so the 52 visitors had to follow different routes to get back to China.

We have cooperated with foreign partners in helping the tourists return to their country by various means, Xoang said.

The remaining Wuhan visitors are expected to go home from now until the end of January 27.

Da Nang health officials have maintained that the 218 visitors had shown no unusual health signs.

The Hai Van Cat travel company operates three charter flights taking around 600 tourists from Wuhan to Da Nang on a weekly basis.

But all flights have been suspended because China has locked down Wuhan, a city of 11 million in the central Chinese province of Hubei, where the official death toll from the pneumonia-causing coronavirus jumped on Saturday to 41 from 26 one day earlier.

The Da Nang Department of Health has announced two hotlines to receive reports of suspected coronavirus cases, which are 0905141567 and 090567468.

The first number is handled by Dr. Nguyen Tien Hong, deputy director of the health department, while Ton That Thanh, director of the Da Nang Center for Disease Control, is in charge of the other.

A pneumonia outbreak, caused by a new strain of the coronavirus family that caused SARS and MERS, first surfaced in Wuhan City in December 2019.

The total number of confirmed cases in China now stands at 1,287, Reuters quoted the latest figures from the countrys National Health Commission.

The virus has spread to the U.S., France, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and others.

Two Chinese citizens are being treated at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City after their coronavirus infection was announced on Thursday.

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A solar and wind-powered autonomous boat that has been travelling across the Atlantic Ocean since July of last year is believed to now be somewhere in the Dingle Bay area, according to man who built it, Andy Osusky.

The current boat, of which this is the second iteration - the first one was lost in a storm near Newfoundland in 2016 - took more than two years to develop and is made from custom composite parts: carbon fibre, Kevlar, fibreglass and a foam core reinforced by aluminium / carbon-fibre skeleton.

It is designed to survive extreme ocean conditions. Andy, who is originally from Slovakia but is currently living in Prague in the Czech Republic, is putting out an appeal to anyone in the area who finds the boat to contact him so that he can fly to Ireland and retrieve it.

The boat was launched from a fishing boat close to Renews Harbour in Newfoundland, Canada on July 8, 2019.

The boat's transatlantic crossing is part of a wider project known as the 'MicroTransat Challenge' which is a race across the ocean for autonomous boats. The aim of the race is to stimulate the development of autonomous boats through friendly competition.

Andy's last contact with his 'OpenTransat' boat was on January 10, when its on-board tracker placed it off the coast of Valentia Island. He believes that in the 12 days since he lost track of the boat, it may have washed up somewhere along the coast between Dingle and Castlemaine harbour.

Andy said that he has a number of theories as to what happened to the boat: "Case one is that the boat is lying on some beach with no clear view to the sky," he said.

"Because of the long keel, the solar panels are almost vertical, and so is the tracker antenna. Also some rock or sand may be blocking the signal. When combined with poor weather conditions - too cloudy and very little sunlight - it may need more time until the batteries recharge and the tracker "sees" at least one satellite to connect to. A series of clear days and multiple transmission attempts would help.

"Case two is that someone has picked it up and it's under their roof. The tracker antenna needs a clear, unobstructed view to the satellites (even clouds greatly affect its performance) and it can't transmit from inside a building.

"The only hope is that someone who finds the boat will try to make a contact. There are four visible signs with a short text and an email address," he continued.

"Finally case three is that it's damaged. The conditions near the shore are brutal - high winds and waves breaking on rocky cliffs.

"The most likely area where the boat has landed is a 25-km long shoreline as seen in the picture.

"Most places around the cliffs are not accessible, but it may be possible to map the area with a flying drone. I'm evaluating options to travel along the shore by boat which may be most feasible.

"I guess it's not over yet and it's only the matter of time when we will hear about the boat either from the boat itself, or from someone who finds it," he said.

Speaking to The Kerryman, Andy said that he is asking anyone who may come across the boat somewhere to contact him immediately at info@opentransat.com.

He then hopes to travel to Ireland to disassemble the ship and bring it back with him.
Jaleel said that he isnt scared of the MNS and that the party will fight against everyone who attacks it.

Mumbai: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Imtiyaz Jaleel has questioned MNS chief Raj Thackeray over his loudspeakers in the masjid remark.

Mr Jaleel said, Raj Thackeray has been in politics for the last 14 years but it is now that he realises the sound of masjid loudspeakers.

He alleged that Raj Thackeray has taken up issues related to Hindus ever since the Shiv Sena joined hands with secular parties. Mr Jaleel said that he is not scared of the MNS and that the party will fight against everyone who attacks it.

On Thursday, Raj Thackeray unveiled his new saffron flag at the NESCO ground in Goregaon.

I am Marathi and a Hindu too. I have not changed my religion... If you try to mess with the Marathi in me, I will go after that person as a Marathi, and I will go after him as a Hindu if one messes with the Hindu in me, he said.

In his speech, Raj also said that Muslims who are honest towards the country are ours. The country cannot reject personalities like former president APJ Abdul Kalam, former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan and lyricist Javed Akhtar, he said.

He raised the issue of loudspeakers that are installed inside masjids. He questioned the need for loudspeakers in masjids saying that even Hindus prayed everyday but did not use loudspeakers.

He noted that Muslims had hit the streets to march against the CAA in large numbers.

Some people told me the reason behind the protests: they are angry that Article 370 was scrapped, there is anger against the (Supreme Court's) Ram temple verdict. And that pent-up anger is being expressed, Raj said.
Vaping is bad. Smoking pot well, not so much. In a nutshell, this sums up the insurance industrys new approach to cannabis, and vaping of tobacco and cannabis products.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 25/1/2020 (718 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

Vaping is bad. Smoking pot well, not so much. In a nutshell, this sums up the insurance industrys new approach to cannabis, and vaping of tobacco and cannabis products.

Its a seismic shift, one even insiders admit they would never have predicted a few years ago.

"Society is changing," says Joan Weir, director of health and disability policy with Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association Inc.

So, too, must the insurance industry regarding how it evaluates risk for life, critical illness and extended health benefits coverage when it comes to marijuana use and the controversial, and potentially dangerous, vaporization of tobacco and cannabis oil products.

"Its a very hot topic," Weir adds, noting many Canadians are curious how doing either may affect their coverage or their ability to get insurance.

Much has changed in this respect. For example, smoking pot once put individuals who applied for benefits in the smoker category, more than doubling the cost of premiums, regardless of how infrequently they used the drug.

But in the last couple of years, insurers have changed their tune.

"Many insurers, not all, have decided that smoking two to five joints a week would be considered acceptable and classify an applicant as a non-smoker."

Weir further notes some insurers include edibles in this calculation  though that too is evolving, particularly since edibles recently became legal.

For advisers who help clients navigate the life and health insurance market, its one less concern.

Certified financial planner Daryl Diamond, also a chartered health underwriter who specializes in life insurance and estate planning, says the discussion rarely comes up with clients in his practice, Diamond Retirement Planning Ltd.

Despite being a veteran financial planner, Diamond admits he is not fully up to speed on vaping and cannabis use, and their effect on coverage for this reason.

That said, the discussion could arise more often, and the change in stance among insurers is remarkable, he says.

"Two decades ago, if you said you smoked marijuana just once in the last few years while applying, all the bells and alarms went off." Not only were people often relegated to paying higher premiums as smokers, Diamond says some folks were denied coverage.

"So its treated much more differently today,"

That said, people who vape marijuana or tobacco products  despite being considered a better option than smoking  are classified as smokers because it has been implicated in the mysterious, life-threatening lung disease in a handful of Canadians and thousands of people in U.S, says Lorne Marr, director of new business for LSM Insurance in Toronto.

Marr frequently speaks to media on both subjects. "Both are definitely something a lot of people are asking about because there are a lot of marijuana users and vapers out there."

Its important to know individuals who already have coverage do not have to worry about current use, regardless of how much, affecting their plan even if they qualified as a non-smoker, he says.

"Of course, your insurer may be a little skeptical if you started vaping one week after youre approved," he says. "But the key point is the window when theyre analyzing your health is when youre applying for coverage."

The caveat, is applicants must answer questions truthfully during the application process.

Whats more, "if youre not clear on a question, make sure you ask your broker or insurer and get the answer in writing." As Marr explains, getting documentation can be indispensable should you make a claim and the insurer disputes its validity.

But even if you apply and get bumped into a smoker rate, you can abstain for a time, or reduce cannabis use within the acceptable limits, and reapply.

"If you stop smoking or vaping for 12 months, then you likely can re-apply again to be classified as a non-smoker," Weir says, adding a year of being smoke-free typically qualifies you as a non-smoker along with the lower premium costs these days.

Medical cannabis is also looked at differently. Manulife, for example, does not consider users, who do not use nicotine products, to be smokers. As such they typically pay standard premiums  albeit the amount consumed can affect premiums, says Anne-Julie Gratton, Manulife spokeswoman.

Also new, group benefits typically provide some coverage of cannabis costs  when prescribed by a physician  through health spending accounts, Weir says.

While largely up to employers to decide on this coverage, medical cannabis is often "like a physiotherapy benefit," she says.

"Its a standalone, perhaps $500 a year, for about five indications."

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These generally include treating nausea from chemotherapy, spasticity for multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, palliative care and rheumatoid arthritis.

More recently, large insurers have added cannabis to extended drug coverage plans. Manulife, for example, partnered with Shoppers Drug Mart so its plan members  under the guidance of pharmacists specializing in medical cannabis  qualify for a percentage of the cost to be covered up to an annual maximum.

Generally coverage only applies to employer-sponsored plans. But that too is changing as Manulife recently added medical cannabis coverage to its individual Flexcare program plans.

All told the recent changes further reinforce how insurers are evolving with societal change, Marr adds.

But he also cautions one rule of thumb remains evergreen.

"When youre not sure, ask and get the response in writing."
The provincial government has announced further investments at Grace Hospital to improve its capacity to conduct medical tests.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/1/2020 (718 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The provincial government has announced further investments at Grace Hospital to improve its capacity to conduct medical tests.

A section of the hospital will be renovated to create a centralized location for all diagnostic imaging services, Health Minister Cameron Friesen said.

New equipment will be purchased, including a new gamma camera for use in nuclear medicine, a second CT scanner and a new fully digital X-ray machine to speed access to high-resolution imaging.

The hospitals existing CT scanner will also be upgraded.

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Cost estimates were not released.

The project will bring together several services currently located in different areas of the hospital, with construction to be completed in phases to minimize the impact on patient care, the province said in a news release.

The Grace Hospital Foundation will support the renovation with a capital campaign, the government said.

The project is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

In 2018, the hospital opened a new $43.8-million emergency department.

With the reorganization of the citys hospital system, the Grace is one of only three remaining acute-care hospitals in Winnipeg, along with Health Sciences Centre and St. Boniface Hospital.
An association of pastors has come to an agreement with the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection on the status of the trooper who fatally shot 19-year-old Mubarak Soulemane earlier this month, according to a statement from Rev. Boise Kimber.

Until all investigations related to the case are complete, Trooper Brian North will not interact with the public or be assigned to a barrack, Kimber said, adding that he will be on desk duty and will not be permitted to drive a police car.

State police confirmed the details of Norths status Saturday via email.

Pastors were in negotiations for a week with DESPP Commissioner James C. Rovella, according to Kimber, who took charge of representing Soulemanes family in the wake of the shooting.

We believe this resolution is in the best interest of the safety of the public and are pleased that the commissioner was so willing to engage with us on this issue, he said.

Family members had asked Tuesday that North be sent home while an investigation was ongoing into the shooting, headed by Middlesex States Attorney Michael A. Gailor is heading the investigation into the shooting.

Soulemane was shot and killed on Jan 15 after he allegedly carjacked a rideshare driver in Norwalk and engaged officers in a high-speed chase that led to West Haven. After the shooting, state police said North, who had been placed on administrative leave, fired his weapon after he saw Soulemane with a knife.

But in footage of the shooting released last weekend, it is unclear what prompted the trooper to fire into Soulemanes vehicle seven times.

North had been one of the officers who followed Soulemane into West Haven. The troopers had been warned that Soulemane was armed with a knife during the carjacking.

The chase ended when Soulemane crashed into a civilian car at the Exit 43 off-ramp and troopers boxed him in. North, as well as Troopers Joshua Jackson and Ross Dalling, approached the vehicle along with other unidentified officers, footage from body and dash cams shows.

Jackson told Soulemane, who was still in the drivers seat, to get out of the car. When Soulemane did not, another officer smashed the front passenger window with his baton.

Jacksons body camera footage appears to show Soulemane moving in the car, seen through the broken window. Soulemane appears to have something in his hand, but the item is difficult to see.

It was after Jackson fired his taser through the window that North fired his gun, according to videos, which indicate North then told the other officers Soulemane had a knife.

In the wake of the shooting, Tahir Mohammad, Soulemanes uncle, said the teen battled schizophrenia and was known to local police in Norwalk, West Haven and New Haven, where he lived.

While Soulemane, who grew up in Norwalk, had never been violent and had no criminal record, police officers had previously taken him to the hospital for treatment, Mohammad said. Judicial records indicate a Mubarak Soulemane was released on a promise to appear for failing to obey a stop sign and operating without a license in November and has another sealed case, which is next scheduled to be heard in 2021.

Laura Kuta, Soulemanes cousin, said his death left a hole in the family that will never be filled at a rally at City Hall in New Haven, where many attendees simply wanted to acknowledge Soulemanes life, and that he was loved.

Mubarak Soulemane had been taking classes at Gateway Community College and hoped to attend Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, according to his brother, Saeed Soulemane.

Thats all my brother wanted to do was go to college. He loved playing basketball; he loved lacrosse, said Saeed Soulemane. Hes the type of person that just wants to see everybody smile, to put a smile on everybodys face  very outgoing, very loving. For this situation to be mishandled like this, its very unfair.

Since the shooting, family members and community leaders have come forward to demand justice.

What we want is justice. We want justice. I want Senator Blumenthal, Senator Murphy and Governor Lamont  I want justice. Justice has to be revealed, said Omo Mohammad, Soulemanes mother.

Kimber has said he plans to stay on top of the officials conducting the investigation into the shooting.

Others have asked for answers.

We want some answers. Thats all we want; we want answers, because theyre not telling us enough, said Tahir Mohammad. He was in a car. He was shot sitting down in a car. That doesnt make sense to us. So we want some answers  thats it.

meghan.friedmann@hearstmediact.com
It was about 42 degrees and dark when Julianna Johnson was dropped off in front of a locked gate along South Park Avenue.

She yelled repeatedly for someone to let her in, but the front door of the Sister Jose Womens Center was far enough away to mute her voice. The volunteers, there for the centers overnight shift, werent expecting her and didnt hear her until after 5:30 a.m. Friday.

Johnson, who is 55 and coping with colon cancer and diabetes, had been taken from the shelter to Banner-University Medical Center by ambulance Thursday afternoon, consumed with pain.

At the hospital, she said she was given medication for what the discharge papers listed as unknown abdominal pain, an odd assessment since Johnson and Sister Jose staff members said shed received cancer treatment at UMC just a week or so earlier.

Johnson said she was ushered from the hospital to a hired ride just before 4 a.m., wearing pajamas, a thin blanket and no shoes.

Its not the first time shes been released to the streets while dealing with cancer, which shes had since 2010, but never in the middle of the night.
The Citizens' Assembly on gender equality met for the first time in Dublin Castle today.

It was the first in a series of discussions around the issue of gender in Irish society.

It is the fifth such assembly to take place, with previous assemblies taking place on issues including climate change, managing an ageing population, and abortion.

The assembly consists of 99 members of the public from across a variety of demographics, who will meet over six weekends tasked with reviewing and analysing gender issues before recommendations are made and reviewed by TDs.

The government then decides whether to act on these recommendations.

Dr. Catherine Day, Chairperson of the assembly said that constant change is needed on such issues.

"Gender can be the reason behind barriers and constraints that need to be examined.

We all know that the social landscape of Ireland has changed in recent decades. It changed when we joined the European Union, it changed when we opened up to the wider world, it changed again with the arrival of the internet and globalisation.

"And overtime, pressures for change pressures for change have brought about significant decisions," she said.
Asheem Singh is Director of Economics at the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures of Commerce. He authored The Moral Marketplace and is a former researcher to Boris Johnson.

Throughout history, technological take up has been one of the key determinants of economic progress. Often this comes at a price: a generation of workers whose livelihoods are tied to old models, who find themselves without hope and abandoned.

In the time of the Luddites, protest at a new industrial order led to brutal government reprisals. Across generations and continents, when societies fail to provide security for workers affected by technological change, terrible things happen

In our time, workers are turning to conservative administrations for hope. Trump voters in middle America coalesce in areas of high labour automation. According to analysis published in the Financial Times, workers in routine and semi-routine jobs voted for the Tories (and for delivering Brexit) in their droves in 2019.

With a stonking great majority comes a stonking great responsibility: to protect workers against the worst excesses of automation by providing opportunities and support. But how to do so when the future is so uncertain, and the progress of technology is so unclear?

Clearly, policymaking-as-usual wont do. Analysis released at 2019s close from my team at the RSAs Future Work Centre revealed the high-growth and the high-decline professions of the teenies. 289,000 high street jobs were lost over the last decade, 81 percent of which were held by women. Cashiers, administrators, bank clerks, PAs and hairdressers were among the worst hit. Van drivers, software programmers and care workers enjoyed the most growth.

But analyses like these are only part of the story and tell us a relatively small amount about the future. In the 2020s, Brexit, climate change, the ageing society, tech oligolopolies, the risk of another 2008 style crash and global political turmoil will all play a role in a fluctuating labour market. And the jobs of the future have not even been conceived by the entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

This is why we need scenarios. The four futures of work are a series of original scenarios for the imminent future of technologys development (to 2035), created by my team at the RSAs future work centre (Dom Cummings fans note: the technical term for the process we used to do this is called morphological analysis and is detailed in the link).

The scenarios are quite detailed in composition, and rest on different technologies progressing at different paces (for example automation vs internet of things vs surveillance tech) but their development and deployment make for a richer and more insightful policy conversation about the future of work than has been possible to date. Indeed, our analysis suggests that the future will look like version of one or more of the following:

The Big Tech Economy: this is a world in which tech companies proliferate and curb worker rights through sophisticated corporate social responsibility campaigns. Tech development accelerates in every direction. Potential future growth jobs in this area include software developers, digital transformation consultants, tech PRs.

The Precision Economy: a world in which surveillance culture trumps all. The internet of things is the tech of choice. Warehouses and white-collar workers alike are tagged and tailed ad nauseam. Potential future growth jobs in this area include behavioural scientists, data analysts, online reputation managers.

The Exodus Economy: a world in which financial or environmental events prompt recession and technological reversal. Worker co-ops make a comeback; working lives are intertwined with leisure. Potential future growth jobs in this area include: food cooperative workers, upcycled clothing designers, community energy managers.

The Empathy Economy: a world in which all that can be automated is automated, leaving humans to do high-touch, high empathy jobs. Robots now perform surgery, but its a human who is paid to tell you how long you have to live and potential future growth jobs in this area include: digital detox planners, personal PR advisers and social media infometers.

These scenarios are a powerful tool for constructing policy alternatives and democratising the conversation about the challenge of mass automation. The author Laetita Vitaud, has called the 20th century contract between employer, employee and government a bundle: a division of labour in exchange for a bundle of benefits and security.

Our institutional approaches  employment law, tax and benefits, education and training  are stuck in a world built around traditional one-employer, full-time employment, just as they are built principally around one agency providing security.

In no scenario does this bundle still hold. But what, then, does? Here are a few hors douvres to begin the conversation.

Innovative ways to empower workers and provide economic security through welfare and fiscal policy must be the cornerstone. Think beyond tax credits and other such technocratic reforms: what about universal basic income or three or four-day working weeks?

Sure, the latter was a loser for Labour. But the challenges of the casualisation of labour, the fear that family life is incompatible with hyper-professionalism and rising income volatility (the UK is particularly susceptible to this) are constant across all four scenarios and demand fresh ideas.

Union policy will be key. Platforms depend upon connecting demand for labour with an on-tap community of workers. Some countries unions are using this leverage better than others. In the Nordics, white-collar unions such as Unionen i n Sweden are actively working with platforms to provide economic security and support for gig workers. Both government and the private sector need to be part of a new deal with organised labour in every scenario except, perhaps, Exodus.

What about incentives for companies to support their workers as they deal with mass displacement and the need to reskill? Portable benefits allow workers to keep their perks wherever they go. Take Uber and Lyft in San Francisco,: two firms who want to allow their drivers to keep their perks and even their ratings when they switch. How can we incentivise more companies to follow these routes and build a genuinely interoperable training and education system?

And so it goes. Thats just the start of the conversation  I am sure ConHome readers will have their own thoughts and Id be delighted to hear them.

Mass automation is perhaps the major issue that brings together democratic shifts with genuine social justice challenges. I contend  as do many others  that the scale of upheaval will be greater than any expert yet has predicted: we aint seen nothing yet you might say. Get this right and the Government will not only make good on its promise to its new bank of voters; it will also take steps to resolve perhaps the most pressing challenge of our time. By working together we might well inaugurate a better future of work for all
FORESTPORT, N.Y. -- A 59-year-old Forestport man was arrested Friday and accused of making meth, according to New York State Police.

Charles Strain was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, third-degree unlawful manufacture of methamphetamine and fourth-degree unlawful manufacture of methamphetamine, police said.

Police raided Strains house, located at 10613 Dustin Road, at 5:38 a.m. on Friday, police said.

They found one gram of meth, 30 ounces of liquid meth, a digital scale, lab equipment used to make meth, a loaded Remington .22 caliber rifle and ammunition, police said.

He was arraigned in Oneida County centralized arraignment court.

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There are three cases of coronavirus in NSW and four other people are being tested for the disease, NSW health officials said on Saturday night.

The three men aged 53, 43 and 35 had recently travelled from China, and are now in isolation in a Sydney hospital.

"I'd like to thank each of these three people because they have been exemplary in the way that they presented themselves, to have a medical test, and to have the necessary pathology in due course, when it was appropriate from the medical practitioners point of view," the NSW Minister for Health, Brad Hazzard said.

The first man, 35, arrived in Australia on January 6, but did not develop symptoms until January 15.
By AFP

WUHAN (CHINA): The Chinese army deployed medical specialists Saturday to the epicentre of a spiralling viral outbreak that has killed 41 people and spread around the world, as millions spent their normally festive Lunar New Year holiday under lockdown.

The country's most important celebration has been all but cancelled for some 56 million people as authorities expanded travel bans in central Hubei province, now affecting 18 cities. On Saturday, when they should have been celebrating, citizens of Wuhan stood in line at a pharmacy to buy masks from employees in full-body protective suits and surgical gloves.

On the eastern outskirts of Wuhan - Hubei's capital and the source of the previously unknown 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) - police manning a roadblock turned away a handful of vehicles trying to exit the city. "Nobody can leave," an officer told AFP.

ALSO READ| China locks down more cities, restricting 56 million people amid coronavirus outbreak

But the police allowed some medical workers who had gone home for the holidays to re-enter the city to help at overwhelmed hospitals.

"They need us to go there, otherwise they will be too exhausted," said one of the women, pulling a suitcase. But the respiratory contagion continues to spread. The nationwide death toll has jumped to 41, the government said Saturday, after 15 more people died in Wuhan.

Confirmed infections also surged to 1,287, up from 830 reported 24 hours earlier. Most of the deaths and overall cases have been in Hubei. In a dramatic escalation of the central government's involvement, China deployed 450 military medical staff to Wuhan, state media said.

The medics, who arrived on military aircraft late Friday, include doctors with experience combating SARS or Ebola and will be dispatched to hospitals that are reportedly short on beds due to a crush of infected patients and worried locals.

The National Health Commission also ordered nationwide measures to detect people carrying the virus on planes, trains and buses across the country.

ALSO READ| Chinese doctor becomes first medical casualty to deadly coronavirus

Protect yourself

"Everyone is just trying to protect themselves," said a man in a surgical mask at a Wuhan pharmacy where customers were stocking up on masks, gloves and disinfectant. But the man, who declined to give his name, expressed confidence in Chinese authorities. "The government is handling this. It's not a problem," he added.

The virus has caused global concern because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed hundreds across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003 and spread to a number of other countries.

It has now spread nationwide and to a dozen other countries, with France saying three cases had been confirmed there - the first known European infections. Australia and Malaysia on Saturday became the latest countries to confirm infections.

ALSO READ| Australian government confirms first case of coronavirus in Melbourne

Beijing's Forbidden City, Shanghai Disneyland, and a section of the Great Wall are among many attractions that have closed as a precaution. The New Year is usually a joyous occasion for family reunions, but not for many in Wuhan.

"Usually we celebrate as a family. Now, because of the virus I'm not even visiting my parents. It'll be great just to be able to make it through (the outbreak)," said Wang Fang, a 49-year-old Wuhan native.

Trump praise

China's aggressive response has won praise, especially compared to its handling of SARS, when it was accused of reacting sluggishly and stonewalling the international community. "China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus," US President Donald Trump tweeted, hours after the United States confirmed its second case.

ALSO READ| China orders nationwide measures to detect virus on flights, trains, buses

"The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well," he added. The virus emerged at a bad time for containment, with hundreds of millions of Chinese rushing home for the holiday.

The timing could limit the economic impact, however, since much of China normally shuts down anyway during the roughly week-long break. The outbreak emerged in late December, traced to a Wuhan seafood and live animal market that sold a vast range of exotic animals and other bushmeat.

The World Health Organization on Thursday stopped short of declaring a global emergency, which would have prompted greater international cooperation, including possible trade and travel restrictions. Wuhan resembles a ghost town due to the clampdown, but hospitals bustled with worried patients being screened by staff wearing full-body protective suits.

ALSO READ| Coronavirus outbreak: France confirms first two cases of deadly virus

The city's Guiyuan Temple is normally thronged for the Lunar New Year with tens of thousands of devotees paying respects to a deity associated with wealth. But police manning a roadblock on Saturday turned away AFP journalists, saying the temple was closed to prevent the virus's spread.

Authorities began building a new field hospital in Wuhan to deal with the outbreak, which state media said could be ready in 10 days.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state has decided to exercise caution in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in China. As part of strengthening coronavirus prevention efforts, the Health Department has brought out guidelines and will adopt a treatment protocol approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

From January 18, the state health department has been conducting a series of meetings to strengthen preventive measures against coronavirus. Health Minister KK Shailaja urged all hospitals to strictly follow the guidelines and treatment protocol.

Equipping hospitals

The government has issued directions to Medical Colleges and General Hospitals in various districts to set up isolation wards. All hospitals have also been asked to step up infection control measures.

The Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd (KMSCL) has been asked to make available masks, gloves and other protective gear to health staff. Directions have also been issued to send samples collected from people with symptoms and despatch them to virology labs for testing.

Stepping up surveillance

Coronavirus-infected people are identified by enhancing surveillance at airports and seaports. Health officers have been deployed to screen people who arrive at airports and seaports. If any symptoms are detected, the person concerned will be sent to hospitals equipped with isolation ward.

The government has also taken measures to observe people without symptoms at their homes for 28 days. If symptoms are detected, they will be rushed to hospitals with isolation ward.

Those who return from China have been advised to contact the District Medical Officer concerned. For clarifications, the Disha helpline of health department can be contacted on 1056 and 0471 2552056.

Dangerous virus

Coronavirus spreads from animals to people and vice versa. Fever, throat pain, cough are the preliminary symptoms of coronavirus. In some cases, loose motion will also happen.

If the symptoms intensify, internal organs can be affected, leading to death.

Since it is a new strain of virus, there is no vaccine or treatment. Only follow-up treatment based on WHO protocol can be provided. Once symptoms are detected, patients should be kept in isolation and treated.

No treatment or vaccine for virus yet

Since nCoV is a new strain of virus, there is no vaccine or treatment. Only follow-up treatment based on WHO protocol can be provided. Once symptoms are detected, patients should be kept in isolation and treated. Those who treat such patients should follow proper safety protocol to prevent the spread of the disease.

Nurse who tested positive recovering quickly

TPuram: The Indian Consul-General in Jeddah on Friday assured that Vidya Divakaran, the Ettumanoor-based nurse undergoing treatment there following a suspected MERS-coronavirus infection, was recovering quickly. In a letter to Mavelikkara MP Kodikunnil Suresh and the department of Non-resident Keralites Affairs (Norka), consul of Jeddah M Aleem said he had spoken to the health authorities in Aseer region regarding the provision of proper medical care for Vidya. Vidya has been shifted to the Aseer National Hospital and is being provided the best possible medical treatment and care. She is recovering well. She may get discharged in the next two days, said Aleem.

Minister urges Centre to ensure safety of nurses abroad

TPuram: In the wake of coronavirus outbreak in China, Labour Minister T P Ramakrishnan has written to the Union government asking it to ensure the safety of nurses from Kerala who work in various countries across the globe and the best treatment to a Malayali nurse in Saudi Arabia who is suspected to have contracted MERS-CoV. Ramakrishnan on Friday sent a letter to Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan. In his letter, Ramakrishnan sought the Centres immediate intervention to ensure preventive mechanism and best treatment to allay concerns of nurses from Kerala.
SEOUL, South Korea, Jan. 23, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Data Bridge Market research has recently released expansive research on Global 5G IoT Market with 100+ market data Tables, Pie Chart, Graphs & Figures spread through Pages and easy to understand detailed analysis. The report endows with wide-ranging statistical analysis of the markets continuous developments, capacity, production, production value, cost/profit, supply/demand and import/export. This market report provides best solutions for strategy development and implementation depending on clients needs to extract tangible results. Teams of experienced and consummate market research professionals persistently track key industries to spot key developments, unmet needs and possible growth opportunities. A numerous markets, marketing strategies, trends, future products and rising opportunities have been considered while studying market for preparing this 5G IoT report. This market research report serves the clients by providing data and information on their business scenario with which they can stay ahead of the competition in today's rapidly changing business environment.



Click here to Get FREE 5G IoT Market Research Sample PDF Copy https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample?dbmr=global-5g-iot-market

If you are involved in the 5G IoT industry or intend to be, then this study will provide you comprehensive outlook. Its vital you keep your market knowledge up to date segmented By Connection (Direct Connectivity, Indirect Connectivity), Radio Technology (5G NR Standalone Architecture, 5G NR Non-Standalone Architecture), Range (Short Range IoT Devices, Wide Range IoT Devices), Vertical (Manufacturing, Energy & Utilities, Government, Healthcare, Transportation & Logistics, Mining, Others), Geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa)

Key Market Competitors: 5G IoT Industry

Few of the major competitors currently working in the Global 5G IOT Market are Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.; Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson; Palo Alto Networks, Inc.; Anritsu; Telenor Group; Sierra Wireless; Syniverse Technologies LLC; Nokia; Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.; AT&T Intellectual Property; Verizon; Juniper Networks, Inc.; Sprint.com; BT; Telefonica S.A.; Vodafone Limited; Telstra; Bell Canada; Singtel among others.

Story continues

Get Full 5G IOT Market Report Access https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/checkout/buy/singleuser/global-5g-iot-market

What are the major market growth drivers?

High volume of data traffic generation; this factor is expected to boost the growth of the market

Growing prevalence of IoT devices worldwide is another factor boosting the market growth

Increasing demands for low latent connectivity solutions also acts as a market driver

Competitive Landscape and 5G IoT Market Share Analysis

5G IoT market competitive landscape provides details by competitor. Details included are company overview, company financials, revenue generated, market potential, investment in research and development, new market initiatives, global presence, company strengths and weaknesses, product launch, product width and breadth, application dominance. The above data points provided are only related to the companies focus related to 5G IoT market.

Regional and Country-level Analysis

To comprehend Global 5G IoT Market dynamics in the world mainly, the worldwide 5G IoT market is analyzed across major global regions. DBMR also provides customized specific regional and country-level reports for the following areas.

North America: United States, Canada, and Mexico.



South & Central America: Argentina, Chile, and Brazil.



Middle East & Africa: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, Egypt and South Africa.



Europe: UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, NORDIC {Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark etc}, BENELUX {Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg}, and Russia.



Asia-Pacific: India, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, and Australia.

Global 5G IoT Market Methodology

Data Bridge Market Research presents, all the information, statistics and data included in this 5G IoT report is gathered from the truthful sources such as websites, newspapers, journals, white papers, mergers, and annual reports of the companies. To succeed in this competitive market place, market research report plays a very important role by offering important and consequential market insights for your business.

This involves data mining, analysis of the impact of data variables on the market, and primary (industry expert) validation. Apart from this, other data models include Vendor Positioning Grid, Market Time Line Analysis, Market Overview and Guide, Company Positioning Grid, Company Market Share Analysis, Standards of Measurement, Top to Bottom Analysis and Vendor Share Analysis. Triangulation is one method used while reviewing, synthesizing and interpreting field data. Data triangulation has been advocated as a methodological technique not only to enhance the validity of the research findings but also to achieve completeness and confirmation of data using multiple methods

Market Dynamics:

Set of qualitative information that includes PESTEL Analysis, PORTER Five Forces Model, Value Chain Analysis and Macro Economic factors, Regulatory Framework along with Industry Background and Overview

What Porters Five Forces of Competitive Analysis Provides?

Supplier power: - An assessment of how easy it is for suppliers to drive up prices. This is driven by the: number of suppliers of each essential input; uniqueness of their product or service; relative size and strength of the supplier; and cost of switching from one supplier to another.

Buyer power: - An assessment of how easy it is for buyers to drive prices down. This is driven by the: number of buyers in the market; importance of each individual buyer to the organisation; and cost to the buyer of switching from one supplier to another. If a business has just a few powerful buyers, they are often able to dictate terms.

Competitive rivalry: - The main driver is the number and capability of competitors in the market. Many competitors, offering undifferentiated products and services, will reduce market attractiveness.

Threat of substitution: - Where close substitute products exist in a market, it increases the likelihood of customers switching to alternatives in response to price increases. This reduces both the power of suppliers and the attractiveness of the market.

Threat of new entry: - Profitable markets attract new entrants, which erodes profitability. Unless incumbents have strong and durable barriers to entry, for example, patents, economies of scale, capital requirements or government policies, then profitability will decline to a competitive rate.

Five forces analysis helps organizations to understand the factors affecting profitability in a specific industry, and can help to inform decisions relating to: whether to enter a specific industry; whether to increase capacity in a specific industry; and developing competitive strategies.

Key Developments in the Market:

In June 2019, Singtel announced two new initiatives for Singapores 5G ecosystem during the Smart Nations Innovations Week. These innovations will deal with enhancing the transformation capabilities of Industry 4.0 by deploying them with 5G technology, along with innovating the maritime operations of Singapore by utilizing 5G connectivity services and solutions. These initiatives will drive business innovations and transform the manufacturing and maritime industry verticals

In February 2019, Juniper Networks, Inc. along with Telefonica S.A. the next phase of Spain Fusion Network for meeting the rising demands of connectivity in the region. Both organizations are focusing on further innovations and advancement of technology to ensure that they can provide high performance for connectivity and solutions for various end-user.

Key Insights that Study is going to provide:

The 360-degree 5G IoT overview based on a global and regional level

Market Share & Sales Revenue by Key Players & Emerging Regional Players

Competitors - In this section, various 5G IoT industry-leading players are studied with respect to their company profile, product portfolio, capacity, price, cost, and revenue.

A separate chapter on Market Entropy to gain insights on Leaders aggressiveness towards market [Merger & Acquisition / Recent Investment and Key Developments]

Patent Analysis** No of patents / Trademark filed in recent years.

A complete and useful guide for new market aspirants

Forecast information will drive strategic, innovative and profitable business plans and SWOT analysis of players will pave the way for growth opportunities, risk analysis, investment feasibility and recommendations

Supply and Consumption - In continuation of sales, this section studies supply and consumption for the 5G IoT Market. This part also sheds light on the gap between supply and consumption. Import and export figures are also given in this part

Production Analysis - Production of the 5G IoT is analyzed with respect to different regions, types and applications. Here, price analysis of various 5G IoT Market key players is also covered.

Sales and Revenue Analysis - Both, sales and revenue are studied for the different regions of the 5G IoT Market. Another major aspect, price, which plays an important part in the revenue generation, is also assessed in this section for the various regions.

Other analyses - Apart from the information, trade and distribution analysis for the 5G IoT Market

Competitive Landscape: Company profile for listed players with SWOT Analysis, Business Overview, Product/Services Specification, Business Headquarter, Downstream Buyers and Upstream Suppliers.

May vary depending upon availability and feasibility of data with respect to Industry targeted

TABLE OF CONTENTS GLOBAL 5G IOT MARKET

Part 01: Executive Summary

Part 02: Scope Of The Report

Part 03: Research Methodology

Part 04: Market Landscape

Part 05: Pipeline Analysis

Part 06: Market Sizing

Part 07: Five Forces Analysis

Part 08: Market Segmentation

Part 09: Customer Landscape

Part 10: Regional Landscape

Part 11: Decision Framework

Part 12: Drivers And Challenges

Part 13: Market Trends

Part 14: Vendor Landscape

Part 15: Vendor Analysis

Part 16: Appendix

Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe, MEA or Asia Pacific.

Browse TOC with selected illustrations and example pages of 5G IoT market @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/toc?dbmr=global-5g-iot-market

About Data Bridge Market Research:

An absolute way to forecast what future holds is to comprehend the trend today!

Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.

Data Bridge adepts in creating satisfied clients who reckon upon our services and rely on our hard work with certitude. We are content with our glorious 99.9 % client satisfying rate.

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Around 30 Sri Lankans currently staying in Wuhan, the epicentre of the new SARS-like virus, would be evacuated from the city, authorities said on Saturday.

Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry said that instructions have been given to the students to protect themselves from the fast-spreading infection.

"Initially, there were around 85 Sri Lankan students in Hubei Province, however, most of them had returned to Sri Lanka for the holidays before the outbreak of Coronavirus," the statement issued by the ministry said.

"In the event of a necessity for evacuation, the Embassy in consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Relations in Colombo and other agencies of Government, are making preparations for the students and their family members numbering 30," it added.

The virus which spread from China's Wuhan has so far resulted in 41 deaths, including 39 in central China's Hubei province and one in north-eastern province Heilongjiang, the health commission said.

Additionally, a total of 1,965 suspected cases have also been reported, it said.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan health authorities said that at least two people including a Chinese woman were admitted to hospital for suspected corona virus.

Their blood sample have been sent to the medical research institute for testing, officials said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Erdogan Says 'Syrian Mistake' Should Not Be Repeated in Libya, Calls for Pressure on Haftar

Sputnik News

12:49 GMT 24.01.2020(updated 13:06 GMT 24.01.2020)

ANKARA (Sputnik) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday voiced concerns over Libya repeating Syria's fate and called on the international community to increase pressure on Khalifa Haftar, the Libyan National Army (LNA) commander, who is involved in the military conflict in the country.

"Our main goal is to end conflicts in the region. We are working on this together with Russia and Germany. Together with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, we have reached a ceasefire agreement for Libya, and then the Berlin Conference took place, where they made a big and important step, adopting a communique including 55 points. There is no need to repeat the Syrian mistake in Libya", Erdogan said at the opening of a Turkish-German University campus in Istanbul.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also attended the ceremony as she arrived in Istanbul for talks with Erdogan.

According to Erdogan, Haftar's army has continued its offensive on Tripoli, which is held by the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), adding that many civilians have been killed in the attacks.

"Pressure on Haftar is needed, in order for the situation to become stable. If we do not want to share the country with the IS [Islamic State Terrorist group, banned in Russia], Al-Qaeda [banned in Russia] and other mercenaries, we must speed up the process of conflict settlement. We will work with German friends to end the Libyan crisis faster", the president said.

On 19 January, Berlin hosted an international conference on Libya featuring a number of countries and organisations, including Russia, Turkey, Egypt, the United States, the European Union, and the African Union.

The participants called on the United Nations to facilitate ceasefire talks and urged the Security Council to impose sanctions on those who would breach the truce agreement. The UN also called for the establishment of a 5+5 military committee that would be tasked with monitoring the ceasefire's implementation, and both sides of the conflict have agreed to it.

Erdogan has criticised Syrian President Bashar Assad and his policy on numerous occasions, calling on him to resign. Moreover, Turkey has actively supported opposition groups over the course of the Syrian Civil War.

Still, Assad remains in power, despite Syria being divided, just like Libya, where Haftar, like Assad, has enjoyed relative success in his fight against rival forces and gained more territory in recent months.

A Sputnik

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US President Donald Trump thanked China on Friday for its "efforts and transparency" in tackling a deadly virus that has triggered a vast quarantine in the country.

"China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus," Trump tweeted, hours after the United States confirmed its second case of the SARS-like virus that has reached half a dozen countries.

"The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency," he added. "It will all work out well.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi :

Citing the ongoing anti-CAA protests at Delhis Shaheen Bagh, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday said the people of the national capital need to decide whether they want Jinnah Wali Azaadi or Bharat Mata Ki Jai. Prakash Javadekar also accused the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress of poisoning the minds of minorities. Ahead of the Delhi Assembly Elections scheduled for February 8, the BJP leadership has sharpened attack on the Congress and the AAP over the amended Citizenship Act and continuing protest against it at Shaheen Bagh for more than a month.

We have seen Jinnah Wali Azadi slogan being raised there. Now, Delhi people need to decide if they want Jinnah Wali Azadi or Bharat Mata ki Jai, Javadekar said in a press conference.

Javadekar blamed the Congress and the ruling party for instigating violent protests against the CAA in the national capital.

Delhi people should ask both parties why did they instigate violence. The nexus of AAP and Congress is behind the Shaheen Bagh protest. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia have supported the protest, Javadekar alleged.

Shaheen Bagh Protest

The protest at Shaheen Bagh started mid-December following a violent anti-CAA protest at Jamia Millia University in the neighbourhood.

A road linking south east Delhi areas to Noida has been blocked due to the protest causing daily hardships to commuters and residents of localities including Badarpur, Sarita Vihar, Madanpur Khadar and Jasola.

They (AAP and Congress) are misleading and poisoning the minds of the minorities including children, said the senior BJP leader.

He asserted that CAA was not going to affect the citizenship of any Indian, and blamed that political parties were raising the bogey of CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC) to defeat the BJP in the elections. The CAA is aimed at providing citizenship to persecuted minorities including Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, he said.

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January 25 : On screen, we saw Bhumi Pednekar fighting against social issues. Whether an overweight girl in her debut film, Dum Lagake Haisha, or an aged grandma in Saand Ki Aankh, Bhumi never goes unnoticed.

Bhumis ideal vacation is a spa getaway to keep the mind, body and soul aligned. And what can be an ideal spa getaway other then Bali? The Bala actor, who started shooting for her upcoming film Durgavati, posted on her Instagram handle a throwback picture from her Bali vacay. Last year the Pati Patni Aur Woh actress had been to Bali to do a cover shoot for the Conde Nast Traveller magazine. In between her shoot schedule Bhumi had also explored the pristine nature of Bali.

In the throwback picture, we can see Bhumi sitting on a giant palm made of twigs amidst the mesmerising nature of Bali. The actress is seen wearing a black dress with pearls all over it. She opted to keep her hair loose and sported minimalistic makeup.

Akshay Kumar's new production Durgavati, starring Bhumi Pednekar, went on floors recently in Bhopal. The film is a Hindi remake of the Telugu film Bhaagamathie. This is Bhumis second movie in the horror-thriller space.

Also Watch: Bhumi Pednekar channels major rock chic vibes in cool denim jacket
The U.S. Department of State has confirmed the visit of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Kyiv on January 30, according to an official statement.

"Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo will travel to London, U.K.; Kyiv, Ukraine; Minsk, Belarus; Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan; and Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from January 29 to February 4," the statement reads.

The Secretary will travel to Kyiv on January 30, where he will meet with President Zelensky, Foreign Minister Prystaiko, and Defense Minister Zahorodnyuk to highlight U.S. support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Pompeo will also attend a wreath laying ceremony at St. Michaels Cathedral to honor those who have fallen in Donbas, and meet with religious, civil society, and business community leaders.

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Medical staff wearing protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city, transport supplies at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan on Jan 24, 2020. (Photo: AFP/Hector Retamal)

China on Friday imposed transport bans in an area covering a staggering 41 million people, as the United States confirmed its second case of the SARS-like virus that has reached almost a dozen countries.

The virus has also spread to densely populated South Asia, where Nepal confirmed one case, and Europe, where three cases were reported in France.

With more than 800 cases logged in China so far, a range of Chinese New Year festivities have been cancelled, with temporary closures of Beijing's Forbidden City, Shanghai's Disneyland and a section of the Great Wall to prevent the disease from spreading further.

The previously unknown virus has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed hundreds across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.

The World Health Organization said China faced a national emergency but stopped short of declaring a global health emergency, which would have prompted greater global cooperation.

The outbreak emerged in late December in Wuhan, an industrial and transport hub of 11 million people in China's centre, spreading to several other countries.

Australian authorities confirmed its first case on Saturday, after a patient who returned to Melbourne from Wuhan tested positive for the virus.

In the United States, a woman in Chicago became the second known patient on US soil, with 50 other suspected cases under investigation. A city health official said on Friday the woman was doing well and in stable condition.

Hours after the announcement President Donald Trump thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping via Twitter "on behalf of the American People" for his country's "efforts and transparency" in working to contain the virus. "It will all work out well," Trump wrote.

The first case in South Asia was reported in Nepal on Friday. The 32-year-old male patient, who had arrived from Wuhan, was treated at a hospital in Kathmandu and discharged, officials said. In photos: Asia ramps up defence against Wuhan virus

And three cases were confirmed in France, the first in Europe. All had recently travelled to China and have been placed in isolation, the country's health minister said.

China is in the midst of its Chinese New Year holiday, a typically joyous time of family gatherings and public festivities.

But on Friday Wuhan was a ghost town, its streets deserted and stores shuttered.

WORRIED PATIENTS

As reports surfaced of bed shortages in Wuhan for the sick, state media said authorities were rushing to build a new hospital only for the outbreak in a mind-blowing 10 days.

Hospitals visited by AFP journalists bustled with worried patients being screened by staff wearing full-body protective suits.

At a temperature-check station, a medical staffer in a bodysuit, face mask and goggles took a thermometer from a middle-aged woman, pausing to examine the reading before quickly turning back to the patient.

"Have you registered? Then go and see the doctor," the staffer said.

One 35-year-old man surnamed Li voiced the fears of many. "I have a fever and cough, so I'm worried that I'm infected," he said.

With millions of people on the move across China for the holiday, the government has halted all travel out of Wuhan, shut down its public transport and told residents to stay home. Few flights were available to the city.

"This year we have a very scary Chinese New Year. People are not going outside because of the virus," a taxi driver in the city, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

He said a prolonged shutdown should not pose food-shortage problems because many Chinese had stocked up for the holiday.

Besides Wuhan, 12 smaller cities nearby have battened down the hatches, with most announcing measures Friday that include closing public venues, restricting large gatherings and halting public transportation, as well as urging citizens not to travel.

Several of the cities have populations numbering several million, led by Huanggang with 7.5 million.

The pathogen - 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) - has caused many outlets in Shanghai, Beijing and other cities to sell out of face masks.

State broadcaster CCTV reported that 40 military medical doctors were being deployed to Wuhan to help with intensive care.

In addition, 405 medical workers were being sent to Wuhan from Shanghai, said state news agency Xinhua.

In Beijing, staff in full-body protective suits were seen Friday checking the temperatures of people entering a subway station.

Thermal cameras also scanned passengers arriving at Beijing's West Railway Station.

'WE LOVE YOU'

Beijing has been praised for its response in contrast to SARS, when it took months to report the disease and initially denied WHO experts any access.

Gao Fu, head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, asked China's people to forego New Year gatherings this year and confine themselves at home until the all-clear. READ: Cirque du Soleil cancels shows in China over Wuhan virus

Beijing has cancelled popular New Year public events at temples in the capital, the historic Forbidden City will close from Saturday, and Shanghai Disneyland said it also will shut down for an indefinite period from Saturday.

A number of tourist spots were closed and events cancelled in central Hunan province, which borders Hubei province.

The crisis was given a prominent spot on the celebrated gala show on state TV Friday evening, the traditional Chinese New Year's Eve extravaganza broadcast by CCTV watched by hundreds of millions of Chinese.

The host told Wuhan medical staff "We love you" against a backdrop of hospital footage and stirring music.
Canopy Growth (CGC) had an astonishing revelation prior to this past holiday weekend for the stock market. The new CEO was expected to reorganize the business, but a delay to the cannabis beverages business was an unexpected jolt to the Canadian cannabis company. One has to wonder what other issues will be disclosed as CEO David Klein completes his second week on the job.

Beverage Debacle

Canopy Growth shocked the market last week by admitting their cannabis-infused beverages were not ready to scale for the market. The news is surprising considering the company is already a month into the legalization of Cannabis 2.0 products such as edibles and beverages.

New CEO David Klein suggests the time period since Canopy Growth obtained Health Canada license in late November 2019 wasnt enough time to work out the kinks with THC in a brand new beverage facility. The company suggests updates will be provided on the release of the FQ3 results on February 14, or roughly two months after the market already thought their cannabis beverages were hitting the market.

Canopy Growth provided a Cannabis 2.0 update back on December 6 with no indication of these impending problems with ramping up a new facility. At the time, the large cannabis player promoted several drinks hitting store shelves in early January followed by other varieties of the Tweed, Houseplant, Quatreau and Deep Space brands. Previously, Canopy Growth had outlined in detail a vast selection of cannabis-infused drinks expected to be ready for the 2.0 launch in December or early January.

Investors had no reason to doubt the companys beverage ambitions considering the backing of wine and spirits giant Constellations Brands (STZ).

High Expenses

What the news means is that Canopy Growth remains in the R&D phase without the revenues. The company continues to spend while not getting any returns for investors as the 150,000 sq. ft. beverage facility is now open and only producing expensive THC chocolate bars.

Story continues

Naturally, Canopy Growth is wise to delay any release to get the THC mix correct before hitting market. The company might have been wiser to focus on the beverages endeavor versus recently jumping into the U.S. CBD market.

The company has a massive operating expense base by trying to be all things to the global cannabis market with none of the results warranting the vast investments. Canopy Growth has the weakest gross margins in the sector at 38% in the last quarter assuming tons of adjustments while having the largest operating expense base. For FQ2, the company had adjusted operating expenses at C$160 million, or nearly double the amount spent by Aurora Cannabis.

The first step of the new CEO was to delay the cannabis beverages hitting market, but what investors really wanted to see is Canopy Growth rationalizing expenses. This beverage facility delay only elevates expenses unattached to current revenue production.

Consensus Verdict

Wall Street isnt completely sold on this show me story. Out of 15 analysts polled in the last 3 months, 6 are bullish on Canopy Growth stock, while 9 remain sidelined. Is the stock overvalued or undervalued based on these expectations? With a downside potential of nearly 8%, the stocks consensus target price stands at $20.83. (See Canopy Growth stock analysis on TipRanks)

Takeaway

The key investor takeaway is that Canopy Growth hit another big problem with meeting financial targets. The company remains in major spend mode over six months after firing ex-CEO Bruce Linton and the latest news suggests the new CEO is nowhere close to reorganizing the business.

The stock is far too expensive at an $8.5 billion market cap when the company cant even get cannabis-infused beverages onto the market while daily operating losses remain in the millions.

To find good ideas for cannabis stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights.
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.
Marisa DiChiacchio looks at a video on her phone with her son Connor Dobbyn, 11, at their Chester County home Jan. 13, 2020. Connor has Sanfilippo syndrome - so-called Childhood Alzheimer's - a genetic condition so rare that it afflicts only 1 in 1 million children. Read more

Two years ago, an elementary school psychologist told Marisa DiChiacchio something that she describes, to this day, as crazy.

Marisas 9-year-old son, Connor, was, quite literally, losing his mind. A special-ed team who had thought he was autistic discovered that the childs IQ, at 100 a few years earlier, had plunged to just 60 as a third grader.

Connor wasnt autistic; his brain was erasing itself.

Nine months ago, Marisa and Connors dad, Mike Dobbyn, received an explanation in the form of a terrifying medical diagnosis: Childhood Alzheimers. Today, the Chester County family are sharing their story and opening their desperate arms to the world for help in saving their son.

Officially, what 11-year-old Connor Dobbyn has is Sanfilippo syndrome Type C. It is an inherited genetic disorder in which a child is lacking a necessary enzyme. It causes progressive damage to the brain and, ultimately, the body. Its rare  but Connors type is the rarest: Only one in a million kids get Type C.

Most Sanfilippo-diagnosed children die before adulthood. Their brains are slowly destroyed, forcing their bodies into withered states, too.

To confront this enemy, Marisa and Mike are managing to do what many divorced couples would find emotionally inconceivable: They are setting aside their differences to march arm-in-arm on a rescue mission: Tell the world about their boy, find the scientists and other Sanfilippo parents dealing with this terrible disease, raise as much money as possible for clinical trials, and try to save some kids  starting with their own son.

Everything that Connor has learned  walking, talking, writing, feeding himself  he will lose all those skills, Marisa, 43, a human resources recruiter, explained through sobs from her Glenmoore home. The Lansdowne native and Archbishop Prendergast/St. Josephs University graduate has a commanding cadence and a brightness to the way she speaks. But emotion overtook her more than once in our first of several conversations earlier this month.

I cant even believe there is something out there like this," she said. And I had never heard of it. No one I know has ever heard of this. Its so devastating.

For years, Connors parents had struggled to figure out why he had speech, social, and motor-skill deficits. Doctors were stumped. They had him repeat kindergarten. A support team at the Owen J. Roberts School District, meanwhile, theorized he was maybe autistic and did what they could.

If not for the districts IQ test two years ago, there would have been no trigger for the genetic tests that, by last April, revealed Sanfilippo.

Marisa and Mike went home in a state of shock after hearing the diagnosis. They kept mostly quiet about it until school resumed this past fall. They are now going very public to help raise $1 million toward the $5 million needed to launch a clinical trial for the gene replacement treatment that is Connors only hope.

With any luck, a blast of the corrected gene into Connors system might stall the disease and keep his cognitive function at its current level: Hes a smiley fifth grader who plays with rubber duckies and watches the toddler TV favorite Paw Patrol, even while classmates are mastering video games like Fortnite. This is what his parents are working toward.

As a family, were just on a mission since we got this diagnosis," said Mike, 42, a Massachusetts native who is a financial adviser with Merrill Lynch in Wayne. This is potentially a cure.

So far, through mostly word-of-mouth, they have raised in the ballpark of $100,000. They also allowed documentary filmmakers from the Cure Sanfilippo Foundation to spend a week with the family earlier this month. Theyre hoping the video goes viral once blasted out on social media a few months from now. It forced them all to talk candidly in front of their boys about Connors bleak life expectancy  something Connor himself does not, thankfully, appear to grasp.

Hes so innocent and pure and loving and kind, Marisa said. I dont think he knows.

Keenan, 9, however, has struggled with the knowledge.

Cure Sanfilippo! the fourth grader shrieked as he approached me the other night. The one that I want the most is Connor!

The family are directing donors to www.fightforconnor.com, which connects to the Cure Sanfilippo Foundation. That South Carolina-based nonprofit is harnessing fund-raising efforts for treatments and is led, coincidentally, by a Sanfilippo dad who was born in Upper Darby.

Glenn ONeill is his name. He has a 10-year-old daughter, Eliza, with a less rare form of Sanfilippo than Connor. Seven years after her diagnosis, however, Eliza has lost many of the abilities she once had.

Youd begin to get to meet your daughters personality and get to know them, and then very quickly everything gets taken away, said Glenn, 47, whose pediatrician wife also helps lead the foundation. My daughter used to sing `Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star  the entire song. Then it became Twinkle Twinkle. Then it became Twinkle. Then the letter T. Then nothing. That all happened in a matter of six months to a year.

Its an awful disease, Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas, a genetics specialist at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, told me.

The future for kids, in the absence of an approved treatment, is bleak.

Feeding tubes, wheelchairs, seizures, and death, ONeill said. "Every child. It shouldnt be that way. Money is standing in the way of our ability to help these children.

Connors favorite color is blue. He inhales goldfish crackers like any 90-pound fifth grader sprawled on the couch watching TV. But he cant lather his own hair with shampoo. His speech is muffled. Even wiping himself after a bathroom visit is a thing of the past.

Still, says his mom: Hes a lovebug. A kid who demands snuggles as soon as he gets home from school. A mischief-maker. A beloved friend to his crew of loyal mates at school.

A child who deserves a chance.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  When it comes to winning over recalcitrant senators, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Friday that she plans to use diplomacy, not hardball.

In a briefing with reporters, the first-term Democratic governor suggested she does not intend to employ heavy-handed tactics to get moderate Senate Democrats in particular to support some of her top initiatives, including legalizing marijuana and a proposed red flag gun law.

I dont think that strategy works well, Lujan Grisham said.

Rather, she said an open-door policy and consistent dialogue could win over some skeptical lawmakers.

A former state Cabinet secretary under three governors, Lujan Grisham and her top staffers have been meeting frequently with legislators in the opening days of the 30-day session.

She said she had met Friday morning with House committee chairs about session strategy, as the sessions pace will pick up in the coming days.

We dont have to have a stick, Lujan Grisham said. We can ask them to spend more time with me, and that seems to be winning the day.

In the past, some New Mexico governors have used hardball tactics in dealing with the Legislature.

In 2006, then-Gov. Bill Richardson vetoed hundreds of proposed projects from a state capital outlay bill, with some of his critics in the Legislature seeing the highest share of their projects vetoed.

He insisted at the time that the vetoes were done on a systematic basis, but critics claimed they were punished.

And Lujan Grishams predecessor, former Gov. Susana Martinez, repeatedly criticized leading Senate Democrats during her eight years in office.

Its too early to tell whether Lujan Grishams strategy for dealing with the Legislature will pay off.

Some parts of the governors agenda, including a proposed expanded college scholarship program, have already generated pusbhack from lawmakers.

And the proposal to make New Mexico the 12th state to legalize recreational marijuana use and tax its sales could face long odds in the Senate in this years budget-focused session.

There will be some challenging legislation this year, Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, told reporters this week.

But top Governors Office officials said Friday that its too early in the session to count anything out.

Were going to press right until the end of the session to get things done, said Dominic Gabello, a senior adviser in the Governors Office.
The tiger that the government claims Mr Modi is, isnt interested in harming the populace.

What is it about a tiger that so enthrals anyone who visits a national park? Is it fear: one wrong move and maybe the tiger would maul us? Over the last few days at the Panna national park, driving around in the cold in an open jeep in search of the elusive tiger, I had an epiphany: Indians desire a benevolent dictator.

The Panna national park is exploding with flora and fauna but it is the predators  the tiger and the leopard  that everyone wants to see. Over the course of the trip I had the opportunity to meet with visitors who like to call themselves tiger spotters. They move from one national park to the next looking for tigers. Hearing them talk about tigers is like hearing a hunter talk about the prey. And, perhaps, that is where the charm of the tiger lies. The hunted is no longer the hunted and the hunter is no longer the hunter. The tiger is figurehead of the jungle. When it kills, it hopes the forest department barricade the paths so it can at least eat in peace. Inside the park there are traffic jams and nauseating diesel fumes; there are children with packets of chips, there are men who think they can teach the wildlife officials a thing or two about how to manage a forest, but most importantly, there is desire, for a real tiger, not a toothless one like in the forest, but someone with every traditional attribute of a tiger and something else: a heart.

What is a benevolent dictator if not a tiger with a heart? Over the last few weeks observing and participating in protests against the CAA across Mumbai I felt the dissipation of the revolutionary spirit in the air. The youth dont want a radical change, they want to be heard, and be counted. The desire isnt for a healthy functioning democracy but for single window clearance when it comes to their demands. Such a desire, even though the protesters may not know this, or may not acknowledge it, can only be met when confronted with a benevolent dictator.

What is then a benevolent dictator? It is, in my opinion, thanks to Amit Shah, the image that PM Narendra Modi is slowly but surely acquiring. Say what you will about Mr Shah, but his greatest contribution to the Indian set up right now is that he managed to make Mr Modi look like a moderate  a tiger safely ensconced in a national park.

The rage against the populace that Mr Shah displays, the venom with which he speaks, the fire in his eyes, and perhaps in his belly, the mission he is on, will leave the nation with no option but to petition the benevolent dictator for some relief. And every time I see the protests or participate in one, I get the feeling that in the jungle called India, the people are calling for the tiger to show his face and scare the bears and wolves into retreat.

There is a fascination in the mind of the public for the predator. The fear of being consumed, bones and all, also comes with the excitement and thrill of being left alone. No one calls the tiger a predator. Everywhere I went in the park and everyone I spoke to referred to the tiger as the king of the jungle. Such a reference was always marked by a deep nostalgia for the times when things were simpler and human beings allowed their nature to follow the so-called natural order of things. And it isnt just in our country. The whole world is obsessed with the tiger. At a time when science tells us that it isnt the tiger but the honeybee that may go extinct and take the human race with it, every soul wants to save the tiger. There are campaigns that demand funds with the righteous indignation of a blue-blooded trade union leader. Who cares about the sting of a bee when there is the promise of being mauled by a hungry tiger?

The tiger that the government claims Mr Modi is, isnt interested in harming the populace. What hes really after is the bones of the institutions that make our country great. Our cherished Constitution, our courts, our police, our universities, etc. Having eaten up the design of our democracy, the nation, the roar of the tiger will finally become scary, loud, and predatory. It will arouse and scare people in equal measure.

Deep down, people demand their own repression. People like to be disciplined, shown the way, and punished for not following the rules. A dictator, a benevolent one, is a binary operation  punishment and reward are the two logic gates that operate. Think about it, if Mr Modi and Mr Shah appear on national television and Mr Modi growls at Mr Shahs indiscretions, wont the nation cheer him?
Kathmandu, Jan 25 : A Nepali student studying in China has been found infected with the new coronavirus, an official of Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population has said.

"It is the first confirmed case of infection from the deadly virus," Dr. Hemanta Chandra Ojha, chief of Zoonotic and Other Communicable Disease Control Section at Epidemiology and Disease Control Division under the Ministry, told the Xinhua news agency on Friday.

He said that the patient who had come to Nepal from Wuhan, China was tested positive during a specimen test at the laboratory of the World Health Organization in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China. "We had received the confirmation on Thursday evening," he said.

The man infected with the virus had come to Nepal on January 5 from China and visited the hospital complaining about respiratory problem on January 13. After his condition was improved following medication, he was discharged last week.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Documentary director Nanette Burstein has profiled such figures as Hollywood producer Robert Evans, Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, and tech mogul John McAfee. Her latest subject is former Secretary of State and first lady Hillary Clinton. The Hulu series Hillary premieres at the Sundance Film Festival.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton | Barbara Kinney

Clinton spoke on a Television Critics Association panel with Burstein on Jan. 17 prior to Hillarys Sundance premiere. Clinton revealed how the series became something different from what she originally signed up for. If you arent at Sundance to see Hillary, it premieres March 6 on Hulu.

Hillary began as a Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign film

Clinton ran for president in 2016. Burstein first began filming Clinton to tell the story of her campaign and perhaps election.

As Nanette will tell you, this did not start out as the film it ended up being, Clinton said. It really started out as maybe a campaign documentary because we had about 1,700 hours of behind-the-scenes footage, some of which is in the movie. 

What Hillary became

After 2016, Burstein had another idea to put her Hillary Clinton documentary footage into a new context. Clinton agreed.

But Nanette, who I was very impressed with when we interviewed her as the person that was going to direct the film, came back and said, Look, this is a bigger story. It needs to be told. Its part of the arc of womens history, advancement, choices that are made,' Clinton said.

L-R: Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton | Barbara Kinney/Hulu

Burstein felt the life and career of Hillary Clinton could also provide a historical context to the past several decades of American history and the womens movement.

The reason why I wanted to expand this and tell her life story is that I felt it was so remarkably emblematic of our history over the last 40 years, Burstein said. Particularly when it comes to womens rights and the way that she has been the tip of the spear in various ways and how it overlapped with these various huge historical moments.

Hillary Clinton opened up to Nanette Burstein

Clinton sat for 35 hours of interviews whittled down to the four hours of Hillary.

Im not running for anything, Clinton said. Im not in office. So I said, Sure, why dont we give it a try? And off we went. There was nothing off limits.

Filmmaking was a new experience for Clinton. For example, she didnt know that Burstein was rolling while Clinton got her makeup done. Some of those soundbites appear in Hillary.

L-R: Kate McKinnon, Hillary Clinton | Barbara Kinney/Hulu

What happened was I said, Oh, were gonna roll all the time, and people forget that, Burstein said. Our banter back and forth when you realized the camera was rolling and when you maybe werent so sure, was the same. I think that it felt all very genuine and that was okay.

Hillary Clinton hopes people like Hillary

As the first time shes the star of a TV series, Clinton hopes what any filmmaker hopes: She just wants people to like the show.

Hillary Clinton | Barbara Kinney/Hulu

I hope you watch this movie, enjoy it, if thats not too kind of obvious a word to use, Clinton said. The reaction that people whove seen it have already expressed is gratifying because theres a lot of people who say, I didnt know that, or Thats really interesting, or That put it into a historic context.
Author Amitav Ghosh, who more often than not uses climate change as backdrop for his novels, on Saturday stressed the need to generate environmental awareness, while ruing the fact that the country's political system was yet to acknowledge the seriousness of the issue.

Speaking at a session on climate change at Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet here, the writer contended that Bengal delta, home to millions of people, is particularly vulnerable to climate change.

"People in neighbouring Bangladesh have taken several measures to mitigate or address the crisis. However, here, on our side of the border, there is very little awareness about climate change," he said.

Maintaining that our political system was not yet prepared to accept the reality of climate change, the Jnanpith awardee said, "In 2016....there was an epic drought in central India, in Bundelkhand... thousands of farmers were hit.

"Parliament, however, held just one discussion on the matter and only 10 per cent of the MPs were present. We have to accept the reality, but our political system seems unprepared for this."



Calling for urgent action to combat the effects of global warming, Ghosh, who has several fiction and non- fictions to his credit, including the Ibis trilogy, said people in the 17th century were probably more aware about climate change as they had various systems in place to deal with the effects of calamities.

"Bengal delta happens to be one of the most vulnerable areas in the whole world in terms of facing the brunt of climate change. (If action is not taken), it will trigger large-scale migration," he warned.

About the role of scientists in creating awareness about the looming threats, the author said, "They are just messengers. They can only tell us what is happening.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The first half of the final season of Vikings keeps leaving viewers shocked and this latest episode was no different. Read on to learn what happened in episode 8 of Vikings. There are major spoilers ahead, so read on only if you are caught up with the latest season.

Valhalla Can Wait

Alexander Ludwig | Daniel Knighton/Getty Images for HISTORY

Episode 8 left many people shocked. The one major takeaway from this episode is that Hvitserk (Marco Ils) survived what seemed like an inevitable fate. He killed Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) and things will never be the same. Bjorn (Alexander Ludwig) now knows the truth and he was set to have his brother burned alive.

Hvitserk is put on the pyre and tied up. As the flames surround him, he looks up to the sky, ready to die. Bjorn then motions to Ubbe (Jordan Patrick Smith) to throw an ax and cut Hvitserk free. He allows him to live, but hes banished. Bjorn finds death too easy for Hvitserk.

Gunnhild surprises everyone

Bjorn is still doing whatever he wants, including cheating on his wife Gunnhild (Ragga Ragnars) with Ingrid (Lucy Martin). This week, Gunnhild surprises everyone when she catches them together and she doesnt immediately object. She actually offers Ingrid her own freedom and she seems cool with the idea of Bjorn having two wives. Gunnhild even recalls that Ragnar gave Lagertha the same option years ago. Its a strange situation, but one that Bjorn can certainly get behind.

Fans dont seem to be on board for Bjorns three-way marriage prospects. I wanted Bjorn to reject Gunnhilds offer, especially after the way she raised people up for him during his failing popularity poll, a Reddit user explained. But of course, he would take that option.

Ubbe makes some moves

Ubbe follows his dreams and decides to leave and travel to Iceland. He goes with his wife and their daughter, along with Kjetill Flatnose (Adam Copeland) as well. They arrive in Iceland, but Flatnose doesnt seem happy about his new companions and he seems to be hiding something.

Ivar is still with Prince Oleg

*The official trailer * Will the Gods bring them together or tear them apart? Vikings returns Wednesday, December 4 at 9/8c on History. pic.twitter.com/rMXm8q0U7z  #Vikings (@HistoryVikings) October 7, 2019

Ivar the Boneless (Alex Hgh Andersen) is still with Prince Oleg (Danila Kozlovsky). This week, he eats with Oleg, Igor, and Olegs wife, Princess Katya (Alicia Agneson). Of course, Igor brings his puppet with him to the event. Oleg explains to Ivar that hes going to send raiding parties out into Norway. Ivar wants to lead one of these parties and he asks Igor If he might want to go as well.

The boy asks his puppet king, which angers Oleg, who smashes the puppet on the floor. He also tells Igor if he mocks him ever again, hell have his tongue cut out. Ivar is definitely playing both sides here, and hes seen later on holding Igor in comfort. Hes definitely making an ally of Igor for future plans.

This episode also showed some of Olegs raiding parties attacking unsuspecting people. There will definitely be more fighting and raiding to come before its all really over. This is only the beginning of Olegs grand plan to take over.

Some viewers think that Ivar will encounter Hvitserk now that hes been banished. My guess is that Ivar goes to scout in Scandinavia and finds Hvitserk in the woods, a Reddit user said.

Vikings season 6 is definitely heating up and fans cant wait to see how things will play out.
Chef Adam Glick from Below Deck Sailing Yacht may be the best dog dad ever. The chef recently went adventure snowmobiling and didnt want his dog Tex to be left behind.

Adam Glick |Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Glick shared on his Instagram story that he hand-built a companion car for Tex to ride in as they explored the snowy wilderness. He first showed the beginnings of the Texmobile as he started to assemble the hardware of the car. Glick then showed the skeleton frame for the companion car. The beginnings of the Texmobile, also known as the Texla, he wrote.

Another video showed the fully assembled car, better known as the Texla. A friend shot a video of Glick rolling up in his snowmobile pulling the Texla (and Tex inside) behind. Texla is complete, happy dog Glick included over the video.

The Texla is pretty tricked out

Glick doesnt skimp when it comes to his favorite pup. He shared another video that gives viewers a pretty good idea of what its like to ride inside the Texla. First, the Texla is branded on the outside so Tex is ensured to ride in style.

Also, even though Glick knows Tex is protected by fur, he still makes sure his dog is bundled up. It appears that Tex is also wearing a cozy down dog vest to stay warm. He also has a blanket covering the floor of the Texla and plenty of windows so he can enjoy the scenery. The Texla also appears to have a seat so it is likely that Glick can buckle Tex in for safety.

After an afternoon of snowmobiling, Glick and Tex explore a snow-covered marina. The area is deserted as Tex prances in the deep snow. Glick happens upon a boat covered in snow, docked at the marina. Glick also shared a post of the two enjoying their day of snowmobiling. Tex hitching a ride to the lake, he commented.

Tex usually rides like a boss

The Texla is just one small aspect of how this dog is living the good life. Tex is Glicks constant companion as the two zigzag their way across the country in Glicks van.

Ever since Glick rescued Tex from the streets in Texas, the two have been inseparable. From surfing to hiking, Tex goes wherever Glick goes. The best part about surfing with your dog; all the other surfers want to give you their waves, Glick wrote along with a photo of Tex on the surfboard. Also, now I dont have to leave him in the van. Bonus .

This summer Glick shared a photo of Tex just chilling in a hammock. Hangin out in Banff and such, Glick remarked. The fact that Tex literally goes everywhere with Glick isnt lost on the yacht chef. Im beginning to think that this dog gets to see more than most humans do. , he observed. Tex is probably very used to life with Glick. When Glick was away filming Below Deck Sailing Yacht, he stayed with Glicks family. When it came time to reunite, the dogs joy could not be contained.
The Kerala Police has registered a case against a tweet. This tweet was done by BJP MP from Karnataka Shobha Karandlaje. In this tweet, it has been accused of not giving water to Hindu families in Malappuram district as they had expressed their support on the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Pakistan leads the list of the most corrupt countries, know India's place

Bharatiya Janata Party MP Shobha Karandlaje tweeted about the alleged denial of Hindu families of Malappuram who supported the Citizenship Amendment Act. Her claim was also shared on social media and some media houses also reported about it. A case has been registered against the BJP MP for promoting enmity between different communities on the basis of many issues including religion, caste, and language.

1 dead, 7 injured in downtown Seattle shooting

Karandlaje, MP from Udupi-Chikmagalur, said in a tweet that in Kuttipuram Panchayat of Muslim-dominated Malappuram, not to provide water to Hindu families supporting the citizenship law. In this regard, Malappuram Police Chief Abdul Karim told ANI, 'They spread false information.' According to the police, there is a water crisis in this area for almost a year. The panchayat has not been able to provide water for nearly a year due to borewell problems. Police officer Arvind said, 'Private borewells were being used for water, but that too stopped following the warning of the Kerala Electricity Board. The board had issued a warning that the motor is used for electricity and if it is used for any other reason, its connection will be terminated. Electricity will be cut off.

Pakistan:Hindu girl kidnapped and converted to islam mahak kumari jaikababad
File image

Asserting that constitutional changes have opened new vistas of development in Jammu and Kashmir, Lt Governor G C Murmu on January 25 sought the cooperation of the people in supplementing the initiatives for rapid growth and development of the Union Territory. "We will take Jammu and Kashmir on the path of rapid growth and development as envisioned by our Prime Minister (Narendra Modi). Let us all join hands to build a new Jammu and Kashmir," Murmu said in his Republic Day message.

Referring to the abrogation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir and its bifurcation into two Union Territories in August last year, Murmu said "2019 has been a year of momentous change" for the people of the UT.

"The abrogation of temporary provisions have removed the artificial legal and economic barriers between Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the country and have fully integrated it with the country in the true sense of the term," he said.

He said the legal architecture and system prevailing in the rest of the country will now apply to Jammu and Kashmir.

"The people of Jammu and Kashmir now stand on the same pedestal as those in the rest of the country with the same rights, benefits and prospects," he said.

Murmu said women and weaker sections like Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, refugees from West Pakistan and Safai Karamcharis will now have equal democratic and economic rights while barriers to industrial growth and trade have been removed.

"The constitutional changes have opened new vistas of development. We need to capitalise on the opportunities. The initiatives already taken for putting Jammu and Kashmir on the path of sustained development shall be given a further push," he said.

However, he said the efforts of the government alone cannot make a difference and people of the UT "need to come forward and supplement the initiatives of the government."

"Today, on behalf of all of us in the government who have been working and dreaming really big for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, I am asking for your support, for your partnership, and for your confidence to move forward and usher Jammu and Kashmir into a refreshing era of peace, prosperity and development," he said.

"Jammu and Kashmir is seeing a new dawn. A dawn which promises hope, a dawn which will bring prosperity, a dawn which will lead to progress and a dawn which will usher J&K towards peace," he said.

"The best way to overcome misgivings is to reaffirm our commitment to abide by the values of our Republic," he added.

Murmu further said that the UT is now at the doorstep of a brighter future.

"As Jammu and Kashmir progresses in step with the rest of the country, there will be a boost to private investment and great opportunity for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The economy will grow with more economic opportunities, businesses will thrive and the people of Jammu and Kashmir will gain on all fronts," he said.
A second case of Wuhan coronavirus in the United States has been identified in Chicago, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday in a press briefing.

The patient is a Chicago resident in her 60s. She is in isolation at a hospital in Chicago, and is in stable condition.

The patient flew from Wuhan to Chicago on January 13. She was not ill while traveling and health authorities do not think she spread the virus during that time. Health authorities say she has had limited close contacts since returning to Chicago; she has not used public transit, attended large gatherings or had extended close contact with anyone outside her home.

The first confirmed US case, announced Tuesday, is a man in his 30s in Washington state. The Snohomish County resident is hospitalized at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington, where he is in stable condition. He arrived at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on January 15, before any health screenings began at US airports.

Sixty-three people from 22 states are under investigation for the virus, health officials said. Eleven of the 63 tested negative for the virus and two, the Chicago patient and the Washington patient, tested positive. The CDC says there are likely to be many more under investigation in the coming days.

The immediate health risk from Wuhan coronavirus to the general American public is considered low at this time, according to the CDC.

"We understand that some people are worried about this virus and how it may impact Americans. While this situation poses a very serious public health threat, CDC believes that the immediate risk to the US public is low at this time but the situation continues to evolve rapidly," said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

According to health authorities, patients infected with the Wuhan coronavirus may have common symptoms such as fever, cough, headache or muscle pain. A subset of patients may have more severe illness including trouble breathing and scans revealing signs of infection in both lungs.

The United States has launched health screenings at several airports. Similar measures are being adopted by airports across Asia, including temperature screening of incoming passengers.

On Thursday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised its travel notice for Wuhan to its highest level, "warning," recommending "that travelers avoid all nonessential travel to Wuhan, China."

Earlier in the week, the agency also activated its Emergency Operations Center -- as it has done with Ebola and vaping-related lung injuries -- to centralize the US response to the outbreak.

Officials in China have linked the initial infections to a Wuhan seafood and wildlife market, which has been closed since January 1 to prevent further spread of the illness.

Chinese officials are racing to contain the outbreak after it was confirmed the infection can be spread from person to person, raising the possibility of increased transmissions as China enters into the busy Lunar New Year travel period. Wuhan is the largest city in central China and a major transportation hub.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  In an effort to prevent the spread of the flu among Staten Islands youngest and most vulnerable population, Richmond University Medical Center recently began providing the flu vaccine to pediatric patients visiting the emergency room for primary care.

The project was put in place to curb the spread of the flu among susceptible North Shore patients who routinely visit the emergency room for treatment in place of a primary care physician, said Dr. Harry Kopolovich, chairman of the emergency department at the West Brighton hospital.

As Staten Island battles a flu epidemic along with the rest of the metropolitan area, Kopolovich said the program is perfectly timed and will hopefully minimize the spread of the flu viruses A and B, which are particularly dangerous for children. It will continue until mid-March, he said.

The New York State Department of Health (DOH) reported 186 flu cases on Staten Island during the week ending Jan. 18. Of those, 115 were the flu A virus, while 71 were type B.

Statewide, there were 13,483 cases reported that week, up 22% from the previous week, the DOH reported in its FluTracker website.

Over 50% of influenza-positive test results from public health laboratories this season are in children and young adults under the age of 25, according to the CDC, while only 12% are in adults aged 65 and older.

It really starts with primary prevention, Kopolovich said. If we have a large amount of people who are immunized it cant take hold in the community.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that so far this season there have been at least 15 million flu illnesses, 140,000 hospitalizations and 8,200 deaths from flu. Though many have gotten the flu despite the vaccine, doctors say the vaccine lessens symptoms and shortens duration, thus reducing the chance of the spread of the virus.

In the past, the RUMC emergency department did not distribute the flu vaccine. Instead, physicians there encouraged patients to get the shot from a primary care physician or clinic. Thats still the case at Staten Island University Hospital, which does provide them at community outreach events, a hospital spokesman said.

The emergency department at RUMC treats 40 to 50 unscheduled pediatric patients per day during the winter months, Kopolovich said, making it the perfect place to initiate the prevention program, financed in part by the state Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Program (DSRIP).

North Shore families often visit the ER for primary care, Kopolovich, said, because they often find it difficult to get to primary care doctors during regular business hours.

A lot of people were seeing, they work one, two, three jobs to support their families, Kopolovich said. They cant get in to see a primary care doctor.

The hospitals patient population has a high incidence of asthma and tends to be exposed to secondhand cigarette smoke, the doctor said. The practice of visiting the emergency department for primary care is especially common among Medicare patients, whose out-of-pocket expense for emergency room care is often lower than a visit to a private facility, he said.

Hospital administrators are not encouraging people to visit the emergency room just to receive the vaccine. Instead, they encourage routine primary care. The hospital also runs three primary care walk-in centers, located at 1058 Forest Ave., 1161 Victory Blvd. and 4360 Hylan Blvd.

That said, hospitals are uniquely qualified to offer the vaccines, and it made sense to combine an unscheduled ER visit with preventative care, Kopolovich said.

We have a dedicated amount of supplies, he explained. We have a large stockpile. If youre going to be there anyway, lets pair up the visit. This is an easy intervention.

Kopolovich said he hopes the program pays off down the road, and said that ideally it will eventually be offered to older patients as well.

I really think that this has the ability to pay dividends down the road, limiting runaway health care costs, Kopolovich said. If a child comes to the ED, gets immunized and doesnt get sick with the flu, they dont miss school. They dont miss milestones in school. Parents arent missing work. This potentially can pay dividends in multiple domains.
Parents are paying up to $1000 for digital devices for students in primary school and double that for high school as research shows Australian schools are among the world's biggest users of technology in classrooms.

Tech companies are fighting over an increasingly lucrative education market amid parental concerns schools' policies are ad-hoc and contradictory and criticism that there is insufficient evidence to justify such a heavy investment of time and money.

NSW Department of Education secretary Mark Scott defended schools' embrace of technology in classrooms, saying it was fundamental to students' future and said the department was writing a digital strategy to be released this year.

Australia is one of the biggest users in the world of technology in school.

The most recent Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) found Australian schools were the third-biggest users of information and communications technology (ICT) of the participating OECD countries.
Representatives with Bay-Bay Water today announced that the company will soon be launching 12 and 24-bottle packs of purified distilled water for baby formula in BPA-free and phosphate-free bottles.

Were very excited that purified distilled water for babies will be available in BPA-free bottles, said Osmay Gonzalez, spokesperson of the company.

For the best bottled water for babies on the go, we will only use BPA-free and Phosphate-free #1 PETE (Polyethylene Terephthalate) bottles, highlighted Osmay and went on to add, our filtered and distilled water is subject to rigorous safety and quality control tests every step of the way, ensuring that you always get the safest, cleanest, purest bottled water for babies.

Each bottle will be 16.9 ounces, and the 24-bottle pack will have a lower per bottle price than the 12-bottle pack.

Distilled water is the purest form of drinking water on the planet, said Osmay before adding, The purifying process occurs by boiling water into vapor and condensing it back into a liquid form. It is recommended for parents to use distilled water when mixing baby formula and cereals, to avoid an unhealthy intake of minerals. Since life is constantly in motion, our distilled water is designed for easy, on the go use.

To ensure we provide you with the best distilled water for baby formula, our quality control checks are extremely thorough, said Osmay. Filter inspections and change-outs are on a strict schedule. Ozone levels are checked every hour. Daily and hourly records of ozone levels and filter changes are mandatory.

Osmay went on to explain that at its production facility, the single service bottles arrive wrapped in cling film. Before the pallets of bottles leave the truck, he said, they are visually inspected to ensure no cross-contamination of any kind has taken place during transport. The pallets are stored in a secure area. Before each bottle is filled, it enters an enclosed chamber to receive a sanitizing ozone rinse. The purified water used to fill the bottles passes through a UV filter. Bottles are capped in the filler station, not sent open to the next stage of production.

As to why anyone should give Bay-Bay Water a try, Osmay said that its distilling process is carefully monitored and far above average.

First the water is softened, then it passes through a 1-micron filter to screen out any microscopic impurities, Osmay said. Only filtered water enters the distiller, and following the distilling process, it is stored in temperature-controlled silos until it is ready for ozone treatment and packaging. Typically, water is purified by one of three processes: reverse osmosis, distillation, and de-ionization. Bay-Bay relies on the distillation process, which involved boiling, condensing, and steaming to provide the purest result.

For more information, please visit: http://www.baybaywater.com/buy, http://www.baybaywater.com/about, and http://www.baybaywater.com/blog.

About Bay-Bay Water

Bay-Bay is distilled water for baby formula that you can trust. It is phosphate and fluoride-free water for babies in convenient single-serve bottles that you can take on the go. No more sterilizing breakable glass bottles or lugging around gallon-sized jugs of distilled water. Our BPA-free bottled water for formula and cereals is pure, safe, and convenient, making it the pure solution you need.

Contact Details:

Osmay Gonzalez

Bay-Bay Water LLC

8004 NW 154th St. Suite #130

Miami Lakes, FL 33016. USA

Email: BayBayWater@Gmail.com

1-844-5BAY-BAY / 1-844-522-9229
Fracking and health insurance  two industries that collectively employ hundreds of thousands of people  wouldnt be better regulated or reformed in her administration. Theyd be abolished. Much of Silicon Valley, Americas premier growth engine for 40 years, would be turned into a quasi-public utility. She doesnt have one climate plan. She has at least five, costing in the trillions, which she plans to finance partly with a wealth tax that, as a law professor, she surely knows is unconstitutional. Its of a piece with the other dishonesties that are such a part of her political persona.
Taiwan: Mask-wearing patients fainting in the street. Hundreds of fearful citizens lining cheek by jowl, at risk of infecting each other, in narrow hospital corridors as they wait to be treated by doctors in forbidding white hazmat suits. A fraught medic screaming in anguish.

Terrifying video clips on social media, reportedly posted by shocked citizens in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus that has swept China and infected at least 18 people in seven foreign countries, did not paint a picture of a government in control. In one clip, posted by Badiucao, a Chinese-Australian cartoonist, but which could not be independently verified and was reportedly deleted from the Weibo social media site, the sick were seen sitting next to three bodies covered in white sheets. Other footage showed makeshift tents in hospital car parks.

Workers driving excavators at the construction site of a field hospital in Wuhan, China, which was ordered to be built in 10 days to deal with the outbreak. Credit:Getty Images

After weeks of apparent delays in tackling the virus that first sprang from a Wuhan seafood market, the Chinese authorities locked down the city of 11 million citizens and put travel curbs on 13 other urban centres in Hubei province, corralling more than 40 million people.

It raised questions about why such extreme measures were necessary given that official figures of infections remained in the hundreds, and highlighted concerns about human rights and civil liberties. With government censors still scrubbing the internet, it left citizens afraid and in the dark.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that Europe needs a credible army and that it had already laid down the foundations for one.

As a former Defense Minister in Germanys cabinet under Angela Merkel, Von der Leyen said on Wednesday that past events have shown Europes lack of decisiveness and that Europe should step up in some fields. It should also be more assertive in the world.

Von der Leyen also addressed climate change and the economic risks involved, referring to the Forums Global Risk Report, which identifies the EUs top five economic challenges as climate change-related. She vowed to free up $1.11 trillion of investments to incite a green investment wave before the year of 2030.

The European Green Deal is our new growth strategy, Von der Leyen added. We will, for sure, be moving out of an economy based on fossil fuels, and we will be moving towards a sustainable and digital economy.

Von der Leyen also found time to speak on the sidelines to U.S. President Donald Trump. The two had some brief exchanges on a coveted trade deal between the EU and the United States.

Von der Leyen praised the long history and friendship between Europe and the United States. The American people and the European people are good friends. And this is what were going to build on, and indeed, we have issues to discuss, and were going to negotiate. But Im looking forward to this relationship, said Von der Leyen.

She also said: We must also do more when it comes to managing crises as they develop. In order to get there, Brussels would need a European Defense Union with credible military capabilities, and she boasted, Europemainly France and Germanyhad already laid the building blocks.

For that, Europe also needs credible military capabilities, and we have set up the building blocks of the European Defense Union. It is complementary to NATO, and it is different, she said.

There is a European way to foreign and security policy where hard power is an important tool  but is never the only one, she said grimly. Hard power always comes with diplomacy and conflict prevention, with the work on reconciliation and reconstruction, which is something Europeans know well because we have gone through this, here in Europe.

Catherine Wen contributed to this report.
Union Minister and MP from Jodhpur Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Saturday said that the passage of the anti-CAA resolution by Rajasthan Assembly is equivalent to murdering democracy.

"It is equivalent to the murder of democracy. The State Assemblies are going beyond the limited autonomy granted by the Constitution by passing these resolutions. It is a conspiracy to divide the country," said Shekhawat.

"This is not only condemnable but unacceptable too," he added while speaking to reporters on Saturday.

Shekhawat further added, "Only time will tell what action must be taken against such states."

Congress-led Rajasthan government on Saturday passed a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the state assembly.

Kerala and Punjab have also passed resolutions against the newly amended citizenship law in their respective state assemblies.

The citizenship law is facing opposition across the country with some states, including West Bengal refusing to implement the law in their respective states.

The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and 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.)
New Delhi: The lawyer of the Nirbhaya rape accused on Saturday (January 25) told the Delhi's Patiala House Court that one of the convicts Vinay Sharma was being slow poisoned and was hospitalised, adding that his medical reports were not supplied.

Advocate AP Singh made the claims during the court hearing today. Singh has filed an application in the Patiala court accusing the Tihar Jail administration of causing a delay in filing mercy petitions for the convicts, by holding on certain documents. Singh moved an application on January 24 alleging that the jail authorities are yet to give the documents which are required to file the mercy petition for Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and curative petitions for Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Singh (25).

However, the public prosecutor, appearing for police, told Additional Sessions Judge Ajay Kumar Jain that the convicts are only adopting 'delaying tactics', according to the PTI.

The Supreme Court recently dismissed the curative petitions of other two convicts -- Vinay and Mukesh Singh (32). Mukesh's mercy petition was rejected by the President earlier this month. The hanging of all four is to take place on February 1 at 6 am, according to the court order.

On December 16, 2012, a 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted in a moving bus in south Delhi by six people. All the 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.

Four of the convicts were sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013, and the verdict was confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014 and subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court in May 2017, which also dismissed their review petitions.

The juvenile involved in the crime was convicted by a juvenile justice board and released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.

(With PTI inputs)
He found a place with a kitchen on Airbnb, so he was able to cook his own meals. It was also close to cafes, bars, shops and a gym. Francis Baldinu Credit:Janie Barrett "Because it felt like I was actually living in Canberra, it shifted my mindset to engage more with the city to do more things outside of work. It helped being in a more homely environment. It was a way to mentally switch off," he says. "That helped me a lot with work-life balance. When I was sitting in my hotel room and working at night and not doing anything else, I was not engaging in life outside work." After Mr Baldinu made friends in Canberra and started going out at night, he noticed his colleagues kept working at night and ordering takeaway meals in their hotel rooms.

"I had a colleague who would constantly be working into the night and checking emails," he says. Loading "The nature of corporate jobs is that there will always be something to do. So everybody from the most junior staff to the highest partner could work 24/7." Since returning home to Sydney last year, he has set strict boundaries and refuses to work from home. "I try not to associate my home with work. I would rather keep working in the office until midnight if I have a deadline to meet, so I don't open my laptop at home," he says.

"It stops work filtering into my personal life and I feel more productive when I'm [in the office]." Dubravka Cecez-Kecmanovic from the University of NSW Business School has conducted research on constant connectivity and describes it as an "epidemic" that is causing burnout and mental health problems in the workforce. "We have seen many cases of people who are burning out and some having a complete nervous breakdown," she says. Her research paper documents workers who say they are emailing work colleagues at 2am or 3am and who say they no longer feel like they have a private life. They take their mobile phone everywhere and accept calls "whenever". Some workers say they are emailing work colleagues at 2am or 3am in the morning and that they no longer feel like they have a private life. Credit:iStock

One study participant said the constant use of mobile phones and laptops was addictive. "It's like a drug almost, that you feel you have to respond. It's nothing for me to still be messaging people late at night or checking my phone at 4am. I'm worried that I might miss something, but it's just ridiculous isn't it, I mean no one is dying," the HR director told researchers. An IT designer stepped back from the industry because she found her work habits were hurting her relationships and family life: "I find that the technology fills me up and I feel like I've been eating garbage when I've been on my computer all day, whereas if I just sit and think quietly, I feel like I've had a proper meal for my brain," she said. Many of us are addicted to checking emails 24/7. Credit:iStock It is not sustainable for people to keep waking in the early morning hours to check emails, according to Ms Cecez-Kecmanovic. Individuals need to set their own boundaries and restrict the time they are connected to smartphones and computers.

Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey. Credit:Wolter Peeters European companies have stepped in with policies to restrict the need for staff to respond to emails after hours. The general secretary of Unions NSW, Mark Morey, says that for many Australian workers, "smartphones and tablets have completely erased the line between work and leisure". "While we are generally paid for a 38-hour week, we find ourselves on call from the moment we wake up," he says. A lot of attention has focused on wage theft, but Australian workers are also struggling with time theft.

"Ultimately this means employees have less time for their families, and less time for recreation  leading to more stress and more pressure at home. Its in everyones interest to put some boundaries around the use of smartphones. Technology should serve humanity, instead it becoming a tool for work to penetrate every waking moment." Sara Charlesworth, director of the Centre for People, Organisation and Work at RMIT, said colleagues at the School of Management have introduced an email etiquette policy that includes not emailing people out of hours and scheduling emails to be sent during office hours. If Ms Charlesworth writes any emails on a Sunday night, she schedules them to be sent at 9am on Monday. One of her RMIT colleagues had a note in their signature block which mentioned they had two "email-free" days a week. "A lot of people feel if an email is there that they have to respond to it," she says. "We really need to recognise people have lives outside of work and we should respect that for other people, even if we don't for ourselves." ACTU secretary Sally McManus says her Scandinavian union colleagues delete any emails they receive during their time off to create a new cultural norm. While positive change is slower to come in Australia, Ms McManus says it is building. A growing focus on wage theft in the hospitality industry has spread to other industries, including the legal profession. ACTU secretary Sally McManus, secretary believes the focus on wage theft will spread to unpaid overtime. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
In a move that will bring cheer to travel enthusiasts, the government has decided to reward people visiting 15 tourist spots in a year by funding their expenses.

Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel said the move should not be construed as a monetary benefit, but as an incentive.

"The tourism ministry will fund the travel expenses of tourists who visit 15 destinations in the country in a year and submit the photos on our website," he said on at the concluding ceremony of the two-day National Tourism Conference in Odisha's Konark.

Tourists, however, have to travel outside their home states to be eligible for contention.

"We should honour these people as brand ambassadors of Indian Tourism," Patel added.

The minister also said the Sun Temple at Konark would be included in the list of 'iconic sites'.

A special event will be organised to announce this very soon, he said.

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General of Tourism, said the ministry has been organising certificate programmes for candidates intending to work as tourist guides.

"But, participation of Odisha in this programme is very low and it needs to be enhanced. The state government should encourage students to take part in the certificate course," she said.

On the concluding day of the conference, jointly organised by the Odisha government and Ficci, a Memorandum of Intent (MoI) was signed between the state and Gujarat for cross-promotion of tourist sites, officials said.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), mentioning the key frameworks and policies, will be signed soon after discussions with relevant departments of both the states, said Sachin Ramchandra Jadhav, Director of Tourism, Odisha.
Like many Indigenous people, singer-songwriter Dan Sultan finds Australia Day "painful" and believes a national day would be more inclusive if held on a different date.

Sultan, who moved to Sydney with his partner and now eight-month-old daughter a year ago, is playing at two of the city's Indigenous-focused Australia Day events.

Musician Dan Sultan is playing at The Vigil and the Yabun Festival for Australia Day.

"I think it's a really good statement to work on that day - it means I'm not recognising a day off personally though I'm not telling everyone else they have to work," Sultan said.

"When everyone takes a public holiday to have a party on a day that represents so much pain for me personally and my family and to a greater extent my people  it's intense."
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during the III Hemispheric Anti-Terrorism Ministerial Conference at the Francisco de Paula Santander General Police Cadet School, in Bogota, Colombia, on Jan. 20, 2020. (Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters)

Pompeo Responds to Journalists Allegations Over Ukraine Questioning, NPR Defends Reporter

State Department Secretary Mike Pompeo responded to allegations by a journalist on Saturday, after a heated exchange during an interview the day before.

NPRs Mary Louise Kelly, co-host of All Things Considered, conducted an interview with Pompeo on Friday where they began with discussing U.S. policy in Iran. The interview abruptly ended when Kelly started asking questions about former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.

Kelly claimed that after the interview a department aide asked the reporter to join the secretary in his private living room where he allegedly shouted at her because he was not happy to have been questioned about Ukraine.

He asked, Do you think Americans care about Ukraine? He used the F-word in that sentence and many others, she alleged during her recount of what happened after the interview to co-host Ari Shapiro.

She said Pompeo then asked her if she could find Ukraine on a map, in which she replied in the affirmative. He then allegedly ask for aides to bring out an unmarked map, where Kelly pointed to Ukraine before he put the map away. He then allegedly told her that people will hear about this, she said.

The state department released a statement on Saturday with Pompeos response to Kellys allegations. The secretary did not confirm or deny what happened after the interview but accused Kelly of lying to him twice.

NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly lied to me, twice. First, last month, in setting up our interview and, then again yesterday, in agreeing to have our post-interview conversation off the record, Pompeo said in the statement. It is shameful that this reporter chose to violate the basic rules of journalism and decency.

This is another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this Administration. It is no wonder that the American people distrust many in the media when they so consistently demonstrate their agenda and their absence of integrity, he continued.

He ended his statement by saying, It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine.

NPRs senior vice president for news Nancy Barnes released a statement defending Kelly. Barnes said, Mary Louise Kelly has always conducted herself with the utmost integrity, and we stand behind this report.

Pompeo has come into the spotlight after criticism that he failed to publicly defend Yovanovitch amid political allegations. For example, former senior state department advisor Michael McKinley said during his testimony during the House impeachment probe that he resigned from the department in part because he was concerned about what he saw as a lack of public support for department employees.

When asked about the criticism and Yovanovitch during the interview, Pompeo said, Ive defended every single person on this team. Ive done whats right for every single person on this team. He said that he agreed to do the interview to talk about Iran.

I agreed to come on your show today to talk about Iran. Thats what I intend to do. I know what our Ukraine policy has been now for the three years of this administration. Im proud of the work weve done. This administration delivered the capability for the Ukrainians to defend themselves, he said.

Kelly then told Pompeo that she had confirmed with state department staff that the interview would be about Iran and Ukraine, to which he responded that he did not have any further comments.
NORTH GREENBUSH  -- Two New York City residents are charged with trying to scam the Verizon Wireless store on North Greenbush Road, town police said.

On Friday, the North Greenbush Police arrested Kelsa Bernabel, 25, and Branden Perez, both New York City residents, for charges in connection with an attempted fraud.
CAA is aimed at distinguishing illegal migrants on basis of religion, says resolution.

New Delhi: Rajasthan on Saturday became the second Congress-ruled state to pass a resolution appealing the Centre to repeal the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

It is the second Congress-ruled state to pass such a resolution after Punjab. Earlier, Kerala Assembly too had passed a resolution against the CAA moved jointly by the ruling Left alliance and the opposition Congress-led UDF.

The Rajasthan Assembly resolution, which was passed by a voice vote, also asked the Centre to withdraw the new fields of information that have been sought for updation in National Population Register (NPR), 2020.

Several BJP leaders were seen rushing to the well of the house, shouting slogans in favour of the new citizenship law as the resolution was adopted.

The CAA that has been enacted by the parliament recently is aimed at distinguishing illegal migrants on the basis of religion, the resolution says. Such discrimination of people on the grounds of religion is not in consonance with the secular ideas enshrined in the Constitution and is clearly violative of the Article 14, it adds.

While moving the resolution, state parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal said, It is evident that the CAA violates the provisions of the Constitution. Therefore, the House resolves to urge upon the government of India to repeal the CAA to avoid any discrimination on the basis of religion in granting citizenship and to ensure equality before law for all religious groups of India.

Earlier, this week, deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot said the Centre should listen to people protesting against the CAA across the country and asserted that democracy weakens if there is no dialogue.

We are requesting the Central government to reconsider the Act. The Constitution has given the right to protest but if someone does it, they are attacked and called anti-nationals, he said.

It might be recalled that there had been a controversy over the decision by Congress state governments to pass a resolution against the CAA with some senior leaders feeling that it cannot stand legislative scrutiny.

Meanwhile, the BJP accused the Congress of pursuing appeasement politics. Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria questioned the right to challenge the Act in the state assembly.

Granting citizenship is a matter under the Centre and and in such a situation do we have the right to challenge the CAA.... The Congress should stop doing appeasement and vote bank politics, he said.

State BJP chief Satish Poonia said that granting citizenship to minorities living in Pakistan was endorsed in the past by prominent leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and former prime minister Indira Gandhi. The Congress has brought the resolution for its political agenda and appeasement politics, Mr Poonia said.

As soon as Dhariwal moved the resolution in the House, BJP legislators trooped into the Well, shouting slogans against the governments move. However, later they participated in the debate.

CAA has caused deep anguish and widespread protests all over the country. The state of Rajasthan has also witnessed protests against this legislation which have been peaceful and have involved all segments of our society, Mr Dhariwal said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday continued his attacks on an NPR reporter who reported that he cursed and shouted at her after she questioned him about the Trump administration's firing of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

Pompeo accused reporter Mary Louise Kelly of lying, but did not deny her account of what happened.

"NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly lied to me, twice," Pompeo asserted, without evidence. "First, last month, in setting up our interview and, then again yesterday, in agreeing to have our post-interview conversation off the record."

"It is shameful that this reporter chose to violate the basic rules of journalism and decency. This is another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this Administration. It is no wonder that the American people distrust many in the media when they so consistently demonstrate their agenda and their absence of integrity," he added.

Pompeo cut off their recorded interview when Kelly pressed him repeatedly on why he has not defended former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. After the interview, Kelly said that she was taken to Pompeo's private living room, where he shouted and cursed at her and challenged her to find Ukraine on a map.

"He asked, 'Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?' He used the F-word in that sentence and many others," Kelly told "All Things Considered" co-host Ari Shapiro on Friday.

"He asked if I could find Ukraine on a map. I said yes, and he called out for aides to bring us a map of the world with no writing. I pointed to Ukraine. He put the map away," she said. "He said, 'People will hear about this.'"

Kelly said that an aide never asked that the meeting with Pompeo be held off the record  nor would she agree to that. She also said she told the State Department afterwards that she was going to report what happened, but did not hear back.

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Pompeo ended his statement by saying, "It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine," implying that Kelly, who previously covered national security for NPR and has a masters in European Studies from Cambridge University, identified Bangladesh on the map instead of Ukraine.

Members of the media quickly came to Kelly's defense following Pompeo's accusations.

"Pompeo's official response [to Kelly] doesn't deny her account of his bullying & cursing," wrote New York Times diplomatic correspondent Edward Wong. "This is an attack on news organizations from the top US diplomat, someone who is supposed to defend press freedoms. It's obvious he's playing to an audience of one  Trump."

"Pompeo also undermines his credibility on the facts of the episode in the statement," Wong wrote. "There is little chance [Kelly], a Cambridge-educated expert on Europe, would have pointed to Bangladesh if he asked her to identify Ukraine on an unlabeled map."

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Nancy Barnes, NPR's senior vice president of news, said on Saturday that Kelly "has always conducted herself with the utmost integrity, and we stand behind this report."

The State Department did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.
A Nepali student studying in China has been found infected with the new coronavirus, an official of Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population has said, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

"It is the first confirmed case of infection from the deadly virus," Dr. Hemanta Chandra Ojha, chief of Zoonotic and Other Communicable Disease Control Section at Epidemiology and Disease Control Division under the Ministry, told Xinhua on Friday.

He said that the patient who had come to Nepal from Wuhan, China was tested positive during a specimen test at the laboratory of the World Health Organization in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China. "We had received the confirmation on Thursday evening," he said.

The man infected with the virus had come to Nepal on Jan. 5 from China and visited the hospital complaining about respiratory problem on Jan. 13. After his condition was improved following medication, he was discharged last week.
The Sydney Morning Heralds Kate McClymont has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her service to print media and investigative journalism.

McClymont, who celebrates 30 consecutive years with the masthead this year, is humbled by the honour. She describes the Herald as "one of the greatest joys" of her life.

"Its been stressful and theres been difficult times, but its such an amazing thing when you can have a job that can make a difference," she says.

In a career spanning three decades, McClymont has exposed corruption in politics, sport and horse racing. She is the author of two novels, a seven-time Walkley Award winner, and former chair of the Walkley Advisory Board. But it hasnt been an easy run for McClymont, with death and legal threats taking an immense personal toll over the years.
How much water does New Mexico have? How much is in rivers, reservoirs or underground aquifers? What water is safe to drink, and what should be used for agriculture or industry?

A nascent state initiative aims to answer those questions with data.

The Water Data Act, which became law in 2019, requires five state agencies  the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, Interstate Stream Commission, Office of the State Engineer, Environment Department and the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department  to standardize data on water levels, quality and use.

The law was inspired by a need to manage the states scarce water more carefully, according to Stacy Timmons, associate director for Hydrogeology Programs at the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. Timmons leads the implementation of the Water Data Act.

Residents have raised concerns that their water management is not what they would like it to be, she said. Water data is not always clear or easily found, especially when it comes to information on domestic wells or water quality.

Databases already available at www.newmexicowaterdata.org, the website created for the initiative, include reports and maps of public water systems, reservoirs and aquifers. Data will eventually be interoperable, meaning a website user could simultaneously learn about the quantity and quality of water in a region.

For Timmons, managing water without data is comparable to driving a car without a fuel gauge.

When you dont know how much gas is in your car, you dont know when to stop, she said. Similarly, when you dont know how much water you have, you dont know when to start managing those water supplies differently. Data supports our choices. When we all have the same data in hand, we can build a consensus about how to prioritize our water use.

Agencies are taking inventory of existing water information. Much of the states water data is older or in paper form, so there are challenges in digitizing those measurements and determining if they are still useful.

Data gaps quickly became apparent once the agencies dove into the time-consuming cataloging process.

At a workshop in Socorro in October, 80 participants searched online data to craft hypothetical plans for New Mexico water issues, like municipal water conservation, agricultural water use and clean drinking water.

Many participants reported a lack of online data about water in rural areas. More data is also needed to pinpoint how much water New Mexicans are using and how much groundwater there is in the state.

That knowledge could help communities prepare for extreme strains on water, such as floods, fires and droughts.

We want to create water systems that bend and flex during those times, Timmons said. If there is drought, we can see where are there other water resources and how best to share among these (uses) that all need water.

New Mexico was the second state after California to pass legislation requiring interagency water data sharing.

Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal.
She has acting genes handed down from grandparents Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna.

So its no surprise Lily Travers has been named as one of the hottest young actresses set to light up Hollywood.

The bi-annual list, compiled by British society bible Tatler, predicts which stars will make waves in the coming year.

Lily Travers grandparents Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers pictured in Born Free, 1966

Ms Traverss grandfather, who died in 1994, and her grandmother, now 88, starred as George and Joy Adamson in the 1966 film Born Free, and later set up the wildlife conservation group of the same name.

The 29-year-olds breakout role was in ITV drama Victoria, while she has also had parts in Doctor Who and the movies Kingsman and Viceroys House.

Her next big role is with Keira Knightley in Misbehaviour, about a group of women who disrupt the 1970 Miss World competition in London.

Here are some of the stars on the list:

Lily Travers

Lily Travers, 29, is best known for playing Duchess Sophie of Monmouth in Victoria

Age: 29

Best known for: Playing Duchess Sophie of Monmouth in ITV's Victoria

The granddaughter of actors Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers, Lily studied English at Durham University.

Miss Travers' breakout role was as Duchess Sophie of Monmouth, who had an illicit affair with a footman, in ITV drama Victoria. She has also had roles in Doctor Who, Kingsman: The Secret Service and Viceroy's House alongside Hugh Bonneville and Gillian Anderson.

Lily on what her ultimate role would be: 'Something completely different - I'd love to play Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac.'

Abubakar Salim

Age: 27

Best known for: Roles in Jamestown and Fortitude

Named as one of BAFTAs Breakthrough Brits 2019, Abubakar has built a career across theatre, TV - and games. He was cast as the lead in the Assassins Creed: Origins gaming series, not only providing the voice but working with motion capture.

Abubakar has since starred in a string of TV series, including Jamestown and Iclandic-set thriller, Fortitude. He will soon be in Sir Ridley Scott's Raised by Wolves.

Abubakar on possibly playing Bond: 'People keep saying 'you could do Bond', but I don't want to curse it. As a black actor it would be interesting to explore.'

Abubakar Salim, 27, is well known for his role in Jamestown and Fortitude, left. Right, Anson Boon is part of Sam Mendes' cast in the award-winning First World War epic 1917

Anson Boon

Age: 19

Best known for: Private Cooke in 1917

Anson is part of Sam Mendes' cast in the award-winning First World War epic 1917 - and he is on the cusp of stardom.

Anson on his friendship with Susan Sarandon: 'I didn't grow up in an acting family, so it's amazing to have someone like Susan to turn to for advice.'  He bought Sarandon her first pint, and the pair went to a Spurs match together. 'I thought she could get us the VIP experience, but typically for her she wanted to cheer in the stands.'

Sophie Simnett, 22, is known for Netflix role

Sophie Simnett

Age: 22

Best known for: Samaira Dean in Netflix drama series Daybreak

Simnett is part of the cast for Netflix drama series Daybreak. Born in Chiswick, London, she began acting from the age of seven by taking various film and acting courses.

Sophie on how her star is soaring: 'It can be overwhelming and wonderful and mad - especially when I'm papped eating bacon sandwiches in airports - but I feel in control. I'm just riding the crazy wave.'

Patricia Allison

Age: 25

Best known for: Ola Nyman in hit Netflix series Sex Education

Patricia is riding high at the moment on her success in Sex Education, where she plays the girlfriend of main character Otis Milburn (played by Asa Butterfield).

The actress from London also landed a part in Les Miserables in 2018, and was in drama Moving On in 2009.

Patricia on the success of Netflix's Sex Education: 'People recognised me on holiday in Italy and Ghana, where my mum lives - two places I never even thought anyone would watch it. One lady thanked me and said it helped her son come out as gay to her. It's crazy how impactful the show is all over the world.'

Patricia Allison, 25, left, plays Ola Nyman in Netflix series Sex Education. Right, Alex Lawther is best known for playing the young Alan Turing in The Imitation Game

Alex Lawther

Read the full feature in the March issue of Tatler available via digital download and newsstands Thursday 30th January

Age: 24

Best known for: Playing the young Alan Turing in The Imitation Game

Lawther won the London Film Critics' Circle Award for his role in The Imitation Game. He was born in Petersfield, Hampshire, in 1995 and is the youngest of three. Both his parents are top lawyers.

Alex on Wes Anderson, in whose upcoming film, The French Dispatch, he stars: 'Wes likes to have a family feel to the film. The actors stay in the same building and every night we'd have dinner in his house. Wes would sit at the top of the table and we would all talk about our days. It was lovely.'

Read the full feature in the March issue of Tatler available via digital download and newsstands Thursday 30th January https://www.tatler.com/
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 24, 2020) - Daura Capital Corp. (TSXV: DUR.P) (the "Company" or "Daura"), a capital pool company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") provides an update on the status of its proposed qualifying transaction (the "Qualifying Transaction") with Estrella Gold S.A.C. ("Estrella").

The Company is continuing to work with Estrella on the preparation of all documentation necessary to complete the required filings with the TSXV and complete the proposed Qualifying Transaction. This includes the preparation of a definitive agreement and the preparation of a geological report complying with the requirements of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Bridge Financing

In addition, the Company announced that it intends to complete a non-brokered private placement of 2 million common shares at a price of $0.10 per share, for total gross proceeds of $200,000 as a bridge financing prior to completion of the proposed Qualifying Transaction (the "Bridge Financing"). Proceeds from the Bridge Financing will be used to fund costs associated with completing the proposed Qualifying Transaction.

Closing of the proposed Qualifying Transaction and the Bridge Financing are subject to the approval of the TSXV. All securities issued under the Bridge Financing will be subject to hold periods expiring four months and one day after the date of issuance. Additional restrictions may apply under the rules of the TSXV and applicable securities laws.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or solicitation of an offer to buy, nor will there be any sale of any of the securities offered in any jurisdiction where such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful, including the United States of America. The securities being offered as part of the Bridge Financing have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and accordingly may not be offered or sold in the United States except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and any applicable state securities laws, or pursuant to available exemptions therefrom.

For further information please contact:

Daura Capital Corp.

543 Granville, Suite 501

Vancouver BC V6C 1X8

William T.P. Tsang CFO and Corporate Secretary

(604) 669-0660

btsang@seabordservices.com

Mark D. Sumner CEO and Director

mark@kiwandagroup.com

NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

Completion of the proposed Qualifying Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to TSXV acceptance and, if applicable pursuant to TSXV requirements, majority of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the proposed Qualifying Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Proposed Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. Daura 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 Daura's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to Daura's ability to complete the proposed Qualifying Transaction; and other risks and uncertainties. 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, Daura undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the transaction, any information released or received with respect to the transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative.

The TSX Venture Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

A halt in trading shall remain in place until after the proposed Qualifying Transaction is completed or such time that acceptable documentation is filed with the TSXV.

Not for Distribution to US Newswire Services or Dissemination in the United States

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/51817
Irish GPs have been told to isolate a patient suspected of having the new killer coronavirus in a "side room" in a bid to stop them infecting others.

The family doctor should put on gloves, a long-sleeved gown or plastic aprons well as a face shield or goggles.

The patient should also be offered a surgical mask before alerting the nearest hospital and ambulance service.

The dramatic instructions from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) disease watchdog are part of new guidelines issued to family doctors who may be presented with a patient suffering symptoms of fever, shortness or breath or sore throat and who may have been in Wuhan, China - the centre of the coronavirus outbreak - in the previous 14 days.

It comes amid concerns that the contagious illness could make its way to Ireland.

Scientists have revealed each infected person is passing the virus on to between 1.4 and 2.5 people.

The National Virus Laboratory in UCD has yet to be asked to carry out a test on a suspected case here, which would involve analysing a swab taken from the back of the throat or from the nose with a cotton bud.

People who feel they may be at risk and are unwell are asked to contact a doctor by phone in advance.

Medics at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast were relieved yesterday after they concluded the man tested for the virus was almost certainly clear in advance of getting an official result from a test, which has a turnaround time of 24 hours.

All 14 people tested for coronavirus in the UK have been given the all clear but checks are ongoing on other people.

The risk to Ireland from the UK remains low but health officials have warned about the ongoing threat.

Once a person has been infected it may take between two and 14 days for them to show any symptoms.

The vast majority of patients - at least 97pc based on available data - will recover from these without any issues or medical help. In a small group of patients, who seem mainly to be the elderly or those with long-term illnesses, it can lead to pneumonia.

Patients attending hospital emergency departments will also be confronted by new posters warning them if they fear they have the virus to use alcohol gel, put on a face mask and identify themselves to a member of staff immediately.

After starting in the city of Wuhan, the potentially deadly infection has been on a global march and a small number of cases have been confirmed in Thailand, the US, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Singapore. The death toll in China has risen to 26.

France yesterday announced three confirmed cases of the virus, the first outside Asia and the US. The authorities said all three sick people had travelled to China; two of them belonged to the same family. They were the first cases registered in Europe.

Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said she expected more cases and that the virus must be battled like a wildfire.

She said the likely reason that France has the first European cases is that it quickly developed a test allowing medics to rapidly diagnose those who are infected.
By Express News Service

BHOPAL: At an age when children are supposed to rejoice and remain carefree in the company of storybooks, games and friends, under the protection of one's parents, a 10-year-old boy, who lost both his parents in the span of a few years had to make a very difficult decision.

Overcoming the irreparable grief of losing his father, Bhishma Chhawani in 2013, and now his mother Disha Chhawani who became brain dead after a road accident a few days ago, class 5 student Mayank Chhawani decided to donate his mother's organs to ensure she stays alive by gifting life to other needy patients.

A student of Holy Family Convent School in Bhopal, Mayank lost his father, Bhishma, due to sudden heart trouble on January 8, 2013.

Seven years later, his mother Disha, suffered a serious head injury while stepping down from a bus at the BRTS bus stand in Halalpur.

Disha was admitted at the governments Hamidia Hospital after the accident on Thursday, where doctors put her on the ventilator as her brain wasnt responding at all, though the pulse was still there. With nearly no chances of Dishas brain reviving, the doctors told us on Saturday that she was brain dead and chances of her recovery were near to impossible. They left it to us to decide what we wanted to do next, said Jagdish Chhawani, Mayanks uncle and a city-based advocate.

Both sides of the family slowly started readying themselves to accept the reality and donating Dishas vital organs for saving lives of others. Though Mayank is a minor, his consent for us was essential to take the bold decision. The brave boy, who daily went to his moms hospital bed with the hope of seeing her back in senses, gradually came to terms with reality and told us that he was with us if we decided to donate his moms vital organs, he added.

Mayanks aunt from Mumbai also played an important role in him coming to terms with reality and going through with the organ donation process, particularly as Mayank wanted to ensure that his mother stayed alive even after her end by reviving lives of others, he said.

Disha was shifted from Hamidia Hospital to Red Cross Hospital in Bhopal on Saturday for organ donation process.

Mayank has taken a landmark decision of his life and we hope that this will also inspire others to consider organ donation in future, he said.
Drumming duck will have you quacking up New York Post (David L)

Scientists Re-Create Voice of 3,000-Year-Old Mummy Associated Press

Royal Row

Harry and Meghans attempt to trademark Sussex Royal brand is blocked Daily Mail (Li). I am told that this is not likely to be someone saying they have an existing mark but rather someone opposing the grant of a patent during the application period, which apparently anyone has standing to do. Kids that dont fail are normally frugal. Wealth advisers say Meghan and Harrys lifestyle already raises red flags MarketWatch. I had trouble processing the headline by virtue of calling two people well over 30 kids.

Team develops an electrochemical method for extracting uranium, and potentially other metal ions, from solution PhysOrg (Chuck L)

US and Europe clash over climate crisis threat on last Davos day Guardian (Kevin W)

Why Tourism Should Dieand Why It Wont New Republic

Co-Parenting as Friends  The Trend of Platonic Partners Raising Kids Together Marie Claire (Chuck L)

Drugs May Be Killing Twice as Many Americans Than Previously Thought Healthline. Quelle surprise! Just listen to the long list of possible side effects on the next health ad you hear.

China?

India

Brexit

Note some of this may be due to Brexit, not just austerity: 10% of NHS nurses were EU migrants and some started leaving due to Brexit uncertainty + overt hostility to foreigners:

had to close the doors on AMU last night,13 patients of my own, in charge also. 2 nurses down. Management asked me to take on another 7 but wouldnt be staffing it, obvs I couldnt staff it & have 20 pts to myself. The response I got was if u dont youll be reported to the CEO.  NHS SISTER  (@Sister_Medicine) January 23, 2020

How a Democratic Counteroffensive Can Win George Soros, Project Syndicate (David L). From Davos. As if his Open Society didnt wind up funding neo-Nazis. I saw Soros say with great pride that everyone in the post-coup Ukraine government had gotten a grant from Open Society, either personally or an immediate family member, like a spouse. This was when the Ukraine government had ~15% neo-Nazis in official positions, when their representation among voters was more like 1%.

It May Be the Biggest Tax Heist Ever. And Europe Wants Justice New York Times (John C)

New Cold War

Syraqistan

Big Brother Is Watching You Watch

Imperial Collapse Watch

Trump Transition

Impeachment

2020

FICO Changes Could Lower Your Credit Score Wall Street Journal

Whos Afraid of the IRS? Not Facebook ProPublica

Boeing

Does Microsoft Have a Boeing 737 Max Style Crash Every Week? Matt Stoller (JTM)

Bonds look like they are flashing a warning for global markets CNBC

Class Warfare

Antidote du jour. Jennifer F:

I have an antidote for your consideration  Max in the middle. I adopted Max from the humane society several months after my 17 year old cat died. He was a stray, living in a feral cat colony. This boy clearly had a home (and dogs) of his own before his circumstances took a turn. I joke that his problem is that he needs to relax more.

And a bonus:

I happen to live near wild chickens pic.twitter.com/pny3aMdRHu  Natures Lovers (@natureslover_s) January 25, 2020

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
After the signing, U.K. and EU officials took the document to London, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson put his own signature on it  also without journalists present.

London police to use face scan technology

LONDON  London police will start using facial recognition cameras to pick out suspects from street crowds in real time, in a major advance for the controversial technology that raises worries about automated surveillance and erosion of privacy rights.

The Metropolitan Police Service said Friday that after a series of trials, the cameras will be put to work within a month in operational deployments of around five to six hours at potential crime hotspots. The locations would be chosen based on intelligence, but police did not say where, how many places or how many cameras would be deployed.

Australia

Ariz. firefighter dies in tanker plane crash

SYDNEY  A team was working to recover the bodies of an Arizona firefighter and two others from the US who died Thursday when a tanker plane crashed after just dropping liquid on a wildfire, Australian Transport Safety Bureau Chief Commissioner Greg Hood said Friday.
Atmospheric CO2 concentrations, 2014-2019 and projected through 2020. Forecast (red) CO2 concentrations at the Mauna Loa observatory, with previous forecasts (blue) are compared to observations (black). The forecast uncertainty range (orange) based on the SST forecast is  2 standard deviations. Graphic: Met Office

By Grahame Madge

24 January 2020

(Met Office)  A forecast of the atmospheric concentration of carbon-dioxide shows that 2020 will witness one of the largest annual rises in concentration since measurements began at Mauna Loa, in Hawaii, 1958.

During the year the atmospheric concentration of CO is expected to peak above 417 parts per million in May, while the average for the year is forecast to be 414.2  0.6ppm. This annual average represents a 2.74  0.57 ppm rise on the average for 2019. While human-caused emissions cause the CO rise in concentration, impacts of weather patterns on global ecosystems are predicted to increase the rise by 10% this year. Emissions from the recent Australian bushfires contribute up to one-fifth of this increase.

Annual increments (growth rate) in CO2 concentration, 1995-2019 and projected through 2020. Measurements from the Mauna Loa observatory from observations (black), our statistical reconstructions and past forecasts (blue) and 2020 forecast (red). The forecast uncertainty range based on the SST forecast (solid red line) is  2 standard deviations. Uncertainty in the 2019 emissions increases the total uncertainty slightly (dashed red line). Graphic: Met Office

Professor Richard Betts MBE, of the Met Office Hadley Centre and University of Exeter, said: Although the series of annual levels of CO have always seen a year-on-year increase since 1958, driven by fossil fuel burning and deforestation, the rate of rise isnt perfectly even because there are fluctuations in the response of ecosystem carbon sinks, especially tropical forests. Overall these are expected to be weaker than normal for a second year running.

Weather patterns linked to year-by-year swings in Pacific Ocean temperatures are known to affect the uptake of carbon-dioxide by land ecosystems. In years with a warmer tropical Pacific, many regions become warmer and drier, which limits the ability of plants to grow and absorb CO and increases the risk of wildfires which release further emissions. Along with other weather patterns and human-induced climate change, this has contributed to the recent hot, dry weather in Australia, which played a key role in the severity of the bushfires.

Frequency distribution of annual CO2 rise (growth rate) for each year in the Mauna Loa record. Larger excursions (rightward on the x-axis) occur more rarely, and 2020 is expected to be in the top four years for CO2 increase. Graphic: Met Office

Professor Betts added: The success of our previous forecasts has shown that the year-to-year variability in the rate of rise of CO in the atmosphere is affected more by the strength of ecosystem carbon sinks and sources than year-to-year changes in human-induced emissions. Nevertheless, the anthropogenic emissions are still the overall driver of the long-term rise in concentrations.

The CO concentrations at Mauna Loa are measured by the Scripps Institution for Oceanography at UC San Diego and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Fire emissions are monitored by the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED).

The 2020 CO forecast is available here.

Australian bushfires help push forecast 2020 CO rise
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
Extending his greetings on National Tourism Day, Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel tweeted, "Congratulations to the countrymen and foreign tourists on "National Tourism Day". On this day I was on the banks of Puri and participated in cleanliness c Image Source: IANS News

Every year, National Tourism Day is celebrated on January 25. Taking to Twitter, the Ministry of Tourism wrote, "Let's celebrate National Tourism Day as a mark to increase travel experience and explore new destinations, finding new traditions and be Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Jan 25 : India on Saturday celebrated National Tourism Day to promote tourism in the country.

Every year, National Tourism Day is celebrated on January 25. Taking to Twitter, the Ministry of Tourism wrote, "Let's celebrate National Tourism Day as a mark to increase travel experience and explore new destinations, finding new traditions and beliefs. Happy National Tourism Day!" Extending his greetings, Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel tweeted, "Congratulations to the countrymen and foreign tourists on "National Tourism Day". On this day I was on the banks of Puri and participated in cleanliness campaign." Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, repeating the mantra "Atithi Devo Bhav", said "On #NationalTourismDay let's highlight importance of travel to explore new places and cultures, which opens new doors of understanding. "Atithi Devo Bhav", has been our mantra guiding us in welcoming guests wholeheartedly." Following the mantra of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam", Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal tweeted, "Warm greetings on #NationalTourismDay. Following the mantra of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam', I welcome all to experience #AwesomeAssam, a haven for tourists with great locations, amazing flora & fauna and rich hospitality." "Splendid beaches, magnificent temples, mist shrouded forests, delectable cuisines and warm people, Odisha is a pleasant retreat for every traveller. Discover a sedate blend of culture, eternal beauty and scenic wonders. DiscoverAOdisha!" wrote Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje said, "Greetings on #NationalTourismDay! India's tourism is a celebration of diversity and #Rajasthan offers the most unique mix. Our rich heritage, spectacular architecture and vibrant arts & crafts are an experience not to be missed." BJP Leader Sanjay Tandon tweeted, "Travel. Explore. Discover. Incredible India! "On this #NationalTourismDay let's cultivate and create awareness among the society globally on the significance of tourism, and it's social, political, financial and also cultural worth and value."
Beirut: Lebanon and Japan have about 40 days to decide whether ousted Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn will be extradited to Japan or stand trial in Lebanon, a judicial source and a source close to Ghosn said, following his escape from Japan last month.

Ghosn fled to Lebanon, his childhood home, as he was awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies.

Carlos Ghosn may have dramatically broken with Japan but he's now reunited with Lebanon, where he grew up and still enjoys the backing of elite circles. Credit:AP

Japan and Lebanon have no extradition agreement and Lebanon does not typically hand over its nationals. Ghosn's legal team is hoping to hold the trial in Lebanon, where the former auto executive has deep ties and hopes to clear his name.

Japan has in recent days asked Lebanon to clarify what files Tokyo needs to send as part of an official extradition request, the two sources said.
A 35-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder after a man was stabbed in Newry late on Friday night.

A 22-year-old man who was also arrested has been released without charge.

The pair were arrested at the scene of the incident at a house on Talbot Street in the city shortly after 10.30pm.

A 41-year-old man had been stabbed in the leg and was taken to hospital, where he underwent surgery on Saturday morning.

Detective Inspector Trevor Stevenson said: "The two men we arrested remain in custody as we continue with our enquiries.

"This was a savage attack which has left the victim with life changing injuries, and I want to appeal to anyone who was in the Talbot Street area last night, prior to or around the time the incident was reported to us, to get in touch.



"Anyone who has information which can help us establish what occurred is asked to call 101, quoting reference number 2031 of 24/01/20 or call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111."
An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 struck the eastern Elazg province in Turkey Friday evening, collapsing buildings and killing at least 38 people according to CNN Turk.

The earthquake struck at 8:55 p.m. local time with a depth of 4.2 miles (6.7 km), Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said, followed by around 400 aftershocks according to the AFAD. Although the quake rocked eastern Turkey, the U.S. Geological Survey has recorded reports from people who felt the earthquake from southern Georgia to western Iran to northern Israel.

Rescuers continued to search for survivors trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings this weekend. Thirty-five people were rescued from collapsed buildings on Saturday night, according to Reuters. The rescue operations took place with temperatures in the middle 20s F (minus 3-4 C).

Rescue workers search on a collapsed building after a 6.8 earthquake struck Sivrice town in Elazig in eastern Turkey, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 rocked eastern Turkey on Friday, causing some buildings to collapse and killing at least 14 people, Turkish officials said.(IHA via AP)

Videos and photos across social media platforms show five-story buildings collapsed into piles of rubble and emergency responders in the streets in Elazig province.

More than 1,600 people have been injured, and nearly 650 buildings have sustained heavy damage.

Soylu described the earthquake as a "Level 3" incident, according to the country's emergency response plan, Reuters said. At this level, the incident calls for a national response but doesn't require international help.

People look at a collapsed building after a 6.8 earthquake struck Elazig city centre in the eastern Turkey, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 rocked eastern Turkey on Friday, causing some buildings to collapse and killing at least four people, Turkish officials said. (IHA via AP)

As cleanup and rescue efforts continue, multiple people have been left without homes as temperatures dropped.

Story continues

"In our village some people lost their lives. I hope God will help us," a 32-year old man from the town of Sivrice told Reuters. "Our animals died. Our families gathered around the fire to spend the night, covered with blankets."

The man, who only gave his first name, Sinasi, told the news organization he and his family tried to stay warm by a small fire.

"Monday will be dry and mainly clear with highs getting into the lower to middle 40s F (4-8 C)," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist John Gresiak said. "Nights will still be cold. The next chance for precipitation, both rain and snow, may be on Tuesday."

Ankara Mayor Masur Yavas tweeted on Friday that emergency staff was ready to move to Elazg if needed and they were in contact with the authorities.
New Delhi/UNI: External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar on Saturday called on Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro here and discussed matters pertaining to deepening ties between the two countries.

"Pleased to welcome the Chief Guest for Republic Day 2020 President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil. His visit will open new opportunities for our bilateral cooperation. It also symbolizes the global rebalancing underway," Dr Jaishankar tweeted.

The visiting dignitary was given a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhawan premises.

"First State Visit of the year begins with a grand ceremonial welcome," tweeted MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar.

Bolsonaro will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and both sides are expected to sign a number of agreements to boost cooperation in a wide-range of areas like oil and gas and cyber security.

YY-YY| The 1iast State Visit of the year begins with a grand ceremonial welcome#PresidentKovind and PM @narendramodi welcomed President of Brazil @jairbolsonaro at @rashtrapatibhvn as he begins his first visit to India. pic.twitter.com/N8ogDwXjN4  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) January 25, 2020

Bolsonaro arrived here on Friday accompanied by his daughter Laura Bolsonaro, ministers, members of the Brazilian parliament and a business delegation.

"A warm welcome to President Jair Bolsonaro! We are delighted to host him and we look forward to his taking part in our Republic Day celebrations. His visit will add strength to India-Brazil relations," Prime Minister Modi has said in a missive on Friday.

Earlier, India received President of Brazil as Chief Guest for Republic Day Parade in 1996 and 2004.

President Bolsonaro will meet Indian counterpart Ram Nath Kovind, who will host a Banquet in his honour.

On Monday, Jan 27, President Bolsonaro will address Indian and Brazilian Business leaders at the India-Brazil Business Forum.

The MEA in a statement said: "India and Brazil share a close and multifaceted relationship. Our bilateral relations are based on a common global vision, shared democratic values, and a commitment to foster economic growth of both countries".

Bilateral relations were elevated to a Strategic Partnership in 2006, heralding a new phase in India-Brazil relations. The relations are strong not only at the bilateral level, but also at plurilateral fora such as BRICS, IBSA, G-20 and in multilateral bodies particularly the UN, the statement said.

(Image Credit: S Jaishankar Twitter)
On Friday, Baba Ramdev said he will visit Delhi's Shaheen Bagh to meet the anti-CAA protesters on Saturday, January 25. According to sources, Delhi Police has refused to grant him permission for the visit. Sources also say that Baba Ramdev will wait for the police to grant him permission and then only he will visit Shaheen Bagh.

While taking to Republic Media Network's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, Baba Ramdev had revealed that Delhi Police Commissioner called him up and told him that the situation is not conducive for him to visit.

While speaking about Shaheen Bagh protests, he said, There should be a non-violent agitation. There should be no inconvenience to the people. You cannot block a public road like this. The means of protest should be constitutional. The country should not be affected.

The people who are being inconvenienced by the Shaheen Bagh protests, who are taking 3-4 hours extra daily- what if they start a counter-protest? Is this how a country will run? The government should take stern action. You should protest, but you should allow the movement of people.

Earlier on Friday, Ramdev advised the students of JNU and other universities to stay away from politics and focus on their studies rather than protesting and participating in demonstrations. He said it is not appropriate for students to "spread violence and anarchy" and indulge in demonstrations.

Anti-CAA protests across the country

Protests have erupted across the country ever since the Parliament cleared the new citizenship law with the opposition parties, activists and student unions hitting the streets terming the legislation as discriminatory.

According to the amended citizenship law, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, to escape religious persecution in their home countries will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship. However, the act does not include Muslim migrants.

READ | Prakash Javadekar slams AAP, Congress for extending support to Shaheen Bagh protestors

READ | Yoga guru Ramdev Baba ready to visit Shaheen Bagh, shares a message for protesters

Those opposing the CAA have contended that it discriminates on the basis of religion and violates the Constitution. They allege CAA, along with NRC, is intended to target the Muslim community in India. However, the government has dismissed the allegations, maintaining the law is intended to give citizenship to the persecuted people from the three neighbouring countries and not to take away citizenship from anyone.

READ | Even as Shaheen Bagh protesters refuse to budge,ambulance gets stuck in traffic for 40 min

READ | UP neta claims "Tukde-Tukde gang in Bollywood", slams Nandita Das's Shaheen Bagh remark
Rescue workers raced against time Saturday to find survivors under the rubble after a powerful claimed 22 lives and left more than 1,000 injured in eastern

The magnitude 6.8 quake struck on Friday evening, with its epicentre in the small lakeside town of Sivrice in Elazig province, and was felt in neighbouring countries.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 39 people have been rescued alive from collapsed buildings in Elazig province, with a further 22 people estimated to be trapped under the rubble.

He said the death toll had risen to 22.

Among those found alive was a pregnant woman who was rescued 12 hours after the quake hit, state news agency Anadolu said, while an AFP correspondent saw an individual saved 17 hours later.

Nearly 2,000 search and rescue personnel were sent to the region while thousands of beds, blankets and tents have been provided, the Turkish presidency said.

The rescue efforts have been taking place in freezing temperatures as wood and plastic were burned to keep crowds warm.

Hundreds of people were anxiously waiting on the other side of police barriers including a man who gave his name as Mustafa.

"I have three relatives in that building: one man, his wife and her mother. They are still under the rubble," the 40-year-old told AFP.

"May God help us, we can do nothing but pray.

"I was home during the It lasted for so long, it was like a nightmare. I froze in the living room when it happened, my wife and our two children were screaming and running around," he said.

He added that some neighbours jumped out of the windows because they panicked as families including his were forced to spend Friday night on the streets.

Some 20 rescuers were on top of the remains of one collapsed building, slowly clearing the rubble one bucket at a time surrounded by broken wooden beams and concrete.

Nearby Ayse Sonmez, 48, wept in silence at the barrier.

She was only able to point to one of the heavily damaged buildings and say, "My older sister."

Sivrice -- a town with a population of about 4,000 -- is situated south of Elazig city on the shores of Hazar lake -- one of the most popular tourist spots in the region and the source of the Tigris river.

The lake is home to a "Sunken City", with archaeological traces dating back 4,000 years in its waters.

The interior minister said 18 people were killed in Elazig while four died in Malatya.

Among the 1,031 people injured were residents in other provinces in the southeast including Diyarbakir, Batman, Sanliurfa, Adiyaman and Kahramanmaras, the Turkish government's disaster and emergency management agency (AFAD) said.

Health minister Fahrettin Koca said 128 people were still receiving treatment including 34 in intensive care but added that no one was in a critical condition.

Tensions were high as one resident accused the government of lying.

"They (the government) claim that only four people are trapped under the rubble. It is not true. I have five relatives in that building," Suat, a 45-year-old butcher, said.

"There are four floors and three flats per floor. If there were five people per flat, do the math. Why are they lying?" Suat described the moment when the quake struck as he was at home in another Elazig neighbourhood and his children "were screaming in terror."

The Ankara public prosecutor's office later on Saturday said it had begun an investigation into "provocative" social media posts but did not give further details.

The tremor was felt in several parts of eastern near the Iraqi and Syrian borders as well as in Iran, Lebanon and Syria, local media reported.

Environment and Urbanisation Minister Murat Kurum told reporters in Elazig that five buildings collapsed following the quake while were badly or lightly damaged.

The US Geological Survey assessed the magnitude as 6.7, slightly lower than AFAD, adding that it struck near the East Anatolian Fault in an area that has suffered no documented large ruptures since an in 1875.

According to AFAD, there have been nearly 400 aftershocks following Friday's quake including 12 that were above four in magnitude.

In 1999, a devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Izmit in western Turkey, leaving more than 17,000 people dead including about 1,000 in Istanbul.

Experts have long warned a large quake could devastate the city of 15 million people, which has allowed widespread building without safety precautions.

Such fears were acutely awakened in September last year when a 5.7-magnitude earthquake shook Istanbul, causing residents to flee buildings in the economic capital.
It was the initial news reports that first suggested Chinas political system might be getting in the way of its ability to confront the coronavirus outbreak.

The outbreak seemed to already be a full-blown crisis, infecting dozens in China and even some abroad, by the time it became widely reported.

This seeming delay was of a familiar pattern in China, one suggesting that local officials may have played down early warning signs or simply did not coordinate enough to see the problems scope.

While outsiders might suspect an attempted cover-up as the cause, experts see something much more worrying: weaknesses at the very heart of the Chinese system.
Now the problem is not the money, he said. Now we need to get the supplies.

On Thursday, he was in his basement office, juggling phone calls, social media and email to organize efforts from various donor groups, including the Association of Chinese American Physicians.

Mr. Xu had already secured free shipping through a Chinese airline, he said, and was working on an official channel with the Hubei Province Red Cross to accept and distribute donations of supplies. Struggling to find suppliers, he was brokering deals with factories and importers to secure supplies that had originally been bound for overseas superstores. But resources were still scarce.

Now China has to borrow from America, he joked.

On the West Coast, June Liao, the owner of a baby formula export company based in Los Angeles, had amassed 20,000 masks from various sources to donate to Wuhan via the Red Cross. She set up two growing WeChat groups that have collectively raised $48,000 in under 24 hours, she said.

In Washington State, Mr. Shi said he and a handful of others, working as part of a group called the United Chinese Americans of Washington, have established a team to coordinate help. He has ordered 100 masks online. But in the meantime, he has been buying from stores, reading the labels to ensure the masks offer what he deemed to be sufficient protection.

In his WeChat app, he called up a bulletin from officials in Wuhan describing what was needed. While he was not sure if private shipping to China would get through the quarantines, he was hopeful that aid groups would be able to bring in the supplies they are managing to gather.

In the long run, they will figure out how to supply and deliver to there, he said. In the meantime, he said, Its always good if we can send something to them.

Angela Chen contributed reporting.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Jan. 21, 2020 | MURRAY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 21, 2020 | 04:44 PM | MURRAY

Members of the Speech and Debate Union Travel Team at Murray State University earned several awards at three regional tournaments in October and November.



The team received the following overall awards:



 First place debate team at the Team International Parliamentary Debate Association (TIPDA) competition held online



 First place at the University Debate Team Sweepstakes in Owensboro, Kentucky



 First place Novice National Parliamentary Debate Association Team (NPDA) at a national qualifier event held at Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City, Tennessee



Team members took home the following awards:



 Eli Fenwick of Evansville, Indiana (first place in radio broadcasting)



 Garrett Kieser of Locust Hill, Kentucky (first place IPDA debate champion and first place IPDA debate speaker)



 Ashlen Grubbs of Hodgenville, Kentucky (first place in poetry, third place in prose and top novice in poetry and prose interpretations)



 Jillian Owen of Clarksville, Tennessee (top novice in impromptu speaking, fourth place in IPDA debate, fourth place novice debate speaker)



 Emily Caitlan Short of Greenville, Kentucky (first place in impromptu speaking, fourth place in informative speaking)



 Ana Moyers of Radcliffe, Kentucky (fifth place in informative speaking, top novice in communication analysis speaking)



 Christian Jones of Paducah, Kentucky (top novice for informative speaking, second, third and fourth place for informative speaking)



 Joshua Sanders of San Antonio, Texas (first place in varsity extemporaneous speaking, second place in varsity IPDA debate and second place varsity debate speaker)



 Ciara Benham of Brandenburg, Kentucky (first and fifth place for public narrative and top novice in public narrative)



 Callie Anderson of Richmond, Kentucky (top novice in dramatic interpretation, second and sixth place in dramatic interpretation)



 Victoria Lindsey of Hardinsburg, Kentucky (third place varsity debate speaker)



 Rachel Fischer of Hopkinsville, Kentucky (third place in impromptu speaking, third place in storytelling)



Additional team awards included:



 Victoria Lindsey and Joshua Sanders (first place TIPDA debate team)



 Jillian Owen and Garrett Kieser (first place novice NPDA debate team)



 Kyle Heideman of Louisville, Kentucky, and Joshua Sanders (second place varsity NPDA debate team)



 Christopher Stewart II of Eddyville, Kentucky, and Brennan Hughes of Russellville, Kentucky (third place varsity NPDA debate team)



 Callie Anderson and Rachel Fischer (third place in dramatic duo)



"Any first place win is significant," said Dr. Crystal Coel, director of the Speech and Debate Union and faculty member in the Department of Organizational Communication. "I give credit to God for linking me with amazing talent that I get to help develop."




European Union named its first ambassador to the post-Brexit United Kingdom after Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday signed the agreement to leave the bloc. Officials on Friday named Portuguese diplomat Joao Vale de Almeida as EU's top envoy to London. Joao Vale de Almeida has previously served as an ambassador for the European Union in Washington and the United Nations. Vale de has worked as a journalist before joining the European Commission in 1982.

Read: UK PM Boris Johnson Signs Brexit Withdrawal Deal, Hails It As 'fantastic Moment'

Following the announcement, Vale de took to his official Twitter handle to share the news as he said that he was honoured by the appointment. A press release by EU's diplomatic service read, "As of that date, the United Kingdom will be a third country and as a consequence, the representation of the Union will be ensured by an EU Delegation.Joao Vale de Almeida will take charge as an EU's ambassador to the United Kingdom on February 1.''

Read: UK PM Boris Johnson Doesn't Know What Shampoo He Uses, Netizens End Up Pulling Their Hair

Honoured to be chosen as first Head of EU Delegation in the United Kingdom. Looking forward to working w/ 27 EU Member States Ambassadors in promoting EU interests and w/ UK authorities to implement WA & prepare future relationship https://t.co/CdWtnxXU6b  ValedeAlmeidaEU (@ValedeAlmeidaEU) January 24, 2020

The historic agreement signing

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed the historic withdrawal agreement for the United Kingdom to finally exit the European Union on January 31. According to media reports, the Prime Minister hailed the signing of the agreement as 'fantastic moment' and said that he hoped it would end the years of division and arguments. The document was first signed by the European Union officials Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, which was then transported to London by a train from Brussels.

Read: Megxit Triggers UK 'Game Of Thrones': Here's Where Ex-Royals Harry & Meghan Stand Now

According to the international press, the historic document runs nearly 600 pages that include citizens' rights, United Kingdom's 33 billion financial obligations to the bloc and arrangements established for maintaining an open border on the island of Ireland, which comes under the Northern Ireland protocol. The United Kingdom and Prime Minister Boris Johnson will now look to secure a deal with the EU before the one-year transition period ends.

Read: Love Island UK 6: Rebecca Gormley Gets Shaughna Phillips All Riled Up Over Boy-drama


Kochi : , Jan 25 (IANS) The tiff between the Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and the Kerala legislature took a turn for the worse on Saturday, when the Congress-led opposition gave a notice to the Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan for moving a resolution to be sent to President of India to remove Arif Mohammed Khan from the post of governor.

Khan was quick to respond and welcomed the move.

Speaking to the media here, Leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala said that he has written to the Speaker under the rules of the Legislature under Section 284(5) to move a substantive motion to see that a resolution is passed by the legislature and send it to the President of India to withdraw Khan from the post of governor.

The new session of the Kerala Assembly is slated to begin on Wednesday.

"Varkala Radhakrishnan, the then Speaker of the assembly, (veteran CPI-M leader, E.K. Nayanar was the chief minister), on February 2, 1989 had given a ruling that through a substantive motion, this can be done. The reason why we are moving this against the present governor is he has deplored the assembly, when a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act was passed. Governor is very much part of the Assembly, but he has condemned what we did. This is a clear disrespect to the assembly and hence we are bringing in the substantive motion," said Chennithala.

Chennithala added that this is the first time in the history of the Assembly, that such a motion is being moved.

"What Khan should have done was to have expressed his displeasure against the CAA resolution in writing to the Speaker, instead he has gone public. The previous governor P. Sathasivam, who was a former chief justice of India during his tenure never ever met the media, but for Khan, it has become a habit for him to air everything in public. This does not befit the post that he holds and Sathasivam even expressed surprise in what was happening," added Chennithala.

Responding to the news of the opposition, Khan told the media in the state capital that he welcomes the move.

"From what I have heard from you, I welcome the move and let them approach the President, who appointed me," said Khan.

"I work according to the Constitution. I have a right to advice, warn and encourage the government. I don't know of others, but I am one who has read the Constitution and do only as per the Constitution," said Khan.

In response to a question on the media reports that he has sent back the Governor's address which was given to him by the Pinarayi Vijayan government, that he will have to read it out on Wednesday in the Assembly, Khan said that he will not discuss such things in the media.

According to reports the Governor's address has two paragraphs about the CAA and the resolution that was passed by the assembly demanding the withdrawal of the CAA and Khan has expressed his displeasure about it.

About the view of his predecessor Sathasivam, Khan said that everyone is entailed to their view.

Now all eyes are on Wednesday, when Khan arrives to deliver his address.
GARDAI have issued an appeal for witnesses after a teenager (15) was stabbed on a beach in north Dublin yesterday evening.

The youth was brought by car to Malahide Garda Station after he sustained a stab wound at Portmarnock Beach at approximately 9.30pm on Friday evening.

It is understood by gardai that he was involved in an altercation between two groups of young people.

The teenager was treated by the armed support unit (ASU) at the station and then brought by ambulance to Temple Street Childrens Hospital.

According to a garda spokesperson, his condition is currently stable and garda scene of crime officers are examining the scene.

"Gardai are anxious to hear from any witnesses who may have been in the vicinity of the entrance to Portmarnock Beach, Velvet Strand, Coast Road and Wendell Avenue between 9pm and 10pm or to anyone with camera footage that could assist the investigation," said Superintendent Gerry Donnelly.

He also issued an appeal for people who used public transport in the area.

"Gardai are also appealing to any persons who may have been using public transport in that vicinity and came across large groups of youths availing of transport services," he added.

There have been no arrests made and enquiries are ongoing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Malahide Garda Station on 01 6664600 or the Garda Confidential Line on1800 666 111.
As he looks at pictures of his parents and sisters who perished in Auschwitz, Szmul Icek begins to tremble, tears clouding his eyes.

It may have been 75 years ago, but for this survivor of the Holocaust the memories of life and death in the Nazi extermination camp remain painfully fresh.

More than a million Jews were killed at Auschwitz, in then occupied Poland. The last survivors, now all elderly, still live with the physical and mental scars of the horrors of that time.

Since their liberation three quarters of a century ago, their skin has wrinkled with the march of time and the numbers tattooed on their left arms have faded.

Much in the same way that the collective memory of the Holocaust is blurring.

These survivors are the last witnesses to traumatic events which now in the 21st century are often called into question by anti-Semitic revisionists.

So as Israel prepares this month to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the camp at a ceremony to be attended by a host of world leaders, AFP reporters met with about 10 survivors to hear their testimonies.

Some have learnt their stories by heart, reciting every detail  without tears.

Others no longer have the strength to speak, some have had their memories ravaged by Alzheimers. While others are still consumed by the shame of being one of Adolf Hitlers victims.

Born in Poland, Icek, 92, struggles to talk following a car accident, and leaves it to his wife to recount the tragedy which befell his family.

In early 1942, his two sisters responded to a notice from the Gestapo that children should present themselves to the notorious secret police in order to protect their family.

They left, but they were never seen again, never. We dont know what happened to them, said Sonia on behalf of her husband, who tensed up as she began to talk.

For many years, Icek, number 117 568, kept his imprisonment at Auschwitz secret from his wife.

After living together in Belgium for years, the couple now inhabits an apartment in Jerusalem where old family portraits hang in their living room.

One shows his father with a full beard, wearing a round hat, while his mothers hair is cropped short in the style popular in that era.

A month after his sisters disappeared, the Germans came for the rest of his family. His parents, two brothers and him.

When he arrived at Auschwitz, on getting off the train, he held onto his fathers hand like a little boy, Sonia said of her husbands deportation.

But Icek was separated from his dad by a Nazi. He cried, he wanted to be with his father. But the German said: no, you (go) over there.

That was the last time he saw his father, who was sent to the gas chambers. Both his parents died, although his brothers like him managed to survive.

Hearing his wife talk about Auschwitz where he spent two and a half years, Icek, dressed in a blue polo neck and a skullcap, became briefly animated.

It cant be, it cant be, no, he said, clasping his hands around his neck to mime the killings at the camp.

 Burying the ashes 

Like Icek, Menahem Haberman, born in the then Czechoslovakia in 1927, was a teenager when he arrived at Auschwitz and was separated from his family.

Their paths never crossed at the extermination camp, nor in Jerusalem where Haberman now lives in a retirement home.

His memory still sharp, he recounted how he was taken outside of the camp to the edge of some water and given a shovel.

There was a canal and I had to run to each side and pour ashes into the water. I didnt know what I was doing. When I came back, I asked a camp veteran: What have I done?

Haberman told the man he had only arrived at Auschwitz the previous day.

He told me: All your family were ashes in that canal four hours after their arrival.

It was then that I understood where I was, Haberman told AFP.

His bitter encounter with death at the camp was to drive his overwhelming determination to survive.

I told myself, I dont want to die here, I dont want my ashes to sink and flow in this canal towards the river, said Haberman.

There was a guy there who said in Yiddish: Those who dont have the strength to work, will end up in the chimney.

I kept that phrase in mind and repeated: I do not want to die here.

The experiences of the last remaining survivors, who were children when they were sent to the death camps, remain seared into their minds.

Every day I think about it, especially at night, said Haberman.

Its deeply engrained in me. Seventy-five years later, we still live with that, we dont forget we cannot forget, said Haberman.

We are survivors, we are not escapees. The camps are imprinted in our skin.

Six million Jews were killed by Nazi Germany. And of more than 1.3 million people imprisoned at Auschwitz, some 1.1 million died and Haberman remains baffled that he managed to survive.

I really knew people who were better men than me. Why did they die and why am I still alive?

 Stalked by hunger 

In the suburbs of Tel Aviv, 91-year-old Malka Zaken sits in her small apartment surrounded by dolls, some of which are still in their original boxes.

Dont worry Sean, hes not German, he wont take me, Zaken reassured one of them, as AFP arrived to talk to her.

While age has muddled some of her memories and her speech is confused, the traumas of Auschwitz remain vivid.

When I was little, my mother bought me lots of dolls, said Zaken, recalling her childhood in Greece with her parents and six siblings.

But she was burned by the Nazis. When Im with the dolls, I remember her, its like when I was a child at home, I think about it all the time, she said.

Zaken spends her afternoons watching soap operas, at home with a carer.

She remembers friends killed by the Nazis, as well as those who survived the war but have since died.

In Auschwitz, she recalled being beaten all the time, we were naked and they beat us I never forget, never, I never forget how much Ive suffered.

What hell! I dont even know how I made it to survive.

Occasionally looking dazed, the number 76 979 marked on her wrinkled skin, Zaken said the memories haunted her long after she was freed.

After the liberation, I couldnt sleep, I lay awake at night crying, I was scared, and I was cared for for a long time.

As well as fearing the gas chamber, Zaken also remembers the starvation which stalked the death camp and reduced prisoners to walking skeletons.

Fellow survivor Saul Oren, 90, also recalled the unimaginable hunger with prisoners given watery soup.

And the soup was for the whole day. Or they gave us a small potato, or they gave us a small piece of bread, he said.

We didnt dare eat the whole bread because we wanted to save it for later, perhaps we couldnt stand the hunger, he said.

Orens mother was killed at Auschwitz and he has no photo of her, but tries to include her image in the paintings he does at home.

Even after leaving the extermination camp, hunger followed him.

He was forced onto the Death March when, as the Soviets advanced, the Nazis made prisoners from extermination camps walk in deep winter towards Germany and Austria.

We marched for 12 days, practically without eating we stopped in a forest, we found a dead horse, everyone threw themselves on the horse. Each person took a bite, Oren said.

Another survivor, Danny Chanoch, marched for weeks in the snow, scratching at the soil in the hope of unearthing some frozen grass.

He is still affected by seeing survivors eating the bodies of prisoners killed by the Germans.

They couldnt stand the hunger so they took the human flesh, cooked, ate (it).

And we know that a red line is not to eat human flesh and not to take the bread from your comrade, said Chanoch, originally from Lithuania.

 Guarding Eichmann 

After being taken to the Mauthausen and Gunskirchen camps, Chanoch was eventually freed and made his way to Italy as a penniless 12-year-old.

In the city of Bologna he was reunited with his brother, Uri, and a photo of the two boys taken by an Italian man hangs in his home.

Chanoch, who lives in a village between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, was philosophical about his experience in the death camp: Sometimes I say to myself, how could I live without Auschwitz?'

It led me to the right way, to not skip anything, and do what you like to do, he said.

Chanoch and his brother travelled illegally from Italy to Palestine, then under British mandate, while other Holocaust survivors later arrived in the land which had become Israel.

The new state swiftly passed a law setting out the death penalty for crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The legislation was used to execute Adolf Eichmann, one of the masterminds of the Nazis so-called Final Solution plan of genocide against European Jews. He was captured in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires 15 years after the war and smuggled to Israel, and tried.

For Shmuel Blumenfeld, a 94-year-old Auschwitz survivor, tattooed with number 108 006, the Eichmann affair was a historic turnaround.

Blumenfeld served as one of Eichmanns prison guards and spoke to the Nazi, telling him who had ultimately won.

One day I brought him food, I lifted my sleeve so that he saw my tattooed number. He saw it but acted as if nothing was amiss, said Blumenfeld, who offered Eichmann another helping.

Then, I clearly showed my number from Auschwitz and I told him: Your men didnt finish their mission, I spent two years there and Im still alive, Blumenfeld said in German, before translating the conversation into Hebrew.

Once Eichmann shouted to complain that he couldnt sleep, because there was too much noise. And I said to him: We are not in the office of Adolf Eichmann in Budapest, you are in the office of Shmuel Blumenfeld.

At his home, Blumenfeld keeps a fabric bag of earth collected from the places where all his family members were killed.

My mother told me never forget that you are Jewish and I obeyed her, said Blumenfeld, who spent his career in the Israeli prison service.

 I overcame 

Despite his age, Blumenfeld continues to travel to Poland with groups of young Israelis.

At almost 95, the elegant Batcheva Dagan also remains energetic and determined to use her experiences to educate future generations.

After making it out of a camp alive, she said she had one thing in mind: Survive to tell (people).

She worked in the heart of Birkenau camp, which neighboured Auschwitz, at a depot where shoes and other prisoners belongings piled up.

I spent 20 months there, 600 days and nights, said Dagan, who had to burn the luggage of Jews who arrived at the camp.

Work out the hours and the seconds, thinking that each second youre scared of dying. You have an idea of what that means, living each moment with the threat that that moment is your last.

I try to make something positive out of my experience for children, educational.

I dont only recount the horror of the Holocaust, but also wonderful things like helping each other, the capacity to share a piece of bread, the friendship We remained human beings.

The survivors sense of victory comes through their poems, memories, but above all through living their daily lives and seeing future generations grow up.

Im alive I suffered, but I overcame! said Dagan.

Icek, who for years hid his Auschwitz tattoo under long shirts, has recently started to uncover it.

You didnt want to show it. Now the first thing that you do when you get into a taxi, you do this, his wife Sonia said, showing his forearm.

Its like he was ashamed I told him: You have been to the camp, you must be happy, you came back,' said Sonia, who had to hide during the war in Belgium to avoid being sent to a death camp.

Sitting next to his wife, Icek said just three words before starting to cry: I have won.

But Sonia disagreed, saying he didnt win anything and lost his family whose pictures hang next to those of their grandchildren.

We have not won, but we have taught our grandchildren in a way that they understand what happened.
It was a tragedy that carried chilling echoes of the deaths suffered by thousands of victims of the US drugs epidemic. Jemma Longthorp was just 20 when her body was found in her familys Oxford home. The student had overdosed on a cocktail of drugs in a desperate attempt to cope with mental illness.

The substances she took included fentanyl, a synthetic opioid used as a painkiller and anaesthetic. Fifty times more powerful than heroin, the drug  which has been linked to the deaths of pop star Prince and the Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman  is so dangerous that even skin contact can be fatal.

In part due to fentanyls availability on prescription, fatalities in the US have surged, with figures last year by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealing that more than 36,000 Americans died with fentanyl in their systems between 2011 and 2016.

A couple lie unconscious in their car after taking fentanyl in Dayton, Ohio, in the US. More than 36,000 Americans died with fentanyl in their systems between 2011 and 2016

The majority of those deaths  18,335  occurred in 2016 alone.

At the time of Jemmas death in 2017, there was a real fear that Britain was set to replicate the horrors of America. That year there were 135 deaths attributed to fentanyl in the UK, a leap from the eight recorded in 2008.

One former policeman warned at the time: We face a fairly apocalyptic future if the fentanyl problem is not tackled.

However, the feared surge in deaths has failed to materialise. In 2018, only 30 fentanyl-related fatalities were recorded, with the figure plummeting to just two last year.

In fact, since last April there has not been a single fatality recorded (subject to a theoretically possible marginal rise after delayed toxicology reports).

That Britain seems to have been spared is thanks to an extraordinarily successful operation led by the National Crime Agency, dubbed Britains FBI.

For the past three years, the organisation has been working with the police to combat the drug smugglers with the support of MI5  and now, for the first time, the full story of their victory against the fentanyl gangs can be told.

The story begins at the end of 2016, when police forces in the North East raised the alarm over a sudden spike in opioid-related fatalities.

Toxicology tests showed that a shocking number had been caused by fentanyl. Some of the dead had taken the drug in combination with heroin; others on its own.

The police passed on their findings to the NCA, whose anti-drugs squad began to target dealers, many of whom were operating in the unregulated part of the internet known as the dark web, where drugs can be openly advertised and sold to be delivered by post.

Heading up the team was Lawrence Gibbons, the NCAs head of drug threat. He told The Mail on Sunday: We were all aware of the US situation and other places in far-east Europe with the threat from fentanyl and synthetic opioids.

My role is monitoring and looking ahead for future threats impacting on the UK and so we made it a high priority threat.

Student Jemma Longthorp was just 20 when she died at her family home in Oxford, after overdosing on a cocktail of drugs in a desperate attempt to cope with mental illness

I allocated a small, specialist team to tackle the dark web and open web, to look at the supply network for fentanyl. Gibbons deployed the NCAs own special weapon: the dark web intelligence collection and exploitation (DICE) team, a small but effective unit of specialised operatives trained by agents from MI5 and GCHQ.

Their task was to navigate the murkiest recesses of the dark web, going undercover online to identify fentanyl dealers who hid their real identities from the authorities.

Its not easy but it is possible to identify people on the dark net through a number of covert means, Gibbons said. Theres a lot of work that goes into decryption. But we only have to get lucky once; they have to get lucky every time. After identifying targets, DICE officers handed over their files to the NCA frontline agents who would continue the investigation.

One set of dealers operated through an account on the dark web under the name UKBargins and were prolific sellers of fentanyl and carfentanil, which is 100 times more powerful than heroin and is used by vets to tranquillise elephants and rhinos.

Fentanyl  known as Drop Dead or Serial Killer among users and dealers  is sold in powder form for as little as 20 a gram.

While the gang continued to believe they could act with impunity, the DICE squad had uncovered their real-world identities.

Jake Levene, now 24, a former aerospace engineering student from Wakefield near Leeds, appeared to be the boss behind UKBargins. The NCA began a sophisticated surveillance operation led by now retired senior detective Graham Roberts.

His team knew there was no time to waste. On Friday, April 21, 2017, the NCAs Cheshire office received the intelligence on Levene and the next day a 12-man surveillance team operating on foot and in cars was set up to monitor his house.

Plainclothes officers tracked Levene to meetings with his accomplices Mandy Lowther, now 22, and Lee Childs, 46.

The trio were seen repeatedly visiting a lock-up warehouse unit three miles from Levenes home.

The operations deputy senior investigating officer (SIO)  who has almost a decades experience targeting drug gangs and people smuggling gangs  spoke to The Mail on Sunday, asking to not be named for security reasons. The officer said: DICE and other intelligence sources pointed us in the direction. Its handed over to us as an investigations team: This is the package  this is what we think is happening, go and investigate it.

Within 12 hours, because of the threat and the risk posed by fentanyl, they are put under surveillance. Jake Levene took us to the unit and we believe this must be where they are operating out of.

If its a lower-risk drugs job  we would probably have monitored that location for a period of time. But we couldnt afford to take that risk because of fentanyl and carfentanil being so dangerous and people dying from them.

After one weekends surveillance, the NCA hit the warehouse unit on Monday, April 24, with armed West Yorkshire police.

From left, Jake Levene, Lee Childs and Mandy Lowther. Levene, now 24, a former aerospace engineering student from Wakefield near Leeds, appeared to be the boss behind UKBargins

Officers wore special protective clothing due to the danger of contact with even the smallest amounts of fentanyl. Because of the hazards, the squad stayed outside the unit, only opening the door to summon Levene and his accomplices, who at first refused to leave. After a prolonged stand-off, the trio relented and were arrested.

Inside, the unit officers found a drugs laboratory, complete with mixing stations, and a makeshift office, which had to be carefully dismantled over weeks under the protocols used in handling the most hazardous materials.

Detectives found that the gang had been mixing fentanyl with paracetamol, caffeine and the potent mind-bending synthetic drug known as spice.

The investigation revealed how the drugs were packaged up and sent off to buyers in Britain and across the globe by Royal Mail.

CCTV footage showed Childs sending off dozens of drugs packages in post offices near the gangs warehouse, joining unsuspecting customers collecting their pension or buying stamps in the queue.

Over five months, the gang sold 2,853 packages to 172 UK customers and 271 abroad, having themselves first bought the drugs in bulk from China. According to the deputy SIO, Levene and the others were responsible for a lot of injuries, cardiac arrests, brain injuries  a lot of people who nearly died and at least six deaths.

A lot of customers had been through education or were employed, said the officer. They werent stereotypical drug users. Some were in chronic pain.

Their numbers included 33-year-old Charlton Livick, who suffered from depression. He was found lifeless, sprawled out on his bed by his mother Kathy in the family home in Ferndown, Devon, in 2017.

An inquest later revealed that a lethal dose of carfentanil had resulted in his heart failure. He had bought the drugs off the dark web from Levene, Childs and Lowther.

In January last year, all three were found guilty of supplying and exporting Class A drugs at Leeds Crown Court. Levene and Lowther were jailed for 16 and a half years. Childs was sentenced to ten and a half years. Kathy said: All I want is my son back, and I cant have that, but its good to see justice done.

There have been other scalps for the NCA in the war against the dark web dealers.

In 2018, Kyle Enos, then 25, from Gwent, Wales, was jailed for eight years for selling fentanyl bought from China to 168 customers across the globe, of which 92 were in the UK. His drugs operation is thought to be linked to a string of deaths.

Next week, another dark web seller from Northamptonshire will be sentenced for buying and selling the drug.

Mr Gibbons notes that the arrests of the Leeds gang coincided with a significant fall in fentanyl-related deaths in the UK.

An international operation involving the FBI and European forces taking down dark web marketplaces AlphaBay and Hansa has also been crucial.

With the take-down of websites, the Leeds operation and Gwent, you can see the tail off ever since  these are now single figures, he added.

Last year we had two deaths. We shouldnt measure success by [the number of] peoples deaths but we are here to protect people and the public from harm.

For the NCA, impact can be found in the changes to criminals behaviour, with larger dark web marketplaces now apparently policing their own websites to prevent sales of fentanyl or its sister drugs.

Mr Gibbons said: Theyve done that because they dont want law enforcement making them a high priority and taking their site down. Thats one massive success.
Couple shot at by Cancun police involved in area kidnappings

Cancun, Q.R.  UPDATED: A man and woman who were shot at by Cancun police Thursday night are believed involved in area kidnappings.

During a press conference, head of the State Attorney Generals Office, Oscar Montes de Oca Rosales, released details of the shooting explaining that the shooting of the man, which lead to his arrest, occurred after an attempt to flee.

He said agents of the Ministerial Police from the anti-kidnapping unit went to a Cancun address to complete an arrest warrant for Luis M. When they arrived, the subject fled on a motorcycle with a woman.

During the persecution, the woman, who was a Colombian living in the area since February, pulled out a gun and fired at agents who responded by firing their weapons and injuring both. Subsequently, the persecuted crashed the motorcycle into an electricity pole. The woman died on scene.

Luis M, the wounded motorcycle driver, remains in police custody. He is the brother of another man known to police as the leader of a gang of six to seven kidnappers and extortionists. Oscar Montes de Oca Rosales said they are investigating other kidnapping cases.

UPDATE: The State Attorney Generals Office has confirmed there is a record that the now detained is involved in at least two kidnappings, one of them against a woman and her 11-year-old daughter in the municipality of Carrillo Puerto and another in the municipality of Benito Juarez.

Likewise, the motorcycle in which Luis M used in an attempt to escape with the woman was also used to collect ransom for one of the kidnappings.
Moroccan forward Hugo Boumous inspired FC Goa to a thrilling 3-2 win over Kerala Blasters FC in an action-packed Indian Super League match here on Saturday.

First-half goals from Boumous (26th) and Jackichand Singh (45th) saw FC Goa take a 2-0 lead only for Raphael Messi Bouli (53rd) and Bartholomew Ogbeche (69th) to peg them back.

But Boumous managed to grab a winner seven minutes from time to hand Sergio Lobera's team all three points.

The victory saw FC Goa go two points clear at the top of the table while Kerala remain eighth, with their chances of reaching the play-offs taking a huge beating.

Kerala showed a lot of enterprise in the early exchanges and showed confidence on the ball. However, FC Goa did not take that long to hit their stride with Boumous and Ferran Corominas forcing errors from the Kerala defence.

Kerala continued to threaten from the wide areas, with Bartholomew Ogbeche glancing wide Mohammed Rakip's dangerous cross from the right-wing in the 19th minute.

A few minutes later, Ogbeche had to be alert inside his own box to pull off a goal-line clearance from Mourtada Fall's header from a corner.

But in the 26th minute, FC Goa did have their lead. Kerala defence allowed Mandar Rao Dessai to run on to Brandon Fernandes' ball over the top down the left-wing. The full-back squared the ball for Boumous to tap in at the far post.

Kerala tried to respond to the setback through their wide men but failed to really trouble the defence of the Goan side.

A few minutes before half-time, Goa doubled their lead. Corominas got on to a loose ball on the edge of the box on the right. He whipped a low cross into the box which was deflected into the far corner by the outstretched boot of Jackichand Singh.

Kerala started the second-half with renewed vigour and pulled a goal back within eight minutes of the restart. Seityasen Singh whipped a ball into Ogbeche on the edge of the box who sent Messi Bouli clear on goal with a deft touch and the Cameroonian finished with aplomb to give the visitors a lifeline.

With confidence surging through their veins, Kerala continued to fashion chances and put FC Goa under pressure. Messi almost equalised after being sent through on goal again while Jackichand wasted a chance at the other end for FC Goa.

Kerala were finally rewarded in the 69th minute when Ogbeche was left unmarked during a corner. Cidoncha's delivery was headed in at the far post by the Nigerian to pull Kerala level.

Kerala continued to be on the ascendancy as they sought a winner but it were FC Goa who managed to find one in the 83rd minute. Ahmed Jahouh picked out Boumous inside the box with a lovely chipped ball and the Moroccan's volley was enough to beat TP Rehenesh in the Kerala goal and spark joyous scenes at the stadium.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Jersey has filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trumps transition team, according to court documents.

The state Attorney Generals Office accused Trump for America, Inc. of failing to properly register in the state. After New Jersey opened an investigation, the non-profit refused to turn over internal documents, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint also names KCH & Associates, LLC, a Mendham-based fundraiser. It was filed Friday in New Jersey Superior Court in Essex County.

The two groups insist that they are above the law, according to the lawsuit. They arent.

Trump for America disputed the allegations in a statement sent by Kory Langhofer, a lawyer for the non-profit, and said it had provided the state with all appropriate documents.

The New Jersey Attorney Generals Office sued anyway, presumably because they want to be perceived as resisting Trump, the statement read. This lawsuit is about their desire to issue a press release and not the merits of their case.

Langhofer declined to comment on the groups current activities or assets. A message left with the Trump campaign was not immediately returned.

Trumps transition team was originally formed in New Jersey, according to the suit, and continued to operate in the state after it moved to Massachusetts. Early on, the group was chaired by former Gov. Chris Christie.

Trump for America reported that it developed public policy and hired people for White House positions, in addition to helping Trump transition into the presidency, according to IRS documents.

The non-profit pulled in more than $6.4 million in 2016 and more than $2.5 million in 2017, the most recent year available. KCH & Associates received thousands of dollars each year for work as a fundraising consultant."

But Trump for America failed to follow the law and register with the states consumer affairs division, according to the suit.

The state opened an investigation around October, 2018. A few months later, on Feb. 11, investigators subpoenaed both groups, the suit said.

The state demanded documents detailing the organizations finances, tax-exempt and charitable status, fundraising practices, organizational structure, and contracts with independent contractors, and asked for similar documents from KCH, the fundraiser.

Trump for America only turned over documents that were already public, according to the complaint, and KCH provided very little relevant information. The transition team claimed that the state didnt have authority to ask for documents, and KCH said a non-disclosure agreement blocked it from sharing more, the lawsuit said.

State officials demanded documents within 10 business days, as well as a copy of the confidentiality agreement.

Blake Nelson can be reached at bnelson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BCunninghamN.

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By Stephen J. Adler and Simon Robinson

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani said on Thursday that Pakistan continued to give sanctuary to an insurgent group that helps the Taliban in its war against Kabul and the United States, directly contradicting an earlier statement by Pakistan's prime minister.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan told reporters at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the Haqqani network, which the United States has designated as a terrorist group, had no activities or bases in Pakistan.

"And you believed him?" Ghani, also at Davos, asked on Thursday. "One can also say that the earth does not revolve around the sun."

"This is a denial that is not helpful. We need to engage in a constructive engagement where the special relation between the Taliban and Pakistan ends. It is good for both countries and it is good for the region and the world."

Reuters has contacted Pakistan's Foreign Ministry for comment.

Ghani also said that talks between the United States and the Taliban showed few signs of progress.

Afghanistan has long said it wants a full ceasefire before Kabul will join the talks.

"The outcome the public seeks is an end to violence," he said. "We want to see that the Taliban accepts a political process."

Ghani, who has led Afghanistan for six years, said that there was no chance the country would collapse when the United States withdraws its troops, as President Donald Trump has promised to do.

Violence in Afghanistan has increased in the past three years. But Ghani said his country's military forces are stronger than they were.

"The majority of the world thought we would collapse (following the withdrawal of 100,000 NATO troops in 2014)," he said. "Our military forces will not collapse."

"The capacity to uphold the state has been created."

While Afghanistan has seen four decades of conflict, the president said the country's biggest challenge was the environment.

Story continues

"The elephant in the room is the environment, even more than conflict," Ghani said.

Warning that global warming, access to clean water and other environmental threats could push hundreds of millions around the world back into poverty, Ghani urged a regional approach to tackling climate change and said the environment could unite South Asia much as the community of steel and coal did Europe.

"Everybody is responsible (for dealing with climate change)," he said. "Nobody is innocent."

(Edited by Alexander Smith)
Divided EU leaders to hammer out budget at February summit



Brussels, Jan 25 (AFP) Jan 25, 2020



European Union leaders meet next month in Brussels to try to agree a first post-Brexit longterm budget, with divisions over proposed cuts that could undermine defence and climate change ambitions.

European Council President Charles Michel on Saturday invited the heads of state and government of the bloc's 27 member nations to an exceptional summit on February 20.

Any further delay might jeopardise both current programmes and policies and the launch of new ones, he said.

"I am fully aware that these negotiations are among the most difficult ones we have to face," he added.

"But I am also convinced that with common sense and determination we can strike a deal that will benefit all Europeans."

Member states are divided on the bloc's 2021-2027 long-term budget.

The talks have been complicated by the January 31 departure of Britain, which was the EU's second-biggest economy and a major net contributor.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen expressed concern in December about "severe cuts" in the proposed long-term budget plan from Finland, which holds the bloc's rotating presidency, referring to their call for austerity.

Von de Leyen on December 11 launched the bloc's new "Green Deal", a key element of which will be a law committing member states to building a carbon-neutral economy by 2050.

"Some say the cost of this transition is too high: let us never forget what the cost of non-action would be. It is rising by the year," she told the European Parliament.



- Finnish cuts -



Member states have been negotiating since mid-2018 on the basis of a Commission proposal calling for a multi-year budget of 1.134 trillion euros ($1.4-trillion).

But the Finnish proposal slashes that to 1.087 trillion euros and, crucially, nearly halves the size of a Macron-backed European defence fund.

"I will not support a draft budget that does not live up to our ambition on this point," Macron told reporters after a NATO Summit early December.

"On these new policies of defence, research, artificial intelligence (...), we need an ambitious budget, otherwise we are not coherent," he added.

The Finnish proposal is intended to break the logjam, with net contributors such as Germany, Netherlands and other northern countries insisting on cutbacks.

But outnumbered eastern EU states have rejected the proposed cuts, worried about the special funds that have spurred their development since they joined the bloc.

The EU Cohesion Fund aims to raise the economies in the EU's traditionally poorer southern and eastern countries to the higher western levels.

Farming subsidies, which with development funds account for the biggest share of the budget, are also slated for big cuts.

Michel, who was tasked at a European summit in December with advancing negotiations, urged all sides to "demonstrate a spirit of compromise" to reach an agreement.

Any deal they come up with will have to be ratified by the European Parliament.
Erin Chase bellied up to the dimly lit bar at the Modernist, a swanky midcentury-inspired watering hole on Grayson near the Pearl, on a recent Sunday evening. The 27-year-old was settling in for a long night of drinking.

Chases first round was a doozy, spiked with turmeric, ginger, pepper, cinnamon and coconut. But one ingredient was conspicuously absent: alcohol.

I was not planning on drinking tonight, he said. I look forward to being able to go home and do some work if I want to. As much as I do enjoy alcoholic beverages that are really well done, alcohol is a poison to our bodies and has poisoned our mindset as a country.

Chase fits into a much-publicized subset of millennials who increasingly shun alcohol for health, social or other reasons and who have contributed to a nearly 5 percent drop in the number of alcohol drinkers around the globe since 2000, according to the World Health Organization.

And thats just the beginning. A 2018 analysis from Berenberg Research found that Gen Z, which came of legal drinking age about 5 years ago, is tossing back 20 percent less than the millennials before it.

Closing the tab early is hardly limited to younger generations. Several San Antonio bar owners say customers of all ages  Boomers, Gen X and the rest  are increasingly raising a glass, sans booze, to a rapidly growing sober movement. And those owners are adapting to the change.

Increasingly, even people who have no intention of teetotaling overall are doing so for the month of January, or Dryuary, as its sometimes called.

It started as Dry January about a decade ago, primarily gaining steam in the U.K., where the term is trademarked by Alcohol Change UK, a public health campaign group. Participation grew from 4,000 at the campaigns official launch in 2013 to more than 100,000 registrants last year. Millions participate informally worldwide.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio's restaurant scene squares up after 2019's closings

More than an individual New Years resolution, Dry January aims to normalize sobriety and spur discourse around alcohols role in society, among other goals. A 2019 YouGov.org survey found that more than 1 in 5 Americans intended to participate.

A slowdown after the holiday season is normal for the hospitality industry as people repent their overspending on gifts and travel and look to detox from holiday overindulgence of the liquid kind  big reasons why events such as restaurant week promotions or food and beverage conferences often occur in January in many cities. Dry January has exacerbated the usual slowdown.

The Modernist is well suited to accommodate the change. Every third Sunday, the craft cocktail bar cuts off all alcohol sales and rolls out Spiritfree Sunday, when every drink served is booze-free.

Typically, if I go to a bar and order a nonalcoholic drink, Ill get funny looks. People become suspicious, Chase said. When I heard the Modernist was going to push out a mocktail menu, I knew it was probably going to be pretty innovative. I dont always feel like I want an alcoholic beverage, but I love this place and want to support what they do.

That support is welcome. Chase sprang for a couple drinks  the Modernists nonalcoholic libations are priced at $4 to $9, only $1 or $2 less than their normal cocktails  on a night he otherwise wouldnt have gone out.

David Naylor, a bartender at the Modernist, was instrumental in launching Spiritfree Sunday. He bristles at the term mocktail. The event creates an extra day of business for the bar, which is normally closed Sundays, and it gives Naylor a platform to advance a cause hes passionate about.

On ExpressNews.com: Top 10 San Antonio bars in 2019

Theres nothing mocking about what youre drinking, he said, gesturing to a tropical, tiki-inspired drink finished with an orchid. There shouldnt be any negativity behind it. Spiritfree is the perfect term for what were doing.

The Modernist stocks several bottles of the alcohol-free label Seedlip, which approximates the flavors of familiar spirits without the hangover. Seedlip comes at a premium price right in line with top-shelf liquor, roughly $30 per bottle. Those get mixed with high-quality syrups, a wide range of fresh fruits and other pricey ingredients into sippers any aspirational bar would be proud to serve its regulars.

Nonalcoholic alternatives to spirits have become big business on the retail end as well, with brands such as Kin Euphorics, Curious Elixirs, Cedars, Surendran & Bownes, Whissin and others competing for space on the shelf. And there are more coming.

David Crooch, founder of Ritual Zero Proof, was in town this month for the 2020 San Antonio Cocktail Conference, promoting his whiskey and gin alternatives at a bustling table. His business launched in October, and because the product doesnt contain alcohol, it can be sold legally through Amazon.

We thought we made enough product for six months, Crooch said of the brands launch. We sold out in six weeks.

For the past few years, Americans have increasingly dabbled with teetotalism. IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, a company that monitors consumption and sales trends around the globe, reported a 0.7 percent decrease in the total volume of alcohol consumed here in 2017 from the year before and a 0.8 percent drop in 2018. That ticked back up slightly in 2019 by 0.3 percent.

These numbers may seem small, but the total U.S. alcohol market is valued at more than $250 billion. So even a drop of 0.7 percent has a nearly $2 billion effect.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission tracks per capita consumption of beer, wine and spirits statewide. The total consumed dropped more than 6 percent from 2017 to 2018. Complete numbers for 2019 are not yet available. The total value of alcohol sales in Bexar County also has dipped, slipping from $611.5 million to $581 million from 2017 to the end of 2019, according to the states comptroller office.

Womply, a small-business software company, examined 2019 sales at more than 3,100 bars across the country, including in San Antonio, where booze sales in January were 37 percent less than the average monthly sales the rest of the year. It was the sixth-largest January drop among the cities studied.

On ExpressNews.com: 9 things we learned at the 2020 San Antonio Cocktail Conference

In response to falling sales, bars are trying creative ways to get more customers in the door. Creating space for nondrinkers who will pay the same amount for mocktails as cocktails is one of them.

Olaf Harmel, co-owner of the Modernist, long has been attentive to his patrons intake, and he will instinctively customize drinks with more or less alcohol depending on the circumstances.

The Spiritfree Sunday effort builds on that, and the initial response was significant. His bar is small. A busy night might bring two dozen customers through the door. The first Spiritfree Sunday, held in December, attracted 50 to 75 patrons  it was too busy for a precise head count.

From a business perspective, nonalcoholic drinks are very important, Harmel said. Aside from the trends, its just very rational to have it in your repertoire. We want to give people options.

Several other bars have joined the sobriety party. Still Golden on Broadway near the Pearl has featured at least two nonalcoholic drinks on its regularly changing menu for more than a year. Downtown Houston Street bar Jet-Setter opened in April with two flashy nonalcoholic drinks. Same goes for near East Side bar Pastiche, which opened in September.

On ExpressNews.com: Iced tea twisted with new flavors becomes mocktails, cocktails

Tony Coss, owner of three San Antonio bars  the Green Lantern in Stone Oak, La Roca Cantina on Eighth Street downtown and Boxcar Bar on Austin on the near East Side  has definitely felt the squeeze of the moderation mood.

I feel like it has gotten worse throughout the years, Coss said. Maybe three or four years ago, Januaries were pretty decent. Now its a lot worse.

But instead of trying to lure nondrinkers into his bars, he focuses on special events and promotions to bring drinkers back to the booze. At the Green Lantern, a customer can sip a Koala Cocktail, a $12 drink in which half of the proceeds are earmarked to aid an Australian koala sanctuary. A cute little stuffed koala, clinging desperately to the glasss stem, is included in the price. The promotion was a viral success for Coss, spreading widely across social media platforms.

Being in the industry for the past six years, I know the business cycles, and they kind of shift a lot, Coss said. I dont think theres anything anybody can do about it except come up with creative reasons to go to the bar.

Paul Stephen 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. | pstephen@express-news.net | Twitter: @pjbites | Instagram: @pjstephen
VATICAN CITY (AP)  U.S. Vice President Mike Pence met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday, discussing the anti-abortion march in Washington and telling the pontiff, "You made me a hero" back home by granting him a private audience.

The pope and the vice president had a private hour-long conversation. Pence was beaming after the meeting, which appeared to be particularly cordial.

The hero description apparently referred to Pence's Catholic family upbringing. He later became an evangelical Christian.

Before journalists were ushered out of the library, Pence told Francis: "I want to extend the warmest greeting on behalf of President Donald Trump, who so enjoyed his visit here.''

Trump had a private audience with Francis at the Vatican in 2017, and on Friday in Washington, the U.S. president was attending an anti-abortion rally in Washington. Trump is the first sitting U.S. president to do so in the history of the annual March for Lifes history.

Pence's office said the march in the U.S. capital was among the topics discussed with the pontiff. Catholic church teaching forbids abortion, and Pence himself has been staunchly anti-abortion.

In an interview right after his Vatican visit, Pence told U.S. Catholic media outlet EWTN News that it was a great privilege to meet with Francis.

He said meeting with Francis on a day when literally hundreds of thousands of Americans, including many Catholic Americans, are gathered on our National Mall in Washington D.C. standing up for the right to life was a particular joy for me."

Pence also gushed pride for Trump, hailing him as the most pro-life president in American history.

Trump has embraced the anti-abortion agenda in a nod to evangelical Christians, a politically influential bloc in U.S. politics. But in 1999, Trump had gone on record in an interview describing himself as pro-choice in every respect.

In Friday's interview, Pence also praised Francis for his passion for the sanctity of life.

Story continues

The vice president's office also said Pence and the pope talked about the crisis in Venezuela and displaced religious minorities in the Middle East.

The Vatican didn't say what was discussed.

Francis has repeatedly cited the social and economic hardships in Venezuela, in his native continent of South America. He also has decried that Christian minorities in parts of the Middle East have been forced to flee fighting or persecution, including in Iraq and Syria.

Pence, with his wife and daughter-in-law, were greeted at Romes Ciampino airport by the U.S ambassador to the Holy See, Callista Gingrich, and her husband, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Pence later presented Newt Gingrich, who oversaw the impeachment proceedings against then-President Bill Clinton. to the pope, saying, Speaker Gingrich, of course.

Francis smiled warmly throughout the traditional exchange of gifts at the end of the audience. Pence presented the pope with a large, plain wooden cross made from a tree on the grounds of his official residence in Washington.

Francis gave Pence five bound books of his writings as pope. The pontiff then pointed to a large white envelope, explaining, this is a message of peace. Francis was referring to an annual message to promote peace issued by the Vatican.

After the audience with Francis, Pence headed to separate meetings with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Premier Giuseppe Conte.

Pence told Mattarella that his father-in-law is an Italian-American, and noted that America in decades past welcomed millions of Italians to our shores.

-

Nicole Winfield contributed to this report from Rome.
The troops of Guwahati Frontier of Border Security Force (BSF) apprehended a person and recovered 8,000 Yaba tablets from his possession from the bordering area of village Kaleralga on Friday.

"Acting on a tip-off, the troops of Border Out Post (BOP) Boreralga carried out a special operation and apprehended an Indian in possession of 8,000 Yaba tablets and Rs 35,000. He was trying to smuggle these from India to Bangladesh," according to an official press note.

The accused is identified as Kabel Ali and was handed over to the police for further legal action.

An FIR has been lodged at Kharuabanda Police Station against him under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Yaba tablet is a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
One of the issues facing mothers of young children can often involve daycare  where to keep their children while theyre at work. This is no different for teachers.

Tomball ISD Superintendent Martha Salazar-Zamora noted that a few years ago, TISD had many new mothers who didnt come back to work for the district.

When we went to find out why is it that theyre not coming back, one of the recurring themes was that good childcare was hard to find, Salazar-Zamora said.

That was the impetus behind the creation of the Tomball ISD Early Excellence Academy, a daycare alternative for TISD employees who dont want to have to worry about the cost of childcare.

It started the idea of having an in-district childcare facility, Salazar-Zamora said. I didnt dream that the first year would be so amazingly successful.

RELATED: Tomball ISD Academy of Energy and International Business to open at BJ Services headquarters next year

Megan Parker, the director of the Early Excellence Academy, said the dream for the academy started on scribbled notecards written in by employees for a childcare program.

With innovative thinking, exceptional district leadership and collaborative planning, this scribble became a plan, and the plan has since evolved into the current reality, Parker said.

The facility, located on Tomball High Schools campus, is open to the children and grandchildren of full-time TISD employees for children ages 2 to 5.

TISD originally opened the academy to provide a strong foundation of literacy to best equip students for kindergarten, Parker said, but the vision evolved, morphing the academy from a daycare to an early education center.

RELATED: TISD sets new elementary zoning boundaries

As a center, we partner with families to build a supportive environment where our children discover and build new relationships, new ideas, construct knowledge, cultivate the joy of learning through hands-on learning and real-world application, Parker said. Students enter our center and they know they belong.

The curriculum at the academy covers cognitive skills and communication, as well as social, emotional and motor skills.

Due to the academys substantial growth since it opened in August, Parker said the center expanded to four classrooms, a language lab, a media center, a movement space, an outdoor learning area and they have added an additional teacher, a health professional and two custodians.

Students enrolled in career and technical education programs at TISD can also help at the center through the districts education program, acting as interns helping the children build confidence and competence.

Parker said she and her staff are reminded daily of the impact the program has had on their students.

The students are their everyday heroes as they gain and apply the skills needed for independence, Parker said. We celebrate when your 2-year-olds can independently open their milk cartons or packed utensils In a sense, we celebrate our childrens heroic efforts in acquiring and applying lifes most basic skillsets.

Parker added that EEA has been given a perfect score by the Texas Health and Human Services Childcare licensing division, and they are now a licensed center and can pursue national accreditation in early education.

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New Delhi: IRCTC portal offering tourism package has recently cautioned against fraud booking in its name by a fake website, offering tour confirmation voucher. The IRCTC has filed an FIR in this regard, besides updating an alert scroller on its tourism website's homepage.

The alert scroller said, "IRCTC - IT Centre has received two complaints recently for fraud booking in the name of IRCTC. The fraud website is www.irctctour.com. The tour confirmation voucher of fraud is exactly the same as IRCTC. The mentioned details are mobile no.9999999999, landline no. +91 6371526046 & emailid: irctctours2020@gmail.com are being used for selling tourism products in the name of IRCTC."

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"This office has already filed the FIRs from the counter as well as online. An alert scroller has been updated on the tourism homepage. It is requested to all to create awareness among the near & dear ones through different modes of communication; in order to stop the fraud activities," it added.

On January 21, the RPF busted an e-ticketing racket that has its roots in Dubai, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The racket is suspected to have generated revenue of Rs 10-15 crore per month, according to RPF DG Arun Kumar.

The kingpin of the scam, Hamid Ashraf is a resident of Basti district in Uttar Pradesh. Hamid Ashraf, who was earlier arrested by the CBI, is currently based in Dubai, and is believed to be operating the fake e-ticketing racket from there.

A software developer, Hamid is alleged to be involved in the bombing of a Gonda school in 2019.

The mastermind behind the railway e-ticketing scam is also being hunted by IB, NIA and RAW. He reportedly wrote a message to the DG of Railway Protection Force (RPF) listing out information on 25 things which allegedly expose the IRCTC's security system.

Arun Kumar confirmed Zee Media that he has received such a message and now the validity of the message is being investigated.
A Polish national who beat his uncle to death with his bare knuckles in a brutal drunken brawl over missing cash and a bottle of vodka has been sentenced to four years in jail.

Mr Justice Colton told 38-year-old Marek Marcin Sinko that ironically it was him who arranged for his uncle Eugeniusz to move to Northern Ireland, but it appeared theirs was "a toxic and volatile relationship", described by the family as "living on the edge that was a big problem for our family".

"This," added the Antrim Crown Court judge, "was the context in which the fatal assault took place which has resulted in the untimely, unnecessary and unjustified death of your uncle".

Mr Justice Colton said he had no doubt the death had a significant impact on a remorseful Sinko, however, his "assault was prolonged" and "on no account could this be seen as a fight between equals... nor was it a case where death was caused by a single punch".

"He was no physical match for you and you suffered no injuries during this assault other than to your own knuckles," the judge also told Sinko, adding: "You showed a callous indifference to the fate of your uncle when you left him outside when the assault was over".

Previously accused of murdering his 63-year-old uncle on October 22, 2017, at the isolated Co Antrim home they shared at Townhill Road, Rasharkin, the charge was withdrawn when he pleaded guilty to his manslaughter, by an unlawful act, and not by way of diminished responsibility because of his alcoholism.

Sinko will serve four years in custody, followed by four years on parole.

Last week prosecution QC David McDowell told the Antrim court, sitting in Belfast, that after the fist fight with his uncle, Sinko cleaned up the blood splattered kitchen before making himself some soup and then going to bed, only to find him dead the following morning.

Having alerted police he then phoned a work-mate, telling him: "I think I've killed him".

Police later found the victim's partly clothed body laying on a pathway at the rear of their cottage.

The court heard the victim died from injuries to his brain, but also suffered five fractured ribs, two fractured vertebrae and 14 separate groups of bruising and abrasions.

Mr McDowell said Eugeniusz was subjected to a prolonged and severe assault, and while the injuries to his face were consistent to repeated punching, it could not be proven if they were also caused by kicking, although the rib fractures and bruising to both sides of the chest were consistent with kicking or stamping with a shod foot.

The court also heard that the uncle and nephew had a history of physical violence between them, often occurring after both had been drinking large quantities of alcohol, which often was the case.

During interview Sinko described what had been "a brutal fight" between them, although he initially claimed he'd hit him only once.

He also described knocking his uncle to the ground, before challenging him to get up, only to knock him down again.

Mr McDowell said Sinko claimed he left his uncle outside washing his face by a tap, before cleaning up the blood in the kitchen and having a bowl of soup and then going to bed.

The court heard Sinko had not realised the seriousness of his uncle's injuries until he found him dead outside the next morning.

Defence QC Richard Greene said a remorseful Sinko had always accepted the enormity of what he had done in killing an uncle, something which he bitterly regrets and did not intend to do.

Mr Greene said Sinko had been looking after his uncle, but given their mutual problem with alcohol, both uncle and nephew should never have been allowed to live together, resulting as it did in Eugeniusz's death.

The court heard Eugeniusz's death was described by his son as having the most traumatic affect on the family not only in the loss of a father, but also a cousin.

Mr Greene said what occurred happened because two people, who both had problems with drinking, were living together in a toxic mix which led to violence between the pair.

Mr Green claimed there may have been things said and done by the victim which led to what happened.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the US State Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had advised Americans to avoid unnecessary travel to Wuhan and the Hubei Province where the virus originated.

Health authorities maintain that the risk of infection is low in the US and Europe, where the first three patients were confirmed Friday, yet warn that they expect more cases.

But with cases now reported in 11 other countries and travelers from various cities in China arriving to the US and other nations in masks, anxieties over transit and travel are high.

To ease your mind if you have upcoming travel plans and are concerned over the coronavirus, DailyMail.com spoke to a former chief medical officer for the CDC about the best ways to keep your trip infection-free.

Travelers arriving to the US from China were seen on Friday wearing masks amid the coronavirus outbreak. These can help, but experts say other prevention methods are more important to safe, healthy travel

So much remains to be learned about the new coronavirus, which emerged about a month ago in Wuhan, China.

Since the first cases were reported, it's quickly spread around the globe, infecting nearly 950 people worldwide.

We know now that it spreads to humans not just from animals - namely, those at the open-air Huanan Seafood Market - to humans, but between humans, via saliva droplets in coughs and sneezes.

So far, the virus - going by the temporary moniker 2019-nCoV - appears to be less deadly than its coronavirus cousins, SARS and MERS, but to spread just as fast, if not faster.

But this particular coronavirus is so new that the details of its spread are still shrouded in mystery.

'Theres still a lot to be learned about the current outbreak in China and, now, with travelers from other places [being infected, people] may get sick while traveling,' says former CDC chief medical officer and dean of New York Medical College, Dr Robert Amler says.

'Some guidance will probably change.

'With a very large population in the index city where it seems to be coming from' - Wuhan - 'it's very likely there will be travelers going to very distant places and some spread of the disease.'

As of now, the CDC's guidance for protecting yourself is much the same as its suggestions for any other respiratory illnesses, like the flu.

The CDC's official advice is to avoid travel to Wuhan. Meanwhile, the virus has spread to at least 11 other countries

STAY AS FAR AWAY AS SICK PEOPLE AS YOU CAN

The best way to avoid someone sick with coronavirus - or any other,for that matter - is simply to stay home.

But barring that, 'keep a social distance of at least three feet,' advises Dr Amler.

'Greater is better, but keep a minimum of six feet if someone is coughing or expectorating. Try to avoid that.'

Like flu, coronavirus is transmitted through tiny droplets of spit so, as far as we know, you won't likely get it from just being across the room from someone, but if you're close enough to unintentionally inhale tiny particles, you may be vulnerable.

THE SIMPLEST TOOLS REALLY ARE BEST: WASH YOUR HANDS OFTEN AND WELL

When the WHO said it was 'too early' to call the coronavirus outbreak an international emergency and advised hand-washing for prevention, it was met with outrage on social media.

But experts back up the group's recommendation.

'One of the best ways to avoid infecting yourself is with frequent hand-washing,' says Dr Amler.

'Hands are frequently transporting germs.'

Washing your hands is the best way to prevent viral infections because the soap and water help kill germs and scrubbing mechanically removes them from your hands

How often is often enough?

'As often as you can,' says Dr Amler, adding: 'there's not scientific definition.'

Roughly, how often you need to wash your hands varies depending on the sorts of environments you're in and the company you keep.

'If you're all by your self and there's no one else around, less frequent is probably okay,' says Dr Amler.

'If there's a child in your house or an a sick adult and you're taking care of them, keep washing your hands.'

He adds that hand sanitizer will do in a pinch, especially if it has a relatively high alcohol content, but washing is far superior because the physical scrubbing action helps to remove germs.

MASKS - ESPECIALLY HEAVY-DUTY ONES - HELP, BUT AREN'T GUARANTEED PREVENTION

Photos have shown countless people in China and in airports wearing surgical masks, images that hearken back to the 2003 SARS outbreak.

But the evidence suggests that masks may somewhat reduce the risks of, but certainly not entirely prevent viral transmission.

'A mask is going to be protective if it's worn well,' says Dr Amler.

'But if it's worn for a long period of time, ti tends to slip around a bit.

Thicker masks like the N-95 are better to wear while traveling because they keep out 95% of particles

'It's not going to prevent every droplet from getting into your mouth or nose, but for short periods of time it might be helpful.'

Masks' efficacy also depends on what kind you use. Thicker ones are better.

'Some masks' - like surgical ones - ' allow more air and droplets to go through,' Dr Amler says.

'The N-95 [industrial] one is more effective because it is designed to prevent 95 percent of particles that would go in.'

The downside is that the thick masks, often used for light construction and paint jobs, are uncomfortable and may make it a bit more difficult to breath.

BYOB: USING PILLOWS AND BLANKETS YOU BROUGHT AND WIPING DOWN SURFACES ON THE PLANE MAY CUT RISKS

With airport screening in place in affected countries, the odds of having a seatmate who has coronavirus and is contagious (people are currently thought to mostly be contagious while they have symptoms that screening checks for) are low.

But if you have an underlying illness or are particularly worried, minimizing what you share on a flight may be a good idea.

'I don't think there's any way to really know about pillows and blankets on an airplane,' says Dr Amler.

'They're sitting there in airspace for long periods of time.'

It's not clear how many germs might reside on airplane-supplied pillows and blankets - but it's inevitably safer to bring your own

Though he says they're not likely to be a 'vehicle' for infection, he adds that it's 'impossible to know for sure, unless you bring your own pillow or blanket.'

On the other hand: 'Most studies of common commercial aircraft show that the tray table and the seat-back pocket carry germs from previous passengers,' he says.

'For somebody that's particularly worried or have an immune problem, they might want to stay home or bring some sanitary wipes to wipe those surfaces when they get to their seat.'

WEAR GLOVES WHILE TAKING PUBLIC TRANSIT

As cases of the coronavirus rose sharply in Wuhan, authorities there quickly shut down public transit, a drastic containment strategy.

In the rest of the world, the risk of picking up 2019- nCoV on a bus or train is minimal, but there's no question that public transit is teeming with tons of germs.

'When you're travelling on public conveyances, you're in close quarters, touching surfaces that lots of other people have touched,' Dr Amler says.

It's winter and everyone is wearing gloves any way. Dr Amler says having them on while holding poles and handrails on public transit can cut risks of picking up germs

'Wearing gloves - especially this time of year, when a lot of people carry gloves - when you're holding banisters and so forth is a good idea.'

He notes that following this advice and keeping up with the CDC's recommendations will not only help you minimize your risks of getting coronavirus while traveling, but of picking up a much more common and even more deadly bug: the flu.

THE CDC'S OFFICIAL GUIDANCE FOR TRAVELERS

As of Friday, January 24, the CDC recommends:
Every decision is precedent.

That which gets rewarded gets repeated.

Law students should know these basic rules of the U.S. legal system and any common law system. That which has gone before inevitably is used to argue for or against what comes next.

And that argument or tactic that has successfully persuaded a court in the past is likely to be urged on courts of today as precedent that binds its actions.

Both rules should be uppermost in senators minds as they consider the presentations of the House Democrats and President Donald Trumps legal team. Having reviewed the House managers trial brief and the one submitted by the presidents legal team, I believe anything other than a rapid acquittal will be deeply damaging to the presidency. It will not injure this president at all to have witnesses and weeks and weeks of proceedings. It will damage the presidency.

If the purely partisan and reckless maneuvering of House Democrats receives more than it deserves  rapid disposition with a strong dose of senatorial scorn  future presidents, at least those who face House majorities from the opposite party, can look forward to the impeachification of all political disputes down the road.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, January 24, 2020

Microsoft is backing a proposed Washington state privacy bill that would give consumers new privacy rights, including the ability to opt out of ad targeting.

We believe it is important to enact strong data privacy protections to demonstrate our states leadership on what we believe will be one of the defining issues of our generation, Microsoft Chief Privacy Officer Julie Brill said Friday in a blog post. People will only trust technology if they know their data is private and under their control.

Brill's post comes around two weeks after state lawmakers introduced the Washington Privacy Act (SB 6281), which gives consumers the right to access, delete and correct data about themselves, as well the right to prevent the use of their data for targeted ads or profiling. It also would explicitly prohibit companies from charging different fees to consumers who don't want their data used by companies.

advertisement advertisement

Microsoft also backed a similar bill that was introduced last year. That measure stalled after facing criticism from privacy advocates and some businesses.

State Senator Reuven Carlyle, who is sponsoring the bill, said the new proposal is the result of talks with consumer groups and tech companies.

Brill writes that the current bill has significant improvements over the version introduced in 2019.

For example, she writes, it now requires companies to tell people why their data is being collected and to use it only for that purpose, ensures companies only collect the minimum data needed for that purpose, and prohibits companies from using data in new ways that are different and distinct from the reasons they collected the information in the first place.

Justin Brookman, director of consumer privacy and technology policy at advocacy group Consumer Reports, testified in support of the new bill last week.

But the Association of National Advertisers expressed concern for several reasons, including the possibility that inconsistencies between various state laws will make compliance difficult.
Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh

Vietnams export-import turnover hit a record $517 billion last year, the fourth consecutive year that Vietnam posted an export surplus. What measures has the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) taken to help set the record?

The $517 billion export-import record last year has put Vietnam among the top 30 nations with the best export performance. If we look at the 13 per cent export growth during the whole period, Vietnam is among the top performers with high and stable development. Significantly, not only did two-way trade value set a new high, the quality of growth has also improved remarkably. The trade surplus of $10 billion is also quite significant. The export record also attests to the effective implementation of the 13 ongoing free trade agreements (FTAs) Vietnam has signed with the international community. Vietnamese-made products have made forays into over 200 markets around the world, with the trade value to the markets with which Vietnam has signed FTAs often reaching double-digit growth.

This export-import record is the result of diverse factors, one being the enactment of the prime ministers Decision No.2471/QD-TTg enacted in 2011, approving Vietnams export-import strategy for 2011-2020, with vision towards 2030. The implementation of major solutions  ranging from strengthening production and export capacity to applying diverse measures for market development and restructuring of state-owned enterprises  has enabled us to follow the roadmap and even outperform the goals.

The noteworthy achievements in 2019 are setting expectations high for 2020. How will the MoIT make good on the 2020 export-import plan?

The National Assembly has approved a resolution on implementing the 2020 Socio-economic Development Plan, setting a 7 per cent growth target in the countrys total export value against 2019, and less than 3 per cent in trade deficit. This year is forecast to be fraught with difficulties for export-import activities due to global uncertainties. In this context, to maintain the previous years growth momentum and achieve the targets in industry and trade, a raft of measures will be deployed, focusing on availing ourselves of FTA opportunities to find new export markets.

The MoIT will push up brand building in key export markets and those with potential while accelerating administrative reforms. It will also promote online public services related to such reforms to support businesses effectively. A new highlight for the sector is the fight against product origin fraud. The MoIT will focus on implementing relevant regulations and strengthening state management to combat origin fraud to ensure compliance with the international community for the sustainable development of foreign trade.

After all, it is important to note that it is the business community that conducts export and import activities. Therefore, besides state support, the business community needs to scale up efforts to achieve a breakthrough in development.

Last year, the MoIT was doing a smart job with administrative reforms, significantly easing business. Particularly, it was one of the first to connect with the national public services portal. What are the development milestones in this regard?

Right from the inception, the MoIT has taken drastic measures to implement the prime ministers guidelines on improving the business climate and national competitiveness, as well as increasing support for businesses leveraging administrative reforms and e-government. With an innovative mindset, over the past years, the MoIT has been constantly recommending the government to curtail business conditions and procedures, sending dispatches urging authorised agencies to hold initiatives to simplify administrative procedures and business conditions, from there easing business operations.

Looking back, in March 2019, the MoIT issued Decision No.485/QD-BCT on forming a compiling board, and an editorial group to amend legal documents on investment business conditions in the fields under MoIT management (like automobiles, power, chemicals, food, minerals, gas, spirits, and tobacco). The MoIT also proposed the government to enact a decree to amend and supplement related decrees on investment conditions under our management.

Simultaneously, the MoIT has been pushing up the implementation of the e-government model and applying IT to all management activities to boost management efficiency.

We have strengthened co-operation with the Government Office and relevant agencies to ensure the smooth operation of online public services connected with the National Single Window and the ASEAN Single Window.

The MoIT is one of the first government authorities to be technically connected with the National Public Services Portal. As of now, all 292 administrative procedures under our management are being deployed, at least from Level 2 online public services. We have 44 online public services at Level 4, 122 services at Level 3, 11 services connected to the National Single Window and two service groups connected to the National Public Services Portal.

In fact, curtailed business conditions and simplified administrative procedures have contributed to creating a pro-business environment that benefits all economic sectors in the country. Notably, the sweeping changes in the mindset and working style of staff members in the sector have had spillover effects across the board while encouraging the engagement of other sectors, ministries, and local authorities. The results got praises from the government, other sectors and branches, domestic and foreign organisations, the business community, and local people.

During implementation, further amendments need to be made to fit the realities. The MoIT is always a progress-minded and considerate listener, wishing to gradually perfect the regulatory framework and striving to bring the utmost benefits to people and businesses.

This year, the MoIT continues its reform efforts, focusing on regulatory and administrative reforms as well as the application of IT. Notably, the satisfaction of people and businesses will become the metric to gauge the success of reforms.

A hallmark in Vietnams integration efforts in 2019 is the implementation of the landmark Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the signing of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA). How significant are these agreements to Vietnams economic growth?

The negotiation and implementation of the agreements attest to Vietnams efforts to push up international integration in the current complex and unpredictable geo-political context. New-generation FTAs will help Vietnam integrate more deeply into the global economy with faster tax reductions, helping to diversify trade relations to bring bigger benefits to consumers.

The enforcement of the EVFTA, paired with the implementation of the CPTPP and the signing of several other FTAs in the future such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is expected to bring Vietnam certain advantages, laying a foundation for Vietnams future economic growth.

First, this will help Vietnam diversify economic and trade relations as well as export-import markets, and avoiding over-reliance on particular markets. It will also accelerate exports and contribute to creating more jobs and aid economic restructuring and the renewal of the growth model.

Second, local businesses will have a better chance to boost economic efficiency through upscaling, raising productivity, and lowering production costs to boost competitiveness.

Third, this will help formulate alliances between Vietnamese businesses and their peers in the ASEAN, the EU, and the CPTPP member countries through labour arrangements, the exchange of goods and intermediary services, from there generating more opportunities for Vietnamese businesses.

In the nutshell, successful negotiations and signing FTAs with big trading partners help elevate Vietnams image in the international arena, earning it a new position and status.

What are the tangible benefits associated with Vietnamese-ASEAN economic co-operation, and what policy priorities the two sides will have to promote economic development in 2020 when Vietnam holds ASEAN chairmanship?

During the 24-year journey of engaging the ASEAN and the ASEAN Free Trade Area, Vietnam has gained valuable experience, particularly in implementing its integration commitments. In 1996, the two-way trade value only stood at $5.9 billion, but it jumped more than nine-fold to $56.3 billion in 2018. Although we incurred some trade surplus towards the ASEAN, it is acceptable due to the current development gap among ASEAN member states. Compared to the initial stage when Vietnam was only beginning its international integration journey, there are huge improvements.

The role of ASEAN chair in 2020 requires us to stage a clear and consistent viewpoint in both external relations and other factors related to Vietnams development targets and strategies, not only in the next five years but also the forthcoming decade and more. Hence, the theme of ASEAN 2020 Cohesive and Responsive recommended by Vietnam drew praises from other members, particularly the ASEAN Secretariat, as it truly reflects the actual demand of Vietnam and other ASEAN members in todays fast-changing regional and global situation.
Looking to make a comeback from the blue wave of 2018where multiple offices in Harris County, and Texas overall, were flipped from Republican to DemocratGOP candidates for Texas First District Court of Appeals Place 5 Justice pleaded their case to be the partys candidate during a Harris County Pachyderm Club meeting Jan. 21.

The four Republican candidates, Terry Adams, Levi Benton, Chad Bridges and James Lombardino, answered questions from the HCPC president SJ Swanson about their campaign plans, reasons for running and opinions on other candidates during the lunch meeting at Tonys in downtown Houston.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Democratic congressional candidates take on Trump, Rep. Dan Crenshaw

Past experience

Benton, past judge appointed to the Texas 215th District Court from 1999 to 2008 and current lawyer with his own practice, said he has experience serving as an arbitrator as well as handling litigation.

Well over 100 reported cases appealed to my orders and judgments, Benton said. If you were to examine that record you will find that I have been faithful to the law, faithful to precedent. Not a single decision out there that will disappoint you or embarrass you or me and my family for that matter.

Bridges, a former Texas 240th District Court Judge voted out in 2018, said that with his 22 years of prosecutor experience along with criminal law and appellate work experience, he would help reduce the current case load of the First Courta promise that each candidate made during the lunch.

I started off handling matters of death penalty litigation, Bridges said. When the governor had appointed me, he appointed me to a bench in the general jurisdiction. I handled the civil and criminal cases.

Adams said he has a diverse experience after more than 30 years practicing law and handling appeals in the U.S Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Supreme Court.

Lombardino said his past handling civil, family and criminal cases after serving as judge of the 308th District Court of Harris County for eight years increases his ability to reduce the current caseload.

They need an accelerated appeal in the Court of Appeals, Lombardino said. I will be a good candidate and a good justice because Im familiar with all of these areas of the law. I also think that since 2009 there hasnt been a family law judge on the Court of Appeals.

Reaching voters

When asked by Swanson how they plan to run their campaigns for the primary and beyond, candidates said they would focus on not only their base in Harris County, but rural counties as well.

I think its important to ask for all groups to look at who has a path to victory, Benton said. We have to have a candidate that will attract independent voters. I think I best bring that characteristic.

Bridges said he is working with the Indo-American PAC as well as reaching out to local conservatives. Meanwhile Adams and Benton said they would target unregistered and independent voters, respectively.

What I do to help the party in general, and part of our campaigning, is to work on people who are not registered to vote, Adams said. We are contacting those who are at a fork in the trail and didnt ever register to vote. We have been very successful in terms of our upward response rate in people that actually register.

Democrat candidates

Democrat candidates Amparo Guerra and Timothy Hootman are also running for Place 5.

Amparo served as the associate municipal judge for the City of Houston from 2005 to 2010, advocated for healthcare at the U.S. and Mexico border and clerked for U.S. District Judge Filemon Vela.

Hootman has handled appeals to each appellate court in Texas, argued in the Supreme Court and has legal experience dating back to 1992.

The primary election is March 3. The deadline to register to vote is Feb. 3.

chevall.pryce@chron.com

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Seven Over Ground Workers (OGWs) associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen have been arrested in a joint operation by security forces from different areas in Bandipora district, Jammu and Kashmir Police said on Saturday.

The joint operation was carried out by Bandipora Police, Indian Army and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

According to Bandipora police, arms and ammunition were recovered from the accused who were involved in harbouring and providing logistics support to terrorists.

Two FIRs were registered by the police under relevant sections of law. Further details are awaited.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
America's biggest retailers are pushing back against this country's largest meat processors. The future of the nation's food chain is on the line.

Walmart last week opened a meatpacking plant in south Georgia that will cut, package and label its own brand of steaks and roasts to deliver to meat cases at 500 stores in the region. It is Walmart's first meatpacking plant. Costco has also developed its own farm-to-store poultry production operation in Nebraska to control some of its chicken production.

Although Walmart's plant is a step toward a farm-to-shelf meat production, Walmart doesn't actually operate the facility, nor does it own any cows or butcher the meat. An outside processor will operate the plant in Thomasville, Georgia, 20 miles from the Florida border and a little bigger than the size of a Walmart supercenter.

The plant's opening is the latest move in top US retailers' attempts to muscle into the food supply chain, an area traditionally dominated by food processors. Four companies control around 85% of the US cattle market, according to the Department of Agriculture. Walmart buys its beef from Tyson and Cargill, and it's Tyson's largest customer.

"I think the broader implications are more big retailers exploring expanding into processing themselves versus buying the product from a current packer or processor," said David Anderson, agricultural economist at Texas A&M University.

Pushing into beef and milk

Walmart is trying to break big processors' stranglehold over the beef industry, drive down costs and sell a higher-end line of beef at some stores.

Bob McClaren, a Texas rancher who is helping lead Walmart's effort to source its cattle, said in an interview that the new supply chain will be able to "pull some of those costs out of all these other middlemen along the way," allowing the more than 600 ranchers Walmart has partnered with so far to receive a premium on their cattle.

"One of the things that has always hindered the cattle industry is the multiple, multiple hands that are involved in the supply chain," McClaren said. "We're reducing some of that work."

Walmart is also trying to gain an upper hand on its current suppliers. Working directly with ranchers to produce some of its beef supply may put Walmart in a stronger position when it negotiates contracts with processors in this consolidated market.

"There are two key players out there that we do business with," former Walmart US CEO Greg Foran said in June. "I think we all know the market dynamics of what happens when you generally operate in a duopoly. It's not all that good for the customer."

Additionally, Walmart leaders say moving into the beef chain will help it attract customers with its own brand of premium steaks.

"Meat is center of the plate" and "drives the customer to the store," Scott Neal, Walmart's senior vice president of meat, said in a CNN Business interview last year. Walmart has not announced a name for the brand yet.

Walmart also entered the milk supply chain recently. The company built a milk processing plant in Indiana to supply milk to 500 stores.

"What drives a decision like that is if we start to see a consolidation in supply," former Walmart leader Foran said in June of Walmart's move into diary.

Walmart's milk suppliers' prices had gone up, leading the company to explore other options. Walmart does not want to supply all of its more than 4,700 US stores with its own milk brand. But "it gives us some leverage" when negotiating contracts with its distributors, he added.

Costco's rotisserie chickens

Other retailers are seizing control of segments of their food supply chains to drive down costs and produce their own food as well.

Costco in October opened a $450 million chicken plant in Nebraska that will soon produce roughly 100 million rotisserie chickens a year 40% of its annual chicken needs- to sell at the retailer's food courts and poultry aisles.

Costco was having trouble finding the size of birds it needs for its rotisserie chickens. So the retailer decided to integrate the production process from farm to store, making key decisions down to the grain the chickens eat and the type of eggs hatched. Costco hopes that bringing poultry production in house will reduce its costs by 10 to 35 cents per bird.

Will Sawyer, animal protein economist at agricultural lender CoBank, said that the Walmart plant will only represent a small fraction of the company's overall beef business. He views Walmart's entrance into the beef industry as a small-scale test to asses whether it can grow profit by pushing deeper into the supply chain.

"Their ownership level is very different than Costco's," Sawyer said. "It's not like Costco where Costco is owning these chickens from egg to grocery stores."

But despite key differences between Walmart's beef and Costco's chicken operations, agricultural experts predict the trend of retailers playing a larger role in supplying food for their own stores to expand.

Farmers under pressure

Local and state officials are pleased about the Walmart plant because it will deliver hundreds of jobs and investment in the area. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp was on hand for a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week.

"The Thomasville community is very excited," Mayor Greg Hobbs said in an interview.

However, Walmart and other retailers gaining more power in the food industry troubles some farmers and ranchers' advocates.

Walmart's decision to enter the dairy market pressured Dean Foods and was one of a range of factors that led the company into bankruptcy. Dean missed out on the sale of 55 million gallons of milk in the latter half of 2018 because of the lost Walmart business, it said.

A spokesperson for Walmart said its new cattle program is a "win-win situation" for farmers and will create steady demand for its supply chain partners.

But opponents believe Walmart's new chain denies most ranchers the opportunity to participate and "does nothing to relieve the pressure on America's family farmer," said Joe Maxwell, the former Missouri lieutenant governor and policy director for the Organization for Competitive Markets, an advocacy group for farmers and ranchers that opposes corporate consolidation and is critical of Walmart.

"It only keeps them locked in to a supply chain run by the world's largest company," he said. "The farmer is still just trapped."

Jess Peterson, senior policy adviser at the US Cattleman's Association, a lobbying group for ranchers, said his group is in a "wait-and-see process" with the Walmart supply chain.

He fears a "singular, vertically-integrated system" that limits access for independent ranchers and reduces competition.

"It does give us pause for concern that we might be moving toward vertical integration," he said. "Walmart is assuring us that it's not."
President Erdogan says all measures taken for the quake

Turkish Disaster Presidency earlier announced that at least 20 were killed and many others were wounded.

The Turkish president early Saturday said all relevant departments have taken measures to ensure the safety of citizens following a 6.8-magnitude that struck the country's eastern provinces.

MINISTERS WERE SENT TO THE AREA

"Our relevant institutions have taken all essential measures," President Erdogan said, adding interior, health and environment ministers were sent to the quake-hit area.

Erdogan said the country's Red Crescent (Kizilay), the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) and all other institutions were ready to assist citizens adversely affected by the natural disaster.

The quake was also felt in many other provinces including Adana, Osmaniye, Tunceli and Hatay. In addition, northern Syrian regions including Idlib, Azaz, Al-Bab, Jarabulus, Afrin and Tal Abyad also felt tremors.
From Galicia in the north to Andalucia in the south - Spain's old coal plants are running out of steam.

The Iberian nation last year cut use of the dirtiest fossil fuel faster than anyone else in western Europe as renewable energy and cleaner natural gas take over. The combustible rock, which has kept the region humming through world wars and economic boom times, is increasingly out of favor with lawmakers and executives under pressure to do more to stop global warming.

"We are in a hurry, we have to move fast, everybody has to move fast,'' Iberdrola Chief Executive Officer Ignacio Galan said on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The Spanish utility plans to permanently shut its two remaining coal-fired power stations this year, replacing them with new wind and solar capacity.

Coal's share in the nation's electricity fell to a four-decade low of less than 5% from 14% a year earlier, according to the nation's grid operator Red Electrica. The sharp drop is yet another sign how the unprecedented surge in renewable power output coupled with the lowest seasonal gas prices in a decade have upended traditional energy economics.

Spain was anticipating exiting the fuel by the end of the decade, while the U.K. will shut all its plants by 2025. Germany last week struck a deal with its biggest power producers.

"The fall in coal generation means Spain could phase out the fuel much faster than the government ever imagined," said Dave Jones, an analyst at non-profit group Sandbag in London.

The nation burned as much as 70% less coal in 2019 than a year earlier, while the level in Germany fell 28%, according to data from S&P Global Platts.

The Spanish government made a start by shutting all coal-mining operations last year after striking a deal with unions to invest 250 million euros ($277.7 million) in impacted regions to enable a smoother transition to a green economy. That allowed a tax on burning natural gas at power plants to be abolished. It had been introduced to prop up the ailing mining industry.

Output is poised to fall further this year as both Iberdrola and Naturgy Energy Group plan to retire their plants this year. Energias de Portugal and Viesgo Holdco will shut their units by the middle of the decade. That would leave Endesa, the biggest producer of power from coal, as the only remaining operator after 2025. The company said that from 2022, its last operating plant will run for less than 10% of its theoretical maximum hours in any given year.

If the utilities stick to earlier statements, then Spain could be entirely without coal as early as 2027.

The prevailing market and political forces working against coal mean that Spanish plants faced a projected loss of 992 million euros in 2019, according to a report from Carbon Tracker, a think tank focusing on the energy transition.

The nation's lead in exiting coal is helped by having some of the best renewable resources in Europe, which, coupled with subsidies, has stimulated more power capacity than needed to keep the lights on.

"Spain is the most oversupplied electricity market in Europe," said Jones. "So it has the capacity to shut coal power plants and not wait for new capacity to come online."

Preliminary analysis from the group showed that the fuel's share of Europe's electricity mix fell by 23% in 2019 from a year earlier and is set to decline further in 2020.

Spain's new coalition government plans to pass a climate law, proposed more than a year ago, saying that all electricity needs to come from renewables by 2050. It also includes plan to reach 74% by 2030. Spain generated 38% of its electricity from green sources last year.

For Jahn Olsen, a London-based analyst at BloombergNEF, coal is unlikely to ever bounce back after the jump in carbon emission costs in Europe over the past couple of years.

"The rationale to keep running coal power plants in Spain just isn't there," he said. "These plants are losing money right now, and they will continue to lose money in the coming years."

- - -

Bloomberg's Demetrios Pogkas contributed to this report.
DUBLIN -- An Irish court on Friday approved the extradition of one of the two Northern Irish men charged with manslaughter over the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people found in the back of a truck near London last year.

British authorities are seeking Eamonn Harrison, 23, on charges of human trafficking and immigration offences, as well as the 39 offences of manslaughter in a case that has shone a light on the illicit human smuggling trade.

Judge Donald Binchy deferred ordering Harrisons handover to Britain until Feb. 4. Binchy said the lengthy judgment would not be available until early next week and granted a request from Harrisons lawyer for more time to consider it.

The discovery of the bodies in the back of a refrigerated truck after being smuggled into Britain highlighted how poor citizens of Asia, Africa and the Middle East pay large sums of cash to middlemen for perilous, illicit journeys to the West.

The UK authorities, citing mobile phone analysis, cell tower data, and CCTV footage, allege that Harrison delivered the trailer in which the people were found to a Belgian port before its onward journey to Britain, a lawyer for the Irish state said last month.

Harrison had challenged the extradition order. His lawyer argued that a lack of information in the warrant about the place of death and how Harrison was involved made it fundamentally defective.

Police in Vietnam arrested 10 people last year in connection with the deaths. The British driver of the truck has admitted plotting to assist unlawful immigration and acquiring criminal property.

Another man from Northern Ireland has been charged with conspiring to arrange the travel of people with a view to their exploitation, and conspiracy to break immigration laws. Two other men from the British-run region are also wanted on suspicion of manslaughter and human trafficking.
Police in Greece said Saturday they had seized weapons and more than a tonne of cocaine and arrested eight foreign nationals in a series of raids on a drug-smuggling network.

The suspects being held had been bringing drugs into Europe and north Africa from the Caribbean by yacht, police said in a statement. They were thought to have made more than 50 million euros.

Officers found 1,040 kilos of cocaine contained in one-kilo pouches packed into travel bags in a Friday raid on the western port of Astakos. They arrested the two people living there, aged 23 and 35.

Police in Athens meanwhile raided three apartments there, arresting six more people, all foreign nationals.

They found another 394 grammes of cocaine in one apartment, as well as a Kalashnikov rifle, two pistols and ammunition.

The police raids came after a six-month investigation which involved the cooperation of the US embassy in Athens and police in Albania and Spain.

The leaders of the drug network were based in a European country, and suspected members of the organisation had been identified in the Balkans and in Spain, said police.

Police in Greece and in other countries were still searching for nine other suspected members of the network, the statement added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Author Amitav Ghosh, who more often than not uses climate change as backdrop for his novels, on Saturday stressed the need to generate environmental awareness, while ruing the fact that the country's political system was yet to acknowledge the seriousness of the issue.

Speaking at a session on climate change at Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet, the writer contended that Bengal delta, home to millions of people, is particularly vulnerable to climate change.

"People in neighbouring Bangladesh have taken several measures to mitigate or address the crisis. However, here, on our side of the border, there is very little awareness about climate change," he said.

Maintaining that our political system was not yet prepared to accept the reality of climate change, the Jnanpith awardee said, "In 2016....there was an epic drought in central India, in Bundelkhand... thousands of farmers were hit.

"Parliament, however, held just one discussion on the matter and only 10 per cent of the MPs were present. We have to accept the reality, but our political system seems unprepared for this."

Calling for urgent action to combat the effects of global warming, Ghosh, who has several fiction and non- fictions to his credit, including the Ibis trilogy, said people in the 17th century were probably more aware about climate change as they had various systems in place to deal with the effects of calamities.

"Bengal delta happens to be one of the most vulnerable areas in the whole world in terms of facing the brunt of climate change. (If action is not taken), it will trigger large-scale migration," he warned.

About the role of scientists in creating awareness about the looming threats, the author said, "They are just messengers. They can only tell us what is happening."
Every time theres a shooting in a school, many principals and district leaders feel the responsibilityand pressureto take action to ensure that gun violence doesnt happen in their schools.

But its not always easy to find proven, research-based safety practices that work. It can be difficult to tap into experts who can help them make sense of state mandates and make good decisions about purchasing products that claim to keep schools safe. And its not a given that they can connect with principals and district leaders who have developed successful local practices.

Its not there isnt research-backed and tested practices that are known to prevent and reduce violence. Too often, though, they are often inaccessible to principalsnot in one place and in multi-page documents that busy school and district leaders dont have time to read and absorb, much less take the steps to put the proven strategies into place. And many of those strategies dont take into account the resourcesin money and staffto make those things work.

The issue that we face is not necessarily a shortage of answers or ideas, its the lack of dissemination of evidence-based practices, said Danny Carlson, the director of policy and advocacy at the National Association of Elementary School Principals. There is work to be done to ensure that district leaders and folks on the ground are making decisions about these programs that are actually evidence based.

Frustrated by that gap, the National Association of School Resource Officers is leading a new effort to create the first-ever national set of best practices for preventing school violence. The goal is to create an accessible and easy-to-use guide and curriculum for districts, and training for district and school leaders to put those practices into place locally. The organization recently got a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Justice Department to develop the violence-prevention protocol for K-12 schools.

The Alabama-based NASRO is partnering with the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado, Boulder; the National Police Foundation; Safe and Sound Schools; and the I Love U Guys Foundation. It is forming an advisory group that will include teachers, principals, and school mental health professionals.

If we can create more consistency in how schools and districts prepare for and try to prevent violence from occurring, I think thats a pretty big accomplishment, said Mo Canady, NASROs executive director.

Looking Beyond Building Security

Its early in the process of whats likely to be a two-year project, but Canady said the core group will take a comprehensive approach to school safetybeyond hardening buildings. It will include creating positive school climate, bystander response and threat reporting, information sharing, and threat assessments. It will provide best-practices for conducting lockdown drills in ways that do not traumatize students and adults, Canady said.

Were also looking at not just physical structure security, which is incredibly important, Canady said. Not just proper law enforcement presence, which is incredibly important, but that whole culture of school safety. That goes so deep, and, quite frankly, its everybodys business. We believe that having this structure of a protocol under this larger umbrella will appeal to folks to take a hard look at what they are doing and implement additional strategies.

Carlson, from the NAESP, was circumspect about the NASRO-led protocol because so few details are known.

But he said NAESP is also working with a group of researchers and universities to produce user-friendly guides pulled from research-based practices for principals and other school leaders to use on a daily basis to create safe school environments. Those guides will address mental health resources, school safety assessments, coordination with first responders, drills, building and classroom security, the use of school resource officers, and overall school climate, he said.

We know what works from a policy standpointthe research is clear on the effective strategies, including a heavy focus on prevention, which is done through sufficient in-school mental health services, appropriate staffing ratios, and then strategic programs done at the schoolwide level to head off and pre-empt some of these things, Carlson said. We know those things work. But that alone is insufficient to be able to make inroads on this challenge. What you need is the kind of political will as well as the appropriate resources and funding from the federal, state and local levels, so that principals and other school leaders can take these ideas and actually put them into action.

Bob Farrace, a spokesman for the National Association of Secondary School Principals, said he was heartened to see that the proposed protocol will emphasize the importance of building culture.

I anticipate it will reinforce the importance of relationships, making sure that each student is known and feels valued in the school, creating the kind of student ownership of the school that empowers each kid to say something if they see something, he said.

He also struck a note of caution about what the final product might focus on.

We are hoping that it wont overemphasize issues of physical plant safety, Farrace said. There certainly is a place for devices, for metal detectors, for cameras, technology for secure entryall of that is important. But safety is really a people-intensive process.

Related Reading: What Principals Can Do to Keep Schools Safe

The protocol will address some of the challenges Carlson highlighted. There will also be training for teams of educators and law enforcement representatives from local districts on how to implement these strategies in ways that make sense for their communities, said Beverly Kingston, the director and senior research associate at the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence. In larger districts, the district safety teams that will receive the training will include other key people, like the school psychologist, she said.

Kingston said many of the safety reviews conducted after violent incidents make similar recommendations.

We see similar recommendations in these reports over and over again, but theres not always clear next steps of what schools should do with these recommendations, Kingston said. We are really trying to make this as practical as we can. Were not going to have the answers to everything in this [protocol], but some of the things that have been the recommendations over and over again, were going to try to define what those are, and then [provide] really practical recommendations that schools can [take] and individualize them to their schools.

A Focus on Preventing Violence

A myriad of reasonsfrom 50 different states with their own laws and policies, to local control that gives districts, and in some cases, principals, autonomy to pick and choose what theyll implement, to a lack of resourceshelp explain why there hasnt been a one-stop shop of best practices for districts and why there isnt a national standardized protocol on school violence prevention, Kingston said.

From our centers perspective in studying this for so many years, we really do know what it takes to prevent violence, and our goals are to prevent the violence from occurring in the first place, Kingston said. So, preventing someone from having the motivation to want to carry out a violent act, really addressing it much more upstream.

The core group will comb through research for effective strategies. Theyll be looking at state, local, and districts policies as well as scientifically-backed approaches. The Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, for example, has a list of programs with evidence behind them, including LifeSkills Training program, a violence and substance abuse prevention program aimed at middle school students. Colorados Safe2Tell program, a tip line which grew out of recommendations from the Columbine High School shooting, allows students and others to anonymously report concerns about safety is a prevention program that works, she said.

...Kids are often the ones who see things first..., and if you have a positive school climate and a system to report safety concerns, then kids will report those concerns, Kingston said.

But its not just reporting, its also training the adults on what to do with that information and ensuring that the information is shared with those who need to know.

The key is to combine the science with local wisdom, along with making sure that theres a team on the ground to ensure that the practices stick, Kingston said.

NASRO expects the toolkit to be completed by this fall, which will be followed by a pilot program in some districts early next year. Feedback from those pilot districts will be used to fine-tune the protocol before its released publicly to all districts. That pilot will also help NASRO and its partners determine what kind of technical assistance districts may need to implement the practices. The group is also planning to hold regional training programs to cut down on the cost for districts.

The Justice Department grant will likely only cover the development of the protocol. Canady said they will seek additional funding to train the district representatives.

Its very, very important that this is feasible and that it makes sense to the people on the ground who will be implementing this, Kingston said.

Kingston estimated that violence could be reduced by 20 to 30 percent if practices that are known to work are implemented.

We do know so much about what works, and so if we can get these things standardized and put into place, we can really be doing a better job, Kingston said. And its time that we do that job.

Photo: A community safety officer keeps watch over students at Ashland Elementary School in Manassas, Va., in 2018. -- Education Week/file

Related stories:
Particularly in the case of accelerated drug approvals and drugs for rare diseases (orphan drugs), the evidence available at the time of market access is often insufficient for the early benefit assessment of drugs. Often, the studies are too short or no data on patient-relevant outcomes were collected. Comparisons with the German standard of care are also often lacking. In order to close such evidence gaps, in future, routine practice data are also to be included in early benefit assessments of drugs.

But how must the data be collected and processed so that they can be used by the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) for benefit assessments in Germany? In order to answer this question, the G-BA commissioned the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) to develop scientific concepts for the generation of routine practice data and their analysis for benefit assessments of drugs - especially with regard to the option of quantifying the added benefit of a new drug. According to the "Gesetz fur mehr Sicherheit in der Arzneimittelversorgung" (GSAV, Law for More Safety in the Supply of Medicines), the G-BA may in future commission the collection of routine practice data on selected drugs to support the quantification of added benefit.

Summarizing the most important result of the IQWiG analysis, Jurgen Windeler, IQWiG's Director, notes: "Extensive analyses of the methodological literature and intensive discussions with registry operators and external statisticians have led us to the conclusion that, in the case of high-quality patient registries, it is possible to base studies on these registries and use the routine practice data collected for extended benefit assessments of drugs."

Such registry studies can be conducted either with or without randomization, but the high quality of the data is the decisive factor in both cases.

In order to support the individual registries in particular and the registry landscape in Germany in general in the collection of routine practice data, on the basis of current national and international recommendations, IQWiG compiled criteria for data quality and for ensuring data quality for routine practice data collections for benefit assessments of drugs, condensed them to the essentials, and organized them in a clear and concise manner. In addition, the rapid report provides registry operators, sponsors of registry studies as well as health policy decision-makers with specific recommendations for action on how the collection of routine practice data in registries can be made usable for benefit assessments of drugs.

Focus on collection of routine practice data in registries

Routine practice data are data collected within the context of usual health care in patient populations that can receive the drug under assessment in the approved therapeutic indication. The data can be collected in studies with or without randomization.

In their rapid report, the IQWiG authors describe that the use of routine practice data for benefit assessments of drugs mandatorily requires a comparison between the new drug and the comparator therapy specified by the G-BA, which makes it necessary to conduct comparative studies. In general, four data collection tools are available for comparative studies: study-specific data collection as well as data collection from registries, electronic patient records, and claims data of health insurance funds.

The IQWiG authors are convinced that the collection and processing of routine practice data from electronic patient records and claims data from health insurance funds is currently not possible with regard to benefit assessments of drugs and will not be possible in the near future. This is mainly because the data quality in these sources is insufficient and important data are not collected. These problems cannot be solved in the short or medium term. In contrast, the assessment of disease-related patient registries yielded positive results.

Data quality of registries has improved

As the IQWiG authors note, of the data collection tools not primarily geared towards comparative studies, registries are most likely to offer the option of adapting the data collection requirements for these studies. This concerns both the specification of the necessary data and the data quality.

The authors also note that the question as to whether existing patient registries are currently suitable for the collection of routine practice data according to 35a Social Code Book (SGB V) cannot be answered in a general way. This depends on the respective registry and, above all, on the specific research questions posed. In the discussions with selected registry operators, however, it also became apparent that from a technical and organizational point of view, the registries are generally prepared to implement any necessary extensions of the data set.

Thomas Kaiser, Head of IQWiG's Drug Assessment Department explains:

In recent years, the objectives and scope of documentation of registries have been extended. In particular, the increasing documentation of clinical information in registries that can be used to describe patient populations, interventions and outcomes for benefit assessments is an important step forward. For certain research questions, data on patient-reported outcomes should also be included in registries. This is already the case in some registries."

Benefit assessments always require fair comparisons

As emphasized by the IQWiG authors, if routine practice data are to be used in benefit assessments, it must be taken into account that the basis of any conclusion on the effects of interventions is a comparison. This is because only on the basis of a comparison is it possible to distinguish between "after intervention A" and "due to intervention A"; this distinction is necessary for a causal conclusion. A comparison is only meaningful if the starting conditions are fair (similarity of the groups in terms of prognostic factors). Ideally, this is achieved through randomization, i.e. the random allocation of study participants to the two study arms.

When studies are conducted without randomization, the adjustment of interfering factors (confounders) is an essential part of the assessment. For this purpose, the relevant confounders - such as the severity of a concomitant disease or a genetic mutation - must be determined and documented in the data collection. The completeness and accuracy of the data on confounders is just as important as that of the other data. Depending on the research question and the data already available, it may therefore be less resource-intensive to conduct a study with randomization.

As the IQWiG authors note, in order to be able to use routine practice comparative studies for benefit assessments, it should already be ensured in the study planning phase that the study process and the data collected are of the necessary quality to produce interpretable results.

They therefore compiled a clear list of criteria to ensure that only data of sufficient quality are used. This list is divided into four categories: mandatory criteria for ensuring data quality; general criteria that are always relevant for registry studies used in benefit assessments of drugs; general criteria that, depending on the research question, are relevant for registry studies used in benefit assessments of drugs; and criteria whose degree of fulfilment is to be assessed in relation to the research question.

Thomas Kaiser notes:

In the context of the suitability testing of a specific registry, this list should be used to evaluate for the respective research question whether all necessary data have been collected or whether possible deficits can be corrected with reasonable effort in a registry-based study."

Without randomization, no more than a hint of an effect is conceivable

The smaller the expected differences in treatment effects in a comparison, the more important is a fair comparison in terms of the similarity of the groups in terms of prognostic factors described above. From this, the IQWiG authors conclude that from comparative studies without randomization, a conclusion drawn from the observed effects with regard to the benefit or harm of an intervention is only meaningful if a certain effect size is exceeded. Otherwise, it cannot be excluded that the observed effect was not caused by the intervention, but by confounders. Since without randomization it cannot be excluded, even in a good study, that unknown confounders may influence the results, it is therefore generally not possible to derive more than a hint of an effect from comparative studies without randomization.

According to IQWiG's analysis, whether it is possible to consider retrospective study designs depends on whether the available data sources contain the necessary data in the required quality. Thus, comparisons of patient populations receiving a new drug with patient populations comprising historical controls only appear realistic if the same data source is used for both (e.g. a disease-specific clinical registry).

Registry-based randomized trials as an option

In general, comparative studies with randomization always have a higher informative value than those without randomization. They remain the gold standard because quantification of the added benefit is more reliable. The IQWiG authors emphasize that, particularly after drug approval, routine practice comparative trials with randomization can - depending on the existing research question - also be conducted with a limited collection of data in "large simple trials". Conducting studies in registries has an additional potential to accelerate the studies and make them less complex and resource-intensive (registry-based comparative studies with randomization).

Jurgen Windeler, IQWiG's Director, concludes: "The generation of routine practice data and their analysis is potentially feasible in the near future - but for the time being, in addition to study-specific data collection, only via data collection from registries. We have documented which data must be available in the registries and in what quality. The registry operators were very open-minded in their discussions with us, so I expect that the first data from high-quality registries will soon be available for use in benefit assessments of drugs." In this context, Windeler also calls on politicians to act: "The conditions for high quality registries could be better. This concerns both funding and the fact that there are different requirements for data protection in different German federal states."

Process of report production

On 2 May 2019, the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) commissioned IQWiG to develop scientific concepts for the generation of routine practice data and their analysis for the benefit assessment of drugs. According to the commission, the report was to be prepared in an accelerated procedure as a so-called rapid report. Interim products were therefore not published or made available for a hearing. This rapid report was sent to the contracting agency, the G-BA, on 10 January 2020.
The opening date for the University of Manitobas resource centre for survivors of sexual violence cant come soon enough, advocates say, after years of calls for administration to create a one-stop, survivor-focused office.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/1/2020 (718 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The opening date for the University of Manitobas resource centre for survivors of sexual violence cant come soon enough, advocates say, after years of calls for administration to create a one-stop, survivor-focused office.

On Monday, the Sexual Violence Resource Centre will open its doors to students, faculty and staff on the fifth floor of the University Centre. Community members will be able to seek general information, referrals and counselling through the office.

Vatineh Magaji, president of the Justice For Women U of M student group. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press files)

"The fact that theres going to be a set of people that can receive these complaints and things directly is definitely very exciting," said Vatineh Magaji, president of the Justice For Women U of M student group.

"It is something that was a massive gap in the way that we address student survivors and support them, throughout any decision they chose to make."

The 22-year-old said shes glad her group will soon be able to refer people to one particular location to seek resources, rather than to a number of support services scattered on and off campus.

It is something that was a massive gap in the way that we address student survivors and support them, throughout any decision they chose to make.  Vatineh Magaji, president of the Justice For Women U of M student group

Run under student affairs, the centre will be staffed by two U of M employees, as well as two counsellors from Klinic Community Health. The goal, according to centre co-ordinator Bre Woligroski, is to provide a safe space for community members to ask questions about sexual violence at the Fort Garry campus.

"We really want to provide an option for response thats survivor-centred, that really is trauma-informed and respects the complex needs of the person whos seeking services," Woligroski said.

Bre Woligroski (Winnipeg Free Press files)

The offices creation fulfills one of 43 recommendations made to the Winnipeg school in an August 2019 report on sexual violence, harassment and discrimination practices and policies at U of M.

Among the recommendations, banning sexual relationships between teaching staff and students they supervise, requiring investigators to have trauma-based training, and promoting restorative justice in working with survivors.

The final report came one year after U of M president and vice-chancellor David Barnard publicly apologized to students who had experienced sexual assault and sexual harassment on campus. During Barnards speech, he acknowledged ongoing investigations into allegations against faculty members.

We really want to provide an option for response thats survivor-centred, that really is trauma-informed and respects the complex needs of the person whos seeking services.  Bre Woligroski, U of Ms resource centre for survivors of sexual violence co-ordinator

The harassment complaint process itself hasnt always been easy to navigate, which is why activists such as Allison Kilgour have been advocating for a resource centre for at least six years.

"Without prevention, education and survivor support, were not going to be able to really make any movement in terms of the issue," said Kilgour, a Winnipeg-based advocacy co-ordinator for Students for Consent Culture.

The U of M law student applauded the university for taking a first step, which she said will allow for ongoing education on sexual violence resources at the school.

Sexual Violence Resource Centre Click to Expand Room 537 in the University of Manitoba Students' Union, University Centre Services will be accessible in person on a drop-in or appointment basis or via phone (204-474-6562) or email (svrc@umanitoba.ca)

Prof. Clea Schmidt said itll be critical to ensure the office itself is advertised, so people know it exists. On Friday, she had yet to receive an email informing faculty members of its opening date.

As for the centre's structure, Schmidt said shes meeting its opening "with some trepidation."

Considering its foundation has primarily focused on students needs and it isnt arm's-length from the school (although, its two Klinic counsellors are), she said theres some work that still needs to be done to ensure all community members will feel comfortable accessing it.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie

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Following a very successful 2019, the South Kilkenny Historical Society recently announced its programme of lectures for January to April.

The last two events of 2019 proved to be very popular and were very well attended. In November Professor Margaret Kelleher, of UCD, delivered a lecture on the Maamtrasna Murders of 1882. Professor Kelleher gave a detailed delivery on the social conditions which existed and the use of the Irish language and translators during the trial. She also gave details of the 'botched' execution of an innocent man, Martin Joyce, who received a pardon from President Michael D. Higgins in 2018.

Marion Fossett was the guest of honour at the society's Night of Reminiscing. Marion detailed the Fossett family connections with South Kilkenny. Her grandmother, Margaret Bond Lowe was the first family member to be buried in Glenmore graveyard. Margaret died on July 15, 1919, aged 43 years, as a result of contracting pneumonia. It appears that Fossetts Circus were camping in Glenmore at the time and the camp was subjected to an inspection by Crown forces who were suspicious that firearms were hidden on the campsite.

Ms Fossett gave a detailed history of the circus and the life of George Lowe (Doctor Powell) who worked alongside Buffalo Bill. George left Mallow, Co. Cork, to join and circus and had a colourful career. He married Margaret Bond and died on December 26, 1939. He too is buried in Glenmore. Marion also gave a insight into 'circus life' and her own singing career and ended with a rendition of 'Silent Night'.

The following is the South Kilkenny Historical lecture programme for January to April 2020, events taking place at 8 p.m. each night in Mullinavat Hall: Hitler's Irish Voices on Thursday, January 30. In this lecture David O'Donoghue will deal with the history of German Radio's wartime Irish service from 1939 to 1945. As well as describing in detail the radio station's on air operations from Nazi Germany, it also provides in-depth profiles of those involved and the service and what became of them after the war. It reveals details long forgotten in both Ireland and Germany, for example, the involvement a permanent member of the Irish civil service who ran the service whilst on leave of absence from the National Museum of Dublin.

Birth of the Border: The Impact of Partition in Ireland is the title of the February lecture, which takes place on Thursday, February 27.

This lecture is based on the recently published book, of the same title, and deals with the actual effects of partition, the day-to-day implications, and the complex way that society, north and south, was truly and meaningfully affected. The book is the most comprehensive account to date on the far-reaching and enduring consequences of the partitioning of Ireland.

Author and historian Cormac Moore will give the talk.

St Patrick Retold is the title of a talk on Thursday, March 12.

Speaker Roy Flechner is a university lecturer in early medieval history and Co-ordinating Editor of the journal Early Medieval Europe and will give the talk.

On Thursday, April 30, a talk called 'One of the most brilliant young Irishmen of our day': Joseph MacDonagh, T.D. (1883-1922)' by Gerard Shannon will be held.

While recalled by his allies as an outstanding worker in the Irish revo lutionary movement, not to mention someone of a warm, humorous personality, MacDonagh has somehow remained a forgotten figure of the period. Radicalised by the death of his brother Thomas following the Easter Rising, MacDonagh occupied a number of different roles in this period until his death in 1922: Sinn Fein activist, political prisoner, hunger striker, TD, councillor, Minister for Labour and propagandist.
The royal family has had a pretty crazy year in 2019. And so far, it looks as if the queen and her family may face a whole new set of challenges in 2020.

People from all over the world have always been interested in the royal family. It seems like no matter what country any member of the royal family is traveling to, they are greeted by thousands of fans who have waited for hours in various weather conditions just to get a quick glimpse at them.

While every member of the royal family has been extremely popular, there have been some recent events that have pushed Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridges popularity up to a whole new level.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced that they were stepping down from their royal duties

Earlier this year, Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex made a bold that many are now calling Megxit.

On January 8, 2020, Prince Harry and his wife shocked the world when they announced on their Instagram page that they would be stepping down as senior members of the royal family. In the statement, they said that they still fully intended to support the queen and their other charities, but they wanted to balance their time between the UK and North America.

Many fans of the royal family were completely caught off guard by the news and others were heartbroken Prince Harry and Meghan would no longer be working royals. However, there were several other fans who were not surprised by the statement and understood that Prince Harry and Meghan have had a desire to raise their son, Archie, in a more private setting.

What does the future hold for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle?

Prince Harry did not only shock the world when he announced that he and Meghan would be stepping down and moving to North America. He also reportedly surprised his grandmother, the queen.

Because the queen did not know about Prince Harry and Meghans plans, the queen was not able to make a decision regarding the duke and duchesses future when they first made the announcement.

A few days after Prince Harrys shocking announcement, the Duke and Duchesses of Sussex, as well as Prince Charles and Prince William all met with the queen to discuss how their family should proceed. It was decided that both Prince Harry and Meghan would be losing their HRH titles, they would no longer get be able to work on their many charities, and they would have to pay back the over $3 million dollars in tax payers money that they spent to renovate the Frogmore Cottage.

Recently, Prince Harry gave a speech at a charity event in London. Before talking about the charity, Harry first addressed the elephant in the room and talked about him stepping down from his royal duties.

Before I begin, I must say that I can only imagine what you may have heard or perhaps read over the last few weeks, Prince Harry had said to the crowd. So, I want you to hear the truth from me, as much as I can share, not as a prince or a duke, but as Harry; the same person that many of you watched grow up over the last 35 years.

Prince Harry then went on to say that he loves the U.K. and he loves his family, but he felt that stepping down from his royal duties was the best decision for him, his wife, and their son.

What I want to make clear is we are not walking away and we are certainly not walking away from you, Prince Harry continued. My hope was to continue to serve the queen, the CommonWealth, and my military associations, but without public funding. Unfortunately, that wasnt possible. Ive accepted this knowing that it doesnt change who I am or how committed I am.

Prince William and Kate Middleton get a huge boost

Prince William and Kate Middleton | Chris Jackson / Getty Images for St Jamess Palace

For all of their lives, Prince Harry and Prince William have navigated life together and had forged a powerful partnership that brought joy to many people. Because the brothers have been such a great team for most of their lives, fans are starting to sense that Prince William is a little sad without his brother by his side.

Recently, Prince William and Kate attended a royal event in Bradford, UK. According to Fox News, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge received a very warm welcome from the audience at the event.

Royal expert, Kate Nicholl, said that the reception that Prince William and Kate received helped to lift their spirits.

The warm reception that William and Kate received gave them a huge boost, Nicholls had said. They stuck to the tried-and-tested approach, promoting a united royal family and its a success.

Because many people are feeling sad about Prince Harry stepping down and know that his actions have also hurt Prince William, many people are going out of their way to show the Duke of Cambridge their support and it is obviously helping Prince William feel much better.
Condemning the Centre's decision to hand over the probe into the Koregaon Bhima violence case to the NIA, the Maharashtra Congress on Saturday alleged that the sudden move substantiates the "conspiracy" of the BJP.

The NCP also alleged that the Centre's move is aimed at covering up the wrongdoings of the previous BJP-led government in Maharashtra.

"Sudden taking over of Bhima Koregaon riot case by NIA after Maha Vikas Aghadi govt started reinvestigation into inquiry of Pune police, clearly substantiates conspiracy of BJP. Why it took 2 yrs for NIA to find that case is fit under it's jurisdiction? Strongly condemn!" Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said in a tweet.

"Why did it take NIA two years to find out that the case is fit under its jurisdiction. Strongly condemn the decision," he said.

NCP spokesperson and state Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik described the decision as a "cover-up" by the Centre to hide the wrongdoings of the previous BJP-led government in the state.

The case was being probed by the Pune police and the Centre's decision to hand over Koregaon Bhima probe to the Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday came a day after the police briefed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Home Minister Anil Deshmukh about the status of the probe.

NCP chief had demanded that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) be set up under a retired judge to probe the action taken by Pune Police in the case.

Violence had broken out near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial in Pune district on January 1, 2018.

Dalits visit the memorial in large numbers as it commemorates the victory of British forces, which included Dalit soldiers over the army of the Brahmin Peshwa rulers of Pune in 1818.

The police had claimed that provocative speeches at Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, led to the violence and Maoists were behind the conclave.

They later arrested several Left-leaning activists including Telugu poet Varavara Rao and activist Sudha Bharadwaj for alleged links to Maoists.
Green Party Deputy leader Catherine Martin and party leader Eamon Ryan during the Green Party general election campaign launch on Merrion Square, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney, Collins

The Green Party has promised to explore the scrapping of homework for primary school students in its manifesto.

Officially launched today, the manifesto makes a series of commitments to primary, secondary and tertiary education, including free transport for third-level students.

It also vows to review primary and secondary curricula to to meet the needs of the 21st century.

The party commits to exploring the phasing out of homework in primary schools as part of supporting excellence in education.

Speaking to Independent.ie, deputy leader of the party and education spokesperson Catherine Martin said that phasing out of homework is something that definitely should be explored.

This isnt new, this has been on our policy for the past several years and I think we really need to have a conversation on how best to develop the creative juices of our children, or really change how we do homework, that homework could be, go home and draw a picture of something that means a lot to you, she said.

Theyre so young, especially up to the age of seven or eight, its a conversation that we need to have.

Do they really need to be coming home and learning 12 words in Irish and English and doing a spelling test? I dont know, is it better value to say to the child, read 12 pages of your favourite book tonight?' Ms Martin added.

According to Ms Martin, phonetics are a key element of the curriculum for young children.

I saw that with my own children, thats essential and you have to practise that at home, sounding all those words out.

She used the example of the Loreto Primary School in Rathfarnham, Dublin, which is currently trialing a no-homework programme for all classes except sixth.

Ms Martin said that they had found the pilot scheme amazing and children were spending a lot more time with their families as a result.

The deputy leader added that the party has proposed a Citizens Assembly into education in its manifesto, where the no-homework initiative could be fleshed out further.

Theres still a little bit of rota learning that happens at primary level and this is to look at the other side of the child and make sure that we develop that, theyre so young, she added.
This past Monday, the Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) denied entry to 24-year-old Iranian student Mohammad Shahbab Dehghani Hossein Abadi upon his arrival at Logan International Airport in Boston. At the time of his deportation, Hossein held a valid F1 student visa recently issued by the United States Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) to continue pursuing a bachelors degree at Northeastern University in Boston.

The news of Abadis detention and threatened deportation by CBP prompted protesters to gather at Bostons Logan Airport. Lawyers working in association with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) immediately filed an emergency petition with a Massachusetts district court judge on Abadis behalf, seeking a stay of deportation. The federal judge granted Hossein a 48-hour emergency stay at 9:27 p.m. on Monday. CBP, despite having reportedly told multiple attorneys that Abadi was removed from the outbound plane after the order was issued, deported him at 10:03 p.m.

When contacted by NBC news, federal law enforcement officials stated that Mohammads family had connections with individuals intimately involved with a US-designated terrorist organization. However, according to NBC, the officials did not cite any alleged connections between US-designated terrorist organizations and Dehghani himself. Both the ACLU and Abadis attorneys were quick to point out the false nature of CBPs allegations, as he had undergone a lengthy, nine-month background investigation prior to being granted a visa.

Susan Church, part of Hosseins legal team, told reporters outside of the courthouse that her client underwent an extensive processing period before he came back, which means that overseas investigators investigate his family, they speak to employers, they do a very thorough investigation. In their filing, the attorneys allege that the removal is in fact a result of additional scrutiny targeting Iranian citizens and, as such, violates equal protection guarantees against discrimination based on national origin, constitutional due process guarantees, and the Administrative Procedure Act. The filing also asserts that Abadi had been denied the right to speak with a lawyer or any other person in the United States while in detention, a further violation of his rights.

In claiming the CBP targets travelers based on their nationality or ethnic origin, Abadis lawyers are citing the official policy of the president, who enacts immigration policy with the guidance of his 33-year-old fascistic adviser, Stephen Miller. One of Trumps first initiatives upon assuming the presidency was enacting the Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States, a racist and discriminatory measure preventing citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen all countries with Muslim majoritiesfrom entering the United States.

By doing so, Trump was making good on his campaign promise to enact a total and complete ban on Muslims entering the United States. Parts of the law were initially overturned through court challenges. However, Trump issued a second executive order which was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court. As it stands, there are severe restrictions on persons applying to travel to the United States from Libya, Yemen, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Somalia and Venezuela.

Abadis deportation is only the latest in a string of actions by the Federal Government targeting Iranians. On January 4, reports emerged that CBP was detaining dozens of Iranians and American citizens of Iranian heritage at the Canadian border, many of them on their way back from an Iranian pop concert in Vancouver. Only a day earlier, in gross violation of international law, the United States had assassinated Qassem Suleimani, a general in Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard and the second most powerful man in that country after head of state Ali Khamenei. This illegal act brought the world to the brink of a war with Iran with the potential to draw in nuclear-armed powers Iran and Russia.

In its drive to whip up xenophobic and racist sentiments among its constituents, the Trump administration will only become more brazen in its attacks on people born abroad, whether trying to enter this country or already residing here. As the spearhead of these efforts, federal agencies act with virtual impunity, hunting down undocumented workers and placing them in concentration camps, kidnapping children at the Mexican border and even deporting American citizens.

These actions, which have shocked the nation, represent the intensification of policies enacted under the administration of Barack Obama, who deported roughly 2.5 million undocumented immigrants from the United States. Trump currently enjoys tacit support for his fascistic policies by a Democratic Party whose main concern is not human rights violations or acts of war, but the presidents perceived softness on Russia and lack of commitment to arming its adversaries.
Sowmya Mani By

Express News Service

TIRUCHY: Students from Tamil Nadu pursuing medicine from the Wuhan University in China are too scared to leave their rooms. They have been staying indoors for the past two days, fearing the coronavirus.

Reports say close to 900 have contracted the virus, of whom at least 26 have succumbed. While most of the cases are being reported from Wuhan in Hubei Province, the World Health Organization is seized on the matter. In India, at least 10 incoming passengers have been put under observation.

Speaking to Express, a handful of Tamil students at the University said the Chinese government had imposed a complete shutdown in Wuhan, as a result of which food and mask prices have skyrocketed. The students said they were in dire need of food and basic amenities, and wanted to be moved out to another city till the outbreak is contained.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus outbreak - Death toll rises to 41, over 1,280 cases reported in China

While some of them are staying in the University hostel, rest of us are in rented rooms with no help available, said P Manishankar, a final year student from Pudukkottai.

I have not been able to get a protective mask owing to heavy demand, said Manishankar. All students are scared of leaving their rooms, as the threat looms large. Manishankar said the Indian Embassy had called them and given the hotline numbers.

But even getting out to buy masks could be risky as the virus spreads through human contact, said the medical student.

We have enough food to last us for 4-5 days. We dont know what will happen after that. There is no news on how long the shutdown will last, Manishankar added.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus outbreak - Malayali residents in Beijing take adequate precautions

He said that the first time he stepped out of his house to buy a mask, he found the medical shop closed. The next time he stepped out, the shop was extremely crowded.

It was safer coming back to the room than risking contact with other a large number of people, says Manishankar. Another final year student, Mrinalini from Coimbatore, also stays in a rented apartment. Though she managed to get a protective mask, she is still afraid.

All the shops are closed. Its not safe for us to step outside. Even hospitals and medical shops are out of protective gear. We first need basic supplies of food. All airports and railway stations are shut down. We are unable to step out to buy even basic items, she said.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus may be more infectious than SARS but is less virulent now: Dr K Srinath Reddy

While returning to India is not an option right now, the students want to be shifted to another city. The problem is that the symptoms will show only after 7 days. If this virus reaches India, it might spread easily. Its already spread to so many cities in China, the students said. However, students who are staying at the university hostel are less afraid because the campus is comparatively safer. They have been provided with masks.

Rahul, a medical student who hails from Erode, said, We have all the basic needs. However, some students are in fear and want to go back to India. We hope normalcy will return in a week. Watching television news, my parents frequently keep calling me.

Speaking to TNIE, Manishankars elder brother Arun from a village near Gandarvakkottai in Pudukkottai district, said, We are really worried about the safety of my brother. Our parents often tell me to call him and offer moral support. He has less cash on his person and prices of essential commodities are high. We are expecting some support from our government.
For the time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay tributes to the brave-hearts by laying a wreath at the War Memorial instead of the Amar Jawan Jyoti at the India Gate on the occasion of 71st Republic Day on Sunday.The 90-minute-long Republic Day parade ceremony will commence with Prime Minister Modi visiting the War Memorial near the India Gate.

The War memorial was inaugurated last year in February where the names of soldiers who laid down their lives for the country post-independence, are carved.

The India Gate was built in the memory of soldiers who fought for the British in World War I.Marching for the first time in the Republic Day parade will be the contingent of the Corps of Army Air Defence. It will be followed by The Combined Band of Bengal Engineers Group and Centre, Brigade of Guards Training Centre, 3 Electronics and Mechanical Engineers Centre and Madras Regimental Centre.

One of the main highlights will be the marching contingent of DRDO that will showcase Anti-Satellite Weapons (ASAT) -- Mission Shakti. ASAT (Anti-Satellite) weapons play a critical role in providing the necessary strategic deterrence.

Mission Shakti, India's first Anti-Satellite (ASAT) mission, was a major breakthrough in demonstrating the nation's Anti-Satellite technology.

In a major defence achievement, India had on March 27 last year successfully tested an anti-satellite missile by shooting down its own decommissioned satellite that was on a 'Low Earth Orbit' at a height of 300-km from the Earth's surface.

The Dhanush artillery will also be displayed for the first time during the Republic Day parade.

Apart from this, the newly-inducted Chinook heavy lift and Apache attack choppers would be taking part in the parade for the first time.K-9 VAJRA-T, newly-inducted five-metre Short Span Bridging System, Sarvatra Bridge System, Transportable Satellite Terminal and Akash weapon system will be also seen as the main attractions in the mechanised columns.

In a first, a contingent of women bikers of CRPF will perform daredevil stunts. The contingent will be led by Inspector Seema Nag, who will be seen saluting while standing atop a moving motorcycle. The bikers will perform several daring acts on moving bikes before a human pyramid on multiple motorcycles bring up the rear.

It is for the first time that a "Tri-service formation" is taking part in the Republic Day parade. It will be followed by the 'Vic' formation of Chinook helicopters, used for airlifting diverse loads to remote locations.

Apache helicopters, Dornier aircraft, C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, Netra, an Airborne Early Warning and Control System aircraft and the 'Globe' formation comprising three C-17 Globemasters are also among some of the other highlights.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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 day testing site.
Ahead of a visit to Kyiv, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has accused a journalist from National Public Radio (NPR) of lying after she published critical fragments of their conversation concerning Ukraine that eventually went viral.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly, the host of All Things Considered, said on January 24 that Pompeo got angry and ended an interview when she asked him questions about why he didn't defend former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who was fired by President Donald Trump last year.

According to Kelly, she was then asked to go into Pompeo's private living room to continue the conversation but told not to bring her recording equipment. Kelly said that Pompeo yelled and used foul language as he said: Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?

He used the F-word in that sentence and many others, Kelly said.

She said that he then ordered assistants to bring out an unmarked world map and asked her to locate Ukraine, which she said she accurately did. Kelly has a master's degree in European Studies from Cambridge.

Kelly said she was never told that the conversation in the living room was off the record.

Her description of their interaction went viral on Twitter on January 24, just a few days before Pompeo heads to Kyiv on January 30 for his first official visit to Ukraine since taking office in 2018.

Amid the media uproar over Kelly's account of their meeting, Pompeo shot back the following day in a public statement.

"NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly lied to me, twice. First, last month, in setting up our interview and, then again yesterday, in agreeing to have our post-interview conversation off the record," Pompeo said.

Pompeo claimed it was "another example" of the media seeking to hurt Trump. However, he did not deny her description of his comments.

The secretary's statement ended with the sentence "it is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine," which seemed to imply that he is claiming that Kelly picked out the South Asian country on the unmarked map instead of Ukraine.

NPR issued a response to Pompeo's statement, calling Kelly a reporter with "utmost integrity" and said it stood behind her report.

The Committee to Protect Journalists also issued a statement later on January 25 criticizing Pompeo, saying his reaction was another sign of the Trump administration's "hostility" toward the press.

"These verbal attacks undermine efforts to protect journalists and erode U.S. standing as a beacon of press freedom," the committee said.

Yovanovitch, a career Foreign Service officer who had served as ambassador to three countries, was asked by the State Department to extend her term in Ukraine.

However, she was then subject to a smear campaign by Trump allies who accused her of impeding an investigation into his political rival's work in Ukraine. During a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Trump called Yovanovitch "bad news."

Pompeo, Yovanovitch's boss, has avoided answering questions about why he did not publicly defend her reputation amid the smear campaign.

The U.S. Senate is currently conducting a trial after the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives impeached Trump last month on two articles -- abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

The Democrats have accused Trump of withholding military aid and a White House invitation as a means to pressure Zelenskiy to launch two investigations that would benefit the U.S. leaders reelection chances.

Trump dismisses the accusations as a witch hunt and has said his dealings with Zelenskiy were "perfect."
NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister's Office on Saturday chaired a high-level meeting to review the steps being taken by the government to deal with deadly coronavirus amid mounting global concern over the increasing number of cases in China, the epicentre of the outbreak, and several other countries. The high-level meeting was held on the instructions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The meeting was chaired by P K Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, which was also attended by the Cabinet Secretary, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Defence Secretary, Health Secretary, Civil Aviation Secretary and several other top officials.

During the meeting, the Health Ministry officials presented an update about response measures being undertaken in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak in China. The Health Ministry officials briefed Mishra on the preparedness of hospitals, laboratories as well as on measures being taken for the capacity building of rapid response teams to deal with possible cases of coronavirus.

Mishra also reviewed the various preventive measures taken by other ministries like the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The officials assured Mishra that the situation is being closely monitored by the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs, in coordination with various other Union ministries as well as state governments and Union Territories.

So far, 20,000 people from 115 flights at seven international airports in the country have been screened. The sources said the National Institute of Virology labs are fully equipped to test the virus and that all state and district health authorities have been alerted.

Earlier, the Health Ministry constituted seven central teams to visit states and designated airports to review preparedness for control of life-threatening novel coronavirus outbreak. ''7 central teams will visit the states and designated airports to review preparedness for control of novel coronavirus,'' a Health Ministry statement said.

Sharing more information, the Health Minister said that seven more people who returned from China have been kept under observation following screening for possible exposure to novel coronavirus. He, however, said that no positive case has been detected in the country so far. Samples of these seven passengers have been sent to the ICMR-NIV Pune Lab, the Health Minister said.

Dr Harsh Vardhan directed the multidisciplinary central teams to visit the seven states where thermal screening is being done at the seven designated airports - New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi.

Vardhan, who held a review meeting to analyse the preparedness for prevention and management of novel coronavirus in India, also spoke to the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on Saturday and assured all support for screening at the border with Nepal, where a confirmed case has been reported. The Health Minister also reportedly met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed the situation regarding the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Under directions from Dr Harsh Vardhan, a 24x7 NCDC Call Centre (+91-11-23978046) has been made operational, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday.

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"The Call Centre will monitor the list of contacts furnished by Ministry of External Affairs; provide details of district and state surveillance officers to those who seek them; and in case of any clinical query, direct the concerned to the relevant Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) officer," the ministry said.

Eleven people - seven in Kerala, two in Mumbai and one each in Bengaluru and Hyderabad - who are among hundreds of passengers who returned from China in the recent days were under observation in hospitals to check for possible exposure to the deadly novel coronavirus.

As over 20,000 passengers returning from mainland China and Hong Kong underwent thermal screenings at the seven international airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) in Delhi has set up an isolation ward and kept beds ready for providing treatment to any suspected case of the respiratory infection.

Coronavirus cases were first reported from Wuhan, the capital of central China's Hubei province. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has so far confirmed that 830 cases of coronavirus infection have been reported from China, along with nearly 41 deaths.

The coronavirus is a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes, but the virus in China is a novel strain and not seen before. It has killed several people so far and has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

(With Agency inputs)
A murder investigation is underway after a man was stabbed to death in Hackney on Friday night, according to police.

The Metropolitan Police have said they arrested a 27-year-old man at the scene in Clapton, northeast London.

They are currently not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.

Police were called to a disturbance at 11.30pm and found a man with stab wounds inside a house on Mount Pleasant Lane in Clapton, according to authorities.

The victim died shortly afterwards, the Met Police said.

The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims Show all 18 1 /18 The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims Purple ribbons are seen tied to a tree and fence at a park near to where 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death in an attack with no obvious motive, in the Harold Hill area of London. Chesney was stabbed in an unprovoked attack while out with friends on March 1, 2019. Four males aged 16, 17, 19 and 20 have been charged with her murder which all four deny. In honour of her favourite colour, purple ribbons were tied to a railing, alongside a message also written in purple: "Choose life, drop the knife! RIP Jodie. Reuters/Phil Noble The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims Floral tributes and bottles of alcohol are seen outside the house where 20-year-old Tyrelle Burke was stabbed to death, in the Wythenshawe area of Manchester. Burke was stabbed to death on April 5, outside his home by a friend following a night out. 18-year-old Denver Walton was charged with his murder. Reuters/Phil Noble The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims A woman walks past floral tributes near to where 29-year-old Joshua White was stabbed to death, in the Hackney area of London. Joshua White died after he was stabbed through the heart in broad daylight on April 26. Two teenagers have been charged with his murder, and police are attempting to extradite an 18-year-old from Ireland in relation to the attack. Reuters/Phil Noble The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims Floral tributes and photographs are left at the spot where 17-year-old Yousef Makki was stabbed to death, in Hale Barns. Makki was stabbed to death on March 2 during a row with another boy. A 17-year-old boy was cleared of his murder by a jury at Manchester Crown Court on July 12. Makki's family have protested against the verdict. Photography by Reuters The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims Floral tributes and packets of crisps and a chocolate bar are tied to a fence where 21-year-old James Halewood was stabbed to death, in the Kirkby area of Liverpool. Halewood was stabbed to death in broad daylight outside a parade of shops at lunchtime on July 7. Two men aged 26 and 23 have been arrested in connection with his death. Reuters/Phil Noble The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims Graffiti on a fence of an industrial unit near to where 18-year-old Hazrat Umar was killed, in the Bordesley Green area of Birmingham. Umar was killed after being stabbed 15 times in an unprovoked attack on February 25, on his way to the gym. Adam Muhammad, 17, a student at the same college, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment for his murder. Reuters/Phil Noble The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims Floral tributes are seen tied to a pedestrian crossing near to where 40-year-old Gavin Garraway was stabbed to death, in the Clapham area of London. Garroway was stabbed to death through the window of his car on March 29. Zion Chiata, 18, has been charged with his murder. Reuters/Phil Noble The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims Floral tributes and teddy bears are seen outside a house where 26-year-old Kelly-Mary Fauvrelle and her unborn baby where stabbed to death, in the Croydon area of London. Fauvrelle was stabbed to death in the bedroom of her home in the early hours of June 29. Her baby boy, Riley, was delivered but also died four days later. Ex-partner Aaron McKenzie has been charged with her murder and causing the death of the baby. Reuters/Phil Noble The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims Flowers are tied to the entrance of Sara Park near to where 16-year-old Abdullah Muhammad was killed in the Small Heath area of Birmingham. Abdullah died after suffering stab wounds to the chest and back in the evening of February 20. Three males aged 17, 19 and 20 have been charged in connection with his murder. Reuters/Phil Noble The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims The remains of candles and tributes are seen near to where 19-year-old Kamali Gabbidon-Lynck was stabbed to death, in the Wood Green area of London. Gabbidon-Lynck died after he was stabbed by a gang on bicycles on February 22, in an incident which left another man suffering from knife and gunshot wounds. Three men aged 18, 19 and 20 have been charged with murder, attempted murder and robbery. Reuters/Phil Noble The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims A woman pushes a pram past a row of houses where 33-year-old Charlotte Huggins was stabbed to death, in south London. Huggins was the first stabbing victim of 2019, stabbed in the back at her home in the early hours of New Year's Day. Her ex-boyfriend Michael Rolle was found guilty of her murder and jailed for life. He stabbed Huggins after she celebrated New Year's eve with a male friend. Reuters/Phil Noble The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims Floral tributes are left at the spot where 18-year-old Cheyon Evans was stabbed to death, in the Wandsworth area of London. Evans died from a stab wound to the chest after being attacked by a group of youths in broad daylight on June 14. Three males aged 18, 18 and 17 have been charged with his murder. Reuters/Phil Noble The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims Lanfrey Place is where 17-year-old Ayub Hassan died after suffering multiple stab wounds in the street, in the West Kensington area of London. Hassan was killed after his attack on March 7. A 15-year-old boy has been charged with his murder. Reuters/Phil Noble The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims Floral tributes are left near to where 21-year-old Lewis Bagshaw was stabbed to death, in the Southey area of Sheffield. Bagshaw collapsed and died on July 21, when seeking help from residents of Piper Crescent after suffering stab wounds. Police investigations into his death are ongoing. Reuters/Phil Noble The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims Flowers and toys are left at the scene where 19-year-old Lejean Richards was stabbed to death, in the Battersea area of London. Richards was attacked and fatally stabbed on February 5. Roy Reyes-Nieves, 23, and Roger Reyes-Nieves, 18, have been charges with his murder. Reuters/Phil Noble The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims A man walks past floral tributes left near to where 24-year-old Joe O'Brien died after being stabbed in a fight outside a pub, in Manchester. O'Brien died following a fight outside the Royal Oak pub on April 21. Momodou Jallow, 21, has been charged with his murder. Reuters/Phil Noble The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims Flowers are seen near to where 29-year-old Nathaniel Armstrong was stabbed to death, in the Fulham area of London. Armstrong was stabbed to death during an altercation on March 16. Murder charges against a 29-year-old male were dropped after prosecutors said there was no realistic prospect of conviction. Reuters/Phil Noble The makeshift shrines to Britain's knife crime victims A police officer stands outside a row of terraced houses where 33-year-old nurse Saima Riaz was stabbed to death, in Rochdale. Riaz, a mother of three, was found on April 23. 36-year-old Mohammed Abid Choudhry has been charged with her murder. Reuters/Phil Noble

Enquires are underway to identify the victim and inform his next of kin, according to police.

The suspect remains in police custody.

The latest stabbing follows reports that knife crime in England and Wales has now hit a record high.

Police recorded almost 44,700 offences in England and Wales, which the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said was a new record.

Anyone with information on the Clapton stabbing on the night of 24 January have been asked to contact the Met Police or Crimestoppers.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said the BJP did not lose last year's Maharashtra Assembly elections, but was betrayed by the Shiv Sena. He also said that the Sena not only left its ally, but also its own ideology.

Nagpur: Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said the BJP did not lose last year's Maharashtra Assembly elections, but was betrayed by the Shiv Sena. He also said that the Sena not only left its ally, but also its own ideology.

Speaking at the BJP workers' meeting, Gadkari said, "I don't think BJP lost the election. Shiv Sena left us and its own ideology. BJP has not lost the elections, but it has been betrayed."

The BJP and the Sena, which fought the 21 October state Assembly polls in alliance, had secured a comfortable majority by winning 105 and 56 seats respectively. However, the Sena broke its three-decade-long ties with the BJP after the latter declined to share the chief minister's post with it.

The Sena then joined hands with the NCP and the Congress and formed a government headed by Uddhav Thackeray.

On the recently-held Zilla Parishad results in Nagpur, Gadkari said the BJP should have got more voting percentage.

"But BJP's strength is still intact in Nagpur rural and the city and those who have come together against us are

afraid of our strength. They may have come together, but we will defeat them," he said.

Earlier this month, the BJP lost control of the ZP in Nagpur, the home district of Gadkari and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Gadkari asked the workers to focus on expanding the party base and reaching out to the people.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A firefighter allegedly used an FDNY van Friday night for a tour of blocks-long mayhem.

Firefighter Robert Diaz, 42, was taken into custody after he abandoned the van from the FDNYs Fire Education Safety Unit near the intersection of College and Clinton B Fiske Avenues around 7:40 p.m.

A group of residents in the area, who called 911, said they saw the man fleeing the van dressed in a black hoodie. They declined to give their names.

Blocks away, near the intersection of College Avenue and Delaware Place, two tow trucks were cleaning up the aftermath the man had allegedly left behind.

A woman who lives near that scene said an FDNY van careened into multiple cars and a dumpster on that block severely damaging its front axel before fleeing the scene. The recovered van had a damaged front axel.

That woman also did not give her name.
Cian Kelly from Newtownmountkennedy is in many ways a typical teenager. He likes to watch funny videos on YouTube; he enjoys taekwondo at the local club; he plays video games; and he has his favourite TV show characters from The Simpsons to Father Ted.

His favourite meal is chicken nuggets and chips and he likes a glass of Coca-Cola with his favourite sweets as a treat.

His favourite subject at school is maths, and the 15-year-old is in second year at Kilcoole's Colaiste Chraobh Abhann secondary school. His teachers predict that he has a bright future ahead, and they see that he will complete both the Junior and Leaving Certificate.

Cian is the youngest of three siblings, and his parents Gary and Ann-Marie Kelly are very proud of him and everything he has achieved.

He's a happy, kind, quiet and mostly content young man, but he now admits that it wasn't always like this for him.

After the Kelly family noticed developmental difficulties with Cian as a baby and toddler, they went about finding answers and decided to get him assessed for autism spectrum disorder.

At the time, he did not communicate in ways that the other children within the family had done, particularly being non-verbal. He was diagnosed at two years and ten months.

It took time, but Cian began a journey of understanding of the world around him, first attending St Catherine's Barnacoyle at the young age of three.

Through what his mother Ann-Marie described as key interventions at St Catherine's, Cian began developing in many ways, both socially and personally, and completed a big milestone when he started to attend the autism unit of Newtownmountkennedy Primary School.

But situations like going to school, getting his hair cut, going to the supermarket or other every-day social activities, used to cause Cian a lot of stress and panic.

He would have melt-downs and become overwhelmed, sometimes he would even bolt away from his family.

At her wits' end from seeing her son having to go through these daily challenges, late one night Ann-Marie did an internet search on possible ways to help Cian to relieve his stress.

She came across the Irish Guide Dogs assistance dogs programme, and was immediately intrigued.

A new chapter began in 2010 when assistance dog Edwen entered Cian's life.

The dog had been carefully matched to Cian and his family and soon Edwen made an impact not just on Cian but on all the Kellys and their extended family.

The family were told that it would take about six months for bonding to take place between the boy and his pet, but that the benefits would include improved participation in social activities, better communication and learning skills as well as a greater sense of responsibility and improved confidence for Cian.

The family had hoped for the best, knowing the depth of need that their son had, but Ann-Marie now admits that the programme surpassed all of their expectations.

'It was one of the best things we ever did as regards looking for treatments or therapy for Cian. The dog has been brilliant - not just for him but for everyone in the family.

'Edwen was there, first off, for Cian's safety, and being attached onto him was very important because we couldn't get Cian out otherwise.

'Our family being able to bring him where we wanted to was how we were going to develop him socially, and bring him on as a person, how we'd bring him to school and do all the things that everybody takes for granted every day,' Ann-Marie said.

Cian quickly began to listen to the training commands for Edwen, such as keep to the kerb, wait and single commands that he became tuned in to.

'He hadn't been really listening to us up to then, which was something we noticed came first, and having Edwen meant that we could go anywhere, because Cian got used to the dog being with him and was relaxed.

'It took practice, but Cian accepted the dog fairly quickly and we found he wasn't stressed when the dog was there,' said Ann-Marie.

Having the assistance dog wearing an Irish Guide Dogs jacket also helped break down barriers in social situations.

'Cian doesn't have a physical indication that he has a disability. You wouldn't know to look at him but his behaviour eventually would give it away. But when people saw the dog, they'd know to give extra consideration and patience, and that worked really well.

'It prevented me from having to explain Cian to people all the time, because previously I felt that I was constantly having to explain everything about a condition that I hardly understood myself at the time'.

Cian himself says that Edwen was a friend to him when he really needed him, and agrees that life is easier when Edwen is with him.

'I think things would be different if I never had a dog like him in my life. I might be a little more wilder, like I was before he came. He calmed me down and he has helped me grow up,' he said.

'I like him because he is very playful and fun, he's fun to have walks with. I feel like he's a good friend to me and I'm more like his friend than his owner'.

As Edwen has been with Cian for ten years now, the dog has retired from service as an assistance dog but will stay with the family as a pet, something they are all very glad about.

'We have been weaning Cian off Edwen for the last couple of years now, once we knew that he wouldn't be getting a second "successor" dog,' explained Ann-Marie.

'The Irish Guide Dogs felt that Edwen had done his job, as Cian had reached a certain age and height physically. Now Edwen is just going to be his friend and his pet.

'I'm also using Edwen's walks as physical exercise in that Cian comes with us. It's about Cian considering another aspect of the dog rather than Edwen working for him, that he now has to think of the needs of the dog and we use that as an example.

'Even though Cian isn't overly affectionate, he likes having Edwen there and if he isn't around, he looks for him. Cian has a pet to lean on and has a good relationship and strong bond that you can't explain.

'This year Cian even bought Edwen a Christmas present, so we are starting to see that Cian sees the dog as part of the family,' said Ann-Marie.

Although Edwen had a huge role to play in Cian's development up to this point, the family know that there were a number of other factors involved in Cian's progression.

'In Newtownmountkennedy Primary School, they really went above and beyond to bring him on and nothing was a problem, everybody was all there to do their best and see what worked.

'Not everything works straight away for children with autism, but they were willing to re-jig things and see what does. They set him up to start secondary school which is something that we never thought he would do.

'His teachers have taught him to ask for help when he needs it. This is a huge thing as it has stopped all the tantrums that he would have had when he was younger.

'It has helped him to say to himself that if he can't do something he'll find someone to help him rather than facing the reality that he can't do something, so that he just stops. They've taught him that skill.

'As a teenager, he is not as mature as his peers in school would be. He's very naive and so trusting of people that he probably could be taken advantage of quite quickly, but with the school environment that he's in now in Colaiste Chraobh Abhann, they are willing to do whatever it takes for him to be comfortable and he feels that they have got his back.

'It means for us that he stays in school longer which is what we want to see'.

A supportive family environment has also been key for Cian's development.

'As parents, Gary and I have tried to be as positive as possible and say that we are not here to argue over what we can give him and can't, rather work this together and see what he can do.

'We were always cautious, at times being unsure whether Cian was ready for some things, but we want to feel secure that he can go into new situations and be a member of a working and living community.

'Socially, he still likes to keep to himself but academically he's up there with the rest of them.

'This child is going places and Cian's progress has been really lucky for us because of the people we met along the way and the people we connected with.

'I always say if a situation is too much, take a small step back but still take that step forward and keep going until it's the norm. So we bring him to eat out, go for ice cream or hot chocolate, anything that anybody else would do on a nice sunny day.

'We feel it'll stop isolation or even depression or anxiety in the future, those things that can hold a person back'.

Ann-Marie said that situations like going for ice cream used to have her on tenterhooks.

'He was hyper, like a jack in the box with us not knowing what he was going to do next.

'I was on tenterhooks thinking I couldn't bring him anywhere as people would say that he can't be controlled, but he's so much better now.

'His social skills and tolerance have improved as well as his understanding of how social situations work, because we have tried to expose him to as much as possible. He is able to withstand a lot more now, and, as he says himself, he used to be wild.

'He has a lovely personality and we've discovered him to be chilled, well behaved and kind'.

Ann-Marie and Gary have high hopes for Cian's future.

'Eventually, even if he doesn't go to college it'd be great if he got an apprenticeship or a job where he could support himself and be independent, go on holidays, go on the bus or the train and do whatever he wants, like go to the cinema or go for lunch. We want to see that he's able to navigate those things,' said Ann-Marie.

The family would like to say thanks to Edwen for his contribution to Cian's life.

'We adore him and the dog will never know what he means to us, but we want him to have the best retirement a dog could have, so that he stays healthy and happy.

'I don't think he realises how good he is, as he adds a calming atmosphere to the home as well'.

Although there are other programmes that provide therapy or assistance dogs for children and adults, like My Canine Companion and Dogs for the Disabled, the Irish Guide Dogs is the largest programme of its kind.

Cian thinks it's a good idea for children like him to have a dog like Edwen.

'If other children were to meet their assistance dog for the first time, they should look forward to having a happy smile and say hello to their new friend,' he said.

Ann-Marie admitted that there has been some changes to the programme over the last ten years, but that the Irish Guide Dogs are always just at the end of a phone to assist with any family needs.

'If you're having any initial problems with attachment, they will work with the family until it's right.

'They know the dogs and this programme work, and because it's so successful everyone wants to use it, but the funding is definitely not as readily available as it was.

'As we have seen, you don't tend to get a "successor" dog, which can be difficult as some children may need them.

'The programme is constantly being updated so that the dog is trained even further, with new techniques but money is an issue'.

Although the Irish Guide Dogs programme is free of charge, others can cost in the thousands.

'It has vastly expanded, but there are still waiting lists everywhere,' said Ann Marie.

When contacted, a spokesperson for the Irish Guide Dogs said that applications for the waiting list for the assistance dog programme are due to open again in the next few months.

To find out more visit www.guidedogs.ie/get-support/assistance-dogs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro on Saturday held wide-ranging talks with an aim to inject a new momentum into strategic ties between India and Brazil.

In the talks, the two leaders focused on boosting bilateral ties in key areas of trade and investment, energy, defence and security, medicine and scientific research, officials said.

The two countries are expected to ink around 15 agreements providing for enhancing cooperation in a range of areas.

Earlier, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called on Bolsonaro and discussed ways to further broaden cooperation between the two countries.

After the meeting, Jaishankar, in a tweet, said Bolsonaro's visit will open "new opportunities" for bilateral cooperation.

The Brazilian president was given a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in presence of President Ram Nath Kovind and Modi.

Bolsonaro arrived here on Friday, accompanied by his daughter Laura Bolsonaro, daughter-in-law Leticia Firmo, eight ministers, four members of the Brazilian parliament and a large business delegation.

The Brazilian president is in India primarily to grace the Republic Day celebrations on Sunday as chief guest and explore ways to boost trade ties with India at a time when both the large economies are hit by slowdown.

India's ties with Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, has been on an upswing in the last few years. The country has a population of 210 million with USD 1.8 trillion economy.

This is the first visit of President Bolsonaro to India.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, won a landslide victory in Brazil's presidential election in October 2018 and took the reins of the country in January last year.

India-Brazil ties have been on an upswing in the last few years.

The volume of bilateral trade was USD 8.2 billion in 2018-19. This included USD 3.8 billion worth of Indian exports to Brazil and USD 4.4 million as imports by India.

Both the governments feel there is huge potential to enhance the bilateral trade further.

Major Indian exports to Brazil include agro-chemicals, synthetic yarns, auto components and parts, pharmaceutical and petroleum products. Brazilian exports to India include crude oil, gold, vegetable oil, sugar and bulk mineral and ores.

Indian investments in Brazil were around USD 6 billion and Brazilian investments in India are estimated at USD 1 billion in 2018.

Brazilian investments in India are mainly in automobiles, IT, mining, energy and biofuel sectors. India has invested in Brazil's IT, pharmaceutical, energy, agri-business, mining and engineering sectors.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A woman was shot and killed Friday afternoon in Theodore after exchanging gunfire with deputies, according to Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran.

Deputies arrived at the scene on Bellingrath Road near Highway 188 in Theodore at approximately 2 p.m. in reference to a domestic disturbance call. A resident had reportedly stolen guns from a trailer home in the area.

Eyewitnesses say the woman is now deceased. The shootout with deputies occurred near some trailer homes on Bellingrath Road near Highway 188. pic.twitter.com/2JToHq5Q0n  Levi Edwards (@theleviedwards) January 24, 2020

As soon as deputies arrived at the home, the woman started firing shots from inside of the trailer. After a total of six shots were exchanged between the deputies and the woman, the SWAT team was called in to shoot tear gas into the residence. The woman was found dead inside the trailer.

According to Cochran and residents of the trailer park, the woman had a history of mental health issues, including schizophrenia. Cochran confirmed that deputies have gone out to the same home of the shooting to deal with incidents involving her at least five times in the past six months.

This just illustrates the dangerous situation we have in the state of Alabama with mental illness. This is the third time in the past few weeks our officers have been assaulted by people suffering from mental illness and its just a sad state of affairs as far as the state of Alabama, Cochran said.

The identity of the deceased woman and the deputies involved have not been released.
US diplomat Alice Wells on Friday urged New Delhi to release the political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir who have been detained without charge, while lauding the incremental steps taken by the government on Kashmir, including the partial return of internet service in the Valley

US diplomat Alice Wells on Friday urged New Delhi to "move swiftly to release the political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir who have been detained without charge, while lauding the incremental steps taken by the Government of India on Kashmir, including the partial return of internet service in the Valley.

The US Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, who has just returned from a trip to the region besides attending the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, made the remarks while addressing reporters during a press briefing in Washington DC.

At the briefing, Wells also described the visit by US ambassador Kenneth Juster and other foreign diplomats to Jammu and Kashmir as "a useful step".

"I was pleased to see some incremental steps, including the partial return of internet service in Kashmir. And the visit by our ambassador and other foreign diplomats to Jammu and Kashmir is something that I know was extensively covered in the press. We see this as a useful step. We also continue to urge the government to permit regular access by our diplomats, and to move swiftly to release those political leaders detained without charge," she said.

In the first such trip by foreign diplomats post 5 August, envoys of 15 countries, including the US, early this month visited Jammu and Kashmir where they interacted with select political representatives, civil society members as well as top military brass with the Indian government rejecting criticism that it was a "guided tour".

Speaking about the Citizenship Amendment Act, which has sparked protests across India for making religion a criterion for citizenship, Wells said that her visit offered an opportunity to hear more regarding developments.

"The visit also offered an opportunity to hear more regarding developments with India's Citizenship Amendment Act, which is undergoing I would say a vigorous democratic scrutiny, whether it's in the streets, by the political opposition, media, and the courts," she said.

"We continue to underscore the importance of the principle of equal protection under the law," Wells added.

The CAA grants citizenship rules for members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till 31 December, 2014, following religious persecution

During the press briefing, Wells also warned Pakistan about the FATF listing, saying that not meeting the obligations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) would have a devastating impact on Pakistan's economic reform programme.

Below is the transcript of her interaction with reporters as published on the official website of the US Department of State. The transcript has not been edited for style or meaning.

***

MS ORTAGUS: So this entire briefing will be on the record. Alice just came back. Shes got a readout of her trip. We, obviously, have another trip coming up, so well try to get as many questions in after she finishes her opening statements.

Go ahead.

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Great. It was a long trip, so I apologize for the long sort of framing remarks, but then look forward to answering your questions. So my first stop was in Sri Lanka. I was joined by Lisa Curtis, the deputy assistant to the President, from the NSC. And as you know, Sri Lanka occupies some very important real estate in the Indo-Pacific region, and its a country of increasing strategic importance in the Indian Ocean region. And we had productive meetings with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was elected last November, and his brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, as well as the foreign minister, representatives of the opposition, as well as leaders of the Tamil National Alliance and civil society. And I would say the election itself was noteworthy. Sri Lanka is Asias oldest democracy. The election was contested, it was fair, and it delivered a clear mandate to President Rajapaksa.

In our meeting with the president, Lisa Curtis and I conveyed a letter from President Trump emphasizing the value that we place on continued engagement with Sri Lanka thats pursuing the path of reform and reconciliation, and we really welcomed the presidents statement that he wants to be president for all Sri Lankans.

We have compelling shared interests that include countering violent extremism, strengthening maritime security, preventing narcotics smuggling, promoting investment and economic growth as part of a free and open Indo-Pacific. And ultimately, the quality of our partnership will reflect our success in strengthening shared values, including on the critical issue of healing the wounds of Sri Lankas civil war.

From Sri Lanka we went to New Delhi for the Raisina Dialogue. The success of this annual conference reflects Indias prominent role on the worlds stage and at the heart of the Indo-Pacific region. In addition to joining Deputy National Security Advisor Matt Pottingers meetings with the Indian national security advisor and foreign minister, we met broadly with the Ministry of External Affairs, the prime ministers office, and the NSC, as well as engaged opposition in civil society.

I think its clear that Indias broadening strategic horizons over the past two decades have resulted in a shift away from a passive foreign policy into one that more vigorously advances Indian interests. Nowhere is that more true than in the Indo-Pacific region. Whether its in our growing maritime and naval cooperation, the Quad, Indias Act East Policy, theres virtually no daylight in our approaches to the Indo-Pacific. Deputy National Security Advisor Pottingers remarks at Raisina endorsing an Indo-Pacific region stretching from California to Kilimanjaro only further reinforced the strategic convergence.

My official meetings also focused on how to build on the diplomatic and defense gains achieved during the 2+2 ministerial dialogue last December. With continued progress on defense cooperation, peacekeeping operations, space, counterterrorism, trade, people-to-people initiatives, and more, I would highlight that the quality and frequency of our naval cooperation, especially information sharing, has reached unprecedented levels. We also remain focused on achieving a trade deal that promotes fair and reciprocal trade, and my colleagues from USTR are in Delhi now to continue this progress.

The visit also offered an opportunity to hear more regarding developments with Indias Citizenship Amendment Act, which is undergoing I would say a vigorous democratic scrutiny, whether its in the streets, by the political opposition, media, and the courts. We continue to underscore the importance of the principle of equal protection under the law.

On Jammu and Kashmir, I was pleased to see some incremental steps, including the partial return of internet service in Kashmir. And the visit by our ambassador and other foreign diplomats to Jammu and Kashmir is something that I know was extensively covered in the press. We see this as a useful step. We also continue to urge the government to permit regular access by our diplomats, and to move swiftly to release those political leaders detained without charge.

From New Delhi, I traveled to Islamabad where I held meetings with government, military, civil society, and business leaders. At the top of the agenda was understanding how we can grow our bilateral relationship commensurate with the cooperation that we are achieving in promoting peace in Afghanistan and regional stability.

We appreciate the steps Pakistan has taken to advance the Afghan peace process, and Pakistan has important leverage to promote lasting security and stability in Afghanistan.

I welcomed efforts by Pakistan to meet its counterterrorism financing obligations under FATF, the Financial Action Task Force. We strongly encourage Pakistan to work with FATF and the international community to fully satisfy its action plan commitments. Completion of the FATF action plan is critical to Pakistans economic reform efforts, including its IMF program, as well as for demonstrating sustained and irreversible action against all militant groups based in Pakistan without distinction.

Weve seen obvious progress in our relations with Pakistan, from the high-level engagement such as the Presidents warm and constructive meeting with Prime Minister Khan at Davos to the restoration of the International Military Education and Training programs.

I had extensive conversations on how we can bolster our economic partnership where the U.S. is Pakistans largest export market, largest trade partner, and historically one of its most significant investors. There are obvious synergies in energy and agriculture, and opening Pakistans markets to American investments creates jobs and wealth without sacrificing standards or fueling corruption.

Were looking forward to welcoming 10 Pakistani buyer delegations to the U.S. and five regional trade shows in 2020, which will build deeper relationships between U.S. and Pakistani firms. Prime Minister Khans economic reform efforts contributed to the World Bank identifying it as one of the top 10 reformers globally in 2019.

One last item of note is what was announced earlier today, that Secretary Pompeo will travel to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan February 1-3, following his stops in Europe. The Secretary looks forward to traveling to Central Asia to discuss important economic, security, and religious freedom issues. Hell also reaffirm our commitment to the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of the countries of Central Asia.

So let me stop here and take your questions.

MS ORTAGUS: Go ahead, Matt.

QUESTION: Can I  thanks. I know this isnt your portfolio necessarily  Im going to ask about North Korea. No. (Laughter.) Im kidding.

MS ORTAGUS: You didnt have a 

QUESTION: But can you, if at all possible, let us  tell us what your understanding of where current things are with the Afghanistan peace deal?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: I mean, the only thing I can note is that Ambassador Khalilzad and his team are in Doha. They are encouraging the Taliban to make a commitment to a reduction in force[1] that would allow Afghans to sit at a negotiating table. And so that process continues.

MS ORTAGUS: Okay.

QUESTION: May I ask a quick follow-up?

MS ORTAGUS: Yeah, go ahead.

QUESTION: Sorry. Do you give any credence to the reports of more Taliban violence coming out of Afghanistan? There have been some reports even just overnight that the Taliban militants are killing civilians and other members of the ANSF. Have you seen those reports? Do you  can you confirm 

AMBASSADOR WELLS: I have, and the violence continues. It obviously underscores why there needs to be a peace process and why the Afghan people seek peace. It also underscores the violence and the Talibans lack of inhibition in attacking civilians.

QUESTION: The reason I ask if because, of course, as we know, President Trump said he would not allow some of the negotiations to go forward if the violence continued, and that sort of spelled doom for the prospect of a peace process.

AMBASSADOR WELLS: And thats why there has to be the focus on the reduction in violence that the Afghan people can see and feel and appreciate.

MS ORTAGUS: Go ahead.

QUESTION: Pakistan and China is certainly upset with your comments on CPEC and Pakistan. Anything you want to say after the whole chaos over there?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Well, as youve heard, Secretary Pompeo addressed more broadly we have concerns over One Belt One Road, and the fact that projects under One Belt One Road often dont adhere to international standards  sustainability, labor environment. And the argument that I was making in Pakistan is that there are opportunities and should be opportunities for American investment, American energy firms, and manufacturers are interested in the Pakistani market. You have Exxon-Mobil, Excelerate, Cargill, Honeywell, all pursuing major new investments. You have Uber creating 80,000 jobs for Pakistani youth.

And so, as we do globally, we argue in Pakistan that  that there  you should adhere to the buyer beware. That Pakistan is a buyer, these are not  this is not grant assistance from China, its loans, often not with concessional financing. And Pakistan should beware of the terms, to make sure that theyre getting the most for their money, that brings the greatest economic prosperity.

QUESTION: So you are not negating what exactly theyre saying? They are actually agitating on that?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: What 

QUESTION: They are kind of agitating on it  like, foreign officers saying they are  its meddling in their local affairs or the country affairs.

MS ORTAGUS: Youre saying the Chinese are saying that?

QUESTION: Theyre endorsing it.

MS ORTAGUS: I dont think  whats the  so whats the question?

QUESTION: Would it be meddling in local affairs, the government affairs, or Pakistans affairs?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Oh, of course not. This is Pakistans sovereign right to decide what investment it seeks and on what terms. And a friend of Pakistan, we certainly urge that they take on investment projects that create wealth, generate employment, and are sustainable, and think we have great options for the Pakistani market.

QUESTION: Thank you, Ambassador.

MS ORTAGUS: Go ahead.

QUESTION: Do you think the IMFs funding could get affected if Pakistan does not meet the FATF regulations or the rules?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: I mean, obviously, if Pakistan were not to meet FATF obligations or were to fail and be blacklisted, that would be devastating for Pakistans economic reform program and for its ability to attract investors. Weve been pleased to see progress by Pakistan towards fulfilling FATF obligations. There is a meeting underway currently in Beijing where Pakistan is presenting its actions to the task force. And so I defer to that task force to make its evaluation. But the more evidence of Pakistans seriousness in both documenting its economy and in shrinking the space for militants to be able to take advantage of Pakistans either banking system or territory, the more confidence that the international community and business community will have in working with Pakistan.

QUESTION: Because Pakistans foreign minister was in town last week, and he urged that now United States should step up to help Pakistan, get it out of the gray list.

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Well, FATF is a technical process. There has been an action plan that was presented to Pakistan. Its a question of fulfilling the requirements that have been spelled out and that are asked of all countries in the international system. So its not a political process, but we certainly support and stand ready to assist Pakistan as it implements these obligations.

MS ORTAGUS: Okay. Conor.

QUESTION: Ambassador Wells, back here. Two questions, if I could. The first one: Has there been any progress since the decision to withhold certain economic assistance to Afghanistan? Have you seen constructive steps from the Ghani administration? Are you considering other funds be withheld to send a message, if not?

And then secondly, its been, I guess, nearly four months now since the national elections. Are you concerned that theres not been a clear outcome, and at what point would you call for maybe a recount or a new election?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Corruption is  fighting corruption is a key element of all of our programs in Afghanistan. We try to ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars are spent appropriately and with the desired effect. We are constantly looking for ways to enhance the effectiveness of donor dollars.

And so when Secretary Pompeo outlined areas of shortcoming, it reflected our concern about what continues to be endemic corruption in Afghanistan. I am pleased that in one area that the Secretary underscored, we did see progress by the Government of Afghanistan, and $60 million in assistance was able to move forward.[2] And we certainly, again, encourage that the government as well as other implementers or recipients of assistance do everything possible to ensure that what are declining levels of economic assistance be put to maximum effect of the  Afghanistan has to transition to become self-reliant and to develop a private sector.

With regard to elections, I think its very important that the contestants in the election are adhering to the process. The Independent Election Commission and the Electoral Complaints Commission are working according to the electoral law. Theyre processing the electoral complaints. The Electoral Complaint Commission has identified voting centers where they want to recount the ballots. That process is proceeding. And so our message is that its better to get it right than better to finish  than to finish it quickly. And so we are supporting the electoral institutions of Afghanistan.

MS ORTAGUS: Anybody else?

QUESTION: What was the one area that you said you saw some progress and it freed up 60 million?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Yeah, we will get you the specific. I dont recall the program offhand, but (staff) can provide that to you.

QUESTION: Is there anything big or some  or that you would like to  anything you would like to highlight about the trip upcoming in either Kazakhstan or other than what you just said there? Is there  in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan? Is there any kind of deliverable that we should be expecting or looking for?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: I think the Secretarys visit is important because it comes in the context of the administrations Central Asia strategy, which will shortly be rolled out, which has important support, again, for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence of the Central Asian states. Hell be hosting a meeting of the C5, so all of the foreign ministers of Central Asia, which will be the second time hes done so in the year, underscoring the importance we attach to also developing a regional identity among the Central Asian states at a time when were working very closely with them to enhance regional connectivity and to help stitch Afghanistan back into the region.

And so theres been important progress in enhancing trade and investment and support for Afghanistan at the same time that theres been important developments in the modernization of the region thanks to the opening of Uzbekistan with the passing of President Karimov and President Mirziyoyevs different stance towards regional integration.

QUESTION: But my understanding has been in the past that the C5, when it gets together, are generally talking about intra-C5 opening up of trade and security, counterterrorism, that kind of thing. Is there also going to be 

AMBASSADOR WELLS: And also 

QUESTION: Well, right. But also with Afghanistan. But is there anything U.S.  thats less intra-C5 and Afghanistan, and more C5-U.S.?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Well, I think counterterrorism cooperation. Weve seen Central Asia become the leading  theyre the leading countries in reintegrating foreign terrorist fighters. Kazakhstan brought back 600 fighters and family members, Uzbekistan over a hundred, Tajikistan also close to a hundred. And its these countries that are actually going to be teaching us lessons from that reintegration process. So CT will be an important part. Regional economic connectivity will be another. And then economic modernization, including a new project to enhance  to create a regional electricity market.

QUESTION: Are you going on the trip?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: I am.

QUESTION: Who came up with California to Kilimanjaro?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: I think its witty.

MS ORTAGUS: I like the line.

AMBASSADOR WELLS: It used to be Bollywood to Hollywood, and now  (laughter). No, but what it 

MS ORTAGUS: I want to claim credit for it.

AMBASSADOR WELLS: But what it does signify  but thank you for noticing it, because what it does  (laughter). Because what it does signify 

QUESTION: Except you have to spell California with a K. (Laughter.)

AMBASSADOR WELLS: No, but it signifies a definitional change, because originally when we spoke about the Indo-Pacific, we did do Hollywood to Bollywood and put the border at the  on the western border of India. And now where weve aligned our definition of Indo-Pacific to match that of Japan and India and Australia, and so the Quad members all have a common vision, at least geographically, of the Indo-Pacific region.

QUESTION: And so they define the Indo-Pacific as going to East Africa?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Mm-hmm.

MS ORTAGUS: Okay, well be 

QUESTION: Can I ask one more question? Sorry, I just popped in late. Sorry.

MS ORTAGUS: Sure, go ahead.

QUESTION: I know I missed a little bit at the beginning, but with regard to the American soldiers who have already been killed this year in Afghanistan, how has that specifically impacted the peace talks?

MS ORTAGUS: I think she already answered that, so well send you to the transcript.

Francesco.

QUESTION: I was just wondering if you could switch off the record to update us on the U.S.-Taliban talks in Doha, even off the record.

MS ORTAGUS: No, but thanks for trying. No. But Im going to check on [Senior Administration Official] and see if hes one time, and well be back in just a few minutes.

QUESTION: I think I found the 60 million, by the way.

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Did you?

QUESTION: Is it national procurement authority? It was withheld because of concerns about transparency in accounting and managing finances?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Yes, yes.

MS ORTAGUS: Thank you.

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Thank you. (Laughter.) Youre hired. Youre hired. (Laughter.)
Pinnapha Phrueksapan, the widow of ethnic Karen leader Porlajee Rakchongcharoen, stands beside the portrait of her late husband following a ceremony in Bangkok, Sept. 16, 2019.

Citing a lack of evidence, a Thai public prosecutor on Friday announced that murder and other serious charges linked to the killing of an ethnic Karen activist in 2014 have been dropped against a national park officer and three of his former subordinates.

The four turned themselves in to authorities in Bangkok last November, a day after arrest warrants were filed in connection with the killing of activist Porlajee Rakchongcharoen (also known as Billy).

He went missing on April 17, 2014, the day he was stopped by park officers at a checkpoint while traveling to meet Karen villagers who had accused officials of setting fire to their homes three years earlier.

Charges were filed against Chaiwat Limlikhit-akson, the chief officer at Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi province at the time, and the others.

The committee considered the evidence from the Department of Special Investigations (DSI) case file, but found no evidence to suggest that Chaiwat and his men had killed Billy, where and how, prosecution spokesman Prayuth Petchkoon told reporters on Friday. Particularly, there is no evidence to support how Billy was killed.

Chiawat, now a senior official in southern Pattani province, said he did not know about the prosecutors decision.

If the news is true, I am grateful to the prosecutors who gave me mercy and justice, Chaiwat told reporters. I reaffirm that I have nothing to do with Billy at all.

The four were arrested two months after DSI members found bone fragments in an oil tank submerged in a reservoir inside the national park. DNA analysis confirmed the remains as those of the missing activist.

Billys widow, Pinnapha Phrueksapan, continues to believe that Chaiwat and his men abducted and killed her husband.

[I] plan to petition to the prosecutor next Monday, Pinnapha told reporters, adding that villagers were skeptical about the decision because there has been little progress in nearly six years.

The DSI presented evidence to the prosecutors to consider the case, but they dropped the charges. Everyone has doubts whether justice exists at all, she said.

In 2014, Billy was to testify in a court case filed by his fellow ethnic Karen farmers against Chaiwat and others. The farmers alleged that Chaiwat and others ransacked and burned their homes and properties in Pongluek-Bangkloy, a village near the national park, in 2011.

Billy disappeared a day before he was to take the witness stand and Chaiwat was acquitted over insufficient evidence later that year.

In his statement on Friday, the prosecutor pointed to Pinnaphas actions after Billy went missing to show she did not think he had been killed. Prayuth said Pinnapha believed Billy had been detained for harvesting wild honey and filed a request with the provincial court to order the park service to release him.

Prosecutors dropped the murder, abduction and other serious charges against Chaiwat and his underlings, but sustained one misconduct charge  failure to file a police report about Billy harvesting the honey from the national park.

Angkhana Neelapaijit, a former national human rights commissioner, questioned the prosecutors decision.

Normally, the DSI works very closely with the public prosecutors. In this case, I dont understand why the prosecutors dropped the charges while DSI says it has sufficient evidence, she told BenarNews. Or does the DSI not have solid evidence?

I disagree with the idea of having the widow file a case by herself because the family doesnt have access to all the evidence including forensics and witnesses. The justice minister who promised justice on this enforced disappearance of Billy should come out to publicly clarify the case.

The Bwa GNaw people, otherwise known as Karen, Kariang or Yang, are members of a hill tribe scattered across Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.

The number of Karen ranges between 7.5 million and 14 million, with most of them concentrated in Myanmar, according to official population estimates. The Australian Karen Foundation estimates as many as 1 million Karen live in Thailand.
At present, the Ukrainian side is conducting talks with German counterparts to shape the model for further cooperation.

The Ukrainian government has created a working group for the detailed discussion of cooperation with Germany's Deutsche Bahn.

The first sitting of the working group to discuss details of Ukrzaliznytsia's future cooperation with Deutsche Bahn, Germany's largest railway operator, was held, according to the Government portal.

"It is important for us to ensure a document of cooperation with Deutsche Bahn that will be inked at the beginning of February encompasses all important aspects, including the safety and social component. We are aware that Ukrzaliznytsia is a strategic country's asset. That is why we are now consulting with all the stakeholders to hear all the opinions," said Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk.

The working group includes representatives of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Ukrzaliznytsia, the profile parliamentary transport committee, key business associations and trade unions.

Read alsoGermany's Deutsche Bahn confirms participation in Ukrzaliznytsia management

The meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Transport will be held shortly inviting all interested parties to conduct a thorough discussion of future cooperation.

According to Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Kryklii, the ministry will consult with the parliamentary committee, business associations, profile organizations and trade unions over the next week to discuss all details of the agreement.

The European Business Association experts have expressed their readiness to join the working group: "Our organization positively assesses this initiative. We hope that this cooperation will help Ukrainian railways to get closer to European standards," Executive Director of the European Business Association Anna Derevyanko said.

Representatives of the trade union of railway and transport builders have also expressed their support. "Our organization represents the interests of 96% of the Ukrainian railways workers. We are ready to join a working group to discuss all the details of this collaboration. We are familiar with Deutsche Bahn's best practices of rail reform. We hope that this knowledge will allow to make Ukrainian railways efficient and modern. The most important thing is the support from the state, because we are talking about hundreds of thousands of railway employees today."

The prime minister stressed that the Ukrainian railway remains under the full control of the state, so the priority of the government is to protect the interests of all people who work in the company and to create a modern, comfortable and safe railway based on the German experience.

At present, the Ukrainian side is conducting talks with German counterparts to shape the model for further cooperation.

More details will be unveiled in early February when the Ukrainian party signs a Strategic Partnership Agreement with the German company.
Dateline How Will Millions of Myanmar Migrant Workers Vote in the 2020 Election?

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Ye Ni: Welcome to Dateline Irrawaddy! This week we will discuss the 2020 general election and the enfranchisement of migrant workers. Ko Htoo Chit, executive director of the Foundation for Education and Development, an organization helping Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand, and Ko Sai Ye Kyaw Swar Myint, executive director of the Peoples Alliance for Credible Elections, join me to discuss this. Im The Irrawaddy Burmese editor Ye Ni.

Ko Htoo Chit, as you have submitted papers to the government on the enfranchisement of migrant workers, could you explain what the Union Election Commission [UEC] has been doing for their voting rights?

Htoo Chit: Our organization is based in Thailand. Migrant workers in Thailand barely had voting rights in [Myanmars] 2015 general elections. Only a few hundred were able to vote. In fact, there are over 2 million documented Myanmar workers in Thailand, between the ages of 18 and 55, who are eligible voters. We estimate that there are over 1 million undocumented Myanmar workers. So in Thailand alone, there are about 3 million eligible voters. When the new government took office in 2016, we provided suggestions about what preparations the government should make to enable migrant workers to easily and smoothly cast their votes, which is their right as citizens. So far, we have not yet been informed about how [the government] has been preparing. If I remember correctly, the UEC [officials] said in an interview with VOA [Voice of America] that the commission will take measures for migrant workers, internally displaced persons and the disabled to ensure they are more enfranchised in the 2020 general election. But so far, we have not been informed about what measures they have taken.

YN: Ko Sai, as your organization monitors elections and provides input to the UEC, what did the commission do in 2015 to enable migrant workers to cast votes? And do you think the UEC is setting up a better system for the 2020 poll?

Sai Ye Kyaw Swar Myint: Under the existing electoral framework, there are no particular instructions or procedures about enfranchisement of migrant workers. But for Myanmar nationals living abroad, we refer to it as advance voting outside the constituency or advance voting in foreign countries, and there are procedures.

After the Election Commission announces the date for the election and when it is time [for advance voting], those living in foreign countries, if they want to cast a vote, will submit applications at the relevant Myanmar embassies. The embassies will send the application forms to the election commissions of the relevant townships where those voters are registered. This means people can only cast a vote in places where there is a Myanmar embassy and cannot cast a vote in places where there is no Myanmar embassy.

According to census data, there are more than 4 million [documented] Myanmar nationals living abroad. Most of them are in Thailand and Malaysia, which account for 3 million. According to the UEC, over 30,000 migrant workers submitted application forms to cast votes in the 2015 poll, and just over 20,000 migrant workers actually cast votes. Most of the voters were in Singapore. Nearly 19,000 Myanmar nationals in Singapore cast votes in 2015. In Thailand, the combined number of voters in Bangkok and Chiang Mai was barely 600.

The Philippines and Indonesia both have many citizens working abroad. In the case of Indonesia, [the countrys election authority] even formed a commission to register voters outside the country so that it can better manage voters inside the country and abroad. In the case of Myanmar, for the time being, there is no specific provision for how to ensure that Myanmar citizens outside the country can cast votes. So far, I have heard the commission only working on internal migrants and internally displaced persons. I havent seen the commission doing anything for Myanmar citizens outside the country.

YN: The UEC recently issued a new residency requirement regarding internal migrants [which allows people to vote in a constituency if they have resided there for 90 days, rather than the previous residency requirement of six months]. Ethnic parties have responded with criticisms [over concerns that migrants could influence the vote in ethnic areas even if they are only living there temporarily]. Ko Htoo Chit, what is your view on it?

HC: We welcome any act that contributes to easy and smooth voting for citizens living inside and outside the country. Internal migrants should only be allowed to cast votes for candidates in constituencies from where they come from, rather than cast votes for candidates in constituencies where they are temporarily living. The government can arrange for them to cast advance votes in that case [if they are living somewhere temporarily]. I feel like the government is treating ethnic parties unfairly. In Karenni State, which is called Kayah State by the government, the ethnic Bamar population is the highest compared to local ethnic people. It is unacceptable that people who have only lived there for three months can elect the parliamentarians to local parliament and Upper and Lower Houses for that state. We are concerned that there will be conflicts between migrants and locals, which can result in violence. So, I want the government to think fairly, like a gentleman.

YN: The residency requirement was reduced to 90 days from the previous six months. This allows people to cast their votes in places to which they have recently moved from their original places of residence. This led to criticisms from ethnic parties. Ko Sai, what is your view on this?

SYKSM: We called it the 180-day by-law in the 2015 poll. Regarding its background, five new townships were established in Naypyitaw back in 2010. Most of the government staff had moved from Yangon to Naypyitaw. But on their household registration certificates, they were registered in Yangon. Generally, only the government staff themselves moved to Naypyitaw and their families are left in Yangon. So, five new townships were established but there were virtually no voters there. Due to the political circumstances of that time, something needed to be done to address that. So, a provision was created to allow people who have lived in a place for at least 180 days to cast their votes there. It was not a problem at the time.

But, the political situation has become more complicated over time, from the 2015 election to the 2017 by-election. So, I want the government to consider this more carefully. No matter how good the election law is, if the participating political parties do not accept it, then that law should be carefully reviewed. This is an important norm for elections. No matter how good the election law is, the most important thing is that participating parties should agree on it. This is fundamentally important.

After the 2018 by-election, we suggested repealing the 180-day residency requirement. It no longer fits the current political situation. A better system should be introduced. Things are different now compared to 10 years ago. The political landscape has changed a lot. Our suggestion is to repeal the 180-day residency requirement and allow advance voting. There is no problem with allowing people to cast their votes in a new place, on the condition that they move to the new places with their entire families. But individuals who will only stay temporarily in a place should not be allowed to cast their votes in local elections. It is difficult for the UCE to manage such voters. Unless a voter officially registers a new place as his permanent residence, he should only be allowed to cast his vote in the place where he is originally registered. At least the township-level election committees can take care of this one month before the election. Doing this could dispel doubts about the electoral process and prevent instability.

YN: What else do you want to point out, Ko Htoo Chit?

HC: The government said migrant workers can cast votes at Myanmar embassies. But millions of migrant workers do not live near embassies. The [Myanmar] government and [foreign] employers must take care of this. Most of the Myanmar migrant workers go and work overseas under bilateral memoranda of understanding [MOUs] between two governments. The [Myanmar government] can add a line to the MOU asking employers to give a half-day holiday on election day [for their employees who are Myanmar nationals]. There are legal experts here. The government can discuss it with them.

Only around 600 out of millions of eligible voters [in Thailand] could cast their votes in the 2015 election. I dont want to see a similar situation. The [Myanmar government] cant just say Myanmar migrant workers have the right and they can cast ballots at Myanmar embassies. I dont want the ruling party only thinking about their electoral victory. It appears that some political parties think that they can still win even without the votes of some 5 million migrant workers. And it is fair to say most of the migrant workers are ethnic people. So, people would ask if [the government] is deliberately doing this to prevent ethnic parties from winning the election. Again, township-level election committees can use many solutions, such as advance voting for internal migrants so that they can vote for candidates in constituencies where they permanently reside, and not for candidates in constituencies where they temporarily reside.

The previous UEC submitted an election report to the government regarding migrant workers after the 2015 poll. The report said it is difficult for embassies to manage migrant voters and called for a review [of policies]. The report also suggested introducing voting by mail instead of requiring voters to vote at embassies. Four million people is not a small number, and all of them have the right to cast a vote. And their annual remittance is around 2.7 billion [kyats, or US$1.8 million], accounting for 4 percent of Myanmars GDP. While they are important for the countrys economy, they are losing their right to vote. This is an important issue for our country. In some countries, we know where the Myanmar migrant workers are concentrated. For example Penang or Kuala Lumpur [in Malaysia] or Chiang Mai [in Thailand]. In such places, [Myanmar and the host governments] can make agreements for temporary voting stations that can be opened there on election day for Myanmar migrant workers. This practice is also used in other countries. For example, in France, there are a lot of African migrant workers. So, in cities with large populations of African migrant workers, despite the fact that there are no embassies there representing the African countries, the French government allows polling stations for African migrant workers. We can arrange for similar things.

What we always measure in elections is inclusivenesshow many citizens can participate in the election. Now, only around 30,000 of 4 million [Myanmar nationals abroad] cast votes, so millions of people are losing their right to vote. They are disenfranchised because of [problems with] procedures. It is an important issue to consider, if we are going to improve the quality of our elections. Special attention should be given to this, I think. Migrant workers not only provide income for the country, but also contribute to the development of the country with their experience and technical skills. In Thailand, just over 600 out of 2 million Myanmar people there cast votes in the 2015 election. From what we saw, most of those 600 people are embassy staff and Myanmar students learning in Thai universities. Migrant workers barely cast any votes. I have no knowledge of this, but the government, in consultation with experts, can find ways to effectively enfranchise migrant workers. At the same time, the government should review its new residency requirement for voting, as this could even harm national unity.

YN: Thank you for your contributions!
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 10:29:20|Editor: Lu Hui

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WUHAN, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- China has sent 450 military medical staff, including professionals who have experience in the fight against SARS or Ebola, to the novel coronavirus hardest-hit city of Wuhan.

The medics, in three teams sent by medical universities of the army, navy and air force of the People's Liberation Army, arrived in Wuhan by military aircraft on Friday night.

The teams, composed of experts in respiratory health, infectious diseases, hospital infection control and intensive care unit, will be dispatched to the Wuhan hospitals with large numbers of novel coronavirus-related pneumonia patients, according to the military authorities.

Chinese health authorities announced Saturday that 1,287 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus, including 237 in critical conditions, had been reported in the country by the end of Friday.

The pneumonia situation had resulted in 41 deaths, the National Health Commission said.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 12:03:26|Editor: ZD

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HOUSTON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- An explosion Friday at a warehouse in Houston killed two workers and injured 20 others, local media reported quoting authorities.
Noguromi Masaiti, former Onojo City Councilor, enjoyed Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Companys performance at Fukuoka Sunpalace Hall on the afternoon of Jan. 21, 2020. (Lu Yong/The Epoch Times)

FUKUOKA, JapanWhen surfing on the Internet, Noguromi Masaiti, former Onojo City Councilor, was attracted by the Shen Yun advertisement he saw on his computer. After checking it out, he decided to see the Shen Yun performance immediately.

He was deeply touched by the spectacular performance presented by Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company at Fukuoka Sunpalace Hall on the afternoon of Jan. 21, 2020 and felt as if his soul was soothed.

Once the curtain was lifted, I couldnt hold my tears, he said. I felt the power of divine beings.

Captivated by New York-based Shen Yuns extraordinary performance of classical Chinese dance with difficult skills, he admired Shen Yun performers dedication and devotion every moment.

I immediately perceived how arduous training it takes [to accomplish such a high level performance].

As it takes perfect collaboration and repeated training, steadfast conviction should be something indispensable, he added.

When hearing that all of these artists are Falun Gong practitioners believing in the principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance, he came to know its their belief that contributes to the splendid performance.

Falun Dafa is also known as Falun Gong. It is a practice that combines teachings for self-improvement and meditation exercises. The teachings are centered on three main principlestruth, compassion, and tolerance. Shen Yuns artists practice Falun Dafa, and it is a source of inspiration for our performances, according to Shen Yuns website.

The website further explains, Both China and the West have a history of artists integrating spirituality into their work. In ancient China, artists would practice meditation and seek inner stillness and a connection with the universe; they believed that to create real art, one had to cultivate virtue and inner purity. Today, Shen Yuns artists follow this noble tradition.

No wonder [Shen Yun artists] can accomplish such a wonderful performance, he continued.

Each and every one of them is just awesome, he said. I think communists believing in atheism can never perform such a splendid performance.

Noguromi Masaiti especially praised the value promoted by Shen Yun and believes that its something that society truly needs nowadays.

It brings people hope and spiritual comfort, he said.

Referring to Shen Yuns popularity around the world, the former city councilor reiterated, It would be very difficult to do so without the help from divine beings.

With reporting by Lu Yong, Miranda Tsai, and Billy Shyu.

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.
24.01.2020 LISTEN

To eliminate cross border malaria in Southern Africa, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, awarded MOSASWA (Mozambique, South Africa and Eswatini) a grant in 2017. Following the successful completion of the original grant, the grant has been extended for a further 3 years to December 2022.

MOSASWA is a trilateral agreement between the Mozambique, South African and Eswatini governments, to control and eliminate malaria in the region.

Goodbye Malaria together with partners; Nandos, Vodacom and Airports Company South Africa, has contributed US $5.5million earmarked to the MOSASWA grant. Together with The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation contribution, as well as The Global Funds investment, this brings the grant total to $ 30 000 000.00 (approx. R 430 000 000.00)

To celebrate the second grant, Goodbye Malaria, in partnership with The Global Fund hosted the launch event on 23 January 2020 in Johannesburg. With a soulful introduction performed by the famous Ndlovu Choir, the day included two-panel discussions that tackled the issues of cross-border collaboration and bringing the malaria epidemic to zero.

The first grant, which ran from January 2017 to December 2019 totalled US $9, 78 million and impacted over 1.1 million lives annually with the upcoming grant expected impact to exceed over 2 million lives.

Through the implementation of an indoor residual spraying (IRS) programme in Southern Mozambique, the 2018 incidence in Maputo Province has decreased by 46% compared to 2016, even in the face of increasing transmission in the region.

The second grant will continue to target IRS in Southern Mozambique, expanding to both Gaza and Inhambane provinces. The grant will align country strategy and programmes along borders, while strengthening surveillance, case detection and malaria advocacy across all three countries.

At the event, Head of Grant Management at The Global Fund, Mark Eldon-Edinton said, Funding for malaria hasnt decreased and with good planning at the country and regional level, more money will avail itself. We cannot control malaria. Its expensive. We need to eliminate it. The virus constantly mutates.

As an innovative partnership, the days first panel included esteemed guests, the Honourable Dr. Zweli Mkhize, the National Public Health Director of Mozambique, Dr. Maria Benigna Pedro Matsinhe; the Director of Health of Eswatini, Dr Vusi Magagula; Head of Grant Management at the Global Fund, Mark Eldon-Edington; and Founder of Nandos and Goodbye Malaria, Robbie Brozin, moderated by Dr. Brian Brink, retired chief medical officer of Anglo American.
An Oxford University-backed VR peace project, Project Dastaan, helps reconnect refugees of the 1947 Partition with their ancestral homes and communities. This unique project seeks to promote cultural dialogue between the three countries  Pakistan, Bangladesh and India  to educate younger generations about the common ancestries of their predecessors and to immortalise the experiences of those who suffered under colonialism.

According to the official website of the organisation, the project has 'three arms', the Social Impact Program, an interactive VR Experience, and a Documentary. The project further aims to act as a step towards mutual understanding between India and Pakistan. Wilke speaking to a local media outlet, Sam Dalrymple, Co-Founder and Operations Lead reportedly said that Dastaan is ultimately about stripping away the layers of politics and trying to solve a very simple problem of that the children forced to leave their homes have never been able to go back again.

READ: Coronavirus Mutes Lunar New Year Mood In South East Asia, Temples Remain Shut

In 1947 British rule ended and India Pakistan were created resulting in the migration of 14 million. Most have not been able to see their homes again. With your support we take Partition refugees home using VR

Donate here: https://t.co/X2ytrJ7T4A#projectdastaan #ShareYourDastaan pic.twitter.com/dg1Y7zvBWR  Project Dastaan (@ProjectDastaan) January 17, 2020

READ: China To Build Second Hospital In Wuhan Amid Rising Death Toll

The Mission of Project Dastaan

Further explaining the three parts of the project on the website, The Social Impact Program helps to track down the childhood homes and villages of partition witnesses, and films the in a 360 video. The second, Child of Empire, a flagship VR experience of the project through which the migration stories will also be used as an educational tool to teach partition history. The third is a feature documentary which is called The Lost Migration and shares first-hand survivor narratives through documentary-style storytelling.

According to the crowdfunding website of the project, Our Social Impact program uses an extensive volunteer network to track down the childhood homes and villages of our witnesses. Backed by the South Asia programme at Oxford Univesity, we use VR headsets to give these migrants, who are often over 80 years old, a virtual tour of their childhood towns and homes.

READ: Video Of Woman Walking Away After Falling From 9th Floor Breaks Internet

READ: 3-year-old Boy Leading Pre-K Class In Prayer Melts Hearts, Watch Video
A Renaissance pendant featuring a tiny white-enameled gold cupid with wings and a bow and arrow of rubies, diamonds and emeralds was followed by a necklace of exceptional emeralds that Catherine the Great gave to Sir John Hobart, the second Earl of Buckinghamshire and British ambassador to Russia in the 1760s.

The presentation included some of Mr. Arikawas particular specialties, like tiaras (he bought his first, by Faberge, about 30 years ago, when the style was firmly out of fashion) and engraved gems (he said these were considered the height of artistic achievement  beyond painting or sculpture  during the Renaissance).

How does he know which pieces to buy? And then, which to sell to his clients or to add to his collection? Its totally instinct for me, Mr. Arikawa said.

David Warren, senior international jewelry director at Christies, said that Mr. Arikawas deep knowledge and understanding of such a broad spectrum of the Western jewelry tradition are what distinguish him as a collector. It is his instinctive ability to recognize the museum-quality pieces across all of these many periods that makes him truly stand out, Mr. Warren said.

Mr. Arikawas dealership, called Albion Art, has proved to be a means to his desired end. Business is a method, he said. The most important thing is the value we can create for others during our lifetime. So he has gathered a group of wealthy Japanese supporters, whom he declines to identify. Their contributions, and the profits from sales to Albion clients, have financed the collection.
The 62nd annual Grammy Awards ceremony is still happening on Sunday, despite such controversies as the onetime Recording Academy CEO claiming the voting is rigged, the Academy denying the charges, and a general lack of harmony. All this 2020 Grammy Awards discord makes the annual extravaganza more unpredictable than ever, which likely means surprises will occur on the red carpet, as well.

Awards show red carpet coverage is often where stars say unexpected things, and the Grammys red carpet is known for giving musicians the opportunity to strut their style. Grammy nominees and presenters are known for being particularly outspoken, as well, so we wont be surprised if the red carpet arrivals have thoughts to share about former Recording Academy president, Deborah Dugan, who has been placed on administrative leave, and who has been accusing Grammy voters of conflicts of interest. The Recording Academy, meanwhile, has been denying Dugans charges, and said her conduct has been abusive and bullying."

(How to stream 2020 Grammy Awards red carpet coverage online: The Grammy Awards will air live on CBS, and Grammy Red Carpet Live, the official red carpet arrivals coverage, can be streamed live on CBS.com via CBS All Access. Coverage begins at 4 p.m. PT Sunday, Jan. 26; here are details on how to subscribe to CBS All Access)

Here are more details about coverage of the stars who will arrive on the Grammy red carpet at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday:

What: E! Countdown to the Red Carpet: The 2020 Grammy Awards, which is usually the time-filling lead-in to when the stars actually start arriving on the red carpet.

When: 1-3 p.m. PT Sunday, Jan. 26

Channel: E!; stream via Hulu + Live TV; and fuboTV

What: E! Live From the Red Carpet: The 2020 Grammy Awards, with hosts Ryan Seacrest and Giuliana Rancic talking to celebrities as they arrive.

When: 3-5 p.m. PT Sunday, Jan. 26

Channel: E!; stream via Hulu + Live TV; and fuboTV

What: Grammy Red Carpet Live, the official pre-Grammys red carpet show, with Kevin Frazier and Keltie Knight interviewing the stars.

When: 4-5 p.m. PT Sunday, Jan. 26

Channel: CBS; stream via CBS All Access

What: The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, the show that celebrates what the announcer always calls Musics Biggest Night, hosted by Alicia Keys.

When: 5-8:30 p.m. PT Sunday, Jan. 26

Channel: CBS; stream via CBS All Access

-- Kristi Turnquist

kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
A MAN who is charged in connection with a burglary in Askeaton during which a safe was taken from a shop was refused bail following a strong garda objection.

Michael Harty, 35, who has an address at Rossmanagher Road, Sixmilebridge, County Clare appeared before Newcastle West Court after he was charged in connection the break-in which occurred during the early hours of May 3, 2018.

In addition to burglary and criminal damage charges, the defendant is also accused of being a passenger in a stolen car which gardai believe was used during the break in.

Opposing a bail application, Detective Sergeant Mike Reidy said it will be alleged the defendant was one of four masked men who forcibly enter a shop at Clounreask, Askeaton at around 1.45am.

It was a planned and premeditated crime, he told Judge Mary Larkin.

He said extensive damage was caused to the shuttering and inside the premises and that a safe, containing a significant amount of cash, was removed from the shop and placed in the boot of a black Audi S4 Quattro.

However, the safe fell onto the road and was left behind as the intruders took off at speed in the car.

Judge Mary Larkin was told the vehicle, which had been stolen in the UK a number of weeks earlier, was located crashed at Fanningstown, Croom a short time after the burglary.

Detective Sergeant Reidy said it will be alleged that DNA matching that of the defendant was located on one of the airbags which was deployed.

A number of weapons including a crowbar, axe and a nail bar were recovered from the Audi car and it is the State case that these were used by the intruders.

The detective sergeant submitted the case against Mr Harty is strong and that he faces the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence if convicted.

My belief is that he will not appear (in court) to answer the charges, he said adding the defendant spent a number of months in Northern Ireland last summer.

Barrister Erin OHagan asked the court to note the alleged offences occurred some time ago and she submitted the evidence against her client was extremely vague.

She said the father-of-five is due to marry his partner later this month and that he was willing to abide by any bail conditions imposed by the court.

Seeking bail, Ms OHagan told the court Mr Harty intends to contest the charges and will hotly contest the allegations against him.

Having considered the objection, Judge Larkin said it was an appropriate case to refuse bail.

All and all, Im going to refuse bail, she said.

A file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions and the matter has been adjourned to early next month for directions
The Indian government is planning to provide Uzbekistan with a soft loan of $40 million to advance defense cooperation between the two countries, Indian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Shri Santosh Jha was quoted as saying by the Uzbek podrobno.uz news agency on Saturday

TASHKENT (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2020) The Indian government is planning to provide Uzbekistan with a soft loan of $40 million to advance defense cooperation between the two countries, Indian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Shri Santosh Jha was quoted as saying by the Uzbek podrobno.uz news agency on Saturday.

The diplomat added that bilateral agreements on cooperation in the field of military medicine and military education were being actively implemented.

The ambassador also said that the two nations were working together on such political and strategic issues as the fight against the common threats of radicalism, extremism and terrorism.

The two countries held their first joint working group meeting on defense in February of last year, while the first joint military drills took place in November.
One of the many tactics anti-gunners push is to paint 'gun control' opponents as unreasonable. That's not overly difficult, I'm afraid. Not because we're unreasonable so much as a complicit media routinely dismisses our concerns as irrelevant.

Recently, I came across an op-ed that claimed "reasonable" control, if such a thing exists (hint: It doesn't), was nothing for us to fear in the least.

And fear is exactly the word. It's practically an article of faith for gun lovers that the government is coming for their guns. The National Rifle Association and other gun groups, and the politicians in those groups' pockets, have told them just that for years.

What exactly have Virginia legislators done to get gun lovers in such an uproar?

First, they banned guns from the state capitol building. (That's such a radical idea that our gun-friendly Legislature here in Charleston has had a similar ban in place for years, and added metal detectors and X-ray machines to help enforce the ban in 2016.)

That's not quite what happened.

What occurred was the governor declaring a state of emergency because people who disagreed with him decided to protest. He used that as justification to ban guns from the state capitol building in a way that went against the letter of the law. Then a complicit court upheld the ban despite the plain meaning of the law in question. .....
Home Search ICH How Republicans made millions on the tax cuts they pushed through Congress



The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is a case study of how lawmakers make themselves richer with the bills they pass.



By Peter Cary / Center for Public Integrity January 24, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - As part of the bill, Republicans approved tax breaks in 2017 for seven classes of assets many of the wealthier members of Congress held at the time, including partnerships, small corporations, real estate, and several esoteric investment vehicles. While they sold the bill as a package of business and middle-class tax cuts that would not help the wealthy, the cuts likely saved members of Congress hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes collectively, while the corporate tax cut hiked the value of their holdings. It feels to me like a kleptocracy, said Jeff Hauser, director of the Revolving Door Project at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a left-leaning think tank in Washington, DC. Such congressional self-enrichment has been thrust into the 2020 presidential campaign. Democratic candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren has said her first priority as president would be to pass an anti-corruption package that, among other things, would forbid members of Congress from owning individual stocks, bonds, and other securities so they could not benefit from tax or financial laws they passed. Under current law, members of Congress can trade stocks and then use their powerful positions to increase the value of those stocks and pad their own pockets, Warren wrote in a September Medium post. Republicans own lots of stock Two years after the passage of the Trump tax act, its effects  some obvious, some hidden  are coming into focus. One is its cost: Contrary to Republican claims, the law is not paying for itself and is likely to burden the nation with an additional $1.9 trillion in debt over 11 years beginning in 2018, according to the Congressional Budget Office. And while the law cut tax rates for people of all income brackets, some of its tax benefits overtly favored the wealthy, such as the 2.6 percentage point tax rate cut in the highest bracket and the doubling of the estate tax exemption to $11.2 million. Other provisions were subtler yet favored the wealthy even more: tax breaks for their investments, for instance, or changes that boosted the value of their stocks. Among the rich beneficiaries are members of Congress, more than half of whom were found to be millionaires in 2014. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter The tax laws centerpiece is its record cut in the corporate tax rate, from 35 percent to 21 percent. At the time of its passage, most of the bills Republican supporters said the cut would result in higher wages, factory expansions, and more jobs. Instead, it was mainly exploited by corporations, which bought back stock and raised dividends. In 2018, stock buybacks exceeded $1 trillion for the first time ever, according to TrimTabs, an investment research firm. Net corporate dividends reached a new high in 2018 of more than $1.3 trillion, nearly 6 percent more than the previous year. The result, analysts say: The buybacks boosted stock prices, and bigger dividends put even more money in the pockets of stockholders. Promises that the tax act would boost investment have not panned out. Corporate investment is now at lower levels than before the act passed, according to the Commerce Department. Though employment and wages have increased, it is hard to separate the effect of the tax act from general economic improvements since the 2008 recession. The boost in stock prices, however, was predictable. As the bill was reaching its final stages in 2017, Bryan Rich, the CEO of Logic Fund Management, a wealth advisory company, wrote that the proposed corporate rate cut will go right to the bottom line of companies  popping EPS [earnings per share] and driving stocks even higher. Those benefits mainly went to the rich, as the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans own 84 percent of all stocks. The 10 richest Republicans in Congress in 2017 who voted for the tax bill held more than $731 million in assets, almost two-thirds of which were in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other instruments, according to Roll Calls semiannual assessment of Congresss wealth. Assets include holdings by spouse and member-spouse jointly. Monetary totals from assessment of 115th Congress by RollCall. Other investments that got tax breaks include: LLCs, S-corps, PTPs, MLPs, and REITs. LLCs are limited liability companies. S-corps are small corporations that dont pay corporate taxes. PTPs are publicly traded partnerships. MLPs are master limited partnerships, a subset of PTPs, usually invested in oil and gas. REITs are Real Estate Investment Trusts. The precise amount of Republicans windfall cant be determined without a review of the members tax returns, which they are not required to disclose. All but one of the 47 Republicans who sat on the three key committees overseeing the drafting of the tax bill own stocks and stock mutual funds, according to Public Integritys analysis. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) was among them. A member of the Ways and Means Committee, which oversaw the writing of the tax bill in the House, Kelly reported in 2018 that his spouse owned 101 individual stocks, Apple included, with a minimum total value of $439,000. When he voted for the 2017 tax cuts, which will be funded by nearly $2 trillion in added debt, Kelly called it the most important vote Ive ever cast. Yet 19 months later, he voted against a two-year budget agreement that added to the national debt by hiking government spending for defense and nondefense programs by $320 billion. Kelly warned that America is driving toward a fiscal cliff. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) was chair of the Senate Finance Committee in 2017, when he and his wife owned mutual funds and a limited liability corporation valued between $562,000 and $1.430 million, paying them between $12,700 and $38,500 in dividends and capital gains, according to Hatchs financial disclosure forms. They also owned a blind trust worth between $1 million and $5 million. (Congressional financial disclosure forms do not require members to report the precise value of assets and income but rather in 11 different ranges, each with a minimum and a maximum value.) For decades, Hatch, who retired in 2018, had been one of the loudest deficit hawks in Congress. Just 10 months before he would shepherd the tax bill through his committee, Hatch said, The national debt crisis poses a significant and growing threat to the economic and national security of this country. His concern over national security lasted two months. In April, Hatch signaled he was open to a Republican tax bill that would likely add to the national debt. When Republicans passed the tax bill in December 2017, he beamed. This is a historic night, he said at a press conference. (The Center for Public Integrity sought comment from 13 current or former members of Congress mentioned in this article; only two responded.) A big bump from overseas onshoring Republican lawmakers also boosted the value of their stock holdings when they encouraged American corporations to repatriate money they were holding overseas. The tax law decreed that future foreign profits would not be taxed at high rates, and that previously earned profits stashed abroad  an estimated $2.7 trillion  would be taxed one time at no more than 15.5 percent. In 2017, Apple was sitting on $250 billion in overseas profits. In January 2018, the month after President Donald Trump signed the tax bill into law, the tech behemoth and third-largest American company said it would pay the new, lower tax and start bringing the cash home. Just four months later, Apple said it would buy back $100 billion of its stock and hike its dividend by 16 percent. Apple shares increased almost 9 percent by the weeks end. In April 2019, Apple announced $75 billion more in buybacks, a move analysts said would likely drive its stock price higher. A day after the announcement, shares increased in value nearly 5 percent. The stock continued to hit record highs late last year. That increase and higher dividends augmented the holdings of 43 Republicans who voted for the tax bill, including seven senators and their spouses who owned Apple stock in 2018: John Hoeven of North Dakota; David Perdue of Georgia; Arizonas Jeff Flake, now retired; Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma; and the spouses of Pat Roberts of Kansas, Maines Susan Collins, and Shelley Capito of West Virginia. A spokesperson for Hoeven said that he follows Senate regulations and reporting requirements. Sen. Collinss husbands portfolio decisions are all made by a financial adviser, a Collins spokesperson said, and he has not bought or sold Apple stock since 2015. Perdue is one of the wealthiest senators, with a net worth of $15.8 million, $14 million of which is in stocks, according to Roll Call. In 2018, with his wife, Perdue owned $100,000 to $250,000 in Apple stock, he reported. The couple sold some of it and received annual dividends and capital gains that year between $15,000 and $50,000. The optics that the tax cuts would boost the prices of stock he owned apparently didnt concern Perdue. Weeks before Republicans passed the tax bill, Fox News host Maria Bartiromo asked Perdue if he was worried that the corporate cuts would result in buybacks and increased dividends instead of new jobs. Well, Maria, he answered, I come from the school that, you know, all of the above is acceptable. This is capitalism. He later added that it was all about capital flow, whether for jobs, economic growth, or dividends. An affinity for small business  and pass-throughs Passing a law that helped fuel increases in stock prices wasnt the only way Republicans enriched themselves. The new law also contained a 20 percent deduction for income from so-called pass-through businesses, a provision called the crown jewel of the act by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, a lobbying group. Pass-throughs are single-owner businesses, partnerships, limited liability companies, (known as LLCs) and special corporations called S-corps. Most real estate companies are organized as LLCs. Trump owns hundreds of them, and the Center for Public Integritys analysis found that 22 of the 47 members of the House and Senate tax-writing committees in 2017 were invested in them. Pass-throughs can be found in any industry. They pay no corporate taxes and steer their profits as income to business owners or investors, who are taxed only once at their individual rates. Despite their favored treatment as a business vehicle, the 2017 tax act did them another favor: It allowed 20 percent to be deducted off the top of the pass-through income for tax purposes. In the Senate, the champion for the pass-through break was Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who was a Budget Committee member when the tax bill was being written. He argued that because the bill was slated to give big corporations a 14 percent cut in their tax rate, smaller businesses should get a break, too. I just have in my heart a real affinity for these owner-operated pass-throughs, he told the New York Times when the Senate was considering the tax bill in November 2017. No doubt Johnson, with his wife, held interests that year in four real estate or manufacturing LLCs worth between $6.2 million and $30.5 million, from which they received income that year between $250,000 and $2.1 million, according to his financial disclosure form. How much money lawmakers will pocket from the 20 percent pass-through deduction cant be determined without an examination of their tax returns. There are limits on how much of the deduction can be taken based on total income and business category. But in some cases, the tax savings could run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Johnson declined to comment for this article. And while the provision did help small businesses in certain favored categories, the benefits of the pass-through deduction are heavily tilted toward the wealthy. Sixty-one percent of the benefits of this provision will go to the top 1 percent of taxpayers in 2024, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the congressional agency that analyzes tax bills. GOP real estate owners make out big Besides the laws benefits to real estate pass-throughs, real estate in general was hugely favored by the tax law, allowing property exchanges to avoid taxation, the deduction of new capital expenses in just one year versus longer depreciation schedules, and an exemption from limits on interest deductions. If you are a real estate developer, you never pay tax, said Ed Kleinbard, a former head of Congresss Joint Committee on Taxation. Members of Congress own a lot of real estate. Public Integritys review of financial disclosures found that 29 of the 47 GOP members of the committees responsible for the tax bill hold interests in real estate, including small rental businesses, LLCs, and massive real estate investment trusts (REITs), which pay dividends to investors. The tax bill allows REIT investors to deduct 20 percent from their dividends for tax purposes. Real estate pass-throughs got an especially sweet gift in the form of a provision inserted into the tax bill behind the closed doors of the House-Senate conference committee. The Senate bill under consideration based a companys pass-through deductions on the total amount of wages paid to employees. Because real-estate pass-through companies typically have few employees, however, this meant they could offer only tiny deductions to investors. A stroke of the pen fixed that: Someone changed the law to allow real estate companies to use the value of their assets  in addition to the size of their payrolls  to calculate pass-through benefits. Because such companies can hold sizable assets, suddenly they, too, could offer the full 20 percent deduction to investors. In my judgment, it was a big giveaway to the real estate community, and they are very good lobbyists, said Steve Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington, DC. That giveaway contributed to last years record $1.02 trillion federal revenue shortfall. One Republican senator who benefited from the last-minute provision was Tennessees Bob Corker, who at the time owned or was a partner in 18 real estate businesses, LLCs, and partnerships, records show. His reported income from them was between $2.1 million and $11.1 million in 2017. Corker, who retired in 2018, told Public Integrity he had nothing to do with the provision or the 20 percent pass-through deduction. It was all Ron Johnsons idea, Corker said. The budget deficit is going up so that people like Ron Johnson and Bob Corker can pay less in taxes, said Hauser, of the Revolving Door Project. Forbidding self-dealing would help close the loopholes Republicans wouldnt have had many of these apparent conflicts if Elizabeth Warrens anti-corruption plan had been in effect. Much of the plan was pulled from her Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act, which she introduced in the Senate in 2018. Among its provisions, the bill would forbid lawmakers to own or trade individual stocks, bonds, commodities, hedge funds, derivatives, or complex investment vehicles. Members would be required to put their assets in widely held investment vehicles such as mutual funds. Warren and her husband were invested in 20 mutual funds in 2017, but no individual stocks. Members could no longer own commercial real estate, though they could keep businesses with revenue under $5 million  which could include a lot of pass-throughs. Warrens bill hasnt moved out of the Senate Finance Committee; an identical bill in the House also remains idle. Warrens plan faces an uphill climb, even among Democrats. Its very difficult to get congresspeople to pass rules that make life exceedingly difficult for themselves, said Beth Rotman, the money in politics and ethics director at Common Cause, a government watchdog in Washington, DC. But its happened in the past. In 1978, Congress passed the Ethics in Government Act in the wake of the Watergate scandal. It requires certain government officials, including members of Congress, to file annual financial forms  records the Center for Public Integrity used for this analysis. And in 2012, Congress passed a bill that made it unlawful to use insider information to trade stocks, required members to report stock trades within 45 days of the transaction, and required lawmakers to file disclosure forms online in a searchable, sortable, and downloadable database  so conflicts of interest would be easy to detect. (Within a year, Congress had removed the searchable and sortable language from the law. The financial disclosures are now available online, but they are not easily searched or sorted.) Apparently just because of disclosure, stock trading by senators dropped by about two-thirds in the three years following the laws enactment, according to a study by Craig Holman at the government watchdog group Public Citizen. But Holman said he found that some senators continued to trade in stocks in the very businesses they oversaw in their committees  a practice Public Citizen wants banned. Ironically, it was Congress that passed laws that restrict other federal government officials from owning stocks or assets that would benefit from the officials decisions  or require them to recuse themselves from such decisions. Yet Congress has not passed legislation that bans itself from the same practice. Congress should have the same rules put on them that the executive branch has, said Rotman of Common Cause. The executive branch conflict of interest rules are stronger. For the 2017 tax act, Holman of Public Citizen notes that about six years ago, researchers found that more than half of the members of Congress were millionaires. They are passing tax laws and legislation that disproportionately favors the wealthy class, Holman said. And that means they personally benefit from this type of legislation. And, from what weve seen, especially from the tax cuts and jobs act of 2017, he added, that tax bill clearly favored the very wealthy over the rest of Americans. And that means it favored Congress over the rest of America. Peter Cary is a consulting reporter for the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative news organization in Washington, DC. Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Search Information Clearing House === Click Here To Support Information Clearing House Your support has kept ICH free on the Web since 2002. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load.
The mother of the teenager who fought off Reynhard Sinaga has described the chilling moment she thought the serial rapist had died  and how she feared her son would be charged with his murder.

As he came round after being drugged by Sinaga, Peter fought frantically to escape, lashing out with punches and leaving the Indonesian student with a suspected bleed on the brain.

Police had initially been sceptical of Peter's story of being raped, so when a detective rang his mother a day later saying they needed to speak to him urgently, she feared the worst.

She said: 'That phone call was the moment I thought, 'Oh my God, this guy has died' and that my son was going to prison. I thought my son's life was over.'

Predator: A CCTV image of Reynhard Sinaga in a corridor at the flats where he attacked men

It soon transpired, however, that Sinaga was alive and recovering well in hospital. But instead of being able to savour the relief, Peter and his family were then horrified to learn that he had been sexually assaulted.

A video found on a mobile phone showed Sinaga abusing Peter as he lay drugged and unconscious in Sinaga's grubby flat in Manchester.

In a profoundly moving interview, Peter's mother spoke of her pride in the way her son coped following the attack and his courage in facing Sinaga down in court. But she is beset by fears that her son, despite 'putting on a brave face', may be 'bottling' up his emotions.

In tears she said: 'I get emotional when I think about him being so brave and what he has gone through. Everybody deals with things differently. It has affected some of the lads [the other victims] quite a lot mentally.

Sinaga, 36, preyed on at least 195 men, incapacitating his victims with the date-rape drug GHB before filming his attacks

'I hope it is not a front. I don't think it is because of his personality and the way he behaves has not changed. I think he is living in denial a bit because he has just been told what happened to him  he has no physical memory of it happening to him.

'In his mind, he woke up in time and fought the guy off and that's the way he deals with it. He didn't want to see the video because that would have made it real. This is why I think he has remained his chirpy and bouncy self.'

She added: 'I was really pleased when he got a girlfriend when he went off to university because I was wondering if this might have put him off or changed him.

'It was a good sign for me that he was moving on and being a normal lad and doing what normal 19-year-olds do.'

That may be so, but Peter's mother said she and her husband continue to keep a close eye on him for any sign that he may start to struggle with what happened. There have been moments that have caused them to pause for thought. 'One of his ex-girlfriend's best friends was an Indonesian gay guy who looked similar to Sinaga,' the mother said. 'He did have some issues at first with him  he didn't trust him.'

She revealed she was at first cross with her son when he called her at 5.20am on June 2, 2017, and pleaded with her for a lift.

She drove to pick him up, not knowing the horrifying ordeal he had been through. But when she arrived at the block of flats her son had directed her to, she was confronted by a scene that would strike fear into the heart of any parent.

She described seeing flashing blue lights and 'police everywhere' before spotting her son speaking to officers in the foyer.

The mother of the teenager who fought off Reynhard Sinaga has described the chilling moment she thought the serial rapist had died  and how she feared her son would be charged with his murder

The bedroom floor, where dozens of rapes took place, in the home of Reynhard Sinaga in Manchester

She recalled: 'I could see his T-shirt was all pulled around his neck and I said to him, 'Is that your blood? Whose blood is that?'

'That's when he said, 'I think he was trying to rape me.' I just froze at that point.'

She was asked by officers to drive her son to a nearby police station and on the way Peter opened up about what had happened to him. She said: 'I was saying to him, 'What the hell happened? You could have been killed.'

'He was saying, 'He wouldn't let me out. I think he was trying to rape me.' '

Within two days Peter would go from being treated as a suspect to a rape victim.

As the full horror of Sinaga's depravity began to emerge, Peter was called back to the police station and given the news that a video showed Sinaga raping him at the flat. The devastated teenager asked a policewoman to break the news to his mother.

Bottles of alcohol which were used to spike victims in the home of Reynhard Sinaga in Manchester

His mother said: 'A policewoman took me into a side room and sat me down and told me what they had found. We are not a family of screamers and shouters  we don't burst into tears.

'I just had a numb feeling, like what do we do now?

'I am quite a calm person, like my son, but his dad is more of a hot-head. When we got home I told him that police had found a rape video he was yelling and calling Sinaga names, saying, 'that dirty b******.' He was really angry.'

Jailing him for 30 years earlier this month, a judge branded Sinaga (pictured) a 'monster'

She said the traumatic experience had made the family, who live in a neat, three-bed semi-detached house in the suburbs of Manchester, stronger. 'We have gone through it together and supported each other through it,' she said. 'His sister was only 16 when all of this first happened but we didn't keep it from her.

'We didn't want to keep asking him if he was OK His dad is a bit more worried when Peter is out. He will be checking his phone and following Peter's social media updates about where he is and making sure he is not alone.

'I don't get too worried. He's not going to put himself in that situation again. He has a really lovely bunch of mates  girls and boys  and they have been amazing.'

But she added: 'I do worry if what happened could affect him in later life. We are all keeping a close eye on him.'
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Hyderabad House here on Saturday, ahead of the 71st Republic Day celebrations.

The Brazil President is on a four-day visit to India and will be the chief guest at the Republic Day Parade.

Earlier in the day, Bolsonaro received a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan by President Ram Nath Kovind and the Prime Minister.

The Brazilian President also met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Bolsonaro's visit is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations in the fields of agriculture, energy, and defence.

He is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising several ministers, senior officials, chairman of Brazil-India Friendship Group in the Brazilian Parliament and businessmen.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
PM said he wants remove 'dil ki doori and Dilli ki doori': Omar Abdullah after meet on J&K

Restore statehood first, if you want elections in J&K: Omar Abdullah to Centre

Govt needs to give sense of security to people cutting across religions in J&K: Omar

Mamata tweets, 'couldn't recognise Omar Abdullah'; his bearded photo goes viral

India

oi-Mousumi Dash

New Delhi, Jan 25: A Twitter post by the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee created buzz on Saturday, the post she shared was a photograph of National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, who was been under detention since the BJP-led central government's abrogation of Article 370 that revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status in August 5, 2019.

On Saturday, Mamata took on to Twitter and shared a bearded and beanie-wearing photo of Abdullah, seen smiling. Though it's not yet clear when the photo was taken.

However, the TMC supremo tweeted, "I could not recognize Omar in this picture. Am feeling sad. Unfortunate that this is happening in our democratic country. When will this end ?"

I could not recognize Omar in this picture. Am feeling sad. Unfortunate that this is happening in our democratic country. When will this end ? pic.twitter.com/lbO0PxnhWn  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) January 25, 2020

Earlier, after Centre abrogated Article 370 on August 5 and divided Jammu and Kashmir state into two Union Territories- Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir, several social activists, lawyers, businessmen and political leaders like former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah and his father Farooq Abdullah were detained.

Reportedly, Abdullah, Mufti and other politicians were detained under Section 107 of Code the of Criminal Procedure. According to which authorities and an executive magistrate are allowed to put any person under preventive custody for six months if they receives information that the person is likely to commit a breach of the peace or disturb the public tranquility.

Although, internet and telephone facilities in several districts of Kashmir has been recently restored by the Jammu and Kashmir administration, but the politicians are still under detention.

NPR dangerous game, a precursor to NRC: Mamata Banerjee

This move by the Centre, however, has been criticised by several national and international leaders.

The United States has yet again called upon the Indian government to make swift move to release the political leaders who were detained without charges and still not released.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, January 25, 2020, 18:39 [IST]
A 21-year-old man raped and impregnated his 14-year-old cousin in Jhrodan village of Hathur, police said on Saturday.

The Hathur police have registered an FIR against the accused following the complaint of the victim, who is a school dropout. The victim said she used to stay alone at home while her parents, both daily wagers, used to go looking for work.

The victim said in the absence of her parents, her cousin, who lived nearby, used to barge in the house and rape her. The accused had also threatened her to keep mum. Meanwhile, she turned pregnant and confided in her mother on Friday, who then approached the police.

Sub-inspector (SI) Swarnjit Singh, who is investigating the case, said the accused was booked under Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against the accused at the Hathur police station. A hunt is on for his arrest, the SI said.

MAN HELD FOR RAPING GIRL, POSTING HER LEWD VIDEOS

The Jagraon police on Saturday arrested a man for raping a 17-year-old girl and making her lewd videos viral on social networking sites. The accused has been identified as Mehakdeep Singh alias Mani, 24, a resident of Sodhiwal village.

The victim, a resident of Kothe Hari Singh village in Jagraon, said she had met the accused on September 16, 2018. She said the accused established physical relations with her and made lewd videos of her.

She said later the accused started blackmailing her for sex by threatening to post her videos on social networking sites, but did it anyway, following which she approached the police.

Jagraon City station house officer inspector Jaspal Singh said, The accused was arrested from Sodhiwal. A case under Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act was registered against the accused. The police will produce him before a court on Sunday.
An Asian man has been filmed dipping a live baby mouse into a bowl of sauce before eating it.

The disgusting footage showed the man picking up a baby mouse with chopsticks before calmly devouring the squeaking rodent that was still moving.

The revolting meal, which was accompanied by a plate of tomatoes, is reportedly considered a delicacy in the Guangdong province of southeast China.

The government banned the dish, but it can still be found in backstreet restaurants.

An Asian man has been filmed dipping a live baby mouse into a bowl of sauce before eating it

The practice has been given the gruesome name of 'Three Squeaks' because the mouse squeaks when it gets picked up by a diner, again when it gets dipped into the sauce and finally as it dies.

It's unclear where the footage takes place, although the man in the video can be heard using the Chinese phrase for 'mouse'.

It comes after footage purporting to show a Chinese woman eating a whole bat at a fancy restaurant went viral.

A separate trending video appeared to show Cantonese-speaking diners preparing to eat soup made with the nocturnal animal.

The new strain of coronavirus, which emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan last month, has killed at least 41 people, affected more than 1,000 and caused the city of 11 million to be put in lockdown.

The virus, which can cause pneumonia, is poorly understood. Scientists now fear it may have spread to humans from snakes or bats.

A leading Chinese virologist who helped tackle the SARS epidemic in Asia in 2003 has warned that a new strain of deadly coronavirus from China could lead to an outbreak at least 10 times worse than the health crisis 17 years ago.

Bats are used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat a series of illnesses, including coughing, malaria and gonorrhea.

Viral footage purports to show a fashionable Chinese young woman biting one of the wings of a cooked bat at a fancy restaurant. The deadly coronavirus could come from the animal

Pictures emerging on Twitter shows soup cooked with a bat. Bats are used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat a series of illness, including coughing, Malaria and Gonorrhea

The animal's faeces is also believed to be able to cure eye diseases, according to ancient Chinese medical masterpiece Ben Cao Gang Mu.

The first trending video, said to be trending on Weibo and shared by Hong Kong-based Apple Daily, shows a young woman holding a bat with chopsticks as she nibbled on one of the mammal's wings.

One man can be heard telling the woman in Mandarin: 'Eat the meat! [Don't] eat the skin.'

He added: '[You] should eat the meat on its back.'

The bat was thought to be from a large pot of soup placed in the middle of the table.

The second viral video, posted by influential Chinese blogger Chen Qiushi on Twitter, shows a cooked, grinning bat placed in a large bowl of broth.

'[After] experiencing this matter, can Chinese people give up eating wildlife?' the blogger asked in a post.

Both videos remain unverified.

In November 2015 a shocking video of newborn mice being prepared to be eaten emerged online.

The footage is believed to have been shot at a restaurant in Guangdong, south China, where mice are a specialty.

The video showed the mice next to a pot of broth being dipped into a plate of sauce.

A separate footage of a man actually eating the mice was also posted online.

The man was seen with a plate of the baby rodents in front of him.

After smothering the still-wriggling creatures in a brown sauce, he put one in his mouth and chewed on the mouse.

Medical staff at Zhongnan Hospital in Wuhan wear protective suits. Wuhan yesterday banned residents from leaving the city

THE KILLER VIRUS MAY HAVE COME FROM BATS, SCIENTISTS SAY The killer coronavirus sweeping across the world may have come from bats, scientists have said. Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the People's Liberation Army and Institut Pasteur of Shanghai came to the conclusion. In a statement, the team said: 'The Wuhan coronavirus' natural host could be bats but between bats and humans there may be an unknown intermediate. Tests of the virus, which has yet to be named, have revealed it targets a protein called ACE2  just like its cousin SARS, the South China Morning Post reported. Tracing the evolution of the virus, the team of experts found it belonged to betacoronavirus, making it structurally similar to SARS. Authorities have pointed the blame on food markets in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak that scientists are scrambling to contain. Rodents and bats among other animals are slaughtered and sold in traditional 'wet markets', which tourists flock to see the 'real' side of the country. Advertisement

Italian Health Ministry officials get ready to screen passengers at Rome's Fiumicino Airport for the virus
MEDMEN SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Investigates Claims On Behalf of Investors of MedMen Enterprises Inc. - MMNFF

Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF"), is investigating claims on behalf of investors of MedMen Enterprises Inc. (OTC: MMNFF). Such investors are advised to contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email ([email protected]), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/otc-mmnff/ to learn more.







The investigation concerns whether MedMen and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in fraud, negligence or other unlawful business practices.

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

KSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is one of the nation's premier boutique securities litigation law firms. KSF serves a variety of clients - including public institutional investors, hedge funds, money managers and retail investors - in seeking recoveries for investment losses emanating from corporate fraud or malfeasance by publicly traded companies. KSF has offices in New York, California and Louisiana.

To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200124005483/en/
In a major success on the eve of Republic Day, security forces on Saturday killed three terrorists including the self-styled Kashmir chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad Qari Yasir, who was involved in last year's Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel died, police and army officers said.

Addressing a joint press conference, General-Officer-Commanding of the Srinagar-based Chinar Corps, Lt Gen KJS Dhillon and Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said the terrorist group was planning a major attack on the Republic Day, which has now been averted.

"We have neutralised three militants in the Tral encounter and one of them is Qari Yasir who was a self-styled Kashmir chief of JeM. He was involved in last year's February (IED) blast and also Lethpora (IED) blast. He was an IED expert and was involved in recruitment as well as relocation of militants coming in from Pakistan," Kumar said.

Three army personnel were injured in the initial firing and have been hospitalised.

The IGP said the police had been getting regular inputs about an IED attack in Srinagar or its surroundings.

"We were getting the names of Burhan and Yasir. Moosa, a buddy and a second-in-command of Yasir was also with him and we are sure once we identify the bodies, one of them will be Yasir as we had inputs about his presence there," he said, adding Yasir and Moosa belong to Pakistan, while Burhan was a local.

Lt Gen Dhillon said with the killing of the three militants a major incident on January 26 has been averted.

The JeM module was active and was planning to do something sensational on the Republic day, he said.

He said the operation was still on.

The GoC said after last year's Pulwama attack, the JeM leadership was targeted and neutralised totally, but the group was trying to resuscitate itself.

Pakistani terrorists were coming and they were trying to revive Jaish... But Jaish has now been cleaned out yet again once for all as of today. As regards, the HM, its top leadership has also been eliminated in Kashmir valley. The leadership of Al-Badr and Lashkar-e-Taiba was non-existent. So, as of today, most of the leadership of terrorism in Kashmir, including Pakistani terrorists, is more or less eliminated, he said.

On a question of the number of militants in the valley, the IGP said about 125 militants were active in the valley, mostly locals.

Asked about the infiltration along the Line of Control, the GoC said Pakistan and its army was trying to infiltrate more militants into India.

But our Army is giving them a befitting reply. Not only the Pakistani terrorists, but Pakistani army has suffered so much losses that on December 27 (last year) Pakistani DGMO requested Indian DGMO to minimize the offensive. Our DGMO accepted the Pakistani request, but Pakistan has not mended its ways and is still infiltrating terrorists," Lt Gen Dhillon said.

He said the ceasefire violations were taking place on the LoC and the army was giving a befitting reply to the Pakistani aggression.

"There are terrorists at the launch pads across the LoC and they are trying to infiltrate terrorists, but we are foiling their attempts," the Army officer said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has asked a federal appeals court to reconsider an appellate panel's ruling that awarded $54.6 million to a class of former California truck drivers for time spent mostly on 10-hour layovers between trips. The company said faulty guidance from a lower court influenced the award.

In a motion for the panel or the full court to rehear the case, Walmart's attorneys said the jury was instructed to follow "narrow" language in the retailer's pay manual to determine if it was exercising control over the drivers even during nondriving times. The reality, Walmart said, was that the drivers could freely separate themselves from the company during their layovers. There was little, if any, control over the drivers because Walmart didn't require it, the company said.

"Even a cursory review of the record shows that Wal-Mart did not `prevent' drivers from enjoying their layovers," the company said in the motion.

In what may end up being Walmart's core argument, it said the question of "control" cannot be condensed into the "simplistic proposition" that anything less than "complete freedom of movement" allows for compensation for non-work time.

The panel also erred in ruling that a class-wide verdict on liability and damages can be sustained simply because a jury had entered it, despite the lack of proof that the evidence presented could be applicable to the entire class, the attorneys said.

The motion comes two weeks after the three-judge panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the drivers were entitled to back wages under California law. State law requires that employees be paid a minimum wage covering the entire time they are under an employer's control. The award, if upheld, would be paid to the drivers on top of the salaries they earned while employed at Walmart. The legality typically rests on the magnitude of an employer's control rather than if an employee is required to work.

Walmart's attorneys also advanced a novel argument: that in upholding the lower court's decision, the panel compelled Walmart to provide lawyers for the drivers with contact info for potential new clients after each of the original plaintiffs died, lost interest in the case or were considered "unsuitable" by the drivers' lawyers. Such actions are in conflict with state and California Supreme Court rulings, according to the Walmart attorneys.

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India and Brazil have agreed to settle a dispute over India's sugar subsidies to farmers through bilateral consultations, sources told ANI on Saturday.

"On the issue of support given by India to sugarcane growers, a matter on which Brazil has filed a WTO dispute, it was agreed to address the issue through bilateral consultations," sources said.

"PM Narendra Modi took up the matter with Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro during the talks. As a gesture of our close friendship and given the importance India attaches to the matter, both sides agreed to address the issue through bilateral consultations," sources added.

Brazil is the largest producer and exporter of sugar in the world and is a major competitor of India in the international sugar market.

In February 2019, Brazil had dragged India into the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism alleging that New Delhi's sugar subsidies to farmers are inconsistent with global trade rules.

Brazil claimed that the domestic support measures extended by India appeared to be inconsistent with the Articles 3.2, 6.3 and 7.2 (b) of the Agreement on Agriculture.

Brazil was later joined in the process by several other countries including Australia and Guatemala.

The South American country further alleged that in recent years, India has massively increased the level of domestic support under its support regime for sugarcane and sugar.

The countries had filed the dispute settlement under certain articles of WTO's Agreement on Agriculture, Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994. If the panel rules against India's sugar subsidies, India can approach the appellate body of the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister and Brazilian President Bolsonaro focused on expanding cooperation in the defence sector as well as energy, healthcare, technology, and agriculture.

"Today's meeting with President @jairbolsonaro is our third in the last eight months. This reflects the topmost priority we accord to further expanding India-Brazil ties. It is gladdening that President Bolsonaro has graced our Republic Day celebrations as the Chief Guest," the prime minister said in a tweet.

The Brazilian president is in town as a chief guest during India's 71st Republic Day celebration.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

The airman who struck and killed a woman with his car last year near Kirtland Air Force Base is now headed to trial and facing possible prison time in the incident.

Maj. Gen. Craig D. Wills, 19th Air Force commander, on Jan. 14 directed that Calvin Cooper be court-martialed on charges of drunken or reckless operation of a vehicle, manslaughter and negligent homicide in the March 23 death of 39-year-old Angelica Baca.

Eva Blaylock, a KAFB spokeswoman, said the date of the court-martial is pending but will likely be set for late spring or early summer.

During a Nov. 21 probable cause hearing, held in a military courtroom on base, defense counselors and staff judge advocates submitted evidence and argued before investigating officer Maj. Joshua Nettinga to make a determination of probable cause.

Before concluding that hearing, Nettinga said Cooper could face up to 10 years in prison, if convicted.

The Albuquerque Police Department initially responded to the crash around 7:30 p.m. at Louisiana and Ross SE, where they found a grisly and chaotic scene. Several witnesses frantically called 911 within minutes of the crash, one woman describing body parts strewn about and believed it was a suicide bomber.

Police say Cooper was driving at a high rate of speed when he used the center painted median to pass a vehicle and struck Baca, who was standing in the median. The impact killed Baca instantly and sent Cooper swerving across two lanes, before crashing into the Rising Phoenix apartments. At the time of the crash, Cooper was with three fellow airmen: two 19-year-old men and a 22-year-old woman.

An APD crash report cited driver inattention, excessive speed, improper lane change as contributing factors in the crash. Soon after, the investigation was handed over to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations for possible prosecution.
A retired Salvadoran general has acknowledged for the first time that the armed forces were responsible for a notorious 1981 massacre of nearly 1,000 people during the countrys civil war.

Juan Rafael Bustillo, a former commander of the Air Force, told a court on Friday that the elite United States-trained Atlacatl Battalion carried out the El Mozote massacre in eastern El Salvador in which unarmed villagers, most of them women and children, were slaughtered.

According to a United Nations report, soldiers tortured and executed nearly 1,000 residents of El Mozote and surrounding hamlets in the Morazan department, 180 kilometres (112 miles) northeast of San Salvador, as they searched for rebel fighters in December 1981.

At a court hearing in the eastern town of San Francisco Gotera in Morazan, Bustillo testified he had had no part in the operation which he said was conducted at the behest of Colonel Domingo Monterrosa, commander of the feared Atlacatl Battalion.

War sometimes gives rise to something in the minds of people that attaches no value to the lives of others. I think it was on his initiative [Monterrosas], Bustillo said.

Thats my reasoning, it was on his initiative that he gave the order to kill the people of El Mozote, and the other surrounding cantons, the retired general told the court.

I almost feel it was like a moment, some instance of madness on the part of Colonel Monterrosa to have committed that offence, because it was an offence.

A dress found at an exhumation site is photographed in the village of El Mozote, Meanguera [File: Jose Cabezas/Reuters]

Monterrosa, a highly-regarded officer in his day, died in 1984 during a helicopter explosion in the east of the country.

The 1980-1992 civil war, which pitted left-wing rebel groups against the US-backed Salvadoran army, lead to the deaths of an estimated 75,000 people and left 8,000 more missing.

In 2016, a judge ordered the case of the El Mozote massacre to be reopened. Sixteen military officials, including former Minister of Defense Guillermo Garcia, are being tried over the killings.

Representatives of the victims hailed Bustillos testimony.

General Bustillo has confirmed many of the excesses demonstrated by evidence and which were denounced by victims, David Morales, one of the victims lawyers, told reporters.
Burns Night brings to mind forkfuls of peppery haggis and wee drams of whisky but the history of the festivities is often taken for granted.

The Burns Supper is a celebration of the life and legacy of the Scottish poet Robert Burns. While it was first organised by his close friends and family as a memorial dinner, the night has since morphed into an event for Scots at home and around the world.

It is celebrated with traditional Scottish fare, folk music and renditions of Burnss poetry  but this year many of the festivities will be virtual.

Who was Robert Burns?

Rabbie Burns penned more than 550 poems and songs before his death in 1796.

A massive source of inspiration to the founders of Liberalism and Socialism, the 18th-century writer is known for his astute social commentary and focus on all things political. Scotlands national poet is considered a revolutionary figure, both in his homeland and beyond.

Dubbed the greatest Scot of all time by STV in 2009, the writer from Ayrshire died of rheumatic fever at the age of just 37.

His funeral was held on the same day his son Maxwell was born. Burnss body was later transferred from a churchyard grave to a mausoleum in Dumfries, where his wife Jean Armour was also laid to rest after her death in 1834.

When is Burns Night?

Burns Night falls on 25 January every year.

The date was chosen to coincide with the poet's birthday, who was born on 25 January 1759.

The first Burns supper hosted by the Burns Club was held on 29 January 1802, on what was thought to be Burns' birthday.

However, the following year the discovery of parish records revealed that the late poet's birthday was actually four days prior.

How is it celebrated?

The main attraction of Burns Night is the Burns Supper. This traditionally involves participants donning tartan, listening to bagpipes, crooning Auld Lang Syne  also sung at New Years Eve  and reciting the great writers songs and poems.

Read more: How to make vegan haggis

The song Auld Lang Syne was derived from a poem penned by Burns in 1788, which he originally sent to the Scots Musical Museum.

Burns Night celebrations commonly incorporate the Saltire, the national flag of Scotland.

While the first Burns Supper was first held way back in 1801 and new rituals have since been appended, the crux of the celebration remains unchanged and revolves around paying tribute to Burns in whatever way feels most fitting.

Whats in the traditional dinner?

The jewel in the crown of any Burns Supper is always haggis, a savoury pudding containing minced sheeps heart, liver and lungs bound with onion, oatmeal, suet, stock and a selection of spices. It is traditionally bound in the animals stomach.

Burns describes haggis as the great chieftain o the puddin-race and a traditional Burns Night kicks off with a host reading his Address to a Haggis.

Read more: How to make classic haggis, neeps and tatties

Haggis is served with the classic side of mashed neeps and tatties (swedes and potatoes). The food is, of course, accompanied by the finest domestic whisky.

Vegetarians and pescetarians  or those who want to try something a little different  can choose haggis made without meat. Also popular is seafood dishes like Cullen Skink soup, made from smoked haddock.
Health Minister Greg Hunt has denied accusations he interfered in a regulator's decision on whether to review a self-testing flu kit made by a Liberal donor's company.

Emails obtained under freedom of information show Mr Hunt's office was "very keen" for the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to review the use of self-diagnosing devices, including for the flu.

Health Minister Greg Hunt poses with Jim Darrouzet and an Ellume self-testing kit in September 2017.

It followed an enquiry about Ellume, and its flu-test device, to Mr Hunt's office. Ellume's chair is multi-millionaire entrepreneur Paul Darrouzet, who donated $100,000 to the federal Liberal party in 2017 and has also donated to the Queensland Liberal National Party.

In May last year, John Skerritt, the deputy secretary at the TGA, emailed colleagues: "Had another call from the MO (minister's office) - they are very keen for this issue to be reviewed."
Aimee Sadler, founder of an organization called Dogs Playing for Life is changing the minds of many in animal welfare industries.

Organizations, their volunteers and animals benefit from the newest trends, as is demonstrated by an overall reduction of euthanasia rates and less discriminatory practices.

Sadler says, In the end, this is our primary role as humane societies; to provide care and a safe haven for all companion animals no matter their shape, size or color and support them into loving homes. Implementing daily play groups has proven to be a win-win for people and animals. And to think that these exciting life-saving outcomes revolve around something so simple and natural: Let dogs be dogs and allow them to play together.

We are happy to announce that your very own Midlands Humane Society has implemented many aspects learned while Rachael Wilson, our director of animal behavior/training attended several sessions at the home of Dogs Playing for Life in Colorado.

Not only were we fortunate to be able to send Rachael to these important trainings, but we are also blessed to have grant funding for the position of director of animal training/behavior at Midlands.

This position was implemented over two years ago thanks to a generous funder to incorporate programs and initiatives to help our staff and volunteers work with many of our animals that exhibit behavioral problems, sometimes making them hard to adopt.

This staff position allows us to grasp a better understanding of these animals and work with them regularly in hopes to properly place them in homes and give them the best chance to live a long and happy life.

According to Sadler, In traditional animal sheltering, dogs can be kept in kennels, isolated from members of their own species and with limited opportunities outside of their enclosures. While some shelters have the resources and volunteer support to give the dogs plenty of enrichment and time outside, others, particularly, large, municipal shelters, struggle to provide this basic need.

It isnt just our opinion that playgroups are a basic need  the Association of Shelter Veterinarians Five Freedoms include the freedom to express normal behavior  a freedom that can be achieved by giving dogs access to play together. DPFL believes that with the incorporation of playgroups, shelters wont just be able to increase their quality of the time outside, but shelters struggling to provide basic needs will increase efficiency and be able to provide enrichment through play to Every Dog, Every Day.

A handler can attend to many more dogs through offering playgroups, rather than attempting to leash walk every dog for a short period of time. Playgroups provide an outlet for dogs to burn off some excess physical energy, socialize with other dogs, and go back to their kennel tired and satiated.

Starting toward the end of 2019, Midlands staff and volunteers have worked in unison bringing multiple dogs at Midlands out into our play yard at the same time to burn off a whole lot of energy. This new initiative has been a blast to watch as these dogs run and jump, roll and chase other dogs. While these dogs are playing, staff can clean kennels more efficiently and outfit each one with new food and fresh water along with comfortable blankets or beds. It is awesome to see the whole Midlands team work together for the benefit of animals as they wait for their forever homes.

If you would like to volunteer at Midlands, possibly helping with our Dogs Playing for Life program, walking dogs, or cat socialization, please visit our website or email Mariah Garcia, the Midlands volunteer coordinator, at mgarcia@midlandshumanesociety.org.

Dont forget to purchase your Wag-A-Gram for your loved ones for Valentines Day. Stop in to Midlands, 1020 Railroad Ave., to order yours today. You can also order online at midlandshumanesociety.org. The deadline to order a Wag-A-Gram for just $45 is Feb. 11.

Midlands Pets of the Week: We are featuring two great male cats this week. First is Fearless (what an awesome name), and he is a 5-year-old neutered male domestic shorthair.

Second, we have Howard, a 4-year-old neutered male domestic shorthair. Both these cool dudes would enjoy a second chance at a home with you.

Luna is an 8-month-old spayed female Great Pyrenees mix. She is very sweet, but very shy and is looking to join a quiet home where she can acclimate at her own pace. Luna needs a home without a lot of commotion paired with an owner who can continue to work on her confidence building and socialization. She does very well with other dogs but will need to go to a home with a confident dog to learn from. She previously lived with kids, but we recommend kids 10 or older that can recognize when she needs space. Luna is shown by appointment only. Please contact Rachael at rwilson@midlandshumanesociety.org for more information or to set up an appointment to meet her.

Romeo is a 2-year-old neutered male Pitbull mix. Romeo is a sweet, but sensitive guy looking to join a laid-back home. He can be shy or wary of new people and needs extra time to warm up to new people. Once hes comfortable, Romeo is ready to party. He loves to play, learn new things and get affection. He can be skittish at times, so we recommend kids 10 or older. Romeo seems to be dog selective so we think he will be most successful as your only dog and is not suitable for apartment living as well as being homed in a city without a breed ban.

Come see all these great animals today from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. or tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m, and during the week from noon to 6 p.m. You can always see what animals are up for adoption on our website.
Nirbhaya Convict Files Petition In Top Court Against Mercy Plea Rejection

The latest delay tactic is by Mukesh Singh who has now filed a plea in the Supreme Court challenging the President of India's decision to reject his mercy plea. In his plea, Mukesh has also demanded the death warrant date on February 1 be set aside. President Ram Nath Kovind has rejected convict Mukesh's mercy plea on December 17. His curative petition has already been dismissed by the Supreme Court. Read more.

China Coronavirus Update: Death Toll Rises To 41

The death toll from the coronavirus in China has risen to 41. Another 15 deaths in Hubei province, where the outbreak began, were announced on Saturday. Health officials are struggling to contain the outbreak as millions of people travel for the Chinese new year, one of the most important events. Many festivities have been cancelled. There are now more than 1,200 confirmed cases in China. Read more.

2G Mobile Internet Restored In Kashmir From Midnight

After remaining shut for more than five months, 2G mobile internet services on postpaid as well as prepaid phones will be restored in the Kashmir Valley from Saturday but can only be used to access 301 websites approved by the Jammu and Kashmir administration, an official order said. According to a notification issued by the home department of the Jammu and Kashmir administration, access to the internet with 2G speed on mobile phones will resume from January 25. Read more.

Teenage Boy Sexually Abused By 16 Men In Kerala, Seven Arrested

In a shocking case a 16-year-old boy from Malappuram, Kerala has alleged that he was sexually abused by some 16 men over a long period. The boy, a Class XI student revealed the ordeal he had been going through since April 2019 during a Childline Counseling session. According to the boy, he was abducted and forced into unnatural sex by the men on several occasions. Based on the information by Childline the police have registered cases against 16 people. Read more.

100 Army Veterans To Walk 5000 KM Along Ganga To Help Revival

5000 KM on foot is nothing less than a herculean task but if it involves the Indian Army, it seems possible. A group of 100 army veterans plan to go the full distance to contribute to the Clean Ganga initiative. Come August and these daring veterans will start from the holy river's genesis 'Gomukh' to 'Gangasagar', the point at which it merges into the sea in the Bay of Bengal, and then return to the starting point. Read more.
A dedicated centre to tackle online sex abuse of children in Kerala, working in coordination with Interpol, National Crime Records Bureau, among others, will come into being on Sunday, Republic Day.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the centre, located near the Armed Police Battalion camp here.

"The centre will facilitate the coordination and monitoring of online sexual abuse of children. It will have officers specially trained to probe sex abuse against children," a police department release said.

ADGP Manoj Abraham is the nodal officer of the facility, which will have 70 officers.

The team, which was formed in March 2019, has till now arrested 42 people from across the state and registered 38 cases of child sex abuse and for spreading child porn through internet.

The facility will work closely with Interpol, National Crime Records Bureau and other agencies concerned, the release said.

Apart from this, the state police will also launch the Children And Police project to implement various projects for children,including counselling those addicted to the internet.

As part of this project, there will a 24x7 call center to receive information on anything that is concerned with children, the release said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Kerala police on Friday claimed to have cracked the murder of a school teacher whose body was found on a beach in Kasasrgode in north Kerala last week with the arrest of her colleague and his driver.

The two were arrested after a forensic evaluation confirmed their role in the murder, police said.

The body of Roopashree (46), a teacher of the Vani Vijaya Higher Secondary School, was found on a beach on January 18, two days after she was reported missing. Initially it was suspected to be a suicide but later family members, including her husband, sought a detailed inquiry suspecting foul play.

Police said during investigation they found that the victim had been threatened by a colleague and she reportedly told some of her relatives about this. Initially police questioned her colleague Venkita Ramana but let him off after they failed to notice any inconsistency in his statements. Police later recovered Roopashrees mobile and inspected all calls she made and received and found that on the fateful day she had received some calls from Ramana.

A forensic team later recovered the victims hair Ramanas car. The accused broke down after sustained interrogation and admitted committing the crime. Both had developed a relationship in school and but the victim was not ready to continue it for long and this enraged Ramana, a bachelor. Police said the accused allegedly killed the victim brutally in his home by forcing her head down in a bucket of water. Later he had shaved off her head to in a bid to destroy her identity, police said.

Police said later he sought the help of his driver Niranjan to dispose the body in sea. He then spread the word that Roopashree was suffering from mental ailment and she might have committed suicide.

It seems to be a well-planned murder. We have to find out if more persons were involved, said Kasaragods Superintendent of Police James Joseph.

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Prime Minister faces Brussels showdown over fishing rights

Boris Johnson insisted the UK and the EU will forge a relationship as friends and sovereign equals after Brexit as he signed the document agreeing the terms of Britains departure. The Prime Minister and the Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission all signed the Withdrawal Agreement in what Mr Johnson described as a fantastic moment. He added: This signature heralds a new chapter in our nations history. But in a sign of the battles still to be fought, The Telegraph has learnt that France has insisted in closed door European Commission meetings that Britain must grant EU countries access to UK fishing waters for 25 years after Brexit if it wants a free trade agreement with Brussels.  Daily Telegraph

UK will use high tariff threat to ramp up pressure  The Times

EU seeks power to sanction Britain for any breaches  FT

as he signs the Withdrawal Agreement Act

Boris Johnson has signed the Withdrawal Agreement Bill that will bring the UK out of the EU on January 31. The bill has taken two Conservative governments under two different prime ministers and more than a year to pass in Parliament. Mr Johnson said it was a fantastic moment that delivers the result of the 2016 referendum and brings to an end far too many years of argument and division. The agreement concludes a process of negotiation between the UK and EU, and begins talks over the future relationship. We can now move forward as one country  with a Government focused upon delivering better public services, greater opportunity and unleashing the potential of every corner of our brilliant United Kingdom, while building a strong new relationship with the EU as friends and sovereign equals, Mr Johnson said.  Daily Telegraph

London will only get carbon copy of the deal  The Times

Comment:

Ja, we Germans are jealous of Brexit  Alexander von Schoenberg, Daily Mail

Foreign Office to take over overseas development spending

The Foreign Office is set to swallow up the controversial aid office under a radical shake-up. Boris Johnson is likely to delight his backbenchers by putting the FCO in charge of aid spending and bringing it in line with foreign policy. It comes after the Department for International Development was repeatedly blasted after its budget swelled to 14.6billion. It has handed 151million to China and India even though both are wealthy enough to run space programmes. The PMs own experience as Foreign Secretary has left him convinced that the two departments should become one But even if the ministries join, the government will remain committed to spending 0.7 per cent of the nations annual cash income on foreign aid.  The Sun

Downing Street wants aid cash to benefit Britain too  The Times

Prime Minister orders review of how 14.6 billion is spent  Daily Mail

Johnson preparing to sack five women from Cabinet

Boris Johnson is preparing to sack five women from his cabinet but is planning promotions in the junior ranks to justify the claim that he is leading the most female government. The prime minister is pressing ahead with a clear-out of his top table as part of plans to move on from Brexit after Britains formal departure on Friday, No 10 figures confirmed yesterday. Downing Street is braced for accusations of sexism in the reshuffle because women will make up the bulk of those dismissed in the shake-up, pencilled in for the second week of next month. Those being targeted include Liz Truss, the international trade secretary, Andrea Leadsom, the business secretary, Therese Coffey, the welfare secretary, Theresa Villiers, the environment secretary, and Esther McVey, who attends cabinet as a housing minister.  The Times

Plan to promote female staffers to counter sexism allegations  Daily Mail

Javid to give tax cut to tens of thousands of pubs as part of high streets plan

Sajid Javid is boosting 18,000 British boozers  slashing their tax bills by 1,000. Small local pubs will get the cash off business rates from April under the Chancellors plans. The break is part of PM Boris Johnsons pledge to save high streets. They include proposals to raise the discount given to small shops, cafes, music venues and cinemas from a third to 50 per cent off. Some small pubs will get both discounts  giving them 13,500 off tax bills. And local newspapers will get 1,500 off their office space tax bill for another five years. Mr Javid said: Thousands of pubs will get 1,000 off rates bills this April thanks to changes we are announcing today.  The Sun

Chancellor talks up the economy  FT

Duguid savages Sturgeon over referendum demand

Nicola Sturgeon has come under brutal attack for her demands to Boris Johnson for a second referendum on Scottish independence, with a Conservative MP warning of fatal flaws and accusing the SNP of creating their own self-fulfilling prophecy A spokesman for the partys leader insisted ministers are still committed to holding a referendum in 2020, adding SNPs position was endorsed by voters in last months general election when it won 47 of the 59 seats available. But David Duguid, the Scottish Tory MP for Banff and Buchan has launched a scathing attack against Ms Sturgeon and the SNP. He claimed there are fatal flaws in the demands to stage a second referendum, and that the SNPs success in the general election does not give them a mandate to push one through.  Daily Express

HS2 will be the biggest test of the Governments levelling up philosophy

Ryan Bourne wrote last month on the ConservativeHome website: The hard truth that we economic liberals must now face is that Britain is once again dominated by collectivist thinking. The Conservatives have been on a very, very slow drift away from market economics over a 25-year period. It is an interesting argument. But it would have been more interesting if Mr Bourne had mentioned that similar trends are visible in France, Germany and the EU as a whole, partly because of the post-2008 financial crash and recession, and partly because of anxieties over the competitive threat of China and its state-assisted companies. An early example of the Johnson governments interventionist instincts is the rescue this month of Flybe, a lossmaking regional airline.  FT

Ditching it could mean years of weekend closures  The Times

as Red Wall MPs outline what else they could spend the cash on

New Red Wall MPs have appeared in a Youtube video telling the Prime Minister where they can spend cash saved from HS2 in their constituencies. 14 MPs including many recently elected northern politicians outline what needs to be spent in their own constituencies as they pile pressure on the PM to scrap the 250mph train line. The video includes Red Wall MPs including Bishop Auklands Dehenna Davison, Ashfields Lee Anderson and Alexander Stafford the MP for Rother Valley. Their plea comes a day after it emerged that bungling transport officials are responsible for HS2s spiralling bill by woefully underestimating the projects complexity, a bombshell new report reveals. And a leaked copy of the soon to be published Oakervee report revealed the cost could rise to 106bn.  The Sun

Their areas could lose millions in council funding review  The Guardian

Comment:

We owe it to the next generation to build the new line  Matthew Parris, The Times

The folly of HS2 is a modern telling of the Seven Deadly Sins  Madeline Grant, Daily Telegraph

Commitment to it could keep new Tory voters on board  James Forsyth, The Spectator

>Yesterday:

More than 35,000 applicants have apparently heeded Cummings call

More than 35,000 self-styled weirdos and misfits have applied to work in Downing Street, Dominic Cummings revealed last night. Addressing a meeting of government advisers, Boris Johnsons chief adviser said he had been overwhelmed with replies to his unconventional job advert. Mr Cummings also encouraged ministers to think outside the box and look to recruit staff from outside the traditional civil service routes. He said the Cabinet Office, which has jealously guarded the civil service in the past, was now being cooperative about recruiting from outside. In an extraordinary blog post this month, Mr Cummings said he wanted to shake up recruitment to No 10, adding: We need some true wild cards, artists, people who never went to university and fought their way out of an appalling hell hole.'  Daily Mail

>Today: Asheem Singh in Comment: Heres how the Government can meet the challenge of mass worker automation

Charles Moore: It should be possible, in the 21st Century, to imagine life without the BBC

The BBC is such a huge bureaucracy that no D-G can give it an editorial character. There are no Hallian values. Nowadays, its executives are entirely ensnared in their own processes. Look at the comical row about its rates of pay for women  for which the BBCs only solution is spending much more licence-payers money. The bigger change is technological, and therefore competitive. Satellite and cable television, deregulation of radio, and then the internet and all its works have meant that you can watch or listen to British media all day, all your life, without ever having to use the BBC. Millions under the age of 40 do exactly that. But if you have any form of live terrestrial television on any device, you must pay the BBC 154.50 a year for a TV licence.  Daily Telegraph

The Corporation must go back to doing what it does best  Camilla Cavendish, FT

Without the BBC we could be facing a post-truth dystopia  Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian

>Yesterday: Iain Dales column: The next BBC Chairman. Andrew Neil, anyone? Robbie Gibb? Michael Portillo?

Watchdog criticised for dragging feet on Arcuri investigation

The police watchdog is facing accusations that it is dragging its feet on a decision about whether to investigate Boris Johnson for possible criminal misconduct over his friendship with the US businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri when he was London mayor. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) insists it has received no pressure from the government over the decision, which had been expected before last months general election, or its timing. In October the IOPC indicated it would take about a month to decide whether Johnson had a case to answer. But the watchdog now says it is still conducting a scoping exercise on the decision. It has also continued to request new information from the mayors promotion agency, London and Partners (L&P), this month.  The Guardian

>Today: ToryDiary: Bailey has three months to persuade Londoners he can cut crime

Long-Bailey wont back Momentums mayoral pick

Rebecca Long Bailey has moved to distance herself from a controversial Corbynite candidate being lined up by the left to become Labours first mayor of the West Midlands. The shadow business secretary and Labour leadership candidate yesterday received the backing of the powerful Unite union that helped propel Jeremy Corbyn to power five years ago. Amid further signs of division in her campaign, Ms Long Bailey declined to endorse Salma Yaqoob as the partys candidate in the May election. The failure to back Ms Yaqoob is a significant snub as she is being backed by the Corbynite grassroots group Momentum as well as Unite, both of which are also backing Ms Long Bailey.  The Times

Major boost as Unite votes overwhelmingly to endorse her  Daily Telegraph

Comment:

How Phillips dropping out changes the shape of the Labour race  Sienne Rodgers, The Guardian

News in Brief:
Morocco exercised its legitimate sovereign right to delimit its territorial waters and remains open to negotiations with Spain in case of overlaps, said foreign minister Nasser Bourita.

Delimiting territorial waters is a sovereign right guaranteed by the international law, he said following talks with Spanish foreign minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya, in Rabat Friday

Spain delimited its waters in 2010 without taking Moroccos permission, he told reporters.

While underscoring the close strategic partnership with Spain, the minister said that Morocco is ready to negotiate in case of overlaps in line with the international law.

Morocco is not seeking to impose a fait accompli, he added, noting that dialogue is the solution.

Spanish Foreign Minister said Morocco has the right to delimit its territorial sea in implementation of the UN Law of the Sea convention, adding that dialogue is key to resolving any potential dispute.
Imagine a dazzlingly modern city and in your minds eye, it probably has a skyline made of shiny glass buildings shimmering in the sun.

Thats because for decades, glass-clad buildings have served as architectural shorthand for progressive, forward-thinking design. Thats why politicians and civic leaders have long viewed them as a golden ticket into that elusive world class city club, proof that theirs is a cosmopolitan metropolis with much to offer.

Until recently, San Antonio was a city primarily made of brick and masonry buildings. That started to change with last years opening of the Frost Bank Tower, its faceted facade and aggressive sawtooth crown seeming to indicate the city is ready to face the challenges of the 21st century.

And the evolution will continue with the Light Building on lower Broadway, Jefferson Banks 12-story headquarters near the Pearl, the mixed-use 1603 Broadway just getting underway down the street and CPS Energys new headquarters on the Museum Reach, which was stripped of its beige brick facade for an intriguing mix of materials and colors, including plenty of glass.

These buildings serve as a wake-up call for the city, and its place in the country, said Rick Lewis, assistant professor at the University of Texas at San Antonios College of Architecture, Construction and Planning. It forces you to pay us some mind.

Besides the boost to a citys self-esteem, glass buildings are also popular with tenants.

Floor to ceiling windows are a big selling point for real estate brokers, said Aaron Seward, editor of Texas Architect magazine. They open the door, the client walks in and says, Wow. 

On ExpressNews.com: Tall, skinny infill homes the future of home building near downtown San Antonio

While the northern portion of Loop 410 and the South Texas Medical Center area both saw a number of glass-clad buildings constructed over the past two decades, the trend mostly bypassed downtown, where most buildings have skins of stone or masonry.

You can often tell when a city booms by looking at the architecture, said Irby Hightower, senior principal at Alamo Architecture. So many of downtowns best buildings  the Tower Life Building, the Emily Morgan, the Express-News building  went up in the late 1920s, which was a boom time for San Antonio.

In the early 80s, he said, another wave of building left behind a collection of pink and mauve structures primarily made from precast concrete, a popular building material at the time. These include the Weston Centre, the Bank of America Plaza and Marriott Rivercenter.

Its great that San Antonios skyline is so rooted in its cultural past, said Jim Shelton, managing director of architectural firm Gensler San Antonio. But weve got an opportunity to mix things up, to combine sparkly glass with masonry. Whats exciting here is that, unlike Dallas and Houston, San Antonio didnt knock down that many older buildings. So we can continue to play off our past.

Glass-clad buildings may seem cutting edge, but the concept dates back more than 150 years, to the cast-iron-and-plate-glass Crystal Palace built for Londons Great Exhibition of 1851.

Later, in 1921 German architect Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe proposed what would have been the worlds first glass skyscraper, the Friedrichstrasse Skyscraper, in Berlin. Although never built, the concept helped inspire many similar skyscrapers worldwide, from the boxy international style of the United Nations building in New York to the climbing spire of Dubais Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest tower.

Glass is also popular because its a cheaper building material than stone or brick.

Builders have gotten really good at putting up these curtain wall systems, said Lewis, referring to a construction technique in which the outer walls of a building arent load-bearing, so they can be made of lighter materials, such as glass. They go up quickly and efficiently and perform well.

And because the lower floors can be clad even as the rest of the building is still under construction, interior work  installing heating and air conditioning systems, building inner walls, etc.  can be done faster.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonios newest parks full of amenities for dogs, skaters and kids

Despite their popularity, however, glass facades were initially very energy inefficient. As anyone who has ever been inside a greenhouse knows, glass buildings can get hot even on partially sunny days.

To counteract that, architects early on developed strategies to keep them cooler, and several of those strategies can be seen at the AT&T Building, built in 1956 at the corner of Hildebrand and Broadway, according to Brantley Hightower, principal at the architectural firm HiWorks.

Each facade is different, he said of the eight-story building recently purchased by the University of the Incarnate Word. The east and west are mostly solid, with narrow windows to reduce heat gain from the low afternoon summer sun. And on the north and south sides, where the windows are larger, there are metal overhangs for shade.

Other technologies developed to keep these buildings cooler in summer and warmer in winter include multipane windows with either a vacuum or an inert gas such as argon between the panes and physical barriers, such as solar films and frit glass, in which a ceramic composite is fused into the glass, making it more opaque. Many of San Antonios new glass buildings utilize these.

Further improvements on the horizon may include polychromatic windows that turn darker the more directly sunlight hits it.

Its an expensive technology now, but theyre doing a lot of work on it, so the cost will probably come down, said Rives Taylor, principal, and regional sustainability leader for Houston-based Gensler.

Which may mean modern cities will continue to shimmer in the summer sun.

Richard A. Marini is a features writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | rmarini@express-news.net | Twitter: @RichardMarini
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said that the Central government took the correct decision to handover the Bhima-Koregaon case to the Investigation Agency (NIA) as this will expose the urban Naxals.

"It is the correct decision because this case isn't confined to Maharashtra, we see it is spread all over the country. The Central government has taken the right step, this will expose the urban Naxals," Fadnavis told ANI.

"When the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power, UPA minister had given a statement in the Lok Sabha that these are urban Naxal organisations but today they are trying to protect these people. This is extremely wrong," he added.

The BJP leader further asserted that in the Bhima-Koregaon case, any matter that has come up in the context of urban Naxals has gone before the Supreme Court.

"Chargesheets have been filed according to the orders given by the Supreme Court from time to time. Despite this, these types of statements are being made deliberately," he added.

However, Congress leader Sachin Sawant on Friday stated that sudden taking over of Bhima- Koregaon case by the NIA clearly substantiates conspiracy of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"Sudden taking over of Bhima Koregaon riot case by NIA after #MahaVikasAghadi govt started reinvestigation into inquiry of Pune police, clearly substantiates conspiracy of #BJP. Why it took two years for NIA to find that case is fit under its jurisdiction? Strongly condemn!" Sawant tweeted.

Earlier on Friday, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said that the Central government has handed over the investigation of the Bhima-Koregaon case to the Investigation Agency (NIA) without the State government's permission.

"As the Home Minister of the State, I am raising my objection to it," said Deshmukh while speaking to reporters here.

In a high-level meeting at the State Secretariat on Thursday, Deshmukh along with senior police officers took a review of the Bhima-Koregaon cases.

On January 1, 2018, violence had erupted during the 200th-anniversary celebrations of the Bhima-Koregaon battle.

One person lost his life while several others were injured in the incident. Police had filed 58 cases against 162 people.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Is This Site Secure?

Yes.

At 10:40am New York time on 16 February 2021 kermitproject.org was converted from HTTP to HTTPS using the free, automated, and open Let's Encrypt certificate authority. All references to http://kermitproject.org or http://www.kermitproject.org, and to all pages, files, and images at this site, now redirect automatically to their https: equivalents. In other words, all documents at all sites that contain http: links to kermitproject.org will continue to work and need not be changed and your connection to them will be encrypted. Of course URLs that link directly to https://kermitproject.org work too as of 16 February.

Temporary transition issues

The new secure kermitproject site has a new IP address. For that reason, during the first day or two, attempts to access kermitproject.org might fail with an error such as:

Secure Connection Failed An error occurred during a connection to kermitproject.org. SSL received a record that exceeded the maximum permissible length. Error code: SSL_ERROR_RX_RECORD_TOO_LONG The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because the authenticity of the received data could not be verified. Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem.

for some hours or even a whole day, because the client computer has the old IP address cached. The client-side cache can be cleared on Windows by giving the following command in a CMD or Powershell window:

ipconfig /flushdns

On Ubuntu Linux, the command is:

sudo systemd-resolve --flush-caches

For other platforms, see the following page for instructions:

Or look in Google for "clear|flush dns cache" along with your operating system name, e.g.

clear|flush dns cache macos

After clearing the cache, you should also restart your browser, which is likely to have its own stale cache. In extreme cases you might also have to restart your computer.

If all these measures fail, it is also possible that the new IP address has not propogated through the worldwide network of domain name servers to the one you are using (up to and including your own desktop router). The update is usually rapid but in some cases can take 24-48 hours.

The original version of this page explained that all the pages at kermitproject were already secure by definition because none of them collected information from you or put cookies on your computer; in other words, this is a read-only site; the explanation is still available here.

Thanks to the support staff at Panix.com for installing Let's Encrypt on its servers and for their help in the conversion, and to Brolin Empey for suggesting I look into Let's Encrypt.

Frank da Cruz, 16 February 2021.
The Japanese art of origami (from ori, folding, and kami, paper) transforms flat sheets of paper into complex sculptures. Variations include kirigami (from kiri, to cut), a version of origami that allows materials to be cut and reconnected using tape or glue.

But while both art forms are a source of ideas for science, architecture, and design, each has fundamental limitations. The flat folds required by origami result in an unlockable overall structure, while kirigami creations can't be unfolded back into their original, flattened states because of the adhesive.

Taking inspiration from both art forms, researchers describe a new set of motifs for creating lightweight, strong, and foldable structures using soft materials. These kirigami structures can support 14,000 times their weight and, because they don't require adhesives or fasteners, can easily be flattened and refolded. Published in Physical Review X, the work was conducted by visiting graduate student Xinyu Wang and professor Randall Kamien of the University of Pennsylvania in collaboration with Simon Guest from the University of Cambridge.

Wang, a Ph.D. student at Southeast University, was interested in studying the mechanical properties of origami and kirigami structures and reached out to Kamien to start a new collaboration. After Wang arrived at the Kamien lab in September 2018, Kamien asked her to try some new designs using his group's set of rules for exploring kirigami structures.

Shortly thereafter, Wang showed Kamien a new design for a kirigami triangle that had tilted walls. Kamien was initially surprised to see that Wang had left the excess flaps from the cuts in place. "The usual kirigami route is to cut that off and tape it," says Kamien. Wang "found that, in this particular geometry, you can get the flaps to fit."

While a single triangle wasn't particularly strong on its own, the researchers noticed that when several were arranged in a repetitive design, the force they could support was much greater than expected. "Here was this structure that didn't require tape, it had cuts, and it was really strong," Kamien says. "Suddenly, we have this system that we hadn't anticipated at all."

To figure out what made this geometry so resilient, Wang made several versions of different "soft" materials, including paper, copper, and plastic. She also made versions where the cut flaps were taped, cut, or damaged. Using industry-grade tension and compression testing equipment at the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter, the scientists found that the geometric structure could support 14,000 times its own weight. The tilted, triangular design was strongest when the flaps were undamaged and untapped, and it was also stronger than the same design with vertical walls.

With the help of Guest, the researchers realized that two deviations from the group's typical kirigami rules were key to the structure's strength. When the walls of the triangles are angled, any force applied to the top can be translated into horizontal compression within the center of the design. "With the vertical ones, there's no way to turn a downward force into a sideways force without bending the paper," says Kamien. They also found that the paper-to-paper overlap from leaving the cut flaps in place allowed the triangles to press up against their neighbors, which helped distribute the vertical load.

This paper is yet another example of how kirigami can be used as a "tool" for scientists and engineers, this time for creating strong, rigid objects out of soft materials. "We figured out how to use materials that can bend and stretch, and we can actually strengthen these materials," says Wang. One possible application could be to make inexpensive, lightweight, and deployable structures, such as temporary shelter tents that are strong and durable but can also be easily assembled and disassembled.

Kamien also pictures this Interleaved Kirigami Extension Assembly as a way to create furniture in the future. "Someday, you'll go to IKEA, you fold the box into the furniture, and the only thing inside is the cushion. You don't need any of those connectors or little screws," says Kamien.

Thanks to Wang's "inspired" design and Kamien's burgeoning collaboration with Wang and her advisors Jianguo Cai and Jian Feng , the possibilities for future ideas and designs are endless. "There were things about this study that are totally outside the scope of what a physicist would know," says Kamien. "It was this perfect blend of what I could do and what she could do."

This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant DMR12-62047, a Simons Investigator Grant from the Simons Foundation, the China Scholarship Council, and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Grant EP/R014604/1.
25.01.2020 LISTEN

The prime suspect in the recent incident at Dzolo Gborgame which resulted in the death of 28-year-old Carl Wisdom Darkey, has been remanded into police custody.

The accused, John Agbeli has been remanded by the Ho District Magistrate court to allow the police to conduct further investigations.

John Agbeli, driver of the Ho West District Assembly Revenue mobilization van allegedly ran over the deceased during an argument which ensued between the deceased and some district assembly officers.

Public Relations Officer of the Volta Regional Police Command, Corporal Prince Dogbatse told Citi News that t he suspect was put before the Ho District Magistrate Court one today and has been remanded into police custody. The man was provisionally charged with two counts of road traffic offences.

This includes careless and inconsiderate driving contrary to Section 3 of the road traffic act and then also dangerous driving which is also contrary to section 1 of the road traffic act. So, for now, he is with the Police. We are still continuing with our investigations. He is expected to be put before the court on the 30th of January 2020.

Initial reports indicated that a task force collecting revenue for the assembly locked up the shop of the deceased, Wisdom Dake because he owed some money.

In protest, Wisdom Dake stood in front of the taskforce's vehicle and he was allegedly run over by the vehicle, leading to his death.

Following the death of the resident, angry community members stormed the Ho West District assembly and vandalised properties, including burning one of the assembly's vehicles.

The tensions in the area led to the postponement of the inauguration of the Ho West District Assembly.

The Minister indicated that further investigations are ongoing into what caused the death and the resulting protest by residents in the area that led to the district assembly office being attacked.

The investigation will also look into the alleged assault of journalists covering the incident.

---citinewsroom
The annual Danbury Hat City Ball hosted by the Danbury Museum & Historical Society was held at the Amber Room Colonnade in Danbury on January 24, 2020.

Guests enjoyed dinner, dancing and a raffle.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday greeted Indians on the tenth National Voters Day as he praised the Election Commission of India (ECI) for making the electoral process more vibrant and participative.

We express gratitude to ECI for their many efforts towards making our electoral process more vibrant and participative, the Prime Minister wrote on Twitter.

May this day inspire us to work towards increased voter awareness and turnout, which makes our democracy stronger, he said.

Modi tweet comes in just ahead of the assembly elections scheduled to be held in Delhi, where his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is looking to do better, on February 8.

The BJP is facing an uphill task in the national capital where it could win only three seats in the last assembly polls in 2015 with the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) scoring a landslide victory with 67 seats.

The votes will be counted on February 11.

The election watchdog celebrates January 25 every year as the National Voters Day to spread awareness among citizens about the effective participation in the electoral process and encourage young voters to take part.

The Election Commission came into being on January 25, 1950, a day before India became a republic.
Plans for building a two-story addition onto Washington School in Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 are advancing, with construction expected to start soon and finish by August, in time for the coming school year. The District 64 board of trustees approved the spending of $4.9 million on the addition and renovations to the main building at its meeting last month.
For the uninitiated, Studio Ghibli is just another brand of anime. But for those who have visited (and re-visited) the studios mythical worlds and empathy-driven stories, Ghibli is the holy grail of animation. Founded in 1985, the studio has created over 20 acclaimed films, all of which usually become some of the highest grossing films of the year in Japan upon release. Themes of war and environmentalism dominate the studios filmsmost of which are helmed by directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahatawhich elevate them to dense, intricate stories that defy the expectation that animated films can only be enjoyed by children. (I think Ive cried at every single one.) With an exemplary track record, Studio Ghibli has rarely produced a bad film.

After years of denying that Studio Ghiblis films would ever come to streaming, it was finally announced that (almost) the entire Ghibli catalog is coming to HBO Max (or Netflix in the rest of the world) this spring. As non-arthouse audiences will soon discover the miracle that is Studio Ghibli for the first time, we decided to revisit the canon.

TALES FROM EARTHSEA, (aka GEDO SENKI), 2006. Buena Vista/Courtesy Everett Collection Everett Collection

21. Tales From Earthsea

The debut from Miyazakis son, Goro, was a disappointment to everyone, including his father who, when asked his opinion of the film, answered: Its good that he made one movie. With that though, he should stop.

THE CAT RETURNS, 2002. (c) Buena Vista/ Courtesy: Everett Collection. Everett Collection

20. The Cat Returns

The Cat Returns is full of weird and wonderful world building (tuxedo cats!) but light on the resonant themes that make a Ghibli film memorable. Its the Whisper of the Heart spin-off movie that no one asked for.

THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY, (aka ARRIETTY, aka KARI-GURASHI NO ARIETTI), 2010. Walt Disney Studio Everett Collection

19. The Secret World of Arrietty

While the animation is gorgeous ( par for the course for Ghibli), this adaptation of the British childrens classicwhich follows a miniature girl who lives within the walls of a houseis a minor work in the studios history.

IMDB

18. From Up on Poppy Hill

Story continues

Goro Miyazaki is back again with a film that is light years better than Tales From Earthsea, but it also has an eyebrow-raising incest storyline that I wish I could forget.

WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE, (aka OMOIDE NO MANI), Marnie (voice: Kiernan Shipka), 2014.  Gkids / Everett Collection

17. When Marnie Was There

When Marnie Was There is perhaps the most thematically ambitious of Studio Ghiblis films, reckoning with anxiety disorder, foster care and possibly child abuse if you read between the lines hard enough. Most admirable of all is the suggested lesbian romance at the heartthat is, until a third act twist scrubs the film of its groundbreaking potential.

IMDB

16. My Neighbors the Yamadas

Takahatas adaptation of the manga series is unlike anything else in the Ghibli canon: its the first digitally animated film from the studio, and in lieu of a plot, My Neighbors the Yamadas plays out as a series of vignettes chronicling the domestic adventures of a middle-class family. Its a fascinating experiment from an always unpredictable studio.

IMDB

15. Pom Poko

What begins as a light-hearted tale of the tanuki, a raccoon-like creature from Japanese folklore, quickly escalates to a scathing indictment of deforestation and urban development that feels more timely than ever.

IMDB

14. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

The studios first film (and Miyazakis second) was by no means a humble beginning. Set in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by conflict, Nausicaas anti-war and environmental messages established the thematic tone that the rest of the Ghibli canon would rightly follow.

LAPUTA: CASTLE IN THE SKY, (aka TENKU NO SHIRO RAPYUTA), 1986. (c) Buena Vista Pictures/ Courtesy: E Everett Collection

13. Castle in the Sky

The Ghibli canon boasts plenty of ambitious epics, but Castle in the Sky is more reminiscent of a classic, thrill-seeking adventure. There are flying pirates! A magic crystal! A girl falls out of the sky! As one of Studio Ghiblis first films, Castle in the Sky has been understandably sidelined while films like My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away grab all of the attention, but this remains a gem in need of more appreciation.

ONLY YESTERDAY, (aka OMOHIDE PORO PORO), 1991.  Gkids / courtesy Everett Collection Everett Collection

12. Only Yesterday

Only Yesterday was long ignored by U.S. audiences as it never received a stateside release, but on its 25th anniversary in 2016, the film was finally made available complete with an English dub starring Dev Patel and Daisy Ridley. Takahatas drama follows a young woman reflecting on her past growing up in the countryside, while feeling lost in the present. With its tenderness and subtlety, Only Yesterday proves theres more to Ghibli than its soaring adventures.

MCDWHOF EC010 Everett Collection

11. Whisper of the Heart

Making writing cinematic is a difficult feat, but Whisper of the Heart does just that. This coming-of-age drama finds magic in the everyday, and while thats a trick Ghibli has mastered, its easier to appreciate here within the decidedly real world setting of high school. And while Logan Lucky is great, my vote goes to Whisper of the Heart for the best use of Take Me Home, Country Roads.

PONYO, (aka PONYO ON THE CLIFF BY THE SEA, aka GAKE NO UE NO PONYO), 2008. Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection

10. Ponyo

No cinematic food is better than Studio Ghibli food. Take the ramen from Ponyo, a dish somehow so mouth-watering that there are dozens of Ponyo-inspired recipes online, even though it consists of instant noodles, a boiled egg and a slice of ham. Beyond the food, Ponyo bursts with so much love for humanity and all of its quirks that, for a brief moment, you forget that the world is actually awful. The theme song will also be stuck in your head for days.

HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE, (aka HAURU NO UGOKU SHIRO), 2004, (c) Buena Vista/courtesy Everett Collection Everett Collection

9. Howls Moving Castle

There are plenty of astonishing structures in the Ghibli canon, from Spirited Aways bathhouse to the worn-down clubhouse in From Up on Poppy Hill. But none of them can compare to the moving castle, a towering steampunk beast with its own tricks inside. Your enjoyment of Howl depends on your tolerance for sincere romance and Howl himself, the biggest emo in cinema, but the film remains as one of the Ghibli essentials. Its blasphemous to recommend an English dub, but Howl is worth the transgression: Christian Bale is perfect as the titular wizard, and its impossible to imagine anyone except Billy Crystal as the voice of the fire spirit, Calcifer.

PRINCESS MONONOKE, Moro, San, 1997 Everett Collection

8. Princess Mononoke

If on one end of the Ghibli wholesomeness spectrum, theres Totoro gleefully standing under a leaf umbrella, on the other, theres the warrior Princess Mononoke spitting out blood with a smirk. With its gory carnage, disturbing forest spirits and aggressive creatures, Princess Mononoke rejects the misconception that animated films are just for kids. Any attempts to soften the action for Western audiences were also swiftly thwarted. When Harvey Weinstein attempted to edit the film for its U.S. release, he received an ominous message from the producers: a sword with a message that read, No cuts.

MCDKIDE EC015 Everett Collection

7. Kikis Delivery Service

Miyazaki has always covertly filtered universal themes through fantasy. Its especially apparent in Kikis Delivery Service in which a young girl comes of age in tandem with her initiation as a witch. Her internal struggles of self-doubt and growing pains manifest in the magical realm, as Kiki loses her ability to fly and grapples with her mounting responsibilities. Kikis Delivery Service was my introduction to Studio Ghibli when I was a kid, and I remember that when Kiki first flies over the city, it felt like we were simultaneously discovering new, exciting worlds.

PORCO ROSSO, (aka KURENAI NO BUTA), 1992. Buena Vista/courtesy Everett Collection Everett Collection

6. Porco Rosso

Id rather be a pig than a fascist, says boar-headed bounty hunter Porco Rossoa perfect summation of Studio Ghiblis most rousing adventure. In this mythical interpretation of post-war Italy, fighter pilots can be cursed with the head of a pig and pirates on planes rule the seas. The magic of flight has been a fixture of Miyazakis work, and Porco Rosso features some of the most thrilling skybound sequences of high-stakes dogfights and breath-taking glides above the clouds.

THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA, (aka KAGUYAHIME NO MONOGATARI), 2013. GKids/Courtesy Everett Everett Collection

5. The Tale of Princess Kaguya

Isao Takahatas story of a magical girl born from a bamboo stalk is so ambitious and exuberant that it cant be contained within the simple lines of a pencil. The expressionistic watercolor animation means that Kaguya is free to transcend the restrictive borders of bodies and the natural world: the calmness of a forest is juxtaposed by a manic frenzy as Kaguya desperately runs away. The film was Takahatas last before his death in 2018, topping off a career that defied genre and the laws of animation.

MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, (aka TONARI NO TOTORO), 1988. 50th Street Films/courtesy Everett Collection Everett Collection

4. My Neighbour Totoro

Totoro, the cat bus, the dust sprites the fantastical creatures of My Neighbor Totoro are probably the first things that come to mind when you consider the rich iconography of Studio Ghiblibut Miyazakis acclaimed fantasy is much more than merchandise material. It dives headfirst into the wondrous land of a childs imagination and conjures beguiling adventures as a means of processing troubles back home. By grounding escapism within real family struggles, Studio Ghiblis most child-friendly offering is also one of its most mature.

SPIRITED AWAY, ( aka SEN TO CHIHIRO NO KAMIKAKUSHI), Chihiro, No-Face, 2001. (c) Walt Disney Picture Everett Collection

3. Spirited Away

How can you even begin to talk about Spirited Away? Its dense, ambitious and leaves you existentially worried that your parents might turn into pigs. Oh, and its universally agreed that its one of the greatest films of all time. Miyazakis fantasy epic follows a young girls Alice in Wonderland-like adventure in a bathhouse that boasts otherworldly spirits as its patrons. Her coming-of-age plays out through her interactions with mythical creatures, a gluttonous spirit and a witch with a giant babytheres nothing else like it. From the first twinkling notes of Joe Hisashis score, you know that youre about to watch something special.

MCDGROF EC082 Everett Collection

2. Grave of the Fireflies

Isao Takahatas masterpiece is one of the most devastating war films of all time, not because it takes place on a battleground, but because its an unrelenting look at the collateral damage inflicted on the people who had no involvement. Its a difficult watch, but a necessary one. Even when its so entrenched in gloom, the film manages to find beauty in the worldthe sight of fireflies in the open air is a bittersweet reprieve from a post-war Japan where empathy is gone.

THE WIND RISES, (aka KAZE TACHINU), top center: Caproni, 2013. Touchstone Pictures/courtesy Everett Everett Collection

1. The Wind Rises

No one expected Hayao Miyazaki to direct a biopic of fighter plane engineer Jiro Horikoshi, but in reality, The Wind Rises is the most personal of all the directors films. Its the culmination of a career spent in the clouds, dazzled by flight and fantasy. Miyazaki reckons with the internal conflict of a man who dreams of nothing but planes, but cannot ignore that his lifes work is a tool for death and destruction. The film beautifully flies above its biopic origins to consider the nature of art and its corruption at the hands of humanitynever mind that this war drama is also one of the most awe-inspiring pleas for pacifism. Miyazaki announced his retirement shortly after the release of The Wind Rises, but anyone familiar with the filmmaker knows that he can never follow through on such promises. He has a new film in the works, but had The Wind Rises truly been his swan song, what a way to go out.

Netflix Is Getting All the Studio Ghibli Movies But You Still Can't See Them

Don't get too spirited away just yet.

Originally Appeared on GQ
Beachgoers should be wary of getting close to the shore along the Bay Area coast through Saturday morning because a long-lasting swell train could bring dangerous sneaker waves and rip currents, according to the National Weather Service.

Weather officials issued a beach hazard statement Friday announcing that the northwest swell will increase the risk of sneaker waves, which are sudden, infrequent waves that wash up high on shore and can pull unsuspecting people into the ocean, said Spencer Tangen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

When that happens, the waves can catch you off-guard if you stand too close, and there are cases of people getting swept off to sea, Tangen said. People can be caught unawares, and waves can come up much further than you expect.

Tangen said the swell may also bring rip currents along the Pacific Ocean coastline, which are strong, fast-moving currents that are capable of pulling swimmers into the ocean.

If someone finds themselves in a rip current, weather officials advised them against swimming toward shore, and instead, advised them to relax and float. If the person is able, they can swim parallel, following the shoreline in order to escape.

If anyone is heading to the beach, just stay a good distance back from shore, more than you would think because of the risk of sneaker waves washing up further, he said.

Weather service officials advise people to stay out of the water altogether and off of rock jetties because of the dangerous, unpredictable surf conditions.

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.

Tangen said hazardous wave conditions, including the possibility of wave heights of between 15 and 20 feet, should be expected along the Point Reyes National Seashore, San Francisco peninsula coast, northern Monterey Bay, southern Monterey Bay, and the Big Sur coast.

The hazard statement is in effect through 11 a.m. Saturday.

Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LaurenPorFavor
He is fresh off two gospel albums after a religious awakening.

And Kanye West was the picture of good cheer as he stepped out in the Kardashian enclave of Calabasas this Friday.

The 42-year-old rap hunk flashed his dashing smile, layering up against the cold by throwing a silver anorak over a sky blue hoodie.

Out and about: Kanye West was the picture of good cheer as he stepped out in the Kardashian enclave of Calabasas this Friday

His outing comes after Eastbound & Down star Danny McBride, who is white, dished to the Guardian: 'Kanye asked me to play him in a movie of his life.'

Danny said: 'That was a pretty stunning phone call to get. I dont know why he wanted me to do it. Maybe that sense of ego Im able to portray? I have no clue.'

Kanye, who has been making waves for months with his Sunday Service performances, released his first Christian album Jesus Is King on October 25.

The record was quickly followed up by a Nativity-themed album called Jesus Is Born, which he released on Christmas Day.

Fashionista: The 42-year-old rap hunk flashed his dashing smile, layering up against the cold by throwing a silver anorak over a sky blue hoodie

Jesus Is King debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and Jesus Is Born opened at the number 73 position on the same chart.

Kanye shares four children with his wife Kim Kardashian - daughters North, six, and Chicago, two, and sons Saint, four, and Psalm, eight months.

Kim had the children baptized last year during a family trip to Armenia, where she has roots on her late father Robert Kardashian's side.

In a new Get Ready With Us video with her half-sister Kylie Jenner, Kim shared some of the story behind the name of her firstborn child.

Uncanny: His outing comes after Eastbound & Down star Danny McBride dished to the Guardian : 'Kanye asked me to play him in a movie of his life'

North's unusual name drew a great deal of public attention and Kim explained that it 'took me like a week to name her - not a week, like four or five days.'

She said: 'I actually got it from Jay Leno, who made that as a joke and I was like, I was like: "No way! I would never name my daughter that." Like I said that on his show.'

However it turned out 'everyone was coming up to me like: "It's such a cool name! You should really think about it." And then Pharrell had all these names.'
After receiving their transfer tests today, hundreds of young people and their parents will be making the decision as to which school they want to go to.

To help them, Derry Now has collated information on all the grammar schools in County Derry.

The information includes how many applications the schools received last year, how many applications were approved and the scores or grades the schools used to admit pupils.

Lumen Christi College - in 2019 the school received 163 applications and had an approved enrolment of 120. The highest score in the GL exam of admitted pupils was 282 while the lowest was 241.

Thornhill College - in 2019 the school received 214 applications and had an approved enrolment of 201. The highest grade in the GL/AQE exam of admitted pupils was A while the lowest was D.

St Columbs College - in 2019 the school received 197 applications and had an approved enrolment of 197. The highest grade in the GL/AQE exam of admitted pupils was A while the lowest was D.

Foyle College - in 2019 the school received 173 applications and had an approved enrolment of 132. The highest score in the AQE exam of admitted pupils was 125 while the lowest was 94.

Limavady Grammar - in 2019 the school received 157 applications and had an approved enrolment of 131. The highest score in the AQE exam of admitted pupils was 123 while the lowest was 89.

St Marys Grammar, Magherafelt - in 2019 the school received 186 applications and had an approved enrolment of 161. The highest grade in the GL exam of admitted pupils was A while the lowest was B2.

Rainey Endowed - in 2019 the school received 150 applications and had an approved enrolment of 119. The highest score in the GL exam of admitted pupils was 278 while the lowest was 229.

Coleraine Grammar - in 2019 the school received 200 applications and had an approved enrolment of 158. The highest score in the AQE exam of admitted pupils was 122 while the lowest was 90.



Source: Belfast Telegraph - https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/belfast-telegraph-transfer-test-guide-reveals-scores-accepted-by-every-northern-ireland-school-38890313.html
Over six months after being detained, an image of the former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah, enjoying snowfall has gone viral thanks to his new bearded look

After 2G internet services were restored in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, a photo of Omar Abdullah sporting a grey beard and enjoying snowfall went viral with several Twitter users sharing the picture.

The photo of Omar, the first since the former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was detained from 4 August, shows him dressed in a blue jacket and grey cap. Prior to his detention, Omar maintained a clean-shaven look.

While some Twitter users appreciated Omar Abdullah's new look, saying he was looking "damn smart" in his new get-up, others expressed sympathy.

Many said they wanted to see the former chief minister back in action on the social media platform and urged him to not lose hope.

Congress leader Salman Aneez Soz tweeted chided such users:

After seeing @OmarAbdullahs leaked photo, some are asking him to come back on Twitter and carry on as usual. Its as if he is off on a holiday. The govt illegally detained him (and others), judiciary played along, most media asked no questions. You are complicit.  Salman Anees Soz (@SalmanSoz) January 25, 2020

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, taking to Twitter, said she couldn't recognise Abdullah.

I could not recognize Omar in this picture. Am feeling sad. Unfortunate that this is happening in our democratic country. When will this end ? pic.twitter.com/lbO0PxnhWn  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) January 25, 2020

Journalist Smita Sharma tweeted:

Almost 6months now. As India prepares to celebrate its Constitution,would be in the true spirit of democracy #RepublicDay to release all detained political leaders restart dialogue in #Jammu #Kashmir & remove all communication restrictions for locals @OmarAbdullah @MehboobaMufti https://t.co/zFwz90W5p7  Smita Sharma (@Smita_Sharma) January 25, 2020

Pooja Bedi called for the release of the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister:

I guess he has 2 Grin & bear(d) it!!! The @OmarAbdullah I know is full of spunk & a "never say die" attitude. Our Sanawar school motto was "NEVER GIVE IN" & he epitomises it 

It's high time @BJP4India freed the former chief minister from his ridiculous indefinite detention. pic.twitter.com/Hd9S0KROhl  Pooja Bedi (@poojabeditweets) January 25, 2020

Journalist Ajay Kumar said photos speak louder than words:

At times Photos speak louder than words. @OmarAbdullah under preventive detention for a over 5 months. Differ with Omar at time over his concept of #karshmir , still respect him as a leader of a major party representing J&K. Bread does give him new character. pic.twitter.com/XB8ft61ql7  Ajay Kumar (@_Kumar_Ajay) January 25, 2020

Omar has been under preventive detention along with his father and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, since 4 August, a day before the Centre announced the scrapping of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir by abrogating Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution.

The Central government has placed almost all the prominent political leaders of Kashmir from different parties under detention.

However, as part of the move to progressively release detainees in Jammu and Kashmir, the government on 10 January revoked the detention warrants of 26 persons detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA).

The 26 persons whose detention has been revoked are mainstream political activists. They include Rouf Ahmad Dar from Pulwama, Abdul Salam Rather from Baramulla, Mohammad Arif Lone from Pahalgam and Javid Kalas, a resident of Shopian district.

With inputs from ANI
State Duma deputy Natalya Poklonskaya congratulated President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky on his birthday.

She admitted that she would like to become the Russian ambassador to Ukraine and wished this happen some day.

The parliamentarian also expressed confidence that the Ukrainian leader wants to resolve the conflict in the Donbass, to eliminate the problems that appeared under President Petro Poroshenko, but Zelensky is simply not allowed to resolve these issues.

She also recalled that after the coup in Ukraine, criminal proceedings were instituted against her.
Republic Day in India is celebrated on January, 26 every year. On the occasion, a grand parade is held in the capital of India, Delhi. The Republic Day parade is one of the largest and the most prestigious parades in India. The Republic Day parade goes on for three hours and it takes place at the Rajpath, Delhi.

The Republic Day parade is held in the capital of India, Delhi. The parade starts its march from Rashtrapati Bhawan and goes on until the India Gate via the Rajpath. The President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro is the guest of honour for the 71st Republic Day parade ceremony. The parade is a prestigious affair that is viewed by the audience all over the world.

ALSO READ: "Dhanush" System, Army Air Defence Contingent To Take Part In Republic Day Parade

Republic Day parade live streaming

The 71st Republic Day parade ceremony can be streamed live on the YouTube channel of Doordarshan, India's National Broadcaster. Doordarshan national television channel will also broadcast the event live from New Delhi. The Republic Day parade will start from 9 am onwards. This year marks the eighth consecutive year when the channel will be seen broadcasting the parade live. Doordarshan has been telecasting the parade since the early sixties. Check out the link here.

ALSO READ: In A First, PM Modi To Pay Respects At National War Memorial Ahead Of Republic Day Parade

The 71st Republic Day parade ceremony will begin with the unfurling of the national flag by the President of India. The national anthem is played as the everyone salutes the national flag. As the Presidents Bodyguard extends the National Salute, a 21-gun salute is given.

ALSO READ: Full Dress Rehearsal For Republic Day Parade, Heavy Traffic Jams In Parts Of Delhi

#WATCH Delhi: Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) women bikers contingent practice for Republic Day Parade 2020 at Rajpath. pic.twitter.com/81Llcxewbx  ANI (@ANI) January 21, 2020

The President of India handing out important awards like the Kirti Chakra and Ashok Chakra. Several regiments of the army, air force and navy march along with the bands at the parade. To signify the culture of various states in India, the Tableau of an array of states are displayed. The end of the parade is signified by a beating retreat ceremony.

ASLO READ: CRPF Women Bike Riders Practise For Republic Day Parade
(Natural News) In case you didnt fully realize that something big is about to take place in America, file these two facts in your brain:

Fact #1: The U.S. military, Carrier Strike Group Four (CSG4), is jamming GPS signals from Jan 16th  24th, which may overlap the planned deep state false flag event in Richmond, Virginia. Richmond is just at the margins of the range of the GPS jamming exercise map released by the military (see below). The epicenter of the so-called exercise is off the coast of Georgia. The official FAA announcement claims no jamming will take place on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday next week, but we dont trust the FAA, so your mileage may vary. Remember, too, that 90% of the American population below the age of 30 has never read a paper map and cant use a compass.

The GPS jamming exercise continues through Jan. 24th and effects South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Eastern Tennessee, Alabama and all of Florida. The AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) has posted details of the warning here.

The FAA has also issued a flight advisory warning aircraft pilots that GPS will fail for several hours each day during this military jamming exercise. See:

www.FAAsafety.gov/files/notices/2020/Jan/CSG4_20-01_GPS_Flight_Advisory.pdf

Map of the Carrier Strike Group Four GPS testing

Here are the areas that will be impacted:

Note that this is the U.S. military testing GPS jamming capabilities in anticipation of an event that would require such jamming (obviously). Consider the convergence of events now shaping up:

 The impeachment trial of President Trump by the U.S. Senate, presided over by the treasonous sellout SCOTUS Justice Roberts, who already sold out America to Obama under the wildly unconstitutional Obamacare decision years ago.

 The Jan. 20th Lobby Day event in Richmond, Virginia, where deep state operatives are absolutely trying to put together a false flag event to cause violence and blame gun owners.

 The Mysterious drone flights over Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska, recently followed up by an emergency meeting with the Kansas legislature on a military base, where they were briefed about something horrific and life altering.

 The FBIs sudden attempts to confiscate high-end night vision tubes from distributors, indicating an emergency need for night vision capabilities in an agency led by a treasonous traitor (Chris Wray) and that has a long history of planning and carrying out terrorism plots across America, according to the New York Times and the Kansas City Star.

FBI invokes eminent domain to seize high-end night vision tubes

Fact #2: The FBI is now claiming eminent domain to essentially seize high-end night vision tubes (that power night vision goggles) from distributors in the United States. This indicates the FBI has an emergency effort under way to acquire large numbers of night vision devices in anticipation of some urgent event which will take place at night (possibly another FBI false flag operation like Oklahoma City or the 1993 attempted World Trade Center bombing which was entirely masterminded by the FBI).

As Dave Hodges is reporting from The Commonsense Show, Bob Griswold from ReadyMadeResources.com relates a shocking event where he had already locked in the purchase of 70 night vision tubes from his distributor, and had those tubes invoiced and committed. Within hours, the FBI claimed eminent domain over the tubes, effectively seizing them from Ready Made Resources before they could even be shipped.

We reviewed a letter written to RMR by their distributor, confirming that the government preempted the order to RMR and claimed they had ownership over the gear because they were the government.

An hour ago, I spoke with Griswold on the phone to confirm the situation, and he told me he thought there were, No more than 200 high-end night vision devices remaining in the entire country. (This excludes the crappy gen 1 and gen 2 night vision devices, which nobody wants anyway.)

Im told that inventory units are flying off the shelves and will be gone everywhere in the next 1-2 business days. Yes, there is a run on night vision in America, happening right now.

Heres the relevant question: What is the FBI planning that would require hundreds of night vision devices?

Answer: Probably another bombing, mass shooting, mass casualty event or some other terrorism flashpoint that the FBI is famous for causing. Just ask the church members of Waco, Texas or not, since theyre all dead, thanks to the FBI and ATF.

Earlier this week, Alex Jones declared on his broadcast that the deep state was going to attempt to assassinate Trump next week. Could this military exercise, and the FBI night vision devices, and the drones scanning the Midwest all be related?

Most likely, yes.

Listen to my urgent false flag warning podcast which covers the possibility of deliberate violence being staged for Monday, Jan. 20th, in Richmond, Virginia:

Brighteon.com/9c32473d-2716-43ea-acd4-03088f4f49d0

The deep state is igniting TOTAL WAR against America

Get prepared, America. The deep state is about to unleash total war against us all. They plan to kill the President, criminalize the Second Amendment, destroy the First Amendment, crash the economy, start race riots and basically plunge the country into nationwide chaos.

Its long past time to just arrest all these left-wing traitors and throw them in prison, as All News Pipeline correctly reports: Its time Democrats are charged with treason and sedition and held accountable for their high crimes upon America.

Stay tuned more updates to come.
Burford Capital has been dragged into a legal row in the US in a further blow for the litigation financier as it battles short-sellers.

One of Burford's executives has been accused by a company it was advising of passing trade secrets to a rival whose board she joined.

It is the latest courtroom spat involving the AIM-listed company, which has come under fire from short-seller Muddy Waters over its accounting and governance.

Burford Capital has been dragged into a legal row in the US

Katharine Wolanyk, who runs Burford's Chicago office, has been named as a defendant in a case filed by Slingshot Technologies, a company that hoovers up patents.

Acting for Burford, Wolanyk was advising Slingshot on a potential deal to buy a portfolio of telecoms patents owned by Singapore-based Transpacific IP.

Slingshot was in talks with Burford about Burford funding the acquisition  another aspect of its business. Slingshot even signed a non-disclosure agreement with Burford, Slingshot claims in court papers seen by The Mail on Sunday.

But Transpacific went on to sell the portfolio to a US rival of Slingshot called Acacia Research  shortly after Wolanyk had joined Acacia's board.

Slingshot accuses her of using information gained from her work for the firm to help Acacia buy the assets.

Wolanyk denies this and says she only knew about the deal after it was completed. She has applied to have the case thrown out. Burford and Wolanyk declined to comment.

It emerged last year that another Burford executive was accused of trading confidential documents for a sex tape.
At the height of the War of 1812, the British invade Washington DC, setting fire to everything as they stormed into the capital. President James Madison is forced to flee to Brookville, Maryland, while the British occupied the underdefended city.

Shortly after the enemy invasion, heavy thunderstorms, as well as a tornado, tearing through DC, putting out many of the fires and damaging the British ships. The British are forced to flee the city giving way for Madisons return on September 1. The U.S. government recuperates and is able to send forces to push the enemy back toward Canada, ultimately winning the war.
A related tension: If the evidence against the president is strong enough to justify his removal from office, is more really needed? Here, it is consistent to argue that the evidence already amassed is sufficient to convict Trump and that those who assess it differently are obligated to seek more. As Schiff argued, You may agree with the House managers that the evidence of the presidents withholding of military aid to coerce Ukraine is already supported by overwhelming evidence . . . but if the presidents lawyers attempt to contest these or other factual matters, you are left with no choice but to demand to hear from each witness with firsthand knowledge.
Your language is dead. Learn something else. That was the blunt message Patricia O'Connor and Ysola Best were said to have received when they tried to revive their people's native tongue.

Growing up in Southport and Beaudesert, the two south-east Queensland Indigenous women spoke Yugambeh, a language that once stretched from the Logan River to the Tweed and out to the Scenic Rim.

But when they approached the University of Queensland in the mid-1980s to try to bring the language back, they were told it had already been dead for three decades, according to Ms O'Connor's son, Rory.

Patricia O'Connor holding the Queen's Baton from the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

They were urged to learn another language but instead set off on a path that saw them get degrees, help develop Queensland's first working research facility to bring back lost languages and eventually see their language spoken in Federal Parliament.
German charity Sea-Eye said it had rescued 78 migrants off the Libyan coast on Saturday and accused Libyan authorities of harassing rescuers and acting illegally, France 24 reports.

The Alan Kurdi, named after a Syrian child whose drowning in the Mediterranean in 2015 brought global attention to the migrant crisis, received distress calls and rushed to aid migrants stranded on two boats.

"Our ship #ALANKURDI rescued 62 people from an inflatable boat in the morning. Water was already entering. Among them are 8 women and 7 children, the youngest just six months old," a Sea-Eye statement said.

Rights groups charge that Libya picks up migrants in the Mediterranean and brings them back to overcrowded detention centres, where many have been victims of abuse and forced labour, France 24 reports.
Theres a certain class of adjectives  generally in the indifferent-to-uncomplimentary range  that critics of the Canadian Senate are inclined to attach to the political appointees who conduct the business of Parliaments upper chamber.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/1/2020 (718 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Theres a certain class of adjectives  generally in the indifferent-to-uncomplimentary range  that critics of the Canadian Senate are inclined to attach to the political appointees who conduct the business of Parliaments upper chamber.

Senator renews push to protect staffers from harassment Click to Expand Dylan Lipnowski / Winnipeg Free Press Files Sen. Marilou McPhedran Posted: 7:00 PM Jan. 22, 2020 OTTAWA  A Manitoba senator is bracing for more pushback as she doubles down on her call for transparency of sexual harassment allegations made against her colleagues. Marilou McPhedran said she plans to spend the rest of her term shining a spotlight on the issue. Read Full Story

Outworn. Obsolete. Weary. Moribund. Lethargic. Idle. Otiose.

Unkind descriptives all, and for the most part perhaps unfairly applied, given the gravity of the legislative responsibilities assigned to the Senate. But its reputation as an institution in which not much happens, at a not-very-urgent pace, is long-standing.

A couple of modifiers youre much less likely to see positioned in front of "senator": "innovative" and "confrontational."

They might, however, be fairly applied to recent efforts by Manitoba Sen. Marilou McPhedran to shine an uncomfortable  and for some of her Red Chamber contemporaries, unwelcome  spotlight on the issue of transparency regarding allegations of sexual harassment by senior politicians and deeply entrenched practices to cover them up via controversial measures such as non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

In the three-plus years she has served in the Senate since being appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in November 2016, Ms. McPhedran has come to the conclusion the institution lags woefully behind any other workplace she has experienced in terms of its policies and practices regarding harassment and complaint resolution.

Senator Marilou McPhedrans public interest in the issue dates back to February 2018. (David Lipnowski / Free Press files)

"Nothing Ive ever experienced was predicated on white, male privilege the way the Senate was  and still, to a degree, is," the senator told the Free Press this week. "The self-governance is deeply flawed. I think it feeds and nourishes secrecy, inadequate accountability and obscurity."

She added that the Senates current approach to harassment complaints involves a limited number of individuals making decisions in secret, with no records kept, which creates the possibility of deeply harmful decisions that cannot be appealed through any accountable mechanism.

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Ms. McPhedrans public interest in the issue dates back to February 2018, when she established a confidential email account to allow victims of harassment to seek legal help. The move was partly in response to the resignation of senator Don Meredith, whom the Senate ethics officer found to have created a toxic work environment for staffers and who had also engaged in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old.

Ms. McPhedran, who had a lengthy career as a human-rights lawyer before her Senate appointment, has campaigned vigorously against "pervasive" harassment of staff by some senators, and has also been critical of the practice of having victims sign NDAs as a condition of settlement of harassment complaints. She attempted, unsuccessfully, in 2018 to require Senate administration to reveal publicly whether it had required sexual-harassment complainants to sign NDAs and, if so, how much had been paid to those complainants.

Nothing Ive ever experienced was predicated on white, male privilege the way the Senate was  and still, to a degree, is.  Manitoba Sen. Marilou McPhedran

Next month, Ms. McPhedran will ask senators to vote for a ban on NDAs involving those who file harassment complaints against senators. The upper chamber is also expected next month to debate a harassment policy that has been in the works since the Meredith case in 2018.

That there should be any resistance whatsoever to Ms. McPhedrans call for a ban on NDAs would certainly seem to support her assertion that the Senate  despite the positive evolution toward independence brought on by the shift to appointing senators on the basis of merit rather than party affiliation and patronage  is an institution that needs to be dragged forcefully into the 21st century.

To put it in terms perhaps more contemporary than what many in the chamber might employ, #TimesUp for the Senates out-of-step attitudes and practices regarding workplace harassment.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

Police in San Francisco have arrested a man accused of killing a 19-year-old whose body was found on Treasure Island last week, more than a week after he'd been reported missing.

On Friday, Jan. 17 officers located the body of Amir Alkhraisat of San Francisco around 11:45 p.m. in the 400 block of Avenue M.

Alkhraisat was pronounced dead at the scene and police have not said how exactly he may have died.

Alkhraisat's family had reported him missing on Jan. 8 and, after an investigation, officers determined his disappearance was suspicious in nature, police said.

On Thursday, officers arrested 21-year-old Danilo Barraza of San Francisco as a suspect in the case. Barraza has been booked on suspicion of murder and is being held without bail.

Although a suspect has been arrested, anyone with information about the case is being asked to contact police's 24-hour tipline at (415) 575-4444 or to text a tip to TIP411 with "SFPD" at the beginning of the message.

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.
Israel claims a breakthrough in the development of lasers that can be used to intercept mortar shells, UAVs and rockets. While testing under combat conditions wont take place until mid-2020, the government thought that the new technology was innovative and effective enough in preliminary tests to announce.

Laser systems like this have been in development elsewhere for a long time, but so far no one has been able to develop a laser with the range and destructive power to perform like the new Israeli system. This new weapon is already being called Laser Dome because it would complement the existing Iron Dome system that uses missiles and an innovative radar/software system that ignores ballistic, rockets or mortar shell whose trajectory would mean hitting unoccupied land where there will be no injuries or serious damage. Most objects fired at Israel end up landing in unoccupied areas and the few objects that are dangerous are intercepted by missiles. This has proved very effective.

Laser Dome is described as using a solid-state electric laser at an effective range of 5,000 meters. This costs several dollars worth of electricity per shot. A diesel generator capacitor system could fire once every few seconds for as long as power was available. Laser Dome combines multiple laser beams to obtain a useful amount of laser power at longer ranges. Fire control systems for quickly, accurately and repeatedly aiming a laser have already been developed. The main problem has effective burn (laser bean-created heat) at longer ranges to do enough damage to bring down or destroy the incoming warhead.

Israel believes Laser Dome has sufficient burn power but realistic tests are needed to prove it. If Laser Dome works, several individual systems could operate with each Iron Dome battery to take down targets the laser can reach rather than use the $60,000 missiles. Iron Dome takes care of longer-range targets. This would make Iron Dome a lot cheaper to operate and more effective against mass attacks when dozens of rockets are fired at the same target in a short time.

Some of the tech Laser Dome uses has already been used in other laser weapons. The best example of this is the U.S. Army CLWS (Compact Laser Weapon System) which is currently only capable of handling UAVs. CLWS is a laser weapon light enough (2.2 tons) to mount on helicopters or hummers and can destroy small UAVs up to 2,000 meters away, while it can disable or destroy the sensors (vidcams) on a UAV up to 7,000 meters away. The CLWS fire control system will automatically track and keep the laser firing on a selected target. It can take up to 15 seconds of laser fire to bring down a UAV or destroy its camera. This is the tech that Laser Dome claims to have improved enough to destroy UAVs with one shot and at longer ranges.

Another example is a U.S. Navy system already installed on one warship for several years and about to be installed on several more. In 2013 the navy announced that it had developed a laser technology capable of being useful in combat. This was not a sudden development but has been going on for most of the last decade. In 2010 the navy successfully tested this new laser weapon, which is actually six solid-state lasers acting in unison, to destroy a small UAV. That was the seventh time the navy laser had destroyed a UAV. But the LaWS (Laser Weapon System) was not yet powerful enough to do this at the range, and power level, required to cripple the most dangerous targets; missiles and small boats. The manufacturer convinced the navy that it was just a matter of tweaking the technology to get the needed effectiveness. In 2013 another test was run, under more realistic conditions. LaWS worked, knocking down a larger UAV at a longer range. At that point, the navy said it planned to install the system in a warship within the year for even more realistic testing. Those tests took place in 2014 and were successful enough to install LaWS on at least one warship to be used to deliver warnings (at low power) while at full strength (30 kilowatts)

The LaWS laser cannon was mounted on a KINETO Tracking Mount, which is similar, but larger (and more accurate), than the mount used by the Phalanx CIWS (Close-In Weapons System). The navy laser weapon tests used the radar and tracking system of the CIWS. Back in 2009 CIWS was upgraded so that its sensors could detect speedboats, small aircraft, and naval mines. This was crucial because knocking down UAVs is not something that the navy needs help with. But the ability to do enough damage to disable boats or missiles that are over two kilometers distant meant the LaWS was worth mounting on a warship.

LaWS may yet prove incapable of working under combat conditions, but so far this new development has kept passing tests. These included disabling a ScanEagel UAV, destroying an RPG rocket and burning out the outboard engine of a speed boat. LaWAS also proved useful in detecting small boats or aerial objects at night and in bad weather. LaWAS worked despite mist and light sand storms. But in heaver sand storms performance was much reduced. In 2018 LaWAS was moved to a large amphibious ship for continued testing and two more LaWAS are being built, for delivery and installation on two more ships in 2020. The manufacturer continues to work on extending the range and increasing damage inflicted on targets. LaWAS uses less than a dollars worth of power use and is supplied by a diesel generator separate from the ship power supply. In other words, LaWAS is still a work in progress.

Such was not the case with an earlier research effort using chemical lasers. In 2011 the U.S. Department of Defense halted work on the U.S. Air Force ALT (Airborne Laser Testbed). The project was put into storage until such time as more effective technology is available to revive the effort, or it is decided that the ALT is not worth the storage expense. ALT cost over $5 billion during its 16 years of development. It never worked, at least not in a practical sense. In 2010, for the second time in a row, the ALT failed in an attempt to use its laser to destroy a ballistic missile. That time, the problem was with the radar and fire control system, which failed to lock the laser onto the actual missile (although the radar did detect the actual missile launch). In the past, the main problem has been a lack of power to drive the laser to lethal levels. Because of that, the ALT program has been an expensive near-miss for nearly two decades. In 2009 ALT was demoted from a system in development to a research program. The reason for this was all about energy supply. Even if ALT worked flawlessly it did not have enough energy to hit a launching missile from a safe (from enemy fire) distance. ALT needed more than twenty times as much energy than it had and it was believed it would be a while before that problem was solved.

Back in 2003 developers of combat lasers were more optimistic. In 2005 manufacturers of combat lasers believed these weapons were only a few years away from battlefield use. To that end, Northrop-Grumman set up a new division to develop and build battle lasers. This optimism was generated by two successful tests in 2006. In one a solid-state laser shot down a mortar round. In another, a much more powerful chemical laser hit a missile type target. Neither of these tests led to any useable weapons, and the combat laser remains the "weapon of the future." The basic problems are reliability and ammo (power to generate the laser).

Solid-state lasers have been around since the 1950s, and chemical lasers first appeared in the 1970s. The chemical laser has the advantage of using a chemical reaction to create the megawatt level of energy for a laser that can penetrate the body of a ballistic missile that is still rising in the air hundreds of kilometers away. The chemical reaction uses atomized liquid hydrogen peroxide and potassium hydroxide and chlorine gas to form an ionized form of oxygen known as singlet delta oxygen (SDO). This, in turn, is rapidly mixed with molecular iodine gas to form ionized iodine gas. At that point, the ionized iodine gas rapidly returns to its resting state and while doing so releases photons pulsing at the right frequency to create the laser light. These photons are channeled by mirrors and sent on their way to the target, which is being tracked and pinpointed by other lasers. The airborne laser weighs about six tons. It can be carried in a C-130H, producing a laser powerful enough to hit airborne or ground targets fifteen kilometers away. The laser exits via a targeting turret under the nose of the aircraft. The laser beam is invisible to the human eye. The chemicals are mixed at high speeds and the byproducts are harmless heat, potassium salt, water, and oxygen. A similar laser, flying in a larger aircraft (B-747 based ALT) was supposed to have enough range to knock down ballistic missiles as they took off. But the ALT never developed sufficient range to be an effective weapon.

Nearly half a century of engineering work has produced thousands of improvements, and a few breakthroughs, in making the lasers more powerful, accurate, and lethal. More efficient energy storage has made it possible to use lighter, shorter range, ground-based lasers effective against smaller targets like mortar shells and short-range rockets. Northrop's 2005 move was an indication that the company felt confident enough to gamble its own money, instead of what they get for government research contracts, to produce useful laser weapons. A larger high energy airborne laser would not only be useful against ballistic missiles but enemy aircraft and space satellites would also be at risk. But companies like Northrop and Boeing are still trying to produce ground and airborne lasers that can successfully operate under combat conditions. The big problem with anti-missile airborne lasers has always been the power supply. A lot of chemicals are needed to generate sufficient power for a laser that can reach out for hundreds of kilometers and do sufficient damage to a ballistic missile. To be effective the airborne laser needs sufficient power to get off several shots. So far, no one has been able to produce such a weapon. Shorter range solid-state lasers need lots of electricity. This is difficult for aircraft or ground troops but not for properly equipped ships. That's why these lasers remain "the weapon of the future" and will probably remain so for a while.

LaWS seems to be going in the same direction as Laser Dome with similar but less effective tech. The Israeli laser system is light enough to be mounted in warplanes or large UAVs. Hopes are once more high that Laser Dome will prove that the long-awaited future tech has finally arrived. Believe it when you see it.
In this week's 'Rewind' Robert Smith concludes his two-part story on the career of the super horse Niatross as he closed out his racing career in 1980. An earlier episode chronicled the visit of this great horse to Greenwood. Today's story recalls his only other two visits to race on Canadian soil and also includes some photographs of this great horse and his trainer - driver.

Niatross Wins Prix D'Ete At Blue Bonnets

Over 21,000 fans were in attendance on Prix d'Ete day at Blue Bonnets in 1980 to see Niatross win by a wide margin.

On Sunday August 24, 1980, Niatross made a triumphant visit to Blue Bonnets Raceway in Montreal. His appearance at Montreal's showplace of harness racing added a huge chapter to an already gigantic "scrapbook" of memorable and historic days of racing at the Decarie Boulevard location. It was Prix D'Ete day, Canada's biggest harness racing attraction. It was the 14th renewal of this famous race first held in 1968. The purse of $161,850 was the second largest in its history.

Despite the overwhelming odds of finishing any better than second, the race drew a field of 11 starters. A quote from the Montreal Gazette stated "If there are no sure things in racing, animals that go off at 1-9 odds are about as close as it gets." Many experts believed that it was just a three-horse race at best with virtually no possibility of anyone but Niatross being the winner. The two likely contenders to chase the winner were Safe Arrival and Trenton Time. Herve Filion who had driven Safe Arrival in a number of previous starts for owners Duncan MacTavish and Conrad Leber was not in the sulky with his spot taken by Bud Gilmour.

Away very swiftly Niatross quickly took the lead from his number 5 post position and reached the quarter in :27.4 with Tyrant (driven by Dr. John Hayes) sitting in second spot. By the half Bud Gilmour driving Safe Arrival had moved up for second as they reached that point in :55.4. Justin Passing with Doug Arthur up remained a respectable third where he eventually finished. The only change in order the rest of the way saw Trenton Time and Billy Haughton move up to finish second but over six lengths in arrears. Trenton Time had the distinction of being one of the only two horses to ever defeat Niatross (the time he fell); the other being Bruce Gimble.

The race drew a huge crowd as so often happened when big-name horses and drivers came to Blue Bonnets on a Sunday afternoon. This one was recorded as 21,117 paying customers. The winning time of 1:53.4 was fast enough to break the track and Canadian record of 1:54 set the previous year by Hot Hitter in this race. It however failed to eclipse either the 5/8 track record which stood at 1:53.2 (held by Storm Damage) or the all-time mile record of 1:52 set in a Time Trial.

"We just wanted to go fast enough to win. I don't worry about records," said driver Clint Galbraith. The $80,825 which was the winner's share helped Niatross to inch closer to the $2 million mark which was a definite goal of the owners. Off the track, wrangling over money matters, details of where the soon-to-be-retired horse would stand at stud and numerous other squabbles were ongoing between the many owners of this great horse.

Niatross Visits Windsor Raceway

On December 7, 1980 the incomparable Niatross visited Windsor Raceway as he wound down his racing career. It was a Sunday evening affair and 10,845 people showed up to see the best horse on the planet do what he did best and that was WIN. This was the Raceway's second largest crowd in its 16-year history, second only to the throng that gathered there way back in June of 1972 to see this horse's sire Albatross 'do his thing'. The fans had hoped for an added bonus and that was perhaps seeing a new record or two set, despite the time of year which did not bode well for extreme speed. Driver and co-owner Clint Galbraith stated before the race that a record was unlikely "but if the horse wants to go that badly I'll let him go."

The big race which carried a purse of $42,000 was somewhat less than most he had competed for throughout the 1980 season. Smaller it may have been, but with the winner's share of this one pretty much assured, combined with an upcoming start at Greenwood for $75,000 the following week would put Niatross over the $2 million mark. One can't help but wonder if someone had been doing a little math in advance. In this event his share of the purse amounted to $35,000 by special arrangement.

The race drew a field of eight starters with no real threats to topple the champion among them. Galbraith was ahead by six lengths at the quarter and by four at the half with no one in pursuit. After that point he stepped up the tempo with a third quarter in :28.2 and a final panel in :29 even. Time of the mile was 1:57. At the wire Niatross was 14 lengths ahead of the field with Gee Dee Parker and Ken Hardy a very distant second and in for third was Greg Wright with Atasoy.

While many in the crowd were a bit disappointed that no new records were set the Windsor management were delighted at the crowd and the mutuel handle. The crowd wagered $985,151 to set a new handle for a single program; the highest ever for the track that opened in 1965. From here the Niatross contingent moved eastward some 230 miles to Toronto's Greenwood Raceway for what was then believed to be the final lifetime start of the famous horse in just six days.



Noted artist Harold Burton of Wheatley, Ont. created the painting shown above to commemorate the visit of Niatross to Windsor Raceway Noted artist Harold Burton of Wheatley, Ont. created the painting shown above to commemorate the visit of Niatross to Windsor Raceway



In August of 1980 a special trackside ceremony was held to welcome two new members to the Meadowlands Hall of Fame. On the left is Niatross and Clint Galbraith and on the right is the great grey thoroughbred Spectacular Bid accompanied by trainer Grover "Buddy" Delp. Perched upon "The Bid" is regular exercise boy Bob Smith (once again no relation). Both had spectacular racing careers and were retired at the end of the 1980 season. In August of 1980 a special trackside ceremony was held to welcome two new members to the Meadowlands Hall of Fame. On the left is Niatross and Clint Galbraith and on the right is the great grey thoroughbred Spectacular Bid accompanied by trainer Grover "Buddy" Delp. Perched upon "The Bid" is regular exercise boy Bob Smith (once again no relation). Both had spectacular racing careers and were retired at the end of the 1980 season.



Niatross lived to the age of 22. In May 1999 he took ill and was transported to the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center where he was diagnosed with a large cancerous mass in his abdomen. On June 7, 1999 Niatross was humanely euthanized. He was cremated with his remains interred at the Hall Of Fame Museum in Goshen, New York. Nearly 40 years have passed since Niatross retired from racing but his name and his accomplishments remain among the absolute best in the sport's long history. Niatross lived to the age of 22. In May 1999 he took ill and was transported to the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center where he was diagnosed with a large cancerous mass in his abdomen. On June 7, 1999 Niatross was humanely euthanized. He was cremated with his remains interred at the Hall Of Fame Museum in Goshen, New York. Nearly 40 years have passed since Niatross retired from racing but his name and his accomplishments remain among the absolute best in the sport's long history.

Quote For The Week: "A partnership is the hardest ship to sail." A quote from my late father.

Who Is It?

Can you name this man who was around harness racing for a very long time involved in many capacities?

Bonus Photo

Can you put a name on the driver on the outside This photo was taken at Hazel Park in 1953, the year the track opened. Is it OK to smile at the driver you've just beaten to the wire? In this case it was indeed acceptable to flash a grin. Any guesses as to why it was not offensive? Small clue, he was a well-known U.S. driver. (Harness Horse)

Stay tuned for the correct answers during the upcoming week.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and State Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has termed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as Narendra Modi governments biggest blunder and said he would lead a nation-wide movement against the act if it is not retracted.

Rao accused the BJP of dividing people in the name of religion and announced intention to convene a meeting of all regional parties and like-minded chief ministers opposing the CAA in Hyderabad within a month.

Why every time in Delhi? I will take initiative to hold a big rally in Hyderabad with at least 10 lakh people to raise our voice against the CAA, which is anti-constitutional, he said.

His party had voted against the Bill in parliament yet KCR maintained a studied silence on the issue. He finally spoke on the day his party swept the municipal polls in the state and said that remaining silent against such dangerous acts would be a great injustice to the people and democracy.

He also promised to pass an anti-CAA resolution in the next session of the state assembly.

India cannot be converted into a Hindu nation. We are a secular country. This country belongs to the people. We should continue to be secular, he asserted.

KCR said country had more important issues to tackle like the economic crisis, unemployment and development of weaker sections.

Obviously, the BJP wants to divert the peoples attention from these crucial issues by taking up CAA and NRC, he said.

He suggested that the Modi government should recall the CAA.

He said he had also assured MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi that he would lobby with his fellow non-BJP CMs against CAA, NRC and NPR.

We shall never allow India to become a Hindu state, the chief minister asserted.

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Michael Clune in The Chronicle Review:

A number of readers of my recent Chronicle Review essay, The Humanities Fear of Judgment, doubted the existence of literature professors so enchanted by the pseudo-equality of consumer culture as to reject literary judgment. Therefore Im grateful that G. Gabrielle Starr and Kevin Dettmar are so explicit on this point. When I suggest that teaching a great writer like Gwendolyn Brooks to resistant students is worthwhile, they retort: When Silicon Valley types say they want to hire humanities majors, its not because they want coders who know Gwendolyn Brooks poems.

Starr and Dettmar reject the authority by which a literature professor presumes to show students works worth reading. Who are we, they argue, to tell students that James Baldwin, Shakespeare, or Gwendolyn Brooks are good? As a first-generation college student, I learned to be wary of professors loudly forswearing their authority, approaching students as buddies, just wanting to have a friendly conversation. Such a stance typically concealed a far more thoroughgoing play at authority. And of course Starr and Dettmar immediately reveal their suspicion of authority to be hypocritical. These literature professors modestly disavow any expertise in literary judgment in order to claim expertise in empathy, morality, and metacognitive skills. Such expertise, they tell us, will prepare our students to contend with some degree of success in the marketplace of ideas.

But what exactly qualifies a literature Ph.D. as an empathy expert? Why should students attending Pomona College  one of the wealthiest institutions on the planet  go into debt to learn how to be moral from the authors of scholarly books on 18th-century literature and Bob Dylan?

More here.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 10:28:20|Editor: Lu Hui

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HONG KONG, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong has reported three more cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to five.

Respiratory samples of three travelers from Wuhan were tested positive for novel coronavirus. The patients, in stable condition, were under isolation in hospital, according to the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government.

Of the three new cases, the first involved a 62-year-old woman, who arrived in Hong Kong by train on Jan. 19 and developed fever and cough on Jan. 20.

Three of her family members, coming to Hong Kong with her, will be transferred to Lady MacLehose Holiday Village for quarantine although showing no symptoms.

The other two cases involved a couple from Wuhan, 62 and 63 respectively, who came to Hong Kong on Jan. 22 and presented symptoms over following days. Their daughter, also developing fever, will be under isolation, and their asymptomatic domestic helper will be under quarantine.

The CHP is making epidemiological investigations and relevant contact tracing of the five confirmed cases in Hong Kong.

As of Friday noon, the CHP has received reports of 239 suspected cases and 5 confirmed cases since Dec. 31, 2019, with 122 cases discharged already after being ruled out as novel coronavirus infection.

HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Saturday morning at the Hong Kong airport after coming back from the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos that the health of the public is the first priority. She added that a high-level meeting on the pneumonia situation will be held later Saturday.

The HKSAR government has activated the serious response level in its contingency plan to prevent the spread of the infectious disease. It has enhanced the monitoring of suspected cases, imposed a health declaration form system on inbound travelers by air and railway, and canceled festive events for the Lunar New Year celebrations.
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.




Biologist Krzysztof Machaj shows stem cell samples, stored in large liquid nitrogen freezers, at the headquarters of the Polish umbilical cord blood bank PBKM/FamiCord

Poland has emerged as Europe's leader in stem cell storage, a billion-dollar global industry that is a key part of a therapy that can treat leukaemias but raises excessive hopes.

Submerged in liquid nitrogen vapour at a temperature of minus 175 degrees Celsius, hundreds of thousands of stem cells from all over Europe bide their time in large steel barrels on the outskirts of Warsaw.

Present in blood drawn from the umbilical cord of a newborn baby, stem cells can help cure serious blood-related illnesses like leukaemias and lymphomas, as well as genetic conditions and immune system deficits.

Polish umbilical cord blood bank PBKM/FamiCord became the industry's leader in Europe after Swiss firm Cryo-Save went bankrupt early last year.

It is also the fifth largest in the world, according to its management, after two companies in the United States, a Chinese firm and one based in Singapore.

Since the first cord blood transplant was performed in France in 1988, the sector has significantly progressed, fuelling hopes.

- Health insurance -

Mum-of-two Teresa Przeborowska has firsthand experience.

At five years old, her son Michal was diagnosed with lymphoblastic leukaemia and needed a bone marrow transplant, the entrepreneur from northern Poland said.

The most compatible donor was his younger sister, Magdalena.

When she was born, her parents had a bag of her cord blood stored at PBKM.

More than three years later, doctors injected his sister's stem cells into Michal's bloodstream.

It was not quite enough for Michal's needs but nicely supplemented harvested bone marrow.

As a result, Michal, who is nine, "is now flourishing, both intellectually and physically," his mum told AFP.

A cord blood transplant has become an alternative to a bone marrow transplant when there is no donor available, with a lower risk of complications.

Stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood are like those taken from bone marrow, capable of producing all blood cells: red cells, platelets and immune system cells.

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When used, stem cells are first concentrated, then injected into the patient. Once transfused, they produce new cells of every kind.

At the PBKM laboratory, "each container holds up to 10,000 blood bags... Safe and secure, they wait to be used in the future," its head, Krzysztof Machaj, said.

The bank holds around 440,000 samples, not including those from Cryo-Save, he said.

If the need arises, the "blood will be ready to use without the whole process of looking for a compatible donor and running blood tests," the biologist told AFP.

For families who have paid an initial nearly 600 euros ($675) and then an annual 120 euros to have the blood taken from their newborns' umbilical cords preserved for around 20 years, it is a kind of health insurance promising faster and more effective treatment if illness strikes.

But researchers also warn against unrealistic expectations.

- Beauty products -

Haematologist Wieslaw Jedrzejczak, a bone marrow pioneer in Poland, describes promoters of the treatment as "sellers of hope", who "make promises that are either impossible to realise in the near future or downright impossible to realise at all for biological reasons."

He compares them to makers of beauty products who "swear their cream will rejuvenate the client by 20 years."

Various research is being done on the possibility of using the stem cells to treat other diseases, notably nervous disorders. But the EuroStemCell scientist network warns that the research is not yet conclusive.

"There is a list of almost 80 diseases for which stem cells could prove beneficial," US haematologist Roger Mrowiec, who heads the clinical laboratory of the cord blood programme Vitalant in New Jersey, told AFP.

"But given the present state of medicine, they are effective only for around a dozen of them, like leukaemia or cerebral palsy," he said.

"It's not true, as it's written sometimes, that we can already use them to fight Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's disease or diabetes."

EuroStemCell also cautions against private blood banks that "advertise services to parents suggesting they should pay to freeze their child's cord blood... in case it's needed later in life."

"Studies show it is highly unlikely that the cord blood will ever be used for their child," the network said.

It also pointed out that there could be a risk of the child's cells not being useable anyway without reintroducing the same illness.

Some countries, such as Belgium and France, are cautious and ban the storage of cord blood for private purposes. Most EU countries however permit it while imposing strict controls.

- Rapid growth -

In the early 2000s, Swiss company Cryo-Save enjoyed rapid growth.

Greeks, Hungarians, Italians, Spaniards and Swiss stored blood from their newborns with the company for 20 years on payment of 2,500 euros upfront.

When the firm was forced to close in early 2019, clients were left wondering where their stem cells would end up.

Under a kind of back-up agreement, the samples of some 250,000 European families were transferred for storage at PBKM.

The Polish firm, founded in 2002 with two million zlotys (around 450,000 euros, $525,000), has also grown quickly.

Present under the FamiCord brand in several countries, PBKM has some 35 percent of the European market, excluding Cryo-Save assets.

Over the last 15 months, outside investors have contributed 63 million euros to the firm, PBKM's chief executive Jakub Baran told AFP.

But the company has not escaped controversy: the Polityka weekly recently published a critical investigative report on several private clinics that offer what was described as expensive treatment involving stem cells held by PBKM.
Jaipur: Rajasthan became the third state on Saturday -- after Left-ruled Kerala on December 31, 2019 and Congress-ruled Punjab on January 17 -- to pass a resolution calling for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act to be scrapped, indicating further intensification in the battle between Opposition parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the controversial law.

Tabling the resolution in the assembly, Rajasthans parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal called CAA an attack on the secular framework of India and described the criteria given for the eligibility for citizenship as tough. In many remote places, it is difficult for people to get documents. How will nomadic communities do so? he asked.

He also contended that the passage of CAA has tarnished Indias global image. Indias standing in the international community is not because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi or home minister Amit Shah but because India is seen as a melting pot of cultures and religions, he said, urging the Centre to sit quiet till the Supreme Court decides on CAA.

As Dhariwal read out the text of the resolution, several BJP members stormed the well of the house and shouted slogans against the state government.

A three-judge bench of the top court is hearing at least 143 petitions filed against CAA, which was passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019. The primary objections against the law, which eases a path to naturalisation for persecuted minorties  from Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who came to India before 2015, are that it linked citizenship to religion and that it is discriminatory against Muslims.

The assembly resolution was passed by a voice vote after a heated debate, during which the BJP accused the Congresss move as appeasement politics while the Congress said that CAA was brought by the BJP to divert peoples attention from the current economic slowdown.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who was not in the assembly, tweeted shortly after the resolution was passed: Rajasthan assembly has passed a resolution today against the CAA and we have urged the central govt to repeal the law as it discriminates against people on religious grounds, which violates the provisions of our constitution.

The resolution also urged the Centre to withdraw the new information being sought to update the National Population Register (NPR) 2020, citing widespread apprehension that the NPR is nothing but a prelude to an all-India National Register of Citizens (NRC). It added that the CAA, too, was designed to deprive a section of people from Indian citizenship.

Leader of the Opposition in the assembly, Gulab Chand Kataria, dismissed the anti-CAA resolution as a move to vent frustration since states did not have the right to not implement the act and stated that CAA was in the interest of the country and would weed out anti-nationals.

When Kerala became the first state to pass a resolution against CAA, the Congress-led United Democratic Front, which is the main Opposition in the state, joined hands with the ruling CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front government. On January 14, Kerala also became the first to move the Supreme Court against the CAA.

On Jan 17, when Punjab passed a resolution against CAA, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which is an ally of the BJP at the Centre, supported the resolution and sought the inclusion of Muslims in the list of communities that could be granted citizenship under the amended law.

The Union government, however, has maintained that CAA is not within the purview of state governments, and had said that there was no question of a roll-back no matter how many people opposed or protested against the law.
Dubai: Iran has the capacity to enrich uranium at any percentage if Iranian authorities decide to do so, the deputy head of the country's nuclear agency said in a report posted on its website on Saturday.

"At the moment, if (Iranian authorities) make the decision, the Atomic Energy Organization, as the executor, will be able to enrich uranium at any percentage," Ali Asghar Zarean said.

Iran said earlier this month it would scrap limitations on enriching uranium, taking a further step back from commitments to a 2015 nuclear deal with six major powers, but pledged to continue cooperating with the UN nuclear watchdog.

Since Iran took the latest step in reducing commitments to the accord, the country's stock of uranium produced has passed 1,200 kilograms and it will quickly be added to the stock of enriched uranium, Zarean said.

Washington withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions to throttle Iran's oil exports as part of a "maximum pressure" policy.

The United States says it aims to force Tehran to agree a broader deal that puts stricter limits on its nuclear work, curbs a ballistic missile program and ends regional proxy wars. Iran says it will not negotiate while sanctions remain in place.

Tehran has steadily been reducing its compliance with the deal, which prompted Britain, France and Germany to formally accuse it in mid-January of violating the terms and activating a dispute mechanism in the deal, which could eventually lead to the reimposition of UN sanctions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said last week that if Iran's nuclear file is sent to the UN Security Council, the country will withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), according to the official IRNA news agency.

Iran denies any intent to acquire nuclear weapons and says its breaches of the deal would be reversed if Washington lifts sanctions.
London: The European Union is siding with China over plans to unblock the world's trade arbiter, putting it on a fresh collision course with Donald Trump.

Brussels is seeking a way around stagnation at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by teaming up with 17 other countries, including Australia, to form a temporary appeals body which can settle disputes.

US President Donald Trump, left, speaks to Roberto Azevedo, director general of the WTO, in Davos. Credit:Bloomberg

The move is likely to infuriate the US because it interferes with White House efforts to reform global trade in the wake of what Trump regards as unfair support for rivals such as China.

Trump brought the WTO's appellate body to a halt last year, effectively shutting down the supreme court of international trade by blocking all nominees to its seven-member panel of judges. The court requires three judges to open a new case, and has only one remaining. The new mechanism, announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Friday, local time, puts further pressure on the international rules-based order for trade.
Not that socialism

Re: Its still socialism, Your Turn, Monday:

Alfred Moy is flabbergasted that any American would consider Sen. Bernie Sanders for president because of his views on socialism. Moy identifies Cuba and Venezuela as all the evidence one might need to immediately dismiss the candidacy of Sanders.

Instead, I suggest we look at the European social democracies like Switzerland, Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden and Germany as models for the socialism we might see in a Sanders administration.

Cuba and Venezuela are governed by wannabe dictators in the style of our current president and really arent a model for what a Sanders administration might look like.

Michael Veal

Trump again? Yep

President Donald Trump is not well-liked. If you asked 10 years ago if I would vote for Trump, I would have laughed and said, Youre crazy!

But a lot has changed, and choices are virtually nonexistent.

The indignant Hillary Clinton lovers, Bernie Sanders socialists and Trump haters are remarkable. An entire movement of hatred started the day Trump won the election.

After Trump is acquitted by the Senate (he will be) and after the impeached president gets re-elected, the hatred will increase. Whiners everywhere will whine louder.

I dont love Trump and dont agree with everything he says or does  the tweeting and social networking  but I will vote for him a second time in a NYC heartbeat. I know Im not alone.

Peter Stern, Driftwood

The golden ticket

Re: Warren-Castro? Yeah, thats the ticket for 2020, by Ruben Navarrette, Monday:

Yes, Ruben Navarrette, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Julian Castro would make quite the Democratic ticket! Warren would take earned money and Castro would give it away. They complement each other beautifully.

To quote Thomas Sowell, the African American economist and Korean War veteran: Since this is an era when many people are concerned about fairness and social justice, what is your fair share of what someone else has worked for?

Henry Perez, Spring Branch

On ExpressNews.com: Opinion: Warren-Castro? Yeah, thats the ticket.
By David Morgan and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawyers for U.S. President Donald Trump told his Senate impeachment trial on Saturday that Democrats' efforts to remove the president from office would set a "very, very dangerous" precedent in an election year.

White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, the head of the defence team, told senators they would be denying voters their right to give their opinion on Trump at the Nov. 3 presidential election if they found him guilty and ousted him now.

In only the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history, Democrats argued earlier this week that Trump should be removed for encouraging Ukraine to interfere in the election by pressuring its leader to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading 2020 Democratic presidential contender.

The defence tried to turn that election interference line against the Democrats in its opening argument on Saturday by warning against removing a president less than 10 months before Americans vote on whether to give him a second term.

"For all their talk about election interference ... they're here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history, and we can't allow that to happen. It would violate our Constitution. It would violate our history. It would violate our obligations to the future," he said in a session that ran two hours, far shorter that the Democratic arguments of the preceding days.

The Democratic-led House of Representatives impeached Trump last month on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, setting the stage for the trial in the Republican-led Senate.

Trump is expected to be acquitted in the Senate, where a two-thirds vote is required to convict and remove a president from office. No Republican senator has voiced any support for his ouster.

Democrats rejected Cipollone's concerns about impeaching a president in an election year.

"They argue that we must not impeach the president and remove him from office, because this would upset the election, and after all, there's another election coming up. That argument would say that the impeachment process does not belong in the Constitution," said Representative Jerrold Nadler, part of the team that presented the House case.

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While the main thrust of the defence's argument on Saturday was to warn about the consequences of ejecting Trump from the White House, his lawyers also tried to chip away at the Democrats' portrayal of a president who put U.S. national security goals at risk by trying to enlist a foreign country to help his own political career.

A major focus of the Democrats' case is a phone call last July in which Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Biden on unsubstantiated corruption allegations.

Democrats contend that Trump was trying to find dirt on Biden and his son Hunter Biden, who had served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, to help the president win a second term.

Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, the head of the prosecution, told Senators this week that the campaign of pressure on Ukraine was a "corrupt scheme" in which Trump also temporarily froze almost $400 million in military aid to Ukraine.

'VERY, VERY CONSEQUENTIAL'

Cipollone said removing Trump and taking him off the ballot in November would mean having to "tear up all of the ballots across this country on your own initiative, take that decision away from the American people."

"They are asking you to do something very, very consequential and, I would submit to you ... very, very dangerous," he said.

The articles of impeachment -- or formal charges -- against Trump call not only for his removal from office but also his "disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honour, trust, or profit under the United States."

Schiff wrote on Twitter that the defence was trying to deflect from discussing what witnesses have described as Trump's pressure campaign against Ukraine.

"They don't contest the facts of Trump's scheme. They're trying to deflect, distract from, and distort the truth. And they are continuing to cover it up by blocking documents and witnesses," he wrote.

Trump denies any wrongdoing. He wrote on Twitter on Saturday: "Any fair minded person watching the Senate trial today would be able to see how unfairly I have been treated and that this is indeed the totally partisan Impeachment Hoax that EVERYBODY, including the Democrats, truly knows it is. This should never be allowed to happen again!"

Mike Purpura, part of Trump's team, said most of the witnesses who testified in the House inquiry that led to Trump's impeachment had never actually spoken to the president.

Democrats counter that argument by saying the only reason the Senate did not hear from first-hand witnesses, such as former National Security Adviser John Bolton, was because Trump blocked them from testifying.

In wrapping up the prosecution's opening arguments on Friday, Schiff urged Republican senators to show "real political courage" and subpoena witnesses and new documents.

Trump's defence said on Saturday that subpoenas issued by Democratic-run committees for witnesses and documents in the inquiry were not valid, alleging that the probe itself lacked authority.

"All of those subpoenas were invalid," lawyer Patrick Philbin said. "That was the reason for not responding to them."

No president has ever been removed through impeachment, a mechanism the nation's founders devised to oust a president for treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanours. One, Richard Nixon, resigned in the face of a looming impeachment.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan and David Morgan; Additional reporting by Makini Brice; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis)
Daughter of veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah, Heeba Shah, has been accused of assaulting two women workers at a veterinary clinic in Mumbai and a police complaint has been lodged against her. Heeba allegedly assaulted them on January 16 when she visited the clinic to get two of her friends cats sterlized.

A Mid Day report claimed Heeba was booked under IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation) on January 17. Mriidu Khosla, a trustee of The Feline Foundation told the tabloid, On January 16 at 2.50 pm actress Heeba Shah walked into our community veterinary clinic with two cats for sterilisation. Our clinic caretaker asked her to wait for 5 minutes as a surgery was on. After 2-3 minutes of waiting she aggressively said to our staff members, Dont you know who I am? How can you make me wait for so long outside without any assistance? How come no one helped me to get my cats cage out of the rickshaw on arrival?

Also read: Panga Vs Street Dancer 3D box office day 1: Kangana Ranaut film off to a slow start at 2.7 cr, Varun-Shraddha film earns 10.26 crore

Responding to the allegations, Heeba told the daily, I did hit them, but they started it. The gatekeeper didnt allow me to enter the clinic and asked several questions. I told him that I had an appointment. In the clinic when I told the attendant about the watchman, she also started abusing me and speaking rudely. Then one of the women there pushed me and told me to get out from the premises immediately. This is not the way to speak to anyone who is visiting the clinic. The lady in the clinic started fighting with me. The clinic staff should talk politely to customers visiting their clinic.

The clinic staff has shared CCTV footage with the cops. This can be seen in the CCTV footage. On being asked to sign the consent forms for the surgery before we admitted the cats, she got extremely abusive about the system and the place. A senior staff member asked her to leave the premises with her cats, after she began to verbally abuse us for no reason. She also slapped and assaulted two female staff members. The physical abuse was harsh, extremely violent and disturbing to say the least, Mriidu added.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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US Defense Secretary Esper Says Pentagon Mulling Global Troop Rebalancing in 2020

Sputnik News

22:34 GMT 24.01.2020

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper suggested on Thursday he could be ready to start a highly anticipated global force repositioning in accordance with what he called a "defense-wide review," which is expected to trigger a refocus in troop movements.

Esper told reporters during a trip to Miami as he began a review of military missions in Latin America that he did not want to establish a firm timeline, yet indicated that the repositioning could start as soon as October.

"If I had to put an end-date (on the review), I want to make sure we are in some type of better posture by the beginning of the next fiscal year," Esper said. "So I want to move fairly quickly."

The review comes as a part of a global examination of deployments that he hopes will allow him to redirect more forces to Asia and send others back to the United States from overseas, as over the past two decades the US was focusing on counter-terrorism operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and elsewhere, growing its military presence. Latin America and Africa remain two of the worst-resourced regions for the US military, according to Reuters.

The Africa review sessions, another of which is scheduled for Friday, are already triggering expectations within the Pentagon of at least a modest reduction in US troops in West Africa, where many US officials are concerned about the activities of Islamist militants. At the same time, the Southern Command seems to be concerned about the lack of the US deployments for training in Latin America.

Esper tried to address concerns during his Thursday visit to the Miami-based Southern Command headquarters.

"Everybody always assumes that when we talk reviews, it means reduction. Not necessarily," he said. "That's one of the notions I've been trying to dispel ... While it may mean right-sizing, it also could mean the addition of forces into a region, if we need them."

A US official, speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said, however, that there had been other rounds of cuts and reprioritizations at Southern Command.

"Just anecdotally, 10 years ago, if you came here, for intel, we had a Colombia (intelligence) division. A division of analysts working Colombia. Right now, we've got two analysts working Colombia," the official said.

According to the official, the shifting aims to focus on growing challenges from Russia and China, "assuming risk in a number of areas in order to meet the present challenge."

 Sputnik

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A shocked mother claims a cafe owner demanded 5 for her six-year-old youngster to use their toilet.

Jodie Holmes, 25, of Huddersfield,had been strolling through the town centre with her baby girl and son, Jaydon, when he suddenly needed to use the bathroom.

She said: 'We passed the Caffe Venecia and I went inside to ask politely if he could use the toilet.'

Shocked: Jodie Holmes, 25, of Huddersfield, claimed the owner 'sniggered' at her and said it was 5 for her son to use the toilet

But she was taken aback when it is alleged the owner turned around and said: 'It's a 5 charge for non-customers'.

Jodie, who suffers from anxiety, added: 'He was with a male friend and was looking at me like I was the dirt on the bottom of his shoe.

'He and his male friend smirked and sniggered making me feel very uncomfortable so I said 'really, 5?', (as I was sure he must be joking),he replied: 'Yes, it is 5, that's how its always been' and so loudly too in front of all the customers in the shop.

'I have never felt more embarrassed. I was considering paying 5 for my son to use the toilet.

'He made me feel so ashamed for asking if my son could use the toilet.

'I almost cried after leaving that shop feeling so low with kind customers approaching me telling me where I could take him to the toilet all the while he was sat with his legs crossed looking at me and my two children up and down in disgust.

Spending a penny: The mother claims she was told she would have to shell out if her son wanted to use the toilet at Caffe Venecia in Market St, Huddersfield

'I have never been made to feel so low by a complete stranger, it was really awful.

'It really took a toll on me, why he felt the need to belittle me clearly judging me because I am young with two children, you could just tell he thought he was skies above me.

'It hurt me, the whole situation, it was just a little six-year-old boy needing the toilet.

'He's a child, he could have just had some heart and let him go. I would have happily bought some water or something had he not been so nasty and arrogant and he should not get away with it so easily.

'It is not nice to make people feel the way he did and he did it purposely in this day an age we need care and compassion you never know how somebody is feeling and something like this could just tip them over the edge.

'It made me very upset and feel worthless it really shocks me somebody let alone a business owner could act this way.'

Apology: The mother was offered a free meal as way of an apology but she was unable to accept the offer as she felt humiliated

Tony Singh, owner of the upmarket cafe on Market Street, apologised profusely to Jodie and offered her a free meal after he was approached by ExaminerLive.

He said: 'I have apologised to Jodie. I got it wrong yesterday and I am sorry for this.

'That day we had a few non-customers using the toilet facility without asking and leaving the toilet in an unsafe state which the staff have to clean up for our regular customers.

'This is nothing to do with Jodie. If someone asks to use the toilets we don't have a problem its just courtesy to ask first.

'When people don't ask we do inform them it is not a public facility and it is for customer use only. We have never charged anyone for using the toilets.'

In a personal Facebook message he said: 'I was just on the wrong side when you came in so please accept my sincere apologies.

'I am sorry for this. We would like to invite you and your family for food and drinks on us as a way of saying sorry.'

But Jodie said she felt so humiliated she was unable to accept his kind offer.

'I just feel too embarrassed to go back in,' she said.
Days after The Guardian reported that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' mobile phone got hacked by Saudi prince back in 2018, a new report surfaced which revealed that his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, was behind leaking their personal chats to her brother who later sold them to the National Enquirer.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the federal prosecutors in Manhattan even have evidence indicating that Lauren has leaked the personal text messages to her brother Michael Sanchez which contained 'flirtatious' messages from Bezos. The National Enquirer then reportedly also used the personal chats for its article about Bezos' extramarital affair which was published last year.

The messages reviewed by The Wall Street Journal were among the materials turned over to the federal prosecutors as part of the investigation into whether National Enquirer attempted to extort Bezos.The US attorney office has also been investigating whether the Amazon CEO's phone was hacked by Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammad bin Salman in 2018. The claims also come days after Bezos India visit with girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez.

READ: 'Phones, Not People Right?': Saudi Hacking Bezos Phone Brings Out Netizens' Dark Humour

READ: UN Experts Call For Investigation Into Hacking Of Bezos' Phone By Saudi

Bezos' phone hacking

According to reports, Bezos' mobile phone got hacked after receiving a WhatsApp message from Saudi prince. The Guardian reported that the message from the personal account of Saudi Crown Prince carried an infected video file which probably triggered the intrusion into the phone. The digital forensics team is investigating the incident and, as reported by the US daily, large amounts of data were exfiltrated after the privacy breach. The alleged involvement of Saudi Crown Prince and his inner circle in the hacking of The Washington Post owners phone might open a can of worms as the incident was followed by the revelation of Bezos extramarital affairs and murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Posts columnist.

The reports of Saudi involvement in hacking is a huge setback for MBS who has been trying to repair the tarnished image after Khashoggi killing. In December, Saudi Arabia court convicted eight people in the killing of The Washington Post columnist but exonerated inner circle of MBS. Riyadh has also blatantly shunned the allegations. Calling the reports "absurd" Saudi Embassy in Washington said, "We call for an investigation on these claims so that we can have all the facts out."

READ: Jeff Bezos Phone Hack Plan Took Off During Saudi Crown Prince's US Tour In 2018

READ: Saudi Crown Prince Messaged Jeff Bezos 'it's Not True' On Alleged Hack
Christian Keenan/Getty Images

A coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China has killed nearly three times as many people in eight weeks than severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) did in eight months.

More than 2,100 people have died from the Wuhan coronavirus, and at least 75,500 have been infected across 27 countries. (For the latest case total, death toll, and travel information, see Business Insider's live updates here.)

The new disease, called COVID-19, is marked by fevers and pneumonia-like symptoms. It's conjured a sense of deja vu for some who remember the SARS outbreak that started in November 2002. SARS was also a coronavirus, and it jumped to people from animals in wet markets, which the new coronavirus probably did, too. The two viruses share 80% of their genetic codes.

Experts called SARS "the first pandemic of the 21st century," since it spread across 29 countries. The virus emerged in Guangdong and infected 8,098 people over the course of eight months, killing 774. Just a month after the first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus, the total global case count surpassed that of SARS.

The new coronavirus appears to be less deadly than SARS, however. The mortality rate for SARS was 9.6%, whereas COVID-19 seems to kill between 1% and 2% of those infected.

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"In essence, it's a version of SARS that spreads more easily but causes less damage," Ian Jones, a virologist at the University of Reading in the UK, said on February 3.

Here are some of the crucial differences between this outbreak and the SARS pandemic 17 years ago.

The first report of the novel coronavirus came on December 31, though some people might have gotten sick earlier that month.

Wuhan

Google Maps/Business Insider

Wuhan is a city of 11 million people in the central province of Hubei, China. SARS originated in the Guangdong province in southeastern China, near Hong Kong.

Patients with SARS experienced fevers, headaches, and a type of deadly pneumonia that could cause respiratory failure. That virus hasn't been seen in humans since July 2003.

The new coronavirus has spread far faster than SARS did.

FILE PHOTO: A nurse wearing protective gear walks outside a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Clinic (SARS) in suburban Toronto, April 24, 2003. REUTERS/Mike Cassese/File Photo

Reuters

It took eight months for SARS to infect more than 8,000 people. COVID-19 has infected more than 75,000 people in about eight weeks.

Most experts think the new coronavirus' incubation period ranges from one to 14 days, though a recent study from China's National Health Commission (which has yet to be peer-reviewed) suggested it could be as long as 24 days. SARS' average incubation period, by comparison, was seven days.

The new coronavirus may jump between people before patients show symptoms, but scientists aren't sure about that yet, either.

The new coronavirus' fatality rate has not yet been determined with accuracy, but it seems to be between 1% and 2.3% so far. The SARS fatality rate was 9.6%.

In this Friday, Jan. 24, 2020, photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, a medical worker attends to a patient in the intensive care unit at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province. China expanded its lockdown against the deadly new virus to an unprecedented 36 million people and rushed to build a prefabricated, 1,000-bed hospital for victims Friday as the outbreak cast a pall over Lunar New Year, the country's biggest, most festive holiday. (Xiong Qi/Xinhua via AP)

Associated Press

A study from the Chinese National Health Commission looked at 1,099 coronavirus cases and found the fatality rate to be 1.4%. A February 10 report from the World Health Organization (WHO) suggested that this rate could be even lower: about 1%.

However, the biggest study to date revealed a 2.3% fatality rate among 72,000 patients. And research published in The Lancet found that the fatality rate among a group of 99 coronavirus patients studied was about 11%.

One month into SARS outbreak, only five people had died. The new coronavirus had killed at least 213 people by that mark. The COVID-19 death toll surpassed that of SARS on February 8.

Researchers have found similarities between lung scans of SARS patients and those with the new coronavirus.

sars x-rays

Agence France Presse

In a study released January 31, a group of researchers at Lanzhou University analyzed two CT scans of a 33-year-old coronavirus patient's lungs.

Paras Lakhani, a radiologist at Thomas Jefferson University who was not involved in the study but examined the images, told Business Insider that the scans had "a lot of similar features," to those of SARS patients' lungs.

"If you zoom in on the image, it kind of looks like faint glass that has been ground up," he said. "What it represents is fluid in the lung spaces."

The study authors noticed that those ground-glass patches extend to the edges of the patient's lungs.

"That's something we don't often see," Lakhani said. "We saw that with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and we saw that with Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)." MERS is another type of coronavirus found in people.

The genetic sequence of the new coronavirus is 79.5% similar to that of SARS.

FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020, file photo, a staff member moves bio-waste containers past the entrance of the Wuhan Medical Treatment Center in Wuhan, China, where some people infected with a new virus are being treated. The new virus comes from a large family of coronaviruses, some causing nothing worse than a cold. Others named SARS and MERS have killed hundreds in separate outbreaks. (AP Photo/Dake Kang, File)

Dake Kang/AP

Both SARS and the new coronavirus belong to a particular virus lineage called betacoronaviruses, which can make the jump to humans and nest in our respiratory tracts.

SARS and the new coronavirus both dock to the same human cell receptor, called ACE2, deep in people's lungs.

FILE - This illustration provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in January 2020 shows the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). Health officials hope to avoid stigma and error in naming the virus causing an international outbreak of respiratory illnesses. But some researchers say the current moniker, 2019 nCoV, which stands for 2019 novel coronavirus, probably won't stick in the public's mind. (CDC via AP, File)

Associated Press

That may explain patients' pneumonia-like symptoms.

In general, a coronavirus' circular shell is peppered with spike-shaped proteins that help it attach to a host's cell. If the spikes don't fit receptors on a potential host's cells, the virus can't spill over. But when a coronavirus mutates, the shape of these proteins gets altered, and that sometimes allows the virus to dock in a new host.

A new study that looked at the 3D molecular structure of these spike-shaped proteins found that the bonds between the new coronavirus' proteins and human receptors is 10 times higher than we saw with SARS.

coronavirus protein 3D model

Jason McLellan/University of Texas at Austin

This finding could explain why COVID-19 is so much more contagious than SARS and more easily jumps from person to person.

Genetic studies also help experts pinpoint which animal passed the coronavirus to people. This new virus is nearly identical to other coronaviruses circulating in Chinese bat populations  96% of the genetic codes match.

horseshoe bat

De Agostini/Getty

Coronaviruses are zoonotic diseases (meaning they can jump from animals to people).

Bats were the original hosts of SARS, too; the animals can pass diseases to other species via their poop or saliva, and the unwitting intermediaries can transmit those viruses to humans.

"Bats and birds are considered reservoir species for viruses with pandemic potential," Bart Haagmans, a virologist at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands, told Business Insider.

Many experts think the new coronavirus jumped to humans at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan.

SARS jumped from bats to weasel-like mammals called masked palm civets, then to humans. The spillover happened in wet markets in Guangdong, China.

civet

Oleksandr Rupeta/NurPhoto/Getty

Researchers traced SARS to a population of horseshoe bats in China's Yunnan province. These bats lived in a cave just 1.1 kilometer from the nearest village.

The most likely intermediary species for the new coronavirus are bats, pigs, civets, or pangolins (not snakes, as some researchers initially suggested). That's because these animals also have the same ACE2 receptors.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 50% of people impacted by SARS were age 65 or older, while the other half of infected patients varied widely in age.

sars

PETER PARKS/AFP via Getty Images

A study of 17 patients who died from coronavirus complications reported that their median age was around 75. Many had other health issues like high blood pressure, diabetes, and Parkinson's disease.

Other studies have estimated the average ages of infected patients to be between 47 and 55. The Chinese study of 72,000 cases revealed that more than 75% of patients were between 30 and 69.

Chinese researchers in Hong Kong estimated that one person with the coronavirus can pass it to three to five others  a statistic called the virus' R0 value.

Health Officials in hazmat suits wait at the gate to check body temperatures of passengers arriving from the city of Wuhan Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020, at the airport in Beijing, China. Nearly two decades after the disastrously-handled SARS epidemic, Chinas more-open response to a new virus signals its growing confidence and a greater awareness of the pitfalls of censorship, even while the government is as authoritarian as ever. (AP Photo Emily Wang)

Emily Wang/AP

That study has not yet been peer-reviewed, however, and WHO researchers estimate the coronavirus' R0 value to be lower: between 1.4 and 2.5 people.

The WHO declared the coronavirus a public-health emergency of international concern on January 30. SARS did not get the same designation because the WHO has only used it since 2005.

lunar new year hong kong china masks wuhan coronavirus

Passengers wear protective face masks at the departure hall of the high-speed train station in Hong Kong, January 23, 2020.

AP Photo/Kin Cheung

It has been used five other times.

Chinese authorities initially attempted to hide the SARS outbreak from the WHO. But Liu Heng, an adviser to China's cabinet, told Reuters that China announced the new outbreak much more immediately.

Sars

AHMAD YUSNI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD YUSNI/AFP via Getty Images

The Chinese government didn't inform the WHO about SARS until February 14, 2003  88 days after the first reported case. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, doctors in Beijing were ordered by authorities to hide SARS patients from WHO officials during inspections.

During the initial stages of that outbreak, the Chinese government also concealed information from the public, which exacerbated the spread of disease.

"We are doing much better now ... We are paying greater attention to preventing the epidemic," Liu said on January 22.

In this Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020, photo, a worker monitors display screens for infrared thermometers as they check travelers at Hankou Railway Station in Wuhan in southern China's Hubei province. The U.S. on Tuesday reported its first case of a new and potentially deadly virus circulating in China, saying a Washington state resident who returned last week from the outbreak's epicenter was hospitalized near Seattle. (Chinatopix via AP)

Associated Press

Still, at least five people in China have disappeared, gotten arrested, or been silenced after speaking out about the coronavirus.

Chinese public-health experts quickly shared the new coronavirus' genetic information with researchers around the globe. It took four months for the SARS genome to be published.

Coronavirus mask Wuhan China

Getty Images

"The speed with which this virus has been identified is a testament to changes in public health in China since SARS and strong global coordination through the WHO," Jeremy Farrar, an infectious-diseases specialist who studied SARS, told Reuters.

Chinese authorities also quickly instituted travel lock-downs this time. During the SARS outbreak, it took officials at least four months to institute quarantine measures.

A policeman uses a digital thermometer to take a driver's temperature at a checkpoint at a highway toll gate in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. China closed off a city of more than 11 million people Thursday in an unprecedented effort to try to contain a deadly new viral illness that has sickened hundreds and spread to other cities and countries amid the Lunar New Year travel rush. (Chinatopix via AP)

Chinatopix/AP

Authorities quarantined Wuhan on January 23, halting all public transportation, including city buses, trains, and ferries. The order prevents any buses or trains from coming into or leaving the city and grounds all planes at the Wuhan airport.

By January 27, 15 additional cities had followed suit with their own travel restrictions.

The lockdown restrictions affect at least 50 million people in China's Hubei province, where Wuhan is located.

Wuhan virus China Beijing railway station

Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Another 100 million people in China are subject to restrictions on how often they can leave their homes, according to The New York Times.

Neither SARS nor the Wuhan coronavirus has a vaccine.

FILE PHOTO: A nurse fills a syringe with a vaccine before administering an injection at a children's clinic in Kiev, Ukraine August 14, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

Reuters

Five leading drug companies  Johnson & Johnson, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, Moderna, and Gilead Sciences  have announced plans to research and develop treatments for the new virus.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on February 7 that the agency is collaborating with Moderna to develop a coronavirus vaccine.

As long as there aren't any glitches, Fauci said, "we will be in people in a phase-one trial within the next 2.5 months."

But getting a vaccine to market has historically been an arduous, multi-year process (the Ebola vaccine took 20 years to make).

"A vaccine best-case scenario is three-quarters of a year, if not longer," Vincent Munster, a virologist at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories, told Business Insider.

Some researchers are also testing existing drugs as treatment options.

There is one benefit to the genetic similarity between SARS and the new coronavirus: Work to develop treatments for the former might be applicable for the latter.

wuhan coronavirus medical staff india hospital

Medical staff with protective clothing work inside a ward specialized in receiving any person who may have the coronavirus, at the Rajiv Ghandhi Government General hospital in Chennai, India, January 29, 2020.

P. Ravikumar/Reuters

Because SARS and the new coronavirus bind to human cells in the same way, research that's already been done about the former could provide a head-start for the latter.

Rosie Perper and Aria Bendix contributed reporting to this story.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Lawyers for U.S. President Donald Trump will begin his defense at the Senate impeachment trial on Saturday, offering a rebuttal to Democratic charges that he abused his power and previewing more detailed arguments planned for next week. In a shortened session, Trump's lawyers will begin three days of arguments to counter Democratic assertions that he should be removed from office for pressuring Ukraine to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential contender, and then trying to cover it up by impeding a congressional investigation. Trump has ...
(Natural News) Remember the story from just a couple of weeks ago where the FBI asserted imminent domain to effectively seize night vision tubes from distributors in the United States? Now we have confirmation that the United States government is involved in a sudden ramping up of acquisitions for night vision devices, including those used by solders. MARCORSYSCOM, which stands for Marine Corps Systems Command, recently awarded a $249 million contract for 14,000 night vision devices (28,000 tubes).

Harris Corporation of Roanoke, Virginia, was awarded a maximum $249,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract Sept. 6, for the purchase of the Squad Binocular Night Vision Goggle system, reported MARCORSYSCOM last year.

The announcement also reveals another important realization: The night vision devices have clip-on thermal imagers, providing a thermal overlay to the night vision images. This allows the wearer to more easily identify living systems as well as more easily identify individuals who are carrying weapons underneath clothing.

U.S. government is massively ramping up night vision acquisition for both civilian and military use

With both the FBI and the U.S. Marine Corps expending enormous resources to acquire night vision devices, this means there has been a sudden realization across the United States government that upcoming engagements will likely take place at night, obviously. But why the sudden surge in purchasing and acquisitions? The Pentagon just approved a quarter of a billion dollars solely for night vision devices, and the FBI is practically sweeping up the entire supply line of night vision tubes in the domestic market.

Is this an effort to monopolize the night vision supply lines and deprive civilians access to such technology by buying up all the available supplies? Thats one theory weve heard from people in the industry.

Do the FBI and Pentagon know something they arent telling the rest of us?

Consider the possibility that the current coranovirus outbreak was engineered as a bioweapon, knowing it would spread to the entire world and result in martial law quarantines of U.S. cities. How will those quarantines be enforced? Using night vision-equipped federal agents and military support, no doubt.

Over 50 million Chinese are reportedly under quarantine right now and if youre not considering the possibility that such tactics may soon be justified in North America, youre not thinking ahead very far.

Read this urgent update: Coronavirus Perfect Storm Now Exists Thanks to Biosludge, Open Borders, Filthy Liberal Cities.
Children can be morbid, can't they? I speak for myself, of course, and my youthful fascination with the Titanic.

The Titanic leaves Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland in 1912. Credit:Hutton Archive

It was among the real-life "mysteries" in a book bought by my mother. The Loch Ness Monster and Turin Shroud were gripping, sure, but it was the mystery of how this "unsinkable" liner had sunk that hooked me. I devoured accounts of that awful night on April 15, 1912, when 1500 people died, and lay in bed trying to imagine the terror of the final moments, before they went to their watery graves.

So it was with a heavy heart that I read about a plan to disturb that watery grave and extract the ship's Marconi wireless system, on which its final distress signals were sent. The would-be salvager is RMS Titanic Inc, a US company backed by private equity. For three decades, it's had a monopoly on raising thousands of items from the ship's debris field  hats, handbags and jewellery.

Now, it insists that the secrets hidden inside the Titanic itself must be uncovered before they are lost in the crumbling wreck forever. Or was it that the secrets inside the ship must be uncovered from the crumbling wreck before RMS Titanic Inc is lost forever? I forget ...
Only those few people who have been completely cut off from the outside world in recent weeks dont know all about Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex stepping back as senior royals. It is all anyone can talk about, and royal fans are on the edge of their seats waiting for more details regarding Megxit.

Before they announced their decision to split from the royal family, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were supposedly planning on leaving the United Kingdom in search of a quieter life. They are an extremely private couple, and the media attention that they have been getting for the past few years has been overwhelming, to say the least.

We just found out that although Meghan and Prince Harry are planning on keeping Frogmore Cottage, their lavish home in Windsor, they will split their time between Canada and Great Britain. Normally, most royal fans would think that anyone would be ecstatic about Meghan and Harry living anywhere close to them, so what is the 1 thing about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle that Canadians dont want?

Making the move from England to Canada

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex | DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS  WPA Pool/Getty Images

It is a pretty big decision to make the move all the way from the U.K. to Canada, so it is pretty safe to say that Meghan and Harry thought about it carefully. According to Observer, moving vans have already been sent to Frogmore Cottage, leading to speculation that the move is already underway.

Now that they have finalized the details of Megxit with Queen Elizabeth and other senior royals, Harry and Meghan are able to embark on the next chapter of their lives and pursue their plans of becoming financially independent.

Their lives will be extremely different

Stepping back as senior members of the royal family definitely means that Meghan and Prince Harrys lives will be very different. They are looking to escape the intense media scrutiny, and also will be earning their own income for themselves and baby Archie.

While they have received public funding ever since they have been married, Business Insider reports that the couple will no longer be receiving money from the sovereign fund. In addition, they also plan to pay back funds that were used to renovate Frogmore Cottage, which was said to cost approximately $3 million dollars. So, how will they gain financial independence?

Well, it isnt too likely that we will see Meghan or Harry reporting to an office for a 9-5 position. Instead, they are likely to generate income from book deals and lucrative speaking engagements going forward. Given their popularity, Meghan and Harry should have no problem making money, and they will continue to receive a portion of their income from Prince Charles the Duchy of Cornwall.

What is the one thing about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle that Canadians dont want?

While they havent officially settled into a new home in Canada, residents of the country are already expressing what it is that they dont want. A recent poll reveals that about half of the population doesnt mind Meghan and Harry living there. However, according to Page Six, the majority of Canadians have made it clear that they dont want to foot the bill.

Almost 75% of the countrys residents feel that Meghan and Harry should have to pay all of their expenses out of their own private funds, while only 5% feel that it is acceptable for the family to use taxpayer money to support their lifestyle. Although the people of Canada have already been quite vocal in expressing their opinions regarding Meghan and Harry moving to the country, it remains to be seen if it will be a burden to the taxpayers.
The Cantonment police have lodged a case against four employees of a petrol pump in Camp, who allegedly siphoned off Rs45,118 from the bank account of a twenty-five-year-old woman from Wadgaonsheri. The incident took place between November 23 and December 17, 2019.

The four accused have not been identified yet, said police.

According to the first information report (FIR), the victim had gone to fill petrol in her two-wheeler on November 23 and paid the amount of Rs 161 by her debit card. The four accused removed an amount estimated to be worth Rs 45,118 from her account from December 14 and 17 when her debit card was still in her possession.

Police inspector Chandrakant Bhosale, who is the investigating officer in the case, said that four accused were contractual employees of the petrol pump. We are investigating the case and the four will be arrested soon, he said.

A case has been registered and the accused have been booked under Sections 419, 420 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.
34 US Troops Treated for Brain Injuries Following Iran Missile Attack

By Jeff Seldin January 24, 2020

The Pentagon said Friday that 34 U.S. troops had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries or concussions as a result of Iran's missile attack on bases in Iraq earlier this month.

Almost half have returned to duty in Iraq but the rest continue to be treated in Germany or the United States.

"These are mainly outpatient treatments," chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters, cautioning that the number of troops suffering as a result of the missile strikes could change.

"This is a snapshot in time," he said, citing the nature of brain injuries and the fact that symptoms do not always present themselves right away.

He also said it was a "distinct possibility" that more of the injured service members could be brought back the U.S. to continue their care.

U.S. officials initially said no U.S. troops had been hurt in the January 8 missile attack on the al-Asad air base in Iraq.

Last week, U.S. military officials said 11 troops had been evacuated from Iraq with concussion-like symptoms. Since then, officials had repeatedly declined to provide updates.

Trump: 'Not very serious'

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump appeared to downplay the severity of the injuries. "I heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things, but I would say and I can report it is not very serious," he said during his trip to Davos, Switzerland.

"I don't consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries I have seen," he added. "I've seen people with no legs and no arms."

The Pentagon said Friday that of the 34 troops diagnosed with brain injuries or concussions, 17 were evacuated to medical facilities in Germany and one to Kuwait.

The service member sent to Kuwait returned to duty in Iraq. Of the troops sent to Germany, eight are still there, while nine have been brought back to their home bases in the U.S. to continue treatment.

Hoffman on Friday maintained that the military was taking the injuries seriously and said U.S. medical personnel were carefully tracking any troops who reported symptoms of a traumatic brain injury or concussion, including headaches, dizziness, sensitivity to light or nausea.

Pentagon review

He also said U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper had ordered a review of how the Pentagon reports and tracks concussions and other injuries.

"The goal is to be transparent, accurate, and to provide the American people and our service members with the best information," Hoffman said.

"We needed to have more clarity," he said, pointing to the way the brain injuries suffered during the attack had been reported up the chain of command. "We need to get a little better handle on it."

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Deputy Counsel to the President Patrick Philbin speaks during impeachment proceedings against U.S. President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 25, 2020. (Senate Television via Getty Images)

Impeachment Trial: Trumps Team Presents Case

The Senate impeachment trial against President Donald Trump resumed at 10 a.m. on Jan. 25.

The House impeachment managers presented the case for impeachment over the last several days. Trumps legal team is now taking their turn.

12:10 p.m. ESTSenate Adjourned Until Monday

Trumps defense team concluded todays opening arguments.

The Senate impeachment trial was adjourned until 1 p.m. Monday.

12 p.m. ESTHouse Subpoenas Were Invalid: Lawyer

Subpoenas issued by the House of Representatives during the impeachment inquiry werent legally valid because the full House didnt vote to approve the inquiry, a lawyer for President Donald Trump told senators on Jan. 25.

Patrick Philbin, deputy counsel, said that Supreme Court precedent explains that a congressional committee gets its authority by a resolution from its parent body.

The Constitution assigns the sole power of impeachment to the House of Representativesto the House, not to any member, not to a subcommittee. And that authority can be delegated to a committee to use only by a vote in the House, Philbin said.

Here, there was no vote to authorize a committee to exercise the power of impeachment.

Because there was no standing authority giving the House Intelligence Committee authority, subpoenas issued by the committee were invalid, Philbin said.

And that is what the Trump administration pointed out specifically to the House. That was the reason for not responding to them.

There were full House votes in the previous presidential impeachment inquiries, Philbin said.

Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky in a file photograph. (Charles Platiau/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

11:45 a.m. ESTCorruption Didnt Go Away With Zelenskys Election: Sekulow

Corruption in Ukraine didnt disappear with the election of President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said on Saturday.

Were acting as if there were a magic wand. That there was new elections, and everything was now fine, Sekulow said.

He quoted Tim Morrison, a National Security Council official who said he was concerned about whether [Zelensky] would be a genuine reformer and whether he would genuinely try to root out corruption. He also quoted Dr. Fiona Hill, a former council official who said eliminating corruption in Ukraine was one of the, if not the central goals, of a foreign policy.

Does anybody think that one election of one president that ran on a reform platform, who finally gets a majority in their legislative body, that corruption in Ukraine just evaporates? Sekulow wondered.

You cant look at these issues in a vacuum. Nearly every witness in the House impeachment inquiry agreed that corruption in Ukraine was an issue, he said.

House impeachment managers this week focused on Ukraine in pushing for the removal of Trump from office.

House manager Jason Crow (D-Colo.) said that a Department of Defense review last year concluded Ukraine made sufficient progress in meeting anti-corruption goals in order to receive the congressionally approved funds that Trump put on hold to look into corruption in the country.

President Donald Trumps lawyer Jay Sekulow speaks during impeachment proceedings against Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 25, 2020. (Senate Television via Getty Images)

11:15 a.m. ESTTrump Lawyer: Zelensky Said There Was No Pressure

Top Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, disputed accounts that they felt pressured to open investigations into former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Bidens son, a lawyer for the president noted on Saturday.

Kurt Volker, former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, met with Zelensky the day after the July 25, 2019, phone call. Ukraine never brought up a hold on military aid or a quid pro quo, Volker testified to the House during the impeachment inquiry. Trumps team played the clip during the impeachment trial.

The best evidence that there was no pressure or quid pro quo is the statements of the Ukrainians themselves. The fact that President Zelensky himself felt no pressure on the call and did not perceive there to be any connection between security assistance and investigations would, in any ordinary case, in any court, be totally fatal to the prosecution, Mike Purpura, deputy counsel to Trump, told lawmakers.

He was referring to allegations that Trump pressed Ukraine to look into allegations of corruption surrounding Ukraine, as well as the location of a computer server, in exchange for releasing a hold on aid Congress approved for the country.

House impeachment managers know Ukrainian leaders said there wasnt any pressure but insist Zelensky and others actually did feel pressure, Purpura said.

They tell you that the Ukrainians must have felt pressure, regardless of what they said. They try to overcome the devastating evidence against them by, apparently, claiming to be mind readers, Purpura said.

House impeachment managers had another interpretation of Trumps call with Zelensky. They say Trumps response when his counterpart brought up buying more Javelin missiles from the United StatesTrump said I would love you to do us a favor though before asking Zelensky to find out what happened with CrowdStrike, a company hired to investigate a Democratic National Committee server breachwas evidence of the quid pro quo allegation.

Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) brought up remarks by acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney made during an October 2019 press conference. Asked if it was a quid pro quo, Mulvaney responded, We do that all the time with foreign policy.

We were holding up money at the same time for the Northern Triangle countries so that they would change their policies on immigration, he added.

Mulvaney later issued a statement claiming media outlets misconstrued his remarks. Let me be clear, there was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election, he said.

Crow played Mulvaney making the comments at the press conference, telling lawmakers: Now, remember, at the time he made these statements, Mulvaney was both head of OMB [Office of Management and Budget] and the acting chief of staff at the White House. He knew about all of the legal concerns. He also knew about the presidents so-called drug deal, as Ambassador Bolton called it.

He knew exactly what was going on in the oval office and how OMB implemented the presidents illegal order to withhold the aid. Mulvaney confirmed why the president ordered the hold, Crow said. It was not to develop further policy to counter Russian aggression, it was not to convince Ukrainians to implement additional anti-corruption reforms, and it was not to pressure our allies to give more to Ukraine.

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hold a meeting in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 25, 2019. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

10:15 a.m. ESTTrumps Team Draws Attention to Schiff Fabrication

Trumps defense team played a clip showing House Intelligence Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) fabricating a portion of the transcript of the presidents 2019 phone call with Ukraines president.

Schiff made the fabrication during a House hearing last year.

Thats fake. Thats not the real call. Thats not the evidence here. Thats not the transcript, Mike Purpura, a counsel to Trump, told lawmakers on the Senate floor.

And we can shrug it off, and say we were making light, or a joke. But that was in a hearing in the United States House of Representatives discussing the removal of the president of the United States from office. There are very few things, if any, that can be as grave and as serious. Lets stick with the evidence.

10:15 a.m. ESTCipollone Tells Senate to Let Voters Decide

White House counsel Pat Cipollone said Saturday morning that senators should let voters decide whether to remove Trump from office in the November election.

Theyre asking you to something very, very consequential, and I would submit to you  very, very dangerous, he said on the Senate floor in Washington.

Theyre asking you not only to overturn the results of the last election, but theyre asking you to remove President Trump from the ballot in an election thats occurring in approximately nine months. Theyre asking you to tear up all of the ballots across this country, on your own initiative, take that decision away from the American people.

Removing Trump through impeachment would violate the sacred trust that the American people have placed in you, he added.

The American people decide elections. They have one coming up, in nine months.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone speaks during impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 25, 2020. (Senate Television via Getty Images)

9 a.m. ESTManchin: Most Serious Thing Done as Official

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a moderate Democrat, said that the presentation by the legal team will anger Democrats.

Im sure theres things that will be said today that will upset Democrats, he told reporters at 9:30 a.m.

This is the tough situation that were in. Its the most serious thing that Ive ever done as an elected official.

Manchin said that he would be listening to the defense counsel.

I take my oath extremely seriously, my oath to the Constitution to protect and defend and my oath of impartiality. I want to see and hear from the defense counsel today and well see where we go from there, he added.

9 a.m. ESTWhat Trumps Team Will Say

Trumps team will make the argument that Democrats committed election interference by paying for the salacious dossier rife compiled by ex-British spy Christopher Steele, who had animus against Trump, the presidents lawyer Jay Sekulow said late Friday.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, Sekulow said arguments claiming Trump attempted to interfere in the upcoming election by asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to look into corruption allegations against leading Democratic contender Joe Biden fell flat when taking into account how Clinton and the Democratic National Committee paid for the dossier.

So you can get on your horse and act haughty and proud about it, but you know what, lets look at what the evidence says, he said. Heres what the evidence says: There was foreign involvement. But lets not forget where it originated from.

Trumps team would rebut and refute arguments put forth by the House impeachment managers, Sekulow added. They would talk about how Biden was leading U.S. policy in Ukraine while in office in 2015 and 2016 at the same time his son, Hunter Biden, sat on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings.

Sekulow said the charge of obstruction of Congress is absurd. He argued that Trump has been exercising executive privilege.

President Donald Trumps personal lawyer Jay Sekulow speaks to the press during a recess in the impeachment trial at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 24, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House during an event with U.S. mayors in Washington on Jan. 24, 2020. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

8 a.m. ESTTrump Wants Team to be Honest

President Donald Trump wants his defense team to be honest when making arguments to lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol.

Trump told Fox News that what his team have to do is just be honest, just tell the truth.

Theyve been testifying, the Democrats, theyve been telling so many lies, so many fabrications, so much exaggeration. And this is not impeachable, he added.

Trump has repeatedly insisted he did nothing wrong in his July 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Hes called it a perfect call. The White House has also defended the hold Trump placed on military aid approved by Congress for Ukraine. Trump has said he ordered the hold because of concerns of corruption in the country.

Trump suggested Friday it would be hard to envision him being impeached for what he did.

[Democrats] say, But it doesnt have to be a crime. Well, maybe it doesnt have to be a crime, but can you imagine being impeached and you didnt commit a crime? he said.

Trump also argued that Hunter Biden was corrupt.
Srinagar: In an encounter in Pulwama on Saturday, security officials claimed to have killed three militants, including the self-styled Kashmir chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad who had a supervisory role in February 14 suicide attack of last year. The two others killed were allegedly planning a major attack on Republic Day in Kashmir.

Qari Yasir, a Pakistani, was killed at the Hariparigam village of Tral after the day-long encounter. His associates have been identified as Pakistan national Moosa and Tral resident Burhan.

On Friday evening, Awantipora police generated specific intelligence input about the presence of three militants in a village in Hariparigam, where Qari Yasir was also present, said Kashmir inspector general of police Vijay Kumar at a press conference later.

As per our intelligence, Yasir was the self-styled chief of JeM in Kashmir. He was involved in last years February 14 attack. He was an IED expert and would recruit and relocate militants coming from Pakistan, he said.

Their names were also cropping up in connection with a possible attack or IED blast on R-day eve, he said.

Armys Srinagar-based 15 Corps commander Lt Gen K J S Dhillon seconded that by adding that the Pakistani Jaish module had been planning to do something big on Republic Day for the past four five days.

One of the terrorists of the module, Saifullah, was killed in Khrew area of Pulwama (on Wednesday) in which we also lost a soldier and police man This morning, we got some information about some terrorists of JeM. The module of JeM, which basically comprises Pakistani militants, had been on the radar for a few days, he said.

He said three army jawans were also injured and they were being treated at the 92 Base Hospital.

Todays operation was based on actual intelligence and I want to say (that by their killing), a major incident on January 26 has been averted, he said.

Dhillon said that JeM was trying to resurface after its leadership was wiped out by the security forces following the February 14 attack.

As you are aware, after the Pulwama incident, JeM leadership was targeted and eliminated. JeM has been trying to recover since. Today, we again eliminated a key militant, he said.
By Douglas Busvine

MUNICH (Reuters) - Facebook will do a better job of preventing bad actors from abusing its platform to manipulate this year's U.S. presidential election than it did four years ago, its public affairs chief Nick Clegg said on Monday.

Facing a critical audience at a technology conference in Munich, Clegg, a British former deputy prime minister hired by Facebook in 2018, said interference by Russian and other operatives in the 2016 vote had "shocked everybody".

But the world's largest social network had since taken effective action to reduce the spread of fake news, he said, while most extremist political content was now being detected before it comes to public notice.

"We are getting better and better at protecting elections from foreign interference," Clegg told the DLD technology conference.

"Touch wood, we will be able to do a lot better in the U.S. presidential elections this year than we did four years ago."

U.S. special prosecutor Robert Mueller's report into suspected Russian meddling in the presidential election found that Russian agents had used Facebook to spread divisive messages, including false news reports, to help elect Donald Trump and harm his opponent Hillary Clinton.

Facebook was plunged into crisis nearly two years ago by revelations that British political consultancy Cambridge Analytica had used data harvested from millions of unsuspecting users to target U.S. election ads.

In the audience was former Cambridge Analytica staffer-turned-whistleblower Brittany Kaiser who, in a question to Clegg, accused Facebook of wrongly comparing the proper task of moderating content on its platform to censorship.

Clegg, keeping his cool, respectfully disagreed: "I don't think we do. We need to strike the right balance."

EUROSCEPTICS

Clegg was also challenged on a dispute in Germany over vulgar personal insults made on Facebook against Renate Kuenast, a senior Greens politician.

Story continues

Kuenast took the case to a Berlin court, which found last year that the insults did not represent a violation of free speech. Judges refused her request to order Facebook to turn over the data of those making the offensive posts.

Facebook, Clegg said, had not been a party to the case. While not defending the language used, he said any decision to hand over that user data would have been improper as the law had not been broken.

"We are going to be very careful, for content that is disgusting but not illegal, about giving over personal data," he told the conference.

Facebook had since changed its content rules so that, if such language were used again, it would be taken down, he said.

DON'T CHOP US INTO BITS

In an earlier newspaper editorial, Clegg resisted calls to break up dominant U.S. technology firms, instead urging lawmakers and regulators to take steps to create an environment more conducive to competition.

"Regulating the tech sector is a far more effective way to ensure that tech serves the needs of society than simply chopping successful companies into bits," he wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

He urged the European Union's new executive Commission to "get to work" and, for example, make it easier for Facebook users to move their data to another social network.

"If we want a competitive, open internet where new services can compete with large platforms like Facebook, we have to enable people to move their data from one service to a competing one," he wrote.

(Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Peter Graff)
Making a quick escape to the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland, President Donald Trump brought with him a large delegation that includes his daughter and adviser Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as four Cabinet secretaries. But there was one subject that sent nearly all of those officials running for cover -- Trump's impeachment trial back in Washington.

Trump only briefly broached the subject when asked about his impeachment trial as he arrived at the forum for a speech he used to attack climate crisis activists.

Impeachment, Trump said, was "just a hoax. It's the witch hunt that's been going on for years. And it's -- frankly, it's disgraceful."

Trump refused to respond to follow up questions on the Senate trial that will decide his fate.

Ivanka Trump declined to answer questions from CNN about her father's impeachment trial, despite having several opportunities to do so. She silently stepped down a staircase among other forum attendees and walked away. Her husband, and fellow senior White House adviser, Kushner whisked past reporters, dashing from meeting to meeting, without stopping for questions.

As he crossed a crowded corridor, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin insisted Trump was not distracted by the impeachment trial in Davos.

"Not at all. Not at all," Mnuchin said.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross simply ignored impeachment questions as he moved past reporters. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, as well as acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and national security adviser Robert O'Brien largely stayed out of public view.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who has yet to hold a traditional briefing in her role, told reporters Trump would be updated by aides on developments from the trial.

Has he spent much time watching impeachment coverage?

"No," she responded.

But, according to a Wall Street Journal report, the President was peeking at impeachment coverage behind the scenes.

Visitors roaming the corridors of the World Economic Forum often found themselves rubbing elbows with the likes of climate activists Greta Thunberg and former Vice President Al Gore.

Gore, who attended one business meeting with Trump, was also tight-lipped about his encounter with the President.

"No comment," the politician turned environmentalist responded when asked about the meeting.

As Trump arrived in Davos, he was touting his own record on the environment, a subject he seemed more willing to tackle than impeachment.

"Well, I'm a big believer in, uh, the environment. The environment to me is very important. Thank you. Thank you very much," Trump said quickly, before delivering a speech that blasted climate activists as "perennial prophets of doom."
They said that I dont understand this new Republican Party, he told attendees. Well, I think I understand them better than they do. Ive been the object of their affection for a long time. And my guess is if you go home and turn your TV on, youre going to find the name Biden mentioned over and over again.
Fifteen years ago, on the day Ange Lavoipierre was diagnosed with leukaemia, a member of her church visited with a message.

They said maybe I should consider that this was Gods way of trying to tell me something, she says. I had a VHS tape of The Wizard of Oz, that was the nearest object to me, and I threw it at his head. And missed.

Comedian and ABC journalist Ange Lavoipierre at The Bearded Tit, a bar in Redfern. Credit:Kate Geraghty

I regret missing but its also good because that would have been assault.

This moment set in stone the 15-year-olds already growing doubts about religion. It has also become part of Lavoipierres new show, Zealot, a solo comedy running at the Giant Dwarf that explores her teenage scepticism, sense of guilt and incredulity at the ways religion was interpreted to her. As a young Christian keenly attending a conservative church in Bathurst, metaphors were liberally applied.
As they have throughout the week, the House managers spotlighted the presidents efforts to conceal his abuse  and how hes still at it. Message to all the folks watching at home: There is still so much out there that we dont know! Pressure your senators to subpoena key witnesses and documents!! Attention must be paid!!

Indeed, away from the Senate floor, the tussle over whether to pursue fresh evidence has continued. Recent polls show that a sizable majority of Americans think additional witnesses should be called at the trial. Of course, the iron-fisted majority leader, Mitch McConnell, is not among them, and he has been working hard to keep the troops in line. At a closed-door lunch Wednesday, Senate Republicans received a briefing about how tedious and time consuming it could be to wrest information from the White House. Republican lawmakers increasingly are fretting that, if the Senate starts issuing subpoenas, the president would just claim executive privilege, miring the fight in the courts and dragging it out for months.

The House made a decision that they didnt want to slow things down by having to go through the courts, Senator Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska Republican, told CNN Thursday. And yet now theyre basically saying you guys got to go through the courts. We didnt, but we need you to.

Ms. Murkowski is considered one of the Republicans most open to voting for new witnesses.

Small wonder some Democrats are feeling anxious. I was much more optimistic last week than I am this week about winning the vote on witnesses, Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, told Politico. I thought by this week there would be a critical mass of Republicans.

Mr. Trump kept the pressure on as well. During his morning executive time Friday, the president tweeted precisely the sort of statesmanlike commentary weve come to expect, rich with name-calling, all-caps ranting (READ THE TRANSCRIPTS!) and mewling about process. He expressed particular irritation that the House managers want to use up ALL of their time, even though it is the wrong thing to do.
First Confirmed Case of Coronavirus Registered in Australia - Health Officials

Sputnik News

01:11 GMT 25.01.2020(updated 04:00 GMT 25.01.2020)

An unknown type of pneumonia, later identified as a new strain of coronavirus, originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei province, in late December and since then, has reached several other countries.

The first case of deadly coronavirus has been registered in Australia, Victoria state health officials reported on Saturday.

The patient who was taken to hospital in Melbourne, Victoria, is a Chinese national who arrived in Australia last week, Health Minister Jenny Mikakos told reporters.

"It is important to stress that there is no cause for alarm to the community. The patient is isolated and is undergoing treatment and we do not have any further suspected cases at this stage", Mikakos said.

Five more Australian citizens are being screened for the infection in New South Wales, according to information on the state's health ministry website.

Earlier in the day, the French Health ministry reported a coronavirus case - the first to be registered in Europe, the number later rose to three.

In China, the number of confirmed cases has reached 1,287, while the death toll currently stands at 47. In total, 29 Chinese provinces have been affected, China's National Health Commission says.

Since the new type of coronavirus was identified in China's city of Wuhan, other confirmed cases of the deadly virus have been reported in Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Nepal, and the United States.

The Chinese authorities earlier confirmed the Wuhan coronavirus can be transmitted from human to human.

However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was too early to declare a public health emergency of international concern "given its restrictive and binary nature".

Concerns have spread over the possibility of the Wuhan coronavirus turning into an epidemic similar to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which claimed the lives of nearly 800 people globally during a 2002/03 outbreak.



 Sputnik

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WARSAW, Poland, Jan. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On the second day of a groundbreaking interfaith mission to Poland, the leaders of American Jewish Committee (AJC) and Muslim World League (MWL) reaffirmed their new partnership by committing to ensure memory of the Holocaust, combat hatred and racism, and foster a new era in Muslim-Jewish relations.

Following their historic joint visit to Auschwitz on January 23, the high-level Muslim and Jewish delegations together visited the Polin Museum of the History of Jews in Poland, the TatarskaStreet Mosque, the Nozyk Synagogue, and ended the day with a celebratory interfaith Shabbat dinner.

"We condemn the horrific acts that took place at Auschwitz against the Jews. It is a stain on humanity," said MWL Secretary General Dr. Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa. "The evidence we saw yesterday shook us all. It was so painful for me looking at human hair, at children's shoes, at so much more evidence of the atrocity."

Al-Issa, who is based in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, led a delegation of 62 Muslims, including 25 prominent religious leaders, from 28 countries on several continents. The mission is the most senior Islamic leadership delegation to ever visit Auschwitz or any Nazi German death camp.

Al-Issa called those around the world who engage in Holocaust denial "partners in the crime. They are like Nazis themselves."

Emphasizing that Muslims and Jews have much in common, he said, "Even if we could act on ten percent of the commonality, it would help bring peace to the world."

"The meetings today and yesterday should send a strong message about our cooperation against those who twist the word of God to generate hate towards others, towards humanity," Al-Issa said.

The joint mission to Poland is a key element of the Memorandum of Understanding between AJC and MWL, which was signed by Al-Issa and Harris at AJC headquarters, in New York, on April 30, 2019.

The Auschwitz visit and series of meetings in Warsaw confirmed the potential for further joint efforts. Harris and Al Al-Issa referred to each other as "partners".

"Our twenty-first century challenge at AJC is to write a new chapter between the Muslim and Jewish peoples," said Harris. "There are those who want to keep us divided. We will not let them win. It's about nothing less than defining the future of the world in which we want to live."

To commemorate Al-Issa's forward-looking leadership, AJC President Harriet Schleifer presented, during an interfaith program at the Nozyk Synagogue, an artwork with the injunction "to remember" in Hebrew (Zakhor), Arabic (Udhkur), and English.

"We pray that your visit to Auschwitz will be a clarion call to action for Muslims and all humanity to learn the hard lessons of history  that hatred and demonization of a people nearly led to their total destruction," said Schleifer. "We must never allow it to happen again to anyone."

The 100 attendees at the Shabbat dinner, held at The Royal Palace, brought together leading Polish government and parliamentary officials, including the Speaker of the Senate, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Secretary of State in the Office of the President of the Republic, as well as leading Christian clergy, among them the Primate of Poland, ambassadors to Poland from Australia, Canada, and Germany, top representatives of the Polish Jewish community, and other friends of AJC.

AJC established an office in Warsaw in 2017. It focuses on seven countries  Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia. Sebastian Rejak is the Acting Director of AJC Central Europe.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

Related Links

http://www.ajc.org


Click here to read the full article.

Depending on ones perspective, the American political machine invites both cynical and idealistic interpretations, and Boys State embodies both of them. Directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaines sprawling look at the weeklong Texas event, where 17-year-old boys create their own representational government, .

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Juggling several mini-profiles over the course of an election cycle that gets dirty, Boys State goes a little too soft on its subjects, attempting a balanced perspective at a moment that demands more partisan insight. Nevertheless, it manages to capture the systematic forces behind American leadership, and why it always seems like such an uphill challenge to put the good guys in charge.

Adults consume such little screen time that the movie may as well be the Peanuts of civic lessons. As Boys State explains upfront, the veterans association American Legion has assembled the eponymous gathering at states around the country since 1935, during which time alumni have included Dick Cheney and Cory Booker.

That spectrum of famous leaders might suggest that Boys State embraces a bipartisan approach, but the Texas event  at least as the filmmakers sprawling cameras find it  unfolds more as a battlefield. With participants assigned to dueling political parties called Federalists and Nationalists, the 1,100 participants are left to their own devices as they assemble campaigns for a range of leadership positions, with a few ambitious kids eyeing the top role of governor.

Moss and McBaine follow four of these enterprising characters as they assemble campaign strategies and argue through ideologies while reflecting on the motivations behind it all. Moss, whose credits include The Overnighters and the Netflix series The Family, excels at capturing the subtle factors that inform American identity, and Boys State works best when exposing the gathering as a hidden force with the potential to shape generations of political careers.

Story continues

Its also a testament to the adrenaline rush behind the desire to win. In its breathless opening passage, a thundering soundtrack follows several Boys State candidates for both parties as they speed around the Texas capital, chasing signatures and spouting their priorities, with some participants clearly taking the experience more seriously than others. One candidate seeking support asks a classmate what hes for, and when the response is Freedom, it registers as a punchline. With time, however, it becomes clear that such reductive sentiments inform many of the kids way of seeing the world, and Boys State doesnt show the campaigns changing any biases so much as confirming them.

The filmmakers record dramatic campaign speeches with riotous crowds, where issues like gun control and abortions echo real-world talking points in clunky, half-formed argumentation that suggests many of the candidates have simply regurgitated the perspectives they absorb at home. That itself speaks volumes about the cycle of political biases in this country.

However, the inmates arent entirely running the asylum. The key figures at the center of Boys State all display serious investment in their campaigns, with a remarkable degree of energy and intellectual rigor driving them forward. Unfortunately, that doesnt always work in their favor. Rene Otero, an African American who takes over his partys leadership early on, faces calls for his impeachment after his rowdy citizens make ludicrous calls for secession. He scores the movies most searing condemnation of the racial dynamics in play  I never seen so many white people ever  but hes not alone.

The true hero of Boys State is Steven Garza, a gubernatorial candidate born to immigrant parents who faces xenophobic negative campaigning designed to steamroll his ambition. Despite all the pushback, his resilience provides an emotional arc that gives the movie its most powerful passages. At the same time, Garzas ambitions are offset by those of Ben Feinstein, who begins the movie as an underdog figure  a double-amputee eager to find his purpose  before turning into something of a villain, more committed to the win-at-all-costs ethos than any moral imperatives.

As the movie builds out these various characters, it settles into a sprawling series of vignettes, some more engaging than others, and yet some aspect of its portraiture feels incomplete. In meetings between the two parties, the filmmakers witness snippets of the ambivalence from participants less compelled to chase leadership roles (one makes a motion to ban Hawaiian pizza) but Boys State never devolves into a Lord of the Flies-like tale of social collapse. (Where are the wild parties?) It also evades some of the uglier forces at work, hinting at racist sentiments but never calling them out directly, and dodging much discussion of the political reality just outside the frame. And theres little mention of Girls State, or what the complete absence of women does to skew the way things turn out.

However, theres a certain intrigue to the uglier aspects of these races that the filmmakers choose not to include. Given that this all takes place in Texas  a state that might one day turn purple, or even blue, but still exudes a deep red hue  Boys State diagnoses the essence of that divide by showing the extent that political biases inform the status quo, and how that can lead to campaign strategies devoid of any agenda aside from maintaining power. As Otero concludes, following a messy series of developments, I dont think being a fantastic politician is a compliment.

Garza is more optimistic, emerging from the experience ready to take his battle into a genuine career, and his story allows the movie to avoid an entirely pessimistic conclusion. Instead, the filmmakers illustrate that governmental power is a fickle thing, prone to exploitation and good will alike, depending on who decides to pursue its offices.

Thats either a savvy means of diagnosing the problem with todays divisive moment or a keen illustration of why Americans are perpetually screwed by their leaders. Either way, the movie has just enough intrigue to hint at the potential for a 7 Up approach by following its subjects through their political ambitions in the years ahead. The whole story is unwritten: Because Boys State doesnt take sides, it leads to the open-ended conclusion that its subjects could either fix the country, or keep fighting through the wreckage with no end in sight.

Grade: B

Boys State premiered in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.

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Captain James Cook shot the first Aborigine to confront him at Botany Bay in April 1770

Captain James Cook shot the first Aborigine to resist his arrival at Sydney's Botany Bay - before the famed British explorer had even set foot on Australian soil.

While Cook did not mean to kill the man and barely wounded him, the first contact between black and white people on the east coast of Australia almost 250 years ago was a violent affair.

The facts of that historic encounter 18 years before the arrival of the First Fleet have long been available to scholars but are not taught in schools.

As the nation marks 232 years since European settlement with another Australia Day featuring protests and celebrations this earlier story remains largely unknown.

Bestselling author Peter FitzSimons was stunned while researching a biography of Cook to learn the legendary navigator had shot an indigenous warrior.

While it was known a member of Cook's landing party fired upon two Gweagal men on April 29, 1770, that act has not always been attributed to the captain of HMS Endeavour.

FitzSimons relied upon the journals of Cook, botanist Joseph Banks and botanical illustrator Sydney Parkinson to tell the full story in his latest book, James Cook: The Story Behind the Man who Mapped the World.

The prolific biographer said he was shocked by his own ignorance - and that of most Australians - of such a significant piece of Australian history.

Cook has in recent years been criticised as a British imperialist and there have been objections to any notion he 'discovered' Australia, when Aborigines had occupied the continent for 60,000 years. This statue in St Kilda, Melbourne, was vandalised last year

Bestselling author Peter FitzSimons was stunned while researching a biography of Cook to learn the legendary navigator had shot an indigenous warrior. This engraving from a sketch by illustrator Sydney Parkinson shows two Aborigines who confronted Cook's landing party

It is Cook himself who states clearly in his journal he fired three times towards two Aborigines from his landing boat, hitting one of the men in the leg. That shot was fired with a light, non-lethal load and meant only to 'sting' and scare

'I was stunned,' FitzSimons said of discovering Cook had shot one of the first Aborigines he saw up close.

'I just said, Youve got to be kidding - that cannot be true". How could that be true when I've been reading about Cook all my life and and I've never heard it?'

'I spent a lot of time wondering why it is that it's just unknown.'

FitzSimons said he had been asking audiences during promotion of his book whether they knew Cook had shot an Aborigine before he stepped ashore.

'I have done it before every audience - "how many of you know this?" - and really not a single hand has gone up,' he said.

'It's not like I've discovered it. I haven't discovered it but it was only known to the absolute cognoscenti.'

Academics had even approached FitzSimons after he had given talks to ask if he was sure the story was true.

Cook has in recent years been criticised as a British imperialist and there have been objections to any notion he 'discovered' Australia, when Aborigines had occupied the continent for 60,000 years.

This wooden shield is said to have been dropped by an Aboriginal warrior who was fired upon by Captain Cook at Botany Bay on April 29, 1770. It is held by the British Museum

FitzSimons (pictured) believed historians of previous generations had not considered Cook (pictured) shooting an Aborigine to be particularly noteworthy whereas today it would be seen as hugely significant

But the FitzSimons book is not some revisionist retelling of the first contact between indigenous people and Europeans or a 'black armband' view of Australian history.

It is Cook himself who states clearly in his journal he fired three times towards two Aborigines from his landing boat, hitting one of the men in the leg.

That shot was fired with a light, non-lethal load and meant only to 'sting' and scare.

FitzSimons has reprinted the relevant passages from the journals of Cook, Banks and Parkinson and historians contacted by Daily Mail Australia did not dispute the facts.

'Cook explicitly states he personally fired the first three shots, the second of these struck the Aboriginal warrior,' FitzSimons said.

'Only after this second shot are spears thrown and Cook states he fired once more. So yes, Cook fired first and drew first blood at the first contact in New South Wales.'

FitzSimons believed historians of previous generations had not considered Cook shooting an Aborigine to be particularly noteworthy whereas today it would be seen as significant.

The book, which FitzSimons wrote with the help of four researchers, sets out to reveal the 'real' James Cook. It promises to show the man behind the myth.

A new book by Peter FitzSimons sets out to reveal the 'real' James Cook. It promises to show the man behind the myth. Pictured is Captain Cook's Memorial at Kurnell on Botany Bay

How Captain James Cook shot an Aboriginal man - in his own words SUNDAY 29th. In the PM winds southerly clear weather with which we stood into the bay and Anchord under the South shore about a Mile within the entrance in 6 fathoms water, the south point bearing SE and the north point East. Saw as we came in on both points of the bay Several of the natives and a few hutts, Men, women and children on the south shore abreast of the Ship, to which place I went in the boats in hopes of speaking with them accompaned by Mr Banks Dr Solander and Tupia; as we approached the shore they all made off except two Men who seemd resolved to oppose our landing. As soon as I saw this I orderd the boats to lay upon their oars in order to speake to them but this was to little purpose for neither us not Tupia could understand one word they said. We then threw them some nails beeds [etc] a shore which they took up and seem'd not ill pleased in so much at that I thout that they beckon'd to us to come a shore; but in this we were mistaken, for as soon as we put the boat in they again came to oppose us upon which I fired a musket between the two which had no other effect than to make them retire back where bundles of thier darts lay, and one of them took up a stone and threw at us which caused my fireing a second Musquet load with small shott, and altho some of the shott struck the man yet it had no other effect than to make him lay hold of a Shield or target to defend himself. Emmidiatly after this we landed which we had no sooner done than they throw'd two darts at us, this obliged me to fire a third shott soon after which they both made off, but not in such haste but what we might have taken one, but Mr Banks being of opinion that the darts were poisoned, made me cautious how I advanced into the woods. Source: Journal of James Cook Advertisement

'Captain James Cook is one of the most recognisable figures in Australian history - an almost mythic figure who is often discussed, celebrated, reviled and debated,' its publisher states.

'This Yorkshire farm boy would go on to become the foremost mariner, navigator and cartographer of his era, and to personally map a third of the globe.'

Cook's journal records how he shot an indigenous man after his landing party of about 40 men in two boats faced a group of Aborigines including two warriors on the sands of Botany Bay.

'We then threw them some nails beeds [etc] a shore which they took up and seem'd not ill pleased in so much at that I thout that they beckon'd to us to come a shore...

'But in this we were mistaken, for as soon as we put the boat in they again came to oppose us upon which I fired a musket between the two which had no other effect than to make them retire back where bundles of thier darts lay...

'And one of them took up a stone and threw at us which caused my fireing a second Musquet load with small shott, and altho some of the shott struck the man yet it had no other effect than to make him lay hold of a Shield or target to defend himself.'

Historians contacted by Daily Mail Australia accepted Cook had fired upon the Aborigines.

While it was known a member of Cook's landing party fired upon two Aborigines at Botany Bay, that act has not always been attributed to the captain of HMS Endeavour. This illustration shows Cook and his landing party ashore at Kurnell

How Peter FitzSimons describes Captain Cook shooting a warrior This is an edited extract of Peter FitzSimons recreating Captain Cook's first encounter with Aborigines at Kurnell as his landing party nears the shore: The agitation on the shore grows and grows. Finally Cook decides he must take the matter into his own hands - specifically, a musket. Carefully, he brings it to bear, aiming right between the two men and gently squeezes the trigger. There is a flash, an acrid puff of smoke, a God almighty roar and in that frozen moment the youngest of the two warriors drops his 'bundle of [spears], on the rock, at the instant in which he heard the report', something which appears to bring a sharp rebuke from the older warrior - for the younger man just as quickly regathers them and the two are as they were once more. Threatening. Blocking. Willing for a fight. They do more than that, the elder man picks up a stone and hurls it. As it whistles past Cook's ear, he comes to a key decision. If he and his men are not to be received hospitably, voluntarily, it will have to be insisted upon... by force. Again he brings what he will describe as "a Second Musquet, load with small Shott" to bear and takes careful aim. But this time, instead of aiming it between the warriors, he aims it at the legs of the older warrior who has hurled the rock at him and ... squeezes the trigger. His intention is not to kill, but to "sting" and so "frighten them into the woods". Nevertheless, it is, effectively, a shot that will ring through history, as the commander of the first English troupe - and even troops - to arrive on the Australian continent visits violence on a people whove been there for 60,000 years... even before he has set foot on the land. For again there is a roar, but this time instead of the shot flying harmlessly, it indeed hits the elder man in the legs, bringing up angry red splotches on his black skin. Though stunned, and stung, glaring down at these splotches, still the old warrior and his younger companion stand their ground. Source: James Cook by Peter FitzSimons, published by Hachette Australia Advertisement

Cook author and expert Cliff Thornton of the Captain Cook Society said: 'In terms of who fired the shots, Cook wrote in his journal that he fired the shots.'

Professor John Maynard, chair of Indigenous History at the University of Newcastle, also pointed to Cook as the most reliable source for what happened that day.

'On Cook's own evidence Peter FitzSimons is correct,' Professor Maynard said.

But the story of Captain Cook's first encounter with Aborigines is not taught in Australian schools.

A spokesman for the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) said: 'The specific event you reference is not referenced in the Australian Curriculum.'

'It is state/territory education departments who determine the specific detail of what is taught in their schools.'

'Information regarding Captain Cook's journey is available in the Australian Curriculum as an elaboration, where Cook, amongst other explorers, are referenced.'

Cook is given no more prominence as a seafarer in the Australian Curriculum than the Macassans - Indonesian sailors who harvested sea cucumbers in the Kimberley region and Arnhem Land.

FitzSimons said Cook's shooting of an Aborigine should be taught in all Australian schools.

This statue of Cook in Sydney's Hyde Park proclaims he 'discovered this territory' in 1770. It was defaced in 2017. Cook was the first European known to reach the east coast of Australia

'Why is this not taught? Absolutely it's something that should be taught in school - this is what happened.

'I am convinced the great weeping wound on the national soul is our cruel indigenous past and the beginning of healing that wound is understanding what happened.'

James Cook by Peter FitzSimons is published by Hachette Australia and available now

FitzSimons also believed Cook had to be seen in the context of his times.

'I said and I believe it and I don't back off from it: Cook was not an imperialist but he was an instrument of empire,' he said.

FitzSimons believed it would be easier for a modern audience to understand Cook's actions if he had been 'a cruel, vicious bastard'.

'Cook was not a vicious bastard,' he said. 'Cook was a genuinely, basically humane person but that therefore is a commentary on the times.

'This is the times in which if your way is blocked by a blackfella on a distant shore, operation 101 is take said musket, put it to your right shoulder, pull the trigger, that'll clear them.

'That's a commentary on the times. That helps explain the times that they were in.'

Daily Mail Australia asked the Education departments of every state and territory if they taught students that Cook shot an Aborigine before landing at Kurnell. None did.

NSW Education directed inquiries to the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), which cited the Australian Curriculum taught to students in Year Four.

'The NSW History K10 Syllabus provides opportunities for students to learn about world navigators,' a spokeswoman said.

Peter FitzSimons has been asking audiences how it is most Australians don't know Captain Cook shot an Aboriginal warrior before he landed at Kurnell

'In the primary years, students investigate the journey(s) of one early explorer and the impact of their voyages. Captain James Cook is included as an example for study.

'The syllabus does not include specific details about Captain Cook's arrival.'

Individual institutions had 'the flexibility to develop programs of study to meet the needs and interests of students and the local context of their school.'

A Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority spokeswoman said it was up to schools to decide how the curriculum was delivered 'to suit their particular student cohort.'

'Levels 3 and 4 covers first contacts between British arrivals and first peoples,' she said. 'Levels 9 and 10 gives a more detailed exploration of the settlement of Australia.

'The curriculum does not go into the detail of specific events.'

Queensland's Department of Education said it was not responsible for setting curriculum.

It directed inquires to ACARA and the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority, which referred the matter back to ACARA.

James Cook: The Story Behind the Man who Mapped the World, by Peter FitzSimons, is published by Hachette Australia and available now.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 25

By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:

A number of protocols on phytosanitary requirements to export batches of milk, honey, raw woo, pork and flax seeds was signed between Kazakhstan and China in order to increase export of Kazakh agricultural goods, a representative of Kazakhstans Ministry of Agriculture told Trend.

The protocol signed on flax seeds expands export volume of Kazakhstans crop production to China and in the future will become the necessary legislative base for qualitative change between countries in agriculture, as well will promote increase of mutual trade volume.

In turn, inclusion of 25 Kazakh ventures manufacturing flax allows to start flax seeds' export to China from a number of Kazakh regions.

"In accordance to the documents, Kazakh flax and flax goods manufacturers get opportunities for export to China," a representative said.

Nur-Sultan and Beijing have reached agreements on smooth transportation of agriculture goods via green corridor, which will significantly accelerate the time of goods delivery to the consumer. The countries also signed a roadmap within the framework of which Kazakhstan is planning to start exporting offal obtained from slaughter and processing of livestock to China.

"Favorable geographical and climate resources of Kazakhstan create great basis for increase of agriculture manufacturing. Al the same time, competent economic policy will give great opportunity to strengthen countrys work in this area," the official said.

Talking on Kazakhstans development in agriculture, the representative noted that modernization of transport communication, as well as introduction of leading agriculture technologies allowed to bring Kazakhstans agriculture manufacturing to the new level.

"This is why agriculture production volume in Kazakhstan has significantly increased over the last couple of years, which also allowed to increase volume of agriculture goods export," the official concluded.

---

Follow the author on twitter: @nargiz_sadikh
Photo: DC Pie - Brickell/Yelp

As fans of cronuts and cake pops can attest, food trends come and go. So how can you tell which tastes are trending right this minute?

We took a data-driven look at the question, using Yelp and SafeGraph, a dataset of commercial points of interest and their visitor patterns, to deduce which local businesses have been seeing especially high review volumes this month.

To find out who made the list, we first looked at Miami businesses on Yelp by category and counted how many reviews each received. Rather than compare them based on number of reviews alone, we calculated a percentage increase in reviews over the past month, and tracked businesses that consistently increased their volume of reviews to identify statistically significant outliers compared to past performance. Then we analyzed foot traffic data from SafeGraph to validate the trends.

Read on to see which spots are extra hot this winter.

Hotlime Craft Tacos And Ceviches

Photo: hotLime craft tacos and ceviches/Yelp

Open since September 2018, this Peruvian and Mexican spot, which offers seafood and more, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Seafood" on Yelp.

Citywide, seafood spots saw a median 1.9% increase in new reviews over the past month. HotLime Craft Tacos and Ceviches only recently appeared on Yelp, but while many new businesses struggle to gain reviews, it has seen strong initial popularity.

Curious about this business? We found this in the business' Yelp specialties section: "HotLime, a craft taco and ceviche concept, features tacos that reflect Miami's diverse cultural scene and Peruvian-influenced ceviches. From using fresh, local ingredients to combining our favorite family recipes, everything we put into our menu comes straight from the heart."

Located at 140 N.E. 39th St., Suite 241 in the Little Haiti, HotLime Craft Tacos and Cevichescourtesy of friends chef Daniel Gonzalez and Carlos Padillaoffers four different Peruvian-influenced ceviches and a shorty with slow-braised ribs, onions, cilantro, cotija cheese and aji limo sauce. Libations include a smoky cocktail made from smoked pineapple, ancho chile-infused agave, lime and spicy rum. (View the menu.)

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HotLime Craft Tacos and Ceviches is open from 11 a.m.10 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday and 11 a.m.11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Spanglish

Photo: nicole p./Yelp

Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Spanglish, the cocktail bar and Latin American and New American spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.

While businesses categorized as "American (New)" on Yelp saw a median 1.8% increase in new reviews over the past month, Spanglish appeared on Yelp relatively recently. Many new businesses struggle to gain reviews, but it has seen a surge of interest.

There's more that's trending on Miami's New American scene: Tigertail + Mary has seen a 13.4% increase in reviews, and Ember Miami and Blvd Baes have seen 12.5 and 9.2% increases, respectively.

Open at 2808 N. Miami Ave. since November 2019, Spanglish offers empanadas; a roast pork plate and sandwiches like the Cuban and chimichurri melt.

Spanglish is open from 5 p.m.2 a.m. on Monday-Saturday and noon3 p.m. and 5 p.m.2 a.m. on Sunday.

Ms Benedict

photo: virginia s./yelp

Ms Benedict is also making waves. Open at 3301 N.E. First Ave., Suite 101, the wine bar and breakfast and brunch spot, which offers coffee and tea and more, is relatively new to Yelp, but has seen a surge of new reviews, while all businesses tagged "Wine Bars" on Yelp saw an increase of 2.2% for new reviews in the past month. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis Ms Benedict's review count increased by more than 200%.

Ms Benedict offers build-your-own omelets, toasts and flatbreads as well as a selection of beer, coffee and wine. Brunch options include Cuban egg Benedict, Mykonos toast (hummus spread, feta cheese, cucumber, tomato, tahini sauce and Kalamata olives), and an everything bagel with smoked salmon. Over the past month, it's seen its Yelp rating tick down from four stars to three stars.

Ms Benedict is open from 7:30 a.m.4 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m.4 p.m. on weekends.

DC Pie - Brickell

photo: dc pie - brickell/yelp

Brickell's DC Pie - Brickell is the city's buzziest bar by the numbers.

The bar, which offers pizza, chicken wings and more and opened at 1010 Brickell Ave., Suite 200 since December 2019, increased its new review count by 40.4% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 2.7% for the Yelp category "Bars."

Fascinated so far? Here's more about the business from its Yelp history section. Another spot from the Lucali Miami team, "DC PIE CO.'s pizza havens always keep it fresh with open patio seating, happy hour, lunch and dinner daily, and a new homemade soda and spritz menu," according to the business's Yelp profile.

DC Pie - Brickell offers basil-topped Brooklyn-style pizzas, all-beef meatballs, fresh salads and sweet hot wings with blue cheese. The drink menu includes 10 specialty cocktails. Try the Back to the Beach (elevate vodka, Saint Germain, guava and allspice); The Pop (Blanco Tequila, blackberry and ginger) and barrel-aged old-fashioned.

DC Pie - Brickell is open from 11:30 a.m.10 p.m. on Monday and Sunday, 11:30 a.m.11 p.m. on Tuesday-Thursday and 11:30 a.m.midnight on Friday and Saturday.

Obra Kitchen Table

photo: obra kitchen table/yelp

Brickell's well-established Obra Kitchen Table is currently on the upswing in the cocktail bar category on Yelp.

While businesses categorized as "Cocktail Bars" on Yelp saw a median 3.6% increase in new reviews over the past month, this cocktail bar and Latin American spot increased its new reviews by 15.4%  and kept its rating consistent at 4.5 stars. Review counts increased by more than 500% on a month-to-month basis.

Interested so far? Here's more about the business from its Yelp page. "A new Latin inspired casual eatery by chef Carlos Garcia in Brickell."  that's courtesy of its Yelp page.

There's more abuzz in the world of Miami cocktail bars: Melinda's has seen a 13.9% increase in reviews, and Esotico Miami has seen a 32.4% bump.

Open for business at 1331 Brickell Bay Drive, Unit CU1 since November 2018, Obra Kitchen Table offers a pork shank, wahoo tiradito with pineapple rum and topped with crunchy kale, and a corn and avocado risotto (it's made with nuts, mushrooms and a bit of parmesan).

Obra Kitchen Table is open from noon3 p.m. and 6 p.m.11 p.m. on weekdays and 6 p.m.11 p.m. on Saturday. (It's closed on Sunday.)

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Great social change rarely succeeds as a partisan project. Civil and gender rights and the freedom to choose whom you love were campaigns that moved from the fringes to success only when a fragile consensus was formed crossing regional, ethnic and, most importantly, partisan lines.

How did we forget that lesson where the climate crisis is concerned? It is not clear when it became a partisan club wielded by progressive activists against knuckle-dragging conservatives. It was not true when Margaret Thatcher was an early acid rain pioneer, or when Jean Charest fought for real environmental change at the Rio Summit, or when Brian Mulroney fought hard on CFCs.

But sometime around the turn of the century many conservatives around the developed world decided that the climate crisis was an overhyped partisan attempt by the left to force bigger government, higher taxes and wealth distribution to the Third World from rich nations. The hapless Australian conservative leader brought a large chunk of coal into his parliament and slammed it defiantly on his desk. Donald Trump bragged how much Trump Digs Coal.

Progressives wear a lot of the blame for this increasingly adolescent war of torqued rhetoric and insult. Little deference was paid to the millions of working people around the world whose lives depended on their jobs in oil and gas, coal mining and the forests.

Applying a class analysis to environmental degradation, blaming multinational bosses, did little to persuade a B.C. coal miner or an Alberta drilling contractor that climate change rhetoric was anything other than a direct personal attack on his job or her industry.

Conservatives piled on with absurd climate denial stats and a refusal to acknowledge that the massive new floods, fires and droughts had only one common variable: us. Now even Prime Minister Scott Morrison, humiliated by the inferno that ripped Australia, while he was on holiday, has gotten a little shaky about the climate crisis.

I think we will see Canadian Conservative leadership candidates delicately attempting to frame a less insulting climate agenda than that of a certain Western premier. One who froths and rants less, Conservative Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister, has laid out the beginnings of such a new agenda.

So now it is the task of every responsible Canadian politician to begin building rather than bombing fragile bridges across the climate divide. Federal politicians should refrain from sneering at those who disagree with their approach to pricing carbon and seek possible shared paths forward. Progressives need to get much more serious about off-carbon economic strategies that give some comfort to the workers who will face the brunt of such a transition  as Rachel Notley attempted.

And federal Conservatives will hopefully recall their great environmental victories of decades past  protecting the Great Lakes, acid rain, CFCs  and drop the Harper-era climate denial childish rhetoric, and acknowledge the reality that we now see the impact of daily.

Then maybe this second man-made partisan climate crisis  the one that makes progress impossible, by holding real change hostage to partisan tribal warfare  can be over. As we did on equal marriage, on linguistic and Indigenous respect and reconciliation, and on immigration, we can then begin to build a new Canadian consensus, this time on saving the planet.

Maybe together we can begin to accelerate the execution of a bold Canadian climate crisis strategy, one that pays respect to the workers dependent on the industries at the core of the Canadian economy  mining and forestry  from being forced into subsistence level service jobs. We could articulate a strategy that uses real incentives, not simply sanctions, to speed our move to a cleaner sustainable Canadian economy.

None of this will be cheap.

Canadians, governments and businesses, will need to invest billions in transformation in this decade. Conservatives will need to bend on massive government spending, progressives on large subsidies to Canadian business.

Would we rather explain to Greta Thunberg, and to our own children, why we lacked the courage? Do we want to keep squabbling while B.C. and Alberta burn once more this spring, while floods devastate more heavily in more places, and watch as drought returns to the Canadian prairie.

Our ancestors, Indigenous and newcomers, struggled hard to build communities in one of the most severe climates on earth. To them and their achievement of an enormously successful Canada, one we enjoy today, we owe a pledge to meet the climate crisis, together, and fast.
By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, a former Catholic, held an unusually long meeting with Pope Francis on Friday and quipped that he emerged from the encounter feeling like "a hero".

Pence's talks with Francis in the papal library lasted about an hour, twice as long as the meeting between the pope and U.S. President Donald Trump in the same frescoed room in May 2017.

During an exchange of gifts after the private talks, Francis gave Pence a small white box with a papal medal inside.

"I didn't want to ask," Pence said with a laugh as the pope handed him the box. "This is for mom."

As he was leaving the papal library, Pence, still clutching the small white box, said: "Thank you, Your Holiness, you have made me a hero ... God bless you."

Pence, who had a strict Irish Catholic upbringing but later converted to evangelical Protestantism, appeared to be referring to the fact that the rest of his family had stayed in the Roman Catholic Church and that his departure from the faith had put some strain on family relations.

During their private talks, Pence and the pope discussed, among other topics, Friday's "March for Life" anti-abortion demonstration in Washington, the vice-president's office said. Trump will become the first U.S. president to attend the annual rally.

Thousands of people from around the country converged on the nation's capital for the event, which began in 1973 after the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Roe v. Wade decision, established a woman's constitutional right to have an abortion.

After meeting the pope, Pence discussed global hot spots, including the situation in Venezuela, in separate talks with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pence's office said.

Francis also gave Pence some of his recent writings, including his World Day of Peace message for this year and Pence gave the pope a wooden cross made from a tree in the vice president's official residence.

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"I want to extend the warmest greetings on behalf of President Donald Trump, who so enjoyed his visit here," Pence said at the start of their meeting.

Pence introduced his wife Karen to Pope Francis. He also introduced the rest of the delegation, including U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Callista Gingrich and her husband Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

He was later given a tour of the Sistine Chapel.

From the Vatican, he went to meetings with Italy's President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

Pence flew to Italy from Israel, where he had attended events commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Gareth Jones and Pravin Char)
A government initiative to teach immigrants to New Zealand values is aimed at averting tension and violence between locals and newcomers.

The initiatives would target migrants from Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East before they arrive, as well as those already settled, The Press newspaper reported.

The initiatives, jointly run by the ethnic affairs and social development ministries, were a direct response to a series of international incidents, including 2005 race riots in Sydney's Cronulla area and debate on the publication of cartoons portraying the Prophet Mohammad last year, officials said.

"To date, we have been well served by the Kiwi 'live and let live' attitude and the moderate nature of our minority communities," Ethnic Affairs Minister Chris Carter said.

"But the Government is concerned to ensure this remains the case as our society becomes more complex, and tensions flare elsewhere in the world."
American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) generates most of its revenue in the United States, but it once dreamed of expanding into Europe. It opened three stores in the U.K. in 2014, but shuttered them all just three years later.

Last February, AEO announced a licensing agreement with AEO EU, a third-party group of brand builders, to expand into Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, the U.K., and the Netherlands over the next three years. But as of early 2020, AEO still hasn't opened any European stores.

So is AEO's European plan dead or merely in hibernation? Let's see why AEO failed the first time, and whether or not it will aggressively expand across Europe in the near future.

Why did American Eagle Outfitters fail to crack the U.K. market?

American Eagle Outfitters originally planned to open up to 30 stores in the U.K. in 2014. It also launched an online store for U.K. shoppers the following year.

However, the brand failed to gain any traction in the U.K.'s competitive fashion market, which is saturated with domestic brands like Next (LSE:NXT), Marks & Spencer (LSE:MKS), and New Look, as well as European fast-fashion retailers H&M (OTC:HNNMY) and Inditex's (ETR: IXD) Zara. AEO's also didn't significantly alter its casual, teen-oriented styles for older or more discerning European shoppers.

Instead of plowing more cash into a money-losing market, AEO abandoned its expansion plans in Europe and shifted its resources back to its core U.S. market.

Understanding AEO's international business

AEO's international business is split into company-owned stores, which are included in its consolidated sales, and franchised ones, which only generate licensing revenue.

It ended last quarter with 159 company-owned stores outside the United States, which accounted for nearly 15% of its 1,094 stores. Those stores included 105 stores in Canada, 41 in Mexico, seven in Hong Kong, and six in Puerto Rico. It closed all its company-operated stores in mainland China last year, but it's trying to maintain a presence there through local franchisees.

AEO licenses its brands to 241 franchised stores in 24 countries across the Middle East, Latin America, Northern Africa, and Asia. Its latest 10-Q filing also lists Eastern Europe as a market where it "will continue to open" stores, but AEO's store locator doesn't list any countries in the region yet. AEO's partner in Japan also shuttered all of its stores last year, which forced the company to consider other options for the country.

AEO generated $131.2 million, or 12% of its revenue, from overseas markets (via company-owned stores, licensing royalties, and orders shipped abroad) last quarter. It doesn't break down its international sales by individual regions or countries, but it previously highlighted Canada and Mexico as major growth markets and Asia as a "loss-leading" one.

Will AEO advance its European plans?

Last February, CEO Jay Schottenstein told analysts that its European partner had "strong expertise and a proven track record at launching brands" in the region, but CFO Bob Madore noted that the partnership wouldn't "kick in until later on in fiscal '19."

During the conference call last June, Madore noted that AEO's partners would open two new stores in Europe near the end of fiscal 2019, and reiterated that it was "starting to reenter that market." However, AEO's management didn't comment about Europe during its following two conference calls in September and December.

Meanwhile, investors fretted over AEO's contracting margins and Aerie's gradual slowdown. Its loss of licensing revenue from Japan, where its partner once operated 33 AEO and Aerie stores, exacerbated the pressure on its bottom line.

Expanding into Europe with licensed stores won't significantly impact AEO's earnings since its franchisees cover the overhead costs. However, an aggressive expansion could be risky for those franchisees, considering that H&M and Zara are currently closing stores to streamline their over-extended brick-and-mortar businesses. Macro challenges like Brexit and ongoing unrest in cities like Paris could also force AEO's partners to postpone their expansion efforts.

The key takeaways

AEO investors shouldn't fret too much about its lack of progress in Europe since a few stores would only generate a small amount of licensing revenue for the company. It's also wiser to take baby steps into the market and adjust its strategies accordingly since AEO's previous expansion into the U.K. was far too aggressive.

For now, investors should focus on AEO's progress in the United States, where it still faces stiff competition from rival retailers and ongoing concerns about dying malls. Overcoming those challenges could give it more momentum to crack tough markets like Europe.
Two men were shot on an industrial estate in Killeek Lane in St Margaret's on Friday morning, leaving one man critically injured.

Gardai are investigating a shooting incident that occurred at approximately 11.30am on Friday, January 17 2020 at Killeek Lane, St Margaret's.

Two males sitting in a parked vehicle at an industrial premises were approached by a lone gunman who discharged a number of shots into the vehicle.

The gunman fled the scene in a vehicle driven by another male.

Two males, in their late 30's, received treatment at the scene before being transferred to Beaumount and Connolly Memorial Hospitals. One male remains in a critical condition.

At approximately 12.30pm two males, in their early 30s, were arrested and were subsequently released without charge while investigations continue.

An Incident room has been established at Swords Garda Station.

Investigating Gardai are appealing for assistance from members of the public who may have seen a Black Citroen C4 car, registration 151D34526 between 11.30am when it left the vicinity of Killeek Lane and 12.30pm when it was abandoned and set on fire at Greenwood Avenue, Coolock, Dublin 13.

Investigating Gardai are appealing for any road users with video recording in the vicinity of Killeek Lane on the morning of January 17 between 11.15am and 11.45am or in the vicinity of Greenwood Avenue, Blunden Drive, Malahide Road area of Dublin 13 between 12.15pm and 12.40pm on the same day,.

Investigating Gardai can be contacted at Swords Garda Station 01-6664700, the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.

An Garda Siochana are satisfied that there is no connection between this incident and the investigation into the murder of Keane Mulready-Woods.
Godswill Akpabio, minister of Niger Delta affairs, says no accusing finger should be pointed at him regarding the irregularities in the ongoing rerun election for Akwa Ibom north-west senatorial district because he has no interest in it.

The minister, who was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) withdrew from the poll, contrary to a directive from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

His withdrawal came after he was appointed minister, but INEC had insisted that he remains a candidate and cannot be replaced by his party.

In a statement by Anietie Ekong, Akpabios chief press secretary, the minister denied rumours linking him to irregularities in the ongoing election.

Read Also: Akpabio Has Perfected Plans To Rig Saturdays Rerun Election: PDP

He said: It is well known that because of higher national responsibilities as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Akpabio had withdrawn his candidature from the said election. He was replaced by the APC with Obongemem Ekperikpe Ekpo.

The other candidates who were scheduled for the elections, Rt Hon Nse Ntuen and Rt. Hon Emmanuel Akpan have written to announce their withdrawal from the elections.

And just yesterday, the State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Hon Ini Okopido at a widely publicized press conference announced that the APC will not participate in the rerun elections.

So on what basis would any sane human being link Senator Akpabio to whatever is happening in Essien Udim Local Government Area?
Wearing a tall, white hat and coat, 5-year-old Chef Jensen George of The Woodlands area distributed menus and waited patiently for his guests order.

What would you like? he said, before asking his mother what the requested California Roll is with a puzzled expression.

Shortly after, the young chef walked around the countertop and seating to begin chopping and slicing up the popular sushi dish next to painted scenes of European streets and the Mediterranean Sea at The Woodlands Childrens Museums brand-new Play Cafe.

The cafe opened on Saturday to provide a permanent space for children, including Jensen, to explore various cuisines and cultures while also growing parent-child interaction.

Located in the museums market exhibit, he and others may now get a taste of a rotation of international foods and recipes throughout the year, starting with Asian cuisine due to the Lunar Year, along with a food display case, food prep station, serving dishes, utensils and more. Different art projects corresponding to the different cuisine will also be featured in The Muse.

The Woodlands Childrens Museums Executive Director Angela Colton said its mission to teach culture through art while exposing the children subliminally to different cultures. While the chocolate milk and chopstick-friendly meals Jensen chose to serve may only be for pretend for now, the hope is that he and other children will gain real knowledge while engaging through imaginative play.

Through imaginative play they can be taken to a different culture and think about or imagine how certain foods might taste or look, Colton said. This particular cafe really initiates a lot of interaction between adult and child, and we have been seeing that so much, and we are so excited about that.

We really thought it would be the children sitting at the counter, but its the children cooking and the moms and dads and grandmas who are at the counter, and we love that, she exclaimed.

The vision is shared by the museum and a collaborative effort that made it possible to launch the cafe through sponsors and grants from Nordstrom Charitable Giving and Junior League of The Woodlands, as well as gifts from The Martineau Family and The Rieser Family Foundation.

Community Vice President Cathie Fuller with the Junior League of The Woodlands felt like the Play Cafe was a perfect match for its own mission and its national Kids in the Kitchen program that exists to help promote healthy appetites in young people, such as to help combat diabetes and obesity. The ongoing partnership, which will continue to provide volunteers, was able to provide a grant over $4,000 to fund the project, including for healthy food demonstrations.

I think for us it was a no brainer, Fuller said noting a focus on volunteerism and the needs of women and children in North Harris and South Montgomery counties. We just want to work with the Childrens Museum. They not only serve our children, and not only our children, but through their outreach as well.

On Saturday, Colton shared Montgomery County Community Foundations Executive Director Julie Martineau had approached the museum after visiting with her grandchildren with an interest in creating a space in the museum to honor her late husband, Russ Martineau.

I personally think the Childrens Museum is just a jewel, and it is such a great place for children to play and experience other worlds, other cultures, Martineau said. Imagination and play is so important to the emotional development of a child and then to be able to learn about other cultures here is also important because it is a safe place to do that.

Before his battle with cancer, Russ Martineau served as a Sergeant with the Pacific Air Forces during the Vietnam War. He would later earn his social work degree, which Colton said he put to work in the community by helping aging veterans at the VA medical center in Houston.

Russs focus on community and family, coupled with the interest in food and travel were the perfect match for the cafe concept, Colton said. You might have noticed the sign above the cafe, Russs place. We are so excited to honor Russ and the Martineau family through the Martineau exhibit.

Julie Martineau described the exhibit as a dream come true and her mother, Jane Peperone, of The Woodlands joined her in commending the museum.

I can see the love that is around here and how happy the kids are, Peperone said. They need to put it out more because I just feel it is the perfect place for this age.

While a couple of other Play Cafes are in Houston and in College Station, Sponsorship Coordinator Jennifer Kraus, who was also involved in the vision after being inspired by parent interaction at another activity at The Woodlands Childrens Museum, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, said this is the sole location in Montgomery County.

Back at the market exhibit in The Woodlands, Noemi Jimenez watched her 1-year-old daughter, Pia Magadi, push a buggy containing several oranges and an ear of corn from the farm fresh stand displayed next to the cafe where Jensen packed a to-go box.

I think it is great, Jimenez said. She loves pushing her own cart and picking her own fruits and veggies. Shes actually vegetarian, so its nice that they have a big wide array of all the fruits and veggies she loves.

She picked all of her favorites, she added with a laugh. She loves corns and carrots, and I think she thinks these are peaches.

Up next, the museum hopes to improve its toddler gallery with new components. More fundraiser opportunities are expected.

The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and located at The Panther Creek Village Center, 4775 W Panther Creek Dr #280 in The Woodlands. It is closed on Mondays during the school year, except for booked field trips for preschools, daycares and schools. It is open on Sundays from 12-5 p.m. For more information, call or visit the museums website.

mellsworth@hcnonline.com
It all began a long, long time ago. 2014 to be exact - in the early months leading up to Indias most groundbreaking general elections so far. Before Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, several social outreach programmes were conducted to cement his influence among the masses - one of them being a campaign called #ChaiPeCharcha.

Today, six years on, were seeing chai and politics mix once again - just in a very different camp.

In a new campaign called Kaam Ki Chai, the Aam Aadmi party has set up chai stalls throughout all of Delhis assembly constituencies, with various kinds of tea on offer, each highlighting various achievements and campaign promises of Delhis currently reigning party.

The campaign was spearheaded by an Ahmedabad MBA-dropout named Praful Billor. Billor, who goes by the moniker MBA-Chaiwala, contacted the Delhi chief minister directly and offered to spread through the tea stall concept information about the work done by the Kejriwal government.

 PTI

According to party members, 30-40 volunteers will soon join him and put up tea stalls in all assembly constituencies here.



 PTI

The first available chai is named shiksha wali chai (education tea), and represents recent work on education facilities and programmes in Delhi, such as mega PTMs (Parent-Teacher Meetings) and the cabinets recent approval of a Sports University, which aims to help train and develop world-class athletes.



Another variety named swasthya wali chai (health tea) represents the partys work on improving healthcare facilities in the capital for government hospitals, and initiatives such as free tests, surgeries and medicines, mohalla clinics and poly-clinics.

The third kind, special tea aims to highlight special subsidies such as cheap electricity, water and free bus/metro travel for women - while the last kind, vikas wali chai (development tea) focuses on the governments doorstep delivery of citizen services, free Wi-Fi schemes and installation of CCTV cameras.

 BCCL

While Billor seems to clearly have a favourite, he insists that he is not directly associated with any political party and simply wishes to support good work being done. He said he decided to come all the way from Ahmedabad to put up a tea stall here as he believes that Kejriwal has delivered good governance in Delhi, which "is evident on the ground and needs no promotion".


It is important to remember that the flu season is ongoing and the influenza rate is currently high. There is potential to confuse symptoms of influenza with other viruses, she said. State and federal officials advise that only those individuals who have traveled through the affected areas or have been exposed to individuals who were positive for novel coronavirus are considered at risk."
 Flash

Dozens of potential cases of coronavirus are being investigated in the United States and China is expanding its efforts to contain the spread.

U.S. health officials have confirmed a second diagnosis, a woman in Chicago who had traveled to Wuhan.

She is in her 60's and returned from China January 13. At that time, she did not show any signs of illness, but days later she called her doctor to report feeling sick.

One other case had already been confirmed in Washington state. But the Centers for Disease Control says it's investigating 63 potential cases across the country. Potential cases of the virus have spread around the globe.

Outside of China and the U.S. infections have been confirmed in South Korea, Japan, Nepal, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam. And France has just confirmed two cases, the first in Europe.

The death toll in China is now at least 26, most of those in Hubei Province, where Wuhan is the capital.

China reports the number of confirmed cases, has risen to 900.

Fifteen provincial-level jurisdictions, including in Beijing and Shanghai, have enacted "Level One" emergency responses, the highest level.
Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder and vice-chairman of Naukri.com, India's leading web-based job site, is among the Padma Shri awardees announced by the government on Saturday on the eve of Republic Day.

Bikhchandani was born and brought up in Delhi and got his Bachelor's degree from the St Stephens College. He completed his post-graduation from IIM Ahmedabad in 1989.

Bikhchandani started a lot of small businesses after graduating from the IIM. He then set up Naukri.com in 1997, which is arguably one of India's largest web-based employment site.

Starting with a seed capital of Rs 2000, Naukri.com attracted investments from leading global venture capitalists and became the first internet company to list on Indian stock exchanges. It today employs around 4000 people.

One of his earlier ventures, Info Edge, also launched other prominent sites like 99 acres (reals estate, Jeevansathi (matrimony() among others. He is also a founding trustee of Ashoka University.

Bikhchandani is a keen investor and has invested in Policybazaar and Zomato.

For his business skills, Sanjeev has also been awarded Ernst and Young - Entrepreneur of the Year award in the past.

In 2011 he was conferred the Distinguished Alumnus award by IIM Ahmedabad and in 2012 he was honoured with the CF Andrews Distinguished Alumnus award by St. Stephen's College.

In April 2017, Outlook Magazine selected him as one of India's fifty greatest CEO's ever. He also supports 1947 Partition Archive - a not-for-profit organisation that is building an oral history archive consisting of video interviews of people who faced partition.

Padma Awards - one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories - Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The Awards are given in various disciplines and fields of activities.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ardee and Dunleer needs to follow the example of Duleek in Co Meath and introduce a comprehensive and monitored CCTV system to help the local community combat attacks by thieves.

The latest attempted robbery of an ATM at the Bank of Ireland in Dunleer - the second attempt since November - has added to fears that some banks and indeed businesses, may have to reconsider their services.

'Incidents like this have a huge impact on the community and business premises. Careful consideration is now needed for a CCTV system for places like Ardee and Dunleer, monitored by the gardai on a live basis. We cannot expect the gardai to be everywhere, that's just not possible.

'The threat from these criminals shows no signs of slowing down and indeed the second attack in Dunleer in a short time spreads more fear.

'The big losers here are the community and they must be protected in the best way possible.'

Gardai in Ardee investigating the attempted theft of the ATM in Dunleer are appealing for information from the public.

Gardai are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed any irregular activity in the Ardee, Dunleer, Stabannon areas of Co. Louth between 4:00-5:00am last Wednesday. They are particularly keen to speak to anyone who may have witnessed a tractor pulling a low-loader and excavator in those areas at this time.

Gardai would also like to speak to anyone who can assist in locating a white pick-up 4x4 that is believed to have been used in the incident. The vehicle drove towards the M1 motorway and is believed to have travelled towards Northern Ireland. This vehicle may have damage to the rear.

Gardai are appealing to any road users who may have camera footage of the incident to contact the incident room in Ardee on 041 687 11137, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.

Sinn Fein Councillor Pearse McGeough commended the Gardai for their rapid response on the morning.

"I and Deputy Imelda Munster have been very vocal on this issue and are hoarse screaming for more resources to be allocated to Louth Gardai, especially the rural areas.

'There was some success last August when a criminal gang who carried out a spate of ATM robberies were apprehended in County Cavan following a joint operation between Gardai and PSNI but we need more of that. These robberies are still happening and they are even brazen enough now to attempt to rob the same machine more than once. We need to keep the pressure on."
OTTAWAThe Conservatives are nervous.

Theyre facing seemingly existential questions about their leadership, a Liberal party knocked down to a minority but stubbornly strong, and some are even questioning whether a coalition of fiscal hawks, red Tories and social conservatives can be held together.

The year is 2005.

As the party gathered for its first policy convention that year, plenty had questions about the viability of the Conservative party in federal politics. In 2020, few would question that the Conservatives are capable of winning and holding government.

But many of the same questions raised at the partys founding are once again being publicly aired after the Conservatives disappointing performance in the 2019 election.

How does the party accommodate social conservatives while appealing to the broader electorate? What pitch can resonate with voters in rural Alberta, suburban Ontario and Quebec at the same time? How do you balance the interests of Canadas natural resource industries with a changing climate?

These will be familiar questions for Peter MacKay. They may also be the ones that scared the likes of Jean Charest, Rona Ambrose and Pierre Poilievre out of the partys leadership race this week.

Back in 2005, MacKays message to the partys rank and file was to not let their political opponents define them. In 2020, MacKay has an opportunity to provide his own definition for Canadian conservatism.

The 54-year old lawyer and political veteran will formally announce his candidacy for the Conservative leadership at an event in Stellarton, N.S. on Saturday. Born into a political family  his father, Elmer, was a Progressive Conservative MP who held cabinet posts in the Mulroney government  MacKay was elected in 1997 in his native Pictou County.

MacKay went on to lead the Progressive Conservatives after promising not to merge the party with Stephen Harpers Canadian Alliance. He swiftly broke that promise in 2003 and paved the way for a united Conservative party  a decision that still sticks in the craw of many a progressive conservative, despite the electoral successes of the merged party.

MacKay did make one significant move to ensure the old PCs werent completely subsumed by their Reform cousins. As a condition of the merger, the new Conservative party would have to treat every riding equally when it came to electing a leader.

In this leadership contest, each riding will count for 100 points, which means a Calgary riding with 2,000 card-carrying members has the same weight as a downtown Toronto riding with 200. The system was designed explicitly to prevent the Canadian Alliance, with its huge membership in Western Canada, from absorbing the smaller PCs.

The issue came to a head at that 2005 convention, where a furious MacKay stormed out of a meeting over a suggestion from MP Scott Reid to fix the distortions created by the system.

Its my hope that  there will be a recognition by our delegates if we are to stack certain regions or certain ridings, this partys in real jeopardy in my view, MacKay told CBC at the time. MacKay carried the day, and 15 years later will be playing by the rules he helped design.

The spat still has relevance for the party today. After the 2019 election, most Conservative MPs represent ridings between the Rockies and the Manitoba border. The partys poor performance in other regions, particularly Ontario and Quebec, hastened the departure of outgoing leader Andrew Scheer.

The next leader of the party will not be able to depend on regional strength alone, but will need to appeal to a broader coalition.

After a series of high-profile departures from the leadership race this week, MacKays main challenger  assuming no other big name emerges  will be Erin OToole.

The 47-year old lawyer and Air Force veteran has represented the Ontario riding of Durham since 2012, and finished a surprising third in the 2017 leadership contest. OToole has been travelling the country in recent weeks to drum up support, and has put together a team of veteran Conservative organizers, including some who worked on his 2017 campaign. Like MacKay, he is seen as a moderate Conservative.

MacKay is seen as the front-runner  someone who, as a former Progressive Conservative and a longtime Harper cabinet minister, can span the divide between the two founding factions of the modern Conservative party. But he has prominent detractors within the party as well, and insiders expect an Anybody but MacKay movement to emerge. That could be to OTooles benefit.

Any contender will have to address some of the foundational questions expressed at that convention in 2005, and gather Conservatives from different ideological traditions under the same tent while broadening the partys appeal to Canadian voters.

It wont be easy. Take it from the last guy who did it.

Its always a challenge in a Conservative party, Harper said in 2005.

If you dont have factions, youre not a Conservative party.

With files from Tonda MacCharles and The Canadian Press

Read more about:
The Hembrow sisters came together to host a baby shower for their eldest sibling Amy, 29, on Saturday.

Tammy, 25, Emilee, 27, and their half-sister Starlette Thynne, 19, banded together to celebrate their sister Amy's pregnancy on the Gold Coast.

The gathering was attended was intimate and attended by their close circle of family and friends.

Glowing! The Hembrow sisters have come together to host a baby shower for their eldest sibling Amy, 29 (pictured), on Saturday. She wowed in a white satin dress with a plunging neckline and thigh high slit

The back deck of the home was decorated in a rustic, bohemian theme in mind with blue plates and napkins, a rattan table runner and an a array of sitting cushions.

Amy wowed in a white satin dress with a plunging neckline that drew attention to her curves and baby bump.

Tammy slipped into a simple, midi-length white slip dress while Emilee and Starlette flaunted their trim figures in a mini version of the dress.

Sister, sisters! Tammy, 25 (centre), Emilee, 27 (right), and their half-sister Starlette Thynne, 19 (centre right), banded together to celebrate their sister Amy's pregnancy on the Gold Coast

White hot! Tammy slipped into a simple, midi-length white slip dress for the event

Behind-the-scenes: Starlette, who flaunted her trim figure in a mini slip dress, took photos for her sisters Amy and Tammy as they posed on the cushions

Their gathering was catered for with a sumptuous grazing table that featured a variety of cheese, crackers, breads, dips, fruits, wraps, as well as oysters and prawns.

Aside from enjoying the delectable feast, the party also took part in doing a group painting for the baby's bedroom.

Emilee painted a big butterfly, Starlette painted two sunflowers while Tammy made pink clouds.

Getting creative: The party also took part in doing a group painting for the baby's bedroom. Tammy painted pink clouds on to the canvas

Pretty picture: Starlette painted two sunflowers while Emilee painted a big butterfly

Rustic feel: The back deck of the home was decorated in a rustic, bohemian theme in mind with blue plates and napkins, a rattan table runner and an a array of sitting cushions

Later in the afternoon, Amy opened her gifts and appeared to become sentimental as she read a card.

Amy announced that she was expecting her first child back in December on their podcast Hanging With The Hembrows.

At the time, she proudly said: 'I am so excited! It's now the size of a big lemon.'

Yum! Their gathering was catered for with a sumptuous grazing table that featured a variety of cheese, crackers, breads, dips

Delicious: The grazing table also offered fruits, wraps, as well as oysters and prawns

Gifts! Later in the afternoon, Amy opened her gifts and appeared to become sentimental as she read a card

She explained that she and her fiance, Rory Carmody, had been trying for a baby but she did not expect to become pregnant so soon.

Amy and Rory have been dating for several years and got engaged while on holiday in Japan in 2019.

Back in January, Amy revealed on the podcast that she is expecting a daughter in April.
Ruling party lawmakers in Japan are set to propose new plans for a Japanese digital yen amid fears surrounding Facebooks Libra and Chinas upcoming central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The news comes despite claims from Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda last year that there was no demand for a digital yen from the Japanese public.

As first reported by Reuters, the new digital yen would be a joint-led initiative between the Japanese government and select private companies.

Norihiro Nakayama, vice minister for foreign affairs, explained in an interview with Reuters:

China is moving toward issuing a digital yuan, so wed like to propose measures to counter such attempts.

Nakayama, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, said that exploring a CBDC was essential to keep Japan in tune with global changes in financial technology.

A formal proposal for the digital yen will arrive as early as next month, led by former economy minister Akira Amari.

Its unclear why Japanese lawmakers feel the need to counter a Chinese yuan CBDC, although some have speculated that the first large economy to issue official digital fiat may be well positioned to become a digital reserve currency.

As such, Japan may be concerned that a digital yuan would undermine the sovereignty of its own national currency.

Japanese lawmakers have also expressed concern over Facebooks Libra plans, previously citing private money issued by companies as another threat to monetary sovereignty.

No demand for yen CBDC

Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda discussed CBDCs in December 2019, concluding that the Japanese public had no demand for a digital yen.

In a report published in November 2019, researchers at the Bank of Japan identified several legal issues that would have to be solved before a digital yen could be issued, which included seizure of criminal funds, how the bank would punish fraudsters, and money laundering concerns.

Story continues

Nevertheless, Kuroda also shared that the Bank of Japan had been researching the technical and legal impacts of issuing a digital yen and how existing digital currencies could be tailored for widespread use.

International investment banking giant JP Morgan announced in December that it is looking to launch a blockchain-based payments network in Japan during 2020 called the Interbank Information Network.

The network will work with over 80 Japanese banks to streamline payment transactions and increase data sharing, which may replace the need for a Japanese CBDC.

You can read more about Japans digital currency news here.

The post Japanese lawmakers make u-turn on CBDC plans appeared first on Coin Rivet.
Police at a roadblock on the outskirts of Wuhan turned away cars trying to leave the virus-stricken city on Saturday, as other anxious residents trapped inside spent the Lunar New Year stocking up on masks and medical supplies.

Authorities have prevented anyone from leaving Wuhan, the city of 11 million people at the heart of the viral outbreak which has so far infected nearly 1,300 people and killed 41

AFP saw a steady trickle of cars approaching the roadblocks around 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of the city centre on Saturday morning, only for police in fluorescent jackets wearing masks to tell them to turn around.

The barricade, at one of the tolls for highways exiting the city, was blocked with red and yellow plastic barriers and cones.

"Nobody can leave," a policeman told AFP.

A stray dog ran across the empty road in front of the roadblocks, which were shrouded in grey fog and drizzle.

AFP journalists only saw two vehicles allowed to pass the roadblock, including a white van which an officer said was "buying medicines" and would later return to the city.

Authorities extended transport bans to 17 other cities around Wuhan in a gargantuan effort to control the SARS-like virus, restricting travel for around 56 million in Hubei province.

While there are restrictions on anyone leaving Wuhan, a few people were allowed to enter the city through the barricade: Desperately needed medical workers whose holidays were cut short to help overwhelmed hospital.

An empty bus was allowed to pass the roadblock into Wuhan after showing documentation to the police at the roadblock.

Three young nurses who crossed the barrier on foot told AFP they were going to two hospitals. Two of them were waiting for a friend to pick them up.

"We went to our hometowns for holidays before the ban on transportation, but because of the epidemic we have to come back quickly to Wuhan," said one.

Dragging wheelie cases behind them, they were holding their coat hoods up against the rain.

"They need us to go there, otherwise they will be too exhausted," another medical worker who didn't want to be named told AFP.

In the city centre, temples were closed and holiday festivities cancelled, but people gathered instead in pharmacies to buy medical supplies.

At one store, customers queued at the cash register while staff in protective gear retrieved what they needed and brought it out to them.

Pharmacy staff were in full body suits and gloves, wearing two sets of face masks.

People rifled through boxes of face masks, comparing different makes and models.

Full body suits had already sold out.

Amid fears of rising prices and lack of products, some sales were being restricted and officials were regulating sales.

"My duty is to supervise the price of what pharmacist are selling," said Li Xiang, a market supervisor at one pharmacy.

"Goods must be from official channels and prices shall not be hiked."



Li told AFP that the government was making an effort to "maintain social stability and safeguard people's lives." A popular traditional Chinese medicine for treating fevers was being restricted to only two boxes per person to manage high demand.

A local radio station played in the pharmacy ran an advert reminding people to wear a mask.

"Everyone is just trying to protect themselves," said one man in a surgical mask who declined to give his name.

"The government is in control of this. It's not a problem," he added.

Meanwhile, in a taxi, a rap song playing on the radio echoed the patriotic fervour, telling people not to be afraid of the virus.

"Wuhan people are strong enough to fight and defeat it," the rapper chanted.
The death toll from a strong earthquake that rocked eastern Turkey has climbed to 22, as rescue crews searched for people who remained trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings, officials said, 9 News reports.

Speaking at a televised news conference near the epicenter of the quake in Elazig province, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 18 people were killed in Elazig and four in neighboring Malatya.

Some 1103 people were injured, with 34 of them in intensive care but not in critical condition, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the funeral of a mother and son killed in the quake while visiting the hardest-hit areas. He warned people against repeating "negative" hearsay about the country being unprepared for earthquakes, 9 News informs.
Still, much here remains uncertain. Iowa voters are famous for settling on a candidate late, and this year is no different; Sanders, along with the other senators in the race, is pinned down in Washington during Trumps impeachment trial and unable to campaign here on weekdays. And the final results could turn on two factors that will not be known until caucus night: the size and composition of the electorate, and the preferences of voters whose first choices are eliminated because of the arcane caucus rules.
A scientist who once worked at a U.S. laboratory in New Mexico has pleaded guilty to lying about his involvement with a Chinese government technology program.

Turab Lookman, 67, entered his plea Friday during a hearing in Albuquerque after reaching an agreement with prosecutors. He is awaiting sentencing, which could include up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Lookman was initially indicted on three counts of making false statements. His attorney had said previously that prosecutors failed to prove his client had accessed or downloaded any high-level security information before he was fired from his job at the lab.

Authorities said Lookman came under scrutiny after he told a co-worker he had citizenship in four different countries including India, where he was born. He also had been asked in a security-clearance questionnaire and later by federal officials if any foreign nationals had offered him a job or if he had applied for one. He falsely answered to all questions that he had not, authorities said.

According to an indictment, in one instance, a counterintelligence officer for the lab asked Lookman if he had applied for the China Thousand Talents Program.

Prosecutors have described Thousand Talents as a program established by China to recruit people with access to and knowledge of foreign technology and intellectual property. For years, it was known as one of many of the country's state initiatives aimed at reversing a decades-long China brain drain.

At Los Alamos, Lookman received at least two awards for his work. A computational physics expert, he also co-authored two books.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thankfully, todays shoot for Sunday Life is far less brutal, though not necessarily easy. Its a 34-degree day in Sydney and the air is thick with smoke from surrounding bushfires. Cockatoos screech as they pass over the crew, who all have flies sticking to the back of their damp shirts. Ginger & Smart Prosper dress, $499. Credit:Emily Abay But Essie is smiling and barely breaking a sweat. A leaf blower is aimed at her face for the purpose of camera-worthy hair, but perhaps thats whats keeping her cool. Shes totally unflustered by the instructions being thrown at her: Chin up; Nose to me; Move your back foot a bit to the left; Now to the right  Once shes finished being photographed and has settled for our chat in the airconditioned comfort of the make-up truck, theres no evidence of the preceding sun-soaked photo shoot. For anyone familiar with Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries, whats most striking when meeting Essie is the absence of Phryne Fishers sharp black bob. Instead, Essie has a huge, sun-kissed mane that seems to move almost independently of the rest of her body: one small turn of her head and a tsunami of hair follows. Beneath her mass of locks is a strikingly beautiful face. Her wide eyes and cheekbones are almost cartoonish in a Betty Boop way. But Essies stratospheric beauty makes her no less down to earth. Its clear that her relaxed nature on our shoot is just who she is. After all, this is a woman so easygoing that shes not only worked with her husband on this Ned Kelly project but happily spent months taking direction from him.

I feel like every person working on this film felt this immense privilege of being part of it. It was so creative and brave. Essie Davis Christopher Esber dress, $770. Sarah & Sebastian Buoy Open ring, $595. Credit:Emily Abay Hes one of the best directors Ive ever worked with, she says, with such conviction that its impossible to doubt her. His level of expectation is so high but its not unreasonable. He makes you break from whatever limits you put on yourself. But surely there were times she wanted to tell him to rack off? I know hes not just asking me to do something because hes being a dick, she says, laughing. Sometimes hed get me to do something and Id be going, Holy shit! But hed be like, Get in there! Its a privilege to have that kind of relationship as an actor, to trust 100 per cent and know youre not going to look like a fool. This trust wasnt solely reserved for the directors wife. The level he built up with everyone was amazing, says Essie. Justin did this by giving each actor a manifesto of what they had to do to prepare for the role.

Part of that manifesto involved the young men who make up the Kelly Gang forming a punk band. They wrote around 10 songs, then performed at a pub in Melbourne under the stage name Fleshlight. The idea was to build up the gang mentality and fill them with a raging punk spirit. They did the most phenomenal performance, recalls Essie. In fact, they did such a remarkable job that the music now features in the film. Christian Dior dress, POA. Credit:Emily Abay It was clearly a unique way to prepare for the roles, but the finished product is proof that it worked. It was constantly hands-on and creating all the time, but I feel like every person working on it felt this immense privilege of being a part of it, says Essie. It was so creative and brave, and that incredible bravery that Justin has meant that all of us were so dedicated. The way Essie raves about her husband, youd assume they were in the early, loved-up stage of their relationship. But the couple have been together for more than 20 years, having met at Sydneys Belvoir St Theatre back when Justin was a set designer. They share 13-year-old twin daughters, Ruby and Stella, and the family are an incredibly tight unit. Its a juggle but they come everywhere with us, says Essie.

We are like a travelling circus. Its very complicated and hard but when we reach the point where we go, One of us cant do this any more, the girls go, No, we dont want you to stop!  Ginger & Smart Epoque dress, $599. Credit:Emily Abay If one parent were to give up their career, would it be the successful actor or equally successful director? Probably me, but I wont, says Essie. That said, I dont do everything I could do. The kids come first. Though they have yet to take up residence, there is a family home in Tasmania, chosen because Essie grew up on the Apple Isle and has fond memories of an idyllic childhood. It was special  having freedom and space and bush and wilderness and an incredible loving family, she says. There are lots of siblings and we were always on big adventures. Dad is an artist and he would go off to paint albatross colonies on Albatross Island, then hed take us to the west coast to look at massive whale beachings, and wed go fishing and camping.

Essies fathers career as an artist has clearly helped to shape who she has become, but its not what he intended. Being an artist, Dad didnt really want me to tread such an unknown as acting. Hed say, You can be anything you want to be. Anything. You could be a doctor or a lawyer. Anything. You could be a doctor or a lawyer. Doctor  lawyer   she says, laughing. Essie may have chosen acting over the law, but she still has a strong sense of justice  something she clearly shares with her husband. The fact the film is being released by Stan on Australia Day has particular significance for both of them. Ned Kelly is such an Australian icon  hes basically the Sydney Harbour Bridge. What this film is doing is questioning why hes an Australian icon. Essie Davis Justin wants us to look at ourselves and ask, What is it to be Australian?  she says. It may be tricky for the people with the tattoo of Ned Kelly on their bodies. Ned Kelly is such an Australian icon  hes basically the Sydney Harbour Bridge. But in fact, what this film is doing is questioning why hes an Australian icon. Look what weve done to this country, to our Aboriginal people. So why is Ned Kelly a hero? Hes a boy. They were a bunch of teenagers who became rebels in order to continue the war between the English and the Irish, and to keep on fighting.

Loading While the title of the film refers to the true history, its as loosely factual as the Peter Carey novel, published in 2000, its based on. Much of the storyline is invented and some facts are distorted, including intriguing elements such as the Kelly Gangs penchant for cross-dressing. It makes you ask, What is masculine?  says Essie. I love that it fills you with more and more questions. I think people will be expecting one thing and go, Holy shit, thats wild! Thats not what I was expecting.  With the exception, perhaps now, of the opening minutes. True History of the Kelly Gang streams on Stan from today.
NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF"), announces that KSF has commenced an investigation into CV Sciences, Inc. (OTC: CVSI).

In 2016, the Company filed a patent application with the U.S. Patent Trademark Office ("USPTO") for its lead product, CVSI-007. On December 14, 2017, the USPTO issued a final rejection for the Patent Application for CVSI-007, affirming its first rejection previously made on April 27, 2017 and sent to the Company on June 6, 2017. However, the Company failed to disclose the rejection to shareholders, instead consistently touting CVSI-007 as being "patent-pending," "proprietary," and "patent-protectable." Then, on August 20, 2018, the rejections of the patent application and the Company's failure to disclose them were publicly revealed in a Tweet issued by Citron Research.

Thereafter, the Company and certain of its executives were sued in securities class action lawsuits, charging them with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws. Recently, the court in that consolidated case denied the Company's motion to dismiss, allowing the case to move forward.

KSF's investigation is focusing on whether CV's officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to CV's shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws.

If you have information that would assist KSF in its investigation, or have been a long-term holder of CV Sciences, Inc. shares and would like to discuss your legal rights, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn ([email protected]), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/otc-cvsi/ to learn more.

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

KSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is one of the nation's premier boutique securities litigation law firms. KSF serves a variety of clients  including public institutional investors, hedge funds, money managers and retail investors  in seeking recoveries for investment losses emanating from corporate fraud or malfeasance by publicly traded companies. KSF has offices in New York, California and Louisiana.

To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com.

Contact:

Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

Lewis Kahn, Managing Partner

[email protected]

1-877-515-1850

1100 Poydras St., Suite 3200

New Orleans, LA 70163

SOURCE Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

Related Links

http://www.ksfcounsel.com


Naib Subedar Sombir who laid down his life fighting terrorists in an operation in Jammu and Kashmir in February last year was among the six soldiers awarded the Shaurya Chakra, officials said on Saturday.

Besides Sombir, Lt Col Jyoti Lama, Maj. Konjenbham Bijendra Singh, Naib Subedar Narender Singh, Naik Naresh Kumar and Karmdeo Oraon were also the recipients of the award.

Shaurya Chakra is awarded to personnel of the armed forces for displaying extraordinary gallantry.

According to Sombir's Shaurya Chakra citation, on February 24 last year he was part of an assault team of the Rashtriya Rifles which planned and executed an operation in Jammu and Kashmir eliminating three terrorists.

While cordoning the targeted house, Sombir deployed himself and his buddy to cover the most likely escape route of terrorists.

"One of the terrorist tried to break the cordon by firing indiscriminately and lobbing grenades on them, which resulted in grievous injuries to his buddy. Seeing his buddy in danger and not caring about personal safety, Naib Subedar Sombir seized the initiative and engaged the terrorist," the citation read.

"Sombir killed the foreign terrorist later identified as Category A++ terrorist. In this process, Sombir received grievous gunshot wounds to his chest and neck. He later succumbed to his injuries," it stated.

Lt Col Jyoti Lama, another recipient of Shaurya Chakra, set up a vibrant intelligence network in Manipur. After meticulous planning, his company was successful in apprehending 14 terrorists.

On July 23, 2019, based on a specific input regarding movement of two terrorists, his company laid an ambush in a village and eliminated them.

"On challenging the terrorists to drop their weapons and surrender, the officer drew heavy fire and with utter disregard to his personal safety, pulled his buddy to safety and exhibiting raw courage and outstanding initiative engaged the terrorist in an intense firefight and eliminated a hardcore terrorist. The other terrorist trying to escape fired indiscriminately towards him," his citation read.

According to Major Konjengbam Bijendra Singh's citation, based on inputs about movement of armed militants in a village, he put together a detailed plan.

With his "tactical guile, professionalism and proficiency" in jungle warfare, Major Singh covertly inducted his team over long distance through extremely harsh jungle terrain and inhospitable weather to establish a surveillance detachment.

On March 22, 2019, his team reported movement of armed militants who on being challenged to surrender opened indiscriminate fire on to the squad.

"The officer sensing imminent danger to his troops who were pinned down from hostile fire displayed raw courage to dash forward and bring down effective retaliatory fire onto the militants from close range. This daring act resulted in elimination of two militants," the citation read.

"For his conspicuous bravery and stout leadership in going beyond the call of duty in the face of grave and imminent danger to his men, Major Konjengbam Bijendra Singh is awarded Shaurya Chakra," it stated.

Naib Subedhar Narender Singh, who with the Parachute Regiment of the Special Forces, was awarded the Shaurya Chakra for engaging and killing two armed intruders along the Line of Control.

Naik Suresh Kumar of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry got the award for gunning down "A++ terrorist" at a close range of five metres and displaying "immense courage".

Another recipient of the gallantry award Bihar Regiment Sepoy Karmdeo Oraon's citation stated that on December 2018 when he was deployed at a post on the Line of Control as a light machine gunner, his post received intense automatic fire from enemy posts.

Simultaneously terrorists fired Pika and Rocket Propelled Grenade, in an attempt to cause injuries to own troops. Oraon observed four terrorists firing and rushing towards the post which could endanger troops holding it, his citation read.

Sounding alarm, he engaged terrorists with Light Machine Gun during which he received a bullet on his Bullet Proof Patka and fell down.

"Realising criticality of the situation, showing acute presence of mind, with utter disregard to his personal safety, he immediately rushed out of his bunker, lobbed nine grenades and engaged terrorists in close quarter battle. This gallant action resulted in elimination of two terrorists," his citation read.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
- FAO said insect infestation in Eastern Africa is alarming and portends threat to crops

- The UN agency recommended immediate mitigation measures be undertaken

- The categorisation is done in four stages that is calm, caution, threat and danger based on perceived risks

Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has described the current locust situation in the Horn of Africa alarming and one that represents an unprecedented threat to food security.

In Kenya alone for instance, FAO declared the insect infestation as level three emergency which portends threat to crops if not no mitigation measure is taken.

READ ALSO: Mombasa: Aisha Jumwa's press conference disrupted by pro-BBI youth

Graphic representation of locust movements into Kenya. A swarm is heading to Uganda and Ethiopia. Photo: Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Wakili wa jiji amzawadi mpita njia KSh 1M

In the latest update published on Monday, January 20, the UN agency recommended immediate survey and control operations be undertaken.

The categorisation is done in four stages, calm, caution, threat and danger based on the level of infestation and perceived risks.

Others which started the migration matured up and are now laying eggs that will hatch after about two weeks in February and March. Photo: Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Source: UGC

Currently, immature and maturing swarms continue to arrive in the northeast parts of Kenya from Ethiopia and Somalia.

They are moving throughout northern areas in Mandera, Wajir and Marsabit counties and have reached central areas of Isiolo, Meru north and northern Laikipia.

Two farmers in Kenya observe a young swarm of locusts in Kirinyaga county. Photo: Catholic News Agency.

Source: UGC

A cloud of locusts spotted in the north have since flown back into southern Ethiopia.

Others which started the migration matured up and are now laying eggs that will hatch after about two weeks in February and March.

Baringo and Turkana counties have not been spared as well and further movements are expected in Turkana and Marsabit.

The UNs Central Emergency Response Fund has since released KSh 1 billion to help scale up the response to the devastating desert locust outbreak in East Africa.

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Queen Elizabeth had her hands full in 2019. The royal family was rocked with several scandals, from Prince Andrews friendship with Jeffrey Epstein to Prince Williams rumored affair with Rose Hanbury to Prince Harry and Meghan Markles troubled relationship with the public. Now, Harry and Meghan have announced that they will ditch their royal titles and cut ties entirely from their royal representation  and the queen should be pretty relieved.

Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, and Queen Elizabeth | John Stillwell/WPA Pool/Getty Images

2019 gave the queen some major challenges in her old age

Queen Elizabeth turned 93 in 2019, and the year didnt come without its challenges. Prince William was involved in a cheating scandal with family friend Rose Hanbury. And though the rumors were never clarified  and hopefully werent true  it still shook the family.

Prince Andrews friendship with Jeffrey Epstein also came with much scrutiny. He has since been asked to step back from his royal duties in the wake of sexual assault allegations, which wasnt easy for Queen Elizabeth to deal with either.

Harry and Meghan were another problem she was constantly forced to address

Perhaps the most ongoing problem within the family was with the queens grandson and granddaughter-in-law, Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Harry and Meghan were constantly portrayed negatively in the media, and it was obvious that it was slowly becoming too much for them to handle. The queen had addressed the negative media surrounding Meghan when the two were only still dating, and it has been an uphill battle ever since.

The media labeled Meghan as a social climber and suggested she was trying to rip Harry away from his family  and the public was totally buying into it. Meghan and Harrys Instagram was constantly filled with negative comments until, finally, they cracked.

Harry and Meghans departure is one less thing Queen Elizabeth has to worry about

Harry and Meghan took a six-week break from royal life, where they visited Vancouver, Canada and got a taste of what life was like without the royal chaos. And upon their return to the spotlight, their decision had been made: They would leave the family. Though it was seemingly a shock to everyone, the queen should actually be relieved by their departure.

Harry and Meghan were drowning in negative press, and it was becoming a constant problem for the queen. The negativity was causing additional rumors among family members, such as Prince Williams alleged bullying (which has been struck down by the brothers) and Meghans alleged feud with Kate. Their departure means the queen will no longer have to deal with the constant bad press.

Its unclear if Harry will remain close with his family

Of course, Harry wishes to remain close to his family, despite the rift with William that he briefly discussed in the Sussex documentary. However, living halfway around the world means Harry wont see his family often, and it seems almost inevitable that he will not remain close with the royals. Time will tell how the whole exit plays out, but it seems like a big risk for the two to be putting all their eggs in one basket with each other. However, the queen is probably giving a sigh of relief right about now.
A second teachers union will ballot members over strike action as part of a pay dispute.

The ASTI will ballot more than 17,000 secondary school teachers over the two-tiered pay structure affecting people who entered the profession since 2010.

Planned strike action by another teachers' union next month is already set to force hundreds of schools to shut days before the general election.

Members of the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) will hold a one day strike on the same issue on February 4. While ASTI members will not be striking on the same day, because their ballot will not have concluded in time, hundreds of schools will be forced to shut as a result of the TUI action.

Details of the ASTI ballot will be confirmed at a later date.

The unions central executive council confirmed the decision to ballot members after a meeting in Dublin today.

The ASTI took industrial action, including strike action, over unequal pay in 2016, an ASTI spokesperson said.

Since then there has been some improvement in the pay of new entrants to teaching. However, despite ongoing campaigning by the ASTI and the other teacher unions, unequal pay remains.

ASTI president Deirdre MacDonald said it is vital that teachers on lower pay are put on parity with colleagues.

It is unthinkable that in 2020 some teachers have inferior pay arrangements even though they are doing the same work as their colleagues in the next classroom.

In taking industrial action in 2016, ASTI members lost pay and were further penalised under FEMPI legislation, and are still suffering the consequences. However, their action put unequal pay firmly on the agenda. In addition, the ASTIs actions led to some gains for lower-paid teachers, but full pay equality remains to be achieved and we intend to achieve it.
Broadcaster Joan Bakewell pictured above

So where is the broadcaster's favourite holiday spot?

Here she talks about her travels to India, why she would love to visit the deserts of Oman - and more...

Earliest holiday memory

Aged five on our annual two-week holiday in Blackpool during the War. I adored the golden beach, donkey rides and building sandcastles with windmills.

Favourite holiday spot

I return most often to Venice. I have probably been 12 times. I love relaxing on the beach on the Lido, then taking a boat back to the city for some culture.

Best travel companion

Every year I go away with my children (Harriet, 59, and Matthew, 57) on what we call The Scholars Outing. No grandchildren are allowed, so we can go somewhere with history and ruins, such as Italy or Greece.

Favourite travel activity

I like a hotel or villa by the sea. Im 86 now and dont sunbathe too much because Im not keen on displaying myself.

Where was your last trip?

Marrakesh with a friend in March. We stayed in the most beautiful riad.

Joan's last adventure was to Marrakesh in Morocco. Pictured is the Jamaa el Fna market

Your holiday tipple?

I love India and Ive grown very fond of Indian beer.

Bucket List destination

Id like to visit the monuments of Iran and the deserts of Oman before any wars take over the region.
New Delhi [India], Jan 25 (ANI): As India and Brazil signed 15 agreements, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Saturday said that both the countries together will make further strides among the world's 10 largest economies.



"We both have a relevant economic profile and together will make further great strides and in the ranks of world's 10 largest economies," said Bolsonaro at a joint press briefing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi by his side.

"As part of a bilateral visit, we may have signed many important agreements. By signing the highest number on record in our history, we have further consolidated our working bilateral relations with India," he added.

The Brazilian President also said that there is a lot of potential between India and Brazil and more matters of mutual interest will emerge between the two countries.

Bolsonaro further said that by entering into a major strategic partnership, both countries will consolidate their relations.

In the end, he made a light-hearted remark saying, "I must admit, I have two days to go back to Brazil but I already miss India even before leaving."

The Brazil President is currently on a four-day visit to India and will be the chief guest at the Republic Day Parade.

Earlier in the day, Bolsonaro received a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan by President Ram Nath Kovind and the Prime Minister.

The Brazilian President also met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Bolsonaro's visit is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations in the fields of agriculture, energy, and defence.

He is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising several ministers, senior officials, chairman of Brazil-India Friendship Group in the Brazilian Parliament and businessmen. (ANI)


China is mobilising hundreds of doctors from across the country including nearly 450 medical workers from the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) to deploy in Wuhan amid reports of severe shortage of medical resources and overworked, exhausted medics treating the large number of Coronavirus patients in the city.

Reports in state media said hospitals across Wuhan, which is the epicentre of the raging novel Coronavirus outbreak, are facing a shortage of medical resources and are being forced to prioritise patients.

Shortage of medical resources, especially the testing kits, keep hovering hospitals in Wuhan, capital of central Chinas Hubei province while the whole of China is fighting together against the novel coronavirus originating in the city, reported the nationalistic tabloid, Global Times.

A doctor from a Wuhan hospital confirmed to the tabloid that theres a severe shortage of detection reagent for nCoV (coronavirus).

Given that Chinese state media is strictly controlled by the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), the situation on the ground in Wuhan would have to be grave for a state media outlet to report it.

Many patients in Wuhan revealed to the media that only hospitalised or highly suspected cases would be referred for examination of nCoV due to the shortage of the reagent kits. Patients with milder conditions are less likely to be admitted to the hospital immediately, but have to be treated and observed at home, the tabloid reported.

One reason for the shortage of kits is that the staff in companies, which manufacture the kits are on holiday, hampering production capacities and supply chains.

Chinese state and social media are also carrying reports about doctors and nurses working non-stop for hours  sometimes days  and are near collapse.

Medical resources in Wuhan are clearly overwhelmed by the sheer number of patients and suspected patients of the virus.

One way to tackle that is to deploy doctors from other provinces and the armed forces.

China has sent 450 military medical staff, including professionals who have experience in the fight against SARS or Ebola, to the novel coronavirus hardest-hit city of Wuhan. The medics, in three teams sent by medical universities of the army, navy and air force of the PLA arrived in Wuhan by military aircraft on Friday night, official news agency, Xinhua reported early on Saturday.

The teams comprising experts in respiratory health, infectious diseases, hospital infection control and intensive care unit, will be dispatched to the Wuhan hospitals with large numbers of novel coronavirus-related pneumonia patients, military authorities said.

Other Chinese provinces are also pitching in.

More than 600 doctors and nurses from Shanghai in eastern China and Guangdong province in the south are ready to leave for the embattled Wuhan.

Doctors, nurses and experts from hospitals in other places such as Zhejiang (eastern China) and Sichuan (southwestern China) have been selected or volunteered to sign up for the task, the Xinhua reported.

The Wuhan headquarters for the control and treatment of pneumonia said on Friday that it will follow Beijings SARS (2003) treatment model to build a special hospital for admitting patients infected in the outbreak of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus.

The makeshift hospital designed to have an area of 25,000 square meters with 1,000 beds is expected to be completed and put into use prior to February 3.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday said that in Bastar prevention of malaria can lead to alleviation of anaemia and malnutrition.

"Bastar is one of the most beautiful places on earth, however, there are still a few shortcomings there, which include problems of malnutrition, anaemia and malaria. Prevention of malaria can lead to alleviation of anaemia and malnutrition," said Baghel addressing the public gathering at 'Malaria Mukt Bastar Abhiyan' organized at Karli Police Line of Dantewada.

The Chief Minister said that a maximum number of malaria cases is found in Bastar Division because of which this campaign is being launched.

He administered the pledge of participation in the Malaria Mukt Bastar Abhiyan to the people present in the programme. Health Department Secretary Niharika Barik Singh gave information about Malaria Mukt Bastar Abhiyan.

"72 per cent of the cases of Malaria in the state are found in Bastar, which is why this campaign has been started here. 1720 malaria eradication teams have been constituted for the entire division. More than five lakh people have been examined and 22,777 have been diagnosed with malaria," she said.

Along with locals, the Chief Minister got himself tested for Malaria.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Kremlin has denied reports that a longtime key aide to President Vladimir Putin is stepping down.

The resignation of Vladislav Surkov was reported by Aleksei Chesnakov, an adviser to Surkov and director of Moscow's Center for Political Studies.

In a Twitter post on January 25 on Twitter, Chesnakov said Surkov was resigning due to what he called a "change of course on Ukraine."

However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there is no decree yet on Surkov's resignation. He also told Russian media that there had been no change in Kremlin policy on Ukraine.

"As for the alleged change in the policy on the situation in Ukraine, this has nothing to do with reality and reflects only a personal viewpoint of the person who speaks about that," Peskov told the TASS news agency.

Surkov has played a leading Russian role in negotiations on ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where more than 13,000 people have died in fighting between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces since April 2014. Hostilities erupted there shortly after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.

Widely known as the Kremlin's "gray cardinal," Surkov helped craft the Kremlin's domination of domestic politics and Russia's expansionist policies in Ukraine and elsewhere in the former Soviet space.

Surkov also helped build what is known as "sovereign democracy" and, as Putin's top political aide, concentrate power in the president's hands during his first two presidential terms between 2000 and 2008.

He was pushed from the Kremlin in 2011, after street protests against the system he helped create, and spent a year in government as a deputy prime minister before quitting in May 2013 after a dispute with investigators looking into suspected fraud.

In September 2013, Putin appointed Surkov as an aide, just four months after he quit the government.

He also serves as an adviser to Putin on aid to the Moscow-backed breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Russia recognized as independent after a short war in 2008 with Georgia.

With reporting by Interfax and TASS
The European Union and 16 WTO members including China and Australia have signed a pact to develop a multi-party interim appeal arrangement at the global trade body.

The arrangement, signed on Friday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting, will allow the participating WTO members to preserve a functioning and two-step dispute settlement system at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

This initiative was launched in mid-December 2019 by the EU and a number of other WTO members following the effective paralysis of the WTO Appellate Body due to the blockage of new appointments since 2017.

EU Commissioner for Trade Phil Hogan said: "This statement testifies to the high importance that the EU and the participating WTO members attach to retaining a two-step dispute settlement process in WTO trade matters. The multiparty appeal arbitration arrangement will guarantee that the participating WTO members continue to have access to a binding, impartial and high-quality dispute settlement system among them."



"Let me underline again that this remains a contingency measure needed because of the paralysis of the WTO Appellate Body. We will continue our efforts to seek a lasting solution to the Appellate Body impasse, including through necessary reforms and improvements," he added.

The multi-party interim arrangement will be based on Article 25 of the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU).

It will secure the participating WTO members (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the European Union, Guatemala, Republic of Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Singapore, Switzerland, and Uruguay) an effective and binding dispute settlement process for potential trade disputes among them.

The arrangement is a contingency measure and it will only apply until the WTO Appellate Body becomes operational again. The EU believes that an independent and impartial appeal stage, giving the necessary guarantees of rulings of the highest quality, must continue to be one of the essential features of the WTO dispute settlement system.

The joined statement by the 17 signatories said, "We, the Ministers of Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, European Union, Guatemala, Republic of Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Singapore, Switzerland, Uruguay, remain committed to work with the whole WTO membership to find a lasting improvement to the situation relating to the WTO Appellate Body.

"We believe that a functioning dispute settlement system of the WTO is of the utmost importance for a rules-based trading system, and that an independent and impartial appeal stage must continue to be one of its essential features."



The signatories said they will work towards putting in place contingency measures that would allow for appeals of WTO panel reports in disputes among themselves, in the form of a multi-party interim appeal arrangement based on Article 25 of the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding. This would be in place only and until a reformed WTO Appellate Body becomes fully operational.

The arrangement will be open to any WTO Member willing to join it.

"We have instructed our officials to expeditiously finalise work on such an arrangement. We have also taken proper note of the recent engagement of President Trump on WTO reform," the statement added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A case has been registered against an unidentified man for duping a woman from Ajni in Nagpur of Rs 5.15 lakh by posing as a German national, police said on Saturday.



The unidentified accused started interacting with the victim, a resident of Kashi Nagar, through Facebook in January 2019 and they soon started talking to each other over phone, assistant police inspector Swati Deodhar of Ajni police station said.



The victim, who is an IT engineer, also accepted the accused's marriage proposal, following which he informed her that he was sending her a gift from Germany, she added.



In March last year, the woman received a call from a man, who introduced himself as a customs officer in Delhi and asked her to pay Rs 30,000 as customs duty to get the package released, the official said.



After paying the amount, the victim again received a call stating she will have to pay Rs 4.85 lakh more, the official said, adding that the woman managed to borrow the amount from two of her friends and transferred it to the bank account the man mentioned.



The victim realised that she had been conned after a couple of days when she did not receive any intimation about the gift and her German boyfriend also disappeared, Deodhar said.



While the victim did not approach the police initially, she filed a complaint last week when the friends she had borrowed Rs 4.85 lakh from started threatening her to pay them back, the officer said.



An offence under section 420 (cheating) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code has been registered by the Ajni police, she said.



The victim's friends, who issued her threats to return the money, have also been charged, she added.
He's now the only brother of the Burgess clan to have become an Australian citizen.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph on Sunday, Tom Burgess said he'd decided to apply in 2018 as he had 'fallen in love' with the country.

The 27-year-old South Sydney Rabbitohs star is engaged to model Tahlia Giumelli and the couple share five-month-old daughter Sophie.

'Who would've thought?' NRL star Tom becomes the first Burgess brother to become an Australian citizen. Pictured with fiancee Tahlia Giumelli and their daughter Sophie, five months

Tom arrived in Sydney from the UK eight years ago, but only expected to stay for one year.

'Who would've thought?' the sportsman told the Sunday Telegraph. 'I'd only signed a one-year deal at the time and I wanted to give it a go, but back then I couldn't have imagined how my life would unfold.'

Fast-forward eight years, and Tom is still signed with the Rabbitohs and is planning a wedding with Tahlia, 26.

'I'm so proud to be an Australian, getting married to an Aussie girl and having our beautiful Sophie,' he said, adding that by 2018 he had 'fallen in love' with Australia.

Famous family: The 27-year-old told The Daily Telegraph on Sunday that he arrived in Sydney from the UK eight years ago, but only expected to stay for one year. Pictured from left to right: George, Sam, Tom and Luke

Proud: 'I'm so proud to be an Australian, getting married to an Aussie girl and having our beautiful Sophie,' he said, adding that by 2018 he had 'fallen in love' with Australia

Just recently, Tahlia told an Instagram follower that having a baby now means they have to 'work as a team'.

'Lots of communication and appreciation for what the other person is doing is always key! Work as a team!' she wrote online.

The couple got engaged on their three-year anniversary - December 31.

'Lots of communication': Just recently, Tahlia told an Instagram follower that having a baby now means they have to 'work as a team'

Tom proposed at the same farm where they had previously gone on their first holiday together.

'And our 2019 ended just perfectly!' Tahlia announced on Instagram at the time.

'Where it all begin in 2016. Our first holiday at the farm and three years later he's down on one knee at the same place!'
At the end of the 53rd Week of Prayer for Christian unity, Francis calls on the faithful not to devote ourselves exclusively to our own communities, but to open ourselves to the good of all, to the universal gaze of God who took flesh in order to embrace the whole human race and who died and rose for the salvation of all.

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis led the Second Vespers for the Solemnity of the Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle, which marked the end of the 53rd Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

The pontiff noted that overcoming the legacies of the past to welcome the gifts of each confession will bring full Christian unity closer, which is something that God ardently desires. It will also encourage greater openness between brothers of faith and towards those in need.

The welcome offered by the people of Malta to Saint Paul who survived the shipwreck on his journey to Rome is the text prepared by the Christians of Malta and Gozo for the current Week of Prayer for Christian unity and was the starting point taken by Pope Francis for his reflection.

Per tradition, the Vespers took place in the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in the presence of top officials of other Christian denominations, including, among others, Metropolitan Gennadios, for the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and Ian Ernest, personal representative in Rome of the Archbishop of Canterbury, whom Francis thanked.

The account of the shipwreck in Malta from the Acts of the Apostles also speaks to our ecumenical journey towards that unity which God ardently desires. In the first place, it tells us that those who are weak and vulnerable, those who have little to offer materially but find their wealth in God, can present valuable messages for the good of all.

Let us think of Christian communities: even the smallest and least significant in the eyes of the world, if they experience the Holy Spirit, if they are animated by love for God and neighbour, have a message to offer to the whole Christian family. Let us think of marginalized and persecuted Christian communities.

As in the account of Pauls shipwreck, it is often the weakest who bring the most important message of salvation. This was what pleased God: to save us not with the power of this world, but with the weakness of the cross (cf. 1 Cor 1:20-25). As disciples of Jesus, we must be careful not to be attracted by worldly logic, but rather to listen to the small and the weak, because God loves to send his messages through those who most resemble his Son made man.

The account in Acts reminds us of a second aspect: Gods priority is the salvation of all. As the angel said to Paul: God has granted safety to all those who sail with you. Paul insists on this point. We too need to repeat it: it is our duty to put into effect the paramount desire of God who, as Paul himself writes, desires everyone to be saved (1 Tim 2:4).

This is an invitation not to devote ourselves exclusively to our own communities, but to open ourselves to the good of all, to the universal gaze of God who took flesh in order to embrace the whole human race and who died and rose for the salvation of all. If we, with his grace, can assimilate his way of seeing things, we can overcome our divisions.

The more we look beyond partisan interests and overcome the legacies of the past in the desire to move forward towards a common landing place, the more readily we will recognize, welcome and share these gifts.

We thus arrive at a third aspect that was at the centre of this Week of Prayer: hospitality. In the last chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Luke says, with regard to the inhabitants of Malta, The natives showed us unusual kindness (v. 2).

From this Week of Prayer, we want to learn to be more hospitable, in the first place among ourselves as Christians and among our brothers and sisters of different confessions. Hospitality belongs to the tradition of Christian communities and families. Our elders taught us this by their example: there was always something extra on the table of a Christian home for a passing friend or a person in need who knocked on the door. In monasteries a guest is treated with great respect. Let us not lose, indeed let us revive, these customs that have the flavour of the Gospel!
The Mekong Delta region of Vietnam, an area that helps feed about 200 million people, is predicted to sink underwater by 2100.

Subsidence and overexploitation of underground water have been popular in Mekong Delta region



In the past 25 years, Mekong Delta and the communities, cities and ricefields that depend on it, have faced grave risks of higher tides, alluvium sedimentstarvation, saline intrusion, fresh water shortage, and serious landslides.



According to Dr. Philip Minderhoud from the Utrecht University, the delta, hometo almost 18 million people and produces half of Vietnams rice output, is onlyaround 1-2 metres above the sea level. And if heavy extraction of ground waterand sand mining continue, the land will probably sink into the sea by 2100.

Rising tides, loss of naturallyreplenishing alluvium sediment



The scientist, head the Rise and Fall: strategies for the subsiding andurbanizing Mekong Delta facing increasing salt water intrusion project, saidthat the area is currently only 80 centimetres above the local sea level,approximately two metres lower than international researchers previouslythought.



Scientific evidence also proves that compared to a climate-change driven sealevel rise of 3-5 millimetres a year, there is a land subsidence of 2-3centimetres in many coastal areas due to ground water extraction, loading ofurban infrastructure and intensive drainage of the shallow subsurface.



The rapid growth of subsidence makes the salinization, flooding and coastallandslide in the delta event more urgent, Minderhoud said.





Tides and salinity in the Mekong Delta are increasing rapidly. The increase inthe tidal amplitude is 40 percent over the last 10 years due to the fact thatriver beds are on average 2-3 metres deeper because of alluvium sedimentstarvation.



According to Minderhoud, the decreasing alluvia sedimentation loads of theMekong River as a result of upstream dam building, together with the excessivesand mining downstream in the delta, is seen as a major driver for deepenedriver bed and eroded river banks.



Besides, overexploitation of underground water and construction along riverbankshave made the subsidence situation become more serious, let alone changes intidal amplitude and river beds depth that increase the salinity level in thedelta.



No subsidence was observed in Mekong Delta before 1990s. However, today, when onestands at the seaside, he may mistake the lower land for rising sea level, thescientist said.



Minderhoud attributed changes in tidal amplitude to climate change, adding thattidal amplitude rose significantly during 2008-2018, and human activities aredriving short-term impact that far outstrips current climate change effects.

River bank erosion in Dong Thap province

Underground water exhausted, high costspredicted for future



Besides intense subsidence and increase in tidal amplitude and salineintrusion, Minderhoud said that ground water is being extracted excessively forlocal production.



This could result in depletion of aquifers, while the recharge for waterstocking is very little due to impermeable layers in the subsoil. As aconsequence of extraction, the water from salty aquifers intrudes into thefreshwater reserves.



With current subsidence, for each cubic metre of fresh ground water that isextracted from the aquifers, another 12 cubic metres of fresh water will gettoo salty for consumption. Therefore, if there is no good control, the freshgroundwater reserve in the Mekong Delta region will last for only 100 years.Besides, the subsidence level will be more serious, the Dutch researcher said.



According to the expert, if the ground water extraction continues to grow 2percent each year, the Mekong Delta will sink under the sea level by 2100.



If pumping keeps its speed like today, local people will have to pay high costsfor water treatment and preservation of agricultural lands, Minderhoudstressed.





Resolving subsidence problems



Minderhoud believed that its time for Vietnam to outline urgent action plan tohandle the root cause of the problems, namely ground water exploitation andsand mining.



Upgrading flood breaking system, good delta planning, plantation of mangroveforests, and building comprehensive irrigational systems in the region arehighly recommended.



They are not only aimed at environmental protection but also socio-economicbenefit and water security. If the problems are not solved today, the regionwill have to spend a lot in the future, he warned.



Meanwhile, Dutch Ambassador to Vietnam Elsbeth Akkerman affirmed that thefertile Mekong Delta region is experiencing critical subsidence, increase oftidal amplitude and alluvium sediment starvation. Competent agencies andauthorities need to work together to settle the issues.



Sand mining and ground water extraction should be put into consideration in thedelta planning, she said, suggesting that the Vietnamese Government take timelyactions to prevent more serious situations.



As a low-lying country, the Netherlands stands ready to accompany Vietnam toadopt a systematic approach towards sustainable development in Mekong Delta.



The Netherlands can further support the Vietnamese initiatives with experiencesand expertise to implement the new planning law, create a new coordinationmechanism, and design a Delta Fund and transform agricultural practices./.VNA
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A scientist who once worked at a U.S. laboratory in New Mexico has pleaded guilty to lying about his involvement with a Chinese government technology program.

Turab Lookman, 67, entered his plea Friday during a hearing in Albuquerque after reaching an agreement with prosecutors. He is awaiting sentencing, which could include up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Lookman was initially indicted on three counts of making false statements. His attorney had said previously that prosecutors failed to prove his client had accessed or downloaded any high-level security information before he was fired from his job at the lab.

Authorities said Lookman came under scrutiny after he told a co-worker he had citizenship in four different countries  including India, where he was born. He also had been asked in a security-clearance questionnaire and later by federal officials if any foreign nationals had offered him a job or if he had applied for one. He falsely answered to all questions that he had not, authorities said.

According to an indictment, in one instance, a counterintelligence officer for the lab asked Lookman if he had applied for the China Thousand Talents Program.

Prosecutors have described Thousand Talents as a program established by China to recruit people with access to and knowledge of foreign technology and intellectual property. For years, it was known as one of many of the countrys state initiatives aimed at reversing a decades-long China brain drain.

At Los Alamos, Lookman received at least two awards for his work. A computational physics expert, he also co-authored two books.
With exporters claim for over five months still pending, liquidity has been wiped out and the process of finalising new contracts has been held up.

Exporters have said the Budget should look at the issue of slow disbursal of tax refunds and uncertainty over major promotional schemes, blaming these issues along with currency volatility for a slowing growth.

In December, merchandise exports contracted for the fifth straight month as processed petroleum shipments saw lower receipts and a broad-based decline continued to plague all other major foreign exchange earning sectors. Shrinking by 1.8 per cent as of December, outbound trade has reduced in six of the first nine months of the fiscal year 2019-20 (FY20).

With exporters claim for over five months still pending, liquidity has been wiped out and the process of finalising new contracts has been held up, said Sharad Kumar Saraf, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).

Last month, the government said over 83,500 exporters have already been paid refund of Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST), amounting to over Rs 1.12 trillion. It said refunds of only Rs 3,604 crore are pending with the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).

But FIEO has pointed out that the classification of major exporters as risky has further compounded the liquidity problem as their GST and drawback claims have also been held up. Risky exporters are those who are suspected to be claiming excessive input tax credit (ITC) based on fake invoices.

Saraf said in many instances actual payment of GST to the government is very low as compared to IGST refund since few goods are subject low GST, while many services used by exporters have high GST.

Therefore, if a merchant exporter has taken goods at a rate of 5 per cent and services at 18 per cent, he has sufficient ITC to pay for 5 per cent IGST at the time of exports. He may either not pay IGST in cash or pay only a fraction of that while claiming complete refund of IGST, he added. FIEO wants the issue to be solved before the upcoming Budget.

A total of 6,421 exporters, constituting 3.4 per cent of the 185,000 registered exporters, have been identified as risky by the CBIC and, hence, red flagged. This includes eight star exporters as well who were not traceable at the addresses given by them.

Star exporters are certified by the government on the basis of export performance and extended certain benefits, including customs clearance on self-certification basis and exemption from furnishing bank guarantee under certain schemes.

Schemes awaited

Exporters also hope the Budget will clear the confusion around the old Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), which has been discontinued by the government as well as the uncertainty over the awaited Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) scheme.

Introduced in 2015 under the Foreign Trade Policy, the mega MEIS was created out of a merger of five existing reward schemes. It incentivises merchandise exports of more than 8,000 items now and is the biggest of its kind. Exporters earn duty credits at fixed rates of 2 per cent, 3 per cent, and 5 per cent, depending upon the product and country.

Officials said the new RoDTEP would also be based on this method but the rates are yet to be decided.

The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry has said rates should be immediately announced as exporters would need time to factor in the same while finalising new orders and making their transition to the new scheme smooth.

For the garment and made-ups sector, the government has withdrawn MEIS benefits retrospectively from March 7, 2019, dealing a deadly blow to cash-starved exporters.

Volatile times

Apart from a fluctuation in commodities prices and especially crude oil, a major constituent of Indias exports, the currency volatility has also hit exports.

While the value of the rupee has fallen, the depreciation was of a smaller magnitude of just 1 per cent, compared with 8 per cent last year during the same period, the data shows. This negatively affected Indian exports given the current environment of trade wars and the fact that most emerging market currencies also depreciated during this period, experts say.

If rupee depreciation results from troubled geo-political situation in West Asia, it may not be of advantage; rather the trade disruption can be much more severe for shipments to the region, said Ravi Sehgal, chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council. The currency advantage can occur if a persistent trend is maintained over a long period of time. However, that too has to combine with several other factors like cost of raw material and capital and the transaction cost.
Veritas Investments, one of San Franciscos biggest property owners, is looking to sell 76 of its apartment buildings, and San Francisco officials are joining tenant advocacy groups seeking to turn some of them into permanent affordable housing.

On Monday, Supervisor Dean Preston is expected to call on Veritas to pause its efforts to sell the buildings on the private market for 60 days so that city officials can consider whether any can be added to affordable housing stock. Preston also wants to ensure that tenants in Veritas buildings offered for sale are afforded protections against displacement.

The buildings represent nearly 30% of Veritas total portfolio in San Francisco and were put up for sale in late December.

Veritas first offered the buildings to a group of nonprofit housing organizations under San Franciscos Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, a law meant to create and preserve affordable housing in the city. The company said it received initial interest from three organizations  the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp., the Chinatown Community Development Center and the Mission Economic Development Agency.

The organizations cumulatively expressed interest in 16 buildings, but Justin Sato, Veritas chief strategy and portfolio officer, said none made it much further than that. Nonprofit housing groups have 30 days to decide whether to purchase a multifamily building thats up for sale, but that time passed, and Veritas was ready to seek bids from other buyers.

In our view, we really allowed them the proper window of time to evaluate the opportunities to see which properties might be a good fit for conversion to affordable housing, Sato said. After fielding some requests for information about the properties, we didnt hear any kind of response.

But in an interview Friday, Preston said 30 days isnt enough time to properly vet a housing portfolio that includes more than 2,100 individual units, many of which are rent-controlled.

Its possible, though far from certain, that an agency such as the Mayors Office of Housing and Community Development could help finance a nonprofit groups acquisition of some of the buildings. Veritas has sold two of its apartment buildings to nonprofits. One at 270 Turk St. was sold to Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp. The other, at 305 San Carlos St., was sold to the the Mission Economic Development Agency.

I dont think any of our laws contemplate a 76-building portfolio being plopped on the market all at once, Preston said, particularly around the holidays.

The stakes are high enough with a portfolio of that size of rent-controlled units to warrant having a period of time where city leaders and tenant leaders and Veritas can hopefully sit down and talk about this portfolio in depth and how tenants can be protected.

As of Friday afternoon, Preston said he had not contacted Veritas, but that he expects to by Monday.

Sato said Veritas is open to further discussions with the city and nonprofit groups about potential sales.

Were always willing to work with the city around any potential interest in acquiring our buildings, he said.

Veritas has had a fraught history for years in San Francisco. City officials and tenant organizers have routinely lambasted the company as an example of the ills brought on by corporate landlords. In 2018, a group of 68 Veritas tenants sued the company, saying its long-term tenants had endured systemic harassment  such as drawn-out construction work  meant to drive them from their homes so they could be replaced by new tenants paying substantially higher rents. Veritas has denied those claims and said the company had begun a hardship program in recent months to protect its most vulnerable residents.

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.

We cant lose this opportunity to protect such a large amount of working-class tenants in San Francisco, said Sarah Sherburn-Zimmer, executive director of the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco. We cant lose a single unit in San Francisco, and we have to do whatever it takes to protect them.

The group, a vocal Veritas critic for years, has called on the company to pause its private-market sales and has organized tenants so theyre aware of their rights in the event of a sale.

The committee posted a list of addresses of the buildings being sold to its Facebook page on Jan. 20, in a move that could present a potential confidentiality breach. During a potential sale of a multifamily building, the citys Community Opportunity to Purchase Act requires that certain information, including building addresses, be kept under wraps while nonprofit groups explore a deal.

Sherburn-Zimmer declined to say where the group got the information but said it was posted so that Veritas tenants could find out whether their building is for sale.

There is no violation that I know of in how I got the information, she said. I think its crucial that tenants have the right to protect themselves.

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa
She is fresh off of her Paris Couture Week adventures.

Supermodel Gigi Hadid touched down on Friday looking as stylish as ever while strolling through the JFK airport in the Big Apple after a long travel day.

The 24-year-old looked to be still on the runway as she modeled a head-to-toe black ensemble while holding onto her suitcase and massive carry-on bag.

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Touching down: Gigi Hadid gave a big smile as she landed in New York City after taking on Paris Fashion Week

Gigi looked effortless in her slimming black Burberry coat that had its signature tan plaid pattern on the collar.

She had the rope of the jacket tied snug around her waist complete with a pair of black leggings and comfortable black shoes.

Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun for her travel day and she rocked a pair of sleek black shades while hustling through the terminal.

The details: Gigi looked effortless in her slimming black Burberry coat that had its signature tan plaid pattern on the collar

Staying warm: She had the rope of the jacket tied snug around her waist complete with a pair of black leggings and comfortable black shoes

Airport style: Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun for her travel day and she rocked a pair of sleek black shades while hustling through the terminal

While in Paris, the cover girl shared the runway with her younger sister Bella as they walked in the final show for Jean Paul Gaultier.

The designer announced just days before the show that he would be saying goodbye to couture and celebrated his final show with many famous names, including the Hadid sisters.

Both rocked two looks each while walking in the show at the Paris Theatre du Chatelet.

End of an era: While in Paris, the cover girl shared the runway with her younger sister Bella as they walked in the final show for Jean Paul Gaultier

Stunning: Gigi got a late-start to her fashion week festivities following being summoned for jury duty in New York City. She is pictured above walking in the Jacquemus show

Gigi got a late-start to her fashion week festivities following being summoned for jury duty in New York City.

She was later dismissed from the jury pool, a decision which both sides agreed on.

During jury selection Hadid said has met Weinstein but believed she could remain impartial during the jury process.
During part of her presentation on the Census on Tuesday, Amanda Schafer showed the Isabella County Board of Commissioners a map of locations of acute concern for this years Census.

County Commission Chairman George Green mentioned news reports that said that based on out-migration over the last 10 years, Michigan might lose a member of its Congressional delegation after this years count. Schafer told him reducing the chances of that happening are rooted less in where people move but in making sure people get counted.

The map was all pink, a sign of participation in the county that could stand for improvement. The reddest of the red areas was largely centered in the map as part of Union Township and Mt. Pleasant.

The culprit, Schafer, the executive director of the Mt. Pleasant Area Community Foundation, was an undercounted student population.

Its a problem in most college towns, and officials in Mt. Pleasant are in the preliminary phase of a campaign intended to get people who live in those undercounted areas to participate.

The city doesnt have a specific numbers goal in mind.

We believe number specific population thresholds are less important to our count in the 2020 Census and therefore our emphasis and focus is simply on the importance of the 2020 U.S. Census and helping to ensure a complete, fair, and accurate count of all residents of the City of Mt. Pleasant, City Clerk Jeremy Howard said in an email. We will not be focusing on maintaining or surpassing any specific population number.

While certain population targets qualify municipal governments for certain programs and grants, the citys efforts are part of an overall county-wide effort to get people counted. For each person in Isabella that goes uncounted, the county as a whole loses $1,800.

The county joined three other community foundations in a collaborative effort to boost the overall count. Those four foundations have formed the Great Lakes Bay Region Census Hub. The community foundations are spearheading the drive for a pretty simple reason.

Schafer told Isabella commissioners that where federal dollars fall short, the hope will be that local non-profits will pick it up. That will stress already tight resources.

The year is still pretty young for the Census, with a target date of April 1 as a big count date. Mt. Pleasant is also just getting started in putting together its campaign. The city commission adopted a resolution last October supporting the effort.

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Alameda County Sheriffs deputies used the opioid-reversing drug naloxone to save two jail inmates who were overdosing after snorting the deadly narcotic fentanyl, officials said Friday.

The inmates, who were not identified, told deputies they found a small bag of fentanyl at a courthouse when they were transferred for a recent court appearance, said Sgt. Ray Kelly a spokesman for the Sheriffs Office.

Deputies found one inmate overdosing in a cell inside Santa Rita Jail in Dublin sometime Thursday or early Friday after other inmates flagged them down about a person having a medical emergency, Kelly said. Deputies then discovered a second inmate with overdose symptoms.

The deputies quickly gave the inmates doses of Narcan, the common brand name of naloxone. Paramedics took both inmates to a hospital and they are expected to recover.

Fentanyl continues to be a very dangerous drug, Kelly said. We are encountering it now more than ever.

The cases mark the second and third instances when Alameda County Sheriffs deputies have used naloxone to revive a person overdosing this year, he said.

Deputies have successfully administered Narcan more than two dozens times since they started carrying it in 2018, Kelly 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.

We are seeing a tremendous amount of this substance.

The rescues come fentanyl has increasingly poured onto the streets of the Bay Area. In San Francisco, fatal overdoses from fentanyl more than doubled in 2019.

Alejandro Serrano is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alejandro.serrano@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @serrano_alej
Greenwood School District continues to pursue opportunities to enrich the educational process.

The latest example is a dual-enrollment agreement with Lackawanna College, which will allow students to get college credits for select courses. The pact was approved during the boards Jan. 8 meeting.

Initially, the four classes are accounting I, advanced biology, American history I and a new offering  hospitality and tourism. Students can elect to earn the college credits for the courses by paying a $100 per credit fee.

Business education teacher Brenda Flanders brokered the deal, capitalizing on her relationship with Lackawanna College she established while working in the Midd-West School District.

High school Principal Michele Dubaich said approximately 60 students would be eligible to participate in the current semester. She said the credits are fully recognized by all schools in the Pennsylvania State System and roughly 50 colleges overall.

Superintendent Nicholas Guarente said the district is pursuing as many avenues as possible to make its educational experience relevant in an ever-changing environment. He thought the partnership with Lackawanna College was a good way to expand the opportunities for Greenwoods students and complemented the Harrisburg University dual-enrollment program already in place.

Greenwood Wildcat Foundation recently received money to support students in dual enrollment programs.

Board member Kris Shiffer questioned why the agreement limited students to six credits a semester and 12 for an academic year.

Dubaich and Guarente said they would investigate the matter.

Flanders also highlighted other efforts the business department has embraced to enhance students opportunities, including a business law class which features trips to the courthouse to observe the laws practical application, and a social media course in which students create online advertisements. The latter includes a focus on back-end analytics which are crucial in measuring an ads effectiveness.

In addition, students role play real-life business scenarios and learn website development. Greenwood participates in the Deca Program, designed to foster leadership skills such as goal-setting, consensus building and project management.

Guarente announced another opportunity the district is exploring  the New Pass Program. The program is a consortium which includes all four districts in Perry County, plus the Juniata County and Midd-West districts.

During a Jan. 10 meeting, the group agreed to apply for Pennsylvania Smart grants, which are geared toward education.

As part of the program, Greenwood is exploring hosting a heavy equipment operators training course through HACC. Guarente said the district had this in mind when it recently purchased an adjoining property. The group also is looking at establishing a technology driven certification program.

Guarente expressed a desire for students to achieve college credits while still in high school and obtain marketable skills to facilitate strong employment opportunities following completion of high school.

In other matters, the district passed an Act 1 resolution, committing not to raise taxes above the 3.5 percent index.

In personnel matters, Breanna Paden was hired as an elementary instructional aide. Julie Sanders, Jessica Gibboney and Tamara Dalton were hired as long-term substitutes for first grade, elementary learning support, and Spanish, respectively. Odessa Groninger was brought on as a substitute aide.

Elementary Principal Jeff Kuhns told a heartwarming story resulting from the districts pennies for provisions fundraising effort that benefited the Perry County Food Bank. Students contributing a least $1 got to wear a hat to school the day before Christmas, and bus driver Gary Abe Witmer donated $50  $1 for each of the children on his run  to ensure they all would get to participate. The PTO matches the amount the students efforts raise.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias will receive his counterpart the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, at 13:30 on Friday, 24 January.



The talks will focus on bilateral and regional issues, with emphasis on developments in Libya and the wider Eastern Mediterranean and Gulf region.
Denver school board votes to require gender neutral bathrooms in all public schools Teachers ordered to use students preferred names, pronouns; hang LGBT rainbow flag in classroom, if desired

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A new school board for Denver Public Schools unanimously passed a resolution in its first meeting requiring all district schools to have at least one all-gender bathroom. The board has also made it mandatory for staff to use students preferred names and pronouns irrespective of their official names or gender.

The resolution added that no employee should be disciplined for disclosing their sexual orientation or gender identity in work-appropriate ways, and that teachers and other staff should be allowed to hang a rainbow flag or other symbols that represent support for LGBT people, The Denver Post reported.

While we all hope that schools serve their purpose as an incubator for creativity, connection, and learning, far too often they can be lonely or hostile places, Daniel Ramos, the executive director of the LGBT advocacy group One Colorado, said in a statement. This resolution is a much-needed step to protect LGBTQ youth, educators, administrators, staff, and parents from becoming targets of bullying and abuse.

In Denver Public Schools, we believe that love always trumps hate, at-large board member Tay Anderson was quoted as saying. It is time that we fight for everybody in the United States of America.

Last May, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to admit a challenge to a Pennsylvania school districts policy of allowing students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity rather than their biological sex.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative law firm representing a group of students suing the school district over the policy, denounced the denial of appeal.

No students recognized right to bodily privacy should be made contingent on what other students believe about their own gender, ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy, John Bursch, said in a statement at the time. But we hope the court will take up a similar case in the future to bring much needed clarity to how the lower courts should handle violations of well-established student privacy rights.

Last August, a federal judge ruled that a Virginia school district's policy preventing a trans-identified student from using boys' bathroom facilities violates the U.S. Constitution.

A 2015 Obama administration guidance, which was rescinded under the Trump administration in 2017, encouraged all public schools to allow trans-identified students to use bathrooms, showers and locker rooms of the opposite sex, if they claim to identify as the opposite gender. It interpreted Title IX law that bans discrimination on the basis of sex to also include protections on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation even though such protections are not expressly written into federal law.

The 2015 guidance was opposed by a number of social conservatives and concerned parents who feared that a policy allowing access based on gender identity would violate the privacy rights of other students who feel uncomfortable changing clothes in front of members of the opposite sex.

Policies for trans-identified students and bathroom access vary by the school district and by state across the nation. While some school districts have opened their bathroom and locker room facilities on the basis of gender identity, others have passed rules allowing bathroom access only in accordance with one's biological sex.

A Gallup poll last year found that more Americans (51%) believe governing policies should require trans-identified individuals to use the restroom that corresponds with their birth gender. However, other federal courts have ruled in favor of trans students.
A special squad of police arrested a Nigerian national in a drug bust and seized cocaine worth 3.13 lakh.

The police have also seized country-made liquor from a slum in Rabale in a separate case.

The team said they received a tip-off about a Nigerian who would be arriving in Kopar Khairane village to sell cocaine to a customer.

Early on Friday, the special squad reached Sector 19 in Kopar Khairane and laid a trap.

Our team found one Nigerian suspect near Dominos Pizza which matched with the information we had received. The suspect was frisked after which we found 26 grams of cocaine worth  3.13 lakh, said deputy commissioner of police Pankaj Dahane.

The accused was identified as Ikechuku Precious Onedikachi, 22, who had been staying in the area.

Police said they are verifying to ascertain for how long Onedikachi has been staying in India and whether his visa is valid.

The accused was arrested under sections of Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

The police are probing to zero down on the person from whom Onedikachi procured the cocaine. The team on Thursday had seized country-made liquor and imported alcohol worth 43,523 from a man named Raju Shah, 29, from his Rabale MIDC residence. Shah used to sell the liquor by smuggling it, said police. The accused was booked and handed over to the custody of Rabale MIDC police.
Anima Anandkumar, an Indian American professor at Caltech, is among the researchers who have demonstrated that machine-learning algorithms could be used to spot online trolling. (Anima Anandkumar/Facebook photo)
- Seventeen Kabianga High School students had been suspended by the institution for failing to write exams on Sabbath day

- Atheists in Kenya president Harrison Mumia had threatened to sue the school saying the Constitution allowed freedom of worship

- The church said the societys intervention helped in ensuring the learners were recalled by the institution

The Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church has penned a letter of appreciation to the Atheists in Kenya Society for standing in solidarity with 17 Kabianga High School students who had been suspended by the institution for failing to write exams on Sabbath day.

The church said the societys intervention helped in ensuring the learners were recalled by the institution after it raised an alarm over violation of the Constitution.

READ ALSO: Cyprian Nyakundi slapped with KSh 1 million bond in extortion case

The SDA church thanks atheists for standing in solidarity with Kabianga High School students who had been suspended. Photo: Emmanuel Lemiso Sato.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Uhuru Kenyatta asks western media to stop misreporting African issues

In a tweet on Friday, January 24, the organisation which does not believe in God acknowledged receiving a letter from the church thanking it for the role it played in the process.

We received this letter from the SDA Church in Kenya with a lot of humility and gratitude, it tweeted.

The letter was written by Syokimau Airport View Church firsr elder B K Arap Too.

"Our pastors, elders and the entire leadership of the SDA church at Syokimau Airport View wish to most sincerely thank you for showing solidarity with our members who are learners at Kabianga High School, Kericho county," part of the statement read.

Atheists in Kenya president Harrison Mumia had threatened to sue Kabianga High School for suspending 17 SDA students at the institution for failing to sit exams on Sabbath. Photo: Harrison Mumia.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Maswali aliyokwepa kujibu DP Ruto wakati wa mahojiano

The letter further said the atheists kind and thought act will be remembered forever.

"We are happy to inform you that through God's intervention and with the kind effort of your group, and others, all learners are back to school," Too added.

The atheists had threatened to sue the school over the suspension of the 17 students noting the Constitution recognises freedom of worship.

Kericho county education boss Zachary Mutwiri confirmed the 17 minors had been recalled and a number of whom responded positively following deliberations with the institution and parents.

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.

Are Kenyans happy with the leaders they elected? | Tuko TV

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Ever since Louise Brown, the world's first 'test-tube baby', was born in 1978, medical science has made incredible progress in developing techniques to help couples who are struggling to conceive.

These advances have bred a perception that conception is a right rather than a blessing  as well as throwing up a raft of increasingly complex ethical issues.

This week, we were provided with another.

While around 2,000 babies are born each year as a result of sperm donation, ever stricter regulation of the sector  including the child's right to know its biological father  means there is a growing shortage of willing donors.

I have reservations about the very concept of IVF. An entire industry has sprung up around the idea that everyone, regardless of biology, has the right to be a parent

In an attempt to address this problem, the Journal Of Medical Ethics is proposing a scheme by which sperm is obtained from the bodies of dead men.

Sperm can be harvested from corpses by electrical stimulation of the prostate, and the authors of the article say this would be 'morally permissible' if the donor had opted-in to such a scheme before their death  just as some organ donors currently do.

I am sure I'm not the only one who sees something sinister in this  and in the host of ethical issues it raises.

Supporters of the proposal say that sperm donation is no different from organ donation.

Except it is. Donating an organ doesn't result in another human being coming into the world.

What about the psychological impact for a child who is conceived in this way?

While children conceived using the sperm of a live donor have a legal right to seek out their biological father, children conceived using the sperm of a dead man will never get to meet their father. This has the potential to bring up all sorts of complex  and mostly unanswerable questions  for the child as he or she grows up.

While around 2,000 babies are born each year as a result of sperm donation, ever stricter regulation of the sector  including the child's right to know its biological father  means there is a growing shortage of willing donors (file image)

I will go further. I have reservations about the very concept of IVF. An entire industry has sprung up around the idea that everyone, regardless of biology, has the right to be a parent.

In the Sixties, the inability to conceive was known as 'involuntary childlessness' and couples had to choose between either adopting or remaining childless.

Now the condition has been given a medical gloss and called 'infertility', a disease that must be cured. But it's a false promise. Sally Cheshire, chair of government watchdog the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), has warned that older women especially are being exploited by IVF clinics who are 'trading on hope'.

Some unscrupulous clinics extract large sums of money from those desperate to be mothers  despite the fact that they often have the tiniest chance of getting pregnant.

Even for younger women, success is by no means guaranteed. The live birth rate for women under 35 who start an IVF cycle is 40 per cent. For women over the age of 42, the rate is 4 per cent.

Having worked with children in care, I question the ethics of the availability of IVF at all.

Some unscrupulous clinics extract large sums of money from those desperate to be mothers  despite the fact that they often have the tiniest chance of getting pregnant (file image)

My view  which I appreciate is not going to be popular  is that while there are so many children in the world who desperately want and need a loving home, we should not be using technology to create more babies.

I appreciate that many people want to pass on their genetic heritage and are wary of the complex emotional aspects of adopting, especially when it comes to older children.

But adopting a child is an incredible act of grace and love and we should be making it easier for anyone who wants to be a parent, but who can't conceive naturally, to do it.

Children are amazingly resilient providing they have a stable home life. When this is taken away, they crumble and carry the damage into adulthood.

It pains me to think of the children denied the love that they need, while IVF means that many wonderful would-be adoptive parents never even consider it.

Proof aiming high really does add up

Did you read the story in the Mail this week about 'the Maths Whisperer', 55-year-old teacher Francis Elive?

His entire class of 30 Year 11 pupils at Cardiff's Fitzalan High School gained A* grades in maths six months early.

Doubtless this extraordinary achievement was partly down to the pupils working incredibly hard, but there is no doubt that it also owed a great deal to Mr Elive's psychological approach.

Part of his 'magic'  that's what his pupils call it  is to instil in their minds the belief that they have already tackled the hardest sums they'll ever encounter in class, so why fear an exam?

Francis Elive's entire class of 30 Year 11 pupils at Cardiff's Fitzalan High School gained A* grades in maths six months early

He sets up an expectation in their minds that they will get top grades, and it proves to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

This is a great example of how in life we live up (or down) to the expectations we place upon ourselves.

Our potential is too often constrained by the limits we place on ourselves.

Those who convince themselves that they are a failure will seek evidence of this in their lives, overlooking all the things they have achieved.

It's not until we challenge these perceptions that we can free ourselves to truly reach the heights that we are capable of.

I'm a great fan of the Queen  and now I admire her even more after seeing her pictured recently wearing a hearing aid.

Hearing problems are associated with increased rates of dementia, anxiety, depression, phobias, alcohol use and even suicide. They are also strongly linked with social isolation and marital discord because of the strain they place on relationships.

Yet only one in five people whose hearing is bad enough to warrant a hearing aid actually has one. Many fear it makes them look 'old'.

We need more role models like the Queen to wear their hearing aids with pride.

Don't die due to fear and shame

Cervical cancer kills two women every day in the UK and more than 3,000 women are diagnosed with this devastating disease every year.

So the announcement by Professor Peter Johnson, National Clinical Director for Cancer at NHS England, that screening and vaccination means we will one day eradicate cervical cancer is a cause to celebrate.

But a report from Cancer Research UK this week suggests this outcome could be thwarted by a poor take-up of smear tests in women aged 25 to 29.

This has fuelled a 'worrying' 54 per cent rise in cases amongst this group in the past decade. Researchers warn that 'progress is stalling and stagnating' as a result.

Fear and embarrassment are said to be the main reasons women avoid smear tests  which is tragic. We must debunk the myths and anxieties that persist around this procedure.

Cervical cancer kills two women every day in the UK and more than 3,000 women are diagnosed with this devastating disease every year

More than a million patients miss booked GP appointments each month, according to the latest figures from NHS England. No wonder our Health Service is in trouble.

I experience this time and again in my own clinic. One week, not a single patient turned up to my Saturday surgery. When I called one patient to ask why she hadn't come, she replied cheerily that there was a 20 per cent discount day at Selfridges so she'd gone shopping instead.

She had no understanding of the cost to the NHS of a doctor's appointment or that by booking an appointment she'd deprived someone else of access to a vital service.

Some people have suggested 'punishing' such patients by deregistering them once they have missed three consecutive appointments. But then they'd just go to A&E instead.

Perhaps the only answer is to start fining those patients who don't turn up.

DR MAX PRESCRIBES... Oscar-nominated war film 1917

If you haven't seen Sam Mendes' masterpiece, then I thoroughly recommend it.

Indeed, I think it should be compulsory viewing for every youngster.

The film is the perfect antidote to the self-obsessed culture in which we live because it demonstrates virtues we no longer seem to value  a sense of duty, self-sacrifice, stoicism and fighting for something bigger than ourselves.
Washington DC : Thirty-four US service members have been diagnosed with concussions and traumatic brain injuries in the aftermath of the Iranian missile attack at Ain al-Asad Air Base in Iraq earlier this month, the Pentagon said on Friday.

Washington Post reported Pentagon's chief spokesman Jonathan Hoffman as saying that of the 34 service members, eight have returned to the US for medical care, nine are in Germany for treatment, while the remaining 17 have returned to duty in Iraq.

The missile attack was carried out on January 8 in retaliation to the killing of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani by the US. It may be noted that US President Donald Trump had earlier said that no US troops were harmed in the Iranian attack.

As many as 11 ballistic missiles had struck al-Asad airbase, where more than 1,000 US service members were based, in addition to the Iraqi forces. Hoffman said that the US Defence Department is "committed to delivering programs and services intended to lead to the best possible outcomes for our service members who suffer any injury." ANI
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Britt Rusert in The Boston Review:

American Radicals establishes the truly riotous nature of nineteenth-century activism, chronicling the central role that radical social movements played in shaping U.S. life, politics, and culture. Holly Jacksons cast of characters includes everyone from millenarian militants and agrarian anarchists to abolitionist feminists espousing Free Love. Rather than rehearsing nineteenth-century reform as a history of bourgeois abolitionists having tea and organizing anti-slavery bazaars for their friends, Jackson offers electrifying accounts of Boston freedom fighters locking down courthouses and brawling with the police. We learn of preachers concealing guns in crates of Bibles and sending them off to abolitionists battling the expansion of slavery in the Midwest. We glimpse nominally free black communities forming secret mutual aid networks and arming themselves in preparation for a coming confrontation with the state. And we find that antebellum activists were also free lovers who experimented with unconventional and queer relationships while fighting against the institution of marriage and gendered subjugation. Traversing the nineteenth-century history of countless strikes, raids, rallies, boycotts, secret councils, [and] hidden weapons, American Radicals is a study of highly organized attempts to bring down a racist, heteropatriarchal settler stateand of winning, for a time.

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Do you know victims of the plane crash lived at least 48 seconds in complete terror before they died? asked a brooding Iranian-Canadian friend who couldnt get his mind off the This could have been me thought, having returned to Toronto from visiting an ailing parent only a month ago. I havent been this devastated since they executed my father, texted another friend, they always referring to the Islamic Republic (I.R.), the blatant injustice of the recent events triggering her deepest wound.

The collective pain of Iranians, at home and diaspora, reached a new high after the I.R. shot down a Ukraine International Airlines flight with 138 people en route to Canada on Jan. 8, killing all 176 passengers on board. Social media became an outlet for peoples rage and dismay at the unnecessary deaths, at the lies that went on for three days before I.R. authorities finally admitted to the shooting. Prime Minister Trudeaus sympathies, when contrasted with Supreme Leader Khameneis reaction of refusing to offer any comfort or accountability, only made us more acutely aware of how frequently, in James Joyces words, the sow eats her farrow, i.e. the government sacrifices citizens to expand and maintain power.

The plane crash was only one of the incidents in a chain of events that have demoralized those of us who cant find solace or prospect. We are aware that a dramatic change is not plausible or desirable, but a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel could help since day after day we receive tragic or terrifying news.

Only a few months ago up to 1,500 protesters were killed, and countless thousands arrested. Only weeks after that, when the I.R.-U.S. tensions escalated, the threat of imminent war shook us to the core, especially those of us who experienced the 1980-88 war with Iraq firsthand.

My own childhood memories are tinged with the screeches of the air-raid sirens, the stampedes while running to underground shelters. I remember my mother in a frenzy wanting to take my feverish brother, an infant then, to the hospital despite the bombs raining on our border town. I recall my father demanding that she stay, perhaps imagining the worst-case scenario, forced to choose between potentially losing one family member or two. I remember hiding my head under the pillow, feeling terror and powerlessness clutch at my stomach. I do not want anyone else to go through similar experiences.

The historic pain in most Iranians, especially the minorities, is triggered frequently, sometimes with each headline. We suffer at the hands of the I.R. as well as their adversaries. As a secular Kurdish female author, a minority within a minority, I feel I have seen the end of the world before. Too many times I have choked at reading or writing the news, have lost my ability to function, have sobbed inconsolably for the executed political prisoners Id reported on, for the dead women I had tried to help through my suicide-prevention programs. Sometimes it gets to be too much and many mornings I have woken up disappointed that the apocalypse hasnt happened yet, that I was alive only to die again by evening.

And yet I have also witnessed, cherished and documented moments of defiance and resilience. Perhaps the most heart-lifting moment of the past few weeks for me was watching a video of the Kurds in the city of Mahabad refusing to allow their loved one to be buried in a casket covered by the flag of the I.R. Daikha, daikha, a woman wails, and among the tears and sorrow of a jostling crowd, a man pulls off the flag wrapped around the coffin. Elsewhere in the same city, another man grabs at a flag that was stapled to another casket.

These reactions, filmed on a cellphone and aired on Manoto, a London-based Iranian TV channel, reveal more truth about the rage and spite of Iranians against their government than any western analyst has ever noted. Those who publicly dispose of the I.R. flag, despite obvious consequences, arent provoked only by the recent cruelties, but also by a long history of them. Iran has had some of the highest rates of execution in the world, violently crushed a 2009 post-presidential election uprising, summarily executed thousands in 1988 and ordered a jihad against Kurdistan in 1980.

Perhaps thats why Iranians make up large diasporic populations across the globe. Relying on education, asylum, family, investments or other means, Iranians in droves have attempted to find a home elsewhere on this planet, mostly to no avail, stuck in a ping-pong between domestic tyrannies and western demonizations. Many of us carry our homelessness on our backs, cant belong anywhere, and end up sitting on a hyphen of our complicated identities. Cutting ties with a country ruled by fundamentalists is impossible, keeping them means no break from the pain.

It is only in literature that I find meaning and strength, and thats why I worked for and won a scholarship to earn my masters degree in English and creative writing at the University of Windsor. I am also acutely aware that the large mirror of Canadian literature refuses to reflect my image as a stateless Kurd. In my years of writing in exile, I published a collection of short stories on modern Iranian women, Echoes from the Other Land (Mawenzi Press, Toronto), which went on to be nominated for the 2011 Frank OConnor Short Story Prize. I spent the next nine years putting blood and sweat into crafting my debut novel, Daughters of Smoke and Fire, which will be published by HarperCollins in Canada and The Overlook Press in May 2020.

I believe that being a Kurdish-Iranian-Canadian writer is about rebirth and resistance. I write stories of people who find and employ agency in the face of tyrannies. My novel was inspired by Farzad Kamangars letters written from prison, the Kurdish political prisoner who managed to keep his humanity intact despite all the forces that besieged him. He was indefatigable in his fight for justice even when that meant paying for it with his life. I like to believe its no coincidence that Daughters of Smoke and Fire will be released on the tenth anniversary of his execution. Tyrants fall one after another. Farzad Kamangar and his like transcend.

Ava Homa is a writer and journalist. Her forthcoming novel Daughters of Smoke and Fire, weaving 50 years of modern Kurdish history, will be published in May 2020 by HarperCollins in Canada and The Overlook Press, an imprint of ABRAMS. For more information visit www.AvaHoma.com

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CLEVELAND, Ohio  A week of gun thefts in the Cleveland-area highlighted the debate over how to best address issues involving gun owners responsibilities in securing their guns.

Someone stole a 200-pound gun safe containing between 20 and 30 loaded guns from a Cleveland mans home. In Cleveland Heights, two gun owners woke up Jan. 17 to find someone stole unsecured guns from their cars. And a gun left out in a Cleveland home Thursday ended up in the hands of a 3-year-old boy, who shot himself in the leg.

Advocates on both sides of the gun debate agree that gun security is paramount for owners. They disagree, however, on how best to ensure that happens.

Toby Hoover, founder of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, said she believes Ohio should create more laws that would penalize owners who fail to properly secure their guns.

She noted that Cleveland, Toledo and more than a dozen other cities had gun laws on the books that would do just that until a state law prohibited cities from creating their own gun restrictions. Cleveland challenged that law in the Ohio Supreme Court and lost.

Among the laws wiped off the books in Cleveland was a law that required owners to keep guns secured and away from minors.

You do have to pass laws to change the culture, Hoover said. Someone will still always break the laws, but you still have to have laws in place to change it.

Jim Irvine, president gun-rights advocacy group the Buckeye Firearms Foundation, said he too believes gun owners must take every precaution to secure their guns from ending up in the wrong hands. However, he believe that education is a better way to save lives than creating new laws.

We always opposed safe-storage laws because they are not constitutional and they dont work, Irvine said. Theres always people who are going to be forgetful, but its not the massive problem people think it is.

No national agency compiles information on the amount of guns stolen each year, and Cleveland police typically do not separate gun theft reports from other types of thefts.

Were there laws in Cleveland and throughout Ohio that penalized gun owners for lax gun storage, prosecutions and convictions would create a trail of data that would shed better light on gun thefts.

A report by NPR in 2019 found that gun theft from cars are on the rise in several major U.S. cities, especially when there are no legal requirements for securing a gun in a car.

In Tennessee, a law rolled back requirements for gun owners to get training and permits to carrying guns in cars. The state saw gun thefts rise from 585 in 2015 to 1,273 in 2018, according to the NPR report.

Ohio is an open-carry state that allows gun owners to drive with their guns in their car, with some restrictions. The gun must be unloaded, in a case or box, unreachable by the driver or secured on a gun rack, among other restrictions.

Irvine said laws already on the books address the issue of proper gun storage. He said in the case of the 3-year-old boy in Cleveland, the gun owner could be charged with child endangerment or negligence.

There are no laws criminalizing for people who dont have batteries in their smoke detectors, Irvine said. It was education that helped people understand how important those are for safety.

He said its important to always take the extra step in securing guns. In the case of the man whose gun safe was stolen, Irvine said the person could have taken the step of bolting it to a concrete floor.

I would say having a gun safe like that is very secure, but you could always take one more step, he said. Businesses that have million-dollar security systems get robbed. Life is complicated. Thats a safe way to do it but theres no guarantee.

To comment on this story, visit Fridays crime and courts comments page.

Read more crime stories:

3-year-old Cleveland boy accidentally shot himself with fathers illegal gun, police say

More than 20 loaded guns, 3 swords stolen in Cleveland burglary, police say

Cleveland Heights gun owners say someone stole guns from their unlocked cars

Armed trio tried to carjack woman outside Cleveland library

Warrant issued for man who stopped at McDonalds between police chases in Cleveland
Scores of members of Muslim outfit Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath took out protest marches across Tamil Nadu on Saturday against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

The protesters gathered in front of the Chennai Collectorate holding placards and TNTJ flags and raised slogans demanding withdrawal of the Act.

Tight security was in place to ensure no untoward incidents took place, police sources said.

Around 1,000 cadres congregated in Thanjavur and Tirunelveli holding the national flag and TNTJ flags and staged protests.

The cadres were also seen holding placards saying 'No CAA, No NPR (National Population Register)' and also demanded that the Centre withdraw the Act.

Similarly, TNTJ members in Villupuram and Cuddalore districts took out a protest march towards the district collectorate office and later dispersed, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A two-month-long water crisis in the Bulgarian town of Pernik and surrounding villages prompted a noisy demonstration in the capital, Sofia, on January 25. The government has come under pressure for a lack of drinking water in the area 25 kilometers west of Sofia. As many as 100,000 people have been affected since November. Prosecutors have charged former Environment Minister Neno Dimov with deliberate mismanagement, claiming he failed to take proper measures to avoid a critical draining of a dam that provides drinking water to the area. Dimov, who faces up to eight years in prison if convicted, has denied any wrongdoing.
The planned recruitment of personnel and further implementation of the blueprint for the South West regional security outfit named Amot...





The planned recruitment of personnel and further implementation of the blueprint for the South West regional security outfit named Amotekun are now on hold.





It was gathered that some states had already fine-tuned the processes of recruitment before the controversial notification by the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, declaring the outfit as illegal.





The posture of the government towards Amotekun sparked regional protests in condemnation of the federal governments stance.





It was the argument by its proponents that Amotekun would be the antidote for the intractable kidnapping and ritual killings which had become regular tales in the South-west region.

They also argued that its complementary role would facilitate the fight against crime and help the statutory security agencies become effective in curbing crime in the region.





With the memo from Mr Malami, coupled with fears expressed by some sections of the country, the South-west governors met with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Thursday, in Abuja with a view to removing the obstacles to the initiative.





One of the critical resolutions reached at the end of the meeting was the need to back Amotekun with an enabling law by the states involved.





An official of the Osun State Government revealed on Friday that the conclusion from the meeting with the vice president resulted in the hosting of the attorneys general from the six states in Ibadan on Thursday to determine the nature of the legal framework for the security outfit.





The meeting which was hosted by the Oyo State Commissioner for Justice, Oyewole Oyewo, immediately constituted a three-member committee to provide a legal working document for the states.





Ismail Omipidan, Chief Press Secretary to the Osun State Governor, said another meeting has been scheduled for the next two weeks in Ibadan where further resolutions would be made on the matter.





PremiumTimes reports that the attorneys general would in the next meeting seek the inputs of the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission before finally preparing the necessary documents for onward transfer to the Houses of Assembly of each of the states.





It has however been confirmed that activities on Amotekun, particularly recruitment, would have to wait until the legal framework was put in place.





The Commissioner for Information, Ekiti State, Muyiwa Olumilua, confirmed that all procedures on the implementation of the security initiative would wait until the legal backing was in place.





You are aware that the governors just had a meeting with the Vice President and the Attorney General of the Federation regarding the security outfit, he said.





The fall out of that meeting is for us to try to put the necessary legal framework in place. That one will come before the recruitment process.





Mr Olumilua could however not state how long it would take to conclude the legal framework. He urged citizens to be patient as the state governments attempt to produce a well-designed framework.





Meanwhile, the Speakers of the Houses of Assembly of the states, who also met with the attorneys-general of the states, have promised to give speedy consideration to the bill when presented for enactment.





The governors of the states officially launched Amotekun on January 9 and many Amotekun branded vehicles donated by the sates have been assembled for deployments.





The DAWN Commission has also said it would soon come out with the standard operating procedures for the states to implement.




Lebanese security forces turned water cannon on crowds of protesters gathered in front of the Grand Serail, the headquarters of the countrys prime minister, in Beirut on Saturday evening, January 25.

Reports from the location showed protesters trying to rip open gates that had been installed around the government headquarters. Footage shared with Storyful by Michel Abi Rached showed security forces firing water cannon in response, drenching protesters, some of whom held flares or returned fire with small rocks.

Demonstrations against the government and Lebanons entrenched elite began in the fall of 2019 and flared again this month. Protesters have been undeterred by the announcement of a new government.

According to Amnesty International, hundreds have been injured in clashes. The group called on security forces to be reined in. Credit: @michelarached via Storyful
By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press

State and local governments have been leading the legal fight against the opioid industry, seeking payouts to help them deal with the fallout from the nations addiction crisis. Average Americans are about to get their shot.

On Friday, the federal judge overseeing the bankruptcy case of Purdue Pharma set a June 30 deadline to file a claim against the company. That includes governments, entities such as hospitals and, for the first time, individuals who have personal injury claims.

It's not clear how much money might be at stake. Purdue reached an agreement with some states and local governments that could be worth more than $10 billion over time as part of its bankruptcy filing. But Judge Robert Drain emphasized during the hearing in White Plains, New York, that no final settlement is in place.

Once a settlement and restructuring deal for Purdue is approved, the next step will be deciding how to divide the company's assets. There is no guarantee those who became addicted to opioids or their families would receive any money, and the judged emphasized that the claims would be open only to people who believe they were harmed by Purdue's products, not opioids generally. Still, lawyers for plaintiffs say people should file claims even if they're not sure Purdue's drugs were involved in their injuries.

Despite declines, Alabama still leads nation in opioid prescriptions

Dede Yoder of Norwalk, Connecticut, is among those who plan to file. Her son, Christopher, was prescribed a 30-day supply of painkillers, including OxyContin, during a series of surgeries when he was 13 and 14 years old.

He died in 2017 at age 21 of a heroin overdose after years of rehab and relapses. His mother is now on a committee of victims seeking input in the process.

I spent my whole retirement. I probably spent almost $200,000 on rehab and doctors," she said. "I would like to get my retirement back; Im not looking for this huge payoff.

In bankruptcy proceedings, notices for claim deadlines are usually made in ads in publications or in letters mailed to people who might be eligible to file. Purdue's case is different because so many people might be able to assert legal damages against the company.

Prescription and illicit opioids have been linked to more than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. since 2000. Perhaps millions of other people have struggled with addiction to them, and an estimated 500,000 children were born in opioid withdrawal.

Purdue, a privately held company based in Stamford, Connecticut, plans to spend $23.8 million to advertise the claim-filing deadline, an unusually large amount to notify potential creditors in a bankruptcy case.

The ad campaign is intended to reach 95% of U.S. adults, with ads in newspapers, movie theaters and on Facebook. Billboards will promote the deadline in four hard-hit states: Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia. The budget also includes hiring a public relations firm to encourage news outlets to report on the deadline and the website to file claims.

The publicity push also is getting help from victims themselves.

Another member of the victims' committee, 33-year-old Garrett Hade, said he has been sober for nearly five years after a long odyssey through addiction that began with OxyContin when he was a teenager in Florida. He said he would donate any money he receives from Purdue.

Now, as an organizer with the Recovery Advocacy Project, he said he's telling people that they will be able to make claims.

People need to know that as a person there is some recourse out there, said Hade, who now lives in Las Vegas.

Also on Friday, the bankruptcy judge said he would allow Purdue CEO Craig Landau to collect a bonus this year up to $1.3 million, on top of his $2.6 million salary. Landau had previously agreed to reduce his bonus to that amount and delay it. A group of states continued to object to the bonus.
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Bhubaneswar, Jan 25 : Following outbreak of the novel Coronavirus (nCoV) in China and a few suspected cases in the country, the Odisha government on Saturday issued an advisory to the authorities to remain prepared to deal with the situation.

In a letter, the health department has asked the Biju Patnaik International Airport, Veer Surendra Sai Airport, East Coast and South Eastern Railways, and several medical colleges and hospitals to closely monitor the situation and create the facilities for the management of patients.

The Airport authority of India based at Bhubaneswar and Jharsuguda will be requested to facilitate entry of screening and issue instruction for airlines to follow the international civil aviation guideline for managing and notifying anybody reporting illness on flights originating from China and disembarking India directly or indirectly, the letter said.

It asked the airport authority in those locations to establish a screening centre and report the identification of such cases to the health officials of the districts and Capital Hospital director, Bhubaneswar in case of Biju Pattnaik International Airport.

SCB Medical College and Hospital, VSS Medical College, and Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar will function as nodal centres for isolation and treatment of such cases.

All the centres are advised to have 24 x7 control room for monitoring of such cases.

The Paradip Port hospital and the Railway authorities have been requested to create their own facilities for isolation and management of such cases as this condition is travel related.
This month, New York became the first state to contemporaneously and seriously reform its money bail system and roll back Draconian discovery practices that produced countless wrongful convictions and other miscarriages of justice.

These common sense and imminently fair new laws were passed earlier this year thanks to the leadership of Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature.

The bail reform law eliminates cash bail for most misdemeanor and non-violent felony offenses. This is a significant change in the law and procedure because it will allow those charged with lesser offenses  and, as always, presumed legally innocent  to avoid jail pending a court hearing, and instead continue working and supporting their families. In other words, those charged will be allowed to continue on with their lives while waiting on an appearance date.

Cash bail is supposed to ensure that the accused will show up in court, but research has shown that 95 percent do not miss their court dates even when they cannot afford bail.

Cash bail has effectively criminalized poverty. Poor people, many of whom are innocent, sit in jail because they cannot "bail out," while their cases are pending. In fact, cash bail has led to the mass incarceration of legally innocent people before they are proven guilty.

It is time to end cash bail in this country, and, thankfully, New York is taking a heroic leadership role in its abolition.

Similarly, the new discovery law is both fair and overdue. Most importantly, it takes on a huge contributing factor of wrongful convictions.

Under the old law, prosecutors were permitted to withhold crucial evidence  such as witness statements and police reports  until the day of the trial, making a fair defense impossible. Now, under the new law, defense attorneys can properly advise their clients with full knowledge of the evidence in the case and prevent them from pleading guilty to crimes they did not commit.

As documented in the Innocence Project's guiltypleaproblem.org website, 95 percent of felony convictions are obtained through guilty pleas. Eighteen (18!) percent of those who pled guilty were not guilty of the crimes they pled to.

Other wrongful convictions result from trials. The importance of the new discovery law was brought into stark relief with the exoneration of Felipe Rodriguez at the Queens County Supreme Court on Dec. 30. At the hearing, 30 years after his wrongful conviction, it was revealed that critical material  information that existed in police files  had never been handed over to the defense.

Queens prosecutors stated on the record that the documents in the police files would have impeached the chief informant witness against Rodriguez, as well as the integrity of the police investigation itself. Indeed, the nature of the materials withheld was so plainly significant that prosecutors joined in the Innocence Project's motion to vacate the murder conviction and dismissed all charges.

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The miscarriage of justice that marked Rodriguez's original trial is precisely what the new law is intended to prevent. Had it been in effect in 1990, Rodriguez likely would not have lost 30 years of his life to this wrongful conviction and his son, just three years old at the time of his trial, would have had the opportunity to grow up with a father by his side.

Innocent people who are poor and stuck in jail because of bail are often coerced into pleading guilty to multiple charges  just to close their case and begin their sentences.

The new legislation is a positive step toward eliminating the wealth- and race-based detention that has plagued New York for decades.

This law will change the lives of thousands of New Yorkers  all presumed to be innocent. Mass incarceration makes none of us safer and tough-on-crime policies only criminalize poverty and race.

The laws passed last year in Albany are a lesson in leadership. Let's hope the prosecutorial community will join these leaders rather than double down on antiquated and unfair laws.

John Grisham is an author and a member of the board of directors of the Innocence Project.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 24, 2020 | 06:41 PM | FRANKFORT





EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler and Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works R.D. James announced the rule, which replaces the Obama-era Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. WOTUS significantly expanded the definition of "waters of the United States" and opponents claimed the rule placed an undue burden on American farmers.





Our farmers have suffered under the heavy-handed regulations put into place by the Obama Administration. Now, President Trumps plan of deregulation and ending inconsistent regulatory patchwork is becoming a reality through this new definition of WOTUS, Congressman Comer said. Farmers and businesses across the nation have been in need of a consistent regulatory framework that allows them to function with clarity and predictability."





Commissioner Quarles said agricultural producers are relieved by the unveiling of the new rule.





"The new Navigable Waters Protection Rule reduces government overreach, upholds the rule of law, and eliminates burdens on farm families," said Quarles. "I thank Administrator Wheeler for working to reverse the anti-business and anti-farmer regulations of the previous Administration."





The Navigable Waters Protection Rule attempts to eliminate uncertainty over where federal jurisdiction begins and ends by defining the difference between federally protected wetlands and state protected wetlands. Proponents of the new rule say that it gives states more flexibility in determining how best to manage their land and water resources while protecting the nation's navigable waters.

Congressman James Comer and Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles are praising the unveiling of the Navigable Waters Protection Rule by the Trump Administration's Environmental Protection Agency.
Developer Paddy McKillen has lost a High Court challenge to a process in which a Government-appointed assessor has been asked to come up with a valuation for shares in the nationalised former Anglo Irish Bank.

Mr McKillen, who was a substantial shareholder in Anglo, last year brought judicial review proceedings over the short timescale the developer was given to respond to the role of the assessor in determining compensation for Anglo shareholders.

Under the Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Act in 2009, the Government provided for the extinguishment of certain rights in the bank, removal of certain people from office and payment of compensation for shareholders. At the time of nationalisation, Anglo shares had a "hope value" of 22 cent.

Nearly ten years later in November 2018, assessor David Tynan of PwC was appointed to decide on that compensation.

As part of his challenge initiated last June, Mr McKillen was granted a stay on the publishing of Mr Tynan's final report to the Minister for Finance on the valuation pending determination or the legal proceedings.

But yesterday, Mr Justice Brian O'Moore refused all reliefs sought by Mr McKillen.

Among Mr McKillen's argument were that there was a degree of vagueness about how Mr Tynan's assessment was being carried out and that he had not been given enough time to make submissions to Mr Tynan.

The application was opposed by Mr Tynan.

The judge said evidence was provided on Mr McKillen's behalf from economics professor Constantin Gurdgiev and former AIB director Bernard Somers in relation to shareholding valuation.

Mr McKillen had not satisfied him that either of these two men "qualify as experts" in this field and even if they did their evidence was of "no real value."

It was on the basis of their evidence Mr McKillen made out that he needed certain information to make a meaningful submission to Mr Tynan. As their evidence was not capable of supporting this, he had not discharged the burden on him of establishing it was information which was required by him to make a meaningful submission to the assessor, the judge said.

He had also not discharged the onus on him of showing Mr Tynan's decision not to provide the information was unreasonable, he said.

A refusal to extend the time Mr McKillen had to make a submission was also not unreasonable.

Mr McKillen had also not succeeded in making out a case of objective bias on the part of Mr Tynan, said Mr Justice O'Moore.
January 24, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - Brace yourselves, here it comes.

After years of mounting excitement, the time is finally ripe. The US administration is going to show its hand and unveil the closely-held Ultimate Deal of the Century before the main contenders for Israels leadership go to Washington on Tuesday.

Maybe.

Its a great plan, according to man-of-the-hour Donald Trump, the US president, neatly dispelling any complaints from moaning snowflakes who keep harping on about rights and history and justice and truth and sustainability and blah, blah, blah.

But what exactly is this great plan?

According to Trump, its not what youve read already.

The United States looks forward to welcoming Prime Minister @Netanyahu & Blue & White Chairman @Gantzbe to the @WhiteHouse next week. Reports about details and timing of our closely-held peace plan are purely speculative.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 23, 2020

What you may have read already comes courtesy of unnamed senior Israeli officials. According to them, the plan will see Israel annex all of Jerusalem as well as between 30-40 percent of Area C of the West Bank (the 60 percent of the West Bank already under full Israeli control). This includes the Jordan Valley and thus access to the outside world.

Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter

The plan would also give Israel a green light to annex all but 15 settlements in the occupied territory  illegal under international law, but no longer in the eyes of the US administration.

Israel will maintain uncontested military control over all the territory of historic Palestine and Palestinians will have to disarm Hamas and demilitarize the Gaza Strip.

Just words

But what do the Palestinians get? As anyone with any sense knows, a deal can only be great if all parties walk away feeling theyve gained something.

Business mogul handbook 101.

Palestinians get statehood. Apparently. Some Israelis are not happy about that, so maybe not. Who knows? But according to senior Israeli officials, part of a plan that really would work is Palestinian statehood.

Over what? Not clear. Whatever is left, presumably, once Israel has had its fill. Territory-wise there would apparently be some land swaps, though with whom, where and how much has not been divulged.

Jerusalem? Symbolic access, whatever that means.

Sovereignty? No army, no control over borders, no control over airspace. So no.

Right of return for refugees? None. The US administration has made its own calculations, determining that the number of Palestinian refugees is roughly equivalent to Jews who fled Arab countries, therefore negating any right of return or even right to compensation.

Oh and Palestinians get $50 billion from Sunni countries. Thanks, guys.

Why now?

Palestinians have rejected the plan out of hand.

What else is the Palestinian Authority going to do? There is nothing in the plan, as outlined above, that any Palestinian leader could ever accept.

But that may be to miss the point.

Partly, this administration wants to ride roughshod over international law. After all, superpowers should not feel restrained by things such as rules. Thats what makes them powerful.

No better place to signal such intent than with Palestinians, whose case in international law is clear, open and shut.

But also, of course, this is about helping a friend in his time of need.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the incumbent prime minister, is trying to ward off corruption prosecution, a prosecution that will be brought should he fail to ensure immunity for himself.

He may not secure immunity if he does not form the next government. Trump is simply trying to help.

And with two Israeli elections already last year, Trump has had plenty of chances to prove his generosity.

First, he granted US blessing to Israels annexation of Jerusalem. Next, he recognized Israels annexation of the Golan Heights.

Then he reversed the US position on settlements in occupied territory.

Cognizant of this, Benny Gantz, Netanyahus main rival, has been falling over himself to promise that his annexation will be bigger than Netanyahus.

Not only is he trying to win votes, he is also showing that he knows how to play along with a US president who seems to appreciate sycophancy.

What now?

The plan is yet to be published. Many stalwart supporters of Israel have in the past cautioned against publishing such an obviously imbalanced deal.

Theres a good reason. This forces the hand of the Palestinian Authority. It ends its very reason to exist, namely in preparation for statehood. Real statehood. It crosses every red line the PA has ever marked out, whether on refugees, territory, sovereignty, Jerusalem, etc, and so on.

It pulls down the whole peace process charade.

Too many institutions, businesses and industries have been built and too many livelihoods are at stake for the PA to disband itself with immediate effect, however advisable that might be.

Indeed, it may well be that the PA leadership will try to simply sit tight and wait Trump out.

But there really is no time for that. The land is disappearing beneath the Palestinians feet.

Trumps Ultimate Deal is the end of the PA.

This article was originally published by "ElectronicIntifada" -

Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here

==See Also==
The remaining charges against a registered sex offender who was accused of sexually assaulting an elderly dementia patient in a South Jersey hospital will not be dismissed following his acquittal on the most serious offenses in the case, a judge ruled Friday.

Thomas F. Pierson, 59, of Sicklerville, had gone to Inspira Medical Center, Vineland, in December 2018 to pick up a friend when prosecutors alleged he entered an 83-year-old womans room and assaulted her.

Pierson was tried in October, but a mistrial was declared after Cumberland County Assistant Prosecutor Meghan Price-Furfari made a statement in front of the jury that was deemed prejudicial to the defense. She revealed that Pierson invoked his right against self-incrimination and ended an interview with police following his arrest.

In a hearing prior to the trial, the parties had agreed the jury would hear a portion of Piersons interview with police, but not the part where he ended the interview.

Price-Furfari said she had been reading from notes intended for a separate hearing and apologized for her error.

Prior to declaring a mistrial, Superior Court Judge Robert Malestein, in response to a defense motion for acquittal, dismissed charges of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault and third-degree criminal restraint. He found there was no direct or forensic evidence to support those charges.

The hospital room where the alleged incident occurred was under video surveillance and a nurses aide monitoring the patients room reported seeing Pierson, whose back was to the camera, reach between the victims legs and touch her genital area, according to court documents.

Malestein left Piersons other charges  third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact, fourth-degree criminal sexual contact, third-degree burglary and fourth-degree invasion of privacy  intact and defense attorney Diane Ruberton filed a motion to dismiss those charges after the mistrial was declared.

She argued that to try Pierson again would amount to double jeopardy and accused the prosecution of deliberately provoking the mistrial.

The defense called the states case weak and said the prosecution tried to draw the jurys attention away from its lack of evidence by describing Pierson with terms such as dirty, red-faced, unkempt and like the old man from Home Alone.

Thomas F. Pierson appears in court Friday afternoon for a hearing on his remaining charges.

The prosecution denied the error was intentional and noted that it had argued against the mistrial.

In reaching his decision, Malestein weighed both viewpoints.

Arguably, the efforts by the Prosecutor to elicit evidence which had been ruled to be inadmissible in a trial without overwhelming evidence of guilt could be an effort on her part to purposefully draw a mistrial and hit the re-set button on the trial. Such behavior cannot and will not be tolerated, he wrote. However, an equally plausible and defensible argument is that this behavior supports her position that it was a mistake and is a result of reading from a script which was prepared in advance of trial.

Malestein ultimately accepted the prosecutors explanation.

He found that dismissal of the indictment on the remaining charges would be a draconian sanction that wasnt warranted in this case.

Dismissal of an indictment as a punishment for a Prosecutors dereliction or egregious conduct is not sanctioned by our Courts, he wrote.

When Malestein asked Friday if the case should be moved back to the trial list, Ruberton indicated that the parties may be able to resolve it through a plea deal before going to another trial.

Malestein scheduled a pre-trial conference for next Friday to see where the case stands.

Pierson is a Tier 3 sex offender deemed at high risk for reoffending, according to the states online registry.

He was released from jail following the acquittal and mistrial last year.

Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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24.01.2020 LISTEN

The Dag Hammarskjold Fund for Journalists is now accepting applications from professional journalists for its 2020 fellowship program. The application deadline is March 6, 2020.



The fellowships are available to radio, television, print and web journalists, age 25 to 35, who are interested in coming to New York to report on international affairs during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly during the opening 10 weeks. Travel and accommodations in New York, as well as a per diem allowance are provided.

The fellowships are open to journalists who are native to the mainly developing countries in Africa, Asia (including Pacific Island nations), and Latin America/the Caribbean and are currently working for media organizations. Applicants must demonstrate an interest in and commitment to international affairs and to conveying a better understanding of the U.N. to their readers and audiences. They must also have approval from their media organizations to spend up to three months in New York to report from the U.N. The program is not intended to provide basic skills training to journalists; all fellowship recipients must be media professionals.

In an effort to rotate recipient countries, the Fund will not consider journalist applications from nations of the 2019 fellowship recipients: Egypt, Nigeria, Trinidad/Tobago, and Zimbabwe. Journalists from these countries may apply in 2021.

Journalists are selected each year after a review of all applications and given the incomparable opportunity to observe international diplomatic deliberations and to gain a broader perspective and understanding of matters of global concern. Many past fellows have risen to prominence in their professional and countries.

Fellowship eligibility criteria and documentation requirements, as well as the application form and submission instructions can be found on the Funds web site at www.unjournalismfellowship.org .

Questions about the program, eligibility and the application process can be directed by email to [email protected] .

Although the Fund is based at the U.N., it does not receive financial support from the world organization. The Fund was established as an independent entity by U.N. journalists 56 years ago as a living memorial to the legacy of Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold. It continues to be operated by U.N. journalists and relies on financial support from U.N. Missions, foundations, organizations and individuals.
A California-based Marine Corps squadron has received its first F-35C Joint Strike Fighter jet, which can fly off aircraft carriers and make longer-range flights.

Lt. Col. Cedar Hinton, commanding officer of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314, flew the next-generation Lightning II fighter jet to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar on Tuesday.

The Marine Corps has carried out flight operations in the "B" variant of the F-35, which can take off and land vertically on amphibious assault ships, since 2015. This is the first time a Marine squadron has had a "C" variant, which is designed for carrier operations.

VMFA-314, known as the "Black Knights, was the first squadron in the Navy Department to fly the F/A-18 Hornet jet in the 1980s. The squadron was also the first to transition to the F-4B Phantom ground-attack aircraft in 1961, and the "Black Knights" were the first members of 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing to transition to jet aircraft in 1952 and fly the F-9F Panther.

Related: Navy Achieves New F-35 Fighter Jet Milestone on USS Carl Vinson

"It should be no surprise that VMFA-314 is once again leading the way into the next generation of fighter attack aircraft," Hinton said in a statement after landing the F-35C at Miramar.

Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the F-35, calls the "C" variant "the only fighter that can respond to tomorrow's threats and preserve the U.S. Navy's maritime supremacy." Of the three Joint Strike Fighter variants, the F-35C can carry the most internal fuel -- nearly 20,000 pounds -- which allows for longer range.

It can also refuel in-flight, which Lockheed says "allows the Navy to operate its carriers a safe distance from the threat while its fighters reach remote targets."

The Navy is working toward getting its fleet of carriers equipped for F-35C deployments.

The F-35C completed its fleet carrier qualifications on the carrier Abraham Lincoln in 2018. The aircraft is scheduled to make its first upcoming sustained deployment aboard the carrier Carl Vinson, Capt. Danny Hernandez, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon, said.

The Nimitz-class and Ford-class carriers can, by design, operate with F-35Cs, he added, but the ships need to be modified to support full-length deployments. Changes include additional spaces, jet-blast deflectors and other requirements unique to the F-35.

None of the modifications require fundamental redesigns to any major components of the ship, Hernandez said.

The Navy was planning to time those changes for both carriers already in-service and those under construction ahead of scheduled operational F-35C deployments. The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, however, which the president recently signed into law, mandated those changes be made to the carrier John F. Kennedy -- the second of the Ford-class carriers -- before completing the post-shakedown availability. That's when problems identified during sea trials and shakedown are fixed.

The next two Ford-class carriers in line -- the Enterprise and Doris Miller -- will receive those changes during construction and will not require a post-delivery modifications, Hernandez said.

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.

Read more: Marine F-35s Dropped a Bunch of Bombs on ISIS During 1st Middle East Deployment
In January 1920, the Dundalk Democrat was consumed by stories relating to the upcoming Municipal Elections that same year.

More importantly, the paper addressed the peaking tensions between the opinions of the local townspeople and the regime of the British Government in relation to the division between the North and South of Ireland through the publication of a letter from a member of the general public.

The Fourth Home Rule Bill, which would be later implemented as the Government of Ireland Act 1920, was a proposition made by the British Government relating to the division of the six-county North of Ireland and the thirty-two counties in the South of Ireland into separate entities.

This was the first bill proposed by the British Government after the 1916 Rising, which had an immense impact on the political affairs of Ireland.

The consequences post-1916 tore the general public locally and nationally from leaning towards a Home Rule towards the concept of a fully independent Ireland. At this time, the Irish War of Independence had been commenced for almost an entire year which had the general public of Ireland acutely concerned about the future political state of Ireland.

The Dundalk Democrat published a vigorously opinionated letter from a citizen in relation to the new Home Rule propositions pitched by the Government of Britain.

The discussion throughout the letter addresses the tensions and high pitched emotions felt by the General Public of Ireland in relation to fear of the fourth Home Rule Bill being passed and its impacts for the future of Ireland:

Sir- The latest Home Rule proposals have been received and discussed in an impatient temper that bodes ill for them, and for the future of Ireland. There is only one point to be argued and decided- just the question always left out- is it better for Ireland to accept those proposals than to reject them?

It is quite impossible, of course, to treat all of the Prime Ministers proposals in one letter. Better then take the principle of the Bill, and ask ourselves is the idea of two Parliaments so fatal to Irelands future that it must be rejected?

If it were a choice between two Parliaments and one, no Nationalist would hesitate for a moment about rejecting two and setting up one. Now, there is such a choice? Can any opponent of the scheme assure his countrymen that, if two Parliaments be rejected now, a single legislature will be set up for all Ireland, in ten or twenty years to come? Can any honest man pledge his word for such a result?

In twenty years, we may expect the same objections and difficulties to obstruct the establishment of a single Parliament that prevented it from the last forty? The powers that defeated Gladstone, Butt, Parnell and Redmond, will hardly fall down affrighted at a puff of Irish passion.

Should the Union system continue the present generation of Ulster Unionists will hand down their hate of the Home Rule to their children in an intensified form. Will any power be found to coerce them later on any more than now? Certainly not Great Britain. Nor if the impossible suggestion, sometimes were made to be carried out, and the question left to Americas decision, would America coerce Ulster. Would she not more likely adopt Mr. Lloyd Georges plan? That is what she did in her own case. When two States held out and refused to join the Union, America let them go on their own way, and later on, actually changed the Constitution to coax them in. Yet America will come over and coerce not only Ulster but Great Britain for us!

But if Ulster could be forced into a National settlement, would it be wise to compel her? Far from it! She would then be an enemy within the gates, with a new cause to inflame her hostility and confirm her hatred for the Home Rule, and greatest enemies of Ireland may well pity her starting in her new career with a dagger near her heart. An Irish Parliament could not rule Ulster reluctant.

On the other hand, if Ulster accepts her own Parliament, she admits the principle of Home Rule- a principle bound to lead her into a National legislature. To hasten her steps thither nothing could be better than to give a Parliament for the whole province. The equality of different religions, the identity of interests made manifest, the solution of difficulties made in friendship would breed friendships and make those far-seeing men ambition a National stage for the display of their abilities.

The best of all ways of preventing such a blessed ending of our comities is the mad idea of boycotting Belfast trade in the West.

The authors of such a scheme know little of what stuff the Ulster men are made, what they expect Belfast to capitulate to Tuam for money!

No, no better means could be adopted to confirm them in their fear of Home Rule.
Since beginning in October, Iraqs protests have emerged as the largest anti-establishment movement in the countrys history, already toppling a government as they call for an end to corruption and foreign influence. At least 500 demonstrators have been killed since the protests began, while thousands more have been maimed or otherwise wounded.
(Natural News) Theres still no formidable wall protecting Americas southern border from continued invasion, which means that migrants and refugees  lets call these people what they really are: illegals  continue to flood into our country like a broken fire hydrant. And some of them, disturbing new reports indicate, are bringing with them deadly Ebola infections that could create a national health nightmare.

A case-in-point was a 41-year-old woman from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who died recently after entering the country via Texas. Border Patrol reportedly took the woman into custody after it was revealed that she had a pre-existing medical condition, after which she vomited before dying from acute kidney failure.

Upon analysis, it was determined that the woman was infected with Ebola, a deadly illness that has the potential to snowball into a national or even global pandemic if it isnt quickly identified and quarantined. In this case, initial screening determined that this woman was sick, but for some reason she was cleared by on-site contracted medical personnel, and transferred to the Lincoln Juarez Bridge for additional immigration processing and overnight holding.

The very next day, which just so happened to be Christmas morning, the woman began to suffer abdominal pain that eventually caused her to throw-up. Border Patrol immediately contacted emergency medical services (EMS), which came and transported the woman to the Laredo Medical Center for a medical evaluation, where she quickly died.

The subjects health declined rapidly and she passed away at the hospital, according to reports, though the Webb County Medical Examiners Office (WCMEO) ruled the death as not suspicious since she had a pre-existing medical condition. But what this office and others involved failed to reveal was that this pre-existing medical condition was deadly Ebola, possibly out of fear that it might create mass panic.

The Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a serious illness characterized by fever, severe vomiting and diarrhea, and, in severe cases, multi-organ failure requiring mechanical ventilation and renal replacement therapy, warns the National Center for Biotechnology Information on its website.

People who survive Ebola virus infection face a dramatically higher risk of dying  probably from severe kidney damage  within a year of leaving hospital, Reuters has also reported.

It almost seems like the authorities WANT to trigger an Ebola pandemic

Ebola is a pretty serious health condition, in other words, and one thats far riskier than, say, measles, which our government is constantly fear-mongering about in order to scare the American public into getting vaccinated  or, in the case of California, using as an excuse to force people to get vaccinated.

But somehow when it comes to illegal invaders, all bets are off as anyone is welcome by these same leftists into our country, regardless of their pre-existing medical conditions. Furthermore, nobody on the vaccine-loving left is calling for refugees and migrants to be forcibly vaccinated in the same way as California children are by vaccine liars like Richard Pan, who singlehandedly led the crusade to eliminate the Golden States religious and philosophical vaccine exemption provisions.

Meanwhile, Ebola is spilling over in the United States and youd be hard-pressed to even learn about it from the mainstream media, let alone be informed about how to try to protect yourself from its deadly scourge. Somehow, its no big deal for illegals to bring deadly diseases into America, but if youre an American citizen who objects to mandatory vaccination, then the left wants to throw you in prison.

CDC holds a patent on Ebola and new vaccine is big money maker, notes one Infowars commenter about the sinister nature of these latest developments. Let in a few infected people to scare everyone. Maybe they can legally force it on everyone if enough cases emerge. Cant trust them.

For more related news, be sure to check out Deception.news.

Sources for this article include:

Infowars.com

NaturalNews.comie
WASHINGTONSen. James Inhofe, a conservative Republican from Oklahoma, has made clear that he intends to vote to acquit President Donald Trump. But after Rep. Adam Schiffs fiery speech Thursday night calling for the presidents removal, Inhofe felt compelled to give a fellow lawmaker some grudging respect.

I have to say this, Inhofe told reporters Friday morning in the Capitol. Schiff is very, very effective.

Schiff, D-Calif., who steered the impeachment inquiry into Trump and is the lead prosecutor in his Senate trial, has long been a hero to the left and a villain to the right. But never has he aroused as much passion as he did with his late-night appeal for senators to convict and remove Trump because you know you cant trust this president to do whats right for this country.

By Friday morning, the phrase #RightMatters  from the last line of Schiffs speech  was trending as a hashtag on Twitter. The Daily Beast declared that the remarks will go down in history. Ryan Knight, a progressive activist, called it a closing statement for the ages. Video of the speech quickly went viral. Liberals lavished him with praise.

I am in tears, wrote Debra Messing, the Will & Grace actress and outspoken Trump critic. Thank you Chairman Schiff for fighting for our country.

Republicans had precisely the opposite reaction. Many view Schiff, 59, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, as a slick and self-righteous political operator intent on undoing the results of the 2016 election  or preventing Trump from winning in 2020. In the Senate, Republicans took particular umbrage at his declaration that they could not trust the president.

I dont trust Adam Schiff, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., shot back.

On Fox News, Schiff was filleted. Amateur Thespian Schiff Tries Out Some New Lines, TV monitors broadcasting the network declared Thursday as host Tucker Carlson mocked the congressman, calling him a wild-eyed conspiracy nut.

A Stanford- and Harvard-educated lawyer, Schiff is drawing on skills he honed as a young federal prosecutor in Los Angeles. He first drew national attention in 1990 by winning the conviction of an FBI agent who became romantically entangled with a Russian spy and was accused of selling government secrets in exchange for promises of gold and cash.

Prosecutors said Schiff took a risk in his bald declaration that the president could not be trusted because Republicans in the chamber, almost all of whom support Trump, would see the criticism as implicitly directed at them.

When you make an argument like that, you better be sure that your entire audience is with you, said James McGovern, a criminal defence lawyer at Hogan Lovells in New York and a former prosecutor.

Multiple Republicans said afterward that they had not at all been moved by Schiff. It seems to me their case is weaker today than it was yesterday, said Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 3 Senate Republican, as he faulted Schiff.

But Anne Milgram, a former attorney general of New Jersey and now a law professor at New York University, described Schiffs sharp criticism of Trump as a wise calculation because unlike a regular jury trial, Schiff does not need a unanimous verdict. The argument was aimed, she said, at the four or so moderate Republicans whose votes Democrats will need to call witnesses at the trial.

Regardless of the risk, it was clear on both sides of the aisle  and to experienced prosecutors who watched  that after a long day of complicated and sometimes monotonous testimony, Schiffs oratory broke through. Schiff apparently thought so himself. He posted the last eight minutes, the most dramatic part of his speech, on Twitter Thursday night, and by Friday evening it had been viewed more than 5.9 million times.

Sometimes when Schiff steps to the mic, I think hes a little scripted, Milgram said. I did not feel that last night. I thought it was the most authentic I have seen him. He sort of crossed into another level.

Schiff opened by carefully leading the Senate through the Houses case that the president abused his office by trying to enlist Ukraine to investigate his political rivals, weaving in bits and pieces of testimony and commentary along the way. He then turned to his Senate audience and stated what he believes to be the obvious: Trump is guilty.

Do we really have any doubt about the facts here? Schiff asked. Does anybody really question whether the president is capable of what hes charged with? No one is really making the argument Donald Trump would never do such a thing, because of course we know that he would, and of course we know that he did.

But that, Schiff said, led to the most critical question of all: Does he really need to be removed? The answer was yes, Schiff said, then offered a situation in which the Russians interfered in the 2020 election to help Trump, just as they did in 2016.

Can you have the least bit of confidence that Donald Trump will stand up to them and protect our national interest over his own personal interest? Schiff said. You know you cant, which makes him dangerous to this country.

In the Capitol, Schiff is ordinarily serious, composed and in control. But as he moved toward his closing comments, he grew visibly emotional as he recalled the testimony of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the White House national security aide and Ukrainian immigrant who testified in impeachment hearings before Congress and helped Democrats build their case.

Vindman, who fled the former Soviet Union with his family when he was 3, testified that he felt deeply uncomfortable with a telephone call Trump had July 25 with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine, when Trump asked the Ukrainian leader to do us a favour and investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

Schiff recalled how Vindman told lawmakers that unlike in the former Soviet Union, right matters in the United States.

Well, let me tell you something, Schiff went on, his forefinger jabbing the air for emphasis. If right doesnt matter, if right doesnt matter, it doesnt matter how good the Constitution is. It doesnt matter how brilliant the framers were. Doesnt matter how good or bad our advocacy in this trial is. If right doesnt matter, he concluded, were lost.

Read more about:
Ukraine should develop effective mechanisms to protect and support its citizens living in the temporarily occupied territories.

Chief of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Ivan Bakanov said this during a meeting with Heidi Grau, the new Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group, and Martin Sajdik, who held this post since 2015, the SBU's press service reported.

There are a lot of people in the temporarily occupied territories who, despite the actions of the invaders, do not give up hope for a united Ukraine and consider themselves Ukrainians. Therefore, we must support them and show that the state takes care of them and is grateful for their pro-Ukrainian position, Bakanov noted.

He added that this issue was particularly important in the context of the illegal Russian "passportization" in the so-called DPR/LPR.

The SBU chief also thanked the representatives of the Trilateral Contact Group for their work.

In addition, the parties discussed the possibility of deepening further cooperation with the OSCE to establish peace in eastern Ukraine as soon as possible.

ish
President Trump spoke in person at the 47th annual March for Life on the Mall in Washington this afternoon. Marc Thiessen elaborates on the meaning of the moment in his Washington Post column At the March for Life, Trump will be greeted as a pro-life hero  because he is one. I have posted the video below following the White House text of the speech without further comment:

THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much and thank you, Jeanne. It is my profound honor to be the first President in history to attend the March for Life. (Applause.) Were here for a very simple reason: to defend the right of every child, born and unborn, to fulfill their God-given potential. (Applause.)

For 47 years, Americans of all backgrounds have traveled from across the country to stand for life. And today, as President of the United States, I am truly proud to stand with you. (Applause.)

I want to welcome tens of thousands  this is a tremendous turnout  tens of thousands of high school and college students who took long bus rides  (applause)  to be here in our nations capital. And to make you feel even better, there are tens of thousands of people outside that we passed on the way in. If anyone would like to give up their spot, we can work that out. (Laughter.) You have a tremendous group of people outside. Thousands and thousands wanted to get in. This is some great success. (Applause.) Young people are the heart of the March for Life, and its your generation that is making America the pro-family, pro-life nation. (Applause.)

The life movement is led by strong women, amazing faith leaders, and brave students who carry on the legacy of pioneers before us who fought to raise the conscience of our nation and uphold the rights of our citizens. You embrace mothers with care and compassion. You are powered by prayer, and motivated by pure, unselfish love.

Youre grateful  and we are so grateful  these are incredible people  to be joined by Secretary Alex Azar and Kellyanne Conway. (Applause.) Thank you.

And thanks also to Senators Mike Lee and James Lankford, who are here. James, Mike  thank you, fellas. And Representatives Steve Scalise  (applause); Chris Smith  (applause); Ralph Abraham  (applause); Warren Davidson  (applause); Bob Latta  (applause); John Joyce  (applause); Lloyd Smucker  (applause); Brian Fitzpatrick  (applause); and Brad Wenstrup. (Applause.) Thank you, all. (Applause.)

And I have to say  and I look at it  I see it exactly  we have many, many more politicians in the audience. But, if you dont mind, I wont introduce them all. (Laughter.)

All of us here today understand an eternal truth: Every child is a precious and sacred gift from God. (Applause.) Together, we must protect, cherish, and defend the dignity and sanctity of every human life. (Applause.)

When we see the image of a baby in the womb, we glimpse the majesty of Gods creation. (Applause.) When we hold a newborn in our arms, we know the endless love that each child brings to a family. When we watch a child grow, we see the splendor that radiates from each human soul. One life changes the world. From my family  and I can tell you, I send love and I send great, great love.

And from the first day in office, Ive taken a historic action to support Americas families and to protect the unborn. (Applause.) And during my first week in office, I reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy, and we issued a landmark pro-life rule to govern the use of Title X taxpayer funding. (Applause.)

I notified Congress that I would veto any legislation that weakens pro-life policies or that encourages the destruction of human life. (Applause.)

At the United Nations, I made clear that global bureaucrats have no business attacking the sovereignty of nations that protect innocent life. (Applause.)

Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House. (Applause.) And as the Bible tells us, each person is wonderfully made. (Applause.)

We have taken decisive action to protect the religious liberty  so important. Religious liberty has been under attack all over the world, and, frankly, very strongly attacked in our nation. You see it better than anyone. But we are stopping it, and were taking care of doctors, nurses, teachers, and groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor. (Applause.) We are preserving faith-based adoption. (Applause.)

And to uphold our founding documents, we have confirmed 187 federal judges  (applause)  who apply the Constitution as written, including two phenomenal Supreme Court Justices: Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. (Applause.)

We are protecting pro-life students right to free speech on college campuses. (Applause.) And if universities want federal taxpayer dollars, then they must uphold your First Amendment right to speak your mind. And if they dont, they pay a very big financial penalty, which they will not be willing to pay. (Applause.)

Sadly, the far-left is actively working to erase our God-given rights, shut down faith-based charities, ban religious believers from the public square, and silence Americans who believe in the sanctity of life. They are coming after me because I am fighting for you and we are fighting for those who have no voice. And we will win because we know how to win. (Applause.) We all know how to win. We all know how to win. Youve been winning for a long time. Youve been winning for a long time. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

THE PRESIDENT: Together, we are the voice for the voiceless. When it comes to abortion, Democrats is a  and you know this, youve seen whats happened  Democrats have embraced the most radical and extreme positions taken and seen in this country for years, and decades  and you can even say for centuries.

AUDIENCE: Booo 

THE PRESIDENT: Nearly every top Democrat in Congress now supports taxpayer-funded abortion, all the way up until the moment of birth.

AUDIENCE: Booo 

THE PRESIDENT: Last year, lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mothers womb right up until delivery.

AUDIENCE: Booo 

THE PRESIDENT: Then, we had the case of the Democrat governor in the state of Virginia  the Commonwealth of Virginia.

AUDIENCE: Booo 

THE PRESIDENT: And we love the Commonwealth of Virginia, but what is going on in Virginia? What is going on? The Governor stated that he would execute a baby after birth. You remember that.

Senate Democrats even blocked legislation that would give medical care to babies who survive attempted abortions. Thats why Ive called on Congress  two of our great senators here, so many of our congressmen here  and called upon them to defend the dignity of life and to pass legislation prohibiting late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in their mothers womb. (Applause.)

This year, the March for Life is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which forever enshrined womens rights to vote in the United States  (applause)  and given by the United States Constitution. Such a big event. (Applause.)

Today, millions of extraordinary women across America are using the power of their votes to fight for the right, and all of their rights, as given in the Declaration of Independence  its the right to life. To all the women here today: Your devotion and your leadership uplifts our entire nation, and we thank you for that.

The tens of thousands of Americans gathered today not only stand for life  its really that they stand for it so proudly together, and I want to thank everybody for that.

You stand for life each and every day. You provide housing, education, jobs, and medical care to the women that you serve. You find loving families for children in need of a forever home. You host baby showers for expecting moms. You make  you just make it your lifes mission to help spread Gods grace.

And to all of the moms here today: We celebrate you, and we declare that mothers are heroes. (Applause.) Thats true. Your strength, devotion, and drive is what powers our nation. And, because of you, our country has been blessed with amazing souls who have changed the course of human history.

We cannot know what our citizens yet unborn will achieve, the dreams they will imagine, the masterpieces they will create, the discoveries they will make. But we know this: Every life brings love into this world. Every child brings joy to a family. Every person is worth protecting. (Applause.) And above all, we know that every human soul is divine, and every human life  born and unborn  is made in the holy image of Almighty God. (Applause.)

Together, we will defend this truth all across our magnificent land. We will set free the dreams of our people. And with determined hope, we look forward to all of the blessings that will come from the beauty, talent, purpose, nobility, and grace of every American child.

I want to thank you. This is a very special moment. Its so great to represent you. I love you all and  (applause)  and I say with true passion: Thank you. God bless you. And God bless America. Thank you all. Thank you. (Applause.)
OAKLAND (BCN)

A judge on Friday ordered four people to stand trial in a bizarre botched murder-for-hire plot involving a pimp and a love triangle that ended with two women dead in Oakland and San Francisco.

At the end of a lengthy preliminary hearing that spanned about a dozen days spread over several months, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson agreed with defense attorneys that there's little direct evidence but said, "The circumstantial evidence in this case is compelling."

Alameda County prosecutor John Ullom said the deadly chain of events began in the early morning hours of Nov. 12, 2016, when Andrea Falcon, 24, Anthony Montoya, 24, Coshious Antrenette Frazier, 27, and Mercedes Morgan, 24, drove to San Francisco in a plot to shoot 21-year-old Lisa Williams.

Ullom, whose case was based on a joint investigation by Oakland and San Francisco police, said Williams was the girlfriend of a pimp with whom Falcon was involved in a violent feud.

The parties agreed that Frazier would be paid $5,000 to shoot Williams, but Frazier missed when she shot at Williams, according to San Francisco police.

The four alleged murder plotters drove back to Oakland after the unsuccessful shooting, but Frazier wanted to be paid anyway, Ullom said.

After a disagreement over money, Falcon and Montoya shot Frazier multiple times at her home in the 1700 block of Pleasant Valley Avenue in Oakland around 1:15 a.m. on Nov. 12, 2016, and fled in a car driven by Morgan, according to Ullom.

Frazier was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland and underwent several surgeries there but was taken off life support and died on Nov. 24, 2016.

The prosecutor alleged that Falcon and Montoya killed Frazier because they didn't want her to talk about the plot to kill Williams.

Ullom said Falcon and Julio Garcia, 22, drove to San Francisco in the early morning hours of Dec. 7, 2016, several weeks after Frazier was killed, and Garcia fatally shot Williams in the 800 block of South Van Ness Avenue in the city's Mission district.

The bullet casings at that scene were tested for DNA and it matched Garcia's DNA, according to police.

Ullom said that after Williams was killed the suspects who had plotted to murder her exchanged texts, including one in which Morgan wrote, "LOL (laugh out loud), the bitch is gone."

He said there was also a reference to bringing guns to attend a candlelight vigil for Williams because the pimp who was her boyfriend would be there.

In addition, evidence at the hearing indicates that Falcon and Morgan were lovers but Falcon became mad at Morgan because she allegedly had sex with the pimp.

Evidence at the hearing also indicated that the pimp had shot Falcon in the leg in San Francisco at one point and Falcon had shot at Williams' home in Vallejo.

Jacobson ordered Falcon, known as "Stink" by her friends, to stand trial on two counts of murder for the deaths of Frazier and Williams.

Montoya was ordered to stand trial on a murder count for Frazier's death and Garcia was ordered to face a murder count for Williams' death.

In addition, Falcon, Garcia, Montoya and Morgan were ordered to stand trial on a conspiracy to murder charge for the alleged plot to kill Williams. Morgan also is charged with being an accessory to the murder of Frazier for allegedly being the driver in her shooting.

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.
Michael Guerin has worked as an addiction counsellor for 15 years and he knows more than most about the devastating consequences of a dependence on cocaine.

He started helping addicts at the height of the Celtic Tiger, when cocaine was the drug of choice for a fast-living, upwardly mobile and predominately urban generation.

Fast-forward to today, and he is seeing an entirely different picture. Cocaine is no longer the preserve of an affluent class and a particular location; it is everywhere now - a drug to be found in all parts of Ireland and taken by people from all walks of life. Guerin sees it day in, day out.

The people that seek help at the Cuan Mhuire addiction clinic at Bruree, in south Co Limerick, tend to be as far removed from Katy French and Gerry Ryan - to name two high-profile victims of the drug from the tail-end of the boom era - as you can imagine.

Expand Close "People can get dependent on cocaine quickly," says addiction counsellor Michael Guerin / Facebook

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Whatsapp "People can get dependent on cocaine quickly," says addiction counsellor Michael Guerin

"It's ordinary people," he says, "like you or I. Many of them are really young - they would first have encountered cocaine at school and they're addicted while still in their teens. It's something that affects all social strata now, and price doesn't seem to be a factor."

Data shows that Ireland is one of the most expensive places in the world in which to buy cocaine. A gram costs an average of 80. And this country is also close to the top of the league table when it comes to the amount ingested in a single session. This statistic is especially worrying for Guerin.

"People can get dependent on cocaine quickly," he says. "They consider it to be something recreational but it can easily become a habit that costs them a lot of money and plays havoc with their health."

Statistics demonstrate the long tentacles of cocaine. One in six of all people in Ireland receiving treatment for drug addiction are addicted to cocaine. Eight out of 10 cocaine users entering treatment are men, and the mean age of first use is 20.

Cardiac problems and brain injuries are two of the side effects. RTE broadcaster Ryan died from a heart attack in 2010, while model French's death was caused by cerebral hypoxia - a shortage of oxygen to the brain.

But there's also the psychiatric impact, Guerin says. "Cocaine can have such a destructive impact - and it doesn't just play havoc with the user, but with the lives of their families too."

Cocaine, which first made an impact in Ireland in the 1970s, is in the news once again as a result of the horrific murder and dismemberment of 17-year-old Drogheda schoolboy Keane Mulready-Woods last week. He had been involved in a gang that distributed cocaine and other drugs, and the manner of his demise was akin to Narcos-style killings in Mexico.

For addiction therapists like Guerin, there is a direct link between cocaine consumption and the horrors perpetrated by gangland Ireland.

"There's no question about it. There's huge money to be made because there's a market there. It's a drug that has become normalised now, but few people that take it make the link with the criminal gangs."

Cuan Mhuire was established by Eileen Fitzgerald - better known as Sr Consilio of the Sisters of Mercy - in Athy, Co Kildare in 1966 and operates a number of treatment centres throughout the country. The Bruree facility has beds for six adult males - and a waiting list exceeding 300.

"There's a huge need out there," Guerin says. "We're doing our best, but sometimes it feels as though we're just skimming the surface."

Twenty-one-year-old Co Cork native John - not his real name - spent five months at Cuan Mhuire under the care of Guerin and his colleagues.

"I went in when I was 19 and had my 20th birthday there," he says. "Without them, I don't know where I'd be now or if I'd still be alive. I thought about killing myself many, many times but I didn't have the nerve to go through with it."

School playground

John first tried cocaine when he was just 15. He had grown up in a household where his father had a dependency on alcohol and he himself and started drinking at 12. He was 14 when he was offered speed in the school playground and he had just turned 15 when cocaine came into his life.

"I suppose I have an addictive, risk-taking personality," he says. "You try something thinking you can handle it and the next thing you want it all the time."

Cocaine played havoc with his education, and he left school at 16. "You'd live for the highs, but the come-downs would be the worst," he says. In order to feed his habit, he started dealing the drug - but he ended up owing thousands.

"It was a miserable life," he says. "I was afraid that I would either be knifed to death or would knife someone myself."

Thanks to the cocaine, his days were spent in a fog of bravado and paranoia and he took to carrying a knife with him everywhere. "I'd walk around with my hoodie up and a blade in my pocket. I liked it if people were afraid of me."

Realisation that he was an addict came late.

"It was only when I was with a friend and we were sitting on this filthy floor with the curtains closed and we were doing drugs that the word came up. He said, 'I suppose we're addicts'. I hadn't even thought about it - that's one of the things that coke does: it stops you from thinking in a way that makes sense."

He wasn't to know it at the time, but he was one of the lucky ones to be admitted to Cuan Mhuire. "They won't take you while coke is in your system and it can take two weeks to be completely clear of it. That was torture. I drank cans to try to manage."

Going cold turkey at the treatment centre was difficult too, but John made it. "I'm so grateful to have my life back," he says. "I'd say to anyone thinking of trying it [cocaine] not to. The temporary high isn't worth it, especially if you're someone with an addictive personality."

He has a job now - in Cork city - and he is thankful to have a second shot at life.

"I came so close to ending it all. Life didn't seem worth living. The sad thing is that there were others who were in my position and they did end their lives."

Domestic violence

Broken lives thanks to cocaine are part of Sandra McAleer's world too. The Dublin-based family law barrister says the drug has become a primary reason for an increase in domestic violence, unprovoked assaults and family debt.

"I spend my days - Monday to Friday - at Dolphin House [the family law court in Dublin's Temple Bar] and every second case features cocaine," she says. "I've seen women who are being barred from the family home because of their abuse of cocaine - we wouldn't have seen that years ago.

"I've had a case where a 13-year-old girl was taking cocaine. There was a case where a guy who had put 40,000 of coke up his nose was proudly telling the court that as a justification why he hadn't paid maintenance for his six children - I did my best to get him into prison, but he wasn't jailed in the end."

McAleer says there has been a noticeable uptake in the number of cases involving cocaine over the past year or so.

"There seems to be more money around," she says, "and it's also become so easy to get now. And it's become normalised. You'd have people who would never have touched it in the past doing it every weekend now.

"You could easily go into a bar and spend 100 on drink, but people are finding they're getting a hit [of cocaine] for 50 and they're thinking they're great. They're not getting hangovers or sick in the toilet. But the idea that it's just a recreational thing that you can casually do often doesn't become the case.

"I've had women [clients] where I've said, it's either the cocaine or the children and nine times out of 10 they cannot get off the stuff and they lose custody of their children. It's very sad, but it's happening."

And it's happening everywhere. A study last year from Philip White, forensic science lecturer at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, showed that there were traces of cocaine found on every single banknote he tested in the West of Ireland.

Just pick up the regional newspapers to see how frequently cocaine is mentioned in court proceedings. The Western People said, "cocaine use in Mayo was threatening to spiral out of control" while the Donegal Democrat lamented the "rampant" drug problem in Letterkenny.

Earlier this month, at Bandon District Court, west Cork, Judge James McNulty convicted five young people of having cocaine in their possession at a rugby event last year.

He said he was "astounded" by the details of the offending, which he said had taken place in broad daylight, across the later afternoon and into the early evening - "openly, shamelessly and in public" by those "who have placed their career and travel prospects at risk".

It's a sentiment shared by a publican who runs a number of popular bars in the midlands.

"What really stuns me about cocaine use now is how brazen people are," he says. "A decade ago, you might suspect someone was doing it but they'd really be careful not to get caught. Now, it's virtually out in the open. You find things like rolled up Kit-Kat foil in the toilets or our security people would see a couple of lads going into the toilet together and not come out for 10 minutes.

"One of the things that's apparent is the increased violence. Of course, you'd always have to be mindful of something happening after a few drinks, but this is serious stuff - people glassing each other on the street, and just being hyper-aggressive."

Alarms

The rise of cocaine-fuelled violence is something that alarms Dr Chris Luke, consultant in emergency medicine and adjunct senior lecturer in public health at University College Cork.

"The bottom line is cocaine is almost synonymous with grotesque violence, the sort of violence you see in movies and TV series like Narcos," he told the Irish Examiner this week.

And he noted that cocaine can have horrifying consequences when taken by sociopaths or psychopaths.

"Its most obvious and familiar effect is it gives people this intense euphoria, what they call the Master of the Universe syndrome. The problem is that in the wrong context with the wrong human being you end up with perhaps a sociopathic or psychopathic mindset with the Master of the Universe effect. A certain number of people become grotesquely violent. I think that is what is fuelling the barbarity we're seeing now."

The killing of Keane Mulready-Woods has given people pause for thought, says Fianna Fail TD for Sligo-Leitrim, Marc MacSharry.

"The penny is dropping that if you go out and do a line of cocaine you're helping to line the pockets of the drug barons and you're inadvertently contributing to gangland violence."

MacSharry has long called for an advertising campaign to highlight the connection between so-called recreational cocaine use and the increasingly violent actions of the drug gangs keen to control a market worth hundreds of millions in Ireland alone.

"We need to make people really stop and think about what they're doing," he says. "Not just in relation to the potential detrimental health consequences to themselves, but to all of those caught up in the drugs trade."

He says he can see the impact of cocaine in his hometown of Sligo and believes that the days where it was seen as the party drug of choice for affluent people in Dublin have long gone.

"What's happened to Drogheda [the sense of lawlessness as a result of the cocaine trade] could happen to other towns around the country. We need to be vigilant."

For Guerin, the hope is that - with focused education - young people will avoid the temptation. "It's a societal thing," he says, "you've got a cohort that feel disenchanted and are drawn to risky behaviour. And if it's cocaine that they start on, the outcomes can be terrible."
Covid-19, the deadly disease that began as a novel coronavirus causing pneumonia-like symptoms in central China, has now spread around the world and is having profound impacts on nearly every major economy.

The outbreak began with a trickle of concerning reports from around the Chinese city of Wuhan in mid-December, before China finally informed the World Health Organisation of the disease on the last day of 2019.

It appears to have had its origins in a seafood market in Wuhan. But it emerged at a time when many were travelling for the Lunar New Year, and Wuhan is a hugely popular hub for travel both within China and internationally.

The disease was isolated for study on 7 January, and by 20 January the Chinese authorities confirmed what many experts already suspected  that the virus spread easily from human to human.

Since then, coronavirus cases have been confirmed in more than 150 countries and territories across the globe.

Heres a breakdown of what we know about the disease, where it has spread and what you can do to help reduce your risk of catching it.

The novel virus is one of a family of diseases known as coronaviruses, a group that causes respiratory infections. They are all zoonotic, meaning they have the potential to be transmitted between animals and humans. Covid-19 is the seventh of its kind that is known to infect humans, while there are several others circulating only in animals that have not yet infected humans.

Other diseases to infect humans in this group range from the common cold and seasonal flu to SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome).

SARS first infected people in southern China in late 2002 and spread to more than two dozen countries, killing nearly 800 people. The Chinese government initially tried to conceal the severity of the SARS epidemic, but its cover-up was exposed by a high-ranking physician.

Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Show all 154 1 /154 Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Paramedics wearing personal protective equipment carry patient on a stretcher on to an ambulance in North Point district in Hong Kong, China Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A medical worker wearing protective gear takes a rest as he waits for ambulances carrying patients infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus at an entrance of a hospital in Daegu, South Korea YONHAP/AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A medical worker sprays disinfectant on an ambulance after carrying a patient infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus at a hospital in Daegu YONHAP/AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People wearing protective face masks shop at a supermarket in Casalpusterlengo, one the northern Italian towns placed under lockdown due to the new coronavirus outbreak EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A trolley bus is disinfected amid fears over the spread of the novel coronavirus in Pyongyang, North Korea REUTERS Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers wearing protective gear spray disinfectant as a precaution against the COVID-19 coronavirus in a local market in Daegu, South Korea AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wearing a protective facemask walks outside a nearly empty shopping mall at lunch time in Beijing AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wearing protective facemask and gloves puts a drawing made by a girl living in the area asking residents to wear protective gear, next to a quarantine notice for people who have travelled and a notice asking people to register outside a residential compound in Beijing AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A woman is taken into an ambulance amid a coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy REUTERS Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Ambulances and health workers are seen outside the Padua's hospital, northern Italy EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers in coaches leave MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire after being repatriated to the UK from a cruise ship hit by the coronavirus in Yokohama, Japan and head to Arrowe Park Hospital on Merseyside PA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People rest in a temporary hospital situated in the Tazihu Gymnasium in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Buddhist monks wearing protective face masks pray during a blessing ceremony for the people affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, at a temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia REUTERS Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers wearing protective gears carry a patient infecting with a new coronavirus to a hospital in Chuncheon, South Korea AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Soldiers in hazmat suits sanitize cargo from a China Airlines plane at the Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan City, Taiwan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Barricades are seen to block the entrance a the gate of a local mall in a nearly empty area in Beijing, China Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A vendor wearing a protective facemask waits for customers at a shop in Beijing AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus The body temperature of an Iraqi child returning from Iran is measured upon her arrival at the Najaf International Airport AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Volunteers hand out free facemasks at a shopping district in Quezon city, Metro Manila, Philippines Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers wearing protective gears carry a patient suspected of contracting the new coronavirus toward an ambulance at Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo, South Korea AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A worker disinfects a shop at a market in Shanghai AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A restaurant worker wearing protective clothing as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus passing a bag of food to a customer on the street outside their restaurant in Beijing AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A recovered patient is discharged from Leishenshan Hospital, the newly-built makeshift hospital for novel coronavirus patients, in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Volunteers in protective suits disinfect a factory with sanitising equipment in Huzhou, China China Daily via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers in protective suits attend to a patient inside an isolated ward of Wuhan Red Cross Hospital Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A drone operated by the Suwon municipal government flies around Changyong Middle School spraying disinfectant, in Suwon, South Korea EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers transfer medical waste at Leishenshan Hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wearing a protective mask rides a bicycle with his children in Guangzhou, China EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Volunteers in protective suits disinfect a railway station as the country is hit by an outbreak of the new coronavirus, in Changsha, Hunan province, China cnsphoto via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A woman repatriated from Wuhan carries a child as she walks upon her arrival at the Van Don airport in Vietnam's Quang Ninh province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff checking the body temperature of a patient who has displayed mild symptoms of the COVID-19 coronavirus, at an exhibition centre converted into a hospital in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A medical worker in protective suit transports oxygen tanks at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Boys wearing protection masks, gloves and modified water bottles sit on a cart at the airport arrival terminal in Guangzhou EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Employees work on a production line manufacturing protective suits at a clothing factory in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province cnsphoto via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers in protective suits move a patient at an isolated ward of a hospital in Caidian district following an outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan China Daily via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A worker in protective clothing, including face mask and gloves, carries a bucket as he works inside of The County Oak Medical Centre in Brighton, southern England, after it closed for "urgent operational health and safety reasons", following reports a member of staff was infected with the strain of the novel coronavirus AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers of the ecology and environment bureau collect samples from the sewage system of a hospital in Xinle, Hebei province China Daily via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man in protective clothing cleaning the County Oak Medical Centre GP practice The British government warned the outbreak of novel coronavirus was a "serious and imminent threat" and reported four new cases that brought the total recorded in the country to eight. Two hospitals The Royal Free and Guys and St Thomas', have both been designated as "isolation" facilities, with both currently housing Britons who have returned from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak PA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients to the newly completed Huoshenshan temporary field Hospital in Wuhan. The global coronavirus death toll rose again with Hong Kong announcing its first death from the outbreak on 4 February EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Members of staff wait as coaches carrying Coronavirus evacuees arrive at Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre, in Milton Keynes, after being repatriated to the UK from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan PA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A crew member of the cruise ship Diamond Princess talks to a worker wearing protective gear standing near the vessel, where dozens of passengers were tested positive for coronavirus, at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Doctors scan a patient's lungs at Huoshenshan temporary hospital built for patients diagnosed with coronavirus in Wuhan Xinhua News Agency/AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People wearing protective suits walk from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, with around 3,600 people quarantined onboard due to fears of the new coronavirus, at the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Indonesians who arrived from Wuhan are sprayed with antiseptic at Hang Nadim Airport in Batam. People evacuated from the Chinese city at the centre of a deadly virus outbreak, were transported to a quarantine zone on a remote island at the edge of the South China Sea, shortly after landing Indonesian Foreign Ministry via AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A woman wears a protective mask as she shops in a market in Beijing Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members hugging each other in an isolation ward at a hospital in Zouping in China's easter Shandong province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A portrait of Dr Li Wenliang is left at Li's hospital in Wuhan. He is regarded a whistleblower on the outbreak and died of the coronavirus which triggered wide-spread mourning on Chinese media Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Officers in protective gear enter the cruise ship Diamond Princess, where people tested positive for coronavirus, after the ship arrived at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, south of Tokyo Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Firefighters and personnel from the health ministry participate in a drill to prepare for the potential arrival of passengers infected with the coronavirus at the Viru Viru International Airport, in Santa Cruz, Bolivia Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Scientists are at work in the VirPath university laboratory as they try to find an effective treatment against the new Sars-like coronavirus AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers in protective suits attend to patients at the Wuhan International Conference and Exhibition Center, which has been converted into a makeshift hospital to receive patients with mild symptoms caused by the virus Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A girl wears a mask as a preventive measure against the coronavirus outbreak, in Bangkok, Thailand Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man is transferred from the World Dream cruise ship to an ambulance at the Kai Tak cruise terminal in Hong Kong as health officials conduct inspections AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers from a disinfection service company enter Lotte Department Store in central Seoul, South Korea EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man who arrived from Hubei province talks with police at a checkpoint at the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A doctor holds a handheld digital thermometer near health officials preparing a health check for arriving passengers from China at Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A resident walks across an empty track in Wuhan Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A scientific staff member works in a secure laboratory, researching the coronavirus, at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members preparing equipment to meet passengers of a military plane, which evacuated citizens of Russia and ex-Soviet countries from China's Wuhan province Vsluh.ru via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Staff wearing protective suits as they prepare to disinfect a Vietnam Airlines plane at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi Vietnam Airlines/AFP/Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A South Korean person, who was evacuated from Wuhan, arrives at the National Medical Center after showing suspected symptoms of novel coronavirus, in Seoul EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Officers in protective gear escort a person (under the blue sheet) who was on board cruise ship Diamond Princess and was tested positive for coronavirus Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A doctor being disinfected by his colleague at a quarantine zone in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Buses carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan, arrive at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Indonesian health officials conduct an exercise drill in transporting a patient requiring isolation at the Belawan port in Medan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus The Pasteur Institute in Dakar, designated by the African Union as one of the two reference centres in Africa for the detection of the new coronavirus that appeared in China, is hosting experts from 15 countries on the continent this weekend to prepare them to deal with the disease AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A government worker disinfects a co-worker after visiting a quarantined woman's home in Qingdao EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An aerial view of the deserted roads and bridges in Wuhan Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers hold a strike outside the Hospital Authority as they demand for Hong Kong to close its border with China to reduce the coronavirus spreading Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A person has their tempriture checked in Qingdao, China EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. Note the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/AFP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Malaysian nationals being directed from a bus by health officials in protective suits as they arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, after being evacuated from Wuhan Malaysia's Ministry of Health/AFP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People hoping to buy face masks crowd outside a medical supply shop that was raided by police for allegedly hoarding and overpricing the masks, as public fear over China's Wuhan Coronavirus grow in Manila, Philippines. The Philippine government has been heavily criticized after failing to immediately implement travel restrictions from China, the source of a deadly coronavirus that has now killed hundreds and infected thousands more Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Residents wearing masks and raincoats volunteer to take temperature of passengers following the outbreak of a new coronavirus at a bus stop at Tin Shui Wai, a border town in Hong Kong Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Italian citizens repatriated from Wuhan going though a health control zone after landing at the Mario De Bernardi military airport in Pratica di Mare, south of Rome, prior to be placed in quarantine Italian Defence Ministry/AFP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers arrange beds in a 2,000-bed mobile hospital, set up in an exhibition center, in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A doctor checks conditions of occupants in a hotel accommodating isolated people in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members wearing protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city of Wuhan, arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital. The Chinese army deployed medical specialists to the epicentre of the spiralling viral outbreak that has killed and spread around the world AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A baby wearing a protective face mask is pushed by a woman as they arrive from Shenzhen to Hong Kong at Lo Wu MTR station AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A health worker checks the temperature of a woman entering a subway station in Beijing Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A young child wears a protective mask and is covered in plastic while waiting to check in to a flight at Beijing Capital Airport The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday declared the coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Ambulance crews arrive at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, as it prepares for a return flight from Wuhan, China. Eighty-three Britons and 27 foreign nationals who were trapped in Wuhan are being flown back to the UK Tom Maddick / SWNS Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A woman carries a baby wearing a protective mask as they exit the arrival hall at Hong Kong High Speed Rail Station Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Camp beds at a Medical Assessment Center set up at the airport in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on the eve of the arrival of German citizens evacuated from Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Funeral parlour staff members in protective suits help a colleague with disinfection after they transferred a body at a hospital in Wuhan Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Muslims wearing masks pray for the victims of coronavirus at a mosque in Ahmedabad, India Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical officials waiting for people who wants to check the novel coronavirus at Myeongdong shopping district Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Children wear plastic bottles as makeshift homemade protection and protective masks while waiting to check in to a flight at Beijing Capital Airport Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A patient assisted by medical staff gets off an ambulance in Wuhan AFP/Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People line up to buy face masks from a medical supply company in Nanning, southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Countries began evacuating their citizens from the Chinese city hardest-hit by a new virus that has now infected more people in China than were sickened in the country by SARS Chinatopix via AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Millions spent their normally festive Lunar New Year holiday under lockdown Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Children with face masks wash their hands before prayer at Erawan shrine in Bangkok. Thailand has detected eight Coronavirus cases so far AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An Indonesian health officer points at the screen of a thermal scanner for passengers China confirmed that the deadly Wuhan coronavirus virus can be transmitted between humans AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Hospital workers wearing protective eyewear and masks examine an Indonesian student who returned from China in quarantine at a hospital in Banda Aceh AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Ambulance staff dispose of an outfit at the hospital in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A person checks the temperature of a passenger to help stop the spread of a deadly virus as he arrives at the Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International airport in Palembang AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Nepali students, wearing face masks, attend a class at Matribhumi School in Bhaktapur, on the outskirts of Kathmandu AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Two Buddhist monks wear face masks while walking along a street in Yangon AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Staff disinfecting a residential area in Ruichang, part of Jiujiang in China's central Jiangxi province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers are seen at the construction site of a new hospital being built to treat patients from a deadly virus outbreak in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on January 27, 2020. - China is rushing to build a new hospital in a staggering 10 days to treat patients at the epicentre of a deadly virus outbreak that has stricken thousands of people, state media reported on January 24. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP) (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images) HECTOR RETAMAL AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Vapor blurs the goggles of an ambulance driver while they work, in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers producing facemasks at a factory in Yangzhou AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff getting on an ambulance in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A vendor of traditional masks wears a facial mask at his shop in Thamel EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An airport official checks the temperature of a passenger upon his arrival at the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An ambulance driver talking with medical staff in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team leave the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market The new coronavirus appears to have its origins in a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, a popular transport hub AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers produce protective suits at a factory in Nantong AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers scanned by thermal imaging for body temperature as they go through health measures and procedures after they landed at Rome's Fiumicino airport on a southern airlines flight from Wuhan Aeroporto Di Roma/AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A Thai royal guard wears a mask while on duty at the Grand Palace in Bangkok EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wearing a face mask rides a nearly empty subway train in Beijing AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A shopper wearing goggles with a face mask and gloves uses a self checkout machine at a supermarket in Wuhan AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Members of the Italian Red Cross putting on protective gear, getting ready to give health checks to passengers that landed at Rome's Fiumicino airport on a southern airlines flight from Wuhan Aeroporto Di Roma/AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A member of the Hong Kong government's Civil Aid Service gestures at the entrance to the Lady MacLehose Holiday Village which is being used as one of two quarantine centres for people who have been in close proximity with suspected cases of a SARS-type virus. Hong Kong will turn two holiday camps, including a former military barracks, into quarantine zones for people who may have come into contact with carriers of the Wuhan virus, officials announced AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff wearing protective suits at the Zhongnan hospital in Wuhan STR/AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A Malaysia Health official checks passengers going through a thermal scanner upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Staff disinfecting Yingtan North Railway Station, China China banned trains and planes from leaving the major city at the centre of a virus outbreak on January 23, seeking to seal off its 11 million people to contain the contagious disease that has claimed lives and spread to other countries AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A passenger walks past a quarantine control station at Narita airport, Japan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Patients queue up to seek treatment in Wuhan Tongji Hospital Fever Clinic, in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Quarantine workers spray disinfectant at Incheon International Airport, South Korea EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A member of staff checks the temperature of a guest entering the casino of the New Orient Landmark hotel in Macau, after it reported its first case of the new SARS-like virus AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients to Jin Yintan hospital Little is known about the new disease which, if confirmed, would be only the seventh coronavirus known to science that can infect humans Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Members of the Three Gorges Medical Laboratory offering free masks to the public in Yichang, China AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Gabriel Leung, right, chair professor of public health medicine at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, speaks about the extent of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in China AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Members of staff of the Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team conducting searches on the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A quarantine officer at Incheon International Airport, South Korea, uses an electronic thermometer to check the temperature of passengers arriving by plane from Wuhan The virus causes symptoms of viral pneumonia, and has already led to several deaths EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A screen shows cancelled flights at Tianhe airport in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Health officials hand out information about the current coronavirus at Kuala Lumpur International Airport AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A store owner argues with security guards as he attempts to enter the closed Huanan wholesale seafood market AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers producing facemasks at a factory in Handan, China's northern Hebei province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff and security personnel stop patients' family members from being too close to the Jinyintan hospital Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus maya-goodfellowAn airport staff member uses a temperature gun to check people leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A rescue worker walks past a notice about new coronavirus that has broken out in China Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Health officials wear face masks at an inspection site at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members carry a patient into the Jinyintan hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A staff member checks body temperature of a child after a train from Wuhan arrived at Hangzhou Railway Station in Hangzhou AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A quarantine station measures passenger body temperatures at Narita Airport JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers walk past a notice displayed near a quarantine control station at Narita airport EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers walk past a poster alerting on coronavirus screening ahead upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An employee sprays disinfectant on a train, as a precaution against coronavirus, at Suseo Station in Seoul EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Kazakh sanitary-epidemiological service worker uses a thermal scanner to detect travellers from China who may have symptoms possibly connected with the previously unknown coronavirus, at Almaty International Airport, Kazakhstan Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Pharmacist Liu Zhuzhen stands near a sign reading "face masks are sold out" at her pharmacy in Shanghai AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus The Wuhan Medical Treatment Center, EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A worker in a protective suit at the closed seafood market in Wuhan Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers wear protective face masks at the departure hall of a high speed train station in Hong Kong AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A notice for passengers from Wuhan Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wears a mask while riding on mobike past the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market Getty

The current coronavirus outbreak has an average fatality rate of around 2 per cent, rising for people over 70 and dramatically falling in younger patients. That makes it less deadly to individuals who catch it than SARS (with a fatality rate of about 10 per cent) and MERS (about 35 per cent), but more deadly than most seasonal flu strains (which have fatality rates of around 0.1 per cent).

Covid-19 does also appear to be more contagious than the flu. Each patient with the new coronavirus is estimated to infect an average of 2.2 people, according to a 28 February paper. That compares to a rate of infection of about 1.3 people in seasonal flu.

What are the symptoms?

The most common symptoms of Covid-19 are very similar to the flu  fever, tiredness, and dry cough.

Some less common symptoms include shortness of breath, tightness in the chest and other aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhoea.

In most people (around 80 per cent) these come on slowly and remain mild. In some patients, infection has been confirmed where they were exhibiting no symptoms at all  an issue that has made containing the outbreak a lot harder.

Older people are more likely to develop more serious symptoms, particularly those with underlying health conditions including high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes.

What should I do if I am worried I have coronavirus?

Experts say that the best thing to do if you experience these symptoms is to do exactly what you would for the flu  stay home, rest, and try not to pass it to others.

The WHO says people with fever, cough and difficulty breathing should seek medical attention, and most countries impacted by the outbreak have introduced localised instructions for people who experience an onset of symptoms.

People who have travelled to infection hotspots (more on those below) are also being urged to take extra precautions like self-isolating and informing their local health services, even if they dont have symptoms.

The UK government has set up a specific portal for those who either have symptoms or have travelled to virus-affected places. It emphasises that people with coronavirus symptoms should only use the portal to contact NHS 111 if they "cannot cope". They should and not go to see their GP or local hospital, which risks transmitting the disease more widely.

What about medicines? A vaccine? Garlic??

Scientists are working on a vaccine for coronavirus, but at present a safe, working solution is not expected to be developed for around 18 months.

There are lots and lots of rumours being spread around about things you can take to protect yourself from or cure Covid-19  unfortunately, the WHO says there is no specific medicine that can do this.

Patients are recommended to treat their symptoms as they would a bout of regular flu, while those with serious symptoms should seek professional medical care.

Specifically, the WHO has busted the myths that coronavirus can be staved off with antibiotics, sesame oil, garlic, rinsing your nose with saline solution, pneumonia vaccines, or by spraying your body with alcohol or chlorine.

Where has the virus spread?

According to John Hopkins Universitys live dashboard on the outbreak (as of 20 March 2020), there are 163 countries and regions with confirmed Covid-19 cases.

Globally, there are more than 247,000 cases, with more than 80,000 in mainland China.

There have been more than 7,100 deaths around the world, 3,100 of these in Hubei province, China, where the outbreak started. Numbers of new cases in Hubei and China in general have been falling in recent weeks, while they have been rising in the rest of the world.

Italy is by far the worst-affected European country, with an intense pocket of infections in the northern region of Lombardy. The country has more than 41,000 cases as a whole, and more than 3,400 deaths.

The UK has more than 3,200 cases and 130 deaths, while the US has more than 10,000 cases and 150 deaths, mostly in Washington state.

Iran has had a particularly high-profile struggle with the virus, with senior government officials getting infected. It has had almost 18,000 cases and at least 1,284 deaths.

What have governments done about it?

Around the world, major international conferences, business summits and other gatherings have been cancelled as preemptive measures to contain the virus, while the global aviation industry has taken a big hit as tourists have cancelled travel plans.

China has taken the most extreme measures at a government level, quarantining whole cities comprising tens of millions of people in the worst-affected Hubei province.

India has cancelled all visas for travellers from countries with large outbreaks, including Italy, Iran and South Korea, and said it will screen all international passengers arriving at its airports.

Several virus-affected countries have suspended school classes, effectively until further notice, including China and Italy.

And authorities around the world are urging citizens to avoid stockpiling of key items including face masks, hand sanitiser and medicines, as well as cracking down on companies suspected of doing so illegally.

The WHO issued a statement saying that a global shortage of personal protective equipment  face masks, gloves, goggles, gowns, aprons and so on  was caused by rising demand, panic buying, hoarding and misuse and putting the lives of health workers at risk. We cant stop COVID-19 without protecting health workers first, said WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

This article was updated on 20 March 2020
As far as off-budget financing goes, 'strategic disinvestment' - one of the disinvestment processes - is another area that should draw attention since this too poses threat similar to other such methods and would have serious consequences for the health of the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) and fiscal management.

'Strategic disinvestment' implies sale of substantial portion of the government shareholding of a CPSE of up to 50 per cent, or such higher percentage, along with transfer of management control.

ALSO READ:Budget 2020: Off-budget financing- A riddle wrapped up in an enigma

Strategic sale in CPSEs to CPSEs

The Central government has already made strategic disinvestments in five CPSEs - HPCL, REC, HSCC, NPCC and DCIL - the tabs for which were picked up by other CPSEs like ONGC, PFC, NBCC, WAPCOS, and public-sector consortium of ports, respectively. This generated Rs 52,828.8 crore in disinvestment receipts - as disclosed in a Rajya Sabha answer on December 3, 2019 (Starred Question No. 159).

How much of this money was generated through market borrowings - which could constitute off-budget resource mobilisation - is not clear.

Further, the Central government gave 'in-principal' approval to strategic disinvestment in five more CPSEs in November 2019 - three of which would be to other CPSEs - as disclosed by the same Rajya Sabha answer.

ALSO READ:Mood of the Nation survey: 44% support Modi govt's privatisation drive; 39% oppose

CPSEs major contributors to disinvestment receipts

The CAG's 2017-18 audit report on the Union government accounts (No. 2 of 2019, released in February 2019) says "disinvestment constitutes a major portion of capital receipts" of the central government.

Out of total disinvestment proceeds of Rs 88,969 crore, five CPSEs - HPCL, NTPC, General Insurance, New India Assurance Company Ltd and Hindustan Aeronautical Ltd - contributed 78.13 per cent, or Rs 69,514 crore.

Meanwhile, here is the historical data on disinvestment receipts since 1991-92 when the process started.

ALSO READ:What Dalal Street expects from Nirmala Sitharaman's second Union Budget

Why strategic disinvestment is a concern: Case study of ONGC

While the details of strategic disinvestments are scarce, the case of the ONGC is instructive.

It acquired HPCL (a CPSE) in January 2018 for Rs 36,915 crore. In doing so, for the first time in its history, ONGC - a debt-free and cash-rich 'navaratna' CPSE - borrowed Rs 24,881 crore, as it had exhausted its cash reserves earlier due to acquiring stakes in bankrupt Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) in 2017 for Rs 7,738 crore, payment of hefty dividends to the Central government, and Rs 4,022 crore share buyback.

The disinvestment proceedings of HPCL (ONGC had acquired 51.1 per cent stakes for a total of Rs 36,915 crore) went to the Central government's kitty.

Now, ONGC is so debt-burdened that it is contemplating selling HPCL off - in less than two years.

A scrutiny of its annual reports reveal its precarious financial condition: Cash reserves have crashed from Rs 2,01,246 crore in FY12 to just Rs 5,041 core in FY19, and borrowings shot up from Rs 45,000 crore to Rs 2,15,936 crore during the same period - as depicted in the following graph.

ALSO READ:Successful divestment of BPCL, CONCOR to lay path for ambitious stake sales: Subhash Chandra Garg

Bleeding CPSEs: NTPC and PFC

The cases of two other CPSEs, NTPC and PFC, are no different. The former will be picking up the tab of strategic disinvestment in other CPSEs like NEEPCO and THDCIL, and the latter is already burdened by market borrowings (off-budget) to fund power projects on behalf of the Central government.

These CPSEs have also been contributing significantly to the Central government's kitty by way of dividends/surpluses.

ALSO READ:Cabinet clears strategic disinvestment proposal for BHEL, Neelachal Ispat, MMTC, NMDC

CPSEs drained of financial resources

The CAG's 2019 report also points out how CPSEs were the major contributors to the Central government's kitty of dividend/surplus income in 2017-18 - Rs 76,062, including RBI's contributions of Rs 40,659 crore.

Permanent damage to CPSEs for short-term gains

Economists and policy experts are worried at the state of affairs, particularly at the way the Central government is financing its budget through off-budget borrowings, disinvestment and by draining out cash from the CPSEs.

Economist and statistician Pronab Sen says: "The question is how you are doing it. If you are bleeding the CPSEs to finance budget - other than dividend which is a different thing - it is damaging the CPSEs permanently. You can't kill a goose that lays golden eggs. That would be damaging the long-term prospect of the economy for short-term gains."

ALSO READ:Air India sale: Amit Shah-led GoM approves draft for inviting bids

Rathin Roy, former member of Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council and director of the New Delhi-based National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), says: "The Government of India's medium-term problem for the past 15 years has been that it is assets-rich but income-poor. So, the strategic view of the GOI's assets would involve income generation from those assets and any sale or acquisition of assets should be keeping that in mind. However, my view is that the past three governments used assets sale to make up for the shortfall in income.

"The constitution of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) was welcome since it acknowledged to adopt asset management system. However, I am yet to see evidence of such a perspective being operationalised; disinvestments are still driven largely by fiscal pressure."

Questions were indeed raised when less than a month after the RBI announced transferring Rs 1.76 lakh crore in August 2019 - Rs 1.23 lakh crore as dividend and Rs 52,637 crore as surplus - the Central government announced a corporate tax cut of Rs 1.45 lakh crore.

This was jarring in view of the fact that industrial production and capacity utilisation have been falling because of lack of demand in the economy, ruling out possibility of corporate invests in the short run.

The RBI money could surely have been put to better use - to drive demand - given the fact that the GDP growth rate had taken a big hit - falling steadily from 8.1 per cent in Q4 of FY18 to 4.5 per cent for Q2 FY20 - primarily because of demand depression.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Additional buses will be added during New Dorp High Schools afternoon dismissal in hopes of curbing some of the recent reckless behavior in the area.

Starting Tuesday, the MTA will begin a pilot program that provides two additional buses during afternoon dismissal -- one S78 and one S79 -- departing from Hylan Boulevard and Jacques Avenue at 2:35 p.m. The two additional buses will supplement the existing eight buses scheduled to depart at 2:25 p.m.

During the pilot program, MTA management will be on site to evaluate the adjustments and determine whether or not to make the changes permanent.

This is in keeping with our promise to be a responsive agency that works with the communities we serve. We were happy to work with Councilman Matteo, Borough President Oddo, New Dorp High School, ATU Local 726 and the NYPD to make common-sense adjustments to our operations to help improve public safety," said MTA spokesman Shams Tarek.

Earlier this month, Councilman Steven Matteo (R-Mid-Island) wrote to the MTA requesting the additional buses as a way to more efficiently serve the school and reduce the recent rowdy behavior caused by lingering students during the schools afternoon dismissal.

We believe this can help avoid any further potential conflicts," Matteo told the Advance when he requested the additional buses earlier this month. "The safety of our students is paramount and collectively we will continue to do all we can to ensure their well being.

Earlier this month, a 15-year-old girl was sprayed with bleach and a hair removal product and punched in the head when she was attacked by a mob of teens during a melee near New Dorp High School after dismissal, the victims mother told the Advance.

The incident occurred at the corner of Hylan Boulevard and New Dorp Lane, when one girl poured a bottle of water filled with the chemicals on the 15-year-old girls head, chest and sweater, the mother said.

The woman said several teens were involved in the attack, including some who go to New Dorp and others who go to different schools around the borough.

A video of the ensuing melee shared with the Advance shows a mob of teenagers fighting, with police eventually intervening to break up the altercation.

A 14-year-old boy was arrested and charged with unlawful assembly and disorderly conduct and a 13-year-old girl was arrested and charged with unlawful assembly, an NYPD spokeswoman said. She did not have any information about the assault or assault charges.

MORNING DROP-OFF CHANGE

As part of the pilot program, in addition to the extra buses during afternoon dismissal, the MTA has agreed to move the S76 morning drop-off location closer to the schools crosswalk.

The MTA will establish a part-time bus stop for the S76, between 7:40 a.m. and 8:20 a.m. on weekdays, closer to the crosswalk on New Dorp Lane, between Hylan Boulevard and Mill Road.

The current bus stop, located just past the shopping plaza entrance, causes students to jaywalk while crossing New Dorp Lane instead of using the recently reconstructed crosswalk in front of the school.

Last February, the Department of Transportation, joined by the Mayors Office for People with Disabilities and representatives from New Dorp High School, unveiled a signalized crosswalk that improves safety and accessibility for local students.

The crosswalk, accompanied by a new traffic light installed in October of 2018, includes medians, ramps and a pedestrian refuge in front of the schools main entrance to allow students with disabilities to safely access the school.

The new crosswalk features Accessible Pedestrian Signals, which help blind and low-vision pedestrians safely cross the street by offering auditory and vibrational cues.
Creating a State Voters Register is a significant step forward for the development of Ghana, as a Democratic country seeking to integrate into the world community.

The purpose of the Voters Register is to ensure the state registration of citizens of Ghana, who have the right to vote in accordance with the Constitution of Ghana, to draw up quality voter lists for voting during elections and referendums.

Once, a Voters Register is created, it acts as a data bank, that contains personal information of all voters in Ghana.

Ghana as a nation that attained independence over six decades ago needs to move forward towards development, thus; the Electoral Commissions decision to create a new Voters' Register, shouldnt have led to any unrest or demonstrations in the country.

However, sometimes, the desperate actions of people, just because they want something at all costs, create suspicions to divide a nation.

Thats the case of Nana Akufo Addo. His clandestine and cunning efforts to hold on to power, despite his ineffective government, have changed the mind of many Ghanaians against him.

Akufo Addo promised to fight corruption, yet he has been implicated in corruption scandals more than John Mahama.

Even though he appointed the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, to lead the fight against corruption, the man couldnt do his job as he wants because of his superior's actions.

Under the iron fist of Akufo Addo, he controlled the Special Prosecutor to avoid prosecuting any politician which might affect the NPP party. Thus; the man was appointed just to deceive Ghanaians about the fight against corruption.

With over 123 ministers, plus a leader who claims to be a lawyer, Akufo Addo has governed the weakest economy and judiciary systems in the world. In Ghana's judiciary, elites dont go to jail, its only goats and chicken thieves.

As often said: A desperate person does desperate things, to enhance his chances to win the 2020 elections, Akufo Addo, gave promotion to 6,000 police officers and has gone further to give another promotion to over 400 junior immigration officers.

The collapse of the banking institutions' impact may probably take Ghana several years to recover. At the moment, Ghanaians and the government are facing a deep financial crisis, amidst a poor economy, therefore, the need to issue large currencies is rather a catalyst to kill the already troubled economy.

Yet, because of the 2020 elections, desperate Akufo Addo, who needs money to finance the campaigns and elections, issued the high currencies into the market.

The desperate actions of the Ghanaian leader have affected his integrity and trust to the extent that the request for a new Voters Register by the Electoral Commission, has been greeted with contempt.

How to rebuild his trust and soiled reputation, are now the tasks he must concentrate on. Even if he wins the elections, he will still encounter problems because he has completely lost his confidence and credibility.
Rajesh Asnani By

Express News Service

JAIPUR: Rajasthan Assembly on Saturday passed a resolution urging the Centre to repeal the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), amid opposition by the BJP which accused the ruling Congress of pursuing appeasement politics.

It is the second Congress-ruled state to pass such a resolution after Punjab.

Earlier, Kerala Assembly too had passed a resolution against the CAA moved jointly by the ruling Left alliance and the opposition Congress-led UDF.

The Rajasthan Assembly passed by voice vote the resolution which also asked the Centre to withdraw the new fields of information that have been sought for updation in National Population Register (NPR), 2020.

"It is evident that the CAA violates the provisions of the Constitution. Therefore, the House resolves to urge upon the government of India to repeal the CAA to avoid any discrimination on the basis of religion in granting citizenship and to ensure equality before law for all religious groups of India," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal said while moving the resolution in the House.

Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria questioned the right to challenge the Act in the state assembly.

"Granting citizenship is a matter under the Centre and and in such a situation do we have the right to challenge the CAA. The Congress should stop doing appeasement and vote bank politics," the BJP leader said.

It is written in the resolution that the CAA violates the basic spirit of the constitution. It is feared by a large section of people in the country that the preamble of NPR and NRC is the same. Census work should be done only after withdrawal of new provisions of NPR. Recent amendments made through the Citizenship Amendment Act differentiate people on religious grounds. It is designed to deprive citizenship of India to a section of individuals.

Apart from this, the proposed additional information required from all the people living in the country is likely to cause great inconvenience to the population at large. There will be no real benefit. Assam state is a living example of this. Therefore, with the withdrawal of the amendment of the CAA, the central government should also remove the apprehensions that have been sought in the NPR for the updates. They should also be withdrawn. Only after withdrawing the amendment to the NPR, census work should be taken up under it.

The resolution also says that there is a clear statement in the constitution that India is a secular country. This is the basic feature of the Constitution and it cannot be changed. Along with this, Article 14 of the Constitution clearly makes it clear that no person in the territory of India will be deprived of equality before law or equal protection of laws. The goal of the Citizenship Amendment Act-2019 i.e. CAA is to differentiate illegal immigrants on the basis of religion. Such discrimination on the basis of religion is not in conformity with the iconic ideals of the Constitution and is in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution.

The resolution states that for the first time in the history of the country after independence, a law has been brought which differentiates people on the basis of religion and will put the country's secular fabric at risk. Apart from this, no provision has been made in the CAA regarding migrants from other neighbours such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan. Critics have questioned why these countries were omitted.

There have been several demonstrations against CAA-NRC in Rajasthan but they have been totally peaceful.




Indian food is hands down one of the most wholesome cuisines out in the world. After all, it is made of the most ingredient out of all: Love.

However, experimentation with food is mostly a good idea and when Indian food comes in contact with unique Western flavours, the end result is a blessing for our taste buds.

Here are some unique Indo-Western food combinations that might sound unusual to you but taste better together.

1. Schezwan Dosa

Flavours from down South are infused with a taste of our neighbouring country. Even though this combination of two completely opposite dishes sounds bizarre to you, it makes for a wholesome meal. The chef either spreads the Schezwan sauce on the dosa's base or cook the noodles directly in it which then become the filling. A common dish nowadays, it might just leave behind the traditional dosa.





2. Nutella Parantha

If this parantha existed back in the '90s when we were growing up, none of us would have ever missed our breakfasts. An upgrade from the mixed fruit jam with parantha, this one is for the chocolate-lovers. It can easily be recognised as the Indian pancake with Nutella and since desis love their paranthas the most, it easily becomes the better version.

Pinterest

3. Chicken samosa

Even samosa isn't technically something that originated in India, it's more or less a solid part of the Indian cuisine. Traditionally filled with mashed potatoes and green peas, this snack is a favourite tea-time snack. To make things more exciting and 'meaty', chicken-filled samosas are available for non-vegetarians now.





4. Motichoor cheesecake

We all love laddoos and we all love cheesecakes. Combining the two desserts definitely sounds like a great idea for the sweet-tooth club. The softness of the cheese and the crunchy biscuit-base infused with motichoor is a perfect example of East meets West.





5. Chinese Bhel

Indians love their own version of Chinese food so much that they've invented brand new dishes on their own. Chinese bhel is chopsuey in disguise and the word 'bhel' makes it feel like it's ours to own. Deep-fried noodles are mixed with finely-chopped onions and other vegetables along with chilli sauce, ajinomoto and garlic paste. It is the perfect snack for people who love fiery flavours.

YouTube

6. Vodka Gol Gappa

Add booze to anything and it automatically becomes a dish everyone wants to try out. Gol gappas or puchkas or pani puris or whatever they call it in your state, they are almost every Indian's favourite snack. Some like it spicy, some like it sweet but the invention of vodka gol gappas has all of us loving the combo. From mint-based vodka water to imli wali vodka, there's something in it for everyone.

Pinterest

7. Tofu Biryani

Since the country's favourite rice-based dish did not offer any vegan options, tofu came to the rescue. Infused with the usual biryani flavours, tofu biryani is the healthiest option there is when it comes to the Mughlai dish.

8. Kheer Sushi

No Indian festival is complete without kheer and these days, there is a cross between the Indian dessert and the Japanese dish, sushi. Also known as Kheer Japaani or Rice Kheer Sushi, this one is a sweet take on the Japanese staple.

9. Butter Chicken Doughnut

This definitely sounds like a dish that was invented by a drunk Punjabi in search of some munchies after a night of drinking. The combination might not sound too gastronomic to you but once you start eating this, your taste buds will thank whoever came up with this genius idea.





10. Makhani Pasta

Forget about the arrabiatas and alfredos, makhani pasta is what should be on every menu. Tingling our desi palette to satisfying our love for the Italian dish, this version of pasta is a God-send.

Pinterest

11. Manchurian Khakra

No Gujarati household is complete without some khakra and there are so many flavours out there now, it's almost hard to choose. However, this one takes the price since it adds a Chinese twist to the famous Gujju snack.

Pinterest

Have you tried all of these unusual yet amazing dishes?
England all-rounder Ben Stokes on Saturday was fined 15 per cent of his match fees for using 'audible obscenity' during an international match.

The star all-rounder was found guilty of breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct during the first day of the ongoing fourth Test between England and South Africa.

The incident had occurred when Stokes was walking back to the pavilion following his dismissal in the 46th over of England's innings. He used audible obscenity in response to taunts from the crowd, for which he later issued a public apology.

He 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".

One demerit point has also been added to the disciplinary record of Stokes, for whom it was the first offence during a 24-month period.

Stokes admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by Andy Pycroft of the ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees.

On-field umpires Bruce Oxenford and Joel Wilson, third umpire Rod Tucker and fourth official Allahdien Palekar levelled the charges against Stokes.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rating:

Cast: Udhayanidhi Stalin, Nithya Menen, Aditi Rao, Rajkumar, Singam Puli

Director: Mysskin

In the opening slide, Mysskin dedicates the film to the Master, Alfred Hitchcock for his Psycho released in 1960. This Psycho has all the inimitable bits associated with a Mysskins flick written all over, which is dark and disturbing.

Set in Kovai and its surroundings, the film opens with woman crying for help even as the psychopath Anguli (Rajkumar) beheads her and collects it as a piece of trophy and displays her headless body with inner garments in a windmill blade. The first scene clearly suggests that Mysskin wants to take forward the story with frightening visuals than sharp dialogues. All the same, the interest factor is diminished when theres no mystery with the killers identity.

Angulys killing spree continues, but the police are unable to solve the mystery behind the mounting cases. Meanwhile, a visually challenged Gautham (Udhayanidhi Stalin) who's also a wealthy musician falls in love with Dhakini (Aditi Hydari Rao), a radio jockey and even stalks her with the help of his assistant (Singam Puli). Though initially Dhakini gets irritated with his advances, later she develops a soft corner when she realizes he is blind and truly in love with her. However, Dhakini tests Gautham asking him to track her the next day giving him some hints. Now, in a bewildering manner, the serial killer abducts Dhakini in front of Gautham who manages to reach the lonely railway station where the former was waiting.

But Dhakini maintains a calm at the chopping table and tells Anguli that Gautham will come to her rescue in seven days and even will kill him. He accepts the challenge and ties her with an iron chain in the same butcher room.

Gautham takes the help of Kamala Das (Nithay Menen), a quadriplegic and a former police officer investigating Angulys case and whether he comes out triumphant despite his deficiency forms the rest.

Udhayanidhi is adequate in the given role, but the character lacks solid scenes to prove his talents. Aditi Rao looks blemish-less and expresses right amount of vulnerability through her performance. But sympathising with a psychopath and shedding tears despite being in a threatening situation is not acceptable. It is Nithya Menen as a foul-mouthed cop (we were told that Nithya opted only this role between the two female leads) is impactful. Newcomer Rajkumar in the titular role does his job neatly. Singam Puli, Ram and Renuka lend their support.

All right, it is the story of psychopath killer and the film is rightly awarded an A Certificate and it has Mysskins distinctive touches. But there are waves of bloodshed, violence and gore unleashed every alternate scene; morbidity sets in after a point. Mysskin makes a reference to the Angulimala story in Buddhism by naming his leads as Gautham and Anguly, and biblical themes, which emphasize the concept of committing sin and redemption.

The directors take on a girl yielding to a stalker, projecting police force as a bunch of incapables etc. is underwhelming. Logic goes for a toss in several places and the climax is unconvincing.

While Tanveers cinematography is pretty good, Ilayarajas background score, which is silent at times, creates the necessary eerie effect and sets the right mood.
The Manipur government on Saturday decided to hand over the security of all check posts in the state that are being manned by the Assam Rifles to the police.

Education Minister Th Radheshyam told reporters that the decision was taken by the state Cabinet on Friday after an IPS officer alleged she was assaulted and molested by an AR jawan at Khudengthabi check post in Tengnoupal district.

He said CRPF personnel may also be deployed if additional forces were required to man the check posts.

"After considering the plus and minus points, we have agreed that minus points (of AR deployment at check posts) outweigh the plus ones," the minister said.

Radheshyam said the state government will seek the Union Home Ministry's approval in this regard.

He, however, did not mention the number of check posts in the state that are being manned by the Assam Rifles personnel.

Based on the woman IPS officer's complaint, police had registered an FIR against AR jawan P K Pandey for allegedly physically assaulting and molesting her at Khudengthabi check post while she was returning from the India-Myanmar border on January 19.

Chief Minister N Biren Singh had said that the state government will take legal actions over the issue.

The state women commission had also issued summons to the rifleman to appear before it on or before January 27 and forwarded the officer's complaint to the National Commission for Women.

The Assam Rifles, on the other hand, had termed the officer's allegations as "baseless, fabricated and malicious" and accused her of illegally entering Myanmar and purchasing unidentified goods there.

"It is unimaginable that a jawan tried to molest or physically assault an IPS officer. In fact, it is the other way round wherein she was shouting on a jawan...It is a sheer case of misuse of official position, power and arrogance shown by the officer," the AR had said in a statement.

The incident had triggered widespread condemnation and protests by IPS Association, Manipur chapter, state and central officers and policemen.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Fr Noel Kehoe CSsR Adm is part of the Parish clergy at St Josephs Redemptorist in Dundalk

Tell us a bit about yourself?

Well, Im originally from Newry so not so far away. My mothers people were from Ravensdale and Carlow and my fathers from Faughart and Dromintee. They settled in Newry where my father started a car business that is now run by my brothers. I was the youngest of 6 children and our world was very much family and work. I still think they are important values for me today. When I finished school, I went to college to study business and languages (an obvious choice I thought) and after I started training to be an accountant. But at 25, I took a mad leap of faith and decided Id try out the Redemptorists to become a missionary in Africa or Brazil or some other exotic place. So, 23 years later, here I am in Dundalk. 12 miles from home! Its been an interesting 23 years though, with appointments in Dublin, Brazil, Limerick, Cork and Belfast.

What are your impressions of Dundalk people?

Dundalk was always a familiar place for me growing up, so I feel very much at home here. Its wonderful to meet people whose names I grew up hearing about or passing places that were connected with my parents or grandparents. Or old haunts where I used to socialise! I still have a lot of relations around, so it means now I have to be on my best behaviour! But theres an easiness and friendliness in Dundalk when I meet people which I really appreciate. Of course, Dundalk has changed a lot in 30 years and it is now quite multicultural. That brings new challenges, but I really enjoy seeing how integrated people are in the life of the town, especially among the younger generation. With the presence of DKIT and so many international companies, theres a real buzz and a sense that something is happening. Last week, a friend from Newry sent me a message asking what is going on in Dundalk? His brother was relocating from a lovely suburb in Paris to Dundalk for work  he couldnt believe it! Dundalks the New Paris was my quip back! So in short, I like it here, and have been made very welcome by Dundalk people.

St Gerard's Novena is of huge importance to local people, can you give us an insight into the preparations and organisation involved each year?

Well, I should start by saying that my connection with the Redemptorists comes through St. Gerards Novena here in Dundalk. The Novena is a time to gather to celebrate life really and thats important to everyone. They estimate that about 8,000 people attend the Novena and nearly 300 volunteers and staff were involved last year! So you can imagine that such an event requires a lot of time and organisation. I have to admit that a lot of the heavy lifting is done by a really committed group of staff and volunteers, some with over 50 years of experience. Last year, we put together a project plan, listing out all the tasks to be completed  it was a long list  from rota for preachers, confessors, collectors, readers etc., media interviews, extra seating, fire safety and safeguarding training, traffic control, ordering in books, candles, and a lot of food for the troops! It really is an amazing experience of community. Last year, we opened up the new facilities which meant the relocation of the reception and hall and new safety regulations being implemented. That brought a bit of extra stress, but its done now and the new facilities are really wonderful.

The extended parking both at the front and back took an extra 120 cars off the streets, so I think our neighbours and local businesses were happy too! So theres a lot of preparation but its worth every bit of effort as people get so much from it spiritually.

Can you give us an insight into what your average day involves?

There is no average day really as a ministry, in general, and my role as Rector and Parish Administrator, in particular, bring a lot of unknowns. A cousin once admitted that he thought all I did was say mass, and I suppose that is an understandable perception.

So, as Redemptorists, we live in community, so twice a day, we gather for prayer as a community and we have set times for lunch and tea. Fr. Derek allocates the duty rota for masses and confessions and so, in one sense thats the predictable part of each day. St. Josephs is a busy church and parish and although weddings and baptisms can be planned, funerals are a big part of our ministry here and some weeks there are a lot. For example, there were four in the week after Christmas. These are very sensitive moments and we try to give a lot of time to families. Luckily, as a religious community, we share this important ministry, as well as meeting people who come to seek spiritual guidance or share difficulties they are facing. These too are privileged moments for us.

The monastery requires a lot of administration which can be quite demanding. Like any charity or business, we have to ensure that we meet statutory requirements for finance, employment, health and safety, and church requirements. For me, this means a good bit of desk work and lots of meetings. Planning for ministry is another big part of my work there. After the Novena, we prepare for November, then Christmas, then Lent, then Easter. Together with the pastoral council and leaders of the different ministries, we meet to plan these out and see how we can build a good faith community.

So, every day can be a busy day, and I am fortunate to have a lot of good people around me in the monastery and the parish. But if Im not careful, it can take over your life and you can burn out. Like many people, I have to work on that work-life balance and so make time for exercise, healthy living, family, friends, prayer, time out. Since I came to Dundalk, Im trying to build more of that into my life, especially exercise. So I do a few days a weeks at a gym and bought myself a bike  and its paying off!

What do you like about Dundalk town? Any dislikes?

As I said above, I feel at home here. A place is only as good as its people and I like the sense of community and how people really look out for each other, especially in difficult or tragic times. I was struck over these past months by the generosity of Dundalk people, especially to local charities that play an essential role in the community. We are so fortunate to have a town with good facilities and also to be on the doorstep of so much beautiful nature.

Aspects that I dont like are certainly not specific to Dundalk. There is a very disheartening undercurrent of violence right across the country, and every tragedy and every crime impacts on the community. I have spent a lot of my ministry working with young people, and I hate to see young peoples lives being ruined through drugs or criminality. There needs to be a lot of joint up thinking to address this.
An outbreak of coronavirus that started in Wuhan, China, and spread to the United States and other parts of the globe has caused greater than 26 deaths in greater than 800 cases, in step with Chinese officials.

We have compiled a list of falsehoods and unverified information following the outbreak.

1. A website for the Hal Turner Show noted false numbers of what number of human beings have been affected.

Have 23 million people quarantined, 2.8 million infected, and 112,000 people killed from the coronavirus in China? No, that's not true. While China restricted the travel to and from Wuhan due to the outbreak, the story published by Hal Turner Radio Show exaggerated the numbers of infections and casualties of the new strain of coronavirus. The story cited "covert intelligence sources" who were former colleagues of Turner from his "15 years with the FBI, with his remaining five years handling National Security, Terrorism, and Foreign Counter-Intelligence." Unnamed officials could confirm the claims on the record.

2. A story about children being deserted in an airport has circulating extensively on social media because of 9Gag.

While health control is getting more stringent at the airports due to coronavirus spreading across China and other countries, a Hong Kong-based online platform and social media website 9Gag  citing a witness  said a young son was not allowed to board a flight to Changsa from the Nanjing Lukou International Airport due to fever. The report added that parents eventually left their kids at the airport and boarded the flight themselves after arguing with the staff at the boarding gate for 3 hours. The post also claimed the "ground crew didn't have a choice but to take care of these children." However, the story has not been confirmed by any credible sources about the children being left behind the flight.

3. The statistics on the tweet below is false.

People are literally dying on the streets of China, 20 million on lockdown, the deadly #coronavirus is spreading across the globe (now 11 countries) at unprecedented rate and WHO director just said that each country is on its own and wash your hands pic.twitter.com/ItOiTjmmbz  Statistics (@AwStatistics) January 23, 2020

While Wuhan became a 'Zombieland' with dead people left on deserted streets, which was probably caused by the coronavirus, the director of the World Health Organization did not say that each country is on its own regarding the issue on 2019-nCoV.

4. There is a "vaccine" or cure for coronavirus that the government won't release.

A viral Facebook post, containing a screengrab of a patented "coronavirus vaccine" filed by the CDC. While the post makes no sense on even the most superficial level, the screengrabbed patent refers to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which killed hundreds of people in 2002 and 2003.

Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins University's Center for Health Security, told PolitiFact there had been reports of companies receiving funding to developing a vaccine for n-CoV. Adalja clarified, "there are no vaccines available for any coronaviruses let alone the (Wuhan) one."
Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode has hit hard on the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Buhari, Femi Adesina, over the statement he issued in defence of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Femi Adeshina had issued a statement on Friday after the Christain Association of Nigeria challenged the president to purge himself of the allegations of nepotism and religious favoritism while reacting to the death of Rev Lawan Andimi.

Please Read The Statement by Femi Adesina Below:

It was very sad and doleful to hear of the eventual beheading of Rev Lawan Andimi, Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Michika Local Government, Adamawa State. He had been abducted by terrorists earlier this month.

I felt the killing of Andimi very keenly, not for the fact that he was a clergyman, but any mans death diminishes me, because Im involved in mankind. (John Donne).

No man should die the way Rev Andimi was killed. Beheaded by insurgents, who then proceeded to gleefully announce his decapitation. It should not happen. Evil and senseless. It is a classic example of mans inhumanity to man, and those who did it have long lost their humanity if they ever had any.

President Muhammadu Buhari has sympathized with the family and relations of the dead. I have also been in a state of melancholy over it. May God have mercy.

I am mourning Rev Andimi, not just because he was a cleric, but because he was a human being. And my distress was increased by the statement issued on the tragic event by the central body of CAN. Too many things were mixed together, which the apex Christian body in the country should have been mindful of, lest it departs from the mind and essence of Jesus Christ, our perfect example.

For years, since he emerged on the national scene as a military leader, and later as an aspirant for the highest political office in the country, and eventually as President, spirited attempts have been made to position Muhammadu Buhari as anti-Christian faith. It worked against the man for a long time, till majority of Nigerians saw through the smokescreen, and made up their minds against the demonization. That was why as much as some church leaders tried to dress Buhari in borrowed robes in 2015 and 2019, millions of Christians went ahead to vote for him. The inexorable truth is that in Nigeria, Muslims cant wish Christians away, and vice-versa. We shall all stay here, and salvage it together.

However, the statement by CAN on the death of Andimi gives hint that the leadership of the Christian body still harbors some of the old narratives that have been discredited, and from which majority of people have purged themselves, except the willfully irredeemable.

Hear CAN, through its Director of Legal and Public Affairs, Evangelist Kwamkur Vondip, speaking for Rev Samson Ayokunle, President of the body: Maintenance of security is the least responsibility of any government that knows its worth. We are once again calling on President Buhari to purge himself of the allegations of nepotism and religious favoritism by reconstituting the leadership of the security forces.

Lets consider this part of the press statement. Maintenance of security is the least responsibility of any government that knows its worth. Not news. The Constitution says so. But dont you glean a hint of bile and bias in that knows its worth? Oh, CAN, this is not the mind of our Master. He gives praises when due. Security is number one on the priorities of the Buhari administration. It has pumped time and humongous resources into it, and while the job is not fully done, we are not in the same position we were before the administration came. At least, to those who want to be honest. And CAN should be honest. That is what weve learnt from our Master. There were times bombs used to go off in this country like firecrackers, and deaths were in many scores. Now for months on end, you may not hear of a single bomb blast. Emirs that had fled their palaces, like those of Askira and Uba, have returned after two years. Secondary schools that were shut for two years in Maiduguri have reopened. Roads long closed due to activities of insurgents are back in use. Kidnappers are being arrested in droves in different parts of the country. Clashes between farmers and herdsmen are reducing to the barest minimum. Yet, CAN is talking about a government that knows its worth? The Buhari government does, and honest Nigerians know it, and wish it more successes. Security, in any country of the world, can only be work in progress.

Hear again: We are once again calling on President Buhari to purge himself of the allegations of nepotism and religious favoritismWait a minute. If any purging is to be done, is it not by those making allegations? The allegations lasted for many years, but truth eventually overtook them. If CAN would then still dwell on the discredited accusations, it must be the one to purge itself, as millions of Nigerians, including Christians, have already done. The insecurity in the country is not about any religion. It is pure evil, from the pit of hell.

And then: purge himself of the allegationsby reconstituting the leadership of the security forces. CAN, oh CAN, in a condolence statement? Are you saying under a different leadership of our security forces, insurgency will vanish after they wave their fingers? Why mix the wheat and chaff together? In the leadership of the security forces as we have it now, is the position of Chief of Defence Staff not held by General Abayomi Olonisakin, who is also a pastor? Is he not a member of CAN? Is the Chief of Naval Staff, Ibok Ekwe-Ibas, not a Christian, and under the banner of CAN? Listening to the organization, you would think not even half a Christian is in the leadership of the security forces. This kind of sentiment breeds hatred and malice in a country, and CAN should not be involved in such, for Jesus would not do it. And weve been called to walk in His steps.

If the leadership of the security forces would be changed, it is a sitting President that has the prerogative. It will not happen when CAN begins to make such demand in what should be a sober condolence press statement. Dont mix bias and sympathy. They dont mesh.

And then, this completely reckless portion of the statement: In the light of the current developments and the circumstantial facts surrounding the prevailing upsurge of attacks against the church, it will be difficult for us to believe that the Federal Government is not colluding with the insurgents to exterminate Christians in Nigeria, bearing in mind the very questionable leadership of the security sector that has been skewed towards a religion and region.

Holy Moses! Did CAN say this? Shameful and ridiculous. These are the things that sow malice and animosity in the country, and a Christian body is not expected to be involved in such. You cant sow discord and expect concord.

In that statement, the Christian body urged the Federal Government to ensure the release of the prisoner of faith, Leah Sharibu, and hundreds of victims who are in Boko Haram and ISWAP captivity. It equally called for three days fasting and prayers by Christians in the country. Good. The role of the church is not just in making snide remarks and statements, it is in what the Good Book calls the demonstration of the Spirit and power. When Herod locked Peter up, and was going to behead him, the early church prayed fervently, and Peter was rescued miraculously the night before. Rather than cast the government as omnipotent, it is God that has all powers. And some things are never resolved spiritually except through prayer and fasting. It is not me that said so. Jesus did. So, let the Church be fully involved in supplication for divine intervention in the country, rather than playing subtle politics and unwittingly generating hate in the land.

CAN says kidnappings and killings are shameful to a government that boasts that it has conquered insurgency. Boasts. So that is all that matters to CAN, as if it was an opposition political party? Boasts. No. This would not augur for unity and cohesion in a country. We are not asking the Christian body to be in bed with government, that would not help anybody, but the organization has been sounding too long like a political party. We daily learn to walk with Jesus. His spirit is not an unduly critical one. And He left us an example that ye should follow in his steps.

Rev Andimi was not killed solely because he was a Christian. Those evil people kill anyone they lay their filthy hands on.

May Andimis soul Rest In Peace. May his loved ones be comforted. And may evildoers get their recompense, and fast too. Amen.

Fani-Kayodes reaction

Reacting to the statement released, Femi Fani-Kayode bashed the presidential aide.

He said: Femi Adesina is morally bankrupt. Worse still he has sold his soul to satan. How can a man who claims to be a Christian attempt to defend the indefensible & insult CAN? The blood of Rev. Andimi & every Christian killed by BH & the Fulani are on his hands & the hands of his boss.
P rince Charles has revealed that he would like to make an official visit to Iran.

In an interview with the Sunday Times newspaper, the future King said the country has been "such an important part of the world for so many centuries".

Charles however declined to address the tensions relating to the crisis in the British monarchy sparked by his son Prince Harry, who is stepping down from his royal role with his wife Meghan, the paper said.

"Yes, obviously I would like to [go to Iran]," he was quoted as saying.

Charles dodged questions about his son Prince Harry, who is stepping down from his royal role with his wife Meghan / AFP via Getty Images

"I know that Iran has been such an important part of the world for so many centuries and has contributed so much to human knowledge, culture, poetry, art. I mean, really remarkable people."

Prince Charles's wish to visit Iran comes at a time of heightened tensions between Tehran and the west.

A stand-off between the United States and Iran erupted into tit-for-tat military strikes this month, while Britain has called on Iran to release Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other dual nationals imprisoned there.

Charles told the Sunday Times he tries to be a peacemaker and that he has prayed for peace in the Middle East.

"I do think the most important thing is a just and lasting peace," he said in the interview, echoing comments he made on Friday during a visit to the Holy Land.
KAMPALA  Over 75 percent of Ugandans are employed in the agricultural sector  which only accounts for 26 percent of the nations GDP. This demonstrates that poverty in Uganda was, and is, mainly rural-based. In order to promote meaningful financial inclusion, UNCDF understood that it needed to directly address the rural population, particularly farmers and other players in the agricultural value chain.

In the context of rural digital finance, the concept of a booster team is a dedicated team that supports one or several organizations to distribute their products and services to the last mile population. These products can range from financial services, energy products, digital and financial literacy content, or any other service. The booster teams are deployed to rural areas to simultaneously register customers, sell mobile handsets, recruit agents, educate value-chain stakeholders on the benefits of a digital payment ecosystem, and train users on the operation of a mobile phone and mobile money. The basic structure of a booster team is detailed in the report.

The pilot began in Uganda in 2018 and evolved organically through three main phases. The first phase involved market identification and preparation that aimed to locate areas with an economic anchor and prepare those areas for digital ecosystem growth. The second phase was market storm. In this phase, it was important to work with community members, both rural actors and agents, to make sure they understood their role and that customers could grasp the benefits of a digital ecosystem. The third phase involved the push for sustainability with the aim to ensure the provider and other partners are profitably able to continue to reach difficult demographics with appropriate financial products. This phase helped UNCDF analyse usage data and identify additional gaps and improve approaches for the hardest-to-reach demographics.

The pilot generated several learnings and insights that are shared in the report. The first is for all activities of the booster team to be nudged and not pushed. The team is there to build on existing systems and not fundamentally redesign infrastructure. For this to work, the provider must be sufficiently motivated to solve issues that teams may face. The second lesson learned is to recruit experienced talent within a developed digital ecosystem. The third is to make sure participating members of the booster team already have viable businesses running so that they do not have to rely initially on the revenues from the value chain and can use pre-existing revenue to invest in rural solutions as needed. The last insight is for providers to organize mobile money teams in different ways and to be open to adapt to the existing structure when technical experts design the booster teams.

This approach significantly increased penetration in the rural areas. These hard-to-reach areas often have low population densities, poor roads and scattered economic activities. Nevertheless, UNCDF has made one of the most concerted efforts in the industry to determine what it takes to breach the rural frontier and to make sure no one is left behind in the digital era.

The publication captures the project and lessons learned in more detail. Read the innovations brief.

Related
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Economist has slammed the Narendra Modi governments new citizenship law and the National Register of Citizens, saying that it imperils the inspiring idea of India as the worlds largest democracy.

In a tweet, the publication said that the Prime Minister and his party are endangering the worlds biggest democracy. The cover of its latest issue  Intolerant India  comes days after the Economist Intelligence Unit, the publications sister concern, placed India 51st on the global Democracy Index, a fall of 10 places. The report had cited erosion of civil liberties as the major reason for Indias fall in the rankings.

The BJP hit back with party leader and foreign policy in charge Vijay Chauthaiwale taking to Twitter and calling the publication arrogant and one with a colonial mindset. We thought the Brits had left in 1947! But the editors of @TheEconomist are still living in colonial era. They are furious when 600m Indians do not follow their explicit instructions of not voting (PM) Modi (sic), he tweeted.

We thought the Brits had left in 1947! But the editors of @TheEconomist are still living in in colonial era. They are furious when 600m Indians do not follow their explicit instructions of not voting Modi. https://t.co/LmPZlLZlny  Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale (@vijai63) January 24, 2020

According to the article titled Narendra Modi stokes divisions in the worlds biggest democracy, 200 million Muslims fear that the Prime Minister is building a Hindu state and that both Modi and the BJP are likely to benefit by dividing people over religion and national identity.

The article goes on to say that the plan to compile a register of citizens to hunt for illegal immigrants affects the entire population of the country. It could drag on for years, inflaming passions over and over again, as the list is compiled, challenged and revised, it said.
Priory Group has treated celebrities including supermodel Kate Moss (pictured)

An Australian firm is eyeing Priory Group, the scandal-hit mental healthcare firm that has treated celebrities including supermodel Kate Moss.

City sources said Ramsay Health Care, which is listed on the Australian stock market and owns hospitals across the globe, may buy part of the organisation.

Ramsay's interest comes as Priory Group's American owner, Acadia Healthcare, weighs a sale of the division which could be worth 1billion to 1.5billion.

Last year, Acadia Healthcare appointed bankers from NM Rothschild to find a buyer for Priory Group  which holds a number of NHS contracts  after a series of scandals including the case of a teenager who spent weeks wrapped in a blanket at a Priory hospital in Ticehurst, East Sussex.

Potential buyers include Canadian fund Brookfield and buyout firm CapVest. Priory Group and Ramsay did not comment.
A female prisoner died after guards did not intervene while she was being beaten with a sock filled with bars of soap, it is claimed in a lawsuit set to be heard in the US.

Nicole Rathmann was attacked by another inmate as she lay on her bunk at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.

But prison wardens allegedly allowed the beating to happen without intervening.

During the course of this unconstitutional assault, not one single jail guard or official attempted to stop the attack, intercede to prevent further abuse or offer medical assistance to Ms Rathmann, the lawsuit says.

The 33-year-old mother-of-one was only rushed to hospital after guards later found her unresponsive in her cell, the document states.

Central Mississippi Correctional Facility: Google

She died two days later, on 23 August 2018, after suffering a massive stroke and bleeding on the brain. Her death was listed as natural.

But the lawsuit, filed on behalf of Ms Rathmanns father Kent last week, will now seek to have that verdict overturned, the appeal website reports.

He is requesting the state award him at least $3m [2.3m] in compensation for what he says is the violation of his daughters constitutional rights that caused her death.

And he will say the beating she received was not the first time she had been targeted  citing a similar incident in which another inmate smashed her over the head with a phone.

Carlos Moore, attorney, said: Unfortunately its too late for Ms Rathmann, to bring her back, but her family would like to see justice and Mississippi Department of Corrections be held accountable for the inactions that led to her death.

They would like to see systemic changes, and of course they would like to be compensated for their pain and suffering.

He added that Ms Rathmann was due out of prison on parole just five days after she died following a six-year sentence for selling methamphetamine.

The MDOC has said it will not comment on the issue while litigation is pending.

Read more

Police custody deaths in UK hit highest level in decade
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: The 173 passengers on board a GoAir flight from Bengaluru to Phuket in Thailand had a mid-air scare when the aircraft developed technical problems while flying at an altitude of 10,000 feet and had to return to Kempegowda International Airport.

It landed safely at Bengaluru, but the angry passengers had to wait endlessly  initially on the tarmac itself  as they were sent to Phuket eight hours later on an alternative aircraft. Flight no G8-041, a Neo A320 aircraft, took off around 2.30 am on Friday from KIA without any glitches. In a statement, GoAir said the flight did a precautionary air turn back in the interest of safety due to a technical glitch. After the turn back, the flight landed safely at the Bengaluru airport.

According to sources, when the flight gained 10,000 feet, the on-board sensors warned the cockpit crew about the possibility of a door opening (Door Avionics Open Indication) and hence the crew decided to take the flight back to the originating airport. Sources hastened to add that there was no loss of cabin pressure. A sudden dip in cabin pressure can be fatal for the passengers and crew.

However, aviation safety consultant Mohan Ranganathan said this warning referred to the door in the avionic bay below, where passengers luggage is stored in an aircraft. There is no direct danger to passengers. But if the door opens, there is a chance of air entering the electronic bay and damaging the flight controls. So, in the interest of passenger safety, it is always advisable not to fly in such a situation, he said. Moreover, as per Flight Crew Operating Manual, the crew cannot continue flying when a warning signal has been given by the systems onboard, Captain Ranganathan added.

There seemed to be much chaos and confusion on the tarmac after the passengers alighted as they had no clear information on why they were back at Kempegowda International Airport. Passenger Hemant Kanani, a Mumbai-based advocate, tweeted a video of passengers aimlessly standing on the tarmac, which showed most of them clueless and checking their phones.

He also put out a sarcastic tweet: People stranded on Bangalore airport. Thank you for such a great service. In a series of tweets later, he asked: @goairlinesIndia, are you deaf? and Our whole day will now be wasted thanks to your airlines. Another passenger Priyanka Rathi tweeted: We are stuck on Bangalore airport since 7 hours. No response from you. Chaos has happened.

The aircraft was finally changed and passengers left for Phuket at 10.44 am, eight hours and 14 minutes behind schedule.

The A-320 Neo aircraft have earned notoriety over the last one year over repeated engine failures. A GoAir official insisted it was a technical issue not related to the engine, but did not elaborate on it. Our engineering team is still investigating the reasons behind it. It will take time, he said.
Three weeks ago, ex-soldier Adam Douglas received the devastating news that he has prostate cancer, at the age of just 52. Like thousands of men blighted by the disease, the father-of-two from Leeds faces an agonising wait.

If his tumour grows, he is likely to require treatment  possibly radiotherapy.

But for Adam, his diagnosis is all the more bitter because there is a chance his cancer could have been caught earlier  if he wasnt disabled.

Former soldier Adam Douglas, pictured, was severely injured while serving in Iraq during Desert Storm 2, he believes his prostate cancer could have been diagnosed a year earlier if he was not confined to a wheelchair

Adam, pictured left, is facing a longer treatment plan because his cancer was not caught at an earlier stage

Adam, pictured during Gulf War 2, was critically injured only a few weeks after arriving in Iraq

Adam is paralysed from the waist down as a result of injuries suffered while serving with the British Army in Iraq in 2003.

He is reliant on a wheelchair and unable to lift himself on to his GPs treatment bed. Because the surgery does not have a hoist to get him out of his chair and into position, he was told he could not have the internal examination that many men receive to check their prostate.

If he had, he is all too aware that the growth in his prostate may have been detected sooner.

Its really frustrating, to say the least, he says. Doctors should be able to perform these examinations on everyone, whether or not they are in a wheelchair.

Adams story is just the tip of the iceberg.

Last summer, The Mail on Sunday revealed that thousands of disabled women are being blocked from accessing potentially life-saving smear tests.

According to a report by charity Jos Cervical Cancer Trust, almost two-thirds of disabled women have been unable to attend a cervical cancer screening as a result of their condition, and some have waited decades for the test, which should be carried out every three years.

Women reported that GP surgeries did not have hoists to help them out of their wheelchairs and that they would not arrange for a home visit.

A recent study, by researchers at the University of Oxford, found similar inequalities.

The analysis showed disabled women were a third less likely to take part in breast cancer screening and 25 per cent less likely to take part in bowel cancer screenings than those without disabilities. Getting to clinics and hospitals was a major barrier.

Now, our investigation reveals that the problem could be even wider, with disabled people reporting prejudice and problems accessing even the most basic care.

One woman, a wheelchair user who hadnt been given a smear test for six years, was shockingly told: Youve got a lot of health problems already. Do you really want to know if you have cancer?

Clare Lucas, head of policy and campaigns at Muscular Dystrophy UK, is outraged: No one should miss out on healthcare because of their disability  but we know that people do.

Missed chances to spot cancer earlier

Adam had been in Iraq for just a few weeks when he suffered terrible injuries in an attack on the outskirts of Basra. The former lance corporal had been called up as a reserve soldier in 2003, serving with the East and West Riding Regiment.

I was involved in a particularly savage fight with the Republican Guard, recalls Adam.

In the exchange of fire, I was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. It exploded just beside me.

My body armour, a radio and a wall partially shielded me from it but the shockwave essentially broke my spine.

I hadnt even been there a full month when it happened.

Adam suffered a compressed spinal fracture, partial paralysis in his left leg, severe burns, bladder, bowel and spleen injuries, as well as nerve and soft tissue damage.

He also developed a rare condition called cauda equina syndrome  when the nerves at the base of the spinal cord are squeezed together.

By 2009, the damage led to him to lose all feeling from the waist down. Adams paralysis also affected his testes  and his ability to naturally produce enough of the male hormone testosterone, which is vital for healthy bodily function.

About ten years ago, Adam began hormone replacement therapy.

He was told he would need annual check-ups  both blood tests and internal examinations  to check for prostate cancer.

The nurse explained that if I developed prostate cancer, the hormone therapy would be like rocket fuel for it, says Adam, who works in adult social care.

Every year since, he has had a blood test to check for raised levels of prostate-specific antigen or PSA, a chemical released by the gland. High PSA levels can be a sign there is something wrong with it.

But he has not received a single internal examination  because his GP surgery does not have a hoist to help him get out of his wheelchair, or a height-adjustable bed.

My paralysis means I cant stand or sit on the bench or move into a position so the doctor can examine me, he says.

And my upper-body injuries have caused the strength in my arms to deteriorate. Even if I were to offer to try to pop on to the bench, I just cant do that any more.

I was told the blood test alone was fine and that there was no need to refer me to the hospital just for the internal check.

For years, Adams blood tests came back showing his PSA was at an acceptably low level. But in late December, he received the frightening news that his levels had risen  a sign of prostate cancer. He recalls: I was told I would need to be seen in hospital that week.

After a string of tests and scans, it was confirmed he had prostate cancer. Luckily, its early-stage and low-risk. But Adam believes there were missed opportunities to spot it sooner. Had they done a simple internal examination, they may have detected my cancer a lot earlier.

Adam now has to wait for further tests, in three months time, to see if his cancer has progressed.

He has also stopped his hormone therapy replacement, fearing it could speed tumour growth.

He may have to undergo brachytherapy  a form of radiotherapy.

If my cancer had been caught a little earlier I would be on to my second or even my third blood test and know whats happening to my PSA levels, Adam says.

He believes more must be done to improve access to basic care for disabled people. There are enough disabled people out there for the NHS to look again at this issue, he says.

At the very least, GPs should be able to refer patients to nearby surgeries that do have the right equipment  not hospitals  so that we can have these intimate examinations and screenings.

At hospital I needed the toilet... the closet I could use was two miles away The father of two from Leeds was paralysed from the waist down after a rocket propelled grenade exploded beside him during an intense gun battle outside Basra Adam Douglas does not gloss over the realities of life as a paraplegic. He has condemned the lack of dignity afforded to disabled Britons  revealing, with unashamed bluntness, that he has lost count of the times he has soiled himself because of a lack of accessible toilets. Its infuriating because its preventable, but its become a fact of life for me, he says. Its just something Ive had to get used to, because of my paralysis  and thousands of other people across the country face a similar situation. While Adam does not have feeling in his legs as a result of the injuries he suffered during the Iraq war, his bowel and bladder still work. As part of a carefully planned routine, he must visit the toilet at regular times throughout the day. But to get on to a toilet seat, he needs a hoist. These are not found in standard disabled toilets. Instead, he needs to use a Changing Places toilet  a state-of-the art facility fitted with all the equipment to transfer from a wheelchair, and with plenty of space for manoeuvring. There are more than 1,400 currently in the UK but not nearly enough for the 250,000 people with severe disabilities who need these specially designed facilities. I soiled myself about two years ago at a hospital, Adam recalls. There was no Changing Places toilet there, it was too late and it just happened. He was told by staff at the hospital that the nearest Changing Places toilet was two-and-a-half miles away. Its infuriating because its preventable, says Adam. I need a hand when it happens with cleaning, and my carers are quite used to that as well. But it shouldnt need to be like this. Pressure group Changing Places Consortium, which is co-chaired by Muscular Dystrophy UK, is calling for better facilities across the country. On Friday, the Government announced a 2 million funding boost to double the number of Changing Places toilets in NHS hospitals across England. There are currently just 50 of these facilities in hospitals across the country. Its hoped the cash will increase the number to more than 100. Advertisement

My six-year wait to have a smear test

Fiona Anderson, 31, from Bolton, Greater Manchester, who has been waiting six years to have her first cervical cancer smear test

The struggle to access basic medical screening is all too familiar to Fiona Anderson, 31, from Bolton, Greater Manchester, who has been waiting six years to have her first cervical cancer smear test.

The mother-of-two was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy when she was three years old and has used a wheelchair since she was six.

The rare muscle-wasting condition, which affects about 70,000 people in the UK, means her mobility is limited and she would need a hoist to transfer on to a examination bed.

But her local GP surgery does not have one.

I did not expect that six years down the line I still would not have had a smear, she says.

But a lot of disabled women get fobbed off by their GP. They get told they are at a lower risk of developing cervical cancer  because its assumed you cant be sexually active and in a wheelchair  and they leave it at that.

Its a horrible cancer and everyone deserves a fighting chance. But disabled women seem to be massively disadvantaged when it comes to early detection.

Last year, Fiona launched a petition calling on the Government to make cervical cancer screening more accessible.

It has amassed almost 110,000 signatures to date and has attracted thousands of similar stories.

She says: My GP said, Youve got a lot of health problems already, youve got a life-limiting condition, do you really want to know if you have cancer?

Theres so much stigma.

And the problem is not just isolated to cervical smears, Fiona says. If there isnt a hoist, anyone who is a wheelchair user who cant self-transfer cant get proper examinations from the waist down.

Ive been examined in my wheelchair for abdominal pain and things like that, and they have not been able to do the checks thoroughly.

I know of people who have had quite significant problems missed  such as stomach ulcers  because they havent been able to be examined properly.

Fiona is yet to receive a formal Government response to her petition. But she is not ready to give up yet.

We have to get this fixed, so that the disabled little girls growing up today dont end up with the same struggle that we are facing right now, she says.
An Iran Air flight from Tehran to Istanbul that left Imam Khomeini International Airport was forced to land at Mehrabad airport due to a technical failure, Mehr news agency reported, Trend reports citing Sputnik.

According to Iran's Tasnim news agency, the Airbus A300-600 passenger airliner operated by Iran Airtour bound for Istanbul had to turn back and land at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport due to an unspecified technical issue.

All passengers and the crew are safe, an official at the Imam Khomeini International Airport told Mehr news agency.

The number of people on board has not yet been reported.
Representative Image

Ninety nine more people who returned to Kerala from China on January 25 have been kept under surveillance by health officials in the state for possible exposure to novel coronavirus (nCoV), health officials said. With this, a total of 179 people in the state are under surveillance.

A senior health official told PTI that 172 persons in the state are under home surveillance and the other seven are under observation at various hospitals across the state.

"Today, 99 new passengers arrived in the state. This makes a total of 179 persons under surveillance. Only seven people have any kind of symptoms. They have mild symptoms. We have sent their blood and respiratory specimen samples to the National Institute of Virology, Pune," he said.

The official also said the health department has assigned a health worker for the 172 people. One person each from Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta and Malappuram and three from Ernakulam are in the isolation wards of various health centres in the state.

"These seven people, who had shown mild symptoms of fever, cough and sore throat, were being treated at various health facilities in the state," the official said.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

Meanwhile, NoRKA Roots (Non Resident Keralite Affairs) said Keralites in in various Chinese cities that are fighting the coronavirus are safe. The state government agency said all possible assistance has been made available to the Indian community in Wuhan city, which is the epicenter of the outbreak.

"Supermarkets and food supply chains are operational in Wuhan. The Embassy has ensured that assistance is being made available to all the Indians there. In case of emergency, people can contact the Indian embassy through hotline numbers- 8618612083629 and 8618612083617," the agency said, quoting the embassy.

NoRKA, in a release, said the officials were in touch with the students, including from Kerala in Sichuan University and had issued various advisories. It also said that the condition of the Malayali nurse in Saudi Arabia, who was diagnosed with the infection, was improving and hoped that she would be discharged in two days.

On January 24, health officials had tracked down 80 people who had returned to Kerala from China over the past few days and kept them under surveillance. The government on January 24 advised those under home surveillance to remain at home for 28 days from the date of their departure from China.

Health officials were also directed not to mingle with anyone for the safety of their near and dear ones. If they show any symptoms of fever, cough and breathing problem, then health officials should be immediately informed, they had said.
(TNS)  Researchers at the University of Michigan have been exploring the need to set ethics standards and policies when it comes to the use of artificial intelligence, and they now have their own place to do so.The university has created a new Center of Ethics, Society and Computing (ESC) that will focus on AI, data usage, augmented and virtual reality, privacy, open data and identity.According to the centers website, the name and abbreviation alludes to the ESC key on a computer keyboard, which was added to interrupt a program when it produced unwanted results.In the same way, the Center for Ethics, Society and Computing (ESC  pronounced escape) is dedicated to intervening when digital media and computing technologies reproduce inequality, exclusion, corruption, deception, racism or sexism, the centers mission statement reads.The center will bring together scholars who are committed to feminist, justice-focused, inclusive and interdisciplinary approaches to computing, the university said in a news release.Associate Director Silvia Lindtner said the center has been in a soft launch phase since March 2019. The idea for ESC was born out of making a critical engagement with the politics and ethics of computing a central aspect of technology research and design, she said.We established ESC to build on and give legitimacy to the long-term scholarship and activism in technology, engineering and design, and to create an interdisciplinary space to explore and apply critical, justice-oriented and feminist approaches to computing and technology research, Lindtner said.Director Christian Sandvig said the center is hosting a visiting artist working on robotics this term, and that the center includes faculty from computer science, architecture, music and business schools.We are fairly unique because we are aggressively pursuing research approaches and topics beyond what people normally think about as computing, Sandvig said.Lindtner said the universitys public nature allows the center to engage deeply with the broader public, policy experts and actors in the social justice movement.This is a topic that used to be on the fringes, but more recently has gotten broader attention as we have experienced many unintended consequences of technology, Lindtner said.Some of the concerns the center will be tackling include gender and racial stereotyping in AI and data-based algorithms, as well as an overall lack of accountability and digital justice.Sandvig said a lot of companies are now rushing to nominal ethics conversations as a solution to the negative perceptions of their products, but ESC is not interested in ethics-washing.Were looking ahead to difficult debates about the future path we are steering with technology in society, Sandvig said. We need to make it normal that there is an extensive program of research about this topic  ethics, justice, technology, people and the future  and it must be central to the enterprise of developing technology and training students.The center is sponsored by the School of Information; the Center for Political Studies at the Institute for Social Research, and the Department of Communication Studies in the College of Literature, Sciences and the Arts at UM.
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The state of California has given Los Angeles County's new voting equipment its seal of approval -- with some significant caveats.

On Friday, Secretary of State Alex Padilla granted conditional certification to the Voting Solutions for All People 2.0 system, including new 'ballot marking devices' that the county designed and built from the ground up. It's making history as the first publicly owned voting system in the U.S. to be certified for widespread use.

But the county must meet a stack of requirements before primary election voters get their hands on the machines starting Feb. 22.

"Elections officials have a duty to make voting both as secure and as accessible as possible," Padilla said in a press release. "As part of my certification of VSAP, I am insisting on some essential modifications to the system and requiring on-going reports from Los Angeles County so that we can continue to improve the voting experience for Angelenos."

The headline? In a reversal of the county's plans, voters must be given the option to hand-mark paper ballots at new voting centers. (You can find the one closest to you here.)

The mandate flies in the face of L.A.'s 10-year goal: to create a fully accessible voting experience where everyone, regardless of physical limitations or language abilities, votes the same way.

Jurisdictions that use ballot marking devices generally offer a mixed system: voters have the option to use a machine to make selections and print a paper ballot, or hand-mark their ballot instead.

But L.A. County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan has likened this blended model to creating "a separate but equal type of scenario." And there are several high-profile cases of jurisdictions -- like the states of Georgia and South Carolina -- switching to the all-machine approach in 2020.

Many election security experts argue that hand-marked ballots are the only sure inoculation against election hacking or tampering.

VOTING IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER. SO WHAT'S NEXT?

It's not yet clear what the "blank write-in paper ballots" Padilla required in his certification decision will look like -- that's up to L.A. County. They must "contain all elements consistent with the Federal Voting Assistance Program's federal write-in absentee ballot," according to the Secretary of State.

[Check out the Federal Voting Assistance Program's ballot here. It's pretty much a blank slate with spaces to write in presidential, statewide and local candidates.]

"Voters may have to hand write candidates' names," Padilla's office said in a press release. "[B]ut these ballots provide an opportunity for voters to hand mark their ballot if that is their preference."

More takeaways from the 35 conditions included in Padilla's certification announcement:

Los Angeles has to address paper jams and misfeeds -- which testing showed was happening nearly 5-times more than allowed by CA standards -- through training and messaging for voters and election workers

All physical ballot boxes must have 'Secretary of State approved tamper evident...seals' on the seams between voting machine printers and ballot boxes

The county will tighten password security, add USB port covers at workstations with tamper-evident seals, submit a plan within 6 months to get to full disk encryption, and bring cryptographic modules up to a certain standard validation

The state is requiring detailed reporting on election worker training and records of all machine errors or paper jams that happen during the primary election

There is no substantial change mandated for the design of the "MORE" button that lets voters see candidates listed past the first digital 'page' on the ballot marking machines -- a feature that's now the subject of a lawsuit by Beverly Hills.

LA County must review the 'MORE' button, however, and do more education and outreach to make sure voters and election workers know how to see all candidates on the ballot.

The Registrar-Recorder's office says the certification conditions were all "openly discussed" by the county to address the results of independent testing.

"It is appropriate and expected that the VSAP system would undergo unprecedented review and testing," said Logan in a press release.

Again, all mitigation and requirements openly discussed by #LACounty in response to the testing reports during the deliberative process prior to and after the public hearing -- https://t.co/NWshMWW4pG  Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk (@LACountyRRCC) January 24, 2020

LAist requested an interview with Logan for this story. The county declined, citing scheduling conflicts. Logan responded to some of our reporting on Twitter.

Los Angeles election officials are committed to exceeding "a high standard of achievement and security," Logan added in the county's certification announcement.

Read the Secretary of State's VSAP 2.0 Certification Document here:
When you buy shares in a company, there is always a risk that the price drops to zero. On the other hand, if you find a high quality business to buy (at the right price) you can more than double your money! Take, for example Ballantyne Strong, Inc (NYSEMKT:BTN). Its share price is already up an impressive 110% in the last twelve months. It's also good to see the share price up 19% over the last quarter. But this could be related to the strong market, which is up 9.3% in the last three months. Unfortunately the longer term returns are not so good, with the stock falling 54% in the last three years.

Check out our latest analysis for Ballantyne Strong

Ballantyne Strong wasn't profitable in the last twelve months, it is unlikely we'll see a strong correlation between its share price and its earnings per share (EPS). Arguably revenue is our next best option. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. That's because it's hard to be confident a company will be sustainable if revenue growth is negligible, and it never makes a profit.

In the last year Ballantyne Strong saw its revenue grow by 2.3%. That's not a very high growth rate considering it doesn't make profits. So we wouldn't have expected the share price to rise by 110%. We're happy that investors have made money, though we wonder if the increase will be sustained. It's quite likely that the market is considering other factors, not just revenue growth.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

AMEX:BTN Income Statement, January 25th 2020

Balance sheet strength is crucial. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on how its financial position has changed over time.

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that Ballantyne Strong shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 110% over the last year. Notably the five-year annualised TSR loss of 3.5% per year compares very unfavourably with the recent share price performance. We generally put more weight on the long term performance over the short term, but the recent improvement could hint at a (positive) inflection point within the business. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Ballantyne Strong (including 1 which is can't be ignored) .

Story continues

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.

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.
T he Duke of Cambridge has been handed a new role by the Queen as his brother steps back from the royal family.

William has been made the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland by the Queen, while the Duke of Sussex begins his search for freedom away from the monarchy.

Harry and Meghan are dropping their HRH styles and will raise their son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor mostly in Canada.

The duke made an emotional speech last weekend, saying he had "no other option" but to give up his role.

Harry and Meghan are dropping their HRH styles and will raise their son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor mostly in Canada / AFP via Getty Images

Two days later, the royal couple issued a legal warning to the media after paparazzi shots of Meghan walking her dogs with baby Archie in Vancouver.

The photos were reportedly taken by photographers hiding in bushes and were published in various outlets.

The Duke of Cambridge has been handed a new role by the Queen as his brother steps back from the royal family / AP

Meanwhile, the Duke of Cambridge steps up to be the sovereign's personal representative to the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

The Lord High Commissioner role was established in the 1707 Act of Union between England and Scotland, and the Queen pledged to continue it during the first Privy Council meeting of her reign in 1952.

William will make the opening and closing addresses to the Assembly, as well as carrying out official visits across Scotland.

The Church of Scotland is a Presbyterian church and recognises only Jesus Christ as "King and Head of the Church", so the Queen will attend services as an ordinary member.
Nepal's finance minister Dr Yubaraj Khatiwada on Saturday (January 25) said that ban on import of palm oil has been a worry for his country, and Kathmandu has taken up the issue with Delhi. Speaking to WION correspondent in Kathmandu, the finance minister lauded India's support to Nepal and talked about trickle-down benefit in several areas, including investment opportunities.

Q: How do you see the relationship between India and Nepal in terms of finance and trade?

A: We have a lot of interdependence between the two countries. Nepal's 2/3rd trade is from India which is our largest investment partner. Indian ports are our access to the world, and we have been working very closely. When the Indian economy performs well, we have trickle-down benefit in several areas, and this includes investment opportunities. We would like to see our neighbour prosperous and also expect that our neighbour should also support Nepal to prosper.

Q: What kind of support you would like to see from New Delhi for your development needs?

A: It's a long menu, first is infrastructure connectivity. We are talking about better road connection, waterways, and electricity transmission lines. They are happening, thanks to the government of India supporting Nepal in better connectivity, which includes an optical fibre that we have set up with India's support. The second will be a review of trade relations. Nepal being a small economy will like to get favourable treatment in terms of non-reciprocal treatment for some of our produces. Often times, we may not able to compete in the market place, therefore, would like to see non-reciprocity in trade relations as our products are very small. Another area is trade facilitation, thanks to India for ICP. Exim bank is doing a lot of works, in terms of leveraging our financial requirements.

Q: Demonetisation impacted you. Are the worries associated with it over?

A: The previous government should have approached the Indian government right on time. You know, now this is a standing issue. We don't want to stick to that issue. Indian currency is regional currency, and large denomination currency notes that people can carry to Nepal should be managed in a better way so that in future we don't have to repeat such kind of problems. I should be looking forward, so that in a futuristic way, that any kind of problem that was created in the past should not be repeated when new currency notes, large denomination notes, were issued by India. Nepal is not comfortable to carry the notes, with the fear that they will not be accepted back to India. We just want to see that currency management takes a smoother path.

Live TV

Q: Import of palm oil by India is another thing that your country has been very vocal about.?

A: Actually, under SAFTA we have value add requirement for exports. Our palm oil exports have value add for more than 30% which is the minimum requirement, and secondly, our companies are established long back 20-30 years, and they have been doing business. Our exports are a very small component of India's import. I don't think, India's industry will be injured, with this kind of allowance. We are trying to have a talk with Indian counterpart through diplomatic channels and convince the authorities concerned that it should be resumed so that our Industry doesn't suffer.

Q: Do you think SAARC as a common market is dead?

A: Not yet. Not fully yet. We have been talking about SAARC intraregional trade at about 5% of the region's total trade, and our trade is not even half the potential we have. Its just 1/3. So the markets are also complementaries. Like tourism, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh can have a tourist circuit for south Asia so that every country can benefit. In energy and agriculture...we can have complementaries in that area.
A video clip of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is going viral on social media for all the wrong reasons. The clip is from an interview with television news channel Times Now.

Arvind Kejriwal

When the anchor asked Kejriwal whether the condition of Hindus and other persecuted minorities in Pakistan is of no consequence to him, he replied that hes more worried about the condition of Hindus and minorities, including Muslims, living in Delhi.

SHOCKING



Unbelievable if True



Kejriwal SLAPS TimesNow And its Agenda driven Narrative



What an amazing slap by @ArvindKejriwalpic.twitter.com/oq4wmIH691  DaaruBaaz Mehta (@DaaruBaazMehta) January 23, 2020

The condition of millions of Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Jains and Muslims living in Delhi is my problem. Youre concerned about the problems of Pakistanis but what about Indians? he argued.

The government is unable to address the issues of employment and economy hence they popped up this Citizenship Amendment Bill to distract people, he surmised.

CAA is aimed to give citizenship to persecuted minorities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists and Parsis -- of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday said he hopes for an even stronger bond between the Filipinos and the Chinese as the country joins in celebrating the Chinese New Year.

"The fact that we are celebrating this event and embracing it as one of our own reflects the strong and inseparable bond that has been forged through centuries of friendly and beneficial relations between the Philippines and China," Duterte said in his Chinese New Year's message.

The Chinese New Year is a special non-working day in the Philippines. In the Chinatown district of Binondo in Manila for instance, street parties and a grand fireworks display were held Friday night to welcome the Year of the Metal Rat.

READ: What the Year of the Metal Rat has in store for you

"As we open a new page in our shared history, may we foster even stronger bonds of friendship with those of Chinese descent all around the world through cooperation, investments, cultural exchanges and people-to-people ties," Duterte said.

Duterte has nurtured friendly ties with China, despite controversies over the South China Sea, which is being claimed by both Manila and Beijing.

Duterte said he also hopes the Filipino-Chinese community will continue with their socio-civic and charitable acts, especially for the poor and the marginalized, for the greater good of the country.

In China, festivities to mark the Lunar New Year have been canceled in Beijing and other major cities to control the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has claimed 41 lives.

The virus, which originated in Wuhan, China, has spread in other provinces and even countries, prompting Chinese authorities to impose travel restrictions in more than 10 cities.

The Department of Health has said there is no case of the deadly virus in the Philippines. A Chinese boy from Wuhan who was previously placed under close watch of health authorities has tested negative for the virus.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: Director of Biju Patnaik International Airport VV Rao on Saturday said the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will constitute a committee to inquire into the collapse of the Link Building Roof which claimed a workers life.

Meanwhile, police detained the managing director of Dilip Construction Private Limited, Dilip Khatoi, in connection with the mishap.

Sources said, he was earlier shunted out by the KIIT for the poor quality of construction work.

AAI had approved the plan of the Link Building and the tender process was initiated in 2018. The officials were expecting the construction of the two-storey building will be completed within a year and a half at a cost of about Rs 60 crore but the work is running behind the schedule.

Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep Jena, who visited the spot in the night, said an inquiry into various aspects like centring-shuttering, binding strength and distance of iron rods, and others, will help in ascertaining the exact reason behind the incident.
The Mayor of Drogheda has appealed to the killers of teenager Keane Mulready-Woods (17) to identify where the rest of his remains are so his family can lay him to rest.

Cllr Paul Bell also described the manner in which the teenager was dismembered as inhumane and demonic.

Expand Close Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at a public rally against violence in Drogheda. Photo:Mark Condren / Facebook

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Whatsapp Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at a public rally against violence in Drogheda. Photo:Mark Condren

He added that the message to those involved in the feud is, you must go and go now.

He was addressing a crowd of around 5,000 people who gathered this afternoon as part of the Standing Together rally in opposition to the escalating gangland feud that has so far claimed three lives.

The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, as well as Fianna Fail leader Michael Martin, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, Labour leader Brendan Howlin and Aontu leader Peadar Toibin were also there as well as a number of other politicians on a local and national level.

They heard from people working with addiction services and supporting communities effected by drugs.

There was applause when the Mayor said we have gathered here as a community and as citizens to say to those involved in this ongoing murderous and violent feud that we are about the business of taking back our town from where you and your criminal activities have brought us to.

He said the people of Drogheda are "terror fatigued" from enduring intimidation, threats, destruction of property, assaults, attempted murder and the ultimate evil act of murder itself.

Expand Close Frank Godfrey standing at St. Peters church during a public rally against violence in Drogheda. Photo: Mark Condren / Facebook

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Whatsapp Frank Godfrey standing at St. Peters church during a public rally against violence in Drogheda. Photo: Mark Condren

Referencing the towns 800 year history he said no siege or force can defeat the spirit of what makes Drogheda citizens so special and we will not fail in ridding our communities of those who are convinced that as of today they are untouchable and able to do as they please.

This very attitude and belief of those at the centre of this madness, led to the murder of a 17-year-old boy, Keane Mulready-Woods and the inhumane and demonic destruction of his body.

He then made his appeal to those who know where the as yet unrecovered remains of the teenager are.

I appeal to and beg those involved in this hideous act to identify the location of Keanes remains so that they can be recovered, allowing his mother, father, sister and brother to lay their loved one to rest in the customs afforded to the dead in all civilised societies.

He said the message to those involved in the feud was, that there is no place for you to live amongst us and you must go and go now.

He also called on legislators to look at the laws around tackling the fallout of criminal gang and subversive activity. He called for new legislation to give powers to the gardai to prosecute and convict those involved in drug trafficking and distribution.

Cllr Bell said the people of Drogheda and all communities effected by the criminality that goes with the illegal drug trade say, "there is no such thing as recreational drug use".

Those involved in such drug use are partners of those involved in drug trafficking and drug distribution, and they contribute to the misery and pain felt in communities as a result, he said.
Iraqi security forces cleared anti-government protesters from streets and squares in Baghdad and the south on Saturday, AFP journalists reported, stoking protester fears their long-running campaign risks being sidelined. It came a day after populist politician Moqtada Sadr organised his own mass rally demanding US troops leave Iraq before announcing that he would no longer back the separate youth-dominated protest movement demanding sweeping reform. Within hours, security forces had stormed a protest camp in the southern port city of Basra, forcibly dispersing activists, an AFP correspondent reported. Their tents were burned down and municipal staff could be seen clearing the charred remains to reopen the square. Many demonstrators were seen taking down tents in the cities of Hilla, Diwaniyah, Kut and Amarah. In the capital, security forces cleared sit-ins from Tayaran Square, Mohammad Qasim highway and Ahrar Bridge, according to Baghdad military command. A medical source told AFP six protesters had been wounded. Demonstrators had blocked off Tayaran Square and the Mohammad Qasim highway in east Baghdad since Monday in an attempt to pressure the government to enact long-awaited reforms. Ahrar Bridge, which links east Baghdad to western districts that are home to government buildings and embassies, had been partly occupied by protestors in recent months. Protesters in Baghdad's Tahrir (Liberation) Square, the main rallying point for the protesters, told AFP they heard live rounds and saw smoke bombs on Saturday as police sought to pin them back. The security forces did not storm the square and a police source told AFP there was no plan to do so yet. The protesters had long feared that if Sadr withdrew his support, they would lose political cover. Sadr, a militiaman-turned-cleric, is notorious for switching political positions with dizzying speed. He backed the protests from soon after they erupted in October and called on the government to resign -- even though he controls parliament's largest bloc and top ministerial posts. On Friday, thousands of his supporters gathered in Baghdad after he called for a rally to demand the departure of the 5,200 US troops in Iraq, after a US drone strike in Baghdad killed top Iraqi and Iranian commanders this month. Sadr himself did not attend, but tweeted late Friday to hail the turnout and say he would no longer be involved in the protesters' campaign for reform. Protesters demanding sweeping reform have been on the streets of Baghdad and cities across the south since October but there had been growing fears that mercurial populist leader Moqtada Sadr would withdraw his support Sadr again demonstrated his powers of mobilisation with a mass demonstration in the heart of Baghdad on Friday demanding the departure of US troops
The past couple of years have been rough for Stratolaunch, the pioneering space launch company founded by Microsoft magnate Paul Allen.

From its inception, Stratolaunch planned to lower the cost of access to space by developing a "Roc" superplane of gigantic proportions -- at 50 feet tall, 238 feet long, and massing 250 tons, it's by some measures the largest aircraft in the world -- and launching rockets from it into space, while airborne. But in 2018 and 2019, this dream came close to dying.

In 2018 Allen passed away, leaving Stratolaunch rudderless. A few months later, Stratolaunch itself seemed at death's door, laying off three-quarters of its workforce and "ending the development" of the family of space rockets that would carry satellites into orbit. By June (2019), Reuters was reporting that management was ready to give up the ghost entirely, sell off the Roc to another owner, and close down operations at Stratolaunch for good.

But then a miracle happened.

Stratolaunch finds a buyer

Near the same time the Reuters report came out, rumors began flying that Stratolaunch was looking to sell itself off in pieces, possibly preparing to be dissolved. Northrop Grumman, which in Stratolaunch's final days had agreed to sell the company its own "Pegasus" rockets to replace the rockets Stratolaunch was no longer developing, apparently bought those rockets back. CNBC reported Stratolaunch was also seeking a buyer for its Roc superplane.

Then out of the blue came the tweet that changed everything:

Stratolaunch LLC has transitioned ownership and is continuing regular operations. Our near-term launch vehicle development strategy focuses on providing customizable, reusable, and affordable rocket-powered testbed vehicles and associated flight services. (1/2) -- Stratolaunch (@Stratolaunch) October 11, 2019

All of a sudden, Stratolaunch was not dead (nor dying). The monstrous Roc, rather than launching rockets into orbit, would be repurposed to offer "flight services" to other companies, carrying hypersonic "testbed vehicles" to altitude and launching them for test flights midair -- and it would remain with Stratolaunch. Stratolaunch itself, however, would have a new owner.

The only question was who.

Stratolaunch's buyer -- revealed

GeekWire got the scoop on the answer to that question last month, obtaining "business filings" from California and Washington state that showed Stratolaunch's new owner is none other than private equity powerhouse Cerberus Capital Management -- the same company that owns defense contractor DynCorp and rifle-makers Remington and Bushmaster.

With Cerberus's support, Stratolaunch appears to have received a lifeline -- and a surge of new cash to deploy. In a December tweet, Stratolaunch's CEO Jean Floyd boasted that the company is even on a hiring spree, adding 74 new employees in the final months of 2019 and aiming to become "the world's leading provider of high-speed flight test services" in 2020.

The timing for this couldn't be better.

On the one hand, yes, Stratolaunch's temporary shutdown hobbled its ability to race other providers of small satellite launch services into orbit. But then again, that particular market is already getting crowded, and I'm not at all certain Stratolaunch could have survived competition with rivals like Virgin Orbit, Rocket Lab -- and SpaceX! Rather than try out that thesis, though, Stratolaunch is exiting this market stage left, and leaving its rivals to battle for space market share without it.

For its part, Stratolaunch will change course and refocus its efforts on the nascent -- and well-funded -- market for hypersonic missiles and the hypersonic aircraft that carry them. Eager to explore these possibilities, the Pentagon has already begun awarding contracts worth billions of dollars to hypersonics leader Lockheed Martin, even as other companies (Boeing, for example) spend millions of dollars of their own money playing catch-up. As ever more defense contracting giants (like Northrop Grumman and Raytheon) join in this race, the demand for companies able to give competitors' an edge should only increase.

Stratolaunch, with its world's-biggest-airplane, looks perfectly positioned to meet this demand. Its uber-large Roc is capable of carrying a wide variety of payload configurations to accommodate different hypersonic vehicle designs that manufacturers might want to try. Between the airplane's twin fuselages, there's room to carry test vehicles with wingspans up to 90 feet. To put that in context, Lockheed Martin's famed SR-71 Blackbird supersonic spyplane had a wingspan of only 56 feet.

For that matter, Stratolaunch has apparently been working on designing hypersonic vehicles of its own (designated Hyper-A and Hyper-Z, according to a report on thedrive.com). As such, the company presumably can provide insight to potential partners to advance their own goals of developing new hypersonic aircraft. Or Stratolaunch could offer its services to the U.S. Air Force directly, and become a developer of hypersonic craft itself.

Whichever way the company ultimately goes from here, it looks like Stratolaunch has exited the market for space launch at just the right time ... and secured for itself a new lease on life as a player in the burgeoning defense market for hypersonics.
The Real Impeachment Target Isnt Trump, Its the Senate

Commentary

The U.S. House of Representatives has finally transmitted the articles of impeachment to the Senate, which has begun what will likely be an incredibly short-lived impeachment trial.

The impeachment inquiry conducted by the House was quick, with many arguing it was conducted haphazardlyan inquiry where Democrats chaotically rushed through media-hyped proceedings, citing the need for urgency. Then, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) decided to withhold the articles from the Senate while she overstepped her authority in attempting to dictate how the Senate should conduct its trial.

Most Americans know the likelihood of the Senate voting to convict and remove President Donald Trump is even less than the likelihood Ill win a gold medal in female gymnastics, which begs the question: Why even bother going through this circus?

Ive been far too flippant in my own remarks suggesting that much of the push for impeachment has been about the inability of Democrats to get over the outcome of the 2016 election, because the other side of that coin is that Democrats are also looking forward rather than backward.

Trumps defense team acknowledged as much in a filing this weekend, describing the Articles of Impeachment by House Democrats as a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election and interfere with the 2020 electionnow just months away.

This impeachment process is about optics, which is why, as the GOP Twitter account noted, 3 of the 7 Democrat impeachment managers are on Sunday shows today. Its clearer than ever that Dems have totally politicized impeachment.

3 of the 7 Democrat Impeachment Managers are on Sunday shows today. Its clearer than ever that Dems have totally politicized impeachment. There is no greater contrast to the Dems partisan impeachment charade than President @realDonaldTrumps historic record of RESULTS.  GOP (@GOP) January 19, 2020

Somber Speaker Pelosi even did a late-night television hit with Bill Maher, fist bumping over the Houses success in impeaching the president.

Nancy Pelosi is taking this impeachment very solemn, serious, and somber. JUST KIDDING! Pelosi is a FRAUD. Here she giving Bill Maher a fist bump and laughing while Maher compliments her for impeaching President Trump. pic.twitter.com/JjMSYqLWJ3  Francis Brennan (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@FrancisBrennan) January 18, 2020

Soundbites and gotcha moment clips will be useful this year in attempting to convince moderates to peel away support from the president and to motivate the progressive base to come out full force in the 2020 election.

And though its a reasonable assertion that theyre looking to impact the upcoming election, since Trump is still projected to win by a landslide, the real target of this impeachment isnt the president, its the U.S. Senate.

In the months leading up to the election, expect Democrats to champion themselves as the sole defenders of the republic, saying, Hey, we did our job, but Trumps cronies in the Senate wouldnt do theirs. Now its time that youas votersdo yours, while they urge the large number of supporters theyve mobilized to vote D straight down the ticket.

Democrats arent expected to pick up the White House. But, they dont need it. They will simply be pushing to keep the House and will go all out to try to win back the Senatea possibility when considering Republicans will be defending 23 Senate seats and Democrats only need to pick up three or four.

Two Reasons to Focus on the Senate

1. Slamming the brakes on the Trump administration

Despite the fact that mainstream media outlets wont give him credit, Trumps first term has been wildly successful.

Part of that success has been with judicial appointments, which are slowly turning notoriously liberal courts (like the 4th and 9th circuit courts of appeal) more conservative. In a second term, this trend will certainly continue and he could potentially get one or two more Supreme Court nominations. The impact of a second term for Trump would reverberate for decades to come.

This is a nightmare scenario for progressives.

As such, a Democrat-majority Senate would immediately put a screeching halt to many of the administrations ambitions. Expect no more federal judicial confirmations, and certainly no filled vacancies that may open up on the Supreme Court.

Based on the recent history of the resist movement, we should also expect an unfathomable amount of chaos.

When Democrats took control of the House after the 2018 midterms, they launched numerous investigations and show no sign of stopping, regardless of what happens with impeachment. America, already fatigued after being dragged from one fake crisis to another, may witness four more years of unnecessary, vengeful probes.

Writ large, this current Democratic Party is filled with activists who are more interested in agitation than legislation. Should they take control of both chambers of congress, the goal of stopping Trump will be as preoccupying for them as it is destructive for the rest of the country.

2. Democrats regaining control of the Senate in 2020 could give them the coup detat theyve sought for years

Though Trump has already been through the impeachment process, the House recently signaled that impeaching the president a second time is an option thats very much on the table.

The only thing impeding his removal on the first go-round is that fact that Republicans hold a majority in the Senate. And although the GOP-led Senate wont convict on the Democrats flimsy case for impeachment, a post-election angry mob of Senate Democrats holding a majority would almost certainly oust Trump from his current residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Simply put, a Senate majority held by Democrats opens the door to a successful removal of the president in his second term.

And, make no mistake, if you think thats where it ends, youre wrong. Democrats wont stop there.

Under this scenario, we could reasonably expect to see Vice President Mike Pence impeached and removed as well, setting the stage to have the presidency filled by the next person in the line of successionHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Conclusion

This embarrassing, partisan impeachment effort has morphed from an attempt to remove the president into a piece of ammunition in the opening salvo of 2020 campaigning.

It's starting to look as if the permanent stain of impeachment will be on Pelosi for trivializing the process while at the same time it confirms that Trump is directly over the target he was elected to destroy. #Shampeachment  Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) January 19, 2020

Despite the fact that there has been no evidence that the motivation behind Trumps call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was Joe Bidens candidacy in the 2020 election, Democrats will continue to falsely allege otherwise. They will also continue to falsely state that Senate Republicans engaged in a cover-up. And their sycophantic allies in the mainstream media will continue to capitulate and repeat their talking points.

From this moment until the last ballot is cast (whether legal or illegal), Democrats will repeatedly tell the nation that the sky is falling and that the only way to restore democracy is to give them back the reins of power.

In 2020, they want their base angry and this impeachment processwhether legitimate or illegitimategives them the fuel for that fire.

Adrian Norman is a writer and political commentator.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
China has said it is swiftly building a hospital dedicated to patients infected with a new virus that has killed 26 people and prompted unprecedented lockdowns of cities during the countrys most important holiday.

On the eve of the Lunar New Year, transportation was shut down in at least 13 cities which are home to more than 36 million people.

The affected cities are Wuhan, where the new coronavirus has been concentrated, and 12 of its neighbours in central Chinas Hubei province.

To address the insufficiency of existing medical resources, Wuhan is constructing a hospital modelled after the Xiaotangshan Sars hospital in Beijing, authorities said.

(PA Graphics)

The 1,000-bed facility will be a prefabricated structure on a 25,000 square metre (270,000 sq ft) site, due for completion on February 3.

The Sars hospital was built from scratch in 2003 in just six days to treat an outbreak of a similar respiratory virus that had spread from China to more than a dozen countries and killed about 800 people.

The hospital featured individual isolation units that looked like rows of tiny cabins.

Normally bustling streets, shopping centres and other public spaces were eerily quiet in Wuhan on the second day of its lockdown.

Masks were mandatory in public and images from the city showed empty shop shelves as people stocked up for what could be an extended isolation.

Train stations, the airport and subways were closed; police checked incoming vehicles but did not entirely close off roads.

Hospitals in Wuhan were grappling with a flood of patients and a lack of supplies.

Videos circulating online showed throngs of frantic people in masks lined up for checks.

A policeman uses a digital thermometer to take a drivers temperature at a checkpoint at a toll gate in Wuhan (Chinatopix via AP)

Some users on the Weibo social media site said their family members had sought diagnoses but were turned away at hospitals that were at capacity.

At least eight hospitals in Wuhan issued public calls for donations of masks, goggles, gowns and other protective medical gear, according to notices online.

Story continues

Administrators at Wuhan University Peoples Hospital set up a group chat on the popular WeChat messaging app to co-ordinate donations.

The Fever Control Command Centre of the city of Huanggang also put out a call for donations publicised by the state-run Peoples Daily, asking for medical supplies, medicine and disinfection equipment.

The notice added that at the moment they would not accept supplies from foreign countries.

Authorities were taking precautions around the country.

In the capital Beijing, major public events were cancelled, including traditional temple fairs that are a staple of Lunar New Year celebrations.

Beijings Forbidden City, Shanghai Disneyland and a slew of other tourist attractions have been closed indefinitely.

A worker wearing a hazardous materials suit gives directions to a passenger at a subway station in Beijing (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

The number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus has risen to 830, the National Health Commission said.

Twenty-six people have died, including the first two deaths outside Hubei and the youngest recorded victim.

The health commission in Hebei, a northern province bordering Beijing, said an 80-year-old man died there after returning from a two-month stay in Wuhan to see relatives.

Heilongjiang province in the north east confirmed a death there but did not give details.

While the majority of deaths have been older patients, a 36-year-old man in Hubei was admitted to hospital earlier this month after suffering from fever for three days.

He died following a sudden cardiac arrest on January 23.

Initial symptoms of the virus can mirror those of the cold and flu, including cough, fever, chest tightening and shortness of breath, but can worsen to pneumonia.

The coronavirus family includes the common cold as well as viruses that cause more serious illnesses, such as Sars and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (MERS), which is thought to have originated from camels.

People wear masks on a street in Hong Kong (Kin Cheung/AP)

The Wuhan outbreak is suspected to have begun from wild animals sold at a food market in the city.

The market is closed for investigation.

The vast majority of cases have been in and around Wuhan, but people who visited or had personal connections to infected people were among the scattered cases counted beyond the mainland.

South Korea and Japan both confirmed their second cases on Friday and Singapore confirmed its third.

Cases have been detected in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, the United States, Thailand and Vietnam.

Many countries are screening travellers from China and isolating anyone with symptoms.

The World Health Organisation decided against declaring the outbreak a global emergency for now.

The declaration can increase resources to fight a threat but its potential to cause economic damage makes the decision politically fraught.

Chinese officials have not said how long the shutdowns of the cities will last.

People wear masks on a subway train as it stops near a billboard showing a family having a New Years banquet meal in Beijing (Mark Schiefelbei/AP)

While sweeping measures are typical of Chinas Communist Party-led government, large-scale quarantines are rare around the world, even in deadly epidemics, because of concerns about infringing on peoples liberties.

Recalling the governments initial cover-up of Sars, many Chinese are suspicious of the case numbers reported by officials.

Authorities in turn have been keen to pledge transparency.

Chinas cabinet, the State Council, announced on Friday that it will be collecting information on government departments that have failed in their response to the new outbreak, including delays, concealment and under-reporting of the epidemic.

Across China, a slew of cancellations and closures dampened the usual liveliness of Lunar New Year.

One Beijing subway station near a transport hub conducted temperature checks at its security checkpoint on Friday.

Some security personnel were clad in full-body hazardous material suits.

Schools prolonged their winter break and were ordered by the Ministry of Education to not hold any mass gatherings or exams.

Transport departments will also be waiving fees and providing refunds for ticket cancellations.
In recent years, Festival Trials Day has more than lived up to its billing with 16 runners over the last five years going on to win at Cheltenham in March.

Those figures illustrate that this is a day that matters.

The irony, however, is that todays feature, the Grade Two Paddy Power Cotswold Chase, is not a race that produces Festival winners with Looks Like Trouble the last horse to win this Gold Cup trial en route to victory in the Blue Riband itself. And that was back in 2000.

Nor is it a race for favourites, Cyfor Malta being the last to deliver back in 1999.

Those stats spell bad news for Santini.

Todays likely favourite has long been considered a Gold Cup horse in the making and if that is to remain a realistic aspiration he has to go close today.

Victorious over hurdles at this meeting two years ago, Nicky Hendersons charge went on to finish third in the Albert Bartlett six weeks later.

He again had to settle for minor honours at last years Festival but finishing second to Topofthegame in the RSA Chase was a cracking effort given Santini had a nightmare build-up to that race.

That marked him out as a horse to follow this season but he has only been seen once, scrambling home in unconvincing fashion to beat the limited Now McGinty by a head at Sandown in November.

He looked anything but the second coming that day but has since undergone wind surgery and Henderson is confident well see a very different animal today.

Hell need to be but given the history of this race  even the great Dawn Run came unstuck in it  he has to be opposed.

The question is with whom?

If Slate House can put together a clear round of jumping hell be a big player as Colin Tizzards novice has a serious engine.

On his last visit to Cheltenham, he paid the price for one jumping error too many when falling two fences from home when looking the likely winner of the BetVictor Gold Cup.

He has since won twice, most recently when scoring at Grade One level at Kempton over Christmas when he travelled like a dream between fences but was far from convincing when asked to jump them.

The star potential is definitely there but whether hes quite ready for this company is open to question.

That being the case, preference is for Bristol De Mai.

Most of his best efforts may have come at Haydock but he proved he can perform to a high level at Cheltenham when third to Al Boum Photo in last years Gold Cup.

He surrendered his unbeaten record at his beloved Haydock on his only start this season but there was little shame in a length and a half defeat to Lostintranslation, a horse who remains a leading Gold Cup contender despite subsequently fluffing his lines in the King George.

If Bristol De Mai can perform to that level, he should prove hard to beat.

Elsewhere at Cheltenham, Paisley Park faces an intriguing new rival in If The Cap Fits in the Grade Two Cleeve Hurdle.

If The Cap Fits ended last season by winning a Grade One over three miles at Aintree and beat Call Me Lord over a shorter trip at Ascot on his sole start this season.

He looks the most credible threat to Paisley Parks Stayers Hurdle crown but Emma Lavelles charge has won his last six starts and can rise to this latest challenge.

The Ballymore Novices Hurdle looks pretty competitive but Harry Senior looked a horse going places whenwinning decisively at Chepstow over Christmas and can confirm that impression by following up today.

The Grade Three Paddy Power 45 Sleeps To Cheltenham Trophy Handicap Chase brings together last months Caspian Caviar Gold Cup first and second but Warthog and Spiritofthegames were both out of their feet at the finish so it may be worth chancing the fresher Count Meribel.

The Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained eight-year-old was only two lengths behind Lostintranslation at Carlisle on his seasonal reappearance and lost a shoe when sixth in the BetVictor on his only start since.

With the stable in fine form, itll be no great surprise if he goes close.

Doncasters feature is the Sky Bet Handicap Chase and Ladbrokes Trophy fifth Dingo Dollar looks the right favourite and likeliest winner.

Elsewhere on Town Moor, Champagne Well can end Boss Man Freds unbeaten record by landing the Grade TwoAlbert Bartlett River Don Novices Hurdle while Lady Buttons should be hard to beat in the Grade Two Albert Bartlett River Don Novices Hurdle.
The Massachusetts Legislatures Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy on Friday voted to move forward legislation that adds more regulation to host community agreements, an arrangement between municipalities and marijuana businesses that is necessary to move through the licensing process.

Federal authorities started to examine host community agreements last year. In September, former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia was accused of soliciting bribes from marijuana companies in exchange for letters of approval.

The states Cannabis Control Commission has not had the authority to oversee the agreements. But this bill could change that.

The legal framework for the new marijuana market is supposed to strike a balance across multiple goals -- competing out the illicit market, local and restorative economic development, public revenue generation, and public health and safety among them," said state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, the chair of the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy. Unrestrained and expensive host community agreements that have become common over the past year have compromised multiple of those goals.

The bill proposes to authorize the Cannabis Control Commission to review and regulate host community agreements and would allow a municipality to waive the requirement to have a host community agreement.

It would also clarify that the five-year duration of the agreement begins on the day the business starts operations and specify that no financial obligations are allowed beyond the maximum 3% of gross sales fee that a municipality can ask for to offset the local impacts of a marijuana business.

The bill the Cannabis Policy Committee is reporting out today seeks to put more explicit guard rails on the development of HCAs, to restore balance to the market and enable entrepreneurs who dont have $1 million in starting capital to still have a chance at competing, Chang-Diaz said.

Next week, clerks for the House and Senate will make determinations as to which committee the bill is sent to next.

Related Content:
THE LATEST: Jersey City home where newborn was found dead was cited last year for multiple health code violations

Authorities in Hudson County are investigating the death of an infant in Jersey City, officials said.

The homicide unit of the Hudson County Prosecutors Office, as well as the citys police department, are looking into the death on Suburbia Court, officials said.

There are few other details immediately available.

The Hudson County Prosecutors Offices Homicide Unit and the Jersey City Police Department are investigating an infant death at 31 Suburbia Court in Jersey City. More information to follow. #JerseyCity  ProsecutorSuarezHCPO (@HCPOProsecutor) January 25, 2020

Raymond Worrall, a spokesman for the prosecutors office, said there is no additional information yet.

A spokeswoman for the Jersey City Police Department referred comment to the prosecutors office.

NOTE: This story is developing.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

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Gardai have renewed their appeal for information about a man who has been missing from his home in Cork for 10 days.

Christophe Goutte, 53 , is missing from his home in O'Brien Terrace, Midleton since Wednesday, January 15.

Christophe was last seen leaving work in Carrigtowhill, Co. Cork at approximately 11am on that date and it is understood that he later took a bus from Cork bus station and disembarked at 5.35pm in Galway City.

Christophe is a French national living in Ireland for a number of years.

He is described as being 5" 8' in height, of stocky build with brown short hair and white skin with a sallow complexion.

When last seen he was wearing a black coat, black pants, a black woollen hat and a brown pair of boots, he was carrying a dark coloured overall bag.

Gardai are particularly appealing to those in the Galway city or surrounding areas to report any recent sightings of Christophe.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact Cobh Garda Station on 021 - 4908530, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.
CDC says 'risk to the American public is low at this time'

U.S. health officials on Friday confirm a second U.S. case of the so-called Wuhan virus, which is officially known as Novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had a phone call with reporters late Friday, and told news media that a second patient has been hospitalized with 2019-nCoV.

The patient is a Chicago woman.

"CDC believes the immediate risk to the American public is low at this time, but the situation continues to evolve rapidly," Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said on the call.

CDC says 63 potential cases are being investigated as the potentially deadly illness continues to spread globally, sparking fears of a worldwide pandemic like the SARS in 2003, which killed hundreds.

Out of 63 people who are being investigated in 22 different states, 11 patients have so far tested negative, CDC said on the conference call with reporters.

From Reuters:

News of the woman in Chicago infected with the virus that originated in Wuhan, China, followed the announcement earlier this week of a man from Washington state who was diagnosed with the virus after returning from Wuhan. The newly discovered virus has killed 26 people and infected more than 800. Most of the cases and all of the deaths so far have been in China, where officials have imposed severe restrictions on travel and public gatherings. The virus has created alarm, but there are a still many unknowns surrounding it, such as just how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people. It can lead to pneumonia, which has been deadly in some cases.

Read more at Reuters.

More at CDC:

2019 Novel Coronavirus, Wuhan, China
A day after a 24-year-old man was found dead in room number 310 of the Hotel Ambassador near Khan Market with a suicide note by his side, police have sent the note for a forensic examination. The police found strips of medicines, probably sedatives, beside the body, and these have also been sent to be examined.

Police are awaiting the autopsy reports, but said that prima facie, the cause of the alleged suicide appears to be family discord, police said.

On Friday, employees of the hotel learnt about the mans death at around 3.45pm. According to the police, the man, who lived with his father in south Delhi, had checked in on January 19 for five days, and was scheduled to check out on Friday. The police said that when a hotel employee went to his room on Friday, he did not respond to repeated knocks on the door or calls on the intercom and even his cellphone. Since a foul smell was also emanating from the room, hotel staff opened the room using a spare key, and found the man lying unconscious on the bed. They called the police, who rushed him to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Apart from the medicines, the police had also found a suicide note in which were written lyrics of a song titled In The End by American rock band Linkin Park  in the end it doesnt even matter . Police said the man had also mentioned the contact numbers of his sister and father in the note.

Deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Eish Singhal said the crime team inspected the spot and took photographs. His body has been checked, and no injury marks were found. The body was sent for a post-mortem examination, and was later handed over to the family, he said.

An investigator, who is not authorised to speak to the media, said that a preliminary investigation revealed that the man may have ended his life because of familial problems. His parents live separately. He had completed his school around seven years ago and was not employed. His father works as a psychiatrist and mother sells artifacts. We are talking to his family members and friends to know more, the officer said.

The hotel did not respond to a mail seeking their response.

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Budget 2020: India plans to increase import duties on more than 50 items including electronics, electrical goods, chemicals and handicrafts, targeting about $56 billion worth of imports from China and elsewhere, officials and industry sources said. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman could make the announcement when she presents her annual budget for 2020/21 on Feb 1, along with other stimulus measures to revive sagging economic growth, one of the government officials said.

Higher customs duties are likely to hit goods such as mobile phone chargers, industrial chemicals, lamps, wooden furniture, candles, jewellery and handicraft items, two government sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The move could hit smartphone manufacturers that still import chargers or other components such as vibrator motors and ringers, along with retailers such as giant IKEA that is in the process of expanding its footprint in India. IKEA had previously flagged higher Indian customs duties as a challenge.

The government had identified items and decided to increase import tariffs by 5%-10% as recommended by a panel of trade and finance ministry officials, among others, the second government official said.

"Our aim is to curb imports of non-essential items," said the official, adding a hike in import duties would provide a level playing field for local manufacturers-hit by cheap imports from China, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and other countries that enjoy trade pacts with India.

The sources asked not be identified as the discussions were private. A spokesman for the finance ministry and a spokeswoman for the commerce ministry declined to comment.

Also read: Budget 2020: Date, timings, where to watch, expectations from Modi govt's most challenging Budget

Since taking charge in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has imposed several restrictions on imports while allowing more foreign investment in manufacturing, defence and other sectors. Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also asked the government to increase duties on non-essential items to boost local manufacturing.

"We expect the budget will address the issue of ... cheap imports under free trade pacts," Gopal Krishan Agarwal, the head of BJP's Economic Affairs Cell, told Reuters.

A committee of trade ministry officials in consultation with local industries had initially planned to target more than 130 items accounting for roughly $100 billion worth of imports, but it has since pruned the list, the first official said.

IMPORT QUALITY STANDARDS

The government is separately considering imposing "quality standards" on imports as less than 10% of India's tariff lines are regulated for safety, health and environmental standards, an industry official, who is participating in the pre-budget consultations, said.

Ahead of the budget, the trade ministry has also asked the finance ministry to consider a Border Adjustment Tax (BAT) on imported goods to level the playing field for domestic players that also have to pay local taxes like electricity duties and levies on fuel, the second government official said.

The official added this could be imposed on top of any tariffs further raising the costs of imported goods. Last July, the government raised import tax on more than 75 items, including gold and automobile parts, in its post-election budget.

Also read: Budget 2020: GST cut, EV incentives on auto industry's wishlist

India's goods imports, which had been growing faster than exports in the last several years, fell some 8.90% during the April-December period from year-earlier levels, compared to a roughly 2% decline in exports. This has helped the Modi administration cut its trade deficit that stood at $118 billion during April-December, down from $148 billion a year earlier.

The United States wants India to buy at least another $5-6 billion worth of American farm goods if New Delhi wants to win reinstatement of a key US trade concession and seal a wider pact, four sources familiar with the talks told Reuters.

US President Donald Trump cited trade barriers last year when removing India from its Generalized System of Preferences programme that allowed zero tariffs on $5.6 billion of exports to the United States. In retaliation, India slapped higher tariffs on more than two dozen US products.

Also read: Budget 2020: Bold fiscal measures needed to boost real estate sector
The enemy opened fire from proscribed 122mm artillery systems, 120mm and 82mm mortars, anti-tank missile systems, grenade launchers of various types, heavy machine guns, and rifles. In addition, the enemy employed sniper fire.

Russia's hybrid military forces on January 24 mounted 12 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as wounded in action.

Read also"DPR" recognizes use of Ukrainian passports in occupied Donbas

"The armed forces of the Russian Federation violated the ceasefire 12 times on January 24. One Ukrainian soldier was wounded in enemy shelling," the press center of the Joint Forces Operation Headquarters said on Facebook in a morning update on January 25.

The enemy opened fire from proscribed 122mm artillery systems, 120mm and 82mm mortars, anti-tank missile systems, grenade launchers of various types, heavy machine guns, and rifles. In addition, the enemy employed sniper fire.

Under attack were Ukrainian positions near the villages of Talakivka, Pisky, Pavlopil, Opytne, Nevelske, Novoluhanske, Luhanske, and Orikhove.

"Since Saturday midnight, Russia-led forces have attacked Ukrainian positions near Pavlopil, using a tripod-mounted man-portable antitank gun," the update said.

No Ukrainian army casualties registered on Saturday have been reported yet.
Yves here. This post on Bellingham is a mini-case study in a community-level climate change initiative. Since local politics is where citizens typically can have the biggest impact, its therefore germane to a lot of readers. What it illustrates, sadly, is that even on a small scale, devising good policy is often hard.

By Peter Dorman, professor of economics at The Evergreen State College. Originally published at Econospeak

Earlier this month the New York Times ran a story about Bellingham, Washington, a picturesque town that looks out across Puget Sound to the San Juan Islands. Bellingham is home to Western Washington University, but rational thought is in short supply when it comes to climate activism.

What got the countrys attention is a proposal before the city council to require all homeowners to switch from natural gas to electric heating by 2040. A number of cities already require new construction to use electric heat, but Bellingham would be the first to mandate a complete phaseout for everyone.

The opposition is spearheaded by, surprise, the privately owned gas and electric utilities, which plan a PR campaign talking up the wonders of CH4. Real estate interests are unhappy too. They will face off against the enviros, who all seem to see this as a big step toward municipal carbon neutrality.

I hesitate to draw conclusions about what people think or dont think based on reading a few news articles, since I live hundreds of miles away and have no personal connections to Bellingham. Nevertheless, Ive checked out a number of sources representing a range of views, and Ive yet to see anyone making the obvious point that electric heating mandates are just as likely to increasecarbon emissions as reduce them. The problem, of course, is that Bellingham proposes to significantly increase local electricity consumption but is making no corresponding effort to reduce the role of fossil fuels, and especially natural gas, in electrical generation.

This being the Pacific Northwest, much of the electricity humming through Bellinghams wires is hydro, which is mostly fine. (Not quite so fine if youre a salmon searching for your smolthood home.) But thats already online and accounted for in existing consumption. Where will the new electricity come from? At the margin, the green heating Bellingham homeowners will turn to when the gas is turned off is likely to come from..gas. This is because renewables will not supply the full load at any point in the foreseeable future, and the home heating law will just increase electricity demand above what it would have been otherwise. Since conversion to electricity absorbs about half the energy content of the gas used to spin turbines, more gas may end up being burned that way than if the city had taken no action and the fuel had been piped directly to the houses heating with it. Amazingly, this point is expressed by exactly no one in a slew of articles that quote an array of business owners, politicians and activists.< So Im dumbfounded twice over, first by the push for a policy that has an unclear relationship to its ostensible goals, and then by the apparent absence of any awareness of the problem on the part of the entire cast of characters. When you ask why were not making much progress addressing climate change, the first thing you hear is the stubborn, greedy opposition of the fossil fuel companies. Im not saying its not out there, but close behind is the confusion of well-intentioned people who think cutting emissions means cutting myemissions, the ones I can see and are immediately traceable to me. Great for instilling a sense of personal virtue, but in an interdependent society not so much for saving the planet.
SOFIA, Bulgaria - The United States on Saturday expressed strong backing for Bulgaria after it charged three Russian citizens with attempted murder and separately expelled two Russian diplomats accused of espionage.

In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Sofia said that it commends recent actions of the Bulgarian government to defend the countrys independence and sovereignty from malign influence.

It also said that the government of Bulgaria has produced evidence of that Russia has supported malign activities in Bulgaria over a number of years and that the same Russian agents who were responsible for a poisoning case in Bulgaria were involved in similar activities across Europe.

On Friday, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said two Russian diplomats accused of spying will be declared persona non grata and expelled. They cannot be charged because they have diplomatic immunity.

Prosecutors claim the diplomats collected information about Bulgarias national elections and energy security.

A day earlier, Bulgarian authorities charged three Russian nationals with the attempted murder of the owner of a Bulgarian arms factory, his son and a company employee in 2015 using a phosphorus-like poison.

Prosecutors have issued European arrest warrants for the three.

We support the long-term efforts of the agencies involved in investigating and exposing violations of Bulgarian law, the U.S. Embassy said.

Bulgaria is a strong NATO ally and EU partner and has an unalienable right to define its own future.
Visitors take photos of couplets in celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year outside 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, Jan. 24, 2020. (Photo by Ray Tang/Xinhua)
Start-up activities are growing fast despite the slowdown of the global economy. The gap between Vietnam and the two regional leading countries, Indonesia and Singapore, has narrowed.

In the first 10 months of 2019 alone, Vietnams startups attracted $750 million worth of capital, according to Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh at Techfest 2019.





Here are the five biggest investment deals by foreign investors in 2019



Sendo successfully called for $61 million in Series C

Start-up activities are growing fast despite the slowdown of the global economy. The gap between Vietnam and the two regional leading countries, Indonesia and Singapore, has narrowed.

The e-commerce platform belonging to the Vietnamese largest IT group FPT in November announced the completion of the Series C funding round. There were two new investors  EV Growth from Indonesia and Kasikornbank from Thailand, and the existing investors - SBI Group, BEENOS, SoftBank Ventures Asia, Daiwa PI Partners and Digital Garage.



With the additional capital, Sendo said it would expand business and make further investment in technology, including AI and machine learning.



Tiki received $75 million



In March 2019, Tiki, a marketplace successfully raised funds worth $75 million in a funding round led by Northstar Group. This is an investment fund with the value of $2 billion specializing in injecting money into the companies in the growth phase in Southeast Asia.



As of August 2018, Vietnamese investors had remained the biggest investors, holding 51.33 percent of shares in Tiki. 21.47 percent of shares belonged to Chinese investors and 27.2 percent belonged to investors with other nationalities.



Scommerce received $100 million from Temasel Holdings



On October 28, 2019, Scommerce, the logistics service provider, the holding company of Giao Hang Nhanh (GHN) and AhaMove, confirmed the investment by Temasek, the Singaporean states investment fund.



The company declined to reveal the exact value of the deal, but said this was the biggest funding round of the company so far.



According to DealStreetAsia, the value of the deal was $100 million.



MoMo receives $100 million in Series C funding round



The deal was made in early 2019. The US-based Warburg Pincus investment fund agreed to pour $100 million into the Vietnamese e-wallet.



Prior to that, MoMo received the investment worth $28 million from Goldman Sachs ($3 million) and Standard Chartered Private Equity ($25 million).



In Vietnam, Warburg Pincus has made four investment deals so far, including ones in Vincom Retail, Lodgis, Techcombank, and BW Industrial Development JSC. The deals all are worth $100 million and more.



VNPay got $300 million from SoftBank and GIC



This was the biggest investment deal in Vietnams startups in 2019.



Tran Tri Manh, president of Vnlife, the holding company of VNPay, in July confirmed the deal was wrapped up, but declined to give detailed information about the deal.



DealStreetAsia said Vision Fund of SoftBank invested $200 million, while GIC committed $100 million.

Linh Ha

HCM City to build Centre for Innovative Startup The HCM City Department of Science and Technology announced the approval of the municipal Peoples Committee for the selection programme of an architecture design for the HCM City Centre for Innovative Startup.
India and Brazil on Saturday inked 15 agreements to ramp up cooperation in a wide range of areas and unveiled an action plan to further broadbase strategic ties after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro.

In the action plan, the two countries have set specific goals for deeper cooperation in areas of defence and security, trade and commerce, agriculture, civil aviation, energy, environment, health and innovation and vowed to work together to conclude an agreement to deal with international terrorism.

The major focus of the talks was on boosting bilateral trade and investment as both the large economies were hit by global economic slowdown.

The 15 agreements will provide for cooperation in a wide range of areas including oil and gas, mineral resources, traditional medicine, animal husbandry, bioenergy and trade and investment.

"Your visit to India has opened a new chapter in ties between India and Brazil," Modi said, summing up the outcome of his talks with Bolsonaro.

Calling Brazil a valuable partner in India's economic growth, the prime minister said both the countries have been on the same page on various global issues and exuded confidence that the ties will strengthen further.

"Despite geographical distance, both India and Brazil are together on various global issues as there is convergence in our views," Modi said in his media statement in the presence of Bolsonaro.

The prime minister said focus is being given to new ways of boosting defence industrial cooperation.

"We want to have broad-based cooperation in defence," he added.

On his part Bolsonaro said the two countries have further consolidated the already strong ties by signing 15 agreements which will provide for cooperation in a range of areas.

According to the action plan, the two countries will encourage greater collaboration between their defence industrial bases and work together to conclude an agreement in combating international terrorism and transnational organised crime.

It mentioned that the two sides will strengthen established institutional mechanisms and promote coordination on bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral issues of mutual interest based on the principles of equality and trust.

Bolsonaro arrived here on Friday, accompanied by his daughter Laura Bolsonaro, daughter-in-law Leticia Firmo, eight ministers, four members of the Brazilian parliament and a large business delegation.

The Brazilian president will grace the Republic Day Parade as chief guest on Sunday.

Earlier, the Brazilian president was given a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of President Ram Nath Kovind and Modi.

India's ties with Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, have been on an upswing in the last few years. The country has a population of 210 million with USD 1.8 trillion economy.

This is the first visit of President Bolsonaro to India.

The volume of bilateral trade was USD 8.2 billion in 2018-19. This included USD 3.8 billion worth of Indian exports to Brazil and USD 4.4 million as imports by India.

Both the governments feel there is a huge potential to enhance bilateral trade further.

Major Indian exports to Brazil include agro-chemicals, synthetic yarns, auto components and parts, pharmaceutical and petroleum products.

Brazilian exports to India include crude oil, gold, vegetable oil, sugar and bulk mineral and ores.

Indian investments in Brazil were around USD 6 billion and Brazilian investments in India are estimated at USD 1 billion in 2018.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Edmonton police say a fire Thursday night inside the Edmonton Institution for Women was deliberately set following a confrontation between guards and inmates.

Officers were dispatched to the scene in west Edmonton around 11:40 p.m. after receiving a call from prison staff about a possible arson.

"There was a disagreement between staff and inmates," police spokesperson Patrycja Mokrzan said in an emailed statement.

"An EPS negotiator was dispatched to speak with the inmates, however, some articles inside the cell were lit on fire.

"Institution staff responded and removed all inmates inside."

The fire was set before the negotiator had a chance to speak with the inmates, Mokrzan said.

The sprinklers helped extinguish the fire before seven crews with Edmonton Fire Rescue arrived on scene, she said. Three inmates and three staff members were taken to hospital "as a precaution" for possible smoke inhalation.

The Correctional Service Canada said it has launched an investigation of the incident.

"A fire was initiated in a living unit, but thankfully it was rapidly contained and the inmates were evacuated," a spokesperson for Correctional Service Canada said in an emailed statement to CBC News.

"We did have staff members and inmates assessed, and some individuals were sent to a local hospital for smoke inhalation as a precaution. They have since been released and no injuries were reported.

"We are expecting operations at the Edmonton Institution for Women to return to normal by the end of the day."

The institution was built in 1995 as a standalone multi-level minimum, medium and maximum security facility for female offenders.

It has capacity to house 167 inmates.
John Cox can be reached at 661-395-7404. Follow him on Twitter: @TheThirdGraf. Sign up at Bakersfield.com for free newsletters about local business.
WASHINGTON  The ghost of Howard H. Baker Jr., the Republican senator from Tennessee who turned against Richard M. Nixon during Watergate, is hovering over Senator Lamar Alexander.

Mr. Alexander, a third-term Republican from Tennessee who is retiring at the end of this year, has said that no one outside his family has had more influence on him than Mr. Baker, the former Senate majority leader who is remembered for the penetrating question he posed as Nixon stared down impeachment: What did the president know, and when did he know it?

Now Mr. Alexander may hold in his hands the fate of another Republican president who is facing removal from office. He is one of four Republican moderates who have expressed openness to bringing witnesses into President Trumps impeachment trial. Of the four, he stands out because he is not running for re-election and arguably has nothing to lose.

Yet as the Senate heads toward a vote on the matter, Mr. Alexander  who has broken with Mr. Trump over trade, the border wall and health care  does not appear ready for a Howard Baker moment. He has said he will make a decision about witnesses after Mr. Trumps team presents its defense and senators have an opportunity to ask questions, but he does not sound eager to defect.
The Shiv Sena has said that Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslims who have entered the country should be thrown out and "there is no doubt about it".

The party made the statement in the wake of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray's remarks that his party will take out a huge rally on February 9 in Mumbai to drive "illegal infiltrators" from Pakistan and Bangladesh, out of India.

In its mouthpiece Saamana, the party attacked Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray for his change of stand with respect to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and his shift towards Hindutva.

"Yesterday, the MNS said that they support the CAA. However, just a month back, they were against this act," Shiv Sena said.

"Our party has never given up its ideology of Hindutva and also worked for Marathi people. This is the reason why people in the state have accepted us," the party added.

The Sena also questioned whether Thackeray's change of stand will be accepted by the people or not.

"Some people use the name of Hindutva for their benefit, but even if some party does that we have the large heart to accept them. Go ahead if possible.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A 3-year-old Cypress girl was killed Saturday when a car left in neutral by her parent rolled back and struck the child, according to the sheriff.

It appears a parent arrived home, began unloading the car, inadvertently left the vehicle in neutral, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said on Twitter.
There were farcical scenes at Labour's deputy leadership hustings in Leeds today after two candidates clashed over their support for Jeremy Corbyn.

Footage shows shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon arguing with shadow Equalities Minister Dawn Butler as they addressed potential voters.

Mr Burgon is seen on the platform, saying: 'I never resigned from the shadow cabinet. I am the only deputy leader candidate who backed Jeremy from the start of the leadership elections and I never resigned.'

At this point, Ms Butler interjects in a shrill voice, 'I did and all!'

Labour's deputy leadership hustings in Leeds descended into chaos on Saturday after candidates Dawn Butler and Richard Burgon (pictured at the event) clashed over their support for Jeremy Corbyn

Shadow Justice Secretary Mr Burgon said: 'I never resigned from the shadow cabinet. I am the only deputy leader candidate who backed Jeremy from the start of the leadership elections and I never resigned'

Shadow Equalities Minister Ms Butler then interjected in a shrill voice, 'I did and all!' as the two continued to clash

After a brief pause, Mr Burgon responds: 'I can come back on that, if you like' - before adding that she nominated Mr Corbyn but actually supported his rival, Andy Burnham, in 2015.

He continues: 'I am proud to be on the left, I'm proud to be the secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group for Labour MPs.

'But whoever is elected leader, I will never do red-on-red attacks on the TV because we all need to work together to get back into Government.'

Ms Butler then replies: 'I'm going to have to come back on this. So, yes, I was supporting Andy Burnham before Jeremy put his hat in the ring.

'When Jeremy put his hat in the ring, I said, "Yes, Jeremy's voice needed to be heard in the leadership election' so I nominated Jeremy.

'When in the lobby against the Welfare Reform Bill, out of all the leadership candidates, it was myself and Jeremy and a couple of other MPs in that, I supported Jeremy Corbyn.'

Mr Burgon and Ms Butler have been criticised for refusing to sign a series of pledges proposed by the Board of Deputies of British Jews in an attempt to combat anti-Semitism in the party.

After a brief pause, Mr Burgon responds: 'I can come back on that, if you like' - before adding that Ms Butler nominated Mr Corbyn but actually supported his rival, Andy Burnham, in 2015. (Above, the Labour shadow cabinet last September)

The BOD's pledges were launched last week, including swiftly settling all outstanding investigations and making Labour's disciplinary process independent of the party.

President Marie van der Zyl said: 'We will be frank. The relationship between Labour and the Jewish community, once rock solid, has been all but destroyed.

'Rebuilding will take more than mild expressions of regret. It will take a firm public commitment to agree to a specific course of action.

'Our Ten Pledges identify the key points we believe Labour needs to sign up to in order to begin healing its relationship with our community.

'All of these points, in one form or another, have previously been put to Jeremy Corbyn and his leadership team. Regrettably, action on any of these issues was limited at best, non-existent at worst.'

While all five leadership candidates have signed up to support them, two candidates for the deputy position has refused to - Richard Burgon and Dawn Butler.
The doctors were crying that they were helpless to do anything.

XIAO HONGXIA, a resident of Wuhan, China, who said that her father was not getting full care for what might be illness from a dangerous new virus.
SPRINGFIELD  In 2007, Springfield's gleaming new shrine to Abraham Lincoln was open, but it lacked touchstone pieces to show off, so organizers paid $6.5 million for the most symbolic Lincoln artifact available: one of the 16th president's stovepipe hats.

A dozen years and as many studies and hand-wringing public statements later, there's no concrete evidence that the felted beaver-fur hat ever sat atop Lincoln's 6-foot-4 frame.

Has anyone requested a refund?

No, and it doesn't appear anyone will soon. The foundation that bought the hat as part of a 1,500-piece, $23 million deal with California collector Louise Taper is not considering action, vice chairman Nick Kalm said. It's supporting further research directed last week by Ray LaHood, chairman of the newly organized trustees of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

LaHood, former U.S. transportation secretary and congressman from Peoria, formed a committee to oversee continued study by state historian Samuel Wheeler, whose December report after 16 months of research on the hat's connection to the Great Emancipator was inconclusive.

That has to be done, LaHood said. We're trying to get to some finality on the authenticity of it so we can move forward from there.

He would not comment on the prospect of renegotiating with Taper, whom The Associated Press was unsuccessful in contacting for comment. Legal experts all but rule out successful court action, and while there's the possibility of appealing to the seller through moral suasion, few are of a mind to do it.

They could ask, she wouldnt have to do it, said former Gov. Jim Edgar, foundation board chairman at the time of the purchase. She thought it was authentic. ... The consensus was this was the most important privately held Lincoln collection in the world.

The hat came from a former state legislator in southern Illinois whose father claimed he received it from Lincoln during a visit to Washington in 1861. The legislator's widow sold it for $1 in 1958 to an antique store, where it was retrieved by James Hickey, a one-time state historian who was among the nation's foremost Lincolniana experts. It rode in a special car on the 1975-76 Bicentennial American Freedom Train that crisscrossed the country, traveled on a late 1980s trade mission to Asia with then-Gov. James Thompson, and more than once served as the receptacle for a drawing to determine which political party would craft legislative district maps.

Taper bought it from Hickey for an undisclosed amount in 1990, and experts representing the foundation did little additional work to authenticate the hat before the 2007 transaction, which included Taper's donation of $2 million in items. News reports by the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ Radio later raised questions about the hat's provenance. The foundation's difficulty in retiring about $8.8 million remaining on the loan  and its 2018 claim that it might have to sell parts of the collection to retire the debt before negotiating an extension  kept the hat in the headlines.

Even if statutes of limitations didn't limit the chances for successful legal action, experts said there are other problems. Illinois buyers passed up the chance to verify Taper's claim of the Lincoln link pre-purchase. Courts typically regard statements of authenticity as opinion, not fact, and a buyer cannot sue on that basis, said Patty Gerstenblith, a DePaul University law professor and director of DePaul's Center in Art, Museum and Cultural Heritage Law.

To prove fraud, a court would need evidence of intention to deceive, said Leila Amineddoleh, a New York City lawyer specializing in art, cultural heritage, and intellectual property law. No one alleges deception.

Has the museum reached out to Louise to demand a refund and rescission of the purchase agreement? Seeing that she is well-known in this area, she should want to protect her reputation by refunding the money, Amineddoleh said.

There's a hardball approach, too. The negative publicity and potential price of a threatened lawsuit might prompt Taper to have the good sense and moral compass to return the money to the museum, Amineddoleh said.

Taper, who spent decades rifling catalogs for precious Lincoln relics and gobbling them up at auctions, has been on the other end herself. In a 2009 panel discussion about collecting Lincolniana sponsored by the presidential library in honor of Lincoln's birth bicentennial, Taper recalled buying a note allegedly penned by President Lincoln.

When it came to the house, it was obvious it was a forgery .... I panicked, and I called them up and I said, This isnt good, this isn't real and I want my money back,'" said Taper, adding that she got her refund.

The idea of a refund was first floated six years ago when, amid growing questions, Illinois officials commissioned a brief assessment of the hat by experts from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and the Chicago History Museum. Lacking better evidence, the historians suggested asking Taper to take the hat back or make it a donation.

This would shine a positive light on a generous donor who believes in the history of the hat and removes the cloud that the museum purchased a very expensive item without thorough documentation, they wrote.

Of course, pressing too hard could poison a previously harmonious relationship with Taper, who's still collecting. In the 2009 discussion, when a panelist mentioned Taper's sale and donation to the Lincoln museum, she added, There's a lot more in the future.

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Less than 15 days ahead of the crucial Delhi Assembly polls, the Election Commission has banned rebel AAP leader and BJP's Model Town candidate Kapil Mishra from campaigning over his controversial 'India vs Pakistan' tweet.

The poll body, on January 25, barred Mishra from campaigning for 48 hours.

Lashing out at anti-CAA protesters in Shaheen Bagh and other places in the city, Mishra had termed the February 8 Assembly elections a contest between India and Pakistan. In a series of tweets, He had said, "India vs Pakistan 8th February Delhi. There will a contest on Delhi Roads between India and Pakistan on February 8."

"Pakistan has already entered Shaheen Bagh and small pockets of Pakistan are being created in Delhi," he had added.

Taking cognizance of the tweet, the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer had sought the Election Commission's intervention to remove the post from the micro-blogging platform.

The Election Commission on January 24 asked Twitter to take appropriate action as the post could invoke communal sentiments.

Delhi poll authorities also issued a show-cause notice to Mishra for violation of the model code of conduct and the Representation of the People Act".

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has lodged an FIR at the Model Town Police Station under Section 124 (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Though legal action has been initiated against the former minister in the Arvind Kejriwal Cabinet, his post is yet to be taken down from Twitter.

In spite of all claims, Mishra remained defiant and stated that his remarks were general opinion and "do not fall under the ambit of the model code of conduct and the Representation of the People Act".

He told CNN News18, "I don't think I said anything wrong. Speaking the truth is not a crime in this country. I spoke the truth. I stand by my statement."

"If you make tiny Pakistans, then India will stand against it," Mishra added.
GLENS FALLS  A nice-looking bungalow-style home at the corner of Crandall and Division streets is a perfect example how properties get ensnared in the foreclosure process, and legal obstacles prevent them from being sold to new owners.

Sean Morin of Queensbury bought the house in 2006, but then the Great Recession hit in 2008.

I feel horrible each time I drive by. I worked hard and rehabbed it. It was my first house and I was single. I got married, and we decided to buy a larger house in Queensbury, he said. We listed it but when the market tanked in 08 I couldnt afford both mortgages.

Morin was forced to declare bankruptcy, while there was still $150,000 left on the mortgage, he said. The house was in livable condition, but its location on a small corner lot at the crossroads of three busy streets wasnt appealing to a lot of buyers. Now, the property just sits there.

The bank pays the taxes and maintains the property, but I dont believe Ive ever seen it advertised for sale, he said.

Morin said, early on, he brought in a couple of interested buyers and the real estate agent attempted a short sale  a purchase for less than the current amount owed. But the bank was not interested.

Ive been told that a lot of the banks are insured and somehow, someway they make money by waiting and waiting  paying taxes, winterizing, carrying homeowners insurance and maintaining properties. That money is all insured and for some reason its legal?

Because the property has been vacant for so long, the roof and floors have been damaged and the heating system has to be replaced, Morin said. The house was broken into, and copper pipe was stolen. He gets a water bill from the city every quarter for about $70.

Then it gets paid in full with late fees and it starts all over again, he said.

Morins house is the classic example of a zombie property  vacant and abandoned, but in a state of legal limbo.

The owner has walked away from the property. They still own it. The bank has the mortgage on it, said J.D. Ellingsworth, a consultant for the city who is keeping track of vacant properties.

Ellingsworth estimated that about 23 of these zombie properties are scattered throughout the city. They are part of a larger list of roughly 115 properties that Ellingsworth is monitoring, because they either are vacant or could become vacant. The numbers are fluid and change by the day.

About 21 are owned by a bank, and half of those are occupied, according to Ellingsworth.

The bank has fixed the house and put a tenant in in some places, he said. Just because its bank-owned doesnt mean its vacant and abandoned.

Banks doing nothing

Banks often sit on properties for many years, according to Councilwoman-At-Large Jane Reid, who is a real estate lawyer.

She said banks may choose to keep the property so they can write off the bad debt on their books.

In the last 10 years in her legal practice, Reid said people have told her they tried to contact banks to buy properties, to no avail.

They are not interested. Or you get no response. Or you get shuffled around from department to department, she said.

Financial institutions are confident people will be waiting to buy the property at far less than its initial value after they dump it, Reid said.

They dont worry that their market is going to dry up. Its not just flippers. Its people who legitimately may want to get in there and live in it, but a lot of flippers are waiting out there for those properties, she said.

People who flip houses buy them as investments, fix them up and quickly resell them.

In 2018, New York put in place a law that banks must maintain a minimal level of upkeep on properties they own. That led some financial institutions to cancel foreclosure proceedings, because they did not want to deal with the maintenance, Reid said.

Lengthy foreclosures

Ellingsworth has another list of 27 properties he has determined are at-risk of foreclosure.

That doesnt mean by any stretch theyre going to lose the house, he said.

The average length of a foreclosure in New York, from filing the first legal notice to reselling the property, is about four years, Reid said. If the owner has walked away, the process can take longer.

They have to make a valiant effort to find you to have this judicial process. That may prolong this, but it wont change the outcome, she said.

Banks foreclose quicker on properties when they need to evict people, Reid said: They dont like to leave someone who isnt paying them sitting in their property. That always puts their property at risk.

The law now requires that banks go through the process to try to modify the mortgage first to get people back on track, she said.

Other properties get tied up in probate proceedings after the owner has died.

No one is administering the estate, so it lingers. No next-of-kin has come forward to try to process it, she said.

Properties in flux

Another roughly 40 houses are vacant for a variety of other reasons, according to Ellingsworth. Some have been seized for back taxes. In some cases, renovations have been started and arent finished yet.

On occasion, you will see somebody buy a house, and for some reason, they arent ever able to do anything with it, he said.

Others may have out-of-town owners or new owners who havent yet started renovations, Ellingsworth said.

Some are partially renovated and left unfinished for extended periods of time, prompting concerns from neighbors.

Gene Habinowski of 153 Hunter St. said renovations have stalled on a property across the street from him. The new owners bought it in foreclosure a little over a year ago, but work stopped because of what a city official told him was a lack of funds and an injured contractor.

It has been sitting as a ratty eyesore for the last five months, with siding on one side torn off and unfinished, he said.

I dont think its good for the neighborhood. It draws your house value down, he said.

Glens Falls resident Tambrie Alden said a vacant property sits at the corner of Murdock and Mason streets in her neighborhood. Over the summer, the city was able to get the owner to secure the building by putting a new door on it. But it is still an eyesore.

Its still vacant. It still looks terrible, she said.

Tracking violations

City Code Enforcement Officer Kris Vanderzee said his office deals with overgrown lawns and uncleared sidewalks at these vacant properties, as well as people who leave trash there.

People around the house will know its vacant, and so they use it as a dumping ground. Theyre getting rid of a couch. Theyll go at night and dump a couch on the yard, he said.

If the property is not secured, animals and people can get in and vandalize the place and steal things like copper piping. The top priority is to make sure these structures are at least sealed up, he said.

A house at 17 Pearl St. has been vacant for many years and is in an advanced state of disrepair.

The house is owned by William Montgomery, a lawyer who has an office next door. On the other side of that office is Head Start.

Montgomery did not return a message seeking comment.

Vanderzee said the problem is being addressed.

We wrote some code violations on it and nudged him along and hes brought a crew in there. I believe hes hired an architect and I believe he would like to get that building fixed, he said.

Fee proposed

To help recoup the costs of dealing with these properties, the city is working to develop a vacant property registry.

Other communities, such as Gloversville, Albany and Schenectady, charge fees for vacant buildings, usually about $500 a year. The fee would help to recover some of the costs of enforcement.

The idea is still in the early stages and Building and Codes Committee plans to discuss the issue at its meeting at 9 a.m. Jan. 28 in the mayors second floor conference room.

Vanderzee said such a program worked well at his previous employer in the city of Saratoga Springs. The fee provided a nudge for people who were just sitting on properties year after year, not doing anything.

By forcing them to register and paying this fee, it made them think OK I really need to do something with this property  whether I need to fix it up and make productive again or sell it.

A registry also provides a point of contact, so Vanderzee would know who to call to deal with tall grass or broken windows. Most banks have property maintenance companies and hire local people to perform this work.

Situation improving

Ellingsworth said he believes vacant properties are becoming less of a problem in the city.

It doesnt seem like were seeing as many of the foreclosures, he said. It does seem like were cleaning up some of the long ones that were in foreclosure.

The goal is to be proactive and stay on top of monitoring the properties, he said.

Glens Falls is probably in better shape than a lot of urban areas as far as total numbers, he added.

Nicholas Ketter, an associate broker at Levack Real Estate, said he sees a positive trend of flippers buying up vacant houses and stripping them down to the studs.

Theyre taking these older kind of rundown properties and revitalizing them and injecting capital into them and providing a nice new product, he said.

Reach Michael Goot at 518-742-3320 or mgoot@poststar.com and follow his blog poststar.com/blogs/michael_goot/.

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The victims deceased instantly; the driver faces from five to ten years in prison

ZAZ Lanos driver hit two men who were crossing the pedestrian crossing on the street in Dnipro. The police communications department of the Dnipropetrovsk region reported that.

According to law enforcement authorities, a traffic accident happened on January 24 at 23:12.

"The driver of the ZAZ Lanos automobile was moving along the roadway of Zavodskaya str., Dnipro, from the side of the Krasny Kamen railway in the direction of the center, where he hit two men at a pedestrian crossing," the message says.

As a result of the accident, both pedestrians died on the spot. On this fact, criminal proceedings were opened under Part 3 of Art. 286 of the Criminal Code (violation of traffic safety rules that caused the death of several persons).

The driver faces imprisonment for a term of five to ten years with deprivation of the right to drive vehicles for a term of up to three years.

As we reported before, on Tuesday, January 14, a passenger car crashed into a truck near the Polish town of Kobiel, killing four people; two of them were Ukrainians.
United States Senator Ron Wyden on January 24 reportedly said that he will move to compel America's intelligence chief to release information about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi if the administration does not produce a report on the killing before the end of the impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump. The Senate has the power under a 1970s-era to unilaterally declassify information and now by invoking the same power, Wyden will be pushing the Trump administration to release the report into the October 2018 killing of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

According to international media reports, a similar report was due by law to have been released earlier this month, however, Wyden said that the administration has flouted the deadline. While speaking to international media reporters, Wyden said that the goal of the report was naming names with respect to who ordered it, who was complicit and what might have been done to prevent it. He believes that the threat to use the authority might push the administration to find an unclassified assessment which might draw support from at least some Republicans on the committee.

READ: Saudi Crown Prince Messaged Jeff Bezos 'it's Not True' On Alleged Hack

Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident who was living in a self-imposed exile in the US, was reportedly murdered in Istanbul in October 2018 by agents of the Saudi Government. Khashoggi was a columnist who had written critical pieces on the crown Prince and Saudi Government for Washington Post which is a publication owned by Jeff Bezos. The CIA reportedly believes that the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of Khashoggi.

READ: Jeff Bezos Remembers Khashoggi Hours After Saudi Hacking Report

Bezos' phone hacked?

In a recent turn of events, media reports also suggest that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos mobile phone got hacked after receiving a WhatsApp message from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in 2018. The alleged involvement of Saudi Crown Prince and his inner circle in the hacking of The Washington Post owners phone might open a can of worms as the incident was followed by the revelation of Bezos extramarital affairs and murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Posts columnist.

However, the Trump administration, a close ally of Saudi Arabia and Mohammed bin Salman personally, has not given a statement over the issue. Meanwhile, Riyadh has blatantly shunned the allegations. Calling the reports "absurd" Saudi Embassy in Washington said, "We call for an investigation on these claims so that we can have all the facts out."

READ: UN Official Calls Verdict In Jamal Khashoggi Killing mockery Of Justice

READ: Jamal Khashoggi Murder: US Welcomes Saudi Arabia's Verdict; Turkey Calls It 'mockery'
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday discussed the security of telecommunications networks with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the White House said, as Britain nears a decision on Huawei's role in the country's future 5G network.

"The two leaders discussed important regional and bilateral issues, including working together to ensure the security of our telecommunications networks," the White House said in a statement about the phone call.

(Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Sandra Maler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Less than 12 hours to the rerun elections in Essien Udim local government area of Akwa Ibom state, the All Progressives Congress, APC, i...





Less than 12 hours to the rerun elections in Essien Udim local government area of Akwa Ibom state, the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state has announced its decision to withdraw from the race.It alleged a perceived bias of the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) in the state.In a press conference on Friday evening at the partys secretariat in Uyo, the state Chairman of the party, Mr Ini Okopido said APC has withdrawn from the re-run election in Essien Udim local government area as we are dissatisfied with the conduct of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state.Okopido said both Senator Godswill Akpabio whose candidacy has been replaced with Ekperikpe Ekpo for the Senatorial District election and Nse Ntuen for Essien Udim State Constituency will not participate in the elections.He said the party has instituted a court process against INEC for failing to affirm the victory of Nse Ntuen as the member representing Essien Udim in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly as ordered by the Appeal court.We have officially as a party withdrawn from the rerun elections in Essien Udim local government area. We are so dissatisfied with the conduct of INEC in Akwa Ibom State and we have withdrawn from the elections.As far as we are concerned, Igini has shown unprecedented bias against APC. He cannot give us a fair contest. We know he does not like APC in Akwa Ibom State and if he conducts any election in Akwa Ibom, the party will withdraw. Igini has not been fair to us as a state, he said.Earlier in a press conference in Uyo, the National legal Adviser to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the Chairman of the PDP election committee for Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, Brr. Emmanuel Enoidem accused Senator Godswill Akpabio of making plans to rig tomorrows elections.According to him, Akpabio is determined to massively rig the elections in aid of his partys candidates for the House of Representatives and House of Assembly just to deceive the world that APC is popular in his Locak Governement Area.To achieve this, Senator Akpabio has procured the service of DIG Michael Igbizi (who flew on the same Ibom Air flight and indeed sat on the same seat with him yesterday) whose intention is to reenact the roles played by AIG Musa Kimo during the last elections.Enoidem urged journalists, civil society groups and observers both local and international to witness the elections in Essien Udim, adding We advise them to come with sophisticated technology gadgets with simultaneous recording and transmitting devices as they tour the various units.
Join Chris Morocco in the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen as he makes BA's best lasagna. Why in the world would we tell you to make meatballs, brown them, and then break them into piecesfor a ragu? Sounds crazy, but its the best way we found to sear a big batch of meat without overcooking it. Check out the recipe here: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/ba-best-lasagna
A Virginia police officer who grew up in New Hampshire has been killed in the line of duty.

Officer Katie Thyne was killed Thursday night during a traffic stop. Police said a driver accelerated after an encounter with Thyne, dragging her. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died of her injuries.

The driver fled the scene before crashing a short time later. He was taken into custody, police said.

"I came into my office and closed the door, and I cried," said former Alvirne High School assistant principal Abbey Sloper. "Just devastated."

Sloper keeps a picture in her office of Thyne that was taken with her during the 2013 Alvirne High School senior prom. Thyne graduated from the school that year.

"To be so young and have so much potential and to give back to her country, to her community, and as a mom, it just breaks my heart," Sloper said. "I don't have the words. It just makes you put things into perspective."

Bill Hughen was Thyne's guidance counselor at Alvirne. He remembered a young woman he described as feisty.

"I could see inside of her a drive," Hughen said. "She had a little spice to her but was super kind."

After serving in the Navy, Thyne joined the Newport News police last year. Her brother, Tim Thyne, said his sister and her partner got engaged last week. Her daughter, Raegan, turned 2 years old this week.

"She always said she was going to be a cop," Tim Thyne said. "That was just her plan from 15. That's, like, what she did."

Along with her daughter, Thyne leaves behind her partner, her mother, brother and stepfather.


Transparency Internationals corruption perception index cannot be taken seriously because it is not fact-based, a presidential spokesperson has said.

Garba Shehu, President Muhammadu Buharis spokesperson, was referring to the latest corruption index report that showed Nigeria scoring lower than it did in 2018, and emerging the worlds 34th most corrupt nation.

In the report released on Thursday, Nigeria fell two places from 144th to 146th position out of the 180 countries that were surveyed worldwide.

Nigerias latest placement by the anti-corruption watchdog has triggered debates about the success of the Buhari administrations well-publicised fight against corruption. Both the EFCC and the ICPC have condemned the report.

The EFCC on Thursday described the report as baseless and appalling, while the ICPC said the reality on the ground was different from the perception concluded by Transparency International.

Mr Shehu, speaking on Channels Television Sunrise Daily on Saturday, said the report was inaccurate because it was based on secondary sources.

The report itself is a perception index, Mr Shehu said. So perception is what it is. It is different from the reality that you have on the ground.

According to him, The report is harsh on the government. It does not take due cognisance of the ground reality.

In fairness to the TI that presented the report, they said themselves that it is not research-based, Mr Shehu added.

So it is not fact-based but based on second-rate data  information collected here and there. In effect, anybody could put together this kind of report from press releases issued by opposition political parties.

The fact on the ground contradicts this report. This administration has done enormously well. We have achieved quite a lot.

Why the poor ranking?

The head of Transparency International in Nigeria, Auwal Rafsanjani, on Friday, gave an insight into how the international group reached its rankings.

According to him, corruption in political parties were some of the reasons for the poor ranking.

He said, Our analysis also suggests that reducing big money in politics and promoting inclusive political decision-making are essential to curb corruption.

From fraud that occurs at the highest levels of government to petty bribery that blocks access to basic public services like healthcare and education, citizens are fed up with corrupt leaders and institutions, the report read in part.
Completed shocked. Completely surprised, says Robyn Hays, stunned on learning she has won first prize in the 2020 Trustpower Photographic Exhibition. From thousands of entries, judges last night announced Robyn Hay and her photo My Favourite Things as the first place winner, awarding her $5000 in cash in the fourth year of the regions largest outdoor photographic exhibition.

"The lady in the image is my mum," says Robyn. "Shes a 77-year-old woman. Her home was destroyed in the Christchurch earthquakes so she moved out to a rural property and built that unit. And shes very much made it her home.

Thats her with the chickens, and the chicken poop, and everything else shes cluttered around her. But thats her. Shes a crazy 77-year-old from Manchester. This is who she is, its so nice to have a picture of who she is, forever."

'My Favourite Things', by Robyn Hays.

Friday evening's prizegiving saw the announcement of the top 20 finalists including the top four who share the $10,000 cash prize pool and receive features in The Weekend Sun and UNO. Magazine. Project Manager Sally Cooke says the judges had a challenging task narrowing down the top 20 images. Every year we are blown away by the increasing quality of the images we receive. This year was no exception. It makes the judges job incredibly difficult, says Sally.

Kerry Hutchison won second place with her image 'Sandcastles at Sunset'

Second place winner Kerry Hutchison was also thrilled to learn her photograph had been selected by the judges.

Im really, really excited. I genuinely didnt expect this and really overwhelmed actually, says Kerry. It was one of those beautiful evenings and we decided spontaneously to go down to the beach. I literally grabbed my camera at the last minute and Im so glad I did.

Its amazing. Wed only just moved up to Tauranga. The beautiful sunsets we get here are just amazing. My little girl was just in her own little world and doing her thing and I captured a few photos. This is one of them.

Making her new home in Tauranga, Kerry says she is enjoying the lifestyle here.

The weather is amazing. Theres a lot about Tauranga that I love," says Kerry.

Lisa Monk's highly commended photograph Fondly Familiar

This years judging panel comprised Carolyn Schofield from Trustpower, Jenny Rudd from UNO. Magazine and Millie Newitt from Downtown Tauranga. Judging the Trustpower Photographic Exhibition is always a great way to start the New Year, says Carolyn. Its so exciting to see the variety of ways in which the theme has been interpreted. The winning images all capture intimate moments of people who are completely at home with where they are in that moment, or powerful scenes that connect us with the feeling of home. They all convey a sense of comfort and familiarity.

All 20 finalists are displayed on large panels along The Strand

This years theme of Home played an important role in selecting the winning images. Jenny Rudd says this theme was a wonderful thing to be on the lookout for. Home seems like a fairly abstract idea but when you look at the finalists images, there are some commonalities, says Jenny. Regardless of where home is, we all feel the same when were there. The winning photograph, captured by Robyn Hay, was a standout for the judges. Of all the photos I looked at, I had the strongest emotional connection with this one, says Millie. Its such a raw, honest reflection of the theme. The home portrayed in the image reflects a relaxed, well-loved space and thats what makes it so powerful. Home doesnt need to be anything fancy; it just needs to be where we feel the most comfortable and connected.

A.I. Buddy by Annabelle Court who won third place, pictured with her son Eddie who was the subject of her photograph.

Annabelle Court from Wellington won third prize with her photograph 'A.I. Buddy'.

Im very excited. We almost didnt make it here today, says Annabelle. We drove up from Wellington since 8 oclock this morning and got caught in traffic, arrived at two minutes to five. It was very worth it.

The photo was taken in our living room. Thats my middle son Eddie who was laying on the sofa after a long day at school. He is always happy to come home and he was playing with his robot. Ive usually always got a camera slung around my shoulder and capturing the moments.

Home is really a place of sanctuary where I feel my kids should feel comfortable and be themselves. A place of comfort and togetherness as a family.

Crab Stand-Off by Caleb Walsh received a Highly Commended Judges Pick award.

The second place, third place and Highly Commended Judges Pick images, Sandcastles at Sunset by Kerry Hutchison, A.I. Buddy by Annabelle Court and Crab Stand-Off by Caleb Walsh also received exceptional praise from the judges. I can feel the peace and utter belonging in the people that are featured in these images, says Jenny. I would like to particularly commend the Highly Commended Judges Pick winner. These teeny crabs face each other in a stark pearly landscape, out of which looms another larger specimen. I cant tell if its a friendly approach or something more sinister. I wonder what happened next?

Ryan Clark with his highly commended photograph 'A Classic Kiwi Christmas Sale'.

Ryan Clark received a highly commended as one of the 20 finalists.

Its really cool, especially being 14, says Ryan. Its nice to know younger people can still participate in this stuff.

My image was taken in Palmerston North. It was the Christmas sale. I saw these people at the boot of their car selling all these clothes. I thought it was a cool photo and snapped it. The colours pop, the character in the ladies, the coloured hair. I do a lot of videography as well and like doing a bit of both. I love photography."

Tania Lewis-Rickard, with her highly commended photograph 'Home with my community whanau. Photo: Supplied.

Home with my community whanau is the title of my photo submission of a beautiful lady named Rosie, who comes to our Greerton community meal Kai Aroha, says Tania Lewis-Rickard who was one of the 20 finalists.

What is important to me in this photo is whanau, turangawaewae, community, connection, kotahitanga, aroha, manaakitanga, a place of belonging.

This photo is my tribute to all the homeless women, displaced families and homeless people; who only ever want....a home.

Abhi Chinniah with her highly commended photograph 'My Ghagra Choli'

Harley Couper, with his highly commended photograph 'The Joy of an Old Salt'.

Robyns winning large-scale image, sponsored by Priority One, features alongside the 19 other finalists in the Bays largest outdoor photo exhibition which opened on Friday night on The Strand and acts as a showcase of New Zealands creative talent.

"Life is not a dress rehearsal," says Robyn. "Youve only got one shot. Im totally grateful to all the sponsors of the competition. Thank you very very much. Its going to enable me to buy a new lens for my camera.

Sally Cooke says the exhibition brings such a buzz to the city centre. We just love bringing this exhibition to life every year and seeing the excitement on peoples faces as they walk up and down The Strand, admiring the photos. This years full list of winners is (full name followed by photo caption):

1st Place $5000  Sponsored by Priority One:

Robyn Hay  My Favourite Things

2nd Place $3000  Sponsored by Tauriko Business Estate:

Kerry Hutchison  Sandcastles at Sunset

3rd Place $1500  Sponsored by Holland Beckett Lawyers:

Annabelle Court  A.I. Buddy

Highly Commended Judges Pick $500  Sponsored by Sharp Tudhope:

Caleb Walsh  Crab Stand-Off

Highly Commended (in no particular order):

Abhi Chinniah  My Ghagra Choli

Tania Lewis-Rickard  Home with my Community Whanau

Kate Regan  Nuts and Bolts

Brad Crocker  Imagination

Rose Secker  Arm and Wing

Klara Langova  Coming Home

Arka Gupta  Sunset on Lake Hawea

Clay Dixon  Happy Place

Lisa Monk  Fondly Familiar

Juliano Baby Amorim  Happiness is in Front of the House Door

Harley Couper  The Joy of an Old Salt

Matt Taylor  Storm in a Bathtub

Michaela Broodryk  Golden Love

Ryan Clark  A Classic Kiwi Christmas Sale

Jessica Handley  Just Chilling at Home

Roger Smith  Tui in the Cherry Tree

While youre enjoying the exhibition, vote for your favourite image to be entered to win dinner for two to the value of $120 at Macau Restaurant. On each photograph, youll see a Peoples Choice number - simply text CHOICE and the corresponding number of your favourite image to 559.

The exhibition is run as a partnership initiative with Trustpower, Downtown Tauranga, The Weekend Sun, MediaWorks, UNO. Magazine, Tuskany, Priority One, Tauriko Business Estate, Holland Beckett Lawyers and Sharp Tudhope, and with support from The Big Picture and Energy Services. It runs until April 5th on The Strand as a free community event. For more details go to www.downtowntauranga.co.nz
WASHINGTON  House Democrats were prepared and passionate as they laid out over three draining days in the Senate a detailed argument for impeaching and removing President Trump. What they do not appear to have been is persuasive to the critical handful of Republicans who hold the key to their immediate objective: gaining access to witnesses and documents that could cement their case.

While Senate Republicans commended Democrats for a thorough and mainly respectful presentation, they gave no indication as the arguments drew to a close that they were ready to expand the scope of the trial, let alone to vote to remove Mr. Trump from office at the end of it. The sense in the Capitol was that the trial was heading toward its predictable conclusion, Mr. Trumps acquittal, as early as next week.

It has always been only a small group of Republicans who were truly considered possible defectors who might join Democrats on the volatile issue of seeking witnesses in the trial. Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah have been the most forward-leaning of the Republicans who have expressed openness to the idea. But their ranks appeared to be thinning this week.

Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, who had signaled potential interest in considering new evidence, said on Friday he would wait until after the presidents defense and senators have time to question the lawyers to make his decision, but he did not sound eager to push the proceeding into the unknown.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and U.S. Navy Adm. Craig Faller, commander of U.S. Southern Command in Doral, Florida, on Jan. 23, 2020. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Hardest Challenge in Military Tech Race is Risk Aversion, Says Esper

The military needs to shed its culture of risk aversion if it wants to outpace China in the competition for technology-driven supremacy, said Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

In a speech on defense innovation and security on Jan. 24, Esper said that being the first to harness new technologies can be a key to a decisive advantage on the battlefield for many years to follow.

Many analysts believe that Chinese technology is already a match in some fields such as AI, cloud computing, and hypersonic missiles.

Esper said that a whole nation approach was needed to harness the innovative power of American enterprise. He said that the hardest part of reshaping the military for the fast-paced technological race with China was changing the culture around acquisition and risk.

You have to get the culture right so that folks in DoDmilitary and civilian alikeare willing to put money down on something that may not be 100 percent or 90 percent or 80 percent, he said. Youve got to be able to take some risk, and youve got to prepared to accept some failure.

After 5G technology, longer-range missiles were top of the list of priorities, he said. Speaking to the audience at a CSIS, Esper noted that the DoD had nearly doubled its investment in the next generation hypersonic missiles in this years budget.

An artistic rendition of DARPAs Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV-2). The Chinese regime recently held its fourth test of a hypersonic missile. (DARPA)

The proposed 2021 budgetdue to be published in the springwill include an even stronger investment in the hypersonic missiles, he said.

Esper noted that the militarys modernization course was set by the National Defense Strategy, published in 2018.

The National Defense Strategy priorities China first and Russia second in this era of great power competition, he said.

Both of these revisionist powers are trying to use emerging technologies to alter the landscape of power and reshape the world in their favorand often at the expense of others.

Beijing, for example, is combining direct state investment, forced technology transfer, and intellectual property theft to narrow the gap between the United States and Chinese equipment and weapons systems.

China is determined to obtain and exploit U.S. intellectual property and know-how at any cost, he said.

On July 23, FBI Director Christopher Wray told senators that the agency has more than 1,000 active investigations into the theft of U.S. intellectual property, almost all leading back to China.

The current FBI caseload of 1,000 is a fraction of the actual volume of theft committed by the Chinese Communist Party, Fleming said.

A new bill to prevent Chinese spies from stealing sensitive U.S. technology at academic institutions was introduced on Oct. 29.

Before he became Secretary of Defense, Esper was head of the army, where he oversaw a modernization approach that orientated the army away from a counter-insurgency outfit kitted out with 20th-century gear, toward an ever-evolving 21st-century machine able to outwit China and Russia.

The Army Futures Command (AFC), tasked with modernizing the army, was set up in 2018 near the tech hub of Austin, Texas, precisely to increase collaboration with the tech community and incorporate approaches outside of the traditional defense acquisition cycle.

Esper has tried to replicate the approach of the army across the military.

The military needs to be careful not to overreact to failures, to allow a cycle testing and failure to play out, he said. Thats the cycle that we were trying to do in the army where you test, you fail, you test again, you succeed a little more, you test again, you succeed a lot, he told the CSIS audience.
The top three Business of the Year finalists for small, medium, large and nonprofit businesses in the Cy-Fair area will be revealed at the second annual Celebrate Cy-Fair on Jan. 21.

Celebrate Cy-Fair, hosted by the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce, invites the community to join them for a night of sampling local food and alcohol and networking before the finalists are revealed during the event at Lindsay Lakes, 16536 Mueschke Road, Cypress.
Congress MP Husain Dalwai on Friday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that he is very small in stature compared to former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Speaking at an event, Dalwai asked, "Modiji what is your status? You are very small compared to Nehru."

Referring to the prime ministerial post held by Modi, the Congress MP said, "People of the country have placed you in a position where you are right now and these people will also remove you from that position.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
OJAI, Calif.

Jan. 24, 2020

Jurgen Borlak

a supplement for migraine prevention manufactured by Linpharma, Inc.,

at a special scientific session

January 24

Ojai, California

Alan Rapoport

Germany

Canada

Europe

Nora Anderson

Jurgen Borlak

Volker Gallichio

Oldsmar FL

/PRNewswire/ -- Dr.released and discussed the recent findings regarding the safety and mechanism of action of Petadolex,oninNeurologists, headache specialists and primary care physicians attended the session, chaired by Dr.. The meeting coincided with the annual Winter Headache Conference and highlighted the recently revealed CGRP modulating activity of the commonly used herbal remedy.New research shows petasins in Petadolex modulate CGRP with different pharmacology from the mAb drugs recently brought to market. Petadolex has multiple modes of inhibition of CGRP synthesis and release.These findings help explain why in controlled clinical trial, Petadolex demonstrates 50% responder rates for migraine prophylaxis competitive with mAb prescription medications.Borlak also detailed the most recent safety data and concluded Petadolex is safe. Borlak, a physician, pharmacologist, and internationally respected toxicologist, is a Professor at Hannover Medical School in. He advises the FDA and WHO on drug induced liver injury.He reviewed all adverse events previously attributed to Petadolex. His findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine. *"Petadolex herb induced liver injury cases are rare, idiosyncratic and frequently confounded by co-medication," Borlak said.Borlak noted that no adverse events have been reported in the U.S. ordespite 1.3 million patient months of Petadolex use.Adverse events reported inusing accepted international causality criteria (RICAM) where examined and found no evidence of Petadolex causality.Histopathology, chronic, acute animal studies, and in vitro research with human hepatocytes, which were also reviewed during the session, show Petadolex does not induce liver injury.*Hepatobiliary Events in Migraine Therapy with Herbs  The Case of Petadolex, A Petasites Hybridus Extract.; J Clinton Med 2019, 8, 652 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6572430/US General Manager Linpharma Inc.630 Brooker Creek Blvd, Suite 35034677Gallichio@linpharma.com407-466-6267

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/petadolex-for-migraine-prevention-concluded-safe-300992840.html



SOURCE Linpharma, Inc.




Police officers are to start operational use of live facial recognition (LFR) cameras in London, despite warnings over privacy from rights groups and concerns expressed by the government's own surveillance watchdog.

First used in the capital at the Notting Hill carnival in 2016, the cameras will alert police when they spot anyone on "wanted" lists.

"The use of live facial recognition technology will be intelligence-led and deployed to specific locations in London," the city's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

"This is an important development for the Met and one which is vital in assisting us in bearing down on violence."

The cameras will be clearly signposted and officers will hand out leaflets about what is happening.

Facial recognition cameras have been deployed in other British cities and shopping centres but their use has prompted privacy concerns and opponents have questioned the accuracy of the technology.

Last year, a Cardiff man took South Wales Police to the High Court, arguing that his human rights had been breached by officers using automated facial recognition without his knowledge when he was shopping.

The court ruled that using the technology was lawful but civil rights group Liberty is appealing the decision.

Responding to the ruling last September, the government's surveillance camera commissioner Tony Porter said that police should not see it as a "green light" for generic deployment of automated facial recognition.

"It is an intrusive tool with human rights and public confidence implications," Mr Porter said.

The EU is considering banning it in public places.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 23:12:25|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- China has been strengthening the provision of medical supplies to combat the viral pneumonia outbreak.

Shortage of medical supplies including goggles and masks was reported in Wuhan, the hardest-hit city of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak in central China.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has transferred 14,000 protective suits and 110,000 pairs of gloves from the central medical reserves to Wuhan.

It also coordinated emergency supplies of 3 million masks, 100,000 protective suits and 2,180 pairs of goggles.

The production of masks has exceeded 8 million per day, said Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, adding that the ministry has coordinated medical supply manufacturers to increase market supply.

The Ministry of Transport has announced measures to prioritize transportation of emergency supplies and medical staff to aid control of the outbreak in Wuhan.

The Red Cross Society of China's Wuhan branch opened 24-hour hotlines to receive donated emergency stocks.

Personal protective equipment manufacturers are going full steam ahead in production.

Xinxiang Huaxi Sanitary Materials Co., Ltd. in central China's Henan Province is producing 100,000 masks and 1,200 to 1,500 protective suits per day, according to the company's general manager Cui Wenbo. The products will be delivered to Wuhan and other cities.

National Health Commission announced Saturday that 1,287 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus, including 237 in critical conditions, had been reported in the country by the end of Friday. Pneumonia caused by the virus has resulted in 41 deaths.
Latino Victory Fund announced on Wednesday that it will lend support to 11 Latino congressional candidates including the congressional candidates from Indiana and Kansas who could win through the votes of Latinos. This is the largest slate of endorsement made by the group at the present.

According to a report from NBC News, Luis A. Miranda Jr., Chairman of the Board of Latino Victory Fund, said: "This is truly how we build real and substantial Latino political power at all levels of government."

The endorsement list of the group includes the two Democratic House candidates in Indiana. The first Latina elected to the General Assembly state Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon and the party's nominee for lieutenant governor in 2018 former state Rep. Christina Hale.

Candelaria Reardon is of Puerto Rican and Mexican descent and is the candidate of Indiana's solid Democratic 1st Congressional District while Hale is of Cuban descent and is running in the 5th District. The district of Hale is historically solid Republican, but they are now in the process of shifting towards the Democratic Party. Both Candelaria and Hale face multiple opponents in their primaries.

According to a professor at Indiana University who specializes in political science, that it's not surprising anymore if the two candidates will be in position and will make history because they have been involved in the Democratic Party circles.

Moreover, there are seven percent Latinos in the state and four percent of this is eligible to vote. Subsequently, Fraga said that the 1st District has the largest share of Latino voters in the state and they are also second to Indianapolis in terms of diversity.

Laga said in a statement: "Latino turnout is low statewide, but that's an area where the largest potential is and the only area in the state where you have longstanding Latino representation in the Legislature."

According to the Cook Political Report rates, the 5th District in the northern suburbs of Indianapolis is a majority-white and a leaning Republican. However, Democrats believed that they will have a seat in the state because they have been winning in some suburbs.

Latino Victory Fund also endorsed the first Latina Mayor of Topeka, Kansas Michelle De La Isla. She was born in New York, but was raised in Puerto Rico. At present, she is the only Democrat running in the 2nd District in Kansas.

The Latino Victory Fund will help its endorsed candidates through campaign support such as media and political guidance. Moreover, the support of the group could also lead to independent expenditure ads or other communication campaigns that advocate the candidacy of their supported politicians but are not directly coordinated with them.

Meanwhile, the political arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, BOLD PAC, also announced on Tuesday that they are spending another $1.5 million in the independent expenditures to support the Latino candidates. This makes the group spend $2.5 million as support to Latino candidates including what they spent during the primaries.

Latino Victory Fund's executive director, Mayra Macias, said: "Whether it is flipping red districts blue in California and Texas or electing the first Latina members of Congress from the Midwest, 2020 will be a landmark year for the Latino community."

Some of the Latino Victory Fund lists include the first Latinas and Latinos to represent their Districts. Other endorsed candidates are the following:

California- Phil Arballo in 22nd District and Georgette Gomez in 53rd District

Florida- Oz Vazquez in 18th District

New Mexico- Rep. Ben Ray Lujan for U.S. Senate and Teresa leger Fernandez in 3rd District

New York- Melissa Mark-Viverito in 15th District

Texas- Cristina Tzintzun for U.S. Senate and Candace Valenzuela in 24th District

BOLD PAC also endorsed Arballo, Gomez, Vazquez, Leger Fernandez, Hale, Candelaria Reardon, and Valenzuela.
Help India!

Najiya O, TwoCircles.net

While it is clearly evident that the Citizenship Amendment Act was brought with an aim to create division among communities, people are protesting against the discriminatory law in unique ways of communal harmony and togetherness. The Hindu marriage that took place in a mosque premises in Kerala is only the latest in the list.

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When Anju and Sarath got married according to Hindu rituals at the Muslim Jamat mosque at Cheravally near Kayamkulam in Alappuzha on January 19, 2020, it was a part of history being made. Hindu priests carried out the traditional rituals on the raised platform set in the mosque compound, and the bride and groom exchanged garlands. The villagers, without considering any differences in religion, attended the wedding and enjoyed the vegetarian sadya (feast) afterward.

Anju is the eldest of the three children of Bindu, who lived in a rented house at Cheravally. After the unexpected demise of her husband Ashokan two years back, Bindu has been toiling hard to keep the two ends of life meet. Anju and her younger sister had to discontinue their formal education after plus two, though Anju did a short-term course. Their only brother was in class 10 when the father died, however, he was able to continue his studies with the help of Nujumudheen Aalummootil, who also happened to be the secretary of the Muslim Jamat mosque.

My son and his friend brought back to me a faith in God, said a happy Bindu to TwoCircles.net, while recollecting how her son and his friend had asked her to approach Nujumudheen for help in November. Nujumudheen directed them to the mosque committee, which discussed the matter and decided to help the needy family. The matter was then presented before the believers who attended the Friday sermon and was approved. With the generous support of the people and cooperation of the temple authorities, the committee moved forward and fixed the wedding date in January. The wedding was organized and celebrated as a festival of the locality. While speaking to TwoCircles.net, Nujumudheen expressed his pleasure at having been able to bring joy to the needy family, especially in these turbulent times. The Jamat also gifted the bride Rs 2 lakhs and 10 sovereigns of gold.

The historic wedding got much media attention and popularity. The Chief Minister and other ministers, as well as political leaders and peoples representatives, lauded the wedding as an example for the communal harmony of Kerala. In another incident during the time of nation-wide protests against the newly amended citizenship laws, the St Thomas Mar Thoma Church at Kozhencherry in Pathanamthitta celebrated Christmas in a unique way. The carol was performed by girls in headscarves and boys in skull caps; and was sung in the tune of Mappilappattu, the traditional Muslim songs. The girls clapped their hands as in the oppana, the traditional dance form performed by Muslim women. The Muslim attire was chosen as a symbolic protest against the Prime Ministers controversial statement that those behind the anti-CAA violence could be identified by their dress, according to media reports.

Response to the Prime Ministers mention of the attire of the protestors was expressed in several other quarters too. Several non-Muslims put on dresses normally worn by Muslims and expressed their solidarity to their Muslim brethren. Malayalam actor Anaswara Rajan posted her hijab-clad pictures on social media (December 17). Similarly, Indulekha Parthan, a law student in Ernakulam, participated in the students protest against the CAA-NRC in the city on December 18 wearing a burqa and hijab, and holding a placard that read: Mr. Modi, I am Indulekha. Identify me by my dress? Five days later, Sreenath K attended the citizens Long March (from the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to the Cochin Shipyard) in Ernakulam wearing a long black cotton kurta and black dhoti, with a kirpan in his pocket and a colourful skull cap, and holding a placard that said: Identify me by my dress?

A mega oppana was performed by a large number of girls and women at Nidumbram near Thalassery in Kannur, in association with the local Sree Muthappan Madappura festival there. On December 28, the Secular Youth March was organized from Muvattupuzha to Kothamangalam to protest against the discriminatory citizenship laws. The march led by leaders of the UDF reached Kothamangalam at dusk and the azan (call for prayer) for the maghrib namaz was called at the Mar Thoma Cheriyapalli (Jacobite Syrian Christian Church). Muslim Youth League leader Syed Munawarali Shihab Thangal led the prayers held in the church premises, while prayers at the time of sunset were held inside the church.

These instances of communal harmony and solidarity have indeed showed hope and reassurance in the minds of people.
MEA secretary (East) Vijay Thakur Singh had also pointed out that India is giving great importance to engaging with Brazil and its leaders.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonar watches a classical dance upon his arrival at the Air Force Station in New Delhi on Friday. (Photo: AP)

New Delhi: Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro reached India on Friday on a four-day visit during which he will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday and be the chief guest at the Republic Day Parade this year on Sunday. He was received at the airport by minister of state for external affairs V. Mualeedharan. A total of 15 agreements are set to be inked between the two countries on Saturday. These will be in the spheres of investment cooperation, social security, mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, bio-energy, culture, cyber security, health and medicine, traditional systems of medicine, geology and mineral resources, oil and natural gas, scientific and technological cooperation, and animal husbandry and dairy production.

Heartiest welcome to our Honble guest HE Mr @jairbolsonaro, President of Brazil, on behalf of the Government and People of India, Mr Muraleedharan tweeted.

A special welcome to our Chief Guest for the 71st Republic Day. @MOS_MEA greeted the Brazilian President @jairbolsonaro on his State Visit to India. Both countries are closely working together to channelise commonalties into a solid foundation for future cooperation, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

In a significant move, India had on Thursday praised the Brazilian President and had described him as an elected leader from a democratic country who is committed to strengthening the strategic ties between the two nations.

At a special briefing on Thursday, MEA secretary (East) Vijay Thakur Singh had also pointed out that India is giving great importance to engaging with Brazil and its leaders.

She had also said that during the visit, India and Brazil would discuss the menace of terrorism as well as other issues of both regional and global importance.

She had also added that both countries have been in discussions over their common quest to become permanent members of the UNSC.

In a statement issued earlier this week, the MEA had said, President of Brazil Jair Messias Bolsonaro will be paying a state visit to India from January 24-27 at the invitation of PM Narendra Modi.

President Bolsonaro will be the chief guest at Indias 71st Republic Day Parade on January 26. He will be accompanied by seven ministers, chairman of brazil-india friendship group in the Brazilian Parliament, senior officials and a large business delegation.
He called out for his aides to bring him a map of the world with no writing, no countries marked, Ms. Kelly said. I pointed to Ukraine. He put the map away. He said, People will hear about this.

Ms. Kelly said that when Mr. Pompeos aide had summoned her to the room, the aide never asked that the meeting with Mr. Pompeo be kept off the record  nor would she have agreed to such an arrangement.

Ms. Kelly also said she told the State Department afterward that she planned to report on Mr. Pompeos tirade, and had not heard back.

On NPR, Ms. Kelly said she had confirmed with the secretarys aides before the interview that she planned to ask him about Iran and Ukraine, so the topic was not a surprise. But Mr. Pompeo still bristled at Ms. Kellys questions about Ms. Yovanovitch.

I just dont have anything else to say about that this morning, he said at one point.

The State Department did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. In a statement on Saturday, Mr. Pompeo responded to Ms. Kellys account, but did not deny Ms. Kellys account of obscenities and shouting.

NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly lied to me, twice, Mr. Pompeo said in the statement. First, last month, in setting up our interview and, then again yesterday, in agreeing to have our post-interview conversation off the record.

It is shameful that this reporter chose to violate the basic rules of journalism and decency, Mr. Pompeo added. This is another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this Administration. It is no wonder that the American people distrust many in the media when they so consistently demonstrate their agenda and their absence of integrity.
Border Security Force (BSF) crackdown on cattle smugglers along the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal may have forced them to switch to smuggling of narcotics, especially Yaba tablets, over the past one year, fear officials.

We managed to bring down cattle smuggling by more than 80% in 2019. But now it seems the smugglers have switched to the narcotics trade, with Yaba being the main product. It started in 2019 and has shot up manifold, said YB Khurania, inspector general, BSF south Bengal frontier.

A mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine and sold as red or pink pills, Yaba originated in Myanmar and entered Bangladesh black market in early 2000 and gained instant popularity due to the paucity of such stimulants locally. The fact that it was cheap, also helped.

While in 2018, not a single consignment of this drug was seized, in 2019, BSF seized 42,023 Yaba tablets. In the first three weeks of January 2020 we have already seized 10,000 such tabs, said Khurania.

Incidents of cattle smuggling, which was once rampant along the 923 km international border in south Bengal, has dropped on the other hand.

In 2018, about 40,000 cattle were seized by BSF. In 2019, the number dropped to about 31,000. Till January 25, only 1301 cattle have been seized.

Earlier, we used to focus on areas along the international border only. But now we have moved further inland, by about 12 km, a senior BSF official said explaining how they have outsmarted Smugglers who used to force the herds into the border rivers from jetties located in villages 10 12 km away from the border. We have identified all these routes, the officer requesting anonymity added.

He said rehabilitation instead of auctioning the seized cattle has ensured that it remains out of bounds for the smugglers.

All the cattle seized in January 2020 will go off the smugglers supply chain and this is a huge blow to them, the officer quoted above said.

BSF officials said drug smuggling is much easier as the consignments are simply thrown across the fence from the other side. There are villages all along the border, 60% of which is still unfenced.

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New Delhi: Brazil's President, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, received a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Saturday.

Bolsonaro, who will be the Chief Guest for this year's republic day parade was received by President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, upon his arrival at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Earlier in the day, he met External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi.

His visit is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations in the fields of agriculture, energy, and defence between the two countries.

Bolsonaro is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising several ministers, senior officials, chairman of Brazil-India Friendship Group in the Brazilian Parliament, and businessmen.
FILE PHOTO: ROXOR off-road vehicles are seen in the Mahindra Automotive North America assembly plant in Auburn Hills Michigan,

By Ben Klayman

DETROIT (Reuters) - A U.S. regulator said it will review part of a recommendation made last fall that India's Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd infringed upon the intellectual property rights of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' Jeep SUV design.

The International Trade Commission (ITC) on Wednesday said it would review an administrative law judge's initial determination last November that Mahindra's Roxor off-road utility vehicle infringed on the "trade dress" of FCA's Jeep. The judge recommended the commission bar entry of Mahindra vehicles or parts that infringe and issue a cease-and-desist order.

Trade dress consists of the unique characteristics that make a product stand apart and is generally accepted as identified with that product by the public. For example, FCA sees Jeep's grille and round headlights as distinct to the brand.

The commission, which in September 2018 initially opened its investigation, said on Wednesday it is targeting completion of the inquiry by March 20.

If the ITC recommends a form of remedy, the U.S. Trade Representative would have 60 days to approve, disapprove or take no action on that determination.

Mahindra, which previously has called FCA's claims without merit, on Thursday welcomed the commission's review.

"We are optimistic that the ITC will in its review conclude that FCA did not establish previously unclaimed U.S. rights in trade dress and that there was no infringement of either trade dress or registered trademarks," the company said in an emailed statement.

Mahindra said it has launched its model year 2020 Roxor with what it described as "significant styling changes" and said it would make additional changes if the ITC required it.

FCA was unconcerned the commission will overturn the judge's initial recommendation.

"Review is a part of the commission process," the Italian-American automaker said in an emailed statement on Thursday. "Based on the facts and law, FCA US remains confident the administrative law judge's initial determination of violation by Mahindra will be adopted by the commission."

The Roxor is assembled in Auburn Hills, north of Detroit, by Mahindra's North American subsidiary.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra on Saturday said that the speech made at Shaheen Bagh that "called for separating India with Assam and other northeastern states" was seditious.

Over month-long protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed Register of Citizens (NRC) has been staged at Shaheen Bagh.

Speaking at a press conference, Patra said, "Finally the conspiracy to destroy the country came forth. There was a speech made at Shaheen Bagh which was seditious. The speech called for Assam to be separated from India and the responsibility for the same lies on Shaheen Bagh."

Patra said that the speech called for the northeast to be separated through 'Chicken Neck area' (an area which joins India with the rest of northeast region)

"As per the speech, the chicken neck area is Muslim Majority area and a time will come when it is to be cut so as to separate Assam from India," Patra said.

Patra further attacked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi saying, "Both Kejriwal and Gandhi in 2016 went to JNU where Bharat Tere Tukde Honge slogan was raised."

In a video that has gone viral on social media, chief co-ordinator of Shaheen Bagh protest Sharjeel Imam can be heard saying: "Do you know what is happening to Assamese Muslims? NRC is already applied there, they have been put in detention centres. We may come to know that in 6-8 months all Bengalis have been killed - Hindu or Muslim. If we want to help Assam, then we will have to stop the way to Assam for the Indian Army and other supplies. The 'Chicken Neck' belongs to the Muslims."

"If we all come together, then we can separate the Northeast from India. If we cannot do it permanently, then at least for 1-2 months we can do this. It is our responsibility to cut Assam from India. When this happens, only then the government will listen to us," he is heard saying further in the video.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
On January 24, the armed formations of the Russian Federation violated ceasefire in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) area in eastern Ukraine 12 times.

The enemy used 122mm artillery systems, 120mm and 82mm mortars banned under the Minsk agreements, anti-tank missile systems, grenade launchers of different systems, heavy machine guns and small arms to shell positions of the Joint Forces, the press center of the JFO Headquarters reports.

As noted, the enemy launched eight attacks in the zone of action of tactical force East and four more attacks in the zone of action of tactical force North.

Yesterday, January 24, as a result of the enemy shelling, one Ukrainian soldier was wounded.

Today, the Russian-occupation troops have already opened fire from a mounted antitank grenade launcher on defenders of Pavlopol (25km north-west of Mariupol). No casualties among Ukrainian troops have been reported.

ish
Billions of locusts swarming through East Africa could prove disastrous for a region still reeling from drought and deadly floods, experts have warned, amid increasing calls for international help.

Dense clouds of the ravenous insects, each of which consumes its own weight in food every day, have spread from Ethiopia and Somalia into Kenya, in the regions worse infestation in decades.

The UNs Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated one swarm in Kenya at around 2,400 square kilometres (about 930 square miles)  an area almost the size of Moscow  meaning it could contain up to 200 billion locusts.

The locust invasion is the biggest in Ethiopia and Somalia in 25 years, and the biggest in Kenya in 70 years, according to the FAO.

Even cows are wondering what is happening, Ndunda Makanga, who spent hours on Friday trying to chase the locusts from his farm in Kenya, told The Associated Press news agency. Corn, sorghum, cowpeas, they have eaten everything.

If unchecked, locust numbers could increase 500 times by June, spreading to Uganda and South Sudan, becoming a plague that will devastate crops and pasture in a region which is already one of the poorest and most vulnerable in the world.

This could lead to a major food security problem, Guleid Artan, from regional expert group the Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC), told a press conference in Kenyas capital, Nairobi, on Friday.

The locusts, he said, were the latest symptom of extreme conditions that saw 2019 start with a drought and end in one of the wettest rainy seasons in four decades in some parts  with floods killing hundreds across East Africa.

The FAO says the current invasion is known as an upsurge  when an entire region is affected  however, if it gets worse and cannot be contained, over a year or more, it would become what is known as a plague of locusts.

There have been six major desert locust plagues in the 1900s, the last of which was in 1987-1989. The last major upsurge was in 2003-2005.

We must act immediately and at scale to combat and contain this invasion. As the rains start in March there will be a new wave of locust breeding. Now is, therefore, the best time to control the swarms and safeguard peoples livelihoods and food security, and avert further worsening of the food crisis, said David Phiri, FAO subregional coordinator for Eastern Africa.

About $70m is needed to step up aerial pesticide spraying, the only effective way to combat them, according to the UN.

More extremes

Artan said the invasion had come after a year of extremes which included eight cyclones off East Africa, the most in a single year since 1976.

This was due to a warmer western Indian Ocean, a climate condition known as the Indian Ocean Dipole which has conversely led to severe drought in Australia that is experiencing its own extremes: bushfires, hail and dust storms.

We know East Africa is one of the most vulnerable to climate change. We know this region will see more extremes, he warned.

One expert at the press conference in Nairobi had to reassure attendees that the locust invasion following the drought and floods was not a portent of the biblical end of times.

The massive swarms entered Kenya in December and have torn through pastureland in the north and centre of the country.

While farmers were relatively lucky as their crops had already matured or been harvested by the time they arrived, herders face another heavy blow as vegetation for their animals is consumed by the insects.

Artan said the pastoralists were just emerging from three years of drought and that recovery from a dry spell usually takes them up to five years.

And if the voracious locusts are not brought under control by the start of the next planting and rainy season  typically around March  farmers could see their crops decimated.

As thick clouds of the insects descend on plants and blacken the sky, Kenyans have been seen shooting in the air, banging cans and racing around, waving sticks in desperation to shoo them away.

In eastern Meru, residents accused the government of not doing enough, complaining there were still swarms present despite aerial spraying being carried out.

They told us that we will not see them again but there are still many of them spotted yesterday and today on trees and vegetation in the farm, said Emmanuel Kubai, a resident of Igembe North where villagers were hurling stones at vegetation to scare them away.

Difficult to control

Stephen Njoka, director of the Desert Locust Control Organisation for Eastern Africa, which is based in Nairobi, said Kenya had five aircraft spraying pesticides on swarms, and four others conducting surveillance.

He said the chemicals did not pose a threat to humans and that authorities were doing their best to limit damage to other small insects, pollinators and pastures.

Similar control operations are under way in Ethiopia and Somalia. However insecurity in Somalia was hampering some spraying operations, the FAO has said.

The species  desert locusts  are notoriously difficult to control as they often occur in remote areas and can move up to 150km (90 miles) in one day.

According to the regional Food Security and Nutrition Working Group, East Africa is already experiencing a high degree of food insecurity, with over 19 million people experiencing acute hunger.

Save the Childrens regional director for East and Southern Africa, Ian Vale, said in a statement on Wednesday that the charitys staff in Kenya were battling swarms so thick they can barely see through them.

This new disaster bodes ill for the region in 2020  The erratic weather of 2019 and the decade prior has already severely eroded the capacity of families to bounce back from unexpected crises.
In the latest twist in the case of Kristin Smart, a Cal Poly student who went missing in 1996, the FBI says the individual who spoke to her family  telling them to "be ready" for imminent news  is an ex-agent.

Kristin's mother Denise told the Stockton Record she was recently contacted by the FBI and reportedly told, "This is really going to be something you dont expect." Smart also says she was advised to find a family spokesperson and potentially prepare to "get away for a while." Smart told the Record she expected news "within a month."
January 24, 2020

News

By Terri Moon Cronk

Defense.gov

DOD Official Says 34 Service Members Injured by Iranian Blast

The number of U.S. service members injured with traumatic brain injuries totals 34 after a Jan. 8 attack when Iran shot missiles into Al Asad Airbase in Iraq, the Defense Department's chief spokesperson said today.

During an update to the Pentagon press corps, Jonathan Rath Hoffman said Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper directed the acting under secretary for personnel and readiness to begin work with the Joint Staff to report accidents and injuries, while keeping information transparent and informing the public.

Of the 34 service members who were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries  which in some cases are concussions  eight were transported to the United States for medical care and nine remain hospitalized in Germany where they are still undergoing evaluation and treatment. Seventeen service members have returned to duty in Iraq, he added.

Arriving stateside this morning, the eight transported service members will continue to receive medical care at either Walter Reed National Military Medical Center or their home bases, Hoffman said.

Eligibility for purple hearts will be up to the services, he noted.

Hoffman said DOD will also review its processes for tracking and reporting injuries in addition to service members wounded in action.

"The goal is to be as transparent and accurate as possible to provide the American people with the best information about the tremendous sacrifices our warfighters make" and to offer best medical practices to service members who suffered injury, he said.

DOD will have an update on the review in the future, Hoffman added.

National Defense Strategy

Turning to the National Defense Strategy and shifting troop presence from one part of the world to another, Hoffman said part of DOD's defense review and force posture review is to see what types and numbers of forces DOD needs for the Indo-Pacific region for the fiscal year 2021 budget.

"A goal is to move forces to the Indo-Pacific region to counter China and regional flare-ups. We can do multiple things at once," Hoffman said of world troop presence.

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She never fails to get it right in the fashion stakes.

And Victoria Beckham looked chic as she stepped out onto the bustling streets of Chelsea, London on Thursday, after leaving an appointment at Tom Davies opticians.

The fashion designer, 45, swapped her signature wide-legged trousers for a pair of spray-on black jeans, showcasing her lithe pins to perfection.

Stepping out: Victoria Beckham looked chic as she stepped out onto the bustling streets of Chelsea, London on Thursday, after leaving an appointment at Tom Davies opticians

Victoria, who rarely ventures out in anything other than a pair of skyscraper heels, opted for a pair of peep-toe black boots to complement her ensemble.

The mother-of-four was also sporting a red, grey and white plaid shirt jacket with padded sleeves, rolled up to reveal her luxury gold watch underneath.

Victoria toted a large black leather bag on her arm, which was adorned with gold accents and no doubt carried all of her essentials for the day ahead.

New look: The fashion designer, 45, swapped her signature wide-legged trousers for a pair of spray-on black jeans, showcasing her lithe pins to perfection

Pretty in plaid: The mother-of-four was also sporting a red, grey and white plaid shirt jacket with padded sleeves, rolled up to reveal her luxury gold watch underneath

The style maven also rocked a pair of oversized pair of sunglasses despite the dreary day, while wearing her brunette tresses in loose natural waves.

VB has recently returned from Paris, after being invited to Men's Fashion Week by creative director of Dior Homme Kim Jones.

During her trip with husband David, the couple enjoyed a romantic date night at Chez l'Ami Louis where they indulged in buttery escargot, 2k red wine and chips.

Signature style: Victoria, who rarely ventures out in anything other than a pair of skyscraper heels, opted for a pair of peep-toe black boots to complement her ensemble

Shielding her eyes: The style maven also rocked a pair of oversized pair of sunglasses despite the dreary day, while wearing her brunette tresses in loose natural waves

Luxury living: Victoria toted a large black leather bag on her arm, which was adorned with gold accents and no doubt carried all of her essentials for the day ahead

She's back! VB has recently returned from Paris, after being invited to Men's Fashion Week by creative director of Dior Homme Kim Jones

On Friday night, Victoria enjoyed a night in with her eldest son Brooklyn, 20, who treated his mum by cooking dinner for the pair for them.

Brooklyn, who was clad in a casual ensemble, was stood in front of their cooker stirring a pan of food while sipping on a glass of red wine.

Victoria joked that the duo had 'broken into' David's wine cellar and proceeded to tuck into a bottle of 200 Sassicaia 2013.

While the rest of the clad appeared to be out of the house, Victoria and Brooklyn were joined by their pet Spaniel, Olive.

Chef Beckham: Brooklyn, who was clad in a casual ensemble, was stood in front of their cooker stirring a pan of food while sipping on a glass of red wine

Delish: During her trip with husband David, the couple enjoyed a romantic date night at Chez l'Ami Louis where they indulged in buttery escargot, 2k red wine and chips

Cheeky! Victoria joked that the duo had 'broken into' David's wine cellar and proceeded to tuck into a bottle of 200 Sassicaia 2013

Home time? Victoria was greeted by a man who appeared to be her driver
GREEN Party candidate in Limerick County, Claire Keating has called for an alternative route to be considered to link Limerick by motorway to Cork.

Instead of a direct, stand-alone M20, Ms Keating is backing the upgrading of the N24 Limerick to Tipperary road and linking in to the M8 motorway to Cork at Cahir.

The N24 route makes much more sense than resurrecting the M20 plan which was cancelled by Leo Varadkar as Minister for Transport back in 2011, she said. Joining the M8 at Cahir would create a Munster regional network, connecting Limerick with all of the regional cities. It would link in West Limerick and Foynes Port via the much-needed N21 upgrade, allowing more balanced regional development.

Because its joining an existing route it would also be much quicker to build and be much cheaper. Instead of spending a billion euro on a disconnected route, we could build a Munster regional network for half the cost, and put surplus budget directly into transport infrastructure in Limerick, she argued.

Limerick really has been left behind by this government, Ms Keating said. The Foynes road upgrade, including the Adare bypass, is a start, but we need to follow that up with work on the main streets of Adare, Rathkeale, and other towns on the N21 to make them better for the people living there.

We need usable public transport, she continued. To say the public transport options in the county are poor would be a huge understatement. Thats massively contributing to rural isolation for young people, elderly people, people with disabilities, and people who cant or cant afford to drive everywhere. The rail line from Foynes to Limerick has to reopen to keep Foynes Ports Tier 1 status, and wed like to see passenger services on that too.

We need the right infrastructure solutions, not just whatever gets the biggest headline, Ms Keating said.
The opposition leader in Kerala, Ramesh Chennithala, on Saturday submitted a notice to the assembly speaker seeking his permission to introduce a resolution in the House urging President Ram Nath Kovind to recall Governor Arif Mohammad Khan.

The opposition leaders deft move has landed the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, which is engaged in a war of words with the governor, in a dilemma.

If Speaker K Sivaramakrishnan gives his consent to the resolution this will be first of its sort in the legislative history, said legal experts.

The governor had openly expressed his dissatisfaction over the state assembly passing a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment (CAA) last year and also questioned the move to file a suit against it in the Supreme Court.

Khan had said the resolution was illegal and against the spirit of the Constitution.

The governor has challenged the authority of the legislative assembly so he must be recalled immediately. He had insulted the elected body. I have given a notice to the speaker under relevant rules to introduce a resolution urging the President to recall him, said Chennithala.

It was unbecoming of the governor to stand in front of a mike and belittle the House quite often. He had questioned the very existence of the House. He should have communicated his dissent to the assembly rather than going public, he said.

He asked the ruling party members to support his resolution.

Speaker K Sivaramakrishnan confirmed he has received a notice from the opposition leader and will take a decision at the appropriate time.

But Governor Arif Mohammad Khan was unfazed and lauded the move.

Everybody is entitled to air their opinion in a vibrant democracy. The President appointed me and it is my duty to uphold the constitution, Khan said.

He is scheduled to address the 18th session of the assembly on January 29.

Usually, the governor reads out the policy of the government but this time he has sought clarity on a number of issues, including references against the Centre. He has already given enough hints that he is likely to skip Union subjects in his speech.

Chennithalas move came in the wake of Governor Arif Mohammad Khan flexing his muscles with the government.

It seems the CM Pinarayi Vijayan is scared of the governor. He did not say a word when he questioned the assembly resolution, Chennithala said as he challenged the chief minister to support his resolution.

Vijayan is yet to react over the opposition leaders move. But party insiders said that the government will not fall into the trap being set by the opposition.

The opposition had supported the resolution against the CAA moved by the chief minister in the assembly on December 31 last year. If it decides to oppose Chennithalas resolution the government will have to explain its move.

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New Delhi: After remaining shut for almost six months, 2G mobile internet services on postpaid as well as prepaid phones has been restored in at least 20 districts of Kashmir Valley from Saturday, but with restrictions. Internet access will be limited to only whitelisted websites, with social media platforms to remain out of bounds for its residents.

According to a notification issued by the home department of the Jammu and Kashmir administration, access to the internet with 2G speed on mobile phones will resume from January 25.

The natives of these 20 districts can access only 301 websites approved by the Jammu and Kashmir administration, an official order said, adding that data services shall be available on postpaid as well as prepaid sim cards.

Live TV

The move comes within a week of the administration ordering restoration of prepaid mobile services in the Valley and resumption of 2G mobile data service on whitelisted websites across the Jammu division. The sites approved include search engines and those associated with banking, education, news, travel, utilities and employment.

The latest development comes after the Supreme Court, in a significant ruling on January 10, asked the Jammu and Kashmir administration to review within a week all orders imposing curbs in the Union Territory. The court came down heavily on the UT administration for arbitrarily shutting down the internet, the facility described as a fundamental right by the apex court.

Last week, 2G slow speed mobile internet was restored in two districts of Kupwara and Baramulla, and all the 10 districts of Jammu region for 153 whitelisted websites.

Internet services, landline and mobile phones were snapped across Jammu and Kashmir, on August 4, 2019, on the eve of the Centre's announcement to scrap special status of the erstwhile state and its bifurcation into Union Territories on August 5, 2019.

While most of the services except mobile internet were restored in Jammu within a week, Kashmir witnessed restoration of landlines and postpaid mobile services and internet facilities for essential services like hospitals in phases.

(With PTI inputs)
As third in line to the throne, most royal watchers assume that Prince George will become the King of the United Kingdom someday. But Prince Harry and Meghan Markles stunning exit has rocked the royal family like never before, and one expert believes George will never sit on the throne as a result of their decision. Heres a look at the heartbreaking reason Prince George may never be King.

How Prince Harry and Meghan Markles actions could affect Prince George | RICHARD POHLE/AFP via Getty Images

The future of the monarchy is in jeopardy

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle recently stepped down as senior members of the royal family in a move that reportedly blindsided the royal family. While Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, and Prince William scrambled to right the ship, there is one person who believes the monarchy will never be the same.

During an interview on a radio show in Australia, psychic Georgina Walker predicted that Harry and Meghans decision will forever change the royal family. According to Express, Walker believes that the monarchy will undergo big changes in the coming years, and one of those will make Prince William the last person to sit on the throne, meaning Prince George would never be King.

I knew it was going to happen, I predicted the Queen would refresh the monarchy to make it a younger approach, Walker shared. I said when George was born, he would never be King.

The psychic added that Megxit will have lasting consequences for the royals and could lead to significant changes in the near future which would directly affect Prince George and his siblings. She also believes that Prince Harry and Meghan will have a difficult time funding their endeavors now that they are no longer receiving money from the crown.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their departure at the beginning of 2020. Not only are they becoming financially independent, but they are also splitting their time between the UK and Canada.

Prince Harry speaks out

In the days and weeks following Megxit, Harry met with senior members of the royal family to iron out the details of his exit. As a result of their decision, Harry and Meghan are giving up their royal titles and will no longer rely on public funding.

The Sussexes are also going to pay back the $3 million that was used to renovate their home in Windsor, Frogmore Cottage. They have yet to buy a house in Canada but are reportedly looking for a place to settle down.

In the meantime, Prince Harry recently spoke about his decision to step down during a royal engagement in London. Harry revealed that he did not make the decision lightly and that he saw no other way to give his family the life they deserve.

Our hope was to continue serving the Queen, the Commonwealth, and my military associations, but without public funding. Unfortunately, that wasnt possible, Harry shared. Ive accepted this, knowing that it doesnt change who I am or how committed I am.

Prince Harry added that he hopes leaving the royal spotlight will lead to a more peaceful life for his wife and son, Archie Harrison. Meghan Markle has yet to comment on the situation.

Fans react to Megxit

Royal watchers around the world have not reacted kindly to the news of Harry and Meghan stepping down.

Some fans have voiced their support for the couple, but others believe that Meghan has been planning an exit strategy since day one. There has even been some speculation that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will get divorced in the coming years.

Fans have pointed out that Meghan has a tendency to quit things around the two-year mark. Her first marriage, for example, only lasted 23 months. Her stint in the royal family was also cut short well before two years.

That does not mean Prince Harry and Meghan are headed for a split, but it is something to watch out for.

What happens if Prince George sits on the throne?

If the psychic is wrong and Prince George does become King one day, Kate Middletons title will change (assuming she is still around to see George sit on the throne).

When William inherits the crown after Charles, Kate will be given the title of Queen Consort. Her duties will be very similar to what Prince Philip has done over the years as Queen Elizabeths consort.

In the event that Kate outlives William, she will take on a new title once George sits on the throne. Georges spouse will be given the title of consort, while Kate will be called Queen Mother.

In her new role, Kate Middleton will support Prince Georges reign and still appear in public on behalf of the royal family.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have begun their new life in Canada with Archie, heres hoping they find the happiness and quite life they deserve.
The Operatives of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Command in Lagos, has apprehended another 9 young women being trafficked.

The women were on their way to Lebanon, Cairo, Dubai and India on Ethiopian, Peace, Egypt and East Airlines.

The service Public Relations Officer, Sunday James, made this known in statement on Saturday in Lagos.

According to him, four of the women claimed to be traveling for employment without knowing their employers nor aware of the nature of job they were going for.

This discovery was made after intensive interrogation by NIS officials, he said.

Mr James said the shady journey was organised by agents who took advantage of the girls innocence and ignorance.

He disclosed that two of the women had earlier claimed to be going for a visit.

However, the two, later confessed they were going for hustle in Dubai. Another three, of the girls, claimed they were going to India for medical treatment without referrals.

When further asked the nature of sickness they said yellow fever before they finally confessed to be going for hustle in India, he said.

He said NIS refused their departure to save them from indignity to be faced from such journeys.

The Comptroller-General of NIS, Mr Muhammad Babandede, therefore, called on parents to be wary of juicy offers on their children, from family and non family members to take the children abroad.

Most of these trips are deceitful, camouflaged with employment, studies or visit which may end up in exploitation or death. Operatives at the various entry and exit points will never permit them departure.

The NIS stepped-up clearance operation that is yielding positive result in the various arrest made at the borders of the country by NIS.

(NAN)
The Centre on Friday transferred the Koregaon-Bhima case to the National Investigation Agency. (Photo Credit: File Photo)

New Delhi:

The Centre on Friday transferred the Koregaon-Bhima case to the National Investigation Agency. The case was being probed by the Pune police and the Centres decision to hand over Koregaon Bhima probe to the National Investigation Agency came a day after the police briefed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Home Minister Anil Deshmukh about the status of the probe.

Condemning the Centres decision to hand over the probe to the NIA, the Maharashtra Congress on Saturday alleged that the sudden move substantiates the conspiracy of the BJP.

The NCP also alleged that the Centres move is aimed at covering up the wrongdoings of the previous BJP-led government in Maharashtra.

Sudden taking over of Bhima Koregaon riot case by NIA after Maha Vikas Aghadi govt started reinvestigation into inquiry of Pune police, clearly substantiates conspiracy of BJP. Why it took 2 yrs for NIA to find that case is fit under its jurisdiction? Strongly condemn! Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said in a tweet.

Why did it take NIA two years to find out that the case is fit under its jurisdiction. Strongly condemn the decision, he said.

NCP spokesperson and state Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik described the decision as a cover-up by the Centre to hide the wrongdoings of the previous BJP-led government in the state.

On Friday, another NCP leader and minister Jitendra Awhad alleged that the Koregaon-Bhima violence case was a "conspiracy" of the previous BJP-led government to malign the image of activists sympathetic to Dalit causes.

Phone tapping allegations

NIA taking over the case comes a day after Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh alleged that the Fadnavis dispensation had misused the government machinery to tap the phones of opposition leaders, especially during the formation of the MVA government.

Deshmukh said that the cyber cell of the Maharashtra Police has been directed to probe the complaints of phone tapping and snooping of Opposition leaders between 2014-19 when Fadnavis-led BJP government was in power. "There is no doubt that the previous dispensation has misused the government machinery to tap of phones of leaders from opposition parties," he said.

The Maharashtra home minister also said that the Devendra Fadnavis government had sent some officials to Israel to study the snooping software. "There were reports that some officers were sent to Israel to study the snooping software. We are finding out who had gone to Israel and whether there was any official engagement," Deshmukh said.

What is Bhima Koregaon Case?

Violence had broken out near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial in Pune district on January 1, 2018.

Dalits visit the memorial in large numbers as it commemorates the victory of British forces, which included Dalit soldiers over the army of the Brahmin Peshwa rulers of Pune in 1818.

The police had claimed that provocative speeches at Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, led to the violence and Maoists were behind the conclave.

They later arrested several Left-leaning activists including Telugu poet Varavara Rao and activist Sudha Bharadwaj for alleged links to Maoists.

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House managers, a group of seven Democrats acting as prosecutors, tried on Thursday to convince senators that President Donald Trump abused the power of his office, as his impeachment trial entered its third day.

"Trump abused his authority as commander-in-chief and chief diplomat to benefit himself," said Adam Schiff, the lead manager who as House Intelligence Committee chairman has led the impeachment inquiry.

"And he betrayed the interests of the American people when he did so," the California Democrat added.

Abuse of power is the charge of one of the two articles of impeachment against Trump that were passed in the Democratic-controlled House in December, making him the third president in U.S. history to be impeached.

The president has been accused of benefiting himself in the upcoming 2020 presidential election by asking Ukraine to investigate his political rivals.

In urging the Senate to convict Trump and remove him from office, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said during his presentation that the U.S. Constitution "does not leave us stuck with presidents who abuse their power in unforeseen ways that threaten our security and democracy."

"No one anticipated that a president would stoop to this misconduct and Congress has passed no specific law to make this behavior a crime," said the New York Democrat, also an impeachment manager. "Yet this is precisely the kind of abuse that the framers had in mind when they wrote the impeachment clause."

Stretching over nine hours, concluding past 10 p.m. ET (0300 GMT), Thursday's session made many senators, who by impeachment rules are not allowed to speak when hearing arguments, feel fatigued. "They're laying out their case multiple times," James Lankford, a Republican senator from Oklahoma, said of the House managers' arguments.

"They spent a lot of the big chunk of the center part of the day, really, talking about things that are not relevant or that are policy issues -- for instance, firing an ambassador -- not taking the advice of career professionals. All those things, those are not impeachable," he said.

On Friday, the last day allotted to the managers to present their case, Democrats will make their final move to prove that Trump obstructed Congress.

Then on Saturday, Trump's legal defense team will take the stage to refute the managers' claims and argue for the president.

Senators and aides of both parties are reportedly expecting a shorter, morning-only trial session on Saturday, with senators allowed to leave town for weekend.
A 27-year-old man who was fatally wounded Thursday in the Gresham neighborhood has been identified, officials said.

Kendredge T. E. Dillard of the 8000 block of South Stewart Avenue was pronounced at 10 p.m. Thursday, according to the Cook County medical examiners office.

According to Chicago police, Dillard was in a drive-thru in the first block of East 75th Street, when someone in a black sedan fired shots, striking his head.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, but a female passenger was taken to St. Bernard Hospital for injuries suffered due to glass shattering when Dillard was shot, said police.

No one has been arrested in the fatal shooting and detectives were investigating.
A Chinese national in his 50s has been quarantined in Melbourne after contracting the deadly coronavirus, with two more cases probable cases in New South Wales.

It comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison admitted Australian authorities expected more people would be struck down with the virus in coming weeks.

The man, who initially showed no symptoms of the virus, travelled to Australia on China Southern Airlines from Wuhan via Guangzhou on January 19.

It's the first confirmed case in Australia, as the dangerous virus spreads round the globe and threatens to become a global pandemic.

A passenger wearing a protective mask (pictured) is seen at Sydney Airport on Thursday, as a man in Melbourne is confirmed as the first Australian case of coronavirus

CORONAVIRUS IN AUSTRALIA 1 confirmed case in Melbourne, Victoria 2 probable cases in NSW 4 other people are under observation in NSW 5 people being tested in Queensland have been cleared 1 further person in Queensland is still being assessed Advertisement

Health Minister Jenny Mikakos told reporters on Saturday that the man had been in Wuhan - the epicentre of the outbreak - for two weeks by himself.

'He was confirmed as positive after a series of tests early this morning,' Ms Mikakos said on Saturday.

Ms Mikakos said it was 'possible' the man wasn't contagious while on board as he didn't start showing symptoms until after arriving in Melbourne.

'We are now in the process of making contact with all the other passengers [on the flight],' she said.

In Queensland six people - including three from the Gold Coast - were being assessed for the virus, five of whom have no been given the all-clear.

Of six people being assessed in NSW, two are 'probable' cases of novel coronavirus, the state's health authority confirmed on Saturday.

A pamphlet handed out by the Australian Government providing travellers with information on the deadly coronavirus (pictured)

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said the two men, aged between 30 and 60, were not particularly unwell but were being kept in hospital.

Both had travelled to China recently.

'As far as I know, they were not on the same flight,' Dr Chand said.

'The risk of transmission is still very, very low. But we felt it was prudent to take this precautionary approach.'

They are two of six people being assessed in NSW, with two others cleared on Friday.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade overnight raised the level of travel advice for Wuhan and Hubei province to 'do not travel'.

The disease is listed as having 'pandemic potential', allowing border measures to be enhanced.

'The confirmation today by Victorian authorities of the coronavirus case was a matter that had been anticipated,' Mr Morrison said.

'The Australian government is of course taking this issue incredibly seriously.

There are more than 900 cases worldwide, with two cases confirmed in France, two in America and now one in Australia

Passengers arriving on all flights from China are being stopped and given health information about the virus, its symptoms and what to do if they become unwell.

Australia's Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said it was important for people arriving from Wuhan - and those in close contact with them - to monitor for symptoms including fever, cough, sore throat, vomiting and difficulty breathing.

Experts are still learning about the virus.

'We don't know exactly how long symptoms take to show after a person has been infected but there is an incubation period and some patients will have very mild symptoms,' Prof Murphy said.

China has confirmed 41 deaths from the virus, while more than 1,000 people are now estimated to have been affected worldwide. Cases have been confirmed in 10 countries.

Patients with the novel coronavirus (pictured) typically have a fever, cough and trouble breathing, but some patients have developed pneumonia

Wuhan is a city of 11 million people which has been the epicentre of the outbreak. It is now treating dozens of patients (pictured)

'We're confident that outside the major epicentre of China there is not yet evidence of significant, or any, human to human spread,' Prof Murphy said.

Federal and state chief medical officers held joint discussions on Saturday with health ministers expected to do the same.

Prime Minister Morrison said the confirmation of a case in Australia had been anticipated and procedures are in place to manage the situation.

'I'd urge Australians to go about their day, go about their business in the knowledge that the professionals and the experts are there to provide the support that is needed in times like this are on the job and they're getting about it to keep you and your families safe,' he said.

The infected man, who flew on China Southern Airlines flight CZ321, has pneumonia and is in a stable condition, being treated in a negative pressure isolation room.

Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Angie Bone said the man felt tired after landing in Melbourne, before he started feeling ill later that day.

He then presented himself to a doctor on Thursday, four days after arriving in Australia.

'My understanding is he came off the plane and felt very tired and spent the next day resting in his room, towards the end of the day he developed symptoms,' Dr Bone said.

There is said to be little risk of him spreading the deadly virus in Melbourne, as he spent the last week with family and hasn't visited any public places since being in Australia.

'He stayed in his room as he was conscious he may have caught the disease, so his family didn't allow anyone in his room,' Dr Bone said.

Medical staff work in the intensive care unit at a hospital in Wuhan (pictured) have been working round the clock

'He has not been out and about, so I guess that minimises the risk to the broader community and he has taken all the appropriate precautions in terms of calling ahead to the GP clinic and to the hospital before he has presented on both of those occasions.

'So, he has done everything right. The family has done everything right to minimise the risk.

'There is a possibility the family may have caught the infection, we will be observing them very closely. It will help us understand how easy it is to transmit this virus.'

Dr Bone said the man wasn't a health care worker and may well have picked up the disease in a public setting.

France has confirmed two coronavirus cases, the first in Europe. Despite prevention measures such as sanitation being done in South Korea (pictured), the virus continues to spread globally

'There's no evidence of human to human transmission here [in Australia]. It will be very hard to be specific about where people catch it from,' she said.

Transportation in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, and at least 12 nearby cities has been shut down, effectively placing 36 million people into lockdown.

So far more than 850 people have been infected in China while France has had three people test positive - the disease's first appearance in Europe.

Two cases, including a Chicago woman returning from China, have been confirmed in the United States.
Col. Justin Dintino, a former leader of the State Police who was renowned for fighting against racial profiling and organized crime, has died at age 90, the agency announced Saturday.

Dinitino was the 10th superintendent of the State Police and was the oldest surviving superintendent when he died.

The agency did not release a cause of death.

It is with deep regret that Colonel Patrick Callahan announces the passing of retired Colonel Justin J. Dintino #1152 on Friday, January 24, 2020.

Colonel Dintino was 90 years old.#RIP#GoneButNeverForgottenhttps://t.co/bhgn13zCyT pic.twitter.com/Rw0RDpn2CC  NJSP - State Police (@NJSP) January 25, 2020

Dintino joined the State Police in 1952, serving first as a motorcycle trooper.

He became superintendent four decades later, at a time of turmoil in 1990. The agency faced allegations that troopers were harassing gay men in an undercover operation. There were also complaints that troopers were discriminating against black and Hispanic drivers during traffic stops on the New Jersey Turnpike.

Then-Gov. Jim Florio turned to Dintino, who responded by beginning diversity training for all troopers and promoting a record number of black and women troopers.

Citizen complaints against troopers fell from 589 in 1989 to 172 in 1992.

We above everybody else should be abiding by the law, Dintino told the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1993. Otherwise, what kind of example are we setting for the public?

Florio then named Dintino to become commissioner of New Jerseys State Commission of Investigation.

Dintino also spent a large part of his career fighting the mob. He served on President Ronald Reagans task force on organized crime.

And while he was superintendent, detectives worked with an informant to bring out 29 indictments against the mob.

His hard work, dedication, and commitment to excellence was the driving force behind the takedown of several organized crime syndicates while he worked in the Intelligence Unit, the State Police said in a statement Saturday.

His informant development skills were so renowned, that he was chosen by President Ronald Reagan to be part of a commission that was dedicated to developing and improving the reporting and combating of organized crime in the 20th century, the statement continued.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Ted Sherman contributed to this report.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

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Former bikie: Moudi Tajjour

An Instagram-famous bikie and convicted killer has claimed the Wuhan coronavirus sweeping across the world is 'Allah's revenge' for China's persecution of millions of Muslims.

Retired Nomads president Moudi Tajjour took to Snapchat saying Allah 'created' the killer virus which has killed 41 around the world and infected at least four in Australia.

'China has imprisoned more than one million Muslims in detention, so Allah sheds (sic) a virus that has not been discovered yet,' the 35-year-old wrote.

'It has isolated four cities with a population of more than 20 million Chinese.'

He then goes on to cite a verse from the Quran, 'And you are unaware of what they going to do.'

'Allah is great, never forgot this.' (sic)

United Nations experts and rights groups estimate more than a million Uighurs and members of other ethnic groups have been detained in camps in China's far western region of Xinjiang, which has triggered international condemnation.

Tajjour wrote on Snapchat that the killer Coronavirus was 'created' by Allah due to China's treatment of Uyghur Muslims

China says the camps are vocational training centres to impart new skills and help root out and prevent extremism.

Former detainees claimed that Muslims were forced to eat pork and speak Mandarin in the internment camps.

After initially denying their existence, China acknowledged that it had opened 'vocational education centres' in Xinjiang aimed at preventing extremism by teaching Mandarin and job skills.

Tajjour, who was jailed over the 2006 manslaughter of Robin Nassour, the younger brother of Fat Pizza star George, was the youngest ever member to join the Nomads' ranks in the late-1990s.

After leaving school in Year 8 he joined the outlaw motorcycle gang as a 'nominee', but had to wait 16 months before becoming a fully fledged member.

Medical staff attending to patients, in Wuhan, China following the outbreak of the Coronavirus

An estimated one million Uyghur Muslims are currently imprisoned in internment camps in the northwest Xinjiang region

The Wuhan coronavirus is sweeping the world after it was first detected in the central Chinese city in early December.

Three patients in New South Wales and one in Victoria were on Saturday confirmed to have caught the deadly disease.

The patient in Victoria is a Chinese national aged in his 50s who flew to Melbourne on China Southern flight CZ321 from Wuhan via Guangzhou on January 19.

He became the first confirmed case of coronavirus in Australia on Saturday morning and is now in quarantined isolation at Monash Hospital in Clayton in Melbourne's east.

Two men, one in his 30s and one in his 50s, are being treated at Sydney's Westmead Hospital, NSW Health confirmed on Saturday night.

The age of the fourth victim has not been confirmed.
Michigan Votes

Senate Concurrent Resolution 18, Oppose mandating "labor peace agreements" to get marijuana business license: Passed 21 to 15 in the Senate

To oppose a proposed rule from the state's Marijuana Regulatory Agency that would impose a mandate on prospective marijuana business licensees to sign a "labor peace agreement" with a union. The resolution text describes this mandate as forcing applicants to "accept the terms of labor unions without negotiation," and asserts it would "set a dangerous precedent for similar requirements for anyone seeking a license or permit issued by the state."

25 Sen. Dan Lauwers R - Brockway Township Y

31 Sen. Kevin Daley R - Attica Y

House Bill 5195, Increase license plate transfer fee, halt road tax 'fund shift': Passed 107 to 0 in the House

To no longer transfer around $6 million in annual vehicle registration (license plate) tax revenue from the state road repair fund to the Secretary of State office, which is part of around $90 million in such transfers each year. The bill will also increase fees imposed for the transfer of license plates from one vehicle to another from $8 to $10, plus a new $5 fee.

83 Rep. Shane Hernandez R - Port Huron Y

84 Rep. Phil Green R - Millington Y

House Bill 5187, Reimburse school aid fund for data center tax breaks: Passed 95 to 12 in the House

To establish that the effect of tax revenue that is foregone (not collected) due to tax breaks granted to a "data center" must be limited to non-school budgets only. Specifically, the bill would require that foregone tax revenue that would have gone to the state school aid fund but was lost because of sales tax breaks granted to "data centers" be "reimbursed" by transferring a similar amount of revenue to the school aid fund from other taxes. This refers to benefits granted to a Nevada company that occupied the former Steelcase Pyramid building in Grand Rapids, and to other "data center" businesses under the political deal that authorized these privileges.

83 Rep. Shane Hernandez R - Port Huron N

84 Rep. Phil Green R - Millington Y

SOURCE: MichiganVotes.org, a free, non-partisan website created by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, providing concise, non-partisan, plain-English descriptions of every bill and vote in the Michigan House and Senate. Please visit www.MichiganVotes.org.

Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Brazen thieves fleeing liquor stores with bottles of booze, security guards at the door of clothing retailers, off-duty police officers standing guard at the entrances of large grocery stores, and a Liquor Mart employee assaulted to the point of unconsciousness.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/1/2020 (718 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brazen thieves fleeing liquor stores with bottles of booze, security guards at the door of clothing retailers, off-duty police officers standing guard at the entrances of large grocery stores, and a Liquor Mart employee assaulted to the point of unconsciousness.

These incidents and more during the last year have sparked a coalition of business associations to hold a half-day, by invitation only, Manitoba Retail Crime Round Table next week in search of solutions to the spike in retail crime.

John Graham of the Retail Council of Canada said about 100 representatives from stores, malls, hotels, government, law enforcement, academia, and labour will meet to look at how Manitoba businesses can not only better address retail crime, but also how to make Manitobans feel safe shopping and working in retail.

"We wanted to have as many voices as we could," Graham said Friday. "This is such an important issue.

"Our expectation is we'll have people from various perspectives with ideas they can share with us. We hope to hear about ideas which can be implemented in Manitoba. It will be really interesting to see what ideas come out of the discussion."

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The conference is being organized by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, Retail Council of Canada, Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservices Association, and Manitoba Hotel Association.

Graham said while social and economic problems will be discussed, they aren't expected to be the focus of the round table.

Chuck Davidson, president and chief executive officer of the Manitoba Chambers, said the surge in retail thefts is not just a Winnipeg problem, but a province-wide one.

"We want to share best practices," Davidson said.

"I hope the take away is here are some things a business owner could do, businesses can tell government here are some things that can help us, and how can we be part of the solution."

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Imagine you get indicted in a swindle. The prosecutors represent that they can prove you and your alleged co-conspirators planned to fleece a major financial institution. You counter that you werent fleecing anyone. Sure, you were asking for millions in loans, but the collateral you were prepared to post was real, and so were the businesses in which you were planning to invest the loan proceeds. The capital injection, you thought, would spur the commerce that would enable you to pay off the loan.

When you get to court, though, you are horrified to learn that the judge is excluding your defense. The prosecutors peremptorily assert that its all a big lie. The judge doesnt want to hear your constitutional claims about the rights to present a defense and call witnesses; your motion to subpoena evidence is denied.

Then, at the trial, not only do the prosecutors establish that you planned to take millions from the bank; they tell the jury there was not a shred of evidence that you had any legitimate collateral or business investment prospects. The whole thing, they insist, was a scam. That is, they stop you from presenting your defense, and then they argue that you should be convicted because you have no defense.

It sounds like something out of Kafka. It would never be tolerated in the U.S. judicial system: no competent judge would bar an accused from attempting to prove his defense; and if one did, any conviction would be reversed on appeal. It would not matter whether the prosecutors proof was convincing; having ones day in court means having an opportunity to present any exculpatory evidence.

Yet what Ive just described is essentially what House Democrats have done to President Trump in the Senate impeachment trial on the matter of the Bidens and Burisma.

One of the most effective summations in the House impeachment managers presentation to the Senate on Thursday was given by Representative Sylvia Garcia, a freshman Democrat from Texas who used to be the presiding judge in Houstons municipal court system. She took direct aim at claims about suspected Biden self-dealing in Ukraine that have been advanced by President Trump and his defenders, particularly House Republicans and Rudy Giuliani, the presidents private lawyer.

Story continues

The congresswoman was persuasive. Vice President Biden, were to believe, had no connection whatsoever to Hunter Bidens gig at Burisma, the reputedly corrupt Ukrainian energy company on whose board he was lavishly paid to sit. When President Obamas veep threatened to withhold $1 billion in funding from Ukraine unless the government in Kyiv fired chief prosecutor Viktor Shokin, it had nothing to do with whether Shokin was trying to investigate Burisma. Indeed, it was quite the opposite: Shokin, you see, was utterly without scruples, an obstacle to Western anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine. In squeezing Kyiv to remove him, the vice president was simply carrying out Obama-administration policy, which had the backing of our European Union allies and the International Monetary Fund.

Should Biden have toned down his characteristic bravado in describing how he extorted the Ukrainians during a speech before a friendly audience? Maybe . . . but the point, Democrats maintain, is that he did nothing wrong. Whats more, they say everyone knows he did nothing wrong  including President Trump.

Therefore, the argument goes, when Trump asked President Zelensky for an investigation of the Bidens, it is inconceivable that Trump could actually have been concerned about rooting out corruption. The House impeachment managers scoff at the suggestion that Donald Trump has suddenly become the scourge of corruption in countries, such as Ukraine, that receive hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid. There can be no other explanation than that Trump was aiming to damage his likely rival in the 2020 campaign. Whats more, Trump had to have been asking Zelensky, in effect, to lie about Biden  to fabricate a corruption case  because everyone knew the Bidens had done nothing wrong.

Its a well-conceived story. For all we know, there may be truth to it. After all, Trumps more sensible defenders point out that even if it was imprudent for Trump to invoke Bidens name and the specter of domestic politics in his conversation with Zelensky, and even if it was inappropriate for Trump to encourage a foreign government to investigate an American citizen for violations of foreign law, there was nothing illegal about it. Analogously, the fact that Hunter Biden was cashing in on his fathers political influence, and that Joe Biden had a neon-flashing conflict of interest when he took official action that could have benefited his son, does not necessarily mean the Bidens did anything illegal. Maybe Vice President Bidens actions really were a straightforward, disinterested application of Obama-administration policy. This could be unsavory without being unlawful.

But here is the thing: It is also entirely possible that the Bidens actions, whether or not provably illegal, were so objectively suspicious, so suggestive of corruption, that it was perfectly reasonable for Trump to believe that they should be investigated  and that they could have violated American law, as well as Ukrainian law.

The presidents defense has not been given a fair opportunity to prove that. Even though the House impeachment managers are now arguing about Biden corruption allegations in their Senate presentation, the two leaders of the House impeachment inquiry, Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler, took the position that Republican claims about the Bidens were irrelevant  a partisan red herring to distract from the real issues. They steadfastly refused to permit witnesses on that topic (including the Bidens themselves).

Moreover, the president was denied the right to have his counsel participate in the main investigative phase, run by Schiff. So, even though Schiff began the House hearings with an absurd parody version of the TrumpZelensky conversation, falsely suggesting that Trump had asked Zelensky to make up dirt about Biden, the House denied the president the opportunity to prove that he was actually asking for help investigating activity that, objectively, appears quite suspicious and potentially corrupt.

Even if such an investigation would have helped Trump politically, it is a much different scenario if there was a real basis to believe the Bidens conduct should be scrutinized. Joe Biden is not immune from investigation just because he is running for president  certainly no more than the president himself is immune (which, obviously, hes not).

The president has to be given an opportunity to prove his rebuttal case. A trial is not a trial, not in the American tradition, if prosecutors are permitted to level a serious accusation and then deny the accused the right to mount a defense.

More from National Review
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: A 45-year-old Bangladeshi woman was arrested on Thursday on the charges staying in the country illegally, even as the police continued their crackdown on illegal immigrants in the city.



Nargis Begum had taken shelter at a labour shed at Kadubeesanahalli in Marathahalli along with other labourers, police said.

The woman who was arrested following a raid on the shed was booked under the Foreigners Act and remanded in judicial custody. Nargis, married to one Abdul Rab, confessed to having illegally entered the country from Bagerghat district of Bangladesh, police said. The woman, who had come to Bengaluru a few months back, was employed in the construction industry, they said.
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Trumps defense consists of a Russian propaganda conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election.

Trump lawyer Mike Purpura argued, President Trump then turned to corruption in the form of foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election. There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking a foreign leader to help get to the bottom of all forms of foreign interference in an American presidential election.

Video:

Trump's defense consists of Russian propaganda that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election. Yes, Trump is using a Russian conspiracy theory as part of his impeachment defense. pic.twitter.com/f8XTAivxQQ  Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) January 25, 2020

Purpura was pushing the Crowdstrike conspiracy theory that was widely debunked by witnesses at the House impeachment investigation. The presidents own lawyer is admitting that the basis for extorting Ukraine was a Russian conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine who really interfered in the 2016 election to help Hillary Clinton.

Sen. Mark Warner warned that Trump and Giuliani are potentially being manipulated by Russian propaganda, and that same propaganda has found its way into Trumps impeachment defense.

Trump and his legal team are using the impeachment trial to push Russian misinformation to the American people. Even when he is defending himself at an impeachment trial, Donald Trump continues to push Putins agenda.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Follow Jason Easley on Facebook
An Australian politician has attempted to reassure those worried about a virus outbreak by reminding people that smoking currently kills more people in China each day than the virus has.

While coronavirus is very serious, Jamie Parker said, lets remember over 2,500 mainland Chinese die from tobacco-related disease EVERY DAY.

The MP for the New South Wales parliament followed the tweet with the hashtag #publichealthemergency.

Australia confirmed that the new coronavirus  which originated in China and has killed at least 41 people  has reached its shores this weekend, with three patients in Sydney and another in Melbourne being treated for the disease.

The Melbourne patient  a Chinese national who arrived in the country last week  was the first to be hospitalised and is in a stable condition, according to authorities.

Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Show all 154 1 /154 Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Paramedics wearing personal protective equipment carry patient on a stretcher on to an ambulance in North Point district in Hong Kong, China Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A medical worker wearing protective gear takes a rest as he waits for ambulances carrying patients infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus at an entrance of a hospital in Daegu, South Korea YONHAP/AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A medical worker sprays disinfectant on an ambulance after carrying a patient infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus at a hospital in Daegu YONHAP/AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People wearing protective face masks shop at a supermarket in Casalpusterlengo, one the northern Italian towns placed under lockdown due to the new coronavirus outbreak EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A trolley bus is disinfected amid fears over the spread of the novel coronavirus in Pyongyang, North Korea REUTERS Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers wearing protective gear spray disinfectant as a precaution against the COVID-19 coronavirus in a local market in Daegu, South Korea AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wearing a protective facemask walks outside a nearly empty shopping mall at lunch time in Beijing AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wearing protective facemask and gloves puts a drawing made by a girl living in the area asking residents to wear protective gear, next to a quarantine notice for people who have travelled and a notice asking people to register outside a residential compound in Beijing AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A woman is taken into an ambulance amid a coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy REUTERS Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Ambulances and health workers are seen outside the Padua's hospital, northern Italy EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers in coaches leave MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire after being repatriated to the UK from a cruise ship hit by the coronavirus in Yokohama, Japan and head to Arrowe Park Hospital on Merseyside PA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People rest in a temporary hospital situated in the Tazihu Gymnasium in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Buddhist monks wearing protective face masks pray during a blessing ceremony for the people affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, at a temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia REUTERS Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers wearing protective gears carry a patient infecting with a new coronavirus to a hospital in Chuncheon, South Korea AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Soldiers in hazmat suits sanitize cargo from a China Airlines plane at the Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan City, Taiwan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Barricades are seen to block the entrance a the gate of a local mall in a nearly empty area in Beijing, China Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A vendor wearing a protective facemask waits for customers at a shop in Beijing AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus The body temperature of an Iraqi child returning from Iran is measured upon her arrival at the Najaf International Airport AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Volunteers hand out free facemasks at a shopping district in Quezon city, Metro Manila, Philippines Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers wearing protective gears carry a patient suspected of contracting the new coronavirus toward an ambulance at Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo, South Korea AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A worker disinfects a shop at a market in Shanghai AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A restaurant worker wearing protective clothing as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus passing a bag of food to a customer on the street outside their restaurant in Beijing AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A recovered patient is discharged from Leishenshan Hospital, the newly-built makeshift hospital for novel coronavirus patients, in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Volunteers in protective suits disinfect a factory with sanitising equipment in Huzhou, China China Daily via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers in protective suits attend to a patient inside an isolated ward of Wuhan Red Cross Hospital Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A drone operated by the Suwon municipal government flies around Changyong Middle School spraying disinfectant, in Suwon, South Korea EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers transfer medical waste at Leishenshan Hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wearing a protective mask rides a bicycle with his children in Guangzhou, China EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Volunteers in protective suits disinfect a railway station as the country is hit by an outbreak of the new coronavirus, in Changsha, Hunan province, China cnsphoto via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A woman repatriated from Wuhan carries a child as she walks upon her arrival at the Van Don airport in Vietnam's Quang Ninh province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff checking the body temperature of a patient who has displayed mild symptoms of the COVID-19 coronavirus, at an exhibition centre converted into a hospital in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A medical worker in protective suit transports oxygen tanks at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Boys wearing protection masks, gloves and modified water bottles sit on a cart at the airport arrival terminal in Guangzhou EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Employees work on a production line manufacturing protective suits at a clothing factory in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province cnsphoto via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers in protective suits move a patient at an isolated ward of a hospital in Caidian district following an outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan China Daily via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A worker in protective clothing, including face mask and gloves, carries a bucket as he works inside of The County Oak Medical Centre in Brighton, southern England, after it closed for "urgent operational health and safety reasons", following reports a member of staff was infected with the strain of the novel coronavirus AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers of the ecology and environment bureau collect samples from the sewage system of a hospital in Xinle, Hebei province China Daily via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man in protective clothing cleaning the County Oak Medical Centre GP practice The British government warned the outbreak of novel coronavirus was a "serious and imminent threat" and reported four new cases that brought the total recorded in the country to eight. Two hospitals The Royal Free and Guys and St Thomas', have both been designated as "isolation" facilities, with both currently housing Britons who have returned from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak PA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients to the newly completed Huoshenshan temporary field Hospital in Wuhan. The global coronavirus death toll rose again with Hong Kong announcing its first death from the outbreak on 4 February EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Members of staff wait as coaches carrying Coronavirus evacuees arrive at Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre, in Milton Keynes, after being repatriated to the UK from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan PA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A crew member of the cruise ship Diamond Princess talks to a worker wearing protective gear standing near the vessel, where dozens of passengers were tested positive for coronavirus, at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Doctors scan a patient's lungs at Huoshenshan temporary hospital built for patients diagnosed with coronavirus in Wuhan Xinhua News Agency/AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People wearing protective suits walk from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, with around 3,600 people quarantined onboard due to fears of the new coronavirus, at the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Indonesians who arrived from Wuhan are sprayed with antiseptic at Hang Nadim Airport in Batam. People evacuated from the Chinese city at the centre of a deadly virus outbreak, were transported to a quarantine zone on a remote island at the edge of the South China Sea, shortly after landing Indonesian Foreign Ministry via AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A woman wears a protective mask as she shops in a market in Beijing Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members hugging each other in an isolation ward at a hospital in Zouping in China's easter Shandong province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A portrait of Dr Li Wenliang is left at Li's hospital in Wuhan. He is regarded a whistleblower on the outbreak and died of the coronavirus which triggered wide-spread mourning on Chinese media Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Officers in protective gear enter the cruise ship Diamond Princess, where people tested positive for coronavirus, after the ship arrived at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, south of Tokyo Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Firefighters and personnel from the health ministry participate in a drill to prepare for the potential arrival of passengers infected with the coronavirus at the Viru Viru International Airport, in Santa Cruz, Bolivia Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Scientists are at work in the VirPath university laboratory as they try to find an effective treatment against the new Sars-like coronavirus AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers in protective suits attend to patients at the Wuhan International Conference and Exhibition Center, which has been converted into a makeshift hospital to receive patients with mild symptoms caused by the virus Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A girl wears a mask as a preventive measure against the coronavirus outbreak, in Bangkok, Thailand Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man is transferred from the World Dream cruise ship to an ambulance at the Kai Tak cruise terminal in Hong Kong as health officials conduct inspections AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers from a disinfection service company enter Lotte Department Store in central Seoul, South Korea EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man who arrived from Hubei province talks with police at a checkpoint at the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A doctor holds a handheld digital thermometer near health officials preparing a health check for arriving passengers from China at Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A resident walks across an empty track in Wuhan Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A scientific staff member works in a secure laboratory, researching the coronavirus, at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members preparing equipment to meet passengers of a military plane, which evacuated citizens of Russia and ex-Soviet countries from China's Wuhan province Vsluh.ru via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Staff wearing protective suits as they prepare to disinfect a Vietnam Airlines plane at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi Vietnam Airlines/AFP/Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A South Korean person, who was evacuated from Wuhan, arrives at the National Medical Center after showing suspected symptoms of novel coronavirus, in Seoul EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Officers in protective gear escort a person (under the blue sheet) who was on board cruise ship Diamond Princess and was tested positive for coronavirus Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A doctor being disinfected by his colleague at a quarantine zone in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Buses carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan, arrive at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Indonesian health officials conduct an exercise drill in transporting a patient requiring isolation at the Belawan port in Medan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus The Pasteur Institute in Dakar, designated by the African Union as one of the two reference centres in Africa for the detection of the new coronavirus that appeared in China, is hosting experts from 15 countries on the continent this weekend to prepare them to deal with the disease AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A government worker disinfects a co-worker after visiting a quarantined woman's home in Qingdao EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An aerial view of the deserted roads and bridges in Wuhan Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers hold a strike outside the Hospital Authority as they demand for Hong Kong to close its border with China to reduce the coronavirus spreading Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A person has their tempriture checked in Qingdao, China EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. Note the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/AFP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Malaysian nationals being directed from a bus by health officials in protective suits as they arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, after being evacuated from Wuhan Malaysia's Ministry of Health/AFP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People hoping to buy face masks crowd outside a medical supply shop that was raided by police for allegedly hoarding and overpricing the masks, as public fear over China's Wuhan Coronavirus grow in Manila, Philippines. The Philippine government has been heavily criticized after failing to immediately implement travel restrictions from China, the source of a deadly coronavirus that has now killed hundreds and infected thousands more Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Residents wearing masks and raincoats volunteer to take temperature of passengers following the outbreak of a new coronavirus at a bus stop at Tin Shui Wai, a border town in Hong Kong Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Italian citizens repatriated from Wuhan going though a health control zone after landing at the Mario De Bernardi military airport in Pratica di Mare, south of Rome, prior to be placed in quarantine Italian Defence Ministry/AFP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers arrange beds in a 2,000-bed mobile hospital, set up in an exhibition center, in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A doctor checks conditions of occupants in a hotel accommodating isolated people in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members wearing protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city of Wuhan, arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital. The Chinese army deployed medical specialists to the epicentre of the spiralling viral outbreak that has killed and spread around the world AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A baby wearing a protective face mask is pushed by a woman as they arrive from Shenzhen to Hong Kong at Lo Wu MTR station AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A health worker checks the temperature of a woman entering a subway station in Beijing Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A young child wears a protective mask and is covered in plastic while waiting to check in to a flight at Beijing Capital Airport The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday declared the coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Ambulance crews arrive at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, as it prepares for a return flight from Wuhan, China. Eighty-three Britons and 27 foreign nationals who were trapped in Wuhan are being flown back to the UK Tom Maddick / SWNS Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A woman carries a baby wearing a protective mask as they exit the arrival hall at Hong Kong High Speed Rail Station Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Camp beds at a Medical Assessment Center set up at the airport in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on the eve of the arrival of German citizens evacuated from Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Funeral parlour staff members in protective suits help a colleague with disinfection after they transferred a body at a hospital in Wuhan Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Muslims wearing masks pray for the victims of coronavirus at a mosque in Ahmedabad, India Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical officials waiting for people who wants to check the novel coronavirus at Myeongdong shopping district Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Children wear plastic bottles as makeshift homemade protection and protective masks while waiting to check in to a flight at Beijing Capital Airport Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A patient assisted by medical staff gets off an ambulance in Wuhan AFP/Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People line up to buy face masks from a medical supply company in Nanning, southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Countries began evacuating their citizens from the Chinese city hardest-hit by a new virus that has now infected more people in China than were sickened in the country by SARS Chinatopix via AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Millions spent their normally festive Lunar New Year holiday under lockdown Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Children with face masks wash their hands before prayer at Erawan shrine in Bangkok. Thailand has detected eight Coronavirus cases so far AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An Indonesian health officer points at the screen of a thermal scanner for passengers China confirmed that the deadly Wuhan coronavirus virus can be transmitted between humans AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Hospital workers wearing protective eyewear and masks examine an Indonesian student who returned from China in quarantine at a hospital in Banda Aceh AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Ambulance staff dispose of an outfit at the hospital in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A person checks the temperature of a passenger to help stop the spread of a deadly virus as he arrives at the Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International airport in Palembang AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Nepali students, wearing face masks, attend a class at Matribhumi School in Bhaktapur, on the outskirts of Kathmandu AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Two Buddhist monks wear face masks while walking along a street in Yangon AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Staff disinfecting a residential area in Ruichang, part of Jiujiang in China's central Jiangxi province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers are seen at the construction site of a new hospital being built to treat patients from a deadly virus outbreak in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on January 27, 2020. - China is rushing to build a new hospital in a staggering 10 days to treat patients at the epicentre of a deadly virus outbreak that has stricken thousands of people, state media reported on January 24. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP) (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images) HECTOR RETAMAL AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Vapor blurs the goggles of an ambulance driver while they work, in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers producing facemasks at a factory in Yangzhou AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff getting on an ambulance in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A vendor of traditional masks wears a facial mask at his shop in Thamel EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An airport official checks the temperature of a passenger upon his arrival at the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An ambulance driver talking with medical staff in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team leave the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market The new coronavirus appears to have its origins in a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, a popular transport hub AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers produce protective suits at a factory in Nantong AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers scanned by thermal imaging for body temperature as they go through health measures and procedures after they landed at Rome's Fiumicino airport on a southern airlines flight from Wuhan Aeroporto Di Roma/AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A Thai royal guard wears a mask while on duty at the Grand Palace in Bangkok EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wearing a face mask rides a nearly empty subway train in Beijing AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A shopper wearing goggles with a face mask and gloves uses a self checkout machine at a supermarket in Wuhan AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Members of the Italian Red Cross putting on protective gear, getting ready to give health checks to passengers that landed at Rome's Fiumicino airport on a southern airlines flight from Wuhan Aeroporto Di Roma/AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A member of the Hong Kong government's Civil Aid Service gestures at the entrance to the Lady MacLehose Holiday Village which is being used as one of two quarantine centres for people who have been in close proximity with suspected cases of a SARS-type virus. Hong Kong will turn two holiday camps, including a former military barracks, into quarantine zones for people who may have come into contact with carriers of the Wuhan virus, officials announced AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff wearing protective suits at the Zhongnan hospital in Wuhan STR/AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A Malaysia Health official checks passengers going through a thermal scanner upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Staff disinfecting Yingtan North Railway Station, China China banned trains and planes from leaving the major city at the centre of a virus outbreak on January 23, seeking to seal off its 11 million people to contain the contagious disease that has claimed lives and spread to other countries AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A passenger walks past a quarantine control station at Narita airport, Japan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Patients queue up to seek treatment in Wuhan Tongji Hospital Fever Clinic, in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Quarantine workers spray disinfectant at Incheon International Airport, South Korea EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A member of staff checks the temperature of a guest entering the casino of the New Orient Landmark hotel in Macau, after it reported its first case of the new SARS-like virus AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients to Jin Yintan hospital Little is known about the new disease which, if confirmed, would be only the seventh coronavirus known to science that can infect humans Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Members of the Three Gorges Medical Laboratory offering free masks to the public in Yichang, China AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Gabriel Leung, right, chair professor of public health medicine at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, speaks about the extent of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in China AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Members of staff of the Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team conducting searches on the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A quarantine officer at Incheon International Airport, South Korea, uses an electronic thermometer to check the temperature of passengers arriving by plane from Wuhan The virus causes symptoms of viral pneumonia, and has already led to several deaths EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A screen shows cancelled flights at Tianhe airport in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Health officials hand out information about the current coronavirus at Kuala Lumpur International Airport AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A store owner argues with security guards as he attempts to enter the closed Huanan wholesale seafood market AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers producing facemasks at a factory in Handan, China's northern Hebei province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff and security personnel stop patients' family members from being too close to the Jinyintan hospital Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus maya-goodfellowAn airport staff member uses a temperature gun to check people leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A rescue worker walks past a notice about new coronavirus that has broken out in China Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Health officials wear face masks at an inspection site at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members carry a patient into the Jinyintan hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A staff member checks body temperature of a child after a train from Wuhan arrived at Hangzhou Railway Station in Hangzhou AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A quarantine station measures passenger body temperatures at Narita Airport JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers walk past a notice displayed near a quarantine control station at Narita airport EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers walk past a poster alerting on coronavirus screening ahead upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An employee sprays disinfectant on a train, as a precaution against coronavirus, at Suseo Station in Seoul EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Kazakh sanitary-epidemiological service worker uses a thermal scanner to detect travellers from China who may have symptoms possibly connected with the previously unknown coronavirus, at Almaty International Airport, Kazakhstan Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Pharmacist Liu Zhuzhen stands near a sign reading "face masks are sold out" at her pharmacy in Shanghai AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus The Wuhan Medical Treatment Center, EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A worker in a protective suit at the closed seafood market in Wuhan Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers wear protective face masks at the departure hall of a high speed train station in Hong Kong AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A notice for passengers from Wuhan Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wears a mask while riding on mobike past the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market Getty

Social media users on Twitter have not responded well to Mr Parker, a Greens politician, trying to put the virus into perspective by comparing to smoking-related deaths.

Im not sure this is good optics, replied one. Now isnt the time, said another.

France has also reported several cases of the disease, and the UK has said it will track down thousands of people who have recently arrived from Wuhan, the city at the heart of the outbreak.

Multiple Chinese cities have been put into lockdown as the death toll continues to rise, with major tourist attractions also closing to the public to prevent the spread.

The new virus, which health officials said has infected over 800 people, gives sufferers flu-like symptoms but can develop into pneumonia.

The outbreak has been traced back to a seafood market in Wuhan, a central Chinese city which has seen the majority of cases, however has since spread across the world, including to Japan, Thailand, the US and now Australia.

Face masks completely sold out of Boots stores in Edinburgh on Friday while patients were being tested in Scotland.

All results came back negative, according to authorities.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrive for a bilateral meeting during the G7 summit on August 25, 2019 in Biarritz, France. Stefan Rousseau | Pool | Getty Images

With the China "phase one" deal and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement signed, the Trump trade team is now turning its attention to a deal with post-Brexit U.K. and the ongoing stalemate at the World Trade Organization. Questions also remain over the direction of trade discussions between the U.S. and the European Union as the American trade front shifts to targets across the Atlantic. President Donald Trump highlighted the less-than-rosy relations earlier this week from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Trump said that the European bloc has been "very tough to deal with" and had "taken advantage" of the U.S., but said the EU has "no choice" but to make a deal. But separate and apart from the tricky talks between the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the EU and the WTO, many investors expect the U.S. to prioritize bilateral talks with the U.K. At first, it might be tempting to believe the U.S. and U.K. could whisk through a comprehensive deal in contrast to the months of strenuous debate and tariff tit for tat with China. The two nations have for decades defended each other's interests, whether across military theaters in the Middle East or through generous trade dialogue. But trade officials on both sides are starting to warn that there may be a few hurdles preventing London and Washington from sailing straight into a photo op.

United Kingdom

Formal talks between London and Washington cannot begin until after Britain leaves the EU later this month, but some of the sticking points are already clear. And there's perhaps no greater barrier to an easy deal between London and Washington if U.S. negotiators insist on greater access to Britain's National Health Service. Considered a crown jewel of the U.K., the NHS provides free public health care at the point of use and, as such, holds a place of utmost importance to both the Conservative and Labour Parties. Though Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said the NHS "is not for sale," comments from Trump last year that the program would be part of a "magnificent" deal scared some in the U.K.

Their angst is that granting outside pharmaceutical companies greater access to health-care contracts could lead the private sector to squeeze even more profit out of the already-cash-strapped program. "If bipartisan translates over to the U.K., there's at least a rough bipartisan consensus that the NHS is sort of a national treasure of the U.K. even if Tories might think that there is room for improvement," said Anthony Rapa, a trade attorney at Kirkland & Ellis. A second hurdle to a U.S.-U.K. deal is Britain's commitment to EU food safety standards. Some of the EU rules most popular among U.K. politicians are those pertaining to food safety. The U.K. has promised in particular to resist U.S. calls for London to purchase its exports of certain farm products. For years, the EU has blocked members from importing U.S. hormone-treated beef and chicken washed with chlorinated water to kill bacteria.

And while meat treated with chlorine washes is deemed safe by the U.S. government, many U.K. officials remain unconvinced. London's Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers, for example, told the BBC earlier this month that "there are legal barriers to the imports and those are going to stay in place." That could pose a headache to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who will represent both one of the world's largest exporters of agricultural goods as well as a president who's eager to notch another deal ahead of the 2020 election. For Lighthizer, Congress, and Trump, striking a comprehensive deal with the U.K. devoid of the "phases" that now mar discussion with China would be welcome relief both as a matter of logistics and of optics. In the aftermath of Johnson's election victory last month, Trump offered his congratulations and hopes for a "massive" deal. "Britain and the United States will now be free to strike a massive new trade deal after Brexit," Trump said. "This deal has the potential to be far bigger and more lucrative than any deal that could be made with the E.U. Celebrate Boris!"

The National Farmers Union (NFU) believes there are "justifiable fears," both inside and outside the farming community that, after leaving the European Union, Britain could allow the import of food produced to lower standards. John Taggart | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The stricter food safety standards imposed by the EU are evident in recent U.S. export data to the U.K. Though the U.K. was the United States' fifth-largest goods export market in 2018, agricultural purchases were a fraction of the total. U.S. goods exports to the U.K. in 2018 were $66.3 billion, with aircraft ($12 billion) and precious metals and stone ($8.5 billion) the leading components. Total exports of all agricultural products to the U.K. in 2018 were worth just $2 billion, with $261 million of wine and beer, $197 million of tree nuts and $109 million of soybeans. But to Kirkland lawyer Rapa, Britain may be flexible on food safety issues and instead opt to use its stated position to stand by the EU standards as a sort-of bargaining chip in discussions with Washington. Something similar could be said of London's threats to impose digital taxes against U.S. tech giants, he said, as the U.K. looks to extract the most it can from the EU and Washington. "The U.K. seems to be sort of pivoting back and forth. Maybe as of a week ago or so, the reporting was that the U.K. was going to prioritize a U.S. trade deal as a way of gaining leverage with the EU. But then remarks that they made just, as of this morning, were that they're now prioritizing the EU over a US trade deal," Rapa said. "On some level, it's probably kind-of 'Art of the Deal,'" he added.

European Union

U.S. discussions with the EU have yet to find resolution, either. Trump's recent trip to Davos showed the president's characteristic negotiating style. While the president noted his "great talk" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, he quickly pivoted to threaten to levy huge tariffs on European cars. "They've taken advantage of our country, the European Union, for many, many years," Trump told CNBC's Joe Kernen on Wednesday. "But I said, look, if we don't get something, I'm going to have to take action, and the action will be very high tariffs on their cars and other things that come into our country." "Now, saying that, I don't want your audience to get nervous," the president cautioned. "They're going to make a deal, because they have to. They have to. They have no choice."

Despite Trump's conviction of Europe's desperation, multiple EU member states have in recent months threatened, if not imposed, digital services taxes on some of the largest U.S. tech conglomerates. French lawmakers in July approved a new tax on large tech companies like Alphabet and Amazon, sparking outrage from the White House. "France just put a digital tax on our great American technology companies. If anybody taxes them, it should be their home Country, the USA," Trump tweeted on July 26. "We will announce a substantial reciprocal action on Macron's foolishness shortly," he promised. "I've always said American wine is better than French wine!" trump tweet Though Trump and Macron appeared to reach an agreement to postpone those levies this week, the current threat of auto tariffs looms large for Wall Street on top of the billions of dollars' worth of duties already imposed. "President Trump's desire for more trade wins is going to continue to bump up against the EU's unwillingness to put agriculture on the table," wrote Bruce Hirsh, principal with Tailwind Global Strategies. Hirsh, whose previous work includes time as chief international trade counsel on the Senate Finance Committee and deputy assistant USTR for WTO and Multilateral Affairs, added that the EU may try to appease Trump with a flurry of incremental deals but ultimately stick by its food safety rules. "The EU appears to be trying to appeal to Trump's willingness to settle for quick, small deals by dangling a small regulatory package with a trace of agriculture, but that may not be enough for farmers," he wrote. "Plenty could still go wrong with the Airbus dispute and autos, but the truce over the digital services tax shows the administration is interested in calming the trade waters before the U.S. election." The Trump administration has already imposed tariffs on billions of dollars' worth of European products. The USTR earlier this year published multiple lists of European goods worth more than $10 billion that it had hoped to target amid its high-profile dispute with Airbus. In October, Washington moved ahead and imposed tariffs of 10% on large civil aircraft and 25% on agricultural goods from Europe. That round of sanctions targeted emblematic goods such as French wine and Italian cheese. Later, CNBC first reported in December that the USTR was weighing tariffs of up to 100% on European products the administration had previously absolved from such duties, including Irish and Scotch whiskies and Cognac.

President Donald Trump, with (L-R) Vice President Mike Pence, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, speaks during a press conference with Chinas Vice Premier Liu He(not shown), the countrys top trade negotiator, before they sign a trade agreement between the US and China during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on January 15, 2020. Mandel Ngan | Getty Images

"Trump also weighed the threat of auto tariffs...again. We continue to believe that despite a temporary truce, subsidies and the DST will remain real issues  and useful rationales for tariffs," wrote Cowen analyst Chris Krueger. "As tariffs halt on the edges of the Pacific, the Atlantic theater is set to escalate  with aviation, consumer goods, agriculture, Big Tech, and energy in the crosshairs." But tariffs between the U.S. and the EU aren't new to the Trump administration, which in 2018 announced tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum imported into the States. The EU responded in kind with tariffs targeting more than $3 billion worth of U.S. goods including bourbon, yachts and motorcycles.

World Trade Organization
FLINT, MI -- A 36-year-old man has been sentenced to one year in jail for secretly recording foreign exchange students on his phone in the bathroom of a Montrose home.

Johnathan I. Truman was sentenced Tuesday, Jan. 21 in Genesee Circuit Court after he previously pleaded guilty to single counts of surveilling an unclothed person and using a computer to commit a crime.

Three additional charges were dropped after the guilty plea. Truman received credit for 291 days served and ordered to serve six months of probation upon his release.

The charges were issued after Trumans wife found a still photo on his phone in September 2018 that showed one of the students naked from the belly up, according to court records.

There were two female foreign exchange students living in the home at the time, both in their teens. The girl in the picture was from Brazil, according to records.

Truman was seen setting up a phone on a dryer inside a bathroom used by the students in another video, per court documents.

Trumans wife, who has since filed for divorce, took snapshots of the photo and video, records show.

She turned them over to the police which led to his arrest.

The exchange students were removed from the home.

As part of the courts ruling, Truman is also required to register as a sex offender under the state Sex Offender Registry Act.
A man with around $18,000 in annual income who received a nearly $1 million check from the federal government has been sentenced to about three years in prison.



Ramon C. Blanchett, 29, of Tampa, Florida, a part-time DJ and community college student, pleaded guilty to theft of government funds last fall, the Tampa Bay Times reported Thursday.
A video clip had shown Imam purportedly saying that Assam should be cut-off from the rest of India as Bengalis  both Hindus and Muslims  are being killed or put into detention centres.

Guwahati: The Assam Police on Saturday registered an FIR under an anti-terror law against activist Sharjil Imam, who came to limelight during the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, for his alleged remarks threatening to "cut-off" the state from rest of India.

Additional Director General of Assam Police GP Singh said the FIR was registered against Imam under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act at the crime branch police station in Guwahati.

"An FIR has been lodged against Sharjil Imam for his speech and inter alia commission of offence u/s 13 (1)/18 of the UA(P)ACT read with section 153 A, 153 B and 124 A IPC at Guwahati Crime Branch Police Station," Singh tweeted along with the purported video of Imam's speech.

Imam was heard telling the audience in the audio clip that Assam should be cut-off from the rest of India as Bengalis  both Hindus and Muslims  are being killed or put into detention centres.

Earlier, Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the Assam government would register a case against Imam his "seditious" comment "aimed" at disrupting law and order in the state. "Assam government has taken cognisance of this very seditious statement and we will register a case against this individual," Sarma had said.
Two imperatives shaped Indias freedom struggle. The first was liberation from oppressive colonial rule. The British government was autocratic and repressive, treated Indians as subjects to be ruled rather than equal participants in government, and frequently resorted governing by arbitrary fiat rather than by the rule of law. In response, Indian articulated a vocabulary of civil rights  the freedom of speech, association, and assembly (among others)  that would allow them to express their aspirations, engage in political and cultural dissent, and create a public sphere that would form the basis of self-government.

At the same time, Indians knew they had to look within. The alien regime was not the only repressive institution that existed among them. The twin axes of caste and gender (for example) served to place millions of future citizens in positions of perpetual subordination, exploitation, and exclusion. This subordination, however, also had a long history of resistance. From Jotiba Phule in the late-19th century to BR Ambedkar in the 1920s, a vocabulary of freedom, equality, and access to public spaces was articulated against the specific kind of oppression visited on people by social and cultural institutions.

At the time of the framing of the Indian Constitution  a vision for the future society that we aspired to become and a blueprint of the nation whose borders were soon to come into existence  both these imperatives came together to constitute the Fundamental Rights Chapter, which still remains the beating heart of the Constitution. Drawing upon various constitutional documents that had been written and debated in the run-up to 1947, the framers set out a detailed charter of fundamental rights. The core philosophy underlying this charter was explained by Ambedkar in his last speech to the Constituent Assembly. Highlighting the trinity of liberty, equality, and fraternity that framed the fundamental rights chapter, Ambedkar observed that liberty cannot be divorced from equality, equality cannot be divorced from liberty. Nor can liberty and equality be divorced from fraternity. Without equality, liberty would produce the supremacy of the few over the many. Equality without liberty would kill individual initiative. Without fraternity, liberty would produce the supremacy of the few over the many. Without fraternity, liberty and equality could not become a natural course of things. It would require a constable to enforce them.

Liberty, therefore, referred to that zone of freedom guaranteed to the individual, where the States powers of interference were limited or restricted altogether. In our Constitution, this liberty is secured by the guarantee of core civil rights, such as the rights to free speech, association, life, personal liberty, and so on. Next, there was equality. As Ambedkar understood, equality was not simply about a guarantee of formal equal treatment (which would only end up entrenching the supremacy of the few over the many), but about identifying the bases on which individuals and groups had been historically discriminated against, and to work to remedy that discrimination in the present day. Thus, in the Constitution, we have provisions not only for equal treatment (Article 14) and non-discrimination (Article 15), but also specific enabling provisions for measures like reservation (Article 16), which were never viewed as antithetical to equality, but rather, an integral part of it.

As Ambedkar realised, however, liberty and equality would remain meaningless if they were directed only against the State. The concept of fraternity was the bridge between liberty and equality, ensuring that those principles would operate not merely in the public sphere, but also  in some respects  in the private sphere. Uniquely for its time, therefore, the Indian Constitution enshrined what we know as horizontal rights  i.e., rights between private parties. These included Article 15(2) (guaranteeing non-discriminatory access to certain public spaces such as shops), Article 17 (prohibiting untouchability), and Article 23 (prohibiting forced labour). The Constitution, thus, intended a deeper democratisation of Indian public and social life, and envisaged that this would be accomplished through the Constitutions fundamental rights chapter.

Of course, this is not the only part of the story. Perhaps swayed by the violence of Partition  that was going on even as the Constitution was being drafted  the framers ended up hedging in the rights they were granting, with a series of reasonable restrictions. There was staunch opposition to this from within the Constituent Assembly  an opposition that reached a fever pitch when it was discovered that there was a proposal to enshrine preventive detention into the Constitution itself. Ultimately, however, these restrictions passed scrutiny and were included into the Constitution. The recent  and repressive  use of a number of laws, however, suggests that the framers may have allowed themselves to get caught up too much in their own time, and failed to provide adequate fundamental rights safeguards for the future.

These few design flaws, however, do not away from the importance of the fundamental rights chapter, and its role in ensuring that Indias Constitution is, at the end of the day, a transformative Constitution: it transforms subjects to citizens, and brings ideas of freedom and equality into spaces they would otherwise never come. The task of future generation is to defend that precious heritage.

Gautam Bhatia is a Delhi-based advocate.
Guwahati: Assam government would register a case against the alleged mastermind of the Shaheen Bagh protests in Delhi for his "seditious" comment "aimed" at disrupting law and order in the state, a minister said on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference, Assam Finance Minister said Sherjil Islam was heard saying in an audio clip that the state should be cut-off from the rest of India and taught a lesson.

"Assam government has taken cognisance of this very seditious statement and we will register a case against this individual," Sarma said.

"A lot of wrong things have been said by this individual, aimed to create law and order situation in Assam. We will bring this person to the court so that he is punished in accordance with the law," he added.

Thousands of people, including women and children, have been protesting since December 15 at Shaheen Bagh and nearby Jamia Millia Islamia against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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President Donald Trump's legal team is expected to begin presenting its defense on Saturday morning in the ongoing impeachment trial.



Saturday marks the start of the defense team's 24 hours over the course of three days to present the president's case, the same amount of time as House impeachment managers had to make their opening arguments, which they began giving on Wednesday.

We will be putting on a vigorous defense of both facts, rebutting what they said, and the Constitution, said attorney Jay Sekulow. We're going to rebut and refute, and we're going to put on an affirmative case tomorrow.

An audience of Senate jurors have sat through several long days as Democratic House managers, who serve as the prosecutors, outlined the charge. The House managers argued that Trump abused power for his own personal political benefit ahead of the 2020 election, even as the nation's top FBI and national security officials were publicly warning off the theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election.

House managers spent Friday speaking to the article of impeachment for obstruction of Congress. On Thursday, Democrats spent hours detailing their case against Trump before the Senate on the other article of impeachment, abuse of power.

With Chief Justice John Roberts presiding, Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Friday that Trump put the U.S.-Ukraine relationship on the line in a way that benefited Russia just so he could take a political cheap shot at Democratic foe Joe Biden.

You cannot leave a man like that in office," Schiff said. You know it's not going to stop. It's not going to stop unless the Congress does something about it.

House manager Val Demings opened her afternoon remarks by discussing allegations that Trump's direction to current and former White House officials was not to comply with subpoenas to testify or turn over documents to impeachment investigators.

The Democratic congresswoman also listed off the government agencies she says have not complied at Trump's direction.

"Following President Trump's orders, the Office of the Vice President, the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of State, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense all continued to refuse to produce a single document or record in response to 71 specific requests, including five subpoenas, Demings said.

After the presentation of Trump's case, Senators will have an opportunity to submit written questions to both sides.



Republican senators say they discussed the plan for the 16-hour Q&A session of the trial during their conference lunch Friday.

They said that a member of leadership in their caucus will likely review questions before sending them to Roberts to read during the trial. If there are similar questions from multiple senators, they will likely be combined into one question. Senators' names will be attached to their questions when they are read.

If a super-majority of senators, 67 of the 100, approve an article of impeachment with a vote of guilty, the president is convicted and removed from office.

It takes just 51 votes during the trial to approve rules, call witnesses or dismiss the charges. Republicans control the chamber, 53-47.

The Associated Press and CNN contributed to this report.
"At the same time, you were fighting for a bankruptcy bill that MBNA really wanted to get passed through the Senate, making it much tougher for everyone to file bankruptcy," Brokaw said, before asking Biden whether his family's relationship with the company was inappropriate.
In a world where sharing is so popular it has its own economy, women in Utah have a new item to contribute: breast milk. The Mountain West Mothers' Milk Bank is the first of its kind in Utah, the US state with the highest birth rate and therefore great need, as well as a wealth of potential milk donors. Since the bank began operating late last year in Salt Lake City, more than 550 local women have volunteered. Annette Thompson began donating in March after giving birth to her third child, spending 10-15 minutes every three hours pumping. "This is my little piece of helping someone else. My body can do it, so I will do it," she said. Thompson had realized she was a prolific milk producer when she had her first two children -- she used to pump excess milk and save it in her freezer, before ultimately throwing it out as she ran out of space to store food. A few years later, when her niece was in the hospital and needed milk, she learned that donating was possible. So when she had her daughter in March, she posted on Facebook to inquire if anyone needed extra. She was connected to the milk bank and after undergoing a health screening, including a blood test, Thompson became a donor. Nearly 10 percent of babies born in the United States are premature, and the bulk of the milk collected by the bank goes to nourish infants in neonatal intensive care. Often when a baby is born early the mother's body is unable to produce milk, or not able to produce enough, so donor milk is sought. Breast milk is valued above formula for newborns because it contains a range of vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, immune factors, antibodies and stem cells. "It primes the gastro-intestinal tract, so those babies get protections from infections from the get-go," said Mariana Baserga, who runs the University of Utah's neo-natal intensive care unit. - Saving lives - Once the Utah bank receives milk from donors, it is pooled, pasteurized and packaged in doll-sized three ounce containers to be shipped out to hospitals across Utah and neighboring Idaho. Ken Richardson, its medical director, compares donating mothers to first responders and the military. "That's what they are doing, saving lives," he said. "It's an act of selfless service to pump and to provide breast milk and to do it for hours and days and months. "They do it without any payment. It's an act of pure love." In the 1980s when the AIDS epidemic hit, it had a devastating impact on milk banks in North America and around the globe. "They closed overnight because people were worried," says Naomi Bar-Yam, formerly on the board of directors of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA). At the time there were between 50 and 60 milk banks in the United States and Canada, but within a very short time there were only a half dozen left. Those figures have since partially recovered -- with 26 accredited milk banks now operating nationwide. That episode was the catalyst for the founding of HMBANA, the professional organization that sets guidelines for the safe collection and dispensing of human milk -- and whose standards are now used across the globe. A lab tech prepares three-ounce servings of breast milk to be shipped to nearby hospitals at the Mountain West Mothers' Milk Bank in December 2019 Annette Thompson began donating in March after she had her third child, spending 10-15 minutes every three hours pumping The bulk of the milk collected by the bank goes to nourish infants in neonatal intensive care such as Hayes, born two weeks early to his mom Jenny Collins in American Fork, Utah Once the bank receives milk from donors, it is pooled, pasteurized and then packaged in doll-sized three-ounce containers
Another bill designed to increase the number of Certified Nursing Assistants in nursing homes was taken off the Assemblys docket during the lame duck legislative session, and almost everyone seems to agree that this was a good thing because it wouldnt have changed anything.

The goal is to tighten the ratio between the aides, known as CNAs, and the patients in the 370 nursing homes in our state, because the job is one of the most physically demanding and emotionally heart-wrenching tasks in the health care industry.

These caregivers, overwhelmingly female, sacrifice their own safety by feeding, bathing, dressing, lifting, toileting, and nurturing our elderly. It can be backbreaking work: The injury rate is the highest of any profession, with three times the rate of back injuries as construction workers. The burnout rate is unsurpassed, as high as 100 percent. Their pay is often poor.

And with 44,000 seniors already living in our long-term facilities, the workload isnt getting lighter, so this should be at the top of the Legislatures agenda when it reconvenes next week for the new session.

Both chambers passed a bill in 2016 that provided a better staffing ratio. It called for one CNA per 8 residents during the day shift, 1 per 10 residents in the evening, and a 1-to-16 ratio for overnight shifts. The union representing the nursing aides, 1199 SEIU, supported the bill, but it was vetoed by Gov. Christie.

The bill has undergone changes since then, and the last version was criticized as watered-down: It tightened the ratios to 6.5-to-1 for day shifts, but the bill changed references to CNAs to include "all direct care providers. That means registered nurses and licensed practice nurses are also included in the staffing ratio formula  even though their jobs are different from that of CNAs  which would dilute the time each CNA can spend with a patient.

The trade group for many nursing home operators, the Health Care Association of New Jersey, was agnostic on the bill. Its president and CEO, Jonathan Dolan, concedes that the workforce shortage is drastic, but points out that any solution must factor in the escalation in our states minimum wage and the expense of countless hires  a $95 million mandate, he calculates.

Dolan also admits the current ratio is untenable, and that we need to respect our CNAs, we want to pay them more and staff more. But we have to have a workable solution that respects health care policy, the needs of the resident, and the (facilitys) operation.

Its time for lawmakers to get the stakeholders in a room and nail this down.

A sponsor of the most recent bill, Assemblyman Raj Mukherji (D-Hudson), is sensitive to costs and suggests that the nursing homes could be given time to become compliant, but adds that there is no excuse to have unfair and unsafe staff ratios  we still have to fix the problem. These are our most vulnerable citizens, and we have to do better.

Indeed, these are our parents and grandparents, and they shouldnt have to wait. There are 1.3 million seniors in our state, and a silver tsunami is coming, with boomers retiring in unprecedented numbers. Proper staffing for our long-term care centers is only going to become more urgent. Our seniors deserve it, and the CNAs have earned it.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.
Ohaji/Egbema is one of the two oil-producing Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Imo State. The Oil Mining Lease (OML) 20 and major flow stations of oil companies are located in this local government. However, despite this wealth deposit, Ohaji/Egbema is one of the most impoverished areas in the state. There is an acute deficiency of basic infrastructure such as power, hospital road or school.

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) awarded and paid for these infrastructure to be provided but many of them are abandoned or poorly executed, this investigation revealed.

In Mmahu, one of the 20 autonomous communities in Ohaji/Egbema, the only secondary school in the community is in dire need of a facelift. The roofs of some of the classrooms have been blown off; the science laboratories are completely dilapidated.

Mmahu Secondary School

Some of the classrooms are leaking, the schools principal, Ete Anthony, told this reporter.

Mrs Ete Nse Anthony, the principal of Mmahu Secondary School

Both teachers and students of Mmahu Secondary School do not go to school regularly. The principal said many of them live very far away from the school and are unable to transport themselves to school daily.

The physics and chemistry laboratories had to be merged after a whirlwind blew off the roof of the chemistry lab.

Science Lab at Mmahu Secondary School 1

Laboratory at Mmahu Secondary School

Just adjacent one of the dilapidated classrooms is a structure erected by the NDDC for science laboratories. The building, unpainted and without windows, has been abandoned for at least two years. The other NDDC facilities in the school, like the staff quarters and student hostel, have been abandoned for much longer.

Uncompleted science laboratory at Mmahu Secondary School

Abandoned administrative building at Mmahu Secondary School Abandoned Building at Mmahu Secondary School

The Chairman of Mmahu Community Development Council (CDC), Noble Chinedu, said the contractor abandoned the projects because he was not paid. At least, N51.21 million was awarded for Educational Infrastructure and Development projects between 2007-2011.

Mr Chinedu also complained that the lack of a staff quarters continues to discourage the members of the National Youth Service Corps to accept deployment to the community school.

They (corps members) also complain. The quarters would have been an academic zone for them, he said

However, provisions were made for the construction of teachers quarters in the school.

A contract was awarded by the NDDC for the Construction of 1 No Block of Twin 2 Bedroom Teachers Quarters and Construction of NDDC Model Six Classroom Block With An Office, A Store And VIP Toilet Block.

NDDC signpost at Mmahu

The projects were awarded since 2004. Sixteen years later, the uncompleted buildings have been overgrown by grass while students perch on broken chairs to learn in dilapidated structures.

The situation is similar in other schools in Ohaji/Egbema LGA. In Assa, one of the community leaders, Ebenezer Eyi, said the pupils and students in primary and secondary schools in the community suffer a similar fate.

Since a block of twelve classrooms in Assa primary school burnt, no one has rebuilt it. It is just there, said Mr Eyi.

Charles Odili, the spokesperson of the NDDC, declined to comment to the findings in this report.

I have no response to you right now, he said when contacted.

A people in darkness

Residents of Ohaji/Egbema rely on sunlight for many of their activities. Once the sun sets, they are thrown into darkness. Rechargeable lamps are not an option because there is no electricity, so the people resort to kerosene lamps.

Most communities in the local government have not had power supply for at least 20 years, the local government chairman, Ezeru Damian, lamented. In Assa and Obile, residents said they have not had electricity in more than 30 years.

Nonfunctional Solar-powered street light in Mmahu

I am 34 years old, and I have never seen electricity in this community, said John Prosper, the youth leader of Obile autonomous community.

NDDC awarded several solar power street light projects for the communities but Mr Chinedu said the streetlights in Mmahu are merely decorative. Some of the poles had fallen off with the solar panel broken, this reporter observed.

At Assa and Obile, there were no solar-powered streetlights. At about 6 p.m., the streets were dark, sparingly perforated by lighted kerosene lamps.

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John Prosper, the youth leader of Obile autonomous community

The report of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on revenues, deductions, disbursement, and application of funds by NDDC revealed that N112.45 million was certified for electrification projects in Imo state between 2007- 2011.

Also, in 2017, a contract for solar-powered streetlight was awarded. The project was never done, the reporter found out.

Fallen Solar-powered street light in Mmahu Fallen Solar-powered street light in Mmahu

There was also a contract for solar street lights in 2013. Although some streetlights were installed, they are not functional.

Mr Chinedu said the lack of electricity aids criminal activities in the communities. Street urchins take advantage of the darkness to carry out their criminal activities, he said.

We are cut off from the source of information, keep the people in darkness and absolute timidity. If there is light, the crime rate will reduce because the light is security on its own

He said many businesses have had to fold because of the issue. Retails shops that deal in beverages and electronic stores have had to shut down.

They have so much suffered. A whole lot of people are out of business, he said.

T.C chairman, Mr Ezeru Damian

But, Mmahu had electricity supply in the past, till at least eight years ago. . The Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ISOPADEC) and Shell Nigeria supplied power to the community.

One day, the lights went off.

The residents thought it was the usually temporal power outage by the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) but as it became apparent, it was not temporal. The oil company had pulled off the supply, permanently.

When Mmahus light was cut off, Mr Chinedu said, the residents protested to Shell and were promised that light would return. It never did.

No Potable Water

There are quite a number of water projects initiated by the NDDC in Ohaji/Egbema LGA, according to a list of NDDCs contract document available to Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalist (PTCIJ).

Contracts were awarded for Abaezi Water Scheme project and rehabilitation of five water schemes at Ukwuagba, Ekugba 11, Etewuru 11 and Esiorsu.

However, an investigation by this reporter revealed that most of these water projects were poorly done and served no purpose to residents who ought to benefit from them. Villagers in Assa community still travel miles to the stream to get water.

Mr Ebenezer Eyi, community leader at Assa

Our people have no water, lamented the Assa community leader, Mr Eyi. The only water we have is the stream water. We go to the stream to fetch water. Some individuals have boreholes but many of them are spoilt.

In Obile, the closest community to Assa, residents buy water from individuals who have a generator-powered borehole. A keg of 50 litres is sold for N50. Those who cannot afford to buy, get their water from the stream.

Mr Eyi said this neglect, despite the vast deposit of natural resources explored from the communities, has made the youth restive. Up until mid of 2019, communities in Ohaji/Egbema were hotspot of violence. Residents abandoned their homes to seek safety in other parts of the state, he narrated.

Nonfunctional Solar-powered Water in Mmahu

The youths are just there, helpless, he said. We dont know their aims, whether they will do it [the abandoned projects]. When are they going to do it?

Before now, you cannot enter this place without running away. The boys will sack you away. We had crises for more than three years. Two, three years ago, if you had come here, you would see corpses of dead people lying around. They cut their neck and use their head to drink squad. When government come, they cant even talk. Old men and women with high blood pressure have died because of the crisis, Mr. Eyi lamented.

In July 2019, the militants in Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta, the two oil-producing local governments in Imo State, agreed to a ceasefire following an intervention by the state government. The chief said only infrastructural and social development can forestall future violence in the community.

The youths dont have jobs, he said.

The youth lament

The youth leaders of Mmahu and Obile communities said the lack of development in the state has hampered the growth of the younger citizens.

The youth leader of Obile, Mr Prosper, lamented lack of NDDC project in the community. He said apart from a solar water plant that never worked for a day since it was erected, there is no other completed NDDC project in Obile.

This is quite unfortunate, he said.

Resident of Obile Going to Fetch water

Similarly, Mr Chinedu lamented the abject poverty the local government has suffered due to the neglect. While NDDC has argued that it cannot replace the functions of the state government, the commission was created to cater to some of these infrastructural gaps in the oil-producing states.

Charles Ogu, a bike man, also decried the condition of living in the villages. He said the youth are easily lured to violence because they are not properly engaged.

Theres always one fight or the other in the area because people dont have work. If they are busy, how will they be fighting? he asked.

Lab at Mmahu secondary school

There are no good schools, the roads are bad, there is no business you can do except farming. How much is in farming? Not everybody wants to farm. If the government develop here like the cities, things will be a little better.

Amidst abandoned projects, NDDC abandoned $70 million in bank

Amidst the abandoned and uncompleted NDDC projects across the oil producing states, the agency abandoned $70 million in a bank for over a decade, an official has said.

A series of investigations by PREMIUM TIMES on the status of NDDC projects show that many remain abandoned in states like Imo, Akwa Ibom and Cross River.

Some of the projects, including health centres and schools, commenced as far back as 2006 with some of the contractors saying they were abandoned because the NDDC refused to pay them.

While such projects lingered, however, the agency kept the unspent funds and did not return it to the coffers of the federal government as expected.

The minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, said NDDC abandoned the $70 million in a bank since 2006, and the bank has now offered to return the money.

I know of a bank that came to say they have $70 million from 2006, one also came to say N170 million had been abandoned, Ive forgotten in which administrations in the last 11 years, they said they are ready to refund.

I said no problem, just hang on, well sort all these out when the forensic (audit) comes in to let us know all the recoverable and all that, The Nation quoted Mr Akpabio to have said in an interview with the paper.

The Probe

Worried by the persistent criticisms of the operations of the NDDC, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a forensic audit of the commission from 2001 to 2019.

The president ordered the probe while receiving governors of the states that make up the commission, led by Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State.

Mr Buhari said what is presently on the ground in the South-south region does not justify the huge resources that have been made available to the NDDC.

I try to follow the Act setting up these institutions especially the NDDC. With the amount of money that the Federal Government has religiously allocated to the NDDC, we will like to see the results on the ground; those that are responsible for that have to explain certain issues, he said.

A call for help

Mr Damian, the local government leader, said the villagers are suffering, adding NDDC projects would have offered a reprieve, were they successfully implemented.

The people are really suffering.

We are calling on the NDDC to do the needful, he urged.
New Delhi [India], Jan 25 (ANI): In a fresh turn of developments, Assam Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Biswa Sarma hit out at Sarjeel, the main organiser of Shaheen Bagh protest, saying that the state government will register a case against him for stating that "Assam should be cut off from the rest of India."



While speaking to ANI, Sarma said, "The main organiser of Shaheen Bagh protest (in Delhi), Sarjeel has said that Assam should be cut off from the rest of India. The state government has taken cognizance of this seditious statement and has decided to register a case against him."

Sarma made the statement hours after a clip of former Jawaharlal Nehru University student Sharjeel Imam making controversial remarks was shared by BJP leader Sambit Patra. In the few minutes long videos, Imam can be heard saying that Muslims are in such numbers that they can cut out the entire Northeast from the rest of India. (ANI)


Seamus Mallon outside Capitol Hill in the US (Paul Faith/PA)

A straight-talking colossus of Irish politics, Seamus Mallon devoted his life to securing peace and justice for the island he loved.

Mallon, from south Armagh, was a towering figure in the political generation which delivered an end to the Northern Ireland Troubles.

While SDLP leader and Nobel Laureate John Hume has been hailed as an architect of the Good Friday Agreement, his long-standing deputy leader was one of its engineers  a man whose determination helped build the powersharing structures from the ground up.

In a customary blunt assessment, he famously described the April 1998 deal as Sunningdale for slow learners  a reference to an ill-fated peace settlement of the 1970s.

For Mallon, the Good Friday Agreement not only symbolised hope for the future, but also the futility of decades of sectarian bloodshed that had gone before.

Expand Close Seamus Mallon (left) and John Hume (Barry Batchelor/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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After the signing of the accord, Mallon would go on to become nationalisms leading figure in the new coalition government, as Northern Irelands deputy first minister.

His partnership with Ulster Unionist first minister David Trimble was the manifestation of the regions new beginning.

Known as the odd couple, their relationship was at times turbulent  both resigned and were reappointed at different junctures  but they nevertheless developed deep respect for each other.

Explaining the journey they travelled together in those stormy years when Northern Ireland edged out of the darkness, both would point to an atrocity weeks before the deal was signed.

Philip Allen, a Protestant, and Damien Trainor, a Catholic, were shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries in the Railway Bar in Poyntzpass in Co Armagh on March 3, 1998.

Trimble and Mallon both travelled independently to console the bereaved families.

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Meeting on a doorstep of one the houses, they walked together to the next.

It was a powerful show of solidarity amid the tense negotiations that would ultimately bring peace.

It certainly strengthened my resolve about getting an agreement, Mallon told the PA news agency on the 20th anniversary of the 1998 deal.

The symbolism of David Trimble and myself together was a stark reminder for ourselves and for everyone else that what we were involved in, in the talks, was essentially to prevent that ever happening again.

Trimble visited the beside of his former partner-in-government days before he died at the age of 83.

Born in Markethill in 1936, Mallon began his working life as a primary school teacher and headmaster.

He was a combative GAA player who had a passion for many other sports.

Expand Close Seamus Mallon at an event to mark the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, at Queens University in Belfast (Brian Lawless/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Seamus Mallon at an event to mark the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, at Queens University in Belfast (Brian Lawless/PA)

Angered by state discrimination against Catholics, Mallon became a prominent figure in the civil rights movement of the late 1960s. He would go on to join the SDLP, elected as a councillor in 1973.

He would rise to the position of deputy leader in 1979  a point at which his career would forever be entwined with newly appointed party leader Hume.

There was often tension at the heart of the Hume/Mallon axis, never more so than when the leader failed to tell his deputy about his secret talks with Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams  discussions that effectively marked the start of the peace process.

But they nevertheless formed a formidable duo  men whose unstinting abhorrence of violence drove them in relentless pursuit of peace.

Mallon served briefly as an Irish senator in the early 1980s and, after a number of unsuccessful attempts to win a Westminster seat, he became MP for Newry and Armagh in 1986.

Always outspoken, he was at times a vociferous critic of the conduct of the security forces. He also never baulked at calling out IRA brutality.

His views brought death threats and saw petrol bombers target his home. But he continued to speak out, undeterred.

Famed for his stubbornness and acerbic wit, Mallon was never one to fall into line.

Expand Close David Trimble, Bill Clinton, Seamus Mallon and Tony Blair on the steps of the Parliament Buildings, Stormont (Chris Bacon/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp David Trimble, Bill Clinton, Seamus Mallon and Tony Blair on the steps of the Parliament Buildings, Stormont (Chris Bacon/PA)

At an event at Queens University in Belfast to mark the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, he was offered the chance to reflect on his role in making history.

Jarring with the congratulatory comments of those counterparts who had walked to the microphones before him, the 81-year-old Mallon was in no mood to dwell on past achievements.

He instead used a rare return to the public spotlight to launch a blistering attack on the DUP and Sinn Fein, the two parties central to the collapse of the institutions he had spent a life constructing.

Am I sad? Yes. Am I angry? Yes, very angry, said the visibly-frail former statesman.

Especially when I watch television sitting in my house, just me and the dog, and I watch the hypocrisies which are unbelievable and the untruths which are believable.

Politics has been debased and diminished by these two political silos which have almost Balkanised the Northern Ireland that I live in.

It is the future we should be looking at.

It was typically Mallon. Unflinching to the end.
India's rising military might, rich cultural diversity and socio-economic progress will be on full display during the 71st Republic Day celebrations at the Rajpath -- the city's centrepiece boulevard -- on Sunday.

Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro will be the chief guest at the 90-minute celebrations marking the anniversary of the day when India was declared a republic in 1950.

Anti-satellite weapon Shakthi, Army's battle tank Bhishma, infantry combat vehicles and newly inducted Chinook and Apache helicopters of the Indian Air Force will be part of the grand military parade.

The national capital has been brought under a massive ground-to-air security cover, with thousands of police and paramilitary personnel keeping a hawk-eye vigil.

Twenty-two tableaux 16 from States and Union Territories and six from various ministries and departments - depicting the nation's rich cultural heritage and economic progress will also roll down the Rajpath.

School children will convey age-old message of yoga and spiritual values through dance and music during the parade, the defence ministry said.

The Republic Day Parade ceremony will commence with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the National War Memorial near the India Gate. He will lead the nation in paying tributes to the martyrs by laying a wreath.

This is for the first time that the prime minister will pay homage to martyrs at the National War memorial instead of Amar Jawan Jyoti.

Thereafter, the prime minister and other dignitaries will head to the saluting dais at Rajpath to witness the parade.

As per tradition, the national flag will be unfurled followed by the National Anthem with a booming 21-gun salute.

The parade will commence with President Ram Nath Kovind taking the salute. The parade will be commanded by Parade Commander Lt General Asit Mistry, General Officer Commanding, Delhi Area. Major General Alok Kacker, Chief of Staff of Delhi Area, will be the second-in-command.

The first contingent in the uniform of the erstwhile Gwalior Lancers will be 61 Cavalry. The 61 Cavalry is the only active serving horse cavalry regiment in the world. It was raised on August 1, 1953 with the amalgamation of six state forces' cavalry units.

The Indian Army will be represented by a mounted column of 61 Cavalry, eight mechanised columns, six marching contingents and fly-past by Rudra and Dhruv Advanced Light helicopters of the army aviation wing.

Indigenously-developed Main Battle Tank of the Indian Army, T-90 Bhishma tank, infantry combat vehicle Ballway Machine Pikate, K-9 Vajra and Dhanush guns, transportable satellite terminal and Akash weapon system will be the main attraction in the mechanised columns.

The other marching contingents of the Army will include the Parachute regiment, the Grenadiers regiment, the Sikh Light Infantry regiment, the Kumaon regiment and the Corps of Signals.

The Naval contingent will comprise of 144 young sailors led by Lieutenant Jitin Malkat. It will be followed by the Naval Tableau titled 'Indian Navy - Silent, Strong, and Swift'.

The Air Force contingent, comprising of 144 air warriors, will be led by Flight Lt Shrikant Sharma. The Air Force tableau showcases scaled down models of the Rafale aircraft, the Tejas aircraft, the Light Combat helicopter, the Akash missiles system and the Astra missiles.

One of the main highlights will be the marching contingent of DRDO that will showcase Anti-Satellite Weapons (ASAT) - Mission Shakti.

Mission Shakti, India's first Anti-Satellite mission, was a major breakthrough in demonstrating the nation's capability to bring down hostile satellites.

Sixteen tableaux from various states and union territories will depict the geographical and rich cultural diversity of the country.

Various far-reaching reforms of the government including 'Start-up India', and 'Jal Jeevan Mission' will be showcased in six tableaux from different ministries and departments.

For the first time, a contingent of women bikers of CRPF will perform daredevil stunts. The contingent will be led by Inspector Seema Nag who will be seen saluting while standing atop a moving motorcycle.

The grand finale and the most keenly awaited segment of the parade, the Fly Past will comprise of the 'Trishul' formation by three advanced light helicopters.

It is for the first time that a 'tri-service formation' is taking part in the Republic Day Parade.

It will be followed by the 'Vic' formation of Chinook helicopters, used for airlifting diverse loads to remote locations.

Apache helicopters, Dornier aircraft, C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, an Airborne Early Warning and Control System aircraft and the 'Globe' formation comprising three C-17 Globemasters are also expected to enthral the people.

Five Jaguar Deep penetration strike aircraft and five MiG-29 upgrade air superiority fighters in 'Arrowhead' formation will also display their aerial manoeuvre.

The parade will culminate with a fleet of Sukhoi-30 MKI jets splitting the sky with a breathtaking 'Vertical Charlie' aerobatic manoeuvre.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mumbai: A five-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by an unidentified person at Matunga in Central Mumbai, police said on Saturday.

The incident came to light on Thursday morning, when the police received a call about girl lying unconscious at Arora Junction in Matunga, an official said.

The police rushed the minor to civic-run Sion Hospital, where it was ascertained that she had been sexually assaulted, he said.

The victim's mother was traced and based on her complaint, a case has been registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said.

The police are working on some leads to nab the accused and have also formed six teams for investigation, the official added.


(Photo: Flickr)

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See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
New Delhi:

The Assam government on Saturday registered a sedition case against Sharjeel Imam, the alleged mastermind of the Shaheen Bagh protests in Delhi, for his "seditious" comment "aimed" at disrupting law and order in the state.

Addressing a press conference, Assam Finance Minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma said Imam was heard saying in an audio clip that the state should be cut-off from the rest of India and taught a lesson, as Bengalis -- both Hindus and Muslims -- are being killed or put into detention centres.

The Assam government has taken cognisance of this very seditious statement and we will register a case against this individual," Sarma earlier in the day said.

"A lot of wrong things have been said by this individual, aimed to create law and order situation in Assam... They want to destroy India. We will bring this person to the court so that he is punished in accordance with the law," he added.

Thousands of people, including women and children, have been protesting since December 15 at Shaheen Bagh and nearby Jamia Millia Islamia against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The minister said the state government has verified the authenticity of the audio clip.

"The entire pattern of protests against the CAA has the same narrative in both Assam and the rest of the country. It has been fanned by members of a particular community," Sarma alleged.

"A section of this community wants to create another Pakistan out of India and we cannot allow it. We have to be vigilant against these forces," he said.

The people of the Northeast and Assam will never allow this. Assam is an integral part of India, Sarma said.

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Nepal offered to play the role of a mediator between India and Pakistan, saying that it was important for the two countries to have a dialogue to resolve their issues.

Kathmandu: Nepal on Saturday offered to play the role of a mediator between India and Pakistan, saying that it was important for the two countries to have a dialogue to resolve their issues. "Dialogue is the best way to resolve any problem. There may be differences but it can be resolved through dialogue. If necessary, we can play the role of a mediator too," a Nepal government source said.

The source said that a better solution to resolve the issues would be to develop a better dialogue between two countries. "We can be instrumental, but it will be better (for the two sides) to develop direct contact," the source said.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have spiked since India abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August last. India's decision evoked strong reactions from Pakistan, which downgraded diplomatic ties and expelled the Indian envoy.

"When we come together, sit together and share views then things will be resolved. In every situation, we have to sit together and try to resolve the problem otherwise things can be deteriorated," the source said.

Expressing concern over the uncertainty prevailing over the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, the source said the grouping should be revitalised and misunderstandings should be removed.

"SAARC is not dead. It is alive. Only thing is that we have not met. Hope we can revive it," the source said.

The last SAARC Summit in 2014 was held in Kathmandu, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The 2016 SAARC summit was to be held in Islamabad. But after the terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on 18 September that year, India expressed its inability to participate in the summit due to "prevailing circumstances".

The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to participate in the Islamabad meet.

In the last three years, India has been distancing itself from the SAARC, citing security challenges facing the region from terror networks based in Pakistan, which is also a member of the grouping.

"We are strongly against all forms and manifestations of terrorism. But there is no relationship between the two (SAARC and terrorism). We cannot connect the two issues," the source said. Identifying terrorism as a common threat to peace-loving countries, the source said, "We have to deal with the issue of terrorism".

"I think that misunderstandings should be narrowed down and SAARC should be revitalised. It would be better to revise SAARC. I have told India that SAARC should be revitalised. We can find out amicable solutions," they said.

SAARC summits are usually held biennially and hosted by member states in alphabetical order. The member state hosting the summit assumes the Chair of the Association.
A former executive with the Boston Planning and Development Agency was sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison Friday for taking more than $50,000 in bribes to help a local developer, then failing to report the bribes on his tax returns.

John M. Lynch, 67, was sentenced by Judge Patti Saris in U.S. District Court in Boston to serve 40 months in prison, one year of supervised release, forfeit $50,000 and pay restitution of $14,000.

Lynch was the former Assistant Director of Real Estate for the city agency.

According to investigators, Lynch accepted approximately $60,000 in bribes from a Boston real estate developer who needed a permit extension from the Zoning Board of Appeals for a parcel of land he was trying to sell. The permit would allow multi-unit development at the site, which would increase the developers profit by $500,000 over the value of the property without the permit.

Prosecutors said Lynch used his influence at the BPDA to secure the vote of one member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, who then voted to approve the permit extension.

Prosecutors said Lynch accepted $25,000 in cash and a check for $25,000 from the developer in 2017. An addition $10,000 was paid to Lynch that year and none of the bribes were reported on his 2018 tax returns.

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Ahead of the Lunar New Year 2020, Nhan Dan (People) Newspapers resident correspondents in foreign countries recorded their comments and feelings of international friends and overseas Vietnamese on the imprints of friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and other countries.

Great friendship

On the occasion of the official visit made by Vietnamese Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong to Laos in February 2019, the relationship between the two countries has further developed into a promising and great friendship with a special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation. Dr. Singthongsing Hapannha, Acting Director of the Lao Kaysone Phomvihane Museum, emphasised that the great friendship was an absolute necessity, reflecting the movement and development of Laos  Vietnam relations. The young generations from both sides are always proud and should uphold their responsibilities to preserv and promote the traditional relations.

In 2019, Vietnams major projects in Laos saw positive progress, including the implementation of the bauxite mining and processing project by Viet Phuong Investment Group Joint Stock Company and the formation of a farm for a cow breeding project from the Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk).

The serene spring atmosphere is spread throughout the brother countries of Vietnam and Laos, along with strong hopes and signals for a deeper connection between the two economies.

Xuan Son (from Vientiane)

Maintaining steady development momentum

At a ceremony held in China to mark the 74th anniversary of Vietnams National Day, Vietnamese Ambassador Dang Minh Khoi affirmed that the economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries continued to record at a steady pace last year. In addition, the two sides witnessed a vibrant movement between the cultural and tourism cooperation and people-to-people exchange. Vietnam has been Chinas largest trading partner in ASEAN and the eighth largest trading partner in the world for the last three consecutive years. The two sides maintained regular exchanges from high-level visits and contacts as well as agreed to make joint efforts to maintain peace and stability, and control and find appropriate settlements regarding disputes at sea.

Talking with Nhan Dan Newspapers reporter after the art programme entitled The bridge of friendship, Professor Fan Jin E from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said that the love for the land and people of Vietnam is huge. In her mind, she always considers Vietnam as her second homeland.

The year 2020 marks the 70th founding anniversary of Vietnam - China diplomatic ties. It is believed and hoped that the relations between the two countries will continue to develop steadily.

To Minh (from Beijing)

The borderline of peace and cooperation

The highlight of Vietnam - Cambodia cooperation in 2019 was the signing of two legal documents that recognised the completion of 84% of the workload for border demarcation and landmark planting between the two sides. The efforts towards the full completion of the border demarcation have contributed to enhancing the mutual understandings while boosting the economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two nations.

Thanks to the construction and maintenance of the border of peace, stability and friendship, the economic and trade relations between Vietnam and Cambodia have increasingly strengthened over the past years. The trade turnover between the two sides reached over US$4.7 billion in 2018, a year-on-year increase of 23.8%. Their trade turnover was estimated at US$5.2 billion, exceeding the plan and fulfilling the goal one year earlier than the deadline set by the Prime Ministers of the two countries.

Nguyen Hiep (from Phnom Penh).

Significant contributions to ASEAN

Vietnam left a strong and good impression during a series of regional conferences and events in 2019 when Thailand took over the chairmanship of ASEAN. PM Nguyen Xuan Phucs official visit and attendance of the ASEAN Summit and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngans official visit and attendance of the 40th General Assembly of AIPA (AIPA 40) are the notable events.

Vietnam emphasised that ASEAN should continue to prioritise the enhancement of solidarity and intra-regional cohesion as well as the promotion of the central and effective role of regional security and cooperation mechanisms which were chaired and led by ASEAN. The bloc should also continue to strengthen intra-regional economic links and sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) soon. Regarding the issues in the East Sea, Vietnam reaffirmed the common principles and perceptions that were widely recognised by ASEAN countries and the international community. Accordingly, the country valued highly the compliance with international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); refraining from taking any action that can further complicate the situation; fully and seriously implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (East Sea) (DOC); and endeavor to complete an effective and efficient Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in accordance with international law.

Minh Duc (from Bangkok)

Opening up a new cooperation page

The event Vietnam  Russia Cross Year (2019-2020) on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of signing of the Treaty on fundamental principles of Vietnam - Russia friendship and the 70th founding anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties, has opened up a new chapter in the traditional relations between the two countries.

Speaking at the opening ceremony for the Vietnam  Russia Cross Year in Moscow, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc affirmed that the profound and meaningful event contributed to upholding the mutual understandings, the cooperation in trade, investment and tourism, and the people-to-people exchange. Accordingly, the Vietnam  Russia comprehensive strategic partnership has been strengthened.

Various political, economic, cultural and people-to-people exchange activities are taking place from the second quarter of 2019 to the end of 2020, bringing people from the two countries closer together.

Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev said that the event Vietnam  Russia Cross Year has opened a bright new page for the cooperation, while creating further driving forces to bring the long-standing friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two nations to new heights.

Nam Dong (from Moscow)

The imprint after a century

The generations of Overseas Vietnamese in France. (Photo: Khai Hoan)



On June 18, 1919, the patriotic young person Nguyen Ai Quoc, who represented the Group of Annamese Patriots, sent an eight page article claim to the Versailles Peace Conference, demanding freedom, democracy and equal rights for Vietnam. The event laid the foundation for the birth of the patriotic movement of Overseas Vietnamese in France - the forerunner of the Vietnamese Association in France today. A ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the patriotic movement of the Overseas Vietnamese in France was held on June 15, 2019, at the House of Mutual Assistance in District 5, French capital city of Paris, where President Ho Chi Minh met and talked with around 2,000 Vietnamese expatriates on the occasion of his visit to France in 1946.

On behalf of Party and State leaders, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan presented the first-class Labour Order for the second time to the Overseas Vietnamese Association in France during her official visit to the country. The noble award honours the important and positive contributions made by the Overseas Vietnamese community in France.

Dinh Tuan (from Paris)
The Berlin Summit on Libya has renewed hope that the war-torn country will not become a second Syria on the southern shores of the Mediterranean, writes Hussein Haridy

By the time you read this article, the Berlin Summit on Libya will have ended, marking a much-needed pause for the international community and the United Nations to reassess the overall situation in the North African country that verges on becoming a hotbed for exporting terrorism and insecurity in neighbouring countries, in sub-Saharan Africa, and Europe.

The summit has been in the works for the last four months. Senior officials from various countries, as well as representatives of the Arab League, the African Union, and the European Union, were meeting in the presence of Ghassan Salame, the UN special representative to Libya, to chart a way forward in Libya. The stakes have been high for all powers, great and small, within the region and beyond, including the warring Libyan factions.

The Berlin Summit marks two distinct phases in the Libyan chaotic scene: the pre- and the post-Berlin phase. The failure of the Libyan political forces  mainly, the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli and the interim government in Benghazi  to come together and implement the UN peace plan, opened the way wide open for foreign intervention in Libya. This has been compounded by a military stalemate on the ground. The Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Khalifa Haftar had launched an attack on Tripoli last April to unseat the GNA. However, the military situation on the ground has remained unchanged, more or less.

With no clear signs of diplomatic and political progress in the persistent efforts of the UN representative to carry out his mandate to bring about peace in Libya, the situation worsened with the signing of a memorandum of understanding on security and military cooperation between the GNA and Turkey last November. This agreement provided a legal pretext for Turkey to deploy its forces in Libya. Last week, Turkeys President Erdogan threatened to annihilate the forces of Haftar if the latter does not lay down arms. This warning came in the wake of a meeting in Moscow two weeks ago to sign a ceasefire agreement between the LNA and the GNA. Haftar refused to sign and left the Russian capital. A few days later, he called Russian President Vladimir Putin his friend, and the word was out that he was ready to sign the ceasefire agreement. The good news is that a ceasefire, brokered by Russian and Turkey, has been holding since it had gone into effect on Sunday, 12 January. The reason given for the reticence of Haftar to sign was his refusal that Turkey have any role in supervising implementation of the agreement.

Needless to say, Turkish involvement in the Libyan affair is a complicating factor. Two days before the convening of the Berlin Summit, the Turkish president threatened Europe that the fall of the GNA in Tripoli would open the gates of the Old Continent to what he called terrorists. The irony is that his government has facilitated the transfer of almost 2,000 fighters, most of them terrorists battle-worn in Syria, to Libya in the last two months. Furthermore, he insisted that any peaceful solution in Libya would go through his country. In other words, Ankara could play a double role, either facilitator or bully, not only in Libya but also in North Africa and the Mediterranean.

The Berlin Summit, or the Berlin track that was set in motion last Sunday, could, as the United Nations special representative to Libya hopes, give impetus to his efforts to bring the Libyan warring factions to the negotiating table. For this to succeed, Russia, the United States and the European Union should have enough political will to impose the UN peace plan in Libya, the plan that they had adopted, unanimously, in the UN Security Council in 2017. Such a joint position would prove a bulwark against Turkish machinations in Libya, across the region, and the Mediterranean.

Meanwhile, putting a stop to foreign intervention in Libya in all its forms is a necessary condition for the success of the Berlin track that is grounded in working in three important areas: the economic-financial; the military-security; the political-diplomatic. Salame believes, and maybe rightly so, that the follow-up committee, composed of the same abovementioned parties, would supervise the smooth working of subcommittees that would coordinate how the three areas are being tackled and moved forward. Another condition for success is the separation between the role of outside powers and that of the Libyan factions in the process of implementation.

Nothing is guaranteed in Libya given the great stakes that some powers have in the future of the country and around the Mediterranean Basin, given the huge gas and oil reserves in the North African country and in the Eastern Mediterranean, among them Turkey, with the unmistakable Erdogan penchant for Turkish expansionism in all directions, justifying his destabilising plans on what he has called old geography, in reference to the Ottoman occupation of the Arab world that came to an end more than a century ago.

Still, the Berlin track remains the only hope, and dare we say the last glimmer of hope, for the world to prevent Libya from becoming a second Syria post-March 2011, and on the southern shores of the Mediterranean.

As far as Egypt is concerned, it should reassess its Libyan policies in light of the outcome of the Berlin Summit. Whatever happens, it should stand at an equal distance from the warring factions in Libya and concentrate its resources on defending its joint borders with Libya and its coastline on the Mediterranean.

The writer is former assistant foreign minister.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 23 January, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Nocturnal Revelations at a Secret Oregon Coast Spot: Viewpoint Behind the Visitor Center

Published 05/29/2012

By Andre' Hagestedt





(Depoe Bay, Oregon) - There's a little hidden viewpoint that no one knows, and I sometimes consider it my own. It's directly in back of the Depoe Bay Visitors Center office, and right next to a really cool, very Americana rental home - circa 1950s in appearance. There's only a small bench here, and a small opening between buildings from which to rest and look down at the rocky shelves next to the southern side of the bay mouth. (Above: seen at night).





Below, even at night, you can still see the whites of the breakers, largely because they're somewhat lit by huge lamps meant to light up the channel. Like street lights  but for boats. I've seen them smashing hard against this area more often than not. But tonight they're gently sliding onto the flat rocky areas. For some reason, they remind me of babies learning to climb chairs  but faster. (Above: next to the Whale Watching Center).





I smile to myself and even catch myself laughing aloud, as I spot one wave in the distance leap up in the air and do some funky acrobatics as it whacks an outcropping a bit further down the length of Depoe Bay's basalt ledges. I realize I can see a lot in the dark here.

I also quickly realize I'm mesmerized, hypnotized by all this. I don't want to leave. I've got a movie going back there at the motel room that's pretty engaging, some trippy horror flick. But I can't bring myself to leave. (Above: what this place looks like during the day)

Looking up again, I notice these faint blotches of clouds, like dark gray matting or something, up in the sky. Those stars aren't especially bright tonight but they're riveting.



This spot during the day



In case you're wondering, however, some of these photos are what this part of the central Oregon coast can look like at night, some were taken at the very spot I'm talking about. They were taken on different evenings, with distinctly different looks. But it's not hard to see why such a scene can become so engaging, so mesmerizing. Depoe Bay Lodgings / Hotels in this area - Where to eat - Maps and Virtual Tours

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I WAS seriously going to write the second part of my shark story, but then something on social media caught my attention.

I hesitated. I know there may be a lot of you out thereso okay, maybe one or two or three, probably a sprinklingwho truly want to know what happened when Ruel Dahis Antipuesto and I took to the streets during the Sinulog Grand Parade last Sunday, Jan. 19, 2020, and shot, guerrilla style, several scenes without a script, a crew, a budget or permission.

And bless your hearts for caring. Truly. Madly. Deeply. But I know I made the right choice.

After all, who are Ruel and I to take precedence over President Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Bato dela Rosa?

Exactly.

If you still dont know yet, then its probably because you dont care. Its as simple as that. Or, you might have been too caught up with your fantastical lives to listen, watch or read the news.

Seriously, there are so many things going on out there that can grab everybodys fancy like, say, Nadine Lustre breaking up with James Reid. So I dont blame some of you for being ignorant. And I dont mean that as an insult. Really.

But when our chief executive issues a challenge to the richest and most powerful country in the globe, the whole archipelago has to do a double-take.

Oh, I dont mean China. Its time hasnt come yet. Perhaps in 10 or 20 years, the whole world will be kowtowing to the Middle Kingdom, but right know that distinction belongs to the United States of America.

And since the whole archipelago also means me, I, too, had to stop and say, What?

You see, this is what happened.

The Americans cancelled dela Rosas US visa, a fact confirmed by the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs chairman.

I sent an official letter to the US Embassy inquiring from them, if really my visa was cancelled, dela Rosa said in an interview. I received the official answer the day before my birthday, Jan. 20. It was a good birthday gift. They informed me that my visa is no longer valid for travel to the US.

Story continues

The embassy did not provide any reason, but it probably had something to do with the US 2020 budget law signed by President Donald Trump that includes a provision denying entry to Philippine officials responsible for the detention of dela Rosas fellow senator, Leila de Lima.

As a result, Duterte gave Washington a one-month deadline to reconsider its action.

I am warning you, this is the first time. Kapag hindi ninyo ginawa ang correction diyan. One, I will terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement. Tapusin ko yang p***** *** na yan, the President told a crowd in San Isidro, Leyte. I am giving notice and they begin to count. I am giving the American government one month from now.

Of course, the crowd probably doesnt know that a US visa is a conditional authorization granted to a foreigner that may be cancelled without explanation or justification, as Sen. Panfilo Lacson pointed out in a statement on Friday, Jan. 24, while the Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and US is a BILATERAL accord that went through some back-and-forth diplomatic discussions prior to ratification by the Senate, after some intense plenary deliberation.

But, hey, what the crowd saw was our President standing up to the American bully who took his lackeys visa privileges.

And so I wait with bated breath for the Americans reply. If, indeed, it will.
With Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders conducting an extensive campaign on Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in Bengal to reach out to Hindus who left Bangladesh as refugees, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Friday decided tto launch the partys refugee cell..

The cell will have units in all districts since the BJP is carrying out its pro-CAA movement through rallies as well as door-to-door campaigns. At least three senior state or central leaders are taking part in door-to-door campaigns every day with the partys district leaders following up in their respective regions.

Significantly, a sizeable chunk of these Hindu refugees belong to backward communities and that adds a caste factor to the ongoing political tussle over the amended citizenship law.

BJP always had a refugee cell as the party considered Hindu migrants as one of its focus areas but did not have much luck with getting their votes until the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when it won 18 of the statess 42 seats.

The TMCs refugee cell will be headed by a leader from the Namasudra (dalit) community and carry out door-to-door campaign to convince people that CAA will land Hindu migrants from Bangladesh in bigger trouble instead of doing them any good.

Once treated as untouchables, the ancestors of majority of the Namasudras in the state originally hailed from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and migrated to West Bengal after 1947 to escape religious persecution. There are about 10 million people from the Namasudra community in Bengal. During the 2011 census, Bengals population stood at 91.3 million.

Part of this Dalit population is the Dalit Matua community which is headed by its supreme body, All India Matua Mahasangha. The Mahasangha played host to Prime Minister Narendra Modis rally at Thakurnagar in North 24-Parganas district before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Contesting on a BJP ticket, the sects young face, Shantanu Thakur, defeated his aunt, TMCs Mamata Bala Thakur, at the Bongaon seat.

After Partition, the Matuas relocated to West Bengal and became the states second-most influential scheduled caste community with an estimated population of more than three million.

According to estimates by ruling and opposition parties, these communities can influence poll results in more than 50 of the states 294 assembly seats. Most of these seats are located in districts along the India-Bangladesh border.

Significantly, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh has been extensively touring certain parts of north Bengal over the past few days where the presence of Hindu refugees is significant. On Saturday, he addressed meetings at Dalkhola and Kaliaganj in North Dinajpur district. BJP lost the Kaliaganj assembly by-poll in November last year and the partys candidate, Kamal Chandra Sarkar, said on record that his party failed to counter the anti-CAA campaign of TMC.

On Friday evening, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee asked the partys district unit presidents to submit in two weeks the names of leaders who will head the refugee cells. TMCs all-India general secretary Subrata Bakshi will select the district cell leaders.

TMC secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said, Mukul Chandra Bairagyo has been appointed state convener of our refugee cell. He will travel across the state.

Bairagyo, the working president of All India Namasudra Bikas Parishad, was earlier appointed by the chief minister as chairman of the newly-formed Namasudra Development Board.

We have thoroughly analysed the CAA. We believe that it will do us more harm than good. Most of us have acquired identity documents such as voter ID, Aadhaar and PAN, using whatever means it might have required. We are all settled. Why should we voluntarily declare ourselves foreigners and apply for citizenship? We will get entangled in a web of legal complexities, said Bairagyo.

The TMCs decision comes in the wake of the BJP refugee cells growing influence with the cell convener, Mohit Ray, emerging as a key figure in BJPs Bengal plan.

Mohit Ray said he sees no chance of TMCs campaign finding any resonance among the refugees. Bairagyo and his men are harming the interests of Hindu refugees by preaching unity between Dalits and Muslims, despite the fact that these people became refugees in the first place because of religious persecution in Bangladesh. Mamata Banerjees overt support to Muslim fundamentalists has further affected the lives of these Hindu migrants, Ray said.

Banerjee will address three public meetings in refugee-dominated areas over the next three weeks. These will be held at Bongaon in North 24-Parganas district, Ranaghat in Nadia district and Kalyani-Gayeshpur area on the border of the districts of Nadia and North 24-Parganas. Incidentally, BJP won the Ranaghat Lok Sabha seat as well.

Banerjee will hold a meeting with booth-level workers next month in Nadia district. She will address three rallies in Nadia and North 24-Parganas. The dates and locations will be announced later, said Chatterjee.
25.01.2020 LISTEN

I once warned, in an article, that if you kill a snake and you don't cut off its head, it could resurrect itself and come back to bite you! (See: If You 'Kill' A Snake And You Don't Cut Off Its Head)

This warning, I pointed out, came from the wisdom that our ancient ancestors compiled for themselves and their inheritors, through their very close and obsessive observation of Nature. Exposed to brutal Nature as they were, they wouldn't have survived -- to give birth to us -- without this vast store of impeccable knowledge.

The accuracy of the contents of this store of ancient wisdom of is, in fact, confirmed by some of the greatest scientists in today's world, who tell us that the scientific method stipulates that no matter how attractive a theory might be, it is invalid if it is contradicted by the results of experiments conducted on Nature.

In the past two years, the Government of Ghana has tried to put an end to the dangerous enterprise known as galamsey. It has put troops, in the form of Operation Vanguard, on the trail of the galamsey operators. But in a clever approach based on the well-proven and efficacious strategy of depleting both carrot and stick in its modus operandi, It has sought to try to convert their operations from illegal and harmful practices, into legitimized, harmless methods. It has even paid them money to teach them to adopt harmless methods of mining.

But as in many other cases where good sense comes up against man's selfish propensity to make money quickly and without too much toil, the approach is simply NOT working.

Where is the evidence?

Firstly, the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has come to the empirical conclusion that it must drastically reduce water supplies to some people in parts of the Western Region, including the conurbation of Sekondi-Takoradi, because  once again  the water in the rivers from which the company draws water, has become too turbid for machines to refine in the required quantities. The Ankobrah and the Prah, in particular, have both been very badly affected AGAIN. And good old "Holy Tano" is unusable, though, in its case, a contribution from another source of pollution is largely responsible for its poisonous state..

The GWCL Director of Communication told a media outlet that the resurgence of illegal small-scale mining, fuelled by the dry season, had resulted in "extremely high turbidity of the dwindling water sources", thus compelling the company to spend more than usual in treating water.

In Takoradi, for instance (he said), we are praying that we should have early rains. He specified that In the next three to four weeks, if we dont get rains and the galamsey operations also do not stop, we may have to shut down the treatment plant at DABOASE. That is how serious the situation is.... There isnt enough water and the little water that is available is also so turbid....It silts [up] the intake area. So, we are unable to abstract enough [water]. Its not economically prudent to have to be treating water, for it just to go to waste.

Other media reports tell us that the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, was so incensed by what he saw in one galamsey locality that he undertook to deploy 60 armed soldiers, similar to the Operation Vanguard team, to crack down on the activities of the galamseyers. Mr Cheremeh said this while on an impromptu visit to the Oda River Forest Reserve, in the Amansie Central District of the Ashanti Region. There, he saw a resurgence of galamsey -- in the supposedly restricted area, namely, the forest reserve.

The Minister stated: Clearly, what we are seeing here and what we have gathered shows that [the] Chinese are [still] engaging in this illegal mining and destroying our forests; of course, with the support of local collaborators.

According to one report, "During the visit, the Minister's team found eight excavators, 18 fuel storage tankers, a number of Chanfan machines" and other equipment in four illegal mining sites, "which indicated that the illegal mining business was in full force" there.

. Officials of the Forestry Commission and forest guards were helpless in the situation since the illegality was said to be perpetrated by some Chinese nationals, with support from locals who had the backing of big men (the report stated).

The Minister of the Environment, Science and Technology, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, also gave an interview to the Daily Graphic in which he expressed profound disappointment with the courts, the Attorney-General's office and the Office of the Special Prosecutor, for not playing their full part in the struggle against galamsey. (See

Additionally, one fire-eating NPP Member of Parliament has synthesized the general call for an intensification of the struggle against galamsey by calling for high-level personnel changes within the Government itself!. Those in charge of the campaign against galamsey (he said) had failed and should not be allowed to bring further shame to the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The MP alleged that "some of those supposedly fighting against galamsey" have turned the galamsey fight into a gold mine and have disgraced the President.

What these sad expressions of disappointment -- and even anger anger -- indicate clearly is that a drastic new approach to the anti-galamsey operation is now called for.

According to Professor Frimpong-Boateng, at least twenty billion dollars or thereabouts is required for restoring the polluted rivers and water-bodies to a potable quality. The expense of reclaiming the land that has been turned into mounds and craters (which sometimes look like an apocalyptic moonscape-type of wasteland) by the galamseyers, will, of course, have to be factored into in the restoration process and budget.

Now, twenty billion dollars is estimated to be worth between one-third and one-half of Ghana's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for ONE YEAR (2017 figures.) If a group of citizens are causing such a horrendously costly damage to the economy, then logic suggests that they should be fought, tooth and nail, in the same manner that we would fight a political insurgency.

Indeed, a political insurgency would probably not cause so much damage, although, of course, its effect would be far more immediately personal and nasty to all residents of Ghana.

Now, I daresay that if we had a political insurgency, crack teams drawn from Military Intelligence, the Bureau of National Intelligence, the Criminal Investigations Department, the Economic Crimes Investigation Unit and National Security would all be co-ordinated into a powerful unit charged with combating the insurgency.

The environmental devastation being wreaked by the galamseyers amounts to more than a political insurgency, because it seeks to ruin the nation for its populace who have not yet even been born.

Primarily, the biggest threat to the current campaign against galamsey is the active corruption of personnel involved in the campaign's operations. The programme is practicable but if the personnel implementing it allow themselves to be corrupted, then the programme, as such, is worth nothing.

So, the answer is to prevent or forestall this implosion caused to it by corruption. Fast-moving, easily replaceable units should be formed to observe the officials at work, arrest and prosecute quickly, all those caught or detected to be in league with the galamseyers. The state, with an enhanced district and regional law enforcement apparatus, has the means to do this better than any journalist or group of journalists, however audacious they may be. But, of course, the state can only use its powers if it employs experts to turn its district and regional personnel into reliable and incorruptible individuals.

This is not impossible: the armed forces by and large achieve such objectives by deploying very strict military police personnel into all areas where soldiers might go into town. Surely, they can teach the society at large how this methodology might be gerealised?

These units should aim at, and be assaisted by a ruthless punishing regime, to make it impossible, or, at least, very costly (socially) for anyone, no matter hw highly-placed, to collaborate with the galamseyers. For, indeed, corruption has made the current anti-galamsey campaign a laughing stock to many.

"Operation Vanguard" personnel constantrky find that galamseyers have been tipped off about impending visits by "Operation Vanguard" to their areas of operatrion. Sometimes, even when they succeed in arresting galamseyers, the arresting is the end of the story. The police; immigration officials and others who should process the galamseyers and send them to jail, are influenced by money to just allow the cases to die.

And no-one seems to ask this simple question: WHAT IN HELL HAPPENED TO THOSE PEOPLE WHOM OPERATION VANGUARD PERSONNEL ARRESTED ON SUCH AND SUCH A DATE? Even if the question is asked, no-one will answer it, for Ghanaian officialdom has turned "STONE-WALLING" into an art in which they have no competitors in the whole wide world.

The reality is that the police often assist those galemseyers unlucky enough to be arrested by dutiful "Operatrion Vanguard" personnel. The police know that "Operation Vanguard" personnel are often deployed in the bush, and in any case, have no mandate to chase after the police to ask them what happened those they arrrest and take to the police. "Operation Vanguard" personnel include police officers, don't they? Yep! If you put salt into water, which absorbs the other?

Lawyers, magistrates and judges, if apprised of galamsey cases, willy-nilly give the galamseyers an easy ride. Respected citizens do not scruple to bail arrested galamseyers or intercede on their behalf with the authorities. This would, in normal circumstances, provide prima facie evidence that these intermediaries do profit financially, albeit indirectly, from the devastation of our rivers, streams, and water-bodies. As the MP quoted above observed with unintended irony: "they have turned the anti-galamsey operation into a gold mine!".

All these elements in the society should be ruthlessly targeted and hunted, and be made to know that the Government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will not stand idly by, whilst they allow the love of money to induce them to collaborate with those who want to destroy the heritage we are obliged to leave to our children's children.

Our salvation lies in our own hands. We have the brain power and the physical courage to crack down more severely on those destroying our country and its natural resources. If we sit down and fold our arms -- both literally and figuratively -- the inheritors of our nation, will, in future, defecate on our graves -- and for a very good reason.
Russian national Alexander Vinnik is set to be extradited to France to face money laundering charges, despite his request to have the ruling annulled.

The 37-year-old was arrested back in July 2017 after he was accused of laundering billions of dollars using Bitcoin through the now-defunct platform BTC-e.

The United States, France, and Russia all issued international arrest warrants for him.

Last year, Coin Rivet reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras during talks in Moscow in an attempt to extradite Vinnik back to his own country.

US prosecutors estimate Vinnik helped launder between $4 billion and $9 billion in Bitcoin tied to cybercrime, the drug trade, and other criminal enterprises.

The indictment detailed his operation as one of the primary ways by which cybercriminals around the world transferred, laundered, and stored the criminal proceeds of their illegal activities.

It was later reported that Vinnik went on hunger strike to protest the violation of his human rights and claimed to be a political prisoner seeking extradition back to Russia.

Vinnik to face charges in three countries

Following a ruling from Greeces council of state, he will now be extradited to France, then the USA, and finally to Russia, according to reports.

The countrys supreme administrative court rejected his request to annul the decision, made by Justice Minister Constantinos Tsiaras.

The council of state also ruled Tsiaras has the authority to determine the order of the countries Vinnik will be extradited to.

Interested in reading more money laundering-related stories? Discover more about the UKs financial watchdog the FCA becoming an anti-money laundering supervisor for businesses conducting crypto-related activities.

The post Alleged Bitcoin launderer Alexander Vinnik to be extradited to France appeared first on Coin Rivet.
WASHINGTON - White House lawyers are gearing up for a scorched-earth defense of President Donald Trump in the impeachment trial, mounting a politically charged case aimed more at swaying American voters than GOP senators - and damaging Trump's possible 2020 opponent, Joe Biden.

Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, and Jay Sekulow, Trump's personal attorney, plan to use their time in the trial to target the former vice president and his son, Hunter, according to multiple GOP officials familiar with the strategy. Trump's allies believe that if they can argue that the president had a plausible reason for requesting the Biden investigation in Ukraine, that they can both defend him against the impeachment charges and gain the added bonus of undercutting a political adversary.

The strategy - aimed squarely at muddying the waters surrounding the two impeachment articles of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress - carries potential risk. Some congressional Republicans have encouraged the White House to prioritize a line-by-line rebuttal of the Democrats' case, ensuring that wary moderates are provided enough cover to vote for Trump's acquittal. It is unclear whether going after a former colleague will sway that core constituency, protecting moderates from possible political blowback at home - though a senior administration official made clear that Trump's legal team would try to do both.

The official, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter frankly.

The Biden campaign condemned the strategy.

"Donald Trump is so terrified of facing Joe Biden that he became the only president in American history to attempt to coerce a foreign nation into lying about a political rival," spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement. "Even members of his own administration - including his former top envoy to Ukraine - have refuted the conspiracy theory that he tried to force Ukraine to spread to bail out his struggling reelection campaign."

The offensive will mark the first time lawmakers or the public have heard a full-throated White House defense. The president's attorneys rejected the House invitation to participate in the last phase of the impeachment inquiry, making their presentation - expected Saturday and Monday - the team's first major turn in the spotlight.

Until now, the White House has struggled to address why Trump froze military aid to Ukraine and repeatedly postponed a promised White House meeting with newly elected President Volodymyr Zelensky while pressing for investigations of the Bidens and an unfounded conspiracy theory about Ukraine interfering in the 2016 election. The White House also has had difficulty explaining why Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani was the point person on policy toward the Eastern European nation.

In October, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney openly admitted that a quid pro quo occurred, telling reporters to "get over it" - though he later walked back the comments.

Trump is eager for his team to take the stage and has been trying to strategically time it to maximize TV viewership. He has told allies that while he's fine with the defense beginning its presentation Saturday for a few hours starting at 10 a.m. - in part because he hopes it will drive discussions on Sunday morning talk shows - he prefers the bulk of their arguments to happen Monday when more Americans will be watching television, according to White House officials who were not authorized to speak publicly.

"After having been treated unbelievably unfairly in the House, and then having to endure hour after hour of lies, fraud & deception by Shifty Schiff, Cryin' Chuck Schumer & their crew, looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V.," Trump tweeted Friday morning.

The emerging strategy comes as the White House has heard conflicting advice from Republicans eager to share their opinion on the best rebuttal. In recent weeks, there has been a quiet, behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign by both GOP senators and Trump's House allies on his defense team, creating confusion among Republicans about which strategy the White House will adopt.

The deliberations occasionally have been marked by intense discussions, including debates about whether to push a process-focused case against Democrats or take on each of their points and accusations individually, according to senators and congressional aides familiar with the talks. Over the past 24 hours, the debate has focused more on how much time should be dedicated to going after the Bidens.

Those divergent views were on full display in the Capitol this week. Rep. Lee Zeldin, a New York Republican advising Trump's defense team, told reporters that Trump's lawyers needed to re-litigate what is considered a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election to help Hillary Clinton - and, therefore, justified Trump pushing Ukraine to investigate the matter. But some Senate Republicans, including No. 2 leader John Thune of South Dakota, want the White House to avoid what they consider a baseless conspiracy theory.

"I think the intelligence community has very conclusively determined that it was Russia - and not Ukraine - that interfered in the 2016 election, so . . . I guess that's not a direction I would have them go," Thune said.

Other Senate Republicans, including Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have publicly pushed back on a key White House legal team talking point: that the charges against the president do not constitute a crime and therefore his actions are not impeachable.

Trump himself actively recruited lawyer and TV commentator Alan Dershowitz at a Mar-a-Lago buffet to make that very argument - then sought out Dershowitz's wife to help persuade him to do it. "He wants me to make the argument that the case does not meet the grounds for impeachment," said Dershowitz. "He knows that I feel very strongly about constitutional issues."

Democrats, meanwhile, have been bracing for this moment, anxious about the Trump team getting 24 hours without any interruptions and pushback from impeachment managers. That concern only grew after Trump's lawyers uttered several inaccuracies on the Senate floor Tuesday, including a claim that House Republicans were not allowed to question witnesses during closed-door depositions. They could, and they did.

Democrats want to ensure that the Trump team doesn't get the last word, in part by using some of the allotted 16 hours of questions and answers to correct any misstatements.

"I'm concerned about their deceptive and misleading statements," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., promising that Democrats would "ask questions that are, in effect, an invitation to set the record straight."

Democrats have been anticipating that the defense would shift attention from Trump's alleged misconduct to focus on the Bidens. That, in part, is what drove House managers to devote a considerable portion of their Thursday presentation to a preemptive rebuttal on those points, arguing that several Republicans and Europeans had supported Biden's efforts to push out corrupt former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin.

Trump and Republicans have accused Biden - without proof - of ousting Shokin because the prosecutor was investigating Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company that employed Hunter Biden on its board while the elder Biden was vice president.

But former U.S. and Ukrainian officials have said the prosecutor's investigation of Burisma had been dormant, and many had hoped that the change in prosecutors backed by Biden and others would lead to more aggressive anti-corruption investigations.

Republicans also have pointed to concerns about the appearance of a conflict of interest, which were expressed by some of the Democrats' top witnesses in the impeachment inquiry.

"The House managers sort of drove a knife through the heart of those false arguments ahead of time . . . and I think that will help make the case," Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Thursday.

Not all Republicans are eager about a singular focus on the former vice president. In an unusual role-reversal, Trump's most aggressive House allies have urged the legal team to focus on trying to undercut the Democrats' timeline and arguments.

"You can't talk about corruption broadly without talking about Burisma and Hunter Biden's involvement," said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who also is assisting the defense team. "That being said, I think the vast majority of this emphasis is on what were the components that led the president to ultimately release the aid."

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and his top attorney on the House Oversight Committee, Steve Castor, both of whom participated in the House investigation, have been working with the Trump team to try to highlight what they see as weak spots in the impeachment case.

As the impeachment managers showed clips of Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland confirming a quid pro quo, Jordan has pushed for the team to counter by highlighting Sondland's changing statements as well as his own admission that he never heard such a directive from Trump.

"Remember, Sondland is the guy who had to amend his testimony, the guy who had to clarify his testimony, is the guy they rely on the most?" Jordan said.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has been on the other side of the argument, working closely with the White House and meeting with Trump's legal team as recently as Thursday evening to encourage them to go hard on Hunter Biden's Burisma position.

"Focus on what matters, which is the substance," he said on Hugh Hewitt's radio show Friday morning, summarizing his advice to Trump's team. "And I told them, 'Look, nothing matters more than the facts on Burisma.' . . . Lay out substantive, factual reasons why investigating Burisma, the president had a responsibility to do so."

Senate Republicans said they have been eager to hear what Trump's team has to say - in part because they don't know what line of attack it will take. Privately, some Republican senators have groused in recent days that the Trump team is "everywhere but nowhere," as one described the dynamic, speaking on the condition anonymity to give a frank assessment.

"They are on TV and at the Capitol yelling at the Democrats, but I'm not really sure what the whole range of the argument is. Are you?" the GOP senator asked, adding that the frustration was shared by other Republicans.
Senators heard the contours of an impeachment defence strategy on Saturday that promises to be vintage Donald Trump: Bold, personal, on the attack  and always thinking about his re-election bid.

Within moments of the Trump defence team beginning their case, the tone of the trial changed. They spoke in more pointed tones, at times almost repeating Mr Trumps tweets and fiery lines at political rallies, official events and over the loud hum of Marine One on the White Houses South Lawn. The lawyers discussed matters unrelated to the impeachment articles House Democrats passed late last year, and echoed the president by attacking an intelligence community officer whose complaint about his actions towards Ukraine prompted the entire impeachment affair.

The presidents lawyers are working for a man who believes that the best defence is a good offence, William Galston, who worked for also-impeached Bill Clintons White House, told The Independent.

Of the remaining two days of the defence teams time, Mr Galston expects more of the same: Id expect lots of attacks on the witnesses, the whistleblower, House Democrats, and the Bidens, coupled with the argument that what the president did does not come close to grounds for removal from office.

Legal experts pounced quickly when Patrick Philbin, deputy counsel to the president, suggested that the whistleblower acted not out of concerns about national security but because of an alleged political bias.

All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Show all 6 1 /6 All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Alan Dershowitz Dershowitz is a controversial American lawyer best known for the high-profile clients he has successfully defended. Those clients have included OJ Simpson, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein. One longtime Harvard Law associated told the New Yorker Dershowitz "revels in taking positions that ultimately are not just controversial but pretty close to indefensible." Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Ken Starr Starr became a household name in the 1990s as the independent counsel who led the investigation that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment. That investigation began as a look into a real estate scandal known as Whitewater, and eventually led to impeachment after Mr Clinton lied under oath about having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. AP All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Jay Sekulow Sekulow is the president's longtime personal attorney, and, now, personal lawyer in the White House. He has been accused by former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas of being "in the loop" during the Ukraine scandal. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pam Bondi Bondi is the former attorney general in Florida, and a longtime backer of the president's. She made a name for herself in Florida for taking hyper partisan stances on issues, and her penchant for publicity. She is likely to be a prominent public-facing figure during the trial. AFP/Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pat Cipollone Cipollone is the White House counsel, and leading the president's defence team. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Rudy Giuliani While not officially named as one of the president's impeachment lawyers, it is hard to ignore Giuliani's outsized role in this process. The former mayor of New York has been making headlines for months as he defends his client, and for his apparent role in the effort to compel Ukraine to launch the investigation into Joe Biden. We'll see how he figures in the actual trial, which he has said he would like to be a part of. Reuters

Nothing about the whistleblower (even bias if it existed) matters. He tipped the police off to the bank robbery. The tip has no bearing on the evidence compiled during the investigation that proves the crime. This is just a big red herring. Dont be distracted, Joyce White Vance, a former US attorney, tweeted.

Since House Democrats opened their impeachment inquiry last October, Mr Trump has accused them of trying to take down his presidency because they know they cannot defeat him in November. His lawyers on Saturday wasted no time in making the Senates impeachment trial as much about the next election as the charges the president is facing.

A sometimes-animated White House Counsel Pat Cipollone accused the Democratic managers of asking you to tear up all of the ballots across this country, adding: I dont think they spent one minute of their 24 hours talking to you about the consequences of that for our country.

The tactic was vintage Mr Trump. Thats because the president often takes a charge levied against him and turns it around on an opponent. House Democrats spent the last three days telling senators that he was out to steal an election. So Mr Cipollone did what his boss would do: he accused them of the same thing.

The top White House lawyer turned back to the Trump-like tactic as he wrapped up the rare Saturday session. With his client having been impeached on an abuse of power charge, Mr Cipollone projected that same offence onto the 100 senators who will decide Mr Trumps fate.

We ask you out of respect to think about whether what youve heard would really suggest to anybody anything other than it would be a completely irresponsible abuse of power to do what theyre asking you to do: to stop an election, he said. To interfere in an election. And to remove the president of the United States from the ballot. Let the people decide for themselves.

Mark Rom, a Georgetown University public policy professor and a former congressional aide, called the case and approach the defence team laid out perfectly predictable.

Trumps defence is seeking to deny, dissemble, discredit and disavow any suggestion that Mr Trump in any way acted inappropriately in his conduct with Ukraine, Mr Rom said as the Saturday session closed. The relevant jury is not in fact the Senate. It is President Trump, and the voters who support him.

Another favourite Trump tactic his legal team deployed on Saturday was to use certain words over and over. The president has done the same since taking office, making such words and phrases like fake news part of the national vocabulary.

Deputy White House counsel Michael Purpura spoke for nearly a half hour, trying to rip apart House Democrats case. He accused them of cherry-picking evidence and excluding information that would exonerate Mr Trump.

Thats a word the president used last year following the release of the former special counsel Robert Muellers election meddling report. The former FBI director did not exonerate Mr Trump, but that did not stop him from using the word over and over again.

Then there were Mr Trumps lawyers attempts to distance their client from some of the key witnesses who delivered damning testimony against him during the Houses impeachment process.

Most of the Democrats witnesses have never spoken to the president at all, Mr Purpura told senators. That sounded a lot like Mr Trumps claims  even when there is evidence to the contrary  that he doesnt know someone who might create political or legal heartburn for him.

Jay Sekulow, one of Mr Trumps lawyers, held up Mr Muellers report and again and again, and said it failed to prove Mr Trumps 2016 campaign organisation colluded with Russia in order to gain an advantage over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

The Mueller reports findings have nothing to do with the Ukraine matter, making Mr Sekulows inclusion confusing. No matter, however, because it surely pleased his client  Mr Trump still brings up the Mueller report almost weekly.

The president often describes himself as a unique chief executive, claiming his America first approach has produced a string of accomplishments  trade deals and deceased terrorist leaders that his predecessors lacked the gumption to pull off. Mr Sekulows argument about his clients actions towards Ukraine was as blunt as it was simple: Mr Trumps approach was new but the president did nothing wrong.

Disagreeing with the presidents decision on foreign policy matters and whose advice he is going to take is in no way an impeachable offence, Mr Sekulow said. Had he then played Mr Trumps political rally walk-off song  The Rolling Stones You Cant Always Get What You Want  it would have been fitting.

At the White House, the press office called a lid about 20 minutes after Mr Trumps attorneys began laying out their case. That means the group of journalists responsible for tracking his movements and statements on Saturday were dismissed. The early lid was a sign the president would not be moving far from television coverage of his own defence.

Likely sensing their client was watching, they opted to go right at House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff, who closed House Democrats case on Friday night by describing Mr Trump as a corrupt king who should be swiftly kicked out of the Oval office.

In a move that surely pleased Mr Trump, Mr Purpura played a video clip of Mr Schiffs now-infamous parody last year of the presidents 25 July call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. Although the House Intelligence chair led his hyperbolic version of the talk, based on a White House-prepared summary, by saying his parody was in so many words, Mr Trump has used it to rhetorically bludgeon the man he calls Shifty Schiff.

Thats not the evidence. Thats fake, Mr Purpura said of Mr Schiffs satire. Lets stick to the evidence.

Also playing a big role in the defence teams presentation was that very White House transcript of the Trump-Zelensky call.

Mr Purpura and company echoed Mr Trump by contending that the document is an actual transcript of the conversation. Yet, that very White House-crafted document states it is not a verbatim account of the Trump-Zelensky chat. No matter for the defence team, however. If the boss says its a transcript, they will too.

Their strategy appears as much about election day in nine months than the Senates final votes on the two articles of impeachment in the coming days. So, as Georgetowns Rom noted, contending the call summary is a word-for-word transcript that Democrats have twisted should help keep Mr Trumps conservative political base motivated to get to their polling place in November.

Choppy waters, however, could still lie ahead for the defence team.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer of New York wasted little time finding a group or reporters and television cameras at the Capitol following the Trump teams presentation. With a grin, he contended the presidents lawyers inadvertently made Senate Democrats case about witnesses for them. Thats because the lawyers panned the Democratic managers for leaving out this and that during their case-making; Mr Schumer said any holes in his partys case could be plugged by new witnesses and documents.

The legal team has two days to come up with a convincing argument on another potentially troublesome claim, Mr Galston said.

The defence team is on notice because their coming claim that you cant impeach/remove without an actual crime, he said, is going to get a chilly reception  even among some of the presidents supporters.
We can talk about the process. We will talk about the law. But today, we are going to confront them on the merits of their argument. Now they have the burden of proof. And they have not come close to meeting it. And the fact that they came here for 24 hours and hid evidence from you is further evidence that they dont really believe in the facts of their case  that this is, for all their talk about election interference, that theyre here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history. And we cant allow that to happen. This case is really not about presidential wrongdoing. This entire impeachment process is about the House managers insistence that they are able to read everybodys thoughts, they can read everybodys intention, even when the principal speakers, the witnesses themselves, insist that those interpretations are wrong. I am not going to continue to go over and over and over again the evidence that they did not put before you, because we would be here for a lot longer than 24 hours. But to say that the president of the United States did not, was not concerned about burden sharing, that he was not concerned about corruption in Ukraine  the facts from their hearing, the facts from their hearing establish exactly the opposite. I want to touch on one last point before I yield to one of my colleagues, and that relates to the whistleblower, the whistleblower who we havent heard that much about, who started all of this. The whistleblower  we know from the letter that the inspector general of the intelligence community sent that he thought that the whistleblower had political bias. We dont know exactly what the political bias was, because the inspector general testified in the House committees in an executive session, and that transcript is still secret. It wasnt transmitted up to the House Judiciary Committee. We havent seen it. We dont know whats in it. We dont know what he was asked and what he revealed about the whistleblower. Now you would think that before going forward with an impeachment proceeding against the president of the United States that you would want to find out something about the complainant that had started all of it, because motivations, bias, reasons for wanting to bring this complaint could be relevant. But there wasnt any inquiry into that.
(Bloomberg) -- Marc Benioffs latest book, about the need for a gentler capitalism, became a national bestseller. The company he co-founded, Salesforce.com Inc., helped boost sales by encouraging employees to buy and expense the book published last October.

The software maker sent a memo to its 48,000-member workforce last fall offering reimbursement if they purchased Benioffs latest book, Trailblazer, the company said. Salesforce said it considers the book to be business material.

Our employees were invited to expense a copy and spread the word, a Salesforce spokeswoman said in a statement. Trailblazer was inspired by our employees, so of course we wanted to get it in their hands, as well as our customers, partners and anyone else wanting to learn how business is the greatest platform for change.

Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change is the fourth book co-written by Benioff. On its website, Salesforce touted it as an instant New York Times bestseller. It was No. 1 on the Wall Street Journals bestseller list. The billionaires books have served to bolster his reputation in the technology industry, especially, Behind the Cloud, about building his business applications company.

While the exact calculations behind the bestseller lists are shrouded in secrecy, the consensus in the publishing industry, according to the news website Vox, is it takes at least 5,000 books sold in a week to make the New York Times list.

Proceeds from Trailblazer sales were donated to charity, the company said.

Trailblazer tracks Benioffs public journey deeper into social and political causes in recent years, including how to leverage his influence as a tech leader on issues he cares about including education and homelessness. In the book, Benioff declares that capitalism is dead and must be replaced by a system guided around more than just the interests of shareholders. He also called for higher taxes on the wealthy and more regulation on the tech industry.

Story continues

To contact the reporter on this story: Nico Grant in San Francisco at ngrant20@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Andrew Pollack, Alistair Barr

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

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Hyderabad, Jan 25 : Sunera Technologies, a leading innovative technology solutions company, has opened the Centre for Digital Acceleration (CDA) for businesses across to set up their innovation centres and experience digital solutions.

Spread over 55,000 square feet and designed to accommodate 50 companies, CDA has come up with an investment of $500,000, Ravi Reddy, CEO and President, Sunera Technologies told IANS.

CDA is an extension of Bay Area Sunera Labs (BASL), the company's innovation lab in Bay Area in California.

He said not just Sunera's customers businesses across India can come to CDA and set up their innovation centre, they can bring their managers to learn different digital solutions and then implement those solutions.

"The purpose of the centre is to make global small and large businesses set up their innovation centres and understand not just the technology but also how to bring the startup culture," he said.

Reddy said that innovations can only be appreciated through experience. "Every business going through AAdigital transformation but many companies don't know the technology. Large businesses are under threat because of competition from new digital businesses. Businesses today have only two options -disrupt or get disrupted," he said.

According to Ravi Reddy, CDA is the first facility of its kind. He said large companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft have their innovation centres but mid-size and small businesses can't set up such centres.

"Enterprises do not have to spend millions in buying software and hardware and waste months together to set it up. Businesses can easily setup their innovation centres in CDA within 30-45 days and get started with innovation journey," he said.

The centre, the company's third in Hyderabad, will focus on expanding revenue for its customers in cloud transformation, data monetisation, application modernisation and digital innovation segments.

Sunera, which has 1,300 employees, plan to hire another 1000 in 12-18 months. Of this 500 from universities and out of this 500 new recruits, 200 will be from lower income families.

Ravi Reddy said that Sunera with 250 customers globally has the vision is to make Hyderabad global hub for digital technologies.
DEAL OF THE WEEK

Reacher Stays in the Family Lee Child, the pen name of James Dover Grant, brought a new coauthor into the fold with his latest contract. The four-book North American rights agreement was brokered by Richard Pine and Kim Witherspoon at Inkwell Management with Random House president and publisher Gina Centrello; it will see Child writing the next four installments in the bestselling Jack Reacher series with his brother, author Andrew Grant (Too Close to Home). The Sentinel, to be published under the names Lee and Andrew Child, is set for fall 2020. Random House said the Reacher series has more than 100 million copies in print worldwide.

FROM THE U.S.

S&S Welcomes Hoffmanns Children

In a high-six-figure deal, Jeff Hoffmann sold his debut novel, Other Peoples Children, to Marysue Rucci at Simon & Schuster. Harvey Klinger, who has an eponymous shingle, handled the world rights agreement for Hoffmann; he said that in the novel, an adoptive couples agreement with the teenage biological mother of their infant daughter goes horribly awry, sending everyone on a brutal collision course while uncovering issues of class and trust. Hoffmann, who formerly worked in technology, has an MFA from Columbia College Chicago.

Gessen Tackles Trump for Riverhead

Journalist and National Book Awardwinner Masha Gessen sold a book about the Trump administration to Rebecca Saletan at Riverhead. The North American rights agreement for Surviving Autocracy was brokered by Elyse Cheney at the Cheney Agency. Riverhead said the book is a galvanizing analysis of the destruction the Trump administration has waged on our institutions, the cultural norms we hoped would save us, and our very sense of identity. The book, set for a June 2020 release, is expanded from an essay Gessen wrote immediately after Trumps election, titled Autocracy: Rules for Survival, that went viral.

Sebastians Shadows Fall on Ace

After an auction, Aces Anne Sowards won North American rights to the debut adult novel by bestselling YA author Laura Sebastian. Half Sick of Shadows is, Ace said, a feminist reimagining of the Arthurian legend. In it, a woman named Elaine of Shalott rejects the future her visions prophesize and transforms the story of King Arthur weve come to know. John Cusick at Folio Literary Management represented Sebastian, and the book is slated for summer 2021.

Nelson Gets Critical at Graywolf

Maggie Nelson, whose bestselling memoir The Argonauts was one of PWs top 10 best books of 2015, sold two new titles to Graywolf Press. The first, The Myth of Freedom, set for fall 2021, is, the publisher said, a heady, brilliant, iconoclastic work of criticism. The second book in the deal is a currently untitled essay collection. Graywolf described the latter as a series of deep dives into the work of individual artists. Ethan Nosowsky, editorial director at Graywolf, acquired North American rights from PJ Mark at Janklow & Nesbit.

Dutch WWII Memoir to Scribner

For six figures, Scribners Valerie Steiker nabbed North American rights to a WWII memoir by Selma van de Perre, a Dutch resistance fighter and concentration camp survivor. My Name Is Selma was preempted by Steiker after the book sold in a number of foreign rights deals. Released on January 9 in the Netherlands by Thomas Rap, the book has, to date, sold in Germany, Italy, and the U.K. Bernat Fiol at SalmaiaLit, who is handling foreign sales for the title and brokered the agreement with Steiker, said the memoir is currently on the Dutch bestseller list. The 97-year-old author became a journalist after the war and has worked for the BBC and as a foreign correspondent for a Dutch television station. In 1983 she won the Dutch Resistance Commemoration Cross. She lives in London.

Photographer Sells Inferno

Documentary photographer Stuart Palley sold a narrative nonfiction book about California wildfires to Blackstone Publishing. Into the Inferno was sold by Jennifer Chen Tran at Bradford Literary, who said that the book is about braving harrowing conditions on the front lines of Californias major wildfires and addresses how climate change is permanently altering the world. Vikki Warner took world rights to the title, which Blackstone has slated for fall 2021.

Ballantine Keeps Lefteris Songbirds

Christy Lefteri, author of the 2019 bestseller The Beekeeper of Aleppo, sold a new novel to Andra Miller, her editor at Ballantine. Songbirds, Ballantine said, follows a Nepali domestic worker living on the island of Cyprus who goes missing. Her employer tries to unravel the mystery of the disappearance and finds herself embroiled in the deeper truths of modern slavery. Lefteri was represented by

Marianne Gunn OConnor, who has an eponymous shingle and sold North American rights in the deal.
Marianne Ritter left Miami nearly four decades ago, her life shattered.

Back then, Ritter was 20 years old, an idealistic art student living in a small Coconut Grove apartment. The stranger entered through an opening under a window in July 1983, forced her into a bathroom, and raped her at knifepoint  all while her roommate slept in the bedroom.

Cops called him the Pillowcase Rapist. The manhunt expanded over the years, then the trail went cold; the attack, and the dwindling hope for justice, leaving Ritter feeling lost.

Over the years, she moved to New York, the Florida Keys, Pensacola, Atlanta, California, and finally Portland, Oregon. She never felt stable. Once, Ritter climbed out down from her third-story window when she mistakenly thought someone was breaking into her apartment  it turned out, the sound was a neighbor opening his sliding-glass door.

I couldnt be alone at night for months, Ritter recalled.

Ritter is one of dozens of victims, or possible victims, that are now reliving the trauma of their rapes as they speak to police detectives seeking to build more criminal cases against 60-year-old Robert Koehler. The suspected serial rapist was arrested at his Palm Bay home on Jan. 18, in a case that has drawn national attention.

So far, Koehler is being held in a Miami-Dade jail on just one charge: the rape of a 25-year-old woman at her apartment in Northwest Miami-Dade in December 1983.

But authorities on Thursday announced that around-the-clock DNA testing has linked Koehler to at least 25 attacks in Miami-Dade from the 1980s. Over the coming months, detectives throughout Florida will now re-examine similar rape cases, test DNA swabs taken from victims long ago, and interview victims, many of them like Ritter still haunted by a harrowing attack decades ago.

Photo from the Miami Herald published on Feb. 22, 1986.

Ritter, now 57, long ago lost hope that cops would capture the so-called Pillowcase Rapist, the crafty, soft-spoken intruder suspected of attacking more than 40 women in South Florida in the 1980s. Then last week, at the Portland home while she was cooking dinner, her sister sent her a text message with news about Koehlers arrest.

Story continues

I was in shock, Ritter said. I couldnt even read the story until the next day.

The Miami Herald generally does not identify rape victims. But Ritter  who wants to see her case prosecuted in Miami-Dade  wanted to share her story with hopes it will empower other victims to come forward.

I definitely think it helps to bring this to the light, she said. Im not at fault here. Im a victim like many others, and there are many women who did not come forth back in the 1980s.

As victims must grapple with the decades-old memories, Miami-Dade prosecutors have now set up a hotline for them to call: 305-547-0441. State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said prosecutors will try to file charges in cases in which there is DNA evidence and the victim is still available to testify.

We want to get the message out to a lot of the victims who may be out there, Fernandez Rundle said. Its going to take time to resurrect a lot of these files, to locate a lot of the victims.

A search for victims

Some of the rapes may not even have been on the radar of a police task force set up in the mid-1980s.

Jill Simmons, now a 66-year-old retiree in Spokane, Washington, was on the couch watching the news when a story came on about the Pillowcase Rapist.

I felt like somebody punched me right in the chest. I couldnt breathe. I couldnt talk. My husband thought I was having a heart attack, Simmons said. I finally got the words out: I think thats him. It just brought it all back. Youd think after 40 years, itd be gone but its not.

Simmons, then using her maiden surname Trent, said she was raped at her duplex in West Palm in 1978 or 1979. The intruder wrapped her head in a pillowcase, threatened her with a sharp object and quietly told her to shut up.

Everything about it matched what he did in my rape, said Simmons, who agreed to be identified by the Miami Herald.

No arrest was made in her case. Simmons never saw or read any of the South Florida coverage of the Pillowcase Rapist in the mid-1980s. By then, she had moved to Washington state.

I couldnt go back to my apartment. Every time Id walk in there, Id relive it, said Simmons, who this week reached out to West Palm police about reviving her case. I moved in with my sister for awhile, got back on my feet and started living my life. Every time I got a little better, the cops would call and bring it all back up again.

Her experience is not uncommon among rape victims, experts say.

One of the ways people avoid is not reading the news, or social media. That can bring back a lot of feelings and a lot of people dont get help until years later, said Shara Kaszovitz, a licensed clinical social worker at Jackson Memorial Hospitals Roxcy Bolton Rape Treatment Center. They avoid it, and then something will trigger them and all of those feelings come back.

Kaszovitz stressed that the rape treatment center offers free counseling and support groups for victims, even ones from decades ago. Its never too late to get support, she said.

More victims likely

For decades, police said the Pillowcase Rapist struck roughly between May 1981 and February 1986, from South Miami-Dade to Deerfield Beach, although there are likely victims such as Simmons whose cases havent been counted.

Koehler pleaded guilty to a 1990 rape in which he broke into a Palm Beach County womans home and raped her in the middle of the night. Detectives did not link the case to the Pillowcase Rapist, despite the similarities to the years-old attacks.

At the time, convicts were not required to give DNA for entry into a law-enforcement database. The Palm Beach State Attorneys Office said records that explain why Koehler got such a lenient sentence  probation  no longer exist.

The South Florida intruder targeted women in their 20s and 30s, usually single professionals who lived alone in town houses, condominiums or apartments. He normally tied them up. Often, he used a pillowcase or some other fabric to cover the womens heads, and his own.

Ive been watching you for a long time, honey, the rapist told one victim in August 1984, police said.

Many of the women had been stalked, their routines analyzed, their vulnerabilities exploited. The rapist usually broke in through unlocked or poorly secured windows and doors.

At the time, some of the women spoke to the Miami Herald in 1985, awash in conflicting emotions. One fantasized about wanting to catch the rapist and light him on fire. Another grappled with lying to her father about the brutal details of the rape. One woman, a school teacher, suffered nightmares, even feeling the physical sensation that someone had climbed into her bed.

I can either wallow in self pity and hold onto the fear and the anger and hatred, or I can let that go and heal myself and go on with my life, she told the Herald.

Even decades later, the attacks sow anxiety.

This case haunted me

One woman, who spoke to the Miami Herald this week but asked not be named, was wrapping Christmas gifts at night when an intruder appeared in her Fort Lauderdale apartment a few days before Christmas in 1982. The man held a knife to her back, wrapping her head in a pillowcase and attacking her. Suddenly, her roommate happened to walk in  and chased off the rapist with a pair of scissors.

You always feel like theyre coming back, said the woman. Youre always wondering if theyre watching you, if theyre stalking you. I always felt like the person was still around.

Many victims blamed themselves because they felt they hadnt done enough to secure their homes, recalled retired Miami-Dade Detective Dave Simmons, who headed the Pillowcase Rapist task force in the mid-1980s. He tried to dissuade them of the notion.

Dave Simmons, who is not related to the West Palm victim, kept in touch with some victims after the task force was disbanded.

They were understandably concerned, that we hadnt forgotten them, that the case was still being worked, he recalled.

After the news of Koehlers arrest unfolded this past week, several victims reached out to Dave Simmons, thanking him for his work decades ago.

I felt just absolutely thrilled for the victims, that we could finally tell them the man was caught, that the cold-case squad continued working it after I retired, he said. This case has haunted me over the years, and a lot them gave up hope.
Not meeting the obligations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) would have a devastating impact on Pakistan's economic reform program, a top US diplomat said. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice Wells made the comments on Friday, a day after Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the country should be taken off the FATF's 'grey list' as it has made considerable progress on the requirements of the international terror financing watchdog.

Obviously, if Pakistan were not to meet FATF obligations or were to fail and be blacklisted, that would be devastating for Pakistan's economic reform program and for its ability to attract investors, Wells told reporters here. We've been pleased to see progress by Pakistan towards fulfilling FATF obligations, said Wells, who has just returned from her trip to the region, including a visit to Islamabad.

She was responding to a question if the funding by the International Monetary Fund could get affected if Pakistan does not meet the FATF regulations or the rules. There is a meeting underway currently in Beijing where Pakistan is presenting its actions to the task force. So I defer to that task force to make its evaluation, she said.

But the more evidence of Pakistan's seriousness in both documenting its economy and in shrinking the space for militants to be able to take advantage of Pakistan's either banking system or territory, the more confidence that the international community and business community will have in working with Pakistan, Wells said.

Also read: WEF 2020: World will realise Pakistan's strategic potential once relations with India normalise, says Imran Khan

A Pakistani delegation led by Minister for Economic Affairs Division Hammad Azhar is in Beijing to brief the financial task force about the steps taken by Islamabad to implement the recommendations made by the FATF.

The FATF in October last decided to keep Pakistan on its 'Grey' list for failure to curb funnelling of funds to terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and others. If not removed off the list by April, Pakistan may move to a blacklist of countries that face severe economic sanctions, such as Iran.

Observing that FATF is a technical process, Wells said that there has been an action plan that was presented to Pakistan.

It's a question of fulfilling the requirements that have been spelled out and that are asked of all countries in the international system. So it's not a political process, but we certainly support and stand ready to assist Pakistan as it implements these obligations, she added.

The US, she said, welcomes efforts by Pakistan to meet its counterterrorism financing obligations under FATF. We strongly encourage Pakistan to work with FATF and the international community to fully satisfy its action plan commitments, she said.

Completion of the FATF action plan is critical to Pakistan's economic reform efforts, including its IMF program, as well as for demonstrating sustained and irreversible action against all militant groups based in Pakistan without distinction, she added.

Also read: Imran Khan may give SCO Summit 2020 in India a miss amid tensions

We've seen obvious progress in our relations with Pakistan, from the high-level engagement such as the President's (Donald Trump) warm and constructive meeting with Prime Minister (Imran) Khan at Davos to the restoration of the International Military Education and Training programs, she said.

Wells during her trip to Islamabad had extensive conversations on how the two countries can bolster their economic partnership where the US is Pakistan's largest export market, largest trade partner, and historically one of its most significant investors.

There are obvious synergies in energy and agriculture, and opening Pakistan's markets to American investments creates jobs and wealth without sacrificing standards or fuelling corruption.

We're looking forward to welcoming 10 Pakistani buyer delegations to the US and five regional trade shows in 2020, which will build deeper relationships between US and Pakistani firms. Prime Minister Khan's economic reform efforts contributed to the World Bank identifying it as one of the top 10 reformers globally in 2019, she said.

Responding to a question on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), she said Pakistan needs to adhere to the buyer beware.

That Pakistan is a buyer, these are not this is not grant assistance from China, it's loans, often not with concessional financing. And Pakistan should beware of the terms, to make sure that they're getting the most for their money, that brings the greatest economic prosperity, she noted.

This is Pakistan's sovereign right to decide what investment it seeks and on what terms. And a friend of Pakistan, we certainly urge that they take on investment projects that create wealth, generate employment, and are sustainable, and think we have great options for the Pakistani market, she said in response to a question.

Also read: Gurdwara Nankana Sahib remains untouched, undamaged, says Pakistan after backlash
Pastor Mensah Otabil is of the opinion that those who post photos of the food they eat and the new clothes theyve bought on social media are sick in their head.

Preaching on the theme Hunger for Excellence last Sunday at the ICGC Christ Temple located in Accra, noted that trivial things like food and clothes dont need to be widely published on social media as if theyre achievements.

Otabil admonished his congregation to yearn for excellence rather than looking at some basic things as an achievement. He also touched on those who join airplane and try to show off that theyre also traveling the world.

Watch the video below;

----Ghbase.com
For Omani author and Booker winner Jokha Alharthi, the most fascinating and challenging aspect of writing is to narrate the strange and illogical stories prevalent in societies with the logic, structure and discipline that a novel demands.

Alharthi, who is one of the speakers at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), said she took to writing because she felt a need for it, and for that she draws inspiration from people, books and society.

"The most fascinating thing about writing is that the society is full of stories that are strange and illogical, but when you write you cannot write without logic. The novel demands a structure and discipline which is what makes writing a challenging experience," she told PTI.

According to Alharthi, who became the first Arab woman last year to win the Booker International Prize for her novel "Celestial Bodies", being a global writer doesn't mean having to write about the global places.

"Actually, it is the opposite. You write about what you know and a particular way of life and then there is a reaction to what to you write.

"We all share common human experiences which are universal, which is why Gabriel Garcia Marquez is celebrated world over even as he wrote about the experiences of local people and places," the writer said.

"Celestial Bodies" is set in an Omani village and follows the stories of three sisters -- Mayya, who marries into a rich family after a heartbreak; Asma, who marries for duty; and Khawla, waiting for a man who has emigrated to Canada. It has been translated into English by author Marilyn Booth.

Talking about the Arab women, the 41-year-old writer said they were often considered as weak and suppressed, which is a "wrong interpretation".

Asked if the major gains in women's rights and education witnessed in Oman during the leadership of Sultan Qaboos will be reversed after his recent death, she said the people of her country would not let it happen.

Under the Sultan's rule, women saw representation in the Majlis-ash-Shura, an advisory council, universal suffrage was granted to all Omanis, women were given equal right to own land as their male counterparts, and a programme was dedicated to increase job opportunities for women in the country.

"Omani society has become strong enough and won't let the past achievements go away easily. These advancements have taken their roots. People won't let them go easily. The new leader is from the same progressive school of thought. And I'm optimistic about the future," she said.

The author said she was proud of her Omani identity and depicts it through the characters in her books.

On her Booker win, she said it was a proud moment for the people in Oman who celebrated it by displaying her pictures at airport and in malls.

"Many people in the Gulf were happy at my win. They consider it as a turning point in Arabic literature which has a very rich and old history," she said.

Alharthi added the people were surprised to see an Omani woman win the prestigious prize because the cities of Cairo and Beirut have for decades dominated the literary scene in the Arab world.

"There was a minuscule percentage which wasn't happy because they felt the book talked about certain things which they didn't want the outsiders to know.

"They expect their people and places to be depicted as ideal and perfect. They want their characters to be moral," she said.

To her, "Celestial Bodies" represented the "soul" of Oman.

"It is fascinating to hear different interpretations of my novel from different people belonging to many different countries all around the world," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi, Jan 25 : Visiting Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Saturday was given a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here, after which he said that he would use this visit as an opportunity for strengthening bilateral relations.

The President, who is the Chief Guest in Sunday's Republic Day celebrations, reached Delhi on Friday on a four-day visit.

On Saturday morning, Bolsonaro was received by President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Following the ceremonial welcome, the Brazilian leader told the media: "I am very excited to be here in India and to take part in the national Republic Day. We will use this opportunity to be close to India and the bilateral ties will be substantially boosted by this visit.

"After all, our great nations share a great deal in common... We rank amongst the 10 largest economies of the world... Our two nations will grow more after this important state visit." The Brazilian President has been accompanied by a high-level delegation including Ministers and senior officials.
By PTI

SRINAGAR: The restoration of mobile internet in Kashmir was welcomed by residents here on Saturday, but many said it is of little help because of low speed.

Mobile internet in Kashmir has suspended nearly six months ago in the wake of the Centre's decision to revoke Article 370 provisions that gave the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir special status.

On Saturday, low-speed service was restored, but it can only be used to access 301 websites approved by the administration, according to officials.

Yawar Nazir, a resident of Srinagar city, was overjoyed to hear about the news of resumption of services, but his joy was shortlived as websites took a long time to open.

"The restoration is welcome news. But what are we going to do with these low speeds in the times of 4G and 5G. We cannot access the websites. It is taking ages to open a website," Nazir said.

The restoration of mobile internet with low speed means nothing as it will not help people, especially students, another user Mehraj-ud-din said.

"The internet ban has affected our education. It has especially affected those who are seeking admissions to educational institutions and taking various examinations."

"Though mobile internet has been restored, what good will come out of it if speeds are low. We cannot access most of the websites on these speeds," he said.

Sheeraz Ahmad Dar, a Srinagar resident, described the restoration of the service as "too little and too late".

"This should have been done a long time ago. By now, they should have restored high-speed internet like broadband and 4G mobile internet. This (restoring the service) is too little, too late," Dar said.

People cannot access WhatsApp and social media sites, another resident Aaishan Ahmad said.

"Many other sites are also blocked. There are only about 300 websites than we can access, most of which we do not even want to access or know of," he said.

There are many people in the Valley who use social media sites to be in touch with their relatives living abroad, Ahmad said.

"They will still have to go for expensive phone calls. Who can imagine such a thing happening in a digital age?" he said.
(Lack of) privacy: It's no secret that privacy and anonymity are becoming a thing of the past in some parts of the world. This is especially evident in countries like China, where rampant, almost dystopian levels of surveillance are the norm. However, for better or worse, it seems some of that tech will make be making its way to London soon.

As reported by The Guardian on Friday, London's Metropolitan Police force plans to begin using live facial recognition cameras on the city's streets in the not-so-distant future. The hope is that these cameras will help officers catch suspects or criminals on "bespoke 'watch list[s].'"

Police are primarily aiming to use the cameras to find violent or otherwise dangerous criminals, and the data of any innocents who have their face scanned will apparently be deleted "in seconds." According to The Guardian, the cameras are 70 percent effective at spotting wanted suspects, and "80%" of people surveyed by police support their existence.

Metropolitan police say their systems have only falsely identified one individual out of a thousand as a suspect during testing, but we expect real-world results to vary.

As we here at TechSpot have reported in the past, this type of technology is far from perfect. We can't speak to the effectiveness of the Metropolitan police force's particular implementation of facial recognition, but other technologies in this sector, such as Amazon's "Rekognition," have a history of reporting false positives.

Even if the cameras in question boasted a 100 percent success rate, their deployment is still likely to be met with some stiff resistance from privacy advocates. Indeed, this news has already sparked several heated debates on social media. Many are asking themselves whether or not potentially compromising their anonymity is worth the added security that these facial recognition cameras could bring.

Whether you're for or against the use of facial recognition cameras throughout London's streets, we'd love to hear your thoughts on this news in the comments below.

Masthead credit: Andrey Popov via Shutterstock. Middle image credit: Simmo Simpson, Wikimedia Commons.
Pastor who pushed to establish communitys only homeless shelter praised by Wisconsin governor

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A pastor who pushed to build a new homeless shelter in Wisconsin after his communitys only one shuttered in 2018 received special mention for his work from the states governor, Tony Evers, this week in his 2020 State of the State address.

"I felt like it was something that I could do that my faith compelled me to do," Rev. Dave Mowers, who is rector of Trinity Church in Baraboo, told 27 News.

Mowers is also the president of the board for the Baraboo Area Homeless Shelter, which is set to open in the spring after the completion of renovation work on the facility.

Last December when he gave community leaders a tour of the facility, he explained to WMTV that there were no homeless shelters in Baraboo or nearby Sauk City and Prairie du Sac. In the entire county, he also noted that there were no beds for men, only spaces for women and children.

Jesus cares about those folks, so for me thats been the only motivator that I needed. When it became clear this was a need, I said, I cant really say no to this because this was just so clearly what Christian people ought to be about, he said at the time.

Mowers was not immediately available for an interview when his church was contacted by The Christian Post on Thursday.

In highlighting the challenges faced by the state in his address Wednesday, Gov. Evers used the pastors work to highlight the issue of homelessness.

The struggles we face will test both the depth of our empathy and the strength of our selflessness. But Wisconsinites, I know we are up to the task, because it is the depth of our empathy and the strength of our selflessness that have defined who we are as a people for generations, Evers said before pointing to Mowers.

People like Reverend Mowers who, after the only homeless shelter in his area closed a few years ago, worked with the Department of Safety and Professional Services to expedite the new shelter and get it opened so his neighbors would have a place to stay  Reverend, thanks for helping make this happen, Evers said.

According to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, as of January 2018, Wisconsin had an estimated 4,907 experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuums of Care to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Of that total, 660 were family households, 332 were veterans, 246 were unaccompanied young adults (aged 18-24), and 527 were individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.

Public school data reported to the U.S. Department of Education during the 2016-2017 school year shows that an estimated 18,592 public school students experienced homelessness over the course of the year. Of that total, 274 students were unsheltered, 2,675 were in shelters, 1,305 were in hotels/motels, and 14,338 were doubled up.

Evers, according to WKOW, has been urging lawmakers to pass a series of bills to fight homelessness. Last year, the State Assembly approved the entire package. The Senate only approved one measure this week, which provides $500,000 in each of the next two years for area shelters.

Organizers of Baraboo Area Homeless Shelter have been relying on the support of their community, which has so far donated more than $100,000 for the project.

Mowers explained to WKOW that he believes the governor's attention to homeless issues will help the greater community better understand what it means to be homeless in Wisconsin.

"People think it looks like panhandlers on State Street in Madison. And in rural Wisconsin, it largely does not look like that. It looks like families with kids. And a lot of folks just don't realize that," the pastor said.
A Longford man who carried a boxcutter knife in Longford town almost two years ago because he believed everybody was out to get him has been convicted by District Court Judge Seamus Hughes.

Keith Reilly, of 21 Cloonmore Lawns, Jobstown, Tallaght, Dublin 24, pleaded guilty to being found in possession of the implement at Ballymahon Street, Longford. He was subsequently charged under Section 9 of the Firearms & Offensive Weapons Act 1990.

In defence, solicitor Frank Gearty said Mr Reilly had opted to carry the boxcutter knife at the time due to a combination of self paranoia and the social circles at the time he had frequented.

He had this silly sense that he was the target for everybody in Longford and used it (boxcutter knife) for self protection, he said.

He was involved in bad company and was involved in various escapades.

Also read: Woman who pinned 86-year-old man down and robbed him is found guilty

One of those, the court heard, was linked to other matter for which he was currently before the Circuit Court for. Mr Gearty said Mr Reilly had pleaded guilty to the latter incident and had been tasked with engaging with the probation services.

Having previously lived in Longford, Mr Gearty said his client was now residing with his parents in Dublin.

He (Mr Reilly) was extremely honest to the (prosecuting) garda and frank in his reply when approached, he added.

He had this delusion that everybody was out to get him but he has since moved to Tallaght with his mother and father.

In fining Mr Reilly 150 for the Section 9 charge, Judge Hughes told the accused: Hopefully, you continue on an upward path.

Also read: Longford man fined for having no driving licence
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For years, as China has spent heavily in Latin America, Colombia -- Washingtons closest regional ally -- has stood out as the major country with the smallest Chinese investment. Thats changing, and fast.

In the past several months, Chinese companies have reached deals on Bogotas first metro line, a railway to neighboring towns and a gold mining company, amounting to a bigger total investment than over the previous 15 years, according to the American Enterprise Institutes China Investment Tracker.

Colombias ties with the U.S., especially after the 2000 launch of the Plan Colombia counter-narcotics program, have kept it looking north. But with U.S. dependability called into question in the Trump era, Colombia is diversifying relationships, according to Margaret Myers, director of the Asia and Latin America Program at the Inter-American Dialogue.

A number of years ago there was concern about angering the United States by engaging more extensively with China, Myers said. But certainly the U.S. has not been the same trustworthy and steadfast partner under the current leadership as it has been previously.

Done Nothing For Us

Although Colombian President Ivan Duque is deeply pro-American and has teamed up with Washington to isolate Venezuelas Nicolas Maduro, President Donald Trump attacked him last March for his failure to curb cocaine traffic. Trump said Duque has done nothing for us and threatened to decertify Colombia as a partner in the war on drugs. That would lump it with Venezuela, meaning the U.S. would end most economic aid and automatically vote against Colombian loans from organizations such as the World Bank.

The White House backed away from that threat, and during a visit to Bogota this week Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. values the important friendship with Colombia and will continue to prioritize it. Still, Colombians worry about the future.

Story continues

Last July, Duque visited Beijing where President Xi Jinping assured him that China would respect Latin Americas right to pick its own development path. China, the worlds second-largest economy, is on a constant hunt for new markets and sources for natural resources, even as some of its deals have fallen apart in poorer countries. Pan Deng, secretary general of the Latin American Studies Center of Charhar Institute in Beijing, says that Colombia has improved conditions for foreign investment and China is testing new models by joining consortia with foreign companies.

China says it isnt trying to compete with Washington for political influence, only to invest. The Trump administration has bristled at this however, invoking the Monroe Doctrine, a two-century-old claim of U.S. primacy in Latin America. This month, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi dismissed the doctrine as out of date.

On Thursday in Davos, Duque was asked in an interview with Bloomberg whether hes concerned about the rivalry.

We dont see this as a geopolitical battle, he replied. We see this as calling for international investment in the country. The Bogota metro was a public bid. A Chinese consortium won it because theirs was the better offer.

5G

Washington is especially concerned about the building of 5G networks and Chinas ability to control how countries are wired or communicate internally, according to a U.S. official. Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp., both of which have been labeled potential security threats by the Trump administration, are already in Colombia.

Minister of Commerce Jose Manuel Restrepo said his goal isnt only more Chinese investment but tourists and selling Colombian farm products there.

There are growing Chinese investments in smaller Colombian industries, such as hotels and consumer industries, noted David Mauricio Castrillon, who teaches at Universidad Externado de Colombia. A ride-hailing service, DiDi Chuxing Inc., began operating last year.

Students are increasingly considering scholarships in China, a state visit from a senior Chinese politician is under discussion and the Colombian government is talking about possibly joining Chinas massive Belt and Road Initiative, a global development strategy giving it extensive reach and influence. Western officials have warned that poorer countries may wind up burdened by debt when they accept loans as part of the initiative. Bolivia, Uruguay and Venezuela are members.

In fact, all of Latin America is rapidly growing more comfortable with Chinas money. In recent years, Brazil received $66 billion in Chinese investment, Peru $25 billion and Chile $9 billion. Chinese trade with the region jumped to $225 billion in 2016 from $12 billion in 2000, according to Jason Marczak, a director at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank. China is the biggest trading partner for Brazil, Chile and Peru.

Now China is finding newly fertile ground in Colombia, which provides it mostly with crude oil.

Colombia is not only about increasing access to basic commodities critical for Chinese consumers, but its also about providing new opportunities for Chinese firms that are otherwise running out of infrastructure-building opportunities in China, said Marczak.

In October, state-owned China Harbour Engineering Co. led a group of companies that won the more-than-$4 billion Bogota metro contract. Two months later, a separate Chinese consortium won a $1.1 billion contract to construct the rail line. And in December, Chinas Zijin Mining Group Co. announced it agreed to buy Continental Gold Inc. for C$1.37 billion ($1 billion), giving it control of the Buritica gold project in Colombia.

Juan Gabriel Perez, the head of Invest in Bogota, said given the increased investment from China he plans to hire a Mandarin speaker this year.

Besides building the metro, China Harbour Engineering, which joined Chinas XiAn Metro and Canadas Bombardier Inc., will operate it for 20 years. The group was chosen in a public process over a consortium led by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slims Carso Infraestructura y Construccion with Spanish and French firms.

Bogota Resembles Xian

The company said it was attracted to Bogota, in part, because it resembles Xian, a city of nearly 13 million in northwest China. Both are expanding and undergoing positive social change, the company said in response to questions.

China Harbour and its parent company, state-owned China Communications Construction Company Ltd., have won major projects across the region, including a bridge over the Panama Canal, a shipping container terminal in Mexico and a port in the Bahamas. It made its foray into Colombia last year, striking a deal to build a highway near Medellin.

Mei Xinyu, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, which is affiliated with the commerce ministry, says China isnt trying to pry Colombia away from the U.S. It needs that stability inherent in that relationship.

Chinese companies are in Latin America to do business, not to create political conflict, Mei said. China wants places it invests in to have normal relations with the U.S., especially if they have very close ties already. Any deterioration in economic and political relations between the two countries would impact investments, especially with large infrastructure projects.

--With assistance from Lucille Liu, Alfred Cang, Dandan Li and Brendan Scott.

To contact the reporters on this story: Andrea Jaramillo in Bogota at ajaramillo1@bloomberg.net;Ezra Fieser in Bogota at efieser@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Cancel at dcancel@bloomberg.net, Ethan Bronner

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) pushed to take over the Bhima Koregaon violence probe last year, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in power in Maharashtra, but was satisfied with the progress made by the Pune Police, two senior officers told HT on Saturday, a day after the sudden transfer of the sensitive cases to the federal body sparked a political controversy.

The cases pertain to caste clashes that broke out in the village of Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtras Pune district on January 1, 2018 during the bicentennial celebrations of a British-era war by Dalits.

The police investigation blames a Maoist plot to destablise the state government and assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders, and nine prominent activists have been arrested.

Given the sensitivity of the case, in April 2019, NIA sent a proposal to the Centre to investigate the cases. The proposal was forwarded to the state government, which asked Pune Police to discuss the matter with the agency, said one of the officers quoted above.

That month, a team led by a joint commissioner-rank officer of Maharashtra Police reached NIA headquarters in Delhi and gave a detailed presentation to the agency sleuths, informing them about role of each activist, Maoists, nature of evidence both documentary and forensic, and details of charge sheets filed by then, the official said.

After hours of discussion, the NIA top brass was satisfied and even congratulated the police for collecting evidence which will stand the scrutiny in the court of law and secure the conviction, the second officer added. After this meeting, NIA did not push for taking over the probe. The Centre allowed Pune Police to continue with it.

But on Friday, the Union home ministry transferred the probe to the federal agency using its powers under section 6 (5) of the NIA Act, which allows the anti-terror body to take over probe in a scheduled offence suo motu.

Unlike 2019, the state government  which is now ruled by a three-party Opposition alliance led by the Shiv Sena  was not kept in the loop. Under the NIA Act, the Centre doesnt need to inform the state government to transfer cases to the agency, but legal experts differ over the stage and manner in which cases are transferred.

The NIA or the Union home ministry did not comment on the issue.

After the January 2018 violence, the then BJP-led government had backed the Pune Police probe that expanded to several cities, and a number of top leaders had commended the police for ferreting out urban naxals -- a reference to alleged overground Leftist extremists.

But a change in power in the state late last year dramatically altered the governments views on the probe.

Last November, the three-party Maharashtra Vikas Aghadai -- comprising the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress -- replaced the BJP-led government in Maharashtra. Soon after, some leaders from the Congress and NCP demanded a re-look at the Bhima Koregaon violence cases, saying the Pune Police had mishandled the probe.

The state government even announced a review of the less-serious cases, under which hundreds of people had been arrested in 2018, but steered clear of the high-profile cases involving alleged Maoist violence.

A few weeks ago, NCP chief Sharad Pawar asked the state governments home department to form an SIT (special investigation team) in the case to look at the probe. On Thursday, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and home minister Anil Deshmukh met senior police officials in Mumbai to review the cases.

A day later, the Union home ministry transferred the probe.

I think the government fears that it may be exposed. So the decision has been taken, said Sharad Pawar, chief of the Nationalist Congress Party, which is in coalition with the Congress and former BJP ally Shiv Sena.

Deshmukh criticised the Centre for not taking the state governments consent.

But former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis welcomed the Centres decision and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government was trying to mislead people. Attempts are being made to lower the morale of the police and put them under pressure. The decision to hand over the probe to NIA is appropriate, he said

During the April 2019 meeting, one of the key pieces of evidence shown to NIA by the Pune Police was a damaged hard disk recovered from the residence of Telegu poet and activist Varavara Rao, said the second official. NIA officials told Pune Police that the disk could be sent to a foreign laboratory like the one used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the US if the central agency took over.

Pune Police, the second officer said, told NIA that they would retrieve the data from the hard disk as they had already collected other technical data from other accused persons, and that their evidence was very strong. This convinced the NIA.

The controversy originated on New Years Day in 2018 on the banks of the Bhima river, where hundreds of thousands of people, many of them Dalits, had gathered to mark the anniversary of an 1818 victory of the British army, manned primarily by Dalit soldiers, over the Peshwa, the then rulers who instituted oppressive caste practises. A group of unidentified men on bikes attacked the visitors and pelted stones, killing one person and injuring 40.

Police investigation initially pointed at far-right Hindu groups but then concentrated on an event held in Pune on December 31, 2017 called the Elgar Parishad. Police said the event was funded by Maoists, and that provocative speeches made at the gathering triggered the clashes.

In June and August that year, police arrested nine prominent activists and raided the homes of many others in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities.

Police filed two charge sheets  first in November 2018 against several activists for their alleged Maoist links. A supplementary charge sheet was filed in February last year.

Those accused of helping Maoists include activists Sudha Bhardwaj, Varavara Rao, Arun Ferriera, Vernon Gonsalves, Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut and Sudhir Dhavale. Maoist leaders including Ganpathy, Kishan Da alias Prashant Bose and Prakash alias Rituparn Goswami were also named by Pune Police in the case.
White House counsel Pat Cipollone speaks during impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 25, 2020. (Senate Television via Getty Images)

Cipollone: Democrats Left Out Entire Discussion on Burden Sharing in Impeachment Trial

White House counsel Pat Cipollone charged that House impeachment managers left out the discussion on burden sharing from President Donald Trumps July 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Cipollone, opening the rebuttal for Trumps defense team after days of House Democrat presentations to the Senate, said that Democrats are asking you to do something very, very consequential, and I would submit to you  very, very dangerous.

Theyre asking you not only to overturn the results of the last election, but theyre asking you to remove President Trump from the ballot in an election thats occurring in approximately nine months. Theyre asking you to tear up all of the ballots across this country, on your own initiative, take that decision away from the American people, he said, referring to the presidential election slated for November.

Cipollone said the transcript of Trumps phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was the best evidence of what was said during the call, and he read from a transcript of a call.

They didnt tell you that burden sharing was discussed in the call. They didnt tell you that. Why? Let me read it to you, Cipollone said.

The president said, and they read this line, And I will say that we do a lot for Ukraine. We spend a lot of effort and a lot of time. But they stopped there. They didnt read the following: Much more than European countries are doing. They should be helping you more. Germany does almost nothing for you. Angela Merkel, she talks Ukraine, but she doesnt do anything. A lot of European countries are the same way so I think its something you want to look at,' Cipollone said, quoting Trump from the transcript.

They left out the entire discussion of burden sharing, he continued.

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speak during a meeting in New York on Sept. 25, 2019. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Now what does President Zelensky say? Does he disagree? No, he agrees. They didnt tell you this. Yes, you are absolutely right. Not only 100 percent but actually 1,000 percent. And I can tell you the following: I did talk to Angela Merkel and I did meet with her. I also met and talked with Macron and I told them that they are not doing quite as much as they need to be doing on the issues with the sanctions.'

Democrats leaving out the part on burden sharing was emblematic of their entire presentation, Cipollone said.

He said House impeachment managers had the burden of proof, adding, They have not come close to meeting it.

Cipollone said the impeachment effort was an attempt to interfere in the election.

Trump was impeached in December 2019 for abuse of office and obstruction of Congress. Democrats said the president tried to interfere in the 2020 election when he asked Ukraines president last year to look into corruption allegations surrounding former Vice President and leading Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

They also said Trump attempted to establish a quid pro quo by linking congressionally approved military aid that he put a hold on with the requested investigation. Officials from the United States and Ukraine have said Ukrainian leaders werent aware of the military aid at the time of the phone call, and the aid was released on or before schedule.

Trumps team defended the call on Saturday.

The call was in line with the Trump administrations legitimate concerns about corruption, Mike Purpura, a Trump lawyer, told lawmakers. There was no discussion of paused security assistance.

Trumps team took the floor after House Democrats spent three days making their case for removing Trump from office. A conviction, or removal from office, requires a supermajority vote in the 100-member body; an acquittal requires a simple majority.

In concluding remarks, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said facts surrounding Trumps alleged actions have been proved.

House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) speaks during the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 24, 2020. (Senate Television via AP)

Those facts are not contested. We have met our burden, he said.

Schiff also asked senators to consider calling witnesses, a point that both House and Senate Democrats have repeatedly made.

I implore yougive America a fair trial. Shes worth it, Schiff said.

Earlier in the day, House impeachment manager Jason Crow (D-Colo.) said that Ukraine had been extorted.

It doesnt matter if extortion last two weeks or two monthsits still extortion. And Ukraine certainly felt the pressure, he said.

The question for you is whether it is OK for the president to withhold taxpayer money, aid for our ally, our friend at war, for a personal political benefit, whether it is OK for the president to sacrifice our national security for his own election. Its not OK to me, its certainly not OK to the American people, and it should not be OK to any of you.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
A final year student of Business Administration in a private university located in Ondo State, Fisayo Adetoro, has been found guilty of impersonation, forgery and money laundering.

Mr Adetoro was, therefore, sentenced to 13 years in prison and also to pay N1 million as fine.

In a statement posted on the Twitter page of EFCC yesterday, Mr Adetoro, who was said to be a first class student, was convicted by Justice Folashade Olubanjo of the Federal High Court 1, Akure, in a criminal case filed against him by the EFCC, Ibadan zonal office.

Fisayo Adetoro

According to the statement, he was originally arraigned on January 18, 2017 on a six-count charge, but pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

READ ALSO:

The allegations include falsely representing himself to be Bawa Mohammed Sanni to defraud his victims of thousands of dollars.

He was also accused of using the fake name to register for a Nigerian drivers licence bearing his photograph, as well as laundering sums running to millions of naira.
Trumps decision to attend the rally in its 47th year was the culmination of a remarkable shift by a president who had called himself very pro-choice in a television interview two decades ago and who entered office amid some reservations among antiabortion activists. The president highlighted a list of actions he has taken over the past three years  including a ban on nongovernmental organizations from using federal money to offer abortion services abroad  that have earned him praise from movement leaders, who said he has done more than his Republican predecessors.
New Orleans residents took their frustration over the fact the bodies of two workers are still trapped inside the collapsed Hard Rock Hotel to the streets on Friday with calls for public hearings into the disaster  an idea that has already pitted the City Council against Mayor LaToya Cantrell.

More than 200 people marched from the site of the collapse at North Rampart and Canal streets to Duncan Plaza in front of City Hall, demanding answers from Cantrell's administration about the Oct. 12 incident that killed three workers and injured many others.

Protesters criticized Cantrell's dismissal of the council's call Thursday for public hearings and her scolding of social-media users in recent days for sharing a photo of the exposed remains of one of two workers whose bodies remain trapped in the wreckage.

"The situation, especially the language that the mayors office has used, is very condescending and dismissive of the concerns of citizens," said resident Bradley Warshauer.

As she worked the room Friday at a Washington Mardi Gras event, Cantrell doubled down on her position, telling a reporter that City Council hearings on the Hard Rock collapse would be "disrespectful, not so much to me, which it really is," but to "the process and even the families."

"I don't want to take our people through another little process where it doesn't lead to anything other than a show. Our people don't deserve that," said Cantrell, a former council member.

And she was blunt about the idea of council oversight of the situation.

Its not a city legislative issue," she said. "Were not doing a hearing on this.

The mayor's opposition, however, has not deterred the council, which has set a meeting for Wednesday at 3 p.m. to begin deciding how to move forward with hearings and a possible investigation.

"This is not about theater, or, as the mayor said, a show. This is a formal investigation to make sure that this never happens again in the city of New Orleans and to find out how it was even possible to occur in the city of New Orleans," Councilmember Jason Williams said. "In no way are we trying to step on the mayors toes; that is not our desire. But we have a job to do."

Crowds gathered next to the Hard Rock on Friday afternoon, waving signs calling for Cantrell's impeachment and for prosecution of the developers of the project.

They then marched the several blocks to City Hall chanting "Hard Rock, take your building down" before congregating in Duncan Plaza for speeches that called for improved safety for laborers in the city and for the return of a since-deported worker who had shared images of what he said were dangerously bowing supports at the construction site before the collapse.

The rally included an impromptu speech by David Doiron, who said he was a worker on the sixth floor of the site during the collapse and cried as he described how he only narrowly escaped.

The anger that spread from social media to Duncan Plaza was kindled earlier this week by photos showing the legs of one of the victims, Quinnyon Wimberly, clearly visible on the upper floors of the Hard Rock, where his body has been trapped since the disaster.

His body had been covered by a tarp, but many residents had been unaware of what was hidden beneath it.

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A new tarp to again cover the body was installed Wednesday.

Trey Monaghan, who organized the rally, said the macabre revelation served to catalyze frustrations over the many things still unknown about the collapse, the future of the site and who  if anyone  will be held responsible for the tragedy.

Residents feel that the administration has not been forthright, he said.

When you feel like youre lied to, your next step is to jump to conclusions that there are other shady things happening, said Monaghan, who was one of several protesters wearing a piece of tarp as an armband during the rally.

The furor over the city's inability to remove the remains from the site and get the building demolished has reignited divisions between Cantrell and the council, which has shown a new willingness to step into what some residents perceive as a lack of leadership on the Hard Rock issue.

Five council members have said they support some sort of hearing on the disaster, something they can do regardless of Cantrell's resistance. The form those hearings will take has yet to be determined.

Councilmember Jay H. Banks, a reliable Cantrell ally, is one of the two who have not publicly supported hearings. But he said he would not stand in their way.

"I dont feel like the administration has been hiding anything," Banks said. "I'm not a part of a big conspiracy theory that there is something untoward going on."

The public's unhappiness has been driven, in part, by the lack of criminal consequences for any of the developers.

Protesters decried the fact that lead developer Mohan Kailas and the others responsible for the project have not faced any charges over the collapse. But if there is a criminal investigation into the matter, it likely will come only after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issues a report on the collapse in April.

New Orleans police do not have the engineering expertise to determine what went wrong with the site or who is at fault, Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said in an interview Friday. However, he said the NOPD will "be at the table" if any prosecutors seek to bring charges.

"The OSHA investigations completion is the starting point, he said.

Ferguson said the collapse was like nothing he had handled in his 22 years in law enforcement and that the department is in uncharted waters.

To see a structure collapse like this, while individuals are in it, Ive never seen it, Ferguson said. Im not really sure how it will play out.

Staff writer Ramon Antonio Vargas contributed to this report.
Pakistan is trying to revive terrorism in Chenab valley, Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Dilbag Singh said on Saturday, stressing upon his men to make strenuous efforts to make the region militancy-free once again.

"This (Chenab valley) region was once a hot-bed of terrorism before it was completely cleared some time back but over time due to the continuous efforts by Pakistan agencies, some nine terrorists became active in the twin districts of Kishwar and Doda," Singh told reporters during his visit to Doda district on the eve of Republic Day.

He said Pakistan is trying to revive terrorism in Chenab valley but the joint efforts of police and Central Armed Police forces, the terrorist networks have been smashed and overground workers and their support systems have also been busted.

"Of the nine active terrorists, four were killed and two others were arrested (in the last five months). Three are still active in Kishtwar and another, hailing from Kashmir, is operating in Doda to disturb peace," he said.

Accompanied by Inspector General of Police, Jammu, Mukesh Singh, the police chief took stock of the security and law and order situation in the district and held a meeting with officers and jawans at district police lines.

The DGP, who also visited Batote and interacted with General Officer Commanding of Army's Delta Force, Major General Ravi Murugan, complimented the Doda Police personnel for remaining calm during tough times and handling any situation professionally, especially after the abrogation of Article 370.

Appreciating the police for their "excellent work" to tackle militancy in the region, the DGP said it was very difficult to serve in the district due to its tough terrain.

He also lauded the police personnel for eliminating terrorists by carrying out well planned and successful operations and stressed upon them to take care of the district so that militancy does not revive there.

"We need to make strenuous efforts to wipe out the residual militancy from the district and make it militancy free once again," the officer said.

The DGP also laid emphasis on launching a special drive to detain drug peddlers under the Public Safety Act to ensure a drug-free society.

"People's cooperation in handling drug menace is important," he said and directed the officers to hold police-public meetings.

"Any individual involved or associated with anti national activities or drug peddling should be strictly dealt with," he said.

During his meeting with Maj Gen Murugan at Batote, the DGP had a threadbare discussion on the prevailing security scenario with the GOC, a police spokesperson said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Josee Saulnier arrived in Halifax on Jan. 17 with a few of her classmates, ready to celebrate two big life milestones.

The tourism management student was turning 20, and is a few months away from graduating. She wanted one big night out before the next chapter of her life began, and she had travelled to the big city from the small town where she was studying to have a memorable evening with her friends.

Instead, Saulnier ended up in the hospital in the early hours of Jan. 18, her muscles numbed and vision blurred by a mystery drug she believes was slipped into her drink.

After only a few drinks, Saulnier said, she suddenly started throwing up. Her friends called a cab to take them back to their Airbnb. When they arrived, Saulnier said they noticed she had lost control of her body, and decided to call 911. An ambulance took her to the hospital.

Thank God my friends were with me, she said.

Saulnier went back to the Airbnb the morning of Jan. 18, but returned to the hospital when her symptoms didnt improve. During her recovery, she filed a police report. She also shared videos of herself on Facebook struggling to walk. In a video posted Jan. 19, she is holding onto the couch for support as she struggles to move her legs.

Saulnier said she shared the videos because she wanted to raise awareness about what happened to her, and to fight the feeling of shame many victims of drugging and/or sexual assault often feel after the fact.

Its difficult to know how many people across Canada are covertly drugged, but medical experts say cases like Saulniers are probably more common than reported. Many never report the incident, or if they do, nothing comes of it. This is because doctors say so-called date-rape drugs are difficult to detect and may not show up on hospital tests.

Saulnier said the number of people who reached out after the videos went viral showed her shed done the right thing.

Despite three hospital visits and after effects that lasted for almost a week, she still doesnt know what she was drugged with. During her first hospital visit in Halifax, Saulnier said she wasnt tested for date-rape substances.

They said that theres so many drugs out there ... where do they start? she said.

Yet she said hospital staff told her that a woman had been drugged at the same establishment just a week earlier.

This isnt something thats uncommon, Saulnier said, adding she thinks incidents of drugging  whether or not they end in sexual assault  should be better tracked.

Shes not the first person to raise the point.

They need to be believed

In November 2018, the Nova Scotia Chiefs of Police Association said it would make drink tampering a priority issue, after several cases of suspected drugging were reported in downtown Halifax.

A Freedom-of-information request by The Canadian Press revealed that Halifax police dont track cases of drink tampering. A police spokesperson said more victims need to report these incidents so they can be tracked.

Dr. Mark Yarema, a toxicology expert with Alberta Health Services, said that even if victims do get tested at the hospital, results often arent conclusive. He said theres very little data available on the prevalence of drink spiking for multiple reasons.

First, the most well-known of these so-called date-rape drugs, rohypnol (roofies) and gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), disappear from the system in a matter of hours, which he said makes them hard to detect in a urine test. They also have an amnesiac effect, meaning victims often black out entirely and cant remember what happened.

Rohypnol is illegal in Canada, but GHB is available as a prescription medication used to treat sleep disorders. The effects of these drugs are amplified when mixed with alcohol, Yarema said, making the victim sleepy and appear to be much more drunk than might be consistent with the number of drinks theyve had.

Besides these two drugs, Yarema said theres a wide array of substances used in drink spiking cases, including common prescriptions such as Ritalin or various antidepressants that, when combined with alcohol, have effects similar to roofies or GHB.

Perhaps the most common such drug is alcohol itself, he said.

The bottom line is to render (the victim) less capable of making proper decisions, regardless of the substance used.

In 2017, three Australian researchers published a systematic review of available research on drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) in an effort to determine the prevalence of it and of drink-spiking.

They only found eight studies, one of which was done in Canada, that fit the bill. The researchers concluded that alcohol is the most common substance detected in suspected cases of DFSA, but that stronger policies need to be in place to encourage early responders to collect more information about suspected cases of drink-spiking.

According to Yarema its highly likely that the actual numbers are higher than whats reported in the studies.

And he said theres a third challenge when it comes to knowing just how often people like Saulnier are covertly drugged. Despite slowly changing attitudes, the feeling of shame after being drugged  especially when sexual assault is a factor  means many victims never report the incidents.

First of all, it was never OK, Yarema said. But certainly in the era of Me Too and Times Up movements, I think its even more appropriate for us to  believe them. They need to be believed and they need to be supported.

It doesnt matter what youre wearing

That feeling of shame is a familiar one for Angela Petta, a real estate agent in Toronto.

In November 2001, when she was just 21, Pettas drink was spiked during a night of dancing at a now-closed bar in the citys Gay Village.

She often went there because she felt safer than at other bars. It was a place that I always felt like I could drop the guard a little bit.

Until last year, she didnt feel comfortable telling anyone other than close friends and family, but she remembers the details of the night very clearly  right up until the drugs hit.

Petta and two friends were dancing in the clubs VIP section, when she briefly left her drink with a friend. When she returned, her friend had left, but her drink looked the same as when shed left it.

I took a couple of sips and I dont remember anything else, she said.

Her next memory was of waking up hunched over the dirty toilets in the basement bathroom. Her friend was sticking her fingers down her throat. Pettas friends told her they had returned to the booth to find her passed out on the seat with a red-headed man leaning over her.

They got her outside, where Petta vomited and passed out again. The next thing she knew, she was in the hospital, where tests determined shed been given a near-lethal dose of rohypnol.

Petta didnt call the bar or try to file a police report, and though she returned to her old haunt, she never drank there again.

For years, Petta said she felt ashamed of that night. Now, almost two decades later, she knows better.

It doesnt matter what youre wearing. It doesnt matter where youre dancing or how youre dancing or how much youre drinking. If anybody crosses the line and breaks a law, that is not on the victim, she said.

With files from The Canadian Press

Read more about:
Michael Sanchez (above) is Lauren Sanchez's brother. Prosecutors have evidence that he obtained her text messages

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have evidence that the brother of Jeff Bezos' girlfriend provided his intimate text messages to her sibling, who sold them to the National Enquirer, according to a new report.

Prosecutors have obtained documents including a May 10, 2018 text message sent from the phone of Bezos' girlfriend Lauren Sanchez to her brother Michael Sanchez, containing her intimates texts with Bezos, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Journal said it had reviewed the text messages as well as a $200,000 payment Michael Sanchez received from the Enquirer under an October 2018 contract.

Prosecutors obtained the documents in an ongoing investigation into Bezos' allegation that the Enquirer tried to extort him by threatening to publish his nude pictures, as well as whether his phone was hacked. Bezos himself has long pushed the suggestion that Saudi Arabia was involved as the Enquirer's source.

The latest revelation comes after a report by Bezos' investigators, endorsed by U.N. officials, indicated that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia had sent malicious code in a WhatsApp message that compromised the cell phone of Bezos, the CEO of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post.

Prosecutors have obtained documents including a May 10, 2018 text message sent from the phone of Bezos' girlfriend Lauren Sanchez to her brother Michael Sanchez, containing her intimates texts with Bezos

Saudi Arabia denies hacking Bezos' phone. The Enquirer claims that Michael Sanchez was their source for the bombshell story that revealed Bezos' affair, while Michael Sanchez denies he had anything to do with it.

Part of the Bezos' leaked text messages that were published in the Enquirer are seen

'In September of 2018, Michael Sanchez began providing all materials and information to our reporters,' a spokesman for American Media told the Journal.

The spokesman said that any suggestion that a third party, such as Saudi Arabia, 'was involved in or in any way influenced our reporting is false.'

Michael Sanchez told the Journal in an emailed statement: 'With spoon-fed lies and half-truths, Wall Street Journal keeps getting it wrong.'

In January 2019, the Enquirer exposed Bezos' extramarital affair with Lauren Sanchez. The same week he abruptly announced a separation from his wife of 26 years, and has been romantically linked with Lauren Sanchez ever since.

Included in the tabloid's expose was a quote from the Bezos text message that the Journal says Lauren Sanchez had sent to her brother in May 2018.

Another text message sent from Lauren Sanchez's phone to her brother's on July 3, 2018 includes a photo of a shirtless Bezos, according to the Journal.

The Enquirer broke the story of Bezos' affair and quoted from his dirty texts with Sanchez

The same week the Enquirer published his intimate text messages and exposed the affair, Bezos announce a separation from his wife of 26 years, MacKenzie (above)

After his affair exposed by the Enquirer, Bezos and his investigator, Gavin de Becker, began to push the suggestion that Saudi Arabia may have played a role in obtaining Bezos' private messages.

Bezos texts published by National Enquirer 'I love you, alive girl. I will show you with my body, and my lips and my eyes, very soon.' 'I want to smell you, I want to breathe you in. I want to hold you tight. I want to kiss your lips. I love you. I am in love with you.' 'I miss you. I want to kiss you right now and tuck you in slowly and gently. And maybe in the morning wake you up and not be quite so gentle with you.' 'Your energy and ideas and competence and SPIRIT turn me on. You make me better. You're meant for me.' 'I am so full of love for you. My heart is growing just so it can have room for you. It's bigger than it's ever been and still swelling.' 'I want to hold you tight. I want to kiss your lips. I love you. I am in love with you.' 'You know what I want? I want to get a little drunk with you tonight. Not falling down. Just a little drunk. I want to talk to you and plan with you. Listen and laugh  I basically WANT TO BE WITH YOU!!! Then I want to fall asleep with you and wake up tomorrow and read the paper with you and have coffee with you Advertisement

At the time, just months had passed since the October 2018 death of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of a Saudi death squad, a scandal that the newspaper covered aggressively to the embarrassment of the crown prince.

Bezos suggested in a February 2019 blog Post that the Enquire was so terrified that the Post would expose their alleged ties to Saudi Arabia, that an executive at Enquirer parent company AMI threatened to publish his 'below the belt selfie'.

De Becker, in a March 2019 column for the Daily Beast, wrote that: 'Our investigators and several experts concluded with high confidence that the Saudis had access to Bezos' phone, and gained private information.'

On the other hand, Wall Street Journal reporters have long pursued the theory that Michael Sanchez was the Enquirer's paid source for information about Bezos' affair.

On Friday, Journal editorial board member Holman W. Jenkins Jr wrote in a column that the alleged Saudi connection is a 'conspiracy theory' likely intended to distract from the affair itself, and cast Bezos in heroic light.

'More newsworthy than Mr. Bezos's affair would be the news that it was exposed by an unfriendly foreign intelligence agency,' Jenkins wrote.

He said that the digital forensic report on Bezos' phone recently endorsed by U.N. officials offers little of substance to back up his claims of a Saudi connection.

'Not only does the report by [Bezos' investigators] FTI Consulting not link the Saudis to the leak of Mr. Bezos's photos and text messages, but its evidence that the Saudis hacked Mr. Bezos's phone at all is circumstantial and underwhelming,' Jenkins wrote.

Michael Sanchez, Lauren Sanchez and their mother Eleanor Sanchez visit the Amazon Spheres in this photo posted by Michael on June 21, 2018

Michael Sanchez, a Hollywood agent, has previously claimed that Bezos approached him to help handle press relations amid fears that the affair would go public.

The Journal reports that the October 2018 contract between Michael Sanchez and AMI gave the company exclusive rights to 'certain information, photographs, and text messages documenting an affair between Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez.'

Bezos' allegation of extortion is predicated on an email he claims he received from AMI executive Dylan Howard in February 2019.

According to Bezos, the letter read: 'with The Washington Post poised to publish unsubstantiated rumors of The National Enquirer's initial report, I wanted to describe to you the photos obtained during our newsgathering.'

The email goes on to describe a number of lewd photos of Bezos and Lauren Sanchez that are in the tabloid's possession.

AMI is currently under a plea deal with federal prosecutors that exempts the company from prosecution over a payment it made to keep a former Playboy Playmate quiet about an alleged affair with Donald Trump  but only if the company does not break the law in other matters.

Federal prosecutors have not yet charged anyone in connection with Bezos' leaked text messages, or his subsequent dispute with AMI.
The first picture of the three children who were found dead in their family home in Dublin has been released.

The bodies of Conor, nine, Darragh, seven, and Carla McGinley, three, were found in a house in Newcastle, South Dublin.

A chilling note reading 'call 999, don't go upstairs' was found on the door.

The first picture of the three children who were found dead in their family home in Dublin has been released. Pictured: Conor, nine, Darragh, seven, and Carla McGinley, three, with their father Andrew

Three young children were found dead in their family home in Dublin as a chilling note reading 'call 999, don't go upstairs' was found taped to the door. Pictured: Police at the scene

Police are investigating whether the two boys and one girl could have suffocated at their home in Newcastle, South Dublin. Pictured: An ambulance outside the house

Officers were called to the house after a woman in her 40s was found 'wandering the streets' in a distressed state at around 7pm. Pictured: Police at the scene today

A woman in her 40s - a relative of the children - was found 'wandering the streets' in a 'disoriented state' by a tax driver at around 7pm.

She was taken to Tallaght hospital where she is being treated.

Police were looking into whether the children were drugged or poisoned but are now investigating the possibility that they were suffocated, The Sun reports.

The woman intimated to local people that something 'was wrong' at her family home. Pictured: Tributes at the scene

Gardai found her on the street near her house. Pictured: An ambulance at the scene today

There was no sign of a break-in at the house, sources said. Pictured: Police at the scene

The mother-of-three was taken to Tallaght hospital for treatment. Pictured: Police at the scene last night

There was no sign of a break-in at the house, sources said.

Security insiders stressed last night that the investigation into the tragic events was at a very 'early stage'.

The estate where the young family lived, Parson's Court, is made up of both houses and apartments.

Postmortem examinations will be carried out this afternoon.

Security insiders stressed last night that the investigation into the tragic events was at a very 'early stage'. Pictured: Tributes at the scene

A Garda spokesperson said: 'At approximately 7.45pm Friday 24 January 2020 Gardai responded to a call at Parson's Court, Newcastle, County Dublin.

'Ambulance personnel and responding Gardai discovered the bodies of three children in the house: Brothers and sister Conor (nine), Darragh (seven) and Carla (three) McGinley.

'A female relative, aged in her 40's, was found at the scene and is currently receiving medical attention in Tallaght Hospital.

'The scene is currently being examined by members of the Garda Technical Bureau. Assistant State Pathologist Margot Bolster has attended the scene.

'The bodies of the three children have been removed to the City Morgue, where a post mortem examination will take place later today.

'The results of the post mortem will determine the cause of death of the three children. A family liaison officer has been appointed and is in contact with the father and the extended family.'

The Garda Technical Bureau has also been alerted and a detailed forensic examination in the area was being carried out. Pictured: Police at the scene

Councillor for the area Emer Higgins described the events as an 'unimaginable tragedy'.

'My thoughts are with everybody impacted,' said the Fine Gael representative.

'This is a really tight-knit community, it's a small area, it's a quiet area, and it's just unthinkable that something like this could be happening on our doorstep.

'It's so tragic. It's unbelievable that three young people's lives could be cut short like that, in what seems to be a particularly tragic case.'
This year, the judges of the BookLife Prizesuccessful authors, the editorial staffs of Publishers Weekly and BookLife, and PW reviewerslooked at 730 submissions before selecting just five titles (one from each of the contests categories) for the finals. The finalist from the general fiction category, Exit 8, was ultimately selected as the grand prize winner. Exit 8 centers on a Vermont farmer in 1963 who faces the loss of his familys land and legacy as a result of the expansion of the highway system.

A PW reviewers critics report for Exit 8 praised the novel, saying that emotion permeates this quiet, yet deeply impactful, work of fiction. And author and BookLife Prize judge Adam Pelzman called Exit 8 a poignant and beautifully written novel, a heart-wrenching story of one mans voiceless, yet dignified, battle against the advances of modern society.

Though Exit 8 certainly establishes Braggs credentials as a writer, he has always been hesitant to embrace the title. When I hear writers talking about how, even as children, theyve wanted to write, how they knew they would be writers, I wonder how I came to write, he says. I dont think of myself as a writer with a capital W. I like the work. I have always found great pleasure in making things, and writing, for me, is making something.

Bragg, who lives in Maine and has worked as a carpenter and in outdoors industries, is an avid mountain climber. Such a highly physical, tactile, perilous hobby might seem to be the polar opposite of the cerebral art of writing. Bragg nevertheless sees some overlap between his two passions. I can see that there is some similarity in the willingness to devote energy and time to something without any certainty of success or surety that it will matter, he says. You plan out a route on a mountain knowing that you could get halfway up and it wont go.

Writing, meanwhile, promises nothing beyond arduous effort and, perhaps, catharsis, Bragg says. You spend years on a project with no assurance that anyone will ever read itand, even if they do, will they get what you were trying to say? For me, its the work, the effort, not the finished thing, that matters.

That said, one aspect of self-publishing that Bragg particularly appreciates is the freedom to make choices about what the book will look like. I designed and typeset both of my novels, and producing the actual physical object of the book has been almost as rewarding as creating the text itself, he notes.

Braggs process is a bit piecemeal. He writes in fragments and rarely starts at the beginning. I dont plot things out, and the few times Ive tried to outline the book ahead of time, I ended up off on a sidetrack and went back to creating the pieces, he says. Maybe its my work as a carpenter, where you build a porch, a deck, a house one piece at a time.

Exit 8 is a decidedly quiet novel, both in terms of its focus and its tone. The quality of stillness that Bragg achieves was by design, he says, but he sometimes wonders how he managed to capture it: At some point, I decided I wanted to tell the story with as few words as possiblecant remember exactly when or why. The voice, the language, the characters, the story, and the pervasive sense of quiet all evolved naturally after that. Sometimes, when I read from Exit 8, I wonder who wrote it and where that sense of stillness and quiet came from, because my life is anything but.

Though Bragg doesnt always know the beginning or ending of his novels when he starts writing, he tends to locate the settings for his stories quickly. Both of his books initially came to him via single images. For his mystery novel, The Broom of God, it was a gaucho on a horse high above a vast Patagonian lake. For Exit 8, Bragg saw a farmer, an older man, standing in a hayfield looking south down the Connecticut River Valley.

Bragg says he believes that the time he spends outdoors allows him to be particularly attuned to his surroundings: Place is very important to me, but its more than a place. Its place in the sense of everything around me. How I look at and see whats there is, I think, a large part of who I am. In the same way, what my characters see, and how they see it, what they notice and what they dont, is a big part of who they are.

With two books written and his BookLife Prize win, Bragg is in a prime position to draw the attention of agents and publishers, but hes not champing at the bit: I would be thrilled to have a publisher who believed in me, who believed in my desire to build a career as a writer of novels. Its difficult to gain widespread distribution when one publishes independently, but at least some folks have read Exit 8 and been touched by it. Do I wish more have read it and will read it? Of course, but if I had insisted on finding a mainstream publisher, the manuscript for Exit 8 would still be in the proverbial drawer.

Bragg is currently working on a third book, which, as with his other novels, begins with an image. I saw a man returning for the funeral of his great-aunt to the small, dark New England village where he spent his youth, he says. Hes still finding his way with that story, but, like a climber reaching blindly to take hold of the rock face above, Bragg doesnt mind that the path forward is uncertain; its the work to get there that counts.
Actress Whoopi Goldberg accepted an invitation to reprise her "Star Trek: The Next Generation" role as Guinan on "Star Trek: Picard"  while on camera, in front of a live studio audience.

Goldberg received the surprise offer to return to "Star Trek" Wednesday (Jan. 22) from Patrick Stewart, who is returning to his iconic role as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in the new CBS All Access series "Picard," during an appearance on "The View," on which Goldberg is a co-host.

"I'm here with a formal invitation. It's for you," Stewart said during his appearance on the television show.

"For me?" Goldberg responded.

"Alex Kurtzman, who is the senior executive producer of 'Star Trek: Picard', and all of his colleagues  of which I am one  want to invite you into the second season," said Picard, who not only stars in the new series but is also one of the show's executive producers.

Video: Patrick Stewart and Isa Briones Talk Trek with Space.com!

Related: What 'Star Trek' to watch before 'Star Trek: Picard'

Shouting, "yes, yes!" Goldberg stood up from her chair and embraced Stewart in a long hug while viewers in the nearby seats rose to their feet, cheering and clapping. Stewart raised both his hands over his head and clasped them, shaking them jubilantly in celebration, before returning to his seat to resume the interview.

After calming down a little, Goldberg expressed how honored she was by the offer, saying that "Star Trek: TNG" was a "great experience" and "the best, best, best time. The best time ever."

"I'm glad to hear that," Stewart responded. "Well, it was wonderful having you, and we cannot wait to have you with us again, one more time."

Related: Picard's 15 most memorable 'Star Trek: TNG' outfits

Actor Sir Patrick Stewart officially invited Whoopi Goldberg to reprise her Guinan role from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" on season two of "Star Trek: Picard" on CBS All Access. (Image credit: CBS)

The group bantered back and forth about what it was like for Stewart to come back to the role, 18 years after last playing Picard in "Star Trek: Nemesis" (2002). "It's easy," Stewart quipped. "Jean-Luc Picard has aged 18 years, fictionally. Patrick Stewart has aged 18 years, actually. Yeah. I don't have to work on it, because it's just me. Who I am now."

He added that, with the new series, he wanted to show that the world in "Star Trek" had changed considerably in two decades, because that is something he has experienced personally. "We are no longer living in the same kind of society we lived in 18 years ago," Stewart said, but added that it should be no surprise to "The View," because "you talk about this every morning."

When the co-hosts asked how Guinan might have changed in 18 years, Stewart pointed out that her sense of time passing may be a little different as the character is hundreds of years old. Guinan comes from an alien species known as the El-Aurian, whose members were separated from each other in violent encounters with another alien species, the Borg.

Goldberg is a lifelong fan of "Star Trek." The fan website Memory Alpha says that when she was a girl, Goldberg saw an episode of "Star Trek: The Original Series" (which aired between 1966 and 1969) and was inspired by Nichelle Nichols, an African-American woman who played bridge officer Nyota Uhura. Goldberg reportedly ran to her mother, shouting, "There's a black lady on TV, and she ain't no maid!"

Goldberg made her first appearance in "Star Trek: TNG" in the second-season episode "The Child," portraying a bartender who ran the Ten Forward lounge on the starship USS Enterprise-D. Guinan appeared periodically throughout the rest of the series, which ran from 1987 to 1994, and also in two subsequent "Star Trek" movies.

While speaking with Stewart, Goldberg said she had heard Guinan was the last character that "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry made before he died, and Stewart confirmed this. "I would say the true lasting character," he added, "that we saw again and again and again."

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook .
Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - The Water Development and Sanitation Department of the African Development Bank (AfDB) will hold the 3rd Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative Forum, hosted by the Rwandan Government from 24 to 26 March 2020
Yver here. Lots of meaty topics this time at the TaxCast.like whether Brexit will usher in a buccaneer tax/finance regime, is depression just around the corner, and the looting of Angola.

By Naomi Fowler. Originally published at Tax Justice Network

The Taxcast kicks off the new decade with:

the French strikes  tax justice and pensions vs financialisation

the EU countries whove missed the deadline on publishing registers of real corporate owners

the effect of Brexit on poorer (aka plundered) countries

And the IMFs stark warnings about the finance curse and another Great Depression

Featuring:

If the situation collapses in Europe then I dont think the tax havens, secrecy havens and the US will be in any rush to try and repair the situation. ~ Simon Bowers of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on the failure of some EU States to meet the 10th January 2020 deadline on publishing registers of the real owners of companies

We are in the longest struggle, social conflict in France. Imagine its something that is longer than what happened in 1968. What we are afraid of is that its a strategy to weaken our system. In France, the social security, all the money in the system of social security is more important than the state budget of France  imagine what some people of the financial place would like to do with that money. ~ Pascal Debay of the CGT Union Confederation Generale du Travail on the French strikes

Its really a question that arises now in France how all those governments and presidents that we have are not chasing tax avoiders, the big multinationals. The big multinationals, people know them and when they find out that those multinationals pay virtually no taxes in France they think its appalling. Whether its public schools, public health, public infrastructures, the justice system, and pensions, Macron could fund them with a proper tax justice policy. ~ Marie Antonelle Joubert of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice on the French strikes

Im afraid with the massive victory they got on Brexit, they are emboldened to be the capital of international secrecy. And Im afraid they will make things worse for the rest of the world without benefiting the UK economy. ~ Dereje Alemayehu of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice on the City of London finance sector and British government policy post-Brexit

Theres ample evidence that inequality harms the economyinequality is now actually threatening to topple the whole thing and turn the whole thing over. ~ John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network on the head of the IMFs warnings on another Great Depression

Naomi: Hello and welcome to the Taxcast, from the Tax Justice Network. And welcome not only to a new year, but to a new decade. Im Naomi Fowler. Coming up later, we took journalists on a walk around the City of London to warn them about Britains acceleration towards a low tax, weak regulation rogue State when it leaves the European Union, which its due to do at the end of this month on 31stJanuary 2020:

Clip: Im afraid with the massive victory they got on Brexit, they are emboldened to be the Capital of international secrecy. And Im afraid they will make things worse for the rest of the world without benefiting the UK economy.

Naomi: More on that later. But the European Union has some work to do if its really serious about making sure member states comply with anti-money laundering rules on setting up public registers of the real owners of companies. Simon Bowers of the Intl Consortium of Investigative Journalists discovered that some countries have missed this months deadline to publish their registers, which they were supposed to do under the 5thanti-money laundering directive, tell us about that Simon:

Simon: Yeah. So this deadline looked pretty exciting to us. This was supposed to be the end of corporate secrecy in Europe. There would be no more anonymous companies for tax evaders and terrorist financiers to hide behind, every company would have to declare shareholders up to a certain threshold. And then the deadline came and passed and really without a murmur not from Brussels, from the commission or from pretty much any member state. These were all sort of political leaders who were slapping each other on the back about the urgent measures theyd taken to introduce these registers of corporate ownership only a few years back and now they were nowhere to be seen. So we tried to look around. We found a few, obviously the UK has had some disclosures on beneficial ownership of companies for a number of years  I mean, you might say its not verified and is poor quality, but that there has been some transparency of sorts there for a while. Luxembourg came online with a registry fairly recently. There is a registry in Germany thats just gone up and in Ireland but you have to pay for the Irish one. Other than that, theres not really much out there. So in a way, perhaps the confusion about where these registers are in each member state, and why we can find some and we cant find others no one seems to be particularly forthcoming about why theres been a delay. And part of the problem is that these registers have been set up individually by member states according to their own interpretations of the European directive rather than in conformity to a European regulation. The difference between a regulation and a directive in the EU is that a regulation is something everyone has to do and its the same. A directive is something that is open to a good deal of interpretation. Thats why youve got Ireland demanding a fee every time you search the registry there, youve got Germany taking a different route, youve got the UK taking another route. Theyre all in theory complying with the EU directive, but in their own distinct way. And obviously when it comes to providing an opportunity for public scrutiny thats supposed to enhance the integrity of the system and help prevent misuse of companies, this isnt particularly helpful.

Naomi: Not helpful indeed! What would you like to see happen that would convince you that the EUs serious about its member states tackling tax dodging and financial crime  and avoiding more Panama Papers, Paradise Papers-type scandals?

Simon: Well one of the things that would help, were talking about the fifth anti money laundering directive right now, but a good signal, a good start from the EU would be for all member States to get up to speed and transpose into law the fourthanti money laundering directive, which they still havent done yet, I think theres something like 22 of 28 member States who are still dragging their feet on that one, the deadline for that one was I think sometime in 2017. So, whilst the politicians in Brussels are already talking about the sixthanti money laundering directive we could do with some progress on existing directives if the whole process of the fight against money laundering is to retain some credibility in Europe. I mean, I dont want to sound too negative I mean Europe has been really setting the agenda on the topic of beneficial ownership and transparency on that topic and really there are others watching closely, particularly a lot of the tax havens, the crown dependencies and overseas territories linked to the UK, several of those have insisted that theyll watch closely what Europe does, and may feel however reluctantly that they will follow suit at some stage. And of course the US will be watching closely and there are noises about a movement on beneficial ownership from a policy perspective in the US which obviously would be amazing, but if the situation collapses in Europe then I dont think the tax havens, secrecy havens and the US will be in any rush to try and repair the situation.

Naomi: Thanks Simon. Simon Bowers of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. And the consortium has another big story out this month  Luanda Leaks  the scandal of how the daughter of the former Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santosbecame a billionaire. She denies looting the country. But leaked documents show how her vast business empire came about, her fathers presidential decrees from which she benefited, and the network of offshore companies she used, more than 400 shell companies and other structures. Angola is rich in oil, but thats been of little to no benefit to most Angolans  thats typical for a country suffering from the resource curse. These leaks showing mega-wealth extraction by the former presidents daughter reveal how it was facilitated by armies of accountancy and law firms in financial centres like Dubai and the US. Bear in mind that Angolans have a life expectancy of about 60 (compared to nearly 82 in Portugal), and 44% of Angolans dont have access even to drinking water. Average incomes are about $5,555 a year.

Theres been movement on the proposed digital tax which various countries were proposing to levy on big tech, the Googles and Amazons of the world. President Macron of France has retreated on implementing a 3% tax France was due to impose after threats of retaliation from the US  since the worlds big tax dodging tech companies are pretty much US monopolies. Frances tax would have raised an estimated $563 million a year. The UKs Finance Minister sayshe willgo ahead with its planned tax, despite being weakened by needing to negotiate a post-Brexit trade deal with the US. Well see about that. The Czech governmentwas also planning to introduce a 7% digital tax. It remains to be seen whether theyll go ahead with that. All of this because the OECD and the EU have so far failed to address the issue. Will they step up now? Lets see.

There are two climate crisis developments to tell you about this month, bad news and then some good news: the British government is bailing out Flybe airline (owned by among others the very wealthy tax dodging billionaire Richard Branson). Theyve granted them an enormous tax holiday worth up to 100 million. Meanwhile Germany is putting a similar amount of money, not into planes but into a big push for train travel to replace plane travel, theyre overhauling and updating their railways. And, in Spain theyve demonstrated what political will can do  they thought itd take a decade to do it but theyve taken just one year to stop using coal in popwer plants to generate electricity. Spain also stopped coal mining in 2019 after they finished subsidising their national cola mines  partly due to European Union regulations and partly because their national coal deposits werent making any money any more.So, it canbe done. And quickly. Time to speak to John Christensen now of the Tax Justice Network for his take on this month:

Naomi: OK John, at the Tax Justice Network you and Nick Shaxson were the first to some up with the phrase the finance curse to explain the harms done by finance sectors that are too big relative to the economies theyre operating in. How they lead to a lack of economic diversification, more inequality and a very unhealthy race to the bottom between nations on tax and regulations. The IMF, the World Bank and others have since recognised this phenomenon. And this month weve seen interesting developments from the IMF, of all places. They put out a new report calling for the shrinking of oversized finance centres. But lets look first at what the head of IMF said when she was introducing this report, Kristalina Georgieva. She warned about the staggering rise in inequality levels globally. But she did it in very stark terms, unusually stark I thought. She said that rising inequality is now reminiscent of the early part of the 20thcentury  when the twin forces of technology and integration led to the first Gilded Age, the Roaring Twenties, and, ultimately, financial disaster and the Great Depression. Wow!

John:Yeah. Wow. And a great speech and the speech has a context of course, because IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva was speaking just ahead of the world economic forum at Davos. I think this speech is a clear warning shot aimed at the world leaders meeting at Davos about their complacency. Now every year world, leaders meet at Davos and they discuss the big issues  inequality last year, climate crisis this year. But the whole thing is a charade and nothing of any real substance comes forward in the way of policy reform. So its just chat, chat. Remember the highlight of last years forum was the Dutch historian Rutger Bregman saying the answer to rising inequality and the trend towards plutocracy was taxes, taxes, taxes. You might remember that  he wasnt invited back this year. So IMF chief Georgieva said this coming decade, far from being one of milk and honey. Shes warns that theres great uncertainty building up and the point she was making is that technology change, the rise of the internet and so on, plus mounting debt, also debt, corporate debt, these things are fueling inequality which in turn is fueling populism and fueling political extremism. Now in many respects, this situation mirrors the roaring twenties she was referring to this was the roaring twenties of last century when governments allowed the banks and financial markets to run wild and that led to a major market crash in 1929 which in turn collapsed wages and employment in the real economy. Some economies like Germany collapsed entirely and that in turn led to the rise of fascism, not just in Europe but also in North America. And Georgieva was really careful I think in her speech to describe how inequality harms both the economy and democracy and she was also very careful in drawing attention to the role of the finance sector in causing these harms. So Ill quote what she said too often we overlook the financial system, which can also have a profound and long lasting, positive or negative effect on inequality. Now its that negative effect which we identify as the finance curse, when too large a finance sector starts to drain wealth away from the real economy, and its good to have the head of the IMF drawing attention to this. Weve been drawing attention to it for many years, but its good that this is now reaching the mainstream.

Naomi: So, this new IMF report warns countries shouldnt allow their financial sectors to grow too big and that regulatory policies have a crucial role to play in reining in excessive growth of the financial sector.

John: Well, thats exactly right. When politicians allow the financial services sector, especially banks to grow too large, I should also mention especially banks and shadow banks, when they allow them to grow due to large and to issue too much debt into the real economy, the effects become harmful. When the banking sector came close to collapsing in 2008, 2009 politicians should have learned that lesson  without tight regulation and without taxation as well, banks do not act in a disciplined way and their actions can lead to terrible harm being caused to the real economy, largely because of all this debt sloshing around and investors using that debt to turn companies into cash cows. Now this new IMF report makes clear that financial services plays an important part in delivering credit to the real economy, and none of us can deny that that is the role of financial services. But they also look at how when the financial services become sector becomes too large and is not tightly managed, then it tips from being an important prop of the economy to becoming a drag on the economy and potentially causing massive harm. So, you know, on the positive side, they look, for example, at how uh, extending credit to as really small businesses, micro businesses in China and India has helped bring many people out of poverty as small businesses create jobs and increased earnings in those countries. But also the report also makes it very clear and they issue a stark warning that the financial sector when its not well-managed, is likely to cause economic harm. And that will lead to rising inequality. And that of course is the root of what we call the finance curse.

Naomi: Right and the IMF has also accepted now that inequality is bad for economies, thats also a belated but big leap for them?

John: Yeah, yeah, its definitely belated but its true that for years, even decades, IMF officials, but also, lets be honest, many economists and politicians across many countries have seemed pretty unconcerned about inequality. Some economists even sneered at concerns about inequality and they dismissed it as the politics of envy. Well, we now know better about that. Theres ample evidence that inequality harms the economy because too many people simply dont earn enough to pay even for the basics in life, their rents and heating and food and so on. So theres not enough demand in the real economy. And theres also ample evidence now that the claims that have been made for a very long time, that neo-liberalism, the idea of the American dream, people will move upwards and well have great social upwards mobility, that just hasnt happened. In fact, social mobility has stalled in North America and in many parts of Europe, and many millions of young people will be worse off over the course of their lifetimes than their parents were. And thats becoming increasingly clear and leading to mounting resentment, political resentments. So its interesting, Im getting back to the IMF, the chief Kristalina Georgieva speech that she singled out inequality in the UK as a reason for particular concern and that she noted that the top 10% now control almost as much wealth as the bottom 50% of people in the UK. And you know, if you look at the long term, if you look at the last 40 years since Thatcher came to power and introduced Thatcherism, thats possibly the biggest and most damning indictment of that Thatcherism. Reaganism and the whole neo-liberal agenda because inequality is now actually threatening to topple the whole thing and turn the whole thing over.

Naomi: Thanks John! John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network. Now its time for the Taxcast special feature. And were going to split it in two this month. First of all were going to take you to the City of London where we took journalists on a walking tour of the City of Londons finance sector to warn about the effect of Brexit and the current British government on poorer countries  or as we like to call them, plundered countries. After that were going to take you off to France which has been experiencing its longest transport strike action in 50 years. But first lets go to the bitter cold of London and DerejeAlemayehu of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice addressing journalists outside the City of London Corporation, near the Bank of England at the start of a new decade. A decade in which were likely to see some serious deterioration in Britains already bad reputation as a centre for global corruption:

Dereje: When you look at Africa, maybe you have some perceptions that I come from a poor continent. Your former prime minister David Cameron was never tired of saying the major problem in Africa is the corruption of its leaders. Actually I was once invited to attend a meeting he chaired, which was with African leaders and he was very happy telling about a corrupt African leader who has, how many ferraris, who has how many what and what, and I had a chance to ask a question and I said: When you were telling all these things, why didnt you also mention, firstly that this guy did not go out of Africa with an attache case stashed with money. He must have used facilitators, who are they? Secondly, those who are selling to him real estate and precious things, why didnt they ask guy, where did you get your money from? So corruption itself is possible because there are facilitators and there are enablers of the whole thing. So the second thing we have to know is although corruption is given as the major reason for Africas problems, in the bigger scheme of things, if you look at serious studies, it does not constitute the biggest proportion of illicit financial flows going out of Africa. There was a study  a commission set up by the African Union, they came to the conclusion that 60% of illicit financial flows from Africa are happening through economic practices. There are studies which show that for example, SABMiller, one of the biggest beer companies in the world paid less taxes in Ghana than a street vendor. So all these things are driving resources out of Africa. Although people believe Africa is living on the life support it gets from the North, Africa is a net creditor to the rest of the world. Actually even the secretary general of the OECD went on record as saying for every one US dollar going to developing countries in the form of development aid, $3 leave these countries in the form of illicit financial flows. So, what is the sum of plus one and minus three? And Africa is now supposed to develop with minus two, by financing its development with minus three. So, without the facilitation of these illicit financial flows from Africa through secrecy jurisdictions giving shelter to stolen money, talk to a friend from the Philippines, Marcos left power I dont know how many years ago. Philippines did not get even a 10th of the the stolen assets now stashed in secrecy jurisdictions. Ask Egyptians, where did Mubaraks money  it is estimated he embezzled about 9 billion  where, where is this money now? Not in Egypt, Abacha, 5 billion. Where is this money now? Not in Nigeria. So, pointing fingers at corruption without stopping the possibility of stashing stolen assets with impunity in your jurisdictions is not helping the fight against corruption. Enabling your multinationals through falsified accountings, actually whats happening now, the multinational companies do their accounting through a structure which enables them to make losses in countries where they make profits and to show profits in countries where they dont need to pay taxes. So all these transactions are possible because they are supported by, or at least that governments are not making the necessary measures to stop these practices. So as long as this perverse flow of resources exist, that poor countries lose resources to rich countries, there cannot be development in these countries. The resources are much more needed to develop the economy, to improve their living standards. So, supporting facilitation, making it possible for tax dodging and corruption to stash these monies in secrecy jurisdictions is one of the major causes of poverty and inequality. So one of our efforts is really to challenge governments to to take the necessary measures to stop illicit financial flows and tax dodging.

Naomi: Can I ask what youd like to see happen? What would you like the British government to do to stop what youve just been describing?

Dereje: I think Brexit itself is the first move of the British government not to even follow other governments in taking some of the measures which are necessary, through our campaigns there was some progress being made. Like, for example, a public registry of beneficial ownership, which was now on the move. Making it impossible for non-residents to have accounts in your banks, sharing this information with their governments, finance authority of these governments to hold their citizens to account who might have stolen the money. So, on all these fronts on finance, on reducing financial secrecy, uh, making beneficial ownership of assets public  in all these moves, my fear is that that the UK will go back. And now Im afraid that the British government might renege on such moves that now my fear is actually that they will embolden tax dodgers and those who steal public money to not to go to Singapore but to come here. And actually the whole drive is to compete with Singapore, not to compete with countries, which are trying to stop possibility of illicit financial flows. Im very much worried that the move in the UK under this current government because of the victory of Brexit would be to say there is no recognition here, come! Im afraid, with the massive victory they got on Brexit, they are emboldened to be the Capital of international secrecy. And Im afraid they will make things worse for the rest of the world without benefiting the UK economy.

Naomi: Thats Dereje Alemayehu of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice in the City of Londons finance sector. And, off to France. Just when the world thought the days of strikes and class struggle were over, theyre not

[clip of French strikers protesting]

Naomi: In France President Macron has faced a huge fightback against his proposals to reform the pension system by simplifying it  which among other things seems to mean raising the retirement age and a deterioration in pension rights. Central to all this seems to be the closeness of the French government to big players in finance  Im told bankers can just pick up the phone any time to talk to Macron. This new year he gave the Legion of Honour for services to France to the director of Blackrock, a financial company which specialises in managing private pension funds, which has been advising the government on how to promote private schemes. Blackrock stands to made billions from Macrons pension reforms. Remember that Macron scrapped wealth taxes in France and introduced lower corporate taxes before getting started on the pension system he claimed was too expensive to maintain. Hes just announced btw that the 3% tax France was due to impose on big tech companies is going to be delayed after threats from the US  that would have raised an estimated $563 million a year. This is Marie Antonelle Joubert of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice:

Marie: Its quite clear to me that Macrons politics and policies since hes in place are the opposite of tax justice. The poor he wants them to pay more, and the richer he wants them to pay less. Taking away the wealth tax, not chasing tax avoiders is the first and biggest mistake he can make. Its really a question that arises now in France how all those governments and presidents that we have are not chasing tax avoiders, the big multinationals. The big multinationals, people know them and when they find out that those multinationals pay virtually no taxes in France they think its appalling. Its really amazing that governments wouldnt so that because I think it would be very good for their popularity so I guess its really an issue of elites and the presidents always protecting their people which are multinational leaders who they studied with most of the time so clearly whether its public schools, public health, public infrastructures, the justice system, and pensions, Macron could fund them with a proper tax justice policy. France loses between 60 to 80 bllion euros a year in tax avoidance, this is only conservative figures, we know that France could get a lot more if it went after its main tax avoiders, the richest people and mainly the multinationals, the big French conapnies. Its really appalling that he doesnt.

Naomi: Marie Antonelle Joubert of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice. I also spoke to Pascal Debay of the CGT  Union Confederation Generale du Travail:

Naomi: You know, many people said that, uh, all the big strike action was over in France since the 1980s and 1990s. This strike has been the longest for more than 50 years in transport in France. And so what does that say about whats happening in France now?

Pascal: Youre right. We are in the longest struggle, the conflict, the longest conflict, social conflict in France. Imagine its something that is longer than what happened in 1968, you know. The situations of work is different, there are less industry in France as in great Britain, um, more precarity, more poverty. The first time we have this type of conflict. You know, the railway railway men and women make a strike which is incredible. Now its been 47, 47 days that theyve been on strike. Mr Macron is very very pro-business. He wants to reform France. They want to break our social system of retirement, so we think  the trade unions  that this is a way to go for the private system of retirement. Mr Macron, when he arrived two years ago in power, um, he made new laws to lower corporate taxes, more and more for business and less and less for workers. Its been now the third time that he refused to put up the minimum wage. What we afraid of is that its a strategy to weaken our system, our system of pension. In France, the social security, all the money in the system of social security is more important than the state budget of France  imagine what some people of the financial place would like to do with that money.

Naomi: Yes, I can imagine! Its, its almost like what Mrs Thatcher succeeded in doing in the 1980s in terms of breaking the unions and restricting peoples rights to campaign for better working conditions.

Pascal: Yeah, to be to be frank with you, we often use this comparison, in a way Mr Macron is like Mrs Thatcher, he wants to weaken the trade unions in France.

Naomi: And in France, I believe the retirement age is currently 62 and France has three times less pensioner poverty than in Britain, but in Britain, but retirement age is going up this year to 66 and its going to go up to 67 and nothing happened here, there was no protest and we have weak unions as you know. But the government argued, as is Macron, that its because people are living longer that they must make this change in pensions. What do you say to that?

Pascal: Yeah, what youre asking me is, is important. We are in the liberal ideology, you know, they want to make people think that. We say to the bosses, wheres the logic? When the people are 50 years old in France, you fire them. You say they are not enough competitive. When there are problems in, in factories you fire the oldest workers. On the other hand, you say to the people, you must work older. Theres something which is very illogical, you know, so thats what we denounce. We want, we would like that Mr macron and his government make choice for the people. For example, if women are paid the same as men, that will be six billions, I say six billions of euros in the retirement system. In the system of work in France, the bosses pay that they pay taxes for our retirement system. And its been now 30 years that we say, okay bosses, you dont pay because that there is unemployment so if you create jobs ok, you dont pay these taxes. So laws after laws, years after year, bosses paid less and less taxes for the retirement system. We say that stop. Since you dont respect the workers, you dont create work, there are more and more precarity, you will pay more taxes for that retirement system and we think that there we can find 20 billions of euros. Indeed, uh, we have a 3rd, another proposition is for example, to say, okay, the worker, we can pay, for example, 2 euros per month more in the system and the bosses too. That will be more and more money.

Naomi: There has been used time and time again as an example of how the strike is not right that train drivers can retire at the age of 52 years. This has been used by the media a lot. And I have read that yes it is possiblethey can retire at 52, but if they retire at 52 years old, they dont have much pension, and so it is not really such a good option.

Pascal: You know, we are in a world when the fake news are not always from who we think, the government is lying to the people. Heaven on the French railway, you know, the drivers are notretired at 52 as the government say, its not true. And something is interesting. We asked a, you know, a poll two weeks ago. And 60%, 60% of the French people support the strike. 44% of the people in France trust the trade unions. We have many, many messages of solidarity from trade unions of Europe, America, Africa, Asia. Its very important we communicate with the people who are in the trade unions to say that we are not alone in this struggle, but its a big fight. Something thats important is that the far right in France is very, very present. And they try to, to take from them the hungriness of the people. You know what I mean? So they say, for example, the CGT is not a good trade union because we are fighting the far right. And they say, if you are in power in two years, if Marine le Penn is president, she promised to the workers we will retire this new law, its difficult for us, the political left in France is very split. So thats a big problem for the trade unions to deal with the far right. I dont know if well win but we, we will carry on!

Naomi: Pascal Debay of the CGT union Confederation Generale du Travail. Thats it for this month. Look out for the next edition of the Taxcast, edition 98  were going to cover the Financial Secrecy Index 2020 results  well have some surprises, well bring you regional analysis and well reveal which countries are now the worlds worst offenders when it comes to financial secrecy. Thanks for listening. Well be back next month.
A court in Pape'ete rejected the appeal of former French Polynesia president Gaston Flosse to register to vote in the capital in order to eventually be a candidate for the municipal elections, because the court did not believe Flosse lived in a studio with his partner, his lawyer Dominique Antz told AFP on Friday.

In addition to the presidency, 88-year-old Flosse had also been a senator, a MP and the mayor of Pirae.

Flosse claimed that he had been living in Pape'ete for more than six months in a 15m2 sublet studio with his partner.

This room "cannot be qualified as living quarters, according to the court, pointing out that the studio had no kitchen and there were no personal effects placed there, and could not be used as a main residence.

Flosse, previously ineligible to run for office after a number of corruption scandals, is hoping to return to politics.

"This accommodation lacks habitability? My God, when we see that Polynesians live in at 40 in a small space of a few square meters, and that 15 m2 is uninhabitable, it's really poking fun," Flosse told AFP.

The former politician invited the press to view his room, a space far removed from the mansions he had lived in before. He pointed out a kitchen and a shower, and a corner where he works on Tahoeraa, his political party. He also showed off his exercise bike, saying that he worked out on it two hours a day.

Antz, his lawyer, said he would be appealing the verdict. Flosse has until 27 February to meet the deadline to put his name forward as a candidate in the Pape'ete municipal elections.

Flosse worked under former French president Jacques Chirac from 1986 to 1988 as a deputy, senator and secretary of state, but began his political career as the mayor of Pirae for nearly 35 years from 1965, until he resigned in 2000.
On the landmark occasion of the 71st Republic Day, Embassy Group celebrated the spirit of patriotism by lighting two of its iconic properties with the Indian flag, igniting pride and patriotism in every Indian.

Customary that iconic buildings around the world celebrate momentous occasions, Embassy Lake Terraces, Hebbal and Four Seasons at Embassy One was lit up in the tricolour marking the significance of the Republic Day in the city of Bangalore and India as a whole.

The effort was put together by 25 electricians who worked all through for over 48 hours. The 1800 LED lights illumination of saffron, white and green, was displayed in a three-day sequence run-up to the Republic Day starting January 24, 2020.

The visual expression of the tricolour on Embassy Lake Terraces and Four Seasons at Embassy One underlines the solidarity of India and its people, strengthened by bonds of cultural unity.

The Embassy properties were lit up from early evening on Jan 24, 2020 and the grand display of lights was viewed by a euphoric crowd of visitors.

This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
There is anger and then there is righteous anger. Peter Finch yelling out the window, Im mad as hell and Im not going to take it anymore.

From Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, where parts of a whole are coming undone, to Hong Kong to Puerto Rico to France and Venezuela, people are mad as hell.

Consider Lebanon. Independent in 1943, but occupied by Syria from 1975-2005, and brought into Irans orbit through the creation of Hezballah in the early 1980s, the same constellation of politicians have held power since the end of the civil war in 1990. Americans appear to worry most about the security implications of Hezballah, a U.S.-designated terror organization with its own army and a drug/weapons/money racket in South America, pulling strings in Beirut. And worry, too, about the U.S. armed and trained Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), working alongside and sometimes in cooperation with Hezballah. Hassan Nasrallah calls the LAF a partner.

But how did Lebanon come to this point and why are people angry now?

Multiethnic and multicultural, Lebanese politics are sliced into sectarian segments; you are Druze or Shiite or Maronite Christian. The government has no national commitments, only confessional ones, which makes it easy to set one group against another, leaving the best-armed and richest on top, i.e., Hezballah. That is also a recipe for corruption -- take care of your own and the devil take the rest, also the devil is the rest. Lebanon ranks 147th out of 183 countries in Transparency Internationals Corruption Index. There are 6-7 million Lebanese (numbers vary widely because so many live abroad). Government debt is $89.5 billion and interest payments consumed 48 percent of domestic government revenues in 2016. The debt-to-GDP ratio is 151% with an annual growth rate of negative 0.2 percent for 2019. The Lebanese pound has lost more than 60 percent of its value in recent weeks on the black market.

Lebanon has been in a trash crisis since 2015 -- municipalities (based on sectarian lines) are supposed to collect trash, but the central governments payments for collection have been erratic according to local sources. Unregulated dumps, open burning, trash piling up in the streets and pouring into Mediterranean Sea have led to health concerns far beyond Lebanons borders. A wave of forest fires in October 2019 made things immeasurably worse. The people in the south have an additional problem -- Hezballah has been putting rockets and missiles in their homes and villages for years, planning for the next strike against Israel.

The trash and forest fires were the proximate cause of the protests in Lebanon that began in October, but the real cause appears to be the unwillingness of Lebanese millennials to be ruled by the corrupt, Hezballah-led regime. Demands for secular government, more services, and the presence of the Lebanese flag rather than factional banners highlight the protests. The demise of Qassam Soleimani appears to have emboldened the protesters, while the government, feeling the heat, has been increasingly brutal. More than 500 people have been injured in the past week, but the protesters appear determined to force a change in government, chanting revolution in the streets.

Iran and Iraq, with some differences, are following the Lebanese model, with young people -- and women out front in Iran -- demanding change. Iraqi millennials have been attacking symbols of both their government and the Iranian government. Protests are primarily wrecking the south -- Shiite Iraqis demanding that Shiite Iran go home. More than 600 people have been killed. In Iran, protests ostensibly about the downing of a Ukrainian airliner have become louder, more violent, and more overtly demanding that the mullahs step down -- the death toll there is more than 1,000 and the UN says it has evidence that the government issued "shoot to kill" orders.

Hong Kong against China and Venezuelans against a stolen election and the impoverishment of their once-comfortable and democratic country. In France, yellow vests protest against economic conditions. Puerto Ricans against Puerto Ricans?

When Hurricane Maria hit the island in 2017 the island was devastated, most particularly the fragile electrical grid. Rescue and relief efforts were hampered by terrain, finances, and politics, and a sniping match ensued between President Trump and Roberto Rosell, the governor of Puerto Rico. Almost a year later, 80 percent of Puerto Ricans graded the President as Fair/Poor in his response to the devastation -- but 74 percent rated the Puerto Rican government the same. Rosell was forced by massive protests to resign.

Fast forward to January 2020 and the discovery that emergency aid from the mainland had been stashed in warehouses and not distributed. The people are in the street again, protesting their governments apparent disdain for them. This time, protesters brought a guillotine -- no word on whether it was operational.

Righteous anger is truly something to behold.
Powell has since gone further, arguing that the disclosures he filed with the government about his interactions with foreign agents were accurate, that Flynn never was an agent of the Turkish government and that he was misled by unethical agents when interviewed about his Russia contacts. She claims the government withheld evidence that would exonerate her client.
As if Democrats didn't screw the impeachment pooch for themselves earlier by having a House case so weak that they had to ask the Senate to call their witnesses for them, and then presenting long, long, long-winded opening arguments that sent scores of Senate jurors fleeing the room, they have some hella bizarre logic in finishing out their case: insult the jurors.

That's some persuasion strategy.

It's as though they aren't interested in winning, not even with that tiny number of weak Republican swing senators they need to persuade, who were more insulted than anyone.

House manager Adam Schiff did the final honors in his closing argument, and the New York Times ran this gleeful headline:

Emotional Schiff Speech Goes Viral, Delighting the Left and Enraging the Right

Enraging? Really? Oh, honey, we're long past outrage.

The content of the piece was useful, however, beginning with what Schiff actually said.

First, there was Thursday's declaration that "you know you can't trust this president to do what's right for this country," and then on Friday, he invoked a news report that Republican senators had been warned that their heads would be "on a pike" if they voted against Mr. Trump.

The piece then went into a long string of quotes from assorted Democrats beating their fins together, with one far-left activist calling it "a speech for the ages" and the august Debra Messing tweeting, "I am in tears."

As a sort of afterthought, it followed with the Republicans, saying they had "the opposite reaction":

"I don't trust Adam Schiff," Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, shot back. On Fox News, Mr. Schiff was filleted. "Amateur Thespian Schiff Tries Out Some New Lines," TV monitors broadcasting the network declared Thursday, as the host Tucker Carlson mocked the congressman, calling him a "wild-eyed conspiracy nut." And if Mr. Schiff had made any inroads with Republicans in the Senate chamber, he may have undercut them on Friday with his "head on a pike" remark, drawn from an anonymously sourced CBS News report. Mr. Schiff used it to liken Mr. Trump to a monarch, but the implication was that Republicans were terrified of crossing him. "The whole room was visibly upset on our side," said Senator James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, "and it's sad, it's insulting and demeaning to everyone to say that we somehow live in fear and that the president has threatened all of us to put our head on the pike."

Memo to the Times: This is a trial, not a word contest. Democrats are presumably out to win it. The entire Senate impeachment trial is about changing the opinions of a few Republicans. The buried lede is that they just trashed their own case for impeachment by satisfying their urge to insult and offend Republicans, who happen to be the jurors. What's it they say about emotional intelligence being the capacity to delay gratification a little longer for the big prize? They don't have it.

That's some strategy for winning.

And it's not the first. A day earlier, Jerry Nadler insulted the very swing senators the Democrats need to get their witnesses and vote off the ground, stating that anyone who didn't agree to impeach President Trump was engaging in a "cover-up" and was effectively treasonous. Fox News reports how well that went down:

[Swing Senator Susan] Collins told Politico she was "stunned" by Nadler's comments, and confirmed to the outlet that she wrote a note that made its way to Roberts after a tense back and forth between Nadler and White House Chief Counsel Pat Cipollone. "It reminded me that if we were in a normal debate in the Senate, that the rule would be invoked to strike the words of the senator for impugning another senator," she told Politico. "So, I did write a note raising the issue of whether there'd been a violation of the rules." Collins said she gave the note to the secretary for the majority, Laura Dove, and "shortly thereafter, the chief justice did admonish both sides. And I was glad that he did."

That was what got Supreme Court justice John Roberts to intervene, effectively telling Nadler to knock it off in general terms. Swing senator Collins wasn't the only one who was insulted:

Also included in that group is Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who said this week she was offended by Nadler's presentation. "I took it as offensive," she told reporters Wednesday. "As one who is listening attentively and working hard to get a fair process, I was offended." Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said Democrats took "a huge step backward" in their opening. "I mean, that's an extraordinary thing to say on the floor of the United States Senate, the middle of the trial, and that's what drew the rebuke and rightly so," Hawley said. "I can tell you, there was an open, open gasping on the Senate floor when Nadler was saying these things. I mean, It's really, really extraordinary."

Again, these are people the Democrats are trying to persuade. Collins herself said early on that she was in favor of calling witnesses as the Democrats wanted. These days the news coming out is that growing numbers of Republicans want to scrap the whole mess and cut if off now.

And the latest headline from the Huffington Post is:

Democrats Growing Nervous About Next Week's Vote On Trial Witnesses

Umm, well, yeah. They insult their jurors and wonder why they haven't got the votes? Cause, effect, something even a toddler can understand. Yet this apparently never figured in their calculations and now they're worried? Life is full of surprises.

That's the real story here - we have the world's stupidest impeachment managers -- putting all those years of effort into impeachment and when they finally get to the Senate finish line, they punk it for themselves for that little ape-like satisfaction of insulting Republicans, the very Republicans they need to win over.

Somewhere, President Trump is smiling. When he says "winning" he means winning. Democrats have just proven they're so against Trump they're against even the idea of winning itself.

Image credit: CNN via shareable YouTube screen shot.
By Trend

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has warned citizens in connection with the situation in China, Trend reports referring to the ministry Jan. 24.

Azerbaijani citizens planning to travel to China are advised to be careful, comply with requirements of the World Health Organization (WHO) and take into account the situation in the country.

Citizens of Azerbaijan who permanently, temporarily reside or stay in China on a visit are advised to abide by the rules announced in the country and, in connection with any problem encountered, contact the relevant Chinese healthcare authorities and the Azerbaijani Embassy in Beijing.

Azerbaijani citizens who permanently, temporarily reside or on a visit abroad, are advised to contact embassies and consulates, as well as register there for provision of the necessary assistance in emergency cases and other dangerous situations.

Chinese coronavirus has infected hundreds since the outbreak began in Wuhan city in China in December.

The death toll in China's viral outbreak has risen to 25, with the number of confirmed cases also leaping to 830, the Chinese government said.

China has effectively quarantined nearly 20 million people across Wuhan and some nearby cities in response to the virus, and announced measures to curb its spread nationwide as hundreds of millions of people began travelling across the country this week for the Lunar New Year holiday.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Today Indian websites are not only competing with international brands but also understand their audience better and hence are the preferred over international brands in the Indian market.

This Republic day we must reflect on how far we have come in terms of growth in the indigenous industries and businesses originating in the country. This journey of growth and competition against the international businesses started way back with Mahatma Gandhis Swadeshi movement and taking a step forward to promote Indian brands in the country another very prominent campaign that has been initiated by the Indian Government is the Make in India campaign.

Today Indian websites, with their innovative ideas and changing technology adaptation are not only competing with international brands but also understand their audience better and hence are the preferred over international brands in the Indian market.

Here are some of the Indian websites that have made the country proud with their exceptional services-

1. Gympik- Gympik with Traqade is the leading gym management platform in India and has witnessed huge success with 500+ clients of Traqade in a very short span of time. Where Multinational giants lack in the understanding of the countrys socio-economic status and diversity, Gympik focuses on creating solutions using deep tech to understand its audience behavior driven insights and segmentation algorithms helps in increasing new members and retaining past members. It has emerged as a market leader in this niche segment and is currently operating in 40 cities across India.

2. Ola- An Indian ridesharing company founded in 2010 was valued at about $10 billion last year. The website offers services that include peer-to-peer ridesharing, ride service hailing, taxi and food delivery. Based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, Ola provides its users options to pay with cash, go pre-paid with Ola money or post-paid as per their preference. With the presence of other international brands, this Indian brand claims to clock an average of more than 1,50,000 bookings per day and commands 60% of the market share in India.

3. Flipkart- Flipkart is one of the most visited e-commerce websites. It is an Indian e-commerce company based in Bangalore, which was founded in 2007. The e-commerce websites has all the products including clothes, shoes, tablets, USBs and laptop bags etc. The uniqueness of the brand is that it supports several local Indian brands that are available at heavy discounts on the website. It is one of the largest e-commerce websites, giving a tough competition to international e-commerce sites in the Indian market.

4. ExpertRight- It is a Jaipur based brand that connects freelancers and companies to have an authentic work partnership. ExpertRights revenue in the first month was almost nil but it now claims to generate annual revenue worth Rs 2.2 crore. The website has a dedicated project moderator to look over a project for quality of work and timely payment. The brand understands their clients as well as freelancers, who are majorly based out of tier-2 cities of India thus, help both the parties to get maximum benefit.

5. Gem Selections- Gem Selections has three unique online platforms- Gem Selections Astro Dose, Gem Selections Live and Gem Selections Forums, all of which are focused towards providing in-depth knowledge and exclusive online services to its customers. All the gemstones and jewellery at Gem Selections are certified by a government lab, which makes it stand out with others in terms of quality and purity of its products. This home grown company has a legacy of dealing in gems for more than 2 decades and has established a strong customer base all across the globe.

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Pope Benedict XVI became the first pope in half a millennium to resign his seat. In 2013, his resignation made possible the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, the first Jesuit pope and the first from the New World.

The two popes often conflicting views foreshadowed many of the themes that dominated religion news in the past 10 years:

Islamophobia

In New York, an ill-fated attempt by a group of New York Muslims to open a community center near the former World Trade Center site ended in a sordid anti-Muslim fiasco.

Donald Trump made suspicion of Muslims a theme of his successful campaign for the White House. His order to refuse entry to citizens of several majority-Muslim nations sparked protest at U.S. airports. Courts forced moderation of the ban.

The resurgence of the clergy sex abuse crisis

The 2016 Oscar for best picture went to "Spotlight," chronicling The Boston Globe's investigation into child sex abuse by priests.

The numbers of new abuse cases were declining sharply as the 2010s opened a new phase of the scandal: prosecution of clerical administrators who concealed abuse. In June 2012, Philadelphia's Monsignor William Lynn was convicted of covering up priestly crimes. Later that year, Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, Mo., became the first bishop found guilty of failing to act on clergy abuse reports. In 2015, Finn resigned as bishop after a Vatican investigation.

Theodore McCarrick resigned from the College of Cardinals following allegations of his abuse of minors and seminarians.

#ChurchToo

Other churches were hit by allegations of sexual misconduct or ignoring the voices of the abused. In April 2019, four years after accusations of sexual impropriety were first weighed against him, megachurch pioneer Bill Hybels was forced into early retirement after a Chicago Tribune article detailed his alleged advances toward female members of his Willow Creek Community Church. Hybels' successors as pastor and Willow Creek's governing elders resigned for mishandling allegations, which dated back to 1998.

Southern Baptist Convention leader Paige Patterson, architect of the SBC's conservative takeover in the 1980s, was fired as Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary president, accused of ignoring women's complaints of sexual assault and abuse.

Rise of the 'nones'

A 2012 report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life showed that the group Pew refers to as "nones"  "people who self-identify as atheists or agnostics, as well as those who say their religion is 'nothing in particular,' " according to Pew  had increased from just over 15 percent to just under 20 percent of all U.S. adults. According to the Public Religion Research Institute, more than a quarter of the country (26 percent) falls into this category. The rapid increase of the sector, most noticeable among white millennials, is judged to have huge implications, for the growth of Christian churches.

"This demographic and cultural sorting means that our partisan conflicts are increasingly driven not just by political disagreement but by entire worldviews that are rooted in religious, racial and generational values and identities," writes Robert P. Jones, CEO and founder of PRRI.

Mass shootings in worship

Attacks on people at worship rose, with as many occurring in the decade before 2016 as in the 25 years previous. The deadliest-ever shooting at an American place of worship was Sutherland Springs, Texas, in November 2017. More than two dozen people died at the hand of a man seeking revenge on his estranged wife.

But some of the most horrific shootings at houses of worship in the 2010s seemed to be motivated by antipathy toward the identity of those at prayer

In 2012, a man later described as a neo-Nazi killed six people at a Sikh gurdwara outside Milwaukee. In 2015, a 21-year-old man killed nine African American congregants at Mother Emanuel church in Charleston, S.C., claiming to defend the white race. In October 2017, the worst anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history took place at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, when a man who was convinced that Jews were facilitating immigration to the U.S. killed 11.

Gay ordination, gay marriage

In 2010, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) allowed openly gay men and women to be ordained and the next year opened the way for married gay clergy to serve as well. Three years later, Guy Erwin was elected the first openly gay bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

In June 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the remaining state bans against marriage between couples of the same sex. Yet only the most liberal mainline Christian denominations, as well as Reform and Conservative Judaism, sanctioned gay weddings, while Baptists, Catholics, Orthodox Jews and the second biggest Protestant denomination, the Methodist Church, refused gay couples. The stance threatens to pull Methodists apart.

Evangelicals in power

In 2012, the GOP's Mitt Romney became the first Mormon to be nominated by a major party for president, seemingly breaking evangelical Christians' hold on the Republican Party's standard-bearer. But in the general election, evangelicals supported Romney as strongly, if not as enthusiastically, as they affirmed evangelical George W. Bush.

Four years later ,the evangelicals' identification with the GOP was even more complete, as they voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump, overcoming doubts about the New York playboy and gambling mogul's temperament and morality. They were rewarded when Trump nominated anti-abortion Supreme Court judges.

The evangelical elite's clout in Washington could be seen in the opening of a $500 million Museum of the Bible south of the National Mall.

In 2014, Rachel Held Evans, reissued her 2008 book "Evolving in Monkey Town," story of her journey from evangelicalism to more open faith. When she died at age of 37 in 2018, a "post-evangelical" movement she had helped kick off, her fanbase mourned on social media. Hashtags #exvangelical and #emptythepews became rallying cries.

Anti-Semitic attacks

Hate crimes against Jews rose by 60 percent in the U.S. from 2016 to 2017, according to the Anti-Defamation League, and doubling on American campuses. The trend was driven in part by emboldened white supremacist groups. The decade ended with a burst of attacks, including the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, assaults on Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn, a white supremacist attack at a Poway, Calif., synagogue; a shooting at a kosher supermarket in New Jersey; and stabbings at a rabbi's Hanukkah party in the Monsey, N.Y.

Religious freedom

The right to practice one's faith and was severely challenged worldwide as Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority was subject to atrocities and forced into refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh and China. India's 2014 election of Hindu Prime Minister Narendra Modi spurs fears of discrimination against Muslims.

In Nigeria, Boko Haram and splinter group the Islamic State put. The decade ended with the execution of 11 Christians in a Christmas video and the beheading of a bridal party.
In less than two months, Italys Sardines movement has gained international visibility. Through the use of Facebook and other social media, it has organized flash mobs and protests throughout Italy, attracting hundreds of thousands of participants. It is now planning a national congress in March.

The initiative began in mid-November, when former deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the fascist Lega, organized an event in the city of Bologna to launch the candidacy of Legas Lucia Borgonzoni for Emilia-Romagnas presidency in the regional elections taking place Sunday, January 26. The protest rapidly spread to other Italian and European cities. Last Sunday, a week before the regional elections, another 40,000 joined a Sardines rally in Bologna.

Sardines protest in Bologna, November 2019 [Source: Wikimedia Commons]

This turnout is one reflection of deeply rooted anti-fascist sentiments in the Italian working class. It is an expression of massive social anger, coming amid a global resurgence of the class struggle. However, the perspective and politics of those directing it and manipulating it behind the scenes lead to a dead end as they are opposed to an independent struggle of workers against capitalism, which is the only way to defeat fascism.

Since the formation of Italian regions 50 years ago, Emilia-Romagna has always been ruled by the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and the parties that replaced it after its dissolution, the Democratic Party (PD) and its petty-bourgeois allies. The historical betrayals of the PCI and its successors opened the path to reactionary local administrations and made the region vulnerable to the influence of fascist politicians such as Salvini.

The immediate aim of the Sardines is to prevent an election victory of the Legas candidate Borgonzoni against the incumbent regional president Stefano Bonaccini, a Democrat. That is, they are trying to keep in power the very forces whose policies paved the way for Salvini.

Sardines protest in Modena [Source: Wikimedia Commons]

The movement was initiated by four youth (Mattia Santori, Roberto Morotti, Giulia Trappoloni and Andrea Garreffa), who created a Facebook page titled 6000 sardine contro Salvini (6,000 sardines against Salvini). Their announcement called for No flag, no political party, no insults. Create your own sardine and participate in the first fish revolution in history. The name of their initiative seeks to promote the idea that they would fill squares like sardines, and, like sardines, they would advance as one large sardine family.

The manifesto they published in the immediate aftermath of their first organized event is a mild complaint against the right-wing populism of Salvinis Lega. They lament the hatred and the lies propagated by the fascist organization and its leaders, their vulgar and offensive language, the way they ridicule serious subjects.

There is no programmatic demand in the manifesto, only a generally romantic but vapid language about the passion for beauty, nonviolence, creativity and the ability to listen. Sardines leader Santori articulated that the movement is against no one, we tried to awaken a people tired of seeing their values stepped on. In more recent days, in a widely broadcast message Santori spoke of a reaffirmation of democracy: we are anti-fascist, pro-equality, against intolerance, against homophobia.

On December 14, a hundred thousand protested in Rome against hatred, fascism and discrimination. The rally opened with a Sardines organizers statement: We are taking back the squares of the left. Carla Nespolo, president of the National Association of Italian Partisans, stated: The Italian Constitution is not neutral to fascism, it is anti-fascist.

At the rally, Santori presented the first programmatic demands of the movement: Those elected must pursue politics, not election campaigns  Anyone appointed to the office of prime minister must communicate only on institutional channels  We demand transparency on the political use of social media  We demand that the media protect, defend and approximate truth and translate this effort in messages truthful to the facts 

He continued: We demand that violence be excluded from political tones and content in every form  We demand that the Security Decree be revised focusing not on fear, but a desire to build an all-inclusive society that understands diversity as wealth, not as a threat. Santori concluded: We believe in institutions and we think politics can be ameliorated by citizens participation.

One may ask why hundreds of thousands of people would take to the streets within a few weeks and join dozens of protests throughout Italy on the basis of such limited perspective. It makes no reference to social inequality, and there is not a word about ongoing and potential wars, nor anything about attacks on democratic rights beyond a perfunctory reference to a review of the reactionary Security Decree.

A chasm separates the Sardines insipid program from the political mood of the population. One confirmation of this is the approval they have received from parties and organizations across Italys bankrupt political establishment.

First, the ruling Five Star Movement (M5S) has openly participated in Sardines events, aiming to revive M5Ss declining influence among workers and students. Speaking to La Repubblica, M5S congressman Luigi Gallo stated that the Sardines are speaking to us  they represent a good sign, similar to what happened 15 years ago with [M5S co-founder] Beppe Grillo. He said that at the Sardines events, there were M5S activists as well as our spokespeople.

Grillo himself glorifies the Sardines as a hygienic-sanitary movement against the vulgarity of current politics.

The co-ruling PD also speaks openly of its intent to co-opt the Sardines. Culture Minister Dario Franceschini stated that in those squares there are PD and M5S electors who are more to the left, disappointed moderates. The PD and M5S universes are bonding.

The Sardines Santori is an outspoken supporter of regional presidential candidate Bonaccini against the pro-Salvini Borgonzoni. He has asked for a meeting with prime minister Giuseppe Conte, who was originally appointed by the M5S-Lega coalition, to explain to him the Sardines demands.

Sardines have also been anointed by figures like former premiers Romano Prodi and Mario Monti, who best represent the interests of the European financial oligarchy, as well as the Vaticans Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

Discussions are taking place between Sardines and various pseudo-left groups. Rifondazione comunista, another PCI split-off, has called for participation in the Sardines events, calling for a new constituent and welcoming spirit, planning together the common home and a new way to do politics. It has, moreover, highlighted the words of economist Emiliano Brancaccio who, in a recent interview, warned Sardines against technocratic selections. Rifondazione, in essence, is playing the role of Sardines consulting partner.

Marco Ferrandos Partito Comunista dei Lavoratori (PCdL) also welcomed the Sardines initiative: We share the basic sentiment that animates many youth squares. We too feel the same profound nausea for xenophobia, misogynism, reaction  the tricolor militarism dressed in police clothes.

Ferrando has participated in every organization that has historically betrayed workers, from the Pabloite United Secretariat to the amalgam known as the Coordinating Committee for the Refoundation of the Fourth International, a receptacle for Pabloites, Stalinists and opportunists of all stripes. Equally significant was Ferrandos participation in Rifondazione until 2006.

The PCdL has also expanded its field of complicity in recent days with the Stalinists new PCI, founded in Bologna three years ago from recycled Rifondazione members and Stalinists, the Pabloite Sinistra Anticapitalista (Anticapitalist Left) headed by Franco Turigliatto, infamous for his critical support in 2007 to the Prodi government, and a faction of Rifondazione.

This aggregate of historical opportunism gathered December 7 in Rome as a national unitarian assembly of left opposition, the sole purpose of which is to weave a new political straitjacket to force on the working class.

One thing must be clear: for all the anti-fascist rhetoric and slogans used in the Sardines lexicon, fascism is threatening to make a comeback precisely because of the treacherous role these pseudo-left forces have played historically in disarming the working class and suppressing the class struggle, in favor of collaborationism with the bourgeois state. The nationalist orientation of the political forces engaged in the Sardines operation makes it irreconcilably hostile to the interests of the international working class.

In the last 30 years, Italy has been no exception in the face of the global crisis of capitalism: Living standards for the majority of the working population have decayed, while a small oligarchy of ultra-rich have utilized the political establishment to implement measures that reverted all the gains made by workers through bloody struggles, especially in the aftermath of World War II.

A massive wave of privatizations, deregulations and social cuts immediately followed the dissolution of the Soviet Union and was propelled by center-left technocratic governments in the 1990s, whose parliamentary base was provided by the mainstream bourgeois successor of the PCI, todays PD. Rifondazione Comunista, an allegedly more radical organization, assumed the role of the old PCI: packaging bourgeois politics with communist rhetoric in order to politically disarm and contain workers.

The Rifondazione project, which was hailed by every pseudo-left tendency in the European Union as the way forward for the left, collapsed when it gave critical support to the Prodi government in 2006, responsible for a rigid anti-worker domestic program, an attack on democratic rights, especially aimed against immigrants, and an openly pro-imperialistic, pro-war foreign policy.

Rifondazione consequently tanked in the 2008 election, losing all parliamentary representation. Workers were disgusted by the politics of war, opportunism and betrayal. The vacuum created was of great concern to the ruling class, especially as it coincided with the great recession of 2008, which threatened to plunge Italy (and the world) into industrial and financial disaster.

The vacuum was filled by Beppe Grillos Five-Star Movement, a right-wing populist party, which was launched under the guise of combating corruption, bureaucracy and monopolies. M5S has been co-running the government since June 2018 under prime minister Giuseppe Conte, first through an alliance with the fascist Lega, then through a deal with the PD, exposing their fake anti-establishment posture.

But only a year-and-a-half later, the true colors of the Five-Star Movement are now glaring, and its ratings have drastically plunged to half what they were in June 2018. The vast majority of workers are disgusted by the anti-immigrant policies and attacks on jobs, as shown by the ongoing restructuring of the ILVA steel plant.

In foreign policy, M5S has consistently showed support for US and European imperialism. Premier Contes meetings with US President Donald Trump and Egyptian dictator Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi, as well as Hungarian fascist prime minister Viktor Orbans renewed support, make clear that M5S pursues the same imperialist ambitions as its predecessors.

Social conditions are deteriorating for Italian working families. Fifteen percent live in relative poverty, according to a conservative report issued last June by the states Istat. Unemployment remains close to 10 percent and the proliferation of the gig economy is rendering the labor market extremely precarious, especially for younger workers. A UIL trade union report published last September signals a significant worsening of conditions since 2017, with 75 percent of gig workers earning up to a measly 5,000 a year.

The situation is so grim that President Sergio Mattarella felt compelled to warn the political elite about the danger of social instability due to the enemy we need to defeat together: lack of work, that work which is the foundation of our Republic. Employment, when one has it, is precarious or underpaid.

It is this socially and politically repugnant environment that is pushing hundreds of thousands of Italian workers and youth into struggle. However, this vast mass will inevitably come into conflict with the Sardines movement, as its objective role is not to lead workers into a struggle against world capitalism, the real root of the problem, but rather to maintain control within the confines of the establishment, politically disarm workers and prevent their independent mobilization.

Many attending the protests genuinely reject a system that is destroying their lives. The Sardines strategy, however, is to oppose Salvini in full conformity with the program of the PD and its petty-bourgeois allies, like Rifondazione and Ferrando. However, it is the political bankruptcy of these forces that has made possible the rise of Salvini, and the ruling elites moves to rehabilitate fascism. The critical issue is and remains mobilizing the working class independently of and against social democracy and the pseudo-left to fight the accelerating drive to police-state rule.
Ten future doctors joined the team at Houston Methodist Willowbrook this month. Their presence marks a milestone in the facilitys 20-year history: its transition to a teaching hospital.

The Willowbrook location became Houston Methodists second campus site Jan. 13 when a group of third- and fourth-year Texas A&M medical students started their clerkship rotations at the hospital. Houston Methodist partners with Texas A&M College of Medicine to provide clerkship experience in the Texas Medical Center location as well.

Theres been a longstanding relationship with Houston Methodist and Texas A&M College of Medicine over the last several years, said Keith Barber, CEO of Houston Methodist Willowbrook and senior vice president of Houston Methodist.

Its really been about three or four years ago that some discussions about one of the community hospitals being a part of this program for Texas A&M was thrown out there. We immediately raised our hand and said we would love to do that here at Willowbrook.

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Houston Methodist Willowbrooks location in northwest Houston puts it on the route from downtown Houston to College Station, Barber said.

The hospitals placement in one of Houstons fastest growing regions is another reason Willowbrook is an ideal location for the program, added Dr. Kashif Piracha, who serves as the programs internal medicine clerkship director.

This north Houston area where Methodist Willowbrook is located has really undergone a very exponential increase in population over the last decade or so, Piracha said. Weve had so much development that Methodist Willowbrook Hospital has really been able to provide great medical care to a lot of people in the community.

At the same time, we have to be mindful of the fact that as the population increases, people need more medical care and just treating patients in the hospital is one thing, but we also have to train the leaders of tomorrow who are going to be taking care of these patients over the next decade or the next two decades. So, there was a big need that we should have a training campus for medical students in the north Houston area and Methodist Willowbrook is one of the best facilities.

Piracha is one of the programs clerkship directors, who oversee the rotations in core specialties such as general surgery, family science, and obstetrics and gynecology. Over 50 doctors have come onboard as adjunct faculty for the initiativea testament to the excitement surrounding new program, he said.

Ive gotten a great response from all the doctors, Piracha said. When they heard that the students are coming, they were like competing with each other to get on the teaching panel. So, they really think this is going to have a great impact on the community.

Students in the program receive direct patient care experience alongside attending physicians. Instead of residencies or fellowships, students learn directly from physicians in a hands-on, real-world setting. This environment presents a unique opportunity for students, explained Dr. Stephanie Bruce, who is associate chief quality officer and Texas A&M College of Medicine assistant dean of the Houston Methodist Willowbrook campus.

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The typical medical student will train in a very academic facility and then go to work in communities for the rest of their career, so the training is usually very different from what their real-life experience will be as a practicing physician, Bruce said. Having students here train in what I kind of termed our hybrid community academic hospital, better prepares them for what is to come in their life and future in medicine.

Bruce, a Texas A&M alumnus herself, said the 10 students in the programs inaugural cohort represent the cream of the crop in terms of experience, passion and engagement. The partnership with A&M has also increased the hospitals resources for improved medical care, she said.

Texas A&M has provided us with some computerized specialty simulation manikins and that allows us to provide the innovation needed to train these students on the leading edge of medicine, but it also provides our hospital with the tools for in a professional training and simulations that our physicians and nurses, and ultimately really the patients, benefit from as well, Bruce said.

Piracha added that teaching requires professionals to remain up to date on the most cutting-edge research in their respective fields, meaning that adjunct faculty doctors and patients will benefit from the student-teacher dynamic as well. Barber agrees.

Everybody really raises their game when youre in a teaching environment and so its another way to expect and continue to be down a road of being excellent in all that were doing, Barber said.

Barber said hes already hearing positive feedback from the programs students. As a first-year program, he said the hospital is excited to have 10 enthusiastic students and expects the programs enrollment to grow as awareness of the program spreads.

mfeuk@hcnonline.com
Protective services ignored complaints that an NYPD officer made his child sleep in the garage, one year before his other son died after being locked in it overnight in freezing temperatures.

New York state's Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) received a complaint in February that the now 10-year-old son of suspected murderer Michael Valva, 40, was coming to school in soiled clothes after being forced to sleep in the garage.

The allegations were dismissed as 'unfounded' by child welfare and the case closed the following day.

Less than a year later, Valva and his fiancee Angela Pollina have been charged with murder for the hypothermia-induced death of his eight-year-old autistic son Thomas, who died on January 17 after allegedly being forced to sleep in the same garage of the family's Long Island home.

Eight-year-old Thomas (pictured) died on January 17 after being 'starved, beaten and locked overnight in a garage in freezing temperatures'

Protective services ignored complaints that NYPD officer Michael Valva (left) and Angela Pollina (right) made his son Anthony sleep in the garage, one year before Thomas died after being locked in it overnight

In addition to hypothermia, Thomas also suffered head and face injuries.

Valva and Pollina were charged with second-degree murder on Friday.

Records have now emerged showing that authorities were aware of long-running child abuse in the home.

They show that a phone call was made to child services, by an unnamed caller, on February 27 stating that Valva's son Anthony was forced to sleep in the garage because he was wetting the bed.

'For the past week, Anthony (9) has been coming to school with his clothes and backpack soaked in urine,' states the OCFS record, seen by The Post.

Thomas' distraught mother Justyna Zubko-Valva (pictured) said she had raised the alarm about Valva abusing their children but child services did nothing

Records show a phone call was made to child services, by an unnamed caller, on February 27 stating that Anthony was forced to sleep in the garage because he was wetting the bed. Despite the severity of the allegations, the record shows the agency closed the investigation just one day later

'Anthony has been staying in the garage and is not allowed in his room due to him urinating in his bed  Step mother (Angela) and Father (Michael) are aware that the child is arriving at school soiled and fail to adequately address the concern.'

It adds: 'The child's feet and hands are bright red, but it unknown if this is as a result of the child being soaked in urine.'

Despite the severity of the allegations, the record shows the agency closed the investigation just one day later, citing it a 'duplicate'.

The record was sent to Anthony and Thomas' mother, Justyna Zubko-Valva, in May 2019 along with a letter which dismissed the allegations as 'unfounded'.

'The investigating district/agency has determined the report to be unfounded and the subject (perpetrator) and other persons named in the report(s) have been notified,' wrote Kristin Gleeson, the director of the state central register division of child welfare and community services, in the letter.

The alleged murderers: Valva and Pollina (pictured with Thomas and their other children) were charged with second-degree murder on Friday

Zubko-Valva had repeatedly voiced concerns that her ex-husband Valva was abusing their three children by starving, beating and locking them inside the garage for periods of time, she said.

She says the children would go to school with soiled clothing and wear diapers, despite all of them being potty trained by age two.

'Every time, I kept telling the judge  'If you're not going to remove the children, they are going to die under his care and custody,' she told News 12 Long Island.

'There was evidence, hard evidence. Reports filed. Children were telling me, too, about the abuse.'

The heartbroken mother said she had documented the abuse on her Twitter.

She said this whole time Child Protective Services did nothing to protect her kids.

'No one did anything,' said Zubko-Valva, adding that the children allegedly scoured for food in the school garbage on the floor.

Authorities say eight-year-old Thomas Valva (pictured) died of hypothermia after he was kept inside a garage overnight in 'freezing temperatures'

She said she fought for justice for her children for five years, but was unable to gain custody before tragedy struck.

Zubko-Valva previously lost custody of her children and has not seen them in two years. It's unclear why she initially lost custody.

'I just really want justice for my son. He deserves it. This should never have happened,' she said.

'I just keep praying for this case to be fully resolved and my little angel Thomas to rest peacefully in heavenI just wished somebody helped him'

In a Facebook post, Zubko-Valva shared a photo of the last time she saw her sons.

'The last kiss from my youngest son before he was taken away from me ... He always showed me so much love,' she wrote.

'My three loving children, whom two of them have special needs were taken away from me and deprived from any form of communication and contact with me. I was punished by the judge for loving my children unconditionally.'

A 2018 East Moriches School District report obtained by New York Daily News showcases the depths of abuse Thomas and his siblings suffered.

'Biggest concern is that Mr. Valva and his fiance Angela do not understand the depth of Anthony and Thomas's disabilities,' the report read, regarding Thomas' brother.

'Both Anthony and Thomas come into school hungry and frequently say they did not eat breakfast because they did not ask for breakfast or got in trouble.'

'The boys were afraid to go to the nurses's office for a while and they said it was because they were directed by Mr. Valva and Angela not to go to the nurse's office.'

Pictured: The couple's home at 11 Bittersweet Lane in the Center Moriches hamlet in Long Island where Thomas died on January 17

Thomas Valva (pictured) was a second-grader at East Moriches Elementary School and lived with his father

Anthony had allegedly dropped around 11 pounds over the course of nine months.

Police conducted a welfare check at the home in May 2019, but the family was not home at the time.

Authorities were dispatched to the Long Island home around 9.40am last week following reports that Thomas had fallen in the driveway and lost consciousness.

Responding officers found Valva performing CPR on Thomas in the basement before he was rushed to Long Island Community Hospital and pronounced dead.

Valva's initial story  that Thomas was trying to catch the school bus and died after falling in the driveway - quickly came apart as homicide detectives investigated the death.

'The medical examiner has ruled it a homicide with a major contributing factor of hypothermia. We believe certainly that Thomas was kept in the garage overnight preceding his death,' Suffolk Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said, according to NBC News.

The incident started when Valva beat Thomas at their Bittersweet Lane home in the Center Moriches hamlet in Long Island, New York Daily News reports.

Then, Valva forced Thomas outside into the garage when the area was a frigid 19 degrees that night.

Thomas' body temperature was just 76 degrees - 21 degrees below a normal temperature - when doctors later attempted to revive him.

Before calling 911, Valva is said to have placed the boy's cold body in a warm bath to raise his core temperature.

Hart said Thomas Valva was kept in an unheated garage overnight last week, amid bitterly cold temperatures. Officials say at the time of his death, the boy's body temperature was 76 degrees.

In addition to hypothermia, Thomas also suffered head and face injuries that were not consistent with Valva's story.

The couple 'engaged in conduct which created a grave risk of death to this child,' said Hart.

Hart said: 'As with any unattended death, homicide detectives conducted an investigation which revealed inconsistencies in the timing and the nature of the child's injures as reported by his father.'

'We have determined Thomas was never in the driveway that morning and he suffered head and facial injuries that were not consistent with the father's account.'

In addition to Thomas, Valva's six-year-old and 10-year-old brothers lived with the couple, as did Pollina's 11-year-old twin daughters and her six-year-old son.

The couple reportedly had an extensive home security system and monitored the children closely.

Said footage helped investigators discovered that Valva's other sons were punished with 'food deprivation and exposure to extremely frigid temperatures.'

The remaining children have been placed in Child Protective Services.

'We are still investigating the extent of the abuse and if it extended to all of the children,' said Hart.

Thomas' mother, Justyna Zubko-Valva (left), a correction's officer, said: 'I just keep praying for this case to be fully resolved and my little angel Thomas to rest peacefully in heavenI just wished somebody helped him'

Zubko-Valva (left), who lost custody of her children, has not seen Thomas (right) or his siblings in two years

Zubko-Valva said ex-husband Michael Valva (pictured) was abusive towards their three sons and had problems with his anger

Valva and Pollina will be arraigned Saturday morning. They both say they are innocent of any wrong doing.

'Both of them maintain their innocence 100 per cent. We'll see how the facts bear out,' Matthew Tuohy, their lawyer, said.

Valva released a statement regarding his son's death through his attorney.

'As with any tragedy, our office and Mr. Valva are shocked and saddened to learn of the horrible accident that took the life of young Thomas,' it read.

'We mourn his death with family and friends. Since Thomas' parents are in the midst of a divorce, we are unable to make any further comments at this time.'
White House correspondent April Ryan dances with members of the ECU Student Government Association as they record a TikTok video at the Main Campus Student Center on Wednesday night. | Photo: Rhett Butler

Ryan discusses civil rights issues as the keynote speaker for ECUs celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. | Photo: Rhett Butler

ECU students participated in the MLK Day of Service by volunteering at sites throughout Pitt County, including the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. | Photo: Imani McCray

White House correspondent and political analyst April Ryan presented the keynote address for East Carolina University's celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Wednesday night at the Main Campus Student Center, urging members of the audience to step out of their comfort zones in the pursuit of equality.Ryan said of King.He commanded that attention, she said, by making the comfortable uncomfortable.Ryan said.she said.Ryan, who has covered urban issues from the White House since the Clinton administration, delivers a minority perspective on the news through the American Urban Radio Networks and her "Fabric of America" blog, as well as on CNN as a political analyst. She has been featured in Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Elle magazines and is the author of three books: "The Presidency in Black and White," "At Mama's Knee" and "Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House."But she connected with her audience at ECU by starting her remarks with an experience shared by many - that of working in the tobacco fields of North Carolina. Though she calls Baltimore home, she has family in southeastern North Carolina and spent time putting up tobacco in pack houses, she said.she said, pointing to the challenges faced by black Americans reflected in gaps in the unemployment rate, poverty and home ownership.She urged the audience to look inside and to play a part in continuing the legacy of King and so many others who fought for civil rights. If we ask what Dr. King would do, she said, it would boil down to three things: organize, strategize and leverage.Ryan said.As a country, we are still working to form a more perfect union, she said, and it requires the participation of everyone.she said.Ryan closed her remarks with a call to action and leadership:she said.On Monday, Jan. 20, ECU students participated in a day of service honoring King's legacy; about 250 student volunteers visited service sites throughout the county, including the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, MacGregor Downs Health and Rehabilitation Center, Ronald McDonald House, RHA Health Services, Boys & Girls Club, Community Crossroads Center, and the ECU Purple Pantry.ECU also hosted a panel discussion on civil rights and a gospel concert as part of its MLK celebration.
Fears of defections are more in the Congress than the TRS, with the former experiencing a bitter lesson in the last assembly elections.

HYDERABAD: With counting of votes polled in municipal elections slated to commence on Saturday, camp politics have commenced in both the ruling TRS and the Opposition Congress.

All their candidates, who contested from various wards of municipalities, have been shifted to camps at the headquarters of the municipal councils and corporations. The TRS leadership has directed in-charges of municipalities, including ministers and MLAs, to keep their candidates safe from poaching until elections of municipal chairpersons and mayors of municipal corporations are not completed.

The candidates are being provided the best of facilities to prevent horse trading, whether in big hotels or farmhouses. Some have been shifted to neighbouring states.

Tight security is being maintained by parties at these camps, particular in those municipalities and corporations, where there is a close fight. Each councillor is expected to play a key role. The aspiring candidates for chairpersons and mayors are having to bear the expenditure incurred on these camps.

Meanwhile, the TRS leadership has given powers to its MLAs to issue whips for electing the official nominees as municipal chairpersons and corporation mayors. Before issuing B forms, both TRS and Congress had administered oath to candidates that they would abide by partys decision on the choice of chairpersons and mayors. Congress has taken a pledge even in writing that they will not change their party after winning.

Several TRS rebels have contested as candidates of the Forward Bloc Party. TRS leadership is hoping that the rebels will support its official nominees as mayors and chairpersons.

Fears of defections are more in the Congress than the TRS, with the former experiencing a bitter lesson in the last assembly elections. While TRS is expecting to sweep the elections, Congress is hoping to win a good number of seats.
The police on Saturday constituted three teams to arrest the masterminds behind a fake call centre that was busted on Friday in Udyog Vihar, Phase 4. The police had detained 32 workers for allegedly duping residents of the United States of America (USA) and Mexico, by posing as employees of an e-commerce company, of money through gift cards, but the masterminds evaded the police.

The detained employees were let go on Saturday after their statements were recorded, the police said.

According to the police, the masterminds allegedly duped Americans by posing as law enforcement officials and threatening to cancel their social security numbers (SSN) if they did not pay a fine. More than 1,000 Americans were duped, the police said.

Karan Goel, assistant commissioner of police, DLF, said that they have recovered data of at least 5,000 American citizens and that they were duped of crores of rupees. We have recovered 15 hard disks, the script meant to dupe the US citizens, computers, laptops and gift cards of paid apps, he said.

The police said they received a tip-off last week that a group in the city was running a fake call centre and it took them a few days, with the help of cybercrime police teams and informers, to locate it. We had conducted an internal investigation and our teams visited the call centre on a few occasions, after we received a number of complaints from users in the USA over the last three months. We will get the recovered hard disks scanned, along with their systems, to get an exact number of people targeted since this call centre was started, said Goel.

The police said the confiscated hardware will be sent to a laboratory in Madhuban of Karnal for forensic examination.

Goel said the owner of the call centre, three months ago, had hired young men, most of whom were from the northeastern states and Uttar Pradesh, and were class 10 and 12 pass outs. Thirty workstations were set up and a weeks training was given to them, along a script, the police said. They had also set up a toll-free number, from which they received calls from their targets, the police said.

The police said the suspects had developed several fake websites, which would direct the victims to call the toll-free number for assistance. The police estimate that the masterminds made over 1 crore in the last three months as the workers were paid 15,000 to 25,000 per month.

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China on Saturday announced plans to build a second hospital within half a month to treat more cases of the deadly coronavirus as the fast spreading virus continues to wreak havoc in the country and abroad with 41 people dead and more than 1,300 infected, dampening the Chinese New Year celebrations.

The confirmed cases for the first time crossed the 1,000 mark and rose sharply to 1,287 as of Friday with 237 people in critical condition battling for their lives in China, the National Health Commission said on Saturday.

Almost all provinces, including Beijing, are reporting steady rise in the number of cases mostly of people who travelled from Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak.

The pneumonia situation had resulted in 41 deaths, including 39 in central China's Hubei province and one in north-eastern province Heilongjiang, the health commission said on Saturday.

Additionally, a total of 1,965 suspected cases have also been reported, it said.

China on Saturday said it will build another 1,300 bed makeshift hospital in Wuhan in the next 15 days in addition to the 1,000 bed hospital being built in the city in 10 days, state-run People's Daily reported.

The feverish pace at which the hospitals are being built indicate that China apparently is preparing to treat far more patients considering the speed at which the virus is spreading.

The virus has spread to Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Nepal, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and the United States as of Thursday.

Japan on Friday reported a second confirmed case.

A chinese doctor reportedly died of the novel coronavirus on Saturday morning, the first fatality among health workers since the pneumonia-like illness first surfaced in late December, state-run China Daily quoted online website Paper.cn as saying.

Liang Wudong, a 62-year-old doctor with the otolaryngology department who treats conditions in the ear, nose and throat at Hubei Xinhua Hospital, was suspected of contracting the new virus on January 16. The hospital that he works is in Wuhan.

On January 18, he was transferred to Hubei Jinyintan Hospital, which has received the majority of infected patients, and died at about 7 am on Saturday, the report said.

Previously, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said on Tuesday that 15 medical workers were confirmed as contracting the virus, with one suspected case. One of them is critically ill, the China Daily report said.

Wuhan, the city of 11 million people, is where the virus is believed to have first emerged. The victims' average age is 73, with 89 being the oldest and 48 youngest.

Also China's National Health Commission has dispatched 1,230 medical staff to Wuhan to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak in the region.

Local media earlier reported that 450 military medical personnel have also landed in the city to offer support.

Also, the local government in Wuhan on Saturday has banned all vehicles, including private vehicles in downtown Wuhan to curb virus, a report by the Daily said.

The city along with 12 cities in Hubei province have already banned all public transport to prevent the virus from spreading.

At present, there is no cure for the virus which has pneumonia-like symptoms and is contagious among humans.

The virus has triggered a cause of concern for India too as many of the 700 odd Indian students studying in universities of Wuhan and Hubei provinces are still stuck up there.

The Indian Embassy has established hotlines to keep close contact with them.

The fast spreading virus dampened the celebrations of China's Lunar New Year which began on Saturday.

On Friday Chinese bid goodbye to "the year of the pig" to welcome "the year of rat".

In Chinese lunar calendar, years are grouped into a 12-year cycles, with each year assigned an animal symbol: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

In view of the virus scare, several cities, including Beijing, have cancelled special events. The festival is also known as the Spring Festival.

Large cultural activities during the spring festival in Beijing such as temple fairs were cancelled to prevent the spread of the virus.

China's biggest city Shanghai raised the emergency response to public health safety to level 1, the highest, following Beijing, and Hubei, Hunan, Zhejiang, Anhui and Guangdong provinces as more cases were reported.

Beijing so far has reported 34 confirmed cases of the coronavirus infection, official media reported.

Amid the unknown virus wreaking havoc, Chinese and American researchers are working together to develop a vaccine against the deadly new strain of the coronavirus.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday stopped short of declaring the virus a global public health emergency, despite China's climbing death toll.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.25

By Tamilla Mammadova  Trend:

Turkey exported 26,449 tons structures and parts of structures of iron or steel totaling $42.7 million to Georgia in 2019, Trend reports referring to the Georgian National Statistics Office (Geostat).

In an annual comparison, Turkey increased the export of structures and parts of structures of iron or steel by 5,529 tons. In 2018, 20,920 tons of structures of iron or steel were exported from Turkey to Georgia for a total of $36.9 million.

Turkey ranks first in Georgias commodity circulation.

In 2019, total imports to Georgia from Turkey amounted to $1.6 billion. In turn, Georgia exported goods worth $202.3 million to Turkey.

The foreign trade turnover of Georgia with Turkey in 2019 exceeded $1.8 billion, which is 14.1 percent of the total trade turnover of Georgia.

In 2019, the external merchandise trade (excluding non-declared trade) of Georgia amounted to $12.8 billion, 2.7 percent higher year-on-year.

The exports equaled $3.7 billion (12.4 percent higher), while the imports stood at $9.1 billion (0.8 percent lower).

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Mila61979356
The Washington Free Beacons Adam Kredo reports that Yale tapped Angela Davis as a Martin Luther King Day speaker last week. Who, students might have wondered if they had been so inclined, is Angela Davis? The Yale Daily News identified her in its story on her speech as an activist. Ron Radosh recalled in the 2012 Washington Times column Jury isnt out on Angela Davis when the D.C. Superior Court honored her:

She was the second black woman to make the FBIs Ten Most Wanted list. She earned that distinction as a fugitive wanted on murder and kidnapping charges stemming from her role in a notorious attack on a courtroom in Marin County in California.

On Aug. 7, 1970, a black 17-year-old named Jonathan Jackson, toting a small arsenal of guns, entered the courtroom of Judge Harold Haley, where convict James McClain was facing murder charges in the death of a prison guard. Brandishing a gun, Jackson halted the proceedings and then armed McClain, after which they together armed two other convicts, whod been called as witnesses in the case. Jackson and the three freed prisoners then took Judge Haley, the prosecutor and three female jurors hostage, bargaining chips in their effort to force the release from prison of older brother George Jackson, an armed robber who also was under indictment on murder charges in the death of another prison guard.

A career criminal turned Black Panther prison organizer, George Jackson was the author of Soledad Brother, a collection of his militant prison letters. The abductors fled with their hostages  Judge Haley now with a sawed-off shotgun taped under his chin, the others bound with piano wire  in a waiting van. They didnt get far before reaching a police roadblock, where a shootout erupted, leaving Judge Haley, Jonathan Jackson and two other kidnappers dead, the prosecutor paralyzed for life and a juror wounded.

It was quickly established that Angela Davis had purchased at least two of the guns used in the deadly attack, including the shotgun that killed Judge Haley, which she had bought two days earlier and which was then sawed off. California law considered anyone complicit in commission of a crime a principal. As a result, Marin County Superior Judge Peter Smith charged Ms. Davis with aggravated kidnapping and first-degree murder and issued an arrest warrant for her. Instead of surrendering for trial, Ms. Davis went into hiding. She was captured by the FBI almost three months later at a Howard Johnson motel on 10th Avenue in the heart of New York City.

Ms. Davis claimed that she was innocent, and her case became a cause celebre, as the international communist movement bankrolled her defense and organized a worldwide movement to Free Angela. Eventually, she was acquitted in 1972, despite her proven ownership of the murder weapons and a cache of letters she wrote to George Jackson in prison expressing her passionate romantic feelings for him and unambivalent solidarity with his commitment to political violence.

As in the O.J. Simpson trial, however, many remained convinced of the defendants guilt despite the jurys verdict. Ms. Davis was acquitted, wrote author and ex-radical David Horowitz for his FrontPage website, in part because of the difficulty the prosecution had in establishing in court the real connections between Davis and Jackson, and in part because the jury was stacked with political sympathizers like Mary Timothy, an anti-Vietnam [War] activist, who, according to Mr. Horowitz, would later become the love interest of Bettina Aptheker, a prominent Communist Party activist and organizer of the National United Committee to Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners.

NOTE: Ron has more on Davis in the 2019 Bulwark column The real Angela Davis and Discover the Networks has more here.
Association of Indigenous Peoples (APIB), an organisation representing 300 indigenous tribes from Brazil will reportedly sue the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for racism after he said that indigenous people are 'evolving' and becoming more like humans. The announcement by the APIB came on Friday, just a day before Bolsonaro's official visit to India. According to the international press, APIB lawyer Eloy Terena said that the organisation was preparing to make its case before the Supreme Court of the country, the only court which can listen to a case against the President.

Read: Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro Receives Ceremonial Reception At Rashtrapati Bhavan

A potential lawsuit against Bolsonaro

The controversial comments by Jair Bolsonaro reportedly came on Thursday, when a video posted on social media showed the Brazilian President saying, "The Indian has changed, he is evolving and becoming more and more, a human being like us, Bolsonaro said. What we want is to integrate him into society so he can own his land." However, this is not the first time when the former Army captain has come under the scanner for his comment. Earlier, he had said that the indigenous reserves are too large and his government wants to allow commercial mining of the area.

Read: With Jair Bolsonaro's Vist, India-Brazil Likely To Sign 15 Agreements In Various Fields

The President, who is known for his controversial stand on climate-related issues, reportedly wants the highly protected Amazon forest lands to be given to commercial companies for mining and extraction of other resources in the area. According to media reports, Brazil has some 8,50,000 indigenous people, most of whom live in the 12% of the protected lands in the Amazon rainforest. If media reports are to be believed, Bolsonaro had suggested that some of the larger reservations could have their boundaries reviewed.

Read: Brazilian President Bolsonaro To Arrive In India On 4-day Visit Today

Environmentalists and conservationists are concerned across the globe over the latest developments in Brazil. They think that these moves could further assimilate the indigenous people and could speed up the deforestation of Amazon rainforest, where reservations act as protective boundaries. Sonia Guajajara, leader of the Association of Indigenous Peoples (APIB) took to Twitter to confirm that they are going to the court against Jair Bolsonaro for the crime of racism. Meanwhile, Bolsonaro is currently in India as a chief guest for the Republic Day programme on January 26.

Read: Brazilian Prez Bolsonaro To Begin 4-day India Visit From Friday


(Natural News) Like the other tech giants, Google has a very bad attitude towards conservative voices and, as studies have shown, uses its massive market domination as a search engine and media company to silence anyone with whom its Left-wing managers disagree.

Now, the tech behemoth will have additional leverage over conservatives and other Americans with whom the company disagrees politically, socially, even culturally: Complete control over medical privacy (or lack thereof).

Google now has the ability to view or analyze tens of millions of patient health records in at least three-quarters of U.S. states, and wont say what theyre doing with the data except that they want to be helpful, tweeted conservative writer Rachel Bovard, including a story from The Wall Street Journal providing the details.

The story notes that about a year ago, Googles former top executive Eric Schmidt pitched the companys cloud storage technology to health data company Cerner Corp. The deal included about $250 million in discounts and incentives, according to people who are familiar with the deal. But:

Google had a bigger goal in pushing for the deal than dollars and cents: a way to expand its effort to collect, analyze and aggregate health data on millions of Americans. Google representatives were vague in answering questions about how Cerners data would be used, making the health-care companys executives wary, the people say. Eventually, Cerner struck a storage deal with Amazon.com Inc. instead.

Some people were incredulous and actually accused the WSJ of getting its reporting wrong. But Bovard set them straight.

Lets be clear that this is not confused reporting. Google is not merely storing the data. Per their own admission, they are storing, collecting, and analyzing non-anonymized, personal health data. We are way, way beyond cloud service agreements, people, Bovard said in a separate tweet.

Lets be clear that this is not confused reporting. Google is not merely storing the data. Per their own admission, they are storing, collecting, and analyzing non-anonymized, personal health data. We are way, way beyond cloud service agreements, people. https://t.co/RJ4aVlRxz1  Rachel Bovard (@rachelbovard) January 13, 2020

We dont do anything with Google

The failed effort with Cerner did not quell Googles enthusiasm for health data. Since then, the WSJ reported, Google has managed to land contracts with some of the countrys biggest hospital systems and most-renowned healthcare providers.

Within the course of a couple years, Google has managed to gain the ability to view and analyze tens of millions of healthcare records in three-quarters of U.S. states (now you know why we have always opposed electronic medical records, for just this reason, among others  hackers come to mind).

And of course, the tech giant isnt finished  nor will it be until it can access the medical records of every single American.

So they can be analyzed.

Now, what would Google want with so much health information? There are all kinds of possibilities and none of them good, as the WSJ notes. (Related: Doctors are FLEEING medical practice and changing careers in record numbers as health care system implodes.)

The prospect of tech giants amassing huge troves of health records has raised concerns among lawmakers, patients and doctors, who fear such intimate data could be used without individuals knowledge or permission, or in ways they might not anticipate, the paper reported.

Exactly.

And what about the Fourth Amendment? Where is our right to be secure in our homes, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches? Or does the Fourth Amendments protections only apply to government? No, according to Cornell Law School; the Constitutions privacy provisions also form the basis for privacy law.

Butno. According to the WSJ, laws passed by Congress during the dial-up age of the Internet make it legal for Google to use information it gathers from health companies for purposes beyond diagnosing illnesses, the companys stated objective.

Fortunately, not all health companies are in on this.

We are not actively doing anything today with Google, Kaiser Permanente Vice President Elizabeth McGlynn told the paper. We have to be very clear about who shares our values about protecting patient privacy. Not every tech company can satisfy that standard.

Sources include:

WSJ.com

NewsTarget.com

Law.Cornell.edu
Founder and chief executive of Amazon Jeff Bezos received a WhatsApp message and encrypted video, allegedly from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, before his phone began exporting large amounts of data, a report backed by two UN officials claims: EPA

Text messages allegedly sent by Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos may have been sold to tabloid newspaper the National Enquirer by his girlfriends brother, according to sources quoted by The Wall Street Journal.

According to the paper, federal prosecutors are examining messages, including at least one photograph, first sent by the worlds richest man to news reporter Lauren Sanchez, with whom he was having an extramarital affair.

Last year, Mr Bezos hinted Saudi Arabia had played a role in the National Enquirers 11-page expose of the affair.

The Wall Street Journals claims come days after experts working for Mr Bezos also concluded with medium to high confidence a WhatsApp account used by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was directly involved in hacking the billionaires phone in May 2018, according to the FT, which saw the report.

The report was endorsed by two UN human rights officials.

The US attorneys office has also been investigating whether Mr Bezoss phone was hacked.

But according to The Wall Street Journal, who spoke to people familiar with the matter, evidence gathered by federal prosecutors includes a text message sent on 10 May 2018 from the phone of Ms Sanchez to her brother Michael Sanchez containing a flirtatious message originally sent from the Amazon boss.

The messages were reportedly among the materials handed to federal prosecutors as part of their investigation into whether American Media Inc  publisher of the National Enquirer  attempted to extort Mr Bezos, as he has claimed.

The materials given to prosecutors also include a message sent on 3 July 2018 from Ms Sanchezs phone to her brothers featuring a photo of a shirtless Mr Bezos.

Evidence of a payment of $200,000 (152,000) from the National Enquirer to Mr Sanchez in October 2018 has also been given to prosecutors, and appears to support American Medias earlier statements that Mr Sanchez was the source for the National Enquirers article on the affair.

Story continues

Mr Sanchez has denied the allegations, telling The Sunday Telegraph that the images did not come from him and that he sincerely believes they were obtained illegally.

The report into alleged Saudi hacking of Mr Bezoss phone details how his iPhone X apparently started surreptitiously sending vast amounts of data immediately after he was sent an encrypted video file from the Saudi Crown Princes WhatsApp account in May 2018.

The pair had exchanged numbers weeks beforehand during a dinner they both attended in Los Angeles.

Prince Mohammed had been on a trade mission in an effort to attract further investment by US executives in Saudi Arabia.

But the relationship between Mr Bezos and Prince Mohammed deteriorated after the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. A CIA investigation concluded the Saudi Crown Prince personally ordered the assassination of the writer, who had written articles critical of the Saudi government.

The Saudi embassy has described the allegations they hacked Mr Bezoss phone as absurd.

In a statement to the FT after the publication of the report carried out on behalf of Mr Bezos, a Saudi official said: Saudi Arabia does not conduct illicit activities of this nature, nor does it condone them.

We request the presentation of any supposed evidence and the disclosure of any company that examined any forensic evidence so that we can show it is demonstrably false.
Investigations by the Jammu & Kashmir Police (JKP) into seven grenade attacks on Indian security forces since the nullification of Article 370 last August have revealed a link between the terror strikes -- they were all Chinese-made grenades, and four of their levers had the same serial numbers -- according to people familiar with the matter.

This has led the investigators to conclude that a consignment of Chinese ordnance used by the Pakistan Army was smuggled into the Valley across the Line of Control (LoC), the people added.

Officials from JKP and North Block, who asked not to be named, said that grenades with the same series of Chinese levers (86P/01-03/632) were used in four attacks in Srinagar district. The lever (or safety handle) falls off when the pin is pulled before hurling a grenade.

The officials cited above said that use of Chinese-made grenades in Pakistan-backed terror ops was evident from the fact that 23 grenades and 17 AK-series rifles seized by Punjab Police since August 2019 were dropped using Chinese-made drones across the international border. Punjab Police has busted eight modules and arrested 41 alleged terrorists post August 2019.

Over the past five months, Punjab Police has also seized 221kg of pure Afghan heroin smuggled across the border from Pakistan. The officials added that the drugs were being used to fund terror strikes against India.

The use of Chinese grenades is a change from the past, when the Arges grendade, manufactured by an Austrian firm, was used in major attacks in India  including the 2008 Mumbai strike, the 1993 Mumbai blasts and the 2001 Parliament attack. The Wah Cantonment Ordnance factory in Rawalpindi held had a franchise to manufacture the high-explosive Arges hand grenades. The officials said with the collaboration now discontinued, the Pakistan Army was relying on Chinese weapons and ordnance.

A retired Indian Army general told HT that same series of Chinese grenade levers shows that Pakistan was trying to orchestrate violence in Kashmir post the August 5 reorganisation of J&K and that consignments of rifles and ordnances have been smuggled to put the plan into action.

On Saturday, four overground workers of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were apprehended by security forces in Bandipora. The recoveries, according to the forces, included two under-barrel grenade launchers, four UBL grenades, two pistols, 10 AK-47 magazines, and 312 AK rounds.

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According to Dmitriy Peskov, Russia's policy in terms of Ukraine has not changed

Open source

There are no decrees on the resignation of Vladislav Surkov, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. The speaker of the president of Russia Dmitry Peskov said this in a comment to Interfax news agency on January 25.

He added that he did not have any information on this issue.

Besides, according to Peskov, Russia's policy "in the Ukrainian direction" has not changed, and "any reasoning on this subject is a personal point of view."

Earlier, the director of the Center for Political Conjuncture Alexei Chesnakov said that Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov left the civil service.

Surkov is responsible for shaping policies with regard to Ukraine and cooperation with Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He was also called the "architect" of the war in the Donbass and the main ideologist of creating terrorist groups, the "people's republics" in eastern Ukraine.

Vladislav Surkov served as Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation from September 20, 2013 till now, and also from March 26, 2004 to May 7, 2008.

As we reported, on the evening of January 22, Jerusalem police detained a man on suspicion of organizing an assassination attempt on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A man approached a police officer and asked if Vladimir Putin arrived at the Yad Vashem memorial complex. She replied that she had not arrived and asked why the man needed this information. He replied that he wanted to "remove him."
This week saw the countrys most valuable coin return to our soils after being purchased by a private British buyer from an American collector. The Edward VIII sovereign, one of six that were minted but never mass-produced due to the kings abdication, exchanged hands for a cool 1m, despite having a face value of only 1. Only one other is in private hands; the other four are in museums and other public institutions.

Imagine owning a one million pound coin. Where would you put it? The pressure. I never even take my wedding rings off after the time I lost one for days, only to find it in a random trouser pocket. I nearly died from a heart attack in the interim. My ring is extremely cheap compared to this coin (though probably a lot harder to lose). I dont imagine youd carry it on your person and if you did, youd be a prize idiot  which brings me on to a bright idea Ive had for how to solve economic crises.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 25

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia David John Hurley.

It is on the occasion of Australia Day that on my personal behalf and behalf of the people of Azerbaijan I offer my cordial congratulations to you and your people, Ilham Aliyev said in his letter.

I believe the development of the ties of friendship and cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Commonwealth of Australia will contribute further to the prosperity of our peoples, reads the letter. On this prominent day, I wish strong health and success to you, and everlasting peace and prosperity to the friendly people of Australia.
The devastated families of the three heroic Americans killed when their firefighting plane crashed in Australia have begun arriving in Sydney.

It comes as crash investigators tackle an incredibly complicated kilometre-long crash sight in an attempt to retrieve the water-bombing plane's blackbox.

The families of captain Ian McBeth, first officer Paul Clyde Hudson and flight engineer Rick DeMorgan Jr will be offered the chance to visit the crash site northeast of Cooma.

Their plane exploded into a fireball on impact near Peak View in NSW after losing contact with the ground on Thursday afternoon.

An upset woman was seen being escorted through Sydney Airport on Saturday (pictured) after flying in from America

The woman (pictured), a family member of one of the American men, will get a chance to visit the crash site

Captain Ian McBeth (pictured, centre) with his family, daughters Ella and Abigail, wife Bowide and son Calvin (left to right)

Pictured: Captain Ian McBeth, from Great Falls, Montana, was an experienced pilot who had dedicated years of his life to fighting fires in the military and with Coulson Aviation

Rick DeMorgan Jr (pictured), a father-of-two from Florida, served in the US Air Force for 18 years as a flight engineer on the C-130

Captain McBeth, 44, was an experienced military pilot and is survived by his wife and three children.

Mr DeMorgan Jr had two sons and more than 4,000 hours experience flying waterbomb planes.

First Officer Hudson, 42, served in the United States Marine Corp for 20 years and is survived by his wife.

Fire chiefs hailed the men as 'remarkable', well-respected professionals with decades of experience on both sides of the Pacific.

The US trio died when their C-130 Hercules dropped fire retardant along a ridge and then crashed at Peak View northeast of Cooma, NSW.

Their bodies were recovered by police on Friday.

Captain McBeth is survived by his wife, Bowdie, and their three children, Abigail, Calvin and Ella (pictured). The family live in Great Falls, Montana

The tanker plummeted to the ground in Peak View, north-east of Cooma (pictured) on Thursday afternoon

The remains of the plane (pictured) is seen at the crash sight in Peak View in southern NSW

Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators on Saturday will make the site safe by securing aviation fuel, the magnesium wheels and any unexploded oxygen bottles before recovering the plane's voice recorder.

The kilometre-long crash site was 'complicated' because it was in an active bushfire area, ATSB chief commissioner Greg Hood said on Friday.

Representatives of Canadian company Coulson Aviation, which operated the C-130 dubbed Zeus, accompanied a relative in Sydney airport on Saturday.

Coulson has described the three airmen as 'fallen heroes' and said the deaths would be 'deeply felt by all' in the aviation industry and emergency service sector.

Three American firefighters died when their waterbomber crashed while fighting a huge bushfire (stock image)

A floral tribute is seen near the crash site on Friday in Peak View (pictured), a day after the three American men lost their lives

Florida father-of-two Mr DeMorgan, 43, spent 18 years in the US Air Force as a flight engineer on C-130s with extensive combat experience.

His loss was 'surreal', his sister said online.

'He was a beloved friend, colleague, father, son and most of all brother,' Jen DeMorgan posted online.

'To most the sky was the limit, to them it was home.'

Former Air Force colleague Lexi Petel thanked Mr DeMorgan 'for the wisdom'.

Coulson said Capt McBeth's love for his wife Bowdie and three children 'was evident for anyone who spent time around him'.

The flight path of the plane after it left Richmond, NSW, and headed for the fire front before crashing. The altitude tracker shots its sudden descent before losing contact (pictured)

Flags will fly at half-mast on Saturday in Montana, where the highly qualified 44-year-old pilot flew with the National Guard.

Close friend Cassandra Baker thanked Capt McBeth for the 'all the arguments, bear poking, crap talking, hearty laughter, and for just being you, always'.

'Thank you for loving my best friend so dearly and ardently, so often from afar, for bringing such beautiful children into this world, and for doing a noble thing that you also happened to love,' she posted online.

Montana Governor and one-time presidential hopeful Steve Bullock said Capt McBeth took his call of duty even further to help those in need across the world.

A former comrade shared this throwback photo of First Officer Paul Hudson (pictured, right) as a young US Marine

New South Wales forensic officers and a coroner's van leave the crash site (pictured) on Friday

'Ian was a devoted father and husband, a brave first responder, and a selfless service member who made the ultimate sacrifice helping the people of Australia combat the catastrophic wildfires devastating their country,' Mr Bullock said.

Mr Hudson, a 42-year-old from the outskirts of Phoenix, spent 20 years as a US Marine, flying C-130s and receiving many decorations as he reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He is survived by his wife Noreen.

'Arizona is heartbroken by this news,' Arizona Governor Doug Ducey said.

'First Officer Paul Hudson was a hero who dedicated his life to service, first as a Marine, then as a firefighter. And when help was needed to fight wildfires in Australia, he didn't hesitate.'

The death toll from NSW's unprecedented bushfire season climbed to 25 on Friday evening after the body of a 59-year-old man was found in a home on the state's South Coast.
America is 'prepared to dedicate a lot of resources' to securing a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK this year, the country's treasury secretary has said.

Steven Mnuchin said he was 'quite optimistic' about striking an agreement between Britain and the US in 2020 as he spoke at Chatham House in central London.

Mr Mnuchin earlier met Chancellor Sajid Javid for breakfast at 11 Downing Street, over which he was also expected to raise concerns over the potential for Britain to allow Huawei to help build its 5G infrastructure.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (pictured at Chatham House today) said he was 'quite optimistic' about striking an agreement between Britain and the US in 2020 as he spoke at Chatham House in central London

On a future trade deal, he told the audience: 'We've said that our goal - your goal is trying to get both of these trade agreements done this year - and I think from a US standpoint we are prepared to dedicate a lot of resources.

'If the UK and US have very similar economies with a big focus on services, and I think this will be a very important relationship.

'And this is going back to the president during the campaign, he said, post-Brexit, they'll be at the top of the list.'

Britain will seek to conduct parallel trade talks with the US and European Union after it leaves the bloc on January 31.

Mr Mnuchin earlier met Chancellor Sajid Javid (pictured) for breakfast at 11 Downing Street. Britain will seek to conduct parallel trade talks with the US and European Union after it leaves the bloc on January 3

Mr Mnuchin also reiterated the US's opposition to Britain's plans to tax tech giants.

The Chancellor intends to introduce a 2% levy on the revenues of search engines, social media platforms and online marketplaces which derive value from UK users.

He has said the digital services tax will only be a temporary measure until an international agreement is in place on how to deal with online giants such as Google and Facebook.

But Mr Mnuchin said the US believes 'any tax that is designed specifically on digital companies is a discriminatory tax'.

He said such a tax is 'not appropriate' and has 'violations to our tax treaties and other issues'.

'So, we're working through that and I think we have a good outcome of trying to give some room now in 2020 to continue these discussions.'
Visiting Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Saturday was given a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

He arrived here on Friday, accompanied by his daughter Laura Bolsonaro, daughter-in-law Leticia Firmo, 8 ministers, 4 members of the Brazilian parliament, a number of deligates and other senior officials.

The President has come to India for a four-day visit.

Following the ceremonial welcome, the Brazilian leader told the media: "I am very excited to be here in India and to take part in the national Republic Day. We will use this opportunity to be close to India and the bilateral ties will be substantially boosted by this visit."

"After all, our great nations share a great deal in common... We rank amongst the 10 largest economies of the world... Our two nations will grow more after this important state visit", he added.

On his part, Modi called Brazil a valuable partner in India's economic growth. He said that both the countries are together on various global issues despite geographical distance.

This is the third time that India has invited a Brazilian leader as the chief guest for India's Republic Day celebrations.

The Brazilian president will grace India's 71st Republic Day Parade as Chief Guest on Sunday.
SRINAGAR: Two terrorists, believed to be associated with Pakistan-backed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad, were killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Awantipora on Saturday. According to reports, one of two terrorists killed in the encounter is believed to be a top JeM commander.

The dead bodies of the slain terrorists are yet to be recovered and the encounter is still underway.

Earlier reports claimed that a top JeM commander and two other terrorists were suspected to be trapped following the encounter with security forces in Awantipora in Pulwama district.

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The Jammu and Kashmir Police and security personnel are involved in the joint operation.

On Friday, terrorists lobbed a grenade in Noorbagh area of Srinagar, officials said.
The minister set no timetable for deporting Mr. Jacobson and indicated that the authorities were still investigating whether he had broken any laws. Since his release on Friday, Mr. Jacobson has been free to move around the city of Palangkaraya, where he was arrested, but not to travel outside the city.

We will try to just deport him soon if he didnt commit any other crime, Mr. Mahfud said.

A State Department spokesman said the United States Embassy in Jakarta had been in frequent communication with Mr. Jacobson since he was first contacted by Indonesian immigration authorities and that it was following his case closely.

A story posted on Mongabays website said that Mr. Jacobson had been moved from the jail, where he had shared a cell with five other prisoners, to city detention.

We are grateful that authorities have made this accommodation and remain hopeful that Phils case can be treated as an administrative matter rather than a criminal one, said Mongabays founder and chief executive, Rhett A. Butler.

Indonesia requires visiting foreign journalists to obtain a journalist visa, a cumbersome and lengthy process that allows the authorities to question an applicants reporting plan, deny a visa without explanation or take no action at all.
The Iowa caucuses are just around the corner  but with the impeachment trial underway in Washington, the presidential campaign is in a strange sort of suspended animation.

Well catch you up on what happened during a busy and critical week in the Democratic primary.

Sanders vs. Biden

From the start, this Democratic campaign has been a contest between the left and the center. As he rises in the polls, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is hoping to simplify matters, gunning for a two-person race against former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Last weekend, Mr. Biden accused Mr. Sanderss campaign of promoting a doctored video that showed Mr. Biden appearing to support cuts to Social Security. (The video was short and did not include context, but did not appear to have been doctored.) Mr. Biden said he had been a gigantic supporter of Social Security from the beginning, and pointed to a PolitiFact article calling Mr. Sanderss claims false. But he has supported Social Security freezes before.

Then, on Monday, Mr. Sanders apologized on a separate matter, disavowing an op-ed by one of his surrogates, Zephyr Teachout, who argued that Mr. Biden represents the transactional, grossly corrupt culture of Washington. It is absolutely not my view that Joe is corrupt in any way, Mr. Sanders told CBS News, and Im sorry that that op-ed appeared.
She said that for the past few weeks, the Iranian regime has suffered a number of blows; perhaps most importantly the November uprising that brought the regimes overthrow within reach.

Maryam Rajavi said: The November uprising confirmed that the uprising by rebellious youths and the army of the deprived and the destitute, who rose up in December 2017, has continued and will forge ahead until it topples the religious tyranny in its entirety. The blazing uprising and subsequent developments proved that despite the regimes bloody crackdown, our society has elevated its high morale and fighting spirit, and is heading towards yet another uprising.

She said that the uprising has reached its peak, with the whole world hearing the cries for freedom of the Iranian people, even though the regime killed 1,500, wounded 4,000, and arrested 12,000 in a desperate attempt to maintain control.

Maryam Rajavi said: They committed no offense other than demanding their rights and freedoms but were ruthlessly targeted by [the Iranian security forces because the regime was] terrified of the specter of being overthrown at the hands of our people.

She said that the rebellious youth are determined to bring down the regime and will continue until they reach victory.

Maryam Rajavi said that Khamenei has lashed out at the Iranian Resistance, headquartered in Albania, for its role in the November uprising over the tripling of fuel prices, as if the Resistance was planning these months before, which would be strange considering most Iranian officials are denying prior knowledge of the price hike.

Maryam Rajavi said that the death of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in a US drone strike in early January dealt a crushing blow to the regimes export of fundamentalism and terrorism.

She said: In circumstances where our society remains simmering owing to the sacrifice of more than 1,500 innocent young people across our homeland, the US elimination of the most important commander of Khameneis murderous Revolutionary Guards was an irreparable blow to the regimes top brass. It was the Iranian peoples November uprising and the uprisings by the people of the Middle East, particularly the relentless sacrifices made by the people of Iraq, which set the stage for this blow. The regime resorted to foreign crises to evade the consequences of the November uprising, but it ended up setting a fire which quickly eliminated their own leaders.

Thus, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is trying to show strength by launching missiles indiscriminately at US bases in Iraq. This ridiculous effort actually ended up with the regime shooting down a Ukrainian airliner over Tehran, mistaking it for a retaliatory missile from the US, and killing 176 civilians.

In our next piece, we will discuss Maryam Rajavis comments on Soleimani.
This week, Bernie Sanders presidential campaign released a Twitter ad touting a sort-of endorsement from popular podcast host Joe Rogan. Its an effective ad. Rogan is arguably the most influential podcaster today, or at least has one of the widest reaches. Rogan, in the ad, makes the case for Sanders consistency. In it, he says: Look, you could dig up dirt on every single human being thats ever existed if you catch them in their worst moment and you magnify those moments and you cut out everything else and you only display those worst moments. That said, you cant find very many with Bernie.

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I think I'll probably vote for Bernie... Hes been insanely consistent his entire life. Hes basically been saying the same thing, been for the same thing his whole life. And that in and of itself is a very powerful structure to operate from. -Joe Rogan pic.twitter.com/fuQP0KwGGI  Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 23, 2020

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Rogans comments might prompt some Sanders skeptics to think twice, so its not hard to understand why the campaign seized on it. But ever since the ad dropped, Ive wondered if the campaign has any idea whose opinion its celebrating.

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I understand Rogans appeal. I was once a regular listener. Although not all of my colleagues would agree, I found him to be a genuinely funny, engaging host who welcomes his guests to try to prove him wrong. But the more I tuned in, the more uncomfortable I got. Under the albeit honorable guise of giving every end of the political spectrum a fair shake, hes introduced his mega-audience to guests with unquestionably racist and sexist views, which go largely unchallenged. In one episode, his guest Gad Saad floated the debunked myth that the term Islamophobia only exists as a political ploy to give cover to dangerous foreign Islamist groups. In another, Gavin McInnes, founder of the Proud Boys, a violent far-right gang, uses bogus statistics to argue that the Muslim world, where my family immigrated from, is too inbred for the West. Rogan also makes a game of having white people say the N-word and dabbles in transphobia and sexism, all nonchalantly mixed in with sometimes genuinely nuanced conversations about foreign policy, media, and sports. That these views are smuggled in between seemingly thoughtful conversations makes the unchecked bigotry all the more dangerous.

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This is, needless to say, not a person whom Sanders should be excited to have in his camp. And after backlash on social media, the campaign responded disappointingly. The goal of our campaign is to build a multi-racial, multi-generational movement that is large enough to defeat Donald Trump and the powerful special interests whose greed and corruption is the root cause of the outrageous inequality in America, Sanders press secretary said in a statement. Sharing a big tent requires including those who do not share every one of our beliefs, while always making clear that we will never compromise our values. The truth is that standing together in solidarity, we share the values of love and respect that will move us in the direction of a more humane, more equal world.

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We share the values of love and respect that will move us in the direction of a more humane, more equal world. I would ask if Sanders had ever heard Rogans show, but Im reminded he went on himself in 2019. This was not a one-time, off-the-cuff mistake.

Am I expecting too much from Sanders not to welcome a potential campaign boost at a moment when he may be ascendant? Perhaps. But while I support Sanders politics, ads like these put me and many others in the uncomfortable position of wondering about our place in his coalition. The new ad is not just Rogan speaking out for Bernieits also Bernie legitimizing Rogan, whose podcast trades in dangerous myths about already marginalized people. Do I have to make myself comfortable with arguments about whether my DNA is inferior? Should I think twice about voting for someone who will embrace people who entertain those arguments too?

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I dont know the answers, but to be honest, I didnt expect to have to ask these questions either. I agree with Rogan that Sanders has been especially consistent on civil rights. But I also believe its essential to condemn pundits for their proximity to racism. Sam Harris and Bill Maher are other popular podcasters Ive had to quit because theyve dabbled with xenophobia. Sanders acceptance of Rogan feels like an affront to my religious dignity, and the dignity of a lot of other people he hopes will vote for him. And Im not quite sure what to do.

Every election, when I get excited about a presidential campaign, my father reminds me that as Muslims in this democracy, we arent privileged enough to vote for someone who will speak for uswe can only ever vote for the candidate wholl hurt us the least. In the last primary, I voted for Sanders. My father wouldnt tell me whom he voted for. Right now, seeing someone like Rogan proudly touted on my candidates Twitter feed, Im finding myself sitting on the fence.
Queen Elizabeth has given Prince William (pictured in 2015) a new title days after stripping Prine Harry of his HRH status. Photo: Getty Images.

Just days after she stripped grandson Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle of their Royal Highness titles, the Queen has bestowed a brand new one upon Harrys older brother, Prince William.

The future king has been appointed Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for 2020, it was revealed on Sunday.

The 37-year-old royal was chosen by his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, to act as her representative at the General Assembly in May where hell make opening and closing addresses.

The Queen has appointed Prince William as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the @churchscotland this year.



Find out more here  https://t.co/YaPU7FjUYU  Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) January 25, 2020

The Queen has appointed Prince William as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the @churchscotland this year, Kensington Palace announced on Twitter.

Royal fans appear to be thrilled with Wills new role and have tweeted their praise for Her Majestys decision.

Bravo Prince William...Bravo your majesty!!!!!, wrote one.

Prince William is the perfect representative for HM., wrote another.

Wills younger brother Harry, 35, and Duchess Meghan, 38, were formally stripped of their HRH titles last week following their shock decision to step back as senior royals and decamp to Canada with their young son Archie.

As they begin their financially independent life abroad, the couple will still able to use their Duke and Duchess of Sussex styling, however, which appears to be a key feature of their newly-trademarked Sussex Royal branding.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have stepped back at senior royals to live in Canada with Archie. Photo: Getty Images.

What does the Lord High Commissioner do?

The Lord High Commissioner's role is to maintain the relationship between the State and the Church, and the Queen appoints a new Commissioner each year, on the advice of the prime minister.

Story continues

Members of the royal family who have served in the past include the Queen's children Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

The Lord High Commissioner makes opening and closing addresses to the General Assembly and reports to the Queen on its proceedings.

As with previous Lord High Commissioners, Will will be permitted to stay at the Palace of Holyroodhouse for the duration of the week-long event and receive a Guard of Honour, a 21-Gun Salute and the keys to the City of Edinburgh, according to Royal.uk.

Will and Kate stepped out at the 2019 BAFTAS in London, England. Photo: Getty Images.

Cambridges BAFTAs night out

Prince William and his wife Kate Middletons calendars are quickly filling up, with another engagement announced this week.

The pair will don their red carpet best to attend the glitzy British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards - or BAFTAs - on February 2.

The Cambridges are regulars at the prestigious awards ceremony but this year is particularly special for Wills wholl be celebrating a decade as BAFTAs president.

Prince William and his wife Duchess Catherine are regulars at the prestigious awards ceremony and this time they will celebrate William's 10th year as President of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

The couples official Twitter account, @KensingtonRoyal, confirmed their upcoming date night on Friday which will be held at Londons Royal Albert Hall.

Additional reporting by BANG Showbiz.

Got a story tip or just want to get in touch? Email us at lifestyle.tips@verizonmedia.com
T he US is willing to "dedicate a lot of resources to securing a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK by the end of the year, according to the nations treasury secretary.

Steven Mnuchin said he was quite optimistic about striking an agreement between Britain and the US in 2020, as he spoke at Chatham House in central London.

Mr Mnuchin met Chancellor Sajid Javid for breakfast at 11 Downing Street, earlier today.

The pair discussed trade, while he was also expected to raise concerns over the potential for Britain to allow Huawei to help build its 5G infrastructure .

Britain will seek to conduct parallel trade talks with the US and European Union after it leaves the bloc / AFP via Getty Images

On a future trade deal, he told the audience: Weve said that our goal  your goal is trying to get both of these trade agreements done this year  and I think from a US standpoint we are prepared to dedicate a lot of resources.

If the UK and US have very similar economies with a big focus on services, and I think this will be a very important relationship.

And this is going back to the president during the campaign, he said, post-Brexit, theyll be at the top of the list.

Steven Mnuchin said he was quite optimistic about striking an agreement between Britain and the US / Getty Images

Britain will seek to conduct parallel trade talks with the US and European Union later this year, after leaving the bloc on January 31.

Mr Mnuchin also reiterated the USs opposition to Britains plans to tax tech giants.

The Chancellor intends to introduce a two percent levy on the revenues of search engines, social media platforms and online marketplaces which derive value from UK users.

He has said the digital services tax will only be a temporary measure. It will be in place until an international agreement is in place on how to deal with online giants such as Google and Facebook.

But Mr Mnuchin said the US believes any tax that is designed specifically on digital companies is a discriminatory tax.

He said such a tax is not appropriate and has violations to our tax treaties and other issues.
Mumbai: The Shiv Sena has said that Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslims who have entered the country should be thrown out and "there is no doubt about it".

The party made the statement in the wake of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray`s remarks that his party will take out a huge rally on February 9 in Mumbai to drive "illegal infiltrators" from Pakistan and Bangladesh, out of India.

In its mouthpiece Saamana, the party attacked Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray for his change of stand with respect to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and his shift towards Hindutva. "Yesterday, the MNS said that they support the CAA. However, just a month back, they were against this act," Shiv Sena said.

"Our party has never given up its ideology of Hindutva and also worked for Marathi people. This is the reason why people in the state have accepted us," the party added.

The Sena also questioned whether Thackeray`s change of stand will be accepted by the people or not.

"Some people use the name of Hindutva for their benefit, but even if some party does that we have the large heart to accept them. Go ahead if possible."
A man was arrested from Dharavi in Mumbai on Saturday afternoon for allegedly raping a five- year-old girl, police said.

The girl was found unconscious at Arora Junction in Matunga on Thursday morning and a check-up at civic-run Sion Hospital nearby confirmed she had been sexually assaulted, an official said.

The police, at the time, had managed to trace the victim's mother who filed a rape complaint.

A special team working under the supervision of the local deputy commissioner nabbed Atik Noushad Hussein Sheikh from Shahunagar area of Dharavi, he informed.

"We zeroed in on the suspect after going through CCTV images of the vicinity. His picture was circulated in the area, and on a tip-off, a team went to Shahunagar and arrested him on Saturday," the official said.

He has been charged under section 376AB (rape on woman under 12 years of age) of the Indian Penal Code as well as provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the official informed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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- Uhuru sarcastically claimed some of the international journalists were reporting Nigerians issues from Kenya

- The president said he has since stopped watching such news stories because they misrepresent facts

- President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni have too shared similar sentiments about international media

President Uhuru Kenyatta has taken a swipe at the international media for what he termed as negative perception of the African continent.

Uhuru, who categorically stated he had stopped watching international media, claimed most of the international journalists have a habit of portraying African states as vulnerable without bothering to get the exact facts.

READ ALSO: William Ruto, Raila rivalry divides MCAs on coordination of BBI rallies in Nairobi

Uhuru Kenyatta holding talks with BritainPrime Minister Boris Johnson. Photo: State House.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Kenya Rugby 7s team thrills Kenyans with synced dance to Nadia Mukami's song

Speaking during an official visit to London on Wednesday, January 22, the Kenyan leader said most of the international media houses have a wrong understanding of Africa and often classified it as one landmass which can be covered by a few journalists.

"There is an unfortunate perception problem created by the media that every single day it is the negative aspect of Africa that is brought up every day," said Ujuru

He left his audience in stitches when he sarcastically mocked how international reporters would extensively cover a story in Nigeria and only to signed out from Kenya.

"You will hear all of them AlJeezera, CNN, BBC, Sky News whichever one you will flip to, they are talking about something that happened in Rwanda, South Sudan, Ethiopia or even sometimes as far as Nigeria then when the guy is signing off you will hear him say this is John White reporting from Nairobi Kenya," Uhuru said sarcastically amid laughs and giggles.

Uhuru said such kind of coverage not only raises credibility issues but also end up creating an impression that the country from which the reporter is signing out is the one affected with the issues being aired.

"After that people will only think about Nairobi Kenya, that all the problems that have been talked about are in Nairobi Kenya, if it is hunger and starvation people will just see Nairobi Kenya," said Uhuru"

Other African leaders who have taken issue with the manner in which international media cover Africa President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni.

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.

Are Kenyans happy with the leaders they elected? | Tuko TV

Source: TUKO.co.ke
PHOENIX - A woman charged with murder in the deaths of her three young kids in Phoenix was the subject of several home visits by police and child-welfare authorities when she previously lived in Oklahoma, according to police reports.

The reports released Friday by police in Prague, Oklahoma, say a relative was given custody of Rachel Henrys children for seven days in August 2018 while child-welfare authorities decided whether to take them away permanently or return them to their mother.

The children were temporarily taken away because Henry was caught at her apartment with her boyfriend, Pedro Genaro Rios, who had been accused earlier of threatening Henry and one of her children, according to the reports.

Child-welfare authorities, who were trying to get Henry into another home, had warned her that her children would be taken away if she returned to the apartment or was seen with Rios.

Henry, 22, is charged with first-degree murder in Mondays killings of 3-year-old Zane Henry, 7-month-old Catalaya Rios and Miraya Henry, who would have turned 2 years old next week.

Prosecutors said Henry acknowledged having a history of methamphetamine addiction and that her children had previously been removed from their home by child-welfare authorities in Oklahoma due to issues related to her drug problem. Henrys family moved to Phoenix in June.

The Arizona Department of Child Safety said it didnt have any earlier contacts or abuse reports involving the family.

No motive for the killings has emerged. Authorities say Henry wasnt under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the killings.

Attorney Alan Tavassoli, who represents Henry on the murder charges, didnt return a call seeking comment on the criminal charges against his client and her earlier dealings with child-welfare authorities.

Efforts to get comment from Rios, who doesnt have a listed phone number, were unsuccessful.

Court records say other people were at the home, but police declined to say whether any of them were there when the children were suffocated. No one else has been charged.

Police in Oklahoma said Henry was still living with Rios in August 2018 when an officer showed up at the home to check up on the children. Henry told police that the children were staying with a friend, but the friend said she didnt have them on that given day, according to the reports.

Four days later, an officer and child-welfare employee went to check on the children again. Initially, Henry denied the children were in the apartment, but she finally acknowledged they were there after a baby was heard crying in a bedroom.

When Henry was asked whether she had left the children alone while she was at the store, Rios came out of the bathroom. Henry and child-welfare authorities agreed to have the children stay with a relative while it was decided whether the mother would get them back, according to the reports.

The Oklahoma Department of Human Services, which provides child protective services, has declined to provide specifics on Henrys case, but issued a statement Friday saying the Henry case was heartbreaking.

While Oklahomas confidentiality statutes prevent us from speaking to this case specifically, we can say that, in a typical case, all child welfare systems have various intervention methods to ensure child safety, the agency said. Many of these intervention methods do not include removal from a parent, but can include services and resources to preserve or strengthen the protective capacities of the parent or caretaker.

The agency has declined to say whether it had a method for informing other states about parents who had run into trouble with child-welfare authorities.
While the country will celebrate its 71st Republic Day on Sunday, Kerala will witness a massive protest led by the CPI(M) led Left Democratic Front in the form of a state-wide human chain, demanding withdrawal of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act.

The LDF has organised the 620 km long human chain from Kasaragod in north Kerala to Kaliyakkavilai in the southernmost part of the state and expect about 60 to 70 lakh people to participate in it.

The human chain will be formed at 4 PM following which the preamble of the Constitution will be read out.

"All the leaders of the ruling front will join the chain at various parts of the state.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will join the protest in Thiruvananthapuram.

We will read out the preamble of the Constitution and then take an oath to protect the Constitution," LDF convener A Vijayaraghavan had said.

Senior CPI(M) leader S Ramachandran Pillai will be the first link of the human chain at Kasaragod, while M A Baby will be the last link at Kaliyakkavilai.

"We have invited all the prominent personalities in the state from all walks of life. We also expect UDF leaders to join us in the fight to protect the Constitution," Vijayaraghavan had said.

The Left front has been in the forefront of anti-CAA protests in Kerala and had organised various protests across the state.

The LDF and the Congress led Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) had earlier jointly protested against the Act.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
YREKA, Calif.  Officials with the Klamath National Forest in Siskiyou County are mourning the loss of a familiar firefighting crew after a plane operated by Coulson Aviation crashed in Australia on Thursday, killing all three men on-board. The Coulson company is based in Portland.

Coulson Aviation Tanker 134 crashed while headed out to battle the devastating bushfires in the Australian state of New South Wales. The Lockheed C-130 Hercules had been in use as a firefighting aircraft for years, and its one with which the local U.S. Forest Service staff were well acquainted.



Credit: Coulson Aviation / Facebook Credit: Coulson Aviation / Facebook

"Tanker 134 was utilized multiple times on and around the Klamath National Forest during 2019," said Ashley Dooley, aircraft dispatcher for the Yreka Interagency Command Center.

"During the Lime Fire in September of last year, T-134 painted the sky pink along the California-Oregon border. I personally monitored them on an aviation activity computer screen, tracking their every move and diverting them to priority fires over the radio," Dooley continued. "It was and is always a privilege to work with these C-130 crews, knowing their extensive aviation background knowledge both in fire and military operations."

Coulson identified the three fallen crew members on Thursday. 44-year-old Captain Ian H. McBeth of Great Falls, Montana, 42-year-old First Officer Paul Clyde Hudson of Buckeye, Arizona, and 43-year-old Flight Engineer Rick A. DeMorgan Jr. of Navarre, Florida all served in the U.S. military before joining the Coulson Aviation firefighting family.

"Whether the wildfire is eight miles away or 8,000 miles away, the loss of T-134 is a stark reminder of how dangerous firefighting is," said Patty Grantham, supervisor for the Klamath National Forest. "We ask a great deal of our ground and aviation fire resources, and we always need to keep in mind no mission is simple or risk-free when it comes to wildfire. On behalf of myself, my family and the greater Klamath National Forest family, my hear goes out to the families and friends of the crew of T-134. We owe a great debt of gratitude to the crew of T-134 for their service."

According to Coulson, T-134 departed Richmond in the Snowy Monaro Area of southern New South Wales on Wednesday when the company lost contact. The plane was full of retardant headed out on a firebombing mission.

"At Coulson Aviation, we have the incredible job of fighting fires around the world and we take pride in this responsibility," the company said. "Right now our hearts are with the crew's family and friends and our Coulson Family suffering in the loss of these three remarkable and well-respected crewmembers."
The House of Genesis is seeking a part-time (20 hours per week) Support Worker to contribute to the day-to-day running of the charity, which provides accommodation to homeless adult men in Norwich.

The House of Genesis is seeking a part-time (20 hours per week) Support Worker to contribute to the day-to-day running of the charity, which provides accommodation to homeless adult men in Norwich.

Church marriage  open to all? Regular contributor Philip Young shares with us his personal view on whether churches should marry same-sex couples. Read more

Christian retreat centre has new Chair of Trustees Paul Dunning has recently been appointed as Chair of Trustees of the Quiet Waters Christian Retreat Centre. He explains how he got involved and how others can do the same. Read more

Magdalene Group: Women's Specialist Practitioner The Norwich-based Magdalene Group needs a Womens Specialist Practitioner to provide gender and trauma-informed support to women experiencing multiple disadvantage and provide support to female sex workers and victims of sexual exploitation and coercion. Read more

Ringsfield Hall offers residential trips on Norfolk border Ringsfield Hall provides children with outdoor residential opportunities through school trips. Activities relate to nature, care for the planet and very special care and respect for the physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of each child. Read more

Ministers outreach at Sheringham model boat lake Local Christian, Graham Pickhaver has been sharing his testimony by giving out tracts at the model boating lake in Sheringham. Read more

Chance to meet Norwich Christian leaders at lunch Christian church and ministry leaders are invited to the first Transforming Norwich lunch of 2022 on Wednesday January 26 at St Stephen's Church in Norwich city centre. Read more

God of the second chance Jane Walters encourages us to embark on a new start with Jesus as 2022 gets underway. Read more

Yarmouth church provides free hot food for needy Kingsgate Community Church in Yarmouth has re-started their Hot Food Hub, providing free hot meals for local people in need. Read more

Norwich Christian unity service set for RC Cathedral All Christian churches and groups are invited to an ecumenical service on January 20 at St John's Cathedral in Norwich to pray for Christian unity. Read more

Aylsham Christian charity seeks needy recipients The Cressey Henry Page Charitable Trust has been helping the poor of Aylsham for nearly 500 years, and is now seeking more needy people who need help. Read more

Centre offers Christian holidays on the Norfolk coast With stunning locations in North Norfolk and North Wales, Christian Endeavour Holiday Centres are places to relax the body, replenish the mind, and rejuvenate the soul. Read more

YMCA Norfolk needs two Wellbeing workers YMCA Norfolk is looking for a Wellbeing Engagement Worker and a Business Support Officer - Wellbeing Matters. Read more

Two Norfolk churches share in 473k grants boost Two historic Norfolk churches are to share in a 473,700 funding package from the National Churches Trust, the UKs church building support charity. Read more

Hundreds fed at free Norfolk Christmas dinners Hundreds of people who would have spent Christmas Day alone were fed and entertained across Norfolk by church and charity groups. Read more

Norwich church volunteer inspired by kindness A woman who has volunteered for The Salvation Armys Toys and Tins Appeal since 2016 said she will carry on doing so for as long as possible. Read more

Norwich pastor publishes new book Dr Alan Clifford, pastor of Norwich Reformed Church, has published a book on the life and ministry of 18th century church leader Edmund Calamy the Elder. Read more

Life is full of uncertainties for us all says Dean The Dean of Norwich Cathedral, the Very Rev Jane Hedges, say that for every single one of us, at the moment, life is full of uncertainties. Read more
(Newser)  Police say an Alabama teen murdered his mother and twin brothers this week and calmly went to sleep, AL.com reports. Landon Hudson Durham, 16, is accused of fatally stabbing Holli Christina Durham, 36, Branson Durham and Baron Durham, both 13, at 3am Tuesday in Munford. Investigators say the suspect then slept a few hours and went to Munford High School for a regular day. Seems a family member couldn't reach the victims and contacted another family member, who discovered the grisly scene. "It's one of the worst things I've ever seen and Ive been here for 19 years,'' said Talladega County Chief Deputy Joshua Tubbs. "It's the worst thing I've seen in my career."

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Deputies then nabbed Durham without incident on Wednesday morning on county Road 71. Little else is known, but the Anniston Star reports that Durham appeared in court Friday and has a preliminary hearing March 3. Yahoo Finance notes that Holli's Facebook page says she was engaged to be married. The boys' father and other relatives are yet to comment. "This is the kind of crimes you see on TV or the media or the internet that happen in other places and for it to happen here, it really hits home," said Talladega County District Attorney Steve Giddens. "Munford, like all communities in this county, are pretty close-knit, and I know they're hurting, and we are, too..." Durham was charged as an adult but can't face the death penalty because he isn't 18, per WVTM. (Read more murder stories.)
Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has reacted to the claim by a former governor of Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa, that the establishment of Amotekun security outfit by governors of the South-western states was a ploy to create Oduduwa Republic.

Akeredolu described the claim as borne out of ignorance.

According to Musa, the formation of Amotekun was a ploy to secure Yoruba land and a prelude to the declaration of Oduduwa Republic, noting that some of the security components of the outfit like the OPC had records of recklessness in terms of securing lives and property of non-Yoruba.

Read Also: Amotekun Not A Plot Against Any Ethnicity: Akeredolu

Akeredolu, who is the chairman of South West Governors Forum, told journalists in Abuja on Thursday that Nigeria cant break because this nation has come to stay.

I least expected Balarabe Musa to say what he said because he is a respected leader. From his days in the defunct NEPU, PRP and when he was impeached as governor, he was a progressive person and I believe he is still one.

I dont know, maybe he was misquoted, but what was attributed to him is not possible because I made it possible in my speech during the launch that Amotekun is not a regional army, we are not paramilitary. All we want to do is to ensure that our forests should have men who can go in there, arrest these bandits and help the police in their work.

I also said this nation has come to stay, if only for one reason, for my sake it would stay. My wife is Ibo, so if you break up this country where will my children go? I believe in this country totally so it will not break, he said.
- Vanessa Nakate said her photo and messages after a press conference on climate issues were left out of the final stories by a section of Western media

- The AP which was one of the outlets accused has since removed the cropped photo and said it had no "ill motives"

- The 23-year-old's post sparked a heated debate on Twitter with some supporting her while others said it was not a "big deal"

A Ugandan climate activist has accused the media in Western countries of racism after she was cropped out of a photo taken with her white peers in Davos, Switzerland.

In an emotional video statement on her Twitter page, Vanessa Nakate said her photo and messages after a press conference on climate issues were left out of the final stories.

READ ALSO: Ex-CS Mwangi Kiunjuri forms political party after sacking by Uhuru Kenyatta

Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate was edited out of photo with whites after a press conference.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: VIP clearance doesn't permit driving on wrong side - Traffic police commander

Nakate had held the conference on Friday, January 24, alongside fellow climate activists Greta Thunberg, Loukina Tille, Luisa Neubauer and Isabelle Axelsson.

"We don't deserve this. Africa is the least emitter of carbons, but we are the most affected by the climate crisis...You erasing our voices won't change anything. You erasing our stories won't change anything," she said.

"I don't feel ok right now. The world is so cruel," she added.

The AP has which has since removed the cropped photo, however, said it had no ill motives.

"The photographer was trying to get a picture out fast under tight deadline and cropped it purely on composition grounds because he thought the building in the background was distracting," the news agency's director of photography, David Ake, said.

Vanessa Nakate said she now understands the real meaning of racism. Photo: Ruhdie Lowe.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Wakili Donald Kipkorir amtakia Shollei utamu kwenye penzi la mzungu

Her video had been watched 258,000 times and shared by thousands others by the time of going to press.

Her post sparked a heated debate on Twitter with some supporting her while others said it was not a "big deal".

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.

Edgar Obare is not sorry for exposing celebrities, talks of bumping into Jalang'o | Tuko TV

Source: TUKO.co.ke
Once the therapy was complete, his father let Bowen go to New York University, where his sister, already a student there, could chaperone him.

The irony of it all is I went to the gayest undergrad in the country, he says, smiling, about his alma mater, which he mocks in stand-up routines as a real estate firm, celebrity day care center and a multicomplex head-shot studio.

I spent freshman year trying straightness on for size and failing miserably, he says. I sort of tricked myself into having a crush on a girl but it was just kind of a weird, weird, weird pit stop. Then I would look at a boy and be like, Oh, I want to talk to him. Mr. Yang has a tattoo on his arm, drawn by a nonbinary Chinese tattoo artist, with ancient signets. They represent his parents last names. He never got mad at them.

I had this second coming out with them while I was in college and went through this whole flare-up again with them, where they couldnt accept it, Mr. Yang says. And then eventually, I just got to this place of standing firm and being like, This is sort of a fixed point, you guys. I cant really do anything about this. So either you meet me here or you dont meet me.

It never got to the point of, I wont come home again. I was just like, Im not going to argue with them. Like my dad every now and then will be like, So, when are you going to meet a girl? And Ill just calmly be like, Dad, its not going to happen. I mean, its O.K. Both my parents are doing a lot of work to just try to understand and I cant rush them. I cant resent them for not arriving at any place sooner than theyre able to get there.

His parents and sister proudly came to his first show as a cast member last fall.

Steve Martins Banjo

Bowen went to pre-med classes, got a chemistry degree, and took the MCAT, partly influenced by the character played by his idol Sandra Oh on Greys Anatomy.
On Jan. 14, protesters gathered in the northern Indian city of Allahabad and lit candles at the base of a tree trunk, beside portraits of two fathers of the Indian nation.

One, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhibetter known by his honorific, Mahatma (great soul)is recognizable as the Indian independence activist and icon to peaceful protesters around the world.

The other, however, remains lesser known outside India. He is Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, the primary author of the Indian constitution, which came into effect 70 years ago on Sunday. Since December, his image has been held aloft by crowds of demonstrators, who say the ruling Bharatiya Janata Partys attempts to reform citizenship laws undermine that constitution.

Ambedkar did more than draft the constitution: he was also a revered civil rights leader. Born a Dalit (a social classification formerly called untouchable, the lowest position in the Hindu caste system,) he suffered discrimination throughout his life. In 1936, he wrote the influential pamphlet Annihilation of Caste, a blistering argument against the ancient system of social stratification. And when, starting in 1947, he hammered out the Indian constitutions integral principles of democracy, equality and freedom of religion, he also inserted sections prohibiting caste-based discrimination and legally outlawing the practice of untouchability.

But 70 years after the Indian constitution came into force, left-wing protesters arent the only group claiming to be the ideological heirs to Ambedkar. In recent weeks, his image has also appeared at Hindu nationalist counter-protests. Prime Minister Narendra Modi often invokes Ambedkar in speeches, claiming his governments policies further the goals Ambedkar pursued throughout his life, including the annihilation of caste. No government has, perhaps, given respect to Babasaheb [Ambedkar] the way our government has, Prime Minister Modi said in 2018, referring to him by an honorific loosely translated as respected father. Instead of dragging him into politics, we should all try to walk on the path he has shown us.

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The last 40 years, however, show how Ambedkar has been repeatedly dragged into the political arena  even while the casteless future he fought for during his life remains distant.

Heres what to know about the fight over Ambedkars legacy.

Who was B.R. Ambedkar?

Ambedkar was born in 1891 into a family that had long been bound to the bottom of Indian society, considered impure by higher-caste Hindus. Although he and other Dalits were segregated at school, he managed to pass his exams, obtain a degree in economics and political science from Bombay University, and went on to get a Masters at Columbia University in New York before training as a lawyer in London. In 1936, after returning to India, he wrote Annihilation of Caste, his magnum opus.

Written during the struggle that eventually led to Indias independence in 1947, Annihilation of Caste was a searing critique of not just the age-old caste system (still observed today by many Hindus in India), but also the independence movement led by Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, both high-caste Hindus.

Ambedkar argued that even if India were to become independent, Dalits would still languish at the bottom of society unless caste was abandoned by all. The question of whether the Congress is fighting for freedom has very little importance as compared to the question for whose freedom is the Congress fighting, he said.

Before his death in 1956, Ambedkar converted from Hinduism to Buddhism, inspiring thousands of Dalits to do the same. I had the misfortune of being born with the stigma of an Untouchable, he said. However, it is not my fault; but I will not die a Hindu, for this is in my power.

What is caste?

The caste system in India is a form of social hierarchy deriving from the varna system laid out in Hinduisms foundational texts. There are four varnas: Brahmins (priests), the highest; Kshatriyas (soldiers or administrators); Vaishyas (merchants); and Shudras (servants), the lowest. Outside the varna system are those considered lower still: Dalits, whose traditional tasks include shoveling human manure. Dalitswho make up more than 200 million of Indias 1.3 billion populationcontinue to face discrimination in India today. Some members of higher castes refuse to touch anything that has come into physical contact with them, hence the moniker untouchables.

The Mahars, the specific Dalit caste to which Ambedkar belonged, were expected to tie brooms around their waists to sweep away their footprints. Even in 1998, nearly 90% of people employed by the Indian government as sweepers, whose jobs include removing human waste from toilets, were Dalits. In Ambedkars day, just as in present-day India, murders of lower castes by higher castes were common.

Untouchability is not a simple matter, Ambedkar said in a speech in 1927. It is the mother of all our poverty and lowliness and it has brought us to the abject state we are in today The inequality inherent in the four-castes system must be rooted out.

Why are both sides claiming Ambedkars legacy?

The battle over Ambedkars legacy between Indias Hindu nationalist right-wing and its secular left is relatively new, according to historians and anti-caste activists.

The BJPs discovery of Ambedkar is recent, and started after the election which brought Modi to power in 2014, says Sumantra Bose, professor of international and comparative politics at the London School of Economics. Following that victory, Modi and his chief strategist Amit Shah concentrated on wooing non-upper caste Hindus, who have traditionally not been BJP supporters in large numbers, in order to expand their support base.

Dalits, says Bose, are a natural target for the BJP because they make up approximately one sixth of the Indian electorate. Its a clear case of trying to superficially flatter the memory of the biggest Dalit icon in order to build a pan-Hindu vote bank across caste divides.

The BJP promised in its 2014 manifesto to eradicate the remaining vestiges of untouchability in Indian society and lift Dalits from poverty. But the BJP government has reduced funding for programs intended to do so, according to a study by Sukhadeo Thorat, former chairman of the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies. They never raised the standard of these castes, Thorat tells TIME. This is the whole strategy used by the Prime Minister, that you appropriate an individual, forget about his views and ideology, and in the process kill that ideology.

In some technicalities of the constitution, however, Hindu nationalists argue they are in closer alignment with Ambedkars beliefs than secular protesters. The BJP said in 2019 that Ambedkar opposed Article 370, the section of the constitution guaranteeing semi-autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir, which the BJP revoked in August. Historians, however, have disputed that claim.

The BJP also says Ambedkar was a proponent of a uniform civil code in India, one of the partys key policy goals. Under Indias version of secularism, different religious communities are governed by different personal laws governing matters like divorce and inheritance. Ambedkar inserted a clause into the constitution calling for a uniform civil code. But in the febrile climate after independence, with religious violence on the rise, Nehru decided to compromise and allow for personal laws to reassure the Muslim minority community. So instead, Ambedkar diverted his attention to reforming the Hindu personal laws to be more progressive. His reforms legalized inter-caste marriages and gave women the right to initiate divorce. In making those reforms, Ambedkars main opponent was the Hindu nationalist right. Today, the BJP says Ambedkar would have been their ally in their pursuit of a uniform civil code. But Dalit activists say this is another case of trying to appropriate of Ambedkars legacy. If uniformity is what [the BJP] want, theres no uniformity among Hindus, says S. Anand, referring to continued caste hierarchy in India today. Anand, the co-founder of Navayana, a Delhi-based publishing house focused on anti-caste literature, adds: Ambedkar never spoke of a uniform civil code as a priority.

A BJP supporter holds up an image of B.R Ambedkar during a rally for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 22, 2019 in New Delhi, India. | Sanchit Khanna/Hindustan Times via Getty Images2019 Hindustan Times

Another reason for the BJPs adoption of Ambedkars legacy is that Hindu nationalisms own political forefathers have a dark history of idolizing European fascist leaders like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Given this history, Ambedkar is a useful alternative icon for the BJP, experts say. Everybody wants a piece of Ambedkar, says Anand. Modi doesnt go around saying that all those people who admired Hitler and Mussolini are his idols. Hes muted about it for diplomatic reasons and political reasons.

What about Ambedkars role in the anti-government protests?

Part of the reason protesters are carrying Ambedkars image is to challenge the appropriation of Ambedkar being attempted by the BJP, Bose says. Ambedkar was one of the framers of the Indian constitution, whose upholding of equal citizenship is at odds with the Modi-Shah agenda of a Hindu nationalist republic.

But experts say Ambedkars life has been appropriated by the left-leaning Congress Party, too, despite his role in drafting the constitution for the post-independence Congress government. He fought with Gandhi, yet he chose to work with Congress because he wanted to be generous to Indian society, Anand says. It was a great act of magnanimity that he decided to chair the drafting committee of the Indian constitution.

Bose agrees. Much of this Ambedkar-worship by the BJP governments opponents is shallow, and uninformed about the complexity of Ambedkars personality and political life, he says.

In the end, Ambedkar was unhappy with the final version of the constitution, and resigned in 1951 after clashing with Nehru, Indias first post-independence Prime Minister. He was [unhappy with the constitution] simply because he thought these people would squander it, says Anand.

The current controversy over the BJPs alleged undermining of the Indian constitution, Anand says, vindicates that view. Ambedkar says the constitution is as good as the people who are going to implement it, says Anand. Its not foolproof.

Is the battle over Ambedkars legacy a new one?

Relatively speaking, yes. The right to claim Ambedkars legacy might be hotly fought-over today, but before the 1970s, many of his writings had never been published, and he was a little-known figure in Indian political history.

It was thanks to Dalit activists  rather than supporters of the constitution, or Hindu nationalists  that Ambedkar was not consigned to the ash heap of history, says Anand, whose publishing house Navayana prints several works by and about Ambedkar. Its only in the late 70s, early 80s, that Ambedkar starts getting published, Anand says. They were in manuscripts which he didnt have the money to publish. He was not available to the public, and nobody other than the Dalits were curious. They, the Dalits, carried his legacy on their heads and shoulders for years.

Strictly speaking, Anand says, both everybody and nobody has the right to claim the legacy of Ambedkar. Everybody, because every citizen of India is now equal because of Ambedkar and the constitution, he says. And nobody, simply because the real legacy of Ambedkar is something few people want to talk about.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested Saturday that Britain and America would be able to conclude a trade deal this year, despite lingering disagreements on a digital services tax and whether to allow Chinese tech giant Huawei to build aspects of a new high-speed mobile network.

Britain leaves European Union in less than a week, severing decades of friction-less trade with a market of 650 million.

Replacing those trade ties with other post-Brexit pacts is considered critical for the nation's economy and future.

I think the timing is important,'' Mnuchin told an audience at the Chatham House think tank.

You know, we're focused on trying to get this done this year because we think it's important to both of us.

Mnuchin stopped in the UK following the four-day World Economic Forum summit in Davos, Switzerland.

He held talks with UK Treasury chief Sajid Javid in both Davos and again in London on Saturday.

However, he declined to offer any details on what he described as the ongoing'' discussions with the British government on Huawei.

The United States is pushing Britain and other allies to ban Huawei from making parts of its 5G network, claiming it would be a security risk something Huawei vehemently denies.

Huawei is the world's biggest maker of switching gear for phone and internet companies.

But it has faced rising scrutiny over US allegations that it could be forced by the Chinese government to provide access to consumer data on its networks.

We want to make sure our infrastructures are protected,'' Mnuchin said.

"And I think on a broader basis ... as more and more things are connected to the network and to the grid, these national security issues go beyond the traditional aspects and go into various different aspects.''



British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Donald Trump discussed cooperation to ensure the security of telecommunications networks during a call on Friday.

Britain's National Security Council is widely expected to make its decision on Huawei next week.

On another big tech issue, Mnuchin decried what he saw as a disproportionate amount of interest" in a tax on big tech players.

Britain has said it will go ahead with the tax later this year.

The US feels very strongly that any tax that is designed specifically on digital companies is a discriminatory tax and is not appropriate and has violations to our tax treaties and other issues, he said.

The tax is meant to prevent tax avoidance measures by multinationals.

Britain wants an international agreement on the way global taxes work and has said it will back off on the digital tax once such a plan is in place.

The Americans say the tax unfairly singles out companies like Amazon and Google.

Britain's position stands in contrast to that of France, which earlier this week delayed its tax on big tech in exchange for the United States' promise to hold off on retaliatory tariffs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Donald Trump is a lawless president and revolting person who richly deserved his impeachment and, in a better world, would be convicted in the Senate and removed from the White House. Thats my view, as it is the view of a plurality  albeit a narrow plurality  of the American people.

Ergo, every American who feels this way has a moral obligation to vote for whoever winds up being the Democratic nominee, even if the nominee turns out to be Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. Right?

Well, hang on.

Ive been thinking about this question for a while now, thanks mainly to some good-natured prodding from my colleague Gail Collins in our published conversations. The strongest version of the argument is this: Say what you will about Warrens or Sanderss policies, neither candidate poses any serious threat to our constitutional order, just as neither possesses Trumps crippling character flaws or has such contempt for the institutions, traditions and habits of a free and civilized society.

In short, while a Warren or Sanders presidency might drastically rearrange the furniture in our common democratic home, it will not  as Trumps has  seek to blast away at the foundations. Whats more, a decisive loss by Trump might have the added benefit of chastening conservatives who abandoned their former free people, free markets convictions in favor of Trumps nativist demagogy.
TROY  Police in Troy made three arrests related to gun and drug possession during a 24-hour period that stretched into Friday morning.

A 16 year old boy was taken into custody around 6 a.m. Friday, when Troy police narcotics and emergency response teams executed a search warrant at 462 5th Ave. in city's Lansingburgh section following a drug investigation, Deputy Chief of Police Daniel DeWolf stated in a news release.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-26 00:09:30|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ABUJA, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- A cheerful audience fell over themselves to catch a glimpse of a huge dragon mascot that walked into a venue of the 2020 Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations in Nigeria's capital Abuja on Saturday.

The audience, including diplomats, as well as top government officials and captains of industries, applauded the mascot with its acrobatic dance and displays to mark the opening of the colorful celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year in Abuja.

The Chinese community in Nigeria held a carnival-like celebration that brought peoples of the two countries, and citizens of other countries, who came from far and near to experience the opportunity of a colorful cultural exhibition that the event provided.

It was the first of several events outlined for the celebration of what is also known as the Spring Festival observed by the Chinese people.

The event, organized by the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria and the China Cultural Center in Abuja, witnessed a large turnout of merrymakers, including high school students.

The revelers, who gathered at the China Cultural Center, tucked in the central business area of the Abuja city, were enthralled by a colorful exhibition of the Chinese culture and various Chinese and Nigerian art performances.

The dragon dance, performed by nine experienced Nigerian male dancers and one lady dancer who manipulated the long flexible figure of the dragon using a pole, was the opening act of the event.

It is often performed during Chinese new year celebrations.

In an interview, Zhou Pingjian, Chinese ambassador to Nigeria, told Xinhua the celebration was to mark the beginning of good things to come.

"With a fresh start here, we are very confident and optimistic about the cooperation and friendship between our two great countries and our relations," Zhou said, referring to the mutually-beneficial cooperation between China and Nigeria.

In an earlier message to congratulate China, the Chinese community in Nigeria and the world over on the Chinese Lunar New year, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari noted that there is a new impetus in Nigeria-China relations and new opportunities for mutual benefits.

Many Nigerians present at the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations in Abuja acknowledged the Spring Festival as the most important traditional festival for the Chinese.

"This celebration clearly emphasizes the concept of family and the opportunity of reunion. And if you look around, you will observe that these two values are shared by both Nigerians and the Chinese," said Goke Oloruntoba, a student at the University of Abuja.

The Spring Festival has gained popularity in cities in Nigeria due to the sense of anticipation and excitement shared by the Chinese community in the West African country for the festival and the way it is colorfully celebrated every year.
The Progressive Governors Forum says community policing initiated by some state governments will complement the efforts of the federal government in tackling insecurity in the country.

The Governor of Plateau, Simon Lalong, said this on Friday while briefing newsmen at the end of the first quarterly meeting of the forums Governance Programme Steering Committee Meeting in Abuja.

Mr Lalong said the forum believes in community policing that operates within the ambit of the law.

Mr Lalong, who is the co-chair of the committee, said the committee was preparing a framework to enhance good governance and address insecurity in the All Progressives Congress (APC) controlled States.

Here, we are not talking about Amotekun, we are talking about general insecurity, and once we lay the foundation for the APC states and it is approved, then we will begin to talk about implementation.

What we are laying down now in the framework is general on insecurity, because we are not unmindful of the situation in the country.

That is, for every year, we make a framework and tell them these are things that are current and these are things that APC governors should adopt in terms of preparing their budget and also in governance in their states.

In general term, what we did after presentations from security agencies is, all of us appear to be talking about community policing. That one we are all agreed on.

So, we dont want a situation where you start doing something and the federal government will say you are doing it outside the law just like what they said about Amotekun.

He said that the committees mandate was to design policies for implementation for good governance in APC states.

As we pointed out during the inaugural meeting of this Steering Committee, from 2019-2023, we will want the work of the PGF Governance Programme Steering Committee to focus more on strengthening the capacity of our states to have increased commitment to implement approved initiatives.

Mr Lalong condemned the killing of students and religious leaders by the Boko Haram, urging Nigerians to be united in fighting insurgency.

Also, Co-Chairman of the committee and Governor of Jigawa, Abubakar Badaru, said that the progressive governors believed that each state knew what would work for it in protecting lives and property, depending on its peculiarity.

On Operation Amotekun, I believe the Federal Government and the South West region can find some solutions. They are engaging in dialogue and I believe they will resolve it.

I believe security situation is peculiar to each state, it depends on each state what they think will work for them. Some will want Amotekun, some dialogue, some may not need any.

Mr Badaru said that the APC adminstration was working had to tackle insecurity and corruption in the country.

Above all the government is looking at social security to see how we can address insecurity and unemployment.

(NAN)
EUGENE, Ore. -- Meadow View School staff, administration and custodial services spent Friday sanitizing every surface after 26 people called out with norovirus-like symptoms.

RELATED: MEADOW VIEW REPORTS NOROVIRUS OUTBREAK; ONE CASE CONFIRMED

Approximately 300 of 761 students stayed home Friday. Some parents said it was "out of an abundance of caution."

Principal Erika Case said their staff hit every classroom with a 3% bleach to 97% water solution, as recommended by Lane County Public Health.

"We started our efforts as soon as we found out," said Case. "We contacted our maintenance department, maybe four to six custodians came in, and we just started cleaning the entire building. We're trying to get into classrooms two to three times (to) sanitize."

UPDATE: 40 percent of students at Meadow View School did not show up today. It's unknown how many are actually sick. A @Bethel_Schools spokesman says some parents kept children out of school from an abundance of caution. Cleaners are going room-to-room fighting the virus. pic.twitter.com/YoNr8dZiPf

 Bob Schaper (@Bob_Schaper) January 24, 2020

Case said she hopes Meadow View is the school that stops norovirus in our community.

But it won't be easy.

Dr. Patrick Luedtke with Lane County Public Health said this virus is persistent and not easily knocked out.

"It has a lot of qualities that we wish it didn't have," said Luedtke. "It's stable in the environment for long periods of time, so you could have norovirus on a table top like this, and three weeks later you could get sick from that table top."

Scientists said the norovirus is very durable and ingesting even 10 particles of norovirus can get you ill. To put that into perspective, to contract salmonella you need to ingest 100,000 or more to get sick.

In the meantime, school at Meadow View is business as usual and no activities have been cancelled in the wake of this outbreak.
(TNS)  Oklahoma lawmakers could consider regulating drones on a state level when they return to session next month.Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission Director Vic Bird said the proposed legislation is based on North Carolina's regulation of unmanned aircraft systems.The bill filed by state Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, would implement a test and permitting system for commercial drone operators, but Bird said the final language would not contain those requirements. The Federal Aviation Administration has warned states against creating a separate registration process.That wording was mistakenly included in the rush before a bill-filing deadline, Bird said.The final language would require commercial drone operators to submit their FAA documentation, certifications and drone registration to the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission. Noncommercial pilots, or hobbyists, wouldn't have to comply with the proposed law."We believe that's sufficient," Bird said. "This says that a person has the knowledge to operate a drone safely and responsibly, and lawfully, and that they have indeed registered their unmanned aircraft system with the FAA."Oklahoma law has few mentions of unmanned aircraft. The most significant mention in state statutes is a restriction on flying drones near a "critical infrastructure facility," like a refinery, power station or other utility sites. Legislation filed this year would add prisons to that list.North Carolina's drone laws have led to the public acceptance of unmanned aircraft systems, Bird said. Being proactive in creating drone regulations would also help address privacy concerns."You're not going to conduct surveillance of a person or dwelling occupied by a person, unless you have that person's consent. You're not going to photograph that individual without that individual's consent," he said.There would be exceptions for certain news-gathering, public events and law enforcement activities."Our test is that when any reasonable person looks at this, members of our UAS community in Oklahoma look at the proposed legislation and regulations, they'll say there's been a balance struck here," said Bird. "This is going to ensure to the public that drones here in Oklahoma are being operated in a safe, responsible and lawful manner."In a separate bill, Bergstrom proposed a program allowing local communities to create and operate "droneports" to bolster the UAS ecosystem in Oklahoma's economy.My primary concern in filing bills regarding drones and drone technology is to make sure that Oklahoma avoids falling behind in these areas and hopefully comes to be viewed around the nation as a place where drone-related businesses are going to want to locate, where research and development are encouraged, and where this area of our aerospace industry can thrive and prosper," Bergstrom said.We are developing the language in these bills. We are continuing to look at and evaluate where we are in this industry in Oklahoma while also digging into what is going on in the rest of the country. I think with all of that in mind we will be able to craft some good legislation this session to help us move forward.Lawmakers also will consider whether to create a registration process and database for drones operated by state agencies. Aninvestigation last year found that nine agencies owned and operated drones.
The entire world was shocked recently when Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex announced that they would be resigning from their positions as senior royals. Although it is true that they have been experiencing some turbulent times  and even went so far as to say that they were not exactly happy with royal life  it was still an announcement that no one really saw coming.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are notoriously private, and they have been trying to stay out of the royal spotlight for months, if not years. It hasnt exactly been happening for them, as they have been dealing with relentless scrutiny from the media, to the point where Prince Harry had to make a statement saying that he wasnt going to let Princess Dianas history repeat itself with Meghan.

Royal fans were supportive of the couple, even when they decided to take a six-week break from their official duties just before the holidays. However, everyone was blind-sighted when they revealed their plans to step back. So, why are Prince Harry and Meghans resignation even sketchier than it seems?

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle shocked everyone

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Its not every day that royal family members decide to step down from their positions. After all, most people imagine royal life to be pretty glamorous, and millions of fans were envious of Meghan when she married into the British Monarchy.

As we know, the duke and duchess have not exactly been having an easy time. They have taken more than their fair share of backlash from just about everyone, and the pressure has been taking a toll on them.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle took Queen Elizabeth by surprise

Queen Elizabeth is always the first to know about major decisions that go on in the lives of her family members. Often times, they come to her for guidance when plans are still in the early stages, and sometimes, senior royals have to seek her majestys approval before doing things.

Yet, the queen was just as shocked as everyone when Meghan and Prince Harry announced that they were stepping back, as she was not notified of the decision well in advance as she usually is. To make matters even worse, Page Six reports that Meghan and Prince Harry didnt really do things as they should.

While he should have sat down with his brother, Prince William, as well as Prince Charles early on to discuss things, he didnt do that. Prince Harrys method has been slammed by royal fans and critics as being disrespectful to his immediate family members.

Also, Meghan and Prince Harrys announcement was poorly timed, coming the day before Kate, Duchess of Cambridges birthday. Many royal fans found the timing to be unfair to the Duchess of Cambridge.

Why is Prince Harry and Meghan Markles resignation sketchy?

As if all of this werent bad enough, the resignation gets even sketchier the further we delve into it. How so? Well, Prince Harry and Meghan had plenty of time to do things in a much more favorable way, rather than shocking everyone so abruptly.

Quitting royal life isnt a decision that anyone makes in a short amount of time, so most likely, they have been planning it since their tour of Africa in the fall. Documentary filmmaker Tom Bradby recently said that he feels that Megxit may have been in the works since then, considering as to how Meghan and Prince Harry have been feeling for months.

They spoke in the documentary about the difficulties that they face every day as members of the worlds most famous family. This suggests the documentary was planting the seed of their exit and this plan has been formed for several months.

Neither of them enjoys being in the spotlight to that extent, and it appears that they have truly had enough. Even so, had they approached things a bit differently, it wouldnt have come as the major shock that it was.
The UK Government has relaxed its travel advisory for Pakistan, citing improving security situation in the country, albeit the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has, at the same time, advised against travelling in various areas in the country, including most of Balochistan.

In a statement on Friday, the British High Commission in Islamabad said that the UK had changed its travel advice to reflect the improved security situation in Pakistan. This is the first major update in the travel advisory since 2015.

Pakistan immediately welcomed the decision, with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi calling the move "encouraging" and one that will "further strengthen Pak-UK relations".

"Pakistan, land of peace and progress with incredible natural beauty, warmth, and hospitality. This change in travel advice is encouraging, the first major update to the UK's travel advisory to Pakistan since 2015. This will further strengthen Pak-UK relations. Welcome to Pakistan," Qureshi tweeted.

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office provides travel advice based on objective information to help British nationals make better-informed decisions about foreign travel. The new travel advice for Pakistan reduces the section of the Karakoram Highway where the FCO advises against all travel to the area between Mansehra and Chilas alone. The previous travel advisory covered the full route from Islamabad to Gilgit.

The FCO no longer advises against all but essential travel to the Kalesh and Bamboret valleys. It still advises against travel to most of Balochistan, including the city of Quetta. For the southern coast of Balochistan, the FCO advises against all but essential travel.

Like all FCO travel advice, these changes are based on security assessments, which are kept under constant review. In 2018, there were an estimated 484,000 visits by British nationals to Pakistan. There are 22 weekly direct flights to the UK, the BHC said in the statement.

The FCO has further advised against all travel to the areas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, formerly known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

This include the districts of Charsadda, Kohat, Tank, Bannu, Lakki, Dera Ismail Khan, Swat, Buner and Lower Dir in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; the city of Peshawar and districts south of the city, including travel on the Peshawar to Chitral road via the Lowari Pass; Balochistan province including the city of Quetta but excluding the southern coast of Balochistan; the section of the Karakoram Highway (also known as Kara Karam Highway or KKH) from Mansehra to Chilas, via Battagram, Besham City, Dasu and Sazin; and the immediate vicinity of the Line of Control.

Furthermore, it advises against all but essential travel to Arandu town and the road between Mirkhana and Arandu in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province; the southern coast of Balochistan, defined as the area south of (and including) the N10 motorway as well as the section of the N25 which runs from N10/N25 intersection to the Balochistan/Sindh border, including the port city of Gwadar; areas of Sindh Province north of, and including, the city of Nawabshah.

In recent years, the security situation in Pakistan has improved considerably following action by the Pakistan government and security forces.

Following a terrorist attack in Pulwama on 14 February 2019, tensions between India and Pakistan have heightened, particularly across the Line of Control. Certain flight routes or airports continue to experience restrictions.

Pakistan's High Commissioner Mohammad Nafees Zakaria welcomed the decision of the UK government's revival of travel advisory for Pakistan and said that the news would help bring people of the two friendly countries more closer to each other, besides boosting tourism and British investments for the development of Pakistan.

In a hurriedly called press briefing at the High Commission on Friday afternoon, he said: "We welcome and appreciate this decision of the UK government which would help further strengthen the bilateral cordial relations between the two friendly countries in diverse fields, besides increasing tourism and investments in Pakistan for the prosperity of the country and its people."

"UK is an important country in the and this decision would definitely put a positive impact on other countries especially in Europe and their people would also visit Pakistan and explore the adventure and beauty of our country to promote tourism and also help bring investments in the country," he remarked.

Zakaria recalled that due to the improved security situation in Pakistan, the UK Government also allowed British Airways to resume its flights and services to Pakistan in June last year, while the visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in October last year also reflected the improved security situation in the country.

He said that other international airlines have also started their flight operations to Pakistan. He said that due to prudent economic and tourism policies and an investment-friendly environment initiated by the incumbent Pakistan government, the image of the country has started improving.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
When it comes to crimes like sexual abuses and rapes a large majority of us tend to see it as an issue related to women and girls. But the reality is that it is not just women and girls that are sexually exploited.

In fact, sexual abuse of boys has for long been an ignored reality in India. Such crimes go unreported due to the stigma attached to it and the victims often end up living a life of suffering.

Now, in a shocking case a 16-year-old boy from Malappuram, Kerala has alleged that he was sexually abused by some 16 men over a long period. The boy, a Class XI student revealed the ordeal he had been going through since April 2019 during a Childline Counseling session.

According to the boy, he was abducted and forced into unnatural sex by the men on several occasions. Based on the information by Childline the police have registered cases against 16 people.

AFP

So far seven people identified as Mohammed Koya, Moideenkutty, Liyaquat, Jaleel, Abdul Samad, Sivadasan and Sameer have been arrested by the police. The cops said that several others are absconding and the search for them is on. Police also said that Abdul Samad is a serial offender and was already facing another similar case and was out on bail in that case. The arrested men have been booked under several sections of the IPC on charges of abduction, rape and under POCSO.



BCCL

This is the second such incident being reported this week.



Earlier, a Class XII student from Chandrapur in Maharashtra had committed suicide after he was sexually abused for over a year by some of his hostel mates. The boy was found dead, hanging from the ceiling of the schools library on Saturday morning, just three days after he celebrated his birthday. In an 18-page suicide note, the police recovered from the boy he had named several of his hostel and roommates and a hostel guard for sexually assaulting him.

BCCL

Based on the suicide note the police have arrested 14 people including three hostel staffers. Out of the 11 students who were booked for sexual harassment, eight are minors and all of them are residents of the same hosel.

Under the amended Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment), Act aggravated sexual assault on minors, irrespective of the gender of the victim is a crime punishable by death.
WASHINGTON, Wash. - The United States Department of Commerce says its final determination has confirmed that fabricated structural steel imports from Canada was dumped into the country but wasn't subsidized.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/1/2020 (718 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASHINGTON, Wash. - The United States Department of Commerce says its final determination has confirmed that fabricated structural steel imports from Canada was dumped into the country but wasn't subsidized.

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The decision found subsidies on these products were de minimis and no countervailing duties will be collected as the investigation is ended.

However, it did confirm that Canadian producers and exporters sold the steel at less-than fair value in the United States at rates up to 6.7 per cent.

The U.S. agency says it also determined that steel from China and Mexico was subsidized and dumped into the country. Preliminary tariffs were imposed in July.

An estimated US$722.5 million of the steel was imported from Canada in 2018, US$897.5 million from China and US$622.4 million from Mexico.

The U.S. International Trade Commission is scheduled to make final injury determinations around March 9.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 24, 2020.
The temperature in Prince George dropped to 44 C last week, but the municipality's renewable energy heating system had no problem keeping city hall warm and cozy.

It was the coldest temperature the northern city had experienced in more than four decades and, in the days leading up to the cold snap, city officials weren't entirely sure their unique heating system would be able to keep up.

"Until you actually reach those extremes, there's always that question," said Wil Waddell, Prince George's manager of utilities. "But we were able to do that without supplementing at all with any natural gas.

"This is the highest usage we have ever seen," he added.

Prince George's renewable energy system involves a partnership with the local Lakeland Mills sawmill. Wood chips and shavings from the mill  which otherwise go to waste  are burned to heat water that is then pumped through more than three kilometres of underground piping, providing heat and warm water to nearly a dozen downtown buildings, including the library, city hall, the courthouse and the downtown public pool.

The heating system became operational in 2012 after Prince George received $11 million to fund the project from the provincial and federal governments, as well as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

"There are only a handful of municipal district heating systems in Canada that primarily use a renewable fuel source and for Prince George to be able to operate at 100 per cent through such a cold period is certainly a positive achievement," Raymond Boulter, a national expert on community energy systems with Natural Resources Canada, said in a city news release.

"It shows that renewable, low-carbon heat is possible even in Canada's northern communities."

While a renewable energy system kept people warm in Prince George, a sustainable, ultra-low energy building known as a passive house achieved the same thing a few hours north in Fort St. John.

Story continues

"The best way to think about [a passive house] is it's just a typical house, but you put a nice, big winter jacket on it," said Ryan Harvey, Fort St. John's communications coordinator. "So, it's extra insulated, using superior windows and doors, and no holes in the exterior walls."

The innovative building design has begun to pop up across Canada over the past few years.

According to Harvey, an electric baseboard and the warmth of daily use heat Fort St. John's passive house, which houses civic offices and is not attached to a natural gas line.

Fort St. John completed the passive house in 2014 as part of its effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The city has committed to reduce its emissions by 12 per cent below 2007 levels by 2030. The city's website claims it maintains a "carbon neutral status in its corporate operations."

Both cities view these alternative energy approaches as viable examples for how municipalities can lower their emissions, even in 40 degree weather.

"It just makes sense to look at how we can reduce our usage," said Harvey.

On Jan. 13, in the thick of the province's recent cold snap, B.C. used more electricity than ever before, a staggering 10,302 megawatts, surpassing the previous record of 10,194 megawatts used on Jan. 3, 2017.
Bestselling author Isabel Allende talks to Rowena Walsh about life, grief, and why its never too late to fall in love

ISABEL Allende is in love.

The 77-year-old bestselling novelist is often asked what it is like to fall in love at her age.

Her reply? Its exactly the same as to be in love when youre 20. The only difference is that you have no time to waste, so there is a sense of urgency. A sense that years go by very fast, so we have to enjoy what we have now.

This urgency keeps us on our toes and gives us a sense of gratitude and joy. We dont have time for pettiness, for little fights, for jealousy, for complaining about somebodys mess or whatever. We just enjoy what we have.

Isabels life has been marked by turbulence, exile, grief, and love. The Chilean-born author was three years old when her father abandoned the family. Her mother later married a diplomat but they were forced to flee to Venezuela when Augusto Pinochet took over Chile in a bloody coup in 1973. There, she wrote her debut novel, The House of the Spirits, originally a letter to her grandfather, and her life changed yet again as she was catapulted to literary stardom.

To date, 74m copies of her books have been sold worldwide. Her latest novel A Long Petal of the Sea tells the story of exiles fleeing the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War for the safety of Chile.

The important crossroads in her life, the moments in which her life have taken an unexpected turn, were completely out of her control, she says. The only thing I could control was how I reacted to the event.

The worst moment was the death of her 29-year-old daughter Paula after a year-long coma caused by complications of porphyria. Isabel took care of Paula and during this time started writing a letter to her daughter explaining what she was missing so she would not be confused when she recovered. The memoir later became a tribute to her.

When she died, my mother said that this is the worst kind of sorrow, nothing can help, this is a long, dark road, and you have to walk it day by day, tear after tear, and you have to walk it alone, no-one can really help. But this will end, or it will get better, and nothing that happens to you in the future is comparable. So you have already gone through the worst, you are strong enough for anything that comes in the future.

And to a certain extent, she was right. Nothing has happened to me since then that I can say is even comparable to that kind of pain. But it could happen in the future, I still have another son, I have grandchildren, I have Roger.

She met her third husband Roger Cukras after her marriage to writer Willie Gordon ended in 2015.

Gordon, who died last year, had three children and Isabel says they all struggled with drug addiction. His daughter died shortly after Paula. Then, years later, his youngest son died, also of an overdose.

I think we sort of soldiered through the first two deaths, but the third death just broke us as a couple. Willie was so devastated, he lost all interest in the marriage, our relationship. I would say, in life, he sort of gave up.

Their break-up was amicable, and she says she wasnt looking for anyone when Roger, a widowed lawyer, heard her speaking on radio and contacted her office. They began emailing daily and met five months later when she was in New York for a meeting. I wasnt intending to get married because I thought whats the point? Im not going to start raising a family at my age. But he is a very traditional person, although politically very progressive, and for him, marriage was very important.

I realised after I got married that that kind of formal commitment is important for me too.

Today Isabel lives in California and says that she has one foot there and the other in Chile. I am a foreigner but in a good way. I dont feel that I dont belong. I do belong here and in Chile as well.

She became an American citizen in 1993, and received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the countrys highest civilian honour, from Barack Obama in November 2014.

She set up the Isabel Allende Foundation in 1996 in homage to her daughter Paula. Its mission is to invest in the power of women and girls to secure reproductive rights, economic independence, and freedom from violence.

Isabel, who says that she has been a feminist from the age of six, rails against the damage Trump has done to the morale of the US. The economy might be good but the country is divided. There is hatred and violence, xenophobia, the values that we thought sustained this democracy have been attacked, and I hope that the democratic institutions in this country will be able to sustain this assault and prevail.

She has started writing new work every January 8 since 1981 when she began The House of The Spirits, and she has no plans to retire. I would like in my future to keep on working, still be in love with Roger until the very end, and to be together.

Maybe my contribution is less than a drop of water but there is some contribution to the kind of world that I dream of, a world where there is more equality, where compassion and inclusion will prevail.
The minister also said Iran had invited the Ukrainians, the owner of the plane, and Boeing to participate in the investigation.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said the Iranian man who shot down the Ukrainian plane is now in prison.

In an interview with Der Spiegel, answering a question why it took three days for the Iranian government to admit that its own armed forces had shot the plane down, Zarif said: "This was a complicated situation in a complicated time. Others needed much more time. Almost 32 years ago, the U.S. shot down an Iranian passenger plane. As of today, they still havent issued an official apology. The American officer who was responsible for shooting it down even received a medal. Meanwhile, the Iranian man who shot down the Ukrainian plane is now in prison," ISNA wrote.

Read alsoZelensky explains delay in publicly acknowledging that Tehran shot down UIA plane

The minister also said Iran had invited the Ukrainians, the owner of the plane, and Boeing to participate in the investigation.

"We are open to the participation of others. We are carrying out a proper investigation based on international requirements," Zarif said.

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.

On January 11, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani officially admitted that the Ukrainian airliner had been shot down by accident as a result of a "human error."
By PTI

KOLKATA: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said that bringing in resolutions against the CAA is more of a "political gesture" by the states as they hardly have any role in granting citizenships.

In an interview to PTI, the lawmaker said that in the implementation of the National Population Register (NPR) and the proposed nationwide NRC, the states will have a vital part as it will be their officials who will conduct the exercise because the Centre doesn't have the required manpower.

"That's more of a political gesture. The citizenship is given by the federal government only and obviously no states can give citizenship, so it has nothing for them to implement or not implement," Tharoor said.

"They (the states) can pass a resolution or go to the court but in practice what can they do? The state governments can't say they won't implement CAA, what they can say is they will not implement NPR-NRC as they will have a crucial role in it," he added.

Tharoor's party colleague Kapil Sibal raised a storm last week by saying there is no way a state can deny the implementation of the CAA when it has already been passed by Parliament.

Later, he termed it "unconstitutional" and clarified there was no change in his stance.

Punjab, where the Congress is in power, passed a resolution against the CAA last week.

It also supported a similar move by the Left government in Kerala.

In West Bengal as well, Tharoor's party has been demanding an anti-CAA resolution, which will be brought in by Mamata Banerjee's government on January 27.

The Congress has hinted that it may pass similar resolutions in other states such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh where it is in power.

Maintaining that the Supreme Court not directing a stay on the Citizenship Amendment Act has "not at all diluted" the protests against it, Tharoor welcomed the top court's decision to set up a five-judge constitution bench.

"This Act by naming religions in relation to citizenship has violated the Constitution. But at least the five-judge constitution bench will hear all the arguments and look into the merits of it. That's the only way we can resolve the fundamental disagreement," he said.

"There are only two ways this law can be struck down -- one, if the Supreme court declares it unconstitutional and strikes it down and second if the government itself revokes it. Now, the second option is not viable as the BJP would never accept its mistakes," said the Thiruvananthapuram MP who was in the city to take part in the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet.

He said the protests are largely spontaneous and if the government makes it clear that no religion is being targeted then many would lose their reason for protesting.

However, the diplomat-turned-politician said the government needs to do much more than just removing the religion clause in the CAA.

"It needs to say we will not ask questions about place of birth and citizenship and will not prepare the NRC," he said.

On the country's opposition, Tharoor said their unity has never been easy in Indian politics as many parties may have a similar stand at the Centre but may differ in the states.

"In my opinion, it would be simply better to present a united front to the nation rather than a divided front," he said, asserting that no one should feel threatened by the Congress.

Asked about the Gandhi family and the role of the present leadership in reviving the party, Tharoor said Congress is more than a family, and it is not only a major mass movement but also a set of coherent ideas.

"Yes, when we ask people to vote for Congress, some vote for the family, some vote for individuals, but above all they vote for a certain set of principles and convictions," he said.

Tharoor said the Congress stands for inclusiveness and is the only viable and reliable alternative to the "divisive politics" of the BJP.

"We have just lost the national elections. We have a four-and-quarter year to go before we can prove our qualities on the national stage. In the meantime, there are state elections. So there will be a constant opportunity for a referendum against the BJP's non-performance," he said.
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Linkedin Stuart Williams (Agence France-Presse) Davos, Switzerland  Sat, January 25, 2020 12:07 718 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad2060efd68 2 Environment Greta-Thunberg,Davos,climate,climate-crisis,environment Free

Teenage activist Greta Thunberg on Friday said activists' calls on the corporate and political elite at Davos to seriously fight climate change had been "completely ignored", but vowed not to be subdued by stinging personal criticism from the Trump administration.

The 50th edition of the annual Swiss Alps forum wrapped up with the menace of climate change -- which UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned could leave humanity "doomed" -- hammered into the minds of participants but doubt over whether any concrete action would be forthcoming.

Thunberg, 17, whose school strike movement had inspired a generation of young people to pressure governments over their inaction, had told the World Economic Forum (WEF) she wanted to see an immediate end to investment in fossil fuels.

"Before we came here we had a few demands for this WEF. Of course these demands have been completely ignored. We expected nothing less," Thunberg told reporters in the ski resort on the last day of the conference.

"As long as the science is being ignored -- as the facts are not being taken into account -- and as long as the situation is not being treated as a crisis, then world and business leaders can, of course, continue to ignore the situation.

"They do not have to do anything as they are not being held accountable," she lamented before joining other young people in one of her regular "Fridays for Future" protests in Davos.

Read also: Greta warns world leaders at climate protest before Davos

'Has no effect'

The Swede had emerged as one of the key figures of the Davos forum, warning "our house is still on fire" and prompting US President Donald Trump to grumble on his visit to the event about the "perennial prophets of doom".

Her demand for an immediate halt to investment in fossil fuels also prompted a stingingly personal aside from US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday.

"Is she the chief economist? Who is she? I'm confused," Mnuchin said, emphasising after a pause that this was a joke.

"After she goes and studies economics in college, she can come back and explain that to us," he said.

Asked about Mnuchin's comments, the Swede said: "Of course it has no effect. We are being criticized like that all the time."

"If we cared about that, we would not be able to do what we do. We put ourselves in the spotlight."

Mnuchin on Friday launched a new defence of US policy, insisting the Trump administration cared for the environment, but that problems should not be reduced to just climate change.

"Climate change is one of many issues" affecting the environment, he said, adding Trump was a firm advocate of "clean air and clean water".

He said the reason the US left the Paris climate agreement -- which calls for blocking global warming at well below 2C, and 1.5C if possible -- "was not because we don't support the environment (but because) we thought it wasn't a fair and balanced agreement."

He added that there were other key global issues to worry about, notably that "there's way too many people in the developing world" without access to electricity and preventing the spread of epidemics in the next decades like the coronavirus.

Read also: Climate strike but no cake for Greta Thunberg as she turns 17

'Not for change in discourse'

The starkest warnings at the forum came from Britain's Prince Charles -- who asked "what good is all the extra wealth in the world... if you can do nothing with it, except watch it burn?" -- and Guterres.

The UN chief warned that the world was losing the war against climate change and humanity's capacity "to live in this planet" will risk being destroyed.

"We need to act in order to make sure we are not doomed," he said.

Another prominent climate change protest leader, German student Luisa Neubauer, acknowledged that some bold words had been heard at Davos, but deeds were now needed.

"We never striked for discourse change," said Neubauer, who this month turned down the offer of a board seat on a subsidiary of German industrial giant Siemens.

"From the first day onward, we striked for actual climate action."
Italy's Competition and Markets Authority has launched proceedings against Facebook for failing to fully inform users about the commercial uses it makes of their data.

At the same time, a German court has today upheld a consumer group's right to challenge the tech giant over data and privacy issues in the national courts.

Lack of transparency

The Italian authority's action, which could result in a fine of 5 million for Facebook, follows an earlier decision by the regulator, in November 2018 -- when it found the company had not been dealing plainly with users about the underlying value exchange involved in signing up to the "free" service, and fined Facebook 5 million for failing to properly inform users how their information would be used commercially.

In a press notice about its latest action, the watchdog notes Facebook has removed a claim from its homepage -- which had stated that the service "is free and always will be" -- but finds users are still not being informed, "with clarity and immediacy" about how the tech giant monetizes their data.

The Authority had prohibited Facebook from continuing what it dubs "deceptive practice" and ordered it to publish an amending declaration on its homepage in Italy, as well as on the Facebook app and on the personal page of each registered Italian user.

In a statement responding to the watchdog's latest action, a Facebook spokesperson told us:

We are reviewing the Authority decision. We made changes last year -- including to our Terms of Service -- to further clarify how Facebook makes money. These changes were part of our ongoing commitment to give people more transparency and control over their information.

Last year Italy's data protection agency also fined Facebook $1.1 million -- in that case for privacy violations attached to the Cambridge Analytics data misuse scandal.

Dodgy defaults

In separate but related news, a ruling by a German court today found that Facebook can continue to use the advertising slogan that its service is "free and always will be" -- on the grounds that it does not require users to hand over monetary payments in exchange for using the service.

Story continues

A local consumer rights group, vzbv, had sought to challenge Facebook's use of the slogan -- arguing it's misleading, given the platform's harvesting of user data for targeted ads. But the court disagreed.

However, that was only one of a number of data protection complaints filed by the group -- 26 in all. And the Berlin court found in its favor on a number of other fronts.

Significantly, vzbv has won the right to bring data protection-related legal challenges within Germany even with the pan-EU General Data Protection Regulation in force -- opening the door to strategic litigation by consumer advocacy bodies and privacy rights groups in what is a very pro-privacy market.

This looks interesting because one of Facebook's favored legal arguments in a bid to derail privacy challenges at an EU Member State level has been to argue those courts lack jurisdiction -- given that its European HQ is sited in Ireland (and GDPR includes provision for a one-stop shop mechanism that pushes cross-border complaints to a lead regulator).

But this ruling looks like it will make it tougher for Facebook to funnel all data and privacy complaints via the heavily backlogged Irish regulator -- which has, for example, been sitting on a GDPR complaint over forced consent by adtech giants (including Facebook) since May 2018.

The Berlin court also agreed with vzbv's argument that Facebook's privacy settings and T&Cs violate laws around consent -- such as a location service being already activated in the Facebook mobile app; and a pre-ticked setting that made users' profiles indexable by search engines by default

The court also agreed that certain pre-formulated conditions in Facebook's T&C do not meet the required legal standard -- such as a requirement that users agree to their name and profile picture being used "for commercial, sponsored or related content," and another stipulation that users agree in advance to all future changes to the policy.

Commenting in a statement, Heiko Dunkel from the law enforcement team at vzbv, said: "It is not the first time that Facebook has been convicted of careless handling of its users' data. The Chamber of Justice has made it clear that consumer advice centers can take action against violations of the GDPR."

We've reached out to Facebook for a response.
Marie Yovanovitch, whose removal from her role as US ambassador to Ukraine features prominently in Donald Trumps impeachment trial (Andrew Harnik/AP)

Donald Trump can be heard in a taped 2018 conversation saying he wanted to get rid of the US ambassador to Ukraine, whose removal a year later has become an issue in the presidents ongoing impeachment trial.

The recording has been provided to congressional investigators by Lev Parnas, an associate of Mr Trumps personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Mr Parnas was reportedly among a small group speaking with Mr Trump when the recording was made.

Mr Trump demanded the removal of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch at an April 2018 dinner at his hotel in Washington, according to ABC News.

The Associated Press reported on Friday night that the recording has now been given by Mr Parnass lawyer to the House Intelligence Committee. The House panels chairman, Democrat Representative Adam Schiff, is helping lead the impeachment proceedings against Trump.

Expand Close Mr Trump demanded the removal of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch at an April 2018 dinner at his hotel in Washington, according to ABC News (Steve Parsons/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Mr Trump demanded the removal of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch at an April 2018 dinner at his hotel in Washington, according to ABC News (Steve Parsons/PA)

The recording also appears to contradict the presidents statements that he did not know Mr Parnas, a key figure in the investigation.

ABC said a speaker who appears to be Mr Trump says on the recording: Get rid of her! Get her out tomorrow. I dont care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. OK? Do it.

Mr Parnas and associate Igor Fruman worked with Mr Giuliani on a push to get Ukraine to announce it would investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

On the recording, the two men tell Mr Trump the US ambassador had been insulting him, which leads directly to the apparent remarks by the president.

The White House denied any suggestion of presidential wrongdoing.

Every president in our history has had the right to place people who support his agenda and his policies within his administration, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said.

Get rid of her! Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. OK? Do itDonald Trump

Ms Yovanovitch, who was viewed as an obstacle to investigations into Mr Biden and his son Hunter, was not recalled from her position until April, 2019.

She said the decision was based on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives that she was disloyal to Mr Trump.

Mr Parnas appears to say on the recording: The biggest problem there, I think where we need to start is we gotta get rid of the ambassador. Shes still left over from the Clinton administration.

He later can be heard telling Mr Trump: Shes basically walking around telling everybody, Wait, hes gonna get impeached, just wait.

House investigators have been working to document an almost year-long effort on the part of Mr Parnas and Mr Giuliani to have Ms Yovanovitch removed from her post.

Mr Parnas and Mr Fruman were recently indicted by the Southern District of New York on charges including conspiracy to commit campaign finance fraud. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Expand Close Lev Parnas, who was reportedly among the small group of people to whom Mr Trump made his demand for his Ukraine ambassador to be withdrawn (Seth Wenig/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Lev Parnas, who was reportedly among the small group of people to whom Mr Trump made his demand for his Ukraine ambassador to be withdrawn (Seth Wenig/AP)

Democrats seized on the recording as further evidence of Mr Trumps involvement.

If this is additional evidence of his involvement in that effort to smear her, it would certainly corroborate much of what weve heard, but Im not in a position yet to analyse that, not having looked at it, Mr Schiff said.

Mr Parnas has conducted a series of interviews in recent days in which he has asserted Mr Trump was aware of the plan to remove Ms Yovanovitch.

Mr Trump has distanced himself from Mr Parnas, whose credibility and motives have been questioned by Trump supporters.

I dont know Parnas other than I guess I had pictures taken, which I do with thousands of people, Mr Trump said last week.

But I just met him. I dont know him at all. Dont know what hes about, dont know where he comes from, know nothing about him. I can only tell you this thing is a big hoax.

The Associated Press has not reviewed the recording. A request to Mr Parnas and his lawyer for comment was not immediately answered.

The president is being tried in the Senate after the House impeached him last month, accusing him of abusing his office by asking Ukraine to probe the Bidens while withholding military aid from a US ally at war with its neighbour Russia.

The second article of impeachment accuses Mr Trump of obstructing Congress by refusing to turn over documents or allow officials to testify in the House probe.

Republicans have defended Mr Trumps actions as appropriate and are casting the process as a politically motivated effort to weaken him in his reelection campaign.

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and acquittal is considered likely.
Jeffrey Sterling is the warning to U.S. government whistleblowers. Be careful, dont step out of line. This could happen to you. If three years in a federal penitentiary isnt scary enough, add on the 11 years that Sterling spent in limbo, unable to move forward with his life or even find a job.

Sterling will be in Kaueper Hall at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Millikin University speaking about his experiences and talking about his new book The Unwanted Spy: The Persecution of an American Whistleblower.

Ive witnessed this story. In the spring of 2013, Sterling visited one of my classes at Millikin. He told my students his story. At first, we were skeptical. He was, after all, both a lawyer and a spy. He was trained to deceive. Call me naive, I ended up believing him. His story was too real. What was happening to him was too chilling. Sterling was a man who spent nearly a decade being persecuted by the government. Finally, the government indicted him and prosecuted him but even that process took over three years.

Sterling wasnt even allowed to be the star of his own criminal trial. That privilege was reserved for James Risen, The New York Times reporter who wrote the story that the FBI said Sterling leaked.

The media paid attention to that story. That story was important. Risen stands up to the government over his First Amendment rights as the government tries to compel him into surrendering his source. The press was interested in this story. The press had no problem making this into a David vs. Goliath story casting Risen as David. The press could admire Risen for standing by his word and risking prison to protect his source.

The press just assumed the source was Sterling.

After winning its case in the courts against Risen, the government proceeded to try Sterling in the spring of 2015 without Risens testimony. They succeeded in convicting him. The case was thin but barely covered. Only four reporters covered the case from beginning to end and none of them were convinced of his guilt.

Its always been that way with Sterlings case. People just assumed he was guilty  until they heard his story.

Sterling spent three years in federal prison. He survived. And now he is finally free. A saga that lasted over 15 years of his life is behind him. He has a chance to start over. Part of that new start requires him to look back. His memoir about this story allows him to tell his side of the story. His speech Tuesday at Millikin allows you to hear his story.

Ive heard it. Ive been involved for eight years. I can tell you this. Sterling had opportunities to end the investigation. All he had to do was admit guilt and serk a plea agreement. Thats what the other people tried under the Espionage Act did. Sterling refused. He has never admitted guilt. He refuses to admit to something he didnt do.

This Sterling case is fascinating when you take the human element out of it. Everyone assumed that Risens refusing to name his source was protecting Sterling, but what if he was protecting other people by his silence. If Risen said Sterling was not his source, the obvious next question was then who is?

Risen couldnt have answered that. Quite a dilemma for a journalist.

What so many people missed while covering the Risen case was Sterlings story. Risen had the protection of The New York Times and the First Amendment to shield him from the governments wrath. Sterling had neither. He took on the full weight of government pressure for over a decade.

What did that pressure do to him? How did he survive?

Come listen to Jeffrey Sterling Tuesday and find out.

Scott Lambert is assistant professor of journalism and English at Millikin University in Decatur.

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Wanlov wants the board of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) to rescind its decision of banning Stonebwoy and Shatta Wale.

If you could remember, Stonebwoy and Shatta Wale lost their legibility for Vodafone Ghana Music Awards nominations and selections after the two fought at the just ended VGMAs.

In an exclusive interview on TV3, Wanlov who walks barefoot suggested that VGMA board was unfair to the musicians as their actions on that night do not deserve such punishment.

So, to his best knowledge, Blakk Cedi (StoneBwoys Former Manager) who was the brain behind the trigger pulled by Stonebwoy should be punished instead comparably to Stonebwoy and Shatta Wale.

---Ghbase.com
French carmaker PSA on Saturday said it would repatriate expat staff from Wuhan as fears grew that more cases of coronavirus would be found in France. Three cases of the virus have been confirmed in France while Chinese authorities have said the death toll there has risen to 41 with around 1,300 infected. The French firm, which makes brands including Peugeot and Citroen, said in a statement the evacuation was being "implemented in full cooperation with the Chinese authorities and French consulate general" and involved 38 people made up of staff members and their families working in the Wuhan region. They would be quarantined in the city of Changsha, around 300 kilometres (180 miles) from Wuhan where the virus originated, before being allowed to return "to their countries of origin", the company said in a statement. The first cases to be confirmed in Europe were announced by French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn on Friday. Others were "being monitored", said Paris emergency service chief Pierre Cali, without giving an exact figure. "We are going to have patients suspected of having the virus, there are going to be (more) cases," warned Yazdan Yazdanpanah, head of infectious diseases at Paris's Bichat hospital where two of the three cases were being treated. Yazdanpanah said they were a couple from Wuhan, a man aged 31 and a woman aged 30, who arrived in France on January 18 as part of a trip. The other case involved a 48-year-old man, originally from China, who returned to France on January 22 after having "passed through Wuhan", according to Buzyn. He has been in hospital in the southwestern French city since Thursday after contacting doctors with a high temperature and a cough. "Ten to 15 people" who had been in contact with him had come forward, Bordeaux mayor Nicolas Florian said, adding that Chinese New Year festivities planned for Sunday had been cancelled by organisers "as a precaution". An in-depth investigation into the three cases was launched which identified all those who had had close contact with the three patients to ensure that they were properly monitored to prevent the spread of the virus, French health ministry officials said. All three were currently "very well", France's director-general of health Jerome Salomon said. "We are all reassured by their progress," he added. A medical team several dozen strong would be put in place at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport from Sunday, health authorities added on Saturday. The new virus has now infected people across China and in nearly a dozen other countries. China's most important celebration, the New Year festivities, has been all but cancelled for at least 56 million people as authorities expanded travel bans. The world's most populous country has scrambled to try to contain the disease, building a second field hospital in Wuhan to relieve overwhelmed medical facilities and closing more travel routes as the country marked the Lunar New Year holiday. A seafood and live animal market in Wuhan has been identified as the centre of the outbreak. Two of the three cases confirmed in France are being treated at Paris's Bichat hospital
A non cognisable offence has been registered against veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah's daughter Heeba for allegedly assaulting employees of a veterinary clinic in Versova in the metropolis, police said on Saturday.

The incident took place on January 16 when Heeba had gone to the clinic to get her cats sterilized and was told to wait as a surgery was in progress there, an official said.

"Since she was made to wait despite having an appointment, Heeba assaulted the clinic's caretaker after an argument over the wait. The caretaker approached police after which a non-cognisable (NC) case was taken," he said.

She was charged under IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation), the official said.

Heeba has claimed that the gatekeeper did not allow her into the clinic despite having an appointment, and a woman staff abused her after she complained about the gatekeeper, police said.

CCTV footage of Heeba's altercation at the clinic went viral on social media.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he has defended everyone in his department. He just won't give examples.

In an interview with NPR's Morning Edition aired Friday, Pompeo was questioned about "people who have resigned from this department under your leadership saying you should stand up for the diplomats working here." Pompeo tried to counter by chalking the allegation up to "unnamed sources," but NPR's Mary Louise Kelly quickly pointed out that former State Department adviser Michael McKinley had made that point during his House impeachment hearing.

To that, Pompeo made a direct claim: "I have defended every State Department official on this team." So Kelly asked for an example of how he'd defended former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. Pompeo again said he'd "defended every single person on this team," and then ended the conversation.

Mike Pompeo  who refused a House subpoena  would be a top witness for Democrats in the impeachment trial. He is not set to testify, but he spoke to @NPRKelly. She asked the secretary of state if he would defend Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch: pic.twitter.com/1YoGWOSdqb  Morning Edition (@MorningEdition) January 24, 2020

In his testimony, McKinley said he'd asked Pompeo three times to issue a statement in support of Yovanovitch after she'd been fired, after which he'd resigned. Further information about the Trump administration's opposition to Yovanovitch arose Friday in the form of a 2018 recording where President Trump reportedly appeared to direct two associates to "take her out."

More stories from theweek.com

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Bolton's lawyer blames the White House for leaking damaging book excerpts


Jordan, N.Y. -- A Jordan-Elbridge Middle School student is in hot water after displaying a list of nine fellow students and jokingly calling it a hit list."

Earlier today, it came to our attention that a middle school student had a list comprised of the names of nine students which she, in jest, called her hit list while in conversation with another student, Superintendent of Schools James Froio said in an email to parents Friday.

Subsequently, the school resource officer and administration conducted an immediate investigation and found that at no time was anyone in danger.

The student will face consequences as described in the districts code of conduct, Froio said.

Please reinforce with your children that such actions, however intended, are taken seriously and it is never appropriate to call into question the safety of others," he said.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : Ahead of the Republic Day celebrations, the government on Saturday announced the names of 23 awardees, including two women from Brazil, who will be conferred the Padma Shri Award this year.

The two Brazilian women for the country's fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri are Gloria Areria and Lia Diskin.

According to the government, Areria, a resident of Rio De Janerio in Brazil is a pioneer in Sanskrit and Vedanta and has dedicated herself to the teaching and promotion of Advaita Vedanta in the traditional manner in Portugese language.

Areria has been teaching Vedanta and Sanskrit in Rio de Janeiro and other cities in Brazil and she regularly speaks on spirituality, self-knowledge and mainly on the teachings of the Vedas.

She has also translated many Sanskrit texts into Portuguese, including the Bhagavadgita, Upanishads and several others. She has also founded Vidya Mandir, a non-profit institution based in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, and has been working since 1984 to preserve the culture and knowledge of the Vedas.

The government said that Areria had started her studies at the Arsha Sandeepany Sadhanalaya in Mumbai in January 1974 under the guidance of Swami Dayananda. During her stay in India, she also studied in ashrams in Uttarkashi and Rishikesh and traveled to various parts of India to attend courses, lectures and visited holy places in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

She returned to Brazil in 1978.

The government said that Diskin, an eminent Gandhian scholar from Brazil, has been selected for the Padma Shri award this year as she is actively involved in the promotion of Gandhian values of peace and non-violence for the past four decades.

Diskin, who is of Argentinian origin, has stayed in Brazil for over 30 years and has admiration for India, its people and culture. She is an author as well as a sought-after speaker at various Universities in Brazil and has also authored many books on education, peace, ethics and culture.

She has also translated Mahatma Gandhi's 'An Autobiography - My Experiments with Truth' -- the book is in its eight edition. She has won wide acclaim in Brazil for her selfless service to society, having worked on multiple projects such as Gandhi Network, approved by 14 Brazilian states to impart training, information, and guidance on a culture of peace-oriented activities and knowledge.
Sir David Attenborough has warned that politicians may not prioritise climate action due to short lifespan of governments.

The 93-year-old was speaking at the Climate Assembly UK conference which began in Birmingham earlier today.

He warned that the standard five-year terms of government mean that ministers are unlikely to make the long-term plans needed to tackle environmental issues.

Sir David Attenborough was speaking at the Climate Assembly UK conference which began in Birmingham earlier today

The conference, which will run over the next four weekends, was commissioned by six parliamentary select committees and is the first UK-wide citizens' assembly on climate change.

It was introduced to discuss how the UK can meet the Government's legally binding target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero overall by 2050.

Sir David gave a welcome speech to the 110 selected attendees during which he said: 'If you have a Parliament that is of a fixed length of five years, it's very difficult to persuade politicians that they should give money and time and attention and worry about an issue which is not going to come to a climax - and people won't know if it is successful or not successful - for 10 years hence, 15 years hence.'

He warned that the standard five-year terms of government mean that ministers are unlikely to make the long-term plans needed to tackle environmental issues

Sir David gave a welcome speech to the 110 selected attendees at the conference that was introduced to discuss how the UK can meet the Government's legally binding target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero overall by 2050

An election must be held every five years unless two-thirds of MPs vote for an early poll, according to the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011.

But he added that the nation 'ought to be extremely grateful' to the assembly for taking climate change seriously.

He said: 'I truly think that the fact that you've given up time to come here and take this seriously is of the greatest importance.

'And the rest of the people in this country ought to be extremely grateful to you, as indeed, am I.'

The event, which will run over the next four weekends, was commissioned by six parliamentary select committees and is the first UK-wide citizens' assembly on climate change

Sir David previously urged both politicians and the public to listen to the recommendations of the assembly

Sir David previously urged both politicians and the public to listen to the recommendations of the assembly.

Speaking ahead of his appearance at the assembly, the veteran naturalist and broadcaster said: 'I am grateful to the 110 people from all corners of the United Kingdom who are giving up their weekends to take part in this very important discussion of how we in the UK reach our net zero emissions target.

'These people have been picked to represent our population as a whole, they come from all walks of life, and together they will deliberate carefully on behalf of us all.

'We should listen closely to their recommendations.'

Those attending will hear from experts and advocates about cutting emissions in areas such as buildings, transport and consumption of goods. Pictured: Paul Ekins, Fernanda Balata and Modi Mwatsama during a panel session discussion

Those taking part were chosen from more than 1,800 people who responded to invitations that were sent out to 30,000 UK households selected at random.

They are representative of the UK's population in age, gender, ethnicity and education.

But they are also representative of the country in terms of how concerned they are about climate change.

Organisers said that the group was made up of three people who were not at all concerned, 16 not very concerned, 36 fairly concerned, 54 very concerned and one who did not know.

Sir David will not be speaking to members of the assembly about how to reach the net zero target himself.

But they will hear from experts and advocates about cutting emissions in areas such as buildings, transport and consumption of goods as well as giving their views on a range of options presented to them for tackling climate change.

The recommendations made by the assembly will be published in a report in April.

The 520,000 scheme has been funded through 120,000 from the select committees' research budgets and two philanthropic foundations - the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and the European Climate Foundation.

They have had no input into the working of the assembly.
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Eleven-year-old Amy (a revelatory Fathia Youssouf Abdillah) already has an eye for petty misdeeds before falling in with the titular cuties of Maimouna Doucoures feature debut. The sweet, gangly tween is no stranger to tiny acts of rebellion that both mystify and thrill her, as if even she cant believe what shes getting up to in the liminal space between childhood and adulthood. Sticky-fingered (a set of prayer beads here, a much-needed cell phone there) and hyper-observant, Amy doesnt miss a trick, characteristics that not only set her apart from her family but also make her something of a curiosity at her local school. Recently moved into a bustling French apartment building and a dizzyingly busy middle school, Amy is in state of massive transition, and thats before the physical demands of puberty start to infiltrate every inch of her body and mind.

, and despite the specificity of Amys story  her family, culture, background, and the contemporary obsessions that enthrall her  there is a heartening universality to her troubles. Cuties may have plenty on its mind, but its also the kind of coming-of-age story that will make any adult viewer think back to their own tween years. You couldnt pay most people to re-live all that; watching Amy endure it on screen is hard enough. (Despite the drama of her storyline, Doucoure has a real eye for visual humor: Amy sitting quietly during a prayer service, tucked inside her headscarves as she watches a twerking video while appearing to pray, and a sight gag centered on the outrageous number of onions shes tasked with chopping in preparation for a feast.)

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Originally from Senegal, Amys traditional lifestyle requires that she honor her parents  and eventually, her husband  by being meek and reserved, faithful and timid. And yet Amys familial unit has already started to break down, propelling them into uncharted space. In the absence of her father (resolved in the films first act through one hell of a heartbreaking revelation), Amy must honor her mother (a haunting Maimouna Gueye) above all. Once that part of her life changes, the diversions pile up. Theres her growing femininity, her needy younger brother, and a new interest in pop music and dancing. And there, of course, are the Cuties.

The Cuties are a budding dance crew whose leader happens to live in Amys building. The intrigue is understandable: Where Amy is shy, they are bold, where she is modest, theyre brash. Doucoure and her young cast believably chart the girls fickle affections as Amy orbits their world, from their intense adoration to their terrible ability to bully each other.

Amy eventually wiggles her way into the group by way of her stolen cell phone, offering her services as a videographer for their dancing exploits. The girls are preparing to enter a dance contest, and an appearance by their great rivals (the Sweety-Swaggs) lays out whats the come: The Swaggs are older, more developed, more sexualized, and their moves reflect that. The Cuties certainly dont understand that even the elder Swaggs are at the mercy of a hyper-sexualized culture and its demands, and that theres something deeply wrong with a teenager taking her top off in the middle of dance video. Soon enough, the Cuties are unfurling their own new routine led by Amy, who remains tuned in to whats happening around her but not what it means.

The foursome does realize that there is something here beyond their reach  new best pal Angelica balks at a move that involves lasciviously sucking on her fingers and they all seem to think their butt-bumping is silly more than anything. The audience must endure their sexualization as increasingly horrified spectators. The girls vacillate between being hyper-interested in the opposite sex (the girls push Amy to videotape a cute boy in the bathroom) and being freaked out by its actual mechanics, as in a scene in which they discover a used condom. A group of initially interested teenage boys soon recoil in disgust (and fear?) when they realize how young the Cuties are. Theyre little girls, one of them scoffs, as the tweens jostle and preen, desperate to prove otherwise.

As Amy more fully enters the world of womanhood, Cuties takes on a more mystical aspect, one thats not always earned and never fits inside the very real space Doucoure carved out for her characters. Its an uneasy merging of the grounded and the out-there thats never fully realized and always distracting. (That Doucoure ends her film with a one-two punch of too-obvious symbolism and the films most fantastic sequence is, without spoiling the details, a tremendous letdown.) The eventual consequences Amy must face are believable, built around a coming-of-age trope of suddenly being forced to reckon with her two lives on the same day. However, Doucoure muddies them with magical realism that does little to advance the storyline or Amys evolving character.

Although Doucoure steeps Cuties in emotion and experience, she abandons its grace to make crazier gestures. Cuties doesnt need sudden splotches of blood or a twist that turns Amy into, at best, a young criminal. Growing up is hard enough, and Cuties knows that  until it doesnt.

Grade: B-

Cuties premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Netflix will release it in 2020.

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This is the first visit of President Bolsonaro to India. (Photo Credit: Twitter)

New Delhi:

Brazilian President, Jair Messias Bolsonaro on Saturday received a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhawan. He was received by President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Bolsonaro accompanied by his daughter Laura Bolsonaro, daughter-in-law Leticia Firmo, eight ministers, four members of the Brazilian parliament and a large business delegation arrived in India on Friday. This is the first visit of President Bolsonaro to India.

The Brazilian president is in India primarily to grace the Republic Day celebrations on Sunday as chief guest and explore ways to boost trade ties with India at a time when both the large economies are hit by slowdowns.

Brazil President Jair Messias Bolsonaro arrives at Rashtrapati Bhavan, for ceremonial reception; received by President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister @narendramodi, reports ANI. @jairbolsonaro #RepublicDay2020



Y: ANI



For more updates, visit https://t.co/FKiTwn4lh5 pic.twitter.com/mfVRyZPGGi  News Nation (@NewsNationTV) January 25, 2020

External Affairs Minister Jaishankar meets Bolsonaro

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday met Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro and discussed ways to deepen ties between the two countries in a range of areas, including trade and investment.

After the meeting, Jaishankar said in a tweet that Bolsonaros visit will open new opportunities for bilateral cooperation. Pleased to welcome the Chief Guest for #RepublicDay2020 President @jairbolsonaro of Brazil. His visit will open new opportunities for our bilateral cooperation. It also symbolizes the global rebalancing underway, he said.

India-Brazil ties have been on an upswing in the last few years.

The volume of bilateral trade was USD 8.2 billion in 2018-19. This included USD 3.8 billion worth of Indian exports to Brazil and USD 4.4 million as imports by India.

Both the governments feel there is huge potential to enhance the bilateral trade further.

Major Indian exports to Brazil include agro-chemicals, synthetic yarns, auto components and parts, pharmaceutical and petroleum products. Brazilian exports to India include crude oil, gold, vegetable oil, sugar and bulk mineral and ores.

Indian investments in Brazil were around USD 6 billion and Brazilian investments in India are estimated at USD 1 billion in 2018.

Brazilian investments in India are mainly in automobiles, IT, mining, energy and biofuel sectors. India has invested in Brazils IT, pharmaceutical, energy, agri-business, mining and engineering sectors.

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Fifteen ITBP officials were awarded the police service medal.

IAFs air defence missile had shot down Mi-17 helicopter in Budgam in the Kashmir Valley minutes after Pakistan Air Force fighter aircraft had entered Indian air space on February 27, 2019, a day after pre-emptive strike by Indian Air Force at terrorists camp at Balakot. (Photo: AP/File)

New Delhi: Squadron leader Ninad Anil Mandavgane and Squadron leader Siddharth Vashisht, pilots of the Mi-17 helicopter which was brought down by friendly fire on February 27 last year, have been bestowed posthumously with Vayu Sena Medals (Gallantry).

The other four IAF personnel, Sergeant Vikrant Sahrawat, Sergeant Vishal Kumar Pandey, Corporal Pankaj Kumar, Corporal Deepak Pandey who also died during the chopper crash have been Mention-in-Despatches.

Instituted on November 25, 1950 for distinguished and meritorious service in operational areas and acts of gallantry which are not of a sufficiently high order to warrant the grant of gallantry awards, said Indian Air Force website on Mention-in-Despatches.

IAFs air defence missile had shot down Mi-17 helicopter in Budgam in the Kashmir Valley minutes after Pakistan Air Force fighter aircraft had entered Indian air space on February 27, 2019, a day after pre-emptive strike by Indian Air Force at terrorists camp at Balakot.

President on Saturday approved awards of 409 gallantry and other defence decorations to armed forces and others on the eve of 71st Republic Day celebrations.

Six soldiers from Indian Army have been awarded the Shaurya Chakra, including one posthumously, for displaying gallantry during anti-militancy and anti-insurgency operations.

Lt. Col. Jyoti Lama, Major Konjengbham Bijendra Singh, Naib Subedhar Narender Singh and Naik Naresh Kumar are among the recipients of the award. Naib Subedar Sombir was posthumously awarded the Shaurya Chakra. Naib Subedar Sombir was part of the assault team of a Rashtriya Rifles which planned and executed an operation in which three hard-core terrorists were eliminated in J&K.

A BSF officer, Dipak Kumar Mondal, who was killed by cattle smugglers along the Indo-Bangla border in Tripura in 2017 and troops who thwarted infiltration bids and unprovoked firing attempts from Pakistan have been decorated with police gallantry medals on the eve of the 71st Republic Day.

A total of nine personnel, with six posthumous, have been awarded the Police Medal for Gallantry.

Fifteen ITBP officials were awarded the police service medal. Second-in-command-rank officer Ratan Singh Sonal, Section Officer C. Durai Raj and deputy inspector generals A.S. Rawat and Nishith Chandra were among the officials decorated with the distinguished and meritorious medal.

While cordoning the target house, Naib Subedar Sombir deployed himself and his buddy to cover the most likely escape route of terrorists. One of the terrorist tried to break the cordon by firing indiscriminately and lobbing grenades on them, which resulted in grievous injuries to his buddy. Seeing his buddy in danger and not caring about personal safety, Naib Subedar Sombir seized the initiative and engaged the terrorist. In close quarter battle, Naib Subedar Sombir killed the foreign terrorist. During his extremely courageous act, Naib Subedar Sombir received grievous Gun Shot Wounds to his chest and neck due to which he later succumbed.

Lt. Col. Jyoti Lama created a vibrant intelligence network in Manipur and after meticulous planning relentlessly led his Company in apprehending fourteen hardcore terrorists. On 23 July 2019, he based on a specific input regarding move of two terrorists laid an ambush in a village and eliminated them. On challenging the terrorists to drop their weapons and surrender, Lieutenant Lama drew heavy fire and exhibiting raw courage engaged the terrorist in an intense firefight and eliminated a hardcore terrorist.

The other terrorist trying to escape fired indiscriminately towards him. "The officer unmindful of his personal safety and exhibiting nerves of steel, once again retaliated with effective fire, thereby eliminating the second hardcore terrorist," reads the citation.
Officials in China are racing to contain the outbreak of a new virus that has left at least six people dead and sickened more than 300, after it was confirmed the infection can be passed between humans.

The spread of the respiratory virus to Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and now the United States, is fueling fears of a broader epidemic, as China enters its busiest travel period of the year.

Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the coronavirus was first detected, announced a series of new measures Tuesday, including the cancellation of upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations, which had been expected to attract hundreds of thousands of people.

Tour agencies have been banned from taking groups out of Wuhan and the number of thermal monitors and screening areas in public spaces will be increased. Traffic police will also conduct spot checks on private vehicles coming in and out of the city to look for live poultry or wild animals, after the virus was linked to a seafood and live animal market, according to a report by state media outlet the People's Daily, citing Wuhan's Municipal Health Commission.

The new measures come after Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered "resolute efforts to curb the spread" of the virus Monday.

There are now fears, however, that efforts to contain it are coming too late, hampered by a slow-moving Chinese bureaucracy which failed to put sufficient measures in place in time.

In the coming days, hundreds of millions of Chinese are expected to begin traveling across the country and overseas as the annual Lunar New Year break gets fully underway, compounding concerns of a further spike in cases.

Though infections were first detected in Wuhan in mid-December, infrared temperature screening areas were not installed in the city's airports and stations until January 14, according to state media.

More than 300 cases of the virus have been confirmed across China, with the majority in Wuhan itself, but also as far afield as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong province, near Hong Kong.

The death toll rose to six Tuesday evening, after the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission confirmed that a 66-year-old man and a 48-year-old woman died on January 20. The majority of those who have died as a result of the virus have been elderly and had pre-existing conditions.

Cases confirmed worldwide

Around a month after the virus was first identified in Wuhan, it has already spread well beyond mainland China.

In Asia, cases have been detected in Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand and Japan, while authorities in the US confirmed their first case on Tuesday and there have been reports of potential cases in Australia.

Despite initial reports that the virus was unlikely to spread between humans, Chinese health authorities have now said there is "definitely human-to-human transmission." One patient is believed to have infected as many as 14 medical staff in one hospital, suggesting the disease can be spread far more easily than previously thought.

The specter of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), which infected more than 8,000 people and killed 774 in a pandemic that ripped through Asia in 2002 and 2003, has loomed large over discussion of the current virus.

During the SARS outbreak, Chinese authorities initially downplayed the dangers and censored coverage, preventing people from realizing the severity of the virus and taking action in time to stop its spread.

Zhong Nanshan, an expert with China's National Health Commission who is investigating the Wuhan virus, told state media Monday that while it is not as serious as SARS, the number of people with the disease was "climbing" and suggested that the "death rate at the moment is not so representative."

A study by researchers in the UK estimated that the number of infections in Wuhan is still grossly underestimated, with the real number closer to 1,700, based on the spread of the virus to other cities and countries in a relatively short period of time.

US authorities announced the country's first confirmed case on Tuesday. The patient, a young man, had been traveling and arrived at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington state before health screenings for the virus began.

Worldwide effort

Even before cases were detected in other countries, the efforts to contain the Wuhan coronavirus were international. Wuhan alone has connections to dozens of overseas destinations, and Beijing and Shanghai have hundreds more.

Airports across Asia have stepped up temperature screening of incoming passengers, as have several hubs in the US with connections to Wuhan, including New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

With all indications that the virus has a relatively slow incubation time, however, these efforts may be insufficient to stop its spread.

"You cannot absolutely prevent entry into the country of a disease like this. The incubation period is probably a week," Australia's chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, said Tuesday. "It's about identifying those with a high risk and making sure people with a high risk know about it and know how to get medical attention."

He said that while there was no cause for immediate alarm, the true number of cases was likely far higher than currently reported and urged people to be vigilant about potential symptoms.

Australian authorities on Tuesday quarantined a man in Brisbane who had returned from Wuhan with possible symptoms of the coronavirus. He will remain in isolation until his symptoms have resolved, Queensland Health authorities said.

Raising concerns about how difficult it is to detect those with the virus, even if they have some symptoms, a patient in South Korea told doctors there she had developed a fever and muscle pains on Saturday and was prescribed cold medicine by a doctor in Wuhan, before being sent on her way. She was later confirmed to have the coronavirus during a check in Seoul.

In the US, the National Institutes of Health is working on a vaccine for the new virus, though it will take at least a few months until the first phase of clinical trials get underway and more than a year until a vaccine might be available.

Scientists in Texas, New York and China are also at work on a vaccine, according to Peter Hotez, a vaccine scientist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

"The lesson we've learned is coronavirus infections are serious and one of the newest and biggest global health threats," Hotez told CNN.

The World Health Organization will convene an emergency meeting on Wednesday to determine whether the outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of "international concern" and what recommendations should be made to help manage its spread.
: Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Saturday said creating awareness among citizens for electoral participation was vital for the future of democracy.

"Young and future voters have been in focus across the democracies of the world for larger electoral participation," he said during the 10th National Voters' Day Celebration here.

"We are living in the world's largest functional democracy. It is wonderful to recount that the citizens of India have continuously exercised their right to vote and elect their representatives...," he said.

Purohit highlighted the importance of creating awareness among citizens for electoral participation, saying it is "vital to the future of democracy."



He said National Voters' Day is being celebrated all over the country on January 25 since 2011 to mark the foundation day of the Election Commission of India, which was established in 1950.

The main purpose of National Voters' Day is to encourage, facilitate and maximise the enrollment especially for the new voters, he said.

Purohit also said that Tamil Nadu has 100 per cent coverage of electors with Electors Photo Identity Cards.

"It is commendable work. I appreciate the CEO and DEOs for this mammoth achievement...", he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Taiwan widens criteria for reporting suspected cases of coronavirus

ROC Central News Agency

01/24/2020 05:58 PM

Taipei, Jan. 24 (CNA) Taiwan's government on Friday widened its requirements for reporting suspected cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) and urged Taiwanese returning from China for the Lunar New Year to avoid visiting crowded places, as part of its preventive efforts against the deadly disease that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Under the latest government directive, doctors are required to report to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) if a patient shows up with a fever or acute respiratory infection and had been to Wuhan at least 14 days prior to falling ill, CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang () said at a press conference.

Prior to Friday, suspected cases were identified as patients with both a fever and acute respiratory infection, who had been in Wuhan at least 14 days before the symptoms appeared.

Meanwhile, from Friday until Feb. 29, designated hospitals will also provide free antiviral drugs to patients with flu-like symptoms, regardless of their nationality, Chuang said.

If the antiviral drug proves effective, it would rule out the 2019-nCoV because there is no treatment for it at the moment. Chuang said such an approach would help with the diagnosis at this time, which is the peak flu season in Taiwan.

Chuang also urged travelers from China, including the many Taiwanese citizens returning home for the Lunar New Year, to avoid public places and crowded areas. He also advised them not to take public transportation but said if they must do so, they should wear face masks.

As of Friday afternoon, a total of 134 suspected cases of the Wuhan coronavirus had been reported in Taiwan, 70 of which were reported Thursday, according to the latest statistics from the Central Epidemic Command Center.

Of the 134 patients, one was confirmed Tuesday as having the 2019-nCoV, and 106 were under quarantine, while 27 cases were ruled out as the coronavirus, according to the center.

Since the new infectious disease emerged in Wuhan in December last year, China has reported 830 cases and 26 deaths. A few cases have also been reported recently in other countries, including Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States.

(By Christie Chen)

Enditem/pc

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PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig has been honoured with the Padma Bhushan, officials said on Saturday.

Baig, 73, is a former deputy chief minister and finance minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

A founder leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Baig was one of the few politicians who was not detained by the Union government after abrogation of provisions of Article 370 on August 5 last year.

The politician has been awarded for his contribution to "public affairs" and is amongst the 16 people who have been honoured with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award after Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan.

Baig, a former Lok Sabha member, hails from north Kashmir and is also an advocate.

He has been critical of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti after she took over the reins of the party and the alliance government with the BJP.

He was among the few politicians from Kashmir who met Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who had travelled to the valley last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Donald Trump speaks to the U.S. Conference of Mayors in the White House in Washington on Jan. 24, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Trump Tells Mayors Were All on the Same Team

In a speech delivered from the White House, President Donald Trump asked the nations mayors for cooperation.

We are here today to strengthen the bond of cooperation between the federal and local governments so that we can deliver great jobs, excellent schools, affordable health care, and safe communities for all of our people, Trump said.

As part of the United States Conference of Mayors 88th Winter Meeting in Washington, Trump spoke to a gathering of mayors on Jan. 24 in a crowded East Room.

He spoke about the recent progress made in trade deal negotiations, reduction of national unemployment rates, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements efforts in removing MS-13 gang members from the country.

Trump also acknowledged that further work is necessary to increase safety in cities and local communities. The opioid crisis is another issue that has seen some progress but still requires continual attention, he said.

He also emphasized the need to improve cooperation between local and federal governments in the areas of law enforcement and public safety.

I urge all of you here today to cooperate fully with federal law enforcement. Were all on the same team. I think thats the biggest point; were all on the same team. We want to have safety, said Trump.

And, yousome have sanctuary cities, but even if you do have sanctuary cities, we want to be able to work together, because tremendous differences in crime numbers can happen, and it has been happening.

In line with the message of the need for increased measures to ensure public safety, Trump, after his speech, signed H.R. 2476, the Securing American Nonprofit Organizations Against Terrorism Act of 2019.

This resolution will appropriate $75 million per year, for the next five years, to protect houses of worship and other nonprofits from terrorist attacks. Through the establishment of a Nonprofit Security Grant Program, eligible nonprofit organizations can apply for grants to improve security measures and protect against possible terrorist attacks.

Before the meeting with Trump, the United States Conference of Mayors held a 3-day conference to discuss their goals and visions for the United States in 2020. Participating mayors held panels during which they discussed various issues, including infrastructure, healthcare, immigration, safety, jobs, gun control, and more.

Contrasting with Trumps emphasis on the need for local and federal government cooperation, many mayors cited a lack of dependability and partnership from the federal government.

Nan Whaley, mayor of Dayton, Ohio, and second vice president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, said in a Jan. 22 press conference that the Conference of Mayors was founded during a time when there was great inaction, so the nations mayors came together to advocate for partnership and action.

We continue to have frustration from the lack of partnership we see from this city [Washington, D.C.]. We continue to call for action around gun violence prevention, around opioid epidemics, around vast inequality in our communities, said Whaley.

Bryan Barnett, mayor of Rochester Hills, Michigan, and president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, stated that the mayors have collaborated on a plan for Americas future, centered around our three Is of infrastructure, innovation, and inclusion.

Given the emphasis on infrastructure throughout the mayors press conference, a member of the press questioned the mayors about the tax and cost concerns that come with infrastructure and where the funding would come from for such large-scale projects.

Heres the deal, we never want that [cost] to end the discussion, because we know that theres a very complicated answer to some of those things. But what I would tell you is that the men and women behind me have implemented local solutions to many of these [problems] by finding innovative ways to fund many of these initiatives, Barnett said.

The United States Conference of Mayors 88th Winter Meeting was held from Jan. 22 to 24.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 25/1/2020 (717 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO - Habib Haghjoo's girls are returning home.

The bodies of Sahar Haghjoo, 37, and her eight-year-old daughter, Elsa Jadidi, will land in Toronto on Saturday, Haghjoo said of his daughter and granddaughter who were on the Ukrainian flight that was shot down by Iran forces earlier this month.

Elsa Jadidi holds a drawing she made in this undated handout photo that has been shared by students and teachers at Wali Ul Asr school to help cope with her death. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO *MANDATORY CREDIT*

"It's going to break me badly," he said through tears. "I know my heart is going to bleed inside, but I will be strong. I'll do my best."

The pair's remains were identified last weekend, he said, and Sahar Haghjoo's husband, Siamak Jadidi, resisted the Iranian government's repeated requests to bury them in Iran.

"We think the minimum right is to have my kids close to me and my family," Habib Haghjoo said.

The Iranian government relented, he said.

Habib Haghjoo spoke to his daughter nearly every day, even texting with her while the pair was on the doomed plane waiting for take off. She sent a selfie. Both mother and daughter were smiling  Elsa wearing a pink sparkly shirt, Sahar in a yellow and grey hijab.

Time has stopped for Habib Haghjoo since the plane crashed on Jan. 8. He can't escape thoughts of his "girls," as he calls them. The only reprieve comes at the pool of the local Y, where he swims 500 metres every day.

Little things trip him up  he cannot stand using the past tense when talking about them.

"I don't say they did, I say they do," he said. "I want to believe they are with me, but are just far away."

Habib Haghjoo and his wife left Iran in 1987 and moved to Ireland where he began working as a computer programmer. Sahar  the couple's third daughter  was just five years old when they left their home country. Her younger sister would soon be born in Ireland.

One day while waiting for a meeting in Dublin, Habib Haghjoo decided to visit the Canadian Embassy. Inside he found a copy of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"I read it and sort of fell in love," he said. "Probably that's a land I can raise my kids and family better."

So he applied for a visa and two years, in 1991, they moved to Toronto. Canada was in the middle of a recession that year, and Habib Haghjoo had thought he made a mistake. But his wife implored him to stay.

So they stayed, settling in Richmond Hill, Ont.

That's where Sahar met and became friends with Mina Mozaffarian, who is the principal of Wali ul Asr, an Islamic school in east Toronto that Elsa attended.

"I'm still in disbelief," Mozaffarian said. "She (Elsa) was incredibly bright...She was one of our best readers."

Elsa's grandfather, like any proud relative, said she was going places.

"We say she'll be a minister, if not prime minister," Habib Haghjoo said.

Elsa was the couple's only child, but Sahar had recently confided in Mozaffarian that she wanted another child.

The school is struggling to cope with the loss, but a drawing by Elsa has helped soothe the pain and ease the difficulty of discussing her death with her classmates.

A few months ago, Elsa drew a picture of heaven. After she died, a photo of the artwork began making the rounds at school.

It shows a beaming Elsa holding a large white poster with the words, in letters the colours of the rainbow, "Life in Heavin."

She drew three mosques: one of the mosque of the prophet's family, another with the words "Pray Salah" and the third that recognizes the Qur'an. Butterflies flutter near a palm tree with a bounty of coconuts. A creek flows along one edge. And a sun shines brightly on the entire scene.

"It does give people a little bit of comfort that she visualized something so wonderful that will be her reward to be in a good place," Mozaffarian said.

The school's director, Syed Adil, said the image has helped the students.

"It provides us an opportunity to talk with students to live your life and make sure you're a source of kindness, just like Elsa," he said.

Habib Haghjoo saw the artwork for the first time on Friday.

"I think both of them are laughing at us from Heaven," he said.

The federal government has been good to Habib Haghjoo, he said, with Global Affairs calling daily with updates on their efforts to repatriate the remains of "his girls."

"I never was as proud to be Canadian as I am today," he said. "I love, love, love this frozen soil. The weather is bad, but I love it."

He wants the entire country to come to the pair's burials on Sunday, which begins at 10 a.m. at the Imam Mahdi Islamic Centre north of Toronto, because he says Canadians have been so kind to his family.

For his part, he is trying to remain positive despite believing "these beautiful souls were murdered."

"This is their message," he said. "Just look at another person as a human and love everyone."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 24, 2020
Hundreds of Gambians marched Saturday in the outskirts of the capital Banjul, demanding justice for sweeping rights abuses and murder they suffered under former dictator Yahya Jammehs 22-year rule.

Jammeh ruled Gambia with an iron fist but fled in January 2017 after losing a presidential election to relative unknown Adama Barrow which he refused to acknowledge before being forced out of power by a popular uprising.

Wearing T-shirts that read #justicemustprevail, the protesters held photographs of people killed or who have gone missing, including AFP correspondent Deyda Hydara, who was gunned down on 16 December 2004 by Jammehs henchmen.

We want justice and we want it immediately, they cried and demanding a ban on Jammehs former ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction party (APRC).

Nyima Sonko, 42, the widow of Solo Sandeng, a political activist who was arrested and tortured to death after he led a protest march for electoral reform, said: We are calling on the government to ban the APRC from taking part in active politics.

Since January 2019, some 190 witnesses have appeared before a Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) set up to investigate abuses under Jammehs rule.

The first year of hearings ended in early December, capping months of testimony about torture, murder, rape and witch hunts in the country of around two million.

Last week, thousands marched on the outskirts of Banjul demanding Jammehs return from exile in Equatorial Guinea, as tensions heighten over Barrows decision to stay in office for five years  reversing a previous pledge to step down after three.

Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou last week warned that Jammeh would face immediate arrest and charges of the most serious kind if he returned, including crimes against humanity.

They argue he has a right to return under a joint statement from the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United Nations, published at the time of his exile.

Maron Baldeh, whose husband lieutenant Basiru Barrow was executed in 1994, said she was at Saturdays protest to call for Jammeh to be prosecuted.

We are sending message to government to act fast, because justice delayed is justice denied. Yahya Jammeh should be arrested and put on trial.
A lawyer was condemned for her 'despicable' suggestion yesterday that a heroic police officer should be disciplined for saving his life with a Taser during a vicious machete attack.

The row erupted as smirking Muhammad Rodwan, 56, was jailed for 16 years for attacking PC Stuart Outten after he stopped his white van because it was not insured.

The 29-year-old victim, later dubbed Britain's bravest policeman, survived the onslaught last August only by firing his Taser twice at the homeless driver.

Muhammad Rodwan (left), fractured the skull of PC Stuart Outten (right) when he pulled him over for driving without insurance

Solicitor Sophie Khan has defended the convicted criminal, saying he acted in 'self defence' in the face of 'excessive force' from the police officer

PC Outten had fallen to the ground as Rodwan came 'in for the kill' with a 2ft rusty blade.

The thug was acquitted of attempted murder on Thursday and convicted of a lesser offence of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after jurors were not told about his violent past.

The trial judge ruled that evidence about a 'strikingly similar' machete attack by Rodwan on two men in 1996 and other convictions for rape and drugs should not go before jurors due to the length of time since the offence.

But yesterday solicitor Sophie Khan, who has represented people injured by Taser and campaigns against excessive use of the weapon, defended the convicted criminal by saying he acted in 'self defence' in the face of 'excessive force' from PC Outten.

She wrote on Twitter she was surprised the Metropolitan Police 'haven't started disciplinary action against PC Outten for assault and battery on Muhammad Rodwan'.

She added the officer's actions 'were in part found to be an excessive use of force' and that the case had shown 'there remains a risk to public by police misuse of Taser'.

PC Outten suffered six severe head wounds and a court heard he could have died had he not bravely fired off his Taser in a bid to disarm Rodwan

Video captured Rodwan swinging the blade at PC Outten's head, fracturing his skull and leaving him with six severe head wounds

Bleeding heavily from deep gashes to the head, broken fingers and a wound to the arm, PC Outten shouted at a passerby to pass his radio so he could call for help

Her criticism of the victim provoked outrage yesterday as Metropolitan Police Federation chairman Ken Marsh said: 'This police officer stopped a man lawfully and politely asked him to get out of the vehicle because he did not have insurance.

'He responded by getting out a machete and brutally attacking him and my colleague very nearly lost his life. If it wasn't for that Taser, he would have died.

'These comments are utterly despicable  she is not only inciting violence, but she is condemning a hero who detained a dangerous offender while he was fighting for his life.'

Mrs Justice Carr, sitting at the Old Bailey yesterday, rejected the notion that PC Outten had used excessive force, describing how 'arrogant' Rodwan flew into a rage when he was stopped by police for having no insurance in Leyton, East London, on August 7.

The judge told the criminal: 'This was a brutal and shocking attack. I reject the unattractive submission that [PC Outten] was using excessive force in circumstances when you had assaulted him and forcibly resisted arrest.'

Pictured: The machete used by Rodwan to fracture PC Stuart Outten's skull during a sustained assault in east London

Shown left are the injuries suffered by PC Outten, while a photograph from inside Rodwan's van shows dreadlocks lying on the floor

PC Outten is pictured recovering in hospital (left), while another image shows defensive wounds to his arm (right)

She praised the officer's 'presence of mind and fortitude' in tasering his attacker. Footage from his body-worn video shows PC Outten fighting for his life after Rodwan stabbed him repeatedly, fracturing his skull.

Bleeding from six gashes to the head and one to the arm, the officer tasered Rodwan twice and brought him to the ground just as he prepared to strike again.

The judge told Rodwan, who had claimed he was acting in self-defence: 'I detect not a shred of remorse or insight on your part but rather belligerent arrogance.'

She ordered him to serve at least two thirds of his 16-year sentence, with a further three years on extended licence.
Sydneysiders have labelled New South Wales a 'nanny state' after police officers were reportedly spotted fining cyclists for failing to wear helmets at one of the city's busiest beaches.

Pictures shared to the Manly Social Facebook page on Friday showed officers speaking to cyclists on the Manly Beach promenade.

'Helmet blitz today - ride safely, wear a helmet. $344 fine!' the page said.

Sydneysiders have labelled New South Wales a 'nanny state' after police officers appeared to fine cyclists for failing to wear helmets at Manly Beach

Bicycle riders in New South Wales are by law required to wear a helmet.

'In NSW there are no exemptions from wearing an approved bicycle helmet,' the state government's road safety website says.

'Research shows that helmets reduce head injuries by up to 74 per cent in crashes with motor vehicles.'

Cyclists who fail to wear helmets can be hit by a $344 fine.

The pictures were met with a mixed reaction on Friday, with some social media users claiming fines were excessive.

'Nanny state much?' one person said.

Pictures shared to the Manly Social Facebook page on Friday showed officers speak to cyclists on the Manly Beach promenade. 'Helmet blitz today - ride safely, wear a helmet. $344 fine!' the page said

'Sorry but this is f***ing ridiculous. If an adult wants to ride a bike without a helmet then let them,' wrote another.

'Sorry, no respect. Freedom to ride helmet free is a cultural aspect of living in Manly,' an additional comment said.

Other viewers were in support of the strict laws which enforce the use of helmets.

'No point blaming the police, they are only doing their job... Have you ever seen the end result of of someone's head when they have been hit by a car and not wearing a helmet?' one wrote.

'It's been a law for quite sometime. I grew up not wearing a helmet but I happily put one on so my kid knows it's the right thing to do,' added another.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted NSW Police for comment.
These days, Sarah Berry-Tschinkel has a thriving psychoanalysis practice in which she applies her Jungian training to explore the instincts, shadow selves and cognitive functions of her patients.

Are they thinking or feeling people? Intuitive or sensate? And what attitude comes naturally to them? Are they internally or externally focused? Judging or perceiving?

But Berry-Tschinkel hasnt exactly given up her theatrical life.

She performs a one-woman show about Sabina Spielrein, a fascinating patient of Carl Jung who helped the famous psychoanalyst refine his theories and went on to become an influential therapist in her own right, introducing Jungs concepts (and some of her own) to Russia.

Berry-Tschinkel will present Sabina Spielrein: Her Extraordinary Destiny at 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, at Gage Hall, 4 Archdale St. The event is sponsored by the Charleston Jung Society. Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for students, available at the door.

The South Carolina native grew up in Moncks Corner and maintains ties to the Lowcountry. As a young woman, she trained at New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts beginning in 1979, thanks to a scholarship, and found a number of roles in experimental theater productions in New York City.

After NYU, she studied with William Esper, a protege of Sanford Meisner, wrote her own material and joined traveling street performances downtown.

We would stage scenes on loading docks throughout SoHo, she recalled. The audience would travel, follow us around.

Naturally, she made no money doing this.

In 1983, she moved into a SoHo building and met one of her neighbors, Paul Tschinkel, the video artist and documentarian. Soon they were a couple.

Berry-Tschinkel decided shed attempt a more traditional approach to acting. She got some soap opera work, some movie work. She made the cult horror film Evil Dead 2 with director Sam Raimi in 1986. Then the Tschinkels moved to Los Angeles, where the writers strike was in full swing and there was no work to get.

Bad timing.

And L.A. really was not their style. They lasted there only a year.

We returned to New York City, she said. By that time, we had kids and I decided I didnt want to act anymore, so I went to Smith College and got a graduate degree in psychology and social work, then went into private practice.

She makes it sound like no big deal, but to achieve her status as a certified Jungian psychoanalyst, she had to train for more than six years. She was particularly drawn to the work of Jung because of his interest in using the imagination to help people get better, she said.

Sabina Spielrein had an imaginary figure (in her life), her guardian spirit, Berry-Tschinkel observed. So her one-woman play brings together her interests in acting, Jungian principles and Spielreins tragic story.

Its the second one-woman play Berry-Tschinkel has created. The first was about another important Jungian psychoanalyst, Marie Louise von Franz. The goal is to shine a light on women whose contributions to the field have been neglected.

Spielreins contributions were many, Berry-Tschinkel said. She was a pioneer in early childhood development, contributing ideas before Anna Freud or Melanie Klein.

She wrote about the infant mind, consciousness, the acquisition of language. She helped Jung in his formulation of the alchemical notion of change caused by destruction and growth.

She was Jungs first talking case, and the subject of many of Jungs letters to Sigmund Freud.

She was a force of nature, Berry-Tschinkel said. She was brilliant, she was troubled, and she was the very first patient to become a psychoanalyst.

She spent time in a psychiatric hospital, proceeded to medical school and forged a productive career for herself. (The 2011 feature film "A Dangerous Method," starring Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley and Viggo Mortensen, fictionalizes Spielrein's story.)

During Stalins Great Purge, three of her brothers were killed, along with her father, who was first tortured. Years later, ensconced in the southern Russian port city of Rostov-on-Don, located by the Sea of Azov, near the Ukraine border, Spielrein and her two daughters survived the first German invasion in November 1941, but were shot and killed, along with about 27,000 mostly Jewish victims, when the Germans returned in July 1942.

Betsy Grund, president of the Charleston Jung Society, said the performance is a welcome follow-up to Berry-Tschinkels 2018 presentation in Charleston devoted to von Franz.

We aim to provide the Charleston community with a variety of programs related to Jungs work to make it more accessible and relevant to anyone whos interested in personal growth and greater self-awareness and consciousness, she said.

The group meets once a month and organizes at least six public events a year.

A lot of people think Jungs work is complicated, Grund said. But his work has influenced so much of our culture. We try to make those connections for people.

Berry-Tschinkel has been collaborating with her husband since they first met. She sometimes helps co-write the scripts for his video projects and provides narration, and he provides video elements for her one-woman plays.

I think were both creative people, she said. We go to a lot of theater, go to galleries, stay (as best we can) inspired by the world around us.

Their interests are divergent: He is focused on visual artists and musicians; she is focused on womens history, neglected figures, identity, psychology.

We each bring a lot to the table, she said.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Gun Safety Alliance -- Today nearly 20 gun violence prevention organizations announced a path to reduce gun deaths in the United States by 50-percent by 2030. While each of these organizations has their approaches, priorities and programs to reduce gun violence, all believe this is achievable if everyone  politicians, businesses and civil society  does their part.

Each year, there are approximately 40,000 firearm deaths in the United States. Despite the efforts of dozens of individual organizations, current statistics show that these numbers are likely to rise if immediate actions are not taken. The societal and political complexities that confound this issue continue to show there is no  nor will there be  one solution to ending this epidemic. Together, these organizations believe if policies, programs and practices that have been proven to reduce homicides, suicides, and unintentional shootings can be scaled and advanced, collectively there can be a meaningful reduction in gun-related deaths in the U.S.

To achieve this goal, these organizations will focus on efforts such as:

Pass legislation to require background checks on all gun sales.

States that require a background check on gun sales have homicide rates 10 percent lower than those without

Further implement Extreme Risk lawssometimes referred to as "Red Flag" laws

States that have stepped up implementation have seen, on average, double-digit percentage decreases in their death rate

Achieve secure storage practices - storing firearms unloaded, locked, and separate from ammunition

These practices are associated with a 78-percent lower risk of self-inflicted firearm injuries, and an 85-percent lower risk of unintentional firearm injuries among children

Support violence intervention programs that provide comprehensive support to the individuals who are at greatest risk of gunshot victimization

Homicide and gun injuries fell nearly 40-percent in select communities where programs exist

Recognize and combat the inherent danger of "Stand Your Ground" laws

In some states, implementation of "Stand Your Ground" laws saw a 32 percent increase in firearm homicide rates and a 24 percent increase in overall homicide rates since the policy was implemented.

The solution to affect changes on these senseless and preventable deaths is attainable if the combined forces of these organizations is harnessed, focused and directed towards initiatives that have proven to have had a demonstrative impact on gun-related deaths. It is also only possible if elected officials, business leaders, and citizens prioritize addressing this epidemic. Only through the combined forces of these groups, and a concerted effort to hold ourselves and society accountable for ending this violence, can we hope to create a better and safer future for us all.

We the undersigned organizations are fighting to end the epidemic of gun violence in the United States. We work on the national, state, and local levels. We work on legislation, policy, programs, research, and direct interventions. Our approach, strategies, and tactics sometimes differ, but all of us see the devastating effects of this preventable problem and are committed to reversing it.

We believe that the United States can reduce gun deaths by 50% by 2030. We know this is possible, but only if everyone does their part and we invite you to join us. We believe that we can save well more than 100,000 lives in the next ten years, but it will take many of us working together  from gun manufacturers to law enforcement, elected officials to CEOs, doctors to social workers, those who own guns and those who do not  toward this common purpose.

This is both a declaration of what's possible and a call to action. Countless lives are at stake. This enormous problem requires bold solutions. We pledge to work together to do our part to cut gun violence by 50% over the next decade. But we can't do it alone. We hope you will join us in doing your part.

Gun Violence Prevention Organizations

Black and Brown Gun Violence Prevention Brady Change the Ref CT Against Gun Violence Community Justice Action Fund DoSomething.org Everytown Giffords Gun Safety Alliance Life Camp Livefree March For Our Lives Moms Demand Action Newtown Action Alliance Orange Ribbons for Gun Safety Sandy Hook Promise States United to Prevent Gun Violence Stop Handgun Violence

Media Contact:

Campbell O'Connor

(202)-203-8931

[email protected]

SOURCE Gun Safety Alliance
1. Yes. The downtown area needs a good draw. Some quality taverns would be a plus.

2. Yes. Too many storefronts are vacant. Bars could help to bring in needed revenue.

3. No. Putting a number of bars downtown is just asking for trouble. Dont change things.

4.No. Several churches have located downtown. Putting bars close by would be a bad fit.

5. Unsure. It would depend on how the law is written and what standards are enacted.

Vote

View Results
The "Global Goal Live" event will bring some of the world's biggest celebrities together.

The UAE on January 22, announced that it will co-host the world's biggest humanitarian event on 26 September 2020. Dubai will host one of ten simultaneous live events organised by Global Citizen, the international organisation that aims to build a movement to end extreme poverty by 2030.

The "Global Goal Live" event will bring some of the world's biggest celebrities together to perform around the world to raise the profile and global effort to eradicate poverty, and is expected to draw more than 1.5 billion viewers. This year's Global Citizen show runs under the slogan "The Possible Dream, and will be broadcasted live across streaming and television platforms for ten consecutive hours

The news was announced as part of the UAE delegation's participation in the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2020 in Davos, Switzerland during the its participation in the "Reimagining the World's Biggest Challenges" Panel, organised by Global Citizen.

Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, said: "Hosting the 'Global Goal Live' event this September reflects the UAE's humanitarian efforts to eradicate worldwide poverty.

"It is also a manifestation of the UAE leadership's vision to contribute towards the betterment of humanity, a vision cultivated by the Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed and one that the President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, continue to build upon."

He added that: "With Dubai being selected to host the 'Global Goal Live' event, the biggest worldwide humanitarian event and one that will bring together thousands of engaging and impactful global citizens for a noble cause, is a testament to the UAE's history of advocating for humanitarian work on regional and global levels.

"Humanitarian and developmental work is at the core of the UAE's policies, which is manifested tangibly through the establishment of hundreds of institutions and initiatives dedicated to humanitarian work. Since its foundation, the UAE has become the heartbeat of global humanitarian causes and has dedicating its efforts and resources to make the world a better place by empowering communities and overcoming obstacles that hinder sustainable development."

He concluded: "The slogan of 'Global Goal Live' - "The Possible Dream" chimes with the slogan of the UAE Nation Brand: "Make it Happen." Both slogans reinforce the notion that any dream can be achieved with hard work and perseverance. Both slogans represent the UAE's remarkable narrative: a nation built on ambition and dreams, which can build a new reality that the world can look to for inspiration."

Global Citizen: A collective voice to end extreme poverty

The 'Global Goal Live' event, organised by Global Citizen, is the biggest humanitarian event worldwide. It brings people together to tackle extreme poverty. It aims to achieve this through campaigns which mobilise everyday citizens, corporations, governments, and philanthropists to reprioritise their efforts to end extreme poverty and ensure the realisation of the Global Goals.

New York-headquartered Global Citizen, is a movement of engaged citizens whose mission is to build a movement of 100 million action-taking global citizens to end extreme poverty by 2030.

Through its mix of content and events, grassroots organising, and its action platform, the organisation is building a movement to end poverty. The movement - which has offices in Canada, South Africa, Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom - organises massive global campaigns to amplify the actions of global citizens from around the world.

Co-founded by Hugh Evans, Simon Moss, Wei Soo in 2008, the Global Citizen platform was co-founded with Ryan Gall and Riot House in 2012.

Since 2011, millions of Global Citizens around the world have taken over 24 million actions to call world leaders to end extreme poverty by 2030. To date, the actions by its global community along with its high-level advocacy efforts and with its partners, have resulted in commitments and policy announcements from leaders, valued at over US$48 billion that have impacted more than 880 million, according to the Global Citizen website.
How will it go? Many unseen challenges await the immature and unsuspecting. But its parents have prepared their offspring the best they know how, drawing on their experience.

But its childhood is running out. The parents want it to stand on its own two feet and leave home. Their reminding pecks put the young bird in place. They have had enough. Its time for it to fly over the fence into the wide world and make its own way.

It is slowly leaving its parents' sides and exploring the garden, surprised at what it discovers. Mum or dad are not far away to rescue it if a predator looms. It experiences moments of pleasure rolling with a parent on the grass and, with wings outspread, basking in the morning sun.

It is not hard to imagine human experience as similar for children growing up. Some have the example and wisdom of parents as they cross the fence into adulthood. Sadly some are without such help and have to go it alone.

The strength and support of good friends is important when the fences are crossed into adulthood, and the influence of moral education in development brought into focus. How strong is the mental and spiritual fibre of our young as they face the tests of growing up and taking part in adult society? Individual and social awareness is important.

The report of a young man who made the most of his education in school and synagogue is found in the Gospels. Jesus of Nazareth grew up in a family, respected his parents and teachers in synagogue and school but challenged the Temple teachers in Jerusalem with his questions. Luke writes that Jesus grew and increased in wisdom and stature in favour with God and man. Is this the best progress report ever written?

Jesus asked the right questions and came up with wise rules to keep his disciples, who were pupils or learners, as the Latin root indicates, on the right path. He encapsulated the secret in two commandments in his reply to a lawyer searching for wisdom. Loving God and your neighbour as yourself was the way to proceed as you crossed the fence into life.

Social responsibility and care for others is grounded in home, school and community. When we cross the fence the final responsibility for life is ours. The skills we have inherited go with us and are put to the test and increasingly challenged.
Read what is in the news today:

Politics

-- Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong sent best wishes to all of the Vietnamese people, both inside and outside the country, on the traditional Lunar New Year.

Society

-- An unusually big rain before Lunar New Year's Eve caused flooding in some areas in the capital city of Hanoi, while hails hit different locations in the northern provinces of Phu Tho and Bac Kan on Friday afternoon, damaging hundreds of households.

-- Firecrackers have made an illegal comeback and been blatantly set off across many localities in Vietnam during this Tet, or Lunar New Year, 25 years since the nationwide ban on the explosives took effect in 1995.

-- A police officer was killed by two men who have a criminal record while he was on duty to ensure public order and safety at Lunar New Year festivities in Ninh Kieu District, located in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, on Friday afternoon.

-- Thousands of bunches of gladiolus flowers were thrown away by sellers at several flower markets in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday, the very last day before the new lunar year, as consumption plummeted beyond anticipation.

-- Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar Pacific are offering free refunds for flight tickets to people traveling to China after a new coronavirus breakout there has killed at least 25 people and infected more than 800 others.

-- An Irish court on Friday approved the extradition of one of the two Northern Irish men charged with manslaughter over the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people found in the back of a truck near London last year, Reuters reported.

World News

-- France confirmed on Friday its first three cases of the Wuhan coronavirus, with two patients being hospitalized in Paris and the other in the southwestern city of Bordeaux, according to Reuters.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 04:37:54|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Education Cannot Wait (ECW) on Friday appointed former United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Irina Bokova and former European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides as ECW global champions for education in emergencies.

"As the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 kicks off, the two new global champions will support the growing global movement to deliver quality, inclusive education to more than 75 million children and youth worldwide that are missing out on the hope, opportunity and protection of an education as the result of protracted crises and emergencies," Yasmine Sherif, director of ECW, the first global fund dedicated to education in emergencies and protracted crisis, said at a press conference held at the UN headquarters in New York on the International Day of Education, which falls on Jan. 24.

"I am delighted that Irina Bokova and Christos Stylianides have accepted to serve in the important advocacy role of 'ECW global champion for education in emergencies.'" said Gordon Brown, UN Special Envoy for Global Education, in a press release.

"They will be great assets to our shared cause for the United Nations and the 75 million children and youth around the world whose education is disrupted by crises," he added.

As the 9th director-general of UNESCO and the first woman to head the agency, Bokova is a staunch advocate for quality education, gender equality, women's empowerment and sustainable development.

UNESCO is a key partner for ECW's educational responses, which have already delivered education to over 2 million children and youth in some 30 countries affected by crises.

"Education Cannot Wait is a pioneer of the big efforts to provide education to the 75 million children and youth whose education is disrupted by crises. I am, therefore, very proud to be an active advocate and supporter of ECW's admirable work," said Bokova at the press conference.

"Despite the progress, big challenges remain. Joining forces is key to tackle them effectively. It is our moral duty to help children around the globe get the education they deserve," she added.

As the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Stylianides was a key proponent of the European Union (EU)'s groundbreaking decision to devote 10 percent of its humanitarian assistance to education. The EU has already committed 24.7 million U.S. dollars to ECW, and a number of EU member states are key donors to the fund.

"Indeed, education cannot wait until a conflict is over, until buildings have been rebuilt, until resources are available. Education is the best, long-term way to break the cycles of violence and poverty and set communities on the path to peace and development," said Stylianides at the press conference.

With the support of its global champions and key partners in national governments, UN agencies, philanthropic foundations and donors, ECW seeks to mobilize 1.8 billion dollars by 2021 to support education programs for children and youth caught in the world's worst humanitarian crises, according to the press release.

The fund has already raised over half a billion dollars in its first three years of operation and plays an instrumental role in strengthening the coherence between short-term humanitarian assistance and medium to long-term development interventions in the education aid sector.

ECW is rapidly scaling up its investments to support quality learning outcomes for vulnerable girls and boys in crises, said the press release.

In the Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, education is "deliberately being targeted" by non-state armed individuals and groups, including the killing of school personnel and the destruction and looting of school facilities and threats to communities that have forced the closure of hundreds of schools.

Also in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, half of the refugee and migrant children from Venezuela are not enrolled in formal schooling, putting them at greater risks of child labor, gender based-violence, sexual exploitation and trafficking, said the press release.

The worsening situation in Venezuela has pushed over 4 million Venezuelans to flee the country, a majority of whom are families with children. An estimated 1.2 million children and youth are affected in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru alone, according to the press release.

In Yemen, 12 percent of the population is displaced after nearly four years of conflict, 4.7 million children need humanitarian assistance to ensure the continuation of their education. Across the country, 2 million children are out of school. Girls are more likely to lose out on education, with 36 percent out of school compared to 24 percent of boys.

In Uganda, the largest refugee hosting country in Africa, more than 1.2 million people have sought refuge from the crises in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

ECW's Education Response Plan aims to reach almost 600,000 affected children with quality education. At the start of the 2020, 22 million dollars has been mobilized, but 89 million dollars is urgently required for full implementation of the plan.

ECW, hosted by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), was launched by international humanitarian and development aid actors, along with public and private donors, to address the urgent education needs of 75 million children and youth in conflict and crisis settings.
President of Brazil, Jair Messias Bolsonaro received a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Saturday.

Bolsonaro, who will be the Chief Guest for this year's republic day parade was received by President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi upon his arrival at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Earlier in the day, he had met with External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar in New Delhi.

The visit of the Brazilian President is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations in the fields of agriculture, energy, and defence.

Bolsonaro was is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising several ministers, senior officials, chairman of Brazil-India Friendship Group in the Brazilian Parliament, and businessmen.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
NCP president Sharad Pawar on Saturday said that all political leaders know that their phones are tapped, which is why they do not think about it seriously.

His comments come a day after Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh accused the previous BJP-led state government of tapping phones of senior NCP and Congress leaders during the 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.

"It is not new, we all know our phones are tapped. Hence, we never thought about it seriously," Pawar told reporters here.

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis had rejected on Friday Deshmukh's allegation saying that phone tapping was not the culture of the state and his government had not given any such orders.

The Maharashtra government has directed the cyber cell of the state police to look into various complaints of snooping/phone-tapping against the Fadnavis government.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Imperial Valley News Center

Celebrating the Lunar New Year

Washington, DC - Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State: "I send my best wishes to all our friends around the world, celebrating the Lunar New Year on January 25.

"As the Year of the Rat represents the beginning of a new day, let us use this opportunity to renew our commitment to shared resilience and partnership, as we work together to build a world of prosperity and opportunity for all."
A nearly four-year civil disagreement between He Group Chinese Restaurant owner and Middletown Borough officials has ended up in federal court.

The Middletown Press and Journal reported that the attorney representing Howard Dong filed a suit Friday in U.S. Middle District Court. Dong claims he was pressured into constructing an off-street parking lot at his restaurant at 460 N. Union Street that tacked on additional stormwater specifications not required at other nearby businesses.

In the federal suit, Dongs attorney explained the boroughs demands have been irrational and wholly arbitrary. In recent years, the report noted the owner has been in and out of court disputing thousands of dollars in citations.

But, Dong maintained that the borough has violated his right to equal protection under the law, according to the Press and Journal.

Dong is pursuing $22,957 in engineering and contracting services as well as for the loss of property development opportunity at the restaurant." Additional financial compensation  from compensatory damages to attorneys fees and costs  is also being sought.

Middletown Mayor James H. Curry III, who lives across the street from the restaurant, isnt a defendant but is named in the suit. Borough Codes and Zoning Officer Al Geostis is named as a defendant, according to the report.

Dong said when he began his business at North Union and East High streets, Curry and another neighbor approached Dong to tell him he couldnt open a Chinese restaurant at that location. Curry has denied the accusations, the Press and Journal reported.

A pattern of harassment" had been detected by Dong after his first round in court dealing with the boroughs citations. At one time, he had entertained the idea of closing the restaurant.

The restaurant remains open. In October, Dong opened a second Chinese restaurant at 1070 S. Cameron St. in Harrisburg, named He Express Authentic Chinese Food.

A hearing on Dongs appeal is scheduled for Feb. 3 before county court Judge Lawrence F. Clark Jr.

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On Sunday morning, a friend  dragging along his scraggy Welsh terrier  knocked on the door of my cottage and suggested a bracing walk on the nearby heath then a pub lunch under the brilliant blue of a cloudless winter day.

I told him I'd love to, but was going to church.

A familiar cloud crossed his face  the cloud I always see when mentioning my faith to someone who can't quite understand my belief in God.

Yes, I am a paid-up  but very flawed  Christian who goes to church most weeks and it gives me great succour.

So it was a bracing moment when I read that the Church of England, my Church, declared that loving, long-term couples in civil partnerships should not have sex. Bishops have decreed that those in these legal and publicly declared unions should remain celibate.

It was a bracing moment when I read that the Church of England, my Church, declared that loving, long-term couples in civil partnerships should not have sex (file image)

Bejesus, where does that leave me, a woman who isn't married  though not through lack of trying  nor in a civil partnership; but one who, whisper it, occasionally shares her bed?

In one sense the Church is right: the Bible is clear that sex outside marriage is a sin. Yet half of all couples with children are not married. Are the bishops condemning them all to the fires of Hell? Doesn't sound very Christian to me.

It's clearly a conundrum. But in my view these are holy waters into which the C of E should not be venturing. Their adjudication is bonkers and alienating to many of their flock.

Since the 1980s, the number of Brits who say they're Christians has fallen from two-thirds to just over a third. A quarter of the 15,000 Anglican parish churches have fewer than 16 worshippers. More people go to watch my beloved Spurs than Sunday service.

So what do the clever bishops do? Utter an edict that will drive even more congregants from the pews.

Being Christian has always been about inclusion, not exclusion, particularly if it's based on an ideal of married life to which many aspire  but which not everyone can achieve.

It is self-inflicted folly for them to make such judgments on our modern lives. And, in any case, wasn't it Mary Magdalene  a fallen woman  who Christ welcomed and who anointed His feet?

It's hard enough to be a practising Christian these days without being considered a bit of a weirdo. The last thing the Church should be doing is making it even harder.

Say what you like about the reality TV star and long-suffering wife of erratic Ozzy Osbourne, there is dignity in Sharon standing by husband as he reveals his horrible diagnosis with Parkinson's disease.

What's more, her tears on Good Morning America showed tough-as-old-boots Sharon has a heart after all.

BBC bosses giveth - then taketh away

A triumphant week for BBC women. First the passable former Today presenter Sarah Montague pocketed 400,000 backpay for not getting parity with men such as the formidable John Humphrys.

Next, Libby Purves predicted that the battle for equal pay would mean BBC 'programme-making money' would 'go up in smoke'.

Then  as Libby predicted  Auntie axed the Victoria Derbyshire show. How ironic that the cost-cutting sword should fall first on a show presented and almost exclusively produced by women.

A triumphant week for BBC women. First the passable former Today presenter Sarah Montague pocketed 400,000 backpay for not getting parity with men such as the formidable John Humphrys

Brad's revenge is best served . . . with very hot ex-wife Jen

Fifteen years after Brad dumped Jen for Angelina, the couple appear at an awards ceremony holding hands. An intimate gesture signalling a reunion?

A publicity stunt to get them on the front pages?

A happy ending for Jen and Brad?

Who knows? If nothing else, it is a dagger to the bloodless heart of Angelina, his ex-wife who tried to destroy his reputation  even though he was father of their six children  portraying him as a drunken, violent, doped-up dad.

Brad is up for an Oscar, but the only award Ange could now get is humanitarian of the year in Cambodia.

I think that's called karma.

Fifteen years after Brad dumped Jen for Angelina, the couple appear at an awards ceremony holding hands. An intimate gesture signalling a reunion?

Eyebrows were raised as Baywatch's Pamela Anderson wed for the fifth time, to film producer Jon Peters.

They dated 30 years ago, and while over the years the candle may have dimmed, it never went out. The same could be said of Prince Charles and Camilla who married and found true happiness together decades after they first fell in love.

What a weird thought that glammy Pammy in her red swimsuit might have found inspiration from Charles's former mistress.

The mask of Zeta

It WAS a bit odd that Catherine Zeta-Jones, 50, sashayed into the Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony, given she hasn't had a hit movie since The Mask Of Zorro in 1998 and Chicago in 2002. Her career is as frozen as her perpetually youthful face.

It WAS a bit odd that Catherine Zeta-Jones, 50, sashayed into the Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony, given she hasn't had a hit movie since The Mask Of Zorro in 1998 and Chicago in 2002

Little wonder that Bingo has called time on 'two fat ladies, 88'! A third of players of the much-loved game are now women aged 25-34 who, according to latest obesity statistics, are mostly very fat young ladies.

How silly that they now want to replace 88 with 'William and Kate', two of the skinniest people imaginable.

Announcing on social media that his girlfriend is pregnant, the eight-times Olympic medal winner Usain Bolt wrote: 'I just want to say a KING or QUEEN is about to be HERE.'

Oh, do get over yourself! He may have broken the world record with his 9.58second 100m sprint, but the serial philanderer has now smashed the record for becoming a smug dad-to-be in an Instagram instant.

Westminster wars...

Unable to collect his Spectator award for Parliamentarian Of The Year, Boris sent a video of his dog Dilyn chewing up the magazine. Memo to PM: A nation of cat lovers are getting a bit bored of the constant appearance of this mutt.

Tories are desperate for the Corbyn continuity candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey to topple frontrunner Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership. Even though her hero Jeremy led them to the greatest defeat since 1935, L-B says their manifesto was a 'book of hope'. More like hopelessness.

The powerful GMB union endorsed Lisa Nandy for Labour leader with a mocked-up poster of her sitting on the sovereign's chair in Game Of Thrones. A bit odd that, as the last woman who sat upon that throne was the dragon queen Daenerys, who was then stabbed to death by her lover.

The chocolate clue

Giving evidence against Harvey Weinstein, Sopranos star Annabella Sciorra revealed that before he raped her, he'd sent the then aspiring actress a gift containing a box of chocolate penises.

While not wishing in any way to diminish Ms Sciorra's ordeal, may I humbly suggest that  as they warn in the dating world  when you see crazy coming, cross the street . . .

Giving evidence against Harvey Weinstein, Sopranos star Annabella Sciorra revealed that before he raped her, he'd sent the then aspiring actress a gift containing a box of chocolate penises

++ROYAL WATCH++

My lasting impression from Thomas Markle's Channel 5 documentary was that the flawed father and perfect daughter were once inseparable.

Yet he's not even met Meghan's husband nor seen his grandson.

Most poignant was that his fingernails were chipped and uncared for as he held pictures of them in happier times. He's overweight and with a heart condition, and no one appears to be looking after him.

If Meghan doesn't reach out to her dad before it's too late, her regret will be a drag upon her for ever.

My lasting impression from Thomas Markle's Channel 5 documentary was that the flawed father and perfect daughter were once inseparable

Megs and Harry sent legal warning letters over the pictures of her walking in a public park in Canada with its free-for-all privacy laws. What's most impressive is that despite the distress it is said to have caused her, she managed a beatific smile for the unexpected paparazzi photographer.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Students of different universities from across the country will gather at the Rajghat to form the Satyagraha human chain in protest against CAA, NRC and NPR on January 30. Members of Young India against CAA-NRC-NPR campaign called for a fight against the Godses of past, present and future.

The protest has been called under a joint initiative by over 60 students unions from across the country, including that of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), among others.



ALSO READ | Protest marches against CAA, NRC on January 30: Yogendra Yadav

Former JNUSU president N Sai Balaji said that the Young India against CAA-NRC-NPR would make sure that acts like CAA and NRC are not implemented so democracy remains intact in the country.

It will highlight and safeguard the right to equality in the country, he said.

Marking the death anniversary of the original Satyagrahi Mahatma Gandhi, the Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC) has also called for a long march from Jamia to Rajghat against the controversial citizenship law.

January 30 is the day when Mahatma Gandhi was gunned down by Nathuram Godse and the day is known as Shaheed Diwas or Martyrs Day.



ALSO READ | 72-year-old anti CAA activist sets himself ablaze in Indore, battles for life

The JCC also plans to talk to protesters at other sit-ins here like at Shaheen Bagh and Khajuri Khas to join them in the march from their spot to the Rajghat against the recently passed Citizenship Amendment Act. The anti-CAA protestors now aim to stage a protest on the day throughout the country.

Meanwhile, students of JNU will be taking out a march against the undemocratic and unconstitutional Act on their campus on Saturday. The protests at Shaheen Bagh are on with thousands occupying roads in protest. Women of the area, of all ages, have been protesting against the CAA for more than a month now, by blocking a road which connects Delhi and Noida.

Protest on January 30



People from across the country will be holding protest marches on January 30 against the CAA and NRC, activist Yogendra Yadav announced on Friday. It is the day Mahatma Gandhi was gunned down... People from different spheres will hold different marches against CAA and NRC, Yadav said.

Sent to custody



A man arrested in connection with violent protests near Jamia Millia Islamia against the CAA last month was sent to judicial custody for three days by a Delhi court on Friday. The police said that the accused was arrested on basis of CCTV footage.
Midlands labor market continued to contract as the year drew to a close, even as the Tall Citys unemployment rate held at 2.1 percent.

The Texas Workforce Commission reported Friday that while the unemployment rate in its Midland metropolitan statistical area (MSA)  which includes Midland and Martin counties - held at 2.1 percent, the civilian labor force fell by almost 800 and the number of employed fell by just shy of 900.

Midland continued to report the states lowest unemployment, followed by Amarillo at 2.3 percent and Austin-Round Rock at 2.4 percent. Odessas unemployment rate remained at 2.9 percent.

I continue to see a tight workforce, Willie Taylor, chief executive officer of the commissions Workforce Solutions Permian Basin, said. We see a shift in these numbers, but demand is strong in other areas. Im not surprised the rate stayed at 2.1 percent. Its a good sign for our area that other sectors are holding steady.

He said the number of continuing unemployment claims  those lasting at least 12 weeks  has increased from 673 to over 1,500. Were seeing more people filing unemployment, but not many. If you have skills, you can go to work, he said.

Taylor said his office has been receiving some layoff notices, but he is also seeing people coming into the area and looking at training opportunities.

Activity in the dominant oil and gas industry has slowed, he said, but we have solar companies coming in and theyre looking for big numbers (to hire). We have shortages in education, transportation, automotive technicians, diesel mechanics.

He said his board annually puts out a list of targeted occupations, and the list includes nurses, educators, auto technicians, HVAC technicians, information technology professionals and health care professionals.

Though were driven by oil and gas, the region is showing a little more diversification, too, he said.

He said he continues to emphasize that residents should get training and upgrade their skills to prepare for the future by having strong skills that fit into this region.

Taylor said his office is preparing a summer internship program. Funding is being set aside to pay for teachers to spend five days shadowing workers in the public and private sectors during the summer so they can go back to the classroom in the fall and tell their students what skills are needed to get good jobs in the Permian Basin.

We need to grow our own workforce; thats imperative, Taylor said.

The Midland MSA lost 100 jobs from November to December, led by the loss of 200 jobs in the mining, logging and construction sector and 100 jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector. Those losses offset the gain of 100 jobs each in the manufacturing sector and the trade, transportation and utilities sector.

For the 12 months from December 2018 to December 2019, the Midland MSA lost 500 jobs, dominated by the elimination of 2,200 jobs in the mining, logging and construction sector. The financial activities sector lost 200 and the education and health services sector and the government sector each lost 100 jobs during that period.

The leisure and hospitality sector added 900 jobs over the year, followed by the trade, transportation and utilities sector with 500 jobs and manufacturing with 400 new jobs and the professional and business services sector with 300 new jobs.

Statewide, the unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, up from 3.4 percent in November. The state added 29,00 jobs over the month and has added 342,800 jobs over the year.

While Midland reported the lowest unemployment, the highest was in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission at 7 percent.

Midland unemployment

January 2019 2.3 percent

January 2018 2.4 percent

February 2019 2.2 percent

February 2018 2.3 percent

March 2019 2.1 percent

March 2018 2.3 percent

April 2019 1.7 percent

April 2018 1.9 percent

May 2019 1.7 percent

May 2018 2 percent

June 2019 2.1 percent

June 2018 2.3 percent

July 2019 2.2 percent

July 2018 2.1 percent

August 2019 2.2 percent

August 2018 2.1 percent

September 2019 2 percent

September 2018 2 percent

October 2019 2.1 percent

October 2018 2 percent

November 2019 2.1 percent

November 2018 1.9 percent

December 2019 2.1 percent

December 2018 1.9 percent
New Delhi:

President Ram Nath Kovind will address the nation on the eve of the 71st Republic Day. Presidents address will be broadcasted from 7 pm on the entire national network of the All India Radio (AIR) and telecast over all channels of Doordarshan in Hindi followed by the English version, a release issued by the PIB.

Following the Hindi and English language broadcasts on Doordarshan, the Kovind's Republic Day eve address will be broadcast in regional languages on regional channels of Doordarshan. AIR will also broadcast the regional language versions from 9.30 pm on its respective regional networks, according to the release.

Security Beefed Up In National Capital Ahead Of Republic Day:

Facial recognition system and drones are part of the measures taken by Delhi Police ahead of the Republic Day in the national capital where 10,000 security personnel have been to maintain vigil, officials said. This year Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade and special security arrangements have been made for the visiting dignitary, DCP (New Delhi Zone) Eish Singhal said. Sharpshooters and snipers will be deployed atop high-rise buildings to keep a watch on the 8-km-long parade route from Rajpath to the Red Fort on January 26, officials said.

Hundreds of CCTV cameras have also been deployed in view of the security arrangements, including at least 150 cameras in areas covering Red Fort, Chandni Chowk and Yamuna Khadar, the officials added. We have a four-layer security arrangement. Inner, middle, outer and one along the border areas across the national capital, Singhal said, adding that drones will be also deployed.

"Around 5,000 to 6,000 Delhi Police personnel have been deployed in New Delhi district along with 50 companies of paramilitary forces," he added. The main zone of Rajpath will be closed till 12 pm on Sunday. The police have also asked hotels, taxi and auto drivers to remain alert. In view of the heightened security, patrolling in public places has been intensified.

We have intensified patrolling in public places. Group patrolling, night patrolling and vehicle checking is being carried out with the help of Central Armed Police Forces. Frisking at metro stations, railway stations, airport and bus terminals has also been tightened, a senior police official said.

Police personnel have been directed to stay alert since Delhi polls are also around the corner. Anti-terror measures like tenant and servant verification, border checking, security of vital installations, malls and markets, patrolling in heavy footfall areas are being taken, they said.

The security personnel have identified vulnerable spots such as crowded markets, railway stations, bus stands and other high-value establishments and efforts are being made to secure them with deployment of extra police force.

A traffic advisory has also been issued about the polices elaborate arrangement for route diversions for the Republic Day.

No traffic will be allowed on Rajpath from Vijay Chowk to India Gate from 6 pm on Saturday till the parade gets over on Sunday.

Flying of sub-conventional aerial platforms like para-gliders, para-motors, hang gliders, UAVs, UASs, microlight aircraft, remotely piloted aircraft, hot air balloons, small size powered aircraft, quadcopters or para jumping from aircraft are prohibited over the jurisdiction of the National Capital Territory of Delhi till February 15, according to an advisory.

It has also asked people to report to the nearest police station in case any unidentified object or suspicious person is seen.

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Inside Hook

In China, Tesla did the impossible. The electric automaker set up a new manufacturing plant (called a Gigafactory) and delivered EVs in less than a year. Now, Elon Musks company is looking to beat that inconceivable pace in Germany, but theres one problem: all the American bombs.

Seven U.S. bombs from World War Two have been found in the plot of land outside Berlin where electric car pioneer Tesla wants to build its first European factory, local authorities said on Thursday, writes Reuters. If they were simply husks of used explosives, that wouldnt be an issue, but these are unexploded bombs.
Police at the scene (Sebastian Gollnow/dpa via AP)

Six people were killed and another two wounded in a shooting in Germany that appears to have resulted from a family dispute, police said.

A man called police shortly after 12.45pm (11.45pm GMT) and told them he had killed several people in the south-western town of Rot am See, regional police chief Reiner Moeller said.

Police kept the man on the line and, when they arrived at the scene several minutes later, arrested a 26-year-old German national as the suspect in the killings, Mr Moeller said.

Officers found the bodies of six people - three women and three men - in and behind a building where a bar is located.

The suspect's mother and father were among the dead, the police chief said.

Another two people were hurt and one of them has life-threatening injuries, Mr Moeller said.

The suspect also threatened two children, aged 12 and 14.

He had a licence to own firearms as a shooting club member, Mr Moeller said.

The police chief said the motive is not known but authorities are treating it as a "family drama".

People were urged to avoid speculation on social media.

Rot am See is located about 170 kilometres (105 miles) north west of Munich.

It is a town of some 5,300 people in a rural area.

Mass shootings are a comparatively rare occurrence in Germany, although in October a far-right attacker shot two people dead in eastern city Halle after trying to get into a packed synagogue with home-made weapons.
Believe it or not there are some elections coming up for 2020.

They will happen in this order: spring primary: Feb. 18; spring election and presidential preference primary: April 7. Then comes the Partisan Primary Election on Aug. 11, and finally General Election Day, Nov. 3. Then we call all rest easy until the summer of 2022, when the nonsense will start all over again. But back to our current time frame.

Thanks to efforts of the Chippewa County Clerks Office, County Clerk Jaclyn Sadler and her devoted staff, Lisa Merrell and Amanda Richardson, you will notice a change in how elections are done in Chippewa County. The first change is that all municipalities will have new election machines.

To put to bed an early concern by the public, the voting machines are not connected to the internet. You cannot hack a voting machine that is not connected to the internet. The new machines will also have a paper ballot.

If you are using the new handicap-accessible voting machine, that machine will generate a paper ballot that will then be fed into an optical scanner. That scanner will read the ballot and cast the ballot for who you voted for.

All the voting machines will be secured at the Chippewa County Clerks Office under lock and key.

All programing of the machines will be done by the county clerk and her staff. The County Clerks Office will do all the public tests and insure that the machines are correctly programed and functioning. Again as these machine have paper ballots, any recount will be done using the paper ballots.

If you are concerned whether you are registered to vote. if you know your way around a computer, you may Google or use your search engine by typing in My Vote Wisconsin.

You can then check your registration status and see when you last voted. You can also request an absentee ballot if you would like. If you are not proficient with a computer, you may contact your local clerk to receive the same information.

If you go to the polls on election day and find that you are not registered to vote, you may register and vote on the day of the election. I am going to be frank with you  the rules are constantly changing, so what is required at this writing may be changed by the day of the election.

I can give you two general rules: Things go easy if you have a drivers license with your current address on it and if you bring some proof of where you are living like a utility bill with your name on it, a property tax bill with your name on it or any other official government document with your name on it showing your current address.

If you have questions, contact your municipal or county clerk.

Are the Russians going to hack into the Chippewa County Election System and cancel your vote? I highly doubt it. I would say that your vote is 99.99999999 percent secure. Why not 100 percent? Well, nothing is perfect and strange things can happen. However, I would not stay up at night and worry about hackers.

If you start hearing things about a rigged election or voting process, ask the person to give you specific information on who, what, when, where and why. All the hype about rigged elections is just hype. The only way elections are rigged is when you dont show up to vote. So you have to get with the program and vote.

While I do say elections are not rigged, they can become better. An independent commission to set election boundaries for local, state and federal elections should be established.

In Wisconsin; we have all the tools required to vote by mail. Perhaps we should look at a time limit on the election season. We should ban all corporate money from elections.

The only way to keep the system honest is for you to become involved. If you choose to sit these elections out, you have no right to complain later. It is your turn at bat so swing away. I mean that figuratively, of course.

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J ust before Brexit became law in Parliament this week an exhausted minister added up the numbers and said he deserved a medal. He had spent 230 hours debating it in the House of Lords. There have been 179 select committee reports and 859 ministerial statements. MPs and peers have stood up to ask about Brexit 6,241 times and have sent an extra 15,366 questions in on paper.

Last year was a maelstrom: meaningful votes, late-night crises, resignations, two prime ministers, careers crushed and a general election. Close to a million people marched through London against Brexit and millions more backed Boris Johnson on polling day to get it done. They lost sleep, they lost friends and there was nothing else in the news.

All that obsession  and, despite all of it, no one, not even the Prime Minister, knows what happens now. Theres been a weary silence since Christmas, as if Brexit doesnt exist. When the Withdrawal Agreement, which organises our immediate departure, became law yesterday it didnt even make headline news. Maybe a psychiatrist could explain why. Enjoy the peace while you can. The wild politics of 2019 wont be back, but the Brexit show is returning.

At 11pm a week today  taking back control doesnt stop Brexit being settled at midnight on European time, not ours, with London an hour behind  the United Kingdom will leave the European Union. A few people will have parties. A few will hold a wake. The first day outside the EU wont feel any different to the last one in it. We will be part of a transition deal which runs until the end of the year. So travel this summer will feel normal. Factories can still send their goods abroad. Britains 73 MEPs will lose their jobs  but no one can remember who they were, anyway.

But relief that no-deal horror hasnt arrived, that we dont have to eat tinned beetroot and Spam from emergency stockpiles and swap Marbella for Mable-thorpe for our holidays, may be short-lived. The Prime Minister wants to end the transition deal at the end of this year and get a free trade agreement (FTA) in its place. He doesnt have to, he could extend the transition, and some of his recent remarks suggest he could wriggle on timing a bit but he seems serious. That means a short, sharp, shocking separation on December 31.

What could it involve? The Political Declaration agreed between Britain and the EU at the same time as the transition has lots of happy words. The future relationship should be approached with high ambition with regard to its scope and depth, and recognise that this might evolve over time, it says. Were neighbours, weve loads in common, mostly got on, surely we can patch up the friendship, it implies. But its only a wishlist. It doesnt say how any of this will happen.

The Prime Minister and his team  Michael Gove, perhaps, who might be leading on Brexit after the reshuffle, and David Frost, the diplomat who is going to head whats being called Taskforce Europe  will aim to set out the UKs terms, fast. In the last negotiations the EU won hands down: it planned the way the talks worked. This time, can Britain make it clear what it wants by the end of February and get the EU talking?

Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the EU Commission, and Michel Barnier, the EU negotiator who clearly enjoyed the first round of Brexit talks so much that hes back for more, will be awake to any tricks. They want talks done their way, which might take time and will involve making a lot of demands on tricky issues such as fishing rights before settling anything we want on trade. Barnier is leading the UK Task Force. Apparently the UK comes at the start after someone in Brussels spotted the other way around sounded like an expletive, TFUK.

One of the first things each side needs to decide is how big a deal they want. Anything close to the wide relationship imagined by the Political Declaration could take years and would have to be ratified by each member state. As Frost set out in 2016, when he had the enjoyable job of running the Scotch Whisky Association and not Brexit: I dont believe we can agree, ratify, and implement a Canada or Swiss-style FTA in two years. It is just too complex.

Thats still true. So if the Prime Minister means what he says about a divorce this year, then it can only be a far smaller deal that doesnt even come close to the one even Canada has with the EU. It might be possible to get something like this done in time  if it was small enough it could be signed off quickly by the EU and not its members one by one.

It could amount to not much more than a bit of paper working out how to keep trade flowing and avoid chaos at Dover. Services would not be part of it, which is most of the UK economy, including the City of London. Maybe the EU will agree to widen it a bit, and agree common rules on things like state aid to failing businesses while not insisting on equal terms on things like employment and social protection. But even that sounds unlikely.

It would be a way harder Brexit than anyone imagined in 2016. It would leave the UK free to do trade deals elsewhere. Theres talk of quick wins with Japan and the US, although the chances of steering the latter through Congress in an election year must be zero. This hardcore approach to talks has consequences for us all. Frost warned in 2016: It will be our most complex negotiation ever. We cant afford to get it wrong. Whole industries could be destroyed if we do so.

We might not even know about it until it is done. Unlike last year, theres not going to be drama in Parliament. With an 80-seat majority, what Johnson says goes. There are no Remainer rebels left to pull him back into line. Brexit wont be in the news and well only hear rumours. Ministers arent on the BBC much. In the Commons they will get an easy ride. If the Government settles for a deal slimmer than a slimline tonic, no one can stop it.

That free hand could play the other way. The EU may think the PM, unlike Theresa May, is strong enough to cave in on things like fishing rights, economically irrelevant but symbolic, in return for a deal. Theyll hope his bluster disguises compromise. It happened last year when he agreed a trade border between Britain and Northern Ireland while pretending not to.
Shiv Sena made statement in wake of MNS chief Raj Thackeray's remarks of taking out huge rally on 9 February in Mumbai to drive 'illegal infiltrators' from Pakistan, Bangladesh out of India

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena has said that Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslims who have entered the country should be thrown out and "there is no doubt about it".

The party made the statement in the wake of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray's remarks that his party will take out a huge rally on 9 February in Mumbai to drive "illegal infiltrators" from Pakistan and Bangladesh, out of India.

In its mouthpiece Saamana, the party attacked Raj Thackeray for his change of stand with respect to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and his shift towards Hindutva.

"Yesterday, the MNS said that they support the CAA. However, just a month back, they were against this act," Shiv Sena said. "Our party has never given up its ideology of Hindutva and also worked for Marathi people. This is the reason why people in the state have accepted us," the party added.

The Sena also questioned whether Thackeray's change of stand will be accepted by the people or not. "Some people use the name of Hindutva for their benefit, but even if some party does that we have the large heart to accept them. Go ahead if possible."
Update January 28: Ronan Quinn has been found safe and well.

Earlier January 25: Gardai are asking for the public's help to find a boy missing in Co Westmeath.

Ronan Quinn, 14, is missing from his home in Athlone since Wednesday night.

Ronan was last seen on the evening of January 22 in Athlone.

He is described as being 5'6'' in height, of slim build with blue eyes and brown hair. When last seen he was wearing a black puffa jacket, black runners and a baseball cap.

Anyone who has seen Ronan or anyone who can assist in locating him is asked to contact Athlone Garda Station on 090-6498550, The Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
The Sacrament of Penance (or Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession) is one of the seven sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church. Roman Catholic Church doctrine states that the Sacrament of Penance was instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ through his disciples in order to bring about spiritual healing for the wounded soul. While we sometimes think of penance as a directed or voluntary act to demonstrate ones true repentance (with practical, spiritual or devotional works), that is only one part within the larger context of this Roman Catholic sacrament.

A Roman Catholic definition of the Sacrament of Penance includes the following statement from Edward J. Hanna of Catholic Answers:

Penance is a supernatural moral virtue whereby the sinner is disposed to hatred of his sin as an offense against God and to a firm purpose of amendment and satisfaction. The principal act in the exercise of this virtue is the detestation of sin, not of sin in general nor of that which others commit, but of ones own sin.

The Bible speaks plenty about repentance. But the question here is not about repenting, but how that is accomplished. While Roman Catholic teaching on the Sacrament of Penance includes the passages that speak to the need for turning from sin and turning to Christ, the singular issue at hand is the nature of the Church. Thus, the singular biblical reference supporting the Sacrament of Penance is this statement of Jesus:

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld (John 20:22-23).

Thus, penance is both a regulating means of discipleship and a judicial act of the Church to guard against unbelief. There are significant differences between the Roman Catholic understanding of penance and the Protestant understanding of confession of sin and assurance of pardon.

The Practice of Penance

The Sacrament of Penance begins with confession. The confession should ordinarily be made to a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. Such a confession must be followed by contrition or a genuine demonstrated sorrow for ones sin. Defenders of the Roman Magisterium will maintain that the priestly word of forgiveness is intended to reflect Gods forgiveness to the individual through the merits of Jesus Christ. Wherever one comes down on the matter, the priest plays an indispensable part in what happens next. The penitential step that follows requires the priest to judge whether an act of penance (a visible sign) would be helpful to seal contrition (an invisible reality).

When the priest believes that such a visible sign will improve the invisible necessity, then the priest would direct the penitent to perform an act designed to prove repentance. The act of penance could include devotional practices such as Ave Maria (Hail Mary), or an act of charity, e.g., giving time to assist the needy. The goal of such acts of penance is to encourage practical reconciliation with God (and others, and self). Positional reconciliation with God is accomplished through repentance and a transfer of trust to Jesus Christ. But differences remain.

While the praxis of penance involves those particulars, the concept of penance requires an understanding of the Roman Catholic view of sin. Actual sins that are perpetrated by an individual are a result of another category of sin: original sin. Original sin is the spiritual state of the unregenerate humanity inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve. Original sin is part of the fallen condition of human beings and extends throughout even the cosmos. The doctrine of original sin and actual sin is identical in Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. It is at this point that the Roman Catholic Church differentiates the sins into those that are venial, and those that are mortal.

Venial sins, according to Roman Catholic doctrine, are those violations of Gods moral law that break fellowship with God, as well as us and others. Mortal sins are those most heinous sins against God and his church that effectually demonstrate an unconverted soul. As to whether one loses salvation at the point of the mortal sin, as some suggest, or whether the mortal sin is a de facto sign of unbelief, remains a debate within the Roman Catholic Church. That being said, mortal sins require the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. Essentially, as a Protestant might think of it, if a mortal sin demonstrates that one is truly an unbeliever, not nearly falling down but falling away, and the Sacrament of Penance would be the equivalent of praying an evangelical prayer of salvation. It is comparable to walking the aisle to dedicate or rededicate ones self to Christ, or going to a pastor for confession and counseling.

While entire doctoral dissertations have been written on the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, we will have to limit our discussion to this brief overview. I do think it would be helpful to look at each part of the sacrament of penance and reconciliation and provide a Protestant or Reformed response. For those Roman Catholic readers (and Anglo-Catholic, Old Catholic), we make the distinction as a matter of clarification; seeking to model fairness in noting honest doctrinal differences, but also underscoring our common commitments and similarities.

Lets look at the stone that blocks the pathway of unity between Roman Catholic Christians and Protestant believers.





Photo credit: Getty Images/palidachan

Continuity and Discontinuity of Penance in Churches

For Christians in the Protestant and Reformed faith  it is to be recalled that the word reformed is a historical description to designate spiritual and doctrinal reform within the one Holy Catholic Church, not apart from it  penance has had somewhat of an ambiguous past.

Continuity: Some Protestants Practice a Formal Penance

Several large Christian communities within the global Protestant Christian faith continue to practice penance in some form, though not calling the act a sacrament. The Reformed faith recognizes two sacraments: baptism and the Lords Supper. For example, the Anglican Communions has parishes (of the St. Augustine Prayer Book) which continue to practice a form of penance and reconciliation. The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) published a renewed Book of Common Prayer in 2019. A penitential service for forgiveness of sins appears within a section on healing. This most recent edition of the Prayer Book provides an explanation for penance in relation to healing:

Because physical, emotional, and spiritual healing are often interrelated, it is particularly appropriate to encourage confession, reconciliation, and forgiveness in the context of ministry to the sick. The content of a confession is not normally a matter of subsequent discussion. They teach that private Absolution should be retained in the churches, (Augsburg Confession, XI.1), because Jesus commissioned His disciples to forgive sins: If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld (John 20:23). We do not coerce individuals to go to their pastor for Confession and Absolution, nor do we require complete enumeration of all sins. However, we do encourage people to go to their pastor for private absolution, because it is the very voice of the Gospel and shows consciences sure and firm comfort (Apology of the Augsburg Confession, XI 2).

Discontinuity: No Protestant Church Recognizes Human Priestly Mediation between God and Man

A significant practical and doctrinal distinctive is the priestly or human intercessory actions of the Roman Catholic Church. Any hint of adding representatives to the one Mediator stands in sharp contrast to the more relational activity of the Anglican priest or Reformed pastor in a Protestant or Reformed church. In Protestantism, Christian clergy are not recognized as possessing special authority or power inherent in their office, but rather a spiritual direction arising from the churches recognition of the pastors vocation and, most essentially, the pastors relationship with the parishioner.

So, in summary, the principle of going to a member of the Christian clergy to confess ones sin is not heterodox for a Protestant believer. Indeed, some communities encourage the practice. The difference between Roman Catholics and Protestants over Penance turns on the essential nature of the priesthood and works of supererogation (human works or contributions that supposedly add merit to the believers account before God). Article XIV of the Book of Common Prayer (2019) states that supererogation cannot be taught without arrogance and impiety: for by them men do declare, that they not only render unto God as much as they are bound to, but that they do more for his sake, than of bounden duty is required: whereas Christ saith plainly, When ye have done all that are commanded to you, say, We are unprofitable servants.

The classification of sins is also an example of continuity and discontinuity between Reformed and Roman Catholic churches.

The Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church clearly defines classes of sins. However, the confessional documents of Protestantismthe 39 Articles of Religion, the Westminster Confession of Faith with Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and the Heidelberg Confession, as well as Lutheran and other continental documents of confession  do not necessarily distinguish between sins by calling them either venial or mortal. Nevertheless, the Church recognizes that there is a sin unto death (1 John 5:16). When one examines the violation of Gods law, one immediately understands that the severity of one violation of Gods law may have a greater consequence than another.

For instants, a failure to observe the Sabbath day will bring about a judicial response within ones own body. An entire nation can suffer from ignoring Gods first and seventh commandments. Usually, the judgment that one incurs upon oneself for such sin takes time. Indeed, the judgment may even be unseen. However, the taking of another human life through premeditated murder is a grievous violation of Gods law which will bring swift and immediate judgment. While one may speak accurately of all sins being equally intolerable and heinous before the throne of God, the Lord does, in fact, speak of some sins as abominations.

So, the Bible does inarguably classify the severity of and the potential disruption to self and society of certain sins. Again, we recognize that there are differences between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism in speaking of sin, but the entire Christian church acknowledges that original sin is the poison spring from which emanates and flows all sorts of spiritual calamity. Likewise, the worldwide Christian church recognizes that some sins carry greater destructive force than others (e.g., murder, sexual sin).

Continuity: The Need for Reconciliation with God and Others Is as Important to Protestants as it Is to Roman Catholics

While priestly intercession and sacerdotal doctrine are absent in Protestant and Evangelical church life, the expression of reconciliation is a strong current in evangelical theology. All true Christian churches advocate that humankind is separated from Almighty God and must be reconciled to Him. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is that what God has required, God has provided. God has required atonement for sin through the mediator of a New Covenant, his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. When one turns to God and confesses his sin, with necessary contrition, the Bible teaches us that ones sin is positionally imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary. God requires a holy life and has provided that life through Jesus. The removal of one and the imputation of another is the heart of the Gospel. When one believes in Christ, there is a great transfer: Christ receives our sin and we receive His life.

Discontinuity: The Act of Penance Itself

When a priest directs a parishioner to perform an act of penance to demonstrate his or her faithfulness to God, there may be an element of quid pro quo involved. That may be less of a doctrinal distinctive than a practical and unavoidable consequence. Discipline in Reformed churches is always restorative, not punitive. Thus, while a Reformed minister might develop a plan for penance to help the sinner find new life and return to the life of the Church, that minister would never order an act of penance apart from faith. Protestant confessions of faith uniformly understand that the Bible teaches that the power of clergy (clerks of the Church, i.e., ministers, pastors, presbyters, priests in Anglicanism) is spiritual only. Thus, any plan of penance would be an act of spiritual guidance. Usually, this guidance includes devotional acts such as reading the Bible or prayer. Such acts might also include forgiving another by writing a letter. All of the Christian church agrees that Jesus Christ taught that there should be fruit to our lives. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? (Matthew 7:16.) Once more, we see that the differences often arise in practices, rituals, and traditions, rather than in substance.

What Does This Mean for Us?

So to summarize there is continuity and discontinuity between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches regarding reconciliation and penance. The Word of God is clear: humankind is born with original sin. From that sin nature flows actual sin. We need a savior. The Bible teaches us that there is only one mediator between God and man and that is the man Christ Jesus. We also should confess our sins to one another. Pastors have been instituted by God to equip the saints for the work of ministry. So, the minister is undoubtedly engaged in supporting the peace and purity of the Church. However, the ministers authority is in the Word of God. When the evangelical minister encourages an act of faith in keeping with a changed life, and with practically demonstrating that Jesus Christ is ones Lord, such guidance is spiritual direction aimed at restoration, growth, and discipleship, never punishment.

Some of us can understand why Martin Luther was hesitant to remove confession and penance. In fact, he did not remove it. Luther and many of the Reformers continued reconciliation and penance, not as a sacrament, but as a way to express our commitment to the confession of sins and walking in faith with changed lives. Go and sin more and show fruits of righteousness remains as valid today as when our precious Savior spoke the words. And on that point, we all can agree.

Photo credit: Getty Images/Photoboyko

MICHAEL A. MILTON (Ph.D., University of Wales; MPA, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; MDIV, Knox Theological Seminary; Cert. in Higher Education Teaching, Harvard University) serves as the Provost and James Ragsdale Chair of Missions and Evangelism at Erskine College and Seminary. A Presbyterian minister (PCA, ARP), Milton has penned more than thirty books, hundreds of articles in journals, magazines, opinion columns, and newspapers. As president of the D. James Kennedy Institute and Faith for Living, Milton has served as a public theologian. His work has been cited on numerous national media outlets as he provides historic Christian insights into faith and life in a changing world. Dr. Milton's record of ministry includes seminary chancellor, president of three seminaries, senior minister of one of America's historic churches, founder of three congregations, and a Christian academy. A composer and artist, Mike and Mae Milton reside in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Learn more at michaelmilton.org/about. [from a press release by McCain& Associates.]
(Newser)  A young Marine was carrying his wife to their car after a night out with friends when he tripped on a potholeand five days later, she was dead. John and Robyn Pinkham were newlyweds when tragedy struck on June 14 of last year, People reports. They were leaving the Coyote Bar and Grill in Carlsbad, California, when John tripped, sending Robyn to the ground, where she hit her head on the pavement and lost consciousness. The 22-year-old was rushed to the hospital, but ultimately died from the severe head injuries she suffered. John, 23, who was also injured in the incident, is now suing the restaurant's parent company, NBC San Diego reports.

story continues below

"Young, in love, and newlyweds, John Pinkham was carrying his wife Robyn Pinkham in his arms as they moved towards the groups car. As John Pinkham walked through the poorly lit, un-even, and pothole-ridden parking lot while lovingly holding his wife, John stepped into a pothole causing him to lose his footing and fall forward," the lawsuit states, accusing the company of an "inexcusable failure to maintain their parking lot in a safe condition." But a restaurant manager tells NBC San Diego the area in question is not technically a parking lot, but a street owned by the city, one side of which is used as commuter parking for North County Transit. Local workers also say the parking spaces are typically patched by the parent company every summer. (Read more accidental death stories.)
The Iranian side is ready for negotiations with the United States if Washington changes course and refuses anti-Iranian sanctions, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.

According to him, Tehran does not exclude the possibility that Washington will revise its policy towards Iran. "For us it does not matter who is sitting in the White House. It is important how they behave. The Trump administration can rectify its past, lift the sanctions and return to the negotiating table. We are still at the negotiating table. They left, "RIA Novosti quotes the head of the Iranian foreign ministry as saying.
Iraqi security forces raided Baghdads main protest site on Saturday and tried to eject protesters in southern cities, firing tear gas and bullets killing four people and wounding dozens more, police and medical sources said.

The new push to end the sit-ins and restore order came hours after populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who counts millions of supporters in Baghdad and the south, said he would halt his involvement in anti-government unrest.

Sadrs supporters, who had bolstered the anti-government protesters and sometimes played a role in protecting them from attacks by security forces and unidentified gunmen, began withdrawing from sit-ins early on Saturday after Sadrs announcement.



Clashes then took place after authorities began removing concrete barriers near Tahrir Square where anti-government demonstrators have camped out for months, and across at least one main bridge over the Tigris River in the capital, Reuters reporters said.

Major crackdown on protestors in Iraq underway. Muqtada al-Sadrs support was critical but it was withdrawn after he struck a deal with the government & Irans proxies  they have carte blanche to neutralise the protestors. Huge boost for Iran & its allies

In the southern city of Basra, security forces raided the main anti-government sit-in overnight and deployed in force to stop protesters gathering there again, security sources said.





Police arrested at least 16 protesters in the city, they said.

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Xi stresses racing against time to reach Chinese Dream

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 09:28, January 24, 2020

BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday stressed racing against time and keeping abreast with history to reach the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

"Time and history wait for no one as they are both on the side of hard workers," said Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Xi made the remarks while addressing a Chinese Lunar New Year reception held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Under the strong leadership of the CPC, all members of the Party, armed forces and people of all ethnic groups must fear no wind or wave, rise up to challenges and keep marching toward the glorious goal of national rejuvenation and the great prospect of building a community with a shared future for humanity, Xi said.

At the reception, held by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, Xi extended Lunar New Year's greetings to Chinese people of all ethnic groups, compatriots in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and overseas Chinese.

Party and state leaders Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan were among the more than 2,000 people attending the reception. Li Keqiang chaired the event.

Xi noted in his speech that new and significant progress has been made in the past year toward building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

He mentioned major events during the year, including the fourth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland and resolute efforts to safeguard the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao, as well as celebrations marking the 70th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China.

A campaign themed "staying true to our founding mission" was also carried out to demand the more than 90 million Party members remember to always stay with the people.

"In the new year, we must secure a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and fighting poverty," Xi said, adding that achieving this first centenary goal is a milestone in the process of realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

The results, Xi said, must be recognized by the people and stand the test of time.

Xi said the Chinese nation, with a civilization stretching back over 5,000 years, has made indelible contributions to the civilization and progress of mankind. But the nation was held back for too long by various internal and external troubles in modern times.

That is why, Xi said, the Chinese people have always had an extraordinary sense of urgency and appreciation of the underlying trend of the times.

From now to the middle of this century, the Chinese people will strive to build China into a great modern socialist country. It will be a great era in which a new splendid chapter of the Chinese civilization will be written, he said.

Every Chinese person must feel proud of living in such a great era, Xi said.

"We must maintain strategic direction and resolve, stay united, work hard and forge ahead against all odds," Xi said.

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In recent years, Londoners have proved a tough crowd for the Conservatives to please. Four years ago, Zac Goldsmith was defeated by over 300,000 votes in the election for Mayor of London. Labours Sadiq Khan ended up with a lead of nine per cent on first preferences, which rose to nearly 17 per cent after the second preferences had been added in. Goldsmith was accused of running an anti-Muslim campaign. The charge was completely false  yet it did become a prevailing media narrative. It meant Goldsmith struggled to get across his positive plans.

Then it got worse. The Brexit vote put London at odds with the rest of the country. The 2017 General Election saw the Conservatives lose six seats in London. Labours share of the vote in the capital was 54.5 per cent, compared to 33.1 per cent for the Conservatives. That was a Labour lead of over 21 points. The local elections in 2018 again saw a big Labour win. Overall, across the London boroughs, they were 15 points ahead. The Conservatives were on just 29 per cent and lost 92 councillors. I remember it well as I was one of them. The General Election last month was, broadly speaking, a repeat of 2017. The Conservatives gained Kensington and Carshalton and Wallington but lost Putney and Richmond. So we were stuck on just 21 seats  out of 73.

All these figures are rather daunting for Shaun Bailey, the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London. The election takes place on May 7th. In just three months from now they will be sending out the postal votes. Labour has a huge campaigning army in London and Khan has been eager to use City Hall resources for his personal promotion. It would be foolish to deny that Bailey is the underdog in this fight. Indeed probably better to make a virtue of it. His back story is about facing challenges. In his early twenties he spent five years sofa surfing. As a child, he grew up in an overcrowded council house in Bracewell Road, north Kensington, near the Grenfell Tower. His family is from Jamaica. Shauns father was a lorry driver. Before getting involved in politics he started his own youth charity.

Bailey is an articulate and authentic Conservative voice. But I worry that his campaign so far has been too cautious, too risk averse. The danger at the moment is that he is ignored, as the media shrug that the election result is a foregone conclusion. Some bold policy statements are needed. He needs to make the weather. Provided that Bailey believes in them, it doesnt matter if they are contentious. You cant please everyone in poltiics and it is a mistake to try.

Social media is the underdogs friend. It can be a great leveller as a way of candidates reaching people when they have scarce financial and physical resources. Rory Stewart proved adept at using it when he stood for the Tory leadership last year. Ultimately he floundered due to his lack of personal credibility and his pronouncements being at odds with mainsteam Conservative thinking. But his campaign messaging did catch the attention of the media and some of the wider public. Now he is standing as an independent for Mayor of London. I suspect he will drop out before May and that even if he doesnt, he wont do Bailey much harm in terms of vote splitting. That is because any Conservatives who vote for Stewart would have the option of using second preference to vote for Bailey.

Say what you like about Stewart though, he does know how to tweet. Take this:

Almost 9000 people are experiencing the misery of sleeping rough in London. #LondonDeservesBetter pic.twitter.com/uaALukdGI3  Rory Stewart (@RoryStewartUK) January 16, 2020

Just finding people to talk is not hard. People are usually happy to tell their story  in this case, an ex rough sleeper called Andy. It is not necessary for Andy to say he will vote for Rory. Not necessary for Andy to back Rorys plan to tackle

rough sleeping. Not even necessary for Rory to come up with any such plan. Just for Rory to show he is listening, that he cares, that he has empathy, that he has curiosity

Substance is lacking from Stewart and substance does matter. But other politicians could learn from Stewart to have the confidence to adopt that personal, conversational, quirky style.

Old-fashioned campaigning has a role too. I would suggest that Bailey holds a big public meeting in each of the 32 London boroughs between now and May 7th. The more snarling Lefty hecklers that pitch up the better  it should enliven proceedings. Where there are Conservative MPs or councillors, naturally they should be involved in promoting and participating in the meetings. It should be seen as a way of encouraging new recruits to the Conservatives as well as discovering local concerns and wooing floating voters.

The policies need an anti-establishment edge. Transport for London is an appallingly wasteful outfit. Proposals to cut its bloated spending and cut fares should be put forward. It owns 5,700 acres. Selling land for development could provide new housing and provide capital funding for transport improvements. The new housing does not need to be ugly. There should be a firm pledge that no more tower blocks will be approved. Bureaucracy at City Hall should be slashed to allow a big cut in the Council Tax precept.

But the biggest issue is crime. The Mayor of London keeps dodging responsibility. Why is violent crime rising in London when it is falling in most of the rest of England? Greg Hands, the Conservative MP for Chelsea and Fulham, has written in the Evening Standard about the example of Rudy Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York City. Just having more police is not enough. They need to be effective.

Fair-minded Londoners would agree that Khan has been a failure when it comes to fighting crime, as well as on the other key issues. After this month even those who voted against Brexit will tend to accept it is time to move on. Some recent signs have been encouraging for London Conservatives. Yesterday I reported on Council by-elections in Brent which showed some big swings our way. Some recent opinion polling since the General Election suggests Conservative popularity has actually increased. Opinium shows a lead of 17 per cent nationally.

So let Bailey be Bailey. The odds might be against him, but he should be a Happy Warrior. That defiant spirit would then spur donors and campaigners to help him. If London Conservatives are to persuade voters in the capital to believe in them again then self-belief is a necessary prerequisite. Boris Johnson has shown how far it can take you.
Rescue workers raced against time Saturday to find survivors under the rubble after a powerful earthquake claimed 22 lives and left more than 1,000 injured in eastern Turkey.

The magnitude 6.8 quake struck on Friday evening, with its epicentre in the small lakeside town of Sivrice in Elazig province, and was felt in neighbouring countries.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 39 people have been rescued alive from collapsed buildings in Elazig province, with a further 22 people estimated to be trapped under the rubble.

He said the death toll had risen to 22.

Among those found alive was a pregnant woman who was rescued 12 hours after the quake hit, state agency Anadolu said, while an AFP correspondent saw an individual saved 17 hours later.

Nearly 2,000 search and rescue personnel were sent to the region while thousands of beds, blankets and tents have been provided, the Turkish presidency said.

The rescue efforts have been taking place in freezing temperatures as wood and plastic were burned to keep crowds warm.

Hundreds of people were anxiously waiting on the other side of police barriers including a man who gave his name as Mustafa.

"I have three relatives in that building: one man, his wife and her mother. They are still under the rubble," the 40-year-old told AFP.

"May God help us, we can do nothing but pray.

"I was home during the earthquake. It lasted for so long, it was like a nightmare. I froze in the living room when it happened, my wife and our two children were screaming and running around," he said.

He added that some neighbours jumped out of the windows because they panicked as families including his were forced to spend Friday night on the streets.

Some 20 rescuers were on top of the remains of one collapsed building, slowly clearing the rubble one bucket at a time surrounded by broken wooden beams and concrete.

Nearby Ayse Sonmez, 48, wept in silence at the barrier.

She was only able to point to one of the heavily damaged buildings and say, "My older sister."



Sivrice -- a town with a population of about 4,000 -- is situated south of Elazig city on the shores of Hazar lake -- one of the most popular tourist spots in the region and the source of the Tigris river.

The lake is home to a "Sunken City", with archaeological traces dating back 4,000 years in its waters.

The interior minister said 18 people were killed in Elazig while four died in Malatya.

Among the 1,031 people injured were residents in other provinces in the southeast including Diyarbakir, Batman, Sanliurfa, Adiyaman and Kahramanmaras, the Turkish government's disaster and emergency management agency (AFAD) said.

Health minister Fahrettin Koca said 128 people were still receiving treatment including 34 in intensive care but added that no one was in a critical condition.

Tensions were high as one resident accused the government of lying.

"They (the government) claim that only four people are trapped under the rubble. It is not true. I have five relatives in that building," Suat, a 45-year-old butcher, said.

"There are four floors and three flats per floor. If there were five people per flat, do the math. Why are they lying?" Suat described the moment when the quake struck as he was at home in another Elazig neighbourhood and his children "were screaming in terror."



The Ankara public prosecutor's office later on Saturday said it had begun an investigation into "provocative" social media posts but did not give further details.

The tremor was felt in several parts of eastern Turkey near the Iraqi and Syrian borders as well as in Iran, Lebanon and Syria, local media reported.

Environment and Urbanisation Minister Murat Kurum told reporters in Elazig that five buildings collapsed following the quake while others were badly or lightly damaged.

The US Geological Survey assessed the magnitude as 6.7, slightly lower than AFAD, adding that it struck near the East Anatolian Fault in an area that has suffered no documented large ruptures since an earthquake in 1875.

According to AFAD, there have been nearly 400 aftershocks following Friday's quake including 12 that were above four in magnitude.

In 1999, a devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Izmit in western Turkey, leaving more than 17,000 people dead including about 1,000 in Istanbul.

Experts have long warned a large quake could devastate the city of 15 million people, which has allowed widespread building without safety precautions.

Such fears were acutely awakened in September last year when a 5.7-magnitude earthquake shook Istanbul, causing residents to flee buildings in the economic capital.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)




Haiti - FLASH Diplomatic scandal : Revocations to the Consulate and the Embassy of Haiti in DR





In the case of the corruption scandal among diplomatic staff, involving at least 7 people https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29569-haiti-flash-7-employees-of-diplomatic-staff-suspected-of-corruption-in-dr.html and investigated by Claudy Gassant, the former Director of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC) dismissed on January 23 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29841-haiti-flash-me-claudy-gassant-dg-of-ulcc-revoked.html , Edmond Bocchit subject of a complaint by Gassant, after having reframed the ULCC for having taken measures against diplomatic staff https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29586-haiti-flash-the-chancellery-reframes-the-ulcc-in-the-case-of-corruption-of-diplomats-in-dr.html and defended its staff end of December "[] These civil servants still enjoy the full and entire confidence of the Ministry, therefore of the Government of the Republic."; now announces the dismissal of two officials questioned by Gassant: Mrs. Judith Exavier, Consul General of Haiti (Head of Post) in Santiago in the Dominican Republic, as well as that of the Haitian-Dominican Kerby Alcante Desormeaux, 2nd Secretary to the Embassy of Haiti in Santo Domingo.



In a letter dated January 23, 2020, signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Edmond Bocchit and the Prime Minister a.i. Jean Michel Lapin Chancellor Bocchit writes to Mrs. Judith Exavier, Consul General of Haiti in Santiago:



"Madam, I inform you that it has been decided to terminate your duties as post chief at the Consulate of Haiti in Santiago.



This decision is effective immediately.



While thanking you for your services, I renew to you the assurance of my distinguished consideration."



A second letter with similar terms was sent this time to Kerby Alcante Desormeaux, 2nd Secretary at the Embassy of Haiti in the Dominican Republic.



In both cases no mention of the reasons for the dismissal of these two officials of Haitian diplomacy, appears in these correspondences...



Recall that Judith Exavier arrested on December 7 at the Dominicano-Haitian border of Jimani-Malpasse in a vehicle registered in the name of Jose Bernabe Quintero, one of the alleged members of the money laundering network of Cesar Emilio Peralta Adamez nicknamed the "Dominican Pablo Escobar" https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29458-haiti-flash-towards-a-new-scandal-in-haitian-diplomacy.html



For his part Kerby Alcante Desormeaux (born in Haiti), 2nd Secretary at the Embassy of Haiti in Santo-Domningo also known as Kerby Alcantara Desormeaux (Dominican entrepreneur), is accused of forgery and use of forgery, to carry out commercial activities as a Dominican citizen and at the same time to be a Haitian diplomat in possession of two diplomatic passports... Let us recall that he was arrested twice and then released https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29793-haiti-flash-arrest-of-the-2nd-secretary-of-the-embassy-of-haiti-in-dr.html . Note that it is for having released Alcante the first time that Jean Roudy Aly the Minister of Justice sent a correspondence this week to Me Souvenir Jenty, Substitute for the Government Commissioner to the Court of First Instance of Port-au-Prince , announcing to him "[] it was decided to put you on availability without pay, pending the outcome of the investigation into the facts of which you are accused."



To be continued...



Read also about the diplomatic scandal :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29793-haiti-flash-arrest-of-the-2nd-secretary-of-the-embassy-of-haiti-in-dr.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29613-haiti-flash-the-ulcc-files-a-complaint-against-chancellor-bocchit-edmond.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29586-haiti-flash-the-chancellery-reframes-the-ulcc-in-the-case-of-corruption-of-diplomats-in-dr.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29569-haiti-flash-7-employees-of-diplomatic-staff-suspected-of-corruption-in-dr.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29509-haiti-flash-the-unit-against-corruption-has-taken-up-the-case-of-the-consul-of-haiti-in-santiago.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29458-haiti-flash-towards-a-new-scandal-in-haitian-diplomacy.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29440-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29422-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-28537-haiti-flash-corruption-at-least-4-haitian-diplomats-sanctioned-in-the-bahamas.html



HL/ HaitiLibre


















crab nebula star death Spitzer telescope

NASA/JPL-Caltech

One of NASA's most powerful space telescopes, the Spitzer Space Telescope, retires today after 16 years.

Spitzer measured infrared light, which allowed it to see through clouds of gas and dust in space.

The telescope generated some of the most awe-inspiring images that we have of nebulae and galaxies, and led to many groundbreaking discoveries.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

One of NASA's most powerful space telescopes is retiring today after an illustrious 16-year career.

The Spitzer Space Telescope launched nearly 16 years ago with a profound mission: "to provide a unique, infrared view of the universe and allow us to peer into regions of space that are hidden from optical telescopes."

The telescope was designed to detect infrared light, which enabled it to see through large, dense clouds of gas and dust. Inside those clouds, new stars and planetary systems form, galaxies and stars collide, and black holes emerge.

Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory recorded and interpreted the data Spitzer sent back, leading to discoveries of habitable exoplanets and additional rings around Saturn.

Reflecting on the impact of the project, Suzy Dodd, a former Spitzer project manager, told reporters on January 22: "We're lifting the cosmic veil of the universe. There's a cornucopia of what we can observe."

As the telescope floated in space, its systems aged and battery life has diminished. That made it hard for engineers and astronomers to communicate with Spitzer, which is why NASA is switching off the telescope.

Take a look at the remarkable images Spitzer captured over the years as it gave us a better understanding of the universe.

NASA launched the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2003.

156237main_image_feature_646_ys_full (1)

NASA

It was one of the space agency's "Great Observatories": a group of four US satellite telescopes that measure different kinds of light.

Story continues

Spitzer was the last one launched. The three sent up before it were the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990; the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, which measured gamma rays from 1991-2000; and the Chandra X-ray Observatory in 1999, which measures X-rays.

Spitzer's instruments tracked infrared light between wavelengths of 3 and 180 microns. (1 micron is one-millionth of a meter.)

140579main_image_feature_486b_ys_full

NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech/J. Hora (CfA) and C.R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt)Measuring infrared light is useful for astronomers because light at those wavelengths can penetrate thick clouds of gas and dust better than visible light.

cats paw 16

NASA/JPL-CaltechSpitzer captured remarkable images of galaxies and nebulae.

GalaxyPyrotechnics

X-ray: NASA/CXC/Caltech/P.Ogle et al; Optical: NASA/STScI; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA

Spitzer even measured bubbles of pressurized gas that indicate the creation of stars in nebulae.

The telescope enabled scientists to see through the dust in order to photograph our own Milky Way galaxy.

milky way galaxy center spitzer infrared

NASA, JPL-Caltech, Susan Stolovy (SSC/Caltech) et al.Spitzer also discovered the second-brightest star in our galaxy, the Peony nebula star (in the dusty and crowded center of this image), in 2008.

The Spitzer Telescope discovered the 2nd-brightest star in our galaxy in the dusty and crowded interior.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Potsdam Univ.

The Peony nebula star shines with the equivalent light of 3.2 million suns. The brightest star, Eta Carina, produces 4.7 million suns' worth of light.

In 2009, the telescope led scientists to discover an additional ring around Saturn that's invisible to visible-light telescopes. The massive ring is mostly made of ice and dust.

392458main_spitzer20091006 full

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Keck

The ring's diameter is equivalent to roughly 300 Saturns lined up.

Spitzer also found the oldest documented supernova in 2011.

OldestSupernova

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ALMAThen in 2016, data from Spitzer helped scientists determine the distance between young stars and their surrounding protoplanetary disks, rotating clouds of dense gas and dust.

LightEchoIllustration

NASA/JPL-Caltech

A lot of stardust circles around newly formed stars. To determine how much, scientists used a method called "photo-reverberation," also known as "light echoes."

It works like this: Some of a star's light hits the surrounding disk and causes a delayed "echo," so scientists can measure how long it takes direct light from the star to come to Earth and then compare it to how long it takes the "echo" to arrive.

Technically, Spitzer completed its primary mission 11 years ago, since that was when it ran out of the liquid helium coolant necessary to operate two of its three instruments.

141549main_image_feature_496_ys_full (1)

NASA/JPL-Caltech

However, NASA engineers got creative to make the most of the one instrument that was still collecting data.

The telescope's passive-cooling design kept it just a few degrees above absolute zero so as not to absorb any additional infrared radiation.

Cluster

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Spitzer trails Earth in its orbit around the sun, while also drifting away from the Earth slowly so as not to absorb any infrared radiation from Earth or the moon. (That radiation would mess with the other infrared-light measurements.)

That passive-cooling system was what allowed part of Spitzer's third instrument to continue operating for more than 10 additional years.

295904main_PIA11375_full

NASA/JPL-CaltechDuring that time, the telescope's infrared-light measurements helped facilitate the boom in NASA's hunt for exoplanets  planets outside our solar system.

A Glimpse of a Rocky Exoplanet's Surface

NASA/JPL-CaltechSpitzer's observations led to the discovery of planets around the TRAPPIST-1 star. We now know that the system's seven planets are all Earth-sized and terrestrial. Three appear to be habitable.

Trappist

NASA/JPL-Caltech

The first TRAPPIST-1 planets were discovered in 2016 using observations from Spitzer and from the planetary system's namesake, the ground-based TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) telescope in Chile.

Because different chemicals emit different amounts of infrared light, Spitzer's tools also helped scientists study the chemical composition of objects in space.

pia22569 snr g54

NASA/JPL-Caltech/CXC/ESA/NRAO/J. Rho (SETI Institute)Observations from Spitzer showed, for example, that planets around cooler stars can hold life-forming elements like carbon and oxygen. Such M-dwarf and brown-dwarf stars are distributed throughout the Milky Way.

344831main_spitzerB20090407 full_full (1)

NASA/JPL-CaltechSome of the data Spitzer collected, however, left astronomers with more questions. Giant galactic blobs, for example, remain a puzzle.

giant galactic blobs

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Astronomers can see the glow of these blobs through visible-light telescopes, but aren't sure of the source of energy that lights them up. Spitzer collected data about the infrared light coming from them, but didn't solve the mystery.

Even as the telescope enters retirement, however, astronomers will continue to mine such data sets for years.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Rajasthan Assembly on Saturday passed a resolution urging the Centre to repeal the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), amid opposition by the BJP which accused the ruling Congress of pursuing appeasement

It is the second Congress-ruled state after Punjab to pass such a resolution. Earlier, Kerala Assembly too had passed a resolution against the CAA moved jointly by the ruling Left alliance and the opposition Congress-led UDF.

The Rajasthan Assembly passed by voice vote the resolution which also asked the Centre to withdraw the new fields of information proposed to be included in National Population Register (NPR), 2020.

"It is evident that the CAA violates the provisions of the Constitution. Therefore, the House resolves to urge upon the government of India to repeal the CAA to avoid any discrimination on the basis of religion in granting citizenship and to ensure equality before law for all religious groups of India," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal said while moving the resolution in the House.

Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria questioned the "right to challenge" the Act in the state assembly.

"Granting citizenship is a matter under the Centre and and in such a situation do we have the right to challenge the CAA.... The Congress should stop doing appeasement and vote bank politics," the BJP leader said.

As soon as Dhariwal moved the resolution in the House, BJP legislators trooped into the Well, shouting slogans against the government's move. However, later they participated in the debate.

"CAA has caused deep anguish and widespread protests all over the country. The state of Rajasthan has also witnessed protests against this legislation which have been peaceful and have involved all segments of our society," Dhariwal said.

During the debate, the opposition BJP attacked the Congress and said that there is no reason to bring the resolution against the CAA as it has been enacted by Parliament and the matter is sub-judice.

State BJP chief Satish Poonia said that granting citizenship to minorities living in Pakistan was endorsed in the past by prominent leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

The Congress has brought the resolution for its political agenda and appeasement politics, Poonia, who is an MLA from Amber constituency, said.

Other BJP leaders including Kiran Maheshwari and Vasudev Devnani said that the population of minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan has reduced due to atrocities inflicted on them.

The resolution stated that the "Preamble of the Constitution of our country clearly states that India is a secular country. In addition, Article 14 of the Constitution clearly stipulates that the state shall not deny to any person equality before the law or equal protection of the laws within the territory of India".

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 that has been enacted by Parliament recently is aimed at distinguishing illegal migrants on the basis of religion. Such discrimination of people on the grounds of religion is not in consonance with the secular ideals enshrined in the Constitution and is clearly violative of Article 14, it said.

It further stated that it is for the first time in the history of the country since Independence that a law has been enacted which discriminates against people on religious grounds.

"It would threaten the secular fabric of the country. In addition, no new provision has been made in the Act in respect of migrants from other neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan etc. Why this has been done has also raised apprehensions in the minds of the people at large," Dhariwal said.

The Parliamentary Affair Minister said that similarly there is widespread apprehension amongst a large section of people in the country that the NPR is a prelude to the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

He said that the kind of additional information that is proposed to be sought from all persons is likely to cause considerable inconvenience to the population at large without much tangible benefit.

Dhariwal said that Assam is an example of the same.

Therefore, the minister said, the House further resolves to urge upon the central government that in addition to revoking the CAA, it should also withdraw the new fields of information that have been sought for updation NPR, 2020, and that, to allay apprehensions in the minds of the people, the work of enumeration under NPR should be taken up only thereafter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Eleven students from Dancecapade in Adams pose with a Mickey Mouse cutout in Disney World. The girls danced down Main Street, U.S.A., at Disney World in December. PreviousNext

Dancecapade Members Return From Disney World



The girls got to go behind the scenes at the Florida theme park. ADAMS, Mass.  Nearly a dozen local girls had the chance to perform in front of thousands at Disney World last year.

Dancecapade owner Jaclyn Grabicki brought 11 of her dancers to the Florida theme park in mid-December to perform alongside 45 other studios.

"When I opened my studio that was something that I kind of prided myself on. I wanted to give the girls opportunities to get out of this area to see other venues," she said. "Watching them dance at Disney and watching them perform was the greatest thing for me to see because it is something that you don't think you are ever going to be able to do for them."

Grabicki said the trip was not a competition but rather an opportunity for her girls to perform on a world stage at Disney Springs and a parade through the Magic Kingdom.

Dancer Hayden Therrien, who is about to turn 16, said it was quite the experience performing in front of thousands of people from all over the world.

"We had the confidence and we believed in ourselves," she said. "It was hard at first but when we got together and moved around, we got it ... we are a smaller studio compared to some of the others that were there and we stuck out."

Fellow dancer Rylin Larabee, who is about to turn 11, agreed that it was a bit of a shock.

"I was so nervous," she said. "I thought, 'oh no.'"

Grabicki said this was a first for a lot of the girls who are used to competing and performing in front of smaller groups.

Rylin's mom, Caitlin, agreed.

"I thought it was an amazing opportunity for her to go and dance in front of such a crowd," she said. "She is only 10 years old and it was just amazing for her to be dancing in front of thousands of people. It took a lot of courage."

Mom Kathryn LeBlanc said she was proud of her daughter Macaela LeBlanc as well as the rest of the girls for their professionalism. She thought the experience has changed her daughter.

"I have noticed since Disney she has come out of her shell," she said. "She is going to be auditioning for the opening number for our recital, which is not something she would have done prior."

She added that this great performance did not just happen and lauded Grabicki's efforts prior to the trip to make sure the girls were prepared.

"Jackie worked hard with the girls for hours every week," she said. "She would come in on Saturday or Monday nights. Whenever she could to make sure they were ready."

The 11 students were in Florida from Dec. 12 to 16 and got to enjoy the sights when they weren't dancing.

"I went on a lot of roller coasters," Rylin said.

She added that they also were ferried across Disney Springs, which was only reserved for the performers.

Grabicki said they were given the backstage passes during the trip.

"We got to see behind the scenes things that normal people who go to Disney do not get to see," she said. "We kind of got treated like a cast member and were able to go places that were not available to the public ... some places the parents weren't even allowed to go."

Therrien said this was her favorite part.

"We got to see a lot of stuff that we haven't seen before and we got to work with different choreographers," she said. "We got to see like the floats for the parade before they were out in public."

Macaela's favorite part of the trip was all encompassing and she "liked everything" as did dancer Kelsey Brown, who was most excited about the parade.

Grabicki thanked the community for supporting the dance studio's fundraising effort for the trip. She noted it is no easy task raising funds to send 11 girls down to Disney World.

"We are from a small community and these parents did a lot of fundraising and the community was a very big help," she said. "They helped get the kids there and being from a small town sometimes you don't get offered that kind of stuff."

Instructor and parent Nicole Brown added it was amazing to see the banners in the parade that said "Adams, Massachusetts."

"Seeing the banner and seeing the kids coming down, I was just overwhelmed I started crying," she said. "I never thought in my wildest dreams that my daughter would be marching down Main Street in Disney."

Grabicki said it was a moment she will hold on to forever.

"You almost want to freeze it so you can keep it ... it went by so quickly," she said. "We spent all of this time rehearsing and went by in a blink of an eye."

Grabicki said it is important for young athletes to travel and perform in new places. She hopes to bring the trip back in a couple a years so her younger dancers will also have the opportunity to go.

The students who traveled to Disney World are: Kelsey Brown, Ainsley Dean, Kaeli Dean, Vanessa Harrington, Courtney Kanelos, Genevieve Lagess, Rylin Larabee, Macaela LeBlanc, Lillian Meehan, Rebecca Poulton, and Hayden Therrien.
Nepal is reassured by the statements of senior Indian ministers on the controversy-hit National Register of Citizens (NRC), a Nepalese government source said on Saturday, making it clear that it is an issue of India and its people.

Recently, when the NRC process was completed in Assam, it was reported that nearly one lakh Nepalese-origin Gorkhas were excluded from the list.

When asked whether the Gorkha community members have sought the help of the Nepal government over the issue, a Nepal government source told visiting Indian journalists here that they were assured by statements of India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah that no Nepalese-speaking person will face problems.

"We haven't spoken to the Indian Government, regarding NRC. They (Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah) made it clear and it has not been necessary to talk about it," the Nepal government source said.

It is an issue of India and Indian people have to resolve this matter," the source emphasised when asked to comment on Nepal's stand on the controversial NRC.

At the same time, the source emphasised that most Nepalese speaking people are local to India, as they are native to the territory that had been ceded from Nepal long ago.

In Assam, which had never been under Nepali sovereignty, Nepalese language speakers have settled there centuries ago. If there are any problems, we can talk and resolve, the source maintained.

But, there should not be any confusion that Nepalese speaking people are not Indian, source said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 25

By Ilkin Seyfaddini  Trend:

An Indian IT company may be implementing joint projects with Uzbekistan in the mentioned sphere, Trend reports via Uzbek media.

Indian Routern.com companys delegation, with the assistance of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Delhi, is visiting Uzbekistan to discover the possibilities of implementing joint projects in Information Technology fields.

Routern.com is an IT company, which offers travelers opportunity to plan their destinations with personalized routes. The company boasts extensive database of places and backed by a robust technological foundation.

During the visit, the delegation will meet with administration of the Ministry of Innovative Development of Uzbekistan. Also, delegation will conduct trainings for Uzbek specialists in such areas as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, virtual reality and current trends in software development.

Routern.com experts will visit a specialized IT school named after Muhammad Al-Khwarizmi, where they will discuss the prospects of joint developments implementing and conduct training courses for students of this school.
As a society, we get out of sorts over the loss of one acre of Amazonian rainforest, but were doing the same thing right here, Simmons said. You cant replant a forest, as much as these guys like to say you can. They put young trees back in and some seed mixture . . . but that hardly replaces the biodiversity that was there.
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Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Tehran is ready to assist Turkey in eliminating the effects of a strong earthquake, as a result of which more than 20 people died.

The diplomat offered help during a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Zarif also expressed condolences in connection with the tragedy, RIA Novosti reports.
At the Legacy Center for Community Success, we help individuals from many different countries build their English skills.

With so many international learners, we are privileged to learn about many different cultural holidays and traditions. One of these celebrations is the Chinese Spring Festival, which is also known as the Chinese New Year. The Chinese New Year is a 15-day celebration that begins this year on Jan. 25 and ends on Feb. 4. These dates change each year on the Lunar calendar.

According to legend, there was a monster named Niam who would invade villages and destroy crops and homes. A brave boy decided to scare off the beast by putting up red decorations and setting off firecrackers, which then became a crucial part of the Spring Festival.

The celebration has led to many traditions and taboos. One tradition is that elders would give their children and grandchildren red envelopes full of money as a way to pass on a year of good fortune an blessings to the younger generation.

One taboo is that it is unlucky to start the New Year with a dirty home. Have you done your New Years' cleaning yet?

The Chinese New Year ends with the Lantern Festival, a night of parties and freedom. Historically, girls were not allowed to venture outside of their homes by themselves, but during the Lantern festival, they could. Eventually, this tradition became known as "Valentines' Day" in China because it was a day when women could meet potential suitors.

In some small villages, single women wrote their phone numbers on clementine rinds and tossed them in the river. The men would pick the clementine rinds out of the river and taste them. The taste was said to indicate how good the future relationship would be. Now that's what I call sweet romance.

You can be sure we will be celebrating Chinese New Year at the Legacy Center this year. Our English as a Second Language Learners come from over 30 different countries around the World, and we take every opportunity to celebrate with them.

If you are looking for something new to do for the new year, our expanding tutoring programs might be a great opportunity for you to get involved with the Midland community and change a life. Please call the Legacy Center for Community Success at 989-496-1425 for more information.

Amber Conley, of The Legacy Center, wrote this column as part of the Daily News' Community Connections initiative.
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South And Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells

Special Briefing

Alice G. Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary

Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs

Press Correspondents' Room

Washington, D.C.

January 24, 2020

MS ORTAGUS: So this entire briefing will be on the record. Alice just came back. She's got a readout of her trip. We, obviously, have another trip coming up, so we'll try to get as many questions in after she finishes her opening statements.

Go ahead.

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Great. It was a long trip, so I apologize for the long sort of framing remarks, but then look forward to answering your questions. So my first stop was in Sri Lanka. I was joined by Lisa Curtis, the deputy assistant to the President, from the NSC. And as you know, Sri Lanka occupies some very important real estate in the Indo-Pacific region, and it's a country of increasing strategic importance in the Indian Ocean region. And we had productive meetings with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was elected last November, and his brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, as well as the foreign minister, representatives of the opposition, as well as leaders of the Tamil National Alliance and civil society. And I would say the election itself was noteworthy. Sri Lanka is Asia's oldest democracy. The election was contested, it was fair, and it delivered a clear mandate to President Rajapaksa.

In our meeting with the president, Lisa Curtis and I conveyed a letter from President Trump emphasizing the value that we place on continued engagement with Sri Lanka that's pursuing the path of reform and reconciliation, and we really welcomed the president's statement that he wants to be president for all Sri Lankans.

We have compelling shared interests that include countering violent extremism, strengthening maritime security, preventing narcotics smuggling, promoting investment and economic growth as part of a free and open Indo-Pacific. And ultimately, the quality of our partnership will reflect our success in strengthening shared values, including on the critical issue of healing the wounds of Sri Lanka's civil war.

From Sri Lanka we went to New Delhi for the Raisina Dialogue. The success of this annual conference reflects India's prominent role on the world's stage and at the heart of the Indo-Pacific region. In addition to joining Deputy National Security Advisor Matt Pottinger's meetings with the Indian national security advisor and foreign minister, we met broadly with the Ministry of External Affairs, the prime minister's office, and the NSC, as well as engaged opposition in civil society.

I think it's clear that India's broadening strategic horizons over the past two decades have resulted in a shift away from a passive foreign policy into one that more vigorously advances Indian interests. Nowhere is that more true than in the Indo-Pacific region. Whether it's in our growing maritime and naval cooperation, the Quad, India's Act East Policy, there's virtually no daylight in our approaches to the Indo-Pacific. Deputy National Security Advisor Pottinger's remarks at Raisina endorsing an Indo-Pacific region stretching from California to Kilimanjaro only further reinforced the strategic convergence.

My official meetings also focused on how to build on the diplomatic and defense gains achieved during the 2+2 ministerial dialogue last December. With continued progress on defense cooperation, peacekeeping operations, space, counterterrorism, trade, people-to-people initiatives, and more, I would highlight that the quality and frequency of our naval cooperation, especially information sharing, has reached unprecedented levels. We also remain focused on achieving a trade deal that promotes fair and reciprocal trade, and my colleagues from USTR are in Delhi now to continue this progress.

The visit also offered an opportunity to hear more regarding developments with India's Citizenship Amendment Act, which is undergoing I would say a vigorous democratic scrutiny, whether it's in the streets, by the political opposition, media, and the courts. We continue to underscore the importance of the principle of equal protection under the law.

On Jammu and Kashmir, I was pleased to see some incremental steps, including the partial return of internet service in Kashmir. And the visit by our ambassador and other foreign diplomats to Jammu and Kashmir is something that I know was extensively covered in the press. We see this as a useful step. We also continue to urge the government to permit regular access by our diplomats, and to move swiftly to release those political leaders detained without charge.

From New Delhi, I traveled to Islamabad where I held meetings with government, military, civil society, and business leaders. At the top of the agenda was understanding how we can grow our bilateral relationship commensurate with the cooperation that we are achieving in promoting peace in Afghanistan and regional stability.

We appreciate the steps Pakistan has taken to advance the Afghan peace process, and Pakistan has important leverage to promote lasting security and stability in Afghanistan.

I welcomed efforts by Pakistan to meet its counterterrorism financing obligations under FATF, the Financial Action Task Force. We strongly encourage Pakistan to work with FATF and the international community to fully satisfy its action plan commitments. Completion of the FATF action plan is critical to Pakistan's economic reform efforts, including its IMF program, as well as for demonstrating sustained and irreversible action against all militant groups based in Pakistan without distinction.

We've seen obvious progress in our relations with Pakistan, from the high-level engagement such as the President's warm and constructive meeting with Prime Minister Khan at Davos to the restoration of the International Military Education and Training programs.

I had extensive conversations on how we can bolster our economic partnership where the U.S. is Pakistan's largest export market, largest trade partner, and historically one of its most significant investors. There are obvious synergies in energy and agriculture, and opening Pakistan's markets to American investments creates jobs and wealth without sacrificing standards or fueling corruption.

We're looking forward to welcoming 10 Pakistani buyer delegations to the U.S. and five regional trade shows in 2020, which will build deeper relationships between U.S. and Pakistani firms. Prime Minister Khan's economic reform efforts contributed to the World Bank identifying it as one of the top 10 reformers globally in 2019.

One last item of note is what was announced earlier today, that Secretary Pompeo will travel to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan February 1-3, following his stops in Europe. The Secretary looks forward to traveling to Central Asia to discuss important economic, security, and religious freedom issues. He'll also reaffirm our commitment to the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of the countries of Central Asia.

So let me stop here and take your questions.

MS ORTAGUS: Go ahead, Matt.

QUESTION: Can I  thanks. I know this isn't your portfolio necessarily  I'm going to ask about North Korea. No. (Laughter.) I'm kidding.

MS ORTAGUS: You didn't have a 

QUESTION: But can you, if at all possible, let us  tell us what your understanding of where current things are with the Afghanistan peace deal?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: I mean, the only thing I can note is that Ambassador Khalilzad and his team are in Doha. They are encouraging the Taliban to make a commitment to a reduction in force that would allow Afghans to sit at a negotiating table. And so that process continues.

MS ORTAGUS: Okay.

QUESTION: May I ask a quick follow-up?

MS ORTAGUS: Yeah, go ahead.

QUESTION: Sorry. Do you give any credence to the reports of more Taliban violence coming out of Afghanistan? There have been some reports even just overnight that the Taliban militants are killing civilians and other members of the ANSF. Have you seen those reports? Do you  can you confirm 

AMBASSADOR WELLS: I have, and the violence continues. It obviously underscores why there needs to be a peace process and why the Afghan people seek peace. It also underscores the violence and the Taliban's lack of inhibition in attacking civilians.

QUESTION: The reason I ask if because, of course, as we know, President Trump said he would not allow some of the negotiations to go forward if the violence continued, and that sort of spelled doom for the prospect of a peace process.

AMBASSADOR WELLS: And that's why there has to be the focus on the reduction in violence that the Afghan people can see and feel and appreciate.

MS ORTAGUS: Go ahead.

QUESTION: Pakistan and China is certainly upset with your comments on CPEC and Pakistan. Anything you want to say after the whole chaos over there?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Well, as you've heard, Secretary Pompeo addressed more broadly we have concerns over One Belt One Road, and the fact that projects under One Belt One Road often don't adhere to international standards  sustainability, labor environment. And the argument that I was making in Pakistan is that there are opportunities and should be opportunities for American investment, American energy firms, and manufacturers are interested in the Pakistani market. You have Exxon-Mobil, Excelerate, Cargill, Honeywell, all pursuing major new investments. You have Uber creating 80,000 jobs for Pakistani youth.

And so, as we do globally, we argue in Pakistan that  that there  you should adhere to the "buyer beware." That Pakistan is a buyer, these are not  this is not grant assistance from China, it's loans, often not with concessional financing. And Pakistan should beware of the terms, to make sure that they're getting the most for their money, that brings the greatest economic prosperity.

QUESTION: So you are not negating what exactly they're saying? They are actually agitating on that?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: What 

QUESTION: They are kind of agitating on it  like, foreign officers saying they are  it's meddling in their local affairs or the country affairs.

MS ORTAGUS: You're saying the Chinese are saying that?

QUESTION: They're endorsing it.

MS ORTAGUS: I don't think  what's the  so what's the question?

QUESTION: Would it be meddling in local affairs, the government affairs, or Pakistan's affairs?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Oh, of course not. This is Pakistan's sovereign right to decide what investment it seeks and on what terms. And a friend of Pakistan, we certainly urge that they take on investment projects that create wealth, generate employment, and are sustainable, and think we have great options for the Pakistani market.

QUESTION: Thank you, Ambassador.

MS ORTAGUS: Go ahead.

QUESTION: Do you think the IMF's funding could get affected if Pakistan does not meet the FATF regulations or the rules?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: I mean, obviously, if Pakistan were not to meet FATF obligations or were to fail and be blacklisted, that would be devastating for Pakistan's economic reform program and for its ability to attract investors. We've been pleased to see progress by Pakistan towards fulfilling FATF obligations. There is a meeting underway currently in Beijing where Pakistan is presenting its actions to the task force. And so I defer to that task force to make its evaluation. But the more evidence of Pakistan's seriousness in both documenting its economy and in shrinking the space for militants to be able to take advantage of Pakistan's either banking system or territory, the more confidence that the international community and business community will have in working with Pakistan.

QUESTION: Because Pakistan's foreign minister was in town last week, and he urged that now United States should step up to help Pakistan, get it out of the gray list.

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Well, FATF is a technical process. There has been an action plan that was presented to Pakistan. It's a question of fulfilling the requirements that have been spelled out and that are asked of all countries in the international system. So it's not a political process, but we certainly support and stand ready to assist Pakistan as it implements these obligations.

MS ORTAGUS: Okay. Conor.

QUESTION: Ambassador Wells, back here. Two questions, if I could. The first one: Has there been any progress since the decision to withhold certain economic assistance to Afghanistan? Have you seen constructive steps from the Ghani administration? Are you considering other funds be withheld to send a message, if not?

And then secondly, it's been, I guess, nearly four months now since the national elections. Are you concerned that there's not been a clear outcome, and at what point would you call for maybe a recount or a new election?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Corruption is  fighting corruption is a key element of all of our programs in Afghanistan. We try to ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars are spent appropriately and with the desired effect. We are constantly looking for ways to enhance the effectiveness of donor dollars.

And so when Secretary Pompeo outlined areas of shortcoming, it reflected our concern about what continues to be endemic corruption in Afghanistan. I am pleased that in one area that the Secretary underscored, we did see progress by the Government of Afghanistan, and $60 million in assistance was able to move forward. And we certainly, again, encourage that the government as well as other implementers or recipients of assistance do everything possible to ensure that what are declining levels of economic assistance be put to maximum effect of the  Afghanistan has to transition to become self-reliant and to develop a private sector.

With regard to elections, I think it's very important that the contestants in the election are adhering to the process. The Independent Election Commission and the Electoral Complaints Commission are working according to the electoral law. They're processing the electoral complaints. The Electoral Complaint Commission has identified voting centers where they want to recount the ballots. That process is proceeding. And so our message is that it's better to get it right than better to finish  than to finish it quickly. And so we are supporting the electoral institutions of Afghanistan.

MS ORTAGUS: Anybody else?

QUESTION: What was the one area that you said you saw some progress and it freed up 60 million?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Yeah, we will get you the specific. I don't recall the program offhand, but (staff) can provide that to you.

QUESTION: Is there anything big or some  or that you would like to  anything you would like to highlight about the trip upcoming in either Kazakhstan or other than what you just said there? Is there  in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan? Is there any kind of deliverable that we should be expecting or looking for?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: I think the Secretary's visit is important because it comes in the context of the administration's Central Asia strategy, which will shortly be rolled out, which has important support, again, for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence of the Central Asian states. He'll be hosting a meeting of the C5, so all of the foreign ministers of Central Asia, which will be the second time he's done so in the year, underscoring the importance we attach to also developing a regional identity among the Central Asian states at a time when we're working very closely with them to enhance regional connectivity and to help stitch Afghanistan back into the region.

And so there's been important progress in enhancing trade and investment and support for Afghanistan at the same time that there's been important developments in the modernization of the region thanks to the opening of Uzbekistan with the passing of President Karimov and President Mirziyoyev's different stance towards regional integration.

QUESTION: But my understanding has been in the past that the C5, when it gets together, are generally talking about intra-C5 opening up of trade and security, counterterrorism, that kind of thing. Is there also going to be 

AMBASSADOR WELLS: And also 

QUESTION: Well, right. But also with Afghanistan. But is there anything U.S.  that's less intra-C5 and Afghanistan, and more C5-U.S.?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Well, I think counterterrorism cooperation. We've seen Central Asia become the leading  they're the leading countries in reintegrating foreign terrorist fighters. Kazakhstan brought back 600 fighters and family members, Uzbekistan over a hundred, Tajikistan also close to a hundred. And it's these countries that are actually going to be teaching us lessons from that reintegration process. So CT will be an important part. Regional economic connectivity will be another. And then economic modernization, including a new project to enhance  to create a regional electricity market.

QUESTION: Are you going on the trip?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: I am.

QUESTION: Who came up with California to Kilimanjaro?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: I think it's witty.

MS ORTAGUS: I like the line.

AMBASSADOR WELLS: It used to be Bollywood to Hollywood, and now  (laughter). No, but what it 

MS ORTAGUS: I want to claim credit for it.

AMBASSADOR WELLS: But what it does signify  but thank you for noticing it, because what it does  (laughter). Because what it does signify 

QUESTION: Except you have to spell California with a K. (Laughter.)

AMBASSADOR WELLS: No, but it signifies a definitional change, because originally when we spoke about the Indo-Pacific, we did do Hollywood to Bollywood and put the border at the  on the western border of India. And now where we've aligned our definition of Indo-Pacific to match that of Japan and India and Australia, and so the Quad members all have a common vision, at least geographically, of the Indo-Pacific region.

QUESTION: And so they define the Indo-Pacific as going to East Africa?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Mm-hmm.

MS ORTAGUS: Okay, we'll be 

QUESTION: Can I ask one more question? Sorry, I just popped in late. Sorry.

MS ORTAGUS: Sure, go ahead.

QUESTION: I know I missed a little bit at the beginning, but with regard to the American soldiers who have already been killed this year in Afghanistan, how has that specifically impacted the peace talks?

MS ORTAGUS: I think she already answered that, so we'll send you to the transcript.

Francesco.

QUESTION: I was just wondering if you could switch off the record to update us on the U.S.-Taliban talks in Doha, even off the record.

MS ORTAGUS: No, but thanks for trying. No. But I'm going to check on [Senior Administration Official] and see if he's one time, and we'll be back in just a few minutes.

QUESTION: I think I found the 60 million, by the way.

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Did you?

QUESTION: Is it national procurement authority? It was withheld because of concerns about transparency in accounting and managing finances?

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Yes, yes.

MS ORTAGUS: Thank you.

AMBASSADOR WELLS: Thank you. (Laughter.) You're hired. You're hired. (Laughter.)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

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At least one worker died and another was injured after the roof of an under-construction building collapsed at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here, police said on Saturday.

Four persons including managing director of the construction company have been arrested in the incident, they said.

The incident took place late on Friday night when the labourers were engaged in the construction of a 6,000-sq ft roof meant to link Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 of the airport. "One person has died. The injured person is out of danger," Khurda Collector Sitanshu Rout said.

The deceased has been identified as Anataryami Guru, helper of a truck. He hailed from Badamba-Narsinghpur area in Cuttack district, while the injured worker is Nabakishore Swain, police said.

Four persons including managing director of the Dilip Construction Private Limited, officials of airport authority and two engineers have been arrested, said a senior officer of the BhubaneswarCuttack Police Commissionerate.

The four were interrogated at the Airport Police Station and later, arrested.

Special Relief Commissioner P K Jena said Guru and another worker were rescued by personnel of the NDRF, ODRAF and the State Fire Department cut through the concrete. However, Guru succumbed to his injuries in a hospital.

"We have already informed the incident to our headquarters in Delhi. They will send competent persons to inspect the site within one or two days," BPIA director VV Rao told PTI.

"We have to see why it happened. What led to the collapse of the roof? Experts from our headquarters will investigate the matter looking into technical reasons behind the mishap," Rao said, adding that the incident has no impact on flight operation at the airport.

Bhubaneswar Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Anup Sahu said a team has been set up to undertake a criminal investigation into the matter and try to find out why the roof collapsed.

The DCP said: "We will initiate legal procedure required for the case. An expert team of engineers have been requisitioned to verify whether the safety measures were taken while executing the work. We have also sought the agreement paper for the construction of the building."



Before his arrest, the managing director of the construction company claimed that all safety measures were in place.

"The roof collapsed due to heavy load. It happened after the workers left the place, he said.

All Odisha Contractors Association president, Prabhat Das, claimed that some workers of the construction company alleged that instead of using iron pipes, wooden shafts were used for the "centring of the roof". As a result, the roof collapsed as it could not withstand the load.

Ruling BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra expressed concern over the incident and demanded a high-level probe.

"We are not politicising the tragedy like BJP. We demand adequate compensation for the victims' families and exemplary action against the persons responsible for the incident," Patra said.

Opposition BJP and Congress also expressed concern over the incident and demanded a thorough probe into the incident. Congress MLA Suresh Routray demanded a CBI probe into the incident as the mishap took place while constructing the airports project worth about Rs 100 crore.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Men of War: Vietnam Special Edition includes full version of Men of War: Vietnam plus bonus maps and content that is not included in the original game.

Men of War: Vietnam is a new game for the critically acclaimed series. The new, story-driven campaign lets you taste the explosive mix of the jungle, Hueys and rock-n-roll in 1968. The US campaign focuses on a team of elite special ops soldiers, and each one of them has a personality.

The unit includes Sergeant John Merrill, machine-gunner Jim Walsh, sniper Sonny Armstrong, grenade launcher operator Carl Dillan and combat engineer Bill Kirby. In some missions they can count only on themselves, while in the others they act together with regular US and South-Vietnamese troops. The North Vietnam campaign tells the story of two Soviet military consultants and two soldiers of the North Vietnam Army who are the only survivors of an ambush prepared by the US troops. The task of getting back to the North Vietnam territory is a difficult one  they have no means of radio communication, no wheeled vehicles, and its too far to make it there on foot. On their way these survivors get involved in a chain of bloodbath engagements and find themselves in the dead center of the well-known Tet offensive.

Missions range from special operations (rescuing a shot-down pilot, escorting a reporter, etc.) to full scale battles.
Anirban Lahiri will spend the weekend away from action as he missed his second cut in three weeks despite an under par round of one-under 71 on the second day of the Farmers Insurance Open here.

Lahiri needed a birdie on his closing hole but instead he double bogeyed it and crashed out. He had a double bogey in the first round, had another double in the second, and missed the cut by three shots.

Teeing off from tenth, Lahiri had four birdies in his first eight holes. However, the remaining 10 holes saw two bogeys, a birdie and a closing double bogey on Par-5 ninth.

It has been a rough ride for Lahiri after getting his card back through the Korn Ferry Finals.

In nine starts starting with Greenbrier, the Indian has made only three cuts and has a best of T45 at Sanderson Farms.

A strain forced him to withdraw after two rounds in Bermuda.

Among others, Tiger Woods (69-71) had a stressful start with a four-putt double bogey from 27 feet but he recovered with four birdies between sixth and tenth.

He bogeyed twice more on 12th and 17th but closed with a birdie for 71 to lie T17, sharing the spot with Rory McIlroy (67-73), Jordan Spieth (70-70) and Jason Day (73-67).

Woods is going for his record 83rd victory on the PGA TOUR at a course where he has won more times than anyone. Woods was nine behind after 36 holes when he shot 62-65 to win in 1999.

Many big names exited at the halfway stage, including defending champion Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, US Open champion Gary Woodland and Phil Mickelson.

Ryan Palmer, playing on the North Course, shot 62 after first round 72 to move to the top at 10-under. His 62 included 11 birdies and a bogey on closing 18th.

Brandt Snedeker (69-67) was second at 8-under, while four players -- Sebastian Cappelen (66-71), Jhonattan Vegas (69-68), JB Holmes (68-69) and Matthew NeSmith were T3.

Patrick Reed (69-69) and Keegan Bradley (66-72), who shared the first round lead with Cappelen, were among tied seventh.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two elephants escaped from a circus as one wandered through the snowy streets in a Russian city before handlers battled to get her under control.

Elephants Karla and Ranni were reportedly with the Togni family, one of the largest Italian circus dynasties, in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

While Ranni loitered near the Italian circus truck as they headed for the next destination, Karla strayed from the group and headed for a tour of the city.

Karla was spotted wandering through Yekaterinburg, on January 23. She was performing at a local circus and strayed from the group which were heading on to their next destination. Here she is guided across a road (pictured)

Footage shows Karla being guided across the road by a handler holding on to their trunk, while another person stands nearby and keeps a watchful eye.

The elephant crossed the road and headed to a residential building to roll and cavort in the snow.

Handlers gathered around the animal and used ropes to try and restrain it.

A group of residents attached ropes to the elephant's legs and forced her to follow them. She seemed intent on playing in the snow before the group of seven formed and dragged her along the snowy path

Their patience is tested as the animal backs up and wanders across their rope which has partially fallen to the snow-clad pavement.

Moments later, the clip shows the team of people, who are trying to pull the elephant with them, has grown from three to seven.

Their efforts appear to have paid off as the animal reluctantly obeys and starts wandering at a quicker pace in their direction.

The circus joked how the 'elephants wanted to get some new experiences before a long journey, and they got them'

But with seconds, the elephant starts to veer off towards the right and risks ruining it.

The wild animal follows backwards, in the clip from January 23.

When the circus's troupe tried to load the animals into a truck for the next destination, they resisted and walked away.

Handlers finally got a rope around one of the elephant's front legs, but it took a dozen people to pull her back.

Circus art director and host Sergey Bondarchuk told Russia Times: 'The elephants have their own character and emotions, they are very smart.

'They walked outside and got very happy from seeing the snow, the trees and the pedestrians whom they took for spectators.

'We love our animals a lot, they are our family. They too love the circus, they get bored without work.

'Our animals will live and die with us, they wont survive in the wild.'
He put his wedding plans on hold in 2016 so that he could compete on Australian Survivor's third season.

And now 'superfan' Nick Iadanza has revealed why he originally turned down a second chance at glory on the upcoming season of Survivor: All Stars.

Speaking with 10 Daily, the 31-year-old said: 'I'd just had a kid and we were in the middle of a renovation - and the house looked like a bomb site.'

'I actually said "no" at first... I just was like, "oh my god, I dont think I can do this right now",' he said of the overwhelming decision as a new father.

While knocking the show's executive producer at first, he was glad to have been encouraged to sleep on it.

However, convinced that he'd have to miss out, he went home and 'bawled [his] eyes out'.

Cute tribe: Survivor 'superfan' Nick Iadanza has revealed the REAL reason he originally turned down the chance to star on the upcoming season of All Stars. Pictured with his wife Christine

Nick's wife Christine came home that night to find him wallowing, and wondered why he was crying.

The new dad was torn between his responsibilities at home and the dreams of winning Survivor.

Surprisingly, Christine encouraged Nick to accept the invite, and said he'd regret it for the rest of his life if he didn't sign up to compete against the best of the best.

Nick even took to Instagram on Tuesday to thank his wife: 'In the last year this woman has been the most amazing mother and ride or die you could ask for. She didnt bat an eyelid when I derailed our life (again) for Survivor, this time with a 6 month old and in the hellish depths of an entire house renovation. She does everything from a place of support, challenge and love.'

Second time lucky: Nick told 10 Daily on Friday that he'd made a promise to himself that he was gunning to win the $500,000 cash prize for his young family

Flashback: Nick was a fan favourite on the third season of Australian Survivor in 2016

Nick admitted he'd made a promise to himself that he was going to 'do this for them' and that he was gunning to win the $500,000 cash prize for his young family.

He made a name for himself as a snake in the 2016 season of Australian Survivor, but this time around, he's using his experience to his advantage.

Nick went on to say that he's been a fan of the American series from the very beginning, and would even mimic challenges in his backyard as a kid.

He's previously admitted to having a Survivor-themed 21st birthday party.

Australian Survivor: All Stars premieres on February 3
New Delhi, Jan 25 : Describing Bhima Koregaon as a symbol of resistance, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Saturday slammed the BJP government at the Centre, saying anyone who opposes Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah's "agenda of hate are urban naxals".

Rahul's remarks came a day after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday took over investigation from the Maharashtra Police to probe the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon violence. The NIA move came a day after the Maharashtra government held a review meeting with senior Pune police officers to take a call on pursuing the matter.

In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi said, "Anyone who opposes the MOSH agenda of hate is an 'Urban Naxal'. Bhima-Koregaon is a symbol of resistance that the government's NIA stooges can never erase." The Centre's decision has triggered another confrontation with the Uddhav Thackeray government as it was in the process to withdraw all cases against intellectuals and social activists accused of inciting the clashes.

On Friday, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said in a tweet, "I strongly condemn the decision to transfer the investigation of 'Koregaon-Bhima' case to NIA, by the Central Government without any consent of Maharashtra government." The case refers to violence that erupted near Koregaon-Bhima in Pune district on January 1, 2018 at a time when the Dalits were celebrating 200 years of a British-era battle.

The Pune police had filed cases against social activists and intellectuals who gave speeches at Elgar Parishad, a gathering held on December 31, 2017, a day before the celebrations.

The police had accused the intellectuals and social activists of inciting the violence. Several activists were subsequently picked up in raids conducted across the country.

The state police had then claimed that the organisers of the gathering have Maoist links.

Meanwhile, critics have accused the Central government of jailing activists opposed to its ideology and branding them as urban Naxals".
There is a stellar line up of musicians, singers and dancers making their way to Carlingford at the end of the month for the sixth annual Feile na Tana.

Programmed by festival directors Zoe Conway and John McIntyre, the event, which has been described as the 'best little festival in Ireland', features workshops in traditional music, singing and dancing as well as concerts featuring the tutors and guest musicians.

The festival runs from Friday January 31 to Sunday February 2 with events taking place in St Michael's Hall and McKevitt's Hotel, Carlingford and Bush Post-Primary School.

Beginners can attend tin whistle, dancing or singing and more advanced players have a wide choice of instruments to choose from with tuition by some of the countries top musiicans.

The weekend gets underway with the launch concert on Friday January 31 at 7pm in St Michael's Hall, featuring renowned local musicians Zoe Conway on fiddle and John Mc Intyre on guitar. and the Traditional Orchestra of Scoil Naomh Lorcan, Omeath. There will also be tea and buns, followed by young musicians' session in St. Michael's Hall - all welcome and admission is free.

Workshops take place on Saturday February 1 from 2pm to 5pm in Bush Post Primary School.

Student ticket costs 35/30 and includes admission to all events.

Tutors are Donal O'Connor (advanced fiddle), Zoe Conway,(intermediate fiddle); Mary Bergin, (advanced tin whistle), Des Cafferky, (easy tin whistle), John McSherry, (pipes); Laoise Kelly (harp); Eamon de Barra, (flute): Mairtin O Connor, (accordian); Edel Nic an tSionnaigh, (concertina); John McIntrye; (guitar); Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh (singing); Cathal Hayden (banjo);

Robbie Harris, (bodhran) and Edwina Guckian (sean nos dancing).

That evening, the tutor recital, takes place at 7.30pm in St. Michael's Hall, featuring all the musicians giving the workshops, playing solo and together.

The festival concert takes place on Sunday February 2 in St Michael's Hall featuring outstanding young groups from the locality and further afield including Banna Ceoil CCE Craobh Dhun Dealgan; Rulya, Dundalk; Faoi Gheasa, De La Salle College, Dundalk; Banna Ceoil CCE Carrickmacross; Breandan and Tiarnan O'Connell, Dublin; Ragaire, Drogheda; Music Generation Louth musicians; and Mealltach, Dundalk

The festival concludes with a session in Thee Four Seasons Hotel, Carlingford

Anyone interested in attending the workshops should email to feilenatana@gmail.com with the applicants' name, age, address, and contact telephone number. All workshops are for players with three years or more experience with the exception of the easy tin whistle class, singing and sean nos dancing.
The death toll from a strong earthquake that rocked eastern Turkey climbed to 22 on Saturday as rescue crews searched for people who remained trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings, officials said.

Speaking at a televised news conference near the epicenter of the quake in Elazig province, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 18 people were killed in Elazig and four in neighboring Malatya.

Some 1,103 people were injured, with 34 of them in intensive care but not in critical condition, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.



Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the funeral of a mother and son killed in the quake while visiting the hardest-hit areas. He warned people against repeating negative hearsay about the country being unprepared for earthquakes.

Do not listen to rumors, do not listen to anyones negative, contrary propaganda, and know that we are your servants, Erdogan said.

Various earthquake monitoring centers gave magnitudes ranging from 6.5 to 6.8. for the earthquake, which hit Friday at 8:55 p.m. local time (1755 GMT) near the Elazig province town of Sivrice, the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) said.

It was followed by 398 aftershocks, the strongest of them with magnitudes 5.4 and 5.1, the disaster agency said.

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A Queensland town has been swarmed by 300,000 bats that have left a medical helicopter unable to reach a hospital.

Hinchinbrook Shire Council mayor Ramon Jayo said the town of Ingham in north west Queensland was reaching a 'crisis point' as the number of bats continued to grow.

Mr Jayo told the ABC the fruit bat population had destroyed all their traditional roosting spots and were expanding into sensitive areas.

'Where they want to go is basically beside all our critical areas - that includes the schools, the hospital, our kindergartens, our preschools,' he said.

Footage taken on Thursday showed thousands of bats blanketing the sky as a medical helicopter was unable to land on Ingham hospital.

'It's a life or death situation  minutes wasted trying to land and minutes wasted going out to the airport,' Mr Jayo said.

As the bats continued to expand, Ingham State School also found itself the new nesting place for the nocturnal animals.

The Queensland town of Ingham has been swarmed by 300,000 bats that have left a medical helicopter unable to reach a hospital

Footage taken on Thursday showed thousands of bats blanketing the sky as a medical helicopter was unable to land on Ingham hospital

Acting principal Kevin Barnes said the bats had been roosting behind their school fence and in overhanging trees.

He said parents are now threatening to boycott the school due to safety concerns.

'They're very worried and informing me of their concerns and fears from their children being in school grounds  as to what diseases might be possible,' he said.

Amanda Wright from North Queensland Wildlife Care said a heatwave across the region had killed hundreds of bats in a single weekend

Fruit bats are known to carry diseases such as the Australian Bat Lyssavirus and the Hendra virus but the chances of infection are rare.

Amanda Wright from North Queensland Wildlife Care said a heatwave across the region had killed hundreds of bats in a single weekend.

She added the bat problem would end in April when around half of the bats would migrate out of the region.
President Trumps impeachment hasnt just made Rep. Adam Schiff nationally known  its also turned him into an instant contender for an appointment to the U.S. Senate if theres an opening in California down the line.

If either Sen. Kamala Harris is elected vice president this year or Sen. Dianne Feinstein opts to retire before her term ends in 2024  though theres no sign of that  Schiff, of Burbank, would be seen as a logical successor by many California Democrats.

Trumps tag of Shifty Schiff has actually boosted his brand, elevating him from just another Southern California congressman to a hero to the left.

Of course, hes also become a villain to the right  which actually makes him more of a hero to the left. Thats where we are these days.

Schiffs lead role in the resistance would make it tough for Gov. Gavin Newsom  who would get to appoint a replacement  to name one of his lesser-known political family members like Secretary of State Alex Padilla or Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis.

Schiffs calm but persistent approach served him well as the lead Trump investigator as chair of the House Intelligence Committee. He seemed more rational and precise than some of his Democratic colleagues during the House impeachment debate.

Now he is front and center in the Senate trial, where he has shined in comparison to the clown crew Trump sent in.

Another impeachment player to keep an eye on is New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who is also on the Democrats prosecution team. Hes already the chair of the House Democratic Caucus. Serving as an impeachment manager will elevate his profile even more and make him a possible successor to Nancy Pelosi when she decides to step away as House speaker.

Jeffries has played it low-key so far, avoiding overexposing himself on TV and overstaying his welcome with the American public.

So no matter what the outcome, we have two winners.

Follow the money: Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg has made a political career of asking for nothing while giving a lot.

Just ask any big-city Bay Area mayor. For years, billionaire Bloomberg has hosted conferences on everything from transit to the impact of the transitional economy on American cities.

Bloombergs largesse is one of the reasons San Francisco Mayor London Breed and San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo have endorsed him.

Bernies bash: First came the fight between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren over who was a liar.

Then Sanders had to apologize to Joe Biden after one of Bernies big supporters penned an opinion piece accusing the former vice president of having a big corruption problem.

Then came the slam from Hillary Clinton saying no one who knows Sanders likes him.

The reason for the Bernie blow-back is clear: He wont go away. In fact, the Vermont senators poll numbers are on the rise while the rest of the pack spins its wheels.

There is a palpable fear among mainstream Democrats that Sanders could actually win the nomination, just like another long-shot progressive senator, George McGovern, did in 1972.

I was a big backer of McGovern, but he led us to one of the worst defeats any presidential candidate has ever suffered, against Richard Nixon. And Nixon was almost as polarizing in his day as President Trump is now.

So look for the hits from the old guard to keep coming Bernies way.

Movie time: Just Mercy. Michael B. Jordan plays the lawyer and Jamie Foxx the condemned prisoner in this legal and civil rights drama set in the South.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

The story revolves around the highly questionable conviction of a black man for the killing of an 18-year-old woman. Think To Kill a Mockingbird, with Atticus Finch as a black man. Great acting and well worth seeing.

Bad Boys for Life. If youre looking for fun, here you go. After two misses, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence pull together the right mix of cop buddy humor and mayhem to keep you both laughing and on the edge of your seat.

Add a new elite crew of young techie cops and a cool female assassin to the mix, and you have some generational fun as well.

Cut the cards: I was sitting at the bar at Kokkari the other night when a guy comes in and sits down next to me. We get to talking, and he tells me hes in the artificial intelligence business.

What coincidence, I said. Ive long been interested in artificial intelligence. In fact, my Uncle Izzy was a pioneer in the artificial intelligence business before we even had computers.

Really? What was his specialty?

He was a card shark.

And finally: Welcome to the Year of the Rat.

And remember, while the early bird may catch the worm, its the second rat who gets the cheese.

Gung hay fat choy.

Want to sound off? Email: wbrown@sfchronicle.com
Police have found the body of one of five French tourists who fell into icy water during a snowmobile excursion near Quebec. Hopes have dimmed of finding any other survivors, despite a search that included divers, sonar operators and helicopters.

Quebec provincial police spokesman Hugues Beaulieu said the body "was found more than two kilometers from the initial search area in Grande Decharge River" at the mouth of Lake Saint-Jean where the accident happened, about 225 kilometers north of Quebec City.

"At the moment, we can't identify the body," Beaulieu said.

The group included eight French tourists, three of whom survived and were flown back to France on Friday.

"They were only slightly injured but were in a state of shock," the French consulate in Quebec said.

Six snowmobiles found in lake

Police had already recovered six snowmobiles at the bottom of the lake near where the accident occurred, which prompted a pledge from provincial authorities to tighten safety measures on the use of the machines.

Their 42 year-old Canadian guide from Montreal died from his injuries on Wednesday after his snowmobile crashed through the ice.

According to local media, he had returned to help the three members of the group who had fallen behind and were later rescued.

It appears that for reasons unknown, perhaps to make a short cut, the group found themselves off the designated route, and in a zone near the mouth of a river where the ice is not as frozen due to currents in that area.
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Movie spies typically fall into one of two categories. There are the butterflies  flamboyant secret agents like James Bond or Atomic Blonde who behave as conspicuously as possible. And then there are the moth-like kind, who do their best to blend in. The character Benedict Cumberbatch plays in Ironbark belongs to the latter variety, a fellow so boring that hes virtually invisible, recruited for the specific purpose that the Russians will never suspect him of working for MI6. Strategically speaking, its a good plan, but maybe not the best formula to yield an especially thrilling thriller  although Sundance audiences seemed to enjoy watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star Rachel Brosnahan playing a slightly more ostentatious (blond-wigged) CIA agent.

Shaken martinis and martial-arts fight sequences tend to be a lot more sexy than watching whatever Cumberbatch, playing an English salesman named Greville Wynne, does to avoid suspicion in this intermittently interesting espionage drama  basically, going to the ballet, hosting business meetings, drinking with clients, while discreetly passing packages from a high-ranking Russian mole. Ironbarks hook is that its based on true events, and the underlying history deserves to be shared.

More from Variety

Back in the early 1960s, around the time the Cuban Missile Crisis put the United States on atomic alert, MI6 approached Wynne with an unconventional plan. Theyd received word from Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze), a high-ranking Soviet military intelligence officer, that he was looking for a way to leak information about the countrys nuclear program. Rather than sending a trained agent to be his contact, they decided to recruit a civilian, who could come and go without attracting too much attention. Since Penkovsky was tasked with stealing Western technology secrets, his colleagues would view the relationship as being advantageous to Russia, not realizing that documents were flowing in the opposite direction.

Story continues

Normally, a movie like this would probably wind up on British television, but for whatever reason, Ironbark has been made with the big screen in mind, which means audiences will benefit from a pair of terrific lead performances, handsome widescreen lensing (by Steve McQueens go-to DP, Sean Bobbitt) and a lovely waltz-like score (from Polish composer Abel Korzeniowski, who also did Penny Dreadful). Those might also be there if it had been done as a TV movie  and Ironbark could well wind up a part of some streaming companys slate  but director Dominic Cooke has a better budget to work with, and motivation to make the project cinematic.

Screenwriter Tom OConnor (The Hitmans Bodyguard) seems to think hes landed on something original by treating the bond that developed between Wynne and Penkovsky as an extramarital affair. Trouble is, with all the sneaking around and secret-keeping involved, thats more or less the default metaphor for illicit bromances, driving everything from Michael Manns whistleblower saga The Insider to the 3D chess game that was Tomas Alfredsons Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Here, the analogy becomes literal, not because theres anything homoerotic at stake, but since we learn that Wynne had cheated on his wife Sheila (Jessie Buckley) once before, which makes her understandably suspicious when he starts doing push-ups and disappearing on frequent business trips to the USSR. You know whos not suspicious? The Russians, with the result that Ironbark feels a lot less exciting than it might have been, despite a scene when a traitor is shot in the head to make a point to Penkovsky and his fellow GRU officers.

Cooke proves an inspired choice of director for such material (even if the material itself leaves something to be desired), considering the relationship-focused nature of his feature debut, the underrated On Chesil Beach. That picture delved into a newlywed couples marital problems, and worked quite well until the final stretch, when bad makeup and an awkward leap forward in time threatened to ruin everything. As if to compensate, Cooke makes it a point to deliver a more impactful ending, despite the fact his two main characters are wasting away behind bars by this point. From the looks of it, both actors lost a ton of weight for the time they spent locked up by Russian authorities, which leaves one duly impressed by their performances. In a way, their commitment matches the characters sacrifice, lending power to the last act.

A theater director whose experience adapts well to cinema, Cooke once again inspires great work from his ensemble. Cumberbatch has a very particular, somewhat priggish look that lends itself well to period roles  and to a moth-like operative like this in particular, whose life is so drab that he practically gives himself hiccups out of giddiness when MI6 first pitches him the idea. Brosnahan has less to do, but is a welcome presence all the same. A general complaint, which could be budget-based: There are too few extras to flesh out the film, giving the relatively stuffy impression that life stops at the edge of the frame. Despite ongoing conflicts with Russia today, the movie doesnt feel terribly relevant to our time. Maybe in 60 years, someone will make a movie about Wynnes modern-day counterpart, but for now, lets assume hes hidden in plain sight.

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Medical staff on the frontline of China's coronavirus outbreak are wearing adult diapers as they do not have time to go to the toilet, it has been reported.

The death toll in China rose to 41 on Saturday from 26 a day earlier and more than 1,300 people have been infected globally with a virus traced to a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife.

In Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak, health-care workers have been rushed off their feet as they struggle to cope with the unprecedented demand.

Distressing video shows the full scale of panic inside the city's hospitals, with crowded corridors, patients slumped on the floor and screaming staff.

Medical workers transfer a patient who is on the mend out of the ICU (intensive care unit) of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University (pictured, staff in haz-mat suits)

Distressing video shows the full scale of panic inside the city's hospitals, with crowded corridors, patients slumped on the floor and screaming staff

It has now emerged that exhausted medics, all of whom are donning fragile haz-mat suits, are wearing diapers as they have such little time and do not want to remove their cumbersome clothing to answer the call of nature.

'We know that the protective suit we wear could be the last one we have, and we can't afford to waste anything,' a Wuhan Union Hospital doctor, who identified himself only as 'Mr. Do,' wrote on Weibo.

It comes as Australia on Saturday confirmed its first four cases, Malaysia confirmed three and France reported Europe's first cases on Friday, as health authorities around the world scrambled to prevent a pandemic.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Saturday declared a virus emergency in the Asian financial hub, with five confirmed cases, immediately halting official visits to mainland China and scrapping official Lunar New Year celebrations.

Inbound and outbound flights and high speed rail trips between Hong Kong and Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, would be halted, and schools, now on Lunar New Year holidays, would remain shut until Feb. 17. The territory was also treating 122 people suspected of having the disease.

In Beijing today, workers in white protective suits checked temperatures of passengers entering the subway at the central railway station, while some train services in eastern China's Yangtze River Delta region were suspended, the local railway operator said

Photos from inside the intensive care unit at Zhongnan Hospital in Wuhan show medical workers caring for critically-ill patients this week

The death toll in China rose to 41 on Saturday from 26 a day earlier and more than 1,300 people have been infected globally with a virus traced to a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife.

Hu Yinghai, deputy director-general of the Civil Affairs Department in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, made an appeal on Saturday for masks and protective suits. Hospitals in the city have made similar pleas.

'We are steadily pushing forward the disease control and prevention ... But right now we are facing an extremely severe public health crisis,' he told a news briefing.

Vehicles carrying emergency supplies and medical staff for Wuhan would be exempted from tolls and given traffic priority, China's transportation ministry said on Saturday.

Wuhan said it would ban non-essential vehicles from its downtown starting Sunday to control the spread of the virus, further paralysing a city of 11 million that has been on virtual lockdown since Thursday, with nearly all flights cancelled and checkpoints blocking the main roads leading out of town.

Authorities have since imposed transport restrictions on nearly all of Hubei province, which has a population of 59 million.

In Australia, three men, aged 53, 43 and 35 in New South Wales were in stable condition after they were confirmed to have the virus after returning from Wuhan earlier this month.

A Chinese national in his 50s, who had been in Wuhan, was also in stable condition in a Melbourne hospital after arriving from China on Jan. 19, Victoria Health officials said.

State-run China Global Television Network reported in a tweet on Saturday that a doctor who had been treating patients in Wuhan, 62-year-old Liang Wudong, had died from the virus.

It was not immediately clear if his death was already counted in the official toll of 41, of which 39 were in the central province of Hubei, where Wuhan is located.

U.S. coffee chain Starbucks said on Saturday that it was closing all its outlets in Hubei province for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, following a similar move by McDonald's in five Hubei cities.

Huge efforts are being made by construction workers in Wuhan to erect a new hospital in less than a week on the government's orders. Officials said the medical facility must be built to cope with overwhelming numbers of coronavirus patients

In Beijing on Saturday, workers in white protective suits checked temperatures of passengers entering the subway at the central railway station, while some train services in eastern China's Yangtze River Delta region were suspended, the local railway operator said.

The number of confirmed cases in China stands at 1,287. The virus has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, and the United States.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it had 63 patients under investigation, with two confirmed cases.

While China has called for transparency in managing the crisis, after cover-up of the 2002/2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome spread, officials in Wuhan have come in for criticism over their handling of the current outbreak.

In rare public dissent, a senior journalist at a Hubei provincial newspaper run by the ruling Communist Party on Friday called for a 'immediate' change of leadership in Wuhan on the Twitter-like Weibo. The post was later removed.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus an 'emergency in China' this week but stopped short of declaring it of international concern.

Human-to-human transmission has been observed in the virus.

China's National Health Commission said it had formed six medical teams totalling 1,230 medical staff to help Wuhan.

Hubei province, where authorities are rushing to build a 1,000 bed hospital in six days to treat patients, announced on Saturday that there were 658 patients affected by the virus in treatment, 57 of whom were critically ill.

The newly-identified coronavirus has created alarm because there are still many unknowns surrounding it, such as how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people. It can cause pneumonia, which has been deadly in some cases.

Symptoms include fever, difficulty breathing and coughing. Most of the fatalities have been in elderly patients, many with pre-existing conditions, the WHO said.


Wang Zelin



Inside an undistinguished house in the grounds of a university in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, the humble decor and furniture give no clues that the occupant is a multimillionaire.

This month, Wang Zelin, owner of the house in the residential community of Henan Agricultural University, donated 82 million yuan ($11.82 million) to the university.

"I hope the money can be used to build a biological safety protection third-level laboratory, or P3 laboratory, which is needed for research at the university," Wang said.

The 77-year-old retired professor accumulated the fortune by transferring the patents and invention certificates of veterinary drugs to companies who put them into production.

His decision to make the huge donation, which has made ripples outside of academia, has won support from his family. His wife Wang Wumei, 71, who has also retired from the university, said they made the decision together. "Building a lab has a big significance for scientific development," she said.

Vaccine Search

Wang Zelin, who calls himself "the doctor for horses, cattle and chicken", attributes his achievements to the country's reform and opening-up since 1978 and the support of the university.

He embarked on his research work in poultry disease prevention in 1984 when he joined the university.

In the early 1980s, China saw growing development of the poultry sector, but breeders had long been challenged by various diseases, and the vaccines were mainly imported. Each year, huge amounts of money were spent on the imports.

The situation prompted many researchers, including Wang Zelin, to work on domestic solutions to prevent poultry diseases.

However, unlike others, he didn't apply for public funding. Instead, he chose to cooperate with companies, a model that has proved a success.

Between 1985 and 1995, he accumulated more than 4 million yuan by providing services to breeders to treat poultry diseases.

The university allowed Wang Zelin to earn income from part-time consulting work, which often dovetailed with his field research work.

Wang Zelin spent the money building two labs at the university, and buying advanced equipment for scientific research and development and for teaching purposes.

Yan Nuoqian, the first postgraduate student tutored by Wang from 1994 to 1997, said Wang Zelin's largesse was during a time of low wages for teachers.

"When a teacher's salary was less than 100 yuan a month, my tutor spent 16,000 yuan buying a PCR device to let us do scientific tests, which was the first of its kind in our school," Yan said. Polymerase chain reaction devices are used in molecular biology to study specific segments of DNA.

Wang Zelin's tutelage helped Yan become the deputy director of the Prevention Center of Animal Diseases of Henan.

In 2005, five new vaccines Wang Zelin invented generated another 5 million yuan after the invention certificates were transferred to companies.

He then spent 2.3 million yuan upgrading the university's labs and donated 1 million yuan to the poultry branch of the Chinese Association of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine to found an innovation fund.

Research Rewards

Usually, it takes five to eight years to invent a new drug, but Wang Zelin is hardworking and productive. Since 1984, he has been granted three invention patents and 12 invention certificates for new veterinary drugs.

He and his team have also set up a bank of major poultry viruses and developed vaccines that can prevent several major poultry diseases.

"He came to the lab at 6 am and usually stayed in the lab for a whole day to do tests," said Wang Yongsheng, one of his students.

"When he was in hospital due to gastric disease and diabetes, he continued reading."

Zhang Longxian, a professor at Henan Agricultural University, said: "Professor Wang also has rich field experience. He frequently went to farms to obtain the latest data on chicken, such as what diseases the chicken succumbed to. The field experience allowed him to develop market-oriented drugs."

Wang Zelin's research achievements have been put into production by more than 20 companies. These achievements contribute over 10 billion yuan in economic benefits every year, according to Henan Agricultural University.

In 2015, two companies purchased the invention certificates of two of Wang Zelin's new drugs. According to the purchase agreements, Wang Zelin can cash in 8 percent of the annual sales of the drugs for 12 years.

Last year, he donated the proceeds to the university to establish a scientific research and innovation fund.

"With the fund, I hope more young teachers can create more achievements in the agricultural sector," Wang Zelin said.

(Source: China Daily)
The Libyan capitals only operational airport has closed again after threats by forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar, dealing another setback to peace efforts as regional foreign ministers prepare to meet in Algeria yesterday.

The airport has been hit multiple times since the start of a months-long offensive by fighters led by eastern-based commander Haftar to seize Tripoli from the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA). Mitiga airport authorities said late Wednesday they were suspending air traffic until further notice after Haftars spokesman threatened to attack planes flying over the city.

Any military or civilian aircraft, regardless of its affiliation, flying over the capital will be destroyed, warned Haftars spokesman Ahmad al-Mesmari, adding that such flights would be considered a violation of a ceasefire in place since January 12.

Mesmari said the internationally-backed government was using the airport for military purposes as a base for Turkish soldiers sent by Ankara to support GNA leader Fayez al-Sarraj.

The airport earlier Wednesday suspended flights for several hours after it was targeted by six Grad rockets in an offensive the GNA blamed on its rivals in Libyas five-year civil war. The attack took place just nine days after the facility reopened following a truce.

World powers have stepped up efforts in recent weeks to find a political solution to the grinding conflict, with neighbouring Algeria the latest country to host a meeting -- set for Thursday -- to discuss ways forward.

The Algerian foreign ministry said chief diplomats from Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Niger and Mali would meet in Algiers to advance a political settlement to the crisis through an inclusive dialogue between all parties.
Offering insights into what it takes to put together an event like the Jaipur Literature Festival year after year, is writer Namita Gokhale's new book "Jaipur Journals", which was launched at the 13th edition of JLF here.

Set against the backdrop of the vibrant, multi-lingual festival, which is touted to be the largest free literary event in the world, the book chronicles the inspirations and heartbreaks of being a writer.

It was launched by author and politician Shashi Tharoor, who has been a regular at the literary festival, and also finds a mention in a "charming scene" in the book.

Gokhale said the idea of writing the book came from an American friend, who had never been to the festival.

She spoke of her favourite character in the book called Rudrani Rana, and of a delightful burglar who, inspired by veteran lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar, becomes a poet.

"'Jaipur Journals' is a celebration of the festival of writers, of participants, of the audience. The book has fascinating characters woven into it," Tharoor said.

Like the festival, "Jaipur Journals" too is a mixed bag of tales told from multiple perspectives.

The "funny, pacy, meta-fictional" novel searches the inspiration and heartbreaks of the loneliest of the tribes - the writers.

The Congress leader said he first heard of Gokhale in the BBC World series discussing her first book "Paro: Dreams of Passion" and hoped that she continued to write.

Gokhale has written 18 books, both fiction and non-fiction, since then, and her acclaimed debut novel, published in 1984, has remained a cult classic. It has also been issued in a double edition with its sequel "Priya".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Containing infiltration by illegal immigrants from Bangladesh has been for long one of the biggest challenges faced by the Border Security Force (BSF) along the Indo-Bangladesh border. Despite the best efforts by the BSF to make the borders secure the illegal immigrants still managed to sneak into India.

BCCL/FILE

But now it looks like the tables are turning, thanks to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). According to the BSF, there is a substantial increase in the outflow of illegal Bangladeshi migrants to their home country over the past one month.

AFP

BSF inspector-general (South Bengal Frontier) Y B Khurania said in Kolkata on Friday that fear among the illegal settlers, post the enactment of the CAA, seems to have triggered this outflow.



According to the BSF out of the 308 Bangladeshis, they caught in 2020 for not having valid documents 268 were those returning to their home country. "There has been a substantial increase in outflow of illegal Bangladeshi migrants to the bordering country in the last one month... In January alone, we had apprehended 268 illegal Bangladeshi migrants, most of whom were trying to sneak into the neighbouring country," BSF Inspector General (South Bengal Frontier) YB Khurania said.

AFP

Most of them used the international border in North 24 Parganas Ghojadanga. This is a substantial increase form the past few years when the BSF had detained 1,677 Bangladeshis in 2018 and 2,194 in 2019, out of which the majority were trying to enter India.

We believe that it is because of our increased vigil that fewer people from Bangladesh are trying to illegally enter India. Most of those without valid documents apprehended by us near the border were on their way out. But there seems to be no exodus-like situation, Khurania said.

AFP

He also said that the majority of the Bangladeshi leaving for their country had come from Karnataka and some other southern states. The BSF also said that as the number of illegal immigrants returning has increased there is a subsequent decrease in cattle smuggling across the border.

Earlier the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) had also stated that infiltration on their side of the border had increased in the last two months. In the last one year, as many as 972 persons entered Bangladesh. Of this total 972, 445 entered in the last two months  November and December. All who have been apprehended by BGB, have been identified as Bangladeshi nationals," Director-General, BGB, Major General Shafiq Ul Islam had said.
Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) delivered solid growth last year -- its cash flow rose 6% overall and 5% on a per-share basis. That pace will moderate considerably this year to slightly above 2%. While that's largely because the company closed the sale of its stake in Kinder Morgan Canada and the U.S. portion of the Cochin Pipeline to Pembina Pipeline in December, concerns about its growth profile have emerged over the past few quarters. Driving those worries is the shortage of new project announcements from the company.

Its management team, however, made it clear on the fourth-quarter conference call that they're not concerned. They believe the energy company can keep finding high-return investment opportunities. Though, even if they can't, Kinder Morgan still has plenty of ways to deliver value to shareholders.

We won't force things

One of the main ways Kinder Morgan grows its value is by expanding its midstream footprint. Historically, it has invested between $2 billion and $3 billion a year on expansion projects, and it routinely secures new ones in the same range each year. In 2019, however, the company only approved about $1.2 billion of new projects. As a result, it ended the year with a project backlog of $3.6 billion -- down from the $5.7 billion with which it started the year -- implying only that it only has about a year and a half of growth left ahead.

Its failure to keep the backlog robust wasn't for lack of trying. The company, for example, walked away from a proposed joint venture with Canadian pipeline giant Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) to build an offshore oil export terminal in Texas. In hindsight, that proved to be a wise move since Enbridge put that project on hold when it joined Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) to help develop its facility. Meanwhile, it was working on a joint project with Tallgrass Energy (NYSE:TGE) to increase oil transportation capacity in the Rockies, but couldn't get enough shippers to sign up due to all the competition in that region to move those barrels. Finally, the development of a third gas pipeline out of the Permian Basin hit a snag when customers didn't sign on as quickly as expected.

While this lack of progress is disappointing, it's all part of being disciplined. That's a theme Kinder Morgan's management reiterated on the call. CEO Steve Kean, for example, said that "if we don't find that much in new opportunities [$2 billion to $3 billion per year], we are not going to force it."

Founder Richard Kinder said something similar: "Looking forward, I assure you that we will not be chasing acquisitions or expansion projects that do not meet our strict criteria for delivering solid and transparent returns."

Lots of other options to grow shareholder value

The reason Kinder Morgan won't chase growth is that "we have other opportunities to deliver value to our shareholders," said Kean. Both he and Kinder laid those opportunities out more than once on the call:

Maintaining a strong balance sheet.

Returning cash to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks.

Investing in growth opportunities when they meet its strict returns criteria.

The company already has a strong balance sheet thanks to the Pembina transactions, which pushed its debt-to-EBITDA ratio down to 4.3, below management's target of 4.5. That gives the company an estimated $1.2 billion of additional financial flexibility this year that it could use to invest in new growth initiatives.

If good options don't materialize, the company could retain its flexibility for the future or return additional cash to investors via its share repurchase program or even a special dividend. Those actions would deliver more value to its investors than a low-return project or high-priced acquisition. The key is that Kinder Morgan plans to remain disciplined in allocating its excess capital.

Growing value doesn't always mean increasing in size

Kinder Morgan would love to find more expansion projects that meet its strict criteria since those have the potential of producing the highest returns for investors compared to other options. However, it won't lower its standards simply so that it can maintain its prior pace of expansion.


An example of the dirty water coming from taps in South Wexford sent to Cllr Jim Codd

People in the Mayglass and Duncormick area have had to endure dirty and discoloured water flowing from their taps, members were informed at the January meeting of Wexford County Council.

Getting quite animated on the topic, councillor in the Rosslare District Jim Codd blasted 'it's water that you wouldn't wash a dog in, never mind a child!'

The water issue was initially raised by Cllr George Lawlor who said that the quality of the water emerging from the Fardystown water supply was extremely poor.

'The amount of lime in the water is damaging people's utensils,' he said. 'I know one person who has replaced a dozen showers. Now lately, some people have reported black and dirty water coming from the taps. Can we investigate the problems here properly or can we look at finding an alternative water source for the eight and a half thousand families who are forced to endure the sub standard water coming out of Fardystown?'

Keen to be straight up with the members, Director of Services Eamonn Hore said that Irish Water looking for an alternative water source was 'not going to happen any time soon'.

Cllr Jim Codd was angered by this.

'I'm annoyed at how Irish Water are treating the people of the Rosslare District,' he said. 'The water coming out of the taps is black. We're told they're going to be flushing the pipes to alleviate the problem, but still it persists. People are entitled to have water that they can see through, never mind drink!'

'I've brought this up numerous times now and these people have had to endure black water coming from the taps for the whole of Christmas. It's not good enough.'

Mr Hore replied that the dirty water is something that is currently being addressed, but in relation to problems with hard water, he reiterated that it was unlikely that a replacement water source for Fardystown would be found any time soon.
France confirmed its first three cases of the Wuhan coronavirus, with two patients being hospitalized in Paris and the other in the southwestern city of Bordeaux, CNBC reports.

Health Minister Agnes Buzyn told a news conference authorities had confirmed two cases, Europes first, and that more cases were likely to occur in France.

In a separate statement on Friday, the health ministry announced the third case, a relative of one of the first two.

Earlier, the charity SOS Medecins said it had treated a patient of Chinese origin who was showing symptoms of a fever and who said he had been in contact with people from Wuhan province in China, epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.

Buzyn said this patient was 48 years old and had returned two days ago from a trip to China which included a stop in Wuhan.

Hes been put in an insulated room so as to avoid any contact with the outside world. Hes fine, she said.

Buzyn said she had no information yet on the second case, in Paris, which had just been confirmed.
Staff from Lumi Viet Nam Co introduce home technology solutions to a client during the Viet Nam Expo 2019 in Myanmar late last year. - Photo nhathongminhviet.vn

Under Myanmar's regulations, if imported goods arrive at the countrys ports and fail to clear customs within 60 days, these goods would be auctioned or confiscated. Therefore, Vietnamese enterprises need to be careful when exporting to Myanmar to avoid business losses, the office warned.

Firms should improve their understanding about the countrys laws as they make transactions with local partners, the office suggested.

Additionally, businesses could encounter other challenges in the market, due to its import licensing requirements, slow goods clearance, low incomes of the majority of local people and their shopping habits  favouring cheaper products.

According to trade experts, consumers there were particularly fond of Vietnamese fresh produce and processed foods, such as coffee and fruits. The prices of Vietnamese goods were very competitive, they said.

However, the goods still faced fierce competition from other companies in the region, which required Vietnamese enterprises to improve product quality and reduce costs to improve their competitiveness.

Vietnamese manufacturers should also make efforts to establish their brands in the global market and invest more in product packaging and labelling, they said.

Despite these challenges, Myanmar remained a lucrative market for Vietnamese companies because of the countrys insufficient production capacity, few strict technical barriers to imported goods, and tax incentives for products imported from ASEAN members.

Myanmar is a great market for a wide range of Viet Nam's good and services, from food and materials for food processing, electronics and electrical goods, iron and steel, bikes and motorbikes to information and telecommunications, according to the office.

Bilateral trade between the two countries increased significantly from a modest US$152 million in 2010 to nearly $860 million in 2019. It is estimated to reach $1.05 billion in 2029.

Viet Nam is also the seventh largest investor in Myanmar, with 18 large projects worth a total of nearly $2.2 billion. Major companies such as Hoang Anh Gia Lai, the Bank for Investment and Development and Viettel have operations there.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  Japan's SoftBank is offering to invest $30 billion to $40 billion in the development of a new Indonesian capital, an official said Friday.

The billionaire founder and chief executive of SoftBank Group Corp., Masayoshi Son, hinted at partnering with the Indonesian government to fund the project when he met President Joko Widodo last week in the capital, Jakarta.

Son and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair have been included in the steering committee to oversee the construction of the new capital city on Borneo island that would be led by Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Indonesian Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan told a news briefing that SoftBank was offering around $30 billion to $40 billion, though it was not immediately clear what project the Japanese conglomerate would invest in specifically.

"We have not yet decided how they would invest, it could be for education, a research center or hospital development," Pandjaitan said. He said he will meet Son in Davos and Tokyo later this month to finalize the plan.

After meeting Widodo last week, Son told reporters that he was interested in supporting a new smart city, the newest technology, a clean city and a lot of artificial intelligence.

Widodo announced last August that Indonesia's capital will move from overcrowded, sinking and polluted Jakarta to a site in sparsely populated East Kalimantan province on Borneo island, known for rainforests and orangutans.

The capital's relocation to a 256,000-hectare (632,580-acre) site almost four times the size of Jakarta will cost an estimated 466 trillion rupiah ($34 billion). The government is set to begin the construction later this year.

Investors from Asia, the Middle East, the U.S. and China have shown interest in developing the city, Pandjaitan said.

Jakarta, with 30 million people including those in the greater metropolitan area, is prone to earthquakes and flooding and is rapidly sinking due to uncontrolled extraction of ground water.

Monsoon rains and rising rivers early this month left more than 60 people dead and 500,000 displaced.

Story continues

Mineral-rich East Kalimantan was once almost completely covered by rainforests before illegal logging removed many of its original growth. It is home to only 3.5 million people and is surrounded by Kutai National Park, known for orangutans and other primates and mammals.

Indonesia is an archipelago nation of more than 17,000 islands, but currently 54% of the country's nearly 270 million people live on Java, the country's most densely populated island where Jakarta is located.



Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini contributed to this report.
Nguyen Thi Nha (middle) and her colleagues hug a baby born by IVF.  Photo nhandan.com.vn

HA NOI  Doctor Nguyen Thi Nhas email inbox is full of photos of babies with beaming smiles and heart-touching messages of gratitude.

The words were sent from countless infertile couples who she has helped become parents at last.

Nha has never forgotten a middle-aged woman roaming aimlessly on Ha Nois Giai Phong Street after getting divorced from a man she couldnt conceive a child with.

After having health check-ups at different hospitals, she was told she suffered cervical ectropion  a common disease among women. At the time, social norms said that when a couple was unable to have a child, the fault was with the woman.

The woman rushed in front of an approaching train and died. Only when her ex-husband remarried and still could not have a child, did it become clear that she may not have been infertile.

Nha, the womans younger sister, has been haunted by the tragedy for years. After graduating from Ha Noi University of Medicine, she decided to work at the Ha Noi-based Post Hospitals Department of Obstetrics.

There, she has witnessed the pain and desperation of countless women who are unable to be mothers.

Her desire to help such women has driven Nha onwards.

Ngan from Ha Nois outlying district of an Phuong finally became a mother at the age of 58 thanks to Nha.

Ngans husband refused to undergo In-Vitro-Fertilisation (IVF) as he thought such a baby wouldnt be his blood child.

Only after seeing a neighbours IVF-born son that looked like his father, did he change his mind but it seemed too late as Ngan had already turned 58.

Moved by her story, Nha decided to help Ngan with the procedure, using donated ova and her husbands sperm.

The effort paid off and Ngan became one of the oldest new mothers in Viet Nam and was even able to breastfeed her son.

People with infertility are perhaps the most confused patients we have here, o Van Trang, deputy director of Post Hospital, told Nhan dan Hang thang (People Monthly) newspaper.

They have to shoulder enormous burdens, both financially and emotionally and can fall into desperation because no matter how hard they try, they may never be parents, he added.

The doctors spring

September 18, 2019 is a day Hanh and Thanh will never forget as after 17 years of waiting, they finally became parents.

Hanh had got pregnant seven times before but lost every baby due to poor health.

At the end of 2018, the couple decided to try IVF treatment as a last toss of the dice before adopting.

Thanh said he can still remember the magical moment they welcomed their angel.

At the age of 40, I started learning to be a father, beginning with mixing baby formula. It is complicated and tiring sometimes, but thinking about the past 17 years makes me feel deserving, he said.

According to Nha, in the past, the departments rate of success was only 30 to 40 per cent, but that figure has increased to 60 per cent.

We pour all our hearts and mind into every single case to make sure we get the best outcome possible, she said.

Besides strictly following procedures, it is the doctors attitude which defines the success of IVF. Therefore, to process deciding steps, poking eggs or creating embryo, for example, a doctor needs to be in his best condition, she added.

For the past few years, the hospital has financially supported more than 200 couples to the tune of VN30 million (US$1,300) each for IVF treatment.

Nha, therefore, has become the second mother of thousands of children.

The best Tet (Lunar New Year) blessings, she said, are always from their families when she gets to know that they are doing fine.  VNS
DAVOS, Switzerland  Historian and philosopher Yuval Harari urged the U.S. and China to stop AI, surveillance and biometrics from converging before it is too late.

The big picture: Harari passionately warned his Davos audience that humanity could become entirely subject to AI and biometrics, with risks including "data colonialism" and "digital dictatorships" that could imprison someone if, for example, their biological data suggests they are not sufficiently loyal.

If we enter an arms race, then the arms race logic takes over, Harari says of global competition around AI, robotics, bioengineering and other technologies. And any hope of regulating and preventing the most dangerous developments of these technologies is lost.

Warning of a world where algorithms analyze our biology and humans become hackable animals, he floated a scenario: Some countries may adopt an AI that analyzes your entire life  the parts you control and those you dont  for hiring. Others may resist it as dangerous, stressful and discriminatory.

That could create an economic imbalance, leading corporations in the second set of countries to press their governments to act.

This is the race-to-the-bottom danger. If we enter an arms race situation in fields like AI, then it almost guarantees the worst outcomes in terms of privacy, he told Axios in an interview.

But, its not too late to slow down or even stop the arms race, he says.

Nothing is really inevitable. The Cold War threatened nuclear Armageddon but ended peacefully.

Thats because the U.S. convinced enough people around the world to trust it had the best interests of people everywhere in mind, says Harari.

This was maybe the most powerful weapon in the American ideological arsenal.

Now, the U.S. and its rival powers are in every-man-for-himself mode.

The most worrying trend is the loss of trust globally and the deterioration of the global rules that are the basis for trust, he says, referencing President Trumps speech in Davos earlier this week.

And unlike launching nuclear weapons, where there is consensus about the downsides, countries and companies will believe deploying AI first gives them an advantage.

These challenges require the restoration of trust and leadership but also philosophical answers, Harari says, though he fears the world is facing "philosophical bankruptcy."
The popular Amu Plank Market in Mushin, Lagos, was razed by a midnight fire Saturday destroying properties worth millions of Nigeria.

There were no casualties as residents and traders battled without success to put out the fire.

Witnesses told PREMIUM TIMES that officials of the Lagos State Fire and Safety Agency arrived the scene about four hours after the fire began.

But Lagos emergency officials said they arrived the scene within an hour of the inferno.

Tajud Sanni, the Youth Chairman of Amu Plank Market, insisted the fire officials arrived late.

I was called at 12:30 a.m. that there is fire outbreak in the market but nobody knew the cause of the fire, he said.

I asked them to break the shops and make use of the fire extinguisher but it was not enough to quench the fire I was called back that the fire has not been quenched that they had informed the fire fighters but

unfortunately they didnt respond on time.

We alerted them at 12 a.m. they did not appear until 4 a.m. in the morning on their arrive we were informed that they do not have water. The fire station in Surulere asked Mr Kamal to deposit his car before they could followed him to the fire incident.

Mr Sanni said the traders are unhappy because the government failed to respond to their distress calls despite the taxes they pay.

We are not happy with the state government the market has been burned tEd the ground, we are citizens we should be protected the damages in the market is more than 10 billion naira.

Meanwhile, we had never experienced such in the market for the past 55 years. It is an international market and there is nothing to show any more, you can get all your building materials in Amu market.

A shop owner who identified himself simply as Mr Abdullahi burst into tears while narrating his loss.

The fire had extended beyond Amu market, Palm Avenue, is also affected, early this morning residents had gathered to quench the fire when it started around 12 a.m. but they keep pouring water but there was no effect.

There are debts on ground, goods worth millions had been razed by fire now the market is burning to ground there is nothing we can do.

We did not receive assistance not until 4 a.m.

Another trader, Mrs Omotola, said they were having a Muslim vigil when they noticed the fire.

When it happened we were all afraid that we rushed out to quench the fire, the fire was not much when it started but it was beyond our capacity to quench, the markets and its environs has just burned to ground even the mosque.

According to a press statement from the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), the fire was reported at about 1.25 a.m.

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The First Responders had long been at work since about 02:00a.m, inspite of the rumours spreading that the Fire Services responded without water in their appliances, with claims that the curtailed Fire was still raging and spreading fast Nosa Okunbor, LASEMA public affairs officer, said.

Situation Report on the Fire Outbreak at Amu Timber Market in Mushin by the LASEMA Response Teams has it that upon arrival at incident scene, it was observed that many plank shops and adjoining residential buildings were gutted by the raging fire.

He said investigations at the incident site showed that the fire was caused by an electrical surge.

Though an actual amount of damage wrought by the fire can not yet be given until proper enumeration is conducted, conservative estimates and tentative analysis has it that the inferno has razed goods and properties worth several millions of naira.

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There was no loss of lives attributed to the inferno, nor has any responder sustained any injuries despite the hindrance caused by miscreants who are bent on constituting a problem with their unsolicited assistance.

The inferno is currently being combated by the combined efforts of LASEMA Fire Unit with two fire trucks, Julius Berger Fire Unit with two fire trucks and a Water Tanker, the Lagos State Fire Service with two fire trucks, the Federal Fire Service, the RRS, LNSC and the community.
The first cases of Novel Coronavirus have been confirmed in Australiaone in the state of Victoria and three in New South Walestotaling four nationwide as of late Saturday.

NSW Health confirmed that three menaged 53, 43, and 35are in isolation and under care in Westmead Hospital in Sydney, according to local reports. All three recently arrived from Wuhan, a city of 11 million people and the epicenter of the outbreak.

Two of the three men arrived in Australia on Jan. 6 and Jan. 9. The date when the third man arrived is not yet confirmed, according to Fairfax.

Id like to thank each of these three people because they have been exemplary in the way that they presented themselves, to have a medical test, and to have the necessary pathology in due course, when it was appropriate from the medical practitioners point of view, NSW Minister for Health Brad Hazard said, reported Fairfax.

Four other people may also have coronavirus, health officials announced as they await the results.

An NSW spokesperson said in a statement that, We will not be disclosing the hospital locations of patients under investigation for privacy reasons, and that any confirmed cases will be alerted to the public.

The new confirmed cases come just hours after the first coronavirus case in the country was announced earlier in the afternoon when Health Minister of Victoria Jenny Mikakos confirmed to reporters that a male Chinese national in his 50s had contracted the virus.

The infected Chinese man in Victoria has been isolated in Monash Medical Centre in Clayton in Melbournes southeast and is being treated in a negative pressure isolation room. He arrived in Melbourne around 9 a.m. on Jan. 19 after having spent two weeks in Wuhan.

The man had flown from Guangzhou to Melbourne via China Southern Airlines flight CZ321, after having taken a connecting flight CZ3706 from Wuhan to Guangzhou.

He showed no symptoms while on the flight to Melbourne but tested positive for the virus on Saturday morning, Mikakos said.

The Victorian health minister said the risk of transmission is low, as the man has only been staying with family and has not been out and about. The man also called the hospital and GP ahead of time before attending. He also wore a mask.

It is important to stress that there is no cause for alarm to the community. The patient is isolated and is undergoing treatment, and we do not have any further suspected cases at this stage, Mikakos told reporters.

State and federal officials would be stationed at Melbourne airport, and a hotline will be set up for people seeking information about the virus, Mikakos said.

Victorias Deputy Chief Health Officer Angie Bone said the mans family are being closely monitored.

Meanwhile, in Queensland a total of five people were being tested for the virus on Saturday. Later in the day, Queensland health authorities said that all five were cleared of the virus. Three of the five were from the Gold Coast.

Four other people in Queensland were given an all-clear earlier in the week.

Queensland authorities say they are still waiting on results from a possible case as of late Saturday, AAP reported.

Four people in South Australia were also being tested, reported AAP. Authorities say it is unlikely they actually have the virus.

Speaking to reporters at a news conference after the first coronavirus was confirmed in Victoria, Australias Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said that there might be more cases of the virus owing to significant travel from Wuhan city to Australia in the past.

This is the first confirmed case, Murphy told a news conference, Reuters reported. There are other cases being tested each day, many of them are negative, but I wouldnt be surprised if we had further confirmed cases.

Chant advised people on Friday who have come from Wuhan to seek help if they develop any flu-like symptoms.

Were encouraging people who have come back from Wuhan, or who have been in contact with confirmed cases in China or in other countries, to please seek care if you develop any symptoms of fever, sore throat, pneumonia, a cough, or respiratory symptoms of any sort, Chant said, according to AAP.

Currently, testing for coronavirus takes about six hours, but the timeframe will likely be reduced in the future, she said.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade overnight changed the level of travel advice for Wuhan and Hubei province to do not travel. The disease is being listed as having pandemic potential, which allows for enhanced border protection measures.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a public announcement: Australians are being strongly advised not to travel to Wuhan or the Hubei Province in China. Chinese authorities have also imposed travel restrictions in at least five cities in the Hubei province. Australians traveling to these areas may not be able to leave until restrictions are lifted.

Morrison said that, as per previous advice from the Chief Medical Officer, It was always expected that Australia would see cases of this virus. He added that the Australian government has already put in new procedures to manage the situation.

Australia is a popular destination for Chinese, with about 1.4 million short-term arrivals from China in 2019, Reuters reported. China is the largest source of foreign visitors to the country.

The death toll in China attributed to the coronavirus rose to 41 after authorities confirmed at least 15 new deaths on Fridaya 60 percent increase from the previously announced death toll of 26.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in China now stands at 1,287, the National Health Commission said in a statement on Saturday.

Cases have been confirmed in 13 countries including Thailand, Singapore, France, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, United States, Nepal, Malaysia, Australia, China, and Macau.

Reuters and the AAP contributed to this report.
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A judge in Arkansas has allowed a U.S. government official to help guard against the release of classified information during the upcoming terrorism trial of a Yemeni citizen accused of providing material support to al-Qaida.

U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright on Thursday granted the Justice Departments motion to allow a designated classified information security officer to participate in the case.

Bilal Al-Rayanni, 28, faces trial July 6 in Little Rock on charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization  al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula  and providing a false name on a passport, according to an August 2019 indictment.

The indictment says Al-Rayanni travelled to Yemen in 2014 and worked for al-Qaida for three months while knowing that the U.S. has deemed it a foreign terrorist organization, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Friday.

The designated officer would guide the court and court personnel on how to handle classified information. U.S. law considers information to be classified if it needs protection against unauthorized disclosure for reasons of national security.

Al-Rayanni told prosecutors that his father had purchased a U.S. visa from a Yemeni man whose name was Kassem Alawdi. His father then used that visa in 1992 to obtain a U.S. passport for al-Rayanni under the name Bilal Kassim Alawdi. He said he didnt learn his true name until he was between 10 and 12, but has used the false name to obtain and renew passports in 2002 and 2008, as well as the most recent attempt to renew his passport in May 2019.
Erdogan Looks to Diplomacy Amid Concerns About Military Deployment in Libya

By Dorian Jones January 24, 2020

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is accusing Libyan militia leader General Khalifa Haftar of violating a cease-fire agreement. Despite deploying Turkish forces to back the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), though, Erdogan seems to be increasingly looking to diplomacy rather than force.

"He [Haftar] says he agreed to a cease-fire, but two days subsequent, he bombed the [Tripoli] airport. So how can we trust him?" Erdogan said Friday in Istanbul with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Haftar's forces control most of Libya in their war against the U.N.-recognized GNA.

Merkel on Sunday hosted an international summit in Berlin aimed at resolving the Libyan civil war. A 55-article road map to end the conflict was drawn up at the meeting, which Erdogan attended.

Erdogan challenged Merkel at the news conference, however, to confirm whether Haftar had signed the Berlin agreement. A visibly uncomfortable Merkel confirmed he only orally agreed to it, noting that officials were still waiting for his signature.

Support for Sarraj

Despite the Berlin agreement's reaffirmation of the Libyan international arms embargo, the Turkish president said he would continue supporting the GNA's prime minister, Fayez al-Sarraj.

"We sent them a [military] delegation and continue to do so. We won't abandon Sarraj. We will give the support we can," Erdogan said.

"Our soldiers are there to assist in the training [of GNA forces]. We have a history of 500 years, and we have an invitation [from the GNA] that gives us our right," he added.

But Erdogan, several times during the news conference, said the forces were purely for training.

Earlier this week, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Aktar also stressed the training purpose of the Libyan deployment. The Turkish force reportedly still only numbers in the dozens.

The downplaying of the military deployment contrasts with Erdogan's recent sharp rhetoric. Last week, the Turkish president, while announcing to Parliament soldiers' deployment, said Ankara would not hesitate about "teaching a lesson" to Haftar if his forces continued attacking.

Fears of wider war

Such language reportedly has set off alarm bells in the region over fears that Turkish forces in Libya could end up triggering a wider regional conflict with Haftar's military backers, including Egypt.

Given that Libya is 2,000 kilometers from Turkey, though, a military expert questioned whether Ankara was capable of sustaining a hot conflict.

"The logistic challenge is enormous, and these challenges, as they look now, are insurmountable. It's far away. It's not like Syria is just across the border," said former Turkish General Haldun Solmazturk, a veteran of cross-border military operations.

"If fighting gets tough, casualties would be inevitable. Returning dead persons and wounded would also be a major challenge. Apart from the fuel, the ammunition, spare parts, there are thousands of items needed to be provided in such an environment," added Solmazturk, who heads the 21st Century Turkey Institute, an Ankara-based research organization.

Turkish forces are already stretched, being deployed in Iraq and Syria, while analysts point out Haftar is in a strong military position.

"At the moment the situation seems to be working on the side of Haftar. He has better weapons. He has jet fighters. He has superiority of the air and in the field," said international relations professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankara's Middle East Technical University.

Further complicating Ankara's situation is its international isolation over Libya's military deployment. Erdogan's shuttle diplomacy this month drew a blank, failing to win backing from Libya's neighbors, Algeria and Tunisia.

Erdogan also reportedly failed at the Berlin summit to secure backing for an international peacekeeping force, including the Turkish military, to be deployed to enforce a cease-fire in Libya.

Military challenges for Turkey

Analysts suggest Ankara's isolation only compounds the military challenges it faces in Libya. "The Mediterranean, in terms of naval transportation, is controlled by not too friendly forces. And neighboring countries Tunisia, Algeria and Italy are less than willing to help or to provide any logistic bases or any other logistic support. They seem determined to stay out of this," said Solmazturk.

"Libya threatens to be another Syria, where countless lives and many treasures will be wasted to defend a very ill-defined 'national objective,' " warned analyst Atilla Yesilada of GlobalSource Partners, an economic and security research group based in New York.

Erdogan appears increasingly to be looking to diplomacy in a bid to isolate Haftar. In a speech Thursday in the presence of Merkel, the Turkish president called for "pressure" to put on Haftar.

Erdogan challenged the international community over its courting of Haftar, despite the general's failure so far to sign on to a cease-fire. "It doesn't make sense such support is continued," he said at Friday's news conference with Merkel, "if such a person is constantly so spoiled."

Migrant issue

The Turkish president also is seeking to play the migrant card against Europe, warning of "chaos" if Haftar remains unchecked.

Some analysts are warning, however, that Ankara needs to face the reality that the region has little appetite for a Turkish role in Libya.

"The region wants neither Turkey nor Russia seeking to extend its hegemony to Libya and the wider region. This is the reality," said Bagci.

But for now, Ankara is likely figuring on having a limited military presence in Libya while continuing to push for international deliberations on a resolution to Libya's civil war and its future.

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In pursuit of subjects, these enterprising young photographers have made a poster of their first subject and are using it to recruit more. (Photo: Pixabay)

The birds squawk in the twilight trees

The persistence makes your heart freeze.

The tide comes in and wets the sand

The moon is playing underhand.

Weve not evolved in geometric forms

This growth and grossness, beautys norms

From Stepping Stones Stay Still by Bachchoo

An Indian publication runs an article which says two Parsi photographers are taking portraits of old Parsis, contending that the community, my community, has unique features descended from Persian ancestry and subsequent intermingling of genes with the Indian races.

Parsis came to India in numbers around the eighth century from Persia, after that homeland was invaded by the Arabs in 641. The defeat of the Sassanian Yezdigard III was followed by either forcible or voluntary conversion of a vast majority of the population from Zoroastrianism to Islam. Those who resisted conversion and held the preservation of their faith above love of the soil, fled to Gujarat, seeking refuge, which the Rana of the time generously gave them.

In pursuit of subjects, these enterprising young photographers have made a poster of their first subject and are using it to recruit more.

For a brief while, reading the first paragraphs about this venture, gentle reader, my heartbeat increased with excitement and the same organ swelled with hope. The photographers said they were actively seeking old Parsis and would put their portraits in a book. Gosh, I thought, at last fame is just one phone call away.

Then as a raging fire turns to cold ash, reading on, my anticipation was dashed. These brats specified that they only wanted people nearing the age of 90  and though, gentle reader, my style may betray such maturity, I protest I far from qualify. In the age of the Internet, one cant lie about ones age as the nosey can easily google ones name and get the truth.

The article didnt mention any monetary remuneration for posing as a model, and besides, it seemed to imply that the subjects, these people with large Parsi noses and possibly flappy ears, would remain anonymous. Fame denied by a simple twist of ideological caution.

Kher!

I suspect these photographers are onto something  and thereby hangs a tale. Many decades ago, in my short and happy life, I was returning from London to Bombay and was wearing jeans and the T-shirts of the time with hair down to my shoulders and a beard, which were my credentials as part of the 1970s hippy generation. I had bought perhaps three bottles of alcohol at the duty free in London, deplaned with them and was stopped at Mumbai customs and challenged about the quantity. The customs officer asked me what country I was from and when I spoke to him in Hindi, he was amused and said my bottles were in excess of the limit but he would turn a blind eye and wished me well, saying he had assumed I was foreigner.

I stepped out of the exit with my bags, and as soon as I emerged, the taxi drivers who were touting for custom at the exit accosted me with Bawaji, bawaji, bawaji, kahan jaaengey?

Bawaji  the universal word in recognition of a Parsi. Oh God, the features, shining through the hippy accoutrement!

So, our young photographers have a point. My Parsi features shone through the disguise in the eyes of the discerning.

We live in the age of selfies. Every occasion, every visit, is diligently recorded on to a million phones. The selfotographers are not consciously determined to preserve the historical memory of the features of a fading race. They want to put the triggers of memory outside consciousness, have a concrete image to stimulate memory.

Or perhaps they dont, perhaps all selfies are acts of vanity, of the assertion that one exists, however handsome or ugly. I suspect that the millions of selfies clicked at historical or great geographical spots are not so much: I have seen this monument, but more, This monument has had the privilege of a visit from me!

But the Parsi photo-chronologists are doing something different. They say they want to preserve the particular genetic features of our vaunted almost-racially-pure descent. They didnt say as much in the article I read, but it stands to reason that their enterprise is inspired by the fact that these facial features, if indeed they are unique, may disappear forever as our numbers as Parsis dwindle to dodoism.

The one question Id like to ask these archivists is whether their criterion of features includes complexion. I know that Parsis of my grandparents generation  and certainly some of that of my parents  were very conscious of the colour of an individuals skin. Fair is beautiful was their credo. Through my casual, non-statistical observation, I have concluded that Parsis come in several colours but tend in numbers to exhibit the middle-to-fairer end of the spectrum. I am sure the range will be faithfully represented in the proposed archive.

Not that the features of the Indian population are reflected in the film, TV or advertising industries. Only the fair-skinned actor or model, by and large, get exposure on screens and billboards. Even then, our models, male and female, though a 100 per cent genetically Indian, are chosen for their resemblance to Western models. In some cases, the appeal is modified through the use of very typically Indian hairstyles, make up or costumes, but the chosen features and certainly the skin complexion are totally unrepresentative of a billion citizens of this country.

Ironically, the Indian media and urban youth imitate everything American but have failed to adopt the revolutionary slogan of Black is beautiful that swept America from the 1960s onwards.

Which should bring us to thank the gods for the invention of the mobile phones which take selfies. Posterity will, through the invention, inherit a record of the features of how the aam junta of selfie-snapping Indians actually looked. Jai Hind.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 06:00:00|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed on Friday warned of the "qualitative crisis" in the world's education, pointing out that many students at school are not acquiring the knowledge and skills they need.

Mohammed made the remarks in her speech at the opening session of a high-level interactive dialogue on education, convened by UN General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande to mark the second International Day of Education.

She said while 258 million people between the ages of six and 17 are still out of school, more than half of all children and adolescents do not meet minimum proficiency standards in reading and mathematics.

At the current rate, she said, by 2030, 420 million of the 1.4 billion school-age children in low and middle-income countries will not learn the most basic skills in childhood, and 825 million will not acquire basic secondary-level skills.

Over and above basic skills, she noted, education and training are not preparing students to meet the demands of a globalized, digitalized world, perpetrating existing inequalities and fueling further injustice.

Taking gender equality for example, Mohammed pointed out that young women have low participation rates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) studies, meaning they risk being left behind in fast-changing labor markets.

Also, marginalized groups, including refugees and persons with disabilities, receive education that does not respond to their needs and abilities, or their unique realities and identities, she said.

Indigenous peoples are not all able to attend culturally appropriate schools, led by trained indigenous teachers, using teaching materials in indigenous languages and based on indigenous culture, she added.

To improve the quality of education, the UN deputy chief said relative authorities should consider the needs in individuals that vary across contexts, calling on them to incorporate "social transformation," "environmental transformation," and "digital transformation" needed for the upgrade.

"We have the power to shape education, but only if we work together and really bring the partnerships that are necessary to provide quality education," she said. "This International Day must be a call to action."

In December 2018, the UN General Assembly proclaimed Jan. 24 as International Day of Education, in celebration of the role of education for peace and development.
SPRINGFIELD  The newly completed and handicapped-accessible Platform C at Springfield Union Station is the next step toward potentially reestablishing frequent passenger rail service between Springfield and Boston, Gov. Charlie Baker said Friday.

Baker joined longtime Union Station booster U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, and Mayor Domenic J. Sarno for a ceremonial ribbon cutting at the $11 million platform.

But bringing more trains to Union Station from parts east hinges on an ongoing feasibility study, one spearheaded by state Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow. Task force members including Lesser and Neal are due to get an update at their next meeting Feb. 6 in Springfield.

My deal on this is that you have to do the work associated with the options analysis first, Baker said. Im one of these guys who thinks most things are one step at a time. I try not to get too far ahead of myself on that.

Mixing his transportation metaphors, Baker said its easy to be in favor of something looking down from 60,000 feet, but harder once planners have to get to ground level and find out how much things will cost and what good they will accomplish.

Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno speaks Friday, Jan. 24 at the ceremonial ribbon cutting for Union Station Platform C. (Jim Kinney/ The Republican)

Platform C is the final step in Union Stations $103 million rehab. An elevator from the downstairs passenger waiting area and street entrances went into service just this week. Trains will soon begin using the platform.

Most of the station reopened in 2017. But Platform C was too narrow and didnt meet modern rules for accessibility by travelers with physical disabilities.

Neal has joined the push for east-west passenger rail, citing the success of the 18-month-old CTrail Hartford Line between Springfield and New Haven, Connecticut.

Hes made the case to Baker that Western Massachusetts deserves a piece of the states public transportation funding. Bakers proposed 2020-21 state budget includes $216 million in funding for Bostons MBTA and other transportation agencies across the state.

In June, MassDOT presented six east-west passenger rail scenarios.

Among them was a commuter train trip from Springfield to Boston that could take 80 to 105 minutes, but only if the state builds a new rail line along the Massachusetts Turnpike and connects it to Springfield Union Station and Worcester Union Station.

The trip is slightly longer if new rails are built along existing freight rights of way with curves straightened out.

The entrance doors leading from the waiting area of Springfield Union Station to the newly refurbished Platform C. gov. Charlie Baker, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal and Mayor Dom Sarno cut the ribbon for the $11 million platform project on Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. (Jim Kinney/ The Republican )

Peter A. Picknelly, chairman and CEO of the Peter Pan Bus Lines and a Baker supporter who has lobbied against rail studies in the past, was at Fridays ribbon cutting. Picknelly said Peter Pan competes with rail options in most of the major cities in which it operates.

We have greater frequency of service, he said. And in most cases our fares are lower. We compete.

Picknellys buses operates out of Union Station and he rents office space in the building.

He said CTrails Hartford Line has had no impact on Peter Pans Springfield-to-New Haven business

The Hartford Line, launched on June 18, 2018, transported its one-millionth rider during the busy Thanksgiving travel period, the Connecticut Department of Transportation said last week. Passenger rail use has been growing at a rate of 25% year-over-year, according to CTDOT.

Massachusetts in August began its own north-south rail service using Amtrak trains. Called the Valley Flyer, the route connects Springfield, Holyoke, Northampton and Greenfield.

Sarno said east-west passenger rail would connect Springfield with the booming Boston economy, allowing folks to live in Western Massachusetts cheaply and work in Boston easily.

The next goal at Union Station is to rent more of the space, Sarno said, either to business office tenants like Peter Pan or to first-floor retailers and food providers. The building is 72% occupied. Sarno said he is pursuing leads, like office tenants focused on cybersecurity.

Neal, who started working to save the station decades ago when it was mostly empty, contrasted those days with today.

All you have to do is go walking on that main concourse and you can feel the vitality, Neal said.

The activity Friday included the Girl Scouts of Troop 11639, who were selling cookies near Platform C. Baker bought seven boxes, one of each flavor.
Four years after Crystal Andrews battered body was discovered hidden in the bush, underneath a camouflage of moss and spruce branches, a long-time suspect has been named as her killer.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/1/2020 (718 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Four years after Crystal Andrews battered body was discovered hidden in the bush, underneath a camouflage of moss and spruce branches, a long-time suspect has been named as her killer.

Michael Okemow, 39, was convicted Friday of second-degree murder in the Nov. 8, 2015, slaying, following a two-week trial in Gods Lake First Nation.

Supplied Photo Crystal Andrews, 22, found slain in God's Lake First Nation in November 2015.

Andrews, a 22-year-old mother of two, disappeared while walking home in the early morning from a Halloween party in the community, located 550 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. Trappers discovered her body later that day.

When questioned by police, Okemow denied meeting Andrews. He claimed on the night of the killing he had been using his fathers Ford Escape SUV as a taxi when he was assaulted by two men hiding in the back of the vehicle. He said he later woke up in a ditch, his vehicle gone.

Prosecutors argued a retracing of the paths taken by Okemow and Andrews that night left no doubt as to the identity of the killer.

"The sad reality is the court will likely never know why Crystal Andrews was killed," Crown attorney Ari Millo told Queens Bench Justice Chris Martin in a closing argument Monday. "The trail of circumstantial evidence however, will allow you to know who killed her: Michael Okemow."

According to a pathologist, Andrews was stomped and bludgeoned to death. Okemows DNA was found inside Andrews body.

Court heard testimony Andrews and a few friends had approached a community man about providing them taxi service home, but Andrews ultimately decided to walk after getting into a fight with one her friends.

Later, the taxi driver spotted Andrews in the vicinity of the airport and offered her a ride home, but she refused. A passenger in the vehicle testified they were in the same area a short time later when he saw what he believed was Okemows SUV through the trees and heard a car door slam  evidence, the prosecution suggested, Andrews had accepted a ride from Okemow.

Okemows mother testified her son showed up at her house hours later, "wet from the waist down," and promptly washed his clothes.

Okemow, who was not living with his parents, "went upstairs, took a shower and changed his clothes and went downstairs and washed his clothes," Myrna Okemow said.

Myrna Okemow said she had received a call earlier in the day from a band councillor, who said her SUV had been found in the west end of the community. She said police later came to her door looking for Michael Okemow in connection to a complaint he had tried to run somebody over.

Court heard testimony Okemow was involved in a fight early that morning and drove his vehicle at two people when they intervened.

Myrna Okemow testified she left the house as her son washed his clothes. "I was scared of Michael, the police were looking for him," she said.

When she returned a half-hour later, he was gone, she said. He returned a short time later, wearing different clothes and shoes.

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Myrna Okemow said when police returned and took her son away for questioning, she searched the basement and found his earlier clothes stashed in a box.

Okemow said she also received a phone call from her niece, saying Andrews was missing and people were saying Michael Okemow "had something to do with it."

A month later, police executed a search warrant at the home, and found Okemow's shoes hidden in a crawlspace.

Court heard the grooves on the shoes were consistent with bruising on Andrews' body.

However, RCMP did not arrest Okemow until March 2018  leaving some community members to accuse investigators of foot-dragging.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
New Delhi [India], Jan 25 (ANI): One of the death row convicts in the brutal December 16, 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case -- Mukesh Kumar Singh -- on Saturday approached the Supreme Court challenging the rejection of his mercy petition by President of India, according to advocate Vrinda Grover, lawyer of the convict.



"Yes, I have filed a petition before the apex court. I am challenging the rejection of mercy petition by the President, before the apex court. I have moved the apex court for judicial review against the order of rejection of mercy petition by the President," advocate Grover told ANI.

Grover is seeking the commutation of Mukesh's death sentence to life imprisonment from the apex court, as the President of India has rejected his mercy petition.

The Supreme Court's five-judge bench, headed by Justice NV Ramana, had on January 15, dismissed the curative petitions of Mukesh and another death row convict, Vinay Kumar Sharma.

After the dismissal of the curative petition by the top court, Mukesh had filed a mercy petition before the President of India, who also had rejected his mercy.

President Kovind had on January 17 rejected the mercy petition, which is the last constitutional recourse that a death row convict can exhaust.

A Delhi court has issued a fresh death warrant against the four death-row convicts in the December 2012 gang-rape and murder case, for their execution at 6 am on February 1.

A 23-year-old paramedical student was brutally gang-raped by six men (including a juvenile) in a moving bus in the national capital on a chilly night on December 16, 2012.

One of the accused, out of five adults, Ram Singh, had committed suicide in the Tihar Jail during the trial of the case.

The other three death row convicts, against whom the death warrants have already been issued are Pawan Kumar Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma, and Akshay Kumar Singh for their involvement in the December 16, 2012 case. (ANI)


Australia on Saturday confirmed its first four cases.

The death toll from China's coronavirus outbreak jumped on Saturday to 41.

More than 1,300 people have been infected globally with a virus traced to a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife, as reported by Reuters.

Read alsoCoronavirus: Death toll rises to 26 in China, with 830 infected  media

The virus has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, and the United States.

Australia on Saturday confirmed its first four cases, Malaysia confirmed three and France reported Europe's first cases on Friday, as health authorities around the world scrambled to prevent a pandemic.

In Beijing on Saturday, workers in white protective suits checked temperatures of passengers entering the subway at the central railway station, while some train services in eastern China's Yangtze River Delta region were suspended, the local railway operator said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it had 63 patients under investigation, with two confirmed cases.
"[Ukraine] should investigate the Bidens... Likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens... So I would say that President Zelensky, if it were me, I would recommend that they start an investigation into the Bidens: President Trumps voice reverberated throughout the silent Senate chamber. Although he wasn't in attendance, Trump was the House impeachment managers' chief witness as they repeatedly played videos of his own, seemingly self-incriminating words.

Many argue that this public solicitation of foreign election interference itself, as well as President Trump's July 25 call with Ukrainian President Zelensky, is enough to justify removal from office. But as was demonstrated in the three days of opening arguments from the House impeachment managers, this request came in the context of an alleged months-long extortion plot in which it is claimed that the President of the United States abused his power for personal gain. The evidence of Trump's wrongdoing is overwhelming, according to Democrats, but the key question is: Will it matter?

I say it will, in more ways than one.

Over the past three days, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and his team of impeachment managers presented a convincing case against President Trump, grounded in documentary evidence and witness testimony. While Senate Republicans killed Democrats attempts to have new witnesses at the onset of the trial, the impeachment managers cleverly integrated video clips of the House impeachment inquirys testimony. Wednesday was focused on presenting the facts of the alleged Ukraine extortion plot. Thursday was focused on how such a plot might constitute an abuse of power on the part of President Trump. Friday was focused on President Trump's unprecedented stonewalling and alleged obstruction of Congress. And each day, the impeachment managers repeated rebuttals of the incoming White House defenses.

When outlining the details of the Ukraine extortion plot, Democrats ran through the entire timeline. They covered the smearing and ousting of former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, made claims that President Trump used Rudy Giuliani and various diplomats to pressure Ukraine to announce an investigation into the Bidens, and detailed how the White House meeting and $391 million in military aid were withheld from Ukraine. Throughout the arguments, the House impeachment managers detailed how individual pieces of documentary evidence the White House is withholding would fill the gaps and corroborate their arguments.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) led the effort to show that Trump's conduct is exactly the kind of abuse of power the Founding Fathers had in mind when crafting the impeachment clauses. Nadler then undercut the current arguments of Trump's defenders with their own past assertions that an impeachable offense doesn't have to be a crime. Nadler played a 1998 clip of Trump impeachment lawyer Alan Dershowitzs statement and a 1999 clip from then-impeachment manager Lindsey Graham (R-KY). Graham was conveniently in the restroom at that moment, which is unfortunate because it would've been priceless to see the expression on his face while his hypocrisy was laid bare on the Senate floor.

The impeachment managers then debunked the false allegations against the Bidens and the Ukraine meddling conspiracy theory, saying that President Trump's motive for seeking these investigations wasn't a real hunt for corruption, but a hunt for political dirt.

All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Show all 6 1 /6 All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Alan Dershowitz Dershowitz is a controversial American lawyer best known for the high-profile clients he has successfully defended. Those clients have included OJ Simpson, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein. One longtime Harvard Law associated told the New Yorker Dershowitz "revels in taking positions that ultimately are not just controversial but pretty close to indefensible." Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Ken Starr Starr became a household name in the 1990s as the independent counsel who led the investigation that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment. That investigation began as a look into a real estate scandal known as Whitewater, and eventually led to impeachment after Mr Clinton lied under oath about having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. AP All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Jay Sekulow Sekulow is the president's longtime personal attorney, and, now, personal lawyer in the White House. He has been accused by former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas of being "in the loop" during the Ukraine scandal. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pam Bondi Bondi is the former attorney general in Florida, and a longtime backer of the president's. She made a name for herself in Florida for taking hyper partisan stances on issues, and her penchant for publicity. She is likely to be a prominent public-facing figure during the trial. AFP/Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pat Cipollone Cipollone is the White House counsel, and leading the president's defence team. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Rudy Giuliani While not officially named as one of the president's impeachment lawyers, it is hard to ignore Giuliani's outsized role in this process. The former mayor of New York has been making headlines for months as he defends his client, and for his apparent role in the effort to compel Ukraine to launch the investigation into Joe Biden. We'll see how he figures in the actual trial, which he has said he would like to be a part of. Reuters

In his closing arguments on Thursday night, Adam Schiff made his most impassioned case for removing Trump from office yet: "And you know you can't trust this president to do what's right for this country. You can trust he will do what's right for Donald Trump. He'll do it now. He's done it before. He'll do it in the next several months; he'll do it in the election if he's allowed to. This is why, if you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed. Because right matters. Because right matters. And the truth matters. Otherwise, we are lost."

Regardless of the outcome, this Trump impeachment era has solidified Adam Schiff as a historic figure. And Schiff's powerful performances on the Senate floor clearly struck a chord with Americans on social media, as reactions poured in on thousands of Twitter timelines. But still, there was an element of cynicism that colored the celebrations. When I sent a tweet asking my followers to rank the performance of the House impeachment managers, I was inundated with thousands of replies giving them a 9 or 10, but many asked at the same time: "Does it even matter?"

Does it even matter that the Democrats' case is so convincing since Senate Republicans' acquittal of President Trump seems inevitable? Does it even matter since Republicans kept walking out the Senate chamber and Fox News kept cutting away from the trial? Yes, because Senate Republicans are just the first round of jurors. The final verdict on Trump's removal from office will come from the American people in November.

Its reasonable to assume that polls will remain consistent at around 50 per cent support for removal and 70 per cent support for witnesses. Public opinion moves electoral prospects for lawmakers, including Senate Republicans, and therefore moves their decision-making. The House's compelling case will make it very difficult for vulnerable purple-state Senate Republicans up for re-election like Susan Collins (ME), Cory Gardner (CO), and Martha McSally (AZ) to vote against hearing witnesses in the trial. When it comes to new witnesses and documents, it's also important to watch independent-minded Senate Republicans like Lisa Murkowski (AK) and Lamar Alexander (TN).

The White House's impeachment defense is up next week, and if it's anything like what we saw on Tuesday, Trump's lawyers will not present a counterfactual argument. If they continue to following their old strategy  conceding that President Trump did what he's accused of but claiming it's not impeachable or that "abuse of power" isnt an impeachable offense  the majority of Americans will see right through it.

The White House has reportedly threatened Senators, in a totally normal warning, Vote against the president and your head will be on a pike." If they reject witnesses and vote to acquit, it will leave sycophantic stains on every Republican Senator. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) may win the battle of acquitting Trump but he could lose the war by handing the Senate to the Democrats in the upcoming election.
25.01.2020 LISTEN

Assembly Member for Akaporiso Electoral Area in Obuasi East District Hon. Jeff Kwadwo Adjei Oware has been re-elected as Presiding Member for the Obuasi East District. Assembly.

In his victory speech to continue his good works as Presiding Member, Hon. Adjei said the day is a great day for him as it marks the second session of the Obuasi East District Assembly since it was created in 2018.

He seized the opportunity to thank all Assembly Members for their tremendous support resulting in his victory as the Presiding Member for the Assembly and promised to continue to work assiduously as he has always done to ensure the development of the district.

Hon. Jeff Adjei Oware appealed to the Assembly Members to help in mobilizing funds through educating their community members on the need to pay their taxes for the Assembly to boost its Internally Generated Fund (IGF) since the Assembly cannot depend on the funds from central Government alone to develop the District.

He then called on all the Assembly Members to come together and work for the development of Obuasi East and Ghana as a country. He polled 23 votes out of 28 total votes cast representing 76.8%.

HON. Jeff Kwadwo Adjei Oware is the First Vice Chairman for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Obuasi East Constituency, now Acting as the Chairman for the party in Obuasi East following the demines of their Party Chairman Mr. Adu.

Hon. Jeff Adjei is a business man and hails from Assin Akonfudi in the Assin North District in the Central Region of Ghana, he is married with kids.
In Vermont, a moose got stuck on an active railroad bridge, and state fish and wildlife officials managed to remove the moose and relocate it to the wilderness with minimal injuries.

From AP:

State Fish and Wildlife received a report Wednesday morning that a moose was stuck on a bridge near the Ludlow and Cavendish area in southern Vermont. Local game wardens and wildlife biologists, with assistance from the Springfield Fire Department and a crew from the Vermont Rail System, sedated the moose and picked it up with a railroad crane truck.

Here's the original post from Vermont Fish & Wildlife on Facebook, which includes a video:
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 14:39:37|Editor: ZD

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BUENOS AIRES, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Argentinos Juniors missed the chance to move to the top of the Argentinian Superliga with a 1-0 loss at Union Santa Fe.

Franco Troyansky put the hosts ahead in the 12th minute and the visitors were dealt another blow when Francis Mac Allister's ugly challenge on Federico Milo earned him a second yellow card.

Argentinos Juniors were reduced to nine men in second-half stoppage time after Elias Gomez was also booked for a second time because of a bad foul on Troyansky.

The result late Friday left Argentinos Juniors equal on points with leaders River Plate, but with an inferior goal difference. Union remained 14th, seven points off the pace.

Meanwhile Fabian Rinaudo struck in the 94th minute to hand Rosario Central a dramatic 2-1 home victory over Huracan.

Norberto Briasco had given the visitors the lead just after the hour mark before Antony Silva gifted the hosts an equalizer by unluckily turning the ball into his own net.

In other matches on Saturday, Aldosivi secured a 2-1 home win over Lanus and the Diego Maradona-managed Gimnasia drew 0-0 at home to Velez Sarsfield.
Brexit bill becomes law after receiving royal assent

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 13:59, January 24, 2020

LONDON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- British government's Brexit bill became law Thursday after Queen Elizabeth II gave it her royal assent, paving the way for Britain's exit from the European Union (EU) on Jan. 31.

Under the government of former prime minister Theresa May, the withdrawal bill went through a bumpy ride in the parliament. The journey became smoother after Boris Johnson's landslide victory in a snap general election in December.

Armed with a 80-seat majority in the House of Commons (lower house), the bill was able to beat all opposition and passed its final legislative stage in the House of Lords (upper house) Wednesday after peers gave it their approval.

Spelling out arrangements for Britain's departure from the union, the approved bill will be signed at a ceremony in Brussels Friday by Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and Charles Michel, president of the European Council.

Negotiations between Britain and the EU will soon start on a future trade deal. Johnson has repeatedly insisted that he will not extend the transition period. Last month, the House of Commons passed his Brexit bill, where he added a clause to rule out any extension beyond Dec. 31, 2020.

During a speech in London earlier this month, von der Leyen warned that the two sides need more time to reach a deal.

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

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In the debate over whether Donald Trump deserves impeachment, a curious partisan reversal has taken place. Trumps opponents are suddenly constitutional originalists, seeking to ground their case for impeachment in 18th-century history and founding-era rhetoric. Meanwhile, his most persuasive defenders are more likely to invoke a kind of living constitutionalism, in which the limited, sporadic way that impeachment has been actually used over the centuries matters more than what the founders contemplated.

Thus the House Democrats brief for impeachment is studded with 18th-century quotes to prove that high crimes and misdemeanors covers all manner of corrupt uses of official power, easily encompassing Trumps sordid behavior with Ukraine. And legal scholars have rushed to point out that in the English tradition the founders drew upon, the impeachment power was used for what the legal historian Frank O. Bowman III calls a striking array of abuses of office, not just a few specific crimes.

Skeptics of the impeachment push, meanwhile, have pointed to the striking absence of presidential impeachments across the Republics subsequent history. Did James Madison favor an expansive understanding of the impeachment clause? Maybe so, but as an editor of his papers pointed out in The Washington Post, as president, Madison engaged in a dodgy, Trumpian scheme to use State Department money to buy documents purporting to prove his Federalist opponents were conniving with London; the Federalists cried foul, but there wasnt even the beginning of an impeachment proceeding.

[Listen to The Argument podcast every Thursday morning, with Ross Douthat, Michelle Goldberg and David Leonhardt.]
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday said the state assembly may pass a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act like some other states did recently.

Rao said he has already spoken to many of his counterparts in other states and he may convene a conclave of regional parties and Chief Ministers here to oppose the CAA since it concerns the country's future.

The TRS is secular by its policy and nature and it had opposed the CAA, he told reporters here.

The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi had voted against the amendment to citizenship law in Parliament last month.

"I have already spoken to many Chief Ministers on this. I spoke to leaders of other parties also.

Probably, maybe, in the next one month, I may arrange a conclave of regional parties and CMs in Hyderabad to oppose this....100 per cent. Because, this concerns the future of the country. This is not good for India, where 130 crore (people) live," Rao said.

After Kerala and Punjab, Rajasthan became the third state to pass a resolution against the CAA on Saturday.

Rao said that the Centre had taken a wrong decision to implement CAA as the Constitution provides fundamental rights to all people,irrespective of religions, castes and creed.

As such, keeping Muslims outside the purview of the Act itself pained him, he said.

Rao said he had made it clear to Home Minister Amit Shah that his party would not support (the CAA) when the latter had called him up.

However, his party had supported the government on Article 370 as Kashmir was an issue concerning national integrity.

Citing a newspaper report which said India is being converted into a Hindu state under the leadership of Modi", he said the country should not be of a one religion state and that such a "branding" was not good for the country.

"...will definitely discuss the matter in the budget session and pass a resolution in the assembly against it



He suggested that the NDA government do a rethink on the CAA in view of the nationwide protests against it.

"I appeal to the Prime Minister to rethink on the CAA.It is not at all good for the country. There are so many doubts over it and ministers are making self-contradictory statements. These are not good for the nation, Rao said.

He referred to a report reportedly submitted by the Home Affairs Ministry to Parliament which stated that the National Population Register was the first step towards the creation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

But the Home Minister had said NPR has nothing to do with NRC, he said.

Rao said the Supreme Court should by itself take cognizance of the CAA and strike it down.

On his plan to convene a meeting of regional parties and CMs against the CAA, he said he may organize a massive public meeting, if necessary, to oppose the law.

TRS would continue its secular policies, he asserted.

Deprecating seeking votes on the basis of religion, he said votes should be sought on welfare measures.

Rao also flayed the BJP for concentrating on the Ram temple at a time when many pressing problems and issues needed to be addressed and pointed out it had lost the Jharkhand assembly polls.

"Is there no subject other than this? How many problems are there in the country! How many issues... What about the economy?. It is getting destroyed because of the policies followed by you. You have kept it aside and started this... he said.

Rao said that if the need arose, he would take the lead in opposing CAA and other national causes and be ready to work with anybody, he said.

The TRS, he said, would also fight for the release of dues to the state from the Centre.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So before you buy or sell Viking Mines Limited (ASX:VKA), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.

What Is Insider Selling?

It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.

Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Columbia University study found that 'insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own companys stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers'.

See our latest analysis for Viking Mines

Viking Mines Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Executive Chairman of the Board Raymond Whitten made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for AU$309k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.01 each. That implies that an insider found the current price of AU$0.012 per share to be enticing. That means they have been optimistic about the company in the past, though they may have changed their mind. While we always like to see insider buying, it's less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. The good news for Viking Mines share holders is that an insider was buying at near the current price. The only individual insider to buy over the last year was Raymond Whitten.

You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

Story continues

ASX:VKA Recent Insider Trading, January 25th 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 Viking Mines Boast High Insider Ownership?

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Viking Mines insiders own about AU$991k worth of shares. That equates to 26% of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Viking Mines Tell Us?

It is good to see the recent insider purchase. 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. Insiders likely see value in Viking Mines shares, given these transactions (along with notable insider ownership of the company). I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow for free.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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.
A pair of studies published Thursday offer new evidence for how the Vesuvius eruption killed some of Herculaneums people. One in the journal Antiquity challenges the vaporization hypothesis. The researchers who published it say the condition of the bones of the people in the fornici suggest they were protected from instant death by both the stone structure around them and their collective body tissue mass. This protection insulated them from the flows intense heat, but they may have suffered more as they were perhaps suffocated or asphyxiated.
Dorsey said he wanted to make the issue public, but decided instead to handle it as amicably as I could, quietly asking Pughs finance department to move forward with whatever needed to be done to collect the fee. He said the city finance and law departments met for months to suss out what needed to be changed in the [citys taxi] law and exactly why.
US Senate trial moves to new phase as presidents lawyers get a chance to argue in Trumps favour.

Washington, DC  The impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in the United States Senate will take a dramatic turn on Saturday as the presidents lawyers preview their defence of the president.

For three days, Democrats of the House of Representatives have unleashed a torrent of facts and legal logic, peppered with video clips and underpinned by slideshow presentations to show that Trump orchestrated an improper pressure campaign on Ukraine, covered it up and should be removed from office.

Now it is the presidents turn and his legal team plans a blistering counterattack that will target Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and seek to undercut the fairness and constitutionality of the Houses case.

Led by White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Trumps personal lawyer Jay Sekulow, the group will give a three-hour preview starting at 10am local time (15:00 GMT) on Saturday of their defence of the president, which will provide talking points for Trumps Republican allies in more widely watched Sunday talk shows. More will unfold in greater detail on Monday.

I would call it a trailer, coming attractions, Sekulow told reporters on Friday.

We have three hours to put it out, so well take whatever time is appropriate during that three house to kind of lay out what the case will look like, Sekulow said.

Next week is when you see the full presentation.

Trump was impeached on December 18 for abuse of power related to his dealings with Ukraine and obstruction of Congress for his refusal to participate in the Houses impeachment investigation.

As the defence team kicks off its opening arguments, here is what to expect:

Trump did nothing wrong

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said Cipollone, Sekulow and their team are prepared to prove the president did nothing wrong.

Appearing on the Fox News, Grisham said while Democrats in the Senate, continue to scream impeachment, the president and his administration have a very strong case and an excellent legal team that will come out over the next few days and show he did absolutely nothing wrong.

A focus on Joe Biden

Sekulow said the defence team plans to address Joe Biden and his son Hunter when they give their arguments.

Trumps defenders have argued that Trump was pushing legitimate investigations into appearances of a conflict of interest as Hunter Biden served on the board of Ukrainian gas company while his father, then the US vice president, was tasked with fighting corruption in the country.

The House managers opened up the door as wide as a double door on the Hunter Biden, Joe Biden Burisma issue, he said.

I guess they were trying to get ahead of it, but were going to address, he said.

There has been no evidence of wrongdoing by the Bidens.

Rudy Giuliani claims Biden bribes

Appearing on Fox News, Trumps personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani said on Friday he has information about the Bidens in Ukraine.

Im going to present over the next two to three weeks shocking crimes at the highest levels of government while the Senate is listening to a totally phony group of stories about non-impeachable offences, Giuliani said, without elaborating.

Giuliani made several claims about supposed bribes concerning the Bidens during the interview on Friday morning, Fox reported.

Hunter Biden and Burisma

Giuliani travelled to Ukraine in December 2019 where he met former officials to discuss prior Ukrainian investigations into Burisma, a natural gas company.

Mykola Zlochevsky, the former head of Burisma, was investigated but never charged by Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities. Giuliani said Zlochevsky hired former Vice President Bidens son, Hunter, to serve in a paid position on the board of Burisma as protection.

Zlochevsky fled the country and is suspected of siphoning huge sums of state funds out of Ukraine, according to reports.

Ukraines Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka, who took office in late August, launched a wide-ranging audit of 13 prior criminal cases involving Burisma and Zlochevsky to see whether they had been conducted properly, Ryaboshapka told reporters in Kyiv in November.

Executive privilege and immunity

Trumps team is expected to argue that a president does not have to produce witnesses or documents at the whim of the House.

House Democrats charged Trump with obstruction of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry but did not pursue judicial enforcement of subpoenas when the White House moved to prevent key witnesses from testifying.

Cipollone in letters to the House claimed the president and his people enjoyed blanket immunity from congressional investigations.

Trump has framed the issue as a matter of defending the institutional prerogatives of the presidency to protect the rights of future presidents.

If I were the president I would defend the presidency as much as I could, Republican Senator and Trump defender Lindsey Graham told reporters. I would fight the House at every turn because they did this in 48 days.

Trumps defence team will likely use the argument in trying to persuade senators not to allow additional witnesses.

Most constitutional scholars reject the executive privilege and immunity arguments Trumps lawyers have claimed so far and the issue is not likely to be resolved in the Republican-controlled Senate.

The president will do everything he can to silence Bolton. He will invoke executive privilege, said Laurence Tribe, a professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School.

Even if Bolton resists, Trump will try to go to court and there will be an issue whether it has jurisdiction or the Senate itself has to make a decision. There could be protracted litigation, Tribe told Al Jazeera.
In a major success for security forces in the valley, top Jaish Commander Qari Yasir has been gunned down along with his two associates, Moosa and Burhan, in an encounter in Hariparigam Tral area of Awantipora.

Senior official on the encounter

A Jaish module mostly foreigners was active and was planning to do something sensational on the eve of Republic day 2020. This module includes one terrorist identified as Saifullah who was killed in Khrew area of Pulwama recently, a senior officer said.

Read: 644 terrorists in Guwahati surrender in presence of CM Sonowal

Official statement released post the encounter

On a credible input, a cordon and search operation was launched jointly by police and security forces in Hariparigam Tral area of Awantipora. During the search operation, the hiding terrorists fired on the search party. The fire was retaliated leading to an encounter, read an official statement.

In the ensuing encounter, three terrorists were killed and the bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter. From the incriminating materials recovered at the site of encounter, the killed terrorists have been identified as Qari Yasir a self-styled Chief Commander of proscribed terror outfit JeM, Moosa Abu Usmaan both residents of Pakistan and Burhanuddin Sheikh of Hasipora Tral, it added.

Read: 2 terrorists eliminated in encounter with security forces in J&K; operation still underway

Qari Yasir's terror record

According to the police records, Qari Yasir had a history of terror crime records since 2016 and was operating as Commander of proscribed outfit JeM in the areas of South Kashmir. He was involved in many terror crimes and civilian atrocities for which several cases were registered against him. He was part of the group involved in carrying out IED blast in Lethpora in February 2019 in which 40 CRPF personnel attained martyrdom.

He was also involved in the abduction and killing of civilians Manzoor Kohli and Abdul Qadir in August 2019. Moosa Abu Usmaan and Burhanuddin Sheikh were involved in terror crimes and civilian atrocities. Terror crime cases were also registered against them.

Read: CRPF gunslinger who neutralised 50 terrorists in J-K, to receive 6th PMG on Republic Day

South Kashmir was a problematic area earlier, but of late, we arrested Naveed Babu who was Naikoos Deputy. After his arrest, the charge was given to Waseem Wani. Wani and the other two were killed. If we are able to kill Reyaz Naikoo from South Kashmir, we would be able to wipe out HM from South Kashmir, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir zone, Vijay Kumar said.

Read: Unknown terrorists orchestrate IED blast in Manipur's Imphal; link to Republic Day drawn
There are many ways to bond as a couple.

And for Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk apparently one of them was taking MDMA together in Mexico while they were dating.

Gwyneth, 47, got candid about the experience on the pilot episode of her Netflix reality show The Goop Lab, which dropped on Friday.

Showbiz glamour: Gwyneth Paltrow revealed that she and her husband Brad Falchuk experimented with MDMA in Mexico while they were dating. The pair are seen in September 2019 above

The pilot explored what Gwyneth called 'psychedelics as a healing modality,' and involved a Goop staff trip to Jamaica to take magic mushrooms.

'I never thought of MDMA as a psychedelic and when I took it I didn't hallucinate. Like, it wasn't a rave,' the movie star recalled. MDMA is the chemical name for the drug most commonly referred to as Ecstasy or Molly.

'You know, it was actually very, very emotional and I was with my then boyfriend who's now my husband, and he's a very empathetic, very profoundly wise person and he was able to sort of help me through it,' Gwyneth explained.

'But it does make me think like, there's so much to unearth if I did it, like - ' she said, and her producer Dane Lillegard finished: '...in a therapeutic setting.'

New project: Gwyneth, 47, got candid about the experience on the pilot episode of her Netflix reality show The Goop Lab, which dropped on Friday

'Like, it wasn't a rave': 'I never thought of MDMA as a psychedelic and when I took it I didn't hallucinate,' the movie star recalled

'But it does make me think like, there's so much to unearth if I did it, like - ' she said, and her producer Dane Lillegard (right) finished: '...in a therapeutic setting.'

Brad, a TV writer famous for his work with Ryan Murphy, got married to Gwyneth in 2018 at an intimate ceremony in the Hamptons.

She shares her children Apple and Moses with her ex-husband Chris Martin and still has an amicable relationship with both him and his girlfriend Dakota Johnson.

Chris and Gwyneth married in 2003 and publicly split in 2014, when she inspired widespread mockery by referring to the breakup as a 'conscious uncoupling.'

Happy couple: Brad, a TV writer famous for his work with Ryan Murphy, got married to Gwyneth in 2018 in the Hamptons; pictured in East Hampton last August

Her Netflix show is the latest outgrowth of Gwyneth's wellness brand, which frequently hits the headlines for its controversial products and advice.

Since its launch, Goop has rapidly become known for tips ranging from the idiosyncratic to the bizarre, exhorting women to steam clean their vaginas and theorizing about a 'Link Between Underwire Bras And Breast Cancer.'

Recently she went viral by announcing that Goop would be selling a $75 scented candle that has been made to smell like her vagina.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 14:33:33|Editor: huaxia

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Photo taken on Jan. 24, 2020 shows a medical aid team of Army Medical University leaving for Wuhan in southwest China's Chongqing. On the Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve, a group of 150 medical workers from the Army Medical University left for Wuhan, the center of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, to provide medical aid. (Xinhua)
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Shocking images showing the wreckage of the C-130 air tanker that crash-landed and killed three American firefighters have been released.

The plane which was being used to tackle out-of-control bushfires crashed just after it had dropped fire retardant along a ridge at Peak View northeast of Cooma, NSW on Thursday afternoon.

Photos show the extent of the damage with remains of the wreckage of the plane is strewn at the crash site near Numeralla, south west of Sydney.

Pictured is the wreckage is strewn at the crash site of a firefighting air tanker near Numeralla, south west of Sydney

Aerial footage of the C-130 air tanker which crashed after being engulfed in flames while tackling bushfires

The men's bodies were recovered by police on Friday after their airtanker was engulfed in flames while tackling bushfires

Three crew from the U.S. were killed when their C-130 Hercules tanker (pictured) crashed while fighting wildfires in Australia

Investigators have found a voice recorder that may have captured the final words of three Americans killed when their firefighting plane crashed in southern NSW.

The large aerial water tanker was swallowed by flames after crashing in the Snowy Mountains region while battling bushfires on Thursday afternoon.

Captain Ian McBeth, first officer Paul Clyde Hudson and flight engineer Rick DeMorgan Jr were killed.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau boss Greg Hood said investigators found the cockpit voice recorder while searching the plane's charred wreckage on Saturday.

It was not clear whether the recording would shed light on the cause of the crash, he noted.

'The cockpit voice recorder might be very useful, or it might not be. It depends on what was said,' he told reporters near the crash site on Saturday.

Rick DeMorgan Jr (pictured), a father-of-two from Florida, served in the US Air Force for 18 years as a flight engineer on the C-130

Pictured: Captain Ian McBeth, from Great Falls, Montana, was an experienced pilot who had dedicated years of his life to fighting fires in the military and with Coulson Aviation

The tanker plummeted to the ground in Peak View, north-east of Cooma (pictured) on Thursday afternoon

'It generally records the last two hours of a flight. We should have some indication tomorrow when the data is downloaded.'

Investigators began searching the crash site at first light on Saturday.

'Tomorrow we will bring in the 3D mapping drone,' Mr Hood said.

'We will also go into town in Cooma and start taking witness statements from (Rural Fire Service) personnel that observed the accident sequence.'

A relative of one of the men arrived in Sydney on Saturday, accompanied by representatives of Coulson Aviation, the Canadian company that operated the C-130 Hercules.

Relatives will be offered the chance to visit the crash site next week.

The men's bodies were recovered by police on Friday.

Images of the crash site were released by NSW Police.

Only the tail of the plane remains upright, surrounded by fractured debris and scorched trees.

Wheel wreckage of the C-130 airtanker which crashed after dropping fire retardant on a bushfire near Cooma in southern NSW on Thursday

The crash site (pictured) of the C-130 Hercules plane from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service Snowy Mountains

Coulson has described the three airmen as 'fallen heroes' and said their deaths would be 'deeply felt by all' in the aviation industry and emergency service sector.

Florida father-of-two Mr DeMorgan, 43, spent 18 years in the US Air Force as a flight engineer on C-130s with extensive combat experience.

His loss was 'surreal', his sister said online.

'He was a beloved friend, colleague, father, son and most of all, brother,' Jen DeMorgan posted online.

'To most the sky was the limit, to them it was home.'

Coulson Aviation said Capt McBeth's love for his wife Bowdie and three children 'was evident for anyone who spent time around him'.

Flags will fly at half-mast on Saturday in Montana, where the highly-qualified 44-year-old pilot flew with the National Guard.

Mr Hudson, a 42-year-old from the outskirts of Phoenix, spent 20 years as a US Marine, flying C-130s and receiving many decorations as he reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. He is survived by his wife Noreen.

The men are among six firefighters and 25 people who have died in NSW's unprecedented bushfire season.
Patience pays off in making this multi-step Hakka specialty

Rich, meltingly tender pork belly meets sweet, starchy taro in kau yuk, a traditional Hakka dish from Chinas southern Guangdong Province.

Slices of pork belly and taro are fried, layered into a bowl to steam for hourssoaking up an umami-packed braising sauce all the whileand then inverted onto a platter to servelike an upside-down cake, but one made of fatty, flavorful meat.

Hearty, comforting, and intensely savory, the dish hits all the classic notes of Hakka cuisine. Thats the food of the Hakka Chinese people, a distinct ethnic subgroup believed to have originated in northern China and migrated to the south, as well as Taiwan and other parts of the world, over thousands of years.

To make kau yuk at home, youll need to block off a few hours of your time. The process is long, but much of it is hands-off.

It starts with a slab of pork belly, which needs to be thrice-cooked for that perfect texture: boiled, to remove any gamey smells and impurities; deep-fried, to puff up the skin and bring out its aromas; and finally slowly steamed with the taro, to coax it into soft, melt-in-your-mouth submission. The taro does a great job at absorbing the juices and fatalong with plenty of flavorso that the pork belly doesnt feel overly greasy.

The final component is the sauce. Its full of umami from two Chinese pantry heavy-hitters: chu hou paste, a common braising condiment made primarily of soybeans; and red fermented bean curd, cubes of bean curd that have been preserved in rice wine and fermented red rice. (This recipe uses only the sauce from a jar of red fermented bean curd, not the bean curd itself.) You can find both ingredients at any Chinese supermarket.

The sauce does triple duty, first as a marinade; then a braising liquid during the steaming step; and finally, after being boosted with aromatics and thickened with cornstarch, a glossy finishing sauce for the final presentation.

In the end, your patience will be rewarded with an impressive dish for any family gathering or holiday. (Hint, hint: Lunar New Year is fast approaching on Jan. 25!)

Steamed Pork Belly With Taro (Hakka Kau Yuk)

Prep Time: 1 hour

Rest Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 2 hours

Serves 4



For the pork belly and taro:

1 (2 1/2-pound) slab pork belly, skin-on

3 thin slices ginger

2 stalks scallions, white parts left whole, green parts finely minced

About 2 cups vegetable oil, for frying

3 tablespoons dark soy sauce

1 large (2-pound) taro root

For the sauce:

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine

1 tablespoons oyster sauce

1 tablespoon chu hou paste

1 tablespoon sauce from a jar of red fermented bean curd (not the bean curd itself)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 cup chicken broth

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 teaspoon finely minced ginger

2 star anise

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon water

To prepare the pork belly and taro:

Place the pork belly in a large pot of room temperature water, enough to completely cover the pork belly. Add ginger and the white parts of the scallions. (Reserve the minced green parts for the final garnish.) Cover the pot, turn heat to high, and let boil for 30 minutes, until the pork belly is cooked medium-well.

Take out the pork belly and place on a flat working surface. While still hot, use a few metal skewers or a knife to prick holes all over the skin. (This will give the skin a puffy texture and prevent it from cracking when we deep-fry it later on.) Pat dry with paper towels.

Also while still warm, brush 3 tablespoons of dark soy sauce all over the pork belly. Place the pork belly in a strainer or on a wire rack and let air-dry for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel the taro and cut it into rectangular slices, 3 inches in length, 2 inches in width, and 1/2 inch in thickness.

When the pork belly is ready, in a pan over medium heat, add about 2 cups vegetable oil, or enough for a layer about the same depth as the thickness of the pork belly skin. While the oil is still cool, add the pork belly, skin side-down, and quickly cover the pan to prevent the oil from splattering everywhere. Fry the skin over medium heat for about 3 minutes, until golden. Turn off the heat and wait until the oil is no longer splattering before removing the lid. Transfer the pork belly to a flat working surface to cool. The skin should be golden and covered with small spots.

While the pork belly is cooling, deep-fry the taro. In the same pan over high heat, add the taro slices to the oil and deep-fry for about 3 minutes, flipping occasionally, until golden. Carefully transfer to a paper towel-lined plate, making sure the slices do not overlap, as they might stick to each other while still hot.

After the pork belly has cooled, trim off any uneven parts (save the scraps for later!) to make a uniform rectangle. Cut the pork belly into 1/2-inch-thick slices.

To make the sauce:

In a bowl, mix together the soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, oyster sauce, chu hou paste, red fermented bean curd sauce, sugar, and chicken broth.

In a small saucepan over low heat, add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add the garlic, ginger, and star anise, and saute until aromatic. Pour in the sauce and turn the heat to high. Bring to a boil and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes.

To assemble:

In a large bowl, arrange the pork belly and taro slices, standing upright (with the pork belly skin side-down), in alternating layers. They should be tightly packed together in the bowl. Pour the sauce all over the pork belly and taro, making sure to cover every slice. Let marinate for 30 minutes.

In a large steamer, bring water to a boil. Transfer in the bowl of marinated pork belly and taro. Steam over high heat for 2 hours, adding more hot water to the steamer every 30 minutes.

Carefully remove the bowl from the steamer. Pour the sauce from the bowl into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. In a small bowl, mix together 1 teaspoon cornstarch and 1 teaspoon of water to make a cornstarch slurry. Add to the saucepan and cook, stirring, until the sauce is thickened.

Place a plate over the bowl of pork belly and taro, making sure it completely covers the top. Carefully invert the bowl onto the plate, then lift up the bowl to uncover the pork belly and taro. Pour the thickened sauce on top, garnish with the reserved green parts of the scallions, and serve!

Recipe by CiCi Li. CiCi Li is the producer and presenter of CiCis Food Paradise on NTD. Join her in discovering the world of Asian home cooking at CiCiLi.tv
For more than half a century, there has only been a single, complete example of a Hawker Typhoon in existence, and it is purely a fluke that even this airframe still exists. It seems incredible that one of the seminal Allied ground attack aircraft from WWII should be so unrepresented in museums and flying collections today, but just the RAF Museums Typhoon Mk.IB MN235 remains.

However, two groups, one in Canada and the other in the UK, have been working hard to redress this issue by resurrecting the breed with their own airworthy example. Both groups are making serious, material progress towards this end, and crucially, each has acquired an example of the all-but-extinct Napier Sabre engine to power their aircraft. While we hope to bring details about the Canadian effort to restore Hawker Typhoon JP843 in the future, this article will focus upon the work which the Hawker Typhoon Preservation Group is doing to resurrect Typhoon Mk.IB RB396, a combat-veteran Tiffy lost on operations over the Netherlands during WWII. The project is based around the substantially complete, surviving rear fuselage from this airframe, and many other original components which one of the non-profit restoration groups two trustees, David Robinson, has gathered over several decades of diligent endeavor. We have published a number of articles on this restoration over the past year or so, but its been some time since the most recent update last August, so we have a lot of ground to cover.

Perhaps one of the most important aspects of this restoration is the magnificent effort the team is making to use as much viable original material in the restoration as possible. While this is a significantly more expensive route to follow, it will result in an airworthy Typhoon that can justifiably be called a restoration, rather than a reproduction. Sadly, far too many restoration projects these days have only the vaguest hint of original structure in them, when, with a little extra effort, time  and money  they could retain far more.

As the group stated recently, It is worth noting that it is not cheaper to re-use many parts; it is in fact more expensive than simply creating new in most cases. However, our focus has always been on ensuring this potential one-of-a-kind aircraft is rebuilt to the highest, and most authentic standards possible.

Given that the Hawker Typhoon Preservation Group is operating on a shoe-string budget, it would have been so easy for them to pursue the cheaper route, replacing everything with new-build material, but that is not what they are about  they want as much original structure in the airframe as is viable to restore and that is hugely commendable. To learn how you can help them please click HERE.

To present an overall review of the restoration efforts so far, the following article uses adapted text from the Hawker Typhoon Preservation Groups recent annual report and other updates

Hawker Typhoon Mk.IB RB396  The Rebuild As of January, 2020

2019 was a significant year for the project and for the Hawker Typhoon and her crews. It marked seventy two years since the Types last recorded flight, seventy five years since D-Day and RB396s first flight a few months later, and seventy nine years since the first flight of a Typhoon.

2019 also marked the beginning for the rebuild of a genuine, combat-veteran Typhoon  and the first time a Hawker Typhoon MKIb has appeared on the UK civil register  G-TIFY (RB396).

An initial 10,000 deposit with Airframe Assemblies (AA) meant that as soon as registration was completed, work could commence. However, the engineers at AA took the decision to remove one of RB396s skins so they could assess the airframes condition earlier, but without affecting the registration progress. There have been (and will continue to be) many firsts for the Typhoon  the removal of a complete skin from the rear fuselage was perhaps a first time occurrence for the breed considering the type was only in service for four years.

August commenced with the removal of fuselage frame K (at the rear) and frame A (assembly number D94398) located at the forward end of the rear fuselage. This frame is made up from approximately 60 separate pieces, and these had to be labelled and assessed for viability. Initial estimates forecast that we would be able to re-use roughly 50-60% of the rear fuselage. After seventy four years some of the parts were too corroded for use in an airworthy aircraft, but both AA and the team were delighted to find that as much as 80% of RB396s internal structure could be re-used. It is very important to the team that as much of the original structure as possible should be preserved, even though it is more costly to restore, in some cases, than it is to make parts from new.

The biggest challenge for any restoration is corrosion. Back in WWII, each aircraft was designed and built to fulfil an immediate role, but with no expectation that any would be flying even five years later, let alone 70. Corrosion protection, while important, was not a number one priority. We are very fortunate, therefore, that there is only minimal corrosion in RB396. However, the aircrafts forced-landing in WWII and subsequent decades which its surviving fuselage section spent on public display did leave structural damage in some areas. Thankfully, while difficult, it is possible to restore much of the damaged structure  other than the outer skins of course.

The repair process involved with just one of the damaged ribs offers a unique insight into the job at hand; one that requires specialist care. Part# D94406-21, the top segment of Frame J, exhibited significant distortion which required flattening out. Various other imperfections needed dressing as well. To begin, the part had to undergo suitable heat treatment to temporarily soften the material for reshaping, otherwise there would be a grave risk of cracking.

The heat treatment process involves heating the item to 5050C for around 20 minutes. It is then quenched in cold water. This leaves the material workable for around 2 hours. After a couple of days, it will naturally return to its original hardness/strength. The time and temperature applied is critical though; the process is carried out in a computer-controlled, calibrated oven.

With the piece successfully dressed flat, the edges required smoothing, as the original rather saw toothed factory-finishing left a lot to be desired  after all, there was a war on when the part was made! The next step is a chemical dip and basic cleaning to kill off any minor surface corrosion. When these steps are completed, the component is alochromed  a chemical surface treatment that prevents corrosion and prepares the surface for the initial coat of primer paint. In this case, Airframe Assemblies used a white primer paint as the final internal color was then yet to be confirmed.

So that is what it takes to save a piece of history  around a full, working day for just this one small item!

All of the fuselage frames were removed and disassembled, and then each individual part was assessed for its viability in a similar manner to this one rib. As already intimated, most of these components were salvageable for restoration via the techniques described.

The next major effort involved removing the stringers from the fuselage skin. The rear fuselage is made up of a series of sheet metal frames which are covered by long, curved, sheetmetal panels. The skins are stiffened by stringers that run its entire length  some are over 8 feet long. The stringers are formed from rolled 22swg aluminum alloy sheet with a top hat cross-section (Hawker A.std 1067) and attached to the skin panels by 1/8 countersunk rivets.

There has been an update to the progress at Airframe Assemblies which highlights the implementation of repair procedures on the stringers, as specified in the Typhoon repair manual. As far as we know, this is something that has not been done since May 1945.

Twenty six individual stringers remained in the Typhoons surviving fuselage section, and these had to be separated from the skins. This entailed carefully drilling out each rivet  and a typical length of stringer contains some 200 rivets, so you can imagine how much effort this involved! Prior to drilling, it is necessary to pop a small dimple in the centre of each rivet head, using a center punch, so that the bit wont skid off when you begin drilling. The head is then carefully drilled to a depth that will separate the head from the shank of the rivet, but without drilling right through.

Once all of the rivet heads are removed, the stringer can then easily be separated from the skin panel, and the rivet tail removed without enlarging the original mounting holes. Once the stringers are all separated, the next step is the long process of paint stripping. Despite the outward, somewhat disheveled appearance of some stringers, they proved to be in remarkably good condition underneath the many layers of paint. While some of the stringer sections are intact along their entire length, others, alas, have sustained damage along the way. Each of the stringers underwent an individual assessment process to determine which could be saved. Some only needed minor repair and others needed more extensive rework, but all refurbishment was in line with the official manuals. There were numerous dents, as well as edge ripples in some places, and these required straightening. To avoid the need for hand-bashing each defect, Airframe Assemblies made a special press tool. This tool accurately matches the stringer profile and gently presses out the dents  with a little help from a small fly-press.

Wherever possible, the intention is to retain the original undamaged stringer portions, splicing in new sections as required. All of RB396s stringers had been cut at the rear frame, so in another first, AA reviewed the original wartime repair manuals and determined that there was a field repair that could be applied to the stringers. This involved cutting the original material at different intervals, rotating it, and then making new stringer sections to splice in between; a field repair that is believed unused during WWII, because it was easier to replace the rear fuselage in its entirety. The final profile was perfected towards the end of 2019. Following refurbishment, each stringer section was clipped back in position on its respective skin panel to allow for safe storage and to ensure no parts got mixed in the process.

To give some idea for the amount labor involved in this restoration  just to remove the rivets from the stringers  we can calculate by simply measuring the amount of time needed to remove a single, which is roughly 2 minutes, and there are roughly 200 rivets in each of the 26 stringer sections. This amounts to 10,400 minutes (170+ hours) just for this step! This highlights where the costs are accrued in the rebuild of a unique aircraft, we need the support of everyone to get RB396 back where she belongs.

Just 4 (the average price of a drink in your local pub) from each of our followers would see the rebuild of the rear fuselage completed, please do help and visit the donation page or our webshop.

After paint stripping, assessing, Non Destructive Testing, dressing (dents, dings etc) and being chemically treated for corrosion, each piece is etch-primed and then white primer coat is applied. Alongside this process, the dreaded paperwork has to be completed. Items such as Frame A have a detailed work pack/job card. This identifies each part for originality, new build, material specifications (if new) and reference to original factory drawings or a new drawing if none exist. Every single component being used on this aircraft (and any other rebuild), from rivets upwards, has to have a paper trail. As the old saying goes, a restored aircraft is not ready to fly until the weight of all the accrued paperwork matches the weight of the aircraft!

Once the skins had been completely removed from the airframe, the restoration team took some time to determine, as closely as possible, the exact paint colors required to faithfully return the aircraft to its former livery. Thankfully a well-respected specialist team was available to inspect the original WWII paint still remaining on the airframe  they even assayed the interior colors  so now we know exactly which hues to use, and how thickly we need to apply them.

During November and December 2019, the design and production of a new jig for the rear fuselage continued. We already had a fixture for assembly and storage, but a substantial new jig was required for the actual rebuild itself. We received the water-cut stations for each fuselage frame in December as well as the 12 foot length of truss that will form the central shaft of the fuselage build fixture.

As with any project of this nature, there are always things that do not go to plan which push the timeframe, budget or both. In RB396s case, one such hiccup happened during November. Earlier in 2019, we acquired the complete rear fuselage of a former Indian Air Force Tempest Mk.II due to its design sharing engineering similarities, and even some components, with its older brother, the Typhoon. RB396s fuselage section was missing its rear frame, to which the tail is attached. We had hoped the Tempest fuselage could provide these crucial parts. These components are made from a special section of extruded aluminium produced in two halves. Sadly, when the engineers removed these parts from the Tempest, their assessment revealed one half was too corroded to reuse  a result of this airframe having been stored outdoors in the UK for many years prior to HTPG acquiring it.

There are a number of options to replace this component. We could order the new manufacture of this extrusion, but this would require a minimum run of 500ft at a cost of 10,000, which seems a waste considering we only need 3 feet of the material for the restoration. Alternatively, new examples could be milled from a solid aluminum billet, but this always runs the risk of requiring a number of attempts before the proper part is produced  which would prove very expensive. Ideally, it would be better if we could simply find another original component. Thankfully, trustee Dave Robinson has managed to locate one within a cache of other related parts, and an initial review suggests that the frame is in far better condition than what we have. However, we can only acquire it if we purchase the entire cache of parts, which will cost 25,000. While this may seem excessive in comparison to the other options, there are significant additional Typhoon parts included in this cache which we had already budgeted for in the rebuild, so it will likely prove a far cheeper to follow this route. Indeed, by purchasing this cache, we should be able to lower some of the rebuild estimates by as much as 30,000  and save a significant amount of time! As ever, this option will all be dependent upon raising sufficient funds, but following internal discussion, and in consultation with ARCo and AA, we consider this purchase to be the best way forward in the long term.

So what does all this mean? Following the Crowdfunder campaign earlier in 2019, the aim was to use the funds raised to begin the rebuild. After costs, the Crowdfunder effort raised 60,000 towards the cost of rebuilding the rear fuselage. So far, we have expended 61,000 on the significant work achieved to date. We have sufficient funds to allow AA to continue, at their cut down rate, for a further two months, adding a further 10,000 to the rebuild. This will allow us to keep a reserve in order to cover the charity running costs, the pre-season costs (air shows/events and stock) and a portion of the funds we need to raise to secure the already-mentioned cache of parts that includes the rear frame. We have approximately 140,000  180,000 left to raise for the rear fuselage to be complete!

There has been a lot of hard work by both the trustees and our dedicated volunteer team since our launch in October 2016, and everyone can now see their dedication rewarded. Our fundraising efforts will never stop, and that is what we are all working so hard on. We are the fundraisers, not the engineers, enabling and facilitating the rebuild of this forgotten legend. A huge thank you must go to all our supporters and contributors for helping us to get to this significant stage of the project.

As is evident, the Hawker Typhoon Preservation Group has made huge strides forwards with their goal of restoring RB396 back to flying condition. We commend all of our readers to contribute towards this important project. Please click HERE to visit their donation page, or HERE to visit their online store!
District 2 Commissioner Karen Bredthauer said many of the problem crossings, specifically at North Road and Highway 2, and Capital Avenue, are in her district. She said the blocked crossings are affecting the way her constituents and others get to places, including Northwest High School.

Bredthauer said she has had numerous calls from her constituents, as well as photos sent to her, regarding trains blocking the crossings in her district for an extended period of time.

It is pretty much a life-safety and quality-of-life issue to a lot of people in that area, she said. When you have as much population that has grown in the northwest area, you have to realize that the railroad doesnt realize that is where the population growth is. Maybe a few years ago, there was not as much population there, but we are going to have to come up with a solution to this.

Schmidt said the blocked railroad crossings can hinder his departments response times in an emergency. He said timing is critical and that anything that closes down, or alters, the routes of fire personnel has the ability to affect the outcome of the emergency event.
The Week In Russia: Options For Putin, Not For The People

By Steve Gutterman January 24, 2020

Prime minister, parliament speaker, party chief, head of a supercharged State Council that would set guidelines for Russia's domestic and foreign policy and goals for the country's development.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is barred from seeking a fifth term in 2024. But with a raft of constitutional amendments that he is pushing through so fast one observer wondered whether "an asteroid is hurtling toward Earth," Putin has given himself a rich range of options for the future.

The Russian people, not so much.

They will vote on the matter by the end of April, probably -- after the changes have been approved by parliament and signed into law by Putin, apparently, and after they are plugged in a major state-media campaign, presumably.

The popular vote will fall short of the status of a referendum by law, thinning the veneer of legitimacy it gives the most extensive alteration of Russia's power structure since the constitution was adopted two years after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

And Russians will be voting on a cat in a bag -- or a pig in a poke, if you prefer, which I don't. The changes being rushed into law are a framework, a superstructure whose specific content is being hidden from them for now. Perhaps the most concrete way to describe the exercise is as a vote of confidence in Putin, 67, and in whatever he may have in store for the country.

Two years after they handed him another term, prolonging his rule as president or prime minister beyond the 20-year mark, Russians will essentially be voting for Putin again. They will be handing him something close to a blank check, a list of ways to retain power even longer -- should he choose to do so -- without staying on as president.

Putin's initiative "is about manufacturing maneuverability and keeping options open," Sam Greene, director of the Russia Institute at King's College London, said in a Twitter thread on January 20.

'Confusion, Deception, And Uncertainty'

What it's not about, clearly, is clarity. Even as he laid out by far the most substantive information about his plans for the future, he left pretty much everyone else in the dark on some of the crucial details -- deliberately, according to Greene and other observers -- whether he has worked them out for himself or not.

"A real whirlwind of a day, but confusion, deception, and uncertainty are all part of this game," U.S.-based political analyst Andras Toth-Czifra tweeted in the hours after the January 15 state-of-the-nation speech in which he announced the proposed constitutional amendments .

While Putin said in his speech that the presidency would remain strong under his proposals, other things he said placed the focus on a shift of some powers away from the Kremlin and into the hands of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, potentially strengthening the prime minister at the expense of the president, and on plans to give the State Council -- an institution that has no formal power and is not mentioned in the existing constitution -- some actual authority.

The State Council would provide for smooth cooperation among various branches of power and determine "the main directions of domestic, foreign, and socio-economic policy.

Shortly after he spoke, Putin replaced Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev with Mikhail Mishustin, a little-known tax service chief seen by many as likely to have only a first-act role in the production now under way.

"A possible scenario [would] see Mishustin head the government until late '21 when a new Duma with its expanded powers elects a new, stronger prime minister," Toth-Czifra wrote in a Twitter thread, adding that Putin would retain "firm control over security agencies until the situation is ripe for him to step downand possibly take a new position in a strengthened State Council."

"But most importantly this is only one of the many available scenarios," he wrote, adding: "All of these options come with their own risks and opportunities."

Rules For All But Putin?

If expectations raised by Putin's speech had been borne out, the State Council would have looked like an option providing him with plenty of opportunities and few risks, if any: a newly powerful body whose chief would be above the president, a national leader whose authority might approach that of a tsar.

But when Putin submitted the proposed amendments to parliament, on January 20, the vague wording about the State Council provided no evidence that it would have power over the president. The president would "form" the State Council, whose status would be determined by separate legislation.

That legislation does not yet exist. When it does, it could presumably place the council and its head above the president. But a subsequent remark from Putin suggests that may not happen. On January 22, he used a meeting with students to provide another clue about his intentions, stating that the future president should not have a formal "mentor" during a transition period.

Why not?

Placing an institution above the president would mean "nothing other than diarchy -- an absolutely ruinous situation for a country like Russia," Putin said.

That strongly suggests that the State Council will not be formally superior to the president -- whose position as set out in the amendments submitted to the Duma also looks stronger than Putin indicated in his state-of-the nation speech, which gave the impression that the prime minister might hold more power than the president.

But it might be wise to take Putin's warning against diarchy with a spoonful of salt: Remember, he pretty much put such a system in place for four years in 2008, when he moved to the prime minister's post and steered Medvedev into the Kremlin to avoid violating the limit of two consecutive presidential terms.

Parting Gifts?

Some observers say that the visible evidence so far suggests that Putin may in fact be looking to make his exit.

But another possibility is that the limits that now seem likely to keep the State Council formally subordinate to the president will exist to restrict its leaders in the more distant future, after he is gone. But that -- like the loophole that enabled him to return to the Kremlin in 2012, which will now be removed, limiting a future president to two terms, period -- it will not really apply to Putin.

"One can understand why Putin is afraid to weaken the presidency. He is genuinely convinced, and has said so time and again, that Russia cannot be run without strong presidential power. He is also conscious of his mortality," Bloomberg Opinion columnist Leonid Bershidsky wrote.

"If he creates a system in which the president emeritus, or whatever post he occupies, has more formal powers than the president, the entire system of governance may be destabilized when he's gone -- and thus open to the destructive influence of what he sees as foreign foes," Bershidsky wrote.

In the meantime, a more visible and influential State Council might provide Putin with a perch from which he can monitor the system he puts in place -- assuming his plans are not derailed in the next few years by some major upheaval. It could allow him to step in when and to the degree in which he sees fit, using a mix of formal mechanisms and informal clout.

"If he's serious about retaining authority on Russia's fundamental interests, Putin will spend the next 4 years building and populating his informal control mechanisms, which will be far more important than whatever formal authorities the State Council receives," Robert Person, an international relations professor at the U.S. Military Academy, wrote in a Twitter thread.

If It Ain't Broke

Particularly when it seemed like he was really weakening the presidency and strengthening the Duma, there was a fair amount of talk about how Putin's changes could lead to a more democratic system: one that would potentially provide for a more active role for the people he professes to do everything in the name of.

Such assessments may gloss over the fact that the existing constitution -- with some exceptions, such as the wording that enabled him to hand off the presidency in 2008 and take it back in 2012 -- arguably provides a flawed but wholly workable framework for democracy, a reliable if not watertight vessel.

Critics say it is Putin who -- in marginalizing independent politicians, muzzling the media, and suppressing civil society over 20 years in power -- has filled that vessel with something else entirely.

And thousands of Russians who have signed a manifesto against the proposed changes say they won't change anything for the better.

The statement, published by the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta on January 24, describes the amendments as a "constitutional coup" aimed at keeping "Putin and his corrupt regime" in power until he dies.

It also suggests that the amendments would continue to have a negative effect even after that, warning that the constitution is far from ideal but that changing it "for immediate political purposes will destroy the last institution that is protecting Russia from the complete usurpation of power."

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/the-week-in- russia-options-for-putin-not-for- the-people/30395315.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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Your first view of Las Palmas, the largest city in the Canary Islands, will be of the pretty, pastel-coloured houses of the hillier neighbourhoods.

These residences owe their exteriors more to thrift than frivolity, however, as they are coated in paint left over from daubing fishermens boats.

Its a radiant introduction to a holiday in a city meteorologists say has the most perfect climate in Europe, with an average temperature of 22c (72f).

Meteorologists say Las Palmas has the most perfect climate in Europe, with an average temperature of 22c (72f)

Where to stay

Veintiuno

This converted 18th-century home has 11 adult-only rooms fashionably arranged around a traditional Canarian atrium. Look up from a rooftop bar to the neighbouring cathedral and down to the cobblestone paths of olde worlde Vegueta. B&B doubles from 86, book direct with Early Bird offer, hotelveintiuno.com.

Lemon & Soul Las Palmas

The formerly functional Hotel Atlanta has been rebranded as fresh Lemon & Soul. Lemons are everywhere, from the tree at reception to the motif on the exterior.

It has 71 zestful rooms spread over six floors and is situated just 50 metres from Las Canteras beach, on Calle Alfredo L Jones, named after the pioneering Welshman who exported bananas from Las Palmas to what would become Canary Wharf in London in the 19th century. B&B doubles for an average price of 70, lemonandsoul-laspalmas.com.

Guesthouse Katanka

Bright and light, this 1920s guesthouse, with 11 rooms, a childrens play area and a terrace, is the antithesis of the average B&B. Its in Ciudad Jardin, also home to Anglican Holy Trinity Church and the Club Ingles, which was frequented by Agatha Christie when the city was Gran Canarias only resort. Queen bed from 52, king bed from 65, breakfast included, guesthousekatanka.com.

Bed & Chic

Set in Parque Santa Catalina, the 23-room Bed & Chic is in an ideal location. More square than park, the bustling space hosts popular city celebrations including Carnaval, whose hottest ticket is the Drag Queen Gala. From the olive-green facade to the Paisley wallpaper, this hotel stands out for all the right reasons. Doubles without breakfast from 60, bedandchic.com.

What to see and do

Get on your bike

Rent a bicycle and follow the Avenida Maritima, a doppelganger for Cubas Malecon (bikes from 2.60 an hour, sitycleta.com). Break up the leisurely 40-minute ride in erstwhile fishing village San Cristobal, home to the capitals best seafood restaurants.

Start at the beginning

The city was a mere 14 years old, founded by the Spanish invasion force after conquering the Berber-descending canarii, when an adventurous son of Genoa, Christopher Columbus, dropped by in 1492. The Ermita de San Antonio Abad, a church in Vegueta, brought the explorer to his knees as he prayed for a safe voyage. For further facts about the oldest district in town, book an hour-long walking tour with Trip Gran Canaria (6, tripgrancanaria.com).

Go downtown

Neighbouring Triana is the premier shopping area. Give the main drag, Calle Mayor, a swerve and hit more interesting offshoots. From Plaza Cairascos Hotel Madrid, where Franco plotted his Spanish Civil War campaign and Gregory Peck played the role of barfly at night while filming Moby Dick by day, to the stately splendour of the Palacete Rodriguez Quegles, theres much to stumble across.

Time travel

Squeeze in a stop at Casa de Colon, above, to examine a replica of Columbus fleet

Veguetas reasonably-priced museums get even cheaper on the first weekend of the month when they become free.

Mummys the word at El Museo Canario, home to the dessicated remains of the islands original inhabitants: the canarii (elmuseocanario.com).

Squeeze in a stop at Casa de Colon to examine a replica of Columbus fleet (casadecolon.com).

Foodie central

Mercado del Puerto comprises a mix of fruit and veg, fish and meat stalls and small restaurants

The Las Palmas version of Londons Borough Market is Mercado del Puerto (mercadodelpuerto.net). Its a mix of fruit and veg, fish and meat stalls and small restaurants. For a taste of Canarian cuisine, head to Piscos & Buches whose nicely spicy mojo sauce accompanying salty boiled new potatoes (papas arrugadas) is as orange as molten lava (5.15).

Where to eat

Naturalis Beach Bar

Keep cool in the Atlantic breeze while relaxing at this beach bars outdoor tables. Its specialities include smoothies, salads and sandwiches. Pair a shake (3 for a medium or 3.85 for a large) of milk, banana, gofio (toasted cornflour) and honey, which many parents still prepare for their childrens breakfasts, with the classic mixto (ham and cheese) sarnie (1.71). Address: Calle Numancia 31.

Restaurante Fuji

Spains first Japanese restaurant opened in Las Palmas. Toshihiko Sato, who arrived by boat, launched Fuji in 1967 and its now run by former disciple Miguel Martinez. Booking is advised. Starters are big enough to share, including the cold tofu (3), kimchi (spicy vegetables, 3.50) and octopus vinegret (3.70), restaurantefuji.es.

Adasu Bistrot

They are a clever lot at the stylish Adasu. Not only do they play with words  their name is an acronym formed from the first letters of the five tastes in Spanish: acido, dulce etc  they also toy with flavours. Snack on satisfyingly crunchy kale-heavy spring rolls (6) for dinner; at lunch, feast on a generous set menu (9.42). Address: Calle Secretario Padilla 73.

Tasca Galileo

Reserve a lunch table or join the queue before dinner at this heaving tavern. Sample Castilian fare with a Canarian flourish, including lagarto iberico (7.71)  pork cut in a lizard shape  and wash it down with a bottle of wine from one of the capitals biggest cellars, such as the lively Librato (10.28) from Don Quixote country. Address: Calle Galileo 13.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 19:40:07|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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NEW DELHI, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The lawmaking body (locally called the Assembly) in the western Indian state of Rajasthan Saturday passed a resolution demanding scrapping of the controversial new citizenship law in the country, officials said.

The move comes at a time when countrywide protests against the new law are raging in various Indian states.

"Rajasthan Assembly has passed a resolution today against the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) and we have urged the Central (federal) govt to repeal the law as it discriminates against people on religious grounds, which violates the provisions of our Constitution," Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot in a statement said.

"Our Constitution prohibits any kind of discrimination. This is the first time in the history of the nation that a law has been enacted which discriminates people on religious grounds. It violates secular principles of our Constitution and also Article 14 of our Constitution."

Rajasthan is the third state in India to pass the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) resolution after Kerala and Punjab.

Protests against the controversial new citizenship law were triggered on December 11 last year, the day India's upper house of parliament passed the law. Since then there has been no let-up in the protests. At least 27 people have been killed during the protests across India.

The law aims at granting citizenship to illegal immigrants belonging to six religions -- Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Parsi and Christianity -- from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, it has kept out Muslim immigrants from applying for citizenship.
Classic! As the Senate trial rolls on, our president, who is being impeached for myriad offenses, is now committing, yet again, some of those same offenses that put him in this situation in the first place. Dahlia Lithwick points out each new Trumpy tactic bit by bit. Meanwhile, Jeremy Stahl wonders about two somewhat aggressive comments that were recently reported and attributed to White House officials.

Complex: Even people who are aware of the U.S. militarys vast presence throughout the world dont necessarily know how much this foothold depends on contractorsand how many of these contractors die, or how many crimes they commit, with little to no media coverage. Joshua Keating explains the corporate aspects of forever war.

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Majesty: Hairy, potbellied mermen are taking the Canadian coast by storm, reinventing Newfoundlands maritime culture and challenging the local, traditional ideas of manhood. Brian Barth has the story, and photographs.

Drive: Maybe you saw the Twitter video Jeff Bezos posted of the Amazon-branded electric rickshaws hes rolling out in India as part of his companys #ClimatePledge. Can Bezos really help one of the most heavily polluting nations in the world tamp down emissions this way? Chloe Hadavas unpacks the spectacle.

For fun: Was the hero dog subject of Disneys Togo really such a good boy?

Balto also makes a cameo in the movie!

Nitish
Weather Alert

...Gusty Winds on Lake Champlain and along the Lake Shore... Gusty winds are occurring on Lake Champlain this morning with speeds in excess of 50 mph being measured at Colchester Reef and will continue through mid morning. These winds are likely occurring along the Champlain islands as well as the adjacent lake shore of Vermont and could result in some damage to trees or isolated power outages.
To the Editor:

Re Who Killed the Knapp Family?, by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (Sunday Review, Jan. 12):

I write in praise of the heartbreaking but beautifully reported story about the problems of Yamhill, Ore., with the losses suffered by the Knapp family as the centerpiece of the ongoing tragedy. Rarely have I read a piece featuring such empathy coupled with such tough-minded analysis. Accurately, in my opinion, the authors locate the heart of the tragedy not in personal shortcomings of substance abuse or irresponsibility but rather in joblessness and other structural issues that have befallen wide swaths of our country.

Those of us who are still fortunate enough to live in some degree of middle-class security, likely in a region that has not yet been visited by the devastation wrought by globalization and automation, can all too easily either ignore the Knapps and their kin or ascribe their problems to moral failure. We need to start paying real attention.

Whats more, our country needs politicians who can grapple with these dislocations and their solutions in public policy without being patronizing and who are willing to be good listeners. And we dont need leaders who make false promises, such as that coal can make a comeback in West Virginia.

Glenna Matthews

Laguna Beach, Calif.

To the Editor:

As a mother of a heroin addict, I deeply appreciated the individualized and nuanced portrayals of the struggling family members. To finally read about the systemic societal context of this personal suffering was validating and refreshing.
by Karlene Lukovitz @KLmarketdaily, January 24, 2020

While advertising industry trade groups objected to Googles setting a two-year deadline for phasing out third-party cookies, citing an absence of consensus on timing and alternatives, the technology and advertising industries have long known that cookies days were numbered.

With log-in and other first-party data now the focus, publishers and platforms  especially Google itself, YouTube, Facebook and Amazon  will be in the drivers seat when it comes to providing measurable ad-targeting alternatives.

What does all of this mean for OTT, connected TV and advanced television in general?

Brad Nunn, senior vice president-performance digital at Assembly, offered one perspective in MediaPost earlier this week: We expect the decline of the cookie will open more doors to programmatic TV and larger growth in OTT, both of which do not use cookies and will have more attribution parity to other channels, he wrote.

advertisement advertisement

OTT providers like Hulu, Sling and Xandr have the strongest and most scalable log-in information tied to device IDs and content interest, putting them in the best position to build out audience targeting  second only to Facebook and Google, he continued.

OTT will also benefit from other channels losing measurement capabilities, due to its conversion tracking parity. As programmatic loses cookies, and ultimately its long-enjoyed value proposition, OTT will strengthen its position in the media mix, with strong audience targeting and more impactful units.

Like all other players, Comscore has a major stake in how this revolution plays out.

And because of its methodologys focus on contextual and Identifier For Advertising (IFA)-based audience targeting and measurement, its actually welcoming Googles proverbial pulling of the trigger.

Rachel Gantz, general manager for activation at Comscore, offered Advanced TV Insider some thoughts about how the company views the landscape ahead, including the implications for ATV and targeting in general.

Given the widening implementation of consumer data regulations in recent years, Comscore has been preparing for the inevitability of the phasing out of cookies for some time, says Gantz.

The Google announcement starts the clock on a shift in infrastructure from convenient, non-controlled cookie-based identity management and exchange to a more structured environment where consumers have more direct control of their data, and metrics are more well-defined, she says.

Consumers want the ability to make informed decisions regarding how their personal information is used, but they also want a free internet and relevant advertising. This announcement lays out a clear timeline for all of the players in the advertising ecosystem to come together to fully address those needs.

The new cookie-less playing field will come with significant advantages and fix problems that exist today with ad targeting, validation and audience measurement, Gantz says. But it will not fix all of them, and it may even create some new ones.

Comscore thinks its well-positioned to help provide cookie-free solutions for digital ad targeting.

There have been significant advancements in contextual solutions that have been somewhat overlooked by the industry as audience-based solutions became more popular, Gantz says.

We expect the pendulum to swing back toward contextual solutions and leveraging contextual-based demographic offerings so that media buyers can still meet their desired KPIs, like age/gender in-target rates, but can do so in a cookie-free manner.

Such solutions have become increasingly widely used in EMEA, where audience-based targeting has declined since GDPR went into effect. And with the end of cookies now in sight, Comscore expects to see broader adoption in the U.S., as well.

Comscores Media Mix measurement provides cookie-free audience composition segments that enable marketers to bid only on pages with a high composition of visitors with specific enhanced demographics, such as household size, household income, presence of children in the household, etc., points out Gantz.

Cookies, never a measure of persons  and not a great measure of devices, for that matter  have tended not to be a reliable source for these types of segments, she emphasizes.

Which, she says, is why Comscore centered its reporting around tagged events calibrated to panel data, translating various IDs and associated events into measures of persons with demographic attributes.

Identity of individuals or specific profiles are not necessary to provide robust planning tools, cross-platform audience estimates, or targetable segments, Gantz argues. As the ecosystem shifts away from tracking tags to other solutions, our methodology still applies.

The Google dictum is also coming at a time when CTV and addressable are just taking off, so it will be interesting to see the dynamics play out, she notes.

While publishers will welcome the greater power bestowed by the new emphasis on first-party data, it will take far greater collaboration among publishers than ever before to create a seamless experience for the marketer and a relevant experience for the consumer, she stresses.

The inevitable march of greater consumer data control and the two-year cookies phase-out also put even more importance on an IFA-based [as opposed to IP address-based] approach, aligned to the IAB guidelines, as a privacy-focused approach for audience-based activation for CTV, Gantz asserts.

Seemingly good news for Comscore, which last September teamed with key ad platforms to launch CTV IFA audiences. Providing clear consumer opt-out mechanisms via an IFA approach enables relevant ad targeting in a privacy-focused manner, she says.

Comscore is positioned to help the industry find unified advertising targeting and measurement solutions because its first-party-central source and methodology provide a foundation for normalizing and calibrating data across platforms and sources, Gantz sums up.

We encourage readers to weigh in with their own thoughts about how the death of cookies will affect advanced TV, and what types of solutions and strategies are likely to prevail.
JAN. 29 UPDATE: Henrico County police said Wednesday that the vehicle of interest has been located. No other details were immediately released.

JAN. 28 UPDATE: Henrico County police said Tuesday that they are seeking a vehicle of interest in Friday's death of a pedestrian and that it's believed to be a green Ford Explorer or Expedition from model years 2003 to 2008.

Police said the vehicle, which was traveling west on Staples Mill Road, is missing its right rear hubcap. Police are asking the driver to come forward or to contact police immediately.

The pedestrian who was fatally struck was Harvey Paul Cowan Jr., 44, of Henrico. He died at the scene.

Police said Monday that the driver involved immediately stopped and called 911.

ORIGINAL: Henrico County police are investigating after a pedestrian was fatally struck by a vehicle along Staples Mill Road on Friday night.

At 8:17 p.m., authorities received an emergency call reporting a crash just south of the intersection of Staples Mill Road and Parham Road, near Heisler Avenue. The struck pedestrian died at the scene.
It is a big deal, said Andrew Ferguson, a visiting professor at American University Washington College of Law who has written extensively on big data policing risks. It finally puts the brakes on a system of targeted person-based predictive policing that was largely flawed at the outset. I think there is a clear financial cost  money not spent dealing with the underlying social and economic issues that cause violent crime. But there is also a personal cost to the individuals who were on these lists or targeted by these lists.
The billionaire owners of The Ritz, Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, have injected 8million into its loss-making casino as they seek a buyer for one of the world's most famous hotels.

The Barclay twins are reportedly assessing offers from a number of Middle Eastern investors who could pay up to 800million  6.1million per bedroom  for the five-star hotel in London's West End.

Last week, company documents revealed that the 84-year-old brothers ploughed 8million into the Ritz Club, the gambling salon based in the hotel's former ballroom, after firing the starting gun on the sale process.

For sale? The Barclay twins are reportedly assessing offers from a number of Middle Eastern investors

The casino has not made a profit since 2016 due in part to increased regulation and a drop in the number of wealthy gamblers from the Far East.

The investment was made to cover trading losses after the Ritz Club posted an 8.9million pre-tax loss for the year to December 31, 2018. The previous year, when the casino lost 11.3million, the Barclays invested 10million.

The Barclays, who are worth a combined 8billion, also own the Telegraph newspapers.

They bought The Ritz for 75million in 1995. It is understood that they have not yet determined whether the casino will be included in the deal.

Possible buyers for the Ritz are said to include Saudi-backed investment group Sidra Capital and the Qatar Investment Authority.

The Barclays declined to comment.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt says Australia Day should remain on January 26 and commemorations around the country instead mark both the "good and the bad" of the nation's history since 1788.

In an exclusive interview with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Mr Wyatt said Australia's "dark beginnings" must be recognised in communities across the country but not overshadow celebrations of the "remarkable" multicultural country it has become.

Ken Wyatt is the first Indigenous man to serve as Minister for Indigenous Australians. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Strongly supporting the date of the national day remaining as it is, Mr Wyatt said Australia's history was marked with events "that none of us on reflection like".

"We can have anger at the past, the pain and the hurt ... but at some point we've got to give our children a better future," Mr Wyatt said.
Sesa sen By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: To work its way out of the current economic slump, the government needs to provide exports a boost, especially merchandise exports, amid a slackening domestic demand.



While sceptics say an export thrust is difficult when global trade is not doing well, optimists say its pertinent to promote garment exports as it could be single-biggest boost to jobs, beyond aiding to narrow the trade deficit.

The government recognises the potential of the garment sector to create jobs, but lack of reforms is holding back its growth, said Deepak Mohindra, chairman of Apparel Sourcing Week, adding the country needs reforms such as easing labour norms, reducing tariffs, and a fresh look at free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) to be an apparel manufacturing and exporting hub.



Bangladesh offers an interesting example. In 2000, its apparel exports (at 2.6 per cent of global share) lagged behind Indias (at 3 per cent). However, a collaborative government effort and its ability to leverage duty-free access to markets such as the EU, has made it the worlds second-largest apparel exporter after China.



At $37 billion in 2018, apparel exports has helped its GDP grow at six per cent annually over the last decade, besides creating millions of jobs.

Today Bangladesh is exporting four times more than India to the EU, whereas in the US the difference is of only 25 per cent, he said.



Vietnam, meanwhile, has also signed an FTA with the EU in 2019 and is already strategising to take advantage of the benefit.



However, an absence of FTA remains a killer for the 6,000-odd domestic garment exporters employing 40 million workers and exporting goods worth $17 billion.



The EU accounts for a major chunk of Indias total apparel exports generating revenue of $5.4 billion in 2019 as against $4.2 billion exported to the US.

Apparel Sourcing Week 2020



It provides a platform to manufacturers to showcase their products and manufacturing capabilities. The 3-day program will be held from Feb 20-22 in Bengaluru with an expected footfall of 10,000 attendees
CHICAGO, Jan. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Cardiology and Valvular Institute Medical Director Dr. Nalini Rajamannan has requested the Mayor's office to send the FDA Affidavit outlining Illinois and Minnesota patient testimonies to the Illinois and Chicago Department of Health's Dr. Jennifer Layden and Dr. Allison Arwady.

Dr. Rajamannan owns the rights to the photo, which she gave permission to reproduce in article published by the Daily Northwestern. https://dailynorthwestern.com/2019/05/23/top-stories/years-after-surgery-documents-renew-patients-malpractice-claims-northwestern-memorial-doctor/

The FDA Commissioner, Dr. Hahn, the Illinois and Minnesota Attorney General's offices and the Chicago Mayor's office are reviewing the Minneapolis FDA affidavits regarding patients' rights under HHS Federal Codes for human subject research. The FDA is led by the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, appointed by President Trump with the advice and consent of the United States Senate.

The Illinois Department of Public Health now has newly discovered evidence of delays by the FDA to inform Chicagoans and U.S. citizens of a new health concern related to the testing of the non-exempt heart device.

The events follow recent reporting by Kaiser Health News that the FDA has lifted their exemption laws. Dr. Nalini Rajamannan, a specialist for patients with valvular heart disease in Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Cardiology, confirms FDA statements after a decade of requesting answers from the FDA from her location in Downtown Sheboygan. Dr. Rajamannan revealed the confirmation FDA letter to Congressman Glenn Grothman that the Food and Drug Deputy Commissioner on policy for the FDA will not inform the patients regarding the status of a heart device implanted in 667 patients across the United States of America.

Former Board of Trustee for the University and now Governor of Illinois, Governor Pritzker, also received the FDA affidavit after years of delays by the FDA in reporting to the patients. The surgical placement for these devices began in 2006. In 2007, the device manufacturer confirmed the "exempt status" in a two-line email to the hospital. The saga related to the heart device is outlined by Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal's new book "An American Sickness", which highlights the issues related to exempt medical devices in the chapter, "How to get into a Patient's Heart? Follow the Money." The chapter outlines the events summarized by eye-witness Dr. Nalini M. Rajamannan in the series "The Myxo Files a XXIV: A Tale of Three Rings", as published by Kindle Publishing on Amazon.com. Dr. Rajamannan reviewed the FDA letter to the Senate Finance Committee's Chairman Grassley after several years of investigations, classifying the device as not exempt from reporting the device to the FDA, and that the device manufacturer needs to submit a new approval application. (See Linked PDF of the FDA Congressional Letter.)

Summation points from the recent press conference at the Institute after a decade of FDA investigations:

1) FDA report to Senate Finance Committee confirms the Myxo ETlogix Device is not exempt and needed an approval from the FDA.

2) FDA letter to Senator Lugar confirms 667+ patients received the non-exempt device which needed an approval.

3) FDA report to the House Committee on Government Oversight confirms that the FDA does not plan to inform the patients.

4) Congressman Grothman is still waiting for a response as to why the FDA is not planning to inform the patients.

5) HHS Inspector General Daniel Levinson is not planning to inform the patients of the non-exempt status of the heart device after requests for information by Senator Ron Johnson.

6) Dr. Rajamannan Presented documents and affidavit to Senator Amy Klobuchar's staff in Minneapolis. Senator Klobuchar has met with Dr. Rajamannan since 2014 in Washington D.C., after the Senate Judiciary Committee began their investigation.

7) Dr. Rajamannan awaiting response by the FDA to inform the patients of the design control study under 21CFR810.30, as reviewed by the FDA Minneapolis office.

8) The goal is to obtain critical safety information to inform the patients and doctors across the country to learn about the non-exempt, non-registered heart device placed in their hearts between 2006-2007.

The information will help the 667+ patients to finally get answers about whether medical devices placed in their bodies are tested and safe, as the Food and Drug Administration begins to allow access to volumes of previously shielded data from consumers as written to then-Senator Richard Lugar (IN) and Congressman Glenn Grothman (WI). The Senate Finance committee is involved in these investigations on behalf of Medicare and Medicaid because government dollars fund the use of medical devices in patients' health.

More importantly, the findings published in the Daily Northwestern in 2019 will help patients know more about medical devices implanted into their bodies.

Dr. Nalini Rajamannan is a heart valve expert in the field of cardiovascular medicine. She earned her undergraduate science pre-professional degree from the University of Notre Dame, her Medical Doctorate from Mayo Medical School and her post-graduate training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the Mayo Clinic and Research Fellowship on the NIH training Grant. She also worked at the Mayo Clinic as a staff consultant in Internal Medicine and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University and the Lakeside and Westside VA. Currently, she practices consultative valvular medicine and Osteocardiology at Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Cardiology and Valvular Institute, WI.

Press Contact

Oscar Delgado

Press Officer for Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Cardiology and Valvular Institute

Former NBC Bureau Chief Latin America

773-573-6890

[email protected]

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Related Images

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Valve Study Team 2006

Dr. Rajamannan owns the rights to the photo, which she gave permission to reproduce in article published by the Daily Northwestern. https://dailynorthwestern.com/2019/05/23/top-stories/years-after-surgery-documents-renew-patients-malpractice-claims-northwestern-memorial-doctor/

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Sudan Strikes Preliminary Deal Over Contested States with Rebel Group

Sputnik News

22:44 GMT 24.01.2020

The agreement between Khartoum's delegation, headed by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), has been signed in Juba, South Sudan's capital.

On Friday, Sudan's ruling council and the SPLM-N signed an initial deal on political and security arrangements, with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit overseeing the ceremony.

The deal provides special status for the two Sudanese states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile. According to deputy head of the SPLM-N Yasir Said Arman, the states will be allowed to adopt their own laws.

He also said that the deal purports to resolve a long-standing dispute over land and to unify all parties involved in the conflict.

"After this signing we are going to finalise the full agreement and the SPLM-North will be part of the new system in Khartoum", he added.

On his part, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo has stated that the Sudanese government is committed to the peace process.

"The government of Sudan is more willing than before to reach a peaceful settlement in Sudan", Dagalo added.

The conflict in Sudan's Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states dating back to 2011 has forced more than 200,000 people to flee their homes and settle in refugee camps in South Sudan and Ethiopia, according to UN estimates.

In October 2019, Sudan's ruling council and rebel groups restarted peace negotiations to resolve the conflict.

 Sputnik

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Ron Howard said that making his new documentary Rebuilding Paradise, about the aftermath of the devastating 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California, had emboldened him to speak out about climate change  even at the risk of severe blowback like he experienced on Twitter earlier this month.

As a citizen, you recognize the challenges out there and you cant just leave it to others to engage, Howard told TheWrap founder Sharon Waxman at Januarys Sundance Film Festival, where the film had its premiere.

For one year, Howard and his film crews followed the residents of Paradise, California, in the Sierra Nevada foothills as they sought to recover from a wildfire that killed 86 people and destroyed 95% of the town.

Also Read: Why Neon Is the Indie to Watch at Sundance After 'Parasite' and 'Honeyland'

One of the things I learned was that old adage  showing up is first and foremost in reinforcing the possibility of home, he said. People did take action from around their community. Im not talking about protesting, Im talking about trying to solve problems. Its a lesson in getting things done, making things happen, making your voice heard.

He added, Theres something very powerful about seeing the way the community came together.

The NatGeo production  which can be streamed by clicking here  was produced by Howard, Brian Grazer, Xan Parker, Sara Bernstein and Justin Wilkes.

Watch the video above.

For the record: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the location of Paradise, California.

Read original story Rebuilding Paradise Director Ron Howard About Why Hes Spoken Up About Climate Change (Exclusive Video) At TheWrap
Hindus and Muslims have been living harmoniously in our country but a few instances of discord here and there try to ruin that bond. India is witnessing protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Population Register (NPR), Wazirganj area of Gonda district in Uttar Pradesh is writing a new chapter on Hindu-Muslim unity.

A madarsa, Gulshan-e-Baghdad, situated in Rasulpur development block of Wazirganj is not only giving Sanskrit lessons to Muslim students but a large number of Hindu students are also studying here to learn Urdu.

The madarsa has about 230 students out of which 30 are Hindus and more than 50 Muslim students are learning Sanskrit, according to the Principal.

There are two teachers in Rasulpur madarsa -- Qari Abdul Rashid and Qari Muhammad Shamim -- who impart Urdu and Arabic teaching.

In the same way, four teachers have been appointed for other subjects. They are Naresh Bahadur Srivastava, Ram Sahai Verma, Kamaruddin and Abdul Kaiyum. Srivastava teaches Sanskrit to children.

Kari Muhammad Rashid, the principal of Madarsa, told news agency IANS, "We are trying our best to give the best of education to our children. Muslim children have to be given education in other subjects apart from Sanskrit and Hindi.

"It is up to the non-Muslim students whether they choose to study Urdu or Arabic or not. Some students study both Sanskrit and Urdu here."

While government and other organizations have been promoting the learning of Sanskrit and Urdu, the Gulshan-e-Baghdad Madarsa of Rasulpur is doing just that.

Not only this, Hindu and Muslim students are also getting education in subjects like Persian, Hindi, English, Mathematics and Science besides Urdu and Sanskrit.

The name of madarsa brings forth an image of a school usually associated with the teaching of Urdu and Arabic and the religion Islam in the minds of the people, but Muslim intellectuals here believe that for the growth and prosperity of the community secular education is also very necessary.
New Delhi :

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will visit Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh on March 7, party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said on Saturday. "Maharashtra Chief Minister will visit Ayodhya on March 7," Raut said while talking to reporters. Earlier, there were reports that Uddhav will visit the temple town on completion of 100 days in power as Maharashtra chief minister. Alliance partner of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government  NCP and Congress  were also invited to seek blessings of Lord Ram.

When asked to comment on 'BJP asking Uddhav Thackeray to take Rahul Gandhi to Ayodhya with him', Raut replied with another question. Will BJP leaders take former Jammu and Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti with them on their visit to Ayodhya? he asked.

'Have Not Left Hindutva'

Earlier, in a veiled reference to its former ally Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday asserted that he has not left Hindutva neither has changed his colour despite finding new allies in the state post 2019Assembly Elections.

Thackeray, whose party is considered to be a staunch supporter of Hindutva, ditched the long-term ally BJP and allied with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). I have chosen a new political path by taking along old political rivals as allies. I have not changed my colour, my core (Antarang). It continues to remain saffron, he said while addressing Shiv Sena party workers on the birth anniversary of party founder late Balasaheb Thackeray.

Countering criticism that left Hindutva for the sake of power, Thackeray said he took the extreme step because they were backstabbed by pre-poll allies. We have taken the extreme step because we have been backstabbed by our old allies, they have breached our trust and failed to fulfill their commitment. They told me that I lied and tried to prove that I am a liar. This is the different path I have accepted and have joined hands with the people whom we were fighting, he said.

His remark also holds significance as his estranged cousin and MNS chief Raj Thackeray took a dig at him while speaking at his partys function earlier in the evening by saying I dont change the colour of my party to form the government.

With PTI Inputs

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
A worker wearing protective gear sprays anti-septic solution in a train amid concerns over the spread of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, also known as the Wuhan coronavirus, in Seoul, South Korea on Jan. 24, 2020. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Chinese Doctor Concerned That Wuhan Pneumonia Outbreak Will Get Worse

Wuhan doctor discloses authorities intentional cover-up and challenging features of the novel coronavirus

A doctor in Wuhan City who has been treating patients with Wuhan pneumonia disclosed some alarming information about the new virus, and expressed concern that the disease will be out of control in the next several months due to the authorities slow response and lack of transparency.

The doctor, surnamed Xu, spoke to U.S.-based Chinese media Secret China on the condition of anonymity on Jan. 24.

He disclosed that by Dec. 31, 27 patients were confirmed to have been infected by the coronavirus, but Wuhans public health officials decided not to inform the public of the new disease. Moreover, some features of the novel coronavirus make it more dangerous than SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

Wuhan Hospitals Unable to Handle the Outbreak

Xu revealed that hospitals in Wuhan do not have the capacity to handle the current number of patients. All hospital beds have been occupied, and many who need to be hospitalized cannot get in. A newly developed test kit for the coronavirus is distributed to top grade hospitals exclusively, but only in limited numbers. That means other hospitals are at a disadvantage when it comes to handling the disease.

In addition, a coronavirus diagnosis test requires a biosafety lab that can handle category A infectious diseases. Category A diseases, such as ebola or anthrax, pose the highest risk to national security and public health. Some of Chinas top grade hospitals are not equipped to do a diagnosis test.

At present, hospitals in Wuhan can only perform diagnosis tests on seriously ill patients. Those who appear to have mild symptoms are told to go back home and monitor their condition, Xu revealed.

Covering Up Is the Biggest Mistake

Xu said he believed that during the early stage of the viral outbreak, the situation was controllable.

Wuhans public health organizations detected the new virus when the disease started to emerge among patients in Wuhan, Xu said. As early as Dec. 31, 2019, Wuhan Health Commission notified the higher authorities that they found 27 patients infected with a new virus, and all these patients were placed under strict quarantine. By Jan. 8, virology experts identified the virus, and completed gene sequencing two days later.

However, Wuhans public health officials made a mistake by not alerting the public in a timely manner, Xu said.

The public health officials adopted a policy called strict [control] internally, while relaxed [handling] externally. It means that medical personnel must strictly quarantine patients and provide treatment in the hospital, while the authorities only disclose a little bit of information (of the disease) to the public, he said.

For a disease as contagious and deadly as the Wuhan pneumonia, Xu pointed out that the authorities should have done more to warn the public about the seriousness of the situation.

They should have urged the public to stop mass migration, assembly, and alert them to wear a mask and wash hands frequently. Think about it, it is precisely because the civilians are not aware of the seriousness of the matter and the importance of prevention that there was this big 40,000-family banquet in the midst of a serious outbreak. Also, when someone is infected, he may not take it seriously at first and would not go to a hospital to seek treatment.

On Jan. 18, over 40,000 families in Wuhan attended a festive banquet to celebrate the Little New Year, which falls on the 23rd day of the 12th month in the lunar calendar. That was two days before Chinese authorities announced that Wuhan pneumonia has been confirmed to spread by human-to-human contact.

 4  pic.twitter.com/2MC5TV6x0X  william woo (@williamwoo7) January 21, 2020

Wuhan Pneumonia Is Tougher to Tackle Than SARS

Based on Xus observation, the new coronavirus that caused Wuhan pneumonia is difficult to detect because it spreads quickly, making it a lot more dangerous than SARS.

When infected, the early symptoms can be very mild, such as lethargy, dry cough, or low-grade fever. That means we cannot even screen patients based on body temperature. Some patients who are still at the virus incubation period have no symptoms at all. This new virus differs from SARS because some patients symptoms appear to be mild, but they nonetheless carry the virus and can spread it to other people, Xu explained.

He thinks thats one of the key reasons the disease spreads so quickly.

The first group of patients mostly have connections with Huanan Market, but the second group have nothing to do with that market. In retrospect, I think that people who have the virus, but show little or no symptoms, can still infect others around them if they dont go to the hospital for treatment.

Xu said some doctors in other departments at his hospital were infected by patients who showed little or no symptoms of Wuhan pneumonia.

Our department has taken adequate biosafety preventions since Dec. 31, but doctors in other departments do not have this level of prevention because they did not anticipate such things would happen, Xu added.

Xu, a native of Wuhan, was a medical student in Beijing during the SARS outbreak in 2003. He remembered vividly how Beijing hospitals identified and isolated SARS patients.

Some hospitals in Beijing did not have the diagnosis kit at that time. But the patients who may have been infected by SARS were quarantined, he said. While in Wuhan, many suspected pneumonia patients were sent back home. Also, some patients sought treatment in more than one hospital because almost all the hospitals in the city are overly crowded now. They would have come into contact with many others in the waiting lines, and if they take public transportation to go to hospitals, the risk of spreading the disease is even higher.

Our current understanding of the virus is insufficient, Xu added.

Xu said he believes that a bigger outbreak is yet to come. The virus will spread further when people go back to work from their hometown after the Chinese New Year, causing another serious outbreak in populous cities.

He hopes that the spread of the disease will slow down in May. On the one hand, I think we will gradually have more control and preventative measures put in place. On the other hand, coronavirus does not like hot weather. When it gets hot, it should help to repress the virus. Now I am prepared to continue the battle until May.
Met Eireann has forecast rain, hail, sleet, snow, thunder, frost and ice in its latest weather forecast and issued a weather advisory for cold weather in the coming days.

The forecaster issued a Weather Advisory for Ireland on Saturday evening. It says cold and wintry weather will develop from Sunday evening. The notices says showers of hail, sleet and snow will occur in places. It says snow showers will be most frequent in Ulster and Connacht and especially so on high ground.

The advisory is valid from 6pm Sunday, January 26 to 3pm on Tuesday, January 28

Met Eireann meteorologist Michelle Dillon gave more details of what to expect in her update after the RTE news on Saturday,

"There is a change on the way in our weather. It is going to become cold tomorrow (Sunday) and for the early days of next week with some wintry showers starting from tomorrow evening. We'll have some frost and ice by night with some bright or sunny spells mixed in between the showers," she said.

The forecaster said rain would clear on Saturday night but it would become much colder as it does. Though cold, she said Sunday would be bright and dry during daylight hours.

Later on Sunday a system would move in along the west coast.

"So, fairly widespread showers, longer spells of rain, hail, some sleet, the risk of thunder and some snow over higher ground in parts of Connacht and Ulster. Some frost and ice to follow into Monday morning and a blustery day with wintry showers of rain, hail and sleet again with some snow over higher ground," she said.

The cold snap will be short lived as it will become milder later on on Tuesday and into the rest of the week but it will remain on unsettled. More below tweets.

Our 7 day Atlantic Chart shows the precipitation and pressure forecast in 6 hour intervalshttps://t.co/9Giuj4CR5m



A nationwide forecast and outlook covering the next week can be found here. https://t.co/9gKN6SVok4 pic.twitter.com/Y4hT0dr0NP  Met Eireann (@MetEireann) January 25, 2020

Weather Advisory for Ireland:

Cold and wintry weather will develop from Sunday evening, details on: https://t.co/ozrQHtoOkt



Valid: 6 p.m. Sunday to 3 p.m. Tuesday pic.twitter.com/1G3Qh74oH1  Met Eireann (@MetEireann) January 25, 2020

Met Eireann forecast issued at 8.47pm on Saturday, January 25.

SUNDAY 26TH JANUARY

Any lingering rain will clear eastern areas early in the morning and brighter colder weather will follow to all areas. Sunshine and isolated showers will follow during the day, with an isolated snow shower possible in Ulster and Connacht. Later in the evening a more organised band of showers will spread from the west. Some of the showers turning to sleet and snow, especially over hills in Connacht and Ulster with a risk of hail and thunder. Highs of 5 or 6 degrees, in light to moderate southwest winds but stronger along Atlantic coasts.

Cold on Sunday night with showers or longer spells of rain, sleet or snow. The snow mainly on high ground. Minimum temperatures of -1 to +2 degrees in fresh and gusty southwest winds.

Monday: A cold and blustery day on Monday with sunny spells and showers, some of sleet or snow. The showers will be heaviest and most frequent in the west in fresh and gusty southwest winds. Maximum afternoon temperatures ranging from 3 to 7 degrees, coldest across Ulster. There will be clear spells and blustery wintry showers on Monday night with minimum temperatures of -2 to +2 degrees and a fairly widespread frost in areas sheltered from the fresh westerly breeze.

Tuesday: It looks set to be cold and windy on Tuesday with some bright spells but also widespread showers. The showers will bring a mix of rain, hail and sleet with some snow on high ground. There will be a strong and gusty westerly wind with highest temperatures ranging just 3 to 6 degrees. Clear spells and scattered showers overnight but with the showers becoming increasingly isolated. Possibly an early frost with lows of 1 to 4 degrees but turning less cold later.

Mid-week: Current indications suggest it will turn less cold by mid-week but remaining unsettled with spells of wet and windy weather spreading from the Atlantic.
IOWA CITY, Iowa  Two of Bernie Sanderss highest-profile allies, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and liberal documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, filled in for him on the campaign trail Friday night, speaking to a rally here at the University of Iowa, as the Vermont senator participated in the impeachment trial in Washington, D.C.

Their message to the audience, overwhelmingly students, was not to settle for more moderate candidates who claim to have a better chance in the general election against President Trump, but to stick with Sanders.

Moore referenced campaign ads by another (unnamed) Democratic hopeful, paraphrasing his message as: You should vote for him because hes the safe candidate.

He meant former Vice President Joe Biden, who debuted a new commercial on Friday that was focused on electability.

This is no time to take a risk. We need our strongest candidate. So lets nominate the Democrat Trump fears the most. Vote Biden. Beat Trump, a narrator says in the ad.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks as a surrogate for Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders at the University of Iowa Friday, Jan.24, 2020, in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo: Sue Ogrocki/AP)

Biden has been a consistent frontrunner in national polls, with Sanders generally second. But new polling in Iowa, which holds the first-in-the-nation caucuses on Feb. 3, puts Sanders in the lead there.

The former vice president has made electability a central part of his pitch to voters, contrasting his centrist policies and bipartisan approach to politics to Sanderss radical democratic socialist platform, including his controversial proposals for universal public health care. In his speech, Moore argued this ignored polls showing Bernie beats Trump head-to-head by a larger percentage than any of the other candidates. Moore appears to have been cherry-picking his data; RealClearPolitics, which amalgamates polling data from numerous sources, as of Saturday shows Biden beating Trump by an average margin of 4 points, and Sanders defeating the president by 3.1 points.

Moore went on to argue that focusing on who might be electable in a general election has historically been a bad strategy for Democrats.

Story continues

I started to think about this play it safe. Every time weve been told that  and we voted safe we lost, Moore said, adding, Every time we play it safe, we choose the safe nominee, and we lose  except those times  time  when we decided to take a risk.

Filmmaker Michael Moore speaks during a campaign event at Grinnell College for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Jan. 23. (Photo: Matt Rourke/AP)

Moore was referring to the 2008 election, which was won by Barack Obama despite fears voters wouldnt send an African-American to the White House.

You remember  two years before Barack Obama was going to run and there was talk about it, how many people in here said ... I know this country I live in, theres no way theyre going to elect a black man, said Moore. But Barack Obama didnt care.

Moore then introduced Ocasio-Cortez, who rocketed to political stardom when she won her New York congressional district in a shocking upset in the 2018 midterms. The congresswoman, who is nicknamed AOC, had already made one trip to Iowa to campaign for Sanders last November. Some supporters are already envisioning her as a potential candidate as soon as 2024, when she will become eligible for the presidency less than a month before the general election.

Ocasio-Cortez shared a personal story about how she went a few years without going to the doctor because she didnt have health insurance when she worked in restaurants prior to her election. The congresswoman talked about the fear and anxiety she experienced during this period and suggested it informed her conviction the U.S. needs the complete the Medicare for All universal health care program with no cracks in the system that Sanders has championed. She noted some moderate Democrats regard Sanderss proposals for health care, a Green New Deal to address climate change, and criminal justice reform as unrealistic. But she believes the real issue for Sanderss opponents is whether a candidate with that platform can win.

They call it unrealistic. You know what I think is so funny? I go back to D.C.  Those folks who argue against those same policies, behind closed doors, they never tell me its unrealistic, Ocasio-Cortez said.

They dont use that same argument in the Capitol, she continued. The argument that they use is, We will lose.  Its not that we cant, its that were scared.

Ocasio-Cortez went on to say she has spent so many years of my life scared about a litany of concerns including making rent, health care costs and her family in Puerto Rico.

Im sick of being scared. I want to solve these problems once and for all, Ocasio-Cortez said. We shouldnt be scared of what will happen if we try. We should be scared of what will happen if we dont.

Ocasio-Cortez speaks as a surrogate for Bernie Sanders at the University of Iowa. (Photo: Sue Ogrocki/AP)

Along with Ocasio-Cortez and Moore, the event included a talk by Sanders, who delivered his stump speech by telephone from Washington shortly after the days impeachment proceedings wrapped up. Sanders and his rivals who are also stuck in the Senate during the impeachment trial, including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, have been relying on surrogates to bring their messages to voters.

Both Moore and Ocasio-Cortez have more planned appearances for Sanders in Iowa over the weekend. Klobuchar deployed her daughter, Abigail Bessler, to campaign for her in Iowa last Wednesday. Warren had actress Ashley Judd rallying for her in New Hampshire, which is the second state on the primary calendar, on Friday. Judd is scheduled to return to New Hampshire for Warren on Jan. 28. Jonathan Van Ness, the podcaster, hairdresser and star of the Netflix makeover show Queer Eye, is set to campaign for Warren in Iowa on Jan. 26. While Warren has canceled some events due to impeachment, she is currently scheduled to join Van Ness in his last event on Sunday, which is the one day of the week where there is a break in the impeachment proceedings.

Students at the University of Iowa were divided on whether the Sanders surrogates were an exciting draw.

Josh, a senior who said he is undecided about whom to support in the primary, was in the building where the Sanders rally was set to take place on Friday evening planning a spring break trip with friends. He said he was not going to watch Moore and Ocasio-Cortez speak but would have wanted to see Sanders a lot more.

I dont really follow them, Josh said of Sanderss surrogates.

Nori Oshiro, a junior who was studying in the lounge outside the Sanders rally, said he understood the senator had more pressing issues right now with the impeachment proceedings. Oshiro planned to attend the rally and was quite excited about the guests.

I know of AOC since she started campaigning, Oshiro said. Ive seen Michael Moores films since I was a teenager. So, these are people that I tend to look up to and get a lot of information from.

The students were also divided about whether Warrens star surrogate, Van Ness, was a more exciting draw than Sanderss allies.

Theyre pretty even in my book, said Presley, a graduate student who is deciding between Sanders and Warren.

Brittan and Anna, two sophomores who attended the Sanders rally, were quite excited to see Ocasio-Cortez.

I love her, Brittan said. Shes just an amazing person.

Read more from Yahoo News:
A fast, bright burst of what were probably softball-size meteors caught the attention of our Canadian neighbors earlier this week, before likely arcing down to land in Lake Huron.

While it wasnt seen by too many sky-watchers on the U.S. side of Lake Huron, observatories in Canada, including Western University in London, Ontario, captured an image of the fireball last Tuesday night. It likely was a collection of small meteors grouped together, researchers say, according to CTV News in Canada.,

Spotters say the fireballs looked as bright as the moon as they whizzed across the sky.

In a Reddit discussion titled orange fireball in night sky," a handful of people talked about seeing the fireball overhead.

Anyone see this incredible sight around 9:10 pm in the sky north of London? An orange fireball streaming across the sky," one person wrote.

Yes!!! Saw it driving home a few minutes ago. Ive never seen anything like it before!, another person posted.

Others who saw it chimed in:

Yes! Omg my husband and I saw this. We were near Masonville mall! It was so bright. Ive never seen anything like that. With I had a dash cam to capture it.

Was sitting at Careys and I saw it for a split second. Buddies thought I was nuts. Was cool though.

Yeah we saw it on a walk last night. It was around 9. Wonderland and Oxford area. It was tracking north fairly slowly. Saw the white ball, orange tail, and even saw some bits breaking off of it.

Peter Brown, a professor in Western Universitys physics and astronomy department, tweeted a series of photos of the spectacle. He dubbed it the Kintail fireball, for the spot near the Canadian shoreline of Lake Huron where it was believed to have crossed over before going into the water. On a map, Kintail is directly across the lake from Michigans Thumb.

Kintail fireball orbit from last night place origins firmly from the asteroid belt. The initial mass was somewhere between a few to ten kilograms - softball sized. Not quite as bright as the full moon," Brown posted on Twitter.

Fireballs are born when particles of meteors hit the Earths atmosphere and burn their way across the sky.

There were some reports of this particular fireball from U.S. sky watchers. These came from people in Port Huron, Flint and St. Clair Shores in Michigan, and other spots in Ohio and New York, as reported to the American Meteor Society.

Fireball started near Brussels and ended just offshore over Lake Huron near Kintail. Low velocity (~15 km/s) and end height (33 km) suggest small meteorites may have landed, likely in Lake Huron. @WesternU @IMOmeteors #fireball 2/3 pic.twitter.com/Mrbs4IUson  Peter Brown (@pgbrown) January 22, 2020

Still image of Kintail fireball from Elginfield Observatory as captured by @FireballsSky DFN camera last night. @amsmeteors @FireballsSky pic.twitter.com/ClTBr3M96d  Peter Brown (@pgbrown) January 22, 2020
Someone stole weed from one of the blue cannabis boxes placed at the Midway International Airport in Chicago on Monday, according to local police.

The weed was stolen at approximately 6pm on Monday just hours after someone had dropped it off in the box, the Chicago Tribune reports.

'Tampering with them, or attempting to remove anything placed inside, is a crime,' said Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. He added that police are investigating the incident.

Following the legalization of recreational marijuana in Illinois earlier this month, 'Cannabis Amnesty Boxes' were placed across both Midway and O'Hare International Airport.

The weed was stolen at approximately 6pm on Monday just hours after someone had dropped it off in the box

Guglielmi added that 'new, permanent theft prevention boxes are expected to replace the temporary ones in the coming weeks, making them more secure and preventing anyone from further accessing materials dropped inside.'

The boxes have been put in place as a means to save people from breaking federal laws. They are owned by the Chicago Department of Aviation and serviced by the police. Police are to dispose of whatever they find inside after writing up a report.

While it is not illegal to have cannabis at the airports, it is illegal to possess weed under federal law. Airspaces are regulated by the federal government.

Following the legalization of recreational marijuana in Illinois earlier this month, 'Cannabis Amnesty Boxes' were placed across both Midway and O'Hare

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) does not search for cannabis at security checkpoints, their website states

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) does not search for cannabis at security checkpoints, their website states. But TSA agents are required to report any violations of federal law to local authorities, according to TSA spokeswoman Sari Koshetz.

TSA agents do not weigh the amount when turning over the cannabis to police, Koshetz added.

'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 stated.

Illinois residents can legally carry an ounce of marijuana on them while out-of-state residents can half roughly half of that.
Within just a week of being told the shattering news that she has just months to live, a brave Co Tyrone woman has raised tens of thousands of pounds for a local charity.

Shannon Whitehouse spent last year undergoing aggressive treatment for a rare tissue and bone cancer only to be told this month that it had not worked.

Now as she faces the devastating reality that her future and all her dreams are to be wiped out, Shannon is focusing on helping others as she raises money for the local charity The Boom Foundation.

Her decision to set up an appeal for the charity, which supports patients with sarcoma, has led to a huge outpouring of support, not just locally but around the world.

The 26-year-old from Coalisland says she is overwhelmed by how people have rallied round to support her: "I was advised to put a target of 5,000 on the justgiving page, but I didn't think I could get that much so I put it up for 2,500.

"It just went crazy. Within 24 hours we had over 10,000 and people have just kept giving non-stop. It is now sitting at 30,000.

"I also organised a fundraising night last weekend and had to move venues because our original venue couldn't hold all the people who wanted to come.

Expand Close Shannon with her mum and dad, sister Maurade and brothers Pierce (far left) and TJ / Facebook

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Whatsapp Shannon with her mum and dad, sister Maurade and brothers Pierce (far left) and TJ

"We had over 500 people in the local parochial hall for music and games and a raffle and I still have money coming in from that. It has been amazing, people have just rallied to support the cause - and not just locals but people I don't even know. There have even been donations from Australia."

Shannon is a beautiful and bubbly young woman who loves fitness and worked in administration for a financial adviser.

It was around October 2018 that she took a pain in her hip and initially thought it was linked to her fitness training. She went to her GP who sent her to a physiotherapist, who felt it could be a pulled muscle and advised her to rest it.

But it didn't go away and in January last year, after her hip started to swell, a concerned Shannon went to the accident and emergency department at Craigavon Area Hospital. Just hours later doctors delivered the shocking news that she had a tumour.

Recalling how they broke the news to her, Shannon says: "The doctors carried out X-rays and came back to tell me they had seen something in my hip and I would have to have an MRI scan. They did the scan so quickly that I just had a feeling that it wasn't good news.

"A week later we got the results to confirm it was sarcoma on the bone. I was told it was a rare type of cancer and at that stage they didn't know which one, as there are over 100 different types of sarcoma.

Expand Close Shannon with nephew Brodie McGahan / Facebook

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Whatsapp Shannon with nephew Brodie McGahan

"Even though I had a niggle in the back of my mind that something serious was wrong, it was still a complete shock and seeing how it affects your family and friends is completely heartbreaking."

Shannon was referred to the cancer centre at Belfast City Hospital for a biopsy where they were able to determine she had Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of blood and tissue cancer.

Initially, however, her prognosis was good. "They said their aim was to cure it, although nothing is guaranteed," she explains. "They said it was an aggressive cancer so I would need one of the harshest chemo treatments and would lose my hair.

"But I cope really well under pressure and I like to think I am a positive person so I decided to do it my way. I held a head shaving party with all my friends and family and shaved my hair myself."

Shannon started her treatment in April and over the next seven months was given a total of five different types of chemotherapy, spending a large part of that time in hospital because of the horrendous side-effects.

"It was really tough and some months I was really sick and bed-bound. I had sepsis five times and I had to go into isolation in hospital. It was a tough year. I had bad days and good days, but I was determined to get through it."

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Whatsapp Shannon with Maurade

Then, after chemotherapy she completed a course of 42 radiotherapy sessions, which finished in November.

She enjoyed a quiet Christmas at home with her family - parents Siobhan and Thomas and sisters Maurade (29) and brothers TJ (31) and Pierce (23) and her little nephew Brodie, who is three.

She could feel some pain returning to her hip and suspected that all was not well. Then, at the start of January she had a scan to check if the treatment had worked and a week later was told the shattering news that her tumour had in fact grown.

The outcome couldn't have been worse, but Shannon has amazed everyone with her reaction - which was to use what time she has left to help others by launching her charity fundraiser.

"They told me that unfortunately the treatment had not been successful and my tumour had grown back even more aggressively than before," she says.

"They said they could offer me a type of chemo that might contain it but that was not guaranteed. They said I had months to live, not years.

"I had a bit of a feeling myself that it wouldn't be good as the pain was back in my hip, but of course I still didn't want to be told that there is nothing can be done..."

Since then she has been sustained by the support of her loved ones - and a determination to leave a lasting legacy.

Shannon continues: "I have an amazing support system of family and friends who are the best in the world and they have been my backbone; they have got me through it all. There are no better people out there.

"Since I was first diagnosed I wanted to raise money for The Boom Foundation and initially I thought I would do it after I had recovered.

"Now, after recent events, I've decided to do it while I am still fit. Everyone has rallied round and the response has just been overwhelming."

With her justgiving page sitting at 28,000 (and climbing) in just over a week, Shannon has established a legacy beyond her dreams.

Those who supported her and who went along to a fundraising night - 'Shine for Shannon' - in her local parochial hall last Saturday have helped turn what was the darkest week of her life into the most memorable.

She says: "I have no words for how generous people have been and how so many have rallied round in such a short space of time. It has been a lovely distraction. Last Saturday was genuinely the best night of my life and I still can't believe it.

"People keep asking me what I want to do with the time I have left and if I want to go away anywhere, but I spent last year in hospital and I am just happy to be home with my family and chilling out. Honestly, that's all I want to do at the moment.

"My family has always been incredibly close and they are what get me through. My wee nephew Brodie means the world to me, he brightens up my days."

Shannon wanted to give something back to The Boom Foundation, which is the only charity in Northern Ireland supporting patients with sarcoma.

In the early days after her diagnosis the charity reached out to her and supported her.

She says: "A lot of people don't know what sarcoma is. I just want to spread as much word as possible. Sarcoma makes up less than 1% of all cancers, mainly affecting children. Therefore it does not receive the same level of recognition or funding for research. Just because we are a minority doesn't mean we are any less important, no child should have to suffer the way my family and I have.

"The Boom Foundation specifically helps sarcoma patients living in Northern Ireland, with things such as travel expenses and wee days out. It also invests money into Sarcoma UK for research into new treatments and care."

In the meantime Shannon has yet to decide if she wants to continue with the chemotherapy that was offered in the hope of giving her a few more months.

She adds: "I don't know what I will do. At the minute I feel and look a bit more like my old self and I just want to be normal and be at home with my family. I have to take it day by day for now and I am just trying to be as upbeat as possible.

"My family are devastated and it is hard for them. Spending time with them at home now is really all that I want to do. Raising money for Boom has really given me a lift."

If you want to support Shannon's appeal you can make a donation at justgiving.com/fundraising/shannon-whitehouse.
State and federal law enforcement agents arrested two Springfield men, confiscated nearly a pound of cocaine and seized a stolen handgun when they raided an apartment at 55 Earl Street Thursday afternoon.

The Massachusetts State Police announced that members of the State Police Gang Unit, agents attached to the FBIs Western Mass. Gang Task Force and the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agency arrested 38-year-old Gregory Harris and 44-year-old Burrenton Crowley and charged them with trafficking in cocaine, conspiracy to violate drug laws, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, possession of a high-capacity firearm in the commission of a felony, unlawful possession of a high-capacity feeding device and commission of a firearm violation by a person convicted of prior violent or drug offenses.

Harris and Crowley were arrested after agents executed a search warrant on their apartment at about 4 p.m. In the home, authorities found just under a pound of cocaine in both crack and powdered configuration, as well as quantities of heroin and marijuana.

Searchers also located a Glock 26 handgun with a large capacity magazine, as well as numerous .45 cal. and 9mm rounds. A search of the guns serial number indicated it had been stolen during a robbery at a gun store in Lima, Ohio.

Crowley was also charged with possession of a Class D substance with the intent to distribute, and Harris was charged with possession of a Class A substance with the intent to distribute.
Pakistan health authorities on Saturday said a Chinese national suspected of coronavirus was admitted in isolation at a medical facility in Multan in Punjab province.

Feng Fen, 40, was living in a camp with Chinese workers near Multan after returning from China's Wuhan city 10 days ago.

Feng was brought to Nishtar Hospital on Friday night, National Institute of Health officials said.

"One suspected case is admitted in isolation in Multan right now. His clinical condition is stable and it does not seem to be a case of novel coronavirus. Relevant samples have been taken," the NIH said.

Earlier this week, Pakistan setup counters at the airports to screen passengers coming from China for coronavirus.

Thousands of Chinese nationals work in Pakistan on various projects including under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Many Pakistan students study in China.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said there were approximately 28,000 Pakistani students all over China.

"In Wuhan alone, there are close to 500 Pakistani students," she said, adding that around 1,500 traders from Pakistan travel to China frequently.

The death toll due to the coronavirus rose to 41 in China with 1,287 confirmed cases, China's National Health Commission announced on Saturday.

Of the confirmed cases, the condition of the 237 persons is critical.

The coronavirus has caused alarm as it is similar to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) which killed hundreds of people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Libyan crisis can affect entire Mediterranean region: Erdogan

Iran Press TV

Friday, 24 January 2020 3:58 PM

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that chaos in Libya will affect the entire Mediterranean region if peace is not established as soon as possible.

"If calm is not established as soon as possible, the atmosphere of chaos in Libya will affect all the Mediterranean basin," he said in a speech on Friday as he hosted German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Since 2014, Libya has been divided between two rival camps  the Tripoli-based government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, and a camp in the eastern city of Tobruk, supported militarily by rebel forces under the command of Khalifa Haftar.

Haftar receives support from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt.

Haftar's militia forces have been sowing chaos in Libya. In April, they launched an assault on the capital to unseat Sarraj's government, which is supported by Ankara.

World powers have stepped up efforts in recent weeks to find a political solution to the fighting in Libya.

On Sunday, leaders from Turkey, Russia, Egypt, France, Italy, Britain, and the United States, as well as Sarraj and Haftar, attended a UN-backed summit in Berlin to help establish a "permanent" ceasefire between the warring sides.

The final communique of the day-long summit urged all the parties concerned in the persisting conflict "to redouble their efforts for a sustained suspension of hostilities, de-escalation and a permanent ceasefire."

In his Friday remarks, Erdogan urged greater pressure on Haftar.

Referring to a recent missile attack on Tripoli's sole functioning airport, blamed on Haftar's forces, Erdogan said it shows "who is in favor of peace and who is in favor of bloodshed and tears."

Six military-grade Grad rockets targeted Mitiga International Airport on Wednesday, according to the Libyan government.

Turkey had previously warned Europe that could face threats originating Libya if the Libyan government was not shored up. On the eve of the Berlin summit, President Erdogan warned of threats to Europe from terrorist organizations if the Libyan government were to fall.

Libya plunged into chaos in 2011, when a popular uprising and a NATO intervention led to the ouster of long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi and his execution by unruly fighters.

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France on Friday announced two cases of the deadly new virus from China, the first cases in Europe. The two confirmed cases were announced by the health minister, Agnes Buzyn. She said that both of the sickened people had travelled to China.

The minister said she expects more cases. We have two cases, she said. We will probably have other cases.

The minister said she believes that one reason why France is the first European country to have confirmed cases is that it has developed a test allowing medics to rapidly diagnose the sickened.

One of people sickened, a 48-year-old man, passed through Wuhan, the epicentre in China for the virus, before travelling to France on Wednesday, the minister said. That person is hospitalized in the southwestern city of Bordeaux.

The other person is hospitalized in Paris. The minister said that that person also travelled to China but that she has little other information about the case. It was confirmed shortly before she spoke at a news conference.
MOSCOW, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Three Syrian army servicemen were killed and eight wounded in the last 24 hours by gunfire from militants in the Syrian city of Aleppo, RIA news agency reported on Friday, citing the Russian defence ministry.

It said the Syrian army had thwarted an attack by up to 70 militants west of Aleppo.

Eight civilians were also killed and 22 wounded by gunfire from militants in the past 24 hours, RIA reported. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Catherine Evans)
Open source

The EU should not have forced Ukraine to choose between the EU and Russia. The ex-president of the European Economic and Social Union Henri Malosse stated this during the presentation of the "Normandy format parliamentary dimension" at a meeting with members of the French Senate, National Assembly and representatives of diplomatic and business circles of France.



This crisis, in particular, is also caused by the way Europe behaved. That is, Europe is also partially responsible for the fact that it arose. And therefore, Europe simply has to work on solving the crisis that has arisen. What is its responsibility? As I said, it made Ukraine face this completely crazy, impossible choice, and in fact, instead of forcing Ukraine to choose between closer relations with the EU and its relations with Russia, it was necessary to strive for a tripartite partnership. It was necessary to make such a partnership that the EU cooperated with Ukraine, but at the same time that Ukraine could maintain its traditional relations, including economic relations, all the rest, with Russia. Therefore, in fact, it was necessary to strive not to opposition, but to unification, and I believe that civil society and economic circles should also participate in this process. They should all make efforts, "he said.



I think that there must be a political component in this decision. And Normandy format, this was already great progress in resolving the situation. I believe that the path, the initiative that Viktor Medvedchuk offers is absolutely brilliant - the idea is to create a parliamentary change in this Normandy format. And, as I said, I personally believe that we need to include civil society and economic circles here, so that together we can create a new approach, a new vision for finding ways out of this crisis. And I believe that Europe, the EU - it should build partnerships, including Russia. That is, it should build partnerships with Eastern Europe and Ukraine together with Russia, and not oppose the position of Russia. And, of course its necessary to connect all the components - political, economic and civil society, Malosse emphasized.
If you were hoping to grab some wedding souvenirs featuring the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, you are out of luck, at least, you are out of luck on the official website for the royal family. In recent days, the team behind the royals site has been hard at work scrubbing the gift shop of any mention of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. In fact, searching for their names bring up precisely zero results. Is the sudden change to the website proof that the royal family is angry with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle?

The royal family scrubs Meghan Markle and Prince Harry from their official website

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the bold decision to step back from senior royal life. A desire to forge their own path and the British press treatment of the couple seemingly informed their decision. Now, however, it looks like the royal family is trying to pretend the couple never existed, and the palace staff is busy removing any trace of the couple from the royal websites souvenir shop.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex | MICHELE SPATARI/AFP via Getty Images

Those interested in the royal family can shop for souvenirs and trinkets from the Royal Collection directly online. The webshop houses everything from sweets to china to home goods. Most of the pieces in the collection seem to celebrate a monumental moment in the royal familys history. Souvenirs commemorating royal weddings, the birth of royal children and wedding anniversary have all been produced. While the majority sell out quickly, they remain on the website for viewing. That is, unless a couple chooses to step back, apparently.

Is the removal of their souvenirs a snub?

Amid Megxit, followers of the royal family, are looking for any hint that Queen Elizabeth II is angry with the couple for stepping down from royal duties. While the queens statement on the matter was concise and didnt suggest any hint of anger, followers believe there is trouble brewing beneath the surface. Is the removal of the couples china from the royal website an indication of a rift? It looks like it.

According to Radar Online, the china has long since been sold out but was available for viewing directly on the royal website. In the wake of Megxit, all images of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been removed from the site. While the royal family would have followers believe that the sold-out nature of the product is the reason that its been removed from the site, that doesnt seem likely. Princess Eugenies china, which is also sold out, still appears on the website. Princess Eugenie married Jack Brooksbank in October 2018.

The removal of the couples souvenirs didnt occur until after they announced their decision to step back from royal life, and set down roots outside of the United Kingdom. The timing certainly seems to give credence to the idea that the royal family is scrubbing the couple from royal history.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arent the only royals to step down from duty

While the prince and his brides decision to walk away from royal life was shocking, its not entirely unprecedented. Throughout history, several royals have shunned their responsibilities in favor of a quieter life, and one mans decision to step down actually led to the current-day royal family. King Edward VIII stepped down from the throne for love, leading to the current line of royals.

King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson | Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

King Edward VIII stepped down so he could marry Wallis Simpson, an American socialite who had been twice divorced when she met the king. Prince Edward VIII stepped away from royal life when it became clear that the government would never support his marriage. They went on to marry and remained together until the death of King Edward VIII in 1972. Simpson never married again and was buried next to her late husband in 1986. According to Biography, the pairs love story is considered one of the greatest of all time. King Edward VIIIs decision to step down led to the appointment of King George VI. King George VI was the father of Queen Elizabeth II.
CORRECTED: TV provider shifting satellite to high orbit over explosion fears



Washington, Jan 24 (AFP) Jan 24, 2020



US authorities said Friday they had granted permission to a TV provider to urgently lift a four-ton (3,600-kilogram) satellite to a so-called "graveyard orbit" over fears a battery fault may soon cause it to explode.

DirecTV had told the Federal Communications Commission its Boeing-built Spaceway-1 satellite had suffered a "major anomaly" in its batteries and did not have time to deplete its remaining fuel before disposing of it by placing it 300 kilometers (190 miles) above the "geostationary arc."

This arc is about 36,000 kilometers above the equator and is home to most of the world's communication satellites because it allows them to match the Earth's orbit so that ground dishes do not have to track them across the sky.

An FCC spokesman told AFP on Friday that permission was granted on January 19 for DirecTV to begin its de-orbiting plan the following day.

The company said it was necessary to complete the procedure before February 25, when the satellite would pass through the Earth's shadow forcing it to rely on its batteries instead of its solar panels, heightening the risk of a "catastrophic failure" that could impact other satellites.

But "because the SpaceWay-1 satellite is being retired ahead of schedule, it has significantly more propellant remaining than it would have had at its previously scheduled retirement date," the FCC spokesman said, which itself is a risk factor for explosion.

DirecTV said in its filing that only a "nominal portion" of the 73 kilograms of propellant still on board would be burned.

The move was confirmed to AFP by both DirecTV's parent company AT&T and Boeing, which said "the battery malfunction occurred in the course of operating the satellite more than two years after its contractually required design life."

The satellite was launched in 2005 and according to the website SpaceNews, which first reported the news, had enough fuel to continue service until 2025.

TV viewers need not fret, said AT&T.

"This satellite is a backup and we do not anticipate any impacts on consumer service as we retire it. We are replacing it with another satellite in our fleet," the company said in a statement.
According to crash data from this same IDOT report, a traffic study was conducted over five years from Jan. 1, 2006 to Dec. 31, 2010 and a total of 1,473 crashes occurred within the study area during the analysis period, with 205, or 14%, of these collisions resulting in one or more injuries. Two crashes resulted in fatalities during the analysis period.
This afternoon the citizens of Drogheda will take to the streets for the 'Standing Together' rally in what promises to be a grand symbolic gesture to reclaim their proud town from the clutches of the feuding criminal gangs that have unleashed a terrifying campaign of violence.

It is less than two weeks since the sickening abduction, murder and dismemberment of 17-year-old Keane Mulready-Woods, a local child who was seduced by the bling lifestyle on offer from the local drug gangs.

Keane, who had been heavily involved in the ongoing violence that has beset the town over the past 18 months, did make a name for himself - but not how he had imagined.

He became the victim of one of the most depraved acts of violence yet witnessed in the 50-year history of organised crime in Ireland.

He was the third murder victim to be claimed by the gang feud since last September after an inexorable build-up involving at least 70 incidents of shootings, attempted murders, stabbings, assaults and arson attacks.

In the words of Drogheda mayor Paul Bell, drugs gangs have inflicted untold misery on the community, instilling fear and anxiety. Those living in the worst-affected areas, the working-class estates the gangs have turned into battlefields, are now suffering from "terror fatigue".

"It has created a situation where in some areas of our town people are finding it unbearable to live," he said.

That is why today's march will mark a turning point in the reign of the crime gangs.

Our recent history has already shown that when the people come together in a show of moral force, and in solidarity with gardai to send a message to the narco-terrorists that their violence and intimidation will be no longer be tolerated, the tables inevitably begin to turn.

That is what happened in Limerick in 2009 when a brave man called Steve Collins rallied the people of the city to a march through the streets after the McCarthy/Dundon gang murdered his innocent son Roy and another innocent man, Shane Geoghegan.

Thanks to Steve's bravery, the collective resolve of the people of Limerick and, of course, the diligence and hard work of the Garda, today the city is one of the most peaceful and progressive in Europe.

When the wider society and the authorities work together, no criminal or terrorist organisation can survive.

The lesson learned from Limerick is that gardai will not fully vanquish these brutal criminal entities without the help and support of the wider public.

The garda leading the investigation into the gang violence and the murder of Keane Mulready-Woods has shown great leadership in his efforts to reassure local people they are not alone.

On local radio, Chief Supterintendent Christy Mangan issued a rallying cry for today's Standing Together march.

"I would encourage everybody, and I mean everybody, in Drogheda to come in and show to the people of Ireland that they are standing up for their town. Through fear must come courage. We have to have courage to stand together to take them on," he said.

"We will do it. I have no doubt we will do it and on Saturday I would encourage everybody who is able to get into town. It will be a well-planned meeting where people can come in and express their opinions ... and we will be there to make sure they are safe."

Gardai are very confident they are on course to charge the main players involved in the murder of Keane Mulready-Woods and other crimes associated with the feud.

Experience has shown that criminals ultimately bring about their own downfall and end up serving long sentences behind bars - if they haven't been murdered themselves.

It happened in Limerick, it happened after the murder of Veronica Guerin in 1996, and it will happen again in Drogheda. Today will mark the beginning of the end for those who thought they could set new precedents in depravity and get away with it. And every decent Irish person will be standing beside them in spirit.
Helicopter with Ukrainian pilots was hit by missile in Afghanistan. It is reported by TV8. The Mi-8 helicopter of Moldovan airline was attacked in the city of Kayaki. At the time of shelling from an RPG grenade launcher the helicopter was on the ground.There were three crew members inside the helicopter, including a mechanical engineer and a pilot from Ukraine. They were slightly injured, and the co-pilot from Moldova was not injured.All pilots were evacuated on another helicopter and hospitalized to provide medical care, they were soon discharged. Nothing threatens their health.The Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan reported that the incident occurred for technical reasons.
Thirty years ago, when Ali Khamenei was ordained as the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, two prominent personalities cast a shadow on his leadership; Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ahmad Khomeini. One was a confidant of the founder of the Islamic Republic and a savvy operator and the other was the heir to Khomeinis legacy and a key figure during his fathers rule.

Five years into Khameneis supreme leadership, one of these shadows disappeared when Ahmad Khomeini died, and the Khamenei faction breathed a sigh of relief.

If we imagine that Khameneis son Mojtaba can be a shadow over the head of the next Supreme Leader, like Khomeinis son was, we can also say that Qassem Soleimani could have been an overwhelming presence, much like Rafsanjani was for Khamenei.

Rafsanjani was the ultimate insider who helped Khamenei become the Supreme Leader and gave crucial support to him in the early days. The question is if Soleimani could have played the same role for the next Supreme leader, had he not died in a U.S. drone strike on a ramp in Baghdad airport on January 3.

This could have been a distinct possibility. Soleimani was popular for regime insiders, he had amicable ties with all factions, represented Khameneis brand and without exaggeration we can say he was the number two man after Khamenei in the last few years.

However, more than being an ardent supporter of the concept of Supreme Leader, Soleimani was a devotee of Khamenei and it is not clear if he would have shown as much devotion to the next Supreme Leader.

If Soleimani was not killed, he could have become a center of gravity facing the future Leader, in the same manner Khomeinis son Ahmad and Rafsanjani gradually became points of resistance to Khamenei, making his life difficult.

Thus, it can be argued Soleimani absence will benefit the future Supreme Leader. It will also aide the political-economic cartels within the regime who would want to control the future Leader.

Politics in Iran has witnessed a big change during Khameneis thirty-year rule. When he assumed the Leadership, powerful entities in the country were few. Instead there were a few powerful individuals.

But in the meantime, several dominant entities have put down deep roots and Khameneis successor not only must deal with influential personalities, but he will have to contend with powerful entities.

Khamenei was the architect of building bureaucracies. One is his headquarters, or Beyt, as it is known, made up of a large network of departments and offices employing thousands of people. Another powerful institution is the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) and its economic empire. These all operate outside the jurisdiction of the presidential administration and in fact overshadow it.

Khamenei was the person who allowed these entities to grow into huge establishments, but he appointed his trusted people to run them. His successor has to deal with centers of power he did not create and did not staff.

In Soleimanis absence, bureaucratic managers and heads of entities can more easily engage in their own horse-trading without a strong military personality to rein them in. Soleimani was stronger than any bureaucracy or entity.

In the factional politics of the Islamic Republic the presence of someone like Soleimani makes a big difference. After all, a few non-transparent and un-accountable military and economic centers of power dominate Iran, as Khameneis rule was marked with suppression and obliteration of all other entities, including political parties and even the weakest symbols of civil society.

Opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily the views of Radio Farda
The administration in Jammu and Kashmir is planning to hold elections in villages where polls couldnt be held in 2018 to complete the panchayat poll process in the region.

Sheetal Nanda, commissioner secretary with the panchayati raj department, said while speaking to HT that the process to hold the polls for vacant panchayat posts have already been finalised.

We will be doing it very soon and we are ready, Nanda said.

She also said after the completion of the polls, which could likely be held in February, elections will also be held for the chairpersons of the district development and planning boards of every district.

Last year, polls were held for chairpersons of block development boards across J&K.

Out of the 17,396 panchayat wards in Kashmir, around 11,778 are still vacant for which polls couldnt be held in 2018.

Two main regional political parties National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had boycotted these polls in 2018, when no candidate filed the nomination papers at many places.

Officials privy to the developments said the polls could be held for 11,453 panchayat wards as others are situated in the snowbound areas and elections cant take place there due to heavy accumulation of snow and weather conditions.

We have completed all the formalities for the polls and elections could be held in February, said an official adding that most of these seats remained vacant as candidates didnt file nominations during polls.

The highest number of vacant panchayat wards are in north Kashmirs Baramulla district with 2163 followed by Anantnag with 1995 while in Budgam and Pulwama districts there are 1940 and 1437 panchayat wards which are vacant or for which elections couldnt take place last time as people didnt file the nominations for the polls.

Likewise, of the 2182 sarpanch vacancies in Kashmir, 923 are still vacant and there is every possibility elections for them could take place next month. However, the government is yet to make a decision about 36 sarpanch posts which are located in the snowbound areas.

Since the 2018 polls, 504 panches have resigned for different reasons. The highest number of the resignations took place in south Kashmirs Anantnag with 129 office bearers putting in their papers, followed by central Kashmirs Budgam district with 81 while in Baramulla and Kupwara districts 67 and 61 panches quit.

After getting elected, 12 sarpanches also resigned with one each in Anantnag and Baramulla districts. While five sarpanches quit in south Kashmirs Pulwama district, one each resigned in Baramulla, Budgam and Bandipore districts of Kashmir.

An officer of the panchayati raj department said there are various reasons behind the resignations of sarpanches and panches.

Threats due to militancy, deaths and panchayat members getting elected as BDC (block development council) chairmen are the reasons for the resignations, the official said.

The process now will be completed very soon and after the polls, there will be the completion of a two-tier system of panchayati raj system in Kashmir province, the official added.

The panchayati raj officials said that more than Rs 1400 crore have been deposited in the gram panchayats across J&K for different projects in the last few months. However, the absence of panches and sarpanches could mean that these funds will remain unutilised.

The central government had said the last panchayat elections held in 2018 were a big success. The panchayat elections had witnessed a good turnout and the Centre had promised massive funds for all the gram panchayats.
The face-off between Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State and the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams...

The face-off between Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State and the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, got messier on Saturday, as unidentified thugs overnight set ablaze vehicles, canopies and chairs parked at the venue to be used for a political rally in Auchi, Estako West local government area.





The rally which was to hold at an open ground owned by a private individual, was said to have been organised by Oshiomhole to receive some defectors into the APC.





Sources had it that the suspected thugs who invaded the venue at about 2 am, shot sporadically before they set ablaze over 1000 chairs, the podium, several canopies and two vehicles.





It was learnt that heavy security was being deployed to the area to forestall further attack.





A chieftain of the APC in the State, Mr. Victor Oshioke, who confirmed the incident to our correspondent in a telephone interview, described it as a new dimension in Edo politics.





Oshioke who is a former spokesman to Adams Oshiomhole urged security agents to fish out the perpetrators and bring them to justice.





It is very unfortunate at this time. While we are awaiting the police to do their investigation, we want to say that it is quite unexpected and want the security agents to ensure that those responsible are brought to book, because, it is a new dimension in politicking in Edo state, that nobody can meet peacefully, something that is guaranteed by the Constitution.





Its getting too much, we experienced it in Benin and again we are experiencing it in Auchi. It is very unfortunate.





They should let Edo people express their freedom in choosing who rules them. That is our position at this time, Oshioke said.




MUSKEGON, MI  U.S. Representative Bill Huizenga toured the coastline of West Michigan on Friday morning to witness the effects of erosion across his district, and called on the state of Michigan to declare a state of emergency in order to free up federal resources for affected property owners.

Huizenga was accompanied by members of the U.S. Coast Guard in a helicopter that departed from the Muskegon County Airport on Friday. Huizenga viewed a chunk of coastline, from just north of Saugatuck to Ludington, parts of which he said are experiencing dramatic erosion.

It seems to me that the state should declare a state of emergency on that, that will then at least help us make the argument with the Army Corps [of Engineers] and FEMA and others, that we need their attention, he said.

Huizenga represents Michigans 2nd district, which stretches across Muskegon, Ottawa, Oceana, Lake and Newaygo counties. He is a Republican chair of the bipartisan Great Lakes Task Force and recently sponsored legislation that will earmark for the Great Lakes region $5 million in erosion-related federal funding.

He described passing houses that dangled on the edge of cliffs, and active work going on in the days relatively calm waters.

It was pretty stark, Huizenga said. There is a lot of areas where it was dramatic. There were some spots south of Ludington, where it was hundreds of feet high, the dunes, and it was just cliffs.

The damage along the shore is very severe in some areas. Here is a sample of the impact erosion is having in Ottawa, Muskegon, and Oceana counties. pic.twitter.com/BtiMGBFEwu  Rep. Bill Huizenga (@RepHuizenga) January 24, 2020

Huizenga said his team has met with federal agencies, including FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers, but that theres currently no federal program targeting a slow-burning issue like erosion.

It's not one specific event, like a frost or a hailstorm, he said, likening the effects of erosion to that of drought. [I]t's not something that is necessarily tied to one event that's causing a major failure, but a whole series of them, and we know what happens when one storm comes in. We can see some major, major damage all in a short period of time.

Heres a view from above of the erosion that has taken place between Grand Haven and Holland in Ottawa County. pic.twitter.com/yEXmWjZHX3  Rep. Bill Huizenga (@RepHuizenga) January 24, 2020

He said that government can work to make the process of remediation more flexible for property owners.

In late October, EGLE announced that it would expedite permits for shoreline protection work. About 65 percent of permits are now processed within five days, according to an EGLE spokesperson.

But time is of the essence, he added.

We know that one storm can wipe out tens of feet of material. For a number of those houses that are literally right on the edge, that could mean whether they stay up or whether they go into the lake.

Thats not an abstract threat to lakeshore homeowners: on New Years Eve, a Muskegon County home fell off a bluff. Elsewhere, in Ottawa County and, on Monday, in Allegan County, homes have been demolished before they could face such a fate.

He also spoke about the financial hurdles that homeowners face in trying to rectify the situation they find themselves in. Some people inherited homes that they already could not afford property taxes on, he said, which they now they must pay to repair, move, or knock down.

Its easy to kind of characterize this as wealthy property owners along the lakeshore, but thats just not the reality, necessarily, of what we see out there, he said.

Asked about the effects of climate change on this years near-record lake levels, Huizenga declined to assign responsibility to larger climate patterns.

Read more:

Erosion claims home on Lake Michigan despite owners attempts to save it

Cleanup completed on collapsed Lake Michigan cottage before big storm hits

Home on edge of Lake Michigan bluff demolished to avoid collapse
WASHINGTON  Democratic House prosecutors argued Thursday in Donald Trumps impeachment trial that the president was swept up by a completely bogus Ukraine theory pushed by attorney Rudy Giuliani and that led to his abuse of presidential power and then impeachment.

As the Democrats pressed their case for a second day before skeptical Republican Senate jurors, they displayed video images of the nations top FBI and Homeland Security officials warning the public off the theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election.

Thats what Donald Trump wanted investigated or announced  this completely bogus Kremlin-pushed conspiracy theory, said Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who is leading the prosecution.

Trump is accused of seeking the investigation  and probes of political foe Joe Biden and Bidens son  for his own political benefit while holding back congressional approved military aid as leverage. Schiff said, You an imagine what a danger that presents to this country.

Trump is facing trial in the Senate after the House impeached him last month, accusing him of abusing his office by asking Ukraine for the investigations while withholding the aid from a U.S. ally at war with bordering Russia. Trump faces a second article of impeachment accusing him of obstructing Congress by refusing to turn over documents or allow officials to testify in the House probe.

Republicans, growing tired of the long hours of proceedings, have defended Trumps actions as appropriate and cast the process as a politically motivated effort to weaken him in the midst of his reelection campaign. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and acquittal is considered likely.

The Democrats challenge is clear as they try to convince not just fidgety senators but an American public divided over the Republican president in an election year.

With Chief Justice John Roberts presiding, Democrats argued on Thursday that Trumps motives were clear.

No president has ever used his office to compel a foreign nation to help him cheat in our elections, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told the senators. He said the nations founders would be shocked. The presidents conduct is wrong. It is illegal. It is dangerous.

They scoffed at Trumps claims that he had good reasons for pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political foes.

It was Trump who engaged in a shocking abuse of power, not former Vice President Biden or other Trump foes, said Rep. Sylvia Garcia of Texas. There is no evidence, nothing, nada to suggest that Biden did anything improper in dealings with Ukraine, said the former judge.

Trump, with Giuliani, pursued investigations of Biden and his son, Hunter, who served on a Ukrainian gas companys board, sought the probe of debunked theories of what nation was guilty of interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

The presidents defense waited its turn, which may come on Saturday.

We will be putting on a vigorous defense of both fact and rebutting what they said, said attorney Jay Sekulow at the Capitol.

Ahead of the days proceedings, Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri said the Democrats were putting forward admirable presentations. But he said, Theyve basically got about one hour of presentation, and they gave it six times on Tuesday and eight times yesterday. Theres just not much new here.

The top Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer, acknowledged that many senators really dont want to be here.

But Schumer said Schiff has been outlining a compelling case abou t Trumps pressure on Ukraine and the scheme to cover up the charges and many Republicans are hearing it for only the first time. He contended they cant help but be glued to his testimony.

Once reluctant to take on impeachment during an election year, Democrats are now marching toward a decision by the Senate that the American public also will judge.

Trump blasted the proceedings in a Thursday morning tweet, declaring them the Most unfair & corrupt hearing in Congressional history!

Campaigning in Iowa, Biden said, People ask the question, Isnt the president going to be stronger and harder to beat if he survives this? Yes, probably. But Congress has no choice. He said senators must cast their votes and live with that in history.

Each side has up to three days to present its case. After the House prosecutors finish, likely Friday, the presidents lawyers will have as much as 24 hours.

Lisa Mascaro, Eric Tucker and Zeke Miller are Associated Press writers.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police, in compliance with the directive of the poll authorities on Friday, filed an FIR against BJP candidate Kapil Mishra in connection with his controversial tweet, likening the polls to an India-Pakistan contest.

Delhis chief electoral officer Ranbir Singh on Friday directed the police to file an FIR against Mishra under section 123 of the Representation of People Act for trying to aggravate differences between two communities.



ALSO READ | Spoke truth, stand by my statement: Kapil Mishra on EC notice over 'India vs Pak' tweet

Earlier in the day, the Election Commission had asked Twitter to take down the controversial post by the BJP candidate from Model Town Assembly constituency. His tweet was later removed following the ECs direction.



The tweet by Mishra read,Delhi me chote chote Shaheen Bagh Bane, Shaheen Bagh me Pak ki entry.

Another tweet went, India vs. Pakistan 8th February, Delhi. On February 8, on the streets of Delhi, there will be a competition between India and Pakistan (sic).



ALSO READ: EC asks Twitter to take down Kapil Mishra's tweet linking Delhi polls to 'India Vs Pak' clash

The ECs action came after the Delhi CEO Office wrote to the Commission to remove Mishras tweet.



In response to the Election Commission notice, Mishra wrote a four-page letter saying that his remarks have been taken out of context. I gave a general opinion on the issue . It wasnt a speech at an election rally. The impugned remarks should not be considered as election-related statements, he said.



I have not named any caste/community/religion or linguistic group, neither have I intended to aggravate any differences to gain any electoral benefit...my statement refers merely to two countries, he added.
French Health Ministry on Friday confirmed the first two cases of deadly coronavirus, with one of them involving a person who had returned from China recently.

The two cases were confirmed in the French cities of Paris and Bordeaux, French Minister of Health Agnes Buzyn said, adding that one of the infected men had contacted around 10 people upon his return to France, as per a report by Sputnik.

"The patient (from Bordeaux) is 48 years old; he has returned from China and had passed through Wuhan. He consulted (doctors) about his symptoms on January 23. Since yesterday, he has been hospitalized in Bordeaux, he is held in an individual chamber," the minister said.

The mysterious outbreak of novel coronavirus was first reported earlier this month in Wuhan, a Chinese city of an estimated 11 million people. Since then, there have been hundreds of confirmed cases in several countries, including China, South Korea, United States, Japan, Taiwan, Nepal, among others.

Coronaviruses (nCoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). A novel coronavirus is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Stolen Chicken will be live in Whale Theatre, Greystones, on Saturday, February 1, at 8pm.

Stolen Chicken is a new musical collective made up some of Ireland's top solo musicians.

A style of music combining jazz, folk, and world, with hints of The Cafe Orchestra (whose guitarist, Drazen Derek is an integral part of the band), this is an eclectic mix of musicians, guaranteed to give a unique and top class evening of music.

Drazen is joined by renowned vocalist, Simon Morgan, whose last album, 'Thomas Moore Reimagined' hit the top of the iTunes Charts earlier this year, after featuring as a LyricFm Album of the Week. Also featured is Ireland's top Saxophone player Richie Buckley, who has recorded and toured with artists from Van Morrison to Mary Black.

On Piano is the inimitable Myles Drennan, who's played with a who's who of international's Jazz musicians, and was a long collaborator with the late Louis Stewart. And last, but not least, Nigel Linden, a top traditional piano accordion player, who has toured with artists from Donovan, to Cuban music specialist Cocu Yuan Castellanus.

They will also be joined by other special guests.

Following on from a sold out performance at The Clifden Arts Festival, and The Creative Connections Festival in Sitges, Spain, where they debuted a number of their original tracks with artists including John Sheahan and Martin Tourish, this evening is a continuation of their fun and creative exploration of World Music.

Tickets cost 20 and are available from the Whale Theatre.
Two Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter pilots killed by friendly fire in Kashmir a day after the February 26 Balakot air strikes are among 409 gallantry awardees and other military honorees on a list approved by the President on the eve of the 71st Republic Day.

Squadron Leaders Ninad Anil Mandavgane and Siddharth Vashisht, whose Mi-17 helicopter was brought down by friendly fire in Kashmirs Budgam on February 27, a day after the IAF bombed terror camps in Pakistan, will both be posthumously awarded the Vayu Sena Medal for gallantry. All six IAF personnel on board the Mi-17 helicopter were killed. The remaining four have been awarded Mentioned-in-Despatches by the President.

Nine security forces personnel will be awarded the Shaurya Chakra -- the countrys third highest peacetime gallantry award -- for outstanding gallantry during a string of operations. Four of these awards -- to soldier Naib Subedar Sombir, and the three policemen, Challapilla Narasimha Rao, Kamal Kishore and Aman Kumar -- will be given posthumously.

Sombir was part of an assault team of a Rashtriya Rifles battalion that planned and executed a daring operation in which three hardcore terrorists were killed in Jammu & Kashmir last February.

The other Shaurya Chakra awardees from the Indian Army are Lt Colonel Jyoti Lama, Major Konjengbam Bijendra Singh, Naib Subedar Narender Singh, Naik Naresh Kumar and Sepoy Karmdeo Oraon.

The army credited Lama with creating a vibrant intelligence network in Manipur that led to 14 wanted terrorists being apprehended, and also killing two terrorists in a well-planned operation in July 2019. Major Konjengbam Bijendra Singhs citation says his courage and leadership resulted in the killing of two terrorists in Manipur last March.

Naib Subedar Narender Singh killed two terrorists and wounded a third during a firefight along the Line of Control in J&K last July. His aggressive actions led to foiling of attempt of the hostiles to target own posts, his citation said.

Naik Naresh Kumar shot dead a hardened terrorist from range of just five metres during an operation in J&K last May, while Sepoy Oraon killed two terrorists in an operation along the LoC in December 2018.

Oraon was deployed at a forward post when it came under heavy fire from Pakistani army posts and, simultaneously, a group of terrorists also targeted the Indian post. He observed four terrorists firing and rushing towards the post. The Sepoy fell down after a bullet hit his bulletproof headgear but he quickly recovered and mounted a counter assault.

With utter disregard to his personal safety, he immediately rushed out of his bunker, lobbed nine grenades and engaged the terrorists in close quarter battle. This gallant action resulted in elimination of two terrorists. Continuing focused aggression he rushed back to his light machine gun and recommenced firing, ensuring that the terrorists made no further attempt, said his citation for the award.

The awards announced 28 Param Vishisht Seva Medals, four Uttam Yudh Seva Medals, 53 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals, 10 Yudh Seva Medals, 123 Vishisht Seva Medals, four Bar to Sena Medals (Gallantry), 107 Sena Medals (Gallantry), five Nao Sena Medals (Gallantry) and four Vayu Sena Medals (Gallantry).
A Delhi court on Saturday said that no further directions are to be issued to the Tihar jail authorities for providing relevant documents, and disposed off a plea by advocate AP Singh, counsel for the three convicts in the December 16 gang rape case, seeking relevant documents for the convicts to file curative and mercy petitions.

The court was hearing a plea by AP Singh, the counsel for Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta, and Akshay Thakur, seeking directions to supply relevant documents required for them to file curative and mercy petitions.

On Saturday, Public Prosecutor Irfan Ahmed told the court that the jail authorities had already supplied the documents. He told the court that the jail authorities possess the receipt and application made by Singh. He contended that these are delay tactics being used by the convicts to further postpone the date of hanging.

The entire process is to defeat the law. We have already supplied all the documents. We procured all the documents from all the jails they went to, Ahmed said, following which he produced before the court the diary of one of the convicts, Vinay Kumar Sharma, which he had named Darinda, as well as several paintings and other documents.

These are all we have. If the court directs, we can hand these over to the convicts right now, the counsel said.

Countering these submissions, advocate AP Singh, told the court that he had received some documents late Friday around 10:30pm. However, he is yet to receive the 170-page diary and some medical documents from the jail authorities. He also told the court that he needed the diary and medical documents to file the mercy petition for Vinay Sharma.

Singh claimed that Sharma was being poisoned slowly and had been hospitalised, but his medical reports are not being supplied to him.

Vinay made several paintings, and we want to inform the President about them. Also, we need to know how much he earned from those paintings, Singh said.

He alleged that Pawan Guptas head was split open in Mandoli jail and he was shifted to a hospital but those documents were not supplied to the counsel either. The documents related to the health of the third convict Akshay Kumar Singh were also not supplied, and were required to file his curative and mercy petitions, the lawyer said.

Following this, the documents were given by the jail authorities and the matter was disposed of.
WHO says "too early" to declare coronavirus outbreak in China a global emergency

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 09:36, January 24, 2020

GENEVA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that it was "too early" to declare the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in China a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).

"I am not declaring a public health emergency of international concern today. As it was yesterday, the Emergency Committee was divided over whether the outbreak of novel coronavirus represents a PHEIC or not," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press conference after a closed-door meeting of the Emergency Committee.

"Make no mistake, though, this is an emergency in China. But it has not yet become a global health emergency. It may yet become one," Tedros said, adding that WHO's risk assessment is that the outbreak is a very high risk in China, and a high risk regionally and globally.

"I wish to reiterate that the fact I am not declaring a PHEIC today should not be taken as a sign that WHO does not think the situation is serious, or that we are not taking it seriously," the WHO chief said.

The UN health agency extended its Emergency Committee discussions on whether to declare a PHEIC from Wednesday to Thursday.

The PHEIC is defined by the WHO as an extraordinary event that is determined to constitute a public health risk to other states through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response.

Tedros said that 584 cases have now been reported to WHO, including 17 deaths. A total of 575 of those cases and all of the deaths have been reported in China, with other cases reported in Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.

Tedros said China has taken measures it believes appropriate to contain the spread of coronavirus in Wuhan and other cities and WHO hoped that they will be both effective and short in their duration.

He thanked the Chinese government for its cooperation and transparency. The government has been successful in isolating and sequencing the virus very quickly and has shared that genetic sequence with the WHO and the international community.

For the moment, WHO does not recommend any broader restrictions on travel or trade, and recommends exit screening at airports as part of a comprehensive set of containment measures. All countries should have in place measures to detect cases of coronavirus, including at health facilities, Tedros said.

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By Express News Service

GUNTUR: As many as 60 Buddhist monks from Bhutan visiting the State were a disappointed lot as they were unable to reach Nagarjunakonda, one of the prominent Buddhist sites, on Thursday. The reason: unavailability of the cruising service to the historical town, now an island near Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, since September last. They returned after praying at Avuku, also a famous Buddhist site, in Vijayapuri South of Guntur.

Nagarjunakonda is 14 km away from Nagarjunasagar Dam and the only way to reach the hill top is through the river. After the boat tragedy on Godavari river in Devipatnam of East Godavari, in which more than 70 persons were drowned, the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) stopped the regular cruise service to the historical site.

The archaeological relics, including stupas, statues and scriptures, were excavated and transferred to higher land after the construction of the dam. Located 150 km away from Hyderabad, the site is believed to have existed for almost 1800 years. Excavations revealed that ancient artefacts were a proof of a Buddhist civilisation.

Archaeologically, Nagarjunkonda is considered a very important site as nowhere else in the country can one find such a vast expanse of Buddhist ruins. The ruins are visible today in the island-museum in their reconstructed form based on what was salvaged from the riverbed.

The site is of interest to tourists, not only from India, but also from Japan, Nepal, Bhutan, China and Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, national secretary of the All India Panchayat Parishad Jasti Veeranjaneyulu has submitted a representation to Tourism and Cultural additional secretary Durga Prasad, requesting for restarting of the cruise service to Nagarjunakonda. He feared that the artefacts might have been damaged.
Mexico goes ghost as its oil hedge bill spirals FILE PHOTO: Tanks of state-owned company Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) are seen at a storage facility, in Ciudad Juarez

By Stefanie Eschenbacher and Devika Krishna Kumar

MEXICO CITY/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mexico is playing a risky game of hide and seek with the oil market.

To frustrate speculators and contain an annual bill of more than $1 billion, Mexico is going to new lengths to mask its attempts to insure its revenue from oil sales against falling prices - no mean feat for a hedging program known as Wall Street's biggest oil trade.

Getting the hedge right is crucial for Mexico as it offers stability at a time the government is planning to boost social welfare and security spending, the economy is stagnating and the country's credit-worthiness is under intense scrutiny.

Once an enigmatic agreement between a handful of finance industry officials and Wall Street banks, the hedge is now the most anticipated deal in the oil futures market, making it harder, and more costly, for Mexico to arrange.

For its 2020 hedge, however, Mexico has adopted a different strategy than in previous years, according to a Wall Street source with direct knowledge of the deal.

This time, an estimated two-thirds of the options Mexico bought in financial markets were indexed to the international Brent crude benchmark, shifting away from the Maya oil Mexico mainly produces, according to the source.

By using such a heavily traded contract as Brent, Mexico should have been able to cut costs by getting lower quotes for its trades and to place bets more unobtrusively to avoid prices shifting ahead of its moves, market sources said.

But critics say the strategy creates new risks. By using international oil contracts based on a different kind of oil, the structure of the hedge may not fully reflect Mexico's export mix dominated by Maya, which is typically cheaper than Brent.

SWEET OR SOUR

"I would expect a divergence of prices over the long term. This pressure on Maya could move prices down faster than its hedge. This would cause a loss on the physical sale of Maya and minimal-to-possibly no benefit of the hedge," said Ryan Dusek, director at consulting firm Opportune LLP https://opportune.com based in Houston, who added that the trade could end up being "worthless."

Story continues

The Mexican finance ministry declined to comment on the structure of the hedge.

The Wall Street source said the proportion of Maya crude hedged for 2020 was significantly lower than in previous years.

For the 2009 deal, for example, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley hedged 305 million barrels of crude using Maya and only 25 million with Brent, data obtained by Reuters through a freedom of information request showed.

The Wall Street source said for 2020, Mexico had bought put options on Brent on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) at $54-$56 a barrel and hedged Maya at $42.

Brent <LCOc1> is trading at around $63 a barrel while Maya's official selling price for deliveries to the U.S. Gulf Coast is about $55, according to S&P Global Platts pricing data.

The options give Mexico the right to sell oil at the predetermined price, so if the actual market price is lower, the options pay out and make up the difference - acting effectively as an insurance policy.

But if the price of Maya, a heavy sour crude, falls faster than Brent, a light sweet crude - or Maya drops and Brent rises - Mexico could miss out on oil revenues without the hedge kicking in, analysts and market sources said.

Mexico has had to contend with the potential divergence in Maya and Brent crude prices before but the risk is now greater as demand for heavy crudes globally is expected to slump.

Reuters was unable to determine whether Mexico has taken additional steps to bridge any gaps between Maya and Brent.

'HACIENDA HEDGE'

Mere rumors of Mexico's "Hacienda hedge," which gets its name from the country's finance ministry, can shift prices ahead of its anticipated deals and the government fears participants push up premiums when they suspect Mexico is about to trade.

"Banks have become much better at accumulating information about it," said Victor Gomez, a former Mexican finance ministry official involved in the hedge until 2018.

In part due to this, the hedge's cost has increased 10-fold in peso terms since 2001, even though the number of barrels hedged has barely changed, the data obtained from the freedom of information request showed.

Mexico spent the equivalent of $212 million to hedge 200 million barrels in 2001 but in 2016, hedging 212 million barrels cost $956 million. In 2017, Mexico stopped disclosing the number of barrels it has hedged.

Now, for the first time in at least 19 years, finance ministry officials have declined to reveal how much they're spending to protect 2020 revenue, saying the information would give speculators insight into their strategy and raise costs.

"What we don't want is that they identify the moments that Mexico goes to the market, because that raises the costs of the premium," Gabriel Yorio, one of the main architects of the hedge under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who took office a year ago, told reporters this month.

The cost of the hedge has also risen because the peso has declined versus the U.S. dollar and because options have become more expensive since many commodity-oriented funds, which were natural counterparties to the deal, have closed.

Officials have also declined to say how much of the 1.73 million barrels a day it produces they're protecting, nor to what extent they're using put options or a budget stabilization fund to guarantee government revenue.

All they have disclosed is that the 2020 hedge guarantees an average price for Maya of $49 a barrel.

(Graphic: Mexico oil hedge - https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/editorcharts/MEXICO-OIL-HEDGE/0H001QEEL6ZW/eikon.png)

Since 2001, Mexico has received three payouts up until the end of last year: in 2009, 2015 and 2016, the data showed.

Nevertheless, those three payments were so large the finance ministry could argue it was still ahead - at least before including the cost of the 2020 program.

Mexico has also taken other steps to cover its tracks. In response to further questions in Reuters' records request, Mexico's transparency institute said additional information about the hedge had been sealed for five years.

It cited the finance ministry as saying revealing details could increase costs, affect Mexico's monetary policy and financial stability and create systemic financial risk.

"This is part of Mexico's strategy to leave banks and oil majors in the dark about what they are buying and how much they are paying," said Gomez.

Asked about specifics at a news conference on Jan. 9, Mexican official Yorio highlighted the importance of the overhaul of the crude oil pricing formulas that underpin Mexico's oil exports.

Last year, Mexico changed the pricing formula for Maya sales to the U.S. Gulf Coast to be based 65% on U.S. West Texas Intermediate in Houston - a light sweet crude which is the most traded U.S. Gulf Coast grade - and 35% on Brent futures.

Before, it had been derived from West Texas Sour, Dated Brent and other grades that have become less traded markets. The formula also previously included fuel oil rich in sulphur, which has been hit by new rules requiring ships to use cleaner fuel.

FUND OR OPTIONS

Mexican officials involved in the hedge in the past said the government may be considering increasing its use of the stabilization fund to guarantee oil prices as a supplement to financial instruments.

From the mid-2010s, Mexico started to lock in part of its target oil price with the fund to contain the costs of the options it buys from banks and major oil companies.

For example, Mexico locked in a price of $79 for its 2015 hedge, with $76.40 guaranteed by options and the remaining $2.60 backed by the fund. In 2017, the last time the ministry released such information, $4 of its $42 hedge was covered by the fund.

Gomez and Julio Ruiz, another former official involved in the hedge until 2018, said Mexico was expected to expand this strategy in the coming years but cautioned it would struggle to keep enough money in the fund to hedge oil exports fully.

"They would have to accumulate a larger amount of resources in this fund," Gomez said.

Nevertheless, those changes would do little to ease the concerns of some who believe Mexico spends too much on the hedge, said Ruiz, adding that guaranteeing oil revenue was still necessary given the pressures on Mexico and state-owned Pemex, the world's most heavily indebted oil company.

"In congress, many will say they don't agree with how this money is spent, and that it shouldn't be spent on the oil hedging program," Ruiz said.

"But Mexico's finances would become a lot more volatile without it."

(Reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher in Mexico City and Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; Additional reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez and David Alire Garcia; Editing by David Gaffen, Frank Jack Daniel and David Clarke)
SATURDAY PUZZLE  I have been waiting for a Stella Zawistowski puzzle, and were lucky to get it on a weekend. Ms. Zawistowski is a supersonic force of nature in the crossword solving world as well as a powerlifter, a scientifically improbable combination of speed and strength.

I think that knowing these things helps explain the zeitgeist of this grid. It looks daunting at first, even unnavigable, but after paddling uncertainly for a while your raft will find a current and rush you forward, pell mell. Plenty of rapids, though! Plenty of sharp rocks!

Tricky Clues

There are several interesting trains of thought running through the clues  lets run MOHEL down through NEE and ILL TIMED, why not?  and a snappy, irrepressible vibe. So many riffs  SLAG and LAG, MANE and TEASES, RUN and LAM. The stacks in each corner were all just wonderful, too, replete with debuts, oddities and intimate jokes (SPORTSBRA and LABORIOUS. Sooo true.) Also, although I didnt get either entry until after a few passes, the first row of this puzzle, as a tone setter for the whole adventure, was quite endearing.

35A: Guessing this word (which was common crossword fill in the 1950s, but fell from use over time) brought me to one of my favorite writers, Gerald Durrell, who used the term PALAVER quite often in his stories about collecting wild animals in exotic places. Also, theres a very swinging Fela Kuti song that uses palaver in the chorus.
Rescue workers raced against time on January 25 to find survivors under the rubble after a powerful earthquake claimed 22 lives and left more than 1,000 injured in eastern Turkey. The magnitude 6.8 quake struck on January 24 evening, with its epicentre in the small lakeside town of Sivrice in Elazig province, and was felt in neighbouring countries.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 39 people have been rescued alive from collapsed buildings in Elazig province, with a further 22 people estimated to be trapped under the rubble. He said the death toll had risen to 22.

Among those found alive was a pregnant woman who was rescued 12 hours after the quake hit, state news agency Anadolu said, while an AFP correspondent saw an individual saved 17 hours later.

Nearly 2,000 search and rescue personnel were sent to the region while thousands of beds, blankets and tents have been provided, the Turkish presidency said.

The rescue efforts have been taking place in freezing temperatures as wood and plastic were burned to keep crowds warm.

Hundreds of people were anxiously waiting on the other side of police barriers including a man who gave his name as Mustafa.

"I have three relatives in that building: one man, his wife and her mother. They are still under the rubble," the 40-year-old told AFP.

"May God help us, we can do nothing but pray.

"I was home during the earthquake. It lasted for so long, it was like a nightmare. I froze in the living room when it happened, my wife and our two children were screaming and running around," he said.

He added that some neighbours jumped out of the windows because they panicked as families including his were forced to spend Friday night on the streets.

Some 20 rescuers were on top of the remains of one collapsed building, slowly clearing the rubble one bucket at a time surrounded by broken wooden beams and concrete.

Nearby Ayse Sonmez, 48, wept in silence at the barrier.

She was only able to point to one of the heavily damaged buildings and say, "My older sister."

Sivrice -- a town with a population of about 4,000 -- is situated south of Elazig city on the shores of Hazar lake -- one of the most popular tourist spots in the region and the source of the Tigris river.

The lake is home to a "Sunken City", with archaeological traces dating back 4,000 years in its waters.

The interior minister said 18 people were killed in Elazig while four died in Malatya.

Among the 1,031 people injured were residents in other provinces in the southeast including Diyarbakir, Batman, Sanliurfa, Adiyaman and Kahramanmaras, the Turkish government's disaster and emergency management agency (AFAD) said.

Health minister Fahrettin Koca said 128 people were still receiving treatment including 34 in intensive care but added that no one was in a critical condition.

Tensions were high as one resident accused the government of lying.

"They (the government) claim that only four people are trapped under the rubble. It is not true. I have five relatives in that building," Suat, a 45-year-old butcher, said.

"There are four floors and three flats per floor. If there were five people per flat, do the math. Why are they lying?" Suat described the moment when the quake struck as he was at home in another Elazig neighbourhood and his children "were screaming in terror."

The Ankara public prosecutor's office later on Saturday said it had begun an investigation into "provocative" social media posts but did not give further details.

The tremor was felt in several parts of eastern Turkey near the Iraqi and Syrian borders as well as in Iran, Lebanon and Syria, local media reported.

Environment and Urbanisation Minister Murat Kurum told reporters in Elazig that five buildings collapsed following the quake while others were badly or lightly damaged.

The US Geological Survey assessed the magnitude as 6.7, slightly lower than AFAD, adding that it struck near the East Anatolian Fault in an area that has suffered no documented large ruptures since an earthquake in 1875.

According to AFAD, there have been nearly 400 aftershocks following Friday's quake including 12 that were above four in magnitude.

In 1999, a devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Izmit in western Turkey, leaving more than 17,000 people dead including about 1,000 in Istanbul.

Experts have long warned a large quake could devastate the city of 15 million people, which has allowed widespread building without safety precautions.

Such fears were acutely awakened in September last year when a 5.7-magnitude earthquake shook Istanbul, causing residents to flee buildings in the economic capital.
The only two-sided state flag in the United States is the flag of Oregon while the only nation with a double-sided flag is Paraguay. The double-sided flags were very common in the past in the United States. However, with the cost of manufacturing them being quite high in most states, states other than Oregon replaced their flags with some simple banners. Oregon became the last state with a double-sided flag after Massachusetts changed its flag in 1971.

Flag of Oregon

The flag of Oregon has a navy blue field with all the symbols and letters in gold. The flag's colors (gold and navy blue) represent the state's colors. The observing part of the flag features an escutcheon, similar to the one on the state's seal. The reverse part has an image of a beaver (Oregon's state animal). The phrase "STATE-OF-OREGON" is situated above the escutcheon while the year when Oregon became a state (1859) is drafted below the shield. There are thirty-three stars surrounding the shield on the flag indicating that Oregon was the thirty-third state to gain statehood. For parade or dress use, the Oregon flag might have a gold fringe while the ones for standard users do not have fringes. The ratio of the Oregon flag width-to-length is 3:5.

The first Oregon flag was sewn by Blanche Cox and Marjorie Kennedy, the employees of Meier and Frank department store. The grandson of governor Pierce Walter donated that flag in 1954 to the University of Eastern Oregon. The current flag of Oregon has been in use since February 26, 1925; however, numerous individuals have tried to change the state flag over the last few years. The first attempt to change the flag of Oregon was initiated by the Oregonian in 2009 after they started a statewide competition to redesign the flag. The Oregonian published the flag entries and allowed the residents to choose the winning design. The winning entry was designed by Randall Gray from Clackamas County. Randall's flag emphasized on state's animal on the backside of the current Oregon flag. The green on Gray's flag represented the forests and natural wilderness in the state while the star symbolized Oregon's place in the United States. Once the contest began, the locals requested for the newspaper to add another option "None-of-the-above" for individuals who felt that the flag should not be changed. The "None-of-the-above" option received the highest number of votes in the final tally.

In 2013, Senator Anderson Laurie sponsored a bill which proposed numerous changes on the state's current flag on behalf of Norquist Matt. However, the bill didn't make it out of the committee. The bill proposed that the flag will have a golden field on the fly and a navy-blue field at the hoist. The flag's canton was to feature the Oregon state animal in gold. The proposed changes included the addition of a navy blue vertical stripe on the fly with a white star in the center. The proposed amendments also included making the reverse and observe mirror images of each other.
A class 9 student from T Gollahalli, Bangarpet taluk, died after suffering a heart attack, on Thursday while practicing dance steps for her annual day function, The Times of India reported.

School authorities took her to nearby primary health centre, where doctors referred her to another hospital. The authorities and her parents then rushed her to Jalappa Hospital where she was declared brought dead," TOI quoted K Rathnaiah, deputy director of public instruction.

The doctor in the hospital said that it was a natural death, and the girl succumbed to a massive heart attack.
Guatemalan actor Enrique Salanic has been blocked from entering the United States ahead of the U.S. premiere of his award-winning movie Jose, in which he stars.

The film premieres in New York City on Jan. 31, but according to distributor Outsider Pictures, Salanic is still campaigning to be granted entry to the U.S. Jose has received critical praise so far, having already won the Queer Lion at the Venice Film Festival and a handful of other awards.

Attempts to bring the actor to the states have been fruitless. According to Outsider, the U.S. embassy in Guatemala has twice denied his non-immigrant visa applications, citing a concern that he is a flight risk because he lives with his parents in Guatemala and has no permanent address in the U.S.

Denying Enrique Salanic his entry visa to promote his work in a film produced, financed and distributed by American citizens and companies represents just one way in which the current administrations immigration rules impact U.S. businesses, and it perpetuates the negative impression the world has of America. Denying entry to a man who has already successfully studied in the U.S. just because he is from Guatemala is unjust and cruel, Outsider Pictures Paul Hudson said.

Also Read: How Ava DuVernay's '13' Inspired Philanthropist Agnes Gund's $100 Million Fund to End Mass Incarceration (Video)

Robert Rosenberg of Outsider Pictures also told TheWrap, It broke my heart that such a talented young actor like Enrique, who is the star of our movie, is being thwarted in pursuing his career by our own government in the U.S. Our policies should encourage this kind of ambition and success, not trap Central Americans in their countries, as if they were less than human.

In a statement on the creation of the film  which focuses on Salanics young, gay character falling in love for the first time while living with his mother in Guatemala  director Li Cheng discussed the movies cultural relevance.

Story continues

Jose is really a page ripped from todays news headlines, he said. The crises of young people, single mothers and dark-skinned peoples in Guatemala frames the films story. Guatemala has become an increasingly violent and dangerous place, where more than half the people live in poverty. Indeed most of the children separated from their parents and locked in dog-like cages in Texas (shocking people around the world) are Guatemalan, not Mexican, as is often claimed.

A representative for the embassy did not immediately return a request for comment.

Read original story Guatemalan Actor Enrique Salanic Blocked From Entering US to Promote LGBT Film Jose At TheWrap
PARIS (Reuters) - Tourists were turned away from the Louvre on Friday as striking staff blocked the entrance to the world's most-visited museum.

Many visitors had come to see a special exhibition on Leonardo da Vinci which opened in October to mark the 500th anniversary of the Italian master's death.

The Louvre workers were joined by other striking civil servants from the culture sector, who were booed by some of the frustrated tourists queuing in the hope of getting in. The museum said tickets for the day would be fully reimbursed.

Other visitors voiced support for the strike over planned pensions reform. The industrial action has lost momentum since President Emmanuel Macron's government made a concession over the retirement age and as strikers face financial pressure.

"It's annoying to come to Paris and find the Louvre closed, but I support them", Elaine, a tourist from Brazil, said.

(Reporting by Gonzalo Fuentes and Thierry Chiarello; Writing by Lucien Libert and Matthieu Protard; Editing by Alexander Smith)
Trump Administration Chooses New Chief of US Customs and Border Protection

The U.S. Border Patrol announced the name of the person who will be replacing Carla Provost, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark A. Morgan.

According to the statement written by Morgan on Friday, Rodney S. Scott will be taking over as Chief of U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He is taking over for Provost, who is going to be retiring.

As a 27-year veteran of the Border Patrol, Chief Scott has earned the respect and admiration of agents, colleagues and partners alike. Chief Scott brings an exceptional depth and breadth of experience and knowledge about the border security mission and a commitment to service to the nation and the Border Patrol workforce, the statement read.

In addition, prior to being selected for the chief of border patrol, Scott led the men and women of San Diego Sector, one of the most diverse, complex, and challenging operational environments in the country, which includes 60 miles of border that is shared between the United States and Mexico, as well as 931 miles of the coastal border, according to the statement.

Under Scotts leadership, 2,200 San Diego agents showed great results back in 2019, and during this year, they apprehended 58,000 people and seized around 9,000 pounds of illegal drugs.

Scott joined the agency in San Diego back during the Clinton administration, where he initiated Operation Gatekeeper which helped to increase the amount of enforcement in San Diego.

Scott entered and served U.S. Border Patrol back in 1992, and his first assignment back then was at the Imperial Beach Station in San Diego in California. Following that, he also served various roles within U.S. Border Patrol an the Customs and Border Protection, which included leadership positions, according to the statement.

He previously served as Chief Patrol Agent of the El Centro Sector; Deputy Chief Patrol Agent at San Diego Sector; Patrol Agent in Charge at the Brown Field Station in San Diego Sector; Assistant Chief in CBPs Office of Anti-Terrorism in Washington, D.C.; and Director/Division Chief for the Incident Management and Operations Coordination Division at CBP Headquarters, the statement read.

Morgan stated that Scott embodies the U.S. Border Patrols motto, Honor First, and said that he is confident that under [Scotts] leadership, the men and women of the Border Patrol will be well served, the laws of this nation will be enforced, and our borders will be secured.

From NTD News
While the Indian Modular Kitchen Market is filled with organised and unorganised players, heres a home-grown brand, that's been creating fresh spaces with their modular kitchens since 1992. Dinesh Sharma, the founder, and chairman of Ultrafresh pioneered in the area of kitchen operations, way back in 90's, when modular kitchen was not a household term.

Sharma started with the kitchen chimney, the-then novel offering, today the organization is one of the only two national level brands, selling steel kitchens. Currently the product list of the brand includes modular kitchen, wardrobes and kitchen appliances and many more to come in the offing.

Today, Ultrafresh is a strong team of product designers, sales professionals, franchise dealers and manufacturing staff led by a 25-year-old CEO, Dhruv Trigunayat who took over in 2017 and crafted a growth story of 100 exclusive experience centres in just 2 years from a mere 3 stores at the start of 2018.

Being a national brand with competition from big brands like Sleek by Asian Paints and Godrej Interio, Ultrafresh decided to go for a communication makeover to reach out to all the corners of India. Helping Ultrafresh in this process is young creative agency, Motley Advertising. When asked why Ultrafresh chose a young agency without the reassurance of size that marketers typically seek, Dhruv said, Our brand has evolved in the 27 years of existence and we have learned the challenges of communication all by ourselves. When Mumbai-based, Motley Advertising approached us, we liked their work and their vision for our brand. Our creative wavelengths matched; and we thought it would be exciting to work collaboratively towards our goal of reaching 200 stores in 2020.

The next big wave of freshness

Currently, the brand is present in 50+ cities covering 14 states. It will be very soon seen in Goa, Kerala, Punjab, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

With a huge presence across India, Ultrafresh takes pride in making its modular steel kitchens reach every corner of the country. As per the company's R&D team, over the years, Ultrafresh has become a complete family brand with its wide-range of modular products, informs Dhruv.

Being clear about the vision, Dhruv said, As we plan to trigger a rapid growth and achieve the set targets for next couple of years, it is good time to expand by appealing to the youth, reach a bigger geographical base and grow strategically.

How a young creative agency bagged a 27-year-old brand

Priyanka Surve and Jason Menezes got introduced because of creative collaboration project and since have remained friends. Their last stints before they decided to combine forces and start their own shop was as creative controllers at FCB Ulka and Shirsa Labs, respectively. Inspired by the collective power of incongruously organised individuals, they named their agency Motley Advertising, to bring bigger impact to the world of advertising with a small crew.

The duo listed brands like Nasher Miles, Sugee Realty, Cartesian Consulting, Pappco India that were interesting yet low key on advertising in the 3 years of play.

While the brand was in search of suitable creative partners for months, they called in Motley after seeing their latest campaign for a popular home furnishing brand. Jason, Partner & Creative Strategist, Motley Advertising, recalls, Dhruv called us over to discuss the possibility of working on a brand-new communication for Ultrafresh. And so, we did and were glad that team Ultrafresh listened to our strategy and ideas with the same passion wed built them.

"The brand communication of Ultrafresh will reflect the deeper understanding of Indian homemakers and a legacy of freshness that will be translated through the overall brand experience offline as well as on digital." signs off Priyanka, Partner & Creative Director, Motley Advertising.
Operator: Welcome and thank you for standing by. Your lines have been placed in a listen only mode until the question and answer section. At that time if you would like to ask a question, you may press star 1. Todays conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you can disconnect at this time. Ill now turn the call over to Benjamin Haynes; you may begin sir.

Ben Haynes: Good morning, thank you for joining us for todays update on the 2019 Novel Coronavirus response. We are joined today by Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of CDCs National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Dr. Marty Cetron, director of CDCs Division of Global Migration and Quarantine; and health officials from the Illinois Department of Health. Following opening remarks, we will open it up for your questions. I would now like to turn the call over to Dr. Messonnier.

Dr. Nancy Messonnier: Good morning, thank you for joining us. Over the last week, Ive said that with our advanced surveillance and detection capacity, we expect find more cases of novel coronavirus in the United States associated with the ongoing and expanding outbreak in Wuhan, China. We understand that some people are worried about this virus and how it may impact Americans. While this situation poses a very serious public health threat, CDC believes that the immediate risk to the U.S. public is low at this time, but the situation continues to evolve rapidly. Today I am joined by representatives from Illinois and Chicago to announce that we have confirmed a second travel-related U.S. infection of novel coronavirus. I would like to hand the briefing over to my colleague Illinois Department of Public Health State Epidemiologist Dr. Jennifer Layden, who will discuss about the specifics about this patient and the specific actions taken by IDPH. Dr. Layden.

Dr. Jennifer Layden: Thank you Dr. Messonnier, and good morning. I am Dr. Jennifer Layden, the State Epidemiologist and Chief Medical Officer for the Illinois Department of Public Health. I would like to start by thanking our local public health partners in Illinois, healthcare partners and the CDC for the coordinated and collaborative work on this rapidly evolving situation. It is because of the diligent work by numerous health professionals that we were able to identify this confirmed travel-associated case of novel coronavirus quickly while also taking measures to prevent others from being exposed. IDPH has been closely monitoring this international outbreak and began proactively preparing in the event the outbreak expanded. We have been providing the CDC guidance, resources, and recommendations to our local health departments, hospitals, and clinicians; developed a dedicated website and webpage; and held webinars this week for local health departments, clinicians, and healthcare facilities across the state. Earlier this week we were notified by our local health department partners of a Chicago resident who had returned from Wuhan on January 13. The individual did not have symptoms while travelling. More recently, the individual began experiencing symptoms, called healthcare providers and ultimately was admitted to the hospital and placed in isolation. As the patient did in this case, we ask that any individuals who begin experiencing symptoms and have recently traveled to Wuhan or had contact with someone diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, call their healthcare provider or hospital before seeking treatments so that the appropriate infection control measures can be put in place. Coordination between the hospitals, local and state health departments allowed specimens to be quickly shipped and tested at the CDC. This coordination between providers, hospitals, and public health is critical for our continued effort to best respond to and reduce transmission. The Illinois Department of Public Health will continue to partner with the CDC and has invited them to Illinois to assist with this investigation. IDPH is ready to bring testing online at our state labs when testing is available from the CDC. We will continue to communicate and coordinate with our local health departments and numerous clinical partners as we respond to this evolving situation. I would now like to turn it over to Dr. Allison Arwady, the Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner, who can provide more information about this patient and the next steps of the investigation.

Dr. Allison Arwady: Thank you, Dr. Layden. This is Dr. Allison Arwady, the Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health. The patient is a woman in her 60s and a Chicago resident. Most importantly, I am pleased to report shes clinically doing well and is in stable condition. She traveled to Wuhan, China in late December and returned to the U.S. on January 13. A few days after arriving home, the patient began to feel unwell. As you heard, she called ahead to alert her doctor to her illness. The doctor appropriately asked about travel history and quickly put a mask on the patient helping to limit the potential risk of spreading infection. Her doctor then referred her directly to a hospital with infection control capabilities for further work up. Hospital staff placed her in the appropriate vetting for infection control, performed a full clinical work up, and worked with public health to arrange testing for novel coronavirus at CDC. The patient is clinically doing well, currently in stable condition and remains hospitalized primarily for infection control. The patient has been very helpful as we have been gathering information about her contacts in recent days. Again, she was not symptomatic when flying, and based on what we know now about this virus, our concern for transmission before symptoms developed is low. So that is reassuring. She has limited close contacts, all of whom are currently well, and will be monitored for symptoms. Since returning from China, the patient has had limited movement outside her home. Now that the test is positive, we will be continuing to collect and confirm information on her activities and contacts. But we know already for example that she had not taken public transportation or attended any large gathering. And actually, to our best knowledge at this point, she has not had extended close contact with anyone outside her home since returning from China. This is all very reassuring in terms of infection risk to the general public which remains low nationally and locally here in Chicago. I want to thank the federal state and many local partners who have worked together not just in response to this case but over many years to ensure the Chicago area is well prepared to respond to emerging and infectious diseases.

Dr. Messonnier: Thank you both. This is Dr. Messonnier and I want to take a moment to thank our colleagues in Illinois at the state and local level who have been working with us since earlier this week when the patient was identified. Like we did with the state of Washington, a CDC team has been deployed to support the ongoing investigation in Illinois, and as always, we standby to help state, local, and global partners. I also would like to thank all the states and clinicians who have reached out to us over the last few days to discuss potential cases, and who have followed up by sending samples if it was warranted. This is a sign that the public health system is working. To date, we have 63 of what we are calling patients under investigation or PUIs from 22 states. So far, only two have been confirmed positive and 11 tested negative. We anticipate by next week well begin regular reporting of case information on our website. There are likely to be many more PUIs identified in the coming days. We have faced similar public health challenges before. Those outbreaks were complex and required a comprehensive public health response. This is what we are preparing for. We have an aggressive response with the goal of identifying potential cases early. We want to make sure these patients get the best and most appropriate care. This is a rapidly changing situation both abroad and domestically, and we are still learning. Lets remember this virus is identified within the past month and there is much we dont know yet. We are expecting more cases in the U.S., and we are likely going to see some cases among close contacts of travelers and human to human transmission. Our goal is always to protect the health of Americans. We at CDC have our best people working on this problem. We have support across the entirety of the Federal Government. We have one of the strongest public health systems in the world. Again, while there are many unknowns, CDC believes that the immediate risk to the American public continues to be low at this time, but that the situation continues to evolve rapidly. CDC recommends travelers avoid all non-essential travel to Wuhan. We also recommend people traveling to other parts of China practice certain health precautions, like avoiding contact with people who are sick and practicing good hand hygiene. Returning travelers with symptoms, or close contact with people confirmed with coronavirus, may be asked to take precautionary measures and there may be some disruptions. I want to thank those people in advance for their cooperation. Everyone can do their part here. Although Chinese officials have closed transport within and out of Wuhan, China, CDC will continue to conduct enhanced screening at five designated airports: New York JFK, San Francisco, LAX, Chicago OHare and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson. We are currently evaluating the extent and duration of this enhanced screening. Every day we learn more and every day we assess to see if our guidance or response can be improved. As the response evolves, CDC will continue our aggressive public health response strategy. Thank you.

Ben Haynes: Thank you, Dr. Messonnier. We are ready to take questions.

Operator: Thank you, we will now begin our question/answer segment. You may press star 1 to ask a question and one moment please for our first question.

Our first question comes from Lena Sun with the Washington Post.

Lena Sun: Thank you doctors for holding this call and thank you so much for starting it on time for those of us who are on the other call yesterday. I have a question; can you tell us how many people have been screened and is it possible to get a list of the 22 states and how many people  how many close contacts are being monitored?

Dr. Marty Cetron: Yes, we have screened over 2,000 folks to date as of yesterday, and thats about 200 flights. We have not found any cases; one person was sent for additional medical evaluation. Thats the current status of screening at the five ports for the active entry screening.

Dr. Messonnier: In terms of the number of states, I dont have that information today. It is one of those things we are hoping to be able to post on the web next week.

OK, I am sorry, I am  Nina, there are 22 states. The specific information about which state is again something we hope to post by next week. I am sorry, I missed the third question? Oh, the contact list.

I think that would be premature for us to give you absolute numbers, but I ask my colleagues in Chicago, Illinois, if you want to give a sense of how many people you are tracking.

Dr. Allison Arwady: This is Allison Arwady in Chicago. We are currently working to determine exactly what our list is going to be for monitoring, this patient had limited close contacts and the ones that have been identified are currently well will certainly be working with the CDC team on the ground to make sure there is a full list of those folks as well as healthcare workers caring for the patients. We are not ready to share details at this time. We are well on our way to having all of that established.

Dr. Messonnier: This is Dr. Messonnier again, I would just like to say that given the unknowns as we continue to learn about the virus, the public health community is airing on the side of caution in terms of following close contacts as you would expect at this point in the investigation.

Ben Haynes: Next question, please.

Operator: Next question comes from Helen Branswell with STAT.

Helen Branswell: Is there any indication of illness among the contacts of the patient with illness in Washington state. Thats the first. The second in your discussion with the woman who was in Wuhan, the new case, is there any indication of how she may have become infected? Did she go to the fish market or was she around people who were sick? And the third question is for Dr. Cetron, given that flights out of Wuhan have been stopped, what are you actually doing at the five airports now and was the number of the cities that you are trying to monitor from expanded?

Dr. Messonnier: The first answer, to whether or not there is illness among contacts of Washington state, is at this time we have not identified any illness among the contacts of the initial patient in Washington state. Dr. Layden or Dr. Arwady, do you want to answer the second question about what you know about how she potentially became infected.

Dr. Allison Arwady: We are not at this time releasing any other personal information about the patient. Certainly, with the CDC team on the ground, well be gathering additional information about her activities and travel in China just like what we are doing here on the Chicago side. Decisions to screen and test these patients, as folks know, are purely based being in Wuhan as opposed to specific activities. Thats what we can share at this point.

Dr. Marty Cetron: And Helen this is Dr. Marty Cetron, and I think your point is well taken. We have seen a fairly dramatic change in the situation in China with the governments announcement of travel bans and restrictions out of Wuhan and actually those are extending to additional cities as we speak. As you would expect, we are reevaluating the approach, and as I said earlier when we first began entry screening with a clear focus on the epidemic epicenter that we would continue to evaluate the balance and utility of a border entry screening program based on the totality of the circumstances. Those circumstances have clearly changed. We are reevaluating that approach and watching for both expansion to other cities as well as concentrating the efforts. As you heard today, it is really important to point out that both of the initial first two U.S. cases were asymptomatic and afebrile when they arrived. The concentration of resources and efforts need to be focused on the tremendous work that our state and local partners are doing to rapidly identify cases and contacts and assure that the American health is protected. So, there will be a balance and a shifting in how we look at entry screening as we go into the new scenario with the travel closures.

Operator: Thank you. The next question will come from Elvia Malagon, with the Chicago Tribune.

Elvia Malagon: Is there any indication that the patient had traveled with anyone, when she went to China, and have any of those people been tested for this?

Dr. Allison Arwady: There were no other Chicago or Illinois residents that traveled with this patient. Therefore, we are not testing anybody in that setting. We are though following on with her close contacts in any of these situations.

Operator: This question comes from Issam Ahmed AFP. You may ask question. Your line is open.

Issam Ahmed: Out of the 63 cases on the investigation you mentioned, 11 tested negative. So just to get a breakdown, those 11 are out of the 63 and the two confirmed positives are out of the 63 total?

Dr. Messonnier: Yes, thats correct, 63 is the total number of cases under investigation. As you know from other outbreaks, we use that term loosely to provide the number of people who we are doing an evaluation with. We think that number has gone up as a testament to the diligence of our partners at the local state level, the diligence of clinicians and those two patients self-identified potentially having exposure. Eleven negatives and two positives and the other patients samples are in the process of arriving or in the process of being tested here at the CDC. As you heard from Illinois, we are rapidly working at the CDC to get those tested out where they can meet closer to the patients to really try to as quickly as possible to be able to provide diagnoses.

Issam Ahmed: Perfect, and when you get those, do you know the timeline when it will be out?

Dr. Messonnier: I would say that we are working to expedite it as quickly as possible.

Operator: This question comes from Denise Grady with the New York Times.

Denise Grady: A couple of things. When you are following patients, I realized that you are testing but are you also looking at an incubation period and is there some period during which if the person is OK then you are figuring no problem. Is the incubation period known yet?

Dr. Messonnier: In general, the information that we have so far suggests an incubation period around two weeks. Thats not surprising given the kind of virus this is. Thats a general guideline. In terms of following, you know what really it is the state and the local health departments who are following and investigating these cases and how they proceed with that investigation partly depends on their clinical suspicion of whether this is likely to be a positive case. And so, for example, with this patient, the health department had a very high degree of suspicion and even before the diagnosis had already started to think about their initial investigations. And I dont know if doctor, if you want to talk about what you were doing.

Dr. Jennifer Layden: Sure, this is Dr. Layden. We started to work with both, in this case before it was confirmed, the patient and others to identify any potential areas of exposures and potential close contacts and we are working closely with local health departments and the CDC to prioritize contacts. And well be monitoring through systems we developed these individuals through the extent of the incubation period.

Denise Grady: Thank you, can I ask one more just follow up on that. When samples are sent in and tested, what are the samples and what are you testing from the patients?

Dr. Messonnier: Thank you. We are generally testing respiratory samples, but we are also testing blood, and we are currently working to expand the kind of diagnostics we can do, but the focus right now with the real-time PCR is respiratory specimens and sometimes blood.

Operator: Next question comes from Steven Gray; your line is open.

Melissa Para: Thank you, this is actually Melissa Para. I just wanted clarification on how exactly you guys are keeping track of those travelers who may have been asymptomatic when they arrive at Chicago OHare but may develop symptoms later on.

Dr. Marty Cetron: Now thats a great question, and the point is well taken that these patients were asymptomatic when they arrived. We are alerting them, and we have expanded the alerts to travelers to include all travelers that are coming from any potential area, and getting the word out through a number of different outreach sources for self-monitoring as well as the vigilance, the signs, the cards, the airport screens. The cards we are handing out say clearly, be aware to monitor your symptoms the next 14 days, and this is how to engage the healthcare system safely and have your physician report to the public health infrastructure. So that is the current monitoring approach during this incubation period and we think that thats a very important process. With the ban in Wuhan, we wouldnt expect to see if the travel ban is effective, additional cases coming in. So, it is the last 14 days before the ban where this pool of folks we are identifying now is where that focus is. We need to increase the vigilance and awareness of the entire system from travelers and people who gets sick and clinicians as well to be on the alert for that. So, we are pushing that message our from several sources, and an important one is this conference right now, so you can help us actually get that message out pretty effectively. Thank you.

Melissa Para: One follow-up question. We are still learning more about this and symptoms can kind of range all over the place, but is it possible that you know I understand that we have non-contact thermometers at the airport, but is it possible there may be patients who may have this that dont have a fever that may pass through that screening because theyre not showing a fever as the symptom?

Dr. Messonnier: So, I think that is entirely true and as part of what the message the Dr. Cetron was trying to give, illnesses like this have an incubation period and there can often be periods of mild illness before more serious illness occurs. We are really still working to understand the full spectrum of illness associated with this novel coronavirus. What our focus still is for travelers and clinicians, is the people with recent travel who have fever and respiratory symptoms and I think that really should be the focus. Of course, the problem this time of the year is that its cold and flu season and there are a lot of respiratory viruses that are circulating including influenza. But, we ask clinicians, travelers, and the entire community to be vigilant. We want everyone to air on the side of caution if they have those symptoms, and they have a travel history, to call their healthcare provider right away.

Operator: Next question comes from Sarah Owermohle with Politico. Your line is open.

Sarah Owermohle: Thank you. I want to ask what kind of dialogue you guys are having with Chinese health authorities, and if that helps the understanding of when people present symptoms or when they transmit this disease to others, and the source of it as well as if there is any inkling of where it is coming from and also on the diagnostic tests you are developing. How long is the turnaround time to definitively say this is the Wuhan virus and how much is the turnaround of people sending samples to you and the time it takes to get those to you?

Dr. Messonnier: I am going to answer the second question first. Once the sample is prepared at CDC, the time it takes to actually do the test is four to six hours which is a very typical time for a real-time PCR. As you say, part of the delay is the sample getting to CDC, and entirely one of the reasons we are focusing on the possibility of getting those tests out closer to the patients so the results can become available more quickly. For the first question, what I would say is that, CDC has a team thats been in China for many years where we work closely with the Department of Health in China, and one of the things we have been working with them is preparedness for respiratory diseases and influenza for a long-term partnership, and in that way there is a strong collaboration. The situation in China continues to evolve rapidly. I think we should be clear to compliment the Chinese on the early recognition of the respiratory outbreak center in the Wuhan market, and how rapidly they were able to identify it as a novel coronavirus and publish that information and make it available for all countries, like the U.S. That step was key for us having the diagnostics so that we could be able to identify it here. Over the past few days, there has been a large amount of information coming out of China, we are working closer with all the global partners under the umbrella of WHO, but also directly, to synthesize that information and thats one of the reasons we have been so clear that this situation is rapidly evolving because information is coming in hour by hour and day by day.

Operator: Thank you, this question comes from Rob Stein with NPR, your line is open.

Rob Stein: Thank you very much for taking my question. I had a couple of questions, one was, can you tell us the hospital that the woman was treated at in Chicago? Also, can you tell us anything more about where you are targeting the testing? Are there specific places for your priorities of getting the testing out to?

Dr. Allison Arwady: This is Allison Arwady in Chicago. For the first question, to protect patients privacy when the Chicago Department of Public Health or Illinois Department of Public Health are investigating a patient with communicable diseases, we do not routinely name the hospitals where the patient sought care. I do want to say, that we would potentially name hospitals in three situations: Number one, if we have concern the general public may be at risk of infection; Number two, if we could not identify individuals who needed follow-up monitoring; Or number three, if we believe there has been transmission within the hospital itself. In this case, based on everything we that know now, none of those situations apply, so we are sticking to our standard communicable disease release. In the interest of balancing patients privacy and transparency, if we have any evidence or any reasons to believe the general public is at risk of transmission in the hospital, we would share the name of the hospital at that time.

Dr. Messonnier: In terms of the second question, the prioritization of the diagnostic kits, we are working rapidly to get it to every state because we believe it is likely that many states will have patients under investigation that theyll want to do diagnostics. But we are certainly paying special attention to those states that have larger populations returning from Wuhan, to make sure they have that availability first. In terms of other countries, CDC has an incredibly strong infrastructure for this exact kind of development of diagnostics, and well certainly be working to make sure that we use those resources to help all the countries around the world that are in need of our help with diagnostics and in this case we are working with the World Health Organization who is coordinating a lot of those efforts.

Operator: this question comes from Dawn Kopecki with CNBC News.

Dawn Kopecki: Can you talk a little bit about the incubation period, has it been confirmed that it is a two-week incubation period? If so, how does that compare to SARS which has an incubation period of two to seven days. This seems to be spreading faster than SARS and although it is not as lethal. In the first ten weeks there was about 400 and some SARS patients about there are 900 in the first three weeks with this. So, can you talk about how this compares to SARS in terms of how contagious it is. Is it considered contagious over the two weeks period and how much more rapidly is it spreading than SARS?

Dr. Messonnier: I think I would start by saying again that it is really in the early days and we are continuing to accumulate information every day that is helping us to understand this virus. Right now, our understanding of the incubation period is somewhere around 14 days. I do agree with you that information of MERS and SARS was slightly shorter. But I think it is premature to judge that as being distinctly different because we really are still in the learning phase of this novel pathogen thats just emerged and been identified. What an incubation period means is that is an average time that somebody takes from the time that theyre exposed to the time that they are sick. But anytime that there is an incubation period, it is not a hard and fast number. There is always some range around it, and so thats why the health department is being cautious in terms of identifying potential contacts. In terms of infectiousness and severity, I think it is a little premature to absolutely say, whether it is similar or different than SARS or MERS or all the other human coronaviruses. We are looking at that closely, and we have an approach that we take to try to compare different viruses, and were looking at the information we have on SARS and MERS as well as other coronaviruses, and rapidly trying to synthesize all the information from other countries, especially the Chinese data that is much more available over the last couple of days, and I hope that well have more direct information about that issue soon. But I think it would be premature to conclude that we know whether it is more or less infectious than SARS and more or less severe than SARS. It is just too early to say that.

Operator: The last question comes from WebMD.

WebMD: Thanks. I read in the report today that, in terms of symptoms, this is mostly lower respiratory symptoms. Does that mean congestion so that you have difficulty breathing and perhaps pneumonia without congestion?

Dr. Messonnier: What I would say is that information is emerging, and I think the reports are useful and interesting, but it is not an accumulation of all the available data. Early on our understanding is that, in Wuhan the case definition was somewhat narrower and focused on pneumonia, and you can hypothesize that by focusing on pneumonia you might miss milder disease. So, our focus on this is to have a high degree of suspicion for people with fever and respiratory symptoms, and thats how we have communicated that to our state and local partners and clinicians and returning travelers.

WebMD: Got it. So, patients with this could have like runny nose  I am just trying to understand what the symptoms are.

Dr. Messonnier: I think that again, I would not say the patient can have, I would say that we need to continue to investigate and understand this. Our focus on travelers and the message we want to make sure were getting to travelers and in the healthcare, community is that we are looking for returning travelers who have fever, cough, and respiratory symptoms. But, if you have a suspicion and if youre concerned because you have a fever and you returned, we want you to contact your healthcare provider. It is better to be safe and be evaluated, and as more information becomes available, we will be communicating that.

WebMd: OK, thank you.

Ben Haynes: Thank you, to our colleagues and our doctors. A transcript of this briefing will be available at CDC press room. Remember to visit our coronavirus web page for updated response information. If you have further question, contact the main media line, 404-639-6286 or e-mail us.

Operator: We thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines.
New Delhi:

The Election Commission has banned BJP candidate Kapil Mishra from campaigning for 48 hours starting 5 pm on Saturday over Mishra's 'India vs Pak contest on February 8 tweet. Earlier in the day, Hours Twitter also deleted Mishras post where he referred upcoming Assembly elections in Delhi as contest between India and Pakistan. On request of Delhi Chief Electoral Officer's office and as directed by Election Commission of India, Twitter has deleted Posts of BJP leader Kapil Mishra, reported ANI. Earlier on Friday, Delhi Police lodged an FIR against Kapil Mishra. The FIR was filed after Delhi Chief Election Officer (CEO) Ranbir Singh wrote to police asking to register the case under the Representation of Peoples Act. The FIR has been lodged at the Model Town Police Station under Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, sources said.

In his reply, Mishra claimed that anti-India slogans were raised at Shaheen Bagh protests to disturb the communal harmony. Mishra went on to say that even religious symbols were being disrespected during the protests at Shaheen Bagh. The BJP leader said that he was merely responding to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodiaa pro-Shaheen Bagh statement. He claimed that Sisodias statement is a blatant attempt to derive political mileage from a prevailing law and order situation on religious lines. Linking Pakistan with the Shaheen Bagh protests, Mishra claimed that there was a possibility that rogue elements from across the border were present in the protests to destabilise our nation.

Mishra also cited the High Courts order on a plea against Shaheen Bagh protests. He said that in name of dissent, a group is unlawfully squatting on valuable public space. He also appealed the Shaheen Bagh protesters to call off the stir.

On Friday, the Returning Officer issued a notice to Mishra over his tweet where the BJPs Model town candidate had referred upcoming Assembly elections in Delhi as contest between India and Pakistan. The notice has been issued after the Election Commission of India (ECI) sought a report from the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on the BJP leaders tweet.

On 8th February there will be a contest between India and Pakistan on the streets of Delhi, the BJP's candidate from Model Town had said in the tweet. In a series of provocative tweets, he also said Pakistani rioters have taken over the streets of Delhi. "No party or candidate shall include in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic," the notice read.
Jillian Melissa Beer and Daniel Pasquale Sommer were married Jan. 25 at Crystal Springs Resort in Hamburg, N.J. Cantor Rebecca Zwiebel officiated.

The bride, 29, is taking her husbands name. She is a regulatory compliance coordinator at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., where she is responsible for keeping the transplant program compliant with federal rules. She graduated from Drexel University.

She is the daughter of Marie Beer and Philip Beer of Edison, N.J.

The groom, 30, is a policy analyst who conducts legal reviews of companies and helps design internal policies and procedures at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority in Trenton. He graduated from St. Lawrence University, and received a law degree from George Washington University.

He is a son of Deborah Sommer and Judah Sommer of Miami.

The couple met in May 2014 during a 10-day trip to Israel via Birthright Israel, a program offering young Jewish adults between 18 and 32 a free trip to Israel.
A teenager has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a man was attacked near a park in Derbyshire (Picture: Getty)

An 18-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a man was attacked in Derbyshire.

The 49-year-old victim died after being found in a critical condition near Alfreton Park, off Wingfield Road, on Thursday evening.

Police were called to the scene at around 10.40pm.

The man was rushed to hospital but succumbed to his injuries on Friday afternoon.

Police have not revealed the mans exact injuries.

READ MORE YAHOO UK NEWS HERE:

British grandmother trapped in Wuhan after lockdown following coronavirus outbreak

Innocent dog shot dead after getting caught in gangland crossfire in Scotland

Two people dead, including eight-year-old girl, following house fire in Hull

Detectives have appealed for the publics help following the arrest of the teenager.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

They should quote incident number 1268 of January 23 when contacting police.
The new fees could help recover some of the costs required to fill such a large volume of legal requests, said Al Gidari, a lawyer who for years represented Google and other technology and telecommunications companies. The requests have also grown more complicated as tech companies have acquired more data and law enforcement has become more technologically sophisticated.

None of the services were designed with exfiltrating data for law enforcement in mind, said Mr. Gidari, who is now the consulting privacy director at Stanfords Center for Internet and Society.

Mr. Gidari also said it was good that the fees might result in fewer legal requests to the company. The actual costs of doing wiretaps and responding to search warrants is high, and when you pass those costs on to the government, it deters from excessive surveillance, he said.

In April, The Times reported that Google had been inundated with a new type of search warrant request, known as geofence searches. Drawing on an enormous Google database called Sensorvault, they provide law enforcement with the opportunity to find suspects and witnesses using location data gleaned from user devices. Those warrants often result in information on dozens or hundreds of devices, and require more extensive legal review than other requests.

A Google spokesman said that there was no specific reason the fees were announced this month and that they had been under consideration for some time. Reports put out by the company show a rise of just over 50 percent in the number of search warrants received in the first half of 2019 compared with a year earlier. The volume of subpoenas increased about 15 percent. From last January through June, the company received nearly 13,000 subpoenas and over 10,000 search warrants from American law enforcement.

Google will not ask for reimbursement in some cases, including child safety investigations and life-threatening emergencies, the spokesman said.

Law enforcement officials said it was too early to know the impact of the fees, which Googles notice said would go into effect in mid-January.
A father and his 10-year-old daughter have died in a house fire in Hull.

Emergency services were called to Wensley Avenue at around 7.50am on Saturday morning to reports of the blaze.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene and the child, who police originally said was eight, was rushed to hospital, where she died.

A statement from Humberside Police said: "Humberside Fire and Rescue, ambulance and police were called at 7.50am today to reports of a fire at a house. Emergency services worked to extinguish the fire and get the occupants out of the building

"Tragically two people have died in the fire. A man was pronounced dead at the scene and an eight year-old girl, who had been taken to hospital, has sadly died."

Police said officers remain on the scene while emergency services work to establish the cause of the fire.

A spokesman for the force later added: "We pulled out an adult male, and what we now know is his 10-year-old daughter, and tragically both lives were lost to the fire.

"We're working with police colleagues on the scene. We have got fire investigation officers there who will be working tirelessly throughout today."
Russian Activists Launch 'Public Campaign' Against Putin's 'Constitutional Coup'

By RFE/RL's Russian Service January 24, 2020

A group of more than 30 activists, public figures and local Moscow politicians have created an online "manifesto" urging Russian citizens to resist President Vladimir Putin's proposed constitutional amendments.

Novaya Gazeta, which published the document late on January 23, said more than 8,000 have already signed the manifesto, which calls Putin's amendments a "constitutional coup" that is directed at keeping "Putin and his corrupt regime" in power until he dies.

The document recognizes that the current Russian Constitution is far from ideal, but stresses that "changing the text of the basic law for immediate political purposes will destroy the last institution that is protecting Russia from the complete usurpation of power."

It calls on like-minded Russians to sign the document and "take part in a mass public campaign" against Putin's proposals.

Among the signatories was economist Sergei Guriyev, human rights activist Sergei Davidis, and political analysts Denis Bilunov, Ivan Preobrazhensky, and Aleksandr Shmelev.

Ten district council members from Moscow, including journalist Ilya Azar, Yulia Galyamina, and Yelena Rusakova, also signed the appeal.

"Earlier, although they violated the constitution, at least they didn't touch it or destroy it," Galyamina told RFE/RL. "Now they have opened Pandora's box."

Putin, 67, announced the proposed amendments during a 17-minute section of his January 15 state-of-the-nation address. By January 23, the text of the amendments had been endorsed by a hastily convened public advisory group and approved in their first reading by lawmakers in the Duma, the lower house of Russia's legislature.

Russian media have reported that a national "public vote" on the amendments will be held in April.

"In truth, this is the usurpation of power," said opposition politician and signatory Andrei Pivovarov of the Open Russia foundation.

"This has only been done to keep Putin and the group of figures surrounding him in power permanently.

"We only have two months to inform as many people as possible about our view and get them to turn out and vote 'no,'" he added, saying the changes "deprive us of any chance for positive developments in this country."

The proposed amendments include limiting one person to two presidential terms, regardless of whether they are served consecutively. They would tighten citizenship restrictions on presidential candidates, establish the priority of the Russian Constitution over international law, make the State Council an official state organ, and give the Duma the power to appoint the prime minister and the cabinet, as well as other changes.

In all, 22 articles of the constitution would be amended.

Many analysts believe the Kremlin is pushing the changes as part of a plan to manage political power after Putin's current -- and final -- term ends in 2024.

On January 20, opposition figure Ilya Yashin urged Muscovites to protest the proposed amendments at a rally on February 29 that had been planned earlier to mark the fifth anniversary of the assassination in Moscow of opposition leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov.

"It will be a political march, the main aim of which will be to call for the rotation of power and to protest against the usurpation of power," Yashin was quoted by Reuters as saying.

With reporting by Novaya Gazeta and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-activists- launch-public-campaign-against-putin-s- constitutional-coup-/30395186.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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Kathmandu: India has banned the import of palm oil from Nepal, which is its most exported item. After which the Government of Nepal has formally urged India to lift the ban. On Friday, Nepal's Commerce and Supply Secretary Baikunth Aryal has said that Nepal's palm oil is not interfering in the Indian market.

Shiv Sena's big announcement, Pakistan and Bangladeshi infiltrators must be removed

After this, on Saturday, Nepal Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada said about the ban on palm oil, '25 percent of our exports in India are related to the palm oil industry, which will have a bad effect on our industry. There were no indications before, so it was a shock. The Finance Minister of Nepal further said, 'We hope that the Government of India will reconsider its decision. We are negotiating this through our diplomatic channel. If needed, we will also talk through political channels.

Case can be filed against the chief organizer of protestors in Assam

Nepalese traders import crude palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia before sending palm oil to India. It is then processed and packaged. Traders are attracted to this oil because India has imposed an import duty of 40 percent on palm oil of Malaysia and Indonesia. Nepal oil attracts an import duty of six percent. Malaysia and Indonesia are the world's largest palm oil producing countries.

Coronavirus: China in the grip of epidemic, 1287 lives effected
A Michelin-starred chef says he has been refused permission to remain in the UK permanently after Brexit despite living here for 23 years.

Claude Bosi, who runs the Bibendum restaurant in Chelsea, said his application to allow him to remain living and working in the UK was denied.

According to a post on Instagram, in which he pictured a letter he received from the Home Office, he said: I have been in England for 23 years and today they have send me this.

I love Britain I considered until today like home but they just told me after 23 years of tax paid /VAT paid Im not welcome anymore.

He added: WTF its going on in this world.. #thankyoubrexit @borisjohnsonuk did I do something wrong?

According to the letter, Mr Bosi applied in October for permission to live permanently in the UK after being in the country for more than five years.

But the response, dated this week, said this request had been refused.

The 47-year-old is the son of Italian parents who moved to France to open a restaurant, according to a profile on the Sauce Communications website.

Raised in Lyon, where he established his passion for cooking, he left France for England in his early twenties, the entry said.

He first worked as a sous chef at Overton Grange in Ludlow, Shropshire, before being promoted to head chef and by January 1999 it received its first Michelin star.

Expand Close Claude and Claire Bosi receiving their award for Restaurant of the Year 2005 (Michael Stephens/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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In 2000, he opened his own restaurant Hibiscus and was awarded a Michelin star, receiving his second four years later.

He relocated the venture to London and then, after it closed in 2016, moved to run the kitchen at Bibendum in the Michelin House building.

It was awarded two Michelin stars less than a year after opening, according to the website.

According to the Home Office, Mr Bosi applied for permanent residency but did not supply sufficient evidence to meet the criteria and has instead been advised to apply for the EU Settlement Scheme.

A spokesman said: Mr Bosi made an application for a permanent residence document  something which EU citizens living in the UK are not required or encouraged to do. His application for permanent residence was not successful because he did not provide sufficient evidence to show he met the criteria.

We have spoken to him to help him to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme, which has already guaranteed the rights of over 2.5 million people.

Its free, there is plenty of support available online, on the phone or in person, and EU citizens and their families have until 30 June 2021 to apply.

Last week, the department said more than 2.45 million applications from EU citizens in the scheme had been approved.

There is a backlog of more than 300,000 applications waiting to be processed.

Expand Close (Left to right) Claude Bosi with Sat Bains, Heston Blumenthal and Jason Atherton at the Perfectionists Cafe, at Heathrow Airport (Dominic Lipinski/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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Those not granted a permanent right to live, known as settled status, may have been granted pre-settled status  meaning they have temporary leave to remain and would need to apply again for permanent permission at a later date after living in the country for five years.

The Government is spending an extra 1 million advertising the scheme  in addition to 3.75 million already allocated for marketing  after a radio advert was banned for failing to make clear that further documentation as well as a passport or ID card would be needed to apply.

Under the scheme, EU citizens and their relatives, plus those from the European Economic Area (EEA) countries of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway as well as Switzerland, are asked to apply to confirm their immigration status so they can live and work in the UK when freedom of movement ends.

Relatives of EEA and Swiss citizens who are not from any of those countries but all live in the UK under EU law are also being urged to apply.

Once granted status, applicants can use the NHS, study and access public funds and benefits, as well as travel in and out of the country. But first they must prove their identity, show they live in the UK and declare any criminal convictions before the December deadline.
The past three-and-a-half years have been extraordinary. The spectacle of our nearest neighbours making a holy show of themselves has been both riveting and deeply worrying. It has also led many Irish people to reassess not only their view of Britain, but their view of Ireland as well. Once again, it seems, we are defining ourselves in terms of the differences between our own and the neighbouring island. And the difference that matters most today is our respective attitudes towards Europe. The British may be leaving the EU but we will remain enthusiastic members. This difference feeds into a national narrative of a progressive new Ireland, open and European, that is implicitly and explicitly contrasted with a backward-looking and populist United Kingdom.

There is something to be said for this perceived contrast. A recent survey found that 81pc of Irish respondents felt that their country's membership of the EU was a good thing. This made them, along with Luxembourgers, the most pro-EU of European citizens - the mean response across all countries being only 59pc. In sharp contrast only 42pc of British citizens felt the same way about UK membership, with 24pc - the highest figure across all member states - saying that it had been a bad thing.

This Irish enthusiasm can easily be explained by the impact that EU membership has had on the country. Irish economic growth during the quarter century following World War II was extremely disappointing. It was poor not only during the protectionist 1950s, but during the more open 1960s as well. This was a decade of strong convergence within Europe: poorer countries such as Italy, Portugal and Spain experienced economic miracles, catching up on richer, slower-growing countries such as Germany. Despite its Mediterranean income levels Ireland only managed to grow as rapidly as much richer countries like Sweden, falling ever further behind continental economies such as France. It was a truly dismal performance.

Membership of the EU in 1973 changed all that. Almost immediately Ireland stopped losing further ground to France, and while a series of domestic policy mistakes delayed it by 15 years our economic miracle came eventually. It was based on multinational investment using Ireland as a platform from which to export to the European customs union and - from the 1990s onwards - Single Market.

Expand Close A very fine mess: Boris Johnson's personal ambition and lack of political scruples is just one factor why Britain is leaving the EU on Friday / Facebook

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Whatsapp A very fine mess: Boris Johnson's personal ambition and lack of political scruples is just one factor why Britain is leaving the EU on Friday

Even better from an Irish point of view, these economic gains, made possible by the EU's pooling of national sovereignty in certain areas, did not come at the expense of effective political sovereignty - quite the reverse. From being an economic and political backwater Ireland became one of nine - later 28 - independent member states sitting around a common negotiating table. It could now engage with the UK on a far more equal basis than previously. It was able to leverage its EU membership to pursue Irish interests more effectively than they had ever been pursued before. This political benefit was illustrated in dramatic fashion during the negotiations with Britain about the future of the Irish land border: Ireland enjoyed the solidarity of its EU partners much to the surprise and occasional irritation of some in London.

Political sovereignty

As a bigger country, with its own independent nuclear deterrent, a permanent seat at the UN Security Council, and a former empire, the United Kingdom had less to gain from EU membership, and more to lose, when it came to political sovereignty. Or at least that is what many in Britain thought, and there was always in that country an allergic reaction to anything that smacked of supranational decision-making: what if the UK were to find itself on the losing side of a binding vote and had to implement a policy to which it objected?

A bigger country had more to lose than a small one such as ours. But on the other hand it is striking that both France and Germany, the former just as powerful diplomatically and militarily as Britain, and the latter far more powerful economically, have always taken the view that EU membership enhances, rather than diminishes, their influence on the world stage. Why would it not? I can recall once attending a lunchtime event at the British Academy on the UK's soft power - this was well before Cameron's ill-fated referendum. There was plenty of talk of the BBC, and the British Council, and Britain's universities, but at no stage did anyone suggest leveraging Britain's membership of the European Union to enhance the country's influence outside the bloc. When the Irishman stuck up his hand and suggested that this was a little odd, people looked quite puzzled.

So there is a certain British exceptionalism that helps explain Brexit. It is also true that European integration was traditionally understood far more in economic terms, and far less in political terms, in Britain than in other European countries. This was true even among many British pro-Europeans, which helps explain why the Remain campaign in 2016 was so negative, focused almost entirely on the economic costs of leaving the EU, rather than on making the positive case for European integration.

But you can overstate the difference between the UK and Ireland. It is true that the UK joined the EEC for economic rather than political reasons - the 1950s and 1960s were disappointing in that country also. While politicians could claim quite truthfully that people had never had it so good, Britain found itself being overtaken by France and Germany. The contrast between cosseted and inefficient British firms, and their highly competitive German counterparts, eventually became too striking to ignore, and the hope was that by exposing the British economy to continental competition, its firms would eventually emulate their overseas counterparts.

But Ireland also joined the EEC for overwhelmingly economic reasons - primarily the fear of being excluded from the British market that was so important to us at the time. If it joined the EEC then we would have to also. EU membership may have ended up enhancing Irish sovereignty but at the time that was not the main consideration: indeed, the decision to join was a reflection of our limited effective sovereignty in an era when we were still very much in the UK orbit. And its economic benefits have surely been the major reason why European integration has been so popular in Ireland.

You can overstate the extent to which the UK is anti-European. The 2016 referendum was won and lost by a very tight margin: if just 635,000 people had voted Remain instead of Leave then Brexit would have faded from our vocabulary and I would not be writing this article. It took a complex combination of circumstances, including Europe's Eurozone and refugee crises, Chinese import competition, George Osborne's austerity, Russian interference, British imperial nostalgia, and Boris Johnson's personal ambition and lack of political scruples, to deliver the final result. It could very easily have gone the other way.

EU's Many problems

As for ourselves: we have decided that our future lies as an independent member of the European Union rather than as a junior partner to a deeply troubled United Kingdom. It is therefore in our interest that the EU work as effectively as possible. Responding to Brexit hubristically, focussing only on the many positive aspects of EU membership that the UK will miss out on, congratulating ourselves for being so much more enlightened than they, and ignoring the EU's many problems, would be the worst response possible. And the measure of our commitment to Europe will be the extent to which we play a constructive role in helping to solve those problems rather than defending the status quo.

Some reforms ought not be controversial, even in Ireland. Who here could deny that EMU requires a proper banking union? That we need proper rules to wind down failed banks and protect the taxpayer, and EU-level deposit insurance to help prevent bank runs in countries that get into trouble? But other much-needed reforms may be more difficult politically. The French are surely right to argue that in a monetary union some degree of fiscal union is important: it is what mainstream English-speaking economists have been saying for years. If there had been a fiscal union during the crisis, austerity would have been less severe: would that not have been a good thing?

Even more controversially: It is no longer morally or politically sustainable to argue that multinationals should be facilitated in their tax avoidance strategies. The result is overstretched public services in our partner countries, with labour being asked to pay a disproportionate share. Having argued for years that the OECD is the right place to sort out the issue, we now need to make sure that it is sorted out. And then there is the security agenda which neither Europe nor Ireland can ignore, given that the US is becoming an increasingly unreliable partner. Ireland received a lot of help during its Brexit crisis from our Baltic partners. We owe it to them to support any European efforts that may be made to provide them with the security that they deserve.

It is by our actions on issues such as these that our claim to be pro-European will ultimately be judged.

Kevin O'Rourke is Professor of Economics at NYU Abu Dhabi and the author of 'A Short History of Brexit: From Brentry to Backstop' (Pelican 2019)
BRUSSELS, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday signed an agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, the Council said in a statement.

After the signing, the Brexit deal will be submitted to a European Parliament plenary vote next week. Once the European Parliament gives its consent, the Council will conclude the agreement on behalf of the EU.

Last Wednesday, the bill was approved by the Houses of Parliament in the UK, paving the way for the country's exit from the EU in due time.

As written procedures demand, the UK will leave the EU at midnight on Jan. 31.

During the transition period, which ends on Dec. 31 this year, the UK and the EU will negotiate a future trade deal.
The U.S. Department of Justice is joining a lawsuit against New Jerseys attorney general, challenging rules he put in place two years ago to limit how much information local cops can share with federal immigration officers.

In 2018, state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal issued restrictions on what police officers in New Jersey could share with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE. The Immigrant Trust Directive limited when police can ask about someones immigration status or turn unauthorized immigrants over for deportation.

Critics said those rules hurt public safety. Ocean County filed a lawsuit challenging the limits in September, and Cape May County filed another the month after.

On Friday, federal officials in President Donald Trumps administration agreed that parts of the restrictions were unconstitutional, according to court documents filed Friday in U.S. District Court in New Jersey.

In order to enforce immigration law, federal officers must have information concerning the whereabouts of aliens, officials argued. The rules amount to passive resistance that frustrates federal programs," they said, quoting another lawsuit.

The argument, submitted on behalf of U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito, in New Jersey, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Joseph Hunt and other officials, will help bolster Ocean Countys case as it moves through the courts.

Proponents of the restrictions argue that immigrants may not talk to any cops if they think it could lead to deportation, which could cut police off from valuable sources of information. The rules pushed back against Trumps attempts to cut down on undocumented immigration to the U.S.  an effort that has included widespread ICE arrests in the state.

In a statement, Grewal said he was deeply disappointed.

At a time when we need to be building bridges with our immigrant communities, the federal government is working to push them further into the shadows, said Grewal, the top state law enforcement agent in Gov. Phil Murphys administration.

Grewal said his directive serves an important role in New Jersey: to ensure that all residents, including our diverse immigrant communities, feel safe interacting with state and local police.

That helps us protect public safety by ensuring that victims and witnesses come forward and report crimes to law enforcement without fear of deportation, he added.

Nothing about todays lawsuit changes that. The federal government has every right to keep doing its job, but it has no right to stop our law enforcement officers from doing ours."

Murphy, a Democrat, is a frequent critic of Trump and has repeatedly vowed to protect immigrants against the Republican presidents policies.

Blake Nelson can be reached at bnelson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BCunninghamN.

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TIJUANA, Mexico - It's 10 a.m., but it's still pretty early for a group of teenage boys who are just waking up inside a migrant shelter for unaccompanied children along a busy highway in Tijuana.

At Casa YMCA de Menores Migrantes, the three Mexican teenage boys - aged 15, 16 and 17 - check their phones as they slowly sit up and stretch their feet out over the edge of their bunk beds.

"About 80% of the kids we receive here are Mexicans, girls and boys and adolescents, between the ages of 12 and 17 who are deported from the United States and they arrive every morning," said Valeria Ruiz, the new director of Casa YMCA, the only shelter in Tijuana for under-aged migrants.

Like thousands of other children in recent years, they've traveled to the border from south Mexico without their parents, and they were caught trying to cross into the United States.

Typically, U.S. immigration authorities process unaccompanied Mexican minors and release them to Mexican authorities. Then, the kids wait in one of the most dangerous cities in the world to be reunited with their families.

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It's a growing trend that has human rights advocates and child welfare workers in Tijuana alarmed.

In the San Diego Sector, across the border from Tijuana, there has been a 40% increase in the number of unaccompanied Mexican children trying to cross the border alone and undetected, during the first quarter of this fiscal year compared to the previous quarter, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Unlike unaccompanied minors in the Migrant Protection Protocols program, U.S. border authorities are able to deport these kids back to Mexico because they are not making an asylum claim, according to Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Jeffery Stephenson.

Mexican migrant children who do make an asylum claim often end up detained for many months in U.S. facilities.

Stephenson said border agents routinely work with the Mexican Consulate, Mexican immigration authorities, and the DIF, the Sistema de Desarrollo Integral de la Familia, Mexico's child welfare agency, to turn unaccompanied children back over to Mexican authorities, who are responsible for reuniting them with their families.

The process has been the same for years, he said.

Some boys at Casa YMCA confirmed last week they were not trying to flee violence or political persecution in their home states of Oaxaca and Guerrero. Most said they were trying to find a job in the United States to support their families back home.

"I tried to cross, but they got me," said Isaias, referring to Border Patrol. He asked the San Diego Union-Tribune not to use his last name.

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At 17, he's the oldest of the group, and he said he'll never try to make the journey north again.

"I just came to work. But it was very cold and very hard and actually we saw some very ugly things while trying to cross the border, and for nothing," he said, shyly. He declined to elaborate.

Ruiz said helping teenagers who have been through traumatic events during their journey north or back home is some of the most challenging work she faces.

"They are teenagers fleeing violence, fleeing poverty, fleeing from a lack of opportunities in their home communities. So, when they arrive at the YMCA, they have often gone through a very long and complicated process, and they've often been through human rights violations," she said.

"It usually is a bit complicated to talk to them at the beginning. They are not afraid; they are uncertain. And they want to be with their families," said Ruiz. "We have to work with them and support them so they feel this house is a safe space."

Most of the boys in Casa YMCA have only been in Tijuana for a few days, and soon, they will be reunited with their families in south Mexico - Oaxaca and Guerrero, she said.

But many other adolescents in the border region take great care to avoid detection by U.S. or Mexican authorities, so they won't be sent back home.

"Unlike adult (migrants), teenagers travel in a very invisible way through the country and the city," said Ruiz.

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"They stay on unusual (migratory) routes and they stay at shelters that are not official. Sometimes, they try to pass themselves off as adults in the different shelters," she said.

Ruiz said because the minors try to hide throughout the city, there's really no way to know exactly how many migrant children are roaming the streets of Tijuana alone.

"Unfortunately, the only definite number we have is the number of deported minors, because that is a record kept by both countries," she said. "We will never know how many there really are in the city."

Both the United States and Mexico say the numbers of minors trying to cross into the United States and getting deported back into Mexico is steadily increasing, although it has not reached the high numbers seen in 2005, when nearly 5,000 Mexican minors were deported back.

According to Mexico Consul General Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, a total of 1,573 unaccompanied Mexican minors were returned to Mexico or "repatriated to the national territory" in 2019, through Baja California ports of entry. He said the figure represents a 19% increase compared to 2018 and an 84% increase compared with 2017.

In 2019, Border Patrol agents in the San Diego area caught 993 unaccompanied Mexican minors trying to cross the border in this specific region.

Human rights advocates in Tijuana said more kids are trying to cross the border undetected because of a policy change in Mexico that prevents them from seeking asylum.

In the past, unaccompanied minors were allowed to ask for asylum at U.S. ports of entry, like any other adult, but child advocates say this is no longer the case.

"As part of the agreement that Mexico made with the United States, one of the main changes is that minors cannot apply for asylum as an adult would directly at the border," said Ruiz. "In the case of adolescents, children who travel alone and show up at the border alone, they are not allowed to make an asylum request," she said.

She said the children are no longer permitted, and they are often blocked by Mexican immigration authorities, from putting their name on the infamous "list" in Tijuana where migrants wait for their turn to ask for asylum under a U.S. policy known as "metering." The policy allows for only a certain number of asylum seekers to be processed each day.

"They are first stopped by the Mexican authorities ... and they are detained and brought here or sent home," said Ruiz.

She said Mexican authorities explain the policy change as an effort aimed at protecting minors and keeping them from being victims of human trafficking.

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

Nicole Ramos, is the project director for the Border Rights Project at Al Otro Lado, a binational legal services organization for migrants.

Ramos said preventing unaccompanied kids from seeking asylum is illegal.

"Under the Trafficking Victim Protection Act and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, an unaccompanied minor has the right to present themselves directly to U.S. immigration authorities," Ramos said. "The idea that Mexican and U.S. officials are collaborating to prevent human trafficking is not credible in the slightest. If that were actually true, U.S. immigration officials would not turn unaccompanied minors away from the port of entry in violation of U.S. and international law and back to the streets of Tijuana, one of the most dangerous cities in the world, and the site for epic levels of human trafficking, particularly the sexual exploitation of children."

---

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Michael Gannon, Paddy Finn and Cllr Pat Fitzgerald with the Wicklow Association flag at the Birmingham St Patricks Day Parade in 2012

Arklow's long association with the Irish Centre Birmingham was recalled as the centre closes its hub after 50 years.

The Irish Centre Birmingham announced in December that it would shut the doors at its current location on Digbeth High Street on January 6. The centre is leaving the Irish quarter after 50 years and plans to move to a new site in Kings Heath.

Many Arklow people visited the Digbeth premises during its history. Queenie Mulvaney from Tinahely was among those who helped to bring people from Arklow and the surrounding areas to Birmingham to take part in the city's St Patrick's Day parade, which is held on the Sunday before March 17.

Arklow Marching Band and Arklow Pipe Band also took part in many events at the centre.

'It was great to meet many Arklow people who had left the town in the 1950s and 1960s. They were happy to see the Arklow contingent and we were made to feel very welcome,' said Paddy Finn, who travelled to Birmingham 12 times in the last 22 years as band director of the Arklow Marching Band.

'A group is going to take part in the Birmingham St Patrick's Day parade this year and will help carry the banner.'

Councillor Pat Fitzgerald, who also visited the centre, said that 'it was great to meet so many people from Wicklow. The reception we got was always very good.'

In a post on the Irish Centre Birmingham's website, manager Paul Owens said there was a 'sense of sadness and nostalgia'

Mr Owens added that 'the area is changing rapidly and despite our best efforts we could not agree a suitable planning permission to regenerate the present site with the city council. I'm afraid it's time to move on.

'That being said I believe this is a tremendous opportunity to develop a new Irish centre offering a complete set of services and facilities so that we can attract people of all generations to utilise the premises which we hope will regenerate the new Irish centre and create a vibrant, sustainable, lasting business model.'

The new venue for the Irish Centre Birmingham in Kings Heath will include a hotel, bar and Gaelic sport facilities.

Digbeth has been a hub for the Irish community in Birmingham for many years and hosts the city's annual St Patrick's Day parade. Organisers of the annual parade told BBC news in December that it would continue in the area.
India and Brazil on Saturday vowed to work closely at the global anti-terror watchdog FATF to effectively confront challenges of terror financing and state-sponsored terrorism.

In their wide-ranging talks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro urged all countries to work towards rooting out terrorist safe havens and infrastructure, disrupting terror networks and financing channels as well as halting cross border movement of terrorists.

The two leaders asserted that global action must be initiated with ultimate objective of eradicating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including cross border terrorism, according to a joint statement issued after Modi-Bolsonaro meeting.

In the talks, the two leaders agreed on having deeper bilateral cooperation to deal with specific terrorist threats.

"They underlined the need for all countries to ensure that their territory is not used to launch terrorist attacks on other countries," the joint statement said without naming either Pakistan or any other country.

It said Modi and Bolsonaro reaffirmed that international terrorism constitutes one of the most serious threats to peace and security and called for concerted and coordinated global action to deal with the menace.

"The prime minister and the president of Brazil also reiterated the mutual interest to work closely in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in issues related to money laundering and financing of terrorism, state sponsored terrorism, etc," the joint statement said.

The FATF has piled up pressure on Pakistan to crackdown on terror networks operating from its soil.

A plenary meeting of the FATF in Paris next month will carry out a detailed review of whether Pakistan has complied with its action plan to contain terrorism.

Depending on the outcome, FATF will decide whether Pakistan will be put under its "blacklist" along with Iran and North Korea.

In the talks, Modi and Bolsonaro also called for early adoption of Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.

It said the two leaders also pitched for stronger international partnership in countering terrorism and violent extremism, including through increased sharing of timely, actionable and complete information and intelligence.

The two leaders also pitched for the implementation of measures to combat terrorism as outlined in relevant UN Security Council resolutions and stressed that cooperation to combat terrorism should be guided in conformity with the principles of the UN Charter, international law and relevant international conventions, the joint statement said.

It said the two leaders expressed confidence in early conclusion of an agreement on combating international terrorism and transnational crimes.

In the talks, the two sides also emphasised the importance of broad based bilateral defence cooperation in enhancing their strategic partnership.

In this context, they encouraged structured dialogue.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Asbestos cleanup means McClure Elementary, closed for the better part of a month, will remain shut Monday and Tuesday. Read more

McClure Elementary, the Hunting Park school closed for the better part of a month to deal with the cleanup of damaged asbestos, will remain shut Monday and Tuesday.

Still, students will be engaged in learning for part of the day. District officials announced Friday night that McClure pupils will participate in educationally focused off-site activities and field trips aligned with curriculum.

On Monday, children will visit the Franklin Institute. On Tuesday, some will visit the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Southwest Philadelphia, others the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, and another group the National Constitution Center.

Parents will be expected to pick them up at 1:30 p.m. both days.

McClure, a K-5 school with more than 600 students, first closed in late December. Students were expected to return immediately after the winter break, but the asbestos contamination was worse than expected. Children returned to class for two days last week, but the school was abruptly closed again when new damage was found.

The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers has sued the district over its failure to protect teachers and students from hazards associated with asbestos contamination.

 READ MORE: Read more: She spent her career teaching in Philadelphia classrooms. Now, she has mesothelioma

Asbestos problems have plagued the district throughout the 2019-20 school year. In September, a longtime district teachers mesothelioma diagnosis was revealed; the cancer is linked to asbestos exposure. Since then, six schools and an early childhood program have been closed, at least temporarily, by asbestos issues.

School system officials and the PFT are developing a more comprehensive cleaning and testing plan to support the safety of the school, the district said in a statement.
The Election Commission on Saturday imposed a 48-hour campaigning ban on BJP candidate from Delhi's Model Town constituency Kapil Mishra following his controversial tweets, poll panel officials said.

The ban order, signed by the Chef Election Commissioner and two fellow Election Commissioners, would come into force from 5 PM on Saturday, they said.

While Twitter had taken down one of his controversial tweets on Friday following directions of the EC, an FIR was lodged against him under section 125 of the Representation of the People Act dealing with creating enmity among classes.

Delhi goes to poll on February 8.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Early efforts to expand Amtrak service were met with skepticism, Pollard said. The first state-sponsored train to Lynchburg a decade ago was criticized by those who said few would ride the train from the Southwest Virginia city to the nations capital. But service to Lynchburg, about 56 miles northeast of Roanoke, was so successful that trains on the route are running near capacity and revenue comes close to surpassing operating costs, officials said. Amtrak has since extended the service to Norfolk and Roanoke.
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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 24, 2020 / PPX Mining Corp. (TSXV:PPX) (the "Company" or "PPX") announces today that the Company will not file its annual financial statements for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2019 (the "Annual Financial Statements") by the deadline of January 28, 2020 as required by applicable Canadian securities laws.In connection with the Company's inability to file the Annual Financial Statements on time, the Company has applied for a management cease trade order under National Policy 12-203 - Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203") and is waiting for British Columbia Securities Commission approval.The Company is applying for a management cease trade order as a result of the following:In the fall of 2019, there was an unanticipated change in the Company's senior accounting personnel. Difficulties related to the transition arising from this change in personnel resulted in the production of the Annual Financial Statements being delayed; andThe Company's operations are primarily located in Peru and a significant portion of the financial documentation is carried out in Spanish. The need to translate the financial documentation and the challenges associated with the production and collection of the required financial documentation in Peru also contributed to the production of the Annual Financial Statements being delayed. These delays were exacerbated in December and early January by an illness and death in the family of the Company's senior Peruvian accountant.The Company expects to file the Annual Financial Statements as soon as they are available, but in any event no later than March 28, 2020 and will issue a news release once the Annual Financial Statements have been filed. Until the Company files the Annual Financial Statements, it will comply with the alternative information guidelines set out in NP 12-203. The guidelines, among other things, require the Company to issue bi-weekly default status reports, in the form of news releases, for so long as the Annual Financial Statements have not been filed.During the MCTO, the general investing public will continue to be able to trade in the Company's common shares listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. However, the Company's Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer will not be able to trade in the Company's shares, nor will the Company be able to, directly or indirectly, issue securities to or acquire securities from an insider or employee of the Company except in accordance with legally binding obligations to do so existing as of January 28, 2020.The Company is not currently subject to any insolvency proceedings. If the Company provides any information to any of its creditors during the period in which it is in default of filing the Annual Financial Statements, the Company confirms that it will also file material change reports on SEDAR containing such information.On behalf of the Board of DirectorsBrian J. MaherPresident and Chief Executive OfficerFOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:PPX Mining Corp.Brian J. Maher, President and Chief Executive OfficerPhone: 1-530-913-4728Email: brian.maher@ppxmining.com Website: www.ppxmining.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.SOURCE: PPX Mining Corp
Trump attorney Patrick Philbin made a shaky case against obstruction of Congress. Photo: Handout/Senate Television via Getty Imag

As one might expect given the advance notice that their argument would begin with a sort of movie trailer overview, and the constant sarodonic references to the length of the House managers presentation, the presidents attorneys took only two of the three hours they were scheduled for in the fifth day of the Trump impeachment trial. White House counsel Pat Cipollone and his deputies Patrick Philbin and Michael Purpura and private attorney Jay Sekulow did not, as some observers objected, dwell obsessively on Hunter and Joe Biden and their alleged corrupt activities. They did meet expectations by insisting repeatedly that the president did nothing wrong, and by attacking House Democrats  and particularly lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff  for pursuing impeachment in the first place.

Cipollone led off by stressing the consequences of removing Trump from office, which of course he characterized as overturning the 2016 election and destroying the integrity of the 2020 election by denying Americans the opportunity to reelect their beloved president (there was no mention, however, of the consequence that Trumps trusty sidekick and chief sycophant Mike Pence would be able to run in November as an incumbent presumably untainted by the Ukraine scandal). The central argument, though, was that House Democrats in their rush to take down Trump had consistently put words in POTUS mouth. Thats why Purpura began his part of the argument by showing video of Schiffs infamous parody gloss on Trumps key July 25 conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky as resembling a mobsters threats. Throughout the presentation, Team Trump continued to contrast Democratic characterizations of that call with the transcript (not actually a transcript, but a memo on the call) the White House released.

While Team Trumps overview didnt retail the common House Republican claims that impeachment represents a continuation of the Democratic conspiracy to shift blame to the presidents Russian allies for Ukraines efforts to rig the 2016 election for Hillary Clinton, Sekulow did promote the idea that the Ukraine scandal was cooked up when the Mueller investigation came up emptier than some had expected, as the New York Times observed:

President Trumps defense lawyers echoed one of their clients frequent lines of attack as they began their arguments on Saturday: that Democrats have been out to get him since long before Ukraine was a household word.

Standing at the lectern in the well of the Senate, Jay Sekulow, one of the presidents lawyers, raised in one hand a copy of the report on Russian election interference submitted by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.

Mr. Sekulow accused the House Democratic managers of having tried once again to re-litigate the Mueller case, which he described as costing the taxpayers $32 million and involved 2,800 subpoenas, 500 search warrants and 500 interviews with witnesses.

Team Trump characterized all the testimony in the House Intelligence Committee suggesting that the president was holding military aid hostage to a Ukrainian announcement of a Biden investigation as mere conjecture on the part of people not relying on POTUS own words. After the Senate adjourned, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer suggested that Trumps attorneys may have accidentally reinforced the case to hear witnesses in the Senate, as the Washington Post reported:

[Schumer] said the Trump defense team did something they did not intend by making the case for more witnesses and documents. [He] focused on the defense teams argument that there were no eyewitnesses and that no one knows what the president intended when he held the aid.

But there are people who do know, Schumer said, mentioning that former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney were among them.

Today we thank the presidents counsel for one thing, they made our case even stronger.

Philbin was the attorney who took on the whole article of impeachment charging Trump with obstruction of Congress, and his response relied very heavily on the dubious claim that subpoenas issued before a formal House vote to authorize impeachment proceedings were invalid. Its true that such a House vote took place during prior presidential impeachment efforts, but it hasnt in other impeachments, and the requirement of a prior vote appears nowhere in the Constitution, which makes the House master of its own procedures. Philbin also ignored the fact that presidential refusal to cooperate in the impeachment inquiry didnt end when the House did formally authorize proceedings in October.

While Trumps attorneys were far from systematic in their initial presentation, it was enough for his political allies in and beyond the Senate, who treated its brevity as a virtue.

In two hours, the White House counsel entirely shredded the case by the House managers, insisted GOP senator Joni Ernst afterward. Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik also got the memo. It took less than two hours to completely shred and eviscerate Adam Schiffs failed case for impeachment, she commented.

There is no case for impeachable offenses here, Stefanik continued. And it took less than two hours to do so. I think the American people understand that.

Thanks to the Senate standings rules stipulation of a break in impeachment trials on Sundays, well have some time to find out what  if anything  the American people think about the trial so far. On Monday Trumps attorneys are expected to use a full day for arguments; well presumably see celebrity attorneys Alan Dershowitz, Ken Starr, and Pam Bondi then. NBC News is reporting that the presidents lawyers may not even use their allocated third day for argument on Tuesday. That could change (particularly if a recording of Trump ordering the dismissal of U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch in the kind of mobster tones Schiff parodied begins to make a difference), but its also possible Republicans think they have the votes to bring the trial to a quick conclusion and dont really care about the strength of Trumps defense.
The possibility of Coronavirus virus knocking in India was being expressed. Two patients were suspected to be affected by this virus. Those who were admitted to the Civic Hospital in Mumbai. The test of both people has come negative. Both of them were suspected to be in the grip of coronavirus. Their reports have come negative. Officials say that a third person's blood sample will be sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune for examination. The two people whose tests have come negative will be kept under constant observation in the isolation ward of Kasturba Hospital in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Officials said that a decision regarding their discharge will be taken on Saturday. They told that both of these are still under surveillance.

Case can be filed against the chief organizer of protestors in Assam

Regarding the matter, the State Health Department official said, 'The decision to discharge them will be made on Saturday. It depends on their health status. The third person's blood sample will be sent to NIV on Saturday. The report is expected by Sunday. The two people whose reports are negative went to China. He was admitted to the hospital on 23 January.

Shiv Sena's big announcement, Pakistan and Bangladeshi infiltrators must be removed

The third person has returned from Hong Kong and has been admitted on Friday. According to officials, from January 19 to Friday night, a total of 2,056 passengers underwent thermal screening at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport regarding coronovirus. Seven of these passengers were from Maharashtra. Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Friday appealed to the citizens not to panic as no cases of coronovirus infection have been found so far in the country. At the same time, travelers returning from travel to any country are being investigated.

Earthquake in eastern Turkey, 18 died
Chick-fil-A owner apologizes after protest over breast-feeding mom being asked to cover up

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The owner of a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Georgia that became the target of a protest this week after a breast-feeding mother complained about being asked to cover up while she dined there Monday has formally apologized.

Anger over the incident at the Mullins Crossing Chick-fil-A in Evans erupted after Samantha McIntosh posted her experience on Facebook stemming from her decision to breast-feed her 7-month-old daughter in the restaurants dining area. McIntosh insists she was appropriately covered for the feeding but complaints from some customers triggered a warning from the restaurants manager which subsequently led to her leaving in a huff.

Ive never made a huge deal about it but I feel as though I have a right to feed my baby however I want just as ANY OTHER MOTHER has that right (as long as its not harmful in any way *duh*)! So imagine my shock and surprise when I am sitting at Chick-fil-a yesterday with my 9 year old niece and my daughter (breast-feeding) and the manager walks up out of nowhere and tries to hand me her jacket saying someone has complained and would prefer if I cover up because of the other children in the restaurant, McIntosh wrote.

please keep in mind that I am wearing a nursing tank top under a large long sleeve shirt. My shirt was pulled up and resting on my daughters cheek and my tank top was pulled down just enough for my daughter to latch so I happen to know that absolutely no skin was showing and we sat in a booth in the back of the restaurant, she explained.

McIntosh said she stopped breast-feeding after the request was made by the manager but got angry when her young niece began asking questions such as why would a baby eating offend someone to the point where they would get a manager involved.

The breastfeeding moms story went viral after she posted it on Facebook Tuesday and about three dozen mothers joined her in a protest at the restaurant later that day, according to The Augusta Chronicle.

On Wednesday, the restaurants owner operator, Jason Adams, noted in a statement to the publication that the mother had been offered a formal apology.

I am truly sorry for the experience Ms. McIntosh had in our restaurant, Adams said. I have reached out to her to personally apologize. My goal is to provide a warm and welcoming environment for all of our guests.

Georgia law currently states a mother may breast-feed her baby in any location, where the mother is otherwise authorized to be, provided the mother acts in a discreet and modest way. However, local advocates like Genevieve Cavanaugh told The Augusta Chronicle that mothers should not have to worry about being modest.

If youre supporting breast-feeding moms, stand up for that mother, Cavanaugh said. Cause if I was here and I saw that [incident], I would breastfeed my daughter right in front of that manager, and Im loud and proud. I dont cover up, cause she [her daughter] doesnt like it.
Cum-ex (previously) is a technical, boring financial engineering technique that lets fraudsters file multiple tax-refund claims for the same stock transactions (they called it "dividend arbitrage"); from 2006-2011, the EU's largest, most respectable banks, law firms, and investors used the scam to steal $60,000,000,000.



Cum-ex is the kind of scam that the finance sector excels at: a socially useless financial engineering marvel that makes staggeringly rich people much richer, protected by a thicket of dull, deliberately complexified terminology and tactics that exist solely to obfuscate the obvious fraud underway.

A few bankers have gone on trial for criminal fraud for their role in cum-ex, but so far most of the perpetrators have gotten away with it, keeping the money (one trader, Sanjay Shah, relocated from London to Dubai and bought a $1.3m yacht he calls the Cum-Ex).

But German prosecutors have embarked on an aggressive program of prosecutions for everyone who profited from cum-ex, including the prominent lawyers who wrote legal opinions arguing that cum-ex was legal. They are launching 400 prosecutions stemming from 56 investigations. Among those is Hanno Berger, a former German state tax auditor who switched sides and became a key player in the theft.

Berger is a revered European finance law scholar, and his work was key to conferring a halo of lawfulness to the otherwise obvious scam. In private, Berger was more frank. One of the lawyers who worked with him says that he told the lawyers he supervised that they should quit if they didn't have the stomach for raiding the German state's coffers: "Whoever has a problem with the fact that because of our work there are fewer kindergartens being built, here's the door."

The masterminds of the scam have roots in New York finance, but their perpetrated their crimes in the EU, where they believed that regulators would be less diligent and also less vengeful, should they get caught out.

The worst of the cum-ex raids took place immediately after the 2008 crash, when the same institutions that were stealing billions from national treasuries were also relying on those treasuries for massive bailouts that kept them from going bankrupt.

The lawyers who backed these firms threatened tax-inspectors who flagged their transactions: one clerk in the Bonn Federal Tax Office was threatened with "criminal, disciplinary and liability law" if she pursued her complaint.





Many of the banks that participated are now out of business, others are cooperating with authorities.



"Anyone who stood in the way of this trade was swept aside, and those who enabled it were promoted," the whistle-blower said in a follow-up phone call. "But it was widely regarded as insanity inside the bank for it to be extracting money from sovereign treasuries, particularly after the entire sector had been supported by the public purse." American banks conducted their cum-ex trades overseas, rather than at home, out of fear, the whistle-blower said. Specifically, he mentioned a 2008 Senate investigation into "dividend tax abuse" that found it was depriving the Treasury of $100 billion every year. The report led to a ban on dividend arbitrage tied to stock in United States corporations. But nothing prevented American bankers from conducting such trades with foreign companies on foreign soil.

It May Be the Biggest Tax Heist Ever. And Europe Wants Justice. [David Segal/New York Times]

(Image: Adam Smith, CC BY-SA)
Five Leon Valley residents filed a motion Friday with a state appellate court seeking to mandate that the suburbs City Council order a May 2 recall election for two embattled councilors.

Former Mayor Irene Baldridge, former council member David Edwards and residents Joshua Stevens, Erick Matta and Lyn Joseph are asking the Fourth Court of Appeals to direct the council to set a recall vote after the city secretary recently verified a petition that contained the required number of signatures to trigger an election.

A release issued by the citizens group noted an awkward silence at a council meeting Tuesday night, when a resolution ordering a general and special election, including a possible recall of two council members, was on the agenda for discussion and possible action. City Councilors Donna Charles and Monica Alcocer are targeted in the recall petitions.

On ExpressNews.com: Leon Valley takes no action on recall

Under Leon Valleys 3-year-old city charter, Section 6.06, once petitions are certified, if the individual whose removal is sought does not resign, then the City Council shall for the next available uniform election date, order an election for holding such recall election.

City Councilor Will Bradshaw made a motion Tuesday to adopt the resolution. None of the other four council members seconded the motion, and there was no deliberation.

Bradshaw, addressing other council members, said it was very disheartening that you refuse, continue to refuse, to listen to the voice of the citizens.

City Attorney Habib Erkan Jr. called it a very peculiar situation.

I would urge someone to second your motion just to be in compliance with the charter, Erkan said Tuesday.

But the silence continued. Officials agreed the issue would be discussed in an executive session and possibly acted on at the next regular council meeting on Feb. 4. Feb. 14 is the deadline to order a recall vote for May 2.

In a release, Stevens said the citizens group seeks a court order forcing the council to follow the law.

The court filing is the latest development in an ongoing factional feud in Leon Valley. Last year, acting on complaints from city employees against Councilor Benny Martinez, Charles and Alcocer voted during a forfeiture hearing to remove Martinez from office under the charter. Charles has since filed a two-page ethics complaint against Mayor Chris Riley, alleging conflicts of interest in the forfeiture hearing and political favoritism as the councils presiding officer.

Riley announced Tuesday that a hearing of the Leon Valley Ethics Review Board, to consider five of Charles complaints, is set for 6 p.m. Feb. 19 in the council chambers, 6400 El Verde Road.

I emphatically deny all claims against me, the mayor said Tuesday.

Earlier this week, Bexar County Commissioner Justin Rodriguez, whose precinct includes Leon Valley, said hed like to see stability return to the community.

I think certainly its a scourge on everyone when something like that politically happens to a community, Rodriguez said.

On ExpressNews.com: Leon Valley turmoil continues after councilman ousted

Sure, Im concerned about making sure the right thing gets done there, he said, regarding compliance with the charter. Rather than me say, Hey, look thats not my problem, weve talked to them, and if theres something that we can do as a partner to help them through that process, then were going to do it.

Queta Rodriguez, the Democratic challenger in the March 3 primary race in Precinct 2, said she hopes Leon Valley officials abide by their charter.

I would encourage the leaders of the City Council to do the right thing, she said. If the citizens have done this, and theyre requesting this and the charter calls for it, then I as a leader myself would urge them to do the right thing.

The court filing came a day before Leon Valleys annual town hall meeting, set for 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. today at the Leon Valley Conference Center, 6421 Evers Road. It will include information on the U.S. Census, proposed charter amendments, plans for the Bandera Road corridor and an analysis of city pools, library facilities and public works.

Scott Huddleston covers Bexar County government and the Alamo for the San Antonio Express-News. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | shuddleston@express-news.net | Twitter: @shuddlestonSA
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro arrived for his first official visit to India on Friday aiming to boost ties between the two stuttering BRICS economies and with fellow right-wing leader Narendra Modi. Critics call both men authoritarian and populist in the mould of leaders like US President Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin of Russia, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Viktor Orban in Hungary. Modi, facing more than a month of protests over a new citizenship law, has never given a proper press conference as prime minister and Bolsonaro said this week he would no longer give interviews. Bolsonaro, accompanied by ministers and business leaders for the four-day visit, is this year's guest of honour at Republic Day celebrations on Sunday when India showcases its military might and culture. "It will be an opportunity to re-energise our strategic partnership and take it forward in a focused manner," an official at the Indian foreign ministry said. Trade between India and Brazil -- part of the BRICS group with Russia, China and South Africa -- has risen in recent years, but reaching only a relatively modest $8.2 billion in 2018-19. Neither economy is doing well, with Brazil narrowly averting a fresh recession last year and Indian growth hitting a six-year low and unemployment its highest in four decades. The two sides are expected to sign nearly two dozen agreements on agriculture, defence and energy cooperation, including investments in the hydrocarbon sector amid political crises in oil-producing nations like Venezuela and Iran. Differences over sugar may sour the mood, however, with Brazil unhappy about India's sugar subsidies. Some small protests by Indian sugar farmers were expected during the visit.
The plane of a British airman who went missing in Europe during World War Two has been discovered in a lake near Amsterdam 77 years later.

Wreckage of a Short Sterling bomber BK716 manned by Sergeant Charles Armstrong Bell, which disappeared in 1943, was found submerged in Lake Markermeer this week.

Sergeant Bell, from Langley Park, Durham, was listed as Missing In Action - along with six other crew members - when their Short Sterling bomber BK716 was lost as it returned from a bombing run in Germany.

Sergeant Charles Armstrong Bell, whose identity in the picture is not yet clear, with crew who were listed as MIA when their plane was lost as it returned from a bombing run in Germany

The Marker Wadden, artifical islands located in the Markermeer lake in The Netherlands. Wreckage of the bomber was discovered in the lake near Amsterdam (file photo)

Police believe the remains of the crew are still on board.

As preparations are underway to recover the plane in March, the Bomber Command Museum of Canada contacted Consett Police, part of Durham Constabulary, to help track down any living relatives of the sergeant.

A family member contacted Consett Police after appeals were shared on social media, and relatives of the six other crew members have also been traced.

In an appeal for any other relatives, a spokesman from Durham Constabulary said: 'Charles Armstrong Bell was the son of James Ainsley Bell and Elizabeth Bell and lived at 10, Quebec Street, Langley Park with his wife Frances.

'On his memorial stone he is listed as a son and husband, making us believe that he did not have children.

'Frances later remarried a John Wharton and may have had a sister by the name of Lilly Dobbin. Frances died in 2003 and we can find no record of Lilly Dobbin.

A model of a Short Sterling bomber pictured from circa 1939. Wreckage of the bomber BK716 was found earlier this week (file photo)

The Markermeer, one of Europe's largest freshwater lakes, regulates the water level in the rest of the Netherlands. The crew were returning from a bombing run in Germany (file photo)

'It is unknown where family members may have ended up, so please share this post to maximise our chances of success.

'It would be great to help in this worthy cause to ensure that an airman who paid the ultimate sacrifice is represented by his family at his burial.'

Anyone with information should call Sergeant Mawson at Consett Neighbourhood Policing Team.
The United States refused to extradite a diplomats wife accused of killing a British teenager in a car crash. Anne Sacoolas fled the United Kingdom using diplomatic immunity after she was allegedly involved in a fatal road accident killing a British teenager Harry Dunn.

The accident took place near RAF Croughton, a British military base near Oxford, on August 27, when a car collided with 19-year-old Harry Dunns bike. Sacoolas fled the country when she was being treated as the prime suspect in the case and the police were preparing to arrest and interrogate the woman. Later she even admitted driving the car and was charged by the police with causing death by dangerous driving.

Read: US Diplomat Criticises CPEC, Says No Transparency In Projects Undertaken By China

Britain criticises the decision

Britain has rebuked the US for declining to extradite Sacoolas after repeated requests, even by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Johnson was not in favour of using the process of diplomatic immunity for this type of purpose. Though the U.S. Embassy had offered its deepest sympathies, they were not on the same page with Boris Johnson, which has now become even more clearer after formal rejection.

Calling it a denial of justice, a spokesperson for the UK Home Office said that they are disappointed by this decision and are urgently considering their options. A family spokesperson of the 19-year-old Dunn said that they were not at all surprised by the decision. Earlier, the family had urged US President Donald Trump to let the woman get back to the UK and see what she has done to the family.

Read: Australian Defence Personnel, Diplomats To Stay In Iraq Amid US-Iran Tensions

As per the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, family members of diplomats living in other countries enjoy immunity from arrest in most of the cases. Under Article 32 of the Vienna convention, the immunity can be waived by the sending state and it must always be express. Waiver of immunity from jurisdiction in respect of civil or administrative proceedings shall not be held to imply the waiver of immunity in respect of the execution of the judgement, for which a separate waiver shall be necessary, reads Article 36(4).

Read: New President Of Guatemala Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Venezuela

Read: Angela Merkel Discusses Diplomatic Solution For Libyan-conflict With Erdogan, Putin

(With inputs from agencies)
The region in China that has served as the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak has confirmed a further 15 deaths, bringing the death toll to a total of 41.

The Health Commission of Hubei Province said in a statement published early Saturday that 180 new cases had been reported as of end-Friday, putting the total number of confirmed patients in the province at 752, and the total for the country at 1,287.

Officials were also able to confirm 15 deaths in the region, which includes the city of Wuhan where the disease is thought to have originated.

This followed the news that the deadly illness had reached Europe, after France confirmed three cases. The UK is also believed to be tracking down some 2,000 people who arrived in the country from China in the last two weeks.

The city of Wuhan has been on lock down with all flights cancelled and checkpoints blockading the main routes.

According to Chinese state media, the government is hoping to have a new hospital built from scratch in the region over the course of the weekend.

Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Show all 154 1 /154 Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Paramedics wearing personal protective equipment carry patient on a stretcher on to an ambulance in North Point district in Hong Kong, China Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A medical worker wearing protective gear takes a rest as he waits for ambulances carrying patients infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus at an entrance of a hospital in Daegu, South Korea YONHAP/AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A medical worker sprays disinfectant on an ambulance after carrying a patient infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus at a hospital in Daegu YONHAP/AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People wearing protective face masks shop at a supermarket in Casalpusterlengo, one the northern Italian towns placed under lockdown due to the new coronavirus outbreak EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A trolley bus is disinfected amid fears over the spread of the novel coronavirus in Pyongyang, North Korea REUTERS Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers wearing protective gear spray disinfectant as a precaution against the COVID-19 coronavirus in a local market in Daegu, South Korea AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wearing a protective facemask walks outside a nearly empty shopping mall at lunch time in Beijing AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wearing protective facemask and gloves puts a drawing made by a girl living in the area asking residents to wear protective gear, next to a quarantine notice for people who have travelled and a notice asking people to register outside a residential compound in Beijing AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A woman is taken into an ambulance amid a coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy REUTERS Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Ambulances and health workers are seen outside the Padua's hospital, northern Italy EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers in coaches leave MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire after being repatriated to the UK from a cruise ship hit by the coronavirus in Yokohama, Japan and head to Arrowe Park Hospital on Merseyside PA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People rest in a temporary hospital situated in the Tazihu Gymnasium in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Buddhist monks wearing protective face masks pray during a blessing ceremony for the people affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, at a temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia REUTERS Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers wearing protective gears carry a patient infecting with a new coronavirus to a hospital in Chuncheon, South Korea AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Soldiers in hazmat suits sanitize cargo from a China Airlines plane at the Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan City, Taiwan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Barricades are seen to block the entrance a the gate of a local mall in a nearly empty area in Beijing, China Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A vendor wearing a protective facemask waits for customers at a shop in Beijing AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus The body temperature of an Iraqi child returning from Iran is measured upon her arrival at the Najaf International Airport AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Volunteers hand out free facemasks at a shopping district in Quezon city, Metro Manila, Philippines Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers wearing protective gears carry a patient suspected of contracting the new coronavirus toward an ambulance at Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo, South Korea AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A worker disinfects a shop at a market in Shanghai AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A restaurant worker wearing protective clothing as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus passing a bag of food to a customer on the street outside their restaurant in Beijing AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A recovered patient is discharged from Leishenshan Hospital, the newly-built makeshift hospital for novel coronavirus patients, in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Volunteers in protective suits disinfect a factory with sanitising equipment in Huzhou, China China Daily via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers in protective suits attend to a patient inside an isolated ward of Wuhan Red Cross Hospital Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A drone operated by the Suwon municipal government flies around Changyong Middle School spraying disinfectant, in Suwon, South Korea EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers transfer medical waste at Leishenshan Hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wearing a protective mask rides a bicycle with his children in Guangzhou, China EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Volunteers in protective suits disinfect a railway station as the country is hit by an outbreak of the new coronavirus, in Changsha, Hunan province, China cnsphoto via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A woman repatriated from Wuhan carries a child as she walks upon her arrival at the Van Don airport in Vietnam's Quang Ninh province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff checking the body temperature of a patient who has displayed mild symptoms of the COVID-19 coronavirus, at an exhibition centre converted into a hospital in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A medical worker in protective suit transports oxygen tanks at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Boys wearing protection masks, gloves and modified water bottles sit on a cart at the airport arrival terminal in Guangzhou EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Employees work on a production line manufacturing protective suits at a clothing factory in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province cnsphoto via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers in protective suits move a patient at an isolated ward of a hospital in Caidian district following an outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan China Daily via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A worker in protective clothing, including face mask and gloves, carries a bucket as he works inside of The County Oak Medical Centre in Brighton, southern England, after it closed for "urgent operational health and safety reasons", following reports a member of staff was infected with the strain of the novel coronavirus AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers of the ecology and environment bureau collect samples from the sewage system of a hospital in Xinle, Hebei province China Daily via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man in protective clothing cleaning the County Oak Medical Centre GP practice The British government warned the outbreak of novel coronavirus was a "serious and imminent threat" and reported four new cases that brought the total recorded in the country to eight. Two hospitals The Royal Free and Guys and St Thomas', have both been designated as "isolation" facilities, with both currently housing Britons who have returned from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak PA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients to the newly completed Huoshenshan temporary field Hospital in Wuhan. The global coronavirus death toll rose again with Hong Kong announcing its first death from the outbreak on 4 February EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Members of staff wait as coaches carrying Coronavirus evacuees arrive at Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre, in Milton Keynes, after being repatriated to the UK from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan PA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A crew member of the cruise ship Diamond Princess talks to a worker wearing protective gear standing near the vessel, where dozens of passengers were tested positive for coronavirus, at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Doctors scan a patient's lungs at Huoshenshan temporary hospital built for patients diagnosed with coronavirus in Wuhan Xinhua News Agency/AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People wearing protective suits walk from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, with around 3,600 people quarantined onboard due to fears of the new coronavirus, at the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Indonesians who arrived from Wuhan are sprayed with antiseptic at Hang Nadim Airport in Batam. People evacuated from the Chinese city at the centre of a deadly virus outbreak, were transported to a quarantine zone on a remote island at the edge of the South China Sea, shortly after landing Indonesian Foreign Ministry via AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A woman wears a protective mask as she shops in a market in Beijing Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members hugging each other in an isolation ward at a hospital in Zouping in China's easter Shandong province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A portrait of Dr Li Wenliang is left at Li's hospital in Wuhan. He is regarded a whistleblower on the outbreak and died of the coronavirus which triggered wide-spread mourning on Chinese media Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Officers in protective gear enter the cruise ship Diamond Princess, where people tested positive for coronavirus, after the ship arrived at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, south of Tokyo Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Firefighters and personnel from the health ministry participate in a drill to prepare for the potential arrival of passengers infected with the coronavirus at the Viru Viru International Airport, in Santa Cruz, Bolivia Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Scientists are at work in the VirPath university laboratory as they try to find an effective treatment against the new Sars-like coronavirus AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers in protective suits attend to patients at the Wuhan International Conference and Exhibition Center, which has been converted into a makeshift hospital to receive patients with mild symptoms caused by the virus Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A girl wears a mask as a preventive measure against the coronavirus outbreak, in Bangkok, Thailand Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man is transferred from the World Dream cruise ship to an ambulance at the Kai Tak cruise terminal in Hong Kong as health officials conduct inspections AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers from a disinfection service company enter Lotte Department Store in central Seoul, South Korea EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man who arrived from Hubei province talks with police at a checkpoint at the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A doctor holds a handheld digital thermometer near health officials preparing a health check for arriving passengers from China at Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A resident walks across an empty track in Wuhan Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A scientific staff member works in a secure laboratory, researching the coronavirus, at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members preparing equipment to meet passengers of a military plane, which evacuated citizens of Russia and ex-Soviet countries from China's Wuhan province Vsluh.ru via Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Staff wearing protective suits as they prepare to disinfect a Vietnam Airlines plane at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi Vietnam Airlines/AFP/Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A South Korean person, who was evacuated from Wuhan, arrives at the National Medical Center after showing suspected symptoms of novel coronavirus, in Seoul EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Officers in protective gear escort a person (under the blue sheet) who was on board cruise ship Diamond Princess and was tested positive for coronavirus Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A doctor being disinfected by his colleague at a quarantine zone in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Buses carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan, arrive at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Indonesian health officials conduct an exercise drill in transporting a patient requiring isolation at the Belawan port in Medan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus The Pasteur Institute in Dakar, designated by the African Union as one of the two reference centres in Africa for the detection of the new coronavirus that appeared in China, is hosting experts from 15 countries on the continent this weekend to prepare them to deal with the disease AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A government worker disinfects a co-worker after visiting a quarantined woman's home in Qingdao EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An aerial view of the deserted roads and bridges in Wuhan Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical workers hold a strike outside the Hospital Authority as they demand for Hong Kong to close its border with China to reduce the coronavirus spreading Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A person has their tempriture checked in Qingdao, China EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. Note the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/AFP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Malaysian nationals being directed from a bus by health officials in protective suits as they arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, after being evacuated from Wuhan Malaysia's Ministry of Health/AFP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People hoping to buy face masks crowd outside a medical supply shop that was raided by police for allegedly hoarding and overpricing the masks, as public fear over China's Wuhan Coronavirus grow in Manila, Philippines. The Philippine government has been heavily criticized after failing to immediately implement travel restrictions from China, the source of a deadly coronavirus that has now killed hundreds and infected thousands more Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Residents wearing masks and raincoats volunteer to take temperature of passengers following the outbreak of a new coronavirus at a bus stop at Tin Shui Wai, a border town in Hong Kong Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Italian citizens repatriated from Wuhan going though a health control zone after landing at the Mario De Bernardi military airport in Pratica di Mare, south of Rome, prior to be placed in quarantine Italian Defence Ministry/AFP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers arrange beds in a 2,000-bed mobile hospital, set up in an exhibition center, in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A doctor checks conditions of occupants in a hotel accommodating isolated people in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members wearing protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city of Wuhan, arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital. The Chinese army deployed medical specialists to the epicentre of the spiralling viral outbreak that has killed and spread around the world AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A baby wearing a protective face mask is pushed by a woman as they arrive from Shenzhen to Hong Kong at Lo Wu MTR station AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A health worker checks the temperature of a woman entering a subway station in Beijing Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A young child wears a protective mask and is covered in plastic while waiting to check in to a flight at Beijing Capital Airport The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday declared the coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Ambulance crews arrive at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, as it prepares for a return flight from Wuhan, China. Eighty-three Britons and 27 foreign nationals who were trapped in Wuhan are being flown back to the UK Tom Maddick / SWNS Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A woman carries a baby wearing a protective mask as they exit the arrival hall at Hong Kong High Speed Rail Station Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Camp beds at a Medical Assessment Center set up at the airport in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on the eve of the arrival of German citizens evacuated from Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Funeral parlour staff members in protective suits help a colleague with disinfection after they transferred a body at a hospital in Wuhan Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Muslims wearing masks pray for the victims of coronavirus at a mosque in Ahmedabad, India Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical officials waiting for people who wants to check the novel coronavirus at Myeongdong shopping district Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Children wear plastic bottles as makeshift homemade protection and protective masks while waiting to check in to a flight at Beijing Capital Airport Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A patient assisted by medical staff gets off an ambulance in Wuhan AFP/Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus People line up to buy face masks from a medical supply company in Nanning, southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Countries began evacuating their citizens from the Chinese city hardest-hit by a new virus that has now infected more people in China than were sickened in the country by SARS Chinatopix via AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Millions spent their normally festive Lunar New Year holiday under lockdown Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Children with face masks wash their hands before prayer at Erawan shrine in Bangkok. Thailand has detected eight Coronavirus cases so far AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An Indonesian health officer points at the screen of a thermal scanner for passengers China confirmed that the deadly Wuhan coronavirus virus can be transmitted between humans AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Hospital workers wearing protective eyewear and masks examine an Indonesian student who returned from China in quarantine at a hospital in Banda Aceh AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Ambulance staff dispose of an outfit at the hospital in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A person checks the temperature of a passenger to help stop the spread of a deadly virus as he arrives at the Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International airport in Palembang AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Nepali students, wearing face masks, attend a class at Matribhumi School in Bhaktapur, on the outskirts of Kathmandu AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Two Buddhist monks wear face masks while walking along a street in Yangon AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Staff disinfecting a residential area in Ruichang, part of Jiujiang in China's central Jiangxi province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers are seen at the construction site of a new hospital being built to treat patients from a deadly virus outbreak in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on January 27, 2020. - China is rushing to build a new hospital in a staggering 10 days to treat patients at the epicentre of a deadly virus outbreak that has stricken thousands of people, state media reported on January 24. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP) (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images) HECTOR RETAMAL AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Vapor blurs the goggles of an ambulance driver while they work, in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers producing facemasks at a factory in Yangzhou AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff getting on an ambulance in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A vendor of traditional masks wears a facial mask at his shop in Thamel EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An airport official checks the temperature of a passenger upon his arrival at the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An ambulance driver talking with medical staff in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team leave the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market The new coronavirus appears to have its origins in a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, a popular transport hub AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers produce protective suits at a factory in Nantong AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers scanned by thermal imaging for body temperature as they go through health measures and procedures after they landed at Rome's Fiumicino airport on a southern airlines flight from Wuhan Aeroporto Di Roma/AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A Thai royal guard wears a mask while on duty at the Grand Palace in Bangkok EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wearing a face mask rides a nearly empty subway train in Beijing AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A shopper wearing goggles with a face mask and gloves uses a self checkout machine at a supermarket in Wuhan AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Members of the Italian Red Cross putting on protective gear, getting ready to give health checks to passengers that landed at Rome's Fiumicino airport on a southern airlines flight from Wuhan Aeroporto Di Roma/AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A member of the Hong Kong government's Civil Aid Service gestures at the entrance to the Lady MacLehose Holiday Village which is being used as one of two quarantine centres for people who have been in close proximity with suspected cases of a SARS-type virus. Hong Kong will turn two holiday camps, including a former military barracks, into quarantine zones for people who may have come into contact with carriers of the Wuhan virus, officials announced AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff wearing protective suits at the Zhongnan hospital in Wuhan STR/AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A Malaysia Health official checks passengers going through a thermal scanner upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Staff disinfecting Yingtan North Railway Station, China China banned trains and planes from leaving the major city at the centre of a virus outbreak on January 23, seeking to seal off its 11 million people to contain the contagious disease that has claimed lives and spread to other countries AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A passenger walks past a quarantine control station at Narita airport, Japan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Patients queue up to seek treatment in Wuhan Tongji Hospital Fever Clinic, in Wuhan EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Quarantine workers spray disinfectant at Incheon International Airport, South Korea EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A member of staff checks the temperature of a guest entering the casino of the New Orient Landmark hotel in Macau, after it reported its first case of the new SARS-like virus AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients to Jin Yintan hospital Little is known about the new disease which, if confirmed, would be only the seventh coronavirus known to science that can infect humans Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Members of the Three Gorges Medical Laboratory offering free masks to the public in Yichang, China AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Gabriel Leung, right, chair professor of public health medicine at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, speaks about the extent of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in China AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Members of staff of the Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team conducting searches on the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A quarantine officer at Incheon International Airport, South Korea, uses an electronic thermometer to check the temperature of passengers arriving by plane from Wuhan The virus causes symptoms of viral pneumonia, and has already led to several deaths EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A screen shows cancelled flights at Tianhe airport in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Health officials hand out information about the current coronavirus at Kuala Lumpur International Airport AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A store owner argues with security guards as he attempts to enter the closed Huanan wholesale seafood market AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Workers producing facemasks at a factory in Handan, China's northern Hebei province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff and security personnel stop patients' family members from being too close to the Jinyintan hospital Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus maya-goodfellowAn airport staff member uses a temperature gun to check people leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A rescue worker walks past a notice about new coronavirus that has broken out in China Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Health officials wear face masks at an inspection site at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Medical staff members carry a patient into the Jinyintan hospital AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A staff member checks body temperature of a child after a train from Wuhan arrived at Hangzhou Railway Station in Hangzhou AFP via Getty Images Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A quarantine station measures passenger body temperatures at Narita Airport JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers walk past a notice displayed near a quarantine control station at Narita airport EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers walk past a poster alerting on coronavirus screening ahead upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus An employee sprays disinfectant on a train, as a precaution against coronavirus, at Suseo Station in Seoul EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Kazakh sanitary-epidemiological service worker uses a thermal scanner to detect travellers from China who may have symptoms possibly connected with the previously unknown coronavirus, at Almaty International Airport, Kazakhstan Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Pharmacist Liu Zhuzhen stands near a sign reading "face masks are sold out" at her pharmacy in Shanghai AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus The Wuhan Medical Treatment Center, EPA Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A worker in a protective suit at the closed seafood market in Wuhan Reuters Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus Passengers wear protective face masks at the departure hall of a high speed train station in Hong Kong AP Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A notice for passengers from Wuhan Getty Coronavirus: Cases soar of deadly new flu-like virus A man wears a mask while riding on mobike past the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market Getty

Hubeis health authority said there were 658 patients affected by the virus in medical care, 57 of whom were critically ill.

While cases have been confirmed in locations across the globe  the majority have been concentrated in China, where all of the confirmed deaths so far have taken place.

The virus has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, the United States, and France  which became the first European country to announce confirmed cases on Friday evening.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus an emergency in China this week but stopped short of declaring it of international concern.
File photo

According to a report by Punch Metro, some bandits have invaded Juji Community in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

The heavily armed men, it was gathered, kidnapped the wife of a popular medical doctor, children as well as his security guards on Saturday morning.

The gunmen reportedly attacked the community at 10pm Friday night where they engaged the police for over six hours in a gun battle.

A vigilante group member was feared killed by the bandits.

The Juji Community had suffered a series of attacks resulting in the abduction of several persons.

The latest attack just coming a few days after a 14-year-boy and his mother were kidnapped.

Meanwhile, residents of the community took to the street to protest the latest incident.

A resident, who pleaded not to be mentioned told our correspondent that the bandits in their large numbers invaded the community about 11pm on Friday to carry out the attack.

But the bandits had a fierce battle with the police in the area which lasted for over six hours.

He continued that they(bandits) later had their ways and gained access to the residence of the medical doctor about 4am on Saturday and took away his wife, children and security guard to an unknown destination.

Residents of the community in a peaceful protest, called on the government to rescue them from the bandits who invaded the community at will to carry out attacks.

Reacting, the State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Yakubu Sabo, told our correspondent on the phone that he would reach out to the DPO in the area for more briefings on the incident.

He said, Let me find out. I will get some facts and get back to you. Presently, we are on our way to Sanga Local Government Area for the today(Saturday) rerun election but let me get the DPO and get some facts.

Efforts to get him back on the telephone were fruitless by our correspondent.
Even the legendary Rameshwar Nath Kao couldnt quite play god at all times.

In a perfect world, Indias spymaster would have prevented the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and perhaps, stopped the brutal gunning down of Bangladeshs founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family, including his hapless 11-year-old son Russel. (The present Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, and her sister escaped the Pakistan putsch simply because they were out of the country.)

But, as this fascinating page-turner by veteran journalist, Nitin A. Gokhale shows, even the legendary Rameshwar Nath Kao, as revered and perceptive as he was, couldnt quite play god at all times. The Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) chiefs advice that no Sikh bodyguards should be part of Indira Gandhis inner security detail went unheeded. As did his warning to Sheikh Mujib, that a coup was coming, that his life was at risk, delivered in person when he arrived at the doorstep of his Dhanmondi home in Dhaka, posing as a betel-nut seller.

That said, the R&AW founder came close, so very close to perfection. Not only was Indias George Smiley respected by his counterparts in Washington, London, Moscow, Islamabad, he earned the grudging admiration of Chinas first Prime Minister Zhou-en Lai, when Ramji Kao, dispatched to Hong Kong to monitor an investigation into a failed assassination attempt against the Chinese leader by Taiwan, came up with the clinching evidence.

He would go on to pull off two of Indias biggest strategic successes  carving out the new nation of Bangladesh from the erstwhile state of East Pakistan by organising the Mukti Bahini, the Bengali resistance to which Pakistan had no answer; and bring Sikkim into the Indian fold, blindsiding the Chinese who wanted to replace the unsuspecting Chogyal, in 1975.

For those who only know of the Indian Army sweeping into Dhaka, unchallenged, the surprising role played by Indias counter-intelligence operatives led by Kao, is the books eye-opener. Its the untold story, and one of many.

And this is chiefly because the man who nearly always operated from the shadows, and preferred it that way, never really got credit for pulling off what remains Indias biggest foreign policy  and military  success, Kargil, notwithstanding, for which the armed forces got all the credit.

The Kao that we get to see through Gokhales eyes is gleaned from prolific correspondence between the master spook and members of his inner circle, the legendary Kao-boys, some of whom would go on to lead R&AW once he hung up his boots. The conversations with his family too show the sensitive, compassionate man behind the facade of a distant, stern, spymaster.

Gokhale also draws on the personal files of Kao that have been opened up for public purview at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, and the P.N. Haksar papers. Both reinforce his larger than life persona. But we will have to wait till 2025 for more. Thats when Kaos curious, self-imposed bar on some of his papers going public, that he put in place just before he died in 2002, are lifted.

Learning about the man behind the facade, what officers like the serving National Security Adviser Ajit Doval think of him is the books abiding draw. But for those who know little of what goes on in the corridors of power, the story behind the story is what will turn the book into a must-read.

Like Gokhales recounting of the trigger for the creation of the agency  the 1965 war with Pakistan where he points to the spectacular failure of Indian intelligence in anticipating the infiltration planned by Pakistan on September 1, 1965. Pakistans massive troop movement was misread by the Indian Army, which mistakenly believed the attack would come from further north, not the Chhamb sector. And India had no information until it was too late, on what could have been a major game-changer  Pakistans fast depleting store of ammunition would only last till September 22!

The much-needed demarcation between external and internal intelligence gathering finally came about when Kao was tasked to launch R&AW in 1968.

The benefits werent long in coming. Barely three years later, in December 1971, an Indian mole in the office of Pakistans dictator Gen. Yahya Khan leaked his plan to bomb Indian airfields to Kaos number two, K. Sankaran Nair. India quickly opened up a second front on its western sector, routed Pakistani forces and went on to liberate Bangladesh in 13 days.

And then there was the Kargil blowback, some 20 years after Kao. In May 1999, India went public with a conversation that Pakistans then Chief of Army Staff Gen. Pervez Musharraf was having with his Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Mohammed Aziz. Picked up by R&AW operatives, Lt. Gen. Aziz can be heard telling Musharraf, who was in China at the time, how the chiefs of the Pakistan Air Force and Navy were miffed at being kept in the dark about the Kargil invasion. It was that tape that blew Pakistans lies on Kargil into the water, and convinced then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Gen. Musharrafs perfidy!

But the final nail in Pakistans coffin, courtesy Kaos brainchild, came to fruition in February 2019 some 40 odd years after he stepped away from the fray, when two R&AW assets sent first hand reports from deep within the Balakot facility. From February 15-22, the agencys intelligence operatives, Gokhale recounts, showed the Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was getting ready to welcome 150 more trainees from February 25.

Kao, as Gokhales book shows, changed the course of this nations history several times over. And these are only the stories that we know of...
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Linkedin Nina Loasana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, January 25, 2020 07:45 718 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad2060eba25 1 City South-Jakarta,police,united-states,US-citizen,marijuana Free

The South Jakarta Police have arrested a United States citizen after he was caught in possession of marijuana-laced cakes and vape liquid.

The suspect, Cecoy Chevenye Burnett, was arrested on Monday evening at the Bintaro Park View apartment building in Pesanggrahan, South Jakarta, only three days after arriving in Indonesia's capital.



South Jakarta Police Chief, Sr. Com Bastoni Purnama said police officers received a report from residents about suspected drug use in the apartment.

The police then raided Burnetts apartment and confiscated 1 kilogram of pot brownies and five bottles of marijuana-laced vape liquid.



"We tested both the brownies and the vape liquid in the lab, and both tested positive for marijuana. The suspect smuggled the illegal substances in his carry-on luggage to avoid suspicion from airport officials," Bastoni told the press.

Burnett arrived in Indonesia on Jan 17 from Los Angeles, California, using a travel visa.

According to Bastoni, Burnett bought the brownies and vape liquid in LA. The 27-year-old suspect, who worked in a mental health center, claimed he was unaware marijuana was an illegal substance in Indonesia.

Marijuana for recreational use is legal in California.



Burnett was charged under articles 111 and 112 of Law No. 35/2009 on narcotics, which carries a maximum sentence of 12 years.



Bastoni said the police were coordinating with the US embassy and the immigration office to decide whether Burnett would be deported to the US.



"We will also coordinate with the US Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA] to investigate whether the suspect is part of an international drug syndicate and whether he has a history of drug abuse in the US," he added.
The Fingal Farmers Group held two important events for local farmers at Kettle's Country House Hotel last week.

The first was a response from the group to increasing security threats on local farms with property under threat from thieves and farmers themselves under physical threat from intruders on their property.

In an effort to thwart the thieves, the Fingal Famers Group organised an event at the Rolestown hotel to allow farmers to avail of a security tagging service for their property.

Laurence Ward of the Fingal Farmers Group explained: 'We had a training day and launch of a Telesis marking machine.

'We are the first farming group to purchase these machines and the idea is that all items and tools etc on the farm can be marked with a definite eircode for each individual farmer.

It is used to combat theft of items like angle grinders, welders, quads or any other item of value on the farm.

'Local Community Garda were present as were training personnel on how to use this piece of equipment.'

Later in the week, the Fingal Farmers Group gathered again at Kettle's Country House Hotel, this time to advise local farmers on all issues surrounding farm inheritance, transfer and succession.

There was also advice available to farmers on the financial side of the business from payroll services to day-to-day financial management and advice on tax and pensions.

A number of experts in the field were present to deliver talks on these subjects and take questions from local farmers.

Both events were well attended and provided useful tools for the local farming community to cope with a number of challenges facing them in the modern environment.
Saturday Night Live cast member Bowen Yang is opening up about a heartbreaking experience.

The comedian, 29, spoke about gay conversion therapy during a profile in The New York Times published on Saturday. Yang told the outlet that his parents found out he was gay when they discovered lewd conversations on his AOL Instant Messenger when he was 17 years old.

They just sat me down and yelled at me and said, We dont understand this. Where we come from, this doesnt happen,  he recalled.

Id only seen my father cry when my grandpa died and now hes sobbing in front of me every day at dinner, Yang shared. And Im thinking, How do I make this right? This is the worst thing you can do as a child of immigrants. Its just like you dont want your parents to suffer this much over you.

Soon after, Yangs father told him he had set up eight sessions with a specialist who worked in gay conversion therapy.

I allowed myself the thought experiment of: What if this could work?  Yang told the Times. Even though as I read up on it, I was just like, Oh, wait, this is all completely crackers. 

RELATED: Justin Bieber to Perform New Single Yummy on Saturday Night Live as RuPaul Hosts for the First Time

The first few sessions were talk therapy, which I liked, and then it veers off into this place of, Lets go through a sensory description of how you were feeling when youve been attracted to men,  Yang said. And then the counselor would go through the circular reasoning thing of, Well, werent you feeling uncomfortable a little bit when saw that boy you liked? And I was like, Not really. He goes, How did your chest feel? And I was like, Maybe I was slouching a little bit. And he goes, See? That all stems from shame. It was just crazy. Explain the gay away with pseudoscience.

After he finished the therapy, Yangs father allowed him to attend New York University, where the comedian says he went through a second coming out.

Story continues

I spent freshman year trying straightness on for size and failing miserably, he told the Times. I sort of tricked myself into having a crush on a girl but it was just kind of a weird, weird, weird pit stop. Then I would look at a boy and be like, Oh, I want to talk to him. 

RELATED: Saturday Night Live Taps Bowen Yang as First Ever Asian-American Cast Member

After coming out to his parents again in college, Yang says he went through this whole flare-up again with them, where they couldnt accept it.

It never got to the point of, I wont come home again,  he remembered. I was just like, Im not going to argue with them. Like my dad every now and then will be like, So, when are you going to meet a girl? And Ill just calmly be like, Dad, its not going to happen. I mean, its okay. Both my parents are doing a lot of work to just try to understand and I cant rush them. I cant resent them for not arriving at any place sooner than theyre able to get there.

According to the Times, Yangs parents attended his first show as a SNL cast member last year.

The star joined SNL for its current 45th season as the shows first-ever Asian-American cast member, and is known for portraying roles such as presidential candidate Andrew Yang and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

Yang first started as a writer during season 44.

Saturday Night Live returns with host Adam Driver and musical guest Halsey at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
A total of 28 people were banned from the city's public transit system in 2019, most of them for violence against passengers or operators.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 23/1/2020 (719 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A total of 28 people were banned from the city's public transit system in 2019, most of them for violence against passengers or operators.

"It could be for any number of things," Winnipeg Transit operations manager Randy Tonnellier said. "The most common would be more serious types of incidents like assaults."

Transit inspectors issue banning orders, in co-ordination with Winnipeg police, to people who repeatedly fail to pay fares, vandalize property and are violent on board buses and in shelters and stations across the city. The length of the ban depends on the severity of the infraction.

Transit has been able to ban people for 20 years, Tonnellier said, but in 2017, the transit authority employed more inspectors following the murder of bus operator Irvine Jubal Fraser.

Fraser, 58, was fatally stabbed on Feb. 14, 2017. He was working a night shift and had arrived at his last stop at the University of Manitoba when he was attacked. Brian Kyle Thomas was found guilty of second-degree murder.

"The most common would be more serious types of incidents like assaults," Winnipeg Transit operations manager Randy Tonnellier said. (Sasha Sefter / Free Press files)

Since 2017, the number of people banned by transit has also increased. Tonnellier said just two people were banned in 2016, 13 people in 2017, and 29 in 2018.

He attributes the increase in banning orders to the bolstered complement of inspectors, not an increase in incidents.

"In the last three or four years, weve stepped it up," Tonnellier said. "With the release of the public transit bylaw in 2014, it sort of gave us a little more teeth to this process.

"From our perspective, its the factors of having more people on the street, the added ability that gives us to write tickets, as well as the public transit bylaw being enacted as well."

Enforcing the ban is a challenge for operators, Amalgamated Transit Union 1505 vice-president James Van Gerwen said, and people who have been banned in the past may go unnoticed.

Transit operators are notified when a person is banned and are provided with their photo and description. If a banned individual boards a bus, operators are expected to recognize them, carry on their route, and discreetly alert the control centre. A transit inspector will meet the operator along the route, assesses the situation, and notify police.

Since 2017, the number of people banned by transit has increased. Tonnellier said just two people were banned in 2016, 13 people in 2017, and 29 in 2018. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press files)

"We carry 170,000 people around every day, trying to recognize 29 people out of them is very difficult unless you were driver who was involved in that," said Van Gerwen.

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Last year, inspectors responded to 28 calls of a banned person on transit property. In those cases, the person was on scene when an inspector arrived.

The city has issued a request for proposals to study and recommend a new security model for Winnipeg Transit, which could include expanded powers for transit inspectors.

Van Gerwen said hed like to see other methods of enforcement brought online or changes to policy, so the responsibility to recognize banned individuals doesnt lie solely with operators.

"The supervisors and the drivers are on the same page, were all working together, and wed both like to find a solution to this," Van Gerwen said. "In this situation, I would not want to put my fellow brother supervisors in harm's way by enforcing it.

"They have a tough enough job, until they get more powers I would not want to put them in harm's way."

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca
Researchers in the UK are looking into more effective ways to monitor greenhouse gas emissions in grazing cattle.

Scientists have done extensive studies into the emissions produced by cattle housed indoors.

But restrictions in technology means there is relatively little data on the amount of methane produced by animals being reared outside.

After receiving 250,000 of funding from Defra, Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) and the University of Strathclyde have teamed up to develop existing precision livestock farming technology to mitigate and monitor methane production.

This includes animal-mounted activity sensors and systems for monitoring location, feeding behaviour and weight, to use with cattle outdoors.

Around 90 percent of Scotlands cattle are outdoors for significant parts of the year.

It is hoped the GrASTech project will ultimately identify the best options for managing grassland and grazing animals to reduce methane emissions.

Methane emitted from livestock is responsible for around 5 percent of UK total greenhouse gas emissions and the UK government is targeting net-zero emissions by 2050.

The project will face a number of key technical challenges, including the miniaturising of equipment, battery technology to permit long lifetime measurement periods, data transmission and capture for remote grazing environments.

Defra's farming minister George Eustice said: Researchers in the UK are at the forefront of innovative solutions to tackle climate change and help us meet our world-leading target of net zero emissions by 2050.

We are proud to be sponsoring this work by Scotlands Rural College, which will bring forward new technologies to support farmers across all four corners of the UK rise to the challenge.

Professor Richard Dewhurst from SRUC added: One of the key approaches for reducing methane emissions is to increase the health, fertility and longevity of animals.

By adapting technologies used to monitor and manage these things for housed cattle, we expect to deliver similar benefits for grazing cattle.

The project is due to run until September 2021.
A man waiting in line at a taco truck was shot in the thigh and robbed early Saturday morning in Houston.

The incident happened around 2:30 a.m. in the 4300 block of Telephone Road in southeast Houston.
Follow along below for updates from Capitol Hill: (all times eastern)

9:00 p.m.

The Democratic House managers' remarks have concluded.

The trial is now adjourned until 10 a.m. tomorrow.



8:50 p.m.



House manager Adam Schiff laid out several arguments he expects to hear from president Trump's attorneys in the coming days.

The California Democrat said he anticipates Trump's attorneys will argue that Trump's July 25 call with Ukraine's president was "perfect"  a line that the president has frequently repeated.

Schiff went on to say that he suspects they don't want to make that argument, but have to because Trump will want to hear it.

"You will hear, the call was perfect. The call was perfect. Now, I suspect the reason they will make the argument, the call was perfect, is because the president insists that they do. I don't think they really want to have to make that argument. You wouldn't either, but they have a client to represent and so they will make the argument, the call was perfect," he said.

Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the Senate would likely hear Trump's attorneys bring up that the president said there was no quid pro quo.

"The president said there was no quid pro quo. That's the end of the story. This is the criminal law that if the defendant says he didn't do it, he couldn't have done it. If the defendant learns he's been caught and he says he didn't do it, he couldn't have done it. That doesn't hold up in any court in the land. It shouldn't hold up here," he said.



8:15 p.m.



In his closing remarks, Democratic House manager Adam Schiff said that he believes the United States "will get beyond this ugly chapter of our history" but allowing President Trump to claim that the Constitution says "he can do whatever he wants" will be an "unending injury to our country."



7:50 p.m.



Rep. Adam Schiff took to the podium and told the chamber that "this is the last presentation of the evening."



6:46 p.m.



The Senate trial is on a 30-minute break for dinner.



6:38 p.m.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said Friday evening that the "sequence of events" in the Trump impeachment "largely track those in the Nixon proceedings."

He summarized the Nixon inquiry and argued that the course of events in the Trump inquiry is "entirely consistent with the Richard Nixon precedent."

Jeffries also addressed Trumps criticism of the process of the impeachment, saying the president "is a suspect, a suspect who may have committed a high crime or misdemeanor."

(Trump) cannot tell the detectives investigating the possible constitutional crime what they should do in the context of their investigation," Jeffries said.



5:56 p.m.

House manager Jerry Nadler closed out his remarks with some of the most fiery language that's been heard so far directed at President Trump, calling him "a dictator."

The New York Democrat said Trump is the "first and only president ever to declare himself unaccountable and to ignore subpoenas backed by the Constitution's impeachment power."

Nadler said that, if Trump is not removed from office, if he is permitted to defy the Congress entirely, categorically, to say the subpoenas from Congress in the impeachment inquiry are nonsense, then we will have lost, the House will have lost, the Senate certainly will have lost, all power to hold any president accountable."

Nadler said Trump "wants to be all powerful. He does not have to respect the Congress. He does not have to rescue the representatives of the people. Only his will goes."

"He is a dictator," Nadler continued. "This must not stand, and that is why another reason he must be removed from office."



4:23 p.m.



House manager Val Demings opened her afternoon remarks by discussing allegations that Trump's direction to current and former White House officials was not to comply with subpoenas to testify or turn over documents to impeachment investigators.

The Democratic congresswoman also named the government agencies she says have not complied at Trump's direction.

"Following President Trump's orders, the Office of the Vice President, the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of State, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense all continued to refuse to produce a single document or record in response to 71 specific requests, including five subpoenas, Demings said.



3:31 p.m.

Senators just took a 15-minute break.

2:57 p.m.

During his remarks Friday afternoon, House manager Adam Schiff put focus on the House's claim that delaying aid to Ukraine emboldened Russia.

He called Russia's invasion of Ukraine "a threat to the peace and security of Europe."

Schiff said that if Congress had not "voted overwhelmingly on a bipartisan basis for military assistance" to Ukraine it would have invited "further Russian adventurism" in the country.

"Deterring Russia requires persistence. Not just one military aid package or one Oval Office meeting, but a sustained policy of support for our partners," Schiff said. "We only deter Russia by consistently demonstrating support for our friends, friends like Ukraine."



1:40 p.m.

House manager Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic congressman from New York, claimed in his remarks that the president worked hard to hide his misconduct.

"The president tried to cheat. He got caught, and then he worked hard to cover it up," he said.

Jeffries said that by July 2019, White House officials were aware of "serious allegations of misconduct by President Trump" regarding the withheld military aid to Ukraine. "But instead of halting the president's corrupt scheme, they worked overtime to conceal it from the American people," he said.

"As additional evidence mounted, the Republicans worked hard to keep the American people from learning about the president's misconduct. Secretary of State Pompeo, Secretary of Defense Esper and John Bolton tried to convince President Trump to lift the hold on the security assistance. They failed."

"The $391 million in security aid was only released because President Trump was caught red-handed," Jeffries said.

-------------------------------------

Democrats will continue their case Friday as part of the House's final day of opening arguments regarding President Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

On Friday, they plan to focus their remarks on obstruction of Congress. It's one of two articles of impeachment the House passed in December to initiate a Senate trial.

Democrats spent hours Thursday detailing their case against Trump before the Senate on the other article of impeachment, abuse of power.

House managers, who serve as impeachment prosecutors and have a total of three days to present findings, will continue their opening arguments at 1 p.m. ET Friday.



The president's team then will have three days to present his defense. After that, Senators will have an opportunity to submit written questions to both sides.

It is unclear if four GOP senators will join Democrats to allow new testimony.

If a super-majority of senators, 67 of the 100, approve an article of impeachment with a vote of guilty, the president is convicted and removed from office.

It takes just 51 votes during the trial to approve rules, call witnesses or dismiss the charges. Republicans control the chamber, 53-47.

The Associated Press and CNN contributed to this report.
The 90-minute-long Republic Day parade ceremony will commence with Prime Minister Modi visiting the National War Memorial near the India Gate.The National War memorial was inaugurated last year in February where the names of soldiers who laid down their lives for the country post-independence, are carved.The India Gate was built in the memory of soldiers who fought for the British in World War I.Marching for the first time in the Republic Day parade will be the contingent of the Corps of Army Air Defence. It will be followed by The Combined Band of Bengal Engineers Group and Centre, Brigade of Guards Training Centre, 3 Electronics and Mechanical Engineers Centre and Madras Regimental Centre.One of the main highlights will be the marching contingent of DRDO that will showcase Anti-Satellite Weapons (ASAT) -- Mission Shakti. ASAT (Anti-Satellite) weapons play a critical role in providing the necessary strategic deterrence.Mission Shakti, India's first Anti-Satellite (ASAT) mission, was a major breakthrough in demonstrating the nation's Anti-Satellite technology.In a major defence achievement, India had on March 27 last year successfully tested an anti-satellite missile by shooting down its own decommissioned satellite that was on a 'Low Earth Orbit' at a height of 300-km from the Earth's surface.The Dhanush artillery will also be displayed for the first time during the Republic Day parade.Apart from this, the newly-inducted Chinook heavy lift and Apache attack choppers would be taking part in the parade for the first time.K-9 VAJRA-T, newly-inducted five-metre Short Span Bridging System, Sarvatra Bridge System, Transportable Satellite Terminal and Akash weapon system will be also seen as the main attractions in the mechanised columns.In a first, a contingent of women bikers of CRPF will perform daredevil stunts. The contingent will be led by Inspector Seema Nag, who will be seen saluting while standing atop a moving motorcycle. The bikers will perform several daring acts on moving bikes before a human pyramid on multiple motorcycles bring up the rear.It is for the first time that a "Tri-service formation" is taking part in the Republic Day parade. It will be followed by the 'Vic' formation of Chinook helicopters, used for airlifting diverse loads to remote locations.Apache helicopters, Dornier aircraft, C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, Netra, an Airborne Early Warning and Control System aircraft and the 'Globe' formation comprising three C-17 Globemasters are also among some of the other highlights. (ANI)
Image: Google Maps

Tipster Bob B. informed us that Valencia Pizza & Pasta (801 Valencia St.) has shuttered after 25 years of business.

While calls to the restaurant's owner were not returned, a neighboring business confirmed the closure, and the business has also been marked as closed on Yelp. A "for rent" sign hangs in the window.

The closure of the casual pizza and pasta eatery comes in twain with that of its 25-year-old neighbor, Burger Joint (807 Valencia St.), which also shuttered in the same building last week. The closure was first reported by the Chronicle.

Both businesses were affected by a mandatory seismic retrofit, which began in early December and is set to conclude in mid-February.

Burger Joint owner Nidal Nazzal told Mission Local that combined with Valencia Street's changing demographics and the pressures of high labor costs and food delivery apps, the closure wasn't worth weathering.

"We initially made the decision to come back after retrofitting, Nazzal told Mission Local, noting that his landlord was supportive. But the reality of the decision came when we started to look at everything.

Burger Joint will continue to operate its location at SFO's Terminal 2. Nazzal also owns Sidewalk Juice, with two Mission locations, and is considering further expansion.

Photo: Andrew D./Yelp

The building that houses Valencia Pizza & Pasta and Burger Joint is also home to card and gift shop Serendipity (803 Valencia St.). A representative for Serendipity told us that the shop reopened this morning, after a two-week closure for the retrofit.

We'll keep an eye on whats to come in the two empty spaces.

Update, 1/22, 10:02 a.m.: A Hoodline reporter spoke to the building's landlord, who declined to say whether or not Valencia Pizza & Pasta will reopen. We'll continue to attempt to get in touch with the owner.
The Pentagon on Friday said that 34 American service members had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury following missile strikes by Iran that came in retaliation of the U.S. killing a top Iranian military general.

The strikes took place January 8th on the al-Asad air base in Iraq, where American troops are housed.

The new information appears to diverge from what U.S. President Donald Trump said shortly after the strikes - which was that no U.S. service members were killed or injured.

Earlier this week, Trump again downplayed the news that U.S. troops had been badly injured in the strike.

(SOUNDBITE)(English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

"No, I heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things, but I would say, and I can report, it is not very serious. No very serious-- "

During the strike, one rocket knocked down more than a dozen heavy concrete walls and incinerated shipping containers used as living space by U.S. soldiers.

Another destroyed two hangars that normally house Blackhawk helicopters, ripping through offices nearby and causing a fuel fire that lasted hours.

Iraqi officers stationed at the base told Reuters loss of life was prevented because staff began moving personnel and weaponry into fortified bunkers hours before the attack.

Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters that 17 service members diagnosed had already returned to duty in Iraq.

Some who had been previously transported to Germany have been moved to the U.S. and WILL receive treatment at either Walter Reed military hospital or their home bases.

Symptoms among those Injured Include headaches, dizziness, sensitivity to light and nausea.
President Ram Nath Kovind congratulated the country on the eve of the 71st Republic Day in his address to the nation and said while the Indian Constitution conferred rights on citizens, it also bound them to its central tenets of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. He added that it would be easy to follow the constitution if the teaching and values of Mahatma Gandhi were adhered to in our daily lives.

Our Constitution gave us rights as citizens of a free democratic nation, but also placed on us the responsibility to always adhere to the central tenets of our democracy - justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity. It becomes easier for us to follow these constitutional ideals if we keep in mind the life and values of the Father of our Nation. By doing so, we will be adding a meaningful dimension to our celebrations of the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji, the President said in his speech.

In a message to the youth of the country, the President said, the youth of the country were leading the emergence of a new India and must keep Gandhis teachings close to their heart.

Watch | Youth should remember Gandhis gift of Ahimsa: President on Republic Day eve

For our youth, the nation always comes first. With them, we are witnessing the emergence of new India, said Kovind and added that the youth should not forget Mahatma Gandhis gift of Ahmisa.

When fighting for a cause, people, particularly the youth, should not forget the gift of Ahimsa Gandhiji gave to humanity, he said.

College students have been at the forefront of widespread protests, which had initially turned violent, against the Citizenship Amendment Act and other government schemes like the National Population Register and National Register of Citizens across the country since the government moved to expedite citizenship to non-Muslim minorities from three neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The President said despite the three organs of the state, the people on the ground had the real power to decide the countrys collective future.

Yet, on the ground, the people comprise the State. We the People are the prime movers of the Republic. With us, the people of India rests the real power to decide our collective future, Kovind said.

The President listed several government programmes and said they had helped in empowering the citizens of the country and taking them out of poverty.

He also commented on Indias space programme and said the country was proud of the achievements of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation).

They are making further progress in the mission Gaganyaan and Nation excitedly looks forward to Indian human spaceflight programme gaining further momentum this year, he said.
It took less than two seconds for Connecticut State Trooper Brian North to fire the seven shots that killed Mubarak Soulemane in West Haven Jan. 15.

Two seconds that ended Soulemanes 19 years. Two seconds that will result in months of accusations, investigations and challenges to trust in law enforcement.

The time ahead must include an exploration of how this might have had a better outcome.

In the wake of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, much of the national discourse over guns has been about whether to address firepower or mental health. This incident was a capsule of both issues.

Soulemane suffered from mental illness, according to his family. Police chased him after he allegedly tried to swipe a phone from a Norwalk store and carjacked a Hyundai from a rideshare driver while carrying a knife.

Thirty miles later, troopers cut off the car after Soulemane got off Interstate-95 in West Haven. Body camera videos capture the standoff as the car is surrounded by troopers under a bridge over Campbell Avenue, with North aiming a pistol and a flashlight through the drivers window.

The video was released in two days, which is the way the system mandating it within 96 hours should work. The footage is chilling, but doesnt tell the entire story. We cant see what North saw inside the car. We dont know what changed that caused him to fire.

Tahir Mohammad, Soulemanes uncle, uttered simple words that are impossible to ignore: He was shot sitting down in the car.

Yes, he had a knife. And police say a Taser was not effective. But as police train for such situations in the future, other alternatives must be explored. Could another Taser have been used? Or pepper spray? Do police need something else?

It all comes down to instincts. Norwalk police followed an instinct that chasing Soulemane could have escalated the situation and posed further dangers.

Soulemanes instincts may have been compromised by mental illness. Its asking a lot for police to be able to recognize such symptoms, but more training must be discussed.

It is the third fatal police shooting in Connecticut of this young year. An altercation in Waterbury ended with the fatal shooting of 57-year-old Edwards Gendron. A domestic violence call ended with police shooting 30-year-old Michael Gregory, who also apparently had a knife.

State NAACP President Scot X. Esdaile said Police violence against Black and Latinx people is a pandemic in Connecticut.

Others are saying they do not trust police to investigate themselves after such incidents. Its not in the interest of law enforcement officials either. A third party should always be brought in.

The Soulemane investigation will be led by Middlesex States Attorney Michael Gailor. Hell have 120 days to release the results of his probe.

Four months to examine the two seconds that ended a life at 19 years. Its a lot of time, but may not be enough.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released a scathing statement on Saturday against NPR's Mary Louise Kelly following an interview, claiming, their talk "is another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this Administration," but not denying her account.

Context: Kelly interviewed Pompeo on Jan. 24 regarding U.S. policy in Iran and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. Kelly claims Pompeo used multiple expletives in a private meeting that followed the interview.

What they're saying:

"NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly lied to me, twice. First, last month, in setting up our interview and, then again yesterday, in agreeing to have our post-interview conversation off the record. It is shameful that this reporter chose to violate the basic rules of journalism and decency.

This is another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this Administration. It is no wonder that the American people distrust many in the media when they so consistently demonstrate their agenda and their absence of integrity.

It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine."

 Mike Pompeo's full statement

What she's saying: "I was taken to the secretary's private living room where he was waiting and where he shouted at me for about the same amount of time as the interview itself. He was not happy to have been questioned about Ukraine," Kelly said in her report on NPR's "All Things Considered."

She previously confirmed to Axios that Pompeo brought out an unlabeled map and asked her to point out Ukraine.

NPR's senior vice president of news, Nancy Barnes: Mary Louise Kelly has always conducted herself with the utmost integrity, and we stand behind this report.

Go deeper:
            ,   .                          .       .       14:05 .  10.12.2021 .        .   . , . ...
The union that represents the Connecticut State Police called on the Connecticut American Civil Liberties Union to apologize for its recent false allegations against a trooper after a deadly shooting.

But in a statement released Thursday, the ACLU of Connecticut stood behind the claim.

These allegations cited by the union in a statement released Thursday were sparked by body and dashboard camera footage released by state police on Saturday, Jan. 18.

The footage showed the moments before, during and briefly after a fatal police-involved shooting on where Trooper Brian North fired seven shot at 19-year-old Mubarak Soulemane on Wednesday, Jan. 15.

In the wake of the footage release Saturday, ACLU took to Twitter and said it raised more questions than answers.

Mubarak Soulemane's death should not be investigated by the same police agency that chased and killed him, and was recorded calling him a racial slur, said a part of the ACLU statement on Twitter.

The union called the reference to a racial slur, serious and false allegations.

Recently, the ACLU made serious and false allegations against one of our state troopers involved in the pursuit of a dangerous fleeing subject, who was intentionally ramming our troopers cruisers to avoid being taken into custody, the statement from the union said.

The false assertion, which was broadcast to the public, alleged that our trooper used a racially motivated and highly offensive slur to describe the race of the fleeing subject, the statement continued.

In a statement Thursday, David McGuire, executive director for ACLU of Connecticut, said that the organization was not the first, only or last entity to hear what we heard.

Mubarak Soulemane was shot and killed by state police, who are being investigated for his death, McGuire said. It is unfortunate that the state police union is attempting to deflect attention from the state polices role in Mubarak Soulemanes death by disparaging the ACLU.

The moment in question begins at 41 minutes and 53 seconds into the YouTube video shared by state police with all the footage, on the body camera footage for Trooper Joshua Jackson.

(Expletive) mirrors (expletive) up now, Jackson can be heard saying on his body camera audio.

The union statement said the ACLU, should be ashamed of its deliberate act of fabricating hte truth, which was meant to cause anger, hostility and resentment rush to judgment on the basis of damaging and inflammatory comment.

The union claimed that the ACLU has a history of speaking on highly important matters before confirming or verifying the facts. The union said that causes irreparable harm to the relationship troopers have worked to create with communities across Connecticut.

The ACLU should immediately apologize to our falsely accused trooper, the Soulemane family and the citizens of Connecticut, the union statement said.

Connecticut State Police also issued a statement on Jan. 18 in response to the ACLU statement earlier that day.

The ACLU of Connecticut has falsely accused a Connecticut State Trooper (Jackson) of using a racial slur during the police pursuit Wednesday in the moments before the fatal police shooting of Mubarak Soulemane, state police said.

The agency said when it first reviewed the video and heard the comment in question ... we immediately recognized the word in question as mirror.

Following the accusation of a horrible racial slur, we had the audio and video immediately reviewed, state police said. We are 100 percent certain the word mirror was used and not a racial slur.

The statement from Jackson came after his cruiser was sideswiped by the vehicle Soulemane was driving. He can also be heard on the audio from his body camera letting dispatch know after it happened.

We understand how emotional these times can be, state police said. We ask that everyone practice some restraint during this difficult time.

The union said state troopers take pride in their profession and take serious their oath to never discriminate against any individuals class, color, creed or condition.
NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP (www.kaplanfox.com) has been investigating potential breaches of fiduciary duty claims against the board of directors of The Boeing Company ("Boeing" or the "Company") (NYSE: BA).

In December 2019, Boeing announced leadership changes, stating that "Dennis A. Muilenburg has resigned from his positions as Chief Executive Officer and Board director effective immediately," and that the "Board of Directors decided that a change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence in the Company moving forward as it works to repair relationships with regulators, customers, and all other stakeholders." On January 10, 2020, the New York Times reported that "Dennis A. Muilenburg, who was ousted as Boeing's chief executive last month as the company contended with the biggest crisis in its history, will depart with more than $60 million . . . ."

On January 21, 2020, according to Marketwatch, Boeing said that its grounded 737 Max jets likely won't be approved to return to service until mid-2020. Marketwatch further reported that the 737 Max jets have been grounded since March 2019 after two deadly crashes less than five months apart, and the Company has been mired in criticism for the way it handled the plane's certification and further missteps in the recertification. Earlier this month, a trove of emails surfaced against Boeing, including a recent trove of internal emails showing Boeing workers mocking the 737 Max's design and bragging about fooling federal regulators. Boeing shares have lost 16% in the past 12 months.

If you currently own Boeing shares, and would like to discuss our investigation, please contact us by emailing [email protected] or by calling 800-290-1952.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.

Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP, with offices in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New Jersey, has decades of experience in prosecuting investor class actions. For more information about Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP, you may visit our website at www.kaplanfox.com. If you have any questions about your rights or interests, please contact:

Jeffrey P. Campisi

KAPLAN FOX & KILSHEIMER LLP

850 Third Avenue, 14th Floor

New York, New York 10022

(800) 290-1952

(212) 687-1980

Fax: (212) 687-7714

E-mail: [email protected]

Laurence D. King

KAPLAN FOX & KILSHEIMER LLP

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(415) 772-4700

Fax: (415) 772-4707

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP

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UTICA- The Irish Cultural Center is temporarily closed with no notice.

On Friday night, the establishment located in the Brewery District, was completely dark and had signs posted on the entrance doors that said, "Due to unforseen circumstances we will be closed temporarily."

NEWSChannel 2's Callihan Marshall watched several residents walk up to the center to find the sign and the doors locked. She also spoke with an employee who also seemed surprised they were closed. That employee said they didn't get much notice.

NEWSChannel 2 reached out to developers and contractors for the center David Wood who is the co-director for the Great American Irish Festival, and Utica Mayor Rob Palmieri who said he doesn't have any information on this matter.

There was also nothing posted to their Facebook page.

There was no indication as to when they'll open up. We will be staying on the story.

In December, the Great American Irish Festival announced on their Facebook page they would be switching festival locations from the Herkimer County Fairgrounds to the Irish Cultural Center.
Twitter attached the same 'sensitive material' warning to the Trump campaign's anti-abortion post as violent and adult online content ahead of the president's March for Life rally on Friday.

'This media may contain sensitive material' appeared on the pro-life post from Team Trump on Thursday, as the president prepared to become the first commander-in-chief to attend the annual March for Life in Washington.

The anti-abortion video showed couples with newborn babies and a pregnant woman viewing an ultrasound.

'Life is the greatest miracle of all. We see it in the eyes of every new mother who cradles that wonderful, innocent, and glorious newborn child in her loving arms,' Trump says in the video.

Twitter attached the same 'sensitive content' warning (above) to the Trump Campaign's pro-life post as violent and sexual online content ahead of the president's March for Life rally on Friday

The video shows couples with newborn babies and a pregnant woman viewing an ultrasound. 'Life is the greatest miracle of all. We see it in the eyes of every new mother who cradles that wonderful, innocent, and glorious newborn child in her loving arms,' Trump says in the video

'Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life.'

According to Twitter's policy, sensitive media includes content that contains graphic violence, adult content, gratuitous gore or hateful imagery.

Twitter later claimed the warning had been put on the post 'in error' and had been removed.

But this was not before the social media platform was accused of 'censorship' by the Trump campaign.

Spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said this is 'a perfect example of the left stomping on any idea they don't like.'

An anti-abortion post from Florida Republican Matt Gaetz (above) was also tagged with the Twitter warning

In the post, Gaetz spoke of his 'sincere hope' that the U.S. law allowing women the right to choose to have an abortion will be overturned. The congressman posted the video on the 47th anniversary of the law on Wednesday

The 'error' came as an anti-abortion post from Florida Republican Matt Gaetz was also tagged with a Twitter warning saying: 'The following media includes potentially sensitive content'.

In the post, Gaetz spoke of his 'sincere hope' that the U.S. law allowing women the right to choose to have an abortion will be overturned.

The congressman posted the video on Wednesday - the 47th anniversary of the Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that recognized a woman's constitutional right to an abortion and legalized the procedure nationwide.

Gaetz blasted Twitter for attaching the warning to his post.

'First twitter 'accidentally' shadow-bans me along w @Jim_Jordan @RepMarkMeadows & @DebinNunes... Today they "erroneously" block my #ProLife video. Weird,' he wrote.

Donald Trump became the first president to attend the annual March for Life in Washington on Friday and used the event to unleash a fierce attack on his Democratic rivals in an election-year show of support for opponents of reproductive rights.

'Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House,' the Republican president told thousands of cheering people at the rally, touting his anti-abortion policies and his appointments of conservatives to the federal judiciary including Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.

Among his most loyal political supporters are evangelical Christians, who strongly oppose abortion rights. The event took on aspects of a campaign rally, with Trump lashing out at his political opponents and some in the crowd chanting 'Four More Years!'

'Sadly, the far left is actively working to erase our God-given rights, shut down faith-based charities, ban religious believers from the public square and silence Americans who believe in the sanctity of life,' Trump said.

'They are coming after me because I am fighting for you. And we are fighting for those who have no voice, and we will win.'

Demonstrators from around the country converged on a cool, overcast day in the U.S. capital for the event held annually around the anniversary of the abortion law change. Many high school and college students joined in the rally.

Historic move: Donald Trump is the first U.S. president ever to address the March for Life, using it as a rallying cry as Democrats put him on trial in the Senate

Election year: Donald Trump went to the March for Life in a year when his effort to court evangelical and religious voters is kicking into high gear

Annual show: The March for Life is a key date in the pro-life campaign's annual efforts to lobby politicians and see thousands march on the Capitol

Battle ground? The march went past the Supreme Court, whose justices are expected to take up some form of abortion case in coming years which would provide pro-life activists with a chance to achieve their goal over overturning Roe v Wade

MAGA country: Pro-life groups - many of them bussed in from across the nation - mixed anti-abortion messages with Trump political

Reception: Donald Trump basked in applause as he addressed the March for Life close to the White House, just before his trial began again at the other end of the National Mall

Show of strength: Anti-abortion activists carry a banner during the the 47th annual March for Life on the National Mall

Trump RV: One vehicle parked near the March for Life left little doubt how the owner plans to vote in 2020

Trump, seeking re-election on Nov. 3, addressed the event in the midst of his impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate on charges passed by the Democratic-led House of Representatives. While not mentioning impeachment, he assailed congressional Democrats on abortion policy. Trump drew loud applause from the crowd.

'Democrats have embraced the most radical and extreme positions taken and seen in this country for years and decades and you could even say for centuries. Nearly every top Democrat in Congress now supports taxpayer-funded abortion all the way up until the moment of birth,' Trump said, eliciting boos and jeers from the crowd.

Trump, who years earlier had supported abortion rights, cast himself as a committed abortion opponent on religious grounds.

'We know that every human soul is divine and ever human life, born and unborn, is made in the holy image of almighty God,' Trump said.

Trump vowed during the 2016 presidential campaign to appoint justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade.

Abortion remains one of the most divisive issues in the United States. About 58% of U.S. adults say abortion should be legal in most or all cases, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll last year.

Past U.S. presidents have opted to stay away from the march, though Republicans Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush both previously delivered remarks to the rally remotely.

The Supreme Court on March 4 will hear arguments in a major case concerning the legality of abortion clinic regulations in Louisiana that could lead to new curbs on access to the procedure. The case will test the willingness of the court, which has a 5-4 conservative majority that includes Trump's two appointees, to uphold Republican-backed abortion restrictions being pursued in numerous conservative states.

Some at the rally held signs with slogans including 'Baby Holocaust,' 'Most Pro-Life President Ever,' 'Stop Killing Babies' and 'I Am The Pro-Life Generation.' Many were from religious groups and conservative nonprofit organizations.

Near the Capitol: One group brought a Vatican flag to the March for Life. At the Vatican Mike Pence met Pope Francis

On their way: Marches on Constitution Avenue, on the north side of the National Mall

On their way to court: Marchers near the Supreme Court - two of whose justices, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, Trump praised as he spoke to the March for Life. Neither has been involved in a significant abortion ruling since their confirmation

47th iteration: The March for Life began in 1974 after the US Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision

Religious message: Donald Trump is hoping to maintain his strong support among evangelicals, and is also courting Catholic voters who are heavily represented in the key swing states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan which won him the presidency

Not just evangelicals: The March for Life features a large number of Catholics taking part including some with a statue of Our Lady of Fatima, and others from St Martin of Tours in Gaithersburg, Maryland, just outside Washiungton D.C.

Counter-protest: A small number of pro-choice activists launched their own demonstration against the March for Life

Among them was Anne Fitzgerald, 44, who said that at age 21 she gave up her daughter for adoption so she could finish college. She now runs Days of Tears, a Virginia nonprofit that advocates against abortion, and said she was marching to help women recognize 'that in the moment of a decision between raising or aborting a child, adoption is a viable option.'

Fitzgerald said she was at first skeptical of Trump's stance on abortion, but is proud he turned out to be 'strong ally'.

Outside the Supreme Court, anti-abortion demonstrators in the march were met by abortion rights activists, some of whom held signs saying 'Keep abortion safe and legal' and 'Safe abortion is a human right.' There were also some activists backing Trump's removal from office.

Emily Goodman, 33, who stood with several fellow supporters of abortion rights during the march, said the event 'reeks of a form of religious fundamentalism.'

'What the pro-life advocates seem to be focused on is bussing in young people with signs to declare that their side of the argument is right and no other opinion matters,' said Goodman, who volunteers for a Washington-based nonprofit organization. 'I wish there was a conversation today, involving two sides, focused on a woman's ability to both hold her view on abortion yet not impose that view onto another.'

Trump delivered remarks by video at the 2019 march. Vice President Mike Pence attended the event in person last year.
New Delhi, Jan 25 (UNI) President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday underlined that while the Constitution gave all the rights as citizens of a free democratic nation, it also placed the responsibility to always adhere to the central tenets of our democracy  justice, liberty, equality and fraternity.

In his address to the nation this evening on the eve of Republic Day tomorrow, Mr Kovind reminded that Mahatma Gandhis ideals remained relevant in nation-building efforts and advocated that it should be part of our daily routine to introspect on Gandhijis message of truth and non-violence, which had become all the more necessary in our times.

He said when fighting for a cause, people, particularly the youth, should not forget the gift of Ahimsa Gandhiji gave to humanity. Gandhijis talisman for deciding whether an act is right or wrong also applies to the functioning of our democracy.

Government and opposition both have important roles to play. While giving expression to their political ideas, both must move forward in tandem to ensure that development of the country and welfare of its people are promoted consistently.

He also quoted from the architect of the Constitution Babasaheb Ambedkar saying If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form, but also in fact, what must we do? The first thing in my judgment we must do is to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives, adding these words have always lighted our path. These words will continue to show us the way ahead to new glories.

Stressing that it was easier to follow these constitutional ideals, if one kept in mind the life and values of the Father of the Nation, which is celebrating the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Gandhij, he said in his speech broadcast and telecast over the national broadcaster Doordarshan and All India Radio.

Referring to the third decade of the 21st century as the decade of the rise of New India and a new generation

of Indians, he noted that more and more of those born in this century were participating in the national discourse.

"With advances in technology, the young minds of today are better informed and more confident. The next generation remains strongly committed to the core values of our nation. For our youth, the nation always comes first. With them, we are witnessing the emergence of a New India," he said.

Regarding the opposition, he said the Government and opposition both had important roles to play. "While giving expression to their political ideas, both must move forward in tandem to ensure that development of the country and welfare of its people are promoted consistently," he said in his address to the nation this evening.

The President highlighted the various welfare campaigns launched by the Government which had been voluntarily turned into popular movements by the citizens including Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan, cooking fuel subsidy or pushing digital payments, saying the common man had made the government programmes his own, making them truly effective. The success of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was a matter of pride, as the target of 8 crore beneficiaries had been achieved. Similarly, Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana,had brightened peoples lives as also Pradhanmantri Kisan Samman Nidhi where more than 14 crore farmer families had become entitled to receive minimum annual income of Rs 6,000 and live a life of dignity.

MORE UNI SD SHK1950
Dozens of cities in the United States - including Miami, Philadelphia, and New Orleans - have toxic "forever chemicals" in their drinking water, and environmental institutions suggested on Wednesday.

Such long-lived "fluorinated" PFAS chemical compounds (a shorter-term for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) have emerged in the last decade as a broader contamination concern due to a few proofs of links to cancer and lowered fertility. They are perhaps well known from the 2019 film Dark Waters, about pollution from a DuPont facility in West Virginia.

Earlier surveys have connected water contamination with these chemical substances to firefighting foams and Teflon. However, the new independent lab results, which detected PFAS chemical substances in 43 of 44 cities examined last year, leading to an enormous problem.

Environmental Working Group study co-author Sydney Evans told BuzzFeed News that PFAS in drinking water "isn't okay." The research team, according to Evans, was surprised to see the chemicals turn up in cities as varied as Miami, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. The nearby area they examined that didn't have PFAS contamination was Meridian, Mississippi, which receives its water from a 600-foot-deep well.

Earlier surveys conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency and the EWG had not proven such a significant presence of the chemical compounds in drinking water, Evans stated. Her team examined for 30 PFAS chemical compounds, such as a few widely used in making stain-resistant clothing, alternatively than most effective the two most common ones.

EPA has cautioned a 70 parts-per-trillion (ppt) limit on those chemical substances. Some states have set stricter limits in response to more recent health investigations, with New Jersey placing the strictest of 13-14 ppt. The new report's ingesting water samples held concentrations more than those decreased limits in more than a dozen places. The highest degrees of contamination were observed in North Carolina and Iowa.

An agency spokesperson told BuzzFeed News by email that EPA has developed techniques to discover 29 PFAS chemicals in consuming water reliably to date.

"Aggressively addressing PFAS will stay an EPA priority in 2020," the spokesperson said. The official added they could provide additional records on their future actions once available." The organization delayed putting more limits on PFAS chemical substances last year, announcing instead a commitment to start testing large towns for contamination.

Independent specialists say the findings are preliminary, however concerning. Previous EPA studies in 2015 appeared at most effective six PFAS chemicals, for example, and missed contamination in Wilmington, North Carolina.

North Carolina State University environmental engineer Nadine Kotlarz said the EWG research, without a doubt, is not comprehensive. However, Kotlarz noted that the study gives a few insights.

The environmental group is looking for a more thorough nationwide take a look at the compounds in drinking water, and increased efforts to filter out them through utilities.

Drinking water scientist Martin Shafer of the University of Wisconsin informed BuzzFeed News that PFAS levels might not have changed; however, his research team is now able to measure the water levels.

Assessments of the health risks - if any - of the more recent PFAS chemical compounds will want to be executed first, Shafer warned before panicking over the new numbers.
Octopus Energy has taken the top spot in Which?'s satisfaction survey yet again as small and medium sized energy suppliers dominate the rankings.

The provider, which now supplies over a million homes, topped the table for the second year in a row  achieving the top customer score of 83 per cent with five-star ratings for billing accuracy, customer service and complaints handling.

However, the Big Six suppliers are all left stuck in the lower third of the league with disappointing scores.

Scottish Power languishes in the bottom three after receiving a low customer score of 51 per cent.

Small & medium sized energy suppliers dominated the energy satisfaction rankings by Which?

Which? surveyed 8,385 UK adults between 2 and 30 October 2019 across the UK about their energy supplier and asked them to rate companies on a number of criteria including value for money, customer service, bill accuracy and digital tools.

It found that only a small margin separated the five energy companies in second to sixth place.

Ebico, Bulb Energy, Pure Planet, People's Energy and Powershop all performed exceptionally well when it came to billing accuracy and well on all other fronts.

Among these top companies were three newcomers - People's Energy, Powershop and Pure Planet.

So Energy, which came joint seventh in the listening has also become a Which? Recommended Provider - a title only awarded to domestic energy suppliers who pass all of the sites assessments on customer service and their analysis of supplier procedures, practices and prices.

List of the top energy suppliers when rated by customer satisfaction in a survey by Which?

Despite only entering the market within the last three years, they were all rated very highly for billing accuracy as well as highly on bill clarity and value for money, equaling more established rivals.

Scottish Power One reason for Scottish Power potentially ranking so far down the table is the way it handled taking on the now defunct Extra Energy's customers. After Extra Energy went bust in November 2018, Scottish Power was chosen by Ofgem to take on the remaining customers. However, more than a year on and customers are still waiting for credits to be refunded with some waiting for thousands of pounds to be refunded. This is Money has challenged the firm to explain its decisions but it said it had been unable to complete many of the customer requests due to the 'quality of data' it had received from Extra.

In comparison, customers with the Big Six were found to more likely on average have encountered problems with their provider.

A third of British Gas customers, three in 10 Scottish Power customers and around a quarter of EDF Energy, Eon, Npower and SSE customers told us they had experienced a problem within the last year.

Meanwhile, just 11 per cent of Octopus Energy customers said they had a problem with their provider.

Of the Big Six, SSE and Eon were the highest-scoring and came in joint 24th place with smaller firm E.

Whilst this does not put them right at the bottom of the table, it will still no doubt be a cause concern for customers of the firms.

SSE's household energy business was recently purchased by Ovo, which means customers could see changes in their service in the future.

Eon is also set to take over Innogy, Npower's parent company, in the next 12 months.

Final: The bottom end of Which?'s survey shows that Together Energy got the lowest rating

One of the bigger suppliers that saw a dramatic change was First Utility, which rebranded as Shell Energy last year.

It has dropped from a mid-table position last year into the bottom seven. While customers praised it for billing accuracy, its customer service was rated poorly.

Robin Hood Energy suffered the biggest fall in the rankings after it plummeted from second place last year to 20th, tied with Boost Energy and Utilita.

While Robin Hood customers were generally positive about value for money and billing, a smaller proportion of people said they would recommend the firm as compared to last year.

Octopus has taken the top spot as small & medium sized energy suppliers top the rankings

Although a number of small companies dominated the top of the rankings, not all of the small and medium sized suppliers performed well.

Newcomer to the survey Ampower, for example, performed badly with a disappointing customer score of 53 per cent. Customers rated its billing, customer service and digital tools as poor.

Together Energy finished bottom of the table, despite having secured a mid-table position last year.

It scored poor two-star ratings from customers for billing accuracy, clarity, customer service and value for money.

Natalie Hitchins, head of home products and Services at Which?, said: 'Consumers have dozens of energy suppliers to choose from - and it is clear that some newer challenger providers are better than their larger counterparts at keeping customers happy and delivering a better service.

'Customers shell out hundreds, sometimes thousands, of pounds a year on their gas and electricity bills so it is right that they expect good service from their energy supplier.

'If you are one of the many customers out there who feels their supplier is falling short, consider moving to one that can offer a better service as well as cheaper prices - you could save hundreds of pounds a year.'

Customers who are stuck with an energy supplier they are not happy with are advised to use price comparison sites to see if they could save money by changing suppliers or moving tariffs.

You can check to see if you could save by using this comparison tool.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Of all the numerous kinds of employment discrimination, hiring younger workers in preference to older ones earns the least public condemnation. Thats a growing problem, not just because equality is increasingly prominent on the political agenda but because ageism makes less and less economic sense as birth rates go down and nations age.

Since 1950, the median age of the population has increased by 47% in Europe and by 29% in North America, and the trend isnt about to change, according to the United Nations Population Division. In the coming decades, the UN expects Asia and Latin America to age faster than todays rich nations of the West.

Though it imposes a bigger burden on social security systems, the aging isnt all bad  humankind is getting better at fighting diseases and making life easier, so people live, and are productive, longer than before. A longer working life, stretching well past the age of 60, is increasingly the norm. But the share of people over the age of 55 who are gainfully employed has been rising faster in some countries with aging populations and slower in others.

In Germany, where a number of big companies invest in keeping older workers employed and even in drafting retirees back into the workforce, and in Poland, with its acute labor shortage and relatively weak social security system, the share of older people in employment has risen fast in the last 15 years. But in the U.S. and Russia, which also have aging populations, that share has stagnated.

In both countries, recent research shows a high prevalence of age discrimination, though its technically illegal (in the European Union, too, age-based discrimination in hiring and workplaces is banned). In a recent paper, David Neumark from the University of California, Irvine, analyzed the practice of a large U.S. restaurant chain and found that older people are invited for interviews less frequently than younger ones and then hired less often. Even if an applicants age is not evident from the application, its more likely that she wont be offered a job after an interview. Neumarks work adds to plentiful evidence of age discrimination in the U.S.

Story continues

In Russia, according to a recent study, the probability of a 29-year-old getting a job is twice as high as for a 48-year-old seeking the same employment. The ageism is typical of many post-Communist countries without labor shortages, such as Romania, Ukraine and Slovakia. There, life expectancy is lower than in wealthier neighboring countries, and age is often associated with the crippling experience and mental baggage of the Communist system.

But its not just in post-Communist societies that older people have a bad reputation as workers. Theyre supposed to be slow and reluctant learners and decision-makers; theyre also thought to be less productive while commanding higher salaries.

The prejudices, however, are no more justified than those based on gender or race. Evidence of an actual wage-productivity gap is scarce. Older workers arent less productive than younger ones. And even though some cognitive skills, such as the ability to memorize lots of information, do decline with age, that loss is counterbalanced by a persons ability to operate on the basis of greater experience. Strictly speaking, even ubiquitous age limits in occupations such as airline pilot or police officer, often upheld by courts when older employees complain, shouldnt be universal. Some people are fitter at 60 than others at 30.

Its tougher to get employers to dump the age-related prejudices, however, than the race and gender ones. For one thing, too old is harder to define than black or white, male or female, cis- or transgender. For another, ageism is the basis for much of todays social justice activism: Older people are seen as the champions of outdated paternalistic and bigoted notions. ( OK boomer!) Finally, many wealthy countries have high youth unemployment rates, and their policies are directed at getting more young people into the workforce rather than sorting out the employment problems of the middle-aged and elderly.

The laws and legal practice in age discrimination cases are often discouraging. In some countries (Russia is one example) the burden of proof that a job was denied because of a candidates age rests on the candidate, and that makes it pointless to sue. In the U.S., too, a plaintiff in an age discrimination case is disadvantaged by some relatively recent precedents, such as a 2009 Supreme Court decision that requires plaintiffs to prove that age was the decisive factor in their being fired or not hired.

In Europe, the practice is varied and inconsistent. In one German case, a 50-year-old man applied for a job twice  as himself and as a fictional 32-year-old with the same qualifications. Only the 32-year-old was invited for an interview. Still, a court ruled there was no discrimination, arguing that the employer was entitled to make subjective decisions.

Theres evidence that stronger age-discrimination laws keep older workers employed longer and benefit claims lower. That means shifting the burden of proof toward the employers would make sense. But the stick is not necessarily the best instrument when it comes to bringing employment practices into harmony with the shifting demographics of the workforce. Many discouraged 50- and 60-year-olds wont sue or complain to equality commissions; theyll just get depressed and act out the prejudices against them.

In 2017, the German economist Regina Konle-Seidl looked at the effectiveness of policies aimed at the retention and reintegration of older workers into the labor force and concluded that a combination of job-search training and hiring subsidies could work well. In Switzerland, for example, the government employment service temporarily covers most of the difference between an older workers last salary and a newly offered one. Other research shows that the German practice of involving people nearing retirement age in training programs helps extend and advance the careers of older women in particular.

Figuring out ways to keep older workers engaged and help them overcome the prejudices that prevent them from getting hired is a task often neglected by policymakers. But they wont be able to delay much longer: As the retirement age goes up everywhere, nations will be forced to deal with increasingly disgruntled elderly people, who also happen to be the most disciplined voters. Not acting as forcefully on age discrimination as on other kinds of bias carries an unpredictable political cost for politicians too youth- and future-oriented to take heed of the reality of their aging countries.

To contact the author of this story: Leonid Bershidsky at lbershidsky@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tobin Harshaw at tharshaw@bloomberg.net

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Leonid Bershidsky is Bloomberg Opinion's Europe columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion

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One week after city crews closed an encampment at the K Street NE underpass in the NoMa neighborhood, the streets sidewalks are mostly free of the tents and inhabitants that were the source of complaints. District officials say they tried to connect its occupants with city services and shelter beds, although its not known how many residents moved into such facilities.
National LGBTQ advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign Foundation awarded 24 members of the Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce perfect scores on its annual Corporate Equality Index, marking them as the best places to work for LGBTQ Equality.

Madison-based Alliant Energy, American Family Insurance and CUNA Mutual Group were among those earning perfect scores for:

prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

offering the same benefits to same-sex married couples and domestic partners as different-sex couples.

offering equal benefits for transgender employees without exclusion for transition-related medical care.

using LGBTQ internal training and education best practices.

having an employee group or diversity council.

having three outreach or engagement efforts to the broader LGBTQ community.

having nondiscrimination guidelines and standards for contractors, suppliers and philanthropic giving.

We know firsthand that these businesses have a deep commitment to equality in the workplace and are actively helping build a more inclusive business community in Wisconsin and nationally, chamber president and CEO Jason Rae said of the 24 companies.

This year, 686 major businesses earned perfect scores in the report.

The other 21 chamber companies earning perfect scores: AT&T; BMO Harris Bank; Foley & Lardner LLP; Kohls; Kroger; ManpowerGroup; Michael Best & Friedrich LLP; Molson Coors; Morgan Stanley; Northwestern Mutual; Ogletree; Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart; PNC Financial Services Group; Quarles & Brady LLP; Robert W. Baird & Company; Rockwell Automation; S.C. Johnson & Son Inc.; U.S. Bank; U.S. Cellular; Wells Fargo; Willis Towers Watson; and Zendesk.

Madison-based Alliant Energy, American Family Insurance and CUNA Mutual Group were among those earning perfect scores

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Security has been stepped up in Mumbai ahead of the 71st Republic Day celebrations on Sunday, the police said.

The security at important places and buildings has been increased, an official said.

All units of the Mumbai Police including the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad, Riot Control Police, Quick Response Teams, Force One and Anti-Sabotage Check teams would be on alert, he said.

The official Republic Day function will be held at Shivaji Park in Central Mumbai in the presence of Maharashtra Governor B S Koshyari, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and others.

Extensive security arrangements have been made in and around the ground, the official said.

As a precautionary measure the area has been declared a 'no-flying-zone' for drones and similar micro-light remote controlled aircraft.

A mounted police unit, re-inducted in the Mumbai police force after 88 years, will be the attraction of the Republic Day parade at Shivaji Park.

A tableau on Kanhoji Angre, chief of the Maratha Navy, will also be displayed during the parade.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Zelensky said the downing of the plane by Iranian troops had been considered the main version in the first days after the crash.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he could not immediately publicly acknowledge that Tehran had shot down Ukrainian International Airlines Flight PS752 over the lack of strong evidence.

In an interview with the Israeli Channel 9, he said the downing of the plane by Iranian troops had been considered the main version in the first days after the crash.

Zelensky reiterated he had immediately come to the relatives of the dead Ukrainian passengers and said it was 100% not technical or crew error.

Read alsoBloomberg: Iran says Ukrainian jet was downed by two short-range missiles

"And I came to them. I came to them and could not publicly say: 'We were shot down.' But I came to them and said: 'Besides empathy and so on, I came to you with important information. I want you to know for sure, this is 100% not a technical error. And not a mistake of your relatives, and not a mistake of a professional crew.' Of course, we failed to completely calm them down, we can return everything to the legal field. We can return from the point of view of compensation... But we did not go out into the public field, we needed data and evidence," he said.

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.

On January 11, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani officially admitted that the Ukrainian airliner had been shot down by accident as a result of a "human error."
Since the 19th century, the average human body temperature in the United States has dropped, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Our temperatures not what people think it is, said Julie Parsonnet, MD, professor of medicine and of health research and policy. What everybody grew up learning, which is that our normal temperature is 98.6, is wrong.

That standard of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit was made famous by German physician Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich, who published the figure in a book in 1868. Modern studies, however, have called that number into question, suggesting that its too high. A recent study, for example, found the average temperature of 25,000 British patients to be 97.9 F.

In a study published today in eLife, Parsonnet and her colleagues explore body temperature trends and conclude that temperature changes since the time of Wunderlich reflect a true historical pattern, rather than measurement errors or biases. Parsonnet, who holds the George DeForest Barnett Professorship, is the senior author. Myroslava Protsiv, a former Stanford research scientist who is now at the Karolinska Institute, is the lead author.

The researchers propose that the decrease in body temperature is the result of changes in our environment over the past 200 years, which have in turn driven physiological changes.

Digging into the past

Parsonnet and her colleagues analyzed temperatures from three datasets covering distinct historical periods. The earliest set, compiled from military service records, medical records and pension records from Union Army veterans of the Civil War, captures data between 1862 and 1930 and includes people born in the early 1800s. A set from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I contains data from 1971 to 1975. Finally, the Stanford Translational Research Integrated Database Environment comprises data from adult patients who visited Stanford Health Care between 2007 and 2017.

The researchers used the 677,423 temperature measurements from these datasets to develop a linear model that interpolated temperature over time. The model confirmed body temperature trends that were known from previous studies, including increased body temperature in younger people, in women, in larger bodies and at later times of the day.

The researchers determined that the body temperature of men born in the early to mid-1990s is on average 1.06 F lower than that of men born in the early 1800s. Similarly, they determined that the body temperature of women born in the early to mid-1990s is on average 0.58 F lower than that of women born in the 1890s. These calculations correspond to a decrease in body temperature of 0.05 F every decade.

As part of the study, the authors investigated the possibility that the decrease could simply reflect improvements in thermometer technology; thermometers used today are far more accurate than those used two centuries ago. In the 19thcentury, thermometry was just beginning, Parsonnet said.

To assess whether temperatures truly decreased, the researchers checked for body temperature trends within each dataset; for each historical group, they expected that measurements would be taken with similar thermometers. Within the veterans dataset, they observed a similar decrease for each decade, consistent with observations made using the combined data.
" " Harvard researchers announced they have been able to compress liquid hydrogen into a metal. Harvard University/YouTube

Back in 1935, physicists Eugene Wigner and Hillard Bell Huntington of Princeton University predicted that if subjected to sufficiently intense pressure, hydrogen would become a solid metal. For the past several decades, scientists in a few elite labs around the world have been trying to accomplish just that, bombarding hydrogen with lasers and electrical pulses, and trying to squeeze it between diamonds.

It's not just curiosity that drives them. If metallic hydrogen could be manufactured and remain stable at room temperatures, it might be an amazingly useful material. For one thing, scientists believe that it would be a superconductor, capable of allowing electrons to flow through it without any energy loss. And when heated, it would release a huge amount of energy, giving it the potential to be a game-changing propellant for rockets.

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But one downside to metallic hydrogen? Nobody's been able to actually produce it  that is, apparently, until now. Harvard University researchers believe that they have created metallic hydrogen for the first time in the laboratory. In an article published in the journal Science, natural science professor Isaac Silvera and research fellow Ranga Dias describe compressing hydrogen at low temperatures between specially treated synthetic diamond anvils, and observing it transition through stages  from transparent to black, and eventually to a substance that reflects light. "The properties are those of an atomic metal," they conclude.

Corresponding author Silvera didn't respond to an email, but in a Harvard YouTube video, he says: "We have made a new material. It's a material that never has existed on Earth before."

Others also see the discovery as momentous.

"This paper is likely to be one of the most important ones in physics for several decades. It solves (experimentally) a major outstanding problem," says Jeffrey M. McMahon, an assistant professor of physics at Washington State University not involved in the research, via email. "This is especially the case if metallic hydrogen exhibits the remarkable properties expected." He says that metallic hydrogen could turn out to be "potentially the most powerful rocket fuel known."

To create the substance, Silvera and Dias began by compressing liquid hydrogen  the element liquefies when cooled to minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 253 degrees Celsius)  in an anvil made from two synthetic diamonds. Then they turned a steel screw to exert more and more pressure upon the liquid hydrogen.

At a pressure of about 2 million times that of Earth's atmosphere, the hydrogen was transparent. But once they doubled the force to 4 million atmospheres  more intense than the pressure inside Earth's core  the hydrogen turned opaque and black. Tightening the screw even further, the hydrogen sample reflected about 90 percent of the light that was shined upon it.

" " Image of diamond anvils compressing molecular hydrogen. R. Dias and I.F. Silvera/Harvard University

The Harvard scientists' finding comes more than 80 years after metallic hydrogen was first imagined. "It has taken so long because the pressure at which it becomes metallic is higher than was originally thought by Wigner and Huntingdon," explains University of Illinois professor David M. Ceperley, an expert in condensed matter physics, via email. "At pressures about 300 [atmospheres], diamonds become very susceptible to cracking, especially when hydrogen is present. Many other experimentalists are surprised that Dias and Silvera were able to go up to the pressures they report successfully."

Ceperley cautions that the discovery will need to be validated by additional research. "Even the Harvard group has not repeated it yet," he says. "They need to verify that what is in their cell is pure hydrogen and that the gasket material did not get dissolved in there making it metallic. They need to measure other properties than just optical reflectivity."

But in a recent article in the journal Nature, some scientists expressed skepticism about the discovery, saying that they wanted to see additional proof that metallic mercury actually had been produced. Rivera told The New York Times he plans to perform additional measurements on the hydrogen, using a process called Raman scattering, which uses laser light. He also plans to take the sample to the U.S. government's Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, where it will be probed with X-rays.

Ceperley also isn't convinced that metallic hydrogen will necessarily turn into a game-changing rocket fuel. He doesn't think it will remain stable once the pressure upon it is released, the way that a diamond does. Instead, he expects that it will revert to a molecular form that's stable only at low pressure. "I think the most likely application," he says, "is to teach us how to make better superconductors out of hydrogen-containing compounds. Clearly pure metallic hydrogen by itself will be at too high a pressure to be useful."

Now That's Interesting According to the 2005 scientific textbook "Structure-Property Relations in Nonferrous Metals," while metallic hydrogen would be an exotic material on Earth, it's likely to be abundant within the interiors of Jupiter-sized gas planets in other solar systems; the authors write that it might even be "the most common metal in the universe as a whole."
Community Playgroup

Join the fun at West Midland Family Center, 4011 W. Isabella Road, Shepherd, with your children. Enjoy fun activities and crafts while learning through play, designed for youth ages 0-5. Snacks will be provided. This playgroup takes place from 10 to 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 21. There is no charge. Contact Allie Liquia for more information liquiaa@wmfc.org.

Family Recreation Night

West Midland Family Center, 4011 W. Isabella Road, Shepherd, is hosting Family Recreation Night. Families are invited to come to WMFC from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25 and Feb. 29. Those attending will be able to participate in themed games, snacks and other recreational activities. There is no charge. For more information contact Allie Liquia liquiaa@wmfc.org.

Cooking Matters for Families

Cooking Matters for Families is a hands-on nutrition program. Parents/guardians with their children, ages 8-18, learn about preparing healthy meals together, food safety, grocery shopping, and budgeting for their food. Michigan State University Extension will be holding this free program from 6 to 8 p.m, Mondays, Jan. 27 - March 9, at The Salvation Army, 330 Waldo Ave. Midland. The program consists of six lessons, lasting two hours each. With the help of an experienced chef and nutrition educator, participants will gain the skills and confidence to make healthy, budget-friendly meals at home as a family. Each week participants will receive take-home groceries which they can use at home to practice, as a family, a recipe they learned in class. Classes fill up fast, so call today to reserve your spot! 989-607-6516 or 989-832-6648or email salo@msu.edu.

Cooking Matters for Parents

Michigan State University Extension will be holding this free hands-on cooking and nutrition program for parents or guardians caring for children under 18, Feb. 5 - March 11 at Meridian Early Childhood Center. Each week participants will learn about preparing healthy meals, grocery shopping, and budgeting. Participants will also receive take-home groceries, which can be used at home to practice a recipe learned in class. The class will take place over six Wednesdays at Meridian Early Childhood Center, 2534 N. West River Road, Sanford. Interested participants must sign up for this class in advance by calling the MSU Extension office at 989-832-6645 to register. If you are in need of childcare, contact Julie Sheets with Meridian Early Childhood Center 989-687-3455 ext. 3460.

Nature Preschool

Nature Preschool at Chippewa Nature Center, located at 400 S. Badour Road in Midland, is now accepting registration requests for the 2020-21 school year. Nature Preschool is open to children who will be 3 or 4 years old by Sept. 1 for two, three or four half-day classes. Registration information packets are available at www.chippewanaturecenter.org/nature-preschool, by calling 989-631-0830 or at CNC. Placements for new families will begin Feb. 3. Questions regarding Nature Preschool should be directed to Madison Powell, Nature Preschool Director, at 989-631-0830 or mpowell@chippewanaturecenter.org.

NEMCSA Head Start

NEMCSA Head Start offers Preschool Experiences at no cost to families of children ages 3-4. Head Start also serves children with Special Needs and/or disabilities. Head Start is a member of the Midland County Regional Preschool Partnership. The first step to enroll is to complete an interest form online at www.michiganpreschool.org. NEMCSA Head Start offers full day and half day preschool classrooms that run four days a week. There are locations in Midland, Sanford and Mills Area. Sites include Longview Early Childhood Center, M-20 Locations, Washington Street, Sanford Early Childhood Center, and North Midland Family Center. Contact Megan Greer 832-0968 or Kelly Scoles 832-7520, to schedule an application appointment to learn if your family is eligible for this high quality NEMCSA Head Start Preschool program.
The spread of a mysterious respiratory virus has prompted the authorities to limit travel in cities in China, including Wuhan, where the disease was first found last month. It has since spread across the nation and to at least 10 other countries.

The outbreak intensified just before the start of the Lunar New Year holiday on Friday, when hundreds of millions of people were traveling across China. Many people who work and live in Wuhan and the surrounding area are now spending time with their families in other parts of the country. Epidemiologists fear that could make the virus harder to contain.

Heres a look at the public health crisis in photographs.

Tuesday
PG&E may later be barred from paying bonuses to any executives or managers unless the company meets certain fire safety goals, a federal judge said Friday.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to show why he should not force the company to tie all bonuses and other incentives for supervisors and above solely to the utilitys fulfillment of its state-mandated fire-prevention plan and other safety goals.

The order came in response to PG&Es admission this month that it fell short on some of the commitments outlined in its fire plan last year. Afterward, Alsup said he might require PG&E to directly employ enough tree trimmers, rather than relying on contractors, to make its power lines safer.

Alsup is overseeing PG&Es probation stemming from the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion. He has expanded the probation terms to include compliance with the fire plan approved by state regulators.

In his latest order, Alsup referenced the fact that the judge in PG&Es bankruptcy case allowed the company to award performance bonuses last year to numerous employees who were not the most senior leaders. But the bankruptcy judge denied PG&Es separate request to pay an estimated $11 million  and as much as $16 million  in performance bonuses to its top executives, Alsup noted.

When he denied the executive bonuses, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali said, There is simply no justification for diverting additional estate funds to incentivize them to do what they should already be doing. Alsup quoted that statement in his Friday order, and mentioned that Montali allowed PG&E to file another request if it focuses only on safety and premises payout solely on some form of equity participation  a step the company has not taken.

PG&E shares the courts commitment to safety and recognizes that we must take a leading role in keeping our customers and communities safe from the ever-growing threat of wildfire, company spokesman James Noonan said in an email.

Noonan reiterated that the safety of the public and employees is PG&Es top priority and said the company will respond formally by the deadline Alsup set in his order. The judge directed PG&E to submit a written response at least one week before a hearing set for Feb. 19.

John Mader, president of the Engineers and Scientists of California Local 20, said restricting performance bonuses in the way the judge suggested could harm managers whose jobs are not directly related to wildfire safety.

Fire Tracker Follow wildfires across the state Latest updates on wildfires burning across Northern and Southern California

Mader said the members of his union, which represents 3,700 professional and technical PG&E employees, would not be affected by Alsups proposal. Mader now also sits on the advisory board for a new wildfire safety division at the California Public Utilities Commission.

Despite his concern about the judges proposal, Mader said he is not opposed to the bonus restrictions, because they could send the message that wildfire safety is of overarching importance to the companys work.

Even just considering this, I think, sends that message to the corporation, he said.

J.D. Morris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris
A man was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison after he crashed a stolen car in Portland while high on meth, killing his passenger, then fled the crash scene.

Adam Valle (Multnomah County Sheriff's Office)

Adam Valle, 27, of Portland pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree manslaughter, unauthorized use of a vehicle, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer and driving under the influence of intoxicants. The crash killed 19-year-old Heaven Leigh Mathews, who was Valles passenger.

In addition to his 85-month prison sentence, Valle will have three years of post-prison supervision and will have to pay $45,000 in restitution to Mathews family. His driving privileges will be permanently revoked.

Portland police say that around 11 p.m. March 9, 2019, an officer tried to stop a car around Southeast 124th and Southeast Sherman Street after seeing the driver commit several traffic violations. The driver refused to pull over, and police discovered the car was stolen. Police said Valle was driving extremely dangerously and did not pursue him. Officers continued to look for the car and eventually found it on Southeast Division Street and Southeast 122nd Avenue. Valle had crashed it into a steel light pole and was going so fast that half of the car had been impaled by the pole, police say. Paramedics tried to give her medical attention, but Mathews died at the scene.

Police said witnesses saw Valle limp away from the scene and found him about a block away. Police said that he had likely been on a days-long methamphetamine binge with little to no sleep. When medics told him his passenger had died, he started laughing.

Court documents also say that Valle asked officers to kill him and said hes gonna be in prison for a while.

Mathews family said they were satisfied with the sentence, and said they want to support Valle during his time in custody so that he could re-enter society successfully.

But they also talked about the blow to their family.

It has devastated us, said Mathews father, Gary Mathews, in court. Heaven was an incredible person. She was able to be friends to so many people. She was such a kind heart.

The owner of the car that Valle stole also gave the court a victim impact statement and said that the car theft caused a chain-reaction of problems, not just in her life. She said the car, which was paid off, was her only mode of transportation. When she and her husband had to buy a new one, it made them fall behind on rent, and they are now facing the threat of eviction.

This has all trickled down from the theft of my Subaru, she said. In the end, a young woman lost her life, a young man stands before the court ready for sentencing and my husband and I are facing being homeless. No one wins in this tragic story.

Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR

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Raouf Mazou, who has just been appointed to serve as UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, speaking at World Refugee Day event in Kenya in 2017.  UNHCR/Tobin Jones

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi today welcomed the appointment of Raouf Mazou as Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, a crucial role for overseeing UNHCRs responses to refugee situations worldwide.

Mr. Mazou, a Congolese national, replaces Mr. George Okoth-Obbo, who has recently been appointed as head of Secretariat to the UN Secretary Generals High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the appointment of Mr. Mazou earlier on Friday, and Mr. Mazou is expected to take up his new position shortly. The roles of High Commissioner, Deputy High Commissioner, Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, and Assistant High Commissioner for Protection together comprise the top four positions in UNHCRs senior management structure.

I am delighted to see Raouf being appointed to this role, said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. His extensive experience at UNHCR, working in refugee situations in West and East Africa and more recently as head of UNHCRs Africa Bureau in Geneva, makes him well placed to lead the essential work of UNHCR in delivering protection of refugees and other displaced populations as well as solutions to their plights in the many complex environments in which we work.
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.
CommLab India, a global industry leader in rapid eLearning solutions has launched an eBook titled Learning Analytics 101 thats aimed at providing beginners in learning analytics with the essentials on this topic.

With organizations and businesses moving toward a data-driven structure to measure and monitor various aspects of the business, it has impacted the field of learning as well. Organizations that are looking at personalized learning solutions would prefer to know how training has impacted their bottom line. Learning analytics provides the key, and this eBook aims to present the essence of learning analytics in a manner thats easy enough for beginners to understand.

This eBook represents the culmination of CommLab Indias experiences in working with training managers and L&D leaders across industries and verticals. With measuring the effectiveness of learning and ROI on learning being a chief concern for most organizations, strategically implementing learning analytics has become a game-changer in organizational learning and development.

The Learning Analytics 101 eBook takes readers through the fundamentals of learning analytics and answers the following questions:



What is learning analytics?

What are the elements involved in learning analytics?

What are the different types of learning analytics?

How does one implement a data-driven learning culture?

How can implementing learning analytics enhance the ROI of training?

Organizations that are just getting started with learning analytics can benefit highly from this eBook as it explores the option of using the LMS as a gateway to implement learning analytics.

For readers who are aware of learning analytics, this eBook is a good reference point to understand the different types of learning analytics and evaluate which level meets their training needs. The eBook also reiterates the fact that data is of no use if you fail to act on it. The ultimate goal of implementing learning analytics is to take effective decisions based on the actionable insights gathered.

Learning Analytics 101 eBook can be downloaded using below link:

https://resources.commlabindia.com/ebook/learning-analytics-101

Dr. Ayesha Habeeb Omer, COO and Co-Founder, CommLab India, shares her thoughts on this eBook, We realize that a lot of organizations have a tough time evaluating their L&D programs. With this eBook wed like to reiterate that learning analytics can be used to not just measure the effectiveness of training, but also to improve ROI in the long run. And contrary to beliefs, it is not necessary to invest in expensive analytics tools. If youre just getting started with learning analytics, the LMS within your organization can serve as a good source of data.

About CommLab India:

CommLab India is the most sought-after global leader for its rapid eLearning solutions. The company has 100 International customers in 30+ countries. It has adjudged winner of the Silver Award among the top eLearning content development companies for 2019 by eLearning Industry.

With our formidable authoring tools expertise and decades of experience in corporate training and instructional design, we offer rapid eLearning solutions for speed, scale and value with any authoring tool:
OAKLAND (BCN)

A 22-year-old man was sentenced on Friday to 8 years and 8 months in state prison for fatally shooting another man outside an illegal gambling club in Oakland in 2018 in what his attorney believes was an act of self-defense.

Prosecutors sought a first-degree murder verdict for Marshawn Chambers for the shooting of Xin Hoang, 32, outside the club in the 1100 block of International Boulevard at about 2:20 a.m. on Aug. 26, 2018.

But at the end of Chambers' trial last October jurors convicted him of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, as well as attempted manslaughter and assault with a semi-automatic firearm.

Defense attorney Chris Lamiero told jurors that Chambers opened fire because Hoang was armed with a metal pipe and Hoang's friend and associate Anthony Le, 27, of Alameda was armed with a gun and he thought they were about to assault him.

Lamiero said the people who ran the club asked Chambers and a friend to leave because they thought they were going to rob the club, although he said there's no evidence that's true.

But Alameda County prosecutor John Ullom said Chambers should be found guilty of murder because Hoang and Le weren't threatening him even though they may have been armed.

Ullom said Chambers could have joined his friend in walking away from the club after they were asked to leave but decided to stay near the club and open fire because his ego was hurt when they were kicked out.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Trina Thompson could have sentenced Chambers to up to 31 years in state prison based on the charges he was convicted of but chose to impose the minimum term for manslaughter and the other counts.

About 10 of Chambers' family members attended his hearing and they cried when Thompson ordered that he be sent to prison.

After the hearing Lamiero alleged that the club was "an illegal gambling operation run by gangsters."

Lamiero, a former Alameda County prosecutor, said, "In my 26 years of experience in the criminal justice system I've never known it to be a priority to crack down on illegal gambling clubs in Oakland."

A 52-year-old man was shot and another man was pistol-whipped during a robbery at the same illegal gambling parlor in the 1100 block of International Boulevard at 11:24 p.m. last April 23.

In an unusual twist in the 2018 shooting case, prosecutors also listed Chambers as being a victim, as they charged Le with assault with a semi-automatic firearm for allegedly shooting Chambers in the incident.

Le also was charged with three additional counts of assault for allegedly shooting at three unidentified victims who weren't injured.

Le was a co-defendant in the case and sat near Chambers at the defense table at their preliminary hearing last year.

But last October Le pleaded no contest to a charge of carrying a concealed firearm and the rest of the charges against him were dismissed. He was sentenced to 16 months in state prison.

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.
New Delhi [India], Jan 25 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda on Saturday met senior party leader LK Advani here.



Nadda on Thursday had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and had said that under his guidance, he intends to take the party's ideology to every household across the country.

Nadda was unanimously elected the party's national president at the culmination of the party's organisational poll process on Monday.

A former Himachal Pradesh Minister, Nadda has the organisational experience and became the party's working president in June 2019 after the ruling party swept the Lok Sabha elections. (ANI)
Playa del Carmen man in serious condition after car runs red light

Playa del Carmen, Q.R.  A speeding car that ran a red light, passing through an intersection, has left a man in serious condition in hospital.

The accident happened at the intersection of avenida Constituyentes and 40th Street in the city center. Witnesses say the driver of a red Toyota ran a red light, crashing into an oncoming scooter. The impact threw the scooter driver several meters off his bike, where he reportedly landed on his head.

The unidentified man was rushed to hospital in serious condition. The driver of the Toyota was arrested by police.
Sanders Responds to Clintons Nobody Likes Him Comments

Top Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) responded for the first time to 2016 candidate Hillary Clintons claim that no one likes Sanders.

He was in Congress for years. He had one senator support him. Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. He was a career politician. Its all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it, Clinton, who received support from Sanders when she was the Democratic nominee, said in comments published earlier in the week.

Clinton also declined to endorse Sanders and attacked his leadership team and prominent supporters.

Sanders nor his campaign had responded to the comments before the candidate was asked about it during an appearance on CBS Evening News broadcast on Friday. Sanders declined to criticize Clinton, instead aiming his ire at President Donald Trump.

Im sorry for what Secretary Clinton had to say. I know she said that nobody likes me, right. I mean, this is not the kind of rhetoric that we need right now when we are trying to bring the Democratic Party together to defeat the most dangerous president in American history, he said.

Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks onstage during the Hulu Panel at Winter TCA 2020 at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena in Pasadena, California on Jan. 17, 2020. (Erik Voake/Getty Images for Hulu)

Sanders said he hadnt spoken with Clinton for quite a while.

What Secretary Clinton did indicateI was glad to hear thisis that she would support the Democratic nominee. And if thats me, I look forward to her support, Sanders added.

The swipe from Clinton, who beat Sanders in the primary last election before getting support from her former rival, came as Sanderss current rivals, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former Vice President Joe Biden, took aim at the Vermont senator in the final weeks before the first primary of the cycle.

A claim that Sanders, 78, told Warren, 70, in 2018 that a woman couldnt win the election emerged earlier in January, belied by Sanders saying decades ago that a woman should be president. Sanders vehemently denied the story on the debate stage on Jan. 14., even as Warren said the story was true.

The candidates accused each other of lying after the debate.

(L-R) Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), former Vice President Joe Biden, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) participate of the seventh Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign on Jan. 24, 2020. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden and Sanders have grappled over the differences in their voting record on the Iraq war and how to treat Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Biden, 77, released a video on Tuesday accusing Sanders of making dishonest attacks related to the candidates past comments on Social Security, prompting a rebuttal from Sanders Twitter.

Lets be honest, Joe. One of us fought for decades to cut Social Security, and one of us didnt, Sanders said.

Biden appeared on MSNBC Wednesday admitting that hes moved left on Social Security but turned to gun issues, saying Sanders voted to protect gun manufacturers. He was referring to Sanderss vote for legislation in 2005 that gave manufactures immunity from civil liability.

The rivals had a brief detente on Monday when Sanders apologized to Biden for an op-ed written by a supporter. But the back-and-forth soon started back up as the top three candidates zero in ahead of the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses.
A case has been registered against an unidentified man for duping a woman from Ajni in Nagpur of Rs 5.15 lakh by posing as a German national, police said on Saturday.

The unidentified accused started interacting with the victim, a resident of Kashi Nagar, through Facebook in January 2019 and they soon started talking to each other over phone, assistant police inspector Swati Deodhar of Ajni police station said.

The victim, who is an IT engineer, also accepted the accused's marriage proposal, following which he informed her that he was sending her a gift from Germany, she added.

In March last year, the woman received a call from a man, who introduced himself as a customs officer in Delhi and asked her to pay Rs 30,000 as customs duty to get the package released, the official said.

After paying the amount, the victim again received a call stating she will have to pay Rs 4.85 lakh more, the official said, adding that the woman managed to borrow the amount from two of her friends and transferred it to the bank account the man mentioned.

The victim realised that she had been conned after a couple of days when she did not receive any intimation about the gift and her German boyfriend also disappeared, Deodhar said.

While the victim did not approach the police initially, she filed a complaint last week when the friends she had borrowed Rs 4.85 lakh from started threatening her to pay them back, the officer said.

An offence under section 420 (cheating) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code has been registered by the Ajni police, she said.

The victim's friends, who issued her threats to return the money, have also been charged, she added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rocket Lab test fires the Electron rocket first stage for the "Birds of a Feather" launch of the NROL-151 satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office at Launch Complex 1 head of a January 2020 launch from Mahia Peninsula on New Zealand's North Island.

The small-satellite launch company Rocket Lab will fly its first mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) next week, kicking off a busy 2020 that also includes plans for a new launchpad and headquarters.

Rocket Lab's first Electron launch of the year will be NROL-151, a previously unannounced flight for the clandestine NRO, the U.S. spy satellite agency. The mission, which Rocket Lab has nicknamed "Birds of a Feather," will fly from the company's Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island. Liftoff is set for Friday, Jan. 31, local time in New Zealand (Thursday, Jan. 30 EST).

We are honored the NRO has selected Rocket Lab as the launch provider for this dedicated mission," Lars Hoffman, Rocket Lab's senior vice president for Global Launch Services, said in a statement Monday (Jan. 20). "The Electron launch vehicle is perfectly positioned to provide the kind of rapid and responsive access to space that puts the NRO in complete control over their own launch schedule and orbital requirements."

The 57-foot-tall (17 meters) Electron booster is designed to launch satellites weighting up to 500 lbs. (227 kilograms) into orbit for about $5 million per flight.

Video: Watch Rocket Lab's latest Electron rocket launch!

Related: Rocket Lab and Its Electron Booster (Photos)

Image 1 of 3 (Image credit: Rocket Lab) The small satellite launch company Rocket Lab will launch the clandestine NROL-151 satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office as early as Jan. 31, 2020 local New Zealand time (Jan. 30 EST). Image 2 of 3 (Image credit: Rocket Lab) The small satellite launch company Rocket Lab will launch the clandestine NROL-151 satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office as early as Jan. 31, 2020 local New Zealand time (Jan. 30 EST). Image 3 of 3 (Image credit: Rocket Lab) The small satellite launch company Rocket Lab will launch the clandestine NROL-151 satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office as early as Jan. 31, 2020 local New Zealand time (Jan. 30 EST).

The NRO tapped Rocket Lab to launch NROL-151 under the agency's Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket (RASR) program. The mission is the first for the new program, "which enables our exploration of new launch opportunities by providing a streamlined, commercial approach for launching smallsats," NRO officials wrote on Twitter Jan. 20.

"Under this approach, RASR helps us pursue the use of both large & small satellites to create an integrated architecture that provides global coverage to answer a wide range of intelligence questions," NRO officials added.

NROL-151 is the NRO's first spy satellite launch from foreign soil, according to Spaceflight Now.

Rocket Lab's big year

Rocket's NROL-151 launch comes amid a growth spurt of sorts for the Huntington Beach, California-based company.

In December, Rocket Lab opened its first U.S. launch site, called Launch Complex 2, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia. The company plans to launch its first Electron missions from U.S. soil in April.

Soon after the Launch Complex 2 opening, Rocket Lab broke ground on a third launchpad, this one located next to the company's original pad on Mahia Peninsula, in order to expand its ability to launch missions quickly. Rocket Lab is calling the new site at its Launch Complex 1 "Pad B."

Image 1 of 3 (Image credit: Rocket Lab) In December 2019, Rocket Lab began building a new launchpad, called Pad B, at its Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island. Image 2 of 3 (Image credit: Rocket Lab) In December 2019, Rocket Lab began building a new launchpad, called Pad B, at its Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island. Image 3 of 3 (Image credit: Rocket Lab) In December 2019, Rocket Lab began building a new launchpad, called Pad B, at its Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island.

"Responsive access to space is about more than the rocket  it also requires responsive launch pads," Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck said in a statement last month. "With the opening of Launch Complex 2 in the U.S. and now the addition of Pad B at Launch Complex 1, Rocket Lab operates three individual launch pads to provide unmatched launch frequency and responsiveness for small satellites."

Earlier this month, Rocket Lab also began work on a new headquarters in Long Beach, California, which will also serve as its U.S. mission control center and add to the company's manufacturing capacity.

"Long Beach is an ideal location for our team; it has a vibrant space community, it's close to many of our suppliers and offers room to grow as our operations do," Beck said in a Jan. 14 statement. "The City of Long Beach has been incredibly welcoming, and we look forward to working with them to continue growing the local space economy."

Reusing rockets

But wait, there's more.

Rocket Lab is also testing technology to recover and reuse the first stage of its Electron rockets in order to help the company's booster production.

In 2019, Beck unveiled an ambitious plan to recover Electron boosters in midair by equipping the rocket stages with thrusters and a parachute to slow their descent. They would then be captured by a helicopter and taken to a recovery ship for eventual reuse.

Last month, Rocket Lab successfully guided an Electron back to Earth using thrusters and a new guidance and navigation system. The rocket was not equipped with a parachute, but did survive its reentry as Rocket Lab had hoped. The booster was destroyed as expected when it impacted the ocean.

The upcoming launch will also perform that reentry maneuver, with a chase plan collecting telemetry from the rocket as it reenters the atmosphere and crashes into the ocean.

"It's not about cutting costs at all, to be honest," Beck told Space.com in September. "It's about increasing production. That's the sole reason we're doing it."

The "Birds of a Feather" launch for NROL-151 will mark Rocket Lab's eleventh mission since operations began in 2018. The company has launched 47 satellites into orbit over its last 10 missions.

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.
NewsX-Polstrat opinion poll has predicted AAP's return to power, while BJP and Congress would improve thier performances compared to 2015 Delhi elections.

Delhi is set to re-elect the Aam Aadmi Party in polls to the 70-member Delhi Assembly on February 8, according to the NewsX-Polstrat opinion poll. The AAP, which won 67 of the 70 seats in the 2015 election, is expected to win 53-56 seats. The BJP, which won 3 seats, is expected to better its performance with 12-15 seats and the Congress, which didnt win any seats, is expected to win 2-4 seats.

The vote-share could see AAP getting 48.56 per cent, the BJP 31.7 per cent and the Congress 9.64 per cent. In the 2015 election, AAP got 53.93 per cent voteshare, the BJP 31.78 per cent and the Congress 10.34 per cent.

While collecting peoples view and opinions NewsX got to know about AAP governments good work in the health and education sectors, and serious problems like women safety, jobs, pollution, and corruption need more attention.

As per the survey, the people of the Capital would give another chance to the Arvind Kejriwal government for next 5 years but its numbers would slip from 67 to 53-56. The party has fileded 23 new faces replacing its last times winning candidates.

Looking at the work performance, then 59.57 % people found Arvind Kejriwal and his lawmakers work good, while 24.61% called it an average performance.

15.51% people were unhappy and termed AAPs work as bad, while 0.32 had no answer.

BJP, which had won only 3 seats in 2015, would be contesting alone as its ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has announced that it would not field its candidates this time as they dont support CAA, said Manjinder Singh Sirsa in a press conference a few days ago.

The saffron front would be expecting to repeat its 2019 LokSabha elections performance in which it had won all 7 MP seats.

While, the Congress, which had ruled the Capital for 15 years, is eyeing a comeback and seeking support in the name of development done in the Sheila Dikshit government.

For all the latest National News, download NewsX App
Iran sentences Christian convert to prison on charge of insulting Islamic beliefs

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A court in Iran has sentenced a 65-year-old convert to Christianity to three years in prison for insulting Islamic sacred beliefs even as he is yet to be tried in the court for two other charges, a religious freedom watchdog group has reported.

The U.K.-based group Article 18 reported this week that Ismaeil Maghrebinejad has 20 days to appeal his sentencing and that the court referred to Article 513 of the Islamic Penal Code, which provides for a punishment between one and five years in prison.

Maghrebinejad was convicted for forwarding a message on his phone that allegedly made fun of Irans ruling clerics.

The convert was arrested at his home in the south-central region of Shiraz last January. Iranian security officials have regularly harassed Maghrebinejad for 40 years ever since he accepted Christ, the group said.

He is under trial for two other charges: propaganda against the Islamic Republic and membership of a group hostile to the regime.

Last November, a court dropped another charge, of apostasy, which is punishable with the death penalty in Iran. He was initially charged for apostasy due to his conversion to Christianity. In its hearing at the time, however, the court said the case against him for engaging in propaganda against the Islamic Republic would still apply as he allegedly started a Telegram channel to promote evangelical Christianity.

The converts daughter, Mahsa, believes that her father has been targeted at least partially because she and her husband, Nathan, both of whom now live in the U.S., minister to Christians inside Iran over the Internet.

About 10 years after his conversion, there was a murder attempt on Maghrebinejads wife but she survived, the group said.

In December, Irans Revolutionary Court sentenced nine Christians to a combined total of 45 years in prison for converting to Christianity. The converts were arrested in January and February 2019.

The convicted Christians included Pastor Matthias Haghnejad, Shahrooz Islamdust, Behnam Akhlaqi, Babak Hosseinzadeh, Mehdi Khatibi, Khalil Dehghanpour, Hossein Kadivar, Kamal Naamanian, and Mohammad Vafadar.

Earlier this month, another Iranian Christian convert, a 21-year-old woman, was arrested during an anti-government protest in Tehran.

Fatemeh Mohammadi, also known as Mary, was detained near Azadi Square in Tehran, where protests occurred after the Iranian military shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane and killed 176 people.

Mary had published a series of tweets that day, saying that the Iranian people faced soft repression in the country as the regime creates false beliefs through selective coverage of the news.

She was arrested also in 2017 during a raid on an underground house church meeting and later sentenced to six months in prison. She served her time in the womens ward of Irans notorious Evin prison.

She wrote an open letter to Irans Minister of Intelligence Mahmoud Alavi last May accusing him of targeting Christians and violating the constitution.

Iran ranks as the ninth-worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution on Open Doors USAs 2020 World Watch List. Open Doors USA reports that 169 Christians were arrested in Iran during the organizations 2019 reporting period  Nov. 1, 2018, to Oct. 31, 2019. Iran has also consistently been labeled by the U.S. State Department as a country of particular concern for egregious violations of religious freedom.
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot during the ongoing session of the Rajasthan Assembly in Jaipur, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. (PTI Photo)

Jaipur: Rajasthan on Saturday on Saturday became the third state in the country to pass a resolution urging the Centre to repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

he resolution was passed in the state Assembly amid opposition by the BJP which accused the ruling Congress of pursuing appeasement politics.

It is the second Congress-ruled state to pass such a resolution after Punjab. The Kerala Assembly too had passed such a resolution against the CAA moved jointly by the ruling Left Front alliance and the opposition Congress-led UDF.

The Rajasthan Assembly resolution, passed by voice vote, also asked the Centre to withdraw the new fields of information that have been sought for updation of the National Population Register (NPR) 2020.

"It is evident that the CAA violates the provisions of the Constitution. Therefore, the House resolves to urge upon the government of India to repeal the CAA to avoid any discrimination on the basis of religion in granting citizenship and to ensure equality before law for all religious groups of India," the state's parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal said, moving the resolution.

Leader of the opposition Gulab Chand Kataria of the BJP questioned the state's right to challenge the Act.

"Granting citizenship is a matter for the Centre. In such a situation do we have the right to challenge the CAA? The Congress should stop doing appeasement and vote bank politics," he said.
In Parliament today: Bill to amend CVC and Delhi Police Special Act to be tabled today

Security heightened, facial recognition software in place ahead of Republic Day

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 25: The Delhi police has made elaborate arrangements ahead of Republic Day.

A total of 48 Companies of the Paramilitary forces, 17,000 Delhi Police Personnel will be on guard on January 26. In addition to this, the central agencies such as the Intelligence Bureau would work in close coordination with the Delhi police.

There would be 500 X-ray machines and 1,000 CCTVs in place as well. The police will also rely on facial recognition software in various places.

India on state of very high alert as Pakistan looks to launch rogue drones

Meanwhile, the Intelligence Bureau has warned of possible drone attacks by Pakistan.

There is tight security, especially in the border areas. Security forces have been advised to remain on a state of very high alert especially along the International Border passing through Kathua, Samba and Jammu district. Further, security is also high along the Line of Control.

Intelligence Bureau officials say that the chatter picked up suggest that Pakistan would look to carry out drone attacks and also increase infiltrations.

The Intelligence Bureau has emphasised on using high tech equipment as the warning this time is specific to drone attacks.

These drones are a potential threat and the government is looking for a solution to counter this problem. In this regard, the agencies conducted a data estimation and learnt that there are over 6 lakh rogue or unregulated drones of various sizes and capacities.

These drones are a potential threat and the government is looking for a solution to counter this problem. In this regard, the agencies conducted a data estimation and learnt that there are over 6 lakh rogue or unregulated drones of various sizes and capacities.

Republic Day 2020: STF, ATS cops among 18 officials to get UP police award

A recent paper titled 'Drones: A new frontier for Police' published in the Indian Police Journal (IPJ) by IPS officer and Additional Director General in Rajasthan Police, Pankaj Kumar Singh has talked about these new techniques.

A drone gun is capable of jamming the radio, global positioning system (GPS) and mobile signal between the drone and the pilot and forces the drone to ground in good time before it could wreak any damage. This Australia designed weapon has an effective range of 2 km, the paper said.

Another solution to block a lethal drone is the sky fence system that uses a range of signal disruptors to jam the flight path and prevent them from entering their target, a sensitive installation or event venue, it said.

Officials said prototypes of these counter-drone weapons were displayed for the first time at an open field in a BSF camp in Bhondsi, Haryana last week as part of a national conference organised by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) on anti-drone technology.

The Centre now wants to impart training to police officers of all states to check this menace. The Bureau of Police Research and Development is currently in talks with the police chiefs of all states so that training can be imparted to counter new terror threats that have been emerging.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 18, Oppose mandating "labor peace agreements" to get marijuana business license: Passed 21 to 15 in the Senate

To oppose a proposed rule from the state's Marijuana Regulatory Agency that would impose a mandate on prospective marijuana business licensees to sign a "labor peace agreement" with a union. The resolution text describes this mandate as forcing applicants to "accept the terms of labor unions without negotiation," and asserts it would "set a dangerous precedent for similar requirements for anyone seeking a license or permit issued by the state."

31 Sen. Kevin Daley, R -- Attica Y

32 Sen. Kenneth Horn, R -- Frankenmuth Y

36 Sen. Jim Stamas, R -- Midland Y

House Bill 5195, Increase license plate transfer fee, halt road tax 'fund shift': Passed 107 to 0 in the House

To no longer transfer around $6 million in annual vehicle registration (license plate) tax revenue from the state road repair fund to the Secretary of State office, which is part of around $90 million in such transfers each year. The bill will also increase fees imposed for the transfer of license plates from one vehicle to another from $8 to $10, plus a new $5 fee.

97 Rep. Jason Wentworth, R -- Clare Y

98 Rep. Annette Glenn, R -- Midland Y

99 Rep. Roger Hauck, R -- Isabella County Y

House Bill 5187, Reimburse school aid fund for data center tax breaks: Passed 95 to 12 in the House

To establish that the effect of tax revenue that is foregone (not collected) due to tax breaks granted to a "data center" must be limited to non-school budgets only. Specifically, the bill would require that foregone tax revenue that would have gone to the state school aid fund but was lost because of sales tax breaks granted to "data centers" be "reimbursed" by transferring a similar amount of revenue to the school aid fund from other taxes. This refers to benefits granted to a Nevada company that occupied the former Steelcase Pyramid building in Grand Rapids, and to other "data center" businesses under the political deal that authorized these privileges.

97 Rep. Jason Wentworth, R -- Clare Y

98 Rep. Annette Glenn, R -- Midland Y

99 Rep. Roger Hauck, R -- Isabella County Y

Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting

SOURCE: MichiganVotes.org, a free, non-partisan website created by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, providing concise, non-partisan, plain-English descriptions of every bill and vote in the Michigan House and Senate. Visit www.MichiganVotes.org.
Welcoming the Opposition Congress' plan to move a resolution against him in the state Assembly over the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Saturday said he was functioning as per the Constitution.

The governor's statement came hours after Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said the party will move a resolution in the Assembly, seeking his recall for "violating" all democratic principles and "publicly questioning" the pride of the legislature.

"Most welcome," Khan said when asked about the Opposition move against him.

"Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I am the constitutional head of the state. It's my duty to advice, counsel, encourage and warn the government.

It's part of my duty as per the Constitution and as interpreted by the Supreme Court also," he told media on the sidelines of a programme here.

Khan said there was no confrontation with the government, but reiterated that the state's move to approach the apex court against CAA without informing him was not right.

"There maybe some difference of opinion but it cannot be termed as confrontation," Khan, who has been over loggerheads with the state government for past few weeks, said.

On reports that the Governor had expressed discontent over the reported mention of the Anti-CAA resolution passed by the Assembly, in the policy address to be read by him on the first day budget session, Khan said he had just informed the government on how to "improve the content of the documents" submitted to him.

"In the constitutional provision with regard to the policy address itself, it is mentioned that the speech should be about the developmental aspects of the state.

As far as I understand, Governor is of the opinion that since the Citizenship Act is not under the jurisdiction of the state government, there was no need for it to be mentioned.

Also, since the matter is sub judice, it was not right to mention it in the Assembly," a Raj Bhavan official said.

Chennithala has said that he has given a notice to Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan seeking his permission to move the resolution in the Assembly under the rule 130 of the legislative business.

He accused the Governor of publicly challenging the unanimous resolution passed by the state Assembly against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 enacted by the Parliament during its winter session.

"Even the single member of the BJP in the Kerala Assembly did not cast his vote against the resolution passed by the Assembly against the CAA.

But, the Governor has made public statements saying it was unconstitutional," he told a press conference here.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The UK expected to quit EU on Jan 31, following years of political division over how to carry out referendum result.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has signed the EU Withdrawal Agreement, paving the way for Brexit to take place on January 31.

In what is considered a formality, the European Parliament will vote on the agreement on January 29.

The signing of the Withdrawal Agreement is a fantastic moment, which finally delivers the result of the 2016 referendum and brings to an end far too many years of argument and division, said Johnson, referring to EU membership referendum four years ago.

We can now move forward as one country  with a government focused upon delivering better public services, greater opportunity and unleashing the potential of every corner of our brilliant United Kingdom, while building a strong new relationship with the EU as friends and sovereign equals.

Today I have signed the Withdrawal Agreement for the UK to leave the EU on January 31st, honouring the democratic mandate of the British people. This signature heralds a new chapter in our nations history. pic.twitter.com/IaGTeeL2is  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) January 24, 2020

Earlier on Friday, Charles Michel, European Council president and Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, signed the document in Brussels.

The original copy travelled to London by train and will return to Brussels to be archived. The UK will keep a copy.

Michel tweeted: Things will inevitably change but our friendship will remain. We start a new chapter as partners and allies.

After Brexit takes place on Thursday, the UK will enter a transition period, during which it will attempt to hammer out deals on future relations with the bloc.

Johnson has stressed that this period must not go beyond the end of 2020, but critics and opposition figures say this deadline is unachievable.
Trapqueen Salon. | Photo: Patricia L./Yelp

Want to check out the newest hair salons in San Diego? You're in luck: We've found a lineup of fresh spots that fill the bill. Read on for a a rundown.

Trapqueen Salon

9625 Black Mountain Road, Suite 201, Miramar

Photo: dalena m./Yelp

Trapqueen Salon's hair services include blowouts, perming, coloring and styling, along with permanent makeup applications.

The business currently holds five stars out of seven reviews on Yelp, indicating a good reception.

Yelper Abby R. wrote, "I had my hair done by Queen. I did my whole head purple with her. I was very nervous since I've never bleached my hair, but she was so knowledgeable and talked me through the entire process, which took six hours. She eased my mind and answered any questions I had."

Yelper Dalena L. wrote, "I always leave Queen's chair so happy! She definitely knows what she's doing when it comes to coloring and making sure you're always happy every step of the way. I've been seeing Queen for a year now, and followed her from her past salon to now her very own. She is amazing!"

Trapqueen Salon is open from 9 a.m.7 p.m. on Monday-Saturday. (It's closed on Sunday.)

MarieBraids Hair Braiding

4009 Park Blvd., University Heights

Photo: Pricy n./Yelp

MarieBraids Hair Braiding's hair services include styling, extensions and treatments.

The shop currently holds four stars out of four reviews on Yelp, indicating good reviews.

Yelper Ellaine P., who reviewed MarieBraids Hair Braiding on Jan. 13, wrote, "I highly recommend them. My visit was spectacular. Though I waited a bit, the staff was super friendly and accommodating  feels like I'm with the friendliest people on earth! I come here to have my hair braided, and they do great work. Very talented! I am so satisfied, and will definitely come again."

Yelper Jennifer C. wrote, "I have gone to Marie three times since I moved to San Diego last year. I really like her braiding style and ultimately her finished work. I have received several compliments on my hair after she does it, so of course that keeps me wanting to come back!"

Story continues

MarieBraids Hair Braiding is open from 8 a.m.7:30 p.m. daily.

The Color Collective Salon

1807 Robinson Ave., Suite 104-105, North Park

Photo: the color collective salon/Yelp

The Color Collective Salon is a hair stylist spot, offering hair extensions and more.

According to the business' Facebook page, "Our commitment is to grow, laugh, and thrive with you, provide top-notch hair care and service, and keep your hair evolving as you move through life. So let's pour your favorite beverage and settle in; your hair journey starts here."

With a five-star Yelp rating out of six reviews on Yelp, The Color Collective Salon is off to a strong start.

Yelper Rosalie K. noted, "The Color Collective is a terrific salon. The owner, Aisha, is incredibly knowledgeable about color/hair, as well as cut/style. All the stylists are friendly and really care about their clients..."

Yelper Desiree C. wrote, "Every time I get my hair done at the Color Collective Salon with Aisha, I always feel vibrant, beautiful and more like myself. She's a true hair color expert and helps me maintain healthy, naturally wavy hair. As a collective, I love how they stay up to date with new products and continuing education. The vibe here is so inviting and fun. Also, I recommend setting up your appointments ahead of time, because they're all so in demand!"

The Color Collective Salon is open from 11 a.m.11 p.m. on Monday and Sunday, and 8 a.m.11 p.m. on Tuesday-Saturday.

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.
MEXICALI, Mexico, Jan. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Alcohol Justice is reporting that Mexicali Resiste and other allies and partner activists will march in protest of Constellation Brands at the Vicente Guerrero Monument.

WHAT: A march will take place to protest the factory of U.S Alcohol Corporation, Constellation Brands. Mexicali Resiste has organized this march to defend common welfare of water as a natural resource. "We do not consider it is just that a corrupt corporation #ConstellationBrands is given preference over the needs of the citizens of Baja California: Tijuana, Ensenada, Tecate and Rosarito. Currently these cities go weeks without water or have water rationed. If we don't do anything about this, this will also happen in Mexicali. If there is a surplus of water, as the governor maintains, why is there such a scarcity in Baja California Cities?" #BoycottConstellationBrands "This is a prime example of Big Alcohol putting profits over people, of exploiting a vulnerable population for corporate profit and shareholder value," stated Mayra Jimenez, Advocacy Manager at Alcohol Justice. "The indigenous people are literally dying of thirst and all Constellation cares about is stealing their water, then making and selling beer. It is despicable."

WHEN: Sunday, January 26, 2020, 11 A.M.

WHERE: Vicente Guerrero Monument, Boulevard Adolfo Lopez Mateos, Industrial, 21010 Mexicali, B.C., Mexico

WHO: Mexicali Resiste, allies and partner activists.

WHY: Since January 2017, Mexicali Resiste has maintained a strong opposition to the Constellation Brands factory that would consume 20 million cubic meters of water annually from the Valley of Mexicali. Mexicali Resiste has not stopped protesting against this corporation establishing their factory in a desert region that has an over-exploited aquifer that is fed by the Colorado River that suffers serious water shortages in serious drought issues in Tijuana, Tecate, Rosarito and Ensenada. #BoycottConstellationBrands #FueraConstellationBrands @MexicaliResiste @AlcoholJustice

Contact: Mayra Jimenez 323 683-4687



Michael Scippa 415 548-0492



SOURCE Alcohol Justice

Related Links

http://www.AlcoholJustice.org


Security has been beefed up across West Bengal in the view of Sunday's Republic Day celebrations, a senior police officer said.

Besides the Kolkata Police, the Bidhannagar City Police and the Howrah City Police have made foolproof arrangements to avoid any untoward incident, he said.

Surveillance has also been increased along West Bengal's international and interstate borders.

"Every year, we get specific inputs from the Centre for enhancing security measures during Republic Day and Independence Day. After going through all aspects, we have made special arrangements for tomorrow. We do not want to take any chance," the senior officer said on Saturday.

Along with the Quick Response Teams (QRT) and the Radio Flying Squads (RFS), the Kolkata Police has also readied its bomb squad for the occasion, he said.

Vigil has been tightened around the Red Road, the venue of the Republic Day Parade, and traffic movement will be suspended on the stretch from 10 pm on Saturday.

"All VVIPs like the Chief Minister, governor among other invitees will be present at the celebrations. We will have to be on toes. The entire stretch has been divided into 20 sectors under the charge of a deputy commissioner-level police officer," he said.

As per reports, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be reaching the venue at 9.52 am and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar at 9.55 am. The National Flag is scheduled to be hoisted at 9.59 am and the Republic Day parade will begin at 10 am.

Around 100 CCTVs have been installed at Park Street, Esplanade, Outram Road, Kidderpore Road, New Town and Port areas in the city, and over 5000 police personnel deployed to maintain vigil.

"As many as 10 senior police officers in the rank of joint commissioner under the tutelage of deputy commissioners will keep a watch on the proceedings throughout the day. Multiple teams will patrol the banks of Hooghly as well as the port area. We will also keep an eye on all shopping malls, cinema halls, eateries and parks," he said.

The officer said leaves of all police personnel have been cancelled on the occasion.

"All top police officers will be on duty during Sunday's Republic Day celebrations. The control room at Kolkata Police Headquarters at Lalbazar will be monitoring the proceedings," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The first case of the new coronavirus from China has been confirmed in Australia, Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos says.



The patient is a Chinese national in his 50s who had been in Wuhan before returning to Melbourne, the capital of the state of Victoria, on January 19, Mikakos says in a press conference.



He is in a stable condition and has been isolated to undergo treatment.













"It's important to stress there is no cause for alarm to the community," she adds. (dpa)
Powerful quake kills 14 people in eastern Turkey



Istanbul, Jan 24 (AFP) Jan 24, 2020



A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 hit eastern Turkey on Friday, killing at least 14 people, causing buildings to collapse and sending panicked residents rushing into the street.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said all steps were being taken to aid people at the scene of the quake, which had its epicentre in the small lakeside town of Sivrice in the eastern province of Elazig.

"We stand by our people," Erdogan said on twitter, in his first comments about the quake, which caused widespread fear.

"It was very scary, furniture fell on top of us. We rushed outside," 47-year-old Melahat Can, who lives in the provincial capital of Elazig, told AFP.

"We will spend the coming days in a farmhouse outside the city," she said.

The Turkish government's disaster and emergency management agency (AFAD) said the quake hit Sivrice at around 8.55 pm (1755 GMT).

The agency said the quake killed eight people in Elazig province and six others in the neighbouring province of Malatya, which lies to the southwest.

The US Geological Survey assessed its magnitude at 6.7, and said it had a depth of 10 kilometres (about six miles).

Turkish television showed images of people stuck in apartments rushing outside in panic, as well as a fire on the roof of one building.

Footage also showed rescue teams searching for survivors trapped in a collapsed building in a village some 30 kilometres from Elazig, and two people were pulled alive from the rubble.

Turkey lies on major faultlines and is prone to frequent earthquakes.

AFAD said 60 aftershocks were recorded after Friday's quake, adding that more than 400 rescue teams were directed toward the region.

Turkey's leading communications companies announced they would provide residents in the quake region with internet and that phone calls would be free of charge. And the country's flag carrier Turkish Airlines put additional flights for Elazig.

Erdogan said all necessary measures were taken to keep losses at a minimum and ensure people's safety as he sent his environment, interior and health ministers to the region.

- 'Everybody is in the street' -



"Sivrice was shaken very seriously, we have directed our rescue teams to the region," Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters before he was due to travel to the quake zone.

Sivrice -- a town with a population of about 4,000 people -- is situated south of Elazig city on the shores of Hazar lake -- one of the most popular tourist spots in the region and the source of the Tigris river.

The lake is home to a "Sunken City", with archeologists finding archeological traces dating back 4,000 years in its waters.

The tremor was felt in several parts of eastern Turkey near the Iraqi and Syrian borders, the Turkish broadcaster NTV reported, adding that neighbouring cities had mobilised rescue teams for the quake area.

"We have sent four teams to the quake region," Recep Salci of Turkey's Search and Rescue Association (AKUT) told AFP.

"We have news of collapsed buildings, and are preparing more teams in case of need."

Zekeriya Gunes, 68, a resident of Elazig city, said a building 200 metres down on his street had collapsed but he did not know whether it was inhabited.

"Everybody is in the street, it was very powerful, very scary," he said.

Ferda, 39, said she felt worried and desperate.

"It lasted quite long, maybe 30 seconds," she told AFP. "I panicked and was undecided whether to go out in this cold or remain inside."

The USGS said the quake struck near the East Anatolian Fault in an area that has no documented large rupture since an earthquake in 1875.



- 'Under control for now' -



In 1999, a devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Izmit in western Turkey, leaving more than 17,000 people dead including about 1,000 in the country's largest city Istanbul.

"My wholehearted sympathy to President @RTErdogan and the Turkish people following the devastating earthquake that has hit Turkey. Our search and rescue teams stand ready to assist," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wrote on Twitter.

In Athens, the Greek premier's office said later that Mitsotakis had spoken by phone to Erdogan.

"The Turkish president ... said Turkish teams had the situation under control for now and that it would be re-evaluated in the morning," his office added.

In September last year, a 5.7-magnitude earthquake shook Istanbul, causing residents to flee buildings in the economic capital.

Experts have long warned a large quake could devastate the city of 15 million people, which has allowed widespread building without safety precautions.
A Madison County woman has been charged in the fatal shooting of man in Huntsville, the authorities said.

Haley McKenzie League is held in the Madison County jail with bail set at $60,000 on a murder charge, records show. Shes charged in the shooting death of Gilberto Estrada, a 21-year-old from Mexico, according to Huntsville police.

League was arrested late Friday at a home in New Hope, a tiny city in southern Madison County, said Huntsville police Lt. Michael Johnson in an email to reporters. A man at the home was arrested on unrelated charges, according to police. Johnson said the SWAT team used tear gas to get the man, whose name hasnt been released, to come outside.

Police said they are still investigating the circumstances of Estradas slaying.

At this time the only information I have is that the murder is connected to the victim meeting the female online," Johnson said via email.

Estrada was found dead in an alley on the 3000 block of Seventh Avenue Southwest on Jan. 18. The alley is just southeast of the intersection at Governors Drive and Triana Boulevard.

Estrada is one of four people shot to death in the city so far this year.
NORTHAMPTON  A Ware man who had been accused of as many as four rapes between 2009 and 2018 gained his second conviction Friday in Hampshire Superior Court and was sentenced to between nine and 13 years in state prison.

A jury found Arthur E. Salsbury guilty of two counts of rape on Friday. The charges stem from a complaint that Salsbury raped a woman in a wooded area off School Street in Granby on Oct. 3, 2009.

Salsbury, 43, previously had been sentenced in June to nine to 13 years for his first conviction, for a February 2018 rape in DuFresne Park in Granby.

In each case, the victim reported the sexual assault occurred after Salsbury agreed to provide a ride from Holyoke.

Judge Richard Carey on Friday made the sentences consecutive, meaning Salisbury will have to serve the one sentence before he begins the second. The end result is Salsbury will be in prison for between 18 and 27 years, to be followed by five years probation.

Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Suhl thanked the jury for their service and said the sentence was appropriate and just.

This case was able to be solved through the combination of DNA evidence and a thorough police investigation conducted jointly by the Massachusetts State Police and the Granby Police Department, with assistance from the Holyoke Police Department, Suhl said.

The Commonwealth is grateful to the victim for being willing to see this case through to trial, over 10 years after the assault, and displaying strength and incredible courage by testifying in a public courtroom about a traumatic event for which the defendant now stands convicted, Suhl said.
The quick thinking of two local life guards who saved a kite surfer who had got into trouble at Port beach last summer was recognised when they were presented with the Des Kenny Award at the Irish Water Safety Awards ceremony in UCD before Christmas

Padraig Begley from Kilcurry and Conor McKeown, Inniskeen, had just come off duty at Port beach and were packing up to go home on June 30 2019, when a member of the public told them that a kite surfer had been lifted up by the wind and dropped onto the beach.

Conor ran to the lifeguard's hut to get the first aid kit while Padraig went straight to the injured man.

'He had been dragged along the beach and ended up on the rocks and was in a bad enough state,' recalls Padraig. 'He was unconscious and had an injury, a bad cut, to the back of his head and had lost blood. He also had an injury to his shoulder and cuts to his knees.'

Another man who was with the injured kite-surfer had phoned the emergency services, but his English was limited so Padraig took over and gave them directions.

As they waited for the emergency services to arrive, Padraig and Conor covered the man with blankets in a bid to keep him warm as a strong wind was blowing along the beach.

They also briefed the paramedics when they arrived about 40 minutes later and helped as the casualty was placed on a spinal board.

However, the ambulance was unable to access the beach, and the coastguard helicopter had to called out. Padraig and Conor assisted in shielding the injured kite-surfer from the sand which was blown up as the helicopter landed on the beach.

The injured man was then taken to hospital where he made a full recovery.

Padraig and Conor are both experienced life guards. Nineteen year old Padraig is a second year student UCD where he studies health and performance science. He has previously worked as a swim instructor at Aura Leisure in Dundalk. He is currently working as a part-time life guard and swim instructor at UCD. Twenty-year old Conor works in Dublin and is involved in teaching kids how to swim.

They were presented with the Des Kenny Award which gives national recognition for those Irish Water Safety members who perform Basic Life Support outside of their occupation or official voluntary activities.

Padraig's proud father Padraig Senior and sister Roisin were at the ceremony to see him presented with the award, while Conor was accompanied by his mother Aoife.

The citation acknowledged the actions of Padraig and Conor, saying that if they hadn't reacted as they did, going back onto the beach when they had finished their shift, that a life could have been lost.
Cracking the whip, the Election Commission on Saturday imposed a 48-hour campaigning ban on Kapil Mishra, BJP candidate from Delhi's Model Town constituency, over his controversial tweets

New Delhi: Cracking the whip, the Election Commission on Saturday imposed a 48-hour campaigning ban on BJP candidate from Delhi's Model Town constituency Kapil Mishra over his controversial tweets.

The ban order, approved by the Chief Election Commissioner and two fellow Election Commissioners, came into force from 5 pm on Saturday, EC officials said.

The order, they said, referred to Mishra's tweets of 22 and 23 January. "Delhi mein chote chote Pakistan bane (Number of mini Pakistan has been created in Delhi)", "Shaheen Bagh mein Pakistan ki entry", "India Vs Pakistan 8 February Delhi", and AAP and Congress have created Shaheen Bagh like Pakistan are some of the contents in the tweets the EC order referred to.

While Twitter had taken down one of his controversial tweets on Friday following directions of the EC, an FIR was lodged against him under section 125 of the Representation of the People Act dealing with creating enmity among classes.

The order said the poll panel was not satisfied with Mishra's reply to the show-cause notice issued to him.

It charged Mishra with violating provisions of the model code of Conduct dealing with aggravating existing differences or creating mutual hatred.

The order said the EC "condemns" the statements made by the BJP candidate and bars him from holding public meets, taking out public processions, holding rallies and roadshows giving interviews and making public utterances in electronic, print and social media.

The EC, using its powers under Article 324 of the Constitution, has barred leaders from campaigning in the past either in states or at the national level.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 05:04:56|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ISTANBUL, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and Germany are drawn together by the common fear of a new wave of migrants from Syria, experts said.

The fear pushes them to seek to preserve a multi-billion-euro deal struck four years ago that helped decrease refugee flows to Europe, they said.

On Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, head of the EU's biggest economy, met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, only a few days after the two leaders held talks in Berlin during a conference on the Libyan conflict.

During a joint a press conference in Istanbul, Merkel said her country appreciates Turkey's efforts in hosting Syrian refugees, hoping the EU will renew the migrant deal with Ankara.

She also said Germany will provide humanitarian aid for the displaced civilians of Syria's Idlib.

Erdogan warned in recent weeks that Turkey, which already hosts about 3.6 million Syrian refugees, will not be able to handle a fresh wave of migrants if Syrian-Russian attempts to retake rebel-held northern Idlib Province were to go on.

Some "400,000 migrants" were approaching toward the Turkish border to flee hostilities in Idlib, the Turkish leader warned Friday.

On the other hand, "the EU has not fully honored its promises within the migration deal, and it seems that they want to throw the issue in the lap of Turkey which has done much more of its fair share in this refugee crisis," Mustafa Nail Alkan, an expert on EU affairs from Ankara's Haci Bayram Veli University, told Xinhua.

The professor also said the EU needed to uphold the refugee deal more than Turkey.

"The deal has prevented migrants to flood into the EU and Turkey was instrumental in doing so," Alkan argued.

Turkey, which says it has spent 40 billion U.S. dollars for millions who fled Syria, is anxious that Brussels will seek to end its financial support once the second tranche runs out.

"We have the feeling that the EU is trying to wash its hands of this migration issue when the 6 billion euro is spent," Faruk Kaymakci, Turkish deputy foreign minister, told journalists, adding the refugee crisis is far from being over yet.

"Turkey cannot handle a new refugee wave from Syria. Our country will not carry this migration burden alone," Erdogan warned repeatedly.

Accessions talks, which were launched between Ankara and Brussels in 2005, are currently in limbo, as the European bloc is strongly divided on how to maintain a relationship with Turkey which is seen by most European nations as a buffer state of strategic importance.

Turkey's willingness to be further involved in the Libyan conflict, siding militarily with the internationally recognized government in Tripoli and a dispute between Turkey, Greece and Cyrus over energy reserves in Eastern Mediterranean could also have an impact on new negotiations, according to observers.

"We think the EU has made efforts but these are not enough. There should have been more support from European nations to Turkey's efforts to host such a huge community of migrants," a Turkish source close to the government told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
negative pregnancy test instagram post

Instagram/Tara Engelberg

A woman posted a picture of her negative pregnancy test on Instagram after 1,200 days of trying to conceive.

Tara Engelberg wrote an incredibly moving and emotional caption about how hard infertility is, and it's resonated with women around the world.

"I wish there were adequate words to express the deep heartache and frustration of infertility because my words never seem to do justice to all the heaviness in my heart," she wrote.

Engelberg told Insider she wishes "people understood the deep level of the emotional, physical, and financial toll of infertility."

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

A woman has won praise for sharing a picture of her negative pregnancy test online after trying to conceive for nearly 1,200 days.

Holistic nutrition therapist Tara Engelberg, 33, posted the image on Instagram alongside a heartfelt and moving post about her infertility struggles.

"Another negative pregnancy test. Another period. Another reminder that for whatever reason, we cannot get pregnant," she wrote.

"I sometimes wish there was a video camera to show the nightmare that is infertility," she wrote. "How after the first sighting of a new period that I somehow have to muster up the courage to tell my husband that once again, we won't be pregnant this month.

"It's a scene all too familiar in my home. It is a scene that is followed by grief and utter heartbreak. Where my husband and I hold each other close as we mourn this unbearable journey.

"It is the part where we allow ourselves to release our pain and then try to figure out how we are going to pick ourselves back up and get through this. It is the part where I wipe away my tears, put on fresh makeup, and then go back out into the world and act like we haven't been bruised and broken from this fight."

Infertility is described as the inability for couples of reproductive age to conceive after a year of trying, according to the World Health Organisation.

Story continues

Engelberg and her husband, who are based in Denver, Colorado, have been trying to conceive naturally for over three years, and the "mama in waiting" has been documenting her journey on Instagram to raise awareness about the process and how hard it is.

"After each negative pregnancy test, I somehow gather the courage and the hope to try again," she wrote. "But after nearly 1200 days of trying, something inside changes. That hope that used to flow through my body so powerfully diminishes a little more each month."

Engelberg explained that she was now at a point where she would start undergoing medical procedures in the hope of getting pregnant:

"After this failed cycle, we have come to understand that our next step will require needles, hormones, and meds I cannot even pronounce. It is the step that requires even more physical, emotional, and financial strength. It is the step we were praying we would never need, but we are so grateful to have.



"But the truth is we are tired and we are drained. We are emotionally exhausted and scared out-of-our-minds. We never thought becoming parents would be this hard, and we never imagined our mountain to climb would be so large.

"I wish there were adequate words to express the deep heartache and frustration of infertility because my words never seem to do justice to all the heaviness in my heart. All I know is that nobody deserves this struggle, this fight. I have to believe there is a reason for this journey, and that somehow it will all be alright."

Engelberg wasn't always so open about her infertility though.

"For two years, my husband and I kept our struggle a secret," she told Insider. "We were shy and a little embarrassed by our struggle to conceive. No one was talking about infertility, and it was difficult for us to open up with others about it. It was a very isolating and lonely experience, and I hit rock bottom.

"When we finally started talking about our infertility, we realized how healing it was for us, and how important it is to start the conversation.

"We hope our struggles will raise infertility awareness and help support others going through this incredibly difficult struggle as well. I don't want anyone to feel alone during this journey. I want people to know that they can come to me, and it's okay to talk about infertility."

The incredibly emotional message of her post hit home with many women, and after being shared on Instagram by Motherly, Engelberg received messages of support from all over the world.

"My heart is breaking for you and for the mommas who are at this point," wrote Amber Walgamott. "We struggled so much after our miscarriage and literally two days before putting in an adoption application I got pregnant.

"Praying it's fast and that you have a network of support and that what you are feeling and going through is real. So cry your tears and scream girl but you are stronger than you even know every time you pick yourself up off the floor."

Many shared their own stories.

"It took us 7 years of negative pregnancy tests and 1 positive test that ended in a miscarriage," commented Yara Bistrain. "I was approaching my 40th birthday and finally came to terms with the fact that we would not have kids.

"I truly think it was the relief I gave myself to just accept our current state at that time that let me conceive. I was shocked since it wasn't planned but that's how life seems to work."

Engelberg told Insider she never imagined the post would receive such a huge response.

"When I added this post to Instagram I hoped that somebody would resonate and find a connection with it, but I had no idea it would reach and touch the number of people that it has," she said.

"I have been deeply moved by the outpouring amount of love and encouragement I have seen, and I am also touched to see such a powerful community of warriors come together to support one another and begin this important conversation."

Engelberg said she will continue to raise awareness about the difficulty some women face getting pregnant:

"I wish people understood the deep level of the emotional, physical, and financial toll of infertility. It impacts a person's everyday life and changes everything from lifestyle decisions to financial obligations to personal relationships and beyond.

"It is a difficult, life-changing experience lived by millions of everyday warriors. There are so many ways to support people going through infertility, and I encourage everyone to learn more about the ways to help their loved ones this difficult journey."

Read more:

A woman faked being pregnant to avoid paying the excess baggage fee at an airport, but she got caught

I gained weight from comfort food after my miscarriage. How can I get back to feeling like myself again?

33 of the most heartwarming, funny, and intimate award-winning wedding images from around the world

Read the original article on Insider
BANGKOK - When Myanmars Aung San Suu Kyi walked into the International Court of Justice last month, she gambled the remaining shreds of her hard-won international reputation on a rebuttal of accusations that her countrys military committed genocide against minority Rohingya Muslims.

The court was not persuaded. This past week, it ordered Myanmar to take all possible measures to prevent genocide against the Rohingya.

Suu Kyis willingness to defend human rights abuses on the global stage was a move more likely aimed at burnishing her nationalist credential at home rather than swaying the court.

For her former admirers, Suu Kyis defence only underlined her responsibility for failing to at least speak out in defence of the Rohingya.

With this ICJ ruling, she has suffered a spectacular fall from grace, said Bill Richardson, a former U.S. congressman and U.N. ambassador. She has gone from a Nobel Prize champion of democracy to just another dictator wanting to maintain her power by defending military repression, genocide, and the banishment of the Rohingya.

After taking the helm of Myanmars nascent pro-democracy movement in 1988, Suu Kyis brave defiance of military rule, at high personal cost, made her the object of worldwide adulation. She won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, cited for being one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Asia in recent decades.

When her nonviolent struggle finally paid off in 2015 with a smashing election victory by her National League for Democracy party, there was optimism that Myanmar had finally turned a corner after decades of military rule.

Former President Barack Obama commended Suu Kyi for her tireless efforts and sacrifice over so many years to promote a more inclusive, peaceful, and democratic Myanmar.

Then came the crackdown.

In 2017, Myanmar security forces launched a counterinsurgency operation in western Rakhine state that, compelling evidence shows, involved mass rape, killings and the burning of entire villages. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, reluctant to return until their basic rights including citizenship are guaranteed.

As the magnitude of the Rohingya tragedy emerged, 1984 Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu felt compelled to appeal to Suu Kyi.

My dear sister: If the political price of your ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep, the South African wrote in an open letter.

We pray for you to speak out for justice, human rights and the unity of your people. We pray for you to intervene, he wrote.

Richardson is less diplomatic in expressing his dismay.

He had accepted Suu Kyis invitation to join an advisory board on the Rakhine crisis. But in early 2018, when he suggested to Suu Kyi that two Reuters reporters arrested for exposing abuse by the security forces be released, she reacted furiously. Disillusioned, he quit the board.

I could see the reformer and former champion of democracy ... turning into a power-loving and entrenched leader, he said. She was becoming an apologist for the military so she could hold onto her power and get reelected. She simply could not tolerate any dissent, even from her longtime friends and supporters like myself.

Myanmars government spokesman Zaw Htay rejected multiple phone calls Saturday seeking comment on the criticism.

Ahead of this weeks court ruling, Suu Kyi wrote an op-ed in the Financial Times newspaper in which she said international condemnation had a negative effect on efforts to make progress in Rakhine.

It has undermined painstaking domestic efforts to establish co-operation between the military and the civilian government, she wrote. It hampers our ability to lay the foundation for sustainable development in a very diverse country.

Political realities play an important role in Suu Kyis position. Despite her partys landslide election victory, the military retains huge influence in government due to clauses it inserted in the constitution. She has no direct control over the security forces.

To exercise real power, her party must mobilize popular and electoral support.

After she led her countrys delegation at the initial hearings last month at the International Court of Justice, she returned to Myanmar to cheering crowds lining the streets.

Undoubtedly, ahead of an election year, her decision to personally defend the case, making it about her, and using it as an opportunity to whip up nationalism, has boosted her public support ahead of an election year, wrote Burma Campaign UK, a lobbying group that had been her ally against military rule.

Theres also a more personal aspect to Suu Kyis predicament, some expert say.

Her father, Gen. Aung San, was the countrys independence hero. She was only 2 years old when he was assassinated by political rivals in 1947, a year before freedom from Britain.

Although she talks a lot about democracy, I think she has a more messianic concept of her present and future role, based on her fathers reputation, David Steinberg, a professor of Asian Studies at Georgetown University, said in an email interview last month.

Suu Kyi entered Myanmars politics in 1988, when she returned from a life spent mostly abroad to nurse her dying mother. She became swept up in a popular revolt against military rule, and shot to fame as her fathers daughter with a speech to hundreds of thousands of people.

Her moral authority in Myanmar is predicated on the aura of her father and what he represents, and in the fact that she came in to save the country in 1988 and endured so many years under house arrest, said Jane Ferguson, a senior lecturer in anthropology at The Australian National University.

Asked once in a BBC interview about her reputation as a saintly figure, Suu Kyi replied: I am just a politician. I am not quite like Margaret Thatcher, no, but on the other hand, I am no Mother Teresa either. I have never said that I was. Mahatma Gandhi, actually, was a very astute politician.
A corner of Canadas stock market has been hit by the spread of a deadly virus that originated in China.

While the nation hasnt reported any cases, the coronavirus thats sickened hundreds of people and prompted travel lockdowns comes at a delicate time for the slowing Canadian economy. Air Canada is poised for its worst week since January 2016, while two of the nations market pillars  energy and mining  took a beating.

Markets have been jittery all week as health authorities around the world attempt to halt the diseases spread. The coronavirus has the potential to slow growth, just as the SARS outbreak did 17 years ago, said Frances Donald, Toronto-based global chief economist at Manulife Investment Management. Bank of Canada officials have recently expressed heightened concern about an economic slowdown, and revised near-term growth projections.

Air Canada plunged about nine per cent on the week. During the SARS outbreak from 2002-2003, travellers avoided Toronto, the airlines main hub, after the World Health Organization imposed a travel advisory due to an outbreak in the nations biggest city.

Oil and gas stocks including Baytex Energy Corp. and Enerplus Corp. tumbled as oil sold off amid fears that the virus will cripple fuel demand from China just as markets struggle with adequate supplies. Lundin Mining Corp., Taseko Mines Ltd. and Teck Resources Ltd. paced losses in industrial metal miners as the price of copper sinks as concerns that global growth could slow heighten.

Should the disease become an epidemic, it could drag down consumer discretionary stocks: Canada goose Holdings Inc. and Gildan Activewear Inc. could see a decline in earnings.

On the flip side, Maple Leaf Foods Inc. could fetch higher pork prices should the virus hit animal products in China, creating a deficit.

Imax Corp., a Mississauga, Ont.-based company listed in the U.S., confirmed the temporary closure of about 70,000 theatres in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Its stock slumped about 13 per cent this week.

With assistance from Aoyon Ashraf, Shelly Hagan, Michael Bellusci and Esteban Duarte.

Read more about:
The Senate spectator gallery was unexpectedly half-empty throughout the first week of President Donald Trump's historic impeachment trial.

The Senate trial began on January 16 after Trump was impeached in the House on two articles stemming from accusations that he withheld military aid money from US ally Ukraine until they conducted an investigation into presidential hopeful Joe Biden.

Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma told New York Post: 'Im really surprised at that because this is kind of historic and I would think this would be an opportunity for people to get in there regardless of whose side you are on.'

The Senate spectator gallery gives interested individuals a bird's eye view of the senators debating whether Trump should become the third president to be formally removed from office.

Journalists are not allowed to bring cameras or cell phones into the gallery, so the low audience turnout is only known by people who have direct access to the chamber.

Pictured: a sketch of the spectator gallery during the impeachment trial this week that shows several empty seats

Republican Sen. James Inhofe (center) said he's shocked that people are missing this 'historic' impeachment trial and 'he would think this would be an opportunity for people to get in there regardless of whose side you are on'

A handful of Republicans blame the lackluster turn out on the tedious opening remarks from their Democratic colleagues.

'Well, if I had a choice Id probably be home watching Chicago PD,' said Sen. Pat Roberts, who underwent back surgery in August.

He added: 'No, dont put that in there or that would make me sound terrible.'

Sen. Rand Paul, who's taken up crossword puzzles to entertain himself, said: 'You know, 28 hours of hearing the same thing over and over again isnt all that exciting. '

On Wednesday, Paul tweeted a photo of a gallery ticket and invited Trump to be his guest.

Senators are shocked that the gallery inside the chamber was at least half-empty during the first week of the impeachment trial

Republican Sen. Paul Rand (pictured) said: 'You know, 28 hours of hearing the same thing over and over again isnt all that exciting' and invited Trump to be his guest during the trial

Some Democrats say televising the proceedings and accessibility are playing a role in the empty gallery seats.

Sen. Jack Reed said: 'Because its on television, its a convenient alternative to coming in.'

'I dont think the average person thinks that it would be easy to come and watch,' Sen. Chris Coons said.

Pictured: The US Senate chamber room with a view of the spectator gallery overhead

Most Senate gallery tickets are distributed through individual Senate Offices that get between three to five tickets that allows audiences to watch in half-hour seating blocks.

The tickets can be used by multiple people, including constituents and staff, who use shifts. Some Senate offices say they have a strong interest and offer shifts up to one hour.

Sen. Patrick Leahy revealed his tickets 'have all been used.'

The Senate Sergeant at Arms determines rules for Senate chamber, but did not say how gallery seating is managed.

Some seats have had very little guests this week, including both corners in the east side of the chamber.

According to a Senate aid, a section that seats around 100 people and is known as the family gallery is usually reserved for relatives of senators. It's possible Senate offices have varying policies for those tickets.

Republican Sen. Mike Rounds points towards a ban on not-taking outside a press section was unappealing to to Senate staff.

'They can do more work in the office where they have an ability to take notes,' Rounds said.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Democrat from Ohio, wondered if Senate Republicans who tightened rules for the trial and on reported access could be a reason.

Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware wishes the Senate gallery would be more accessible to the public and says experiencing the trial in person is different than watching on TV

Brown said: 'Ive gotta think, a lot of student groups are here, a lot of individuals are here, tourists are here. People would love to be part of this.'

Coons added that while the Senate Sergeant at Arms and Capitol Police 'have a job to keep us safe', 'the gallery should be accessible.'

'I have four tickets and were happy to rotate them out. Ive had a whole bunch of Delawareans come down and watch in the gallery,' Coons said.

'And thats encouraging because it is a different experience watching it in the chamber than watching it on TV.'

Although the impeachment trial will continue into into the following weeks, it is widely speculated that Trump will be acquitted.

Republicans hold the majority of seats, with many of them having already announced their intentions to acquit the president.


(Photo: 5 Spots You Can't Miss When Visiting NYC)

In 2018, about 65.2 million people ended up taking a trip to and visiting New York City.

If you want to join these millions of people, you may be wondering what you should do when you get there.

If you have a trip to New York City planned, there are some spots you absolutely must-see. Check out these five attractions when visiting NYC.

1. Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Met, was founded in 1870 and is one of the most famous museums. The collections here have over two million works of art, so you will be able to spend a lot of time here.

There are three different sites that make up the Met, and each site has its own collection. Make sure you check out their website to help you make the most out of your visit.

2. 9/11 Memorial and Museum

In place of the Twin Towers, the Freedom Tower now stands. This is the One World Trade Center, and it is one of the defining points of Lower Manhattan.

You can visit this site to see the 9/11 Memorial and Museum to really learn about the tragedy that defined America's history. You will be able to honor the sacrifice of 3,000 people and learn about the people who made a difference with helping.

3. Brooklyn Bridge

To really feel like a New Yorker, you have to experience the Brooklyn Bridge. You can either take a car or taxi across it, but walking on the elevated pedestrian walkway is also an amazing way to experience.

This steel suspension bridge was built in 1883 and connects lower Manhattan to Brooklyn.

If you enjoy the views and the busy city, make sure you check out house rentals to potentially make New York City your new home.

4. Times Square

Times Square is a classic that you need to make sure you visit while you're there. Whether you go during the day or the evening, there is bound to be something going on.

If you want a truly memorable experience, you can also head there to hang out at New York's New Year's Eve Celebration and watch the famous ball drop at midnight.

If you're not there during that time, however, there is still plenty for you to see and do.

5. The High Line

Lastly, you'll want to make sure you visit the High Line.

This is ab abandoned freight railway line that was taken over by nature and turned into one of the city's best parks.

The tracks run above the West Side streets and along with buildings that are covered with all kinds of greenery and beautiful landscaping.

If you love taking pictures, you definitely have to pay a visit here to see nature and urban life coincide.

Learn More About What to Do When Visiting NYC

When visiting NYC, you will probably be overwhelmed with how many things there are to do and see.

Doing your research before you go will really help you better plan out your itinerary.

If you enjoyed this article, make sure you check out our website for others just like it!

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Almost a year after Evan Smith proposed to Morgan Lolar, the Temptation Island couple has seemingly parted ways after cheating allegations. While Morgan has been more public about her grieving process, Evan has stayed off social media. He recently returned to Instagram to show off his new half-sleeve tattoo.

Morgan Lolar, Evan Smith | Mario Perez

Evan Smith and Morgan Lolar seemingly broke up

The couple first met on USA Networks Temptation Island, where Evan Smith arrived with his longtime girlfriend, Kaci Campbell. Even though he originally came to the island to prove his loyalty to Kaci, he quickly fell for Morgan after he chose her for the second date.

Their relationship progressed, and Evan asked Morgan to be his girlfriend, before breaking up with Kaci. Additionally, Evan declined to send Kaci a 30-second video and explain that he wanted to end the relationship.

Therefore, Kaci found out about his feelings towards Morgan in clips at weekly bonfires. Even so, she didnt move on and pursue any of the guys in the house as she still wanted to stay with Evan. However, at their Final Bonfire, Evan expressed he wanted to leave the island with Morgan, breaking Kacis heart.

Here's to finding new love where you least expect it #TemptationIsland pic.twitter.com/Rs8z3ctQLB  Temptation Island USA (@TemptationTV) March 27, 2019

After the show, Evan moved to Arlington, Virginia and lived with Morgan, and then proposed to her only six months later in March 2019. The couple were seemingly happy and in love until Morgan suddenly wiped all pictures including Evan, from her Instagram account on January 2, 2020.

She avoided questions about the potential breakup and even uploaded a photo of her wearing her ring to her Instagram story. However, a week later, she confirmed the rumors and accused her fiance of cheating.

The two announced they were moving to California together, and Morgan tweeted she was packing up her house and driving across the country only a few days before she made the cheating accusations.

Is it ever okay for an ENGAGED man to leave his fiance across the country to work but actually has nightly sleepovers with 21yo Instagram models? Oh, and his phone happens to die every night at the same time. I know, Im a dumb ass and everyone saw it coming, but me #played  Morgan Lolar (@morganlolar) January 11, 2020

However, she still seems to live in Virginia while Evan is in California, allegedly having nightly sleepovers with 21-year-olds and ignoring Morgan.

A couple of weeks after the former cheerleader announced the assumed breakup, both couples had removed their names from their Instagram bios, deleted the saved stories from their time on Temptation Island, and unfollowed each other on all social media platforms.

Evan still has his pictures with Morgan visible on his account, except for one announcing their engagement.

Evan Smith got a tattoo amid breakup

While Morgan has been incredibly vocal with her feelings regarding the possible breakup, Evan has remained relatively quiet. He hasnt been active on Twitter since Christmas Eve, when they were last on good terms, and hasnt uploaded anything to his Instagram.

On January 22, 2020, Evan returned from his Instagram hiatus and uploaded a picture of his new half-sleeve tattoo, which featured a wolf and flowers, to his story. He didnt explain why he chose a wolf, but common interpretations are the animal symbolizes strength, power, and resilience.

Although Evan has a few other tattoos including the phrase, I am my brothers keeper on his side, and the date his father passed away in Roman Numerals on his wrist, the half-sleeve is seemingly his largest tattoo as of yet.
A Border Force cutter vessel heads out of the Port of Dover in Kent (Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)

A small boat carrying 28 migrants has been intercepted in the English Channel by Border Force officials.

Authorities were alerted to a small boat travelling towards the UK off the coast at Dover in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Dozens of migrants have sought to travel across Channel this week, despite warnings from authorities against crossing the busy shipping lanes and dangerous waters.

At around 5.30am, a Border Force vessel was called to assist a boat entering UK waters, which was carrying a group of 26 males and two females who have presented themselves as Pakistani, Afghan, Iraqi, Iranian and Syrian nationals.

[#operations] Sauvetage de 8 migrants au large de Stella Plage (62) recuperes par le patrouilleur cotier de gendarmerie maritime Aramis avec l'aide de la SNSM de Berck (credits photo : gendarmerie maritime)

https://t.co/qN7c8ebHRZ pic.twitter.com/gGMQrkY7b4  Prefecture maritime Manche et mer du Nord (@premarmanche) January 25, 2020

The group was taken to Dover, where they were medically assessed, before being interviewed by immigration officials.

Tony Eastaugh, Home Office Director for Crime & Enforcement, said the UK was working in tandem with French and Belgian authorities to tackle illegal migrant crossings.

We have extra patrols on French beaches, drones, specialist vehicles and detection equipment which has been deployed to stop small boats leaving European shores, he said.

Across the Channel, the French coastguard said it was alerted to a group of migrants near the seaside resort of Stella Plage, near Le Touquet in northern France, in the early hours of Saturday morning.

At around 1.55am, the eight migrants were found in a boat with a damaged engine, according to Premar Manche, which monitors the Channel.

The group was taken to Boulogne-sur-Mer at 5.10am with mild hypothermia, before being handed over to border police, according to the coastguard.

A group of 12 migrants, who presented themselves as Iranian nationals, were intercepted as they travelled across the Channel on Friday morning, while French authorities confirmed earlier that day that a further 11 migrants were intercepted off the coast of Calais.

On Thursday, seven men who presented themselves as Syrian nationals were intercepted by Border Force and taken to the UK.
Dressing Room 1 Productions will return to Kilkenny for a second national Irish tour of the hilarious play Dirty Dusting, starring the inimitable Mary Byrne of X Factor.

Watergate Theatre Kilkenny will host the hillarious comedy on Saturday, February 22.

Hold onto your seats, arriving with a bang this wild new comedy about a trio of 70-something cleaners face the axe.

Well instead of taking threats of redundancy lying down, these game girls set up a phone sex service and thats when the fun begins.

These three girls will have you rolling in the aisles as they turn into 'telephone belles' - their bosses dont know about it, their families would never guess and their very willing customers are none the wiser.

Round up your friends for a hilarious night out starring X Factors Mary Byrne alongside Linda Mc Carthy, Nicole Banim Butler and David Delaney.

The show is directed by Richard Mansworth, a young up and coming Producer/Director who has already brought many productions to the stage with sell out audiences!

Be shocked, delighted and amused by the only chat-line girls with dusters, attitude and their very own bus passes!

Pure theatrical Viagra? It probably is for those who might just need the real thing!

Crude? Yes! Funny? Absolutely! If you love Mrs. Browns Boys come and meet their match in this must-see comedy of the year!

Written by Ed Waugh and Trevor Wood, Dirty Dusting is directed by Richard Mansworth, with choreography by Ruth Maher.

The show has enjoyed phenomenal success in the UK.

After enjoying sell out runs and over 25,0000 people having enjoyed the play, Dirty Dusting was written by two UK journalists Ed Waugh and Trevor Wood.

In 2006 the show came to Ireland and played sell-out runs in Limerick and Waterford along with a 4 week sell-out season at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, the show has played 3 further Irish seasons and tours.

For more information see individual venue websites or see Dressing Room 1  Productions Facebook page.
VK Vijayakumar

As Philosopher George Santayana famously said, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' So, let us try to learn from the market lessons of the past decade.

The star performer of the past decade was, by far, the United States of America. The S&P 500 delivered growth of 250 percent translating into an impressive CAGR of 11.2 percent. The Nifty delivered 9 percent CAGR. Gold delivered 9 percent (4 percent appreciation + 5 percent Rupee depreciation).

As always, the past decade too witnessed high volatility across asset classes during different time periods. An important irrational trend was the bubble in mid and small-caps in 2017 and the inevitable crash that followed.

The market returns in India were lower than our historical averages. It is a fact that a 9 percent return is not good enough to compensate for the risk premium that investors are paying to invest in stocks. The relevant question is: what caused this relatively lower return and what do the markets have in store for the present decade?

An important point to note is that during the past decade the market exactly replicated earnings growth. Nifty delivered 9 percent earnings growth and the market delivered 9 percent returns. The returns were depressed during the last five years of the decade and this pulled down the decadal returns. Therefore, the key to superior earnings lies in higher GDP growth and corporate earnings growth.

It is also important to appreciate the fact that many stocks and mutual fund schemes delivered spectacular returns during the past decade, in spite of the average performance of the market as a whole.

Among Nifty stocks, Bajaj Finance, Eicher Motors, Britannia and Titan delivered 63 percent, 42 percent, 34 percent and 33 percent CAGR respectively; while Vedanta, NTPC, ONGC and Tata Steel delivered negative returns of 9 percent, 5 percent, 5 percent and 2 percent respectively.

Many mutual funds impressively outperformed their benchmarks, some of them delivered above 400 percent decadal return. This trend of outperformance and underperformance by some stocks and mutual funds will be repeated.



Asset allocation and rebalancing are important. When an asset class becomes overvalued, like mid and small-caps in 2017, move away from them.



Diversification across asset classes is important. Remember, gold delivered the same returns as equity.



Geographical diversification can be rewarding. Investment in the US equities through mutual funds gave impressive returns.



So, what are the important takeaways from the last decade?

Learning from history will be a rewarding investment experience.

The author is Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services

: The views and investment tips expressed by investment expert 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.
Islamabad [Pakistan], Jan 25 (ANI): Indian Charge d'Affaires in Islamabad Gaurav Ahluwalia on Saturday expressed hope that India and Pakistan will continue to work towards creating a better future for their people.



"We hope India and Pakistan, having attained freedom at the same time, will continue to work towards creating a better future for the people of the two countries," Ahluwalia said here.

The relations between India and Pakistan have been far from cordial in recent times with the two countries often being at loggerheads with each other.

The relations between Pakistan and India worsened last year following the Pulwama terror attack. On February 14, over 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a fidayeen attack on the force's convoy in Jammu and Kashmir. Later that month, India carried out an airstrike at a JeM training camp in Balakot in Pakistan, eliminating a "large number" of terrorists.

The very next day, Pakistani jets violated Indian air space. However, India foiled an attempt by the Pakistan Air Force to carry out strikes on its military installations. In the air skirmish, India lost a MiG-21 fighter jet while PAF lost a much-advanced F-16.

Several months down the line the two nations were again at loggerhead after India abrogated Article 370 on August 5. The Article gave special rights to Jammu and Kashmir on August 5. Pakistan expressed serious reservations over New Delhi's action.

Islamabad cut off all the diplomatic ties with India and went on a drive to involve the international community in the matter. India contended that the abrogation of Article 370 was an internal matter and categorically told Islamabad to not create an issue.

Since then, Pakistan has also passed statements on internal actions taken by the Indian government like the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019.

Moreover, New Delhi has refused to engage in any kind of talks with Islamabad until the latter take action against terrorist organisations operating from its soil. (ANI)


UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday signed the historic withdrawal agreement for the United Kingdom to leave European Union on January 31. According to media reports, the Prime Minister hailed the signing of the agreement as 'fantastic moment' and said that he hoped it would end the years of division and arguments. The document was first signed by the European Union officials Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, which was then brought to London by a train from Brussels.

Read: 'I Believe I Can Fly': Prince Harry, Boris Johnson's Image Becomes New Internet Sensation

Historic signing

Media reports suggest that Boris Johnson used the Parker fountain pen to sign the agreement, as is a tradition for all ceremonial signings at 10 Downing Street. Prime Minister's chief negotiator David Frost was present at the ceremony, while EU and other Foreign Office officials were also present. According to the international press, it was witnessed that European Union officials were sombre while signing the document in contrast to Boris Johnson, who was looking more enthusiastic than ever.

Read: Queen Elizabeth II Approves UK PM Boris Johnson's Brexit Bill

Today I have signed the Withdrawal Agreement for the UK to leave the EU on January 31st, honouring the democratic mandate of the British people.



This signature heralds a new chapter in our nations history. pic.twitter.com/IaGTeeL2is  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) January 24, 2020

In Brussels, European Council's president Charles Michel and the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen signed the agreement in presence of the blocs chief negotiator, Michel Barnier. The document was sent across the channel via a Eurostar train and after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed the agreement, the original copy of it was brought back to the Brussels and reportedly, it will be kept in the archive along with other historic international agreements.

Read: UK PM Boris Johnson Doesn't Know What Shampoo He Uses, Netizens End Up Pulling Their Hair

According to few media reports, the historic document runs nearly 600 pages that include citizens' rights, United Kingdom's 33 billion financial obligations to the bloc and arrangements established for maintaining an open border on the island of Ireland, which comes under the Northern Ireland protocol. The historic agreement received royal assent from the Queen on Thursday and under the agreement the United Kingdom will leave the EU on the midnight of January 31. After leaving the EU officially, the transition period will begin and Prime Minister Boris Johnson will have to negotiate a deal with the bloc before it ends in late 2020.

Read: Boris Johnson Hails 'new Chapter' As He Signs EU Divorce Treaty
The City of Surrey issued a notice to Uber Friday to stop operating by 9 p.m. or face fines.

Councillor Jack Hundial said council did not receive a copy of the notice but he confirmed the news with city staff.

The reasoning is that Uber, which just began operating Friday morning in the Lower Mainland after years of delays, does not have the proper business licence to operate in Surrey, Hundial said.

"I don't see how the city would be able to enforce it," he said.

Hundial said there are "a few hundred" businesses operating in the city without licences due to expiration and other factors. He said the city is capable of issuing licences to businesses quickly or providing a grace period.

Hundial said he was not sure whether Uber complied with the notice and ceased its operations in the city by 9 p.m., but said he supports ride-hailing.

"I was excited this morning. Like a lot of people, finally, it's coming here," he said. "But we're up against a mayor who supports his friends and really not what the people of Surrey are wanting.

"I just want to see the City of Surrey get the same benefits of ride share that every other city in the region is benefiting from."

In a statement issued by Uber, the company wrote that "Surrey has requested that Uber pause operations, but we respectfully decline. No other city is taking this approach."

"The Passenger Transportation Board and the provincial government have given Uber all necessary licences authorizing Uber to continue operating across Metro Vancouver and in the City of Surrey. We look forward to working with all Councils on a path forward for the regional licencing of this new industry," Uber's head of western Canada Michael van Hemmen wrote in the statement.

Surrey mayor reasserts opposition

As ride-hailing operators Uber and Lyft began picking up passengers for the first time in the Lower Mainland on Friday morning, Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum reiterated his opposition to ride-hailing.

Story continues

"What continues to be my chief concern is the unfair advantage that has been created without any regard as to how it will impact those who are employed in the taxi industry. It is no secret that a large percentage of cab drivers live in Surrey," he said.

Surrey businesses can be subject to a $500 fine if they do not have an operating licence, Hundial said.

"They can expedite business licences if they choose to," he said. "So it's really up to the city now to sort of decide what they're wanting to do with Uber operators."

Ben Nelms/CBC

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure said municipalities can set requirements for business licences for ride-hailing operators but provincial laws prohibit blocking ride-hailing altogether.

In a statement Friday night, Rob Costanzo, general manager of corporate services for the City of Surrey, said staff told Uber that council has not yet come to a decision on how it wants to deal with ride-hailing business licences.

"Until a decision is made on this regard, ride-hailing companies are precluded from operating within Surrey's boundaries," he said.


I went out on a limb with a guy who said he was Christian, which I would never normally swipe yes on. He described his beliefs as I dont necessarily believe in a God. I dont believe in heaven. With my strong understanding of Christian beliefs, I knew he wasnt really a Christian. So we went out.

And now were official and have fun theological conversations that I never expected!

 Laurel Westendorf, 32, Bend, Ore.



The few times I tried to talk to someone conservative it ended in an argument.

One guy basically told me he didnt care if peoples rights were being taken away because his 401(k) was amazing. Also another guy argued that global warming was not real and created so scientists could make money.

While I was very hesitant online to match with someone who voted for Trump, I did end up meeting my current boyfriend through friends and he did vote for Trump but will not do so again. We dont agree on many things politically, which can be challenging, but we are able to have good discussions and challenge each other.

 Heather MacLachlan, 31, Lakewood, Ohio

When Trump enters the equation

In the past, I was more open to dating a conservative Republican. In the age of Trump, though, Ive learned its best not to go there. We simply aggravate each other, and thats no way to start a relationship.

Ive had several conservative men tell me that they like dating a liberal woman, that they think its spicy and exciting.
Claris Park, front and center, acts in a scene along with Kimie Muroya, left, and Annie Fang during a rehearsal for 'Man of God,' a play about how four Korean American Christian girls discover a hidden camera in their bathroom, at the InterAct Theatre at the Drake on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020. Read more

When playwright Anna Moenchs friend told her about a disturbing incident that happened in Los Angeles Korean American community  a pastor had placed a camera in a young womens hotel room on a college ministry mission trip  it caught her attention.

Moench, who is originally from Baltimore and identifies as mixed-race Asian American, was interested in exploring the impact of the male gaze at the moment when teenage girls become aware of it.

Women are very aware of how men see them in the world, that we are in a world where we are being watched, Moench said. Something that Ive always thought about is that moment in every girls life where you become aware of this reality. Its a very sobering and strange experience.

Moench ended up writing Man of God, a dark comedy loosely based on the incident, about four Korean American Christian teenage girls  Mimi, Jen, Samantha, and Kyung-Hwa  who travel to Bangkok for a mission trip, only to find a camera in their bathroom.

The play is making its Philadelphia premiere in an InterAct Theatre Company production that opens Wednesday at the Drake (through Feb. 16) after preview performances this weekend and on Tuesday. Actors Annie Fang, Kimie Muroya, Claris Park, and Stephanie Kyung Sun Walters play the young women. Justin Jain is the pastor.

For many years, plays and musicals centering Asian American characters either failed to make it in the mainstream theater world, or were written by white playwrights and composers. But Asian American theater is gaining more attention as a new generation of writers, actors, and producers has begun creating roles that defy historical stereotypes.

Asian American playwrights such as Lauren Yee (The Great Leap) and Julia Cho (Aubergine) have made their way to prominent regional stages, and in 2017, Young Jean Lee became the first Asian American woman to see her play, Straight White Men, open on Broadway.

But for Moench, making her characters Korean American was not an issue of representation  it just felt right for the story she was trying to tell.

Korean American Christians are a unique subgroup of Americans, Moench said. Theres a specificity to that experience thats important to paint  its simultaneously important and not important that theyre Korean American. Basically, I dont think its a coincidence that it happened in this community.

She said that in the Korean American community, many people who go to churches similar to the one in the play are immigrants because its a place where they can meet people and feel less alone. In a way, Moench said, to risk losing that community is a huge cost  a dynamic she addresses in Man of God.

In this particular community, as parents of these kids, it costs a lot more to believe what the kid is saying, Moench said. The church has helped you out with things. Its more than a place where you go once a week.

But Man of God isnt meant to be a heavy play, even though it addresses tough issues like eating disorders, sexual harassment, and assault. When director Maura Krause read Moenchs play for the first time, she was actually drawn to its more fantastical elements, despite being mostly realism. She said that its darkly comic nature also caught her attention.

Plays that make you laugh your head off one moment and catch your breath in the next are really interesting to me, Krause said.

Krause said that in her staging of the play, she tries to capture the quickness and hilarity of teenage girls, which helps drive the suspense. The young characters lack of self-awareness helps them come across as genuine and funny while something difficult and disturbing is happening.

So often in our culture, the things that teenage girls love are made fun of, belittled, or dismissed, Krause said. But those are the things that they draw strength from. I really hope that when people come to the show, they think about and honor the experience of being a teenage girl. Ultimately its a hopeful one, despite being a clear-eyed depiction of this really threatening moment.

Moench said the comedic elements of the play remind the audience that survivors are still whole people who can be funny and have a good time, while dealing with difficult things. She said that in a way, the narrative of the broken woman is a damaging one.

Its not that the experience doesnt carry lifelong scars, or doesnt affect people, but sometimes the people who seem the most together and most funny deal with the hardest stuff on the inside, she said. Thats why to me, the best way to write about really hard things is to laugh. To me, you need both.

THEATER

Man of God

InterAct Theatre Co. production through Feb. 16 at the Drake, 302 S. Hicks St.

Tickets: $15-$39.

Information: 215-568-8079 or interacttheatre.org.
Heres how it works: At 7 p.m. Central time on Monday, Feb. 3, Democrats will gather in 1,678 caucus sites across the state  places such as school cafeterias, churches and libraries. For the first time, the party will also set up 90-plus satellite locations to accommodate people who work night hours or who have disabilities that prevent them from getting to regular caucus locations. Some satellite locations are also being set up for eligible Iowans in other states or overseas.
Kids today have gotten used to a sedentary lifestyle where instead of actually going out and playing, they prefer staying indoors and playing video games all day or staying hooked to their phones, and a lifestyle like this is deeming to be really toxic for them.

Whitehat Jr.

While parents have realised this and are trying to motivate kids in joining outdoor and active hobbies like sports, dancing etc. a 10-year old is trying to make kids aware of this, using an app he developed himself.



Meet C. B. Sajan from Chennai, the developer of Health Check app that raises awareness about the adverse effects of a stagnant life among kids and encourage them to live a healthy life.

While attending school, he noticed that most of his classmates similar to his age are getting affected by obesity and lethargy. He also noticed that while many apps exist to help people get fitter in their every-day activities, none of the health apps were actually designed with a focus on kids health and wellbeing and making it intuitive and simple for them to adopt a healthy lifestyle

Sajan is a part of WhiteHat Jr. platform -- an Edtech startup that teaches app development, coding to young kids in a simple, easy-to-understand manner. He decided to make an app that helped kids of his age get active and combat obesity while making kids a lot more health-conscious.

The app has a simple to use UI to make kids feel at home. The app helps kids keep track of their water consumption, BMI, and heart-rate. The app also has a built-in height-weight converter too.

Google Play Store

Karan Bajaj, Founder and CEO, WhiteHat Jr. said in a statement, Kids nowadays have an evolved sense of right and wrong, and they want to contribute in their own way to address issues in our society. Kids as young as 6-year-old can start to learn coding to prepare them for the future and like Sajan, we are already seeing many kids creating some extremely creative, high utility digital applications that will make a long-term impact on the world.



The app is available to download for free on Google Play Store.
Fridays session of the Senate impeachment trial for President Donald Trump will start at 1 p.m. Please refresh for updates.

Democrats are again expected to elaborate on their case against Trump and will make their conclusion before Trumps legal team will make their case starting on Saturday. It would take a simple majority of 51 senators to vote for more documents or to call witnesses. Previous attempts to call witnesses or subpoena documents were rejected by the Republican-held majority. Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) are leading the Houses case against Trump, while Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts oversees the trial.

9:10 p.m.  Democrats Wrap Up Opening Arguments

The House managers remarks have concluded and the impeachment trial is set to resume 10 a.m. tomorrow when Trumps legal team will begin their arguments.

Jay Sekulow, Trumps attorney, said according to The Associated Press, Were going to rebut and refute, and were going to put on an affirmative case tomorrow.

House managers claimed that the president will persist in abusing his power and threaten democracy unless Congress removes him before the 2020 election.

In concluding remarks, Schiff summarized the main points over the past three days, repeatedly following up allegations against Trump related to the two articles of impeachment with the phrase That has been proved.

The facts have been proved. Those facts are not contested. We have met our burden, he said.

He also laid out what he anticipates will be the defense teams arguments, and attempted to rebut them.

As he wrapped up his speech, Schiff appeared to appeal to the senatorswhen it comes time later in the trial for them to voteto allow further motions for subpoenaing witnesses, documents, or further evidence.

I implore yougive America a fair trial. Shes worth it, Schiff said.

5:45 p.m.  Graham Wants Investigation Into Bidens, Ukraine After Trial

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that someone should investigate the Bidens and Ukraine after the impeachment trial of Trump wraps up, The Hill reported.

Graham also added that he will carry out an investigation if an outside counsel doesnt step forward telling reporters: Nobody has done an investigation anywhere near like the Mueller investigation of the Bidens, and I think they should. And when this is over the Congress will do it, if we cant have an outside entity do it.

5:30 p.m.  Sekulow Says Hunter Biden Will be Part of Argument

The presidents counsel Jay Sekulow stated that Burisma Holdings, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his son Hunter are going to be part of Republican opening arguments on Saturday.

Why they opened up the door as wide as a double door on the Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, Burisma issue. I guess they figured that was their way of getting ahead of it, he told reporters. We will address it.

5 p.m.  Trump Pushes Back Against ABC Report

President Trump pushed back against an ABC News report that alleged he told associates of Rudy Giuliani to get rid of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

Well, I wouldnt have been saying that, Trump told Fox when he was asked about it. I probably would have said if it was Rudy there or somebody. But I make no bones about it. I wont have ambassadors, I have every right. I want ambassadors that are chosen by me.

4 p.m. Trump Lawyer: Saturdays Arguments Will Last 3 Hours

During a break, Jay Sekulow, a member of President Trumps defense team, said their arguments will be a trailer, and a coming attractions.

Obviously, three hours to put it out, so we will take whatever time is appropriate in the three hours to lay out how the case is going to look like and next week is the full presentation, he told reporters.

3:05 p.m  Graham Opposes Hunter Biden Testimony

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a key ally of President Trump, said he opposes calling former Vice President Joe Bidens son Hunter Biden to testify in the trial.

To my Republican friends, you may be upset about what happened in the Ukraine with the Bidens but this is not the venue to litigate that, he said, reported The Hill. I need some Republicans who would say, As much as I want to know more about Burisma and the Bidens, this is not the venue. Ive got to find four, he added.

Hunter Biden is a central figure in the impeachment trial as he sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma Holdings, that has been accused of corruption for years while his father was in office. President Trump, in a July 25 call with Ukraines president, made a mention to Bidens reportedly lucrative position and sought an investigation.

3 p.m.  GOP senators: Weve Discussed Q&A Part of Trial

Sens. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) told reporters that theyve discussed the question-and-answer portion of the trial.

Itll be back and forth until all questions are answered within the time slot, Braun said. If one side has more and we run out, well address that.

The way we have envisioned it is that there likely are to be multiple questions of [the] same topic, and then we would condense that like Braun and Ernst ask,' Ernst said of the next phase.

2 p.m.  Rep. Crow: Ukraine Was Extorted

It doesnt matter if extortion last two weeks or two monthsits still extortion. And Ukraine certainly felt the pressure, claimed Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.). He was speaking on the Senate floor. Trump and Ukraines president have both denied there was any quid pro quo or pressure.

Crow added: The question for you is whether it is OK for the president to withhold taxpayer money, aid for our ally, our friend at war, for a personal political benefit, whether it is OK for the president to sacrifice our national security for his own election, he continued. Its not OK to me, its certainly not OK to the American people, and it should not be OK to any of you.

1:10 p.m.  Senate Trial Starts

Chief Justice Roberts gaveled in Fridays session of the impeachment trial after 1 p.m. local time. The House managers then began the final leg of their arguments against the president, starting with Schiff and Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.).

12:57 p.m.  Collins Wrote a Note to Roberts

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she was stunned by remarks made by Nadler earlier in the week. She told Politico in an interview on Friday that she wrote a note to Justice Roberts about decorum on the Senate floor.

It reminded me that if we were in a normal debate in the Senate, that the rule would be invoked to strike the words of the senator for impugning another senator, she told Politico. So, I did write a note raising the issue of whether thered been a violation of the rules.

Nadler, during the first day of arguments, had accused Republicans in the Senate of engaging in a cover-up, which triggered a tense exchange between him and White House lead lawyer Pat Cipollone.

Roberts then admonished the two sides and called on them to show more respect to the institution.

11:45 a.m.  Schumer: Democrats Set High Bar

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a morning press conference that House managers set a high bar for Trumps team to reach.

He then claimed that the American people continue to be overwhelmingly on our side, without elaborating.

His side also still wants more witnesses, reiterating that subpoenas for testimony would require the vote of four Republican senators and would have to be signed off by Justice Roberts.

They would be given very prompt judicial review given the urgency and the stakes of an impeachment trial, she said.

11:30 a.m.  Graham: Democrats are Professional, Repetitive

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, praised the Democrats arguments as being very respectful during an 11:30 a.m. press conference. However, he said they got repetitive after a while.

It became mind-numbing after a while, said Graham. Eventually it gets just hard to follow.

They are overtrying their case, he told reporters. I would urge them to not do that because eventually, it gets just hard to follow.

10:45 a.m.  Schedule

On Friday, ahead of the impeachment trial, several senators are slated to hold news conferences.

At 11 a.m. ET, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-Calif.) will hold a news conference to speak about the trial.

At 11:40 a.m., Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham, John Barrasso (Wyo.), Mike Bruan (Ind.), and Mike Lee (Utah) will have a news conference.

And at 12:15 p.m., President Trump will speak at the anti-abortion March for Life rally in Washington. Its unclear if he will reference impeachment.

The Senate then gavels in the impeachment session at 1 p.m.

10:30 a.m.  Trump: Lawyers Arguments Are During TV Death Valley

On Twitter, President Trump wrote that after hours of Democratic arguments in the trial, his lawyers would start their opening arguments at a time when television viewership is typically lower.

After having been treated unbelievably unfairly in the House, and then having to endure hour after hour of lies, it appears that his lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V., Trump wrote on Friday morning.

After having been treated unbelievably unfairly in the House, and then having to endure hour after hour of lies, fraud & deception by Shifty Schiff, Cryin Chuck Schumer & their crew, looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 24, 2020

From The Epoch Times
Most journalists share a couple of traits: curiosity and stubbornness. Both serve them well in the quest for information.

Investigative reporter Rob Davis spent months pursuing the public records that resulted in his article exposing questionable spending of federal funds by Douglas County officials. His experience illustrates the flaws that remain in Oregons public records law, despite recent attempts at reform.

(Photo above: The board of commissioners said our story was untrue. We responded in detail.)

The law works well in many instances. Some public bodies take their responsibility to share public information seriously, and they respond promptly, thoroughly and without charging us for the information.

And then theres Douglas County.

Oregon journalists will tell you the state public records law has two persistent problems: long delays and high fees. Legislators in 2017 attempted to fix the delays by creating new deadlines for public agencies to respond to requests.

Even so, Davis, a longtime investigative reporter, likened the current law to an old, clunky Oldsmobile. It may get you to where you want to go, in other words, but it will be a long and bumpy ride.

Davis first article on Douglas County spending came back in the fall of 2017. He revealed that the county used a set of federal funds known as Title III money to pay for a video by a group called Communities for Healthy Forests. The money, he reported, was intended to help wean rural Oregon from timber revenue. But instead the county gave the group $490,000 to create a video to push for more logging. A nonprofit that shared the video, Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities, he noted, shared an address with a timber industry lobbying group, the American Forest Resource Council.

The Title III money came from a program known as Secure Rural Schools. Oregon has received more of the funding than any other state, and Douglas County is a leading recipient in Oregon. The intent of Congress was to fund roads and schools while timber-dependent counties transitioned to new revenue sources. Most of the money goes to those basic services.

After the video story, Davis moved on to other topics, which led to the groundbreaking campaign finance series Polluted by Money. But the Douglas County situation nagged at him. Thats where the stubbornness and curiosity came in.

If the Title III money was used for a video, how much more was spent on other questionable expenses?

Davis made three formal public records requests over four months, asking for documents that would detail $43,000 in travel expenses, including costs for county officials to go to the nations capital to lobby for increased timber harvests. Again, the source of the travel funds was federal money intended to pay for wildfire planning and firefighting.

After months of saying there were no additional documents, Davis said, the county finally acknowledged it had 170 pages of records.

Its fair to characterize the responses as grudging. (When we asked about a Sunriver receipt that showed a pet fee with Title III written next to the amount, the county said Commissioner Tim Freeman makes no excuses for taking his dog. After publication, Freeman said he paid for the dog; records showed the resort refunded the money and AOC paid the cost. Accuracy is our No. 1 goal, so we forthrightly corrected our story).

The county had provided the original documentation at no cost. The catch this time? It wanted to charge nearly $2,000 for the 170 pages. The law does allow public bodies to recover their actual costs of providing records, but many do not charge the media because it is in the public interest to educate Oregonians about the workings of government.

Pressing on, Davis appealed the cost to the district attorney, an option under the records law. The district attorneys office determined the fees were reasonable, noting that The Oregonian/OregonLives parent company could afford to pay and the work would be a burden on the county.

When staff are researching and preparing public records requests, they are not able to attend to the work of the County, the order said.

Thats the problem. Responding to public records requests is the work of the county, and every public body in Oregon. Too often, government agencies treat disclosure of public information as if it is an extraneous chore, rather than a core responsibility.

Typically, when considering a fee waiver, the foremost question is whether release is in the public interest and whether the costs impede disclosure. (And our publisher noted, we  not our parent company -- are solely responsible for our expenses.)

Ive handled hundreds of public records issues over the years and believe high fees are used at times to try to make requesters go away. When Davis and his editor, Steve Suo, notified me of Douglas Countys estimated fees late last year, an old journalistic term came to mind.

Horsepucky.

Maybe it was the Christmas spirit that moved me. Or maybe my own streak of stubbornness. But I said we would pay, even though I considered it to be an outrageous amount.

Why pay? Because the public deserves to know how public officials are spending their tax dollars -- plain and simple. Davis noted the Douglas County story underscored the important public interest in disclosure laws, even as interest groups attempt to weaken them every legislative session.

A landmark 1961 Oregon Supreme Court ruling says public records should generally be accessible to members of the public so that there will be an opportunity to determine whether those who have been entrusted with the affairs of government are honestly, faithfully and competently performing their function as public servants."

Exactly right. While The Oregonian/OregonLive was willing to pay the high fees, many requesters would be deterred from seeking information their tax dollars already had paid for. We applaud the many public agencies that do not charge the media for public records. And we thank our subscribers and advertisers for supporting us in this important work we do.

Therese Bottomly is editor and vice president of content for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach her at tbottomly@oregonian.com or 503-221-8434. Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.

Correction: This post has been modified to correct the name of the group that shared an address with the American Forest Resource Council.
India and Brazil on Saturday signed 15 MoUs in various fields including cybersecurity, bioenergy and health and medicine among others, following the bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro.

An MoU on bioenergy cooperation, investment cooperation and facilitation treaty, agreement on cooperation in the field of health and medicine, cultural exchange programme for the period 2020-2024 were exchanged between the two sides.

Apart from these, an agreement on social security, MoU on cooperation in the area of cybersecurity, programme of scientific and technological cooperation for implementing the agreement on scientific and technological cooperation, MoU on cooperation in the field of geology and mineral resources, MoU between Invest India and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, Joint Declaration of Intent for cooperation in the fields of animal husbandry and dairying, and MoU on cooperation for establishing a nodal institution in India to carry out research on bio-energy were also exchanged.

The two sides also announced an agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, MoU for cooperation in the field of oil and natural gas, MoU on cooperation in the field of traditional systems of medicine and homoeopathy.

Earlier in the day, Bolsanaro met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. The Brazilian President was given a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

"Pleased to welcome the Chief Guest for #RepublicDay2020 President @jairbolsonaro of Brazil. His visit will open new opportunities for our bilateral cooperation. It also symbolises the global rebalancing underway," Jaishankar said in a tweet.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By PTI

JAIPUR: Supermodel-actor Lisa Ray whose battle with cancer is now a published book, said that it was, in fact, books that helped her sail through the "darkest period" of her life.

From the Russian literary titan Fyodor Dostoevsky, to contemporary writers like Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood, Ray said she read "copiously and indiscriminately".

"Books have played a very big role in bringing me out of the darkest period of my life. I read copiously and indiscriminately. I read Russian writers like Dostoevsky.

I also read a lot of Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood," Ray told PTI on the sidelines of the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival.

According to her, the 19th century Russian writers continue to inspire and enlighten generations and remain relevant even today because their works deal with universal themes.

The 47-year-old actor said when she was at the height of her desirability and fame in India, she cut herself off from the outside world in order to read.

"I actually disappeared, stopped taking calls, stopped accepting modelling offers and cocooned myself in my house and I read and it's a true story.

I spent three to four months locked inside my house with a pile of books," she said.

"For me, books are borderless, transcendental. The best author to me is one who writes about things which we have experienced but may not have expressed," she said.

Talking about her book "Close to the Bone", which chronicles her battle with cancer, Ray said she liked to describe it not as a memoir, but as a "travelogue with a soul".

Deliberating on her fight against cancer, she said it taught her a lot about the meaning of success.

"There is absolutely no use in money and fame when you are suffering inside and are broken, you are experiencing trauma and not heading towards healing.

That was the biggest lesson I learnt," she said. "I also learnt an interesting word that I never came across, it's called coddiwomple. It essentially means a purposeful travel towards a yet unforeseen and unknown destination. This word describes me, my book and my life. I love it and think I have coddiwompled my entire life," she said.

Ray is expected to come out with three new books over the next few years, including a novel, a collection of poems, and a work of non-fiction.
By Trend

Azerbaijani officials are in talks with Turkish colleagues to provide assistance and technical support in connection with the recent earthquake in Turkey, a source in Azerbaijans Cabinet of Ministers told Trend Jan. 25.

Consultations are conducted at various levels, both through the Turkish Embassy in Azerbaijan and directly.

At least 20 people were killed in a magnitude 6.8 earthquake that struck Jan. 24 at 20:55 (GMT +3) in Turkeys Elazig and Malatya cities, and about 1,500 people were injured.
Dear Editor:

Regarding the Jan. 5, 2020, article Ulster County Sheriffs Office works to combat fentanyl-laced drugs:

I like Sheriff Juan Figueroa and everything he stands for. He is a great asset to Ulster County and the Sheriffs Office. The office is warning the citizens of our county that the heroin, opiate pills and cocaine available here might be tainted with fentanyl.

Yet I havent heard anyone in a position of power offer any real solutions to avoid this fentanyl, other than telling residents to steer clear of common street drugs because they might be laced with it.

Let me offer a real solution that many might be reluctant to hear. Its called harm reduction. Lets face it, America has a problem with drugs. Our county is no exception. Why doesnt the Ulster County Sheriffs Office or Department of Health offer free drug-test kits that turn a drug powder a certain color if the substance contains fentanyl. It would be great if the sheriffs ORACLE (Opioid Response As County Law Enforcement) program offered these for free.

And while were at it, why dont we open up a safe-injection/needle-exchange site somewhere in the county, where intravenous drug users can dispose of used needles instead of throwing them in the street, and receive new needles so they dont have to share needles and possibly contracting diseases.

Also, police should provide the opioid overdose antidote Narcan for free to addicts and suspected addicts, as well as those they arrest for possession of opiates, who now are released almost immediately due to New Yorks new bail reform law. Police should give these individuals the tools they need to stay alive.

If it really is about saving lives, are we ready to accept as a nation, and a county, that we have a problem? And are we willing to solve this problem by any means necessary?

In memory of Francisco Borke of New Paltz, Nov. 8, 1980-Dec. 31, 2018.

Zain Eisenberg

Kerhonkson, N.Y.
I have vowed to make my administrations educational priorities  indeed, priorities in any issue area  abundantly clear. Students come first.

 Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham

Given the huge increases in funding for K-12 education last year and proposed this legislative session, the governor is right, students should come first.

So should student academic improvement.

The 2019 Legislature appropriated, and the governor approved, a 16% increase in K-12 funding (around $447 million) including a 6% raise for teachers and administrators. It brought spending on K-12 schools to more than $3 billion a year. A funding boost for teacher raises was sorely needed, as was increased spending targeted at programs that improve student learning.

Clearly, new methods are needed since just 30% of N.M. students can read at grade level and 20% can do grade-level math.

This year, the governor would increase K-12 public school spending by roughly $200 million. Proposals include additional teacher raises (3% to 10%, the latter would run around $147 million a year) and increases of $53 million to $57 million in the funding formula that provides extra money to schools and districts with a large number of at-risk students.

Whats missing is accountability.

The state changed the standardized test students take, eliminating years of longitudinal data that could show academic improvement or lack thereof. It jettisoned A-F school grades that included student performance and allowed parents to easily compare every traditional and charter school in the state. It removed student improvement from teacher evaluations, meaning teachers are now evaluated on what an adult who pops into their classroom observes rather than if students advance academically over the school year.

And this month, it dropped letter grades for the states teacher college programs, opting to focus on site visits to those colleges and universities rather than how well K-12 students improve in N.M. graduates classrooms.

A priority should be establishing a way to compare student proficiencies year to year as well as a dashboard that allows parents to compare student proficiencies at Gadsden High, Albuquerque High and Farmington High. Without this type of accountabilty, its difficult to know whether we are meeting the late Judge Sarah Singletons ruling in her landmark Yazzie-Martinez opinion.

Because high-quality, results-driven, accountable education, not just money, is whats key to improving everything in New Mexico, from childhood outcomes to the economy.

Singletons 2018 opinion found the state was not meeting its constitutional obligation to provide an adequate education to all students. She emphasized additional money must be spent on evidence-based programs and quality teachers proven to make a difference for at-risk children. That means limit administration spending to get more money to classrooms and use student results to evaluate programs and teachers.

In fact, last summer, plaintiffs returned to court, arguing the states 16% spending increase did not make it to students.

Its crucial lawmakers pass legislation ensuring additional money goes directly into classrooms and that accountability measures based on our students learning be part of this administrations priorities. Its a new year and a new session. Heres to new actions that put N.M. student learning first.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
Two new lawsuits, filed within two weeks of each other, accuse Hudson County jail staff and contractors of inadequate medical care, allegedly leading to the suicide of one inmate and permanent scarring and joint damage for the other.

The two unrelated suits both name Hudson County and CFG Health Systems, the healthcare company that formerly contracted with Hudson County jail, as defendants and request a jury trial.

The most recent suit, filed Jan. 23 in federal court in Newark, accuses Hudson County jail staff of ignoring an ICE inmates psoriasis and arthritis, delaying doctors appointments, and failing to provide medication.

The plaintiff, New York resident Geurys Sosa, spent 17 months in ICE custody in Hudson County jail starting in August 2016, according to the complaint.

"From day one, defendants provided grossly inadequate medical care to Mr. Sosa at Hudson County Correctional Center, the suit reads. Defendants should have immediately prescribed Mr. Sosa the systemic medications crucial to his treatment, referred him to the care of a rheumatologist and dermatologist, and properly recorded his diagnoses. But they failed to do all three.

According to the suit, jail officials ignored his Sosas diagnoses of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, autoimmune conditions that cause itchy, dry skin and joint pain and stiffness. Despite an urgent referral to a rheumatologist, Sosa was unable to see one for six months, the complaint says, and jail officials gave him only one months worth of medication and ineffective topical creams and shampoo and over-the-counter painkillers."

Sosas health visibly worsened, to the point where there were sores and lesions covering Mr. Sosas body and the visible swelling and abnormality in his hands, described in his medical records as claw-like, according to the complaint.

He was granted a medical release from detention in January 2018, the suit claims, but the jails inadequate medical care caused him permanent scars and significant joint damage. He is currently living in New York and is fighting the deportation order.

In addition to the county and CFG health systems, this suit names Hudson County jail and its director, medical director, health services administrator and medical staff as defendants.

The other lawsuit, filed Jan. 9 in Hudson County Superior Court, centers on the January 2018 suicide in Hudson County jail by inmate Cynthia Acosta.

Hudson County jail and CFG Health Systems staff failed to treat Acostas depression and took no steps to prevent her suicide, according to the suit, which was filed by Acostas mother.

While in the custody of the defendants, (Acosta) received no treatment for her mental illness, despite the facts that the defendants knew about her prior suicide attempt within the past three months, knew of her history of mental illness, knew of her two prior in-patient hospitalizations for her mental illness, and knew of her prior suicidal thoughts, the complaint says.

Acosta had been arrested by the North Bergen Police Department for failing to appear for a court date for a motor vehicle crime. Sources told The Jersey Journal that the charges were related to a suspended license. During her stay at Hudson County jail, the suit claims, Acosta was never placed on suicide watch. Nurses at the jail failed to review her medical records, fill her prescriptions, and arrange a psychiatric evaluation, the suit alleges. Instead, she was placed in an isolation unit that inmates referred to as the Suicide Room, the suit claims, where she hanged herself with a ripped sheet from the bed frame.

The suit also names the Hudson County Board of Freeholders, Hudson County Department of Corrections and its director, and Hudson County jail medical staff. Walter M. Luers, the Annandale attorney filing the suit, declined to comment.

CFG Health Systems executives could not be reached for comment. Hudson County spokesman James Kennelly declined to comment on the cases, saying the county does not comment on pending litigation.

The suits are the latest in a long series of legal actions filed against Hudson County jail and CFG alleging medical mismanagement. Nearly 20 inmates have died at the facility since 2013. The jail terminated its 5-year, $29 million contract with CFG in March 2018.

Marinda van Dalen, senior staff attorney for New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, who is representing Sosa, said the long history of medical mismanagement at Hudson County jail showed a pattern.

Theres really a national health crisis in correctional facilities that are holding people with serious medical conditions, she said. Weve known for decades that these facilities are not able to provide the care that people need.

This crisis needs to be addressed through reform," she added.
Cameroon Separatists Ignore Calls For Peaceful Elections

By Moki Edwin Kindzeka January 24, 2020

Separatists in Cameroon have ignored calls to allow voters in the northwest and southwest regions to vote in next month's elections. Fighters have attacked staff of the elections body ELECAM and destroyed voting materials ahead of the official launch of campaigning Saturday.

Francois Louceny Fall, representative of the U.N. secretary-general in central Africa, says Cameroonians should support their government and make the Feb. 9 elections a success.

"We are here to make an appeal to all the stakeholders in Cameroon to maintain peace and unity in this country," Fall said. "It is very, very important that the citizens of this country vote and choose those people who will represent them."

Fall was accompanied this week to Cameroon by the secretary-general of the Economic Community of Central African States (CEMAC), Chadian born Ahmed Allam-mi. Allam-mi said failure to hold elections may jeopardize efforts to bring peace to the northwest and southwest regions, where separatists have waged a war for independence since 2016.

The U.N. and CEMAC envoys arrived in Cameroon as separatist fighters in the northwest and southwest mounted roadblocks and reportedly attacked civilians seen with voter cards and election materials.

Electoral body ELECAM said its offices in the northwestern towns of Ndu, Kumbo and Ndop have been torched and some of its workers kidnapped.

Patrick Esso fled from the northwestern town of Santa, where he says clashes intensified Thursday. He says he was abducted and kept in a separatist camp for five hours because he was found with a voter card.

According to Esso, it will be impossible for the elections to take place.

"The president of the republic should call for an immediate cease-fire," he said. "I do not think that somebody will go and stand and say he wants to campaign while the country is in flames."

The military has clashed with separatists several times this week, and says it killed at least 17 insurgents.

The separatists represent English-speakers who want to secede from the rest of Cameroon and its French-speaking majority. They have vowed on social media that no election will take place in the English-speaking regions they call Ambazonia.

In spite of the threats and attacks, ELECAM chairman Enow Abrams Egbe says the elections will take place and promised voting will be secure.

"The different headquarters of political parties must be known by the security in view to protect them," Egbe said. "Security corridors will be put in place for the electors to move from one area to the other... . Polling centers will be well protected, and also all the meetings of political party leaders will be well protected."

Political parties say more than 60 people have been abducted in recent days. The separatists promised on social media to free the abductees after the polls.

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"I celebrated my seventh birthday inside the camp of Bergen-Belsen with a piece of bread and sticks for candles," recalls 83-year-old Lola Angel, one of the few Greek Jews left to remember the horror of Nazi concentration camps. "I was just three when I had to hide," says Nina Camhi, who is 80. "But I still remember the fear." Approximately 83 percent of Greek Jews, nearly 59,000 people, were exterminated when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany in 1941-1944. Most of them came from Thessaloniki, which until then had a prosperous Jewish community dating back to the 15th century, and was known as the Jerusalem of the Balkans. Nina and Lola are among survivors who have not spoken until now. Because they were so young at the time, they felt it was not their place to speak. But 75 years after the end of World War II, they finally feel ready to pass on their stories to the next generation. - 'I forgot nothing' - "I was but a child but I forgot nothing," Lola told AFP. "The memories still haunt me, and the intense smells of the camp are ever present." Lola's family fled to Athens from Thessaloniki in January 1941, a few months before the capital fell. In April 1944, the little girl and her family were put on a train to an unknown destination. "We were packed atop each other and could hardly breathe. Many died en route," she said. The intensification and coordination of the "Final Solution" was agreed at a landmark conference of government ministries and top-ranking Nazi and SS officials in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on January 20, 1942. The 15 participants at the Wannsee Conference agreed that 11 million Jews should be moved to death camps in an operation under the exclusive authority of the SS. Jews from all over Europe were systematically deported from mid-1942 to six death camps -- Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka. At Auschwitz -- which became the symbol of the Holocaust -- more than 1.1 million people were killed, primarily Jews, but also Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and Poles. At Bergen-Belsen, however, the Nazis tried a different strategy, said Lola, speaking from her Athens apartment where the walls are covered with the pictures of survivors and the dead. - Death by disease - "It was slow death by disease. After the Allies landed in Normandy, the Nazis began concentrating people there, hoping they would die of typhus." Her father fell ill with the disease while Lola caught measles. She said that childhood distractions kept her going. "I kept my doll until I returned to Greece, and my mother would put a bow in my hair every morning," she said. Nina said that in order to evade the first convoys from Thessaloniki to Auschwitz in March 1943, she and her parents and brother fled the city. A business partner of her father managed to smuggle them by fishing boat to the island of Skopelos. But her mother's family died at Auschwitz. "My mother kept all their letters, up to the point they were deported. After the war, she shut herself up in painful silence," Nina said. - History lessons - The fate of Greek Jews is still not widely known in the country. It was only in 2004 that teaching about the Shoah became compulsory in Greece and 10 years later a monument was erected at the site of the former Jewish cemetery which the Germans razed and where the city university now stands. Just before Bergen-Belsen was liberated in April 1945, Lola was removed by train to north Germany, part of a last-ditch effort by the Nazis to exterminate camp survivors before the Allies arrived. After days of travelling, the guards abandoned the train and fled. The exhausted and starving prisoners were found by American soldiers a few hours later. Nina and her parents crossed most of Western Europe -- the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Italy -- before ending back in Greece in September 1945. By that point, she had forgotten her Greek, and her family had lost everything. "We had to start from scratch," she said. And returning to Thessaloniki was no easier, with the ghosts of Jewish families staring back from every corner. "Even today I have nightmares. And I rarely board trains," she said. Lola's family fled to Athens from Thessaloniki in January 1941, a few months before the capital fell In April 1944, Lola and members of her family were put on a train to an unknown destination On April 14, 1945, US troops freed Jewish victims, including Lola and her family, from a train taking them to another camp in Germany Approximately 83 percent of Greek Jews, nearly 59,000 people, were exterminated when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany in 1941-1944.Nina Camhi, 80, is among the survivors who until now have kept silent
Ocado has backed down in a row over plans to open a major distribution hub next to a primary school.

The online grocer faced a backlash from parents who feared that pollution caused by delivery lorries would damage childrens health.

Ocado has scrapped proposals to use diesel lorries and will not allow them to drive along the school boundary.

Ocado has backed down in a row over plans to open a major distribution hub next to a primary school in Islington, North London

The firm has also pledged to bring in electric delivery vans at the site  on Station Road in Islington, North London  if we can attain a significant power upgrade.

It said it will ensure that non-electric vans using the site will observe higher emission standards than required by London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

The U-turn marks a huge victory for local people, especially parents and staff of Yerbury Primary School, who mounted protests and enlisted local MP Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, in their campaign.

They claimed air quality would have been compromised by delivery lorries driving close to the school boundary, especially given that deliveries and refuelling would have taken place between 10am and 4pm.

The school said these hours include playtime, lunchtime and home time when the children will be outside, running around and thus breathing air in heavily.

Locals launched a campaign to thwart the hub plans, and called on residents to boycott Ocado and to write to chief exec Tim Steiner

Locals launched a campaign to thwart the plans, and called on residents to boycott Ocado and to write to chief executive Tim Steiner (pictured).

Before the U-turn, Cassie Moss, head teacher at Yerbury, said: We urge Ocado to carefully reconsider the location of their proposed distribution hub for the health of our children.

After Ocados U-turn she said: I am really pleased Ocado is acknowledging the damaging effect the original proposal would have had on the community and especially the school.

I shall study the revised plans carefully, because, given their huge financial, technical and infrastructural implications, the devil will be in the detail.

Signalling the change of tack, Ocados operations director Richard Locke wrote to Islington council leader Richard Watts offering a radical overhaul of its proposals.

He said there is insufficient electricity supplied to the site to enable Ocado to switch to electric vehicles, and any increase relies on permission from the council, along with the sites landlord and Network Rail.

Locke said Ocado had listened carefully to the councils concerns about the diesel tanks and pumps. In addition to its other concessions, Ocado has said it will create bicycle parking racks to encourage employees to cycle to work.
Who is Mohammad Hejazi?

Seyed Mohammad Hossein-Zadeh Hejazi was born in Isfahan. He is one of the leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He has been a member of the Revolutionary Guards since the beginning of the Revolution in 1979.

Mohammed Hejazi started suppressing opponents in the Iranian provinces of Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan after the Velayat-e Faqih (mullahs regime) came to power in Iran and sought to suppress its political opponents.

He also served in Khomeinis war machine during the Iran-Iraq War and played an important role in the deployment of troops, including students to the southern front of the war, many of whom served as cannon fodder to clean up the minefields on the Iraqi side in Khomeinis military operations.

Hejazi like other blood thirty persons of the regime is believed to hold a fake Ph.D. in National Defense from the Department of Strategic Management and is a member of the faculty called Imam Hussein University.

Other important positions that Hejazi has held include:

Head of the Headquarters of the Second District Corps of the country,

Substitute of the Fourth District Corps Command of the country,

Substitute for Salmans Operation Headquarters on the Middle and Western Fronts,

Substitute of the Commander of Quds Force Corps Command base until the end of the Iran-Iraq War,

Assistant Coordinator of Mobilization,

Humanitarian deputy of mobilization,

Basij Command for 10 years from 1998 to 2008

Presidency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in 2008

Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC in 2009

Mohammed Ali Jafari, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards Corps in July 2009, nominated Mohammad Hejazi while keeping the position of the Commander in Chief of the IRGC as the successor of the Sar-Allah IRGC base.

Deputy Chief of Staff of Industrial Research of the Armed Forces General Staff from 2010 to 2015

Mohammed Hejazi has also been involved in terrorist activities for a long time within the Quds Force in Lebanon.

On 29 August 2019, Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus announced that Hejazi was in command of the Quds Force in Lebanon and was responsible for the missile production program in this country.

Mohammad Hejazis Interference in the Elections of 2005

The Basij, led by Mohammad Hejazi, played an effective role in propaganda for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the 2009 Presidential election.

One month after the election, at the commemoration ceremony of the commander of the Basij in Tehran, he said, Today, the gap between the government and the people has diminished, and this gives us hope that we will be able to thwart enemy conspiracies.

The role of Mohammad Hejazi in suppressing the 2009 demonstrations

Mohammed Ali Jafari, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards Corps in July 2009, nominated Mohammad Hejazi while keeping the position of the Commander in Chief of the IRGC as the successor of the Sar-Allah IRGC base.

According to the regimes introductions, the area of activity of the Sar-Allah IRGC base involved keeping the security in large Tehran. This base had played a key role in suppressing the post-election protests and events in 2009.

Following a bloody crackdown on the protests in 2009, an announcement was issued with the very secret stamp and it was announced that it had been sent from the Sar-Allah base to the Ministry of Health and Medical Education.

The letter ordered hospitals not to hand over medical records of injured and killed people in the protests to their families.

EU sanctions Mohammad Hejazi

Mohammad Hejazis role in suppressing protests and human rights abuses has led to his inclusion on the EU sanctions list since September 2011. Due to repressive actions, the EU sanctioned Mohammad Hejazi on 10 October 2011.

Under the embargo, all of Hejazis assets in Europe will be confiscated. A statement from the European Union pointed out that Mohammad Hejazi was the head of the Tehran-based Sar-Allah group and the former head of the Basij.

US sanctions against Mohammad Hejazi

Earlier, on 25 October 2007, the US Treasury Department, under the executive order 13382, sanctioned Mohammad Hejazi, for serving as a former commander of the mobilization forces along with four other IRGC commanders and two main entities of the IRGC and the Ministry of Defense and the support of the armed forces.

The sanctions also included nine entities affiliated with the IRGC, as well as Meli and Mellat banks and three individuals from the Aerospace Industries Organization.

Also, on 31 October 2017, the US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on 12 individuals and 29 entities of the regime, one day after the CAATSA law came into force. The name of Mohammad Hejazi was also mentioned in these sanctions.
While Trump cuts food stamps, USAID bankrolls Venezuela regime change with half a billion in tax dollars

The Trump administration has spent $654 million in aid to try to overthrow Venezuelas government, including $435 million through USAID and $128 million directly to Juan Guaido and his corrupt coup gang  all while imposing crippling austerity at home.

By Ben Norton

January 24, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - Under President Donald Trump, the United States has dumped over half a billion dollars into regime change-related aid efforts targeting Venezuelas elected, UN-recognized government.

From 2017 to December 2019, the Trump administration spent at least $654 million on Venezuela-related aid schemes. While Washington claims this spending assisted humanitarian efforts, much of the US taxpayers money financed efforts to destabilize and ultimately overthrow the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is a central arm of Washingtons hybrid war on socialist and independent states around the world. It has a long and sordid history of funding civil society groups and political opposition parties to topple the governments of designated enemies.

USAID has provided $435 million of this $654 million, bankrolling Venezuelas right-wing, US-controlled opposition. At least $128 million of this USAID money went directly into the pockets of the coup leaders that the Trump administration attempted to install as the rulers of the country in 2019.

USAID recently divulged this shocking level of support, acknowledging that it is going to fund Venezuelan anti-government activists, NGOs, and opposition media outlets, along with the supposed interim government led by US-appointed coup leader Juan Guaido, as well as Venezuelas National Assembly, which until January was led by Guaido and controlled by the right-wing opposition.

While the United States is spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to overthrow Venezuelas leftist government, the Trump administration is aggressively cutting social programs at home.

To slash $4.2 billion in public expenditures over five years, Trump gutted food stamps that fed 700,000 poor Americans, most of whom are children. Funding this crucial program would cost just around $840 million per year  close to the amount Trump has poured into US regime-change efforts in Venezuela.

The Trump administration has also drastically cut taxes for the rich and large corporations. Thanks to these cuts, the richest 400 billionaires in the US now pay a lower tax rate than the poorest Americans.

As working-class Americans increasingly bear the burden of this taxation, their tax dollars are being spent on destroying socialist governments in the Global South.

USAIDs role in US coup attempt against Venezuela

USAID has long acted as a front for the CIA and other government agencies, disguising regime-change activities as supposed humanitarian work. Under the administration of Donald Trump, the organizations role as an arm of US hybrid warfare has become more aggressive than ever.

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In February 2019, a USAID plan was revealed to train aid workers as special operations forces who serve in teams with military and intelligence operatives to advance US national security interests.

That same month, the ostensible humanitarian agency was activated as the lead element in a plot to overthrow Venezuelas elected government. USAID collaborated with the Defense Department and State Department in a scheme in Cucuta, Colombia, on Venezuelas border.

USAID worked hand in glove with Venezuelan coup leaders, many of whom disguised themselves as so-called aid workers. On February 23, they tried to ram a US aid convoy across the Venezuelan border.

The putsch attempt was ultimately unsuccessful. So as a last resort, violent right-wing coup-mongers set the aid on fire, and Washington and the international media immediately blamed the Maduro government  in a scheme first exposed by The Grayzones Max Blumenthal, and finally acknowledged weeks later by The New York Times.

Actual aid organizations publicly condemned USAIDs involvement in the violent coup attempt. The International Red Cross said the stunt is, for us, not humanitarian aid. And the United Nations slammed the politicized nature of USAIDs activities.

USAID funding of Juan Guaidos corrupt coup cabal

In its December statement, USAID claimed, No funds are provided directly to elected National Assembly members, high-level officials of the Guaido Administration, Ambassadors, or the interim President himself.

But in the same breath, just one sentence prior, the agency acknowledged, USAID is providing compensation, travel costs, and other expenses for some technical advisors to the National Assembly and the interim Guaido Administration through assistance funds.

USAIDs denial of direct funding appears to be bald-faced lies. In October, The Grayzone reported that, through USAID, US taxpayers are paying the salaries and expenses of Venezuelan opposition leaders from Guaidos shadow regime.

The Grayzone contributor Leonardo Flores noted that USAID signed an October 8 agreement with Guaidos ersatz administration that included $98 million in assistance allotted for Venezuela.

The Los Angeles Times obtained an internal government memo which showed that approximately $42 million of that funding was taken from aid that had originally been proportioned to assist desperate Central American migrants. Instead, the money was re-routed to Guaido and his faction to pay for their salaries, airfare, good governance training, propaganda, technical assistance for holding elections and other democracy-building projects.

Today at @USAID, I signed a historic Development Objective Agreement with @CarlosVecchio on behalf of Interim President @JGuaido to reaffirm our commitment to freedom, prosperity, and democracy in #Venezuela #EstamosUnidosVE pic.twitter.com/RCWMbnkUD0  Mark Green (@USAIDMarkGreen) October 8, 2019

Even more scandalous is how Guaidos coup cabal has spent these huge sums of US taxpayer money.

In June, a right-wing Miami-based website edited by a hardline anti-Chavista Venezuelan revealed that Guaidos coup cabal had embezzled enormous amounts of aid money, blowing it on wild parties and luxury goods.

The original plan, backed by Washington, was to use the aid money to bribe Venezuelan soldiers to defect over to the Colombian side and launch an armed uprising against Maduro. In reality, senior members of Guaidos US-backed party, Voluntad Popular, instead used the money to live it up in Colombia.

In just a few weeks, the Venezuelan coup-mongers flushed well over $125,000 down the drain, spending wildly on swanky hotels, expensive dinners, nightclubs, and designer clothes. (In Colombia, where the minimum wage is just $268 per month, this is an unimaginable sum of money.)

Guaido later publicly acknowledged the corruption, but attempted to defect the blame onto Maduro.

And this well documented corruption did not stop USAID from giving Guaidos political wrecking crew tens of millions more in US tax dollars to play with.

Am I missing something or is the entire US media that zeroes in on any negative situation in Venezuela totally ignoring the gigantic corruption scandal that exposes Juan Guaido's Popular Will party as a US-backed mafia comprised of white collar criminals? https://t.co/yf2x2dEOoO  Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) June 22, 2019

In September, USAID head Mark Green announced an additional $52 million in so-called development assistance for coup leader Guaido and his fictitious parallel government, which controls no actual assets inside Venezuela and is not recognized by the United Nations.

USAID referred to the Venezuelan government of elected President Maduro, which is recognized by the UN, as the illegitimate Maduro regime. It reiterated that the money would go to funding opposition media outlets and anti-government civil society groups, as well as Guaidos shadow regime and the National Assembly.

Green announced the new funding while standing next to the Venezuelan coup regimes unrecognized ambassador to the United States, Carlos Vecchio, a former lawyer for the corporate oil giant Exxon who has himself been involved in a series of corruption scandals.

This Septembers pledge of $52 million to help fund Venezuela coup leaders stands in stark contrast to the measly $4 million in humanitarian assistance that USAID pledged just two weeks before to help the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian.

USAID Mark Green, a former Republican politician from Wisconsin, has openly cheered on the rightist Venezuelan opposition.

I commended @JGuaido for fearlessly standing up to Maduros illegitimate regime last week at the 30th anniversary of the fall of the #BerlinWall. Today, I am proud to support the people of #Venezuela in spirit as they march for #democracy & #libertad. #EstamosUnidosVE #16N https://t.co/b7ucEFWAEV  Mark Green (@USAIDMarkGreen) November 16, 2019

Green regularly travels to Colombia to meet with right-wing Venezuelan opposition activists and discusses ways to overthrow what he calls the illegitimate, authoritarian regime in Venezuela.

.@USAID is proud to support #Colombia in providing immediate assistance to those who have fled the illegitimate, authoritarian regime in #Venezuela. In #Cucuta @IvankaTrump and I met with women impacted by #Maduro's tyranny & female leaders of the Guaido coalition.  pic.twitter.com/1yELM8Pl9R  Mark Green (@USAIDMarkGreen) September 5, 2019

USAIDs direct involvement in US coup efforts continued well past the failed putsch in February. In November, the US embassy in Madrid paid to promote photos on Twitter showing Ambassador Duke Buchan with USAID on the Colombian border with Venezuela. It is time for Maduro to leave, he declared.

Buchan, a right-wing Trump ally and former businessman, speaks miserable Spanish, but has used his role as US representative in Spain to aggressively lobby for regime change in Venezuela.

Emb. Buchan: Me causa una profunda impresion ver como 40.000 venezolanos tienen que cruzar el puente Simon Bolivar cada dia por la crisis humanitaria en Venezuela y tienen que ser atendidos en el Centro de Atencion de Refugiados. Es hora de que Maduro se vaya." #EstamosUnidosVE pic.twitter.com/CZq2cFiam4  US Embassy Madrid (@USembassyMadrid) November 7, 2019

The line between USAIDs putative aid work and Washingtons coup-mongering abroad has always been blurry. Liberal presidents like Barack Obama sought to preserve USAIDs image, while still using its aid and activities as a form of soft power to advance US foreign-policy interests. Under Trump, however, any pretense of independence or commitment to humanitarianism has been dispelled, and USAID has become a blunt weapon of regime change.

USAIDs role in coup attempts against Nicaragua and Cuba

Venezuela is by no means the only country targeted for regime-change operations in which the US Agency for International Development is deeply complicit.

USAID also played a significant role backing the right-wing coup attempt against Nicaraguas democratically elected leftist government in 2018. The Nicaraguan opposition, which carried out many violent acts targeting supporters of the ruling Sandinista Front, receives tens of millions of dollars from the US government on an annual basis.

Today I asked USAIDs Mark Green about the lethal violence of the opposition his agency backs in Nicaragua and the proximity of one the favorite US grantees, Felix Maradiaga, to armed elements. As expected, he totally ducked the question. #NicaraguaQuierePaz pic.twitter.com/Oc2UEYcLpB  Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) August 8, 2018

In 2018, USAID spent $24.5 million in Nicaragua. Its top recipients were the Democratic Leadership Development Program, Municipal Governance Program, and Lifting Nicaraguan Voices Program  that is to say, programs to help train, cultivate, and fund right-wing opposition leaders.

Of this $24.5 million in so-called aid, USAID spent $15 million (61%) on governance  that is to say, supporting opposition groups  while another $5.1 million (21%) went to covering administrative costs.

A mere $2.7 million (11%) was spent on education, with a meager $1.2 million spent on health (5%). In other words, just around 16% of the USAID budget in Nicaragua in 2018 was actually spent on aid, smaller than its own administrative costs.

USAID in Nicaragua essentially just acts as a job-creation program for coup-mongers

Cuba has been another primary target of USAID. For decades, it has financed efforts to destabilize and overthrow the tiny islands independent socialist government. The so-called aid agency even created its own fake Twitter platform called ZunZuneo, which it used to spread propaganda and disinformation to demonize the Cuban government and call for protests.

Bolivia has been a target as well. After the Trump administration oversaw a far-right military coup, in which fascist-led violent mobs toppled the democratically elected government of socialist President Evo Morales, USAID announced that it would be traveling to Bolivia to influence the May 3 election.

Falsely accusing Venezuela of the hemispheres worst migrant crisis

In addition to directly participating in regime-change efforts and bankrolling right-wing opposition groups, USAID has helped to popularize demonstrably false talking points demonizing Venezuela, which have been breathlessly echoed by corporate media stenographers.

In its press statements announcing tens of millions of tax dollars in support for Venezuelas right-wing coup regime, USAID has accused Venezuela of creating the largest external displacement in the history of the Western Hemisphere.

Mainstream media outlets have frequently repeated this claim, citing the US regime-change organization without investigating its veracity.

It is impossible to obtain a precise estimate of the number of Venezuelans displaced in the US-fueled crisis. Venezuelan government officials have told The Grayzone that most figures echoed by the US government and corporate media outlets are greatly exaggerated, but that millions of Venezuelans have been displaced because of the conflict  likely somewhere around 3 million. The crisis has been undoubtedly fueled by Washingtons blockade of the Venezuelan economy and relentless attempts to overthrow its government.

However, the largest external displacement in the modern history of the Western Hemisphere has taken place not in Venezuela, but rather in its neighbor Colombia, where a brutally repressive right-wing government, backed to the hilt by Washington, has waged a decades-long internal war against leftist insurgent groups. Millions of Colombians have been displaced because of this US-backed war, which is still ongoing.

Colombias war was aggravated and prolonged by the US governments notorious Plan Colombia, which scholar Greg Grandin has blamed for catastrophic violence on the country, resulting in a mountain of corpses and millions of displaced civilians.

7.7 million internally people were displaced in Colombia in 2017, according to the United Nations. That is more than any other country on Earth, including Syria and Iraq.

Ironically, millions of these displaced Colombians were welcomed in Venezuela. (This reporter interviewed a Venezuelan national of Colombian descent who was born next door but has lived most of her life in the impoverished Caracas barrio of Petare, and who staunchly supports Venezuelas leftist movement.)

While fueling Colombias migration crisis, Washington has sought to sabotage its internal peace process, backing the hard-line, far-right President Ivan Duque in his fanatical opposition to the peace accord negotiated by his predecessor, Juan Manuel Santos.

At every level, the US government has tried to destabilize and overthrow Venezuelas democratically elected leftist government, blaming the horrid consequences of its aggressive policies on Caracas itself.

USAID has served the spearhead of its hybrid war on Venezuela. As the Trump administration pours money into the regime-change machine, citizens at home are suffering from another kind of sanctions, facing painful immiseration and growing economic hardship as it slashes their already meager social welfare programs.

Ben Norton is a journalist, writer, and filmmaker. He is the assistant editor of The Grayzone, and the producer of the Moderate Rebels podcast, which he co-hosts with editor Max Blumenthal. His website is BenNorton.com and he tweets at @BenjaminNorton.

This article was originally published by "The Gray Zone" -

Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has once again threatened to end a military pact with the U.S., this time over a canceled American visa of a senator who used to lead his drug war.

Duterte said hes giving the U.S. government a month to correct Senator Ronald dela Rosas visa status, or else he will terminate the two-decade-old Visiting Forces Agreement, which sets the terms of American soldiers entry to the Philippines for military exercises.

They have to start talking to us because they have to go. Theyre rude, Duterte said, according to an emailed transcript of his speech delivered in the local language Thursday night.

Dela Rosa was quoted by local media on Wednesday as saying that his U.S. visa has been voided, and said this might be linked to his role in Dutertes drug war which has killed thousands.

Following Dutertes remarks, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin said Friday on Twitter that his agency is corresponding with the Senate to start the process of terminating the military pact. Lawmakers including opposition Senator Franklin Drilon were quoted by local media as saying the president could end the treaty unilaterally, even without the concurrence of the Senate.

Since becoming president in 2016, Duterte has repeatedly threatened to break up the Southeast Asian nations alliance with the U.S., while warming ties with China. Three years ago, he warned of canceling the same military agreement with the U.S. due to deferred aid.

(Adds foreign secretarys comments in fifth paragraph)

To contact the reporter on this story: Andreo Calonzo in Manila at acalonzo1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Cecilia Yap at cyap19@bloomberg.net, Ditas Lopez, Claire Jiao

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New Jersey police officers are now barred from using a facial recognition app made by a start-up that has licensed its groundbreaking technology to hundreds of law enforcement agencies around the country.

Gurbir S. Grewal, New Jerseys attorney general, told state prosecutors in all 21 counties on Friday that police officers should stop using the Clearview AI app.

The New York Times reported last week that Clearview had amassed a database of more than three billion photos across the web  including sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Venmo. The vast database powers an app that can match people to their online photos and link back to the sites the images came from.

Until this week, I had not heard of Clearview AI, Mr. Grewal said in an interview. I was troubled. The reporting raised questions about data privacy, about cybersecurity, about law enforcement security, about the integrity of our investigations.
President Ram Nath Kovind met his Brazillian counterpart Jair Messias Bolsonaro at Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Saturday ahead of the 71st Republic Day celebrations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Lok Speaker Om Birla, and other Union Ministers including S Jaishankar, Dr Harsh Vardhan were also present on the occasion.

Bolsonaro's four-day visit to India, starting from January 24, is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations in the fields of agriculture, energy, and defence.

He is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising several ministers, senior officials, chairman of Brazil-India Friendship Group in the Brazilian Parliament, and businessmen.

The visiting dignitary, earlier today, personally met External Affairs S Jaishankar and Prime Minister Modi here and signed 15 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs).

On the second of his arrival in India, Bolsonaro was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan from where he went to pay floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at the Rajghat.

Bolsonaro, who will be the Chief Guest for this year's Republic Day parade, aims at strengthening the strategic partnership between India and Brazil.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ministry is not about preaching. Its about showing kindness to those around you, its about showing them you care, he said, recalling the timid woman who cleaned his room in the hospital each day and how her face would light up, her demeanor change, when he struck up conversations with her and expressed gratitude for the important work she was doing to help him heal.
A major global summit on migration will be coming to Dubai in January 2021, after the UAE formally took over the Presidency of the Global Forum on Migration and Development from Ecuador on Thursday

QUITO, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 25th Jan, 2020) A major global summit on migration will be coming to Dubai in January 2021, after the UAE formally took over the Presidency of the Global Forum on Migration and Development from Ecuador on Thursday.

The hand-over, which took place during a formal ceremony in Quito, marked the start of an ambitious yearlong programme of events around the world, which will focus on improving how governments respond to international migration.

Addressing the Quito summit, Nasser bin Thani Al Hamli, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, thanked assembled delegates for their confidence in the UAE to deliver a forward-looking agenda over the course of 2020.

"The UAE is honoured to Chair the GFMD", said the Minister. "We are a tolerant, open nation, and we are proud of our role providing opportunities to millions of people from around the world. Human mobility is deeply entwined with our success as a nation, with foreign-born residents contributing to our development in every area, from infrastructure to business, and from sports to art and culture.

"Our agenda as Chair will feature topics that are new to the GFMD, including the impact of the future of work on migration, and the programme will include six regional events over the course of this year. Happily, the timing of the Dubai Summit will coincide with Expo 2020, one of the key themes of which is mobility, so there will be significant cross-over between these two major international events.

"

Hosting the GFMD in Dubai cements the UAEs reputation as a global leader in promoting sound migration governance. Over 8 million foreign-born residents currently live in the UAE, sending home $20 billion annually in remittances, a significant contributor to global development.

For policy makers focused on migration, the annual Global Forum on Migration and Development is the foremost annual inter-governmental gathering. Previous chairs have included the governments on Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Morocco and Germany. The UAE will be the first Gulf country to host the GFMD.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisations Assistant Undersecretary for International Relations and Communications, Abdulla Al Nuaimi, commented, saying, "The UAE is looking forward to providing a warm welcome to everyone attending our Summit in Dubai. We will ensure that the Summit is the most inclusive yet, with significant participation by civil society, business, and local government, as well as involvement by youth representatives and academia."

The annual GFMD Summit shapes the international migration agenda, which affects over 272 million people worldwide, according to figures from the UN. The number of international migrants has grown rapidly in recent years, up from 173 million in the year 2000. It is anticipated that ministers and senior officials from governments around the world will attend the Summit in Dubai.
Shouts, glares and unprintable words: US Secretary of State lost his temper at a after she questioned him on the administration's stance on Ukraine, a country at the heart of President Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

It began when Pompeo gave an early morning interview to NPR radio.

Much of the discussion dealt with Iran, but Mary Louise Kelly closed by asking Pompeo about

Democrats accuse Trump of abusing his office by pressuring Kiev to investigate his potential election challenger Joe Biden, a charge for which Trump has been impeached and is currently facing trial in the US Senate.

Pompeo, a close associate of Trump, has been accused of personally failing to defend Marie Yovanovitch, Washington's former ambassador to who was abruptly called home last spring after being subjected to a smear campaign led by Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer.

"Do you owe Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch an apology?" Kelly asked Pompeo.

A tense exchange followed, wherein Pompeo said he had "defended every State Department official," while Kelly asked, in vain, when he had publicly defended Yovanovitch.

"I've said all I'm going to say today. Thank you," Pompeo said finally, ending the interview.

But the story didn't end there, and Kelly related the rest in an NPR broadcast on Friday evening.

She said she thanked the secretary, who did not reply but leaned in and glared at her before leaving the room.

A staffer then invited Kelly to Pompeo's private living room, without her recorder.

There, Pompeo "was waiting and... he shouted at me for about same amount of time as the interview itself lasted," Kelly said.

"He was not happy to have been questioned about Ukraine," Kelly said, adding that the secretary asked her "do you think Americans care about " while saying swear words.

Pompeo then asked his advisers to bring out a map of the world without the countries labeled, to prove that Kelly knew where Ukraine was located. "I pointed to Ukraine. He put the map away," Kelly said.

"People will hear about this," said Pompeo, who has publicly attacked journalists in the past.
Extra! Extra!

By next Thursday, Jan. 30, Weekly Alibis freshly redesigned Cannabis Manual will begin arriving at discerning newsstands near you. Newly subdivided into the overarching cannabis news coverage categories News, Culture and Wellness, Vol. 4: Issue 1 features reporting on New Mexicos latest attempt to legalize recreational cannabis, the complexity of conflicting scientific data on correlation (or lack thereof) between cannabis and opioid abuse and overdoses and a data-rich overview of the entourage effect and its terpene/cannabinoid constituents. And thats just for starters. In addition, expect coverage of shifting perspectives on cannabis in the world of professional sports, new research on psychedelics, local educational policy on cannabis administration at school, the psychology of curbing drug abuse among teens, how cannabis is undercutting local OTC sleep aid markets and, of course, a guide to our favorite medical cannabis strains to mediate winters icy grip on your psyche.

Been Caught Stealing

Cue that popcorn-munching Thriller GIF because the moment that schadenfreude lovers had been waiting forfor at least three weekssince Illinois legalized recreational cannabis finally arrived. On Wednesday, Jan. 23, a traveler to Chicago snagged a bag of flower from one of the cannabis amnesty boxes installed at Chicago Midway International Airport. The idea behind the amnesty boxes was to provide a safe place (both for the user and the general public) for travelers who are leaving Illinois to surrender and dispose of their stash. As reported by Chicagos NBC affiliate, the marijuana in question had been discovered on a traveler early Wednesday, and that person was escorted to the amnesty box where they were allowed to deposit their weed without penalty. At present, it remains unclear whether a policy of allowing thieves to replace stolen items without any legal repercussions will effectively instill the cannabis amnesty box honor code that officials seem intent on fostering among patrons of its airport.
Gunpoint robbery at pharmacy on Hylan Blvd. in Great Kills

A gunpoint robbery was reported at a popular drug store on Hylan Boulevard in Great Kills on Monday morning, police said.

A law enforcement source told the Advance on Tuesday the gunman covered his face with a scarf, and that he might be in his 20s or 30s.

Be quiet, and give me all of the money, he reportedly told the cashier.

Click here for the story.

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Man charged in Tottenville home invasion, Todt Hill burglary

Bail was set Thursday for a Port Richmond man charged in a South Shore home invasion and a burglary on the North Shore earlier this month.

A Criminal Court judge ordered that Gustavo Ramos, 33, of Port Richmond Avenue, be held on $75,000 bond or $25,000 cash for charges that include burglary and assault, according to court records.

Click here for the story.

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NYPD: Gang member nabbed with loaded gun on Staten Island

Police busted an alleged gang member with a loaded gun on Staten Island, according to NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea.

Field Intelligence and Anti-Crime officers from the 120th and 121st precincts assisted in the arrest of a suspect with the gun, according to a post on the 121st Precinct Twitter feed.

Click here for the story.

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Man arrested in armed robbery at Guess store in St. George

A 40-year-old St. George man has been charged with a knife-point robbery at the Guess store in his community earlier this month.

Jason Gonzalez was arrested on Wednesday just steps from his Central Avenue home in connection with the incident on Jan. 4 at about 7:45 p.m., according to the criminal complaint and police. The store is located in the Empire Outlets at 55 Richmond Terrace.

Click here for the full story.

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Cops search for suspect in stabbing at Stapleton Houses

A 26-year-old woman was stabbed in Stapleton.

The incident happened around 10 p.m. Sunday in the rear of 29 Warren St. at the Stapleton Houses, according to a spokesman for the NYPDs Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

The culprit used an unknown object to puncture the woman in the left hip, causing a laceration, according to a police spokesman.

The suspect remains at large.

Click here for the story.

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Gun in backpack, heroin in sweatpants a bad combo for man

A loaded gun and drugs proved a bad combination for a Clifton man.

Shikeem Daymon, 25, will spend two years behind bars after being sentenced Wednesday in separate cases.

Daymon was first busted on June 12, 2018, during a raid of his Park Hill Avenue apartment, said a criminal complaint.

Click here for the story.

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A car stop in New Dorp, drugs under the gas pedal and six years behind bars

Traffic infractions led cops to pull over a Mariners Harbor man in New Dorp two years ago.

And a stash of heroin officers found in his car resulted in Taalib Baxter being sent upstate for six years.

Baxter, 38, of the 3300 block of Richmond Terrace, was sentenced Thursday to a half-dozen years in prison and 18 months post-release supervision stemming from the April 2, 2018 bust.

Click here for more details.

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NYPD: Attempted bank robbery, unfounded bomb threat in Castleton Corners

An unknown perpetrator attempted to rob a Castleton Corners bank by making an unfounded bomb threat against the location, police said Tuesday afternoon.

Police responded to Santander Bank, located at 1850 Victory Blvd., just before 2 p.m. after a man with his face covered went through the banks drive-thru and sent a note through the pneumatic tubing system demanding money, according to an NYPD spokeswoman.

Click here for the full story.

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Man who snatched taser from cop in precinct holding cell pleads to weapon charges

A Port Richmond man who snatched an NYPD-issued taser from a detective and pointed it at him inside the 120th Precinct stationhouse last year can avoid jail under a plea agreement reached Wednesday.

No one was hurt in the May 26, 2019 incident in the cell area at the St. George precinct.

Click here for a video of the incident.
Tuolumne County Superintendent Of Schools Office View Photos

Sonora, CA  Its the first countywide truancy sweep to put parents on notice in Tuolumne County that students skipping school will not be tolerated.

Eleven parents were charged and five were cited and released on Thursday during the Operation Education Matters program carried out by Tuolumne County District Attorney Laura Kriegs office. It is a joint effort of several law enforcement agencies and the Tuolumne County Superintendent of Schools with funding provided through a state grant.

Parents need to know that we will aggressively prosecute these cases to protect children and their future, said Krieg. Research shows that children who miss substantial periods of school are more likely to drop out of high school and eighty percent of the United States prison population are high school dropouts, added Krieg.

None of the parents were arrested and taken to jail. Instead to minimize disruption to the families they were cited for misdemeanor violations of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, failing to address truancy, and/or violations of the education code and released.

Tuolumne County Superintendent of Schools Cathy Parker notes that 12.7 percent of students were chronically absent in the 2018-19 school year, thats higher than the states average of 12.1 percent. She further explains the problem this way, In some cases that weve had here, were talking about students who havent been in school for multiple years. Its a very serious situation. Some are missing grade levels of education.

Parkers office houses a centralized School Attendance Review Board (SARB) to addresses student truancy issues. Parker emphasizes that only when all other efforts have failed do, they resort to this measure. She calls it the last resort adding that it is an effort to bring the parties together in order to best serve the child. Parker says there are many services available including special education and transportation services, nutrition programs drug and alcohol counseling, anything that is needed to help that child thrive.

Once cited, a court date will be set where a judge will hear from the parents along with a representative from the superintendents office to determine the next steps. The judge can hand down fines to parents that do not cooperate, according to Parker, who adds the amounts can vary into hundreds of dollars.

That is not the route Parker wants to go, however. Instead, she insists parents are the key in providing the needed services to families and implores them We cant do that without you actually bringing your children to school or showing up to the SARB meetings in order to access those services. Were here to help you. We dont want this to be an adversarial process, invokes Parker.

Ultimately, Parker stresses the goal is to provide support to families before it gets to this level, stating, We want to attack it when the problems first start in order to aid in raising productive members of society.
PARK RIDGE, Ill., Jan. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- (AANA)  In honor of National CRNA Week (Jan. 19-25, 2020), Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), and Sam Graves (R-MO) today introduced a bipartisan resolution on the House floor, "Recognizing the roles and the contributions of America's Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) and their role in providing quality health care for the public."

"I am proud to co-lead this resolution recognizing our nation's more than 54,000 Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists for the critical role they play in ensuring patient access to the highest levels of patient safety in anesthesia care and pain management across the United States," Rep. Roybal-Allard said. "Available evidence shows that CRNAs provide the same safe and high-grade anesthesia care as their physician colleagues, regardless of setting or patient population, while at the same time helping to bring down health care costs and increase access to care. In districts across the country, including urban settings like my 40th Congressional District of California, Nurse Anesthetists are key to providing timely access to the highest quality, most cost-effective anesthesia care."

"We are honored by the House of Representatives' resolution and the recognition it brings to the nurse anesthesia profession," said AANA President Kate Jansky, MHS, CRNA, APRN, USA, LTC (ret). "You will find CRNAs in every possible practice setting. We provide anesthesia for traditional hospital surgical suites and obstetrical delivery rooms, critical access hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, the offices of dentists, podiatrists, ophthalmologists, plastic surgeons, and pain management specialists, and in our nation's military service branches.

"Importantly, we are there to ease our patient's mind by being their advocate," said Jansky. "As highly educated, advanced practice registered nurses, CRNAs have the important role of keeping patients safe. They learn the medical condition of patients and advocate on a patient's behalfmaking CRNAs an imperative and affordable member of a patient's healthcare team."

Every year across the United States, CRNAs administer more than 49 million anesthetics. The AANA established CRNA Week in 2000 to educate the public about anesthesia safety and the benefits of receiving anesthesia care from CRNAs. During National CRNA Week, nurse anesthetists will be educating patients, coworkers and others about their profession.

About the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists

Founded in 1931 and located in Park Ridge, Ill., and Washington, D.C., the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) is the professional organization representing Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) and student registered nurse anesthetists across the United States. For more information, visit www.aana.com and www.future-of-anesthesia-care-today.com.

SOURCE American Association of Nurse Anesthetists

Related Links

http://www.aana.com


EDWARDSVILLE  The victim in a deadly DUI accident was only one exit away from turning off on his commute to work when the head-on crash occurred.

Amanda K. Runtz was driving northbound in the southbound lanes of I-255 on Jan. 17, 2018, when her vehicle slammed into the car driven by Marlon D. Buddy Buford, 30, of South Roxana, killing him.

Runtz on Friday was sentenced to six years in prison for the crash.

He worked nights so he could take care of his children during to day, Megan Kearbey, Bufords then-girlfriend, said during Fridays sentencing hearing.

Runtz pleaded guilty in September to one count of aggravated driving under the influence causing death and a count of aggravated driving under the influence. A witness told authorities she had smoked marijuana just before the crash, and tests showed the presence of alprazolam, the generic name for Xanax.

She was accused of making a U-turn, northbound in the southbound lanes of the highway before colliding with the Buford car and a car driven by Timothy J. Varble, who was seriously injured. In exchange for her plea, the state agreed to a cap of 10 years in prison and dropped charges of reckless homicide and aggravated reckless driving.

Runtz was also injured in the crash.

The courtroom was packed with the relatives of the victims and relatives of Runtz on Friday.

Bufords family members cried during most of the victim impact statements given by those close to him. Relatives said he worked nights so the mother of his children could work during the day and he could take care of the children.

His mother, Lecia Hearne, said her son worked hard and built his life around his family. She said he attended Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and won an award for his studies as a mechanic at Lewis and Clark Community College.

Defense attorney, Allan Napp, argued for a term of probation, citing a state law providing for probation in extraordinary circumstances.

He said that Runtz had only a trace of the drug alprazolam and no alcohol in her blood and that the amount was not enough to show impairment.

But Assistant States Attorney Chad Loughry argued that Runtz pleaded guilty to aggravated driving under the influence causing death, which indicates she was impaired. There were no extraordinary circumstances, he said. She was either impaired or she purposely made a U-turn into the opposite lane of traffic, Loughry argued.

Runtz said she is not a hateful person.

From the bottom of my heart, I am sorry for the pain and suffering I have caused, she said, adding she does not remember the crash or the events surrounding it. She said she did not want to hurt anyone, including herself. I had no thoughts of suicide, she said in her statement on her own behalf.

Judge Richard Tognarelli congratulated Bufords family members on their courage to give their statements in court.

To you I say, a job well done, Tognarelli told Hearne.
Rescuers scramble to find survivors after Turkey quake kills 22



Elazig, Turkey, Jan 25 (AFP) Jan 25, 2020



Rescue workers raced against time Saturday to find survivors under the rubble after a powerful earthquake claimed 22 lives and left more than 1,200 injured in eastern Turkey.

The magnitude 6.8 quake struck on Friday evening, with its epicentre in the small lakeside town of Sivrice in Elazig province, and was felt across neighbouring countries.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cancelled a speech in Istanbul and headed to Elazig where he attended the funeral of a woman and her son.

He vowed the state would do "everything we can" to help those affected in a disaster he described as a "test".

The Turkish government's disaster and emergency management agency (AFAD) said 42 people had been rescued alive from collapsed buildings in Elazig.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said earlier on Saturday 22 people were estimated to be trapped under the rubble.

Turkish news channels showed live images of people rescued. Among those found alive was a woman called Azize who had contacted emergency authorities and spoken to a rescue worker by telephone, state news agency Anadolu reported.

Nearly 2,000 search and rescue personnel were sent to the region while thousands of beds, blankets and tents have been provided, the presidency said.

The rescue efforts have been taking place in freezing temperatures as wood and plastic were burned to keep crowds warm.

Hundreds of people were anxiously waiting on the other side of police barriers including a man who gave his name as Mustafa.

"I have three relatives in that building: one man, his wife and her mother. They are still under the rubble," the 40-year-old told AFP.

"I was home during the earthquake. It lasted for so long, it was like a nightmare. I froze in the living room when it happened, my wife and our two children were screaming and running around," he said.

He added that some neighbours jumped out of the windows in panic as families including his were forced to spend Friday night on the streets.

Some 20 rescuers were on top of the remains of one collapsed building, slowly clearing the rubble one bucket at a time surrounded by broken wooden beams and concrete.



- 'Screaming in terror' -



Sivrice -- a town with a population of about 4,000 -- is situated south of Elazig city on the shores of Hazar lake -- one of the most popular tourist spots in the region and the source of the Tigris river.

The lake is home to a "Sunken City", with archaeological traces dating back 4,000 years in its waters.

The interior minister said 18 people were killed in Elazig while four died in Malatya.

Among the 1,243 people injured were residents in other southeast provinces including Diyarbakir and Sanliurfa.

Health minister Fahrettin Koca said no one was in a critical condition.

Tensions were high as one resident accused the government of lying.

"They (the government) claim that only four people are trapped under the rubble. It is not true. I have five relatives in that building," Suat, a 45-year-old butcher, said.

"There are four floors and three flats per floor. If there were five people per flat, do the math. Why are they lying?"

Suat described the moment when the quake struck as he was at home in another neighbourhood and his children "were screaming in terror".

The Ankara public prosecutor's office said it had begun an investigation into "provocative" social media posts but did not give further details.

Erdogan also told citizens to "ignore gossip and negative propaganda".



- Tremor felt elsewhere -



The tremor was felt in several parts of eastern Turkey near the Iraqi and Syrian borders as well as in Iran, Lebanon and Syria.

Environment and Urbanisation Minister Murat Kurum told reporters in Elazig that five buildings collapsed while others were badly or lightly damaged.

The US Geological Survey assessed the magnitude as 6.7, slightly lower than AFAD, adding that it struck near the East Anatolian Fault in an area that has suffered no documented large ruptures since an earthquake in 1875.

There have been 401 aftershocks including 14 that were above four in magnitude, AFAD said.

In 1999, a devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Izmit in western Turkey, leaving more than 17,000 people dead including about 1,000 in Istanbul.

Experts have long warned a large quake could devastate the city of 15 million people, which has allowed widespread building without safety precautions.

Such fears were acutely awakened in September last year when a 5.7-magnitude earthquake shook Istanbul, causing residents to flee buildings in the economic capital.
Senate Television via Getty

Donald Trumps legal team began their defence of the president with an aggressive rebuttal of House Democrats charges that he tried to cheat to win the 2020 presidential race, while also warning senators they are being asked to remove their client from the ballot.

Using the kind of brash rhetoric employed daily by Mr Trump, White House counsel Pat Cipollone closed Saturdays session by warning the Democratic and Republican senators who will decide whether the president is removed from office that doing so would amount to an abuse of power.

Mr Trump was impeached on an abuse of power charge. His top White House lawyer used a bit of his clients political strategy by turning what Mr Trump has been accused of around  but in a twist, he applied it to those judging Mr Trump rather than the presidents political foes who made him just the third US president to be impeached.

Impeachment shouldnt be a shell game, Mr Cipollone said moments before the Senate adjourned until Monday. We ask you out of respect to think about whether what youve heard would really suggest to anybody anything other than it would be a completely irresponsible abuse of power to do what theyre asking you to do: to stop an election. To interfere in an election. And to remove the president of the United States from the ballot. Let the people decide for themselves.

About an hour into the defence teams first day of case-making, Jay Sekulow, one of the presidents attorneys, attacked House Democrats motives. This case is really not about presidential wrongdoing, he said. This entire impeachment process is about the House managers insistence they are able to ready everybodys thoughts, they can read everyones intentions even when the principle speakers ... insist those interpretations are wrong.

The attack came after the teams lead attorney also panned the House prosecutors case, foreshadowing a morning of Mr Trumps attorneys trying to plant seeds of doubt about the Democratic lawmakers motives. They argued the opposition party left out key evidence and urged senators to question if they had heard the full truth about the president and Ukraine over the past three days.

Story continues

We dont believe they have come anywhere close to meeting their burden for what they have asked you to do, Mr Cipollone said in his opening statement. You will find that the president did absolutely nothing wrong. We are going to confront them on the merits of their argument.

The latter comment was the latest indication that Mr Trumps lawyers will opt not to pursue a case that tries to claim the commander in chief did not seek to trade a nearly $400m military aid package and a White House visit for Ukraines new president in return for the Ukraine government portraying his Democrat rivals in a bad light.

Theyre asking you to tear up the ballots, said Mr Cipollone, adding Democrats want senators to decide the next election rather than the American people.

They didnt tell you what that would mean for our country ... forever into our future, Mr Cipollone said.

Deputy White House counsel Michael Purpura followed Mr Cipollone and made clear the team has no intention of claiming Mr Trump did not use the military aid to get what he wanted from Mr Zelensky. Instead, they will argue he operated within the limits of US law.

The president did absolutely nothing wrong, Mr Purpura said. The Democrats allegation that the president engaged in a quid pro quo is false. He ran senators through several moments during the Houses public impeachment hearings during which current and former Trump administration witnesses testified Ukraines leaders did not know the military aid package was frozen by Mr Trump. He also provided statements from Mr Zelensky and others, which he said showed they did not feel any pressure by the president or his surrogates to do his bidding by investigating the Bidens. There cant be a quid pro quo without the quo, Mr Purpura said in one of the proceedings most pithy and memorable lines.

He contended his bosss actions were in line with the powers of the office of the president, in stark contrast to Democrats claim that he abused those authorities and violated the constitution. Whats more, Mr Purpura said once the Ukrainians learned about the hold, they asked about it, asking senators to question why those same officials, had they known before it became public via news reports, said nothing at all to their US counterparts during multiple meetings while the military package was on hold behind the scenes in Washington. Its absolutely fatal to the House managers case, he said, accusing the Democrats of purposely trying to muddy the waters by not including it in their case.

Stacks of legal papers are wheeled in ahead of the hearing (Getty)

The two White House attorneys opening comments signalled the presidents lawyers intend to push back hard on many of the allegations House Democratic impeachment managers made during their three days of case-making on the Senate floor.

They also are expected to make their own raft of charges against former vice president Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, over the latters business dealings in Ukraine while his VP father was looking into government corruption there.

Well have to be addressing that since they opened that up, a source working on the Trump defence team said on Friday evening. The same source described Saturdays session as a chance for Mr Trumps lawyers to preview their case, with the bulk of their presentation coming on Monday and Tuesday.

The presidents defence team began previewing the case they intend to make in greater detail on Monday and Tuesday just over 12 hours after House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff delivered a passionate closing argument as House Democrats wrapped up their prosecution.

Whether you like the president or dislike the president is immaterial. Its all about the constitution and his misconduct, the California Democrat told senators. What matters is whether he is a danger to the country because he will do it again. And none of us can have confidence, based on his record, that he will not do it again because he is telling us every day that he will.

Does anybody really question whether the president is capable of what he is charged with? No one is really making the argument, Donald Trump would never do such a thing, an animated Mr Schiff said. Because, of course, we know that he would. And of course, we know that he did.

Mr Schiffs closing statement followed three days of House Democrats trying to convince 20 GOP senators to vote for Mr Trumps removal because his actions towards Ukraine  pressing its government to investigate his domestic political rivals  amounted to him trying to cheat and steal the 2020 US presidential election.

They argued he abused the powers of his office, violated the constitution, then tried to cover it all up by hamstringing House Democrats investigation of the matter. But as Mr Trumps lawyers began unveiling their case, not a single Republican senator had signalled they intend to join the Democrats in voting for additional witnesses or evidence to be brought into the Senate trial  or to remove Mr Trump.

The defence teams strategy is shaping up more like a re-election message at a time when a new Washington Post-ABC poll on Friday put Mr Trumps approval rating at 44 per cent, matching the highest level of his presidency. On removing the president, Americans  like on most political matters  are split: 47 per cent say Mr Trump should be ousted, while 49 per cent say senators should not remove him.

About a half hour before his lawyers took to the Senate floor, Mr Trump showed just how much he views the proceeding and his presidency as a made-for-television affair, tweeting: Our case against lyin, cheatin, liddle Adam Shifty Schiff, Cryin Chuck Schumer, Nervous Nancy Pelosi, their leader, dumb as a rock AOC, & the entire Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrat Party, starts today at 10:00 A.M. on @FoxNews, @OANN or Fake News @CNN or Fake News MSDNC!

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Trump cheated but got caught say Democrats, as his lawyers scramble




Zimbabwe is set to clear its arrears with Mozambique and South Africa after securing a US$100 million facility from Afreximbank and revive a 30-year trilateral agreement with the two neighbouring countries as part of immediate-term solutions to stabilise local power supplies.





The trilateral agreement signed in 1990 allows Zimbabwe to negotiate for firm and competitively priced electricity from Cahora Bassa and Eskom, while paying off arrears is expected to unlock 550 megawatts (MW) from the regional utilities.





The Sunday Mail understands that President Emmerson Mnangagwa discussed the matter with his Mozambican counterpart, President Filipe Nyusi, during his visit to Maputo a fortnight ago.





Government has prioritised establishing stable power supplies to drive economic growth.





Separately, the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) has already paid two European companies to restore two units at Hwange Thermal Power Station  units three and six  by March this year.





Zesa executive board chairperson, Dr Sydney Gata, was bullish that the country would experience relatively milder load-shedding than last year.





Frankly speaking, we should not have had the severe load-shedding that we experienced last year. Zesa and the past ministry failed to renew a primary agreement that was due for renewal in 2012. This trilateral agreement provides Zimbabwe first right of refusal to import 500MW of firm power at a very competitive tariff from Cahora Bassa, said Dr Gata.





This agreement was a result of the Mozambique government assisting us to access what was South Africas share of Cahora Bassa, at a time when SA also had a surplus. So with considerable support from Mozambiques government, SA surrendered 500MW of its entitlement to Zimbabwe for which we were to build the Bindura-Cahora Bassa lines, also called the Bindura-Songo lines, which would reach to Dema substation.





The agreement reportedly expired in 2012 but was not renewed. Government is presently renewing it.





Two units at Hwange, which have been down for a number of years, are expected to be up and running by March, adding 300MW to the grid.





Two foreign companies are currently working to revive the plants.





Dr Gata said: We have been able to pay in advance to the French and Italian companies, who are the original suppliers, for the overhaul maintenance of the two units and it should be completed by mid-March. This means that we will add another 300MW or so.

Dr Gata added that the country could secure more power from regional utilities once it cleared its arrears.





He, however, noted that although a US$100 million facility had been secured from Afreximbank, there were delays in processing the transaction owing to the December holidays.





The second unfortunate thing is that while Zesa has raised through a bank US$100 million to pay for arrears to Eskom; Electricidade de Mocambique (EDM), which is the power utility for Mozambique; and Cahora Bassa, which is like the ZPC (Zimbabwe Power Company) of Mozambique, there has been an inordinate delay in procuring borrowing certificates and guarantees from Government. It took almost two months to get the certificate.





By the time they were issued just before Christmas, everybody had gone on holiday and we were not able to process. As people come back from the holiday, we are pursuing with the bank to clear the arrears and activate support of up to 400MW from Eskom and 150MW from EDM.





Overall, the countrys debt to the regional utilities initially stood at US$70 million. In respect of Cahora Bassa, it is both to pay for the arrears and also renegotiate an extension of the old agreement.





In respect of Eskom, the condition precedent is to pay for the arrears. With EDM it is also to pay for the arrears.





As part of efforts to improve Zesas efficiency, the parastatal would be restructured by mid-March through a rebundling process.





I have set up a board committee for the rebundling but it is a fairly easy exercise to undertake with respect to policy and structure because the Government has decided what it wants to do. We may appoint a consultant to help us with the structure.





In my case, I was the person appointed to establish the old Zesa in 1986, in January, when I was given the assignment to amalgamate the six units that existed then, said Dr Gata.





The subsequent structure that was assumed by the local power utility then, Dr Gata added, was similar to that of the Central Electricity Generating Board of the United Kingdom.





He said retrenchments were unavoidable at the top as a result of the ongoing exercise. The majority of middle managers and other staff will be spared.





In a separate interview, Energy and Power Development Minister, Fortune Chasi, confirmed a major shake-up was looming at Zesa.





Speaking after a meeting with leaders of the Energy Sector Workers Union of Zimbabwe in Harare, Minister Chasi said disciplinary action had commenced against those involved in shady dealings at the power utility.





We have already started implementation of the contents and recommendations of the forensic audit, key of which is disciplinary hearings around individuals who may have been involved in any acts of misconduct that have caused loss to Zesa.





I want to assure you that anyone who deprived Zesa in an illegal way, the law will catch up with them. He said the forensic audit will be presented before Parliament soon.





Government would not tolerate a perfunctory approach to work by Zesa workers, he said.




In airline news, DOT rewrites the rules on service animals and Delta offers a safer option for pets flying in cargo, Mineta San Jose flyers have a new airport hotel option; United gets more gates at Denver and adds code-share flights to Russia; Southwest kicks off four more routes from the Bay Area to the islands and expands its inter-island network; LATAM moves to a new terminal at JFK; and JetBlue plans some cuts in Caribbean service.

Remember the controversy that erupted a couple of years ago when airlines started to get tougher on what kinds of emotional support animals they would allow on board, keeping most species other than dogs off their planes? The Transportation Department this week issued proposed new rules that would crack down even more  or allow airlines to crack down  on the in-flight dog situation. The proposed rules would eliminate the category of emotional support animals, declaring that they would no longer be considered a type of service animal  although airlines would be allowed to recognize them simply as pets. And for a dog to be allowed on board as a service animal, it would have to be trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability, and owners would have to submit appropriate paperwork.

Under the proposed rule changes, airlines would be allowed to require that a service animal fit within its handlers foot space on the aircraft (sorry, St. Bernards) but they would not be allowed to ban service animals based on a dogs breed (looking at you, pit bulls). You can see the DOT announcement here, with a link to the full rulemaking proposal. It has to undergo a 60-day public comment period before it can be adopted.

Speaking of dogs and other pets, Delta just introduced a new pet carrier for animals that travel in the cargo hold. Its designed to alleviate owners worries by providing a crate with a new standard of first-class safety and care for pet air travel, Delta said. Called the CarePod, its currently available for Delta flights out of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, LaGuardia, JFK and West Palm Beach. It features insulated, industrial-strength walls; windows with angled blinds to block out visual stress from unfamiliar environments; a hydration system that holds up to a liter of water with a spill-proof bowl; and GPS tracking linked to the owners mobile phone.

onoH

Got an early flight out of Mineta San Jose? If youre thinking about overnighting in a nearby airport hotel, you have a new option. Hyatt this month cut the ribbon on the 165-room Hyatt House San Jose Airport at 2105 North 1st St. Most of its rooms are apartment-style suites with kitchens, living rooms and bedrooms. The hotel offers guests a complimentary hot breakfast buffet, a 24-hour workout room, 24-hour grab-and-go market, 24-hour guest laundry and free shuttle to and from the airport. February rates start at $308 a night plus $45 in taxes and fees; special rates for World of Hyatt members start at $270.

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The Denver City Council this week agreed to give United Airlines access to another 24 gates at Denver International Airport, including 11 existing gates on Concourse A, 12 newly built gates on Concourse A, and one new gate on Concourse B. The airport is currently undergoing a 39-gate expansion project across all three concourses. Added to its existing space, the expansion will give United a total of 90 gates at the airport as it looks to increase its operations there from 500 flights a day to 700 over the next five years. The plan approved by Denvers city council will also let the airline expand its two existing United Clubs on Concourse B and build a new one on Concourse A. The new construction also includes 16 gates on Concourse C, and Southwest Airlines has asked to use all of them.

As the one-year anniversary of its Hawaii operations approaches (its in March), Southwest Airlines this week launched more island routes from the Bay Area. That includes service from both Oakland and San Jose to Kona on the Big Island and to Lihue, Kauai. Initially, each of those four routes will offer three to four flights a week, but they will all increase to daily frequencies by March 7. Other Southwest routes to Hawaii include Oakland-Honolulu, Oakland-Maui, San Jose-Honolulu, San Jose-Maui and Sacramento-Honolulu, with Sacramento-Maui service due to start March 7. At San Jose, Southwest is competing against Alaska Airlines, which flies to Honolulu. Kona, Maui and Kauai; and Hawaiian Airlines, with service to Honolulu and Maui. At Oakland, Hawaiian flies to Honolulu, Kauai and Maui, and Alaska has service to Honolulu, Kona, Maui and Kauai. Meanwhile, Southwest also added new inter-island service last week; its original network of service from Honolulu to Maui and to Kona was expanded to include flights between Honolulu-Kauai, Honolulu-Hilo and Kona-Maui, giving it a total interisland schedule of 34 flights a day.

In route developments, United is teaming up with Star Alliance partner Lufthansa to offer new code-share service to Russia. Starting Feb. 1, Uniteds code will go onto Lufthansa flights from Frankfurt and Munich to St. Petersburg and Moscow Domodedovo, according to Routesonline.com.

Heres another change for LATAM, the South American carrier that is now 20 percent owned by Delta as of earlier this month: On Feb. 1, LATAM will move its operations at New York JFK from Terminal 8  home of its former partner American Airlines  to Deltas Terminal 4. Delta is phasing in code-sharing with LATAM on various routes, and LATAMs code-shares with American are slated to end on Jan. 31 (although its AA frequent flyer and airport lounge reciprocity will remain in place until LATAM leaves the Oneworld alliance sometime soon).

JetBlue is trimming some of its Caribbean service at the end of April after the peak season ends. According to Routesonline.com, the airline will cancel its four weekly flights from Ft. Lauderdale to Santiago in the Dominican Republic along with its three weekly flights from FLL to Bridgetown, Barbados and its four-days-a-week service from Orlando to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. As the Trump Administration continues to put the squeeze on U.S. airline service to Cuba, JetBlue will eliminate its daily Orlando-Havana flight and will reduce its New York JFK-Havana schedule from seven flights a week to just one.

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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!
Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - Tunisian Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh announced here Friday that he intends to form a small cabinet composed of more than 25 members against 40 currently called to carry out "major reforms" to correct the economic and social situation and to fight corruption
A Civil Society Organisation, Center for Fiscal Transparency and Financial Crimes Prevention (CFTFCP), has called for an independent Nigerian African Corruption Index.

According to the organisation, the current perception methodology used by Transparency International is sourced from 13 foreign-based countries. Due to this, many African countries will always rank low in its reports.

The groups stance comes after the latest Transparency Internationals corruption perception report, which was released on Thursday. According to the report, Nigeria is the fourth most corrupt country in West Africa.

In the report, Nigeria scored 26 out of 100 points, leading to a drop in two places from 144th to 146th position out of the 180 countries that were surveyed, worldwide.

The nations anti-corruption agencies: ICPC, EFCC, the Presidency, and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, have all taken similar positions condemning and challenging the methodology used by TI in carrying out its research.

But, the CFTFCP executive director, Umar Yakubu, in a statement on Saturday, urged the Nigerian government not to shy away from the existing prevalence of corruption in some sectors of the economy.

There is also no need to shy away from stating that corruption is still prevalent in some sectors of the economy. But we firmly believe that its high time to develop a Nigerian or an African Corruption Experience Index.

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The reason we argue for such is that with the current methodology used by Transparency International, most African countries will always rank low, thus misleading the public about efforts made by several governments in Africa but particularly Nigeria.

The group said since the TI does not source for perceptions or experience of corruption by Nigerians, it becomes difficult to convince any audience that you evaluate a country with indicators based on perceptions of people outside the country.

Firstly, Transparency International insists on using a perception methodology and draws data about 13 foreign-based sources.

These include the Bertelsmann Stiftung Sustainable Governance Indicators; Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index, Economist Intelligence Unit Country Risk Service, and African Development Bank.

Data is also drawn from World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey; Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Asian Intelligence; Global Insight Country Risk Ratings; and World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment; and a few others. TI also admits that it collects information from businessmen and credible institutions, as well as in-house researchers and academic advisors.

These sources are what are used to assess Nigeria. It becomes difficult to convince any audience that you evaluate a country with indicators based on perceptions of people outside the country.

If its from the businessmen, what percentage are international businessmen compared to local ones in terms of transactions within Nigeria? Who does corruption hurt the most?

Tl is clear about its technical methodology; stating that it does not source for perceptions or experience of corruption by Nigerians! So how does the generated data support the perception of corruption in Nigeria?
In the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, security forces killed two militants as a result of an encounter in Avantipora.

The police said that the operation is currently ongoing, RIA Novosti reports.

Recall that the situation in the north of India sharply worsened after New Delhi announced on August 5, 2019, the abolition of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the formation of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh union territories.
Passengers board an aircraft at Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by Shutterstock/Huy Thoai.

Vietnamese airlines have offered to refund customers who want to cancel their flights to and from China amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and low-cost arm Jetstar Pacific stated Friday both would refund tickets and allow free schedule changes for passengers flying to and from Chinese cities starting Friday until further notice.

The two airlines do not currently operate direct flights to Wuhan City in central China, epicenter of the new deadly pneumonia virus outbreak.

Both would provide masks and gloves to passengers on its flights to and from China if requested.

Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) Thursday ordered all flight permits be cancelled and the granting of new permits to all flights connected to Wuhan by both Vietnamese and foreign airlines be suspended.

The Ministry of Health has ordered all tourists from China entering Vietnam complete health declaration forms as it combats the spread of the new coronavirus.

Two Chinese nationals have been quarantined at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City since Thursday after testing positive for the pneumonia virus.

China on Saturday said 41 people had died and 1,300 been infected globally due to the virus.

World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus an "emergency in China" this week but stopped short of branding it an international concern.

Most fatalities have involved elderly patients, many with pre-existing conditions, WHO confirmed.
Benedict Cumberbatch has starred in a lot of true stories. Most are the stories of well known historical figures like Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, Thomas Edison in The Current War or the recent story of Brexit. Ironbark is a true story thats not so well known and it should be.

Benedict Cumberbatch | Dave J Hogan/Getty Images for Entone

Ironbark is a Cold War spy story about an ordinary Brit who helped avert the Cuban Missile Crisis. Its also one of the best performances Benedict Cumberbatch ever gave and one of his best movies, in a career full of memorable ones.

Benedict Cumberbatch is Greville Wynne

Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a salesman in 1960. The British intelligence agency recruits him to help them obtain Russian files from Russian operative Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze), code name Ironbark. His cover is perfect. Hes just a traveling businessman so no one would suspect him.

Soviet Colonel Oleg Vladimirovich Penkovsky (right) | Stuzhin & Cheredintzev/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Wynnes first mission is a fun romp. Its almost a joke sending this guy out on spywork and no one is more self-deprecating than Wynne himself. Benedict Cumberbatch plays the comedy as well as the drama when it gets serious. He gets bigger missions that take a greater toll on him and ultimately requires personal sacrifices.

They should teach this history

Some of the details of Wynnes missions get a little hazy but its easy to follow the broad strokes. He has to photograph top-secret documents and hide them in drop-off containers. That kind of works to keep the audience in Wynnes point of view.

Benedict Cumberbatch captures how Wynne doesnt really understand the high-level government work either. Hes just a regular guy trying to help, and his efforts can be more vital than he even understands.

The real Greville Wynne, played by Benedict Cumberbatch in Ironbark | Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The files these men smuggled out of Russia helped America defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis and maintain diplomatic relations with Russia. They didnt teach that in high school history classes and its not in most of the JFK biopics. The world should know Wynne and Penkovskys names. Hopefully having Benedict Cumberbatch play Wynne will help, and Ninidze is a real discovery.

Benedict Cumberbatch shows Greville Wynnes sacrifice

Early on Benedict Cumberbatch shows Wynne lashing out at his family under the pressure of a job about which he cant even tell his wife. His relationship with Penkovsky goes from a buddy comedy romp to a harrowing ordeal. They bond, first having fun drinking undercover, but then they become each others only allies in a dangerous world of espionage that threatens both of their families.

The real Greville Wynne, played by Benedict Cumberbatch in Ironbark | Douglas Miller/Keystone/Getty Images

Ironbark cranks up the intensity with close calls. The longer Wynne and Penkovsky do this, the more eyebrows they raise. As their missions escalate, the film show the real sacrifices Wynne and Penkovsky made for the country. Wynnes country was England and both men ended up helping the U.S. Benedict Cumberbatch makes an extraordinary transformation by the end of the film, yet Im sure hed agree its minor compared to the real Wynne.

Ironbark is a fun and exciting slice of real James Bond work. Benedict Cumberbatch has never been better, from his charming bumbling introduction to his desperation deep into the mission. Look for Ironbark after the Sundance Film Festival.
ST. LOUIS  Bayer said it reached an agreement Friday with plaintiffs lawyers to postpone a St. Louis jury trial over allegations that its popular weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. The delay would allow for negotiations to potentially settle the litigation.

The trial in St. Louis Circuit Court would have been the first case about Roundups carcinogenic potential to be heard in the hometown of Monsanto, which developed the product and was acquired by Bayer in 2018 for $63 billion.

The delay is a last-minute twist in a trial that  despite postponements in similar cases  appeared ready to start, with jury selection earlier in the week, and opening statements scheduled for Friday. But after first pushing the days intended proceedings from the morning to the afternoon, a court filing issued around 1 p.m. abruptly said that the case had been continued.
New Delhi [India], Jan 25 (ANI): A Delhi court on Saturday granted permission to Enforcement Directorate (ED) to further interrogate corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar in judicial custody in connection with cases pertaining to an illicit aviation deal among others.



The court allowed the ED to interrogate Talwar from January 27 to January 31 between 9 am and 5 pm as per jail rules.

The ED has sought permission for recording the statement of accused Deepak Talwar, who is in judicial custody, under Section 50 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

Special Judge Santosh Snehi Mann, while allowing the plea seeking permission to interrogate accused Deepak Talwar, stated that the ED is allowed to further interrogate the accused as per Rule 20(4) of the Delhi Prisons (Visitors of Prisons), Rules, 1988 and Rule 1347 of Delhi Prison Rules, 2018.

According to the rule 1347 of Delhi Prison Rules, only police officers who have been authorized by a Judge or Magistrate should be allowed to interrogate an under trial prisoner while in prison custody.

Deepak Talwar was last year extradited by Dubai authorities along with Dubai-based businessman Rajeev Saxena.

The economic offences watchdog, in its charge-sheet, said that the investigation has revealed that Talwar obtained undue favours for the private airlines using his contacts, causing losses to national carrier Air India.

Talwar was booked by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in criminal cases of corruption, while the Income Tax Department charged him with tax evasion.

ED had told the court that it was trying to find out the names of Ministry of Civil Aviation, National Aviation Company of India Ltd and Air India officials, who favoured foreign airlines by making national carrier, give up profit-making routes and timings.

The lobbyist had allegedly received payments to the tune of Rs 272 crore during 2008-09 from private international airlines in lieu of securing favourable traffic rights using his contacts, due to which Air India had allegedly suffered huge losses, ED said. (ANI)


Security officials on Saturday claimed to have killed the self-styled Kashmir chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad, who had a supervisory role in February 14 suicide bombing attack in 2019 , along with his two associates in south Kashmir who were again planning a major attack on Republic Day in Kashmir.

Qari Yasir, a Pakistani, was killed at the Hariparigam village of Tral after a day-long encounter with security forces. His other two associates Pakistani resident Moosa and Tral resident Burhan were also killed in the gunfight.

Armys Srinagar-based 15 Corps commander, Lt Gen K J S Dhillon along with Kashmir Inspector general of police, Vijay Kumar addressed a conference informing that a cordon was launched in Hariparigam of Tral after getting specific inputs about presence of militants.

We came to know about JeM militant Burhan who was active in South Kashmir from the Jaish module arrested in Srinagar few days ago. We worked on that lead and yesterday evening Awantipore police generated the specific intelligence input about presence of the three militants in a village in Hariparigam where Qari Yasir was also present. A cordon was launched and three militants were neutralized, said Kumar.

As per out intelligence, Qari Yasir is the self styled chief of JeM in Kashmir. He was involved in last years February 14 attack at Lethpora. He was an IED expert and would recruit and relocate militants coming from Pakistan. He had a supervisory role in February 14 blast. We were also getting information from sister agencies and their names were also cropping up about a bigger attack or IED blast on Republic day eve, the IG stated.

The encounter comes just a day after an anti militancy operation ended after three days on Thursday at nearby Khrew area of the district in which an army jawan, a special police officer and a foreign militant of Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit were killed.

He said that one of the injured soldiers from 3 Rashtriya Rifles has received critical injuries.

Eyewitnesses said that protests also erupted near the encounter site. Youth threw stones on security forces prompting the forces to respond by firing tear gas shells.

On Thursday, the three-day-long searches for militants in nearby Khrew area of Awantipora in Pulwama had concluded. Special police officer (SPO) Shahbaz Ahmad and sepoy Rahul Rainswal of armys 50 Rashtriya Rifles were killed after the encounter started at Khrews Zantrag on Tuesday. The security forces managed to kill one of the militants on Wednesday who had escaped to nearby forests and he was subsequently identified as Abu Saifullah of JeM. The other militant escaped.

SPO Ahmad was a resident of Rajouri district in Jammu division while Rainswal belonged to Village Riyasi Vamangaon of Champawat district in Uttarakhand and is survived by his wife and a daughter. Rainswal was 26 years old and had joined the Army in 2013.

DGP Dilbag Singh on Wednesday said the counter-terrorist operations have intensified in Kashmir Valley due to which there is a lot of movement in south Kashmir. There have been more than 6 successful operations and the operations will continue. And we will continue to work even strongly for peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier on Monday, three local HM (Hizbul Mujahideen) militants, including a commander and a former cop involved in a major weapons heist in 2018, were killed in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmirs Shopian district.

Last week, a local HM militant was killed in an encounter with security forces in central Kashmirs Budgam district on January 14.

Earlier on January 12, three HM militants were killed in a gun battle with security forces in south Kashmirs Pulwama district. One of the slain militants was a so-called commander, Umer Fayaz Lone alias Hamad Khan, a resident of Tral in south Kashmir.

In the first encounter of 2020 in Kashmir, a young man of south Kashmir, who had gone missing from his home town of Bijbehara on January 2 and apparently joined militancy, was killed in an encounter with security forces in Awantipora on January 7.

Shahid Ahmad, believed to be in his late teens, was killed in Chursi area of south Kashmirs Awantipora in a brief shootout with the forces.

Last year on November 26, two militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Tahab Rajpora area of Pulwama in south Kashmir.
Every year, the Sundance Film Festival sees countless Hollywood stars descend upon the ritzy ski town of Park City, Utah for a week of film premieres, photo calls and hobnobbing.

This year's festival commenced on Thursday, and the weekend has brought even more notable players from Tinseltown touting their respective projects.

On Saturday, American Son's Kerry Washington, 30 Rock actor Alec Baldwin and Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda all made a showing at IndieWire's Sundance Studio, a festival hub on Main Street dedicated to filming video interviews with important festival guests.

Sweater chic: On Saturday, American Son's Kerry Washington made a showing at IndieWire's Sundance Studio, a festival hub on Main Street in Park City, Utah at the Sundance Film Festival

The good fight: The actress - wearing J. Crew - promoted documentary The Fight - about legal battles that the American Civil Liberties Union is facing under the Trump administration

Washington, 42, wore a lovely patterned grey and white turtleneck sweater with blue and brown accents, over which her long braided hair cascaded beautifully, adorned with beads.

The actress, who completed her look with jeans and white hi-tops, was there in association with the documentary The Fight  about legal battles that the American Civil Liberties Union is facing under the Trump administration  which premiered Friday at Sundance.

Baldwin, 61, wore a grey and black scarf over a black t-shirt and matching pants at the famously casual festival, as he struck a playful combat pose for the cameras.

He was at the fest in support Beast Beast, a drama which he is executive producing.

Joker: Alec Baldwin was in a grey and black scarf over a black t-shirt and matching pants at the famously casual festival, as he struck a playful combat pose for the cameras

Lin-Manuel, 40, was there for Siempre, Luis, a dramatic film in which he appears that tells the story of a Puerto Rican immigrant who is determined to bring a production of Miranda's Hamilton to his home.

Additionally, Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind director and producer Ron Howard was in attendance, touting the documentary he directed called Rebuilding Paradise, which covers the efforts to rebuild the town of Paradise, California after the devastating wildfires of 2018.

Presented by Dropbox, the IndieWire's Sundance Studio 'will be home to video interviews with more than 100 actors and filmmakers' over the course of the festival, according to IndieWire's website.

Broadway maestro: Lin-Manuel Miranda was there for Siempre, Luis, a film that tells the story of a Puerto Rican immigrant who is determined to bring a production of Hamilton to his home

Smiling actor-turned-director: Additionally, Oscar-winning director and producer Ron Howard was in attendance, touting the documentary he directed called Rebuilding Paradise

Some of the other guests slated to stop by the Sundance Studio include Tessa Thompson, Toni Collette, Zazie Beetz, Hillary Clinton, Justin Simien, Steve Buscemi, Aubrey Plaza, Carrie Brownstein and Evan Rachel Wood.

The festival, which runs until Sunday, February 2, is expected to welcome more big stars, including Angelina Jolie, who appears in the Sundance-premiering film Come Away.

According to its IMDb page, Come Away is a prequel the stories of Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland.
I am writing to express my support for Mr. Alfredo Pedroza, Supervisor for District 4, Napa County. As a 10-year Commissioner on the Farmworker Housing Commission, which morphed into the broader reaching Napa Housing Commission, I have had a unique viewpoint into supervisorial activity and effectiveness.

We all know and understand that housing is, and has been, of severe concern for more than the past decade. Deeply aware of our concern, specifically as related to our three Farmworker Centers, which had lost a significant funding source, Mr. Pedroza and I traveled to Sacramento to lobby for funds for several years.

I was able to view firsthand his ability and effectiveness negotiating the halls of our State Capitol. Our centers are now on firmer footing due to his work with Sen. Dodd and Assembly member Curry-Aguilar in securing state funding of $200,000 a year. His ability to marshal support of the Latino Caucus of California Counties was pivotal in an effort that took over three years to accomplish.

Additionally, as a small farmer here in the valley, I have been greatly impressed by his consistent reference to making decisions based upon data and the science behind it, rather than the hyperbolic rhetoric that often garners attention.

As a long term member of the Napa Valley Grapegrowers, I have found his focus on sustainability a mandatory credential for anyone aspiring to public office in Napa Valley. He has family roots in working the vineyards, as his father was a farmworker. He understands that sustainability means taking care of our skilled workforce as well as the lands we farm.

In closing, I would remind one that when the difficult discussions around Measure C plagued us all, it was Mr. Pedroza who had the presence of mind, and the city relationships, to form a joint watershed study to establish the necessary data to ensure protection of our water supply, as well as our watershed land.

Alfredo has proven his ability to bring people together in the city, in the county and on the statewide committees upon which he serves. We need more leaders that are willing to listen to all sides, while searching for the points of agreement that can forge consensus.

Steve Moulds

Moulds Family Vineyard

Napa
Parsley Energy on Friday joined a growing number of companies in the industry paying higher dividends to boost Wall Street confidence and loyalty but often cutting spending to overcome stagnant crude prices.

The Austin-based oil explorer said it would raise its dividend to 5 cents from 3 cents per share. Parsley launched its dividend program last year after going public in 2014.

Meanwhile, the company said it will reduce the top range of its 2020 capital spending plan to $1.8 billion from $1.9 billion as it buys Jagged Peak Energy of Denver. The $1.65 billion deal announced in October will expand its position in the Permian Basin.

We remain committed to an enhanced free cash flow profile in 2020, and, importantly, we have reinforced this commitment with a meaningful increase to our regular dividend program, Parsley Chief Executive Matt Gallagher said.

But oil companies are often paying more dividends than their free cash flow can support, particularly as crude oil prices hover in the range of $50 to $60 a barrel.

A report released this month by the Cleveland-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis found that five of the largest oil majors  Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Total  spent $536 billion on shareholder dividends and stock buybacks since 2010 while bringing in just $329 billion in free cash flow.

The oil majors are consistently underperforming the market and may believe that shareholders wont notice, as long as they receive generous dividends, said Tom Sanzillo, co-author of the report and director of finance for the institute, a think tank that supports renewable energy.

Among others boosting dividends in the past year is ConocoPhillips, which in October said it would raise its dividend by 38 percent, to 42 cents per share from 30.5 cents a share. The payout will cost the Houston oil and gas producer about $500 million each year.

CEO Ryan Lance acknowledged at the time that ConocoPhillips is operating in a mature industry that requires cutting spending while building investor loyalty with higher dividends and stock buybacks.

Our industry faces a flight of sponsorship by investors, Lance has said. This sector will struggle for relevance unless the industry can create value on a sustained basis.

Also last year, Exxon Mobil, one of the companies cited in the Energy Economics report, raised its quarterly dividend by 6 percent to 87 cents from 82 cents. During the previous five-year period, Exxon Mobils dividends rose by 38 percent.

But Exxon was criticized by Moodys Investors Service Inc., which lowered the companys credit outlook to negative in November as a result of Exxons substantial negative free cash flow.

The companys high level of growth capital investments cannot be funded with operating cash flow and asset sales at projected levels given ExxonMobils substantial dividend payout, Moodys said at the time.
Elderly Holocaust survivors will gather in Auschwitz on Monday, some for the last time, to mark 75 years since Soviet troops liberated the death camp where Nazi Germany killed more than 1.1 million people, most of them Jews. Bitter political feuds loom over the memorial ceremony at the site of the former camp in Oswiecim, southern Poland, that will be attended by royals, presidents and prime ministers from nearly 60 countries, but no top world leaders. Israel held a high-profile Holocaust forum marking the liberation anniversary in Jerusalem on Thursday, seen as rivalling the event in Poland. While senior figures such as US Vice President Mike Pence, French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin were in Jerusalem, none will come to Auschwitz. Last month, Putin sparked outrage in the West after making the false claim that Poland had colluded with Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler and contributed to the outbreak of World War II. In fact, the war erupted after Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded and carved up Poland in September 1939 under a secret clause of their Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Poland's President Andrzej Duda, who has called out Putin for attempting to rewrite history, snubbed the forum in Jerusalem after he was denied the opportunity to speak there. He will make an address on Monday in Auschwitz where survivors are to hold centre-stage at ceremonies honouring the six million European Jews killed in the Holocaust. - Allies knew in 1942 - For some, nightmarish memories of the camp are still vivid, more than seven decades on. German soldiers "only had to point one finger at you to send you to the gas chambers", says Auschwitz survivor Bronislawa Horowitz-Karakulska, 88, a Polish-Jew who was imprisoned there as a 12-year-old with her mother. "Whoever looked weak, skinny, bony, was selected for death," said Horowitz-Karakulska, who survived after her mother bribed guards with a diamond she had smuggled into the camp. "It was full of German soldiers, barking dogs -- German shepherds -- commotion, fear, screams, Auschwitz was one big horror," she told Polish media. While the world only learned the full extent of the horrors after the Soviet Red Army entered the camp on January 27, 1945, the Allies had detailed information about Nazi Germany's genocide against Jews much earlier. In December 1942, Poland's then London-based government in exile forwarded a document, titled "The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland", to the Allies. The document included detailed accounts of the unfolding Holocaust as witnessed by members of the Polish resistance, but drew disbelief and only muted reactions from the international community. To inform the Allies, Polish resistance fighters Jan Karski and Witold Pilecki famously risked their lives in separate operations to infiltrate and then escape from Nazi death camps and ghettos in occupied Poland, including Auschwitz. - 'Final Solution' - Regarded as exaggeration and Polish war propaganda, "a lot of these reports were simply not believed" by the Allies, renowned Oxford historian, Professor Norman Davies, told AFP. Despite "strong demands" by the Polish and Jewish resistance for Britain or the US to bomb the railways leading to Auschwitz and other death camps, "the military's attitude was: 'We've got to concentrate on military targets, not on civilian things'," said Davies, an authority on Polish history. "One of the targets that the (British) military did bomb was a synthetic fuel factory near Auschwitz" in 1943-44, he added. Although British warplanes flew over the death camp itself, incredibly, no orders were given to bomb it. Professor Dariusz Stola, an expert on the history of Polish Jews, echoes this assessment. "Military leaders didn't like civilian politicians meddling in their business," Stola told AFP. For Allied military leaders, bombing Auschwitz, or its supply lines "was looking like a humanitarian operation and they didn't want it," said the former head of the Warsaw-based Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of all Nazi Germany's death and concentration camps and the one where most people were killed. And it is the only one to have been preserved as it was when it was abandoned by the Germans fleeing the advancing Red Army. Operated by the Nazis from 1940 until 1945, Auschwitz was part of a vast and brutal network of death and concentration camps across Europe set up as part of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's "Final Solution" of genocide against an estimated 10 million European Jews. Once Europe's Jewish heartland, Poland saw 90 percent of its 3.3 million pre-war Jewish citizens killed under Nazi German occupation between 1939 and 1945. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of Nazi Germany's death and concentration camps and the one where most people were killed Auschwitz-Birkenau is the only camp to have been preserved as it was when it was abandoned by the Germans fleeing the advancing Red Army For some, nightmarish memories of the camp are still vivid, more than seven decades on Map of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp as it was in 1944 in Poland. Over a million Jews were exterminated in the camp by the Nazis between 1940 and 1945.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Wearable electronics and other Internet of Things (IoT) devices are rapidly growing in popularity, but their need for consistent power can place a high burden on users. One recently proposed solution is to generate electricity using heat from the human body, animals or other ambient sources, but typical emerging devices need to be up to an inch thick to harvest maximum results.

Researchers at Purdue University have created a technology to address the thickness issue for wearable power generation. They developed a woven, thermoelectric flexible fabric that is potentially thinner than a millimeter.

This wearable power generator is well-suited for body or other heat recovery while also offering great mechanical flexibility and comfort, said Kazuaki Yazawa, a research associate professor at Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdues Discovery Park. Furthermore, this film-based product is easier to manufacture compared to current manufacturing of thermoelectric modules.

The flexible thermoelectric generator technology uses a polymer or a variety of yarns woven into a polymer film or fabric sheet with a printable pattern of thermoelectric materials. The generator takes heat from any curved surface it meets and converts it into a small amount of electricity.

Punched holes incorporated with the printed pattern allow an electric insulated thread to pass over between the two sides to properly connect the hot and cold side surfaces. The 3D structure then becomes similar to conventional rigid or solid thermoelectric power generator modules.

There are several potential areas of application for this technology for both humans and animals, Yazawa said. It can be used for biomonitoring humans or animals, along with applications for industrial machining where the unreachable curved surface can be used for sensing and machine health monitoring.

The innovators are working with the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization to patent the technology. They are looking for partners in the creation of prototypes and technology evaluation. For more information on licensing and other opportunities, contact Dipak Narula from OTC at dnarula@prf.org and mention track code 2019-YAZA-68590.

About Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization

The Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university's academic activities through commercializing, licensing and protecting Purdue intellectual property. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2019 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Place from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. The Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Visit the Office of Technology Commercialization for more information.

Writer: Chris Adam, 765-588-3341, cladam@prf.org

Source: Kazuaki Yazawa, kyazawa@purdue.edu

Photo Caption: Researchers at Purdue University have created a technology to address the thickness issue for wearable power generation. (Image provided) https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/2020/wearable-power.jpg
T he Prime Minister is said to be "very much on the side" of Harry Dunn's family after the US secretary of state refused to return the suspect charged with causing the teenager's death to the UK.

Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom met Harry's family on Friday after she held talks with US ambassador Woody Johnson, the commander of RAF Croughton Colonel Bridget McNamara and the Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police.

The 19-year-old died when his motorbike crashed into a car outside RAF Croughton in August last year. Anne Sacoolas, a suspect in the investigation into his death, left the UK while claiming diplomatic immunity.

Mrs Leadsom, addressing what she said to the US ambassador, expressed her disappointment on behalf of Harry's family, and also for the local community near to the RAF Croughton base.

"It's very concerning that this, which was at its heart a tragic road accident - which does unfortunately happen all the time, right across the world - but in this instance, the fact that there is no justice for Harry makes the pain of losing him so much worse and that's what we have to address," she said.

Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom said she was disappointed on behalf of the Dunn family / AFP via Getty Images

Asked if Boris Johnson would comment on the case, Ms Leadsom, the constituency MP for Harry's family, said: "The Prime Minister is very much on the side of the family in their desire to see justice done for Harry. All of us in Government are working to that end."

Of the meeting with Harry's family, she said: "We've been talking about the frustrating news that the extradition was refused yesterday by the US government.

"Obviously Harry's family are disappointed and very upset by that, but equally very determined that the driver of the car that killed Harry Dunn should be brought back to the United Kingdom to face justice. We are absolutely united in our determination to get justice for Harry."

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab appeared to suggest he would have agreed to extradite 42-year-old Sacoolas if he was put in the same position as Mike Pompeo.

Mr Raab said the rejection of an extradition request for her "amounts to a denial of justice" and that the Foreign Office believes she should return to the UK.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab appeared to say he would have extradited Sacoolas if he were Pompeo / Getty Images

The teenager's parents have welcomed the support from the Foreign Office but have said their decision to continue to defend legal proceedings against them is a "huge arm around the US government's position".

Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn said Mr Raab will "effectively make us bankrupt" after insisting the family pay legal costs for the judicial review which challenges the diplomatic immunity granted to Mrs Sacoolas following the crash.

Mr Dunn's parents were informed of Mr Pompeo's decision to refuse the request in a phone call with Ms Leadsom, on Thursday.

Lawyers acting for the Dunn family have said it is the first time in the 100-year history of the extradition treaty that such a request has been turned down by the US.

A spokesman for the US State Department said the request was rejected because it would render the invocation of diplomatic immunity a practical nullity and set an extraordinarily troubling precedent.

Mrs Sacoolas, 42, claimed diplomatic immunity following the crash and was able to return to her home country, sparking an international controversy.

Tributes: flowers left at the scene of the crash / Getty Images

The Foreign Office maintains the suspect had diplomatic immunity, which has been disputed by the family, but Mr Raab said he would look to "resolve the issue" surrounding any immunity given to staff at the base.

The Foreign Secretary said he expressed his disappointment at the decision to refuse the extradition request to the US ambassador on Friday.

"I called the US ambassador earlier to express the Government's disappointment about this decision," he said.

"We feel this amounts to a denial of justice and we believe Anne Sacoolas should return to the UK. We are now urgently considering our options.

"I also explained that the UK would have acted differently if this had been a UK diplomat serving in the US."

Harry Dunn was only 19 when he died / PA

Harry's father Tim Dunn described the meeting with Mrs Leadsom as "promising" and added: "Some things we agree on and some things we don't agree on. But I feel like she's behind us, I really do."

The teenager's mother Charlotte Charles said, referring to Mrs Sacoolas: "She has to come back. I still don't understand how she can even live with herself and carry on with her life and drive.
A World Affairs Council and Illinois College program on Cuba has been rescheduled because of weather conditions.

The program, which will feature a panel of Illinois College faculty members talking about Cuban history and culture and their experiences as visiting scholars in Cuba, will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday in Parker Science Building, Room 106.
 Flash

Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith hailed China for its great success in combating poverty in a recent interview with Xinhua, saying that China's poverty reduction work should be an example for other developing countries.

According to official data, China has lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty over the past several decades, representing over 70 percent of global poverty reduction.

China is making fast progress towards eliminating poverty, with the number of impoverished rural residents declining from nearly 100 million in late 2012 to 16.6 million by the end of 2018.

"We have a lot to learn from China, and it's very impressive that China could eradicate poverty in just four decades, and I think that other countries can learn from that," Kanharith said.

The Cambodian minister attributed China's poverty reduction achievement to the right policy decisions made by the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government and the hard work and patriotism of the Chinese people.

Kanharith said he first visited China in 1992 and had witnessed a remarkable change in the country's socio-economic development in the past decades.

In 1992, when he visited China, he spent long time on the way from the airport to downtown Beijing. "At that time, I didn't see a lot of cars, just millions of bicycles," he recounted. "Ten years later, I came again. I spent just about 30 minutes from the airport to Beijing and there were very few bicycles."

"This shows a lot of improvements in the economic growth of China, and this also translates into a better living condition for the people," he said.

In November, China Foundation for Peace and Development (CFPD) and Cambodia's Civil Society Alliance Forum (CSAF) launched a three-year project to eliminate poverty in a remote village in Bati district in southern Takeo province, about 60 km south of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia.

The project focused on improving village roads, providing families with clean water, providing health care support, developing agricultural sector and improving public environment as well as vocational training.

Kanharith said such a project would not only contribute to reducing poverty in Cambodia, but also promote people-to-people bonds between the two countries.

Meanwhile, the minister said China's rapid economic growth is a boon not only for the Chinese people, but also for the people around the world.

Speaking about the Cambodia-China relations, Kanharith said Cambodia is very satisfied with the excellent ties between the two Asian nations and praised China, as a big country, for treating Cambodia, a small country, on equal footing.

"China always respects Cambodia's independence and sovereignty, and China has never attached any conditions to its aid for Cambodia," he said. "All Cambodians are very grateful and we really appreciate this."
by Maarten Albarda , Featured Contributor, January 24, 2020

Two weeks ago, I asked in my column why Facebook finds it so hard to do the right thing."

I explained that, even if Facebooks income from political advertising in the U.S. would double, it would become 2% instead of 1%, and is therefore insignificant for its business. At the same time, its refusal to fact-check these ads seems to border on the ridiculous. Why would you WANT politicians to peddle plain, obvious and often even damaging fake truths? Why would you want to perpetuate the existence of false political ads and create an overall crappy user and advertiser experience? It's clearly not for the money, so why not completely ban the whole practice?

Kaila Colbin, one of my fellow (and much respected) Media Insiders, tried to provide an answer. Her argument: We should not wish for the abolition of all political advertising on Facebook because we would lose the good with the bad. In her words: If Facebook bans political ads, the community group fighting against a new coal mine is silenced, while the fossil fuel company advertising its eco-fuels is allowed. The parents group arguing for gun control is silenced, while the gun company advertising its new weapons is allowed. 

advertisement advertisement

You want to know why Facebook doesnt do the obvious and ban all political advertising? Its because everything is political -- especially our choices about who does and doesnt get to pay to have their voices amplified.

I get this argument. But I dont necessarily agree.

First of all, if Facebook banned all political ads, we basically go back to a time of BFB (Before Facebook). Politics happened back then, but minus the self-amplifying echo chambers and the unchecked falsehoods (including those placed by foreign entities), shareable with one click. I dont see anything wrong with that.

Secondly, I dont think there should be a ban for platforms or causes or companies, even if they peddle black coal. But these ads should be held to the same standards as, say, ads for Heineken or ChapStick.

Heineken cant advertise that beer is good for you, and that by drinking beer your love life and attractiveness will grow exponentially. The only thing that will grow exponentially is your gut.

Likewise, ChapStick cant advertise it's the cure for cancer or the common cold.

But politicians ads COULD say any kind of claptrap because Facebook tells us that it allows us to learn and understand our political candidates better.

Elizabeth Warren famously placed ads on Facebook with false claims that Mark Zuckerberg had endorsed Donald Trump "to goad the social network to remove misinformation on political ads," according to The New York Times.

I continue to believe that Facebook should own up to being a responsible platform and regulate what gets advertised by politicians, parties and their interest groups. Either that, or just ban ads placed by and for candidates, their parties, their PACs or any other platform whose sole objective it is to support and promote a political candidate or party.

In this scenario, the NRA is free to advertise a membership drive, but not allowed to advertise that candidate A is going to abolish the Second Amendment when that is simply not true.

The world would become a better place. Perhaps there is a role here for the newly formed Global Alliance for Responsible Media, "which is working with digital media platforms to improve their environments 'with the goal of eliminating harmful online content and ensuring that bad actors have no access to advertiser funding,'" according to a Media Daily Newspost.


Two of the three persons admitted to a hospital here for possible exposure to the novel coronavirus have tested negative for infection but are still under observation as a precaution, while blood test results of a third person were awaited, officials said on Saturday.

All three were admitted to a civic hospital following screening of passengers at the Mumbai international airport.

At a meeting with officials, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said the decision as to when the two passengers whose test results were negative should be discharged can be taken as per the instructions of the Union Health Ministry.

A civic official said the decision on discharge would be taken after a consultation with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

The third person's blood sample had been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) at Pune and report is expected on late Saturday night, officials said.

All three passengers are kept under observation at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) Kasturba Hospital.

As of Friday, some 2,700 passengers had undergone thermal screening at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here since January 19 after an outbreak of a new coronavirus was reported in China's Wuhan city.

No case of coronavirus infection has been found in Maharashtra yet.

"It is still being discussed whether the two passengers (whose blood reports tested negative for the infection) should be discharged. It will be discussed with the NCDC," a state health department official said.

"We will have to ensure that public health is not affected in a city like Mumbai. The most important thing is to see that the virus does not spread here," he said.

The three persons who are under observation still have symptoms of fever and cold, officials said.

The two who tested negative for the coronavirus had travelled to China. They were admitted to the hospital on January 23.

The third person was admitted to the hospital on Friday after he returned from Hong Kong.

At the meeting of state and civic official, also attended by Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde, chief minister Thackeray also instructed officials to follow the guidelines of the World Health Organisation and the Union Health Ministry, an official statement said.

The NIV at Pune should be ready in case the number of samples to be tested increased, and help of private laboratories and hospitals should be taken if needed, he said.

Coronavirus cases were first reported from Wuhan, the capital of central Chinas Hubei province and few cases have been found in other countries including South Korea, Japan, Thailand and the United States.

Common symptoms of the infection include fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties, according to the WHO.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
District Court Judge Vershenia Ballance Moody released the following statement on her bid for re-election:

A voice of reason, sound judgement and common sense  Thats the mantra that Judge Moody has used since her election to the bench in 2012.

Judge Moody was elected as the first woman to serve on the bench in District 6B  formerly Bertie, Hertford and Northampton counties.

Two years later, the district merged with Halifax County where she had previously served as an assistant district attorney for a number of years.

She has served as a district court judge in District 6 for the past seven years. Im a homegrown judge. I grew up in the district in Bertie County and Ive lived in the Roanoke Valley area in Gaston for over 20 years. I know the people and I have a vested interest in the communities here because my family is here.

Judge Moody also points out she is the most experienced candidate in this race.

In addition to having practiced law in various capacities, she has the experience of presiding over every type of case that a district court judge can hear.

Beyond that, Judge Moody says the real personal experience that comes with having been a wife and a mother who has raised two children to adulthood makes her better prepared for cases. The highs and lows and joys and challenges of marriage, divorce and parenting are issues that I deal with each week in family law cases  separation, divorce, child custody, domestic and juvenile cases.

She feels that this breadth of experience serves the citizens of the district well as she has a broader and better perspective when dealing with cases that often change peoples lives. Always striving to be firm but fair, Judge Moody has no problem telling it like it is in court and says that her goal is to always instruct, inspire and incentivize our citizens to strive harder and to do better.

Biography

Vershenia Ballance Moody was born January 11, 1970, and was raised in Aulander.

She attended Bertie County public schools and graduated from Bertie High School in 1988. She attended and graduated with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelors Degree in Political Science and a Minor in African American Studies.

She then obtained the Degree of Juris Doctor from North Carolina Central University School of Law where she also graduated with honors.

After graduating from law school, Judge Moody moved to New York where was admitted to the New York State Bar and worked for the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. There her practice area was in the Antitrust and Federal Trade group.

In 1997, she moved back home to Bertie County and began serving District 6B  Bertie, Hertford and Northampton Counties  as an assistant district attorney under the Honorable David H. Beard Jr. and later as senior assistant district attorney to the Honorable Valerie M. Asbell.

In June 2005 she engaged in the private practice of law with a local firm.

It is in that capacity that she learned what it feels like to sit on the other side of the courtroom. From 2009 through December 2012 she served as an assistant district attorney in her neighboring District 6A in Halifax County.

When she was elected to the bench in November 2012 she became the first woman to serve as a judge in District 6B.

In 2015 Districts 6A and 6B combined and now Judge Moody serves the citizens of the four-county District 6 comprised of Bertie, Halifax, Hertford and Northampton counties.

For most of her career Judge Moody has served the public, protecting the rights of victims of crime in District 6A and 6B. But even as an attorney in the private sector, she worked to protect the rights of those accused to ensure that they received proper legal representation and due process under the law.

She believes that working in these various capacities has made her a better and well-rounded judge.

Judge Moody lives in Gaston and has two children  Marvin MJ Jr., 21, and Mackenzie, 18. Her parents, William "Bill" and Beulah Ballance still live in the home where she grew up in Aulander.

She has one sister, Nicole Ballance, of Chesapeake, Virginia.

Over the years Judge Moody has been a member of various organizations and she has been an involved member of her community at large.

She has served as a guest speaker at various youth programs, churches and community programs in the district and she regularly volunteers at local schools to motivate young people and encourage them to reach their dreams.

She is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Judge Moody is committed to her district, its businesses and its citizens.

She is experienced, fair and dedicated to justice and wants to make a difference in the lives of all whom she touches.

She often says, Knowing the law is not enough. It is that coupled with the fair and practical application of the law to real life circumstances which makes the ultimate difference in peoples lives.
DES MOINES, Iowa - The urgent fight for the Democratic presidential nomination raged across Iowa on Sunday as the partys leading candidates scrambled to deliver closing arguments centred on the defining question of the 2020 primary: Who can beat President Donald Trump?

Former Vice-President Joe Biden demonstrated the breadth of his appeal by appearing at separate events with Catholics, union members and African Americans. He told black voters with a smile that Ive gone to more black churches than you have, probably, because Im older.

At the same time, the fight for the heart of the progressive movement pitted Elizabeth Warren against Bernie Sanders with dueling rallies hundreds of miles apart as they raced to reach voters before being forced back to Washington when Trumps impeachment trial resumed Monday. With Iowas first-in-the-nation caucuses just eight days away, it was unclear when the senators would be able to return to the state.

We gotta win, Warren told several hundred people in Davenport, on the eastern edge of the state. And also, can we just address it right here? Women win. The world changed when Donald Trump got elected.

At a subsequent rally in Cedar Rapids, a voter asked why people should caucus for Warren instead of Sanders. She replied: I know how to fight and I know how to win.

Sanders made an equally aggressive case almost 300 miles to the west in Sioux City, having spent much of the weekend highlighting his ability to energize what he has often called a multi-generational, multi-racial, working-class coalition.

When I look at the size of this crowd I am absolutely convinced that, a week from Monday, we make history. We win the Iowa caucus, Sanders declared in what was his fifth campaign appearance of the day.

The candidates were running out of time to change the direction of the high-stakes nomination fight ahead of Iowas Feb. 3 caucuses, the first of four primary contests in February in which momentum is critical. Establishment-minded Democrats were increasingly concerned about Sanders strength, fearing that the 78-year-old self-described democratic socialist might be too radical to beat Trump this fall should he win the nomination.

Stoking those fears, Trumps campaign teased a general election attack against Sanders. The Vermont senator had spent much of the day before campaigning alongside New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the presidents team sent out an email with the title Socialist invasion.

Why is radical socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spending so much time campaigning for Bernie? Because hes the godfather of her extreme agenda and socialist vision for America, the email said.

Seizing on concerns about Sanders, Democratic rival Sen. Amy Klobuchar told reporters after a campaign appearance in Ames that she was more electable and would be a better candidate at the top of the ticket than the Vermont senator.

My argument is that I will make our tent bigger, our coalition wider, and my coattails (are) longer, Klobuchar said. I actually have the receipts. I do not come from a state thats as blue as Vermont.

The youngest candidate in the race, 38-year-old Pete Buttigieg, also played up warnings about Sanders  at least in his fundraising emails. For a second consecutive day, Buttigiegs campaign sent a message to supporters warning that the Vermont senator might become the nominee.

Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, insisted that it is time for something new as he courted more than 1,000 people at an elementary school in West Des Moines.

We cannot run the risk of trying to defeat this president with the same Washington political warfare mentality that brought us to this point, he said, declining to single out any of his rivals. It is time for something different. It is time to turn the page.

As a deep sense of uncertainty loomed over the Iowa contest, Trumps impeachment trial remained a major complication.

Four candidates will be compelled by the Constitution to sit as jurors in Trumps Senate impeachment trial. The proceedings make it virtually impossible for the senators  Sanders, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Michael Bennet of Colorado  to appear in Iowa during the week, although there is some sense that the trial could be over by weeks end.

As Iowa drew the most focus, billionaire candidate Tom Steyer reminded union workers in Nevada, which hosts the third contest on the primary calendar, that he hasnt forgotten about them.

Im know that Im the only person who showed up here, Steyer told reporters at a union conference in Las Vegas. I try to show up and show that I care.

Back in Iowa, Warren tried to maintain some momentum after picking up a coveted endorsement from The Des Moines Register. The newspaper called her the best leader for these times and said she is not the radical some perceive her to be even if some of her ideas for big, structural change go too far.

Warren leaned into her gender as she courted several hundred voters at an elementary school gymnasium in Davenport.

We took back the House and we took back statehouses around the nation because of women candidates and the women who get out there and do the hard work, she said.

Biden scored the endorsement of the Sioux City Journal, which called him the candidate best positioned to give Americans a competitive head-to-head matchup with President Trump and said he would be best at attracting support from independents and disgruntled Republicans.

The former vice-presidents itinerary reflected his ability to assemble just that kind of coalition. A devout Catholic, Biden attended Mass in Des Moines in the morning, spoke at a union hall and then faced a gathering of the NAACP and other minority advocacy groups.

I was raised in the black church politically. Not a joke, Biden told a man who asked about his engagement with the faith-based minority community.

Thats where my political identity comes from, he said of the black community.

___

Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont and Bill Barrow in Des Moines, Iowa, Sara Burnett in Davenport, Iowa, Will Weissert in Perry, Iowa and Michelle Price in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
25.01.2020 LISTEN

Former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has explained why it is very unusual to see her wear foreign designer labels.

According to her, it is her personal decision to keep wearing local fabrics to, among other objectives, promote the local textile industry.

She made the revelation in an acceptance speech after receiving an honorary award for her role in promoting African fashion at the 2019 Fashion Connect Africa experience, which was held on December 30, 2019 at the plush Movenpick Ambassador Hotel Accra as part of the official events under the Year of Return programme.

Thank you very much for this award. I just like to say that sometimes when you want to start a project, you dont know the end results until you get there. When I started wearing my local fabrics, GTP was almost a collapsed industry and I took a conscious decision to keep wearing just local fabrics, she said after she was presented with the award at the event.

She also recalled how her decision to wear local fabrics went a long way to influence other African first ladies to patronise African fabrics.

So, we went to a conference in Egypt and all the first ladies were wearing their designer clothes and so on. And I came in my very nice (local) fabric and some were making negative passes at me, others were like I was looking nice, maybe they should also start wearing it. I said thank you and yes they should all start wearing it. And they said they will think about it. By the time my husband was leaving office in 2000, the whole of Africa was wearing local fabrics, I mean the first ladies, she disclosed.

Indeed, some love to wear fashionable clothes. Others make them, and one of such people who set fashion trends in Ghana is Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings. With her impeccable sense of style, she steps up to every occasion with a fashion that does not go unnoticed. Her beautiful Kente outfits and fabrics with her usual headgear have no doubt become a symbol to many in Africa and beyond.

It was due to some of these reasons she was celebrated at the Fashion Connect Africa event, which was aimed at bridging the gap between the global fashion industry and the indigenous African fashion community.

The event brought a never-seen-before style and innovation to the African fashion runway and also showcased amazing collections from some of Africas best designers like Chocolate Clothing, Duaba Serwaa, David Tlale and a host of others.
President Trump and Lev Parnas, thumbing it up. Photo: @josephabondy/Twitter

The lawyer representing Lev Parnas has released a 2018 recording on which President Trump tells him and other associates to get rid of then-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. On Friday, ABC News reported on the contents of the tape, which Parnass lawyer, Joseph Bondy, has given to the House Intelligence Committee and federal prosecutors in New Yorks Southern District. On Saturday  after Trumps lawyers finished their first day of defense in the presidents impeachment trial  Bondy gave the full tape to the media.

Given its importance to the national interest, we decided to release this recording in a manner intended to ensure equal public access, and in an effort to provide clarity to the American people and the Senate as to the need to conduct a fair trial, with witnesses and evidence, Bondy said in a statement.

The hour-long recording captures part of a private April 30, 2018 dinner where Trump, Parnas, and Parnass then-business partner, Igor Fruman, discussed Ukraine. Parnas and Fruman worked for Trump and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, as backchannel operatives in Ukraine, where the group was trying to pressure the government to help dig up politically damaging dirt on the Biden family. In the recording, Parnas and Fruman can be heard telling Trump that Ambassador Yovanovitch needs to be removed, as well as claiming that she has been criticizing him.

Get rid of her! Trump responds, Get her out tomorrow. I dont care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it.

The comments come 42 minutes into the video, at which point the participants can only be heard, not seen:

In April 2019, Yovanovitch was abruptly recalled from Ukraine following a year-long smear campaign. The veteran diplomat later recounted her experience in testimony before the House during last years impeachment hearings, where she called attention to how foreign corrupt interests could manipulate our government.

Trump and his allies have insisted that he had the right to remove Yovanovitch for any reason, and they have tried to discredit Parnas, who Trump has repeatedly claimed he does not know or ever remember speaking with.
Margaret Qualley cuddled up to her director Olivia Wilde at day two of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah this Friday.

The dynamic duo were plugging their new short film Wake Up, which premiered at the cookery-themed Chefdance portion of the festival.

Even in director mode Olivia, 35, radiated movie star glamour as she modeled a floor-length silver pleated skirt that shimmered under the lights.

Side by side: Margaret Qualley (right) cuddled up to her director Olivia Wilde at day two of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah this Friday

She modeled cream sweater with raised shoulders by the sustainable LA-based brand St. Roche, and played up her trim waistline with a walnut brown belt.

Letting her blonde hair down, the fiancee of Jason Sudeikis added a touch of dazzle to her look by clasping on a tangle of necklaces.

Meanwhile, Margaret, whose mother is Groundhog Day star Andie MacDowell, slipped into an oversized sweater with simple black slacks and matching boots.

Margaret recently gained a bit more public attention for playing a Manson Family member in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

Looking fab: The dynamic duo were plugging their new short film Wake Up, which premiered at the cookery-themed Chefdance portion of the festival

Hello, gorgeous: Even in director mode Olivia, 35, radiated movie star glamour as she modeled a floor-length silver pleated skirt that shimmered under the lights

Sensation: She modeled cream sweater with raised shoulders by the sustainable LA-based brand St. Roche, and played up her trim waistline with a walnut brown belt

Smiles all around: Letting her blonde hair down, the fiancee of Jason Sudeikis added a touch of dazzle to her look by clasping on a tangle of necklaces

Only the best: Margaret made sure to keep her Instagram followers updated on her Sundance outing, posting a close-up of her eye-themed Chanel button

This particular portion of Sundance includes culinary presentations by celebrity chefs and the lineup this year includes Alice Waters and Martha Stewart.

However Friday was a busy day at Sundance even outside of Chefdance, as the WarnerMedia Lodge: Elevating Storytelling with AT&T was also on the docket.

Ugly Betty star American Ferrera could be glimpsed at the WarnerMedia Lodge event, bundling up against the Utah chill with a cherry red coat.

America is at Sundance as executive producer of the bilingual web-show Gentefied about the transformation of the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights.

Glowing: Ugly Betty star American Ferrera could be glimpsed at the WarnerMedia Lodge event, bundling up against the Utah chill with a cherry red coat

Making a splash: Knives Out actress Toni Collette also made an appearance in a kooky pair of polka-dot trousers and a warm-looking cream turtleneck

Knives Out actress Toni Collette also made an appearance in a kooky pair of polka-dot trousers and a warm-looking cream turtleneck.

She is attending the Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of the upcoming drama Dream Horse in which she stars opposite Homeland dreamboat Damian Lewis.

Aubrey Plaza was spotted out and about on the streets of Park City, keeping cozy in a long camel-colored coat and grabbing a cup of coffee.

Caffeine boost: Aubrey Plaza was spotted out and about on the streets of Park City, keeping cozy in a long camel-colored coat and grabbing a cup of coffee

Hoofing it: Accessorizing with a large pair of round sunglasses, she slung on a black leather Coach handbag that matched her high-heeled boots

Accessorizing with a large pair of round sunglasses, she slung on a black leather handbag that matched her high-heeled boots.

She was at the film festival in aid of Black Bear, a drama thriller that had its world premiere at Sundance this Friday.

Aubrey posed up with her Black Bear co-stars Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon, as well as their director Lawrence Michael Levine, at the festival.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star Rachel Brosnahan arrived at the premiere of her new Cold War film Ironbark wearing a sizzling pair of black leather trousers.

Quartet: Aubrey posed up with her Black Bear co-stars Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon, as well as their director Lawrence Michael Levine, at the festival

She was joined by her director Dominic Cooke, writer Tom O'Connor, co-star Merab Ninidze and produers Rory Aitken, Ben Pugh, Adam Ackland and Ben Browning.

Riley Keough, granddaughter of Elvis Presley, smoldered at the Sundance premiere of her new stripper road movie Zola.

She posed up a storm at the big premiere amid her co-stars Nicholas Braun, Taylour Paige and Colman Domingo.

The cast members of Zola were also accompanied for a group shot by the film's director Janicza Bravo and by Aziah King, whose tweets inspired the movie.

Style icon: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star Rachel Brosnahan arrived at the premiere of her new Cold War film Ironbark wearing a sizzling pair of black leather trousers

Lineup: She was joined by her director Dominic Cooke, writer Tom O'Connor, co-star Merab Ninidze and produers Rory Aitken, Ben Pugh, Adam Ackland and Ben Browning

Legacy: Riley Keough, granddaughter of Elvis Presley, smoldered at the Sundance premiere of her new stripper road movie Zola

Party of four: She posed up a storm at the big premiere amid her co-stars Nicholas Braun, Taylour Paige and Colman Domingo

Source material: The cast members of Zola were also accompanied for a group shot by the film's director Janicza Bravo and by Aziah King, whose tweets inspired the movie

Stars Joe Keery, Sasheer Zamata and David Arquette of Spree posed up with their director Eugene Kotlyarenko at the IMDB Studio during Sundance on Friday.

The movie also features John Ovalle, John DeLuca and Vanderpump Rules star Lala Kent, who got together with their co-stars and director for a snapshot.

Lala swept her signature blonde hair back into a bun and bundled up in a massive gleaming black anorak as part of her film festival look.

Looking good: Stars Joe Keery, Sasheer Zamata and David Arquette of Spree posed up with their director Eugene Kotlyarenko at the IMDB Studio during Sundance on Friday

What a cast: The movie also features John Ovalle, John DeLuca and Vanderpump Rules star Lala Kent, who got together with their co-stars and director for a snapshot

Radiant: Lala swept her signature blonde hair back into a bun and bundled up in a massive gleaming black anorak as part of her film festival look

There he is: For one publicity shot, Joe, Eugene, Sasheer and David were joined by Kevin Smith who made sure to be on-brand for the event by wearing an IMDb tee

For one publicity shot, Joe, Eugene, Sasheer and David were joined by Kevin Smith who made sure to be on-brand for the event by wearing an IMDb tee.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus posed up a storm at the EW x NRDC Sundance Film festival Panel Series, where she was to speak with ex-EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.

This Sunday will see the Sundance premiere of Downhill, a disaster movie starring Julia with Will Ferrell and The Lord Of The Rings actress Miranda Otto.

Doing the rounds: Julia Louis-Dreyfus posed up a storm at the EW x NRDC Sundance Film festival Panel Series, where she was to speak with ex-EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy

America posed up with Eva Longoria at The LatinxHouse And Netflix joint kick-off party as day two of Sundance wore on.

By that event the The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants star had swapped into a floral blouse with a black trouser suit.

Meanwhile, the Desperate Housewives icon cut a fashionable figure in a high-waisted pair of silver trousers and a matching Victoria Beckham blouse.

Dynamic duo: America posed up with Eva Longoria at The LatinxHouse And Netflix joint kick-off party as day two of Sundance wore on

Quick-change: By that event the The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants star had swapped into a floral blouse with a black trouser suit

Branding: Meanwhile, the Desperate Housewives icon cut a fashionable figure in a high-waisted pair of silver trousers and a matching Victoria Beckham blouse

Kerry Washington rocked a color-block outfit and metallic-tipped boots for the HERStory presented by Our Stories To Tell at Firewood that night.

The star-studded guest list at that particular event included Insecure star and creator Issa Rae, who was regal in a deep purple ensemble.

Yvonne Orji, one of the stars of Issa's HBO series, was radiant in a charcoal blouse that featured glittering pink, purple and gold stripes.

Star stature: Kerry Washington rocked a color-block outfit and metallic-tipped boots for the HERStory presented by Our Stories To Tell at Firewood that night

Multi-talented: The star-studded guest list at that particular event included Insecure star and creator Issa Rae, who was regal in a deep purple ensemble
KENT, Ohio  The city of Kent, Kent State University and University Hospitals Portage Medical Center have partnered to bring a mobile app to Kent that could provide immediate lifesaving treatment to residents experiencing cardiac arrest.

The PulsePoint Respond app, which is already available in Akron and Cleveland, can notify users when a person within a quarter-mile is in need of CPR, according to Kent Fire Chief John Tosko. When emergency services receive a 911 call about a cardiac arrest, paramedics are dispatched and an alert is sent to users in the app.

Once someone receives a notification, they will get the address and directions on how to get there, Tosko said. Alerts go out for emergencies in public areas and outdoor spaces, but not private residences.

The free app is available in the Apple and Google Play app stores.

A user can reply to the notification and say they are responding to the emergency, while Kent paramedics are still en route.

The app will direct the user to the nearest automated external defibrillator, or AED, provide a picture of where the device is located and instruct the user on how to use the AED or give hands-only CPR. Once the Kent Fire Department arrives on the scene, the PulsePoint alert is canceled.

Tosko said UH Portage Medical Center approached him about the app and provided initial funding. Tosko then reached out to Kent State to expand the partnership.

Since the city of Kent provides our emergency medical services on campus, this will give our community additional tools to help those individuals going into cardiac arrest better chances of survival, said Dean Tondiglia, KSU police chief and director of public safety.

Kent States Department of Public Safety is providing the server to host the application, Tondiglia said. The department also uploaded information about the locations of Kent States more than 40 AEDs.

Studies have shown, for years now, that early defibrillation and CPR greatly increase survival rates of cardiac arrest victims, Tosko said. This app really increases the chances of survival. The goal is to get someone to respond in a minute.

Tosko hopes to raise awareness about the app during activities related to February being American Heart Month.

This is an ongoing process to get people to download the PulsePoint Respond app with the goal of actively engaging the community to increase the number of people trained in lifesaving measures, Tosko said.

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With newer gadgets and facilities come newer health challenges. The computer maybe the modern marvel that has increased the pace and productivity of work, but the human body is not designed to be sedentary. Reports from PC users all over the world, point to serious health issues posed by the monotony and stress of being tied to a computer for most part of the day.

"We pray with our hands and often communicate with them. We use them to eat, work, and make love. We employ them as marvelously sophisticated instruments of flexibility and strength, and when they are damaged, we anguish." - Keith L. Moore

A few of the health problems that the computer has brought in its wake include Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), Work Related Upper Limb Disorder (WRULD), Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD), fatigue, migraine headaches and eye strain. These symptoms could just be the beginning of serious health concerns because computer usage is relatively new and we are yet to understand the long- term health consequences of a lifetime of working at a computer desk.

Computer - related injuries are mainly a physical problem and not a psychosomatic one. Prolonged hours of sitting and working at a particular place can increase stiffness in joints and muscles. Stress may aggravate symptoms. It has been proved easier to prevent computer -related injuries than to cure them.

Ergonomics is the science that focuses on equipment design at workplaces with a view to reduce fatigue and discomfort in workers by improving working conditions. The overall aim of ergonomics is to increase workers efficiency and thereby maximize productivity.

Ergonomic furniture and ergonomic accessories are becoming increasingly popular in markets all over the world. For instance, ergonomic keyboards designed with a view to reduce muscle strain and repetitive stress injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, are hitting the market offering different features. Some ergonomic keyboards are a single board with keys arranged in 2 or 3 groups at different angles rather than a straight keyboard. Some have the keyboard split into separate independent pieces with elevated sections at different angles. Some ergonomic keyboards have keys fixed at a vertical elevated level so that the users hands can be unbent and perpendicular to the ground.

Employers and workers need to be informed of the health hazards of constant computer use, successful prevention techniques and useful remedies if injuries do occur.

In India, CRI is not treated as an occupational hazard, unlike developed countries such as the US, Canada, Australia and UK where computer-related injuries are compensated.

Startling Facts

A 2007 cross- sectional study conducted on a sample of 136 users comprising of university students and office staff in Malaysia, where many were using standard keyboard and mouse without any ergonomic modification whatsoever, reported the following findings:

About 50% of those with some degree of low back pain did not use an adjustable backrest.

Many users had high incidence of Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) of the wrist and neck that suggested an increased risk of developing occupational overuse syndrome (OOS).

As many as 64% were using refractive corrections and yet had showed high incidence of Computer Vision syndrome (CVS) that generally included eye fatigue, headache and burning sensation.

An increase in CVS scores corresponded with increased hours of computer usage.

A study conducted in India on a sample of 650 people in computer-dependent careers, (average age was 27 years and ratio of males to females was 4:1) revealed that:
President Donald Trump unveiled the new US Space Force logo on Friday -- which seems to boldly go where one logo has gone before.

Trump posted an image on Twitter of the insignia for the newest branch of the US military, drawing immediate comparisons of the new logo to the "Star Trek" Starfleet Starship duty insignia. The logo is also similar to the insignia of the Air Force Space Command, which was the precursor to the Space Force, hosting 16,000 active duty airmen and civilians.

"After consultation with our Great Military Leaders, designers, and others, I am pleased to present the new logo for the United States Space Force, the Sixth Branch of our Magnificent Military!" the 45th President tweeted.

A Space Force spokesperson said in a statement that the seal unveiled by Trump is, in fact, the new official logo.
Thousands of people have taken part in a rally in Drogheda to voice opposition to drug-related violence in the town.

The demonstration was organised in the wake of the murder of 17-year-old Keane Mulready-Woods earlier in January.

The teenager was murdered and dismembered and parts of his body were dumped in different locations in Dublin.

His killing was the third linked to an ongoing feud between rival gangs.

It sent shock-waves throughout the country, while representatives from Drogheda say people in the community are living in fear as the escalating feud continues with threats, intimidation and assaults targeting those both directly and indirectly involved.

Thousands have turned out in Drogheda to march against violence and crime in their town. pic.twitter.com/VD6L5G9SnR  aoife moore. (@aoifegracemoore) January 25, 2020

The rally saw thousands of people including political and religious leaders march from the towns historic Bridge of Peace to St Peters Church in the town centre.

Many carried placards calling for an end to the violence and imploring the Government to fund addiction and community services. They say the move is essential in tackling the issue, which is mainly centred on the sale and use of cocaine.

A number of youth and addiction support workers spoke on the steps of the church about the struggle to keep community services open on shoe-string budgets, while trying to keep vulnerable young people away from drugs and crime.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald and Labour leader Brendan Howlin all participated in the march.

Today the people of Drogheda are marching to express their revulsion at the rise in gangland crime in their community. Fianna Fail stands with them, and is committed to introducing tough new legislation to beat the gangs. pic.twitter.com/Ag09tFCJJu  Micheal Martin (@MichealMartinTD) January 25, 2020

Imelda Munster, the former Sinn Fein TD for the area, said: Theres a real sense of fear and apprehension around the town.

I was out in two separate estates that were directly affected by the feud, and it was the most eerie feeling I had ever gotten, three weeks after Christmas and there wasnt one child in the street out riding a bike or kicking a ball, and thats the sense of fear.

People are prisoners in their own home so this opportunity was for people to come together and send a message that whoever is in the next government, that this feud needs tackling.

Drogheda stands up against crime, intimidation and violence today. Great values and a great future for our town. pic.twitter.com/oPQwMueCfr  Cllr Pio Smith (@CllrPioSmith) January 25, 2020

The brutal killing of Mr Mulready-Woods has made law and order a key issue in the General Election campaign.

Mr Varadkar promised the public that his government would tackle the issue head-on.

He said: We need to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of Drogheda.

This is a great town, Ive seen the town at its best, there are so many opportunities here, its a great place to live.

Today is about standing shoulder-to-shoulder saying whats happened here in the last few weeks isnt for us and we want those people out and behind bars.

Expand Close The rally came after the murder of Keane Mulready-Woods, 17 (Garda/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp The rally came after the murder of Keane Mulready-Woods, 17 (Garda/PA)

I can promise the people of Drogheda that there will be additional garda every year, and we will continue to strengthen our laws and reform our courts and put more funding into disadvantaged areas to try and tackle some of the underlying causes that can give rise to crime.

Town mayor Paul Bell said the event was non-political and for the community as a whole, and he urged those involved in the murder of Mr Mulready-Woods to return the rest of his body so his family can bury their son.
Four employees of French Christian charity in Iraq missing



Paris, Jan 24 (AFP) Jan 24, 2020



Three French nationals and one Iraqi working with a French Christian charity in Iraq have been missing since Monday, the group announced Friday.

The four men with SOS Chretiens d'Orient (Christians of the Middle East) went missing near the French embassy in Baghdad, the organisation's director Benjamin Blanchard told a news conference in Paris.

No ransom demand has been received as yet and no group has claimed responsibility for their disappearance, he added.

SOS Chretiens d'Orient has been working with persecuted Christians in Iraq since 2014 when Islamic State jihadists overran the province of Mosul, displacing tens of thousands of minority Christians and Yazidis.

It is principally active in the Iraqi Kurdish capital Arbil, where many Christians sought refuge.

The missing workers were in Baghdad "to renew their visas and register the association with Iraqi authorities," Blanchard said.

They were also due to inspect the group's activities in the city, including the opening of a new school.

They left their hotel by car for a meeting "which posed no problem," Blanchard said, adding that French and Iraqi authorities were working together to try locate them.

However they did not return and the charity sought in vain to contact them on Tuesday before contacting the French authorities early Wednesday.



- Help Christians stay -



The charity's director described the men as "experienced staff members who have been working with us for years" and who had "perfect knowledge of conflict zones".

He declined to give the men's identities.

The French foreign ministry and the French embassy in Iraq refused to comment on their disappearance.

"The French and Iraqi authorities are coordinating today on the enquiry and to retrace their steps," said Blanchard, stressing that he was in "close contact" with the worried families.

Baghdad has been gripped by demonstrations for several months.

The protests initially targeted a government widely seen as corrupt and meddling by neighbouring Iran.

But in recent weeks America's military presence in Iraq has become a hot-button issue since a US drone strike killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and a top Iraqi commander in Baghdad on January 3.

SOS Chretiens d'Orient, which is also active in Syria, Lebanon and Egypt, is one of several Western charities working with Christians in the Middle East.

The aim of the group is to "help Christian communities remain (in the region) and rebuild" their lives, Blanchard said.

- Persecution after Saddam fell -



The organisation, which is fiercely critical of Islam, portraying it as a threat to Christianity in the Middle East, drew criticism in the past for sending young French volunteers to Syria and Iraq for months at a time.

Photos regularly published by the non-government organisaiton on Twitter show volunteers visiting Christian families in Arbil and conducting French language classes.

Before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the number of Christians in Iraq, home to one of the world's oldest Christian populations, ran to an estimated 1.5 million.

After the fall of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein they suffered widespread persecution, culminating with the purges carried out by IS in 2014.

By the summer of 2019, their number had fallen to around 250,000, Arbil Archbishop Bashar Warda said during a speech in Britain last year, warning the community was "close to extinction".

Several Western countries including France had nationals kidnapped by armed groups in Syria in 2013 and 2014 but in recent years the situation has eased.

Radio France Internationale said Friday that two of its freelancers were kidnapped briefly last month before being released.

Currently, the only French person confirmed being held hostage anywhere in the world is Sophie Petronin, an elderly charity worker abducted by gunmen in northern Mali in December 2016.

No group claimed responsibility for kidnapping until July 2017, when Al-Qaeda's Mali branch released a video showing her.
The emblem of the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington. (Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images)

US Targets Network of Companies Breaking Iran Sanctions

The U.S. Treasury Department said it had sanctioned several companies that traded hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian petroleum and petrochemicals, providing concealed support to Iran amid tensions between the two nations.

In a press release Thursday, the department said it clamped down on Hong Kong-based Triliance Petrochemical Co. Ltd., Sage Energy HK Limited, China-based Peakview Industry Co. Limited, and United Arab Emirates-based Beneathco DMCC for their dealings with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), an entity instrumental in Irans petroleum and petrochemical industries.

The department said the transactions helped finance Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and its terrorist proxies. It added that the entities are major sources of revenue for the Iranian regime, funding its malign activities throughout the Middle East.

The entities targeted today facilitate Irans petrochemical and petroleum exports in contravention of U.S. economic sanctions, the Treasury Department said.

Triliance Petrochemical last year ordered the equivalent of millions of dollars to be transferred to NIOC as payment for Iranian petrochemicals, crude oil, and petroleum products shipped to the United Arab Emirates and China after the expiration of any applicable exceptions, the department said. In facilitating these shipments, Triliance then worked to conceal the Iranian origin of these products, it added.

The sanctions would freeze all assets held by the companies that fall under U.S. jurisdiction, generally bar U.S. companies and individuals from dealing with them, and potentially subject non-U.S. financial institutions that knowingly facilitate significant transactions for them to U.S. sanctions.

The U.S. government also imposed sanctions on two other companies: Jiaxiang Industry Hong Kong Limited and Shandong Oiwangwa Petrochemical Co Ltd, as well as two individuals: Ali Bayandrian, who is linked to Triliance Petroleum; and Zhiqing Wang, a Chinese national linked to Shandong Oiwangwa.

U.S. Should Impose Sanctions on #Iran Regimes Petrochemical Industry

The Iranian regime is using revenue from the sale of petrochemicals to finance terrorism in the region.https://t.co/3RwZksVUmQ pic.twitter.com/yOkHI4KYYM  NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) May 7, 2019

The announcements are the latest step in the U.S. maximum pressure campaign designed to squeeze the Iranian economy to try to force Iran to accept greater constraints on its nuclear program, regional activities, and pursuit of ballistic missiles.

Irans petrochemical and petroleum sectors are primary sources of funding for the Iranian regimes global terrorist activities and enable its persistent use of violence against its own people, said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin in a statement.

The sanctions come amid heightened U.S.-Iranian tensions after a U.S. airstrike killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in early January.

Reuters contributed to this report.
A recent study by Rockpointe demonstrated the value of CME for atrial fibrillation (AFib) patients and the physicians who treat them, while also confirming the need for additional education for the broader audience of clinicians. The study, Impact of Continuing Medical Education on the Recognition of Silent Atrial Fibrillation and Mitigation of Atrial Fibrillation-related Stroke Risk, involved primary care physicians (PCPs) and other healthcare professionals who treat patients who have stroke-associated risk factors and might also have AFib. The results were presented at the 25th Annual Atrial Fibrillation Symposium poster session on January 23 and 24, 2020 in Washington, DC.

Rockpointe analyzed outcomes from three live activities in conjunction with chapter meetings of the American College of Physicians, three live activities at Medical Education Exchange (MEDX) Regional Conferences, and an online enduring webcourse hosted on Primary Issues. The live activities drew more than 1,300 participants, and nearly 1,200 learners viewed the webcourse. The educations impact was assessed by comparing pre- and post-activity test scores, which indicated that participants were roughly 50% more likely to deliver evidence-based care for AFib after the activity, potentially improving care during more than 12,000 AFib patient-visits each month.

Before the education, 58% of participants were unfamiliar with at least half of the material presented. Based on clinician responses to knowledge questions, the overall pre-test score was 63%, while the overall post-test score was 94%; P<0.05.

Participant evaluations also suggested the education was highly effective. Of the 1,125 participants who responded to the evaluation, 99% agreed that the activity provided strategies to improve their practices and better prepared them to care for their patients.

Participants became more confident in their ability to identify patients at high risk of stroke using novel approaches and in using CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc to diagnose/manage AFib and select oral anticoagulant therapy for newly diagnosed AFib. They also expressed an intention to incorporate this information into their practices.

Pre-test scores also confirmed the need for more education to the broader target audience on the following subjects:

Identifying patients at high risk for stroke who have not been diagnosed with AFib;

Using the CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc Risk Score; and

DS -VASc Risk Score; and Individualizing oral anticoagulant (OAC) therapy in patients with AFib.

AFib is the most common heart rhythm disorder and increases the risk of stroke; however, approximately one-third of people with AFib are asymptomatic and remain undiagnosed. Therefore, early diagnosis of AFib must be a priority to prevent cardiovascular disease and stroke.

To identify individuals with silent AFib, guidelines recommend screening patients aged 65 years using pulse palpation, electrocardiogram (ECG), or hand-held devices. Another approach for early identification of AFib is to conduct routine ECG screening, but such screening is not a good tool to detect sporadic infrequent events that are often silent or asymptomatic. Studies using various ECG monitoring apps have established that prolonged ECG monitoring increases the yield of AFib detection. Unfortunately, many PCPs are unaware of silent-AFib prevalence and few test for it

Once an individual is diagnosed with AFib, guidelines recommend quantitating stroke risk using the CHA 2 DS 2 VASc score. However, stroke risk scores are seldom calculated in real-world settings. Clinicians are often unfamiliar with their use or have insufficient time to determine a patients risk score and rely on clinical judgment alone. Patients not assessed using the CHA 2 DS 2 VASc score are at risk of receiving guideline-discordant care, as evidence-based management depends on scoring results. Many patients who should receive an anticoagulant are untreated, are not given the optimal evidence-based choice of oral anticoagulant (OAC), or do not receive the appropriate dose.

Rockpointe developed the above educational interventions based on these knowledge and competence gaps in order to help PCPs recognize the need to screen for asymptomatic AFib, use the CHA 2 DS 2 VASc score to assess stroke risk, and improve their knowledge about OACs to individualize the management of their patients with AFib.

Through effective continuing medical education, Rockpointe strives to improve and advance the quality of patient care. Its educational programs have been at the forefront of new issues in healthcare, including implementing MIPS, combating the nations opioid crisis, and utilizing technical advances that improve care. As part of its commitment to quality, Rockpointe works to inform the continuing-education community of significant quality-improvement issues through news and analysis on Policy and Medicine. In addition, its popular Medical Education Exchange (MEDX) CME regional meetings include sessions on the basics of quality improvement and alternative payment models, as well as relevant and scientifically accurate sessions on numerous disease states. All sessions include links back to associated National Quality Priorities to reinforce the bigger picture and the triple aim of: 1) improving health and 2) lowering cost to 3) better the patient experience. At Rockpointe, education equals quality.
(TNS)  Despite being home to some of the biggest, most well-known technology companies in the world, the Bay Area is somehow worse for tech workers than Seatle, Austin and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania?A new report from personal finance website WalletHub found that the San Francisco metropolitan area, which includes Oakland, Walnut Creek and Redwood City, is the sixth-best metro for workers in STEM  science, technology, engineering and mathematics.And the San Jose metro, which includes Santa Clara and San Benito counties, is ranked 19th behind Madison, Wi., Cincinnati, Ohio and Hartford, Conn.Thats despite the fact San Jose and San Francisco have the first and fifth highest share of their workforce in STEM jobs, respectively, and some of the highest wages in the nation.Why the low ranking, then?The main things dragging San Franciscos ranking down are its affordability, and consequently the fact that the median wage for STEM workers is the second lowest when adjusted for cost of living, Jill Gonzalez, an analysis with WalletHub, said in an email.Adjusted for the Bay Areas high cost of living, STEM workers in the San Francisco metro make $58,100 a year, better only than pricey Honolulu, Hawaii among the 100 biggest metros in the country. In San Jose they make a cost-adjusted wage of about $65,200, the 88th worst.San Joses ranking was also hurt by a lack of affordable housing, a disparity between the number of men and women in STEM  the Man Jose nickname had to come from somewhere  and median wages that have actually been decreasing since 2015, Gonzalez said.David Callisch, vice-president of marketing at the network analytics firm Nyansa, said his Palo Alto-based company of about 70 workers has a team in Austin, in part because its cheaper.You have to ask yourself the question, which people need to be physically close to each other? Callisch said. Typically its engineers, at least in Silicon Valley, because they have to collaborate.Some companies  and workers  have looked at expanding remote work as a way to let employees live in lower-cost cities. They also do things like bus workers in and out of their campuses in the valley to cut down on the cost and pain of living in the region.While fewer companies and workers are talking about moving to California, Callisch said he doesnt anticipate a mass exodus from the valley.I despise the traffic, the property prices, sometimes its just unbearable, he said. But once youve established roots, its just not easy to pick up and go.Tech companies can still afford to pay higher wages to offset the cost of living, he said, while workers wait for the massive payout that can come with going public or getting bought out by a larger company. His own firm announced this week that it was bought by VMware.This isnt the first time Pittsburgh has tried to steal Silicon Valleys tech thunder. A 2018 marketing campaign from the language app Duolingo made an enticing pitch for workers thinking about moving to Steel City.Own a home. Work in tech, a billboard in San Francisco beckoned. Move to Pittsburgh.
Private equity firms are circling the company behind Poundland after its South African owner decided to offload it through a flotation or sale.

Advent International, which recently bought defence firm Cobham for 4billion, and Switzerland-based Partners Group Holding has approached Steinhoff International about buying its European retail division, called Pepco, which includes Poundland.

The South African group is looking for between 3.5billion and 4billion from the flotation or sale of Pepco, which has around 2,700 stores across the UK and more than ten countries in Eastern Europe.

Steinhoff International is looking to sell its European retail division, called Pepco, which includes Poundland

Steinhoff International bought Poundland in 2016 for just over 600million. However, Steinhoff found itself mired in an accounting scandal little more than a year later, leading to its near-collapse.

It has since sold Harveys and Bensons for Beds to turnaround investor Alteri.

Pepco declined to comment.
A man suffered serious injuries after an alleged attack west of Brisbane caused him to fall and strike his head on a road.

Police have charged a 16-year-old boy with grievous bodily harm over the incident, though investigations are continuing.

A 16-year-old has been charged over the attack which left the man with skull and facial fractures. Credit:Queensland Police Service

It will be alleged a fight occurred between the teen and a 39-year-old in Alice Street, Goodna, about 5.20pm on Saturday.

During this time the man was allegedly kicked in the head, causing him to fall onto the road and strike his head.
The Housing Opportunities, Planning and Equity Advisory Board meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Madison Avenue Meeting Room, 500 SW Madison Ave., in Corvallis.

This is the second meeting of the new HOPE group, which replaced the Housing Opportunities Action Council (HOAC).

The board is scheduled to elect co-chairs, hear a presentation on work done to date and vote on priorities to recommend to Benton County and the city of Corvallis.

In other public meetings:

Monday

 The Albany Community Development Commission meets at noon in the Santiam Room at City Hall, 333 Broadalbin St. SW, and will discuss 2020 grant proposals.

 The Imagine Corvallis Action Network Advisory Board meets at 5 p.m. at the Madison Avenue Meeting Room, 500 SW Madison Ave. The board will hear workgroup reports and review initiative applications.

 The Philomath City Council meets in a 6 p.m. work session at City Hall, 980 Applegate St., and is scheduled to complete its review of its strategic plan and also review the urban growth management agreement.

Tuesday

 The Philomath Police Committee meets at 4 p.m. at City Hall.

 The Albany Library Board meets at 5 p.m. at the main library, 2450 14th Ave. SE, with strategic planning on the agenda.

 The Albany Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board meets at 7 p.m. in the Periwinkle Room at City Hall and will discuss its bike-friendly city designation and the Parks and Recreation Department master plan.

 The Albany Human Relations Commission meets at 7 p.m. in the Municipal Courtroom at City Hall. Commissioners will hear a presentation from Communities Helping Addicts Negotiate Change Effectively (CHANCE) and a staff report on Community Development Block Grant funding.

Wednesday

 The Corvallis City Legislative Committee meets at 4 p.m. at City Hall, 501 SW Madison Ave.

 Democratic state Rep. Dan Rayfield of House District 16 will hold a town hall at 7 p.m. at the Benton County Historical Museum, 1101 Main St. The event, which is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Corvallis, will include a summary of the 2019 session, a first look at the 2020 session and a question and answer period.

Thursday

 The League of Women Voters is hosting its second Know Your City event on public safety at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, 645 NW Monroe Ave. On hand will be Capt. Nick Hurley, Capt. Jason Harvey and Lt. Joel Goodwin of the Corvallis Police Department.

Feb. 1

 Ward 5 Corvallis Councilor Charlyn Ellis will be the 10 a.m. to noon government comment corner guest at the library.

Contact reporter James Day at jim.day@gazettetimes.com or 541-812-6116. Follow at Twitter.com/jameshday or gazettetimes.com/blogs/jim-day.

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The New Milford High School Winter Guard and Green Heat Winter Percussion group will co-host its annual home Musical Arts Conference competition Feb. 15 from 5 to 8 p.m.

The event will take place in the gym at the high school on Route 7 South.

The Musical Arts Conference or MAC is a coalition of Music Educators that have formed a non-profit organization, in order to create a professional and educational outlet for high school ensembles to compete in.

It is their goal to give every high school performer the opportunity to perform in a professional atmosphere and be evaluated by the most qualified

adjudicators available.

The home competition will feature performances from award-winning New Milford High School Winter Percussion and Winter Guard, as well as schools from the surrounding area in Connecticut and New York.

Sixteen groups are scheduled to perform at the event, including the University of Connecticut and University of New Haven Winter Guards.

Winter Guard performances will include a variety of musical pieces interpreted through dance, using flags, sabers, and rifles and Winter Percussion groups perform a musical program enhanced with visual designs, props and sound effects.

Admission for the event is $15 for adults, $8 for children under 10.

A wide variety of refreshments will be available.
An election observer group, YIAGA Africa, has announced the deployment of 114 local observers to four states ahead of the rerun elections.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had announced a date for the rerun elections in 28 constituencies spread across 11 states in the country.

It said elections would be conducted in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Cross River, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Niger, Ogun and Sokoto states.

The commission added that the rerun polls, which arose from 30 petitions after the 2019 general elections, will be held on Saturday, January 20.

PREMIUM TIMES had also reported how INEC, last week, warned that the elections would not accommodate the substitution of candidates, as the process had elapsed.

Assuring Nigerians of credible elections, the commission said it will work with the security agencies to ensure adequate protection of election officials, accredited observers, and the media.

But, in a statement on Friday, the election thinktank said the rerun election serves as another test of the integrity and commitment of INEC, the police and the president, to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections.

YIAGA Africa noted that a total of 114 observers would be deployed through its Watching the Vote initiative to observe the elections in only four states- Akwa Ibom, Imo, Kano and Sokoto.

It said, This rerun election is conducted against the background of recent marching orders given by President Buhari to the Police to ensure elections are conducted in an atmosphere devoid of violence, intimidation or malpractice.

Yiaga Africas Watching the Vote (WTV) will on Saturday, 25th January 2020, deploy 114 observers to observe the elections in four (Akwa Ibom, Imo, Kano and Sokoto) out of eleven states where the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will conduct court-ordered rerun elections.Z

Findings & Predictions

The group warned that reports from its WTV observers indicate that the rerun election, especially in Akwa Ibom, Imo and Kano states may witness a massive low voter turnout because of the paucity of information on the elections.

It also predicted possible threats of electoral violence and insecurity there is increasing tension in Imo State, following the ruling by the Supreme Court on the governorship election.

Election Observers used to illustrate the story

Citizens are worried that this tension could linger until the elections and has the potential to escalate to physical violence if adequate security is not provided and deployed security personnel fail to act responsibly and professionally.

In Kano, there is a possible security threat to corps members in Kiru LGA due to alleged involvement of a corps member in the death of a child.

Recommendations

The group called on all electoral stakeholders to ensure a peaceful free and fair elections.

It also urged INEC to strengthen its oversight issues by ensuring a strict adherence to its guidelines, particularly the use of the Smart Card Readers.

Yiaga Africa calls on security agencies to ensure adequate security of election materials, personnel and voters across all states, especially in Kano, Imo and Akwa Ibom.

INEC should ensure adequate and timely deployment of personnel and materials to all polling units. The Commission should strengthen its oversight to ensure strict adherence to its guidelines, particularly the use of the Smart Card Readers for accreditation and results collation.

Yiaga Africa also calls for effective coordination with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to efficiently address issues of vote buying and selling on election day.

In conclusion, Yiaga Africa calls on eligible voters in the respective states to come out in their numbers with their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) to cast their votes for their preferred candidates.
LOWER SWATARA TOWNSHIP  There were two elephants in the room at Saturdays Pennsylvania GOP winter meeting.

The first, referenced in opening remarks by state Rep. Greg Rothman, of Cumberland County, was retiring House Speaker Mike Turzai. On Thursday, the Allegheny County Republican announced he wouldnt seek reelection.

This is going to be a really good year for Republicans, Turzai said, prior to the meeting. He swatted away a question about whether his retirement was the harbinger of a further eroding GOP House majority after the 2018 election in which Democrats gained 11 seats in the chamber.

The other elephant, of course, was Donald Trump.

Fliers scattered around the ballroom featured the GOP elephant festooned with the presidents familiar swooping blond hair. Attendees unfurled Keep America Great banners during the meeting. Others wore Trump 2020 buttons alongside their customary American flag lapel pins.

The president," Turzai said, will bring out Republican voters.

House Speaker Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny County) spoke at the Pennsylvania GOP's winter meeting outside Harrisburg.

Elsewhere around the ballroom, attendees discussed the two elephants and the looming election: Could Turzais legacy include losing the GOPs state House majority? Can Republicans recapture vote-rich Southeast counties such as Chester and Delaware? And what of the presidential impeachment trial that continued Saturday in D.C.?

For his part, Turzai said hes confident the GOPs House majority will hold, noting the partys still sizable advantage. He also believes Rob Mercuri, a former military intelligence officer and Turzais endorsed successor, will hold his suburban Pittsburgh seat. The speaker begged off a question about who could succeed him as speaker.

Turzais 28th House district is a historic Republican stronghold but the partys  and Turzais  dominance ebbed in recent elections. He ran unopposed in 2012 and 2014. In 2016, he garnered 65 percent of the vote, but that lead slipped to 54 percent in 2018.

State GOP Chairman Lawrence Tabas, noting what he called the sham impeachment proceedings simultaneously playing out Saturday in D.C., said the party cant get stuck sitting here in dispair, anxious about the future. And theres reason for hope in 2020.

People say, look at what happened in 2018  look at those losses, he said. But the president wasnt on the ticket last year.

After Trumps recent speech in Hershey, Tabas said the state partys phones rang off the hook. And he fully expects Trump to be a familiar face during the 2020 campaign.

Republicans met outside Harrisburg to strategize for 2020.

That factor should help Republicans up and down the ballot, the chairman said, singling out Democratic U.S. Reps. Matt Cartwright, Conor Lamb and Susan Wild as key GOP targets in 2020. All three won their 2018 seats by 9 percentage points or more.

Striking a similarly optimistic tone, U.S. Rep. Glenn G.T. Thompson said he saw his shadow while visiting Punxsutawney on a recent campaign stop.

That means four more years for President Trump, he said.

Wallace McKelvey may be reached at wmckelvey@pennlive.com. Follow him on Twitter @wjmckelvey. Find PennLive on Facebook.

Read the TAPPED OUT special investigation of drinking water.

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The issue of feral hogs in The Woodlands has taken on new life in the past three months, as an invasion of the feral swine in numerous areas of the township  notably the Windsor Hills senior community as well as neighborhoods in Grogans Point  has led to worries over safety of both children and the elderly as well as concerns over property damage the hogs inflict in their quest to gobble acorns, grubs and other food sources in the ground.

After dozens of local residents lodged complaints and pleaded for help at two different meetings of The Woodlands Township Board of Directors, local officials decided to work in collaboration with numerous entities, landowners and other stakeholders to develop a game plan to combat the hogs and reduce the population in the community as much as possible. Two feral hog informational seminars are slated for Feb. 5 and Feb. 20, however on Jan. 15, local feral hog trapping expert and retired Texas Game Warden Alan Biggerstaff was brought in for a presentation.

RELATED: Woodlands OKs hiring feral hog consultant as problem continues

Biggerstaff, who co-owns A & V Nuisance Wildlife Management & Control LLC of Conroe with his wife, Vickie, sat down with The Villager recently to talk all things feral hogs, explaining his decades-long efforts to trap the invasive species that were brought to North America centuries ago by explorers. There are an estimated 2.5 million feral hogs in the state of Texas alone, and after the death of an elderly woman in Chambers County was attributed to a pack of feral hogs, concerns about the swine have flooded the Houston region and dozens of communities from Katy to The Woodlands and elsewhere.

Question: What was your background and how did you get into feral hog management? You were a state Game Warden here, correct?

Biggerstaff: It was 29 and a half years; I was stationed (in Montgomery County) for my whole career (as a Game Warden). For about 27 years, I was a security coordinator for the undeveloped areas of The Woodlands (for The Woodlands Development Company), that is how I got into trapping feral hogs.

Question: Can you explain the history of the feral hog problem here in Montgomery County in the past 30 years.

Feral Hog Informational Seminars On Wednesday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m., The Woodlands Township will host the first of two feral hog educational seminars. The Feb. 5 event is being hosted at The Rob Fleming Recreation Center, 6464 Creekside Forest Drive, The Woodlands. Admission is free, however seating is limited and pre-registration with the township is required to attend. Call 281-210-3800 for more information and to register. Dr. John Tomasek of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension is the featured speaker. On Thursday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. a feral hog education seminar will be hosted at the offices of H.A.R.C., 8801 Gosling Road, The Woodlands. Admission is free, however seating is limited and pre-registration with H.A.R.C. is required to attend. Call 281-364-6000 for more information and to register. Chris Watts from the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension is the scheduled speaker. See More Collapse

Biggerstaff: What Ive witnessed is, their populations go up and down depending on the year itself, because we have wet periods and dry periods. They seem to be more prolific when the conditions are good: wet and a lot of acorns  Mother Nature is taking good care of them. They become harder to trap when those conditions exist, because they dont have to depend on other sources of food, theyre getting all they need. Ive found the best times to trap them is when theyre the hungriest, and that could vary from any year. Next year, we could not have so many acorns. Some years, fall and winter months can be a good time to trap them; in the summer, June, July and August when it dries up, it becomes a real good time to trap.

Question: The feral hogs are natural foragers, seeking out nuts, insects and other food sources, correct?

Biggerstaff: Acorns are a fall crop, and they come down (on the ground) in the fall. (Feral hogs) Go on the hunt for acorns and they go a long way (to find them. Theyll cover a lot of ground looking for acorns, grubs or whatever they can findleaf piles, dead logs, anything dead. One thing they really like is mulch; people tend to put a lot of mulch out in the spring and fall and you can smell that a long waythat is an attractant. They put (mulch) in flower beds and yardsit seems like the (flower beds) that are taken care of, tended to, those roots hold the nutrientsso that is just proteins for them. The little minute organisms and bugs that grow in that mulch, the (hogs) just eat everything.

Question: Are the worries about feral hogs attacking people founded? Is that really a danger?

Biggerstaff: Really, the only time a hog gets what I consider to be dangerous is when you surprise them or they dont have an escape route. If you are in their way of escape, then theyre going to try their best to get through you to get away. A mother hog - a sow - with babies willIve had it happen many of times, youll come up on them in the woods with a pack of (piglets)shell charge you until those (piglets) get scattered then shell usually turn and run. They usually snort at you but Ive never had one attack me. They usually rake (with a tusk) when they go by someone. They swing that head to get you out of the waythat tusk is what buries (into skin and muscle) and tear through (tissue). They dont use their teeth. The sows will make two or three charges at short distance, but then theyll stop until those (piglets) scatter.

RELATED: Sheriff: Feral hogs to blame for woman's 'rare' killing in Anahuac

Question: Are fears of feral hogs attacking school children at bus stops or going after elderly people who are less able to defend themselves valid? Should be people be more worried than normal?

Biggerstaff: It is valid. Once they leave their natural environment, theyre in your environment, when you come up to them in the dark and they are rooting in the flower bed or there is just a pack of them there, theyre going to be scared and youre going to be scared and if you are in the path of their escape, then yeah, there could be some injuries. You could (even) fall down just trying to get away from themyou could trip and fall (and get injured).

Question: In your presentation you mentioned a feral hog explosion in the 1980s, what happened back then for those who are not aware?

Biggerstaff: We had extreme wet conditions in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we had a lot of flooding and high water, and the hogs became a serious problem back then. That was when we had more options other than trapping. We used dogs and horses (to hunt them); there was still undeveloped land with hunting leases on it, and hunter control was part of the process. It was the early 1990s that we introduced the 10 large catch-pens (traps)Spring Creek, Panther Creek and Bear Branch. We had 10 large trapswhen we had 10 traps and were still using dogs and horses, we took out a little more than 500 head in one year. It (later) got down to 100 to 150 a yearId say the last 10 years, Im down to four traps now, were (catching) 75 to 125 a year. This past year, it has gone down to 50 to 75 head a year. Those four traps (combined) will always produce 50 to 75 a year.

Question: Where are the feral hogs coming from?

Biggerstaff: They follow the water. Just follow the San Jacinto River from Lake Houston upor from behind the San Jacinto River, just follow Lake Creek up to the other side of the county, that is all flood plain. Then the San Jacinto River joins Spring Creek at the southeast part of the county, and you follow Spring Creek all the way across Montgomery County into Harris County. Youve also got Cypress Creek that connects into Spring Creek. All those tributaries, those flood plains, it is just a reproduction area for feral hogs. It is on average from two to three litters per year. The young sows, six months old or so, will usually only have two to four the first time. The older they get, they can have up to 10 to 12 (piglets per litter)

Question: Are you surprised at the growing population of feral hogs in this area?

Biggerstaff: Im really not with the conditions weve had the past couple of years, extremely wet and the creeks were out of the banks for long periods of time. My traps were underwater for a period of time. i(The flooding) Pushed hogs out into areas they dont always normally go to, it scattered them. I work with one ranch and he had horrible hog problems the past two yearsthis year, he has not had one hog. Then weve had bumper acorn crops, the acorns are just thick and they have lots to eat. Theyre not as interested in corn. During hunting season, everyone starts their deer feeders and that draws them from the creek bottoms to the feeders. Now that the deer feeders are turned off, Ive seen more hogs coming back to the creek beds. I trapped 11 head in the first week of January in Cypress Creek.

ON HOUSTON CHRONICLE.COM: Scared residents in Woodlands plead for help with feral hog invasion

Question: What is the future of feral hog control efforts? Discussions have included poisoning and sterilization, are those legitimate? What about uses for food?

Biggerstaff: You used to have to have a hunting license to hunt hogs, but now you can hunt them without a license. Even back in the early 1990s, you had to sell them to a licensed holding facility, that still goes today. They have to go to a license game ranch or a game facility, they have to be an inspected and approved facility. They have to be euthanized and you can process them for your own personal consumption, but the meat cannot be processed unless it has gone through quarantine and inspections all hogs do. It is either going to have to be the birth control or the poison, and until they get that corrected until it works, all were going to have is traps and hunters and, areas where you have the acreage, dogs and horses. (The sterlization) Is not a dart, it is food. The poison was developed that they developed into a feed. There was a feeder, it took certain amount of weight to get it openonly a hog could push it open. Feed was falling of the (hogs) mouth, and birds were eating it and about 200 died. I have not heard any more about that. The poison (is illegal) and it would get into the environment and food system.

jeff.forward@chron.com
Number of candidates with criminal background contesting Delhi polls has witnessed sharp decline

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 25: In the 2015 Delhi elections out of 673 candidates, 114 (17 per cent) had declared criminal cases against themselves. In 2013, out of 796 candidates, 129 (16 per cent) had declared criminal cases against themselves and in 2008, out of 790 candidates, 111 (14 per cent) had declared criminal cases against themselves says a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms.

Candidates with serious criminal cases: In 2015, out of 673 candidates, 74 (11 per cent) had declared serious criminal cases against themselves. In 2013, out of 796 candidates, 93 (12 per cent) had declared criminal cases against themselves and in 2008, out of 790 candidates, 32 (4 per cent) had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Crorepati Candidates: In 2015, out of 673 candidates, 230 (34 per cent) were crorepati. In 2013, out of 796 candidates, 265 (33 per cent) were crorepati and in 2008, out of 790 candidates, 180 (23 per cent) had declared criminal cases against themselves.

Average Assets of Candidates: The average assets per candidate for Delhi 2015 assembly elections was Rs. 3.32 crores. In 2013, the average assets per candidate was Rs. 3.43 crores and in 2008 the average assets per candidate was Rs. 1.78 crores

Candidates who had declared their age between 25 to 50 years: 465 (69 per cent) out of 673 candidates had declared their age to be between 25 to 50 years in 2015. In 2013, 556(70 per cent) out of 796 candidates and in 2008, 590 (75 per cent) out of 790 candidates analysed had declared their age to be between 25 to 50 years.

Delhi Assembly poll: Nominations of nearly 698 candidates found valid post scrutiny

Candidates who had declared their age between 51 to 83 years: 200(30 per cent) out of 673 candidates had declared their age to be between 51 to 83 years in 2015. In 2013, 226(28 per cent) out of 796 candidates and in 2008, 181 (23 per cent) out of 790 candidates analysed had declared their age to be between 51 to 83 years.

Gender Details of Candidates: In 2015, 66 (10 per cent) out of 673 candidates were women. In 2013,69(9 per cent) out of 796 candidates and in 2008, 57 (7 per cent) out of 790 candidates were women.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says it might activate its no pay, no work mantra if the federal government fails to p...

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says it might activate its no pay, no work mantra if the federal government fails to pay its members their salaries by January 31.





President Muhammadu Buhari had previously ordered all government workers to enroll in the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS)  including university lecturers.





Defying the order over what was described as grey areas, ASUU had threatened nationwide strike should the government refuse its members their remunerations over the controversy.





ASUU had, thereafter, met with Buhari, as well as Adamu Adamu, the minister of education, while proposing an alternative payroll software to address the unions concerns.





On Wednesday, the federal government ordered the stoppage of salaries of lecturers and workers of tertiary institutions not enrolled on the platform.





Reacting to the development, Biodun Ogunyemi, ASUU president, said that the union may revert to its previous strike action if some individuals are trying to sabotage ongoing efforts at addressing the IPPIS issue.





We saw a circular trending on social media but weve not been given an official copy. We thought we were having some engagement with the government and that FG would allow the engagement to run its full course, he said.





The meeting we earlier had with President Buhari was to the effect that we find a way of marrying our proposed software with what we have in IPPIS in order to address the fears of our union.





That was what we thought was going to happen. But if this circular theyre talking about is true, then well go back to our earlier resolution of no pay, no work. Thats where we stand.





On the outcome of the unions meeting with the president, Ogunyemi said the resolution had been that ASUU would meet with the education minister, who would then look into the unions concerns.





One issue we raised was about the IPPIS and our proposed solution. If some individuals are trying to sabotage that, ASUU would respond appropriately as deemed necessary, Ogunyemi added.





On his part, Ndanitsa Attahiru, ASUU chairman at the Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna, said subsequent strike action wont require a meeting.





He also hinted that a potential refusal on the part of the federal government to pay members salaries by January 31 constitutes a criminal act that could lead to a court case.





I hope they know we have our own standing rules too? If you stop my salary, that means youre also stopping my work. Theres been a standing rule for a very long time, Attahiru said.





That rule was activated at the national executive council meeting we had here in Minna. Well just wait. By the 30th or 31st of this month, if salaries are not paid, then everything will stop.





I have worked for you, Youre indebted to me. But, when its time for you to pay me, you refuse. Thats criminal act! It can generate legal issues.




AS THE 2019 novel coronavirus continues its spread from China, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella has declared that if the entry of Chinese tourists will threaten Cebu City residents, he will not hesitate to ban them.

Labella will coordinate with the health agencies and wait for their recommendations, so he will know what actions to take.

They (Chinese) should not be allowed to enter if they pose hazards to our city, Labella told SunStar Cebu.

Labella made the clarification following the publication of an article by a Cebu news outlet where he allegedly said, There will be no ban of tourists from China.

Labella received backlash from netizens for this statement in the said article.

The Cebu City Public Information Office also released a statement on the issue on its Facebook page Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020: The Cebu City Information Office wishes to inform the public that Cebu City Mayor Edgar Labella did not issue a statement that the City Government of Cebu will not ban Chinese tourists from entering the city.

It said Labella even emphasized during his news conference Friday, Jan. 24, that everyone should be concerned about the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

We should all be concerned. And while we are concerned, we have to do something. We have to take steps to prevent this disease from affecting our people in the City of Cebu, the official statement quoted the mayor as saying.

On the possible ban, Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu president Carlo Suarez said, We welcome all tourists; however, if in the course of being hospitable we may endanger the well-being of fellow Cebuanos, we will follow the direction of the government to safeguard the health and welfare of our fellow citizens. We support all steps directed to ensure the safety of all.

The Cebu City Government has been taking precautionary measures following the report of a five-year old child from Wuhan, China showing symptoms of the 2019-nCoV on his arrival in Cebu City this month. Wuhan is the epicenter of the 2019-nCoV outbreak.

Story continues

Test results released Friday by the Victorian Infectious Disease Reference Laboratory in Melbourne, Australia, where the childs swab samples had been sent, showed that the child had not contracted the 2019-nCov.

Cebu City has sent personnel to augment the human resources needed to monitor the situation in the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) and to the Department of Health (DOH). The Cebu City Health Office has also advised the public to take preventive measures to fight the virus.

Child released

DOH-Central Visayas officials said the five-year-old child from Wuhan, China and his mother had been released from the Cebu City hospital where they had stayed while under observation.

The final result is negative for novel coronavirus of Wuhan. The patient and the mother have been discharged from the hospital. I think last night yet. They left quickly after the results were released, DOH 7 Director Jaime Bernadas said in a text message in English and Cebuano to SunStar Cebu Saturday.

If there is no reason to keep the patient(s), they are discharged as soon as possible, added Dr. Van Phillip Baton, DOH 7 Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Disease Program coordinator.

The child from Wuhan had traveled to Cebu with his mother on Jan. 12, 2020 via the MCIA.

Asked whether the child and his mother would be sent back to China, Bernadas said the decision would be up to the Chinese consulate. The Cebu Consulate of the Peoples Republic of China has yet to give a statement on this.

Back to Wuhan

In a separate development, 464 Chinese who arrived in Kalibo, Aklan from Wuhan on charter flights, are being sent back to China.

Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) spokesman Eric Apolonio said 172 Chinese were sent back to China last Jan. 23 via Pan Pacific, 142 Chinese last Jan. 24 via Royal Air, and the remaining 150 Chinese are scheduled to be sent back to China on Monday, Jan. 27, via Royal Air.

Apolonio, however, said the treatment would not be similar for Chinese travelers who arrived in any other parts of the country via commercial flights.

They were negative for symptoms. Since there is a lockdown in Wuhan, the Civil Aeronautics Board also ordered that it will cease operations of Wuhan flights temporarily until further notice, he said in a mix of Tagalog and English.

Before Fridays suspension of flights from Wuhan, China to the Philippines, the CAAP said two Philippine carriers operated regular charter services between Wuhan and Kalibo.

We cannot force passengers to go back, especially if the airports are closed. With the case of chartered flights, they were a group and the authorities in Wuhan allowed their return, he said.

The Associated Press reported on Friday that China had expanded its lockdown against 2019-nCov to around 36 million people.

Transportation was shut down in Wuhan, the city of 11 million at the epicenter of the outbreak, and in at least 12 other cities in central Chinas Hubei province, encompassing a population bigger than that of New York, London, Paris and Moscow combined, AP reported.

The DOH on Friday said it was investigating its second suspected case of 2019-nCoV in the Philippinesa 36-year-old man in Tacloban City, who worked in Wuhan, China, who has manifested symptoms of respiratory infection.

A family of four Brazilians on vacation in El Nido, Palawan is also now under isolation in a hospital in Palawan.

According to Rod Evangelistas report on Super Radyo dzBB, initial examinations showed that the familys 10-month-old baby had a high fever while the father had a sore throat. The family, reportedly, recently visited Wuhan.

Authorities have yet to verify if the familys case is a case of 2019-nCoV. (With CSL)
The Lagos state police command has arrested a 21-year-old called Tokunbo Lekan who reportedly broke into a church.

According to reports, Lekan broke into an Anglican Church of Triumphant located at Obadiah Craig Street, Falola in Ipaja area of Lagos state to steal from the church,

Read Also: Unlike Many Former Nigerian Leaders, Buhari Is Not A Thief: Adesina

Lekan reportedly stole a power generating set, electric wire, welding machine and other items worth about N400,000 from the church.

Upon interrogation, Lekan revealed that he was trained as a mechanic but abandoned the job to concentrate on stealing from churches as it wasnt paying his bills.

Lekan had successfully carted away the items but returned to the church to pick his tools when he was nabbed.

The suspect has since confessed to the crime and also disclosed that he attends churches to steal properties.

Lekan pled not guilty and was granted bail of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum. He will be remanded in prison till his bail conditions are perfected.

The case has been adjourned till March 22 for mention.
A massive quarantine effort covering 13 cities was in effect in China on Saturday aimed at containing a deadly virus, as the death toll climbed to 26 and the first cases of the disease were reported in Europe and South Asia.

China on Friday imposed transport bans in an area covering a staggering 41 million people, as the United States confirmed its second case of the SARS-like virus that has reached almost a dozen countries.

The virus has also spread to densely populated South Asia, where Nepal confirmed one case, and Europe, where two cases were reported in France.

With more than 800 cases logged in China so far, a range of Lunar New Year festivities have been cancelled, with temporary closures of Beijing's Forbidden City, Shanghai's Disneyland and a section of the Great Wall to prevent the disease from spreading further.

The previously unknown virus has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed hundreds across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.

The World Health Organization said China faced a national emergency but stopped short of declaring a global health emergency, which would have prompted greater global cooperation.

The outbreak emerged in late December in Wuhan, an industrial and transport hub of 11 million people in China's centre, spreading to several other countries.

In the United States, a woman in Chicago became the second known patient on US soil, with 50 other suspected cases under investigation. A city health official said on Friday the woman was doing well and in stable condition.

Hours after the announcement President Donald Trump thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping via Twitter "on behalf of the American People" for his country's "efforts and transparency" in working to contain the virus.

"It will all work out well," Trump wrote.

The first case in South Asia was reported in Nepal on Friday. The 32-year-old male patient, who had arrived from Wuhan, was treated at a hospital in Kathmandu and discharged, officials said.

And two cases were confirmed in France, the first in Europe. Both had recently travelled to China and have been placed in isolation, the country's health minister said. China is in the midst of its Lunar New Year holiday, a typically joyous time of family gatherings and public festivities.

But on Friday Wuhan was a ghost town, its streets deserted and stores shuttered.

As reports surfaced of bed shortages in Wuhan for the sick, state media said authorities were rushing to build a new hospital only for the outbreak in a mind-blowing 10 days.

Hospitals visited by AFP journalists bustled with worried patients being screened by staff wearing full-body protective suits.

At a temperature-check station, a medical staffer in a bodysuit, face mask and goggles took a thermometer from a middle-aged woman, pausing to examine the reading before quickly turning back to the patient.

"Have you registered? Then go and see the doctor," the staffer said.

One 35-year-old man surnamed Li voiced the fears of many. "I have a fever and cough, so I'm worried that I'm infected," he said.

With millions of people on the move across China for the holiday, the government has halted all travel out of Wuhan, shut down its public transport and told residents to stay home. Few flights were available to the city.

"This year we have a very scary Chinese New Year. People are not going outside because of the virus," a taxi driver in the city, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

He said a prolonged shutdown should not pose food-shortage problems because many Chinese had stocked up for the holiday.

Besides Wuhan, 12 smaller cities nearby have battened down the hatches, with most announcing measures Friday that include closing public venues, restricting large gatherings and halting public transportation, as well as urging citizens not to travel. Several of the cities have populations numbering several million, led by Huanggang with 7.5 million.

The pathogen -- 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) -- has caused many outlets in Shanghai, Beijing and other cities to sell out of face masks.

State broadcaster CCTV reported that 40 military medical doctors were being deployed to Wuhan to help with intensive care.

In addition, 405 medical workers were being sent to Wuhan from Shanghai, said state agency Xinhua.

In Beijing, staff in full-body protective suits were seen Friday checking the temperatures of people entering a subway station.

Thermal cameras also scanned passengers arriving at Beijing's West Railway Station.

Beijing has been praised for its response in contrast to SARS, when it took months to report the disease and initially denied WHO experts any access.

Gao Fu, head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, asked China's people to forego New Year gatherings this year and confine themselves at home until the all-clear.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Donald Trump's personal attorney Jay Sekulow, left, walks with White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, right, as they arrive at the Capitol in Washington during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. Read more

WASHINGTON  White House lawyers are gearing up for a scorched-earth defense of President Donald Trump in the impeachment trial, mounting a politically charged case aimed more at swaying American voters than GOP senators  and damaging Trumps possible 2020 opponent, Joe Biden.

Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, and Jay Sekulow, Trumps personal attorney, plan to use their time in the trial to target the former vice president and his son, Hunter, according to multiple GOP officials familiar with the strategy. Trumps allies believe that if they can argue that the president had a plausible reason for requesting the Biden investigation in Ukraine, that they can both defend him against the impeachment charges and gain the added bonus of undercutting a political adversary.

The strategy  aimed squarely at muddying the waters surrounding the two impeachment articles of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress  carries potential risk. Some congressional Republicans have encouraged the White House to prioritize a line-by-line rebuttal of the Democrats case, ensuring that wary moderates are provided enough cover to vote for Trumps acquittal. It is unclear whether going after a former colleague will sway that core constituency, protecting moderates from possible political blowback at home  though a senior administration official made clear that Trumps legal team would try to do both.

The official, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter frankly.

 READ MORE: Dems say oust Trump or hell betray again; He is who he is

The Biden campaign condemned the strategy.

Donald Trump is so terrified of facing Joe Biden that he became the only president in American history to attempt to coerce a foreign nation into lying about a political rival, spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement. Even members of his own administration  including his former top envoy to Ukraine  have refuted the conspiracy theory that he tried to force Ukraine to spread to bail out his struggling reelection campaign.

The offensive will mark the first time lawmakers or the public have heard a full-throated White House defense. The presidents attorneys rejected the House invitation to participate in the last phase of the impeachment inquiry, making their presentation  expected Saturday and Monday  the teams first major turn in the spotlight.

Until now, the White House has struggled to address why Trump froze military aid to Ukraine and repeatedly postponed a promised White House meeting with newly elected President Volodymyr Zelensky while pressing for investigations of the Bidens and an unfounded conspiracy theory about Ukraine interfering in the 2016 election. The White House also has had difficulty explaining why Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani was the point person on policy toward the Eastern European nation.

In October, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney openly admitted that a quid pro quo occurred, telling reporters to get over it  though he later walked back the comments.

Trump is eager for his team to take the stage and has been trying to strategically time it to maximize TV viewership. He has told allies that while hes fine with the defense beginning its presentation Saturday for a few hours starting at 10 a.m.  in part because he hopes it will drive discussions on Sunday morning talk shows  he prefers the bulk of their arguments to happen Monday when more Americans will be watching television, according to White House officials who were not authorized to speak publicly.

"After having been treated unbelievably unfairly in the House, and then having to endure hour after hour of lies, fraud & deception by Shifty Schiff, Cryin' Chuck Schumer & their crew, looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V.," Trump tweeted Friday morning.

The emerging strategy comes as the White House has heard conflicting advice from Republicans eager to share their opinion on the best rebuttal. In recent weeks, there has been a quiet, behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign by both GOP senators and Trumps House allies on his defense team, creating confusion among Republicans about which strategy the White House will adopt.

 READ MORE: Recording of Trump calling for Marie Yovanovitchs ouster appears to corroborate Parnas account

The deliberations occasionally have been marked by intense discussions, including debates about whether to push a process-focused case against Democrats or take on each of their points and accusations individually, according to senators and congressional aides familiar with the talks. Over the past 24 hours, the debate has focused more on how much time should be dedicated to going after the Bidens.

Those divergent views were on full display in the Capitol this week. Rep. Lee Zeldin, a New York Republican advising Trumps defense team, told reporters that Trumps lawyers needed to re-litigate what is considered a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election to help Hillary Clinton  and, therefore, justified Trump pushing Ukraine to investigate the matter. But some Senate Republicans, including No. 2 leader John Thune of South Dakota, want the White House to avoid what they consider a baseless conspiracy theory.

I think the intelligence community has very conclusively determined that it was Russia  and not Ukraine  that interfered in the 2016 election, so . . . I guess thats not a direction I would have them go, Thune said.

Other Senate Republicans, including Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have publicly pushed back on a key White House legal team talking point: that the charges against the president do not constitute a crime and therefore his actions are not impeachable.

Trump himself actively recruited lawyer and TV commentator Alan Dershowitz at a Mar-a-Lago buffet to make that very argument  then sought out Dershowitzs wife to help persuade him to do it. He wants me to make the argument that the case does not meet the grounds for impeachment, said Dershowitz. He knows that I feel very strongly about constitutional issues.

Democrats, meanwhile, have been bracing for this moment, anxious about the Trump team getting 24 hours without any interruptions and pushback from impeachment managers. That concern only grew after Trumps lawyers uttered several inaccuracies on the Senate floor Tuesday, including a claim that House Republicans were not allowed to question witnesses during closed-door depositions. They could, and they did.

Democrats want to ensure that the Trump team doesn't get the last word, in part by using some of the allotted 16 hours of questions and answers to correct any misstatements.

Im concerned about their deceptive and misleading statements, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., promising that Democrats would ask questions that are, in effect, an invitation to set the record straight.

 READ MORE: Democrats say Trump blocked Ukraine money but got caught

Democrats have been anticipating that the defense would shift attention from Trump's alleged misconduct to focus on the Bidens. That, in part, is what drove House managers to devote a considerable portion of their Thursday presentation to a preemptive rebuttal on those points, arguing that several Republicans and Europeans had supported Biden's efforts to push out corrupt former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin.

Trump and Republicans have accused Biden  without proof  of ousting Shokin because the prosecutor was investigating Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company that employed Hunter Biden on its board while the elder Biden was vice president.

But former U.S. and Ukrainian officials have said the prosecutors investigation of Burisma had been dormant, and many had hoped that the change in prosecutors backed by Biden and others would lead to more aggressive anti-corruption investigations.

Republicans also have pointed to concerns about the appearance of a conflict of interest, which were expressed by some of the Democrats' top witnesses in the impeachment inquiry.

The House managers sort of drove a knife through the heart of those false arguments ahead of time . . . and I think that will help make the case, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Thursday.

Not all Republicans are eager about a singular focus on the former vice president. In an unusual role-reversal, Trumps most aggressive House allies have urged the legal team to focus on trying to undercut the Democrats timeline and arguments.

You cant talk about corruption broadly without talking about Burisma and Hunter Bidens involvement, said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who also is assisting the defense team. That being said, I think the vast majority of this emphasis is on what were the components that led the president to ultimately release the aid.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and his top attorney on the House Oversight Committee, Steve Castor, both of whom participated in the House investigation, have been working with the Trump team to try to highlight what they see as weak spots in the impeachment case.

As the impeachment managers showed clips of Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland confirming a quid pro quo, Jordan has pushed for the team to counter by highlighting Sondland's changing statements as well as his own admission that he never heard such a directive from Trump.

"Remember, Sondland is the guy who had to amend his testimony, the guy who had to clarify his testimony, is the guy they rely on the most?" Jordan said.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has been on the other side of the argument, working closely with the White House and meeting with Trumps legal team as recently as Thursday evening to encourage them to go hard on Hunter Bidens Burisma position.

"Focus on what matters, which is the substance," he said on Hugh Hewitt's radio show Friday morning, summarizing his advice to Trump's team. "And I told them, 'Look, nothing matters more than the facts on Burisma.' . . . Lay out substantive, factual reasons why investigating Burisma, the president had a responsibility to do so."

Senate Republicans said they have been eager to hear what Trumps team has to say  in part because they dont know what line of attack it will take. Privately, some Republican senators have groused in recent days that the Trump team is everywhere but nowhere, as one described the dynamic, speaking on the condition anonymity to give a frank assessment.

They are on TV and at the Capitol yelling at the Democrats, but Im not really sure what the whole range of the argument is. Are you? the GOP senator asked, adding that the frustration was shared by other Republicans.
When the couple took King to the veterinarian they learned the surgical procedure would cost $6,000. Saying they couldnt afford that, they were given pills to possibly help the dogs condition.

King was given the medication but stopped eating and drinking a few days later.

Steward said that he took the dog to Kings Harvest with the concocted story because he could not kill the dog himself.

When police searched the home they went to the garage, which is under the main floor of the home and is part of the basement.

The floor was covered with excrement mixed with dry dog food. Stewart said he would put the dogs in the garage when no one was home, and that he cleans the garage once a year.

In his affidavit, Hanssen said that Stewart and Bruyntjens were responsible for making sure the dog received medical attention and not allow the dog to live in poor conditions and to suffer.

Stewart was arrested Thursday and placed in the Scott County Jail. He was released after posting a $1,000 cash-only bond. He is scheduled to be arraigned on the charge Feb. 20 in Scott County District Court.

Bruyntjens was arrested Friday at the Scott County Courthouse but was not booked into the jail. She was released on her own recognizance after making a first court appearance. She also is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 20.

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(Natural News) For some odd reason, the science-based medicine folks refuse to acknowledge that their precious vaccines arent a one-size-fits-all miracle medicine. While even the manufacturer package inserts openly admit  because they have to  that some children wont respond to vaccines and might even suffer adverse effects from them, both the media and health authorities alike want us all to believe them when they say that vaccines are 100 percent safe and effective, which is why theyre working tirelessly to eliminate vaccination exemptions all across the country.

Of particular concern is the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella, a highly controversial multivalent jab that weve repeatedly warned doesnt hold up to scientific scrutiny. In fact, the MMR vaccine was fraudulently approved based on flawed and inaccurate studies, and is linked to causing a 340 percent increase in autism specifically among African-American boys.

There are many other problems with the MMR vaccine that continue to be ignored by those with the loudest voices in our society, which is why groups like Childrens Health Defense (CHD) are publishing groundbreaking research that tells the ugly truth about vaccines that nobody else seems willing to tell, save for Natural News and a few other independent media sources that have braved the tide of censorship in defense of the facts.

As part of an installment series about vaccine failure, CHD recently published an extensive piece about the many problems inherent to the MMR vaccine. The following is information about this deadly jab youre unlikely to hear or read about anywhere else, which is why were committed to doing our part in getting the message out loudly and clearly.

Fundamentally speaking, the MMR vaccine simply doesnt provide true protection against measles like the medical establishment claims. As it turns out, primary and secondary measles vaccine failures are more common than many people think, with as many as 12 percent of children who receive the first dose of measles vaccine exhibiting whats known as primary vaccine failure.

Almost none of the official story about the benefits of the MMR vaccine is true

For reasons that CHD claims remain largely unknown, measles vaccination often fails to induce the expected antibody response thats believed to create immunity  meaning the vaccine is certifiably useless. And even in individuals for whom the vaccine appears to take, the science shows that many vaccinated individuals have lower levels of measles-specific antibody than do those with immunity derived from exposure to wild-type measles virus.

Secondary failure is also common, as even the best immunity procured by measles vaccines is temporary at best. At worst, no immunity is conferred at all, and vaccinated individuals still contract and spread vaccine-type measles infections to themselves and to others.

Another problem with measles vaccines is that they dont pass any real immunity on to the next generation. A measles-vaccinated mother, for instance, will not pass on adequate immunity to her children like an unvaccinated mother who contracted measles naturally when she was a child would. This creates a situation in which the children of measles-vaccinated mothers are more prone to developing the type of serious measles infections that the media and health authorities constantly claim unvaccinated children are contracting and spreading.

And that brings us to another point: Measles-vaccinated individuals in general are still getting measles, and perhaps at an even higher rate than the statistics show. While media and government mouthpieces would have us all believe that getting vaccinated always prevents infection, the truth of the matter is that vaccines contain viral components, sometimes in live form, that are still capable of causing a vaccinated person to become ill.

Be sure to read the full CHD article about measles vaccine failure at this link.

You can also learn more about the dangers of childhood vaccination at Vaccines.news.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

ChildrensHealthDefense.org

NaturalNews.com
BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua)  China's Ministry of Education Thursday said education administrations and schools across the country should not hold mass gatherings or examinations during the viral pneumonia outbreak.

Universities and colleges must make plans for the prevention and control of pneumonia cases caused by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) before the spring semester begins, said a circular issued by the ministry.

Students are on winter break and will go back to campus usually in late February. The ministry said schools should weigh the epidemic situations before the spring semester begins and make adjustment accordingly.

Local education authorities should notify students of primary and secondary schools not to attend any mass gatherings or examinations held by social organizations.

Education administrations and universities in areas most affected by the pneumonia outbreak such as central city of Wuhan should help teachers and students raise their awareness of the disease, the circular read.

(Source: Xinhua)
Fashion retailer Express plans to close around 100 stores by 2022, the company announced this week.

That includes nine stores that closed last year along with 31 stores the retailer plans to shutter by the end of January and another 35 stores it plans to close by the end of January 2021.

Two stores in Texas  one at Rice Village in Houston and the other at Valle Vista in Harlingen  are among the stores closing this month, said spokesperson Alysa Spittle.

Spittle said she could only confirm this months closures. In most cases, the future stores have not yet been determined, she said.

There are five Express stores in the San Antonio area, including two outlet stores.

What retailers are expanding to San Antonio?

Fleet Feet, a running store chain headquartered in Carrboro, N.C., is opening two new locations in Texas. The business franchises locally owned and operated running stores.

The first store will open at the Forum shopping center in March and will be Fleet Feets third store in the area. The other is opening in Plano in April.

Little Land Play Gym is opening a location at 8116 Tezel Road, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

It will include a gym, party rooms, a lobby and other features. Work is expected to wrap up in July, the filing indicates.

Painted Tree Marketplace is opening a location in the former Sears store across from North Star Mall, according to a Facebook post.

The business features products from local artisans, decorators and boutiques. Improvements to the stores future home are expected to finish in May, according to a TDLR filing.

Liquor Bueno is planning to open a store at 2538 Marshall Road, another filing indicates.

Nibbles news

Busted Sandal Brewing Co. is opening a second tap room in the area, Staff Writer Chuck Blount reports.

The new location at 14743 Old Bandera Road opens Jan. 31. Busted Sandals brewery near Fredericksburg Road and Loop 410 opened in 2013.

Local chef Andrew Weissman has shuttered The Luxury bar and grill on the River Walk, Staff Writer Mike Sutter reports.

Weissman sold the property to entrepreneurs Terrin Fuhrmann and Nolan Ellis, who plan to open a new bar and kitchen there. Weissman is moving The Luxury to San Antonio International Airport this summer.

After closing its Five Points location in September, barbecue spot Burnwood 68 has reopened at 18745 Redland Road on the North Side, Blount reports.

Popular Austin chain P. Terrys Burger Stand is expanding to San Antonio, Sutter reports. The restaurant, which the company says is the first of several, is headed to 8539 Fredericksburg Road.

A taco stall is moving into The Good Kinds old spot at the Pearls food hall, Editor Emily Spicer reports. Humble House Foods, a local hot sauce maker, plans to open SayTown Tacos by the end of next month.

madison.iszler@express-news.net
Opposition Leader Liza Harvey is calling for the return to WA of Rally Australia, almost 15 years after then-tourism minister Mark McGowan decided to pull its funding.

The internationally recognised event was held around Perth from 1988 to 2006, but shifted to the eastern states after the state government withdrew $4.7 million in funding.

Opposition Liza Harvey is calling for the state government to bring Rally Australia to WA.

Ms Harvey called on the McGowan Government to secure the event, which was cancelled this year because of the bushfires in NSW and will be out of contract after this year.

"We are calling on him to secure this world-class event which will again create local jobs and attract tourists from countries that love such events, such as the booming economies of China and Japan," she said.
Ankara, Jan 25 : The death toll from the massive earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale that jolted eastern Turkey has increased to 22, the government said on Saturday.

The quake hit the Elazig province at 8.55 p.m. on Friday night, with its epicentre in Sivrice district, along with neighbouring provinces and countries including Syria and Georgia, reports Anadolu News Agency.

"Four people died in Malatya's Doganyol (town) and 18 others in Elazig," Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told the media.

A total of 39 people were also rescued from the rubble of collapsed houses and buildings, Soylu added.

He said that it was decided to evacuate a prison in Turkey's eastern Adiyaman province which was damaged as a result of the quake.

Meanwhile,Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that 128 injured people were receiving treatment in hospitals and 34 of them were in intensive care units.

Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum advised locals not to enter damaged houses as aftershocks continue in the region.

Kurum added that a 368-member team was at the field to assess the damage caused by the quake.

The Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency said 118 aftershocks, with magnitudes ranging from 2.7 to 5.4, were felt following the initial temblor.

The quake was also felt in other provinces including Adana, Osmaniye, Tunceli and Hatay, said Anadolu News Agency.

In addition, northern Syrian regions including Idlib, Azaz, Al-Bab, Jarabulus, Afrin and Tal Abyad also felt the tremors.

This is not the first quake to hit Turkey in 2020.

A 5.4-magnitude quake jolted western province of Manisa on Wednesday, while Ankara was rattled by a 4.5-magnitude temblor on Thursday.

A total of 51 people were killed in 2010 when a 6.0-magnitude quake had hit Elazig province.
While thanking President Jair Messias Bolsonaro for accepting his invitation to attend India's 71st Republic Day tomorrow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "Brazil and India's strategic partnership is based on common philosophy and values. Despite geographical distance, we have been members of various fora and significant partners in development too. That is why he and I today have agreed on bilateral cooperation in all areas."

Announcing that an action plan to implement a slew of agreements and memoranda of understanding, had been formulated, the Prime Minister said, by 2023 (the platinum jubilee of the diplomatic relations between India and Brazil) the strategic partnership, people-to-people ties and business cooperation would be strengthened even further.

The two governments signed agreements and memoranda of understanding for cooperation in bioenergy, oil, natural gas, investments, legal assistance in criminal matters, early childhood related issues, health and medicine, traditional systems of medicine and homeopathy, cultural exchange, social security, cyber security, science and technology, geology and mineral resources, animal husbandry and dairy, cattle genomics.

"Animal husbandry, especially health care of cows is one of our unique areas of cooperation. At one point, India sent Gir and Kankreji cows to Brazil," Modi said.

Indian requirement of crude oil imports from Brazil went up after the US imposed sanctions against its suppliers Venezuela and Iran. Brazil imports chicken from India and wants reduction in import taxes on poultry. The bilateral trade between the two countries was $8.2 billion in 2018-19.

Accompanied by eight ministers and a delegation of business leaders, Brazilian President Bolsonaro arrived in New Delhi on Friday. He is the chief guest for the Republic Day tomorrow. This is his first visit to India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Brazil in November 2019 to attend the eleventh BRICS summit and extended the invite to President Bolsonaro for a visit to India.

A former army captain with Right-wing views, Bolsonaro assumed power in January last year after a landslide victory in Brazil's presidential election in October 2018. Last year, Bolsonaro announced that Indians will be allowed visa-free travel to Brazil.

Brazil and India are members of several multilateral fora like BRICS, IBSA, G-20 and G-4 and both the countries aspire to have a permanent seat at the UN Security Council.
The World Economic Forum (WEF)  together with some of the world's major central banks  has created a central bank digital currency (CBDC) policymaker toolkit.

According to an announcement on Jan. 22, the toolkit is the WEF's attempt to help policy-makers understand whether deploying a CBDC would be advantageous and guide them through its design.

The WEF collaborated with regulators, central bank researchers, international organizations and experts from over 40 institutions to develop the framework. The head of blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) at the World Economic Forum Sheila Warren explained:

Given the critical roles central banks play in the global economy, any central bank digital currency implementation, including potentially with blockchain technology, will have a profound impact domestically and internationally. [...] It is imperative that central banks proceed cautiously, with a rigorous analysis of the opportunities and challenges posed.

Bank of Thailand Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob said that the institution made good progress on its own CBDC implementation, called Project Inthanon. Recently, reports started circulating that Hong Kong and Thailands central banks have stepped closer to implementing a joint CBDC for cross-border payments. He explained how the toolkit is useful for the continued development of the banks digital currency:

From our experience, we need to identify tradeoffs between benefits from the use cases and their associated risks across different dimensions. This is where the Policymaker Toolkit could usefully provide an actionable framework for CBDC deployment.

Central Bank of Bahrain Governor Rasheed M. Al Maraj announced that the institution that he is guiding will pilot the WEFs toolkit, saying, We hope that it will be an opportunity to learn, grow and to adapt to the changes in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The pros and cons of a digital currency

The framework recognizes that a CBDC  among other things  can improve the cost and speed efficiencies of cross-border interbank payments, as well as reduce settlement and counterparty risks. The WEF notes that a digital currency can also enhance financial data transmission and reporting, and improve traceability compared to physical cash.

The paper admits that, before considering a CBDC, other solutions to economic friction should be considered. A digital currency may not add value in domestic interbank payments where an efficient system is already present.

The toolkit also notes that digital currency implementation requires substantial investments in cybersecurity and system resilience, and that potential risks come along with it:

Generates substantial financial risks, including: 1) bank disintermediation risk, which could reduce bank profits and lending activity; 2) digitalbankrun risk as depositors may rapidly convert commercial bank deposits to CBDC.

Toolkit distinguishes between different types of CBDCs

The WEFs framework divides CBDCs into three categories: retail, wholesale and hybrid. The first category allows non-financial users to hold digital currency accounts, while the second is an electronic system granting access to the central bank reserve that could be used by commercial banks and other financial institutions for interbank and security transactions.

Hybrid CBDCs allow financial institutions that do not usually have access to a central bank deposit facility to hold reserves at it. This would enable stronger safeguards and monitoring of those organizations and improve interoperability between different payment systems, according to the WEF.

The paper explains that in the case of a DLT-based CBDC, the central bank would preserve full control over the issuance of the digital currency:

[The central bank] could delegate transaction approval to a more decentralized network, most likely consisting of regulated financial institutions. Transaction approval could follow a prespecified consensus process determined by the central bank, which could include privileges for the central bank such as transaction veto powers or visibility. It is also possible to develop a DLT system in which the central bank remains the only validating node yet it benefits from other advantages related to DLT.

The impact of stablecoins on CBDC development

Global efforts and discussions around CBDC development are increasingly common. Many believe that stablecoins  and Facebooks Libra in particular  served as a wake-up call for central banks to realize that in the digital age the public expects cheap and instant digital payments.

Earlier this month, the president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, also said that she supports the banks active involvement in the development of a CBDC, particularly in addressing the demand for faster and cheaper cross-border payments.
A 'Spiderman' shoplifting suspect clambered into the rafters at an Asda supermarket in an attempt to avoid being arrested.

Footage filmed at the supermarket in George Street, Walsall, shows a man high above shoppers and workers yesterday afternoon.

In the video, filmed by witness Ryan Rogan, onlookers on the ground could be heard shouting 'get out the way' and 'where's the coppers' as he shuffles across the lighting and stands on pipework.

A 'Spiderman' shopping suspect climbed onto the rafters at an Asda supermarket in Wallsall, West Midlands. Footage shows the man shuffling across lightning and standing on pipework

The 19-year-old witness said: 'I heard a bang on the wall and then suddenly I saw two feet come through the wall.

'I was a bit scared. He stood on the gas pipe and I was beneath it. The staff were telling him to get down and panicking.'

Police arrested an 18-year-old man on suspicion of shoplifting and criminal damage who remains in custody.

A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: 'We were called to reports that security staff had detained a suspected shoplifter at Asda on George Street in Walsall just before 3.45pm yesterday.

West Midlands Police said the shoplifting suspect climbed a pillar before clambering onto the rafter on Friday afternoon. An 18-year-old man was arrested and remains in custody

'Before officers arrived, a suspect climbed a pillar and made his way on to lights in the ceiling of the store.

'An 18-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting and criminal damage and remains in custody today.'

A spokeswoman for Asda told MailOnline: 'We are assisting the police with their inquiries and would like to apologies to our customers for any inconvenience.'
The issues with the Grammys extend to the televised show as well. In 2018, Lorde was the only woman nominated for album of the year, and was not offered a solo performance slot. Last year, Ariana Grande publicly clashed with Ken Ehrlich, the shows longtime executive producer, about why she chose not to perform. (This year will be Ehrlichs last at the helm after a 40-year run; Grande is scheduled to perform.)

So: several of the most inventive, meaningful and popular musicians of the decade, all expressing dismay with the Grammys. These arent mere celebrity quibbles; this is a flaming cross-generational blind spot. Broadly speaking, nonwhite artists, female artists, and artists who come from the worlds of hip-hop and R&B are consistently marginalized, honored in genre categories but shut out in the four major categories (album, song and record of the year, and best new artist). Add it all up, and you get impending irrelevance.

This is bolstered by the peculiar Grammy microphenomenon in which little-heralded artists get nominated in the biggest categories, but typically for music that harks back to the past rather than blazes a path to tomorrow. It can feel that the only way for a newish artist to truly break through is to look backward. (The nominations this year point to a kind of progress: Lizzo, Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X lead the way in the major categories.)

And yet the Grammys remain the most meaningful and respected of the music-industry awards shows, though admittedly there is not much competition. The American Music Awards are based on fan votes, the Billboard Music Awards are doled out based on sales, and the MTV Video Music Awards celebrate artists who still believe MTV is a relevant music medium. (Around 20 million people watch the Grammys ceremony on television, though the last two have had the lowest viewership ever in the coveted 18-49 demographic.)

From the outside looking in, the Grammys are understood to be a meritocracy, the night on which the industry honors its leading lights and passes the torch to deserving newcomers. But the truth has always been more complicated, and more unseemly.

Grammy nominations are shaped by a number of committees  for the major categories, and some genre-specific ones  whose composition remains secret. They effectively have override power, and can cherry-pick nominees. It is, in essence, a cabal, Dugan alleges  a system that can be scammed by people with the right connections. (The Grammys deny this.)
Did you keep a diary ... Did you keep a day book of sorts? No, I didnt ... No, I didnt, Overland replied. There was no reason to disbelieve him. Investigators from Taskforce Landow, a 117-person team of police and support staff that manages the forces response to the royal commission, had officially confirmed 10 months before that no such diaries existed. But in an office across the city, Overlands testimony had sparked a memory in his former chief-of-staff, now Deputy Commissioner of Police, Shane Patton.

When Overland resigned in 2011 in the midst of a scandal, Patton had overseen the cleanout of his boss office. At the time, hed noted in his own diary that among the paperwork sent for storage was a series of police-issued diaries, known as PB13s. The week before Overland took the stand, Patton had been reviewing his own diaries from that time, but he didnt twig to the significance until Overland was being grilled about his record-keeping practices. Patton informed Taskforce Landow and behind the scenes  as Overlands testimony before the royal commission rolled on - a frantic search for the diaries began. A team of investigators was dispatched to the Archive Services Centre, spending days ripping through more than 200 boxes before three diaries were discovered packed away with the paperwork from another officer in a carton labelled miscellaneous.

A fourth diary now known to exist was not located. Late on the afternoon of Overlands last day on the stand, the find was announced at the royal commission. They've only been in possession of Taskforce Landow for about an hour and a half, Saul Holt, QC, counsel for Victoria Police, said. It's hard to see how that situation could be avoided but for better record-keeping when they were archived. That's the position. That's as much information as I give. Consistent with, well, not the best of record-keeping, commissioner Margaret McMurdo responded.

Police commissioner Christine Nixon and her deputy Simon Overland at a press conference in 2007. Credit:Mario Borg The explosive contents of the diaries would not be aired for another month, forcing Overland to dramatically revise his testimony of events when the royal commission commenced in 2020. A brief notation  Meeting with (Chief Commissioner of Police)  Purana Re: 3838  from September 29, 2005, led to Overland now putting his former boss Christine Nixon directly in the gun. So my recollection  well, it's not my recollection, but my belief is I spoke to the chief commissioner about the fact that Ms Gobbo was registered as a human source by that code number, he said. The meeting was just a fortnight after Gobbo was recruited by police. Nixon had earlier testified shed learnt about Gobbos activities in late 2018 as the Lawyer X scandal became public.

Until now, Overland had been named as the highest-ranking police officer who supposedly knew about the barristers secret work from 2005 to 2009. The last-minute discovery will likely prompt Nixon to be recalled and create further havoc for a royal commission that has been plagued by repeated delays. Victoria Police's Archive Services Centre. Credit:Seven Its also another embarrassing black eye for Victoria Police, which is spending more than $1 million a month responding to the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants. Taskforce Landow is better staffed than the Purana anti-gangland taskforce was at the height of Melbournes bloody underworld war, the work of which is now being unravelled by revelations about Gobbos central and potentially corrupting role in hundreds of investigations.

That Overland was ultimately contradicted by writing in his own hand from documents that were not supposed to exist is a testament to Victoria Polices institutional obsession with making and keeping records. Rank-and-file police are obliged to keep all documents produced in the course of their duties, which are supposed to be tracked and stored under strict guidelines. In reality, while the Archive Services Centre can be a treasure trove of information for investigators, navigating its byzantine-to-non-existent filing system can be a nightmare. "It is a Bermuda Triangle," one detective, who cannot be identified speaking about police business, said. "VicPol has too many systems. The admin staff are not trained properly and when members start out, and even along the way, we are given minimal if any training on how the admin systems work and how things are supposed to be recorded."

That such key documents as Overlands diaries would only be found, apparently accidentally, at the tail end of the biggest inquiry into police misconduct in generations speaks to the forces deeply problematic history with the quality of its record-keeping. Loading Victoria Police has been rebuked by multiple independent and internal reviews about its information management and storage practices. And its not the first time a key piece of evidence has been unearthed at the Archive Services Centre that has upended the royal commission and provided stark new details about polices secret history with the barrister-turned-informer. In June 2018, as Victoria Police was preparing for the possibility that Gobbos work as informer from 2005 to 2009 would become public following a series of failed court bids to keep it secret, detectives stumbled across an informer registration card dating back to 1995.

The revelation would not be shared with the Andrews government before it launched the royal commission six months later. Deeply embarrassed, the government was forced to expand the commissions terms of reference by more than a decade and replace its commissioner  a former Victoria deputy police commissioner from the 1990s  to avoid perceptions of a conflict of interest. We have previously acknowledged shortcomings in our record-keeping practices in the 1990s and 2000s. These have since been improved, but there is no doubt these shortcomings have at times hindered Landows efforts to locate documents and provide them, a police spokesman said. Landow has so far searched through more than 3000 archive boxes, reviewed hundreds of thousands of pages, and provided almost 90,000 documents to the royal commission. Victoria Police is fully committed to working co-operatively and transparently with the royal commission, the spokesman said.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

A 74-year-old real estate developer from Fremont who funneled large amounts of his own money through front donors into two campaigns for a member of the U.S. House of Representatives was sentenced to 15 months in prison Friday by a federal jury in San Francisco.

Evidence was presented that James Tong made donations totaling $38,000 through intermediaries in 2012 and 2013 to the congressional candidate for initial and reelection campaigns.

"Tong provided envelopes of cash to his bank manager and another business associate and directed them to give the cash to individuals in the community, who then used Tong's cash to write checks in their own names to the campaign for the U.S. congressional candidate Tong was supporting," the United States Attorney David Anderson said in a news release.

"Tong leveraged financial obligations and the implied loss of business opportunities to induce his bank manager and business associate to distribute cash in the community to be donated."

Dozens of conduits were involved in funneling the funds to the candidate, including one foreign national ineligible to make donations to federal elections, Anderson said.

"Tong also directed his middlemen to conceal the scheme by instructing the straw donors not to deposit the cash; and he later directed one of the middlemen to withhold information from the FBI after he was interviewed," Anderson said.

U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar also sentenced Tong to one year of supervised release and a $380,000 fine.

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.
London: Something strange happened this week: for the first time in a long time, Donald Trump wasn't the main attraction at a gathering of world leaders. The circus had lost its ringmaster.

It wasn't from lack of trying. The US President blew into the World Economic Forum at Davos and quickly sprayed environmental activists like Greta Thunberg as "prophets of doom" and made the outlandish claim that America was enjoying an economic boom "likes of which the world has never seen". He threw a cluster of attention-seeking bombs but the spotlight just wouldn't stick.

Truth is the master showman's attention was elsewhere. He may have been in Switzerland but the Eurosceptic's eyes were focused on his impeachment trial in Washington and the rapidly approaching November election. Any new major international confrontations would have to wait.

It meant the adults in the room could get on with the job, free from the fallout of any Trump-shaped sideshow. The doom and fear that once dogged Davos gave way to intelligent debate and even some rare optimism about the economy following years of stagnant growth and damaging trade spats.
Its no secret that a lot of our B-Town celebs are ardent fans of some of the most popular cartoons out there. However, the fan following that Pokemon seems to enjoy, be it with us or celebs, is something that no other anime or cartoon has witnessed.

 Viral Bhayani

Akshay Kumar, who is normally seen in some of the most basic, but classy sneakers one can buy, seems to have finally given in to the temptation of going a little bonkers with quirky footwear, for he was recently spotted wearing a pair of black trainers, that looked like they were straight out of the Japanese Anime series that we all have grown so fond of.



 Viral Bhayani

First, though, lets get to his outfit.



Akshay is wearing a rather simple and understated black sweatshirt, which actually, works well with the finely checkered joggers that he is wearing. The joggers themselves are actually quite dope, thanks to the mix of the patterns around the knees, and the two zipped pockets that they have.

 Viral Bhayani

This is actually somewhat unusual for Akshay, who normally tends to stay away from such pieces and prefers wearing basic cargos, or jumpsuits. Well, were glad that hes switching things up a bit and experimenting.



 Viral Bhayani

Now, comes the piece de resistance of the ensemble, the black loafers that Akshays wearing. They are as zany as they are exquisite. Akshay is seen here wearing the Men's Black Monster Eyes Suede Loafers from Fendi, an Italian luxury fashion brand, which primarily deals in leather and faux pieces.



 Fendi

The yellow eyes that we see here are a classic Fendi design and are called the Bugs Eye motif. The pieces that these eyes are featured on, are normally labelled under Monster Eyes. The eyes themselves seem to have been inspired by Pokemon. The eyes do look like an evil Pokemon, don't they?



 Viral Bhayani

To add even more to the monster theme, Fendi has added some spikes at the counter or the back of the loafers. Sure, these spikes are small and arent that outrageous. However, they are quite zany and give the loafers a rather unique dimension. Thats actually quite a nice way to amp up a basic and simplistic outfit.



 Fendi

For someone who prefers functionality and comfort over aesthetics, Akshay sure knows how to surprise people around him. Take a bow, man, seriously, thats one heck of a way to make a style statement.


A somewhat muted Day 2 of Zee JLF 2020 kicked off with Howard Jacobson sharing quite a bit of wisdom and advice with the morning audience. The day's most compelling session was the one featuring Martin Goodman, Jairam Ramesh and David Wallace-Wells.

A somewhat muted Day 2 of the 2020 Zee Jaipur Literature Festival kicked off with Howard Jacobson sharing quite a bit of wisdom and advice with the morning audience. The 77-year-old Booker Prize winner was in conversation with Chandrahas Choudhury to discuss his new book, Live a Little.

Jacobson talked about his book's high-on-sarcasm 90-year-old protagonist and how he felt more at ease talking through her, because, you know, old people are allowed to say things. Touching upon an array of subjects, he spoke about how an author can never be smarter than his/her character, and how eroticism through language is superior to eroticism expressed through the body.

Discussing another character from his book, Jacobson talked about how one's inability to forget some things can be much more painful than not being able to remember certain things. He also spoke about how a lot of stories stem from shame and one should embrace, even own, his/her shame.

Finally, giving attention to writers, rather than writing, the author discussed how the worst thing that can happen to writers is that they do well when they are young. According to him, this either leads to burn-out or one taking oneself too seriously. Concluding the session, the author talked about how all great writers are inherently funny, even the "serious" ones. 'The "serious" writing is indeed good, because it's funny.'

Writer and Time magazine's editor-at-large Anand Giridharadas took to the stage soon after to discuss his bestselling book, Winners Take All, in front of a packed house. The author, who takes on the privileged classes in his book, discussed, among other things, how the responsibility of many major crises we face today rests on the shoulders of the rich and the powerful of the world.

The festival circuit overlord, Shashi Tharoor was among the speakers for the afternoon, delivering a sermon to a large audience of enchanted plebs. The Member of the Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram spoke about many of the on-goings in the country, and of the political landscape.

Manoeuvring his way through a number of topics, he talked about how the ruling government doesn't believe in Mahatma Gandhi, and how VD Savarkar was the first advocate of the two-nation theory. "Savarkar, Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar and Deendayal Upadhyaya rejected the Constitution and in fact agreed with the Muslims that religion should determine nationhood. In the historical sense, the first advocate of the two-nation theory was actually Savarkar...," the author said in a monologue of a session.

The day's most compelling session was the one featuring Martin Goodman, Jairam Ramesh and David Wallace-Wells, in conversation with Jeffrey Gettleman.

Goodman talked about his book, Client Earth, which charts the journey of ClientEarth, a non-profit law organisation that has sought to represent the Earth and advocate for its interests, and provided insight into the development of environmental enforcement litigation and its broader implications across the world.

Ramesh, the former Environment and Forests Minister of State, talked about the complex situation India finds itself in when it comes to issues of climate change and sustainability. He discussed how in order to duplicate the Western developmental models, our country, which has been historically environmental conscious, lost its way. But he also mentioned how India has found a historical opportunity to make a difference with its choices and how it frames and implements laws.

Wallace-Wells discussed the research work behind his new book The Uninhabitable Earth, and how during the process of writing it, he was shocked to learn the speed at which the climate was deteriorating and the severity of the planet's situation. He talked about how the current generation will be the authors of the climate conditions going ahead, and how we need to process that knowledge and work with it.

The final session of the day was one discussing big tech, surveillance capitalism, data harvesting and cyber futures, and featured Marcus du Sautoy, John Lanchester and Jaspreet Bindra, in conversation with Akash Kapur.

The trio discussed a wide range of ideas, including the surveillance capabilities of countries like China, the concept, or the lack of privacy in India, and how geopolitics is being increasingly shaped by how data is being used.

They also talked about how artificial intelligence is vulnerable to human biases, but could be of great help if put to use alongside a human (in the field of medicine, for example), and how big tech companies of the world work with a colonial mindset. As to what can possibly be done to rectify some these issues, one interesting idea floated was that of the portability of data, which would give an individual much more control over how their personal information is being used in the future. Another was how stories can be used to make people understand the ins and outs of technology of the future.

With that, it was a wrap-up for the day. More to follow.

Read updates from Day 1 of the 2020 edition of Zee JLF here.
The General Election campaign is barely a week old but already it looks as though Fine Gael's decision to focus their campaign around Brexit is failing to resonate with voters.

While Fine Gael's message might not be as ill conceived as the woeful 'Keep the recovery going' slogan they employed - to considerable derision - back in 2016, Leo Varadkar's party still seem out of tune with the public mood.

Fine Gael candidates have been at pains to argue that Brexit has been coming up regularly on the doorsteps but anecdotal evidence, and the claims of countless non FG candidates, would suggest otherwise.

Of course, opposition politicians have a clear motive to dismiss and talk down the main plank of the Government's election message but the truth is that Brexit is simply not on many voters' radar.

Away from the border counties, sidle up to most bar counters across the country and it is housing, crime, health and insurance that are on the tip of most tongues.

The Government has received - and deserved - great credit for its handling of Brexit but on the list of most voters' priorities the UK's relations with the EU are well down the agenda.

The fact that it still remains a somewhat nebulous concept and that a 'hard Brexit' was averted lessens its importance even more.

Like the 'Y2K bug' panic in 1999, scare stories about a hard Brexit ceased to matter the second the deal to stop the UK crashing out of Europe was agreed.

As those who worked to ensure the 'millennium bug' wouldn't shut down the country in an instant, people tend not to give much credit to people who, supposedly, stopped something that didn't happen.

Look to the lessens of history, those who end a war are remembered far more than those who prevented one.

It remains to be seen how the campaign will play out but with one week down, and despite the outgoing Government's best efforts, the focus has very much been on housing and crime.

The horrific events in Drogheda where a young boy was brutally slaughtered by gangland thugs and the incident in Dublin where a homeless man was seriously injured when he was plucked from a canal bank by heavy machinery have dominated headlines and the campaign.

With the numbers on trolleys in our hospitals growing worse by the day and the housing and homeless crisis showing no sign of ending, Mr Varadkar and Fine Gael will find themselves hard pressed to divert attention away from health, crime and housing.

The issue of rising insurance costs and the perception that the Government has done little to deal with Ireland's rampant compo culture - not helped by the Maria Bailey controversy - is also waiting in the long grass.

Fine Gael - and in particular Simon Coveney and Helen McEntee - deserve tremendous credit for how they handled Brexit, but pinning their re-election hopes on it seems like a major miss-step.

As they did with their 2016 recovery mantra, are Fine Gael once again in danger of entirely misreading the public mood?
MPs became used to sitting through his self-indulgent and wordy lectures in the House of Commons.

But now former speaker John Bercow, whose peerage hopes lie in ruins over bullying allegations, will level his oratorical sights on students as a lecturer at a London university.

The ex-MP for Buckingham has become a part-time professor of politics at Royal Holloway, University of London, and delivered his first lecture to parliamentary studies students yesterday.

John Bercow is thought to have been nominated for a peerage by opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn after the government refused to do so. He was the first Speaker in 230 years not to be immediately offered a peerage

It came one day after his most senior former official Lord Lisvane filed a formal bullying complaint and Mr Bercow responded by accusing Boris Johnson of ignoring a centuries-old tradition that ex-Speakers are elevated to the Lords.

A university spokesman said: Professor Bercow will work with undergraduate and postgraduate students on a part-time basis, and will contribute to teaching across the curriculum.

Mr Bercow, who has been facing similar allegations for several years, was alleged to have bullied and humiliated staff, as well as using inappropriate language.

He is thought to have been nominated for a peerage by opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn after the government refused to do so.

He was the first Speaker in 230 years not to be immediately offered a peerage.

Mr Bercow angrily denied these allegations and claimed Lord Lisvanes claims come at a curious time.

He added that it has become increasingly obvious that the government has no intention of honouring the centuries-old convention that a departing Speaker is promptly elevated to the House of Lords.

Only last week it was revealed Mr Bercow spent more than 1,000 taxpayers money on a 256-mile return taxi ride from Westminster to Nottingham.

While his total travel bill in his final year as Speaker hit 13,627.
The 85,000 items, some dating to the 19th century, told the rich story of the Chinese migration to the United States: textiles, restaurant menus, handwritten letters, tickets for ships passage.

All of them could now be destroyed.

Officials at the Museum of Chinese in America said Friday evening that thousands of historic and artistic items it had carefully collected and curated over decades were most likely lost after a fire tore through a Chinatown building where most of its acquisitions were stored.

One hundred percent of the museums collection, other than what is on view, said Nancy Yao Maasbach, the president of the museum. She said that the collection was one of a kind and that she was just distraught after receiving the news.

The fire broke out Thursday night at 70 Mulberry Street, in a former school that educated generations of immigrants before becoming a cherished cultural landmark in the neighborhood. In addition to the museums storage, the building housed a senior center, the Chen Dance Center and a number of community groups.
By PTI

NAGPUR: Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said the BJP did not lose last year's Maharashtra assembly elections but was betrayed by the Shiv Sena.

He also said that the Sena not only left its ally, but also its own ideology.

Speaking at the BJP workers' meeting here, Gadkari said, "I don't think BJP lost the election. Shiv Sena left us and its own ideology. BJP has not lost the elections, but it has been betrayed."

The BJP and the Sena, which fought the October 21 state assembly polls in an alliance, had secured a comfortable majority by winning 105 and 56 seats respectively.

However, the Sena broke its three-decade-long ties with the BJP after the latter declined to share the chief minister's post with it.

The Sena then joined hands with the NCP and the Congress and formed a government headed by Uddhav Thackeray.

On the recently-held Zilla Parishad results in Nagpur, Gadkari said the BJP should have got more voting percentage.

"But BJP's strength is still intact in Nagpur rural and the city and those who have come together against us are afraid of our strength. They may have come together, but we will defeat them," he said.

Earlier this month, the BJP lost control of the ZP in Nagpur, the home district of Gadkari and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Gadkari asked the workers to focus on expanding the party base and reaching out to the people.
The senior pastor and general overseer of Omega Fire Ministries International, Apostle Johnson Suleiman has condemned the gruesome killing of the Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Rev. Lawan Andimi in Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State by Islamic States West Africa Province, ISWAP.

According to Suleiman, this is "cruel act, barbaric, despicable and should be condemned by all peace-loving people". .

Apostle Suleiman while commiserating with the family of the late clergyman, the entirety of the Church and people of Adamawa State, has urged them not to allow the ugly incident affect their faith in Christ and the love for humanity, and they shouldn't allow the death of the late Clergyman to be a catalyst for hatred among people created by God, disgusted by the cruelty of the terrorist.

Rev. Andimi hailed from Kwada village in Chibok Local Government area of Borno State but worked as a pastor in Michika, headquarters of Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State located directly across the border from the famous tourist site of Rhumski in Cameroon.

The apostle expressed dismay on the continues killings of Nigerians while the government has been telling that people that Boko Haram has been dislodged in the Country and yet on a daily basis we hear of abductions, kidnappings, extortions, raiding of different communities, Places of worship and even the security camps.

"I call on the Christian community to continue l praying for the family of the deceased, Pray for the country so that this orgy of violence and bloodletting can come to an end and also pray God to arrest those responsible."
B ritains oldest teddy bear factory has survived a world war, threats from cheap toy imports and the uncertainty surrounding Brexit to celebrate its 90th year.

Merrythought still produces hand-made teddies in the same Shropshire factory where it first opened its doors in 1930.

Managing director Sarah Holmes, who is the great granddaughter of the factorys founder Gordon Holmes, told the Standard the company's longevity has been down to finding a niche with teddy bear collectors and those who appreciate quality.

We have two core markets: the teddy bear collectors market, the adult collectors, but our real core market are parents and godparents who want to buy a proper teddy bear for a child to grow up with, she said.

Merrythought managing director Sarah Holmes

Ms Holmes is the fourth generation of her family to run the factory, which she says was a "dream" for children to grow up in.

The best perks came when new prototypes were being released and their father, Oliver Holmes, would bring them home, challenging the girls to "break them."

I remember him bringing home a toy dog and saying right, children I want you to see if you can break this, she said. He wanted to make sure it was thoroughly robust.

Perhaps one of the greatest examples of the bears quality is Mr Whoppit, which was the only survivor of a boat crash involving its owner Donald Campbell.

Mr Campbell, a land and water speed record holder, was keeping Mr Whoppit as a mascot on his boat Bluebird as he attempted a new water speed record of 300mph in 1967 in the Lake District.

Mr Whoppit was recovered from the crash

But during the attempt the boat crashed, killing Mr Campbell. In the hours after only Mr Whoppit was pulled from the wreckage. Mr Campbells body was not found until 2001.

Since Mr Holmes, who was already in the textile industry, decided to break into the booming toy industry in the 1930s, the factory has had to continuously adapt to changing times.

In World War Two, the factory was taken over by the British Admiralty where it was used to make maps. The 200-strong workforce began work producing textile items for the war such as chevrons, helmet linings, igniter bags, gas mask bags and hot water bottle covers.

In the decades after, it branched out from teddy bears, creating rocking horses, Disney characters and even a corgi for the Queen.

It was also the teddy bear maker of choice to commemorate the births of Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis and Archie Mountbatten Windsor. Only 100 cream bears were released when Archie was born, each costing 125.

Merrythought commemorative bear for the Queen's 90th birthday

In the 1970s, Ms Holmes said cheap toy imports from China was one of the biggest threats to the business.

They outcompeted in terms of cost and the UK toy industry went into a rapid decline, Ms Holmes said.

British manufacturers dwindled over the course of 20 years to the point were Merrythought is the last manufacturer of its kind.

We've adapted and have become more niche and very much focussed on the high end collectable market.

It now focuses on its classic British teddy bear designs such as the Cheeky Bear and the Punkie Bear that collectors are willing to pay a premium for.

And Merrythought hasnt escaped the uncertainty around Brexit.

We've hopefully got through Brexit and the challenges there, Ms Holmes said.

The weakened pound has meant that some of our raw materials have become more expensive because we buy from Europe.

But on the flipside because we do export quite a lot that's made our products a little bit cheaper.

For its 90th year, Merrythought is releasing a special edition anniversary teddy bear.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab condemned the U.S.'s decision to refuse extradition in the case of Anne Sacoolas, a U.S. diplomat's wife who was charged last December in connection with the crash that killed teenager Harry Dunn in Britain last August.

The state of play: Sacoolas invoked diplomatic immunity under international law and returned to the U.S. after police reports claimed that her vehicle struck 19-year-old Dunn's motorcycle when she drove on the wrong side of the road.

What's new: The U.S. told the U.K. home office about the decision to deny extradition on Thursday, per the Guardian.

The State Department had previously refused to waive Sacoolas' immunity, despite efforts by the British.

Why it matters: The saga has "sparked outrage in Britain, thrusting the concept of diplomatic immunity under the spotlight," writes the Washington Post.

What he's saying:

"I called the US Ambassador earlier to express the governments disappointment about this decision. We feel this amounts to a denial of justice, and we believe Anne Sacoolas should return to the UK. We are now urgently considering our options. I also explained that the UK would have acted differently if this had been a UK diplomat serving in the US."

"I emphasised that work to improve road safety on and around the Croughton base must continue, and the need to resolve the issue whereby family members at RAF Croughton are immune from criminal prosecution."

 Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in a statement

A State Department official told Axios that extraditing Sacoolas "would render the invocation of diplomatic immunity a practical nullity."

"The United States government has declined the United Kingdoms request for extradition of a U.S. citizen involved in a tragic vehicle accident that occurred in the United Kingdom.

At the time the accident occurred, and for the duration of her stay in the UK, the U.S. citizen driver in this case had immunity from criminal jurisdiction.

If the United States were to grant the UKs extradition request, it would render the invocation of diplomatic immunity a practical nullity and would set an extraordinarily troubling precedent.

The United States has a history of close law enforcement cooperation with the United Kingdom, and we value that relationship.

The United States government again expresses its sincere condolences and sympathy to the Dunn family for the loss of their son."

 State Department spokesperson

Go deeper:
Sir Chris Hohn has donated 200,000 to Extinction Rebellion

The billionaire helping to bankroll Extinction Rebellion became the world's top hedge fund manager last year thanks to major investments in firms hit by environmental scandals.

Sir Chris Hohn, who has donated 200,000 to the controversial climate change pressure group and is feared in City boardrooms for putting pressure on companies, saw his investment firm join the ranks of the world's largest hedge funds last year after a stunning performance.

TCI Fund Management, which is owned and run by Hohn, added $8.4billion (6.4billion) in value last year  more than any other major hedge fund according to LCH Investments  taking its assets under management up 39 per cent to $30billion.

But The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the winning streak involved huge bets on companies that have been embroiled in environmental scandals. They include Canada's two biggest rail firms which have been fined in recent years for their failings.

Meanwhile, a US rail company backed by TCI is under investigation over whether it broke environmental laws after cancers in the Houston area were feared to be linked to contamination from the company's rail yard.

The case has attracted support from activist Erin Brockovich, who was played by Julia Roberts in the eponymous Hollywood movie about her fight for groundwater contamination victims.

Hohn, who had to hand over 337million in Britain's costliest divorce in 2014, last month warned he would vote to eject directors who fail to disclose carbon emissions. He has pocketed more than 800million in dividends from TCI over the past four years.

Climate change protests: Extinction Rebellion organised mass protests in London last year

Hohn is the biggest individual donor  personally and through his charity  to Extinction Rebellion, which organised mass protests in London last year, and he has argued there is an 'urgent need' to address climate change.

Business leaders from around the world are calling for companies to do more to tackle the climate crisis and the topic became a major focus at last week's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Some ethical investors such as the Church of England refuse to invest in companies with poor environmental records.

TCI's disclosures reveal just 15 major holdings. Sources said the fund likes to remain an investor in firms where it believes it can influence bosses to improve their environmental credentials. TCI did not respond to requests for comment on whether it had put pressure on the firms in question.

One of Hohn's major holdings is Canadian National Railway Company, a 52billion giant where TCI has stake of around 1.4billion.

The firm was fined $Can 2.5million in 2017 by the Canadian government after pleading guilty to environmental offences relating to massive spills of diesel into a river. Prosecutors accused it of being 'grossly negligent'.

In 2005, one of its trains derailed and 10,000 gallons of caustic soda spilled into a river killing at least half a million fish. Shares in the company rose nearly 20 per cent last year. TCI is the largest single investor in Canadian Pacific Railway with an 8 per cent stake worth about 2.2billion.

Shares in the company were up nearly 40 per cent in 2019. Canadian Pacific was fined $Can 31,500 last year for failures related to waste management.

The case has attracted support from activist Erin Brockovich (pictured)

Last month, one of the company's trains derailed spilling more than 300,000 gallons of crude oil. Shares in the company were up nearly 40 per cent in 2019.

Union Pacific, a US rail company in which TCI has a stake worth more than 500million, has also been hit by an environmental furore.

Last month, it emerged that officials in the Houston area are investigating whether Union Pacific broke laws after many cancers were reported near a rail yard where creosote  a possible carcinogen  had been used to treat railway sleepers.

Union Pacific revealed last year that groundwater beneath homes was contaminated with creosote. The company did not acquire the site until after the creosote operations had ceased.

However, local residents last week urged Union Pacific to provide more comprehensive clean-up efforts and compensation for those affected, with Erin Brockovich calling for more 'affirmative answers'.

Shares in Union Pacific rose by nearly a third last year.

Others TCI investments include Raytheon, a 50billion American missiles maker which agreed to pay thousands of dollars to Florida residents over groundwater contamination, and chemicals company Univar Solutions.
Jim, who died Thursday, and the highly respected Robert MacNeil, known to us as Robin, were expanding their half-hour show on PBS to what would be the nations first hour-long broadcast evening news program. In a conversation, Jims eyes had burned with excitement as he talked about the great journalism wed do: It would be serious, respectful, fearless, tough and fair. It would be about the news, not about the journalist. News people are famous for egos; we were to leave them at the door.
The Canadian Press

LOS ANGELES (AP)  Robert Durst, the wealthy New York real estate heir and failed fugitive dogged for decades with suspicion in the disappearance and deaths of those around him before he was convicted last year of killing his best friend, has died. He was 78. Durst died of natural causes Monday in a hospital outside the California prison where he was serving a life sentence, according to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Durst had been held in a hospital lockup in Stockton due to
Reuters

The U.S. Commerce Department has withdrawn a rule aimed at further reducing sales to China's Huawei Technologies amid concerns from the Defense Department that the move would harm U.S. businesses, people familiar with the matter said.

The decision to pull the rule from the formal review process leaves its future in jeopardy and highlights deep divides within the Trump administration over how best to approach the blacklisted telecoms giant and the broader war with China over technological dominance.

But President Donald Trump's administration plans a Cabinet-level meeting next week to discuss the rule, which could be revived, killed or rewritten, one of the sources said, amid pushback from the U.S. Treasury Department as well.

A Commerce Department representative said "if and when" the agency has something to announce, "we will do so." Huawei declined to comment. The Pentagon and Treasury did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Commerce in May placed Huawei on a trade blacklist, citing national security concerns. That allowed the U.S. government to restrict sales of American-made goods to the company and a small number of items made abroad that contain U.S. technology.

Under current regulations, key foreign supply chains remain beyond the reach of U.S. authorities, fuelling frustration among China hawks within the administration and a push to expand U.S. authority to block more shipments to Huawei.

Reuters reported in November that the Commerce Department was considering broadening the rule that dictates how much American content in a foreign-made product gives the U.S. government authority to regulate exports.

Under current regulations, the United States can require a license or block the export of many high-tech products shipped to China from other countries if U.S.-made components make up more than 25% of the value.

Commerce drafted a rule that would lower the threshold only on exports to Huawei to 10% and expand the purview to include non-technical goods like consumer electronics including non-sensitive chips.

The draft rule was then sent to the Office of Management and Budget, where agencies, including the Department of Defense, were given until Wednesday to submit comments, one of the people said. When the Pentagon expressed disagreement with the proposal, Commerce pulled it out of the review process, an unusual move, pending a Cabinet-level meeting next week.

U.S. businesses have pushed back against the measure, arguing that enabling the government to regulate more sales to Huawei to include low-tech items made overseas with very little U.S. technology would end up needlessly hurting American companies while encouraging Huawei to source more goods abroad.

But many China hawks in Congress and the Trump administration have criticized the Commerce department for not doing more to thwart Huawei and for its slow rollout of rules to limit exports of sophisticated technology to China.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton said in a statement that he was "deeply troubled" by reports that the Pentagon had pushed back against the proposed rule change, saying he planned to get to the bottom of the "ill-considered decision."

"It's bad enough when capitalists are willing to sell the rope that will be used to hang us, but worse still when our military acts as their lobbyist," Cotton said.
Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday hit out at NCP chief Sharad Pawar, saying even "senior leaders" were now spreading misinformation "knowingly" and creating fear and confusion on CAA and NRC.

Speaking at an event on Citizen Amendment Act here, Fadnavis said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clearly stated that there was no talk of implementing NRC in the government and a wider consultation was going on and after this consultation is over, a decision will be taken.

"Even after such clear statement what is going on in the country?" he said.

He said he suspected fear was being spread "knowingly" to create chaos in the country.

"Now new things are coming up in this regard. A few days ago, I was listening to a speech of senior Maharashtra leader Sharad Pawar. I don't believe Sharad Pawar does not know CAA, he very well knows CAA, and that NRC is not there now.

"But what did he say in his speech? He talked about the shepherd community (Banjara Samaj) which keeps moving from place to place and laws are not applicable to them. Hence, even shepherd community will be sent away from the country. I feel if senior leaders will spread fear like this about a community which has no relation to this... Who will send them away from this country? It is their country?



"But knowingly (Jaaniv purvak) confusion is being created for vote-bank politics and efforts are being made to take benefit of this confusion to create chaos in the country. Besides, many people are thinking that these agitation are steps for them to come to power," said Fadnavis.

The former chief minister said people don't know much about the citizenship law or the National register of Citizens (NRC).

"Minorities are being told through CAA your registration will done and if you are not registered then you will be sent back to Pakistan and Bangladesh. A false narrative is being spread on a huge scale to create an atmosphere of fear among the minority community," he said.

He said "unfortunately" mainstream political parties were also spreading false information, creating chaos (arajakta) and fear among the minorities and particularly the Muslim community.

"This Act is to grant citizenship and there is no provision in the Act which takes away anyone's citizenship right," Fadnavis assured.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday said that there is no doubt about the integrity of the women who are protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at Shaheen Bagh but it is a fact that they are being misled by certain prejudiced political interests.

"We have no doubt about the integrity of the sisters who are protesting at Shaheen Bagh. But certain prejudiced political interests have misled them. They should understand that CAA is not meant to end the citizenship of any person. It is only for certain persecuted minorities from three neighbouring countries that will be granted citizenship," Naqvi told ANI.

He further said that infiltrators are eating away the rights of the people and it is a challenge for both the society and the government.

"If certain infiltrators have entered a few places then this is not just a challenge for the government but for the society. The infiltrators are eating away the rights of the people. Some persons have brainwashed a certain section of the society to not take part in the census as well," he said.

"A new trend has started which is of 'protests along with prayers' on Fridays. On a fake and fabricated issue, an illusionary picture has been created which is miles away from the truth. The government has repeatedly said that there is no danger to citizenship of any person due to CAA," he added.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) grants citizenship to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Parsis and Christians fleeing religious persecution 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.)
Inside Wormtown Brewery, from the packed bar to the guests mingling on the patio, everyone raised a glass, remembering the life of fallen Worcester Lt. Jason Menard.

A line snaked from the brewerys front doors down to the sidewalk on Shrewsbury Street in Worcester just before noon; dozens ready to support the Menard family with the launch of Worcesters Bravest, a collaboratively brewed Belgian wit-style beer. Wormtown is one of three Central Massachusetts breweries that collaborated on the brew.

Menard was killed Nov. 13 fighting a four-alarm fire at 7 Stockholm St. Menard was trapped inside the top floor of the three-decker as flames overtook the area. He pushed fellow Firefighter Chris Pace out a window to save him from the blaze.

Without any question in his mind, he would sacrifice no matter what, said Michael Papagni, the president of Worcester Fire Local 1009. He was a great man, a great firefighter, a great husband and father, and we all want to raise a glass today and pay tribute to him.

Worcester Fire Chief Michael Lavoie said it was a bittersweet day, remembering Menards ultimate sacrifice, but also seeing the tangible support from the community.

Menard left his wife and high school sweetheart, Tina, and their three children. After the 39-year-old firefighters death, donations started pouring in to support the family.

In addition to Wormtown, Worcesters Greater Good Imperial Brewing Co. and Westminsters Wachusett Brewing Co. are also releasing Worcesters Bravest. All three breweries will donate 100 percent of the beers proceeds to benefit the Menard Childrens Fund.

Wachusett is launching the beer on Saturday, with Greater Goods launch coming on Friday, Jan. 31.

Last month, a group of firefighters and friends of Menard helped brewmasters create Worcesters Bravest at Wormtown. Earlier this month, firefighters brewed at Greater Good as well.

David Fields, the managing partner of Wormtown, had told Lavoie the brewery hoped they would never have to brew this beer again.

Wormtown and Wachusett brewed and launched the Worcesters Bravest last year after the Nov. 9, 2018, death of Worcester Firefighter Christopher Roy. Sales from that run benefitted Roys young daughter, Ava.

Worcesters Bravest is a Belgian wit that is light-bodied with citrus notes. Fields said Wormtown expects to sell out of cases Friday and will likely finish its kegs this weekend.

Anyone who wants to donate to the Menard Childrens Fund can do so online or by mail. Checks should be made payable to the PFFM Foundation c/o The Menard Childrens Fund and mailed to the Worcester Fire Department Credit Union at 34 Glennie St., in Worcester, Mass., 01605.

The 7 Stockholm St. fire remains under investigation by federal and local agencies.

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Hyderabad, Jan 26 : India's leading poets vent the public anger against Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens at a unique protest on the eve of the Republic Day here on Saturday.

Thousands of people thronged Khilwat Grounds near historic Charminar as poetry, qawali and satire targetted the government, condemned the police excesses and communalism.

Leading poets Rahat Indori, Manzar Bhopali, Shabeena Adeeb and Sampat Saral recited their poems amid thunderous cheers by huge crowd.

On the demand from people, Rahat Indori recited his famous poem "kisi ke baap ka Hindustan thodi hai".

Condemning attempts by some individuals to paint this as a poem by a Muslim poet, he said that this is the voice of all true Indians who shed their blood for building this nation. He said he was pained over being called 'Jihadi'.

Shabeena Adeeb, in her unique style, recited her poem 'Yeh Hindustan hamara hai', drawing loud cheers from audience with many of them waving national flag.

Manzar Bhopali too earned appreciation for his powerful couplets, decrying attempts by some forces to divide the nation.

United Muslim Action Committee, of which All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is a part, organised the programme.

AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi presided over the programme. However, he and other leaders allowed poetry to take the centre stage.

Sampat Saral poked fun at Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his poetry and satire titled 'Mann ki baat, kaam ki baat'.

Jamia Millia Islamia's Aamir Aziz drew huge applause for his poems, highlighting the state repression to suppress peaceful and democratic protests.

The programme had to be concluded early due to conditions imposed by the High Court. While hearing a petition filed by a BJP leader earlier in the day, the court directed the organisers not to hold the meeting till midnight.

Owaisi also had to drop plans of hoisting the national flag.

"The court is supreme but not infallible," was how the MP reacted.

The programme was originally scheduled to be held at Charminar but the police asked them to shift it to Khilwat Grounds.
So the South Dakota legislature does not believe that small business owners could figure out how to provide reusable bags for their customers to help the environment? I would bet they could.

Until there are responsible decisions being made for our schools and students, I will vote no for the bond issue. We need to get back to teaching the students and maintaining the buildings and facilities we do have.

Before you vote on the school bond issue, I would encourage you to take a facilities tour and/or go to a presentation so that you are an informed and educated voter when you go to the polls. I did the facilities tour and was appalled at the condition of Robbinsdale School and can see that we need to bring our schools into the 21st century to properly educate our kids for the future.

Thank you to the Rapid City Police and Parks departments for installing the cameras at Memorial and other parks. It is for everyone's safety.

The votes of Senate Republicans to convict  not the facts  will ultimately decide President Trumps impeachment fate. Since in these times party is more important than country to these senators, including our own John Thune and Mike Rounds, the president he has nothing to worry about. No matter the truth, the Senate will not vote to convict.

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The choir invited Yang to sing with them, she said. One of its members offered him a red and blue robe. So Yang -- a candidate who has crowdsurfed and stuffed whipped cream in volunteers' faces -- did what he does. He joined in.

"It was wonderful," Yang told a gaggle of reporters afterward. "Because in my mind it's always better to be participating in an activity than observing it." Yang also told reporters he felt it would be rude to decline the robe.

Daughtry gave Yang points for clapping on the beat. But he crossed a subtle line, she said, when he donned a choir robe.

"I don't know who on his staff let him put the robe on. I would have stopped him," said Daughtry, a former top official in the Democratic National Committee and pastor at House of the Lord Church in Washington.

"It's not your choir. It's not authentic."

Hamilton dismissed the idea that Yang was pandering.

"Andrew Yang does not pander. Real recognizes real. That was a spiritual moment."
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police arrested and charged a New York City firefighter after he allegedly crashed and abandoned and FDNY van in Westerleigh on Friday night.

Police charged Robert Diaz, 42, with driving while intoxicated, driving while ability Impaired and refusal to take breath test, according to a written statement from the NYPDs Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

Diaz allegedly abandoned the van from the FDNYs Fire Education Safety Unit near the intersection of College and Clinton B. Fiske avenues around 7:40 p.m., police said.

A group of residents in the area, who called 911, said they saw the man fleeing the van dressed in a black hoodie.

Blocks away, near the intersection of College Avenue and Delaware Place, two tow trucks were dealing with damaged vehicles the man had allegedly left behind.

A woman who lives near that scene said an FDNY van careened into multiple cars and a dumpster on that block, severely damaging its front axel before fleeing the scene. The recovered van had a damaged front axel.

A lawyer was not immediately listed for Diaz Saturday morning.
Washington

Closing out their case, House Democrats warned Friday in Donald Trump's impeachment trial that the president will persist in abusing his power and endangering American democracy unless Congress intervenes to remove him before the 2020 election.

"He is who he is," declared Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. He told the senators listening as jurors that Trump put the U.S-Ukraine relationship on the line in a way that benefited Russia just so he could take a political "cheap shot" at Democratic foe Joe Biden.

"You cannot leave a man like that in office," Schiff said. "You know it's not going to stop. ... It's not going to stop unless the Congress does something about it."

Trump is being tried in the Senate after the House impeached him last month, accusing him of abusing his office by asking Ukraine for politically motivated probes of Biden and other matters while withholding military aid from a U.S. ally that was at war with bordering Russia. A second article of impeachment accuses him of obstructing Congress by refusing to turn over documents or allow officials to testify in the House's ensuing probe.

As Democrats finished their third day before skeptical Republican senators, Trump's legal team prepared to start his defense, expected on Saturday. Trump, eyes on the audience beyond the Senate chamber, bemoaned the schedule in a tweet, saying "looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V."

Said Trump attorney Jay Sekulow: "We're going to rebut and refute, and we're going to put on an affirmative case tomorrow."

Republicans are defending Trump's actions as appropriate and are casting the impeachment trial as a politically motivated effort to weaken him in his reelection campaign. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and eventual acquittal is considered likely.

Before that, senators will make a critical decision next week on Democratic demands to hear testimony from top Trump aides, including acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton, who refused to appear before the House. It would take four Republican senators to join the Democratic minority to seek witnesses, and so far the numbers appear lacking.

"This needs to end," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump confidant.

With Chief Justice John Roberts presiding, Friday's session opened with a sweeping and impassioned argument from Democrats that Trump's actions with Ukraine were not unique but part of a pattern of "destructive behavior" now threatening the core foundations of American democracy.

Schiff told the senators that Trump has shown repeatedly that he is willing to put his personal political interests above those of the country he is sworn to protect.

The evidence shows, he said, that Trump bucked the advice of his own national security apparatus to chase "kooky" theories about Ukraine pushed by lawyer Rudy Giuliani, resulting in "one hell of a Russian intelligence coup" that benefited Vladimir Putin at U.S. expense.

This was not simply a foreign policy dispute, Schiff argued, but a breech of long-held American values for Trump to leverage an ally  in this case Ukraine, a struggling democracy facing down Russian troops  for the investigations he wanted ahead of 2020.

When the House started investigating his actions, Democrats said, Trump blatantly obstructed the probe. Even then-President Richard Nixon, they argued, better understood the need to comply with Congress in some of its oversight requests.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Schiff said that left unchecked Trump, who insists he did nothing wrong, would seek foreign election interference again.

Drawing on historical figures, from the Founding Fathers to the late GOP Sen. John McCain and the fictional Atticus Finch, Schiff made his arguments emphatically personal.

"The next time, it just may be you," he said, pointing at one senator after another. "Do you think for a moment that if he felt it was in his interest, he wouldn't ask you to be investigated?"

The senators though, appear as deeply divided as the nation, with Democrats ready to vote to convict the president and Republicans poised to acquit.

The impeachment trial is set against the backdrop of the 2020 election, as voters assess Trump's presidency and his run for a second term. Four senators who are Democratic presidential candidates are off the campaign trail, seated as jurors.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed the public slightly more likely to say the Senate should convict and remove Trump from office than to say it should not, 45 percent to 40 perecent. But a sizable percentage, 14 percent, said they didn't know enough to have an opinion.

One issue with wide agreement: Trump should allow top aides to appear as witnesses at the trial. About 7 in 10 respondents said so, including majorities of Republicans and Democrats, according to the poll.

Trump is the third president in American history to face an impeachment trial. Neither Andrew Johnson in 1868 nor Bill Clinton in 1999 was removed by the Senate. Nixon left office before a House vote that was likely to impeach him.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars, the nation's largest veterans group, is asking President Trump to apologize for minimizing the injuries of troops sustained in an attack from Iran on a U.S. base in Iraq.

Context: Iran attacked a U.S. base in Iraq after an American drone killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani. Trump had originally said U.S. soldiers didn't suffer any injuries, but the Pentagon confirmed on Friday that 34 soldiers suffered from traumatic brain injuries.

Trump said at a news conference earlier this week that he did not consider the injuries very serious.

"I heard that they had headaches, and a couple of other things. No, I dont consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries that Ive seen, the Wall Street Journal quotes the president as saying. Ive seen people with no legs and no arms.

What they're saying:

"In light of today's announcement from the Defense Department that 34 U.S. service members suffered traumatic brain injuries [TBI] as a result of Iran's retaliatory strike and President Trump's remarks which minimized these troops injuries, the Veterans of Foreign Wars cannot stand idle on this matter."

"TBI is a serious injury and one that cannot be taken lightly. TBI is known to cause depression, memory loss, severe headaches, dizziness and fatigue  all injuries that come with both short- and long-term effects."

"The VFW expects an apology from the president to our service men and women for his misguided remarks. And, we ask that he and the White House join with us in our efforts to educate Americans of the dangers TBI has on these heroes as they protect our great nation in these trying times. Our warriors require our full support more than ever in this challenging environment."

 William Doc Schmitz, VFW National Commander

The White House declined to comment.

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia expresses condolences over the earthquake in Turkey and wished the injured a quick recovery, InterPressNews reports.

We would like to express our deep condolences over the tragic earthquake in Turkey. We offer our sympathy to our close ally and friend. We share the sadness of the Turkish people and the families of the victims in particular, and wish them all a quick recovery," reads the statement.

In addition, according to the Ministry, the casualties do not include Georgian citizens.
ONEONTA, N.Y. ---The City of Oneonta has reached an agreement with the owners of the former Ford building on Market street.

City Common Council voted to purchase the property for $425,000.

The building has sat vacant on Market street for decades.

"We've had an opportunity to negotiate with the owners of the building, We've reached an agreement on the price, they wanna sell, we wanna buy. We have the grant to demolish the building from Restore New York and remove an important piece of urban blight from our downtown," said Oneonta Mary Gary Herzig.

The project is part of the city's urban revitalization plan. The mayor said that a big part of that plan is redeveloping Market Street.

The city plans on demolishing the building. But before on work can be done on the property, the Mayor said a lot of environmental cleanup has to take place.

Many residents including that Mayor have called the building an eyesore, and look forward to seeing the property redeveloped.

No time table has been set on when demolition will take place. The Mayor said that once the property is demolished, they will market it out to developers.
The Progressive Conservative government said Friday it will close the century-old Dauphin Correctional Centre this spring, forcing its 80 employees to either relocate or find new work.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/1/2020 (718 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Progressive Conservative government said Friday it will close the century-old Dauphin Correctional Centre this spring, forcing its 80 employees to either relocate or find new work.

The announcement came on the same day the government announced an $11-million expansion and renovation of the city's adjacent courthouse.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES The previous NDP government announced its intention seven years ago to replace the old and outdated facility but the current provincial government has other plans.

Justice Minister Cliff Cullen said his department will do what it can to find jobs for the affected employees at other institutions.

"We do have a number of vacancies within corrections right now," he said in a conference call from Dauphin.

The previous NDP government announced its intention seven years ago to replace the old and outdated facility. The plan was to triple its capacity to 180 beds to ease pressure on jails in Brandon and The Pas.

However, the new facility was never built and the Progressive Conservatives have decided instead to invest heavily in the city's courthouse, enhancing security, building more holding cells, improving interior and exterior accessibility and adding new administrative and office spaces for court staff, sheriff services and the judiciary.

"I think it's safe to say a facility that was built in 1917 does not meet today's standards," Cullen said of the doomed jail.

A December inquest report into the 2016 hanging death of a Dauphin inmate said the jail was outdated, preventing corrections officers from being able to adequately monitor all inmates.

Cullen said he was confident that the provincial corrections system would be able accommodate Dauphin's 60-plus inmates.

He said the current provincial prison population of about 2,100 is some 250 less than it was at its peak a few years ago. He said restorative justice measures, which he would like to enhance, have diverted many law-breakers away from correctional institutions.

In a statement, the City of Dauphin called the news of the closure "devastating" and said it came without prior notice or consultation.

"This closure will result in the loss of at least 80 jobs, from which a ripple effect will be felt not only in Dauphin but throughout the Parkland (region)," the city said.

The union representing the bulk of the employees at the correctional facility said the decision will have a significant impact not only on its members, but also on inmates and the entire justice system in Manitoba.

"I can tell you that our members are going though a wide range of emotions right now. They're upset, they're scared, they're confused. They don't understand what their future is," said Michelle Gawronsky, president of the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union.

She questioned why the government would eliminate the jail at a time when the meth crisis and increased violent crime is putting pressure on correctional facilities.

Employees learned Friday morning that the jail will close on May 29.

As of Friday, the minimum-security facility, with an official capacity of 61 males (plus temporary holding areas for youth and female offenders), housed 69 persons, the union said.

While the government has said it would try to find work for the affected staff, there have been no assurances, Gawronsky said.

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Affected workers include corrections officers, nurses, administrative staff and a number of contract workers whose terms were close to coming to an end, Cullen said.

NDP justice critic Nahanni Fontaine said she was concerned that the closure would have a negative domino effect on the rest of the prison system.

"At any given time a lot of our facilities are busting at the seams," she said.

Also problematic, Fontaine said, is that a lot of the folks housed in the Dauphin facility come from rural communities and the North.

"Where are they going to get transferred?" she said. "You're pushing them further and further away from the very limited supports that they have."

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574.

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The Oregon Ducks 2020 recruiting class already consists of three five-star prospects and is rated No. 1 in the Pac-12 Conference.

But Mario Cristobal and his his staff arent done yet.

In fact, they are looking to add a big piece to the heart of the defense.

This weekend, 247Sports four-star defensive tackle and Alabama Crimson Tide commit Jayson Jones is taking an official visit to Eugene and arrived Friday morning:

The 6-foot-6 1/2, 340-pound defensive lineman, out of Calera High School (Calera, Alabama), elected not to sign with Alabama during the early signing period and is exploring his options, which had led to increased interest from Baylor and Oregon.

After a trip to Baylor earlier this month, the Ducks get their shot at flipping the big-bodied defensive lineman.

One reason for his desire to explore his options may be how hes projected at Alabama versus other programs.

The Crimson Tide see him as an offensive lineman, while Jones prefers the defensive side of the ball.

I obviously like defense more because Ive played defense ever since I was 6 years old, Jones told Rivals. But I mean anything that helps the team, Im going to do that.

With limited needs scholarship spots and needs remaining in the 2020 recruiting cycle, Cristobal and his staff are targeting the must-gets late in the process.

A big-time defensive tackle is priority No. 1, and Jones fits the bill.

-- Andrew Nemec | anemec@oregonian.com | @AndrewNemec
Republic Day in India is celebrated on January, 26 every year. On the occasion, a grand parade is held in the capital of India, Delhi. The Republic Day parade is one of the largest and the most prestigious parades in India. The very first Republic Day parade was held in Delhi in 1950, and the tradition of the parade has been going on since.

ALSO READ: Facial Recognition, Drones & 4-layer Security: Delhi Police Gears Up For Republic Day

The Republic Day parade goes on for three hours and it takes place at the Rajpath, Delhi. The parade starts its march from Rashtrapati Bhawan and goes on until the India Gate via the Rajpath. The Republic Day parade begins with the unfurling of the national flag, which is done by the President of India. The national anthem is then played as the everyone salutes the national flag. As the Presidents Bodyguard extends the National Salute, a 21-gun salute is given.

Delhi: Full dress rehearsal of 'Republic Day Parade 2020' underway at Rajpath. pic.twitter.com/bXdBh76ztr  ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2020

ALSO READ: Republic Day: JK Police Gets Max 108 Gallantry Medals, CRPF 76

Delhi: #RepublicDay2019 parade will begin at Rajpath at 9.50 am, prior to which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay tribute at the Amar Jawan Jyoti pic.twitter.com/ByzZ4nwZTs  ANI (@ANI) January 26, 2019

This is followed by the President of India handing out important awards like the Kirti Chakra and Ashok Chakra. Several regiments of the army, air force and navy march along with the bands at the parade. To signify the culture of various states in India, the Tableau of an array of states are displayed. The end of the parade is signified by a beating retreat ceremony.

ALSO READ: Responsibility Of Protecting Constitution Lies With Citizens: Kejriwal At Republic Day Event

Delhi: President of Brazil, Jair Messias Bolsonaro meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Brazil President is on a 4-day visit to India and will be chief guest at 71st Republic Day Parade. #RepublicDay pic.twitter.com/Qtan18zsk8  ANI (@ANI) January 25, 2020

Each year, barring a few years, India hosts ahead of the state or government of another country. The guest from the foreign land is the state guest of honour for the Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi. In 1961, Queen Elizabeth 2 was the guest of honour for the ceremony. This year, the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro is the guest of honour for the ceremony.

ALSO READ: Republic Day 2020: Bollywood Patriotic Movies To Binge-watch
SAN ANTONIO, Jan. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Lennar, the nation's leading homebuilder, announced today the debut of Silos, a beautiful new masterplanned community located on the West side of San Antonio just three miles outside Loop 1604. Silos will offer a diverse selection of floorplans and price points that meet the needs of families at every stage of life. Home shoppers are invited to tour the model homes this weekend.

"We are thrilled to be opening this new master planned community in the highly sought West San Antonio. The community will feature a luxury-style amenity center complete with a clubhouse, swimming pool and playground for residents," said Brian Barron, Division President of Lennar San Antonio. "It's prime location and upscale amenities provide a winning combination for home shoppers seeking a rural lifestyle with easy access to urban conveniences."

The masterplanned community will span 335 acres and consist of approximately 1,400 homesites with a large variety of floorplan options. Silos will offer 18 unique floorplans ranging from 466 to over 2,600 square feet of living space catering to first-time homebuyers, growing families, military veterans, and retirees. Designed for the modern family, Lennar's new home designs showcase open living areas, spacious bedrooms, expansive master suites, and outdoor living areas. Homeowners will also enjoy upgraded features at no extra cost, including granite countertops, luxury hard surface flooring, and full stainless-steel appliance package. Prices range from the low $130,000s to the upper $260,000s.

Additionally, each new home at Silos will offer the homebuilder's signature Everything's Included program. It provides popular features and popular upgrades, integrated home automation and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED designs at no additional cost. Designed using heat maps to maximize Wi-Fi signal strength, these select floorplans guarantee superior connections in every room for all wireless devices  as well as streaming video, music, and games  with no dead spots.

For more information about Silos, please visit www.lennar.com/sanantonio or call 210-393-8095.

About Lennar

Lennar Corporation, founded in 1954, is one of the nation's leading builders of quality homes for all generations. Lennar builds affordable, move-up and active adult homes primarily under the Lennar brand name. Lennar's Financial Services segment provides mortgage financing, title and closing services primarily for buyers of Lennar's homes and, through Rialto Mortgage Finance, originates mortgage loans secured primarily by commercial real estate properties throughout the United States. For more information about Lennar, please visit www.lennar.com.

Contact: Danielle Tocco

Vice President, Communications

Lennar Corporation

[email protected]

Direct Line: 949.789.1633

SOURCE Lennar

Related Links

http://www.lennar.com


Jury trial or preschool meltdown?

Their food: glasses of milk and Milky Way candy bars. Their complaint: Having to stay seated and listen to others. Their ways of coping: fidget spinners and cellphone screens. It sounds like Im talking about preschoolers. Unfortunately, Im talking about our U.S. senators.

There are many reasons to be disturbed by the impeachment trial. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has provided the nation with little confidence that he intends to create the climate for a fair and thorough trial. White House counsel Pat Cipollone seems to think he can get his client out of this mess by shouting, Its outrageous! Chief Justice John Roberts is disingenuously scolding both sides.

But another concern is the senators behavior on jury duty. The people entrusted with the grave decision of whether President Trump should be removed from office seem to have the habits and attention spans of 4-year-olds. If only theyd take the evidence seriously, wed let them have nap time early.

Caille Millner, deputy opinion editor

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.
A view of the remains of the home that is being demolished in the 2200 block of Lakeshore Drive in Ganges, Michigan on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020. The property owners decided to demolish the house with the collapsing dune growing closer to the edge of the home. The home has been in the Curtis family since the 1930s. (Joel Bissell/AP)
The Irish Heart Foundation has launched its Go Red for Women campaign, in support of women in Leitrim and across Ireland  one-quarter of whom will die from cardiovascular disease.

The campaign was launched by two women who live with heart conditions and are ambassadors for the campaign  Karen Ward from Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan, and Lizzy Honan from Dublin  and Today FM radio presenter Ed Smith, who suffered a heart attack last year.

Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death in Ireland; women are almost six times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than breast cancer. However, 80% of premature death from cardiovascular disease is preventable. By Going Red for Women, you can support the Irish Heart Foundations work in communities across Ireland, raising awareness of and helping to prevent deaths from cardiovascular disease.

Karen Ward from Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan had open-heart surgery last November because of a congenital heart condition. She spoke at the launch about her experience of living with a visible scar: It is very visible; I dont hide it. I have had a few funny comments about it. I overheard someone say I had to wear a necklace to cover it and one man told me You are a good-looking girl it shouldnt take away from you. For me it is important to show it off, it doesnt bother me one little bit. In fact, I am very proud of my scar. It is because of my scar that I am still here.

This February we are calling on the people of Leitrim to show their support for the women they love by Going Red for Women. There are lots of ways to get involved  hold a walk in your local community or a coffee morning at home or work, or try your hand at volunteering at our national bag pack collection.

Each year, almost 9,000 people in Ireland die from heart disease and stroke, leaving behind devastated families and communities. Support the Go Red for Women campaign today by organising a red event in February, volunteering on February 14th or donating to the Irish Heart Foundation. For more information and to sign up, visit www.GoRed.ie.
A Springfield man took having the munchies to a new level Friday morning when he continued his McDonalds meal as police questioned him during a traffic stop. After two cheeseburgers and an order of fries, satiated Ivan Marrero was taken into custody on drug, firearms and motor vehicle charges.

The Massachusetts State Police reported a trooper watched as Marreros pickup truck weaved along East Columbus Avenue at about 1 a.m. Friday. The Boston Globe said the trooper reported a large cloud of marijuana smoke came from the truck as Marrero rolled down the window. As the trooper went about identifying him, Marrero continued to eat his meal. A blunt, a hollowed-out cigar packed with marijuana, continued to smolder in the ashtray.

After a field sobriety test, Marrero was arrested and charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of marijuana.

Troopers searched the truck and found a loaded handgun, 13 grams of crack cocaine and nine bundles of heroin.

Marrero was ordered held pending arraignment.
Asserting that constitutional changes have opened new vistas of development in Jammu and Kashmir, Lt Governor G C Murmu on Saturday sought the cooperation of the people in supplementing the initiatives for rapid growth and development of the Union Territory.

"We will take Jammu and Kashmir on the path of rapid growth and development as envisioned by our Prime Minister (Narendra Modi). Let us all join hands to build a new Jammu and Kashmir," Murmu said in his Republic Day message.

Referring to the abrogation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir and its bifurcation into two Union Territories in August last year, Murmu said "2019 has been a year of momentous change" for the people of the UT.

"The abrogation of temporary provisions have removed the artificial legal and economic barriers between Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the country and have fully integrated it with the country in the true sense of the term," he said.

He said the legal architecture and system prevailing in the rest of the country will now apply to Jammu and Kashmir.

"The people of Jammu and Kashmir now stand on the same pedestal as those in the rest of the country with the same rights, benefits and prospects," he said.

Murmu said women and weaker sections like Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, refugees from West Pakistan and Safai Karamcharis will now have equal democratic and economic rights while barriers to industrial growth and trade have been removed.

"The constitutional changes have opened new vistas of development. We need to capitalise on the opportunities. The initiatives already taken for putting Jammu and Kashmir on the path of sustained development shall be given a further push," he said.

However, he said the efforts of the government alone cannot make a difference and people of the UT "need to come forward and supplement the initiatives of the government."



"Today, on behalf of all of us in the government who have been working and dreaming really big for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, I am asking for your support, for your partnership, and for your confidence to move forward and usher Jammu and Kashmir into a refreshing era of peace, prosperity and development," he said.

"Jammu and Kashmir is seeing a new dawn. A dawn which promises hope, a dawn which will bring prosperity, a dawn which will lead to progress and a dawn which will usher J&K towards peace," he said.

"The best way to overcome misgivings is to reaffirm our commitment to abide by the values of our Republic," he added.

Murmu further said that the UT is now at the doorstep of a brighter future.

"As Jammu and Kashmir progresses in step with the rest of the country, there will be a boost to private investment and great opportunity for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The economy will grow with more economic opportunities, businesses will thrive and the people of Jammu and Kashmir will gain on all fronts," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The death toll from Chinas coronavirus outbreak jumped to 41 as the Lunar New Year got off to a gloomy start on Saturday, with Hong Kong declaring a virus emergency, scrapping celebrations, and restricting links to mainland China, Trend reports citing Reuters.

Australia on Saturday confirmed its first four cases, Malaysia confirmed three and France reported Europes first cases on Friday, as health authorities around the world scrambled to prevent a pandemic.

The United States is arranging a charter flight on Sunday to bring its citizens and diplomats back from Wuhan, the central Chinese city that is the epicenter of the outbreak, the Wall Street Journal reported.

In Hong Kong, with five confirmed cases, the citys leader Carrie Lam said flights and high speed rail trips between the city and Wuhan will be halted. Schools in Hong Kong that are currently on Lunar New Year holidays will remain closed until Feb. 17.

Chinas President Xi Jinping, saying the country is facing a grave situation, held a politburo meeting on measures to fight the outbreak, state television reported on Saturday.

The death toll in China has risen to 41, authorities reported on Saturday, from 26 a day earlier. More than 1,300 people have been infected globally, most of them in China, with the virus - traced to a seafood market in Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife.

Hu Yinghai, deputy director-general of the Civil Affairs Department in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, appealed for masks and protective suits.

We are steadily pushing forward the disease control and prevention ... But right now we are facing an extremely severe public health crisis, he told a news briefing.

Vehicles carrying emergency supplies and medical staff for Wuhan would be exempted from tolls and given traffic priority, Chinas transportation ministry said on Saturday.

Wuhan said it would ban non-essential vehicles from its downtown starting Sunday, further paralyzing a city of 11 million that has been on virtual lockdown since Thursday, with nearly all flights canceled and checkpoints blocking the main roads leading out of town.

Authorities have since imposed transport restrictions on nearly all of Hubei province, which has a population of 59 million.

The newly-identified coronavirus has created alarm because there are still many unknowns surrounding it, such as how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people. It can cause pneumonia, which has been deadly in some cases.

Australia confirmed its first four cases in two different cities on Saturday, and the countrys chief health official said he expected more cases as Australia is a popular destination for Chinese tourists.
- A rumour claiming that Nigerian cross-dresser Bobrisky was arrested and taken to custody recently surfaced online

- It was also claimed that Bobrisky's cars were all seized after he was arrested

- However, the cross-dresser has now come out to debunk the rumour, saying he was never arrested

Earlier this Friday, January 24, it was reported that Nigerian cross-dresser Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky, was arrested. It was also claimed that his cars were seized from his home in Lekki area of Lagos state.

The male barbie has, however, debunked the rumour after the news broke on social media. The cross-dresser shared a post on his Instagram page to put a stop to the rumour.

In the post, he noted that he was never arrested and his cars were not seized. He also asked that people to endeavour to get their news right before sharing it.

PAY ATTENTION: Read best news on Nigeria's #1 news app

Bobrisky went further to shut down the rumour by sharing a live video on Instagram. In the live video, the male barbie said he was driving his Range Rover and he was stuck in traffic.

He responded to the fans asking him to show his face by saying he could not direct the camera to his face because he was driving and showed them the view of the traffic.

PAY ATTENTION: Do you have news to share? Contact Legit.ng instantly

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier reported that the news of the cross-dresser's arrest had gotten mixed reactions. While a few commended the police on the arrest, others believe it is a misplaced priority on the part of the police.

Some Nigerians noted that there are more pressing issues facing the country than Bobrisky's lifestyle choices.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better

Bobrisky's Birthday: Nigerians condemn Police over disruption at party venue - on Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
SKANEATELES, N.Y. -- A 21-year-old Jordan woman escaped a rollover crash on Saturday with non-life threatening injuries, according to New York State Police.

Brittney Lynn Lobner was driving a 2005 Mazda northbound on Vinegar Hill Road in Skaneateles when she lost control of the car, police said. The car crossed into an oncoming lane, left the road, hit a tree and rolled over, police said.

Troopers were dispatched to the call at approximately 11:45 a.m., according to police.

Lobner was taken from the scene to Upstate University Hospital, police said.

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.
LAKELAND, FL - MARCH 03: Rafael Dolis has not pitched in the major leagues since 2013, but the Toronto Blue Jays believe they've found something useful. (Photo by Mark Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

The Toronto Blue Jays have left no stone unturned in their attempts to makeover the pitching staff for the 2020 season, and the international scouting department delivered once again as the team reportedly agreed to deal outside the normal pool of available players.

According to Scott Mitchell of TSN, the Blue Jays agreed to a one-year deal with reliever Rafael Dolis, a 32-year-old righty that has been pitching in Japan since 2016.

#BlueJays are in agreement with right-hander Rafael Dolis on a one-year deal plus a club option, per source.

The 32-year-old reliever has been pitching in Japan, but has 44 innings of MLB experience from back in 2011-13.  Scott Mitchell (@ScottyMitchTSN) January 25, 2020

Signed as an international free agent by the Chicago Cubs in 2004, Dolis appeared in 40 games for the team between 2011-2013, pitching to a 5.48 ERA in 44 major league innings, walking 26 while striking out 25. He bounced around to the minor league systems of the San Francisco Giants and Detroit Tigers for two seasons following his stint with the Cubs, then opted to play in Japan when things failed to work out at the major league level.

The decision looked like the correct one, as Dolis was excellent in four seasons with Japans Hanshin Tigers. He posted a 2.49 ERA and 96 saves over 206 innings between 2016-19, with 9.9 K/9 and a dramatically reduced 2.7 BB/9. Known as a power pitcher in his prospect days, Dolis flashed a 96 MPH fastball and sinker combination in his first go-around as a major leaguer, with a mid-80s slider and changeup complimentary mix.

Dolis deal is worth $1M plus possible bonuses according to Sportsnets Shi Davidi, with an $1.5M option for 2021. This is the second signing this offseason alone that the Blue Jays have made from Japans NPB, with pitcher Shun Yamaguchi formerly of the Yomiuri Giants inking a deal in December.

Story continues

The Blue Jays will have to clear a spot on the 40-man roster to officially sign Dolis. A corresponding move is expected to be made shortly.

More Blue Jays coverage from Yahoo Sports
NIA files chargesheet against 7 Khalistani terrorists in case of extortion in Punjab

How this ISIS operative from Mangaluru lured her victims and converted them to Islam

As Bodo Group agrees to peace talks, who are the Bodos explained

India

oi-Briti Roy Barman

Guwahati, Jan 25: One of the most wanted by the list of National Investigation Agency (NIA) Bishnu Goyari aka Bidai, the dreaded commander of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), reached Delhi for negotiations with the Centre after coming out of hiding recently.

Bidai was accused of masterminding series of attacks that killed over 80 Bodoland adivasis on 2014. The Interpol has issued red corner notice against him on the Centre's request.

It came as a blow to the insurgency of Northeast as the NDFB signed a tripartite agreement on January 16 over suspension of operations, with the central and state governments.

According to the agreement, NDFB is to give up the act of violence and join peace talks with the government.

Who are the Bru refugees: The pact explained

Also, another leader Batha with over 50 active members of the outfit is likely to join the peace process on January 22.

Who are the Bodos

The bodos, the earliest inhabitants of Assam, ruled almost the entire northeast India, parts of Nepal, Bhutan, North Bengal and Bangladesh.

Bodos consist of 34 tribal communities in Assam.

In the 20th century, Bodos faced a series of concerns like illegal immigration, encroachment of their lands, forced assimilation, loss of language and culture. This led Assam to witness the emergence of Bodo movements for safeguarding the rights of the tribal communities in the area.

According to Bodos, they are consistently deprived of the political and socio-economic rights by successive state and central governments.

Statehood demand

Constant immigration from Bangladesh and state governments' empty measures to prevent the encroachment of the tribal belts, created mistrust and discontent among the Bodos. Consequently, they started to campaign for separate union territory and later agitating for the creation of the Bodoland state.

A group of educated Bodo youths formed an armed militia called the Bodo Security Force (BSF). This was later renamed as the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) with the objective of establishing a sovereign Bodo homeland.

Failed Bodo Accords

Since the Bodoland movement began in 1987 under the leadership of Upendranath Brahma of the All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU), government has inked two peace agreements with them.

Explained: What is FATF Grey List

The first Bodo Accord, signed on 20 February 1993, proved to be failed as it did not deliver full democracy to the territory.

The second Bodo Peace Accord, on 10 February 2003, led formation of Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) with jurisdiction over four districts: Kokrajhar, Baksa, Udalguri and Chirang.

But it could not fulfil the aspirations of the Bodos as the issues of illegal immigration, protection of tribal belts remained unresolved. And despite signing two accords the confliction had increased.

The massacre

The December 23, 2014 attacks, described as one of the worst massacres in the history of North-East India.

Arm confliction between NDFB, Government and adivasi led killing of two NDFB cadre killed by Assam Police and doubts on adivasis of assisting Assam police, the NDFB militants under the leadership of Bidai, attacked unarmed villagers in the three different districts of Assam- Chirang, Sonitpur and Kokrajhar which resulted in the deaths of more than 80 people, including 21 women and 18 children.
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish military personnel being sent to Libya are supporting and training forces of the internationally recognized government of Fayez al-Serraj, Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

Turkey has sent a training and cooperation team to Libya as part of a military cooperation agreement signed in November with Serraj's Government of National Accord (GNA).

"We sent, are sending our military delegation to there ... We will not leave Serraj alone. We are determined to provide all the help we can on this point," Erdogan said.

Last week, Germany hosted a summit on Libya involving the rival camps, their main foreign backers and representatives which agreed that a permanent ceasefire has to be achieved in Tripoli to allow a political process to take place.

Speaking in Istanbul after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Erdogan also said countries which attended the Libya summit in Berlin on Sunday should not favor Serraj's opponent, Khalifa Haftar, after he left the meeting without signing a ceasefire deal.

Haftar's Libya National Army (LNA) faction is supported by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, which have for years provided training and weapons, according to U.N. reports.

Libya has had no stable central authority since Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown by NATO-backed rebels in 2011. For more than five years, it has had two rival governments, in the east and the west, with streets controlled by armed groups.

(Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen; Writing by Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Couples are invited to laugh together on Wednesday, Feb. 12 from 6-8 p.m. during an evening about the humor that hearing loss and miscommunication brings to couples, with nationally known comic Moody Molavi.

The event will take place at the Jewish Cultural Center, 5461 North Terrace Road. Laugh, learn ways to express yourself with your partner, and listen to hearing health tips. This Valentines Day celebration event is presented by The Speech & Hearing Center in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga. Tickets are $30 per person and include heavy hors d'oeuvres, cocktails and entry to the event. Tickets are available at the Speech and Hearing website https://www.speechhearing.com or by clicking this link.

Mr. Molavi is originally from Chattanooga and he and his wife experience the seriousness and humor of hearing loss on a daily basis. His wife received her first pair of hearing aids from Chattanooga nonprofit, The Speech & Hearing Center.



"The Speech & Hearing Center, a non-profit established in 1953, focuses on education, support and services, including the most cutting edge high tech hearing aids in the industry," officials said. "The staff and board of directors believe everyone, no matter what their income level, deserves access to the best care to improve communication and enrich their life."



The Jewish Cultural Center, funded by the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga, offers programs, classes and exhibits, social services and a preschoolall rooted in Jewish values. The Center and its programs are open to everyone regardless of religious affiliation.
Nangloi Jat Delhi Assembly Constituency Election Results 2020 Live Updates - Read Nangloi Jat constituency vidhan sabha chunav latest news, party, constituency, candidate name wise winner, loser, leading, trailing live updates online at Firstpost.com.

Nangloi Jat Assembly Elections 2020: Incumbent MLA and AAP candidate Raghuvinder Shokeen won by polling 49.21 of the votes while BJP's Suman Lata polled 41.53 percent of the votes.

A census town in West Delhi, Nangloi Jat once largely housed people from the Jat clan.

Though the demographics have changed, Jats continue to be an electoral force to be reckoned with.

The AAP renominated incumbent MLA Raghuvinder Shokeen, who defended his seat against BJPs nominee Sumanlata Shokeen, the wife of ex-BJP MLA and partys district president Manoj Shokeen.

Constituency Name: Nangloi Jat

Constituency Number: 11

District Name: West Delhi

Total Electors: 2,39,203

Female Electors: 1,04,711

Male Electors: 1,34,484

Third Gender: 8

Reserved: No

Results in previous elections: Bijendra Singh of the Congress won the seat in 2003 and 2008 polls, while he lost to Manoj Kumar Shokeen of the BJP in 2013. In the last election, Raghuvinder Shokeen of the AAP won the seat by a record margin of over 37,000 votes.

Demographics: Nangloi Jat, like other Assembly segments in North West Delhi has a sizeable Jat population. This is one of the 18 potential seats that the BJP ally JJP had reportedly shortlisted for an electoral contest.

However, the party backed out of the poll contest at the last moment. Kavita Colony, Punjabi Basti, JJ Colonies, Saini Mohalla, Nangloi village,Jwala Puri, Paschim Vihar, Mianwali Nagar, Peerha Garhi, Meera Bagh are some of the localities in the constituency.
(TNS)  Jacksonville officials see the future as being online, and have started asking people how best to build for the future of high-speed Internet in the city.Alderman Brandon Adams said during a committee meeting Tuesday that some businesses especially have expressed having issues with unreliable service and some have had to install secondary Internet services to ensure quality.With more home devices relying on Wi-Fi connections, residents have told Adams they would like better residential service for activities such as phone conferences or gaming.To illustrate his point, Adams told the story about Sen. Tammy Duckworths staff trying to connect during a meeting at Jacksonville Public Library.Fifteen minutes after (Duckworths staff) got there, they still couldnt get hooked up to the Wi-Fi, Adams said. When Im asking for a fiber grant, they knew exactly what I was talking about.While high-speed Internet is available through different providers in the city, the cutting edge is fiber optic connections. None of the Internet service providers in the area are planning on installing a fiber optic network for residential use.The benefit for such a connection is in reliability, functionality and speed. It also comes at a cost, especially to establish the needed framework.Cat Blake, senior program manager for Next Century Cities  a group that works with municipalities on getting access to high-speed Internet  said a fiber optic network is important for Jacksonvilles future.Fiber is the closest thing that we have right now to a future-proof technology, she said.The most expensive part of establishing a fiber-optic network is the construction, Blake said, noting that buying the fiber itself would not be as expensive.Blake offered four common connectivity models: A full municipal network  Blake used Chattanooga, Tennessee, as an example. The municipality both owns the network and runs it. Highland, in Madison County, whose broadband director gave a presentation to the council, also uses this model. Such networks often are built by cities with existing municipal electrical facilities, which make the process easier, Blake said. An open-access model. Ammon, Idaho, uses this model, under which the city would build and own the fiber infrastructure but lease access to many private providers. A public-private partnership. Centennial, Colorado, and Westminster, Maryland, use this model, under which the city owns the network and leases it to one provider to run. A conduit network. Lincoln, Nebraska uses this model. A conduit system of empty tubes is built and the space inside is leased to providers, who draw their own fiber infrastructure through the conduit system.Those who attended the meeting expressed support for Jacksonville getting high-speed Internet.Jacksonvilles future would be greatly impacted positively by having broadband, said Elizabeth Tobin of Jacksonville, noting that Internet access is key to many businesses. I dont think were going to go back to the day when there were a lot of factories in Jacksonville.
The Australia bushfires, which are still burning and claimed an additional three lives this week, have released enough greenhouse gases to double the country's annual greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels, new scientific estimates show.

Guido van der Werf, who helps maintain the Global Fire Emissions Database, says the fires in New South Wales and Victoria in particular have emitted around 400 million tons of carbon dioxide so far, pushing country-level estimates for all of 2019 to a new record in the satellite era of about 900 million tons of carbon dioxide.

The smoke plumes from the fires have circled the globe, and have coated glaciers brown in New Zealand, led to reddish sunsets in South America, and may have reached Antarctica.

According to the Global Carbon Project, in 2018, Australia emitted 421 million tons of carbon dioxide, making it the 16th-largest emitter worldwide, ranking just above the UK. Typically, fire-related emissions are not included in annual estimates of a country's emissions, since such pollutants tend to be reabsorbed over time.

In a typical fire year in Australia, large amounts of grasslands burn in sparsely populated areas. The carbon emitted by these fires tends to be reabsorbed during the following wet season.

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

However, this year, vast forest ecosystems that serve as long-term carbon savings accounts, having taken in carbon and stored it in biomass, went up in flames, such as in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. This carbon was released into the atmosphere during the fires, and it could take decades for the forests to recover to the point where they are net absorbers of such quantities of carbon dioxide once again.

In fact, full recovery may never happen, particularly if more fires burn in these forests in rapid succession, Mr van der Werf noted.

Recommended Tens of thousands told to evacuate as Australian wildfires intensify

In another indication of the climate change implications of the bush fires, the UK Met Office said on Friday that the Australian fires could account for 1 to 2 percent of the acceleration in the growth of the global concentration of carbon dioxide in the planet's atmosphere in 2020.

Mr Van der Werf cautioned that the Australia fire emissions estimate comes with substantial uncertainties traced mainly to the unprecedented nature of these fires.

Niels Andela, a research scientist at NASA who also works on the fire emissions database, says two independent examinations of greenhouse gas emissions from the 2019-2020 bush fires both reached relatively similar conclusions, bolstering his confidence in the numbers.

In an interview, Mr Andela said the emissions estimates are generated using instruments carried by different satellites that detect the heat signatures of wildfires. The emissions database utilises historical data to locate hot spots as well as the energy released by wildfires, both of which spiked to unprecedented heights in southeastern Australia in recent months.

The historical data and observations is fed into a computer model to determine the likely emissions.

However, more accurate measurements will require information about the ecosystems burnt as well as the precise burnt area, which takes time to generate.

Mr Andela said the uncertainty involved in near-real-time estimates could be as high as 50% due to questions about historic estimates of fire emissions. In the case of the Australia bush fires, he says, the uncertainty is high because no one has ever seen fires burn like this in these ecosystems under such historically hot and dry conditions.

This could throw off assumptions in the model about how much of the forests burned.

Last year was the hottest and driest year on record in Australia, and December saw the country shatter its record for the hottest-ever day nationally.

With climate extremes becoming more severe and common worldwide as the global temperatures increase, real-time wildfire emissions estimates are likely to take on added importance. In 2019, for example, there was a spate of fires throughout the boreal forest in the Arctic, and 2018 was the most damaging and deadly fire year in California's history.

Mr Andela says the carbon cycle implications of the Australian forest loss are hugely important, since it will take decades for these forests to become efficient absorbers of greenhouse gases again. And that will only happen if more bush fires do not disturb these regions during their recovery period and logging does not expand.

In Australia, a debate is taking place over whether to thin out forests to make them less fire-prone, although scientific evidence shows the biggest drivers of fire risk is heat and drought, not forest density. Climate change heightens both of these risk factors.

A worker tries to put out a bushfire behind a row of factories near West Queanbeyan (Reuters)

Rob Jackson, a professor of Earth system science at Stanford University, said it's possible that by the time the bushfires are finally extinguished, the emissions from this fire season will be close to a billion tons of carbon dioxide. This would be below the fires that burned in Indonesian peatlands in 1997-1998, but roughly on par with the peat fires there of 2015-2016.

Jackson said even a half billion tons of carbon emissions is important, since, It's the extra [carbon] that keeps adding up in the atmosphere.

If fire emissions increase in Australia and Western North America, they will make our job harder, Jackson said, referring to efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. More importantly, he said, They'll change lives. We'll have to rethink firefighting, controlled burns, where we live, that's happening in California too.

Is this a transformation of Australia's ecosystems? he said.

Noting that many national parks saw the most severe fires, Jackson said such fires have been devastating from a carbon storage perspective as well as species conservation.

They're having catastrophic fires in the parks. And the parks have in many places the biggest biomass, the richest systems, he said. It's more than just acreage. It's what acres are being burned.

Washington Post
Residents of St Margaret's have been shocked by the double-shooting in their quiet community which occurred last Friday on an industrial estate in the area.

A local resident, speaking in the immediate aftermath of the shooting told the Fingal Independent: 'It happened a yard on the bottom of Killeek Lane on the left-hand side, a unit rented out, and what we're hearing is that a car arrived in and shot two of them. A burnt-out car has been found according to the news but apart from that, I don't know any more.

'It happened between eleven and half twelve this morning, because we could hear the police cars passing.

'It's quite close to where I live and I'm shocked to be honest, because it's a close neighbourhood and I know the people who own it and I know the neighbours and I'm very concerned and very sorry for them that this has come to our neighbourhood. It's very worrying.'

Describing the area, the local resident said: 'It's a quiet neighbourhood, but many years ago, my son when he was only young found a body on airport land close to us here, and again it was apparently an individual that probably upset or aggravated another group and he was murdered on the scene. So it does happen.

'We're on the fringes of County Dublin and we're in a rural area so unfortunately it does happen around here sadly. So we're shocked, I'm absolutely shocked that it happened here this morning.'

The St Margaret's resident added: 'You can have garda presence around, but what can they do?

'We are on the fringes unfortunately of the towns of Swords and Finglas and Dublin, so unfortunately we get a lot of illegal dumping out here, you can get an awful lot of anti-social behaviour, we're all the time on the watch for strange vehicles around the place.

'There is a neighbourhood watch, and we are extremely vigilant at what's going on and we watch out for our neighbours.'
American Firefighters Who Died in Australian Plane Crash Remembered as Loving Fathers and Heroes

The three American firefighters who died in a plane crash Thursday while helping to battle the Australian bushfires in New South Wales have been identified

According to the New York Times, the late service members included Ian H. McBeth, 44, Paul C. Hudson, 42, and Rick A. DeMorgan Jr., 43.

The three firefighters were aboard the C-130 air tanker, owned by Coulson Aviation, a privately owned company lending help to the ongoing climate disaster in Australia, the Wall Street Journal reported.

All three U.S. military veterans worked for the company, according to the Times.

Coulson Aviation Next Gen Firefighting

RELATED: 3 Brave Americans Fighting Australian Fires Die in Plane Crash: Reports

McBeth, of Great Falls, Montana, was the captain of the downed aircraft. He was a father of three and had flown C-130 planes with Coulson for his entire career.

Hudson, of Buckeye, Arizona, was the first officer of the plane and had served in the Marine Corps for two decades, the Times reported. Hudson also had experience as a pilot of the C-130 aircraft.

First Officer Paul Hudson was a hero who dedicated his life to service, first as a Marine, then as a firefighter. And when help was needed to fight wildfires in Australia, he didnt hesitate. Arizonas prayers go out to him & his family, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey wrote on Twitter.

DeMorgan, of Navarre, Florida, was the aircrafts flight engineer. He served as a flight engineer on C-130 planes in the Air Force for 18 years, according to the Times. DeMorgan was also a father of two children.

Ricks passion was always flying and his children, Coulson Aviation said in a statement to the Times.

Brook Mitchell/Getty

In a press conference on Thursday, Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons explained that initial reports found there was a large fireball associated with the impact of the plane as it hit the ground.

Fitzsimmons added, all weve been able to do is locate the wreckage and the crash site.

Story continues

RELATED: Girl Wears Her Australian Firefighter Dads Helmet and Refuses to Leave His Side at His Funeral

The U.S. Embassy in Canberra, Australia, issued a statement about the loss of life Thursday.

The brave Americans who died near Snowy Monaro died helping Australia in its time of need, Ambassador Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr. said in the statement. The families and friends of those who we have lost are in our thoughts and prayers. Thank you Australia for your sympathy and solidarity.

The cause of the crash still remains unknown.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison responded to the news on Twitter, calling it a terrible tragedy.

Deeply saddened to learn of the death of 3 people in the crash of a C130 fire fighting aircraft, north east of Cooma in NSW earlier today. My deepest condolences to the loved ones, friends and colleagues of those who have lost their lives. Such a terrible tragedy.  Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) January 23, 2020

Deeply saddened to learn of the death of 3 people in the crash of a C130 fire fighting aircraft, north east of Cooma in NSW earlier today, tweeted Morrison. My deepest condolences to the loved ones, friends and colleagues of those who have lost their lives. Such a terrible tragedy.

At least 30 people have died in Australias particularly devastating fire season so far, WSJ reported, with thousands of homes and buildings lost and billion-dollar damages expected across the affected regions.

Experts previously estimated that more than a billion animals have also died in the fires.
With another discrimination suit still pending, Wall Township and its insurance company will pay $500,000 to settle a lawsuit by an Indian-American former police officer who says he was subjected to a hostile work environment because of his race.

In what Walls business administrator insisted was strictly a business decision, the township committee on Wednesday night unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the settlement with the former officer, Suresh Madhavan.

Madhavans was one of two discrimination suits filed against the township in 2018 in state Superior Court, both alleging racial discrimination and a hostile work environment within the police department. The other, by a police dispatcher now suspended without pay, Nicholas Curcio, is still pending.

Both suits were filed only months after Wall and its insurer reached a $1.25 million settlement of a discrimination suit filed against the township by a former tax clerk, Brandon Jacobs, who said he was ridiculed about his Jewish faith.

Critics have accused township officials of tolerating a toxic culture of hate, resulting in lawsuits that, despite liability insurance, nonetheless end up costing taxpayers big money, an assertion officials have denied.

Madhavan, a 13-year veteran of the Wall Township Police Department before his departure in 2016, alleged in the suit that he had been subjected to verbal and other harassment because of his race, including being called the N-word, made to perform menial tasks around police headquarters, and having a second officer accompany him on patrol. Madhavan was forced out of the department in 2016 on what he alleged in the suit were trumped up disciplinary charges despite an otherwise spotless record.

Curcio, who is white, alleged in his suit that he was called a monkey and the N-word because of discolorations of his leg related to his diabetes. He says the department likewise trumped up charges against him, and he has been suspended without pay since 2016. Last year, a Monmouth County jury took an hour to acquit Curcio of related criminal charges accusing him of harassing a fellow department employee.

Madhavan did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. His lawyer, Jeffrey Downs, would have no comment on the settlement until it was signed by all the parties, which had not happened as of Friday, Downs office said.

Wall Township Administrator Jeff Bertrand said the committees unanimous vote to settle the Madhavan case was strictly a financial decision, based on the recommendation of the townships insurance carrier, Summit Risk Services of Horsham, Pennsylvania.

Bertrand said Summit will pay 80% of the settlement amount, or $400,000, while the township will pay the remaining $100,000.

Asked whether the settlement was an indication that Madhavans allegations were true, Bertrand replied, absolutely not.

The insurance company said that they believe the ongoing cost of litigation to them was excessive, Bertrand said.

Had the township insisted on trying the case and lost, Bertrand said, it might have been forced to pay a larger share of whatever amount was awarded to Madhavan.

Summit did not respond to requests for comment. Curcios lawsuit is now in the discovery phase, though his lawyer, Ravi Sattiraju, predicted a trial would be scheduled for sometime this year  unless the case is settled.

Sattiraju said the settlement of the Madhavan case was telling.

This settlement is part of an ongoing problem in Wall Township, where they were not mindful of their obligations under employment laws or respect for people, Sattiraju said. Theyre going to are repercussions.

Bertrand rejected the assertion there was any ongoing problem in Wall. He insisted that expressions of hate or bias are not tolerated and that police and civilian employees have undergone sensitivity training.

He also noted that the two police chiefs who had been in office during the period described by Madhavan and Curcio were no longer with the department.

The town has looked inward, Bertrand said. Were being painted as a racist community. Were being painted as a racist department. Thats not true. Thats not true at all. We have very good officers. People in the police department are not judged by their physical attributes. Theyre judged by their ability to do their jobs, by their morals, and by their professionalism.

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.
They really are back on.

Channing Tatum and Jessie J made their red carpet debut at MusiCares Person Of The Year bash honoring Aerosmith in Los Angeles this Friday.

Jessie, 31, was a showstopper at the event in a split silver gown that showed off her cleavage and featured a dangerously high thigh slit.

Scroll down for video

Looking fab: Channing Tatum and Jessie J smoldered together on the red carpet of the MusiCares Person Of The Year bash honoring Aerosmith in Los Angeles this Friday

She heightened the leggy look of her outfit by balancing on a pair of sky-high stilettos and complemented her dress with a matching bag.

Meanwhile, Channing played with the classic black suit look, going dashingly without a tie and opting for loafers instead of dress shoes.

He confirmed earlier that day that he and Jessie are indeed a couple again as he shared a sweet snap of the duo to Instagram.

If that wasn't enough evidence, earlier in the day, the Step Up actor was captured arriving at his girlfriend's house in Los Angeles.

The look of love: Channing could be seen gazing adoringly at his girlfriend amid their reunion

Sensation: Jessie, 31, was a showstopper at the event in a split silver gown that showed off her cleavage and featured a dangerously high thigh slit

Coordinated attack: She heightened the leggy look of her outfit by balancing on a pair of sky-high stilettos and complemented her dress with a matching bag

Meanwhile: Channing played with the classic black suit look, going dashingly without a tie and opting for loafers instead of dress shoes

So stylish: In another twist to his look Channing's dress shirt featured a Nehru collar

Using what they've got: The pair pulled their best smoldering stares for the cameras

In the snap, Channing and Tatum were both wearing inflatable unicorn head gear.

The handsome actor shared a sly smile, as his girlfriend kissed his chin. 'Gonna watch this unicorn sang tonight. Then we gonna get it in! Horns out!' he wrote.

This comes after a source revealed that duo are indeed 'fully back together' to E! News on Wednesday.

Singing for her supper: It was a working evening for Jessie who hit the stage at the Los ANgeles Convention Center for the Aerosmith tribute

Glamour: While some of the artists that night switched outfits before performing Jessie's red carpet look was sensational enough for the stage

Support: Jessie was joined by a pair of backup singers for her latest gig

'Sculpture of magic': Channing was clearly brimming with pride in his girlfriend and made it known to his Instagram followers

'They took a few weeks apart but ultimately decided they really care about each other,' the insider declared to the site.

The couple were also seen hugging each other at the LA Equestrian Center, in photos obtained by Page Six.

The big screen star and Bang Bang songstress 'seem very happy to be spending time together again,' the source added, as 'Jessie has been staying at Channing's house this past week' and they have been 'super-giddy around each other.'

'Gonna watch this unicorn sang tonight': Channing Tatum, 39, confirmed that he and Jessie J, 31, are indeed a couple again as he shared a sweet snap of the duo to Instagram on Friday

Their beginning: Jessie and Channing went public in October 2018 - the same month his ex-wife 39-year-old Jenna Dewan filed for divorce from him after eight years

It's believed Channing and Jessie - who split in December after a year together - decided to go their separate ways because they were struggling to make their long-distance relationship work due to their globe-trotting and highly-demanding careers.

A source said at the time of the split: 'He [Channing] is super busy with his career, as a dad and will be travelling a lot in the coming months. He has a world awaiting him and is trying to manage how busy he is which isn't easy.'

Jessie and Channing went public in October 2018 - the same month his ex-wife 39-year-old Jenna Dewan filed for divorce from him after eight years.

From work to romance: Jessie (born Jessica Cornish) originally met the Lego Movie 2 star in 2015 when she presented him with the MTV Movie Award for best comedic performance for his film 21 Jump Street

Jessie (born Jessica Cornish) originally met the Lego Movie 2 star in 2015 when she presented him with the MTV Movie Award for best comedic performance for his film 21 Jump Street.

Channing shares a six-year-old daughter named Everly with Jenna who he split with in April of 2018 after a nine-year marriage.

Jenna is expecting her first child with actor boyfriend Steve Kazee in a matter of weeks.
Tesco Ireland Ltd has lodged an appeal with An Bord Pleanala after plans for a cafe and outdoor seating area at its Wicklow town store were turned down by the planning section of Wicklow County Council.

The proposed development is for a 0.525ho site adjacent to the Tesco store at Whitegates, Wicklow town. Tesco lreland Ltd own the site in question.

The application sought permission to demolish the existing warehouse units on site, construct a cafe building with associated outdoor seating and landscape area as well as the provision of the additional customer car parking to serve the needs of existing Tesco supermarket and the proposed cafe.

The application called for the demolition of all existing structures, including the boundary wall with the adjoining Tesco. One-hundred-and-eleven new car parking spaces would be integrated with the existing Tesco car park.

Having considered the application, the planning section of Wicklow County Council decided to refuse the application on a number of grounds. It was felt the applicant had not demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Planning Authority that the proposed cafe would not have an unacceptable impact on the vitality and viability of the established core retail area of the town.

It was further felt that the plans would represent underdevelopment of the site, while the number of car parking spaces south were considered excessive.

According to the Schedules of Conditions Decision issued by the local authority: 'Having regard to the scale of development proposed and the size of the subject site, it is considered that the proposed development would represent underdevelopment of the site and piecemeal and uncoordinated development and would therefore militate against the development of a coherent and comprehensive redevelopment scheme for this important gateway and prominent site.'

Regarding car parking, it is stated: 'It is considered that the proposed car parking is in excess of the requirements of both the existing supermarket and the proposed cafe. The provision of excessive car parking unnecessarily increases the visual impact of the proposed development and results in a poor use of a strategic development site.'

A planning appeal against that decision has been lodged with An Bord Pleanala by Tesco Ireland Ltd. A decision is due by May 5 of this year.
US Vice President Mike Pence urged world leaders gathered yesterday in Jerusalem to stand strong against Iran, calling it the only country where Holocaust denial is state policy.

We must also stand strong ... against the one government in the world that denies the Holocaust as a matter of state policy, Pence told the event held 75 years after the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.

The world must stand strong against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Tehran denies it is trying to build a nuclear bomb and accusations of anti-Semitism, insisting that while it opposes the Jewish state and supports the Palestinian cause, it has no problem with Jewish people.

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a summit of leaders of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to defend peace in the face of global instability
Holocaust survivor Tomi Reichental is still haunted by childhood memories from one of Nazi Germany's most notorious concentration camps.

The 84-year-old says the memory most vivid in his mind to this day is that of his grandmother's dead body being thrown unceremoniously onto a pile of corpses.

In total he lost 35 members of his family to the concentration and extermination camps of the Nazi regime.

On Monday, Holocaust Memorial Day, Tomi will tell those gathered at Belfast City Hall to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the foulest genocide perpetrated in modern history, of the horrors he saw as a child and how it can never be allowed to happen again.

Tomi, a father-of-three and grandfather-of-six who made Dublin his home at the age of 24, says he will speak out to ensure history does not repeat itself.

This April will mark the 75th anniversary of Tomi's liberation from Bergen-Belsen. When British troops - which included the late former Ulster Unionist leader Jim Molyneaux, then a young RAF officer - arrived to free them the then 10-year-old child was so malnourished he was weeks from death.

"I was born in Slovakia in 1935 and lived on the family farm until I was nine years old," he says.

"My father was a farmer and was considered a useful citizen when they first started rounding up Jews in 1942," he said. "Most of those taken away in the first phase didn't survive.

"On October 14, 1944 I was arrested with my mother and brother," he says. "We found ourselves in Gestapo headquarters. My father was arrested separately. I was taken to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp which was in northern Germany, not far from Hanover.

"Bergen-Belsen wasn't an extermination camp but people were still dying through starvation and disease. Over 70,000 perished there, mostly Jews, but also gypsies and political prisoners.

"I saw people die on a daily basis. As children we continued to play, but the most tragic time was in January 1945 when many more were transported from Auschwitz. The population grew from 25,000 to 60,000 in a couple of weeks.

"An epidemic of typhoid broke out and people were dying in their hundreds. The crematorium couldn't cope. Corpses were thrown into heaps. Thousands upon thousands of people.

"The stench was unbearable. Conditions were unimaginable. People were skeletons. Occasionally they fell down and we stopped playing to see what would happen. In most cases they never got up.

"I was just nine years old at the time. It is very difficult to describe the time that I spent there as a child. I saw, when I was there, things that I wouldn't wish on anyone. There were experiments, starvation... people were cold, depressed and subjected to cruel treatment by the supervisors. Bergen-Belsen was one of the most horrific places in concentration camps.

"I remember asking people who went to Auschwitz and then came to Bergen-Belsen what did they think of Bergen-Belsen and they said that Auschwitz was a horrific place where over a million people perished, but Bergen-Belsen was 'Hell on Earth'.

"And that is what it was. Thirty-five members of my family died, most of them in Auschwitz, and some in Bergen-Belsen and other extermination camps."

Tomi says one vision stands out in his memory and still breaks him, that of his beloved grandmother's body being dumped onto a cart of corpses.

"I was at Bergen-Belsen with my mother, my brother, my aunt, my cousin and my grandmother," he says. "We lost our grandmother, she died of starvation. Her body just gave up.

"The day of her death, I will never forget how she was treated and how her body was treated. Two men just came to the room and picked up my grandmother - one by the legs, one by the hands - took her out and just threw her onto a cart which was piled high with corpses. This is a memory that I have to carry all my life."

Tomi says that despite death being all around, five of his family survived Bergen-Belsen.

"We were lucky to be liberated in April 1945 by British troops," he says. "By that stage I was in a terrible state. I was like a skeleton. Had we not been liberated at that time, it was only a matter of time that I would have died also. But we were liberated by the Army and I survived. I was just 10 years old at that stage.

"I really don't remember how I felt about what I saw around me at that time. I asked my brother and my mother years later about how I was back then. They said that I was very apathetic. They say I was depressed. I participated in games with other children, but I really didn't laugh as a child. I didn't have a childhood like a child should. I was very shy and inward and what I saw around me must have affected me terribly. I was very depressed."

Tomi didn't speak about what he witnessed for 55 years. It was not until he wrote a book nine years ago that he began to process what he had seen.

"When I was writing my book it sort of processed all my memories, thoughts and feelings on what happened," he says. "I remembered and experienced again what happened as I went through and was writing the book. As I went from day to day, describing what happened, memories came flooding back. Even today, when I am talking about some of the things I experienced, I break down, because I feel the humiliation today more than I felt it as a child. As an adult I realise how humiliated I was at that time. It still, after 75 years, affects me."

Tomi says he didn't speak publicly about the horrors of the camp until after his wife Evanne died in 2003.

"I didn't speak about what happened until after 55 years," he says. "I started to speak about it in 2003 when I lost my wife to cancer and I sold my business. I began to write a little bit about what happened to me as a child. I wrote an article for a magazine. Once I came out about what happened I had many people in the media come on to me and wanted me to speak out. I realised that I was one of the last witnesses to the Holocaust. Because anyone younger could barely remember and anyone older was passing away. I realised that I had to speak, particularly to the young people. They knew very little here in Ireland about the Holocaust. In school, they learn about the Holocaust as part of the Second World War and they devote maybe an hour to it.

"That was the first thing that hit me. And I knew I had to come out and speak about it. The second thing, which was very important to me, is that I lost 35 members of my family in the Holocaust and I owed it to myself and to the victims that their memories were not forgotten.

"That is why I decided to speak up of the horror. And people wanted to listen. I was booked two years in advance to speak at events and schools, colleges and university. I didn't speak of it for five decades and now, no one can stop me speaking. I feel that it is very important that the Holocaust is not forgotten, and so far as I am able, I am going to speak of it."

Tomi has won a plethora of accolades for his work in keeping history alive.

He says he also speaks up to silence those denying the Holocaust ever happened.

"These people are deniers," he says. "They are anti-Semitic. They are lying. I don't feel any connection at all to these people. If I spoke to any of them, I would say to them that I am one of the victims of the Holocaust. I am standing here. And that is what I say to students I speak to. I tell them that some of these deniers will come to them and say that what I say is rubbish, it is Jewish propaganda and they will be able to say to them that they spoke with a Holocaust survivor and they were a real person."

Tomi says that he wants his voice and memories of horror to be heard so that society never lets it happen again.

"History has to be kept alive for the simple reason that we don't want it repeating itself," he says. "Unfortunately today, the times are not very nice. Racism is on the rise, as is anti-Semitism and racial bullying, so people like myself have to remind the people that we need to stop this at the right time. Because we say that the Holocaust did not start at the gas chamber, it started with whispering, the abuse and finally murder, which was the last chapter. We have to stop it at the whispering stage, because if we don't we might find ourselves in a scenario where it is too late.

"Some mad leader somewhere can repeat history.

"After the war there was this phrase 'never again' and people called it out and shouted it, it referred to the Holocaust. But we can't say it today because we had genocide in various parts of the world since then.

"We had Srebrenica, a genocide against Muslims, in the middle of Europe, in civilised society. I stood in the Srebrenica graveyard where 8,300 boys and men are buried. They were ordinary people who were massacred just because they were Muslim. So we can't say today, never again.

"We have to be very careful. People shouldn't become bystanders anywhere. If they see something they should get involved and try to stop it or report it to the authorities.

"The world is becoming very dangerous again and we have to teach the young people. If they see any bullying, racism, they must tell. When I was a boy nobody spoke up.

"I can see history repeating and education is the most important thing. People need to know, they need to tell their families, their friends."

The Northern Ireland Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration will take place at Belfast City Hall on Monday evening. The event will also feature poetry readings by Michael Longley and Maureen Boyle, as well as a performance by Lagan College Choir. To register for tickets log on to: eventbrite.co.uk. For more information email: hmd@executiveoffice-ni.gov.uk or call the HMD organising team on 028 3751 5033

'If my grandparents hadn't left Poland I wouldn't be here now'

Steven Jaffe, co-chair of Friends of Israel, who grew up in Belfast but now lives in London, says that in the Seventies and Eighties there was a thriving Jewish community in the north of the city.

"I grew up in north Belfast," he says. "Then there was a significant Jewish community there. At the time there was around 250 people there, in the Seventies and early Eighties.

"The synagogue is up in north Belfast on the Somerton Road. When I was growing up there was a Kosher butchers -for Jewish meat - and there was a delicatessen that specialised in Jewish food, all along that stretch of the Antrim Road.

"It was a small, but very vibrant and close-knit Jewish community that I was brought up in."

Steven's ancestors hailed from Poland, a place he visited recently and was reminded that had they not left, his family history would have been among the ashes in the nearby concentration camp.

"My great grandparents emigrated from Poland in the late 1800s," he says. "They came to Belfast from the city of Lublin, which is around 100 miles south of Warsaw. When my great grandfather left, there were 40,000 Jews living in Lublin. And when I visited the city in the Eighties, there is a huge concentration camp there called Majdanek. It is literally about 15 minutes from the city centre.

"While I was there I stared into this deep collection of ashes which were the only remains of over 100,000 people who were murdered there. That is where my family came from. It was my great grandparents who moved away from there, my grandparents moved to Belfast as children. And that was very common within the Belfast Jewish community. Most of the members came from Eastern Europe and they would have arrived in what is now Northern Ireland in the late 19th and early 20th Century, as part of a big wave of emigration. Well over a million Jews left Eastern Europe, most of them went to America.

"That would have been before the Second World War. My mother was eight-years-old during the war. Over a million Jewish children were killed during the Holocaust. So you just think, that would have been our future had my family stayed there. I wouldn't be here today.

"My family went from Poland to Belfast, but my great grandfather could never settle there. He thought that there was security in the big numbers. There were 40,000 Jews in Lublin, all the traditions in that community went back centuries. After landing in Belfast in 1890, he brought all the family back to Lublin in 1906, but then left again for Belfast, making the journey back again and making Northern Ireland his family's home. On that very decision hangs the fact that I am here.

"The towns and villages that the Belfast Jews came from became the killing fields of the Holocaust," he says. "They were right at the centre of it in Lithuania and in Poland. This is where Jewish people were murdered literally by the millions."

Steven says growing up in Belfast, his Jewish faith and identity were nurtured and allowed to thrive. However, he says that modern society has allowed a dangerous anti-Semitic element to grow.

"Mine was a strong identity that never leaves me," he says. "The Northern Ireland side of things as well as Jewish side. I live in London now, but I am back so many times during the year, in some ways I never left Belfast. Growing up during the Troubles in north Belfast, such a troubled area, I think the Jewish community were respected across the sectarian divide. And the synagogue in Belfast was a place where Protestants and Catholics could meet in a neutral environment. We were very much part of the local community, but kept our distinctive faith and identity. But the vast majority of my friends when I was growing up would not have been Jewish. The community was quite small, there were about 150 of us. We were very well integrated into the wider community in Belfast.

"At that time I don't remember an awful lot of anti-Semitism in the Seventies and early Eighties. The Troubles were raging during those years. But in my role in the last number of years, representing the Jewish community we have sadly seen an increase of anti-Semitism. Our cemetery off the Falls Road was desecrated a couple of years ago. The windows of the synagogue have been attacked on a number of occasions and indeed there was a video of an Israeli journalist who went into a pub in Derry and someone said that Hitler didn't kill enough Jews. It shows that this history of ant-Jewish sentiment is present in Northern Ireland.

"We have a far right, neo-Nazi element. And we have on the left an anti-Israel, pro-Palestine current there which is viciously anti-Semitic."

Politicians must not fan flames of division

Thirty-five-year-old Becca Bor is originally from Boston in the United States. She has lived in Northern Ireland for almost six years with her partner Shaun and their son Aodhan. Her ancestors hailed from Poland and Russia.

"My family would be from Poland and Lithuania," she says. "From a place that was once called Dvinsk. My great grandparents came to New York from what was then Russia. They came in the early 1900s when lots of Eastern European Jews came to the United States and Britain also. My grandparents met in New York. My grandmother would have had family in Poland who were caught up in the Holocaust.

"The reason they left Russia was because of the pogroms and the anti-Semitism there. Although we are commemorating the Holocaust, which was horrendous, there is also a very long history in Europe of anti-Semitism.

"The thing about growing up Jewish is that you always learn about the Holocaust and other times of anti-Semitism. I do feel a connection with it. The first thing we say is 'the horror'. We remember what happened and we learn about it. The second thing we say is 'never again'. That is the mantra of not letting history repeat itself. I think right now is a scary time as we see an increase in anti-Semitism in Europe."

Becca says that as the world gathers to remember the Holocaust, she hopes that world leaders will look to the future, as well as the past.

"The Holocaust commemoration is not one just for the past," she says. "It is really important that today's political leaders, if they are commemorating the Holocaust, make sure that they are not part of anything that encourages and fans the flames of division, fear and hate, and the politics of fear that is very much a part our politics across Europe right now as well as in the United States.

"It's a politics that is going to create more hate and division. I think it's really important that in any commemoration, we think about what we are doing today in order to make sure that people are united, support one another and are standing in solidarity, defending each other if there are any attacks. Whether those are physical attacks or even just the language of division, it can all be very insidious."
Amid protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act in India, a top American diplomat has underscored the importance of the principle of equal protection under the law.

Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice Wells, who has just returned from a trip to the region besides attending the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, said on Friday that her visit offered an opportunity to hear more regarding developments with the new citizenship law.

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 following religious persecution there will get Indian citizenship.

"The visit also offered an opportunity to hear more regarding developments with India's Citizenship Amendment Act, which is undergoing I would say a vigorous democratic scrutiny, whether it's in the streets, by the political opposition, media, and the courts," she said.

"We continue to underscore the importance of the principle of equal protection under the law," Wells added.

On Jammu and Kashmir, Wells said she was "pleased to see some incremental steps, including the partial return of internet service" in Kashmir.

The restrictions were imposed on August 5 last when India abrogated the Article 370 that gave special powers to Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories.

Wells described the visit by US ambassador Kenneth Juster, and other foreign diplomats to Jammu and Kashmir as "a useful step".

"We also continue to urge the government to permit regular access by our diplomats, and to move swiftly to release those political leaders detained without charge," she said.

In the first such trip by foreign diplomats post August 5, envoys of 15 countries, including the US, early this month visited Jammu and Kashmir where they interacted with select political representatives, civil society members as well as top military brass with the Indian government rejecting criticism that it was a "guided tour".

While in New Delhi, Wells had meetings with her Indian counterparts, which she said were focused on how to build on the diplomatic and defence gains achieved during the 2+2 ministerial dialogue in December.

With continued progress on defense cooperation, peacekeeping operations, space, counterterrorism, trade, people-to-people initiatives, and more, she said the quality and frequency of India-US naval cooperation, especially the information sharing, have reached unprecedented levels.
A veteran living in South Florida is celebrating his 105th birthday Saturday.

Jerry Cohen is a patient at VITAS Healthcare in West Palm Beach. He served in World War II and went on tours in Casablanca, Tunisia, Algeria and Italy.

My biggest experience was when I was drafted into the Army, Cohen said. I was 25 years old.

Cohen told our sister station WPBF that when he was 18 years old, he no longer wanted to go to school and decided to get a job.

He got a job in the printing department at Warner Brothers Pictures making $10.26 per week.

In those days, it was good, he said.

His job gave him a lot of perks  including tickets to shows on Broadway in New York City.

Its those perks that allowed him to see Frank Sinatras first performance at the Paramount Theater in 1933.

After serving in the war, living in New York City and working at a knitting mill and then as a burglary alarm salesman, Cohen moved to Florida with his wife.

He said the secret to his longevity is simple.

Jamaican food. And a glass of wine every two or three days, Cohen said.

Related video: Secrets to living a long and happy life
Policemen at Surulere Police Station in Ilorin, Kwara are yet to recover from the shock they got, after a mysterious man walked into their station to report the murder of a truck driver, whom he identified as Emmanuel Adegoke.

The mysterious man whose identity could not be identified, according to New Telegraph, gave the police vivid explanation of what led to Adegokes death, the killer, and other information that helped the police establish the truth.

During his time at the station, the stranger was also said to have given phone numbers of the family members of the victim to the police, after which he was nowhere to be found.



It was gathered that while the policemen on duty at the station were trying to take the strangers statement and ask further questions, he stepped out.

Thereafter, the policemen went round the station premises, looking for him, but he appeared to have simply disappeared into thin air.

Initially, the policemen didnt take the matter serious until they resolved to try the phone numbers the stranger dropped for them. It was then they learnt from the phone number owners that they had been looking for their missing husband and father.

After getting called by the police, Adegokes family members quickly rushed to Kwara.

With the information given to them by the stranger, the police were able to arrest one Alfa Jamiu, who allegedly killed Adegoke.

The police learnt that Jamiu shot his friend to death, abandoned his body in the bush and made away with the victims truck. He had concluded plans to move the truck to Niger, with a buyer waiting for him, when police arrested him.

After Jamius arrest and recovery of the truck, the case was transferred to the Lagos Police Command, which has jurisdiction on the case.

Adegoke was murdered in Agbowa, Ikorodu area of Lagos.

Follow Us on Facebook  @LadunLiadi; Instagram  @LadunLiadi; Twitter  @LadunLiadi; Youtube  @LadunLiadiTV for updates
On Friday, the House impeachment managers conclude the presentation of their case by focusing on the presidents alleged obstruction of the House investigation. This claim (Article of Impeachment II) has not gotten the degree of attention given the Ukraine abuse-of-power caper (Article I). Though overblown, the obstruction allegation could gain some traction thanks to the presidents defense. The assertion that Trump has been impeached merely for going to court involves some sleight-of-hand, over which his defense team is likely to get clobbered.

In a nutshell, the Trump team claims that it is outrageous for Democrats to condemn the president for obstruction because they failed to go to court first. The House, they publicly insist, should have tried to litigate what are, undeniably, weighty issues of executive privilege. They point to Charles Kupperman, the presidents former deputy national-security adviser, whom Democrats initially subpoenaed, only to drop the subpoena, quite tactically, when Kupperman went to court for a ruling on whether the presidents privilege of confidential communications with his top advisers gave him immunity from testifying. Kuppermans case was being watched from the sidelines by his former boss, John Bolton, as well as White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. Simultaneously, former White House counsel Don McGahn was already fighting the House Judiciary Committee in a lawsuit unrelated to Ukraine; he was subpoenaed regarding obstruction issues in the Mueller probe.

The McGahn case is now on appeal, a lower court having ordered that he has to show up to testify, but punting on the more important question of whether he has to answer questions. But there is no Kupperman case. Rather than litigate that subpoena, House Democrats vacated it, concurrently dropping their demand for testimony from Bolton and Mulvaney.

The presidents team persuasively argues that Democrats did this for two reasons. First, their impeachment case is driven by electoral politics, not real misconduct; litigating the subpoena would have taken too long, undermining the Democrats goal of impeaching Trump by Christmas, in time to exploit it in the 2020 campaign. Second, Democrats might well have lost in court, which would have undermined the allegation that the president is obstructing the investigation. Strategically, since Democrats control the House but not the courts, it was preferable simply to vote an article of impeachment charging obstruction than to risk delay and defeat in litigation.

Story continues

There is just one problem with the presidents argument about how the Democrats are playing tactical games: The presidents team is playing tactical games, too.

In fact, while they chide Democrats for impeaching the president for going to court  which certainly sounds Kafkaesque  what the presidents supporters dont tell you is that the Trump administration actually agrees with Democrats that courts need not be consulted in a dispute between the political branches. That is, the presidents team publicly says the Democrats should have gone to court to seek testimony, particularly from Bolton and Mulvaney, whom they now want to subpoena for the Senate impeachment trial. But, as weve seen in the McGahn case, when Democrats do go to court, the president argues that this is none of the courts business.

Now, dont get me wrong. I happen to believe the position the Trump administration is taking in court is correct, albeit unpopular (Americans having been conditioned to believe that we are less a democracy than a juristocracy, in which nothing is legitimately decided until the courts weigh in). Longtime readers may recall my years of scoffing at the notion that the Article I branch must go hat in hand to the Article III branch to pry information from the Article II branch. The Framers would have thought that preposterous. They made Congress the most powerful branch, giving it many tools to bring the president to heel. The executive branch was similarly armed to resist congressional overreach. The federal courts, by contrast, were conceived as comparatively weak.

Here, we come to the principal flaw in the impeachment case and the debates around it: gross overreach.

One of the weapons the Framers gave Congress is the impeachment power. Indeed, while the presidents counsel bleat about how House Democrats should have gone to court to seek testimony from executive officials, the administration argues in court that judges should stay their hand because Congress has its own arsenal to compel compliance. The Justice Department concedes, ever so gingerly under the circumstances, that this arsenal includes the impeachment power. Democrats now treat this admission as if it were a smoking gun  expect to hear a lot about it from Adam Schiff & Co.

But Democrats are skipping over the inconvenient point: Impeachment was to be the ultimate weapon, not the weapon of first resort.

The Framers assumed that all constitutional actors would abuse their powers, not just the president. The president would exploit his Article II authority for personal political gain, but the Congress would pass unconstitutional laws and ignore the privileges of the other branches. There is no need for courts to referee these disputes over congressional demands for executive branch information; they are supposed to get worked out by negotiation and accommodation. This is not sweetness and light; theres plenty of hardball. Nevertheless, Congress doesnt start with impeachment, or go to it in the early rounds; it is the nuclear option after other pressure points have been exhausted.

Congress could, for example, cut off funding for the presidents policy priorities if the administration stonewalls. It could coerce some disclosure by refusing to take up matters the president wants enacted in an election year (e.g., the new treaty with Canada and Mexico). It could refuse to confirm judges and high executive officials until the president surrenders documents. It could even hold in contempt and eventually impeach top officials subordinate to the president. Do you suppose the administration would have refused all compliance with demands for State Department documents if the House had, say, commenced proceedings to censure or impeach Secretary of State Mike Pompeo? Im betting that would have gotten their attention. And it would have been less draconian than impeaching the duly elected president of the United States ten months before Election Day.

Even if you believe, as I do, that Congress need not go to court to compel compliance with its subpoenas, we can still acknowledge that it is overwrought for the House, on the Ukraine facts, to impeach the president for obstruction. I do not believe the court should entertain such lawsuits, especially when the president and Congress both say (when it is expedient for them) that the courts should butt out. But in modern times, courts have been more receptive to entering the fray. If were going to do something we shouldnt do, it would be less disruptive to the country for the House to litigate information demands than to impeach prematurely. After all, the House is litigating the McGahn subpoena; it has not impeached the president over that.

By contrast, it is also easy to imagine situations in which Congress would be well within its rights to impeach the president for contemptuously ignoring its subpoenas. In a case of clear, serious criminal conduct, for example, if a president refused to turn over material evidence  e.g., if Nixon had destroyed rather than surrendered the tapes  that would warrant impeachment.

The problem with the Ukraine impeachment is the melodrama. The presidents defenders lecture Democrats about allowing the president to vindicate his prerogatives in court, but then the presidents Justice Department tells the court that judges have no business intervening. Democrats say that leaves them no alternative but impeachment, but thats ridiculous. They have impeached the president on a political timeline, ignoring at least a dozen steps they could have taken to compel disclosure without going to DEFCON 1.

More from National Review
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission will consider removing the requirement that anglers display their fishing licenses while fishing at its quarterly meeting Monday and Tuesday, January 27-28, in Harrisburg.

Pennsylvania is one of only three states to still require the display of a fishing license, along with Delaware and New Jersey.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission in 2012 removed a similar display requirement for hunting licenses, which caused confusion among some anglers, who also are hunters, and led to complaints by anglers.

They claim that the requirement to display fishing licenses on an outer garment is antiquated and often inconvenient, particularly when an angler is purchasing a license online on relatively short notice and does not have a license holder, and that they often lose their license after it becomes unattached somewhere along a stream or on a boat.

Replacement fee for a lost fishing license is $6.90.

If approved, the revised regulation would require each angler to carry his fishing license, but not display it, while fishing.

Any angler who wants could still display the license, or a voluntary supplemental metal license button, but would need to also carry the fishing license.

Commissioners gave preliminary approval to a similar rule change in July 2017 but then tabled in response to concerns from the Office of the Attorney that it also would have allowed anglers to display their licenses on mobile devices, something that would require the state legislature to first remove a requirement that licenses be signed in ink.

According to the commission, staff is working with legislators to develop the needed legislation.

In the upcoming meeting, commissioner committees will meet beginning at 10:45 a.m. Monday, January 27. Formal consideration of the agenda by the full commission will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 28.

A complete copy of the meeting schedule and the full agenda for the meeting can be found on the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission website.

Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.

Contact Marcus Schneck at mschneck@pennlive.com.
Tiffini Simoneaux (R), a member of the Pittsburgh mayor's cabinet and early childhood manager for the city, holds a proclamation from the mayor honoring Shen Yun Performing Arts. Simoneaux attended Shen Yun on Jan. 24, 2020, at the Benedum Center for the Performing Arts, in Pittsburgh. (NTD Television)

PITTSBURGHAt the start of Chinese New Year in 2020, Pittsburgh residents had their eyes opened to the very spiritual and beautiful Chinese culture when Shen Yun Performing Arts opened at the Benedum Center for the Performing Arts. Traditionally, Chinese New Year is a joyous and hopeful time of year, especially for families, and Pittsburgh residents, including a representative sent from the Mayors office, felt grateful that New York-based Shen Yun came to their city.

The mayor [Mayor William Peduto] was not able to be here today, but he sent me and wanted me to just come and thank you for bringing this great performance to Pittsburgh, said Tiffani Simoneaux to Shen Yuns artists. Simoneaux is a member of the mayors cabinet and the citys Early Childhood Manager. We really appreciate that  we were a stop on your tour.

Mayor Peduto signed a proclamation designating a Shen Yun Performing Weekend for his city in honor of the celebrated New York-based classical Chinese dance company.

Pittsburgh is part of Shen Yuns vast world tour that involves seven touring companies dispatched to over 100 cities globally. Simoneaux was thoroughly impressed by not only Shen Yuns artistry and originality, but the opportunities it provides for opening youngsters eyes to new cultures and experiences.

I love [the performance]. Yes, I didnt know what to expect  I love the costumes and the dance, she said.

In order to be able to understand other cultures, we need to be able to see them. And so its something that Ive seen lots of children here and sitting and, you know, watching the performance. I think its just an amazing thing for them to be able to experience.

Shen Yuns mission is to revive Chinas traditional culture that has been developed and passed down over five millennia. Its essence is deeply spiritual, with influences from traditions such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism permeating everyday life. Shen Yun artists carry on Chinas legacy of observing personal spiritual practices by following whats known as Falun Dafa, a traditional spiritual discipline that teaches truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance and includes meditation. Thanks to this practice, Shen Yun artists say their performances reach depths of emotions and artistic heights they would not otherwise.

But Falun Dafa is severely persecuted in China today by the ruling communist party. Shen Yun cannot perform there as its artists would be in danger of becoming victims of state-sanctioned violence should they step foot in the country. The ruling communist party has mounted a campaign against Falun Dafa since 1999. In addition, the regime has carried out a systematic attack against traditional Chinese culture in general ever since it came to power because the regime perceives traditional culture as a threat to its own legitimacy.

On stage, Shen Yun depicts scenes from divinely-inspired legends, from ancient China, and also from modern-day China where people are standing up against the persecution. Many point to these pieces as being especially eye-opening, thanks to the little-known but true events they depict and also because of the hope, faith, and compassion they present.

Ive actually learned a lot around religious persecution and some of the things that happened to folks in China, Simoneaux said. And, you know, its something that we take for granted here in America and I feel that  should be something that everyone across the world should be able to celebrate their religion and be able to practice that.

Simoneaux said she loves that Shen Yun is sharing traditional Chinese culture with the world, and elaborated on the impact that people of different faiths and backgrounds have had on the city she represents.

We always love to be able to see someone kind of celebrating their culture and being able to show that to others.  Tiffani Simoneaux

We have in here  in the Pittsburgh area, we definitely celebrate lots of immigrants, refugees, and families. You know, we are a city of immigrants, she said. We always love to be able to see someone kind of celebrating their culture and being able to show that to others.

Like others in attendance, Simoneaux expressed the inspiration she took from Shen Yun that shell carry with her outside of the theater.

I just felt very inspired, she said. Simoneaux wanted the artists themselves to know, I definitely want to go home when Im done here, Im going to go home and kind of look more into some of the things that you said and definitely kind of expose other children that I work with into this great culture that you are able to show through dance.

April Hayes, real estate manager for nutritional supplement company GNC, attended Shen Yun Performing Arts on Jan. 24, 2020, in Pittsburgh and called it very spiritual and beautiful. (NTD Television)

Like the citys educational manager, attendee April Hayes felt the love and passion in Shen Yun and wants to share it with others she knows.

Amazing, incredible. Just in every part of the performance, it was amazing, said Hayes, who works as the director of real estate for nutritional supplement giant GNC.

The music was very moving, she continued. You felt it speak through you. There didnt need to be words expressed. You could just follow the movements, and the music combined. It was very moving, very touching.

Hayes said she would like to tell her friends that Shen Yun is a must-see, and very spiritual, and beautiful. And the dance, the music, the orchestra, the pieces that were played. Its just an incredible piece to see.

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.
Thousands of security personnel, facial recognition system, drones and CCTV cameras were part of Delhi Polices security arrangements as India prepared to host Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for its Republic Day celebrations on Sunday.

Officials said sharpshooters and snipers will be deployed on top of high-rise buildings to keep a watch on the 8-km-long parade route from Rajpath to the Red Fort on January 26.

The facial recognition system will also be set up at vantage points for the identification of suspects. Hundreds of close-circuit television (CCTV) cameras have also been installed, including at least 150 in areas covering Red Fort, Chandni Chowk and Yamuna Khadar, officials added.

We have a four-layer security arrangement. Inner, middle, outer and one along the border areas across the national capital. Around 5000 to 6000 Delhi Police personnel have been deployed in New Delhi district along with 50 companies of paramilitary forces, deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi Zone) Eish Singhal was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Patrolling in public places has been intensified, according to officials.

Group patrolling, night patrolling and vehicle checking is being carried out with the help of Central Armed Police Forces. Frisking at Metro stations, railway stations, airport and bus terminals has also been tightened, a senior police official said, according to PTI.

More than 2000 traffic police personnel have been deployed for smooth flow of traffic and for the facilitation of spectators and visitors to the venue. Adequate security and traffic arrangements for the At Home function at Rashtrapati Bhawan have also been made.

Police have also asked hotels and taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers to remain alert and anti-terror measures like tenant and servant verification are being taken, they said.

Security personnel have identified vulnerable spots such as market places, railway stations, bus stands and other such establishments, and efforts are being made to secure them with the deployment of an extra police force.

A city-wide alert is also being exercised in connection with the Republic Day, they said. A traffic advisory has also been issued about the polices elaborate arrangement for route diversions for Republic Day.

No traffic will be allowed on Rajpath from Vijay Chowk to India Gate from 6pm on Saturday till the parade gets over on Sunday. The main zone of Rajpath will be closed till 12pm on Sunday.

Para-gliders, para-motors, hang gliders, UAVs, UASs, microlight aircraft, remotely piloted aircraft, hot air balloons, small size powered aircraft, quadcopters or para jumping from aircraft have been prohibited over National Capital Territory of Delhi till February 15, according to an advisory.

(with PTI inputs)
The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh has claimed it is expecting an investment of more than 4000 crore after chief minister Kamal Naths meeting with some of the corporate leaders from around the world during his ongoing visit to Davos.

A government spokesperson said Kamal Nath met various leading industrialists, including the chairperson of MKS Company Marwan Shakarchi and president and chief executive officer of Novo Nordisk, Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, and several others on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

He also met the managing director of Mahindra Group Pawan Goenka and Rahul Bajaj and Sanjeev Bajaj of Bajaj Group.

Due to its central location in India, an ideal situation exists in the state for pharmaceutical units. Being at the centre, 50% of the countrys population is connected to Madhya Pradesh through road and other means of transport, Kamal Nath said during his meeting with the industrialists.

The chief minister also said given the states geographical location the state would soon emerge as Indias warehousing hub.

The government said that during his meeting with Kamal Nath, vice-president of Amazon Web Services Max Peterson said the company wished to start its business in Madhya Pradesh as well while operating at six places in the country - New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai.

Empty talk

The BJPs Madhya Pradesh unit vice-president Vijesh Lunawat said the state government is offering lip service.

No one else other than chief minister Kamal Nath himself admitted in the state assembly in reply to a question in December last year, that number of educated unemployed youth registered had grown by as many as seven lakh while merely 34,000 got jobs in the year, Lunawat said.

What discourages the industrialists from coming to the state is another industry i.e. transfer and posting industry that is running in full swing under the Kamal Nath government for obvious reasons. There is a chaotic situation in the state secretariat and the CM doesnt enjoy his control over bureaucrats, he added.

In October last year, the Kamal Nath-led government held its first investors meet in Indore while underlining the fact it would not go for a MoUs signing spree like the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government but showcase the states potential to the investors.

The government claimed that there was an investment of 32,500 crore in all the industries in 2019 and that it created opportunities for as many as 109,210 jobs.

The Congress leaders accused the then BJP government headed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan of indulging in extravaganza having spent crores of rupees on the global investors meets but getting nothing significant in return.
Trump's special adviser son-in-law could also have been hacked by the Saudi Crown Prince, according to investigators looking into allegations that Amazon boss Jeff Bezos had his device compromised.

Agnes Callamard, a UN special rapporteur who has accused Mohammad bin Salman, 34, of being involved in the hacking of Bezos' phone, warned that Jared Kushner, 39, could have been another target and should urgently seek cyber security expertise.

'I will hope that Donald Trump's son-in-law and anyone else is at the moment changing their phone, checking their phone and contacting the best cyber security experts so that we can get to the bottom of that hacking strategy and policy,' Callamard told CNN.

Kushner, husband of the president's daughter Ivanka Trump, and the prince first met in March 2017 during discussions around Saudi Arabia's modernization plans.

Private messages: Trump's special adviser son-in-law Jared Kushner could also have been hacked by the Saudi Crown Prince, according to investigators looking into allegations that Amazon boss Jeff Bezos was hacked. Kushner and Ivanka Trump are pictured here in 2017 with Mohammad bin Salman

Kushner, husband of the president's daughter Ivanka Trump, and the prince first met in March 2017 during discussions around Saudi Arabia's modernization plans

White House officials have so far downplayed reports of a hack. 'Saudi Arabia is obviously our partner and ally,' press secretary Hogan Gidley said on Thursday

According to CNN, a source close to the Saudi royal court stayed in touch after over WhatsApp - the same app used in the apparent cyber attack on Bezos' phone.

While use of WhatsApp is permitted by the White House counsel's office under certain conditions, Kushner's use of the messaging service to privately communicate with the Saudi prince raised alarm bells among US officials, according to The Telegraph.

As one of the most powerful officials in Trump's administration, any breach of Kushner's phone could pose a security risk to the US.

When Kushner joined White House staff in 2017, intelligence officials initially refused to give him top-level security clearance. Despite concerns from US intelligence, the president ordered his son-in-law be given full clearance and access to top secret intelligence in May 2018.

Agnes Callamard, a UN special rapporteur who has accused bin Salman of being involved in the hacking of Bezos' phone, warned Kushner and anyone else who messaged the prince to urgently seek cyber security expertise

White House officials have so far downplayed reports of a hack.

'Saudi Arabia is obviously our partner and ally,' deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley said on Thursday. 'I'm aware of the reports. I don't have any more information than that. We obviously take those situations seriously and so when we have something more I'll let you know.'

Callamard said there is a 'medium to high probability that the source of the hacking was indeed the WhatsApp account of Mr. Mohammed bin Salman.'

'What is important with Jeff Bezos' case is that we now have proof that the Saudis do not only target the phones of dissents living abroad -- they also include the phones and the mobile technology in general of people of strategic interest to Saudi Arabia,' she said.

She urged anyone else who has been in contact with bin Salman to take a hard look at their own cyber security.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also messaged the Saudi prince over WhatsApp when he was foreign secretary and could have been at risk of cyber attack.

Bezos' team of investigators hired FTI Consulting last year after The National Enquirer published an expose into his affair with Lauren Sanchez which included personal details of text messages and nude photos the Amazon founder had sent his then mistress.

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos (pictured) hired a team of investigators last year after The National Enquirer published an expose into his affair with Lauren Sanchez which included personal details of text messages and nude photos the Amazon founder had sent his then mistress

The report suggests that a video file sent to Bezos (third from left) by Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (middle) was the source of a hack

This is the message that Mohammed bin Salman sent Jeff Bezos on May 1 which is thought to have been the 'hack' that harvested data from his phone

A final WhatsApp mesage sent to Bezos by bin Salman within hours of Bezos being told via phone call that Saudi Arabia had launched an online campaign against him. The cyber security experts say the timing of the message was suspicious given Bezos and Salman had not spoken for more than three months and he had just been told over the phone about the campaign

The consulting firm produced a report in November that has only now been made public which suggests that a video file sent to Bezos by Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman was the source of a hack.

It was sent to his device on May 1, 2019.

The report said that a large amount of data went missing from Bezos' phone afterwards, and it also suggested that bin Salman or someone using his WhatsApp account was listening to Bezos' phone calls and texts in the months that followed.

The claims have triggered an international ripple effect with investigations now underway by the UN.

The FBI had already been investigating the alleged hack, and New York prosecutors are investigating the Enquirer's reporting of the story, sources have previously told The Wall St Journal.

In November, he sent this one - a forwarded meme showing a woman with the words 'Arguing with a woman is like reading the software license agreement. In the end you have to ignore everything and click I agree.' The cyber firm Bezos hired to look into his phone and whether or not it had been hacked say this suggested bin Salman knew he was getting a divorce - something that was not public at the time. The experts say she 'resembled' Lauren Sanchez

Screenshots of the WhatsApp message Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman allegedly sent Jeff Bezos including the video file which 'hacked' his phone were published Wednesday by Vice Motherboard after obtaining them from the cyber security firm report into Bezos' phone.

The firm - FTI Consulting - had been asked to look at the Amazon founder's devices after a National Enquirer expose about his relationship with Lauren Sanchez.

They discovered the messages from bin Salman including one which they say likely led to a trove of data being taken from his phone. It was sent in May 2018 and showed a Saudi flag and a Swedish flag with Arabic writing across it.

The Arab state's minister of state for foreign affairs described the claims as 'total nonsense' on Thursday.

'Total nonsense - this story was out almost a year ago, it was debunked, we rejected it completely,' Adel al-Jubeir told CNBC at the Davos summit.

'It was based on false and unproven allegations, people trying to sensationalize something that is pure fiction.'

Experts in the field have also cast doubt on the source of the attack, including the former head of security at WhatsApp's parent company Facebook.

Forensics specialists Bill Marczak and Alex Stamos told The Wall Street Journal that the investigators at FTI Consulting, the firm Bezos hired, were not able to identify the malicious software that was lying in a video file that they think might have hijacked the phone.

Alex Stamos, former head of security at Facebook, said it has not been conclusively proven that Saudi Arabia hacked Bezos' phone

Marczak and Stamos say the team at FTI should have been able to do that.

Stamos worked as the chief security officer at Facebook until August 2018. The company owns WhatsApp.

He says that the FTI report suggests they had access to the data that would be required to decrypt the file and examine it for software but that they, for some reason, did not.

'They don't seem to understand how to properly decrypt WhatsApp attachments,' he told the Journal.

Marczak said bluntly: 'It is not a conclusive report.'

Bezos has not commented publicly on the claims.
Despite being at the number one spot in the Premier League standings, Liverpool's star defender Virgil van Dijk has said that the side does not feel unbeatable.

The Reds currently have 67 points from 23 matches in the tournament. From the 23 matches, Liverpool has managed to win 22.

In their last match, Liverpool edged out Wolves to record a 2-1 win to consolidate their pole position in the standings.

"You never feel unbeatable - it is not a feeling that we have. Anything can happen. There were moments against Wolves when things could have been different. They could have scored a second. We always feel we have to keep working hard," Goal.com quoted Van dijk as saying.

"We just try to keep improving. Things are going good at the moment and everyone is in a good situation," he added.

Last year, England internationals Joe Gomez (Liverpool) and Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) were involved in an on-field altercation when the two clubs clashed in the Premier League.

Van Dijk said that he talked to Gomez after the incident and tried to explain that whatever happened was not his fault.

Of course I talked with Joe and tried to help," Van Dijk said.

"That incident wasn't his fault. I spoke to him about it at the time and he came through that. I have been so impressed by Joe. We all saw last season, before he got injured, how good he is and how good he can be. He is someone I get on very well with -- on and off the pitch. That helps, of course," Van Dijk said.

Liverpool will next take on West Ham in the Premier League on January 29.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
(Newser)  On the same day the US confirmed its second case of the Wuhan coronavirus, France announced it has three casesthe first three to be confirmed in Europe, France24 reports. One of the patients recently returned from a trip to China during which he stopped in Wuhan. "He's in isolation and he's doing well," the health minister says, per CNN. No details were yet available on the other two. Australia and Malaysia then announced their first cases Saturday, the AP and Reuters report. The virus has also reached every Chinese province except the remote autonomous regions of Qinghai and Tibet, as well as Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Japan, and Vietnam. (Read more coronavirus stories.)
Harbor Springs to host Winter Fest this Saturday

The City of Harbor Springs is hosting a winter themed and family-friendly event to shake off the cabin fever this Saturday.
Panaji, Jan 25 : When rigging during voting was at its peak before the advent of the T.N. Seshan era, local musclemen would only allow Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav's voters to cast ballot in his stronghold of Mainpuri district in UP, Goa Governor Satya Pal Malik said on Saturday.

"I recall an incident. In Mainpuri town, no one would vote. Only those who Mulayam Singh wanted would vote," Malik said while speaking at a function organised here to mark the 10th National Voter's Day celebrations.

Malik hails from Bagpath district in Uttar Pradesh and has been an elected lawmaker in the UP state Assembly as well as the Parliament from the northern state.

"When central forces went there, his brother Shivpal was trying to enter a polling booth. He was not authorised to go, so a CRPF officer stuck a carbine to him. He had never thought in his life that such a thing could happen," Malik said, adding that the incident put the fear of law into the local musclemen who were trying to rig polling booths.

"In rural areas, rigging was a factor, especially in Bihar, UP and Harayana. No one was allowed to vote. Musclemen would take over the voting process, officers would connive with them and the results would turn topsy-turvy," he said.

"I would like to recall late T.N. Seshan. Things improved after he came to the scene. He disciplined the election process. One thing he did was the introduction of central para-military forces. Till the local police were in charge, they could be influenced. But when outside forces were introduced, the musclemen were scared," Malik said.

Seshan, who passed away last year, served as the Chief Election Commissioner from 1990 to 1996, and was known for introducing landmark electoral reforms.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) awarded its 2019 Newcomb Cleveland Prize to University of Maryland entomologists Raymond St. Leger, Brian Lovett and their seven West African collaborators.

The prestigious award is given to the authors of the most impactful paper published in AAAS's flagship journal Science during the previous year.

The winning paper is chosen based on the quality of the scholarship, innovation, presentation, and the likelihood of influencing the field and wider interdisciplinary significance.

I am thrilled to congratulate Ray, Brian and their collaborators on this well-deserved award, which recognizes their fearless innovation in developing and testing a genetically engineered fungus to fight mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue and Zika. We're looking for papers that change the way people think about science," said Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of the journal Science and chair of the judging panel. "I think when it comes to a problem like malaria in a location like Burkina Faso, this was a new way of thinking about that problem. We felt that the careful way the experiments were done was very important. And I think that in terms of the public health, in terms of the science itself, in terms of the way it was rendered, it was a superb study from start to finish." Amitabh Varshney, dean of UMD's College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences

The study, led by Lovett, St. Leger and their colleagues Abdoulaye Diabate and Etienne Bilgo from the Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Sante and Centre Muraz in Burkina Faso, described the first trial of a transgenic approach to combat malaria mosquitoes ever to be tested outside the laboratory. The researchers first genetically modified a naturally occurring fungal pathogen to deliver a lethal, insect-specific toxin to mosquitoes. They then tested the fungi in a screened enclosure in Burkina Faso called a "MosquitoSphere," which was specially designed to mimic conditions of a rural village. The study showed that treatment with the engineered fungi killed roughly 75% of insecticide-resistant mosquitoes and caused an established population of mosquitoes to collapse within 45 days.

According to Thorp, the AAAS award selection committee felt that using a mosquito-specific fungal pathogen was an extremely creative idea. They were impressed by both the careful way the experiments were done and the fact that the researchers carried the study all the way from the idea phase to providing proof that the idea can work.

"It's hard enough to get a research paper into Science, but for it to be judged the most impactful paper of the year is astonishing, and it suggests they feel the same way we do about this work and its potential," said St. Leger, a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Entomology at UMD.

Lovett, who was awarded his Ph.D. in entomology from UMD in 2019 for conducting this research, was equally thrilled to receive the prize.

"It is an incredible honor for my Ph.D. work to be recognized by AAAS with the Newcomb Cleveland Prize," Lovett said. "To have this prestigious scientific society describe our biotechnology as most promising is a testament to the interdisciplinary and application-focused approach of our international team."

The project built on decades of creative, highly innovative work by St. Leger that has resulted in numerous new methods and discoveries which contribute to our understanding of infection in general, as well as providing surprising new strategies to combat insect pests.

"As the first transgenic malaria intervention validated outside the laboratory, this study required us to resolve not just scientific issues but many other considerations," St. Leger said. "We had to gain support from NIH and the approval of the local agencies. Gaining regulatory permission from the National Biosecurity Agency in Burkina Faso was itself regarded as a groundbreaking accomplishment."

St. Leger credited Lovett's "can-do" collaborative approach for keeping the project on course through negotiations with various stakeholders and for accomplishing the important local education and training required for the study to succeed.

"The social and regulatory considerations are important aspects of this type of work that are under-supported and under-recognized in science generally," Lovett said. "So, receiving validation from AAAS is encouraging."

According to Thorp, the comprehensive approach of combining rigorous science with careful social and regulatory planning helped this research paper rise to the top of the year's selections.

"A big part of what [the prize committee] focused on was the awareness that the researchers had of the way this study related to the location and regulatory interests that they had to take care of, and it made us feel really good to know that all of that was carefully registered," Thorp said. "That's why I say that the professionalism and the way this was done from top to bottom was really striking."

In addition to St. Leger and Lovett, prize awardees include the following co-authors from the Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Sante and Centre Muraz in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkino Faso: Professors Abdoulaye Diabate and Roch K. Dabire, postdoctoral fellow Etienne Bilgo, graduate students Souro Abel Millogo, Issiaka Sare, Edounou Jacques Gnambani and Technician Abel Kader Ouattarra.

The award-winning research paper "Transgenic Metarhizium rapidly kills mosquitoes in a malaria-endemic region of Burkina Faso," Brian Lovett, Etienne Bilgo, Souro Abel Millogo, Abel Kader Ouattarra, Issiaka Sare, Edounou Jacques Gnambani, Roch K. Dabire Abdoulaye Diabate and Raymond J. St. Leger, was published in the journal Science on May 30, 2019.
Iran condemned Saturday what it called the "illegal and inhuman" treatment of its nationals by US border security officers, after reports a student was deported despite having a valid visa.

"Such absolutely discriminatory measures that only happen over people's race, nationality or religion are against international human rights laws and principles," foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.

"These individuals were questioned by America's border security over their political views and beliefs, and their social media accounts were forcefully entered," he said in a statement.

US media reported on Monday that an Iranian student headed to a Boston university had his visa cancelled at the airport and was deported by immigration officials.

Tensions have soared between Tehran and Washington since a US drone strike killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad on January 3.

Iran retaliated five days later by launching a wave of missiles at US troops stationed in Iraq.

Tehran was still on high alert hours later when its air defences mistakenly shot down a Ukraine International Airlines passenger jet, killing all 176 people on board.

"These actions against Iranians are in line with the American regime's hostile and hateful policy against Iran... now manifested in harassing Iranians at America's borders," Mousavi said.

The spokesman warned the United States could face action "through human rights bodies", without elaborating.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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The United States government won't have enough seats on a rescue plane to evacuate all US citizens from the Chinese city of Wuhan amid a deadly outbreak of coronavirus - and the jet won't even arrive until Tuesday.

The US consulate is reaching out to all Americans registered as living in Wuhan - considered to be the epicenter of the deadly outbreak - to offer them a seat on a charter flight scheduled for Tuesday.

More than 2,000 cases of the virus have been confirmed by several government worldwide as at least 56 people - most of them in China - have died.

Canada confirmed its first case Tuesday, as a man in his 50s was quarantined in Toronto, while two cases have been confirmed in the United States - one in Chicago and another in Snohomish County, Washington.

A source familiar with the chartered evacuation flight told CNN that roughly 1,000 Americans live in Wuhan, and those who choose to leave will be forced to pay for their spot on the Boeing 767 jet, which carries around 230 people.

The State Department released a statement late on Saturday which read: 'The Department of State is making arrangements to relocate its personnel stationed at the U.S. Consulate General in Wuhan to the United States.

'We anticipate that there will be limited capacity to transport private US citizens on a reimbursable basis on a single flight leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport on January 28, 2020 and proceeding directly to San Francisco.'

Since space is limited, the government says that 'priority will be given to individuals at greater risk from coronavirus.'

The State Department announced that it is evacuating US citizens from Wuhan on Tuesday

As of Saturday evening, there are three confirmed cases and 64 suspected cases of coronavirus in the United States and Canada

People waiting for passengers wear masks at Pearson airport arrivals, shortly after Toronto Public Health received notification of Canada's first presumptive confirmed case of coronavirus, in Toronto

The US evacuation was first reported by the The Wall Street Journal, citing an official source.

However, another source who spoke to CNN disputed the Journal's claim that any available seats may be offered to non-US citizens and diplomats from other countries, saying that non-US citizens would only be allowed onboard if they are related or married to Americans.

It is understood medical personnel will be on the flight to care for anyone who may have been infected by the virus and prevent it from spreading.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said it is involved in the efforts to help Americans leave Wuhan.

'Department of State has the lead for the safe and expedient ordered departure of all US citizens from Wuhan, China,' CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund told CNN. 'CDC is aware and coordinating in the planning.'

Washington was given approval for the operation from China's Foreign Ministry and other government agencies following negotiations in recent days.

The US also plans to temporarily shut its Wuhan consulate, it said.

Meanwhile, closer to home, a Canadian hospital has confirmed the country's first case of the deadly Chinese coronavirus, as officials in the United States said they had identified two confirmed cases and are monitoring dozens of other potential diagnoses.

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto said it is 'caring for a patient who has a confirmed case of the novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China.'

Officials said the man is his 50s and recently flew from Wuhan, China to Guangzhou, China and then on to Toronto on January 23.

'He really wasn't in Toronto very long. He wasn't feeling well. I think he was at home and the people that live with him are in self isolation,' said Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario's Associated Chief Medical Officer.

Meanwhile, a suburban Chicago hospital is currently treating a 60-year-old woman who is a confirmed carrier of the virus after she returned from Wuhan.

The unidentified patient is currently in isolation at St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

It came days after America's first confirmed case - a Washington man in his 30s who lives in Snohomish County, who has been quarantined at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, outside of Seattle.

More than 1,300 people have been infected globally with the virus traced to a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife

Travelers are seen above wearing masks at the arrival hall at Pearson airport in Toronto on Saturday

After the first presumptive case was announced, Toronto Mayor John Tory said health officials say the risk to the public is low

People wear masks at the arrival hall at the international terminal of Toronto Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Saturday

Cities across America are on high alert amid the escalating coronavirus crisis as 63 people in 22 states are suspected to have contracted the deadly strain.

The outbreak of the new virus originated in China, where it has infected more than 1,975 people and killed 56, and has spread worldwide.

Australia and Malaysia reported their first cases Saturday - four each - and Japan, its third. France confirmed three cases Friday, the first in Europe.

In Canada, while the case has been confirmed by a test in Toronto, officials said it has yet to complete separate testing by the federal government's National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases in Winnipeg. The illness will officially be fully confirmed once it completes that testing.

Dr. David Williams, Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health, said they are 95% sure it is the virus.

'This is the first presumptive confirmed case,' said Williams.

'While we are convinced our tests do demonstrate positivity there is confirmation at the national medical laboratory in Winnipeg and once that is done is is a fully confirmed case.'

The US government is planning to evacuate 1,000 American citizens from the coronavirus-stricken Chinese city of Wuhan. Photos from inside the intensive care unit at Zhongnan Hospital in Wuhan show medical workers caring for critically-ill patients this week (above)

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto (above) said on Saturday that it is 'caring for a patient who has a confirmed case of the novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China.' The man is now in stable condition in isolation. He was admitted to hospital a day after his flight to Toronto

The man is now in stable condition in isolation. He was admitted to hospital a day after his flight to Toronto.

Mayor John Tory said health officials say the risk to the public is low.

Two cases have been confirmed in the US but officials have said they expect that number to grow as dozens more people are being tested for the virus that's sickened more than 1,975 and killed 56 in at least 12 countries.

Surges in medical mask sales have been seen in areas where possible cases have been reported as people do what they can to avoid contracting the disease, which experts say may be spread as easily as the common cold.

Extra precautions are being taken at airports nationwide as all passengers inbound from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak originated in late December, are being funneled to five major hubs for screening.

The US government has also ordered evacuations for some 1,000 citizens and diplomats in Wuhan.

The city, which has a population of around 11 million, has been under quarantine since Thursday as officials try to slow the spread of the virus traced back to a seafood market where wildlife was allegedly sold illegally.

Tensions have been high at US airports as travelers worry about exposure to the virus in such a high-traffic, confined environment. Staff at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago are seen wearing face masks on Friday

Extra precautions are being taken at airports nationwide as all passengers inbound from Wuhan are being funneled to five major hubs - including Los Angeles International Airport (pictured Friday) for public health entry screenings

More passengers are seen wearing masks after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport from Asian, China, on Friday

It appears that all of the patients currently awaiting test results after showing symptoms consistent with the virus - such as fever, cough and runny nose - had either visited Wuhan recently or were in contact with someone who visited the city.

Those patients are believed to have all been isolated either in hospitals or in their homes to reduce the risk of exposing others.

CONFIRMED US CORONAVIRUS CASES 1. Man in Washington state The first US coronavirus case was confirmed on Tuesday, January 21. The patient - a Washington man in his 30s who lives in Snohomish County - has been quarantined at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, outside of Seattle. The man had traveled by himself from Wuhan but did not visit any of the markets at the epicenter of the outbreak. He reportedly had no symptoms upon arrival in the US on January 15, but after reading about the outbreak online and developing symptoms, he contacted his doctor. The patient allegedly sought treatment on January 16 and was tested the following day. He is said to be in stable condition. He is being treated in a bio-containment room by a few staff members and a robot to limit the spread of the virus. The robot has a stethoscope attached to take the man's vitals and a large screen so doctors can communicate with him, Dr George Diaz, chief of the infectious disease division at the Providence Regional Medical Center, told CNN. 'The nursing staff in the room move the robot around so we can see the patient in the screen, talk to him,' Dr Diaz told the network. Officials have also been monitoring more than a dozen people the man reportedly came into contact with in the five days between when he arrived back in the US and when he was diagnosed. 2. Woman in Chicago The CDC confirmed the second US case on Friday - a 60-year-old woman in Chicago, Illinois, who had traveled to Wuhan in late December. The woman, who has not been named, arrived at O'Hare International Airport on January 13 but did not begin experiencing symptoms until several days later. Health officials say the woman appears to be 'well' and in stable condition. She is in isolation, but it wasn't revealed which hospital she is in. Advertisement

US health officials warned on Friday that the flu or other respiratory illnesses could complicate efforts to identify additional cases.

'We're really working to understand the full spectrum of the illness with this coronavirus,' Dr Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Messonnier, said at a briefing.

'The problem with this time of year is its cold and flu season and there are lots of cold and respiratory infections circulating.'

The CDC has recommended that anyone with symptoms contact a health-care provider before seeking treatment so the appropriate precautionary measures can be put in place.

The agency is trying to expedite screenings by providing up tests to state health officials.

It currently takes the CDC about four to six hours to make a diagnosis once a sample arrives at its lab.

Two people from Minnesota and three people from Michigan are currently being tested.

The patients from Michigan have reportedly agreed to remain in isolation until their tests results return, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Also being monitored are two college students, one from Texas A&M University and another from Tennessee Tech University.

The Tennessee Department of Health said it decided to test the TTU student because he or she had 'very mild symptoms' and had a recent concerning travel history that met the criteria for testing.

No results have been confirmed and the student is being kept in isolation.

For the Texas student, Brazos County Health District officials said the male had 'mild' symptoms that resembled the coronavirus and had traveled to Wuhan recently.

Results of tests will be announced to the public if the patient tests positive for coronavirus.

Officials said the patient is currently being kept isolated at home and that it is safe for student to attend classes.

'This patient did travel to the area of concern in China within the last 14 days and thankfully had mild upper respiratory symptoms, and he was improving,' said Dr Eric Wilke with the Brazos County Health Department.

'I believe the time the patient presented at the emergency department, it was more out of concern,' said Dr Eric Wilke with the Brazos County Health Department.

Medical supply stores around the Brazos Valley, where Texas A&M is located, are reportedly experiencing a medical mask shortage after the possible case was reported.

Genese Smith, who works at MediCare Equipment in Bryan, just a few miles off campus, told KBTX that an influx of customers came to the store looking for masks on Thursday.

'Within about 30 minutes of word getting out, we started getting phone calls asking if we have the masks, what kind of masks did we have, and how many we had available,' Smith said. 'Quite a few people started coming in, asking, and purchasing.'

Smith said the store typically stocks about 50 masks but has already ordered more.

Other stores in the area, including Texas A&M's Health Services Department, are also awaiting new shipments of masks after their current stocks ran out, per KBTX.

In California, Los Angeles International Airport has been on high alert after a passenger who arrived on Wednesday was sent to hospital after he or she appeared to be ill.

The unnamed passenger arrived on an American Airlines flight from Mexico City around 7pm, CBS Los Angeles reported.

However, it remains unclear if the passenger is from Mexico City, or if they originated from another city.

Several people in the state, particularly in Alameda County and the Bay Area, are also being examined to see if they have the virus that resembles SARS.

On Friday, North Carolina's Department of Health and Human Services also reported that it is investigating a case.

The suspected patient arrived at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on January 23 after having traveled to Wuhan but not to the seafood market to which many early cases have been linked, according to a news release.

Four other potential cases are also under investigation in New York state.

In Colorado, a patient with respiratory symptoms was placed in isolation at Lakewood's Centura - St. Anthony Hospital after they were found to have recently traveled to Wuhan.

The hospital said it could be several days for coronavirus test results to come back from the CDC, but public health risk is considered low at this time.

In Washington state, where the first US case was confirmed, the Northwest Chinese school in Bellevue called off weekend classes for preschoolers through adults amid concerns about the virus.

'We take the health of our students and families very seriously and think that this is the best course of action,' officials wrote in an email announcing the cancelled classes.

On the University of Washington's Seattle campus, a Chinese student association has been distributing face masks and asking students to contribute to efforts to send supplies such as face masks and protective suits to China.

Last week, US officials began funneling all passengers arriving in the US from Wuhan on direct or connecting flights through five major airports - including O'Hare (pictured) to ensure that they are screened

Passengers are seen arriving at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Friday

Screenings are also in place at Los Angeles International Airport. A staff member is seen wearing a face mask at LAX on Friday

Tensions have been high at US airports as travelers worry about exposure to the virus in such a high-traffic, confined environment.

Last week, US officials began funneling all passengers arriving in the US from Wuhan on direct or connecting flights through five major airports to ensure that they are screened.

Public health entry screenings are currently taking place Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, John F Kennedy International Airport in New York and San Francisco International Airport.

The screening begins with a survey to determine whether a traveler shows possible coronavirus symptoms and whether they visited the meat or seafood markets in Wuhan that have been tied to the outbreak.

President Trump thanked President Xi Jinping and China for its 'transparency' in fighting coronavirus on Twitter Friday

If they appear to have any symptoms associated with coronavirus, travelers are taken to on-site triage for further examination and a temperature check.

The State Department issued its highest travel warning for Wuhan on Thursday, advising Americans to not travel to the region.

The level 4 warning puts the city on par with countries such as Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.

In a tweet on Friday, President Donald Trump thanked President Xi Jinping and China for its 'transparency' in fighting coronavirus.

'China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!' Trump wrote.

Officials are planning to temporarily shutter the US Consulate General in Wuhan (pictured)

News of the evacuation came as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide jumped to 1,396 on Saturday morning, including 42 fatalities. Patients are seen undergoing treatment at Wuhan Central Hospital

Coronavirus: What we know so far What is this virus? The virus has been identified as a new type of coronavirus. Coronaviruses are a large family of pathogens, most of which cause mild respiratory infections such as the common cold. But coronaviruses can also be deadly. SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, is caused by a coronavirus and killed hundreds of people in China and Hong Kong in the early 2000s. Can it kill? Yes. Seventeen people have so far died after testing positive for the virus. What are the symptoms? Its symptoms are typically a fever, cough and trouble breathing, but some patients have developed pneumonia, a potentially life-threatening infection that causes inflammation of the small air sacs in the lungs. People carrying the novel coronavirus may only have mild symptoms, such as a sore throat. They may assume they have a common cold and not seek medical attention, experts fear. How is it detected? The virus's genetic sequencing was released by scientists in China to the rest of the world to enable other countries to quickly diagnose potential new cases. This helps other countries respond quickly to disease outbreaks. To contain the virus, airports are detecting infected people with temperature checks. But as with every virus, it has an incubation period, meaning detection is not always possible because symptoms have not appeared yet. How did it start and spread? The first cases identified were among people connected to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan. Cases have since been identified elsewhere which could have been spread through human-to-human transmission. What are countries doing to prevent the spread? Countries in Asia have stepped up airport surveillance. They include Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines. Australia and the US are also screening patients for a high temperature, and the UK announced it will screen passengers returning from Wuhan. Is it similar to anything we've ever seen before? Experts have compared it to the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The epidemic started in southern China and killed more than 700 people in mainland China, Hong Kong and elsewhere Advertisement

Some 57 million people across 15 Chinese cities are now on lockdown as officials work to slow the virus' rapid spread.

The coronavirus strain, known as 2019-nCov, is believed to have emerged from illegally-traded wildlife at a seafood market in Wuhan, a city 700 miles south of the capital of Beijing.

While preliminary research suggests the virus was passed to humans from snakes, Chinese health officials reported this week that some cases have been caused by human-to-human transmission increasing the risk of it spreading.

As of Saturday, nearly 2,000 cases have been reported in China and another 28 have been reported across 11 other countries: Thailand (4), Taiwan (3), Singapore (3), France (3), Malaysia (3), Japan (3), South Korea (2), Vietnam (2), Nepal (1), Australia (4) and the US (2).

International concern has grown with the revelation that the virus spreads not just from animals to people, but between people, likely in a similar way to how colds spread.

Experts don't yet know how quickly the disease can spread from person-to-person, but a World Health Organisation (WHO) official has said it is transmitted faster than previously thought.

'We are now seeing second and third generation spread,' Dr David Heymann, the chairperson of a WHO committee gathering data on the virus, said Thursday.

Third generation means that someone who became infected after handling animals at the market in Wuhan, China, could transmit the virus to someone else, who then passes it to a third person.

Heymann said the virus initially appeared to spread only by very close contact that would typically occur within a family, such as hugging, kissing or sharing eating utensils.

He said new evidence suggests more distant contact could spread the virus, such as if an infected person were to sneeze or cough near someone else's face.

Heymann noted that there is no evidence indicated that the virus is airborne and could spread across a room.

On Thursday, the WHO declined to formally designate the new virus as a global health emergency after two days of deliberations.

Committee chairman Dr Didier Houssin said 'now is not the time' to declare an emergency based on the limited global spread of the virus and the isolation of deaths to China.

The WHO defines an emergency as an 'extraordinary event' that constitutes a risk to other countries and requires a coordinated international response.

Houssin added that the information they had received from Chinese authorities was too limited and imprecise for the committee to make a recommendation that day.

He said the committee remained divided  roughly 50/50  over the course of the two-day meeting.

If WHO members had decided the other way, it would have been just the sixth time in history that it has happened.

The only other outbreaks to have been granted such a status include the 2009 Swine flu epidemic, the resurgence of Polio in 2014, the worldwide spread of Zika in 2016 and the two most recent Ebola outbreaks in 2014 and last year.

The WHO has advised governments to be prepared for the disease and ready to test anyone with symptoms who has traveled to affected regions.

Preliminary research suggests the virus was passed to humans from snakes or bats. But, this week, Chinese health officials reported that some cases have been caused by human-to-human transmission. Pictured: The coronavirus strain

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday warned that the country is facing a 'grave situation' as the coronavirus is 'accelerating'.

'Faced with the grave situation of an accelerating spread of the new coronavirus [...] it is necessary to strengthen the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee,' Xi said following an emergency government meeting, according to official news agency Xinhua.

Some 56 million people are now subject to restrictions on their movement as authorities expand travel bans in central Hubei province, now affecting 18 cities.

Authorities scrambled to shut tourist attractions and public transport systems in 14 other cities on Friday as the country entered its busiest travel period due to the Lunar New Year, which sees many people venturing back to their home town or village.

Residents of Wuhan have expressed fear they are 'trapped' and will all be infected because of the government lockdown which has stopped anyone from leaving.

Other shocking developments in the outbreak today include:

China announced further travel curbs on Saturday. Ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing said it was halting inter-city services to and from Beijing from Sunday, while the capital will also stop running inter-province shuttle buses.

The previously unknown strain is believed to have emerged late last year from illegally traded wildlife at an animal market in Wuhan.

Thailand has reported five cases; Australia has reported four; Singapore, France, Japan, Taiwan and Malaysia three; Vietnam, South Korea and the United States two apiece; and Nepal one.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that while the outbreak was an emergency for China, it was not yet a global health emergency.

Symptoms include fever, cough and difficulty breathing.

China says the virus is mutating and can be transmitted through human contact.

Those most affected are older people and those with underlying health conditions.

Three research teams have begun work on developing potential vaccines, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations said. Scientists hope to be testing the first possible vaccines in three months' time.

Wuhan, a city of 11 million, is under severe travel restrictions, with urban transport shut and outgoing flights suspended.

China has advised people to avoid crowds and more than 10 cities in the central province of Hubei, where Wuhan is located, have suspended some transport.

Beijing closed tourist access to the Forbidden City and cancelled large gatherings, including two Lunar New Year temple fairs, and closed part of the Great Wall.

Starbucks has closed all shops and suspended delivery services in China's Hubei province for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, following a similar move by McDonald's in five Hubei cities.

Walt Disney Co's Shanghai Disney Resort will be closed from Saturday.

Hong Kong has declared an emergency and will extend school holiday closures until Feb. 17. The city also cancelled all official Lunar New Year celebrations and official visits to mainland China.

China's Haikou city, capital of the southern island province of Hainan, started a 14-day centralised medical observation for tourists from Hubei. Sanya city in the province, a popular vacation destination, has shut all tourist sites.

Airports around the world have stepped up screening.

Shares and crude prices fell sharply on Friday as investors moved into safe-haven assets amid concerns that the virus could curb travel and hurt economic demand.

Some experts believe the virus is not as dangerous as the 2002-03 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that killed nearly 800 people, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which has killed more than 700 people since 2012.

Each person infected is passing the disease on to between two and three other people on average at current transmission rates, according to two separate scientific analyses.

Dramatic video showed people collapsing on sidewalks in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak originated

Medical staff members wearing protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city, walk at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in China

The new virus comes from a large family of what are known as coronaviruses, some causing nothing worse than a cold. It causes cold- and flu-like symptoms, including cough and fever and, in more severe case, shortness of breath. It can worsen to pneumonia, which can be fatal. Most of China's provinces and cities activated a Level 1 public health alert, the highest in a four-tier system, the state-owned China Daily newspaper reported Saturday (pictured, medics at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital)
I recently came across Pompeo Batonis The Return of the Prodigal Son and was immediately struck by the care and warmth between the two figures in the painting. What might this painting and the story it represents provide for us today?

Pompeo Batoni and the Grand Tour

Pompeo Batoni (17081787) has been described as Italys last old master. During the 18th century, he was the most famous painter in Europe and dominated Italian portrait painting. He was also well-known for religious and allegorical paintings.

During the 18th century, the Grand Tour, which was a rite of passage for wealthy young men, was very popular. The youths traveled throughout Europe to gain a deeper connection to their traditions and cultural heritage.

Many wealthy patrons on the Grand Tour commissioned portraits from Batoni. The artist flattered his sitters by depicting them in a grand historical scene with historical dress. In a way, these portrait paintings became physical manifestations of the patrons connection with tradition.

Alongside his portraits, Batonis allegorical and religious paintings were also highly prized. He painted scenes that exemplified Western culture. His painting The Return of the Prodigal Son depicts a biblical parable that shares principles of the Western traditions embodied by the Grand Tour.

Portrait of a Young Man, circa 176065 by Pompeo Batoni. Oil on Canvas, 97 1/8 inches by 69 1/4 inches. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (Public Domain)

Parable of the Prodigal Son

Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15: 11-31 (NIV). The story introduces a father with two sons.

The younger son requests his inheritance so he can travel, and his father agrees. But after the young son gathers his possessions and leaves for a distant land, he squanders his wealth.

A terrible famine terrorizes the distant land, and the young man finds that he needs to work; he ends up tending pigs. As times are so hard, he gets so hungry that he even eats pig feed. He decides to return to his father.

Upon seeing his son returning, the father runs to him and embraces him. The young man says, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father rejoices: He gives his young son a robe, a ring, sandals, and a homecoming celebration, stating, For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.

The older son, however, refuses to participate in the celebration. Despite his obedience to his father, he believes that his father is favoring his younger brother. The father pleads with his older son to recognize and appreciate all that he provides for him and to also celebrate the return of his younger brother.

The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1773, by Pompeo Batoni. Oil on canvas, 54 inches by 40 inches. Museum of Art History, Vienna, Austria. (Public Domain)

Batoni and The Return of the Prodigal Son

Batoni depicted the moment the younger son returns to his father. I believe this to be the moment the son falls to his knees and says, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. The father takes his sons elbow to help him up, and he goes to cover his sons bare back with his robe.

Batoni depicted only the father and young son in his composition. Though there are just two figures, Batoni maintained the father as the primary focal point through several compositional methods.

First, the father has a higher placement in the composition. A hierarchy of importance is suggested between the father and his young son since the son kneels and makes himself lower in the presence of his father.

Next, there are more rendered details on the father than on the young son. The fathers clothing has an array of textures: He has donned gold and jewelry and has textured fur and a velvety robe. The son is depicted with a bare back and a simple peasant garment to cover himself. The details and textures make the father a more important compositional figure than the son.

Finally, Batoni used color intensity to maintain the father as the primary focal point. The fathers garb is much more colorful than the sons. Batoni incorporated the complementary colors of red and green into the fathers clothes. Complementary colors are believed to be colors that naturally contrast one another and thereby hold our gaze longer than an area of lower contrast like the simple browns of the sons clothes.

Even the fathers flesh has more color than the sons flesh: The fathers rosy cheeks and hands are more vibrant than the sons yellowish tones.

Traditional Values: Love and Forgiveness

I think Batoni wisely made the father the focal point. The father represents much more than just a father. Because of his actions, the father represents the traditional spiritual values of love and forgivenessvalues that can be beneficial as the focal points of our lives.

I see the younger son representing a youthful curiosity because of his desire to embrace worldly life and travel to distant lands. I see the older son representing a sense of entitlement because he believes that he doesnt get enough from his father.

The two sons approach the values of love and forgiveness that the father represents in different ways. The young, desiring the pleasures of life, steps away from traditional values and suffers immensely. It is only upon the return home that the young son is given a ring, a robe, and is celebrated for being alive again; that is, it is through these traditional values that the young son is truly alive and prospers.

The older son is also tempted by the pleasures of life. He wants more from his father. In other words, he feels that the love and care he has received have not been enough. His desire for more begins a journey down the destructive path of jealousy.

What the older son doesnt realize is how much his father has already provided him. He never disobeyed his father; that is, he never strayed from home, and therefore was always wealthy. But without having embraced the values of love and forgivenessthe spiritual underpinning of lifehe was never truly alive.

It is the father who must remind his older son that he has never suffered for lack of comfort or pleasure. The father not only forgives his younger son, but he also encourages his older son to love and forgive his brother. The father is the source of love and forgiveness. Therefore, the father is the focal point of the story.

Bringing Tradition Forward

Traditional principles become tradition because they prove to be consistently beneficial to the people who engage in them. The Grand Tour encouraged traditional values by exposing youths to the outward manifestation of Western culture: beautiful architecture, artwork, and the best refinements that each country toured had to offer.

Lets not forget the best of the inward refinements that Western culture offered: the traditional principles of love and forgiveness. With these in mind, maybe, like Batoni, we can be exemplars for reinvigorating these valuesa Grand Tour of what it means to be loving and forgiving. Historically, these principles have been beneficial to us when we accept and practice them.

Now when I see Batonis painting, I am reminded to forgive and care for the people who are only trying to find their way in their own stories. It reminds me that I dont need to wander away from these values in search of lifes pleasures, refuse to celebrate with those who seem to have more than I, nor attack people who are acting out their jealousy and entitlement. I need, instead, to embody and encourage love and forgiveness, and perhaps I too can physically manifest my connection to tradition.

All biblical passages are from the New International Version.

Art has an incredible ability to point to what cant be seen so that we may ask What does this mean for me and for everyone who sees it? How has it influenced the past and how might it influence the future? What does it suggest about the human experience? These are some of the questions I explore in my series Reaching Within: What Traditional Art Offers the Heart.

Eric Bess is a practicing representational artist. He is currently a doctoral student at the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA).
A native of Dagestan was sentenced to five years and four months in prison in Germany, a court in Berlin found him guilty of plotting a terrorist act in a shopping center, Tagespiegel reports.

According to the investigation, the convict came to Germany from Dagestan in 2011. German authorities refused to grant him asylum but allowed to stay in the country till 2019.

During his stay in Germany, he began to share extremist ideology, tried to travel to Syria, but got to the list of people who cannot leave Germany.
A political slugfest broke out in Maharashtra over Home Minister Anil Deshmukh's allegation that phones of Congress-NCP leaders were tapped by the previous BJP regime during 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls as ex-chief minister Devendra Fadnavis rejected the charges on Friday.

A day after Deshmukh made the sensational claim and ordered a probe, Fadnavis also claimed that he had information that BJP leaders' phones "were being tapped from Madhya Pradesh" during polls. The Congress, a key constituent of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, joined the NCP in attacking the BJP and demanded a high-level inquiry into the entire episode.

"The previous BJP-led government had tapped phones of senior NCP and Congress leaders through government machinery ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls held last year," Deshmukh alleged. He said there are also allegations that the then government had sent some officials to Israel and brought a software to "intercept" phones of leaders of the Congress and the NCP, which were then in opposition.

Deshmukh did not name the NCP and Congress leaders whose phones were allegedly tapped. "They had stooped low in politics. We have initiated probe into it," the NCP minister said.

Speaking with the media in Bhandara district in Vidarbha on Friday, Deshmukh reiterated the phone-tapping allegations against the BJP-led government.

"The BJP government, before the polls, tried to gather information about what and with whom these (NCP-Congress) leaders were talking," he said.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Friday said a BJP leader had informed him that his phone was being tapped by the Fadnavis government, even though Sena was then the BJP's ally.

"I said if anybody wants to listen to what I am saying I welcome it. I am Balasaheb's 'chela' (disciple), whatever I do, I do it openly," Raut told reporters in Mumbai. The Sena formed government with the Congress and the NCP in November last year after snapping its alliance with the BJP.

READ | Maha Govt Probes Wiretapping Allegation, Claims 'Fadnavis Govt Used Israeli Spyware'

Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad, an NCP leader, on Friday said the phone tapping episode smacks of "sick mentality" of the BJP and added it should be probed. PWD minister and Congress leader Ashok Chavan alleged the BJP could stoop to any level to get power. He demanded a high-level inquiry into the phone tapping allegations.

The BJP's agenda was to secure unlimited and unbridled power, the Congress leader alleged. Unperturbed by the allegations, Fadnavis said the MVA government was free to conduct an inquiry into the matter.

"Phone-tapping is not the culture of Maharashtra. My government had not given any such orders," Fadnavis, now the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, said in a statement.

"The whole country knows the credibility of those who have levelled such allegations," Fadnavis, who was the chief minister of the state between 2014 and 2019, said.

"The state government is free to probe the allegations with the help of any machinery. People of Maharashtra know the truth. A Shiv Sena leader was the minister of state for home during my tenure," he added.

"I have a request - the government should immediately conduct an inquiry and make the report public. If it wants to go to Israel for the probe, it should do that," he said.

Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, Fadnavis said that such allegations were being levelled deliberately to demoralise the state's police force.

"Besides, we had also got information that when elections were underway, the phones of BJP leaders were tapped from Madhya Pradesh. Whether it is true or not, the Madhya Pradesh government or the Central government tell," he said.

"But the Maharashtra government (during his term) did not do such things," he added.

READ | Centre Took Right Step On Bhima Koregaon, It Will Expose Urban Naxals: Devendra Fadnavis

READ | Devendra Fadnavis Denies Wiretapping Charge, Says 'Not A Tradition Of Maharashtra'
She's always dressed to impress, no matter the occasion.

And Eva Longoria looked chic as she arrived in style with America Ferrera for Netflix and The Latinx House's joint party at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on Friday.

The actress, 44, put on a stylish in an outfit designed by best pal Victoria Beckham as she donned a 195 logo-print funnel-neck jumper from the fashion mogul's bespoke brand.

Glam: Eva Longoria put on a stylish display in a 195 jumper designed by pal Victoria Beckham as she joined chic America Ferrera at party at Sundance Film Festival in Utah on Friday

Eva complemented her look by wearing a pair of grey flared trousers, which she cinched at the wait with a matching belt.

The Desperate Housewives star kept her accessories to a minimum as she wore a pair of chic earrings so that all attention remained on her ensemble.

Her brunette locks were brushed into loose waves that fell over her shoulders, and she accentuated her pretty features with a glamorous palette of make-up.

Elegant: The actress looked chic in the logo-print funnel-neck jumper from the fashion mogul's bespoke brand, which she wore with matching trousers

Stunning: America, who is expecting her second child with husband Ryan Piers Williams, put on an effortlessly chic display in an all-black ensemble

America, who is expecting her second child with husband Ryan Piers Williams, put on an effortlessly chic display in an all-black ensemble.

The Ugly Betty star wore a black shirt that had a white fern-print to cover her baby bump, and she added a stylish touch with a black blazer.

She completed her look with a pair of suit trousers, and she offset the outfit by wearing a pair of beige walking boots.

America revealed the good news with a sweet Instagram post on New Year's Day, as she shared a snap with her husband and son Sebastian, 19 months.

'Welcoming Baby #2 in 2020!' she wrote in the caption. 'Happy New Year from our wild & growing bunch.'

America first met Ryan, an actor and director, when he cast her in one of his student films while both attended the University of Southern California.

The couple got engaged back in 2010, and they tied the knot on June 27, 2011.
C hina has been both praised and damned for its response to coronavirus, with the nation appearing to learn some lessons from the SARS epidemic of 2002/2003.

Pictures of people wearing masks in the country this week instantly conjured thoughts of the SARS outbreak at the beginning of the 21st century.

The nation has since taken massive strides in its project to join the international community, having only become part of the World Trade Organisation in 2001.

Now it is an international superpower embroiled in a trade war with America, investing in development in Africa and staring down the western worlds security community over the introduction of Huaweis 5G infrastructure.

Xi Jinping is seeking to consolidate power / AP

But Xi Jinping is seeking to consolidate power with the addition of "Xi Jinping thought" to the country's constitution, based on the current leader's ideas on socialism.

And the illness is still being treated in some cases as a political issue more than a health one.

The disconnect between the national government's response and that of the local authorities shows that lessons have not been learnt at all levels from the crisis 20 years ago.

About 800 people died from SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus) in the early 21st century, and China was slated for not admitting earlier that the problem was a new virus.

But in the current breakout, the World Health Organisation has welcomed the countrys response to the illness, which originated in the city of Wuhan, on an international level.

It took just 10 days for the world to know about the virus this year.

It was four months before the world knew SARS existed, despite repeated requests for information from the WHO.

Coronavirus - In pictures 1 /106 Coronavirus - In pictures A sign advertising a book titled "How Will We Survive On Earth?" is seen on an underground station platform Getty Images Customers wearing face masks shop at the pork counter of a supermarket following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, Hubei province Reuters Westminster Bridge is deserted in London the day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the UK in lockdown PA Canadian passengers Chris & Anna Joiner ask for help onboard the MS Zaandam, Holland America Line cruise ship, during the coronavirus outbreak, off the shores of Panama City via Reuters A man crosses a nearly empty 5th Avenue in midtown Manhattan during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City Reuters The London Eye is pictured lit blue in support of the NHS, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues Reuters Boris Johnson addresses the nation on the Coronavirus lockdown Andrew Parsons Commuters cope with Coronavirus Jeremy Selwyn Milan's Piazza del Duomo empty AFP via Getty Images People in protective clothing walk past rows of beds at a temporary 2,000-bed hospital for COVID-19 coronavirus patients set up by the Iranian army at the international exhibition center in northern Tehran, Iran AP Martina Papponetti, 25, an ICU nurse at the Humanitas Gavazzeni Hospital in Bergamo, Italy poses for a portrait at the end of her shift AP Pope Francis celebrating a daily mass alone in the Santa Marta chapel at the Vatican, as part of precautionary measures against the spread of the new coronavirus COVID-19 AFP via Getty Imag Vysheyshaya Liga - FC Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino v FC Belshina Bobruisk - Torpedo Stadium, Zhodino, Belarus, March 27, 2020 Players in action during the match despite most sport being cancelled around the world as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues Reuters Hanks and Wilson both have coronavirus Tom Hanks General view of an emergency makeshift field hospital as it is set up at Pacaembu Stadium for coronavirus (COVID-19) patients with a capacity of 200 beds in Sao Paulo, Brazil Getty Images People on a busy tube train in London at rush hour despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling on people to stay away from pubs, clubs and theatres, work from home if possible and avoid all non-essential contacts and travel in order to reduce the impact of the coronavirus pandemic PA Naomi Campbell catches a flight in a hazmat suit with goggles, a surgical mask and rubber gloves @naomi Sophie and Emily Ward pose for a photograph with their hand-drawn picture of rainbows and a message on their window in St Helens, as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues Reuters Mia, aged 8, and Jack, aged 5, take part in "PE with Joe" a daily live workout with Joe Wicks on Youtube to help kids stay fit who have to stay indoors due to the Corona virus outbreak. PA Shoppers queue outside a branch of Costco, in Croydon, south London, on the weekend after Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered pubs and restaurants across the country to close PA Charing Cross Tube Bakerloo Line very quiet at 8.15am Jeremy Selwyn A woman with a plastic box over her head on the London Underground. PA A Racegoer attend Cheltenham Festival on Ladies Day wearing a fashionable face mask SplashNews.com Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits a laboratory at the Public Health England National Infection Service in Colindale PA A man who appears to be homeless sleeping wearing a mask today in Victoria Jeremy Selwyn A couple kiss in Milano Centrale railway station in Milan on March 8, 2020 AFP via Getty Images A combination picture shows visitors wearing protective face masks following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) looking at blooming cherry blossom nd a pigeon walking at an closed cherry blossom viewing spot during the first weekend after Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike (not pictured) urged Tokyo residents to stay indoors, in a bid to keep the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from spreading Reuters This combination photo created on March 5, 2020 shows tourists visiting Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap province on March 16, 2019 (top) and on March 5, 2020 AFP via Getty Images Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump looks at the $2.2 trillion coronavirus aid package bill as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Vice President Mike Pence stand by during a signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House Reuters A satellite image shows an empty South Beach during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Miami, via Reuters General view inside the empty stadium as the two teams line up prior to the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg match between Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund at Parc des Princes UEFA via Getty Images A Sainsbury's supermarket in Cambridge is among those to sell out of antibacterial hand sanitizer PA Tents and ambulances are set up next to the Princess Cruises Grand Princess cruise as it sits docked in the Port of Oakland on March 09, 2020 in Oakland, California. The Princess Cruises Grand Princess has been held from docking until today as at least 21 people on board have tested positive for COVID-19 also known as the Coronavirus Getty Images Medical staff produce traditional Chinese medicine to treat patients infected by the COVID-19 coronavirus at a hospital in Wuhan AFP via Getty Images Army soldiers wearing protective suits spray disinfectant as a precaution against the new coronavirus at a shopping street in Seoul, South Korea AP Russian President Vladimir Putin wearing protective gear walks at a hospital for patients infected with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on the outskirts of Moscow via Reuters A woman who has recovered from the COVID-19 is disinfected by volunteers as she arrives at a hotel for a 14-day quarantine AFP via Getty Images Passengers on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship are seen as the ship arrives at Daikoku Pier where it is being resupplied and newly diagnosed coronavirus cases taken for treatment as it remains in quarantine after a number of the 3,700 people on board were diagnosed with coronavirus Getty Images Dave Abel pictured in hospital in Japan Manchester United fans in the stands during the Premier League match at Old Trafford PA Police officers wearing masks stand in front of the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel in La Caleta, in the Canary Island of Tenerife AP Carnival revellers wear protective face masks at Venice Carnival Reuters A general view is pictured of Burbage Primary School in Buxton, Derbyshire after the closure of the school as a pupil's parent has tested positive for the novel coronavirus COVID-19 AFP via Getty Images People wearing face masks walk past the Olympic rings in front of the new National Stadium, the main stadium for the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Game Getty Images People leave Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre in Milton Keynes where Coronavirus evacuees are due to be released from quarantine today and allowed to go home PA Matt Raw, a 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Airport (WUH), China AFP via Getty Images Police stand at a checkpoint at the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge that crosses from Hubei province in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, China Reuters A member of staff at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside prepares for a bus carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China PA Doctor Paul McKay, who is working on an vaccine for the 2019-nCoV strain of the novel coronavirus, poses for a photograph with bacteria containing fragments of coronavirus DNA, at Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM) in Londo AFP via Getty Images Workers produce masks at the Thai Hospital Product Company Ltd. factory in Bangkok AFP via Getty Images Passengers wearing face masks are seen on a bus after disembarking from the Costa Smeralda cruise ship, after tests on a woman from Macau with suspected coronavirus came back negative, in Civitavecchia, Italy Reuters People hoard bottles of alcohol after the Philippine government confirmed the first case of the new coronavirus in the country, in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines Reuters Taking precautions: with fears growing that the coronavirus will spread from China, a health official checks a womans temperature on the underground in Beijing Getty Images An empty road is seen in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on January 27, 2020, amid a deadly virus outbreak which began in the city AFP via Getty Images Students wearing masks meditate prior to a lesson at a high school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia AP Medical staff at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital wear protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus AFP via Getty Images Staff move bio-waste containers past the entrance of the Wuhan Medical Treatment Center, where some infected with a new virus are being treated, in Wuhan, China AP Workers driving excavators at the construction site of a field hospital In Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. 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It is rare for China to seek outside help, but the country has provided a study to the WHO and countries like the UK already have a test for the virus and have put screening measures in place.

But there are reports from within China that the domestic response is lacking.

At the time of writing, 26 people have died - all in China - and hundreds more are infected with the virus in the Hubei region, of which Wuhan is the capital.

There are also a number of confirmed cases in Japan, South Korea, the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

People in numerous countries are being scanned as they land from China / AP

Around 30 million people across 10 cities in Hubei have had their transport cut off in a bid to prevent the contagion spreading.

In Wuhan, the epicentre, hospitals are rammed and the shelves of supermarkets are reportedly bare.

Transport has been locked down, with anyone trying to get out greeted by a member of the authorities at the train station or motorway blocking the exit.

But before these were shut off on Thursday morning, trains were still running to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Xian, while the international airport was dispatching flights across the globe.

Dr Benjamin Barton is assistant professor in the Department of Politics, History and International Relations at the University of Nottingham's Malaysia Campus and an expert on Chinese foreign policy.

He told the Standard: From my understanding, there seems to be a disjuncture between the Partys response and the effectiveness of local authorities in implementing the response.

He went on to say that it was unprecedented to quarantine a city of Wuhans size - 11 million people, more than London - but that it might have been tool little, too late.

The first cases of what was to be known as the Wuhan novel coronavirus was documented on December 29, 2019.

It was officially recorded as a new coronavirus on January 8, 2020.

Anyone looking to leave the city of Wuhan is greeted by paramilitary officers / AP

Professor Paul Hunter of The Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, said: The first case of SARS was first identified in November 2002 in Guangdong Province, China.

From November 1, 2002 to July, 31 2003 there were some 8300 reported cases and 775 deaths.

He added: The World Health Organisation wrote to the Chinese authorities twice in the first two weeks of December 2002 to ask for further information but the reply from China apparently only concerned data on influenza cases.

It was not until February 10, 2003, that the WHO was notified by the Chinese of 300 cases and five deaths in an outbreak of acute respiratory syndrome.

WHO issues a global alert on March 20, 2003, after it had spread internationally. It was not until April that the virus responsible was finally identified.

William Yang is a Taiwanese journalist who covers China extensively and people in Wuhan told him the lockdown strategy came too late as the virus has already spread beyond these places.

In previous disasters, China has been unwilling to accept international aide.

When Sichuan was struck by an earthquake in 2008, killing almost 70,000 people, the Party did not want help from foreign sources.

Around 80,000 people died in the Sichuan earthquake / China Photos/Getty Images

In the current crisis they are more willing to cooperate internationally to prevent a global health crisis, but the internal reaction could be more political, according to Dr Barton.

He said: Theres an obvious attempt at political control over the situation in order to not let the Partys reputation be sullied at home, and to avoid Chinas international reputation coming into disrepute as the virus spreads.

A demonstration of the ability to successfully manage the situation also represents a clear political boon for the Party, but the flipside to that is that if it appears  in the eyes of ordinary Chinese citizens  as getting out of hand then discontent will rise.
Four SSB personnel have been awarded the police medal for gallantry (PMG) this Republic Day for killing a dreaded Naxal commander in Jharkhand who was wanted for fatally ambushing an SP-rank officer of the state in 2013, officials said.

Sahdev Rai alias Tala da was killed by the troops of the newly-created guerilla warfare unit of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), called small action team (SAT), and state police personnel on July 27, 2018 in the forests of Dumka district of the state.

Rai was a "hardcore" Maoist zonal commander who carried a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh and apart from other cases, he was wanted for the killing of the then superintendent of police (SP) Amarjit Balihar and five other police personnel in Dumka in 2013 by laying a deadly ambush.

Assistant Commandant Narpat Singh, Head Constables Pradeep Kumar and Bheem Singh and Constable Ganesh Singh Rana of the 35th battalion of the SSB have been decorated with the PMG for displaying "exceptional leadership qualities, raw grit and courage in risking their own lives during the operation".

All the four displayed great professionalism and gallantry that led to the killing of the senior Naxal commander, their citation said.

The security forces had recovered the body of Rai and his associate, a self-loading rifle, a grenade and four magazines apart from other ammunition after the operation ended.

The SSB, a central border guarding force primarily tasked to guard the Nepal and Bhutan borders, is deployed in Jharkhand to conduct anti-Naxal operations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi [India], Jan 25 (ANI): It is not India but the global uncertainty, which is dragging the world economy towards a synchronised slowdown, said on Saturday Brazil's Deputy Economy Minister Marcos Troyjo, currently on a four-day visit to India along with President Jair Bolsonaro.

Responding to a question over the International Monetary Fund (IMF) blaming India for the global slowdown, Troyjo in an exclusive interview to ANI said: "I don't think that India should be blamed for this. There are other factors responsible for driving the global GDP growth towards a slowdown. India's GDP is now two trillion US dollars. It is also true that for the past four years, India has outgrown China, for example, in terms of percentage growth."

"Last time, when I saw the numbers for India, it still looked rigorous, especially for a country like Brazil that has recently faced a very steep recession. I think the global uncertainty that has emerged from trade tensions and domestic policy uncertainties, is responsible for the slowdown in the world economy. Once these are eased, then the global forecast is going to pick up again," the minister added.

Speaking about trade relations between India and Brazil, Troyjo referred to the 15 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed between the two countries earlier today in the field of science, agriculture, trade and investments.

"India with its 1.2 billion people is a huge market for Brazilian products. There is a growing demand for more food, infrastructure and minerals. India is one of the top priorities of our foreign economic policy," the minister told ANI.

He said that Brazil wants to exports poultry, sugar as well as ethanol and is looking forward to more foreign investments to his country.

"Indian investors will have a good investment opportunity in Brazil. Brazil emphasises on privatisation concessions in energy, railroads, seaports, airports to Indian investors," he said.

Talking about geopolitical situations, the minister noted that Brazil is "paying attention" to the current situation in the Asian region.

Troyjo further emphasised on the use of local currency among BRICS nations. He said that the New Development Bank is looking into organising projects that can be financed in each member country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
JACKSON COUNTY, Ore.  Contract negotiations between Jackson County and the public employees union have reached an impasse, according to statements from both sides released on Friday.

The County and employee representatives have been sparring over pay and benefits for six months, according to SEIU Local 503, the union that has been representing Jackson County public employees.

"The Jackson County Employees Association's bargaining team declared impasse on Tuesday because they felt that after 6 months at the bargaining table, continuing negotiations would not lead to fair wages and an affordable healthcare plan for employees," said Melissa Unger, executive director of SEIU Local 503. "It is our hope that a deadline for negotiations will lead to a fair settlement that the hard working employees of Jackson County can live with."

According to Unger, Jackson County employees earn wages that are between 13 and 28 percent less than other counties in Oregon.

"As a result, the county regularly loses talented people to other jobs. That turnover harms the services everyone in Jackson County relies on," Unger said.

A statement from County officials, however, says that those comparisons are being made to counties like Clackamas, Lane, and Marion.

"The County does not believe that these Counties are the best to compare with Jackson County," officials said. "The County believes that the other five Counties  Deschutes, Douglas, Linn, Josephine, and Klamath  are more comparable in nature to Jackson County. Currently, the Countys overall pay plan is right at the average of these other Counties."

According to data from the 2010 Census, Jackson County is more populous than any of the counties listed by County officials. It also has a smaller population than any of those reportedly cited by the union.

RELATED: Jackson County public employees rally outside offices for better healthcare

But the true sticking point in negotiations, Unger says, comes down to healthcare.

"The current plan is so expensive that many low wage employees cant afford to use it," Unger said. The union has been pushing for County officials to take up the statewide healthcare pool offered by the Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB), which they say would both make healthcare more affordable and save taxpayers almost $1 million per year.

"Its a win/win, but the county wont take the deal," Unger said.

County officials say that they have offered a healthcare plan that would give all public employees who work at least 30 hours per week the same insurance benefits that managers and non-represented employees currently receive  with a $49.95 premium, $750 deductible, $20 copays, and a maximum out-of-pocket cost of $2,250.

"The County is concerned, based on Oregon health insurance industry research, that the PEBB may not be sustainable as it currently exists," officials said. "In addition, when hard times have hit the State of Oregon, the Executive and Legislative Branches have used PEBBs reserves to balance the general fund. If PEBBs ability to continue to operate becomes unstable, the State could simply ask for more contributions to make up the losses leaving our tax payers and our employees to pick up the tab."

Declaring an impasse begins a 30-day cooling off period, Unger said, during which negotiations can continue. Once that time is up, the County can make a final offer, and employees can choose to go on strike if they dont accept the final offer.

"We hope that the impending deadline will lead to a resolution at the bargaining table that includes fair wages and affordable healthcare for county employees," Unger said.


(Photo: bigstocl)

There's no denying that New Zealand's scenery is spectacular - but for many people, the food is the real highlight of travelling in New Zealand. Whether you're a visitor planning a trip to New Zealand, or you're a Kiwi on holiday outside your own neighborhood, prepare yourself for a memorable culinary experience.

Consider sampling some, or all, of the following 6 amazing menu items you'll discover when you travel in New Zealand:

1. Manuka Honey Desserts

Lately, New Zealand's manuka honey has reached fad status internationally- with good reason. The honey is not only delicious; there's also scientific evidence pointing to the possibility that it might offer a broad variety of health benefits. Clinical research suggests that manuka honey is likely to be helpful for healing ailments ranging from influenza to staphylococcus aureus.

If you want to experience the unique flavour of manuka honey for yourself, you'll want to make a point of searching for this delicacy when you dine out in New Zealand. Kiwi restaurants offer a wonderful variety of desserts and other dishes featuring manuka honey as a highlight. Look for manuka honey meringue in particular. Also be sure to head to the nearest market and grab a few jars of plain manuka honey to bring home to your loved ones as souvenirs.

2. Maori Hangi

Many regions of the world have unique cooking traditions that aren't easily replicated elsewhere. New Zealand has quite a few of these unique traditions, and Maori Hangi is one of them.

Hangi dishes typically incorporate meats and vegetables including lamb, pork, seafood or sweet potatoes. Traditionally, indigenous Maori chefs used to prepare hangi by wrapping these foods in leaves and then arranging them in flax baskets for cooking. Pits would be dug into the earth and lined with heated stones. The baskets would then be placed into the pits to be cooked. The cooking fires incorporated wood chips from the manuka tree, which would add a unique, smoky flavour to the food.

Nowadays, some Maori chefs skip using the leaf wrappers. Instead, they choose to wrap the food in steel mesh or baking foil. Otherwise, the contemporary Hangi cooking process remains largely the same.

A Hangi isn't just a meal; it's a unique social and cultural celebration, similar in some ways to a Hawaiian luau. If you're looking for things to do in Rotorua, New Zealand, a Maori Hangi is a foodie experience you definitely won't want to miss out on.

3. Meat Pies

Meat pies are standard fare in New Zealand, but they seem a bit exotic to some visitors from far-off lands like the United States. In contrast to American pies, Kiwi meat pies aren't dessert items; each meat pie can be a meal on its own. This comes as a surprise to some American visitors to New Zealand; Americans occasionally have to be tutored on what a meat pie is, and how to eat one. (Hint: you keep it in its paper bag packaging; you pick it up with your hands and dig in).

Want to try a meat pie? Wherever you choose to travel in New Zealand, you're likely to find a tempting variety of them in the local cafes, bakeries and restaurants. Choices might include steak and cheese pies, meat pies with gravy, bacon mac and cheese pies, pulled pork pies, steak and ale pies and others. If you happen to travel into an area of New Zealand with a high immigrant population, you may even encounter extraordinary variations such as Thai red curry pies.

4. Sauvignon Blanc Wine

Wine tasting is high on the list of things to do in central Otago, Marlborough and Hawke's Bay. If you're planning a visit to any of those regions in New Zealand, consider it a fantastic opportunity to sample some outstanding wine.

Sauvignon Blanc is one of the most popular menu items in New Zealand. It is an aromatic white wine featuring a broad variety of possible undertones. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc wines could have underpinnings that are subtly herbal, earthy, mineral or fruity in flavour, depending on multiple factors such as the soil in which they were grown.

By far, Sauvignon Blanc is the wine variety that New Zealand exports in the highest volumes - so it's the variety that most visitors to the country expect to sample when they visit. But, one thing people outside New Zealand don't often realise is that the country's absolute best Sauvignon Blancs are experimental, made in small batches and not typically exported. That means coming to New Zealand is the only possible way to experience them. If you enjoy fine wines, you'll definitely want to seize the opportunity to try the lesser-known experimental Sauvignon Blanc wines when you visit New Zealand.

A winery tour would be an enjoyable way to spend a few hours of your New Zealand holiday. If a winery tour isn't at the top of your travel bucket list, no worries; you'll also find Sauvignon Blanc on the menu in many New Zealand restaurants.

5. Pinot Noir Wine

Pinot Noir is a rich red wine that pairs well with beef bourguignon, pasta dishes, salmon or roasted chicken. This wine originated in France, but New Zealand vintners offer some of the best Pinot Noir examples available anywhere in the world.

If you're interested in sampling luscious Pinot Noir during your travels to New Zealand, head to the cooler southerly part of the country; that's the location where the persnickety Pinot Noir grapes tend to grow best. Pinot Noir is offered on restaurant menus nationwide, but some of the best places to find Pinot Noir wineries include Marlborough, Central Otago, Nelson and Waipara.

Central Otago's Pinot Noirs, in particular, are worth making the trip for. They are full-bodied and fruity, featuring aromatic overtones that hint at cherries, raspberries or strawberries. If you're in the mood for a wine that's more herbaceous than fruity, opt instead for sampling the Pinot Noirs from the Alexandra area, which have a flavour that's faintly suggestive of dried thyme.

6. Uniquely Local Craft Beer

New Zealand is world famous for its unique and flavourful wines, but many Kiwi locals actually prefer beer. New Zealand's temperate climate is optimal for producing hops with a velvety, tropical richness. This results in irresistible locally produced beers that compel both Kiwis and visitors to flock to the country's pubs.

If you're a beer connoisseur, you'll want to make an effort to tour some of New Zealand's many restaurant-breweries, known as "brewpubs". Typically, a brewpub will brew its own beer and sell it directly to the public. This is the only possible way you'll be able to sample some of the country's best small-batch craft beers.

This list could continue on for pages more, because New Zealand offers many culinary delicacies other than just these. You could spend an entire lifetime in New Zealand and never run out of lovely drinks and dishes worth savouring. But if your time in New Zealand is limited, you'll definitely want to prioritise trying New Zealand's distinctly local versions of the 6 menu items listed above.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Louis Cousins, a San Antonio resident who was one of 17 black students who desegregated public schools in Virginia in 1959, died Monday at the age of 76. Cousins died from heart failure, according to The Virginia-Pilot.

Five years after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Brown vs. the Board of Education that ruled segregation in schools as unconstitutional, Cousins and 16 other black students were among the first in Virginia to attend all-white schools. They would become known as the Norfolk 17.

On Feb. 2, 1959, Cousins, then 15, walked into Maury High School, in Norfolk, Vir., with his mom at his side, as a hoard of teens gawked by the front door. Unlike the other members of the Norfolk 17, Cousins was the only one to attend Maury, facing an entire white student body on his own.

"All of us throughout the Norfolk 17 had the same responsibility," Cousins told the San Antonio Express-News in 2004. "We were there for a purpose ... We were there to open the doors not only for ourselves, but for our race."

Media at the time reported not hearing a "hostile word" from students, "only curious stares  and silence." Cousins remembered his first day as being marked with loneliness. He told the Express-News the only other black people he saw on campus were employees who cleaned floors. In that story, he also recalled the insults, being spat at and described an incident in which the windows at his home were broken and a cross was burned in the front yard.

He spent an entire year as Maury's only black student. Cousins said he was "trying not to let myself or my race down."

Eventually, he made a few friends who Cousins described as "brave enough" to speak to him or sit with him at lunch without fears of being ostracized. He graduated on Jan. 27, 1962.

Cousins joined the Air Force after graduation and served as a combat medic in Vietnam. He married his wife Deloris in 1963. The two started their family in San Antonio, where they raised their son, Louis Cousins Jr. It is unclear when Cousins moved to San Antonio.

FROM OUR SUBSCRIBER SITE: 58 years ago, San Antonio was the first southern city to integrate lunch counters

The Cousins family could not be immediately reached for comment. His son told The Virginian-Pilot he was aware of his father's place in history, but the elder Louis would call it "old history" and rarely delved into details.

He endured a lot, Cousins son told The Virginian-Pilot. As he would say, he persevered.

The newspaper spoke to Patricia Turner, who was one of the Norfolk 17. She said Cousins' way of downplaying his time at Maury may have been a coping mechanism.

That is a time that you want to forget and put it into the past, Turner told The Virginian-Pilot.

Another woman, Lula Sears Rogers, was a friend of Cousins and also remembers their conversations.

"He'd say, 'Don't you ever tell anybody I integrated that school," she told the Virginia newspaper. "I desegregated that school," Rogers said Cousins told her. "There's a difference," Rogers said in the interview.

After retiring from the service, he worked as a medical technologist at Methodist Ambulatory Surgery Hospital in San Antonio. In the Express-News article, he acknowledged that de facto segregation remains today for socioeconomic reasons but realized the hardships endured by the Norfolk 17 and other students who were part of the desegregation battle across the country paved the way for future generations.

"No, it wasn't for nothing," he said at the time. "It definitely wasn't for nothing."

Maury High School is now one five in the Norfolk Public School system, which operates as "The cornerstone of a proudly diverse community." Niche, a nationwide school ranking website, graded the school an A for diversity. Fifty-one percent of the nearly 2,000 students are black.

There are thousands of children who may never have gotten a foot inside of Maury without him, Rogers told The Virginian-Pilot.

Madalyn Mendoza is a breaking news reporter and general assignment writer. Read her on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | mmendoza@mysa.com | @MaddySkye
After six tourists were arrested for allegedly open defecating at the iconic Machu Picchu, authorities are turning to drones and security cameras to keep a check. According to media reports, Jose Bastante, the head of the archaeological park, said the new security measures will be set up at three strategic points and access points from surrounding mountains to prevent any disrespect to The Sun Temple at the UNESCO world heritage site.

Read: Tourists Arrested For Damaging, Defecating At Machu Picchu

Drones to watch Machu Picchu

Six tourists were arrested for reportedly damaging stonework and defecating in Machu Picchu. The six tourists were reportedly arrested on January 13 after local rangers found them in The Sun Temple area which is usually off-limits for visitors. After the arrest of the six tourists, Cusco regional police chief Wilbert Leyva told local media that human waste was found at the temple, which is being investigated as evidence that the tourists defecated on the historical site. The police said that a hole in the ground was discovered which might have been caused by a lithic element that had fallen from a wall.

Read: Peru To Plant One Million Trees Around Iconic Site Of Machu Picchu

The 15th century Inca citadel is one of the seven wonders of the world and is located in the eastern Cordillera of southern Peru. The ancient citadel was used for some 80 years before it was abandoned during the Spanish conquest. Authorities at Machu Picchu are taking these steps because this was not the first time that a group of tourists has damaged the iconic heritage. In March 2014, four United States citizens were arrested for taking off their clothes before posing for a photo.

Read: Planning A Visit To Machu Picchu? Here's Everything You Need To Know

In a similar incident, three tourists were caught on camera vandalising the ancient ruins of Hampi. The incident was reported last year where three men could be seen pushing a pillar causing it to fall. A local court fined them Rs 70,000 each for causing damage to the world heritage. Hampi ruins are a popular tourist destination in the Indian state of Karnataka and are a UNESCO world heritage site.

Read: UNESCO Expresses Concern Over Bushfire In Australia's Gondwana-era Rainforests
More than 30 million infections confirmed in 188 countries and territories, with over 957,000 deaths.

New cases of the novel coronavirus that emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late December are being reported daily around the world.

More than 957,000 people have died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, while over 30.8 million infections have been confirmed in at least 188 countries and territories. More than 21 million people have recovered to date.

Here are the countries that have so far confirmed coronavirus cases:

United States  6,723,933 cases, 198,570 deaths

India  5,214,677 cases, 84,372 deaths

Brazil  4,495,183 cases, 135,793 deaths

Russia  1,086,955 cases, 19,128 deaths

Colombia  750,471 cases, 23,665 deaths

Peru  750,098 cases, 31,146 deaths

Mexico  688,954 cases, 72,803 deaths

South Africa  657,627 cases, 15,857 deaths

Spain  640,040 cases, 30,495 deaths

Argentina  613,658 cases, 12,656 deaths

France  467,421 cases, 31,257 deaths

Chile  442,827 cases, 12,199 deaths

Iran  416,198 cases, 23,952 deaths

United Kingdom  388,416 cases, 41,821 deaths

Bangladesh  345,805 cases, 4,881 deaths

Saudi Arabia  328,720 cases, 4,430 deaths

Iraq  311,690 cases, 8,408 deaths

Pakistan  305,031 cases, 6,415 deaths

Turkey  299,810 cases, 7,377 deaths

Italy  294,932 cases, 35,668 deaths

Philippines  279,526 cases, 4,830 deaths

Germany  271,247 cases, 9,386 deaths

Indonesia  236,519 cases, 9,336 deaths

Israel  179,071 cases, 1,196 deaths

Ukraine  173,703 cases, 3,535 deaths

Netherlands  153,769 cases, 6,318 deaths

Canada  144,054 cases, 9,257 deaths

Bolivia  130,051 cases, 7,550 deaths

Ecuador  124,129 cases, 11,044 deaths

Qatar  122,917 cases, 209 deaths

Romania  110,217 cases, 4,360 deaths

Kazakhstan  107,199 cases, 1,671 deaths

Dominican Republic  106,732 cases, 2,034 deaths

Panama  104,879 cases, 2,229 deaths

Egypt  101,772 cases, 5,733 deaths

Belgium  99,649 cases, 9,996 deaths

Kuwait  98,528 cases, 580 deaths

Morocco  97,264 cases, 1,755 deaths

China  94,540 cases, 4,737 deaths

Oman  91,753 cases, 818 deaths

Sweden  88,237 cases, 5,865 deaths

Guatemala  84,344 cases, 3,076 deaths

United Arab Emirates  83,433 cases, 403 deaths

Japan  78,061 cases, 1,500 deaths

Poland  77,328 cases, 2,270 deaths

Belarus  75,230 cases, 773 deaths

Honduras  70,611 cases, 2,146 deaths

Ethiopia  67,515 cases, 1,072 deaths

Portugal  67,176 cases, 1,894 deaths

Venezuela  65,174 cases, 530 deaths

Bahrain  63,879 cases, 220 deaths

Costa Rica  62,374 cases, 686 deaths

Nepal  61,593 cases, 390 deaths

Singapore  57,543 cases, 27 deaths

Nigeria  56,956 cases, 1,094 deaths

Uzbekistan  50,253 cases, 419 deaths

Algeria  49,413 cases, 1,659 deaths

Switzerland  49,283 cases, 2,045 deaths

Armenia  46,910 cases, 926 deaths

Czech Republic  46,262 cases, 495 deaths

Ghana  45,760 cases, 295 deaths

Moldova  45,648 cases, 1,186 deaths

Kyrgyzstan  45,244 cases, 1,498 deaths

Azerbaijan  38,894 cases, 572 deaths

Afghanistan  38,883 cases, 1,437 deaths

Kenya  36,724 cases, 646 deaths

Austria  36,661 cases, 763 deaths

Palestine  34,401 cases, 250 deaths

Serbia  32,757 cases, 739 deaths

Ireland  32,271 cases, 1,792 deaths

Paraguay  32,127 cases, 611 deaths

Lebanon  27,518 cases, 281 deaths

El Salvador  27,346 cases, 804 deaths

Australia  26,895 cases, 845 deaths

Libya  26,438 cases, 418 deaths

Bosnia and Herzegovina  24,897 cases, 752 deaths

Korea, South  22,893 cases, 378 deaths

Denmark  22,291 cases, 635 deaths

Cameroon  20,371 cases, 416 deaths

Cote dIvoire  19,200 cases, 120 deaths

Bulgaria  18,733 cases, 753 deaths

North Macedonia  16,417 cases, 683 deaths

Hungary  16,111 cases, 669 deaths

Madagascar  15,971 cases, 217 deaths

Greece  14,738 cases, 327 deaths

Senegal  14,645 cases, 301 deaths

Croatia  14,513 cases, 244 deaths

Zambia  14,022 cases, 329 deaths

Sudan  13,535 cases, 836 deaths

Norway  12,769 cases, 267 deaths

Kosovo  12,683 cases, 488 deaths

Albania  12,073 cases, 353 deaths

Democratic Republic of the Congo  10,456 cases, 268 deaths

Guinea  10,231 cases, 63 deaths

Namibia  10,207 cases, 108 deaths

Malaysia  10,147 cases, 129 deaths

Maldives  9,568 cases, 33 deaths

Tajikistan  9,259 cases, 73 deaths

Finland  8,858 cases, 339 deaths

Gabon  8,696 cases, 53 deaths

Haiti  8,600 cases, 221 deaths

Tunisia  8,570 cases, 133 deaths

Luxembourg  7,928 cases, 124 deaths

Montenegro  7,711 cases, 133 deaths

Zimbabwe  7,647 cases, 224 deaths

Mauritania  7,361 cases, 161 deaths

Mozambique  6,264 cases, 40 deaths

Slovakia  6,256 cases, 39 deaths

Malawi  5,716 cases, 179 deaths

Uganda  5,594 cases, 61 deaths

Djibouti  5,403 cases, 61 deaths

Eswatini  5,215 cases, 103 deaths

Cape Verde  5,141 cases, 50 deaths

Cuba  5,004 cases, 111 deaths

Equatorial Guinea  5,002 cases, 83 deaths

Congo  4,980 cases, 114 deaths

Nicaragua  4,961 cases, 147 deaths

Central African Republic  4,786 cases, 62 deaths

Suriname  4,691 cases, 96 deaths

Rwanda  4,671 cases, 25 deaths

Burma  4,621 cases, 75 deaths

Jamaica  4,571 cases, 55 deaths

Jordan  4,344 cases, 29 deaths

Slovenia  4,195 cases, 140 deaths

Angola  3,848 cases, 147 deaths

Syria  3,731 cases, 168 deaths

Trinidad and Tobago  3,651 cases, 60 deaths

Lithuania  3,565 cases, 87 deaths

Thailand  3,497 cases, 58 deaths

Gambia  3,485 cases, 108 deaths

Somalia  3,390 cases, 98 deaths

Sri Lanka  3,281 cases, 13 deaths

Bahamas  3,177 cases, 69 deaths

Georgia  3,119 cases, 19 deaths

Mali  2,991 cases, 128 deaths

Estonia  2,814 cases, 69 deaths

Malta  2,634 cases, 17 deaths

South Sudan  2,609 cases, 49 deaths

Botswana  2,567 cases, 13 deaths

Guinea-Bissau  2,303 cases, 39 deaths

Benin  2,280 cases, 40 deaths

Iceland  2,230 cases, 10 deaths

Sierra Leone  2,153 cases, 72 deaths

Guyana  2,102 cases, 62 deaths

Yemen  2,024 cases, 585 deaths

Uruguay  1,890 cases, 46 deaths

New Zealand  1,811 cases, 25 deaths

Burkina Faso  1,797 cases, 56 deaths

Togo  1,640 cases, 41 deaths

Belize  1,590 cases, 20 deaths

Cyprus  1,565 cases, 22 deaths

Andorra  1,564 cases, 53 deaths

Latvia  1,498 cases, 36 deaths

Lesotho  1,390 cases, 33 deaths

Liberia  1,334 cases, 82 deaths

Niger  1,183 cases, 69 deaths

Chad  1,147 cases, 81 deaths

Vietnam  1,068 cases, 35 deaths

Sao Tome and Principe  908 cases, 15 deaths

San Marino  735 cases, 42 deaths

Papua New Guinea  516 cases, 6 deaths

Tanzania  509 cases, 21 deaths

Taiwan  503 cases, 7 deaths

Burundi  473 cases, 1 death

Comoros  470 cases, 7 deaths

Mauritius  366 cases, 10 deaths

Eritrea  364 cases, 0 deaths

Mongolia  311 cases, 0 deaths

Cambodia  275 cases, 0 deaths

Bhutan  252 cases, 0 deaths

Monaco  191 cases, 4 deaths

Barbados  185 cases, 7 deaths

Brunei  145 cases, 3 deaths

Seychelles  141 cases, 0 deaths

Liechtenstein  112 cases, 2 deaths

Antigua and Barbuda  95 cases, 3 deaths

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  64 cases, 0 deaths

Fiji  32 cases, 2 deaths

Saint Lucia  27 cases, 0 deaths

Timor-Leste  27 cases, 0 deaths

Dominica  24 cases, 0 deaths

Grenada  24 cases, 0 deaths

Laos  23 cases, 0 deaths

Saint Kitts and Nevis  17 cases, 0 deaths

Holy See  12 cases, 0 deaths

Western Sahara  10 cases, 1 death
"But it is a very important task that a survivor has - to perpetuate the memory of the 6 million people who have been murdered - so they haven't perished in vain." Her comments come as Prince Charles warned at a gathering of world leaders in Israel for the anniversary that "hatred and intolerance still lurk in the human heart" and French President Emmanuel Macron said anti-Semitism was "once again rearing its violent head". A visitor walks under the German inscription that reads "Arbeit Macht Frei" ("Work makes you free") at the main gate at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. Credit:Getty Images In November, a report by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry found a steep rise in the number of anti-Semitic incidents reported across the country. Mrs Engelman was raised in Dovhe, a picturesque farming village in a mountainous region of Czechoslovakia. An only child, she was "spoilt with a lot of attention and love".

But German occupation of the country under Hitler from 1938 cast a bleak shadow over her happy childhood. "My father used to be taken to the police station at least twice a week," Mrs Engelman recalled. "One day he came back and he had his front teeth knocked out." The family were deported to the Berehove ghetto in Ukraine in 1943. After several months SS officers arrived, cramming them into cattle wagons so crowded they could "hardly breathe". Mrs Engelman's father did not know where his family was being taken, but made his daughter promise him she would survive. "Of course I will survive," the 14-year-old replied.

Loading Two nights later the doors swung open; revealing the brass gates of Auschwitz inscribed with the words: "Arbeit Macht Frei" ("Work makes you free"). A doctor waved Mrs Engelman to his left, and her parents to his right. It was the last time she saw them. She later learnt he was Josef Mengele, a notorious Nazi physician branded the "angel of death" for his gruesome medical experiments. Mrs Engelman's group were stripped, shaved and marched into the gas chamber. Nothing happened. They trembled through the night and, in the morning, were marched out.

"To this day I do not know what happened," Mrs Engelman said. Her group were then forced into labour, recovering valuables from the thousands of people who entered the gas chambers each day, in terror they would be next. "While working there, we could hear people choking from the gas," she said. "We could smell human flesh being burnt." As the Allied forces closed in, the Nazis began to dismantle the camp. Mrs Engelman, then skeletally thin, was sent on a death march, walking up to 60 kilometres a day in Poland's bitter winter cold. "We had no hair. We were like zombies. If you could not keep up, you were just taken out of the row and shot," she said.

The girls arrived at a munitions factory where they were tasked with assembling clocks for bombs. When Mrs Engelman fell ill with scarlet fever, her workmates hid her and secretly performed her duties so it went undetected by the SS officers. The Russians liberated the camp in May 1945, when Mrs Engelman was 17. "It seemed unreal," she said."You know how beautiful May is in Europe. Suddenly it is over and there is nobody there." Mrs Engelman was penniless and alone in the world. Under a quota system, various countries agreed to sponsor war orphans. Mrs Engelman put her name down for Australia, and was sent to Paris to board a vessel for the three-month voyage.

"I had never seen the sea, so when we arrived in Marseilles and I could hear the roar of the sea, that was such an exciting experience," she recalled. Loading Mrs Engelman found work making costume jewellery at a factory in Surry Hills. She fell in love with John Engelman, another Holocaust survivor from Czechoslovakia who lost most of his family in the war. "We were the first children survivors that came to Australia that were married," she said. "We had nothing, we had nobody, but at least we had each other." The couple went on to have a large family of their own, which today includes great grandchildren. Mrs Engelman has led school groups on tours of the Sydney Jewish Museum every Tuesday for 28 years since it was founded in 1992.

Two years ago, Mrs Engelman was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for her services to the community. "The children I talk to are wonderful. They listen and ask questions," she said. Mrs Engelman is drawing on her steely optimism ahead of Monday's ceremony. "You have to regain your faith in human nature, and it wasn't easy. I shall never forget or forgive but I can honestly say I don't hate," she said. "I lost everybody but I survived it. I'm going there as a person that was there at the time. And now I have four generations, so I'm surrounded by my children.

"This is living history which has to be told." Mr Ryan told the Herald: "This is the second time I will visit Auschwitz, having been on a personal trip in January 2002. "It is a privilege to represent Australia at this important commemoration, particularly as this may be one of the last commemorations with survivors able to attend, and also due to the number of Holocaust survivors who subsequently made their home in Australia. "I will be joined by the Australian ambassador to Poland, Robert Goot from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and we will be honoured to meet with Mrs Yvonne Englemen, an Australian survivor of Auschwitz, and her family who are attending the commemoration. "Auschwitz is a place where evil and inhumanity has occurred like nowhere else on earth. It encapsulates the depravity of the Holocaust across Europe.
A meeting of opposition parties is scheduled to be held on January 30 ahead of the Budget Session of the Parliament.

The Budget Session of the Parliament will commence on January 31 and will conclude on April 3.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her second Union Budget on February 1.

As per sources, the first phase of the session will be from January 31 to February 11 and the second one from March 2 to April 3.

President Ram Nath Kovind has summoned the Rajya Sabha to meet on January 31.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A gathering of social justice advocates and others ended with calls for action Thursday.

Salvation Army Maj. Lisa Mueller, one of three panelists who presented updates on efforts to serve people facing homelessness in Rochester, noted that the recent efforts received a boost after Mayor Kim Norton called for action.

At the same time, she said the effort that created the Rochester Community Warming Center still needs to go further.

"Wheres the outrage in the community for the children and the families?" she said. "Instead of just building things that might keep 30 adults happy and warm for a day and a half, why isnt all this being poured into the children and the families? I think thats the turn this community needs to take."

Various reports indicated the number of homeless children in Rochester could top 700.

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The forums other panelist  Dan Fifield, co-founder of The Landing MN, and Michael Gwanjaye, coordinator of the Rochester Community Warming Center  also cited the need for more work within the community.

All three groups see specific needs for more people to get involved, whether its donating money or supplies or volunteering for anything from manning a desk to assisting those who stay overnight at the warming center.

"The community needs to rally around this," said Fifield, who created The Landing MN after deciding to quit his nursing job in 2018 and hit the street to help people facing homelessness.

Members of the audience also pushed for more action.

District Court Judge Kevin Lund said hes seen the effects of homelessness on local youth, many of whom have appeared in his courtroom.

"The funnel many times ends with me," he said, noting that homelessness often leads to conflicts with the law or other issues that land them in juvenile court.

"We have an increasing population in this community whose lives are in chaos, and the children are caught in this," he said.

He said he plans to advocate for local agencies, churches and Mayo Clinic to increase efforts to address related concerns.

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"I dont think theres a measure of urgency that the community as a whole has brought to this," he said.

Others said the act of spreading the word within the community is important.

"We have to talk about this.  What if each one of us spoke to one other person this month and very specifically say what we can do together?" Helen Laack of In the City for Good told the crowd of approximately 35 gathered at the Rochester Area Foundation offices Thursday evening.

The need for greater awareness was evident as the crowd raised questions about the new Rochester Community Warming Center, which has been actively soliciting volunteers since December.

Several members in the audience appeared unaware of operational details of the facility at 200 4th St. or even that it has been in existence since Dec. 11.

The five-month warming center, which is open nightly from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m., offers space for up to 30 people seeking warm beds. Operated by Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota, it has its roots in efforts by the city of Rochester and Olmsted County, which owns the building.

Mayo Clinic, the Rochester Chamber of Commerce and others have also helped establish the facility, which will remain open through March 31, with plans to reopen nightly on Nov. 1.

Gwanjaye said the center also has overflow space, but it has not been needed. The highest overnight count has been 27 people. Overall, he said 96 different people have stayed at the center at least one night since the center opened.

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At the same time, he acknowledged some challenges, noting that the facility puts men and women in the same room at night, which makes some potential guests uncomfortable. The ratio of men to women at the center has been 3 to 1.

However, he said the goal is to create a safe place to stay.

In the first month of operation, he said some guests had been told they cannot return after incidents of physical and sexual violence, but others appear to welcome the opportunity to stay out of the cold in an environment overseen by staff, as well as local volunteers.

"We have so far filled 54% of our volunteer spots," he said, noting that his team wants to work with community groups to provide volunteers.

In addition to volunteers, he said the center is in need of prepackaged food, hand and foot warmers, and thick gloves.

Fifield said his organization, which is in the community daily meeting with people facing homelessness, has seen a fundamental need.

"We go through a ton of socks," he said, adding that they are needed since people dont always have a place to dry them after they get wet. Other needs include cold-weather gear and flip-flops for warmer weather.

Mueller said similar needs are seen at the Salvation Army, which continues to provide breakfast and lunch meals on weekdays, as well as a place to turn throughout the day to connect with potential housing services.

The Salvation Army has 36 apartments at its Castleview site for people needing supportive housing and operates other programs to support people in need of housing. She said hygiene products are needed at the organizations community center, since it offers a place for people to shower, and insulated gloves and hats are always in short supply.

The three panelists also acknowledged that they are not alone in their efforts, citing various community organizations, including the Dorothy Day House and Family Promise, as partners in the effort to address the issue.

"Wed be lost without these guys," Fifield said.

Heres how to reach the organizations represented by the panel in the Thursdays forum:

Salvation Army  Online at https://centralusa.salvationarmy.org/northern/Rochester or call 507-288-3663. The community center is located at 20 1st Ave. NE in Rochester.

 Online at https://centralusa.salvationarmy.org/northern/Rochester or call 507-288-3663. The community center is located at 20 1st Ave. NE in Rochester. The Landing MN  Online at www.thelandingmn.org or call 507-884-0423.

 Online at www.thelandingmn.org or call 507-884-0423. The Rochester Community Warming Center  Online at www.ccsomn.org/programs/warming-centers/rochester-community-warming-center or call 507-287-2047, ext. 33. The center is located at 200 4th St. SE.

 Online at www.ccsomn.org/programs/warming-centers/rochester-community-warming-center or call 507-287-2047, ext. 33. The center is located at 200 4th St. SE. In the City for Good Online at http://inthecityforgoodmn.org or by email at inthecityforgood@gmail.com .
Yes, Bob Saget has starred in many successful television shows, including two of the most family-friendly shows network TV has ever produced ("Full House" and "Americas Funniest Home Videos") but hes also an out of his mind standup comedian for over thirty years. From his 2014 Grammy-nominated stand-up special, Thats What Im Talkin About to his scene-stealing cameos in "Entourage," and "The Aristocrats," its always effective as Saget embraces his dark side. In January 2016, Bob completed a 9-week run on Broadway as Pastor Greg in the Tony-nominated play, Hand To God, and his first book, Dirty Daddy, is a New York Times Best Seller with Vanity Fair calling it, Hilarious and at times heartbreaking. Bob can be seen in the hit Netflix series, Fuller House, and he directed and stars in the independent film, Benjamin, available on Hulu and Redbox.Bob is host of the new CMT TV series, Nashville Squares, airing Fridays at 8/7 CT and in 2020, he will host, write and Executive Produce the new ABC series, Videos After Dark, featuring home videos with an edgier twist. His new hour stand-up special, Zero To Sixty, is streaming on Amazon Prime and is available to rent or buy on Amazon, iTunes and many other platforms. Bob continues touring his standup across North America.

This show is intended for mature audiences and will contain explicit language which may be offensive to some guests. Refunds will not be given for any reason with the exception of cancellation of the event from the artist or the venue.

This event is 21 and over. Any Ticket holder unable to present valid identification indicating that they are at least 21 years of age will not be admitted to this event, and will not be eligible for a refund. By purchasing tickets to this event, you are authorizing this charge and acknowledging that ALL SALES ARE FINAL, unless an event is cancelled by the artist or venue. There are no refunds.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: The face-off between the state government and the Governor Arif Mohammed Khan over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has taken a political turn with Congress-led Opposition deciding to move a resolution in Kerala Legislative Assembly demanding President to recall the Governor who took a stand against the resolution passed by the state Legislative Assembly citing it 'Unconstitutional'. Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala has sent a notice to Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan seeking permission to move the motion under section 130 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Kerala Legislative Assembly.



"If the Governor has any dissatisfaction over Assembly's proceedings he should inform the Legislative Assembly in writing otherwise not ridicule the Assembly in open. The Kerala Legislative Assembly's resolution demanding the Centre to scrap the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA),2019, on December 31, last year and even the lone BJP MLA had voted against it. However, the Governor declared it 'unconstitutional' publicly. With this he had acted against the powers and rights of Assembly," Ramesh Chennithala said in Kochi on Saturday.



"I have submitted the notice to Speaker under section 130 (discussion on a matter of public interest) 130 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Kerala Legislative Assembly. As per section 284 (V) (rules to be observed while speaking) a member while speaking shall not reflect upon the conduct of persons in high authority unless the discussion is based on a substantive motion drawn in proper terms. Hence I sought the permission for moving this kind of a resolution,", he added.

Welcoming the Opposition Congress' plan, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan said he was functioning as per the Constitution.

"Most welcome," Khan said when asked about the Opposition move against him. "Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I am the constitutional head of the state. It's my duty to advice, counsel, encourage and warn the government. It's part of my duty as per the Constitution and as interpreted by the Supreme Court also," he told media on the sidelines of a programme here.

Khan said there was no confrontation with the government, but reiterated that the state's move to approach the apex court against CAA without informing him was not right.

"There maybe some difference of opinion but it cannot be termed as confrontation," Khan, who has been over loggerheads with the state government for past few weeks, said.

If the Opposition motion is allowed in the Kerala Assembly it would be first in the history of presenting a motion requesting the President to recall the Governor. However, the Assembly had passed a special motion against the then Governor Ram Dulari Sinha after she refused to sign an ordinance and made arbitrary nominations to the Senate of Calicut University. The then Speaker Varkala Radhakrishnan had made a ruling on February 2, 1989, that a motion requesting the Centre to remove the Governor can be moved in the Assembly as the Assembly has such a power. "As per 156 (1), the Governor shall hold office during the pleasure of the President. Hence we are requesting the President to recall Governor," said Chennithala.



Earlier, former Chief Justice and Governor P Sathasivam said that there was nothing unconstitutional in a state Assembly passing a resolution against a Central Act and the state Legislature has the right to express its views on any law passed by the Centre. "During the five-year tenure of Sathasivam, he had never addressed any media conference and only issued official press releases to inform the public. However, Arif Mohammed Khan is meeting the media persons on a daily basis and challenging the state," added Opposition Leader.
Chief of militant group National Democratic Front of Bodoland (R), who was serving life imprisonment in 2008 serial bomb blasts case, was on Saturday released from jail for a month and flown to New Delhi to take part in the ongoing peace talks.

The rebel leader, Ranjan Daimary was granted interim bail for four weeks by a division bench of Gauhati high court on Friday, to allow him to take part in the talks process. The government also did not oppose Daimari's bail plea.

"Daimari was released from Guwahati central jail after furnishing bail bond of Rs. 50,000 and hours after he was taken to New Delhi. The court asked the government to provide security. He was granted bail to facilitate the talks process," Daimari's lawyer, Manas Sarania told reporters here.

Daimari and nine others were sentenced life terms on January 30 last year by a special CBI court here for their role in the serial bomb blasts in Guwahati and a few other places on October 30, 2018. A total of 84 people had died and 540 were injured in the deadly attack.

The Centre and Assam government is likely to sign a "comprehensive agreement" with all four factions of the NDFB to establish lasting peace in Assam, particularly in Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD). The region witnessed largescale violence in the past.

Leaders of other factions of the NDFB are already stationed in New Delhi for the peace talks. B. Saoraigwra, president of NDFB (S), another faction, which was held responsible for December 2014 massacre of 84 Adivasis had come from their Myanmar camp and is also camping in New Delhi for the talks. Saoraigwra signed a ceasefire agreement with the government on January 16.

The government had earlier similarly released Ulfa leaders from jail for taking part in talks.
Terming his four-day visit to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum meet as "fruitful," Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday said his government has decided to amend the Land Reforms Act, aimed at allaying concerns of investors over delay in acquiring land.

"The investor's side (during the meet) had some doubts and opposition to cumbersome procedures in starting their units and we assured them of solving all their problems.

For example, they complained of delay in acquiring lands and we told them that rules will be simplified and even we told them about amending rules under relevant act," Yediyurappa told reporters here.

Assuring that the necessary changes will be made at the earliest, he said we would rectify all administrative problems within a month or two and legal problems in next couple of months by amending existing laws.

The Chief Minister who had begun his Davos tour on January 19, returned to the city on Friday afternoon.

Yediyurappa said he has held discussions with Industries Minister, Chief Secretary and officials, on his return, regarding concerns expressed by the investors, and has decided to takes some immediate actions.

"To purchase land for industrial purpose, under theKarnataka Industries(Facilitation)Act, 2002, the State High Level Clearance Committee (SHLCC) and a state-level single-window clearance is required.

After the proposal is cleared, for approval under Section 109, the process has to be completed in 30 days if not such applications will get deemed permission. We will amend the law, we've already discussed this and it'll be done," he said.

"Second, anyone who owns agricultural land and wants to get land use conversion for non-agricultural purposes, the process will be simplified online;



Sharing details of the visit, Yediyurappa expressed confidence over converting Karnataka into a "power house" of development in next three years.

"My four-day visit to Davos, with Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar and a team of officials proved to be fruitful as we had a result oriented discussion with more than 40 heads of various industries and business houses," Yediyurappa said.

"When we began our tour we were slightly skeptical about the tour's outcome, but it will go a long way in Karnataka's development," he added.

The Chief Minister said, though it is too early to quantify investments flowing to Karnataka, he can categorically affirm that definitely investments will be reality in the coming months and it will pick up after world investors meet in November.

Noting that the state government has signed an agreement with WET Managing Director Murat Sonmez on establishing a "Centre For Internet of Ethical Things" which goes a long way in drawing investments in the service and IT, BT sector, Yediyurappa said, Karnataka is the first state in the world to sign such an agreement.

"He (Sonmez) told us that investors will be happy on this count and will not hesitate to make investments in Karnataka," he added.

Some of the companies whose heads and CEOs with whom the Chief Minister led delegation held discussions included ArcelorMittal, Kirloskar, Mahendra, Bharat Forge, 2000 Watt, General Electricals, Dassault Systmes, Dalmia, Lulu group, Volvo, NovoNordisk and Domeco.

"All have responded positively to our appeal to invest in Karnataka," the CM said adding while Lulu group's investment of about Rs 2000 crore will help our farmers in developing a food transport chain, NovoNordisk will help in managing diabetics among state population.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
What he has proven to all of us is that he is capable of falsehoods and he would tell it to the country and tell it to us sitting in the chamber when every one of us knows its not true, he said. Whatever gains he may have made, he lost all of it, plus some, tonight.
WASHINGTONU.S. President Donald Trump vowed to stand with anti-abortion activists Friday as he became the first sitting president to speak at the March for Life, an annual gathering that is one of the movements highest profile and most symbolic events.

Today as President of the United States, I am truly proud to stand with you, he told a crowd of thousands braving the cold on the National Mall. Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House.

It was just four years ago when a political committee supporting one of Trumps Republican rivals unveiled an ad slamming his views on abortion, complete with footage from a 1999 interview in which he declared, I am pro-choice in every respect.

But on Friday, Trump was hailed in speeches and on signs as the most pro-life American president ever.

The reception was yet another sign of his remarkable political transformation and the fact that white evangelical and conservative Christians remain among Trumps most loyal backers. And the appearance made clear that, as he heads into the 2020 election, Trump is counting on those voters to help bring him across the finish line.

I think its a brilliant move, said Ralph Reed, chair of the Faith and Freedom Coalition and one of Trumps most prominent evangelical supporters, of Trumps decision to become the first president to take the events stage. Reed said the presidents appearance would energize and remind pro-life voters what a great friend this president and administration has been.

It also shows how much times have changed.

Past presidents who opposed abortion, including Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, steered clear of personally attending the march to avoid being too closely associated with demonstrators eager to outlaw the procedure. They sent remarks for others to deliver, spoke via telephone hookup or invited organizers to the White House  but never appeared at the march.

Over the last 10 years, however, the Republican Party has undergone a revolution, displaying a new willingness to embrace the issue as not only being morally right but politically smart, said Mallory Quigley, a spokeswoman for the Susan B. Anthony List and Women Speak Out PAC, which is planning to spend $52 million this cycle to help elect candidates opposed to abortion rights.

While views of abortion have remained relatively stable over two decades of polling  with roughly 6 in 10 Americans saying abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to Pew Research Center  both the Republican and Democratic parties have taken harder-line positions for and against abortion rights.

There used to be a middle in this country and candidates would not want to alienate the middle, said Ari Fleischer, who served as White House press secretary under President George W. Bush. And it just seems that that is over and that both parties play to their bases.

During his first three years in office, Trump has embraced socially conservative policies, particularly on abortion. Hes appointed judges who oppose it, cut taxpayer funding and painted Democrats who support abortion rights as extreme in their views.

President Trump has done more for the pro-life community than any other president, so it is fitting that he would be the first president in history to attend the March for Life on the National Mall, said White House spokesman Judd Deere.

On Friday, his administration took another step, threatening California with the potential loss of federal health care funding over the states requirement that insurance plans cover abortions. Meanwhile, Trumps campaign announced the creation of a new campaign coalition, Pro-life Voices for Trump.

Trumps thinking on the matter has been simple: If he supports the cause, why wouldnt he show up to their big event? said Matt Schlapp, chair of the American Conservative Union and a close ally of the White House. He said the appearance would be deeply significant for participants and cement even tighter the relationship Trump has with conservative activists across the country.

Ive had people be moved to tears over the fact that hes going, said Schlapp. Its a big deal,

March attendees began streaming onto the Mall early Friday morning, many holding signs with slogans like MAKE UNBORN BABIES GREAT AGAIN! and I VOTE PRO-LIFE FIRST. In some ways, it had the feel of a Trump campaign rally, with vendors selling pro-Trump buttons and hats.

I am very impressed with him. It takes a lot of guts to do something that nobody else has done before, said Janet Peterson, who travelled from South Carolina for the event, and credited Trumps decision to appear on his New York roots.

If you tell them, This isnt the status quo or We dont do it this way, theyre more likely to give you a double middle finger and do it, she said.

Trump used his speech, in part, to attack Democrats for embracing what he labelled radical and extreme positions on abortion, and praised attendees, saying they were motivated by pure, unselfish love. Vice-President Mike Pence, who was travelling in Italy Friday, also appeared via video recorded at the Vatican following a meeting with Pope Francis.

The full embrace underscored Trumps dramatic evolution on the issue of abortion from his days as a freewheeling New York deal-maker, when he described himself as very pro-choice in a 1999 interview on NBCs Meet the Press.

By 2016, however, Trump said his views had changed and that he was now opposed to abortion except in the case of rape, incest and when the life of the mother is at risk.

And to the surprise of many, he has been embrace by the movement.

These voters who are pro-life love Donald Trump and they will crawl across broken glass to get him re-elected, said Reed, who credited Trump with having masterfully capitalized on his pro-life position in a way I think no one could have envisioned four years ago,

Critics, meanwhile, accused Trump of using the march to try to distract from his impeachment trial in the Senate, with Ilyse Hogue, the president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, calling it an act of desperation, plain and simple.

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MEXICO CITYFor generations, Mexico served as a relatively open thruway for undocumented migrants travelling to the United States. Tens of thousands crossed the country every year, mostly unimpeded by Mexican authorities.

But the Mexican governments new hard-line posture on migration entered a new phase this week with its iron-fisted response to a large migrant caravan of Central Americans who sought to enter Mexico.

The Mexican government effectively dismantled the caravan at the nations southern border in recent days, using a combination of carrots and sticks  the lure of possible employment for those who chose to enter legally, and pepper spray, detention and deportation for those who did not.

By Friday, a caravan that had numbered as many as 4,000 a week ago had dwindled to several dozen, most of them languishing in Ciudad Tecun Uman in Guatemala, where they were considering their dashed hopes and next moves. More than 1,000 were sent back to Honduras and another 800 or so remained in detention in Mexico, government authorities said.

I didnt cross because I saw the difficulties, said Rony Benitez, 49, a bus driver from Honduras, who was sitting on a sidewalk in Tecun Uman on Friday morning. Im done with the caravan.

The caravan was perhaps the biggest and most dramatic test to date of Mexicos new resolve to get tough on illegal migration. The policy shift began last year under pressure from President Donald Trump, who threatened to close the border and impose tariffs, demanding that the Mexican government do more to curb the flow of migrants passing through its territory on their way to the United States.

The crackdown led to intense scenes this week of Mexican security forces dressed in riot gear repelling or rounding up Central American migrants who tried to cross Mexicos southern border en masse.

The tactics drew the criticism of immigrants advocates and even some Mexican officials, who accused authorities of committing human rights violations by using excessive force. But the Trump administration applauded the efforts, congratulating the Mexican government for its tougher line on migration.

Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, the acting deputy Homeland Security secretary, told reporters Friday that the Trump administration had seen more co-operation from Mexico, as well as from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, than anyone thought was possible.

He said the enforcement was partly the result of the diversion of dozens of Homeland Security agents to the region to train local authorities to stop migration to the United States. He added that next week the administration would begin carrying out a deal with Honduras to deport asylum-seekers back to Honduras.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico defended his governments response to the caravan and said its security forces had respected human rights and acted with professionalism.

The problem has been resolved well, he said during a news conference Friday. Fortunately, human rights have been respected.

The Mexican administrations response to the caravan was a sharp departure from its approach to similar mass migrations just a year ago.

Lopez Obrador took office in December 2018 amid a surge in migration from Central America, as thousands fled poverty, violence and government dysfunction and sought to reach the southwest border of the United States.

But instead of impeding that flow, Lopez Obrador, a lifelong populist and champion of the poor, opened the door even wider, promising work opportunities in Mexico and distributing yearlong humanitarian visas to just about anyone who applied.

As he rejected what he called the enforcement-first approach of his predecessors, deportations from Mexico plummeted.

But the permissiveness seemed to encourage even more migration, angering Trump, who threatened Mexico with crippling tariffs and the closure of the U.S.-Mexico border. In response, Mexico began cracking down on illegal migration, sharply increasing detentions of undocumented migrants.

At the same time, Trump also compelled his counterparts in Central America to step up their enforcement efforts, and pressured the Northern Triangle countries  Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador  to sign agreements requiring migrants who passed through one of those countries to first seek asylum there before applying in the United States.

As a result of these measures, northbound migration through Mexico to the U.S. border has ebbed considerably in recent months.

But this wave of increasingly restrictive policies throughout the region did not discourage the latest migrant caravan from forming.

Its members, travelling on foot and hitchhiking, set off early last week from the city of San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras. The group grew as it headed north through Guatemala.

As the caravan approached the Mexican border, Mexican authorities issued warnings that illegal crossings would not be tolerated and urged the migrants to register at official border crossings. Lopez Obrador also dangled the possibility of employment for those who sought to enter legally, saying that there were 4,000 jobs in Mexicos southern region that needed to be filled.

While some of the caravans participants presented themselves at legal border crossings, thousands more grew frustrated with the bottlenecks and sought to cross by other means, setting up a series of confrontations with Mexican authorities.

On Jan. 18, hundreds of migrants in the vanguard of the caravan surged across a bridge linking the Guatemalan city of Tecun Uman with the Mexican city of Ciudad Hidalgo and came face to face with members of Mexicos National Guard, who blocked their path.

A full-blown melee erupted as the migrants tried to break through the Mexican defences and the National Guard forces pushed back with riot shields and pepper spray.

As tensions settled, 20 migrants at a time were permitted to enter and register with the Mexican migration authorities. But some became angry, and others despaired when they found out that the Mexican government intended to send most of those who registered back to their countries of origin.

Two days later, more than 1,000 migrants tried to force their way from Guatemala into Mexico by fording a river that separates the two countries and storming up a steep riverbank before being repelled by Mexican security forces wielding riot shields and truncheons.

Though some of the migrants sneaked through the security phalanx, most scrambled back into Guatemala.

A third showdown  and perhaps the final blow for the migrant caravan  came Thursday, when about 1,000 migrants crossed the border illegally and started walking toward the city of Tapachula. Hours later, they were cut off and surrounded by roughly 200 members of Mexicos security forces, who used pepper spray to subdue those who resisted or tried to flee.

The migrants were eventually forced onto buses and taken to detention centres.

Mexican authorities said that the more than 1,000 migrants who had been returned to their home countries had gone voluntarily. It was unclear whether the roughly 800 who were in detention were facing deportation or whether they would be allowed to stay while they petitioned for asylum or another kind of immigration relief.

At least 1,800 members of the caravan had registered at official border crossings, government officials said, while hundreds of others were thought to have made it into Mexicos interior. Some who were part of the caravan never left Guatemala and instead turned around and went home, officials said.

Lopez Obrador said Friday that many in the caravan had been tricked into believing that passage into Mexico was going to be easier.

They were told that they were going to pass through national territory without a problem, he said.

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Lawyers for President Donald Trump will begin his defense at the Senate impeachment trial on Saturday, offering a rebuttal to Democratic charges that he abused his power and previewing more detailed arguments planned for next week.

In a shortened session, Trump's lawyers will begin three days of arguments to counter Democratic assertions that he should be removed from office for pressuring Ukraine to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential contender, and then trying to cover it up by impeding a congressional investigation. Trump has denied wrongdoing.

The defense begins after four days of opening arguments where Democrats branded Trump a 'dictator' and a danger to America.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., focused on the White House's directive that no personnel or executive branch agency cooperate with the House's impeachment inquiry. He compared it to the Iran-Contra investigation into Ronald Reagan who turned over his personal diary.

'The president has declared himself above the law. He has done so because he is guilty,' Nadler told the Senate. 'This is a determination by President Trump that he wants to be all powerful, he does not have to respect the Congress, he does not have to respect the representatives of the people, only his will goes.

'He is a dictator. This must not stand.'

Lawyers for President Donald Trump will begin his defense at the Senate impeachment trial on Saturday

The defense presentation will open on a Saturday, what the Republican president in a tweet called 'Death Valley on TV,' the bulk of the arguments will be saved for early next week, Trump's lawyers said.

The U.S. television audience for Democrats' arguments declined on Thursday to roughly 7.8 million viewers during live daytime coverage, according to data from the Nielsen ratings agency - a 29 per cent drop from Tuesday afternoon.

The Trump legal team said it would bring up Biden's efforts to get Ukraine's former top prosecutor dismissed on corruption concerns. Trump, without providing evidence, has charged that Biden acted to head off an investigation into a Ukrainian energy company on whose board his son Hunter Biden served.

Government witnesses told the impeachment inquiry last year that Biden was carrying out official U.S. policy.

'Why they opened up the door as wide as a double door on the Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, Burisma issue. I guess they figured that was their way of getting ahead of it. We will address it,' Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's defense attorneys, told reporters.

In a shortened session, Trump's lawyers will begin three days of arguments to counter Democratic assertions that he should be removed from office. Democrats finishing presenting their case during the impeachment trial against on Friday (pictured)

The Senate session will convene at 10am and run for several hours, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. The Trump legal team will have up to 24 hours over three days to make its case.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump said his defense team should 'just tell the truth' and accused Democrats of 'telling so many lies, so many fabrications, so much exaggeration. And this is not impeachable.'

The Democratic-led House of Representatives impeached Trump last month on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, setting the stage for the trial in the Republican-led Senate on whether to remove him from office before he seeks re-election in November.

It is the third Senate presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history.

The president is expected to be acquitted in the Senate, where a two-thirds vote is required to convict and remove a president from office. No Republican senator has voiced any support for his ouster.

Representative Adam Schiff urged Republican senators to show 'real political courage' and support a Democratic motion later in the trial for more witnesses.

In wrapping up the opening arguments, Representative Adam Schiff urged Republican senators to show 'real political courage' and support a Democratic motion later in the trial for more witnesses.

He warned that Trump would abuse his power again unless he is removed from office.

'If it meets the standard of impeachable conduct, as we have proved, it doesn't matter whether you like him. It doesn't matter whether you dislike him,' said Schiff, who made the final presentation in the House prosecutors' case.

'What matters is whether he is a danger to the country, because he will do it again. And none of us can have confidence, based on his record, that he will not do it again, because he is telling us every day that he will,' Schiff said.
No hearing could be held in the terror financing cases against Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Mohammad Saeed for the last three days because the prosecution lawyer was on leave, a Pakistani court official said.

"The Lahore's Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) adjourned the hearing till next Monday (January 27) after it was told that Deputy Prosecution General Abdur Rauf was on leave for few days," the court official told PTI on Saturday. He said Rauf is out of the country and he is likely to return by Monday.

On Monday last, Saeeds lawyers -- Advocates Naseeruddin Nayyar and Imran Fazal Gull  had requested the court to give them more time to complete their arguments in defence of their client in two terror financing cases registered against him in Lahore and Gujranwala.

ATC judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta had accepted the plea of Saeed's lawyers and directed them to complete their arguments on next hearing on January 23.

The founder of Lashkar-e-Taibas three close aides -- Prof Zafar Iqbal, Muhammad Ashram and Abdus Salam Bin Muhammad -- are also facing terror financing charges.

In a separate case of terror financing against Jamaat-ud-Dawah spokesperson Yahya Mujahid and its senior leader Abdur Rehman Makki, the ATC-I also adjourned the hearing till Monday.

READ | Lahore Court Adjourns Hearing In Terror Financing Case Against Hafiz Saeed

Saeed has already recorded his statement before the court in two terror financing cases against him in which he pleaded "not guilty".

The cases of terror financing have been registered against him in Lahore and Gujranwala cities on the application of Counter Terrorism Department of Punjab police. Cross examination of prosecution witnesses against Saeed and his three close aides by the defense counsel has already been concluded.

The prosecution produced a good number of witnesses against Saeed. The ATC indicted Saeed and others on December 11 in terror financing case in day to day hearing.

The Counter Terrorism Department has 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 Saeeds 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.

READ | Pak Anti-terrorism Court Holds Marathon Hearing On Hafiz Saeed; Adjourns Proceedings

READ | 26/11 Mastermind Hafiz Saeed Pleads Not Guilty In Terror Financing Cases: Court Officials
Police said Friday they were searching for a hit-and-run driver who sideswiped a police car, leaving an officer injured in Monmouth County.

Officer Glennis Polanco was blocking the left lane on Route 18 south, near Route 66, while crews cleared debris from an earlier crash when her patrol car was hit around 6:30 p.m. Thursday in Ocean, according to Detective Sgt. Paul Flammia.

"[The officer] was standing outside of her vehicle when it was struck and the impact of the crash caused the police vehicle to move several feet, Flammia said in a statement. Officer Polanco was knocked to the ground and sustained injuries.

Police said the injured officer was treated and released from an area hospital.

Anyone with information or who witnessed the crash was asked to call police at 732-531-1800.

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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If Peter MacKay wins the federal Conservative party leadership, Premier Doug Ford will owe him a mostly forgotten, but significant, debt.

In 2013, MacKay had a brief but important turn in Rob Fords saga of substance abuse and denial, a story in which Doug Ford had a co-starring role as his late brothers adviser and chief defender.

In March 2013, the Star dropped a front-page bombshell with the headline Rob Ford: Intoxicated Toronto mayor asked to leave military ball, in a story published before allegations his crack cocaine use became public.

The Star revealed that Ford, who had been elected mayor three years earlier, had spoken in a rambling, incoherent manner that alarmed some of the guests at the annual Garrison Ball fundraiser, which was attended by then-defence minister MacKay and 800 others with military connections.

Councillor Paul Ainslie told the Star he urged Fords chief of staff, Mark Towhey, to have the mayor leave the event. One of three Garrison organizers who spoke to the Star anonymously said Ford seemed either drunk, high or had a medical condition.

Its an open secret at city hall that the mayor has battled alcohol abuse, the story said.

Other news outlets watched and waited. Talk radio debated the validity of the report that followed allegations an out of it Ford had groped former mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson at another public event. Skepticism was countered with a reminder that in 2006, as a city councillor, Ford had drunkenly berated a couple at a Toronto Maple Leafs game.

Rob Ford called the Star story an outright lie. Doug Ford, then a city councillor, agreed, calling radio station AM640 to allege a conspiracy by Star reporters to bring down his brother. Ive never seen Rob drink at any event, ever, he said.

Towhey publicly denied that Ainslie had asked him to get Ford out of the ball.

Doug Holyday, a city councillor at the time and a staunch Ford supporter, told the Toronto Sun, I dont know what to believe anymore. Public debate raged about who to believe.

Enter Peter MacKay, a popular and respected cabinet minister in the Stephen Harper government.

In an email, MacKay told the Globe and Mail that he had spoken briefly with Rob Ford at the event. He looked fine to me, the defence minister wrote. The Toronto Sun got the same statement.

MacKays declaration helped deflate the story. A federal cabinet minister and former leader of the Progressive Conservative party said he talked to Ford and the mayor looked fine. And unlike many of those who said anonymously that Ford appeared intoxicated and had a drinking problem, MacKay was on the record.

The news cycle moved on for two months until the Star revealed the existence of a video in which Rob Ford appeared to be smoking crack cocaine. That story triggered months of more denials before Rob Ford finally admitted drug and alcohol issues and entered rehab.

We later learned that, to his own chief of staff, the mayor did indeed appear intoxicated at the Garrison Ball.

Rob Ford looked like s - - t on a stick. His face was scarlet and beaded with sweat. He was arguing with Nico and his arms were flailing around like a man trying to shoo flies away, Towhey wrote in a memoir entitled, Mayor Rob Ford: Uncontrollable. He appeared to be under the influence of something  alcohol for sure, and maybe something more.

As well, a few friends I knew in uniform, a member of Parliament, and a senior political staffer to a federal minister expressed concern for the mayors health, asking, Is he okay?

After reading that, I wondered how MacKay could describe Rob Ford as looking fine to me.

Harpers Conservatives had continued to support the Fords, with their GTA Ford Nation voter base, even as it became apparent that Rob Ford was lying about his alcohol and drug use and his exploits became the subject of international headlines.

The government was officially tough on crime and illegal drug users, but not on the mayor. Meanwhile, Rob Ford was slamming social hug-a-thug programs even as he was privately photographed literally embracing gang members who sold drugs and guns.

Fast forward to January 2017. Rob Ford had been through rehab and returned to city hall before dying of cancer. Doug Ford had lost a mayoral bid and returned to the family printing business. And MacKay, who had left politics and Nova Scotia for a home in Toronto and a job as a Bay St. lawyer, made a surprise appearance at city hall to give resident input on a local issue.

Curious reporters gathered and he spoke with them after his deputation.

I couldnt resist asking him to square Towheys account of sweaty, messy s - - t on a stick Rob Ford with his fine to me Rob Ford.

MacKay didnt seem fussed by the question.

Actually, what I said at the time was he looked like himself to me, MacKay said before walking away.

Except he didnt say that  and theres a significant difference between saying someone accused of being a messy drunk at a public function looked fine and saying he looked like himself.

After MacKay publicly confirmed that he intends to seek the Conservative leadership, I emailed questions to him and his leadership campaign spokesman Michael Diamond, a prominent Conservative strategist with deep Ford connections.

Diamond was director of operations for Rob Fords 2010 mayoral campaign, campaign manager for Doug Fords Progressive Conservative leadership bid and campaign director for Fords 2018 Ontario election win.

I asked about MacKays exact recollection of how Rob Ford appeared at the Garrison Ball, how he reconciles his different descriptions of Ford at the event, and whether he has an ongoing relationship with Doug Ford.

We dont know the answers to those questions. Neither MacKay nor Diamond responded to my email.

What we do know is that, should Peter MacKay get the Conservative crown  and maybe fulfil his long-held ambition to lead Canada  hell have some history, and maybe some credit, with the controversial leader of the nations most populous and prosperous province.

David Rider is the Star's City Hall bureau chief and a reporter covering city hall and municipal politics. Follow him on Twitter: @dmrider

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 12:35:28|Editor: ZD

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Rainfall in the Belo Horizonte metro area in southeast Brazil reached 171.8 mm Friday, the highest for a 24-hour period in the region since measurements started 110 years ago.

The heavy precipitation has led to at least three deaths and severe damage, according to Brazil's National Meteorology Institute.

Three people from the same family -- the mother and her six-year-old and six-month-old children -- died in a large mudslide which hit their house in Belo Horizonte metro area. A fourth victim, reportedly a godmother of one of the children, is still missing. Search efforts lasted a whole day and will be resumed Saturday morning.

Over 30 mudslides and building damage were registered in the metro area on Friday. A number of roads were blocked by landslides, several of the city's main avenues were flooded and neighborhoods were under water.

Hundreds of people in towns in the area had to leave their homes and local governments have set up shelters in public schools and churches.

With a population of 2.5 million, Belo Horizonte, the sixth largest city in Brazil, is located in the southeastern region, where severe storms are commonplace during summer. The Belo Horizonte metro region with a population of over 5.1 million is the third largest urban area in the country.
As one travels along the National Highway-248 from Gurugram to Nuh, the mise-en-scene metamorphoses gradually, as multistoried buildings make way for a yellow spread of mustard fields that flank both sides of the road leading up to Kotla village.

Located more than 60 kilometres from Gurugram, Kotla in Nuh is a historic village and served as the capital of Mewat several centuries ago, as per historical accounts. The village played host to many rulers, who left an indelible imprint on the history of Mewat and remnants of their legacy can still be found in the various historical structures a mosque, tomb, and a fort that bear testimony to the villages rich history.

At first glance, Kotla comes across as any other nondescript village of Mewat, one where humans jostle with cattle for space, and streets are lined up with mounds of dung cakes. Young boys herding goats appear in and out through the labyrinth of narrow streets that map the village.

Nestled amid the heart of these intersections, one gets a glimpse of the historic Kotla mosque that stands tall on a raised platform. A set of massive stairs, carved out of stone, lead to the mosque that is flanked by the Aravalli mountains. Together, the two exude the aura of a glorious past. Within the mosque complex are the remains of a tomb, often recognised by experts as the tomb of Bahadur Khan Nahar, a Khanzada ruler of Mewat.

The Khanzadas are a community of Muslim Rajputs from the Mewat region. The Khanzadas of Mewat are Rajputs who converted to Islam during the reign of Firoz Shah Tughlaq. He had influence over the region until Babar arrived, said Parul Munjal, associate professor, Sushant School of Art and Architecture.

As per the records of the state, the mosque and tomb date back to 1392-1400 CE. A textual reference to the same could be found in the Gurgaon district gazette. Over the ruined gateway is an inscription, giving the date of its building as AD 1392-1400. The mosque is raised on a high platform and is strikingly situated in a hollow of the hills, which, at this point, are crowned by the ruins of an ancient fortress, states the gazette.

Banani Bhattacharyya, deputy director, department of archaeology and museums, said that the mosque dates back to the 14th-15th century and predates the Sultanate period.

The mosque also finds a mention in Alexander Cunninghams travelogue of a tour of eastern Rajputana in 1882-83. Cunningham was the first director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India. The mosque was started by Bahadur Nahar himself in AH 795 and finished by his successor in AH 803, as recorded in the inscription over the entrance gateway of the enclosure, Cunningham noted.

The inscriptions that Cunningham talks of can no longer be spotted at the mosque. Locals in the area deny knowledge of any such inscription. However, Bhattacharyya said that the department officials, including her, had spotted the inscription a year ago and the department has a photograph of the same.

The mosque is made of red sandstone and grey quartzite which have been skilfully combined together. It contains one dome, a number of alcoves both on the outside and inside and several attached minarets at the corners. While the mosque seems sturdy and demonstrates its original colours and elements on the outside, the inner portion of the mosque has been undergone massive changes over the years.

The enclosure has been whitewashed, while marble has been placed across the floor. Many modifications have been made to the mosque on the inside, but it continues to display its heritage character. It looks antique and the outer portion demonstrates the magnificence of the mosques historicity, said Bhattacharyya.

Expanding on the architectural elements of the mosque, experts said that the raised platform of the mosque was possibly due to the topography of the region. Across south Haryana, one can notice that many historical structures have raised platforms. It could be due to the environment prevailing in the region, due to the Aravali mountain ranges. Water percolates down the range and creation of a raised platform was possibly seen as a better option, said Bhattacharyya.

The mosque is used as by villagers for daily prayers, while a madrasa runs adjacent to the mosque. The original area of the mosque has remained unchanged over the years, but newer constructions have taken place on the premises. As far as the tomb is concerned, only six pillars of the original 12 pillars remain. Broken portions of the six pillars can be spotted in the courtyard.

Naseeb Khan, 72, who visits the mosque daily to offer prayers, said that the mosque had seen some changes over the years. He recalled that portions of the tomb and various graves had fallen into ruins over time. Earlier, 24 steps led to the mosque but now, only 19 remain. Portions of the mosques outer boundary wall also fell to bits. Twelve pillars were placed on the courtyard, but six of them fell, gradually, over the years, said Khan.

In June 2018, the state government initiated the process of taking the Kotla mosque under its protection. However, until today, no concrete step has been taken in this regard. Officials of the state department of archaeology and museums said that the process of taking the monument under protection was delayed due to bureaucratic delays.

Bhattacharyya agreed that changes to the site might have taken place in the past two years, but attributed the slow pace of work to bureaucratic hurdles. The main problem is that we cannot proceed unless we get a report from the deputy commissioner. The DC report is a must for the file that we prepare. Due to this reason, we have not been able to take many monuments under protection in other areas of Mewat. We keep writing letters seeking details about the area or the revenue records, but this takes time, she said.

Mohammad Hashim, the imam of the mosque, said that villagers took care of the mosque and donated for its upkeep. Most villagers said that they did not need any help from the state. We are self-sufficient and dont need any support from the government for running the mosque. Locals share the costs whenever repairs need to be carried out, said Hashim.

Kotla fort

A serpentine trail from the mosque takes one further inside the village and leads to an area, from where a small natural stream of water emerges a well-kept secret of Kotla that not many visitors are aware of. The stream and its surrounding catchment area appear like a hidden green oasis. While this part of the village is possibly the most picturesque part of the village, the beauty is dampened by the lagoons of soap water that accumulate at the bottom.

Dressed in a yellow salwar kameez, 18-year-old Sumaiya rubs soap on clothes before beating them against one the stones of the hill. Like most women from the village, she comes to the jhirna (stream) daily to wash clothes. People in the village purchase water from tankers. By washing our clothes here, we are able to save money. During monsoon, the quantity of water that comes from the stream increases and people from other villages come here too, said Sumaiya.

The stream of water emanates from the same hill atop which rests the Kotla fort. Overlooking the village, the fort can only be accessed by climbing up the hill and doing so is no less of an adventure. Traversing the uneven trail leading up to fort requires involves treading on a path made of massive stones, jumping over mesquite tress, and tiptoeing through thorny plants.

As per government records, the fort dates back to the 15th century. Historians say that Bahadur Nahar got the fort constructed during the reign of Feroze Shah Tughlaq. The ramparts of the fort are partly in ruins, enclosures are open to the air, while huge trails of mountain stones form a boundary all across.

A number of beliefs and legends surround the fort. Some villagers say that it is possessed by djinns (spirits), while others share a popular story that finds resonance among various villagers.

According to the legend, several years ago, a calf wandered into the hills in the evening and was never found again. While looking for the calf, however, locals chanced upon a tunnel that ran deep. The depth of the never-ending tunnel is something that everyone in the village enthusiastically shares. When the calf got lost, our ancestors climbed up the hills to find it. We lit many torches (mashal) with oil to find the calf but just couldnt do it. Around 50 kilolitres of oil was used to light up the torches but the calf couldnt be found. There was a deep tunnel and people tried to step in only to return, since there seemed no end in sight to the tunnel. Most people came to the conclusion that the calf had wandered into a tunnel, said 58-year-old Aas Mohammad.

While a small alcove-like opening can be spotted as one enters the fort, it is shallow and blocked by a wall. Locals believe that the wall blocks the entrance to the tunnel.

Residents of the village make frequent rounds to the fort for collecting firewood and grazing their animals. The department officials said that they have no immediate plans of taking up the protection of the fort.

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A physician who had been at the front line in battling the coronavirus outbreak in a hospital in China's Hubei Xinhua Hospital has died from the new virus, Chinese-state media confirms.

Liang Wudong was at the Hubei Xinhua Hospital in Hubei province, where the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) began, CTGN said. He was 62, it added.

Liang Wudong, a doctor at Hubei Xinhua Hospital who had been at the front line of the #CoronavirusOutbreak battle in Wuhan, dies from the virus at age 62. pic.twitter.com/W6RmzLnioS  CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) January 25, 2020

The Chinese government announced on Saturday that the cases surged to almost 1,300 - the bulk of which are in Hubei.

Health officials inside the province also found out that 15 new deaths happened in Wuhan, bringing the total quantity of fatalities to 41 because the outbreak began.

The sickness has unfolded to 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China. The deadly new virus has reached parts of Asia, Europe, and the United States.

Wuhan and 13 different towns in Hubei have been locked down in an unparalleled quarantine attempt aimed at containing the deadly respiration contagion, which has spread to several different countries.

Coronaviruses, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), are known to cause respiratory illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

These diseases could be transmitted between animal and human, or from human to human, WHO said.

ALSO READ: Here's What We Know So Far About China's Coronavirus

Medical Staff Struggles to Cope

Liang's death underscored the struggle faced by medical staff in the country as posts showing exhaused workers struglling to cope circulates social - including those in WeChat.

The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission (WMHC) acknowledged in a statement that there had been a scarcity of beds and long outpatient queues inside the metropolis.

WMHC, in response, totally used seven hospitals for the patients. It added that more 3,000 beds would be made available for suspected and confirmed cases of the virus.

Medical employees in Wuhan described to Chinese state media CCTV an incredibly extreme environment, in which they must balance managing the overload of sufferers and suspected patients while also retaining themselves safe.

Wang Jun, a nurse at Jinyintan Hospital, told CCTV one of his colleagues got blisters on the face. "It happened because she had to keep the face mask on tight for a protracted time," Wang said.

China is mobilizing medical staff and other medical resources nationwide to aid Wuhan and control the epidemic.

According to state-run media Xinhua, the first group of 135 medical workers from hospitals in Shanghai flew to Wuhan on Friday night. Shanghai also dispatched 405 medical workers in three groups to Wuhan. An additional staff of more than 400 military medics with experience of battling Sars and Ebola, state media said, who arrived in Wuhan on Friday night.

Chinese authorities on Friday said they would create a makeshift hospital designed to have an area of 25,000 square meters with 1,000 beds is expected to be completed and put into use before February 3. The makeshift hospital is dedicated to merging medical resources to provide isolation and efficient treatment for infected pneumonia patients.

According to country-subsidized newspaper Beijing News, the sanatorium could be a prefabricated, box-kind model that may be built within a short time frame.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday urged people, particularly the youth, to remain non-violent when fighting for a cause and stressed on the need to "hold fast to constitutional methods" of achieving social and economic objectives.

His remarks come in the backdrop of protests against the new citizenship law although he made no reference to them.

In his customary address to the nation on the eve of 71st Republic Day, Kovind cited Mahatma Gandhi's gift of 'Ahimsa' (non-violence) to the humanity and said that his talisman for deciding whether an act is right or wrong "applies to the functioning of our democracy".

He said modern India comprises three organs - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary - which are necessarily interlinked and interdependent.

"Yet, on ground, the people comprise the State. 'We the People' are the prime movers of the Republic. With us, the people of India rests the real power to decide our collective future," he said.

Stressing that both the government and the opposition have "important roles to play", the president said "while giving expression to their political ideas both must move forward in tandem to ensure that development of the country and welfare of its people are promoted consistently".

In his televised address, Kovind said Gandhi's ideals remain relevant in the nation-building efforts.

"It should be part of our daily routine to introspect on Gandhiji's message of truth and non-violence, which has become all the more necessary in our times," he said in his speech.

Recalling the importance of January 26, he said that even before 1947, this day was celebrated 'Purna Swaraj Day' (complete independence day) from 1930 to 1947.

Kovind said though the Constitution gave rights to all the citizens of a free democratic nation, but also placed on responsibility to always adhere to the central tenets of the democracy - justice, liberty, equality and fraternity.

"It becomes easier for us to follow these constitutional ideals, if we keep in mind the life and values of the Father of our Nation. By doing so, we will be adding a meaningful dimension to our celebrations of 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji," he added.

The president said the present third decade of the 21st century will be "the decade of the rise of New India and a new generation of Indians.

"More and more of those born in this century are participating in the national discourse. With the passage of time, we are gradually losing living links with our great freedom struggle, but there is no reason to worry about the continuity of the beliefs that guided it," he said.

Kovind said with advances in technology, the young minds of today are better informed and more confident. "The next generation remains strongly committed to the core values of our nation. For our youth, the nation always comes first. With them, we are witnessing the emergence of a New India," he said.

Concluding his speech by quoting Babasaheb Ambedkar "If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form, but also in fact, what must we do? The first thing in my judgment we must do is to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives", the president said "these words have always lighted our path. These words will continue to show us the way ahead to new glories".

Speaking about security, he said strong internal security is essential for the development of the country and therefore, the government has taken several concrete steps to strengthen the internal security system.

"I have nothing but unreserved praise for our armed forces, paramilitary and internal security forces. Their sacrifices to preserve the integrity and unity of our country present a saga of unparalleled courage and discipline," he said.

Kovind said as India and Indians march forward, "we remain committed to engaging the global community to build a secure and prosperous future for ourselves and for the entire humanity."

He made a mention about the achievement of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and said they were making further progress in Mission Gaganyaan. "... The nation excitedly looks forward to the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme gaining further momentum this year."

Speaking about number of welfare scheme launched by the government, Kovind highlighted the Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan' which has achieved astounding success in such a short time.

He said the same spirit could be seen in other endeavours and added "be it giving up cooking fuel subsidy or pushing digital payments, the common man has made the government programmes his own, making them truly effective."

He said the 'Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana' is a matter of pride, as the target of 8 crore beneficiaries has been achieved. "With this, those in need have access to clean fuel."

About the farmers, he said under 'Pradhanmantri Kisan Samman Nidhi', more than 14 crore farmer families have become entitled to receive minimum annual income of Rupees six thousand which has enabled the farmers, who feed the nation, to live a life of dignity.

He expressed hope that schemes like 'Jal Jeevan Mission', aimed at water conservation, will soon take form of a popular movement.

He said along with the welfare of needy, every policy initiative of the government is guided by the 'nation-first' principle and there is a consistent effort by the government to ensure overall development of each and every part of the country be it Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh, the states in the North-East or our Islands in the Indian Ocean.

The president also spoke about sound education system built in ancient times, with the setting up of great universities like Nalanda and Takshashila. "In India, knowledge has always been considered more valuable than power, fame or riches. In our tradition, educational institutions are respected as temples of learning."

He said the educational system mereged as path of empowerment after a long colonial rule.

"Even though the development of our educational institutions commenced soon after Independence, in an environment of scarcity of resources, our achievements in the field of education have followed a remarkable trajectory," he said, adding "our endeavour is to ensure that no child or youth is denied education. At the same time, we need to strive to reach global education standards by continuous reform of our educational system."

ALSO READ: India, Brazil ink 15 pacts in trade, investment, energy; unveil action plan to broaden ties

ALSO READ: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to begin 4-day India visit from Jan 24

ALSO READ: President Kovind comes to rescue of US couple; avoids high-security to help wedding in Kochi hotel
One of Barack Obamas top advisers as president says voters have a chilling lack of interest in the impeachment case, which he blames on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnells cynical calculation.

David Axelrod, Mr Obamas former chief strategist, met with a focus group of Democratic voters in Chicago on Friday in which he says impeachment didnt come up until more than an hour into the discussion.

When it did, the voters said they were ready to move on because the outcome of the Senate trial - in which Mr Trumps team began his defence on Saturday - was a foregone conclusion.

Speaking to CNN he said: I was in a focus group this morning for the Institute for Politics here at the University of Chicago with some Chicago Democratic voters, and it was chilling to hear them talk about this.

Because impeachment didnt come up, no one volunteered it, for 80 minutes into the focus group, and were right in the middle of the trial.

All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Show all 6 1 /6 All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Alan Dershowitz Dershowitz is a controversial American lawyer best known for the high-profile clients he has successfully defended. Those clients have included OJ Simpson, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein. One longtime Harvard Law associated told the New Yorker Dershowitz "revels in taking positions that ultimately are not just controversial but pretty close to indefensible." Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Ken Starr Starr became a household name in the 1990s as the independent counsel who led the investigation that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment. That investigation began as a look into a real estate scandal known as Whitewater, and eventually led to impeachment after Mr Clinton lied under oath about having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. AP All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Jay Sekulow Sekulow is the president's longtime personal attorney, and, now, personal lawyer in the White House. He has been accused by former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas of being "in the loop" during the Ukraine scandal. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pam Bondi Bondi is the former attorney general in Florida, and a longtime backer of the president's. She made a name for herself in Florida for taking hyper partisan stances on issues, and her penchant for publicity. She is likely to be a prominent public-facing figure during the trial. AFP/Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pat Cipollone Cipollone is the White House counsel, and leading the president's defence team. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Rudy Giuliani While not officially named as one of the president's impeachment lawyers, it is hard to ignore Giuliani's outsized role in this process. The former mayor of New York has been making headlines for months as he defends his client, and for his apparent role in the effort to compel Ukraine to launch the investigation into Joe Biden. We'll see how he figures in the actual trial, which he has said he would like to be a part of. Reuters

"When it came up, they said, you know, it's terrible what he did, the case has been proven, but we know how it's going to turn out, so we're not really that interested, we're ready to move on."

Mr Axelrod said Mr McConnell and the president were banking on that strategy working, describing it as: They can take the hit here, buffalo their way through this and the public will move on. Its a cynical calculation, but it may not be the wrong calculation."

Some 20 Republicans would need to vote with all Democrats to convict the president and remove him from office, a highly unlikely outcome.

Political analyst David Axelrod helped Barack Obama win in 2008 (Getty)

House impeachment managers wrapped up their third day of opening arguments in the impeachment trial on Friday, which has drawn millions of viewers.

But the peak audience of 11 million pales in comparison to the 20 million who tuned in to watch former FBI director James Comey testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2017, while 16 million watched Mr Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen testify before the House Oversight Committee in 2018.
The House impeachment managers have wound up their case for the removal of President Trump from office. With lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff, Dems got the man they deserved. For those of us who followed the rise and fall of the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, Schiff must be the most notorious liar in the United States. He is certainly the most notorious liar to be celebrated by the mainstream media. We dont need no stinkin fact-checkers to understand that Schiff will say and do anything  has said and done anything  in the service of his crusade to destroy Trump.

The mainstream media now celebrate the Schiff variation on the Epimenides paradox in his closing remarks Thursday evening (video below): If right doesnt matterif right doesnt matter, it doesnt matter how good the Constitution is. It doesnt matter how brilliant the Framers were, he proclaimed. Doesnt matter how good or bad our advocacy in this trial is. Doesnt matter how well written the oath of impartiality is. If right doesnt matter, were lost. If the truth doesnt matter, were lost.

Adam Schiff, youre lost.

For an example of the mainstream media celebration of Schiffs remarks, see Sheryl Gay Stolbergs New York Times article. Stolberg, by the way, is the reporter who told me she wasnt interested in looking into the question whether Ilhan Omar had married her brother for her December 2018 profile of Omar because the voters had elected Omar despite their knowledge of the issue.

As the Democrats wound up their case yesterday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler argued that Trump had to be removed from office because he is an all-powerful dictator (video below). And yet Nadler remains at large, so to speak.

In his concluding remarks Schiff cited the CBS News report that a Trump confidant had said that GOP Senators were warned vote against your president, the president, and your head will be on a pike (video below). Schiffs citation reportedly somehow failed to go down well with the at-risk GOP Senators.
Bertie Ahern was difficult to keep up with on a canvass such was his long and oh so very quick step but on a frosty Monday morning last in Sligo, Micheal Martin showed he could be just as adept in the fast canvass stakes as he skipped around the streets buoyed no doubt by a week-end opinion poll that showed Fianna Fail in a commanding lead in a General Election campaign that will be short and sweet.

Of course, like Deputy Marc MacSharry the previous day, the line of the only poll that counts is the one on election day was rolled out but it has to be pleasing nontheless for the Soldiers of Destiny as they plot their way back to government after a nine-year absence. It was also a line borrowed from Marcs father, Ray, former TD and Minister, who also joined in the canvass of the city centre. Hes been handing out leaflets now since 1967, and in the last three elections including this one, to try to ensure the election of his son.

Micheal says its a challenging constituency, but privately he must know that nothing less than the retention of its two seats in Sligo/Leitrim will be seen as a disappointment. Obviously we are aiming to retain those two seats and do better if we can but it is a very challenging constituency, he says.

He says that opinion polls dont necessarily reflect the PR system and the individual battles across every constituency.

Theres a long way to go, its early days. There will be further polls and theyll be different to the one at the week-end.

Still, there was a definite skip in his step as he canvassed for a short period in the centre of Sligo and people genuinely looked happy to meet him.

Issues suddenly spring up during the course of an election and the pension one is certainly one thats rearing its head.

Around Sligo though, issues such as high rents, childcare, 23% VAT rate for shop owners, access to Inishmurray, low wages in the Defence Forces came up and Aidan Mannion of the Record Room told the Fianna Fail leader not to forget the West of Ireland. Martin has that warmth and style about him and he sat down beside many people in restaurants, and in hushed tones listened to what they had to say in a confessional style set up.

Difficult to address personal issues when surrounded by up to a dozen reporters and photographers, but everyone seemed happy with the responses they got from a leader who knows he is under pressure to deliver for the party on this occasion.

It was certainly a quiet Monday morning around Sligo and there was no taxing issues thrown Martins way during his visit which also included trips to IT Sligo and St Angelas College. In terms of post election, he simply says the party needs to increase its number of seats from the present 45.

We want to be the lead party in the next government, he says, the reality for any of Irelands big parties nowadays with overall majorities confined to the history books.

Were the only party that can offer an alternative to the present Fine Gael led government and offer real change. But, obviously we have to do that with other parties, he says.

It depends on whether they want to work with Fianna Fail or not, he points out. And, he once more categorically ruled out a possible coalition with Sinn Fein.

He wouldnt reveal who Fianna Fail would prefer and it really does depend on the numbers game. In political circles theres talk that tentative negotiations are already under way with potential partners.

The Greens and the Labour Party are apparently itching to get back into government and then theres the Independents, either individually or collectively they will be a force of their own to deal with.

Fianna Fail are off to a good start and its not too often a party leader comes to Sligo so soon in a campaign. Their supporters are smiling, probably for the first time since 2011.
Ghana for the past three days has sent a strong signal to potential investors in the United Kingdom and the entire global community as a preferred destination of accessing the African common market coupled with political stability for their business operations.

This was disclosed by His Excellency President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo during his keynote address at the second Ghana Investment and Opportunity Summit (GHIOS) which was held from 21st to 22nd January 2020 at the prestigious London Hilton Hotel on Park Lane.

The theme for the Summit was Accessing the African Common Market through Ghana: Technology, Digitisation and industrialisation.

The Summit attracted more than 500 delegates drawn from both Ghana and the United Kingdom Government officials, captains of industries from both corporate Ghana and the UK, international investor community, venture capitalist, private equity fund managers, the fintech industry as well as global firms.

In his keynote address, the President urged African nations to shed the colonial relic that had witnessed the production and export of only raw materials to its bane and instead, focus on a more productive solution based on massive industrialisation to transform our economies and be part of the global value chain.

The President further mentioned that governments on the African continent must deepen their efforts in building business-friendly environment and promote access to long term capital which keeps the wheels of businesses moving, to create the needed jobs. The President underscored the need for African governments to maintain strong and sustainable economies, adhere to the rule of law and provide fair and equitable social systems in health and education delivery.

The UK Minister for Investment, Graham Stuart, MP, on behalf of the UK government re-echoed the fact that the UK sees Ghana as a strategic partner in Africa and added that bilateral trade increased by 20% in 2019 reaching 1.4 billion which signals a massive potential for commerce between the two countries.

The Minister for Investment of UK delivering his address

The Ghana High Commissioner to UK and Republic of Ireland in his welcome address urged the UK to redouble its partnerships with Africa especially Ghana in the areas where the UK is recognised as world leaders.

The summit sought to leverage on the gains that Ghana has made as a major investment hub in Africa and build appropriate linkages to be part of the international supply chain. Other speakers included Hon.Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, MP, Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister for Finance, Hon.Alan Kyerematen, Minister for Trade & Industry, Minister for Railways, Hon. Joe Ghartey (MP), Hon.Ursula Owusu-Ekruful, Minister for Communications, Hon. Kwadwo Oppong Nkrumah (MP), Minister of Information, Minister of Food and Agriculture, Hon. Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Governor of Bank of Ghana, CEOs of COCOBOD, GIPC, Ghana Export Promotion Authority, Ghana EXIM Bank, President of Ghana National Chamber of Commerce & Industries, and other notable agencies.

The President looking on as EXIM Bank sign an agreement with Credit Suisse

During the Summit, the President witnessed the signing of an MOU between Ghana EXIM Bank and Credit Suisse of a facility worth US$100million.
Kaspersky experts have detected a new online fraud scheme designed to trick people into thinking they are owed compensation. Under the pretext of offering compensation for personal data leaks, scammers instead urge users to buy temporary US social security numbers worth around $9 (PHP 450) each. Victims were found in Russia, Algeria, Egypt and the UAE, as well as other countries.

Privacy and data protection are among the most discussed topics in recent years. This is no surprise, as so have the penalties being handed out to companies that have experienced data breaches. This, as any other attention-grabbing subjects, could only attract from fraudsters who are eager to earn money at the expense of others.

Kaspersky experts have identified a brand new scheme that exploit these issues around privacy. The scheme involves a website allegedly owned by the Personal Data Protection Fund, founded by the US Trading Commission. As stated, the fund issues compensation to those who may have been subject to a personal data leak and is available to citizens from any country in the world.

For those interested, the site offers to check whether user data has ever been leaked. For this, one needs to provide their specific surname, first name, phone number, and social media accounts.

Once this has been done, an alert is shown indicating that the user has experienced a leak, which can include data such as photos, videos, and contact information, entitling the user to compensation of thousands of dollars.

However, fraudsters do not just ask for a user to enter a bank card number and wait for the payment to be credited; users inevitably need to offer their own social security numbers (SSN  a nine-digit number issued to US citizens as well as permanent and temporary working residents).

In any possible scenario  be it the absence of the SSN or entering the correct existing SSN  the website alerts mistakes and offers to sell a temporary one for the $9 (PHP 450) price. Upon agreement, the victim is redirected to this payment form in Russian or English with the purchase price specified in rubles or dollars respectively. The specific form depends on the victims IP address.

The scammers themselves are most likely Russian speakers, as suggested by the request for payments in rubles, plus the suspicious similarity of the scheme to other easy money offers that regularly tempt residents of Russia and the CIS. The e-bait in those schemes varies  giveaways, surveys, secret retirement savings, even a part-time job as a taxi dispatcher  but they tend to be in Russian (as are some of the preceding links), comments Tatyana Sidorina, security expert at Kaspersky.

The bottom line is always the same: the juicy promise of quite a bit of easy money, followed by a demand to pay for an inexpensive service, be it a commission, a securing payment, or a temporary SSN. The new scheme is quite a topical one and is related to offering compensation for data leaks. Once some organizations have started to pay users, fraudsters decided there is a monetary opportunity for them as well, says Sidorina.

In order to stay protected from the potential risks of online fraud, Kaspersky experts advise:


Which car brands are sold most in Luxembourg? The ones that hit the gas? Or maybe the lesser known ones?

As the 56th edition of the Autofestival opened in Luxembourg this Saturday (from January 25th to February 3rd), our colleagues at 5minutes unveil the hit parade of the brands that were registered in 2019.

It is no surprise that the top 3 remain dominated by German quality: Volkswagen made it to first place (12% market share), followed by Mercedes (10%) and BMW (9%), according to the federation of car dealerships, FEDAMO.

German brands go beyond the top 3, as Audi comes in fourth place (7%). Amongst themselves, the German brands already dominate a third of the Luxembourgish car market!

The French are the pedal to the metal

The French won't rest, though. Ahead in fifth place comes Renault, followed by Peugeot. Overall, the French brands have witnessed a increase in numbers in Luxembourg within a year, which also applies to Citroen (10th).

Ford, Skoda and Volvo complete the remaining top 10 in seventh, eighth, and ninth places, respectively.

Tesla also made noteworthy progress featuring in 28th place. 450 vehicles were sold in a year, mostly thanks to its Model 3.

When browsing through the more prestigious brands, 73 Ferrari were counted, along with 74 Maserati, 70 Alpine, 59 Lamborghini, and 6 Rolls Royce.

Finally, among the (almost) unknown, 3 Man, 1 Chyongqing Changan and 1 Tripod were registered...

The global ranking can be found below (you can download it by clicking the image):
When Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi walked into the International Court of Justice last month, she gambled the remaining shreds of her hard-won international reputation on a rebuttal of accusations that her country's military committed genocide against minority Rohingya Muslims.

The court was not persuaded. This past week, it ordered Myanmar to take all possible measures to prevent genocide against the Rohingya.

Suu Kyi's willingness to defend human rights abuses on the global stage was a move more likely aimed at burnishing her nationalist credential at home rather than swaying the court.

For her former admirers, Suu Kyi's defense only underlined her responsibility for failing to at least speak out in defense of the Rohingya.

"With this ICJ ruling, she has suffered a spectacular fall from grace," said Bill Richardson, a former U.S. congressman and U.N. ambassador. She has gone from a Nobel Prize champion of democracy to just another dictator wanting to maintain her power by defending military repression, genocide, and the banishment of the Rohingya.

After taking the helm of Myanmar's nascent pro-democracy movement in 1988, Suu Kyi's brave defiance of military rule, at high personal cost, made her the object of worldwide adulation. She won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, cited for being one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Asia in recent decades.

When her nonviolent struggle finally paid off in 2015 with a smashing election victory by her National League for Democracy party, there was optimism that Myanmar had finally turned a corner after decades of military rule.

Former President Barack Obama commended Suu Kyi for "her tireless efforts and sacrifice over so many years to promote a more inclusive, peaceful, and democratic" Myanmar.

Then came the crackdown.

In 2017, Myanmar security forces launched a counterinsurgency operation in western Rakhine state that, compelling evidence shows, involved mass rape, killings and the burning of entire villages. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh, reluctant to return until their basic rights including citizenship are guaranteed.

As the magnitude of the Rohingya tragedy emerged, 1984 Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu felt compelled to appeal to Suu Kyi.

"My dear sister: If the political price of your ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep. ... We pray for you to speak out for justice, human rights and the unity of your people. We pray for you to intervene," the South African wrote in an open letter.

Richardson is less diplomatic in expressing his dismay.

He had accepted Suu Kyi's invitation to join an advisory board on the Rakhine crisis. But in early 2018, when he suggested to Suu Kyi that two Reuters reporters arrested for exposing abuse by the security forces be released, she reacted furiously. Disillusioned, he quit the board.

I could see the reformer and former champion of democracy ... turning into a power-loving and entrenched leader, he said. "She was becoming an apologist for the military so she could hold onto her power and get reelected. She simply could not tolerate any dissent, even from her longtime friends and supporters like myself."

Political realities play an important role in Suu Kyi's position. Despite her party's landslide election victory, the military retains huge influence in government due to clauses it inserted in the constitution.

To exercise real power, her party must mobilize popular and electoral support.

After she led her country's delegation at the initial hearings last month at the International Court of Justice, she returned to Myanmar to cheering crowds lining the streets.

Undoubtedly, ahead of an election year, her decision to personally defend the case, making it about her, and using it as an opportunity to whip up nationalism, has boosted her public support ahead of an election year," wrote Burma Campaign UK, a lobbying group that had been her ally against military rule.

There's also a more personal aspect to Suu Kyi's predicament, some expert say.

Her father, Gen. Aung San, was the country's independence hero. She was only 2 years old when he was assassinated by political rivals in 1947, a year before freedom from Britain.

"Although she talks a lot about democracy, I think she has a more messianic concept of her present and future role, based on her father's reputation," David Steinberg, a professor of Asian Studies at Georgetown University, said in an email interview last month.

Suu Kyi entered Myanmar's politics in 1988, when she returned from a life spent mostly abroad to nurse her dying mother. She became swept up in a popular revolt against military rule, and shot to fame as her father's daughter with a speech to hundreds of thousands of people.

Her moral authority in Myanmar is predicated on the aura of her father and what he represents, and in the fact that she came in to 'save the country' in 1988 and endured so many years under house arrest, said Jane Ferguson, a senior lecturer in anthropology at The Australian National University.

Asked once in a BBC interview about her reputation as a saintly figure, Suu Kyi replied: I am just a politician. I am not quite like Margaret Thatcher, no, but on the other hand, I am no Mother Teresa either. I have never said that I was. Mahatma Gandhi, actually, was a very astute politician.
FLINT, MI-- Larry Clemons III was found not guilty on Friday, Jan. 24 in a 2015 shooting that sent a woman to the hospital and left one man dead, officials confirmed.

Clemons has been in jail for almost five years waiting for his trial.

Major White, Clemons attorney, said his client is ready to go home, be with his children and girlfriend and enjoy his favorite meal--tacos.

He spent four years awaiting his day in court, finally gets it and is found not guilty. In a sense hes lost four years of his life, White said.

A jury found Clemons not guilty on six counts connected to the August 2015 shooting death of 43-year-old Dewaun Marcell Bell.

White said it took four years for the case to go to trial because of procedural issues. Clemons was charged in one case in 2015, then a second case in 2019.

Both cases allegedly happened in 2015, they waited four years to charge him with the other case, White said. The jury found him not guilty on all charges in both cases. They believed he was suspected in both cases but waited until 2019 to charge him with a second murder."

Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said the cases long delay started in district court. It was then delayed because there wasnt enough evidence to sustain probable cause until 2019, according to Leyton.

The cases were consolidated when Clemons was charged in the second case in 2019.

The trial lasted about two-and-a-half weeks, Leyton said. A jury of 12 people delivered the verdict on Friday.

The jury has spoken and we respect the jurys verdict, Leyton said.

Flint man charged in double shooting that left one dead

Clemons was facing one count of first-degree felony murder, two counts of armed robbery, a count of assault with intent to murder, a count of felon in possession of a firearm and a count of carrying a concealed weapon.

Bell was shot to death inside a home at 1701 Polly Street around 12:56 a.m., according to Flint Journal records. A woman inside the home also was shot and suffered injuries that were not life-threatening, police said.

Police said Bell was shot multiple times and was dead inside the home when officers arrived.
In a statement on Saturday, the Management Center of Iranian Seminaries condemned a cleric who was shown in a video burning Harrison's Manual of Medicine claiming that "Islamic medicine" has made such books "irrelevant".

A Video of the book-burning went viral on Thursday and many outraged social media users very strongly reacted to it. Since then several prominent clerics, as well as officials of the Health Ministry, have also condemned the act and a member of the Iranian Parliament's Cultural Committee, Fatemeh Zolghadr, has suggested that the matter be referred to the Special Court for Clergy.

The cleric named Abbas Tabrizian whose followers use the title of Ayatollah to refer to him advocates treating patients on the basis of Islamic medical tradition, particularly the many sayings of the Prophet and Shiite Imams preserved in books about them since the early Islamic times.

The son of Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi who was once named as a possible successor to the Islamic Republic Supreme Leader, recently said his father died because he trusted Islamic medicine and the so-called Islamic physicians.

Ala Hashemi Shahroudi had said, "The so-called Islamic doctors had convinced my father to ignore what modern physicians said about his illness and how to treat it."

Tabrizian who lives in Qom, the city of seminaries and the religious capital of Iran, has written several books on the so-called "Islamic Medicine" and runs a Islamic Medicine Center. Herbal and natural medicine, as well as other products such as "Islamic toothbrush", "Islamic soap", Sormeh (eyeliner made from natural products), and even "Islamic ink" in various colors, are on offer for sale on the website of the Islamic Medicine Center.

In its statement the seminary management body said the Iranian seminaries condemn the "obscene and ignorant" act of burning [Harrison's Textbook of Medicine which is] one of the major medical texts.

While dissociating seminaries from the incident the statement said the Iranian seminaries and its prominent figures have always encouraged science and called on the "relevant authorities to take action" in the matter.

Drawing a parallel with Alexander the Great's torching of the Library of Alexandria, the burning of books by Moguls and Nazis and other historical instances Deputy Health Minister Alireza Raisi had earlier on Friday condemned the burning of the book which has been translated into Persian and is one of the major textbooks taught in Iranian medical schools.
GORAKHPUR/VARANASI Checking persons at airports alone is not a foolproof measure to check entry of the deadly corona virus into the country. To be absolutely sure, it is essential to establish screening camps at the open Indo-Nepal border, said city-based paediatrician RN Singh, who known for launching a campaign against encephalitis.

It is well known that a large number of travellers, tourists and Lord Buddha followers visit India from Nepal. The risk is high as most of them come from affected countries like China. The health check posts along the porous border will screen them for infection and isolate or keep them under observation during their stay here in India. Till now, there is no such check on these entries. It can cause an epidemic if overlooked, he said.

Dr Singh said that in 2002-03 when SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) broke out, authorities from the immigration department had set up health check posts at Sonauli-Bhairawa border, helping India stop spread of the disease on this side.

Screening begins at Varanasi airport

VARANASI: An alert has been sounded at the Lal Bahadur Shashtri International Airport, Varanasi, on Saturday, in view of the viral outbreak in China. A team of doctors has been deployed at the airport for screening passengers coming from foreign countries, especially China, where cases and fatalities related to corona virus have been reported.

LBS airport director Akashdeep Mathur said, Preventive measures have been taken and passengers (coming from foreign countries) are being screened by a team of medical experts as a preventive measure.

He said that the medical team, made available by the health department, has set up an isolation chamber at the airport. The team is equipped with medicines, he added. In case, a person is found showing symptoms of corona virus, he/she will kept in the isolation chamber and will be treated.
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump's legal team on Saturday will begin its three days of opening arguments disputing the Democrats' impeachment case and arguing that the president did nothing wrong.

Here are the key players on Trump's team:

Lead attorneys

White House counsel Patrick Cipollone: He has been working on impeachment since the House began its inquiry in September and handled most of the White House argument during this week's Senate debate over the rules for the trial. He also faced allegations that he made false statements about the case.

Private attorney Jay Sekulow: He also represented Trump during former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference in the 2016 election. A veteran litigator who has often argued before the Supreme Court, Sekulow also addressed senators during the rules debate.

Also on the team

Attorney and retired law professor Alan Dershowitz talks to the press outside federal court, in New York on Dec. 2, 2019.

Alan Dershowitz: A professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, Dershowitz has often argued Trump's case on television. Dershowitz says he plans to speak to the Senate about constitutional issues surrounding the impeachment case.

Kenneth Starr: The independent counsel whose investigation helped lead to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton during the 1990s, Starr has also defended Trump on television. Officials said plans are being made for Starr and the other additions to the legal team to speak to the Senate.

Robert Ray: The attorney who replaced Starr as independent counsel in the Clinton case. He is also a frequent television commentator on behalf of Trump.

White House adviser and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi arrives at the Capitol in Washington during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020.

Pam Bondi: The former Florida attorney general worked with the White House during the impeachment inquiry.

Jane Raskin: She also worked for Trump during the Mueller investigation.

Eric Herschmann: He is an attorney with the Kasowitz Benson Torres legal firm, which has represented Trump on various cases for the last 15 years.

White House staff members

Patrick Philbin and Michael Purpura: Cipollone's deputies argued before the Senate during the rules fight, challenging the House impeachment process and defending Trump's decision to temporarily withhold aid from Ukraine.

Story continues

House Republicans

Reps. Doug Collins, Mike Johnson, Jim Jordan, Debbie Lesko, Mark Meadows, John Ratcliffe, Elise Stefanik, and Lee Zeldin.

The White House has supplemented its legal team with eight vocal House Republicans who fought the impeachment drive in that chamber. They are not scheduled to argue the case during the Senate trial, but will provide legal advice and make media appearances, officials said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Impeachment trial: Team Trump includes Alan Dershowitz, Ken Starr
Curtis Pritchard admits he felt 'overwhelmed' by the audience's reaction to him when he joined The Greatest Dancer.

The ex-Love Island star, 23, joined the BBC competition in its second season after his stint on the ITV2 dating show, and says he was 'welcomed with open arms' by the cast, crew and the crowds.

Of his first day filming, Curtis told MailOnline this week: 'All I can say is I came out on stage and I have never heard a cheer like it in my life. It was like a rock concert!

Fan-fave! Curtis Pritchard admits he felt 'overwhelmed' by the audience's reaction to him when he joined The Greatest Dancer

'It was one of the craziest feelings ever. I didnt expect that, I didnt know that people liked me that much! Especially because it was the first thing I did after I left the Love Island villa, so I had no idea. It was overwhelming.'

The Greatest Dancer features dance captains in the form of Oti Mabuse, Matthew Morrison, Todrick Hall and Cheryl, with Curtis' brother AJ claiming the crowd's reaction to Curtis was bigger than any of the others.

He told MailOnline in a seperate chat: 'I went to see The Greatest Dancer when it was filmed in Birmingham. And they announced the show's judges' names and then Curtis' name. The crowd went wild. It was a louder cheer than even Cheryls!'

Curtis has taken the role of the receptionist on the show, despite being a professional dancer himself.

Bigger than Chez? The crowd's reaction to Curtis was bigger than any of the others, including Cheryl's [pictured]

Of his first day filming, Curtis told MailOnline: 'All I can say is I came out on stage and I have never heard a cheer like it in my life. It was like a rock concert!'

'It's incredible to be a part of. As the receptionist, the stories I have heard from some of the contestants coming in have been incredible. It's been so amazing to get to know them and hear what has brought them to dance,' he said.

'The only frustrating thing about the job is that I can't watch them when they go on stage. But I can relate to these people because I have felt the same hundreds of different emotions as they have through my dance career.

'From being a beginner and becoming advanced. The [receptionist] role is perfect for me, I can be a calming influence and calm the contestants down. Be friends with them.

'And even though I can't watch the auditions, when I do get to see them on TV on a Saturday night it's like a whole new thing for me.'

On the panel: The Greatest Dancer features dance captains in the form of [L-R] Oti Mabuse, Matthew Morrison, Cheryl and Todrick Hall

Curtis brother AJ told MailOnline: 'I went to see The Greatest Dancer when it was filmed in Birmingham. And they announced the show's judges' names and then Curtis' name. The crowd went wild. It was a louder cheer than even Cheryls'

No going back! Curtis also admitted that he's 'done' with the world of competitive Latin and ballroom dance

Curtis is still dating Love Island girlfriend Maura Higgins, who is also now a dance enthusiast - taking part on ITV's rival show Dancing On Ice.

'It's a weird thing with Maura because I am used to being on the other side of it as the pro,' he explained.

'When I was on Dancing With The Stars in Ireland, I wasn't the celebrity. And my brother being a Strictly pro - he's the dancer, not the celeb. But Maura is on Dancing On Ice as the celeb. It's the opposite. So it's like seeing a whole new side of it for me.'

Curtis gushed about Maura, and how committed she is to her skating endeavors.

Coupled up: Curtis is still dating Love Island girlfriend Maura Higgins, who is also now a dance enthusiast - taking part on ITV's rival show Dancing On Ice

Like a duck to frozen water: Curtis gushed about Maura, and how committed she is to her skating endeavors

He went on: 'People think dance is so easy! It's not. It's a whole new experience for Maura and she is doing it so well. She is investing in it and losing herself in it.'

Curtis also admitted that he's 'done' with the world of competitive Latin and ballroom dance.

'Dancing is in my blood, and I will always be around it 'til the day I pass. But I am not going to be competing in the ballroom and Latin world anymore,' he said.

Although Curtis was sure to point that he felt Dancing With The Stars was 'performing' rather than 'competing' - which means he's sure to not turn down Strictly if the offer ever comes his way...

The Greatest Dancer airs Saturday at 6:30PM on BBC One.
This is first picture of the 49-year-old Abdullah in public domain after five months of captivity. (Photo Credit: Twitter)

New Delhi:

An almost unrecognisable photograph of detained former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah surfaced online on Saturday triggered reactions of awe and anger among netizens, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said it pointed to a "very disturbing fact" about the government.

This picture points to a very disturbing fact about the central government. A former CM, who is also a former Union minister, has been detained for months without any charge. And he and his party have been the biggest votaries of India, Yechury said, retweeting a post that had Abdullah's photograph.

This picture points to a very disturbing fact about the central government. A former CM, who is also a former Union Minister, has been detained for months without any charge. And he and his party have been the biggest votaries of India. https://t.co/1sbSfOwQZo  Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) January 25, 2020

Abdullah is among the three former chief ministers of the erstwhile state who continue to be in custody since August 5 when the Centre abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and divided it in two union territories.

This is first picture of the 49-year-old Abdullah in public domain after five months of captivity. It showed him smiling in a snow covered jacket and sporting an unkempt salt-and-pepper beard.

"I could not recognize Omar in this picture. Am feeling sad. Unfortunate that this is happening in our democratic country. When will this end," Mamata Banerjee asked on the micro-blogging site.

I could not recognize Omar in this picture. Am feeling sad. Unfortunate that this is happening in our democratic country. When will this end ? pic.twitter.com/lbO0PxnhWn  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) January 25, 2020

Congress leader Milind Deora tweeted that successive Indian governments have benefited richly from Abdullah's economic and political views.

"...Muting nationalists like him made our national discourse poorer. Complete normalcy must be restored soon," he said.

My friend @OmarAbdullah was detained on August 4th, 2019.



Successive Indian governments have benefited richly from Omars economic & political views. Muting nationalists like him made our national discourse poorer.



Complete normalcy must be restored soonhttps://t.co/D98u4CpSmL  Milind Deora aaaaaa aaaaa (@milinddeora) January 25, 2020

Congress spokesperson Salman Soz said that after seeing Omar Abdullah's "leaked" photo, some were asking the NC leader to come back on Twitter and carry on as usual.

"It's as if he is off on a holiday. The govt illegally detained him (and others), judiciary played along, most media asked no questions. You are complicit," he said on twitter.

After seeing @OmarAbdullahs leaked photo, some are asking him to come back on Twitter and carry on as usual. Its as if he is off on a holiday. The govt illegally detained him (and others), judiciary played along, most media asked no questions.



You are complicit.  Salman Anees Soz (@SalmanSoz) January 25, 2020

"How bad must it be that we are feeling happy just to see a smiling pic of the former CM of J&K @OmarAbdullah. Would truly be a happy moment when he and the rest are out and about, not under house arrest, hear them speak and read his tweets. Till then just the pic brings hope!," Shiv Sena Deputy leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said.

Omar and two former chief ministers -- his father Farooq Abdullah and political rival Mehbooba Mufti -- were detained along with a large number of politicians, activists, lawyers on August 5 under section 107 of Code of Criminal Procedure.

The stringent provision allows local law enforcement authorities to put a person in preventive custody for a period of six months if that person is suspected to commit a breach peace or disturb public tranquillity.

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Thanks to her role in US legal drama Suits, Meghan Markle is no stranger to raunchy scenes. And neither, it seems, is one of her Megxit aides.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Beth Herlihy, 'programme co-ordinator' to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, once played a stripper called Honey in Hollyoaks Later, a racy spin-off from the Channel 4 soap, under her stage name Bethan Coundley.

She also took part in several modelling shoots, including one in 2012 when she posed in a PVC body suit.

Beth Herlihy, 'programme co-ordinator' to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex also took part in several modelling shoots, including one in 2012 when she posed in a PVC body suit

Beth, 33, put her acting days behind her in 2016 when she was hired as an events manager with the Royal Foundation, the joint charitable vehicle for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Sussexes

Beth, 33, put her acting days behind her in 2016 when she was hired as an events manager with the Royal Foundation, the joint charitable vehicle for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Sussexes.

After the Sussexes split from the foundation in 2018, Beth remained with Harry and Meghan but is not thought to have had a significant role in the move to North America.

After the Sussexes split from the foundation in 2018, Beth remained with Harry and Meghan (pictured) but is not thought to have had a significant role in the move to North America

There is speculation that she helped organise the Duchess's meetings in Vancouver earlier this month, including a visit to a women's shelter.

The Sussexes' spokesman declined to comment.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Get Jonathan Bernsteins newsletter every morning in your inbox. Click here to subscribe.

After two days of the Senate impeachment trial, its time for one cheer for that much-maligned group, Senate Republicans who are not always knee-jerk defenders of President Donald Trump.

Only one cheer. The trial leaves much to be desired. The request for witnesses and documents made by the impeachment managers from the House of Representatives should be a no-brainer, not something to maybe possibly be granted down the road.

And yet when the Washington Posts Robert Costa reported that Republicans were looking to Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee as a key figure on the question of whether there would be enough votes to allow witnesses to be called, I noticed that the reactions on Twitter were united in assuming that Alexander would ultimately do whatever Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wanted.

I have plenty of criticisms of Alexander and other supposed defenders of the Senate. They have allowed Trump to treat Congress with contempt. Theyve approved clearly unqualified nominees. Theyve failed to use their leverage to push Trump to give up his lawless ways.

But Ive watched two days of the impeachment trial so far and Im sure of one thing: Its not what Trump wanted. Its almost certainly not what McConnell wanted.

In fact, its not what I and some others feared  a full-on show trial focused on smearing former Vice President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and any other Democrat whom Trump wants to target. Theres been a bit of that, and Im sure there will be more. Its what the presidents lawyers want to do with their time. But if those who believe that all Republicans will ruthlessly exploit every opportunity by taking maximum advantage of their partisan power were correct, we would never have had hours and hours of Democratic House managers speaking on the Senate floor, and to the TV cameras, about Trumps malfeasance.

Story continues

Indeed, if it was up to McConnell, I think the only question would be whether he would have dismissed the trial on Day One  or worse. The reporting on McConnell, and just everything we know about him, suggests that the only reason he didnt just throw the whole thing out is that four or more Republicans insisted on something that at least looked like a fair trial. And thats given House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff and the rest of his House manager team a chance to make their case to the nation, whether Republican senators are listening or not.

I dont want to oversell this: The appearance of a marginally fair trial is a pretty minimal thing to grant, especially if eventually the Houses request for subpoenas is denied. Republicans havent pushed back against restrictions on the media. They havent stopped McConnells express-train scheduling, although they did slow it a bit. And of course, theres still nothing close to a guarantee of calling witnesses and securing other evidence. So at this point Im only giving one cheer for whichever Republicans stood up to McConnell (and Trump). But its not nothing.

1. Julie Novkov at A House Divided on the history of U.S. impeachments beyond the presidency.

2. Lori Poloni-Staudinger and J. Cherie Strachan on women running for president.

3. Nate Silver on what the polls are saying after the Jan. 14 Democratic debate.

4. Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux on Elizabeth Warren and electability.

5. Nate Cohn on how things look for Bernie Sanders.

6. My Bloomberg Opinion colleague Noah Smith on housing.

7. And Ronald A. Klain and Nicole Lurie on what the U.S. should be doing to lower the risk of infectious-disease epidemics.

Get Early Returns every morning in your inbox. Click here to subscribe. Also subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more. Youll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, the Bloomberg Open and the Bloomberg Close.

To contact the author of this story: Jonathan Bernstein at jbernstein62@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonathan Landman at jlandman4@bloomberg.net

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. He taught political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University and wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.

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The moment when all Schiff broke loose. Photo: Screencap/C-SPAN

A Trump confidante tells CBS News, the network reported Friday, that Republicans senators have been warned, vote against the president and your head will be on a pike. That night, Adam Schiff quoted the report in his closing oration arguing for President Trumps removal from office. At that point, all hell promptly broke loose. At least one Republican senator shouted out that it wasnt true, and several registered bitter complaints afterward.

Thats where he lost me, said Lisa Murkowski. Whatever gains he may have made, he lost all of it  plus some  tonight, added John Barrasso. James Lankford shared his dismay in the most fulsome terms. I was visibly upset with it, he said, oddly describing his internal feelings from the perspective of someone looking at himself from the outside. The whole room was visibly upset on our side  thats insulting and demeaning to everyone to say that we somehow live in fear and that the president has threatened all of us.

.@RepAdamSchiff "CBS News reported last night that a Trump confidant said that GOP Senators were warned 'vote against your president, the president, and your head will be on a pike."



Watch full video -- https://t.co/3kpzsWQzah pic.twitter.com/1EJJxWo5Zl  CSPAN (@cspan) January 25, 2020

It is obviously impossible to gauge the sincerity of a persons umbrage-taking. The senatorial ego is notoriously fragile, and it is at least possible that Schiff actually did change some votes in that moment. If that is actually true, however, it would be an extraordinarily damning confession for the Republican senators.

To begin with, the facts of the case provably lie on Schiffs side. He simply quoted a credible news report. All Schiff said was that CBS reported the quote. Did CBS report the quote? Yes  its right there on video. Was CBS report accurate? Schiff of course cant vouch for the authenticity of every media report, and he did quickly add, I dont know if thats true. Republicans senators certainly have no way of knowing the quote is false. CBS source did not say every Republican senator was warned their heads would be on a pike. He merely said Republican senators, which would mean more than one of them, but not necessarily all of them. Maybe nobody delivered this warning to Susan Collins, but Collins has no way of knowing it was not conveyed to any of her colleagues.

It is certainly not as if the line Schiff quoted pushed the known contours of Trumpian behavior. This is an administration that delights in bullying Republicans and intimidating internal dissent. Trump has openly driven Republicans who criticize his behavior, like Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, and Justin Amash, out of the party, boasting that he has ended their careers.

Whats more, the broader notion that Republicans senators are simply afraid to admit Trump acted inappropriately in the Ukraine scandal is widely understood within the party. Even the stalwart Trump defender Brit Hume conceded this month that most Republicans already believe Trump is lying about Ukraine, even if they wont say so. Conservative writer Jonah Goldberg notes that a huge number of Republicans privately believe Trump pressured Ukraine to smear his rivals, but that the offense simply does not rise to the level of justifying removal. [M]any of the lawyers and pundits who carry water for the president in public will concede in private that what Trump did was wrong  either legally, constitutionally, politically, or all three, he reports, I cant tell you how many Republican senators and congressmen Ive talked to  away from a microphone or television camera  who will concede this basic point, even if they have a wide array of views on the wisdom of impeaching the president or the way the impeachment process worked.

Schiffs broader point  that many if not most Republican officeholders know Trump did something wrong, but are afraid to say so out of fear of retribution  is broadly understood within the party.

Of course it is possible sometimes to make a banal point in an offensive fashion. But if you watch that segment of Schiffs speech, he bent over backward to frame it in the most flattering way. What I said in this chamber last night didnt require courage, he said, My views, heartfelt as they are, reflect the views of my constituents. The purpose of the head on a pike anecdote was to highlight the bravery of the Republicans whose votes he was seeking. If anything, Schiffs metaphor gave them too much credit. Throughout history, many people have risked actual decapitation, or something equally ghastly, for speaking out against a leader. He is not asking anything nearly so brave. The punishment they risk by defying Trump is  to lose office and probably become a wealthy lobbyist.

It is striking how much Republicans have made of supposed violations of decorum in this trial. They likewise complained so bitterly about a statement on the first day, by Jerry Nadler, implicating Republicans in a cover-up that presiding justice John Roberts delivered an official rebuke. Roberts has not made any such rebuke of the senators who have violated rules requiring their silent attendance throughout the trial. Susan Collins herself broke the rules by exclaiming her disagreement at Schiff. They have demanded strict enforcement of the unwritten (and often inscrutable) rules of senatorial decorum even as they have openly flouted the written rules.

But assume all of the above is wrong. Assume Schiff lied, or gave offense through some invisible breach of protocol. What would it say if Republican senators vote to acquit Trump, or perhaps vote to exclude evidence, because of their wounded feelings?

The obvious ethical imperative of senators in this case is to judge the case based on the facts. But suppose they were to go outside the four corners of the evidence before them, and let their votes be affected by surrounding rhetorical excess. They maintain that the person whose rhetoric is so egregious that it cant be ignored is  Adam Schiff? Not the man who calls for imprisoning his political opponents, who mocks their bodily appearance, who goads supporters to violence, and demands revenge against the media? It is Schiff, quoting a media report, that has roused them to such indignation that they cannot judge the case fairly?

How convenient for the Republicans, that being accused implicitly of violating their conscience for political expediency should be the very thing that gives them license to violate their conscience for political expediency. It is as if stating the accusation grants them permission to fulfill it.
Mourners gathered at the home of Cameron Blair in Tullymurrihy in Ballinascarthy to pay respects to the student's family today.

Cameron will be laid to rest on Sunday. Bandon Rugby Club and Athletics Club are due to form a guard of honour at the funeral of Cameron, a second-year chemical engineering student, in St Peter's Church in the West Cork town on Sunday.
One of three suspects has been arrested and booked into jail after the shooting Wednesday in downtown Seattle that killed a woman and injured seven other people, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said Thursday.

At a news conference, Durkan expressed condolences to the people injured in the gunfire at the busy intersection of Third Avenue and Pine Street, including a 9-year-old boy, and to the loved ones of the woman who died. No one in our city or country should step out of a coffee shop or get on a bus with fear of violence, she said at the Seattle Police Departments West Precinct.

The woman who died, as well another woman injured, were long-term residents of Plymouth Housing, a prominent homeless services and housing provider, the organization confirmed Thursday. As part of our permanent supportive housing model, our buildings become close-knit communities; these women were like family to many, a statement from the organization said. Our hearts go out to the families, friends, and neighbors of all the victims. We are providing support to our staff, residents, and community partners during this very difficult time.

Police continued to search Thursday for two suspects -- Marquise Latrelle Tolbert and William Ray Tolliver, both 24. The three suspects are believed to have been involved in a dispute outside the McDonalds on Third that resulted in gunfire, according to Police Chief Carmen Best. Three guns were fired, Best said.

Best said the 21-year-old man arrested had been injured in the shooting and was located by police at Harborview Medical Center. Police recognized him in surveillance video, and saw that he had a gun though he was not legally allowed to possess one. He was booked on suspicion of unlawful possession of a firearm.

Know that Chief Best and I, and the entire city of Seattle are working to bring the perpetrators to justice, Durkan said. The mayor said the police department will deploy a mobile precinct near where the shooting occurred in an effort to address violence.

At Thursdays news conference, Durkan also focused on the need to get guns out of the hands of criminals. If this had been a fistfight, eight people would not have ended up at the hospital, Durkan said.

Four of the seven people injured had been treated and released from Harborview as of Wednesday afternoon, officials said. Those who remained hospitalized were recovering: A woman in her 50s who initially had been in critical condition and the 9-year-old boy, who was initially in serious condition, had been upgraded, according to the hospitals. A 32-year-old man was in satisfactory condition.

Two of the people injured were Amazon employees, the company confirmed. They had been outside the companys BlueShift offices, at the Macys building at Third and Pine, when they were shot. The company said its increasing security around the building and offering security escorts between offices and to and from public transportation.

The mayor was out of town Wednesday, in Washington, D.C. at the annual United States Conference of Mayors, when the shooting occurred. She cut her trip short and returned on a plane Thursday morning, a spokeswoman said.

Every resident and every business in our city expects Chief Best, our criminal justice system and me, our mayor, to be accountable, to keep people safe, Durkan said. That is our job and it is one of the most important and fundamental jobs we have.

The shooting during Wednesdays evening commute was the third in downtown Seattle in a little more than 24 hours. It came just a day after a man was fatally shot about a block away, at Westlake Center, and a couple of hours after police shot a man during a narcotics operation in Belltown. Violence has erupted many times before in the blocks around Third and Pine, where shoppers, commuters and tourists converge, bus routes intersect and open-air drug dealing has long been commonplace.

Local authorities have repeatedly sought to tamp down criminal activity along a gritty downtown stretch that some call The Blade by boosting patrols, carrying out mass arrests and moving bus stops. But such initiatives, launched every couple years by a series of Seattle mayors, havent yielded permanent changes.
BAGHDAD  Iraq cracked down on anti-government demonstrators who have been occupying key public squares for months, killing four demonstrators Saturday in a country reeling from political turmoil and violence.

Security forces set fire to protesters tents in southern Iraq and reopened public areas in Baghdad just hours after a powerful Shiite cleric dealt a major blow to the movement by withdrawing his support, prompting his followers to leave the camps.

Security forces fired tear gas and live rounds to disperse protesters in an operation to clear two squares in Baghdad, killing one and wounding 44, officials said.

Three protesters were shot dead in the southern city of Nasiriyah after a day of altercations between protesters and security forces on a highway connecting the province to oil-rich Basra in the south.

Activists said the presence of cleric Muqtada al-Sadrs followers and his militia group had shielded the protesters. With that cover gone, many in the 4-month-old movement feared the worst.

Al-Sadr withdrew support after tens of thousands of his followers staged a separate anti-U.S. rally Friday in a nearby Baghdad neighborhood. A representative of the cleric said the protesters insulted those participating in the anti-U.S. rally and even obstructed access to the one in southern Iraq.

The succession of events come during a political clash over naming the next prime minister, and they sent a clear message to elites: Iraqs streets were al-Sadrs domain.

The protests have been critical of government corruption, high unemployment and Iranian influence in Iraqi politics. Crackdowns by security forces have killed at least 500 protesters since Oct. 1.

Iraq also has been roiled by U.S.-Iran tensions that reached fever pitch when an American drone strike this month killed top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani outside Baghdads airport.

Al-Sadr accused the protesters of being foreign paid tools. But spokesman Sheikh Salah al-Obaidi said al-Sadrs followers will be neutral, not with them or against them.

In Baghdad, key squares and roads that had been a focal point of protest violence reopened for vehicle access, according to a statement from the Baghdad Operations Command.

Samya Kullab and Qassem Abdul-Zahra are Associated Press writers.
January 24, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - Dear Sister:



One might have hoped that, by this hour, the very sight of chains on black flesh  would be so intolerable a sight for the American people, and so unbearable a memory, that they would spontaneously rise up and strike off the manacles. But, now, more than ever, Americans appear to measure their safety in the chains and corpses of others. And so, Newsweek, can put you on its cover, chained.



You look exceedingly aloneas alone, say, as the Jewish housewife in the boxcar headed for Dachau, or as any one of our ancestors, chained together during the ocean passage. 



Well. Since we live in an age in which silence is not only criminal but suicidal, I have been making as much noise as I can, here in Europe, on radio and TV. In fact, I have just returned from a land, Germany, which was made notorious by a silent majority not so very long ago.  Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter

Let me put it this way. As long as white Americans take refuge in their whiteness they will allow millions of other people to be slaughtered... So long as their whiteness puts so sinister a distance between their own experience and the experience of others, they will never feel themselves sufficiently worthwhile to become responsible for themselves. As we once put it in our black church, they will perish in their sinsthat is, in their delusions.  [Emphasis added]



Now we do feel ourselves sufficiently worthwhile to change our fate and the fate of our children!  We know that a person is not a thing and is not to be placed at the mercy of things. We know that air and water belong to all mankind and not merely to the wealthy. We know that a baby does not come into the world merely to be the instrument of someone elses profit. ..



My dear sister Angela, some of us, white and black, know how great a price has already been paid to bring a new consciousness. If we know that, then we must fight for your life as though it were our ownwhich it is. We must render impassable with our own bodies the corridor to the gas chamber. For, if they take you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night.



Therefore: peace.



Brother James

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Fingal County Council is delighted to announce the official opening of the Casino Model Railway Museum, Malahide following the completion of a 4m restoration programme on the historic Casino building and conservation of the Fry Model Railway Collection.

The Casino building which occupies a prominent position at the entrance to Malahide is the only cottage Orne of this type in Fingal and is of significant historical importance to Fingal's architectural heritage.

It has been carefully conserved, restored and extended to become a modern visitor attraction that is now the permanent home of the Fry Model Railway collection which is also of great historical importance not only to the people of Malahide but to model train enthusiasts worldwide. The carefully conserved collection is truly a national treasure that will now be displayed permanently for future generations to appreciate and enjoy.

As well as the Fry Model collection, the museum will also accommodate a large modern model railway layout depicting several railway scenescapes in Ireland, interactive displays, soundscapes, an education and exhibition space and historical interpretations and memorabilia from Irish Railways.

The project which has cost approximately 4m to deliver has been funded through Fingal County Council's capital programme and a generous donation of 1.5m from the late Mr Micheal Gaffney of Malahide

The official opening of this unique and very special visitor attraction by Mayor of Fingal Cllr Eoghan O'Brien marks the culmination of a project that first began over a decade ago and will be a valuable addition to the already extensive and impressive portfolio of heritage properties owned by Fingal County Council.

Fingal County Council's Chief Executive AnnMarie Farrelly, County Architect Fionnuala May and Director of Economic, Enterprise and Tourism Development Emer O'Gorman, were present at the well-attended opening in addition to local councillors, elected representatives and members of the local community.

Mayor of Fingal Cllr Eoghan O'Brien said: 'I am delighted to be here today to officially open the Casino Model Railway Museum, which has been beautifully conserved and restored. The redevelopment of the Casino has been one of the most eagerly-anticipated projects in the Malahide area so it fills me with pride to be able to stand here today to open this wonderful heritage property.

'It goes without saying that the Casino Model Railway Museum will be a spectacular amenity for local and visitors, both young and old, to enjoy for years to come. I would like to pay tribute to the Malahide Group, comprising GV Wright, Colette Smith, Michael Howard, Matt Ryan Jnr, Nora Owen, Matt McNulty and Alfie O'Dowd, who worked tirelessly over the years to ensure this project got to this point today.'

The Mayor also commended Fingal County Council for investing significantly in the project, and paid tribute to the late Micheal Gaffney for his generous donation towards the restoration of the building.

Fingal County Council Chief Executive AnnMarie Farrelly said: 'The restoration and redevelopment of the Casino building has been a major capital project for Fingal County Council and I am delighted to be here today at the official opening of our newest heritage property. This is a truly wonderful day for the Malahide area, and indeed Fingal as a whole, and I have no doubt that the Casino Model Railway Museum will become a popular tourism attraction going forward. The Casino is a unique property and the meticulous restoration and conservation work will ensure that the public will get to enjoy this modern visitor attraction accommodation in such an architecturally significant and historic building.'

The Casino Model Railway Museum is now open to the public and information can be found at www.modelrailwaymuseum.ie/
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- After a livestock-truck crash on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge nearly paralyzed the entire borough Thursday morning, commuters, residents and local politicians were left wondering what would happen should Staten Islanders need to evacuate.

To address the issue, Councilman Steven Matteo (R-Mid-Island) penned a letter to Deanne Criswell, the commissioner of New York City Emergency Management, asking to discuss possible safety measures to put in place in case another large-scale incident were to happen.

Do we have any plans in place to manage the evacuation of more than 400,000 residents quickly and efficiently if some worst-case scenario were to take place that necessitated such an exodus? Matteo wrote in the letter. If such an evacuation plan does not currently exist, I believe it is critical that we form one.

Matteo continued that the meeting would be a good chance for him to have a general discussion with representatives from Emergency Management about possible plans that are put in place when major emergencies happen on the Verrazzano.

While I understood the substantial challenge a mass evacuation from Staten Island would pose, [Thursday morning] debacle demonstrated once again the stark reality of how vulnerable we are as a borough, and, if nothing else, should impress some urgency into getting this conversation started, Matteo said.

Following the letter, NYC Emergency Management scheduled a meeting in early February for Criswell and Matteo to discuss evacuation plans, a spokesperson for the agency told the Advance.

The meeting will be focusing specifically on the plans related to Staten Island, the spokesperson said.

The City of New York has scalable evacuation plans for various emergency scenarios throughout the five boroughs, according to the spokesperson."

In the case of an emergency where there is a need for an evacuation  whether large or small  we have plans in place to work with all New York City and regional partners to maximize the use of functional roadways and to utilize all transportation options, to ensure that those impacted are able to relocate to safety," the spokesperson added.

Thursdays crash was reported at 4:32 a.m., and all Brooklyn-bound lanes on the upper level were closed around 4:45 a.m., with two heavy-duty tow trucks involved in removing the vehicles from the span, according to an MTA spokesman.

One of the trucks was carrying 12 lambs, four calves, three sheep and two goats to be transported to a slaughterhouse, according to an Animal Control Center (ACC) spokeswoman.

After the crash, the ACC spokeswoman said the slaughterhouse sent a truck to pick up animals that appeared healthy. Twelve lambs, three calves and two goats were swooped up; however, in addition to the one deceased animal, two sheep and one calf, which were injured, were left at the scene.

ACC vets examined and treated the three injured animals before they were picked up by Skylands Sanctuary  a rescue and sanctuary in New Jersey for animals in dire circumstances.

Shortly after the crash, politicians and activists introduced a new legislation aimed at protecting animals involved in an accident.

The legislation will require livestock headed to slaughterhouses to be automatically re-directed to sanctuaries when they are involved in a car crash, Councilman Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn) confirmed to the Advance.

Brannan said the crash on the Verrazzano inspired" him and Councilman Fernando Cabrera (D-Bronx) to introduce the legislation, he wrote on Twitter.

A spokeswoman for Voters for Animal Rights told the Advance the advocacy group had been discussing the legislation with the councilmen for a long time.

These animals have suffered enough, said Allie Feldman Taylor.

Taylor added that animals are often packed in trucks where there is no temperature control and no light and when there is a crash, those who transport the animals do not take responsibility for their care.

Its time there is a legislation to hold them accountable, Taylor said.
Telangana: Gay couple enter into wedlock, say it has sent out a message

Telangana Municipal Election result shows people's endorsement of TRS's programmes: KCR

India

pti-PTI

Hyderabad, Jan 25: The results of the elections to 120 municipalities and 10 municipal corporations, in Telangana showed ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is set to make a clean sweep. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said that the result is the people's endorsement of the welfare and development programmes carried out by the TRS government, as counting of votes progressed on Saturday.

It also won five of the nine Municipal Corporations and was leading in remaining four. Congress and BJP gave a tough fight but ultimately the TRS candidates won across the state.

The Telangana State Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements for the exercise. Polling for 120 municipalities and nine corporations in the state was held amid tight security on January 22 and 24.

According to official sources, 40 per cent of voters exercised their franchise in the municipalities while that of municipal corporations was 58.83. Aiming at continuing its impressive performance, the TRS led a spirited campaign in the run-up to elections, under the direction of its working president and minister K T Rama Rao.

Kashmir shutdown: 2G data services, broadband restored in the Valley| OneIndia News

The opposition Congress and BJP too sought to put their best foot forward. The TRS bagged all the 32 Zilla Parishads in the rural local body elections held last year and was hopeful of continuing its impressive performance in the municipal polls, party sources said.

TRS has been successful at the hustings after having returned to power with a massive majority in the assembly polls held in December, 2018. It put up a decent performance in the Lok Sabha polls winning 11 out of the total 19 seats, though it suffered an unexpected setback in Nizamabad assembly seat, which it failed to retian.

The BJP made surprise gains in the Lok Sabha polls, securing four seats. TRS had won the Huzurnagar Assembly constituency bypoll held in October last year where by-election was necessitated after state Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy quit following his election to the Lok Sabha.
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh (UP) police will bid adieu to legendry British-era .303 rifles after over 75 years of service, on Republic Day on Sunday. For those who had a long association with the weapon, its decommissioning from the force will mark the end of an era.

Former director general of police (DGP) Brij Lal said that .303 rifles were the workhorse of UP police, always giving the desired result, ever since they were introduced in UP Police in 1945.

If there was an award for guns on the basis of their performance, .303s or bolt action rifles would have certainly bagged one, he said.

Lal, who had successfully undertaken many operations and had neutralised several dreaded dacoits and gangsters, said, The main reason behind success of this weapon could be its ability to sustain UPs rough terrain and work well even in mud, water and other extreme conditions we often face.

In his long tenure in UP police, Lal saw many gangs of the 90s but none could challenge the .303 rifles. During my posting in Pilibhit district (1986-88) as superintendent of police (SP), we learnt that some militants associated with Harjinder Singh Jindas group dropped their bank robbery plan when they learnt that our constables were equipped with .303 rifles, he recalled.

The .303 fan list also includes constables. Saroj Kumar Mishra, who was inducted into UP police force as a constable in 1982, said, In those time, patrolling was done on bicycles. Carrying the approx. 5kg-weapon on the bicycle was quite inconvenient. But over the years, my perception towards the rifle changed and this weight became a part of my life.

My .303 is my first love and it will be missed, said Saroj, presently posted as sub inspector (SI) with Gagha police station in Gorakhpur district of UP.

Saroj said it was not only its accuracy but also its sturdiness that made the .303 a favourite among constables. Even after 20 rounds of back-to-back firing, the weapon is as smooth as butter.This is perhaps what we often miss in the modern day weapons.

ADG logistics VK Maurya said that on January 26, the British era rifles would be decommissioned after display during the Republic Day parade.
Voting is ongoing in Essien Udim local government area of Akwa Ibom State, where a Senate rerun involving the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, is taking place.

Mr Akpabio lost his bid to return to the Senate in 2019 when the Independent National Election Commission declared Chris Ekpenyong of the Peoples Democratic Party winner of the poll.

After complaints of election fraud and a petition to the tribunal, the former Senate minority leader who was later appointed minister, said he was no longer interested in a repeat poll, but INEC rejected a replacement of candidate.

The electoral body is also conducting reruns for the state ad federal constituencies in the area.

Voting opened Saturday despite the withdrawal of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the state assembly and the House of Representatives rerun elections.

Withdrawing

Giving reasons for his withdrawal, Nse Ntuen, the APC candidate for the Essien Udim State Constituency election claimed he won 2019 election and that the Court of Appeal did not order for a rerun election.

READ ALSO:

Mr Ntuen said, in a statement on Friday, that he has filed a suit in court to compel INEC to release my Certificate of Return and disembark from conducting any election without further delay.

On his part, Emmanuel Akpan, the APC candidate for the Ikot Ekpene/Essien Udim/Obot Akara Federal Constituency election, said he withdrew from the rerun because he did not trust the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Mike Igini, to organise a free and fair election.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the ruling party in Akwa Ibom, in its response to the development, said the APC was already accepting defeat before the election.

From the tone of his statement, it is clear that both Nse Ntuen and his lawyers have either not read the judgment of the court of Appeal, or are completely ignorant of the language and consequence of that judgment, the PDP spokesperson in the state, Ini Ememobong, said in a statement on Friday.

But even at that, the various courts that they have approached both in Uyo and Abuja, via motion exparte, seeking to stop the rerun election of tomorrow, have dismissed their suits, with very harsh words.

For example, at the Federal High Court sitting in Uyo yesterday, the court frowned at the attempt by Nse Ntuen and his lawyers to turn the court to a circus and angrily dismissed his motion, Mr Ememobong said.

Rerun

Meanwhile, voters have turned up at different polling units across the local government area for the elections.

Apart from a few skirmishes, accreditation of voters and voting is going on peacefully in the area.

Thugs, assisted by the dreaded State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian police, prevented some journalists from entering the Independent High School, Ukana, until the intervention of the police spokesperson in the state, Nnudam Fredrick.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal read out the Preamble of the Constitution at the Republic Day celebration at Chhatrasal Stadium here on Saturday and asserted that the responsibility of protecting the Constitution lies with citizens of the country.

"We were gifted the Constitution by those who got freedom for the country by making huge sacrifices. It is the responsibility of 130 crore population of the country to protect it. If the Constitution is protected, the country will sail through difficult circumstances easily," he said in his address at the 71st Republic Day celebration by the Delhi government.

Citing the Model Code of Conduct ahead of Delhi Assembly elections, Kejriwal kept his address short.

"There are lots of conversations I have with you every year on Republic Day but due to the Model Code of Conduct, I will not be able to (do so) this year," he said.

The Chief Minister concluded the address with recital of "ham honge kamyab" song and slogans of "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Inquilab Zindabad".

Assembly elections in Delhi will be held on February 8.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry are all that anyone can talk about these days. Granted, it has been a whirlwind few weeks for the couple. First, they wanted to step down from their roles as senior royals and then they were forced to drop their HRH titles completely and now the two have retreated to Canada.

Meghan Markle | DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS  WPA Pool/Getty Images

Since all of this began, people have been speculating about what caused the royals to step away from everything that Prince Harry had ever known. But now, we might get to hear about it all directly from Meghan.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announce they are stepping down

After months of getting bashed by the media, Meghan and Harry announced that they no longer wanted to be full-time working royals.

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 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.

Unfortunately, that was not the way that things worked out after Prince Harry met with the Queen.

Harry and Meghan will no longer be working royals

Prince Harry was required to meet with the Queen, Prince Charles, and Prince William to discuss his role in the family. Unfortunately, they came to the conclusion that Harry could not have his cake and eat it too.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are grateful to Her Majesty and the Royal Family for their ongoing support as they embark on the next chapter of their lives, Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

As agreed in this new arrangement, they understand that they are required to step back from Royal duties, including official military appointments. They will no longer receive public funds for Royal duties.

With The Queens blessing, the Sussexes will continue to maintain their private patronages and associations. While they can no longer formally represent The Queen, the Sussexes have made clear that everything they do will continue to uphold the values of Her Majesty.

Within this new arrangement, the Sussexes will have to drop their HRH titles and will repay the Sovereign Grant for the money spent renovating their home at Frogmore Cottage.

Will Meghan Markle be on The Ellen DeGeneres Show?

Everyone has been wondering what Meghans side of this whole story is. And according to reports from The Daily Mail, we might just get to hear it sooner rather than later, on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Ellen and Meghan have already discussed a sit-down interview, a source from Ellen told the outlet. Thats been in the works for quite some time now.

DeGeneres and Meghan have been friendly for years, which is probably why the Duchess felt comfortable scheduling this interview with her.

Ellen has a way of making things happen, another source said. Plus Ellen has made it clear to her staffers that Meghan is one of the nicest, most real people shes ever met and that Harry is just the same.

She would want a sit-down with the both of them together. She wants her fans to see what she already knows to be true.
This article was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba  A heated dispute erupted on Friday at the pretrial hearings for the accused conspirators in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks over the use of the word torture to describe C.I.A. interrogations, and the military judge declared that he would need to consider the question before the start of the death-penalty trial next year.

The judge, Col. W. Shane Cohen of the Air Force, said it would be his role to decide before the trial whether what happened to the defendants in the C.I.A. prison network was torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Jury selection is scheduled to start on Jan. 11, 2021.

The opinion of the Department of Justice, the Attorney General or even the President of the United States is not binding on me, Colonel Cohen said, referring to legal memos from the Bush administration that authorized brutal interrogation techniques like waterboarding that are now outlawed as torture.

With such a finding, a military commission judge could decide to exclude certain evidence from the trial, dismiss the case or prevent the prosecution from seeking the death penalty.
Using a phony, largely scripted blockade of the Co-op Refinery Complex (CRC) in Regina, Saskatchewan as a diversionary backdrop, Unifor has moved to end the bitter, seven-week-long lockout of 750 oil refinery workers on terms wholly or largely dictated by management.

Unifor President Jerry Dias convened a press conference Thursday morning to declare that the union was, in accordance with CRCs demands, dropping all preconditions concerning the maintenance of the workers defined-benefits pension plan. Emphasizing that the union is now ready to dramatically alter its bargaining stance, Dias pleaded for the company return to the bargaining table.

We communicated with them (refinery management) on Tuesday night said Dias, that the preconditions that we had put on the bargaining table, we were now prepared to remove and dramatically alter.

This abject climb-down comes after several days of frenetic activity at the gates of the Co-op Refinery Complex, a subsidiary of the highly profitable Federated Co-operatives Ltd, which once again saw the Regina police acting as enforcers for CRC management.

Prior to this weeks events, refinery management had maintained close to full production since imposing the lockout, through a massive scabbing operation that involved the creation of an operational camp inside the facility and the daily helicoptering in and out of management personnel, supplies and new crews of scabs.

Early in the lockout, two anti-worker court injunctions outlawed any picketing that would significantly impede the steady stream of oil tanker trucks that has moved to and from the refinery with only nominal hindrance.

With Unifor appearing helpless in the face of the court injunctions and the unfettered scabbing operation, Dias along with a phalanx of full-time union officials flew to Regina on Monday and set-up a blockade of the refinery, stopping the movement of all fuel trucks. Late Monday night, fifty police attacked the blockade, manhandling picketers including elderly supporters, one of whom had to be hospitalized. Fourteen union officials, including Dias, were arrested and charged with mischief. Police then dismantled part of the blockade.

On Tuesday, Regina Police Chief Evan Bray denounced the picketers as having no vested interest in our community, characterized the dispute as taking the city hostage, and signaled that more arrests and police violence could be forthcoming.

That same day, the blockade of the refinery was restored by picketers that Unifor was at pains to insist, for fear of running afoul of the injunction, did not include any of the locked-out refinery workers. Leading officials from the Canadian Labour Congress, the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, CUPE, OPSEU and other unions, who had remained silent since the lockout started, now began issuing perfunctory statements of support and booked their plane tickets for an appearance at a scheduled Wednesday plant gate rally.

Ryan Meili, provincial New Democratic Party (NDP) leader of the union-backed parliamentary opposition to right-wing premier Scott Moe, also broke his silence on the dispute, and finally and rather uncomfortably appeared at the CRC picket line. Refusing to denounce the company for the lockout or criticize the anti-worker actions of the courts and police, Meili called on the Saskatchewan Party-led government to intervene in the dispute and press for the company and union to return to the bargaining table.

In fact, the Moe government has been playing a key role, backing managements concessions drive, since before the lockout began. In November, the provincial labour minister publicly declared the government had no objection to CRCs contingency plansi.e. its scab operationbut stood ready to use the full legislative tools available if ever worker job action succeeded in crippling the refinerys output.

After his release from some 14-hours in police detention, Dias made a show of defiance by returning to the CRC picket line Tuesday. Then, calculating he had at least to some degree shored up the unions credentials with the locked-out oil workers, he privately informed management Tuesday evening of Unifors pension climb-down.

The following day, a Regina court announced a $100,000 fine against Unifor based on purported December violations of the first injunction. The company is now lobbying for additional penalties for the current blockade.

Thursdays public announcement by Dias that he has jettisoned the just demands of the membership was greeted by the company with derision. Only, insisted CRC, if Unifor unilaterally disarmed and removed the blockade of the refinery and allowed fuel trucks to again move into the complex unimpeded, would it consider re-starting negotiations. Smelling blood in the water, Co-op management is demanding that Dias now perform a full-on strip-tease, surrendering even the fig leaf of credibility that he seeks to maintain before selling out the workers demand that the proposed gutting of their pension plan be stopped.

What are workers to make of all of this? Many have been energized by the blockade, the appearance of national labour officials at their plant gates and the fiery speeches of Dias. Saskatchewan has not seen such a bitter and internationally publicized labour dispute in generations. But in fact, Dias manoeuvres come from the tried and true playbook of the Unifor bureaucracy. Workers in one dispute after another have learned over the years that the arrival of Unifors cavalry signals a concessions-laden kiss of death for their rightful struggles.

Just last fall, Dias suddenly appeared at Windsor, Ontarios Nemak auto parts factory where the union had sanctioned a plant gate blockade, followed by a strike against the companys plan to end production at the facility and throw 180 workers onto the scrapheap. We have an ironclad contract to keep the plant open, he declared and roared that the union wasnt going anywhere. Shortly thereafter, Dias agreed to end the strike and to appeal to the Ontario Labour Relations Boardwhich summarily ruled that the union had accepted language in the contract allowing the company to close.

Workers in Oshawa at the shuttered GM truck plant will recall the short-lived 2008 blockade which proved to be but a prelude to its closure the following year. Only last year Dias was telling the 2,300 workers at Oshawas sole remaining auto assembly plant that Unifor would never countenance its shutdown, then negotiated a plant closure agreement.

Dias announcement that the union at the Co-op refinery will now negotiate a defined-benefit pension plan that will invariably feature significant paycheque deductions and a regressive pension calculator formula that will slash pension benefits is of a piece with this whole history of betrayal.

Workers must face some hard truths. Firstly, the pro-capitalist unions are led by a privileged bureaucracy whose interests are antagonistic to the workers they purport to represent. Rather than serving as organizations of worker struggle, the unions have increasingly integrated themselves into management and imposed concessions and job cuts. Dias proposal to negotiate on the companys terms in Regina must be rejected by the membership.

Secondly, and no less importantly, CRC workers are not merely in a conflict with a particularly ruthless employer, but with the entire austerity agenda of the ruling class. Across Canada, governments of all political stripes are enforcing public spending cuts and gutting workers rights.

Even the most immediate demands of the CRC workers raise the need for a political struggle against the entire establishment. If the workers are to beat back the companys demands and end the lockout on their terms, they must certainly stop all trucks in and out of the facility. But doing so has brought them into direct conflict not just with the company, but with the courts, police and the provincial government.

In order to ensure victory, CRC workers must take the conduct of their struggle into their own hands by forming action committees independent of and in opposition to the Unifor bureaucracy and the unions political allies in the NDP. These committees must broaden the struggle to energy workers across Canada, public servants, teachers, nurses and manufacturing workers, all of whom confront the same attacks on their wages, job security and workplace benefits.

The struggle against CRC, its pension cuts and scabbing operation must become the spearhead of a working class counteroffensive against all concessions, the dismantling of public services, and the criminalization of workers struggles, and aimed at bringing to power a workers government committed to breaking the power of big business and reorganizing socioeconomic life in the interests of working people.
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Trumps lawyers are worried because they have watched the Democratic case against Trump, and they are surprised that it has been so strong and good.

Gabriel Sherman reported in Vanity Fair:

As Donald Trumps defense team prepares to make its first arguments on the floor of the Senate on Saturday, top Republicans are increasingly worried that Trumps lawyers are woefully unprepared to counter Democrats meticulous, fact-based case for removing Trump. In the presidents circle theres not full-blown panicbut theres worry. A lot of Republicans think the Democrats have done a very good job, a prominent Republican who is close to Trumps legal team told me. Its been a lot better than we expected. Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, one of Trumps fiercest House allies, seemingly spoke for many when he blasted Trumps lawyers, telling Politico this week that the Trump teams presentation was worse than an eighth-grade book report.

Trump himself is making the situation worse, both with his rageshe set a 142-tweet record on Wednesdayand his insistence that Republicans buy in fully to his defense strategy. Its really not helpful, the Republican close to the legal team said.

The White House has realized that impeachment is dragging down Trumps reelection campaign, and Trump is thinking about shaking up his staff because Jared Kushner got a Time magazine cover.

Trumps lawyers appeared to be woefully unprepared during the first day of the trial. The presidents defense has no facts to argue, so they are going to spin conspiracy theories and tall tales, but the reality is that they are scared.

The presidents lawyers must not have been paying attention, because Democrats have had a strong case from day one.

Donald Trump is in deep trouble, and the White House is realizing that the political damage from impeachment will linger long after the end of the trial.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Follow Jason Easley on Facebook
Senior officials of South Korea and Canada will meet next week in Seoul to discuss trade and economic cooperation between the two countries, Seoul's foreign ministry said Saturday.

Seoul's Second Vice Foreign Minster Lee Tae-ho will have a meeting with John F.G. Hannaford, deputy minister of international trade at Global Affairs Canada, on Thursday, according to the ministry.

The two sides are expected to discuss progress in efforts to enhance two-way trade and bilateral cooperation in other areas. The South Korea-Canada free trade agreement went into effect five years ago.

The combined trade between South Korea and Canada rose to $11.3 billion last year, compared with $10.3 billion in 2014. (Yonhap)
Demand for food is growing as the population increases and incomes rise in poorer countries. At the same time, fires and floods are becoming more common and temperatures are rising worldwide.

Against this backdrop, good agricultural land is becoming more valuable and top farmers are in demand  those who can improve yields, use less water and show that they are environmentally aware.

The Global Sustainable Farmland Income Trust is designed to give investors access to productive farmland and pioneering farmers around the world.

Ripening rewards: The global farmland trust focuses on crops such as blueberries

The first of its kind, the trust is expected to deliver total returns of 7-8 per cent a year, including dividends and capital growth.

The Trust hopes to float on the stock market at the end of February and investors can subscribe for shares until 25th of that month. Shares will be listed at $1 (77p) each and there is a minimum investment of $1,000 (770).

The company is using dollars because much of its land will be in America and most crops are sold in the US currency.

But the shares will be listed in London and dividends can be paid in sterling or dollars, as investors choose.

The Trust has been set up by a trio with decades of experience between them  Kristof Bulkai, an agricultural investment specialist, Ian Monks, a rural property expert and Sven Miserey, a financier and former banker.

A portfolio of up to 30 farms has already been identified and 18 sites have been earmarked for purchase over the next six to 12 months.

To reduce dependence on any single crop or region, the farms span the world  including Tasmania, New Zealand, Portugal, France and Denmark, as well as the US.

The group is steering clear of commodity produce, such as wheat and soya, focusing instead on fruit, vegetables and nuts, such as lettuce, blueberries and pistachios. There is a vineyard in the pipeline too and a couple of cattle farms, for both beef and dairy production.

Despite the variety, the farms all share certain characteristics. They are near to a long-term, reliable water source, they are environmentally sound and they are well positioned in the market.

That means that surrounding infrastructure is good, they are close to end-buyers, such as supermarkets and they can deliver better than average yields.

Farming is in the throes of significant change. In past decades, the abiding belief was that yields were best improved by doing more  ploughing more, adding more fertiliser and using more pesticide. Today, technology is helping farms to do less and use less.

Sophisticated algorithms can show precisely how much fertiliser and pesticides individual crops need and there is increasing emphasis on disturbing the soil as little as possible because it captures carbon when left alone, so helping to reduce emissions.

Robots are even being developed to weed the earth and pick crops, cutting the need for extensive ploughing and large numbers of manual labourers.

Innovative farmers are adopting this so-called agtech to boost yields, reduce costs and preserve the environment. And the Global Sustainable Farmland Income Trust intends to work with these forward thinkers across its portfolio.

Most of the farms on the Trusts list have been in the same family for generations but they need money to grow and benefit from the latest technological advances. There are also opportunities to buy land from farmers nearing retirement age, whose children are uninterested in agriculture.

Farming developments: Sophisticated algorithms can show precisely how much fertiliser and pesticides individual crops need

Bulkai and his colleagues make good new owners, with their focus on sustainable methods and a wealth of experience in the field. The team is hoping to raise $300million on the stock market and early indications suggest that big institutional investors are keen to subscribe.

Data on US farms going back 40 years shows that they deliver an average annual return of 12 per cent so, if the Farmland Income Trust gets it right, the rewards could be very tempting.

The Trust is targeting dividend income of around 2.5 per cent in year one, as it buys up farms. That income should rise to at least 4.25 per cent within a couple of years, based on rents from tenant farmers.

Managers are hoping to make additional annual payments too, as there will be revenue share agreements with several farms, where the Trust will be entitled to extra cash if crop yields are good. This could take dividend income up to more than 5 per cent.

Midas verdict: The Global Sustainable Farmland Income Trust should deliver healthy returns and provide access to a different type of investment, with a track record of success. For long-term investors, this float merits attention.
With the release of the Phase 1 Report on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry last October, Chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick advised the replacement of dangerous, flammable cladding on residential buildings should be done as quickly as possible and that the programme of remedial work should be pursued as vigorously as possible.

Not only has this not happened, but since the day of the Grenfell fire in London over two and a half years ago, next to nothing has been done by the UKs Conservative government to remove dangerous cladding from the mainly residential buildings that are enveloped in the material.

Spruce Court in Salford in 2017 with only part of its flammable cladding removed

According to government data, more than 400 residential blocks, in both the public sector and private, were found, after testing, to have flammable cladding on them.

Yet as of January 16, at least 315 private and public high-rise buildings in England remain covered in the same Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) that caused the terrible deaths of 72 people at Grenfell. Remediation work has been completed on only 135 buildings, all but one in the public or social sectors, for which just 400 million has been made available since October 2018.

Taking into account the negligible amount of remedial work done so far, between 13,300 and 17,100 households, comprising tens of thousands of people, live in privately-owned homes yet to be made safe.

Last May, the Tory government announced a 200 million Private Sector Remedial Fund meant to handle all at-risk buildings, but as of November 30 only two applications had been approved, with completed applications received for another 29. The applications deadline came and went on December 31.

Thorn Court in Salford in 2017 with flammable cladding only partially removed

Only a single building out of 184 with ACM cladding systems unlikely to meet Building Regulations has received full funding costs.

At the current rate, remediation on public sector blocks covered in ACM would take until October 2022 to finish, and private blocks not until October 2033.

It should be noted that the identification of 400 blocks that need remedial work conceals a far worse crisis, with many thousands more residents affected and their lives in constant danger.

On Friday, BBC News reported that all 11,000 tower blocks in the UK are being tested for ACM type cladding but that the government has released no figures on now many blocks are clad in High-Pressure Laminate (HPL) panels. HPL panels also pose a serious fire risk, and all buildings with it, according to fire experts, should have the panels removed.

HPL is estimated to cover some 440 blocks, dozens of them occupied by students, housing some 26,000 people.

The BBC contacted 209 local authorities under Freedom of Information legislation, and from the responses, it found that one in three high rise residential blocks had some form of cladding. Ninety-nine tower blocks were clad in HPL.

The BBC reported that when considering all buildings the final figure will be much higher. They contacted National Health Service Trusts and found that 75 hospital buildings have ACM cladding and 50 have HPL. A number of councils refused to hand over data. Labour Party-run Tower Hamlets borough in London, that has 700 tower blocks within its borders, replied that it was too early to know how many blocks were affected. Enfield London borough council, also Labour-run, said cynically that to reveal the information would constitute an endangerment to mental health of residents.

Whereas the Tories have banned the future use of ACM and promised its removal on identified blocks, they have virtually ignored other flammable materials and safety hazards, and the complications arising from private sector applications.

The government considers HPL less risky than ACM, but classified it for removal only in cases where it is not paired with fire-resistant insulation. Last October, experts said all HPL should be stripped because the BS8414 fire test for external cladding fails to reflect real world conditions.

They were soon proved correct when an HPL-clad building known as The Cube, housing over 200 students at the University of Bolton, burned down in November. Despite having HPL cladding that should be stripped, the building was not listed for remediation because it was 14cm short of the highly arbitrary 18 metres (six storeys) threshold used by the government to define high-rise structures.

A spokesman for Rockwool, an insulation manufacturer, warned, This fire has underscored that the 18-metre threshold is not good enough, and that all types of combustible insulation and combustible cladding can pose a risk to public safety, not just ACM cladding.

Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack noted that the 18-metre height requirements were based on wheeled escape ladders that have not been in widespread use since the late 1980s, and that restrictions should be reset at 11 metres, reachable by current methods.

Residents in private high-rises across England are finding getting remedial work done extremely difficult. At the Leeds Dock buildings, hundreds of homeowners are facing life-changing bills after demands that they pay for all needed remediation themselves. Letters last month from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) and/or from the senior leaseholders or building owners claimed residents face legal liability.

Describing the situation as a nightmare, high-rise inhabitants told the South Leeds Life they feel trapped, at gunpoint to costs that we cannot control. More than 600 local households of more than 1,000 people are affected in Leeds, but no credible estimate exists of how many of the 17,000 households nationally are faced with these demands. WYFRS have forcibly evicted tenants unwilling to cooperate with this extortion.

Leeds Dock resident Daniel Marquina told South Leeds Life, Most of us are first-time buyers, living here, putting all our savings into the mortgagebut now were facing these very high costs, and its very worrying. I dont understand why we (the leaseholders) have to pay, instead of the building owner. The government has to help us.

The original development companies that built Leeds Dock constructed buildings below regulatory standards and have since been dissolved. Some have claimed that they acted as shell companies to avoid such consequential liabilities. And now that the development is over 10 years old, warranties no longer apply.

Accessing the government remediation fund is immensely complicated. Not only does it exclude needed internal reconstruction, it requires a survey to determine full costs and consultation with all leaseholderssome of whom live abroad or cannot otherwise be reachedto submit a state aid form. During this time their homes cannot be sold as they would not qualify for a mortgage.

Meanwhile, residents must cope with the fear and anxiety of living in unsafe premises. At the Northpoint development in Bromley, tenants have organised waking watches, 24-hour fire patrols, to ensure their building meets local fire service inspections. The situation has raised their annual service charges from 2,000 to 7,000, with total costs of remediation expected to total 70,000 for each flat, or they face breaching tenancy.

In addition, new alarm systems and fire doors are often needed, and sprinklerswhich are a requirement for high-rise buildingshave been labelled non-essential for retrofitting by government ministers.

The constant safety dangers caused by long-term government neglect have led to stress, and in some cases bankruptcy. Disasters and emergencies continue.

On January 13, 584 Kings College London students, many of them studying medicine, received a mass email telling them a fire hazard required them to move. The University, which had made the decision on December 19, refused to provide any more information about the Champion Hill, South London property, but insisted there was no imminent danger.

Photographs suggest the blocks have cladding, leading psychology graduate student Anne Kay to tell the Daily Mail, They didnt officially mention cladding but we basically got an email yesterday explaining they fear there are fire hazards. I feel anxious.

Two days later, on the evening of January 15, students of the 16-storey Lansdown Point building in Bournemouth were provided with the option of moving to other accommodation while their building undergoes remediation. The building houses some 400 residents, including students at Bournemouth University International College.

Inspectors visiting the structure in September 2019 unearthed a series of category 1 hazards, in addition to finding cladding similar to Grenfell, including faulty emergency lighting, fire doors, and faulty sprinkler and fire alarm systems.

The callous indifference of the government in denying thousands of people the right to basic safety since Grenfell has resulted in suffering and anguish. With three additional buildings discovered just this month to have unsafe cladding, residents have serious cause for concern.

Last year, the UK Cladding Action Group surveyed 200 homeowners in 21 buildings. Fully 127 claimed their mental health had been highly affected, 160 experienced stress, and 50 had sought medical help. Some 75 people turned to alcohol and seven to drugs, while 17 others experienced suicidal thoughts.

The governments main response has been limited to reminding others of their responsibilities. A spokesman for the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government recently described the ACM cladding situation as unacceptable, adding, We have written to building owners to reiterate their responsibility in keeping residents safe and we will not hesitate to name and shame those who do not have a clear plan to safeguard their residents.

In Parliament last week, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick had to admit fire safety efforts had been unacceptably slow and continuing problems could lead to a risk of further loss of life. All that will happen is that next month the government will begin to name those responsible for buildings where work has not begun.

In response to Jenricks speech, Labour called the moves too little, at least two years too late. They recommended Prime Minister Boris Johnsonwho carried out mass cuts to the fire service and is one of the main figures responsible for Grenfelltake personal charge of a task force to check high rises and require work to commence!

For further details visit the Grenfell Fire Forum Facebook page.

The author also recommends:

Britains cladding crisis: Socialist Equality Party campaigns at Chalcot Estate in North London

[28 November 2019]
Bernie Sanders has opened up a lead in the latest Iowa poll just nine days before statewide caucuses, as support for Elizabeth Warren wanes.



A New York Times/Siena College poll released Saturday showed the Vermont senator with 25 percent of the likely vote in Iowa, leading all other Democratic presidential candidates by a margin of seven percent.

Sanders has gained six points since the last Times/Siena poll in October, while support for Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and former Vice President Joe Biden has remained steady at 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively, the latest poll showed. He is also leading some other opinion polls in the state.

Sanders' gains come at the expense of his fellow progressive, Massachusetts Senator Warren, whose support dropped to 15 percent from 22 percent in the October poll, the Times reported.

Bernie Sanders has opened up a lead in the latest Iowa poll just nine days before statewide caucuses on February 3. A New York Times/Siena College poll released Saturday showed the Vermont senator with 25 percent of the likely vote in Iowa, leading all other Democratic presidential candidates by a margin of seven percent

Sanders' gains come at the expense of his fellow progressive, Massachusetts Senator Warren, whose support dropped to 15 percent from 22 percent in the October poll, the Times reported

Support for former Vice President Joe Biden (left) and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (right) has remained steady at 17 percent and 18 percent respectively, the latest poll showed

The Times/Siena poll listed seven of the 13 current Democratic candidates, excluding those who are polling below three percent

Iowa voters cast ballots in February 3 party caucuses in the first contest in the state-by-state process of selecting a Democratic challenger to Republican President Donald Trump in the November 3 general election.

Thirteen Democrats are in the race but only seven are polling above three percent - with Minnesota Sen Amy Klobuchar at eight percent and billionaires Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang both at three percent.

Sanders's gains came after a weeks-long controversy over whether he told Warren in a 2018 meeting that a woman could not beat Trump, a charge he has denied.

The Vermont senator this week scrapped three scheduled Iowa campaign appearances to remain in Washington for Trump's impeachment trial, along with three other Democratic senators running for president.

Trump, a Republican, is charged by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives with abusing the powers of his office when he asked Ukraine to investigate Biden, and obstructing a congressional inquiry into his conduct.

The Times/Siena survey of 1,689 registered voters in Iowa was conducted from January 20 to January 23, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 13:16:31|Editor: Lu Hui

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HONG KONG, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong has reported three more cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases here to five.

Respiratory samples of three travelers from Wuhan were tested positive for novel coronavirus. The patients, in stable condition, were under isolation in hospital, according to the Center for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government.

Of the three new cases, the first involved a 62-year-old woman, who arrived in Hong Kong by train on Jan. 19 and developed fever and cough on Jan. 20.

Three of her family members, coming to Hong Kong with her, will be transferred to Lady MacLehose Holiday Village for quarantine although showing no symptoms.

The other two cases involved a couple from Wuhan, 62 and 63 respectively, who came to Hong Kong on Jan. 22 and presented symptoms over following days. Their daughter, also developing fever, will be under isolation, and their asymptomatic domestic helper will be under quarantine.

The CHP is making epidemiological investigations and relevant contact tracing of the five confirmed cases in Hong Kong.

Virus transmission chains of the five cases confirmed have been traced, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of Communicable Disease Branch of the CHP, told a press conference on Saturday.

Chung Kin-lai, director of Quality and Safety Division of the Hospital Authority, said the five patients were largely in stable condition in Princess Margaret Hospital but stressed that the condition of one of the patients worsened on Saturday morning, who has started to use the oxygen concentrator to assist breathing.

As of Friday noon, the CHP has received reports of 239 suspected cases and 5 confirmed cases since Dec. 31, 2019, with 122 cases discharged already after being ruled out as novel coronavirus infection.

There has been a rising trend in the number of confirmed cases, Chuang said, stressing that the initial symptoms of patients infected with new coronavirus are not obvious, making it difficult to detect those cases early.

HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Saturday morning at the Hong Kong airport after coming back from the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos that the health of the public is the first priority. She added that a high-level meeting on the pneumonia situation will be held later Saturday.

The HKSAR government has activated the serious response level in its contingency plan to prevent the spread of the infectious disease. It has enhanced the monitoring of suspected cases, imposed a health declaration form system on inbound travelers by air and railway, and canceled festive events for the Lunar New Year celebrations.

Chinese health authorities said on Saturday that 1,287 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus had been reported by the end of Friday. The pneumonia situation had resulted in 41 deaths.

To curb the spread of the epidemic, China on Thursday morning locked down central China's Wuhan city, the center of the novel coronavirus outbreak, and is mobilizing medical staff and resources nationwide to aid the city and control the epidemic.
Sometimes I like to tweet links to well written articles on other tech news sites rather than re-write the news for Liliputing.

And sometimes I like to roundup some of those recent Tweets into a blog post so that folks who dont follow us on Twitter or Facebook dont feel left out.

With that in mind, heres a roundup of some recent news around the web  starting with Lenovos recent fix for a serious bug that could cause the Thunderbolt/USB-C ports to stop working on a whole bunch of recent ThinkPad laptops.

You can keep up on the latest headlines by following Liliputing on Twitter and Facebook
San Antonio firefighters would have to start paying monthly health insurance premiums under a new five-year contract that a binding arbitration panel is expected to approve next week, sources said Friday.

The contract also would increase wages, with a 5 percent lump-sum payment this year and a 2 percent increase plus a 1 percent bonus payment next year. Additional modest wage increases and bonuses would be made each year through 2024.

The three-member arbitration panel tasked with settling a years-long dispute between the city and firefighters union recently reached a decision on the firefighters contract, sources close to the proceedings said. Details have been circulating among the parties in anticipation that the panel will issue the formal document next week.

Two people with knowledge of the contract terms confirmed preliminary contract details Friday.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio, firefighters expect new contract in January

Right now, taxpayers pay the full health insurance premiums for firefighters and their families. Firefighters pay nothing and enjoy low deductibles.

Firefighters will get the same two health care options that the police union agreed to in 2016, both of which will require firefighters to start paying premiums. They could pay low premiums but higher deductibles under a consumer-driven plan. The other value plan would have higher premiums and lower deductibles.

For years, the fire union had sought to control its own health care with a union-controlled trust  basically a separate health care fund for firefighters. Representatives for the fire union had walked back from that proposal during arbitration proceedings in December and agreed that firefighters should at least help pay insurance premiums.

Under the wages provision in the new contract, a firefighter who has been on the force for five years, earning $57,900, would get a 5 percent lump sum payment of $2,895. Firefighters would see a 3 percent increase in 2022 and then 2.5 percent increases along with half-percent bonuses in 2023 and 2024.

That would be less than what either the city or the union had sought.

The city had proposed a one-time bonus for firefighters followed by 3 percent wage increases on Oct. 1 and in October 2021.

The union wanted an immediate 14 percent boost in wages for one year as well as a $7,250 signing bonus, intended to make up for five years of frozen wages.

On ExpressNews.com: City wants more drug testing, reduced legal fund in new firefighters contract

As for the length of the contract, city officials had wanted the new pact to be for three years and the union wanted it to expire in October.

But arbitrator John Specia, a former Bexar County judge, had asked the city and union to consider longer contract terms  in part to give them time to repair their relationship after years of contention.

The firefighters previous contract expired in 2014, but many of its terms remain in place under a 10-year evergreen clause.

The city unsuccessfully sued the union to invalidate the clause in 2014, ending its legal fight in November 2018 when the Texas Supreme Court declined to hear its case.

Under the proposal circulating Friday, the evergreen period would be shortened to five years, sources said.

City spokeswoman Laura Mayes declined to comment, citing a gag order set down by the arbitrators.

Fire union officials did not return calls requesting comment.

Using a right it won at the ballot box in November 2018, the union sent the years-long dispute to arbitration in July after negotiations didnt produce a breakthrough. San Antonio voters passed a union-backed city charter amendment that gave the fire union the sole power to force contract impasses to arbitration.

As a result, the city no longer completely controls one of its largest expenses. The Fire Department accounts for a quarter of the citys $1.3 billion operating budget at $323.8 million.

When arbitration is triggered, each side chooses one arbitrator to represent it on the panel. The third arbitrator is chosen by the other two.

The city tapped San Antonio attorney Phil Pfeiffer, former head of the Norton Rose Fulbright law firms San Antonio office who has represented management in arbitration proceedings. The union selected Mike Tedesco  a labor lawyer based in Portland, Oregon, who frequently represents public safety unions.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio firefighters take contract fight to new level: arbitration

Pfeiffer and Tedesco chose Specia as the panels neutral third member. Specia, who led the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, is a partner in the law firm Plunkett, Griesenbeck and Mimari where he specializes in mediation, arbitration and private judging.

The city and the union presented its proposals during two weeks of public hearings in early December. The three members of the panel have since met in private, discussing both sides and hammering out a contract. Its decision is binding on both sides.

San Antonio will be the first major Texas city to get a collective bargaining agreement through arbitration, city officials say. Its something thats more common in other states with strong labor unions, according to analysts.

Joshua Fechter is a staff writer covering San Antonio city government and politics. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFreports
When students go back to school Monday morning, they will have more protections to exercise their constitutional freedom of religion than at any time in decades. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos issued updated federal guidelines requiring public schools to respect the religious liberty of students and teachers  or lose federal funding.

The document has the unwieldy title, Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer and Religious Expression in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools. However, it contains pithy truths and robust protections for people of every faith in the nations 132,853 K-12 public schools.

Students and teachers do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate, the document states forthrightly.

It then breaks down the rights of students and teachers, and the privileges school districts enjoy.

For students, the guidance states:

Students may speak to, and attempt to persuade, their peers about religious topics just as they do with regard to political topics;

[S]tudents may read their Bibles, Torahs, Korans, or other scriptures; say grace before meals; and pray or study religious materials with fellow students during recess, the lunch hour, or other non-instructional time to the same extent that they may engage in nonreligious activities;

Students may pray during a moment of silence;

Students may wear religious symbols or clothing with religious messages to the same extent that they may wear secular-themed clothing;

Students may express their faith in their assignments;

Student speakers may pray or mention their faith in school assemblies and graduation ceremonies;

Students may organize prayer groups, religious clubs, and see you at the pole gatherings before school to the same extent that students are permitted to organize other noncurricular student activities groups. Such groups must be given the same access to school facilities for assembling as is given to other noncurricular groups, without discrimination because of the religious perspective of their expression;

Christian groups must have the same right to advertise their events as secular groups (on school announcements, posters, etc.), and the school cannot force them to add a disclaimer to their ads unless they do so equally for secular student organizations; and

Schools may excuse students to partake in religious ceremonies off-campus, provided they dont punish or reward such activity.

The guidance makes clear that teachers also have rights:

Teachers may pray or hold Bible studies, together or privately, even during the school day, but only during times when they are allowed to engage in private activities; and

Teachers may participate in their personal capacities in privately sponsored baccalaureate ceremonies or similar events.

Schools may also teach about religious doctrines. However, they may not proselytize on behalf of any faith.

The guidance accepts the Supreme Court status quo ante that teachers and other public school officials, acting in their official capacities, may not lead their classes in prayer, devotional readings from the Bible, or other religious activities, or even exert subtle coercive pressures. This is not the way the Founding Fathers understood the issue.

The guidance  which, by law must be updated every two years  has not been changed or reissued since 2003. At least two, two-term presidents thought they had more important matters to attend to: George W. Bush pursued No Child Left Behind, the Medicare Part D entitlement, and the TARP bailout. Barack Obama enacted Obamcare, funded state Medicaid expansion, and presided over a budget-busting stimulus act that failed to stimulate the economy. The evidence indicates both would have fared better had they protected their citizens constitutional rights.

President Trump put teeth into his provision by mandating that every school district must certify that it respects students constitutional rights every year by October 1, or lose federal funding. This ensures greater protection for people of faith  rights public schools have frequently denied them, as several victims noted in a White House event on January 17.

While protecting liberty is a most appropriate and welcome use of taxpayer dollars, the power of federal funding is a two-edged sword. The previous administration threatened to defund schools over much different criteria. As long as local school districts receive enormous sums of money from the federal government, the president will have the power to coerce them into hewing to his or her own political preferences.

It is terrifying that public respect for the most fundamental, first liberty depends on the will of the chief executive. Such are the fruits of the growing American welfare state.

For more, on the topic, you may listen to my interview on this weeks Mornings with Carmen LeBerge on the Faith Radio Network, embedded below. The segment begins at approximately 12:45. (The first segment discussed President Trumps 2020 Davos speech, where he encouraged world leaders to reject the perennial prophets of doom.)

Your browser does not support the audio element.

You can download the full hour here.

You can read the full guidance here.

Action item: Thank Secretary Betsy DeVos via e-mail at [email protected].

(Photo credit: Public domain.)
Uttar Pradesh Police on Saturday arrested 10 people including a woman from Ghantaghar in the state capital, where an anti-CAA sit-in has been on since January 17, and booked 100 women protesters for violating prohibitory orders.

"A case has been registered against 10 women and 100 unidentified women for violating Section 144 of CrPC, while protesting at Ghantaghar. Apart from this, eight persons have been arrested. They are Puja Shukla and seven male volunteers," Station House Officer of Thakurganj police station Pramod Mishra said.

Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) prevents assembly of five or more people at one spot.

A woman protestor claimed that police personnel suddenly arrived at the site and arrested volunteers. She alleged that the cops beat up senior citizens and hurled abuses at women. However, the police denied the allegations.

"Their allegations are baseless. Action was initiated against those who flouted rules," Mishra said.

The dharna at Lucknow's Ghantaghar was on the lines of the Delhi's Shaheen Bagh protest against the amended Citizenship Act and National Register of Citizens.

Women protestors have said that their stir will continue until the Centre scraps the CAA and the NRC.

Nearly 20 people were killed in the state after violence erupted during anti-CAA protests last month.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Editors note: This review was originally published at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, where the film first premiered as Ironbark. Lionsgate releases the film in theaters on Friday, March 19.

While not quite as stiff as its title might suggest, Dominic Cookes The Courier is unambiguously dad cinema down to its core. , its the perfect movie for anyone who watched Bridge of Spies and thought: If only that had been 30 minutes shorter, a bit less artful, and a lot more British. Never fear, the director of On Chesil Beach is here, and hes naturally brought along Benedict Cumberbatch for good measure.

More from IndieWire

Holding a magnifying glass to a remarkable (but rather unheralded) footnote of Cold War history, The Courier tells the story of how two men from opposite sides of the Iron Curtain forged a bond that would help avert nuclear armageddon. Cookes lean version of events begins in the heart of the Soviet Union circa the autumn of 1960, when a war hero and military intelligence colonel by the name of Oleg Penkovsky (an excellent Merab Ninidze, who you might recognize from his role in Bridge of Spies) has become so desperate to de-escalate tensions between Khrushchev and the White House that he walks the streets of Moscow in search of a random Yankee he might trust to deliver some classified intel to the American embassy.

This is, of course, a reckless thing for him to do, least of all for someone in Khrushchevs inner circle  a point that Tom OConnors swift and defiantly unsubtle script makes sure to underscore with a bullet  but the world is on the brink of annihilation, and an impulsive, chaotic man has his finger on the button (a description that earned a rueful laugh of recognition from the crowd at the films Sundance premiere).

Story continues

When word of such a willing and valuable Soviet collaborator reaches MI6 and the CIA (respectively personified by Angus Wright and Rachel Brosnahan), the agencies conclude that the only way to reach a senior trade official like Penkovsky without drawing suspicion from the GRU is to find an unwitting British salesman who could visit Moscow under the pretense of expanding his operations into Russia. Enter Greville Wynne (Cumberbatch, obviously), a jocular businessman of one kind or another who knows how to close a deal, and once sold his wife (played by the great Jessie Buckley, who brings real angst to a sleepy archetype) on staying together after he cheated on her some time ago.

Wynne is perfect for the mission because of how well he typifies the movie around him: Hes fleet but not flashy, charming but not memorable, and dependable but unremarkable in every way. And though OConnors script would rather tell us that Wynne is an amateur spy than slow down enough to show him bumbling his way through the basics of tradecraft, its plain to see that hes no James Bond. And thats okay. To paraphrase how one of his handlers puts it before sending Wynne into the field: Hes too useless and inexperienced to be tasked with a dangerous mission. But that, it turns out, may have been its own kind of sales pitch.

From there, The Courier unfolds at a brisk pace, as one short and pointed scene flows into another on the currents of Abel Korzeniowskis Philip Glass-inspired score. Cumberbatch  always more enjoyable as an everyman than an egoist  renders Wynne with a fun, anxious, what the hell am I doing here? energy that carries the action until his cover story begins to crumble. Ninidze makes a warm and stubbornly winsome foil as a good man in a bad situation, and the easy friendship between the films central figures is allowed to blossom with the unforced ease of a business contact. No suspension of belief is required to believe that Wynne and Penkovsky care for each other, or to accept the movies explicitly stated thesis that even the most historic changes happen two people at a time.

And thats good, because The Courier doesnt have much suspense to offer. For a movie set against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis  a movie thats enameled with the classic tropes of espionage, and builds to a daring international heist at the end of the second act  the whole thing can be rather even-keeled. To a certain extent, thats appropriate for a movie about an ordinary bloke whos dropped into the deep end of the Cold War as it heats up around him like hes a frog in boiling water.

And yet, The Courier strives to achieve a moral velocity that its limited emotional range doesnt have the bandwidth to support. The films only tense moments are those between Wynne and his distrusting wife, who begins to suspect that her husbands repeated trips to the Soviet Union are a flimsy smokescreen for another affair. When Wynne is detained at one point, its genuinely stressful to think that Sheila may never learn the truth; the thought of disappointing Jessie Buckley is dreadful enough to make you wish Wynne would just say screw it, go home, and let the C.I.A. figure out that the Soviet Union had deployed missiles to Cuba for themselves.

For a movie so concerned with the way intimate relationships have shaped world events, its strange how the final stretch of The Courier emphasizes the isolation of its characters over the selflessness they showed to one another. Striking and effective as Cumberbatchs severe weight loss can be towards the end, Cookes film spends more time articulating Wynnes desolation than it does on knotting the ties that bind Wynne to his family, and to his Russian friend who refused to leave him out in the cold. But if The Courier doesnt manage to hold the gravitas its story demands, perhaps thats an inevitable concession in a film about how history isnt always writ large  about how the world as we know it might sometimes hang in the balance of a single handshake.

Grade: C+

The Courier (AKA Ironbark) premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

As new movies open in theaters during the COVID-19 pandemic, IndieWire will continue to review them whenever possible. We encourage readers to follow the safety precautions provided by CDC and health authorities. Additionally, our coverage will provide alternative viewing options whenever they are available.

Best of IndieWire

Sign up for Indiewire's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Rajasthan Assembly passed by voice vote the resolution which also asked the Centre to withdraw the new fields of information that have been sought for updation in National Population Register

Jaipur: Rajasthan Assembly on Saturday passed a resolution urging the Centre to repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), amid opposition by the BJP which accused the ruling Congress of pursuing appeasement politics.

It is the second Congress-ruled state to pass such a resolution after Punjab. Earlier, Kerala Assembly too had passed a resolution against the CAA moved jointly by the ruling Left alliance and the opposition Congress-led UDF.

The Rajasthan Assembly passed by voice vote the resolution which also asked the Centre to withdraw the new fields of information that have been sought for updation in National Population Register (NPR), 2020.

"It is evident that the CAA violates the provisions of the Constitution. Therefore, the House resolves to urge upon the government of India to repeal the CAA to avoid any discrimination on the basis of religion in granting citizenship and to ensure equality before the law for all religious groups of India," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal said while moving the resolution in the House.

Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria questioned the right to challenge the Act in the state assembly. "Granting citizenship is a matter under the Centre and in such a situation do we have the right to challenge the CAA... Congress should stop doing appeasement and vote bank politics," the BJP leader said.
this whole fiasco is really exposing what a shame publishing is. did oprah even read the book? has oprah responded?

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I wonder if Oprah will respond OR if she will flip it to her advantage like she did with James Frey and have an awkward interview where she asks Cummins a few mildly uncomfortable questions and gets praised for it.

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I remember that! The whole situation was a mess. Now I gotta see what James Frey has been up to.

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this is what i want to know!

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So Cummins and Oprah are going to take a publicity trek down...to THE BORDER.  Myriam Chingona Gurba de Serrano (@lesbrains) January 22, 2020



I got a call from @Oprah s producers last week, asking me to recommend Latina writers for this show, which I did. But then they asked me if I could give them the contact of any illegal people that Ive worked with, so they could talk to them. The conversation ended there.  Valeria Luiselli (@ValeriaLuiselli) January 22, 2020 idk if she read it but

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i know oprah book club is a brand and isn't like oprah's personal picks but i have a really really really hard time believing she would put her name in something she hadn't read and personally liked. she is quite diligent with her brand. plus, she does have questionable taste and sometimes lack common sense (she gave us dr. phill; jenny mccarthy's antivax philosophy, the secret, etc) so it's extremely easy to believe she'd enjoy the book.



Edited at 2020-01-25 04:53 am (UTC)

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Edited at 2020-01-25 05:28 pm (UTC)

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I dont get why celebrities promote things doing literally zero research. It takes how long to do a google search to see if somethings getting backlash? 

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Obama did a photo shoot with Terry? WTF?! Do your research!

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celebs are just normal people with fans and money. they dont give two shits about abything other than themselves and will promote anything they are paid to promote.

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WTF at the barbed wire centerpieces.



David Bowles has an excellent takedown of this book. I picked up Reyna Grandes memoir based on his recommendations.



Reese Witherspoon didnt pick it for her Hello Sunshine book club because she couldnt play a Mexican woman in the film adaptation. I kid, I kid.



Edited at 2020-01-25 03:26 am (UTC)

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the writer also got a barbed wire manicure

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I first read about that in a tweet and thought it was a joke and then I saw the pics.



Awful, awful, awful. There are children dying in literal concentration camps.

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Wait, what is a barbed wire manicure... It's not what I think it is????

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To be fair...I checked back and I think the barbed wire manicure was by a girl on herself in Australia who has an Instagram where she does book themed manicures.

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Reese Witherspoon



Somewhere Reese is thanking God that she couldn't close the deal to promote this book and they went with Oprah instead.

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The TLDR; defense

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how very ONTD of Salma

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I mean good for her for taking it down and apologizing but man more celebs need to look into things or at least have their publicists do it.

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Considering how the book is being pushed everywhere it's obvious that most celebs posting about it were being paid to promote it.



And I don't excuse them for not researching beforehand but I'm cutting them some slack. At least for Salma and Yalitza who seemed genuinely excited to recommend a book about Mexican people.



Anyway, I hope the book and writer fade into obscurity soon.

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Considering how the book is being pushed everywhere it's obvious that most celebs posting about it were being paid to promote it.

although imagine being Salma Hayek, married to France's richest man, and still accepting some coins to promote a problematic book you haven't even read? loll

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jajaja, I actually imagined that and giggled when I read her apology :P

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I imagine all the Latina celebs promoted this as soft pitches to star in the movie

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Right? Similar to how I saw Ellen Pompeo hawking Cindy Crawford's skin care line on an infomercial recently. Like girl you are rich as shit from that Grey's money, what's the point?

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Salma is only Mexican at convenience and she needs a personality she doesnt get a pass

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Yalitza needs to be careful. She's literally the face of Mexico (idkw she hasn't done anything after Roma) so her promoting this bullshit it's gonna cost her more than she thinks imo.

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LOL this just proves that most book post on IG are probably stunt PR and a bit of status symbol(?).



It's become obvious when it looks like almost all of Hollywood has their noses in books. Like y'all ain't slick at hiding it's paid promotion.

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It's always been obvious that was the case, like this doesn't "prove" anything anyone with half a brain cell didn't already know lmao.

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lol you'd surprised how many people do believe them.

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They were holding the tablets as if they got the book on that specific tablet and were promoting that, too.

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I could totally see hearing the storyline, and that it's written by a woman, and assuming it's written by a woman whose not white. i can see that. I can see doing the 10 second google look where it's just praised and thinking you're ok. but i'm glad she's corrected it. woulda, coulda, shoulda done better, i get you. but she didn't and she took it on the chin. i'm betting she's gonna make sure that her assistant is a lot more careful in the future cause lbr, none of them really give a fuck to do the work themselves.



which does make me wonder, how many assistants quietly get fired for a mistake that was made by a celeb? you know it's gotta be several.

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ia, it doesn't seem like she posted anything stating she read and endorsed the book (well, not from this post anyway) and i don't fault her too much for being a little too quick to promote a latinx interest story. yeah, she should have taken the time to look into it, but she's not cancelled bc of this for me.

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man this really exemplifies how important a marketing campaign can be, how much money is pumped into it. they gave the author a really huge sum right? so then they need to pay for hella marketing to make sure its a hit. all these celebs partnered up to promo the book but havent even read it yet.



really shows how hard it can be for writers to break out and "make it."

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writing my Latino novel: "We fled late in the night, or /la noche/ as Mami calls it. I'm always embarrassed when Mami says shit like that, but I forgive her because she's one of eleven kids and is from /el barrio./ Anyway it was late at night, and Yolanda Saldivar was chasing us-  JP (@jpbrammer) January 21, 2020



Also, still can't get over the FUCKING BARBED WIRE ARRANGEMENTS ON THE TABLE. And the author being like "omg isn't that cute? I love the attention for the details!". god wtf. I mean, the fact this book was OK'd, published, got a huge marketing blitz, was picked by fucking Oprah..... there's something really wrong with the publishing world and with people making big decisions....



Edited at 2020-01-25 04:21 am (UTC) The only good thing about this book is the memes it generated. I know this has been shared to death but it's too good thoughAlso, still can't get over the FUCKING BARBED WIRE ARRANGEMENTS ON THE TABLE. And the author being like "omg isn't that cute? I love the attention for the details!". god wtf. I mean, the fact this book was OK'd, published, got a huge marketing blitz, was picked by fucking Oprah..... there's something really wrong with the publishing world and with people making big decisions....

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I get the feeling the publishing world is like what Hollywood seemed to be like during the '80s, a bunch of coked up yuppies making all the decisions.

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Lmao its like riverdale and MIJA!!!

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I fucking love JuanPa.



And yes, to everything you said.

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Fucking cackling @ Yolanda Saldivar

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film rights have been bought???? i need this book to fade into oblivion

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Starring scarjo as the lead

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By the people who made the mule and blood diamond so you know it'll be extra exploitative.

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Books like these should be called something like "White Pity narratives." Everything about this book is basically a white woman thinking she's being empathetic and ~giving people a voice, but she's really being condescending and talking over people.

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the amount of filter on her face

lol fraudulence all around

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yeah the filter's killing me

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Mexico's Health ministry revealed and admitted that they have been buying outdated medcations that no longer work, according to a published report from We Are Mitu.

For a long period of time, Mexico has prevented the worst HIV/AIDS crisis that has plagued much of individuals living in the United States. Mexico has a low rate when it comes to HIV/AIDS cases and its population are eve less at risk with this epedemic.

The country also provide a healthcare system that provides free medical care to its citizen or at very low charge including those who are under medication for HIV.

With this, Mexico becomes a role model of other countries in giving accessible healthcare to its citizen. However, the country is in question right now after it was reported that the country was giving obsolete and expired medications to the HIV/AIDS patients.

The Mexico's Health ministry revealed that Mexico had been buying outdated and medications and these no longer work to the patients anymore. Under Secretary of the Health Ministry, Hugo Lopez Gatell, revelaed on Tuesday morning that they have been buying medications for HIV/AIDS from drug providers who are selling expired medications. It was also found out that the drugs sold to the federal government and used to the patients were from 1980s which were proven ineffective.

During the press conference before 2019 ends, the Health Minister said thta the companies are manipulating the bidding to sell outdated drugs to the public health ministry.

Lopez-Gatell said: "The combination of medicines tells us about the enormous lack of proper HIV treatment because they [the HIV medications] are not adequate. In many cases we found the use of old medicines, we found the use of the first HIV drug that was invented or discovered at the beginning of the 80s. It is a drug that is already obsolete worldwide and in Mexico was still being used."

The Mexican government also said that it was the fault of the drug companies who are gaming and manipulating the countries public health system.

The Health Undersecretary explained that "What did we find?" That here were pressures from representatives of the pharmaceutical industry. We discovered that it was one group who made the medicines and that there were very few who distributed them. But they tie up the government with exclusive agreements to the different companies that manufacture the medicines."

This means that what rellay happened was the drug distributors pressured the doctors who gave retroviral medications. The Health Undersecretary also clarified that purchasing of drugs had always been in the national level but they do not make sense as the the amount of drugs that each state is asking.

The Undersecretary added: "In May, we completely modified the HIV treatment scheme. First, we made it clear that we wanted the best medications, the most effective, the safest; second, we identified how many people could have this ideal medication scheme and it turns out that there were many more than those who were taking advantage of it."

Meanwhile, public health officials warned that thousands of Mexicans who rely on HIV Treatment could be affected after the government changed the way on how the medication is funded.
Investing in stocks inevitably means buying into some companies that perform poorly. Long term Shaanxi Northwest New Technology Industry Company Limited (HKG:8258) shareholders know that all too well, since the share price is down considerably over three years. Unfortunately, they have held through a 66% decline in the share price in that time. And over the last year the share price fell 37%, so we doubt many shareholders are delighted. It's up 4.4% in the last seven days.

Check out our latest analysis for Shaanxi Northwest New Technology Industry

To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

Although the share price is down over three years, Shaanxi Northwest New Technology Industry actually managed to grow EPS by 70% per year in that time. This is quite a puzzle, and suggests there might be something temporarily buoying the share price. Alternatively, growth expectations may have been unreasonable in the past.

Since the change in EPS doesn't seem to correlate with the change in share price, it's worth taking a look at other metrics.

Revenue is actually up 9.5% over the three years, so the share price drop doesn't seem to hinge on revenue, either. This analysis is just perfunctory, but it might be worth researching Shaanxi Northwest New Technology Industry more closely, as sometimes stocks fall unfairly. This could present an opportunity.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

SEHK:8258 Income Statement, January 25th 2020

It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. It's always worth keeping an eye on CEO pay, but a more important question is whether the company will grow earnings throughout the years. Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here..

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A Different Perspective

Shaanxi Northwest New Technology Industry shareholders are down 37% for the year, but the market itself is up 4.7%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 14% per year over five years. We realise that Buffett has said investors should 'buy when there is blood on the streets', but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Shaanxi Northwest New Technology Industry better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Shaanxi Northwest New Technology Industry that you should be aware of before investing here.

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on HK exchanges.

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.
A case has been registered against JNU student Sharjeel Imam here for his controversial speech delivered during the students protest at Aligarh Muslim University on January 16 against the Citizenship Amendment Act and Register of Citizens (NRC), the police said on Saturday.

"We have registered a case against Sharjeel Imam on the basis of a video in which he is making anti- statements at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students protest on January 16," Aligarh Senior Superintendent of Police Akash Kulhari said.

The SSP said that a police team is being sent to arrest Imam.

In a separate development, Assam Police too on Saturday registered an FIR against Imam for one of his speeches at Shaheen Bagh in which he is allegedly inciting people to "cut off" Assam from the rest of India. "An FIR has been lodged against Sharjeel Imam for his speech and inter alia commission of offence under Sections 13 (1) and 18 of the UA (P) ACT read with Section 153A, 153B, and 124A of Indian Penal Code at Guwahati Crime Branch Police Station," said GP Singh, Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, at a press conference in Guwahati.A series of videos have gone viral on social media in which Imam, the chief co-ordinator of Shaheen Bagh protest, is heard saying: "If we all come together, then we can separate the Northeast from India. If we cannot do it permanently, then at least for 1-2 months we can do this.""It is our responsibility to cut Assam from India. When this happens, only then the government will listen to us," he is heard saying further in the video.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Tasmanian miner presumed killed in an underground collapse has been named as the recovery mission for his body continues.

Cameron John Goss was a 44-year-old local Queenstown man and experienced miner, police said on Saturday morning.

'His loss is devastating to the family, friends and the local community, together with the wider mining industry across Australia,' police said.

Efforts to find Mr Goss at Henty Gold Mine on the state's west coast took a turn for the worse on Friday, with the rescue mission becoming a recovery operation.

It could take weeks before the area is safe enough for his body to be located.

A Tasmanian miner presumed killed in an underground collapse has been identified as Cameron John Goss, 44

Mr Goss had been operating a loader 700 metres underground when workmates lost contact with him about 4am on Thursday.

Three-dimensional imagery taken on Thursday night revealed many rocks had fallen on the loader and completely covered its cabin.

Thermal imaging has been unable to detect any signs of life.

'The amount of debris that has fallen into that scene, we now think it's highly unlikely that our missing miner has survived,' Tasmania Police Inspector Shane Lefevre told reporters.

'Our thoughts immediately have gone out to the family and friends.'

Emergency crews were called to Henty Gold Mine after the worker was reported missing at 4am on Thursday

Rock has continued to fall near the loader, making the area too dangerous for search crews to reach.

Counselling services have been offered to staff at the gold mine, north of Queenstown.

The tiny town was shaken seven years ago when three workers died at the Mt Lyell mine in two separate accidents within months of each other.

'They're a tough mining town and they've been through incidents in the past ... but everyone goes to work and expects to come home safely,' Australian Workers' Union representative Daniel Walton said.

'Unfortunately ... a gold miner went to work and never come home.'

Production at the mine has ceased indefinitely.

'The whole team is devastated,' said Brendan Rouse, chief executive of mining services contractor PYBAR.

Mr Rouse said there was no indication of a seismic event around when the rock collapsed.

Tasmania Premier Peter Gutwein has passed on his deepest sympathies to all involved.
Democrats have wrapped up their case that President Donald Trump abused his power by pressing a foreign government to investigate his political rival, delivering an impassioned argument that Trump must be removed from office to stop him from doing further damage to Americas democracy.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff, D-Calif., the lead House manager, warned that Trump is still trying to cheat in the next election and that an acquittal in his Senate impeachment trial would allow him to do so.

Schiff argued that no American was safe if Trump was willing to override U.S. national security policy and congressional mandates in his effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, a Democratic presidential candidate, the heart of the impeachment charge.

Trump is the third president in American history to face an impeachment trial. Trump's legal team is prepared to start his defense on Saturday.

Read on for detailed coverage of all aspects of the case as it stands.
In an unusual outcome in a snatching case, the alleged snatcher suffered deep injuries that required surgery after the victim bit his index finger while trying to resist the crime in a public park in north-east Delhis Jyoti Nagar on Tuesday evening, police said.

The 21-year-old victim, Dev Raj, repairs sofas for a living and lives with his family in east Delhis Ashok Nagar. He said that on Tuesday he was taking a stroll in a DDA park in Jyoti Nagar when the crime happened around 9.30pm.

I sat down on a bench in the park and began using my phone when two young men approached me. One of them caught my neck and began suffocating me. When I tried to raise an alarm, he pressed my mouth while the other man began raining punches on my face before snatching my phone, he told the police in his statement.

But while pressing his mouth, the suspects index finger slid into Rajs mouth. I bit it with all my might. That forced him to let go of my neck and mouth. I again raised an alarm, which brought the public to the spot, said Raj.

The suspect, later identified as Rohit, with a bleeding finger was caught by the public and handed over to the police. Both the men were taken to GTB Hospital where Raj was discharged after treatment whereas Rohit needed surgery for his finger.

Raj was hurt below his eye and on his head, but said that he escaped serious injuries.

Rohit has been arrested, said Alok Kumar, joint commissioner of police (Eastern Range), adding that there were no known previous criminal cases against him. We are searching for the other suspect and retrieve the snatched phone, said the officer.

A case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 392 (robbery) and 34 (acts done by several persons with a common intention) at Jyoti Nagar police station, said Alok Kumar, joint commissioner of police (Eastern Range).

The snatchers finger was bitten by the victim while resisting the suspects, said Kumar.
Specifically, no insight was provided on how the central government would fund the Rs 40-odd trillion that it has committed to contribute. Neither have details been shared about what was driving the governments confidence in assuming that private players would be willing and able to invest close to Rs 20 trillion in Indias infrastructure over the next five ...

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Two persons, who were admitted to a civic hospital in Mumbai for possible exposure to novel coronavirus, have tested negative for the infection, while the sample of another person will be sent for testing to the Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune on Saturday, officials said.

The two persons, who tested negative, will continue to be kept under observation at the isolation ward of the Kasturba Hospital of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), and decision about their discharge will be taken on Saturday, officials said.

"The two persons who tested negative are still under watch. Decision on discharging them will be taken on Saturday. It depends on their health condition. The sample of the third individual will be sent to the NIV on Saturday and the report is expected later in the day or on Sunday," a state health department official said.

The two persons, who tested negative, had travelled to They were admitted to the hospital on January 23.

The third person, who returned from Hong Kong, was admitted on Friday.

According to officials, a total of 2,056 passengers underwent thermal screening at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here for the till Friday night since January 19.

Seven of these screened passengers were from Maharashtra.

cases were first reported from Wuhan, the capital of central Chinas Hubei province and few cases have been found in other countries including South Korea, Japan, Thailand and the United States.

The is a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes, but the virus that has killed people in is a novel strain and was not seen before.

Common symptoms of the infection include fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties, according to the

Authorities would be following up with every passenger who has returned from any of the countries where outbreak of coronavirus has been reported for the next 28 days to check if she or he has developed symptoms of the infection.

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope had on Friday urged citizens not to panic as no case of coronavirus infection has been found in the country so far.
The 2020 election season is officially off and running in Minnesota. Jan. 17 marked the beginning of absentee voting in Minnesota's presidential primary, which will take place March 3.

This will be the state's first presidential primary since 1992, and we like the shift away from caucuses, which put too much power into the hands of relatively few politically active people. A primary will allow far more voters to participate in the important process of determining which names will appear on the presidential ballot in November.

That being said, however, we're troubled by one aspect of Minnesota's new primary process.

To participate, would-be voters will have to choose which party's ballot they want to fill out, and in doing so, will essentially declare which party they support.

That's fine. The last thing we want is a primary system that invites troublemakers to cast disingenuous ballots. That's always a risk, especially in years when one major party has just one name on the ballot.

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What we object to is the fact that records will be kept of which party a voter chooses, and the political parties will get that information.

Who knows what they will do with it?

Suffice to say that plenty of people who would like to participate in the primary will balk at the idea that their name will appear on a list, which means they could be buried in political mailings, phone calls and other requests for financial support. Minnesota will be a battleground state this year, and anyone who is on the record in support of a political party will likely be deluged with such requests.

And then there's the fact that in many precincts, voters will have to declare their political leanings to an election judge who is also a friend, neighbor or business associate. That's a problem for people who prefer to keep their political leanings private, especially in what is likely to be one of the most divisive election years in our nation's history.

It's too late to do anything about the situation this year, but we hope the Legislature can fix this problem before the next presidential primary.

Meanwhile, we'd also like to remind voters that Minnesota will still hold precinct caucuses on Feb. 25.

While this year's caucuses will play no direct role in the selection of presidential candidates, they are an opportunity for voters to influence the direction of a political party.

At these meetings, participants choose the volunteers who will organize and lead political activities in their precincts and also will select the delegates who will endorse candidates at future conventions. Caucuses are also a great opportunity to discuss issues, draft resolutions for the party platform and simply discuss the attributes of various candidates.

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In short, a caucus can be a fun event for people who are passionate about politics, and it can also be a very educational experience for political newcomers.

If you've never attended a caucus, we'd encourage you to give it a try. It's a near certainty that you won't agree with everything you hear, but we're certain you'll learn something, too  and an informed electorate is crucial to our nation's democracy.
The Lagos State Government will be meeting with the management of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to discuss on issues of compensation for victims of the January 19 pipeline fire in Abule Egba, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said on Saturday.

Mr Sanwo-Olu said the government would also be discussing with the corporation on measures to be taken in finding a lasting solution to incidents of pipeline vandalism in the State.

The governor disclosed this while sympathising with over 300 displaced victims of the inferno. The government said it resettled the victims at the Igando Emergency Relief Camp in Alimosho by the state government.

It would be recalled that Mr Sanwo-Olu was on a week-long working visit to the United Kingdom (UK) when the incident occurred. However, his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, led cabinet members and top government officials on a visit to the scene of the fire last Tuesday.

The governor said the compensation plan would be extended to those whose properties were razed in the inferno, adding that some of the victims who rented homes in the area would also be supported to re-adjust back to their normal lives.

He said: As a responsible government, we need to go back and have a thorough discussion with NNPC on what kind of lasting solution we are expecting and compensation we can make available for the victims, so that we can resettle them back into their community. We will also be looking at various forms of affordable accommodation for some of them, who rent homes in the community.

We have taken enumeration and we know the status of each of the displaced families that are clustered in this relief camp. We will work with the records for the compensation and everyone of them will be reintegrated back to their community.

READ ALSO:

Mr Sanwo-Olu described the incident as a regrettable disaster, saying the government felt the pain of the innocent victims who bore the losses of the pipeline vandalism.

The governor said the state took the step to resettle the victims at the Igando relief camp to ensure they were not left to their fate and in deplorable conditions in their moments of despair.

For the period the victims will be in settled in the relief camp, we will ensure our responsibility both medically and nutrition-wise; we will take care of them until the coast is cleared for them to return to their community, the governor said.

The excited victims appreciated the state government for looking after their welfare in the aftermath of the disaster, describing the relief programme as an unexpected gesture. They said the State Governments effort had been helping them to cope and keep up with life.

The Igando relief camp is equipped with various amenities, including primary healthcare centre, constant water and electricity.
Photo: JEENAH MOON/Getty Images

Rosie Perez testified in Harvey Weinsteins sexual-assault trial Friday afternoon, telling jurors how a distraught Annabella Sciorra told her, I tried to fight back, I tried, I tried, after disclosing that the producer had raped her.

Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi asked Perez how she knew Sciorra.

I know Annabella Sciorra from the acting world, Perez said, later explaining, We are very, very good friends.

Do you know a man named Harvey Weinstein, Illuzzi asked.

Yes, I do, Perez said.

Do you see him in the courtroom today? she said.

Perez looked over. Weinstein gestured his hand upward.

Right there, Perez said, pointing to him.

Perez testified that in late 1993, she called Sciorra to see if she was up for a night out.

Hey Annabella, wanna hang out? And she responded in a very weird voice. She was whispering like that, Perez said, dropping her own voice to a whisper. And I said, Whats wrong with you? And she said, I think something bad happened.

And I said, What do you mean something bad happened? What happened? And she said, I think I was raped, Perez testified. I said to her, You think, or did it happen? And she said, I think it was rape, and she started crying.

Perez said she asked, Who did it?

And she said, I cant, I cant, I cant, Perez recounted. I hear her crying and she said, I woke up on the floor and my nightie was up.

Perez said she asked Sciorra about going to the police.

She said, I cant, I cant, and she hung up the phone, Perez said. And I kept trying to call her back all night long, and I was so upset, and she wouldnt pick up the phone.

Perez said that months later, when the two women were on the phone, Sciorra revealed her alleged rapists identity.

She told me that it was, in fact, Harvey Weinstein that raped her, Perez said.

She told me that he showed up at her door, and she was confused why he was there, standing there, and that he pushed his way through the door, Perez told jurors. And she was crying and saying, I tried to fight back, I tried, I tried.

And then she said that she ended up in the bedroom with her hands pinned over her head and that he raped her, and then he pulled out and, um, he came on her leg and on her nightgown, Perez said.

She swore [] me, never to tell anybody and I told her, You should go to the police, Perez said. She said, I cant. He will destroy me. He will destroy my career.

Perez explained how Weinstein came up during that phone conversation, which took place when Sciorra was staying in London for a film shoot.

Perez told Sciorra that shed heard that Weinstein was harassing her.

During the call, Sciorra said that she was scared he was going to get her again.

When she made that statement, thats when I put two-and-two together, Perez said. She said, How do you know? I said, I didnt know, you just told me, you confirmed my speculation.

Then she started screaming, Oh my God, oh my God, Perez said. Thats when she started telling me, in detail. She was very, very, very distraught.

I said, Annabella, for the love of God, please call the police. But she was too scared to.

Sciorra testified Thursday about the alleged assault, which she said took place in late 1993 or early 1994, after a business dinner. Weinstein offered to drive Sciorra home from the dinner, and Sciorra said as she was getting ready for bed, she heard someone knocking on the door of her Gramercy Park apartment.

Believing it could be a doorman or neighbor, Sciora opened it. Weinstein allegedly shoved into the apartment. After physically overpowering Sciorra, she claims Weinstein raped her, including forcibly performing oral sex on her.

Update, February 24: Harvey Weinsteins verdict has been announced.
B oris Johnson reiterated the case for the US suspect in the death of Harry Dunn to return to the UK during a call with Donald Trump, Downing Street has No 10 has said.

The Prime Minister spoke of needing to secure justice for the 19-year-olds family, following the US rejecting an extradition request for American suspect Anne Sacoolas on Thursday.

Harry died when his motorbike crashed into a car outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August last year.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said that Mr Johnson raised the topic during a phone call with the US President on Friday.

Harry Dunn died on August 27 / PA

The Prime Minister raised the tragic case of Harry Dunn, and the need to secure justice for Harrys family, a Downing Street spokeswoman said.

He reiterated the need for the individual involved to return to the UK.

Mrs Sacoolas, the wife of a US diplomate, claimed diplomatic immunity following the crash and was able to return to her home country, sparking an international controversy.

Harry Dunn's family have been campaigning for Anne Sacoolas to be returned to theUK / AP

The 42-year-old was charged with causing Harrys death by dangerous driving by the Crown Prosecution Service in December.

Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom met Harrys family on Friday, the day after she had informed them of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeos decision to refuse the request.

Harry Dunn tribute bike ride 1 /21 Harry Dunn tribute bike ride PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA

Ms Leadsom held talks with US ambassador Woody Johnson, the commander of RAF Croughton Colonel Bridget McNamara and the Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police.

The familys constituency MP, Mrs Leadsom said she had expressed her disappointment on their behalf during the discussion with the US ambassador.

She told reporters that the Prime Minister is very much on the side of the family in their desire to see justice done, adding: All of us in Government are working to that end.

A spokesman for the US State Department said the request was rejected because it would render the invocation of diplomatic immunity a practical nullity and set an extraordinarily troubling precedent.
Washington, Jan 25 : Reports about a private dinner in 2018 where US President Donald Trump purportedly demanded the recall of Washington's then-ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, provided an added element of intrigue to his impeachment trial in the Senate.

ABC News, who broke the story on Driday, said that journalists with the network had listened to a recording of the President's April 30, 2018, dinner with campaign donors at the Trump Hotel in Washington, reports Efe news.

"Get rid of her. Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it," Trump is heard saying of Yovanovitch, according to ABC News, who said that the recording was made by one of the guests, Igor Fruman.

Also present was Fruman's business partner, Lev Parnas. Both men are facing federal charges for campaign finance violations.

Parnas previously told The Washington Post about Trump's outburst, explaining that it came after he and Fruman made negative comments about Yovanovitch.

Fruman and Parnas are former associates of Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.

Parnas worked with Giuliani to effect the ouster of Yovanovitch and - subsequently - in the effort to get the government in Kiev to investigate former US Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, in connections with events in Ukraine during the period 2014-2016.

Parnas disclosed late Friday through his lawyer that he had handed over a recording of the dinner to the House Intelligence Committee, which helped draft the articles of impeachment against Trump for allegedly conditioning the release of military aid to Ukraine on Kiev's announcing a probe of Joe Biden, who is seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

Trump raised the issue of the Bidens in a July 2019 telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Trump administration responded to the ABC News story with a brief statement that did not address the veracity of the network's account.

"Every President in our history has had the right to place people who support his agenda and his policies within his Administration," White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said on Friday night.

Yovanovitch, who was ultimately recalled from Kiev, testified before the House of Representatives during the impeachment hearings.

She blamed a smear campaign for her removal, which marked the end of a three-decade-long diplomatic career.

Shortly after mid-day Friday, the Senate reconvened for the fourth day of Trump's impeachment trial.

The House Democrats chosen to present the case, known in congressional jargon as impeachment managers, took turns putting forward their final arguments before yielding the floor to Trump's legal team on Saturday.

Republicans hold 53 of the 100 Senate seats and a two-thirds majority is required to convict and remove a president.

In the short term, however, the Democrats have set their sights on persuading at least four Republicans to support the prosecution's call for the Senate to hear from witnesses.

The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, wants to see an expedited process, arguing that Trump's acquittal is a foregone conclusion.

During Friday's session, the Democrats focused on the second article of impeachment, which accuses the president of obstructing the House's investigation of the Ukraine matter by withholding documents and barring administration officials from testifying.

"President Trump tried to cheat, he got caught, and then he worked hard to cover it up," Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York told senators.
By ANI

BENGALURU: An anonymous death threat letter was received by 15 famous personalities including former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, actor Prakash Raj, and others here on Friday.

The letter reportedly mentioned that they would be assassinated on January 29. It also termed them as 'traitors'.

It mentions the name of Nijagunananda Swamy, former Bajrang Dal leader Mahendra Kumar, actor Chetan Kumar, BT Lalita Nayak, Mahesh Chandra Guru, Prof Bhagwan, former media adviser to the chief minister Dinesh Ameen Mattu, journalist Agni Sridhar and Brinda Karat.

Commenting on the letter, Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai told ANI that HD Kumaraswamy will be provided additional security and investigation will take place.

"I have asked for an inquiry into the matter. The security which was given to B. S. Yediyurappa when he was the former chief minister of the state, the same level of security is being given to HD Kumaraswamy and Sidaramaiah which is a Z category security," said Bommai.

"If needed then I will ask the police officials of the state to give more security to Kumaraswamy. I will make sure that he is provided with full security so that his movement is not hindered," he added.
Fianna Fail councillor Adrian Henchy has highlighted the 'decimated' garda presence in Fingal, and has called for urgent additional garda resources for the county.

Speaking at a recent Balbriggan/Swords/Rush-Lusk Area Committee meeting, Cllr Henchy said that garda presence had been 'decimated' in Fingal, despite it being the youngest and fastest-growing county in Ireland.

In terms of his own constituency of Donabate-Portrane, Cllr Henchy said that despite an ever-increasing population, garda presence on the peninsula did not reflect this.

He was 'very conscious', he said, of the particular challenges in Donabate of 'serious' anti-social behaviour and the 'brazenness' of youths, who were aware there was little or no garda presence.

Cllr Henchy said he agreed Donabate needed a garda station, but that in the interim, a greater garda presence was needed.

His motion, however, did 'in no way' reflect on the 'outstanding work' of gardai, who were operating with limited resources.

Cllr Henchy said he was 'very appreciative' of the work carried out by Inspector Woods of Swords Garda Station, and that of Sgt Ferguson, who led the garda presence in Donabate.

Cllr Henchy said, however, he had heard anecdotally that 'only a very small number' of gardai operating at Swords Garda Station were trained to drive garda vehicles, so that if an urgent call came in, it may not be answered immediately.

There was also an issue recently, he said, of more gardai leaving Swords Garda Station than were being recruited.

Supporting Cllr Henchy's motion, Cllr Ann Graves (SF) said that while Cllr Henchy had raised issues being faced by Donabate-Portrane, the problem could equally be applied to any other town in Fingal.

The idea that gardai were not trained to drive garda vehicles was 'non-sensical', she said.

Cllr Graves said she had put forward a similar motion 'a number of months ago', but having been told the Garda Commissioner would be contacted in relation to this, she did not receive an update from the council. Cllr Graves said that, as with other correspondence between the council and outside bodies - such as Irish Water - councillors were not being issued with responses from these bodies.

A report issued by the council in response to Cllr Henchy's motion stated that the terms of the motion would be forwarded to An Garda Siochana.
By Phil Stewart

NAVAL AIR STATION PENSACOLA, Fla. (Reuters) - With an FBI investigation underway, Navy security officer David Link still is not allowed to talk about what he saw when a Saudi gunman killed three U.S. sailors at this sprawling Florida naval base last month.

But Link, one of the first responders at the scene, makes clear he appreciates just how badly things could have gone for him on Dec. 6 at Naval Air Station Pensacola.

"When I got home, it was kind of immediate relief. I got to see my wife and daughter, to know that I got out of that situation -- and with my life," said Link, a master-at-arms 3rd class.

Link and other base personnel met U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Wednesday during a visit that highlighted the Pentagon's efforts to restore a sense of security at U.S. military bases across the country. The facilities host about 5,000 military students from 150 countries, including more than 800 from Saudi Arabia.

It is an uphill battle in Pensacola. Three U.S. sailors were killed in cold blood and eight other people were wounded before the gunman, Saudi Air Force Second Lieutenant Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, was himself shot dead.

Families at the base were already on edge after the shooting. Then, earlier this month, U.S. Attorney General William Barr declared it an act of terrorism and announced 21 Saudi cadets training in the United States were being sent home after an investigation turned up child pornography or social media accounts containing Islamic extremist or anti-American content.

Twelve of them had been training at the Pensacola base.

"NATURAL APPREHENSION"

Navy Captain Tim Kinsella, commanding officer of the naval air station, acknowledged apprehension among families who live on the base and said his team has held around 25 town halls in the past six weeks to address their concerns.

"There's a natural apprehension. There's always the questions: what are we doing to make the base safer," Kinsella said.

Story continues

Still, Kinsella played down calls for the Saudis to be sent home, including an online petition to move all training of students from countries outside NATO overseas, calling them "outliers."

Esper told reporters traveling with him there was no "active" consideration of sending Saudis back home to carry out their training. He noted recent Pentagon changes aimed at improving the vetting of foreign military students.

Asked about how he was addressing tensions between military families and the 140 Saudi students remaining at the Pensacola base, Esper said it was something local base leaders were "working aggressively on."

"We talked about maybe increasing roving patrols, stationary patrols," he said.

The Dec. 6 attack further complicated U.S.-Saudi relations at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional rival. It also cast the international military exchange programs the U.S. military believes help forge long-term partnerships in a negative light.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, praised those relationships and Esper's efforts to strengthen security.

"At the same, though, we cannot be bringing people over here who want to do things like this with our country," DeSantis said, standing next to Esper.

Kinsella said he believed that the broader Pensacola community still supported the presence of international military trainees.

He recounted how one Pensacola resident gave an apple pie to a group of Saudi military officers, apprehensive of what the community thought of them after the shooting by a fellow Saudi.

"People here recognize that they (the foreign students) are victims of this as well," Kinsella said.

(Reporting by Phil Stewar; Editing by Tom Brown)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Simon Burke says hes one of the lucky ones.

Burke, 59, suffered a stroke in April 2016 while he was working as an information technology manager at Staten Island University Hospital. He was also studying to get his MBA at Wagner College at the time.

It was very busy and stressful but there were no warning signs or anything, Burke said.

Side effects of a stroke include weakness and paralysis, vision problems, cognitive problems, problems swallowing, and problems using language.

Burke says hes lucky because he only suffers from aphasia.

Aphasia is when a person loses their ability to understand and/or express speech caused by brain damage. Stroke and traumatic brain injuries are main causes of aphasia.

[Aphasia] may effect mainly a single aspect of language use, such as the ability to retrieve the names of objects, or the ability to put words together into sentences, or the ability to read. More commonly, however, multiple aspects of communication are impaired, while some channels remain accessible for a limited exchange of information, according to aphasia.org.

According to the site, about one-third of strokes result in aphasia and there are about 2.2 million people in the United States with the condition. There is no cure, however, symptoms can lessen over time.

Everybody is unique  in life and after a stroke  there are so many ways you can suffer and outcomes are so different for everything, he said. Im more able than some others.

STROKE DATA

According to the American Heart Association, on average, a person has a stroke every 40 seconds in the United States and ranks fifth among all leading causes of death, killing approximately 142,000 people a year.

New York state saw approximately 6,264 stroke-related deaths in 2018, the last year that data is available, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Stroke was the fifth-leading cause of death for New Yorkers.

In 2018, New York state had a lower percentage of stroke when compared to national averages:

18 to 44 - 0.5% in New York compared to 0.9% nationally;

45 to 64  2.9% in New York compared to 4.0% nationally;

65 and older  6.0 % in New York compared to 8.0% nationally.

Between 2011 and 2015 on Staten Island, there were 435 stroke-related deaths in residents ages 18 and older, or a rate of 22 per 100,000 residents.

In 2017, there were 19,01 stroke-related deaths in New York City -- 88 of which were on Staten Island, according to the city Department of Health (DOH).

GIVING PATIENTS NEW WAYS TO COMMUNICATE

Maria Lassen, a speech language specialist in the outpatient department at SIUH, said its important to remember that aphasia is a loss of language communication skills, not a loss of intellect.

[Other people] think when people cant put together a sentence its because they dont understand, instead of a person having trouble expressing themselves, Lassen said.

Lassen helps give patients the tools to work around a specific word theyre having trouble with so they can still communicate their point.

For example, if a patient is having difficulty remembering the word 'supermarket,' a patient can say, the store where you buy cereal and bananas to make their point.

Their means to communicate have changed, thats all, she said. But they can still communicate and get to the point theyre trying to make.

APHASIA GROUP IS HUGE HELP FOR STROKE SURVIVORS

Burke attends a once-a-month aphasia support group at Staten Island University Hospital in Princes Bay.

He said he began attending the group after his stroke when he was meeting the world again and looking for support and understanding from others who suffer from aphasia.

Its teaching us how to live life again, he said.

(They are) an awe-inspiring group of people. Theyve met death head on, only to have won, said Wayne Lubowicki, stroke survivor and fellow group member.

With leadership from the speech department at SIUH, the group members practice conversation skills and other speech techniques with one another  things that are difficult for those with aphasia.

Burke also works as a volunteer in the hospitals stroke unit, visiting patients who have recently had a stroke.

Its me paying back to help other people, Burke said.

Lubowicki said his fellow group member brings hope to people who may be feeling hopeless.

He brings long awaited hope when they see he can walk, talk, and resume life where he left off before he was disabled. He is an inspiration that patients desperately need, Lubowicki said.

Membership has been on-again, off-again at the group, but he wants to spread the word to those who have aphasia and hopefully raise membership and help others.
Not meeting the obligations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) would have a devastating impact on Pakistan's economic reform program, a top US diplomat said.

Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice Wells made the comments on Friday, a day after Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the country should be taken off the FATF's 'grey list' as it has made considerable progress on the requirements of the international terror financing watchdog.

Obviously, if Pakistan were not to meet FATF obligations or were to fail and be blacklisted, that would be devastating for Pakistan's economic reform program and for its ability to attract investors, Wells told reporters here.

We've been pleased to see progress by Pakistan towards fulfilling FATF obligations, said Wells, who has just returned from her trip to the region, including a visit to Islamabad.

She was responding to a question if the funding by the International Monetary Fund could get affected if Pakistan does not meet the FATF regulations or the rules.

There is a meeting underway currently in Beijing where Pakistan is presenting its actions to the task force. So I defer to that task force to make its evaluation, she said.

But the more evidence of Pakistan's seriousness in both documenting its economy and in shrinking the space for militants to be able to take advantage of Pakistan's either banking system or territory, the more confidence that the international community and business community will have in working with Pakistan, Wells said.

A Pakistani delegation led by Minister for Economic Affairs Division Hammad Azhar is in Beijing to brief the financial task force about the steps taken by Islamabad to implement the recommendations made by the FATF.

The FATF in October last decided to keep Pakistan on its 'Grey' list for failure to curb funnelling of funds to terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and others.

If not removed off the list by April, Pakistan may move to a blacklist of countries that face severe economic sanctions, such as Iran.

Observing that FATF is a technical process, Wells said that there has been an action plan that was presented to Pakistan.

It's a question of fulfilling the requirements that have been spelled out and that are asked of all countries in the international system. So it's not a political process, but we certainly support and stand ready to assist Pakistan as it implements these obligations, she added.

The US, she said, welcomes efforts by Pakistan to meet its counterterrorism financing obligations under FATF.

We strongly encourage Pakistan to work with FATF and the international community to fully satisfy its action plan commitments, she said.

Completion of the FATF action plan is critical to Pakistan's economic reform efforts, including its IMF program, as well as for demonstrating sustained and irreversible action against all militant groups based in Pakistan without distinction, she added.

We've seen obvious progress in our relations with Pakistan, from the high-level engagement such as the President's (Donald Trump) warm and constructive meeting with Prime Minister (Imran) Khan at Davos to the restoration of the International Military Education and Training programs, she said.

Wells during her trip to Islamabad had extensive conversations on how the two countries can bolster their economic partnership where the US is Pakistan's largest export market, largest trade partner, and historically one of its most significant investors.

There are obvious synergies in energy and agriculture, and opening Pakistan's markets to American investments creates jobs and wealth without sacrificing standards or fuelling corruption.

We're looking forward to welcoming 10 Pakistani buyer delegations to the US and five regional trade shows in 2020, which will build deeper relationships between US and Pakistani firms. Prime Minister Khan's economic reform efforts contributed to the World Bank identifying it as one of the top 10 reformers globally in 2019, she said.

Responding to a question on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), she said Pakistan needs to adhere to the buyer beware.

That Pakistan is a buyer, these are not this is not grant assistance from China, it's loans, often not with concessional financing. And Pakistan should beware of the terms, to make sure that they're getting the most for their money, that brings the greatest economic prosperity, she noted.

This is Pakistan's sovereign right to decide what investment it seeks and on what terms. And a friend of Pakistan, we certainly urge that they take on investment projects that create wealth, generate employment, and are sustainable, and think we have great options for the Pakistani market, she said in response to a question.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday welcomed the Centre's decision to hand over the Koregaon-Bhima violence case to the National Investigation Agency, terming the decision as "appropriate".

The Centre transferred the case to the NIA on Friday, with the NCP and Congress alleging that the decision came soon after the Maharashtra government took steps to review the probe by the Pune police.

The case pertains to caste violence that took place near the Koregaon Bhima war memorial in Pune district on January 1, 2018, following alleged provocative speeches at Elgar Parishad conclave at Pune a day earlier.

Speaking to reporters here, Fadnavis, who held the home portfolio when the incident took place, said the state police had unearthed a huge network of "urban Naxals' and submitted all the evidence gathered to the court.

"The Supreme Court had also supported the police action," the BJP leader claimed.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government was trying to mislead people about the probe for votebank politics, he alleged.

"Attempts are being made to lower the morale of the police and put them under pressure. The decision to hand over the probe to NIA is appropriate," he said.

"The urban Naxal network is spread all across the country. Earlier the UPA government had told the Lok Sabha that urban Naxals exist. This double standard must stop. Everybody should be united in the fight against anti-social elements," Fadnavis stated.

The Congress and NCP have hit out at the Centre for handing over the Koregaon Bhima case to the NIA, claiming it was done as the BJP feared the earlier government's wrongful actions would get "exposed".

Speaking on the case transfer earlier in the day, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said, "I think the (Union) government fears that it may be exposed. So the decision has been taken."



Pawar had last month demanded setting up of a Special Investigation Team to probe the action taken by Pune police against activists in the case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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A LABORATORY test in Australia showed that the five-year-boy who was quarantined in a local hospital after he arrived from Wuhan, China with symptoms of respiratory disease was negative of the novel coronavirus disease. We can all heave a sigh of relief. There is no confirmed case of the deadly disease in Cebu. Not yet, anyway.

I wish I could say never. But the fact is that the danger will always be present that one recent traveler will arrive in Cebu unknowingly carrying the disease and without being flagged despite the precautionary measures that our authorities have put in place. Even if we prohibit all international travels to the Philippines now, there is still no assurance that the dreaded virus will not reach our shores, assuming that it hasnt yet.

Remember the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) that also originated in China, in Guangdong Province more particularly, in early 2003? Sars spread to 26 countries despite the strict precautionary steps that their governments took. By the time Sars subsided, it had already infected more than 8,000 people and killed almost 10 percent of them, according to a British Broadcasting Company (BBC) report. The BBC said that some of those infected were doctors and that the victims went from having flu-like symptoms to severe pneumonia within days.

In a way the Sars outbreak prepared Chinese and world health officials on how to respond to the new coronavirus strain. When Sars broke out, medical science was unprepared. That was the first time a coronavirus had come to the attention as a pathogen that could spread around the world so swiftly, BBC quoted the WHOs head of infectious disease unit as saying. So in the beginning it wasnt known what it (Sars) was and nobody really looked for coronaviruses such as they are doing now.

But whether the Sars experience will help health authorities contain this new outbreak quicker, meaning before it becomes a world epidemic remains a question mark. Thus, the appeal for precautions, including the wearing of surgical masks.

Story continues

We also wore masks in 2003 although not as frequently as residents of Hongkong, which was among the hardest hit by the disease, did. Now, 17 years later, we see more masked people in public places. It is as if the mask has become a fashion statement.

But just how effective are surgical masks in avoiding coronavirus infection? A recent article in the New York Times asked the same question: Do they work?

We worry about people feeling theyre getting more protection from the mask than they really are, Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, chairwoman of the public health committee for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said in the Times article. Surgical masks are in fact the last line of defense, she said.

Washing your hands and avoiding people who are ill is way more important than wearing a mask, she added, explaining that because surgical masks are not fitted or sealed, they leave gaps around the mouth, so youre not filtering all of the air that comes in.

Still, the masks can still help in avoiding picking up infections provided that they are worn properly and used consistently, specialists interviewed by the Times agreed.

But how do you wear a mask properly? Some tips from the experts: Dont put your hand underneath the mask to scratch your face or rub your nose. And dont take the mask off to answer a phone call.

Its a little inconvenient but you better get used to it unless youre wearing the mask as a fashion statement.
Paris fashion fortnight began last week with an apocalyptic warning.

Our Mother Earth will not be able to support life, we will not be able to breathe... If we dont open our hearts and our minds, its the End, a disembodied voice intoned as hot Hollywood label Rhude made its Paris debut.

The very next show, Phipps Treehugger, Tales of the Forest, was teased on Instagram with pictures of rescued koalas from the Australian wildfires.

It was another sign that fashion now sees itself on the climate change frontline.

But when AFP questioned Rhude designer Rhuigi Villasenor backstage, he admitted there was nothing sustainable about his collection.

He had found the stirring speech on the internet the day before, and didnt know who had made it.

But he insisted his clothes were timeless and would live through ages and trends.

Campaigners say such greenwashing is typical of an industry that is talking the talk but not walking the walk on sustainability.

While Rhude is a young brand, it has a starry roster of clients from Justin Bieber to rapper ASAP Rocky and Ellen DeGeneres.

Yet some of the most fabled luxury houses in fashion -- even some whose designers are activists for change -- have found themselves caught short.

- Luxury labels in dock -

Diors last womens show played hard on its eco-credentials. Set amid trees that were later used to create urban parks, it went heavy on eco-friendly hemp and raffia with models in Greta Thunberg plaits.

Designer Maria Grazia Chiuri told AFP that nature and humans need to live together if humanity is to survive.

It is not just about image but action, she added.

Weeks later a damning report by the Changing Markets Foundation on toxic pollution caused by viscose production put Dior and a swathe of other luxury labels including Prada, Versace, Fendi, Armani, Miu Miu and Marc Jacobs in the dock.

Dolce & Gabbana came in for particular criticism.

The much-vaunted biodegradable fabric -- which often is used like silk, has been seen as a silver bullet for fashions eco woes, a way to wean it off synthetic fibres that come from the petrochemical industry.

While some fast fashion groups like H&M, C&A and ASOS -- which luxury labels blame for fashions pollution and runaway overproduction -- were praised for making progress in the in-depth Dirty Fashion Disrupted study, designer labels were excoriated.

Three quarters of the luxury brands we looked at were failing to take any meaningful action to clean up their viscose supply chain, its author Urska Trunk told AFP.

Viscose, which comes from wood pulp, is now the third most used fibre in the world and genuinely has the potential to be a sustainable, Trunk added.

Unfortunately most of it is still produced in a very dirty process, causing water pollution and an alarming array of mental illnesses, strokes and cancer close to factories in India, China and Indonesia.

While she lauded British designer Stella McCartney for her transparency and ambition, with most of the other luxury brands it is lip service, mostly hollow words... And that is a major concern.

- Spin but little change -

The report is the foundations second tracking whether brands were cleaning up their act. With only a handful of firms producing almost all of the worlds viscose, Trunk said pressure from brand could make a massive difference.

For Christie Miedema, of the Dutch-based Clean Clothes Campaign, brands have become expert as eco messaging with one-off collections or clever initiatives to make it looking like they are doing something without actually changing the way they operate.

Versace, which came bottom only to Walmart in the Changing Markets table, made the front pages by sending Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen to New Yorks Met Gala in a 100 percent green eco-dress while Prada -- which is also deep in its red zone -- got admiring media coverage for their Re-Nylon eco handbag.

Dior is part of LVMH, the worlds biggest luxury group.

Unlike its main rival Kering and 24 other major clothing companies, LVMH pointedly refused to sign up to The Fashion Pact on fighting climate change at the G7 summit last year.

- They will be found out -

Owner Bernard Arnault -- the worlds richest man -- later criticised teenage activist Greta Thunberg for surrendering to total catastrophism even as he appointed McCartney his personal advisor on sustainability in September.

Kering -- which controls Gucci and Saint Laurent -- has since said it has gone carbon neutral and has vowed to halve greenhouse gas emissions in its supply chain within five years.

Joel Hazan, luxury goods analyst at the Boston Consulting Group, said the industry had passed a tipping point, and warned those who pretend to embrace sustainability would be found out.

The demographics will make the difference, he told AFP. Eight out of 10 millennials expect labels to play a strong part socially and environmentally.

Since almost all growth in luxury goods in the next five years is predicted to come from millennials, brands have no choice but to change, Hazan argued.

Indeed Vetements, the hot youthful rebel brand which has shaken Paris fashion in recent years, used its mens show to pour scorn on its elders with slogans such as Cutting down the bullshit, Fully sustainable show and It costs $0 to be a nice person.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.)

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Joe Rogan

Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Joe Rogan said on his podcast that he plans to vote for Bernie Sanders in this year's Democratic primary elections.

Sanders has embraced Rogan's support, turning it into an advertisement he shared with his Twitter followers.

Rogan, a comedian and cultural commentator, is controversial for past comments widely considered to be sexist, homophobic, racist, and transphobic.

While some Sanders supporters praised him for reaching voters across the aisle, others scorned him for welcoming Rogan.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Reactions from across the political spectrum have poured in after Joe Rogan endorsed Bernie Sanders for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

Rogan, a comedian and who first became famous as a UFC commentator, made the endorsement on his popular podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience." Rogan's YouTube channel, which hosts the podcast, has 7.29 million followers and each of its videos receives hundreds of thousands of views.

Sanders has welcomed the support. His campaign turned a video of the endorsement into an advertisement on Twitter.

Rogan made his endorsement for the Vermont Senator on Monday, when his podcast guest, New York Times opinion writer Bari Weiss, asked him who he planned to vote for in the presidential primary.

"He's been insanely consistent his entire life," Rogan said. "He's basically been saying the same thing, been for the same thing his whole life. And that in and of itself is a very powerful structure to operate from."

Rogan also said that it's "easy" to "dig up dirt on every single human being" by honing in on their "worst moment" and then magnifying it. "That said," Rogan mused, "you can't find very many with Bernie."

Story continues

Twitter erupted in response

Some celebrated Sanders' ability to reach across the aisle and gain the support of Rogan. The podcast host doesn't identify with a political party, but he often espouses libertarian views and said he voted for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson in the 2016 election. Sanders himself was a guest on Rogan's podcast in August 2019.

But others were disturbed by Rogan's past commentary, some of which has been condemned as racist and transphobic. In 2013, for example, Rogan told a bizarre story about watching "Planet of the Apes" in a black neighborhood and describing it as walking "into Africa." That same year, he also insulted MMA fighter Fallon Fox, a transgender woman, saying she was "a f---ing man. ... I don't care if you don't have a d--- anymore." In the past, Rogan has also used misogynistic and homophobic slurs.

One person said that while some of Rogan's past commentary can be viewed as dangerous, they would rather have his massive reach work in Sanders's favor during the 2020 election.

Others condemned Sanders for welcoming Rogan into his corner.

Representatives for the Sanders campaign and for Rogan didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

CORRECTION: This article previously stated that Rogan identified as a Republican. He is not affiliated with a political party.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A Border Security Force explosives expert, arrested for attempting an attack on his senior with a parcel bomb at a camp in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir, plotted the conspiracy to avenge "humiliation" of transfer to a remote post, police said on Saturday.

Constable Samarpal of 173rd Battalion wanted posting at headquarters as he had "extramarital" affair with his colleague but was transferred out to Border Out Post Chilyari, a police spokesman said.

"He, being an expert in Improvised Explosive Devices, was in Quick Reaction Team but was humiliated and was made irrelevant by his transfer to a remote post," the spokesman said, adding police achieved a breakthrough with the arrest of the BSF Jawan from his Kolkata residence a fortnight ago.

A parcel with an IED was delivered at the main gate of the battalion headquarters in Samba on January 5.

According to the police complaint filed by the battalion, a packet wrapped in silver foil addressed to a senior officer was received. On opening the packet a carton a bluetooth device was found. On slightly its lid, explosives and a battery were found inside.

The police spokesman said the bomb was defused and an investigation was started.

He said the examination of CCTV footage and witnesses indicated it was an inside job.

"The accused had proceeded on 27 days leave on January 4 after leaving the gift packed IED at the sentry post of the main gate of BSF headquarters... He was arrested from native village Pairagacha in Hooghly and brought back to Samba," the spokesman said.

During interrogation, he confessed he had planted the IED, he said.

"Accused is on remand and lodged in Sub-Jail Hiranagar while investigation is going on," the spokesman said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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The Trump campaign is threatening to skip the 2020 presidential debates unless they are held by someone who they think is fair a.k.a a Trump supporter.

The New York Times reported:

President Trumps campaign is considering only participating in general election debates if an outside firm serves as the host, and his advisers recently sat down with the nonprofit Commission on Presidential Debates to complain about the debates it hosted in 2016.

The Dec. 19 meeting between Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., a prominent Republican and co-chairman of the commission, Brad Parscale, the campaign manager for Mr. Trumps re-election effort, and another political adviser, Michael Glassner, came soon after Mr. Trump posted on Twitter that the 2016 debates had been biased.

The Commission on Presidential Debates is non-partisan. It is composed of both Republicans and Democrats. It is a commission that is designed to hold objective presidential debates.

When Trump or his campaign complains about bias or fairness, what they mean is that they want a supporter holding the debates. Trump thinks Fox and Friends and Sean Hannity are fairness. Trumps definition of fairness is supporting Donald Trump.

Trump may dodge the debates if he has to face objective questions on neutral ground.

The president is trying to rig the presidential debates, which is another sign that he doesnt believe that he can win a fair fight.

The presidential debates are the biggest audiences of the campaign, so what Trump is really trying to do with his threat is pressure the commission into a debate process that gives him an unfair advantage.

The Commission isnt going to go for it, and the odds are that Trump will show up at the debates this fall.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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National airline Gulf Air said it had operated nine recovery flights between the Iraqi town of Najaf to Bahrain International Airport, thus bringing home a total of 1,164 passengers from January 16 to 21.

Gulf Air had worked closely with the Embassy of Bahrain in Iraq, and the Consulate of

Bahrain in Najaf to communicate with Gulf Air passengers.

The national flag carrier said it continues to monitor the situation in Iraq very closely. The safety of passengers and crews remains the airlines utmost priority, it added.-Trade|Arabia News Service
Facing an increasing number of requests for its users information, Google began charging law enforcement and other government agencies this month for legal demands seeking data such as emails, location tracking information and search queries. Googles fees range from $45 for a subpoena and $60 for a wiretap to $245 for a search warrant, according to a notice sent to law enforcement officials and reviewed by The New York Times. The notice also included fees for other legal requests. A spokesman for Google said the fees were intended in part to help offset the costs of ...
Ninety nine more people who returned to Kerala from China on Saturday have been kept under surveillance by health officials in the state for possible exposure to novel coronavirus (nCoV), health officials said here on Saturday.

With this, a total of 179 people in the state are under surveillance.

A senior health official told PTI that 172 persons in the state are under home surveillance and the other seven are under observation at various hospitals across the state.

"Today, 99 new passengers arrived in the state. This makes a total of 179 persons under surveillance. Only seven people have any kind of symptoms.

They have mild symptoms. We have sent their blood and respiratory specimen samples to the National Institute of Virology, Pune," he said. l



The official also said the health department has assigned a health worker for the 172 people.

One person each from Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta and Malappuram and three from Ernakulam are in the isolation wards of various health centres in the state.

"These seven people, who had shown mild symptoms of fever, cough and sore throat, were being treated at various health facilities in the state," the official said.

Meanwhile, NoRKA Roots (Non Resident Keralite Affairs) said Keralites in in various Chinese cities that are fighting the coronavirus are safe.

The state government agency said all possible assistance has been made available to the Indian community in Wuhan city, which is the epicenter of the outbreak.

"Supermarkets and food supply chains are operational in Wuhan. The Embassy has ensured that assistance is being made available to all the Indians there.

In case of emergency, people can contact the Indian embassy through hotline numbers- 8618612083629 and 8618612083617," the agency said, quoting the embassy.

NoRKA, in a release, said the officials were in touch with the students, including from Kerala in Sichuan University and had issued various advisories.

It also said that the condition of the Malayali nurse in Saudi Arabia, who was diagnosed with the infection, was improving and hoped that she would be discharged in two days.

On Friday, health officials had tracked down 80 people who had returned to Kerala from China over the past few days and kept them under surveillance



The government on Friday advised those under home surveillance to remain at home for 28 days from the date of their departure from China.

Health officials were also directed not to mingle with anyone for the safety of their near and dear ones.

If they show any symptoms of fever, cough and breathing problem, then health officials should be immediately informed, they had said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former Rajasthan minister and BJP leader Vasudev Devnani on Saturday said the Congress is opposing the amended citizenship law as it cannot understand the pain and suffering of immigrants.

His remarks came after the Rajasthan assembly on Saturday passed a resolution urging the Centre to repeal the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). The CAA has been passed in Parliament and the President has signed it, but Congress does not want to implement it in Rajasthan, Devnani said.

READ: Raj Assembly Passes Resolution Against CAA, BJP Members Oppose

"My family has suffered because of the Partition of India on the basis of religion. The Congress cannot understand the pain and suffering of migrants. "The Congress should protest against the atrocities on Hindus (in country's where they are in minority) instead of the CAA that mandates to give them citizenship," he said in a statement.

Members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 and facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants, and be given Indian citizenship, according to the CAA. Devnani accused the Congress of granting citizenship to only Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir in the garb of Article 35-A.

Hindus, who are minority in neighbouring countries, are facing consequences of the Congress's appeasement politics whereas the CAA is going to address all the issues of minorities who migrate to India for a better life, he said. Devnani alleged that Congress is trying to take political mileage on the sensitive issue by bringing a resolution in the House.
The former president of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Bice Osei Kuffour, popularly called Obour, has finally declared his intention to contest the Asante-Akyem South seat in the upcoming governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) primaries scheduled for April 2020.

Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in

A group calling itself Asante-Akyem South Youth Coalition, on January 21, 2020, paid a courtesy call on Obour at his residence and pleaded with him to contest in the primaries.

READ ALSO: Lucky Mensah shows off 15-bedroom mansion and other properties

In a statement, Obour said: I was not very clear in my mind then, as I had other competing considerations.

"After very extensive consultations with my maker (God), immediate family, friends and loved ones, the call on me to avail myself of service is overwhelming.

I am very happy to announce today, the 24th day of January 2020 that I, Bice Osei Kuffour (Obour) have firmly decided to contest the NPP primaries in the Asante-Akyem South Constituency to serve my people and contribute to improving the electoral fortunes of the great New Patriotic Party (NPP) ahead of the 2020 general elections when given the nod.

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Obour said he would be picking his nomination forms on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 at the NPP office in Juaso.

YEN.com.gh earlier reported that a former Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Suhum, Margaret Ansei is questioning why Ghanas Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia isnt on the committee set up to investigate the depreciation of the Cedi.

According to the former National Democratic Congress (NDC) appointee, Dr. Bawumia who was once the NPPs economic wizard has been reduced to nothing because he has lost his usefulness.

READ ALSO: Houseboy attempts to poison employer's family after he lost GHC11,500 to fraudsters (video)

Ghanaian Traders Share Thoughts on Sales During Christmas | #Yencomgh

READ ALSO: Juliet Ibrahim: Fresh photos of actress' beautiful mother pop up

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Source: YEN.com.gh
Hong Kong police have arrested another four suspects involved in an explosion last month in Tuen Mun and seized weapons from imitation firearms to bows and arrows that threaten public security.

Three men and one woman were under arrest for offenses including conspiracy to manufacture explosives and possession of offensive weapon, Chief Inspector Lo Chung-wong of the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau said at a press briefing on Friday.

The police believe the suspects, including a retiree and a programmer, provided financial and professional support for the explosion case and discussed attack plans with people arrested last month, Lo said.

On Dec. 14, the police arrested three men suspected of testing explosives at an out-of-the-way place in Tuen Mun, seizing explosives and remote controllers, which could be used for possible attacks in processions and assemblies.

Lo said the police also seized offensive weapons including 29 signal flares, three imitation firearms and bows and arrows during the operation on Friday and those weapons could be used to create chaos and cause injuries to residents in public events.

In Hong Kong, causing an explosion likely to endanger life or property is a serious offence which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Saturday imposed a 48-hour campaigning ban on BJP candidate from Delhi's Model Town constituency Kapil Mishra following his controversial tweets, poll panel officials said.

The ban order, signed by the Chef Election Commissioner and two fellow Election Commissioners, would come into force from 5 PM on Saturday, they said.

While Twitter had taken down one of his controversial tweets on Friday following directions of the EC, an FIR was lodged against him under section 125 of the Representation of the People Act dealing with creating enmity among classes.

Delhi goes to poll on February 8.
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Linkedin Panca Nugraha (The Jakarta Post) Mataram  Sat, January 25, 2020 16:38 718 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad2060f4222 1 National Walhi,Lombok,Mount-Rinjani,environment,NTB,MotoGP,MotoGP-2021,tourism Free

The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) is opposing the administration's plan to construct a cable car facility around Mount Rinjani on Lombok Island.

NTB Governor Zulkieflimansyah has reiterated on several occasions that the plan was in place, saying that the cable car would be located at the climbers entrance gate in Aik Berik village, Central Lombok. The project, scheduled to begin in May, is expected to finish before the first MotoGP race on the island in 2021.

The cable car is for visitors who want to enjoy the beauty of Mount Rinjani, so people who come to Lombok will be able to see the mountains scenery aside from watching the MotoGP race, said NTB Environment and Forestry Agency head Madani Mukarom.

Environmentalists do not welcome the plan.

Walhi NTB executive director Murdani said the project would potentially damage the environment and cause social problems.

The cable car construction will damage the environment because the commercial facilities will definitely result in significant change to the natural landscape of the area, Murdani said on Friday.

Murdani explained that Mount Rinjani needed to be protected as it was a source of livelihood for people who lived around it, in addition to serving as an important source of water in Lombok.

Mount Rinjani was experiencing heavy environmental damages due to illegal logging, forest encroachment and the dry season, all of which occurred every year, he added.

Walhi said the administration was rushing the project since it has yet to conduct feasibility studies on construction.

They [the government] have clearly not thought about the environmental impacts if they begin the construction in May, said Murdani.

He said protection was also needed because the Rinjani area served as a cultural heritage site. The addition of a cable car could therefore potentially exacerbate the current waste management issue that Mount Rinjani National Park is currently struggling to overcome.

Seeing that there are still many unsolved issues within the mountain area, Walhi disapproves of this project and urges the NTB administration to stop the construction plan, he said.

Mount Rinjani National Park Center head Dedi Asriyadi said the construction project would not take place inside the national park.

We've already coordinated with the NTB Environment and Forestry Agency, and they informed us that the cable car will not be located inside the national park, but around the plantation areas that the provincial administration has the authority to manage, he said.

Dedi said the project already received the Environment and Forestry Ministrys approval. He also added that the regional investment agency in NTB had given them the principal license to start the project.

However, the principal license will be used to conduct a study. It will take up to four months to obtain other permits, such as the operational permit, environmental permit, business permit, construction permit and many more. So we still have a long way to go." (dpk)
David Neild is no stranger to New Jersey. Neild grew up in Camden County, met his wife, and moved to Cumberland County, where he lived until he moved to the Smokey Mountains region of North Carolina, in 2018. When he heard President Donald Trump was bringing his Keep America Great Rally to the Wildwoods Convention Center on Tuesday, Neild decided he wanted to make the 10-hour drive to his old state to see the President.

Neild and thousands of others will be heading to Wildwood for the Jan. 28 presidential campaign rally that will see President Trump, Jeff Van Drew (R-2nd Congressional District), and others speak, aimed at galvanizing the Republican base not only in the southern New Jersey area but in surrounding states.

While early estimates said up to 40,000 would be attending, Van Drew said Sunday 100,000 tickets had been requested, however that figure cant be independently verified. A Trump campaign spokeswoman told NJ Advance Media that it doesnt comment on ticket numbers.

The now-North Carolinian Neild said he would be staying in Wildwood for the next three days because he did not want to miss a chance to see the President. To attempt to be one of the 7,400 people to be admitted into the venue, he will be in line at 3 a.m. Tuesday for a chance to get inside.

The Wildwoods were my old stomping grounds when I was younger, Neild said. But having the President visit there is historic, and I want to be part of history. I want to support our President. This is an exciting time for New Jersey.

Neild added he wants to not only witness history but show support to the 45th president.

I did not vote for Obama, but I never once wanted him to fail because if he failed, the whole country would have failed. It is the same with Trump. People want him to fail so much, but he has not. Promises made, promises kept.

Neild is not the only one making a long trek to the Cape May County shore town. In Facebook groups dedicated to the rally, people from as far away as Florida said they were coming up north. Also attending is Maria Cleary who lives in Warrington Township, Penn., approximately 45 minutes outside of Philadelphia. After being unable to attend the Trump rally in Hershey, Penn., she will be making the nearly three-hour drive to Wildwood with several friends. They plan to be in line as early as 4 a.m. to be with fellow Trump supporters who feel the same way as her.

For the first time, in my adult life, Im passionate about a President and his vision for our country, his vision to put all Americans regardless of race, creed, color, or religion first, Cleary said. I love that we have an unapologetically authentic President, a President who doesnt speak in the delicate dialect of diplomacy but rather speaks to and stands up for the American Citizens whom he was elected to represent. It doesnt bother me that our President isnt always nice and is at times inartful when he speaks; hes strong and decisive, exactly why I voted for him in 2016.

Cleary added she would be proudly wearing her Trump hat because it symbolizes her belief that Trump supports the working class and other topics that were ignored in the 2016 election instead of hate.

Like most other supporters of President Trump, I am so disheartened at continually hearing that our President, his messaging, his vision for America and his supporters represent hate, Cleary said. I know why I voted and continue to support President Trump. I know that my Trump hats do not represent hate, bigotry, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, or any other phobia. Voting for President Trump was a vote for change.

Jerome Cooch Lucchese has a lot of experience traveling. The Brooklyn and Long Island, New York native who later became a Bronx police officer, teacher, and the tour manager for Twisted Sister for many years, will be traveling 231 miles from Lake Wallenpaupack in the Pocono Mountains area of Pennsylvania to a hotel in Cape May.

Lucchese, who had previously attended a rally in Wilkes Barre, Penn., when Trump was a presidential candidate, said the rally experience is a way for supporters to be with each other and see the person they are backing.

It is just a massive amount of people all there for the same reasons, Lucchese said. They are all fans of President Trump and wanted to see him get elected. Now we want to see him get re-elected. There are a lot of good people there. There is no trouble and no problems, just an enjoyable time to listen and watch the president.

Among the areas that Lucchese said the President was doing well were the economy, crime, and job development through manufacturing. Lucchese also said that he agrees with the job Trump was doing about immigration, an issue close that is close to him.

My mom came to this country from Ireland on a boat and had nothing, Lucchese said. She made it in this country and had to check in regularly with immigration. She had to pass tests and jump through hoops to become a citizen of this country. She did not just run across a border and get handed everything on the backs of taxpayers.

Chris Franklin can be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @cfranklinnews or on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.

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Canadian searchers on Friday found the body of one of five French snowmobilers whose machines fell through the ice of a frozen lake, police said.

Hopes had dimmed of finding any of the five alive, despite a search that included divers, sonar operators and police backed by helicopters in the area about 225 kilometers (140 miles) north of Quebec City.

Quebec provincial police spokesman Hugues Beaulieu said the body "was found more than two kilometers from the initial search area in Grande Decharge River" at the mouth of Lake Saint-Jean where the accident happened.

"At the moment, we can't identify the body," Beaulieu said.

The group included eight French tourists, three of whom survived. Their Canadian guide died when they crashed through ice while snowmobiling Tuesday evening in an area that is off limits to snowmobiles because the ice is thinner there.

Police had already recovered six snowmobiles at the bottom of the lake near where the accident occurred, which prompted a pledge from provincial authorities to tighten safety measures on the use of the machines.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi: Ahead of India's 71st Republic Day celebration, the President of Brazil, Jair Messias Bolsonaro arrived at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Saturday. He was welcomed by President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and received ceremonial reception on his arrival.

Bolsonaro also paid floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat where he was accompanied with Union Minister V Muraleedharan.

Bolsonaro arrived in India on Friday where he was received by Prime Minister Modi. He is on a four days visit to India with an aim to strengthen bilateral relations in the fields of agriculture, energy, and defence. Bolsonaro will be taking part in the Republic Day parade program as the Chief Guest of the event.

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Prime Minister welcomed Bolsonaro and said that his visit to India will add strength to India-Brazil relations. Taking to Twitter Modi said, "A warm welcome to President Jair Messias Bolsonaro! We are delighted to host him and we look forward to his taking part in our Republic Day celebrations. His visit will add strength to India-Brazil relations."

Bolsonaro was accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising several ministers, senior officials, chairman of Brazil-India Friendship Group in the Brazilian Parliament, and businessmen.

Prior to his visit to Rashtrapati Bhawan, Bolsonaro met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and discussed ways to make stronger ties between the two countries in a range of areas, including trade and investment.
Uzfiles.uz scored 42 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 2/5.0 Stars by Social Team

This CoolSocial report was updated on 19 Jun 2013, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.

The total number of people who shared the uzfiles homepage on Google Plus by a google +1 button. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared, liked or recommended the uzfiles homepage on Facebook + the total number of page likes (if uzfiles has a Facebook fan page). This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared the uzfiles homepage on Twitter + the total number of uzfiles followers (if uzfiles has a Twitter account). The total number of people who shared the uzfiles homepage on Delicious. The total number of people who shared the uzfiles homepage on StumbleUpon.

Basic Information

PAGE TITLE    DESCRIPTION KEYWORDS OTHER KEYWORDS sozlash ishlari, sozlash, ishlari,



CoolSocial advanced keyword analysis tool is able to detect and analyze every keyword on each page of a site. The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of the site. The keywords meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. The description meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. The title found in the head section of the homepage.

Domain and Server

DOCTYPE XHTML 1.0 Transitional CHARSET AND LANGUAGE Russian WINDOWS-1251Russian DETECTED LANGUAGE Russian Russian SERVER Apache (PleskLin) OPERATIVE SYSTEM Linux Linux

The language of uzfiles.uz as detected by CoolSocial algorithms. Represents HTML declared type (e.g.: XHTML 1.1, HTML 4.0, the new HTML 5.0) Operative System running on the server. Type of server and offered services. Character set and language of the site.

Site Traffic trend during the last year. Only available for sites ranked <= 100000 in the world.

Referring domains for uzfiles.uz by MajesticSeo. High values are a sign of site importance over the web and on web engines.

Facebook link

FACEBOOK PAGE LINK NOT FOUND

Facebook Timeline is the new layout of Facebook pages. The URL of the found Facebook page. The type of Facebook page. The total number of people who like website Facebook page. The description of the Facebook page describes website and its services to the social media users. A Facebook page link can be found in the homepage or in the robots.txt file. The total number of people who tagged or talked about website Facebook page in the last 7-10 days.

Twitter account link

TWITTER PAGE LINK NOT FOUND
live bse live

nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

Drug firm Strides Pharma Science on Friday said the US health regulator has completed inspection of its Alathur facility in Tamil Nadu with zero observations. "This is the second consecutive Zero 483 inspection for the site," Strides Pharma Science said in a filing to the BSE.

The company's formulation facility at Alathur underwent a United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) inspection which concluded with 'Zero 483 observations', it added.

The current inspection was a pre-approval inspection for sustained release class of drugs which is a new dosage format for the facility and is one of the focus areas for the company in the global market, the company said.

The facility recently completed a significant capacity expansion which will support the growth momentum for the US business, it added.

In a separate filing, Strides Pharma Science said its step-down wholly owned subsidiary, Strides Pharma Global Pte Ltd Singapore, has received tentative approval for Triamcinolone Acetonide ointment USP, 0.05 percent from the USFDA.

The product will be manufactured at the company's oral dosage facility at Bengaluru and will be marketed by Strides Pharma Inc in the US market, it added.

The final approval for Strides will be effective May 30, 2020 when the company will launch the product, it said.

According to IQVIA MAT data, the US market for Triamcinolone Acetonide Ointment USP, 0.05 percent is around USD 20 million (about Rs 142 crore), it added.

Shares of Strides Pharma Science Ltd on Friday closed 0.61 percent higher at Rs 414.75 per scrip on the BSE.
Date: January 15, 2020

Contact: Peter Christian



The National Park Service invites the public to comment on proposed changes for park compendiums in Alaska through February 15, 2020. A compendium  one for each NPS area in Alaska  is a compilation of designations, closures and restrictions adopted under the discretionary authority within the regulations covering national parks. This regulatory tool helps manage Alaska's national park areas for the publics enjoyment, use and protection.



A handful of changes are proposed for this year. They include, but are not limited to:

All national park units in Alaska are proposing provisions governing the use of electronic bicycles (e-bikes)

Denali National Park proposes to change the hours generators may be operated in the Riley Creek, Savage River, and Teklanika River campgrounds.

Glacier Bay National Park proposes changes to the use of the Bartlett Cove dock.

Lake Clark National Park is proposing to require bear resistant electric fencing when camping on national park lands along the coast.

Katmai National Park proposes to relax parking restrictions at Lake Camp.

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park is proposing changes related to use of the Dyea Campground and also proposes mandatory registration for overnight use of the Chilkoot trail during the shoulder seasons.

Information on how to view all proposed changes and instructions on how to comment is available at https://www.nps.gov/locations/alaska/proposed-compendiums.htm. A written copy may be requested directly from a park or the National Park Service, 240 W. 5th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501, Attn: Compendium.

www.nps.gov/AK

Visit us at www.nps.gov/AK, on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram, www.instagram.com/alaskanps/
Ukraine exports almost 35 mln tonnes of grain since July 1

11:16, 25.01.20 1364

In particular, Ukraine exported 15.5 million tonnes of wheat.
R K Chandolia, then private secretary of former telecom minister A Raja and one of the accused in 2G spectrum allocation case has moved an application in the Delhi High Court stating that CBI's appeal challenging their acquittal is now 'infructuous' due to 2018 amendment to the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.

Chandolia, in his plea, said that by virtue of PC (Amendment) Act, 2018, substituting the Section 13 of PC Act, 1988, the charge of criminal misconduct no longer applies to him.

According to Chandolia's application, the PC Act 2018 was introduced to remedy such gross misuse of power of launching criminal prosecution by investigating agencies against honest officers, who may have been negligent, but were not accused of receiving any illegal gratification. It is submitted that when the Act is beneficial in nature, then Section 6A of the General Clauses Act shall not apply.

"The amendment to the Section 13 of the PC Act, 1988 is relevant in the present case as the acts which are considered as criminal misconduct post amendment are limited only to dishonest or fraudulent misappropriation of property or illegal enrichment," the application said.

"In this case, there is no allegation by the appellant CBI against the applicant of dishonest or fraudulent misappropriation of property or illegal enrichment by the present applicant," the plea said.

Chandolia's plea, filed by advocate Vijay Aggarwal, said that it is a settled proposition of law that once an Act is repealed, it must be considered as if it had never existed and same would be considered obliterated from the statute books.

"The applicant (Chandolia) and other accused persons have acquired a vested right after having been declared innocent and exonerated from all the charges including but not limited to under the stringent section 13 (1) (d) of PC Act which is no longer a law in force," the application said.

It is stated that the 2018 amendment has entirely changed the definition of the offence of "criminal misconduct", as relevant to the case.

Chandolia argued that the High Court has to make a preliminary enquiry as to whether the allegations would stand in view of the narrower definition of "criminal misconduct" after the amendment.

The plea stated that the Amendment Act of 2018 did not have any "savings clause" to save the prosecutions launched under the unamended provisions of PC Act.

Chandolia has requested the High Court to decide the preliminary issue regarding the matter in the light of the grounds raised in the present application.

The High Court is currently dealing with the CBI's appeal challenging the acquittal of all accused including Raja in the 2G spectrum case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Saswad court has remanded four persons, including three brothers, to police custody till January 27 for hunting endangered species of rabbit in the forest area of Purandar.

The accused have been identified as Maruti Shinde (22), Ajay Maruti Shinde (22), Akash Maruti Shinde (20) and Sunil Shinde (22), all residents of Saswad and hailing from Ahmednagar district.

They were arrested with dead rabbits in the forest area by the Purandar forest officials. The forest department officials booked them under sections of violating the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and trespassing into forest reserve, and handed them over to the police after which they were arrested.

Forest department officer Jayshree Jadhav said, Hunting endangered species is a crime and strict action will be taken against the violators.
" " A girl lights a candle during the Burns Night celebrations outside St Peter's Centre on Jan. 23, 2016 in Peterchurch, England. Burns Night is annually celebrated in Scotland on or around January 25. It commemorates the life of the bard (poet) Robert Burns, who was born on January 25, 1759. The day also celebrates Burns' contribution to Scottish culture. Billie Charity / Barcroft Media / Barcroft Media via Getty Images

Every Jan. 25, proud Scots from Edinburgh to Shanghai celebrate the life and literary genius of the 18th-century Scottish poet Robert Burns through a beloved tradition called Burns Night. Ranging from formal ceremonies with kilted bagpipers to small gatherings of old friends, a good Burns Night has three things in common: a bottle of good Scotch whisky, readings of classic Burns poems and songs, and a fat and juicy haggis.

It's hard to overstate the heroic status of Burns in Scottish cultural psyche. Born Jan. 25, 1759, not only was Burns the author 550 songs and poems  including "Auld Lang Syne" (the second most-sung song in the world after "Happy Birthday"), and favorites like "My Luve is Like a Red, Red Rose," and "To a Mouse"  but he was a man of the people, a lifelong farmer known as the "heaven-taught ploughman" or "Ploughman Poet."

Alistair Braidwood, creator and host of the Scots Whay Hae! podcast, says that Burns' poems are some of the first taught in Scottish primary schools and that his dashing portrait is plastered on posters nationwide, like Che Guevara or John F. Kennedy.

"The fact that we can project different aspects of a national identity onto this figure has allowed him to endure," says Braidwood. "You could say, 'Scotland is a hard-drinking country' and Burns did that. Or 'Scotland is a socially liberal country' and he was that. There's something about him, the man and his poetry, that people can tap into."

The cult of Burns is celebrated all year in Scotland, but a special veneration is reserved for his birthday. It started just a few years after Burns' untimely death at just 37 years old from rheumatic fever, when his close friends gathered for a memorial supper in his honor, toasting their beloved "Rabbie." From there, the tradition spread across Scotland and eventually the world. Wherever you find a Scot on Jan. 25, you'll likely find a Burns Night. Formal suppers are held at the 250 official Burns Clubs worldwide, and various restaurants and private individuals host Burns suppers too.

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The Star of the Supper

The main attraction of Burns Night is the Burns Supper and the star of the supper is undeniably the haggis, the traditional Scottish "pudding" of boiled sheepskin stuffed with a savory blend of sheep's heart, liver and lungs, plus onion, oatmeal and spices. After opening remarks by the host and the recitation of the traditional Selkirk Grace, (see tweet below) the haggis is brought out with great fanfare, sometimes accompanied by a parade of bagpipes.

Which brings us to everyone's favorite part of the night, the reciting of "Address to a Haggis." Written in the Scots language, like many of Burns' greatest work, "Address to a Haggis" is a humorous paean to the iconic Scottish dish, in which Burns scoffs at the high cuisine of France and Italy (which would "make a pig vomit") and praises the strength and virility of the haggis-fed man.

The poem is meant to be recited with gusto, complete with dramatic (and sometimes suggestive) hand gestures. At the uttering of the words, "His knife see rustic Labour dight, / An' cut you up wi' ready sleight, / Trenching your gushing entrails bright," the orator slits open the haggis from top to bottom, revealing its steaming spiced delights.

"It's just a great, fun poem apart from anything else," says Braidwood. "I've seen people really give it their all when they're doing the 'Address to a Haggis' and you've got the cutting open of the haggis right there in the poem. It almost tells you how to enjoy a good Burns Night."

" " Haggis and whisky are the star attractions at Burns night supper held in 2010 in London. Marco Secchi/Getty Images

The party doesn't stop with the haggis. After everyone has stuffed themselves with boiled sheep meat and the traditional sides of "neeps and tatties" (mashed rutabaga and potatoes), it's time for the performance of famous Burns songs, after which come the traditional toasts and speeches. These are usually accompanied by wine, ale or, of course, Scotch whisky.

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To The Immortal Memory and the Lassies

When Braidwood gets together with his friends (some of whom are Burns scholars) for a Burns Supper, the evening includes a rousing discussion of the great man and his work, but at a more formal gathering, someone will be assigned (or hired) to give the official "Immortal Memory" speech.

This isn't an off-the-cuff toast, but a well-researched talk referencing Burns' biography, his literary achievements, his politics, his rural roots and his very embodiment of Scottish pride. Alisdair Hutton, a seasoned Burns Supper speaker, recommends reading at least two Burns biographies to prepare for the speech, which ends with the toast: "To the Immortal Memory of Robert Burns!"

And that's not the only speech. Burns famously appreciated the fairer sex  he fathered 12 children (only nine with his wife, Jean Armour)  and the "Toast to the Lassies" is a chance for one intrepid guest to use some snippets of Burns verse to praise (and poke fun at) the ladies in attendance. The men have to be careful, though, because it's the women who get the last laugh with the "Reply to the Toast to the Lassies."

The evening ends with everyone holding hands and singing "Auld Lang Syne." If your only experience with the song is mumbling and bumbling through the chorus on New Year's Eve, it's worth learning more about this nostalgic ballad to the gift of friendship, including the words. That way, you'll be able to take "a cup o' kindness yet" to close out a memorable evening.

Now That's Confusing Tourists take note: The Scottish capital city of Edinburgh is not pronounced like "Pittsburgh." Locals pronounce it "Edinbra" with an emphasis on the first "E". You're welcome.
A threat is an act of expressing the plan to harm others by damaging one's property or person. It is an act of intimidation intended to arouse fear in the person concerned. There are several forms of threat, however, in all cases, threats are offences punishable by law.

It may be likely that the head of the Electoral Commission, Madam Jean Mensah, is facing one of the toughest challenges in her life, as her duty to see the effectiveness of votings in the forthcoming elections is under threat, over the EC's plans to issue a new Voters' Register.

Since the Electoral Commission made known to the general public and political parties in the country, about the need for a new Voters' Register for the forthcoming elections, the country has experienced demonstrations by the opposition parties, including the NDC.

A demonstration is just an organized mass movement of a group of people who are not satisfied with something, therefore, trying to draw attention to the government publicly. But when a threat comes in, that's a serious offence in any country, whether developed or developing.

Therefore, those threatening the life of Jean Mensah must understand the consequences of their actions. They must be very careful, not to take the weak judiciary system in Ghana, as an advantage to threaten the head of the Electoral Commission.

Since a threat is a crime or offense containing an explicit order to fulfill a condition, in some developed countries, it is punishable by three years imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 Euros. I believe the same law exists in Ghana.

The Ghanaian government or law enforcement officers have the right to arrest the leaders behind the threat because it's a crime to threaten someone's life. Such crime must not be tolerated in any way under the administration of Nana Akufo Addo.

Ghana is neither ready for any violent demonstrations, elections nor life-threatenings. The opposition must clearly understand to avoid that because the current Ghanaian government has the power to arrest and prosecute anyone who breaks the law.
Gardai have appealed to the public in North Cork and East Kerry for assistance in helping to track down a gang who managed to flee into forestry and evade a large-scale search operation which involved local gardai, landowners on quad bikes, and army drones searching for them.

Gardai were alerted when they received reports of a silver Volkswagen GTI acting suspiciously in the Knocknagree area near the Kerry border around midday last Friday and gardai from Millstreet responded to the reports.

Gardai arrived on the scene just as the gang was fleeing after breaking into two houses near Knocknagree Church around 1pm.

As the gang fled the scene of the crime they threw coins stolen in the burglaries at the garda car, smashing its windscreen and causing damage to the vehicle.

Gardai were uninjured and gave pursuit to the gang who drove off at speed with garda cars from Cork West, Cork North, Kerry and Limerick Garda Divisions all assisting in the efforts to apprehend the culprits involved.

They caught up with the gang near a windfarm at Gneeves south of Millstreet where they abandoned their car and fled on foot into forestry where gardai were assisted by local farmers on quad bikes in the search operation to apprehend the criminal gang.

The search continued for a number of hours but gardai were unable to track down the gang and they called off the search at around 8pm on Friday evening.

Gardai maintained a presence at the forestry overnight and on Saturday, they were assisted by army personnel who deployed drones in an effort to locate the suspects but this too failed to apprehend the gang.

The investigation is continuing but so far gardai have failed to find the gang but the car, which was fitted with false number plates, has been removed for a forensic examination by garda technical experts and gardai are confident of being able to identify the gang.

Gardai are seeking the public's help as well and are asking anyone who noticed any suspicious activity in the Knocknagree area on Friday and later around Gneeves, Millstreet, Rathmore or Ballyvourney is asked to contact Macroom Garda Station on 026-20590.
With the deadly novel coronavirus spreading rapidly outside China, including Nepal, the Gorakhpur administration has decided to build a separate ward in the district hospital for people infected with the virus, a senior health department official said on Saturday.

"Till date no case of coronavirus has been found in Gorakhpur. However, the department is ready and soon an isolation ward will be constructed in the district hospital," Chief Medical Officer Srikant Tiwari said. Eleven people, who returned to India from China in recent days, have been put under observation in Kerala, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad for possible exposure to the virus. The symptoms for the virus include fever, cough and respiratory distress.

READ: Jammu And Kashmir: Security Tightened In Srinagar Ahead Of Republic Day

"The virus is deadly and it has already taken lives and has spread to many countries. Recently, a case was detected in Nepal too. We share a 1,751-km-long open border with Nepal and without checking the borders, the efforts of checking the virus at airports will go in vein," Dr RN Singh, who extensively worked on encephalitis during its outbreak in the district, told reporters.

"Health checkposts on Indo-Nepal border needs to be established to check the entry of virus into the country," the Gorakhpur-based doctor said. On Friday, Nepal confirmed the first case of the coronavirus (nCoV), identifying the infected person as a Nepali student who recently returned from the Chinese city of Wuhan.

"In 2002-03, during SARS epidemic, we demanded health checkposts be at opened at borders at Sanauli-Bhairawa (India-Nepal) border, and it was accepted by the government. Cases of coronavirus have been detected in Thailand and many people from here go to Thailand and many come here from there, so health checkposts are essentially required," Singh added.
THE DEATHS of nearly two dozen horses last year at Santa Anita Park in California caused the famed racetrack to close for three weeks as it tried to assess the situation. It reopened with changes that included a new track drainage system, strict medication rules, enhanced training protocols and more veterinarians to oversee the horses. Despite the changes, there were six deaths of horses racing or training during the fall meeting leading up to the renowned Breeders Cup races. During the final race of that two-day event, a 4-year-old gelding broke its leg and had to be euthanized. Since the start of the new season in December, there have been five more deaths, including three in as many days over the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.
India and Brazil on Saturday signed 15 agreements and unveiled an action plan to boost cooperation in areas ranging from biofuels to cybersecurity and defence as President Jair Bolsonaro kicked off a visit during which he will be chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations.

The two Brics economies, which are currently grappling with problems, set a target of boosting trade to $15 billion by 2022 and decided to focus on agriculture as a key area for cooperation. They also agreed to bilaterally address the issue of Indias support to sugarcane growers, over which Brazil has filed a WTO dispute.

The choice of Bolsonaro as chief guest for the Republic Day parade  an honour accorded in the past to leaders such as former US president Barack Obama and late South African president Nelson Mandela  has been questioned because of his controversial views. The external affairs ministry has defended the choice by saying India shares a strategic relationship with Brazil and Bolsonaro is the elected leader in a democratic country.

Bolsonaro was accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan before his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tweeted their discussions covered energy, technology, healthcare and defence. Modi added the two sides are also working together at multilateral forums and see immense synergies on various issues including the need to uprootterrorism.

In a statement after his talks with Bolsonaro, Modi noted that they were meeting for the third time in eight months and said it was a matter of great pride that the Brazilian president was the chief guest for the Republic Day. Strategic partnership between India and Brazil is based on our common ideology and values, he said, adding the action will deepen people-to-people and business ties.

Of the 15 agreements signed by the two sides, the key ones focus on cooperation in bio-energy, oil and natural gas, investment facilitation, mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, and cooperation in health, cyber-security and social security to facilitate the movement of professionals.

The action plan adopted by the two sides will cover six major areas  political and strategic coordination; trade, investments, agriculture, civil aviation and energy; science, technology, space, environment, technical cooperation and health; defence and security; culture and education; and consular issues, social security and legal cooperation.

The action plan will bring together existing mechanisms, such as the joint working groups on bio-energy and oil and gas and the joint defence committee, and its implementation will be overseen by the joint commission for political, economic, scientific, technological and cultural cooperation.

A person familiar with developments, who declined to be identified, said Modi raised the WTO dispute filed by Brazil over Indias support to sugarcane growers during the talks with Bolsonaro and both sides agreed to address the issue through bilateral consultations as a gesture of our close friendship and given the importance India attaches to the matter.

The leaders agreed on the great synergies between India and Brazil and the need to cooperate in areas that are mutually beneficial, such as agriculture, bio-fuels, animal husbandry, health and science and technology, the external affairs ministry spokesperson said. They also set a target of $15 billion for bilateral trade by 2022, up from the current level of about $8 billion.

In the field of bio-fuels, both leaders agreed the two sides could collaborate in ethanol production. Brazil is a leader in this field and will share advanced technology with India. Modi said this will serve Indias developmental goals and Bolsonaro indicated Brazils willingness to work in research on bio-energy.

Ethanol was one of the main items on Brazils agenda for discussions. The Brazilian side is keen on assisting India to boost its ethanol programme, including increased production and blending of ethanol with petrol, which can help reduce Indias sugar stocks and boost global prices for the commodity.

The two sides agreed to work on market access for avocado, citrus fruits and wood from Brazil and pearl millet, sorghum and cotton from India.

Both sides agreed to collaborate in assisted reproductive technology for cattle to increase Indias dairy production. They welcomed the decision to set up a Centre of Excellence in Cattle Genomics in India with Brazils help.

Modi identified biotechnology, health, low carbon technology and earth sciences as specific areas of cooperation under science and technology. He said the two sides will focus on new ways to boost defence industrial cooperation and a large Brazilian delegation will participate in DefExpo 2020 in Lucknow.

Our perspective on the current difficult challenges facing the world is very similarOur partnership, particularly in Brics and IBSA, is an important aspect of Indias foreign policy, he said, adding the two countries will also work reforming the UN Security Council.

A joint statement said the two countries had reiterated their mutual support for permanent membership of the UN Security Council, and would closely together within G-4 to realise their aspirations. The two leaders described international terrorism as one of the most serious threats to peace and called for concerted action against the menace by the world community.

The two leaders also agreed to work closely at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on terror financing and money laundering. They also underlined the need for all countries to ensure their territory isnt used to launch terror attacks on other nations, the joint statement said.
(Natural News) The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has officially confirmed the first known case of Wuhan Coronavirus within our nations borders.

Reports indicate that a traveler who had just returned to Seattle, Washington, after visiting Wuhan, China, where authorities claim the current Coronavirus outbreak originated, had to be hospitalized for what appeared to be a bout of pneumonia. This individual was later diagnosed with Coronavirus  and the CDC is warning that this is only the beginning.

As Coronavirus continues to spread across China, as well as into Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan, the fear here is that it will also ravage the West, which the CDC seems to think is inevitable.

As of this writing, at least 17 people have died from Coronavirus and more than 500 others have been confirmed as being infected. Travel advisories are being issued in several other countries, but the U.S. has yet to take action.

Airline stock has plummeted in response to the news, with Delta dropping 3.50 percent, United Airlines dropping 3.20 percent, Southwest Airlines dropping 1.5 percent, and American Airlines dropping 2.50 percent.

A number of resort stocks, including Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands Corp., and MGM Resorts International also dropped, as investors are sensing that travel both here and abroad is likely to decline as Coronavirus continues to spread.

College professor says Coronavirus could become like the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50 million people

This whole Coronavirus situation is eerily reminiscent of what took place back in 2002-03 with the infamous SARS scare, which many believed would create a global pandemic. However, since this never actually materialized, its now Coronavirus thats on everybodys minds.

Professor Neil Ferguson from Imperial College London, recently warned that Coronavirus could become like the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50 million people  this being the deadliest pandemic in history.

This [2019-nCoVs death rate] could be two percent, similar to Spanish flu, Ferguson told the media, explaining that this two percent figure translates as one out of every 50 people who contract Coronavirus dying from the disease.

Novel viruses spread much faster because we have no immunity, he further contends.

What the Coronavirus does is cause victims to develop pneumonia, a respiratory infection that causes the alveoli, or air sacs, within the lungs to become inflamed and filled with fluid or pus.

Consequently, pneumonia sufferers have difficulty drawing air inside their lungs, which in turn results in reduced oxygen supplies in their bloodstreams. And if left to run their course, such symptoms will eventually kill pneumonia patients.

Without treatment, the end is inevitable, says the charity group Medecins Sans Frontieres about the seriousness of a pneumonia infection. Deaths occur because of asphyxiation.

Most causes of pneumonia are bacterial, according to Professor Peter Horby from the University of Oxford, which means there are treatments readily available to combat it. But because Coronavirus is viral, theres no known remedy for it.

With viral pneumonia, care is supportive,' Horby is quoted as saying  you can read between the lines on this one.

The current Coronavirus outbreak is believed to have started at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, which up until a few days ago was reportedly selling all sorts of exotic wildlife as food, including wolf puppies, civets, live foxes, crocodiles, snakes, rats, porcupines, peacocks, and at least 100 other unusual animals.

Freshly slaughtered, frozen and delivered to your door, reads one of the price lists posted by a vendor who sold such items at this market. Wild Game Animal Husbandry for the Masses, it goes on to read.

To keep up with the latest Coronavirus news, be sure to check out Outbreak.news.

Sources for this article include:

ZeroHedge.com

KADN.com

NaturalNews.com

Yahoo.com

ChannelNewsAsia.com
J Scott Applewhite/AP/Shutterstock

As he made the closing arguments for the House prosecution, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) finished not with an argument to convict the president but a plea for the Republican senators sitting in the chamber to vote for additional evidence, a critical and increasingly imperiled part of the Democratic strategy in the impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump.

He appealed to their sense of duty and fairnessand had the GOP side of the room, if not rapt, at least paying attention.

And then he got ahead of himself.

In the crescendo of his speech, a riff on the difficulty of moral courage, Schiff raised a CBS News report from Thursday in which an anonymous Trump confidant said the White House had been warning GOP senators their heads would be on pikes if they voted against the presidents desire for a smooth acquittal.

At that moment, Republicans disapproval was clear, with several senators piping up to say thats not true or shaking their heads. I hope its not true, Schiff said repeatedly, before pressing on. Give America a fair trial. She's worth it, he concluded.

But afterward, all Republicans could talk about was less the substance of the speech and more Schiffs raising of the idea that Republicans were under threat from the White House.

I have not been told that my head is on a pike, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a key swing vote, told reporters afterward. I thought he did fine until he overreached.

Others were more blunt. Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma complained Schiff was insulting.

Even before things got medieval, House Democratic impeachment managers had spent the day hammering home the case that was supposed to sway Republicans and the public on witnesses: that the president had prevented Congress from conducting a full investigation of his conduct.

All the while, however, some Senate Republicans were hard at work crafting reasons why access to additional evidence and witnesses should stay out of sight.

The second article of impeachment passed by the House outlines how President Trump used his power to block access to critical information during their impeachment inquiryleaving their investigations incomplete and the truth buried.

Story continues

No president ever used the official power of his office to prevent witnesses from giving testimony to Congress in such a blanket and indiscriminate manner, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) said from the well of the Senate on Friday. There is no telling how many government officials would have come forward if the president hadnt issued this order.

As a result, Democrats have advocated for the Senate to use its power to subpoena missing documents and individuals to fill in those blanks in order to have a full picture of the presidents actions before they cast a vote to acquit.

But by Friday evening, any senator who would ultimately skip the witness part of the impeachment program appeared to have an answer.

The evidence was overwhelming and complete, it just didnt prove the case.

There wasnt enough evidence, the House should have called more witnesses, waited longer for the courts to work through the White House objections.

Even if the witnesses were called, some Republican lawmakers said, the White House would block them anyway, citing executive privilege, and it would take too long to argue with the courts.

Four days into the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, the tide appeared to be turning against the possibility that new witnesses would appear and fill in the missing details about why the White House made the decision to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in congressionally approved aid from Ukraine.

Trumps Lawyers Are Lying About the Meaning of Impeachment

At the opening of the trial there had been some cautious, fragile optimism among Senate Democrats that four or more Republicans could join with them to compel the release of new evidence, as Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Mitt Romney (R-UT) signaled they were leaning toward wanting to hear new information. Those Republicans even ensured that the rules included a provision that would have made a vote on individual witnesses, like ex-National Security Adviser John Bolton, a possibility. But just a possibility.

By the end of the week, however, even that chance seemed to be slipping away.

The House made a decision that they didn't want to slow things down by having to go through the courts, Sen Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), another potential swing vote, told CNN on Thursday. And yet now they're basically saying you guys gotta go through the courts. We didn't, but we need you to.

That vote on whether or not to call for new evidence will come after the presidents defense team presents their case, a process that will begin Saturday and seek to decisively kill any momentum on calling new witnesses. Jay Sekulow, counsel to the president, told reporters on Friday it would serve as something like a trailer or coming attractions for their full-length session of argument on Monday.

And any potential Republican support will also have to hold through a lengthy question-and-answer period during which lawmakers will pepper both sides of the impeachment trial with additional questions.

I, like many others, am still waiting on that overwhelming evidence that must be coming, maybe, later today, said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), sarcastically. There must be some earth-shattering news or information that they are going to present to us overwhelming evidence.

After saying the process was rushed through the House, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said calling Bolton, who has indicated he would testify if subpoenaed, would amount to a destruction of executive privilege.

I am not going to let the House put me in this box of ignoring witnesses and asking me to call them and denied the president his day in court on executive privilege, said Graham. And to my Republican friends, you may be upset about what happened in the Ukraine with the Bidens but this is not the venue to litigate that.

Democrats spent much of Friday pushing back against the Republicans Choose Your Own Adventure menu of reasons why witnesses should not be called.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), for example, rejected the idea that Bolton would be subject to executive privilege and argued other disputes would be resolved quickly due to the presence of Chief Justice John Roberts.

I think it's a deeply flawed argument, first of all, some of these witnesses aren't under executive privilege, such as Bolton, there is no executive privilege claim for his testimony he's one of the witnesses I want to hear most from, she said. Also, I believe, since we have this particular framework, where we have the Chief Justice presiding. The ability to do an expedited legal review is there, it would be very quick, it would be very efficient.

But the Democrats were left to acknowledge these points were a tough sell. Frankly, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) told The Daily Beast, I think there's quite a few in the majority who don't want to be in the awkward position of having to confront the record and the evidence.

The sense that no dam was breakinghelped along by the GOPs grab-bag of defensescaused hope to slowly drain from Democratic lawmakers who had held out hope they might get a critical mass of votes for witnesses.

On Thursday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said he didnt assume that there was even a single existing GOP vote for additional witnesses and evidence.

By Friday, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said the walls are closing in on Republicans weighing their witness vote. I don't understand it, Murphy said. But I understand how Mitch McConnell works, and ultimately he feels his job is to protect the president of the United Statesnot protect the Senate, not protect democracy, not protect this institution.

Senate Democrats frustration on witnesses was compounded because of what they viewed as an effective final day of presentation by the House impeachment managers. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said that the onslaught of arguments is getting through to some of his GOP colleaguesbut admitted that political imperatives may win out.

I know for a fact some Republican senators are very troubled by the evidence they've heard and they are very troubled by the total stonewalling of the administration, said Van Hollen. Whether or not they're willing to do something about it, that's a whole other question They know it's not a perfect phone call, and yet they're clearly afraid to say so in public. And that's the root of the problem.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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White House lawyers began their defense of Donald Trump at his historic Senate impeachment trial on Saturday, saying the president did nothing wrong in his dealings with Ukraine and American voters -- not Congress -- should decide his fate. White House counsel Pat Cipollone said it would be a "completely irresponsible abuse of power" if the Senate follows the lead of the House of Representatives and votes to remove the 45th US president from office. "They're asking you to do something that no Senate has ever done," Cipollone told the 100 senators gathered on a rainy Saturday morning for a rare weekend session at just the third impeachment trial in US history. Democratic prosecutors from the House, which impeached Trump last month for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, had not convincingly made their case that the president had committed "high crimes and misdemeanors," as demanded by the Constitution, Cipollone said. "We don't believe that they have come anywhere close to meeting their burden for what they're asking you to do," he told a hushed Senate chamber. "We believe when you hear the facts... you will find that the president did absolutely nothing wrong." House prosecutors spent the previous three days laying out a detailed case that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine and a White House meeting to pressure his Ukrainian counterpart to open an investigation into political rival Joe Biden and the former vice president's son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company. Adam Schiff, the chief House prosecutor, said the real estate tycoon turned politician poses an "imminent threat" to American democracy and his guiding principle is "Trump first, not America first." Cipollone argued that Democrats were asking the Senate to "tear up all of the ballots" from the 2016 presidential election and attempting to prevent Trump from running for re-election in November. "They are here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history and we can't allow that to happen," the White House counsel said. "Let the people decide for themselves." - 'Death Valley' - The Democratic-controlled House impeached Trump on December 18 in a party-line vote, setting up a trial in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53 to 47 seat edge and the president enjoys the support of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. A two-thirds majority, or 67 senators, is required to remove a president from office and Democrats do not appear to have made any significant inroads so far in Trump's wall of Republican support. Following the session, top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said the president's attorneys "made a really compelling case" for calling witnesses during the trial, a move Trump has opposed. Senator Mitt Romney, a Republican from Utah and occasional Trump critic, said he was "likely" to support the Democrats' demand but other Republicans indicated that their minds were all but made up. "Today we heard a case that was strong, that was clear and that completely undermined the case of the Democrats," Senator John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming, said of the White House defense. Just before his lawyers began speaking, Trump fired off a tweet with insulting nicknames for leading Democrats and told his supporters to tune in to the live television broadcast. The White House lawyers kept their opening arguments short -- just under two hours -- in part, perhaps, because Trump, a former reality television star, had complained that Saturday is the "Death Valley" of TV viewership. - 'Impeachment Hoax' - Following the defense presentation, Trump claimed it had demonstrated how "unfairly" he has been treated and showed he was the victim of a "partisan Impeachment Hoax." Trump's lawyers will resume his defense on Monday. They will have 24 hours spread over three days for their arguments but have said they are unlikely to use all the time allotted. Saturday's brief session was a relief to the four senators battling for the Democratic presidential nomination, allowing them to return to the campaign trail. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and Colorado Senator Michael Bennet have been forced to remain in Washington while Biden and other candidates campaign in Iowa, which kicks off the nominating process on February 3. Senators will have 16 hours next week to direct questions to both sides and consider whether they should subpoena witnesses, something Democrats have sought but Republicans have opposed. The questions from senators will be submitted in writing to US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial and will read them out loud. Americans appear about evenly split on whether Trump should be removed, though several polls show a healthy majority want the Senate to subpoena witnesses for Trump's trial.
The sister of a former UDR man left brain-damaged by an IRA bomb has said she will find it difficult to continue selling Remembrance poppies following the Royal British Legion's decision to close a respite home in Portrush.

After a period of consultation, The RBL's board of trustees on Friday confirmed it will cease to operate Bennet House. It is one of four short break centres and home maintenance services in the UK that the charity will shut due to funding pressures.

Grant Weir was injured in an IRA attack on his patrol near Roslea in Fermanagh on July 17, 1979. Since she was 19, his sister Michele Nixon has been his full-time carer. She said the closure was hard to take.

"Grant has been going to Bennet House for years," she said.

"The staff there loved him, he loved them.

"As his full-time carer, 24 hours a day for the past 40 years, it was a week of respite for both him and me. It was the only thing we'd ever got from the RBL and now it's gone.

"Grant would have gone for the week with my aunt and cousin. It gave me a week to plan for and he always looked forward to getting away, for however short a time."

Ms Nixon said she was shocked by the decision to close the facility.

She added: "I've sold poppies for the past 20 years on behalf of the Legion. We gave donations every time Grant went to stay in Portrush.

"My gut reaction was: 'That's it, if they can't support my family, my brother, for what he has given up for his country for the past 40 years, then why should I bother selling their poppies any more?'

"Veterans are being swept under the carpet by a country, by organisations that should be looking after them. We're left feeling like we've been dumped on the scrapheap.

"I don't understand why the RBL can't look at Northern Ireland differently. I know they're closing all four retreats, but we have nowhere else to go.

"Why did they spend 2m in renovating the place 10 years ago? It's so sad that the RBL haven't listened to their own members over this."

The facility is named after Captain J L Bennet CBE who was chairman of the RBL in Northern Ireland from its inception until 1952. It was completed in 2011.

Michelle Knight-McQuillan, one of 22 members of staff who are now facing redundancy, called the decision to close "beyond reason".

"This has been a service of excellence for years and they have decided to dispense with it without having a future strategy in place," she said.

"It's a service that was working, had won awards for the respite provided.

"At a time when mental health needs are so desperate, those making this decision didn't even think about working with other agencies to branch out the service or try to find an alternative way of securing the funds. This decision was made long before any consultation.

"It took around 800,000 to run each year, which in terms of the service provided to veterans was next to nothing these days."

She added: "Everyone working here did so for a reason and what we gave we got back from those who came to stay.

"We had people coming here who hadn't left their own home in years and we would notice a big difference in them within a couple of days.

"No other options were explored. Would you close a hospital without making plans on where the patients would go?

"As for the staff, we'll be getting our P45s on February 28 and that will be that. The RBL said they could not consider emotions in making their decision, only facts.

"The fact is that over a thousand people turned out in the days after Christmas to show their emotions. No one listened."

The decision to close has affected young families as well as service veterans themselves.

Karen Cambley from Fermanagh said the decision is now depriving her family of much needed respite. "I have a young son who is autistic and hotels are out of the question for us and my husband is ex-services. We had no idea we would qualify when Bennet House was suggested to us, but it turned out to be a wonderful decision. We've been back four times. This is such a waste of a wonderful service."

Earlier this week East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell was part of a DUP delegation which met Charles Byrne, director general of the RBL. Mr Campbell called the closure decision "short-sighted".

"The proportion of veterans per head of population here is higher than anywhere else in the UK. This, alongside the difficulty in accessing other services in Northern Ireland, does not appear to have been taken into account. This is a bitterly disappointing, short-sighted and retrograde step which I believe disadvantages people here."

The RBL said it was creating a new strategy that would ensure "it was having the greatest impact, making the most of its resources, and evolving in line with changes in the Armed Forces community".

Charles Byrne said: "We have closely considered all options for our organisation, and I believe the path we have chosen is the right one to make the greatest difference to those tackling the toughest challenges.

"The decision has not been taken lightly, and we are extremely sad it will ultimately lead to some of our colleagues leaving."

The RBL said the closures will provide 5.8 million annually which will be diverted to address urgent needs elsewhere in the charity.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 07:17:05|Editor: ZD

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CHICAGO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- A lion dance to the beats of drum at the Cultural Center in downtown Chicago unveiled the Chinese New Year as the U.S. Midwest city on Friday officially kicked off its celebrations of the Chinese Lunar Year of the Rat.

This is the seventh year in a row for the U.S. third largest city to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

A white lion and a yellow one, presented by two persons each, performed acrobatics on the center stage in front of the audience of more than 200 people. Art groups from local Chinese community also performed traditional Chinese dances and music at the event.

Zhejiang Shaoju Opera Theatre gave the audience a glimpse of its performance to be staged as part of Chinese New Year concert at Chicago Symphony Center this Sunday. Dragon dance combined with Monkey King and face changing from Sichuan Opera drew waves of applause.

Thanks to the joint efforts of Chicago Mayor's Office, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Choose Chicago, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, "'Happy Chinese New Year' celebration has become a popular branding event in U.S. Midwest," Zhao Jian, Chinese Consul General in Chicago, said while addressing the event.

"A sound and healthy China-U.S. bilateral relations is in line with our ultimate interests and with the expectation of the international society," Zhao said. "People-to-people exchange has always played an essential role in our bilateral relations."

He wished everyone present "a happy and prosperous Year of the Rat."

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot sent a congratulatory letter, offering her best wishes to all gathering for a joyful, prosperous and healthy Year of the Rat.

Chicago will celebrate the 35th anniversary of the two Sister City relationships with Shanghai and Shenyang in 2020, the letter read. "China remains the only country with which Chicago shares two Sister Cities. As we look to the new year, we look forward to further enhancing our close friendship with China and building upon our continued successes."

Lightfoot hailed the partnership Chicago shares with China "as a successful example of sub-national cooperation." "Together we look forward to growing and expanding our friendship in the new year," she wrote in the letter.

"The rat is known as a clever, creative and quick thinker full of vitality and skilled at taking advantage of opportunities they present themselves, and we will strive to embody these elements as we tackle our goals and endeavors in the coming year," she added.

In the following two weeks, Chicago will put on a series of activities, creating a strong festive atmosphere of Chinese New Year to local residents in Chicago and letting them have a taste of the rich varieties of Chinese culture.
The face-off between Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State and the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, got messier on Saturday, as unidentified thugs overnight set ablaze vehicles, canopies and chairs parked at the venue to be used for a political rally in Auchi, Estako West local government area.

The rally which was to hold at an open ground owned by a private individual, was said to have been organised by Oshiomhole to receive some defectors into the APC.

Sources had it that the suspected thugs who invaded the venue at about 2 am, shot sporadically before they set ablaze over 1000 chairs, the podium, several canopies and two vehicles.

It was learnt that heavy security was being deployed to the area to forestall further attack.

Follow Us on Facebook  @LadunLiadi; Instagram  @LadunLiadi; Twitter  @LadunLiadi; Youtube  @LadunLiadiTV for updates




By Dong Sun-hwa







Cable channel tvN's North Korea-themed drama "Crash Landing on You" has been accused of glamorizing the reclusive state, police said Wednesday.







The conservative Christian Liberty Party lodged a complaint with police against tvN on Jan. 9 for allegedly violating the National Security Law. It claims the soap opera  which is mostly set in a small village in North Korea  has only depicted North Korean soldiers in a "peaceful" way.







The party released a statement on Jan. 10, insisting South Korean citizens have been "incited" by the TV series that failed to clearly indicate North Korea is the nation's "main opponent."







"Our security law stipulates we should not sympathize with an anti-government organization that threatens the nation's existence," the statement reads. "We want the instigators to be promptly investigated and punished."







Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has been reviewing the complaint, but reportedly has not yet launched an investigation.







Since the TV series is based on fiction, many believe the cable channel is unlikely to be punished.



"Fiction-based dramas have rarely been punished for breaking the security law," a police agency official said.







The drama's producer Lee Jung-hyo said during a press conference in Seoul in December: "I know some people are uncomfortable about our subject, North Korea, but we don't portray a wholly authentic North Korea in our drama. Most settings are closer to a fantasy, although some aspects do reflect real North Korean life."







"Crash Landing on You" is a 16-episode rom-com revolving around South Korean chaebol scion Yoon Se-ri (played by Son Ye-jin) and high-ranking North Korean officer Ri Jong-hyok (Hyun Bin). The pair bump into each other in North Korea after a paraglider carrying Yoon makes an emergency landing there.







The soap opera has been gaining popularity in Korea, with its latest episode  aired on Jan. 19  garnering 14.6 percent viewership.


File Photo: Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez gestures as he listen to a questions during a "Dutertenomics" (President Rodrigo Duterte Economic) forum in a hotel in Pasay city, metro Manila, Philippines April 18, 2017. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

MANILA, Jan 22 (Reuters) - The Philippines raised 1.2 billion euros ($1.33 billion) from the capital market by selling its first ever zero coupon three-year euro-denominated bond and securing the lowest coupon ever for a nine-year deal, its finance secretary said on Wednesday.

The three-year and nine-year issues, which follow a similar offering in May, was nearly four times oversubscribed, Carlos Dominguez said, citing a report from the Bureau of Treasury.

Dominguez said the three-year euro bond had a coupon of 0% and offers 40 basis points over benchmark, while the nine-year bond's 0.75% coupon was tighter than on the Philippines' existing euro bonds due 2027, which pay out 0.875%.

UBS, Citigroup, Standard Chartered, and Credit Suisse were joint lead managers and joint bookrunners.

Orders came from a diverse group of investors both in the onshore and offshore market, he said.

The Philippines, one of Asia's most active sovereign bond issuers, is raising funds to help finance its 4.1 trillion pesos ($80.39 billion) budget this year, which is 12% more than last year's spending plan. ($1 = 0.9021 euros) ($1 = 51.0000 Philippine pesos) (Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
The British royal family has paid tribute to Australia's 'strength and resilience' on its national day.

The Queen and Prince William made separate statements through their social media accounts early on Sunday, Australian time.

Both referenced the country's bushfire crisis and praised Australians for how they were handling it.

The British royal family has paid tribute to Australia's 'strength and resilience' on its national day

Kensington Palace, which provides statements from Prince William and his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, made a similar statement to The Queen

'Wishing you all a happy Australia Day! This Australia Day, we commend the incredible resilience and strength of the Australian people,' The Queen's read.

Her statement included a collage of four photos from her royal visits to Australia over the years.

Kensington Palace, which provides statements from Prince William and his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, was along the same lines.

'This year we pay tribute to the incredible strength and resilience of all the Australian people and communities who have been impacted by the devastating bushfires,' it read.

Their statement was accompanied by a photo of the couple and a baby Prince George during their 2014 Australian visit.

The Queen looks on during a visit to a wildlife park in Brisbane on October 24, 2011. She met with rapturous scenes in Brisbane where she applauded its courage in recovering from devastating floods

The Queen receives flowers from the crowd during her visit to Melbourne on October 26, 2011. She rode a royal-themed commemorative tram and met massive, adoring crowds as she walked a red carpet through Federation Square

The last British royal to visit Australia was Prince Andrew late last year, at the height of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Prince Andrew was here for a business trip, with the last official visit by a royal being Prince Harry and a pregnant Meghan Markle in September 2018.

Their lengthy tour included opening the Invictus Games in Sydney, and a trip to Fraser Island in Queensland.

The couple sent an almost identical message to Australia on the Sussex Royal Instagram page, along with pictures of positive news stories about the bushfires.

'Today, on Australia Day, we recognise the strength of spirit and generosity of the community Down Under,' it read.

'Sharing above a selection of stories of how youve come together in the face of such adversity. You are an inspiration to us all.'
Demonstrators hold anti-Tesla posters during a protest against plans by U.S. electric vehicle pioneer Tesla to build its first European factory and design center near Berli

By Riham Alkousaa

BERLIN (Reuters) - Around 250 Germans on Saturday protested in the outskirts of Berlin where electric car startup Tesla is planning to build a gigafactory, saying its construction will endanger water supply and wildlife in the area.

The U.S. carmaker announced plans last November to build its first European car factory in Gruenheide, in the eastern state of Brandenburg.

Politicians, unions and industry groups have welcomed the move, saying it will bring jobs to the region, but environmental concerns drove hundreds of locals to the streets on Saturday.

"We are here, we are loud, because Tesla is stealing our water," protesters called.

Saturday's protest came after a Brandenburg water association on Thursday warned against "extensive and serious problems with the drinking water supply and wastewater disposal" for the proposed factory.

Anne Bach, a 27-year-old environmental activist, said Tesla's plans published earlier this month showed it would need more than 300 cubic meters of water per hour which would drain the area's declining reserves.

"I am not against Tesla ... But it's about the site; in a forest area that is a protected wildlife zone. Is this necessary?" Bach said.

"In such an ecological system like the one here and with the background that climate is changing, I cannot understand why another location was not selected from the beginning," said Frank Gersdorf, a member of "Citizens' Initiative Gruenheide against Gigafactory", a local group that organized Saturday's protest.

Environmentalist protests in Germany have previously halted and delayed major companies' plans such RWE's lignite mining at the Hambach forest, near Cologne, which has become a symbol of the anti-coal protests.

Saturday's protest, which Gersdorf and Bach said developed spontaneously from a 50-people forest walk demonstration, highlighted the deforestation of around 300 hectares to build the factory and its impact on wildlife, including birds, insects and bats.

Story continues

People were also protesting against an expected "enormous" increase in traffic on a nearby highway and through the villages.

Next to the protest, on the other side of the street, around 20 people carried banners welcoming Tesla in their village, with children chanting, "We are here, we are loud, because Tesla is building our future."

Bernd Kutz, a Gruenheide local, said Tesla would bring improvement to the area, create jobs and give chances to young people.

"I am here because I don't understand those demonstrators who shout and show us the finger," Kutz said. "Why has it always to be negative?"

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; editing by Christina Fincher)
ATLANTIC CITY  The Chelsea Economic Development Corp. is seeking input from the community to learn the neighborhoods top priorities.

Meetings will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28 and again on Feb. 10 with community information and refreshments, followed by a presentation and public input.

The Tuesday meeting will be held at the Chelsea Tower at the Tropicana at 111 S. Chelsea Ave. with free parking at 60 S. Montpelier Ave., behind Walgreens. The Feb. 10 session will take place at Our Lady Star of the Sea Memorial Hall, next to 15 N. California Ave., with free parking on the street and in church lots.

Corporation President Elizabeth Terenik and other EDC members will be in attendance.

A dozen community organizations will offer information and resources, including the Police Department, South Jersey Gas, the Census Bureau, AtlantiCare, the Atlantic City Arts Foundation and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

Community development corporations throughout the country, like the Chelsea EDC, are bringing together anchor institutions, businesses and residents to identify goals and complete projects.
IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Limited (IndiaFirst Life), a joint venture between Bank of Baroda, Andhra Bank and Warburg Pincus, has launched a unique campaign titled #YeTohCertainHai, which stems from the proposition of Because Life Is Full of Certainties. The campaign was bolstered with the insight that Indians love to cover things. We have covers for our mobile phones, cars, television sets and even our fridge. When we have covers for almost everything, why do we not make it a priority to cover our lives certainties?

This unique life insurance awareness campaign is live pan India across several mediums which includes Billboards, Hoardings, OOH, Digital, Radio, and for internal corporate communication. These mediums are chosen to attain maximum reach and are focused on key strategic markets.

Sonia Notani, Chief Marketing Officer, IndiaFirst Life Insurance said, Life Insurance as an industry is inherently focused on fear of the unknown; we, at IndiaFirst Life, chose a different path of focusing on the certain to create an impact and a positive one at that. At different stages of a customer lifecycle, few things, such as getting married, having children, retiring, etc. are almost certain. Planning and securing these stages of life is also something that should be certain. Through this interesting and clutter breaking campaign, we aim to connect with all our potential and existing customers. We are innovatively using all relevant mediums to connect with our audiences not just from different geographies but also in different languages.

Using the insight of Indians love for covers, IndiaFirst Life Insurance has engaged with WATConsult to create a highly innovative and targeted campaign on Amazon, launched an engaging Qawwali video that is being promoted interestingly on Jio Saavn. Our microsite (http://www.museumofcovers. com/), allows people to share all their unique covers. We are confident that not only will this campaign grab eyeballs but will also make the case for investing in insurance stronger.
The United States wants India to buy at least another $5-6 billion worth of American farm goods if New Delhi wants to win reinstatement of a key U.S. trade concession and seal a wider pact, four sources familiar with the talks told Reuters. US President Donald Trump cited trade barriers last year when removing India from its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme that allowed zero tariffs on $5.6 billion of exports to the United States. In retaliation, India slapped higher tariffs on more than two dozen US products.

Ahead of a Trump visit to New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi next month, negotiators on both sides are hammering out terms for a trade deal that would include New Delhi rolling back higher tariffs on some farm goods such as almonds, walnuts and apples, one of the sources said.

Both governments had hoped to work out a limited trade deal last year, but struggled to reach an agreement.

India's commerce ministry and the US Embassy in New Delhi did not respond to a request for comment. The office of the US Trade Representative did not immediately respond outside regular business hours.

While India has offered partial relief on medical device price caps that have hurt American pharma giants and a roll-back in tariffs on some US goods, Trump's team wants a sweetener of $5-6 billion in additional trade for US goods to restore GSP privileges, three of the sources said.

That demand was conveyed by the United States to India in late December, said two sources.

Also read: India surpasses US as second-largest smartphone market despite 7% sales growth in 2019

As part of the negotiation, the US wants India to increase imports of frozen poultry products, the first source said. The US has already been pushing India to cut the high import taxes on poultry products.

"The deal has to be agriculture focused, the US is putting a number on everything (if India wants GSP back)," said one of the sources.

The sources asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the discussions.

Other than the agriculture sector, the United States could be swayed if some of that additional revenue goes to its energy sector, said one of the sources.

Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan this week said India was looking forward to extending its energy cooperation with the United States and other countries, but didn't disclose any planned deals.

Trump is likely to visit India in late February, in what would be his first visit to the South Asian nation since he took office three years ago.

SMALLER CHINA-TYPE DEAL

India and the United States have built close political and security ties, but in recent years trade frictions have come to the fore. Trump has often named India as one of the countries with the highest tariffs in the world.

Trump's administration has also been upset with India's decision to force foreign card networks to store more data locally and imposition of stringent e-commerce investment rules that impacted operations of Amazon.com Inc and Walmart's Flipkart.

Also read: India's rice exports fall sharply as sanctions delay payments from Iran

A fifth Washington-based source with knowledge of the U.S. administration's thinking said a US-India trade deal would be far smaller than one the United States struck with China this month, but will "look basically the same".

China this month agreed to increase purchases of US products and services by at least $200 billion over the next two years in exchange for the rolling back of some tariffs, defusing an 18-month row that had hit global growth.

"It will be challenging for the US to see a reasonable agreement with India ... without concessions on the trade gap. Given the recent deal with China, India has to follow suit," said Samir Kapadia of Washington-based lobbying and advisory firm, The Vogel Group.

Trade between United States and India stood at $142.6 billion in 2018, but Trump wants to reduce its $25.2 billion deficit with India.

India has also offered the United States a commitment to increase purchases of almonds and apples and scrap an import tariff of 50% levied on Harley-Davidson motorcycles, the first source said. Trump has publicly said India's high tariffs on such bikes was unacceptable.

India initially also offered to relax some tariffs on high-end U.S. technology products, but that is now off the table, said one of the sources.

Also read: Budget 2020: Govt may raise import duties on more than 50 items including electronics, handicrafts
Grandmother/parents Rosalind Lopez, left, and Veronica Bing-Perry, center, join with neighbor Chris Hoeppner to protest asbestos at McClure elementary, 6th and Hunting Park, on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. Read more

Jessika Roche doesnt want her 8-year-old back inside his school until all asbestos is removed from McClure Elementary in Hunting Park.

But the Philadelphia School Districts asbestos crisis has raised immediate, practical concerns beyond her and other parents fears for their childrens long-term health.

As in: What do you do with your child or children when theyre unexpectedly out of school for the better part of a month, as Roches son and other McClure students have been?

Were pulling our hair out, were struggling, said Roche, whose son, Cassius, is in third grade at McClure. The school is closed as officials tackle areas of damaged asbestos throughout the building. Its taken a huge toll on our family.

McClure, a K-5 school with over 600 students, was first closed on Dec. 19; it reopened for two days in January before being shut again when air tests revealed elevated levels of asbestos fibers.

Students were expected to return immediately after the winter break, but the asbestos contamination was worse than expected. Children returned to class for two days last week, but the school was abruptly closed again when new damage was found.

On Monday and Tuesday, McClure students will not be in classes, but they will be able to go on district-paid field trips, district spokesperson Megan Lello said Friday evening. Parents must pick up their children by 1:30 p.m., however.

Were doing it in an effort to keep instruction going in some way, shape, or form, said Lello.

In all, six district schools and an early childhood center have had to close this school year because of asbestos; officials began paying closer attention in September, when news of a career Philadelphia teachers mesothelioma became public.

 READ MORE: Read more: She taught in Philadelphia schools for 28 years. Now, Lea DiRusso has mesothelioma.

In some cases, like those of Benjamin Franklin High School, Science Leadership Academy, and T.M. Peirce Elementary, students were eventually relocated while work on their buildings continued. McClure students have simply missed a lot of school.

Lello said a plan to have McClure students make up some lost instructional time is being developed and will be shared with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, which mandates 180 days of instructional time per school year.

It does not look like the other schools will need to make up days, said Lello. McClure students were not given packets of work to do while out of classes, as the closure was not planned.

 READ MORE: Read more: Under pressure, the Philadelphia School District touts a new environmental plan

Roche considers herself lucky. Her work, driving for rideshare companies and delivering food orders, is flexible, so shes been able to shift her schedule to stay home with her son during the day. But its meant that Roche never sees her husband, as she has to rush out the door to start working the moment he comes home from his job.

Plus, theres the boredom factor. Some parents are teaching kids what they can, via workbooks or free online resources, but thats no substitute for the instruction children receive in school.

We have nothing to do with these kids; I cant afford to spend $50, $60 to take them places, Roche said. Its cold, so they cant go outside to play.

Some McClure parents have banded together to watch each others children to cover work shifts. Jasmine Santiago has had to come up with another solution.

Santiago works as a teachers aide at McClure. When staff were required to report to another building despite the schools closure, she was forced to send her two kids, who are McClure pupils, to live with her mother in Delaware for days or a week at a time.

Thats my only child-care option, said Santiago. I have to go to work.

Rosalind Lopez, whose grandchildren attend McClure, fears what the lost instruction time will mean for students.

Will they all have to repeat a grade? said Lopez, who has gathered signatures on a petition to demand that McClure not reopen until asbestos cleanup is complete. This could hurt them.

Kindergartner Jsaah Bing knows why hes out of school: Theres bad stuff there, stuff that could make him and other kids sick.

But Im not happy to be home, said Jsaah. I want to go back to school.

Veronica Bing Perry, Jsaahs grandmother, wont send him back until she believes the school is safe. But she worries about Jsaah, who has special needs, missing school.

He has an IEP thats not being met. I had just signed him up for more services at the school, said Bing Perry. I go online and I look up what he should be doing, and I just give him a little bit at a time to do, but its hard. Its hard for all of us caregivers.

Bing Perrys other grandchildren attend schools in Upper Merion and Radnor. She cant help but wonder what would happen if damaged asbestos was discovered in one of their schools.

If anything was to go wrong in the suburbs, it would be taken care of, right away, said Bing Perry. Because were in a lower-income community, we get pushed to the side.

McClures closure has even affected some local businesses.

Danielle Evans, a co-owner of Stages Community School, at first saw more business at her day care, which enrolls a number of McClure students for before- and after-school programs.

At first, Evans allowed families to keep their children at the center for the full day, though state funding only covered part-time care. But as the closure dragged on, Evans and her business partner had to charge an extra fee, to cover the extra staff they had to pay. A state official said Pennsylvania wouldnt pick up the extra charge, Evans said.

My business is definitely suffering, said Evans. Some parents are leaving, trying to get their kids in charters; some parents are saying theyre going to homeschool.

Evans, too, wonders if things would have been different if the asbestos crisis had happened outside of Philadelphia.

Its just ridiculous that they kept the children out of school this long and have no resources for the parents that dont cost additional money, Evans said. Its not fair, its not safe.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed a charge sheet in a special court in Guwahati against five members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a Bangladeshi terror outfit banned in the neighbouring country and in India.

The charge was filed against Hafizur Rahman, Yakub Ali, Sariful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman and Mohammed Hafiz Safiqul Islam, all residents of Barpeta district in Assam arrested in July last year.

According to the charge sheet, the case came to light with the arrest of Hafizur Rahman from his house in Barpeta and the seizure of a country made revolver, several rounds of live ammunition and some Jihadi literature.

Based on his interrogation, the local police registered a case and arrested the four other accused. The case registered under sections of Arms Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was later transferred to the NIA.

Investigations by the NIA revealed that all the accused were recruited to JMB by one Sahanur Alom, a resident of Barpeta who was arrested by the agency in 2014 for his involvement in the Burdwan blast case of West Bengal in which two people were killed.

Alom has already been convicted and is serving a eight year jail sentence on charges of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts in India and recruiting and training other members of JMB.

Accused persons in the instant case have undergone training as JMB cadres in Barpeta at the house of Sahanur Alom and some accused were also trained at Simulia Madrasa in West Bengal, said a NIA release.

The charge sheet states that the five accused procured weapons and ammunition with the aim of committing terrorist acts.

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New Delhi, Jan 25 : The Patiala House court is hearing the plea filed by the Nirbhaya convicts plea alleging that the Tihar Jail administration did not present the papers on time.

The Public Prosecutor informed the court that Tihar Jail authorities have already supplied the relevant documents.

He further informed that these are mere delaying tactics adopted by the convicts.

The Public Prosecutor also told the court that he spoke to the jail authorities over the phone and a report in this regard will be filed shortly as the jail officials were on their way to the court.

The judge demanded from the convicts lawyer to show what he has filed.

The convicts lawyer, A.P. Singh, said that he received some documents, but has still not been supplied with the personal diary of one of the convict -- Vinay Kumar Sharma and also the medical documents.

Judge then asked the lawyer to wait for until the report arrives form the Tihar Jail.

On this, the convicts lawyer said he was questioning the intention of the jail. "I know the jail has been changed. It isn't there fault, too," he said.

The Public Prosecutor refuted the allegation saying that the defence counsel was trying to defeat the speed of law.

"We have supplied all the documents to the counsel. We have supplied all the documents except the painting and some other documents. We have nothing apart from that," public prosecutor said.

The Supreme court had recently dismissed the curative petition for the other two convicts -- Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and Mukesh Singh (32).

Hearing in a different case, Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde on Thursday said a condemned person cannot fight the death penalty endlessly and it was important for the capital punishment to reach its finality.

The death penalty, he noted, cannot be questioned at every turn by the convict.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a phone conversation on Saturday with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu sympathized with the families of the victims in recent deadly earthquake claiming lives of at least 19 people, Trend reports citing IRNA.

During phone conversation, Zarif expressed condolence with Turkish people and government.

He also offered Iran's readiness to render required aid for the victims of the quake.

Meanwhile, Cavusoglu praised Iranian government and people for their sympathy.

An earthquake measuring 6.8 magnitude on the Richter scale rocked eastern Turkey on Friday night.

The earthquake was also felt in Diyarbakr, Srnak, Mardin, Sanlurfa and Samsun provinces.

Based on the Turkish medical centers' reports, the Friday quake killed 19 people and injured 772 others.

Turkish disaster management organization said that some 30 people are still missing.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-25 14:36:37|Editor: ZD

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by Peerzada Arshad Hamid

NEW DELHI, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- After nearly six months, the authorities will restore the internet service in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said Saturday.

However, the service would be available at a restricted speed and subscribers will be unable to access the social networking websites.

The internet speed will be restricted to 2G and the decision to review the restrictions will be reviewed next month.

"2G mobile internet services on postpaid as well as prepaid phones will be restored today. However, it can be used to access 301 websites approved by the administration," a government official said. "These websites include search engines and those associated with banking, education, news, travel and utilities."

The subscribers in the region Saturday said they were yet to access the facility.

"We have been hearing that the internet will be restored here ever since its ban on August last year but the reality is so far it has not been restored. Even today I am not able to access the internet on my phone," said Bilal Ahmad, a Srinagar resident.

"The government has announced there will be a limited internet speed and subscribers will not be able to access the social media. What purpose will it serve if most of the websites and social media are blacklisted?"

The ongoing internet ban in Indian-controlled Kashmir has badly affected the region's economy and student community.

With no internet, hundreds of people associated with Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) offices and tourism in the region have lost their jobs.

As per estimates made by region's trade body - Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), the internet blockade and uncertainty caused a loss of around 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in the last five months in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Indian-controlled Kashmir currently faces the longest ever internet blockade in the history so far and Saturday marked the 174th day of the ban.

New Delhi imposed a complete communication blockade in the region on the night of Aug. 4, 2019, by suspending services of telephones, mobile phones and internet. It also deployed thousands of paramilitary personnel on the streets to enforce the strict restrictions to prevent street protests.

The government took the steps fearing backlash from the people in response to its move of ending region's special status by abrogating a provision (Article 370) in its constitution on Aug. 5, 2019.

Abrogation of special status stripped Indian-controlled Kashmir of its separate constitution and flag. New Delhi also bifurcated Indian-controlled Kashmir into two federally governed territories.

After one month, restrictions were eased and landline telephone service was restored. Likewise, the postpaid mobile service was restored after 70 days.

Meanwhile, the presence of troops on roads also remains a constant feature.

A separatist movement and guerilla war challenging New Delhi's rule is going on in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989.

Kashmir, a Himalayan territory divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in its entirety. The two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir.

The abrogation of special status to Indian-controlled Kashmir has heightened tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad.
The mission of school to give students a proper education and help them graduate.

But school districts often need more money to provide the programs that can catch the students at risk of dropping out of school.

The Mason City Community School District School Board approved sending a request to the state to fund the districts at-risk or dropout prevention programming during their meeting Jan. 20.

In the annual request, the district asked for the maximum modified supplemental amount possible of $1.26 million, and the district has to match that with more than $400,000, since the application requires a 25 percent match by the district, which Superintendent Dave Versteeg said would come out of the general fund.

This money will be used to fund the districts dropout prevention program, which includes funding counseling positions, social worker positions, behavior interventionists, the alternative high school, the credit recovery program, teacher professional development related to dropout prevention, attendance programs and behavior programs in all the districts buildings, Versteeg said.

The staff and programs needed to meet the needs of students who may potentially drop out of school go for services and supports beyond which the district cost per pupil can cover, Versteeg said.

The district didn't have its latest dropout numbers, but in the 2017-2018 school year (the latest available from the state), 34 students dropped out in Mason City  about 3 percent of enrollment  according to the Iowa Department of Education.

That rate falls about in the middle, statewide, of comparably sized districts. Western Dubuque, Urbandale, Idianola all had lower rates, while Ottumwa, Fort Dodge, Clinton and Burlington were higher that year.

The districts dropout prevention program has been around for years, but the law requires the district make an annual application to the SBRC for the funds, which are then dedicated to specific programs and staff that serve potential dropouts, according to Versteeg.

The dropout prevention program is for all of the students and buildings of the district, not just the high school, he said.

Iowa law requires students stay in school until they are 16. If they reach 16 before the school year starts, they can decide not to go for that year, but if they turn 16 after the school year starts, they still have to finish the year.

The important year is their first year in high school, helps them get off on a good start because then that could also have a real impact on future success and just how theyre doing in school, Mason City High School Principal Dan Long said.

Mason City High School ninth- and 10th-grade counselor Dusty Rhodes said preventing students from dropping out of high school starts with the quality programs that we offer and provide to all of our students in addition to having staff members build relationships with the students.

Long said the diversity of programs always impressed him, especially all the different programs students can get involved in, such as industrial tech and music programs.

For success in school, oftentimes it comes down to a kid feeling connected, he said. Once a kid feels like theyre connected to school, weve got a much higher opportunity, potential to see that kid all the way through to graduation.

The school also has to identify students who may be at risk of dropping out, and the SAR program (Students at Risk) targets kids failing one or more classes with the goal to have teachers work closely with the students one period a day, providing academic and social support, Long said.

There is also a credit recovery program, so if a student fails a class they can go into the program and make up the credits.

We have a lot of students that enter the program, and sometimes thats the way they can get back on track, Lindsey Severson, the 11th grade counselor, said.

If students need a smaller environment or different settings, they can work in the alternative school, and Karla Wymore, the 12th-grade counselor, said sometimes that helps fill a gap they had in the main high school.

Rhodes said the student services team keeps track of behavior, attendance data and academic grades to try to identify struggling students.

We just take a close look at all three of those things and that gives us a pretty good picture of whos struggling and whos not, he said.

Despite all these programs and efforts to prevent students from dropping out, several do, and Long said the reason is unique for each individual, but Rhodes said they often get the general I just dont like school reason.

We try to make all kids feel safe and connectedand the big thing is those kids decide, Hey, Im not going to do this, schools not for me, Rhodes said. We continue to reach out to those students and families and try to convince them to come back here, or maybe try alternative school, and there are some other things and options that we have.

Long said their goal is to get kids to reach graduation, and that is an ongoing effort that we continue to look at what were doing and try to do everything we can to support kids and help them graduate.

Grace Zaplatynsky can be reached at 641-421-0534.

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A jury found two men guilty Thursday of fatally shooting a woman as she was sleeping during a 2017 burglary of her home located on a blueberry farm in Winslow Township, the Camden County Prosecutors Office announced Friday.

Tyler Dralle, 22, of Vineland and Kwamere Benjamin, 19, of New Castle, Delaware were found guilty of felony murder, murder, armed robbery, armed burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary and weapons offenses in connection with the murder of 45-year-old Deanne Scordo.

The two men entered the home around 3:50 a.m. on June 25, 2017 after Dralle had scoped it out for weeks earlier during his time working there, authorities said.

Dralle and Benjamin walked into Deannes bedroom, shot her three times, and made off with $276 in rolled coins, prosecutors have said.

Scordos father, who was sleeping in the house, called 911 and told the dispatcher he saw two males wearing black hoodies flee the house but he couldnt describe them further, police said.

When police arrived at the home, located on the 700 block of Bairdmore Avenue, around 4 p.m., they found Deanne on the floor of her bedroom and she was pronounced dead shortly thereafter, according to a release from the prosecutors office.

An investigation was started and a witness told detectives that Dralle told him that he and Benjamin shot Deanne woman while burglarizing the home, officials have said, but it was not clear if this statement was made as a tip or during a police interview.

As investigators interviewed more witnesses, the evidence began to pile up against Dralle and Benjamin and the pair was arrested and charged in early August 2017, the release stated.

Their trial began the week of November 17, 2019 and ended Thursday with guilty verdicts on all counts.

Dralle and Benjamin were scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 28, authorities. Both men face life in prison for their crimes.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Israeli security forces have clashed with Palestinian worshippers as they arrived at Friday prayers at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa mosque.

Palestinian leaders had, last week, called for mass attendance at dawn prayers at holy sites in Jerusalem as well as throughout the West Bank and Gaza.

But tensions spiked around the mosque, which is located in Jerusalem's old city on what Israel calls Temple Mount, as news leaked on Thursday night of the contents of Donald Trump's "peace plan" for the region.

The American president has indicated that his long-awaited plan for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians will be released before Tuesday next week.

The content of his so-called "deal of the century" has been the subject of much speculation for months having been moulded in secret by his son-in-law Jared Kushner and a small policy team inside the White House.

On Thursday, on a visit to Jerusalem, US Vice President Mike Pence invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz to Washington to discuss the peace plan.

Speaking to reporters on a flight to Florida, the US president said the plan will be released before the Tuesday meeting.

"Sometime prior to that... Probably we'll release it a little bit prior to that." Mr Trump said.

He dismissed leaked details of the plan's contents as "purely speculative".

In the leaks to the Israeli media, it is suggested that the plan will propose that all Israeli settlements in the West Bank would become sovereign Israeli territory.

Israeli sovereignty would also be given to the whole of Jerusalem with the city being officially recognised as the Israeli capital.

Palestinians would be granted statehood but only on condition that they recognise Jerusalem as being the capital of the Jewish State of Israel and subject to Gaza being demilitarised with Hamas giving up its weapons.

For the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza, the plan will be entirely unreasonable and will be rejected outright. No Palestinians have been invited to next week's White House meeting.

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Mr Trump indicated that he had had limited discussion with the Palestinians and predicted that, initially at least, they would reject it.

He said: "We've spoken to them briefly. But we will speak to them in a period of time... And they have a lot of incentive to do it. I'm sure they maybe will react negatively at first but it's actually very positive for them.

"I'd love to be able to do that deal. They say that's the hardest of all deals... I love doing deals.

"It's a great plan. It's a plan that really would work."

Internationally, Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal.

The United Nations, the European Union and the UK all continue to call for a two-state solution with Israel based on 1967 borders with agreed land swaps and with Jerusalem as the shared capital of both states.

The calculus in Mr Trump's White House is that the two-state solution in its existing proposed form has cemented a stalemate stretching back nearly three decades and that shifting the dial, albeit in Israel's favour, prompts a new, fresh conversation.

The plan will also shift the political dial in Israel as Israelis prepare to go to the polls for the third time in 11 months this March. Two elections last year were inconclusive.

EU and Arab states have not yet said how they will react to the plan but they are likely to reject it as not providing for a viable and sovereign Palestinian state.